EpaperKH_2020-06-1

CMYK

Monday, 1 June, 2020 I 9 Shawwal-ul-Mubarak, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol X No 332 I 52 Pages I Karachi Edition

Pakistan rePorts 78 Covid-19 deaths, toll Crosses 1500 g

RECOvERIES TOP 25,000 AS 1,140 PATIENTS TEST NEGATIvE FOR CORONAvIRUS IN 24 HOURS

g

GOvT ADvISES PEOPlE TO WEAR MASkS IN PUBlIC PlACES AS lOCAl TRANSMISSION RATE TOUCHES 92PC

g

SINDH GOvT DENIES RUMOURS OF ‘STRICTER lOCkDOWN’, URGES PUBlIC TO AvOID RUSHING TO MARkETS

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/LAHORE

P

staff report

AkISTAN’s coronavirus cases surged past 70,000 on Sunday and death toll crossed 1,500 as the provinces and autonomous areas continued to report more cases and fatalities.

Meanwhile, the number of people who have recovered from the virus in Pakistan has topped 25,000 after 1,140 additional recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours.

Punjab reported 952 new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the provincial tally to 25,056. The province also saw a record jump in the number of fatalities due to the virus, with 36 more deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll in the province to 475.

Sindh has reported 885 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial total to 28,245. 16 more deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the fatalities in the province to 481.

Islamabad reported 226 new cases of the coronavirus, taking its total to 2,418, according to the government’s Covid-19 portal. Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) reported 18 new cases and Azad Jammu and kashmir (AJk) reported 17, taking their tallies to 678 and 251, respectively. The capital also reported four more deaths from the virus and GB has reported two fatalities. khyber Pakhtunkhwa (kP) reported 487 more cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the provincial tally to 10,027.

20 more deaths were reported

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

70,868

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

78

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

25,271 1,520 SINDH:

28,245

PUNJAB:

25,056

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

10,027 251/678

4,193 2,418

in the province, raising the death toll to 473.

106 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Balochistan, taking the provincial tally to 4,193, according to the Balochistan health department. The province also recorded four “probable deaths” during the last 24 hours. Its number of confirmed deaths stands at 46.

GOVT ADVISES PEOPLE TO WEAR MASKS: As the coronavirus cases continued to increase, the federal government advised the people to wear masks as a pre-

cautionary measure against the virus.

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said that the country’s infection rate for coronavirus was on the rise with local transmission rate standing at 92 per cent.

He said that cases are increasing as the disease is spreading, so is the importance of following standard operating procedures (SOPs).

He added said 78 deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours, which was the highest single-day tally for Pakistan since the outbreak.

He said that people “must” wear masks in public transports, including trains, buses and planes, mosques, shops, bazaars and malls. He further advised them to use their own “judgement” as well regarding wearing masks at home. “If you feel there are a lot of people, then you should wear a mask,” he added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

Govt slashes petrol price

by Rs7 per litre g

PM SAyS PAkISTAN HAS CHEAPEST FUEl COST COMPARED TO OTHER STATES IN SOUTH ASIA ISLAMABAD staff report

In order to provide further relief to the consumers, the government reduced further the prices of petrol by Rs7.06 per litre, Finance Ministry said on Sunday.

The petrol prices have been reduced from Rs81.58 per liter to Rs74.52 per liter, said a press statement issued by the ministry here, adding that the new prices would be applicable from June 1, 2020. likewise, the prices of kerosene Oil have been reduced from Rs47.44 per liter to Rs35.56 per liter whereas the prices of light Diesel Oil were reduced from Rs47.51 per liter to Rs38.14 per liter.

However, the prices of HighSpeed Diesel witnessed a nominal increase of Rs0.05 as it went up from Rs80.10 per liter to Rs80.15 per liter.

Despite the global trend of increasing prices of petroleum products, the government has decided to extend further relief in petroleum prices to the public, the statement added.

Prime Minister Imran khan highlighted that Pakistan has the cheap-

World Bank pledges $188m to boost Pakistan’s disaster resilience ISLAMABAD staff report

The World Bank (WB) has agreed to join hands with Pakistan to support the latter’s disaster resilience and ecosystem restoration initiatives through more reliable and timely weather forecasting, improved disaster risk management services as well as help tackle growing environmental challenges, Climate Change Ministry’s Media Focal Person Muhammad Saleem said on Sunday.

“The World Bank has conveyed its willingness to the government of Pakistan for providing funding support for an ambitious five-year U$188 million ‘Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services (PHERS)’ project, which would conclude during the financial year 202425,” he said while sharing details of the bilateral partnership.

The Climate Change Ministry official further said that in this regard an agreement-signing ceremony has been scheduled to be held on June 1 in the climate change ministry, which would be led by the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and the World Bank’s Country Director for Pak-

est fuel cost compared to other states in South Asia. After the federal government made another cut in petroleum prices, PM Imran khan said in its Twitter message that the Centre has further reduced petrol, light diesel and kerosene oil prices.

He said, “Now we have the cheapest fuel cost compared to other states in South Asia. India is almost exactly double. Bangladesh, Sri lanka & Nepal are all 50 to 75 percent more expensive than us.” yesterday, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had recommended a reduction in petrol price by Rs7.06/litre, kerosene Rs11.88/litre and light diesel oil (lDO) price by Rs9.37/litre for June.

The regulatory body had, however, suggested that the price of diesel should remain unchanged.

For diesel, OGRA had recommended a Rs0.05/litre increase to Rs80.15/litre.

It is worth mentioning that the government is charging 17% general sales tax (GST) on all petroleum products. Apart from it, the government is also collecting petroleum levy (Pl) on these products, which is directly taken from consumers.

more inside

Pakistan blasts India over expulsion of PHC staff members STORY ON PAGE 03

Curfews and clashes as US race protests escalate istan Illango Patchamuthu.

The ceremony would be attended, among others, by top key government officials of the climate change ministry, Economic Affairs Division, Aviation Division, chief executive officer of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund Pakistan, Pakistan Meteorological Department and National Disaster Management Authority, he added.

Spelling out details of the project, he said that the Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services project would be implemented through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Pakistan, a government-owned company established under Section 42 of the Companies Act 2017 and managed by the climate change ministry.

CMYK

Explaining about components and subcomponents of the project, the media focal person said that the project comprises two components, namely: ‘Hydro-meteorological and Climate Service’ and ‘Disaster Risk Management’.

The first component has been further divided in the four sub-components, namely: Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building, Modernization of the Observation Infrastructure; Data Management, and Forecasting Systems; Enhancing the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) Service Delivery and Building Partnerships with the Private Sector; and the last is the Project Management, Systems Integration and Monitoring and Implementation Support of PMD.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

STORY ON BACK PAGE

NASA astronauts head for ISS on historic SpaceX flight STORY ON BACK PAGE in today’s issue

attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint.

Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

02

Monday, 1 June, 2020

NEWS

‘LoCuSt attaCk May CauSe $8.71bn LoSS to eConoMy’ kARACHI

L

Staff RepoRt

OCUST attack may cause a loss of $8.71 billion to Pakistan’s economy during the summer if 75 per cent of the standing crops are destroyed, senior agriculture scientist Dr Chauhdry Inayatullah warned on Sunday.

Speaking during an online lecture on locust attack and issues of food security, he said that this year, the locust attack is severe and coordinated efforts of the federal and provincial governments department are required to eliminate the swarms of locusts which are now in billions.

He said that it is estimated that if 25 per cent crops are damaged during the current season then Pakistan would face a loss of $2.9 billion and if 50 per cent crops are eaten up by the insects then the loss would be around $5.8 billion.

Sindh CM seeks Centre's help to contain locusts NewS DeSk Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, urging the federal government to take immediate measures against the locust attack. “Threat of food security in the province is increasing due to locusts’ attacks,” said Murad in the letter. Demanding emergency measures from the prime minister, the chief minister said that if immediate measures were not taken to cope up with the situation then it could devastate harvest in the province. He demanded of the premier to immediately provide six planes to conduct aerial spray on swarms of locusts other than providing 110 double-cabin vehicles for the same. The federal government should also provide 100,000 litres of pesticides and 12 tractors for the purpose. “The government should fulfill its promise to deal with the attack,” he said.

Seminaries to reopen in June, clerics say

Dr Inayatullah said that Pakistan used to regularly monitor locusts and spray breeding sites to prevent an attack but the opportunity was missed last year, because of which the country is facing the worst attack of desert locusts, which are present in all provinces.

He said that controlling desert locusts when they are in swarms and warning other countries early is the key to success. He added that spraying vast areas is not an ecologically sound practice as it kills beneficial insects as well but it is the only way out of this.

He further said that the use of semiochemicals is ideal during the solitary and transitory phase of locusts.

HOTLINES FOR LOCUST COMPLAINTS: The National Disaster Management Authority has operationalised two more separate hotlines for prompt registration of locust and coronavirus related complaints.

A spokesman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a statement on Sunday that the

Covid-19 related complaints could be registered by contacting 24/7 hotline 0304-111-01-61 while locust related complaints could be registered at 0304-111-01-62. The hotline has been established in the operation room of

NDMA. On Wednesday, the NDMA in a bid to facilitate complaints related to locusts activated a hotline 051-111-222999 for registering and resolving issues pertaining to their attacks.

Meanwhile, the NDMA will provide 100 ventilators to the provinces in view of their increasing demand by corona patients. According to the NDMA spokesman, a letter to this effect has been dispatched to all the four provinces for receiving ventilators.

He said the provinces are also being provided with BiPAP portable ventilators.

Ten BiPAP portable ventilators have also been allocated for Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan each. The spokesperson said medical staff will also be trained to operate these ventilators.

He said the provision of the ventilators has already been ensured to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, as per the required number.

PML-N asks PTI why it allowed sugar export amid domestic shortage LAHORe Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday asked why the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government gave subsidy on sugar despite a 40 per cent devaluation of the rupee and why did it allow the export of sugar amid a domestic shortage.

In a statement, she said that the government’s “inability” to answer four fundamental questions regarding the sugar scandal has shown that a “sugar thief mafia” has been imposed on them.

She said that “rented mouthpieces” of the government “stage a circus” everyday and they wave

around fake and forged documents to divert attention from the “criminal-inchief” Imran Khan.

“Despite overwhelming and crystal-clear evidence against him, why has Imran Khan not been nominated as the chief criminal in the sugar scandal?” she asked.

“Why did Imran order the export of sugar amid a domestic shortage?

Why did Imran decide to give subsidy despite a 40 per cent devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee? Why did Imran not take any action against the hike of sugar prices from Rs53 to Rs90 per kg? Why was Imran not summoned by the Sugar Scandal Inquiry Commission? Why is the inquiry commission not satisfied with the answers given by Usman Buzdar, Asad Umar

and Abdul Razaq Dawood? These are the real questions to which the people of Pakistan demand an answer,” Marriyum said.

The former information minister said the people of Pakistan are being robbed every single day with “artificially jacked up sugar prices”. Every single day the government tries to tie the names of Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Suleman Shehbaz to mislead the nation from the real criminals, she lambasted.

The PML-N spokesperson said that the Sindh High Court had ruled to lower the CPR of sugarcane but Shehbaz did not give a single rupee in subsidy nor did he lower the cost of sugarcane.

Twin cities face terror threat Mian abRaR

LAHORe The Federation of Islamic Seminaries on Sunday announced to begin admission drive in its affiliated madrassas from June 2, whereas classes will begin from July 12. A meeting of the Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia, which was chaired by Maulana Qazi Abdul Rashid at Jamia Ashrafia in Lahore, also decided to take private schools on board and pressurise the government to allow Tableeghi Jamaat to resume its socio-religious activities. The announces comes as the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) recommended that the educational institutes should be kept closed till August, as the summer season and pandemic would be at its peak in July. Addressing a press conference following the meeting, Maulana Rashid said a final decision regarding the matter will be taken by the leadership of the federation and Tanzeemul Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan, declaring that madrassas “could not afford” to remain closed any longer. The cleric claimed that the standard operating procedures (SOPs), which were announced by the government to contain the spread of the coronavirus, were “flouted everywhere except mosques.” He also questioned the logic behind keeping madrassas closed if mosques, shopping malls, markets were allowed to reopen. Religious organisations across the country have been calling on the government to allow the religious institutions including madrassas to reopen despite an uncontrolled surge in the number of positive cases and deaths. The clerics, days before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, announced to reopen mosques amid reservations expressed by the medical experts that such a move would leave a catastrophic impact on the government’s anti-coronavirus efforts. In a press release issued by the central leadership of Wafaqul Madaris, it was said that the federation was “determined to save the future of the students in collaboration with the government” which it said was at stake due to delay in the annual examinations scheduled in March this year.

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

Fawad says foreign dramas will ruin Pakistani productions

While the authorities are busy handling the major surge in cases of coronavirus, intelligence agencies have warned the authorities of a high profile terrorist attack likely to hit the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

According to a secret memo dated May 30, it has been reported through reliable sources that some terrorist groups are planning to undertake a high profile terrorist activity in twin cities i. e. Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

“All relevant security agencies are therefore requested to ensure optimum security measures within twin cities in particular and in other parts of the country in general,” the secret letter suggested.

“It is therefore declared that Chief Secretaries, Inspectors General

of Police should hold meetings with all the stakeholders related to security and review security arrangements.

Extreme vigilance and higtened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident,” says the official communique sent to Chief Sec-

retary Punjab, IGP Punjab, IGP Islamabad, Chief Commissioners ICT and Rawalpindi and provincial authorities of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has become the latest person to join the Ertugrul debate, saying that foreign dramas will ‘ruin’ Pakistani productions. The federal minister took to Twitter on Sunday to exclaim his ‘surprise’ at the PTV for “taking pride in other countries productions”. “Surprised on @PTVHomeOfficial taking pride in other countries’ productions, you guys must focus on Pak productions otherwise foreign dramas will ruin Pak productions, its always cheap to import foreign dramas but this will have devastating long term effect on our own programming,” he tweeted. The globally acclaimed Turkish TV series Ertugrul has amassed a massive fan following in Pakistan after it was broadcast by PTV for the Pakistani audience on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, the TV series has triggered a debate in Pakistan with many celebrities voicing concern that foreign content will ultimately prove harmful for local content consumption and as a result, harm the showbiz industry in Pakistan. Renowned actors such as Osman Khalid Butt, Bilal Ashraf, and Mehwish Hayat have praised the show and called on Pakistani producers to come up with similar content.

Official repatriated on alleged differences with Islamabad DC ISLAMABAD SHaHZaD paRaCHa

The federal government has repatriated the Local Government Commission Secretary and ICT Director (Dev/Finance) Ali Sufiyan to his parent department over alleged differences with Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hamza Shafqat.

According to a notification issued in this regard, the official was repatriated to his parent department on May 21, and Captain (r) Syed Ali Asghar (BPS18/PAS), who was posted as the ICT director (AES), was posted as ICT director (Dev/Finance) in his own pay and scale with immediate effect. The notification also stated that Captain (r) Asghar would continue to hold additional charge of his previous post for three months until someone else is posted to that position.

Sources said that Sufiyan, an officer

of commerce and trade group, had recently forwarded an inquiry report to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as well as Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) with regard to alleged corruption of billions of rupees in the affairs of the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) as well as MCI in the last few years.

They said that the inquiry report also raised questions over Shafqat’s role as the former director municipal administration.

Back in 2013, Shafqat got a public notice published in newspapers pertaining to cancellation of all licences issued in violation of PPRA rules, and subsequently an open auction of facia sign boards, billboards, pole signs, bus stops, gentries was held, however, according to the record, those billboards and pole signs were operated by the same media companies who were initially issued lincences in violation

CMYK

of PPRA rules and no amount was recovered from them for three years. They added that that the Local Government Commission had also summoned Shafqat in the meeting, but this was not indicated in the minutes of the official meeting.

They further said that the Islamabad DC considers Sufiyan to be the main person behind the commission’s inquiry report and he used different tactics to repatriate him from his position.

On the other said, sources said that the CDA Subcommittee Chairman Muhammad Saleem also wrote a letter to Establishment Division secretary to investigate Sufiyan’s attempts of seeking repeated deputations. He said that the official has a checkered history in this regard and his moves were in violation of the deputation policy and the orders of the Islamabad High Court. He highlighted that Sufiyan was sent on deputa-

tion to CDA on February 4, 2014 as deputy director and served for one year in the Municipal Administration Directorate before he was repatriated prematurely to his parent Ministry of Commerce on January 1, 2015.

He also said that the official made repeated attempts to be posted to the CDA once again and succeed a year later when he joined the civic body on April 21, 2016 in the same directorate until he was removed from office on May 2, 2018 by the IHC, which declared him a persona non grata and clearly directed against assigning him any municipal responsibilities. He added that despite this, Sufiyan continued to try and was posted to ICT, a local government institution with close linkages with MCI, which was also a violation of the deputation policy and court orders, therefore, the issue must be investigated. He also accused Sufiyan of being the most corrupt officer of CDA/MCI and requested action against him.

Sources said that recently, two prominent television anchors also discussed the matter in a programme and subsequently, Sufiyan was repatriated to his parent department despite Sufiyan’s close relations with the secretary establishment.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

PakIStan bLaStS IndIa over exPuLSIon oF PHC StaFF MeMberS ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan on Sunday condemned the Indian government’s decision to expel two staffers of the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) in New Delhi as part of “persistent anti-Pakistan propaganda”.

According to a Foreign Office statement, India’s decision to declare two officials of the High Commission for Pakistan in New Delhi “persona non grata requiring them to leave India within 24 hours” was accompanied by a “negative pre-planned and orchestrated media campaign, which is a part of persistent anti-Pakistan propaganda”. It added that two staff members of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were “lifted by the Indian authorities today (31 May 2020) on false and unsubstantiated charges”.

They were subsequently released after the Pakistan High Commission intervened.

“We condemn the detention and torture as well as threatening and pressuring of the diplomatic officials to accept false charges,” the Foreign Office said.

Pakistan’s Covid-19 cases surge past 70,000, death toll crosses 1,500 CONTINUeD fROM pAge 01 The SAPM said that around 25 per cent of all hospital assets in the country were engaged, clarifying that the overall situation in the country was under control. “But I am sure some hospitals are full in some cities. But that does not mean hospitals in the entire country are full,” he said. Earlier, while briefing the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Dr Mirza said that the government was planning to hire retired government doctors on contractual basis to cover the shortage of doctors and paramedics in the country amidst the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. He also said that dedicated call centres for coronavirus would be established soon in all provinces to address people’s concerns and answer their questions on the virus. He told the NCOC that Sindh and Balochistan were not ready to undertake and impose smart lockdown like Punjab and KP. The SAPM said that both provincial governments have backed the quarantined isolation method of keeping the effects and spread of the virus minimal. Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, while chairing the NCOC session, said that the government would ask the business and trading community of Pakistan to help out in the implementation of SOPs to stay safe and minimise the spread of the virus. Umar urged shopkeepers to adopt the policy of refusing to conduct business with a customer not wearing a face mask. He said that the NCOC was simultaneously working on short-term and long-term strategies and methods to deal with the coronavirus and a part of this strategy includes strict punishments for those who fail to adhere and abide by the SOPs. The minister also talked about the added advantage of centralised Resource Management System (RMS) for coronavirus and how it would help provinces to keep better tabs on the spread of the virus and also help the people find healthcare facilities in case they show Covid-19 symptoms.

SINDH DENIES RUMOURS OF STRICTER LOCKDOWN: Sindh government spokesperson Barrister Murtaza Wahab denied prevailing rumours regarding a stricter lockdown and closure of shops in a video statement issued on Sunday.Asking citizens not to scare those around them through misinformation, he appealed to the people not to pay heed to any rumours until the government made official announcements.He pointed out that as a result of the fear of a tighter lockdown, people were rushing to the markets while ignoring precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus, which could be extremely dangerous.

The statement came in response to an Indian Ministry of External Affairs press release which claimed the

pair was being expelled for “indulging in espionage activities”. The Foreign Office added: “Pakistan strongly rejects the baseless Indian allegations and deplores the Indian action which is in clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as well as the norms of diplomatic conduct especially in an already vitiated atmosphere. “The High Commission for Pakistan in New Delhi has always worked within the parameters of international law and diplomatic norms.

The Indian action is clearly aimed at shrinking diplomatic space for the working of Pakistan High Commission.”

The Foreign Office stressed that Indian attempts to escalate tensions “will not succeed in diverting attention either from the ongoing internal and external issues faced by the BJP government or from the worsening situation and gross human rights violations being perpetrated by the Indian occupation forces in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K)”.

Pakistan urged the international community to take notice of the Indian “designs and play its role in ensuring peace and security in South Asia”.

Putting the virus in contempt CITY NOTeS M a niaZi

I’m sorry I missed out on wishing you, dear reader, a Happy Eid. So I’m doing it now, just over a week late. In my defence, may I say that I was caught in the crossfire, like the rest of the nation, between Science & Technology Minister Ch Fawad and Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rahman.

Mufti Muneeb kept on insisting that Ch Fawad Was nobody to decide about the sighting of the Shawwal moon, app or no app. Ch Fawad was too bust playing with his mobile, on which his app said we would have Eid on Sunday, along with Mufti Shamezai of Masjid Mahabbat Khan.

Actually, I suspect that Imran Khan fasts. If you go back to the Zia era, Ramazan also ended after 39 days. That was because, I suspect, Zia didn’t see the point of being President if he let the Committee let Ramazan go to 30 days. We only had 30-day Ramzans under Asif Zardari, who probably didn’t mind. Or maybe Ch Fawad fasted this Ramazan.

Look at his physique; that’s a man who would want Eid to come as soon as possible.

Ch Fawad is also known for saying the unsaid. For example, he said he wouldn’t attend the National Assembly because a PTI MNA tested positive for coronavirus. Well, the National Assembly is still unscathed, but a lady

MPA from Punjab, and a JUI(F) MPA from Baluchistan, have given up the ghost. The former’s seat will be filled from the party list, but the latter’s seat will need a byelection. That will be a test in particular for Chief Minister Jam Kamal, who will have to deliver the seat to the government if he is worth his salt.

Well, that’s his problem. Mine was getting through this Eid. Of course, though there was the pleasure of marking Eid along with the rest of the Muslim world, this was also the first Eid of social distancing. And it seems the new reality is a lot of uncertainty. It’s good to see that even those not practicing social distancing are too uncertain to offer the hugs and handshakes that seem to go with Eid. A lot of people said they were marking Eid with simplicity because of the Karachi air tragedy.

That had not stopped the Supreme Court inadvertently opening the floodgates for the annual display of aggression, kicking, biting sand gouging, known as an Eid sale. It ordered the reopening of the markets because the lockdown had violated the fundamental rights of the citizen. But what about the right to life? Can any court, including the Supreme Court, hold the coronavirus in contempt? That depends on whether the virus is a legal person, which in turn depends on whether it can appoint a lawyer or represent itself. Can one virus speak on behalf of another, or does it

speak only for itself. And what happens if a virus says that it alone won’t infect anyone, but if anyone touches his mouth with a million viruses, then it can’t be blamed.

But perhaps the most important question, one affecting the entire criminal justice system, is whether the police has found some way of extracting money from the coronavirus. The government refused to enforce a strict lockdown, thus depriving policemen of letting people violate the curfew in exchange for a consideration.

Y’know, police honesty can be over-rated. Look at what’s happening in Minneapolis; indeed, all over the USA. It supposed to be because the police are prejudiced against African-Americans. Not over here.

Our cops hate everybody. And then, the death of George Floyd would never have happened here. His body would have been found riddled with police bullets somewhere, carrying a rusted AK-47. And the police would have said he was killed in an escape attempt helped by his companions.

Being the USA, the protests have seen incidents of looting.

I wonder if Trump knows what’s happening. Or whether he’s too high on hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial which he is taking as a prophylactic against Covid-19.

Even he has had enough sense to stay away from drinking disinfectant, which he recommended as a sovereign remedy. I wonder if he has tried sniffing glue? Sometimes he sounds like it.

Qureshi hopes UN rights chief would highlight Kashmir abuses MULTAN tLtp

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) are being trodden on and the United Nations will have to play its role in this regard.

The foreign minister said while talking to the media persons here on Sunday. He added that he has apprised the UN chief of the situation in Kashmir.

He said that Pakistan hopes United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to highlight the facts in her report regarding rising rights violations in the IOK. “We hope human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet in her new report, which we are expecting will come out in 2020, will bring the true facts to the people,” said the minister. Qureshi said that he and

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari also spoke to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the issue. The foreign minister said that he had also written to the UN Security Council president about the human rights violations in Kashmir.

To a question about repatriating stranded Pakistanis, the foreign minister urged the provincial governments to increase their capacity so more flights can take place. “We are trying to bring stranded Pakistanis back and we brought back thousands and there are thousands more that need to be brought back,” said Qureshi.

The minister clarified that the issue of bringing them back is not a problem at the federal government’s side but it requires the provincial governments’ cooperation. He also said that the Centre wants the passengers that return to be self-quarantined and said he believes this should be allowed.

NEWS

03

balochistan govt constitutes JIt to probe Hazara town mob lynching QUETTA: The Balochistan government on Sunday constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the brutal lynching of a young man in Quetta’s Hazara Town on Friday night. The SSP (investigation) will head the JIT that also comprises officials from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). The JIT is required to complete its probe and submit a report within 15 days. A person was killed while two others severely injured when a mob assaulted them in Hazara Town on Friday night. Hundreds of protesters had taken the body in front of Chief Minister House and staged a sit-in against the lynching. Twelve suspects have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the incident.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Khan Khan took notice of the brutal killing and directed the provincial police chief to immediately arrest all the culprits involved in the incident and sought a report. inp

World bank pledges $188m to boost Pakistan’s disaster resilience CONTINUeD fROM pAge 01 The second component ‘Disaster Risk Management’ has been divided into three sub-components, namely: Legal Policy and Institutional Strengthening; Infrastructure for Resilience and the Project Management, Monitoring, and Implementation Support of NDMA, he added. The climate change official remarked that Pakistan has gained credible and proven experience by undertaking a much wider eco-system restoration Initiative by successfully implementing a world-acclaimed five-year Billion Tree Tsunami project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and now through the implementation of the upscale initiative ‘10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme’ as a part of the present government’s green and clean Pakistan political manifesto and which aims to restore Pakistan’s green cover and protect wildlife, their habitats and conserve biodiversity ecosystems and rapidly depleting natural resources such as land and water. However, the new ambitious project ‘Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services’ to be implemented from this year in partnership with the WB and various government entities is actually a plan of actions, which builds on evidence and experience of the eco-system restoration gained as a part of the United Nations (UN) Decade for Eco-System Restoration (2020-2030) programme. Besides, the project is set to act as an effective vehicle to manage risks of environmental degradation and climate change while simultaneously driving economic growth, livelihoods and poverty eradication, he said. Elucidating upon foremost objectives of the project, the climate change official said that facilitating transition towards environmentally resilient Pakistan by main streaming adaptation and mitigation through afforestation, biodiversity conservation, enabling and enhancing policy environment consistent with the objectives outlined in Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) also called national carbon reduction roadmap and enhancing resilience within and across forestry, agriculture, oceans and food systems, including through biodiversity conservation, leveraging supply chains and technology; attaining Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by restoring at least 30 per cent of degraded forest, 5 per cent of degraded cropland, 6 per cent of degraded grassland (rangeland) and 10 per cent of degraded wetlands in Pakistan by 2030 are among the key objectives of the WB-funded $188 million project. Highlighting the importance of the project in terms of boosting country’s climate resilience and ecosystem restoration by stemming biodiversity loss, the climate change media focal person Saleem highlighted that Pakistan was ranked among top-ten country by the Germanwatch Climate Risk Index 2019 because of negative socio-economic impacts of climate change-caused disasters and its climate-vulnerability. “Thus, investing in climate resilience initiatives for protecting socio-economic sectors, particularly water, energy and agriculture from fallouts of the climate change is vital for mitigating the country’s overall climate-vulnerability and protecting lives and livelihoods of the people,” he emphasised.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

04 KARACHI

WEATHER UPDATES MONDAY

350C

280C

TUESDAY

350C

280C

WEDNESDAY

350C

280C

PRayeR tImINgS FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:15

12:30

3:53

5:42

7:17

8:44

SINdH SEES 885 NEw COrONAvIruS CASES, 16 MOrE dEAtHS IN 24 HOurS KARACHI

S

families from the pain.

He said that during the last 24 hours, 4100 tests were conducted which detected 885 new cases. “This means our detection ratio comes to 21.6 per cent which is again the highest than various countries,” he said and added that so far we have conducted 180,803 tests which diagnosed 28245 cases which constituted 15.6 per cent of the total tests. Talking about deaths, Shah said that 16 more patients died during the last 24 hours, lifting the death toll to 481 which constituted 1.7 per cent mortality rate. “Our 334 patients or 31 per cent of the total patients are in critical condition, of them, 62 are on ventilators,” he said. He said at present, 13,954 patients were under treatment, of them, 12,773 were at their homes, 108 at Isolation Centers and 1,073 at different hospitals.

The CM said that 553 more patients were cured and returned to their normal lives. “I am glad to disclose that 13,810 patients or 49 of the total patients had recovered and are leading a normal life,” he said.

Giving district wise-figure, Shah said

Staff RePoRt

INDH Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the month of May in terms of detection of new coronavirus cases, deaths of patients and plane crash proved to be the heaviest and worth month as far as loss of human life was concerned.

In a statement issued from the CM House on Sunday, the chief minister said that deaths stemming from coronavirus started from March 19 when the first patient died.

The month of March claimed nine lives, April 109 and May, the first worst so far, claimed 363 lives. In this way, coronavirus has claimed 481 valuable lives, including 16 on its last day, March 31.

He added that apart from coronavirus, we lost 97 lives in the plane crash again in the month of May 22.

“In this way, we have lost 515 lives in May alone,” he said and prayed for the departed souls and recovery of the bereaved

that out of 885 new cases in Sindh, 617 cases belonged to Karachi. They include 184 to East, 146 South, 127 central, Korangi 27, Malir 46 and 41 West.

He said Sukkur had 37 cases, Khairpur 34, Ghotki 27, Hyderabad 25, Larkana 24, Jacobabad 24, Shikarpur 16, eight each in Jamshoro and Sanghar, Mirpurkhas five, Kambar and Badin three each, Shaheed Benazirabad two, Matiari, Dadu, Tando Allahyar and Tando Mohammad Khan have on each.

The chief minister said that the local transmission in rural areas was also increasing. “The threat [of local transmission] is quite dangerous because it spreads exponentially and we have to contain it by observing social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding social gathering,” he said.

According to Shah, 34 flight right April 18 to May 28, brought 6,378 stranded Pakistanis back to Karachi, of them 1,208 were infected. “We took proper care of the stranded Pakistanis and kept them in isolation and started discharging those who went on recovering,” he said.

Three coronavirus patients expire in Larkana LARKANA

18 sugar mills in Sindh belong to Zardari, Omni Group: Shamim KARACHI: Pakistan-Tehreek e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi on Sunday said that 18 out of 38 sugar mills in Sindh belong to former president Asif Ali Zardari and Omni Group. Addressing a press conference here, Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly demanded formation of a special sugar inquiry committee for Sindh. He said after year 2005 all sugar mills have been sold to same buyer in Sindh. PTI leader alleged that the sugar mills owners sold mills to single buyer on the pressure of Sindh chief minister. He also claimed that provincial ministers are telling lies and demanded the prime minister to form a special sugar inquiry committee for Sindh. He urged provincial government to avoid issuing false statements.

He said that the farmers have not been made payments of their supplied sugarcane so far.

He said that Thatta Sugar Mills was issued Rs1 billion loan from Sindh Bank for Balancing, Modernisation and Replacement (BMR), how a bank releases a loan to a borrower in this manner, he questioned. Firdous Shamim Naqvi demanded the State Bank of Pakistan to initiate an audit of Sindh Bank. INP

PPI

Three coronavirus patients died in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) here on Sunday morning.

Covid-19 ICU Incharge Dr Gulzar Ahmed Tunio said that they were suffering from Covid-19 pandemic and were aged as well. “Two of them were brought from Jacobabad and belonged to Sarki and Karnani communities and third belonged to Soomro community of Larkana and was a retired banker,” he added.

He said out of nine patients four had been cured and discharged, two on Saturday and two on Sunday while five patients were still admitted to the ICU; out of them, two were women. He said the condition of two patients was still critical and claimed that all facilities were available in the ICU and the patients were being looked after properly.

Meanwhile, according to the figures circulated by Sindh Health Department, 658 Covid-19 positive cases have so far been detected in Larkana out of which 23 surfaced on Saturday, 362 have recovered, eight have expired and 288 are still active. All these cases

are claimed to be of local transmission as the people have been ignoring compliance of approved SOPs after the easing of lockdown.

Whereas according to the figures submitted by the deputy commissioner's office, 223 Covid-19 positive cases are remaining, 15 new cases were detected yesterday up to 30th May excluding positive in the retest, 367 have been cured and discharged, nine have expired, five are in High Dependency Unit, none in ICU, 214 are in home isolation and four patients are being treated at Karachi. So far 2906 tests have been conducted.

Investigation ordered into violence against Civil Hospital staff KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Sunday said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while taking notice of the violence against the medical staff of the Civil Hospital ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident. "Our doctors, nurses and paramedics are risking their lives to save the lives of others. Such violence against them is intolerable," the provincial information minister said. "If people had a complaint against the medical staff, they should have talked to the administration and not attacked them," he said. Shah said that legal action was being taken against all the attackers and cases had been registered against them. The minister said that a detailed report in this regard would be submitted to the Sindh CM soon. He said that the chief minister had expressed his indignation over all those incidents in which the Civil Hospital, as well as the Jinnah Hospital, were vandalised and rioted.

Addressing the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of the government hospitals, Shah said that they should not feel alone at all as the government was standing by them. PPI

Opening of businesses will be allowed but with SOPs: info minister KARACHI PPI

Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that Covid-19 saved the PTI government, otherwise, the state of the country's economy owing to the failed policies of this incompetent government was in front of everyone.

In a statement released by the minister here on Sunday, he said that politics itself was not a bad thing at all, but bad people had dishonoured it. "Everyone knows who is causing controversies in the country," he said, adding that the seriousness of the prime minister regarding Covid-19 could be gauged from the fact that the first case of coronavirus in the country came to light on February 26, while the prime minister convened the first meeting to address this serious issue on March 13.

The minister said that only a tweet came between February 26 and March 13 whereas from the very beginning, the Sindh government tried its utmost that a unanimous voice should go out in public regarding the steps being taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but it was unfor-

tunate to say that due to the lack of seriousness of the federal government, the sincere attempt of the Sindh government failed.

Shah said that the Sindh government decided to impose strict lockdown in the province after consulting medical experts.

He said that if the prime minister had supported Syed Murad Ali Shah regarding strict lockdown at that time, the situation

would have been very different today regarding the spread of coronavirus in the country.

"Because of the federal government's failure to make timely decisions, we will now have to deal with the coronavirus for a long time," he said. Shah said that the opening of businesses would be allowed but with standard operating procedures.

The minister said that if on the suggestion of the Sindh government, two complete lockdowns of 15 days each had been imposed in the beginning, the coronavirus would not have spread so much in the country today.

"If we had taken appropriate measures at the Iran-Afghanistan borders and at the airports, in the beginning, we could have prevented the coronavirus from entering the country," he said.

Shah said that how could the timely preventive measures be taken with a premier whose response to a pandemic was delayed for days. He said the Sindh government had been accused from the beginning of intimidating the people. He said that when the doctors held a press conference and talked about the threat of coronavirus, then they were also accused of holding a press conference at the behest of the Sindh government.

He said that although the Sindh government seemed to be a villain in the eyes of the common man and business community today, whatever tough decisions the Sindh government took, it did it to save lives.

No decision taken on reopening of schools yet: minister KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani on Sunday said that so far no decision to reopen schools has been taken as the number of coronavirus cases are continuing to surge in the province. “Once we assess the situation at hand, we will be able to decide about reopening schools,” Ghani said. The minister revealed that a meeting of the education department’s steering committee has been called in the next week which will discuss whether the government should extend the closure of educational institutions. “We are making a plan for the students regarding the school year,” Ghani added. Staff RePoRt

Educationist Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai dies in Karachi

KARACHI: Director of the Ziauddin Education Board Professor Anwar Ahmed Zai passed away in Karachi on Sunday. He had been under treatment at a private hospital in the port city for the past few days. Professor Ahmed Zai had served as the chairman of the Karachi Intermediate board, the Karachi Matriculation board, and the Mirpurkhas board. He also served as the EDO Karachi and additional secretary of the provincial education department. His funeral prayers will be offered after Asr prayers at Hassan Bin Sabit mosque near University of Karachi. Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani and Vice Chancellor of the Ziauddin University Dr Asim Hussain extended their condolences to the bereaved family over the demise of Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai. INP

MPA tests positive for Covid-19 News DesK Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of provincial assembly (MPA) form Sindh Shah Nawaz Jadoon tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, joining what has now become a rather long list of parliamentarians having contracted the pandemic. Through a tweet, Jadoon announced that following the advice of his doctor, he has quarantined himself at home.

He was elected MPA from PS-113 KarachiXXV in the general election held in 2018.

Sindh assembly members have been directed to undergo a Covid-19 test to be able to attend the assembly session scheduled to be held on June 2.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

NEWS

05

IslamabaD aDmIn maKes wearIng masKs manDaTory iSLAMABAD

w

inP

eARING face masks have been made mandatory in all public places in Islamabad to combat the ongoing spread of deadly coronavirus.

In a tweet, Deputy Commissioner Islam-

Peshawar DoCTor sUCCUmbs To CoronavIrUs

abad Hamza Shafqat said anyone who is seen without a face mask will be prosecuted under Section 144 and charged with Section 188 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

A notification has also been issued in this regard.

The decision was taken after Pakistan confirmed 88 more deaths from novel coronavirus in one day as the nationwide tally of

fatalities has jumped to 1,483 and positive cases surged to 69,496.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 3,039 persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 in 24 hours.

Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Till now 27,360 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 25,056 in Punjab, 9,540 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 4,193 in Balochistan, 2,418 in Islamabad, 678 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and 251 in Azad Kashmir.

Furthermore, 453 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in KP, 475 in Punjab, 465 in Sindh, 46 in Balochistan, 27 in

KP govt shuts down pink bus service over lack of interest

TlTP

Thunderstorm rain predicted in KP

Citizens urge repair of tube-well in UC 18 PESHAWAR Aziz Buneri

The pink service started by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government for women commuters in Mardan and Abbottabad districts has been shut down and the buses were brought back to Peshawar.

The service was started in 2018 with the support of the Japanese government that donated 14 pink buses, in early 2018, of which seven buses were provided to Mardan and seven to Abbottabad.

However, due to lack of interest, the service couldn’t materialised into success as in both cities the private

contractors have stopped to operate the buses and re-tenders were issued more than 5 times, but no interest was shown by any contractors.

Last year, the tender was finally issued and an agreement was reached with private companies on April 4 in Mardan, while on May 1 in Abbottabad. A total of 15 bus stops were built in Abbottabad and more than a dozen bus stops in Mardan, but in less than a year, the service was shut down.

According to sources, one of the reasons for the failure of the service was that in both cities men were not allowed to ride in buses reserved for women only, due to

which most of the women could not travel with their brothers, husbands, sons or fathers and had to use other modes of transport.

As a result, the service has not been successful in both the districts and the contractors were going in loss.

The officials of Trans Peshawar, however, claimed that the one-year contract with private companies have been completed and new contracts will be signed in both districts. The officials added that since the service is closed due to the coronavirus Pandemic, therefore, buses have been shifted to Peshawar for maintenance to stop deterioration to the vehicles.

PESHAWAR APP

The Provincial Met Office on Sunday predicted rain thunderstorm with a few hail storms associated with gusty winds at isolated places for different parts of KP for next 24 hours. The thunderstorm rain is expected in Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Torghar, Shangla, Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Lower and Upper Chitral, Bunner, Mohmand, Bajaur, Malakand, Mardan, Swabi Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, Khyber, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Kurram, Orakzai, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North and South Waziristan D.I Khan and Tank Districts. Similarly, the Met Office also forecast rain thunderstorm hail storm associated with gusty winds in Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Torghar, Shangla, Swat, Lower and Upper Dir, Lower and Upper Chitral, Bunner, Mohmand, Bajaur, Malakand, Mardan, Swabi Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, Khyber, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Kurram, Orakzai, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North and South Waziristan D.I Khan and Tank Districts for next 48 hours.

Drug peddler arrested, 1. 3 kg drugs recovered RAWALPINDI: Police have arrested a drug peddler and recovered 1.3 kg drug from his possession here on Sunday. According to police spokesman, during a course of action Rata Amral Police arrested Sahil Khan and recovered 1.3 kg drugs from his custody.

Police have registered a case and started investigation. City Police Officer, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Ahsan Younas said strict action would be taken against those found involved in any illegal businesses. APP

PESHAWAR Another doctor succumbed to the coronavirus here in the provincial capital on Sunday, raising the death toll of medics who died of Covid-19 in the country to 18. Dr Aurangzeb, a senior pathologist at Police Services Hospital Peshawar, had been on the ventilator for the last four days, according to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Director Dr Shahzad Akbar, and passed away on Sunday. Hospital officials said Dr Aurangzeb was also a diabetic. With this death, the total number of doctors who have succumbed to the coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has risen to four. KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan expressed grief over the demise of Dr Aurangzeb, saying doctors are "busy saving others' lives by putting their own lives in danger". "The services of doctors in treating coronavirus patients are commendable," Khan said. "every possible help will be given to the families of the doctors who died of coronavirus." The novel coronavirus has so far infected 1,904 healthcare workers in Pakistan and 18 have died. The new data provides sobering evidence that doctors, paramedics, nurses, and other healthcare providers are working in high-risk areas without adequate protective gear.

Islamabad and 11 in GB. Patients are under treatment at quarantine centres of 462 hospitals where 7,295 beds are available.

Pakistan has so far conducted 547,030 coronavirus tests and 14,972 in last 24 hours.

25,271 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas many are in critical condition.

Islamabad: Shoppers and vendors in Aabpara Market wear masks as the govt makes it mandatory for all and announces criminal action against those who refuse to wear a mask. online

RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) in Rawalpindi has failed to repair a tubewell located in UC-18 which was out of order for more than a month creating scarcity of water for the residents of adjoining areas. The dysfunctional tubewell caused water shortage for residents of the Pindora, Muttor Market, Benazir Chowk, Mehmoodabad and its adjoining areas as it was the only source of water in the area. The residents expressed asked to provide a substitute arrangement for water supply or they would hold a protest against WASA. Talking to APP, Muhammad Mohsin Aziz, Hassan Mujtaba, Hashir Mehmood, Muhammad Nafayh Khalil and other residents complained, “We have to fetch water from far-flung areas just to meet our daily needs. We cannot afford a water tanker as it costs Rs 1,200 which is not affordable for them,” They informed that they lodged repeated complaints with WASA but no action has been taken so far. APP

41 arrested over profiteering, violation of lockdown PESHAWAR: District administration Peshawar has arrested 41 people over profiteering and violation of lockdown from different localities of the district, said a news release issued here Sunday.

On the directives of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Peshawar, Mohammad Ali Asghar, the Additional Assistant Commissioner (AAC), Kashif Jan inspected bazaars in Hashtnagri, Sethi Town, Pahari Pura and other localities. He also imposed cash penalties on eight drivers on Kohat Road for overcharging the commuters. Similarly, other AACs including Shafiq Afridi and Mina Zahir also inspected various bazaars in their respective areas of jurisdiction and collectively arrested 41 persons for profiteering and lack of official price list and violation of lockdown. The Peshawar Deputy Commissioner (DC) has urged upon the traders and shopkeepers to follow the official guidelines and also appealed the general public to restrict their movement and to extend cooperation in the prevention of the spread of coronavirus. APP

Moot hails steps taken by women leaders against Covid-19 AgEnciES Female health experts Sunday said that women are not only less prone to Covid-19 deaths as compared to men but the female leaders and heads of states also outperformed their male counterparts and showed decisiveness, resilience and humility in the pandemic that not only saved thousands of precious lives but also steered their economies out of crisis much earlier than rest of the world.

Citing the example of prime ministers of New Zealand, Taiwan, Norway, Denmark and Finland, female health experts said women leaders took timely and bold steps well before novel coronavirus reached at their countries while men wasted the precious time and waited till the disease wreaked havoc on their soils, adding that women-led governments proved to be more people-friendly as compared to male-dominant regimes.

Paying rich tribute to the female health minister of Indian State of Kerala, K.K. Shailaja, who was a previously a science teacher and received worldwide acclaim for her handling of the Covid-19 situation, they said in her leadership, Kerala succeeded in flattening the curve and registering perhaps the lowest death rate in the world besides

a very high recovery rate.

Women health experts were addressing an international webinar or online seminar on “Women and Covid-19: Correlation and Causation”, organized by the Pak GI and Liver Disease Society (PGLDS) in collaboration with Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP) in collaboration with Getz Pharma. The webinar was addressed by female health experts and scientists from Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United States and Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, eminent health expert Dr Sharmila Sachithanandan from Malaysia said when novel coronavirus started spreading in the world, male leaders downplayed its risks and wasted precious time in taking decisions but the a few female leaders and heads of state took bold steps, spoke to everybody and after listening to a variety of experts, took decisions that saved thousands of lives from New Zealand to Scandinavia and Asia.

In her presentation on “Women leadership and effective control of Covid-19”, she said the female health minister of Kerala, India also played an important role and in her leadership, the state witnessed very few cases as compared to rest of the country while very few people died due to Covid-

19, which is being praised all over the world.

“The exemplary leadership qualities shown by

some female heads of state and health minister tell that we need more women in leadership roles in the world.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

06 COMMENT

Knowledge, intellect & wisdom

Pertinent questions Going after Abbasi while staying in the dark

Living in interesting times

A

CCOUNTABIlITY SAPM Shahzad Akbar may have timed his fusillade against former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi wrongly, for it coincided with the filing of what amounted to a charge sheet against him personally, by Mr Justice Qazi Faez Isa in his case against the reference filed against him in the Supreme Judicial Council. Mr Akbar finds himself in something of a double-bind, for if he does not answer Mr Justice Isa’s questions, which not only address his family but also his qualifications to be accountability czar of a government elected on a slogan of accountability, he will find his credibility eroded. That credibility has not gone very far, especially after his very loud claims against the Sharif family have failed to win much traction, with his occasional outbursts claiming new evidence not validated by convictions in trial courts.

Mr Akbar may be doing himself more harm than good by the extremes to which it seems he is ready to go. The tirade against Mr Abbasi is typical. All his legally trained mind could find in the sugar shortage enquiry commission report was the need to prosecute Mr Abbasi for allowing sugar exports. It is almost as if he has forgotten that the shortage occurred during this government, not its predecessor, and that he sees nothing which would lead to the prosecution of either Mr Jahangir Tareen, the PTI leader already barred from elections by the Supreme Court and blamed for the shortage in the commission’s reports, or of the Prime Minister, Mr Imran Khan, who vetted the decision to allow exports, or of any of the many other characters who had a role in making the decision, or in implementing it.

Mr Akbar is behaving like one of those persons who have done a lot of drumbeating about a perceived evil, and about their ability to do something about it, and who get believed. Now, it seems, Mr Khan has asked Mr Akbar to come good on his claims. Mr Akbar’s attempts are increasingly loud, but increasingly desperate. He should refuse to be any longer a lightning rod to deflect criticism from Mr Khan, and should answer those queries. After all, he should remember, his reputation is at stake, and that is the most important part of anyone’s legacy.

Humayun GauHar

I

have always said it but it bears repetition: change is always happening in the world but rapid change takes place but rarely. Today we have rapid change and we are lucky to be alive to see it. Change of this magnitude redraws national boundaries and changes attitudes and society.

America is on fire. The trigger was the killing of a black man called George Floyd by a policeman. He was choked to death. It was one death too many.

Anger, frustration and rage spilled over. Right now, more than 30 cities are on fire and have become a battleground. The open season on blacks in America may have come to an end.

At the other end of the world, China is finding its economy contracting for the first time in the last 40 years or so. It is at odds with India and has occupied part of the territory it claims. That territory is extremely pivotal for three countries─ China, India and Pakistan─ because from there, India can launch an attack on Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan and thence cut off the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under construction. The CPEC, as it is called, is vital for China and the development of Pakistan and therefore just as much of a thorn in India’s side. Two of India’s spy drones that intruded into Pakistan have already been shot down. News is that the Chinese army has given another thrashing to the Indian army. It seems that the fragmentation of British India which started in 1947 is proceeding apace. It is obvious that India is spoiling for war, which the world can ill afford. An India-Pakistan-China war is in danger of becoming nuclear. The world economy is contracting and we are facing a global depression for the first time since the Great Depression. It has already started. The world map would change after a world war as it did after the two previ-

The plague of locusts A multinational problem

P

lAGUES, it seems, know no boundaries. It is almost as if they force states divided by lines drawn on maps to cooperate even if they are rivals.

Such is the stark choice facing India and Pakistan, who, along with Iran, must cooperate, to fend off this locust plague, which has come on top of covid-19 pandemic. It should not be ignored that all three countries face a decline in agricultural production because of the pandemic, which would threaten food security for well over a billion people. The locust swarms pose a similar threat. They have already badly affected the states of Maharashtra, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in India, and are expected to cause devastation, if left unchecked, in Pakistan, especially Punjab and Sindh. As the main food crop, wheat, is being harvested, it is food security that is coming under the greatest threat. As a matter of fact, the food security of all three countries would be threatened even if there wasn’t a pandemic raging, but with that factor added in, the possibility of the sort of food shortages that made British India subject to so many famines recurring, cannot be ruled out.

Pakistan and India do cooperate under the aegis of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, but cooperation needs to be enhanced. India must not fall prey to the temptation of concealing information from Pakistan about swarm movements on the specious excuse of ‘national security.’ The locusts are the type of cross-border terrorists who cannot be kept out with a fence. locust swarms are not unknown, the last one being in 1983, but there was no other threat (like covid-19 today) in the background. However, the kind of rivalry between India and Pakistan should not be allowed to come in the way of fighting off this menace, which is as much of an existential threat as any pandemic. The entire world, though no doubt distracted, should pay attention, because there will be global consequences to any inability of India, Pakistan and Iran facing locust-induced crop failures. The global price of wheat will go up, as these exporters either import or cut exports. With the pandemic, that would be multiply destabilizing. Both countries must also adopt a firmer stand on global warming, which has played such a key role in both pandemic and plague.

Pandemic in the Held Valley Lockdown on top of a lockdown nisar aHmad Wani

S

PRING in Kashmir has its own and unique charm and elegance, because of its unique geographic position, and that’s what makes it stand apart from the rest of world. Spring comes breaking through the spell of a chilly, usually dull, winter and eventually infuses a new life into everything, particularly the plants and vegetation; besides the physical manifestations, it psychologically resonates the signs of hope and cheerfulness among children, the young and the old.

With the beginning of this season, schools, colleges and universities are thrown open, students yet again get the chance to reunite for schooling and other cocurricular activities which generally stand adjourned during the winters. Trade and other activities get resumed more than normally, the usual hustle and bustle of markets start again, and principally it marks the commencement of the farmers’ season, while tourist’ throng into Kashmir from across the world to enjoy the scenic beauty of what is called paradise on earth.

Of all the seasons spring is the most important season of Kashmir particularly. It not only brings happiness but throws open the doors for numerous opportunities.

Since the beginning of this year, plenty of snow and rain was on the cards and it eventually happened, and therefore, this spring was supposedly going to prove to be a most effective season. One would have anticipated a considerable increase in the production level of grains, orchards and so on. Unfortunately, this year spring broke out with darkness looming not only over Kashmir but virtually the entire world. The virus that emerged from China has taken the whole world hostage, and Kashmir too. No one, including Kashmiris, were ready or prepared to face this pandemic, particularly in this peak business and most cherished season. The covid-19 literally brought a halt to everything, it seems as if the time and world around has frozen, and in the context of Kashmir it devastated the whole natural timetable that people would usually follow.

In the backdrop of the developed nations having a mortality rate which seemed too high to be even tackled, Kashmir automatically stood nowhere in the race of tackling this contagion. Already Kashmir was mov-

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

This is difficult to comprehend for small minds that ous world wars. To craft another global status quo requires a great deal of knowledge, intellect and, dare I depend on their information on newspapers. Where is the Roman Empire? The Muslim Empire? The British say it, wisdom, which is in short supply.

So fragile is the global equilibrium that an invisible Empire? Now Britain itself is in fear of fragmenting. virus has thrown it into a tailspin. We can’t see it, we This starts you thinking on what a natural nation state don’t understand it and we can’t find a cure for it. We could be and the answer lies in the name, for a nation can’t even get to the roots of it with China and the USA tells you everything. Britain is a collection of at least variously blaming one another. When humanity is in four nations, each with its own culture, cuisine, lansuch a state of confusion, the tendency is always to look guage, history, apparel and what have you. Perhaps one for answers in the spiritual realm, apart from the scien- day, even these attributes might disappear and we get tific. I remember years ago, Dr Abdus Salam told me different methodologies of governing ourselves.

One big change could be that perhaps in this global that they could never find the Grand Unified Theory, otherwise known as the Theory of Everything, unless turmoil we might see the Muslims form an alliance and create a real ummah of bethe spiritual and the scientific lievers in one God. But no so were to join forces. I think it long as we have the effete, will happen one day. You see, greedy and cruel leaders who if you accept that the Creator What has happened is not gone have occupied the world. determines everything, even a virus, it might enhance your and what is going to happen has This global change anyway would be a very slow process understanding. If you realize already happened. We just can’t and we will not see it during how infinitesimal we are that our lifetimes on Earth. Hopewe can be killed by a lowly see it, just as we can only now fully we will see it from the virus, then we may see sense.

We have always seen the see the supernova of a star four life in the Hereafter but then, who knows, we may not be Earth open and more earth billion light years away. That is interested in such things and poured into it. The more earth may find them too mundane is the dead body, the soul in our future but it has already when we are occupied trying having gone off to its Maker.

All we are left with is the happened. So, humility, my dear to understand the glory of God’s creation. Hopefully mound of earth. While we friends, humility. It is not in the that is what it will be. are alive, we cannot even So there is no point in control our ego and keep exnature of human beings to have taking fright from things we aggerating our ‘achievedon’t understand and we ments’ and the ephemeral humility unless they are never will. We cannot stop wealth we may have gathered. We keep saying this is spiritually very developed, which going back to our primitive past in which we killed just mine, that is mine, without few are. But at least give it a try to survive. realizing that it is not anyThe onus of crafting the one’s. Everything belongs to new status quo will not just be God and our reality is a on humanity but also on natumound of earth. Don’t we say dust to dust and ashes to ashes? To which I would ral forces. If the quantum scientists are to be believed, it has already been done, for they have found that the past, add earth to earth and sod to sod.

Doesn’t God refer in the Quran to “that clinging the present and the future all exist at the same time. If thing” referring to a foetus that becomes human? A we stop thinking in terms of linear time as we do on human finally goes back to becoming “that clinging Earth, then there is a chance we might understand this. thing” again. All our ambitions, all our ego just dis- What has happened is not gone and what is going to happen has already happened. We just can’t see it, just appear when we become that sod of earth.

Now with the USA on fire and commentators on as we can only now see the supernova of a star four biltelevision wondering whether the State exists or not, lion light years away. That is in our future but it has aldo you still laugh at that Russian who said that Amer- ready happened. So, humility, my dear friends, humility. ica would fragment into five states? Truth to tell, It is not in the nature of human beings to have humility there is not one USA but many, the most obvious unless they are spiritually very developed, which few being White America and Black America. Many of are. But at least give it a try. its states are economically self-sufficient, like CaliHumayun Gauhar can be reached at: fornia. In fact, it is the fifth largest economy in the humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com world and it is only a province.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

ing only at snail’s pace in pulling itself out of the earlier don’t have modern techniques, infrastructure, manstate-enforced lockdown, with no virtual connectivity agement, technologies and tools to store our goods which still is in place, though now in a varied form, with which our resources would be prevented from that this contagion hit us to put us again on the back- getting deteriorated and would save our economy foot. The state is in total mess, people are living in the from sliding even deeper.

Kashmir, famous for its scenic beauty, attracts the shadows of darkness in each and every aspect, the difficulties in the daily lives of people are exponentially tourist. Tourism, which is really the backbone of our economy, is also badly affected. Every year Kashmir’s increasing. The Almighty is the last hope to bank on.

The health department of the state was not ready tourists spend a lot of money on the gardens were for such a lethal contagion, firstly because there is flowers in abundance are blooming. But this year the dearth of knowledge in this field and secondly ab- flowers will bloom without witnessing tourists which sence of modern technology with 2g internet service also poses a great threat to our economy.

Our education sector is at place. Even without the already in ruins particularly pandemic, normally healthafter the centre robbed Kashcare facilities are insuffimir of its semi-autonomy, cient to meet the slight The government must put which resulted in a lockcrises that emerge. We are down in which students lacking at well-equipped inrestoration of high-speed were worst hit, who couldn’t struments, highly scientific join schools for half a year. labs, ventilators etc. the docinternet on priority, so that All in all, from educators in Kashmir had forewarned that there is not students can attend their online tion to economic sector, Kashmir is the worst hit of much in stock which wouls classes without undue all, only some divine help is let them protect the people, pumping in some fuel for there is even a shortage of interruptions.

All the saner Kashmir to run. basic equipments like If the government is remasks, gloves, PPE kits, voices around should keep the ally concerned about helping sanitizers and such like. politics at bay as of now and Kashmiris on humanitarian The government didn’t grounds, they must put act swiftly and wisely befocus on containing this restoration of high-speed incause when covid-19 was ternet on priority, so that stuspreading all over the world, pandemic. This virus must not dents can attend their online the government of the day be used as a political tool to classes without undue interwas busy enforcing laws, orMoreover, it will ganizing summits and evensuppress the people of Kashmir ruptions. also help Kashmiris to keep tually passed it off without trace of happenings around paying much heed. Despite the world vis-à-vis the coroknowing how contagious this navirus, and that can also virus can be, yet it did not restore the high-speed internet at healthcare centres for subsequently help doctors to take advantage from the doctors at least, for possibly if they would have under- work and findings of foreign scientists. All the saner stood via internet the lethality of this virus, they might voices around should keep the politics at bay as of have geared themselves up with early preparedness. In now and focus on containing this pandemic. This Kashmir, for any sort of negligence, doctors are not to virus must not be used as a political tool to suppress the people of Kashmir. be blamed, but the administration of the day only.

Besides healthcare facilities our economy too Nisar Ahmad Wani studies at Aligarh Muslim was subjected to follow the same pressures. Kashmir and can be reached at is someway is agriculturally dependent, and due to University, coronavirus this sector has been the worst hi. We wnisar235@gmail.com.

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 1 June, 2020

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Rise of AI

The privileged untouchables It can happen to anyone if ignored them for personal scores. tack with no fear of any repercussions present.

An example should be made and set for all As it turns out, owing to the ironical videos made by the attackers themselves and affirmed by those alike who consider themselves untouchables. It is very disturbthe later video statement ing to see that the later released by one of the video statement is an main culprits, it was the open confession of family of the famous Not even a single statement of Amina Usman Malik’s property tycoon, Malik involvement in the inciRiaz Hussain, who uncondemnation and a promise dent whereby she has dertook this armed assault on Uzma Khan to take to task the perpetrators not only acknowledged barging into the house, and her sister. Guards has been issued by the but has rather defended provided by Malik Riaz her actions, and yet no for the purported secugovernment. While judicial action against her has rity of his family were used to annihilate all activism may not be condoned been taken so far. Despite lodging of a frail forms of humanity by especially in the wake of the FIR, no arrests have first barging into the been made and no forhouse and then by Coronavirus orders, however, mal investigation has threatening sexual assyed KasWar Gardezi been conducted. While sault. If such practices in my opinion, a notice into this the incident may have are to go unchecked, then the mighty can easincident would be condonable. occurred in a private T is widely believed that money can’t buy ily enter into the house house, barging in there An armed assault has been everything. Wrong. In Pakistan, money of anyone of us and atwith dozens of armed can buy everyone and everything, the only tack anybody at their is nothing made by a powerful family into assailants difference is that of a price. Sometimes, in will. The power that the short of terrorism. Any the words of Vito Corleone from the Riaz family wields citizen watching the the sanctity of an individual’s novel, The Godfather, an offer which cannot be owing to their financial video from the confines house with the government refused is made. Even the most pious are made strength is evident from of his house would feel to succumb to the power of money. It bends the the fact that no governthreatened; if this goes expressing its reluctance to most upright men and corrupts the honest to the ment unchecked, then anyone agency has core. In fact it has a plaguing effect which stepped forward to take could be next. Irrespecproceed.

Judicial oversight to spreads like a pandemic and governs the choices any action against the tive of the underlying people make during the course of their lives. ensure implementation of reasons behind the atperpetrators. Even our There can be different forms of corruption free media, every ready it was a simple fundamental rights in this case tack, associated with money. Some may usurp the to lambast politicians case of terrorism rights of others to unjustly gain which isn’t and their families, rewhereby the family of would set an example for the rightly theirs, the others might fall prey to mains reluctant to even Malik Riaz barged into money in the form of a bribe. For those who report the event let a house and terrorized so-called privileged dominate the arena of money-generated power, alone raise a voice, with two female citizens of untouchables they form the idea of being untouchable in their the exception of a handPakistan who in the minds. This isn’t what they boast about verbally ful of actual independvideo appear to be visibut rather their actions and their daring audacity ent media houses. bly shaken as anybody to commit acts without fear of consequences renaturally would be.

Till the time hue flects their mindset.

Our country, on the other hand, rather than and cry was raised by human rights advocates, a One such classical example of a show of simple First Information Report, which the police raising a voice against the crime which has been power was witnessed recently when the female is bound to register, was not even in sight. The perpetrated, remains busy shaming the two family members flanked by armed private guards police was simply too reluctant to proceed women for their alleged illicit activities thereby stormed into a house in one of the most elite res- against Riaz’s family, with the only explanation reaffirming the decades-old illiteracy bound idential areas and ransacked the entire house. By being his influence and power. Apart from the in- within our society. Blaming the victim is an agenow the entire country ertia of the government old practice that is very much prevalent in our has seen for themselves against taking any ac- country. Not even a single statement of condemwhat these ladies did in tion, what is more per- nation and a promise to take to task the perpethere. Two women were One such classical example of turbing is the threat of trators has been issued by the government. physically assaulted, using intelligence agen- While judicial activism may not be condoned esa show of power was witnessed cies being made in one pecially in the wake of the Coronavirus orders, verbally abused, threatened with sexual assault the videos as though however, in my opinion, a notice into this incirecently when the female family of and were left traumathe agencies serve at dent would be condonable. An armed assault has tized for the times to their will and pleasure. been made by a powerful family into the sanctity members flanked by armed come. It is not a matter One of the ladies can be of an individual’s house with the government exof whose house it was heard boasting that she pressing its reluctance to proceed. Judicial overprivate guards stormed into a or wasn’t, what matters can have the Inter-Ser- sight to ensure implementation of fundamental house in one of the most elite is that under no circumvices Intelligence pick rights in this case would set an example for the stances can someone up the two girls if she so-called privileged untouchables. Malik Riaz residential areas and barge into a house with wants. While this self- Hussain, a man who boasts to keep judges, buarmed private guards ransacked the entire house. By proclaimed control over reaucrats and government officials in his pocket and threaten an individthe pioneer intelligence also needs to be reminded and taught, with a now the entire country has ual’s security and libagency of our country stick, the following words: erty. A number of “Howsoever high you maybe, the law is not be true, but it seen for themselves what these may fundamental rights in does require action to above you” our Constitution accord be taken so as to dispel ladies did in there. certain protections Syed Kaswar Gardezi is a lawyer and a the notion of the powerwhich were audaciously ful family’s connections columnist. He can be contacted at violated during the atand their ability to use kaswargardezi@gmail.com

I

ARTIFICIAl Intelligence is actively influencing the domestic as well as commercial domains of the human world. Different AI driven applications offer help to professional businesspersons, educators, marketers. Other AIdriven machines can assist a chef in blending food ingredients with perfection, and some can be a guide for a disabled person who wants to Google a query. The thought of making AI a part of our daily every day lives may be an idea that would overwhelm most of us, but the reality is that AI is already becoming commonplace in most corporate and domestic sectors. Here is a list of features that allow AI to slip into almost every industry, blend with its system, and help it progress rapidly.

AutomAtion of tAsks: Artificial Intelligence can provide humans a great relief from doing various repetitive tasks. The technology can learn the work once and repeat it as many as desired by its human programmer.

Automation of different tasks reduces the workload from dull and repetitive tasks. It has replaced many labor level jobs and has lessened the operational costs for the industries. Moreover, automation has increased the productivity of the industries by decreasing the time consumption for the tasks, as AI-powered machines are error free and efficient.

Less Burden on HumAn minds: AI is capable of dealing with complex tasks without needing regular human supervision. It can take care of multiple functions simultaneously. For instance, an AI-based system that is designed to shortlist candidates for an interview by reading their CVs can also send emails to call communicate the interview date and time.

Having an overview of a few features of AI allows vivid. understandings that point towards the progress of AI that would lead humanity to new successes. However, the same preview of development reveals a prospect of the future where the highly progressed AI dominates the human race.

ConCLusion: At one hand, human beings are ensuring protection from the negative impacts of AI by imposing functional laws. On the other hand, the scenario is too happening that the idea of moving forward with prepared and thoughtful rules seems absurd.

ASFANdyAr KHAN Islamabad

Domicile issues IT has been common and easier to get domicile of any province anytime.

Even the foreigners can get a desired domicile. This has adversely affected job and admission quota in various universities. candidates studying in big cities get domicile of cities having a low literacy rate and get admission in the favorite universities. Similar has been the case in job market. Punjab has a quality and quantity in education. A number of aspirants from Punjab qualify for competitive examination but remain unallocated due to enough competition. Thus they are being motivated by their fellows to get domicile of Balochistan or Rural Sindh for selection in the lucrative positions.

In 1973, a quota system was devised to allocate federal government jobs among all provinces based on population. This system was established to ensure that under developed provinces and territories of Pakistan do not get left out in the federal government jobs and other opportunities.

Although, this system is commendable in principle but people of Sindh have not benefited from it due to the menace of fake domicile certificates of Sindh issued to people of other provinces.

Federal government jobs might not be a big issue for other provinces but in case of Sindh they are a huge issue. Firstly, because there is already negligible representation of people of Sindh in federal apparatus and if no more people are hired then the existing share will further decline. The second reason is the rampant unemployment in the province where government jobs – provincial and federal – are the main source of employment. Therefore, depriving Sindh of its federal jobs shares directly increases unemployment in the province. This systematic deprivation of Sindh in federal jobs is made possible due to issue of fake domicile certificates. In every district the Deputy Commissioner (DC), a remnant of colonial past, issues domicile certificates to people. In past when officers from other provinces were posted as DCs in Sindh, they issued fake domicile certificates to their relatives. As per estimates, the figure of such domiciles is in tens of thousands.

SyEd TAHIr rASHdI Shahdapur

Two different pandemics STIll reeling under the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, another severe crisis is staring in Pakistan, one with the potential to impact their food security.locust infestation is a major threat than coronavirus. The virus wouldn’t attack if we stay home and follow safety guidelines, but hunger will kill us in any way. Pakistan is already facing issues like poverty and inflammation and after locust attack, the situation goes to be worrisome.For Pakistan, these issues are compounded by an army of locusts that has been ravaging the food supply since June 2019.24% of the Pakistani Population lives below the national poverty level which means a whopping 38% of individuals are dependent on wheat and flour. Farmers are worried that their children will starve and are pleading with the govt to take timely action, requesting coverage against infestation.Many people from the country have raised concerns over the alarming situation and other people have taken to social media to express their fears. All stakeholders should realise that time is of the essence in the fight against the crop-eating pests. The country has already lost a lot of precious time that should have been spent on controlling the formation of local swarms — and not on political point-scoring.

USAMA SArFrAz Islamabad

Struggling private schools THE statement “ stay home, stay safe” is quite easy when your necessities are fulfilled. It is true that the government is helping everyone with funds during this covid-19 era but apart from shops, markets and transportation, schools are also closed. Due to which the private teachers are struggling really hard because neither are they below poverty line to be helped by funds nor are they getting paid due to lockdown. Many private teachers are the only bread-winner in their families. Henceforth, the government must provide funds to private schools administrations to help the teachers due to whom there are doctors to help us.

AFroz MJ Turbat

Monday, 1 June, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

What explains the surging death rate in ahmedabad’s burial grounds?

CITY OFFICIALS DENY THAT THE RISING DEATHS ARE LINKED TO COVID-19, BUT COMMUNITY LEADERS DISAGREE

Scroll.in

F

AArefA JohAri

or the past two months, staff at Ahmedabad’s Ganj Shahid Kabrastan for Sunni Muslims have been shocked and overwhelmed by the near-constant stream of funerals at the burial ground every day.

There were as many as 199 burials at the large graveyard in April – a number three times higher than the 66 burials that took place in April 2019. The next month, the situation seemed to spin out of control: Ganj Shahid had 376 burials in just the first 25 days of May. In the same month last year, there had been just 61 burials.

Is the Covid-19 pandemic the reason behind this surge in deaths in Ahmedabad? The city is Gujarat’s biggest hotspot for the novel coronavirus, with 11,163 cases and 773 deaths reported so far, and a staggering mortality rate of 6.9%. rizwan Kadri, the head of Ahmedabad’s Sunni Waqf Board which manages the city’s burial grounds, points out that only 147 of the 575 burials at Ganj Shahid in April and May have been confirmed Covid-19 deaths.

“But we have been seeing a huge increase in the number of deaths at almost all of our kabrastans,” said Kadri. Take Musa Suhag Kabrastan, for instance. It is Ahmedabad’s largest Sunni burial ground, where 71 people were buried in April 2019 and 66 in May 2019.

This year, however, the graveyard has accommodated 142 burials in April and as many as 300 in the first 27 days of May. of these, only 31 were confirmed coronavirus deaths.

At Chartoda Kabrastan, there were 55 burials in April 2019 and 117 this year; 52 burials in May 2019, and 193 in the first 15 days of May 2020. outside of the Muslim community, too, deaths in Ahmedabad seem to be on the rise. on Wednesday, Gujarati newspaper Divya Bhaskar reported that the Antim Dham crematorium in Thaltej, Ahmedabad, has had at least 350 cremations in May so far – much higher than the average number of 180 cremations it has per month. What explains these unusually high numbers?

HIGHWAY FUNERALS? Bhavin Joshi, the additional medical officer of health at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, acknowledged that there has been an increase in the general number of deaths in the city in the past two months.

“But it must be maybe a 10% or 12% increase from six months ago. The numbers have not doubled or tripled,” he said, without offering any data to back this claim. “In general deaths do increase when temperatures rise in summer,” Joshi added.

When Scroll.in pointed out the available data that showed a staggering rise in burials and cremations in certain places, he said: “Maybe because of the lockdown, people are choosing cremation or burial grounds that are closer to the highway, like the Thaltej cremation ground.”According to Kadri, however, none of the three major kabrastans seeing an increase in burials are close to the highway.

“Six weeks ago, officials from the municipal corporation’s health department had come to us to ask us about the number of burials we were doing in our kabrastans and what those numbers were last year at this time,” said Kadri. “We gave them the numbers but there has been no response after that, while the deaths have only been increasing.”

Kadri and others attribute the higher mortality to the lack of adequate testing for coronavirus as well as the reduced healthcare

Trump unveils a new China policy

american conServaTive CUrT MiLLS

It’s heating up. As the United States embarks on a fourth month of a chain reaction of crises spurred by the novel Coronavirus, a president with flagging reelection chances addressed a weary nation Friday. Donald Trump and senior members of his foreign policy and economic teams — top diplomat Michael r.

Pompeo, leading China hawk Peter Navarro, trade representative robert Lighthizer, National Security Council chief robert C. o’Brien and Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin — unveiled fresh policy on the People’s republic of China. Trump’s national address in the rose Garden Friday was the first since anarchic protests broke out in several American cities — centrally, Minneapolis — earlier this week, in response to the controversial death of Minnesota man George Floyd at the hands of police, which followed months of national frustration.

China hawks — including Navarro and powerbroker, informal advisors to the administration such as Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon — have repeatedly urged an uncompromising response to the hostile actors in Beijing. Proponents of a tougher line have consistently argued for a nationally-minded surge of power: the United States should have a tariff policy, and it should begin returning the nation’s critical supply chains closer to Washington’s

orbit. Yet, while Trump has been the most tough-minded president on China in at least a generation, he has remained something of a moderate within his own court, as well as within a broader American foreign policy community that’s wised up and changed its mind on the Chinese state.

Balancing a national security legacy with shorter-term, finance-minded considerations has been a hallmark of the Trump approach. This was perhaps most on display with the negotiation of the flawed “Phase one” trade deal that was inked just before the pandemic began battering the American mainland. After laying out the depressing recent history of American diplomacy toward Beijing, the president — true to form — began his address on the subject with an equivocal tone: “But I have never solely blamed China for this.

They were able to get away with the theft, like no one was able to get away with before, because of past politicians, and frankly, past presidents.”

Still, what was obvious Friday at the White House was a paradigm shift unimaginable even five years ago, just before Trump announced for president. “We must have answers,” Trump said. “Not only for us, but for the rest of the world.

This pandemic has underscored the crucial importance of building up America’s economic independence, re-shoring our critical supply chains, and protecting America’s scientific and technological advances.” The president said the United States is severing its relationship with the World Health organization — under fire since the inception of the crisis for its toadyism toward the Chinese state.

And he echoed the disappointing news announced by Pompeo earlier this week — that in the face of recent Chinese actions, the United States can longer consider the leadership in Hong Kong distinct from the Communist Party.

Curt Mills is Senior Writer at TAC covering national security, the 2020 campaign and the Trump presidency.

access during the lockdown.

“It is possible that coronavirus has caused deaths among many more people who were not tested, or who were asymptomatic,” said Kadri. “It is also possible that because of the lockdown, many sick people were not able to go to doctors when they needed to.”

Said Sabir Kabli, a former legislator from Ahmedabad’s Jamalpur area, where the local kabrastan had been burying up to 10 people a day at the end of April: “We can’t say the reason but it is clear that deaths have increased in large numbers since coronavirus began.”

NO TESTING FOR THE DEAD Gujarat’s high mortality rate for coronavirus has led to considerable criticism of the state’s poor health infrastructure and low testing rates. on Friday, an Ahmedabad Mirror report highlighted a number of cases in which suspected Covid-19 patients were not provided with timely medical care and were tested after they had already lost their lives.

Kadri, however, points to another aspect of the city’s Covid-19 problem: many suspected cases of coronavirus, he claims, are not being tested at all, even after death. “When people die, hospitals have been telling families to do the burial without a Covid test. But if the families say that the person had Covid symptoms, we treat it as a suspected case and do the burial according to Covid norms.”

Kadri is referring to the standard operating procedures issued by state governments for the safe disposal of Covid-positive dead bodies. Typically, these norms involve disinfecting the body and placing it in a body bag, allowing no more than 20 people into the crematorium or burial ground and ensuring that people handling the body wear protective gear like masks, gloves and hazmat suits.

In the case of Muslim burials, graves for Covid-positive persons have to be dug nine or ten feet deep, instead of the usual four feet. Burial grounds have been calling for excavators, locally called JCBs, to do this

digging. Since these graves are too deep for family members to climb into, a businessman in Ahmedabad has devised a unique cloth stretcher with straps to help lower the body into the grave for Covid-19 burials.

“I came up with the idea in March, because I was disturbed when I saw how the body of a woman from my neighbourhood was thrown ten feet into her grave after she died of corona,” said Mohammed Sharif Kakuwala, the owner of Ahmedabad’s famous Astodia Bhajiawale snack shop. Kakuwala now gets these stretches mass-manufactured by a tailor and gives them for free to kabrastans across the city. He uses

Inventor Mohammed Sharif Kakuwala (R) with other volunteers wearing protective gear lower a dummy dead body lying on a stretcher with straps, to be used for coronavirus victims, in a burial pit at a graveyard in Ahmedabad.

this as a metric for the massive increase in deaths in the past two months.

“My stretchers are used only for Covid and suspected Covid deaths, and I have handed out more than 600 of them so far,” said Kakuwala. “And these are only for Muslim deaths in Ahmedabad.”

THE NEED FOR TRACKING DEATHS State governments also typically have standard operating procedures to determine what is classified as a Covid-19 death.

Delhi government, for instance, decided on May 17 that Covid-19 testing would not be done on dead bodies, and that persons dying of co-morbidities like heart disease, hypertension or diabetes, where Covid-19 is not the primary cause of death, would not be

We may be entering a post-dollar world

Financial TimeS rANA foroohAr

Unfettered globalisation is over. That is not a controversial statement at this point for obvious reasons, from the post-Covid19 retrenchment of complex international supply chains to the decoupling of the US and China. It’s hard to imagine a reset to the 1990s neoliberal mindset, even if Joe Biden wins the US presidential elections, or if the EU experiences a moment of renewed cohesion in response to the pandemic.

The world is more likely to become tripolar — or at least bipolar — with more regionalisation in trade, migration and even capital flows in the future. There are all sorts of reasons for this, some disturbing (rising nationalism) and others benign (a desire for more resilient and inclusive local economies).

That begs a question that has been seen as controversial — are we entering a post-dollar world? It might seem a strawman question, given that more than 60 per cent of the world’s currency reserves are in dollars, which are also used for the vast majority of global commerce. The US Federal reserve’s recent bolstering of dollar markets outside of the US, as a response to the coronavirus crisis, has given a further boost to global dollar dominance.

As a result, many people would repeat the mantra that in this, as in so many

considered coronavirus deaths.

Bhavin Joshi did not respond to questions about standard operating procedures for Covid-19 in the city, and other health department officials were not available for comment. But reports of a clear surge in death rates are not unique to Ahmedabad or Gujarat.

In early May, Indian Express reported a sharp surge in the number of deaths in Malegaon, Maharashtra – 580 deaths in April, which is 48% more than the 390 deaths reported in March, and almost double the number of deaths in the same month last year, when 277 people had died.

In Madhya Pradesh, Indore also reported a significant surge in burials at Muslim graveyards in April, although crematoriums in the city did not report such increases in deaths. Many of the burials were for people who had not been tested for Covid-19 but had been listed as deaths due to heart attacks, hypertension or diabetes.

things, “you can’t fight the Fed”. The dominance of the US banking system and dollar liquidity, both of which are backstopped by the Fed, will give the American dollar unquestioned supremacy in the global financial system and capital markets indefinitely. others argue that “you can’t replace something with nothing”. By this they mean that even though China, russia and other emerging market countries (as well as some rich nations such as Germany) would love to move away from dollar dominance, they have no real alternatives.

This desire is especially sharp in a world of increasingly weaponised finance.

Consider recent moves by both Beijing and Washington to curb private sector involvement in each other’s capital markets.

Yet, the euro, which represents about 20 per cent of global reserves, can’t compare in terms of liquidity and there are still big questions about the future of the eurozone.

The gold market is far too tight, as evidenced by the fact that it is now virtually impossible to buy the physical metal.

But there are economic statistics, and then there is politics. It’s telling that China has been a big buyer of gold recently, as a hedge against the value of its dollar holdings. It is also testing its own digital currency regime, the e-rMB, becoming the first sovereign nation to roll out a central bank-backed cryptocurrency. one can imagine that would be easy to deploy throughout the orbit of China’s Belt and road Initiative, as an attractive alternative for countries and businesses that want to trade with one another without having to use dollars to hedge exchange-rate risk.

This alone should not pose a challenge to the supremacy of the greenback, although it was enough to prompt former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, a man who does not comment lightly, to write a recent essay surveying the future of the dollar. But it isn’t happening in a vacuum.

The European Commission’s plan to

India already has a poor record of tracking deaths – only around 70% of deaths are registered, and barely 22% have a medical certificate. Even among those, cases, the cause of death indicated on medical certificates is often not specific, confusing the mode of death with the cause of the death.

According to experts like Dr Prabhat Jha, one of the leading authorities on mortality in India, this could make it harder to understand the true extent of Covid-19 death rates in the country.

Data from burial grounds and crematoriums in Ahmedabad and other parts of the country underscore this need for better death reporting systems. bolster its recovery budget for Covid-19 bailouts by issuing debt that will be repaid

by EU-wide taxes could become the basis of a true fiscal union and, ultimately, a United States of Europe. If it does, then I can imagine a lot more people might want to hold more euros. I can also imagine a continued weakening of ties between the US and Saudi Arabia, which might in turn undermine the dollar. Among the many reasons for central banks and global investors to hold US dollars, a key one is that oil is priced in dollars. Continuing Saudi actions to undermine US shale put a rift in the relationship between the administration of US president Donald Trump and riyadh. It is unlikely that a future President Biden, who would probably follow Barack obama’s pro-Iran stance, would repair it.

Even with oil prices this low, Dallas Fed president robert Kaplan recently told me that energy independence remains “strategically important” to the US and that “there will still be a substantial production of shale in the US in the future”. Who will fill the Saudi void, then?

Very probably China, which will want oil to be priced in renminbi. A decoupling world may be one that requires fewer dollars.

Finally, there are questions about the way in which the Fed’s unofficial backstopping of US government spending in the wake of the pandemic has politicised the money supply. The issue here isn’t really a risk of Weimar republic-style inflation, at least not any time soon. It’s more about trust. Some people will argue that the dollar is a global currency and that its fortunes do not really depend on perceptions of the US itself.

Certainly, events of the past few years would support that view.

But there may be a limit to that disconnection. The US can get away with quite a lot economically as long it remains politically credible, but less so if it isn’t.

As economist and venture capitalist Bill Janeway recently told me: “The American economy hit bottom in the winter of 19323 after [Herbert] Hoover lost all credibility in responding to the Depression and trust in the banks vanished with trust in the government.”

It could be that one day, trust in the dollar and trust in America will reconverge.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

BUSINESS 09

dubai faces 5.5pc recession this year as $10bn debt repayments loom, bofa says DUBAI: Dubai could see a recession of around 5.5% in 2020 as it faces about $10 billion (8.1 billion pounds) in debt maturities this year while revenues are expected to drop in line with the pattern of the 2009 crisis, Bank of America said in a research note. Measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus have dealt a blow to Dubai’s economy, bringing vital industries like tourism and aviation to a near halt. Bank of America estimates that Dubai’s fiscal deficit could widen to $4.4 billion, or 3.9% of GDP, and could be as high as 5.3% if interest payments on a loan from Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest lender, are included. Financing of the fiscal deficit or liquidity injection into government-related entities (GREs) will likely primarily be via loans from ENBD, Bank of America said.

Dubai could also draw on $1.4 billion in deposits at ENBD or issue privately placed bonds. International Monetary Fund data puts Dubai government and GRE debt at 110% of GDP, unchanged in nominal terms since the 2009 global financial crisis, but Bank of America said “more corporate distress” was possible in a sustained downturn. “Sustained revenue losses could generate corporate solvency concerns if the recovery is shallow,” it said. Citing IMF data, the bank said Dubai and government-related entities face some $10 billion in debt repayments this year. It said it expected the government and banks to receive support from oil-rich Abu Dhabi and the UAE central bank, if needed, but that debt redemptions from Dubai government companies in the coming years were more at risk. Sources told Reuters this month that the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai were discussing ways to prop up Dubai’s economy by linking up assets in the two emirates. Dubai denied the report. AGENCIES

china’s manufacturing still sluggish as virus hits exports BEIJING: China’s manufacturing activity expanded in May but at a sluggish pace for the second straight month as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on the global economy. A monthly purchasing managers’ index issued Sunday slipped to 50.6, down from 50.8 in April. A reading above 50 means that manufacturing is growing.

The figures indicate that manufacturing picked up in May, although more slowly than the previous month, said Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics. The index, compiled by the the statistics bureau and the official China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, has bounced back from a historic low of 35.7 in February, when many factories were shut at the peak of the virus outbreak in China. Factories have reopened as China has ended lockdowns and eased restrictions on commuting and travel, but the spread of the pandemic has slowed economies globally, depressing demand for Chinese exports. In a worrying sign, the index for export orders in the monthly report remained low at 35.3, though up from 33.5 in April. That suggests exports will remain soft for at least a while. Qinghe noted that indexes for new orders overall picked up in 12 of 21 sectors, which he said indicates improving domestic demand. AGENCIES

Tobacco TaxaTion reforms proposal Tabled To geT addiTional rs24bn: Zafar mirZa ISLAMABAD

T

APP

HE Ministry of National Health Services has tabled an ambitious tobacco taxation reforms proposal for consideration in the upcoming budget to seek Rs24 billion as additional tax revenue that will be used for saving the lives of public.

In a statement on the ‘World No Tobacco Day’, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza on Sunday said that the government has enforced Graphic Health Warning on 60 per cent space of cigarettes packs and outers, banning its sale to under 18 years of age.

He said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken major strides in the realm of tobacco control. The Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, in coordination with the provinces, has developed a draft national policy to sustain the tobacco control efforts in Pakistan, he added.

“We have under SRO 71 (I) /2020 of “Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non Smoker’s Health Ordinance 2002, banned all forms of Tobacco Advertising, Promotions and Sponsorship and related products.”

Mirza said “We have successfully implemented a Smoke Free Islamabad Model through 85pc compliance of tobacco control laws.” All public parks, high-rise buildings, food outlets and public transport are smoke free in Islamabad.

This model has also been replicated in five model districts and this Smoke Free Model has been acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We will continue to strive to raise taxes, enhance size of Graphic Health Warnings and promote a smoke free society by providing a counter-marketing campaign, awareness against nicotine use and empower young people to en-

gage in the fight against tobacco.”

Mirza called upon every citizen of Pakistan to contribute to this noble cause to safeguard the health and wellbeing of present and future generations He said the World No Tobacco Day is observed in Pakistan as elsewhere in the world on 31st May 2020 to highlight the hazards associated with the use of tobacco and spotlight efforts being made by governments, civil society and individuals across the globe to safeguard the health of the people through preventive, persuasive and punitive measures against the use of tobacco.

The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2020 is “Protecting youth from in-

dustry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use”.

He said the global tobacco epidemic kills nearly eight million people globally. More than seven million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to secondhand smoke.

SAPM said more than 80pc of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low-and middle-income countries.

In Pakistan tobacco use remains a major public health challenge claiming 160,000 lives annually. Furthermore, 1,200 Pakistani children between the ages of six to 15 starts smoking daily which is alarming.

He said the WHO and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are calling countries to prioritise and accelerate tobacco control efforts as part of their responses to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty to which Pakistan is a signatory, the Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MNHSRC) has an obligation to develop strategies to protect the health of Pakistanis from tobacco exposure.

Mylan’s Pakistan partner to sell Covid-19 drug within two months Pakistan’s AGP Ltd, a partner of Mylan NV, plans to sell the Covid-19 treatment remdesivir, which has been shown to improve recovery of coronavirus patients, within one to two months in the Asian nation.

AGP plans to seek permission from the country’s drug authority to import the medicine, Chief Executive Officer Nusrat Munshi said in an interview. It has a similar arrangement for the Hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi, which it will import from Mylan. AGP is Mylan’s exclusive distributor in Pakistan.

The development comes a few weeks after remdesivir’s original creator Foster City, California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. signed agreements with four generic drug manufacturers in India, including Mylan’s unit in the country, and one in Pakistan to speed development and help meet anticipated demand. A unit of Pakistan’s Ferozsons Laboratories Ltd. is currently the only licensee in the country.

The global push to develop coron-

avirus treatments and vaccines is accelerating as governments look for ways to ease lockdowns safely and restart economies. Moderna Inc.’s vaccine passed a crucial early safety test last week, and countries from the U.K. to China are pushing ahead to develop their own vaccines. Gilead’s drug was originally developed in 2010 to treat Ebola.

Pakistan eased its lockdown by opening shopping malls and retail shops this month and saw a massive rush of people ahead of Eid festivities. A few markets were temporarily shut for not following social distancing rules in Karachi.

“The concept of a lockdown is that it gives the country’s health-care system time to prepare,” said Munshi, adding that health-care facilities including beds haven’t been ramped up and mass testing hasn’t been conducted.

AGP has also sold about 100,000 anti-body test kits since last month to hospitals and private companies looking to test their staff as more people return to work. The company has another

100,000 kits and is considering importing more as it is seeing high demand, according to Munshi.

Pakistan has about 66,000 infections and 1,400 deaths. The nation has

tested fewer people than Ghana and has still seen the probability of a test turning out positive almost double to over 20% in the past week, the highest since the outbreak began. AGENCIES

Pakistan’s soybean may move towards self-production with Chinese tech CHENGDU, CHINA INP

China’s maize-soybean strip inter-cropping technology has attracted a lot of attention after a recent media report highlighted two Pakistani students from the Sichuan Agricultural University are using and popularising this technology in their hometown.

This technology is universally applicable all over Pakistan. It can boost maize yield as well as create an additional soybean harvest to reduce Pakistan’s soybean imports and improve the country’s food security,” Yang Wenyu, the professor of Sichuan Agricultural University who develops this technology and provides generous support for the two students, said in an interview with Gwadar Pro. “There’s a lack of soybean production in Pakistan. Pakistan is China’s iron brother. We are willing to offer support to help Pakistan bridge the gap between domestic production and imports,” Yang Wenyu said. It’s he who

initially formulated the idea of introducing this technology to Pakistan. His team has been supporting the two students Muhammad Ali Raza and Sajad Hussain to make demonstrations in Pakistan both technically and financially the whole time since 2018.

The application of maize-soybean strip inter-cropping technology in Pakistan has theoretical and practical basis. First, Pakistan has a large population while the area of arable land is limited. It has the demand to develop inter-cropping to grow two crops together.

Second, Pakistan enjoys ample sunlight, which is a favorable natural condition for soybean’s growth. Moreover, in the inter-cropping fields, maize can shade soybean to reduce high average temperature’s impact, and nitrogen fixation by soybean can promote maize’s growth in return. The crops in this model are like close partners that cooperate with each other to create bumper harvests.

Forecast by Yang Wenyu, by using maize-soybean strip inter-cropping technol-

ogy, the yield of maize can reach 10,500 kg per hectare with an additional 1,350 to 1,650 kg/ha soybean production in Pakistan’s irrigated areas. In rainfed areas, the production of maize and soybean can rise to 6,000 kg/ha and 4,500 to 1,500 kg/ha respectively.

At present, maize is grown on an area of about 1.3 million hectares in Pakistan. In this way, the nation’s maize yield can be guaranteed and greatly increased. More importantly, Pakistani farmers can harvest considerable soybean meanwhile. That will definitely generate sizeable economic benefit for Pakistani people.

At first there were some doubts about the technology’s performance because many local farmers hadn’t seen this kind of farming model before. “As long as they follow our technical instructions to plant the two crops, this technology is sure to work out,” Yang said with confidence.

“Actually many countries are researching into inter-cropping. But across the globe our maize-soybean strip inter-cropping may

be the only mature inter-cropping system that is well-equipped with all-around technologies of field configuration, fertilization, pest control, etc. and promoted on such a massive scale.” Furthermore, this technology has realized mechanization from sowing seeds, crop management to harvest.

It should be noted that after 18 years’ research and development, in February, 2020, Yang Wenyu’s maize-soybean strip intercropping technology was included in Chinaĺs “No. 1 Central Document” of top-priority by CPC Central Committee and the State Council of the People’s Republic of China to be promoted vigorously and widely in more regions of China.

Besides Pakistan, it also has been introduced to Africa and Europe such as Ghana and Sweden. Yang Wenyu’s team is working with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences to promote the technology in European countries.

In Pakistan, so far four demonstrations have been arranged separately in Ba-

hawalpur, Chakwal, Islamabad and Layyah.

Yang Wenyu’s team is cooperating with Pakistan’s National Agriculture Research Center and PMAS-Arid Agriculture University to build high-yield demonstrations.

“High-yield demonstrations in different regions will prove the technology’s value and receive local people and government’s recognition,” said Yang. They are also working on technical parameters specifically for Pakistan.

Developing maize-soybean inter-cropping technology in Pakistan is like a cause of common good because every Pakistani farmer can learn and master this technology for free. It’s knowledge, not a product.

Therefore, Yang Wenyu’s team deserves to be further supported bilaterally. As agriculture is among the six key socio-economic fields under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) cooperation, we believe the fruition of maize-soybean strip inter-cropping technology will bring more benefits to Pakistani and Chinese people in the future.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LONDON

S

AGENCIES

ENIOR advisors to Boris Johnson’s government on Saturday warned it was too early to lift the lockdown, just two days before the UK further relaxes coronavirus restrictions.

As people revelled in soaring temperatures by flocking to beaches and parks, sev-

UK govt advISorS SoUnd warnIng on eaSIng vIrUS locKdown

eral members of the government’s own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) told ministers they risked a second wave of infection.

One — epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds — said the move was “a political decision”.

Another prominent scientist, Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and also a member of Sage, warned explicitly on Twitter that the government’s was wrong on

Iran's new parliament speaker says talks with US 'futile' TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said any negotiations with the United States would be “futile” as he delivered his first major speech to the conservative-dominated chamber on Sunday. Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force, was elected speaker on Thursday after February elections that swung the balance in the legislature towards ultra-conservatives. The newly formed parliament “considers negotiations with and appeasement of America, as the axis of global arrogance, to be futile and harmful,” said Ghalibaf. He also vowed revenge for the US drone attack in January that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Guards’ foreign operations arm.

“Our strategy in confronting the terrorist America is to finish the revenge for martyr Soleimani’s blood,” he told lawmakers in a televised address. This, he said, would entail “the total expulsion of America’s terrorist army from the region”. Decades-old tensions between Tehran and Washington have soared in the past year, with the sworn arch-enemies twice appearing to come to the brink of a direct confrontation. The tensions have been rising since 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear accord and began reimposing crippling sanctions on Iran’s economy. That was followed by the US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January that killed Soleimani, a hugely popular figure in the Islamic republic. Days later, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq in retaliation, but Trump opted against taking any military action in response. Ghalibaf called for ties to be improved with neighbors and with “great powers who were friends with us in hard times and share significant strategic relations”, without naming them. The 58-year-old Ghalibaf is a three-time presidential candidate who lost out to current incumbent Hassan Rouhani at the last election in 2017. The newly-elected speaker had also served as Tehran mayor and the Islamic republic’s police chief before taking up his latest post.

Pope calls for end to 'pandemic of poverty' after virus VATICAN CITY AGENCIES

Pope Francis called on Saturday for a “more just and equitable society” in the post-coronavirus world, and for people to act to “end the pandemic of poverty”.

“Once we emerge from this pandemic, we will not be able to keep doing what we were doing, and as we were doing it. No, everything will be different,” he said, speaking in Spanish in a video message to mark the feast of Pentecost. “From the great trials of humanity — among them this pandemic — one emerges better or worse. You don’t emerge the same. I ask this of you: how do you want to come out of it? Better or worse?” he added. People needed to open their minds and hearts to learn the central lesson from this crisis: “We are one humanity,” said the pope. “We know it, we knew it, but this pandemic that we are living through has made us experience it in a much more dramatic way,” he added. Now there was a duty to build a new reality particularly for the poorest, who had been discarded, the pope said. “All the suffering will be of no use if we do not build together a more just, more equitable, more Christian society, not in name but in reality,” he added. He called for action to “end the pandemic of poverty in the world”.

its timing. “Covid-19 spreading too fast to lift lockdown in England,” wrote Farrar.

“TTI (test, trace and isolate) has to be in place, fully working, capable (of) dealing (with) any surge immediately, locally responsive, rapid results & infection rates have to be lower.”

From Monday, the government will begin easing lockdown rules imposed in March and partially reopen schools in England and allow up to six people from different households to meet outside.

Reacting to the warnings, government minister Oliver Dowden said it was “absolutely right to urge caution”.

But he stressed that “the government scientific advisory group consists of more than 50 scientists, all of whom will have their different perspectives… the government takes a collective view on the entire advice from Sage”.

Deputy chief medical officer

Jonathan Van-Tam, speaking alongside Dowden at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, added that Sage had a “high degree of confidence” that continued social distancing and other measures combined with effective contact tracing would not push the so-called R transmission rate up above the critical one figure. Put simply, the R number is the calculation of how many people an infected person is thought to transmit the virus to on an average. If the R value is one, each carrier passes it on to one other person.

GRADUAL EASING: Britain is the second hardest hit country after the United States with more than 38,000 coronavirus deaths and 270,000 cases.

Since May 13, people in England have been allowed to take unlimited exercise and sunbathe in parks, a relaxation of the original rules enforced in March.

Schools will not reopen on Monday in

the other UK countries but there will be a partial lifting of the rules elsewhere, including being allowed to take more exercise in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, more retailers can open and small outdoor weddings should begin from June 8. People in Wales will be allowed to meet up with others outdoors from Monday. In total, five government advisors on the pandemic have so far expressed concerns over lifting of the lockdown.

They have also been joined by political figures, including the mayors of London and Manchester. Sadiq Khan, in London, said on social media he was “deeply concerned we are now rushing too fast to lift lockdown measures”. Unions have also called on the government to not rush back to school.

Official figures on Saturday showed that the death toll for those people who have died with the virus now stands at 38,376, an increase of 215 since Friday.

Growing US-China rivalry seen fueling UN paralysis amid virus crisis WASHINGTON AGENCIES

For nearly a decade, the UN Security Council has been frequently paralyzed

by Russia’s obstinacy over the Syrian crisis. Today, however, it is the USChina rivalry that has infected a growing array of issues, according to officials and diplomats.

As recently as 2017, an understanding between Washington and Beijing allowed the United Nations on three occasions — involving separate sets of economic sanctions — to project international unity in the face of the North Korean nuclear threat.

Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a ferocious competition erupt between the UN’s two main contributors, prompting the organization’s chief, Antonio Guterres, to bemoan a “lack of leadership” during the world’s worst crisis since 1945.

“Where we see power, we sometimes do not see the necessary leadership,” he said recently. Even after more than two months of negotiations, the 15 Security Council members were unable to reach an agreement on a resolution supporting a call from the UN secretary-general for a global cease-fire while the world battles the novel coronavirus.

The sole reason? US-Chinese differences over a passing mention in the draft

resolution to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with which President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to sever ties. Both UN officials and diplomats say the US-Chinese conflict seems to be spreading, leaving them increasingly pessimistic.

“The Security Council has been frozen for 45 years between 1945 and 1990, because of the Cold War,” one ambassador said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The last thing we need is another Cold War that would freeze again the Security Council.”

“Importing bilateral disputes in the Council would be a disaster,” he said.

Added another ambassador: “We really shouldn’t enter a new Cold War. But it doesn’t look very good at the mo-

ment,” whether regarding leadership, the pandemic or US-Chinese relations, three subjects “very closely tied to each other.”

FRAGILITY AND HUMILITY: At the UN, there is a sense of a dangerous drift into the new and dysfunctional territory.

“In the past, when you had disagreements among members of the Council, it was compartmentalized,” said a UN official, speaking on grounds of anonymity.

“So your adversary one day on a particular issue was your best ally the next day on another issue. What we see now is everything spilling over.

“So there are camps, or there are disagreements which just spill over from one issue to another,” the official said, clearly alluding to the situation in Hong Kong, where tough new Chinese security

legislation has pitted the two leading permanent members of the UN against each other. “The tensions between the US and China are really problematic” for the world body, meaning the Security Council is “not able to move forward on a range of things,” the official added.

Several ambassadors shared that view. “There is a huge fracture in the global multilateral architecture right now. And it’s very serious,” said Olof Skoog, the European Union ambassador to the UN. “We are witnessing a polarization in the Security Council,” said Ambassador Christoph Heusgen of Germany, currently a non-permanent member of the council, alluding to an ever more bitter volley of tweets being exchanged by the US and Chinese missions. At a press conference Thursday, Guterres expressed his regret that the pandemic had not evoked a greater sense of humility from the big powers.

“If the present crisis shows something, it is our fragility. Collective fragility. When we are fragile, we should be humble. When we are humble, we should be united and in solidarity,” he said, in remarks directed to members of the Security Council.

He then made it abundantly clear that he had in mind the United States and China — which as permanent Security Council members enjoy the veto power that greatly magnifies their influence.

Trump says he will delay G7 summit and invite other countries WASHINGTON AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he will delay the G7 summit scheduled to take place in June and invite other countries — including Russia — to join the meeting. “I don’t feel that as a G7 it properly represents what’s going on in the world. It’s a very outdated group of countries,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. He said he would like to invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and India to join an expanded summit in the fall. It could happen in September, either before or after the UN General Assembly, Trump said, adding that “maybe I’ll do it after the election.”

Americans head to the polls in early November to choose a new president, with Trump keen for a return to normalcy from the coronavirus pandemic and a healthy economy as voters cast their ballots.

Describing the event as a “G-10 or G-11,” Trump said he had “roughly” broached the topic with leaders of the four other countries.

Leaders from the Group of Seven, which the United States heads this year, had been scheduled to meet by videoconference in late June after COVID-19 scuttled plans to gather in-person at Camp David, the US presidential retreat outside Washington.

Trump created suspense just over a week ago, however, when he announced that he might hold the huge gathering in-person after all, “primarily at the White House” but also potentially parts of it at Camp David.

‘CANNOT AGREE’ TO TRIP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the first leader to decline the in-

CMYK

person invitation outright.

“Considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,” her spokesman said Saturday.

Her response followed ambivalent to vaguely positive reactions to the invitation from Britain, Canada and France.

The 65-year-old chancellor is the oldest G7 leader

after Trump, who is 73. Japan’s Shinzo Abe, also 65, is several months younger than Merkel. Their age puts them at higher risk from the coronavirus.

The G7 major advanced countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — hold annual meetings to discuss international economic coordination.

Russia was thrown out of what was the G8 in 2014 after it seized Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, an annexation never recognized by the international community. The work of the G7 is now more important than ever as countries struggle to repair coronavirus-inflicted damage.

VIRUS CRISIS: The White House had previously said the huge diplomatic gathering would be a “show of strength” when world economies are gradually reemerging from shutdowns.

The virus is progressing at different speeds across the globe, with infection numbers falling in many of Europe’s most affected countries.

Trump’s announcement came after he flew to Florida earlier in the day to watch the first launch of a commercial company rocket to carry humans into orbit, ushering in a new era in space travel.

The launch was a rare bright spot in the United States Saturday as clashes broke out and major cities imposed curfews amid ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The demonstrations are taking place against the ongoing US coronavirus crisis: The United States is the worst-hit country for COVID-19 infections, recording more than 1.7 million cases and over 103,680 deaths.

Monday, 1 June, 2020

SrI Lanka’S crIcket teaM reSuMe outdoor traInInG aFter VIruS haLt COLOMBO

S

AGENCIES

RI Lanka’s cricket team will resume training Monday under strict health measures after a two-and-a-half-month hiatus forced by coronavirus, the country’s governing body said.

Cricket came to a halt on March 13 when the visiting England team pulled out on the second day of a four-day practice match ahead of their two-Test series.

A 13-member squad will take part in a 12-day training session, starting with fitness sessions from Monday at a hotel in the capital Colombo, Sri Lanka Cricket said Sunday. Ground training will start on Tuesday, the governing body added.

The players will be joined by a fourmember team of coaches and assistants.

“Members taking part in the camp will not be allowed to leave the hotel premises or the practice venue to attend personal

matters,” it added in a statement.

“The players taking part in the camp

represents a general squad chosen from across all formats, and primarily consist of

bowlers, as they need more time for ‘conditioning’ before going into active competition.” The Test series against England was put off indefinitely after the pandemic halted major sporting events worldwide.

Sri Lanka has reported 1,620 infections and 10 deaths since the first virus case was detected on January 27.

Coach Mickey Arthur had customised home-training regimes for many players in the national team after the lockdown was imposed. Former Sri Lankan sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara in 2017 slammed the national team as “too fat and unfit to field five-day Test matches”.

The comments came after they suffered a humiliating one-day series defeat against bottom-ranked Zimbabwe and an early exit from the Champions Trophy.

Sri Lanka later overhauled the coaching team and Arthur has said he was keeping in touch with each player to monitor their progress before international competition resumes.

ECB welcome British government advice over restart Five-subs ‘awful’ idea, says Gasperini BERGAMO: Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini on Sunday slammed as ‘awful’ the new rule which now allows teams to make five substitutions in a match instead of three. “Five subs? Terrible. The game is distorted,” Gasperini told Gazzetta Dello Sport. “We become basketball. There may be ten new players on the pitch at the end.” FIFA has made the temporary change to ease the physical strain on players, who are returning to a congested period of games after a lengthy break due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it could favour the bigger clubs, such as Juventus, who have deeper squads and better players ready to come off the bench. “Who’s the genius who claims that injuries can be avoided?” continued the former Inter Milan coach. “On that basis? Better to change players from one game to another. “How can you be allowed to change your engine halfway through the Grand Prix. It takes away from the show.” Serie A returns on June 20 with Gasperini’s side in fourth, and battling for the final Champions League berth in Italy. “I don’t like football without fans either, but it’s the only way to start again,” he continued. “During the first day of the Bundesliga I zapped, I could not follow.

Borussia-Bayern, on the other hand, was a good game. “I saw many technical errors even from important players - in an empty stadium it is more difficult to stay focused.” AGENCIES

LONDON AGENCIES

The England and Wales Cricket Board will step up plans to restart the sport behind closed doors after the British government gave the green light to return to action.

Government officials have confirmed cricket and other sports will be able to resume from next week after the publication of health and safety guidelines designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The ECB will now study the document to determine how it can help the process of its sport emerging from the pandemic lockdown.

“We are extremely heartened by Saturday’s announcement from the Secretary of State, which will support the return of professional, domestic cricket behind closed doors, and provides a meaningful next step for recreational players to begin playing at their clubs again,” an ECB statement said on Sunday. “Over the coming week, we will seek to understand the specific guidance from Government’s medical teams so that we can provide support for cricket clubs who will be eager to see their communities safely playing in small groups.”

The Government’s approval of stage three of the return to elite sport came only two days after the ECB pushed back the start of the domestic

SPORTS 11

Icardi signs four-year PSG deal PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain have signed Argentina international Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan on a four-year deal after taking up the option to buy the on-loan forward, the two clubs announced on Sunday. Icardi joined PSG this season and impressed with 20 goals in 31 games, before the Ligue 1 campaign was stopped and his club crowned champions because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Paris Saint-Germain are delighted to announce the signing of Mauro Icardi on a permanent deal, following the striker’s loan from Inter Milan during the 2019-2020 season,” the French club said in a statement. Icardi, who has eight caps for Argentina, but also holds an Italian passport, has signed a four-year deal until June 30, 2024. Given the current economic situation the French champions succeeded in reducing the fee “to under” 60 million euros ($66 million), as opposed to the 70 million euros initially requested, according to the French and Italian sports press. This is the first major transfer in Europe since the crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 27-year-old Icardi’s recruitment could signal the departure of Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, 33, the top scorer in the history of the club, whose contract expires on on June 30. AGENCIES

Villa’s Mings says Premier League return driven by finance

season until August 1.

International cricket is pencilled in to return on July 8 after Cricket West Indies approved in principle the tour of England.

Plans have been drawn up to create “bio-secure” environments around each Test match, which are tentatively sched-

uled to start on July 8, 16, and 24 and are to be held behind closed doors in Southampton and Manchester.

England named a 55-man training group on Friday to prepare for the series, as well as a planned visit from Pakistan and limited-overs games against Australia.

LONDON: Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings says players were the “last to be consulted” over the Premier League’s “financially driven” plan to restart in June. The English top-flight is scheduled to resume on June 17 after being suspended since March due to the coronavirus.

But Mings is adamant players should have had more say over the return to training and imminent match action amid the continued threat of the pandemic. He believes the decision is motivated by fear of losing millions if the Premier League did not finish the current campaign. Mings is the latest Premier League player to express concern about the restart after Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, Newcastle’s Danny Rose and Watford’s Troy Deeney. “The motives are possibly 100 percent financially driven rather than integrity driven,” Mings told the Mail on Sunday. “Project Restart is financially driven. I think everybody accepts that. “I am all for playing again because we have no other choice. As players, we were the last people to be consulted about Project Restart and that is because of where we fall in football’s order of priority. That isn’t a problem.

“We got the option to come back to training and that’s fine because we didn’t have to. AGENCIES

Islahuddin hits back at Hanif Khan, says never lobbied for a post in PHF ISLAMABAD APP

Hockey legend Islahuddin Siddiqui on Sunday went down the memory lane to hit back former Olympian Hanif Khan, who recently questioned his roles as a coach, manager and selector.

Hanif had stated that Islahuddin served as team manager in 1983, 1988-93 and 2000 but Pakistan was never able to win any major title under him.

“Please don’t bring a bad name for the country and for Pakistan hockey through such allegations. People are already worried due to coronavirus spread, while Pakistan hockey is also passing through critical times. Don’t try to become a hero through such tactics,” Islahuddin told APP on phone in response to Hanif Khan’s allegations.

The 72-year-old Islahuddin said those blaming others should first look at their own performance. “Any attempt to earn cheap popularity would serve with no good purpose. My request to all those who have been involved with Pakistan hockey is that hockey has given us respect.

It has given us a name. Those speaking like that are actually playing in the hands of anti-state elements.”

Islahuddin reminisced his feats as a player, manager and selector and said he was thankful to God for whatever he achieved. “I led Pakistan team to Hockey World Cup glory in 1978. During the same year Pakistan team completed a grand slam under my leadership as it also emerged victorious in Champions Trophy besides claiming gold

medal at Asian Games,” said Islahuddin, who played between 1967 and 1978, scoring 137 goals in 130 matches.

Ruminating he said, he earned silver medal in the 1972 Olympics at Munich and bronze medal in the 1976 Olympics at Montreal. He said he played a key role in the team that won 1971 World Cup, while it was under his captaincy that Pakistan finished as runner-up in 1975 World Cup and then in 1978 won the mega event [World Cup]. “There are also several other international events that Pakistan won when I was either captain or an important member of the team,” added the erstwhile right winger, who also captained Pakistan hockey team in 45 test matches where Pakistan emerged triumphant in 43 matches while two ended in a draw. Former skipper Hanif, who had been playing under Islahuddin’s captaincy had also stated that Islahuddin was lobbying for a top post in Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and warned that any such appointment would be a disaster.

But Islahuddin denied that he was trying for that. “I’ve never lobbied for such a thing in my entire life. In the past too whenever I was offered a post in PHF I never asked for that. It was the federation that always approached me to serve the country and nation. “Currently, I’m also not in touch with the incumbent hockey management. In case if someone [from PHF] contacts me I’ll myself reveal that. You [Hanif Khan] are not supposed to do that.”

About his various stints as Pakistan team coach and manager, he said that in 1983 Pakistan team claimed silver medal in international hockey team tournament in

CMYK

Hong Kong and after that he had quit his job.

“Then I again served as manager from 1988 to 1992.

Please note that Pakistan was at number 11 in 1986 World Cup in England, while in the same year it finished at number four in Asian Games in Korea. Considering it a challenge I took the charge of and that same team won its very first event [under me], Indira Gandhi International Hockey Tournament in Lucknow, India in 1989.

Then during the same year, 0we won Asia Cup in New Delhi.” “Then, we ended as runner-up in 1990 World Cup in Lahore to claim silver medal. Later, that year [in 1990] we won gold medal in Asian Games in Beijing.”

“In 1991, we featured in BMW Champions Trophy in Holland along with world’s top six outfits and won gold medal. Then again in 1991’s Champions Trophy in Holland we won silver medal.”

“In 1992’a Champions Trophy in Berlin, we also ended second to claim sliver. Later, in the same year, we claimed bronze in the Barcelona Olympics.”

Islahuddin said that in 1998 his services were again hired for manager/coach. “During that period we introduced penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas. And then, we went on to defeat India in a nine Test-match series.”

“In 2000 Sydney Olympics we finished at fourth and that achievement is also not that too bad.”

“In 2007, I once again served for six months. We went to Moscow and won gold in the four-nation tournament.” He said in 2014, when he was chairman selection committee Pakistan finished as runner-up in four

international events, including Asian Games and Champions Trophy. “I reserve the right to answer if somebody will try to blame me like that. Look at my performance as a player, as a captain, as a coach and as a selector.

“I’ve also served for 17 years in different committees of FIH’s Rules Board. Moreover, I also worked for 12 years in different committees of Asian Hockey Federation.”

“It’s a big honour for me and a special reward by Allah Almighty. I believe whatever I achieved is the result of entire nation’s prayers for me.”

“But I feel sorry for people like Hanif Khan who don’t even know how to respect their seniors. I’ve been his captain, manager and coach. I never spoke like that against him. It is a pity he is lobbying that way and becoming part of a conspiracy against Pakistan hockey.” “Beware of the evil of the one you have been generous too,” Islahuddin concluded while quoting Hazrat Ali (R.A).

Monday, 1 June, 2020

NEWS

curfews and clashes as us race proTesTs escalaTe

MINNEAPOLIS

c

Agencies

URFEWS were imposed on major US cities as clashes over police brutality erupted across America with demonstrators ignoring warnings from President Donald Trump that his government would stop the violent protests “cold.”

Minneapolis, the epicenter of the unrest, was gripped by a fifth consecutive night of violence on Saturday with police in riot gear firing tear gas and stun grenades at protesters venting fury at the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during an arrest in the city on Monday.

Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta were among two dozen cities ordering people to stay indoors overnight as more states called in National Guard soldiers to help control the civil unrest not seen in the United States for years.

From Seattle to New York, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding tougher murder charges and more arrests over the death of Floyd, who stopped breathing after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

In Los Angeles, officers fired rubber bullets and swung batons during a testy standoff with demonstrators who set fire to a police car.

Police and protesters clashed in numerous cities including Chicago and New York, with officers responding to projectiles with pepper spray while shop windows were smashed in Philadelphia.

Multiple arrests were reported by US media in Minneapolis, Seattle and New York as rallies continued through the night.

Trump blamed the extreme left for the violence, including widespread looting and arson in Minneapolis, saying rioters were dishonouring the memory of Floyd.

“We cannot and must not allow a small group of criminals and vandals to wreck our

cities and lay waste to our communities,” the president said.

“My administration will stop mob violence. And we’ll stop it cold,” he added, accusing the loose-knit militant anti-fascist network Antifa of orchestrating the violence.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden condemned the violence of the protests, but said on Sunday that US citizens had every right to demonstrate.

“Protesting such brutality is right and necessary,” he said. “But burning down communities and needless destruction is not.” nATIonAL GUARd dEPLoYEd: Peaceful protests occurred too, including in Toronto as the movement spread beyond America’s borders.

Demonstrators nationwide chanted slogans such as “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe,” which Floyd, who has become a fresh symbol of police brutality, was heard saying repeatedly before he died.

“We’re not turning the cheek anymore.

Black lives matter. They will always matter.

And we’re here today to show that,” said makeup artist Melissa Mock, who joined several thousand in a daytime protest in Miami.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was mobilizing the state’s entire 13,000strong National Guard to deal with rioters who have looted shops and set fires in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

All major freeways leading into Min-

neapolis were closed Saturday night with military helicopters overhead as the state braced for more rioting, arson and looting, with locals saying much of the violence was being perpetrated by outsiders.

Earlier, people congregated and chanted peacefully in Minneapolis, carrying brooms to help clean up damaged shops and streets.

Some placed flowers in front of the shop where Floyd was arrested on Monday, before his death in the hands of police was recorded in a horrifying cellphone video since seen around the world.

In Houston — where Floyd was born and raised — an old friend of his, Sam Osborne, said as an African American he feared for his life.

“I’m really messed up they killed him up.

I’m wondering like, what could possibly happen to me?” he told AFP. Houston’s mayor announced at a press conference that Floyd’s body would be brought back to the Texas city.

At least eight states — including Texas, Colorado and Georgia — activated the National Guard, who were also deployed around the White House to help handle the protests there.

BLACK LIVES MATTER: In Washington, protesters faced off with secret service agents outside the White House for a second straight night as Trump faces the most serious spate of civil unrest of his presidency, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Looting occurred in Miami, where a curfew was also announced, while in New York mayor Bill de Blasio said a video appearing to show an NYPD police car drive into protesters in Brooklyn was “upsetting” but that he did not blame the officers.

In Los Angeles, the city’s mayor expanded a curfew order as looting broke out.

Stretched emergency services scrambled to put out two blazes on Melrose Avenue, as similar scenes played out in Washington with officials extinguishing a major fire at a hotel off Layfayette Square.

There were also multiple instances of journalists covering the protests being wounded, with reports of pepper balls and rubber bullets being used on members of the press.

Protests are expected to continue even after Chauvin, the now-fired Minneapolis police officer accused of Floyd’s death, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder on Friday.

Floyd’s family and many protestors want a tougher charge brought and have also demanded that three officers who assisted him be charged as well.

Thousands proTesT across cenTral london London: Thousands of people have gathered across central London to protest against the killing of an unarmed black man by police in the US. They held up signs saying "Justice for George Floyd", who died in police custody while an officer kneeled on his neck to pin him down. Derek Chauvin has been charged with his murder in Minneapolis.

The white police officer has been sacked from his job. Some protesters appeared to be breaking lockdown rules, not staying 2m apart. The protests have been held at Trafalgar Square and outside the US Embassy in Battersea. Elsewhere in the UK, hundreds marched through Manchester city centre chanting "Black Lives Matter". Agencies

NASA astronauts head for ISS on historic SpaceX flight FLORIDA Agencies

Two veteran NASA astronauts were headed for the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday after Elon Musk’s SpaceX became the first commercial company to launch a rocket carrying humans into orbit, ushering in a new era in space travel.

SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard blasted off flawlessly in a cloud of bright orange flames and smoke from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center for a 19-hour voyage to the space station.

“Let’s light this candle,” Hurley, the mission commander, told SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, before liftoff at 3:22 pm (1922 GMT) from NASA’s storied Launch Pad 39A. The SpaceX launch is the first of American astronauts from US soil since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 and the first crewed flight ever by a private company.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk celebrates after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/AFP/JOE RAEDLE “I’m really quite overcome with emotion,” Musk said. “It’s been 18 years working towards this goal.

“This is hopefully the first step on a journey towards civilization on Mars,” the SpaceX founder said.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said it was a “great day” for NASA and SpaceX and an “important milestone for the nation.”

“We’re not celebrating yet,” Bridenstine cautioned. “We will celebrate when they’re home safely.”

In a brief interview from space, Hurley said that in keeping with the tradition of having astronauts name their spacecraft, he and Behnken had named the Crew Dragon capsule “Endeavour” after the retired space shuttle on which they both flew.

Behnken said the SpaceX capsule is a “lot different than its namesake” in that

“it has touch display screens.”

The mission, dubbed “Demo-2,” ends a government monopoly on space flight and is the final test flight before NASA certifies SpaceX’s capsule for regular crewed missions.

Behnken, 49, and Hurley, 53, former military test pilots who joined NASA in 2000, are scheduled to dock with the space station at 10:29 am (1429 GMT) on Sunday.

They will join US astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner aboard the ISS. ‘SPECIAL dAY’: SpaceX said Crew Dragon was on the correct trajectory to link up with the space station orbiting 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.

The reusable first booster stage of the Falcon 9 rocket separated cleanly about 2.5 minutes after liftoff and landed upright on a floating barge off the Atlantic coast. The second stage also separated smoothly.

The launch had originally been scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed because of weather conditions, which also remained uncertain on Saturday right up until liftoff.

The mission comes amid the coronavirus crisis and protests in multiple US cities over the death of a black man in Minneapolis while he was being arrested by a white police officer.

President Donald Trump flew to Florida to watch the launch and delivered remarks to NASA and SpaceX employees on what he called a “special day.”

Trump first addressed the protests, saying he understood “the pain people are feeling” but that he would not tolerate “mob violence.”

Trump praised Musk and said the launch “makes clear the commercial space industry is the future.”

He also repeated his vow to send American astronauts back to the Moon in 2024 and eventually to Mars.

Behnken and Hurley blasted off from Launch Pad 39A, the same one used by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11’s 1969 journey to the Moon.

World virus cases top 6 million as leaders disagree on pandemic response SAO PAULO Agencies

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide topped six million Sunday as Brazil registered another record surge in daily infections and divisions deepened on how to deal with the pandemic.

Latin American countries are bracing for difficult weeks ahead as the virus spreads rapidly across the region.

This contrasts to other parts of the world where the pace has eased and permitted a cautious exit from lockdowns that have wrecked economies and stripped millions of their jobs.

In Brazil — the epicenter of South America’s outbreak with nearly 500,000 confirmed cases — disagreement among its leaders over lockdown measures has hampered efforts to slow a virus that has cost nearly 30,000 lives.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who fears the economic fallout from stay-at-home orders will be worse than the virus, has berated governors and mayors for imposing what he calls “the tyranny of total quarantine.”

Even as his country surpassed France to have the world’s fourth-highest death toll, Bolsonaro called for Brazil’s football season

to resume.

Fellow right-wing populist US President Donald Trump meanwhile came under fire for permanently cutting funding to the World Health Organization.

Trump accused the WHO of not doing enough to curb the early spread of the virus and being too lenient with China, where the COVID-19 disease emerged late last year.

It is a major blow for the UN’s health agency — the US is by far its biggest contributor — at a time when it needs funding the most.

The European Union called on the US president to reconsider, calling for international solidarity during the crisis.

The pandemic has killed nearly 370,000 people and infected more than six million worldwide, according to an AFP tally.

LoCKdoWnS EASE: As the virus progresses at different speeds around the globe, there has been pressure to lift crippling lockdowns, despite the lack of a vaccine and experts warning of a possible second wave of infections.

In Britain, which recorded 960 new deaths on Saturday ahead of starting to lift its lockdown on Monday, senior advisors to the government warned that it was moving too quickly.

“COVID-19 spreading too fast to lift lockdown in England,” tweeted Jeremy Farrar, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.

South Africa will also reopen its economy on Monday, the continent’s hardest-hit country moving to level three of a five-tier lockdown. India announced it would begin relaxing the world’s biggest lockdown in stages from early June, even as it marked another record daily rise in infections.

The world’s faithful have been slowly re-congregating as countries such as Iran and

Turkey in recent days have allowed mosques to reopen under strict conditions.

The latest was Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, which opened on Sunday for the first time in two months.

“God is greatest, we will protect AlAqsa with our soul and blood”, dozens of mask-wearing worshippers chanted before being let in for the first prayers of the day.

Some good news turned sour in China, where the first flight carrying Europeans arrived on Saturday since the country sus-

pended visas in late March. Just a day later, Chinese authorities said a German engineer on the flight had tested positive for coronavirus as an asymptomatic carrier.

WIn oR LoSE: With infection numbers falling in many of Europe’s most affected countries, restrictions are being steadily eased.

Parks opened in Paris on the weekend for the first time in months, ahead of restaurants, cafes and bars reopening on sidewalks and terraces on Tuesday.

“Paris needs to support its restaurants and bars. They are the heart of our city,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo said, as some restaurants jumped the gun by opening early, with police largely turning a blind eye.

Across the Atlantic, the US capital Washington also resumed outdoor dining, while on the West Coast, restaurants and hair salons in Los Angeles reopened.

New York City, the worst-hit American city with about 21,500 coronavirus deaths, is on track to begin reopening the week of June 8.

The overall US death toll has topped 103,000 out of more than 1.7 million cases.

Global sport has also started to kick back into action, with Britain approving the return of domestic competitive sport on June 1 — with no fans present.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 66-C, 1st Floor, 21st Commercial Street, Phase-II (Extension), DHA Karachi and printed at Ibn-e-Hassan Printing Press, Hockey Stadium, Karachi. Ph: 021-35381208-9. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk