EpaperISB_2020-08-29

Saturday, 29 August, 2020 I 9 Muharram, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 60 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

40 dead and counTing as Karachi falls To rain g

10 MOre DIe On FrIDAy AS PAKISTAn’S FInAnCIAl hUB PlUnGeS InTO ChAOS wITh POwer CUTS, STreeTS UnDer wATer AnD Cell PhOne OUTAGeS KARACHI STAFF REPORT

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PM IMRAN WILL VISIT KARACHI ‘NEXT WEEK’

en more people died in various rain-related incidents in Karachi on Friday, with the overall death toll during the three-day spell of torrential rains in the city rising to 40, police and officials said.

Major thoroughfares and roads in several parts of the city remain submerged in rainwater and many areas continue to face power outages, a day after the city was wrecked by recordbreaking rains.

As rescue and relief operations continued to restore some semblance of normalcy to the metropolis, new losses of lives came to light.

As per details, a 14-year-old boy, Arshad, died after drowning in the inundated Clifton underpass near Do Talwar. his body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), according to Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the hospital.

Another boy, Khalilullah, drowned in the Polo Ground; his body was also brought to the JPMC. According to an edhi Foundation spokesperson, a 50-year-old man drowned in the inundated Punjab Chowrangi underpass on Thursday evening but his body was recovered on Friday.

The body of an unidentified man who drowned was found floating in a

Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Karachi next week, according to a statement released by Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah’s office. The statement was issued after a meeting presided by PM Imran to review the progress of various development projects being carried out by the federal government in Sindh. During the meeting, the PM said all federal government institutions have been instructed to provide help to Karachi in dealing with the destruction caused by torrential rains in August. Federal ministers Asad Umar along with other senior officials was also present on the occasion, while Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail participated via video link from Karachi. NEWS DESK CONTINUED ON PAGE 02 stream near Football Chowk in hawksbay. The body was retrieved and shifted to the Dr ruth Pfau Civil hospital Karachi, the charity's spokesperson added.

The official also said as many as 300 families who were stranded in rain accumulated water in new nazimabad housing society were rescued by three teams of the charity in boats and shifted to safe locations. The body of another unidentified drowned man in his 40s was recovered from a drain in north nazimabad's Block-l, a Chhipa spokesperson said. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital.

The devastating rains in Karachi have left most parts of the city flooded with water and no electricity while a large number of people are stranded due to roads becoming impassable with all underpasses flooded with rainwater.

As water levels rose, the city's electricity utility company shut down power to

coronavirus in

PaKisTan

CONFIRMED CASES:

295,053

LAST UPDATED AT 9:31 AM ON AUGUST 28, 2020 DAY'S DEATH TOLL: NEW CASES:

9

RECOVERED:

415

DEATHS:

279,937 6,283 SINDH:

129,081

PUNJAB:

96,636

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

35,923

12,742

2,277/2,816 15,578

large parts of the metropolis in order to protect citizens from electrocution from malfunctioning wires or other machinery.

Video footage showed roads and walls being washed away by the force of water in several areas, as the city's drains and sewage channels overflowed from the volume of water.

Motorists abandoned their cars on major roads and were forced to walk, as many vehicles were washed away by the flooding water.

The collapse of infrastructure also affected landline and cellular telephone networks, which began to fail on Thursday as the volume of use rose. The prolonged power failure in Karachi after heavy rains has also badly affected the communication network in the city as mobile towers are out of service in many areas due to unavailability of fuel to power the generators.

Subscribers of multiple networks re-

MET OFFICE PREDICTS ANOTHER MONSOON SPELL IN SINDH, BALOCHISTAN FROM TODAY As Karachi and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan reel from torrential rains that brought life to a virtual halt in many areas, the Met Office on Friday said another monsoon spell was likely to hit the two provinces starting today (Saturday). The latest rain-bearing system is likely to enter Sindh tomorrow and will cause rains in Sindh and Balochistan from Saturday to Monday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said in a weather advisory. NEWS DESK CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

ported being unable to connect to cellular data and calling/messaging services, leaving them in the dark regarding the well-being of loved ones.

The outages were doubly frustrating to some as K-electric, the city's only electricity supply utility, struggled to restore electricity to large parts of the city more than 20 hours after the first rain fell.

The national telecom regulator informed on Friday that cellular services in the city are not blocked and outages faced by users are due to the prolonged power breakdown.

The power utility, Ke, meanwhile claimed that its teams were working to the best of their ability to deal with the current circumstances and restore electricity with limited available resources.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Army, navy, Sindh rangers and other civic agencies are busy draining the water and helping people affected during the rain-hit

PM directs finalisation of recommendations for reopening of schools ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed finalization of recommendations in consultation with provincial governments and administrations of educational institutions, ahead of a Sept 7 meeting that would take a decision about reopening of schools from Sept 15.

The prime minister was chairing a meeting of the national Coordination Committee on Covid-19 that discussed the roadmap on the resumption of academic activities in view of the improving situation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and the precautionary measures needed to be taken at the educational institutions.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers; Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Ghulam Sawar Khan, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Mohammad hammad Azhar, Syed Fakhar Imam, Advisers including Dr Abdul hafeez Sheikh, Abdul razak Dawood, Special Assistants Dr Sania nishtar, Dr Faisal Sultan, lt General (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Dr Moeed yousaf, Chairman nDMA and other senior officials.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Farooq haider

areas in Karachi.

Pak Army has established a Flood emergency Control Centre to deal with flood-related emergencies while medical camps have also been established in the areas of Gulberg, liaquatabad and new Karachi.

Also, the national Disaster Management Authority (nDMA) is continuing its rescue and relief operations in rain-affected areas of Karachi.

According to Spokesperson of nDMA Shazia haris, these operations and drainage activities are being carried out by the Pak Army in collaboration with local civil administration. She said food, drinking water and other essential items are being provided to rain-affected people while 56 relief camps have also been established.

She said the nDMA also provided 3,000 tents to the Sindh government for rain-hit people.

more inside

Karachi rains cost Pakistan GDP at least $449m per day STORY ON PAGE 12

nAB forms special team in money laundering case against Sharif family STORY ON PAGE 02 Khan, provincial chief ministers also attended the meeting through video link.

The meeting deliberated at length on measures needed to be adopted during Muharram, restoration of academic activities in educational institutions, testing, tracking and quarantine strategy.

The meeting also took into account the steps required for opening up of the tourism sector, the policy of testing, micro smart lockdown and the aviation sector. It was decided to review the health protocols being adopted for the domestic flights.

Minister for Planning Asad Umar gave a detailed briefing on the overall situation related to the coronavirus and presented a comparative analysis of the

situation in Pakistan in relation to the countries of the region.

The meeting was informed that the government’s response towards the pandemic was recognized internationally and significant improvement in situation was witnessed owing to blessings of Allah Almighty and the strategy adopted, contrary to the situation in the neighbouring countries. The meeting was told that the number of positive COVID-19 cases has significantly declined in the country.

The meeting was also given a briefing on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) put in place during Muharram processions and majalis.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

Chinese producer seeks early approval from countries over Covid-19 vaccine STORY ON PAGE 05

FBr unearths rs1.4bn money laundering scam in federal capital STORY ON PAGE 02

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Saturday, 29 August, 2020

NEWS

FBR uNeARthS RS1.4BN MoNey lAuNdeRINg ScAM IN FedeRAl cAPItAl iSLamaBad

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SHAHZAD PARACHA

he intelligence wing of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed money a Rs 1.4 billion money laundering scandal in the federal capital. The prime accused remains unnamed by the FBR. Officials said that the money laundering came to the surface as a result of a vigorous campaign against money laundering by the Directorate General Intelligence &

Investigation of the board's Inland Revenue unit. The campaign has been targeting and investigating persons with suspicious bank transactions.

The financial monitoring unit has forwarded one Suspicious Transactions Report (STR) in one such case. The investigation began by examining the tax profile of the person under suspicion, which showed that he is a service provider with different business names. Moreover, he remained a filer from 2011 with minimal income declarations.

The person was confronted to explain the sources of suspicious bank transactions amounting to Rs. 1.1 billion. However, they failed to explain the suspicious activity, even though they were given plenty of opportunities to come clean.

Subsequently, another STR for suspicious bank credit entries to the tune of Rs 329 million was also received about an associate of the original accused.

The taxpayer was confronted, and during the course of investigation admitted that he is working on behalf of the

primary accused. The aforementioned suspected persons have been operating more than 50 bank accounts, local as well foreign currency, having suspicious transactions of more than Rs. 1.4 billion overall.

The examination of tax declarations showed that the tax contribution of the suspected persons is minimal. Complaint under section 8 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), 2010 has been filed against both the accused by the Directorate I&I IR Islamabad.

IT ministry proposes major tax relief measures iSLamaBad SHAHZAD PARACHA

NAB forms special team in money laundering case against Sharif family neWS deSK The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has constituted a special prosecution team to pursue money laundering and assets beyond means references against Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif and his family, it emerged on Friday. A special prosecutor, Barrister Usman G. Rashid, will head the two-member team which includes another prosecutor, Asim Mamtaz, as its member. The team will appear in the reference which also features Shahbaz’s son Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz. The agency on Aug 17 filed Rs7 billion money laundering and assets beyond means reference against the Shahbaz family, including his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, sons Hamza Shehbaz and Salman Shehbaz, and two daughters, Rabia Imran and Javeria Ali.

PM Imran will visit Karachi ‘next week’ Continued from page 01 Governor Ismail briefed the premier on the latest situation in Karachi and presented a detailed review of the progress of the federal government's development projects in the province, including in the port city. PM Imran said he was fully aware of the development needs and problems of the people of Sindh and that the federal government would play its role in this regard. "A comprehensive plan on sewerage and drainage, as well as for clean drinking water, is being formulated in consultation with stakeholders," he added. The prime minister also said he spoke with CM Shah a day before to discuss the situation after the recent rains in Karachi. "I have assured the Sindh government of all possible assistance from the Centre," he said. Noting that "Karachi is the most important city of Pakistan", the premier assured that he would make use of all resources to tackle the emergency situation at present. Meanwhile, the Sindh chief minister spoke about the havoc wreaked by the torrential rains, which broke all previous records of rains in Karachi. "The Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy, and the National Disaster Management Authority are helping us," he said. "I'm thankful to Prime Minister Imran Khan; you called yesterday and offered to help in all possible ways." He said that he visited all the districts that received heavy rainfall this week and that almost the entire province is affected by the rains, with particular devastation in Karachi.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has proposed a number of tax relief measures, including abolishing the current 12.5 percent advance tax, and reducing the federal excise duty on telecom services from 17% to 16%.

In addition to these measures, it has also been proposed to withdraw the Rs 250 issuance tax on sale of new SIM cards. The government may also accept the recent decision of the Lahore High Court in favour of Ufone and Zong, instead of challenging it.

This would, however, mean that the government would follow the court's verdict for all mobile operators and not just the two involved in the case.

Furthermore, the ministry has also floated the idea of introducing a simplified advance tax mechanism, exemption from all withholding and collection provision under ITO, 2001.

This will not result in any tax break

for the industry. They stated that similar exemptions have already been afforded in the banking and oil industries.

Sources said that the ministry is recommending that the telecom sector (all PTA licenses) should be included in the division III of part III of the income tax ordinance to grant relief of 3% minimum tax instead of 8% tax on all telecom services.

Pakistan telecom companies are dependent to import various equipment under HS code 8517 and HS code 8544. It has also been proposed to abolish regulatory duty on these equipment and additional custom duty on raw material be brought down from current level of 20% and 7% to the level of 5% and 3% respectively. Sources said that these proposals have also been recommended by the Prime Minister’ Task force on Information Technology and Telecom.

The telecom companies have also been informed about their contributions and any Corporate-Social-Re-

sponsibility projects they may have taken on in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ministry admitted that the telecom sector has not been provided as much relief during the course of the pandemic compared to the other sector of economy.

However, the ministry maintained that consideration of these proposals will contribute to the expansion and improvement of telecommunication services in Pakistan. It is also being hoped that these change will open avenues for further investment and employment in the sector, especially while the Covid-19 pandemic is still going on. This will be particularly important because the government is continuing to pursue its vision of digital enablement.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Economic Coordination Committee on Thursday decided that a proposal may be submitted in the next meeting after through deliberation of its impact on the already vague taxation policies currently in place.

Met Office predicts another monsoon spell in Sindh, Balochistan from today Continued from page 01 Under the influence of the system, rain/wind thundershowers, with isolated heavy to very heavy falls, are expected in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Tharparkar, Nagarparkar, Mirpurkhas, Islamkot, Umerkot, Sanghar, Sukkur and Larkana from Saturday evening till Monday, according to the advisory.

Rain-thundershowers with isolated heavy falls are also likely in the Balochistan areas of Lasbela, Khuzdar, Awaran, Barkhan, Zhob, Musakhel, Loralai, Kohlu and

Sibbi on Sunday and Monday. The PMD said rain accompanied by thunderstorms is also expected in parts of Punjab including Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanpur, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Khanewal and Sahiwal during the period. The advisory warned that heavy rainfall "may further aggravate existing urban flooding/water logging in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Badin on Sunday and Monday". "Heavy downpour may generate flash flooding in Sibbi, Kalat, Khuzdar, Lasbela and Dera Ghazi Khan during the period," it further said.

World is failing oppressed Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom: SAPM ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security and Strategic Policy Planning Dr Moeed Yusuf has said the international community's silence over gross human rights violations and a perpetual military siege by Indian forces was failing the decades long struggling oppressed Kashmiris struggle for freedom. He said the creation of the United Nations (UN) after the Second World War was a landmark in human history. While the world continues to experience wars, destruction and massacres, there is at least the reassurance that international conventions, laws and mechanisms exist under the auspices of the UN to observe and respect human rights, said a press release on Friday.

Despite all the safeguards, some nations continue to suffer crimes against humanity and their territories have become an arena of abuses with no recourse to justice. The situation prevalent in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) under Indian occupation and the plight of the Kashmiri nation are glaring cases in point, he added. "Kashmiris carry heart-wrenching memories of the November 1947 massacre of tens of thousands in Jammu, the mass rape of Kashmiri women in Kunan Poshpora in 1991, the discovery of several thousand bodies in unmarked graves in 2009 and many other incidents." He added that the evidence of those atrocities should have been enough to move the world to ensure delivery of justice by bringing the perpetrators to account. APP

PM directs finalisation of recommendations for reopening of schools Continued from page 01 The prime minister lauded the contribution of all those related to the medical professionals in the fight against COVID-19, the role of NCOC, law enforcement agencies, provincial governments and other relevant departments.

He said effective coordination and comprehensive strategy helped the country succeed against the pandemic. He, however, cautioned that the threat of the virus was not over and urged upon the general public to continue compliance of SOPs. For Muharram, the prime minister stressed the need to adopt precautionary measures, including wearing of face masks. He thanked the religious scholars from all sects for their understanding of the seriousness of the situation and their role in raising awareness amongst the people. The prime minister said he had assured the Chief Minister Sindh of the full support of the federal government in mitigating the sufferings of the people of the province, particularly Karachi, in the wake of heavy rains and inundation of large areas of the city. He said he would be visiting Karachi in the next few days and would personally oversee the progress on the relief measures.

Oil industry asked to comply with ECC’s decision for fortnightly revision in POL prices iSLamaBad AHMAD AHMADANI

Petroleum Division’s Director General (DG) of Oil has asked for compliance of the decision of federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) regarding fortnightly pricing of petroleum products and shifting of Pakistan State Oil (PSO)'s benchmark price to Platts indexes.

DG Oil, in a letter dated August 24 to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Chairman and Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), asked for compliance by the oil industry to implement the ECC’s decision.

Earlier, ECC in its decision dated July 28 2020 had approved a summary of the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) regarding fortnightly pricing of petroleum products and shifting of PSO’s price benchmark to Platts indexes.

According to DG Oil of petroleum division, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and refineries will determine the ex-refinery prices of Motor Gasoline and High-Speed Diesel as per the policy parameters and the prices of petroleum products will be determined under the current practice in vogue on fortnightly

basis effective from September 1 2020.

As per policy parameters, price to be based on Arab Gulf Platts daily FOB average for the number of days in the pricing period as the base commodity price, while premium above Platts, freight and incidentals to be taken as the average of Pakistan State Oil’s procurement for the pricing period and added to the base commodity average in above as per existing practice. Taxation and levies to be at applicable rates while exchange rate to be used as provisionally available for PSO but to be converted to actual upon the retirement of LC (not later than 60 days from B/L date), any adjustment to be made as a prior period adjustment as per present practice already approved by ECC vide its decision dated 09-04-2020.

Other cost components may also be adjusted on an actual basis in next fortnight/month. Similarly, PSO would arrange long term agreement of MS to avail discounted premium as prevailed in case of HSD with KPC. Furthermore, in case of non-availability of PSO’s premium/freight or incidentals of the previous fortnight, the PSO’s previous month available incidentals of a fortnight will be applied.

‘Above policy parameters are conveyed for compliance by the oil industry

to implement the ECC’s decision,” said a letter of DG Oil of petroleum division.

Upset with the price formula, all the refineries in a letter dated August 27 2020 to Secretary Petroleum Division, said that guidelines for pricing of Euro-V (10PPM), HSD/92 Ron MOGAS for refineries were issued by petroleum division without consulting refineries being major stakeholders.

The refineries also said that policy guidelines issued by Petroleum division vide letter No.Pl-9(544)/2020 dated June 30 2020 clearly states that pricing calculation in this regard shall be carried out in consultation with oil refineries and PSO regarding Euro-V (MOGAS/HSD). We have noted serious anomalies in the said guidelines which need to be rectified, said refineries.

“The issuance of unilateral guidelines by Petroleum division for pricing of Euro-V fuels for the local refineries without consulting refineries defeats the very essence and spirit of Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) decision dated June 4, 2020,” said letter of refineries, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today.

Refineries in a letter also said that there is absolutely no logic for imposing the second penalty on Ms 91 or below as

refineries not producing 92 RON are already paying RON penalty as per existing mechanism and it would be highly unfair to penalize them twice.

Refineries have further expressed disagreement with the petroleum division’s mechanism for scaling down PSO import premium by 47.895percent for Euro-V HSD imports to work out refineries premium producing Euro II HSD. There appears to be no logic for assuming a hypothetical percentage of some previous data when the actual premiums are published in Platts, said refineries.

Refineries while asking to complete consultation process have requested petroleum division to defer the implementation of those penalties till such time highlighted anomalies are duly addressed.

Penalties should not be imposed unilaterally on existing price structure as refineries have not been given sufficient time to improve the specifications from Euro-II MS to Euro-V as it was done for the transition to Euro II for HSD unless the refineries agree for timelines for upgradation to Euro-V in the agreed time period the deprivation of entitled price of Euro II is unjustifiable, said refineries in a letter to Asad Hayaud Din, Secretary, Petroleum Division.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

NEWS

govt to cAll joINt SeSSIoN FoR FAtF legISlAtIoN Next weeK iSLamaBad

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TLTP

RIME Minister Imran Khan has said that the government will call a joint session of the parliament next week to make laws regarding the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In an interview with a private news channel, the PM said that no government in the past has been blackmailed to this extent. He urged the opposition to stay united on national issues like the Kashmir crisis and Pakistan's exclusion from FATF's grey list.

Commenting upon NAB's fair and transparent role, he said 95pc cases of opposition were registered during their own tenures, adding that even the NAB chairman was appointed by the mutual consultations of PML-N and PPP.

The PM said that grant of NRO to the opposition is tantamount to compromising PTI's manifesto. He said the only interest of opposition is to go against the national interest just to save its vested interest.

The Prime Minister said India has been lobbying to include Pakistan on FATF's blacklist for the last two years.

He said that the incumbent government believes in rule of law contrary to previous regimes where law was meant to the poor only. He said the holding of non-party elections in 1985 led to corruption.

Regarding the health reports of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister said the medical opinion of expert doctors was the only reason for allowing him to go abroad.

Imran Khan said economic indicators of the country are on a positive tra-

jectory. Counting on his party's 2-year achievements, the Prime Minister said, “When we assumed the power, the major challenge for us was to save the country from bankruptcy.” He said, “Despite the coronavirus pandemic, we earned more revenues than our expectations during

Pakistani workforce in Qatar doubles after visa relaxation: envoy iSLamaBad TLTP

Qatar has doubled the number of Pakistani labour and another 90,000 Pakistanis have been added to the Qatar workforce in the past one year.

This came to light during a meeting between Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions, Shehryar Khan Afridi and Ambassador of Qatar Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani here on Friday.

The ambassador called on the minister and handed over a shipment of

KN95 masks, medicines, and other medical items to him to help the Afghan refugees fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shehryar Khan Afridi expressed gratitude to the Qatar Ambassador and said that the donations would greatly help the Afghan refugees in the fight against the pandemic.

He said that Pakistan, due to the visionary and novel approach adopted in fighting the pandemic, has been successful in effectively handling the disease.

He said that the ambassador’s passionate approach would largely help in further cementing the friendly relationship be-

tween Pakistan and Qatar.

He said that Afghanistan is a conflict zone where humanity has suffered enormously. He said that Qatar and Turkey have greatly supported and facilitated the Syrian refugees too. He expressed gratitude to the government of Qatar for taking care of Pakistani expatriates.

Sensitizing the Ambassador over plight of Kashmiri Muslims, Shehryar Afridi said that Hindutva regime in India is targeting religious minorities for mass conversions and Muslims are being targeted specially.

He said that Kashmir has become a

last month.”

He said that the stock market is showing positive indicators by means of the historic incentives announced for the construction sector which gained the trust of investors.

The PM said master plans for all major cities of the country are being devised to prevent the damages of urbanization. He said, in this regard, Ravi Riverfront Urban City in Lahore and Bundal Island City in Karachi are being developed on the pattern of the Federal Capital. He said these projects will help curb overpopulation and food insecurity.

He said that the federal government, in collaboration with Sindh government, will make a plan for a permanent solution to the problems caused by floods by cleaning of nullahs, fixing of the sewage system and resolving the huge challenge of water supply to the people of Karachi.

specific area where Muslims are being martyred, imprisoned and women are raped under a vicious plan of Muslim genocide.

Ambassador Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that Qatar has been working with Pakistan on plans and initiatives to help the needy and deserving.

“As a flying officer, I was trained by professional Pakistani forces and it is about time to return the favour. We have doubled the number of Pakistani labour and another 90,000 Pakistanis have been added to the Qatar workforce in the past one year. We are facilitating the visa process and we have simplified the visa process,” the ambassador said.

The ambassador said that cooperation with Pakistan is a priority area for his government and he would work extensively to promote brotherhood between the two nations.

Qatar donates medical equipment to Afghan refugees to fight Covid-19 iSLamaBad APP

Ambassador of State of Qatar Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday handed over a shipment of N-95 masks, medicines, pulse oximeters and other medical equipment to Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Shehryar Khan Afridi to facilitate Afghan refugees to fight Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a press release, Shehryar Khan Afridi, expressing gratitude to the Qatari ambassador, said the donations would greatly help Afghan refugees in fight against the pandemic.

He said that the ambassador’s passionate approach would largely help in further cementing Pak-Qatar friendly relationship.

Afghanistan is a conflict zone where humanity suffered enormously. Qatar and Turkey greatly supported and facilitated the Syrian refugees too.

Sensitizing the ambassador over the plight of Kashmiri Muslims, Shehryar Afridi said that Hindutva regime in India is targeting religious minorities for mass conversions and Muslims are being targeted specially.

Kashmir has become a specific area where Muslims are being martyred, imprisoned and women are raped under a vicious plan of Muslim genocide.

Ambassador Sheikh Saud bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said that Qatar has been working with Pakistan on plans and initiatives to help the needy and deserving.

“As a flying officer, I was trained by professional Pakistani forces and it is the time to return the favour.

We have doubled the number of Pakistani labor and an-

UAE's HKB group in talks to acquire majority shares in teetering Wi-Tribe neWS deSK One of the largest business groups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Hammad bin Khalifa Department of Projects (HBKDOP) is already in discussions to acquire a majority share in one of Pakistan's largest independent broadband providers, Wi-Tribe.

The HBK group works in the Middle-East, Africa, South Asia, and Central Asia. The news come from official statements, with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, chairman of the Arab Investment Development Authority (AIDA) and HBK Holdings, saying acquiring Wi-Tribe would allow his group to get a good position in Pakistan's telecommunication game.

The Hamad Bin Khalifa Departments of Projects (HBK DOP) was founded by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan to handle project investments through strategic joint venture partnerships. Sheikh Al Nahyan has been deeply entrenched in the Pakistani business scene, being the head and founder of the famous Abu Dhabi group, which owns both Wateen and Bank Alfalah.

“Wi-tribe investment opportunity provides HBK a footprint into Pakistan Telecom's space as a firm foundation to consolidate the ongoing investment interest for the telecom infrastructure acquisition,” read a statement

from the Sheikh.

Wi-Tribe, which has been un-operational in Karachi since July due to a dispute with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has main offices in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and until early 2016 was owned by Qatar Telecom. After that it was bought by the Pakistani conglomerate, HB International Investments.

Back in July, Wi-Tribe was at the center of a dispute with the company that provides its towers — edotco — which had terminated its connection. The payments scuffle came during the peak coronavirus days in the country, which is what Wi-Tribe officials have tried to pin the dispute on.

However, Wi-Tribe has slowly been losing ground and customers over the years. It was launched in Pakistan in July 2009 by Qatar-based Ooredoo QSC which sold the stakes of its subsidiary Wi Tribe Pakistan to HB Offshore Investment Ltd for around 32.7 million Qatri riyals in March 2016.

The customer base of company has only withered since then. There were 207,000 WiMAX users in Pakistan at the end of December 2015, just before its sale to the incumbent management. By July 2019 that figure had dropped to 26,512 and today it has further dropped to 16,245 by the end of May 2020.

other 90,000 Pakistanis have been added to the Qatar workforce in the past one year. We are facilitating the visa process and we have simplified the visa process,” the envoy said.

He added that the cooperation with Pakistan was a priority area for his government and he would work extensively to promote brotherhood between the two nations.

03

Mangla, tarbela dams attain maximum conservation levels iSLamaBad APP

The two mega water reservoirs of Mangla and Tarbela have been filled to their maximum levels last night, resulting in the record availability of water in the two dams, which is being regarded a good omen for agriculture and hydel power generation in Pakistan in the days to come. The cumulative quantum of water available at present in Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs stands at 13.336 million acre feet (MAF) which is a record of water availability during the last 10 years. According to the statistics, water level in Mangla and Tarbela is 1242 feet and 1550 feet respectively above mean sea level. Water available in the two dams is 2.173 MAF more if compared with the average of the last 10 years. It is worth mentioning here that average water availability in the two dams during the last 10 years on the day recorded as 11.163 MAF. This better hydrological situation will aptly fulfill the requirement of water for agriculture in the country for the days to come. The more water in the reservoirs will also result in more hydel generation in the coming days. It is pertinent to mention that WAPDA hydel power stations have been providing more than 8,500MW for the last two consecutive days and hydel generation may touch 9,000MW.

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Saturday, 29 August, 2020

NEWS

At leASt 16 Killed in rAin-relAted inCidentS in KP: offiCiAlS PESHAWAR

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STAFF REPORT

S many as 16 people were killed and eight injured when a fresh monsoon spell, which wreaked havoc on other parts of the country, also caused devastation in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said on Friday.

According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), eight people have died in Upper Kohistan, six in Swat and two in Shangla.

The rains also partially damaged 25 homes while 29 others were completely wrecked, the authority said, adding that the

PDMA director general and the Rescue 1122 director general were reviewing rescue and relief operations.

Relief operations were underway in affected areas and necessary aid had been distributed to those affected in Swat, Chitral and Shahgram, the PDMA said. “Work on clearing blocked roads is also underway,” it said. The authority is in contact with all district administrations and the PDMA’s emergency operation centre is also fully functional, it added.

PDMA spokesperson Taimur Ali stated that the secretary relief and the director general, along with a team, had left for Swat to monitor relief activities, adding that food items and other essentials were

Punjab reports 533 suspected patients of dengue fever LAHORE INP

As many as 533 suspected patients of dengue fever have been reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours, said spokesperson of the Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Department on Friday.

The patients are being tested under surveillance after first aid, he said, adding that So far, 45 patients of the dengue fever have been reported in Punjab out of which three have recovered.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid had last week said that emergency measures were being taken by the provisional government to prevent dengue outbreak.

She said that all tehsil municipal ad-

ministrations, development authorities and water and sanitation companies have been clearly advised that stagnant water ponds be immediately filled with soil and anti-dengue sprays should be carried out on such places.

The minister had explained that dengue fever was a severe, flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults and in case of dengue-like symptoms, patients should immediately consult medical practitioners.

She said the current weather was very conducive for dengue larva growth.

The outbreak of dengue fever could stretch the healthcare resources amid the country’s struggle against Covid-19 pandemic.

being distributed among those affected by the floods.

However, locals in flood-hit areas told a different story when relating their ordeal.

“We spent the whole night under an open sky on a mountain,” said Ataullah, a resident of Reshun village in Upper Chitral.

He added that the main connecting bridge and his home were completely swept away by the floods. “We have lost everything to the floods. We are looking towards the government and the government is nowhere to be found,” he said, adding that the residents were also facing a shortage of drinking water.

Meanwhile, Upper Kohistan Deputy Commissioner Arif Khan Yousufzai said

that seven members of a family had drowned due to severe flooding in the area, which left 19 houses damaged.

“Rescue 1122 teams and district administration officials are at the site,” he said, adding that more information on casualties and damages was being collected.

He stated that the incident took place in a remote area.

Locals also helped in the rescue operation but only three bodies have been recovered so far, he said.

Meanwhile, the Bisham-Swat Road and other arteries linked to it were blocked at several points after landslides caused heavy boulders to fall on the thoroughfares.

CM Buzdar announces development, upgradation projects for Sahiwal LAHORE APP

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar announced various development and upgradation projects for Sahiwal during his visit to the city on Friday.

Different delegations comprising assembly members, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket-holders, lawyers, traders, industrialists and party workers called on Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and apprised him about their problems. The CM assured them of an early solution and said that he was monitoring progress on development projects by visiting different cities, said a handout issued here. The public welfare schemes would be completed on time, he said, adding that there would be no compromise on quality. He stressed and announced connecting Sahiwal with motorway at Samundri Interchange through a link road. He also announced early completion of Sahiwal Link Road along with the provision of funds on priority.

The CM announced upgrading DHQ Hospital Sahiwal and said that hospital and medical college would be provided additional funds for better healthcare facilities.

He also ordered for early repair and maintenance of city roads as civic amenities improvement projects would be completed with foreign collaboration.

The chief minister also announced Girls Degree College for Kassowal and instructed for considering the possibility of linking

Chichawatni with the motorway.

He also announced division level colonies for journalists and lawyers and added that genuine problems of the legal fraternity would be solved. Similarly, traders and industrialists would be facilitated and price control authority would be set up to stabilise the prices of essential items, he said. Usman Buzdar said the PTI government was rectifying misdeeds of the past regimes. He vowed to transform the system and said the incumbent government would complete its five-year term. The conspirators would continue to indulge in their conspiracies but the PTI government would keep its journey of public service going, the CM added. The parliamentarians would be given their due rights, he said. Usman Buzdar said he had visited Sahiwal city in night to review cleanliness and drainage arrangements and he was satisfied. The government machinery should strenuously work for improving civil amenities, the CM added. The parliamentarians expressed their confidence in leadership of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar saying the critics were following a specific agenda.

“We are siding with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in the journey of public service,” they added. Those called on the CM included Provincial Minister Noman Langrial, assembly members, President PTI Sahiwal Rana Aftab, president of local Good Governance Committee Mazhar Sheraz, President Sahiwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Faisal Ikram, President Sahiwal Bar Raja Javaid Mehmood and others.

Cellular services to remain suspended in Sindh on 9th, 10th Muharram NEWS DESK Cellular services will remain suspended in Sindh from midnight on 9th and 10th Muharram for security purposes during the observance of Ashura. According to media reports, the timings of the suspension in different areas would not be uniform. For instance, Karachi central and south districts would face a complete network shutdown for two days, whereas the west district will bear the closure from 10am to 8pm. The eastern district was not included in the plan while areas such as Nishtar Park, Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road, Father Jammes Road, MA Jinnah Road till Capri cinema and Preedy Street up to Parking Plaza Saddar will face suspension from 11 am of August 28 to 4pm of August 29. Separately, temporary suspensions from 7am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday will be observed along the routes of the Muharram processions.Hyderabad, Thatta, Jacobabad, Dadu, Khairpur, Tando Muhammad Khan, Sujawal and other cities in Sindh will also face network suspensions during different timings, with some facing the restriction on Sunday alone while others facing it for the entire three days.

Police arrest three terrorists from Matani PESHAWAR APP

Capital City Police with the assistance of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday arrested three terrorists in a joint operation from Mattani, area on the outskirt of the district and recovered explosive material, arms and ammunition from their possession.

Talking to media, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operation Capt. (Rtd) Mansoor Amaan said arrested terrorists have confessed to links with a banned organization.

He said terrorists were identified as Bilal and Abdul Qadir of Khyber District while the third one Ikhtiar Gul was a resident of Mohmand District. He informed that more than four kilogram explosives, detonators, prima cord and nut bolts used in explosive, two 9mm pistols and a 30 bore pistol were recovered from their possession. Arrested terrorists were involved in extortion, improvised explosive device attacks and target killing of security forces.Police registered a case and started investigation.

Pak Army sets 3 mobile hospitals, 32 medical camps with civil admin in Karachi RAWALPINDI APP

Pakistan Army relief and rescue efforts continue to help flood victims and established 32 Medical camps with civil administration in various areas including 3 Army Mobile hospital at Sarjani Town, Qayyumabad and Saadi Town. All areas of Karachi were severely affected due to heavy rains disrupting civic life where 56 relief camps have been established in coordination with civil administration to help stranded people, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

However, dewatering was carried out at 9 locations. Pakistan Army troops were busy shifting people to safer places where cooked meal was being provided to affected people in various areas struck due to heavy rains. The details of rescue and relief efforts were 50 bedded hospital in Surjani. Rain Emergency Medical Camps at following places as 3 camps at Lyari, 2 camps at Garden, 2 camp at Clifton, 2 camps at Kemari, 1 camp at Saddar, 3 camps at Gulberg, 5 camps at Kachi Abadi, 4 camps at Liaqatabad, 4 camps at Malir District, 2 camps at Korangi District, 4 camps at East District ( Gulzar e Hijri). In Hyderabad, the relief operation in Latif Abad was in process and dewatering at two locations had been undertaken. However, cooked meals was being provided to the affected population. In Dadu, Army troops evacuated more than 350 people to safer places struck in flood hit areas. Cooked meal provided to people affected due to rains. In Badin, 5 villages have been flooded where Pakistan Navy medical camp was established to provide necessary medical care.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

05 PM IMran keen to set uP sPecIal technology zones for It Industry NEWS

LAHORE

P

TAIMOOR HASSAN

RIME Minister Imran Khan has shown keen interest in setting up Special Technology Zones (STZs) for the IT industry to support its growth and improve ease of doing business.

He expressed support for the idea in a meeting with a delegation from Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) and other representatives of the industry on Thursday. The prime minister resonated with the industry, telling the delegation he saw a lot of potential and growth in the IT sector.

The meeting was was also attended by Minister for Information Technology, Syed Aminul Haq, Minister for Information, Senator Shibli Faraz, Minister for Industries, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Advisers Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Abdul Razzak Dawood, Special Assistant Dr Shahbaz Gill, federal secretaries, Chairman FBR, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and representatives of various companies belonging to the IT sector.

“The IT industry demanded Special Technology Zones (STZs) to provide opportunities for medium and small scale IT enterprises to have less infrastructure cost and overheads to enable them to do their busi-

ness and earn exports and remittances for the country,” a source told Profit, elaborating the context of the meeting.

Though the proposal made headway and reached the Planning Commission, the budget for it never got approved. The stakeholders are now hopeful that PM Khan has shown a lot of interest in it and he has directed that the details be shared with him and he wants to see it happen. “PM Khan is himself very interested in seeing this succeed and he will issue instructions and the Planning Commission would have to find ways to get it through now,” said another source.

Two years ago, P@SHA, the official body that represents the IT industry, had recommended the federal government set up IT Clusters, known STZs. The concept was to emulate Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for other industries, but with certain incentives specific for the IT industry to promote its growth. The proposal was presented during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government when Anoushay Rahman was the IT Minister.

STZs were P@SHA’s top most recommendation. All the countries that currently excel in IT have STZs like in Singapore, Philippines etc. India, for instance, has over 100 STZs. In a clustered environment for the IT industry, P@SHA had recommended dedicat-

ing clusters of land in major cities with specialised infrastructure, like plug and play buildings, for IT companies. STZs have low land rental, less sales and withholding tax, less utility bill charges, which are all incentives to bring investors and incentives that are necessary for small IT companies to thrive in a low cost environment.

“IT companies get projects that require plug and play and power backups. This is the sort of infrastructure that is necessary for its growth. High rise technology parks do not work it for the IT industry because these buildings have high rentals which increases cost of doing business,” a representative from P@SHA told Profit. The IT industry has also been pushing to keep FBR in check, with their undue notices to IT companies that increases cost of doing business because businesses are required to respond to these notices that incurs untimely costs. That is also an issue that the industry stakeholders believe could be solved with setting up of STZs with one-window operations, which reduces the cost of doing business.

P@SHA had recommended the government to build these clusters in larger cities first and then move onto setting these up in smaller cities.

“It is encouraging that the prime minister considers IT to hold key to Pakistan’s success," said P@SHA Chairman Shahzad Shahid while talking to Profit. "He [the PM]

did not only listen to our demands, but also acknowledged our challenges and assured us of quick actions from the government," he added.

Shahzad further said that P@SHA stressed that ease of business, affordable infrastructure and domestic demand are catalyst of Pakistan’s IT exports growth.

"P@SHA will continue to work closely with the government bodies including IT Ministry to ensure the right policy changes so that the exports target of $5 Billion is achieved way before 2025,” he added further.

Besides setting up STZs, P@SHA had also proposed improving the image of Pakistan as a country with high IT potential. The proposal, termed as ‘Brand Pakistan’, urged the government to create an ‘Export Marketing Fund’ for sizing of the industry that how large the IT industry is in Pakistan. There are currently no official numbers that outline how large the IT industry is. The proposal included doing market research on estimating the size of IT industry in Pakistan and creating a country report. Following that, to improve ‘Brand Pakistan’, IT exhibitions and conferences should be organised in Pakistan, and people should be sent from Pakistan to attend IT conferences and exhibitions abroad.

Furthermore, the proposal recommended for Pakistan to get its name included in reports on IT by Gartetner, Mckinsey and World Bank that investors use to determine

where to invest next. Currently, these reports carry the names of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for IT investments in respective countries but does not include Pakistan.

The proposal on creating Export Marketing Fund is also with the Planning Commission presently alongwith the proposal on creation of STZs, waiting further progress..

Third proposal floated with the government was of demand generation, which is the by-product of ‘Make in Pakistan’ campaign.

Under the proposal, P@SHA and relevant stakeholders have urged the government to outsource IT projects to local industry.

The government was urged that the federal and respective provincial governments should outsource their projects to the local industry instead of creating government institutions for such projects that might now even be bigger than many private software houses in Pakistan. This stands completely against supporting the local industry when government departments are bidding for IT projects against local industry.

The final proposal seeks a 5-10% cash reward against exports for the IT industry. That industry stakeholders assert that cash rewards will help bring transparency in the economy and businesses will start reporting to the government instead of running away from fear of intimation by government departments like the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Chinese producer seeks early approval from countries over Covid-19 vaccine NEWS DESK Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics Inc. has been approaching several countries to approve their experimental Covid-19 vaccine, developed under the Chinese military, prior to the completion of its largescale safety and effectiveness trials, a senior executive at the company said.

Early distribution by CanSino Biologics Inc. would give the company a head start over rivals by making its vaccine the first to go into public use internationally outside of clinical trials, although initial doses would likely be directed at health-care workers and others deemed essential, such as military personnel and police.

The effort shows the intensity of the race to become the first to develop a vaccine, though public-health experts say immunizing people widely before large-scale tests are completed could present serious health risks.

China’s military has already approved the use of CanSino’s vaccine before the completion of large-scale final testing, usually known as Phase 3 trials, according to a filing the company made with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Pierre Morgon, senior vice president for international business at CanSino, said getting the vaccine out to millions of people now, before its clinical trials are complete, would broaden the base of knowledge about the drug’s safety and effectiveness. By comparison, final-stage experimental trials typically involve several thousand participants. Such early distribution would require the countries to authorize the drug for emergency usage.

“It helps to build the safety database and certainly build the confidence in the fact that the vaccine is safe.

If, in the meantime, if it is demonstrated as being effective in the Phase 3 trials, then it might be an accelerator for

CMYK

future contracts for vaccine supply,” said Mr Morgon.

The vaccine has been shown to promote an immune response, and no serious safety concerns have emerged in early human trials involving smaller groups, according to the company and trial results published in the Lancet, a prestigious international medical journal.

Mr Morgon declined to name all of the countries the company is talking to, citing the discussions’ confidentiality. He said they include Pakistan and countries in Latin America as well as some developed nations. So far, no countries have agreed to approve the drug on an emergency basis, Mr Morgon said.

Russia Registers World’s First Coronavirus Vaccine The quest for a Covid-19 vaccine has turned into a fierce international competition, with national honor seen to be at stake, as well as lucrative contracts to supply the vaccine and the ability to get economies motoring again for those countries with access to the immunization.

Russia alarmed health professionals and regulators around the globe this month by saying it had become the first country to register a Covid-19 vaccine, even though it hadn’t completed trials or published test results in a reputed scientific journal.

Vaccine developers across the world are rushing to finish trials before the end of the year. Negotiating deals for emergency-use authorization would allow CanSino to leapfrog others in the race.

But vaccines, intended for large numbers of healthy people who don’t have the disease, are virtually never approved for widespread use before the completion of large-scale trials.

“It’s breaking all the global conventions around science and ethics. It’s a huge gamble,” Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said of any country authorizing emergency use of a vaccine before it completes tests.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

06 COMMENT

Lawyers at risk

Time to move ahead of “no NRO” And work together to resolve national issues

The recent spate of killings is worrisome

P

m Imran Khan’s TV interview on Thursday dealt with issues that included his government’s performance, future plans, hurdles faced, foreign relations, and the need to pass FaTF-related legislation. The first 25 minutes of the interview however dealt with government, opposition relations The Pm admitted that it was “our” mistake to allow mian Nawaz sharif to go abroad. The decision was forced on the Cabinet by the medical reports. The Pm accused the opposition of refusing to support some of the FaTF-related bills to seek an NRO. He reiterated that he would not agree to an NRO even if his stand led to the fall of his government. He warned that he would hold the opposition responsible if the country was blacklisted. The opposition meanwhile has categorically denied the charge, maintaining that it had supported all the bills except those which gave the government unlimited powers, which the FaTF had not asked for. If government and opposition can speak with one voice on Kashmir, they can jointly work together on several other issues without preconditions.

The efforts made by the government for peace in afghanistan are laudable. Equally important is to maintain good relations with whosoever is in power in the neighbouring country. This has however failed to happen as shown by frequent attacks from afghan territory followed by closure of borders with afghanistan. mr Khan’s desire for peace is laudable. One wonders however if Pakistan possesses the clout to bring together Iran and saudi arabia. more efforts meanwhile need to be made to rouse the world opinion against the atrocities in Kashmir.

Few would agree with the Pm’s remarks in praise of the presidential system practiced under ayub Khan as according to him this allows specialists to run the government in today’s complex world. Under ayub’s military rule Pakistan thrice went to the ImF seeking bailouts. Within a few years of the ayub era, particularly after the 1965 war, the economy began to nosedive, leading to large scale unemployment, rise in commodities’ prices and the slogans of “Chini Chor Hai Hai.” meanwhile the centralization of power exacerbated unrest in East Pakistan. The federal parliamentary system is working successfully in UK, Canada and australia besides several other countries without unelected special assistants or advisers.

MuhaMMad Yasir KaYani

T

OdaY, the question is whether this is the Pakistan that was dreamt of by our founding fathers wherein the noble profession they adopted that is bestowing freedom, democratic norms, security and justice to the masses is now breathing in an atmosphere wherein its law protectors have to face threats to their life and liberty?

The answer will appear in a negative nod. I myself have observed how much a practicing lawyer risks death threats and violence. Over the past few decades, lawyers in Pakistan have been subjected to terrorism, murder, attempted murder, assaults, threats, contempt proceedings, harassment and intimidation, as well as judicial harassment and torture in detention, merely for performing professional duties.

The most notorious attack occurred on 8 august 2016, when terrorists attacked the Government Hospital Quetta with a suicide bombing and shooting which killed 56 lawyers and injured 92 others. lawyers have sometimes been identified with their clients, and therefore attacked. This is particularly so in blasphemy cases that commonly expose the accused, as well as their lawyers and the judges in the case, to harassment, threats or physical attacks.

In fact, the life of an ‘advocate’ is at risk the moment he takes up a case. It doesn’t matter if it’s the opposing party or the very party that lawyer has taken up the sacred task to provide justice to. Taking up a case and spending sleepless nights on it, and then going through constant harassment, has become a norm. a lawyer cannot influence the decision-making of a judge any more than trying to present the facts to best of their abilities. While, most of such acts of violence emerge from the cases which the lawyers take up, there are no explicit provisions in the law to protect them against these heinous acts. as a result, lawyers fear taking up cases where they can risk their lives, or which involve such parties as terrorists or rapists, who are subject to uncontrolled anger from society.

Particularly within the last few weeks, gutwrenching instances of murder of lawyers and violence against them are escalating unchecked. Within a span of a few days, target killings of over five advocates and murderous attacks on others left the legal fraternity in great shock. all the bar Councils and bar associations instantly condemned these brutal at-

Growth stunted The government’s boasts do not match the facts

P

RImE minister Imran Khan found his boasts about an economic recovery contradicted by the cold hard reality depicted in the Finance ministry’s monthly Economic Outlook, released on Thursday. Not just did it pitch first-quarter growth at an anemic 1 percent, but also predicted that the unusual remittances by overseas Pakistanis in July would go down. This directly contradicts mr Khan, who had crowed about the July figure to boast that the country had turned the economic corner, and that good times were coming. He used the current account surplus for the same purpose.

However, the Finance ministry pointed out two developments which would put pressure on it: the increasing price of oil, which not only has a huge effect in itself, but has a multiplier effect on prices, and the decline of the rupee against the dollar. The most damaging prediction made was that inflation would be 8.4 to 9.7 percent in august, after reaching 9.3 percent in July. With anemic growth, and inflation almost reaching double digits, the country is in the midst of a stagflationary cycle, and will only come out of it if the government applies itself rather than make empty boasts. Even then, the government must face the possibility that it can do nothing to bring about a recovery which will depend on the wheels beginning to turn worldwide. It is only when Pakistan’s main export markets, the Usa and Europe, begin buying again that Pakistan’s own economy would pick up.

The government could have argued that the covid-19 pandemic had caused these economic woes, but it might be remembered that the economy was in dire straits even before the pandemic. also, the narrative the government is pushing, that the covid-19 pandemic is now over, and the lockdown must be brought to an end, does not allow it to blame the pandemic for the parlous state of the economy.

However, it should not push a narrative contrary to the position on ground. Whatever the macroeconomic picture, people know what is going on in their lives. People know that things are desperate and times are hard. No massaging of the figures will convince them otherwise. It does tell them that the massager is not to be trusted.

sojla sahar

I

slamabad-Riyadh relations are historically at their lowest ebb. In the past, Pakistan always prioritized saudi interests in the region but now the dynamics are changing for the good. saudi arabia has been a cash cow for Pakistan.

It’s high time for Pakistan to contour its foreign policy towards saudi arabia particularly after two significant events damaging muslim countries’ interests of muslim countries: the UaE-Israel peace deal that will definitely be followed by saudi arabia putting a full stop to the Palestinian struggle, and Riyadh’s silence over the brutalities in Kashmir by the Indian armed forces. a few weeks back, Riyadh also demanded the return of loan packages of $6.2 billion including oil credit facility (free oil) of $3.2 billion.

This was given back right away by the Pakistani government with the help of its well-weathered partner China. This was a signal of distant relations between two old allies but now Pakistan gave signal to saudi arabia about relations on equal basis. saudi arabia has given oil supplies to Pakistan at a very high cost. Not the monetary cost, the social, political and high economic costs of adopting a pro-saudi foreign policy without analyzing cost benefits. Riyadh has used Pakistan for countering the Iranian influence in the region by propagating, training and funding the Wahhabi school of thought in the country. This resulted in brutal sectarian violence and killings of thousands of people in the country. The making of extremist sectarian violent groups such as lashkar-e-Jhagvi and sipah-e-sahaba were fruits of Wahhabism. saudi arabia has always had strong influence in the public spheres of Pakistani society. according to some sources, the Taliban were also recruited on the basis of deobandi and Wahhabi sects that resulted in attacks on shias even in the streets of Pakistan. In 1986, because of thr strong saudi influence, fatwas of apostasy against shias were given by some funded clergymen. This also damaged the society of Pakistan causing hatred on the basis of sects. Export of Wahabism along with oil was a gift of saudi arabia to Pakistan that caused huge violence in the society.

Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

gious affiliations in the corner. Pakistan is moving towards a paradigm shift that is all about economic and because of this very reason Pakistan refused to progress, security and stability in the region. Paksend its troops in the Yemen war. istan has to prioritize its own interests instead of The shift of Pakistan’s strategic focus from saudi serving the interests of allies. It’s time to analyze arabia to Turkey, malaysia and China is pinching the situation keenly and take important decisions saudi arabia. because in the near future Turkey that will determine the future of Pakistan. In the might pose potential challenges to saudi leadership mid 1960s Pakistan has rearrange its relations by in the muslim world and China is a grave challenge shifting from Iran to arab states after Iran’s close for the “close” ally of relations with India and saudi arabia, the Usa. funding of unrest in The refusal of saudi baluchistan. This was arabia in calling the the time when strategic OIC for highlighting the depth was developed as atrocities on Kashmiris If Saudi Arabia can diversify its a concept and again the by the Indian armed time has come to review. relations that Pakistan has options forces and its territorial The foreign policy issue, is a signal for Pakof appeasement and too. It does not mean a complete istan to drop the policy pleasing should be of appeasement. The changed for arab Naabandonment of each other; it’s statement of Foreign tions and a policy of rather a more sensible approach of “partners not masters” minister shah mahmood Qureshi after the saudi should be adopted for a Pakistan to rearrange its strategic more refusal of a special OIC balanced approach meeting over Kashmir is in the near future. The calculus and rearrange its a sign of Pakistan’s forarabs’ increasing close eign policy shift and a priorities ties with the Usa, Israel message to saudi arabia and India clarify the of its declined imporwhole situation. arabs tance for Pakistan. are finding a secure bloc Pakistan has kept the as after 2023, they are policy of neutrality in the foreseeing threats to middle East. It has also supported the saudi narrative their leadership and rule over the entire muslim on syria. On the other hand, whenever Pakistan has countries as the crown might be shifted from saudi not abided by saudi interests in the region, it instantly arabia to Turkey. receives threats of the return of its labourers. saudi In the changing geopolitical situation, it will be arabia’s strong strategic military agreements with considerably less costly for saudi arabia to sideline India and its silence over Kashmir is an indication for Pakistan and Gwadar than damage its relations with Pakistan to alter its foreign policy. the Usa by establishing ties with China. Pakistan It seems as if the region is moving towards the has to decide its direction for the future and reevalmaking of new alliances. These alliances include uate the strategic worth of saudi arabia in the two new blocs. The first bloc consists of arab na- changing geopolitical situation. If saudi arabia can tions, the Usa and Israel on the other hand is diversify its relations that Pakistan has options too.

Turkey, malaysia, Iran, Russia and China. While It does not mean a complete abandonment of each analyzing the current situation Pakistan is shifting other; it’s rather a more sensible approach of Pakits foreign policy that includes no military stand- istan to rearrange its strategic calculus and rearrange offs and proxies in their country. It shows that Is- its priorities. lamabad is more heedful of establishing strong economic and diplomatic ties with its “immediate The writer can be reached at: neighbors” that also include Iran. Putting the reli- Khansojla123@gmail.com

The changes in Saudi-Pakistan ties are part of realignments in the whole region

Arif Nizami

Joint Editor

The writer is Lecturer-in-Law, PU Jhelum Campus, and can be reached at yasirkayani@pujc.edu.pk

Changing Horses in Midstream

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

tacks and expressed grave concerns on the miserable failure of the law enforcement agencies and fragile governance of the Government to check such terrorist incidents, and also demanded the Government to immediately arrest the culprits and try them in anti-terrorism courts. as was happened in 2019, when the protest was staged by lawyers against the malicious acts of medical staff, that later turned unfortunately violent, the government considered amending the legal Practitioners and bar Councils act, to ensure peaceful environment in the legal profession and judicial proceedings by preventing protests turning into violent activities. Those proposed cancelling the license of a legal practitioner for life if he/she indulged in physical violence. They also suggested lifetime cancellation if a lawyer is involved in cheating, fraud, forgery, false affidavits or deliberate concealment of facts. However, the move was rejected outright by PbC as a malicious onslaught to silence freedom of expression by delegitimizing the 70year-long historic role played by the lawyers’ community for strengthening constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law. as already the proper system of holding lawyers accountable for their untoward behaviour is in place under our laws in the shape of tribunals, headed by a sitting supreme Court judge and provincial high court judges at provincial levels, also providing for appeal against adverse decisions.

Keeping in view that abrupt move, the bar Councils and bar associations are now demanding such a prompt action from the government to take the matter into consideration and bring a solid mechanism to eradicate these terroristic acts continuously being committed against the legal fraternity. Even in India, when the legal community faced such lethal threats and activities, it staged protests and forced the government to bring advocates Protection act 2019 so that lawyers can carry out their duties without fear.

Proposed legislation envisages stricter punishment for threats or attacks on lawyers while discharging their duties. also, the protection of lawyers has been recognized by the international legal community as critical and is manifest in the creation of the UN special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and lawyers.

International law clearly requires the protection of lawyers in all states, and such protection becomes particularly important in states in conflict or crisis.

There are important state obligations to ensure the independence of the legal profession and to guarantee

the protection of individual lawyers.

In June 2017, the UN Human Rights Council passed an important resolution on the protection and independence of judges, lawyers, prosecutors and other court officials. Emphasizing frequent attacks on the independence of lawyers by the use of death threats and violence, this resolution has provisions which would help in reducing the conditions where they are subjected to violence. Further, it condemns acts of violence, intimidation and reprisals against judges, prosecutors and lawyers themselves, and reminds states of their duty to protect these persons and their families. besides, a raft of additional international standards and norms add weight to the UN basic Principles and special Procedures. The international standards for the protection of lawyers are further delineated in the UN declaration on Human Rights defenders. For example, it asserts a right to participate in activities against human rights violations, and a right to be protected by the state from threats or harassment as a result of those activities.

This calls for the state to take proper measures by way of legislation, for the protection of legal practitioners. a statute should include provisions for stricter punishments for the acts concerned and should also ensure safety of the stakeholders involved. It is proposed that the murder of any lawyer is an instance of terrorism and should be treated as such and stamped out and pursued proactively by the legal community and appropriate amendments in law be made to make it terrorism. Further, the proposed legislation should also cover maintenance and protection of their families from these acts as it is also seen that the lives of families are also put under high threat. This is essential for the protection of not only family members of a deceased lawyer but also for each practising lawyer. moreover, a high-powered standing committee of the bar and its officers be formed to pursue any and all instances of murders of lawyers and perform functions, including legal representation, coordination with authorities and to offer all manners of assistance to the survivors of the deceased and to periodically report back on their progress to the Cabinet which shall put the same before the House for its information and further action. additionally, the police must cooperate sincerely and its high authorities must constitute a team to investigate all the recent incidents immediately.

The threats lawyers face here are harrowing, and the inaction of the government is quite worrisome.

Rather, such incidents show the weak governance and portray a horrible picture to the world at large. Therefore, the government should sooner come out of its slumber and take realistic steps to protect the noble profession of our founding fathers.

I

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Saturday, 29 August, 2020

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Polio free Africa

Xinjiang and the Belt and Road Initiative

icantly large deposits. These include beryllium which is used in various industries like radiation windows, mechanical parts, mirrors, defence industry, telecom infrastructure, nuclear plants, magnetic parts, electronics, and for making alloys for the healthcare sector. Xinjiang Xinxin mining Industry is listed globally among the top 15 companies producing beryllium. muscovite is also abundant in the Xinjiang province and China is the world’s largest exporter of mica which is derived from muscovite. China roughly earned $64 million in 2018 from mica exports. economic growth started to rise exponentially Natron saltpetre is also abundant and in ancient and this trend kept steadily rising for more than times it is through this region that the techniques two decades which resulted in obvious wealth of using saltpetre for meat curing spread. Potasdisparity between the eastern parts of China and sium nitrate comes from natron saltpeter, and the western landlocked parts of China. Experts has a wide variety of uses ranging from making also pointed that this growth could not be sus- fertilizers, to rocket propellants to gunpowder. tained, which is why after careful planning in China exports potassium nitrate-based fertilizers 2013 President Xi Jinping announced initiation and in april 2020 the exports figures reached of the bRI, the main aim being to create trade their highest level at $7.88 million. China is bridges and corridors for the western landlocked overall the second-largest exporter of potassium underdeveloped parts of China, and bring eco- nitrate with 2018 exports at $87.2 million. Other nomic prosperity not only for these regions but large-deposit minerals include serpentine and also bRI partner countries. pottery clay. Iron is also abundant with known Under the umbrella of the bRI domestic and reserves of ore put at 730 million tons which is foreign financial institutions have been pouring why Xinjiang baYi Iron and steel is among into Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur au- China’s leading iron and steel producing units tonomous Region, looking for opportunities with annual revenues of roughly $1 billion. Xinunder the bRI. Experts say that there are abun- jiang also has great solar-power potential as it dant opportunities in the infrastructure sector, as receives annual sunshine of 2,600 to 3,400 major investment is planned, and that will attract hours. There are nine high wind power areas in even more companies into Xinjiang. Xinjiang is Xinjiang located in its north and eastern parts. the starting point of Wind power rethe CPEC, which serves in Xinjiang links the region with are 960,000 mW the Gwadar port in theoretically, and Since its launch in 2013, Xinjiang Pakistan. The CPEC 134,300 mW can be is estimated to draw technically exhas received a great deal of infrastructure inploited. vestment of $45 bilattention. Both the central and despite all the lion. The foreign propaganda against regional governments have made China’s policies in trade volume between Northwest Xinjiang, the Xinjiang a focal point of their BRI province’s China's Xinjiang literacy Uygur autonomous rate is over 95percent planning, which boosts the Region and counwhich is higher than tries along the bRI region's economy that of many develtotaled about $43 oped regions in the Xinjiang will be transformed along billion in 2018, up east. There are 12 13.5 percent yearuniversities in Xinwith the entire region on-year. The figure jiang, which is less accounted for 98.2 than the average in percent of the total other provinces. This foreign trade number must be inthrough the region's creased and more investment is required in higher ports last year. The export to the countries along education to equip the local population for the inthe bRI totaled Us $22 billion, up 0.7 percent, flux of economic opportunities to come from the while the import from these countries reached bRI. $20 billion, marking a significant increase of since its launch in 2013, Xinjiang has re31.7 percent from the previous year. statistics ceived a great deal of attention. both the central from the customs showed that Russia and Cen- and regional governments have made Xinjiang tral asian countries were the major trade part- a focal point of their bRI planning, which boosts ners of Xinjiang. among these countries, the region's economy. From 1978 to 2018, XinKazakhstan recorded the most foreign trade vol- jiang has made great improvements in people's ume of $15 billion with the region, followed by living standards. The GdP of Xinjiang increased Russia at $8.9 billion. In addition, Xinjiang has from $0.5 billion to $168.6 billion and the per also seen the foreign trade growth rates more capita GdP increased from $45 to $7000. than doubled with some European countries, in- Tourism has become an important engine for cluding armenia, spain, the Czech Republic, high-quality development. In 2018 the number slovakia, Hungary and bulgaria. of domestic and international tourists in XinThe project covers two parts. The first is jiang exceeded 150 million, an increase of more called the “silk Road Economic belt,” which is than 40 percent. Consequently, Xinjiang's comprimarily land-based and is expected to connect panies are brimming with optimism about the China with Central asia, Eastern Europe, and initiative, but challenges also remain.

Western Europe. The second is called the “21st The Xinjiang regional government's plan inCentury maritime silk Road,” which is sea- cludes creating five centres, such as a regional based and is expected to link China’s southern transportation centre, a trade logistics centre, a coast to the mediterranean, africa, south-East financial centre and a regional medical centre. asia, and Central asia. The bangladesh-China- although there have been improvements in reIndia-myanmar Corridor connects southern cent years, particularly in northern Xinjiang, China to India via bangladesh and myanmar. where the economy is generally better than in Xinjiang province is rich in natural re- the southern areas, infrastructure such as roads sources and has mineral wealth, great potential and railways still need to be better connected. for energy production and livestock farming.

Geological surveys show that roughly 122 types dr. Shafei moiz hali is a Professor at the of minerals are found there, several with signif- prestigious national defence University.

It both entertains and raises awareness shafei Moiz hali

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HE belt and Road Initiative (bRI) is an epic programme of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) which aims at connecting three continents (asia, africa and Europe) via land and sea routes. The land and sea routes form six corridors and forecasts predict a surge in economic activities along these routes, leading to increased trade and economic prosperity among the connected regions. Connecting three continents via six corridors is a massive undertaking which demands substantial investments.

Historically the Chinese people are no stranger to massive undertakings and the construction of the Great Wall of China provides testimony of the Chinese resolve. so far investments to the tune of $1 trillion are being invested across the bRI, principally for infrastructure development which includes development of modern mega sea-ports, roads, railways, airports, and power plants along with telecommunications networks systems.

With the global economy taking massive hits in the recent past, firstly due to the 2008 global financial crisis and now from the covid19 pandemic, the bRI’s promise is gaining a lot of traction among countries. The ever-increasing interest of countries in the bRI keeps changing its scope, and so far 70 countries have partnered with it. statistics from China’s commerce ministry highlight that bRI partner countries have started receiving massive investments for bRI projects which account for roughly 12 percent of the total foreign direct investment they have received. The statistics also reveal that a total of 12,500 new bRI infrastructure developments contracts worth $279 billion have been signed.

Within China, The Xinjiang province is being developed as one of the foundations for the bRI and will be an economic hub for it, as it was in ancient times for the silk Road. In ancient times, the silk Road came out of Gansu Corridor into Xinjiang, then broke into three main routes: southern, central, and northern. The southern route ran west along the northern foot of Kunlun mountains and went through Ruoqiang County, minfeng County, and Hotan area, reaching Kashgar. Then,\ it went over the Pamir Plateau and reached India or passed through afghanistan and Central asia to reach the coast of the mediterranean sea or arabian sea. The central route ran along the southern foot of the Tianshan mountain range through loulan of Ruoqiang County, Korla City, and so on and then across the Pamir Plateau reached Russia. The northern route ran along the northern foot of the Tianshan mountain range. It started at Hami County and went through Turpan, Urumqi, and the Ili River Valley, reaching the area along the black sea. It is because of this the people of Xinjiang province have cultural ties to various regions outside China and quickly adapt to change.

The New Eurasian land bridge (NElbEC) connects Xinjiang to Western Russia and then Europe. The China-Central asia-West asia Corridor (CCaWEC) connects China’s Xinjiang province to Turkey via Central and West asia.

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) connects China’s Xinjiang to the arabian sea through Pakistan. after China’s economic reforms in 1979

aFTER a decades long struggle africa has taken polio virus in hand. The WHO certification team has declared africa- Polio Free continent. a report issued by WHO declared that, For the last four years no case of polio has been reported from any of the countries of this continent.

Number of countries in africa are dealing with countless socio- Political issues and issues pertaining to human resource development, despite all these abiding challenges they have managed to eradicate this virus. Regional coordination and joint struggle is the key to this achievement tweeted by the WHO,s team for Nigeria- that is the last african country to have got rid of this virus. by1950 polio was endemic until its vaccine was found and since then a global campaign against this disease has got under way, data shows that 350,000 cases were recorded globally in 1988 and in 1996 70,000 cases were reported from africa alone.

Pakistan on the other hand is struggling to exterminate this virulent malady that is paralysing and restricting our children to bed for life.

Pakistan and afghanistan are the two countries left on polio-endemic nations list. Incidents of manhandling and harassment were reported during recent Poliovirus vaccination drive but even with all these threats around valiant polio workers were successful in reaching out to 32 million children, whilst 60 new cases of polio virus have been reported in Pakistan this year.

Pakistan and afghanistan should work collectively for eradicating this virus. These countries should also obtain support of health professionals of african countries like Nigeria and borno to exterminate poliovirus Kamran KhamiSo KhowaJa SUJawaL

Bad news for art THE bad news from all points of views is that PNCa in Islamabad has been depleted of its creative art works, numbering 10, of internationally celebrated artist anwar Jalal shemza which have been quite mysteriously handed over allegedly to a lady representative of his britain based heir by the lady director General in a hush hush manner. shemza’s art works were in PNCa possession since 1985 when these were secured from his family for holding his art work exhibition as a tribute to him immediately after his demise .There were no claims for these art works for years together .

If all this was genuine, it would have been appropriate if Federal Education minister/ minister Incharge National History and literary Heritage division shafqat mahmood along with his cousin, prominent artist and art teacher mrs salima Hashmi , whose name was mentioned some years back as local representative of shemza’s heir, were invited by lady dG, who seemingly is very friendly and frank with the minister incharge, to grace the occasion and hand over the paintings in the presence of electronic and print media, please. Thanks. m.Z.riFaT LahorE

Lawyers under Attack THE duty of a lawyer is to represent his/her client in the court of law, and that they do an equivalent. but some people having committed crimes want to urge justice of their own choice, for that purpose they use their influence and even money. sometimes they use their influence on Police and sometimes on advocates and Judges. so if they get their job done, they remained with it, but once they get declined to offer bribe, they use some illegal means for getting their purpose fulfilled which could be abduction, torture and even murder of such lawyers. astonishingly for several decades Pakistan has been a secure home for such goons due to prevalence of lawlessness. many Pakistani lawyers are under threat of such goons. Few days ago an advocate Irshad Naseem recovered from depalpur, Punjab who had been kidnapped by some culprits for not fulfilling their demands, consistent with her statement she was asked to sign a blank page and was threatened to death if she wouldn’t fulfill their demands. so by denying their demands she got kidnapped. If we see the sooner history of Pakistan , we will come to know that she isn't the only advocate who has been victimized for being honest to her profession but you'll find many advocates, who are under fire for not fulfilling their clients’ illegal, unlawful and irrational demands.

Therefore this increase of lawlessness has exposed the safety of persons, if the protectors of law aren’t safe how would a common man be? There is need of strong actions against such culprits to save the lives of legal fraternity.

SanaULLah KaLwar KaShmorE

Shameful democracy ON august 20, the lawmakers of PTI and PmlN entered a brawl in the parliament using abusive language against each other. This started when one of the members of the PTI referred to the leader of the opposition as “thief”. a member from PmlN responded in the same manner called the accusers father as thief. both parties went to a level that is not worthy of the parliament and it was disrespectful to the house and the nation. Our leaders are two sides of same coin and apparently, they are all the same. However, they keep leveling charges against each other. strangely, none of these accusations are either proven in courts or even made part of cases. It seems they are less interested in accountability and more interested in maligning each other to gain cheap popularity. It appears that our politicians neither care for the country nor for the people. I have witnessed our leaders for the past 73 years. They never worked for true democracy or betterment of people. They are all only concerned with personal gains and popularity using cheap antics, which very frequently leads to uncivil altercations between them. Our lawmakers should be polite in their interpersonal behaviors to set a decent example for public. For now, the unruly behaviors seem to be precipitating to lower levels and entire nations seems to be on edge, completely polarized. Politicians need to realize that we are at a point where they must get their acts together and start working for the people to strengthen true democracy in Pakistan. raJa ShaFaaTULLah iSLamabad

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

The UniTed ArAb emirATes, isrAel And The sTrATegic imbAlAnce of power UAE’S ACTIONS COMPLICATE THE US STRATEGY TO COUNTER IRAN AND MANAGE TURKEY’S GROWING FOOTPRINT IN THE REGION

CenTre for Global PoliCy

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Kamran BoKhari

HE recent announcement that the United Arab Emirates was seeking to normalize relations with Israel sent shockwaves through the Arab world, particularly with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Abu Dhabi’s actions have much less to do with Israel specifically than they do with the UAE’s efforts to try and manage a precarious regional security vacuum, which require a delicate balancing act to stave off pressures from both Iran and Turkey.

The United Arab Emirates’ agreement with Israel isn’t the big deal that everyone is making it out to be, and it certainly has very little if anything to do with the Palestinian conflict. Abu Dhabi’s announcement that it will establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state is a complex move driven by its own national security considerations and in response to the hollowing out of the Arab world.

The UAE-Israel deal is a relatively insignificant part of a much wider geopolitical puzzle. It has to do with Emirates’ efforts to assume charge of Arab diplomacy in order to manage regional security interests at a time of uncertain American intentions and when Turkey is pressing ahead with its efforts to become

the hegemon in the Middle East. UAE’s actions complicate the U.S. strategy to counter Iran and manage Turkey’s growing footprint in the region.

THE UAE’S GOALS FOR ISRAEL: The White House announcement on the UAE moving to recognize the state of Israel comes some two months after Yusuf al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to Washington, published an op-ed in a Hebrew-language Israeli daily and released an accompanying video in English calling on Israel not to go ahead with its West Bank annexation plans. At the time, I tweeted that Otaiba’s statements seemed more about potential UAE-Israel bilateral relations than Abu Dhabi trying to play mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all, the Emiratis are well aware that there isn’t much they can do to unfreeze this conflict, which has become deeply complicated – due both to intensifying intra-Palestinian rifts and to domestic Israeli politics. Now it’s all too clear that the Palestinian issue was just a way for the UAE to advance a much bigger initiative.

While this move is not about the Palestinians, it is also not about aligning with Israel to counter Iran, either. It is unlikely that the Israelis will expend their resources to protect the UAE or any other Gulf Arab state in a potential future conflict with Iran. Israel lacks the conventional military capability to project power that far out. More importantly, Israel is currently more concerned about its own strategic environment and is attempting to manage the growing Iranian footprint in Syria and Iraq via tactical strikes. Not only are the Emiratis well aware of this, they too have no desire for a conflict with Iran, given their country’s geographic lo-

cation.

REGIONAL ASPIRATIONS: Thus far, the UAE has enjoyed the U.S. security umbrella, but that umbrella is becoming increasingly unreliable as Washington has been moving away from heavy lifting vis-à-vis regional security needs. Abu Dhabi knows that the U.S. strategy for the Middle East increasingly relies on regional players to take the lead, and this is driving Emirati behavior.

Since the days of the Obama administration, Saudi Arabia has been making a series of unilateral foreign policy moves – enhancing its role as the leader of the Arab world, given its wealth and the fact that it was the only major Arab state unaffected by the autocratic meltdown sparked by the Arab Spring. However, Saudi Arabia is also a latecomer to regional leadership, and it has proven quite ineffective in the role under the Crown Prince (and soon-to-be monarch) Mohammad bin Salman. The UAE leadership, especially Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed, should know because they groomed bin Salman.

Put differently, the UAE has slowly been trying to fill this vacuum of Arab regional leadership, as is clear from its involvements in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya, among other places. It is executing a very complex regional calculus and has engaged in a rethink on a number of issues. For example, Abu Dhabi decided to disengage itself from backing the Syrian rebels and accept the Assad regime as a reality, at least for the foreseeable future. Likewise, it has opened strategic conversations with Iran – despite Washington’s policy of maximum pressure.

This would explain the foreign minister-level UAE-Iran meeting that took

place just four days before the announcement of the UAE’s opening relations with Israel. There is no way that the Emiratis did not – at the very least – give the Iranians a heads-up of their moves vis-à-vis Israel.

It is very likely, in fact, that the UAE told Iran that its ties with Israel were actually in Tehran’s interest as Abu Dhabi could serve as a go-between the two adversaries and manage the standoff in the Levant. The UAE would also not want Oman to play this role, especially given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent state visit to Muscat and the fact that the Omanis serve as the principal backchannel between the United States and Iran. These considerations are part of a bigger threat perception of the UAE and the Arab states, which is informed by Turkey’s aggressive push into the broader Middle East and North Africa region, especially given that rival Arab Gulf state Qatar is allied with the Turks.

In other words, the Emiratis are more worried about Turkey’s ingress into the Arab world than Iran’s. This makes sense given Iran’s identity as the ethno-sectarian “other,” which imposes natural limits on how far the Iranians can go in terms of inroads in the Arab world. Besides, Iran is contained given the toll that sanctions are taking, not just on Iran’s external power projection capabilities but also on its domestic political and economic stability. Tehran does have a deep footprint on its western flank extending to the Eastern Mediterranean, but not much can be done about it.

Turkey is also challenging Iran, albeit in a subtle way, and herein lies the problem for the UAE and the Arab sides: They do not want to contain Iran at the cost of empowering Turkey. That is a huge price to pay, given that the Turks are on the Arab side of the geosectarian struggle in the region. Ankara is also appealing to the broader Muslim sensibilities of Arab masses, which it is leveraging through the use of soft-power tactics.

What is more alarming from the UAE

The myth of inner party democracy

point of view is Turkish backing for Islamist forces, particularly those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. These are principal partners of the Turks and proxies of the Qataris. Muslim Brotherhoodstyle Islamists are the only organized group that has come close to forming governments in the aftermath of the Arab spring, which UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have struggled to contain.

A BALANCING ACT: Therefore, the UAE strategy is to use Iran and Israel to counter Turkish inroads into the Arab world. One key aspect of this is to have a working relationship with Tehran and make sure that the Turks are not able to punch through the Iranians blocking them in Syria and Iraq. The other leg of this strategy is to ensure that Turkey, which has decades-old diplomatic relations with Israel, does not reach an understanding with the Jewish state that has an interest in partnering with the Turks to counter Iran putting down roots on its northern frontier. Thus, UAE is seeking to balance between Iran and Israel as a way to prevent the Turks from a deep ingression into Arab lands.

This is a very ambitious strategy that is akin to juggling too many balls at a time, but it is the best UAE can hope to do given that it is punching well above its weight in this game of major-league geopolitics. What this means is that the UAE has to simultaneously manage way too many players with their own unique sets of expectations. In situations like these, a lot can go wrong, and therefore this strategy is untenable in the long run where Turkey and Iran can be expected to be competing for influence in the Arab world and UAE and other similar Arab actors will have a secondary role.

The next U.S. administration will need to find a way to balance its need to work with Turkey to counter Iran with the security concerns of the Arab states; otherwise, moves like the ones UAE is engaged in threaten to undermine U.S. strategy for regional players to take the lead in managing security in the Middle East.

Dr. Kamran Bokhari is the Director of Analytical Development at the Center for Global Policy (CGP). Dr.Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has served as the coordinator for Central Asia Studies at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in 2019.

Sonia & son

THE CONGRESS CONTROVERSY IS A REMINDER THAT INDIAN PARTIES ARE FAMILY FIEFDOMS OR AUTOCRACIES

HindusTan Times rajdeepSardeSai

In the aftermath of the “letter bomb” in the Congress that didn’t quite explode, there has been much angst over the apparent lack of inner party democracy in the party. “Family-run proprietorship” is a charge often made to describe the Congress’ obsession with the Gandhis. In the 51 years since Indira Gandhi split the Congress, a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family has controlled this “new” Congress for all but seven years. To that extent, the charge of being a dynastic party is valid.

But does that also mean that the Congress is less “democratic” than its principal rivals? Not quite.

Take, for example, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). When did the BJP hold an open election to the post of president or while choosing its prime ministerial nominee? When Rajnath Singh finished his term in 2014, Amit Shah was unanimously “selected” as the BJP chief, no questions asked. He was, after all, the most trusted aide of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. When Shah stepped down in 2019, JP Nadda was again “selected” as party chief simply because he was the most convenient; an affable leader with no mass base who would not rock the boat.

While he undoubtedly had the support of the party cadre, the fact is that the decision to elevate Modi was made at the RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur, before being rubber-stamped at a BJP parliamentary board meeting in September 2013. When party patriarch

LK Advani chose to voice his dissent at the anointment, he was pushed into the margdarshakmandal, a clear signal that no challenge would be tolerated.

Sonia Gandhi, by contrast, as the Gandhi family “bahu” is an obvious beneficiary of the dynastic principle. But while she took over the Congress in a “bloodless coup” from SitaramKesri in 1998, she did go through at least the ritual of a contested “election” where she defeated senior party leader, Jitendra Prasad. That Prasad had challenged her leadership didn’t prevent his son, Jitin, from becoming a minister in the United Progressive Alliance government subsequently.

Even SharadPawar, who was forced to quit the Congress after confronting Sonia Gandhi on the foreign origins issue, soon became a valuable ally. Even now, Sonia has claimed that she bears “no ill will” against the letter writers. In comparison, it would seem that there is less space for dissenters to play an active role within the BJP. In the 1970s, when a Jan Sangh stalwart like BalrajMadhok took on the Vajpayee-Advani duopoly, he was banished from the party forever. When Govindacharya, the charismatic Hindutva ideologue, allegedly described the then PM Vajpayee as a “mukhauta” (mask), he was stripped off all party posts and forced into virtual oblivion. In more recent times, all BJP leaders from Gujarat belonging to anti-Modi factions have been downsized or removed. Can anyone in the BJP dare even write a letter today that obliquely questions the PM’s style of leadership and expect to survive, much less be heard in party fora? Has there been any vigorous debate within the BJP over the last six years on any crucial issues of national concern, be it demonetisation or Kashmir, or is the party now totally subservient to the PM’s office?

The truth is that where the Congress is undoubtedly more dynastic and plagued by an ad-hoc nomination culture, it is also ironically perhaps more democratic than the BJP today. Where the top post in the Congress appears reserved for a family member, the BJP now has a “supremo” cult which allows little space for alternate views.

Moreover, the BJP also has its own extended “parivar” in which the RSS, as an extra-constitutional authority, is the final arbiter on key political appointments. Was, for example, the decision to make Yogi Adityanath UP chief minister in 2017 taken by the elected legislators in Lucknow or was it made by the RSS leadership?

And what of the regional parties? To a large extent, these parties have imbibed the worst of both the Congress and BJP. Almost all these parties are run either like family fiefdoms or by autocratic rule. None of them tolerate any contrarian voices and decision-making is rarely done through any consultative process. Can anyone within the Trinamool Congress, for example, even mildly question Mamata Banerjee’s leadership?

Maybe then, the notion of inner party democracy is exaggerated in the Indian context. We are simply not the United States where electoral primaries, for example, are designed to encourage leadership contests and a clash of ideas. In India, any contest is viewed as potentially divisive. Instead, there is a marked tendency to obediently follow the leader in the spirit of “democratic consensus”. Which is why a seven hour Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, to discuss issues raised in a letter by 23 Congress leaders, is perhaps as far as any party leadership would go in opening itself up to scrutiny. Maybe the true test of genuine democratic spirit will come if in the proposed All India Congress Committee session there is actually a spirited election to the CWC and even for the Congress president’s post. Now that would truly be a political event worth looking forward to.

Post-script: Just before CWC meeting, a “gang of 23” member told me that the controversial letter was not targeted at the Gandhi family but aimed at reviving the party. “But all this is off record please, else I will get into more trouble,” he pleaded. When fear is the key, can inner party democracy be truly embraced?

RajdeepSardesai is a senior journalist and author.

BURN THAT TREACHEROUS LETTER. WE WILL NEVER LET ’ER GO

Times of india BachiKarKaria

Ganesh Chaturthi could have heralded an auspicious beginning for the Congress but instead ended as a non-starter. To no one’s surprise the letter signed by 23 Congressmen, far from being heeded as a heartfelt cri de coeur, was denounced as a stab in the back. This pathetic tamasha momentarily brought the party to the centrestage of news, and as swiftly, pushed it closer to curtains. Everyone says that the Grand Old Party’s death will also be that of our democracy since it is the only Opposition. But the Congress itself hasn’t had any democracy in a long time; and it is ruling party and Opposition rolled into one. So, here’s what I’ve been wondering.

Should Sonia change her name to TINA? Btw, this factor puts the two arch enemies in the same camp. Modi is the BJP and the BJP is Modi only, no?

Has DK Barooah’s sycophantic ‘Indira is India and India is Indira’ turned into ‘The INC is the Gandhis. Period.’? The party serves The

Family, it is never vice versa.

Did the courtiers channel their inner Greta by shouting ‘How Dare You!’?

Will those who washed the party’s dirty linen in public be taken to the cleaners? And be hung out to dry. Of the senior signatories, one promptly regretted his show of Azadi, swearing that he’d always been a faithful Ghulam; Mukul too cried, ‘I’m Wasnik, Isnik and will always be the party’s loyal servant; Anand said his accusers should have some sharma, considering he had stuck

by Indira through thick and split.

Sibal? His could be a bitter Kapill.

Despite Sonia’s magnanimous, ‘Let’s put the past behind us’, it might well become ‘23 and done’ like the ‘21 and done’ tech-brats.

No one’s betting on that brave letter Pilot-ing a (Geh)lot of changes in party functioning.

The Gandhis never face the music, but partymen play several pieces. Most common is J.S.Bach’s ‘Air on the G string’, or more aptly ‘Heir on the ji-string’. When Madam wanted to relinquish the presidentship, the courtiers wailed Farida Khanum’s ‘Aajjaneykizidnakaro’. Now they’re stomping to Sonu-Alka’s ‘You are my Soni-a.’

Finally, did the ginger group spice up matters only to be ground to a paste – and will it be taught a ‘lassoon’?

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

BUSINESS 09

Weekly inflation falls 0.14pc LAHORE: The country's weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) reading for the week that ended on August 27 showed a dip of 0.14 percent for the combined consumption group compared to the previous week. SPI is a weekly inflationary indicator that measures the change in the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by the households in the country. The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 135.03 points against 135.22 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). However, the SPI for the same week a year ago saw the expected rise of 8.39 percent. During the week, prices of 11 items decreased, while the prices for 12 items increased. Another 28 items that make up the basket used for calculation remained constant. Chicken, LPG cylinders, bananas, sugar, garlic, eggs, wheat flour, vegetable oil (tin), vegetable oil (loose), curd, and fresh milk all saw price decrease.

Commodities that rose in price included tomatoes, onions, pulses, rice, sugar, potatoes, mash pulse, cooking oil (tin), powdered milk, and beef. The SPI measurement that has been taken, with the base year being used for the comparison being 2015-16, covers 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The Sensitive Price Indicator for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 witnessed 0.08 percent decrease and went down from 141.62 points in last week to 141.50 points during the week under review. APP

CEO of waste management company arrested by NAB NEWS DESK: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ms/Ali Traders Waste Management Company, Muhammad Naseer, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in Lahore on Thursday. The arrest comes at the tail-end of a nearly three year long investigation that began in March 2018, when NAB had initiated inquiry proceedings against CEO/Directors of M/s Ali Traders Waste Management Company, Kasur and others. Corruption references were filed in June 2020.

Naseer, the main accused in the corruption case, installed an incinerator having capacity to incinerate highly toxic 100-150 kg/hr waste after acquiring approval from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). However, allegedly, the capacity was later fraudulently increased up to 400-450 kg/hr. The waste management company involved in the case would collect toxic waste from the government and private hospitals to dispose of it professionally. However, a statement from NAB said that they collected the hazardous waste in capacities far beyond what they were both able and allowed to collect for incineration. "The company gained the maximum incineration charges on a per kg basis from different clients. Naseer and others used to dump the hazardous waste and submit bogus quarterly compliance report with EPA,” read the statement.

Oil dips as US producers and refiners take shelter LONDON: Oil prices edged lower on Friday as storm Laura past the heart of the US oil industry in Louisiana and Texas without causing any widespread damage to refineries.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures for October, set to expire on Friday, was down 7 cents to $44.99 a barrel by 1154 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures were down 3 cents to $43.01 a barrel. “With the US Gulf hurricanes out of the way and preliminary assessment showing no damage to the upstream or downstream facilities, crude has surrendered most of the storm premium and could enter a holding pattern again,” said Vandana Hari, oil market analyst at Vanda Insights. Indeed the market has been stuck in an unusually long spell of low volatility, analyst Eugen Weinberg at Commerzbank said, in contrast with stock markets. “It didn’t even react to a weaker dollar.

There’s no impulse in either direction. It has seldom had so little volatility for such a long period, especially given the dynamic situation on the demand and supply sides,” Weinberg said. Hurricane Laura, since downgraded to a tropical depression, hit Louisiana early Thursday with winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour). Buildings were damaged, trees fell and power was cut to more than 650,000 people in Louisiana and Texas, but refineries were spared from feared massive flooding. U.S. producers had shut 1.56 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude output, or 83% of the Gulf of Mexico’s production, while nine refineries had shut around 2.9 million bpd of capacity, or 15% of U.S. processing capacity, ahead of the storm. AGENCIES

FiNANCiAl CONSTrAiNTS FOrCE KP TO SlASh lOCAl gOvT FUNDS By rS50m PESHAWAR

A

AZIZ BUNERI

day after Prime Minister Imran Khan touted the success of the local government system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a television interview, the provincial government has imposed a cut of Rs50 million on funds allocated for the local government department of the province.

The KP Finance Department has transferred Rs1.64 billion to the Local Government Department for urban and rural development in the financial year

2020-2021. Out of this amount, Rs578 million is allocated for rural development to be done by village councils, while Rs 1.7 billion was allocated for urban development.

However, according to sources, due to the non-payment of net profit of electricity and other funds by the federal government, KP is facing financial difficulties. To help themselves out during this crunch, the provincial government has imposed a cut of Rs50.21 million, due to which the LG department is facing financial difficulties. This cut came only 10 days after the government. provided funds to the department.

A day ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan during an interview with Arshad Sharif had commented on the 18th amendment, saying it was flawed because power had not been devolved to local governments, and that this had only happened in KP. However, observers soon brought up the fact that local body governments in KP had not been functioning for at least two years, which was when the last election should have constitutionally been held.

According to sources in the KP finance department, due to the lack of funds, a number of projects are lying incomplete due to which the provincial

exchequer is facing billions of rupees loss as the cost of the projects are increasing with each day. The finance department has so far released just 10 percent of the budget allocations despite the passage of two months which are not enough to complete the ongoing projects.

The constructors have not been be paid the funds, due to which work on several projects have been stopped. The sources further revealed that the finance department has provided funds for all the projects, but the funds are lying in bank accounts and no new project has been initiated.

FBR assures traders of clearing up rebate backlog

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has assured businesses that it will clear all pending rebates that have been backlogged. The move comes as part of the FBR's attempts to become more transparent, and increase the ease of doing business.

The statement was made by Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Member of the FBR's Inland Revenue Operations section, during a visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). While promising a quick resolution to the growing backlog, he asked the ICCI to share details of pending refunds with the board.

At the event, the President of the ICCI, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, said that refund cases from as far back as 2009 were still pending and stressed that all refunds should be automated for timely clearance. He urged that a uniform policy for exemptions be made and the last date for POS installation should be extended up to Dec 31, 2020.

He also urged the FBR to reduce the 1.5 percent turnover tax on the steel industry, which accumulated into huge amounts, besides exempting manufacturers from withholding agents so that they could fully focus on promoting business activities.

Explaining the inefficiency in the country's taxation

system, Dr Ahmed said the system was broken, and incapable of assisting sustainable economic growth. He said that the FBR was working on a new, more efficient tax system that would help them in their goal of making conducting business easier.

However, the most realistic outlook for how long this process of creating a new tax system will take was two to three years. "The promotion of industry, trade and exports was the first priority of FBR with revenue generation as second priority as promotion of businesses would translate into more tax revenue for the country," he said.

Going into detail about what this proposed new system would do, Dr Ahmed said the FBR was looking towards conducting e-audits, for which they would select a minimal number for audit to ensure maximum transparency. For now, the Large Taxpayer Unit of the board has been given the responsibility of the big cases.

Meanwhile, Regional Tax Offices will now mange the smaller scale traders and businesses, as well as attracting new taxpayers.

A proposition is also being made to create an operating Corporate Tax Office in Islamabad to deal with corporate tax cases, in line with the FBR's attempts to create as many specialised divisions as possible. However, he made it clear that the business community would be taken on board and all stakeholders would be consulted in the process.

NESPAK ranked among ENR Magazine’s ‘Top Global Firms’ BUSINESS DESK Under an unprecedented development, NESPAK under the leadership of Dr Tahir Masood, has been ranked this year on ENR Magazine Top International /Global Construction Management/Program Management Firms list, published as part of the ENR Top

International/Global Contractors feature in the August 17/24 issue of ENR, a US-based ranking magazine.

The ranking has been published in the latest issue of the magazine and communicated to the NESPAK management with a congratulatory note. NESPAK has been ranked 13 among the top 20 Non-US firms in total global construction manage-

ment and programme management.

NESPAK was envisioned by its founders as an organisation free from foreign dependence and capable of delivering the highest quality in the field of engineering consultancy. It was envisaged as an institution which had to lead the consultancy market of Pakistan and compete abroad with excellence.

TDAP to assist handicraft manufacturers in trade aspirations ISLAMABAD APP

The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has said that the department will extend all possible assistance on a priority basis to provide opportunities of trade to handicraft manufacturers of Pakistan. The comments were made by TDAP Director Shahzad Ahmad Khan, during a virtual handicraft forum organized by the Handicrafts Association of Pakistan Addressing the occasion as chief guest, he appreciated the efforts of HAP Chairman, Fahad Barlas, and other office bearers for organizing different events with the objectives to highlight the significant importance and trade value of handicrafts. Shahzad pointed out that China has already expressed interest in the great potential of Pakistani handicrafts, and TDAP was working hard towards helping Pakistani craftsmen trading their handicrafts to other countries by providing a platform and all required facilities for the purpose. HAP office bearers from all over Pakistan attended the session and discussed matters pertaining to the promotion of handicrafts of Pakistan. Shereen Arshad, Ayesha Khan, Country Manager of the Hashoo Foundation , Akeel Khalid, CEO of Vaceela, Danish Jabbar Khan, CEO of Kaarvan Crafts Foundation, Mehnaaz Perveen, CEO of Karakoram Area Development organization, and Tania Buttar, the deputy general manager of SMEDA, all shared their views regarding different aspects of handicrafts up-gradation. Fahad Barlas said that the cultural heritage of Pakistan has been depicted through handicrafts and our artisans and craftsmen are highly skilled and their contributions should be acknowledged.

MARKET DAILY

Gloom over PSX as Karachi submerged underwater KARACHI STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a dull and gloomy session after the business hub of the country was submerged in water. Volumes sunk as the city faced power outages. mobile signal disruption, and the government announced a province wide holiday.

Global equity markets showed mixed performance. Crude oil prices continued to decline with WTI crude oil price declining by 0.07% to $43.01 while Brent crude oil price fell by 0.24pc to $45.49.

On the economic front, according to the latest figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan, total liquid foreign exchange reserves inched up by 0.33% to USD 19,722 mn. Net reserves with State Bank increased slightly by 33 mn to USD 12,641 mn. Net reserves with Banks increased by 0.50% to USD 7,082mn. On an MTD basis the reserves increased by 0.63%.

Trading remained range-bound, and the KSE 100 index traded in a narrow band of only 170pts, +82.89pts and -87.90pts. It closed flat by -25.72 pts at 41,056.22. The KMI 30 index lost 266.06 pts ending day at

65,322.37. While the KSE All Share index inched up by 30.48 pts settling at 28,807.84.

Overall market volumes declined from 544.63 million shares to 238.52 million shares. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +4.39%), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL +4.26%) and Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +0.42%) led the volume chart.

The scrips had 26.25 million shares, 15.28 million shares and 11.60 million shares traded respectively.

Sectors that helped the benchmark KSE 100 index close with minor gains included Technology and Communication sector (48.25

CMYK

pts), Chemical sector (21.82 pts) and Pharmaceutical sector (12.72 pts). TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG 39.51 pts), Colgate - Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited (COLG 34.52 pts) and Abbot Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited (ABOT 30.07 pts) were volume leaders of the day.

The Technology and Communication sector gained 2.61% in its cumulative market capitalization. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTC 3.24%), Systems Limited (SYS 3.26%) and TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG 4.39%) all ended in green.

Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL +4.26%) in a notification announced that it

has temporarily suspended refinery operations due to heavy rain and flooding.

Abbot Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited (ABOT +7.50%) announced its financial performance for 2QFY20. The company’s EPS surged from Rs 1.83 in SPLY to Rs 12.85. An interim cash dividend of Rs 15 was also declared. International Industries Limited (INIL +1.21%) declared an EPS of Rs -5.26 for FY20 as compared to Rs 11.94 in FY19. Crescent Steel & Allied Products Limited (CSAP +7.49%) reported an EPS of Rs -0.22 for FY20 as compared to Rs 1.85 in FY19.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

TruMP AssAils rivAl Biden in WhiTe house sPeech AccePTing noMinATion

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Merkel says pandemic to worsen, vaccine key for return to normality German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday the coronavirus pandemic was likely to worsen in coming months, and that life would not return to normal until a vaccine to combat it had been developed. Even though Germany would not fully repay debt incurred due to relief measures to offset the virus’s economic impact until 2058, such stimulus was essential as the economy could not be allowed to grind to a halt in the meantime, she said. In response to the pandemic, her government would also work in a spirit of social cohesion, she said, urging citizens not to drop their guard against the virus. “This is a serious matter, as serious as it’s ever been, and you need to carry on taking it seriously,” she told a news conference.

Meanwhile, the European Commission was working on signing further contracts with drug companies to secure COVID-19 vaccines, she said. With none of the many vaccines under development around the world having yet passed through phase III trials, the European Commission has made a 336 million euro ($400 million) downpayment to British drug maker AstraZeneca to secure at least 300 million doses of its potential COVID-19 drug. “Further such contracts are in the works,” Merkel said.

WINTER UNCERTAINTY: Germany has managed to keep COVID-19 cases and deaths relatively low compared with some other large European countries.

But, in common with the trend across much of the world, the country’s number of new daily infections has been rising since early July and has accelerated in recent weeks. Social cohesion was a key factor in combating the threat, with the virus hitting some groups, such as elderly or low-income families, harder than others, she said. Her administration would also be “doing everything so that our children are not the losers of the pandemic. School and daycare need to be the most important things.” Merkel met with the leaders of Germany’s states on Thursday to agree common standards in how to stem the spread of the virus. They agreed on the need to keep schools open and a decision to ban major events such as sports matches and concerts until at least the end of the year.

They also agreed to introduce stricter quarantine rules for travellers returning from countries on Germany’s high-risk list - most outside of Europe some regions within the European Union such as Paris and most of Spain. The move was motivated by concern over the fact that many new cases or coronavirus have been linked to infections brought back from summer holiday travel. Merkel on Thursday urged Germans not to travel to areas where the risk of infection was high. “Not everything will be the way it was before the coronavirus,” Merkel said, adding that nobody could foresee how the situation would develop in the winter, when a lot of outdoor activity moved indoors.

“We only know a little bit about the virus and about its characteristics,” she said. “Whenever we know something new we will need to take new measures.

It’s going to be an ongoing process.” AGENCIES

defiant President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for a second term on Thursday with a scathing attack on rival Joe Biden, asserting that a Democratic victory in November would only exacerbate the racial strife and coronavirus pandemic besieging the nation.

Speaking from the White House South Lawn despite criticism he was using the executive residence as a political prop, Trump portrayed Biden, a career politician with a long record as a moderate, as a far-left extremist who would usher in a lawless, dangerous America.

“This election will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchic agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens,” Trump said on the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention in a speech that lasted more than an hour.

“No one will be safe in Biden’s America.”

Despite the pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 Americans, Trump delivered his remarks before a crowd of more than 1,000 people, standing in front of dozens of American flags and basking in chants of “Four more years!” and “U.S.A.!”

His language was evocative of his 2016 convention acceptance speech, which also came at a time of racial tension after eight police officers were killed in Texas and Louisiana amid protests following shootings of Black men.

“Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of vi-

olence in our streets and the chaos in our communities,” he said then, vowing to end the turmoil.

But Trump, who ran successfully as an insurgent four years ago, is now in control at the White House, complicating his assertion once again that only he can solve the problem.

Republicans on Thursday sought to advance that message after days of civil unrest and violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where on Sunday police shot a Black man, Jacob Blake. They inaccurately asserted that Biden would “defund the police.” Biden has rejected that position.

As the night unfolded, Biden struck back on Twitter, writing, “When Donald Trump says tonight you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America, look around and ask yourself: How safe do you feel in Donald Trump’s America?”

In trying to paint Biden as a tool of the “radical left,” Trump also distorted the Democrat’s policy positions on a host of other issues, including immigration, guns, law enforcement, abortion and energy production. “If given the chance, he will be the destroyer of American greatness,” Trump warned.

The made-for-television scene – befitting the first reality TV host to serve as president – stood in marked contrast to Biden’s acceptance speech last week, which was broadcast live from a largely empty arena in a nod to the disease.

Following the speech, fireworks exploded over the nearby Washington Monument as the president and his family looked on, giving Trump and the convention a powerful closing image.

The crowd, seated in white chairs

inches apart, showed little evidence of social distancing or face masks despite health experts’ recommendations. But the Trump campaign said it had taken appropriate health precautions in arranging the South Lawn event.

In a reminder of the country’s divisions, attendees could hear anti-Trump protesters sounding horns near the White House as he spoke, a noise that occasionally was audible on the live broadcast.

SHIFTING BLAME: Trump, a former New York real estate developer, is seeking to turn around a re-election campaign that has been largely overshadowed by a health crisis that has put millions of Americans out of work and killed more people than in any other country, according to a Reuters tally.

His campaign comes against the backdrop of a fresh wave of protests over the latest high-profile police shooting of a Black American. In Kenosha, relative calm returned after three nights of civil strife ending on Tuesday, including arson, vandalism and deadly shootings.

In his speech on Thursday, Trump again blamed China for the pandemic and promised in his second term to levy tariffs on any company that left America to create jobs overseas, one of the rare concrete policy proposals of the night.

He also promised to rebuild what Republicans have called the “greatest economy” in history and attacked Biden for saying he would shut down the country if necessary to slow the spread of the disease. Many health experts blame a resurgence of coronavirus cases on states that reopened businesses too soon.

“Joe Biden’s plan is not a solution to

Taiwan unveils F-16 maintenance hub as China tensions build Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Friday to defend the island with a “solid” air force as she launched a U.S.-backed maintenance centre for the island’s fleet of upgraded F-16 fighters amid rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

Frequent Chinese and US military exercises in the region are raising fears of conflict touched off by a crisis over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

“It takes solid defence capability, not bowing and cringing, to defend the sovereignty of the Republic of China and maintain regional peace and stability,” Tsai told a ceremony unveiling the island’s first maintenance hub in the central city of Taichung for its most advanced F16s.

The Republic of China is Taiwan’s formal name.

Tsai said the hub marks a milestone in her years-long drive to build up Taiwan’s defence industry.

“The time needed for jet maintenance will be greatly shortened and availability will be boosted signifi-

cantly, ensuring the Air Force’s combat power at the front line,” she said.

Tsai has complained of increased Chinese military drills and on Thursday warned of the risk of accidental conflict.

The hub, led by US weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp and Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), is latest example of military cooperation between Washington and Taipei.

The United States last year approved an $8 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, a deal that

would take the island’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, the largest in Asia.

AIDC’s president, Ma Wan-june, said that the hub would service jets for Taiwan’s air force and that the company plans to expand it as a maintenance hub for F-16s in the region. He declined to elaborate.

The United States has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is the island’s main international backer and arms supplier. China said last month it would sanction Lockheed Martin for involvement in arms sales to Taiwan. AGENCIES

Greece ratifies deal with Egypt as Turkey set to hold drills ATHENS TLTP

Greece has ratified an accord on maritime boundaries with Egypt, hours after Turkey extended the operation of a seismic survey vessel in the Eastern Mediterranean and said it will hold firing exercises in the region next week.

The Athens-Cairo agreement is seen as a response to a Turkish-Libyan accord signed in 2019 allowing Turkey access to areas in the region where large hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered.

Under their treaty, Egypt and Greece are now allowed to seek maximum benefit from the resources available in an exclusive economic zone, including oil and gas reserves.

A similar accord between Italy and Greece was approved on Wednesday.

Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas on Thursday said "their ratification is urgent" given "Turkey's

the virus, but rather a surrender,” Trump said.

While Trump’s popularity among Republican voters remains high, dissent is mounting within the party.

In three open letters published on Thursday and Friday, Biden won endorsements from more than 160 people who worked for Republican former President George W. Bush or for past Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain, the New York Times and Politico reported.

Thursday’s program aimed to counterbalance those defections with a video showcasing former Democratic voters who say they now support Trump and remarks from U.S. Representative Jeff Van Drew, who abandoned the Democratic Party to join the Republicans.

Trump kicked off the week on Monday by accusing Democrats of seeking to steal the election by advocating for mailin voting. His previous high-profile speeches have also emphasized grim themes, including his inaugural address in January 2017 that described “American carnage.”

With both parties’ conventions now complete, the campaign enters a final, frenetic stretch. Biden, who has largely eschewed in-person events since March because of the pandemic, said at a Thursday fundraiser he expects to travel to several battleground states after early September, albeit in a manner he described as responsible.

Trump, who has visited several battleground states during the pandemic, also plans to increase his campaign travel. AGENCIES

illegal activities".

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament another bill will extend Greece's coastal zone in the Ionian Sea from six (about 11km) to 12 nautical miles (22km) under international maritime conventions.

Turkey and Greece - both NATO allies - are at odds over the rights to potential hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean area, based on conflicting claims over the extent of their continental shelves.

Tensions escalated this month after

Ankara dispatched the Oruc Reis seismic survey vessel in a disputed area following the pact between Athens and Cairo.

Turkey has said the pact infringes on its own continental shelf. The agreement also overlaps with maritime zones Turkey agreed to with Libya last year, decried as illegal by Greece.

Earlier on Thursday, the Turkish navy issued the latest advisory, known as a Navtex, saying it will hold "gunnery exercises" in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Iskenderun, northeast of Cyprus on September 1 and 2.

It also extended the seismic work of the Oruc Reis vessel southwest of Cyprus, until September 1.

Greece says the Turkish advisories are illegal.

Maritime zones give a state rights over natural resources. Largely unexplored, the Eastern Mediterranean is thought to be rich in natural gas.

Japan’s stocks slide on news of PM Abe’s resignation TOKYO TLTP

Japan’s Nikkei led the losses among Asia’s major stock markets on Friday after the country’s longest serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, resigned over health issues. The Nikkei dropped 1.4 percent, while Tokyo Stock Price Index (Topix) ended the day almost 0.7 percent down. Other Asian markets, except for Taiwan and Australia, were trading up, with shares in both mainland China and Hong Kong gaining around 1.5 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.4 percent, and India's Mumbai Sensex added around one percent.

European markets opened moderately lower on Friday. The markets reacted to media reports that Japanese Prime Minister Abe has resigned. Japan's public broadcaster NHK, citing sources close to Abe, said that the 65year-old leader is stepping down due to a worsening of a chronic health condition. The same was reported by a number of other outlets. “This is a negative for Japanese stocks because it raises questions about what policies come next. We do see the familiar pattern of falling stocks pushing up the yen,” said Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo. The change in the global markets sentiment also came after a major US policy shift. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced a revised policy to target inflation on Thursday. “Following periods when inflation has been running persistently below 2 percent, appropriate monetary policy will likely aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time,” the Fed said.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

SPORTS 11

RAin inTeRRuPTs As PAkisTAn TuRn The scRew in 1sT T20 AgAinsT englAnD

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While the Pakistan team contains five spinning all-rounders - including Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, who made their debut in this format together in Pakistan's first T20I 14 years ago to the day against the same opposition - on a surface which traditionally favours spin, the atmospheric conditions may be more to the liking of the seamers. Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf make their first appearances of the tour, while Shaheen Afridi is one of three Pakistan men to have featured in the third Test as well as this game. With Jason Roy injured, Tom Banton will open for England with Jonny Bairstow. Dawid Malan retains his place - he was in the side the last time England played a T20I in South Africa - and Lewis Gregory wins the battle for the all-rounders spot ahead of David Willey. There was no place for Joe Denly.

England 1 Tom Banton 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk) 3 Dawid Malan 4 Eoin Morgan (capt) 5 Sam Billings 6 Moeen Ali 7 Lewis Gregory 8 Tom Curran 9 Chris Jordan 10 Adil Rashid 11 Saqib Mahmood Pakistan 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Shaheen Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf.

Agencies

NGLAND are batting first in the 1st T20I vs Pakistan. They were 131/6 after 16.1 overs when rain came down to halt play. Jonny Bairstow (2) fell in the first over. David Malan was run out for 23 in the 10th over, just as Tom Banton started to attack at the other end.

Banton, who was dropped on 5, went on to score his maiden T20I fifty before falling for 71. Eoin Morgan (14) was also out soon after, as England failed to cash in on the momentum they picked in the middle overs.

Earlier today, Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, won the toss and chose to bowl first in the opening T20I of the three-match series against England at Emirates Old Trafford.

Eoin Morgan, the England captain, admitted he also would have chosen to bowl first on a surface which has been under cover for most of the day after heavy rain in Manchester.

Ramiz Raja lashes out at team after England Test series loss Agencies

Djokovic cruises into semis where Bautista Agut awaits Agencies Novak Djokovic cruised past Germany’s JanLennard Struff 6-3 6-1 on Wednesday to reach a record-equalling eighth Western & Southern Open semi-final where he will face Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. The semi-finals will be played on Friday, scheduled as the final day of the event, after organisers joined other sporting events in suspending play on Thursday in protest against racial injustice. World number one Djokovic took advantage of a series of errors by Struff to grab control of the match and closed out the 62-minute encounter with a love service break to extend his unbeaten run to 24 matches. “It was great. I started a little bit tight in my opening couple of service games ... Ever since I made that break at the beginning of the first set, I never looked back,” said Djokovic.

“I really played very aggressive whenever I had the chance and I was going for my shots.”

With the win, Djokovic tied Jimmy Connors, Stefan Edberg, Roger Federer and Bill Talbert’s semi-final totals at the ATP Masters 1000 event. Earlier, Bautista Agut produced a stunning comeback to defeat third seed Daniil Medvedev 1-6 6-4 6-3 and reach his maiden semi-final in the event, which is being played at Flushing Meadows, New York instead of Cincinnati due to COVID-19.Bautista Agut’s chances of victory appeared distant after the 24-year-old Russian cruised through the first set and had three break point chances early in the second.But the 32-year-old Bautista Agut began to play freer, charging the net and serving with more confidence.“After the first set, I was thinking a lot of bad things,” he said with a laugh. “I had to fight a lot in the second set.

It was a really tough match.”In other quarterfinal matches, Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced after Reilly Opelka, who was leading 6-5, retired due to a knee injury.Tsitsipas will play Milos Raonic, a 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5 winner over Serbian Filip Krajinovic, for a spot in the final.Raonic, a former world number three, said he considered not playing his quarter-final in solidarity with the protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.The Canadian urged players and administrators to join hands and take an unified stand following Naomi Osaka’s decision to pull out of her semi-final in protest over racial injustice.“I think a bigger demonstration needs to happen and a bigger disturbance needs to happen,” said Raonic, who was speaking before the tennis governing bodies jointly announced the postponement of Thursday’s fixtures. “I think it’s about everybody being on the same page. If three guys, four guys step up tomorrow, but everything continues as normal on Monday when the U.S. Open starts, you know, have we taken that next small step after not playing the first day?”

Former captain Ramiz Raja lashed out at the current Pakistan team led by Azhar Ali after the Test series loss against England. Pakistan displayed an insipid performance in the third Test, allowing England to register 583/8 dec in the first innings, and then getting bundled out for 273. Heavy rainfall in the last two days led to the match ending in a draw after the hosts had enforced a follow-on.

But the draw meant that England, who already had 1-0 lead, had won the three-match Test series. Speaking in a video uploaded on his Youtube channel, Raja pointed fingers at the senior players in the team and asked them what is their role in the team.

“There are problems in the Pakistan camp, not just of late but from a while now as far as away tours are concerned.

This year we lost to South Africa, Australia and now England. We compete in the first Test but progressively our form tapers off as the series progresses,” Raja said.

“What is the role of senior players?

Will they keep on failing and will we still keep playing them? Why are we hesitant to bring in new players, especially batsmen?

“Decision making has to be strong.

Experimentation and ruthless strong decision is the only way up,” the Pakistan

batting legend added.

Raja also went on to praise England fast bowler James Anderson for his performance who picked his 600th Test wicket in the match, becoming the first pacer to reach the mark.

“James Anderson got his 600th wicket by dismissing Azhar Ali and became the first fast bowler to reach 600 Test wickets. His performance is like someone who has successfully climbed Mount Everest.

“James Anderson gave respect to Test cricket and thus he got respect in return. He wanted to become a great Test player and so he became,” Raja signed off. England and Pakistan will play three-match T20 series against England starting from August 28th.

England have right mix to be world’s best test side, says Root England’s hard-earned test series wins over the summer with a blend of youth and experience show the side’s drive to be the number one team in the world, according to captain Joe Root.

England beat the West Indies 2-1 and Pakistan 1-0 in a rain-hit series which, coupled with their success in South Africa at the start of the year, continue an upward trajectory with new players in the team. “To have won both series is a great achievement for the group,” Root told reporters.

“Young guys have continued to keep improving and show their worth

within the squad, while we have also seen some special individual performances from senior players, who showed they can keep driving this team forward.”

Opener Dom Sibley, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley are three young batsmen who have shown their potential, the latter scoring an eye-catching 267 against Pakistan in Tuesday’s drawn test that is the tenth highest score by an Englishman ever. Veteran pace bowler James Anderson reached 600 test wickets in the same game and said afterwards he now has 700 in his sights, while 34year-old Stuart Broad’s 29 wickets in the two series at an average of 13.41 suggest he has plenty more to give.

Root believes that attitude off the pitch, as well as skill on it, will be a major factor in how this side develops over the next few years. “The thing I’m excited about is the environment we have in the dressing room. The attitude of the guys about how they want to keep improving and learning about the game, even the senior players. “I think that is what gives a great opportunity to get to that number one spot down the line. England are uncertain of their next test assignment due to the COVID-19 pandemic as they head into home limited overs series with Pakistan and Australia, and Root admits that will create a delicate balancing act for their fiveday specialists.

Opener Roy ruled out of T20 series against Pakistan due to injury Agencies England opener Jason Roy on Thursday was ruled out of England's squad for the threematch T20I series vs Pakistan because of a left side strain. Jason Roy was hurt during practice at Old Trafford this week and had a scan on Wednesday which revealed the injury. "He will remain with the England set-up and will commence his rehabilitation programme looking ahead to the Australia white-ball series, which starts next month at The Ageas Bowl," the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement. Roy will remain with the England squad and look to recover in time for the white-ball series against Australia in Southampton starting September 4 with the first of three T20s. England had named a 14man Twenty20 squad for the upcoming threematch series against Pakistan, with selectors leaving out players from the Test squad in the ongoing series against the Asian side. Eoin Morgan will captain the side, with all three matches to be played behind closed dors at Old Trafford in Manchester when the series begins on Aug. 28, three days after the end of the third and final test match in Southampton.

All three T20I matches against Pakistan are at Old Trafford with the others being on Sunday and Tuesday. England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, David Willey

NBA postpones games after Bucks boycott, other sports follow suit Agencies The National Basketball Association (NBA) postponed all three playoff games on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their series against the Orlando Magic to protest racial injustice, triggering similar moves across other sports.

The action by the Wisconsin-based team follows the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the city of Kenosha, also in Wisconsin, on Sunday.

Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the Women’s NBA also postponed games, while two-times tennis Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka joined the protests by pulling out of a tournament after reaching the semi-finals.

The Bucks players said in a statement they were unable to focus on basketball due to the events in Kenosha.

“Over the last few days in our home state of Wisconsin we have seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha and the additional shooting of protesters,” they said.

“Despite the overwhelming plea for change there has been no action so our focus today cannot be on basketball.”

NBA POSTPONES GAMES AFTER BUCKS BOYCOTT, OTHER SPORTS FOLLOW SUIT In addition to the Bucks-Magic game, the NBA said the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers games would be rescheduled.

“WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT,” tweeted LeBron James, the four-times NBA Most Valuable Player.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama praised the Bucks in a Twitter post that included a video clip of an emotional Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers talking about Blake.

“I commend the players on the @Bucks for standing up for what they believe in, coaches like @DocRivers, and the @NBA and @WNBA for setting an example. It’s going to take all our institutions to stand up for our values,” wrote Obama.

‘SHINE A LIGHT’ Major League Baseball postponed games in Milwaukee, San Diego and San Francisco scheduled for Wednesday while Major League Soccer decided to postpone the five remaining games on its schedule.

“Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the

CMYK

shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight,” MLB said in a statement.

The WNBA also postponed three games scheduled for Wednesday. Players on the reigning WNBA champion Washington Mystics wore T-shirts that depicted seven bloody bullet holes on their backs.

World number 10 tennis player Osaka withdrew from a U.S. Open tune-up tournament after she reached the semi-finals.

“As a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis,” Osaka said.

Kenosha has been rocked by civil unrest and violence since Sunday, when police shot Blake, 29, in the back at close range in an incident captured on video.

Blake is paralyzed and is being treated for his injuries.

A 17-year-old identified as Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested and charged with homicide on Wednesday in connection with gunfire that killed two people and wounded a third during a third night of

protests on Tuesday.

The Magic, who trail 3-1 in the bestof-seven, first-round series, left the court when it was clear the Bucks were not going to play. Beyonce’s song “Freedom” rang out in the empty Orlando arena as the clock counting down to the start of the game ran out.

The Bucks ownership said they were not aware ahead of time of what the players were planning but supported them.

“The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on racial injustices that are happening in front of us,” co-owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan said in a statement.

Athletes from around the world have united behind anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis in May. Since the NBA restarted its COVID-19 hit season in a bubble-like campus at Disney World in Florida, courts have the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on them and many players are wearing jerseys with social justice slogans.

Saturday, 29 August, 2020

PRAYER TIMINGS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:12

12:09

4:47

5:39

6:38

8:05

KArAChI rAINs Cost PAKIstAN’s GDP At lEAst $449M PEr DAy KARACHI ARIBA SHAHID AND MEIRYUM ALI

A

S of 2019, Karachi had an estimated nominal Gross Domestic Output (GDP) of $164 billion which makes the city’s daily GDP approximately $449 million. As a result of the disastrous rain in Karachi, the economic hub of Pakistan, commercial activities were at a standstill on Friday with the Sindh Government declaring a public holiday.

On Thursday, businesses were forced to close sooner as roads were flooded with water and electricity supply remained unreliable. Later on in the evening, the KElectric decided to turn off power for a significant majority of Karachi as a pre-

ventative measure. Some areas are yet to have their electricity restored.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) building also saw water accumulate in its premises.

Considering the deadly impact of the rain and the difficulty commuting to work, the Sindh Government announced Friday as a public holiday. As a result of this, it is expected that the rain has cost Karachi an upwards of $449 million in a day, especially including the size of the informal economy.

Moreover, this does not include the inventory loss that businesses have incurred.

Speaking to Profit, a furniture showroom owner at Nursery Shahrah-e-Faisal disclosed that inventory worth more than Rs 1 million had been destroyed by water en-

Active Covid-19 cases fall to 8,883; nine more die ISLAMABAD TLTP

A total of 279,937 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in Pakistan, bringing the number of active coronavirus cases in the country to 8,883, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday. According to the latest figures, the coronavirus claimed nine more lives across the country in the past 24 hours, taking the number of people succumbing to the highly contagious disease to 6,283. Another 415 people tested positive for the contagion during the aforementioned period, bringing the national tally of cases to 295,053. A total of 23,483 coronavirus tests were carried out over the last twenty-four hours. Meanwhile, the United States passed the grim milestone of 180,000 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s real-time tracker. The US added 931 new virus deaths in 24 hours, the Baltimore-based university reported at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Friday), bringing the total death toll to 180,527. An additional 42,859 new cases brought the overall caseload to 5,860,397. The US is by far the hardest-hit country in the world in terms of both the number of cases and deaths. At least 2,101,326 have recovered from the virus in the country.

0.3m Beirut people face severe water shortage: UNICEF BEIRUT TLTP

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that 300,000 people, including around 100,000 children, in Beirut continue to face a lack of access to critical safe water and sanitation services, more than three weeks after the huge explosions that hit Beirut's port. The UNICEF reported that public water infrastructure remained mostly functional, but the explosions compounded an already precarious situation in terms of access to safe water and sanitation in the greater Beirut area, with a significant number of water tanks and plumbing systems in buildings near the blast being damaged. "An estimated 130 buildings in the affected area have been completely disconnected from the main water network and the water systems of more than 500 occupied buildings have been damaged," UNICEF said in a statement released on its website. The UNICEF Lebanon representative Yukie Mokuo said as COVID-19 cases continue to surge, it is more critical than ever to ensure that children and families whose lives were turned upside down by the explosions have access to safe water and sanitation. "When communities don't have access to this critical necessity, the risk of water-borne diseases, as well as COVID-19, can skyrocket," she added. The statement noted that UNICEF and partners have re-connected over 100 buildings to the public water system and installed 570 water tanks in damaged households out of an estimated need of 3,300 tanks to be replaced; the UNICEF also provided water to first respondents, and has distributed more than 4,340 hygiene kits and 620 baby kits to affected families, and ensured water trucking to 20 households and three hubs of the Lebanese Red Cross.

tering into his shop alone. He also adds that it is now difficult for him to meet preordered furniture.

Similarly, a factory owner in North Karachi Industrial Area, one of the twelve industrial areas in Karachi, commented that due to water accumulation on the streets and eventually reaching indoors, his machinery has been damaged. He adds that he does not know when he can begin operations again because his priority now lies with the safety of his staff.

Profit reached out to the Public Relations teams at various banks. Contact could not be established. However, informal sources state that it is difficult to determine how many banks were operational today and how many ATMs

are running. This is based on the fact that not only are signals and internet connectivity disturbed in Karachi, but also due to the fact that a number of individuals are stranded in their homes, at work, or until yesterday on roads.

Business owners have been complaining about how the infrastructural weaknesses in Karachi have resulted in greater difficulty to run a business.

While there remains uncertainty regarding the accurate cost of the city shutting down after experiencing strong rain and urban flooding, what is certain is that the situation results in a loss to the national GDP. There is another spell of rain expected this week, which may result in more days of commercial activity at a standstill.

China’s missiles tests threaten regional peace: US WASHINGTON TLTP

The United States Department of Defense has said that Chinese test launches of ballistic missiles in the South China Sea are a threat to peace and security in the region.

Confirming reports that China has launched as many as four ballistic missiles during military exercises around the Paracel Islands, the Pentagon said the move called into question the country's 2002 commitment to avoiding provocative activities in the disputed seas. "Conducting military exercises over disputed territory in the South China Sea is counterproductive to easing tensions and maintaining stability," the Pentagon said in a statement. "The PRC's actions, including missile tests, further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea." The PRC - or the People's Republic of China - is the country's official name.

"Such exercises also violate PRC commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to avoid activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability," the Pentagon statement added.

Over the past decade China has built up military installations on several disputed reefs and outcrops in the

South China Sea to assert its claim over much of the area. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia also have maritime claims to the sea.

The South China Morning Post reported earlier on Thursday that China launched an intermediate-range DF26B ballistic missile from Qinghai Province and a medium-range DF-21D missile from Zhejiang Province after a US spy plane reportedly entered a Chinese-designated "no-fly zone" in an area where live-fire naval drills were taking place. China described the flight of the US spy plane in the area as a "provocative action".

The Pentagon said the Chinese military's August 23-29 military exercises near the Paracels - which it calls the Xisha Islands - were "the latest in a long string of PRC actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvan-

tage its Southeast Asian neighbours."

It said the US had urged China in July to reduce its "militarization and coercion" in the region. Instead, "The PRC chose to escalate its exercise activities by firing ballistic missiles," it said.

The DF-26B was formally unveiled earlier this month, and is capable of hitting moving targets at sea. The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, dubbed it the "aircraft-carrier killer".

Earlier on Thursday Beijing criticised Washington over its blacklisting of two dozen state-owned Chinese companies involved in building and supplying China's South China Sea bases. "The US's words grossly interfere in China's internal affairs ... it is wholly tyrannical logic and power politics," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian.

Japan’s longest-serving PM resigns on health issues TOKYO AGENCIES

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who led Japan for eight consecutive years, has said he is stepping down hours after he informed his ruling coalition that he was suffering from health issues.

Explaining his decision earlier in the day, Shinzo Abe said he feared the illness would affect his decision-making. “I will not be able to make proper judgments due to illness,” the outgoing premier clarified, as quoted by Kyodo news agency. Abe has been suffering from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory chronic disease, for many years. The prime minister himself revealed that his condition started to worsen around the middle of the last month, possibly prompting him to consider stepping down. Moving on, Abe apologized “from the bottom of my heart” to his fellow countrymen, adding that he didn’t want his resignation to cause trouble for Japan’s domestic politics. With his eyes getting misty, the prime minister said it is now up to the Japanese to judge his legacy. “It is a pity that I was unable to resolve the abduction issue myself. It breaks my heart to leave office without realizing my ambition of signing a peace treaty with Russia, passing a constitutional amendment,” Abe told. Moscow and Tokyo never signed a formal peace agreement after World War II, with the dispute over four Kuril Islands being the stumbling block. Japan continues to claim all four of the islands, with Russia objecting to the blanket handover. Attempting to take steps closer to signing the milestone pact was one of the main foreign policy ventures for Abe, but his endeavor yielded no results. At home, the prime minister repeatedly tried to change the nature of the country’s pacifist constitution that bans Japan from deploying military abroad – again, to no avail. Abe also stressed that his administration had created four million jobs while keeping the economy going. Meanwhile, local media reported that he will continue to serve as prime minister until a new leader is chosen, thus avoiding the need to appoint an acting premier. Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is reportedly set to arrange a leadership election next Thursday.

Abe, 65, is the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, having assumed office in 2012. A career LDP politician, he is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, who himself was prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.

Hamas, Israel trade fire as Gaza flareup goes on GAZA AGENCIES

Israeli tanks and warplanes bombed Hamas positions in Gaza on Friday and the group retaliated with rockets as a threeweek flareup showed no sign of ending despite international mediation efforts.

Warning sirens sounded before dawn in Israeli communities near Gaza's buffer zone as the pre-dawn air attacks and shelling prompted Hamas to launch a salvo of six rockets in retaliation.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage on either side.

Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said the rockets were a "direct response to the escalation by the Israeli occupier". Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, warned of further escalation saying the "catastrophic conditions the Gaza Strip is experiencing are unprecedented". He said the situation could lead to an "explosion in which things get out of control".

Israel launched a new wave of raids in reprisal targeting "additional Hamas military targets" in Gaza, including a "weapons manufacturing site", the military said.

According to Palestinian sources, Israeli warplanes struck a position and ob-

servation point belonging to the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in Gaza and Rafah.

Israel has bombed Gaza almost daily since August 6 in what it says is a response to the airborne incendiary devices and, less frequently, rockets launched across the border.

The firebombs, crude devices fitted to balloons, kites, inflated condoms or plastic bags, have triggered more than 400 blazes in southern Israel, according to fire brigade figures. The fire balloons

are widely seen as an attempt by Hamas to improve the terms of an informal truce under which Israel committed to ease its 13-year-old blockade in return for calm on the border.

But so far, Israel's response has been to tighten the blockade. It has banned Gaza fishermen from going to sea and closed its goods crossing with the territory, prompting the closure of Gaza's sole power plant for want of fuel.

An Egyptian delegation has been shuttling between the two sides to try to broker

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

a renewal of the truce.

It was joined this week by Qatar's Gaza envoy, Mohammed al-Emadi, who delivered the latest tranche of $30m in aid to the territory on Tuesday before holding talks with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv.

Sources close to the Qatari delegation said the Israelis told al-Emadi they were willing to resume fuel deliveries for the power plant and ease their blockade - if there was an end to the fire balloons.

Financial aid for the impoverished territory from gas-rich Qatar has been a major component of the latest truce first agreed in November 2018 and renewed several times since.

Mediation efforts have grown more urgent in recent days as authorities in Gaza have detected the first cases of local transmission of the coronavirus. Hamas has imposed a lockdown in the coastal territory bordering Israel and Egypt, which is home to two million Palestinians.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep Hamas from expanding its arsenal, but critics view it as a form of collective punishment.