EpaperISB_21-06-7

Monday, 7 June, 2021 I 26 Shawwal, 1442 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XI No 337 I 48 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Federal minister hits back at sindh cm over ‘political statement’ g

AsAd UmAr reiterAtes Centre’s Commitment to sindh’s developmen

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Uggesting that sindh Chief murad Ali shah isn’t interested in answers, and reiterating the federal government’s commitment to development, Federal minister for planning Asad Umar slammed the provincial chief executive over his “political statement” about alleged bias in sindh’s development. on saturday, Cm murad had written a letter to prime minister imran Khan, wherein he had urged him reconsider the proposed public sector development programme, which he termed as lopsided as it was “detrimental” to the interests of the people in sindh. he had claimed that the province was treated with “abject bias” since the pakistan tehreek-e-insaf government had come to power in the Centre. the federal minister responded to the chief minister via a video address on sunday and said that he would have gotten his answers if he had waited for monday’s national economic Council meeting “but maybe he isn’t interested in the answers and wanted to give a political statement”.

he said that if the allocations set aside for federal projects in sindh in the last three years of the previous government were compared to the incumbent government’s three years then there was an increase of more than 32 percent. “the amount set aside for projects in sindh in psdp 2021-22, which will be presented before the neC tomorrow and hopefully approved, is a record amount. never before in pakistan’s annual development programme have so many projects been set for sindh.” he hit out at Cm murad and alleged he was “confused” and couldn’t differentiate between the people of the province and the provincial government. “Chief minister sahab you are definitely [a part of] sindh’s government but you are not sindh’s masses and we have to spend money on sindh’s people, not the government,” Asad said. he claimed that previously, funds sent to the provincial government had instead been diverted to other purposes such as accumulating properties and assets instead of being spent on sindh and the people of the province were aware about this. he added that prime minister imran Khan had within one year announced two

historic development packages for sindh which covered rural and urban areas with a total of 18 districts being covered under the two packages. the federal minister said that development projects of the federal government and other federal institutions in sindh amounted to more than rs1,000 billion which would be spent in a period of three years. “never before has any federal government in history spent so much money in sindh,” he added. “i want to satisfy sindh’s masses that imran Khan is not the prime minister of any region but the whole country and he does not do biased politics,” the federal minister said, adding that various projects had already been inaugurated in sindh and work would now be carried out at greater speed. “the people of sindh will be served and no one will be allowed to come in the way.”

Asad also reiterated and gave details on various major development projects underway in sindh: the federal government had taken responsibility for the K-iv water supply project and money was being spent on it Billions of rupees were being spent and more would be spent to complete work on Karachi’s nullahs by next year the green line bus rapid transit system project would be complete by september more than rs6.5bn are set aside for sukkur electric power Company more than rs5bn for hyderabad electric supply Company A vast amount of rs8bn for sindh’s universities Funds for various canals, small dams and water projects the federal minister also addressed the motorway projects undertaken in the province and said the federal government completed the multan-sukkur motorway project. he added that it was further spending a “vast amount” from the viability gap Fund for the hyderabad-sukkur motorway.

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Pakistan ‘moving forward’ as active Covid-19 cases fall to three-month low ISLAMABAD staff report

the country was “moving forward” in its fight against the pandemic, the Foreign office said as active coronavirus cases were recorded below 50,000 for the first time in more than two months. the update was released by national Command and operation Centre which suggested that the contagion rate remained well below 4 percent for a fourth consecutive day. “due to effective policies & timely interventions the #Covid19 positivity ratio in [pakistan] drops to 3.1%, lowest since current wave of the pandemic started.”

Foreign office spokesperson Zahid hafeez Chaudhri said in a tweet. “total active cases in the country are down to 47764. heartening to see #pakistanmovingForward in its fight against the pandemic,” he added. the total caseload of active cases reached 47,764 after 1,629 more people tested positive for the disease, the data showed. meanwhile, 2,726 patients re-

covered from the disease during the last 24 hours, the nCoC said in its daily update. the nCoC said that 76 patients, 74 of them in hospitals, died of the pandemic during the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide toll to 21,265. of the active cases, 3,734 patients were under treatment at various dedicated healthcare facilities. 3,452 patients were in critical care, including 424 on ventilators. the body announced that the national positivity rate during the last 24 hours was 3.10 percent.

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Making vaccination mandatory, Sindh allows businesses to operate till 8pm STORY ON PAGE 02

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Monday, 7 June, 2021

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MakInG vaccInatIon Mandatory, SIndh allowS BuSIneSSeS to operate tIll 8pM

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USINESSES in Sindh have been allowed to remain open till 8pm instead of 6pm, however, it is now mandatory for the staff of all shops and markets to be vaccinated against coronavirus.

In a meeting of the provincial task force on Covid-19, which was held with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in the chair, it was decided that educational institutions for grade nine and above would open from Monday. “The vaccination certificates of shops’ staff will be checked after 15 days,” a statement quoted the chief minister as saying.

It is worth mentioning here that this directive follows Karachi’s trade-related associations’ decision to defy the provincial government’s restrictions regarding opening of markets and shops beyond 6pm and announced that they would open all their businesses till 8pm from Saturday.

Sunday’s Covid task force meeting also decided that restaurants would be allowed to remain open for outdoor dining until midnight while ensuring social distancing between diners.

Marriage halls and outdoor weddings will be allowed after two weeks, while

SchoolS in Sindh to remain cloSed until further orderS: Ghani KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani clarified that schools across the province will not be opening from Monday. His statement comes hours after Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced to open schools after vaccinating all teachers. In an earlier meeting, the National Command and Operations Centre also issued instructions to keep all educational institutions in Sindh closed until June 7. Ghani said schools will remain closed until further orders, adding that the steering committee will hold a meeting within the next few days to decide on the matter. “The meeting will take into consideration the coronavirus situation in the province and will decide whether or not educational institutions should be reopened,” he said. He announced that the steering committee will also finalise the examination schedule. Last week, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said the provincial government will not reopen schools until it was certain that coronavirus cases in the province were on a decline. “Schools will remain closed until we (the Sindh government) are certain that the numbers (of coronavirus cases) are decreasing and won’t increase,” she had said. Pechuho had said that despite the efforts of the government, people are still hesitant to get themselves vaccinated. The health minister had also said Sindh would ease restriction once people start getting themselves inoculated but said that the positivity ratio in Karachi was still high.

Seperately, Murad also said to relax Covid-19 restrictions. Speaking to reporters after inaugurating Covid vaccination at Expo Centre, he said that the provincial task force on coronavirus will meet later today to discuss the relaxing of restrictions. He further said the pandemic was far from over, urging the people to continue strict adherence to the health guidelines. Staff RepoRt

beauty salons will also be allowed to reopen with SOPs. The meeting also gave the green light to reopen Sea View and other beaches.

The meeting was informed that the positivity rate in Karachi on June 5 was 8.5 percent, while it was 12.45pc on June 1. The positivity in Hyderabad on June 5 was 11.06pc.

It was told that there were currently 79 patients on ventilators in Karachi and two in

Shaheed Benazirabad.

During the meeting, Chief Minister Murad gave the target to the provincial health department to vaccinate 18 million people within the next three months.

Earlier in the day, Murad announced that all teaching and non-teaching staff at educational institutions would have to be vaccinated if schools were to reopen.

He said all shopkeepers would also have to get vaccinated and keep proofs of their

vaccination at their shops.

Murad made these announcements at the inauguration ceremony of a Covid-19 vaccination facility at the Expo Centre in Karachi. The announcements came in the wake of Sindh reporting 722 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths. The total number of cases in the province now stands at 323,072 and the death toll has risen to 5,116.

Earlier this week, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho had said schools in the

province would remain closed until the government was certain that coronavirus cases were on the decline.

“This is a numbers game. We have to proceed with caution until the numbers improve and don’t want to risk the lives of our children, their parents and relatives,” she maintained.

On May 19, the National Command and Operation Centre had allowed the staggered reopening of educational institutions from May 24 in districts where the positivity rate was less than five per cent.

Speaking about vaccination today, Chief Minister Murad said around 15,000 people would be inoculated at the newly inaugurated vaccination facility.

“We want to vaccinate as many people as possible,” he added, announcing that his government would be opening more vaccination centres in the province.

Stressing the importance of vaccination, Shah said, “We are now among countries that are on the [Covid-19 travel] red list.”

He said 70 per cent of Sindh Police personnel had been vaccinated and the provincial government had issued instructions for administering the first dose of vaccine to government employees in June.

Murad once again warned that government employees refusing to be vaccinated would not be paid their salaries from July, and recommended that businesses in the private sector should also introduce such conditions for their employees.

The chief minister lauded frontline health workers on the occasion and appealed to citizens to cooperate with the authorities so that Covid-19 could be controlled as soon as possible.

Govt can’t use IMF as ruse to hide its economic failure: Bilawal ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari has said that the ruling government has put nation’s pride at stake by signing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on strict conditions, emphasizing that the government cannot hide its failure to control inflation by putting blame on the international lender. In a statement released in Karachi on Sunday, the PPP chairman hit hard at the ineffective economic policies of the government and said that the government had put the nation’s pride at stake by agreeing to the tough conditions of IMF. He said the government wanted to conceal his economic ineptness by putting blame on the IMF for unbridled inflation in the country.

“If India could overcome inflation by 4.20 percent and Bangladesh could do the same by 5.54 per cent, during the Covid pandemic; why was the ratio 10.9 percent in Pakistan?” he asked. He lamented that the mafia working under Prime Minister Imran Khan had raised the chicken meat prices 110 percent. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf elite had earned profit of billions of rupees after raising chicken meat prices. Now the same profiteers are bringing the chicken prices down and claiming credit for that, he lambasted. Bilawal said people were getting poorer and PM Khan was planning to dole out billions of rupees on PTI parliamentarians. He said during the worst economic crisis the country was facing right now, giving Rs96 billion to PTI lawmakers was an anti-people move. The PPP chief observed that a common man did not have money, criticising the premier for “planning to hand over billions to PTI lawmakers in the forthcoming budget”. “Instead of handing out billions to those elected through rigging, the premier should spend money from the exchequer on people’s welfare,” the PPP chief maintained.

LAHORE: Citizens spend their Sunday at Shalamar Bagh in the provincial capital after authorities relax lockdown restrictions. onLine

Govt, opp flex muscles as budget session starts ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR

The National Assembly is all set to meet on Monday, about four days ahead of the laying of the Finance Bill for the upcoming year of 2021-22.

President Dr Arif Alvi has summoned the National Assembly session under article-54 (Clause-1) of the constitution, which will continue till the end of the passage of the finance bill. Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar will chair the critical session. This session will prorogue sine die by the end of the current month, as the government will carry out detailed debate on its budgetary proposals and will try to get the budget passed from both houses of the parliament.

Usually, the National Assembly session called in the month of June is considered as a ‘budget session’ as it is extended till the completion of legislative business on the finance bill. The government has planned to present the federal budget [Finance Bill 2021-22] on June 11.

A separate short debate and voting on cut-motions

of all the ministries, submitted by the opposition parties would be part of the budget session.

The members of the Parliament from different constituencies would be arriving in the federal capital to participate in the budget session, as per instructions conveyed to them by their party heads.

On the other hand, the opposition will highlight the issue of inflation in the country. The NA will likely witness uproar during the proceedings of the budgetary session. The first day – dealing with a presentation of the budget – and the last day – passage of the finance bill – will likely witness fiery speeches, sloganeering in the house mainly from the opposition benches.

Likewise, the government members will avoid unnecessary debate or point-scoring with the opposition as the main focus will be the smooth passage of the federal budget 2021-22.

PTI BETTER PLACED TO GET FINANCE BILL PASSED FROM NA: PTI is better placed to comfortably get the finance bill passed in the National Assembly. The ruling party, with the strength of 156

members, enjoys the support of its six coalition partners from different provinces. Muttahida Qaumi Movement, with its seven members, has assured the ruling party of its support in passing the budgetary proposals. Pakistan Muslim League, considered the closest ally of the ruling party, has also assured the PTI of giving all its five votes to the government for the upcoming budget.

Balochistan Awami Party with its five MNAs and Grand Democratic Alliance with three members would also support the passage of the finance bill 2021.

However, the opposition may get the upper hand in the Senate. The parliamentary political factions, before the presentation of the federal budget, will start holding parleys to evolve their strategies for the most important session of the NA in the financial year.

While Prime Minister Imran Khan has completed lobbying with his party lawmakers and the government allies, the opposition parties have also been exchanging notes to help block the finance bill. It would be all over for PM Imran if the opposition is able to pull a surprise and block the finance bill.

eu funding capacity building for parliamentary effectiveness: ambassador ISLAMABAD app

European Union Ambassador in Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said the body continued to support Islamabad in its efforts to strengthen governance in the country.

To materialise the concept of good governance, the Union would fund a parliamentary project for capacity building of Pakistan’s legislators, she added.

Speaking with the Associated Press of Pakistan, Kaminara said the EU would allocate €9 million, which would be utilised to strengthen the functioning of public service offices in terms of building capacity regarding the parliamentary core mandates of legislation, oversight, budget and representation.

The three-year project, to be implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, a German development agency, in

collaboration with the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services, would work with the National Assembly, the Senate and the provincial assemblies.

Kaminara said: “The EU has been a steadfast supporter of democratic progress in Pakistan for many years and with today’s signature we enter the most ambitious phase of our support yet, focusing, for the first time, assemblies at the national and provincial levels at the same time. Good governance is the backbone of human and democratic development and plays a crucial role in poverty alleviation.”

The envoy said the new project would respond to the priorities of the Pakistan-EU Strategic Engagement Plan, 2019 — specifically to the joint priority “democracy, rule of law, good governance and human rights” — and was financed under the EU’s development cooperation priorities from 2014-2020.

Both strategic roadmaps supported the

implementation of Vision 2025 and helped achieve the strategic development goals set by the United Nations in its Agenda 2030, she added. The ambassador said the EU would continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty, increase education, promote good governance, rule of law and ensure sustainable management of natural resources. She lauded the services rendered by both GIZ and PIPS for capacity building in the national institutions and expressed her satisfaction in launching the project.

GIZ Country Director for Pakistan Tobias Becker, in a statement, said: “We are honoured that the Consortium of GIZ and PIPS has been entrusted by the EU Delegation and the Government of Pakistan, with the implementation of this highly significant project to support the strengthening of democratic governance, and to work with the honourable members of Parliament and institutions that shape legislation and pave the way for the future human and democratic development of our partner country.”

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Imran In talks WIth countrIes to resolve chIna vaccIne certIfIcate Issue: rasheed ISLAMABAD

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inisTeR for interior sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on sunday said Prime Minister imran Khan was personally handling the matter of saudi Arabia and other Middle east countries not accepting the certificate of the Chinese coronavirus vaccines.

Despite its quick and responsive supply chain, Chinese vaccines are not seen as effective by the european Union and saudi Arabia who barred travellers who have been vaccinated with Chinese vaccines, leaving out the biggest groups of foreign visitors in the regions.

Last week, Riyadh updated its travel restrictions, which included requirements to take Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson in order to enter the

country, leaving out China’s five vaccines, including the widely used sinovac and sinopharm. speaking to reporters in islamabad, Rasheed said imran had informed the cabinet that he was in talks with leaders of the respective countries on the matter.

His statement comes days after Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar had announced the government would prioritise pilgrims and people travelling abroad for work or study for the PfizerBionTech jabs due to the limited quantities of it available in the country.

Pakistan received the first batch of over 100,000 jabs of the Pfizer vaccine under the COVAX facility — which aims to help poorer countries fight the pandemic — late last month. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan approved the drug days later on June 1. Umar had also warned that countries

not accepting vaccination certificates of China-manufactured jabs would turn out to be a problem for the entire world, as the world is fast becoming ever more reliant on Beijing for vaccines, if a decision was not taken on the issue at the global level. “if every country makes it mandatory for visitors to be inoculated by their choice of vaccine [brands], the entire world would suffer,” he said, observing that Chinese jabs were the most exported brands in the world at present. expressing similar views on sunday, Rasheed said: “sinopharm is a very good vaccine.”

The vaccination rollout is picking up momentum but vaccine hesitancy and a lax attitude of the people to health guidelines could hamper the fight against the pandemic.

Pakistan, despite being the world’s fifthmost populous country, has reported

relatively low rates in terms of severity and deaths. Today, Rasheed said Pakistan fared better than other countries in the region in terms of vaccination and particularly compared the situation in Pakistan with that in india, where he said one would come across signboards saying “no vaccination for seven days”, implying empty vaccine stocks.

“There is no signboard in Pakistan saying ‘no vaccination’,” he said.

He also pointed out that more people were willing to get vaccinated now and previously, there was “propaganda against vaccination” in the country.

The government launched a nationwide vaccination drive, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March.

The drive began with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80, and worked its way down.

Battling a third peak of the virus, the

PM thanks Chinese president for strong environmental message newS DeSk Prime Minister imran Khan took to Twitter on sunday to thank Chinese President Xi for the latter’s strong message on World environment Day, which had been hosted by Pakistan this year. “i thank [Chinese] President Xi’s strong message on World environment Day 2021 hosted by [Pakistan] reflecting our commitment to counter environment degradation. We laud Pres Xi’s ldrship in combatting climate change & biodiversity loss & his offer to step up cooperation on ecosystem restoration,” he said on the popular micro-blogging site.

A day earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the international community to work together with unprecedented ambition and action to strive for a fair and reasonable system of global environmental governance, featuring win-win cooperation, and to promote the sustainable development of humanity.

Xi made these remarks in a congratulatory letter to the World environment Day events held in islamabad.

The event was hosted by Pakistan and addressed by Prime Minister imran Khan and others.

“The international community should work together with unprecedented ambition and action to strive for a fair and reasonable system of global environmental governance featuring win-win cooperation and promote the sustainable development of humanity,” said the letter received from Beijing.

Xi pointed out that the Chinese civilisation has

always valued harmony between humans and nature, and that ecological conservation has been incorporated into China’s overall plan for building socialism with Chinese characteristics. separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on sunday also appreciated Prime Minister imran for starting the 10 Billion Trees Tsunami project to deal with climate change. in his message on World environment Day, Johnson said that climate change is driven once again by our actions and the way we treat the natural world. He urged the countries to redouble efforts to control the rise in temperature.

He saluted PM imran for promising to plant 10 billion trees to tackle climate change and also vowed to start a Pakistan-like plantation drive in the United Kingdom. On Thursday, Prime Minister imran Khan said through future green financing, Pakistan was proud to take a lead in the conservation of ecological systems and ensure a secure and livable environment for its coming generations.

Addressing an event on green financing innovations organised by the Ministry of Climate Change in connection with World environment Day, the prime minister said it was high time for Pakistan to value its natural resources to combat the consequences of climate change. imran on the occasion witnessed the issuance of a joint statement by the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany to engage in a dialogue on the modalities of Pakistan’s first nature performance green bond.

The bond will be developed by a consortium of financial advisers, thereby creating an enabling environment for private sector finances and non-

traditional development partners to play their role in sustainable development.

Also, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the government and China’s elion Group to pilot green ecological zones in the Cholistan desert on the Kabuqi model of turning deserts into green areas.

Prime Minister imran also lauded the initiative of the green bond, saying saving forests particularly mangroves, and urban plantation was urgently needed for Pakistan. The world, he said, was now realising that ruthless wastage of natural resources was resulting in disastrous consequences for mankind.

He said though Pakistan’s contribution to global carbon emissions was less than one percent, it was among the ten highest vulnerable countries facing the risks of climate change.

He mentioned that fast-melting glaciers were a major threat to the climate and said his government has launched several green initiatives including the billion tree tsunami to tame the consequences of global warming. imran said Pakistan was committed to spearheading innovative nature preservation and biodiversity initiatives and the green stimulus package.

He mentioned that the preservation of natural resources was taught to mankind by the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) 1,500 years ago, which was relevant even today. Minister for Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said Pakistan was blessed to realise its enormous blue carbon asset through a study conducted by the World Bank.

kartarpur corridor reopens for pilgrims, visitors LAHORE: Kartarpur sahib Corridor reopened gates for pilgrims on sunday after a four-week hiatus to stop the spread of the indian variant of Covid-19 in Pakistan, and visitors started visiting the religious site, authorities said. The authorities notified the reopening of the site asking the pilgrims to follow the coronavirus guidelines. Punjab Rangers chief inspected the site in a helicopter. He also reviewed the security arrangements and consulted the administration. The corridor was inaugurated

by Prime Minister imran Khan in 2019, days before the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of sikhism, Baba Guru nanak. The corridor introduced visa-free access from india to the town of Kartarpur, home to Gurdwara Darbar sahib Kartarpur that marks the site where Baba Guru nanak died. StAff REPoRt

The United states mobilised an airlift of critical health supplies that arrived in islamabad saturday to help the country combat the coronavirus outbreak, Voice of America reported.

The donation includes tens of thousands of “critically needed and requested” personal protective items for healthcare professionals, hundreds of oximeters and other supplies, the Us embassy said.

“Today, the United states continues our proud partnership with the government of Pakistan in our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” American Chargé d’affaires Lesslie Viguerie said in a press

Police arrest accused for crushing head constable under range rover LAHORE: Lahore police has registered a case against Hamza Javed, a citizen who deliberately crushed a policeman under his vehicle, while the accused has also been arrested, Pakistan Today has learnt. According to details, Javed was also trying to get a room in Avari Hotel by posing himself as a senior officer of a sensitive agency. However, according to the FiR received by Pakistan Today, a case was registered against Hamza Javed at the instigation of Munawar Khan, head constable, Civil Lines Police station, in which he stated that he (Munawar Khan) along with his fellow Constable Ashiq Ali had gone to Governor House.

While patrolling the area, he was informed that Javed was demanding a room from the hotel manager at the Avari Hotel near the Governor’s House, posing himself as a senior official of a sensitive agency. However, Khan added that the situation became suspicious when Javed was asked if he was really a senior official of a sensitive agency. When Khan asked Javed for details, the latter said that he was a resident of Faisalabad.

However, Khan found the situation suspicious and controlled Javed with his companion and took him to the police station along with his Range Rover numbered MH1. According to Khan, his accomplice was coming along with his motorbike and as soon as the vehicle reached the Civil Lines Police station, Javed grabbed an iron rod from inside the vehicle and threatened to kill Khan. According to Khan, he had been abducted and Javed drove away at high speed and threatened Khan to stay with him. Khan further said in the FiR that as soon as the vehicle approached the Muslim Town underpass, Hamza deliberately asked Khan to get off first on the left side and then on the right side of the canal and as soon as Khan got down, Javed reversed the car and climbed on Khan and tried to kill him. However, Javed had crushed Khan under the vehicle, as a result of which Khan’s right leg was broken from the shin and the accused had fled the scene with his vehicle. Meanwhile, Khan’s accompanying constable Ashiq Ali, who was in pursuit of the vehicle, had reached the spot and rescued Khan and rushed him to the services Hospital in a critical condition. The police has registered the FiR under sections 324, 365, 506, 279 and 170. Javed later tried to flee the scene and reached near Barkat Market, according to the police, a motorbike was stuck under his vehicle and due to a petrol leak from bike, the vehicle caught fire and the vehicle was completely burnt to ashes. On this occasion, the police arrested Javed. ShAhAb omER

Walkathon to create awareness against tax evasion

US sends health supplies to combat Covid-19 MonItorIng report

Health Department began the campaign with Chinese sinopharm and Cansino jabs.

Private hospitals in major cities are also using the Russian sputnik-V vaccine that has been imported by a local pharmaceutical company. initially, the government had to deal with vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supplies and had limited shots to people aged 30 or over.

But with purchases from China and allocations from the World Health Organisation and the GAVi Vaccine Alliance, the government has now secured more than 18 million doses and is keen to get them out into the population.

The health authorities have administered 8.2 million vaccine doses with supplies from three Chinese companies — sinopharm, sinovac and Cansinbio — and the OxfordAstraZeneca shots.

statement.

“Pakistan is not alone in its fight against the coronavirus,” Viguerie said.

Washington has allocated more than $40 million to islamabad for Covid-19 response assistance, including a donation of 200 ventilators, to care for those suffering from the disease.

The support, Us officials said, has benefited more than 2.5 million people across the country, providing life-saving treatment, strengthening case-finding and surveillance, and mobilizing innovative financing to bolster emergency preparedness.

Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said his government “greatly appreciates” Us

assistance.

“This timely gesture is part of the continued assistance that the Us has provided to Pakistan to support our Covid relief and prevention efforts,” Chaudhri said.

Pakistan has reported more than 21,000 deaths among at least 930,000 cases of coronavirus infections since the pandemic hit the country of about 220 million early last year. islamabad recently received 1.2 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 100,000 Pfizer doses under the United nations-backed COVAX program launched to support the purchase and delivery of Covid19 vaccine to 92 low- and middle-income countries.

ISLAMABAD: A fresh new sight was seen on the roads of the capital. A peaceful and fun walkathon, HumQadm, was arranged by Behtar Pakistan, a think tank, to create awareness against the tax evasion especially in the cigarettes industry. Almost every third cigarette has illicit origins. Local illegal cigarettes manufacturers are making an economic dent of almost Rs 70 billion every year. This walkathon was from the bus chowk to the express chowk on Jinnah Avenue. Participants were made aware of how illicit cigarette manufacturers evade taxes and annually cost the national exchequer billions. Multiple celebrities including politicians, showbiz stars, media, civil society along with the general public from all walks of life took part in this awareness walk against the blatant violations minimum price and tax laws by local illicit manufacturers and actively voiced their concerns over the need to plug this huge tax evasion.

According to data shared with the participants, of the total cigarette sector, only two companies which have a market share of 60%, pay 98% of total taxes to the national exchequer. The remaining 40% of the market, captured by illicit cigarette manufacturers pay only 2% of total taxes. PRESS RELEASE

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Sindh raiSeS waTer defiCiT ClaMour S NEWS DESK

INDH is facing an acute water shortage that might hit its paddy and cotton sowing efforts resulting in less per capita yield, Sindh Minister for Local Government, Information, Religious Affairs and Forests Nasir Hussain Shah said during his media talk on Sunday.

The Sindh government serious problem, he said is confronting right now is the shortage of water, urging the Indus River System Authority to give equal share of water to all the provinces when everybody is facing a water deficit.

Shah, during his media talk on Sunday, termed the water shortage the gravest threat to the province. He said Sindh was given 35

percent less water than its due share.

He said IRSA declared that Sindh would be awarded same apportionment of water as other provinces were getting. But despite our severe protest, IRSA only made announcement and failed to take any practical measures in this regard, the minister said.

Shah said every Sindhi man was worried at the biased attitude that was being adopted towards Sindh. He said if there was deficit of water then this shortage should be borne by every federating unit equally. He added this year water shortage was more acute than the previous years.

The minister claimed that Sindh was providing Balochistan its water share. He objected to the water regulatory body’s decision to cut 35 percent share of water

of other provinces in order to provide water to one province.

He lamented that though IRSA promised equal water distribution to provinces but it did not act upon it. He said farmers were protesting in Sindh.

He said the Sindh government was wrongfully blamed for the delay of K-IV water supply project which is pending for the last 19 years. He said the Frontier Works Organization was dealing with KVI tender. The minister said that Sindh contributes 35 percent share of cotton yield to the total agri produce. Under the direction of Supreme Court, six hydrants are running, he said adding that people were arrested on the pretext of water theft during crackdowns.

He said Karachi was expanding. Peo-

ple from all over the country are settling down in Karachi. He said his government never stopped water of any locality.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail also said on Sunday that the water shortage could be tackled by indulging in massive tree plantation campaign in the province. He said the province was facing water shortage and the government needed to boost tree plantation drive to overcome this crisis.

Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Raho also raised water issue on Saturday saying due to water shortage crops of cotton, rice and sugarcane were being affected adversely. He said the province could not meet the target. He also said the province could meet only 70 percent target of cotton adding that there was 70% water shortage at Kotri barrage. He re-

jected federal government’s three-tier formula saying if it was in the interest of federal government, they would come out with a three-tier formula. The provincial minister said if the federal government would destroy institutions and forcefully imposed its decisions then we were left with no option but to protest. He said PPP was raising water issue at every forum.

The rice belt at Larkana is also facing dearth of water. For sowing of paddy in Larkana, 10,000 cusecs water used to release for the crop but this year the growers could not sow rice due to water shortage.

Kambar district is also in the throes of water crisis. Since no water is coming from canals, farmers are using waterwheels driven by camels to lift water for irrigation.

eighT killed, Six injured aS Carry van fallS inTo gorge in ManSehra MANSEHRA INP

At least eight people of one family, including women and children, were killed and six others were injured when a vehicle into a gorge on Sunday. According to details, the accident took place on Lassan Nawab Road near Gojra Bridge in Mansehra where driver of a carrying van lost control on steering of vehicle due to over loading and it fell down into ravine at bank of River Siran. Eight people of the same family – driver Wazir Muhammad s/o Dost Muhammad, Muhammad Ayaz s/o Ali Bahadur, oneyear-old Ayan Ali s/o Sarfraz, one-month-old Irrum d/o Sarfraz, Muhammad Parvez s/o Ghulam Jilani, MrsFareeda w/o Muhammad Ayas, MrsShaheen w/o Sarfraz and MrsNageena w/o Muhammad – were killed in the accident while Muhammad Amjad, Shehnaz Bibi, Anaya Bibi, Arslan, Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Nawaz were injured. The deceased and the injured were shifted to Phulra Hospital where injured were referred to King Abdullah Hospital Mansehra where according to hospital sources condition of some wounded people was serious.

MoTher killed, Son injured in Sheikhupura buS-bike ColliSon SHEIKHUPURA INP

A woman was killed and her son critically injured when an over speeding passenger bus hit a motorcycle on Sunday, rescue sources said. According to details, a reckless driven passenger bus knocked down a motorcycle carrying two people near DherdeMorr Town of Sheikhupura. Shehnaz Bibi, 66, was killed on the spot while her son Sajjad, 36, was critically injured in the accident. The bus driver fled the scene of accident. The deceased and the injured were shifted to hospital. The police impounded the bus and after registering a case against driver at large started an investigation.

ISLAMABAD: A view of the newly-installed portrait of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the provincial c capital. c INP

SC to hear Zardari, FaryalTalpur’s plea to transfer graft cases on Tuesday ISLAMABAD APP

Supreme Court of Pakistan has set the hearing of a petition from former President and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister FaryalTalpur seeking to shift their graft cases to Sindh province on Tuesday.

Both Asif Ali Zardari and FaryalTalpur have reached out to the apex court to get their cases transferred to the

Karachi from Islamabad as the latter was facing a single reference against her while the former was facing trial in five NAB references.

A three-member special bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising of Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah will hear the case on June 8. The Supreme Court has issued notices for the hearing to the NAB and other respondents in the case.

On November 3, Asif Ali Zardari approached the

SC, requesting the court to transfer the graft cases filed against him by the NAB from Accountability Court Islamabad to similar courts in Karachi where he lives.

He stated in his plea that he can’t appear in Accountability Courts in Islamabad due to his illness as he was suffering from various ailments and had been critically ill. He said the cases were being heard in Islamabad courts despite the fact that all the accused persons, witnesses and documents are from Karachi.

SC to take up appeal of Mir Shakil on Thursday ISLAMABAD APP

LAHORE: Citizens enjoy a train ride as Greater Iqbal Park opens for public. c ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

The Supreme Court will take up on Thursday (June 10) the appeal of Jang-Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman against an order passed by the Lahore High Court. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice MushirAlam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan would hear the case. On previous hearing of the case the court had issued a notice to prosecutor NAB and had called the report from the trial court so as to the status and progress made in the matter. According to NAB, Petitioner Mir Shakeel got composite block in M.A. Johar Town-II, Lahore of 54 Kanal land along with two streets/roads in violation of exemption policy of Lahore Development Authority in league with his co-accused and cause loss of Rs143,530,000 to public exchequer.

drug addiCT ShooTS dead Sleeping faTher in karaChi KARACHI INP

A 22-year-old addict of dangerous ‘ice’ drug shot dead his father while he was sleeping in the Shah Faisal Nasir Khan area of Karachi on Sunday. The accused used a licenced pistol to shoot his father twice while he was sleeping at home.

The accused after killing his father, Nasir Khan, managed to escape from the scene along with the murder weapons. The police said that the accused, Nadir Khan, was addicted to the drug ‘ice’.

Monday, 7 June, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

Pandemic Paves way foR anotheR cRisis looming on indian hoRizon — hungeR

R

ASheeDA Jaleel lives in fear that she may not be able to feed her seven children as millions of Indian families are forced into poverty by a devastating new coronavirus wave.

The 40-year-old, her husband Abdul Jaleel, 65, and the children already survive on just one meal a day.

“When we are hungry and thirsty, I feel very helpless and worry how am I going to survive like this,” Jaleel told AFP as she made roti — flatbread — for the solitary meal in their tiny New Delhi flat.

“We manage with whatever my husband is able to earn. If it's not enough, I stay hungry so I can feed my children.”

The coronavirus has killed 160,000 in eight weeks, overwhelmed hospitals and shut many businesses in India. experts warn that another crisis is looming, with rising levels of hunger among poor Indians already reeling from a first lockdown last year.

“It's a double crisis that the poor in the country are facing — there is the health crisis and there is also an economic crisis,” Anjali Bhardwaj from the Right to Food Campaign told AFP. “We have had a huge health crisis unfolding... and many have had to spend their life savings on trying to provide medical aid to their families.”

Around 230 million Indians fell into poverty — defined as living on less than 375 Indian rupees per day — in the first year of the pandemic, according to a study

by Bangalore's Azim Premji University.

'WE HAVE NO CHOICE': More than 7.3 million jobs were lost in April alone, according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian economy. That means more pain in a country where 90 per cent of the workforce is in the informal sector with no social safety net, and where millions do not qualify for emergency government rations.

“A lot of people went into poverty last year, they went into debt, and ... they had to cut back on food consumption,” Associate Professor Amit Basole, one of the university study's authors, told AFP. “So the second wave is coming on top of a very precarious, stressed situation.”

Abdul Jaleel turned to peddling a rickshaw to feed his family after his construction work dried up during a

fresh Delhi lockdown.

Previously up to 500 rupees a day, his income is now as little as 100 rupees.

“And on some days, I don't make anything,” he said.

“As parents, we will have to make ends meet somehow, whether we beg, borrow or steal. We have no choice.”

'HELPLESS AND HUNGRY': In last year's lockdown, around 100 million people lost their jobs in India.

After restrictions were lifted, around 15 per cent failed to find employment by the end of 2020 — including 47 per cent of female workers, the Azim Premji University study found.

Many who returned to work had to settle for lower pay, leaving them more vulnerable when the second wave hit.

Meanwhile, an estimated 100 million Indians, including the Jaleels, have no ration cards to give them access to the government's food aid, Bhardwaj said.

The Right to Food organisation has been campaigning for emergency food supplies to be given to the needy, even if they do not have ration cards.

With the pandemic unravelling years of poverty reduction, experts warn that many could remain trapped in a vicious cycle of hardship even after lockdowns are lifted.

“The fear is that we... get locked into a longish-term depressed economy where there is low aggregate demand because people's jobs and incomes are not coming back. And because they are not coming back. It... perpetuates its own cycle,” Basole said.

Bhupinder Singh, a microfinancier who has distributed food to the needy during the two lockdowns, has seen desperation rise among hundreds of unemployed men sleeping rough beside a busy Delhi highway.

When he arrives with food packets, a cry of excitement goes up and men run to the back of his car and form a long queue.

“People are stuck here out of helplessness,” Sunil Thakur, 50, who lost his job as a hotel waiter during the lockdown, told AFP. “If they come with food, we get to eat... If they don't come, we'll stay hungry.” AGENCIES

India to ease lockdown rules as coronavirus case numbers decline NEW DELHI: India reported 114,460 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the lowest in two months, while the death toll increased by 2,677, as parts of the country prepared to ease movement restrictions. India has the world’s second-largest number of coronavirus infections after the United States with total cases at 28.8 million, according to health ministry data. The country has suffered 346,759 deaths. A second wave of the coronavirus that has largely battered the rural interiors of the country is yet to abate but New Delhi and other cities are working towards allowing more businesses to operate and movement rules to be relaxed from Monday onwards.

The western state of Maharashtra, which is India’s richest and has suffered the most infections during the second wave, plans to start this week easing in stages a strict lockdown imposed in April. Scientists have warned of a third wave of the coronavirus that could hit India later in the year, likely impacting children more.

While the country has ramped up its vaccination drive in the past few weeks after a slow start, a majority of its 1.3 billion people are expected to remain unvaccinated by the time a potential third wave hits. AGENCIES

anotheR contendeR foR the youth vote CITy NOTES M A NIAzI

i

suppose the purpose of the visit to Pakistan by President Imamoli Rahmon of Tajikistan was other, but the highlight turned out to be him having the same date of birth, down to the day, of Imran Khan. Of course, Rakhmon might find it easier to admit having been born in 1952, and thus being 69, but that is not something that Imran might be so willing to have the public reminded of very often.

Rahmon is not really the first President of post-USSR Tajikistan. he only came to power after Tajikistan became independent in 1992, but there is no evidence of his playing any cricket, let alone mastering the art of bowling the inswinging yorker. however, though he replaced the Communist party chief the Soviets handed over to, he was himself an apparatchik. he holds an economics degree, which probably endeared him to COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is so renowned an economist that the busi-

ness community made him speak to them a little while ago, and who is the first COAS to mention the need for Pakistan to stress geoeconomics rather than geopolitics. One problem is that Rahmon did his military service (compulsory in the old USSR) in the Soviet Navy. I suspect General Bajwa would be less than impressed in meeting a sailor.

Tajikistan, by the way, is landlocked.

I wonder if Rahmon has been inspired by Imran into going after the youth vote. he does not seem a likely person to do so, being built like a barrel and looking a little like the character in a mafia film who is with the godfather when someone comes in to tell him that Neri sleeps with the fishes.

Whatever he looks like, he certainly wins elections. he won 58 percent of the vote in 1992. he won 98 percent in 1999, 79 percent in 2006, was virtually unopposed in 2013 (as the opposition had boycotted), and 90 percent as recently as October this year. That means that while Imran was engaged in political struggle, Rakhmon was leading his country. And getting votes not just from the youth, but anyone.

Of course, there are some pluses and minuses. For example, Rahmon seems to have married only once, and had nine children. Two sons and seven daughters. Imran’s two later wives brought him six stepchildren, three of each. If you include his own two sons by his first marriage that bring him to eight, but if you include the girl his first wife adopted, you get nine.

Imran must admire Rahmon’s facility with elections, but he must be concerned about the reports of corruption that swirling around his regime. I’m sure Imran is restraining his partymen with great difficulty from sending in NAB, reminding them that NAB would be ineffective, as Rakhmon wais not an opponent of the PTI. Besides, the country’s primary anti-corruption agency, the State Agency for Financial Control and Measures Against Corruption is headed

by Rahmon’s son Rustom emomali, who is not only the mayor of Dushanbe and speaker of the Majlis, but also Rahmon’s designated successor. Recent constitutional changes not only abolished the term limit for presidents, but also lowered the age of eligibility, mak-

ing Rustom eligible to run. Truly, a model for Imran to follow.

I’m sure that’s why we need electronic voting machines and e-voting for overseas Pakistanis. To make sure that elections have positive results. In that respect, the e-voting abroad will be particularly helpful. Just as voting here is carried out under army supervision, maybe we should have e-voting abroad carried out by the military attachés. We must never forget that results must be in the national interest.

Still, polls are a little way off, and e-voting may be a little further off, needing constitutional amendments that Imran might not quite manage in time.

Instead, we are left to wonder about the weather. It was predicted that temperatures would be going through the roof.

Well, it hasn’t happened yet. As a result, schools have not yet shut down, even though June has begun, and it looks like exams can go ahead. Online. Well, we all know what that means. One of the victims of covid-19 seems to be the oldfashioned ratta. The latest, I’ve heard, is that kids make WhatsApp groups to consult each other during exams.

05

federal minister hits back at sindh cm over ‘political statement’ continued from page 01 he said that the PTI government was spending a total of Rs300bn on motorway projects in Sindh despite not having a government there and questioned what the PPP had done for motorways during its previous tenures in the provincial and federal government.

“They’ve (PPP) spent not a single rupee on creating motorways. This (PPP) government and party is asking questions from us on the NhA (National highway Authority) projects?”

Pakistan ‘moving forward’ as active covid-19 cases fall to three-month low continued from page 01 The disease first emerged in the country in February last year. Since then the portal has recorded 932,140 coronavirus cases. So far, 863,111 patients had fully recovered from the viral disease, which showed a promising 92.6 percent recovery rate. Punjab remains the worst affected province in terms of both the number of cases and the number of fatalities. The provincial caseload of the disease reached 342,192, including 10,290 deaths. Punjab is followed by Sindh with 323,072 cases and 5,116 fatalities. A total of 13,523,599 tests had been conducted so far, while 639 hospitals are equipped with Covid-19 facilities countrywide. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on health Dr Faisal Sultan told media that the authorities have administered over 8.2 million Covid19 vaccine doses across the country with over 2.3 million people fully vaccinated.

opp aches from govt's economic performance: Buzdar LaHore STAFF REPORT

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that opposition parties are wailing over sustainable economic development but they were tight-lipped when the economy was slow-paced due to their wrong policies in the past. In a statement on Sunday, the chief minister said that the country has been put on the road of progress and development, and the national economy is improving day by day but the opposition is making hue and cry. he said that mistakes of the former regimes have been rectified, besides bringing back the economy on track, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. economic growth will leave a positive impact on the lives of the common men, he added. he said that the agenda of the opposition is to stop the development and progress and this is the motive of Pakistan’s enemies as well. he said that opposition is engaged in fulfilling the preposterous agenda of weakening the country by creating hurdles in national progress and development. he said that the opposition has miserably failed to score points due to the government's economic performance. he further warned that no one will be allowed to derail the process of national development. Buzdar said that during the last two and a half years, every conspiracy hatched by the opposition has met the same fate. he slammed the opposition and said that the government is stronger than before. The aspirations of those who want to bring down the government will not succeed.

Dubai property booms as wealthy buyers escape lockdowns Dubai's property market is powering out of a six-year malaise as “lockdown dodgers” and wealthy international investors drive a buying frenzy that is breaking records and fuelling an economic recovery.

Luxury villas are the hottest segment in the market, with european buyers, in particular, seeking homes on Dubai's signature Palm Jumeirah man-made island, as well as golf course estates.

Dubai's rollercoaster property market, which had been in steady decline since 2014, went into flatline after Covid-19 hit last year and the emirate slammed shut its borders, said Zhann Zochinke, chief operating officer of consultancy Property Monitor. “Then straight after that lockdown period we started to see transaction volumes increase, and they really haven't stopped since,” he told AFP. “We're now seeing record month-onmonth gains and transaction volumes.”

The Gulf emirate became one of the first

destinations to reopen to visitors last July, pairing the open-door policy with strict rules on masking and social distancing, and an energetic vaccination program which has produced some of the highest inoculation rates globally.

Despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the new year after holidaymakers descended en masse, life has continued largely as normal with restaurants and hotels open, and few of the restrictions that have blighted life elsewhere.

“The lockdown dodgers from other countries? I think we're seeing a lot of that there,” Zochinke said, adding that other draws were more relaxed residency rules and a decision to allow full foreign ownership of firms.

'NOT JUST A CONSTRUCTION SITE': The flood of arrivals has regenerated the tourism industry, long an economic mainstay of Dubai which has little of the oil wealth that powers its neighbours, and helped business activity recover to pre-Covid levels in

April, according to IhS Markit.

“Travel and tourism firms recorded the most notable bounce in performance, amid increasing hopes of a rise in tourism activity later in the year, boosted by the rapid vaccine roll-out,” said the research firm's economist David Owen.

After years of torpor when homeowners watched their equity drain away, the surge in luxury properties above 10 million dirhams has been striking, with 90 transactions in April compared to around 350-400 on a regular yearly basis, according to Property Monitor.

A mansion on the Palm has sold for 111.25m dirhams, the highest price reached in years in the precinct which features 16 “fronds” lined with show-stopping houses and supercars parked in the driveways.

The highest-priced property now available on the block is a vast Italian-inspired modern villa positioned at the end of one of the fronds, complete with 180 degree beach frontage,

cmYK

which is being offered for 100m dirhams.

After it languished on the market during the gloomy days at the height of the pandemic, the developers are hoping that one of the new breed of cashed-up europeans will be tempted by the infinity pool, private cinema, and acres of marble and glass.

“I think people have started to realise that Dubai is not just a construction site anymore, which it was maybe 10 years ago when we had the most amount of cranes in the world,” said Matthew Bate, CeO of BlackBrick, one of the agencies representing the property.

'COVID OPENED THE DOORS': “People are now looking at Dubai and saying — I'm going to make this my primary home. I can work from Dubai and still manage business in europe or North America or Asia,” he said. “So I think what Covid ultimately did, it opened the doors for us to the rest of the world.”

In a market where many fortunes have

been made and lost, there is nervousness about whether the recent giddy rises can be sustained.

Sales of properties above 10m dirhams rose 6.7 per cent in April compared to the previous month, and 81 villas were sold on the Palm in April alone compared to 54 in all of 2020, according to Property Monitor. even with the remarkable gains, the market is still off its highs of 2014, and the apartment market is trailing far behind.

The financial services firm Morgan Stanley, however, said in a recent report that the rally isn't likely to stop soon.

“Robust demand, peaking supply growth and long lead times for new projects could lead to a tighter-than-expected market over the next several years,” it said.

It credited “a wave of government reforms over the past 12 months, attractive mortgage rates, and a shift in demand patterns due to Covid-19”. AGENCIES

Monday, 7 June, 2021

06 COMMENT

Rising oil and food prices globally

Media regulation Hope of rationality after minister’s assurances

The danger of the recession getting worse is still there

F

eDeRAl Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s assurance that there was no Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, which he made on Saturday to a Council of Pakistan Newspaper editors delegation, was not as reassuring as it was emphatic. though Mr Chaudhry said it was fake news, and said the government had not had an ordinance promulgated, he did say that there was a need to regulate print, electronic and social media. though what had circulated on the Internet had been a concept paper, not an ordinance, obviously, there was something that reflected at least the government’s desire to control this part of the media scene. It is a little paradoxical, for the party in power had benefited from the freedom of the media when it had been in opposition, and had been able to put across its message on both conventional and unconventional media without let or hindrance. the Minister’s assurance that any change in the way that the media is regulated would only be carried out after consulting all stakeholders is welcome, though there must be a genuine consultation, not an echo chamber where only government favourites are consulted so that it can get the kind of advice that it wants. the government should realise that any such consultations will carry no credibility and would be useless, for they would fail to unite the media behind the new measures.

Before getting into the debate on whether the new media should be regulated or not, the government might do better to work out whether it can be done at all. It might keep in mind how badly its proposal to force socialmedia platforms to establish offices in Pakistan fell flat, before it tries any such measure. It should not look to India, not just because the Indian government is hardly a shining example of democratic governance, but also because India is a major larger market. that means even social media companies are that much more anxious to retain a foothold there, whereas their concern to stay in Pakistan is not that great. the government must learn that the media has won its freedom the hard way, and will resist any efforts to encroach on it.

Dr. Omer JaveD

L

et me start with two quotes that shed light on the significant rise in oil and food prices during the pandemic. ‘Brent crude was on course to settle at its highest level since the start of the pandemic, after Opec and its allies stuck with their plan to only gradually release more barrels into a strengthening oil market. the international oil benchmark rose almost 3 per cent to $71.34 a barrel on tuesday as Opec+ producers led

by Saudi Arabia and Russia said that while demand is recovering, there are still persistent uncertainties linked to the pandemic that stop them increasing output further.’ – Excerpt from Financial Times (FT) June 1, 2021, ‘Oil prices rally as Opec+ producers agree slow supply increase’ by Anjli Raval, and David Sheppard ‘the FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 127.1 points in May 2021, 5.8 points (4.8 percent) higher than in April and as much as 36.1 points (39.7 percent) above the same period last year. the May increase represented the biggest month-onmonth gain since October 2010. It also marked the twelfth consecutive monthly rise in the value of the FFPI to its highest value since September 2011, bringing the Index only 7.6 percent below its peak value of 137.6 points registered in February 2011. the sharp increase in May reflected a surge in prices for oils, sugar and cereals along with firmer meat and dairy prices.’ – Excerpt from ‘World Food

Single curriculum without textbooks

Situation’ report by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) When the world was already suffering from the pandemic-caused recession, oil and food nationalism have led to increased rise in prices than otherwise it would have been. Oil supply constraints for ensuring prices higher than achieved on demand signal, and food hoarding, just like vaccine hoarding, have also highlighted policies over-doing appeasing local voter-bases, and also ensuring higher profits/export earnings. In doing so, what has suffered perhaps is confidence of low-income countries in the concern and care of high-income countries towards them, since this has put additional burdens on current accounts and worsened external debt position, since many of these low-income countries have a high level of dependence on imports of oil and food commodities, including agricultural commodities. trade account has been coming under pressure with rising imports, and if it were not for an unprecedented rise in remittances, the current account would have already been in the deficit, but because of remittances primarily, Pakistan’s current account remains surplus for now. But, given the rising oil and food prices, serious pressure will continue to mount on the current account.

For this reason, it is important that the importrelated inflationary pressures on the domestic economy are curtailed by the government by using a certain portion of foreign currency reserves for this purpose, so as to slightly over-value the rupee against the dollar. Pakistan, being in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, should bring the IMF to the table with regard to this, pointing out to them, in turn, that pandemic-caused recessionary pressures have already affected people badly in terms of rising unemployment, income inequality and poverty, and therefore it makes it necessary to provide some cushion against imported inflationary pressures; given also, due to vaccine inequality, that high-income countries have a much higher inoculation and recovery rate than low-income countries.

In addition, the government should provide much improved governance and incentive structures to farmers, so that the imported commodities are produced more and more locally. At the same time, reliance on oil also needs to be reduced through a faster shift towards renewable sources of energy, primarily due to the negative impact of burning fossil fuels in terms of rising global warming, and also

so as to lessen the pressures on import payments, and in turn the current account.

Moreover, as indicated above, it is no ordinary price rise of food globally, and at a time when most countries, including Pakistan, have provided significant stimulus. Running current account deficits during the pandemic will be all the more difficult for low-income countries, given lack of global demand for exports overall due to recessionary conditions, and also because taking on external debt to build up deficit gap will not be easy, as many low-income countries already have difficult debt positions. this may not be good for the global economy as well, and that is why countries practicing vaccine, oil and food nationalism should also revisit their these policies, because in the eventuality of a ‘debt pandemic’ the whole global financial system will be at a risk of multiple countries ending up defaulting on their debt repayments.

With regard to intensity of rise in food prices, where Pakistan is also an importer of many essential food/agricultural commodities, a recent Ft article ‘Global food prices post biggest jump in decade’ by emiko terazono pointed out ‘Global food prices have surged by the biggest margin in a decade, as one closely watched index jumped 40 per cent in May, heightening fears that the inflation initially stoked by pandemic disruption was accelerating. the year-on-year rise in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly index was the largest jump since 2011, as commodity prices surged. the higher inflation will hit poorer countries reliant on imports for staple goods. …the increases will severely impact countries that depend on overseas producers for their staples. In West Africa, the price of staples are up 40 per cent over a five-year average, with countries such as Nigeria, experiencing food inflation of 23 per cent, the highest level in 15 years, according to the UN World Food Programme. …Countries such as Syria and Sudan are also struggling with food inflation of more than 200 per cent, the WFP said.’

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund.Prior to this, he did MSc. in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom), and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan), among other places. He is author of Springer published book (2016) ‘The economic impact of International Monetary Fund programmes: institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth’.He tweets @omerjaved7

It’s not just fees but censorship

PakVac at last

t

he textbook Publishers Association has not just found its members have to contend with prohibitive fees to get a textbook approved, but they have also got to contend with censorship gone wild. the review fees being charged may sabotage the Single National Curriculum (SNC), which is the government’s sole achievement, such as it is, in the field of education. the publishers have to pay Rs 140,000 per textbook for a review, which may push up the price of books. the total cost of the primary syllabus, now Rs 4000, could go to Rs 12,000. the Association members have to pay not just the Punjab textbook and Curriculum Board, but also external review committees and the Muttahida Ulema Board. the objections the MUB has raised indicate a kind of censorship gone wild. Objection has been made to the use of such words as ‘markup’ or ‘interest’ in mathematics texts, while diagrams of the human reproductive system have been met with demands that unclothed bodies not be shown. If either interest problems or the human reproductive system are in the syllabus, how can they be excluded from the textbooks? this would mean students would not be prepared for certain exam questions. If they are not in the syllabus, surely the external review committees consisting of subject specialists should point it out. the basis of the SNC has been having common textbooks, whether in private schools, government schools, or madressahs, so that even if teachers provide different qualities of instruction, all students learn the same thing. Other, partisan, changes have also been made in textbooks. It might be mentioned that curriculum is a provincial subject, and Balochistan and Sindh are not following the SNC. there is no MUB in KP, with the subject specialists vetting the textbooks for Islamic content. Punjab must rationalise the process of getting NOCs for textbooks, lest the SNC, already in difficulty, fall flat on its face. there will be no point in having the SNC if it merely exacerbates class differences with textbooks afforded only by the wealthy.

The opportunity we can’t afford to miss

Zainab naZir

T

he appearance and distribution of protected, safe and successful covid-19 immunizations is a significant improvement in the covid-19 pandemic. As more individuals are immunized, families and networks will actually want to get back to a more typical everyday practice step by step. As rich nations increase their immunization endeavours, there is a great deal of worry over the when and how of agricultural nations additionally accepting and conveying antibodies in an ideal way, getting this frightful pandemic behind us.

During the last two centuries, the world has seen a significant expansion in the number and accessibility of immunizations for the counteraction of irresistible illness. Smallpox eradication stays the most praised immunization-related accomplishment in mankind’s set of experiences; however overall decreases in numerous different illnesses, including measles, mumps, polio, respiratory diseases, and other illnesses, outline the force of inoculation in controlling flare-ups of infectious illnesses.

Pakistan last week dispatched its handcrafted

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

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

Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

covid-19 vaccine named PakVac, which it created with the assistance of its partner China to immunize individuals in the country and manage the spread of COVID cases in the country. As indicated by the National Institute of health, the point is to create three million doses each month just as the raw material for the vaccine. that would be adequate for three million individuals consistently to be completely immunized as it is a solitary-dose immunization. Yet, would we say we are prepared for it?

PakVac would now offer an approach to progress out of this period of the pandemic. Without vaccination, numerous researchers accept that characteristic crowd resistance, or herd immunity, would not have been adequate to re-establish society to its ordinary state of affairs and that it would have brought about outrageous casualties. this is something that has been repeated by numerous welfare associations, including the WhO. In a situation without access to our own vaccines, exacting conduct measures may have needed to stay for years to come.

Immunization in Pakistan experiences different setting explicit difficulties— social, monetary, and political— that generously influence its take-up. Similarly, cataclysmic events and welfare crises significantly sway vaccination attempts, for example, the covid-19 pandemic that has overpowered the whole world. It was at that point expected that the pandemic would seriously influence Pakistan’s inoculation programs because of breaks in routine immunization and the overstretching of medical care frameworks.

As indicated by the authorities, PakVac will save around 25 percent on immunization costs, which as per government figures add up to $250 million until this point. It is to be noted that PakVac immunization has been produced by the Ministry of health as a team with China’s Cansino Bio. the immunization has been concluded and supported for use after cautious quality control checks.

One significant expected obstruction to the achievement of PakVac is a negative general assessment of the vaccine. A survey found that 71.5 percent of individuals would be truly or fairly prone to take a covid-19 vaccine, leaving just about a third less tolerant of the immunization. On the off-chance that huge portions of the populace were to dismiss the immunization, this could truly affect the vaccine’s likely

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viability at controlling the spread of covid-19. A few populaces, specifically, have low acknowledgment rates; in Russia, for instance, under 55 percent of those reviewed would acknowledge the vaccine. this problem can be defeated in Pakistani individuals by instructing people in general about the significance of covid-19 immunization and being straightforward about the improvement of the vaccine alongside the commonness of likely unfriendly effects.

Deception about results of PakVac can go from misleading statements and unwarranted hypotheses to focused disinformation established in fear-inspired notions. As far from our present logical understanding as they may be, deception can shape individuals’ discernments and dynamics whenever left unchallenged, and lead to a self-sustaining pattern of negative news. Individuals who are presented with pessimistic data about drugs in the media report more side-effects, along these lines expanding and approving others’ interests. hence, discussions about PakVac’s negative impacts need to address regular confusions without lifting them through open talk.

Public trust in inoculation may dissolve in view of genuine or seen hazards related with inoculation, and this thus may prompt lower immunization inclusion and loss of group invulnerability.

Past the future insurance of the individual, the advantages of accepting PakVac might be more subtle. these advantages should be imparted to adjust the more promptly accessible data about hazards and unfavorable impacts. Passing on the significance of the cultural effect of the person’s choice and interest in their charitable inspirations are especially significant for groups that are more averse to turn out to be seriously sick whenever contaminated. the public authority at the initiative of Prime Minister Imran Khan has so far done its part in getting us the vaccines against the dangerous pandemic.

Presently it is our chance to fulfill our duties. We should behave like a dependable and socialized society and not assume a part in dispersing counterfeit bits of gossip with respect to the vaccine. We should feel that regardless of the viability, the vaccine can protect us against getting basically sick. the furious pandemic has disclosed the real essence of our medical services and the significance of who approaches them. An open door is alluring Pakistan, and the nation should not waste it. Pakistan should hold onto the second chance to compensate for some recent setbacks. teaching individuals would assist with building trust in the choice to offer vaccinations, without which, the world will not defeat the pandemic and recover to its ‘normal’ life.

The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 7 June, 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

Sensitive statement over marriage AS Malala Yousafzai was recently appeared on the cover of British Vogue, as soon as the cover of Vogue went viral, Malala, being a Muslim and a Pakistani national, gave a very disputable and sensitive statement over marriage that says: “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?”

Malala’s this contentious statement has left us in intrusion. Being a Muslim activist, how can one give such irrelevant and peripheral remarks on marriage? Nikaah, for Muslims is primarily the completion of half of the Imaan. living together with Na-mehrams, without marriage is an unacceptable sin and is called Zina.

No one can justify Muslims living together without marriage as it is strongly condemned in Islam.

I see that she is asking a question here. My answer to this question is another question. Is she a MUSlIM Activist?

MARIA EJAZ KARAcHI

Defusing a hazardous bomb Others have done it, so why not us? ali Zubair SOOmrO

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AKIStAN has been undergoing multifarious socio-politico-economic challenges since independence, but most hazardous has been the population explosion which may cause various economic and environmental issues for Pakistan like reduction of capital formation, need for more investment, adverse effect on per capita income, unemployment, food insecurity, vicious cycle of poverty, decline in social infrastructure, harmful effect on environment, low standard of living, overuse of resources, urbanization, deforestation, water pollution, climate change, scarcity of potable water and dearth of pure air.

Pakistan has been facing many of these and the situation may worsen. the 2017 census showed Pakistan had a population of 207.8 million population with annual growth rate of 2.4 percent, which meant therehad been a 60 percent rise in population from the last census in 1998. Moreover, the United Nations Population Division projected that with the same annual growth,, Pakistan’s population will be 335 million by 2050 and this figure could approach 460 million. there are various reasons for rocketing population, such as the high fertility rate, low contraceptive prevalence, high unmet needs of family planning, custom of early marriage, son preference, poverty, illiteracy exclusively of women and lack of women empowerment, beliefs, customs, traditions, and lack of recreational activities.

Besides, since Pakistan is a Muslim state, family planning is deemed against the teachings of Islam. But, one should infer the ground reality of family planning. People conceive it as murder. however, family planning is a step to prevent even creation of the life. If one utilizes contraceptives, there are no chances of birth, so it cannot be against Islamic injunctions. Apart from this, if one cannot educate and provide fundamental facilities to one’s children, one should adopt family planning to save the country rather than decimating its and the country’s resources.

Furthermore, increasing population has resulted in destabilization of the economy. Pakistan has a high unemployment rate, more than 30 percent of the nation is living below the poverty line, and external debt has entrapped Pakistan. Pakistan requires 6 to 7 per cent growth annually, but we can hardly manage 1 to 4 percent growth. however, the recent 4 percent statement has been doubted by the opposition as it surpassed the World Bank’s and IMF’s projected figures.

Pakistan, due to high population growth, remains incapable of meeting the basic necessities of the nation as it does not have enough resources and our government does not know how to utilize hem properly. Our country spends more than she earns, thereby faces a deficit.

Without growing at 6 to 7 percent, Pakistan cannot satisfy its growing population’s needs. the State Bank of Pakistan in its third quarterly report said, “When it comes to productivity, the poor state of human capital development is cited as one of the major binding

constraints for Pakistan. With education and training on lower side, the existing and incoming labor force does not have the desired level of capacity to efficiently participate in economic activities, whereas 1.8 million people enter job market annually.”

According to this report, our participants for improving the economy are incompetent. So, Pakistan should work on her education and training system to groom the labour force to boost the economy, or it should control the growing population so that Pakistan can tackle existing and coming economic problems.

Moreover, the growing population has also negatively impacted the environment. According to the US Air Quality Index, Pakistan is thew second most polluted country with PM 2.5 concentration, which is five times over the WhO exposure recommendation. lahore is the country’s most polluted. Scientists say that simply breathing one day in lahore is equal to smoking one packet of cigarettes. We also contribute to multifarious other environmental issues such as river pollution due to inflow of poisonous chemicals and waste material, global warming, and shrinkage of underground water, oil and gas reserves and natural resources.

Basically, the main causes of pollution are vehicles, factories, brick kilns, and steel mills, which all burn fossil fuel impacting our environment adversely. All these causes will gow as the population grows, because all these are connected with human needs.

Air pollution leads to various health issues including respiratory ailments, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) very likely to develop, and pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma attacks. Apart from this, PM 2.5 enters into the bloodstream via alveoli in the lungs, the small sacs that are responsible for allowing oxygen to enter the blood. It can be even cause ischemic heart disease. Air pollution also leads to many other cardiac issues such as strokes, heart attacks, arrhythmias, and damage to blood vessels as well as damage to filtration organs such as the liver and kidneys.

Additionally, hiking population causes eutrophication, the dense growth of plant life that consumes oxygen, making aquatic animals die.

Other major sources are industry and sewage disposal, both related to population growth.

Overpopulation also starts ecological degradation which occurs due to deforestation, decreased biodiversity and spike in pollution and emission, which will exacerbate climate change as well. A rocketing population is hazardous not only for human beings but also for other living things. to counter increasing population, Pakistan had taken many measures. Regretfully, measures could not have the desired result. the first measures were taken during the first Five Year Plan (1955-60) but failed. then in 1960, the health Ministry took over this task, but failed because matter had involved human prejudices, habits, attitudes, beliefs which did not respond to official orders.

After 1969, under the Bhutto government, planning programmes wererevitalized, but due to use of contraceptives, pills, and suchlike, offensive for some families and distasteful for many others, the programme again failed. After

that, in July 1977, under General Zia-ul-haq’s coup d’état, population control efforts halted due to his orthodox and unreasonable Islamic views.

In all these periods funds went waste, thereby international organizations also cut down funding to Pakistan for population control and population kept growing.

Further, we can learn lessons from China, Bangladesh, and Iran, which reduced their population growth rate rapidly. China initially allowed families to keep just one child per family with permission of government. the task of monitoring was given to the local government.

Servants not fulfilling their duties would be penalized. that is why China could control its population drastically. When China made enough resources for her citizens, she allowed two children per family and very recently she has allowed three.

Bangladesh, which reduced its fertility rate from six children per woman in the early 1970s to under three today, has been providing contraceptives to women for decades. Bangladesh’s Director General of Family planning showed in a publication that only eight percent of the total population was using contraceptives in 1975, but the figure increased to 63.1 percent by 2018.

In Iran, a religiously strict country, fatwas confirmed a woman’s right to control her fertility. Consequently, between 1988 and 1996 the average family halved in size from 5.2 to 2.6 children after authorities launched a family planning campaign. In rural areas, fertility rate dropped from 8.1 to 2.1 children per family in only one generation in 1988. Additionally, women were encouraged to wait three to four years between pregnancies, and childbearing was discouraged for women under 18 and over 35.

Following the Chinese model may not be for Pakistan, but she can follow the Bangladeshi and Iranian models.

Besides, there are two key methods for a prosperous Pakistan; first, population control by providing contraceptives, but people should be educated to wish for a standard of life as they do not perceive it offensive to have a low standard, and second is human development by providing cornerstone facilities such as education, health, and food, but for this Pakistan needs enough resources.

Further, Pakistan should create conditions under which people feel themselves urged, motivated, inspired, convinced, and also constrained by circumstances to have smaller families. People should be educated so that they can be acquainted with higher values of life and standard of living. then people can better understand their best interest. For monitoring education and awareness progress and use of contraceptives, the task should be entrusted to local government so that funds should not be misused, but properly utilized for the purpose.

Population can be an asset. It depends on how the government uses people to make more resources for human development so that no one is a stumbling block, rather an asset for the country. If population growth remains constant andpeople are not fully educated and trained to participate in economic activities efficiently, rocketing population can be as hazardous a bomb to diffuse as other bombs, but which will massacre gradually.

The writer is a freelance columnist

The Neelam [Ghar] of self respect ReSPeCt & dignity are the values of east. Be it the ideology of Islam or the cultural norms of our society safeguarding the self-esteem of one’s own & of others is a basic teaching & the way of life - at least it is what it was meant to be. It is utmost saddening and heart wrenching to see the norm of ours & the self respect of others being ruined drastically at the hands of our so called hosts. the Pakistani game shows have horrifically shattered the concept of ‘Respect’ in the name of fun and entertainment.

Game shows are a regular feature for television audience all around the world. In the past our very own tariq Aziz Sb’s Neelam Ghar was a huge success and none of the participants were every ridiculed or asked to do things/acts which are even shameful to watch rather someone being asked to perform it. the masses must bash such game shows & the regulatory authority must take strict action against such game shows & curb the Neelami of Respect.

M Zuhair Zubair KaraChi

Reopening of schools SIR, I would like to draw the attention of the government to the education system. last year completed 7 months;it was closed as well. It is off still in Balochistan and its education systems are being worse and students have broken their interest in getting education due to the closing of schools. even students are becoming too lazy and lost their focus on education just because of holidays of covid-19.

Right, it makes me shocked while I was watching the news that some schools are closed and they have given summer vacations to the lazy students, therefore, I humbly request to education minister Shafqat Mehmood to open the school during summer vacations. balaCh Wahid KECh

Colorism in Pakistan thROUGh your esteemed newspaper, I want to draw your attention towards colorism in Pakistan. living in Pakistan; it doesn’t matter how you look, it’s about how people assign meaning for your look approval.

Because of these differences, and due to ignorant perception, people are treated poorly and even regarded as “savages”.

It starts when children at their young age are being compared with their siblings by relatives. this also occurs in school text books, where a picture of fair-skinned by labelled “beautiful” and a darker one “ugly”. “ A perfect life comes from a perfect skin” this has made them insecure specially girls to look better than others, so they started using health risky procedures like skin bleaching, laser treatment, chemical peels, steroids and many more. this is not a bias, it’s racism and this dangerous cultural obsession needs to be stopped.

YaMEEna JavEd KaraChi

Drug free Pakistan It is heartening to see that the government of Pakistan has finally decided to impose a healthy levy on cigarettes and other types of tobacco products in the country. In 2012, about one billion cigarettes were consumed in Pakistan. every year the sale of cigarettes increases across the county. the availability of cheap cigarettes allows young people to develop the injurious habit of smoking. Smoking is the single largest cause of lethal diseases.

It is estimated that some 75, 000 persons using tobacco die at a young age every year in Pakistan, while the health of millions remains at great risk. Due to huge revenues earned on cigarettes and tobacco, the past government remained insensitive and indifferent to the hazards of smoking. the government’s decision to adopt policy measures to check smoking is a step in the right direction.

MurWarid naZir ahMEd JuSaK

Monday, 7 June, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

‘EmErging supErpOwEr’ tO ‘failEd statE’: HOw pErcEptiOns Of india cHangEd drastically undEr mOdi IS INDIA FLAILING OR FAILED? AND IS FEDERALISM SAVING SOME INDIANS FROM THE UNION GOVERNMENT’S COLLAPSE?

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ShoaiB daniyal

hE decade from 2000 to 2010 saw India break from its traditionally slow economic pace to grow at an impressive average annual rate of 8.8%. This period of economic growth in turn encouraged a spurt of national confidence as many Indians started to characterise themselves as citizens of an emerging superpower. Most famously, President APJ Abdul Kalam predicted that India would not long remain a developing country and by 2020 would become a fully developed, industrialised country.

If anything, however, this served as a sobering reminder as to just how hard it is to predict long-term economic growth. With the rise of narendra Modi, India’s economy took a hit. Faced with disruptive policies such as demonetisation and the new Goods and Services tax, growth has plummeted since 2016.

By 2019-’20, growth had fallen to just 4%. Worse was to come with pandemic. The first Covid wave and ensuing unplanned lockdowns saw the economy contract by an incredible 7.3% in 2020-’21 – the worst performance since at least independence and also the worst performing global economy during the pandemic. however, even this unprecedented economic hit was minor compared to the brutal second wave that struck India beginning March 2021. While the official death count is about three and a half lakh, The new York Times estimates anywhere between six lakh to 42 lakh Indians might have died, with the state in many places simply melting away.

India was clearly very far from conducting itself as a superpower. On the contrary,

analysts and experts were asking a much grimmer question: was India now a failed state?

On May 9, with the second wave in full swing Yamini Aiyar, President of the Delhibased think tank Centre for Policy Research wrote in the hindustan Times that “India has transitioned to a failed state”. “The ‘fiction’ of India’s health system is now exposed,” she argued. “And as hapless citizens struggle to find oxygen, basic medicines, hospital beds, the once sound and functional ‘head’, or more specifically the national government, is no longer visible. Indeed, it has abdicated from all responsibility, from leadership and governance.”

Aiyar wasn’t the only one to point to the collapse of the Indian state. The UK-based Economist magazine held that the “state has melted away in India”. Closer home, India Today magazine ran a hard-hitting cover for its May 17 edition calling India “the failed state” – the words placed on a cover photo of a line of dead bodies. Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at the investment firm Morgan Stanley, wrote in the Financial Times that the pandemic had illustrated that the state was “broken”, with India looking mediocre on healthcare compared even to countries such as Pakistan or Bangladesh.

When veteran journalist Saeed naqvi narrowly survived Covid in Delhi, his daughter Farah naqvi wrote a harrowing account of state failure in the Indian capital in an essay titled, “What we did when our government collapsed.”

Battling Covid in Delhi “felt like commandeering a small war room in the kind of failed states my father once reported from,” naqvi wrote, describing the complete state of collapse in the city.

In the Indian Express, economist Ashok Gulati wrote about the chaos in India during the second wave, from dead bodies floating in the Ganga to politicians concentrating on elections. “The government seemed to have lost control and many declared India a failed state,” he wrote. Former bureaucrat harsh Mander delivered the second JB D’Souza

Memorial Lecture on June 3. Its pithy title: “The collapse of the Republic”.

Interestingly, so pervasive was this analysis that the Bharatiya Janata Party itself started to use the phrase “failed state” in order to push back against criticism and argue that the Modi government had in fact not collapsed. On May 18, the BJP’s national in-charge of social media angrily tweeted out that sedition charges should be filed against the Opposition given that they had allegedly tried to “project their country as a failed state in managing the pandemic”.

A fortnight later, BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta mounted a defence of the Modi government in a column in the Economic Times, going on to mention disapprovingly that “the country has even been taunted as a ‘failed state’ by the punditry”.

FLAILING TO FAILED: Yamini Aiyar explained to Scroll.in that unlike in many other examples where the paradigm is mostly used for conflict, state failure in India is a result of institutional breakdown. “A failed state is a state that loses its legitimacy and is unable or unwilling to perform its basic sovereign functions,” she said. “State failure is often associated with violence and conflict. India is ‘failing’ because its institutions are weakening and losing legitimacy.”

Aiyer posits her thinking in contrast to earlier conceptions of India being a “flailing state” – a term used in an influential 2009 paper by Lant Pritchett, an economist at harvard University, where he described India’s elite government institutions existing alongside the state failing to deliver even basic services to its people.

India, he argued, was “a nation-state in which the head, that is the elite institutions at the national (and in some states) level remain sound and functional but that this head is no longer reliably connected via nerves and sinews to its own limbs”. “The way I interpret Pritchett’s ‘flailing state’ paradigm is that although India was failing its people, the veneer of functionality of institutions remained sacrosanct,” Aiyer said. “The IAS functioned and was seen to be meritocratic.

It was the same with the judiciary, the Reserve Bank of India – these institutions were functioning with all their anomalies.”

The difference from Pritchett’s 2009 description and now, Aiyar argued, is that even the “veneer of functionality at the top is now gone”.

“The state can’t get vaccine policy right, the Reserve Bank of India abdicated its job during demonetisation,” she said. “If every institution that is supposed to provide checks and balances fails to function, then India is mimicking a failed state”.

FEDERALISM AS A SHIELD: Balveer Arora, Chairman of the Centre for Multilevel Federalism at the Institute of Social Sciences, agrees with Aiyar that India can now be characterised as a failed state, going on to add that federalism explains why there was state collapse in some places but yet in others, the government managed to function – at times even quite well. “The failed state paradigm has to be juxtaposed on a federal system in order to look at the impact at the failure of the Centre,” Arora said.

Arora argues that, as a result, India’s federal structure is now its greatest defence against state failure. “A failed central state does not necessarily mean a failed federation,” he explained. “We need a nuanced failed state paradigm since, despite the failure of the Centre, some states have performed admirably. By no stretch of imagination can states such as Kerala, Tamil nadu and Maharashtra be called ‘failed’”.

Arora sees this as a silver lining: “Classical federal theory provides for these islands of hope. One of the benefits of federalism: you can oppose authoritarian rule since there will always be pockets that resist.”

FAILED STATE – OR BAD DECISIONS? however, the “failed state” debate is far from settled. “I don’t fully agree with the characterisation,” said neelanjan Sircar, a political scientist at Ashoka University. “A failed state is one which is unable to carry out the functions of state. not one that carries it out badly due to poor decision making.”

Sircar says that the “flailing state” paradigm still holds in many ways. “We have at one hand a state that can do direct benefit transfer schemes at scale and collect detailed information on citizens but at the same time, fail to carry out a vaccine drive,” he explained. “In a failed state, there is no plausible way to do a vaccine rollout. But we know that’s not true in India.”

Sircar says much of what we are seeing now is a consequence of extreme centralisation of power. “Centralisation can give speed but it also means there is no check on bad decisions,” he said. “Moreover, it means that state-level leaders command no power by themselves. This can be disastrous if an emergency like Covid hits.”

Shekhar Gupta, editor of the Print, also disagrees with the “failed state” labelling. “If India was a failed state already, we might not have known how badly we were failing,” he wrote in an opinion piece on May 8. “As long as a nation’s own media, civil society, even individual citizens are free to bring the bad news to all, hold the mirror to the most powerful ruler in at least four decades, we are not a failed state yet.” While India debates whether it is a “failed state” or not, the fact that the debate is being had at all points to an incredible regress in a country that was, until not very long ago, dreaming of being a superpower.

My trip to Europe is about America rallying the world’s democracies WE WILL FOCUS ON ENSURING THAT MARKET DEMOCRACIES, NOT CHINA OR ANYONE ELSE, WRITE THE 21ST-CENTURY RULES AROUND TRADE AND TECHNOLOGY

Washington Post

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Joe Biden

n Wednesday, I depart for Europe on the first foreign travel of my presidency. It is a trip stacked with meetings with many of our closest democratic partners — including the Group of Seven nations, our nATO allies and the leadership of the European Union — before concluding by meeting with Vladimir Putin. In this moment of global uncertainty, as the world still grapples with a once-in-a-century pandemic, this trip is about realizing America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners, and demonstrating the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats of this new age.

Whether it is ending the covid-19 pandemic everywhere, meeting the demands of an accelerating climate crisis, or confronting the harmful activities of the governments of China and Russia, the United States must

lead the world from a position of strength. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and our domestic vaccination strategy, our economy is now growing faster than at any time in almost 40 years. We have created more jobs in the first four months of our administration than under any other president. Wages are increasing for American workers. And, as America’s economic recovery helps to propel the global economy, we will be stronger and more capable when we are flanked by nations that share our values and our vision for the future — by other democracies.

That’s the agenda I will advance at every stop. In the United Kingdom, after meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to affirm the special relationship between our nations, I will participate in the G-7 summit. This group of leading democracies and economies has not met in person in two years due to the coronavirus. Ending this pandemic, improving health security for all nations and driving a robust, inclusive global economic recovery will be our top priorities.

Already, the G-7 finance ministers have made an unprecedented commitment to build momentum for a global minimum tax rate of at least 15 percent to end the race-to-the-bottom on corporate taxation. And with the United States back in the chair on the issue of climate change, we have an opportunity to deliver ambitious progress that curbs the climate crisis and creates jobs by driving a global clean-energy transition.

Just as it does at home, honing the ability of democracies to compete and protecting our people against un-

foreseen threats requires us to invest in infrastructure.

The world’s major democracies will be offering a highstandard alternative to China for upgrading physical, digital and health infrastructure that is more resilient and supports global development.

As new technologies reshape our world in fundamental ways, exposing vulnerabilities like ransomware attacks and creating threats such as invasive AI-driven surveillance, the democracies of the world must together ensure that our values govern the use and development of these innovations — not the interests of autocrats.

Those shared democratic values are the foundation of the most successful alliance in world history. In Brussels, at the nATO summit, I will affirm the United States’ unwavering commitment to Article 5 and to ensuring our alliance is strong in the face of every challenge, including threats like cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure.

While in Brussels, I’ll meet with the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Council to discuss how the United States and Europe can work in close coordination on global challenges. We will focus on ensuring that market democracies, not China or anyone else, write the 21st-century rules around trade and technology. And we will continue to pursue the goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

So, when I meet with Vladimir Putin in Geneva, it will be after high-level discussions with friends, partners and allies who see the world through the same lens as the United States, and with whom we have renewed our

connections and shared purpose. We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security, starting with its aggression in Ukraine, and there will be no doubt about the resolve of the United States to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests.

In my phone calls with President Putin, I have been clear and direct. The United States does not seek conflict.

We want a stable and predictable relationship where we can work with Russia on issues like strategic stability and arms control. That’s why I acted immediately to extend the new START treaty for five years and bolster the security of the American people and the world.

At the same time, I have also imposed meaningful consequences for behaviors that violate U.S. sovereignty, including interference in our democratic elections. And President Putin knows that I will not hesitate to respond to future harmful activities. When we meet, I will again underscore the commitment of the United States, Europe and like-minded democracies to stand up for human rights and dignity.

This is a defining question of our time: Can democracies come together to deliver real results for our people in a rapidly changing world? Will the democratic alliances and institutions that shaped so much of the last century prove their capacity against modern-day threats and adversaries? I believe the answer is yes. And this week in Europe, we have the chance to prove it.

Joe Biden is president of the United States.

Monday, 7 June, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ISLAMABAD

ECC lIkEly to aPProvE oPEratIonal lossEs In gasolInE transPort through PIPElInEs ISLAMABAD

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Cement sales jump 41pc in May ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The cement sector recorded excellent growth of 49.86 per cent in May 2021 as total sales reached 3.947 million tons against 2.634 million tons in the same month of the previous fiscal year. According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association, domestic cement despatches during May 2021 rose to 3.2 million tons against 2.27 million tons in May 2020, showing a healthy growth of 40.95pc. Similarly, exports also massively increased by 105.56pc, up from 363,174 tons in May 2020 to 746,550 tons in May 2021. Cement mills based in northern Pakistan sold 2.71 million tons of cement in domestic markets, an increase of 35.55pc over two million tons sold in May 2020. Similarly, the mills based in the south recorded 81.15pc growth in sales as they shipped 487,311 tons to the local market in May 2021. These mills had dispatched 269,003 tons in May 2020. Due to Coviddriven issues, mills in the northern part of the country exported only 7,520 tons in May 2020, however, exports from north-based mills increased to 203,625 tons in May 2021. Meanwhile, South-based mills sold 487,311 tonnes in domestic markets during May, registering a robust jump of 81pc compared to 269,003 tonnes in the same period last year. Exports from South also posted a growth of 53pc to 542,925 tonnes in May 2021 from 355,654 tonnes during the same month last year. During July-May 2020-21 (11MFY21), total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) grew by 21pc to 52.222m tonnes versus 43.189m tonnes during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Local despatches rose by 20.26pc to 43.451m tonnes in 11MFY21 from 36.13m tonnes in the same period last fiscal year.

Exports increased from 7.059m tonnes during 11MFY20 to 8.771m tonnes during the same period on FY21 – up 24.25pc. During the 11 months under review, the mills based in the northern region shipped 36.72 million tons of cement to the local market, up 18.67pc from 30.94 million tons in the same period of last year. According to an APCMA spokesman, the cement industry is among the highest contributors to the national exchequer as its contribution has increased to Rs143 billion in FY20. “The industry is subject to FED of Rs1,500 per ton and GST of 17pc of the maximum retail price and these taxes calculate to around Rs170 per bag,” he said, adding that besides FED, the industry also pays customs duty and taxes on machinery, spare part imports and on import of coal and pet coke. The APCMA official urged the government to abolish the FED and reduce other duties and taxes to provide an opportunity to the manufacturers to control their cost of production and further optimise and expand their plant that will in turn help generate more employment and revenues for the government.

Pakistan, IMF to discuss taxes in coming week Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are working to fill the gap regarding differences over new taxation measures amid the government’s willingness to increase sales tax rate on fertiliser to 10 per cent and slap 17pc tax on import of crude oil to generate Rs115 billion.

According to a report by The Express Tribune, there is also a proposal to tax interest income under normal tax regime, instead of charging a maximum rate of 15pc that is at the lower end. The talks between the IMF and Pakistan will continue next week, although only five days are left in presentation of the budget for fiscal year 202122, said a source that is part of the negotiations. The report claims that if issues could not be settled at the level of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and IMF’s Mission Chief Ernesto Rigo, Prime Minister Imran Khan may talk to IMF Managing Director Christalina Georgieva next week. MONITORING REPORT

AHMAD AHMADANI

HE federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) is likely to allow operational losses up to a maximum at 0.5 per cent for gasoline transportation through the White Oil Pipeline (WOP) and MehmoodkotFaisalabad-Machike (MFM) pipeline through Inland Freight Equalization Margin (IFEM).

According to sources, the next ECC meeting is expected to take up a summary of the petroleum division, seeking approval to set operational losses up to a maximum at 0.5pc for gasoline transportation through WOP & MFM pipelines through IFEM. The same will be adjusted against actual, zero sum process, based on physical inventory of pipelines to be undertaken periodically.

However, if the actual losses in the first year are found higher than 0.5pc, the case will be resubmitted before ECC for appropriate decision, said sources.

“Since the instant case pertains primarily to the transportation loss only to the extent of pipeline segment rather than all inclusive operational loss, petroleum division is of the opinion that based on international benchmarks used in USA, India, and Zambia/Tanzania, operational losses up to a maximum at 0.5pc for gasoline transportation through WOP & MFM pipelines may be allowed through IFEM,” said the sources.

As per documents, currently, entire up-country demand of diesel is being transported from Karachi to Lahore through the WOP and MFM pipelines.

Pak-Arab Pipelines Company Limited (PAPCO) and Pak-Arab Refinery Company Limited (PARCO), the pipeline operators, have been pursuing a project for converting the two pipelines from the present single product, diesel, to multiproducts including diesel and gasoline, one with an investment of around $194 million.

Similarly, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have also made significant capital investments in storage tanks and its associated facilities at various deliv-

ery points along the pipeline. The project has been technically been completed while its commissioning is expected around June-July-2021.

The two retail fuels namely gasoline and diesel are currently distributed through the length and breadth of the country by tank lorries exclusively in case of gasoline, sales of around 10 billion litres in FY20 and combination of tank lorries & pipeline movements in case of diesel sales of around 7.9 billion litres in FY20).

Gasoline is a volatile product with a high evaporation rate, which results in significant working losses when handling the product. As such, the operational losses would be much higher in gasoline transportation as compared to diesel, due also to multiple handling of the product from ship to storage tanks, to pipeline then off take at Shikarpur, Mehmoodkot, Faisalabad, and Machike storages as well as Intermix handling and reprocessing.

The oil industry has stated that operational losses in pipeline transportation can neither be absorbed by OMCs nor by PAPCO/PARCO, out of their existing margins.

It has therefore, been recommended that operational losses up to maximum of one percent for gasoline transportation through WOP & MFM pipelines should be included in Inland Freight Equalisation Margin (IFEM) calculations.

Since pipeline operators have to conclude transportation agreements with OMCs covering the provisions for operational losses, the issue needs to be resolved for recovery mechanism prior to commissioning of the multi-grade movement project.

It is also learnt from documents that primary movement of gasoline through pipeline, after accounting for 0.5pc operational losses, would still result into a typical freight saving of Rs3.38 per litre on the volumes to be moved in the main segment i.e. Karachi to Mehmoodkot near Multan.

The other ancillary benefits of this shift include road safety, environmental pollution, efficient transportation, less congestion and reduced wear and tear of highways, which are not so easily quantifiable, but

are significant.

“The Minister In charge for Petroleum Division has seen and authorised submission of the summary for seeking approval of the ECC of the cabinet,” documents state.

According to documents, the summary was circulated to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) for their comments.

OGRA responded saying that “the summary does not prescribe any mechanism to assign the financial value to the volumetric issue for recovery”.

It is pertinent to mention here that there is no universal benchmark for operational loss tolerance in respect of gasoline transportation by pipelines and different percentage allowance have been witnessed in the international market, as summarised below: Local Customs Authorities provide an allowance of 1pc on account of evaporation and terminal handling losses Custom & Excise Department, Singapore allows 1pc working losses for products with a flashpoint below 23 deg C as gasoline, LPG and aviation gasoline etc.

US Army Regulations (para 6) in relation to allowable losses for bulk petroleum products provide transportation loss allowance of 0.5pc of the quantity documented.

Energy Regulation Board of Zambia/Tanzania provides terminal losses allowance (para-18) and transportation losses allowance (para-20) at 0.5pc for gasoline.

Government of India (Ministry of Finance) order dated 09-07-2013 (para 4.4) allows the transit loss in deliveries by pipeline to a maximum ceiling of 0.5pc for motor gasoline.

Results of PARCO Laboratory test on evaporation rate/physical behavior show that gasoline evaporation rate is around 11 times more than that of diesel. Accordingly, inference based on PAPCO’s actual experience factor at 0.06pc for diesel works out to an estimated loss percentage at 0.66pc for gasoline.

Political heads responsible for economic destruction: PM Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Sunday said that countries with corrupt heads of state or government and ministers suffer bankruptcy and debt burdens, not due to bribes accepted by low level officials.

“When low level officials take bribes it creates problems for the citizens as speed money is like a tax on them but countries get bankrupted and indebted when the head of state/govt and his ministers are corrupt,” the prime minister said on Twitter.

He also shared a link to a “Memorandum on Establishing the Fight Against Corruption as a Core United States National Security Interest” recently issued by US President Joe Biden, directing his senior

officials to conduct an interagency review process and develop a presidential strategy to improve the ability of executive departments to promote good governance, combat all forms of illicit finance, hold accountable corrupt elements, and their facilitators, and bolster capacity of domestic and international institutions to prevent corruption.

The beginning paragraph of the Memorandum reads: “Corruption corrodes public trust; hobbles effective governance; distorts markets and equitable access to services; undercuts development efforts; contributes to national fragility, extremism, and migration; and provides authoritarian leaders a means to undermine

democracies worldwide.

“When leaders steal from their nations’ citizens or oligarchs flout the rule of law, economic growth slows, inequality widens, and trust in government plummets.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Transparency International (TI), an international non-governmental organisation based in Berlin, ranked Pakistan 124 out of 180 countries on a global corruption perceptions list.

According to the report, Pakistan lost four places in 2020 compared to 2019 and seven positions compared to 2018. In 2019, Pakistan ranked 120th on the global corruption list and 117th in 2018. NEWS DESK

Volkswagen nears dieselgate claims settlement with former CEO Winterkorn BERLIN: Volkswagen on Sunday said it had reached the broad outlines of a settlement with former boss Martin Winterkorn over his role in the dieselgate scandal, with the final details to be thrashed out over coming days.

Via the settlement, Volkswagen is trying to turn the page on its biggest ever corporate crisis in which it admitted using illegal software to rig diesel engine tests in the United States. No details were given on the size of the deal.

“In its meeting yesterday, the supervisory board agreed the essential conditions,” a VW spokesperson

said in a statement. “The agreements will be concluded in coming days.”

Since it broke, dieselgate — one of the biggest corporate scandals ever — has cost the carmaker more than 32 billion euros ($38.93 billion) in fines, refits and legal costs.

Volkswagen in late March said it would claim damages from former Winterkorn for breaching his duty of care by failing to fully and swiftly clarify circumstances behind the use of unlawful software functions in some diesel engines. AGENCIES

Cotton prices hit 11-year high Cotton cultivation area has dropped sharply in both the cotton-producing provinces, creating fear of a major decline in production, which has pushed up the initial cotton trading price to an 11-year high. The highest price — Rs14,000 per bale — was witnessed on Thursday According to a report

by Dawn, cotton traders and ginners are sure that the country would not achieve the target of 10.5 million bales set for this season which has just started. The previous season, which ended in March 2021, could hardly produce 5.6m bales against the target of 11m bales set by the government. If the estimates of ginners and traders, who are in touch with the farmers, prove correct, the country would have to import cotton worth $2 billion to $3bn. The report while quoting the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) chairman claimed that reports from Punjab and Sindh show that the area of cultivation has been reduced by more than 20 per cent which means the country can’t reach the production target of 10.5m bales this year. It is pertinent to mention here that farmers in many areas of the two provinces have started sowing maize, sugarcane, rice and other crops due to higher yields which translate into higher earnings. MONITORING REPORT

Airlines press US on refusal to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Major airlines are pressing the United States (US) government on its decision not to move quickly to relax Covid-19 restrictions that block travelers who have been in much of Europe and elsewhere even as other countries began to ease prohibitions.

On Monday, the heads of several major airlines as well as the chief executives of Heathrow Airport and industry group the

U.S. Travel Association will hold a virtual news conference to push for removal of travel restrictions between the United States and the United Kingdom. On hand will be the CEOs of American Airlines (AAL.O), IAG (ICAG.L) unit British Airways, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O) and JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O).

The airline CEOs on May 11 had called for a summit between US officials, UK officials, and airlines to discuss how to “expeditiously reopen transatlantic travel.”

Since March 2020, the United States has barred nearly all non-US citizens who have been in the UK within the last 14 days from entering the country. Most US travelers visiting the UK must quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.

Airline and administration officials say no change is expected in the near term but add it is possible the restrictions could be removed as early as July 4 or thereabouts, but they caution no decisions have been made.

On Friday, France said vaccinated Ameri-

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cans starting on June 9 will be able to travel to the country. United said it would resume Paris flights from Washington in July and Delta said it was adding flights to France as well.

At a press event at Washington National Airport on Friday, American Airlines (AAL.O) President Robert Isom said, “We know there is tremendous pent-up demand for service.”

Isom said the airline has “a lot of capacity to be ready to go” for European travel.

Asked if July 4 would be too late for European summer travel, Isom said: “We’re

going to take it whenever it comes.”

The travel restrictions also apply to most non-US citizens in Brazil, South Africa, India and Iran.

The Biden administration held a call with British officials on Thursday, people briefed on the matter said, but the White House gave no indication it is planning to lift restrictions.

The White House, which is focused on boosting US vaccination rates and reducing COVID-19 cases, declined to comment on Friday.

Monday, 7 June, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ISLAMABAD

isrAel Arrests JerUsAlem Activist As reporter recovers

i

AGENCIES

SRAELI police arrested a Palestinian protest leader in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem on Sunday, a day after forcefully detaining a prominent Al Jazeera journalist covering the campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from the area.

The arrest Sunday of Muna al-Kurd, confirmed by phone by her father, Nabil, was the latest move by the Israeli police to quell several days of tension in one of the most sensitive neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

It came as GivaraBudeiri, a veteran correspondent for the Al Jazeera satellite channel who regularly covers the story, was released from a hospital with a broken hand that her boss said she sustained Saturday.

Nabil al-Kurd said Israeli police early Sunday “stormed the house in large numbers and in a barbaric manner,” saying they wanted to arrest Muna, 23, and her 22-year-old brother.

“I was sleeping and I found them in my bedroom,” Nabil al-Kurd said in a telephone interview. While his son was not home, police searched the house and arrested Muna, one of the most widely-known activists re-

sisting the Israeli eviction drive.

A video posted on social media, confirmed by Nabil, showed Muna being taken from the home in handcuffs.

“The reason for the arrest is that we say that we will not leave our homes, and they do not want anyone to express his opinion, they do not want anyone to tell the truth,” he said. “They want to silence us.”

Police later confirmed the arrest of a 23-

year-old woman for allegedly participating in “public disturbances” in Sheikh Jarrah.

The weekend’s tensions began Saturday as Budeiri, wearing body armor marked “press,” covered a sit-in among activists. Witnesses and the satellite channel said that after the protest was over, Israeli police asked her for press identification.

Budeiri offered to call her driver to retrieve it. The police instead surrounded her,

pushed her and handcuffed her before leading her to a border police vehicle with darkened windows. Budeiri was held for four hours before she was hospitalised with a broken hand, said Walid Omary, the Jerusalem bureau chief for Al Jazeera. Budeiri had been reporting regularly from Sheikh Jarrah, Omary said.

In video footage posted online, Budeiri can be seen handcuffed and surrounded by border police. Clutching her notebook, she is heard shouting: “Don’t touch, enough, enough.”

Israeli police said Budeiri was detained after she was asked for identification, refused — and pushed a police officer. But witnesses say Budeiri, who holds an Israeli press card, was not allowed to return to her car to get the document. Al Jazeera said her cameraman’s video camera was also heavily damaged by police. Oren Ziv, a cameraman on the scene, said the incident took only a few seconds. The officers did not wait for Budeiri to get her identification, he said. They took her to a waiting police vehicle with darkened windows, where she was put in the back seat with female officers.

Al Jazeera’s acting director general, MostefaSouag, condemned the police actions.

“The systematic targeting of our journalists is in total violation of all international conven-

tions,” he said.

“They are attacking the journalists in east Jerusalem because they don’t want them to continue covering what’s happening inside Sheikh Jarrah,” Omary said.

The tension in Sheikh Jarrah has fueled weeks of unrest and helped spark an IsraelHamas war after the armed group fired several rockets toward Jerusalem on May 10, positioning itself as a defender of Palestinian rights in the holy city.

The war, in which 254 people were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel, ended on May 21. In all, armed groups fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel, while Israel bombed hundreds of Gaza targets it said were linked to armed groups.

The most imminent Jerusalem evictions are on hold, following the intervention by Israel’s attorney general, but the settlers’ campaign continues.

Rights groups fear the evictions could still be carried out in the coming months as international attention wanes, potentially igniting another round of bloodshed. The Israeli watchdog IrAmim, which closely follows the various court cases, estimates that at least 150 households in two neighborhoods are threatened with eviction.

Souag accused Israel of attempting to silence journalists in a systematic fashion. He noted that Budeiri’s detention came after Israel’s May 15 war-time destruction of a Gaza high-rise that housed the local office of Al Jazeera. The tower also housed the Gaza office of The Associated Press.

Israel has alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating from the building.

The AP has said it has no indication of a purported Hamas presence in the building. It has called for an independent investigation.

AttAckers kill 88 people in northwest nigeriA AGENCIES Attackers killed 88 people in Nigeria's Kebbi state on Thursday, spurring its governor to pledge a bigger deployment of security forces on Sunday as insecurity spreads largely unchecked through the country's northwest. Perpetrators swept through eight villages, killing people and sending residents fleeing, police said, giving a death toll of 88. Details began to emerge on Saturday. A spokesperson for Kebbi Governor Abubakar Bagudu said on Sunday the attackers had come from neighbouring Niger and Zamfara states, rustling cattle and destroying crops. Gunmen have ramped up attacks on the region's communities in recent years, forcing thousands to flee across Nigeria's northern border to Niger. The attackers have become globally notorious because of mass kidnappings at schools, with more than 800 students abducted since December. The rampant violence has spawned a humanitarian crisis, international aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres said on Thursday. On Sunday, the governor promised financial aid, and "requested communities in the area to be tolerant, accommodating, friendly and peaceful," his spokesperson said in a statement.

Us boosts taiwan's covid-19 fight with vaccines as senators visit AGENCIES The United States will donate 750,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan as part of the country's plan to share shots globally, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth said on Sunday, offering a much-needed boost to the island's fight against the pandemic. Taiwan is dealing with a spike in domestic cases but has been affected like many places by global vaccines shortages. Only around 3% of its 23.5 million people have been vaccinated, with most getting only the first shot of two needed. Speaking at Taipei's downtown Songshan airport after arriving on a three-hour visit with fellow Senators Dan Sullivan and Christopher Coons, Duckworth said Taiwan would be getting 750,000 doses as part of the first tranche of U.S. donations. "It was critical to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive vaccines because we recognise your urgent need and we value this partnership," she said at a news conference after the group arrived from South Korea. She did not give details of which vaccines Taiwan would get or when. Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters he was hoping to find out soon which firm's shots they would get. Taiwan has complained about China, which claims the democratically-ruled island as its own, trying to block the island from accessing vaccines internationally, which Beijing has denied. Standing by Duckworth's side, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu thanked the United States for the donation. "While we are doing our best to import vaccines, we must overcome obstacles to ensure that these life-saving medicines are delivered free from trouble from Beijing," he said.

China has offered Taiwan Chinese-made vaccines, but the government in Taipei has repeatedly expressed concern about their safety, and in any case cannot import them without changing Taiwanese law, which bans their import.

BEIJING: A customer views collections at a bookstore in the Chinese capital. INP

In rare public outing, Trump denounces China, dangles 2024 prospects RALEIGH AGENCIES

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply attacked US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, demanded reparations from China and denounced an investigation into his finances in a speech in North Carolina.

Speaking in Greenville, North Carolina, at the state’s Republican Party convention, Trump joined a chorus of Republican politicians who are criticising Fauci for asking Americans to wear masks to guard against the virus and who at times has been sceptical of a theory that the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Trump called Fauci “not a great doctor but a great promoter” for his frequent television appearances.

“But he’s been wrong on almost every issue and he was wrong on Wuhan and the lab also,” Trump said.

The origin of the virus remains hotly contested and remains under study by US intelligence agencies.

Trump’s own handling of the pandemic, in which nearly 600,000 people in the United States have died and he himself was infected, was a factor in his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2020 election. Trump called on China to pay $10 trillion in reparations to the United States and the world for its own handling of the virus, and he said nations should cancel their debt to Beijing.

Trump’s appearance had all the hallmarks of his signature campaign rallies complete with a musical playlist heavy on Elton John standards.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley introduced Trump as “our president,” a nod to the former president’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through voter fraud, which Trump called “the crime of the century.” Trump said a criminal investigation launched by the New York attorney general’s office

is “the ultimate fishing expedition,” and said it was the latest attempt by Democrats to bring him down after two impeachment sagas when he was president.

“It’s been a five-year witch hunt, hoax after hoax,” said Trump. “They’ll never stop until November of 2024.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating whether the Trump Organization falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.

Trump vowed to help Republicans in the 2022 congressional elections and endorsed US Representative Ted Budd for a US Senate seat in North Carolina after his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said she would not run.

He appeared to dangle a possible run himself for president in 2024, saying he was looking forward to that year. Advisers say Trump, who faces a potential indictment in New York over his business dealings, has been discussing the possibility of another presidential campaign.

Trump emerged from seclusion for the Saturday event, the first in a planned series of speaking engagements this summer.

“The survival of America depends upon our ability to elect Republicans at every level, starting with the midterms next year,” Trump said.

Lara Trump announced on stage she had considered running for the North Carolina Senate seat but opted not to do so in 2022 in order to care for her young children. But she did not rule out a run in the future.

Monday, 7 June , 2021

ISLAMABAD

RoGeR fedeReR witHdRaws fRoM fRenCH open R AGENCIES

OGER Federer said Sunday he was withdrawing from the French Open despite having reached the fourth round, opting to focus on his primary objective of winning a ninth Wimbledon title.

"After discussions with my team, I've decided I will need to pull out of Roland Garros today," the 39-year-old said. "After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it's important that I listen to my body and make sure I don't push myself too quickly on my road to recovery. "I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt.

There is no greater feeling than being back on court."

Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam title winner, who will be 40 in two months' time, battled over three-and-a-half hours until 12:45 Sunday morning to reach the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 win over 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer. He was due back on court on Monday to tackle Matteo Berrettini for a place in the quarter-finals.

However, having undergone two knee surgeries in 2020, the Swiss star had admitted there were doubts over whether he'd make it. Federer is playing only his third

tournament since last year's Australian Open and has always said Wimbledon is his main goal.

He is chasing a ninth title at Wimbledon which starts on June 28. He is also scheduled to play the warm-up grass court tournament in Halle beginning on June 14, the day after the French Open ends. Federer, who made his Roland Garros debut in 1999 and was champion in 2009, was playing a night

session for the first time in his third-round tie. However, the almost empty 15,000-capacity Court Philippe Chatrier was eerily silent due to a Covid-19 curfew. It is likely that this was Federer's final appearance at the tournament. His return this year was only his second participation since 2015.

"The Roland Garros tournament is sorry about the withdrawal of Roger Federer, who put up an incredible fight last night," said Guy Forget, the tournament director.

"We were all delighted to see Roger back in Paris, where he played three high-level matches. We wish him all the best for the rest of the season." After winning his match, Federer said that he was pacing himself in his recovery.

"All the matches I've played since the injury are information for the rest of the season," he added.

"It gives me great pleasure to be able to play 3hr 30min at a high level against a very good player. It shows that I'm on the right track." His performance won rave reviews from rivals following the match on television. "I'm not bothered by the outcome of this match at all," tweeted Britain's Andy Murray, a former world number one and three-time major winner. "Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of 2 knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12:30am getting fired up is inspirational to me. Do what you love."

SPORTS 11

Rahm forced out of Memorial after positive Covid-19 test NEW YORK AGENCIES

Euro 2020 Group F: Heavyweights collide as France, Germany, Portugal clash PARIS AGENCIES

Some of the jeopardy may be removed by the fact that the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, but Euro 2020's Group F remains full of intrigue as reigning champions Portugal, World Cup holders France and Germany all face off, while Hungary could have their say too.

AFP Sport casts its eye over the four teams trying to reach the knockout stage.

Portugal are reigning European champions and have reached at least the semifinals in four of the last five Euros. They came second behind Ukraine in qualifying

and, at 36, Cristiano Ronaldo is not getting any younger. However, Portugal also won the Nations League in 2019 and Ronaldo has arguably never been surrounded by so much talent: from Ruben Dias at the back to Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Joao Felix. If they click, they could take some stopping.

Given the talent in Portugal's ranks, perhaps it is unimaginative to single out Ronaldo, but it will be fascinating to follow his progress. At 36 this is probably his penultimate major tournament. Portugal's captain and most-capped player has 103 international goals, with 11 coming in the qualifying campaign. He is now just six shy of the all-time international scoring

record of 109 held by Iran's Ali Daei.

"All the other countries envy us," shouted the front of French sports daily L'Equipe this week underneath pictures of Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann. In France they are understandably confident about their prospects of following their 2018 World Cup triumph with Euro glory. Coach Didier Deschamps has a squad full of world-class talent. Competition for places was already fierce up front even before the decision to recall Benzema. Most countries would be delighted to have just one of Mbappe, Benzema or Griezmann, and maybe over-confidence is the biggest danger for France.

At 33, the Real Madrid striker was re-

'Radio' MuelleR, HuMMels tuRn up voluMe foR GeRMany's euRo 2020 bid BERLIN AGENCIES After a two-year exile from international football, 2014 World Cup winners Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels are set to crank up the volume on the pitch for Germany's bid to win Euro 2020. Germany head into the European Championship low on confidence after a shock home defeat to North Macedonia in March in the wake of an historic 6-0 thrashing

by Spain last November, the Germans heaviest defeat in more than 80 years. On both occasions, shell-shocked faces in the stunned German ranks exposed a lack of leadership with captain Manuel Neuer helplessly watching the crisis unfold from his goal. Germany's under-fire head coach Joachim Loew, who will step down later this summer, has reacted by

reversing his 2019 decision to axe Hummels and Mueller, recalling the experienced pair to help lead on the pitch at the Euro. "It's certainly true that Mats Hummels or myself are players who dare to speak up," said Mueller, who made his 101st international appearance on Wednesday after a twoyear hiatus. Loew is desperate to sign off after 15 years in charge by winning the Euro to mend his reputation, tarnished by the Germans' 2018 World Cup debacle, and needs Mueller, 31, and Hummels, 32, to give his squad a boost. As Germany left-back Robin Gosens admits "both have a special aura. You notice immediately that you can rely on these guys. And that feeling is enormously important for a football team."

Equally, a poll of German fans by AFP subsidiary SID showed more than 80 percent are pleased to see Mueller and Hummels back on Germany duty.

called after an international exile of five and a half years. He had not been called up since a blackmail scandal over a sextape involving his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena broke in 2015. But Deschamps could no longer ignore Benzema's form after a season in which he scored 30 goals for his club.

Germany are three-time European champions and have reached at least the semi-finals at each of the last three Euros.

However, since their disastrous showing at the 2018 World Cup, when they went out in the group stage, Germany's fortunes have not improved much. They topped their qualifying group ahead of the Netherlands, but in recent matches they were trounced 6-0 in Spain in the Nations League and suffered a 2-1 home defeat by North Macedonia in World Cup qualifying.

After 15 years in charge, coach Joachim Loew will step down after the tournament.

He has recalled Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels, who had previously been discarded after the last World Cup. Playing group games at home in Munich gives them an advantage, on paper at least.

Germany will rely heavily on the quality of players like Joshua Kimmich and Toni Kroos but a successful Euro may also depend on Mueller. The 31-year-old has been too good for Bayern Munich to be ignored any longer by his country and is back after two and a half years in the international wilderness. The Magyars reached a second straight European Championship via the Nations League play-offs -- they finished fourth in their qualifying group but won play-off ties against Bulgaria and Iceland to qualify.

Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament in Ohio that he was leading by six strokes on Saturday after the Spaniard tested positive for Covid-19, the PGA Tour said.

The 26-year-old’s most recent test, conducted after Friday’s rain-shortened second round, came back positive on Saturday and it was confirmed again while he was on the course.

PGA Tour officials informed Rahm of the test result as he left the course and the stunned former world number one put his hand over his face and bent over in agony and disbelief after getting the news.

“I’m very disappointed in having to withdraw from Memorial Tournament,” Rahm, who is asymptomatic, said on Twitter.

“This is one of those things that happen in life, one of those moments where how we respond to a setback defines us as people. I’m very thankful that my family and I are OK.” In accordance with CDC guidelines, Rahm will need to remain in isolation through June 15 and said he planned to return to the golf course as soon as possible.

“Thank you to all of the fans for their support and I’m looking forward to watching the showdown tomorrow afternoon with you all,” he said.

The PGA Tour called it “an incredibly unfortunate situation” and added that throughout the 50 events it has held since the end of last year’s pandemic-induced shutdown, there have been only four positive tests within competition, including Rahm’s.

Rahm, the tournament’s defending champion, was in the driver’s seat at the Muirfield Village Golf Club on Saturday, where he was 18-under par and enjoyed a six-stroke advantage.

If he had gone on to win on Sunday, he would have earned $1.674 million.

With Rahm out of the picture, Americans Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay are now co-leaders at 12-under par heading into the final 18 holes.

Portugal's new wave of talent waiting in the wings behind Ronaldo AGENCIES Portugal begin the defence of their European title at Euro 2020 this month boasting a wealth of young attacking talent lining up behind veteran superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix and Andre Silva are part of a new wave of attack-minded players who will be pushing for the Portuguese to become the second nation to retain the European Championship after neighbours Spain. After missing Euro 2016 through injury, 26-year-old Bernardo Silva has become a fixture in Portugal's starting XI, scoring seven goals in 54 appearances and providing the same dynamic, forward-thinking presence as for his club Manchester City.

Another of Portugal's Premier League stars Diogo Jota has recovered from injury just in time to take part in the Euro and played in Friday's goalless draw with Spain.

With six goals in 12 international appearances, the 24-year-old Liverpool forward has shown that he could replace Ronaldo up front just as easily as he can develop alongside the

five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Despite his average height (5ft 10in or 1.78m), he also managed to score three headed goals in 2022 World Cup qualifying matches against Serbia and Luxembourg in March. Touted as the successor to Ronaldo, Joao Felix has so far failed to fulfil his obvious potential, ending this season out of the Atletico Madrid starting line-up and at just 21 with the air of a player lost.

Breaks away from the Spanish capital with the national team have changed little, with Felix starting on the bench against Azerbaijan and Serbia in World Cup qualifying before being substituted before half-time by coach Fernando Santos against Luxembourg following a distracted performance.

He also made little impact in the 0-0 draw with Spain, which was played at Atletico's Wanda Metropolitano stadium. "I don't think I've lost my talent. Talent tends to evolve and as a team player I believe I'm continuing to evolve," Felix said during preparation for the Euro. Andre Silva meanwhile comes into the tournament off the back

of his best ever season that put him in some exalted company in the goalscoring charts.

The 25-year-old scored 28 Bundesliga goals this term as Eintracht Frankfurt missed out on Champions League football by just a point, and he was fourth in the chase for the European Golden Shoe behind Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.

"I believe that I'm having the best period of my career both mentally and physically. I come here motivated and confident following the season I've just had," Andre Silva said after joining up with his national team.

However despite his record of 16 goals in 38 Portugal matches, he seems to be incompatible with Ronaldo, the pair proving ineffective against the modest resistance of Azerbaijan during a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win. Portugal are not lacking in talent but it remains to be seen if a highly talented supporting cast can link up with its leading light Ronaldo, who is just six goals short of Iranian Ali Daei's all-time international record of 103 goals and level with Michel Platini's record mark of nine European Championship strikes.

CMYK

Monday, 7 June, 2021

PRAyER TIMINGS

NEWS

Furious protesters AttAck BAhriA town, rAnsAck shops, put on Fire vehicles KARACHI

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MIAN ABRAR

UNDREDS of protesters allegedly attacked Bahria Town Karachi on Sunday and set fire to its main gate as well as several shops and vehicles in the housing society, the police and residents said.

Footage appearing on social media showed the main gate of Bahria Town in flames while smoke was emitting from various other buildings in the elite housing project, which has been under scanner due to unconfirmed allegations of mass fraud and occupation of state and private land in and around the town.

A large number of protesters were staging a sit-in outside the housing society off the Super Highway. The Sindh Action Committee, an alliance of nationalist parties in the province, gave the call for the protest against the alleged hostile takeover of some goth lands by the Bahria Town management.

The committee comprises Sindhi nationalist leaders, including Qadir Magsi, Jalal Mehmood Shah, Ayaz Latif Palijo and others. The Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance, which has led several such protests, supported the call too. They blamed the Sindh government for supporting the illegal eviction of poor peasants and villagers from their ancestral lands.

The protest was attended by residents of nearby villages, who asserted that they are being forced to give up their lands.

They were protesting and chanting slogans against the purportedly “forceful eviction” from their ancestral lands in the vicinity.

According to eyewitnesses, a heavy contingent of police was on the scene to deal with any untoward situation, while the Bahria Town management sealed the entrance with containers. The protests turned violent when a number of protesters were

arrested by the security forces, the witnesses claimed.

Later, an angry mob reportedly breached the barricaded gate and entered the housing society. The mob set fire to the vehicles and the main gate, and also ransacked the showrooms and banks.

A Suzuki car showroom and a fastfood joint were among the establishments torched by the protesters, according to an eyewitness.

The protesters looted at least two ATMs, said another resident, who wished to remain anonymous.

The police managed to disperse protesters after some time.

Following the arson attacks in Bahria Town, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board imposed an emergency at its Safoora hydrant.

KWSB MD Asadullah Khan said that they had dispatched several water tankers to the gated community on Super Highway.

“As soon as the protest turned violent, we withdrew all our members,” SIRA’s

Hafeez Baloch told media. “We were not part of what happened there. Members of the Sindh Action Committee might be involved in it.”

The alliance has been striving to save the lands of the indigenous people for the last eight years.

Bahria Town officials often visit nearby goths and ask the residents to vacate them, according to Baloch. They have offered to financially compensate the residents but the villagers have refused to give up their ancestral lands.

The Bahria Town management is trying to take over lands in Noor Mohammad Gabol Goth, Usman Allahrakhiyo Goth, Hadi Bakhsh Gabol Goth and Abdullah Gabol Goth, alleged Baloch.

Apart from these goths, he claimed that the BTK management wishes to take over private lands owned by Kamal Jokhiyo, Faiz Gabol and Ameeruddin Gabol.

Sindh Action Committee’s Qadir Magsi said those who engaged in violence had nothing to do with the protesters.

“They were Bahria Town’s own people who deliberately drove the protest towards violence,” Magsi told media. “We were staging a peaceful sit-in and the Sindh Action Committee had nothing to do with the violence in Bahria Town.”

Magsi said that the police arrested around a dozen protesters. He demanded their immediate release.

The Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance was formed in 2015 in reaction to the Bahria Town land acquisition, which they said had affected dehs in the Malir area.

The alliance was headed by Saleem Baloch who was supported by heavyweights such as the then state minister for communications MNA Hakeem Baloch, MPA Haji Shafi Jamot of Malir’s PS-129, historian Gul Hasan Kalmatti, Jam Abdul Kareem of Malir, well-known activist Yousaf Masti Khan and former nazim Khuda Dino Shah.

At the time, they had argued that the Supreme Court had in 2011 passed an order telling the government that it could not allot its land to private institutions. But the Bahria Town developments in Malir, especially Deh Langheji, came and were also in contravention to the Land Revenue Act 1967 and the Sindh Gothabad Act 1987, they had said.

SUPREME COURT RULING: In May 2018, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Malir Development Authority illegally granted land to Bahria Town Karachi. The Sindh government had allotted the land to MDA for building a housing scheme.

The MDA, however, exchanged the land with Bahria Town, the court said.

Bahria Town was even barred from selling any plot or apartment in the housing scheme.

In March 2019, the top court accepted Bahria Town’s offer to pay Rs460 billion to acquire 16,896 acres off Karachi’s Super Highway. It did not include Bahria Town’s Sports City project.

11 killed in Afghanistan roadside bombing: official KABUL AGENCIES

A minivan carrying civilian passengers in northwest Afghanistan was hit by a roadside bomb, leaving at least 11 passengers dead, including three children, an Afghan official said Sunday.

The minivan fell into a valley with the shock of the explosion Saturday, said Badghis provincial Gov. Hesamuddin Shams, adding that rescuers were still searching for bodies in the valley.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the provincial government accuses the Taliban of placing the bomb to target security forces. There was no immediate response from the Taliban.

Large swathes of war-ravaged Afghanistan are littered with bombs and land mines. Many were planted by insurgents to target government military convoys, but they often kill civilians instead.

The United Nations has repeatedly demanded both

government forces and the Taliban take more precautions to protect civilians. In the first three months of this year, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said that 1,783 civilians had been killed or wounded in Afghanistan, an increase of 29 percent over the same period last year.

The violence comes as U.S. peace envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and a delegation from the National Security Council and Department of Defense travelled to the region to start a new series of talks between the Taliban and the government. They were to meet in Kabul and Doha in Qatar to urge the sides to reach a political settlement.

Negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan representatives began last September in Doha and continued earlier this year. But the Taliban announced on April 13 that it would not take part in any conference intended to decide the future of Afghanistan until all foreign troops were gone.

President Joe Biden had announced a day earlier that all U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by September 11.

In northern Faryab province, provincial officials said

Sunday the district of Qaisar had fallen to Taliban fighters after a weeks-long fight between the two sides.

Provincial council chief Mohammad Tahir Rahmani told The Associated Press that provincial police chief Saifulrahman was killed in the fighting along with seven other police officers. Like many Afghans, Saifulrahman went by one name. According to Rahmani, the district had already fallen but police officers at police headquarters were resisting. He said the Taliban took 37 police hostage.

A provincial police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said that besides police headquarters, the main market and municipality office fell to the Taliban.

The Taliban immediately did not comment on taking control of the Qaisar district but both the Taliban and Afghan government defense and security forces have increased their operations against each other.

Also on Sunday, Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Kabul targeted a civilian car wounding three people.

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At least 132 civilians killed in Burkina Faso’s worst attack in years

The death toll from the worst militant attack in Burkina Faso in recent years has risen to 132, the government said on Saturday, after armed assailants laid siege overnight to a village in the northeast. The attackers struck during the night on Friday, killing residents of the village of Solhan in Yagha province, bordering Niger. They also burned homes and the market, the government said in a statement. It declared a 72-hour period of national mourning, describing the attackers as terrorists, although no group has claimed responsibility. Another 40 residents were wounded, government spokesperson Ousseni Tamboura later told reporters. The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was outraged by the attack, whose victims included seven children. Despite the presence of thousands of UN peacekeepers, attacks by militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in West Africa’s Sahel region have risen sharply since the start of the year, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with civilians bearing the brunt.

The violence in Burkina Faso has displaced more than 1.14 million people in just over two years, while the poor, arid country is hosting some 20,000 refugees from neighbouring Mali. The latest attack pushes the number killed by militants in the Sahel region to over 500 since January, according to Human Rights Watch’s West Africa director, Corinne Dufka. “The dynamic is the jihadists come in, they overpower the civil defence post and engage in collective punishment against the rest of the village — it’s a pattern we’ve seen everywhere this year,” Dufka said. In March, attackers killed 137 people in coordinated raids on villages in southwestern Niger. AGENCIES

UNGA adopts declaration with roadmap to combat corruption NEW YORK AGENCIES

The United Nations General Assembly passed a political declaration at a special session to discuss graft.

The session adopted the declaration — our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation — with blueprints to help countries tackle bribery, money-laundering, abuse of power and a raft of related crimes The three-day special session, which began on Wednesday and ended on Friday night, brought together head of governments and states, ministers, diplomats, as well as representatives of observer entities and civil society.

There, Pakistan was represented by National Accountability Bureau chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal. Pakistan’ Ambassador at the UN, Munir Akram, also addressed the session in his capacity as UN Economic and Social Council president.

By its terms, member states expressed concern about the serious threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of so-

cieties, as well as the phenomenon’s potential to undermine the institutions and values of democracy and jeopardise sustainable development and the rule of law.

They recognised the negative impact corruption can have on access to basic services and human rights while noting that it may also exacerbate poverty and inequality and disproportionately affect the world’s most disadvantaged people.

The assembly noted that the loss of resources caused by corruption may constitute a substantial proportion of State resources — with a particularly negative impact on developing countries — and that those challenges have been exacerbated by the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reaffirming support for the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the bodies created under it, as well as for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it committed to preventing and combating corruption and strengthen international cooperation to fight it, while respecting the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Pledging to step up efforts to promote and implement global anti-corruption obligations and commitments, and to demonstrate the necessary political will, member

states also made a series of commitments in seven key areas: prevention, criminalisation and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical assistance, anti-corruption as a driver of sustainable development, and advancing a forward-looking anti-corruption agenda.

Among other things, they committed to fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, legality, integrity and fairness in the public sector, including by applying codes of conduct and other ethical standards for all public officials.

They stressed the role of supreme audit institutions and other oversight bodies, pledged to promote transparency and committed to identify and manage conflicts of interest — as well as address the root causes, vulnerabilities, and risk factors leading to corruption.

They also agreed to take measures to prevent financial systems from being abused to hide, move and launder assets stemming from corruption.

By other terms of the declaration, the assembly urged states to establish as criminal offences the bribery of national, foreign or international public officials.

They committed to helping build the ca-

pacity of law enforcement and judicial authorities for the successful investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption and related offences, and to provide a safe and enabling environment to those who expose, report and fight corruption.

They also encouraged states to remove barriers to the recovery of assets and ensure that domestic legal frameworks allow States parties to initiate legal proceedings to claim property acquired through the commission

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

of an offence established by the Convention.

Reiterating the central role of the convention and its conference of the states in helping to boost their capacity to combat corruption, the assembly encouraged the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to develop and share a “comprehensive, scientifically sound and objective statistical framework”, grounded in methodological work and reliable data sources, to support states in those efforts.