Epaper – August 24 ISB 2021

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021 I 15 Muharram, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 54 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Taliban reassure iT won’T allow TTP To use afghanisTan againsT PakisTan: minisTer

ISLAMABAD

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Staff RepoRt

He Taliban have reassured Islamabad it won’t allow the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group to operate on Afghanistan’s soil against Pakistan, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Monday.

Trained and funded by India, the Afghanistan-based UN-designated terror group is responsible for a majority of deaths of civilians and security forces since 2007 — the year it formed as an umbrella organisation of various militant entities ostensibly in retaliation for the government’s decision to cooperate with the United States in the war on terrorism.

Over the years, US drone strikes and targeted operations by Pakistan’s military targeted and killed successive TTP leaders, including Baitullah Mehsud in 2009, Hakimullah Mehsud in 2013, Mullah Fazlullah in 2018 and Wali Mehsud in 2021.

Largely routed since 2015 following Zarbe-Azb military operation, the group has

been regrouping since last summer. Various breakaway factions pledged allegiance to the group last July to carry attacks on security forces.

Ahmed, while addressing a press conference, said the government has taken note of the reports suggesting the Taliban have released from prisons some TTP militants, including its leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, after taking over the country, and disclosed Islamabad was in “full contact” with the group on the issue.

“The related [Afghan] authorities there have been told to control those who have done terrorism in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban have reassured [us] that Afghanistan’s land will not be allowed to be used in any case by the TTP,” the minister said.

Over the weekend, the Foreign Office, when questioned on the release of TTP militants, said Pakistan would “continue to oppose support for any individual or any proscribed groups that remained involved in terrorist activities inside Pakistan”.

Ahmed’s presser came amidst a report that Pakistan has handed over to the Taliban

Coronavirus in

PakisTan

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,127,584

LAST UPDATED AT 6:24 AM ON AUGUST 23, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

80

3,772

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,012,662 25,003 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

420,955

380,844

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

157,148 AJK/GB:

31,845 ISLAMABAD:

30,746 / 9,656

96,390

a list of “most wanted terrorists” linked to the TTP, who were still active in Afghanistan.

According to the report, the list was shared with the Taliban leadership last week after they took control of Kabul.

“We have taken up the issue with them [Afghan Taliban]. We have given them a list of wanted TTP terrorists operating from Afghanistan,” the report said, quoting an unnamed senior official familiar with the development.

The Foreign Office also said Pakistan would ask the incoming government in Afghanistan to act against the TTP. “Pakistan has been taking up the issue of the use of Afghan soil by the TTP for terrorist activities inside Pakistan with the previous Afghan government and would continue raising the issue with the incoming government in Kabul as well to ensure that the TTP is not provided any space in Afghanistan to operate against Pakistan,” the Foreign Office had said.

According to a United Nations Security Council report released in July, the TTP has about 6,000 trained fighters operating in Afghanistan.

The report had noted that “despite growing distrust, TTP and the Taliban carry on with relations mainly as before”, adding the former supported the latter in its operations against Kabul.

The Taliban regained power in Kabul last week after overrunning most of Afghanistan within the past two weeks in a largely unexpected development.

But the Kabul takeover has largely been peaceful and the group is currently consolidating its power by engaging former local rivals in their bid to form an inclusive government in order to win international recognition for it.

Pakistan has over the past five years constructed a robust fence and hundreds of forts along what used to be its historically open border with Afghanistan. The massive project, says the military, has effectively blocked militant infiltration in either direction.

Qureshi hopeful of success of talks for inclusive government in Afghanistan g

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Hints at India’s negative role in Afghanistan, says peaceful Afghanistan will also benefit India Cautions against ‘anti-peace spoilers’ inside, outside Afghanistan ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR

Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said that talks are underway for formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan and the recent statements by the Taliban are encouraging.

“The Taliban have announced a general amnesty.

They are talking about protecting human rights. The Taliban said they would not allow opium cultivation. These are encouraging statements,” said Qureshi while addressing a press conference here at the Ministry of Foreign Af-

Pakistan Media Development Authority will be authorised to fine TV channels with penalties of up to Rs250 million, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Monday.

It bears mentioning that there was no provision for criminal liability in the proposed law, but “it does have the authority to impose a fine up to Rs250 million”, while the current upper limit is Rs1 million in existing laws.

During an interactive session with digital broadcasters, the minister stated that the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority may be a rich organisation, “but unfortunately it didn’t spend a penny on journalists’ training, research and digital media since its formation.”

He said there were currently seven laws regulating media in Pakistan.

In this regard, the minister explained that social media is dealt handled by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority; the press is managed by the Press Council; the electronic media is dealt by PeRMA;

labour regulations are looked after by Implementation Tribunal for Newspapers employees; while the Audit Bureau of Circulation deals with newspaper registrations.

The PMDA would replace all the above-mentioned laws and abolish them, he added “Currently, organisations obtain a stay order from court in response to a notice and fine imposed by Pemra,” he regretted.

He said the censor board will also be dissolved and a new entity – ‘Board of Films Censor’ – will be established in its place.

The minister said a media commission had also been

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Taliban say they have retaken three northern districts seized

by Afghan militias STORY ON BACK PAGE

PMDA will be authorised to fine TV channels up to Rs250m: Fawad NewS DeSk

fairs. “We believe that Afghans have paid a heavy price for decades-old (infighting) and war.

We want lasting peace in Afghanistan. But the world needs to be cognizant of the ‘antipeace spoilers’ inside and outside Afghanistan,” he warned, without elaborating further.

However, in the subsequent sentence, Qureshi hinted at India’s negative role in Afghanistan. “You know where the silence is at the moment.

We want New Delhi to give up its old thinking. The international community urges India to act responsibly,” he remarked.

created which will have four people each from the government and media bodies and it will be headed by a chairman.

“The commission will have the powers to appoint people in the proposed complaint committee and media tribunal.”

He said the media tribunal would be able to entertain complaints from media workers, adding that “many owners are opposing the formation of media tribunals, but the government will go ahead with its plan.”

Chaudhry said a new wing of development had been created in the PMDA aimed at capacity building of journalists as “continuous education” of news providers was the need of the hour.

He said verdicts by media tribunal would be final and could only be challenged in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The information minister insisted that digital media would actually define the media landscape of Pakistan in the future.

“However, it doesn’t mean that formal media will vanish but the mediums of communication will just change. Content is here to stay,” he added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

MORE INSIDE

SC summons top counsel, legal bodies’ reps to deliberate on suo motu invocation STORY ON PAGE 03

Suspects in custody in TikToker assault case now total 126 STORY ON PAGE 03

Germany says firefight involving Western forces erupts at Kabul Airport STORY ON BACK PAGE

Schools with 100pc vaccinated staff can open from Aug 30: Sindh minister STORY ON PAGE 02

02

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

PWD faiLS TO iMPLEMENT MuLTiSECTOraL POPuLaTiON WELfarE PrOgraMME LAHORe

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UE to the poor planning of Punjab government, the Punjab Population Welfare Department (PWD) has failed to implement the Multisectoral Population Welfare Programmme despite using 74 percent of the funds allocated for it, Pakistan Today has learned.

An official of the Directorate General of Monitoring and Evaluation (DG&ME) informed this scribe that population control in Pakistan has always been a difficult task and sometime ago a new plan had been drawn up to implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in terms of population, family planning (FP), healthy lives and well-being.

“Historically, the coverage of family planning services remained low in Punjab/Pakistan as FP service delivery network was largely limited to the Population Welfare Department (PWD).

However, there is now a clear understanding that the Population Welfare Department alone cannot meet the family planning and reproductive health needs of the people or lower unmet need through its underutilised facilities. Expansion of access is only possible through a wider approach involving the health sector at all levels and a multisectoral response to include other line departments, NGOs and the private sector,” he said.

The official further informed that in this regard, PWD had taken six other government departments Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Department (SH&MED), Primary & Secondary

LHC suspends tax notice to Sharif family’s sugar business

Healthcare Department (P&SHD), Women Development Department (WDD), Auqaf & Religious Affairs Department (A&RAD), Labour & Human Resource Department (L&HRD), Youth Affairs, Sports & Archeology Department (YAS&AD)) on board and launched the project tilted Multi-sectoral Population Welfare Programme Punjab (2018– June 2020).

The official further informed that the total cost of the project was Rs365 million, while Rs102.583 million were released to the project during the project gestation period (2019-2020), against which Rs75.478 million were utilised for various activities of the project. Overall, around 74 percent budget was utilised against total amount released to the project.

“The short term objectives of the projects were to improve and expand the FP service delivery network with a focus on quality of care and a multisectoral approach in order to Raise Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from 41 percent in 2012-13 (baseline) to contribute towards achieving FP 2020 targets of 55 percent. Similarly it was also planned to reduce unmet need for family planning and to make contribution towards decreasing Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 3.8 (PDHS 2012-13) to 3.3 births per woman by 2020,” he added.

The official also informed that the long term objectives of the project were to ensure universal coverage of Reproductive Health (RH) Services, including family planning by 2030 in Punjab, and to improve the reproductive health indicators of the province especially maternal and child health outcomes and achieve the SDGs by 2030.

The official revealed that the project was

implemented during 2019-20 so many project awareness activities like seminars at provincial and district level, village street theatre etc. training and other activities were affected due to Covid-19 pandemic, therefore many targets of the project could not be achieved.

“Given the ban on hiring of new staff and directions received from the Admin Department of PWD, recruitment of staff for the Project PMU could not be made. Similarly, different findings and surveys with Ulemas/religious scholars showed that most Ulemas (89 percent) were of the view that the knowledge gained through the family planning awareness sessions/trainings was in accordance with the teachings/principles of Islam, while about 11 percent were neutral.

Most Ulemas were using this knowledge to create awareness among people of their area/elsewhere. Similarly, nearly all Ulemas have discussed this topic (family planning) in their Friday speech. However, only about a quarter of them discussed this topic in any marriage ceremony to create awareness among new couples/others,” he informed.

“This time the department had funds available but could not work on the project under the guise of Covid-19. Secondly, the government’s planning is so thorough that on the one hand, funds are released by starting a project and on the other hand, they impose a ban on hiring. The government should review this project and since this project is directly related to SGDs, all resources should be used to complete it,” he lamented.

However, DG&ME has also issued a report on this project in which they recommended that sustainability of this intervention.

Therapyworks CEO, employees granted bail in Noor Mukadam case News Desk Therapryworks owner and Chief Executive Officer Tahir Zahoor, along with five employees, were granted bail by a sessions court on Monday in their connection to the Noor Mukadam murder case. The short order was announced by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani who reserved the decision earlier today. He directed all six officials — Zahoor, Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas — to submit bail bonds of Rs5 million each. A written copy of the order is expected to be issued tomorrow. During the hearing on the bail petitions today, Zahoor’s lawyer, Barrister Qasim Nawaz, argued that the Therapyworks owner was arrested despite his name not being mentioned in the first information report of the case, according to a report by Dawn. He said therapy-related work was his client’s profession and that he treated people. On the other hand, Shah Khawar, the counsel for Noor’s family, argued that Therapyworks employees had broken the doors to enter the house of the primary suspect Zahir.

“Zahir Jaffer killed Noor and then informed his parents,” the counsel said. “They called the Therapyworks centre to go [to their home] and check on their son.” However, Barrister Nawaz contended that the “allegations” levelled against his client were false, adding that the sections included in the FIR against Therapyworks employees were “bailable offences”. Shahzad Qureshi, the counsel for the other five Therapyworks officials, said that his clients had always appeared before the police when called. “[Therapyworks owner] Tahir Zahoor is a heart patient, his kidneys are affected and he has high blood pressure issues,” Barrister Nawaz further argued as he submitted his client’s medical history to the court. He said the personnel sent by Therapyworks had “arrested” Zahir and did so despite being injured by the primary suspect.

Schools with 100pc vaccinated staff can open from Aug 30: Sindh education minister

LAHORe

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The Lahore High Court on Monday suspended an income tax notice of about Rs2.33 billion sent by the Federal Board of Revenue to Ittefaq Sugar Mills, a Sahiwal-based sugar production unit owned by the family of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The high court also ordered the Inland Revenue commissioner to decide on the appeal filed by the business against the notice within 30 days. Justice Jawad Hassan took up the petition filed by the business against the notice while their counsel, Muhammad Mansha Sukhera, appeared on their behalf. Sukhera told the court the FBR had sent a notice to his client without taking into consideration its income. “This prompted us to file an appeal with the Inland Revenue whose commissioner twice granted a stay but did not decide on the appeal,” he said, adding the commissioner could not grant stay in the case for a third time. He further recalled the high court granting a stay in such cases is not unprecedented. “Therefore, the court is requested to suspend the notice sent to my client,” he said.

Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah announced on Monday that schools that had vaccinated 100 per cent of their staff against Covid-19 would be allowed to open from August 30.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi after meeting with representatives of private schools’ associations, the minister said 80pc of staff at private institutions had been vaccinated so far.

He said children would only be allowed to go back to school if their parents are vaccinated, adding that the parents would have to submit their vaccination certificates from the National Database and Registration Authority.

“A child coming from one household could be a carrier,” he said, adding that children were also

contracting Covid-19.

“Education is a huge department, and employs a large number of people,” he said, adding that it was imperative to increase the rate of vaccination so that lockdowns did not have to be imposed.

He said schools will reopen with 50 percent attendance and for six days a week. “Random PCR testing will also be carried out at the schools,” he said.

Several households suffer when there is a positive case at a school, he said.

Shah said that the private schools’ associations had also made the demand for vaccinated staff to be allowed to come in and plan lessons for the upcoming week. “So we have allowed that teaching and non-teaching staff that is vaccinated can be called in from tomorrow to prepare for next week,” he added.

He said the decision to extend the closure of schools in the province by a week was taken in light of the

advice given by the health department.

“The media incorrectly portrayed as if the chief minister took the decision without any consultations,” he said, adding that the decision was taken in an effort to increase the vaccination rate.

“If we would’ve opened schools on [August 23], the vaccination rate would have slowed,” he said. He said the thought process behind the decision was to increase vaccination among parents and staff so that schools can finally open.

Last week, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had said that schools, colleges and universities would remain closed for another week to enable the teaching and non-teaching staff to get themselves vaccinated.

Replying to a question at a press conference at CM House in Karachi, he said schools would now reopen on Aug 30, instead of Aug 23.

The CM had said children would have to show their parents’ vaccination cards for entry into schools.

“Therefore, it has become mandatory for parents to get themselves vaccinated within a week,” the chief minister had said at the time.

China, Pakistan, India jockey for position in Afghanistan’s new Great Game ReuteRs The Russian and British empires battled over Afghanistan in the 19th century, and the United States and the Soviet Union in the 20th. As the Taliban takes over in the strategic, landlocked nation, the new Great Game has Pakistan in control, with its ally China looking to cement its grip on the region.

Pakistan has deep ties with the Taliban and has been accused of supporting the Islamist group as it battled the US-backed government in Kabul – charges denied by Islamabad. When the Taliban captured Kabul last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Afghans had broken the “shackles of slavery”.

As the Taliban holds discussions to decide on its government model, media reports have said some Pakistani officials are involved. A Foreign Office spokesperson in Islamabad said Pakistan wanted an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan that ensured peace and stability in the region but added the “key role remains with the Afghans”.

China, with no previous involvement in Afghanistan but a strong alliance with Pakistan, has held out an olive branch to the Taliban, enticed by the country’s mineral wealth, including its large reserves of lithium, a key component for electric vehicles. China is also looking at the prospect of extra security for its narrow land route through the Karakoram mountains into Pakistan.

And then there is India – Pakistan’s old enemy, which has been locked in a military standoff with China along their disputed border for more than a year. India was a key supporter of the ousted regime in Kabul and

AnAlysis as both Pakistan and China become key players in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, New Delhi’s nervousness in increasing.

China however says its main aim in reaching out to the Taliban is to protect its western Xinjiang region from anti-Beijing East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) militants, who could seek sanctuary within Afghanistan.

“While Pakistan might be thinking of leveraging on Afghanistan against India, this is not necessarily the case for China,” said Zhang Li, a professor of South Asian studies at Sichuan University.

“China’s primary concern now is for the Taliban to … build an inclusive and moderate regime so that terrorism would not spill over to Xinjiang and the region.

Any other calculus further to that remains to be seen.”

The US government says ETIM no longer exists as a formal organization and is instead a broad label China uses to oppress a variety of Muslim ethnic groups, including Uyghurs, in its Xinjiang region. China denies all accusations of abuse.

China has dangled the prospect of providing the two things the Taliban needs to govern Afghanistan: diplomatic recognition and much-needed infrastructure and economic assistance, said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.

“An opportunistic China is certain to exploit the new

opening to make strategic inroads into mineral-rich Afghanistan and deepen its penetration of Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asia,” he said.

BITTER MEMORIES: There was much cheering in Pakistan over India’s discomfiture at the turn of events, said Raza Ahmad Rumi, a political commentator, who teaches at Ithaca College in New York.

The two countries have fought three wars since they became independent nations when the subcontinent was divided in 1947.

“The jubilation in Pakistan witnessed on social media and TV screens was largely linked to the undoing of Indian influence as conventional policy circles viewed (Afghan President Ashraf) Ghani’s close links with India as a threat,” Rumi said.

India has bitter memories of the previous Taliban stint in power from 1996 to 2001 and the group’s links to Pakistan.

An Indian Airlines plane was hijacked in 1999 and ultimately landed in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

New Delhi freed three senior Pakistani militants in its jails in exchange for the return of the passengers and the Taliban allowed the hijackers and the released prisoners to go to Pakistan.

“Our position today is one of adjusting to reality. We have to play the long game in Afghanistan. We don’t have a contiguous border but we have stakes there,” said Jayant Prasad, a former Indian ambassador to Kabul.

Over the past year as the Taliban emerged as a dominant force and US-brokered negotiations began in Doha, Indian diplomats had opened a line with the group, diplomatic sources in New Delhi said.

“We are talking to all stakeholders,” one of them said, but did not want to get to the specifics of the discussions. There has been criticism at home that India put all its eggs in the basket of the Ghani government when the United States itself had begun talks with the Taliban, and that New Delhi left it too late.

‘NOT A RE-RUN’: Still, India as a major economic player can be attractive to the Taliban, looking to avoid an over-dependence on China, the source said.

India has development projects in every one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, small and big, including the parliament building in Kabul that it built, which was over-run by gun-toting Taliban men after sweeping into the city last week.

Myra MacDonald, the author of three books on South Asia and a former Reuters journalist, said while the Taliban takeover was a setback for India, it was not game over for New Delhi.

“This is not a re-run of the past. Everyone is going to be much more careful this time about letting Islamist terrorism in Afghanistan explode as in the pre-9/11 days.”

“Plus in relative terms, India is much more economically stronger than Pakistan this time around.”

A senior member of the Taliban has told Reuters that impoverished Afghanistan needs help from countries in the region, including Iran, as well as the United States and Russia.

“We expect them to help us, to support our people, especially the health sector and especially the business sector and mining sector,” said Waheedullah Hashimi, who has access to the group’s decision-making.

“Our job is to convince them to accept us.”

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

SC SummOnS tOp COunSel, legAl bOdieS’ repS tO deliberAte On SuO mOtu invOCAtiOn ISLAMABAD

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Staff report

HE Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restrained implementation on a decision of a bench in a case pertaining to the purported harassment of journalists.

The directive was issued as a fivejudge larger bench, headed by caretaker Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, resumed hearing of the case in a bid to provide clarity on the issue of invoking the jurisdiction of suo motu notice by a bench.

The other members of the bench include Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmad and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

The top court constituted the bench on Saturday, a day after taking notice of

the alleged incidents of harassment of journalists.

On Friday, a two-judge bench — consisting of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel — took up a notice on an application moved by the Press Association of the Supreme Court, highlighting the incidents of harassment of journalists. The bench took up the matter after Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui, a former president of the body, drew its attention to the matter.

The bench had also summoned top officials of three investigation agencies: the head of the Federal Investigation Agency, Islamabad police chief, and the federal interior secretary for a hearing on August 26.

However, on Saturday the court proceeded to constitute the larger bench while noting that the earlier bench had issued notices to the federal as well as

ISLAMABAD The Foreign Office has dispelled speculations regarding the visit of the foreign minister to Kabul. “No visit by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Kabul is scheduled. Any speculation in this regard is baseless,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued late on Sunday. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Qureshi will be visiting Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries for consultations on the issue relating to Taliban takeover soon, while reiterating its commitment to work together with the international community to advance shared objectives in the war-torn country. On Saturday, Qureshi held telephonic conversations with his counterparts in Russia, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and Netherlands to discuss the latest developments in Afghanistan.

provincial governments, other authorities and the law officers of the federation and provinces, and issued directives to fix the matter for August 26 before the same bench.

During the hearing Monday, the apex court, while suspending the decision, served notices on the attorney general of Pakistan, vice chairman of the Pakistan

Bar Council and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association for assistance in the case.

“The court will only look into the matter in a bid to provide clarity in respect of invocation of its suo motu jurisdiction,” the bench said.

The court adjourned the hearing until Wednesday.

After the arrest of 34 more people in connection with the TikToker assault incident on Independence Day, the total number of suspects has now risen to 126, it emerged on Monday. Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani, in a statement, informed that 15 of the arrested suspects were being sent on judicial remand for identification. He added that the police were working around the clock to arrest all suspects involved in the incident.

In this regard, the Lahore investigation DIG was directed by the provincial police chief to raise efforts to arrest the remaining suspects with the help of geofencing and all evidence including records of Nadra.

The IG further said the elements who subjected women to violence, abuse and ill-treatment “do not deserve any concession” and asked supervisory officers to curb such crimes and share their reports with the central police office.

Ghani also asked police to take measures for protection of women in parks, at bus stands, educational institutions, markets and other public places and arrest culprits involved in gender-based crimes. He stressed that the prosecution of all such elements should not be delayed.

Meanwhile, a local court in Lahore on Monday sent 20 suspects to jail for identification parade, raising the total number of suspects held for the purpose to 90. Judicial magistrate Faraz Javed Waraich issued the orders on the request of investigators. He asked the police to complete the identification exercise at the earliest.

Moreover, it emerged that after the distressing incident of 400 men assaulting a female TikToker in Greater Iqbal Park, Lahore went viral over the internet, Punjab government has proposed a ban on the entry of TikTokers and YouTubers from the parks of Punjab.

According to a report by INP, any TikToker or YouTuber found recording videos in parks of Lahore will be investigated.

Therein, the government of Punjab will be taking assistance from private security companies which will lead to trained security guards keeping a check/ patrolling in all renowned parks of Punjab.

Moreover, new cameras will be installed in parks of Punjab and the cameras failing to function properly will be repaired to ensure proper security measures.

Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari had last week detailed the initial arrests in the case, saying 24 men had been taken into custody through geo-fencing and matching records from Nadra.

Later in the day, following a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and other senior officials, the provincial police chief said senior police officers had been suspended for negligence and delayed response in dealing with the incident.

On Aug 17, the Lorry Adda police had registered a case against nearly 400 suspects for harassing and assaulting the woman at Azadi Flyover.

The first information report (FIR) was registered under Sections 354-A (assault or use of criminal force against woman and stripping her of her clothes), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit the theft), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

In the FIR, the complainant stated that she, along with six companions, were filming a video near Minar-i-Pakistan on Independence Day when around 300 to 400 people “attacked us”.

She said that she and her companions made a lot of effort to escape from the crowd. Observing the situation, the park’s security guard opened the gate to the enclosure around Minar-i-Pakistan, the FIR quotes her as saying.

“However, the crowd was huge and people were scaling the enclosure and coming towards us. People were pushing and pulling me to the extent that they tore my clothes. Several people tried to help me but the crowd was too huge and they kept throwing me in the air,” she said.

Afghan refugees settled in Pakistan hope for peace, stability of motherland ISLAMABAD Xinhua

Naimat Khan, 24, a university student in Rawalpindi, is resettled in Pakistan as a registered refugee from Afghanistan with his family.

Over the years he has seen his motherland going through ups and downs, he hopes that the new authority will work to end the miseries of the Afghan people.

“Afghanistan suffered a lot during the last 20 years, but I hope that the Taliban will take good steps to end the worries of people. They should think about creating business opportunities to give financial relief to the cash-strapped people and will work on improving the law and order of the country,” Khan told Xinhua.

He said the new authority will have to face many challenges, but the Taliban should realize that the people of Afghanistan have suffered a lot since the US-led war in Afghanistan, and now they want a sigh of relief so they should give them time to adapt to the new laws.

Pakistani experts believe that the irresponsible and hasty withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan has not only made things tough for the people of

inclusive government to bring peace, stability in Afghanistan: experts ISLAMABAD

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Monitoring report

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anadolu agency

Suspects in custody in TikToker assault case now total 126

FO dispels speculations on Qureshi’s Afghanistan visit

NEWS

Afghanistan but also created a refugee crisis by displacing over half a million Afghans.

“The United States should shoulder the responsibility of refugees and provide them financial support in order to somewhat clear the mess it has created. It should realize why the people are suffering,” former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar told Xinhua.

About 2.7 million Afghan refugees have been living in Pakistan for decades, some of them were born here and had never been to Afghanistan, but like their parents, they also want to see a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

Zahir Khan, a Pakistan-born Afghan refugee, is a cab driver in Islamabad. He lives in a refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital, and like other people in the camp, he also hopes that the Taliban will bring harmony and openness to join the ranks of modern nations of the world.

“We all are hopeful that the situation will improve.

All schools and colleges will be opened. We have hopes from the Taliban that girls will be able to go to school.

And the females will be allowed to perform their jobs

and duties, under the Sharia Law (the Islamic Law), as Taliban claimed,” Khan told Xinhua.

Experts opine that due to the multi-ethnic nature of the Afghan society, it is necessary for the Taliban to form an inclusive government with representation from all groups.

Rustom Shah Mohmand, a former diplomat and political scientist, said the Taliban came with absolute power this time. They took control of Kabul without any violence and are now trying to solve the Panjshir issue which means the resistance, through talks. “This is commendable.”

“For a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban should also make an inclusive political structure with due representation of all ethnic groups, besides working on social warfare, health, education and other projects to improve the lives of the people of Afghanistan,” he added.

Since the US troops started to pull out of Afghanistan on May 1, the Taliban has been advancing quickly on the battlefield. During the past two weeks, the group has captured most parts of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul.

Experts from Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran have said that only an inclusive government in Kabul will lead to lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region, said a press statement. They were speaking at a webinar organised by the Development Communications Network, an Islamabad-based non-governmental organisation, over the weekend. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said that despite huge investments the US could not build a strong defense in Afghanistan, which is a monumental failure of a superpower.

He said the US squandered $6.4 trillion on the war on terror including $2.2 trillion in Afghanistan, almost $100 billion on 300,000strong Afghan army and air force, which roughly means spending $100 billion every month on the Afghan war for the last 20 years. Syed urged regional countries to forge a coordinated policy with China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey at the core, as well as Central Asian neighbors of Afghanistan, for a comprehensive plan for peace and stability. Former spymaster retired Gen Asad Durrani warned that the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan could have spillover effects in Pakistan, and urged for dialogue. After quickly overrunning smaller administrative districts and provincial hubs, the Taliban fighters entered the Afghan capital Kabul on August 15 and seized power, taking control of the country for the first time in almost 20 years. The government quickly folded, with President Ashraf Ghani and other key officials fleeing to safety abroad. So far, the Taliban have announced a general amnesty for state employees, encouraged women to participate in its prospective government, and pledged that Afghan soil would not be a springboard for harming any country.

US, NATO ‘LOSERS’ IN AFGHANISTAN FIASCO: The main losers in Afghanistan are the US and NATO in particular and the West in general, said Professor Ahmet Uysal, director of Middle Eastern Studies Center in Ankara. He argued this is because the US and its allies invested in Afghanistan invasion, hoping to establish a unipolar Western hegemony along with the invasion in Iraq, “but they failed miserably.” Uysal said India and other US allies such as Israel and some of the Gulf countries are also on the losing end. “They all have witnessed that the US alliance was not dependable and could leave its ally alone anytime,” he said, according to the statement. The academic termed Pakistan, China, Russia as the winners, and Turkey and Iran to some extent. Somaye Morovati, the director of South Asian Studies at Tehran International Studies and Research Institute, said neighbouring countries should strive to facilitate a smooth transition in Afghanistan for the sake of regional stability.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

04 NEWS

ISLAMABAD

PSX MakES 512-Point Rally to BREak PaSt 48,000-lEVEl KARACHI

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HE Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) carried forward the bullish momentum gained during the previous two sessions on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 512.39 points (+1.08 percent) to cross the psychological level of 48,000 points and closing at 48,112.21 points.

The market opened on a positive note and remained positive throughout the session as investors’ sentiments remained upbeat. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 545 points, showing an intraday high of

48,112.21 points and an intraday low of 47,599.8 points (last day closing level).

Overall, the index has gained over 1,150 points in the last three sessions.

Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 351.37 points (+1.08 percent) to close at 32,816.59 points, while All Share Islamic Index gained 359.62 points (+1.54 percent) to close at 23,690.32 points.

A total of 405 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 269 closed up, shares of 119 closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. Of the 100 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 67 closed up, 31 closed down, while two remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes increased by 98.56 million to 397.70 million shares.

Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 147.54 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 30,207 to 149,327; and the value traded increased by Rs1.79 billion to Rs14.86 billion. Likewise, the market capitalisation increased by Rs89.93 billion.

Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 35.38 million shares, followed

by BOP (22.28 million) and GGL (19.88 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, BOP, GGL, TPLP and ANL, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

The sectors propping up the index were commercial banks with 175 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 140 points, fertilizer with 40 points, miscellaneous with 36 points and oil & gas marketing companies with 34 points. The most points added to the index were by MEBL which contributed 92 points followed by PPL with 57 points, OGDC with 45 points, ENGRO with 41 points and PSEL with 34 points.

Sector wise, the index was let down by power generation & distribution with 20 points, chemical with 7 points, transport with 4 points, close–end mutual fund with 3 points and textile spinning with 2 points. The most points taken off the index were by

HUBC which stripped the index of 21 points followed by COLG with 10 points, MLCF with 9 points, EFERT with 7 points and FCCL with 4 points.

According to experts, the investors’ interest was revived in the cement sector after market expectations of softer coal prices helped the sector close up 0.66 percent while higher international oil prices drove local oil stocks, with OGDC and PPL cumulatively adding 102 points to the benchmark index.

They said that expectation of US $2.7 billion receipt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) further buoyed sentiment at the bourse.

Dollar climbs to Rs164.45 as rupee sheds 25 paisas Pakistan rupee weakened by 25 paisa (-0.15 percent) against the US dollar in the interbank on Monday despite the reports that the country is set to get $2.77 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the US dollar opened at Rs164.18 and closed at Rs164.43. This is the lowest level of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar since October 02, 2020. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at Rs164.40/164.90 per dollar. Overall, Pakistani rupee shed Rs0.18 against the US dollar during the last week, while depreciation during the fiscal year 2021-22 has been Rs7.07. The local unit has shed Rs4.24 against the US dollar in the current year 2021. The local unit has shed 7.39 percent since its recent high on May 14, 2021.

According to currency dealers, high demand for the dollar was witnessed because the market opened after two weekly holidays. Furthermore, two more holidays were observed last week on account of Ashura. They said that the market did not consider inflows of $2.77 billion from the IMF scheduled to transfer later in the day. They said the inflows would help the country regarding ease in external payments pressure. NEWS DESK

Bitcoin tops $50,000 for first time since mid-May

KARACHI: Heavy machinary has been deployed to assist in the clearance of a cargo ship which has been stuck at the beach in the port city for weeks. ONLINE

EV charging station market to reach $93bn by 2027: Report Revenues generated by the global market of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) are expected to grow to $93 billion by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20 percent, the latest report by Astute Analytica shows. In 2019, the sector managed to raise a modest revenue of around $23,000, the agency based in the Indian city of Noida said. According to the study, 819,000 EVCS units were sold in pre-pandemic 2019, with the number of sales moving up at a compound annual growth rate of 17.5%. Experts from Astute Analytica said the overall growth of the market is slowed by the high cost of construction of EVCS infrastructure, which may prevent the sector from developing. A well-developed EVCS infrastructure offers opportunities for charging various electric vehicles, including 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, passenger vehicles, and commercial cars, as well as the use of fast and wireless chargers. NEWS DESK

Gold price jumps to Rs94,500 per 10gm Gold prices gained around 0.6 percent in the international market on Monday as the US dollar weakened. At 1200 hours GMT, gold in the international market was available at $1,792.20 per ounce after gaining $10.50. Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan increased to Rs94,500 after gaining Rs500. The closing prices of the yellow metal in the country remained Rs94,000 on Friday last. The Technical Confluences Detector (CTD) shows that gold has regained the powerful resistance, now turned as support, at $1784. The next critical resistance is now seen at $1793. The buyers will then target the $1795 supply zone, which is the meeting point of the previous week’s high, pivot point one-week R1 and SMA200 four-hour. Acceptance above the latter will clear the path towards the $1800 round figure, above which the doors will open up for a test of the $1,808 resistance.

Meanwhile, if the aforementioned crucial resistance turned support at $1784 caves in, then a drop towards $1775 is inevitable. The confluence of the SMA200 one-hour and Fibonacci 161.8% one-day at $1772 could be on the sellers’ radar. According to experts, gold remained firm as the US dollar weakened from multimonth tops touched on Friday last. This was seen as a key factor that provided a modest lift to dollardenominated commodities, including gold. They said that gold is holding the higher ground, attempting another run towards the $1800 mark. NEWS DESK

Crude prices jump over 3pc as China reports zero Covid-19 case NEWS DESK Crude oil prices snapped the seven-session losing streak on Monday and jumped over 3 percent after China contained the spread of the fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus and reported zero local cases.

At 1245 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $2.02 (+3.28 percent) to reach $67.32 a barrel.

Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $64.14 a barrel, up by $2 (+3.23 percent).

The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $66.08 a barrel with 4.78 percent decrease, Arab Light was available at $67.68 a barrel with 0.13 percent decrease, while the price of Russian Sokol slipped to $66.43 after shedding 0.03 percent.

Both Brent and WTI lost 10 percent of their values earlier this month as new lockdowns to contain the more virulent delta variant curbed demand.

Oil prices recovered after falling to their lowest level since May last week.

Commodities, including oil, fell last week after

the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s July meeting, which indicated a reversal of the US central bank’s quantitative easing policy has been in place to support the economy since the onset of the pandemic. The strengthening of the US dollar amid global risk-off sentiment was also a factor affecting commodity prices.

Oil markets also await the next move of Opec+, the group controlling a significant portion of oil market supply. The alliance is set to meet on September 1. Opec+, which is led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has come under pressure from the White House to bring more supply back to the markets.

The group is already pumping an additional 400,000 barrels per day and plans to return 2 million bpd by the end of the year. The Opec+ group is expected to maintain its plans to gradually increase output at its September meeting, if prices stabilise around the current levels in the coming weeks. “However, if the downward pressure on oil prices continues due to weak demand conditions, tweaks to the planned increase in Opec+ production cannot be ruled out.

The cryptocurrency market turned bullish on Monday, with the market capitalisation increasing by 2.2 percent to $2.23 trillion and bitcoin topping the $50,000 mark for the first time in three months. As of 1125 hours GMT, the price of bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, topped the closely watched $50,000 level for the first time in three months, gaining on positive news about crypto adoption. The price of bitcoin reached $50,251 after gaining 2.11 percent.

With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of the BTC has reached $944 billion. Likewise, ethereum (ETH) price gained 2.38 percent to reach $3,336. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $390.6 billion. On the other hand, XRP gained 2.79 percent to reach $1.28. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $128.1 billion after this increase. Similarly, the price of Cardano (ADA) reached $2.83 with a 7.89 percent increase. Its market capitalisation has reached $91.4 billion after this increase. Similarly, Dogecoin (Doge) price went up by 0.96 percent to reach $0.323. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of Doge has reached $42.2 billion. Bitcoin has edged above $50,000 for the first time since mid-May. The world’s largest cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in April, but a heavy selloff in June and July plunged bitcoin to below $30,000. Since then, the cryptocurrency has shown strong growth. The drop in the first two months of summer was mainly triggered by renewed regulatory steps taken by China, which shut down mining operations in the country. More pressure followed after the US Senate passed an infrastructure bill that included a crypto tax to cover some of the expenditures under the programme. The cryptocurrency market continued to rebound after US-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced plans to purchase $500 million in digital currencies on its balance sheet and allocate 10 percent of profits into a crypto assets portfolio. NEWS DESK

Digital skills key to address education challenges: ADB VP NEWS DESK Teachers and students must be equipped with the skills to use new technology and apply developments in different disciplines such as pedagogy and psychology to continue learning amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bambang Susantono said this while addressing the participants at the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) 9th International Skills Forum on Monday.

“We see widening digital gaps across age groups and regions within countries. This shows the urgent need to equip students, teachers, and trainers with digital skills to adapt and learn in a rapidly digitalising

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world,” said Susantono.

He stressed the importance of “convergence, cohesion, and collaboration” to address challenges in education—combining discoveries in different disciplines such as behavioural science with new generation technologies to improve learning experiences and outcomes. “Artificial Intelligence and adaptive learning software can help students learn at their own pace and learn from their mistakes,” added Susantono.

“Teachers can use data generated by adaptive learning software to cater to the individual learning needs of each student.”

The International Skills Forum is ADB’s flagship event in education. Under the theme “Reimagining Education and Skills Development for a New Normal,” this year’s event explores how to ensure ongoing learn-

ing for all in a new normal characterized by Covid-19, and how developing countries can improve employability and equip their citizens with 21st century skills.

ADB has a long track record of helping to improve access to and the quality of education in Asia and the Pacific, having provided more than $15 billion in loans and grants since inception. Last month, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa stated that the organization is aiming to double its financing for education up to 10% of its total annual commitments by 2024.

More than 3,000 participants are expected at the forum including policy makers, representatives from academia, education experts, and partners from ADB’s developing member countries. This year’s event runs August 23–27 and is held virtually due to the pandemic, said the statement.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

iSlAMABAD

newS

Tarin urges PVMA to cut domestic prices in accordance with international trends

PAKisTAn’s ReGiOnAl exPORTs incReAse uP TO 20.50Pc in July Fy22 ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, urged Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) to bring down prices in the domestic market in line with the international price trend. This was discussed during a meeting on Monday with a delegation of PVMA. Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Secretary M/o Industries and Production, Chairman FBR and other senior officers participated in the meeting. While welcoming the PVMA chairman, the finance minister expressed his concern over the rise in the prices of edible oil/ghee in domestic markets over the period of time. The PVMA chairman briefed the finance minister about the international hike in prices of palm and soybean oils, particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The international prices kept fluctuating between the range of $1100 – 1257 per tonne and the domestic market drove rates from the prevailing international prices and the dollar value. The exchange rate also has a significant impact on edible oil prices in the country, he added. While taking stock of the situation, the finance minister urged PVMA to adopt market-based solutions and bring down prices in the domestic market in line with the international price trend. If there is a slight dip in the international market, it must be reflected in the domestic prices so that the consumers get relief amid the highly fluctuating edible oil market.

The finance minister stressed the need to evaluate the whole situation rationally and urged PVMA to come up with a sustainable pricing mechanism in collaboration with the Ministry of Industries & Production and FBR. Tarin directed FBR chairman to assure expeditious disbursement of refunds to the importers of vegetable ghee/oil to ensure the availability of funds.

OGRA approves oil transportation tariffs for MFM and KMK pipelines ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has approved the tariffs for Mahmoodkot-FaisalabadMachike (MFM) pipeline and Karachi-Mahmoodkot (KMK) pipeline for oil transportation and advised the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) to implement the tariff decision. OGRA, in a letter dated 17th August 2021, has advised the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) to implement the decision taken by the authority (OGRA) in its regulatory meeting No. 11 of 2021 held on August 10, 2021.

The Authority is pleased to grant the approval of PARCO’s Mahmoodkot-Faisalabad-Machike (MFM) pipeline tariff for motor gasoline transportation and has revised the transportation tariff of KMK pipeline (crude oil), said the OGRA decision. As per details, the federal cabinet’s economic coordination committee (ECC) had earlier taken a decision that explicitly guided implementation of Mogas pipeline tariff @ of 85 per cent of prevailing railway tariff. OGRA has now approved to implement this ECC decision.

According to OGRA’s decision, gasoline transportation from Mahmoodkot to Faisalabad is fixed at PKR 1,832/MT and PKR 2,227/MT for Mahmoodkot to Machike. Similarly, following ECC directions regarding revision in tariff for KMK for crude oil transportation in line with the provision of OGRA Ordinance 2002, OGRA has also approved to implement of the crude oil tariff for KMK @ Rs 3, 681/m tonne based on the current railways tariff of Rs 5,610 per Metric Ton for the section Karachi to Mahmoodkot.

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AKISTAN’S exports to the seven regional countries witnessed an increase of 20.50 per cent in the first month of the current financial year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding month last year.

The country’s exports to the regional countries including Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and the Maldives account for a small amount of $282.020m, which is 12.49pc of Pakistan’s overall exports of $2257.042 million in July 2021-22, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported.

China tops the list of countries in terms of Pakistan’s exports to its neighbours, leaving behind other countries

such as Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Pakistan carried out its border trade with the farther neighbour Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Maldives.

Pakistan’s exports to China posted a growth of 55.26pc to $165.878m in July 2022 from $106.775m in July 2021 While exports to Bangladesh also increased by 5.66pc to $51.033m from $48.297m. The country’s exports to Afghanistan however dropped by 38.57pc to $38.557m this year from $62.774m whereas exports to India plunged by a whopping 87.81pc to $0.054m from $0.443 as the government has suspended trade relations with India. Similarly, exports to Sri Lanka rose by 68.55pc to $235.991m from $15.420m in the previous year.

Exports to Nepal declined by 39.86pc to $0.273m from 0.454m while to the Maldives dipped by 1.21pc to 0.325m from 0.329m, it added.

Religious tourism, spiritual tourism, sacred tourism, or faith tourism by its root, is a type of tourism with two main subtypes: pilgrimage, meaning travel for religious or spiritual purposes, and the viewing of religious monuments and artefacts, a branch of sightseeing.

The concept of religious tourism has been around since the dawn of humanity.

From the ancient times, religious destinations have been considered not only a part of cultural landscape but over time, they served as a great contributor to economic growth of renowned hosted destinations such as Saudi Arab, Portugal, Turkey etc.

Pakistan has a diverse story of its own.

Among many other religions, Pakistan is an especially important site for Sikhism. The roots of Sikhism itself can be traced to the very heart of Pakistan, Punjab. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, himself was

On the other hand, the imports from seven regional countries were recorded at $1350.535m during July 2022 compared to $1131.427m during July 2021, showing an increase of 19.36pc. The imports from China during July 2022 were recorded at $1311.976m against the $1100.268m during July 2021, showing an increase of 19.24pc during the period. Among other countries, imports from India worth $12.405m against the imports of $15.833m, a decrease of 1.52pc while imports from Afghanistan increased by 194.23pc from $4.216m to $12.405m. Meanwhile, imports from Sri Lanka witnessed a 2.62pc decline from $7.096m to $6.910m whereas Pakistan Imports from Bangladesh recorded at $3.518m from $3.948m during July 2021. The imports from Nepal into the country witnessed a decline of 4.54pc from $0.066m to $0.063m, it added.

Qureshi hopeful of success of talks for inclusive government in Afghanistan ContInueD froM pAge 01 Giving credence to his claim about India’s negative role in Afghanistan, Qureshi referred to Indian media’s fake news about his visit to Kabul on Sunday.

“According to Indian media, I arrived in Kabul yesterday. In fact, I was in Pakistan. Fake news is affecting India’s own reputation. Peace in Afghanistan will also benefit India,” he asserted.

About Taliban’s assurance to Pakistan over the terrorist activities of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Qureshi said that the Taliban have made it clear that they will not allow Afghan soil to be used against any country.

“The TTP has used the ground against Pakistan, so our concerns carry weight,” he maintained.

Referring to Pakistan’s efforts to further consolidate peace in Afghanistan, Qureshi said that he had contacted the US secretary of state three times in past few days.

“The (US) secretary of State has been made the focal person by the US government. We are in touch. We have good relations with the United States. We have one goal and that is peace and normalcy in Afghanistan,” said the foreign minister.

Talking about the reports of tensions building between Afghan Taliban and Ahmad Massoud, the son of former Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Ma-

sood, Qureshi said that Pakistan prayed that the situation in Panjshir Valley does not deteriorate.

“The leadership on both sides must act responsibly. The internal strife is not in the interest of Afghans. The statements from both sides appear to be positive.

The dialogue between the two sides is going on. The Afghan people must know that Pakistan wants their betterment,” said the minister.

Qureshi said that Pakistan wants the international community to maintain its ties with Afghanistan. “The connections are already there, but we need their continuity,” he said. He also said that an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) Executive Committee on Afghanistan was convened in Jeddah on Sunday.

“Today I spoke with the Saudi foreign minister who spoke about the transfer of his diplomatic staff from Kabul to Pakistan. Pakistan is providing all possible assistance for the evacuation of diplomatic staff, officials of international organizations and media representatives awaiting their return to Kabul,” he said.

Qureshi said that Pakistani efforts are being widely appreciated.

“Our embassy in Kabul is constantly helping people. Our embassy is issuing visas while we are also providing visa on arrival in Pakistan. We have set up an evacuation operation cell which has been operational since August 16. The cell in-

cludes representatives of all concerned agencies including Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, FIA, Islamabad Police,” he added.

The minister said that a Crisis Management Unit has been set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is working day-and-night.

“Pakistan has safely evacuated 3,234 people from different countries from Kabul. 333 of whom were Pakistani nationals. I’m glad our efforts are being appreciated by the world. Only a few embassies are working in Kabul. According to my information, five embassies including Pakistan are functional in Kabul,” he said.

Qureshi said that a number of foreign ministers have spoken to him in the past few days.

“We have unanimity of views on most of the issues. Tomorrow I am leaving for Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. I have had already held a detailed discussion with the Chinese Foreign Minister. The purpose of my visit is to develop a common strategy to address the current situation in Afghanistan and the challenges it faces,” he said.

The minister said that the issues include challenges such as the coronavirus situation, border security, and the arrival of refugees.

“They will also be consulted to promote regional ties. Peace in Afghanistan

is a shared responsibility. So, we want a consensus strategy adopted after consultation,” he concluded.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Qureshi said that Pakistan was facilitating the evacuation of foreign nationals stranded in Afghanistan on a humanitarian basis despite facing difficulties on the ground.

Speaking to a news channel, the foreign minister said that he had discussed the matter with foreign ministers of the European governments and they all had expressed their gratitude over the cooperation extended by Islamabad in facilitating the safe evacuation of their people.

“We are cooperating in the entire process of evacuation on a humanitarian basis,” he said, adding Pakistan did not seek praise as “our conscience was satisfied”.

Last week, amid unrest in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Pakistan had informed the diplomatic community in Islamabad about its efforts in aiding the evacuation of international community members from the war-torn nation.

Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood briefed the Diplomatic Corps in Islamabad on the facilitation of evacuation, informing them of the arrangements made

by Pakistan to enable evacuation of diplomats and staff, INGOs, media, and representatives of international organisations, and others from Afghanistan.

PMDA will be authorised to fine TV channels up to Rs250m: Fawad ContInueD froM pAge 01 Last week, key stakeholders of the media and civil society completely rejected as draconian and unacceptable both the government proposal to create a new authority to regulate the entire spectrum of the country’s media sector, including print, electronic, digital and film, as well as its attempt to wrongly claim support for it, a joint statement issued declared.

The proposed establishment of the PMDA by merging all the existing media and sundry regulators and repealing major media-related legislations is unacceptable

because this entails bulldozing existing structures and mandates for the purpose of addressing government concerns rather than reforming them from the perspectives of either the media, journalists, citizens or media consumers of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Bar Council, South Asia Free Media Association, Asma Jahangir’s AGHS, Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan, Freedom Network, Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development, Digital Rights Foundation, Media Matter for Democracy and others op-

Punjab - The Birthplace of Sikhism MunnAZA AHMAD

05

born in Nankana in 1469.

The literal meaning of the Punjabi word Gurdwara, the place where Sikhs come together for congregational worship, is 'the residence of the Guru', or 'the door that leads to the Guru'. These Gurdwaras welcome anyone, of any faith, so anyone interested is advised to follow protocols such as removing their shoes, covering their heads and showing regard to the religious sites. There are around 195 Gurdwaras across Pakistan, out of which Punjab is home to five of the most important Sikh pilgrimage sites such as: • Gurdwara Panja Sahib – Hasanabdal • Gurdwara Dera Sahib – Lahore • Nankana Sahib – Distt Nankana • Gurdwara Rori Sahib – Gujranwala • Gurdwara Sacha Sauda - Sheikhupura • Gurdwara Bhai Karam Singh – Jhelum These sites are visited by thousands of Sikhs from neighboring India, Europe, Canada and the U.S every year. According to survey

data, 83pc of the eight million diaspora Sikhs living outside India have shown interest in visiting Pakistan. While Pakistan maintains the title of Islamic state, under the articles twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two in chapter two of its constitution it guarantees religious freedom to the non-Muslim residents.

There is no denying that these religious sites invite opportunities for civic engagement and have the potential to build bridges and promote tolerance. While empowering local communities by creating a plethora of employment opportunities and contributing to the substantial increase in the GDP, religious tourism is an area under special focus.

However, in the past it has not been tapped with consistent committed efforts and integrated interventions for decades despite its tremendous potential. Recognizing the gap, Government of Punjab, Planning & Development Board in collaboration with World Bank Group (WBG) and multiple imple-

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pose and reject the PMDA. This joint statement is also being publicly endorsed by dozens of civil society organizations, human rights defenders and prominent journalists, citizens and groups. All key media industry associations including All Pakistan Newspaper Society, Council of Newspaper Editors, Pakistan Broadcasters Association and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors have already outright rejected the PMDA proposal, as have leading political parties including Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

menting agencies have implemented the Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth (PTEGP) Project with the total project cost of USD 55 million over five years (30th April 2023).

The project aims to promote the tourism sector by strengthening the institutional capacity through better skills development, increase private sector participation and improve infrastructure services in support of the tourism sector in the province of Punjab. PTEGP has also initiated the widening and improvement of a long-stretched road that is spread over 23.65 KM, connecting Manawala road to Sacha Sauda Gurdwara to encourage and boost religious tourism in the region. Standing true to its mission of projecting a softer image of Pakistan and putting it on the map as a tolerant melting pot of cultures, PTEGP promotes and facilitates religious tourism withheavy investments in infrastructure development for religious sites, setting quality standards and ensuring safety and security for tourists.

Coupled with the aforementioned initiatives it is high time that the following measures are in place to enhance religious tourism

in Pakistan: • Preservation of heritage along with promotion of religious tolerance to restore the confidence of Sikh pilgrims.

• Facilitation of Sikhs in any policy designed or to be designed by the Pakistani authorities regarding Gurdwaras.

• Recruitment of Sikh personnel for the preservation and promotion of their respective sites.

• Active social media engagement for promotion of religious tourism through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Realizing heritage is both a tangible and an intangible asset that is passed on from one generation to another these much needed initiatives will surely help preserve the past for the future generations to come while strengthening the image and economy of Pakistan. Long live Pakistan Munnaza Ahmad is a freelance writer and a communication Specialist by profession. She can be followed @MunnazaAhmad on Instargam.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

06 COMMENT

The ‘problem of evil’

Handling a hot potato The future of TTP

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n earlier report suggested that the Afghan taliban were persuading ttP leaders to settle their problems with Pakistan, get amnesty and return to the country along with their families. It was also suggested that Pakistan might consider the proposal after they had laid down weapons and renounced terrorism. Another report speaks about Pakistan having handed over to the taliban a list of Afghanistan-based most wanted ttP affiliated terrorists for action against them.

Since ttP’s inception in 2007, terrorists affiliated to it have killed thousands of innocent civilians and security personnel. Military operations had to be conducted in Pakistan’s tribal agencies where the ttP challenged the writ of the state. for years terrorists were trained and dispatched from north Waziristan to the rest of the country to launch attacks on mosques, shrines and military installations. In Swat, ttP rejected Pakistan’s constitution, set up its own courts and planned to march to occupy Islamabad. Army had to be called in to restore the state’s writ. In another agency the ttP showed extreme disrespect for the dead bodies of the soldiers. It also ruthlessly killed 132 school children in Peshawar Army Public School. Any move considered to be a concession to the ttP is likely to elicit strong public reaction. the ttP does not comprise a few dozen individuals. A report prepared for the Un Security council this year estimated its fighting strength to range from 2,500 and 6,000 members. Pakistan can ill-afford to give a clean chit to the bulk of the murderers after punishing a handful of leaders.

A number of terrorist groups that threaten the integrity of China, Central Asian states and Iran are sheltered in Afghanistan. An agreement reached on ttP without consulting these countries could create misunderstandings with Pakistan. Pakistan has also to take note of the fact that the Un and US have listed ttP as a global terrorist organization. Any concession could cause problems for it at international forums. the best way should be to seek the repatriation of ttP leaders against whom Pakistan possesses proofs and get them sentenced through courts. As the ttP yearns for the type of system the taliban want to introduce in Afghanistan, the remaining lot may be given Afghan citizenship by taliban and told not to interfere in other countries.

Revisited

HASAN AFTAB SAEED

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eSPIte being discussed to death, the socalled ‘problem of evil’ has defied solution in many religious traditions. no wonder the atheists employ it as their premiere argument to demonstrate the naivety of believers. However, what over the centuries has challenged the best intellects of generations of theists has never been much of an insoluble problem for Muslims. they have generally wondered what all the fuss was about – at any rate Muslims who give serious thought to their religion. for the considerate Muslim, there is nothing irreconcilable about evil in the world and belief in God. When the atheist tries to tie such a Muslim up in knots by asking why an Omniscient and Omnipotent God allows evil in the world, the Muslim readily spots the fault in the argument. that is, unlike Allpowerful and All-knowing, the attribute ‘All-good’ or ‘Perfectly-good’ means nothing when it is applied to God. this is so because good and bad are relative terms. It is like calling boiling water hot. It certainly is hot to your skin, but not very hot as compared to the surface of the sun. Similar is the case with good

Improving Pak-India diplomatic relations

Minorities undercounted

Has the dust settled?

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fter close to two and a half years, Pakistan and India have made efforts to normalize diplomatic ties by reportedly granting each other a large number of assignment visas in recent weeks. Indo-Pak ties quickly and dangerously deteriorated following an attack on a paramilitary police convoy in Pulwama, Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) back in 2019, as India resorted to carrying out an airstrike in Balakot that was intercepted by Pakistan Air force, which shot down an Indian MiG 21 and capture its pilot who was returned as a goodwill gesture within days. these incidents, that could have easily spiraled out of control leading to an all-out war, were preceded by India’s abrogation of article 370 of its constitution, revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. A severe uptick in firing along the Line of Control (LoC) ensued for more than a year claiming lives of civilians and soldiers on both sides. thankfully an enforceable ceasefire agreement was reached in february of last year, bringing about a significant drop in violence along the LoC. Last year there were also reports of backchannel talks between senior leadership of both countries brokered by the UAe as well. While it remains unclear as to whether or not this resumption in diplomatic ties is a result of those negotiations, a war of words between the two, either through mainstream and social media or at international forums, continues unabated. An effort to restart trade, a proposal supposedly a result of the same talks, was shot down by the federal cabinet members who maintained that it directly contradicted their stance on Kashmir. thawing diplomatic relations are a very welcome development as it opens up lines of formal communication, a convention that even the worst of enemies follow, especially ones that are nuclear powers. It is important that this resumption of diplomatic relations moves towards betterment and more normalcy, eventually allowing high commissioners, who were recalled in 2019 following the change to Kashmir’s special status, to take charge in either country once again. However, Pakistan has to maintain its principled stance on Kashmir and continue to raise awareness over the gross human rights violations that the people of IOK continue to face. It is possible for a country to maintain working diplomatic relations while disagreeing and commenting on the policies of another country that affect it.

Government must help in finding the correct data SANiA AriF

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eLIGIOUS minorities in Pakistan claim the country’s census, released by the government in May, appears to have undercounted them. the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics published the data of sixth Population and Housing Census completed in 2017 on May 19. the previous census had been conducted in 1998. the results of the 2017 census conducted under former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-n) Supremo nawaz Sharif were delayed after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Sindh provinces complained that their populations were undercounted.

Pakistan’s 1998 census recorded 132.3 million people, while the 2017 data show the population has grown to 207.68 million. the population includes 106.018m males, 101.344m females and 321,744 transgender persons. the data showed that Muslims grew to 96.47 percent of the population, while religious minorities shrank. Hindus accounted for 1.73% of the population; Christians, 1.27pc; Ahmadis, 0.09%; scheduled caste, 0.41%and others, 0.02%. “the 1998 census data showed a Hindu population of nearly 2 million. Yet the new census showed that it had only risen to 3.5 million in 20 years,” said Karachi Supreme Court attorney neel Keshav. He maintains that the numbers are likely to be much higher since the majority of Hindus live in rural areas.

“Migration does not explain the low population growth and that under-coverage may have occurred,” he said citing a Human rights Commission of Pakistan stat maintaining that over the past six merely 8,000 Hindus have emigrated to India.

Pakistan is an immensely plural country characterized by religious, sectarian and ethno-linguistic diversities. It is an overwhelmingly Muslim community with more than 90 percent of its 142 million inhabitants adhering to Islam, yet they belong to several doctrinal groups.

According to a notification issued in May 2020, a national minorities commission was to be reconstituted comprising of six members. the composition consists of six members, representatives of different federal ministries, along with the secretary of Ministry of religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) is also a member. there are 12 non-official members from the minority community and two Muslim members. the present composition, and its governance, results in no commission at all. Such a commission is a bureaucratic

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Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

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abundance of evil in the world in a completely different way. Instead of demanding what God is doing (or not doing) about all the evil in the world, He fears God questioning him why he did not do whatever was in his power to confront and resist that evil. As the Quran says, while God is entitled to demand explaand evil. When you kill a mosquito using some chem- nations from every soul, He Himself is not answerical, that is good for you but bad for the mosquito. able to anybody. And this makes complete sense to When, on the other hand, it manages to sting you de- the Muslim because he appreciates that God is Allspite your repellents and insect-killers, that is good powerful and All-Wise, which man is certainly not. for it but bad for you. Good and bad are themes of Humility, not arrogance, is called for here. to overthe universe (or of creatures), not those of God. the estimate one’s abilities and qualities is not only arroproject of reconciling ‘All-goodness’ with Omnis- gant but foolish as well.

It sure looks like there is way too much evil in cience and Omnipotence of God is therefore a nonstarter because it means nothing. no intelligent theist the world. A Quranic verse mentions that one may be dazzled by the abundance of evil in the world. But would even attempt it. the verse also reminds man According to the Quran, not to be misled by that; and God gives man free-will ininstructs him to be mindful side a certain domain to test of his duty to God so that he him. Man is given potential The presence of evil is certainly may succeed. for evil can and permission to do good never equal good by its freas well as bad inside that dono fault in the design of the quency alone. In another main. Without the freedom to think independently he universe. Evil is an integral part place, it explains that God evil things one on top would merely be an algoof the world, and there is a very heaps of another and disposes rithm; without the permisthem all collectively. sion to act it out, there good reason for its existence. there may be a lot of would be no free-will. WithThings are known by their evil in the world but there is out these then, there would a lot of good as well, even if be no test to speak of. We opposites. Good is known it takes the form of outrage would then merely be automatons going through the precisely because there is evil. or horror in one’s heart when one encounters evil. If anymotions. God thus creates thing, far from disproving human beings who can do God, the fact that the presgood as well as bad. Hence ence of evil disturbs us is a the verse in the Quran that explicitly instructs men to take refuge in God from problem for the atheist. the presence of evil is certainly no fault in the the evil of things that He has created.

It may be tempting to demand why God does not design of the universe. evil is an integral part of the eliminate evil altogether when it should not be diffi- world, and there is a very good reason for its exiscult for Him – if he is Omnipotent, that is. Indeed, tence. things are known by their opposites. Good is there is nothing that is too difficult for God, but there known precisely because there is evil. If there is no are things that – though no big deal for Him – would evil there can be no good either. nobody would be go against the scheme on which He created man. He brave or heroic if there were no such thing as cowmakes it clear in the Quran that this life is a test for ardice under the sun. there is certainly no reason why man should get man. Without the potential to do well or otherwise, bogged down in confusion and/or inaction because there would be no test. that is the logical inconsistency ingrained in the of the so-called ‘problem of evil’. frame of mind that implicitly or explicitly demands The author is a connoisseur of music, literature, the elimination of all evil before it would come round to believing in an ‘All-good’ God. the Muslim not and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at only recognizes this inconsistency but looks at the www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed

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by at least half a million,” eyewash, a ‘tick box’ and a said Center for Social Justice disingenuous exercise.

Director Peter Jacob. through this notificastruggling to tion, the federal government Experts say citizenship based find“We’re accurate data, and has shown contempt for a on unrestrained human rights somehow the government is 2014 apex court judgment. not helping. It is not investiIn addition to contempt, in Pakistan could lead to gating,” he added. there are two important religious minorities acpoints to note. the first funimprovements and this can cused the government of undamental issue with this only occur if the leadership dercounting them so that new attempted commission Islamabad can draw smaller is that it lacks independence. acts responsibly and avoid constituencies and share out Human rights experts inciting hatred. fewer seats in assemblies maintain that minorities in and Senate.

Pakistan are not safe. AnaAt present, the minorilysts say their social and ties can contest only 33 reeconomic status is precariserved seats in the ous and their security is subassemblies and four seats in the Senate. ject to the arbitrary whim of the Muslim majority.

Keeping in view the reservations expressed by Prof Abdia elvin of forman Christian University lamented the underreporting of Christian community some stakeholders, over the results of the census the in the census. “Census is a powerful tool. It is used Council of Common Interest (CCI) in April had defor planning and development. the census results de- cided to hold fresh census by the end of 2021 under termine the future course of any community or coun- which the 2023 general elections will be held. the decision was taken in a meeting presided try,” she said. “reservations of minority communities about over by Prime Minister Imran Khan. the meeting had census reports are widely known. the minorities have also decided to take all stakeholders on board for never accepted the census results that have deprived holding fresh census so that there could be no reserthem of their rights and privileges. the policies and vation from any side. experts say citizenship based on unrestrained distribution of resources have not been fair. the census has led to identity crises and political mishandling human rights in Pakistan could lead to improvements and this can only occur if the leadership acts responof minorities’ affairs.” “even though Christians have migrated overseas sibly and avoid inciting hatred. and converted to Islam, our church records make us The writer is a freelance columnist suspect that Christians may have been undercounted

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Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

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

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

Languishing power sector

Fixing the Agro-Economy of Pakistan in this sector has reached 700 billion rupees and the sector provides jobs to around 1.5 million people in the country. country; in 2019-20 we produced 9.1 million this sector balances the overall meat probales of cotton, the 7% production of cotton de- duction of the country as 35% of the total meat creased by almost 7% from the output of 2018- comes from poultry. this sector grew by 9.1% 19. the area of cultivation was increased by in 2019-20. fisheries is the source of income 6.5% but the overall output decreased in 2019- for the people living in coastal areas of Pak20. Sugarcane is very significant for the sugar istan. It has a 0.4% share in GDP. In 2019-20 related industries. the Sugar Mafia and the the total fisheries production was approxisugar crisis had been rampant some months be- mately 701762 metric tons and we exported rs fore. Sugarcane contributes to 2.9% of agricul- 49528 million worth of fishes and fish prodture and0.6% to the GDP of the country, in ucts. there is an overall increase in production, 2019-20, the production of sugarcane declined in comparison to 2018-19 was 9.7%, whereas by 0.4% and the area under cultivation fell by the overall increase in the exports of fish and 5.6%. the negligence in sugar production re- fish related products was 2.7%. forestry is very sulted in a severe sugar crisis. Maize contributes important but unluckily only 5.01% area of to 2.9% of total agriculture and 0.6% to national Pakistan comprises forest. the country has 4.51 GDP. the area of cultivation was increased by million hectares of forest, in which 3.44 mil2.9% in 2019-20 and its production increased by lions of forests are on government owned land, 7%. the increase is due to allocation of more the rest are on private owned lands. the share area and better seeds. of forestry is only the production of 2.1%. the results indigram, Bajra and tocate that Agriculture bacco boosted by and subsectors of Agri21.9%, 9.7% and 5.8% culture had a signifiIn 2019-2020, despite covid-19 in the year 2019-20 recant impact on spectively, while the and locust attacks Pakistan economic growth of production of Jowar dethe country; however managed to produce 24.9 clined by 19.5%. As for forestry did not have a the pulses the producsignificant impact on million tons of wheat and the tion of moong ineconomic growth. area for wheat cultivation also there is a dire need of creased by 12.6%, mash decreased by turning our lens to increased by 1.7%. Rice is the agro-economic 5.8% and the producdeveltion of masoor resecond most vital crop in terms opment. AJK and GB mained stable. must be kept on focal of food, cash and export.

Production of chilies points in this respect as increased by 34.6%, there are greater due to the good weather prospects of agro-ecoconditions but the pronomic growth and conduction of onions and potatoes decreased by 1% tribution to national GDP. In AJK and GB most and 5.3% in the year 2019-20. the production of the areas are uncultivated and uninhabited. of oil from oilseeds was only 0.5 million tons. the industry of livestock can bring a tremenMore than 8million families are directly or indi- dous change to boost a country’s economy and rectly linked with this livestock sector and it is the living standard of the masses. Agro-ecothe source of 35-40% of their income. Livestock nomic sector needs immediate attention of the also contributes to 3.1% of our exports. 960.6% concerned authorities to tackle the future probof total agriculture is based upon livestock and lems which may get worse in case of further it contributes to 11.7% of our national GDP. delay.

Globally, Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer. In 2019-20 we produced 61.6 million tons The writer is Prof. in English and Freelance of milk and 4.7 million tones of meat. Poultry is Columnist based in Lahore. He can be reached a subsector of livestock, currently the investment at Prof.abdulshakoorsyed@gmail.com

AJK and GB almost remain almost completely uncultivated

ProF ABDul SHAkoor SHAH

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GrICULtUre is an art of nurturing harvest and hoisting livestock. Its paramount economic role in undersized or budding countries has vital significance. In Pakistan it has been considered an economic axis for growth. In the 40s, it made up around 53% of the country’s GDP and more than 65% of our labor engaged in this sector. During the last 7 decades, political, social, environmental and climate change have curtailed these figures to decline. Currently, agriculture is contributing 22.04% to national GDP. the agro-employment ratio has fallen from 65% to mere 35.9%. the national rural population is around 63.09% and overwhelming preponderance of the bucolic is unswervingly or circuitously connected with agriculture. It also supplies unrefined material for the various industrial sectors as well as a chief purchaser of agro-products. Ironically, we are only cultivating 21.1 million of the area out of 796,096km, which is why roughly 1/3rd of our population lives below the poverty line approximately, around 49% of our people are facing food insecurity. It is anticipated that the wheat production will decline by 50% in 2050 owing to climate change.

Climate change has drastically affected our mango production. Despite all this we are one of the largest producers of chief crops contributing to around 35% of agriculture, livestock contributes to around 61% in agriculture, fisheries contribute 2.06% and forestry contribute 2.13% in agriculture.

Crops production had negative growth in 2015, 2016 and 2019, forestry saw a gigantic beg off in 2015 and downbeat growth of 2.33% in 2017. Wheat is one of the most used crops in the world. During 2020, it contributed 8.7% in agriculture and 1.7% in GDP of the country. In 2019-2020, despite covid-19 and locust attacks Pakistan managed to produce 24.9 million tons of wheat and the area for wheat cultivation also increased by 1.7%. rice is the second most vital crop in terms of food, cash and export. It contributes to 3.1% of agriculture and 0.6% to national GDP. In 2020, Pakistan produced 7.4 million tons of rice and the area of cultivation also increased by 8%. Cotton is also considered the backbone of our economy. It contributes to 4.1% of agriculture and 0.8% to the GDP of the

It is saddening that the national power sector is deteriorating with passage of time instead of any noticeable improvement in its governance , administration or professionalism . the result is that circular debt keeps on ballooning , tariffs are ever escalating , thefts go unchecked with revenue leakage , high transmission & distribution losses adding to the cost of delivered power , inefficient & incompetent handling of problems and poor operation & maintenace of powerplants and grid system network are all going unaddressed. Lack of industrialisation and commercialisation has resulted in surplus power which remains unutilised though you need to pay for this to the investors . the recent countrywide total black out exposed the grave weaknesses in the operation & maintenace of the power system and the lack of professionalism in running it . Billions of rupees losses have incurred as a result thereof as the system restoration took over twenty hours . It points out that all is not well in the power sector which is supposed to be the backbone of the national economy . future blackouts can not be ruled out . the power sector is seized with multitude problems of our own making and one wonders what our advisors and administrators have been doing to address these problems . rest assured that raising of power tariffs now & then is not going to solve the problems . nor vesting of powers to the government to levy surcharges in the consumers bills , at their sweet will , will prove fruitful . It may , however , please the IMf and other lending agencies at the expense of the cosumers and the government ultimately . In short , the whole power sector is in shambles and is highly messed up , and it is beyond the capacity and capability of the present masters governing this sector of vital national importance. In view of the gravity of the state of affairs confronting the power sector , there appears to be no quick fix as the challenges have been made highly complex to resolve . People with proper expertise and a clear mind are required to thrash out the teething multifarious challenges & problems.

Engr riaz Bhutta LahorE

Relief operation PUnJGUr is a small town in Balochistan which was recently sabotaged by floor destruction. However, the flood was as strong as dangerous wind as it completely destroyed the rural areas. As a response to this disasters got victims, Balochistan South fC helped the people and did a relief operation in Panjgur. During the torrential rain, there was a little snowfall too. Due to strong rain a large number of areas were even flooded worrying the residents alot. the extreme and continuous rain has also killed two and injured many of them. I request the authorities of Balochistan to help flood victims and provide them the basic facilities they deserve.

BarkatuLLah turBat

Obsession with fairness tHe love for white skin is said to have stemmed from British influence, although we have been spared but their skin color still influences us. Our cosmetic industries shows dark skinned people are depressed, unsuccessful,unhappy,undesirable and shows how dark skinned girls worth nothing and gives incentives and opportunities to fair skinned in many aspects of their lives.our media is one of the prime accused as they advertise that marital fortune is connected or linked with how fair you are,which has impacted and made the people premarily girls obsessed with fairness creams and have turned people insecure and anxious about their skin tone . the fascination and attraction towards towards fairness creams isn’t new but in the last two decades the fairness creams and products have hit the market and most of the population are not aware the damages and hazards these creams cause. Since the beauty is associated with the lighter skin tone and many fairness creams come with the taglines as white is purity,white and beautiful,the fairer the better and fair and superior those taglines effected and has led women taking extreme measures and put on unknown chemicals to their skin as they promise and ensure fairness.with the view to get more fair many dangerous methods have been implemented among many one the most practiced thes days is formulla creams which are sold at porlour across the country although it results fairness but once stopped using it,they reversely effects the skin amd turns the skin more darker than before.these fairness creams coms with steroids which fasten the skin lightening process but makes the skin more pigmanted amd rise acne scarring and results in massive hair growth. Many women resorts to injecting glutathione with vitamin C but again it’s a temporary way and road to fairness and it carries certain risks. Pakistan and india in not the only countries to use and buy these beauty creams but these fairness products are being sold in Southern Asia , Middle east and in parts of Africa. Bulling and taunting of dark skinned people premarily girls and the persistent bias against darker faces is way too common in our societies and many have complained to have been deprived of jobs owing to have dark skin tone. raBia rafiuLLah LahorE

Why the law department?

UnIverSItY of turbat (UOt) is the major university of Kech which has been constructed in Ginna with all essentials. Its campuses are providing education too like the Panjgor campus and Gowadar campus, but they are eminently directed and managed. While turbat university is the main branch which owns a huge issue by the mismanaged department. this is bizarre that all the department are present on the precise spot of university, however, law department is available in the boundary of the public library. the public library is for all public where recently UOt is has been constructing a profound and embellished building in the boundary which highlights as if the scarcity of piece of land persists. the responsible authorities have no idea that due to taking classes in the boundary of the public library most of the students and the public are in hot water as already the library is small without fundamental essentials, and they have been reaching their stride to shift whole law department. Besides, sometimes the students and professors confront problems to get instantly what they need. the authorities must research it and wisely take appropriate measures so that the members of UOt as well the public should not be in trouble.

Mudasir kariM turBat

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

The Taliban now need To find friends SOME CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES ARE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC OVER THE TALIBAN’S PLEDGE NOT TO SUPPORT TERRORISTS

project Syndicate

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dJooMaRT oToRbaev

He days and nights following the Taliban’s capture of Kabul and the collapse of the Afghan government have been remarkably calm. Most shops and businesses are closed. ordinary Afghans are hiding in their homes. The Taliban are acting as a police force, protecting the city from marauders. And yet, in this moment of relative stillness, Afghans are facing a monumental realization: They now live in a completely new country.

In defending his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan, U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged that events unfolded “more quickly” than U.S. officials had anticipated. According to Biden, that is because Afghanistan’s political leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, “gave up and fled the country,” and “the Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.” Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, defended the military, tweeting, “They tied our hands from behind and sold the country. Curse Ghani and his gang.”

Whatever happened in Kabul’s corridors of power last week, now it is the Taliban that occupies them. But

who are the Taliban, which the world’s mightiest country spent more than $2 trillion attempting to defeat, and what will their return to power mean for Afghans and their neighbors?

The Taliban are not a unified force, but rather a motley collection of groups with conflicting interests. There are significant differences between the “civilized” political wing represented by the political office in doha, influential clergy and the numerous warlords on the ground. Afghans’ prospects depend crucially on which elements of the Taliban prove dominant. That is why it is essential to identify and support the more moderate Taliban leaders.

Here, there might be good news. The latest information suggests that Taliban co-founder and political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will become Afghanistan’s new leader. He has positioned himself as a pragmatic, experienced and thoughtful leader, capable of uniting influential Taliban groupings around him and negotiating effectively with international actors. on Aug. 17, Baradar arrived in Afghanistan.

Moreover, Taliban leaders have also pledged to create an “inclusive Islamic government.” According to Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson, such a government would include non-Taliban Afghans, including some “well-known figures.” one such figure could be former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has formed a coordination council to manage a peaceful transfer of power. That council — which is now in doha to meet with Taliban leadership — also includes Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Ironically, this sort of “inclusivity” would exclude

The fiasco in Afghanistan is way worse than Saigon

many of the Taliban’s more radical segments, raising the risk that the extremists will seek partnerships with terrorist groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State. But the bigger risk would arise from efforts to turn Afghanistan into a mono-ethnic (Pashtun) state, based on a winner-take-all mindset. This would almost certainly reignite civil war.

Beyond building an inclusive government, the Taliban will need to strengthen its army and police force and establish diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. Among the group’s fastest friends are likely to be Russia and China. Zamir Kabulov, a Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan, says that the Kremlin maintains good relations with the Taliban, so Russia is not worried about what is happening in the country. on a recent phone call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that they should “protect the legitimate interests” of their respective countries in Afghanistan, “report on the situation and support each other.”

The Taliban might also find willing partners in Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors. The leaders of Afghanistan’s ethnic Uzbek and Tajik communities — the warlords Abdul Rashid dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor — did flee the country after the fall of Mazar-iSharif, which they had been defending. Many commentators viewed this as a rejection of the Taliban. But I believe that it reflects an unwillingness to continue fighting and expect both men to return to Afghanistan soon.

More broadly, Central Asian countries seem to be cautiously optimistic about the potential for cooperation with a Taliban-led Afghanistan. After all, Baradar has pledged not to “allow the emergence of a threat and dan-

aZ republic

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Jon GabRiel

He past week was filled with harrowing images out of Afghanistan. Helicopters evacuating U.S. embassy staff in a visual callback to the fall of Saigon. Taliban soldiers roaming the streets, executing innocents. Afghans clinging to the outside of C-17s, some falling to their deaths after takeoff.

Like most Americans, I agreed with Presidents Trump and Biden’s goal to finally leave Afghanistan after 20 years. In my naivete, I expected a modicum of competence as we withdrew.

By Sunday, everyone realized the withdrawal was a tactical fiasco. But instead of correcting the problems, our governmental officials thought it best to point fingers.

The intel community leaked that they had warned the White House this would happen but were ignored. The Pentagon leaked their own warnings but insisted Biden overruled them, too. For his part, the president blamed everyone he could think of.

BIDEN BLAMES EVERYONE ELSE: In his Monday speech, Biden first blamed President obama’s decision to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. “I opposed the surge when it was proposed in 2009 when I was vice president,” he said. He directed more blame at Trump, claiming he was unable to change the last president’s withdrawal deal. Sure, Biden systematically reversed every other Trump-era policy he could find, but his Afghanistan deal was somehow sacrosanct.

The president also blamed the Afghans themselves. “Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country,” Biden said. “The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.”

After disappearing for 24 hours, Biden sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos to blame even more people. Contradicting the leakers

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Republic and azcentral.com.

Djoomart Otorbaev is a former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan.

Modi exploits nationalism to distract Indians from a failing economy

THE WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN WAS A FIASCO. BUT BIDEN SEEMS TO THINK THAT IF HE IGNORES IT, THE PRESS WILL MOVE ON AND ALL WILL BE WELL and several senators, Biden insisted that the military didn’t tell him to maintain a small force on the ground and the intelligence agencies never warned him that Afghanistan could fall so quickly. either everyone in government is to blame or no one is.

The ship of state appears lost at sea and no one dares take the helm.

THIS IS A HUMANITARIAN AND POLICY CRISIS: Bizarrely, the White House is treating the unfolding debacle as a mere political messaging crisis instead of the military, humanitarian and foreign policy crisis it is. That’s why Biden didn’t mention Afghanistan in his Wednesday CoVId-19 speech where he again refused to take questions.

If they change the subject, the administration assumes, the press will simply move on. But the Taliban won’t move on. The Kabul nightmare is likely in its early stages.

An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Americans remain in the country. The U.S. government isn’t sure where they are. They have told those in Kabul to come to the airport, but they’ll have to move through numerous Taliban checkpoints.

Who knows how many of our Afghan allies are in hiding despite wasting months begging for Biden to save them? Their requests are lost in our dysfunctional bureaucracy.

What happens if we get out all but 1,000 Americans? That would be 20 times the embassy staff seized during the Iranian hostage crisis. What if a few jumpy enemy fighters surrounding Kabul’s airport decide to open fire or mortar the runway? How will the Taliban commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks?

SHOULDN’T BIDEN BE PLANNING FOR THE WORST? The fact that this White House isn’t contemplating possible developments even a few weeks out beggars belief. And few have mentioned how an emboldened China or Russia might handle Taiwan and Ukraine over the next few months.

Many compare the fall of Kabul to the fall of Saigon. But the situation in Afghanistan looks far worse. We rescued all the Americans from Vietnam.

President Gerald Ford immediately gave a long speech taking responsibility, answered more than 20 questions from journalists and welcomed 130,000 refugees into the country. President Biden likes to think of himself as another FdR. At this point, he isn’t even a President Ford.

ger from Afghanistan” to Central Asian countries and has welcomed the Uzbek-initiated plan to construct the “Kabul Corridor” railway from Termez in Uzbekistan to Peshawar in Pakistan via Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul.

In fact, with the United States gone, the vision of a “Greater Central Asia” with more open trade and improved infrastructure among the countries of the region could gradually become a reality.

Afghanistan’s future will also be shaped by the policy of the U.S. and its allies. America’s humiliating defeat and chaotic retreat has severely undermined its international standing. The question now is how much responsibility, if any, the U.S. will take for ensuring the Afghan people’s well-being, given the leading role it played in destroying their country.

For now, the Biden administration says it is waiting for the Taliban to demonstrate their commitment to governing inclusively and preventing terrorism. But the U.S. and its allies must do more to help ordinary Afghans. Given the people’s lack of confidence in Western partners, independent Western-led initiatives are unlikely to work. Afghanistan’s neighbors and Russia must be involved.

The first step should be to convene a special international conference on Afghanistan involving all interested parties, with China and Russia central players. donor countries must be united under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, and with the involvement of the U.N. system and multilateral development banks, they should create a special fund to assist in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. on the diplomatic level, whether one likes it or not, Russia, with its deep influence in Central Asia, holds the key to rebuilding Afghanistan. If the West embraces this process, perhaps its relations with Russia can improve as well.

Guardian

“G

RavindeR KauR

ood times are about to arrive,” Narendra Modi tweeted to his followers in May 2014. The result of the 16th general election to the Indian parliament had just been concluded. The National democratic Alliance, led by his BJP party, had emerged victorious with a full majority, upstaging the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. The tweet announcing the arrival of acche din was more than a euphoric proclamation of this electoral victory. It hinted at his plans for a fast track to capitalist prosperity, the acceleration of the fabled “Indian growth story”, which would lead the country to a $5tn economy and consequently the high table of the world’s great powers. The promised future was now within reach, or so it seemed.

Yet seven years on, the capitalist growth story of freedoms – economic and political – appears to have gone off script. Consider this: the Indian economy is in troubled waters once again, beset with rising unemployment, sluggish growth and stagnation in terms of human development. The pandemic has only accentuated a downward trend, which began after the 2016 demonetisation shock that overnight wiped away 86% of cash from the Indian economy. A crucial indicator of economic disruption is the increase in poverty levels, a reversal of the trend that is said to have lifted millions out of poverty.

Parallel to this economic fragility is the rise in social strife, as Hindu nationalism becomes the driving force in politics. This shift has been especially striking in the Modi government’s second term, when several core agendas of the Hindu nationalist movement – from the revocation of Indian occupied Kashmir’s special status to the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act – were achieved. It is this majoritarian approach to politics that scholars have termed as a kind of “decay”, an erosion of India’s long-established liberal political traditions. The good times of progress and prosperity continue to be postponed, again and again. But what has been readily yielded is a rich dividend to Hindu nationalist politics.

The liberalised economy has created an illiberal society.

This seemingly paradoxical turn of events wasn’t exactly on the cards in the optimistic account of India’s 21st-century rise into the role of economic powerhouse. Ironically, the groundwork for this “New India” was laid by the Congress party in the early 1990s with the liberalisation of the economy. At that point, the “opening up” of India’s markets to global capital was enacted in a liberal framework with a stated goal to realise the “dream of a strong united, techno-

logically sophisticated but humane India”, an attempt to align the market economy with the secular, democratic foundations of the post-colonial nation. Yet, it wasn’t Congress that would gain the long-term political capital from this. It was the BJP led by Modi, capitalising on the growing aspirations and anxieties of the new India – the impatience of the middle class to speed up the pace of economic growth – and putting Hindu nationalism into the centre of Indian politics.

This was not entirely unexpected. In fact, Hindu nationalism and market liberalisation have long been locked in a state of mutual indebtedness. This alliance was activated after the widely condemned 2002 Gujarat violence during Modi’s tenure as the state’s chief minister. To repair the reputational damage, Modi’s political persona was recrafted as an embodiment of cultural pride as well as a market enterprise through branded investment strategies that invited foreign and domestic capital. It entailed channelling the readily available free-market formula of making regions/territories market-worthy, and in turn, the infusion of capital became a way of legitimising the political-cultural order.

This is the scaffolding upon which the economy of hope in Modi’s India has been erected. It holds out the double promise of reviving the ancient glory of Hindu culture and the techno-modernity of global capitalism. If these entanglements tend to be overlooked, it is because of the persistent belief that the messiness of cultural politics is a sideshow, unlike the economy upon which the wheels of the nation truly run. Yet the political domination of Hindu nationalism, which persists in the face of an economic downslide, cannot be explained without addressing the way economic and cultural issues interact, and the political emotions that emerge from this collision.

Recall how the Modi government removed the special status of Indian occupied Kashmir in a dramatic move in August 2019. The change in Indian occupied Kashmir’s constitutional status – a core issue of Hindu nationalist politics – was accompanied with an official announcement to host an “investor summit” that would bring progress and prosperity. This news was welcomed by India Inc, which tends to root for strong leaders who “mean business” in more ways than one. The region had been opened for capital even as it was being shut down in a curfew and internet blackout. Ironically, the promised summit is yet to materialise, but the integration of Indian occupied Kashmir into a potential capitalist and Hindu nationalist geography has energised Modi’s political constituency.

What has emerged in the shadow of free markets is a different kind of transaction: the strong leader facilitates the mobility of capital into an investment-ready territory, and the capital, in turn, ensures that the nation’s “domestic affairs” remain a no-go territory. This is what renders the nation-state into a tightly governed enclosure that remains open (to capital) and closed (to ideas) at the same time. In the absence of the promised economic miracle, it demands more time, discipline and even stoicism from citizens to wait it out. Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics act as a kind of cultural compensation for the “good times” – which are always just out of reach. The question is how long this balancing act can be maintained, and what happens if and when it falls apart.

Ravinder Kaur is a historian of contemporary India.

She is the author of Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ISLAMABAD CORPORATE CORNER

Skardu airport rEady to handlE int'l flightS CAA OFFICIALS SAY FLIGHTS TO START AFTER IMPROVEMENT IN COVID SITUATION ISLAMABAD

Emaar pakistan and paypro join hands to digitise payments Karachi: Emaar Pakistan and PayPro signed a partnership deal to automate the collection system. Emaar Pakistan is a leader in the delivery of planned communities that integrate residential & commercial amenities while PayPro is one of Pakistan’s leading financial technology companies enabling enterprises to manage business operations effortlessly through a digital payments system. Expressing his view on the development, CEO, Emaar Pakistan, Mr Sohail Baig, said, “Emaar Pakistan will make full use of PayPro’s suite of services to transform its payment collection process and provide its customers and residents the convenience of making payments through digital mediums from the comfort of their homes, be it bank to bank transfers or through debit/credit cards.” While talking about the level of convenience offered to all its customers, he further added, “Emaar Pakistan is now set to have an edge of impeccable service delivery for its most valued prospects, catering to the dire needs of both the customers local & overseas.”CEO PayPro, Mr Ali Janjua, said in a statement, “This bespoke online payment solution for Emaar Pakistan has been designed with the ease of users in mind and to allow them to enjoy global level services at their fingertips, for everyday activities. We have developed a one-window, easy to manage, quick solution to provide residents and estate owners an online platform for managing their ledger of instalments, facility maintenance charges, and a clear view of late damages as well as provide overseas investors with an avenue for making hassle-free payments.”

faysal islami, Sajid ali Sadpara join forces to take pakistan to new heights KARACHI: Faysal Islami, a leading name in the Islamic banking industry of Pakistan, has joined hands with our National Hero Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of late legendary Mohammad Ali Sadpara, in a bid to support mountain sports in the country. Pakistan is home to five of the 14 highest peaks in the world. Every year, the magnificence and challenges of Pakistan's lofty mountains attract a large number of climbers, skiers, and adventurers from the world over. With the signing of this partnership, Faysal Islami will help to encourage the participation of aspiring youth from all over Pakistan in undertaking expeditions in the high-rise peaks of the country. The Bank will also work together with Sajid Ali Sadpara in identifying other areas that need attention for promoting and facilitating adventure sports in the country especially in the North Region.

Metro commemorated independence day with green pakistan campaign, women sports festival Karachi: As part of its Independence Day celebrations, METRO Pakistan, being a socially responsible corporate organization, joined the Government of Pakistan’s Green Pakistan initiative, the largest tree plantation campaign, by distributing tree saplings to its customers, in collaboration with The Trust School Lahore. METRO Pakistan believes that such initial steps will grow into larger actions to help the nation’s environmental issues.

METRO Pakistan has already carried out similar drives to make Pakistan green in the past. In addition, METRO participated in the Independence Day Women Sports Festival organized by the Lahore College for Women University with the office of Deputy Commissioner Lahore and distributed gifts bags among the participants. The players showcased their best skills in various sports including Cricket, Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, and Badminton. The event was widely supported and attended by, among others, national players, the Provincial Ministers, and the Lahore administration.

a

GHULAM ABBAS

S the Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) of Pakistan has upgraded and developed the Skardu Airport to an international airport, the airport in the midst of the mountainous region of the country is now ready to handle international flights.

Talking to Profit, CAA Director General Khaqan Murtaza said that the airport was now ready to handle any international inbound flight as CAA has completed work on the infrastructure and other installation related immigration etc at the airport, which has been one of the busiest airports of the country in this summer season.

The airport in Skardu was earlier being upgraded to international standards for international flights and would have an additional runway enabling wide-body aircraft to operate.

However, immediate operation of the airport as an international airport was unlikely keeping in view the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the country. “Till date, no charter or other international airline has shown any intent, which is apparently due to the high percentage of Covid-19 cases in Pakistan,” said the CAA DG, adding that the country was still in Covid red list of UK, EU, Turkey and other Gulf countries.

He was, however, hopeful that soon after improvement in Covid situ-

ation, the newly upgraded airport would be operated for international flights.

The arrivals of international flights will boost tourism as well as the country s foreign exchange.

Skardu currently has an airport for domestic flights only and needs to be connected to international ATS routes in Pakistan.

After the closure of flights to international destinations, Pakistan International Airline (PIA) even operated five to six flights a day to Skardu airport carrying hundreds of tourists to the beautiful destination. In a move to promote domestic tourism, PIA had set a record of landing six flights at Skardu airport in a day last month whereas in the past the airport had only five land-

PayPal launches crypto buying and selling NEW YORK AGENCIES

PayPal will allow customers in the UK to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting this week, the company said on Monday. The roll-out, which marks the first international expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrencies services outside of the United States, could inspire further mainstream adoption of the new asset class.

With over 403 million active accounts globally, the San Jose, California-based company is one of the largest mainstream financial companies to offer consumers access to cryptocurrencies.

PayPal launched cryptocurrency buying and selling in the United States early this year, later enabling customers to use their digital coin holdings to shop at the millions of merchants on its network.

The company hoped its foray into the new asset class would encourage global use of vir-

tual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that may be developed by corporations and central banks.

“We are committed to continue working closely with regulators in the UK, and around the world, to offer our support— and meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce,” Jose Fernandez da Ponte, vice president and general manager for blockchain, crypto and digital currencies at PayPal, said in a statement.

In the UK, PayPal’s service will rival that of established cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase Global, as well as well fintech startups such as Revolut.

Customers will be able to buy bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash through their PayPal wallets online or on the mobile app. The move comes as more established financial companies have started offering their clients, both consumers and institutions, access to digital assets, amid rising cryptocurrency prices.

Yemen currency clash deepens crisis in war-torn country DUBAI AGENCIES

Alongside a grinding seven-year military conflict, Yemen’s government and the Huthi rebels are locked in battle on another front – a currency war that has opened up a gulf in riyal values. Both the government and the Iran-backed Huthis used the same notes until late 2019 when the rebels banned new banknotes printed in government-run Aden, due to concerns about inflation.

The resulting difference in money supply has since seen the riyal’s value plummet to

around 1,000 to the dollar in government areas, while the value in Huthi-controlled zones has held relatively stable at 600. Citizens and businesses in both government and rebel-controlled zones have been left out of pocket by the divergence, but especially those in the former, given rampant inflation there. This internal exchange rate has also complicated trade and led to manipulation by profiteers, to the detriment of most in a country on the verge of famine.

“Right now, we have… an exchange rate of the same currency inside the country,” said Amal Nasser, an economist with the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.

Global food prices’ impact not fully passed to consumers, says govt MONITORING REPORT The federal government has claimed that it has absorbed a considerable amount of increase in international prices and has not allowed its full passage to consumers in Pakistan.

According to a report by Dawn, the Finance Division released a statement on Sunday wherein it said that the publications reports about the government's incompetence to check surging food prices as every single food item has witnessed a much higher international price increase than what has been allowed to be transmitted locally, except for wheat flour. In the case of wheat, the comparable national average shows domestic price increase of only 32 per cent, which is significantly below the interna-

tional price increase of 51pc.

The Finance Division further says that the economic growth of about 4pc in 2020-21 spurred by the government policies has resulted in an increase of real incomes of all Pakistanis.

It claims that on an average the per capita income has risen by 15pc in 2021 as compared to 2020.

The statement said that sub-sectors of most services are showing remarkable growth. As a result, unemployment has come down in agriculture, industry, housing and construction sectors. said that the government is making exceptional efforts to stabilise prices and undertake policies which would promote investment, employment and economic growth.

ings per week.

The Skardu airport is now handling flights like any other major airport of the country. The flights arrived from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Sialkot.

The beautiful destinations of northern areas may be introduced to foreigners and the PIA, as a national flag carrier, will play its role in further enhancing domestic as well as international tourism.

Apart from the flight operations of international airlines, the government also intends to start helicopter services for Skardu and Gilgit to promote tourism. As per the CAA official, the authority is planning to promote tourism in Gilgit, Skardu, and Chitral through operating big planes. It has already given permission to foreign airlines to operate flights in Skardu and Gilgit.

Emirates ties up with Cemair in interline agreement DUBAI AGENCIES

Emirates has signed an interline agreement with Cemair that opens up connections to six more destinations in South Africa through the airline’s gateways of Johannesburg and Cape Town. The partnership also includes a couple of leisure points exclusively served by Cemair. This marks the first partnership between both airlines, and Emirates’ fourth airline partnership in South Africa. The arrangement between Emirates and Cemair includes the convenience of single ticket itineraries with onwards booking and baggage transfers from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Margate, Durban, Hoedspruit, Plettenberg Bay, George and Sishen.

Customers can book their travel on emirates.com, Emirates sales offices and travel agencies. Emirates boosted its operations to/from South Africa earlier this month, and is presently operating 14 flights a week into South Africa via its gateways Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The airline continues to safely rebuild its global network, connecting customers to and through Dubai to over 120 destinations. The airline has been expanding its footprint across South and Southern Africa through enriching its interline and codeshare partnerships with South African Airways, Airlink, Cemair and Flysafair, driving more connectivity options that that provide greater benefits for its customers, whilst supporting the recovery of the travel and tourism industry.

Jazz conferred with the Shaukat khanum Corporate Social responsibility award 2020 Karachi: In recognition of its sustainability initiatives, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) has awarded Jazz the Shaukat Khanum Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2020. Director Marketing SKMCH&RC Tariq Azam said, “During the pandemic the process of patient care changed dramatically, increasing costs substantially. In such challenging circumstances, Jazz stood by us. We would like to especially acknowledge Jazz for their generous contribution last year in our fight against COVID-19 and for helping us in spreading cancer awareness. We hope they continue supporting our cause in the years to come.” “We extended our full support to various organizations to play our part in limiting the devastating impact the pandemic had on the vulnerable communities, including the frontline healthcare workers. Jazz commends the work SKMCH is doing in combatting the pandemic and in areas of cancer treatment and research,” said Chief Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Officer Jazz, Syed Fakhar Ahmed. Last year, Jazz announced PKR 1.2 billion COVID-19 relief support, which included short to mid-term initiatives to limit the negative impact of the pandemic, primarily for the most vulnerable communities. This also included a PKR 8 million funding to SKMCH&RC for 1,000 COVID-19 tests, which were utilized to diagnose the underprivileged. Jazz also carried out a cancer awareness and fund-raising campaign via its social media assets and mass SMS to support the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) in raising donations. This is the 8th Shaukat Khanum Corporate Social Responsibility Award that the mobile operator has received.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS Bandits in northwest Nigeria release 15 students after parents raise ransom BAUCHI/KADUNA REUTERS

Bandits have released 15 more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in northwest Nigeria, officials told Reuters on Sunday. School administrator Reverend John Hayab said that parents had raised and paid an undisclosed ransom to free the students, who were among more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School. read more "The students are already being released and would be handed over to their parents any moment from now," Hayab said. Hayab previously said the abductors were seeking 1 million naira ($2,430) per student. read more Kaduna state's commissioner for internal security, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the release but did not immediately comment on the ransom payment. Kidnappers released 28 children from the school in July following the release of a first group of 28 two days after the raid. Around 80 had remained in captivity before Sunday's release. Armed bandits seeking ransoms have abducted more than 1,000 students from schools in northwest Nigeria since December, and Kaduna state schools remain closed due to the threat. President Muhammadu Buhari in February called on state governments to stop paying bandits, and Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai publicly refuses to pay.

But desperate parents and communities often raise and pay ransoms themselves.

US House Democrats face test of unity on Biden spending plans

ISLAMABAD

IraN SayS reaDy to SHIP fUel to leBaNoN amID SHortage DUBAI

I

REUTERS

RAN said on Monday it is ready to ship more fuel to Lebanon if needed, a day after the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group said more vessels carrying Iranian fuel would sail soon to help ease the country's fuel shortage.

"We sell our oil and its products based on our own decisions and the needs of our friend. Iran is ready to send fuel again to Lebanon if needed," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said in an online weekly news conference.

"Certainly we cannot see the suffering of the Lebanese people."

On Sunday Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah said the first vessel shipping

Iranian fuel to Lebanon, which last Thursday the group announced was about to leave Iran, had already sailed.

Last week Iran's semi-official Nournews news website reported that the fuel shipments to Lebanon were all purchased by a group of Lebanese Shia businessmen.

"We announce our readiness to sell fuel to the Lebanese government in addition to the fuel purchased by the Lebanese Shia businessmen, if the Lebanese government is willing," said Khatibzadeh.

Hezbollah's foes in Lebanon have warned of dire consequences from the purchase, saying it risked sanctions being imposed on a country whose economy has been in meltdown for nearly two years.

US sanctions on Iran's oil exports,

'I don't know what we'll do': Haiti quake survivors fear for children's future

WASHINGTON REUTERS

Democrats face a test of unity in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday as they begin work on two ambitious spending plans that would devote trillions of dollars to transportation infrastructure and social programs. While centrist Democrats are eager to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has already won approval in the Senate, liberals say they must prioritize a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that would expand spending on childcare and education. Both measures are priorities for Democratic President Joe Biden. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is determined to launch the massive social spending framework, siding with liberals who worry it might be scaled back during the legislative process. Some moderates have threatened, however, to withhold support for the social spending plan. That could potentially scuttle it in the House, where Democrats hold a 220-212 majority. The first test will come on Monday evening, when the House is scheduled to vote on a procedural resolution that would advance both spending bills, as well as a separate voting rights proposal. That would clear the way for a final vote on the budget plan and the voting rights bill on Tuesday. "Any delay to passing the budget resolution threatens the timetable for delivering the historic progress and the transformative vision that Democrats share," Pelosi warned in a "Dear Colleague" letter on Saturday. read more She also set an Oct. 1 target date for passing both the infrastructure bill and the more sweeping social spending package that the budget resolution would allow lawmakers to fast-track. No Republicans are expected to support the budget resolution plan, which sets the broad outline for spending on education, childcare, healthcare and climate measures favored by Biden and pays for them with tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations. Crucially, the budget resolution plan would allow Democrats to pass those spending measures on a simple majority vote in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes required for most legislation in that chamber.

CAMP-PERRIN REUTERS

Many survivors of the earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people in southern Haiti are growing worried about how they will provide for their children, with more than half a million minors feared to be at risk from the fallout. The Aug. 14 quake hammered infrastructure, destroying or damaging some 130,000 homes, cutting off roads and pitching thousands of families in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country into an uncertain future.

When the magnitude 7.2 quake struck, homemaker Lovely Jean was resting inside the general hospital of the southern city of Les Cayes, while her three-dayold baby, Love Shaiska, was in the neonatal ward being treated for an infection. Les Cayes was one of the areas worst hit by the quake, and as the hospital walls trembled, Jean sent her husband, Pierre Alexandre, to grab the infant while she fled the building.

"The earth was shaking and I was crying, so scared

Belarus tightens grip on lawyers WARSAW REUTERS

Belarusian lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk says he received an unsettling text message in October from an acquaintance linked to the country’s security services.

The acquaintance urged Kirilyuk, who had defended anti-government protesters and publicly criticised President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule, to leave the country.

According to Kirilyuk, who said the text was sent via an encrypted messaging app and described its content to Reuters, the message also contained a warning: The attorney faced arrest and revocation of his license to practice law.

Kirilyuk left that month with his parents and young children for Poland, which has long been critical of Lukashenko. In February,

the justice ministry revoked Kirilyuk’s license, according to an April Minsk court document relating to his unsuccessful appeal. The ministry said in a February press release that Kirilyuk had made “unacceptable” public statements that contained “rude” and “tactless” comments about state representatives, without identifying them.

Speaking with Reuters from Warsaw, 38-year-old Kirilyuk said he believed the action against him was politically motivated because of who he had represented and his public critical comments. He said he left because he “didn’t want to get arrested” and that he won’t return home until Lukashenko is out of office.

Kirilyuk’s account fits with what more than half a dozen Belarusian lawyers as well as international organizations representing the profession and humanrights groups say is a pat-

reimposed in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump exited Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, aim

tern of intimidation and suppression of attorneys

by Belarusian authorities.

Those actions include criminal and disciplinary proceedings against lawyers and disbarment, they say.

Seven lawyers interviewed by Reuters say their licenses were removed after defending protesters, speaking out against authorities or resisting what they said was pressure on their profession. Several of them allege that authorities monitored confidential client meetings or obstructed their work.

Reuters was unable to independently corroborate their assertions or the text message described by Kirilyuk.

Lukashenko’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. The president in March said there was a need to "put things in order" in the legal profession, according to comments published in the

state-controlled Belarus Today news outlet.

The justice ministry, in response to Reuters’ questions, said its oversight of the legal profession is implemented in accordance “with the principle of independence of advocacy and non-interference in the professional activities of advocates.”

It said statements by disbarred lawyers about the persecution of the profession and interference by the justice ministry “are not supported by facts and documents, are unfounded and are based on the statements of the violators themselves.”

The ministry said it has the power to terminate legal licenses in circumstances stipulated by law.

It added that decisions to terminate the licenses of a number of lawyers this year was because they had committed “gross violations of licensing legislation,” licensing requirements and condi-

of what was happening," the 24-year-old said, cradling her child on the porch of their damaged home in a tiny village outside the town of Camp-Perrin, northwest of Les Cayes. The three survived, though the hospital suffered damage that forced some of its departments, including the neonatal ward, to operate outside for days after the disaster. But the problems are only beginning for Jean and her husband, a subsistence farmer.

Alexandre's fields were buried by landslides during the earthquake and rain unleashed by Tropical Storm Grace, which pummeled Haiti on Tuesday. His entire potato and yuca crop was unreachable, leaving the family with barely any food to eat. Meanwhile, Love Shaiska was struggling to suckle, forcing her parents to pull together cash to buy formula. "I don't know what we'll do," said Alexandre, 30.

More than a dozen other parents Reuters spoke to in the quake zone expressed similar concerns about how they would cope. Over half a million children were affected by the earthquake, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said.

The temblor claimed the lives of at least 2,207 people, injured 12,268 more and left 344 missing, according to Haitian authorities and followed an even more destructive earthquake in 2010 which killed tens of thousands of Haitians.

Still, there are a few encouraging developments.

Late on Sunday, civil protection authorities said 24 people who had been reported missing, including four children, had been found and taken by helicopter to Camp-Perrin to be looked after. Recovery efforts have been impeded by the flooding and damage to roads, feeding tensions in hard-hit areas. In the past few days, residents have looted aid trucks in several towns across the south, stirring concerns about security.

tions, or engaged in conduct that “discredit” the legal profession. It didn’t name the lawyers but said it included those Reuters asked about in its questions.

Authorities in this former Soviet state have conducted a broad crackdown on dissent since last August, when the long-standing president declared himself victor in an election that many Western countries deemed fraudulent. The targets have included opposition politicians, activists and the media. In an episode that shocked the West, a plane flying over Belarus was grounded in May and a dissident journalist on board was arrested.

On Aug. 9, the first anniversary of the contested election, Lukashenko said he won the vote fairly and saved Belarus from a violent uprising. In a news conference in the capital Minsk, the president said that an Olympian sprinter, who defected to Poland at the Tokyo Olympic Games, had been "manipulated"

by outside forces.

At least 23 Belarusian lawyers have been disbarred since last summer, according to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a Paris-based non-governmental organization. The

to cut its crude sales to zero.

Hezbollah, founded in 1982, has also been targeted by US sanctions.

Portland protests see clashes between far-right, far-left groups PORTLAND REUTERS

Protests by rival far-right and left-wing groups in Portland descended into violence on Sunday, as the opposing sides engaged in clashes and at least one man was arrested for firing a gun at demonstrators. Nobody was hurt in an exchange of gunfire - and by Sunday evening there was no word on any injuries in numerous other skirmishes that saw opposing sides brawling, dousing each other in what appeared to be bear spray and breaking car windows of rivals. Police Chief Chuck Lovell said during a briefing on Friday that officers would not necessarily intervene to break up fights between the groups. But he added that "just because arrests are not made at the scene when tensions are high, does not mean that people won't be charged with crimes." Portland has become a magnet for clashes between political extremists since last year. As recently as Aug. 7, a black-clad antifa group and a group wearing the colors of the farright Proud Boys exchanged shots of pepper spray and paint balls after an open-air religious meeting led by a conservative pastor, local media reported. Sunday's competing protests came on the anniversary of a clash that grew violent between right-wing and leftist crowds in downtown Portland, where a succession of street demonstrations last year followed the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020.

federation said Belarus has in the past used retaliatory measures against lawyers; what was new, the FIDH said, is “the scale of repression” and that it now included criminal action.

The disbarment of all

but one of the lawyers identified by FIDH has been confirmed by statements on the justice ministry’s website or the state-run Belta news agency. The other lawyer confirmed to Reuters their license had been revoked.

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

SPORTS 11

ISLAMABAD

DiScipliNeD MoHaMMeD Siraj proviDiNg DeptH, iNteNSity to iNDia'S pace pacK

t

SPORTS DESK

HE game feels different watching from the outside.

Several recently retired players walk out of teams and into the commentary box to start wondering why captains stop trying to get an established batter out when in company of a tailender. It is as though they never were parts of teams that did the same when cheap runs were on the line. When there is skin in the game, hardly any captain risks those chancy 20-30 runs these days even if it means the established batter keeps taking singles on the fifth or sixth ball to manipulate the strike for a while.

In England's first innings at Lord's, though, something interesting happened. England were eight down, Root was batting on 160, the ball was around 40 overs old, and he wanted to shield Mark Wood and James Anderson. This was an extremely delicate juncture for India in the Test. It was towards the end of a long day, the best batting day of the series. England were around India's score. Root is an adept limited-overs batter too. His successful manipulation of strike could possibly bat India out of the Test.

For three straight Mohammed Siraj overs, Root was pinned to one end. One boundary, no single, no

bouncer, no yorker. Siraj managed to shackle Root with just line and length. The line and length was just so good it presented undue risk if Root wanted to manipulate strike.

The bowler at the other end kept getting a clear shot at the tailenders.

Mark Wood was run out, and Jasprit Bumrah got a full over at Anderson.

It takes either a treacherous pitch, which this wasn't, or special skills and control with the ball to pin down any specialist batter for this long in such a match situation. Root didn't even get a shot at a boundary with the field up for the single apart from the one that he managed to hit.

This was a seven-over spell of high intensity from Siraj. He has had higher high points in his short career - the two-in-two earlier and later in the match, for example - but this was a feat of endurance and maturity that sets fast bowlers apart in an era tailormade for them. This is the intensity that England didn't have when they had the chance to run through the Indian lower order on the fifth morning.

Part of it comes from the superior depth in India's attack, but part of it is credit to the bowler himself.

Siraj managed to keep bowling his nipbackers that ended up in front of off. They weren't full enough to drive. They weren't short enough to pull or punch. Just the perfect line

and length. This is what Test bowling is mostly about: deny risk-free runs for long durations and let your skills with the ball do the rest.

The rest, it would appear, comes easy to Siraj. His first wicket - Marnus Labuschagne caught at leg gully - might have been part of a larger team plan, but the second was a delightful set-up. He bowled an over full of away-going deliveries to Cameron Green and Tim Paine followed by three more away swingers to Green before trapping him lbw with the sharp incoming delivery.

That is something he did with Root

in India too.

With Jos Buttler at Lord's, Siraj did the reverse. He bowled a spell full of incoming deliveries to righthand batters and outgoing ones to left-hand ones before coming back for a fresh spell and bowling the one that went way. Buttler had been in, he had been leaving balls well, but such was the fear of the nipbacker that he let his hands play at this one outside off.

That nipbacker is way more dangerous for left-hand batters, which is why Siraj is averaging just 16.7 against them. It is early days yet as he

has taken just 10 left-hand batters out, but the dangerous angle he creates from them has been spoken about even before he debuted. It is the blind spot that around middle and leg that he keeps hitting again and again. Any straighter and you get picked off on the leg side, any wider and you get left alone. Siraj bowls that perfect channel where left-hand batters have to keep playing at him as Moeen Ali discovered in that over-and-a-half of torture before finally nicking off without doing much wrong.

Siraj is no Bumrah, but still the movement he gets is not classic. It

Ronaldo staying despite starting season opener on bench, say Juve MILAN AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at Juventus this season despite being picked on the bench for their opening fixture of the new Serie A campaign at Udinese, club director Pavel Nedved insisted on Sunday.

Juve legend Nedved said that the decision to not start the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who has been subject to intense speculation about his future this summer, was a "shared decision" between Ronaldo and returning coach Massimiliano Allegri.

"You shouldn't try to create sensationalised stories where there aren't any," Nedved told broadcaster DAZN. "He isn't at peak fitness, and the coach tried to pick the best possible line-up for now... The decisions were made in order to be as competitive as possible today.

"He is absolutely staying at Juventus."

Sky Sport Italia claimed that Ronaldo asked not to be picked in the starting line-up as he still hopes to leave the 36-time Italian champions before the end of the month, when the transfer window closes.

Allegri chose Alvaro Morata to lead the line in a front

three which also included Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado. Italy forward Federico Chiesa was named as a substitute while midfielder Manuel Locatelli, also one of the Azzurri's Euro 2020 heroes, will begin his Juve career on the bench after moving from Sassuolo on Wednesday.

Top scorer in Serie A last season with 29 goals, Ronaldo was absent for Juve's final warm-up against the club's youngsters on Thursday.

However, on Friday Allegri said the 36-year-old wanted to stay despite talk he was trying to leave Juve, adding that the Portuguese attacker was ready to play in what will be his fourth and final season of his contract.

Allegri's decision comes after a close season in which media around Europe have speculated that Ronaldo was looking for a way out of Juve, a club he joined in 2018 to huge fanfare. On Tuesday, Ronaldo denied reports of a move to former club Real Madrid, calling them "disrespectful" and saying that stories of his departure were written with "nobody ever being concerned about trying to find out the actual truth".

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had confirmed earlier the same day that the Spanish giants were not interested in the return of the man who fired the club to four Champions League triumphs.

Also on Tuesday Italian daily Corriere dello Sport said that agent Jorge Mendes had offered the Portugal captain to Manchester City.

Other outlets said that Paris Saint-Germain were interested in Ronaldo but stepped back once they pulled off the signing of the close season, bringing free agent Lionel Messi to the French capital.

City still uncertain of signing new striker, says Guardiola LONDON REUTERS

Manchester City has not yet decided if they will sign a new striker to replace Sergio Aguero, manager Pep Guardiola said, with the summer transfer window set to close next week.

City signed England playmaker Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a British record 100 million pounds ($136.49 million), but they are short on central striking options after Aguero joined Barcelona following his City

exit at the end of last season.

British media have heavily linked Premier League champions City with Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, but Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has said the England captain is not for sale.

With the Premier League transfer window scheduled to shut on Aug. 31, time is running out for City to make new signings.

"When we decided not to extend the contract of Sergio Aguero and people asked what we would do, I said many times it would depend on the market," Guardiola said.

"Maybe we will buy, maybe not. It is still the same situation.

"There are still 10 days (left) in the transfer market.

We are going to see what happens and it depends on that when we are going to take a decision.

"If the squad stays the same one then I am more than pleased with the team... But, of course, the club has an obligation and a duty to look forward to get better and to feel we can still be in there with a tough Premier League."

City, who thrashed newcomers Norwich City 5-0 last weekend, host Arsenal on Saturday.

'The best one': Chelsea's Lukaku relishes goal on Premier League return LONDON REUTERS

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku said his goal in Sunday's 2-0 win over London rivals Arsenal, the Belgium international's first match back with the European champions, was his favourite of the 114 he has scored in the Premier League.

An almost unstoppable Lukaku needed only 15 minutes to get off the mark for Chelsea following his reported

97.5 million pound ($133.08 million) transfer from Inter Milan, tapping in a cross played into his path by Reece James, who bagged the second goal.

The goal was Lukaku's first for Chelsea, with the 28year-old having failed to find the net during his first period at the club that ended seven years ago.

"That was the best one for me, the best of the lot," said Lukaku. "You know how emotional it was for me. Obviously it was a tap-in, but the build-up was nice.

"We played really well, we dominated. We could have

scored more, but coming here with this performance is good. We have to continue like that."

Lukaku, whose 24 league goals helped Inter win their first Serie A title in 11 years last season, said he still had room for improvement at Chelsea. "You want to work hard for the team, you want to win and score and create chances," he said. "It's something I have learned and worked on really hard and keep working on it." Chelsea, who are table toppers after the second round of fixtures, visit second-placed Liverpool on Saturday.

doesn't come from a classic swingbowling action. It's all angles and quick arm speed. He bowls a scrambled seam. So it is not easy to line up the movement because it is late and unpredictable. He is beginning to play around with an offcutter, too.

Of course Siraj gets to feed off the pressure created by a world-class unit, a luxury many Indian fast bowlers before him didn't have, but he does his share of the heavy lifting.

Since he debuted, he has bowled more overs, taken more wickets at better average with the ball aged 30 to 80 overs than any India fast bowler. Only Hasan Ali has taken more "old-ball" wickets than him during this period.

The big difference between the India that toured England in 2018 and now is that Siraj is the fourth quick in a fully fit squad. He adds the depth to India's bowling resources to an extent that the team management feels compelled to give up some batting depth and leave out an all-time great in R Ashwin.

Sometimes you do wonder which are the "haters" that Siraj is shushing because all you see around is love for him. From Bharat Arun at Hyderabad to Paras Mhambrey at India A to Arun and Virat Kohli at international level, his bowling coaches and captains have backed him and not without reason.

'He helped the team' - Nuno happy with Kane contribution in Spurs win WOLVERHAMPTON REUTERS

Tottenham Hotspur coach Nuno Espirito Santo was pleased with the contribution of substitute Harry Kane on his first appearance of the season in his side's 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, insisting there is more to come from the striker. Kane has long been linked to Manchester City, with the Premier League champions' manager Pep Guardiola admitting the club are interesting in signing the England captain if Spurs are willing to negotiate. The 28-year-old Kane was not named in Tottenham's squad for their home win over City last weekend and did not travel for their Europa Conference League loss to Pacos de Ferreira in Portugal in midweek, before coming off the bench at Molineux. "He did well, he helped the team," Nuno said of Kane's contribution. "He is still in the process of improving his fitness.

But he is one of the best players in the world. You can see he helped the team in possession." Spurs fans gave Kane a warm welcome when he entered the fray in the second half, before watching the striker denied by a fine save from Jose Sa, a miss that did not prove costly after Dele Alli's early penalty was enough to secure the three points. "I was pleased with the attitude of the fans," Nuno added. "We have to be together. We have amazing fans and have to be thankful for that. "He (Kane) is better today and he’ll be better tomorrow. He can still improve, we cannot put a bar on that."

New Wolves boss Bruno Lage is confident his side are on the right track, despite a poor start to the season that has seen them lose two from two so far. "I think we did well, the game stays in our hands for 90 minutes, they have two chances, two transitions, they have the penalty," he said. "We have 25 attempts to (try to) score one goal, In two games, we had 42 attempts and didn't score one goal. I'm unhappy with the result but I believe in working hard... what we're doing now gives me confidence. "It's not a question about little things, it's just about scoring goals."

Tuesday, 24 August, 2021

PrAyer Timings

NEWS

GermAny SAyS FireFiGhT involvinG WeSTern ForceS eruPTS AT KAbul AirPorT KABUL/WASHINGTON

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firefight broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at the North Gate of Kabul airport on Monday, Germany’s armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners thronged the airport, seeking to flee Taliban rule.

One Afghan guard was killed and three others were injured in the battle, which also involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter, without specifying whether the dead Afghan was one of the Taliban fighters deployed to guard the airport.

The airport has been a scene of chaos since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on Aug. 15 as US and international forces try to evacuate citizens and vulnerable Afghans.

On Sunday, Taliban fighters beat back crowds at the airport a day after seven Afghans were killed in a crush at the gates

as the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops approaches.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan have not sought to extend the August 31 deadline to leave the country, a Taliban official said on Monday, after President Joe Biden said US troops might stay longer to oversee a “hard and painful” evacuation.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan just over a week ago as the United States and its allies withdrew troops after a 20-year war aimed at overthrowing the Taliban and hunting down al Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks.

Foreign forces were working towards the end-August deadline agreed with the Taliban to leave the country and had not sought to extend it yet, a senior legal adviser to the Taliban leadership told Reuters on Monday.

Biden, who last week flagged the possibility of troops remaining longer, said on Sunday the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and remained dangerous.

“Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and

painful” and would have been “no matter when it began”, Biden said in a briefing at the White House.

“We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong.”

Asked by a reporter whether the United States would extend an Aug. 31 deadline for evacuations, Biden replied: “Our hope is we will not have to extend but there are going to be discussions I suspect on how far along we are in the process.”

Biden said he had directed the State Department to contact Americans stranded in the country, where Taliban checkpoints are in place.

“We’re executing a plan to move groups of these Americans to safety and to safely and effectively move them to the airport compound. For security reasons, I’m not going to go into detail […] but I will say again today what I’ve said before: Any American who wants to get home will get home.”

Afghan allies of the West and vulnerable Afghans such as women activists and jour-

nalists would be helped too, he said.

CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT: Panicked Afghans have clamoured to board flights out of Kabul, fearing reprisals and a return to a hardline rule that the group implemented when it was last in power, two decades ago.

The United States on Sunday sought the help of six commercial airlines to transport people after their evacuation from Afghanistan. Biden said people fleeing Afghanistan were being assisted by more than two dozen countries in four continents.

Japan said it will send a military aircraft to Afghanistan on Monday to bring back its citizens. More flights are expected to repatriate not only Japanese citizens but also Afghans working at the Japanese embassy or with Japanese missions, a government spokesperson said.

A United Nations flight transported 120 people from Kabul to Kazakhstan on Sunday, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Passengers included UN personnel and members of non-governmental organizations

Taliban say they have retaken three northern districts seized by Afghan militias DISTRICTS OF BANO, DEH SALEH, PUL E-HESAR IN BAGHLAN PROVINCE WERE TAKEN BY LOCAL MILITIA GROUPS REUTERS Taliban forces have recaptured three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week, a spokesperson said on Monday. The districts of Bano, Deh Saleh, Pul eHesar in Baghlan province were taken by local militia groups in one of the first signs of armed resistance to the Taliban since their seizure of the capital Kabul on Aug 15.

By Monday, Taliban forces had cleared

the districts and were established in Badakhshan, Takhar and Andarab near the Panjshir valley, according to the Twitter account of spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Forces loyal to Ahmad Massoud, son of the anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, have established themselves in the Panjshir valley, a mountainous area northwest of Kabul which resisted the Taliban before 2001.

Massoud, whose forces include remnants of

regular army and special forces units, has called for negotiations to form an inclusive government for Afghanistan but has promised to resist if Taliban forces try to enter the valley.

Late on Sunday, the Taliban’s Alemarah information service said hundreds of fighters were heading towards Panjshir but there has been no immediate confirmation of any fighting.

Zabihullah Mujahid said the Salang Pass, on the main highway running from southern Afghanistan to the north, was open and enemy forces were blockaded in the Panjshir valley. But his statement suggested that there was no fighting for the moment.

“The Islamic Emirate is trying to resolve the problems peacefully,” Zabihullah said.

NEW DELHI Her memory of the assassination attempt is hazy. What she does know is that her father asked the Taliban to do it. A former Afghan policewoman, Khatera Hashmi was shot multiple times on her way home from work last October in the capital of Ghazni province, south of Kabul.

As she slumped over, one of the attackers grabbed her by the hair, pulled a knife and gouged out her eyes.

Five months pregnant at the time, Hashmi survived the gruesome attack, as did her unborn child. Hashmi’s father had vehemently opposed her decision to join the police force, and although she didn’t elaborate on her father’s involvement, she told The Associated Press that the police had arrested and imprisoned him.

KABUL The crack of bat on ball echoes around Kabul’s international stadium as Afghanistan’s top cricketers prepare for their next tour — just days after the country fell to the Taliban.

The calm of the empty stadium is a surreal contrast to scenes just a few kilometres north, where tens of thousands of Afghans at Kabul airport are desperately trying to flee on evacuation flights. Following the stunning victory of the hardliners, many of the players in cricket-mad Afghanistan’s beloved national team are finding it difficult to

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who work with the United Nations in Afghanistan, he said, adding that it was the second such flight in the past week.

OPPOSITION: Leaders of the Taliban, who have sought to show a more moderate face since capturing Kabul, have begun talks on forming a government.

They face opposition from forces in northern Afghanistan, which said this weekend they had taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley.

Anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday he hoped to hold peaceful talks with the Islamist movement but that his forces in the Panjshir – remnants of army units, special forces and militiamen — were ready to fight.

“We want to make the Taliban realise that the only way forward is through negotiation,” he said. “We do not want a war to break out.”

The Taliban said hundreds of their fighters were heading towards Panjshir, showing a video on Twitter of a column of captured trucks with the white Taliban flag but still bearing their government markings moving along a highway.

Reuters spoke to eight doctors in public hospitals in several Taliban controlled cities elsewhere in the country who said they had not heard of any violence or received any wounded or bodies of people killed in clashes since Thursday.

WASHINGTON APP

Pakistan took strong exception to a claim advanced by a Congressman accusing its military of “dictating” the Taliban and being behind the disintegration of the Afghan National Army in its fight against the insurgent group, leading to a hasty withdrawal of the United States troops from Afghanistan. In a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden shortly ahead of the fall of Kabul, Michael Waltz, a House of Representatives member of the Republican Party, claimed Pakistan “is complicit with Taliban advance and is choosing not to coordinate with the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces]”. “At worst, the Pakistani military and intelligence services may be directly aiding the Taliban offensive.” Responding to the letter, Pakistan’s ambassador in the US, Asad Majeed Khan, observed “Islamabad and Washington have, in fact, been working together towards an inclusive political settlement” in Afghanistan.

After recovering from her wounds, she and her husband fled to India, leaving two children in the care of her mother-in-law. Her third child, a daughter, was born a few months after their arrival in India. However, like thousands of other Afghan refugees in India, any plans they had of returning were dashed this month by the Taliban’s shockingly swift takeover of the country.

What many thought would be a short, temporary escape has turned into a long-lasting exile.

Another Afghan refugee is Mohammad Akbar Farhad, a 50-year-old artist.

He too dreams of home while living in suspended animation abroad. On a hot August afternoon at his apartment in New Delhi, his brush made brief, generous strokes on a huge oil painting depicting the ruins of the Bala Hissar, or High Fort, Kabul’s ancient citadel that housed Afghan rulers for centuries.

Uncertainty, distress for Afghan cricketers after Taliban takeover reuTers

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Ambassador deplores attempt to scapegoat Pakistan for Taliban takeover

For Afghan refugees in India, hopes dim for returning home The AssociATed Press

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focus on sport.

“The fear is there in their eyes, in their voices, even in their messages,” pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq said of his teammates in Kabul during a BBC radio interview broadcast at the weekend.

“The Taliban have said (they) won’t be troubling any sportsman, but nobody knows,” added Haq, speaking from the West Indies where he plays in the Caribbean Premier League. The return of the Taliban has sparked widespread fear in Afghanistan and in the international community, reviving memories of their brutal first stint in power from 1996 to 2001 when they imposed a harsh version of Islamic law.

Fawad’s century, Shaheen’s strikes give Pakistan hope of levelling series KINGSTON AFP

Fawad Alam’s fifth Test century and Shaheen Shah Afridi’s new ball potency pushed Pakistan into the ascendancy on a truncated third day of the rain-affected second Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park on Sunday. Fawad’s unbeaten 124 lifted the tourists to 302 for nine declared in their first innings before Shaheen removed both openers swiftly and Faheem Ashraf added another to have the home side at 39 for three in reply at stumps. Edged by one wicket in a thrilling finale to the first Test on the same ground a week earlier, Pakistan’s quest for a series-levelling victory has been frustrated by showers and inefficient covering of the playing square. All of the second day was lost to showers and a sodden outfield while play did not properly get underway on day three until early afternoon as a damp area at the southern end of the pitch, in line with the bowlers’ run-ups, was a source of concern for the West Indies. Initial attempts to get play going in the morning following another 90minute delay resulted in just eight deliveries being bowled before the complaints of Jason Holder, supported by his fellow bowlers and captain Kraigg Brathwaite, were eventually heeded by the match officials who engaged in lengthy deliberation before suspending play. When play finally commenced in the heat of the afternoon, Pakistan, who resumed from the overnight position of 212 for four, were almost entirely reliant on Fawad to push them up to the 300-run mark. Two wickets for Jayden Seales and two in two balls for Holder kept the tourists in check. However Fawad, who resumed his innings on 76 after retiring through heat exhaustion and severe cramps on the opening day, would not be denied a fourth Test century in 12 innings. It was an innings which reinforced the value of his return to the international scene after being ignored for 11 years after his debut in senior Pakistan colours in 2009.

‘MOTIVATED BY DAD’: Having returned to the crease at the fall of Faheem’s wicket, and then seeing Mohammad Rizwan and Nauman Ali depart in quick succession, the 35-year-old left-hander stayed focused and reached the cherished landmark with a pull for two off Kyle Mayers. Despite the disappointment of contributing to the run out of Hasan Ali, his unbeaten 124, which occupied over six hours in which he faced 213 deliveries and stroked 17 fours, was a stellar effort.

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