EpaperISB_21-03-08

Monday, 8 March, 2021 I 23 Rajab, 1442 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XI No 249 I 48 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Govt, opp lobby for Senate chairman election g

Ruling coalition seeKs anp's suppoRt while ppp appRoaches pml-Q

One dead, 30 injured as Lahore-bound train derails near Rohri g photo: zubair mehfooz

ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

i

n a new twist to the election for chairman of senate of pakistan, the ruling pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (pti) and balochistan awami party (bap) have sought support from the awami national party (anp) which is a part of the opposition alliance – pakistan democratic movement (pdm), while the pakistan people's party (ppp) reached out to pakistan muslim league-Quaid (pml-Q) leadership to seek support for the election of senate chairman. defence minister pervez Khattak on sunday visited the anp headquarters to gather support for the upcoming election of the senate chairman wherein the ruling pti has put forth sadiq sanjarani. the pti delegation, including Khattak and sanjarani, met anp's central senior vice president amir haider Khan hoti at wali bagh in peshawar. the anp leaders present on the occasion included iftikhar hussain, aimal wali Khan, party's newly elected senator arbab umar farooq also attended the meeting, mpa shakeel bashir Khan umarzai, and minister from balochistan zamrak Khan achakzai. according to the sources, the pti delegation requested the anp, which has two

members in the senate, to support its candidates in the election of the senate chairman and its deputy. amir haider Khan thanked the delegation for coming and conceded that while the anp is part of the pdm, all decisions in the party are made through consultation. "we will also consult the party about your request." he said that resolving political issues through political means is in the interest of the country and the nation. though the anp is a part of the opposition alliance, it is a part of the provincial government in balochistan where the pti and bap are its coalition partners. the sources said that the pti and bap had facilitated the win of the anp senator from balochistan in recent senate elections. now both the partners are seeking anp’s support for the senate chairman who is a staunch supporter of the anp. on the other hand, after the victory of the unanimous candidate of the opposition parties in the senate, yousaf Raza gillani in the senate election, the pdm has intensified a campaign to win the slots of chairman and deputy chairman of the senate. according to details, the pdm leadership has started a consultation in this regard and pakistan people's party (ppp)

coronaviruS in

pakiStan

CONFIRMED CASES:

590,508

chairman bilawal bhutto-zardari also met with pakistan muslim league-nawaz (pmln) vice president maryam nawaz and discussed important matters. bilawal also visited pml-Q leadership at the residence of the chaudhry brothers in lahore on sunday. he inquired about the health of pml-Q president chaudhry shujaat hussain and discussed the political situation with the chaudhry brothers. Reportedly, the pml-Q chief refused to support pdm candidate as the party had already assured pti of their support for sanjrani. punjab assembly speaker chaudhry pervaiz elahi, pml-Q leaders tariq bashir cheema, moonis elahi, salik hussain, hussain elahi from the pml-Q and ppp punjab president Qamar zaman Kaira and another party activist Jamil soomro were also present. the elections for the post of senate chairman will be held on march 12 after the completion of sanjrani's - incumbent senate chairman - three-year tenure. prime minister imran had endorsed sadiq, incumbent senate chairman, for a second term at the top senate post, minister for information shibli faraz announced on thursday earlier this week.

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Railways ministeR vows steRn action against those Responsible ROHRI staff report

at least a woman was killed and 30 others were injured when Karachi express met with an accident near Rohri in sunday’s wee hours. the train was en route to lahore from Karachi when it met with an accident between Rohri and panu aqil. the deceased woman has been identified as a resident of landhi in Karachi, sukkur commissioner shafiq ahmed mahesar confirmed to the media. he added that 15 of the injured passengers had been discharged from the taluka hospital in Rohri. the deceased victim’s family members have been provided a compensation of Rs1 million by railway authorities while the others injured will be provided between Rs100,000-500,000. a 200-foot section was missing which will have to be re-laid, it emerged.

Rescue team and soldiers of pakistan army reached the place

3 TTP commanders among 4 terrorists killed in Waziristan operations g

ispR says secuRity foRces conducted two sepaRate ibos on teRRoRist hideouts in datta Khel, noRth waziRistan, and zoida, south waziRistan RAWALPINDI staff report

LAST UPDATED AT 8:18 AM ON MARCH 7, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

39

1,780

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

559,248 13,205 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

259,666

177,008

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

73,708

10,534/4,957

19,114

45,519

the security forces killed four terrorists, including three tehreek-etaliban (ttp) commanders, in two separate intelligence-based operations (ibos) in waziristan districts, said the inter-services public Relations (ispR) on sunday. according to details, the security forces conducted two separate ibos on terrorist hideouts in datta Khel, north waziristan, and zoida, south waziristan, said the ispR in a press release. during the intense exchange of fire, four terrorists including terrorist commanders abdul adam zeb alias dung (ttp bismillah group), terrorist commander molvi mehboob alias molvi (ttp sajna group) and terrorist commander mir salam alias anas (ttp sajna group) were killed, said the ispR. terrorist commander abdul adam zeb had remained involved in more than 20 terrorist activities against security forces, law enforcement agencies and local population since 2014, in-

of incident. as per Railways inspector general (ig), officials are working to open the track for trains. the officials said that unfortunate accident was caused because coupler failure. the officials added that people have been reduced and work in underway to clear the tracks.

“Railways staff have temporarily cleared the down track and train operations have resumed on it. now, work is being done on the up track. it can take several hours,” an official said. speaking to a local news station, Railways minister muhammad azam Khan swati said that a meeting has been called to discuss track up-gradation in sukkur. “we will not compromise on the safety and security of passengers.” he has instructed an inquiry report of the incident to be prepared which will come out in four to five days. “anyone found guilty will not be spared and action will be initiated against them,” swati promised.

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more inside

Third wave feared as coronavirus cases surge STORY ON BACK PAGE

mnas were forced to vote for pm imran, claims maryam

STORY ON PAGE 02

Bilawal meets Hamza, says people are with opposition

STORY ON PAGE 02 cluding ied attacks, firing, attacks on government buildings, target killing, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and recruiting & organising terrorists in muhammad Khel, boya and datakhel areas of north waziristan and zoida areas of south waziristan, said the ispR. terrorist commanders molvi mehboob and mir salam were close associates of baitullah mehsud and other ttp's terrorist commanders. they remained

involved in the attacks on security forces and leas’ check posts, military convoys, attack on ladha fort in 2007, ied attacks and other sabotage activities in south waziristan, said the ispR. earlier on saturday, the security forces killed eight terrorists, including three ttp commanders, in two separate ibos in north waziristan, said the ispR.

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in today’s issue

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02

Monday, 8 March, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

BiLAwAL Meets HAMzA, sAys PeoPLe ARe witH oPPositioN

P

NEWS DESK

AKISTAN People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari claimed on Sunday that the president has accepted the opposition’s stance, referring to the presidential order wherein Prime Minister Imran Khan had to take a vote of confidence in the National Assembly (NA).

The above was said by the PPP chairman while talking to media persons outside the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz where the two had had a meeting earlier today.

Bilawal said: “We just contested a senate election [but] the president of Pakistan has accepted that Khan Sahib has lost his majority and he asked him to prove his majority in the national assembly.”

A day earlier, the prime minister had secured 178 votes. His party has 157 members in the House. The breakdown suggested some 155 Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) members of parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the prime minister.

In a charged speech following the trust motion, Imran had said his government was “doing things” to bring about substantial improvements in the country’s electoral system.

The government, he had said, was engaged with Pakistan nationals abroad to let them vote electronically in elections. He had also announced to introduce “electronic machines […] so that the contestant who

Rasheed favours talks with opposition for country's progress NEWS DESK Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said the dialogue process with opponents should continue as sorting out differences is vital for the country's progress. Talking to a private news channel, the minister strongly condemned the incident in which the opposition leaders were manhandled and said he would take action if any complaint is lodged in that regard. The minister said that when he was asked to comment on Saturday's incident when Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and also leaders, came to blows outside the parliament. "This should not have happened.

If anyone sends a [formal] complaint to me, I will take action on it," he said. "I do not know what happened hence I don't want to speak much on it. If someone was mistreated, it should not have happened," added the minister. When told that the women politician was kicked outside the parliament, he said, "This is a big injustice and I condemn it. I condemn it," said the minister. He said that Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will continue to perform his duties as minister of finance.

Rashid said that huge money was used in the Senate election to buy votes to get Yousaf Raza Gillani elected as senator against Shaikh. He hoped that the incumbent Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will again clinch the top slot with a clear majority.

NA speaker regrets attack on PML-N leaders; assures probe QAISER SAYS POLITICAL LEADERS WILL HAVE TO PLAY THEIR ROLE TO CURB SUCH INCIDENTS NEWS DESK National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser has emphasised the need for promoting the culture of patience and tolerance in politics. In a statement on Sunday, the speaker regretted the unpleasant incident that took place on Saturday with the parliamentarians outside the Parliament Lodges. He assured to hold an inquiry into the incident. He, however, said that the political leadership will have to play its role to curb such incidents. The speaker said that the members of parliament are elected representatives and everybody must respect them. Earlier on Saturday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz condemned the attack on her party's Ahsan Iqbal and Marriyum Aurangzeb at Islamabad's D-Chowk and described this as “state-sponsored fascism.” She said, "Changing decisions through intimidation won't serve any purpose.” The leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 11 opposition parties, announced its decision to move a no-confidence motion against the NA speaker.

loses, accepts defeat gracefully.”

However, Bilawal maintained on Sunday that the victories of the parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in the by-elections “means that the people are with the opposition parties”.

The opposition parties have now started their campaign for Senate chairmanship. They have not formally announced the name of their candidate but it is believed that Gillani will contest the election as the PDM candidate.

“We have learned a lot from the past senate chairman election,” said Bilawal. “Had we not learned anything, we would have lost the secret ballot election in the National Assembly.”

Hamza Shehbaz, who was released from jail on bail last month, said that the objectives of the PDM weren’t limited to a long march or a no-confidence motion in the short term.

He said, it aimed to correct “the destruction caused in this country in these [past] three years”.

The leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly pointed out the state of the economy, crop production of cotton, wheat and sugarcane was at its lowest point, there was a shortage of medicine, and there were mounds of trash all over the roads.

He lamented, however, that in the last three years a culture of “rowdiness, cursing and misbehaviour” had become prevalent, citing noisy parliament sessions and yesterday’s incident outside the parliament where PMLN leaders were allegedly manhandled by PTI supporters.

“These things are not good for democracy and Pakistan,” the PML-N leader said.

Bilawal met Hamza to discuss the PDM’s long march and other political developments.

During their meeting, the two exchanged views on the existing political situation, and the PPP chief congratulated the PML-N leader on the victory of PDM

candidate Gillani in the March 3 Senate elections, according to the PPP. PPP leader had been accompanied by senior members of the party including Yousaf Raza Gillani and Qamar Zaman Kaira.

This is the first time the two leaders have met ever since Hamza’s release from jail.

MNAs were forced to vote for PM Imran, claims Maryam NEWS DESK Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has claimed that the members of National Assembly (MNAs) who gave their support to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the recent vote of confidence were forced to do so.

The PML-N VP maintained that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers had voted against party lines and in favour of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate, Yousuf Raza Gillani, in the Islamabad general Senate seat election, but were then seen “all of a sudden” voting for the prime minister two days later.

“What prompted such a thing, that they changed their decision?” she asked, before answering her own query, saying: “The decision did not change [on its own]. It was forcibly changed.”

Addressing a press conference after a party meeting attended by all senior PML-N leaders, Maryam claimed that government lawmakers were “in touch” with her party and alleged that the agencies had “made people disappear” on behalf of the prime minister ahead of Saturday’s trust vote.

PML-N VP ALLEGES AGENCIES HAD 'MADE PEOPLE DISAPPEAR' AHEAD OF THE CONFIDENCE VOTE “It has come to our personal knowledge that two MNAs who were not ready to vote for [the prime minister] until the last moment were taken to the compound of an institution in Golra (near Islamabad), kept locked up in a container there for four hours and were forced by personnel of agencies to vote in favour of Imran Khan,” she claimed.

“The entire night you kept a watch on your MNAs with drone cameras,” she alleged.

The PML-N alleged that the prime minister “knows that if he did not do any of this, he would not have won”.

However, the PML-N VP did not identify her source or provide any evidence to back up these bold claims.

Referring to the incident from a day prior where PTI and PML-N members exchanged hot words that escalated to heated blows outside the parliament, Maryam maintained that such disrespect against the party’s senior leaders would not be tolerated by the

PML-N. “You can keep this lecture you like to give us on ethics and morality to yourselves,” she said addressing the government.

“You will have to pay a heavy price for this. If you slap us twice, we will slap you ten times,” she added.

The members of the party that had been caught up in the incident included Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Khurram Dastagir and Musadik Malik.

Maryam pointed out that the incident took place “in front of cameras” and said there was “great anger” within the party ranks over the matter.

“The political landscape that has developed since the prime minister took his fake trust vote was discussed in great detail, as was the chairman Senate polls,” she said.

The PML-N VP also revealed that the party members during Sunday’s

meeting had agreed with consensus to field former finance minister Miftah Ismail as the party’s candidate for the NA-249 Karachi by-election.

The seat fell vacant after PTI lawmaker Faisal Vawda resigned from the lower house following his election as a senator.

The opposition parties a day earlier had rejected the parliamentary vote of confidence, which Prime Minister Imran won with a comfortable majority, securing the trust of 178 MPs from members of his own party and his allies in the 342-seat NA. During the Sukkur press conference yesterday, Maryam had claimed those who had “saved” Imran in the vote of confidence had openly come out in front of the public.

She had said that for her, the decision was taken on March 3 when Yousaf Raza Gillani defeated PTI’s Abdul Hafeez Shaikh for a seat in the Senate. The votes the government received, she had further claimed, have no standing since the MPs were forced to vote for the premier.

Maryam had attempted to draw similarities between the PTI campaign and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

First meeting of committee on reform in GB scheduled after expiry of timeframe ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

While the timeframe given for proposing reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has expired, the committee constituted by Prime Minister Imran Khan for making recommendations regarding granting provisional provincial status to GB has scheduled its first meeting on March 11, 2021.

The prime minister, following his announcement in Gilgit last year, had constituted a high-powered 12member committee to discuss the legal, historic and political aspects of granting provincial status to GB. Interestingly, the committee, despite its notification in December 2020, was yet to meet to discuss the issue despite the fact that it was given the time frame of 60 days.

According to an official, the committee would now meet on Thursday to discuss the issue. It would be the first ever meeting of the committee since its formation.

“The Prime Minister of Pakistan has been pleased to constitute the committee to work on mainstreaming provisional provincial status of Gilgit-Baltistan,” the notification said.

The committee, headed by Minister for Kashmir

Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, would comprise federal minister for law & justice, GB chief minister, the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary, Ministry of Defence secretary, Ministry of Finance secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs secretary, Ministry of Kashmir Affairs member, GB chief secretary, co-opted members from National Security Institutions, and GB Council joint secretary.

As per the notification, Terms of Reference (ToRs) have also been set for the committee, under which it would prepare a report regarding giving provisional provincial status to GB in light of United Nations resolutions on Kashmir.

The committee would also keep in view the country’s principled stance on Kashmir and the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan’s decision on GB reforms while giving its recommendation.

According to sources, the committee would also consider the historic documents and findings of previous committees and forums on matters.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) would also pass a unanimous resolution soon demanding an early granting of provisional provincial status, a longstanding demand of the people of the area.

PM Imran, during his last visit to Gilgit, had also said that it was the government’s top priority to grant the provisional provincial status to GB as promised earlier.

It is noteworthy that a high-powered committee formed by the previous government had already worked on the subject for two years, the opposition pointed out.

Earlier, Gandapur had claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was going to give provisional provincial status to GB as per the demand of the people.

He had said that his government has consulted the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government, Hurriyat leadership, international experts, and all other stakeholders on whether or not giving provisional provincial status to GB will adversely affect Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir.

He had added that the unanimous view on the matter is that giving provisional provincial status to GB will not have negative consequences.

Furthermore, the minister had said that opposition was partaking in dirty politics over this matter as it will require a constitutional amendment, which needs twothird support of the parliament and it is not possible without the cooperation of the opposition.

Monday, 8 March, 2021

ISLAMABAD

MaSSeS SuPPORt PtI IN StRuGGle tO uPHOld deMOCRatIC NORMS: FaRaz ISLAMABAD

F

APP

EDERAL Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday said Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) believed in democratic norms and fighting for upholding democratic principles as well as ethical values.

People acknowledge the endeavours of the incumbent government and supported Prime Minister Imran Khan in this struggle, the minister said while addressing a press conference in the federal capital.

He said that Prime Minister Imran believed in the politics of principles and decided to get a fresh vote of confidence though legally there was no need for it. The National Assembly (NA) reposed confidence in the leadership of PM Imran with even more votes than the votes in 2018, he stated.

Faraz went on to remake that a wave of jubilance and celebration was witnessed not only inside Pakistan but also thousands of felicitation messages were received from abroad after he secured the trust vote.

He maintained PM Imran’s victory in the vote of confidence has given a new spirit to people who understood that the designs of dark forces were defeated.

The minister said that opposition parties, especially the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), believed in politics of self-interest, bullying and sale and purchase of loyalties and they had damaged the entire social, economic and political system during the past four decades.

He said that some of the opposition leaders entered into politics in 1985 party-less elections and introduced the culture of bribery and horse trading to come to power. Faraz said that due to the political approach of the past rulers the country faced severe challenges which added in the sufferings of masses whereas they

Navy official martyred, 2 injured in Jiwani ambush One official of the Pakistan Navy embraced martyrdom and two others got injured when gunmen ambushed their vehicle in the coastal town of Jiwani, officials said on Sunday. The Pakistan Navy vehicle came under attack Saturday evening while travelling from Jiwani to the Ganz area, said Balochistan Finance Minister Zahoor Buledi. The insurgent group Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Two intelligence officials confirmed the minister’s account, saying unidentified attackers opened fire with automatic weapons on the vehicle, which was also carrying Quick Response Force troops.

The attack came a day after five labourers were killed and five others, including two security personnel, were wounded when a roadside bomb went off between the towns of Sibi and Harnai in the same province. A sailor was fatally shot while a barber and another sailor were critically wounded during an exchange of fire with the attackers. Balochistan Liberation Army spokesman, Azad Baloch, in a message to reporters, said that the group killed four Navy officers and wounded two others.

Buledi, the provincial minister, condemned the attack, saying the insurgents are trying to demoralise the security forces operating against them. Soon after the incident, security forces rushed to the scene and surrounded the area to try and locate the attackers. Local officials said the body of the sailor and the wounded were shifted to the town hospital and there they were moved to Karachi. NEWS DESK

Blast leaves four children injured in Ghotki Four children got injured in an explosion outside the office of the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Ghotki’s Ubauro on Sunday.

According to the police, the children were playing with a box when the blast took place.

They were initially rushed to Tehsil Hospital, Ubauro from where they were shifted to a Rahim Yar Khan hospital. On getting information, police and Rangers personnel reached the site of the blast and cordoned it off.

A bomb disposal squad has also been called in.

The intensity of the blast has not yet been determined. The senior superintendent of police (SSP) confirmed the incident and said they are determining how the children got their hands on the explosive material. The children had been shifted to the Rahim Yar Khan hospital, he said and added an investigation team has been formed to look into the blast. Meanwhile, Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar took notice of the incident and sought a report in this regard from the Ghotki SSP. NEWS DESK

FARAZ SAYS NA REPOSED CONFIDENCE IN LEADERSHIP OF PM IMRAN WITH EVEN MORE VOTES THAN 2018 ELECTION plundered national wealth and built properties not only inside Pakistan but in Europe and other parts of the world.

They turned politics into business and used it for self-interest and not for the interest of the country, said the minister.

He maintained that the PTI has gradually emerged on the political horizon of the country and in the 2013 election it formed government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), adding that due to its good performance, people showed their confidence in it and PTI came into power in 2018 with masses’ support.

Now, after the Senate election, it has become the single largest party in both the NA and Senate having representation in all four provinces as people have supported its ideology of ending the status quo.

He said that in last general elections people rejected the politics of self-interest and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have been confined to only one province each.

He said that the narrative of opposition parties has been changed with the situation and if they won the elections, they term it as free and fair elections. In the case of defeat, they started hue and cry by alleging rigged elections. The information minister vowed to continue to struggle against the elements which socially, economically and democratically damaged the country.

He said that the PDM candidate won the Senate elections from Islamabad not on merit but through unfair means for which they did not deserve any credit.

He also said that they want to come to power to

restart the ugly business of loot and plunder and wanted to get relief in corruption cases but they would not get it as Prime Minister Imran was a bold and upright person who would not make any compromise on principles.

He stressed PM Imran entered politics not for the sake of power but for serving the nation. He said that the PTI government took practical steps for bringing transparency in the electoral system so that people could be elected on merit and not through use of ill-gotten money.

On the economic front, Faraz said that the economy has been stabilised and its benefits would reach to poor soon. He said that the premier was giving special emphasis to check inflation and control prices of daily use commodities.

He also said that the targeted subsidy would be given to people on essential items including the power tariff, adding that universal insurance has been given to the entire population of the KP through the Insaf Sehat Card and the same would be replicated in Punjab.

Moreover, the dream of owning a personal home of the poor would be materialized under the new housing scheme launched by PTI. Replying to queries of media he said that Sadiq Sanjrani has been named as the PTI and its allied parties’ candidate for Senate chairman as the ruling alliance wanted to give Balochistan representation.

To a question, Faraz said that it became imperative to defeat opportunist opposition parties for the national interest.

Government may provide lucrative perks, privileges to Justice (r) Azmat Saeed ISLAMABAD AhmAD AhmADANi

The government is all set to provide salary and allowance to Justice (r) Sheikh Azmat Saeed, equivalent to what he was drawing before his retirement as judge of the Supreme Court (SC).

According to sources, the upcoming meeting of the federal cabinet may take final decision in this regard as Law and Justice Division, in a summary, has sought cabinet’s approval for provision of salary and allowance to Justice (r) Saeed, equivalent to what he was drawing before his retirement as judge of SC during the tenure of the Commission.

Sources said that Prime Minister Imran Khan, being in-charge of the Cabinet Division, has already given his go ahead to place the summary before the federal cabinet.

It is also learnt from the sources that head of Commission of Inquiry, Justice (r) Saeed had earlier expressed his inability to offer his services without salary and allowance and it is expected that the government will offer around Rs 1.5 million per month to the Justice (r) Saeed as his wage for his services.

THE GOVERNMENT IS EXPECTED TO OFFER A MONTHLY SALARY OF RS1.5 MILLION TO THE RETIRED JUDGE Though the Commission of Inquiry was mandated to submit final report within six weeks, yet this commission will take more time to finalise the report and submit it before the government, said sources.

Sources further informed that next meeting of the federal cabinet is scheduled to be held on March 9, 2021, and this meeting will take up 16 agenda items, including “Payment of salary and allowances to Member/Chairman, Commission of Inquiry on Broadsheet Award and other international cases”.

Earlier, a one-man Commission of inquiry on Broadsheet Award and other international cases, comprising of Justice (r) Saeed was constituted and notified on 29th January, 2021, under section 3 of the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act, 2017.

NEWS

03

SHO Imran killed in firing near Rawalpindi district courts RAWALPINDI APP

An Inspector of Punjab Police, Imran Abbas, was killed in an ambush near the district courts on Sunday.

Imran, who was serving as station house officer (SHO) at the Race Course police station, was travelling along with his family in a vehicle near the district courts, when two motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on him. He was rushed to the Fauji Foundation Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Regional Police Officer (RPO) Imran Ahmed and City Police Officer (CPO) Mohammad Ahsan Younas paid tribute to Imran and said the martyred police officer was a brave man, adding that the culprits behind his killing would be brought to justice. They also condoled with the family of the martyred and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace. Imran was initially recruited in the police as an ASI. He was only 10 years old and had three younger siblings when his father was martyred. He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Students witness military drill in Cholistan: ISPR RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

Over 500 students on Sunday spent a day with Bahawalpur Corps and witnessed ongoing military drills in the Cholistan Desert, named Zarb-e-Hadeed, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

According to the ISPR, the visit of the students was aimed at providing them with the information on the military's professional duties and capabilities. During the day spent with the armed forces, the children witnessed different drills of the military, besides also embarking on tanks, APCs and examining weaponry and war equipment. “The students also witnessed drills from the Air Force fighter pilots and use of multi-barrel rocket launchers,” said the ISPR statement. It said that the students from various colleges and schools were excited to witness the military exercise and lauded the services and passion of the armed forces. “The students also met with the corps commander Bahawalpur and lauded the professional capability of the armed forces,” the ISPR said. It is pertinent to mention here that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Friday visited the field training area in Cholistan Desert where he was briefed on exercise Zarb-e-Hadeed.

According to the ISPR, COAS Bajwa, who was received by Corps Commander Lieutenant General Khalid Zia, was briefed about the modalities of twoweek-long Corps level exercise Zarb-e-Hadeed. “The exercise was aimed at enhancing operational preparedness of formations by creating synergy among Infantry, Mechanized Forces, Combat Aviation, Surveillance platforms, Army Air Defence and Artillery while operating within the defensive Operation cycle of a Corps,” the army’s media wing said. “The troops and units participating in the exercise displayed a great degree of professionalism and synergy while conducting offensive and defensive manoeuvres in different phases of the exercise,” it added.

NAB chief orders fast progress on mega corruption cases NEWS DESK National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has directed the accountability watchdog’s officials to expedite progress in mega corruption cases.

In a directive issued to the NAB director generals, Justice (r) Iqbal said that the cases against big fish should be expedited. “Instead of presenting all witnesses before the courts, prime witnesses should be brought before the court for testimonies in order to ensure a speedy trial in high profile cases,” he said.

The chairman said that the NAB was committed to eliminating corruption from the country. “Mega corruption cases should be prepared on the basis of

concrete evidence,” he said.

In recent action, the NAB has sought the details of Sindh police officers’ bank accounts from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). NAB Karachi has asked the central bank to provide details of the bank accounts of 150 SHOs and other Sindh police officers, sources said.

According to NAB sources, the accountability bureau has asked the SBP to send the national identity card numbers of the officers to all banks to get their data. The accountability watchdog has also sought the date of opening accounts and details of lockers and deposits. NAB has demanded the bank record of the officers since 1985.

The bureau has also demanded details of the foreign

currency remittances from the exchange companies via the banks. The details should also be given if accounts were opened through a third person, the accountability bureau asked.

The list of the officers sent to the central bank included names of Dhani Bux Marri, Rao Zakir, Wilayat Shah, Rana Latif, Arshad Laghari, Sajjad Haider, Javed Sikandar, Jaffar Baloch, Mithal Shar, Pir Nasir, Fateh Mohammad Shaikh, Farooque Satti, Amjad Kiani, Faisal Khan, Mir Muhammad Lashari, Nawaz Gondal, Iqbal Tunio, Mairaj Anwar, Khalid Mehmood, Saima Saeed, Gulzar Tunio, Ahsanullah Marwat, Rao Dilshad, Farasat Shah, AD Chaudhry and Malik Faisal Latif, NAB sources said.

04

monday, 8 march, 2021

iSLamaBad

newS

SenaTe pollS: ppp, JUI-F FURIoUS oveR pMl-n CandIdaTe aFRIdI ISLAMABAD

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MiAN AbrAr

S the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered due to the defeat of Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the recently-held Senate elections, the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) allies are also furious over the loss of one candidate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Out of 12 seats in the KP Assembly, the ruling party of the province had won 10 seats while the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) and the Awami National Party (ANP) had

won one seat each. The PML-N had failed to win even a single seat in the KP as its candidate was defeated.

The Opposition could have easily managed to win three Senate seats in KP but it could only win two seats as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Abbas Afridi, had not withdrawn in favour of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and JUI-F candidates.

PTI’s Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Liaqat Tarakai, Faisal Saleem Rehman and Zeeshan Khanzada, JUI-F’s Maulana Attaur Rehman, and ANP’s Haji Hidayatullah Khan had won the general seats.

On the technocrat seats, PTI’s Dost Mohammad Mehsud and Humayun Mohmand had emerged winners by securing 59 and 49 votes respectively while Farhatullah Babar of the PPP, who was backed by the joint opposition, had lost the polls after securing 34 votes against the required 45.

PTI’s Sania Nishtar and Falak Naz Chitrali had won the women seats while Gurdeep Singh of the ruling party had claimed the minority seat by securing 103 votes.

PML-N’s Abbas Afridi and BAP’s Taj Mohammad Afridi had also lost in the elections of general seats.

The PTI has 94 members in the 145-seat KP Assembly followed by the JUI-F’s 15, ANP’s 12, PML-N’s seven, PPP’s five, BAP’s four and Pakistan Muslim League’s one.

According to a source in the PDM, differences between the opposition parties have intensified following the results of the Senate elections from KP and the leadership of

the PPP and JUI-F have conveyed their reservations to the PML-N leadership.

“Both parties are angry over the loss of a Senate seat in the province, where the vote bank of the PDM candidates was affected due to a PML-N candidate,” the source said and added that both the parties have informed the PML-N leaders of their concerns over the Senate elections.

Court records statements of five witnesses in motorway gang-rape case LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has recorded the statements of five more prosecution witnesses in the Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape case.

ATC Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta conducted a hearing of the case at Camp Jail, where the jail authorities produced the prime accused Abid Malhi and co-accused Shafqat Ali. The court recorded the statements of two forensic experts, two judicial magistrates, and a police sub-inspector while the defence counsel also completed the cross-examination of four witnesses during the proceedings. Deputy Prosecutor Generals Hafiz Asghar and Waqar Bhatti represented the prosecution whereas advocates Sher Gull Qureshi and Qasim Arain appeared on behalf of the accused. The court later adjourned further proceedings till Monday (today). The court had earlier recorded the statements of 23 prosecution witnesses after the accused had denied the charges of being indicted. The Gujjarpura police station had filed a challan against the accused, wherein they were declared guilty. The police had requested the court to award strict punishment to the accused as sufficient evidence was available against them. APP

Two sisters killed by cousins over marriage feud, culprits held NANKANA SAHIB: Two teenage sisters were strangled to death by their cousins for rejecting their wedding proposals on Sunday. According to details, accused Waqas and Ishtiaq wanted to marry their cousins, Sajjal 17, and Hijab 14, hailing from village Ruriana, Sangla Hill. However, the two sisters rejected the wedding proposals of their cousins over age differences. Annoyed over the situation, the culprits barged into the residence of their cousins, killed both the girls and fled the scene. The bodies were shifted to a nearby hospital, where those were handed over to the heirs after legal formalities. The police arrested both the culprits and started an investigation after registering a case against them. According to information, the culprits have admitted the crime. iNP

Two die, 35 injured in Renala Khurd bus crash ISLAMABAD: Two people were killed and 35 injured when an overspeeding bus overturned in Renala Khurd on Sunday. The bus was going from Lahore to Khanewal. A TV channel reported that a bus gunman, a conductor and one identified as Ghulam Rasool, a resident of Kabirwala, were among the dead. The driver of the bus managed to escape from the scene while the Rescue 1122 teams provided first-aid and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital. iNP

Youth killed, another injured as car falls in gorge BALAKOT: One youth was killed and another critically injured when a car fell into a gorge on Saturday night. According to details, two youth, hailing from Balakot, were on their way to home from Abbottabad when their car skidded off a road and plunged into a ravine near Dhaman Sharif area of district Mansehra One youth identified as Waqas, a local jeweller, died in the accident while another Saad Haider was critically injured and under treatment at Ayub Medical Complex (AMC), Abbottabad. iNP

LAHORE: Members of the BLLF stage a rally in connection with International Women’s Day in the provincial capital. ZubAir MehfooZ

Buzdar angry over South Punjab Secretariat’s pathetic performance LAHORE iNP

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar is not happy with the performance of South Punjab Secretariat as he strongly reprimanded the concerned officers for not resolving the public issues on an urgent basis, Pakistan Today leant on Sunday.

An important meeting of the secretaries posted in various departments of the South Punjab Secretariat was held at the Chief Minister's Office.

The chief minister asked the concerned secretaries to take effective steps to resolve the public issues immediately and warned that strict action will be taken against those responsible for negligence and delay in projects.

“The officers posted in South Punjab Secretariat should deliver on public welfare projects and these projects should be completed on time,” the CM said. Buzdar said he will continue to encourage honest officers. “I will not compromise on the quality of the projects and will ensure thirdparty monitoring and transparency also,” he added.

He told the South Punjab bureaucracy that his gov-

ernment has made a separate South Punjab Secretariat so the people should not have to come to Lahore for the redressal of their problems.

The secretaries of health, finance, planning and development, local government, housing, urban development and public health engineering, agriculture, livestock and dairy development, services and general administration, law, construction and communications, irrigation, education, and forests departments were present in the meeting. An additional secretary of the home department also attended the meeting.

Lahore police raid kite making factory, confiscate raw material LAHORE iNP

The Lahore police on Sunday raided a kite making factory in Harbanspura area, arrested two accused and confiscated around 23,000 raw items, which are used to make kites. Lahore DIG Operations Sajid Kiani said that around 12,628 kites and 171 chemical strollers were recovered from the factory, besides a pulley machine and other equipment. The accused, who tried to resist the police party during the operation, have confessed to supplying kites in other areas of the city.

Kiani urged that parents should keep their children away from this bloody game. He vowed zero-tolerance

against kite making, selling and flying activities as these elements will not be allowed to play with the lives of people under the guise of kite flying.

Earlier on Friday, a college lecturer was killed near Muslim Town when a kite string slit his throat. 35-yearold Aftab Ahmad, who was a chemistry lecturer at Dyal Singh College, was travelling on a motorcycle on Wahdat Road when his throat came into contact with a kite string and due to which he was killed on the spot.

CCPO Lahore Ghulam Muhammad Dogar had suspended Ichra police station SHO Azhar Ishaq for failing to take appropriate measures to stop kite flying in the areas of his jurisdiction.

Kiani, on the other hand, had issued an explanation

letter to the Ichhra Circle DSP. He had also directed the DSP to take measures so that such incidents could not occur again. “Take indiscriminate action against those who play with people’s lives,” he had said and added that all SHOs, who fail to stop kite flying in their areas, would now face the music.

Kiani had further said that a large number of kites, strings and other material were confiscated in a raid conducted on Thursday night.

Kite flying is continuing despite the ban across the province, especially on Fridays and Sundays. The citizens have urged the concerned authorities to strictly implement the ban on kite flying so road accidents and loss of human lives can be avoided.

Monday, 8 March, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

Govt, Opp lobby for Senate chairman election continued from page 01 “Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced Sadiq Sanjrani for Senate Chairmanship,” Faraz had tweeted. In 2018, Sanjrani, then a little-known politician from Balochistan and backed by PPP and PTI, beat PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq to become chairman of the upper house. In 2019, he survived an unexpected no-confidence vote proposed by the joint opposition alliance, PDM, which holds a majority in the 104-member House. Political analysts claim many party members did not wish to see Sanjrani again as Senate chairman and wanted the party leadership to nominate an ideological party activist or member for the slot. Many also believe if the PTI did not back Sanjrani, it would have run the risk of annoying the BAP, which is now the fourth largest party in the Senate and second-largest party after the PTI in the ruling coalition.

One dead, 30 injured as Lahore-bound train derails near Rohri continued from page 01 Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways Chief Executive Officer/Senior General Manager Nisar Ahmed Memon inspected the site where nine bogies of Karachi Express train derailed. The Railways GM said that a report will be compiled regarding the mishap after thorough investigation.

He assured to take action against the responsible people.

Later, Pakistan Railways resumed train operations after over 14 hours. Up and down tracks between Rohri and Sangi railway stations were restored while the coaches of the Karachi Express were removed from the railway track.

Sources said that Khyber Mail, Sir Syed Express, Fareed Express and other trains left for their destinations after a delay of 14 hours. In October 2019, 74 people were killed after they a fire erupted inside a passenger train in Rahim Yar Khan.

Govt borrowing till May to total Rs4.82tr

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MiniSTeR uRGeS PRivaTe SecTOR TO inveST in TOuRiSM deveLOPMenT iSLamaBad

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INP

INISTER for Energy Omar Ayub has urged the private sector should come forward for the development of necessary infrastructure at the tourist spots.

Addressing a ceremony organised

by Pakistan Tourism Forum (PTF) here on Sunday, he said the government is giving special emphasis to the promotion of domestic and foreign tourism in the country to accelerate economic activities and create job opportunities.

He suggested that infrastructure re-

lated to adventure sports be considered, adding that the youth would be interested in skydiving, paragliding and mountaineering.

Omar Ayub thanked the armed forces and the private sector for their contributions in making the Islamabad Tourism Festival a successful event.

Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Imran

Sindh aims for 4m tonnes of wheat production Wheat harvesting has begun in lower parts of Sindh while the purchase of wheat by owners of roller flour mills and chakkis is in full swing.

According to a local report that analysed official figures, the province has surpassed its wheat acreage target for 2020-21, as 100.01 per cent of sowing was achieved against a target of 1,200,160 hectares (ha).

The target of four million tonnes of grain production was set by the government for the current season. Growers anticipate healthy wheat crop production due to the size of the grain.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sindh had missed the sowing target set for last year by 1.4pc as 1,134,219ha was brought under

Khan had also called for exploiting immense tourism potential in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Talking to parliamentarians, who had called on him, the PM assured the provincial government of all-out support to promote tourism and conserve forests to cope with environmental challenges in the province.

3 TTP commanders among 4 terrorists killed in Waziristan operations continued from page 01

cultivation against a target of 1,150,000ha, although a production of 3,848,105 tonnes — 1.3pc up from the target of 3,800,000 tonnes — was achieved.

The provincial food department has decided to procure 1.4m tonnes

of wheat at a support price of Rs2,000 per 40kg, which was announced by the provincial government. But the rate has not been notified yet. The federal government has, however, fixed the rate at Rs1,650 per 40kg. MONITORING REPORT

The security forces conducted two separate IBOs on terrorist hideouts in Boya and Dosalli areas of North Waziristan, said the ISPR in a press release. During exchange of fire, eight terrorists including three terrorist commanders including Abdul Aneer alias Adil (TTP Toofan group), Junaid alias Jamid (TTP Tariq group) and Khaliq Shadeen alias Rehan (TTP Sadiq Noor group) were killed, it added. These terrorists remained involved in terrorist activities against the security forces, law enforcement agencies and locals of the area since 2009, including IED attacks, firing, target killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.

These terrorists were also involved in recruiting terrorists in the area. The security forces also recovered a huge cache of arms from their hideouts, said the ISPR.

The government has targeted to borrow Rs4.82 trillion over the next three months from local commercial banks to pay back a portion of previous loans and partly finance budget expenditures in the ongoing fiscal year (FY21). According to local media reports, the government is expected to add fresh debt worth Rs840 billion in the domestic economy over the next three months due to expenditures that surged higher than revenues collected in the head of taxes and state-owned entities (SOEs). Reports claim that the government would raise debt worth Rs4.82 tr through auction of its debt securities to commercial banks. Out of this, Rs3.98 trillion would be used to pay off previous loans to banks while the remaining Rs840 billion would be utilised to finance budget deficit in FY21, according to the auction calendar of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued on Friday. The increase in fresh debt would force the government to increase taxes on multiple heads and toughen the challenge of increasing taxpayers for the economic managers in a bid to pay off the growing debt. It may be noted here that Pakistan’s outstanding local debt surged slightly over 4pc or Rs1.43 tr to Rs36.54 tr in 7MFY21 compared to Rs35.11 tr recorded in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year, according to the central bank. Moreover, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs2.91tr in tax revenues in 8MFY21, almostRs13 bn higher than the collection target. MONITORING REPORT

ISLAMABAD: A beautiful view of the federal capital. ONlINE

Covid-19 travel insurance becoming a vacation staple Covid-19 insurance policies are increasingly joining passports and sunscreen as vacation staples, creating opportunities for insurers as more countries require mandatory coverage in case visitors fall ill from the coronavirus.

Airline bookings are on the rise in some regions, driving cautious hopes of a revival in summer traffic, but also raising fears among tourist destinations of getting hit with bills should vacationers become stranded by the virus.

More than a dozen countries from Aruba to Thailand require Covid-19 coverage for visitors, with Jordan the latest to consider such protections, organizers of an emergency services plan told Reuters.

The market for all types of Covid-19 travel coverage is estimated to be between $30 billion to $40 billion a year, according

to travel insurance consultant Robyn Ingle, with companies like AXA and AIG underwriting protection.

But a surge in demand for Covid-19 coverage also means insurers could be on the hook for big payouts should another wave of infections lead to large numbers of cancellations or tourists getting sick.

“Travel insurance and protection services are taking off at pace with travel as it resumes, said Dan Richards, chief executive for travel risk and crisis management firm Global Rescue.

Covid-19 insurance benefits typically cover treatment up to $100,000, and could include coronavirus testing costs and services like evacuation or local burial or cremation.

These benefits, introduced by insurers in mid2020, are sold either as add-ons or as separate

policies with coverage for illness or quarantine.

Jeremy Murchland, president of Indianabased travel insurance company Seven Corners, said travelers are now “more likely to insure their trips,” as more countries require Covid-19 coverage.

A travel insurance plan that includes trip protection, medical expense coverage for Covid-19 and protection for baggage and personal effects typically costs 4 per cent to 8 per cent of the dollar value of the trip, Murchland said.

While the pandemic has battered travel, demand for coverage has created opportunity for the hard-hit insurance industry and a niche to develop new products, companies said.

For example in June, Seven Corners introduced an optional medical travel plan

cmYK

with coverage for coronavirus expenses, Murchland said. By year’s end, the product with coronavirus coverage generated about 80 per cent of total medical travel plan sales.

Seven Corners also saw a 20 per cent rise in travelers buying highly priced “cancel for any reason” policies in 2020. The policies cover cancellation costs related to the virus.

Some countries have mandated travel insurance for incoming visitors – either by including it in their entry or visa fees or by requiring proof of coverage, said insurer World Nomads.

Jordan is evaluating whether to require a mandatory flat fee for visitors as part of a programme from Global Rescue and the Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council, said council co-chair Taleb Rifai. The programme, which costs up to $100 per per-

son, covers certain disasters and illnesses like Covid-19.

Jordan’s Tourism Bureau was not available for comment.

It is not clear how coverage demand will evolve as many more people become inoculated against the coronavirus with vaccines.

Frank Comito, a special advisor to the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, said some budget travelers have complained about mandatory coverage. And some countries could discontinue or relax the requirement as “we move away from the pandemic.”

Rifai, former secretary general of the UN’s World Tourism Organization, said he expects countries will continue requiring coverage as the vaccines “will take years” to roll out globally. AGENCIES

Monday, 8 March, 2021

06 COMMENT

Social Media and Our Future Generation

Now for Punjab

The focus of the PDM moves

Parents, teachers, preachers must combine to restore sanity

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FtEr getting ex-PM Yousuf reza Gilani elected Senator by the National Assembly, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has apparently selected Punjab as the most vulnerable point of the Pti, and a series of meetings after Mr Gilani’s election have made it likeliest that the opposition’s next move will not be a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister imran, but against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. At a certain level, he is low-hanging fruit. he is already in the sights of the powers that be, and any commitment to him is purely Prime Minister imran Khan’s, whose personal selection he is. it can even be argued (and probably will be), that it shows the PDM is actually more willing to do what Mr Khan has been reluctant to do so far.

Mr Buzdar’s performance has been nothing like that Mr Khan had promised, and halfway through the Pti’s tenure, it seems unlikely that he will be able to up his game. this is likely to be very costly for the Pti, for his lackadaisical administrative style combines with a poor economic performance to feed the opposition narrative of Pti incompetence. Another advantage, from the PDM’s point of view, is the thinness of his majority. the PDM is aware that it only had to make 16 MNAs switch, to give Mr Gilani a victory by five votes. it has to manage a smaller number in the Punjab, to bring Mr Buzdar down, so narrow is the government majority. Especially after Mr Khan took a vote of confidence from the National Assembly, the attractions of bringing a vote of no-confidence against him is thereby reduced, and it seems that the PDM would prefer to focus on the Punjab at the moment, though only as a stepping-stone to the real target of removing Mr Khan at the centre.

One of the difficulties that the Pti faces is that there is a separate move, by no means the first, for Mr Buzdar’s removal. he has personally been ineffectual in countering this, relying supinely on Mr Khan’s ability to resist the pressure. if he is removed because of internal party struggles, any successor might get some time while he is assessed for electoral ability.

RAYEES AHMAD KUMAR

W

ith the advancement of science and technology, every aspect of human life has seen a drastic change. it not only has made our lives quite easier and comfortable but also has compelled us to face some challenges. the invention of the aeroplane, the computer, the mobile phone and various diagnostic machines used for varied medical investigations of man are the biggest blessings from science for mankind. in the era of computer age and the tremendous advancements in information technology, we are almost independent of manpower because the routine daily business is done now through the digital mode. however while the appearance of mobile phones in our daily lives it has made our lives easier and more comfortable, our near and dear ones studying and dwelling in intercontinental lands seem no longer far away from us due to this great scientific gift. At the same time it has , us to tough tests.

Our older generation is making good use of it by enquiring about the wellbeing of their loved ones through voice calling and sometimes during leisure times enjoy the music of their taste or watch the Social Media and Our Future Generationmorally upright videos on the internet. But the mobile phones in the hands of our young and future generation has given rise to a number of issues. instead of making judicious and positive use of mobile phones, they are degrading themselves morally and ethically by unnecessarily indulging in antisocial and inhuman practices on different social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, instagram, Watsapp and Youtube etc.

From morning to evenings, even late at night, our young generation remain busy on social media. it has not only distanced them from their parents and siblings but has also been an impediment in shaping

Covid-19 third wave?

The recent uptick in infections combines with failure to procure vaccines

t

hE recent uptick in the number of covid-19 infections and deaths has raised fears that the country is on the verge of a third wave of infections even as the second wave has yet to recede. this also combines with two other developments, one natural and beyond human control, the other because of governmental inaction, to make it possible that there will be much more human suffering than was perhaps necessary. the most worrisome natural development was one which had been predicted, that the coronavirus would evolve. Almost every day, it seems, there are fresh reports coming in of new, more deadly, more infectious variants. Some of these variants are said to be resistant to the vaccines. however, Pakistan seems so far to have avoided the disaster that has overtaken other countries, of finding that a new variant spreading in the country has rendered the entire vaccination programme useless. instead of being shafted by a coronavirus variant, the country is being shafted by its own government, which has developed a sudden reluctance to acquire any doses for which it has to pay money. to say the least, this would be a penny-wise pound-foolish approach to securing the population. this approach is all the more surprising because the government has already allocated a sizeable sum for the acquisition of vaccines. however, it seems that the prospect of actually shelling out cash proved too much for some, and a policy of going for herd immunity was opted for. that approach has been rejected by governments all over the world, precisely for the reason the government should not entertain it: it would cause an unacceptable number of deaths. it might seem that the government is trusting to something which has not yet been explained, which is the surprisingly low number of cases, and thus of deaths, in Pakistan. the week-old reopening of everything, and the consequent throwing of all caution to the winds by the public, may also be behind the rise. the attempt to achieve herd immunity should be left to those animals which herd. human beings deserve more consideration.

Today is International Woman’s Day

ZAinAb nAZiR

"F

rAiLtY, thy name is woman" - this is a famous quotation from Shakespeare’s play hamlet. it is a poetic way of saying, "women are frail" or "you are as frail as any woman," but with a dramatic turn of phrase. it depicts an emotional outburst by a fictional character in a work of fiction. the hero, being disgusted with what he considers to be libidinous in his mother, develops a hatred for women in general. he alludes to intrinsic weaknesses in women's character. he refers to his mother as spiritually, morally and physically flimsy and frail due to her lewd unfaithfulness by remarrying after her first husband's death. in the modern world, "frailty, thy name is (no longer) woman". She is a life giver and magic creator.

She smiles with strength through sorrows. She's beautiful in every stroke, from birth to final light. She's the colour of night. A modern woman is not defined by a man and has her own story that distinguishes her.

She's a flower that blooms in all seasons. She should be celebrated in all her splendour.

Every year March 8th is celebrated as international Women's Day. it is a global day that celebrates and appreciates the social, political and cultural

Arif Nizami Editor Managing Editor

Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

From this we can analyze the direction towards which our future generation is heading. If you won't give them food for days together, won't ask them to read and write and won't restrict them from social media addiction, the availability of mobile phones in their hands is enough for them.

We need to think about the declining morality of our young generation and take extra care while putting mobile phones in their hands. Instead of making them social media addicts we must try to make them responsible citizens of the society

The writer teaches at Govt Secondary School Anderwan Ganderbal, Indian Union Territory of Kashmir

"Frailty, thy name is (no longer) woman"

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

their personality in the right direction. honestly speaking, a few days ago, i was returning from the market to my residence accompanied by another person, i met a teenaged person. i told the person accompanying me, "this young man is smart and morally upright. he is a noble person." in reply the person told me. " Are you in his friend list on social media?

Do you watch his comments, posts and shares? he is the dirtiest guy of our locality." to reply him i found no words at the time.

Like me to others the lad might have been regarded as one of the noblest, but it is through his negative use and misuse of social media that his inner behaviour and traits came out. Making Whatsapp groups among pne’s peers and then sharing nonsensical things and chatting even during night time, has made their physical health decline, as well as downgraded them morally.

Uploading unethical video items on Youtube and making short videos on the tiktok app has now become a new norm for our young generation. they keep themselves over busy on these social sites without considering the repercussions. Our future generation has become much addicted to social media now.

Of all the social networking sites Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook is very popular and the platform most used to express one's feelings, share knowledge, experience and to communicate with fellow beings. islamic renowned scholars have made it a good platform to invite nonbelievers to the right path. Mission of Dawah has been much easier with the emergence of Facebook. But the most disappointing fact is that, our youth is misusing this site. Sharing unethical items recklessly, writing negative and unacceptable comments on good Facebook posts has become their habit. Creating fake Facebook iDs and pretending to be other than what they actually are, is a growing evil among the youth.

intensity of social media addiction can be analyzed from the fact that even our children, instead of being taught good moral lessons right from the beginning by their mothers, are fetched mobile phones to watch videos on Youtube all the time.

Now they take lunch and dinner only after Youtube videos are run before them, otherwise they refuse to eat altogether.

Furthermore our youth are playing games on mobile phones without feeling tired day and night. it not only has worried their parents but the people of good intellect are constantly raising these issues in their discussions. if you have gone through a typical front page of Uzma, the leading Urdu daily of the valle, you might have seen the headline "taleemi idaare khul gaye. Chubees ghante mobile games khelne ka silsila ruk gaya " (Educational institutions reopened.

24-hour mboolie games stop.)

From this we can analyze the direction towards which our future generation is heading. if you won't give them food for days together, won't ask them to read and write and won't restrict them from social media addiction, the availability of mobile phones in their hands is enough for them.

We need to think about the declining morality of our young generation and take extra care while putting mobile phones in their hands. instead of making them social media addicts we must try to make them responsible citizens of the society.

Parents, teachers, preachers and civil society groups must come forward at the earliest to safeguard the future of our young generation by giving them lessons about the judicious and positive use of mobile phones and social media, otherwise the days are not far when in our future generations we will be having more beasts than humans.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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achievements of women around the globe. this day helps in raising awareness against bias and taking action for gender equality. international Women's Day is not just linked with one gender, but it unites different brands, governments and non-governmental organisations.

Women and men are differently built, they have different traditions and rules imposed by society on them and have different motivations in life. We need to understand and accept the differences.

Women are different by design and there is no greater or lesser in this - women are compleimentary entities in nature!

Women are delicate but not frail. they deserve to be recognized, appreciated and loved. Women have, no doubt, progressed in almost every field of life. they have been poets, painters, teachers, doctors, philosophers, politicians, military personnel and what not. the sentence, "frailty, thy name is woman", may also refer to lack of chastity in women. But, in this respect, too, chastity or its absence is not a class quality; it completely depends on the nature of any individual. hamlet (the hero) is prejudiced against women when he ascribes frailty to women alone and not to men. A woman influences and is a reflection of society.

We are living in a galaxy made up of energy.

Everything within our world is an amalgamation of the interaction of the male and female polarities. Each polarity, both contrasts and complements the other.

Both men and women are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limita-

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

tions set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. their very existence is reliant upon one another. there was a time when each and every field was maledominated, but those days are gone now. Women are making great strides in every field. By choosing courage, they are conquering every destination. Women have not been known for their bravery or muscular power, but they have their own special ingredients. the modern woman is the wonder woman, who has inherited criticism for her gender but remains unbothered by the wicked remarks of the world. in almost every society, some aspect of power or greatness of a woman is oppressed, abused, distorted, or taken away. Where can a woman truly become herself? it is hard to say.

Men are strong, but does that typically mean women are weak? Women are not weak. Women are not frail. they are the embodiment of strength and virtue in our society. A woman paints the rainbow and lights the stars. She matches her deeds with words.

Woman's virtue is a song not yet sung by many. the journey of a woman at any stage of her life can either be fine or cataclysmic, and this majorly depends on what kind of men are around her. Not everyone can build a taj Mahal or write poetic verses, but everyone can respect and honour women. We should respect the person, not the gender.

In almost every society, some aspect of power or greatness of a woman is oppressed, abused, distorted, or taken away. Where can a woman truly become herself? It is hard to say. Men are strong, but does that typically mean women are weak? Women are not weak. Women are not frail. They are the embodiment of strength and virtue in our society. A woman paints the rainbow and lights the stars.

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer is an English Literature and Linguistics graduate based in Islamabad and can be reached at zainab.nazir@gmail.com.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 8 March, 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

Be on track ALMOSt all the nations from across the world have now started announcing their COViD-19 relief packages following a year-round fight with the corona pandemic. For instance, the US President Joe Biden had talked about his government's plans for the relief package at the recently concluded CNN town hall. During the meet, he had not just chalked out the package plans but also had literally shown empathy and compassion for the people affected by the pandemic. this gesture has been greatly received by everyone and the media. Such compassionate gestures and talks will indeed infuse new energy, sending positive vibes across the board. All my career so far, i have bumped into a bunch of such compassionate people in my native areas like tiruchendur, Kanyakumari, Korkai, tuticorin and tirunelveli in tamil Nadu and also in my professional places like Coimbatore, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and hyderabad. Somewhat freed from the pandemic, the people and countries are now getting prepared to revive the economic status. in fact, a thorough and serious study should go into the proposed crisis management in order to compensate for all the losses caused. the relief package apart, joint strategies, mutual understanding, strong impetus plans and above all a series of multilateral activities across the West and the East are direly needed to get the economy back on track, create more jobs and boost the agriculture sector.

P SEnthil Saravan Durai MuMbai

Petrol mafia

Traditional classroom teaching vs online instruction Online learning remains even after the covid-19 pandemic

HUMA MiR

T

hE availability of online education at the global level has helped students, having busy lives and limited flexibility, to obtain quality education. As opposed to traditional classroom teaching, web-based instructions made it possible to offer classes worldwide through a single internet connection. Although it boasts several advantages over traditional education, online instruction, still, has its drawbacks; including limited communal synergies. Still, online education seems to be the path many students are taking to secure a degree.

Computer-assisted instruction is changing the pedagogical landscape as an increasing number of students are seeking online education.

Colleges and universities are now touting the efficiencies of web-based education and are rapidly implementing online classes to meet student needs worldwide. it has been observed that the number of online courses given by universities has been dramatically increased over the last decade and especially after the covid-19 pandemic.

Online education is not a new phenomenon. the first correspondence and distance learning educational programmes were initiated in the mid-1800s by the University of London. this model of educational-learning was dependent on postal service; and therefore, wasn't seen in the USA until the later 19th century. it was in 1873 when, what is considered the first official correspondence-based educational programme, was established in Boston, Massachusetts: the “Society to Encourage home Studies.” Since then, the non-traditional study has grown into a more viable online instructional modality. technological advancements have also helped to improve the speed and accessibility of distance learning courses; now students could attend classes from the comfort of their homes.

Online and traditional education share many qualities. Students are still required to attend class, learn the material, submit assignments, and complete group projects. While teachers have to design curriculums, maximize instructional quality, answer class questions, motivate

students to learn, and grade assignments.

Despite these similarities, there are many differences between the two modalities. traditionally, classroom instruction is known to be teacher-centred and requires passive learning by the student, while online instruction is often student-centred and requires active learning. in teacher-centred or passive learning, the instructor controls classroom dynamics. the teacher lectures and comments, while students listen, take notes, and ask questions. in studentcentred or active learning, the students, usually, determine classroom dynamics as they independently analyze the information, construct questions, and ask the instructor for clarification. in this scenario, the teacher, not the student, is listening, formulating, and responding.

Some studies favour traditional classroom instruction, stating “online learners will quit more easily” and “online learning can lack feedback for both students and instructors.” Because of these shortcomings, students' retention, satisfaction, and performance can be compromised.

Like traditional teaching, distance learning also has its supporters who claim online education produces students who perform as well or better than their traditional classroom counterparts. the advantages and disadvantages of both instructional modalities need to be fully thrashed out to determine which medium generates better student performance. Both modalities have been proven to be relatively effective, but, as mentioned earlier, the question to be asked is if one is truly better than the other.

Student Need for Online Education: With technological advancement, learners want quality programmes to be accessed from anywhere and at any time. Because of these demands, online education has become a viable, alluring option to business professionals, stay-at home-parents, and other similar populations. in addition to flexibility and access, multiple facevalue benefits, including programme choice and time efficiency, have increased the attractiveness of distance learning. the potential students want to be able to receive a quality education without having to sacrifice work-time, family-time, and travel expenses. instead of having to be at a specific location at a specific time, online education students have the freedom to communicate with instructors, address classmates, study materials, and complete assignments from any internet-accessible point. this type of flexibility grants students much-needed mobility and, in turn, helps make the educational process more enticing. the student may prefer to take an online course or a complete online-based degree programme, as online courses offer more flexible study hours; for example, a student who has a job could attend the virtual class watching instructional film and streaming videos of lectures after working hours.

Moreover, more study time can lead to better class performance—more chapters read, better quality papers, and more group project time.

Studies on the relationship between study time and performance are limited; however, it is often assumed the online student will use any surplus time to improve grades.

Online education also offers a variety of pro-

gram choices. With traditional classroom study, students are forced to take courses only at universities within feasible driving distance, or to move. Web-based instruction, on the other hand, grants students electronic access to multiple universities and course offerings. therefore, students who were limited to a few colleges within their area can, now, access several colleges worldwide from a single convenient location.

With online teaching, students who usually don't participate in class, may now voice their opinions and concerns. As they are not in a classroom setting, quieter students may feel more comfortable contributing to classroom dialogue without being recognized or judged. this, in turn, may increase average class scores.

Both face=to-face and online teaching have pros and cons which can be reduced by applying principles of high‐impact teaching practice to effectively deliver large‐scale online education. the quality, quantity, difficulty, and length of teaching content should match with the academic readiness and online learning behaviour of students.

Due to students' lack of concentration in online learning, it is essential to adjust the teaching speed to ensure effective delivery of teaching information.

Faculty and teaching assistants need to provide students with timely feedback and support including online video tutoring and email guidance after classes.

A high level of learners’ participation is essential, and can be achieved by adopting some measures to improve the degree and depth of students' class participation.

Keeping in view of the extraordinary scale of online education, it is necessary to make contingency plans in advance for addressing possible problems such as the traffic overload issue of the online education platform.

Furthermore, since this online teaching “migration” is implemented quickly during the outbreak of covid‐19, students' anxiety needs to be relieved in various ways to ensure that they can effectively engage in online learning.

For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in many ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 2560 percent more material when learning online, compared to only 8-10 percent in a classroom. this is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60 percent less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose. there are, however, challenges to overcome.

Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology struggle to participate in digital learning; this gap is seen across countries and between income brackets within countries.

For example, whilst 95 percent of students in Switzerland, Norway, and Austria have a computer to use for their schoolwork, only 34 percent in indonesia do. it is an undeniable fact that online education has changed the way of teaching globally. it enables educators to reach out to their students more efficiently through chat groups, video meetings, voting and also document sharing, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. Students also find it easy to communicate with their teachers. it is hoped that traditional offline learning and e-learning can be used to overcome illiteracy by promoting inclusive access to education at grassroots.

The writer is a senior educationist and freelance contributor

thE worst economic crisis in the country has a great impact on prices of the commodities in the country. As the Oil and regulatory Authority ( OGrA) has put a rise of 2.76 and rs 3.12 per litre in prices of petrol and diesel from 1st January 2021. the immediate price of petrol resources is too high which people may not afford well. Secondly, the brent crude is collapsing in the international markets due to second wave of Covid-19 which has weakened the economy to fall. And further it is mentioned that the countries like USA are busy developing stimulus package to secure businesses. in fact, Pakistan's economy is already in devastating crisis. the first wave of coronavirus has outrageously hit Pakistan and fuel and other prices has maintained growth and becoming high taking the poor lives very difficult to survive in such inflations.

Now the petrol bomb has expected to emerge in new year for a common man. Lastly i would such recommend the Prime Minister's biggest challenge is price hike, believe me if this is controlled, the country is safe from such losses. So the government of Pakistan should ensure that the challenge is fulfilled very soon. barkatullah turbat

PM’s speech PriME Minister imran Khan Saturday said corruption was the biggest problem for the country, and his government would support the judiciary and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for convicting the corrupt politicians. Speaking in the National Assembly after winning the vote of confidence, he said, “the society has to fight against corruption and decide it will not allow corruption. We have to raise our moral standards to fight the menace, and create a fair and just society.” the prime minister sought the support of society in the fight against corruption to save the future generations from the corrupt politicians, who had been looting the country for the last 30 years. he said Pakistan was not made for the billionaires like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari. the latter was known as a corrupt person and the former was declared a proclaimed offender after he left the country after looting the public wealth.

Sohail ali khan iSlaMabaD

Corrupt election?

FEDErAL Minister for information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday said the government would present solid evidence before the court and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at an appropriate time regarding the corrupt practices adopted by the opposition during the Senate elections. the Pakistan Peoples Party had spent billions of rupees for the victory of Yousaf raza Gilani, he alleged while talking to a private news channel. the minister said the entire nation knew after airing of a video by the electronic media as to how Ali haider Gilani was buying votes for his father. he said the vote of confidence gotten by Prime Minister imran Khan from the National Assembly had embarrassed the opposition. the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz leaders intentionally held the press conference amid the Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) workers, who had gathered (at the D-Chowk) to celebrate the trust vote received by the PM, and provoked them, which created an untoward situation. it was, in fact, a pre-planned drama, which the PML-N leaders staged for their vested interests, he added. Shibli Faraz said more members of the National Assembly had now reposed confidence in the leadership of prime minister than 2018. he said Sadiq Sanjrani was the candidate of Pti and its allied parties for Senate chairman as the government wanted to give representation to Balochistan.

Sohail alik khan iSlaMabaD

Social system going haywire iN another incident a man and his second wife were shot dead by brother of his first wife , police said on Sunday. Official of hoti police station said Abdus Sattar, and his second wife were gunned down by brother of his first wife. the alleged killer were identified as Arshid Asif Naveed and ishfaq. the police have lodged an Fir against the four on the couple. According you the Fir some cash and over two tola gold were stolen from the slain couple ,home a week ago. however the slain couple suspected involvement led to the in cident correspondent. bahaDur kaSSaki turbat

Monday, 8 March, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

Too many of us belIeve women lIe abouT rape. In facT, They rarely reporT IT A LARGE PART OF THE REASON #METOO HAPPENED, AND WAS PLAYED OUT IN THE MEDIA BY RAPE SURVIVORS AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS, WAS BECAUSE THE LAW HAS NOT PROTECTED WOMEN, AND HAS IN MYRIAD WAYS FAILED VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT sydney Morning herald

f

Julia BaiRd

OR centuries we have upheld the hoary myth that women lie about rape. this is why it matters so much that Linda Reynolds shamefully called Brittany Higgins a “lying cow” in earshot of a group of people in her office. the Defence Minister said she was not referring to her former staffer’s rape allegation but other statements Higgins made regarding the poor response from her superiors. It matters because when you call a person a liar, you undermine their credibility on all matters. And because for too long women have been falsely accused of fabricating charges of sexual assault.

In 1975, American author Susan Brownmiller wrote a “startling”, seminal book called Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. One of the myths she was most determined to cut down was that women make up fibs about sexual assault for revenge or giggles. “While men successfully convinced each other and us that women cry rape with ease and glee,” she wrote, “the reality of rape is that victimised women have always been reluctant to report the crime and seek legal justice – because of the shame of public ex-

posure, because of that complex double standard that makes a female feel culpable, even responsible, for any act of sexual aggression committed against her … their accounts are received with a harsh cynicism that forms the first line of male defence.”

And here we are, again, today. Four in 10 Australians think women fabricate sexual assault to get back at men, the National Community Attitudes Survey revealed in 2018. One in 10 of us think women are “probably lying” about rape if they don’t report it instantly. Almost a third think women who say they have been raped have often “led the man on” and just had regrets. Exactly a third reckon rape results “from men not being able to control their need for sex”.

And more than one in 10 thought non-consensual sex was fine if the women initiated intimacy in a situation where they had just met. And one recent study showed half of tweets doubt or undermine the stories of women accusing men of rape. this is the rape culture former Sydney private school student Chanel Contos has spectacularly exposed by gathering 4000odd stories of young women assaulted by young men. (In 2018-19, the highest number of sexual assault offenders were aged 15 to 19.) But I will come back to those explosive accounts. What’s important to remember is that only about 10 per cent of rapes are re-

ported. Of those, while it is very difficult to ascertain exact numbers in different jurisdictions, about 5 per cent are found to be false (a Victorian study found 2 per cent were).

It’s a tiny fraction of the whole, comparable to other crimes. the most important questions are why 90 per cent don’t report, and why so few go to jail. Of those reported, only about 7 per cent result in convictions. So 7 per cent of 10 per cent. Ponder that stat when you think about the rule of law.

Consent, we keep hearing, is a fraught concept when it comes to young men on the prowl. Although many blokes seem to be perfectly clear about consent when a gay man or transperson is involved. So much so that, for decades, the gay panic defence provided that a man could plead that he was so provoked, offended, enraged or rendered insane by a sexual approach from another man, even just a verbal one, that he was driven to murder him. this defence could allow the charge to be downgraded to manslaughter – or even lead to acquittal.

Gay – or “homosexual advance” – panic was not abolished in NSW until 2014 and in Queensland until 2017. It could still be used as a defence in South Australia until a couple of months ago. A few years before its removal in Queensland, two men were jailed for kicking to death a man who made an ad-

vance to one of them in a church courtyard.

With the gay panic defence, they were charged not with murder but manslaughter.

It’s recent history, steeped in homophobia and transphobia and prejudice. Just this week, Virginia became the 12th US state to ban the gay panic defence – but 38 states still allow it.

I mean, who wouldn’t slaughter someone who made a pass at you? Oh wait, maybe millions of women, including the thousands who have emailed Contos with stories of harassment and sexual assault. these young women haven’t tried to kill their rapists, or even take them to court. As their testimonies show, too many of them, racked with unresolved trauma, have tried to kill themselves instead. the stories are horrific in volume and bustle with common themes –being forced to give oral sex, being masturbated on or slut-shamed, or discovering photographs of them naked had been taken and shared without their permission. Of depression, PtSD, and self-doubt. they have caused principals, politicians and parents to jolt upright with horror, and these are stories that will hopefully fry and distill our complacency into myriad preventative actions.

Contos has been tutoring principals, meeting politicians and doing a host of television interviews from her current base of

London, as stories continue to pour into her inbox, a thick torrent of pain, hurt and anger: a reckoning. these are just a fraction of the women in this country who have not gone anywhere near a court after being raped or assaulted. A large part of the reason #Metoo happened, and was played out in the media by rape survivors and investigative journalists, was because the law has not protected women, and has in myriad ways failed victims of sexual assault.

American law professor Catharine MacKinnon wrote in 2018: “this mass mobilisation against sexual abuse, through an unprecedented wave of speaking out in conventional and social media, is eroding the two biggest barriers to ending sexual harassment in law and in life: the disbelief and trivialising dehumanisation of its victims. Sexual harassment law – the first law to conceive sexual violation in inequality terms – created the preconditions for this moment. Yet denial by abusers and devaluing of accusers could still be reasonably counted on by perpetrators to shield their actions.”

Women, she wrote, weren’t believed when they reported abuse and assaults, and: “Even when she was believed, nothing he did to her mattered as much as what would be done to him if his actions against her were taken seriously. His value outweighed her sexualised worthlessness. His career, reputation, mental and emotional serenity and assets counted.

Hers didn’t.” the cry “believe women” doesn’t mean the abandonment of law. It means the precise opposite – the abandonment of bias, and the equal application of the law.

Julia Baird is a journalist and author.

She hosts The Drum on ABC TV. Her latest book is Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark.

‘Who or what killed the girls?’: The complicated truth behind the murder of two girls in India TWO GIRLS WERE FOUND HANGING FROM A TALL MANGO TREE IN UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA. IN HER NEW BOOK, JOURNALIST SONIA FALEIRO EXPLORES THE TRUTH BEHIND THESE MURDERS

Washington Post

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Mythili G Rao

t’s a shocking image: two young girls, skinny teenagers in brightly coloured salwar kameez, hang from opposite branches of a tall mango tree, suspended from their necks by their own pink and green dupattas. their eyes are closed. their heads, bent by gravity, appear bowed in reverence towards one another. Sari-clad women sit in a circle around the tree, several clasping their faces with their hands. A few hold small children.

It's a snapshot of the scene in the village of Katra in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, on 28 May 2014, the morning after the girls – Indian law requires that their names be withheld, so journalist Sonia Faleiro calls them Padma and Lalli, cousins “alike as two grains of rice” – went missing in the fields behind their homes after heading out for a “final squat” for the night.

Just two days before, newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi had been sworn in with promises of prosperity. “Achhe din aane waale hain” – good days are coming soon – he said. the national mood, Faleiro notes, was predominantly one of triumphant ascendancy. “India had been poor for so long; but now, rather than being dismissed as a lumbering

elephant, it was a tiger,” she writes, and “as people's vanities were stoked, their appetite for news stories about girls like Padma and Lalli shrank. the world was watching India, but no one was more bewitched by the transformation than Indians themselves.”

It may not have fitted the prevailing narrative, but back in Katra, it was hard to ignore the spectacle of the girls’ deaths. In the hours after they were discovered in the mango grove, Padma and Lalli's distraught families refused to let the police bring the bodies down. As videos and photos of the dead cousins went viral (“they looked like dangling puppets,” one local recalled), tourists lined up to see them, blocking the road to the village with their horse carts, motorbikes and tractors. Village children dug a makeshift helipad in the dirt for the arrival of high-profile politicians.

Family members gave news conferences, demanding justice.

Who or what had killed the girls? Initial accounts from relatives indicated that 16-year-old Padma and 14-year-old Lalli had been abducted by a group of men from a neighbouring village; a hasty postmortem suggested that the cousins had been raped before they died. In the aftermath of the brutal 2012 Delhi bus rape case, the story, at first, seemed horrifying but familiar: “two girls found gang-raped and hanged in India,” a matter-of-fact Washington Post headline from 29 May declared. the truth, as Londonbased writer Faleiro gradually discovers in the Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing, was considerably

more complicated.

For a previous book, Faleiro immersed herself in the underworld of Mumbai’s secret dance bars. Here, she takes a more forensic approach, starting in Katra and patiently working her way across the region over the course of four years. In her search for answers, Faleiro interviews more than 100 people and combs through some 3,000 pages of records from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation. It's a remarkable feat of reporting: what she finds reveals as much about the failings of India’s law enforcement, media and politics as it does about the girls’ deaths.

Right away, it’s apparent that caste and clan politics are central to this story. Lalli and Padma’s families are Shakyas; the chief suspects, a 19-year-old named Pappu whom the

girls knew from the neighbouring village, and his brothers, are Yadavs. the Shakyas and the Yadavs both fall into the category of “Other Backward Classes”, or OBCs – historically oppressed low-caste groups. But there is a key distinction: in Uttar Pradesh, Yadavs wield political power. In 2014, the state’s chief minister was a Yadav with a reputation for corruption, backed by numerous Yadav law enforcement officers. the Shakyas’ mistrust of the Yadavs, and more generally of the powerful, ran deep, Faleiro explains: “It was easy to point to earlier acts of grave malfeasance – by police officers, even the prime minister – to show that in India anything was possible, and nothing was what it seemed.”

As Faleiro probes the case, an

extensive supporting cast emerges: meddlesome uncles, drunken police officers, hopelessly unqualified coroners, sensationalising tV newsmen, a sneering intelligence officer and grandstanding politicians, all with a part – however undignified – to play in this story.

(Faleiro’s prose is restrained, but she allows the occasional colourful simile, as when one unreliable witness is described as “coming apart like overripe fruit”.) Everyone agrees that the girls’ deaths are a tragedy; no one knows quite whom to blame. Or, as Faleiro puts it: “Everyone agreed the system was rotten but no one knew how to fix it.” that same year, one child went missing in India every eight minutes. the Good Girls isn’t the first non-fiction book to make a close study of the fates of India’s most destitute citizens; in recent years, there has been a steady stream of them. Aman Sethi’s A Free Man: A true Story of Life and Death in Delhi; Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity; and Faleiro’s own Beautiful thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars – among others – each applied a similar rigour to their explorations of the lived experience of poverty on the subcontinent. But as Faleiro explains in an author’s note, the Good Girls was supposed to be something else. the book she set out to write was intended to be an investigation of the nature of sexual violence in India.

Instead, what she finds is a story of the constraints placed on “ordinary” girls’ lives from an early age. It’s the

story of the girls’ larger-than-life “honour” – a disembodied thing that hangs about them menacingly, threatening to fall away at any moment, ruining the whole family. the girls were often seen clutching a mobile phone – an obvious threat to their honour. In some villages in Uttar Pradesh, unmarried women are forbidden from using mobile phones.

(Undoubtedly the girls were “romancing someone”, one neighbour concluded.) the day they disappeared, the girls attended a local fair, where they ate greasy pakoras and bought nail polish – again, risking their honour (after all, “it wouldn't do for girls to be seen enjoying themselves in a public place”). that word – “enjoy” – takes on a dark shade in this book. It’s a word that can be heard on a short recording of one of the last phone conversations Lalli had, with Pappu, on the day the girls died. But what enjoyment meant, really, to Padma and Lalli is something Faleiro can’t entirely uncover. After their bodies were found, the men of their families hid, and then destroyed, the very items that could crack open the case: the mobile phones the girls used, which, thanks to software requested by Lalli’s father, held recordings of their calls. “Who knows what's in the phone,” Lalli’s father says – but whatever it was surely “should be deleted”.

Faleiro lets the suspense build as she carefully uncovers the villagers’ competing motives. Gradually, it becomes clear that in Katra, ultimately one thing is more binding than police codes, medical codes or penal codes: a retrograde but resilient code of honour. this is the force, above all others, that stunted the girls’ lives and hastened their deaths. In the end, Faleiro writes, it became apparent that “an Indian woman’s first challenge was surviving her own home”.

Monday, 8 March, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ISLAMABAD AirAsia Group plans air taxi, drone delivery service KUALA LUMPUR AGENCIES

Malaysia’s AirAsia Group plans to launch an air taxi service and the country’s first drone delivery service as the budget carrier seeks to diversify amid the coronavirus pandemic, the company’s CEO said on Sunday. As part of the group’s diversification push, it also aims to launch a ride-hailing service next month as COVID-19 continues to hit air travel. “The air taxi will have a pilot and four seats. At the moment, we have our team working on this upcoming service by AirAsia,” Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said at the Youth Economic Forum 2021, state news agency Bernama reported on Saturday. The service should start operating in about 18 months, Fernandes was quoted as saying. He also announced that the airline’s logistics unit Teleport, which is currently testing an urban drone delivery service with state-backed firm Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), would conduct its first commercial delivery by the end of this year. “(The) idea was brought up three weeks ago and now it’s reality,” he wrote on Instagram. Fernandes said the group was recovering from the impact of the pandemic and had used the opportunity to accelerate its digital transformation, Bernama reported. The struggling airline, which reported a fifth straight quarterly loss in November, has been seeking to raise 2.5 billion ringgit ($613.95 million) from loans and investors. Last month, it said its 33%-owned Japanese unit, which ceased operations last October, had begun bankruptcy proceedings.

KP Minerals Dept fails to utilise development budget PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Minerals Department has failed to spend millions of the government allocated Rs230 million for various projects till the third quarter of the current financial year (FY21).

According to details, the government had allocated Rs230 million for five projects of the department in the Annual Development Programme (ADP). The Finance Department released Rs143.633 million for these projects till the third quarter of this year but the department only spent Rs120.650 m. Finance Department documents show that the provincial government has not released any funds for the construction of Model Coal Mine in Nowshera district for which Rs32 m were allocated. Similarly, only Rs2 m has been spent out of Rs12.120 m for the development of the mines and mineral sector of the province, while Rs49.854 m has been spent out of Rs70m released for the establishment of mine monitoring units in mineral rich areas. Further, for the establishment of a Mining Cadastre System (MCS), only Rs68.337 m has been spent out of Rs95.217 m, while out of the Rs20.663 m allocated for the geological mapping project of minerals, only Rs2.5m was spent. According to sources, despite the large mineral reserves in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, no projects to increase the province’s reserves by utilising minerals have been included in the budget. Sources added that a few projects included in the development programme were delayed due to non-provision of funds by the KP Finance Department.

RuPee to continue uPwARD tRenD AGAinst DollAR ISLAMABAD

t

APP

HE Pakistani rupee it will continue its upward trend against the US dollar despite some challenges ahead. According to a report published in Khaleej Times, analysts and market experts said the currency will be a major beneficiary of higher GDP growth, rising foreign exchange reserves and consistent remittances inflows of over $2 billion during the first eight months of the current financial year (8MFY21).

The rupee has so far appreciated 1.7 per cent against the dollar this year and closed at 157.12 on the interbank market on Friday. Against the UAE dirham, it ended slightly up at 42.77 against 43.6 on January 8, reflecting an appreciation of 1.9 per cent.

“The Pakistani rupee has returned to stability chiefly due to higher remittances, debt relief on account of Covid19 payment relief plan and economic rebound in the country,” experts said.

According to the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan’s economy is expected to post 2.5 per cent GDP growth in the current fiscal year ending June 2021 after contracting 0.4 per cent last year as the government’s policy measures start yielding positive results.

The country registered a 24 per cent

ANALYST SAYS CURRENCY WILL NOT BE IMPACTED BY PAKISTAN'S PLACEMENT ON FATF GREY LIST

year-on-year increase in workers’ remittances to $16.5 billion during the July 2020-January 2021 period, while foreign exchange reserves rose to $20.13 billion during the week ended February 26 from $20.04 billion a week ago, according to the SBP. “The forex reserves held by the central bank increased $70 million to $12.978 billion due to the government’s official inflows. The foreign exchange reserves of commercial banks also increased to $7.155 billion from $7.132 billion,” the SBP said.

The central bank data also showed that Pakistan’s current account deficit shrank by 55 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $229 million in January from $512 million in the same month last year due to rising exports and higher remittances.

Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company Research Head, Samiullah Tariq, said the rupee is likely to appreciate against the US dollar on account on positive economic indicators as well as stability in the economy.

“The main reason for the rupee’s

appreciation is stronger inflows under Roshan Digital Accounts and higher remittances during this financial year.

Pakistan has also started availing certain lending facilities to pay for petroleum products,” he added.

To a question, he replied that the resumption of the IMF plan will further strengthen the rupee in the near future.

“The IMF plan is expected to firm up repayments of existing loans as well as strengthen forex reserves of the country,” he said.

About the impact of Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) decision to keep Pakistan on the grey list, Tariq said the currency will not be impacted by this — be it grey or white.

“I think that we are already seeing significant inflows despite being in the grey list. Supply of the US dollar is getting better with the introduction of new channels for inflows and liberalisation of the forex regime, so those seem more important than FATF at the moment,” he said.

Pakistan Business Council Vice President for Finance, Muhammad Nafees, said the value of a currency is directly related with the current account position.

“The Pakistan economy is getting better every day. An increase in remittances from overseas Pakistanis, investment in Roshan Digital Accounts, increase in exports and decrease in import of non-essential items have contributed to the increase in the value of the currency,” he said.

Govt forms committee to restore economic relations with US The government has formed an apex committee to work on finding and developing avenues to re-engage the United States in an economic relationship, including a possibility of seeking investment under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

According to a local media report, the 14-member ministerial apex committee, chaired by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, will meet next week at the Foreign Office (FO) to discuss a range of economic and commercial proposals to warm ties with the new US administration.

The ministers for finance, national food security, economic affairs, information technology, national security adviser, and PM’s aides on commerce, climate change, human resource development, power and investment will be included as members of the committee.

The report claims that the maiden meeting agenda suggests that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wants to revive economic ties with Washington after a phase of slow progress on CPEC during the past two and-ahalf years.

Pakistan’s decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of President Xi in June 2013 had put the US-Pakistan economic relations in cold storage. During former president Trump’s tenure, the US did not appoint a full-time ambassador to Islamabad, while

reducing the official-level engagement to the level of assistant secretary of state.

However, the CPEC, which is the flagship project of the BRI, has been slowed down during the last almost three years. The government has not been able to secure a date from China for the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee of the CPEC meeting during the last six months due to its failure to show tangible

progress on the CPEC projects, according to sources in the Ministry of Planning.

The Board of Investment (BoI) has proposed that through CPEC, Pakistan can offer certain areas of cooperation to the US but “be cognizant of the sensitivities of both the US and China”, adding that US foreign direct investment can be attracted through technology firms and special incentive regimes.

It may be noted here that China had earlier declined Pakistan’s proposal to include Saudi Arabia in CPEC. Furthermore, the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Information Technology and Ministry of Energy have also put forward various proposals including, an American-Pakistan Economic Zone near Karachi port to allow reprocessing at concessional rates, enhancing structured engagement through TIFA Ministerial Council and Business Opportunities Conference, early finalisation of proposed legislation on Reconstruction Opportunity Zones promised by the Bush administration in return for Pakistan’s support to the US war in Afghanistan, access to the US markets for IT exports and investment of the US IT companies in the information technology sector and importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US among other suggestions.

The apex committee will reportedly start discussions on these broad issues on Monday. MONITORING REPORT

China exports soar to highest level in decades after Covid-19 hit CHINA AT LEAST 30 YEARS AWAY FROM BECOMING MANUFACTURING 'GREAT POWER', FORMER MINISTER SAYS BEIJING AGENCIES

China’s export growth jumped to the highest in over two decades, official data showed Sunday, with imports also surging in a sharp bounce back from the coronavirus outbreak that had brought activity to a near halt.

Exports spiked 60.6 percent on-year in the January-February period, above analysts’ expectations and boosted by electronics and mask shipments, while imports rose 22.2 percent, official data showed Sunday.

Separately, a former Chinese industry minister said that China is at least 30 years away from becoming a manufacturing nation of “great power”, despite boasting the world’s most complete industrial supply chains.

In recent years, China has become the world’s top manufacturing nation, account-

ing for over a third of global output, driven by domestic demand to produce everything from motor vehicles to industrial machinery.

But its industries’ heavy dependence on U.S. high-tech products such as semiconductors constituted a strategic weakness.

“Basic capabilities are still weak, core technologies are in the hands of others, and the risk of ‘being hit in the throat’ and having ‘a slipped bike chain’ has significantly increased,” said Miao Wei, who was Minister of Industry and Information Technology for a decade before stepping down last year.

As the Chinese economy pivots towards a services-based model and polluting smokestack factories are mothballed, manufacturing output as a share of the economy has declined. In 2020, manufacturing accounted for slightly over a quarter of gross domestic product, the lowest since 2012.

“The ratio of manufacturing output to

GDP has been declining too early and too quickly, which not only weighs on economic growth and affects employment, but also brings security loopholes to our industries and diminishes our economy’s ability to

CMYK

withstand risks, and its global competitiveness,” said Miao, now a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body to the government.

President Xi Jinping said in November that innovation in the manufacturing industry is far from adequate, and firms need to tackle “bottleneck” technologies to become fully innovative.

“China’s manufacturing industry has made great achievements in recent years, but the situation of being ‘big but not strong’ and ‘comprehensive but not good’ has not been fundamentally changed,” Miao said in a speech to CPPCC delegates at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

There are many problems restricting the high-quality development of Chinese manufacturing, but the most fundamental one is insufficient market-oriented reforms, Miao said.

While the tax burden on companies remains heavy, and financial support on the manufacturing sector needs strengthening urgently, a shortage of innovative and hightech talent has also significantly constrained development of the sector, Miao added.

“We must maintain our strategic resolve, stay clear-headed and deeply understand the gaps and deficiencies.”

Monday, 8 March, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ISLAMABAD

'Peace more Powerful than war', PoPe franciS SaYS in iraq'S ruined citY of moSul MoSUL

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Agencies

OPE Francis heard Muslim and Christian residents in the ruined Iraqi city of Mosul tell of their lives under brutal IS rule on Sunday, blessing their vow to rise up from ashes and promising them “fraternity is more durable than fratricide.”

Francis, on a historic first visit by a pope to Iraq, visited the northern city to encourage the healing of sectarian wounds and to pray for the dead of any religion.

The 84-year-old pope saw ruins of houses and churches in a square that was the old town’s thriving centre before Mosul was

occupied by IS from 2014 to 2017. He sat surrounded by skeletons of buildings, dangling concrete staircases, and cratered ancient churches, most too dangerous to enter.

“Together we say no to fundamentalism.

No to sectarianism and no to corruption,” the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Najeeb Michaeel, told the pope.

Much of the old city was destroyed in 2017 during the bloody battle by Iraqi forces and an international military coalition to drive out IS. Francis, who flew to Mosul by helicopter, was visibly moved by the earthquakelike devastation around him. He prayed for all of the city’s dead.

He said that how cruel it is that this

country, the cradle of civilization, should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow, with ancient places of worship destroyed and many thousands of people forcibly displaced or killed.

“Today, however, we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war.”

Intense security has surrounded his trip to Iraq. Military pickup trucks mounted with machine guns escorted his motorcade and plainclothes security men mingled in Mosul with the handles of guns emerging from black backpacks worn on their chests.

In an apparent direct reference to IS, Francis said hope could never be “silenced

by the blood spilled by those who pervert the name of God to pursue paths of destruction.”

He then read a prayer repeating one of the main themes of his trip, that it is always wrong to hate, kill or wage war in God’s name. Fighters of IS, a terrorist group that tried to establish a caliphate across the region, ravaged northern Iraq from 2014-2017, killing Christians as well as Muslims who opposed them.

‘AFRAID TO RETURN’: Iraq’s Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, has been particularly devastated by the years of conflict, falling to about 300,000 from about 1.5 million before the US invasion of 2003 and the brutal militant violence that followed. Father Raid Adel Kallo, pastor of

the destroyed Church of the Annunciation, told how in 2014 he fled with 500 Christian families and how fewer than 70 families are present now. “The majority have emigrated and are afraid to return,” he said.

“But I live here, with two million Muslims who call me father and I am living my mission with them,” he added, telling the pope of a committee of Mosul families who promote peaceful coexistence among Muslims and Christians.

A Muslim member of the Mosul committee, Gutayba Aagha, urged the Christians who had fled to “return to their properties and resume their activities”.

Francis flew by helicopter to Qaraqosh, a Christian enclave that was overrun by IS fighters, and visited a church whose courtyard was used by the insurgents as a firing practice range. He then said Mass in Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, where thousands of people packed a stadium. In both Qaraqosh and Erbil, he received the most tumultuous welcomes of his visit. And in both places most people were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing despite a rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

Unions call for total strike in Myanmar; Suu Kyi party official dies in custody YANGoN Agencies

Saudi-led coalition launches air strikes on Yemeni capital after foiling drone attacks SANAA Agencies

The Saudi-led military coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi movement said on Sunday it conducted air strikes on Houthi military targets in Sanaa and other regions after the group launched armed drones towards Saudi Arabia. The coalition, which said it had destroyed 10 armed drones, said in a statement on Saudi state media that “civilians and civilian objects in the Kingdom are a red line”.

The coalition did not specify locations in the kingdom. The US consulate in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah issued an advisory, citing reports of suspected attacks and explosions on Sunday near Jeddah and the southern town of Khamis Mushait. In the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa, a Reuters witness reported several air strikes. Plumes of black smoke were visible in the vicinity of a military compound near Sanaa University. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said coalition warplanes bombed al-Nahda and Attan districts. The Houthis, who have been battling the coalition since it intervened in Yemen’s civil war in March 2015, recently stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Fighting has also intensified on the ground in Yemen in Marib and Taiz regions. The escalation comes as the United States and the United Nations increase diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire to pave the way for a resumption of UN-sponsored political talks to end the conflict, which is largely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi state media on Sunday cited the coalition as saying the Houthis were emboldened after the new US administration revoked Washington’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organisation in February. Last week, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Houthi military leaders after the movement ramped up attacks on Saudi cities and its offensive in Marib. The Houthis, who ousted the internationally recognised government from power in Sanaa in late 2014, deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression. The war, in a military stalemate for years, has killed tens of thousands of people and has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday that Al-Thawra hospital in Taiz treated 28 people wounded in intense clashes since Wednesday and that the hospital itself was hit by gun fire, injuring three, including a 12-year-old boy. In Marib, hundreds of fighters from both sides have been killed.

Myanmar’s major trade unions called on members to shut down the economy from Monday to support a campaign against last month’s coup, turning up the pressure on the junta as security forces cracked down on demonstrators staging widespread protests.

“To continue economic and business activities as usual...will only benefit the military as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people,” an alliance of nine unions said.

“The time to take action in defence of our democracy is now. We call for...the full extended shutdown of the Myanmar economy,” they said in a joint statement.

A spokesman for the military did not answer calls seeking comment.

The call by the unions came as an official from the party of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi died overnight in police custody. The cause of death of National League for Democracy official Khin Maung Latt was not known.

Ba Myo Thein, a member of the upper house of parliament which was dissolved after the coup, said reports of bruising to Khin Maung Latt’s head and body raised suspicions that he had been abused.

“It seems that he was arrested at night and tortured severely,” he told Reuters. “This is totally unacceptable.”

Police in Pabedan, the Yangon district where Khin Maung Latt was arrested, declined to comment.

Some of the biggest protests in recent weeks were staged on Sunday. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas to break up a sit-in by tens of thousands of people in Mandalay, the Myanmar Now media group said. At least 70 people were arrested.

Police also launched tear gas and stun grenades in the direction of protesters in Yangon and in the town of Lashio in the northern Shan region, videos posted on Facebook showed.

A witness said police opened fire to break up a protest in the historic temple town of Bagan, and several residents said in social media posts that live bullets were used. Video posted by Myanmar Now showed soldiers beating up men in Yangon, where at least three protests were held despite overnight raids by security forces on campaign leaders and opposition activists.

The United Nations says security forces have killed more than 50 people to stamp out daily demonstrations and strikes in the Southeast Asian nation since the military overthrew and detained Suu Kyi on February 1.

“They are killing people just like killing birds and chickens,” one protest leader said to the crowd in Dawei, a town in Myanmar’s south. “What will we do if we don’t revolt against them?

We must revolt.”

Reuters was unable to reach police for comment. A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.

‘PUNCHED AND KICKED’: The state-run Global New Light Of Myanmar newspaper quoted a police statement as saying security forces were dealing with the protests in accordance with law. It said the forces were using tear gas and stun grenades to break up rioting and protests that were blocking public roads.

Well over 1,700 people had been detained under the military junta by Saturday, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.

It did not give a figure for overnight detentions.

“Detainees were punched and kicked with military boots, beaten with police batons and then dragged into police vehicles,” AAPP said in a statement. “Security forces entered residential areas and tried to arrest further protesters, and shot at the homes, destroying many.”

The killings have drawn anger in the West and been condemned by most democracies in Asia. The United States

and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta.

China, Myanmar’s giant neighbour to the northeast, said on Sunday it is prepared to engage with “all parties” to ease the crisis and is not taking sides.

“China is...willing to contact and communicate with all parties on the basis of respecting Myanmar’s sovereignty and the will of the people, so as to play a constructive role in easing tensions,” State Councillor Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, told a news conference.

Protesters demand the release of Suu Kyi and respect for November’s election - which her party won in a landslide but which the army rejected. The army has said it will hold democratic elections at an unspecified date.

Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari BenMenashe, hired by Myanmar’s junta, told Reuters the generals are keen to leave politics and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. He said Suu Kyi had grown too close to China for the generals’ liking. Ben-Menashe said he had also been tasked with seeking Arab support for a plan to repatriate Muslim Rohingya refugees, hundreds of thousands of whom were driven from Myanmar in 2017 in an army crackdown after rebel attacks.

Abbas battles Fatah party discord ahead of Palestinian elections AGENCIES Facing elections for the first time in 15 years, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is battling a growing rift within his powerful Fatah party that poses a new threat to his dominance over Palestinian politics.

A breakaway bid by one of Abbas’s party allies has intensified speculation he might cancel a presidential vote planned for July, fearing a potential challenge by Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader jailed

by Israel.

Abbas’s office denies he has plans to delay or scrub the presidential vote.

Barghouti, now 61, was a driving force in Palestinians’ 2000-2005 uprising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was sentenced by an Israeli court in 2004 to life imprisonment after being convicted over multiple lethal attacks on Israelis by Palestinian fighters. Barghouti has always denied the charges.

Abbas, 85, has ruled the Palestinian Authority (PA) in self-rule areas of the West Bank by decree for over a decade. In January, he announced presidential and legislative ballots - a move largely seen as a response to domestic and Western criticism of his presidency’s democratic legitimacy.

Adding to that criticism is Nasser al-Qudwa, a longtime member of Fatah’s top Central Committee who last week announced he was forming a new list that would run separately from Fatah in the legislative election, in May.

“(Palestinians) are fed up with the current situation ... internal behaviour or misbehaviour, things like the absence of the rule of the law, the absence of equality, the absence of fairness,” Qudwa, a nephew of late Fatah founder and Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, told Reuters.

It is rare for leaders on the 19-member Central Committee members to publicly break with Abbas.

Qudwa, 67, said he hoped his list would be led by Barghouti, a Fatah leader long floated as a potential Abbas successor.

Barghouti has not said if he will join the list or run in the presidential ballot. He and his lawyer declined a request to interview him. But opinion polls suggest he would win comfortably against Abbas and leaders from Hamas, the movement that seized control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007.

Aides to Abbas point to the split with Hamas as having contributed to the long delay in holding new elections.

FATAH DISCORD: Abbas has tried to resolve the discord by dispatching a loyalist to visit Barghouti in prison and, through emissaries, preaching party unity after Qudwa announced his new list.

“Fatah, with strength and power, will run united in the upcoming democratic elections to strengthen democracy, maintain the national liberation project and protect Palestinian national unity,” Hussein al-Sheikh, Abbas’ civil affairs minister, wrote on Facebook.

Palestinian officials have privately questioned how Barghouti would contest the elections from

prison and what would happen if he won. Any move to free him would likely ignite a political firestorm in Israel.

Two Western diplomats told Reuters that European countries were urging Abbas not to backtrack on his election pledge.

“There’s concern he (Abbas) might see a middle ground in allowing the legislative elections to go ahead, but postponing or cancelling the presidential election,” one of them said.

Abbas is due on Monday (today) to convene a meeting of Fatah’s Central Committee, where he is expected to formally sanction Qudwa.

Qudwa told Reuters he does not plan to attend committee meetings.

It was not immediately clear how much support Qudwa’s list would garner. About 250 Palestinians joined a Zoom conference call he held last week to announce the move.

The Palestinians’ last parliamentary ballot, in 2006, resulted in a surprise victory by Fatah’s main rival Hamas. That created a rift that deepened when the group wrested military control of Gaza from the Fatah-led PA two years after Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from the territory.

The elections are part of a broader push for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, seen as vital to building broad popular support for any future statehood talks with Israel, frozen since 2014.

Party lists for the legislative ballot are due by March 20.

Monday, 8 March, 2021

SPORTS 11

ISLAMABAD

HoT GupTill leads New ZealaNd To T20 seRies wiN aGaiNsT ausTRalia WeLLington

a

Agencies

CENTURY opening stand by Martin Guptill and Devon Conway saw New Zealand clinch their Twenty20 series against Australia in Wellington on Sunday after the tourists faltered in the face of an experimental spin attack.

Set a target of 143 for victory in the fifth and final match, New Zealand claimed victory by seven wickets and took the series 3-2 with an emphatic 27 balls to spare.

After being comprehensively outplayed in games three and four when batting second, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson knew he had to be innovative to win the series after he lost the toss and was told to bowl first.

He put an emphasis on spin with his slow bowlers sending down 12 overs, the most for New Zealand in a Twenty20 match, and they took four of the eight wickets.

"We just wanted to put out a much-improved performance from the last two and it was great that we could show some signs of improvement," Williamson said.

"Clearly, the slower bowlers on that wicket were a little bit trickier."

Of the spin brigade, Ish Sodhi finished with 3-24 off his four overs, Hong Kongborn Mark Chapman, bowling for the first

time for New Zealand, took 1-9 off two and Mitchell Santner conceded only 21 runs from his four.

Guptill, who had been out of form going into the series, silenced his critics with a masterful 71, including seven fours and four sixes, while Conway contributed 36 with the pair putting on 106 for the first wicket.

New Zealand stumbled slightly when Kane Williamson went first ball but a Guptill single denied Riley Meredith the hattrick.

Glenn Phillips blasted New Zealand home with five fours and two sixes to be unbeaten on 34.

Although a Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland forced the last three matches to be played on the same wicket in Wellington in the space of five days, Australian captain Aaron Finch said it was his side's batting and not a worn pitch that cost the tourists.

"We probably weren't aggressive enough with the bat, myself led that at the top," he said.

"We didnt get enough runs, we kept losing wickets at regular intervals. I thought (the pitch) played pretty well and Mitch Santner bowled beautifully with the new ball and didn't allow us to get away to a flyer."

Matthew Wade top scored for the tourists with 44 while Finch contributed 36 and Marcus Stoinis made 24.

Rublev downs Tsitsipas to play Fucsovics in Rotterdam final

Kvitova crushes Muguruza to win Qatar Open title doHa

RotteRdam

Agencies

Agencies

Andrey Rublev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) on Saturday to advance to the final in Rotterdam and extend his winning run in ATP 500 events to 19 matches. Fourth seed Rublev broke Tsitsipas twice in the opening set and put the second-seeded Greek away with a dominant tie-break to secure victory in 97 minutes. Rublev, through to a fourth straight ATP 500 final, will face Marton Fucsovics after the qualifier from Hungary swept past Borna Coric 6-4, 6-1. World number eight Rublev is bidding for his eighth career title.

The Russian holds a 7-2 record in tour-level finals. “(I play tennis) to play at the best level, to play at the best tournaments, to try to compete, then to go deep and to try to win them,” Rublev said. “A final is always special, so I am going to try to do my best tomorrow.”

Petra Kvitova thrashed Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-1 to win her second Qatar Open title on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Czech needed just over an hour to see off her fellow two-time Grand Slam winner. It was Kvitova’s 28th career title from 38 finals played.

“It’s been a great run – tough conditions,” said Kvitova after her victory.

It followed her Doha title of 2018, which also came at the expense of Muguruza.

“I’m sorry for the second time, I hope we can meet somewhere else,” she added, nodding towards her vanquished

rival. Kvitova has won 20 career matches in Doha, the most of any player, passing Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki on 19.

Muguruza said that “every day is a new match, congrats to Petra with all the conditions – and for a second time she took the title away from me. I can’t wait to come back next year,” added the Spaniard who has lost five times in a row to Kvitova.

Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova served first and went ahead, contending with the blustery conditions that shaped her hard-fought semi-final clash with American Jessica Pegula.

Muguruza had the benefit of a full rest day on Friday as her semi-final opponent Victoria Azarenka withdrew due

to a back injury giving her a walkover into the final.

She has, however, had to contend with remote coaching after Conchita Martinez tested positive for coronavirus on arrival in Doha and has been undertaking her duties by Zoom.

Kvitova clearly relished the chance of another Qatar Open title, the third time she has contested the tournament, saying afterwards that “it feels like home a little bit”.

The pair appeared evenly matched, initially picking up a game apiece. Kvitova fell behind in the third game, succumbing to a testing drop shot.

Muguruza followed that with several unforced errors in her service game allowing Kvitova to briefly go ahead.

Kvitova maintained her momentum, going up 5-2 and reaching set point within 35 minutes.

Muguruza came out fighting in the second set, winning the first game – but it didn’t last. Kvitova let out her trademark shriek when she went up to break point in the third game of the second to Muguruza’s visible frustration, and again when she took advantage. That put the Czech 2-1 up at a critical point as the wind intensified.

Kvitova had to wait for her third break point of the sixth game of the second set to claim another edge.

A double fault on her first championship point did delay the inevitable but Kvitova patiently waited for her week’s work to be rewarded.

Premier League: Arsenal draw with Burnley; Leicester earn comeback win over Brighton to go second London Agencies

Leicester moved into second in the Premier League by coming from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 on Saturday, while Arsenal’s top-four chances now look forlorn after being held 1-1 by Burnley.

Depleted by a series of injuries to key players, Leicester have looked fatigued in recent weeks and fell behind after 10 minutes when Adam Lallana swept home his first Brighton goal.

The Seagulls have made a habit of dominating games without making it count and once again paid for failing to build on their lead as Lallana struck the woodwork and Neal Maupay had a goal ruled out for offside.

Leicester looked lifeless for the first 45 minutes without James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, but they bounced back after the break for a first win in four games.

“First half we weren’t good enough, we didn’t press the game well enough and didn’t

pass it well,” said Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers. “Second half I thought we were brilliant. We stopped them playing, then we showed our quality. By the end we deserved to win.” Youri Tielemans’s brilliant pass unlocked the home defence for Kelechi Iheanacho to coolly dink home the equaliser on 62

minutes. Kasper Schmeichel then denied Lallana again with a fine save before a goalkeeping error at the other end handed Rodgers’s men a vital victory.

Robert Sanchez flapped at Marc Albrighton’s corner and Daniel Amartey headed into the unguarded net.

Leicester now have a seven-point cushion over fifth-placed Everton as they aim to not make the same mistake as last season when they crashed out of the top four at the business end of the campaign. A fifth game without a win leaves Brighton still just three points above the relegation zone.

‘Anything cAn hAppen’: Arsenal’s best hope of a return to the Champions League for the first time in five years now lies in winning the Europa League after letting two more points slip away at Turf Moor.

Mikel Arteta’s men remain in 10th, nine points adrift of the top four and with that gap certain to grow later when fourth plays fifth as Chelsea take on Everton.

Arsenal could not have asked for a better start as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took advantage of some sluggish defending and a slow reaction from England goalkeeper Nick Pope to squeeze home his 14th goal of the season after just six minutes.

Granit Xhaka was stupidly sent off when the sides last met in December in the midst of a run of one win in 10 games that gave Ar-

senal a mountain to climb to get back in the race for a European place.

The Swiss midfielder had another afternoon to forget as six minutes before halftime he inexplicably fired the ball into the midriff of Chris Wood and the ball ricocheted into the net off the New Zealand striker. “If you are giving something to the opponent anything can happen,” said Arteta.

“This is where we have the biggest margin for improvement.”

SAintS Sigh of relief: Southampton ended a nine-game winless run by beating bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 2-0 to move 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men topped the table in November, but a run of one point from a possible 27 had them looking over their shoulders.

However, the Championship-bound Blades proved the perfect opponents for Southampton as James Ward-Prowse’s penalty and Che Adams’s first goal in 17 games earned a long-awaited win.

Monday, 8 March, 2021

Prayer TiMings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:36

12:14

3:07

7:01

5:27

6:52

Third wave feared as coronavirus cases surge ASAD SAYS VACCINATION OF PERSONS ABOVE 60 TO START FROM WEDNESDAY

T

HE Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned on Sunday that the government’s decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions may lead to a third coronavirus wave, as infection figures have been surging again.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Sunday that 1,780 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, the highest daily caseload since January 30. The total number of infections rose to 590,508 with these fresh cases.

The country recorded 39 more deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 13,205. The total count of active cases is 17,352 and the positivity rate stands at 4.57 per cent. According to the NCOC, 1,595 patients were stated to be in critical condition.

In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,038 patients recovered from the virus while so far, the number of recoveries has been 559,248. A total of 38,887 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24

hours, while 9,212,480 samples have so far been tested.

The increase in Covid-19 cases comes after the NCOC, which oversees Pakistan’s coronavirus response, on February 24 eased most of virus-related restrictions, allowing commercial activities and workplaces to function at full strength. “This could lead, God forbid, to a third wave of Covid-19 in the country,” PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad said in a statement. He added that the decision to lift the restrictions now was too hasty and should take place after most Pakistanis have been vaccinated. “We suggested that after vaccination of at least 70 per cent of the population, (the government) could start lifting restrictions,” he further said.

Meanwhile, NCOC chief Asad Umar said on Sunday that vaccination drive for people above 60 years old will begin from Wednesday (March 10), adding that further details for the process will be issued on Monday.

In a tweet, the federal minister said that the vaccinations will be done in reverse

order by age. “The vaccination of people 60 years and older will be starting from Wednesday the 10th of March.”

“Vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. This means the oldest person who has registered will be vaccinated first.

Full details will be issued tomorrow,” read the tweet shared by the minister.

The number of coronavirus cases have almost doubled in a week in Lahore. As per sources in the Punjab health department, the number of daily coronavirus cases in Punjab on February 28 were 528 which have now doubled to 1,044 as of Sunday.

In Peshawar, the civil administration has imposed a micro smart lockdown in several neighbourhoods of Peshawar to halt virus spread. According to a notification, the lockdown came into effect at 6:00pm on Sunday, following which there was a complete ban on movement of people to and from these areas except for limited movement. Essential services are exempted from the ban. The officials said the lockdown is being imposed

in small areas and streets considered Covid19 hotspots.

Sindh reported at least 189 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 259,854. According to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, two more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the death toll surged to 4,426. He further said that 189 patients recovered overnight, taking the total to 249,188.

Wang Yi urges US reset, rejects Xinjiang ‘lies’ ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday said that improvements to Hong Kong’s electoral system were necessary to ensure stability, urged US President Joe Biden to make a “clear departure” from his predecessor’s approach to the Taiwan region and dismissed allegations of genocide in Xinjiang as “a lie through and through.”

Speaking via video-link from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, which was facilitated by the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, Wang covered a wide range of hot issues as he answered questions from journalists of the global media on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC).

Ties between China and the US deteriorated during the Trump administration to a level Wang had previously described as their lowest point since relations were formally established in 1979, but the foreign minister expressed hope that ties could be reset “on a new path of healthy and steady growth.”

He acknowledged that differences and disagreements were inevitable, but urged “candid communication to prevent strategic miscalculation and avoid conflict and confrontation.” “In the interest of the two countries and the whole world, cooperation should be the main goal for both China and the United States,” he added.

Wang noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Biden held a call on Chinese New Year’s Eve, during which the two heads of state “pointed the way forward for bringing the relationship back on track.”

“We are ready to work with the United States to follow through on the outcomes of this important phone call, and set China-US relations on a new path of healthy and steady growth,” Wang said.

“We hope that the United States will move in the same direction and remove all its unreasonable restrictions on bilateral cooperation as early as possible, not create new obstacles.”

On the Iran nuclear deal, Wang urged the United States and Iran to “move forward in a step-by-step and reciprocal manner.”

He called on the US to “demonstrate sincerity” by quickly removing unilateral sanctions and “the

‘long-arm jurisdiction’ on thirdparty entities and individuals.”

He also welcomed the US return to the Paris Climate Agreement, adding that ‘protecting the environment is not a choice to make, but a call we must answer.”

However, he added, the US “has been wilfully interfering in other countries’ internal affairs” in a way that has sometimes led to “turbulence and conflict” – he warned peace in the world will remain elusive unless the US recognises this.

COVID SOLIDARITY: The backdrop of the press conference was the Covid-19 pandemic, and Wang highlighted China’s efforts to offer assistance to countries around the world.

“Everyone is obligated to help those in need even if there is only one case of infection left,” the foreign minister said, adding that “whether it is a Chinese vaccine or not, it is a good vaccine so long as it is safe and effective.”

‘CHAOS TO STABILITY’ IN HKSAR: Wang reiterated the words of other top officials at the Two Sessions, calling on Hong Kong to be governed by patriots and stressing a need to improve the special administrative region’s electoral system.

Chinese lawmakers began deliberating a draft decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Friday at the fourth session of the 13th NPC. “The move to improve Hong Kong’s electoral system and ensure ‘patriots administering Hong Kong’ is necessitated by the need to advance ‘One Country, Two Systems” cause and maintain long-term stability in Hong Kong,” Wang said.

“It is a constitutional power and responsibility of the NPC, and is totally constitutional, lawful and justified.”

“How can we expect someone who does not love his motherland to truly love Hong Kong? Loving Hong Kong and loving the motherland are consistent requirements.”

The foreign minister said that a “shift from chaos to stability fully” benefits both Hong Kong residents and foreign investors, adding that “we have the confidence to usher in a brighter future for Hong Kong.”

NO COMPROMISE ON TAIWAN: While addressing the Taiwan issue, Wang stressed that the region is an inalienable part of China and the two sides of the Taiwan Straits “must be and will surely be reunified.”

He went on to urge the United

States to abide by the one-China principle, warning that “on the Taiwan question there is no room for compromise.” “The one-China principle is the political foundation of the China-US relationship, a red line that should not be crossed,” the foreign minister said. “On the Taiwan question, there is no room for compromise or concession from the Chinese government.”

The foreign minister went on to urge the Biden administration to mark a “clear departure” from the previous White House’s approach to Taiwan.

“We hope the new US administration will appreciate the great sensitivity of the Taiwan question and will abide by the one-China principle and the three Sino-US communique.

“We would hope to see a clear departure from the previous administration’s dangerous practice of crossing the red line and playing with fire, and we hope that the Taiwan question will be handled prudently and properly,” he maintained.

XINJIANG ‘LIES’: Wang forcefully dismissed claims of genocide in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, saying they “couldn’t be more preposterous.”

“Speaking of genocide,” he said in response to a question about the allegations, “many people would have in their minds the Native Americans of the 16th century, African slaves of the 19th century, the Jewish people of the 20th century and the aboriginal Australians who are still struggling even today.

“The claim that there is genocide in Xinjiang couldn’t be more preposterous. It is just a rumour fabricated with ulterior motives, and a lie through and through.”

The Uygur population has grown rapidly, Wang said, criticising people who make comments about Xinjiang but have never visited the region to see it for their own eyes.

“Some Western politicians chose to believe in the lies made up by a few, instead of listening to the voice of 25 million Xinjiang residents of various ethnic groups. They chose to dance with the few antiChina elements in their clumsy dramas, instead of acknowledging the progress in Xinjiang.

“This only shows that they do not care about the truth. They are only interested in political manoeuvring, and creating the so-called Xinjiang issue to undermine security and stability in Xinjiang and hold back China’s development.”

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

Punjab’s tally for confirmed Covid-19 cases reached 177,008 after the province reported 1,044 cases in a day. The province had not reported over 1,000 cases in a day since July last year.

Moreover, Punjab also reported 18 more deaths on Saturday, taking the provincial death toll to 5,552. According to the province’s healthcare department, it has so far recorded 164,989 recoveries. agencies