EpaperISB_21-01-21

Thursday, 21 January, 2021 I 7 Jamadi-ul-Sani, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 203 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Joe Biden sworn in as 46th Us president, stresses Unity to overcome challenges g

Biden, 78, Becomes the oldest Us president in history at a scaled-Back ceremony in Washington While his rUnning mate kamala harris Became the first Black Woman and first asian american to serve as vice president WASHINGTON agencieS

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emocrat Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United states on Wednesday during a ceremony at a heavily protected Us capitol, ending the tumultuous fouryear presidency of his republican predecessor donald trump. his running mate, kamala harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and india, become the first Black woman and first asian american to serve as vice president after she was sworn in by Us supreme court Justice sonia sotomayor, the court’s first latina member.

With only a small number of attendees present, Biden took the oath of office around noon, placing his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in the Biden family for more than a century.

Biden vowed to end the ‘uncivil war’ in a deeply divided country reeling from a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 americans. “to overcome these challenges to restore the soul and secure the future of america requires so much more than words. it requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity,” he said.

“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this – if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.” speaking on the steps of the capitol, where supporters of then-president donald trump clashed with police in a chaotic assault that left five dead and stunned the world on January 6, Biden cast his ascension as proof that the attackers had failed to disrupt the underpinnings of american democracy.

“here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work on our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground,” Biden said. “it did not happen; it will never happen. not today, not tomorrow, not ever.” after a bitter campaign marked by trump’s baseless allegations of election fraud, Biden struck a conciliatory tone rarely heard from his predecessor, asking americans who did not vote for him to give him a chance. “i pledge this to you: i will be a president for all americans,” he said. “and i promise you i will fight as hard for those

coronavirUs in

pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

524,783

LAST UPDATED AT 7:55 AM ON JANUARY 20, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

48

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

1,772 DEATHS:

478,517 11,103 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

237,308 150,889 KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

64,078

18,640

8,672/4,892 40,304

who did not support me as for those who did.” although his remarks were directed primarily at problems at home, Biden delivered what he called a message to those beyond america’s borders, promising to repair alliances frayed by trump, lead and be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security. he made no specific mention of highstakes disputes with north korea, iran and china. earlier, trump hailed his administration’s record as he left the White house for the last time on Wednesday, hours before Biden assumed the helm of a

country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, 78, became the oldest Us president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that had been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the January 6 assault on the Us capitol by trump supporters. trump left the White house with his wife melania just after 8 am (1300 gmt) by helicopter on his way to a sendoff event at Joint air force Base andrews, where he promised supporters “we’ll be

PM announces launch of 3G, 4G internet services in South Waziristan WANA Staff RepoRt

prime minister imran khan on Wednesday announced the long-awaited launch of highspeed 3g and 4g internet in south Waziristan to bring technological development of the remote tribal districts. addressing a gathering of tribal notables at cheque distribution ceremony under kamyab Jawan programme, the premier said that the launch of high-speed internet was in line with bringing development in south Waziristan, an area that had long suffered the brunt of terrorism. prime minister imran stated that internet access in south Waziristan was previously denied due to security situation with the major apprehension that technology could be used by miscreants backed by india. however, he said, after consultations with chief of army staff (coas) general Qamar Javed Bajwa and inter-services intelligence (isi) chief lt gen faiz hameed on security clearance, it was decided to launch the services to facilitate the residents particularly students as most of the educational institu-

back in some form” and listed his administration’s accomplishments before flying off to florida. top republicans, including former vice president mike pence, were not there to see trump depart. shortly after trump finished his remarks, Biden left the presidential guest house in Washington on his way to church, where he was joined by senate republican leader mitch mcconnell and house of representatives republican leader kevin mccarthy. trump’s refusal to greet his successor and attend the inauguration represents a break with more than a century and a half of political tradition, seen as a way to affirm the peaceful transfer of power. two weeks ago, a mob of trump supporters stormed the building two weeks ago, enraged by his false claims that november’s election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. the violence prompted the democratic-controlled Us house of representatives to impeach trump last week for an unprecedented second time. thousands of national guard troops were called into the city after the siege, which left five people dead and briefly forced lawmakers into hiding. instead of a throng of supporters, the national mall was covered by nearly 200,000 flags and 56 pillars of light meant to represent people from Us states and territories. according to Biden’s advisers, he will waste little time trying to turn the page on the trump era, signing a raft of 15 executive actions on his first day in office on issues ranging from the pandemic to the economy to climate change. the orders will include mandating masks on federal property, rejoining the paris climate accord and ending trump’s travel ban on some muslim-majority countries.

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more inside

Talks with two firms to get Covid-19 vaccine in advance stage: Dr Faisal STORY ON BACK PAGE

govt announces various reforms in civil services to improve governance tions had started online classes. pm imran said that the vision of his government was to uplift the underprivileged areas of the region and provide best opportunities to the local population in areas of education, health and employment. he regretted those tribal areas had suffered immensely due to militancy in the past and said it was the time to compensate them by offering them facilities in all areas of life. he termed the youth as “biggest asset” of the country and stressed that technical education would help them gain capabilities to meet the

challenges of the contemporary world. for the uplift of tribal youth, he said, employment opportunities would be provided to them for their mainstreaming in national development. the premier said that more funds would be diverted for south Waziristan under kamyab Jawan programme, aimed at ensuring self-reliance of youth. he acknowledged the tremendous sacrifice of the tribal people for the soil, dating back to their resistance during British raj and fighting for the freedom of kashmiris in 1947.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

STORY ON PAGE 02

Composite development policy agenda of govt: Buzdar STORY ON PAGE 03

hec says ms, mphil not necessary for phd STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

NEWS

Govt annoUnCES varIoUS rEFormS In CIvIl SErvICES to ImProvE GovErnanCE

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NEWS DESK

HE government has announced various reforms in civil services to improve the performance of government employees and departments. Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood, who also heads Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms (CCIR), unveiled the reforms package at a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The minister said that reforms have been introduced in promotion, premature retirement, efficiency and discipline,

appointment in MP scale, rotation, as well as the and strengthening of Pakistan's administrative services.

The education minister said promotion of civil servants will depend on a process involving 40 per cent share of Annual Confidential Reports (ACR), 30 per cent training and 30 per cent board evaluation.

He added that any promotion of the official facing a reference will be deferred.

About premature retirement, the minister said that the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) chairman will decide the cases from BS-20 while the decisions from scales 17 to 19 will be taken by the secretary and up to grade 16

Karachi court rejects bail plea of jilted lover KARACHI Staff RepoRt

A district and sessions court in Karachi on Wednesday rejected the bail request of a man arrested on charges of cyber harassment. The cybercrime cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested the man for purportedly posting on the internet objectionable pictures of a woman for rejecting his marriage proposal. In March last, the agency’s Karachi chapter arrested five suspects accused of using objectionable pictures and videos to blackmail women. Those arrested were identified as Zeeshan, Rizwan, Zain, Abdul and his brother Umair. Police seized the cell phones of the suspects and retrieved the videos from them. On Wednesday, Judicial Magistrate Syed Imran Ali Zaidi sent the suspect to jail on physical remand.

According to a report based on FIA’s data and published last year, 90 per cent of cybercrime victims in Pakistan were women and minor girls, and 70 per cent of the cases involved pornographic content.

Earlier this month, the agency, in order to ensure swift disposal of such cases, had divided the cybercrime circle into three cells. In this connection, FIA Sindh cyber crime circle Additional Director Faizullah Korejo issued the orders. The financial cybercrime cell was asked to work with Deputy Director Abdul Ghaffar as its head while an assistant director and seven other officers were also included in it. Another cell that had been carved out of the cybercrime cell, to be headed by Deputy Director Ahmed Zaeem, was meant to settle the cases of harassment, blackmailing and character assassination. The cell also consisted of one assistant director and seven other officers. The third cell, consisting of an assistant director and five other officers, was formed to work under Deputy Director Kaleemullah Memon.

by a senior joint secretary.

He explained that three below average or average ACRs can serve a ground for premature retirement of an official. He further said that a plea bargain option, if availed by an official, can also provide ground for retirement.

As for amendments in the efficiency and discipline rules, Mahmood said that it has been decided that an inquiry committee will give its decision in 60 days, and the authority will take the decision of punishment in 30 days.

He added that disciplinary action may also be taken against the person availing plea bargain option in a case. He said that

multiple inquires against an official will be clubbed together.

Mahmood said that the CCIR also decided upon some changes in appointment regarding MPs. He said that the period has been increased from two to three years, and it can be further extended. He added that a post in MP scale can be publicized and a suitable person can also be picked from the market. Regarding rotation policy, the minister said that no officer can stay in provinces beyond 10 years. He said that the promotion has also been linked to a rotation policy. He added the strength of Pakistan Administrative Service has also been decreased.

Shehbaz says NAB couldn’t prove any allegation against him LAHORE INp

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said he has been implicated in a false money laundering case and insisted not a single accusation against him was proven in a court of law.

During a hearing in the case, the accountability court recorded the statement of another witness, Bilal, in the case.

When Shehbaz sought the formation of a medical board to look after him, the latter replied he was yet to take a decision on his request.

Responding to the PML-N president’s assertion that corruption of not a single penny could be proved

against him, the judge told him to let his counsel speak on his behalf.

“You need not speak since your lawyer will bring forth all details in the case,” the judge told Sharif.

Former Punjab chief minister claimed that a false story was published against him in a leading UK publication, Daily Mail, and the British government had declared it fabricated.

“You will notice savings, not graft, in my [government's] projects,” PML-N president boasted.

The reference mainly accused Shehbaz of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars, who had no sources to acquire such assets.

It said the family members and benamidars of the Shehbaz family

received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts.

In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in personal bank accounts of Hamza and Suleman.

The reference further said the family of Shehbaz failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets.

It said the suspects committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices as envisaged under the provisions of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and money laundering as delineated in the AntiMoney Laundering Act, 2010. It asked the trial court to try the suspects and punish them under the law.

Domestic help accused of murder flees KARACHI Staff RepoRt

A domestic help suspected of robbing multiple houses in Karachi’s Gizri and Sachal Goth neighbourhoods and murdering a woman escaped from police custody during her transfer to prison.

On January 13, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and Gizri police arrested from Shireen Jinnah Colony three members of a gang accused

of robbing houses and murdering owners. The suspects used to work as domestic help.

On January 2, a police complaint was filed at the Sachal police station against one of the members who had poisoned a couple and robbed their house in Gulzar-e-Hijri's Madras Society. A similar incident had occurred in Defence’s Badar Commercial neighbourhood last December.

The three suspects were

presented before a Malir court on Tuesday. The court remanded them into police custody for investigation and identity parade.

After the hearing, the police were taking the suspects to Civil Hospital for a coronavirus test when one of them, later identified as Shamim Bibi, jumped out of the mobile near M. A. Jinnah Road and escaped. An FIR of the incident has been registered at the Aram Bagh police station.

All parties given Feb 24 deadline to respond to ECP notices NEWS DESK The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has submitted notices to all the parliamentary parties regarding the foreign funding case and has directed them to submit their responses by February 24.

The order for the issuance of the notices was given by a five-member bench of the ECP, convened by the chief election commissioner (CEC). 19 parties have been served the notice.

Moreover, counsel Shah Khawar appeared before the ECP on behalf of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Therein, the ECP received reports from the party's finance department for the scrutiny of their financial statements.

The election commission directed for a copy of the report to also be provided to Khawar, asking him to review the report and file his objections, if any.

Separately, Prime Minister Imran Khan during an address in Wana, South Waziristan, challenged for the case's

hearings to be broadcasted live on television.

The premier further asserted that it was only the PTI that raised political funds.

Speaking of the opposition's foreign funding sources, he stated that "these parties [opposition] and I both know what foreign funding is".

A day earlier, the ECP, while responding to a protest demonstration staged by the PDM outside its office, had said that the election body was fully aware of its constitutional responsibilities. “We are committed to fulfilling our responsibilities without succumbing to any pressures,” the ECP had said in a handout issued on Tuesday as opposition parties gathered outside its Islamabad office to protest against a delay in the investigations of the foreign funding case against the ruling party. It had said that the election commission is ready to hold free and fair polls at any time.

The election commission further had rejected the allegations of slow progress in the foreign funding case and

said that it had made considerable progress in the case.

“We have further directed the scrutiny committee to hold its proceedings into the case thrice in a week,” the handout had read.

Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, while addressing a protest outside the ECP, that is pursuing a seven-year-old petition accusing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of receiving foreign funding during years leading to and after the 2013 election, had said that the opposition parties had gathered to remind the regulatory body of its “constitutional obligations.” Questioning the “unacceptable” delay in the trial, which is set to resume tomorrow (Wednesday), Maryam had sought to remind the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, of the “constitutional” position of his office. “This [ECP] is the institution that the Constitution has made responsible for honouring the public vote and this is the institution that had to get respect for the public vote,” she had added.

Firdous says ECP protest was a 'failed show' LAHORE INp

Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Wednesday said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) protest outside the offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Islamabad was a failed show. Firdous, in a tweet, said that despite no hurdles being placed by the government, the multi-party opposition alliance failed to gather a large crowd. Taking a jibe at the participants' number, she said there were more people in Sahulat Bazars than in the protest. She also asked PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz to reveal details about the ownership of the foreign properties after the verdict of the London High Court in the Broadsheet case. A day earlier, the government while terming the protest a failed show said that it is ready and will welcome their [PDM's] announced long march that it said would end the campaign seeking to oust the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Addressing a press conference, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that even without any hurdle, the PDM failed to show their power because of their hollow narrative.

The minister congratulated the police, Rangers, and law enforcement institutions for maintaining law and order without creating hurdles in the way of protest. He also thanked the religious scholars and seminary students from Islamabad for not participating in the protest.

Sindh govt denied JUI-F permission to hold anti-Israel rally in Karachi KARACHI Staff RepoRt

The district administration on Wednesday refused to grant permission for an antiIsrael meeting on January 21 planned by Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The party had submitted a request for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) on January 12 seeking permission from the office of the Karachi (East) deputy commissioner.

However, reports citing sources suggest deputy commissioner Muhammad Ali Shah has sought the opinion of Sindh Police and the application is under process. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, JUI-F Sindh information secretary Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, flanked by Hafiz Khalid Hassan Dhamrah and Hafiz Mohammad Azam Jehangiri, said the party chief would lead the rally and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership would attend the show but it would be a JUI-F event. On the occasion, Maulana Nahiyoon said that Pakistani nation would never accept Israel. JUI-F had been agitating against this “incompetent” and “selected” government of PTI since July 25, 2018. The party staged Azadi march which was “exemplary” as no participant in the march smashed even a single windowpane during the protest, he had said. He further said that JUI-F had adopted the democratic path of peaceful struggle. The masses would soon hear good news about ouster of this “selected” government, he said. The party alleged this “selected” government was trying to pave the way for recognising Israel. PTI leaders had discussed this option in different talk shows and one assembly member had even supported Israel in National Assembly to hurt feelings of Muslims. Instead of discussing freedom of Palestine the PTI government was doing politics for support of Israel.

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

NEWS

03

Fm dESIrES to EnhanCE CooPEratIon wIth EU In dIFFErEnt SPhErES ISLAMABAD

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tLtp

oreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan desires to enhance cooperation with the European countries in different spheres.

The foreign minister made the remarks at a luncheon hosted in honour of the European envoys at the Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday. He said that Pakistan and the European Union signed a strategic engagement plan in June 2019 to promote cooperation.

Qureshi said that Pakistan desires cordial relations with the neighbouring countries on the basis of equality.

He added that India is endangering the regional peace and stability through its state terrorism.

He stated: “We have provided irrefutable evidence regarding Indian support to the terrorists.” He further added the EU DisinfoLab has unmasked the true face of India. The foreign minister said that Pakistan has sincerely played its role in the Afghan peace process.

FM Qureshi said: “Pakistan has hosted the Afghan refugees over the last many decades and we want their dignified return to their homeland.”

Qureshi, while talking to United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim

naB closes 20-year-old inquiries against Chaudhry brothers

Salem Al Zaabi separately on Wednesday, said that Pakistan accords paramount importance to its longstanding fraternal ties with the UAE. The foreign minister termed Pakistan’s relationship with the UAE as a special one. He stressed that the relationship benefited from the warm sentiments between the leadership of the two countries, as well as the strong people-to-people linkages rooted in shared faith, values and culture. He acknowledged that the UAE and its leadership steadfastly stood by Pakistan in its times of need.

Recalling his successful visit to the UAE in December last year, Foreign Minister Qureshi underscored the importance of frequent high-level visits from both sides, to provide impetus towards deepening and diversifying bilateral relations.

The UAE ambassador also lauded the strong UAEPakistan relations and vowed to work towards further strengthening and diversifying them in all sectors for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples. He acknowledged the positive contribution made by Pakistani diaspora towards the progress and development of the UAE. Separately, FM Qureshi, while talking to a group of Hindu community outside the Foreign Office (FO), said that Pakistan will raise the issue to get the remains of 11

Pakistani Hindus, who were killed in India, and for an impartial probe into the matter without any further delay at all levels. The Hindu community, whose loved ones got killed in India under mysterious circumstances, had submitted their protest earlier at the Indian High Commission and later came to the FO. They were demanding the return of the remains of those who went to India for religious pilgrimage.

The foreign minister said that doubts are being created due to the dodgy responses by India as it is not willing to share any information. “But I wish to assure my Hindu community that Pakistan stands by them and will raise the issue at every international fora.”

He underscored the government of Pakistan has high respect for every human life and recalled how the Supreme Court (SC) immediately reacted to the attack on a Hindu place of worship. He stressed that the government immediately took action and all the culprits were arrested.

Qureshi maintained the Hindu community needs to rest assured that the government would pursue the genuine demand of the community.

He reiterated that India has been sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan and said it not only came to fore with the arrest of the Kalbhushan Jhadev and the recent disclosures by the EU DisInfo Lab which showed how

Composite development policy agenda of govt: Buzdar

LAHORE

CM SAYS 10,000 POLICE EMPLOYEES ARE BEING RECRUITED MOST TRANSPARENTLY

INp

In an important development, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) closed two-decades-old investigations against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the agency informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) Wednesday. A two-member bench, headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali, conducted a hearing on a petition of Chaudhry brothers challenging the reopening of three cases after the passage of 20 years. During the proceedings on Wednesday, the agency's Lahore Director General Saleem Shehzad told the court all three assets beyond means inquiries against the Q-League leaders have been dismissed. Meanwhile, the court also disposed of the petitions of the politicians for being ineffective after the closing of inquiries. In their petition submitted May last, the PML-Q leaders said: “In [the] year 2000, then chairman of the respondent bureau proceeded to authorise investigation against the petitioners on the allegations of misuse of authority, assets beyond means and wilful default under National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.”

Qureshi expresses condolences on death of Zimbabwe’s foreign minister NEWS DESK Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed his condolences over the death of his Zimbabwean counterpart on Wednesday. "Sincere condolences to the family, people and government of Zimbabwe on the passing of Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo. Our prayers are with you," he said on Twitter.

Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, has died after contracting Covid-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba said on Wednesday.

Moyo, a former army general who announced the military coup that led to the removal of the late longserving leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

fake media, fake NGOs and even fake parliamentarians were being used against Pakistan.

“The real face of India stands exposed,” Qureshi said. He also pointed to the killing of the 40 of its military personnel in the fake Pulwama attack to launch a false flag operation against Pakistan, details of which were leaked by Indian TV anchor Arnab Goswami.

Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ramesh Kumar, who is also the patron of Pakistan Hindu Council, said the minorities in Pakistan enjoy full protection and said that India must respect its responsibilities towards protection of foreign citizens visiting the country.

A female member of the Hindu community told the Foreign minister that the Indian government has filed a case against some planted people, who are not being persecuted. She said they have been running from pillar to post to get the remains of their loved ones.

Earlier on December 22, Pakistan in a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCR) has demanded an investigation into the murders of 11 Pakistani Hindus in northwestern India.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said that the UN should investigate the killings that took place in August in the Rajasthan state and ensure the payment of reparations to the families of the deceased.

SAHIWAL Staff RepoRt

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that a strategy has been devised to resolve public problems at the grassroots level as composite development is a policy agenda of the government.

The chief minister said this while talking to different delegations in Sahiwal on Wednesday.

8 killed after coach slams into security post QUETTA Staff RepoRt

Eight people, including two Levies Force officials, were killed after a speeding passenger coach rammed into a security check post before overturning near Uthal city of Balochistan, officials said on Wednesday. 22 others were injured of whom six are said to be in critical condition. The bodies and injured were rushed to Civil Hospital in Bela town. According to a rescue official, the coach was traveling from Panjgur to Karachi. “It was signalled to stop at a check post near Uthal when the driver lost control of the vehicle and the brakes failed,” he said. A number of people present near the site said after the vehicle lost control, it smashed into the check post. The identification process of the deceased is underway after which the bodies will be sent home.

Buzdar affirmed that 10,000 police employees are being recruited most transparently.

Complaints about revenue matters are unacceptable, he declared and added that inprinciple approval has been granted to recruit the necessary revenue staff to overcome their shortage. Similarly, the recruitment process against approved vacant posts will also be accelerated to better serve the people, he added.

The CM directed the health secretary to visit the DHQ hospital in Sahiwal for redressing public complaints and added that he will also conduct visits to different hospitals to bring necessary improvements in the health sector.

Broadsheet exposed plunderers of national wealth again: Faraz ISLAMABAD tLtp

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that Broadsheet LLC issue has once again exposed the plunderers of the national wealth. In a tweet on Wednesday, the information minister said this case shows how national interests were compromised for personal gains. The minister said those who looted the national exchequer will have to answer for it. He further added if these elements had not been given national reconciliation ordinances (NROs), the country would not have to suffer so many losses.

CoaS lauds army's professional readiness in Sialkot Garrison visit RAWALPINDI Staff RepoRt

Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday visited Sialkot Garrison and appreciated the professionalism and high morale of the officers and soldiers in way of the nation’s defence. According to InterServices Public Relations (ISPR), Corps Commander Lieutenant General Asim Munir received the army chief on reaching Sialkot Garrison. The COAS was briefed on the situation at the working boundary and the army’s battle readiness. General Bajwa also met with officers and soldiers at the garrison.

Foreign funding case: akbar S Babar raises concerns on working of scrutiny committee ISLAMABAD: Foreign funding case petitioner Akbar S Babar has alleged that the scrutiny committee is not functioning properly, demanding that all records be handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Talking to media on Wednesday, Babar said that he raised concerns about the transparency of the scrutiny committee in today’s meeting at the ECP. He alleged that the committee presented forged documents on August 13 which he asked to be verified. The petitioner asked why details of 23 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) accounts were not being provided to them. INp

Sindh chief secretary gets exemption from appearance in Daniel Pearl case PEARL, 38, THE SOUTH ASIA BUREAU CHIEF FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, WAS ABDUCTED ON JANUARY 23, 2002, IN KARACHI AND BEHEADED THE NEXT MONTH, REPORTEDLY BY AL-QAEDA KARACHI Staff RepoRt

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday exempted Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah from appearing in a contempt petition in connection with the detention of the four accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case despite a court order.

Last week, the high court served contempt notices to the provincial chief and home secretaries in a petition seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against the officials for blocking the release.

In April last, the SHC overturned the murder conviction of principal suspect Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh while acquitting Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib

and Sheikh Adil. However, following the court verdict, the Sindh government placed them under 90-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order. Subsequently, on July 1, a fresh notification under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, was issued to extend their detention by three months, and later, in October, their confinement was extended for yet another 90 days. In

December, the high court set aside the provincial government’s detention orders and ordered it to immediately release the suspects. However, after the government failed to comply with the court order, a contempt petition was filed against the chief secretary Mumtaz Shah, and officials of the provincial and jail authorities.

Today, the bench while granting exemption to Shah said the home secretary and other officials would have to appear before the court. Sindh advocate general urged the court to adjourn the trial until the Supreme Court announces its verdict in an appeal against the SHC order

to release suspects.

The court adjourned the hearing for two weeks. Pearl, 38, the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted on January 23, 2002, in Karachi and beheaded the next month, reportedly by Al-Qaeda.

Sheikh had been convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in Karachi in which he was kidnapped. Prior to his kidnapping, the journalist had been investigating the link between reportedly Pakistan-based militants and Richard Reid, the notorious “Shoe Bomber” who attempted to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes.

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

04 NEWS

SHC warns federal secretaries over failure to trace missing person

PM to roll oUt nEw MECHaniSM for SUCCESSion CErtifiCatES toDay ISLAMABAD

KARACHI TLTP

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday warned to send federal secretaries for defence and interior to jail to set a precedent over the state's failure to recover a missing person for over five years. The remarks came during the court proceedings in a missing person case, being heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho. Reprimanding the police officials, the bench rejected the report submitted by the investigating officer (IO) and chided prosecutors. "This drama will not be tolerated any longer," said Justice Phulpoto after issuing arrest warrants for the IO. The court summoned reports from the federal secretaries for interior and defence and Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Karachi before the next date of hearing, besides directing Sindh Home Department and other concerned to submit details of prisoners in detention centres across the province. Observing that the court was left with no choice but to order imprisonment of the officials involved, the bench said a precedence will be set by sending the secretaries to jail over failure to recover missing citizens. The court adjourned the hearing till February 17. Earlier on Tuesday, considering the agony of a mother, whose son was abducted five years ago from Islamabad and the happening was declared a subject matter of enforced disappearance, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) hinted to hold all the prime ministers and federal cabinet members responsible, who have been in office since 2015.

Seeking assistance of Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan in the matter, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said in a four-page written order that the top principal law officer of the country is expected to submit a list of the prime ministers and members of the federal cabinet, who have held the offices from 2015 till now. The IHC chief justice also sought the AGP’s assistance over a proposition that as to why exemplary costs may not be imposed on those who may be declared responsible for the failure of the state to give a satisfactory explanation for disappearance of the petitioner’s son.

Uzair Baloch acquitted in another case for want of evidence

t

TLTP

HE government has decided to facilitate citizens in obtaining a succession certificate within 15 days from the ‘Succession Facilitation Units’ (SFUs) across the country as Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the initiative from his office on Thursday (today).

After the initiative, any legal heir will not file a lawsuit for succession certificate in subordinate court but apply to

the SFU, which will be bound to issue the certificate within 15 days after receiving the application.

The federal law ministry has devised a mechanism to establish the SFUs in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to issue letters of administration and succession certificates. The NADRA will use biometric authentication to issue succession certificates and letters of administration for the first time in Pakistan.

Earlier, obtaining a succession certificate was a troublesome task as one

had to invoke the local court jurisdiction, ensure the presence of every family member before the court and wait for a long time to receive the document.

Another benefit of the initiative would be facilitation to the overseas Pakistanis to obtain the certificate from the NADRA, whose database is being connected with all the foreign missions.

Pakistanis or their legal heirs abroad will be able to get their letters of administration or succession certificates processed from abroad without the need of being physically present in Pakistan

Constructors protest against CWD for ignoring issues CAP CHAIRMAN SAYS CONSTRUCTION AND HOUSING INDUSTRIES ENSURE WORK OF 44 ALLIED INDUSTRIES AND CREATE MANY JOBS, BESIDES CONTINUING ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES LAHORE sHAHAB OMeR

The Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) on Wednesday staged a fierce protest against the top officials of Punjab’s Communications and Works Department (CWD) for deliberately ignoring the issues being faced by the contractors.

A meeting between the CWD secretary and a delegation of the CAP was scheduled for Wednesday after the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to resolve the issues of the contractors but when the CAP officials arrived at the venue, they were told that the secretary had left for Sahiwal to meet the

chief minister.

The CAP Chairman Syed Ashfaq Hussain and Senior Vice Chairman Irshad Dada then staged a protest against the government officials and CWD secretary for postponing the scheduled meeting without informing them.

The chairman said he wants to take his case to a higher level. “The CWD secretary postponed the meeting without fixing the next date. He can postpone the meeting for another day but he should have informed the CAP officials on time,” he said.

“The construction and housing industries ensure the work of 44 allied industries and create many jobs, besides continuing economic activities. The biggest problem for builders

in the province is that despite the registration of any construction company with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), the provincial departments do not process the PEC standard bidding documents.”

“When provincial departments recognize the license issued to a construction company by the PEC, then why they do not recognize the bidding documents?” the chairman questioned.

“The Punjab government demands performance guarantees from contractors and the rules require that the contractor should provide performance protection to the employer in the prescribed form. Contractors demand that insurance bonds be accepted instead of performance protection. The limit of Rs50 million for performance guarantee was set 10 years ago> As now the prices of construction materials have gone up by more than 10 per cent, it is suggested that the limit of performance guarantee be increased to Rs300 million,” he concluded.

Journalists withdraw plea to lift ban on airing Sharif’s speeches ISLAMABAD TLTP

A petition seeking end to a ban on broadcasting speeches of proclaimed offenders, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was withdrawn from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday. Renowned journalists, anchorpersons and media analysts had moved to the IHC in November last year to challenge the decision of PEMRA to impose a ban on the broadcast of speeches and interviews of proclaimed offenders and absconders. The petitioners’ lawyer Salman Akram Raja told the IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah that his clients do not want to create an impression to act as an agent of any individual. Raja said that another petition will be filed in the court on new grounds.

The IHC dismissed the plea after its withdrawal by the petitioners.

Bilquis Edhi shortlisted for ‘Person of Decade’ award

KARACHI TLTP

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Karachi on Wednesday acquitted Uzair Baloch, a kingpin of Lyari gang war, in yet another case after the prosecution once again failed to prove the case against him. The case was involving charges of torching a bus during a strike in the metropolis. The court acquitted Uzair and Amin Buledi in the case and directed the authorities to release them, if they are not wanted in any other case. The ATC, however, issued lifetime warrants of seven other accused in the case, including Habib Jan Baloch, Sheeraz aka Comrade, Rashid aka Bengali, Jabbar aka Jhengo, Sattar, Ghaffar Niazi and Jamshed. Earlier representing Uzair, Advocate Abid Zaman said that the prosecution has not produced any evidence against his client in the case. “Seven witnesses were produced before the court, however, none of them testified against Uzair,” he had said. It is pertinent to mention that the police had alleged in the case that the accused were involved in torching a minibus in the Baghdadi area of the city during a strike on April 24, 2012. In a kidnapping and murder case on January 12, a session court had also acquitted Uzair for want of evidence.

or appearing before the Pakistani courts.

The spokesperson of the ministry expressed that before the arrangement in hand, the process of declaration from courts was taking two to seven years while after the initiative, it will take just two weeks. ”The initiative will save a lot of expense and time, and release burden on the courts.

It merits mentioning that the Sindh Assembly has already passed the new succession law that will allow the NADRA to issue succession certificates directly to legal heirs in the province.

Impact Hallmarks, an international organisation, has shortlisted renowned philanthropist and humanitarian Bilquis Edhi among the top 20 persons, objects and works, having far-extending impacts in diverse fields and extents of human accomplishments. According to a statement issued by the Edhi Foundation Pakistan and SAARC-ASEAN Post-Doctoral Academia Directorate, currently an online opinion poll for a global audience is being carried out to vote for the “Person of Decade”, based upon the impact value the person holds.

Professor Yanghee Lee has also been shortlisted due to efforts in highlighting the issue of Rohingyas. news desk

RAWALPINDI: A man crosses a road amid dense fog in the city. PPI

KCFR holds webinar on Pak-US relations KARACHI PRess ReLeAse

A webinar titled “Reset of US-Pakistan Relations” was held under the auspices of Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR) Chairman Ikram Sehgal.

Speaking at the webinar, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi explained Pakistan’s position as a bridge between China and US and said that Pakistan is a nation of 220 million people at the crossroads of China, Middle East, South and Central Asia and the country envisions itself as a hub for trade in the region.

“US President Joe Biden has strong insights into the dynamics, which had changed over the years. Between Pakistan and US,

QURESHI SAYS THERE IS A NEED TO HAVE A FRESH APPROACH ON ALL ISSUES IN ORDER TO HAVE A MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE WITH BIDEN'S REGIME there were shared interests, common aspirations for economic development and enhanced connectivity in the region. Thus, a rare moment of hope for peace in Afghanistan, provided a strong foundation for both sides to take further the bilateral relationship,” he said.

“Pakistan offers tremendous opportunities for the private sector as seen by the profitability of multinational corporations in Pakistan, as compared to global averages.

There is a need to have a fresh approach on all issues in order to have a meaningful dialogue with Biden’s regime. Our focus has shifted towards geo-economics. We want a healthy relationship with India as well, but unfortunately the present regime in India has vitiated that by their actions.”

Former Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel emphasised on the need of presenting a softer image of Pakistan to USA and said, “Pakistan is an important country.

Insufficient support on Afghan issue and lack of understanding between the two countries led to the double game narrative. Both the countries should interact truthfully. Pakistan is a country with large human and natural resources, which is known by the State Department. Pakistan must be addressed as such. More efforts are needed at the higher levels in both the governments.”

Former Ambassador Zamir Akram mentioned that the cornerstone of relationship with US is “national security” and the relationship is tilted in favour of US (large country).

Michael Kugelman, from Woodrow Wilson International Centre, US, feared that US may have difficulty in high level of connectivity with Pakistan and its relationship with India may take precedence. “However, joint

collaboration on the Afghan peace and ISIS issues would remain a source at high level of connectivity between the two countries. There is scope in conjoining non-security matters, including climate change, cyber security, clean energy and public health, and through this potential relationship would improve.

Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said that the person-toperson connections are stronger than the government-to-government relations between the two countries.

Concluding the webinar, KCFR Chairman Ikram said that Pakistan’s role is critical as it has positioned itself as a neutral state in the region as compared to Iran and Saudi Arabia. “There is a need for investment driven relationships,” he said.

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

SBP deferS rS657BN rePaymeNt uNder refiNaNCiNG SCheme KaraCHi

u

STAFF REPORT

NDER the refinancing scheme for protecting businesses from the impact of Covid-19, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has so far deferred Rs657.16 billion principal repayments of loans up to one year. According to the central bank's updated data, the SBP also allowed restructuring or rescheduling of around Rs225.5 billion so far. The number of borrowers that would benefit from this rescheduling relief has risen to 1,631,257 with an outstanding amount of Rs2.528 billion, it said.

Under its Rozgar scheme for protecting businesses and employees working with them from the impact of Covid-19, the central bank has so far approved Rs238.2 billion for 2,958 businesses.

In addition, the apex bank, under this refinancing scheme for hospitals to combat Covid-19, approved financing of Rs9.07 billion for 42 hospitals so far. As many as 46 hospitals had requested for the financing amounting to Rs13.8 billion.

With respect to progress on the refinance scheme for setting up new projects or expansion, the central bank approved 363 projects with an amount of Rs300.3 billion, for which it received

requests for 548 projects with an amount of Rs622.2 billion.

Furthermore, from March 20, 2020 till January 15, 2021, the bank had issued fresh currency notes to the commercial banks worth of Rs1.3 trillion. Similarly, an amount of Rs41.2 billion was quarantined during the period that was received from hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies.

Overall, the bank received cash worth of Rs1.26 trillion which was quarantined for 14 days.

It is pertinent to mention that in order to combat the impact of Covid-19 and to help the businesses in payment of wages and salaries to their workers and employees and thereby support continued employment in this challeng-

ing environment, the SBP has introduced a temporary refinance scheme for payment of wages and salaries to the workers and employees of the business concerns.

This scheme was aimed at easing cash flow constraints of the employers and thereby avoiding layoffs. In addition, the SBP had expanded the scope of existing refinancing facilities and introduced a scheme to support hospitals and medical centres to purchase equipment to detect, contain and treat Covid-19 patients besides, stimulating investment in new manufacturing plants and machinery, as well as modernisation and expansion of existing projects.

Joe Biden sworn in as 46th US president, stresses unity to overcome challenges Continued from Page 01 PAKISTAN-US TIES: Soon after the inauguration, Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter to congratulate the 46th US president.

“I congratulate President @JoeBiden on his inauguration. Look forward to working with @POTUS in building a stronger Pak-US partnership through trade & economic engagement, countering climate change, improving public health, combating corruption & promoting peace in region & beyond,” he wrote.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan wanted better bilateral relations with the incoming administration.

In a statement, Qureshi said that Biden had a clear perspective needed to understand the on-ground situation in South Asia.

“The two sides have the conformity of views about Afghanistan and other priorities such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the strategy to deal with the climate change issue,” the foreign minister said.

Qureshi was of the opinion the American establishment had a bipartisan opinion about India, but it was welcoming to see the incoming setup having an unambiguous stance about the protection of human rights.

He said that the world was pointing out gross human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and expressed hope Biden would play a role in stopping the oppression against eight million Kashmiris.

Meanwhile, General (r) Lloyd Austin, Biden’s pick for defence secretary, while addressing a committee, termed Islamabad as an “essential partner” in any peace process in Afghanistan.

The general said that he believed that “continuing to build relationships with Pakistan’s military will provide openings for the United States and Pak-

istan to cooperate on key issues.” “Pakistan is an essential partner in any peace process in Afghanistan,” he told the attendants. “If confirmed, I will encourage a regional approach that garners support from neighbours like Pakistan, while also deterring regional actors, from serving as spoilers to the Afghanistan peace process.”

When asked if he has perceived any change in Islamabad’s cooperation with the US since the Trump administration’s decision in 2018 to withhold financial assistance, General Austin said: “I understand Pakistan has taken constructive steps to meet US requests in support of the Afghanistan peace process.

Pakistan has also taken steps against anti-Indian groups, such as [proscribed] Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, although this progress is incomplete.” He, however, acknowledged that “many factors in addition to the security assistance suspension may impact Pakistan’s cooperation, including Afghanistan negotiations and the dangerous escalation following the Pulwama terrorist attack [in February 2019].” “Pakistan is a sovereign country,” Gen Austin said when asked what tools and options the US had to “influence” Islamabad.

“I will press Pakistan to prevent its territory from being used as a sanctuary for militants and violent extremist organisations. Continuing to build relationships with Pakistan’s military will provide openings for the United States and Pakistan to cooperate on key issues.”

GRIM MILESTONES:Biden’s inauguration is the zenith of a five-decade career in public service that included more than three decades in the US Senate and two terms as vice president under former president Barack Obama. But he faces overlapping crises that will challenge even someone of his po-

PM announces launch of 3G, 4G internet services in South Waziristan Continued from Page 01 He paid tribute to locals for supporting him in materialising the difficult task of the merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP), adding that the time would prove that it was the “best decision”.

PM Imran said that the government would soon open educational facilities in South Waziristan including universities and technical institutes.

He assured that the demands of the local population would be met and that their problems would be resolved on priority basis.

He directed the KP governor and the chief minister to hold consultations with tribal elders in sorting out the demands relating to sub-division of districts.

He also asked the chief minister to ensure the problems related to the construction of dams to overcome the shortage of water. “The government will continue to take steps for your uplift, no matter whom you voted in elections,” he told the gathering, vowing to extend support to them in all areas.

He said that poor students would be given scholarships and financial assistance to complete their education under the Ehsaas social welfare programme.

The prime minister said that the government was going to bring “olive revolution” in South Waziristan, a terrain best suited for the cultivation of the crop.

He said that the olive project would boost local production and generate revenue for locals.

He also said that road infrastructure in tribal areas would be upgraded to lessen distances among far-flung

districts. The premier announced that every household in South Waziristan would be provided health insurance of free medical treatment up to Rs0.7 million.

To tribal elders, he assured that the tradition of respect would be ensured with their inclusion in the main decision body of jirga.

Earlier, PM Imran laid the foundation stone of the second phase of Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan. Under the project, the Cadet College will get two new hostels, teachers’ accommodation, clean water supply, a mosque and a multi-purpose hall.

The expansion of Cadet College Wana will not only benefit the local students but also belonging to other parts of South Waziristan.

In addition, the premier laid the foundation stone for widening and repair of Tanai Gul Kuch Road. The road will ensure better transportation facilities to the adjoining population.

He visited the Frontier Constabulary (FC) Headquarters. He paid respects to the martyrs and laid a wreath at the martyrs’ memorial. The prime minster also planted a sapling on the occassion.

SECURITY CONDITION: Special attention being paid to the former tribal areas has been marred by a recent, intensified wave of militant attacks. The Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has executed a number of attacks on the army. In October, a convoy of security forces was attacked with improvised explosive devices near Razmak, resulting in the martyrdom of a captain and five soldiers. The TTP had claimed responsibility for the attack.

litical experience.

The pandemic in the US reached a pair of grim milestones on Trump’s final full day in office on Tuesday, reaching 400,000 deaths and 24 million infections – the highest of any country. Millions of Americans are out of work because of pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions. Biden has vowed to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear on the crisis. His top priority is a $1.9 trillion plan that would enhance jobless benefits and provide direct cash payments to households. It will require approval from a deeply divided Congress, where Democrats will hold slim advantages in both the House and Senate.

Wednesday’s executive actions, by contrast, are intended to advance Biden’s priorities without the need for legislation. The president will establish a new White House office coordinating the coronavirus response, revoke the permit granted to the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline and end Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund a Mexico border wall, among other orders.

Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden plans additional executive orders in the coming weeks, including eliminating Trump’s restrictions on transgender troops and reversing a policy blocking US funds for overseas programmes linked to abortion.

Although Biden has laid out a packed agenda for his first 100 days, including delivering 100 million Covid-19 vaccinations, the Senate could be consumed by Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, which will move ahead even though he has left office. The trial could serve as an early test of Biden’s promise to foster a renewed sense of bipartisanship in Washington.

The militants, most of them are based in Afghanistan and sponsored by India, have stepped up attacks on security forces in the merged tribal districts, particularly in North and South Waziristan, raising fears of a revival of their insurgency and a return of lawlessness as brighter prospects for peace in Afghanistan herald shifting alliances.

The border region was for years a haven for militants who fled the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

But the Pakistan Army cleared out the strongholds in a 2014 offensive, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, driving most of the terrorists into Afghanistan.

But since March, al Qaeda-linked TTP, facing the risk of losing havens on the Afghan side of the border if their Afghan Taliban allies make peace there, have unleashed a wave of attacks on the security forces in the border region. During his previous visit in April 2019, Imran had said that some elements operating in the region were receiving money from abroad to push the youth of the tribal districts towards unrest.

Such elements had been trying to cash in on the problems being faced by locals, he had said apparently in a veiled reference to the rights movement, Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

“These people are receiving finances from abroad.

And leaders involved in corruption are also providing them support to escape cases.”

FOREIGN FUNDING CASE: Speaking to journalists in South Waziristan, PM Imran said that the proceedings of the foreign funding case should be aired live on TV and party heads should attend the hearings.

“I can put it to a challenge that PTI is the only political party that has been involved in political fundraising,” he said, adding that the country runs on remittance by overseas Pakistanis.

Slamming the opposition, he said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman use students of seminaries to blackmail governments.

NEWS

05

Punjab revenue collection up 9pc despite Covid-19 challenges: minister LaHore STAFF REPORT

Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht said on Wednesday that the province witnessed a 9pc increase in indigenous revenue generation, while collection of general sales tax on services increased by 45pc during the first six months (JulyDec) of the ongoing fiscal year (FY2020-21) despite the coronavirus pandemic. The minister said this while presiding over the 4th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Resource Mobilisation.

Hashim Jawan observed that despite a reduction in tax rates, Punjab sales tax on services increased 45pc; motor vehicle registration improved 46pc; while tax on immovable property, farmhouses and luxury houses stood 63pc of the estimated revenue.

"Furthermore, the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) collected 60pc of the estimated revenue in the budget 2020-21; Excise and Taxation (E&T) collected 53pc; whereas the Board of Revenue (BOR) collected 48pc of the revenue target." The minister appreciated the performances of PRA and E&T department, instructing the latter to ensure an increase in vehicle registrations, besides reviewing the rate of registration fee. The meeting observed that the growth rate in PRA and E&T collections showed a positive trend, but collections of BOR remained negative, mainly due to a decline in economic activity amid Covid-19. The minister directed the BOR to improve its performance and meet revenue targets, which were set on the department's own request, come what may. He also ordered the board to improve the collection of agriculture income tax.

SSGC extends CNG stations closure as gas crisis deepens KaraCHi TLTP

The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which had earlier announced the opening of CNG stations at 8:00am from Thursday (tomorrow), has extended their closure for another 48 hours across Sindh. According to a notification issued by the SSGC on Wednesday, all filling stations in Sindh will remain closed for another 48 hours from 8:00am on Thursday (January 21) till 8:00am on Saturday. CNG stations will remain open for 24 hours from 8:00 am on Sunday. It is pertinent to mention that the company on Tuesday had announced a reduced supply of gas from its Naimat basal field, saying supply in its system has observed a reduction due to a technical fault.

"Karachi will witness a shortfall of 100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) because of the fault," the SSGC stated. "Low pressure has made it immensely difficult to meet the high demand of the industrial and domestic sectors."

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

06 COMMENT

Dealing with the establishment

Building false hopes PTI government and President Biden

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HE world heaves a sigh of relief after the departure of one of the most controversial and divisive American presidents. The new administration is expected to give due deference to the United nations and abide by international treaties.

President Biden has promised to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and block the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day as President. He has also pledged to undo the ‘Muslim ban’ and propose an eight-year citizenship path for immigrants. This is good news for the world.

The US rivalry with China which is forecast to become the world’s largest economy by 2028 will continue under Biden. Trade issues will be a source of friction as will be China’s increasing political clout in various parts of the world. However the incoming administration is likely to be less confrontational and is expected to cooperate on global economic and security issues where interests of the two powers converge.

The Biden Administration would further strengthen its close ties with India which it considers a major ally and a proxy to confront China at the regional level. From what Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on the eve of President Biden’s inauguration indicates that the PTI government continues to live in an ivory tower. Mr Qureshi would like us to believe that the Biden Administration would help Islamabad in “providing relief” to the Kashmiris living under military siege in Indian occupied Kashmir. India being as much a strategic ally of the USA as Pakistan is that of China, President Biden might pay lip service to human rights but is unlikely to say anything on Kashmir that is unacceptable to India.

Despite the new US administration needing Pakistan’s help in restoring peace in Afghanistan, its relations with Pakistan will remain transactional. President Biden is likely to follow Trump’s policy of withdrawing from Afghanistan but would like to keep enough forces to protect US interests in the region and stop Afghanistan from turning into a hub of terrorism again. The USA will however continue to keep an eye on Pakistan’s conventional and nuclear capabilities while overlooking India’s buildup.

Instead of building false hopes, the PTI government should concentrate on improving the economy and change its policy of political vendetta which continues to divide the country and cause uncertainty.

All countries as establishments

Dr FariD a malik

I

n our time, representative democracy is seriously threatened by the establishment. Today it is a worldwide phenomenon. In the 21st century, the common good has become uncommon. Political parties make tall claims to win elections but then sheepishly surrender to the established order and the individuals who are in control of the levers of power. The recent fall of President Donald Trump in the first constitutional democracy of the world should be an eye opener.

He came from nowhere to hold the most powerful position in the world. Then he ran the Presidency with his own style. He did not start any new conflict, withdrew from Afghanistan and created jobs for his electorate. He probably could have won another term had the Coronavirus pandemic not hit the lone superpower so hard. It was a close contest but in the end the establishment prevailed, even the mob attack on the Congress by his supporters could not save his Presidency.

As we are in the midst of building ‘naya Pakistan’ on the lines of ‘Riasat-e-Medina’ it is important to understand the impediments created by the forces of the status quo. Entrenched establishments do not accept change easily unless taken on board. In the decade of the 1970s the democratic forces were on the winning side while the established order was bruised and beaten. Ayub Khan’s establishment rule with the support of ‘ Dummy Democrats ‘ was in total disarray. His replacement, the second dictator, was unable to find a political solution which resulted in the dismemberment of the country. Dictators usually isolate themselves from ground realities and start

Stepping up the pressure The government tries to avoid tackling real problems by cracking down

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HE PTI government is apparently not relenting in its desire to crush the opposition in the name of accountability, by going to the extent of filing an accountability case against Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Mr Shah has been a challenge for the federal government ever since he handled the covid-19 pandemic in his province more sensibly than the central government. The PTI continue to pursue the PPP through nAB, as the reference against Mr Shah is accompanied by ones against Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwala and ex-President Asif Zardari. The PML(n) continues to get attention, as shown by a petition by nation Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif’s wife, and Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz’s mother, Mrs nusrat Shehbaz, as had been moved before the Lahore High Court, filed by her attorney, even though she remains abroad, it seeks exemption from personal appearance before nAB, where she is under investigation for the cases in which her husband and son are in jail.

Clearly, the government is responding to the economic problems the country is facing by renewing its flagging efforts to after the opposition. The timing is unfortunate, for the opposition in in the middle to a campaign to oust it. There have not been many positive reports recently, and the report that imports of food items have increased, may indicate why the prices of wheat and flour have not stabilised. These were exported, creating a needless shortage, and now find the Government sees the country facing a price crisis which threatens people’s food security.

The government should realize that such tactics as pursuing anyone through the national Accountability Bureau no longer distract anyone from the hard realities of daily life. The government must realise that its own image has been tarnished by the Broadsheet scandal revelations as well as the PTI’s own foreign funding case, and the only thing that will help it will be the efforts it makes in plain everyday things, like reforming the tax machinery, and all the other elements of sensible economic management, that it has been shying away from so far.

After Bush, Obama, and Trump: What Biden can do

Washington Watch Dr James J Zogby

I

n January 2017, the Middle East that Donald Trump inherited from his predecessors was mostly in tatters. Daesh was in control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria. Civil wars were raging in Yemen and Libya. Iran and Turkey, each dreaming of becoming regional hegemons, were meddling in conflicts across the Middle East. And Israel, feeling no restraint, was continuing to oppress Palestinians and consolidating its control over the West Bank.

Other than continuing the effort launched by President Obama to defeat Daesh, instead of reversing the other negative regional dynamics, the Trump Administration pursued a series of short-sighted piecemeal policies. And instead of attempting to play a leadership role in reducing tensions and resolving conflicts, the USA became a participant in many of them, causing them to grow more intense.

This is where we are as we enter the century’s third decade– still paying the price of the disastrous consequences of Bush’s devastating Iraq war and the inability of the Obama and Trump Administrations to undo the damage. Added to this is the impact of the pandemic on the people of the Middle East and the incapacity of the weaker states of the region to deal with the continuing spread of the novel Coronavirus.

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

dialogue to discuss regional security guarantees coupled with commitments to non-intervention and nonaggression. It would also lay the groundwork for As the incoming Biden Administration begins to regional trade and investment that would help to admap out its approach to this region, several things vance greater economic integration and prosperity. should be clear. The first is that it is not possible to The international conference would of necessity simply return to the status quo ante– resurrecting the break out into working groups in which all relevant parnuclear deal, as it was, or restarting Israel-Palestinian ticipants would address the region’s issues of concern. peace talks. Consideration must be given to the new For example, there would need to be focused discusrealities that now exist across sions on the Israel-Palestinian the region and lessons must conflict, the wars raging in be learned from past failures.

Syria, Yemen, and Libya, the It is also important to acelimination of weapons of What our polling tells us is knowledge that the USA, mass destruction, and the role while retaining significant played by sectarian religious that what the peoples of strengths and resources, no extremism. longer has the dominant Such an approach will Middle East want is regional leadership role it possessed no doubt be difficult and unity and investment in the just two decades ago. And fiquickly rejected by hardlinnally, it is critical to recogers in some countries. But it future that can bring peace nize that it is not possible to holds advantages over the and prosperity. They’ve had pick around the edges and alternatives. Since each of deal with issues piecemeal. these conflicts involves enough of war and want Everything is connected. All competing regional players, of the region’s players are working piecemeal by adstable employment, engaged, in varying combidressing each of them as if education, health care, and nations, in each of the rethey are merely products of gion’s upheavals. What is local unrest will continue be better future for their happening across the Middle a dead end. Such a comprechildren. It’s time we start East may not be of the maghensive approach taken by nitude of the two wars that the P5+1 countries would a listening to them ravaged Europe in the last far better use of their comcentury, but it is time we adbined strength and influence dressed these connected then just focusing on one conflicts across the Middle problem. And promoting a East as the equivalent of a vision of a peaceful Middle East that is so compelling world war. that people can see the possibilities of a promising This being the case, if the USA is to play any con- future may be the approach, that will inspire the restructive role, it would be best to begin carefully by gion’s leaders and opinion shapers to demand a building a broad international effort that lays the change in course from the current downward spiral. groundwork for a comprehensive approach to resolvWhat our polling tells us is that what the peoples ing the connected crises that are currently tearing of Middle East want is regional unity and investment apart the Middle East. The immediate goal of this ef- in the future that can bring peace and prosperity. fort would be the convening of an all-party interna- They’ve had enough of war and want stable employtional peace conference under the auspices of the ment, education, health care, and better future for United nations. their children. It’s time we start listening to them.

The main agenda item for this conference would be the creation of a regional framework– like the The writer is President of the Arab American OSCE– that would provide all states a platform for Institute

A new approach for the Middle East is needed

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

ignoring the principle of peaceful coexistence with proach has never worked in the past nor will it in the various segments of the society. The bubble burst future. Good governance calls for co-operation and when Ayub started to celebrate his so-called ‘ Decade participation, not isolation and conflict, as has been of Progress’, for some it was the best of the times the norm in the land of the pure. By the time the chants of the disenchanted against the mighty Ayub Khan while for a vast majority it was the worst.

As a seasoned soldier of change, having survived could no longer be muffled, it was too late. He could several law enforcement onslaughts, I have finally re- not survive. Democracy is mostly noisy as the people alized that the establishment is a reality to be under- can feel the decline when they are hurt by it, while the stood and dealt with. In Pakistan we inherited a establishment is only concerned about the prevalent colonial establishment, while in the USA they built one order which is always misleading.

Though elections are held regularly in the Westafresh from scratch. In our case the masses are considered beneficiaries of the state or subjects to be treated ern democracies, the establishments have become as deemed appropriate by the ‘Brown Sahib’, in other very powerful and mostly detached from the ground words they do not matter; while in the USA they are realities. The single-party Chinese model has been treated as customers or citizens to be served, and the very successful in bridging this gap between the rulers and the ruled. rights of the citizens are The Chinese Communist clearly defined and have to Party sets the agenda which be delivered. Despite these the establishment has to folchecks and balances, the US Let us work in unison for low. Policies are formulated establishment has become very overbearing. In our brief the common good in the land of by the party Think Tanks, consisting of highly qualified periods of real democracy the pure. The needs of the experts, and are then passed (1947 to 1958, 1971 to 1977 over to the Central Commit) there were some gains for masses must be realized. tee which deliberates on its the public but after that the Nations rise and sink together, application mechanism. After colonists took control. Zia approval, the party workers reintroduced the phenomena and the divides have to be get involved to oversee its of ‘Dummy Democrats’ started by the first dictator. bridged, for which togetherness implementation. The entire system is focused on the While Ayub Khan availed the is the only way forward common good, and the estabservices of Chaudhry Zahoor lishment cannot come in the Elahi of Gujrat, a dismissed way. In Pakistan, it was exPolice sub-inspector, Zia appected that a balance would proached a very compromising/complaint businessman of Lahore by the name of be achieved after the enactment of the 1973 ConstituMian Muhammad Sharif who launched his eldest son tion, formulated by the genuinely elected representanawaz Sharif in politics. The Sharif’s brought the con- tives, but the establishment onslaught in July 1977 with cept of muk muka (Give and take ) into the state appa- the help of its ‘ Dummy Democrats ‘ created an imratus. Under their leadership the civilian institutions balance which has continued to haunt the nation.

Today, holding another free and fair election stopped serving the people, which eventually caused their collapse. Somehow the Armed Forces were able seems to be a big challenge. Only a credible ballot, to protect themselves but nawaz succeeded in making contested by credible candidates, can produce credible major inroads into the bureaucracy and the judiciary. leadership which can then negotiate with the estabHe then decided to take on the only surviving institu- lishment on the mode of operation of the state under tion that refused to come under his total command, the Constitution. The current push and pull will get us since then the tussle continues between the creator (Es- nowhere. Tagore was very fond of Baba Guru nanak’s Arthi in which he prays to the Almighty for rain and tablishment) and the created(the Sharifs).

As a nation we have experienced extreme swings ample food (Rab barish dey danay dey). Let us work in the balance of power. After the assassination of the in unison for the common good in the land of the pure. first Prime Minster in 1951, the colonial establishment The needs of the masses must be realized. nations rise started to flex its power. Ghulam Muahmmad and sink together, and the divides have to be bridged, (Gamma), an able financial guru, managed to become for which togetherness is the only way forward. the Governor General with the connivance of DEfence Dr Farid A Malik is ex-Chairman, Pakistan Secretary Iskander Mirza and Army Chief Ayub Khan.

Together they decided to push out the elected political Science Foundation. He can be contacted at: leadership from the arena. This unipolar power ap- fmaliks@hotmail.com.

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Thursday, 21 January, 2021

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. e-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Terror on the wane MAJOR General Iftikhar said that the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan has decreased by 86% since 2013 and by 45% in 2020 as compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have curbed more than 50 per cent of terrorist threats over the past year. Suicide bombings have also dropped by 97% since 2009. The high incidence of terrorism, which peaked at 90 in 2013, has now dropped to around 13. He said that in addition to terrorism, the number of targeted killings and kidnappings in Pakistan’s largest city has dropped by more than 98 percent, improving the city’s ranking in the World Crime Index which was increased from 6th to 103 in 2014.

Fatima imam Baksh turBat

PM firm on PDM

Hugging Modi now endangers peace Amnesty International. The European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights warned India against targeting religious minorities. It should dig graves of Muslim women and rape urged Modi to meet his pledge to promote and baDar shahZaD their corpses.”. The yogi’s threats were not con- protect human rights. Maria Arena, the chief of fined to ordinary Muslims, but he also threat- the EU human rights panel, said the protests over ened Bollywood’s Muslim actors. the Citizenship Act led to “arbitrary detentions Cheap labour industry is run by the sweat of and unnecessary loss of life”. She said that journDIA has become the largest modern-day Roman amphitheatre where the minori- Muslim and Dalit labour. 250 million Dalits pro- nalists and peaceful critics were being arrested ties, mostly Muslims and Dalits, are vide a ready base for Indian industry and broth- under the “draconian counterterrorism and sediIndia avoids tion laws”. Amnesty Inmocked and eviscerated, both mentally els. ternational reported that and physically. Amidst loud chants of discussion on world fopolice were part of the bharat Mata ki Jai and Jai Sri Ram, the victims rums claiming it as gang that rampaged in are put to death with brutal torture; and even India’s internal affairs A surgical strike across LoC Muslim properties and nuns and pregnant women are not spared in this or a family affair, and ensures a ready supply killed 53. More were gruesome BJP political arena. would be very expensive and killed when national The Indian amphitheatre smells of human of cheap labour by painful, so Modi might do it Security Adviser Ajit flesh and is full of victims crying for help. Every never implementing Doval visited the area. street in the kingdom of Sri Ram from Kashmir to laws to protect minorithe cheap way by killing the A statement by noam Delhi smells of human flesh and blood. The im- ties. Devadasi and Chomsky, the US acages of Muslim property looted and burnt in Delhi Jogini systems are a Muslims in Delhi and tivist, and gender theohave faded away in the media – thanks to the new form of religiously Kashmir. His Hindutva sanctioned sexual rist Judith Butler, front the BJP has opened with the Sikh farmers. scholar Homi K A fake surgical strike across the border or abuse. Originally a saphilosophy, based on antiBhabha, writers Arundinstigation of Shia-Sunni massacre in Pakistan cred, religious practice, Muslim and anti-Pakistan hati Roy, Meena Kanis a known strategy in Modi’s political book the Devadasi dedicadasamy, Rajmohan aimed at diverting attention from his failures. tion of girls to temples propaganda, is a dangerous Gandhi, Amitav Ghosh Pakistan-bashing and killing of minorities is has turned into a sysand Salman Rushdie, Modi’s shortcut to success. The Hindu goons tematic abus with Dalit fire that could flare into a filmmaker Mira nair, groomed under the RSS ideology show no girls serving as prostidamaging nuclear war– a war historian Irfan Habib, mercy; men, women and children are thrown off tutes for dominant P Sainath, running trains, burnt alive and raped on the pre- caste community memthat could freeze and end our journalist and actor Ratna Pathak text of violating BJP-introduced law of respect- bers. “Most girls and world as we see it today Shah, among many othing cows or against the love jihad. no wonder women in urban brothers expressed concern the educated Hindus claim that cows and mon- els come from Dalit or at the arrest of demokeys enjoy more rights than the Muslims and minority communities”, reports a presticratic voices in India.

Dalit minorities do.

Well if the butcher of Beirut, Iraq and Caste inequalities and injustice ingrained in gious India based human rights nGO. A survey by Thomas Reuters Foundation in Afghanistan can be honoured with a nobel peace the Hindu scriptures, added to illiteracy, has shaped the Hindu ‘Taliban’ minds goading them 2018 ranked India as the most dangerous country prize to wash the bloodstains on his hands, the to worship the street monkeys, snakes, and rats for women in the world with 88 rapes per day and days are not far when Modi will want one too, and and killing minorities to gaining credit for the a conviction rate of 30 percent only. Most of the he might succeed in getting one. He is the butcher heavens. The Hindus bein confused by the rapes of Dalits are reported in Hindu temples, of Gujarat. Once condemned and refused visa by anomalies in their political scriptures is enough while upper class Hindu women rape cases occur the USA for the state massacre of 2,500 Muslims for them to justify their crimes in everyday life. in the most unthinkable public places like moving and later hugged and praised as a champion of Raping, killing and burning Dalits and Muslims buses, taxis, parks and picnic resorts. Teenagers democracy, he is asking for a permanent seat in lose their virginity while the Un Security Council. This will be a harder is sanctified by the BJP they are in school. Sex- task to achieve than awarding him the nobel high priests. The UP ual orgies and worship Peace Prize for legislating law and creating an engovernment run by of sexual organs in vironment conducive for killing Muslims.

BJP’s priest, Yogi A survey by Thomas Reuters scriptures have moved Launching expensive space missions to Adyanath, is a perfect from religious text to Mars, while 50 percent of the population defeexample of the Hindu Foundation in 2018 ranked temple stones in form of cates in the open air and lacks clean drinking ‘Taliban’ who is folIndia as the most dangerous nude sculptures and into water, and the megalomania of usurping neighlowing the footsteps of the Hindu mindset. nu- boring territories, will bend India to a breaking Adolf Hitler. The country for women in the world dity is a major compo- point. The largest number of farmers committing Yogi’s gangs are folwith 88 rapes per day and a nent of Hindu temple suicide is not in China or the USA, but India. lowing the laws of ‘pufacade that has become Modi is at war with the people who feed India. rification’ and conviction rate of 30 percent part of their cultural India under him is on a dangerous move, and all converting Christians or Muslims to Hinonly. Most of the rapes of Dalits DnA and psyche. the symptoms point to the lurking danger of a India’s national Crime serious crisis. Economic failures combined with duism. Villagers and are reported in Hindu temples, Record Bureau in its the aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic are Dalits have their report claimed that bound to compel Hindus to flog and kill the miwomen raped if they do while upper class Hindu women a2019 rape case occurs every norities. The Muslims being the weakest will be not convert to lower rape cases occur in the most 16 minutes. The BJP’s the easiest target of Hindu fanatics. Modi and caste Hindus. rape mentality has cre- RSS need to win a third term, too.

Adityanath is unthinkable public places like ated fear among the miA surgical strike across LoC would be very Modi’s right hand; he has been in jail for serimoving buses, taxis, parks and norities, with Muslim expensive and painful, so Modi might do it the parents refusing to send cheap way by killing the Muslims in Delhi and ous crimes including picnic resorts. their daughters to Kashmir. His Hindutva philosophy, based on murder. He was reschools mostly located anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan propaganda, is a leased due to political in dense Hindu popula- dangerous fire that could flare into a damaging backing. nHRC and tions. nuclear war– a war that could freeze and end our Un experts based in Is India shining or it is stinking with shame? world as we see it today.

India reported 59 cases of extrajudicial killings of minorities in fake encounters. Instigating Modi earned condemnation for involvement in the writer is a visiting lecturer at Bahria Hindu mobs by hate speech, the Yogi endorsed the killing and burning of Muslim properties in raping Muslims in public. “Hindu audiences Delhi and closing down of operations by university, islamabad

Blood-soaked Hinduism is running rampant

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PRIME MInISTER Imran Khan on Wednesday said with focus on ensuring rule of law sans any discrimination of the rich and the poor, the present government was striving to bring about a revolution in the country, which had already started. “If you want to assure yourselves about the start of revolution, you can see the faces of all thieves, who have joined hands and come out on roads. Big thieves, who were looting the country for the last 35 years, have now come together and are now seeking an nRO (national Reconciliation Ordinance),” he remarked. The prime minister was addressing a gathering of tribal elders after inaugurating a state of the art hospital at Maula Khan Sarai on the occasion of his visit to South Waziristan. Imran Khan said he would urge his critics, who question about his promise of a naya Pakistan and welfare state, to study history books to know how the State of Madina was established and was made a welfare state after facing difficulties for four to five years. He said the State of Madina, which was established under the great leadership of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), brought about the biggest revolution in history and eliminated the old system of monarchy through rule of law, justice for all, and taking care of the poor and downtrodden. The principles of the State of Madina were being followed even in today’s modern era by various welfare states in the world, he added.

The prime minister referred to the anti-government drive of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and said their only objective was an nRO, which he would never give. Former president General ® Pervez Musharraf, despite having all authorities and power, could not sustain pressure and gave two nROs, he added. Referring to the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz leaders and their family members, he questioned if the thieves took the public resources abroad and led luxury lives abroad, how the government would spend and allocate funds for the people’s welfare in the country. The present government was fighting the war for rule of law in the country, he added. sohail ali khan islamaBad

Reopening schools THE disruptive impact of covid-19 on education will be felt for years to come. But human’s health is better than everything. When the virus has hit the country terribly , the authorities have shut down the educational institutions. For six months the institutions were closed and the virus has been controlled throughout the country. And again the authorities reopened the education institutions and the virus is spreading faster and second wave is effecting more. So, in this time the ministry of education should not open the small classes and those classes which are going to be opened should follow the Sops perfectly. imtaiz Javid awaran

Finding clarity THE vaccination rollout, the vaccine shots and the COVID jabs are not just those medical acronyms or pompous English phrases. Rather or instead, these terms have now been shedding light on the ongoing real fight against the coronavirus at the world stage. Almost all the media outlets have been carrying many stories of the worldwide vaccine rollout. Countries from the West and the East have been into the rollout process and have been dealing with all the concerns and complexities possibly involved in the vaccine procedures. Having been coping with the COVID guidelines like wearing masks, the people are now having certain vaccine-related doubts. Who are going to benefit from the jabs? Who should get vaccinated in the first place then? Is it mandatory to do so? Simultaneously, it would be better to come up with pamphlets and pocket-sized books on the vaccines against the coronavirus covering answers to those questions mentioned - such books must be made accessible to the people in all ways possible whereas the books have that enduring attraction to get the attention of all out there. People in my native areas like Korkai, Marthandam, Tiruchendur, Tuticorin, nagercoil, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli in Tamil nadu have often been discussing the dos and don’ts of agricultural activities with peers and authorities concerned, all aimed at eliminating the future problems. Even then wisely speaking, the actual corona patients can better get vaccinated at first even as there should be continuation of the mask mandate for quite sometime now- as ways forward in the corona fight so to speak. Above all, the world media houses should take positive steps to dispel all the rumours and apprehensions on the corona vaccine shots.

P senthil saravana durai mumBai

Supporting women In the recent days the supreme court has consented the petition of artist Meesha Shafia who has blammed another male artist Ali Zafar for sexual harassment. It is joyful to behold that the supreme court has accepted the plea of a female who is raising her vioce aginst the violence practiced on her. We hope that the court is going to give worth to her courage of speaking up and act cooperatively with the victim. However, the evidence is going to justify if Ali Zafar is innocent or not and if he is not then the female artist must get justice and other females should get secuitry from sexually harassment at working places.

FARAHnAz TuRbAT

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

The world now has moTivaTion To end dollar dominance

sydney MoRning HeRaLd

a

THE EFFORTS OF CHINA, RUSSIA AND THE EU TO REDUCE THE EXTENT OF THE US DOLLAR’S DOMINANCE HAVE GAINED MOMENTUM, THANKS TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

S BartholomeuSz

MONG the many legacies of the Trump era is the distrust and resentment it has sown in the primacy of the US dollar in international trade and the way the US under Trump has been prepared to exploit its reserve currency status.

With America having demonstrated its willingness to use that status to further its geopolitical goals – to weaponise the dollar, using its dominance as an enforcement tool – that mistrust isn’t going to disappear with the departure of Trump and the advent of the more conventional Biden administration.

During the Trump presidency, the administration issued nearly 3000 sanctions on individuals, companies and countries.

The role of the dollar in international trade and financial transactions – 50 per cent of global trade is invoiced in US dollars, about two-thirds of global foreign exchange reserves are denominated in them along with a similar proportion of global securities issuance – gives it extra-territorial reach, effectively forcing third parties to co-operate and facilitate their enforcement.

It isn’t surprising that both those directly targeted by the US sanctions – countries like China and Russia – and other third parties are all pursuing mechanisms for circumventing them.

China is promoting its own currency in its trade deals, particularly within Asia, along with an ambitious schedule for an imminent launch of a digital renminbi.

China and Russia have been trying to use their own currencies in their direct trades – last year was the first time dollar-denominated trade between them fell below 50 per cent.

The Europeans were side-swiped by one of the earliest decisions of the Trump administration. With the Obama administration, they had signed up to the Iran nuclear deal in 2012, in which US sanctions on Iran were lifted in exchange for constraints on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Trump, unilaterally, took the US out of that deal and reimposed the sanctions.

The power of US sanctions lies in the dollar and the financial system infrastructure that facilitates its global usage – the SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunication) secure messaging platform that enables financial institutions to send, receive, track and confirm transactions.

SWIFT is a co-operative controlled by about 3500 international banks (the Australian banks are represented on its board) and is arguably the key piece of global financial system architecture.

In response to the abrupt US change in stance towards Iran and its impact on Europe and European companies – they would be in breach of the sanctions and risk being sanctioned themselves and cut out of SWIFT and the global financial system if they continued to trade with Iran – the Europeans tried to develop a workaround.

The major European Union members created a special purpose vehicle, INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) to try to facilitate non-US dollar, nonSWIFT humanitarian transactions with Iran.

It was a clunky solution, more of a bartering platform than a SWIFT alternative. It allows buyers and sellers in Iranian transactions to be matched – Iranian companies or individuals in Iran and Europeans in Europe – and their deals netted off and settled in their own countries without any cross-border flows. It hasn’t been

particularly popular.

The Iranian experience and US threats of sanctions – including threats against businesses working on or financing the Russian-sponsored Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany that included the prospect of “crushing” sanctions of a German port that was the logistical hub for the project – caused the Europeans to think more deeply about their vulnerability to the power of the dollar.

Earlier this week the Financial Times reported (and other mastheads subsequently confirmed) that there is a draft of a European Commission policy paper that refers to the difficulty of the EU asserting its independence and using the Iranian experience to argue for measures to shield the EU from the effects of “unlawful extraterritorial application” of US sanctions.

The US sanctions not only impacted SWIFT but also European clearance and settlements platforms for domestic and international bonds, equities and derivatives so it isn’t at all surprising that the EU is searching for structural insulation from the threat of being caught up in future US sanctions.

Promotion of a greater use of the euro to settle transactions between European companies in traditionally US-dollar denominated trades, like commodities, and a shift from using US dollars in financial benchmarks to euros are among the paths being explored.

Network effects – the more the dollar is used in international transactions the more companies, individuals and countries have to use it – make any attempt to undermine the dollar’s reserve currency status problematic but the efforts of China, Russia and the EU to reduce the extent of its dominance have gained momentum, thanks

to the Trump administration.

Longer term, the incentive for countries other than the US to develop something along the lines of the multipolar digital currency advocated by former Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, will only increase.

It’s not just the sanctions. Dollar dominance reduces the economic and financial independence of economies and the sovereignty of nations. It reduces their flexibility to respond to their own circumstances and, for those with free-floating currencies, can generate external shocks and destabilisation that are difficult to respond to.

If there were a global, or at least international, digital currency with credibility sponsored by the key non-US central banks the dollar’s dominance would be reduced, along with the extraterritorial power and coercive influence of the US. The resentment, particularly in Europe, of the dollar’s status – it is disproportionate to America’s actual scale in global trade and economic activity – and the consequent under-representation of the euro in global activity relative to the size of the eurozone, existed before Trump’s presidency.

The past four years, with Trump’s trade wars, threats and sanctions on even America’s traditional allies have, however, stressed and perhaps even broken the trans-Atlantic relationship and provided new and more powerful motivation for China, the EU and other economies to reduce their exposure to the dollar and undermine its dominance.

Stephen is one of Australia’s most respected business journalists. He was most recently co-founder and associate editor of the Business Spectator website and an associate editor and senior columnist at The Australian.

Trump did right on economy, judges, foreign policy

Let the farmers lead

THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME FOR HISTORIANS TO ISSUE A SOBER EVALUATION OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS

like ‘Shining India’, ‘Sabka Vikas’ ‘Achchhe Din’, ‘New India’, ‘Vishwaguru Bharat’ and stokes ultranationalism to cover up the open betrayal of the values of the freedom movement and Constitution.

There is one strong group in the country of those which considers itself different and “above it all” from all this. But the authenticity of this enlightened section is doubtful when seen against reality.

It can be said that the country’s present predicament is a result of the dubiousness of this section.

Against this backdrop, the farmers’ movement against the three new agricultural laws seems to have grabbed the reins of the horse of capitalism.

The movement has ideological clarity, is persistent in its demands and opposed to privatisation-corporatisation. This is evident from the statements of the leaders of any farmer organisation or farmers/farmlabourers involved in the movement. The movement is democratic, with the participation of peasant organisations with different ideological and political views. The restraint, discipline and decency of the agitators and leaders, despite the unfavourable conditions and the extremely hostile atmosphere, create confidence that the largest segment in India has not lost its wisdom and conscience.

Even though the movement against agrarian laws was taken up mainly by the farmers of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and to a lesser extent Rajasthan, it has attained an all-India character.

Women and children of farmers’ families are also participating in the movement, fighting against the severe cold days and nights, in the terrible shadow of the pandemic. The movement has received active support and cooperation at the national and international level, from citizens associated with administration, business, sports, arts etc.

Punjab has set an example. The movement has broken all the stereotypes prevalent about the state — from “drug-addicted Punjab” to “separatist Punjab”. Children, youth and the elderly are reaching Delhi’s borders by tractors, tempos, buses, cars, three-wheelers, two-wheelers to be a part of the movement. That too without creating any ruckus on the way or at the protest site. I was travelling on the road from Chandigarh to Delhi on January 3.

In a small tempo, three children — two boys aged between 8 and 11 and a girl aged about 14 — were travelling to Delhi to join the dharna with their family. To protect the children, ropes were firmly tied at the rear of the tempo. Those pastoral children sitting behind the ropes network were going to Delhi to free their farming from corporatisation!

We cannot and should not expect that a peasant movement raises the flag against privatisation-cor-

Las Vegas ReView-JouRnaL President Donald Trump leaves office this week, his legacy forever tarnished by the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But a full and fair accounting of his four years in the White House should acknowledge his achievements along with the unacceptable events of the past few weeks.

Mr. Trump’s record on the economy was impressive by any standards. He guided the first major overhaul of the tax code in more than three decades through Congress, allowing Americans of all incomes to keep more of their own hard-earned money.

Coupled with his push to slash the bureaucratic red tape that hinders entrepreneurship and economic growth, that helped trigger a record jobs boom. The Trump years — pre-pandemic, of course — saw unemployment numbers at historic lows for African Americans, Hispanics and those without high school diplomas.

It would be nice if President-elect Joe Biden took notice of his predecessor’s accomplishments in that regard. But don’t count on it. Mr. Biden, through the selection of his economic team, has tacitly announced that he favors a return to the Obama-era “new normal” of stagnant growth brought on by oppressive regulation and an insatiable beltway bureaucracy. A Democratic Congress won’t help. Imagine thinking it’s a good idea right now — with tens of thousands of U.S. businesses teetering on the brink thanks to coronavirus restrictions — to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

In addition to the economy, Mr. Trump nominated, and the GOP Senate approved, more than 200 judges for the federal bench.

The president favored nominees with a healthy respect for our constitutional principles who will stand as a bulwark against the progressive notion that there are few, if any, limits to the power of the federal government. The ramifications of this will be felt for generations.

On the foreign policy front, Mr. Trump’s refusal to engage in the normal diplomatic niceties shocked many NATO countries into upping their financial contributions to their own defense. He put China on notice that he recognized its dangers to U.S. interests and would not simply roll over on contentious issues such as trade. He also acted where virtually all of his predecessors had preferred lip service by moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and then brokering historic peace agreements — which many critics argued could never be done — between the Jewish state and several Middle Eastern nations. ISIS is all but dead.

There will be plenty of time for historians to issue a sober evaluation of the past four years. No doubt the waning days of the Trump White House will be dominant in those accounts. But it would be a disservice to ignore Mr. Trump’s many successes, which are as much a part of the historical record as are his flaws.

MOVEMENT AGAINST AGRICULTURAL LAWS HAS POSED A DIRECT CHALLENGE TO PRIVATISATION AND ITS CHAMPIONS indian expRess Prem Singh

Each system has its underlying dynamics, which aid in its preservation and perpetuation. In India, the advancement of the neo-liberal/finance capitalist system through privatisation/corporatisation is no exception. Since 1991, this system has been at the heart of the country’s policies in open defiance of the constitutional system. During the last three decades, most “national” enterprises have become increasingly oriented towards strengthening this system. But despite the dominance of neoliberal ideology, especially in the initial decades of its introduction, there was strong opposition as well. Against the threat of neo-imperialist slavery, the need for an idea of alternative politics and, simultaneously, the need for a political organisation was also strongly underlined. But the opposition/alternative collapsed as, along with global circumstances/factors, the hidden supporters of the neoliberal system united with its open supporters who were in large numbers. This unity of the open and hidden supporters came to the forefront in the “anti-corruption movement” organised under the aegis of India Against Corruption (IAC).

In the absence of a genuine and sustainable opposition to this system in mainstream politics and intellectual discourse in the last 15-20 years, the finance capitalist system has developed its own independent dynamics. As a result, every roll of the dice falls in its favour. The handful of political organisations and individuals who are genuinely opposed to this system continue to remain marginalised. The unbridled horse of the capitalist Ashwamedh is galloping, plundering national resources/assets/labour, amalgamating public sector enterprises/institutions in the unabated pursuit of profits. Constitutional democratic institutions are being dragged behind this horse, losing their strength and structure.

This phenomenon is not limited to the economic plight of the majority of the population and the super prosperity of a small section on their cost.

In almost all dimensions, our national life is becoming hypocritical, false, mischievous, superstitious and quarrelsome. It is needless to reiterate that the neoliberalist/finance capitalist system is the opposite of the constitutional sovereignty we achieved along with Independence and the now badly-maligned constitutional socialism. The ruling class is fully aware of this. It incessantly churns out slogans

poratisation outside the agricultural sector. The agricultural sector is larger than all other sectors. Corporate houses are not oblivious of the potential of its tremendous profits. That is why they had their eye on the sector since the beginning of liberalisation. In the first phase of liberalisation, several lakh farmers committed suicide. The ruling classes were not deterred at by those suicides. Another round of farmer suicides could come due to the new agricultural laws. The ruling class will not care about that either. Four farmers have committed suicide at picketing sites during the present agitation.

In the wake of this movement, it is hoped that citizens from various fields supporting it will move beyond moral support towards understanding the implications of corporate-friendly policies. The boycott of some of Ambani-Adani’s products may be strategically correct, but linking it to the boycott of the marketist-consumerist sub-culture will spread consciousness about the movement. It would be better if activist supporters of the movement coming from peoples’ movements and civil society leave the movement to peasants only. They should not call for it to be a platform for freedom from fascism-Brahminism and Sanghwad (the ideology of the RSS).

Farmers should let all sides/parties, including the Supreme Court, understand that these laws are not only against the constitutional federal structure but also the basic spirit of the Constitution. If the debate is focused on the subject related to the movement, it will get greater cross-sectional support. Farmers should be allowed to compete on their own against the government-corporate policy.

The farmers of Punjab had made it clear at the outset that they had come to Delhi prepared for a long struggle and were committed to a peaceful movement. They are conducting negotiations with the government and are organising various programmes to exert pressure on the government. On January 7, they held a rehearsal to take out the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day. If the struggle is to go on for long, then more programmes will be on their list. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has said that the movement will last till May 2024. Clearly, this statement has political implications.

Opposition parties/leaders should be asked to make a promise that they will not corporatise the agricultural sector when in power. When this happens, the present government will come under pressure, and the opposition will not be able to leverage the movement for political gains.

The writer teaches Hindi at Delhi University and is president of Socialist Party (India).

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ECC REDuCES TAx On SugAR IMpORT fROM 5.5pC TO 0.25pC

corporate corner

ISLAMABAD

T

LAHORE: The Bank of Punjab President & CEO Zafar Masud and University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram sign a service-level agreement (SLA) on behalf of their institutions. PR

Qatar Airways announces daily flights to Montréal DOHA: Qatar Airways has begun incrementally increasing flights to Montréal and will operate daily frequencies by 25 February 2021. This news comes on the heels of the announcement of Qatar Airways’ recent codeshare agreement with Air Canada, applicable to flights between Toronto and Doha. The agreement will enable Qatar Airways’ passengers from Pakistan to enjoy seamless, one-stop connections to and from Toronto via Hamad International Airport. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to increase our services to Montréal, further enhancing connectivity for our Canadian customers, while offering our passengers traveling to and from North America seamless access to more than 75 destinations in Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East via our multiple awardwinning hub, Hamad International Airport.” PRESS RELEASE

OICCI holds 3rd Women Empowerment Awards KARACHI: “The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) and its member companies are the torchbearers for empowering women at the workplace. The corporate sector across Pakistan can replicate the ‘OICCI Women’ initiative to foster economic growth of the country,” Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Pakistan Wouter Plomp remarked while commending the efforts of foreign investors at the OICCI Women Empowerment Awards 2020 organized online. The dutch ambassador, who was the chief guest at the event, lauded the efforts of the OICCI and observed that OICCI Women is a great platform to create a movement for women empowerment in the country and appreciated the OICCI initiative to publicly acknowledge the efforts of member companies to give women equal employment opportunity and congenial working environment for the economy to grow. PRESS RELEASE

MoC approves Rs213m DLTL refunds for nontextile sector Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said on Wednesday that an amount of Rs213 million has been approved for Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) payments of non-textile sector. Taking to Twitter, the advisor said that Rs213 million were now with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and would soon be disbursed to the relevant exporters. "Our policy is not to put any working capital constraints on our exporters. I hope that this will facilitate them," he stated. The adviser also appreciated e-commerce promoter 'Bazaar Technologies' on successfully raising $6.5 million in seed round. "This is impressive considering the fact that the startup was founded just eight months ago by two youngsters in Karachi for digitizing the traditional retail sector in Pakistan," he said. Dawood continued, "I have always believed in the entrepreneurship of our youth and this speaks volumes about their abilities. I wish them success and urge our young entrepreneurs to emulate this as with a large population base, Pakistan is one of the largest potential ecommerce markets in the world." NEWS DESK

STAFF REPORT

HE Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved a reduction in withholding income tax on the commercial import of white and raw sugar from 5.5pc to 0.25pc.

Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the ECC meeting on Wednesday, a statement issued by the finance read.

The Ministry of Industries & Production had presented a summary before committee regarding the necessity of sugar import in order to lower the upward trend in sugar prices and to buffer up carryover stocks before the arrival of the fresh crop.

The ECC not only approved the reduction in withholding income tax on commercial import of white and raw sugar, but also removed value-added sales tax on the import of white sugar.

"The reduction in taxes will incentivise sugar mills for the import of 300,000MT raw sugar up to 30th June 2021," the statement read.

The ECC directed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to import white sugar up to 500,000MT, if and when needed, during the current season.

Among other agenda items, the forum approved the Aviation Division's request for approval of additional funding of $35 million to Pakistan International Airline. It also okayed technical supplementary grants worth billions of rupee for the ministries of interior, law & justice, planning & development and industries & production. However, the ECC deferred the draft Textiles and Apparel Policy, 2020-25, submitted by the Ministry of Commerce, till the next meeting for a detailed discussion.

FORUM OKAYS $35M ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO PIA; DEFERS DRAFT TEXTILES AND APPAREL POLICY TILL NEXT MEETING Earlier in the meeting, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony presented a summary for scaling up the 'Road to Makkah Pilot Project' from Islamabad airport to two more cities -- Karachi and Lahore -- in order to facilitate the pilgrims under the government’s scheme.

One of the pre-conditions for scaling up of Road to Makkah Project was the grant of special exemption on the import of technical equipment in Pakistan by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The ECC decided that FBR would hold a separate consultation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs to work out the details, and that the matter would be placed before the next ECC for approval.

The communications secretary on the occasion presented a detailed National Freight and Logistics Policy (NFLP) framework before the ECC, members of which appreciated the ministry’s efforts in drawing up a comprehensive draft policy. The forum directed the communications ministry to identify and segregate actionable items that fall under its domain and place before next ECC for final approval.

Meanwhile, the ECC approved a draft policy on equity investment abroad by residents/firms, "which caters to the needs of the business community and aims to improve the ease of doing business, promote exports, facilitate resident companies in raising capital

mArket DAily

PTV delisted from privatisation plan ISLAMABAD APP

The Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) has decided to delist the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) from the list of SOEs categorised for privatisation.

The committee took the decision on the request of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, according to a press statement issued by the finance ministry on Wednesday.

The information secretary briefed the forum that PTVC was currently undergoing massive restructuring in order to become a financially viable, professionally efficient and technically sound SOE that could help amplify national narrative and formulate favourable public opinion.

The meeting, chaired by Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, also had Privatisation Minister Muhammadmian Soomro and Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain in attendance.

The Ministry of Finance on the occasion presented a report on the 'Triage of State SOEs' before the committee, which, after detailed discussions, directed the officials concerned to streamline the existing privatisation categories and present a roadmap before the committee at

from abroad".

The forum also approved the Ministry of National Food Security & Research's summary to authorise TCP to make immediate arrangements for the import of 300,000MT of wheat through the tendering process as ratified by the cabinet, and to nominate PASSCO as a recipient agency for the imported wheat to replenish its stock as needed.

Moreover, the ECC approved another food ministry summary regarding the allocation of 60,000MT of wheat for Balochistan Food Department from PASSCO’s existing stock on the subsidised rate as per previous practice.

The committee decided that gas rate of Rs772/MMBTU will be applicable on Agritech and Fatima Fertilizer post-November 2020 till January 2021, as requested by the Ministry of Industries & Production.

It also accorded approval for the exemption of 17pc sales tax and 3pc additional sales tax on the import of 52 fire fighting vehicles by Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL).

Furthermore, the Ministry of Communications updated the ECC regarding progress made in conversion of National Highway Authority (NHA) loans into government loans as per last ECC held on 2nd December 2020.

The NHA requested a grant of nine months to prepare a commercially viable business plan in consultation with other ministries. NHA’s debt restructuring would be linked with the outcome of the said business plan. The request was approved by the committee.

The ECC also approved an NHA proposal that the outstanding mark-up accrued till date on all CDL/FRL on NHA would be capitalized as on 30 June 2020.

There will be a moratorium on further accrual of mark-up till the finalization of the business plan.

Stocks dip 226 points on selling pressure

the earliest.

The forum further directed the officials to utilise the interim period effectively and workout options for restructuring of SOEs, including possibility of management contracts, where applicable, and update the committee periodically.

The members agreed that the forensic audit of major loss-making SOEs should be conducted in accordance with the directives of the prime minister.

The finance secretary informed the committee that the auditor general's office was on board and had started collecting data of lossmaking SOEs, whereas several private sector firms had also shown interest in this regard.

The committee decided that the forensic audit task might be distributed among the private firm(s) and the Auditor General of Pakistan as per rules, keeping in view the large number of entities.

The finance secretary further updated the forum on the progress made on Draft SOE Bill, 2020. After following due consultative process on the said bill, the Finance Division had submitted the same to the Law and Justice Division.

"Once draft bill is cleared, it will be presented to the cabinet for approval, before bringing it in the parliament," the secretary added.

FDA seals offices of eight illegal housing schemes FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Development Authority (FDA) has sealed eight unapproved housing schemes and demolished illegal constructions in different areas of the city. The FDA spokesperson said on Wednesday a team headed by Estate Officer Imtiaz Ali Goraya checked the legal status of private housing schemes and found that Kiran Valley, Umair Town, JM Valley, SMD City-1 and 2, Madni Garden, Ideal Valley and Sandal City were developed without the requisite approval. The team sealed the offices of the above-mentioned schemes and demolished their structures. TLTP

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Bearish trend prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, with the benchmark index losing over 200 points amid selling pressure. Global equity markets, on the other hand, showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices inched up from the previous close; WTI crude price increased 1.26pc to $53.63 while Brent crude price rose 0.86pc to $56.38 (as at 4:05pm PST). "The stock market opened on negative note and continued with the momentum mainly due to redemption at mutual funds, which prompted selling activity in banks, E&Ps, power, cement and oil & gas marketing stocks," a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.

"Investors instead preferred switching to food, chemical and power sectors as safe haven." Textile sector also saw selling pressure, partly due to yet another deferral of the mostawaited textile policy, the report stated.

SUMMARY: The benchmark KSE-100 Index traded in the red throughout the day, registering its intraday low at 45,545.43 after losing 357.80 points. It settled lower by 226.29 points at 45,676.94. Among other indices, the KMI30 Index dropped 501.13 points to end at 72,735.84, while the KSE All Share Index fell short by 89.33 points, closing at 31,722.41. The overall market volumes contracted from 491.76 million shares in the previous session to 476.57 million shares (-3pc). Average traded value also declined 4pc, from $124.2 million to $119.2 million. Silk Bank Ltd (SILK +7.50pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNTIY +5.56pc) and Hum Network Limited (HUMNL +7.25pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 42.71 million, 41.06 million and 38.64 million shares, respectively. Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included oil & gas exploration (64.71 points), fertilizer (-49.03 points) and banking (-46.92 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -35.18 points), Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -33.58 points) and Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO -30.55 points) dented the index the most. Shedding 1.31pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas exploration sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with POL (-1.25pc), PPL (-1.60pc) and OGDC (2.11pc) ending in the negative.

LNG firm moves int'l court against PSO Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplying company Gunvor has filed a case against the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) in an international court.

According to a local media report, PSO had signed a short term LNG contract with Gunvor for the supply of 100 mmcfd for a period of five years. Later, the Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) also floated tenders for short term and long term contracts for supply of 100 mmcfd supply each, which were also bagged by Gunvor.

Similarly, the PLL also floated a tender for a long term supply contract which was won by an Italian firm, Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI), which had quoted the lowest price of 13.37 per cent of Brent to win a contract with PSO. The PSO continued making excess payments to Gunvor on account of port charges for four and a half years; however, the PLL management later pointed out that Gunvor was receiving excess payments.

Following this, a legal opinion was

sought from an international firm that had assisted Pakistani firms in finalising LNG supplies agreement with Gunvor.

Upon availability of the final port charges, the PLL, on November 9, 2018, notified Gunvor regarding the miscalculations applied by Gunvor in provisional invoices.

The PLL followed up on the issue on August 10, 2020, to resolve this matter again.

After PLL's management identified excess payments Gunvor was receiving, PSO

CMYK

deducted the excess payment. Subsequently, Gunvor filed a case against the PSO in an international court.

It may be noted here that the PSO had a supply contract for five years with Gunvor that expired in December 2020 whereas the PLL also has a five-year agreement with the company that would expire in December 2021.

Media reports state that PLL had also started deducting excess charges from Gunvor and therefore, it was possible that an-

other state-run company – the PLL –would face a case in the international court. The PLL had also been making excess payments to ENI. The issue of excess payment had been brought into the knowledge of the PLL board that decided to stop excess payment.

Invoices have been revised now as all parties had accepted that excess payment was made.

Further, PSO blacklists any company involved in litigation with it, therefore, PSO is likely to blacklist Gunvor. NEWS DESK

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Egypt ANd QAtAR AgREE to RESUME dIpLoMAtIc RELAtIoNS: cAIRo CAIRO

E

Agencies

GYPT and Qatar have agreed to resume diplomatic relations, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The move follows an agreement between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt earlier this month to end their boycott of Qatar - which began in 2017 over allegations it supported terrorism, a charge that Doha denies.

“The Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar today [Wednesday] exchanged two official memoranda, in virtue of which the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations,” a foreign ministry statement said.

While steps have been taken to rebuild the relationships between Qatar and the three Gulf countries, Egypt is the first to make such a move officially.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the kingdom expects to reopen its embassy in Qatar within days, and full diplomatic relations between the two would resume.

Egypt reopened its airspace to Qatari flights on January 12 and flights between the two countries have resumed.

The ending of the boycott was one of a series of Middle East deals by the Trump administration aimed at building a united front against Iran.

When the boycott was announced, Egypt and its allies called on Qatar to cut

ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, among other demands.

The group was outlawed in Egypt after then-army chief Abdel Fattah alSisi led the overthrow of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi from the presidency in 2013, before being elected president himself the following year. Much of the group’s senior lead-

ership was jailed in Egypt but other members took refuge abroad in Qatar or its regional ally Turkey.

Egypt and the UAE have also found themselves at odds with Turkey and Qatar in Libya, where they have backed opposing factions in a civil conflict.

A Qatari foreign ministry official pledged in a meeting with Egyptian and Emirati security officials on Saturday that Qatar would not interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs, two Egyptian intelligence sources said.

He also pledged a change of orientation for Qatar’s al-Jazeera television channel and other state-owned media outlets towards Cairo, the sources said.

They also said that the officials agreed on economic cooperation and a series of meetings on outstanding issues such as Libya and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The officials agreed to restore diplomatic relations between Egypt and Qatar “under probation,” as one source put it, and the Qatari official expressed his country’s desire to restore normal relations between all five nations, the sources said.

UK hospitals like war zones as Covid-19 death toll approaches 100,000 LONDON Agencies

Some British hospitals look like war zones with doctors struggling to cope with an influx of patients infected with Covid-19, the government’s top scientific adviser said, as the death toll rose by a record daily amount towards 100,000.

The United Kingdom’s official death toll is 91,470–Europe’s worst figure and the world’s fifth worst after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

Deaths rose by a record on Tuesday.

As hospital admissions soared, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said there was enormous pressure on the National Health Service with doctors and nurses battling to give people sufficient care.

“It may not look like it when you go for a walk in the park, but when you go into a hospital, this is very, very bad at the moment with enormous pressure and in some cases it looks like a war zone in terms of the things that people are having to deal with,” Vallance told Sky. “There have been huge numbers of cases, the NHS is under enormous pressure at the moment,” said Vallance, formerly head of research at GlaxoSmithKline and a professor of medicine at University College London.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the death numbers were horrendous but that it was not the time to look back at the government’s possible mismanagement of the crisis. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for reacting too slowly to the crisis, failing to supply sufficient protective equipment and for bungling the testing system, although the United Kingdom has been swift to roll

out a vaccine.

Covid-19 Crisis: The British government reported a record rise in deaths on Tuesday with 1,610 people dying within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. Currently 37,946 people are in hospital with Covid-19, 3,916 of them on ventilation. There have been calls for a public inquiry from some doctors and bereaved families into the handling of

the crisis, but Johnson has resisted this.

“Every single death is deeply tragic,” Patel told LBC when asked why the death toll was so large. “There is no one factor as to why we have such a horrendous and tragic death rate.” “I do not think this is the time to talk about mismanagement,” Patel said when asked by the BBC if the government had mismanaged the crisis.

43 Africans drown off Libya in first Mediterranean shipwreck of 2021: UN GENEVA Agencies

At least 43 West African migrants trying to reach Europe drowned off the coast of Libya on Tuesday, after their boat capsized in rough seas, in the first shipwreck of 2021 in the central Mediterranean, United Nations agencies said on Wednesday. Ten survivors were rescued and brought to shore by coastal security in Zuwahra, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint statement. War-ravaged Libya is a major route for migrants seeking to reach Europe. The UN agencies called for reactivating state-led search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and for a halt to returning migrants to “unsafe ports”.

Iran's Rouhani says ‘ball in US court’ over nuclear dispute DUBAI Agencies

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged the incoming US administration on Wednesday to return to a 2015 nuclear agreement and lift sanctions on Tehran, while welcoming the end of “tyrant” President Donald Trump’s era. US President-elect Joe Biden has said the United States will rejoin the pact, which includes restrictions on Iran’s nuclear work, if Tehran resumes strict compliance.

“The ball is in the US court now. If Washington returns to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, we will also fully respect our commitments under the pact,” Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

“Today, we expect the new US administration to return to the rule of law and commit themselves, and if they can, in the next four years, to remove all the black spots of the previous four years,” he said. Tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when Trump quit the deal between Iran and six world powers that sought to limit Tehran’s nuclear programme and to prevent it developing atomic weapons. Washington reimposed sanctions that have badly hit Iran’s economy. Iran, which denies ever seeking nuclear arms, retaliated to Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy by gradually breaching the accord. Tehran has repeatedly said it can quickly reverse those violations if US sanctions are removed. Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice for secretary of state, said on Tuesday the United States would not take a quick decision on whether to rejoin the pact. “Tyrant Trump’s political career and his ominous reign are over today and his ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Iran has completely failed,” Rouhani said. “Trump is dead but the nuclear deal is still alive.” Biden appears to see a return to the deal as a prelude to wider talks on Iran’s nuclear work, its ballistic missiles and regional activities. But Tehran has ruled out halting its missile programme or changing its regional policy. Biden’s choice to lead the Pentagon, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, said on Tuesday that Iran posed a threat to American allies in the region and forces stationed in the Middle East.

North Korea cracks down on foreign media, speaking styles SEOUL Agencies

North Korea is imposing stiff fines or prison for anyone caught enjoying South Korean entertainment or copying the way South Koreans speak as leader Kim Jong Un steps up a war on outside influences and calls for better homegrown entertainment.

A sweeping new “anti-reactionary thought” law was imposed late last year, and this week new details were reported by Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports from sources inside North Korea.

Measures include fines for parents whose children violate the bans, up to 15 years in a prison camp for those caught with media from South Korea, and punishments for the production or distribution of pornography, the use of unregistered televisions, radios, computers, foreign cellphones or other electronic devices, Daily NK reported on Monday, citing explanatory material for the law, which it had obtained.

Rimjin-gang, a Japan-based magazine that also cultivates sources in North Korea, reported

this month that the new law bans speaking or writing in South Korean styles.

In what it said were written remarks by Kim, the leader has criticised the common practice in the South of using terms such as “oppa” (older brother) and “dong-saeng” (younger sister, brother) to refer to non-relatives, the site reported.

It was unable to independently verify the reports.

Anyone caught importing banned material from South Korea faces a life sentence, while those caught importing large amounts of content from the United States or Japan could face death, Daily NK said.

The new law appeared to increase some penalties while tightening restrictions in the government’s long-running war on outside information, said Sokeel Park, of Liberty in North Korea, which supports defectors.

The emphasis on South Korean material and the intangible elements like accents highlights how worried the government is about the creeping influence of the wealthier, democratic South, he said. “It all plays into this very longstanding sensitivity to young people especially being led astray and detaching from the

glorious socialist revolution by being distracted with this very fancy but corrupt influence,” Park said.

The limited yet expanding access to information, including via border trade with China, has hastened subtle change in a country that only allows state media focused on building the prestige of leader Kim, said Tae Yong-ho, the first North Korean defector to be elected as a South Korean lawmaker.

“In daytime, the population is shouting ‘long live Kim Jong Un’, but at night they all watch South Korean dramas and movies,” Tae said in an interview on January 11. At the same time, Kim vowed at a recent congress of the ruling party to expand wireless networks - which are heavily walled off from the outside - and to upgrade broadcasting to better serve viewers.

“It is needed to readjust the wire broadcasting and TV broadcasting systems, put the relevant technology on a higher level and provide full conditions for the people in all parts of the country from cities to remote mountain villages to enjoy better cultural and emotional life,” Kim said in remarks to the gathering.

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

ShAKib Al hASAn reTurnS wiTh reCord-breAKing figureS AS bAnglAdeSh ThrASh weST indieS DHAKA

S

AGENCIES

HAKIB AL HASAN claimed four wickets for eight runs in his international comeback to set up an easy six-wicket victory for Bangladesh over West Indies in the first one-day international in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Debutant pacer Hasan Mahmud also impressed with the ball, picking up 3-28 as the hosts bowled out the weakened tourists for 122 before racing to 125-4 in 33.5 overs. Skipper Tamim Iqbal topscored with 44 off 69 while allrounder Shakib played his part with the bat, hitting 19.

BANGLADESH 125 Left-arm spinner Akeal FOR 4 (TAMIM 44, Hosein took 3-26 to give HOSEIN 3-26) BEAT WEST ing Bangladesh take a 1the home batsmen some 0 lead in the three-match trouble but his effort was INDIES 122 (MAYERS 40, series.

Opting to bowl not enough to defend the SHAKIB 4-8, MAHMUD 3- first, Bangladesh earlier visitors’ meagre total. wrapped up the West InMushfiqur Rahim and 28) BY SIX WICKETS dies innings in 32.2 overs.

Mahmudullah Riyad were “No complaints, we unbeaten on 19 and nine runs rebowled extremely well. Not just the spectively to complete the win, help-

Klaasen to lead South Africa in Covid-hit Pakistan T20 series

spinners, but the pacers as well,” said Tamim at the prize-giving ceremony. West Indies captain Jason Mohammed said he was disappointed with his side’s performance. “It was not easy to start on, but we did not have enough guys getting partnerships and those who got starts did not carry on,” he said.

Mustafizur Rahman, who claimed 220, seized the early momentum for Bangladesh, trapping Sunil Ambris in front for seven in the second over. He removed Joshua Da Silva for nine after a rain break that halted play for nearly an hour.

Playing his first international after a one-year suspension, Shakib’s left-arm spin immediately put pressure on the West Indies. He bowled Andre McCarthy for 12 before West Indies’ stand-in captain Jason Mohammed was stumped off his bowling for 17. Nkrumah Bonner went for a duck leg before wicket in Shakib’s next over to leave the West Indies struggling at 56-5.

Kyle Mayers hit 40 off 56 balls and added 59 runs with Rovman Powell (28) for the seventh wicket to bring some respectability to the visitors’ score.

Hasan’s pace removed Powell and Raymon Reifer with successive deliveries to end the resistance. Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan dismissed Mayers as the West Indies lost their last five wickets for seven runs. Shakib claimed the final wicket of Alzarri Joseph (four). The second match of the series will be held at the same venue on Friday (tomorrow).

Leicester go top with 2-0 win over Chelsea

KARACHI AGENCIES

Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Tuesday batsman and wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen will captain the side in next month's three-match Twenty20 international series in Pakistan.

The 18-man squad includes only four of the 21 players currently in Pakistan for two Test matches, all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, leftarm spin bowlers Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde as well as fast bowler Lutho Sipamla.

The bulk of the Test squad will return to South Africa after the Pakistan Tests end on February 8 in order to undergo a Covid-19 quarantine period and to prepare for a planned home series against Australia.

CSA director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said the selection reflected the difficulty of fulfilling obligations in times of the coronavirus.

"We have had to do a bit of outside-of-thebox thinking to ensure that we are fully prepared for a home Test tour against Australia, while having an exciting T20 series in Pakistan," he said.

Smith said plans for managing the coaching and support staff for the competing series were being finalised.

"It is an example of the measures that some cricket nations will have to put in place to ensure that they can squeeze more than one tour in a period of three or four months, while fulfilling Covid-19 protocol obligations," said Smith.

Batsmen Ryan Rickleton and Jacques Snyman and fast bowlers Okhule Cele and Nandre Burger have been called up to a national squad for the first time, while fast bowler Glenton Stuurman, who missed a recent Test series against Sri Lanka because of injury, gets another opportunity to win a first international cap.

A statement from CSA said travel plans would be announced later. The Test squad had to use a chartered flight after their commercial flights were cancelled a day before departure.

The three matches will all be played in Lahore on February 11, 13 and 14.

Squad: Heinrich Klaasen (captain), Nandre Burger, Okuhle Cele, Junior Dala, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Ryan Rickleton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-Jon Smuts, Jacques Snyman, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon.

LEICESTER AGENCIES

Leicester City beat Chelsea 2-0 on Tuesday to go top of the Premier League, for 24 hours at least, thanks to goals from Wilfred Ndidi and James Maddison.

Leicester have 38 points from 19 games. Chelsea’s third defeat in five matches dropped them to eighth place, nine points behind the leaders. Leicester took a sixth-minute lead when a short-corner ended up half-cleared to Ndidi on the edge of the box and his shot flew in off the inside of the post.

Chelsea were awarded a penalty in the 38th minute when Jonny Evans

brought down Christian Pulisic, but after a VAR review, the challenge was ruled to have occurred just outside the area and Mason Mount blasted the free kick over the bar.

Within three minutes Frank Lampard’s side went from the brink of an equaliser to being 2-0 down when Chelsea’s defence failed to deal with a high ball from Marc Albrighton, which fell to an unattended Maddison whose composed finish gave Edouard Mendy no chance. Chelsea substitute Timo Werner had an effort ruled out for a narrow offside in the final stages but the Foxes were good value for their win. “It sounds nice ‘top of the Premier League’,” said Mad-

dison. “It is a good one psychologically because we have worked really hard. It is a great achievement halfway through the season.” “There might be teams able to spend a lot more money than us and bring in quality from abroad and pay big wages, but our team spirit and togetherness will continue to try and keep us up there,” added Maddison.

“We are not up there by a fluke, we are up there because we work hard. People might talk about Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham or whatever but let them talk. We will do our business in the background and hopefully come the end of the season it will give us a chance of being right up there.”

SPORTS 11 india hailed as ‘immortals’, Australia under fire after gabba stunner BRISBANE AGENCIES

India’s cricketers were hailed as “immortals” on Wednesday following their record-breaking win in Brisbane, but some former greats called for chastened Australia to make changes.

India thrillingly achieved their 328 target with just 18 balls left on the final day to win the four-Test series 2-1, the highest successful run chase at Australia’s “Fortress Gabba”, where the hosts had been unbeaten for 32 years.

“It was the day when The Irrepressibles became The Immortals,” declared News Corp’s veteran cricket writer Robert Craddock. “The day when Fortress Gabba was stormed by a group of cavalier raiders who kicked down the draw bridge, stole the crown jewels and raced off into the late afternoon sunshine towards hysterical fans who will cherish the memory forever.

“Take it all India. You deserve it.”

India’s refusal to play for a draw, which would have been enough for them to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, was lauded.

“The outcome was a revelation: Australia pressed for victory because they had to, India because they wanted to, and the result was a fitting climax to one of the most extraordinary series of all time,” wrote Gideon Haigh in The Australian newspaper.

‘HUGE FALLOUT’ Most were united in their praise of India, but there was also criticism of Australia.

“I think there’ll be a huge fallout from this,” said leg-spinning great Shane Warne, commentating on TV, noting that India had been without their entire frontline bowling attack through injury.

“There’s not too many times that you lose to the second or third side,” he said. “Tactics will come into question. Bowlers will come into question. People’s spots in the team will come into question.”

Mitchell Starc, who bowled 16 wicketless overs for 75 on the final day, came in for particular criticism after taking just 11 wickets in the series, with some saying captain Tim Paine had lost faith in the left-arm paceman.

“I know that your impact bowlers are meant to come in and have a little burst, but there just doesn’t seem to have been the trust that Mitchell Starc’s going to do the job,” said former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. Former Australian captain Mark Taylor said: “You can have Starc when he’s bowling at his best, but I think we need some subtlety in our bowling. “We need someone who can swing the ball a bit, someone who can ask questions around lbw or bowled, not always looking to bounce batsmen out or get them caught behind,” Taylor said.

Australia should look to bowlers such as the South Australian fast-medium pair Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall, who would add something different to the current threepronged pace attack, said Taylor.

“There’s a lot of talk about Australia not being aggressive enough, but I don’t agree with that,” Taylor said. “I think we need to find some subtlety in our bowling attack.”

Some said that Australia should be thanking India for their skill and courage in coming to play the series at all during a global coronavirus pandemic.

“We might not be thanking you in five years when you’re still whisking away matches from under our noses, but thanks for now, and take a bow,” said the Sydney Morning Herald’s Greg Baum. “By series end, few Australians would have begrudged you whatever spoils you took home.“

Two more Australian Open players test positive for Covid-19 MELBOURNE AGENCIES

Two more Australian Open players tested positive for Covid-19, an official said on Wednesday, as the government confirmed it would send the quarantine bill for the tournament to Tennis Australia’s desk.

Victoria state police minister Lisa Neville said two players and a non-playing Australian Open participant comprised three new infections reported on Wednesday. A total of 10 people associated with the Grand Slam, including four players, have now tested positive for the virus.

There has been confusion over the exact numbers, with several test results

later reclassified by authorities as “viral shedding” from previous infections.

The viral shedders are not contagious.

Neville said authorities were “very confident” one of the two new player infections was a case of viral shedding.

“Of the other two, it’s less clear that they’re shedding. That will be worked through, and that’s one player and one support person,” Neville told reporters.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said two players reported to have tested positive on Tuesday were also viral shedders. More than 70 players and their entourage are confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days and unable to train for the February 8-21 Australian Open after

CMYK

passengers on three charter flights returned positive tests.

Authorities have shelled out huge funds to fly over 1,200 players, coaches and officials on 17 charter flights to Australia to put on the year’s first Grand Slam.

Tennis Australia (TA) boss Tiley told radio station 3AW quarantine costs may exceed A$40 million, part of which would be covered by the state government of Victoria.

The huge expense and effort to fly in the players during the pandemic has angered some Australians, with thousands of the country’s citizens stranded overseas due to travel restrictions.

Neville was adamant taxpayers would not be footing the bill for the quarantine

costs, prompting TA to row back and issue a statement saying tournament organisers would pick up the tab.

A number of players have complained about the hard quarantine, raising concerns they may be at a disadvantage to betterprepared rivals.

Daniel Vallverdu, coach of three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, said organisers needed to give preferential treatment to players unable to train for two weeks.

Kazakh women’s world number 28 Yulia Putintseva complained again of mice in her quarantine hotel room. Police minister Neville promised more pest control but urged players not to feed the rodents.

Thursday, 21 January, 2021

NEWS

Talks wiTh Two firms To geT Covid-19 vaCCine in advanCe sTage: dr faisal ISLAMABAD

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TLTP

EITERATING that Covid-19 vaccine will be provided to the people free of cost, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Wednesday said that Pakistan is in advanced level talks with two manufacturers to procure the Covid-19 vaccine.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Faisal said that the two companies are Sinopharm and CanSino. He said that Sinopharm is being used in several countries, and its efficacy is around 80-85 per cent. Meanwhile, CanSino’s Phase-III trails are being conducted in Pakistan, and they are expected to conclude soon, the special assistant said, noting that the results of the vaccine would be available soon.

As many as 17,500 took part in the vaccine trials. The trials in three out of five centres have concluded, while they are near completion in two centres, he said. The statistical analysis of the vaccine has begun and we expect the results at the beginning of February, he said, adding that Pakistan is entitled to 20 million doses on the condition that the vaccine is effective.

Moreover, through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX Facility, Pakistan is expected to get free vaccines for 20 per cent of the country’s population.

To ensure that Pakistan can avail the doses through COVAX, there is a need for government-level talks; and our officials have been in contact with the Chinese officials, said Dr Sultan. “Today, we also met the UK’s ambassador and I assure you that we will announce a positive outcome soon,” he said.

CORONAVIRUS CLAIMS 48 MORE LIVES; 199 SINDH COPS INFECTED IN 4 DAYS Speaking of the current status of procurement, the special assistant said that in the first quarter (January-March), the government will be able to procure one million vaccine doses. “We believe that we will be able to obtain more doses in the future,” he said.

Talking statistics, he said that the country’s population is 220 million, while the people under 18 are approximately 120 million. “The vaccine is approved for the adult population and if we can inoculate 70% of our population, I expect the country to achieve immunity.”

The technical committee that was tasked to review the coronavirus vaccine candidates has to look at several aspects before opting for one, Dr Sultan said. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved AstraZeneca and Sinopharm’s vaccines in the last few days, he said.

He said that Pakistan would distribute the vaccine through the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), and the country is capable of inoculating its entire population, he said. To streamline the process, the government has developed a software to track it. “As many as 400,000 health workers have registered in the resource management system. The training includes thousands of people — frontline health workers, technical staff, logistics, and waste management,” he added.

Speaking further on inoculation phases, he said that frontline health care workers would be the first to receive the vaccine. In the next phase, the rest of the

health care workers and people over 65years of age will receive shots. Then, people above 60 and the population above 18 will be inoculated.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 48 more lives in the last 24 hours, surging the overall death toll to 11,103, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.

According to the NCOC, 1,772 fresh infections were reported on Tuesday and the national tally of cases currently stands at 524,783. As many as 2,046 patients recovered from the virus in a day, while 2,368 patients were stated to be in

critical condition. Overall, 478,517 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far and the total count of active cases is 35,163. A total of 39,604 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, while 7,481,688 samples have been tested so far.

Punjab’s Covid-19 tally jumped to 150,889 after health authorities reported 573 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. The virus claimed 16 lives, taking the province’s death toll to 4,476.

Sindh reported 1,162 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 238,470. According to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, 13 more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the toll surged to 3,843. He further said that 1,044 more patients recovered overnight, taking the total to 216,145.

India starts Covid-19 vaccine shipments to neighbours, barring Pakistan and China India started delivering coronavirus vaccines to its neighbours on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said, flagging off a drive to garner goodwill in an often fractious region with the first shipment sent to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Bangladesh and Nepal said they expected deliveries on Thursday. The only neighbour absent from India’s list apart from China, is Pakistan, which had not requested assistance, according to an Indian government official. Many low and middle-income countries are relying on India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, for supplies to start Covid-19 immunisation programmes and bring an end to their outbreaks. “The Pharmacy of the World will deliver to overcome the Covid challenge,” Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on Twitter, adding the first vaccine lots had reached Bhutan and the Maldives. His ministry said on Tuesday “supplies under grant assistance” would be shipped to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and the Seychelles also. Shipments to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius were awaiting regulatory clearances. India authorised two vaccines this month for emergency use at home, one licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca and another developed at home by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research. AGENCIES

Pakistan among nations needing food assistance amid Covid-19: UN LAHORE STAFF REPORT

United Nations agencies are warning that more than 350 million people in the Asia-Pacific region, including in Pakistan, are going hungry as the coronavirus pandemic destroys jobs and pushes food prices higher.

The report issued Wednesday by four agencies says the pandemic is making it difficult for 1.9 billion people to afford healthy diets. It follows an earlier report that forecast that in a worst-case scenario that 828 million people might suffer from acute hunger because of the crisis.

The latest estimate is that nearly 688 million people globally are undernourished, more than half of them in Asia. The largest share is in South Asian countries like Afghanistan, where four in 10 people are malnourished.

The report said that five of the 45 countries requiring food assistance were in South, Southeast or East Asia.

They include Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea and Myanmar.

Over the longer term, food insecurity had been improving before the pandemic hit. The report urged governments to transform food systems to ensure all are able to have nutritious diets. It called for a multidimensional approach ensuring better health care, water and sanitation, education and social protections.

The report is mostly based on data up to 2019 before

THE REPORT SAYS THE PANDEMIC IS MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR 1.9 BILLION PEOPLE TO AFFORD HEALTHY DIETS the pandemic struck. But it also estimates that an additional 140 million people were likely to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020 due to the impact of virus outbreaks and lockdowns. By the end of last year, some 265 million were estimated to be facing acute food insecurity.

A key factor is food affordability, a problem in wealthy nations like Japan as well as impoverished places like East Timor and Papua New Guinea, said the report issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Disruptions and job losses due to the pandemic are preventing families from getting enough to eat in many places. That’s evident in the long lines seen at food banks even in the United States.

In India, broken supply chains and transport problems, especially during pandemic lockdowns, have prevented surplus grain stocks from reaching all those in need. Day laborers and migrants are the most vulnerable, despite a massive public distribution system that entitles

75% of the rural population and half of those living in cities to subsidised food grains.

Since eligibility for such programs is based on a census that is nearly a decade old, many urban poor and migrants cannot tap those resources.

Across Asia, high prices for fruits, vegetables and dairy products have made it “nearly impossible” for lowincome families to have healthy diets, the report said.

FAO data show food prices rose to their highest level in nearly six years in November.

Many in the region instead end up consuming highcalorie, cheap processed foods that contribute to problems with obesity and diabetes but lack vitamins and minerals.

Data in the report show that it is more expensive to eat a healthy diet in Thailand, Laos, Bhutan and Indonesia, at about $5 per day, than it is in New Zealand and Australia, at less than $3 per day.

A nutritionally adequate diet tends to cost $2 to $3 per day in most countries, rich or poor, but is more expensive in Japan and South Korea. In most countries, the cost of a nutritious diet is two to three times that for a one just sufficient to provide enough energy.

The cost of long-term deprivation is seen in higher rates of death and illness. Tens of millions of children suffer from wasting or stunting, failing to grow well and unable to achieve their full potential.

Pakistan successfully test-fires shaheen-iii missile THE MISSILE IS CAPABLE OF CARRYING NUCLEAR AND CONVENTIONAL WARHEADS TO A RANGE OF 2,750 KILOMETRES RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

Pakistan conducted a successful test launch of Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the missile is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 2,750 kilometres. The statement further added that the test flight was aimed at the revalidating of various design and technical parameters of the weapon system. The successful flight test, with its impact point in the Arabian Sea, was witnessed by Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCS) Chairman General Nadeem Raza, Strategic Plans Division director general (DG), Army Strategic Forces commander, National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) chairman and the scientists and engineers. President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, and services chiefs have congratulated scientists and engineers.

heC says ms, mPhil not necessary for Phd The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) has announced new policies for PhD admissions, wherein the chairman said that the condition of having an MS or MPhil degree for admission to PhD has been abolished. He further said that an individual with 16 years of education or BSc can directly enroll in a doctorate programme. “The earlier BA or BSc degree is now known as the Associate Degree, which is an alternative for the former two programmes,” HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri said during a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday. The 12-page HEC policy document, applicable from January 1, 2021, reads that a BS degree, or equivalent, will be the minimum criteria for PhD admission. “We had received a lot of complaints regarding the PhD programme, but now universities will have to strictly follow the rules of the doctorate programmes.” According to the policy, the maximum duration of a PhD degree will be eight years, with the minimum being three years.

Furthermore, a student pursuing a PhD will have to take up a course load of 48 credit hours. Banuri observed that graduates often face difficulties in finding employment, and he believed this was due to the lack of practical experience within the degree programmes. He said that the curriculum has been revised include the practical components. He maintained that the institutions must educate the students about entrepreneurship and practical work.

“Courses related to social sciences will be included in every degree programme,” he added. AGENCIES

Biden’s top diplomat aims to revitalise alliances, US leadership WASHINGTON AGENCIES

US President Joe Biden’s nominee to be secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday that he will work to revitalize damaged American diplomacy and build a united front to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China, and Iran.

At his confirmation hearing a day before Democrat Biden took over from Republican Donald Trump, whose tenure was marked by unilateral action that often upset traditional US friends, Blinken said he would work with allies and with humility.

“We do have a big task ahead of us in restoring, revitalising those relationships. I do think it starts [...] with showing up again,” said Blinken. “Some of our allies and partners question the sustainability of our commitments based on the past few years and that’s going to be a hard hill to climb.”

'WE DO HAVE A BIG TASK AHEAD OF US IN RESTORING, REVITALISING THOSE RELATIONSHIPS. I DO THINK IT STARTS [...] WITH SHOWING UP AGAIN’ Blinken, 58, a veteran foreign policy hand and close Biden confidant, said he believed US leadership was vital, but should also benefit those at home.

“If we want to have [American people’s] support for American leadership, American engagement in the world, we have to demonstrate that it is actually making an improvement in their lives or preventing something,” he said.

There has been no indication that Blinken would face difficulty being confirmed by the Senate. Throughout the hearing, he received bipartisan praise from the senators.

At the end of the 4-1/2-hour hearing, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the committee’s incoming chairman, said he hoped the Senate would confirm Blinken as quickly as possible. Republican Senator Jim Risch, the outgoing chairman, also praised him.

Menendez called Blinken’s testimony a “tour de force.”

Blinken testified at the Capitol complex two weeks after the building representing American democracy was stormed by thousands of members of a pro-Trump mob seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. The unprecedented attack stunned the world, further bruised the reputation of the United

States, and gave ammunition to its adversaries.

Blinken said there was a need to reinforce democracy at home. “Humility because we have a great deal of work to do at home to enhance our standing abroad,” he said.

His approach was a stark contrast to outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s campaign to get back “the swagger” of the State Department.

CHINA CHALLENGE: Biden takes on a much different world from the one he left four years ago as President Barack Obama’s vice president. China has a larger global role, from multilateral institutions to assisting development in Africa and Latin America. Ties between Washington and Beijing have sunk to their worst in decades.

Blinken said there was “no doubt” China posed the most significant challenge to Washington of any nation.

He said he believed Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China - even if

he did not agree with all his methods - and endorsed the Trump administration’s assessment on Tuesday that the Chinese Communist Party was committing genocide against Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

The challenge posed by Russia, which has been accused of interference in 2016 US elections and a broad cyber attack on the US government last year, was very high on the Biden administration’s agenda, Blinken said.

He said the Biden administration intends to review the US approach and policy toward North Korea and consult closely with allies on how to get Pyongyang back to negotiations aimed at convincing it to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

On Iran, Blinken said the United States was “a long way” from rejoining a 2015 nuclear pact in which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions.

Trump quit the deal in 2018, saying it did not go far enough.

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