Epaper – September 27 KHI 2020

CMYK

27 September, 2020 I 8 Safar, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 88 I 36 Pages I Karachi Edition

shehbaz sharif not in favour of ‘Confrontation’, says reConCiliation only way forward g

PML-N PresideNt defeNds Nawaz’s aPC address, says Party suPreMo had oNLy sPokeN ‘iN favour of CoNstitutioN aNd Law’

NEWS DESK

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pposition Leader in the National assembly shehbaz sharif said on saturday that he believes in reconciliation and does not seek confrontation with anyone. in conversation with senior journalists, the PML-N president said confrontation will not benefit anyone, and that it is his belief that the “country can only move forward with consultation and reconciliation”. he said that he has been “in touch with the army as an institution for 25 years now”, and that despite his viewpoint, he “never sought any benefit from reconciliation”. according to media reports, PML-N stalwart khawaja saad rafique was also present in the meeting and said that if resistance as a strategy was adopted by the opposition, then the only one to benefit would be Prime Minister imran khan and his government.

he claimed that the government seeks to have the opposition “fight with state institutions”. when shehbaz was asked how the government could have such an aim when it was Nawaz himself who spoke out against the institutions, the PML-N president rejected the notion and said that the party supremo had only spoken in favour of the constitution and the law.

“Nawaz sharif provided recommendations for the future of Pakistan. they must be taken into consideration.” referring to reports that Nawaz sharif had prohibited party members from meeting military leadership and if it is absolutely necessary then only with express approval from him, shehbaz clarified that Nawaz had simply said there is no harm in informing him if such a meeting is planned. he reiterated that his politics is one of reconciliation, adding however that the decisions made during the multi-party

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

conference still stand. the PML-N leader said that both his party and the PPP are ready to resign from the assemblies should the time come for such a move to be necessary. shehbaz also spoke of the opposition’s demand for re-elections, saying that all parties agree that there should be fresh, transparent polls. he also said that no new elections must take place until the demand for “no interference” in the exercise is fulfilled. responding to a question on why the party thinks the prime minister seeks shehbaz’s arrest, rafique said that the premier “fears shehbaz sharif’s performance”.

Last sunday, during a conference of the mainstream opposition parties, dubbed as the all Parties Conference (aPC), former prime minister Nawaz sharifhad heavily criticised the government of Prime Minister imran khan.

Nawaz spoke on the “poor state” of Pakistan’s economy, “deteriorating” international relations, “muzzling” of media and “corruption within the Pti”. “the country’s leader keeps harping on about accountability but he himself is involved in raising sugar prices. will no reference be filed against him?” the former PM asked. he also repeated the opposition’s allegation that the National accountability Bureau (NaB), with the connivance of Pti, was carrying out only “selective accountability”. “if we do not do it [take a step] today, when will we?” asked Nawaz. “i agree with Maulana [fazlur rehman, chief of Jui-f] that we need to make this conference purposeful or people will be disappointed.” he had also alleged that the government had enforced a “martial law”. “Criminals are allowed to make amendments to the Constitution […] the people’s premier is expelled and his family is insulted. this conference should bring forth a concrete plan of action for saving democracy, a concrete policy should be made for solving the problem of ‘a parallel state’,” he had stated.

‘kashmir is not part of india, never was and never will be’ ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan has said that the territory of Jammu and kashmir is not a part of the indian state — it has never been, nor will it ever be — and that the indian government is responsible for “the worst form of state terrorism” against the oppressed people of indian occupied kashmir (iok). “in Jammu and kashmir, india has no other claim than that of a military occupier. it is compelled to use naked force to impose its occupation on an unwilling and oppressed people. ask the people of Jammu and kashmir and they will tell you emphatically: Jammu and kashmir is not a part of india. it never was and never will be,” Pakistani delegate zulqarnain Chheena told the General assembly on friday night while rejecting indian claims. earlier on saturday, india had responded to Prime Minister’ imran khan’s united Nations General assembly (uNGa) address calling it “full of lies, misinformation and

13 killed as passenger van catches fire on Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway

CONFIRMED CASES:

309,581

566

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

295,333 SINDH:

135,488 KP:

37,588

6,451 PUNJAB:

98,941 BALOCHISTAN:

14,932

AJK/GB: ISLAMABAD: 2,630/3,635 16,367

more inside

Pakistan makes it into WEF’s ‘Champions for Nature’ community world Bank approves $450m to support Pakistan’s transition to renewable energy

NEW CASES:

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

STORY ON PAGE 03

LAST UPDATED AT 8:18 AM ON SEPTEMBER 26 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

warmongering”, according to hindustan times. the indian delegate had also walked out while the premier’s pre-recorded uNGa speech was aired. in a rebuttal to the indian statement, the Pakistan representative said that the indian reply was “another shameful attempt to deflect attention away from the real issues” and that it was, in fact, india that was the “mothership” of terrorism, using it against each of its neighbours, its own people as well as the kashmiris. india’s accusations were a “shameful” attempt to deflect attention from the real issues, he said, adding that it will not escape accountability for its crimes. as india’s descent into a fascist state accelerates, the Pakistani delegate said the projections made by the Pakistani prime minister last year regarding an imminent disaster fuelled by rss (rashtriya swayamsevak sangh) policies are being confirmed.

STORY ON PAGE 09

NEWS DESK at least 13 people were killed and several others injured when a passenger van overturned and caught fire on the karachi-hyderabad Motorway (M-9) in the jurisdiction of Nooriabad police station on saturday night. the vehicle was carrying at least 20 people when it met the accident near the Lucky Cement factory located on the route. out of the seven survivors, five were shifted to hospital, additional iG Motorway Police dr aftab Pathan said. he said six of the bodies had

been retrieved, while the survivors included the van driver and a child. the bodies could not be immediately identified.

Nooriabad deputy superintendent of Police Nazar deeshak said the van was on its way to karachi from hyderabad when the accident took place 63 kilometres from hyderabad. “the driver is said to have applied brakes after the bonnet of a car in front of him broke away and hit the van,” aiG Pathan said. according to dsP deeshak, the van overturned and caught fire after taking a number of turns and bouncing off the road. he

said the passengers' bodies were completely charred. edhi ambulances from karachi and edhi home rushed to the spot, as did fire tenders to extinguish the fire. the flow of vehicular traffic was suspended after the Motorway Police closed the hyderabad-karachi section of M-9. thousands of people lose their lives in traffic accidents across the country every year that are caused due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Crashes killing dozens of people are not uncommon.

PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry injured in attack by ‘unknown’ assailants STORY ON PAGE 02 in today’s issue

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02

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

NEWS

PM Khan's UnGa stance sets tUne for PaKistan's 'lawfare' aGainst india on KashMir: exPerts ISLAMABAD

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MIAN ABRAR

OP international law experts and Kashmiri activists believe that the legal points raised by Prime Minister Imran Khan during his second speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has opened a new opportunity to take up war crimes committed by Indian occupational forces at the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other legal forums and get them punished.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, the Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness Forum, told Pakistan Today that Prime Minister Khan’s intervention during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly was based on factual data on Kashmir. "In particular, his warning to the world powers has been shared by other world leaders in the past, like President Nelson Mandela, President Putin and President Bill Clinton and others," he said.

Fai said that Khan’s appeal to the UN to persuade India

to agree to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people "is the true reflection of the desire and wishes of the people of Kashmir". "The people of Kashmir have made it clear that no solution will stand unless it carries the stamp of genuineness and rests convincingly on the principle of right if self-determination," said Fai, a global Kashmiri diaspora leader.

Hassan Aslam Shad, Director Legal, CMS McKenna, one of the top 10 global international law firms, told this reporter that the PM has paved way for Pakistan's 'lawfare' against India.

"Lawfare is the use of law as a weapon of war. Lawfare is achieving the same or better results as warfare but without firing a bullet. PM Khan's speech was as brilliant reiteration of his UNGA address on 26 September 2019 where he opposed warfare and made a call for global peace. He has done the heavy lifting for us. Time for Pakistan is to up the ante through its lawfare," he asserted.

When asked to explain, Hassan Aslam, who is the first

person from the Muslim World to be offered paid internship for 6 months with the President of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, said that Khan's speech was a" brilliant narration of events".

"It gave a proper road map for Pakistan and prosperity of the Muslim Ummah. We now need to garner support of world community to refer an appropriately framed 'Kashmir Question' to ICJ for advisory opinion. We need to frame the question in a way that the right of self determination stands out as the remedy sought by Pakistan," he maintained.

Hassan argued that Pakistan needs to accede fully or partially to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and make fascist Modi & co liable for their International crimes against Kashmiris and the crime of aggression like Balakot attack committed in Feb. 2019 against Pakistan. "It is time for us is to move and move fast." "We have to submit dossiers of crimes committed by India in Pakistan through proxies e.g. Kulbhushan Jadhav. FATF is India's lawfare against Pakistan. After having passed the three FATF bills, Pakistan will be out of the gray list soon. It is

time for us to wage our own counter lawfare against India.

India is becoming a hub of terrorism (a major terrorist hub nabbed in Kerala) due to Modi's nefarious policies. It is time to up the ante and take India to task," he asserted.

He suggested Pakistan needs to use 'Brand Imran Khan' for soft power purposes across the globe.

"Khan's name resonates in the world. We need to leverage his brand and goodwill and use that to soften the world's stance towards Pakistan. Why wait any longer? Let's help him in achieving his aspirations for Pakistan which is to make it a global power house," he said.

"Develop Pakistan, in particular areas covering CPEC. I'm part of the Frontiers Corps South Balochistan Skills Development Program. We need to make the youth of Pakistan stand on their feet which will enable Pakistan to be fully independent and become the power house of the Muslim Ummah in line with PM Khan's aspiration," he said. Nasir Qadri, lawyer and head of Legal Forum for Kashmir, said that to alert the world community on the possible genocide and gravity of conflict in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Khan has proved to be the "humanitarian leader of world". "His stance on the war crimes, crime against humanity and pro-longed occupation of Kashmir are worth to be addressed by the UN Security Council to refer this dispute as advisory opinion to ICJ. Prime Minister's speech has one important element which enunciated prosecution of war criminals who have been involved in war crimes and other heinous crimes in occupied Kashmir," he said.

rasheed demands nawaz divulge details of ‘call with Modi’ Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday demanded that Pakistani Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif share the “agenda and number of calls” that he allegedly made to Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi from "outside Pakistan". Taking people by surprise by his allegation during a press conference in Lahore, Rasheed presented 'questions' that he said he wished the ex-premier would answer. “Why did you call the head of the enemy state India from outside Pakistan? Did you feel threatened that your calls were against national security and would be leaked?” he asked. “How much money did you spend in the 2013 elections and how much money did you receive through Saifur Rehman from Qatar? The nation should be taken into confidence on how much money he received from Qatar for the elections,” Rashid said. "And you (Nawaz) should also tell the nation who sent busses filled with attackers to target former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah," he added in his message to Nawaz. “Nawaz Sharif should tell who gave India the address to Ajmal Kasab,” Rasheed said, adding that Nawaz should come clean regarding the money he allegedly received from Osama bin Laden in the form of charity. Furthermore, the minister has also claimed that the PML-N planned the recent violence outside NAB’s Lahore office "in London". Moreover, Rasheed criticised the ex-premier for leaving the country under the guise of being terminally ill but being well enough to "make speeches against Pakistan’s national security and institutions". NEWS DESK

Balochistan to postpone reopening of schools as Covid infections rise

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid meets CPEC Authority Chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa at her office.

PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry injured in attack by ‘unknown’ assailants LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

toshakhana reference: naB broadens scope of investigation against nawaz ISLAMABAD: Country’s top anti-graft body has broadened the scope of its investigation against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana reference. Sources privy to the development relayed the national graft buster has sought details of the PML-N supremo’s bank accounts, vehicles, and properties from the relevant departments. The bureau wrote to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), the deputy commissioner of Lahore, excise and taxation department, and private banks for the purpose, they said. The corruption watchdog further asked the LDA to provide documents regarding 1,550-kanal land in Lahore, said to be owned by Sharif, besides seeking the record of a Mercedes and a Land Cruiser that he had been using from the excise and taxation department. On September 9, an accountability court had declared Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference.

Ex-PM Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani are named in the reference for allegedly obtaining luxury vehicles from the treasury by paying 15 per cent of the actual price. It is noteworthy that the court had indicted Zardari and Gillani in the case on the same date. STAFF REPORT

Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani on Saturday said that the provincial government will propose that primary schools in the province are reopened 15 days later as opposed to the scheduled date of September 30 in the upcoming National Command and Operation (NCOC) meeting as coronavirus cases are on the rise again. Earlier, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood had announced that primary schools in the country would be reopened pending a final review in the NCOC meeting on Sept 29. Shahwani expressed grave concern over the situation in Balochistan, saying that cases in the province had nearly tripled since August.

“Almost the same number of cases were reported in September as in May. That was around the time [Balochistan] saw a spike in cases. The flow of people in hospitals increased and we had to impose a lockdown. It was a hard experience,” he said, adding that statistics show an increase in numbers as winter approaches which, he said, was a cause for worry. Reminding of Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani’s warning of the risk of a second wave, Shahwani said, “The hospital flow has not increased yet but if it does, we may be heading towards the same situation as in May.” NEWS DESK

Former State Minister and leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Talal Chaudhry, has reportedly been attacked by unknown individuals and is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lahore.

Sources informed Pakistan Today informed that on September 23, Chaudhry was on his way to Madina Town from his home in Faisalabad when unidentified individuals stopped his vehicle and physically tortured him, leading to severe injuries to his left shoulder and other parts of the body.

According to further details, the former minister was shifted Lahore’s National Hospital due to non-availability of experienced orthopedic doctor in Faisalabad, and he is expected to be discharged in the next two days.

It is pertinent to mention here that there have been rumors circulating about the attack on Talal Chaudhry with different versions. Some reports alleged that there was an affair between Talal Chaudhry and another MNA of PML-N, Ayesha Rajab Ali, in which Talal was saddened by the disloyalty shown by the female MNA. Reports say that consequently, Talal tried to forcefully enter the house of

FORMER MINISTER DENIES REPORTS OF ATTACK BY FEMALE MNA’S BROTHERS Ayesha Rajab Ali and as a result, the former minister was beaten by the brothers of the female MNA. Meanwhile, a video of Talal Chaudhry's alleged quarrel has also come to light in which it can be seen that Chaudhry was saying that he was called here for a party meeting and that his phone was snatched. In the video, Chaudhry was clearly saying that his arm was broken and a senior police officer should be called as his phone had been snatched, and if the phone was recovered, everything would be clarified. Sources in the police department claimed that Chaudhry had called the police from Abdullah Garden Town, Faisalabad on September 23 at 3am seeking help and the police team had left immediately following the call. Meanwhile, Ayesha Rajab Ali also called police hotline and informed them of some suspicious individuals outside her house who were making her feel unsafe.

The police reached the spot shortly.

Police sources further said that by the time the police reached the spot, PML-N leader Irfan Noman and workers had also reached at the house of the MNA. A scuf-

fle had broke in which Chaudhry’s shoulder suffered an injury and both of his arms were fractured.

Police sources further added that Chaudhry and Ayesha had a good relationship in the past, which had turned into animosity after sometime.

According to Faisalabad police, the incident took place in front of the house of female MNA at 3pm on September 24.

Faisalabad CCPO said that no party had yet filed a complaint against the other.

Meanwhile, the Faisalabad Police, while releasing the initial report of the incident, said that there was a minor altercation between Talal and the female MNA but both sides have now reconciled and have decided not to take any legal action.

Interestingly, after the incident came to light, senior Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) leader and Special Assistant to Prime

Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill said that the incident of harassment of an honorable MNA by Talal Chaudhry was regrettable and that the government should take action against it for protection of women.

In his tweet, Gill said that Faisalabad Police should take immediate action and deploy police at the home of the female member of the National Assembly.

“This incident brings the real face of PML-N before the people. Talal Chaudhry is a close and reliable associate of Maryam Safdar. This act of Talal is shameful for Maryam Safdar and all PML-N. Even in the past, whether it is Khawaja Asif or Talal Chaudhry, they have been saying nasty words about women,” Gill tweeted.

On the other hand, condemning the attack, the brother of the female MNA clarified that he did not have any quarrel with Talal and they have a brotherly relationship with each other. Later, Chaudhry denied the reports of the alleged attack and said in a statement that the rumors circulating about the incident were not based on facts and he will issue a detailed statement on the incident in coming days.

He said that this incident had nothing to do with any female member of the National Assembly and the honor and dignity of all mothers, sisters and daughters should be taken care of. Chaudhry further condemned the politicisation of the incident, saying it was reprehensible for some government miscreants to politicise it.

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

NEWS

PakiStan MakeS it intO WeF’S ‘CHaMPiOnS FOr natUre’ COMMUnity ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE World Economic Forum (WEF) on Saturday added Pakistan in its global Champions for Nature community in recognition of the green policies introduced by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

Pakistan will now be part of “a community of leaders disrupting business-asusual to lead the way to a nature-positive global economy and halt nature loss by 2030”.

“This is indeed a remarkable achievement for the country for being invited to become a part of the body of the ‘Champions for Nature’ and receive the globally-recognised title at the upcoming

annual meeting of the World Economic Forum,” said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, a key linchpin behind the present government’s green agenda and policies.

He also took to Twitter to announce the news.

“Good news for Pakistan – [the country got] selected to be a global ChampionForNature by the WEF in global recognition of the Green policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan including 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, Green Stimulus, and Protected Areas Initiative,” the adviser wrote on Twitter.

While describing the philosophy of the World Economic Forum’s Champions for Nature title awarded to few top green leaders, Malik Amin said that

PPP’s Liza Mehdi served notice for ‘taking bribe to release bodies of Covid patients’ KARACHI TLTP

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Women Wing Saturday served a show-cause notice to its deputy secretary information Liza Mehdi over allegedly taking bribe for releasing the dead bodies of Covid-19 patients and defrauding a citizen for giving him employment by issuing a fake appointment letter. PPP deputy secretary information Liza Mehdi had been issued a show-cause notice by the president of political party’s women wing, Shahida Rehmani, and ordered to submit her response within three days. Mehdi is facing charges of taking bribe and misuse of power after registration of many complaints by citizens. The showcause notice reads that Rs250,000 for releasing the dead body of a Covid-19 patient, Jahangir, and Rs50,000 was forcedly received from Waris Muhammad Owais. Moreover, Mehdi also received Rs480,000 bribery from a citizen, Ahmed Jawaid, for assisting him to give a job and later handed over a fake appointment letter. It also read that many complaints are registered against Liza Mehdi as well which needs her written response to the president of the PPP Women Wing Karachi Division. It is pertinent to mention here that the show-cause notice was issued to Liza Mehdi on September 22 – 2020, however, she failed to submit her response within the given period. A case was also filed against Liza Mehdi and her husband Husnain Mehdi over defrauding citizens at Taimuria police station.

Champions for Nature is a community of leaders disrupting business-as-usual to lead the way to a nature-positive global economy and halt nature loss by 2030.

“Part of the Nature Action Agenda (NAA), the champions community of the WEF assembles leaders from the public and private sectors, civil society, academia, and activism – all playing complementary roles in a multi-stakeholder approach,” he explained.

“The invitation is a glaring recognition of the incumbent government’s globally-acclaimed green agenda and policies as a part of the PM Imran Khan’s vision for clean and green Pakistan and its contribution towards overall global ecological sustainability and biodiverse conservation and protection,” he added.

Malik Amin said that during his par-

ticipation as a country’s representative in the event, he would shed light on the PM Imran Khan’s initiatives for a clean and green Pakistan.

He added that the several flagship programmes and projects have been launched by the incumbent government such as the world’s largest afforestation programme of 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Clean Green Pakistan Programme, Protected Areas Initiative, Plastic-Free Pakistan Initiative, Recharge Pakistan Initiative as a part of the country’s efforts to achieve environmental sustainability and climate resilience through conservation and protection of the environment, forests and wildlife, wherein community and youth engagements are being given top priority.

Fawad likens Nawaz's 'language' to MQM's Altaf LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry Friday remarked that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif's language was similar to that of MQM founder Altaf Hussain.

The minister's comments came days after the PMLN supremo addressed the opposition's multi-party conference that established the Pakistan Democratic Movement to oust the incumbent government.

Addressing the media at the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), the federal minister claimed that Nawaz’s speech had disappointed PML-N workers."In my opinion, PML-N workers should register a case against Nawaz over such a controversial speech against the institutions of the country," Fawad said.

He further remarked that Pakistan Army was the most respectable institution of Pakistan, adding that Nawaz's clash with the institutions was a bid to protect his money stashed abroad. "He [Nawaz] has no link with democracy and he can only strike deals," Chaudhry said.

The federal minister claimed that the think tanks of the PML-N were about to conclude that a change of leadership had become inevitable.

Fawad said that Nawaz Sharif wanted to know why the institutions did not help him to protect his looted money.

To a question, the minister responded that each op-

position party had been part of different dictatorial rules, except for Imran Khan, who had never been a part of martial-law.

A Bright Future The federal minister stated that Pakistan was among the countries that had a clear bright future, adding that soon all medical equipment would be manufactured locally.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC), under which the ministry is going to establish a medical-industrial unit which will be set up at Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad, he said.

In this unit, various production plants of medical equipment would be established, and investors were also in contact with the ministry for the purpose.

The minister said that when the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed, Pakistan did not produce a single piece of coronavirus safety equipment, adding that now, Pakistan was in a position to export these items to other countries.

Speaking of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is likely to be prepared in 2021, he said that for vaccination, millions of needles were needed and the ministry will establish two plants for needle production to fulfil the requirement.

Chaudhry said that at least 1,100 ventilators are being produced in the country every month and that Pakistan was also working on local manufacturing of x-ray and dialysis machines.

03

Uzair Baloch indicted in SHO Civil Lines murder case KARACHI STAFF REPORT

An anti-terrorism court on Saturday framed charges against Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Baloch and other accused persons in murder case of SHO Civil Lines Police Fawad Khan. Uzair Baloch was produced before the court hearing in security of Rangers force. Zubair Baloch, Abdul Ghaffar Mama and other accused were also indicted in the case along with Uzair Baloch. Zakir alias Dada and Ramzan alias Ramzani have also been among the accused of the case. The ATC judge read out the charge-sheet to Uzair in the courtroom but he denied the charges and opted to contest them. The court, therefore, issued notices to the investigation officer and witnesses of the case to appear in court to record their statements.

“The accused had attacked a police party in the jurisdiction of Kalakot police station during the Lyari Operation in April 2012,” according to the FIR. SHO Civil Lines police station Fawad Khan was died in the attack, while three other policemen were injured in the ambush, police report said. Earlier during August this year Uzair and other accused persons were indicted in murder case of another gangster Arshad Pappu. Those charge-sheeted for the murder included Uzair Baloch, Shahjahan Baloch, former SHO Chand Niazi, Yousuf and other accused.

Sindh private schools allow parents to pay fees in installments NEWS DESK The private schools’ associations on Saturday announced concessions allowing fees to be paid in instalments keeping in view the economic difficulties brought on by the coronavirus. On the other hand, various private school associations have appealed to the parents to send their children with a mask, their own lunch and a water bottle which is not to be shared. Regarding other safety measures related to the reopening of schools which is scheduled for September 28, one association leader, Haider Ali, said that students would be tutored in shifts or on alternate days. Further, recess time and sports day has also been suspended until further notice while the school staff will wear masks at all times. Similarly, the school management will check the temperature of the students before they enter the school premises.

Earlier in the day, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani met the office bearers of a private schools’ association and instructed the latter to ensure that government-issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed. “Strict action will be taken against schools that violate the safety measures outlined. Our first priority is to save the children from this pandemic; there will be no compromise on their health,” Ghani warned. It may be mentioned here that all classes below the eighth grade in Sindh will resume on September 28.

PML-N facing political terrorism, says Ahsan Iqbal LAHORE INP

Lambasting the PTI government for “political terrorism” against the opposition, PML-N Secretary-General and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday described the speech delivered by Nawaz Sharif at the recently-held APC as a reflection of the party workers’ thinking and feelings.

Addressing a press conference, Iqbal said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was trying to arrest party president Shehbaz Sharif so that the November 15 elections for Gilgit-Baltistan Legisla-

tive Assembly could be rigged.

“Imran Ahmed Niazi won’t be allowed to repeat the 2018 playbook,” he said. “Efforts are being made, such as the planned arrest of Shehbaz in a fabricated NAB reference, to cripple the PML-N’s election campaign in Gilgit-Baltistan.”

The PTI government, he said, had also planned to rig the local government elections in Punjab.

He said the PTI won the2018 general elections by crippling the RTS system.

The recent passage of different legislations by the parliament was also a product of magic, the PML-N leader remarked.

Non-bailable arrest warrants issued against Malik Riaz’s son-in-law NEWS DESK An accountability court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Zain Malik, son-in-law of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, in a case pertaining to alleged illegal amalgamation of commercial land to the Bahria Town for a multi-storey building in Karachi. Former Karachi mayor and Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal, Zain Malik, former Karachi district coordination officer Fazlur Rehman, former executive district officer Iftikhar Qaimkhani and others are facing trial in the case.

On Saturday, the matter came up before the accountability court-III judge. Kamal and others appeared before the court on bail. However, Malik was absent.

His counsel informed the court that Malik was in the United Kingdom for treatment and an application had been filed with the request to record his statement from the UK and for the filing of any charge(s) to be framed against him, as had been done in the Park Lane reference

against former president Asif Ali Zardari.

However, the judge turned down the request and issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Malik. The investigation officer was directed to arrest and produce Malik before the court on the next date of hearing.

The judge deferred indictment of Kamal, Rehman and others in the case till Oct 9.

In June 2019, the court had admitted the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the then city mayor Mustafa Kamal, then DCO Rehman, then EDO Qaimkhani, then district officer Mumtaz Haider, then additional DO Syed Nishat Ali and then Clifton sub-registrar-II Nazir Zardari.

The reference also named five builders — Zain Malik, Mohammad Dawood, Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Rafiq — all associated with M/s DJ Builders and Developers.

According to the reference, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation in 1982 created 198 stalls/shops on

two amenity plots adjacent to the Kothari Parade for dislocated hawkers while four commercial plots, each measuring 255.55 sq yd, were also created in the locality.

It alleged that M/s DJ Builders purchased four commercial plots and 198 stalls of the hawkers. However, the two amenity plots were never transferred in the builder’s name. NAB further alleged that Zain Malik and others associated with M/s DJ Builders with connivance of the then Karachi mayor Kamal, DCO Rehman and others, unlawfully got transferred 102 stalls in favour of Bahria Town Private Limited through a conveyance deed without obtaining permission from the Karachi Development Authority.

The reference claimed the price of these stalls was shown in the registration deed as only Rs260 million whereas the market value was assessed at Rs2.155 billion and forced sale value was adjudged at Rs1.724bn.

The anti-graft watchdog claimed Malik was the sub-

An attempt was being made to turn Pakistan into a fascist state by using NAB, he said, adding that the country has been experiencing another form of jurisprudence – NAB jurisprudence – under which every law is being defined and fitted into the anti-graft body’s narrative, Ahsan remarked.

He questioned how the PPP and the PTI returned to power in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the PML-N was defeated in Punjab when it had transformed the province during the previous tenure.

“And even after that, Usman Buzdar-led government was imposed in the province by magic when the PML-N was clearly had more members,” he recalled. sequent beneficiary of the amalgamated plot, which was illegally transferred in the name of M/s Bahria Town with active connivance of the main beneficiary (DJ Builders and Developers) and the sub-registrar-II, Clifton. Earlier this month, the accountability court dismissed an acquittal application of Malik, who withdrew the same and informed the court that he might opt for a plea bargain with NAB. Defence counsel Amir Raza Naqvi said his client wanted to withdraw his acquittal application, which was filed under Section 265-K of the criminal procedure code (CrPC) read with Section 4(2)(b) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999.

He said Malik had already reached a settlement in three other cases with the NAB authorities, who had accepted his plea bargain. Subsequently, the relevant accountability court in Rawalpindi had also approved his plea bargain settlement with NAB in those matters, the counsel maintained.

Therefore, Naqvi said, he did not press the pending acquittal application of Malik and requested to withdraw the same, saying there was a possibility that his client might opt for a similar plea bargain with the NAB authorities in the present matter as well.

04

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

NEWS

SenAte body irKed over Poor mAintenAnCe of fAiSAL moSque, CAPitAL’S environment ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

ENATE Standing Committee on Climate Change on Saturday expressed displeasure over Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) officers’ lack of knowledge and naivety on issues pertaining to Faisal Mosque’s maintenance, deteriorating air quality index and issues of hygiene.

The development came during a committee meeting chaired by Senator Sitara Ayaz. The meeting was attended by Senator Samina Saeed, Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Kesho Bai,

Senator Faisal Javed, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Senator Muhammad Akram and senior officers from the Ministry for Climate Change along with all others concerned.

In addition to being briefed on issues pertaining to Faisal Mosque’s maintenance and cleanliness, the committee also took up matters related to Islamabad’s deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) and issues of hygiene and capacity at the landfill in Sector I-12.

While deliberating over Faisal Mosque’s garbage collection and cleanliness, the committee was informed that janitorial services are being outsourced to M/S Dani enterprises on a contract costing

‘Karachi’s issues put on back-burner after APC’ KARACHI

Rs13.80 million.

Members of the committee questioned CDA of the feasibility of such a deployment where no visible results have been seen and demanded that the contract be cancelled immediately.

Discussing the deterioration of AQI in the federal capital, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed was of the view that the air quality, despite its greenery, was worse than New Delhi and Beijing.

Taking up the matter of the old landfill site in Sector I-12, the committee showed grave concern regarding the conditions of hygiene in the area.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informed that the new landfill site

has not been regularised and therefore, dumping at the new site cannot begin.

“The new landfill site comes under the jurisdiction of the Forestry Department and hence a NOC from the Ministry of Climate Change is required for this purpose,” the EPA explained.

Inquired the reasons for these issues not being presented before earlier, the committee asserted that the blame game must end as accepting responsibility is the only way forward and summoned the CDA chairman, Islamabad mayor and EPA DG in the next meeting.

Further, the EPA has also been directed to submit all details regarding issues related to the agency in the next meeting.

CM Buzdar approves establishment of OPC South Punjab ISLAMABAD

TLTP

TLTP

Paksarzameen Party Chairman Mustafa Kamal said on Saturday that the problems of Karachi were the hot topic a few days ago but the situation has changed after the All Parties Conference (APC), “A bout of exchange of shelling has started after the APC,” Mustafa Kamal, a former mayor of Karachi, said in his statement. “As the city will receive another rainfall, a new drama will be staged.”He said the prime minister read a package of Rs1,100 billion and left the city, adding that no follow up was seen after the announcement. “Presently everyone has been engaged in saving or de-seating the government,” he said. “Everyone is only thinking to save his or her position without caring about the people.” He lamented the MQM’s demand of a new province to solve the issues, saying that the people have already rejected the party.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has approved in principle the establishment of Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) for South Punjab.

Punjab CM Usman Buzdar approved the decision to establish South Punjab OPC for providing relief to citizens of different areas. It has been decided to establish OPC Desks on all public facilitation centres of the provincial government.

The chief minister said that issues of overseas Pakistanis will be resolved on grassroots level after making the OPC Desks operational

across Punjab.

CM Buzdar approved amendments in OPC Act 2014 while chairing a session of the commission to review its performance.

The amendments in the Act will be approved by the provincial cabinet. Moreover, CM Buzdar also ordered advisory councils to immediately formulate rules and regulations.

He directed concerned authorities to include persons having a good reputation in the advisory councils besides appointment members in accordance with the law.

The participants of the meeting decided to forward matters related to the payment of allowances to

employees to the cabinet’s committee on finance and development.

It has been directed to present the case related to appointments on the vacant seats of the commission. Usman Buzdar ordered the commission to resolve all pending cases of overseas nationals at earliest.

He said that overseas nationals are the asset of Pakistan and their contributions to stabilise the national economy cannot be forgotten.

He vowed that the provincial government will ensure the protection of rights and assets belonging to the overseas Pakistanis.

Sindh CM inaugurates Rs456m Manora Beach Road KARACHI APP

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday inaugurated a sixkilometer Water Front Manora Beach Road constructed from Kakapir to Yjunction at the cost of Rs456.64 million.

He was accompanied by provincial ministers Shabir Bijarani, Syed Nasir Shah and Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, said a statement. Commander Karachi Vice Admiral Zahid Ilyas, Commander Naval Police Commodore Rizwan Ahmed, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Commissioner Karachi Sohail Rajput, DG KDA Asif Ikram, MNAs Qadir Patel, Shahida Rehmani, MPA Liaquat Askani and others were also present on the occasion.

Later, while talking to the media, the Sindh CM said that his government is committed to developing the infrastructure, drainage and sewerage system and mass transit in the city of Karachi on a priority basis.

Murad Ali Shah, replying to a question, said the work on the schemes under the Karachi package are underway, including those on which Sindh and federal governments were sharing the cost such as K-IV. Earlier, speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Manora Beach Road, the chief minister said, “I am proud to say that the first scheme of the newly created district of Kiamari is being launched today.”

He declared Kimari as a model district in Karachi division.

He also announced the construction of a road from Gulbai to Hawks Bay and vowed to resolve the issues of water, sanitation and infrastructure of the new district.

Talking about the Manora Road scheme, he said that the project was a part of an overall scheme for improvement of water front development to be made available for the public of Karachi. “At present, the Manora beach is under utilization, there is very low volume of visitors due to paucity of fa-

cilities like sitting spaces, dining area, rest rooms, shades and tidiness,” he said and added that the objective was to develop fundamental facilities and basic activities to get public attraction to Manora beach area and it would eventually increase visitors.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the main attraction of Karachi was its beaches and coastline which distinct Karachi from the rest of the country.

“Due to dearth of entertainment avenues, especially for middle and lower middle class, people rush to Clifton, sea view, hawks bay ad Sands pit for a long time,” he said and added that there was a dire need of some new developments to provide an area for public refreshment and the Manora Beach is a new addition to this list.

The chief minister pointed out that the waterfront development at Monra Beach project, apart from construction of road, has different components. They include Uplift of Manora Beach Segment-1 under which 15,200 square feet is being developed with pigmented concrete pavers, design feature wall with static and digital display, light bollards and hard and soft landscape. The work is in progress.

Segment- 2 is a parking area. It would be 6000 square meters being developed with pigmented cement concrete pavers and fair boundary wall.

Segment-3 is a sea front development under which 8.75 acres of area is being developed with an entrance gate.

It would have pigmented cement concrete paved walkways, sitting steps, waterfront gazebos, orchid design, composite sitting benches with plants, kids play zone, kiosks/shops and restrooms.

DG KDA Asif ikram briefing the chief minister about progress of the work said that out of total 8.75 acres development area, 1800 into 134 meters located on the sea front was being developed first before the high tide season starting from March 31. He added that the RCC Sea front structure has been completed and beautification works

Large number of dead fish wash Karachi’s Seaview beach A large number of dead fish have washed up the Seaview Beach of the port city and the stench in the area driving people away from the beach. The sources disclosed that people used to visit the beach said they were unable to bear the foul smell in the area. Hundreds of dead fish is said to be littering the shore. Time and again the media reports about dead fish found in large number littered in the beach areas of Karachi. “This seemingly strange occurrence of dead fish littered at beaches was not because of some environmental pollution related issue,” WWF-Pakistan’s technical adviser on marine fisheries, Moazzam Khan said. “These water species reach to beach on a large scale due to change in water flow in the post monsoon period”, the WWF-Pakistan expert said. “If it was caused by pollution other types of marine life also likely to be seen littered among the fish”. “The fish having habitat at the edge of the sea move to the beach due to shortage of oxygen,” Moazzim Khan added. NEWS DESK

Sukkur Police foils wheat smuggling attempt SUKKUR: Sukkar Police on Saturday foiled a bid to smuggle wheat from Sindh to Punjab, taking six trailers carrying the cargo in its custody.

Sangi police station personnel foiled a bid of smuggling of thousands of maund wheat to Punjab last night and ceased six trailers carrying the cargo, SHO Sanaullah said. “The trailers with wheat cargo have been handed over to the food department,” he added. “The government of Sindh has imposed a ban over the transfer of wheat to other provinces but the food department staff facilitates the movement after getting gratifications,” local sources alleged. STAFF REPORT

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

NEWS

05

KArAchI reAl-eSTATe ProjecTS To cArry Qr codeS To IdeNTIfy IllegAl coNSTrUcTIoNS KARACHI

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STAFF REPORT

NDER-construction residential and commercial buildings in Karachi will now display a board carrying a Quick Response (QR) code, enabling the citizens concerned to quickly determine the legal status of upcoming projects in the city using their smartphones.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Saturday told the concerned real estate developers in the city to ensure this arrangement for all their upcoming projects in the city during his meeting with a delegation of their representative association, Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD).

The direction of the Sindh CM came in the backdrop of illegally constructed, multi-storied residential-cumcommercial buildings in Karachi having emerged as one of the major civic problems in the city. In the recent past,

Internet services disrupted by downtime at Microsoft’s Singapore data centre: PTA NEWS DESK Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday clarified that the recent disruption in internet services was caused due to latency issues on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services due to downtime at one of Azure’s data centres in Singapore. “All internet traffic was diverted to Scotland resulting in increased congestion,” the PTA clarified in the statement. PTA’s clarification came after Profit reported on Thursday that internet users across the country were facing connectivity issues caused by an unannounced blockage by the PTA. The regulator had also denied earlier that the outage was effected by the authority. “Moreover, Amazon Web Services have also observed a lag on far end i.e. India since the last three days,” the PTA said today, further clarifying that the regulator had not blocked any VPNs. “With regards to the game PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) and the connectivity difficulties experienced by players, as per PUBG Support, major upgrades were made by them from 23rd – 24th September 2020 resulting in downtime. The aforementioned reasons contributed to the internet connectivity issues faced by some users,” the PTA statement issued today read. Internet traffic has since then resumed to normal, it added.

some of these buildings accidentally collapsed resulting in loss of lives and injuries to people.

Illegal buildings also cause vehicular parking, sewerage, drainage, water supply, and waste disposal problems in Karachi.

The CM said that opined that illegally constructed buildings had emerged as a major civic problem in Karachi and that the government was going to take stern action against it.

Murad Ali Shah asked the ABAD delegation to get the QR codes issued for their upcoming residential buildings from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to show that their upcoming real-estate ventures were properly authorised by the SBCA. The chief minister further said that installation of the boards having a QR code by the new real-estate projects would also be helpful for his government to know the legal status of any new building being built in the city to quickly take action against unauthorised constructions.

The chief minister further asked the SBCA officials to make arrangements to issue similar QR codes for the existing buildings so that the general public could also know about their legal status. The ABAD delegation offered to the CM to join hands with his government to build low-cost housing projects for the deprived sections of the society under the public-private partnership mode of development.

CM Shah accepted the offer and asked the local government department of his government to prepare a summary on basis of the ABAD’s proposal for its approval by the provincial cabinet. He said that the procedure of getting approval from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency for new building projects would be simplified to facilitate the concerned developers.

The chief minister further assured the delegation that his government would resolve all legitimate problems of the concerned builders swiftly to promote construction activity in Karachi.

‘Kashmir is not part of India, never was and never will be’ continued on page 01 He highlighted the example of “Shaheen Bagh”, the Muslim majority area of new delhi, where protesters took to the streets in February against discriminatory laws. countless Muslims were killed, their homes burned and their property looted, all with the complicity of the indian State. “the charred streets of delhi not only exposed the Hindutva ideology in all its ‘intolerant glory’; they also manifested the trusted method that the Hindu extremists have resorted to – from gujarat in 2002 to delhi in 2020, to address the ‘Muslim menace’…”, the pakistani delegate said.

“Just like the victims of gujarat, the victims of delhi will no doubt search in vain for justice in this new bastion of fascism.”

“Meanwhile, the perpetrators of these crimes will continue to enjoy impunity and will be encouraged to spill more Muslim blood to further consolidate their hold on power; and to eliminate all vestiges of india’s islamic heritage; by destroying its grand mosques and monuments like they did with the Babri mosque;

and attempt to change india’s history by obliterating the thousand years of Muslim civilisation and culture.” “the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory. as decreed by the Security council, the final disposition of the state ‘will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the united nations’.” about india’s involvement in terrorism, he said it had hired and organised criminal groups located across pakistan’ Western border to conduct terrorist attacks pakistan, especially to disrupt the development of Western and Southern pakistan. “commander Kulbhushan Yadav, an indian intelligence agent, captured by pakistan, has confessed that he was organising and supporting these criminal groups to perpetrate terrorism in pakistan.” pakistan and the entire region faces Hindutva terrorism, he said, pointing out that the BJp-RSS extremists continue to espouse the fiction of “akhand Bharat” – a ‘unified’ subcontinent domi-

nated by the Hindu religion, where minorities either convert to Hinduism or become second class citizens.

Like all oppressors, chheena said, india continues to believe that it can subdue the legitimate Kashmiri resistance through brute force, its strategy of occupation and oppression.

“Kashmir will be free one day,” he said, adding that the Kashmiris were not alone in their just struggle as the people of pakistan, and those in the islamic world and elsewhere were with them.

BAJWA COMMENDS PM’s SPEECH: Meanwhile, Special assistant to prime Minister (SapM) on information and Broadcasting Lt. gen (r) asim Saleem Bajwa hailed the premier’s speech at unga saying it made every pakistani proud and truly represented.

Reacting over pM’s virtual speech at unga, Bajwa said in his tweet that the pM’s clear stand on Kashmir and regional peace was worth appreciating.

“His pledge to lift our masses out of poverty, stern warning to india on any misadventure and much more was worth appreciating,” he added.

Wilmar Int’l invests Rs701m in Pakistan’s Unity Foods, increases shareholding to 23.47pc LAHORE TAIMOOR HASSAN

Wilmar Pakistan Holdings (WPH) Private Limited, a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Wilmar International, has subscribed for some 70.2 million ordinary shares in Unity Foods Limited (UFL) for a total of Rs701.55 million in cash, increasing Wilmar International’s shareholding in UFL to approximately 23.47 per cent.

The subscription by Wilmar Pakistan was made in connection with a rights issue exercise undertaken by Unity Foods at the price of Rs10 per rights share at the ratio of 82.71 rights shares for every 100 shares held by the shareholders of Unity Foods (“UFL Rights Issue”).

“Under the applicable laws in Pakistan, if there were unsubscribed rights shares at the expiry of the subscription/payment date, the Board of Directors of Unity Foods has the discretion to offer such unsubscribed rights shares to any person for subscription,” the announcement said.

Pursuant to the above, Wilmar Pakistan Holdings had applied to subscribe for up to 213,269,339 rights shares in the UFL Rights Issue and was offered 70,155,000 rights shares for subscription, which it has accepted and paid.

Payment for the subscription by WPH was funded from the Wilmar International’s internal funds, the company said, adding that the subscription is not expected to have a material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets and earnings per share of the Wilmar Group for the current financial year ending 31 December 2020.

Earlier in July, Unity Wilmar Agro (UWA), an indirect 52%-owned subsidiary of Wilmar International, had increased its total shareholding in the Unity Foods

CMYK

to 163.2 million ordinary shares from 59.9 million ordinary shares, for cash consideration of Rs1.03 billion to increase its ownership in Unity Foods by 18.98 per cent to around 30 per cent.

The statement by the company further clarified that UWA did not subscribe for any rights shares in the UFL Rights Issue exercise, and Unity Wilmar Agro continues to own 163,165,877 ordinary shares in Unity Foods representing approximately 16.41% shareholding interest in Unity Foods’ enlarged share capital after the UFL Rights Issue.

Previously, the UWA held 11.01 per cent stake in Unity Foods which it had acquired in May 2019 equivalent to 59,905,187 shares of the company.

Accordingly, Wilmar’s resultant deemed shareholding interest in Unity Foods, held via UWA and WPH, is 233,320,877 ordinary shares representing approximately 23.47 per cent shareholding interest in Unity Foods.

Unity Foods Limited entered the edible oil industry three years ago. It specialises in edible oil, speciality fats and animal feeds. The company had a stellar financial performance in 2019 with revenue growing 407 per cent to Rs14 billion, from Rs2.8 billion in the fiscal year 2018.

When the company entered the edible oil industry, it had a refining capacity of 54,000 metric tons per annum; it now has a refining capacity to 234,000 ton per year.

In February 2019, Unity Foods had raised Rs3.75 billion from the equity markets to fund expansion. Similarly, the company had raised Rs1.65 billion in June 2017 from a rights share issue to finance the purchase of a solvent extraction plant, an oil refinery and other ancillary assets and purchase of land and office building.

India's vaccine capacity will help 'all humanity', Modi tells UN India as the world's biggest vaccine maker will use its resources “for all humanity” in the battle against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the United Nations on Saturday. In his address to the virtual UN General Assembly, Modi made no direct mention of climate change or of India's current border tussle with China following a clash in June when 20 Indian troops died, however. “As the largest vaccine producing country of the world ... India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis,” Modi said. “India will also help all the countries in enhancing their cold chain and storage capacities for the delivery of the vaccines,” he said. On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had insisted in his speech to the UN that any nation that develops a Covid-19 vaccine share it universally. Morrison made the strongly worded appeal as the United States resists global efforts to collaborate on a vaccine. “This is a global responsibility and it's a moral responsibility for a vaccine to be shared far and wide,” Morrison had said. Modi also steered clear of directly mentioning Pakistan despite Prime Minister Imran Khan having used his UN address to lambast India over occupied Kashmir and the New Delhi government's Hindu nationalist ideology. But Modi reiterated India's calls for reform of the UN and for the world's secondmost populous country to be given more influence in the global body. “Over the last eight to nine months, the whole world has been battling the pandemic of the coronavirus. Where is the United Nations in this joint fight against the pandemic? Where is its effective response?”

Modi said. India's 1.3 billion people “have been waiting for a long time for the process for the reforms of the United Nations to get completed”, Modi said. “Today, people of India are concerned whether this reform process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?” India together with Norway, Ireland and Mexico will become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for a two-year term beginning on January 1, 2021. AGENCIES

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

06 COMMENT

Of law and order

Mismanaging a crucial issue The curious working of the hybrid system

P

The law and order situation is unacceptable for a civilized society

rime minister imran Khan is unwilling to talk to the opposition, notwithstanding the negative consequences of the attitude for the country.

Consequently the COAS and DG iSi have held a briefing for the opposition leaders about the future status of Gilgit-Baltistan. The briefing was supposed to be confidential. Federal minister Sh rasheed made the opposition leaders’ visit to the GHQ public to create a perception that the opposition leaders pay secret visits to the GHQ despite their criticism of the Army’s role in politics.

The over 70-years-old policy of keeping GilgitBaltistan out of Pakistan’s constitutional jurisdiction was based on the premise that in case of a referendum promised by the UN in Kashmir, the votes of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan would go in favour of Pakistan. With the CPeC passing through the region, problems are likely to emerge if Gilgit-Baltistan’s status is left in limbo.

The best way to deal with the issue should have been for mr Khan to himself approach the opposition to discuss his government’s stand. He gave two reasons for not attending the meeting. First, he had no need to be present in a meeting on a security-related issue which implies that the Prime minister has no role in matters related to national security. Second, that he did not want to sit with the opposition leaders who always tried to blackmail the government to seek an NrO. The PTi government wants quick decisions on making Gilgit-Baltistan a province of the country and using the reforms to win the Gilgit-Baltistan elections due in November. Changing the status of GilgitBaltistan however requires a number of constitutional amendments which can only be made through national consensus. Speaker Asad Qaiser has called a meeting of the parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly tomorrow to discuss the issue. meanwhile PmL(N) spokesperson marriyum Aurangzeb has said the Speaker has no mandate to call the meeting. PmL(N) mNA Khurram Dastgir has called for a meeting of the Kashmir Committee where Foreign Office and Kashmir ministry officials should explain the implications of the proposed change in Gilgit-Baltistan’s status so that the move is not injurious to the Kashmiris’ demand for self-determination. instead of the differences on the issue getting resolved, mr Khan’s inflexibility has made them more complicated.

mohib asad

F

rOm the ancient time when human societies started to develop into coherent units to this day, it is agreed that no society can progress without peace, tranquility, and a social contract which ensures equality of justice among citizens. Over time, the concept of a ‘social contract’ emerged and eventually morphed into what we know today as written and unwritten constitutions. The history of the evolution of these codes is very interesting.

The origin of laws has been a fascinating conversation among students of jurisprudence. One theory is that laws emerged through an intangible agreement in society based on inborn conscience; another is the origin being in religion practiced by the priest-king; yet another is that all laws were the systems devised by the oligarchy which dominated the area at any given time; Plato promoted the ‘philosopher-king’ as the best law-giver; cultural and history are quoted as yet another source. The jury is out on finding the most logical explanation on how we arrived at legal codes. each hypothesis is prone to criticism.

Be that as it may, there are some common threads that are entwined in the system. For example, all laws are based on violence by the state. The four punishments for transgression of law are death, imprisonment, monetary fines, or enforced public service.

There is no fifth in this list. How efficiently the state awards these sanctions reflect in peace and tranquility in the public scene. This is also alternately called the ‘writ of the state’. in general parlance, the term ‘law and order’ is taken in the narrow portion of crime against the person, or property, whereas there are hundreds of local and special laws which are regulatory in nature but nevertheless vital to smooth living.

Take the laws relating to traffic, regulation of quality of medicine, food adulteration, smuggling of stuff subject to customs duties, etc, etc. there are scores of such laws. So murder, hurt, and theft are not the only acts: but in the general imagination law and order is confined to hard core ‘felony’. This is far from the truth. ‘Law and order’ is a much wider concept and embraces all aspects of societal behavior.

Delayed closure APS commission report highlights security lapses

She who must not be named?

i

T has taken almost two years for the Judicial Commission report on the APS (Army Public School) Peshawar massacre to be made public and it took some doing on part of the parents who lost their children on that fateful day. Although the Chief Justice of Pakistan at the time, mr Justice Saqib Nisar, four years after the horrific incident, in 2018 had constituted a commission to thoroughly probe the attack and submit a report within six weeks, it was only completed this past July. The report notes that serious security lapses and on-ground help to the terrorists allowed the attack to take place. it states that even though NACTA had issued timely warnings about the possibility of a terror attack against army families taking place in retaliation to Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber-1, an inadequate level of security was provided to both hard and soft targets. While it maintains that a ‘static’ first tier of security at the school was responsible, much of the responsibility to thwart the attack lay on ‘the shoulders of 11 Corps’. it goes on to define the incident as a spoiler that took a lot away from an otherwise valiant and successful antiterrorism operation attributable to the Army and security forces that rid the country of the most violent and deadly streak of terrorism it had witnessed. The report correctly points out how ‘no security apparatus can be effective if infidels have infiltrated the country from the inside’. This only goes to show how vulnerable the security situation in Pakistan is and how even the slightest slip up in the race to stay one step ahead of the enemy through vigilance and intelligence gathering can have disastrous consequences.

The delay in the completion of the report and its being made public does not make for good optics either, as it creates a perception that the findings are particularly damaging for the government and certain institutions and therefore are being kept secret. Now that it is finally out, it can perhaps provide some modicum of much-needed closure to the victims’ families. One hopes that CJP Gulzar Ahmed’s instructions to the AGP, to ‘ensure that the investigation starts at the top instead of interrogating the low-ranking officials’, are not ignored and are implemented expeditiously.

Why can’t mothers be named?

Rabia ahmed

A

CCOrDiNG to an Afghan Taliban spokesman in an interview with reuters, “mentioning the names of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters is not culturally tolerable in our society,” he said, claiming that from a religious point of view, taking the name of a woman is prohibited, that women cannot be mentioned by name.

The context of this curious statement was the question of having a space for a person’s mother on a national identity card, an idea that the Taliban clearly do not approve of.

Which religion is the above spokesperson speaking of? There is no such prohibition in islam. in a real islamic society every member is expected to respect other members, women in particular, and the last time one checked respect did not translate to incarceration, or making a woman ‘she who must not be named.’ if that were so, among other problems we would have had a hard time speaking of the female family members of people we hold special in history and benefitting from them. instead we refer to those women with reverence as Bibi Khadija, Bibi Ayesha and so on and learn from their achievements and character. it is obvious that for ultra-orthodox persons, women are synonymous with sex alone, and have no other role in life.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

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olent sexual offences, and subsequent murders. Anecdotal evidence reveals that what is reported is just the tip of the iceberg, and that the actual numbers may be a hundredfold more. The state, faced with this awful shame, goes in denial. All kind of weird explanations are easily touted. The media is being bribed by the opposition to create panic; the NGOs are acting as agents of enemies of the state; pornography on A good law and order situation presupposes that the social media is the culprit; the victim was careless all laws, whether major legislation or minor torts, are or downright stupid; rapists have supporters in the dealt with strictly according to the letter and spirit of police and political parties; and so on.

After a lull of a few years, terrorism is on the the law. This is important both for the individual citmarch again. Attacks on the izen’s security as well as the armed forces and the police economy of the state. As an exhave markedly increased. Politample take, the laws relating to ical and sectarian polarization hoarding of foodstuffs. The violation of these laws entails The people of Pakistan have is on fever pitch. Street crime is so rife that embassies have fines and forfeiture─ rarely imstarted to issue advisories to fully discharged their posed due to weakness in the citizens to exercise prucourt system. However, largesocietal responsibility. They their dence in public places. The fear scale hoarding of foodstuffs by of Covid19 was already pervadealers drives up the price, have agreed on the sive; now one fears going to a sometimes to the level where Constitution which has public park for a walk for fear the ordinary Joe is unable to put food on the table for his further created institutions of criminals slouching behind each bush. family. Joe, frustrated and The present state of law mandated to exercise angry, goes on the street and and order is unacceptable in a snatches a mobile from some control in various sectors. civilized society; even less so rich female, sells it for half its value to a waiting mobile shop, The four sectors which are in what our Constitution defines as an ’islamic state’. So, buys atta for his kitchen, and charged with ensuring who is responsible? in social hopes he goes free. See the philosophy, the answer is that it connection? peace, security, and is the entire nation─ all men There are hundreds of freedom to the individual and women who are legitimate such examples where weakcitizens of the state. That phinesses in the implementation are the legislature, the losophy further states that citiof any one law may result in secondary crime in another police, the courts, and the zens band together through a social contact and create instiarea; the resultant effect prisons. Clearly, one or tutions which discharge and enbeing a soft, crime-ridden, the communal desire to insecure society like we have more of these institutions sure promote life, liberty, and the today in Pakistan. Additionpursuit of happiness. has failed to deliver ally, in this country there is a The people of Pakistan widespread differential aphave fully discharged their soplication of law among the cietal responsibility. They have three broad social classes agreed on the Constitution (the rich, the middle classes, which has further created instiand the poor) and this is an anomaly widely practiced all over the world— the poor being sanc- tutions mandated to exercise control in various sectioned by the state, while the rich are cocooned. tors. The four sectors which are charged with in Pakistan, this is how we do all business. This ensuring peace, security, and freedom to the individual are the legislature, the police, the courts, and the is the cardinal sin.

From all accounts, informed or not informed, prisons. Clearly, one or more of these institutions has there is a general consensus that Pakistan is one of failed to deliver.

Subsequently, we will look at each separately. the most insecure countries for the citizen, and specially women and children. The last few years have Mohib Asad is a freelance columnist seen a steep rise in reporting in the occurrence of vi-

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in Saudi Arabia which, like Pakistan, is one of through the obstacle course.

You wonder why the fact of having a mother’s the countries where a national iD card is compulsory, and which as a country is oddly enough con- name on an identity card was so difficult to accept sidered by many to be the standard of correct since if anyone is entitled to it, it should be the perislamic conduct, only those women who are wid- son who has definitely produced the child. if one owed can register and update their children’s infor- thing is certain about a child’s lineage it is who his or her mother is, and this is not mation in the family an attempt at facetiousness, it documents. Otherwise the law is a simple biological fact. it is considers the father as head of of course not necessary to family, and only a father can have either parent’s name on deal with such documentation It is time that ultra-orthodox the card. as iD cards and birth certifiidentity cards are not a cates. it is only when the fafactions in society must in all countries. They are ther dies that this authority devolves upon the mother. understood that life is more not, for example, in the United and Canada. instead, When some men fail to registhan the ‘s’ word. It is up to States everyone owns a birth certifiter or update their children’s information for a variety of the education we all receive cate, which is issued by the The States report this inreasons the mother cannot perto help everyone understand State. formation to the federal governform this duty. it is hardly a ment for the purpose of surprise then that in Saudi this fact. The absence of statistics. The information Arabia just three quarters of such an understanding sheds light on population births are registered. it might changes, childbirth trends, parwell be the same in Pakistan. makes not just for ent trends as well as maternal Afghanistan is one of those embarrassment, but for and fetal health. The names and countries where every Afghan addresses of both parents are adult over the age of 18 must suffering on the part of required on the form. possess and carry an iD card, it is time that ultra-orthocalled a Tazkira, the usual women and children and as dox factions in society undersmall plastic card with identifying information including the a result of this of the whole stood that life is more than the word. it is up to the educaowner’s name– even if it’s a of society. Women after all ‘s’ tion we all receive to help women– and a surname. are not just the ones who everyone understand this fact.

Three years ago a young absence of such an underwoman by the name of Laleh bear but they raise children The standing makes not just for emOsmani began her campaign to make a space for a mother’s too. Women’s abilities, their barrassment, but for suffering on the part of women and chilname on these identity cards. it minds and their well-being dren and as a result of this of is this that the Taliban spokesperthe whole of society. Women son above was referring to. deserve care and respect in after all are not just the ones it has been a struggle for the interest of us all who bear but they raise chilOsmani, and she had to face dren too. Women’s abilities, the usual threats and insults but their minds and their wellthis courageous young lady being deserve care and respect and her supporters came up in the interest of us all. with results. Just a few days Laleh Osmani deserves respect for her efforts toago an amendment was signed by the President of Afghanistan according to which it should be possible wards this goal. to allow the mother’s names on an identification card Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more and the birth certificate, as well as the father’s. One can only hope the amendment is able to make it by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

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Sunday, 27 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

Drug fiend DrUG addiction is one of the most horrifying and dangerous evils of the society. it hampers the country to be develop and destroys the future of youths. They want to be far away from the responsibilities and challenges of their lives. it is a real fact that the drug addicts lose their mental and physical balance if they take much of them, they always push themselves near to the death. They cannot work regularly at any place. Drug addicts always, wish to take money from others all the time but they are not in position to earn the money honestly.

Therefore, when they cannot have enough money to take more and more drugs. They go for crimes like robbery and pillage. The drug addicts are usually found begging on streets in a worst condition. The young people have grown frightfully thin along with sunken eyes, hollow checks and torn cloths. Drug addiction has become a serious issue in our country. it is government's responsibility to take serious action regarding this. it is also our duty to promote awareness among those people who are fallen victims to this social evil. Therefore, i request the government to build more rehabilitation centers to help the youth to fight this fatal habit.

SASSI M. ASSA TuRbAT

Politics of bankruptcy Romance by the night, tantrums by the light

Candid Corner Raoof hasan “The path of life is strewn with many perils and the folly of knowledge is one of the greatest dangers. Wisdom is a treacherous weapon, little master, for it is sundered from compassion. All too often the end of the journey gains more import than it should and the wise become blind to the road and the method of their passing.”

–Robin Jarvis: ‘Thomas’

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He multi-Party Conference (mPC), held on September 20 in islamabad, brought together a variety of people, all smitten by the hate-imran bug to intense degrees. Hidden behind the facade of congeniality were sharp differences with regard to both the objectives of the huddle and the methods for achieving them.

On the one extreme was Fazl-ur-rehman insisting on the need for tendering resignations from the assemblies and dissolving the Sindh Assembly, thus building pressure on the government to hold fresh elections. The two mainstream political parties, the PmL(N) and the PPP, would have none of that, and were instead advocating a more pragmatic way to move forward. Notwithstanding the demands outlined in the final declaration, the conference decidedly reflected the absolute bankruptcy of the opposition politics. Whatever they included in the resolution issued at the conclusion of the mPC gave one an impression that most of them may have lost their memory. Asif Zardari is on record for having claimed suffering from dementia to escape punishment. The rest may also have been infected with the ailment.

According to convict-absconder Nawaz Sharif, elections have always been rigged in the country. His outpourings were a scathing and venomous criticism of the military, holding the institution responsible for just about every ill which has ever struck the country. if i may ask, where does this convict-absconder come from?

Who made him the finance minister of Punjab in 1982, chief minister of Punjab in 1985 and 1988, and then prime minister of the country on three separate occasions? Has he forgotten his mentors and benefactors, Generals Jilani and Zia ul Haq, potty-training him through various stages of assimilating the vile tricks of the trade which he later practised to their damndest worst?

Next he blamed the judiciary. He should because he is used to working with judges who take dictation over the phone. He always manoeuvred to purchase their loyalty by sending cash-filled briefcases their way so that they could then be used to subdue the judiciary. Any

remnants of resistance were dealt with by as- government and for virtually all that is wrong with saulting the institution into submission. The this country. What would you call this attitude: rofrustration that he is not able to do so any longer mance by the night, tantrums by the light? Quite may have prompted him to issue the indictment. earnestly, it is this character which has brought the Then he dubbed NAB as ‘stink’ and asked country to its current sorry state. Let me repeat for its abolition. Lest he forget, it is the same what i wrote a couple of weeks ago: “if an opporNAB that, during his tenure as prime minister, he tunity were offered to any of these political leaders used treacherously against his political oppo- even now to ascend the citadel of power for a nents, including the party that hosted the mPC. price, they would kowtow to lick their (military’s) He lives by employing inconceivable criminal feet to grab it. The ‘khalai makhlooq’ would intactics when he is in power only to accuse others stantly transform into the new-found benefactors”. it has now emerged that some other memof transgressions when he is out. There were three different groups that emerged from the mPC. The bers of the PmL(N) have also been meeting the first is the desperate one, insisting on burning the military high command to secure reprieve for boats. This group is led by Fazl-ur-rehman who convict-absconder Nawaz Sharif and maryam has the least stakes in the sitting assemblies. Then Safdar. When the PmL(N) went into a denial is the group of convict-absconder Nawaz Sharif mode, the military spokesperson, in a television who knows that his days in politics may be over, interaction, personally confirmed two such but cannot overcome the hallucinations of his meetings that mohammad Zubair had with the grandiose days of power. The pragmatic group is COAS in the recent past. Sheikh rashid has claimed that Bilawal led by the Zardari clan.

Zardari and Fazl-urThough critical, its stalrehman also had onewarts managed to couch on-ones with the COAS. their comments, machieven graver than the avellian-style, in lanOne thing is now established politics of bankruptcy is guage that will be readily retracted. Together, the beyond a shadow of doubt that the bankruptcy of ethics and morality that all parthree groups made a convict-absconder Nawaz ties of the recentlymadding crowd of sorts.

Pakistan But there is a cardinal Sharif was never as sick as he launched ailment that binds them and his cohorts made it look Democratic movement (PDm) are afflicted with. together: the ailment of to be. True to the (lack of) This, in fact, defines their hypocrisy. Just a few days brand of politics which is before the holding of the character that he has singularly focused on mPC, some leaders of podemonstrated throughout his saving their illicit billitical parties had met the Chief of Army Staff political career, he used all his lions stashed here and in foreign lands which the (COAS) to discuss variresources and trickery to government is deterous matters with him, political and others. The DG escape the dragnet of justice. mined to retrieve for the This is why there iSi was also present in the Whether the government is state. can be no compromise meeting. Shahbaz Sharif, Khawaja Asif and Ahsan able to bring him back to face with the opposition and all their overtures to the iqbal were there from the the law remains a matter of government in this conPmL(N) side. Fazl-urrehman’s son represented conjecture. But, since he is an text have been rejected. current desperation him. Sheikh rashid was established convict, and the isTheindicative of their failthere, as was Bilawal Zardari with a couple of court has also declared him an ure in nudging the Prime minister to strike an illhangers-on. They were given a briefing by the absconder, the UK government intentioned compromise.

One thing is now esCOAS about the delicate would be under immense tablished beyond a security situation and the pressure not to deal with him shadow of doubt that challenges Pakistan was facing. Gilgit-Baltistan’s the way they dealt with the c o n v i c t - a b s c o n d e r Nawaz Sharif was never future was also discussed likes of Altaf Hussain and his as sick as he and his coin terms of its incorporahorts made it look to be. tion as a separate terrorist gang True to the (lack of) province of Pakistan. character that he has When the matter regarddemonstrated throughing the legitimacy of elecout his political career, tions was raised, Fazl-ur-rehman’s son was told to ask his father he used all his resources and trickery to escape why he had sought votes from the same assemblies the dragnet of justice. Whether the government is able to bring him back to face the law remains as a candidate for the office of the President.

The message from the military was clear and a matter of conjecture. But, since he is an estabcandid: “don’t drag us into politics”. The mili- lished convict, and the court has also declared tary will follow the elected government’s orders him an absconder, the UK government would be and had nothing to do with institutions like the under immense pressure not to deal with him the NAB and the election Commission. electoral way they dealt with the likes of Altaf Hussain reforms and other legislation fell within the do- and his terrorist gang. main of the elected government and the military The writer is a political and security stratewould not interfere in these matters.

Less than a week after this meeting with the gist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – Army Chief in the thick of the night, the parties of an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: Twitter: the opposition went on a confrontation course, raoofhasan@hotmail.com. blaming the military for protecting the existent @RaoofHasan

Wave two THe latest study by Pakistan's leading blood diseases institute suggests there is a slim chance of a second wave of the novel coronavirus here, further strengthening the government's policy of reopening of businesses.

The study conducted to assess antibodies levels in diverse a group of residents to comprehend prevalence in the community, revealed that 36% of the workforce of Karachi, the country’s largest city and commercial capital, have already developed immunity against the COViD-19.

This study has been instigated to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-SArS-CoV-2 antibodies in different healthcare and community population from Karachi and with the aim of assessing the importance of seroprevalence in these groups.

Thanking you, SyEd AMAn, KARAcHI .

Education for women A woman plays a vital role in the society. An educated woman can be conversant with her duties as a citizen of a nation. An educated woman can contribute much in the growth of her nation. moreover, woman with the support of education can perform a matchless role as a mother, sister, daughter, wife and more importantly as a citizen. educated women have the potential to boost up the economy of a nation by their positive contributions.But dishearteningly, the women population in our country is mostly deprived from education in the name of culture and religion. According to people islam does not allow women to step out of the house for anything. Likely, the women in our country remain uneducated. However, Allah the almighty mentions clearly in Quran," This is the duty of every muslim man and woman to acquire knowledge and educate." Thus, the mentioned reference from holy Quran proves that the rampant wrong concept in the name of religion, about women education, is totally wrong. So, as being a muslim country Pakistan must motivate it's female citizens to get education. There is immense need of spreading awareness about women education in the country. duRdAnA nooR TuRbAT

LOC conflict THe Line of Control (LOC) unprovoked firings have victimized innocent people alot. in a statement , the iSPr said that indian army troops resorted to firings in to Dewa sector in Neelum valley with heavy weapons . However, the indian troops have continuous shots on LOC . So absolutely Pak army has been active for this reaction. As many times this issue was proceeded and that is common too . And it is true that there is conflict between Pakistan and india for the issue of Kashimir's independence struggle. And Pakistan and india both violates ceasefire . Beside we see humanity's deaths laying there and are rarely injured as well . And there has been 2,333 ceasefire violation by indian troops in 2020 . Therefore i request the Pm of Pakistan to carry on this serious issue of india and Pakistan violation acts that should not last anymore. name: barkatullah Address: Turbat

HIV in Pakistan HUmAN immunodeficiency Virus(HiV) is a hazardous virus which destroy the immune system and cause AiDS. Noticeably,this virus is caused by using needless syringe and sexual contact. The common symptoms of this virus are sudden weight loss,jaundice,persistent cough,flu,night sweat and pneumonia which are commonly called fatal diseases. However, Pakistan has a large number of HiV patients included, men, women and children .Approximately, Pakistan has 160,000 adults living with HiV among whom 48,000 are girls of 15 to 25 years who have been involved in sexual contacts directly and indirectly. Furthermore, The country has an estimated population of 52,400 of transgender who have an HiV rate of 5.5 percent.

Not only this,according to a report,900 children in Pakistan are currently suffering from AiDS who are sexually harassed which shows how our society is ignorant. in addition, recently,1,200 masses from Sindh and 45,000 people from KPK have been affected by HiV. The virus captured over all the country,but the concerned authorities are just watching the show without taking any action.even,the hospitals have no space for infected patients.

By the way, i just want to ask to government of Pakistan that Can't we have such a scientist who can invent an appropriate antidote against this dangerous virus?

AbIdA dILJAn TuRbAT

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

Just ahead of the election, PomPeo is Pressuring iraq’s leader and raising tensions with iran “THE DECISION TO CLOSE THE EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD IS IN PRESIDENT TRUMP’S HANDS AND IS READY. … IF OUR FORCES WITHDRAW AND THE EMBASSY IS CLOSED IN THIS WAY, WE WILL LIQUIDATE ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THESE ATTACKS”

WAsHIngton post

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DaviD ignatius

ECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo privately warned Iraq this week that the United States would close its embassy in Baghdad if the Iraqi government doesn’t move to stop attacks by Iranian-backed militias on the American compound.

Pompeo’s demand creates a stark dilemma for Iraq’s new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who until now had been a Trump administration favourite. The

Iraqi leader wants to curb Iran’s proxy forces, but not at the cost of committing political suicide. If Pompeo follows through and closes the embassy to protect Americans, Iran and its allies might claim a major propaganda victory; but the closure could also be a prelude to heavy U.S. airstrikes against the militias.

Iraq is the place where a U.S.-Iran confrontation could explode in the next few weeks, creating an “October surprise” before the U.S. presidential election. Iran has been cautious about directly provoking the Trump administration in this campaign season, preferring to operate in the deniable battlespace of Iraq. Pompeo has now made that covert campaign more difficult, but in the process has increased the possibility of open conflict.

The Iraq standoff poses potential dangers in every direction: If attacks by Iranian-backed militias kill Americans, the Trump administration will likely counterat-

tack. If Kadhimi strikes at the Shiite militias, as Pompeo demands, Iran could punch back hard, and his fragile regime could implode. Pompeo wants to stiffen Kadhami’s backbone, but presumably not to the breaking point.

“We believe that Kadhimi wants to do the right thing, but he’ll have to do more and faster. We won’t be sitting ducks,” a senior State Department official said in an interview Friday. The official said there is an “obvious risk to American life if these attacks continue.”

Violence by Iranian-backed militias has been escalating in recent weeks, despite Kadhimi’s promises of a crackdown. So far this month alone, there have been 25 attacks on convoys carrying supplies to U.S. or coalition facilities, on the Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy is located, or on the Baghdad airport, according to a compilation by Iraq analyst Joel Wing. Last month, he

Journalism is not a crime – protecting a free press is vital for us all

counted 24 such attacks.

An encouraging call for greater protection of embassies came Friday when the influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical nationalist who sometimes resists Iranian pressure, proposed the creation of a committee “to investigate the security violations that the diplomatic missions … are being subjected to in a way that is detrimental to Iraq’s reputation in the international arena.”

Kadhimi immediately endorsed Sadr’s proposal, tweeting: “We affirm that the hand of law is above the hand of those who break it. … The outlawed weapon has no place in Iraq.”

Pompeo’s pressure campaign began with a call Sunday to Iraqi President Barham Salih, according to Iraqi24, a Baghdad news site. The Iraqi news account said Pompeo had warned: “The decision to close the embassy in Baghdad is in President Trump’s hands and is ready. … If our forces withdraw

Why India needs to re-look at messy drug laws, and not go for ‘Bollywood clean-up’ tHepRInt teAM

VIOLATIONS OF JOURNALISTIC FREEDOM ARE SADLY BECOMING MORE COMMONPLACE, INCLUDING IN AMERICA AND BRITAIN. GROWING HOSTILITY TO THE PRESS IS A THREAT TO EVERYONE Independent The Independent launches a campaign to protect journalism, under attack as perhaps never before: Journalism Is Not a Crime.We are moved to do so most urgently by the recent experience of our correspondent, Andrew Buncombe. Reporting on the Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle and posing no threat to anyone, nor breaking any law, he was summarily detained with some brutality by the police. He’s now been released.

It is not so unusual, it seems, these days to see press freedom eroded. Some broadcast journalists have been filmed being interrupted and detained even as they were on camera. Amnesty International say there have been at least 60 reported arrests of journalists covering these protests in the US and some may face prosecution and jail sentences.

This kind of thing is only supposed to happen in dictatorships. We are not so surprised when media organisations are attacked in Hong Kong, say, or parts of the Middle East, or when correspondents are assassinated in war zones, as was so tragically the case when Marie Colvin was killed during the siege of Homs in Syria.

The world was rightly shocked when the writer Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by the Saudis, and he was hardly the first dissident or critic of the regime to be so treated. The Independent’s foreign and war correspondents have often found themselves in the line of fire. Andrew himself has been detained arbitrarily in Cuba and shot by police during riots in Thailand.

Indeed, at least 500 journalists have lost their lives worldwide in the last decade.

Rather than a press card or media flak jacket offering some protection, the modern way is deliberately to target journalists, most despicably as Isis did during their grisly short-lived caliphate.Yet what is, in its way, more disturbing, now, is when journalists are prevented from doing their jobs, treated as criminals on jumped up charges, in supposedly free societies such as the United States. The first amendment, after all, offers the constitutional basis for free expression and a press fair and free.

What we see today is how often the human rights of many, reporters included, seem to be casually disregarded by American police forces that are granted extraordinary immunities from prosecution. A certain institutional ethos has developed that the police

are above the law, and have so little to fear from press scrutiny that they can lock journalists up with impunity. It is not healthy for a police officer to treat justice and the tradition of habeas corpus as dispensable, mere inconveniences to clearing the streets.

The rise of authoritarian nationalist politicians has made things far worse, in America and elsewhere. The “mainstream media” are portrayed as part of some evil conspiracy against the people. When the population is pounded with the message that they are being fed “fake news” by “failing” unpatriotic titles, and when a president feels at liberty to mock a reporter with a disability, then there is something wrong, and there is bound to be growing hostility to legitimate journalism.

The phenomenon is not confined to the United States; the British government is presently waging a guerrilla war against the journalism produced by the BBC, using its funding as a way of coercing its political coverage. Earlier this year, journalists took a stand and walked out of a Downing Street briefing after the prime minister’s director of communications tried to restrict it to selected publications and broadcasters.

Around the world, from Poland to India, democratic societies are experiencing chilling attacks on press freedoms.But in the land of Woodward and Bernstein, of Martha Gellhorn, of Dan Rather, Barbara Walters and Walter Cronkite, of the Pulitzer Prize and Magnum, of Time magazine and The New Yorker, there is something deeply poignant and worrying about these new insidious trends. A nation that led the world in press freedom is now placing that freedom in jeopardy.

The other threat to free journalism, there is no doubt about it, is financial. Quality news gathering, investigations and analysis costs money, whether the organisation is local, national or global. It is increasingly difficult to make money from telling the truth. The digital revolution has vastly democratised news, spread journalism to new audiences (where, that is, it has not yet been blocked) and made citizens better informed, and perhaps more inquisitive about the world around them.

Yet that disruption has also upended traditional business models. The Independent, like many others, has to rely on its readers, subscribers and supporters to fund its work, dangerous as it sometimes is.

and the embassy is closed in this way, we will liquidate all those who have been proven to have been involved in these attacks,” according to a translation of the Arabic news article. Pompeo specifically named two Tehran-backed groups, Kataib Hezbollah and AsaibAhl al-Haq. Kadhimi, a former Iraqi intelligence chief, was welcomed by Trump at the White House last month. U.S. officials view him as the most promising Iraqi leader in years, in part because he’s not tied to any of Iraq’s corrupt, sectarian political parties and has tried to keep his distance from Tehran.

One Iraq analyst summed Kadhimi’s appeal to disgruntled Iraqis this way: “The Iraqi people are turning against Iran’s influence in Iraqi internal affairs, against the Iranbacked militias and the politicians who enable them, and against the rampant corruption that Iran’s influence promotes.”

The danger of Pompeo’s ultimatum is the same one that has plagued the United States since it invaded Iraq in 2003. Iran is near and plays a long game; America is far away and demands quick results. Iraq has shown us repeatedly that American military power is overwhelming but can’t dictate political outcomes. Direct threats that become public, like Pompeo’s, rarely work out as intended.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) summons to actors DeepikaPadukone, Sara Ali Khan and RakulPreet Singh, along with Rhea Chakraborty’s continued incarceration, have put the spotlight on India’s drug laws. ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta declutters India’s messy drug laws to explain why these actors are facing the narcotics body.

TARGETS OF NDPS ACT Gupta noted a study by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, which said most arrests in drugs cases in India are for personal consumption. The study showed 81,778 people in India were charged under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2018. Of these, 59 per cent were arrested for possession for personal use.

The same study also looked at the magistrates courts in Mumbai, where it found 10,669 cases. Of these cases, 99.9 per cent were for personal consumption, and 87 per cent of the total involved cannabis and not hard drugs like cocaine, heroin or smack.

Gupta highlighted that there’s an ongoing global debate on legalising cannabis. While some states in the US, and even several European countries, have legalised cannabis, there’s still a debate on the fact that criminalising cannabis has driven more people into jails. Studies in the US have found that the cost of rehabilitating people on cannabis is six times less than keeping them in jails.

According to a 2019 study, National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Abuse in India, by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, around three crore people are cannabis users in India.

“Jailing these three crore people will completely break the legal system,” said Gupta. The debate surrounding decriminalising cannabis needs to start strongly in India due to the large number of users as well as its easy availability, he added.

Government data also suggests that eight lakh people are injecting drugs. “Focusing attention on these people who are injecting drugs will yield more value for your judicial and policing time,” said Gupta.Data also suggests that more than hard drugs, softer drugs are the problem in India. These include cough syrups or eraser fluid, which are easily available in the market. “So legalising and ‘illegalising’ needs to be looked at differently in the context of India,” he said.

HISTORY OF THE NDPS ACT The NDPS Act stems from the Opium Act in 1857, passed by the British Indian government, noted Gupta. At the time, due to the Opium Wars with the French, the British wanted India to grow more opium. The law was meant to regulate who grows opium in India, and how much.

In 1878, the British revised the law, which was revised again 52 years later to the Dangerous Drugs Act. In 1961, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was held as the hippie culture drugs and psychedelics became increasingly popular across the world. All signatory nations at the convention, including India, said they will pass laws in their respective countries within 25 years to ensure that the drug menace goes away.

The Rajiv Gandhi government passed the NDPS Act in 1985. “Conspiracy theories suggest that this was done

WHY ACTORS DEEPIKAPADUKONE, SARA ALI KHAN AND RAKULPREET SINGH ARE FACING THE NARCOTICS BODY under American pressure,” said Gupta. Starting with US President Richard Nixon, the US was facing a lot of Western backlash over its permissive drug culture. Successive Republican Presidents made the war on drugs their mission, he said.

The NDPS Act provided for death sentence to anyone found with a substantial amount of a banned drug. This law was reformed for the first time in 1988 to distinguish between substance abuse and possession. Punishment for personal consumption was reduced to one to two years jail time and possession was given a more stringent punishment in 1989 under “American pressure”, to include forfeiture of property. Death penalty was confirmed and strong punishments were allowed for production and financing, said Gupta.

In 1994, a committee was set up to establish how the exploitation of this law could be stopped. The NDPS Act was then amended to say it was the quantity of drugs that would determine the extent of punishment. So, if self-use is proven then the punishment is much lesser.

In 2001, this was amended again to distinguish between personal consumption and commercial use. Six years ago, the death sentence was also done away with.

THE CASE AGAINST RHEA CHAKRABOTRY Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty has been arrested for buying drugs and its likely consumption on the basis of WhatsApp chats. While no substance has been recovered from her, she continues to be in jail.

“The problem with this law unlike other laws is that while in other laws the rule is innocent until proven guilty, here it is guilty until proven innocent,” said Gupta.Bail conditions have also been made more stringent after a 2020 Supreme Court judgment.Gupta said 59 g of marijuana was found from one of the dealers in the Chakraborty case, small amount of psychotropics was also found. The law says that possession of ganja (cannabis) up to 1 kg is allowed.

On the question of the NCB heat on other actors, Section 67 of the NDPS gives the power to any officer to summon anybody under any offence if the officer thinks that the person’s input will be important in cracking the cases, said Gupta.So actors like DeepikaPadukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor have been summoned in this regard and not as accused in the case, he added.

LAW NEEDS RE-LOOK Gupta cited legal luminary NaniPalkhivala to say that in India, the “moment there is a problem we come up with a law”, thinking that it will make the problem go away.“Just like labour reform and agricultural reform, there are several other laws which are floating around, which do not serve any legal purpose and are easily misused,” said Gupta.The answer is not to pass a new law, or “Bollywood clean-up” as some are dubbing this, but to reexamine this NDPS law carefully, he said.

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

BUSINESS 09

LHC moved against hike in drug prices LAHORE STAFF REPORT

A lawyer invoked Lahore High Court (LHC) jurisdiction on Saturday, challenging the recent 262 per cent hike in prices of essential life-saving drugs. Advocate Nadeem Sarwar moved a writ petition, requesting the high court to declare the government’s September 22 decision of jacking up rates of 94 essential medicines "illegal". He made federal and provincial governments as well as other relevant authorities as respondents, saying in the plea that rates of essential life-saving medicines have been increased by up to 262 per cent by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) in violation of the laws and pleaded with the court to declare the increase unlawful. On September 24, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had said that the recent hike in prices of 94 essential life-saving drugs by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) was ‘inevitable’ to ensure availability of the medicines. Dr Faisal Sultan, while talking to media in Islamabad, said that a ‘reasonable increase’ was made in prices of 94 essential drugs by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). Pharmaceutical companies usually stop production of some medicines if prices are not increasing, he said, adding a halt in production by the pharmaceutical companies create a shortage of drugs across the country.

Ghulam Khan border reopened for trade; automation system deployed for customs clearing PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has decided to reopen the Ghulam Khan border crossing for transit trade from October 1 to reduce the number of trade vehicles on main crossing points Torkham and Chaman, it emerged on Saturday. According to details, customs officials have initiated work on the Ghulam Khan border with WebBased One Customs (WeBOC) system, developed by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which will allow Pakistan to send regular cement exports via Ghulam Khan crossing from October 1. The Customs department has written to cement exporting companies, apprising them that for the cement exports, Ghulam Khan border crossing will be open from next month. Sarhad Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Shahid Hussain told Pakistan Today that the chamber welcomed the development to install a WeBOC system at the border crossing, adding that it will reduce the burden at Torkham and the trade vehicles will be cleared without delay. One of the major issues traders face is the long lines of trade vehicles waiting for clearance at Torkham and Chaman crossing points. The traders have long demanded the government to provide more facilities at other crossing points to reduce the burden on the two major crossing points as for landlocked Afghanistan, Pakistan is the major trade route. Hussain further said that three borders crossings were selected for transit between the two countries including Ghulam Khan, Chaman and Torkham crossing points, however, Ghulam Khan was not immediately opened for transit until both countries agreed on it and proper facilities are provided by the authorities.

So far, transit trade was not allowed through Ghulam Khan crossing point, however, due to long queues of vehicles at Torkham and Chaman, it has now been decided to allow transit vehicles on this crossing point as well. Due to the opening of the crossing, it is expected that exports between both countries will see a boost. Presently, only cement has been allowed to be exported via Ghulam Khan Border crossing, but in a few days, other items are also expected to be allowed soon. According to sources, Ghulam Khan crossing was opened earlier for trade but the custom clearing system was manual which slowed down the work as well as created problems, including financial irregularities. The WeBOC system was essential for the trade flow which will also prevent irregularities and will speed up the clearing process, they added.

WorLd BanK approves $450m to support paKistan’s transition to reneWaBLe enerGy ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE World Bank has approved $450 million financing to support Pakistan’s transition to clean energy as the country aims to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel. The project will help shift to domestic clean resources by investing in renewable energy generation, including hydropower and solar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The project area includes Upper Dir and Swat districts.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hydropower and Renewable Energy Development Project will offer low-cost and low-carbon electricity and will support the economic development of communities near the hydropower and solar projects by creating jobs, and supporting infrastructure development and tourism activities.

“This project supports Pakistan’s goal to become a low-carbon, renewable energy-reliant economy by 2030 and contributes to its national target in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank country director for Pakistan. “It will facilitate the expansion of renewable energy in KP by identifying and preparing solar and hydropower projects that are technically sound, environmentally and socially sustainable, and investment ready.”

The project would push the country towards cleaner energy. To incentivize locals, the renewable energy project also includes “a comprehensive skills training program to build technical capacity in identifying investment opportunities, preparing projects, and mobilizing commercial financing,” said Mohammad Saqib, project’s task team leader. “In addition, by

installing solar photovoltaic systems onto hydropower assets, production capacity is expected to rise and generate greater return on investments.”

The total cost of the project is approximately $727 million. The World Bank is lending $450 million, which includes International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan of $200 million with maturity time of 27 years and grace period of seven years, and International Development Association (IDA) credit of $250 million with maturity terms of 30 years and five-year grace period.

In July 2020, the State Bank of Pakistan doubled the scope of its renewable energy refinancing scheme from Rs1 billion to Rs2bn to encourage the production of clean energy.

Focus on renewables; Pakistan is eager to boost the share of renewables in electricity generation to 30 per cent by 2030. This will include mainly wind and solar power as well as geothermal, tidal, wave and biomass energy. Pakistan’s current energy mix is mainly tilted towards thermal generation based on imported fuels. In FY19, nearly 40 per cent of country’s total electricity generated (and 55 per cent of thermal generation) was through imported fossil fuels that required US$4 billion (or 7 per cent of total import bill) in fuel payments for power generation, according to a World Bank report.

Pakistan’s power generation mix; Thermal electricity has the largest share in power generation, according to Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20.

APCMA condemns CCP’s raids at member offices LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Saturday condemned the entirely unwarranted operation carried out at the offices of APCMA and a member of APCMA as well as the ensuing harassment and intimidation of its officers and staff by the staff of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Thursday, September 24.

“The CCP team’s forcible entry and the subsequent action can only serve to damage the atmosphere of investment revival and growth that the present government has striven hard to create,” the association said in a statement.

According to the details, personal property, including mobile telephones, of the members of the staff present at the APCMA office and at the office of a member mill were appropriated without lawful authority and in violation of guarantees of privacy

and dignity assured to every individual by the constitution of Pakistan.

“It is apprehended that the items unlawfully appropriated will be tampered with or used selectively, out of context, to malign chosen individuals or companies,” the statement said.

Further, the statement added that the APCMA and its member have regularly provided to the CCP all information that has been required by the CCP. The stated basis of the unwarranted operation on 24.09.2020 is a matter of utmost concern, not only for the cement industry but for all businesses in the country.

It has been stated that the action of September 24 was carried out because of an increase in the market price of cement since April 2020, even though the cost of some items such as fuel has fallen since then.

The premise that the market price of cement or any other item is linked to the cost of production through some simple cost-plus formula betrays a complete lack of understanding of market dynamics and

the market determination of price.

The market price is determined by the forces of supply and demand and not by variations in the cost of production alone. Cement produced by different manufacturers being a largely homogeneous commodity cannot exhibit a significant difference in price across the various brands. This basic fact has also been lost sight of by the CCP. The cement industry of Pakistan has made large investments into plant expansion and modernization over the last five years. This has led to the cement industry being in a position to play a dynamic role in public interest infrastructure projects, such as the Basha and Mohmand Dams, as well as the revival of the construction sector in general.

The action taken by the CCP on September 24 and the threat posed to cement manufacturers of continuing witch-hunts and fishing inquiries is inconsistent with the effort by the Government of Pakistan to create an atmosphere conducive to investment and growth.

No locust found in KP, Sindh, Punjab: NLCC ISLAMABAD: National Locust Control Centre (NLCC) said on Saturday that no pests have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab. However, locust was present in only one district of Balochistan (Lasbella), said a press release issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research. The joint teams of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, provincial agriculture departments and the Pakistan Army were conducting a comprehensive survey and control operation against the locusts in effected districts and succeeded to minimize its threat to only one district. Meanwhile, anti-locust survey and control operations were in progress as joint teams during last 24 hours surveyed 193,108 hectares area. In the last 24 hours, locust control operation has been carried out on five hectares of District Lasbella of Balochistan. In the last 6 months, the NLCC carried out control in 1,131,890 hectares area of land. TLTP

FinCEN files flag 44 Indian banks for suspicious transactions worth over $1bn Around 44 Indian banks have been flagged in a series of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by the US banks to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for carrying out suspicious transactions worth more than $1 billion, an Indian publication reported.

The publication said one set of records that addresses linked to India show that Indian banks made over 2,000 transactions that were more than $1billion between 2011 and 2017.

The banks flagged by the US watchdog include state-owned Punjab National Bank (290 transactions); State Bank of India (102); Bank of Baroda (93); Union Bank of India (99) and Canara Bank (190), among others.

The private Indian banks that were flagged are HDFC Bank (253 transactions); ICICI Bank (57); Kotak Mahindra Bank

(268); Axis Bank (41) and IndusInd Bank (117) among others.

The publication said that the reports mentioning the Indian banks were filed by foreign banks including Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (DBTCA), BNY Mellon, Citibank, Standard Chartered and JP Morgan Chase.

The report added that Indian banks were highlighted as they are “correspondent banks” to the banks not present in India.

The publication said that records also highlighted “suspicious transactions” that have been used by the Indian banks through the international payment gateway of foreign banks.

The Indian Express said that the foreign banks have flagged the transactions as they are “high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering or other financial crimes,” adverse

media/public information on the client, “unidentified” parties, and the fact that “source of funds and purpose of transaction could not be ascertained.”

FInCEn FILES: An explosive cache of secret documents relating to the banking industry reveals how illicit money went unchecked at a global level with leading Western banks profiting while defying money laundering crackdown. These banks enabled the smooth flow of questionable funds of individuals and organisations.

BuzzFeed News obtained records from a whistle-blower and shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The News was a partner from Pakistan, together with 108 media organisations from 88 countries. Named FinCEN Files, this collaborative project of

CMYK

investigative journalists is based on top-secret bank reports filed to the US Treasury Department’s intelligence unit, the Financial Crime Enforcement Network.

The files, known as SARs, show suspected illicit funds of more than $2 trillion moving through banking channels. The SARs are not less than transcripts of the failures of banks and other financial institutions and how this flourished the illicit money flow. Having been named in a SAR doesn’t mean proof of a crime; it warrants questioning about the source of funds which was not done. Once reported to the US Treasury, the files remain buried in the record.

According to BuzzFeed News, some of the leaked records were gathered as part of US Congressional committee investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US

presidential election while others were gathered following requests to FinCEN from law enforcement agencies.

BuzzFeed News has not commented on the identity of the source. Although ICIJ has carried out ground-breaking investigations in the past like Offshore Leaks in 2013, Swiss Leaks in 2015, Panama Papers in 2016 and Paradise Papers in 2017, the FinCEN papers are different because they are not the documents of one or two companies. Instead, they have come from several banks.

Majority of the SARs were generated by Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon and Deutsche Bank. The leaked documents are composed of more than 2,100 SARs naming individuals and organisations from different countries. AGENCIES

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

WHO says gLObaL COvid-19 tOLL COuLd dOubLe tO 2m WitHOut 'COLLeCtive aCtiON' GENEVA

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iran prepares to impose new lockdowns as Covid cases rise TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday authorised the country’s provinces to impose lockdowns wherever necessary to stem a rapid rise in coronavirus cases. “We are forced to intensify regulations and supervisions,” starting in the capital Tehran, Rouhani said in televised remarks. He said government-run coronavirus task-force offices around the country would make recommendations on restrictions and whether to impose one-week lockdowns. Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 25,000 and identified cases on Friday totalled 439,882, according to the health ministry.

Iran’s health officials have expressed alarm over a surge in infections, urging the country to respect health protocols to control the spread of the disease.

Lebanon’s Pmdesignate steps down in blow to French initiative

AGENCIES

ORONAVIRUS deaths could more than double to two million without collective action against the pandemic, the World Health Organization has warned, as Australia's prime minister urged any nation that develops a vaccine to share it with the world.

The number of cases worldwide has soared past 32 million, with deaths approaching one million, the global economy devastated, and major cultural and sports events disrupted.

But despite the pandemic showing no signs of slowing, Japan's new prime minister Yoshihide Suga struck a defiant note on Friday, saying his country was determined to hold the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

"One million is a terrible number and we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million," the WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters on Friday when asked how high the death toll could go.

"Are we prepared collectively to do

what it takes to avoid that number?

"If we don't take those actions... yes, we will be looking at that number and sadly much higher."

The pandemic has spurred worldwide efforts to develop a vaccine to help defeat Covid-19, as well as efforts to try to ensure fair and widespread distribution.

"Whoever finds the vaccine must share it... This is a global responsibility and it's a moral responsibility," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday in a message to the virtual UN General Assembly.

"Some might see short-term advantage or even profit, but I assure you... humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge."

JAPAN OLYMPICS VOW: Without a vaccine or effective treatment, social distancing and lockdowns remain among the few options for governments to curb the spread of the virus, making large gatherings like spectator sports and music concerts highly risky.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, postponed for a year, were the biggest such casualty, and Japan's new leader vowed to hold them in 2021.

"In the summer of next year, Japan is determined to host the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as proof that humanity has defeated the pandemic," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told the United Nations General Assembly in a video message.

But with continued spikes worldwide, there are concerns about whether the event will be possible even next year if the pandemic is not under control.

In a further illustration of the impact of the virus, authorities in Brazil — which has the world's second-highest death toll — indefinitely postponed Rio de Janeiro's carnival.

And just 1,000 fans a day are being allowed at the French Open, with organisers of one of the world's biggest tennis events saying it means "millions of euros up in smoke".

'TODAY, I GET ZERO EUROS': The WHO warning came as the United States, the hardest-hit nation in the world, crossed seven million cases — more than a fifth of the global total despite accounting for only four percent of the world population.

Many European nations, meanwhile, are struggling with new waves of

Hydrogen-powered passenger plane completes maiden flight in ‘world first’

Less razzmatazz, but Nobel Prizes go ahead amid pandemic STOCKHOLM AGENCIES

BEIRUT AGENCIES

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quit on Saturday after trying for almost a month to line up a nonpartisan cabinet, failing despite French pressure on sectarian leaders to rally together to deal with the worst crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. Mustapha Adib, former ambassador to Berlin, was picked on Aug. 31 to form a cabinet. He had tried to form a government of specialists in a nation where power is shared between Muslims and Christians and political loyalties tend to follow sectarian lines. But his efforts ran into the sand over cabinet appointments, particularly the post of finance minister, who will have a crucial role in drawing up a programme to lift Lebanon out of a deep economic crisis. Crushed by a mountain of debt, Lebanon’s banks are paralysed and its currency is in freefall. Talks with the International Monetary Fund on a vital bailout package stalled this year. The cabinet’s first task would have been to restart negotiations. Adib, a Sunni Muslim based on the sectarian system of power sharing, said he was stepping down from “the task of forming the government” after meeting President Michel Aoun, a Christian. The cabinet formation hit a roadblock over a demand by Lebanon’s two main Shi’ite groups, Amal and the heavily armed Iran-backed Hezbollah, that they name candidates for several posts including finance minister, a position previously held by a Shi’ite. Adib held several meetings with senior Shi’ite politicians but failed to reach agreement on how the minister would be chosen. Shi’ite leaders feared being sidelined as Adib sought to shake up appointments to ministries, some of which have been controlled by the same faction for years, politicians said.

infections.

Spain expanded a lockdown in and around the capital Madrid to cover one million people from Monday.

In Britain, authorities announced restrictions now extending to a quarter of the population, while two supermarket chains said they were rationing purchases of certain goods to clamp down on panic buying.

Moscow, meanwhile, ordered vulnerable residents of the Russian capital to avoid infection by staying at home, while Israel tightened its lockdown by stopping people from taking flights out of the country.

France reported record figures — daily cases soared past 16,000 for the first time on Thursday. But moves by the authorities to contain the virus are not popular with many because of their painful economic toll.

Marseille bar and restaurant owners gathered outside the city's commercial courthouse to demonstrate against forced closures starting Sunday evening.

"Today, I get zero euros, zero euros," said Sam, a nightclub manager.

"I have (to pay) rent because I'm not lucky enough to be a landlord."

LONDON TLTP

An experimental plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells has successfully taken off on a short flight from a British airfield.

The six-seat Piper Malibu plane completed a 20-minute flight from Bedfordshire, near London, that could eventually pave the way for decarbonizing small passenger aircraft.

ZeroAvia, the company which developed the plane, will next work on a zero-emission craft capable of flying up to 400km by the end of the year.

It could lead to green routes on short haul flights such as Los Angeles-San Francisco or Bonn-Berlin.

"What we're doing is replacing fossil fuel engines with what's called hydrogen electric engines," ZeroAvia founder and chief executive Val Miftakhov said.

"We also have a fuelling infrastructure set up that ensures zero emission production of hydrogen itself."

The hydrogen plane, which only emits water vapour, was developed as part of the HyFlyer scheme supported by a grant from the British government. ZeroAvis said it was the first time a commercially available aircraft has taken to the skies using hydrogen power.

Business and industry minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “Developing aircraft that create less pollution will help the UK make significant headway in achieving net zero-carbon emissions by 2050.

To achieve this, manufacturers must rely on improved airport infrastructure around the world as well as perfecting greener technology.

"It's not just a question of putting hydrogen-based aero planes [in the air] and getting them to work," said aviation safety investigator David Gleave. "We have to work out how to refuel these aero planes because existing infrastructure won't work. We have to work out other things such as the fire and rescue requirements for the aero

plane, so there's quite a lot of work to do but certainly it's very exciting going forward."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he wanted to see a “green industrial revolution” that helped the wider economy, which has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic. “We want to be the Saudi Arabia of wind,” he said.

“We want to lead in carbon capture and storage, a technology I barely believed was possible but I’m now a complete evangelist for.”

Johnson said hydrogen potentially had a key role to play in propelling transport in the future.

“We want to use those technologies to develop a lot of hydrogen,” he said. Airbus, the world's biggest plane manufacturer, is considering three designs for hydrogen-powered aircraft as it seeks to bring the world's first emission-free passenger plane into service by 2035.The concepts include a turbofan jet with a capacity of 120-200 passengers that can fly 2,000 nautical miles (2,300 miles).

The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes will miss out on a swanky gala in Stockholm surrounded by royalty and Sweden’s glitterati, but 2020 will at least not be added to the war years when no awards were given. Yet as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly enveloped much of the world earlier this year, that was far from certain. “When we were thinking about this in March and April this year, we were worried that it wouldn’t be possible to award any prizes at all,” Lars Heikensten, head of the Nobel Foundation that administers the prizes founded by dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, told Reuters. While Sweden has not imposed a rigid lockdown like many European countries, Heikensten said the committees that decide the various prizes had to switch to working digitally to make the selection process work. But the foundation was determined that the awards – worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) this year – go ahead. “We thought it was particularly important in a year like this, when the importance of science is so obvious,” Heikensten said. The awards were cancelled during parts of World War One and World War Two. Some prizes have not been given in individual years, with the most recent example being the postponement of the Literature prize in 2018 over a sex scandal. The awards attract huge attention every year, shining a light, if only briefly, on scientists who work mostly in academic obscurity, while burnishing the reputations of often better-known authors who receive the Literature award. But the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed almost a million lives globally, has meant that the Nobels will have a lower profile this year with many of the traditional celebrations postponed or re-jigged as digital events. The foundation has cancelled the banquet, highlight of the celebrations that takes place every December, and the traditional prizegiving ceremony in Stockholm’s Concert Hall will be replaced by a televised event where winners receive their prizes in their home nations.

Trump intends to choose religious conservative Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court WASHINGTON AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump intends to nominate conservative federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the US Supreme Court vacancy following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US media reported.

At the White House on Saturday, Trump intends to announce his choice to replace Ginsburg, the liberal icon who died on September 18 at age 87. Ms Barrett, 48, was appointed by Mr Trump to the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 and is known for her conservative religious views. Her and her husband are members of People of Praise - a small, tightly-knit Chris-

tian group that teaches that husbands are the heads of their wives and should take authority over the family. The group inspired the popular book and television series The Handmaid's Tale.

Supreme Court justices are given lifetime appointments and are therefore able to shape US policy for a generation. The White House declined to comment. It is not clear whether Ms Barrett was told she is the choice yet.

Trump's nominee would give conservatives a commanding 6-3 majority on the court at a time of intense political divisions in the United States. Barrett has been viewed as a frontrunner throughout, along with fellow federal appeals court judge Barbara Lagoa. Ms Barrett previously served as a

clerk to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016.

"She was the plan all along. She's the most distinguished and qualified by traditional measures. She has the strongest support among the legal conservatives who have dedicated their lives to the court. She will contribute most to the court's jurisprudence in the years and decades to come," a former senior administration official familiar with the process said.

Trump's nominee has what appears to be a clear path to Senate confirmation before the November 3 presidential election, with Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the chamber and only two senators in his party indicating opposition to moving forward

with the process.

However, it produced a partisan battle and Democrats have objected to the Senate acting on Trump's nominee in light of the decision by Republicans in the chamber in 2016 to refuse to consider Democratic President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia after he died during an election year.

Trump has made two previous Supreme Court appointments: Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Ginsburg, a champion of gender equality and various liberal causes, on Friday became the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state in the US Capitol. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden attended the ceremony a day after Trump, a Republican,

was greeted with jeers and boos by a nearby crowd as he visited Ms Ginsburg's flagdraped coffin outside the Supreme Court building.

Meanwhile on the campaign trail, Trump attended back-to-back events Friday in battleground states -- a frenetic pace in contrast with the more sedate approach of Democratic rival Biden.

Despite trailing in polls to his Democratic rival, the president mocked Biden for a lower-energy campaign, saying Biden was "staying in again today." "This guy never goes out. It's terrible huh?" he told a black economic empowerment event in Atlanta, where few people wore masks and social distancing was non-existent.

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

SPORTS 11

PCB 'disaPPointEd' at BEing draggEd in Court ovEr PsL FinanCiaL ModEL

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NEWS DESK

HE Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises' collective decision to drag the disagreement over league's financial model to the court has "disappointed and surprised" the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), local media reported on Saturday.

The board’s counsel told Lahore High Court that the franchises’ writ petition “was misdirected and was liable to be dismissed” as the proper mechanism for resolving any dispute between the PCB and the franchises is “through initiation of arbitration”.

The franchise owners approached the court with the claim that the PSL has made the PCB richer while the franchises have run into losses every season, and asked in the pe-

Klopp backs idea of Premier League sides helping struggling EFL teams LIVERPOOL AGENCIES

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said Premier League teams should look to help England’s lower division clubs that have taken huge financial hits amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The English Football League (EFL) oversees the three tiers below the Premier League - the Championship, League One and League Two - and clubs in these divisions largely rely on matchday revenue to operate. The British government this week postponed plans to allow a limited number of fans back into stadiums from October after a second wave of COVID19 infections and the move is expected to have a massive impact. “In general people in a better position should help people in a less good position, 100pc,” Klopp told a news conference ahead of Monday’s league clash against Arsenal. “I don’t understand the structure 100% - in Germany you have Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, so they have to share the problems so that makes things slightly easier. “There isn’t a general answer... the position in this moment for all clubs isn’t really easy. I don’t know how the government finds time to think about that, but I get it... football should try to help themselves, ourselves.” Chelsea boss Frank Lampard had said starting his career at the bottom of the soccer pyramid had helped him understand the challenges they face. Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said he had sympathy for the struggling teams. “From a business point of view they’ve taken huge hits and hopefully everybody will come through it, but there has to be a concern about what’s going off at the moment,” Wilder said. “Nobody wants any club to go by the wayside... If anything can be done by the Premier League and they make a decision collectively... to help, then we would.”

Murray forced to wait for hip checkup after Covid-19 test result delay LONDON AGENCIES

Andy Murray said a delay in receiving his COVID-19 test result on his return to Britain made him wait to seek treatment for a pelvic issue, but he was fit ahead of the French Open, which begins on Sunday. Murray reached the second round at the U.S. Open this month in his first Grand Slam after hip surgery last year, but after developing a pelvic issue at Flushing Meadows the 33-year-old had to wait for a few days at home before meeting his doctor. The BBC reported a scan later showed Murray had tendonitis of the psoas - a muscle which runs from the lower back to the top of the leg.

“We had to get a (COVID-19) test when we got back from New York and test negative before we could leave the house,” Murray was quoted as saying by the BBC on Friday. “There was a bit of an issue with my test. It took five or six days to come back, so I was in my house and I couldn’t get that checked out.” Former world number one Murray, a finalist at Roland Garros in 2016, said he had since been practising without discomfort having arrived in Paris for the year’s final Grand Slam. “Once I started practising on the clay, I actually felt pretty good. I’ve been playing, I think, quite well,” Murray, who received a wildcard entry to the French Open, said. “Usually, it feels like it takes quite a long time to get used to the surface again, and it didn’t feel like it had been three and a bit years since I had last played on it. It was better than what I expected.” Murray will meet Stan Wawrinka in the first round at Paris.

tition for the court to direct the PCB to “formally redress the grievances of all franchises” and “revise the model of PSL in accordance with its statutory mandate and make it financially viable”.

The PCB’s legal team was in court on Friday, present before Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi, and “received notices for hearing in respect of the Writ Petition filed by the six franchise owners, fixed today as an Urgent Petition”, according to a PCB statement.Taffazul Rizvi, the PCB’s counsel, objected to the “maintainability” of the petition, pointing to the dispute resolution protocols, and informed the judge “that the PCB had twice this week invited the franchise owners to meet and discuss the financial model for HBL Pakistan Super League with a view towards redress-

Stafanie Taylor hails hard work of women’s cricketers after reaching 3,000 T20I runs TRINIDAD AGENCIES

Stafanie Taylor, West Indies women's captain, has hailed the hard work that women's cricketers have put in after becoming only the second player - male or female - to reach the landmark of 3000 T20I runs.

Taylor, 29, reached the milestone with a scampered second run on an overthrow in West Indies' second T20I against England, joining New Zealand's Suzie Bates in an exclusive club.

And while she insisted that she had not been thinking about her proximity to the achievement, she admitted that it felt "really good" to have surpassed that mark.

"I'm not really a stats person, so I wouldn't know these things," she said in an in-house Cricket West Indies interview. "But when it came up on the big screen, it was a really good feeling.

"To see that it's a female who is in front of me, it shows the amount of work that we as female cricketers have been doing over the years. To see that a lot of people have highlighted what we have done is a great feeling. It's always about men's cricket, so it's good to see that they've highlighted females who have done really well in the game."

Reflecting on her achievement, Taylor said that diet and fitness had been the keys to her longevity in the game, having won 105 T20I caps to date, and highlighted Virat Kohli's decision to quit meat after

the 2016 IPL as an inspiration.

"I remember he [Kohli] did an interview not long ago, and said that he had been home after a tour and looked at himself in the mirror, and was like: 'nah'. He didn't like what he was seeing, and if he wanted to compete with the top players, he had to change the way he went about thing.

"That was a place I was in, and I was like, if you really want to compete with really top athletes like Australia, they take their fitness very seriously. I thought to myself that I was tired of eating meat. I said: 'you know what, I'm going to change it up a bit, and eat some fish, and when there's no fish, I'll eat veg'.

"When I stopped eating meat and started doing some exercise, people started commenting on the fact I'd lost of a lot of weight. I was like 'no, I don't think so', but as I kept going, kept putting in work, going out to exercise at six in the morning, making sure my nutrition was good, I realised that when I was putting on my jeans, it wasn't the same. After seeing those changes, it really felt good on my body."

Taylor also highlighted the need for a domestic and academy system for women's cricketers in the West Indies structure, suggesting that her side is crying out for young talent that is not coming through.

"I've spoken about this plenty of times," she said.

"I'd love to see some young players coming through, integrating with the old folks, learning a thing or two.

ing grievances in good faith”.

The franchises, meanwhile, have contended that they have met with the PCB on more than one occasion to discuss the matter, but nothing concrete has emerged from those interactions.

The issue reared its head when the board was late in distributing the franchises’ share of the revenue generated during the 2019 PSL. This led to all six owners refusing to submit their bank guarantees, a key part of the petition.

“The PCB remains committed to working with its partners, but in this matter, it is surprised and disappointed that despite its offers to engage in discussions over the financial model and whilst being aware of the appropriate forum for dispute resolution, the franchises approached the Honourable High Court,” the PCB statement said.

“The PCB looks forward to addressing all queries and legal-objections before the Honourable Court and then to find solutions that are practicable and acceptable to all parties involved.”

The PCB will submit its written comments by September 30, the next date of the hearing, on the court’s instructions.

Pakistan coach Misbah sees no need for major changes for Zimbabwe series AGENCIES Head coach Misbahul Haq on Saturday indicated that there may not be wholesale changes in the Pakistani team for the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe, saying that the team is already composed of young players. During a press briefing in Lahore, the former captain said that the national team is already pretty young and might only need minor tweaking instead of mass chopping and changing. “The Pakistan team is already composed of young players,” he said.

“It had lost two senior players right after the World Cup. “[In fact], we might change a thing or two to make the team even stronger.” Explaining that the seemingly unimportant Zimbabwe home series is actually important, Misbah said: “We should keep in mind that the points earned from the ODI series would count towards World Cup qualification.” He also underscored that finding new combinations and creating able back-ups were among his priorities while structuring the team. The Zimbabwean side is considered one of the weakest ones in the world, leading some to suggest that the series be used to experiment with young untried talent. Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had announced that it will host Zimbabwe for a limitedovers series which is scheduled for October-November. "Needless to say, we at ZC are bursting with excitement as we look forward to playing cricket again and representing our nation with pride and passion in Pakistan," said Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani.

Australia-Afghanistan Test postponed due to Covid-19 scheduling difficulties KABUL AGENCIES

Cricket Australia has announced the postponement of the inaugural Test against Afghanistan which was originally scheduled to take place in Perth in November due to the complexities of scheduling amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The confirmation that the Test has not survived the restructuring of the season came a few hours after New Zealand Cricket said they would not be touring for the short limited-overs trip at the end of January.

Staging cricket in Perth this season has been given an additional challenge by the hard border imposed by the Western Australian government and very strict quarantine restrictions that do not allow training while in isolation.

It leaves the visit of India as the single men's touring team to Australia the coming summer with CA confirming they will play four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is although the order of the white-ball cricket remains to be confirmed. The Test series is expected to start in Adelaide on December 17.

CA said it will look to reschedule both the Afghanistan Test, which was hopeful of finding a home in early December, and the New Zealand visit before the end of the current FTP cycle in 2023. Earlier, the NZC CEO David White said he was hopeful their tour could take place next season.

"Cricket Australia looks forward to working with our good friends at the Afghanistan Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket to deliver the matches at a time when, hopefully, the restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have eased," Nick Hockley, the

CMYK

Cricket Australia CEO, said.

"We all worked incredibly hard to make the series happen this summer, but the challenges around international travel and quarantine restrictions ultimately convinced all parties that the series would need to be played at a later date.

"CA looks forward to welcoming the Indian men's team for a full schedule of matches this summer in what promises to be an incredible contest across all three formats.

"CA would also like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful partners for their understanding and support as we have navigated the complexities of hosting international sport during a pandemic to deliver a thrilling summer across men's and women's cricket at international and domestic level."

The WACA said it understood the decision and would continue to work to stage cricket in Perth this season with the hope of getting one of the travelling BBL hubs.

Sunday, 27 September, 2020

Prayer Timings

NEWS

Massive protests held in azad KashMir against Modi’s Unga speech MIRPUR

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zad Jammu Kashmir Saturday banged with mass protest and rallies held to express extreme resentment on the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Large number of people gathered in

the capital city of Azad Jammu and Kashmir under the aegis of Pasban-eHurriyat Jammu Kashmir holding black flags and ribbons tied on their arms.

People lamented that the address of Muslims' killer in UNGA is an "insult" to this prestigious organisation.

(Murderer Murderer Modi Murderer) was the main slogan of protestors.

Speakers on the occasion said that Narendra Modi led RSS is engaged in grave

human rights violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).

While talking to media, they were of the view that RSS is killing elders, children and women in IOJK, "Modi is trying to hide his notorious acts by addressing UNGA while people in IOJK are suffering Indian atrocities" they added.

Speakers maintained that UNGA should not allow (Narendra Modi) killers of Muslims to address as this is a disgrace

for humanity and all peace loving nations around the globe.

Protesters stated that the whole life of Narendra Modi have a record of inhuman acts including killings of Muslims in Gujrat.

Modi has violated the religious rights of Muslims in India and the damage made to Babri Mosque by RSS is the testimony in this regard.

People in the protest condemned the

Israel, Lebanon agree to hold maritime border talks JERUSALEM TLTP

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to hold negotiations on their maritime border, in a bid to break years of deadlock, said a spokesman for Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz.

The two counties have locked horns for over a decade over an 86-square-kilometre area in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, which is rich in minerals and natural gas.

Talks are set to begin in mid-October in the southern Lebanese city of Naquora, near Rosh Hanikra, where headquarters for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon are based. A senior American official, likely Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker, will oversee the talks, along with a UN rapporteur. On a visit to Israel last week, Schenker agreed with Steinitz and Israeli Foreign Minister Gabriel Ashkenazi to launch a new round of talks this week. The Trump administration has long been pushing for talks between the two sides, to demark the two Middle Eastern nations’ maritime borders.

The renewed push for talks, coming off the back of new treaties signed with Israel, the UAE and Bahrain that the US has brokered, is timed just weeks before the US general election in November, where r Trump is seeking re-election. The border dispute is also the reason for the US halting its own plans for natural gas exploration in the area, a development that has piqued the interest of several US energy giants, Axios reported.

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Indian armed forces brutalities in IOJK and demanded UN to implement its resolutions on Kashmir as people of Jammu and Kashmir are resisting against Indian armed forces for the implementation of UN resolutions.

People of Kashmir also fully support the speech of the Prime Minister Imran Khan at UNGA, saying that Imran Khan supported the stance of Plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir which was the legitimate right of people living at both sides of the LoC in Jammu &Kashmir state.

Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, Uzair Ahmed Ghazali, Mushtaq ul Islam, Shaukat Javed Mir, Khalid Mehmood Zaidi, Usman Ali Hashim, Azmat Hayat, Ajmal Khan, Shafiq Inqalabi are others were also present in the rally.

593 more people recuperate from coronavirus in 24 hours ISLAMABAD TLTP

Pakistan reported seven more coronavirus-related fatalities during the last 24 hours, lifting the death toll from the disease to 6,451. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 40,167 samples were tested for the infection during this period, out of which 566 turned out to be positive. The number of Covid-19 cases across the country has reached 309,581 with the addition of the new cases. As many as 593 more people recovered over the last 24 hours. Thus far, 295,333 patients have recuperated as active Covid-19 cases stand at 7,797. More than 3.3 million tests have been conducted across the country. Thus far, Sindh has reported 135,488 cases of the coronavirus, Punjab 98,941, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 37,588, Balochistan 14,932, Islamabad 16,367, Gilgit Baltistan 3,635, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 2,630.

iranian president accuses Us of savagery after new sanctions AGENCIES Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States on Saturday of “savagery” after Washington imposed new sanctions on Tehran, and said Iranians should direct their anger at the White House. “The Americans have inflicted tens of millions of dollars of damage on Iran,” Rouhani said in televised remarks, his voice shaking with anger.

“We haven't [seen] such an extent of savagery ...

The address for Iranian people's curses and hatred is the White House.” Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor and began reimposing sanctions that had been eased under the accord. Washington imposed new sanctions on Monday on Iran's defence ministry and others involved in its nuclear and weapons programme to support the US assertion that all UN sanctions against Tehran are now restored. On Thursday, Washington blacklisted several Iranian officials and entities over alleged gross violations of human rights, including imposing sanctions on a judge it said was involved in the case of an Iranian wrestler sentenced to death.

Military plane crashes in Ukraine; 22 killed KHARKIV TLTP

At least 22 people, most of them air cadets, have been killed in a military plane crash in Ukraine, officials say. The aircraft, an Antonov-26, came down near the eastern city of Kharkiv as it was landing.

The plane was carrying cadets from Kharkiv Air Force University and was on a training flight. Emergency ministry officials say 27 people were on board.

Two people were injured, and a search operation is continuing into the night for three missing people.

The cause of the crash is being investigated. The plane came down about two kilometres (1.2 miles) from a military airport in the town of Chuhuiv, the emergency ministry officials said. Fire broke out at the site and was later extinguished."It's a shock," Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko told the media. "At the moment it's impossible to establish the cause." President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would travel to the region and that a commission is being created to investigate what happened.

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