Epaper – July 16 LHR 2021

Friday, 16 July, 2021 I 5 Zil-Hajj, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 17 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

Pakistan, neighbouring states to facilitate Peace Process in afghanistan: PM

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NewS DeSk

RIMe Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that Pakistan and its neighbouring countries, including Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Turkey, “will try and help facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan”.

Addressing a joint press conference with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, the PM said that Afghanistan’s neighbours were concerned about the deteriorating political situation in the wartorn country, where the Taliban are continuing a sweeping offensive.

“We are both concerned as neighbours of Afghanistan that the people of Afghanistan have suffered for the last 40 years,” he said while referring to the Uzbek leader.

“And as neighbours, we feel they are our brothers, that there should be peace there, there should be a peaceful political settlement. So we discussed that in detail and we also resolved that the neighbours — Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Pakistan and even Turkey — we will

try and help facilitate a peace process in Afganistan.”

Prime Minister Imran said he hoped that the foreign ministers of the above countries would meet first and “then we will go on and try and have a summit so that we can stop what looks like a civil war” in Afghanistan.

His remarks came as the Taliban have swept through much of Afghanistan’s north as US-led foreign troops complete their withdrawal, and the Afghan government now holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be resupplied by air.

According to a joint declaration issued after talks between Prime Minister Imran and President Mirziyoyev, the two leaders discussed the security situation in Afghanistan in detail as well as the ongoing peace process.

“The parties stressed the necessity to resolve the conflict through Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process through peaceful and inclusive negotiations resulting in [a] comprehensive political settlement,” the statement said.

It said the Uzbek president “highly

coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

981,392

LAST UPDATED AT 12:04 PM ON JULY 15, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

47

2,545

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

916,373 22,689 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

351,006

349,111

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

139,960 AJK/GB: 21,481/7,163

28,588 ISLAMABAD:

84,083

appreciated the role of Pakistan in promoting the peace process in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s contributions to the socio-economic development of Afghanistan”.

According to a joint declaration issued in Tashkent, the two countries have signed an agreement to establish a strategic partnership. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirzaiyoyev signed the document.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening fraternal ties, based on religious, cultural and historical commonalities.

Both the leaders expressed satisfaction at the continued progress in bilateral relations and announced the establishment of a strategic partnership for the mutual benefit of the two countries and nations.

Imran Khan and Shavkat Mirzaiyoyev agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest and stressed the importance of closer coordination based on coinciding positions in the international arena. They expressed satisfaction with the growing pace of inter-parliamentary cooperation and agreed on the regular exchange of parliamentary delegations to further deepen bilateral ties Prime Minister Imran Khan underlined the importance of structured engagement between Pakistan and Uzbekistan under the five pillars of Islamabad’s “Vision Central Asia” policy based on political, trade and investment, energy and connectivity, security and defence, and people-to-people contacts.

Imran Khan also emphasized on peaceful resolution of all outstanding regional disputes and conflicts to fully utilize the enormous potential of connectivity between Central Asia and South Asia

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Traces of explosives found in bus blast probe: Fawad ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry revealed Thursday that traces of explosives had been detected during an initial investigation into a bus explosion that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, and said a terrorist attack could not be ruled out as the cause of the incident.

Wednesday’s blast sent the bus crashing into a ravine in Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where, for several years, Chinese engineers have been working on hydroelectric projects as part of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.

The revelation came in stark contrast to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s statement who a day earlier blamed the incident on a mechanical failure, but Fawad tweeted: “Initial investigations […] have now confirmed traces of explosives. Terrorism cannot be ruled out.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan is “personally supervising all developments”, the minister said, adding the government was in “close coordination” with the Chinese embassy in Islamabad.

“We are committed to fight[ing] menace of terrorism together.”

On Wednesday, while security officials had said the nature of the blast was still under investigation, the Chinese embassy said its nationals had come under “attack”. Later that day,

Govt increases petrol price

by Rs5.40 per litre NewS DeSk The government on Thursday increased the price of petrol by Rs5.40 per litre and that of highspeed diesel by Rs2.54 per litre, announced Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Shahbaz Gill on Twitter.

He further said that the premier had decided to give the public “huge relief” by not raising prices based on the recommendations of the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority, according to a report by Dawn.

The SAPM disclosed that Ogra, in view of rising petroleum prices in the international market over the last few months, had recommended that the price of petrol be increased by Rs11.4 per litre.

“Contrary to Ogra’s recommendations, the prime minister only approved an increase of Rs5.40 per litre keeping in view public interest,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil were increased by Rs1.39 and Rs1.27, respectively. The new price for petrol will be Rs118.09 per litre, diesel will be Rs116.5 per litre, kerosene will be Rs87.14 and that of LDO will be Rs84.67.

The government would “en-

Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, had called the blast a “bomb attack”. Today, Lijian told a regular briefing that China will send a team to Pakistan to cooperate closely with Pakistan in the investigation.

BEIJING BACKS AWAY FROM CALLING INCIDENT BOMB ATTACK: Meanwhile, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi met Qureshi, who is in Tajikistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, on the sidelines of the event late on Wednesday and urged him to investigate the blast.

While Yi stopped short of calling the incident an attack, he told Qureshi that if it was indeed a “terrorist attack,” Islamabad should immediately arrest the culprits and punish them severely, according to a post shared on Thursday on the website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Qureshi, however, responded that the initial probe showed that the incident was not a terrorist attack.

“He [Qureshi] said preliminary investigation shows that it’s an accident and no background of terrorist attacks has been found,” the statement read.

Yi, who is China’s State Councillor and foreign minister, said “lessons should be learned” and both sides should strengthen security measures for China-Pakistan cooperation projects to ensure their safe and smooth operation.

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more inside

Maryam claims conspiracy was hatched to assassinate Nawaz in prison STORY ON PAGE 02

dure the burden” that would arise due to not increasing the prices in line with Ogra’s recommendations and “giving the public maximum relief”, Gill added.

This is the second time the prices of petroleum products have increased in the last 15 days. The government had previously increased the prices of all petroleum products by up to 4.7 per cent at the beginning of July to pass on the “partial impact” of rising international prices.

The ex-depot price of petrol was increased by Rs2 per litre and that of HSD by Rs1.44 per litre. The ex-depot price of kerosene was increased by Rs3.86 per litre and that of LDO

by Rs3.72 per litre, respectively.

The government had to reduce its tax on petrol and diesel to allow a minimum increase.

The finance ministry said at the time that the government maintained the practice of keeping the prices of petroleum products at an affordable level and had given up Rs252.4 billion petroleum levy it could have collected against the budgeted Rs30 per litre on all products. The ministry perhaps, however, did not know that under the existing law, it could collect Rs30 per litre petroleum levy only on petrol and diesel while its maximum rate on kerosene and LDO could not increase beyond Rs8-10 per litre.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Officials, Taliban strike ceasefire deal in western Afghanistan, says provincial governor STORY ON BACK PAGE

Army officer, soldier martyred in terrorist attack near Pasni STORY ON BACK PAGE

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Friday, 16 July, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

MARyAM ClAIMS ConSPIRACy wAS hAtChed to ASSASSInAte nAwAz In PRISon MUZAFFARABAD INP

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AKISTAN Muslim LeagueNawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz claimed on Thursday that a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when he was incarcerated in prison.

Addressing an election rally in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the PML-N leader greeted the crowd on the behest of her father — who is in London since 2019 for ‘medical treatment’.

“The Baloch gave me the best welcome,” Maryam said, adding that she had

the “Kashmiri blood” running through her veins.

Taking on the incumbent government, the PML-N leader accused it of being “afraid of Nawaz Sharif”.

She further added that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s morning started with remembering her father while his day also ended with him [Nawaz] on his mind. She claimed that various conspiracies were hatched against Nawaz and one of them was to assassinate him whilst he was in prison.

“They [the government] are conspiring to sabotage the projects made by Nawaz Sharif. After losing the case of Occupied Kashmir, their eyes are now on Azad Kashmir. Conspiracy to give Kashmir to

India was also made in the United States,” she further claimed.

Maryam further maintained that slogans of ‘respect the vote’ were echoing in AJK too. She accused the government of seeking election reforms now that it sees defeat in the coming elections.

“There is no RTS or any other machine for election reforms,” he said, adding that the day of reckoning was near.

The PML-N’s vice president further stated that a conspiracy was being hatched to increase petroleum prices for the people.

“When the price of oil goes up, the price of everything goes up. This doesn’t matter to [PM] Imran Khan because he rides a bicycle to the office,” she said.

Imran expresses solidarity with Turkey on 5th anniversary of failed military coup IsLAMABAD StAff RePoRt

Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday expressed “solidarity” with Turkey as it marked the fifth anniversary of the 2016 failed coup.

More than 240 people, most of them unarmed civilians, were killed on the night of July 15 when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and warplanes in an attempt to attack parliament and overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan.

Since the coup attempt, Erdogan has embarked on a sweeping crackdown, jailing some 50,000 people and sacking or suspending 150,000. Under the purge, Turkey shut down all of its military academies, schools that had been once seen as a pillar of the secular state.

Ankara blamed the network of Fethullah Gülen, a former ally of Erdogan, for orchestrating the coup. But Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denied involvement and condemned the attempt.

“On behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, and on my own behalf, I would like to reaffirm our solidarity with the brotherly people and government of Turkey on the occasion of ‘Democracy and National

Content against Pakistan’s values not to be allowed to publish: Ashrafi LAHORe APP

Special Assitant to Prime Minister on Interfaith Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has said that any content written without following the Pakistani values would not be allowed to publish in the country.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said that for the past few days, baseless propaganda was going on regarding the Muttahida Ulema Board and the uniform curriculum in the country. He said that the government and ulema had been working for two-and-ahalf years on the curriculum. “We have been trying to promote tolerance in the country,” he added. Ashrafi said that extremism had decreased in the country and misuse of the blasphemy law had been checked strictly during the last three years. He said that the MUB was looking into the religious material in books under a law, passed by the Punjab Assembly. It had gone through more than 150 books thus far and sent those books back.

He alleged that an English newspaper did not care about the journalistic values while publishing content on the issue. “We suggested removing pictures of scientists and publishing pictures of women with scarves,” he said. He said that a campaign had been launched about Malala Yousafzai two days ago and no one even asked ulema about the issue. “We did not even see that book,” he added. Ashrafi said that the agenda to attack Islamic values would never be allowed to succeed. “I was the first to condemn the attack on Malala,” he said. The PM’s aide said that no one should blame the MUB without the evidence. “Can you give any proof?” he asked. He said that the purpose of the slanderous campaign was to target the Punjab government, the Assembly and the Punjab Textbook Board. “We have not received these books, nor have made any recommendations,” he clarified. He said that the MUB gets a no-objection certificate for translation and interpretation of even the holy Quran and the crackdown on the book was made not because of Malala, adding that the book was being published without a NOC. The attack on Malala is condemnable. She is also the daughter of the nation, Ashrafi added. He urged the media not to carry any content without getting a version of all concerned. He said that Madrasas had signed an agreement with the government to teach modern sciences to their students. He said that falsehood was not freedom of expression. “We have suffered losses by standing with journalists,” he recalled.

Unity Day’,” Imran said in a message addressed to Erdogan.

“History will remember how five years ago, on this day, the Turkish people displayed their characteristic resilience and gallantry to defy those who wanted to target Turkey’s peace and stability as well as its democratic institutions,” the statement added.

“It was also the day when the entire Pakistani nation spoke with one voice against the attempt to undermine Turkey’s democracy and progress towards prosperity.”

The prime minister said that “today, the people of Pakistan join the people of Turkey in honouring the martyrs and supporting their families.”

“The historic, fraternal and multi-dimensional relations between Pakistan and Turkey are without parallel and have withstood the test of time,” he added.

“The people and the government of Pakistan reiterate their strong support for the government and the people of Turkey in their quest for national security, peace and prosperity, and as always, will continue to stand by them towards the achievement of these shared goals.”

“Our prayers and best wishes are with you and the people of Turkey in your march towards peace and prosperity, and ever greater glory,” he added.

65 cases of Delta variant detected in Karachi News Desk The total number of Delta variant Covid cases in Karachi is now 100, as 65 new cases emerged in the port city according to findings from the National Institute of Virology at the University of Karachi.

NIV, which tested 2,062 samples sent by the Sindh Health Department on July 12 and 13, said in a statement on Thursday that 163 results came back positive, reported Dawn. Of these, genotyping of “randomly selected 94 positive samples of Covid-19 revealed 65 cases of Delta variant, which makes 69 per cent of total samples tested,” it

said. KU International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences Director Professor Dr Mohammad Iqbal Choudhary, while sharing the results, said that besides the Delta variant, two cases of the Beta (South African) variant, two cases of a wild-type variant and 25 cases of unidentified variants were also confirmed.

“The 25 [cases] may be Delta Plus variant or a new variant,” the statement quoted Choudhary as saying. “The presence of Sars-CoV-2 Delta variant has already been confirmed in the Sindh province and its local transmission is evident from the recently identified

cluster,” he added.

The statement noted that 15 percent of samples collected between June 25 and July 9 had turned out to be Delta variant cases in a previous genotyping analysis. “Its proportion in positive cases is rapidly increasing,” it observed.

“Researchers of the National Institute of Virology are constantly monitoring the spread of this variant in the metropolis, which is really a matter of concern,” the statement added.

Earlier this week, the Sindh Health Department confirmed that 35 Delta variant cases were reported in Karachi.

It said that “severe symptoms” of the

President updated over Afghan situation, cyber security at ISI HQ IsLAMABAD APP

President Dr Arif Alvi was given a briefing on the dynamics of national security and the situation in Afghanistan during his visit to the Inter-Services Intelligence Headquarters on Thursday.

In view of the president’s keen interest in cyber-security, he was also briefed on the subject.

The president lauded the efforts of InterServices Intelligence for national security and expressed his satisfaction over its professional preparedness.

“President, being keenly interested in the subject, was also briefed on cyber-security,” the press release stated. Earlier, ISI General Director General Faiz Hamid welcomed the president on his arrival at the ISI Headquarters.

Separately, President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday called for accelerating efforts to reduce the population growth rate and lower the total fertility rate in the country.

Expressing concern over the growing population, the president said the increasing population had not only affected the country’s

resources but also created many social and economic problems.

He underscored the need for making integrated efforts by the provincial and federal governments to create awareness and promote family planning services to check the alarming population growth.

The president expressed these views while talking to Senator Waleed Iqbal and Senator Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

He further said malnutrition and stunting were the major health challenges that could be addressed by promoting optimal breastfeeding practices in the country.

The president urged the Ulema and media to play their role in promoting family planning and educating the people about the importance of birth spacing, which was highly essential for the child and maternal health.

Appreciating the efforts of the president to check the increasing population, the senators assured that they would play their role in an individual capacity to sensitize and guide the people about the implications of the increasing population.

virus had been observed in people who were confirmed to be suffering from the Delta variant. On Wednesday, the Sindh government reimposed coronavirus restrictions in the province, closing down schools and indoor dining, as Karachi’s positivity rate was recorded as 17.11 percent. Over the last 24 hours, Pakistan recorded 2,545 cases — a massive 28.5 per cent increase over the 1,980 cases reported a day ago.

This is the first time the country has reported more than 2,500 infections since May 29, when 2,697 cases were reported. Of the new cases, 1,420, or 55.7 percent were reported in Sindh.

Five abducted labourers rescued in Kurram operation: ISPR News Desk Security forces on Thursday rescued five labourers who were part of a group of 16 abducted by terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district last month, the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement. The Inter-Services Public Relations said that the 16 labourers were “abducted by unknown terrorists” on June 26 while they were working at the site of a cell phone tower in Kurram. Ten of them were released the next day while the body of one of them was also found, it added. “To rescue the remaining five abducted labourers, security forces launched [a] series of intelligence-based operations (IBO) in highly inhospitable terrain under extreme weather conditions.

Terrorists were continuously tracked and pursued,” the statement said. In one such IBO on Tuesday, three terrorists were killed and two Frontier Corps officials — Captain Basit Ali and Sepoy Hazrat Bilal — were martyred. “With determination, security forces continued the pursuit of terrorists and on July 15, during another exchange of fire, successfully rescued five abducted labourers,” the ISPR said. It further said that the operation was still ongoing to apprehend or eliminate the remaining terrorists in the area. “Security forces are consistently endeavouring to ensure the security and well-being of our innocent civilians who have been wholeheartedly supporting the security forces in fighting the menace of terrorism,” the ISPR said. Earlier this week, officials had told Dawn that a militant commander who had joined the so-called Islamic State group was involved in the kidnapping of the labourers.

Friday, 16 July, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

CoRonAvIRuS KIllS 47, InFeCtS 2,545 In A dAy: nCoC IsLAMABAD

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StAff RePoRt

AKISTAN registered 2,545 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, the highest single-day toll since May 30, the Ministry of National Health Services said as the Delta variant is spreading across the country.

The government portal keeping track of the outbreak had recorded 2,697 cases on May 29 which slowly declined to 663 on June 21. However, the disease has again spiked since July 6.

Following the new cases, the portal showed the total caseload at 981,392. The recoveries stood at 916,373.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre, 47 more deaths were recorded, raising the death toll to 22,689.

48,910 tests were conducted on Wednesday, of which 2,545 came back positive, the NCOC said.

The transmission rate has also increased to 5.2 percent from 4.17 percent a day earlier. The last time the positivity rate had crossed 5 percent was on May 23, when it was recorded as 5.22 percent.

The health authorities have already warned that Pakistan could move to the fourth wave if the public avoids following safety precautions.

“Rapid build-up starting to take place in covid patients hospital inflow, as well as

patients in critical care. This Indian variant has caused devastation in countries in the region,” Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, tweeted.

“Please follow sop’s (standard operating procedures) and get vaccinated as soon as possible. Do not risk your own & others lives.” Minister of State for National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan, in a tweet providing a breakdown of the data, said “Covid-19 numbers continue to rise” in the country. “Use masks (even if you are vaccinated) [and] avoid crowds,” he advised, urging people to get themselves vaccinated.

Concerns of a fourth wave of coronavirus have grown amid the emergence

of the Delta variant, a strain of the virus first identified in India.

The mutation has been found in more than 80 countries since it was first detected.

Experts say it spreads more easily because of mutations that make it better at latching onto cells in our bodies.

Viruses constantly mutate and most changes are not concerning. But there is a worry that some variants might evolve enough to be more contagious, cause more severe illness or evade the protection that vaccines provide.

In the United Kingdom, the variant is now responsible for 90 percent of all new infections. In the US, it represents 20 percent of infections, and health officials say it could

03

become the country’s dominant type as well.

To control the spread of the variant, authorities have banned the entry of the unvaccinated to tourist spots, hotels, movie theaters, and picnic areas during next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice.

The government has also expedited the inoculation drive in the past weeks, and people aged 18 or over is eligible for vaccination. Over 21 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country to date. It had initially focused on giving shots to older populations and other high-risk groups. However, with the spread of the Delta variant, it is trying to reignite the campaigns by overcoming scepticism about the vaccine and misconceptions that the young do not need a shot.

With additional input from Anadolu Agency

Monsoon floods disrupt Sindh, Pak-Iran train service News Desk Flash flooding and lightning hit Karachi on Thursday night, making the city’s hot and humid weather pleasant while inundating roads and low-lying areas.

Sharea Faisal, the main thoroughfare that links the city with the airport and National Highway, was blocked with commuters stuck in their vehicles, reported Dawn.

Most roads in the Saddar area and both tracks of the New M.A. Jinnah Road were inundated with rainwater.

As usual, the electricity went off in several areas with the first drop of rain, according to reports reaching from several localities. The K-Electric in a tweet said “medium to heavy rain is being reported in Karachi. KE teams are on ground and monitoring [the] situation.” It said some feeders “may be put off due to safety reasons”. According to a live feeder update tweeted by the power utility, 410 out of 1,950 feeders were affected at 11pm.

Moreover, the Pakistan-Iran freight train service was suspended after heavy rains in Chaghi. According to the Pakistan Railways officials, the track has been

Chinese cooperation crucial in Pakistan’s vaccination drive

submerged by rainwater and the 10-kilometre long track has been badly affected. The officials said that it will take 3 to 4 days to restore the rain-affected railway track for the Pakistan-Iran rail service. It is to be noted that heavy rains and floods have badly affected Chaghi where people are trapped in several localities. The PDMA has dispatched 75,000 ration bags for the rain affectees of Chaghi. Balochistan’s Chaghi district, particularly Dalbandin area, is sandy and dusty. Trains passing through the area often get stuck when the tracks are covered with sand due to winds.

Earlier on June 19, the goods train service between Pakistan and Iran was suspended after at least six bogies of the train, which was on its way to Quetta from Zahedan city of Iran, derailed near Dalbandin in the Chagai district, railway officials said. No one was injured in the accident due to an unbalanced track which needed repair. Earlier, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries had asked the government to take practical steps for the restoration of goods trains with Iran and Turkey.

Covid-19 vaccination: SAPM cites WHO to discourage ‘double locking’ News Desk

IsLAMABAD XINhuA

China’s cooperation is crucial in Pakistan’s vaccination drive, and Beijing always comes to help in Islamabad’s time of need, as some health officials, scholars as well as ordinary people have observed.

RELIABLE HELPER: “Whenever Pakistan is in trouble, or there has been some crisis, China has always been forthcoming and helping Pakistan,” said Abdul Rehman Tarar, a retired official from Pakistan Army who has been witnessing the Pakistan-China friendship for decades, with both countries supporting each other and firmly standing by each other. “In the last one and a half years, people saw support and cooperation from China, though the country itself was seriously threatened by a very rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Tarar, who has also authored a book on China in the Urdu language, told Xinhua. Recently, Tarar has witnessed the Pakistan-China relationship reaching new heights with ordinary Pakistan nationals benefitting from China’s vaccine donations and supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pakistan’s population, who were in a dismal situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic, felt the true essence of the Pakistan-China friendship when their close friend China overcame its own difficulties to provide protective gear, ventilators and finally vaccines to help Pakistan fight the pandemic, said Tarar, who is among millions of Pakistanis to be inoculated with Chinese vaccines against Covid-19.

Pakistan Meteorological Department Quetta Regional Center on Thursday forecast that moderate to heavy rain-strong wind-thunderstorm is expected in Sherani, Zhob, Musakhail, Killa Saifullah, Loralai, Duki, Barkhan, Quetta, Matung, Chaghi, Sibi, Ziarat, Harnai, Kohlu, Dera Bughti, Kachhi, Naseerabad, Mand, Lehri, Suhbatpur, Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kharan, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech, Awaran, Lasbella and coastal areas of the province.

Heavy rains may generate flash flooding in the vulnerable areas of above-mentioned districts during the period. Possibility of damaging effects due to windstorm during the forecast period during the next 24 hours. Weather forecast for next 48 hours; moderate to heavy rain-strong wind-thunderstorm is expected in Sherani, Zhob, Musakhail, Killa Saifullah, Loralai, Duki, Barkhan, Matung, Chaghi, Sibi, Ziarat, Harnai, Kohlu, Dera Bughti, Kachhi, Naseerabad, Mand, Lehri, Suhbatpur, Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kharan, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech, Awaran, Lasbella and coastal areas.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Thursday quoted the World Health Organisation and explained that there was no need for “double locking”, adding the WHO had also cautioned against the practice.

Double locking is the practice of obtaining two doses each from two different brands of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking on a Geo News programme this morning, Dr Sultan said that countries should ensure complete vaccination (two doses) of their population from a single vaccine to ensure maximum coverage.

“If you have placed a lock on a door, and you overprotect it with another lock, then it’s just going to be a marginal gain,” he said, adding that from a public health perspective there was no need for “double locking”.

He underlined that vaccines ensure maximum protection from Covid infection, saying “the protection rate doesn’t get to zero, but chances for contracting a virus drop considerably.” Dr Sultan emphasised that vaccines were the most important weapon against the coronavirus disease. He further said that the government has data on vaccine efficacy and failure rate, which will be made public in a day or two.

“But let me tell you the results of the vaccine are really good,” he stressed.

In response to a question about fears of an uptick in Covid cases on Eidul Azha, he said that the upcoming festival should be celebrated in a “very limited and closed environment.” Dr Sultan said the data available with the government clearly indicated that the fourth wave of Covid19 was around the corner. “The overall positivity ratio has increased to five per cent, while in Karachi it had almost reached 19pc,” he said.

He said he was in agreement with the decisions taken by the Karachi administration of placing new restrictions to contain the spread of the virus. He said places where the

virus was spreading warranted enhanced action. “We have also given data to respective administrations about Covid hotspots so they could impose smart lockdowns and restrictions.”

Responding to the recent surge in Covid cases ahead of Eidul Azha, Dr Sultan confirmed that “there will be a requirement of vaccination certificates for travel.”

Faisal Sultan has said that more restrictions will be imposed in the most affected areas of the country. Cases of coronavirus are relatively low compared to other provinces, he added.

The SAPM further said that vaccinated people will be allowed to visit tourist spots; however, warned that coronavirus related SOPs are being violated in Azad Kashmir election rallies.

“I believe until complete enforcement of SOPs is ensured, the disease is not going to die down and it will take too much time to vanish,” he maintained.

The health adviser explained that new Covid-19 variants, due to their “survival advantage”, transmit faster from one person to another. “First two variants were spreading but the new one is spreading quicker,” he warned.

Dr Sultan, however, added that no matter how fast a variant was spreading, “if precautionary measures are properly adopted then it remains in control.” He also said that people at times get tired of following the SOPs and abandon precautionary measures subsequently, which contributes to the spike in cases. Dr Sultan clarified that no vaccine was 100pc effective, “and it doesn’t mean that you will not get Covid if you are vaccinated,” adding that “every vaccine has a protection efficacy of about 80pc to 90pc.”

Furthermore, he said that the government has a portal where people could request for their data to be corrected on their vaccination certificate or any related document. “If somebody still faces a problem, then the NCOC is here to facilitate them,” he assured.

Pakistan to host Afghan Peace Conference: FO News Desk Pakistan will be hosting the Afghan Peace Conference from July 17-19, 2021, said Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri on Thursday during his weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

“Any speculations about the postponement of the conference are entirely baseless,” said Chaudhri, adding that the conference will “provide momentum to the ongoing efforts for peace in Afghanistan”.

According to Chaudhri, a number of Afghan leaders have already confirmed their participation. To a question, he responded by saying the Taliban are not

among the invitees, reported Geo. “They have visited Pakistan many times and we’ve had detailed discussions with them on the Afghan peace process.

The aim of the forthcoming peace conference is to engage with and consult all sides on the Afghan peace process,” said the spokesperson. He said Pakistan hopes that this conference “will provide impetus to the ongoing efforts for peace in Afghanistan”.

Chaudhri said that Pakistan has repeatedly called for an inclusive, broadbased and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan.

“We have no favourites in Afghanistan and we stand with the

people of Afghanistan,” he stressed.

He went on to state that Pakistan is “engaged with all sides in Afghanistan” as part of the country’s efforts to facilitate the Afghan peace process.

Geo further reported Chaudhri as speaking about Pakistan’s concern regarding the evolving security situation in Afghanistan, wherein he said: “As the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan is nearing completion, we remain concerned at the evolving security situation in Afghanistan”.

“We once again reiterate the imperative of a political settlement in Afghanistan,” the spokesperson added.

Chaudhri said that while Pakistan

has played an important role in the peace process and it remains committed to facilitating it in future as well, ultimately, it is the Afghans themselves who have to decide about their future.

“At this critical juncture, all Afghan stakeholders must work out an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he said.

He said Pakistan also calls for a meaningful engagement of the world community for promoting reconstruction and economic development in the postconflict Afghanistan which is vital for sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan.

“We also believe that a peaceful settlement of the Afghan dispute should also lead to a dignified and time-bound return of Afghan refugees,” he said.

nAM lauds Imran for supporting Palestine, Kashmir causes New YORk APP

A ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement has commended the role of Prime Minister Imran Khan for their support to the Palestine dispute. Founded in 1961, the NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The name of the prime minister was mentioned in a declaration along with those of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, outgoing Iran President Hassan Rouhani and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, citing their strong backing to the Palestinians’ struggle for their inalienable rights. The declaration was unanimously adopted by the conference — held July 13-14 and hosted by Azerbaijan, the current chairman of the 120-member bloc. Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Beyukaga oglu Azimov presided over the conference. The declaration also incorporated Pakistan’s position on the right to self-determination, addressing root causes of terrorism, and measures to address the new and emerging threats posed by attacks motivated by xenophobia, racism and others forms of intolerance and discrimination. In his video statement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi underscored the bloc’s important role in promoting peace and development and presented concrete proposals to respond to current global challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic. He also reiterated his deep concern at the continued denial of their right to self-determination to the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as Palestine, guaranteed under several UN Security Council resolutions. He called upon the international community and bloc’s member-states to work for a just, peaceful and expeditious settlement of these conflicts in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the people of the two regions. Reports citing sources said that India extensively campaigned for the removal of the paragraph lauding the role played by Prime Minister Imran as well as that of the leaders of Saudi, Turkey, Iran and South Africa, but failed because of the strong sentiment prevailing in their favour. The Indian lobby contended that a “selective listing of individual leaders” was contrary to the bloc’s principles. After the presiding officer overruled New Delhi’s arguments, India disassociated itself from that declaration and, subsequently, stood isolated when the delegates adopted it.

Friday, 16 July, 2021

04 NEWS

LAHORE

PresIdent For enhanCed Pak-kyrGyz CooPeratIon In trade, Culture ISLAMABAD

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APP

RESIDENT Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said Pakistan attached special importance to its relations with Kyrgyzstan and stressed the need for an increased bilateral cooperation in diverse fields, particularly trade and culture.

The president expressed these views as the outgoing Kyrgyz Ambassador Eric Beshibimov paid a farewell call on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The president called for further strengthening of

trade linkages with Kyrgyzstan to fully exploit the potential existing between the two countries.

To promote bilateral cooperation, he said, the high-level and parliamentary exchanges were important besides exploring collaboration in cultural domain.

President Alvi said Pakistan was committed to the implementation of Central Asia South Asia (CASA)1000 project for the benefit of itself and the region.

The president lauded the contribution of the outgoing Kyrgyz ambassador in strengthening relations between the two countries.

Minister lays stress on technological progress ISLAMABAD APP

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Syed Shibli Faraz on Wednesday said that the evolution of existing system according to modern requirements is a prerequisite for progress as no country could achieve success by moving in the same rhythm.

He was speaking at the “Open House and Career Fair of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering and Technology”, arranged by the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, International Islamic University Islamabad

(IIUI). Faraz said only youth could help Pakistan take a quantum leap by utilising their potential and extraordinary creative talents for constructive purposes.

“Younger generation can move forward on the technology front, where our generation has lagged behind, to bring socio-economic stability to the country.” Faraz said research should not be carried out for the sake of research but focus should be on development of the country through prioritising its linkage with market needs.

The federal minister said that his

ministry was encouraging applied research and commercialisation of patents. Highlighting the steps taken after assuming charge a few months ago, Faraz said the science and technology ministry took steps for making all its under-utilised laboratories fully functional after mapping.

University students were the main stakeholders, who would be given access to these laboratories for research, he announced. Speaking on the occasion, Islamabad Chamber President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said Pakistan had 55% of youth below the age of 35 years.

Japan to provide job opportunities to Pakistanis ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Ambassador of Japan Kuninori Matsuda has said that Japan will provide job opportunities to Pakistanis, especially in the areas of information technology (IT) and science and technology.

He shared this while meeting with Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin here at the Finance Division on Wednesday. SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood was also present during the meeting.

While extending a warm welcome to Kuninori Matsuda, Tarin lauded the cooperation extended by the government of Japan to Pakistan in the fields of education and infrastructure development.

He said that Japan is one of the major development partners of Pakistan and that he firmly believes that the cooperation will further strengthen in multiple fields for the mutual benefit of both the countries.

Matsuda briefed the finance minister about operations of the Japanese entities in Pakistan and expressed confidence that business and economic linkages would further strengthen between the two countries.

Both reviewed the entire spectrum of business and investment relations and identified areas for further strengthening and expanding economic cooperation.

The ambassador informed the Tarin that Japan was now embarking on a project of Human Resource (HR) exchange with Pakistan under which the Japanese labour market will be opened for highly skilled Pakistanis.

The ambassador further apprised the finance minister that Japan was focusing on developing a strong export base in Pakistan. For this purpose, he said Japan was looking beyond the traditional sectors of textiles and automobiles.

“Japan sees opportunities to invest in food processing, fishing and agriculture,” he said.

Tarin opined that goods manufactured in SEZs should be exported and also touched upon the new auto policy which has offered incentives to new investors and will have a far reaching impact on the development of the auto industry in Pakistan.

He stated that with the introduction of the new auto policy, Japan has the oppor-

tunity to further its investments in the sector which in turn will be beneficial both countries. He said that he wants Pakistan to be able to generate exportable surplus in spare parts, so new investment will prove to be lucrative for both countries, and invited Japanese firms to start exporting automobiles from Pakistan.

He also thanked the Japanese government for debt relief under the second phase of G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). He assured the Japanese ambassador of his full support in improving the trade and economic relations between the countries.

FPCCI, GB govt to organise international investment conference ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government are all set to organise an international investment conference on GB. This was announced by FPCCI Chairman, Qurban Ali, who had called on GB Chief Minister (CM) Muhammad Khalid Khurshid at his office here on Wednesday. They discussed a wide range of issues, including the development of industry and trade, investment, and strengthening ties between the business community and the GB government.

On this occasion, it was also agreed to work together for the development of Gilgit-Baltistan, promotion of investment and elimination of unemployment. During the meeting, the CM said that Gilgit Baltistan was rich in natural beauty, natural resources and also the gateway of the grand CPEC project. He said there were vast investment opportunities in various sectors including agriculture, as the region was a tax free with business opportunities worth billions of rupees.

The CM said domestic and foreign investors should take full advantage of these opportunities and added that the success of the tourism sector lay in improving it through investment, which was not possible without the cooperation of the private sector. “To facilitate the private sector, he said the government was creating an environment in which investors would invest and ensure a fair and secure return. He said that keeping in view the geographical conditions of the region, the government would encourage small and medium scale investors. The CM said that the government was taking all possible steps to provide all kinds of relief to traders and industrialists. Muhammad Khalid invited the entire team of FPCCI to visit GB to promote investment and end unemployment while surveying various sectors. The FPCCI chairman said that he is in touch with domestic and foreign investors to promote investment in GB. “We have also apprised many foreign ambassadors, investors, government and chamber officials about the importance of Gilgit Baltistan and encouraged them to invest there,which will soon show positive results,” he added. He stressed the need to ensure the safety of tourist destinations as well as provide better roads and transport facilities for access to them for the promotion of tourism in the region. Qurban further added that the establishment of international airports in the tourist areas and the launch of direct flights from foreign countries would be a great boost for tourism in the region.

Foe to friend: Fishermen join fight to save endangered dolphin KARACHI AFP

Freshwater dolphins are flourishing in a stretch of a main river after a helping hand from fishermen mobilized to defend a rare species driven to near-extinction.

Identifiable by their saw-like beaks, Indus River dolphins once swam from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea, but now mostly cluster in a 180-kilometre (110-mile) length of the waterway in Sindh. A glimpse of a dolphin cutting through muddy water to gasp for air is a regular sight along the mighty river, but most villagers nearby were unaware their neighbours were on the brink of extinction. “We had to explain that it was a unique species only found in the Indus and nowhere else,” Abdul Jabbar, who gave up fishing for a job on the dolphin rescue team, told AFP on the banks of Dadu Canal, which he patrols by motorbike.

Decades of uncontrolled fishing and habitat loss caused by pollution and man-made dams saw the dolphin population plummet to around 1,200 at the turn of the century.

They are classed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which says their numbers have fallen by more than 50 percent since the 1940s.

In a bid to turn around the fortunes of the mammals, Pakistani

wildlife officials began a painstaking door-to-door awareness campaign with the local fishing community on the riverbanks and arterial canals. They offered advice on dolphin-friendly nets and warned against harmful and illegal poison-fishing — the practice of using chemicals to kill small fish used for poultry feed.

The World Wide Fund for Nature also offered up Rs1 million ($6,300) worth of loans, encouraging fishermen to set up alternative businesses. With the help of the provincial wildlife department, they established a dolphin monitoring network of 100 volunteers and a handful of paid staff, and a 24-hour phone helpline for villagers to call if they see a dolphin in distress.

Jabbar’s commitment is now boundless.

He recently missed the birth of his child when a dolphin became trapped in one of the river’s canals.

“The doctors were preparing for the caesarean and I needed to be with my wife. But when the call came, I rushed that night to rescue the dolphin,” he told AFP. The latest survey, from 2017, showed numbers had rebounded to about 1,800 and wildlife officials expect the population has increased further since.

Local legend has it that the first Indus River dolphin was once a woman, transformed by a curse from a holy man angry that she forgot to feed him one day. Previous generations believed the dol-

phins — known locally as bullen — were cursed.

They have evolved to be functionally blind, allowing for a sharpened sense of sonar as they cut through the muddy waters of the river hunting for prey.

Harmful fishing practices are not the only hazards facing dolphins. Every January, when water levels are at their lowest, the floodgates to canals are shut for cleaning, creating pools and lagoons that become death traps for stranded marine life.

Wildlife Department official Adnan Hamid Khan told AFP that the recent steady rise in dolphins had been a “success story.”

“But with a larger population comes food shortages, decreased range of movement — their breeding ground and territory has shrunk.” Indus River dolphins first came under threat during British colonial rule when dams were built to control the waterway’s flow, and later from the discharge of hazardous chemicals when factories sprung up along its banks.

Untreated sewage from rapidly expanding cities and towns is also dumped into the water, Khan said. But with fishermen on their side, there is some hope for the species.

“Now we save the dolphins with as much dedication as we would a human being,” said Ghulam Akbar, another volunteer monitor who also turned to farm fishing in an attempt to limit his impact on the river.

Friday, 16 July, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

05

QATAR inTRoduces visA-onARRivAl FAciliTy FoR PAkisTAnis Pakistan, neighbouring states to facilitate peace process in Afghanistan: PM coNtiNUEd fRom pAGE 01 Prime Minister Imran, moreover, hailed Uzbekistan’s efforts for Afghanistan’s socioeconomic reconstruction through the implementation of a number of major projects.

Earlier today, the premier arrived in Tashkent accompanied by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi and National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf.

According to Radio Pakistan, talks between the leadership of the two countries will cover the entire gamut of bilateral relations, with a particular focus on trade, economic cooperation and connectivity. The leaders will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. During the visit, a number of agreements and MoUs will be signed in areas of mutual interest, including transportation of goods, cooperation between chambers of commerce of the two countries, trade, education, culture and tourism, the report said. At the invitation of the Uzbek president, the prime minister will participate in the International Conference on Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities. with additional input from INP

Traces of explosives found in bus blast probe: Fawad coNtiNUEd fRom pAGE 01 Qureshi said Beijing was Islamabad’s “most important friend and most reliable partner, and China’s loss is Pakistan’s loss”. “Pakistan will spare no effort to rescue and treat the wounded, thoroughly investigate the truth of the incident, lose no time in sharing the progress of the investigation with China, and do its utmost to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel in Pakistan,” the statement quoted the foreign minister as saying. China is a close ally and major investor in Pakistan, and various antiPakistan militants, backed by India, have in the past attacked Chinese projects. The Chinese workers killed on the bus were employed at the Dasu Hydropower Project, part of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor, a $65 billion investment plan aiming to link western China to the port of Gwadar. AFP, Reuters contributed to this report

Govt increases petrol price by Rs5.40 per litre coNtiNUEd fRom pAGE 01 It said Ogra had been recommending a substantial increase in the prices of petroleum products since May 1, corresponding to the increase in prices of petroleum products in the international market. However, the government absorbed the impact of the increase by making adjustments in sales tax and petroleum levy.

Currently, the petroleum levy rates are at the lowest level of the last six years, the finance ministry had said.

doHA

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tLtP

AKISTANIS can now get Qatar’s visa on arrival as the Gulf state has announced a new immigration policy and issued directives to the concerned authorities in this regard.

According to details, Pakistani citizens would be granted a 30-day tourist visa upon arrival at the airport for a fee of QAR 100 valid for a period of 30 days which can be extended for the same period.

The conditions to get visa included: valid passport for at least 06 months; confirmed return ticket; polio vaccination certificate; confirmed hotel reservation in one of the country's hotels during the visit period; and fully vaccinated with vaccines approved by the Ministry of Public Health and completing a period of 14 days after the last dose.

Moreover, the visitor must have a certificate confirming a negative PCR test completed within 48 hours from

the time of arrival. The visitors have been asked to register themselves on the Ehteraz platform

(www.ehteraz.gov.qa) to obtain the approval of Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health before travelling. Passengers

India tells China continuing border tensions not in either side's interests The failure of China and India to resolve the standoff over their disputed border in the western Himalayas, despite an agreement last year, is not in the interest of either side, India's foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday.

In accordance with last year's pact, military commanders on both sides completed a pullout of troops, tanks and artillery from the Pangong Lake area in February in the first step towards full withdrawal from other friction points.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said friction in these other areas remained unre-

solved, however. "(The minister) recalled that both sides had agreed that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side. It was visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner," India's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Jaishankar and China's Wang Yi met at the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers in Tajikistan on Wednesday.

Thousands of soldiers have been facing off since April

2020 on the Line of Actual Control, or the de facto border, including at the glacial Pangong Lake, raising fears of a broader conflict between the two countries.

Both Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed in a clash in June last year — the first combat losses on the disputed border in more than four decades.

The two ministers agreed to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the problem and ensure stability on the ground by avoiding any unilateral action that could increase tension, the statement said. REutERS

Discovery of Pakistani currency in Afghanistan confirms fears of use for subversive activities The images of piles of Pakistani currency being counted by an Afghan national, on social media platforms have sent ripples across the country, as it confirmed earlier reports that the huge cash found in the area next to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was meant for subversive activities.

Almost three billion rupees were found stacked in a compound of an Afghan NDS colonel situated at the back of the Indian consulate in Kandahar which was hurriedly evacuated by India as it sent a number of Air Force C17 aircraft to airlift its staff.

The discovery of the huge cache has exposed, what Pakistan has been claiming all along that the Indian Consulates were being used to funnel and fund terrorist activities deep inside Pakistan. Pakistan said 66 training camps were being run by the Indian intelligence in a press conference jointly addressed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Director General ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, in November 2020.

A security source told APP that the money was being used to fund terrorist organizations like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamiat Ul Ahrar, and Harakat Ul Ansar linked with the notorious Indian RAW. The Pakistani currency, which otherwise had no purpose in Afghanistan, was also used for funding sub-nationalist groups to undertake sabotage activities and hit national unity inside Pakistan.

According to the information available the money was being used to purchase arms and ammunition to be used

by TTP and other foreign-funded terrorists for target killings, IED and VBIED blasts, and funding of activity to create sectarian unrest in the country.

Pakistan through a dossier shared with the international organizations had given solid proof that the Indian Con-

sulates were the prime source of funding and patronizing of terrorists with a proven nexus with the Aghan NDS. Pakistan’s “Indian Dossier” clearly mentioned the names of Indian diplomats and RAW officials involved in financing and supporting terrorism inside Pakistan.

The security source said that in addition to the money, TTP and other terrorists were also being provided ammunition under the Indo-NDS nexus. This was further proved during the recent evacuation exercise conducted by the Indian Air Force C17s that brought four tonnes of ammunition for the Afghan National Army and took up Kabul with its diplomats, military, and intelligence officials.

Over the years both the RAW and the NDS have been working hand-in-glove to sabotage peace and stability in Pakistan, however, the world was yet to take note of this activity.

Activists on social media said it was now time that India be put on a terror-financing watch list and the international community must not turn a blind eye to terror financing by RAW and NDS. #IndiaSpoilerOfPeace was one of the top trends in which the Twitterati lashed out at the nexus which they said was not only a threat to Pakistan but to the entire region as well.

The security official said Pakistan was keeping a close eye on the evolving situation and also investigating that how the currency was being used against Pakistan.

Tech stocks power Indian shares to record highs BENGALURU AGENCIES

Indian shares closed at record highs on Thursday, boosted by technology stocks, as investors awaited key earnings reports after IT major Infosys lifted its annual revenue outlook.

The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.44% higher at 15,924.20 and the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.48% to 53,158.85. Both the indexes have gained more than 1% so far this week.

Infosys Ltd closed 0.3% higher after posting strong earnings and raising its fore-

who have not received both doses of the vaccine 14 days prior to arrival will not be allowed to enter, it said.

cast on the back of a pandemic-driven expansion in digital offerings by businesses globally.

Wipro Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Infotech advanced 2.5% and 4.9%, respectively, ahead of their quarterly results after market close.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech’s parent and Nifty 50-component Larsen & Toubro Ltd climbed 4.2%.

The Nifty IT index firmed 1.29%, taking its yearly gains to 22.54%.

Hinduja Global Solutions rose 5% following a report that Baring Private Equity Asia was set to pick up a controlling stake in

its healthcare outsourcing division.

Dilip Buildcon was down 3.9% after the highways authority temporarily banned the construction firm from participating in any bids, pending the outcome of an investigation into an accident at its project site.

RBL Bank ended 1.7% lower after it said a regulatory ban on Mastercard would impact credit card issuances. The bank said it signed a deal with Visa for its credit cards to navigate the Mastercard ban.

Investor sentiment was also upbeat after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell soothed worries over inflation overnight, pushing Asian shares higher.

cmYK

Friday, 16 July, 2021

06 COMMENT

Avoiding both the embassy roof and the Friendship Bridge

Future of Afghanistan Negotiated settlement or civil war?

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ItHIN weeks of occupying Shir Khan Bandar, the Afghan town bordering tajikistan, taliban militants have wrested control of Wesh on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan the loss of these two major transit stations would cripple the Afghan government financially. Shir Khan Bandar, a sprawling dry port capable of handling up to 1,000 vehicles a day remains Afghanistan’s key trade route to Central Asia. Wesh is the landlocked country’s second busiest entry point, providing access to Pakistani seaports. the route is used approximately by 900 trucks a day. the Afghan government and the taliban militants are equally responsible for the prolongation of the fratricidal war. Confident of continuous US support the Ashraf Ghani government was more interested in clinging on to power and had rejected the proposals to form a transitional government to hold elections.

Ghani had also refused to free taliban prisoners in return for peace talks as agreed in the Doha parleys between the USA and the taliban. With the USA announcing the deadline for the exit of foreign troops, the taliban, who were already euphoric over their victories, decided to rely more on a ground offensive than on the Doha talks. In April they refused to attend the summit on Afghan peace in turkey. the countries in the region are perturbed over the prolongation of war in Afghanistan. the civil war will force millions of displaced people to seek shelter in Pakistan and Iran. the unsettled conditions in Afghanistan would also provide an opportunity to terrorist networks to destabilize the region and countries beyond. China has called upon the taliban to draw a line with all terrorist forces and return to the political mainstream with a responsible attitude towards the country and people.

Russia has called for all sides to sit down together at the negotiating table in Kabul. Diplomatic efforts have intensified to end the stalemate in peace talks in Doha. A meeting is expected between leading Afghan political leaders and the insurgents in the next few days. On Wednesday night Prime Minister Imran Khan telephoned former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, inviting him and other leaders to an international conference on Afghanistan to be organized by Pakistan soon. this appears to be a kneejerk reaction as according to Information Minister Fawad Choudhry, details about the event are yet to be worked out.

The US withdrawal is faster than expected At Penpoint M A NIAZI

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t was strongly suspected that the Afghan regime would not stand once the US and Nato forces left the country, but the speed of the taliban advances came as a surprise to most observers, and perhaps even to the taliban themselves.At present, the taliban are behaving as if they are having their timelines disrupted.

While the precept is to advance as fast as possible, and to take every advantage possible of the enemy’s weaknesses, there is also the military axiom warning commanders never to get ahead of their supply lines.

It is possible to see how the taliban might achieve this. First of all, they do not have an elaborate commissariat. Second, their supply lines are in front: they depend for food, arms and ammunition on supplies surrendered by government forces., apart of course from their normal supplies, which have not been interdicted.

Apart from the claims of territory controlled, with the taliban claiming 80 percent, and the government hotly denying this, the taliban have not yet claimed control of any major conurbation, which one spokesman has said is the result of a deliberate strategy. It is possible that the taliban are waiting to see which way Pakistan goes in the matter of providing air bases to US drones. the US attempt to prop up the Afghan regime will probably not succeed if the air bases are granted, so poor has been the regime’’s forces’ performance so far, but without those bases, the very purpose of the intervention and almost 20 years of war will be defeated. the USA seems to have gone one step ahead of its 1999 intervention in Kosovo, when it achieved its military objectives through bombing Yugoslavia into submission, without the use of ground forces.

Similarly, without ‘boots on the ground’, the USA would like to prevent the taliban being able to give refuge to Al-Qaeda or any similar organization. that requires the threat of US air superiority. that in turn requires air bases nearby. there are at least three other options to bases in Pakistan: bases in Central Asia or India, bases in the USA, and aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea. India can be ruled out, for Pakistan can be expected to go for anything coming from Indian airspace. While some drones would get through, a lot would not. Stto can the USA (even Hawaii) for technical reasons, while having an aircraft carrier maintain station off the Makran coast would be

Another attack on Chinese Why is there no clear response

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HE death of nine Chinese engineers,and three Pakiatsni escorts, as they returned from work on the Dasu hydroelectric project,showed the state in a particularly poor light. For a start, it did not seem to be able to decide if the ill-fated vehicle had crashed because of a terrorist attack or because of a gas cylinder explsm, the osion on the vehicle by which they had been travelling. PM’s ParliamentaryAffairs Adviser Babar Awan said it was a terrorist attack, but then the Foreign Office said it was a cylinder blast. It was left to the Chinese Embassy to say it was terrorism.However one cuts it, the government cannot escape blame when it tries to explain to China why its citizens should keep on being killed while working on purely commercial projects.

If one is to accept the view that it was not terrorism, the government must explain why the visiting experts are put on such shoddy transport. If terrorism is accepted, the government will have to explain what its intelligence gencies are doing, even afer the recent integration exercise. An auxiliary issue is what is the Interior Ministry upto,and its Minister, Sh Rashid, who seems more comfortable lambasting the opposition than actually doing anything, like preventing such acts.

With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, there seems a rise in the level of terrorism against Chinese interests in Pakistan. true, no group had claimed credit, but the attacks on the KSE in June last year,and on the hotel in Gwadar while the Chinese ambassador was there, indicate that the terrorists consider the Chinese fair game. the government should realize that the Chinese government is sensitive about its citizens, and take their security more seriously than it seems to be doing.

The fourth wave We must brace ourselves

ZAINAb NAZIr

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E have had a while to study the coronavirus, but it too has had time to study us. the arrival of the more contagious coronavirus variant is sparking new worries and promoting fears of an escalation just as vaccine breakthroughs were providing hope. It has set off alarm bells worldwide. Amid the global scare, the new coronavirus variant is believed to be fueling the surge in cases. this virus knows no borders. It is still unknown how much more lethal this Delta variant actually is. Countries around the world seem to be scrambling trying to keep up and stay ahead of such variants.

At the point when we investigate any nation's numbers, we see various populaces getting tainted at an alternate time scale. As the quantity of con-

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Managing Editor

Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

prohibitively expensive. Central Asia remains a prospect, and the recent visit to Pakistan is worthy of note. that visit might have been about Pakistan’s participation in Black Sea naval exercises,made more sensitive by Israeli participation, but drone operations may have been proposed.

Pakistan’s national sovereignty seems to come in the way of it giving the USA bases. Prime Minister Imran Khan has been so repeatedly adamant that it has been accepted that this is not Pakistan trying to jack up the price. (It might be remembered that when Pakistan gave the USA overflight rights back in 1999, then President Perz Musharraf may have feared being bombed into the Stone Age, but he also drove home a cash bargain). there is a strong conflict between the Pakistani establishment which wants to oblige the USA, and the Pakistani people, who do not. th taliban, meanwhile, are watching carefully, as they do not want to provide any targets for drones. Drones proved effective in Pakistan, where they kept on removing leaders of terrorist organisations, as well as other terrorists. though resented as an interference in Pakistan’ sovereignty, the did play their part in helping Pakistan overcome the terrorist menace. the vacation of Bagram air base was therefore of great symbolic value, for it symbolized an end to the air supremacy that the USA enjoyed in the theatre. the problems of the Afghan Air Force, which could end up grounded without the taliban doing anything, as its Russian-made aircraft (including a lot of helicopters) become inoperable because of lack of maintenance. the Afghan Air Force is also not able o provide the kind of air support that even the Afghan forces need to operate. the placing of anti-missile batteries at Bagram is a kid of sop to the Western diplomats left behind, indicating that the USA and allies would like to take out their diplomats from Kabul airport, and wish to avoid anything like the last helicopter from Saigon.

Even now, more than 45 years ago, that photo, of a soldier hanging on to the runner of a helicopter leaving the roof of the US embassy in Saigon, is still an iconic portrayal of a moment of US defeat.the Vietnam War was also one in which the US poured much blood and treasure, 50,441 servicemen were killed, and $168 billion spent, which would be about $1 trillion today. the USA spent about the same sum in Afghanistan, $815.7 billion till the end of 2020, but suffered only 2372 deaths. the flit from Bagram by night meant that the US military also avoided the fate of the USSR, which withdrew from Afghanistan in February 1989, with the Commander of the 40th Army (the

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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taminations expands in a country, the following wave has a higher beginning stage and greater progressive waves. Inoculation with RNA immunizations is changing this example in created nations.

As they have inoculated the greater part of their populace, the new waves have seen low hospitalization rates. the lone unusual factor is the part of new variations which can break the guards of these generally great immunizations. the revelations regarding the new variant of the virus are still preliminary. Scientists are warning that this new variant could ramp up the reproduction rate of the virus by upto 0.93 percent. that could be devastating. How did it get here? What risk does it pose?

Will the much anticipated new vaccines work? this all has sparked a scientific scramble to gather more facts about the coronavirus strain. the new strain contains huge uncertainties and a long list of unanswered questions. the reports of the mutated virus took the air out of the euphoria stirred by the rollout of the vaccine in a few countries. the distressing news of the coronavirus variant coming to Pakistan is threatening because it is considered to be more contagious, and is likely to increase hospitalisations and deaths. If the situation deteriorates, it will wreak havoc on the already pressurized health system of Pakistan. the plans of our Health Ministry to counter this new strain are yet to be known. the Delta variant is more infectious than different variants and evidence shows it is between 40 percent to 60 percent more contagious than the predominant Alpha strain (UK or Kent variant), itself effectively half more contagious than the first strain originally identified in Wuhan.

It is being said that the new variant is also affecting children this time. this means, in the future, we are going to hear about more and more children contracting the deadly virus. Health experts say there is a lack of public awareness in Pakistan about the virus and its variants, and our health care system is not prepared to tackle its spread. the

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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Soviet Army formation actually in Afghanistan), Gen Boris Gromov being the last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan, walking across the Friendship Bridge across the Amu Darya, between Afghanistan and the USSR). there were no such last-minute heroics for US commander Gen Scott Miller, who handed over command to the Commander of Central Command, who will remain in his HQ inFlorida. When Gen Gromov crossed the Friendship Bridge, he was greeted by tV camera crews, at which he began swearing fiercely. US tV crews will not be edified by being sworn at by a retreating general. the vacuum that will open up will witness competition. India’s presence will already be diminished by the withdrawal of the staff of their Kandahar consulate. the removal of an irritant from the Pak-India relationship is about the only positive to emerge from that withdrawal. China gives Afghanistan a very important place in its Belt and Road Initiative. It should be remembered that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is very important, but gains importance from Afghanistan. the BRI and CPEC are also important for the taliban because they represent one way out for any government they form, in terms of revenue collection.

However, that puts Afghanistan in the crosshairs of the USA, but not because of terrorism. It would be working against the USA, by helping China and Russia meet their goals. this is the main reason that the USA would not like Afghanistan to settle down, under a taliban or a hybrid government, and through India (and potentially through elements within Pakistan), make sure it remains disturbed.

It is also not known what sort of attitude any new taliban government will have to Pakistan.

While their previous stint in power saw them follow a pro-Pakistan policy, there is no such guarantee now. they may have realized that the apparent affectopn for them in certain circles was transactional, and they might have more in common with the Pashtun tahaffuz Movement than they had thought. they are not going to be as trusting of the establishment as they used to be, because they now know which way the establishment will choose if it has to choose between them and the USA. However, while the taliban are unlikely to show the same faith in the Pakistani establishment as at the time of their inception, they cannot avoid the reality that Afghanistan’s two largest ethnic groups, the Pakhtuns and the Hazaras, have their largest minorities in Pakistan.In fact, most of the many ethnicities that make up Afghanistan have majorities in some other country.

The writer is a member of staff.

Pakistani government had banned flights to avoid the import of the virus in the country. However, did that stop it? Not really.

With the development of new cases, the general count of covid-19 patients since the episode of the pandemic in the nation rose to 952,907 while the loss of life moved to 22,152. the quantity of dynamic cases has been recorded at 32,921 as of June 25. We are still unsure about the lethality, mortality and vaccine escape of the Delta variant.

Pakistan saw a progressive decrease in the new contaminations and passings in mid-June after which the NCOC loosened up a portion of the limitations especially for completely immunized residents and lifted business and travel checks as well.

Pakistan detailed 830 new cases on July 5, which multiplied in only three days to 1737 contaminations on July 8. Local contrasts in covid-19 pinnacles may likewise reflect abnormality in the manner cases are accounted for. there are immense contrasts state to state in the number of individuals who are tried, which individuals are tried, and how positives are counted up.

Health specialists are blaming the returning of organizations and the travel industry area for the resurgence in cases and have encouraged the public authority to declare a lockdown so Eid Ul Azha is commended with the recognition of exacting health related restrictions. the public authority is dependent on vaccination and so far has directed over 19.067 million dosages. It has been encouraging individuals to get vaccinated at the most punctual.

In spite of alerts by opposition parties and fights by the students, the public authority is leading board assessments of higher and secondary students, which may expand the pace of new infections. With limited information available about the new variant, the lesson is to move early and take precautions rather than wait for things to unfold and get worse. Just when we thought that the curse of coronavirus is coming to an end, so will the hard time that comes with it, it has just cursed the world with another bad news which is a new variant of the coronavirus.

The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 16 July, 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

Technological development is essential

CSPA listing: An irrational move by the US Trying to make Pakistan do more

MuhAMMAd AlI AlvI

T

HE United States has placed Pakistan and 14 other States in its Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) list. this placement comes at a time when relations between Pakistan and the USA are not as close as they used be, ith the USA coming out of its long involvement in Afghanistan, but now seeking to contest the rise od China,whose ally Pakistan is.. the SA’s Child Soldiers Prevention Act accounts for the placement of foreign governments, which are involved in the recruitment of child soldiers, in a list and enforcement of restrictions on them. the CSPA also requires the publication of a list of the States that use and recruit child soldiers in the trafficking in person (tIP) report which is published annually by the United States' State Department. these States are added to the list after a review period of one year, for example from 1 April 2020, to 31 March 2021. the CSPA has defined the term "child soldier" as a person under the age of 18 who: " takes direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces; or are compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces (or are under 15 years old and are voluntarily recruited), including in non-combat roles; or are recruited or used in hostilities by non-state armed forces, including in non-combat roles." the CSPA list published in the annual trafficking In Person report 2021 includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, South Sudan, Burma, Mali, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, turkey, Iran, Venezuela, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.Pakistan and turkey are added for the first time to the CSPA list. It results in the imposition of sanctions on mili-

tary assistance and restrictions on the inclusion of the listed states in peacekeeping programmes.

However, Pakistan has reacted strongly by categorically rejecting all the allegations and protested to the USA over its unfair inclusion in the list. In a press release the Foreign Office has said, "Pakistan does not support any nonstate armed group; nor any entity recruiting or using child soldiers.'' Furthermore, terming the allegations as baseless, the Foreign Office said, "the inclusion of Pakistan in the "CSPA List" depicts a factual error and lack of understanding". Here, it is pertinent to mention that the legal age defined for an individual to join the defence services is 18. No one below the age of 18 can join defence services, be it in combat or non-combat roles. Moreover, a person has to have a Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) issued by NADRA before joining any service. this listing can be seen as the continuity of the US policy towards Pakistan. For example, Pak-US relations were not smooth under the trump Administration. trump accused Pakistan of deceiving the USA and harbouring terrorism and imposed sanctions on Pakistan. He blamed Pakistan and did not recognise Pakistan's sacrifices and role in the War on terror. However, with Biden coming to power, it was hoped that the USA’s "domore" policy towards Pakistan would change and Pakistan's role in the War on terror and bringing peace to Afghanistan would be acknowledged. But, unfortunately, the recent inclusion of Pakistan in the CSPA list has shown that nothing has changed.

Moreover, it can be said that the baseless allegations levelled at Pakistan show nothing but the continuity of the US policy of accusing and pressurizing Pakistan while not acknowledging its role. It shows the lack of trust as well as the dominance of the USA. Furthermore, it may have political motives.

As Pakistan rejected the US demand that it provide its air bases, this action can be considered as a move to pressurize Pakistan into complying with its demands. However, whatever the reason may be behind this move by the US Government, Pakistan will not come

under the pressure of the USA at the cost of its National interests and its relations with other powers.

Here, it is important to mention that the USA, either out of its illusion of being an absolute power or its aggressive nature, has not taken a lesson from its history, and this showsw in its policies towards other nations. the USA interferes in matters of other sovereign and independent states in three ways: firsty, It makes laws, interprets them according to its will and impose economic and military sanctions to influence policies of sovereign States; secondly, it directly invades states through its powerful military, and thirdly, it pressurizes other states to get by its side and cooperate either militarily or economically.

History is a witness that the USA has not backed away from interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states either directly or indirectly to pursue its interests by influencing the social, economic and political policies of those states.

For example, the USA has interfered in Vietnam, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen, among others .

Despite all this, the USA has returned mostly empty-handed from those states. But, now the world is changing rapidly. And with the emergence of other powers, the USA is losing its hold and other states have started to question the dominance of the USA. the shift in balance has resulted in the emergence of different alliances at the regional and international levels. Pakistan is an important regional state and atomic power with a key geostrategic location.

Due to thChina Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Pakistan's expanding relations with other regional powers, so all eyes are on Pakistan. In the context of relations with China, Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran and the Central Asian Republics, Pakistan's important strategic role is visible for everyone to see. therefore, these unwise decisions of the USA cannot blackmail Pakistan and force it into compromise. Lastly, the US needs to understand that the era of "Might is Right" is over and mutual relations can only be established on trust and equality.

These unwise decisions of the USA cannot blackmail Pakistan and force it into compromise.

Lastly, the US needs to understand that the era of "Might is Right" is over and mutual relations can only be established on trust and equality

The writer is a freelance columnist

INDEED, technology has paved the way for the advancements in all spheres of life. From, doing business to the household it has made everything easy to do. Nowadays, it has become very important part of our lives. Everyone enjoys its benefits in respect of their use.

For instance, students use it as tool of collecting data, attending online lectures, learn through various online portals and prepare for various recruitment tests. teachers utilize it for preparing lectures, conducting research, making notes for students and above all the educational institutes are arranging online classes in case if on-campus classes are suspended due to any mishap. Such as, at present for avoiding large gatherings to hinder the spread of the lethal pandemic i.e. Covid-19 the governments are adopting online system to arrange online classes throughout the world.

Beside this technological advancements have made the world a global village where every person can easily connect with anyone in the world without the hindrance of distance. Video calls, messaging and social websites are the sources which enable the users to communicate and contact with their peers and beloved ones whenever they want. WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, Orkut, Instagram and twitter are main sources of communication where the users remain updated and connected with each other. Now a person does not need to travel from USA to China only to see his relatives as he is connected with them through these sources of communication.

It further facilitates the business activities around the world. For example, few decades ago the trade between countries was of much hectic. the business persons had to travel from one corner of the world to the other in search of markets for supply. But today the world is different. the technological developments have facilitated the business activities. Now, the companies can sale their products in any place of the world without the fatigue of traveling. Further, the business transactions are also easily done through the online facility of banks and financial institutes. Even, now the companies are shifting towards the virtual presence of their shops on online websites and provide all information about their commodity to its consumers and attract their interests through online adverts. this revolution has also enabled the small entrepreneurs to establish their own startups in a nominal investment. For instance a house wife is now on a single step away from starting her own business i.e. online selling of day to day products including clothes, toys, and other male female products in their own social circle through their social website accounts. In addition to this, the traditional business of selling and purchasing of huge tangible products such as cars, houses, furniture, machines, devices and many more can easily be sold through the online websites. Ali baba express and Daraz are the cases in point. You or your family can now shop directly from Daraz whatever they want just in few clicks.

Jahangir irShad iSlamabad

Recognise the environment tHIS has reference to the World Environment Conference being hosted

by Pakistan on June 5, 2021. Harnessing the unique opportunity, Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to ask global leadership to take concrete steps for the promotion of the environment to protect the future generation. In this regard, it is urged by the Prime Minister to announce the policies pertaining to the protection of children and the future generation from the environmental disasters which are anticipated to affect the lives of future generations.

Environmental damage is a pressing human rights challenge, which has an impact on children’s lives today and in the future. Violations of their rights resulting from environmental harm can have irreversible, lifelong and even transgenerational consequences. Children everywhere suffer violations of their rights to life, development, health, food, water, education, culture, play and other rights because governments fail to protect the natural environment. the impact of pollution in one place can be felt by children living far away and climate change is unquestionably a global problem. While environmental harm affects people at any age, children are particularly vulnerable, due to their evolving physical and mental development and status within society. Certain groups of children, including children from indigenous, low-income or other marginalized communities are often at a higher risk, which raises the question of environmental injustice. According to the WHO estimates ‘Of the 5.9 million deaths of children under five each year, 26% are attributable to the environment’. Air pollution alone kills 570,000 children under five every year. But these numbers are only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ as UN Special Rapporteur Baskut tuncak. ‘there is a ‘silent pandemic’ of disabilities associated with exposure to toxics and pollution during childhood, many of which will not manifest themselves for years or decades’. this assault on children’s rights remains largely invisible while decision-makers are not held to account.

In this regard, the Prime Minister should announce in his speech that Pakistan will formulate the future policies related to urban development and rural economy in which environmental challenges and climate change impacts will not hamper the lives of children. In doing so, the prime minister should announce inclusion of environmental rights of children in the national curriculum and introduce national policy on the environment in which children should have equal representation. Because it is time for the action and children of the country to live in an environment that needs more parks, safe water, improved health and protection from the disasters which caused displacement and migration. naJam un niSa baloch Karachi

The façade of morals tOLERANCE is an integral quality that people of different groups should own, respecting and understanding one another. As much of an essential constituent it is for a united and prosperous Pakistani people are too busy with the pretext of acting morality greater from another, giving birth to intolerance. We intend not to accept the practices or behavior of people of different regions, cast or culture other than our own. It separates us, acts as a divider, creates disrespect, enmity and war.

Fozia a. ghaFoor JuSaK

Friday, 16 July, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW AfghAnistAn After the Us PUllOUt: ChAllenges tO rUssiA And CentrAl AsiA THE US MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN LEAVES THE COUNTRY IN A STATE OF GROWING TURMOIL. RUSSIA WILL NEED TO DO ALL IT CAN TO PREVENT EXTREMIST INCURSIONS ACROSS AFGHANISTAN’S NORTHERN BORDER

Carnegie MosCow Centre

t

DmitrY trenin

HERE are two problems with U.S. overseas deployments outside the Western world. One is when Americans enter a region by force, disrupting the geopolitical status quo.

The other is when they pull out, leaving behind a mess.

The U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 marked the beginning of Washington’s first-ever major military presence in a region deep inside the Eurasian continent. Such presence required support bases in neighboring Central Asian states, and logistical routes across Pakistan, the Caspian, the South Caucasus and the Black Sea, Eastern Europe, and even Russia. The U.S. military presence also led to an increase in U.S. political and ideological influence in the region, which raised concerns in Russia, China, and Iran.

Through its interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States became a Eurasian power, apparently the dominant one on the continent’s “chessboard.”

Twenty years later, the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan leaves the country in a state of growing turmoil. AlQaeda, which organized the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001, was quickly defeated, but the Taliban who hosted them in Afghanistan are now emerging as the most influential force in the country, poised to topple the U.S.-backed administration in Kabul. Of much greater concern is the growing presence in Afghanistan of the Islamic State (IS) extremists, a diverse group that did not cease to exist after its routing in Iraq and Syria. With the United States and its allies departing from the country, Afghanistan becomes a problem for the neighboring states.

In a nutshell, the nature of the Afghan problem for Central Asia and Russia lies in

Afghanistan becoming a source of instability for the region.

Whatever other impact the U.S. presence in the country has had over the past two decades, it certainly exercised a restraining influence on the radical forces there and shored up the authority of the constitutional government based in Kabul. With that presence gone, the civil war in Afghanistan will be fought with much more fervor, and the internationally recognized government may soon be toppled, creating massive refugee flows across the borders, while transborder extremist groups such as IS, now given a free rein, may potentially use Afghanistan as a base to undermine stability in Central Asia.

For Russia and the Central Asian countries, it is the refugee flows and the subversive transborder activity of IS-like organizations that constitute the main problem. In addition, Afghanistan under the U.S.backed regime has become a leading source of narcotics transported across Central Asia to Russia, which is now a major market for them. This aspect of the Afghan situation will probably not change much with the U.S. departure. As for the internal political arrangements in Afghanistan itself, these are a matter for the Afghan people. The Taliban, essentially a Pashtun movement which is not strong enough to dominate the entire country single-handedly, but without which it cannot be governed, is not a problem for Russia and Central Asia as long as it does not reach beyond Afghanistan’s borders, does not provide shelter for transborder extremists, and does not engage in drug trafficking.

TACKLING THE PROBLEM: Russia and the Central Asian countries have no resources, reason, or resolve to intervene by force in Afghanistan. That would be supreme folly and would end badly. One, the outcome of the civil war in Afghanistan is a matter for the Afghans to decide by force of arms and, hopefully, subsequent bargaining. Two, Russia has no direct interest in Afghanistan, and should be prepared to deal with any and all of the relevant players there, with the exception of extremists, who are the enemy. Three, while Uzbekistan and Tajikistan may feel an affinity with their ethnic brethren across the border in Afghanistan, they have no means of playing a military role in the intra-Afghan strife and should also stay away. This does

not mean complete abstention from any use of force. Circumstances might demand strikes against extremists’ bases or other targets to prevent them from attacking Central Asian or Russian territory, but this should not lead to involvement in Afghanistan’s internal conflict.

To neutralize military dangers and terrorist threats that might originate from Afghanistan, the Central Asian countries and Russia have substantial resources in the region and beyond. These include the armed forces of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, two of Afghanistan’s neighbors; the Russian military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; Russia’s Central Military District headquartered in Yekaterinburg with a responsibility for the region south of the Russian border; and the armed forces and infrastructure of Kazakhstan.

Coordination among these various forces is secured through the mechanisms of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), to which Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan belong; and at the bilateral level with Uzbekistan. A degree of coordination also needs to be established with Turkmenistan, which shares a long border with Afghanistan.

Of even more importance than military means are security assets that would be used to prevent the infiltration of extremists — including those masquerading as refugees — from Afghanistan to Central Asia and from there to Russia; check the spread of extremist ideology in the countries’ own territories; fight drug trafficking, which is used to finance terrorist groups; foil terrorist attacks; and so on.

The security arm of the CSTO is as important as its military component. The secretaries of the national security councils of the member states and their staffs need to be permanently in touch through some sort of a special network focused on Afghanistan-related issues. The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and its likely impact on the region presents a major test for the CSTO, which has yet to earn its stripes as a security provider for the region. The organization needs to be re-energized through more joint military exercises and training, security coordination, and intelligence sharing. Of critical importance is controlling the borders

of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with Afghanistan, which are the first line of defense for both Central Asia and Russia.

DIPLOMATIC ARSEnAL Besides these military means deployed in their own territories, Central Asian countries and Russia need to use political instruments to prevent extremist incursions across Afghanistan’s northern border. Unlike in the late 1990s, Moscow and its partners cannot rely on a northern Alliance of friendly Afghan Tajiks and Uzbeks, which provided a buffer zone along Afghanistan’s border with the former Soviet states. now, these political instruments are essentially limited to contacts with the relevant actors in and around Afghanistan. The current government in Kabul and its competing leaders; the Taliban and its different constituent factions; ethno-political leaders of various Afghan communities; tribal chiefs; and the Afghan diaspora abroad could all be useful partners in making sure that the extremists within Afghanistan remain under pressure and thus unable to launch attacks outside the country.

The current Afghan government is recognized by Moscow and Central Asian capitals, which have cooperation agreements with it, including in the field of military security.

However, Russia has no reason to try to take the place being left vacant by the United States and become Kabul’s prime outside backer — especially since President Ashraf Ghani and his cabinet have never been too friendly toward Russia. Instead, Moscow should follow developments in Afghanistan closely, letting them run their course; stay in touch with all Afghan factions and leading personalities; and focus on Russia’s own important but limited interests as described above. In this context, engaging the Taliban is key if it supports these interests. no promises should ever be taken at face value, however.

The close links between the Taliban and the Pakistani security apparatus that created it make it imperative that Russia maintain and expand contacts with the government in Islamabad, and particularly its armed forces and intelligence agencies. Pakistan is, of course, a major regional power in its own right, with a nuclear arsenal and strong links to China. As such, it merits more attention

by Moscow than it has been getting. Of

course, new Delhi’s interests and policies in Afghanistan are very much opposed to those of Islamabad. Thus, the expansion and deepening of relations with Pakistan should not be allowed to weaken Russia’s ties with India, which are undergoing transformation.

Since instability generated within Afghanistan represents a threat or a challenge to the wider region, there needs to be coordination with neighboring countries: China, India, Iran, and possibly others. This can be done both bilaterally and through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to which China, India, and Pakistan belong alongside Central Asian states and Russia, and where Afghanistan and Iran are observers.

As with the CSTO, the U.S. departure from Afghanistan needs to re-energize the SCO. One other important player is Turkey: an ambitious regional power with an interest in Afghanistan, and an SCO dialogue partner. The interests and aims of all these countries are very different and are often at odds with one another. However, as Moscow’s recent experience in the Middle East demonstrates, staying in touch with all parties; promoting one’s interests and having clear and realistic goals in mind; understanding the political psychology of other players and respecting their legitimate interests; and having deep knowledge and an accurate assessment of the realities at hand could be the ingredients of success.

By contrast, cooperation with the United States after the completion of its troop withdrawal can only be very limited, and not merely due to the ongoing U.S.-Russian confrontation. Washington is rebuilding its global posture, de-prioritizing in the process its interests in the Middle East and neighboring Afghanistan.

Yet the United States will not lose all interest in the region bordering on China and Russia, its two main adversaries. As a global power, it will remain active, if no longer bearing responsibility for the situation on the ground. It might also use nATO allies such as Turkey and Great Britain as its proxies.

The Afghanistan policies of Russia and other partner countries will only be as successful as the expertise that informs them and the understanding of the fast-moving situation.

A basis for that expertise exists, but it needs to be developed and expanded. Russian diplomatic missions, consulates, and other government representations in the region — from Central Asia to Pakistan, Iran, India, and Afghanistan itself — need to be strengthened. Russia’s diplomatic and intelligence assets are needed far more badly in that part of the world than in the traditional regions of Moscow’s foreign policy interest such as Western Europe.

Dmitry Trenin is the director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre.

CM Yogi’s UP population control bill is designed to serve only one purpose — 2022 election

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S Y QuraiShi

n World Population Day, chief minister Yogi Adityanath provoked a vociferous debate when he unveiled the Uttar Pradesh Population Policy 2021-2030. The policy aims to bring down the total fertility rate among women to 2.1 by 2026 and to 1.9 by 2030 — from the current rate of 2.7.

“Across the world, concerns have been raised from time to time about increasing population being a hurdle in development. Discussions on it have been going on for the past four decades,” the CM said.

As per the policy, efforts will be made to increase accessibility of contraceptive measures under the family planning programme and provide a proper system for safe abortions. Provisions have been made to ensure health services for all and pay special attention to preg-

nant women, infants, sick newborns and children who are severely malnourished. “The countries and states which have made efforts in this direction have seen positive results. However, more efforts are needed,” he said.

POLICY TO COnTROL POPULATIOn This comes a few days after the Adityanath government uploaded the draft population control bill on its website, inviting suggestions till 19 July. If enacted, the bill’s provisions will come into force one year after its publication in the gazette.

The main provisions of the bill are: increase the accessibility of contraceptive measures; provide a proper system for safe abortion; reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate; and better manage education, health, and nutrition of adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years.

The bill also provides for several incentives like outof-turn promotions, two extra increments, paternity leave of 12 months with full salary and allowances, and 3 per cent increase in the employer’s contribution under the national Pension Scheme. Citizens who are not government employees will get benefits like rebates in taxes on water, housing, home loans, etc.

Other important provisions of the bill include setting up a state population fund and introducing population control as a compulsory subject in all secondary schools.

The UP Law Commission, which has prepared the draft bill, has claimed that the policy will be voluntary and not forced upon anyone.

Prima facie, the bill, with its rationale and most of its provisions, sounds reasonable. But what makes it suspect is its timing. The Adityanath government has been in power in UP for over four years. But it’s only now that the benefits of population control have suddenly dawned upon the CM, when the government is already in election mode. The common suspicion being voiced is that the bill is a ploy to create a Hindu-Muslim controversy, which is by now a standard tried-and-tested polarising election-winning formula.

IGNORING CRITICAL ISSUES: The Right-wing has always blamed Muslims for the so-called ‘population explosion’. It has constantly tried to instil a fear among Hindus that Muslims are breeding fast with the intention to overtake them and capture political power. Many BJP and RSS leaders have repeatedly urged Hindus to produce more children. This propaganda is totally misguided if not outright mischievous.

While Muslim fertility has indeed been highest, it is because of illiteracy, poverty and poor access to health services — the three critical determinants of fertility behaviour. We have never heard the Right-wing express concern about these three factors. We have only seen spokes being put in the scholarship schemes for the minorities, besides madrasas (an Arabic/Urdu name for pathshala or school) being constantly vilified.

With regards to income, what we have heard and seen are calls for economic boycott of Muslims. The delivery of all kinds of services, including health and family planning, is the poorest in Muslim clusters, always hatefully described as “mini-Pakistan.” Despite these obstacles, Muslim adoption of family planning has been surprisingly high in the last three decades — faster than the Hindus. As a result, the fertility differential, which was never more than one child (1.1 to be precise), has come down to 0.48.

It is noteworthy that while Muslim birth rate has been the highest, Hindus weren’t far behind, with the second-highest birth rate. While Muslims’ adoption of family planning was 45 per cent, that of Hindus was 54 per cent, way less than 80 per cent among the Sikhs. According to the national Family Health Survey (nFHS4), in 22 states, the fertility rate of Muslims was lower than the Hindus of Bihar. If religion was the determining factor, Muslims all over the country would be procreating more. This brings out the fact that socioeconomic conditions, rather than religion, influence fertility behaviour. nFHS clearly underlines that in the so-called BI-

MARU states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, socioeconomic conditions of both Hindus and Muslims are weaker than other states.

THE MOTIVE IS CLEAR: Even a cursory look at the provisions of the UP population control bill shows that most of the measures, desirable as they are, do not need a policy. Improving health and family planning services is the obvious thing that should have been addressed a long time ago. It is only the incentives and disincentives that are the new features of the population policy, and both are undesirable. Experience worldwide has shown that such measures are always counterproductive.

It’s obvious that population policy cannot target a single religious community even if that is the hidden intention. Don’t Hindus have more than two children? The backlash from them is likely to be more. It is not surprising that Right-wing Hindu organisations attacked the bill soon after it was released.

It’s interesting to note that the targets set in the policy are nearing achievement much before the policy stipulation. For instance, the target of 2.1 TFR is already expected by 2025.

The saving grace is that the population policy has been made “voluntary”, which is paradoxical. Is a person with more than two children not opting for the policy eligible to contest elections? The policy begs another question: why has the government given only one week to submit comments on a policy that it took four years to draft? Besides, it will be operational only a year after notification. What purpose is it designed to serve? Obviously, elections. I have a feeling that if Muslims come out in support of the policy, the Adityanath government itself will backtrack under pressure from the Hindu Right-wing.

The writer is former Chief Election Commissioner of India and the author of The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India.

Friday, 16 July, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE corporate corner

PAKisTAn, UzBEK TrAdE ConnECTiviTy To oPEn UP nEw AvEnUEs of rEGion’s ProsPEriTy: PM TaShKENT

KARACHI: Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited has signed an MoU for the first-ever implementation of SAP Ariba DSN (Digital Supplier Network) and Sourcing Suite in Pakistan.

The initiative will automate the procurement process enabling a paperless process, significantly eliminating errors and unnecessary delays, as encountered in traditional procurement to the payment process. The MoU was signed by Azfar Saeed Baig, Vice President Information - Byco Petroleum Pakistan and Wasil Amjad, CEO - Excellence Delivered Pvt. Ltd. The ceremony was attended by Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President Commercial - Byco Petroleum, Rashid Badruddin, Vice President Operations - Byco Petroleum, Zafar Shahab, Vice President Finance - Byco Petroleum, and Muhammad Adeel, Account Director - SAP Pakistan. PR

Get a free ride to local vaccine centers with Mastercard and Uber KARACHI: Payment technology company Mastercard and ride-hailing service Uber are collaborating to help as many people as possible receive a Covid-19 vaccination during this critical time by offering free rides to people. Riders will be able to avail two free rides, to and from dedicated public vaccination centers in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad with a maximum cap of Rs250 per ride. The rides will be offered until July 31, 2021 for people of all ages. People in Pakistan who already have the app or can download the Uber app, will receive an in-app offer which they can apply on the ride they schedule. PRess Release

TPL Trakker partners with Bank Alfalah to offer vehicle tracking solutions

aPP

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RIME Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said Pakistan’s connectivity with Uzbekistan in trade and bilateral spheres would open up new avenues of prosperity in the region.

“Pakistan has immense potential to connect Central Asia with rest of the world and become a hub of trade,” the prime minister said in his address at the Uzbekistan-Pakistan Business Forum on Central and South Asia 2021: Regional Connectivity Challenges and Opportunities, in the Uzbek capital.

The forum was attended by a large number of businessmen from Pakistan and Uzbekistan besides the delegation of prime minister including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Minister for Information Technology Atif Khan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan assured the businessmen and traders of Uzbekistan that Pakistan would extend them every possible facilitation in promotion of trade.

“I want to assure the business community of Uzbekistan that this relationship is just the beginning of the journey of development and prosperity,” he said.

The prime minister said the railway project among Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan would prove to be a revolution of development.

The prime minister stressed that to exploit the region’s potential, peace and security in the neighbour-

hood was essential.

On the situation in Afghanistan, he said peace in the war-torn country was important to ensure materialisation of development projects in Central Asia.

“Pakistan is keen for peace in Afghanistan and considers it vital for trade connectivity among the regional countries,” he said, adding that such trade linkages helped in raising the living standards of the citizens.

Imran Khan referred to the cooperation among the neighbouring countries of the European Union, that focused on bilateral trade arrangements for the benefit of their people.

He hoped that with the support and will of the regional States, the situation in Afghanistan would lead to improvement.

The prime minister said Pakistan and Uzbekistan enjoyed relations rooted in common faith, culture and history and offered a unique dimension to the two nations to explore each other in diverse areas.

Earlier, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov in his speech mentioned the strong ties between Pakistan and Uzbekistan in multiple areas of cooperation.

He welcomed PM Imran Khan on his official visit to Uzbekistan, which he said would usher in a new area of cooperation and joint ventures between the two brotherly countries.

Speaking to media in Tashkent, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan and Uzbekistan had vast potential to explore the opportunities of bilateral trade and investment for their mutual interest.

The foreign minister, who is part of the official delegation of Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit to Tashkent and attended the Pak-Uzbek Business Forum, said the business community from the

Apple plans ‘buy now, pay later’ service

KARACHI: TPL Trakker has partnered with Bank Alfalah, one of the country’s premier financial institutions, to provide customers of Bank Alfalah with exclusive discounts on vehicle tracking products using their cards as part of this arrangement. Following the partnership, customers of Bank Alfalah will get exclusive discounts up to 28% on Trakker Plus, Trakker Premium and the newly launched TrakkerPRO, allowing them to drive their newly bought cars with the least worries. It is evident that both companies are on a mission to digitise their products and services for customers across the country. Bank Alfalah customers will have access to this unique product offering from 1st July – 10th December 2021. In a move to ensure all customers enjoy this benefit, the offer is valid nationwide on all Bank Alfalah cards across Pakistan. PRess Release

Unilever Pakistan collaborates with Parks & Horticulture, KMC to set up public space for plastic awareness KARACHI: Unilever Pakistan has collaborated with the Parks & Horticulture Department, KMC to set up a public space at Frere Gardens to create awareness about plastic recycling in Pakistan. Unilever Pakistan has set itself the target to collect, recycle and repurpose more plastic than it produces by 2030.

The public space is set up as part of the continuing effort to recycle and repurpose plastic to reduce waste and give plastic a second life. The Public Space includes a play area and benches for the people of Karachi, which have been made from over 2,500 kilos of recycled plastic. This plastic was collected as part of Unilever’s ongoing commitment to recycle two million kilos of plastic across Pakistan in 2021.

Administrator Karachi Laeeq Ahmed said infrastructure improvement works were being carried out in the city with the coordination of civil society and welfare organizations. Tree plantation campaign was successfully going on in Karachi and thousands of saplings had been planted in parks and around major roads. Along with repair and maintenance of roads, streetlights are made functional to light up main corridors.

To learn more about the effort to recycling and repurposing plastic, join the conversation with @unileverpakistan on Instagram or visit www.unilever.pk. PRess Release

two sides showed immense interest in bilateral engagement.

He mentioned that the Pak-Uzbek Business Forum was attended by around 130 representatives of leading companies and business houses from Pakistan.

He said the activity resulted in signing of agreements worth $453 million and hoped that it would lead to further strengthening of bilateral trade.

Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said two important objectives of the prime minister’s visit were to ensure travel facilities among Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and to deliberate upon ways to ensure peace in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan desired an effective trade linkage up to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states.

“We want an effective transportation infrastructure so that the goods loaded from Pakistan’s Karachi and Gwadar seaports could reach Uzbekistan’s Tashkent,” he said in a video message from the Uzbek capital.

He hoped that such measure would increase trade with Uzbekistan “manifold”, and also mentioned the excellent efforts made by the Ministry of Commerce in this regard.

The information minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan, at tomorrow’s important conference on peace in Afghanistan, would highlight Pakistan’s stance on the significance of regional connectivity for a strong economy.

He expressed gratitude to the government of Uzbekistan for extending a warm welcome to the prime minister and his delegation and said the visit would “open up new vistas of economic opportunities between Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and the rest of Central Asia.

HBL wins Best Bank in Pakistan 2021 award by Euromoney SaN FraNciScO aGeNCIes

Apple is working on a service to let shoppers pay for purchases in installments, Bloomberg reported, a move that could help the iPhone maker tap into the thriving “buy now, pay later” sector.

The U.S. tech giant will use Goldman Sachs Group, its partner since 2019 for the Apple Card credit card, as the lender for the loans made through Apple Pay, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The service will allow Apple Pay users to pay for their purchases through four interest-free payments made every two weeks or across several months with interest, according to the report.

Apple shares opened 2% higher to hit a record high of $148.48 on Wednesday.

In the United States, Australia and Europe, BNPL is marketed as an alternative to credit cards. The service has soared in popularity during the pandemic as consumers seek other options to make purchases that are easier on their wallets.

However, the prospect of going up against a behemoth like Apple, as well as other entrants including PayPal, is likely

to test Australian pure-play BNPL firms that have so far gone unchallenged in a fertile U.S. market.

Shares of Australia-listed Afterpay, the country’s biggest BNPL provider which derives a big chunk of its revenue from the United States, dived nearly 10% on Wednesday. Smaller rivals Zip Co Ltd and Sezzle fell sharply.

In the United States, however, shares of Paypal and Affirm recouped some of their losses from Tuesday’s fall as some analysts said the concerns might be exaggerated.

“We believe the concerns over the competitive impact of added BNPL offering by Apple are overblown,” Wedbush Securities analyst Moshe Katri said.

“All these Centre companies, including PayPal, Affirm already built ecosystem offering products and services around the merchants they serve. BNPL is just another product or service offered to merchants as a natural extension of Apple’s ecosystem.”

In contrast, Citi analysts said in a client note that Apple Pay was a bigger threat than potential offerings from banks or credit companies given its wide reach and superior consumer experience on a mobile website

or in-store.

In Australia, where the regulation of the fast-growing sector is light and adoption is higher compared to other markets, nearly 30% of the consumers in the country have a BNPL account, according to a Deloitte report.

The sector’s fast-paced growth attracted Swedish firm Klarna, which has emerged as a major rival in Australia, and caught the attention of mainstream U.S. companies.

U.S. payments giant PayPal launched its service in Australia on Wednesday and raised the ante by saying it would do away with late fees, an area that had earned Afterpay close to A$70 million ($52.23 million) in fiscal 2020.

A Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to comment, while Apple was not available for comment.

Afterpay said competition reinforces the significance of the sector and that each BNPL player operates a different model and generate revenue in different ways.

A Zip spokesman said Apple’s reported move validated the company’s business where it was growing customer numbers despite increased competition.

BANK ALSO WINS ‘PAKISTAN’S BEST DOMESTIC BANK 2021’ AWARD BY ASIAMONEY Karachi PR

Euromoney awards HBL the accolade of Pakistan’s Best Bank 2021. Earlier this year, the Bank also won Asiamoney award for Best Domestic Bank in Pakistan 2021. These two awards are the most prestigious awards in the banking industry, globally. These awards are in recognition of the HBL’s leadership performance and innovative approach in its Consumer banking, Commercial banking and Development Finance business streams, leveraging its digital banking platforms, leading the way in financial inclusion, and the launch of the Beijing branch and capturing opportunities associated with the CPEC initiative.

These are undoubtedly very well-deserved accolades as they come against a backdrop of unprecedented challenging times globally, including Pakistan. The Euromoney citation for HBL acknowledges “Habib Bank (HBL) is going from strength to strength under Muhammad Aurangzeb President & CEO. Remarkably, in a year when most banks around the world were trying to stem the losses caused by Covid, HBL doubled its after-tax profits to PRS 30.9 billion ($193.4 billion).” The citation makes specific reference to HBL’s business strength in e-payments, cards, auto and trade businesses. Remarking on HBL’s rural banking/development finance initiative, the citation reads “Agriculture is a mainstay of HBL’s innovative efforts; the bank aims not only to fund farmers but deploys full-time agronomists to help with improving crop yields.”

Friday, 16 July, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LAHORE

At leAst 44 deAd in floods in western europe, dozens missing BERLIN

A

ReuteRs

t least 42 people have died in Germany and dozens were missing on thursday as record rainfall in western Europe caused rivers to burst their banks, swept away homes and flooded cellars.

Eighteen people died and dozens were missing around the wine-growing region of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate state, police said, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine rose and brought down half a dozen houses.

Another 15 people died in the Euskirchen region south of the city of Bonn, authorities said. In Belgium, two men died due to the torrential rain and a 15-year-old girl was missing after being swept away by a swollen river.

Hundreds of soldiers were helping police with the rescue efforts in Germany, using tanks to clear roads of landslides and fallen trees, while helicopters winched those stranded on rooftops to safety.

In Ahrweiler, two wrecked cars leant steeply against either side of the town’s stone gate and locals used snow shovels and brooms to sweep mud from their homes and shops after the floodwaters receded.

“I was totally surprised. I had thought that water would come in here one day, but nothing like this,” local man Michael Ahrend told Reuters tV. “this isn’t a war – it’s sim-

ply nature hitting out. Finally, we should start paying attention to it.” the floods have caused Germany’s worst mass loss of life in years. Flooding in 2002 killed 21 people in eastern Germany and more than 100 across the wider central European region.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her

iran not ready for nuclear talks until raisi takes over

dismay.

“I am shocked by the catastrophe that so many people in the flood areas have to endure. My sympathy goes out to the families of the dead and missing.”

Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor at a general election in September and the pre-

mier of the hard-hit state of North Rhine Westphalia, blamed the extreme weather on global warming.

“We will be faced with such events over and over, and that means we need to speed up climate protection measures, on European, federal and global levels, because climate change isn’t confined to one state,” he said during a visit to the area.

Climate and environmental issues are one of the main battlegrounds in the election campaign, in which Laschet is going headto-head with Social Democrat candidate Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock of the Greens. In Belgium, around 10 houses collapsed in Pepinster after the river Vesdre flooded the eastern town and residents were evacuated from more than 1,000 homes. the rain also caused severe disruption to public transport, with high-speed thalys train services to Germany cancelled. traffic on the river Meuse is also suspended as the major Belgian waterway threatened to breach its banks.

Downstream in the Netherlands, flooding rivers damaged many houses in the southern province of Limburg, where several care homes were evacuated.

In addition to the fatalities in the Euskirchen region, another nine people, including two firefighters, died elsewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia.

In the town of Schuld, houses were reduced to piles of debris and broken beams.

Roads were blocked by wreckage and fallen

trees.

“What I experienced? It was catastrophic,” said 65-year-old pensioner Edgar Gillessen, whose parental home had been damaged.

“All these people living here, I know them all. I feel so sorry for them, they’ve lost everything. A friend had a workshop over there, nothing standing, the bakery, the butcher, it’s all gone. It’s scary. Unimaginable.”

‘CATASTROPHE’: Further down the Rhine river, the heaviest rainfall ever measured over 24 hours caused flooding in cities including Cologne and Hagen, while in Leverkusen 400 people had to be evacuated from a hospital.

In Wuppertal, known for its overhead railway, locals said their cellars had been flooded and power cut off. “I can’t even guess at how much the damage will be,” said Karl-Heinz Sammann, owner of the Kitchen Club discotheque.

Weather experts said that rain in the region over the past 24 hours had been unprecedented, as a near-stationary low-pressure weather system also caused sustained local downpours to the west in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Rainwater draining into the Rhine, where shipping traffic was partly suspended, was expected to test flood defences along the river, including in Cologne, on the lower Rhine, and Koblenz, where the Rhine and Moselle merge.

Israel arrests dozens of Palestinian students over alleged ‘terror’

WASHINGTON: Iran is not prepared to resume negotiations on coming back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal until Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi’s administration has begun, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday. the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran had conveyed this to European officials acting as interlocutors in the indirect US-Iranian negotiations and that the current thinking is the Vienna talks will not resume before mid-August. “they are not prepared to come back before the new government,” said the source, saying it was not clear whether this meant until Raisi formally takes over on August 5 or until his government is in place. “We are now talking probably not before mid-August,” added the source. talks began in April on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but have appeared stuck since their sixth-round ended on June 20, with no sign when they may resume. the agreement, which Democratic former President Barack Obama negotiated and Republican former President Donald trump abandoned, struck a balance between Iran accepting limits to its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed that Iran had asked for more time because of its presidential transition. “We were prepared to continue negotiating but the Iranians requested more time to deal with their presidential transition,” said the State Department spokesperson. “When Iran is done with its process, we are prepared to plan our return to Vienna to continue with our talks,” she added. “We remain interested in seeking a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA, though as (Secretary of State Antony Blinken) has made clear, this offer will not be on the table indefinitely.” ReuteRs

AFP the Israeli army said on thursday it had arrested dozens of Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank that it accused of being “terror operatives” of Hamas. Palestinian sources told AFP that dozens of students from Birzeit University were arrested as they were returning by bus from the village of turmus Ayya where earlier this month Israeli troops demolished the family home of a Palestinian American awaiting trial on charges of shooting a Jewish student in the West Bank earlier this year.

An Israeli army statement said: “Some of the apprehended terror operatives were directly involved in terror activities, including money transfers, incitement and the organisation of Hamas activities in Judea and Samaria,” using the Biblical terms for the West Bank.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and was involved in the 11-day clashes with Israel in May, is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.

A statement issued late on Wednesday announcing the arrests said “dozens of terror operatives” belonging to “a student cell” at Birzeit University had been detained in a joint operation involving the army, police and the Shin Bet domestic security agency.

An army spokesperson told AFP on thursday that the Shin Bet had taken over the investigation.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the

number of students arrested on Wednesday was around 45, but 12 have since been released and the 33 still in detention were all male.

It said that Israel had carried out “systematic arrests” of Palestinian students that had “obstructed the education of hundreds of students”.

Birzeit University in a statement voiced concern over the fate of its students, and condemned the arrests as a breach of international law. “the university calls on the international community to intervene immediately to secure their release,” it said.

EU court says hijab can be banned at work under certain conditions BERLIN ReuteRs

Companies may ban Muslim employees from wearing a headscarf under certain conditions, the European Union’s (EU) top court said on thursday in a ruling on two cases brought by women in Germany who were suspended from their jobs for wearing one. the issue of the hijab, the traditional headscarf worn around the head and shoulders, has caused controversy across Europe for years and underlined sharp differences over integrating Muslims.

In the cases brought to court, both Muslim women — a special-needs carer at a childcare centre in Hamburg run by a charitable association, and a cashier at the Mueller drugstore chain — did not wear headscarves when they started in their jobs, but decided to do so years later after coming back from parental leave. they were told that this was not allowed, and were at different points either suspended, told to come to work

without it or put on a different job, court documents show. the EU court had to decide in both cases whether headscarf bans at work represented a violation of the freedom of religion or were allowed as part of the free-

dom to conduct a business and the wish to project an image of neutrality to customers.

Its response was that such bans were possible if justified by an employer’s need to present a neutral image.

“A prohibition on wearing any visible form of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes,” the court said.

However, that justification must correspond to a genuine need on the part of the employer, it said.

In the case of the care centre employee, the court said the rule at issue appeared to have been applied in a general and undifferentiated way, since the employer also required an employee wearing a religious cross to remove that sign.

In both cases, it will now be up to national courts to have the final say on whether there was any discrimination. the EU court already ruled in 2017 that companies may ban staff from wearing hijabs and other visible re-

ligious symbols under certain conditions, sparking a backlash among faith groups.

More than five million Muslims live in Germany, making them the largest religious minority group there.

Headscarf bans for women at work have been a hotly contested issue in Germany for years, mostly with regard to aspiring teachers at state schools and trainee judges. this has not so far been a major theme in the campaign for this year’s legislative elections.

Elsewhere in Europe, courts have also had to look into where and how headscarves can sometimes be banned at work.

France’s top court upheld in 2014 the dismissal of a Muslim day care worker for wearing a headscarf at a private crèche that demanded strict neutrality from employees. France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority, prohibited the wearing of hijabs in state schools in 2004.

However, Austria’s constitutional court has ruled that a law there banning girls aged up to 10 from wearing headscarves in schools was discriminatory.

Friday, 16 July, 2021

SPORTS 11

LAHORE

MARsh PACes AustRAliA in FiRst win oveR west indies in t20 seRies ST LUCIA

Footballer Arjen Robben announces retirement AMSTERDAM AFP

Dutch football great Arjen Robben announced his retirement from his youth club FC Groningen on Thursday, ending an illustrious career spanning two decades. Considered to be one of the best wingers of his generation, Robben rejoined FC Groningen last year after stints that saw him win accolades at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, in later years.

“I’ve decided to stop with my active football career,” Robben said in a Tweet. “It was a difficult choice,” said the 37-year-old of his decision, which was also confirmed by FC Groningen. “Everybody around FC Groningen hoped and wished that Robben would continue for another season, he has decided to stop after much deliberation,” the club said in a statement. One of the fastest and most skillful dribblers in his prime, with a devastating left foot, Robben scored more than 200 goals at club level and 37 for the Netherlands, the last against Sweden in Amsterdam in October 2017. After his debut at FC Groningen during the 2000-01 season, Robben transferred to PSV in 2002-03. His first overseas transfer came two years later when he went to Chelsea and played an important role in helping the west London club win the English Premier League in 2005-06.

Robben moved to Real Madrid in 2007 for a reported fee of around 35 million euros, before joining Bayern in 2009, where he played a major role in the southern German club’s success. The bald Dutchman scored his last league goal for Bayern in May 2019, amassing 99 goals in 201 Bundesliga matches. Robben said a month later he would retire, but he was lured back to play for FC Groningen last year. Playing for the Netherlands, Robben had a major part in propelling the Dutch team to a World Cup final in South Africa in 2010 and a third place finish in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. But the winger had been plagued throughout his career by injury. “Looking back on the past season, I have to come to the honest conclusion that the number of match minutes was disappointing,” Robben said Thursday. “The football heart wants to continue..., but the decision to quit is fair and realistic,” Robben said.

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AFP

N outstanding all-round performance by Mitchell Marsh earned Australia their first victory of the five-match T20 International series as the visitors hung on for a four-run victory over the West Indies in the fourth match at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Wednesday.

With half-centuries already in the first two matches of the series, Marsh flayed the Caribbean bowlers for 75 off 44 balls with six sixes and four fours to pace his team to a challenging total of 189 for six after choosing to bat first.

He put on 114 for the second wicket with Aaron Finch, the Australian captain contributing 53 as leg-spinner Hayden Walsh once again led the West Indies bowling effort with figures of three for 27.

Lendl Simmons led off the West Indies chase with a boisterous innings of 72 at the top of the order but when he fell to Marsh, one of three wickets for the experienced all-rounder, the balance of the match began to tilt in favour of an Australian side seeking to avoid an unprecedented four consecutive defeats in the same T20 series.

Spectacular hitting by Fabian Allen and Andre Russell gave the West Indies hope going into the final over after they combined to take 25 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Riley Meredith.

But needing 11 runs to win in the last over with Russell on strike Mitchell Starc was right on target to earn the tourists a

measure of consolation after already surrendering the series.

For Marsh, whose contributions of 75 and three for 24 were both personal bests in T20 Internationals, the pitch conditions on a night when light showers twice interrupted his innings suited him perfectly.

“I’m from WA (Western Australia), so a bit of pace off the pitch suited me nicely and really allowed me to get away,” he explained after receiving the Man of the Match award.

“We knew it was always going to be a challenge to contain the West Indies bighitters, whatever total we got, and I’m just grateful to be able to make useful contributions with bat and ball.”

Simmons was Marsh’s third wicket as he had earlier accounted for Chris Gayle, West Indies’ match-winner in the third fixture two days earlier, and Nicholas Pooran, who continues in the role of captain in place of the injured Kieron Pollard.

“It was disappointing to fall short in the end but it’s still all good for us going forward because we continue to see good performances from key players,” said Pooran in putting a positive spin on his team’s first setback in this series.

“There are a lot of guys here looking to make a statement before the World T20 and Hayden (Walsh) is one of those who keeps putting his hand up. He was outstanding again.” The final match of the series will be played on Friday, again at the Daren Sammy Stadium, after which the teams travel to Barbados for a three-match One-Day International series starting next Tuesday.

Pakistan display against England ‘indefensible’, Misbah says LONDON The AssociATed Press

Pakistan’s “poor” display in its 3-0 defeat to England’s second-string team in the one-day series was indefensible, head coach Misbahul Haq said on Wednesday.

The home side’s first-choice lineup had to isolate after a Covid-19 outbreak but a group of inexperienced reserves played fearless cricket under Ben Stokes’ captaincy against a team led by No. 1 ranked ODI batsman Babar Azam. “You can never defend such a performance, it was poor and disappointing,” Misbah told reporters in a video conference the day after England won the third game by three wickets.

“In the first game (in Cardiff), we couldn’t handle the conditions with the bat. In the last match (in Birmingham), the bowling and fielding were disappointing, and that was a problem throughout the series.

“I am not looking for an excuse but somewhere we lost momentum and are struggling to regain it. We have a very important T20 series ahead against England, then West Indies, and we are looking to sort this out as quickly as possible. It’s a worrying sign for me as a head coach.”

Pakistan won its last ODI series in South Africa 2-1.

“If you look back to our recent series, we were satisfied that we were on the right track,” Misbah said. “We had covered almost every department, but this series panned out differently.”

TV commentator and former captain Ramiz Raja has demanded action.

“For the sake of Pakistan cricket, there’s a need for massive changes,” Raja said on his YouTube channel. “It’s a massive wake-up call for Pakistan cricket and for the system of Pakistan cricket.”

Raja wants more youngsters to be given central contracts. “There should be at least 10,” he said.

Osaka confirmed for Montreal event in August: organisers TOKYO

Rishabh Pant tests positive for Covid-19

reuTers

LONDON

World number two Naomi Osaka, who withdrew from this year’s French Open and Wimbledon on mental health grounds, will compete in Montreal next month, organisers of the Canadian event said.

Osaka, a four-time Gland Slam champion who is one of Japan’s best gold medal prospects at the Tokyo Olympics, will be part of a field at the August 9-15 US Open tune-up that currently features 18 of the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 20 players.

Organisers also said Wimbledon champion and world number one Ash Barty, number three Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, former winner Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and defending champion Bianca Andreescu also are among those who confirmed their participation.

“We are delighted to welcome the likes of Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka, as well as Bianca Andreescu, who we know will get a reception for the ages from our passionate fans in Montreal,” Montreal tournament director Eugene Lapierre said in a news release. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic.

Andreescu won the event two years ago when it was held in Toronto before going on to become Canada’s first Grand Slam singles champion at that year’s US Open.

“As a Canadian, this tournament has a special place in my heart and it is always such a pleasure to play in front of the best fans in the world,” world number five Andreescu said in a news release. “Winning the National Bank Open in 2019 was a dream come true, and I hope I can defend the title next month in Montreal.”

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has tested positive for Covid-19 as the squad prepares for a Test series in England, a cricket official told AFP on Thursday. The Indian team, led by Virat Kohli, is currently in London but will enter a bio-secure bubble and leave for Durham later for a tour match next week. The first Test begins on August 4 in Nottingham. “Pant has tested positive and will not travel to Durham with the rest of the team,” a cricket official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Pant has been in quarantine for the past week, the official added. Pant posted pictures of himself at a Euro 2020 football match last month on his social media accounts. Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, recently warned players in England to “avoid” crowded places such as the Wimbledon tennis and Euro football tournaments. The Indian squad remained in England after losing to New Zealand in the World Test Championship final last month.

The players were given a 20-day break before regrouping for the Test series which marks the start of the second World Test Championship. England’s team was also hit by the coronavirus and was forced to field a secondstring side, led by Ben Stokes, for the limited-overs series against Pakistan.

AFP

Friday, 16 July, 2021

PrAyer tImINgs

NEWS

OfficiAls, TAlibAn sTrike ceAsefire deAl in wesTern AfghAnisTAn, sAys PrOvinciAl gOvernOr KABUL

g

reuters

OvERNMENT officials in a western Afghan province said on Thursday they had negotiated “an indefinite ceasefire” with the Taliban to prevent further attacks on the capital of the province.

The move came after fighters from the group secured complete control over all the districts in Badghis province, reflecting wider gains by the Taliban over territory and infrastructure in the weeks since US President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of US troops by Sept. 11.

“Ten tribal elders had taken the responsibility of ceasefire, so they first talked to the Taliban, and then talked to the local government and both sides reached a ceasefire,” the provincial governor, Husamuddin Shams, told Reuters.

The Taliban reached an agreement with the tribal elders to move to the outskirts of Qala-eNaw, the capital of Badghis, Shams said.

A spokesman for the Taliban denied they had agreed to a ceasefire but said they had left the city to avoid civilian casualties.

“Qala-e-Naw is the only city in Afghanistan

where the Taliban announced a ceasefire,” said Abdul Aziz Bek, the head of the provincial council in Badghis.

Afghan officials in the capital, Kabul, were not available to comment.

There were conflicting reports on Thursday about who was in control of a major trading town on the border with Pakistan. The Spin Boldak-Chaman border post is the second most important crossing on the Pakistan border and a major source of revenue for the Western-backed government in Kabul.

A senior Afghan government official said on Thursday security forces had retaken control of the town hours after the Taliban seized it on Wednesday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed that and said his forces still held it.

“It is merely propaganda and a baseless claim by the Kabul administration,” he told Reuters.

The defence ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Pakistan, worried about a spillover of fighting, has shut its side of the Spin Boldak-Chaman border, which lies on the main commercial artery between the second Afghan city of Kandahar and Pakistani ports.

CLASHES HAVE INTENSIFIED: Clashes be-

tween the Taliban and government forces have intensified as US-led international forces have been withdrawing. The Taliban have captured several districts and border crossings in the north and west.

The government has accused the Taliban of destroying hundreds of government buildings in 29 of the country’s 34 provinces. The Taliban deny accusations of extensive destruction by their fighters.

A senior Afghan government official in Kabul, Nader Nadery, said the security forces were working to push back Taliban fighters and regain control over 190 districts.

The deteriorating security situation has raised fears of a new Afghan refugee crisis. President Ashraf Ghani met regional leaders in Uzbekistan on Thursday and Pakistan said it would host a conference of senior Afghan leaders in an effort to find solutions.

Diplomatic efforts have focused on pushing the rival Afghan sides to make progress towards a ceasefire.

Pakistani information minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Twitter that Pakistan was arranging more talks and that important leaders including former President Hamid Karzai, who remains an influential figure, had been invited.

FAJR SUNRISE

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Army officer, soldier martyred in terrorist attack near Pasni QUETTA stAFF rePort

A powerful roadside bomb targeting security forces went off in Balochistan leaving two soldiers dead, the mílitary said Thursday.

The overnight attack happened in the Pasni district, the InterServices Public Relations said. It said a search operation was still underway to arrest those who orchestrated the bombing. “Such cowardly acts by inimical elements, backed by hostile intelligence agencies, cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan.” The dead were identified as Captain Affan Masood and Sepoy Babar Zaman. The statement provided no further details and only said hostile intelligence forces were behind the violence. On June 30, two soldiers were martyred in the Dwatoi district of North Waziristan, after militants opened fire from across the Afghanistan border. Days earlier, on June 20, a soldier was martyred in another attack in Spinwam district. In May, militants ambushed and martyred four soldiers fencing the disputed border with Afghanistan in the southwest province of Balochistan. Isolated militant attacks on troops and cross-border violence have intensified in recent months, raising fears the proscribed Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was regrouping in the border region of the war-torn country. The TTP is a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban.

FC troops use tear gas to disperse crowd at Afghanistan border PESHAWAR AFP

Frontier Constabulary troops used tear gas Thursday to disperse hundreds of people who tried to storm a border crossing with Afghanistan, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan side of the frontier, security officials said.

“This morning a mob of some

400 unruly commuters tried to cross the gate forcefully. They threw stones, which forced us to use tear gas,” said a security official at the border, who asked not to be named.

Chaman Deputy Commissioner Jumadad Khan Mandokhail said the situation was now “under control”.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan seized control of a major border

UAE withdraws requirement for attestation of Covid vaccine certificates for Pakistani visitors ABU DHABI INP

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday repealed their new visa policy for Pakistanis who want to travel to the Gulf country after a conversation with representatives seeking a visa to the region.

Earlier, it had been announced that for a Pakistani visa-seeker, a National Database and Registration Authority’s coronavirus certificate will be mandatory and that too must be got attested from the UAE Embassy. According to the UAE Embassy in Islamabad, the attested NADRA certificate condition will be applicable to general travellers, diplomats and their families.

The visa-seekers must submit passports valid for up to at least six months and the return ticket. However, the order was withdrawn after the Foreign Office took up the matter with UAE authorities. Both FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri and UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi confirmed/ Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

crossing with Pakistan on Wednesday, achieving a key strategic objective during a rapid advance across the country as US forces pull out.

An official in Pakistan said Taliban insurgents had taken down the Afghan government flag from atop the Friendship Gate at the border crossing between the district of Chaman and the Afghanistan town of Wesh.