Thursday, 3 September, 2020 I 14 Muharram, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 64 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Sc Temporarily SuSpenDS SHc ruling on Sugar inquiry commiSSion g
Apex court sAys high court hAd bAsed its order on An unjustified Assumption
IsLAMABAd
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staff report
he supreme court (sc) on Wednesday temporarily suspended a sindh high court (shc) decision declaring the constitution of the sugar inquiry commission, which was formed to probe the recent crisis of the commodity in the country, and its report illegal. A three-member bench, headed by chief justice of pakistan (cjp) gulzar Ahmed and comprising justice ijazul Ahsan and justice mushir Alam, was hearing a petition filed by the federal government last week, in which the centre had challenged the ruling, arguing that the high court had quashed the notification of the commission’s constitution on purely technical grounds. the petition further said that the federal cabinet had approved the summary for the appointment of all commission members. during the hearing, justice Ahsan said that experts of different fields should have been included in the commission but they were not. At this, Attorney general Khalid jawed Khan said the purpose of the commission was not to suggest a punishment,
as further investigation in the matter would have been held by relevant departments. taking note of the grounds on which the high court had based its ruling, the chief justice said that a notification of the commission’s constitution had not been issued. the Ag responded that the notification was issued but it was published late in the gazette. Ag Khan told the bench that the shc, in its verdict, had said that a member from the inter-services intelligence (isi) was added in the commission later. this observation was wrong, Khan said, arguing that the isi member had been appointed at the same time as the other members but the federal cabinet issued the approval of his appointment a day later. the court suspended the high court’s ruling temporarily and issued notices to all respondents, which include 20 different sugar manufacturers. Adviser to the prime minister shahzad Akbar is also a party in the case. the hearing was adjourned indefinitely. Last month, the shc had declared both the commission and its inquiry report as illegal and directed the national Accountability bureau, federal investigation Agency and federal board of revenue to conduct separate and independent in-
Defence
Day 2020 REMEMBERING WAR HEROES
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efence Day is celebrated as a national day to commemorate the memory of Pakistan’s successful defence against India that marked the ceasefire in the 1965 war on September 6. Major raja aziz Bhatti ShaheeD Major Aziz Bhatti valiantly defended BRB canal against the enemy in Lahore’s Burki area in the 1965 war. Bhatti kept the Indian troops from advancing by valiantly fighting along with his forward platoon for five days, braving the Indian artillery and tanks. He embraced martyrdom after being hit by an enemy tank shell on September 12. MM alaM During the war, five Indian fighter planes headed towards PAf Base Sargodha. However, Alam created history by destroying all the five invaders. The fighter jet he flew can still be seen inside Lahore’s Town Hall Park. He passed away on March 18, 2013, at the age of 78 years.
vestigations into the crisis. the court had listed eight reasons for quashing the report, including the “failure to follow mandatory rules of business” and “the failure to gazette the notification of the commission within due time”. it said that the commission’s constitution was “incomplete”, “biased” and denied the petitioners the opportunity to be heard. furthermore, the court noted the “prejudice caused to the petitioners by the report, the action plan and letters which were sent by the adviser on accountability and interior to various statutory bodies and violation and interference in the relevant schemes of law and the constitution by the executive”. subsequently, last week, Ag Khan had filed a petition on behalf of the federal government, which contended that none of the sugar manufacturers, including the respondents, ever did or could claim lack of knowledge of the proceedings of the commission which also fully interacted with the pakistan sugar mills Association (psmA) of which the respondent manufacturers were members. the petition argued that the shc had grossly erred in law and facts and based its order under challenge on the completely unjustified assumption that the aggrieved party, in this case, was the group of manufacturers of sugar. “the glaring yet completely ignored reality is that the real and truly aggrieved party in this matter is millions of captive consumers who are being grossly overcharged the price of an essential commodity i.e. sugar by a cartel of sugar manufacturers completely dominating the market,” it had regretted. besides the consumers, the petition said, thousands of poor growers of sugarcane were also the aggrieved party as they had been consistently denied adequate payments for sugarcane grown by them with their untiring efforts. “it is submitted that being contrary to law and the facts as well as the judgements of the court, the impugned judgement is liable to be set aside by the supreme court,” the petition argued.
18 more lose lives as relentless rains batter Kp news desk 18 more people have died while over two dozen have been injured in rain-related incidents in Khyber pakhtunkhwa (Kp), officials said on Wednesday. different districts of Kp, including mansehra, battagram, bunir, shangla, Kohistan and swat, for the past four days, resulting in extensive damage to roads and houses as well as causing landslides. A spokesperson for the rescue 1122 service in bunir, taj mohammad, said that a woman and two children were killed, and three others injured at chagharzai, and a roof collapse in the ryal area of bunir caused another woman to lose her life. the injured were taken to district headquarters hospital bunir, mohammd added. According to rescue officials, four other people died when landslides in hussain banda in oghi tehsil, mansehra destroyed their house. two other people were also injured. heavy boulders were displaced by the rains and floods, striking a house in the district’s rashang area, and two girls aged between nine and 12 lost their lives, according to battagram deputy commissioner (dc) Abdul hameed. the locals dug through the debris to recover the bodies, he added. hameed also said that so far seven houses in the district had collapsed, and eight major and
Punjab govt taking solid steps to fulfil promises made with people: Buzdar LAHORe staff report
punjab chief minister usman buzdar, on completion of two years of the pakistan tehreek-einsaf (pti) government, said that the government was taking solid steps to fulfil the promises made with the people, and some projects had been completed while work was in progress on others. Addressing a ceremony with regard to the punjab government’s two years performance held at 90 shahrah-e-Quaid-eAzam, the chief minister said that despite challenges, the province presented a progressive and pro-business budget and it was not possible to present a better budget than it in these circumstances. taxes had been increased in every year budget but the pti government abolished taxes in a new financial year or reduced their ratio, he added. he said that trade, industry and health sectors were affected due to coronavirus as rs106 billion were allocated for it in the new financial year and this included rs56 billion tax relief and direct expenditures worth rs50 billion. despite difficult circumstances, an addi-
link roads were blocked due to landslides. Water supply schemes in the area have also been damaged, he added. mohammad Azeem, a 30year-old local, drowned in the nandyar river in battagram while trying to gather wood, the dc said. upper Kohistan dc Arif yousafzai reported similar losses, with around 10-15 houses, a mosque and a seminary having been damaged in the rains, while link roads of the entire Kandia tehsil were blocked. Water supply schemes had also been damaged, he added. dc shangla imran hussain ranjha said many roads in the district suffered major infrastructural damage due to flash floods. specifically, one kilometre stretch of the Karora-Ajmeer road was flooded while other major and link roads were also damaged. the flash floods swept away a suspension bridge connecting damorai with banda, ranjha said. construction and Works department has already begun efforts to clear the roads, but the continuous rainfall is hindering the progress, he added. ranjha also said that his revenue staff has been engaged in information gathering regarding the damaged houses, adding that reports were being received from across the district about damage to houses, roads and water supply lines.
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more inside
Shehbaz visits Karachi to sympathise with rain victims STORY ON PAGE 03
pm says opp and india ‘on the same page’ tional five billion rupees were provided for development projects, he added. buzdar said that the share of local governments was enhanced to 10 per cent and frozen local government funds were also restored. the school education budget had been increased to 382 billion rupees and the government was committed to set up a university in every district and seven universities were being set up, he said and added that the government was giving attention to human resource development and it was also committed to creating job opportunities by promoting the construction industry. the cm said that financial transparency and merit in administrative matters was a priority
and ehsaas Kafalat programme was a unique initiative to alleviate poverty. he said that the establishment of south punjab secretariat was part of the pti manifesto and the promise had been fulfilled. Additional chief secretary and Additional ig had been appointed besides posting secretaries for departments and 33 per cent development funds had been allocated for southern punjab, he added. he also said that ravi riverfront urban development project was the largest mega project in the country and its utility could not be denied, adding, this project would economically boost pakistan.
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STORY ON PAGE 02
Govt considers testing strategy for schools after reopenin STORY ON PAGE 02
Afghanistan frees nearly 200 taliban prisoners to push peace talks STORY ON BACK PAGE
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Thursday, 3 September, 2020
NEWS
GOvt COnSIdERS tEStInG StRAtEGy fOR SCHOOlS AftER REOPEnInG 18 DEAD AS 411 NEW COVID-19 CASES EMERGE IN 24 HOURS ISLAMABAD
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STAFF REPORT
HE government is planning a new testing strategy for educational institutions to contain the spread of coronavirus after reopening on September 15. The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) met on Wednesday with Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar took
stock of updates related to opening up of schools and testing strategy for educational institutions. A final decision on reopening of educational institutes will be made on September 7, as previously said by the government. Asad Umar said the sequence designed to open up educational institutions had been agreed upon by the Ministry of Education. However, the next major challenge was to enforce standard operating
procedures (SOPs) and health guidelines around 300,000 educational institutions across the country. The forum described a four-strand strategy which was devised for testing in educational institutions. The participants were told that the strategy had been designed with the 20 major high-risk cities – which comprised 76 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in the country – kept in mind. It added that the students under this strategy would be randomly screened whereas screening of the teachers would be carried out periodically. Last month, the NCOC had suggested
that all educational institutes in the country should be reopened with a top to bottom approach and on a rotational basis. The meeting was attended by representatives of various educational institutions, including public and private sector institutions and madaris, to reach consensus-based decisions on the opening of various institutions. The educational sector representatives were informed that the NCOC’s suggestions had been finalised after lengthy consultations with international experts, academia and think tanks. All participants were briefed on the current coronavirus situation prevailing glob-
ECC okays $142m to meet financial needs of PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel
PM says Opp and India ‘on the same page’ ISLAMABAD TLTP
ISLAMABAD TLTP
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday approved $142 million to meet the financial requirements of PIA's Roosevelt hotel. Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the meeting of ECC at the Cabinet Division. In order to meet the financial challenges faced by Pakistan International Airlines-owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York, the ECC approved the amount up to $142 million for PIA-IL on the recommendation of the committee constituted in an earlier meeting of the ECC, headed by the Planning Commission deputy chairman and included secretaries of Finance Division, Aviation Division and Law & Justice Division. Meanwhile, the ECC also approved the summary moved a Power Division for the rationalization of 11 quarterly adjustments of K-Electric Limited from July 2016 till March 2019. The quarterly adjustments of K-Electric for the period under review would be notified with effect from 1st September 2020, to bring the tariff K-Electric at par with what is currently being filed for consumers of (exWAPDA) distribution companies. The government would release Rs4.7 billion for KElectric from the approved budget of 2020-21.
OIC reiterates support to Kashmiris for the right to self-determination ISLAMABAD: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has restated its continued and profuse support to the Kashmiri people and their inalienable right to self-determination per the relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions. This resolve was expressed during a meeting between Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC Rizwan Saeed Sheikh and OIC Secretary General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen in Jeddah. Pakistan’s OIC mission said in a tweet the permanent representative briefed the secretary-general on worsening human rights issues in India Occupied Kashmir (IOK). TLTP
ally, regionally and in the country. A total of 441 new cases of the novel coronavirus surfaced in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 296,590, said NCOC on Wednesday.18 more people succumbed to the highly contagious disease during this period, pushing the death toll from the virus to 6,318. The number of active cases has gone down to 8,813 as 281,459 Covid-19 patients have recovered from the disease. There are 1,039 patients under treatment in 735 hospitals across the country, out of whom 90 are on ventilators. Meanwhile, the government of Punjab has reported 89 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 96,921 in the province. According to the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, five more people have died of the disease in the last 24 hours. The number of people who died of the disease in the province has reached 2,204.
LAHORE: Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in at a ceremony held in the provincial capital. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ
Ministry rejects US blogger's application for visa extension ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The Ministry of Interior has rejected an application of a Pakistan-based American blogger for a visa extension, directing her to leave the country within 15 days, Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday. The development comes a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) referred back for review the matter related to registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Rehman Malik for the alleged assault of Cynthia Dawn Ritchie in 2011, a charge he denies. The visa of Ritchie had expired in February last, the government informed the IHC in July. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had extended the visas of
all foreign nationals till Aug 31. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah in June sought the explanation while taking up a petition of a PPP activist. The petitioner, Iftikhar Ahmed, adopted in the petition that Ritchie is a foreign national and she has stayed in Pakistan without a valid visa. He sought her deportation. On Tuesday, the deputy attorney general submitted a copy of a recent order passed by the Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar to the IHC. The court noted that the secretary had not made reference to any law or policy and appeared to have solely relied on Ritchie’s statement. The order is self-contradictory and in conflict with the previous order, the IHC observed. Khokhar conceded in his order that Ritchie was granted a work visa in vi-
olation of policy and laws. The court observed that the interior secretary had been evasive in recording his findings regarding the crucial question: whether a foreign national visiting Pakistan on the basis of a business visa was entitled to give statements of a political nature. The court then gave a final opportunity to the federal government to render proper assistance, noting that its conduct so far had raised questions of public importance having consequences relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights. “In case an officer conversant with the applicable laws/policy does not appear on the date fixed, then this court will consider summoning the Secretary, Ministry of Interior, in person,” the court’s order read.
Pakistan puzzles health experts as virus cases observe swift drop ISLAMABAD: Six months after the coronavirus arrived in Pakistan, the country appears to have dodged the worst of the pandemic, baffling health experts and dampening fears its crowded urban areas and ramshackle hospitals will be overrun. Following an initial surge, the number of infections has plummeted in recent weeks, with Covid-19 deaths hovering in the single digits each day, while neighbouring India tallies hundreds of fatalities. Pakistan has a long history of failing to contain myriad infectious diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and hepatitis for various socio-political reasons, while successive governments have underfunded its healthcare sector for decades. Added to that, many people live in crowded, multi-generational homes or packed apartment buildings that favour rampant virus transmission. “No one has been able to explain this decline [… ] We don’t have any concrete explanation,” said Salman Haseeb, a doctor at Lahore’s Services Hospital. Pakistanis have proposed numerous hypotheses for their country’s seeming ability to weather the pandemic, crediting everything from the young population and the hot and humid climate to unproven claims of natural immunity. Its median age is only 22 and the coronavirus is known to disproportionately impact older people with prior health complications. AGENCIES
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that the opposition blocking Financial Action Task Force (FATF) legislation is against the interests of the people, and that they are acting like India. He held a meeting with senior leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to discuss political matters and legislation on FATF. National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar and Prime Minister's Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan briefed the meeting about legislation and parliamentary affairs. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Advisor on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar were present in the meeting. Quershi said that the opposition had initially agreed with the government in a parliamentary committee meeting, but then turned its back on the senate. “When it was found that Prime Minister Imran Khan will not give them the NRO [the Musharraf-era National Reconciliation Ordinance], they opposed the legislation in the Senate,” he added. PM Imran, while responding to it, said that opposition parties are “blackmailing” his government over FATF bills despite being aware of the importance of the desired legislation and repeated his resolve not to give the opposition leaders any sort of “relief” in corruption cases. Meanwhile, the premier also summoned a meeting of the Senators hailing from PTI and other coalition parties to discuss legislation FATF and insisted that these bills would pass. While discussing the role of opposing parties, Imran said, “The current opposition is only harming the country to save its corruption. The opposition wants amendments to the anti-money laundering law.” The senators will meet PM Imran on Thursday and the premier will listen to the issues faced by them. The premier would also issue directives to the senators on legislation on FATF and other matters.
SC grants bail to Omni Group chief in fake accounts case ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the bail petition of Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed in the fake bank accounts case and directed him to cooperate with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The bail will be rejected if the accused does not cooperate with the anti-graft agency, the court said while directing authorities to place him on the Exit Control List (ECL). The court order also required him to surrender his passport to the court. During the hearing, the NAB prosecutor said that the Omni group owner had been at the hospital since day one and had not appeared before the bureau so far. “Fifteen investigations and four references have been postponed due to his non-cooperation,” he said. To which, Justice Mushir Alam, presiding over the hearing, said: “Anwar Majeed should not obstruct investigations.”
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
NEWS
SHEHbAz vISItS KARACHI tO SyMPAtHISE wItH RAIn vICtIMS KARACHI STAFF REPORT
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AKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday visited rain-hit Karachi to express solidarity with the people of the port city. The opposition leader reached the port city on Wednesday morning with party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal. Speaking to the media earlier, he advised the prime minister to avoid politicizing the problems being faced by the people of Karachi. He added that the Centre should consult with the provincial government over relief operations in the metropolis. “Politics should not be done when Karachi is underwater,” the former Punjab chief minister said. Shehbaz also asked about the funds that were promised to the metropolis. “After the destruction in Karachi due to [recent spell of] rains, everyone must work unitedly,” he said before departing from Lahore. Upon reaching the metropolis, the opposition leader visited different areas, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Malir, where he met with many families of the flood victims and offered his condolences for the rain-related misfortunes. “Witnessed extreme anger and anguish among the people during my visit to Malir and Gulistan-e-Johar. High time all stakeholders took this outrage as a WARNING and got down to fix the rot. No shiny PowerPoint prez, social media trends/blame game can be alternative to service delivery,” he tweeted. Later, Shehbaz, along with party leaders, met Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari during this visit. Following the meeting, both PML-N and PPP leaders addressed a joint press conference. Both parties reiterated their determination to use all “democratic and constitutional ways” available to send the incumbent government packing. The chairperson of Sindh’s ruling party welcomed the PML-N president’s visit, which was meant to “express [… ] solidarity”, though the chairperson had yet to visit the affected areas. During the press conference, both parties criticised the federal government and bemoaned that “the fundamental rights of Pakistanis were being usurped”. Iqbal said that both parties have decided to “struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution, independent courts and free media.” “If [we are to] run this country and make it successful, it is only possible if we blindly follow the 1973 Constitution that is in line with the vision of
Authorities to release women prisoners, directs PM Imran ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
In line with a Supreme Court (SC) order issued in April, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he has directed the authorities to take steps for the release of under-trail and convicted female prisoners. The premier issued the directions after a meeting with the Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, the attorney general and Barrister Ali Zafar, he said in a two-part tweet. “I have asked for immediate implementation of SC order 299/2020 for release of under-trial women prisoners and convicted women prisoners who fulfil criteria of SC order,” PM Imran tweeted. The premier also asked for “immediate reports on foreign women prisoners and women on death row for humanitarian consideration”. Human Rights Minister Mazari called the prime minister’s decision a “great move forward for human rights and humanitarian approach to prisoners”. “This is just the start. PM has asked for a complete
timeline on prison reforms implementation — our report on prison reforms is ready & now going to prepare implementation timelines with Barrister Ali Zafar,” Mazari added in a tweet. The prime minister’s directions are about an interim order issued in April, in which the apex court had engaged the government to release prisoners suffering from a physical or mental illness, under-trial prisoners who are 55 or older, male under-trial prisoners who have not been convicted in the past, and female and juvenile prisoners. In April, the SC had recalled bails granted to prisoners by the high courts of Sindh and Islamabad to evacuate over-crowded prisons and avoid a coronavirus outbreak. Nevertheless, it allowed the government to release those prisoners who matched the aforesaid conditions. The counsel of the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) had spared the prisoners included in the above categories. The AGP had also recommended the apex court to not offer bail to prisoners who had been indicted in “cases involving abuse/violent acts against children and women”.
Anti-encroachment drive on Karachi stormwater drains halted after day’s work KARACHI STAFF REPORT
A week after record-breaking torrential rains wreaked havoc on Karachi, the provincial government on Wednesday started an operation against commercial encroachments around the city’s stormwater drains and halted it after a day’s work. Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) anti-encroachment chief Bashir Ahmed Siddiqi, through a statement, said the operation would begin at eight in the morning at three separate locations simultaneously. Two of the operations will target encroachments from Café Piyala to Ziauddin Hospital and from Café Piyala to Teen Hatti. “The third will be carried out at a nullah in New Karachi,” he said, stressing that residents would not be displaced during the anti-encroachment drive. The second phase of the drive will begin after pro-
viding residents an alternate place to live, he added. “In the first phase, illegal sheds constructed around the drains will be demolished while the second will target houses built illegally,” he said. The residents of Liaquatabad Town staged a protest earlier in the day after the deputy commissioner (central) asked them to vacate their homes by 7 am for the operation. The demonstrators blocked roads, jam-packing the road between Nazimabad and Liaquatabad. However, the protest was ended when police and Sindh government officials reassured them that the operation was being conducted against commercial encroachments only. Later in the day, Sindh government spokesperson Barrister Murtaza Wahab said no operation would take place against people’s homes and residences. “The current exercise is against commercial establishments on encroached land,” he said in a tweet.
SC seeks timeline of Nai Gaj Dam construction ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The Supreme Court of Pakistan directed the federal and Sindh governments to provide the timeline for the construction of the long-delayed Nai Gaj dam. An apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, directed to ensure the timely completion of the project which started in 2009 and was slated to be completed in AprilMay 2015. Nai Gaj is a hill torrent
which emanates from the Khuzdar district of Balochistan and after passing through the plains of Kutch it eventually enters Manchar lake. The Nai Gaj area remains dry for eight months and gets water in four months during the monsoon season. The multiple-purpose project is designed to provide water of rainfed plains of Kacchho and Kohistan in Dadu, besides supplying water to Manchhar lake. It will have 0.30MAF gross storage capacity and
a power plant to generate 4.2MW of electricity. Last year, a Senate body was informed that the construction cost has escalated from Rs17 billion to Rs47.7bn in the last decade due to delays in the completion. Reports suggest there was a stalemate between the federal and Sindh governments over who would pay the difference between the original cost of Rs16.9bn in 2009 and the Rs26.23bn cost in PC-1, which was revised in 2012.
Quaid-e-Azam,” he said. Speaking on the differences between the opposition and government over suggested laws on money laundering, terror financing and so on, Iqbal said that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had thanked Shehbaz in a letter after similar bills were passed by both houses earlier. However, the opposition had prevented new bills from being passed as the government wanted to pass a “black law” under the guise of complying with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements, he added. PPP’s Farhatullah Babar seconded Iqbal’s statement and claimed that through the new law, the government aimed to “legalise” people being picked up without charges. It was also announced that both the PML-N and PPP will meet for the Rehbar Committee on Thursday, and decide on the date of the All-Party Conference (APC). In response to a question regarding Karachi’s poor infrastructure, the PPP leaders said that Karachi had witnessed record rainfall last week which had led to urban flooding, and Iqbal refrained himself from commenting on this statement. Iqbal said and added that his party did not want to “play the blame game” when Karachi was facing a “calamity”. The federal government should offer a package for the victims of this devasting rainfall and also help in repairing the infrastructure, said the former planning minister. A three-day spell of immense rainfall has severely damaged Karachi’s infrastructure, resulting in all key roads being flooded, underpasses and streets being submerged, and all segments of life brought to a standstill. The horrifying situation forced the Sindh government to invite the intervention of Prime Minister Imran Khan who ordered immediate rescue operations for thousands of affected people. Many areas in the city are still extremely flooded and are without power. The residents of these areas have no access to clean drinking water and are relying on the government to drain the water.
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SC returns pleas for referendum on presidential form of government ISLAMABAD TLTP
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday declined to admit for hearing two constitutional petitions calling for a nation-wide referendum on the establishment of presidential form of government in the country. The SC registrar raised objections on the petitions, saying the petitioners have not approached other relevant forums before moving the top court. Moreover, the certificates attached with the petitions are not in accordance with the law. It was stated in the petitions that an overwhelming majority of the people are fed up with the parliamentary form of government and desired the presidential form of government in the country. They pleaded with the top court to direct the prime minister to hold a referendum under the Clause of 6 of the Article 48 of the Constitution to determine whether the people want a presidential form of government or not. The referendum should be held by the prime minister only after seeking approval from a joint sitting of the parliament, the petitions had suggested.
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Thursday, 3 September, 2020
NEWS
ECP forms dElimitation CommittEEs for sindh lG Polls PPP TERMS PROCESS & LG ELECTION IN SINDH UNCONSTITUTIONAL KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
HE Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has started preparations for local government elections in Sindh this year with formation of committees for local bodies’ delimitation on Wednesday. The ECP has notified formation of the committees for delimitation of local government constituencies. The delimitation committee for each district will comprise three members and the district election commis-
sioner will be convener of the body, according to the notification. The deputy commissioner and district education officer or taluka education officer will be the other two members of the committee. The committee in the first phase will decide fresh delimitation of constituencies of union councils, union committees and wards. The local councils’ polls will be announced after fresh delimitation of constituencies in the province. Local councils’ delimitation process will be completed between nine to 22 Sep-
Karachi dha remains inundated six days after rains KARACHI TLTP
The residents of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) continue to suffer even six days after heavy rains pounded the port city, as water remains stagnant in several phases of the poshest area of the port city. The recent rains have dealt severe damage to roads, posing a risk to commuters. Khayaban-e-Bukhari, Khayaban-e-Shujaat, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Khayaban-e-Nishaat and other neighbourhoods of DHA are still inundated with at least 1.5 feet of rainwater. The authorities say they are making efforts to clear the area but the situation is grave and needs urgent steps. According to the residents, the water level has only reduced by half a feet and it might take at least five days to drain the water if more resources are not brought in to clear the area. Earlier on Tuesday, negotiations between protesters and the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) failed, a representative of the residents' committee said, after demonstrators gathered outside the board's office to voice their anger over the non-provision of basic amenities following the torrential August rains.
tember in Sindh and preliminary delimitation of constituencies will be displayed on September 23. The schedule for local bodies’ elections will be announced after completion of the delimitation process, the election commission announced. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) declared the process of delimitation and local government election in Sindh as unconstitutional on Wednesday. President PPP Sindh chapter Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said in a statement that in the 2017 census the population of the
province was estimated below par and the objections over the population results still persist. He said that letters have been written to the chief election commissioner (CEC) over the matter. “All political parties had consented to participate in general elections in 2018 with reservations over the ad hoc results of the census,” Khuhro said. Delimitation process and the local government election in the province will be unconstitutional without announcement of the final statistics of the population census, the PPP leader said. The authorities have failed to conduct five percent random checking of the census, which was agreed upon at that time, he said, adding, “We have written three letters to the ECP over the delimitation process and yet to receive the final report of the population census.” Sindh government is unable to hold the next local government elections in the province till the time it is provided with the final results of the population census, he added.
Flood reported in Indus River at three barrages ISLAMABAD TLTP
The water level is surging in Indus River and inflow of the water reached 3,50,000 cusecs at Tarbela Dam on Wednesday, while flood is reported in Indus River at three barrages of Sindh. The Flood Forecasting Division in an alert has warned of medium flood in Indus. “The water level surging in the river, and inflow of the water has reached to 3,50,000 cusecs at Chashma Barrage,” according to the FFC. “The inflow of the water at Kalabagh has reached above 400,000 cusecs and at Taunsa Barrage at 350,000 cusecs,” according to the statement. The Indus River has been in low flood at Tarbela, Chashma and Taunsa Barrage, while in medium flood at Kalabagh, according to the report. Chenab river presently flowing in low flood at Trimmu Headworks with inflow of water at 1,63,000 cusecs. The river has been in medium flood at Wazirabad with water flow of 4,900 cusecs, according to the FFC bulletin. The flooding in Indus could affect Haripur, Mianwali and Layyah districts.
It could also hit Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Bhakkar in Punjab and several districts of Sindh in downstream, according to the alert. The irrigation authorities have reported above 40,000 cusecs surge in river water at Sukkur and Guddu barrages within 12 hours. The inflow of water at Guddu Barrage has been recorded 308,336 cusecs, while the outflow from the barrage has been 305,336 cusecs. The inflow of water in river Indus at Sukkur Barrage has been recorded 261,860 cusecs, while the outflow from the barrage has been 254,500 cusecs. The inflow of water at Kotri Barrage has been recorded 1,53,268 cusecs, while the outflow from the barrage has been 1,53,218 cusecs, according to the water data released by the irrigation department. Irrigation experts have warned of a medium level flood in the river in coming days. Several settlements in katcha area have inundated, while a 30 feet wide breach has been reported at a drain near Jar village in district Sujawal. The breach has inundated five villages and standing crops on hundreds of acres. Local people trying to plug the breach on the self-help basis.
IHC reserves verdict in land grabbing case ISLAMABAD APP
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its judgment on Wednesday in a case pertaining to alleged land grabbing by Park View Housing Society. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, during the hearing expressed displeasure over absence of ICT deputy commissioner summoned for the day, and asked how much land had been evacuated by the district administration so far from land grabbers in the capital. The officials of Capital Development Authority (CDA) informed court that such housing society had submitted layout plan of 1,067 kanals of land on February 14, 2013. Park View had been given access from Malot road as the society as the society was lack of its own approach. It was revealed that such society was issued no-objection certificate (NOC) in 2014 and was served notice during the same year
to transfer public area land to CDA. Later, when the society was asked to widen Malot road, the CDA officials added, the society had assured for cooperation in this regard. The official said that the society had allocated 579 kanal land for public welfare and it gave application to CDA in 2019 for extension of the scheme. The counsel for Park View Housing Society pleaded that NOC was given to his client but its extension request had been rejected by the CDA. Later, the court suspended society's legal NOC, he added, to which the bench asked whether he meant that the court had issued order against the law. The court asked whether the people who had constructed their houses in the society had taken permission for this. The lawyer pleaded that this was not a case of public welfare instead it was related to personal disputes of people. The bench reserved its judgment in the matter that will be announced later.
PN's relief operation continues in rain affected areas of Karachi and Sindh KARACHI INP
Pakistan Navy's relief operation in rain-hit areas of Karachi and Sindh is underway and Pakistan Navy teams are providing cooked food, drinking water, ration bags and medical assistance to distressed people in various areas. Emergency Response Teams of Pakistan Navy carried out search operation at Korangi Causeway to recover bodies of the drowned people. Aerial operation of affected areas was also carried out to locate and evacuate stranded families. Pakistan Navy teams distributed cooked
meals and clean drinking water amongst thousands of rain affected families of Surjani Town, Yousuf Goth, Nazimabad and other troubled areas of Karachi and district Sujawal, Sindh. Medical assistance was also provided by Pakistan Navy mobile medical teams to large number of people confined at their houses due to extensive flooding in the areas. Emergency response teams along with necessary equipment including excavators and trucks have been mobilized to assist filling the breach in Sem Nullah at Mirpur Bathoro. Pakistan Navy resolves to continue its relief operation and extend all out support in areas of extensive flooding in Karachi and Sindh.
sindh requests WB to conduct urban property survey in Karachi KARACHI STAFF REPORT
The World Bank (WB) on Wednesday assured the Sindh government of full cooperation in coping with the current emergency situation caused by the record-breaking rains in the province. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah contacted the WB country director via video-link on Wednesday and requested him to conduct an urban property survey in Karachi. The chief minister apprised the WB’s representative that the recent record-breaking rains have largely destroyed infrastructure in Karachi, Mirpur Khas, Sanghar, Umarkot and other cities of the province. He urged the WB to help the Sindh government in rebuilding the infrastructure. Standing crops on thousands of acres of land were damaged owing to the downpours in Sindh, the chief minister added. Earlier, at least 28 people died and 18 others injured during the recent monsoon rains in Sindh. According to the statistics released by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), 49 men, six women and 17 children had been killed in rain-related incidents in Sindh since 6th of July.
four die in mansehra in roof collapse incident MANSEHRA TLTP
Four people died due to roof collapse in Ogi area of Hussain Banda in district Mansehra on Wednesday. Police and eyewitnesses said that the landslide was caused by heavy rains. Rescue teams reached the spot and started the operation to recover stranded people under the rubble. It may be noted that heavy rains continue to lash parts of KP, triggering flash floods in several areas of the province. Two children were killed and six others received injuries in rain related incidents on Tuesday. According to statistics issued by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), two children lost their lives in Shangla in rain-related incidents. Seven houses were partially damaged. The PDMA further stated that efforts are under way to reopen block roads due to landsliding. The authority is in contact with all district administrations and the PDMA’s emergency operation centre is also fully functional, it added.
two held for blackmailing women in multan MULTAN: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday arrested two men for allegedly harassing and blackmailing women in Multan. The agency’s cybercrime wing arrested both the accused after complaints were lodged against them, according to FIA officials. Objectionable videos and pictures of women were retrieved from the cell phones seized from the arrested accused persons. They will be presented before the relevant court for further legal action. On August 11, the FIA had apprehended a man for allegedly blackmailing his former wife in Multan. The agency received a complaint regarding the man threatening his former wife to share obscene videos and photos of her on social media. TLTP
aPhC condemns india's designs to change iioJK's demography SRINAGAR: In Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has expressed serious concern over India's nefarious attempts to change the demographic composition of the territory. The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that RSS-backed Narendra Modi government was imposing new laws one after another to bring about and accelerate the process of demographic change in IOK. INP
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
PM cALLs FoR MAKinG suBsiDy sysTeM oRGAniseD P
neWS deSK
RIME Minister Imran Khan has said that the first priority of the government is to make the subsidy system organised and efficient so that assistance provided from public exchequer not only reaches the deserving but also achieves the desired results. The PM said this while chairing a
meeting here on Wednesday regarding making the government’s subsidy system more efficient and organized. He directed every possible effort to improve the subsidy system so that decisions can be taken and implemented in the best interest of people. “The federal government is bearing the financial burden worth trillions of rupees in terms of subsidies,” the PM noted, adding that the government’s priorities
FBR’s anti-benami zone identifies 19 suspected benami vehicles iSLaMaBad SHAHZAD PARACHA
The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) anti-benami zone has identified 19 suspected benami vehicles in Karachi. Sources said that anti-benami zone III has released a public notice concerning suspected benami vehicles. The vehicles included two Mercedes-Benzes, two BMWs, a Cadillac Escalade, two Toyota Prados, five Suzuki Mehrans, five Toyota Corollas and two Suzuki Cultuses. In the interest of justice, a final opportunity has been given to the persons in whose names these cars registered, and these people must contact the relevant office within seven days of the notice’s publication, otherwise, the office will initiate legal proceedings in the matter. Sources said that these vehicles have been registered on different people’s names and that they belong to wealthy people.
Two arrested for allegedly assaulting teenage boy in Muzaffargarh MUZAFFARGARH: Muzaffargarh police have arrested two suspects for allegedly shooting a teenage boy for resisting an alleged assault attempt, the police said on Wednesday. The 14-year-old was shot in the city’s Bet Mir Hazar area. “I got the news through a phone call,” the boy’s father said. “We [the family] reached the location and found him lying unconsciously on the ground and bleeding.” STAFF REPORT
are very clear regarding the current system and maximum efforts must be made for improving it. The PM said that the government is taking all-out measures to make the subsidy system more transparent, effective and targeted. He maintained that fulfilling the requirements of poverty-stricken people is the government’s topmost agenda. The prime minister was given a detailed briefing about direct or indirect
subsidies given to various sectors, expenditure on these subsidies, loopholes in the existing system of subsidies, and progress made so far by the think-tank formed regarding further strengthening the subsidy system. The premier exchanged views on the provision of direct and indirect subsidies to different sectors, besides reviewing the flaws in the current system and expenditures of the government.
Punjab govt taking solid steps to fulfil promises made with people: Buzdar continued on page 01 He further said that work had been started on 13 special economic zones as the federal government had issued notification for six SeZs. notification of seven zones would be issued soon and the historic package had been given for the construction industry’s development, he added. Meanwhile, Buzdar said, changes had been introduced in Lda by-laws and construction of high-rise buildings had been allowed. He said that work was in progress on naya pakistan Housing programme and clean water project was being started with two billion rupees under aab-epak authority. He also said that ease of doing business had been arranged for investors and one window cells and e-khidmat centres had been established. the punjab cM said that Rs20 billion were earmarked for soft loans under pSic. the government was providing training to 0.1 million students every year under teVta. around 2,200-kilometre roads were constructed in villages under naya pakistan Manzalain asaan programme, he said, adding that this scheme would continue this year and development projects would be formulated in consultation with the public representatives after the restoration of local governments’ funds. He also said that the new local government act had been approved and promulgated. now local government heads would be elected directly. the cM said that small farmers were being given loans through ecredit scheme and work was continued to introduce new seeds for more productivity. Funds of Rs1.25 billion were allocated to overcome locust attack which was a big threat however it was eliminated from more than 0.8 million hectares area, he added. He said that the government had launched the construction of Jalalpur and greater thal canal systems to irrigate around 0.8 million acre land. the study was being conducted for the construction of 4 small dams in Koh-e-Suleman area and upgradation of Khanki Barrage, Jinnah Barrage, punjnad and other barrages was completed, he added. Meanwhile, work on upgradation of upper Jhelum canal and dg Khan canal was in progress, he further said. He said that 99 per cent payments were made to sugarcane farmers as the cabinet had approved amendments in the sugarcane act and mills would be fined up to Rs5 million for nonpayment to farmers. Buzdar said that Sehat insaf card Scheme had been introduced in all the districts which would benefit seven million families and 35 million needy people. He said that 30,000 merit-based recruitments had been made in the health sector
and six new hospitals comprising 3,500 beds were being constructed in different districts. the government had enhanced 12.000 beds in existing hospitals and the construction and expansion of different hospitals was in progress in different districts, he added. Meanwhile, the cM said, first bone marrow transplant centre was being set up in Bahawalpur and the 600-bed hospital was being set up in Lahore. Wazirabad institute of cardiology had been completed and Haseeb Shaheed Hospital had also been completed in Faisalabad, he added. He said that special allowance had been approved for engineers along with doctors and the new service structure was being designed for nurses. the coronavirus test facility had been increased to 17,000 daily and a historic decision had been made to make urdu as a medium of instruction in the primary level and teaching of english as a subject, he added. Buzdar said that the e-transfer policy for teachers yielded positive results and insaf afternoon Schools had been set up in 22 districts. He said that 1,272 schools had been upgraded without spending a penny. Seven universities were being set up and 4.500 ctis’ recruitments had been completed. new teachers would be recruited on the pattern of ctis, he added. the cM said that 130 meetings of the cabinet and cabinet standing committees were held and decisions were made on 1,929 agenda items. He said that punjab assembly, during its two-year tenure, approved 58 bills of public welfare and issued 25 new ordinances. punjab assembly passed 38 basic laws and done more legislation as compared to other provincial assemblies, he added. He also said that 10,000 new recruitments in punjab police had been approved and 550 new vehicles had been purchased for the police department while 45 new police stations were being constructed whereas land for 101 police stations had been identified. He further said that the cabinet approved executive allowance for the police department and scope of model police stations was being extended. Similarly, the cM said, under Rescue 1122, the scope of motorcycle ambulance service would be extended to all districts of the province, and services of rescue 1122 were being taken at the tehsil level. He said that it was the pti government which realised and had given a service structure for the employees of Rescue 1122 after 15 years. He also said that 92 shelter homes had been constructed in all major cities of the province including Lahore. panahgah authority would be established, he further said, adding that 10 more shelter homes would be established in Lahore in the rental buildings.
CMYK
Buzdar said that 137 day care centres had been established for facilitating the working women throughout the province. He said that revolutionary measures had been taken for bringing reforms in the jail sector. the cM said that he personally visited eight jails of different cities and inspected the condition of the prisoners. He said that the punjab government had paid fines of Rs280 million and got 1,000 prisoners released. He also said that reforms were being introduced in 167 years old jail manual as prisoners would get relief after implementing the parole and probation act. Work was being carried out on different 1300 under completion developmental project, he added. Buzdar stated that he made visits to Balochistan for promoting inter-provincial harmony and announced developmental projects worth billions of rupees in turbat, taftaan and Makraan. He said that a hospital would also be established in turbat. He also said that work was being carried out on the projects of alternative energy sources to get rid of expensive electricity and energy crisis. Work on an off-grid solution in cholistan and thal was under process and project of clean and green pakistan was being carried out successfully, he added. He said that 20 kg flour bag was being sold at the rate of Rs860 in punjab. the scope of double-decker buses would be extended for promoting tourism in the province, he said and added that punjab public private partnership authority had been established and 28 development projects worth Rs144 billion had been approved. a time bar of three to four months would be fixed for starting ppp projects, he further said. the chief minister said that the foundation stone of construction of Rawalpindi Ring Road, nullah Lai express Way, SL-iii Ring Road, Sheikhupura-gujranwala Road would soon be laid. He said that Land Record System was being made easier and 20 mobile vans had been purchased, adding, number of Land Record centres was also being increased. He also said that the first underground water tank had been constructed to store rainwater in Lahore. underground water sewage system would be extended gradually in divisions and later at the district level, he added. Buzdar said that Lahore orange Line Metro train project would be started by october. He said the pti government did not stop work on this project, and subsidy had to be given on this project, he added. He also said that 13 national parks had been established in punjab. Solid Waste Management authority had been established in dera ghazi Khan as well. Soon this authority would be made active in other divisions as well, he added.
NEWS
05
18 more lose lives as relentless rains batter KP continued on page 01 Houses situated near rivers have been evacuated due to the flow of water was increasing, according to Bisham Assistant Commissioner Khurram Rehman. At least two more people were killed and seven others injured in the Shangla district due to heavy rainfall just a day earlier. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) stated that Peshawar and other northern areas were seeing torrential rainfall while flooding was reported in stormwater drains in Swat, Chitral and Kohistan. Last Friday, at least 20 people were killed and nine suffered injuries in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to flash floods caused by cloudbursts. A truck driver was also killed and several others injured when landslides hit vehicles in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
AGP to conduct audit on govt agencies’ readiness to tackle rain emergencies iSLaMaBad SHAHZAD PARACHA
The auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) has decided to conduct a special audit on the preparation of government agencies to meet rain-related emergencies in Karachi. Officials said that the objective of the audit is to examine the funds earmarked and its utilisation in the existing drainage system in Karachi and to check whether adequate financial and human resources were available and properly utilised for drainage and sewerage system. This audit team will examine the expenditure of clearing the stormwater drains in Karachi. They will also look into the government’s preparedness for rain emergencies for the periods 2017-18, and 2019-20. The audit will be conducted for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, six districts of Municipal Corporation of Karachi, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and five Cantonment Boards of Karachi, the official added.
Local assembling of e-buses to start next year: Fawad iSLaMaBad TLTP
Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhary has said the local assembling of electric buses will start next year. Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Fawad Chaudhary said the domestic manufacturing of these buses will start in three years' time. He vowed to make Islamabad Pakistan's first city where transport will be fully electric. "In this regard, the federal government will import 120 electric buses this year," the minister added. He said the government is focusing on electric vehicles so as to bring revolution in the transport sector. On a query, he said that high technology farms will be developed in order to promote the production of unconventional crops, adding that the cabinet has already approved industrial and medical use of hemp. For the cultivation of hemp, sites have been identified in Peshawar, Jhelum and Chakwal, he informed. Last month, Fawad Chaudhry had announced that battery-powered electric buses would operate in Pakistan from this year. He had said this after the signing ceremony of a strategic alliance agreement between Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Limited and Skywell Automobile (Chinese firm) to set up an electric vehicles value chain in Pakistan.
Work on $6.6bn ADBfunded projects to be expedited: Bakhtiar iSLaMaBad TLTP
The government will review the progress on the ongoing Asian Development Bank-funded projects on a quarterly basis to expedite the implementation of the projects. This was stated by Economic Affairs Minister Makhdum Khusro Bakhtiar while chairing the tripartite wrap-up meeting on portfolio review of ADB-funded projects at the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Wednesday.
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
06 COMMENT
On the same page
The rough road ahead for PTI administration Wanted, transparency and even-handedness
Only two political parties have had mass support
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eSPIte receiving PM Nawaz Sharif’s medical reports, a vindictive PtI government rejected the request for extension in his bail on medical grounds. the government then petitioned to the court to declare the former PM an absconder. In comparison the government has shown no interest in bringing back Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who faces much more serious cases in the courts including High treason. this cannot be called even-handedness. the urgency shown by the government to bring back Nawaz Sharif is likely to cost it dear. It would bring together the doves and the hawks inside the desperate PML-N. there are signs of the opposition parties moving faster than before to hold an APC. As indicated by the undiluted remarks of PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz, the campaign against the government is going to be bitter and nasty. She has questioned the integrity of the Prime Minister for failing to take notice of the alleged mega scale corruption by his appointees. the opposition has exerted little pressure on the government outside Parliament during the last two years of its tenure. failing to make the PtI administration responsive, it is preparing to take the issues directly to the masses now. A number of cases that worry large sections of the population have by chance come together. Justice Seth’s remarks on Musharraf’s case indicate the issue is not dead despite PtI taking no notice if it. there are the two cases the government has pursued with grim determination, the one against Mian Nawaz Sharif and the other against SC judge Qazi faez Isa. things once confined to social media are now being reported in mainstream media. Unless justice is seen to be done, the issues are likely to turn up at public rallies by the opposition parties where comparisons would be made, conclusions drawn and translated into slogans. to stop this, manipulation needs to give place to transparency, even-handedness and justice.
Dr FariD a Malik
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fter paying a heavy toll, finally it seems all state institutions are working in tandem or in other words, are on the same page. for a long suffering country like Pakistan, this is a welcome arrangement. there is a history of institutional tussle for supremacy which ultimately led to the first Martial Law in October 1958. At the time of partition, the country inherited colonial institutions (armed forces, judiciary, bureaucracy) that needed major reforms. the legislature was elected in 1946, the founding fathers were men of integrity. the first challenge was the influx of refugees and then constitution making was equally complex. the leadership from the eastern Wing had popular support and did not rely on the state apparatus to boost their electoral support, while in the Western portion it was the other way around. After the assassination of the first Prime Minister (PM) Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951, the establishment started to call the shots. the PM was not given a state funeral. Khawaja Nazimuddin, a stalwart of the freedom movement who had succeeded the father of the nation as Governor General (GG) was made to step down to become the PM while Baboo Ghulam Muhammad (Gamma) managed to become the GG. Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, the brilliant legal mind and the most popular leader of east Pakistan, finally succeeded in framing the first constitution in 1956 on the basis of population parity between the two wings. elections were scheduled for the winter of 1958 but before that could take place, General Ayub Khan conspired against democracy, abrogated the Constitution and took control of the country as Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA). there was a tussle once before between the institutions when Gamma dismissed the first Legislative Assembly of Pakistan, it now turned into people versus the establishment confrontation. All colonial in-
Tour of England Problems of the national team still unaddressed
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Basic justice providers demand justice themselves
AKIStAN ended a losing tour on a winning note, with the sole win of six international encounters with england coming up short in the final t20 International, and that too off the last ball by just five runs. Pakistan let the last t20 go down to the wire, as england had a chance of winning on the last ball, and that too if the batsman facing, Mr Curran, had hit a six to follow the mighty blow he had smote on the previous ball. the defeats that the team suffered were of its own making, and were strangely familiar across both formats of the game: england posed a tough target to win, and doing so. In the first test, england managed the 277 needed to win, mainly through heroic batting by Mr Buttler and Mr Woakes, after the specialist batsmen had got out. the failure of the bowling to get out england within a stiff target was repeated in the second t20, after the first was washed out. After the batting put on 196, the bowling could not defend it. this is the second highest target england has ever overhauled in a t20 International. It would be easy to blame the bowlers, and at most the captain, but in the modern game, the coach, Mr Misbah-ul-Haq, and the staff under him must be scrutinized too. the bowling coach, Waqar Younis, must answer questions about why the bowlers seemingly went wool-gathering. the head coach has two issues to answer: first, how far does his other hat, that of chief selector, interfere with his job? Also germane is whether his being such a recent player is interfering with his own judgment, and the development of the captains into the sort of elder-brother figure the captain is supposed to be. the PCB should ask itself if Mr Haq should not have been kept for later, when his playing contemporaries would have retired. the Prime Minister, Mr Imran Khan, has made much in his Political campaigning of having been a cricketer, and had promised that the PCB would be reformed. As with his other campaign promises that has not happened. As captain, would Mr Khan have wanted a powerful chief selector-cum-coach behind him?
If cops don’t get justice, what sort of justice will they provide?
SyeD ZeeShan haiDer
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was tasked by a broadcaster to produce a documentary on the cultural transformation of the police station. In those days, the crime rate in Punjab had skyrocketed. Lawlessness had spread its wings to 400 people every day. the police felt its position declining daily. for the Punjab administration and senior police officials, the people’s hatred for the police had become a headache. Democratic and undemocratic governments have been using police officers as seals on the carpet of politics and have made no attempt to uproot this rotten system. every government has ruthlessly used the police to intimidate the people and their political rivals and the term ‘thana culture’ has become embedded in the justice system and our system poisoned day by day. Some political leaders and our own bureaucracy have made headlines that have not been compensated to date and the people are still suffering the consequences. In preparing the documentary, I wanted to highlight each and every aspect to discuss and examine the toxic motives that lead to the term ‘thana culture’. By proving the sinner innocent and the innocent a sinner, such as by playing with justice, difficulties in the investigation process, political influence, the grip of powerful mafia on government machinery, lack of funds, the problem
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad
Umar Aziz
Asher John
Joint Editor
Executive Editor
Deputy Editor
Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965
stitutions got together to derail the path of real freedom for which the Muslims of India struggled and sacrificed. the first born free generation of Pakistan and the colonial state now stood face to face. Battle lines were clearly drawn, between a march towards democracy or a continuation of the Viceroy’s rule through the General. the Khan from Hazara was always disliked by the Bengali population. the Quaid had himself superseded him to retire as GOC eastern Command. In order to consolidate his grip over power, the usurper decided to move the capital close to his seat of power and his home town. He had very little interest in keeping the two wings together. As a capital city, Karachi was truly a miniPakistan, and at least there was a sea route to the eastern Wing. even today there is a huge Bengali population there. the All-India Muslim League was born in Decca in 1906, Bengalis were at the forefront of the freedom movement. Only a democratic Pakistan could have kept the two wings together. the Martial Law followed by shifting of capital and abrogation of the constitution developed fissures which could not be healed, resulting in the civil war and break-up of Quaid’s republic. In order to reverse the march to freedom, a thirdrate corrupt-to-the-core political leadership was created by the usurper to prolong his rule. the same process was then followed by the third and fourth dictators. there have been only two real eras of genuine civilian leadership (1947 to 1958, 1971 to 1977). Institutions were built and strengthened to serve the people during these brief periods. Despite popular support the colonial institutions remained uneasy with the democratic regimes, they were all forced to behave but remained at odds with civilian authority. After removal of the elected PM in July 1977, there was an organized effort to weaken institutions which has continued unabated till today. Zia’s experiment of introducing incompetent and corrupt political leaders like Nawaz Sharif badly backfired when he decided to be his own person after expanding his influence in the police, judiciary and bureaucracy and decided to take on his benefactors. Despite dossiers full of his corruption he was allowed to plunder the wealth of the nation. Zardari then followed the corrupt ways of the Sharifs after the two parties had signed the Charter of Democracy ( COD ). Imran Khan’s PtI emerged as a third political force after over two decades of struggle. Bhutto’s PPP was able to gain power only after four years (1967 to 1971) of opposition to the forces of status-quo. till today both these entities remain the only genuine political parties not formed or conceived by the establish-
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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9
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of duty hours and the police department’s own factors such as slow progress or registration of false cases, were the main reasons for police culture. While the people had a lot of grievances against the police, the police also had a lot of grievances against this rotten system, the government, the media, the judiciary, and the people which were never discussed in public circles, media, and government offices. While I made public complaints about policing and the public abuse part of this documentary or highlighted the problems of police personnel there, the day-to-day problems faced by officers ranging from constables to DIGs were also highlighted. When the problems of the police personnel were put to the test of reality, such heartbreaking incidents were heard that neither the media nor the people and the ruling circles reached the bottom. A few well-educated ASI and sub-inspector level officers of the police department wrote me a letter, the gist of which is as follows: the promotion system of officers and constables from constable to inspector rank in Punjab police is very slow. the Assistant Sub-Inspectors recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission were of the view that ASIs recruited in Punjab in 2003 were promoted as Sub-Inspectors in 2007 and as Inspectors in 2009. Despite 11 years of service as Sub-Inspectors after recruitment, they are deprived of promotion because the previous Punjab government made the process of development of junior employees more complicated and difficult. Surprisingly, the majority of those recruited in 2009 are holders of MA and MPhil degrees. they are frustrated and remorseful for being recruited in the police. the majority of the recruits in 2009 are those who have been instrumental in washing away the ugly stains on Punjab Police such as rudeness, immorality, bribery, and have been instrumental in bridging the gap between the public and the police department which has existed for centuries. there are intelligent and capable boys who have become the need of the department with their professionalism in police stations and office matters. Police stations are the basic unit of the justice provider and the ASI-level investigating officer is the most important officer in any police station but unfortunately, the citizens themselves should realize that the justice providers feel themselves inferior, deprived and they are suffering
Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545
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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk
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ment. It seems the mending process has started. the armed forces have finally realized that they cannot run the country. When an Army General was appointed Vice Chancellor ( VC ) of the largest and oldest university of Pakistan, an academician asked him an interesting question, “ If a General can be appointed a VC, why can’t a Professor be appointed a Corps Commander?” Sheepishly he answered, “A General can take on any challenge”, time has proven him wrong. Yes, a person in uniform can improve law and order on the campus, but cannot run it like a unit of soldiers without seriously compromising academics. After 73 years finally everyone seems to be on the same page, except the bureaucracy which is still unsure, but eventually they will also have to dump their soft corners for the corrupt leadership of the past or face serious consequences, as there is no going back to the old ways. the people of Pakistan have to be served, not pushed around. the important question is will this working together result in the strengthening of institutions which were deliberately weakened by the tussle for supremacy. Same page means the rule of law and constitution, with each state organ functioning under the guidelines set by the consensual document. the Armed forces will gradually have to withdraw to their own domain after the civil institutions start to function. the role of the bureaucracy remains critical in this transition to real democracy, where the will of the people is considered supreme. Currently the cleanup of the port city of Karachi is being attempted through the NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) with the cooperative effort of all the stake holders. After the city of Quaid, revival of Lahore in which I grew up is needed. Once it was a functional city where there was public transport, healthcare and government schools, while on the other side of the Mian Mir bridge was the cantonment where soldiers trained and lived away from civilization. It is time to restore its ruggedness while bringing the civil amenities on this side for which the metropolis was rightly called the Paris of the east. Yes, being on the same page should produce the balance through which nations rise united, not divided by conflict, controversy, corruption and influence beyond the assigned domains. Pakistan has to be rebuilt, the march towards freedom has to continue, the strength of the nation is in unity. Dr Farid A Malik is ex-Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation. He can be contacted at: fmaliks@hotmail.com.
from injustice. In such a situation, what kind of justice will these people give to others? Surely, they will be treated with harsh words and harsh accents. A closer look at the promotion policy system of the four provinces reveals the fact that the promotion policy of constable to inspector level personnel in Punjab is extremely slow. Similarly, the promotion system of Sindh province is also slightly better than that of Punjab. there was a time when a young ASI recruit could easily reach the rank of DIG but the previous government of Punjab passed several orders in 2013 and 2014. As a result, the promotion of these junior officers was stopped and they were deprived of promotion and sub-inspectors and inspectors were recruited directly, which is exploiting the personnel from constable to inspector. tehsil, District, and the management and system of police offices up to divisional level is efficiently streamlined by these educated youth. In some cases, even our PSP officers are indebted to them. Police in every district across Pakistan is active on social media, uploading the performance of their respective districts daily on twitter, facebook, WhatsApp, which is closing the gap between the people and the police. Sargodha police has about 600,000 followers on facebook and about 6,000 on twitter. It has the most followers in Pakistan and the credit goes to Safdar Iqbal and Abid Hussain. Both of them are highly educated. One is MA, LlB and the other is has an M.Phil in criminology. this has played a significant role in washing away the ugly stain on the police to date but these youngsters have been waiting for development for years despite their higher education. Similarly, many youngsters across Punjab have completed MAM in recent days. A police sub-inspector holds a PhD and is the only member of the Punjab police with a doctorate. Our present government has reached the corridors of power by raising the slogan of change. Imran Khan used to announce in his political meetings that he would fix the Punjab police system, free the police from political interference, and implement reforms in it. reforms were his special agenda. Legislation needs time to make the police system better and more efficient. IG Punjab Shoaib Dastgir, since taking over the charge of his office, has introduced significant reforms in the police which have significantly reduced the crime rate in Punjab. It is hoped that he will address the growing unrest among the employees, and take steps to end the sense of deprivation and show compassion for the shoulders of our subordinates and take concrete steps to make the development system easier for junior employees and officers in Punjab. Syed Zeeshan Haider is CEO and Chairman of Haider Group of Companies and hosts a current affairs talk show on PTV News. Follow him on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/syedzishanhyder/
Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan today exclusively
Eighteenth amendment tHe eighteenth Amendment is a landmark document passed by the Parliament in 2010 when Pakistan people party (PPP) was in power. the Amendment has corrected the historical blunders made by civilian and noncivilian forces. However, there are multiple flaws exist in this amendment which requires urgent attention of all political parties. It has been realized that complete implementation of Article 160 which talks about National finance commission (NfC) is not possible when the nation is suffering from unprecedented pandemic crises. In addition to this removal of the concurrent list also has increased the issues in educational, health, law and order sectors across the country. the difference in syllabus in each province has further disintegrated the nation. Health which is considered a provincial subject after the eighteenth Amendment. But all import and export-related matters of health lie on the federal domain which is also questionable. empowered local government was the priority of Pakistan tahreek insaf (PtI) when It was not in power. District governments not empowered as it should have been after the eighteenth Amendment, In a nutshell, there is need of an hour to take practical measures and remove the shortcomings of the landmark document which is only possible through consensus of all political party. the Amendment requires 2/3 majority of the parliament which ruling party doesn’t possess. rectification of this document with the consensus of all will take Pakistan at new heights. Liaqat WaSSan Karachi
The man in the ironic mask Musings during the pandemic the phrase ‘supposed to have said’. No matter. It is still genius. Fitzgerald: You know, the rich are different from you and me. Hemingway: Yes. They have more money. We need a correction in perspective. the * * * * * * * * * poor are different from you and me; they have I have been waiting during this pervasive pan- less money. Any reading of feudal or colonial history indemic for some vociferous cleric to proclaim that the promised day has arrived. everyone, dicates one fact: the poor did not figure in the mathematics of economic policy, except as a man and woman, is now wearing a veil. this is not the horrid shroud, the tip-to-toe source of revenue, which in turn kept them poor. tent-with-perpendicular-cloth-helmet once com- they were born feeble, lived briefly, died mon on the Indian subcontinent but is now fad- quickly. they existed in a penumbra of attention, ing out. Our pandemic masks are a sleek version often burdened by appalling theories that justiof the old niqab, covering the face from just fied their poverty as penance for some deep birth below the eyes to the neck, held together by or pre-birth guilt. Socialism advertised itself as the rational corrective to this elemental injustice. those quirky handles called ears. there is a good reason for every part of the Capitalism, in contrast, offered a more freehuman body, apart from ears. It is a fallacy to be- booter path to upward mobility. And yet, after lieve that they are required for hearing, for the two centuries of trial, error and experience, the audio mechanism begins through the hole on the market economy lifted far more people out of poverty than socialside of the lower ism. this is illogical. head; the ear is only Why did it happen? a kind of mushroom Maybe the marumbrella. the ket economy Almighty could Any reading of feudal or colonial worked better behave dispensed with cause it was a nonthe umbrella, and history indicates one fact: the theory. theories are kept the earhole, perpoor did not figure in the rigid. they do not haps with a discreet the flexibility half-inch skin flap. mathematics of economic policy, have that individualism the only practican bring to the socal use of an ear is except as a source of revenue, lution of practical for jewellery, which which in turn kept them poor. problems. Naturally, is adornment, or for it needed a brilliant schoolchild punishThey were born feeble, lived Communist to recment. But Proviognize this fundadence thinks ahead. briefly, died quickly mental truth of that is the miracle. Capitalism. In the Without ears we 1980s China’s could not have leader Deng Xiaopworn masks. Since isolation is splendid breeding ground ing overturned four decades of Maoist doctrine, for speculation, a collateral thought. We assume and delineated his country’s path forward with that we need to see a face to recognize a person. a succinct remark: he did not care about the the mask leaves only eyes and forehead visible, colour of the cat as long as it caught mice. If Deng had been American he would have and there is no known problem in recognition. On the other hand, wear the mask around your been Warren Buffet’s bridge and ice-cream parteyes, as Zorro does in comic books, and it be- ner. [Deng was, and Buffet is, a gifted bridge comes far more difficult to recognize anyone. player; and if required, the American billionaire would have taught the innovative Chinese the conclusion is obvious. Will the mask go away when covid-19 is ei- thinker-politician the virtues of ice-cream.] Marxism and Maoism informed the opther subdued or subjugated? the problem in cities like Delhi is Putrid-P, with the second P pressed that they had nothing to lose but their for pollution. It might be a good idea to make chains, and then fettered man, machine, production and price with the steel bonds of group-inmasks obligatory, at least through winter. structions. China’s economy exploded. the Welcome to the Man in the Ironic Mask. political masters solved the resultant problem of a greed-dividend by diverting the overflow of * * * * * * * * * wealth to a new elite, the princelings of a generAs we have all discovered this is the time to dust ation of party leaders who had suffered during the forgotten books or read up on subjects a little excesses of the Cultural revolution in the 1970s. Hannah Arendt noted that every revoluaskance of the daily needs of practical existence. You never know which oyster you might pick up tion devours its children. In this case, the chilwhen you trawl through a sea of words in a col- dren devoured the revolution, and then paid lection or an anthology. All the oysters will not off their parents. reveal pearls; but many will. Some of the best Mobashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian anecdotes, interestingly, are not anchored in certainty of origin, but who else could have made journalist and author. He is the Editor-in-Chief them up? A brilliant exchange between the of The Sunday Guardian. He has also served as American writers f. Scott fitzgerald and ernest Editorial Director of India Today. He tweets at: Hemingway is still generally circumscribed by @mjakbar. however, is more demanding─ unless, of course, you happen to be a monarch who gets all the glory for victory and transfers blame for defeat on the incompetence of generals.
M J akbar
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rIMe MINISter Narendra Modi was feeding a peacock from a plate in his hand in the quiet of an early Monday morning, when the decibel levels of political Delhi suddenly jumped to screech, raised by an insurrection in the Congress party. Sometimes, juxtaposition becomes a metaphor. Photographs of this coincidence captured the different states of mind. the 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote a letter to their interim party president Mrs Sonia Gandhi had much to be disturbed about; most notably, drift, indecision and the bizarre insistence of the presumptive heir, rahul Gandhi, to keep firing at government with dud ammunition. their letter sought clarity rather than confrontation, revival rather than rebellion. It suited the Congress establishment to twist their alarm into heresy in order to divert attention from the core message, for the message sought consequences. reform is required only when form has melted; and any objective assessment will confirm that the bones have begun to chatter in the Congress skeleton. It is perfectly straightforward: the 23 signatories asked for clarity and decisive leadership because they were convinced that their party had become mired in confusion and staccato verbiage. It is interesting that Mrs Sonia Gandhi became President of the Congress after her predecessor Sitaram Kesri managed to win only 140 seats in the 1998 general elections, and was shanghaied out by a simple decision of the Congress Working Committee. Congress has got far less than half that number in two general elections, but there has been no accountability or change in its functioning. Mrs Gandhi handed over effective leadership of these elections to rahul Gandhi. the signatories clearly believe that if they do not act now there will be a third debacle in 2024. In the tough business of politics, you cannot get change out of a laundry: a few spins, and all turns clean. It is a long and untidy process. In the meantime, both the establishment and the sceptics are left with questions. Here are a few bystander queries for the insurrection: Why start a journey if you have not agreed upon a destination? Why, with so much experience and contribution, get sidetracked at the first roadblock? Why go into battle clad wearing straw rather than armour? Why dare to challenge dynasty and then settle for a cup of coffee? Politics is a strange business. the rewards of success are never certain. the price of failure,
Improved air quality AIr quality levels across the South Asian region are the worst, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and India making it to the top five in the list of most polluted countries as mentioned in 2019 World Air Quality report by IQAir. Now, in 2020,a global emergency took place. the Covid-19, which started from Wuhan China, slowly and gradually spread to various countries and many people lost their lives. Due to it people were not allowed to go out and there were numerous rules to follow. Due to lockdown, vehicles, factories and industries all were closed and earth was healing. According to research, over past weeks the air quality improvements have come as a byproduct of the lockdowns. WHo stated, around 4.2 million deaths every year occur as a result of exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution. But after the global pandemic, there was less pollution and climate was clean. Likewise, people must take care of environment so it can be pure as it is during Covid-19. Alongside, there were less diseases because of clean environment. If we take care of environment and make the pollution less then we will be protected from many diseases. We will also get fresh air and clean weather. Stay safe, stay happy Mahina SaghEEr turbat
Encouraging reading reADING is one of the best qualities, one can poses. As William Somerset Maugham said: “to acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” Unfortunately, our youth does not seem to be really interested in reading books. Books are called one’s best friend. they develop a critical mindset, help us gain knowledge and made us learn moral values. But in this modern era, gadgets have engulfed books due to which we won’t be having a productive nation. therefore, there is a dire need of encouraging reading skills in our youth and parents and teachers can play the best role in it. AFrOZ MJ TurbAT
What a day in Karachi After meeting and touching situation of Karachi, A sudden accident or natural disaster wreaked havoc the whole joints of Karachi. there is a multitude of people who faced the music. especially those penury people who unable to survive their live in this hot and heavy issue. I may say, a natural disaster is a benediction from Almught Allah, but to sort out this dilemma is responsibility of All people, whether they are in the government sector or private sector.. the whole political leaders as well as ministers of Sindh have carte blanche to overcome this hit potato which has been hocked a person of Karachi. this terrifying gloom is not only faces of middle-class neighbourhood, but also elite class. furthermore, this monstrous world already as been faced the music DUe tO COVID-19, A DOZeN Of PeOPLe has LOSt tHeIr LIVeS At tHe DrOP Of HAt. It was a setback to this world. Most of the sudden, an incident can be occurred to you at any time. SAMe AS Natural disaster which is an inevitable. recently, I have seen the whole enchidela of the of cities where rainwater was stagnant on road of each city of Pakistan especially, Lahore and Karachi. regarding this natural occurrence, everyone has arisen heap of cinders regarding CM Sahab. Some of them, defamed his reputation in writing words servely. We know that, CM is final and absolute authority to wipe out all daunting tasks from the city, but It is a not only dilemma of Karachi to spick and span the water from the roads but also the others cities are still remaining. this monstrous society is plenary of pompous ass people. We always see our interests and benefits. We take up-turned and some time, we depart from our right principles. So We’re being selfish and rapacious regarding our monetary interest and other one. . A hallmark mark quoted can be stated here. this maxim can be infallible at some angles, but not completely top-notch to sigh. So to mock at others, or musterjocular expression, or your facial expression toward personality personality which feels a vestige of degrading our authority concerned who fought with this pandemic situation and tried to prevent us from this baneful disease. Who took such miraculous and effective steps to desist this disease from occurring again and again, but this society still opposed against him in lieu of extolling. In the nutshell. there is a sophist who depicts that. Same situation happens above given sweeping statement; try to Change, trY tO use creativity to your life, try to be mature, do not change your paths, where you feel under the weather, try to stand at one’s feet, try to love choose loved ones leader and proponent him inwardly and outwardly. Because of Public. they are nothing, but you must take action or protest regarding any illicit act and you do not allow to defame charming personality at any cost. nirMaL Oad ShiKarpur
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
08 WORLD VIEW
A ‘new’ demOcrAcy? A SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION OF DEMOCRACY IS TAKING PLACE FROM WITHIN TO ITS VERY OPPOSITE
Hindu
T
harbans mukhia
He ‘democracy’ that a major part of our world swears by comprises free and fair, multi-party, fixedterm elections based on universal adult franchise in its ideal state. a contestant party winning the majority of votes represents the will of the electorate and gets to form the government; others sit in the opposition until the next election. simple. Its simplicity also conceals some of its structural flaws. The ‘majority of votes’ actually boils down to the majority of seats in the legislature which, in 99% of the time, comes riding a minority of votes. Rarely is a government formed backed by a majority of votes won in a free and fair election. Rajiv Gandhi’s formidable, highest-ever majority in Lok sabha in 1984 was still short of a majority of votes by about 2%. narendra Modi in 2014 had the backing of 31% of the votes cast and in 2019, of just
about 40%. In 2016, Donald Trump won the presidential race in the U.s. with a deficit of over 2.5 million popular votes vis-à-vis his chief competitor, Hillary Clinton. It is the same story everywhere. WHaT DeMOCRaCY BROUGHT Besides the fact that this democracy is far from becoming universal even well into the 21st century, its own life history is just a tiny dot on the canvas of time: short of a hundred years. Universal adult franchise itself is yet to hit the 100-year mark in the most advanced nations. even in the U.s., white women won the franchise a hundred years ago but their black sisters had to wait another few decades. The white women too won it in the teeth of opposition, including from thousands of women raising the slogan: a vote or a husband? The swiss women got the vote less than a half century ago, nearly a quarter century after Indian women did. Democracy did not come alone; its accoutrements included guaranteed individual rights and freedoms, free market economy, equality of all citizens, freedom of life and property, etc. — inviolable constituents of capitalism. elections created space for change of governments even as they guaranteed security against challenge to the regime;
Has the dollar started its long decline? ULTIMATELY, THE DOLLAR’S DOMINANCE CANNOT PERSISTENTLY OUTWEIGH THE RELATIVE DECLINE OF THE US ECONOMY IN THE WORLD. AT SOME POINT, IT WILL START TO BE REPLACED BY SOMETHING ELSE. BUT DON’T CONFUSE THAT WITH WHERE THE DOLLAR’S PRICE IS HEADING AGAINST OTHER CURRENCIES
Article
O
Jim O'neill
ne of the features of financial markets since early summer has been a decline in the value of the dollar against many currencies, and with it, an especially interesting acceleration in the price of gold. In addition to the usual professional market analysis about the dollar’s movement, this has led to speculation that it might be the beginning of the end of the dollar’s pre-eminence. Having spent far too much of my professional life as a supposed currency expert, I reiterate something I learnt early on: the foreign exchange business sometimes grants an analyst their 15 minutes of fame, but no expert is a match for the millions who participate in this huge global market all day long. But I spent over 30 years in the financial markets, the vast majority in the hubbub of the forex market. and along the journey, I think I learnt a few tricks of the trade. at the core of trying to answer questions about the dollar, I learnt a long time ago that there are two entirely separate questions, one of which has two subsections, about the dollar. Firstly, there is the question about the use of the dollar. Will it continue to dominate the world’s financial system as the most widely accepted medium of exchange? This is not at all the same issue as the dollar’s day-to-day performance against other currencies. This is the second question, which is almost definitely the most pertinent one to what has happened during the summer. How the dollar’s value moves against other currencies is driven
by a structural, or a valuation component, and a cyclical component. each can be analysed separately, and if you were daft enough to devote the years I did to the process, you can combine the two, to have a dynamically adjusted fair value, persuading yourself at least that such an approach combines all available information at any point in time. In terms of valuation, the most common approach is so-called purchasing power parity, which holds that a currency, in equilibrium, will ultimately reflect the difference in prices between two countries. If inflation is persistently higher in the Us than in the eurozone, then the equilibrium value of the dollar will decline over time. I developed my own version of equilibrium currency rates, as it seemed to me in the real world, that the real inflation adjusted value of a currency was not stable, and that it moved over time. This was a reflection of productivity differentials between two countries. I christened it GsDeeR: 'the Goldman sachs Dynamic equilibrium Real exchange Rate' when I joined the firm in 1995. What I learned is that when a currency is more than two standard deviations away from its fair value, it makes a huge amount of sense to watch closely, and when the momentum changes, it is worth going with this trend reversal. The momentum can change based on a change in the forces that have driven the currency away from its fair value, although it can be often easier to detect simply by watching the change in price. One of the things that has frustrated currency participants over the past decade, with the exception of the swiss franc and the pound, is that other major currencies have not been that far away from their fair value against the dollar or each other. even during the dollar’s rise in recent years, including the period up to the summer, while it had clearly become overvalued, with the possible exception of the pound, it hadn’t become more than two standard deviations above its own fair value. In this regard, I have believed that one might be on the lookout for a chance to buy the pound against the dollar, and perhaps against the yen. The cyclical component of a currency’s
the challenge could arise only outside of it, through ‘revolutions’, which in turn had much contracted the space even for a change of government and none for a change of regime. In the end, most ‘revolutions’ could not escape the dragnet of ‘democracy’, their existential as well as conceptual adversary. One of democracy’s primary premises, free market, which ‘revolutions’ had sought to eradicate, is now under threat not from its adversary but from its own internal dynamics. The unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top 1% around the world knocks the bottom out of competition in the market, so integral to its freedom. THe pRInCIpLe anD THe FORM This high concentration of wealth is in turn getting to impact the system’s political functioning by replicating the process. The hollowing out of this foundational principle of capitalism while retaining its form is also running parallel in the other freedoms, other constituents of ‘democracy’ by hollowing out the substance of even free and fair elections and individual freedoms while retaining the form. The notion of the free choice of the exercise of vote at the ballot box gets completely distorted with innumerable manipulations of that choice on all sides, all
movement around its conceptual equilibrium can perhaps best be captured in the nominal interest rate adjusted for inflation expectations. I persuaded myself that the actual spot exchange rate of the dollar on any one day should be close to the adjusted GsDeeR, and if it was not, then it would be useful for traders. The dollar had become more interesting pre-COVID, as it appeared to have risen notably against many currencies, including the euro. and in this regard, the dollar was highly susceptible, and has turned out to be actually vulnerable, to a change in the state of the Us and euro area economies. now that the Federal Reserve has returned to extremely expansive monetary policy, and with it, lower real interest rates, a dollar decline seemed pretty inevitable. at current prices, on 26 august, the dollar still seems modestly expensive compared to dynamically adjusted fair value. The dollar decline could persist. In the late 1980s and mid 1990s, the dollar fell to very low levels and became very undervalued — this tended to coincide with widespread talk about the dollar’s preeminence, which turned out to be, at least for that era, wrong. and I do share the views of some people who believe, as a result of Us policies, conditions are more conducive to a sustained period of dollar weakness. This requires strong ongoing evidence that europe, China and much of the rest of asia continue to manage COVID-19 better than the Us, and that their cyclical recoveries from the pandemic continue to surprise relative to the Us. now as for the first question, about the demise of the dollar’s dominance, let me repeat that this is largely a separate issue, but I encourage any reader to be careful about getting sucked into this belief in making an investment or hedging decision. It is quite possible that the use of the dollar can decline, and start off a systematic decline even when its value is strong. Indeed, in the past couple of years when its value was largely rising, decisions made by Us policymakers to use the dollar’s dominance as a way of penalising other countries has resulted in those countries reducing their share of dollar currency reserves. Russia is a particular example, and there is some modest evidence that China is doing likewise. and the opposite can also be true. Ultimately, the dollar’s dominance cannot persistently outweigh the relative decline of the Us economy in the world, which has been occurring now for 20 years. at some point, it will start to be replaced by something else. Whether that is, the renminbi, the euro, Bitcoin, the return of gold — all are conceivable, and may happen. It might be starting now. But don’t confuse that with where the dollar’s price is heading against other currencies in coming days, weeks, or in 2021. Jim is former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a former Conservative government minister. He is chair of Chatham House and coined the term BRIC.
within the four walls of the constitutional provisions. These include distortions injected into the electoral process through control and misuse of the institutions responsible for carrying out the process; the creation of an atmosphere of delegitimisation of dissent or protest vis-à-vis the government by counter-posing the demands of unquestioning patriotism or nationalism to it; using the sentiment of patriotism to circumscribe the dispensation of fair justice; the control of the flow of information through the ‘independent’ media; setting up of professionally organised mechanisms for creating and propagating fake news; creating and promoting hatred between communities of people through patronising identity politics and using frenzy in lieu of reason as a mobiliser of votes; and not least, meting out the harshest treatment to the most prominent dissenting voices by lodging them in prison on fake charges, never mind that they would all be let off a decade later by the courts for want of evidence. The message to society would have been delivered. A GLOBAL SCENARIO: True, much of what we see happening before our eyes has been witnessed by history; adolf Hitler’s example, though extreme, comes closest to
what we are watching helplessly. Yet, the example is a bad one, for Hitler needed to destroy the Constitution which had brought him to power; today, remarkably democratic and progressive constitutions around the world give rulers enough space for misuse for achieving those goals and yet making the misuse palatable to voters through media and mobilisation. It is interesting that voters haven’t tired of this misuse anywhere going by the ever-rising voting percentages at election time. If this concentration of wealth and political power was the case with one country or society, it could easily be attributed to specific local conditions; but this looks like a more generalised, global scenario: in the U.s., China, Russia, India, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey and elsewhere. It is therefore futile to argue that this has flown from the personality or personal diktats of one or the other charismatic leader. Its global scale defies that inference. Clearly then, we are witnessing the transformation of the regime of democracy, a systemic transformation from within, from one that had brought us the promise of liberté, egalité, fraternité political, social and economic, to its very opposite: the highest concentration of economic, political and therefore social powers ever in history. Yet ‘democracy’ remains its trademark. nor does it have the appearance of a sudden, odd aberration with an expected short life, or a spontaneous occurrence in different regions. Its scale is too massive for that. Is this a ‘new’ democracy in store for humanity? Harbans Mukhia taught history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
What Abe has left
JoongAng
J
Oh YOung-hwan
apanese prime Minister shinzo abe has been reading “napoleon,” a three-volume book by Kenichi sato about 19th century French leader napoleon Bonaparte, according to the nihon Keizai shimbun. He stopped after finishing the first two books. “I don’t need to read Volume 3,” he said, as it would be all “downhill for napoleon” from then on. abe must have sympathized with the French leader. It is also intriguing that he chose not to read further to witness the fall from grace from the once-mighty. abe’s exit from politics after heading the cabinet for seven years and eight months means a lot. His lengthy reign was made possible by the lethargy of Japanese politics. The administrations of six prime ministers before abe reclaimed the helm of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDp) in 2012, lasting no more than one year on average. The LDp’s minority status in the Upper House was one reason. abe was able to extend his reign thanks to the dysfunctional — and indecisive — parliament. His leadership gained impetus as his party achieved six consecutive wins in Lower and Upper House elections. He wielded power as if in a presidential system. abe even installed the HR bureau in the cabinet and commanded Japan’s dinosaurian bureaucracy. abe was not just the longest-serving but also the most powerful prime minister of Japan. The LDp became simplified under the mighty leader. antimainstream factions and opponents were rare after the party’s power over nomination strengthened through electoral changes. abe’s sudden exit could leave a void in its leadership. Would-be candidates for the next prime minister include Chief Cabinet secretary Yoshihide suga, former Defense Minister shigeru Ishiba and party policy chief Fumio Kishida. all of them can hardly match abe’s command over the party or voters. They also do not have abe’s strong family background, which is very important in Japanese politics. The LDp may go back to its multi-leadership once again abe’s nationalistic stance has paved the way for Japan to shake the stigma of war. He
removed the legal chains prohibiting the country from exercising the right to use collective defense to protect the country. His revisionist view triggered many disputes with neighboring countries. In an address commemorating the end of World War II, abe said the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) “gave encouragement to many people under colonial rule,” angering many. abe may have been a far rightist, but he also had his feet firmly on the grounds. He was strictly pragmatic toward the international trends — the rise of China, the clash between the United states and China, Japan’s relative downturn and risks from U.s. president Donald Trump, to name a few. abe strengthened ties with Washington and sought détente towards Beijing. Tokyo pursued coexistence with Beijing, while leaving its strained ties with seoul intact. seoul and Tokyo differed greatly on their views on China and north Korea. It won’t be easy to reset the seoulTokyo relationship after abe’s exit. abe’s resignation also could reinforce the influences of China and Russia, both still under longstanding strongmen Xi Jinping and Vladimir putin, whose reigns could last for a lifetime. abe has left a legacy of slogan policies. He defined low birth and aging as a national crisis and placed top priority in fighting it. a politician mostly avoids issues that cannot generate immediate results. But he connected demographic challenges with rural development by luring people to migrate to rural areas through job incentives. His achievements were mixed. The goal of maintaining a 100 million population by increasing fertility rates to 1.8 cannot be easy. Japan’s fertility rate stayed unchanged at 1.36. The policy to encourage people to move out of Tokyo also has not achieved progress. But the government managed to create nearly 300,000 jobs in rural areas, raise Japan’s female employment rate to 73 percent and achieve agricultural and fisheries exports of 1 trillion yen ($9.5 billion). Many businesses have moved out of the capital. abe was keen in promoting balanced growth. He has reported on the developments in his new Year addresses since 2015. Rural promotion went hand-in -hand with tourism development. abe commanded the policy to boost tourism. Inbound travelers surged to 31 million last year from 19.74 million in 2015. enhancements in social security have also been some of his accomplishments. His government started to build a social security system that promotes hiring of seniors in an aging society. Japan’s today can mirror the future of Korea. We need to study abe’s public policies. His lengthy reign may have been possible through the inventiveness and boldness to see through them. The author is head of the JoongAng Ilbo Daegu bureau.
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
BUSINESS 09
corporate corner TPL Trakker’s location-based services to power Rider mobile app LAHORE: TPL Trakker, Pakistan’s leading IoT company providing tracking, telematics, and location-based services and solutions, has partnered with Rider, a rapidly growing end-to-end e-commerce logistics company. Following the partnership, TPL Maps, the mapping arm of TPL Trakker, will power the Rider Mobile App to ensure accurate and hassle free deliveries. TPL Maps is Pakistan’s leading digital location technology provider licensed by the Survey of Pakistan. As a location data powerhouse covering 400 cities, 4.5 million geo-coded address and 600,000 km of road network mapped across Pakistan, TPL Maps will be a key technology partner for Rider, which in a short period of time, has expanded operations to six cities since its inception last year. Press releAse
Telenor Microfinance Bank receives $45m equity injection LAHORE: Telenor Microfinance Bank, the first scheduled microfinance bank of Pakistan and the operator of the country’s leading digital payments platform Easypaisa, has received an investment of $45 million from its shareholders Telenor Group and Ant Group Co, Ltd. The investment by the shareholders has further strengthened the bank’s capital position and placed the organization on an upward trajectory to continue its growth in the mobile payment space of Pakistan. To address the low level of financial inclusion in the country, Telenor Microfinance Bank focuses on innovative technology and extensive research and development, and these areas will see a significant rise with the new investment being injected by its shareholders. Press releAse
NA Body LAMeNTs deLAy iN FBR ReFoRMs, deMANds seT TiMeLiNe ISLAMABAD
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HE National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was on Wednesday briefed about the reforms initiative adopted by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the way forward for improvement in the country's taxation system. Apprising the committee about the salient features of reforms, Adviser to Prime Minister on Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain stated that the International Monitoring Funds (IMF) had suggested the government some crucial reforms to achieve its revenue targets. He said the FBR's automation system and digitalisation process would minimise the interaction between taxpayers and tax collectors. He also elaborated functional and organization restructuring in FBR, including improvement in human re-
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that the government was focusing on the establishment of quality standard laboratories to promote Pakistani products at international level. Chairing a meeting with prominent businessmen from various sectors, he said the government was paying special attention to the introduction of technology and innovations in agriculture and other fields. Information and Broadcasting Minister Senator Shibli Faraz, Industries Minister Hammad Azhar, Commerce Adviser Abdul Razzak Dawood, Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, SAPM Dr Shahbaz Gill and Board of Investment Chairman Atif Bukhari were present on the occasion. The entrepreneurs who also attended the meeting hailed from information technology, sports goods, fashion and textiles, beauty industry, Pak wheels and other business sectors. The members of the delegation shared their experiences, highlighted the impact of the government’s business-friendly policies and put forward their proposals to further improve the country’s business environment. The prime minister told the delegation that it was among the government’s foremost priorities to promote business activities, incentivize the businesses, and create a conducive environment by removing the hurdles. Mentioning the government’s facilitation measures like the ease of doing business, online approval system and provision of easy loans, the prime minister said the young entrepreneurs excelling in their respective fields were the assets for the country. APP
of businesses. Meanwhile, the committee also discussed the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) Bill, 2020 (Government Bill) and was briefed by the project director about the requirement of this legislation. He said that PSW was a facility which would allow parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all imports, exports and transit-related regularity needs. He also apprised the committee that PSW was finalized with the consensus of the stakeholders while providing the legal basis for the approved functional, operational, governance and revenue model. He added that PSW would help un-
Stocks jump 457 points as volume hits year's peak KARACHI
Quality standard labs being established to globalise Pakistani products: PM
sources, policy management, integrity management and reduction of withholding tax and expenditure scope. The committee members, however, expressed their apprehensions regarding the delay in the outcome of reforms, saying that a timeline for reforms must be defined. The FBR chairman briefed the committee about details of reforms' framework and its expected results. He said the board had decided to implement the 'weeding out deadwood' initiative through early retirement rules and dismissal of corrupt staff through efficiency and discipline rules. He further stated that FBR was focusing on alternate dispute resolution mechanism for the smooth functioning
MARKET DAILY
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KARACHI: Allied Schools recently hosted a webinar titled “Reopening Allied Schools: The Challenges Ahead for Principals” to share practical and innovative strategies for fearless learning environment and safety of the students as the schools are reopening in the mid of September 2020. Press releAse
CHAIRMAN SAYS FBR WORKING ON ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISM TO ENSURE SMOOTH FUNCTIONING OF BUSINESSES
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its rally on Wednesday as indices continued to move north while volumes inflated to the highest level witnessed in the ongoing year. Global equity markets also showed a similar pattern, whereas crude prices moved north from the previous close; WTI crude price increasing 0.44pc to $42.95 and Brent crude price rising 0.39pc to $45.75. The benchmark KSE100 Index remained in the green throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 41,932.85 after gaining 555.59 points. It settled higher by 457.59 points at 41,834.85. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 771.12 points to end at 66,831.65, while the KSE All
Share Index added 354.33 points, closing at 29,477.19. The overall market volumes increased from 759.3 million shares in the previous session to 837.0 million shares (+10pc). Average traded value also increased by 21pc, from $131.2 million to $158.1 million. This was the highest volume recorded for the year 2020 and 4th highest in the last ten years. K-Electric Ltd (KEL +5.65pc), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTC +9.11pc) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL +3.97pc) led the volume chart on Wednesday, exchanging 53.99 million, 48.75 million and 46.91 million shares, respectively. Sectors that drove the benchmark index north included banking (89.66 points), fertilizer (81.09 points) and oil
& gas marketing (49.16 points). Among the companies, Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO 38.34 points), United Bank Ltd (UBL 33.81 points) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP 31.13 points) remained the top contributors. Adding 3.92pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the technology and communication sector emerged as the session's top gainer, with Pakistan Telecom Company (PTC 9.11pc), Hum Network Limited (HUMNL 12.50pc) and Systems Limited (SYS 2.24pc) posting decent gains. Meanwhile, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP +7.49pc) declared its financial results for 2QFY20. The bank's earned markup surged by 40.13pc YoY. Its earnings per share improved from Rs3.25 in the same period last year to Rs5.20.
Japanese investors keen to relocate industry to Pakistan: envoy ISLAMABAD APP
Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Matsuda Kuninori said on Wednesday the Japanese investors were looking to relocate their industry from elsewhere to Pakistan. He was talking to Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar at the planning ministry. The ambassador said his embassy was encouraging Japanese investors to look at investment opportunities in the auto parts sector, building on the Japanese experience in the auto manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Appreciating the envoy's efforts for enhanc-
ing economic cooperation, Asad Umar said the government initially focused on micro-economic stability, which had been achieved and now it was focusing on boosting economic growth. He said the country's economic indicators were showing a positive trend, adding that the government wanted to increase development expenditures and private sector investment. He said the privatisation programme was also being revived. The minister said that the Pakistani and Japanese businessmen could explore possibilities of collaboration in various sectors such as fisheries, agriculture and textiles. During the meeting, it was also agreed to organize a forum to discuss such opportunities in the near future.
lock Pakistan’s potential as the regional hub and trade & transit by simplifying harmonizing and automating regulatory controls. After detailed discussion, the committee unanimously recommended that the said bill may be passed by the National Assembly. Moreover, FBR Member Dr Muhammad Ishfaq informed the committee about the updated status with regard to income tax and sales tax refunds. The stakeholders were also present on the occasion to express their concerns on the problems being faced by the exporters due to glitches in the FBR's FASTER system. The committee expressed its grave concern about the income tax claims pending since 2007, and directed the FBR to prepare a comprehensive briefing in this regard. It also recommended the FBR to arrange a meeting with stakeholder/exporters for early redressal of the issue.
Gold price drops to Rs115,200 per tola ISLAMABAD: The price of 24-karat gold decreased by Rs2,500 on Wednesday and was traded at Rs115,200, as against its previous closing at Rs117,700. Likewise, the price of 10-gram gold decreased by Rs2,144 to Rs98,765 against its sale at Rs100,909 on Tuesday, Karachi Sarafa Association reported. The price of per-tola silver remained stagnant at Rs1,400 while that of 10-gram silver also witnessed no change and was traded at Rs1,200.27. Gold prices in the international market decreased by $31 per ounce to $1,959. APP
NBP’s half-year profit surges 36.8pc to Rs15.2bn ISLAMABAD: The National Bank of Pakistan's Board of Directors on Wednesday approved the condensed interim financial statements of the bank for the half-year ended June 30, 2020. The bank posted a record profit of Rs15.2 billion for the Jan-June period, showing an increase of Rs4.1 billion or 36.8pc over the same period of 2019. The net assets of the bank increased by Rs26.4 billion to Rs259.0 billion (Dec '19: Rs232.6 billion). During the first half of 2020, the bank earned gross mark-up/interest income amounting to Rs145.3 billion, which is 49pc higher than Rs97.7 billion in the corresponding period of 2019. Total earning assets averaged at Rs2,428.1 billion (June '19: Rs1,931.5 billion), of which investments amounted to Rs1,403.7 billion while generated interest/mark-up income stood at Rs85.4 billion -- 92.2pc higher than that of the first half of 2019. Likewise, net advances averaged at Rs971.1 billion, which is 6.6pc higher than Rs911.3 billion in June '19, while mark-up income recorded 18.7pc growth and closed at Rs57.6 billion. As the bank incurred cost of funds amounting to Rs96.8 billion (H1 '19: Rs62.1 billion), net mark-up/interest income for H1 '20 closed at Rs48.4 billion, 36.2pc higher against Rs35.6 billion earned during the H1 '19. Contributing a quarter to the total income, the bank's Non-fund Income (NFI) for the period amounted to Rs18.3 billion, marginally higher by Rs0.14 billion or 1pc than Rs18.2 billion of H1 '19. Despite high inflationary pressures, the bank did well at keeping a lid on the administrative expenses that clocked at Rs29.5 billion, being 5.9pc higher yearon-year, translating into a cost-to-income ratio of 44.2pc compared to 51.7pc for H1 '19. On the financial position side, the total asset base of the bank on unconsolidated basis amounted to Rs3,163.4 billion, which is 1.2pc higher than Rs3,124.4 billion as at December 31, 2019. On the asset front, investments continued to constitute the bulk of asset-mix and soared by Rs203.8 billion to Rs1,643.0 billion, whereas net advances registered a decline of 7.2pc over Dec '19, clocking in at Rs935.6 billion. Moreover, on the liabilities side, the deposit base of the bank registered an increase of Rs141.2 billion i.e. 6.4pc over Dec '19, improving the current account mix to 55.1pc and CASA ratio to 83.1pc. APP
Z2C-backed universal checkout solution bSecure enters beta KARACHI BABAr KHAN JAVeD
Adam Dawood, formerly the managing director of Kaymu by Rocket Internet and the former chief executive of Yayvo by TCS, has unveiled details about his latest venture called bSecure. A software as a service (SaaS) universal checkout solution, bSecure is a venture of Bee Squared Pte Singapore, the parent company behind Z2C Limited, the secondlargest media buying house in Pakistan. “I have been working on a new universal checkout solution with which we can create the ultimate online shopping experience, seamless and convenient for both customers
and startup builders,” said Dawood, the CEO of Be Secure (Pvt) Limited, in an announcement. “Currently, if even 1-2pc of visitors to a website end up buying something we celebrate as less than 1pc of visitors ever make a purchase. We believe we can increase that! On bSecure customers only need to press 3 buttons to complete their order (will go down to 1 click soon).” Operating in stealth mode since Q1 2020, bSecure is simultaneously looking to reduce the overall risk associated with cash on delivery (COD), which Dawood wrote about on Profit. Dawood says that between 8pc to 15pc of COD orders are rejected at the doorstep, adding that with bSecure, he is bringing in automation along with a risk
scoring platform which will give customers more power to make decisions regarding COD orders. “We wrote the first line of code in the middle of May and started accepting beta customers in late August,” he said. “Our WooCommerce plugin is live and we are currently building plugins for Magento and Shopify, along with iOS and Android SDKs.” The solutions aim to help merchants avoid the hidden costs associated with COD, thereby helping merchants improve their cash flows. For shoppers, bSecure is a oneclick checkout solution that doesn’t take page after page to go through. The SaaS solution collects phone numbers, delivery addresses while offering shoppers a full stack
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of local and international payment products and services, including COD. In line with hyperlocal ventures such as Munchies and SuperSauda, bSecure also offers location-based modes of shipment with estimated shipping times and costs, a data point that - when missing - hurts customer retention rates according to SAP. A demo is live and Dawood is open to feedback on how to build a better checkout experience. Dawood joined Z2C Limited in Q1 2020 to lead eCommerce projects, an area he has been involved in for over eight years. As the chief executive of Yayvo, he grew gross merchandise value revenue to over two billion rupees within three years. Z2C Limited, which started off as a par-
ent company for Brainchild Communications, Blitz Advertising, Starcrest Communications, and more recently Dial Zero, has gradually shifted away from being a communications holding group to being technology-led, with investments such as bSports, a specialized sports app which combines live streaming with social and data feeds allowing for an enriching sports broadcast. As reported by Branding In Asia, Z2C Limited initiated the Pakistan Super League in 2015 and thus has digital broadcasting rights to the professional Twenty20 cricket league. The company is working on securing digital broadcasting rights for the EPL, Champions League, PGA, and European Tour Golf for subscribers of bSports.
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
10 FOREIGN NEWS
FACebook SAYS RUSSiAN iNFlUeNCe CAMPAigN TARgeTed leFT-wiNg voTeRS iN US, Uk LONDON
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Japan’s ruling party sets schedule to elect PM Abe’s successor TOKYO AGENCIES
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is to elect a new leader – who will serve as the country’s next PM – in less than two weeks, it emerged. Shinzo Abe, the outgoing premier, resigned recently citing declining health. LDP will officially launch the race for the top job on September 8, with ONLY394 lawmakers and 141 delegates from local chapters voting for the next party leader on September 14.It is a slim down from more than 1.09 million rank-and-file LDP members. The results of the vote will likely be announced two days after, possibly during an extraordinary session of parliament. The news comes roughly a week after Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history, stepped down citing deteriorating health. While explaining the surprise decision, Abe said he feared his poor health could badly affect his day-to-day activities as premier. Now, a new LDP president will be sworn in as the next Prime Minister and be ceremonially appointed by the Emperor. He is expected to serve the remainder of Abe’s term as party leader until September 2021. There are a handful of contenders to replace Abe, with the 71-years-old Yoshihide Suga being the likeliest candidate. He served as Chief Cabinet secretary for nearly eight years, effectively being the outgoing premier’s righthand man. Two other candidates are former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who publicly announced their candidacies recently.
US partially lifts decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus WASHINGTON AGENCIES
The United States has said it will lift for one year its decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus to allow "nonlethal" military goods to be sold to the Mediterranean island. In a move which was immediately slammed by Turkey, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has informed Republic of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades of the change in a phone call. From October 1, the US will remove blocks for one year on the sale or transfer of "non-lethal defence articles and defence services", the State Department said. Pompeo also "reaffirmed US support for a comprehensive settlement to reunify the island", according to State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus. For his part, Anastasiades welcomed the lifting of the embargo, which the US imposed in 1987 in the hope that it could encourage the reunification of the island. He said the "positive" development "reinforce[d] the bilateral security relationship" between the two countries. The US decision, however, drew immediate condemnation from Ankara. "It poisons the peace and stability environment in the region," the Turkish foreign ministry said, adding it does "not comply with the spirit of alliance" between the US and Turkey. If Washington did not reverse course, the ministry said, "Turkey, as a guarantor country, will take the necessary decisive counter steps to guarantee the security of the Turkish Cypriot people, in line with its legal and historical responsibilities."
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Russian influence operation posed as an independent news outlet to target left-wing voters in the United States and Britain, including by recruiting freelance journalists to write about domestic politics, Facebook said on Tuesday. Facebook Inc. said the operation -which partly focused on US politics and racial tensions in the run-up to the Nov 3 presidential election -- centred around a pseudo media organisation called Peace Data. The website operated 13 Facebook accounts and two pages, which were set up in May and suspended on Monday for using fake identities and other forms of “coordinated inauthentic behaviour,” the company said. Facebook said its investigation “found links to individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency”, a St Petersburg-based company which US intelligence officials say was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election. Twitter said it had also suspended five accounts as part of the operation which it could “reliably attribute to Russian state actors.”
Peace Data did not respond to an emailed request for comment and Russian officials were not immediately available after normal working hours in Moscow. Russia has previously denied US allegations of trying to sway elections and says it does not interfere in the domestic politics of other countries. Investigators at social media analytics firm Graphika studied the operation and said Peace Data predominately targeted progressive and left-wing groups in the United States and Britain, but also posted about events in other countries including Algeria and Egypt. It said in a report that the website pushed messages critical of right-wing voices and the centre-left, and in the United States "paid particular attention to racial and political tensions", including civil rights protests and criticism of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. Graphika said only around 5 percent of Peace Data’s English-language articles directly concerned the US election, but that “this facet of the operation suggests an attempt to build a left-wing audience and steer it away from Biden’s campaign.” The findings support an assessment by the United States’ top counterintelligence official last month, who said Moscow was using online disinformation
to try to undercut the Biden campaign and could stoke fears about further Russian efforts to interfere in the November vote. A spokesman for the Trump campaign said the president would win reelection “fair and square and we don’t need or want any foreign interference.” The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred questions to the FBI. In a statement, the FBI said it had flagged the activity to Facebook. “The FBI provided information in this matter to better protect against threats to the nation’s security and our democratic processes,” the statement said. INFORMATION PROVIDED BY FBI: Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said his team acted on the FBI’s tip and suspended the accounts before they gathered a large online following. Only 14,000 people followed one or more of the suspended accounts, he said. “I think it’s very important that we know about this,” Gleicher told Reuters. “I want people to know that Russian actors are still trying and their tactics are evolving, but I wouldn’t want people to think that this was a large, successful campaign.” Peace Data publishes in English and Arabic and says on its website it is a non-
After blasting Trump on violence, Biden now turns to schools Joe Biden plans to hammer President Donald Trump on Wednesday for not helping the nation’s schools reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic, as the Democratic challenger tries to keep the spotlight on the Republican incumbent’s handling of the outbreak and the nation’s overall security. Biden and his wife, Jill, a longtime college professor and former high school teacher, will meet with public health experts to talk about school reopening options. Then the candidate will deliver remarks – his second speech in three days – outlining his ideas and accusing the president of making the country less safe. The event in Wilmington, Delaware, is the latest in a series of dueling efforts by Trump and Biden to cast the other as a threat to Americans’ day-to-day security. It will highlight their vastly different arguments, with Trump steering debate toward “law and order” and Biden pushing a broad referendum on Trump’s competence.
“President Trump has no plan,” said Biden adviser Symone Sanders, previewing the former vice president’s remarks on schools and the pandemic. “Instead,” she continued, “he thinks that a fear-mongering campaign stoking violence is going to help him.” Biden, she said, “is demonstrating what a safe America could look like” by talking to experts about school options in a pandemic, while Trump tries to capitalize on the fact that some racial justice protests have led to property damage or turned into violent clashes with counter-protesters. Trump put his approach on display again Tuesday on a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city still reeling from protests and violence after another Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police. The president praised local law enforcement and toured a block charred by protesters’ fire. He called the destruction “anti-American” and suggested Biden’s election would ensure similar scenes in U.S. cities across the country. It was the
latest rendition of a theme voiced throughout the Republican National Convention: “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.” Trump again did not condemn a 17-year-old vigilante charged in the killings of two protesters in Kenosha, and he again rejected that systemic racism plays any part in U.S. society. Sanders previewed Biden’s retort and pivot. “To be clear, we are currently living in Donald Trump’s America, and folks have to ask themselves across the country: Are you safe?” she said. With the U.S. Covid19 death toll nearing 190,000, Sanders declared the answer is “unequivocally” no. Trump’s advisers argue that his stance – which includes falsely accusing Biden of championing violent protesters and wanting to “defund the police” — shifts attention away from the pandemic. They also believe the tactics help Trump attract white voters in suburbs and exurbs, key slices of his 2016 coalition. AGENCIES
Beijing dismisses US report on nukes BEIJING: After the US Defense Department said in a report that Beijing was planning to double the number of its nuclear warheads, the Chinese Foreign Ministry termed the report as biased. The Ministry spokesperson, Ms Hua Chunying, followed the release of the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's military operations on Tuesday saying no Indian troops died along Chinese border. Among other things, the US report has claimed that Beijing's nuclear warhead stockpile, which is currently estimated in the low 200s, "is projected to at least double in size" over the next decade. China's goal is to achieve a "nuclear triad," which includes developing a nuclear capable air-launched ballistic missile, while also modernizing ground and sea-based nuclear capabilities, it added. While dismissing US Defense Department report, Hua Chunying told media persons that no member of India’s armed forces died on the mountainous border with China. Earlier this week, India accused the Chinese military of trying to cross the de-facto border on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, ostensibly in a bid to gain territory. Indian armed forces claimed they pre-empted the alleged incursion, with Beijing swiftly denying it had ever taken place. Meanwhile, it has been reported that India moved to reinforce the eastern stretch of its border with China following the reported clashes, dispatching more troops to the area. AGENCIES
profit news organisation seeking “the truth about key world events”. But the three permanent staff listed online are not real, according to the Graphika analysis, which found the profiles used computer-generated photographs of nonexistent people and were linked to fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and business-networking site LinkedIn. The fake personas advertised for writers on freelance journalism websites and Twitter, offering up to $75 for an article, screenshots of the adverts seen by Reuters showed. Peace Data’s website lists 22 “contributors”, mostly freelance journalists in the United States and Britain. Facebook and Graphika said there was no indication the writers knew who was behind the website. Peace Data “staff” then shared the articles, covering a wide range of political issues, in left-wing social media groups, Graphika said. The website published over 700 articles in English and Arabic between February and August this year. Ben Nimmo, head of investigations at Graphika, said co-opting real people made it easier for political influence operations to remain undetected. “What we’ve seen recently has been much smaller and much lower profile,” he said. “It looks like they’re trying harder and harder to hide.”
China's exports surging after economic reopening: NYT NEW YORK AGENCIES
After reopening in late February and early March, China's factories began an export surge that is still accelerating. Exports soared in July to their second-highest level ever, nearly matching the record peak last December. China has seized a much larger share of global markets this summer from other manufacturing countries, consolidating a dominance in trade that could last long after the world begins to recover from the pandemic. With low-cost, skilled labor and efficient infrastructure, as well as stateowned banks' lending extra loans to cope with the pandemic to small and large businesses, China is showing strong export capacity, which has not been affected by the COVID-19 and American tariffs, the article said. According to the media reports, most economies except China are currently in recession. China is making what the world's hospitals and housebound families need right now: personal protection gear, home improvement products and lots of consumer electronics. Consumers around the world have been buying everything from computer screens and stereo systems to power tools and home saunas, many of which are made in China. The article gives examples. Hongyuan Furniture in the southern city of Guangzhou has hired 50 extra workers after export orders for its home saunas more than doubled this year. Hongyuan said it has not yet encountered any new competition from home sauna manufacturers based elsewhere despite facing 25 percent American tariffs for the past two years. Trueanalog in the southern city of Zhongshan has ruled out moving production of its top-end stereo speakers to the United States, its main market, or to Vietnam, where wages can be even lower. Whether it is magnets, paper cones or rubber foam, China dominates the world's production of the components that go into the speakers they are putting together.
‘US government must be well compensated for TikTok sale’ WASHINGTON AGENCIES
President Donald Trump Wednesday said he has asked people involved in the sale of the US assets of ByteDance’s TikTok that the deal must be struck by September 15 and the federal government must be “well compensated”, or the service will be shut down. “I told them they have until September 15 to make a deal – after that we close it up in this country,” Mr Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin. “I said the United States has to be compensated, well compensated.”
It remains unclear how the US would collect compensation from the sale of TikTok, forced by the president’s orders last month that the popular video streaming app represents a national security threat because its parent company is Chinese. TikTok has become a flashpoint for US tensions with China. Mr Trump has stepped up his attacks on the video app as his administration increases pressure on China ahead of the November presidential election. China on Friday imposed restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence technologies like speech and text recognition, throwing the potential sale into jeopardy. The
restrictions are likely to make it harder for ByteDance to get government approval for any deal. Mr Trump believes that the US deserves a payback for having to resolve the national security threat posed by TikTok and the administration is looking at ways to extract a settlement from any deal that’s struck, according to a source. Microsoft has teamed up with Walmart to bid for TikTok’s US assets and they’re vying against a competing offer from Oracle. White House staff have looked at collecting the money from compliance costs, a source said.
The US assesses fees associated with deals under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, which investigates overseas acquisitions of US businesses. But those charges – set on a sliding scale and no higher than $300,000 – appear to fall short of what Mr Trump has demanded. Microsoft committed in a blog post to “providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury”. But that language referred to ordinary tax revenue and job creation, a source said. Now ByteDance founder Zhang Yim-
ing is reconsidering his options and weighing the implications of Beijing’s involvement. The company’s regulatory team and deal negotiators are huddling to discuss whether it’s still possible to craft a sale that can win approval from both governments, an acquirer, venture investors and ByteDance itself. Mr Trump has the authority under US law to block foreign acquisitions of American businesses on national security grounds. The administration’s order requiring the TikTok sale stems from ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly, which operated in the US and was merged with TikTok.
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
SPORTS 11
HAFeez, HAiDer sHine As PAkistAn seAL nArrow win to LeveL series mANChEStER
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100-run partnership between two men two decades apart in age saw Pakistan eke out their first win of the tour on the day before they are due to return home. It denied England a sixth consecutive T20I series win, while Pakistan pick up a first away win in any format since the ODI World Cup last year. The 39-year old Mohammad Hafeez was the standout star of the win, caressing an unbeaten 52-ball 86 to power his side to 190, while a valiant fightback, spearheaded by Moeen Ali's 33-ball 61, fell just five shy of powering England to a stunning win. It was a series that came down to the final ball, quite literally, and when Tom Curran lifted Haris Rauf for a gorgeous six over extra cover off the penultimate delivery, England needed one more such blow to seal a series win. Babar Azam panicked, while a swarm of fielders rushed to pester the fast bowler with all kinds of advice. He blocked it all out and sent down an unplayable yorker at 90mph to secure the win, the final two balls a microcosm of Pakistan on tour, and Pakistan in general. One minute down, next minute up. It was Hafeez, perhaps unfairly lumped in with Shoaib Malik as an example of the visi-
tors' failure to adopt modern T20 practices, who provided the ballast to get the innings back on track after a faltering start. With Moeen having removed Fakhar Zaman early, and Curran knocking Babar's stumps back soon after, England were enjoying the perfect Powerplay. Hafeez stablised the innings while Haider Ali, with the impudence of youth, went hell for leather, but once he lofted Adil Rashid for a six over midwicket, he roared straight into top gear. Helped, at times, by England bowling to his strengths and missing their lengths, Hafeez plundered 69 off the next 34 balls to spearhead the innings, taking them to within touching distance of the total that proved just short on Sunday. Pakistan began this tour two months ago in a protective bubble, but when, on the final day, they removed the bubble-wrap off their youngest squad member, they discovered quite the player residing within. Haider began his T20I career looking like a man who knew how this format needed to be played, clearing his front leg off the second ball he faced, depositing it over cow corner. Time and again, when England appeared to set a field willing to yield a single to him in that area, he declined the deal, opting to go over the top instead. Having sat out and watched England ease to a target of 195 two days ago, he didn't need complex statistical information to
'Fantastic' Haider impresses Australian coach Australia coach Justin Langer praised Pakistan's "fantastic" Haider Ali after the teenager marked his international debut with a sparkling fifty against England. The 19-year-old made 54, becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score a half-century in his first Twenty20 international as the tourists beat England by five runs in a last-ball thriller in Manchester on Tuesday. Haider came in with Pakistan 2-1 after the loss of Fakhar Zaman at Old Trafford yet struck his second ball in international cricket, from offspinner Moeen Ali, for a soaring six. "He's fantastic," said Langer in a conference call Wednesday from Southampton, where Australia begin a three-match Twenty20 series of their own against England later this week. "Pakistan as we've always known, they are like a sleeping giant. They've got so much talent, it's like India, it's exciting to watch." Pakistan's tour-ending victory meant the three-match T20 series finished all square at 1-1, with one rainmarred no result. The game was also notable for a stand of exactly 100 between Haider and 39-year-old veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who made an unbeaten 86. Asked if he had ever been involved in a partnership featuring a similar age gap, former Australia opening batsman Langer replied: "My experience of that was with Shaun Marsh. "I've known him since he was born. Geoff Marsh (Shaun's father) and Michelle, they are great friends of mine. Geoff was my first captain. AGENCIES
recognise a boundary would be handier than a single. Within PAKISTAN 190 FOR no time, he had become the first Pakistani to score a 4 (HAFEEZ 86*, HAIDER half-century on debut, one 54, JORDAN 2-29) BEAT that came in just 28 balls. ENGLAND 185 FOR 8 Pakistan decided to leave out Mohammad (MOEEN 61, RIAZ 2-26) Rizwan, so often sensational BY FIVE RUNS behind the stumps, in favour of Sarfaraz Ahmed, for a greater permost people to butter bread, the idea ceived ability with the bat. But while he didn't feature in the first innings, but when a this was a man out of form and bereft of conkey moment arose, Sarfaraz froze. Quite liter- fidence stretched credulity. When he disally, and somewhat inexplicably, when Shadab played his T20 smarts with a couple of fooled the out-of-form Moeen to leave him sneakily stolen boundaries off Shaheen stranded outside his crease, Sarfaraz failed to Afridi in the 18th, to bring England within gather properly. Time stood still as Moeen touching distance of victory, he seemed inlooked back and watched helplessly, waiting dispensable. Now, he may well be. England's first ten overs with the bat, to see the bails whipped off, while Sarfaraz appeared to cradle the ball, unable to get it to his though, was perhaps what cost them most hands, and then to the stumps. With England dearly. With the game being played on a so far behind in the game, it seemed like a fresh pitch and a very short boundary on one comedic footnote. When Moeen stormed to a side, the hosts would have fancied a chase of half-century half an hour later, no one in green 191, but that became significantly more challenging when Afridi bowled Jonny was grinning. While the defeat might sting, Moeen's Bairstow with a perfect outswinging yorker return to form may yet prove the biggest pos- that took the base of the off stump with it. itive for England. When, in the 16th over, he Dawid Malan fell trying to clear the square hit three sixes in four balls off Shadab, ex- leg boundary, only for Fakhar Zaman to pending less energy than it presumably takes pluck it out of the air on tiptoe, but Tom Ban-
Australia’s Coach Justin Langer wary of ‘dangerous’ England SouthAmptoN AGENCIES
Australia coach Justin Langer said his side would be ready to face a "dangerous" England team after he watched them during their T20 series against Pakistan. Langer's men face England in three T20s at Southampton, with Friday's opener at the Ageas Bowl their first major match since March, before playing the 50-over world champions in three one-day internationals in Manchester. England suffered a narrow fiverun defeat to Pakistan in the third T20 at Old Trafford on Tuesday, a result that meant the series ended all square at 11, with a rain-marred no result. Langer told during a conference call from Australia's training base in Southampton on Wednesday, that he was wary of Eoin Morgan's men. "Dangerous... that's what I made of England. I've watched the way Eoin Morgan plays, it's exciting to watch, he just comes out and smacks it from ball one." "They've been the best one-day team in the world for a few years now.... We came here two years ago and got smashed 5-0," added Langer, who said being whitewashed had put "hairs on
the chest" of a youthful team. "We came here last year, won two out of three games, just didn't win the big one in the (World Cup) semi-final. They are a very good cricket team, well-led." "We know what to expect and we'll be ready." 'CRISIS POINT': Langer took over ahead of the England tour in 2018 with Australia still reeling from the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, that resulted in year-long bans for former captain Steve Smith and star batsman David Warner. "When we came here two years ago we were at crisis point," he said. "We were copping it from everywhere and rightly so. The team had made a terrible
error in judgement in South Africa." Australia are now the world's topranked Test and Twenty20 side. "Where we've come in two years, I've talked about it over and over, we had to earn back respect internationally, we had to make Australians back home proud of us," said Langer. "One of the highlights of my coaching career was when Steve Smith walked off the ground in the last Test of last year (at the Oval) and got a standing ovation, he only got 20-odd runs." "From the hostilities we received from when we first arrived in England to seeing that moment, hopefully, we've started to earn respect back." Langer said the fact Australia were now having to live in a bio-secure bubble, would not alter his approach to coaching. "At the end of my coaching career I'd judge my success by how many invitations I get to weddings and christenings, not how many trophies we win," he said. "You can be a tough guy as much as you want but ultimately you have to care for your people. That philosophy for me has not changed since the day I started coaching and it won't change until the day I finish coaching."
One of the best T20 players but not good enough to play Test cricket: Gower on Pollard AGENCIES Days after West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard’s blistering innings helped Trinbago Knight Riders snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat in a CPL 2020 encounter against Barbados Tridents, legendary England cricketer David Gower termed him one of the best T20 players but said he is not good enough to play Test cricket. “Kieron Pollard is one of the world’s best T20 players but he knows as well as I do that he cannot play test cricket, he isn’t good enough to play test cricket.” Gower said in conversation on SportsTiger’s show “Off-theField”. Pollard who is a stalwart for the West Indies in limited-overs cricket and one of most desired cricketers for franchises in T20 leagues across the globe, has never played Test cricket. Pollard, however has played 508 T20 matches and will fly to the UAE after CPL ends to join the Mumbai Indians
squad ahead of IPL 2020. Talking about IPL, which is slated to begin from September 19 in UAE, Gower, said: “I think overall IPL has been very good for cricketers both for the homegrown and the international players. Ever since the games have got shorter from the time of the invention of ODI, fielding has become incredible. I think T20 has changed a lot since the first days of IPL when IPL was taking some of the great players from around the world at the end of their career. But now, one wants the young players. I feel it is a very good training ground for players.” He though opined that IPL isn’t going to make you a great test player but the best players in IPL make a huge amount of money. The former English Captain who featured for the three-lions in 117 Test matches and 114 One Day Internationals (ODI) scoring 8,231 and 3170 runs respectively seemed mighty impressed by the Indian Captain Virat
CMYK
Kohli and his love for test cricket. Gower said, “Virat Kohli as the leading player of the world calling test cricket as the toughest and most important form is great PR for the format.” Gower also picked his best Test XI from the current day players and said, “Ben Stokes and Virat Kohli will be the instant picks for him and there are no two ways about it.” He also picked Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith as a part of the team. He also said. “If a current day spinner is to be chosen it would be between Ravichandran Ashwin or Nathan Lyon.” He also said, “If I have to pick a Captain for the team it will surely be Virat Kohli, what I like about Virat apart from his talent is his passion and absolute drive. Cricket is still a game where you can be a brilliant individual within the team but too much of individuality can also be harmful but Virat is an extraordinary individual contributing to the team.”
ton kept the momentum going. With his captain Eoin Morgan, he struck up the sort of partnership that might have put them back on track, notably never letting the normally economical Imad Wasim settle, spanking four fours off his first seven balls. It would all end horribly, though, with Morgan, in the form of his career, dismissed in the worst possible way. Brilliant work in the circle saw Azam cut off what should have been a boundary, and Morgan, cantering towards the other end, found himself stranded mid-pitch. It put even more pressure on Banton to ensure he went deep, but he fell five balls later to Haris Rauf, trapped in front and ruled lbw on review. It meant asking a shade too much of the lower order, even if, on a tour where social distancing dominated the conversation, England got uncomfortably close.
Lionel Messi still in Barcelona's ‘Group Chat’, says teammate Frenkie De Jong Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has revealed that teammate Lionel Messi is still in the club's "group chat" despite recently asking to leave Camp Nou. Messi has already expressed his desire to leave Barcelona and English club Manchester City are being viewed as one of the destinations for the Argentine superstar. "I hope that Messi is still there when I get back, but that is not something that is up to me. He's still in the group chat," Fox Sports quoted de Jong as saying. "I'm not anyone to talk about it with him, I'm sure he has many people around him doing that these days," the midfielder added. Earlier, the organisers of La Liga had sided with Barcelona as they said that Messi's contract with the club is still valid. The organisers also clarified that if other clubs are interested in availing the footballer's services, then they must pay 700 million euros as the release clause amount in full. This clarification from La Liga came as Messi sought to make his way out from Barcelona. "The contract is currently in force and has a 'termination clause' applicable to the event that Lionel Messi decides to urge the early unilateral termination of the contract, carried out in accordance with article 16 of Royal Decree 1006/1985, of June 26, by which regulates the special employment relationship of professional athletes," La Liga had said in an official statement. "In compliance with the applicable regulations, and following the corresponding procedure in these cases, La Liga will not carry out the prior visa process for the player to be removed from the federation if they have not previously paid the amount of said clause," it added. On Sunday, Messi did not show up for Barcelona's pre-season coronavirus test. On August 25, Messi had shocked Barcelona by asking the club to let him leave. Messi had asked Barcelona to activate a clause in his contract which will allow him to leave for free. Manchester City, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain are the few clubs that have shown an interest in Messi. Messi has spent his entire career with Barcelona and has managed to win Ballon d'Or six times. Barcelona were handed an 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and since then, the club has been facing a crisis. Head coach Quique Setien and technical manager Eric Abidal have already departed and Ronald Koeman was appointed the new coach of Barcelona. AGENCIES
Thursday, 3 September, 2020
PrAyEr TIMINGS
NEWS
AfghAnIStAn fREES nEARly 200 tAlIbAn PRISonERS to PUSh PEACE tAlKS KABUL
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THE 400 ARE THE REMAINDER OF 5,000 TALIBAN PRISONERS SET FOR RELEASE FROM AFGHAN JAILS AS PART OF A PACT
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HE Afghan government released nearly 200 Taliban prisoners to spur the start of long-delayed peace negotiations, senior Afghan officials said on Wednesday. The fresh releases are from a group of 400 “hardcore” Taliban prisoners, the fate of which has stalled peace negotiations between the government and insurgent group to end nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan.
This group of prisoners were released from the main jail in the capital Kabul on Monday evening and Tuesday at the same time six Afghan special forces members held by the Taliban were freed, the officials said. “We want to finish the prisoner swap so we could start the peace process as soon as
Saudi Arabia grants approval for UAE-Israel flights to use its airspace AGENCIES Flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be able to fly over Saudi Arabia after the kingdom on Wednesday said all services to and from the UAE can cross its airspace. Saudi Arabia mostly bans flights to and from Israel from using its airspace, though since 2018 it has permitted Air India to fly over the country to Tel Aviv. The decision, which the kingdom’s aviation authority said came at the request of the UAE, follows a historic agreement last month between Abu Dhabi and Israel to normalize ties. All flights to and from the UAE can use Saudi airspace, state news agency reported, citing the aviation authority, without mentioning Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, without citing Saudi Arabia, said Israeli planes can fly directly to the UAE, tracing the flight path on a map with his finger over the kingdom. The decision cuts flying time between the Middle East states by several hours. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said shortly after the airspace report that the kingdom’s position in support of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital had not changed. Emirati and Israeli officials will allow their citizens to visit each other’s countries once they normalize ties and have said there would be direct service. Those traveling from Israel will gain better access to hundreds of global destinations via Abu Dhabi and Dubai hubs once flights launch. Israel’s El Al this week flew through Saudi airspace carrying U.S. and Israeli delegations from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, the first official flight by an Israeli carrier over the kingdom. The return flight also used Saudi airspace.
possible,” said a senior government official, who declined to be name because of the sensitivity of the issue. A source close to the process said the prisoner swap could be finished by today. The 400 are the remainder of 5,000 Taliban prisoners set for release from Afghan
jails as part of a pact in February between the United States and the Taliban allowing for the withdrawal of US troops. Their release was a condition for talks between the government and the insurgent group to start. The Afghan government was reluctant to release any of the 400, which it says have been involved in some of the worst crimes including major attacks such as the 2017 truck bombing near the Germany Embassy in Kabul, until the Taliban released 24 Afghan special forces members and pilots first. Keeping the prisoners went against the
car manufacturers concerned over 'hollow claims' of fawad chaudhry PAMA SAYS S&T MINISTRY PREPARING NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR VEHICLES ‘WITHOUT BASIC FACILITIES’ ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS
Expressing serious concerns over the "hollow claims" of Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry regarding the introduction of the first-ever national standards for locally produced vehicles, the automotive manufacturers have termed the locally drawn standards "simply a list of international regulations, without facilities and implementing mechanism". In a letter to the Ministry of Industries and Production, the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has strongly rejected the impression given by Fawad Chaudhry in his tweets that he has framed the draft standards despite opposition from the automotive manufacturers. "A tweet is yet again out from Minister Fawad that despite opposition, automobile standards have been formulated and shall be placed before the cabinet soon. Being the concerned party in the matter, we are aghast at the embarrassing notoriety that has been brought to the subject matter by discussing the same in the media, so often, portraying a victory against a so-called opposition. And the irony is, what is being avowed is
contrary to the facts," the PAMA letter, which was written on September 1, read. PAMA, which represents the manufacturers of passenger cars, light and heavy commercial vehicles, two/three-wheelers and farm tractors in the country, stated that the manufacturers, in fact, have never opposed the introduction of standards and that they have rather pleaded the government to bring international standards that were promised and prescribed under the Auto Policy for all the existing and the new investors. However, they said, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), through the attached department Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), has simply framed a list of international regulations "that are neither here nor there", as the ministry failed to process the standards in accordance with established legal and regulatory practices. "We are fully aware of the same, as we have always participated and protested against, in writing," the association maintained. "Besides, PSQCA, the top government institution authorized to dispense and administer the standards, is in a dilapidated state in terms of infra-
structure and manpower." According to PAMA, the antiquated law gives immense powers to PSQCA where whims and arbitrariness dominate; therefore, it would be suicidal for the industry to acquiesce to such an unfair arrangement. "Yes! Please bring international standards and equip PSQCA with requisite testing facilities but deploy well-versed manpower for the real benefit to the industry and the public at large," the letter stated. According to the association, the regulations listed in PSQCA draft standards are already available in the Engineering Development Board’s (EDB) proposed regulations. One example being the WP29 UNR 43, which is related to safety glazing (windscreen). "UNR 43 is already included in the proposal prepared by EDB. The windscreens being used by the industry complies with UNR as the 'E' mark is printed as proof of UNR acceptance. In case the same is listed again in the local standards, the industry will be charged double, once by WP29 and once by PSQCA," the association explained. It said since PSQCA is incapable to certify products in a way that is acceptable to WP29 member countries, the government must devise a mechanism to ensure locally manufactured vehicles adherence with international regulations as per WP29 prescribed rules under 1958 agreement.
coronavirus to sharply increase poverty rate for women, un study finds UNITED NATIONS APP
The coronavirus pandemic and its fallout will dramatically increase the poverty gap between men and women as it places 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line, a United Nations study has found. The poverty rate for women had been projected to fall by 3 per cent between 2019 and 2021, but it is now predicted to increase by 9 per cent because of the global Covid-19 emergency. Researchers warned that the public health crisis will roll back decades of progress on tackling extreme, desperate poverty but will also have a profoundly disproportionate effect on women – with those of reproductive age hit hardest. The study, commissioned by UN Women and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), points to a 9.1 per cent increase in the poverty rate for women. Prior to Covid-19, the rate was expected to decrease by 2.7 per cent between 2019 and 2021.
The projections also show that while the pandemic will impact global poverty generally, women will be disproportionately affected, especially women of reproductive age. By 2021, for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty (living on $1.90 a day or less), there will be 118 women, a gap that is expected to increase to 121 women per 100 men by 2030. Data summarized in the report, From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the wake of Covid-19, also shows that Covid-19 will push 96 million into extreme poverty by 2021 – 47 million of whom are women and girls. This will increase the total number of them living in extreme poverty to 435 million, with projections indicating that this number will not revert to pre-pandemic levels until 2030. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, said that the increases in women’s extreme poverty are a “stark indictment of deep flaws” in the ways that society and the economy are structured.
“We know that women take most of the responsibility for caring for the family; they earn less, save less and hold much less secure jobs – in fact, overall, women’s employment is 19 per cent more at risk than men’s." She added that the evidence of multiple inequalities should now drive “swift, restorative policy action” that puts women at the heart of pandemic recovery. The pandemic poses a serious threat to eradicating extreme poverty by the end of 2030, and there are fears that the reality could be worse, as the projections of increased poverty rates for women and girls only account for the downward revision of the gross domestic product (GDP), excluding other factors – such as women leaving the workforce due to childcare responsibilities. According to Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, more than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments improve access to education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expand social transfers.
“Women are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis as they are more likely to lose their source of income and less likely to be covered by social protection measures”, he said. “Investing in reducing gender inequality is not only smart and affordable, but also an urgent choice that governments can make to reverse the impact of the pandemic on poverty reduction,” he added. While its findings are alarming, the study estimates it would take just 0.14 per cent of global GDP (about $2 trillion) to lift the world out of extreme poverty by 2030; and $48 billion to close the gender poverty gap. However, if governments fail to act or act too late the real number could end up much higher. Similarly, increases in other pre-existing gender inequalities could also impact the final figures. For instance, women working in some of the sectors most affected by the pandemic, such as hospitality, food services, and domestic services, are particularly vulnerable to layoffs and loss of livelihood.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk
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wishes of a loya jirga that gathered in Kabul last month. The loya jirga is a traditional assembly of thousands of Afghan elders and community leaders that meets to decide political issues. The government responded by releasing about 80 of the 400 prisoners last month. A government official said the others were kept because the Taliban dismissed calls from the loya jirga for a ceasefire. The exchange this week occurred as Taliban violence and clashes with Afghan troops have increased in recent days. A Taliban car bomb killed three Afghan security forces in eastern Paktia province on Tuesday, a local official said, while a defense ministry statement said 13 Taliban insurgents were killed in southern Kandahar and 11 more were killed in northern Faryab in the last 24 hours. Thousands of Afghan security forces and civilians have been killed since the February peace deal between the US and the Taliban, according to data released by United Nations and the government.
Rouhani hails Iran's ‘historic’ success against US sanctions bid TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani celebrated on Wednesday the Iranian diplomacy's "historic" success against the U.S. efforts at the UN Security Council to restore UN sanctions on Iran. "I don't know of any case in history where the U.S. submitted a draft resolution in the UN Security Council (UNSC) and only obtained one vote," Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting broadcast by official IRNA news agency. The Iranian president derided as "childish" the U.S. attempts to use a mechanism in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to reinstate UN sanctions, after Washington "completely" abandoned the agreement in 2018. Referring to his recent phone conversation with the sitting president of the UNSC, Indonesia's Permanent Representative Dian Triansyah Djani, Rouhani said the UNSC chief also believed Washington has no right to use the mechanism. Referring to the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, Rouhani said all P4+1 members explicitly shared Iran's view on the matter. AGENCIES
Kushner meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman RIYADH: While visiting Saudi Arabia White House senior adviser Jared Kushner discussed during talks with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman that there is dire need to resume negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis to reach just and lasting peace in the region. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday where he held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Kushner and his accompanying delegation discussed regional stability and bilateral relations, the Saudi Press Agency reported. AGENCIES
CoRonAvIRUS In
PAKIStAn
confiRmed cases:
296,590
last updated at 09:38 pm on septembeR 2, 2020
day's death toll:
18
RecoveRed:
new cases:
441
deaths:
281,459 6,318 sindh:
129,615
punjab:
96,921
kp:
balochistan:
ajk/gb:
islamabad:
36,265
12,899
2,302/2,922 15,666