EpaperKH_2020-08-08

Saturday, 8 August, 2020 I 17 Dhul-Hijjah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 39 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

any offiCer found involved in CorruPtion will be saCked: imran g

PM inaugurates ravi urban DeveloPMent authority Project, says govt will sPenD rs5tr on the ‘Most MoDern city’

LAhOrE STAFF REPORT

P

riMe Minister imran Khan, while expressing anger over the situation in Punjab on Friday, asked the civil servants to work on merit and serve the masses. addressing the civil officers of Punjab, including secretaries, commissioners, deputy commissioners, and regional police officers via video-link, he assured the bureaucracy that there would be no political pressure on them. any officer found involved in corruption would be sacked, he said.

PM imran, while directing to end police and patwari culture, said that huge allowances have been given to police officers and bureaucrats, and salaries have also been increased, adding that they are now incentivised to give results. emphasising on the need for improv-

ing the performance of departments, the prime minister said that improvement in governance is imperative for the development of the country. highlighting the significance of the construction sector for economic development and job creation, PM imran expressed his confidence that the civil officers will play a pivotal role in the promotion of this important sector. he said rule of law, protecting the weak segments of the society, and promotion of education were hallmarks of the state of Medina. he commended the concrete steps taken by the Punjab administration during covid-19.

RAVI URBAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY PROJECT: the prime minister inaugurated river ravi urban Development authority project in shahdara during his visit. addressing the inauguration ceremony, he said that the government will spend rs5

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

283,239

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

17

NEW CASES:

782

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

SINDH:

PUNJAB:

258,099 6,064 123,246

94,040

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

34,539

11,821

2,124/2,287 15,182

trillion on the “most modern city” project. he said that the new city equipped with latest facilities will be established near lahore. the premier said that millions of trees will also be planted in the city to protect the environment. alluding to the problems faced by lahore due to unplanned settlements, he said that vertical buildings will be constructed in the new city in order to ensure that basic amenities reach every person. he added that they will have to take measures to avoid a Karachi-like situation in lahore.

PM imran said that it is the second biggest project after islamabad which will create job opportunities. “it is the best opportunity for 9 million overseas Pakistanis to invest in the mega project,” he added. he also said that incentives have been given to the construction sector and naya Pakistan housing Project and promotion of the construction sector will also support 40 other allied industries. “it is our utmost effort to kick start work on the new city project at the earliest,” he added. he further said that Pakistan is on the tipping point to be taken forward on the path of progress and development. he added there will also be investment from the private sector in it. “it is our utmost effort to kick start work on the new city project at the earliest,” the premier said. speaking on the occasion, Punjab chief Minister sardar usman buzdar said that the authority has been formulated for this project. he said that after islamabad, it will be the second planned city of Pakistan. he also said that three barrages will be constructed for storing 585,000 cusec water. he added that storage of water will improve the level of underground water in lahore.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

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Covid-19: NCOC prepares guidelines to ensure compliance to SOPs ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

the national command and operation centre (ncoc) was apprised on Friday that guidelines have prepared to ensure social distancing, usage of face masks and compliance to standard operating procedures (soPs). the morning session of ncoc was held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and special initiatives asad umar. the forum deliberated in length on the roadmap and measures post-opening up of various sectors and upcoming national and religious events. the forum was informed that wearing face masks, even simple cloth masks, can help in containing covid-19 spread. speaking on the occasion, asad said that opening up of various sectors should be followed with health guidelines. the coronavirus threat was still there and if health guidelines were not followed, then there would always be a threat of the disease spreading again quickly.

“People of Pakistan have been very responsive and they have shown great patience and compliance to various health guidelines. if the same spirit is followed up till Muharram it will help to mitigate health challenges,” he said. asad urged federal and provincial administrations to en-

At least 7 dead as monsoon hits Karachi again KArAchI nEwS dESk

at least 7 people have been reported dead in different parts of the city here on Friday as rain continues to pour in sindh second day in a row. as the fourth spell of monsoon rains continued, six people lost their lives because of electrocution while a young boy drowned in rainwater. it was also reported that another boy was carried away by currents as he swam in a rainwater filled drain. officials and rescue services reported that efforts were underway to save him till the evening.

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) recorded a maximum of 68.5mm rain at PaF Masroor base, 60mm at gulshan-i-hadeed, 50mm at saddar, 47.33mm at Kemari, 44.6mm at nazimabad, and 37.5mm at landhi. the lowest rain was recorded at sadi town (25.2 mm). a 24-year-old woman was also reported to be electrocuted in baloch colony. area station house officer ihsan channa told media that Farzana hanif died when she suffered an electric shock insider

sure public safety and wellbeing through effectively measures during Muharram. Federal Minister for interior brigadier (r) ejaz ahmed shah, special assistant to the Prime Minister (saPM) on health Dr Faisal sultan and others also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 17 deaths in last 24 hours by covid-19 as the number of positive cases surged to 282,645. the nationwide tally of fatalities jumped to 6,052 on Friday. according to the latest figures issued by the ncoc, 782 persons tested positive for covid-19 in 24 hours. sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and islamabad. as of Friday, 122,759 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in sindh, 94,040 in Punjab, 34,432 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 11,821 in balochistan, 15,182 in islamabad, 2,287 in gilgit-baltistan (gb) and 2,124 in azad jammu and Kashmir (ajK).

Furthermore 2,250 individuals lost their lives to the epidemic in sindh, 2,164 in Punjab, 1,219 in KP, 137 in balochistan, 170 in islamabad, 57 in ajK and 55 in gb.

Pakistan has so far conducted 2,079,033 coronavirus tests and 20,461 in the last 24 hours. 258,099 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 826 patients are in critical condition.

more inside

At least 15 dead as Indian Covid-19 repatriation flight crashes on landing STORY ON BACK PAGE

court rejects Zardari's dismissal plea, directs to indict him on aug 10 STORY ON PAGE 02 home. the body was later shifted to jinnah Postgraduate Medical centre (jPMc) for further legal formalities. in separate incidents, 18-yearold Kaiser nawaz, 20-year-old jawad Zubair, 27-year-old Mohammed bilal and a 30-year-old man also died of electrocution. in another incident, a 12year-old boy drowned in accumulated rainwater in sujrani town.

Police said that a group of boys was swimming in the rainwater in sector 7-D when talha tanzeem, 12, d1owned and died. as intermittent showers continued throughout the city, Karachi Mayor wasim akhtar and other officials visited various areas in the south district and monitored

the operation for de-watering of accumulated rainwater and clearing of choking points. on thursday, at least one person was reported dead due to electrocution while one was reported injured during rain in Karachi. to prevent the roads from being flooded as seen during last week’s rain, the national Disaster Management authority (nDMa) has started working to clean Karachi’s major stormwater drains on the orders of Prime Minister imran Khan. on Friday, the ruling party’s islamabad chapter shared a video of the cleaning of nullahs carried out for the fifth day under nDMa’s supervision.

Agreement for Rashakai SEZ to be signed by Augustend, says Asim Bajwa STORY ON PAGE 03

legislation to meet FatF conditions will destroy business sentiment, na body says STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

NEWS

CoUrT rEjECTS ZArDArI'S DISMISSAl PlEA, DIrECTS To INDICT hIM oN AUg 10 ISLAMABAD

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INP

N accountability court on Friday directed to indict Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari in Park Lane reference on August 10.

While announcing the reserved verdict, the court rejected Zardari’s request for withdrawal of plea seeking acquittal and dismissal of the case. The former

president’s petition challenging jurisdiction of the court to hear this matter was also rejected.

Earlier during the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) asked to dispose of PPP leader’s petition and indict him in the corruption reference.

NAB deputy prosecutor further said that the plea could not be withdrawn after completion of arguments. The accused were trying to delay the proceedings of the case, he added.

Meanwhile, the accountability judge

PTI lawmakers summoned by NAB in assets beyond means cases LAHORE TLTP

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday summoned a member of the National Assembly (MNA) of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Malik Karamat Khokhar, on August 13 in connection with the probe into assets beyond income case. The anticorruption watchdog summoned the PTI lawmakers, including Punjab Minister for Labour and Human Resource Ansar Majeed Khan, for holding an investigation into their assets beyond known sources of income. A member of the provincial assembly (MPA) of the ruling political party, Ghazanfar Abbas Chheena was also summoned by NAB on August 17.

Muhammad Sher Chheena and the officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have also been summoned by NAB on August 17. Moreover, the antigraft watch also issued notice to the Punjab minister for labour and human resource to appear before the investigators on August 19. The lawmakers have been asked to appear before the NAB officers along with records of their assets.

ECP asks MPs to submit assets details by Dec 31 ISLAMABAD TLTP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the members of the parliament and provincial assemblies to submit the yearly statements of assets and liabilities, including those of their spouse and dependent children, by December 31. The submission of yearly statements of assets and liabilities of MPs, including their spouse and dependent children, is a mandatory requirement under Section 137 of the Elections Act, 2017. Under this section, every member of an assembly and Senate needs to submit to the commission, on or before December 31 each year, a copy of their statement of assets and liabilities, including assets and liabilities of their spouse and dependent children as on the preceding 13th day of June on Form B. The commission can suspend the membership of any member of an assembly and senate, on the 16th of January, if they fail to submit the statements by the deadline and such members would cease to function until they file the required documents. If a member submits the statement of assets and liabilities under this section, which is found to be false in material particulars, he/she may, within 120 days from the date submission of the statement, be proceeded against for committing the offence of corrupt practice.

assured to wrap the reference as per law.

In December 2019, former president was released on medical grounds after an accountability court in Islamabad issued separate robkars [mandamuses] in the Park Lane Estate Company and the money laundering through fake bank accounts cases against him. The charges in the latest case centre around allegations that Zardari laundered vast sums of money through suspect bank accounts and companies.

NAB is conducting investigations in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s (SC)

verdict in the money laundering of billions through fake accounts case wherein it forwarded the joint investigation team (JIT) report with directions to investigate and file references.

Zardari has repeatedly dismissed allegations he had a hand in the scheme. Never popular and always shrouded in controversy, Zardari — who was once jailed for 11 years for corruption — stepped down from the president s office in 2013. But he has continued to serve as co-chairman of the opposition PPP.

IHC forms larger bench to hear Kulbhushan Jadhav case ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday formed a larger bench to hear the case pertaining to the appointment of a legal representative for convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

The bench includes IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb.

The hearing will start from September 3.

On Thursday, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui had said that Pakistan had once again contacted the Indian government over the matter of appointing a legal representative for the convicted spy.

During the news briefing, the FO spokesperson had said that the move had come under the light of IHC directives. We are waiting for the response of Indian authorities on this matter, she had said.

Earlier, IHC had directed the government to recontact India for the appointment of legal representative for Jadhav. IHC CJ Minallah had asked the attorney general to brief the court about the history of the case.

“We want to make the Indian government and Jadhav part of the case, and hence, the federation assured to approach the neighbouring country through the foreign office for the hiring of a lawyer for the spy,” the IHC CJ had said.

Earlier on July 22, 2020, the government had moved the court stating that Jadhav, who was involved in several terrorist activities in Pakistan, had refused to file a plea against his sentence. The agent cannot appoint a lawyer in Pakistan without assistance from India, it had read.

On July 2, Pakistan had decided to grant third consular access to Jadhav following his refusal to file a review petition against his sentence.

On July 16, Indian charge d’affaires had reached the FO as New Delhi had accepted Pakistan’s offer to give second consular access to Jadhav. The place where the agent was kept had been declared as sub-jail.

Aisha said that on September 2, 2019, Pakistan had provided the first consular access to Jadhav under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963. She said that the mother and wife of Commander Jadhav were

also allowed to meet him on December 25, 2017.

She also said that Pakistan provided two consular officers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad unimpeded and uninterrupted consular access to Indian Commander Jadhav.

On July 17, 2019, ICJ had rejected remedies sought by India, including annulment of military court decision convicting Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India.

Announcing the verdict, Judge Abdulqavi Ahmed Yousaf had asked Pakistan to review the death sentence for an alleged Indian spy, saying Islamabad had violated his rights to consular visits.

The ICJ had found that Pakistan deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation, and thereby breached obligations incumbent upon it under Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

The tribunal in The Hague had ordered an “effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav.”

The judge had remarked that Pakistan and India are signatories of the Vienna Convention. “A continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav,” it had ruled.

While finding Jadhav guilty of committing terrorist activities inside Pakistan, the court had ordered that the Indian spy cannot be handed over to India. Jadhav will remain in Pakistan’s custody, it had ruled.

Pakistani team headed by the attorney general was present in the courtroom. The team also included then FO spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal. The government arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel in the province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The government had stated that he was a serving commander in the Indian Navy who was involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan and was arrested on March 3, 2016, during a counter-intelligence opera-

tion in Mashkel, Balochistan. The Indian government had recognised Jadhav as a former naval officer but denied any current links with him and maintained that he took premature retirement and was abducted from Iran.

On March 25, 2016, the InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) had released the confessional statement of Jadhav where he claimed to be a serving Indian Navy officer.

“By 2002, I commenced intelligence operations. In 2003, I established a small business in Chabahar in Iran,” he had admitted. “As I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004. Having done some basic assignments within India for RAW, I was picked up by RAW in 2013 end.”

He had said that his purpose was to meet Baloch insurgents and carry out “activities with their collaboration.” On April 8, 2017, ISPR had lodged a first information report (FIR) against him whereas on April 11, 2017, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed the death sentence of Jadhav who was tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under Pakistan Army Act (PAA). He was tried under section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 and Section III of the official Secret Act of 1923.

FGCM had found Jadhav guilty of all the charges. He had confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities aiming to destabilise and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.

On May 8, 2017, India had approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denying consular access to Jadhav.

On May 18, 2017, the ICJ had stayed the execution pending the final judgment on the case, and even on July 13, 2018, ICJ stayed Jadhav’s execution in Pakistan.

On June 22, 2017, Jadhav gave a second confessional statement where he confessed to carrying out subversive activities in Balochistan.

On Feb 22, 2019, ICJ had reserved its judgment in Jadhav case whereas they ruled the verdict on July 17, 2019.

PM vows all-out support to promote industry, businesses LAHORE TLTP

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the federal government will extend all-out cooperation to promote industrial and business sectors in the country. Talking to the members of National Assembly (MNAs) from Faisalabad on Friday, the prime minister said that the government will provide all possible facilities to industries and businesses. He said that incentives to the business and construction sectors will ensure development in the country. He also said the steps are being taken for welfare of small and medium enterprises. He added that Faisalabad has a vital importance in respect of industrial growth and production. The delegation praised the government strategy in the face of Covid-19 which resulted in significant decline in coronavirus infection.

They also thanked the premier for opening business activities across the country.

US donates 100 more ventilators to Pakistan ISLAMABAD TLTP

The United States government donated 100 more ventilators to support Pakistan in its fight against coronavirus on Friday. According to a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesperson, out of 100 donated ventilators, 27 were given to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 26 to Sindh, 23 to Punjab, 13 to Balochistan, six to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and five were given to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Earlier on July 3, the US donated a shipment of 100 “brand-new, state-of-the-art” ventilators to support Pakistan in its fight against the pandemic. US Ambassador to Pakistan Paul Jones handed over the US-made ventilators to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal in a ceremony held in Islamabad. Addressing the USAID ventilators handing over ceremony in Islamabad, the NDMA chairman said that the government was upgrading hospitals across the country to facilitate Covid-19 patients. He further said that additional ventilators and beds were installed in the hospitals across the country. US Ambassador to Pakistan Paul Jones said that the US stands with Pakistan in its fight against coronavirus. “These American-made ventilators will help Pakistani patients in the most acute need of medical care,” he said.

IHC adjourns NBP CEO appointment case till August 13 ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has adjourned the hearing of the case pertaining to the appointment of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arif Usmani till August 13.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani on Friday conducted the hearing on the application of former NBP assistant vice president Javed Iqbal against the incumbent NBP president’s appointment. The case was adjourned till

August 13 owing to absence of the petitioner’s lawyer.

The application filed by Javed Iqbal in the IHC alleged that the government has appointed the NBP CEO in violation of the codal formalities and the eligibility criteria mandatory for such appointments.

A vacancy announcement advertised for the position of NBP CEO/president published in 2018 stated a minimum education requirement of a bachelor's degree with preference for candidates with a masters degree in banking, finance, economics, business ad-

ministration or related fields from a local or foreign institution recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The advertisement further stated experience requirements of at least five years at a senior position in the financial sector.

Moreover, the minimum age requirement for applicants was also decreased from 50 to 40 years in the advertisement.

According to the applicant, as per a report published in Dawn, the cabinet approved the appointment of Arif Usmani as CEO of NBP on November 24, 2018 while

the notification of his appointment was issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on February 12, 2019. The applicant contended that the recruitment process was carried out by the MoF in clear violation of public sector companies (appointment of chief executive) guidelines 2015. The applicant further alleged that qualification requirement for the post was decreased without any lawful justification and that Arif Usmani does not have any relevant qualification pertaining to the banking profession.

Moreover, according to the applicant,

Arif Usmani was appointed as the NPB CEO in spite of the availability of highly qualified banking professionals.

The applicant further alleged that Arif Usmani deliberately concealed his dual nationality at the time of submission of application. Moreover, he said that the NBP president was asked to surrender his dual nationality due to which the notification of his appointment was delayed till February 2019.

Arif Usmani had surrendered his dual nationality in January 2019.

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

NEWS

CovID-19: govT EASES rESTrICTIoNS DESPITE SUrgE IN frESh CASES ISLAMABAD

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have been detected in Sindh, 94,040 in Punjab, 34,432 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 11,821 in Balochistan, 15,182 in Islamabad, 2,124 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and 2,287 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

Of the total coronavirus-related fatalities, 2,245 occurred in Sindh, 2,162 in Punjab, 1,215 in KP, 136 in Balochistan, 167 in Islamabad, 55 in GB, and 55 in AJK. On Thursday, addressing a press conference, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar had said that the coronavirus outbreak in the country has been brought under control because of the effective strategy of government institutions, the untiring efforts of doctors and paramedical staff, and the cooperation of the people of Pakistan.

Talking about the decisions taken during the National Coordination Committee (NCC), he

Bilawal slams govt for ignoring hrW on national issues KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday reprimanded the federal government and claimed that it “loves” quoting the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the Kashmir issue but not on the country’s internal human rights abuses. The PPP leader’s statement came in light of the recent report of the HRW on human rights abuses allegedly being carried out by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Human rights watch calls out NAB political victimisation of political parties & media. Mentions Saad Rafique, Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, myself & my father. We love to quote @hrw on Kashmir but ignore them on Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter. TLTP

Shehbaz denounces Qureshi's comments on oIC ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif has denounced the comments of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi over the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and called it “highly unfortunate and irresponsible”. In a tweet on Friday, the opposition leader lambasted the foreign minister’s statement, saying that it “flies in the face of history and Pakistan’s trusted relationship with the Kingdom.” “The cavalier attitude by this government is undermining Pakistan’s core relations with friendly countries,” the PML-N stalwart wrote on Twitter. Criticising the government for isolating Pakistan at the global stage due to its dismal stances on international issues, the PML-N president said that the government has already made similar blunders towards friendly countries in the past. “Apologise to Saudi Arabia and deal matters wisely and efficiently,” he said, reminding the government about the strategic and historic brotherly relations between the two countries and that Riyadh has always backed Islamabad in its time of need. TLTP

had said that educational institutions across the country would be allowed to reopen from September 15 after a final review by the Ministry of Education on September 7.

He had also said that cinema halls and the hospitality sector, including hotels and restaurants, would also be allowed to resume operations from August 10, while the tourism sector would start functioning from August 8. He had added that outdoor and indoor non-contact games would also be allowed from August 10.

The minister had said that marriage halls would be allowed to operate from September 15 while beauty parlors would be allowed to reopen from August 10.

He had further said that restrictions on trains and airlines which were already operational would be lifted in October. Similarly, the road transport would be allowed to operate from Au-

opening of tourism, business sectors positive move: faraz ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Friday said that opening of tourism and various business sectors was a positive move. In a tweet, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s strategy of taking health and economy along through smart lockdown during Covid-19 has proved successful. He said that the world has admired government’s steps in fight against the Covid-19. On Thursday, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had said that government had decided to reopen dine-in restaurants, cafes, cinemas and gyms from August 10 after a closure of nearly five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), Asad had said that all educational institutions across the country would reopen from September 15. “Covid-19 situation would be reviewed on September 7 before reopening of schools,” he had added.

STAFF REPORT

HE federal government is easing coronavirusrelated restrictions across Pakistan to facilitate the business and tourism sectors, with utter disregard to the fact that Covid-19 cases are once again surging in several parts of the country.

According to the data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), fresh coronavirus cases had been declining in the country since July 24, with the lowest number recorded on August 2. Ever since then, the cases have been on the rise.

Punjab witnessed a sudden increase in fresh cases soon after Eidul Azha, with fresh cases once again increasing to around 300 after staying below 100 for a week, raising alarms about the beginning of a second wave of the virus in the country.

On Friday, Pakistan reported a total of 782 new cases and 17 deaths over the last 24 hours. The active cases across the country stand at 18,494 while recoveries reached 258,099. So far, 2,079,333 tests have been conducted in the country.

Out of total cases across the country so far, 122,759 cases

03

gust 10 but passengers would not be allowed to travel by standing in metro buses, he had added.

SECOND WAVE? Dr Mujahid Gilani, a senior Covid-19 resident at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), said that the spike in cases was because of disregard for precautions during Eidul Azha and feared the impact would increase in the coming days or weeks.

“It is always a phenomenon that in contagious viral diseases, the second spike is always strong and may turn deadly. We have entered the second spike.

We are prepared to deal with it,” he said. He also said that the government was preparing for a spike during Eidul Azha and the month of Muharram.

Dr Gilani said that the number of fresh infections may increase to thousands on a daily basis, but added that the government was ready to deal with another spike in cases.

Pakistan Today made successive efforts to contact Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan but his comment could not be obtained by the time of filing of this report.

Agreement for Rashakai SEZ to be signed by August-end, says Asim Bajwa ISLAMABAD APP

CPEC Authority Chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa on Friday said that the agreement for the establishment of Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will be signed in the third week of August.

He said that the unprecedented socio-economic development in Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan has been initiated with the focus on ensuring participation of local people in all the development projects.

Asim Bajwa who is also the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, was chairing a special dialogue titled ‘Gwadar Port, free economic zone’s role in the prosperity of Balochistan; regional connectivity’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad.

While dispelling the impression that the Rashakai

SEZ project has slowed down, Bajwa said that the project is picking up momentum. He said that the Gwadar port and the Gwadar airport have become fully functional and Afghan Transit Trade is being diverted towards Gwadar.

He said that the National Development Council, during its recent meeting has decided to have a special focus on the development of Balochistan.

Asim Bajwa said that the Gwadar District Economic Zone and the Gwadar City is being developed. He added that vocational training is also being provided to enable the local population to participate and reap full benefits from the development projects.

Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing while sharing his views with the participants said that Gwadar has huge potential for regional development and connectivity. He said that the Government of Pakistan and all concerned authorities including CPEC Authority have played a vital role in moving the project forward.

govt approves resumption of int’l flight operations NEWS DESK The government on Friday allowed international flight operations in Pakistan to fully resume at all airports, a day after it announced the lifting of several coronavirus restrictions in light of reducing cases and deaths. A NOTAM (notice to airmen) issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that operations will resume from August 9 midnight. "The government of Pakistan is pleased to allow all international passenger operations to/from all airports as available preCovid-19. "International scheduled flight operations to/from Pakistan will revert to authorisations as per summer-20 scheduling season. However, international flight operations shall be conducted in accordance with established guidelines and applicable standard operating procedures (SOPs),” it read "International cargo and special flight operations may also be conducted to/from Pakistan as per applicable SOPs," it added. In another NOTAM, the CAA said that all types of domestic passenger operations would be allowed to and from all airports. A day earlier, the Aviation Division had announced that domestic flight operations would be restored from all airports in the country from August 6 midnight. Aviation Division’s senior joint secretary, Abdul Sattar Khokhar, said that all operators would be required to implement the established guidelines, SOPs, and that they would seek prior schedule approval from the competent authority. Cargo, special flights and private aircraft operations would also be available for all airports subject to compliance with relevant SOPs, he had said. Pakistan had suspended all international flights on March 21 and domestic flight operations on March 26 due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Pakistan donates food, medical supplies to lebanon ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Tourism activities to resume on August 10 in Punjab LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

The Punjab government has announced to open tourist spots from August 10, but the concerned departments have not yet received any notification in this regard, Pakistan Today learnt on Friday.

Tourist sites across the country have been closed for the last five months but after the end of the lockdown by the federal government, the provincial government has also decided to reopen recreational and tourist spots.

It has been decided to open tourist sites in the provincial capital, including the Lahore Fort, Jahangir Tomb, Dai Angah Tomb, and Noor Jahan Tomb.

Similarly, the double-decker bus for tourists run

by Tourism Development Corporation Punjab (TDCP) in Lahore will also back on road for tourists from August 10.

Sources believe that the Punjab Archaeology Depart-

ment lost Rs4 million while the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) lost Rs20 million due to the closure of tourist sites due to a government order.

Similarly, due to the closure of tourist destinations, TDCP also suffered a loss of more than Rs30 million because of the closure of resorts and the tour buses. In the days of lockdown, the company’s employees were also deprived of their salaries.

Malik Maqsood Ahmed, an official of the Punjab Archeology Department, said that the government had announced the opening of tourist sites but they had not received any notification in this regard.

“The highest revenue earning site for our department is the Shalimar Garden, which was completely closed to tourists during the lockdown. Now that the government has announced the opening of recreational and tourist destinations, all the SOPs [standard operating procedures] that will come up by the government will be fully implemented.”, said Maqsood Ahmed.

Pakistan on Friday donated eight tonnes of relief assistance comprising medicines and food to Lebanon as a token of solidarity for the victims of blasts that took place in Beirut on August 4. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a telephonic conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Charbel Wehbe, conveyed deep sorrow and grief of the government and people of Pakistan over the loss of precious lives, injuries to thousands, and extensive material damage, caused by the explosions, a Foreign Office (FO) press release said. He told the Lebanese foreign minister that the relief assistance would be delivered by Friday evening sent by government of Pakistan as a token of solidarity.

The foreign minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi had already conveyed profound sympathies and condolences to the Lebanese leadership over the tragedy. He underscored that, at that difficult time, the Pakistani nation stood in strong support and solidarity with the brotherly Lebanese people. Appreciating the Lebanese people’s resilience, the foreign minister expressed full confidence that they would grapple with the challenging situation with their characteristic strength.

04

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

NEWS

threat Of lOcuSt attacK frOM indian Side perSiStS: faKhar iMaM SAYS LOCUSTS STILL PRESENT IN THARPARKAR DISTRICT ISLAMABAD

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TLTP

EDERAL Minister for National Food Security Fakhar Imam has said the threat of locust swarms to Pakistan from the horn of Africa, Yemen, Oman and Iran has reduced, however, the country at present is facing locust attack from India.

In his media briefing on Friday, the minister said the threat of crop munching pests from India still persists and coordi-

nated efforts are being made at the provincial and district level to cope with any challenge.

He said that the government has made full preparations to contain and eliminate the locusts in their breeding areas of Tharparkar and Cholistan.

Earlier he chaired a meeting at National Locust Control Centre (NLCC), which was also co-chaired by NLCC Coordinator Lieutenant General Moazzam Ejaz. The meeting was told that till now 4,815,400 hectares (HA) have been sur-

authority to issue alcohol licence lies with excise dg, not cM: chohan LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan Friday said that ‘looters’ association’ created ruckus over Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s summoning by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The provincial minister said in his statement that the authority to issue alcohol permit lies with Excise DG - who issued the licence – and not with the chief minister. “Excise DG sent the file to the CM secretariat which returned it. The licence which was issued by Excise DG has been cancelled,” he said.

“The allegation levelled against Usman Buzdar of corruption and misuse of power is beyond understanding. The CM will respectfully appear before the anticorruption watchdog and answer all questions,” he added. It is pertinent here to mention that the antigraft body had on Thursday directed CM Buzdar to appear before the bureau on August 12 for issuing illegal alcohol licence. INP

increase in population may lead to water scarcity, warns Yasmin LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Friday cautioned that increase in population may lead into scarcity of water. This she stated while her visit to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) head office in Lahore. She was briefed about situation of water in the city. Referring to population increase, the minister urged people of Punjab to avoid wasting water, as they may face shortage of it. Yasmin lauded the authorities of WASA for developing underground rainwater storage projects. It may be noted that the Punjab government had decided to expand its underground rainwater storage project to other cities of the province after Lahore. The approval was given by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in a high-level meeting chaired by his in the provincial capital. CM Buzdar had said that rainwater storage projects would be started in big cities of Punjab and the reserves would be used in horticulture. INP

veyed and 1,093,400 HA have been treated. Right now, locusts are present in only one district i.e. Tharparkar.

The FAO shared its locust forecast. As per the forecast, in Southwest Asia, the situation has improved in Iran where few, if any, locust infestations remain. However, the current situation remains serious along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where monsoon breeding is underway by spring-bred swarms, including those returning from northern India, and substantial hatching and band formation are expected in August.

A second generation of summer breeding will start in September. Extensive control operations are in progress in

both countries. The Pakistan Meteorological Department mentioned that rain/wind-thundershowers are expected in Sindh, south Punjab and Balochistan.

Rain-thundershowers are also likely to occur in upper Punjab, Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir. Heavy fall in Kalat, Khuzdar, Lasbella, Awaran, Panjgur, Kech and Gawadar.

It was mentioned that Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission of Pakistan (SUPARCO), is using space-based information to analyze areas with regards to their suitability as desert locust habitats based on vegetation, soil type and other factors. The results support surveillance and control operations by helping demarcate locust-prone areas.

National Information Technology Board (NITB) also briefed about NLCC website. Punjab mentioned that 14,583,148 HA have been surveyed and 458,960 HA have been treated. Recent operation is being carried out in Cholistan.

FWO clears three sewerage drains in Karachi by 95pc KARACHI TLTP

The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has completed 95 per cent cleaning work of three main sewerage drains of Karachi on the fourth day of its clearance operation on Friday.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was tasked to clean the sewerage drains in Karachi by Prime Minister Imran Khan, last week. The FWO continues to clean sewerage drains in the port city.

According to NDMA spokesperson, FWO has completed 95 percent clearance work at three biggest sewerage drains of Karachi, Gujjar Nul-

lah, Korangi and Muwachh Goth Nullahs. “The cleaning work of these sewerage drains will be completed by this evening,” the spokesperson said.

“The FWO has cleared Gujjar Nullah, 95 per cent, Korangi nullah, 100 percent and 90 percent of Muwachh Goth till now,” according to the spokesperson.

Till now 40 chocked points out of total 42 at three sewerage drains have been cleared.

A day earlier, around 8,500 tonnes of garbage removed from the three major sewerage drains of the port city, as total 30,000 tonnes lifted from the three drains so far.

The NDMA chairman has been in

regular contact with the FWO and other concerned departments with regard to the clearance work, the spokesperson said. Prime Minister Imran Khan is being briefed about daily progress of the cleaning drive in Karachi, he added.

Meanwhile, a sewerage drain in Nusrat Bhutto Shadman Town overtopped due to continued rain in the area on Friday.

As per details, the streets and several roads were flooded with rain water. The road heading towards graveyard from Qalandaria Chowk has been closed due to over topping of water. It was learnt that the drain was not cleaned even after third spell of monsoon in Karachi.

GCU’s Academic Council approves new admission policy LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Academic Council of Government College University (GCU), Lahore, in its 24th meeting approved the university’s new policy for admissions to the undergraduate programmes.

According the new policy, the chairperson concerned would overview the admission process and take the full responsibility of upholding the merit system.

The Academic Council has also decided that this year on-campus tests would not be conducted for admissions to the various degree programmes, including BSc (Hons) Computer Science and BA (Hons) English

Literature and Political Science, due to the risk of spread of Covid-19.

Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Asghar Zaidi chaired the Academic Council’s meeting which was also attended by Professor Emeritus Dr Khalid Hamid Sheikh, Distinguished Professor Dr Zaheerud Din Khan, Professor Dr Rafi M Chaudhry, Chair in CASP Dr Muhammad Zakaullah, faculty deans and other members of the council.

Briefing media about the decisions of the council, the VC said that considering the nature of disciplines, the departments of fine arts and physical education were permitted to conduct on-campus entry tests/trials while strictly observing the standard operating procedures

PL&DD boosts beef production successfully LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development (PL&DD) Department has met the targets for registration of farmers and buffalo calves to increase beef production, Pakistan Today has learnt.

An official of the department told this scribe that the PL&DD had initiated a project ‘Enhancing Beef Production through Save the Buffalo Calves and Feedlot Fattening’ in November 2019.

The main objectives of the project were saving infant calves to enhance beef production in Punjab and to motivate the livestock farmers for feedlot fattening. The project also plans to improve the capacity of technical staff and farmers regarding the management of beef farming systems. The official informed that under the said project, the target of the year 2019-20 was to register 40,000 buffalo calves for saving and 30,000 calves for feedlot fattening. The actual results entail that 31,328 farmers registered 40,136 calves for saving, and 9,086 farmers registered 30,401 calves for feedlot fattening.

“In Pakistan, meat is usually obtained from dairy animals or animals used in agriculture. When these animals reach their natural age, they are slaughtered, while the other source of meat is buffalo calves. They [Buffalo Calves] are usually emaciated due to a lack of proper nutrition and care. In Pakistan, millions of calves die or are sold before the age of one year every year because farmers avoid feeding buffaloes to these calves. If these calves are fed and cared for by the buffalo milk for the first three months, not only can they be saved, but the

shortage of meat in the country can also be met by making them fat,” he said. He further said that under the saves the buffalo calves programme, animals of one to 30 days are registered for 120 days and weighed every fortnight. “The animal must gain 300 grams of weight daily. Under this programme, farmers are also given Rs 6,500 per animal as food,” he added.

“Similarly, under the feedlot fattening programme, calves of one to one and a half years of age are registered for 90 days. The weight of each animal is checked after 15 days, while under this program, the animal must gain at least 700 grams of weight daily. Under this program, farmers are given RS 4,000 per animal as food,” the official said.

However, sources in PL&DD said that the cheques from district account offices to the relevant divisional directors of PL&DD are under the process of clearance after they were received. Soon, the amounts to the farmers and PL&DD employees would be disbursed, sources confirmed. PL&DD Director of Public Relations Dr Asif Rafiq told Pakistan Today that they had done a lot of advertisements for the said project, and the results were great. “In view of the growing population of the country, the maximum increase in milk, egg, and meat production is inevitable. Under this programme, we have entered into agreements with the farmers and issued all the instructions to the farmers regarding proper care of animal feed. Buffalo meat is 32 per cent lower in cholesterol and 55 per cent lower in calories than cow meat, and higher in protein, minerals, and vitamins. Due to these characteristics, the demand for buffalo meat is high in our country,” he said.

One dead, anOther injured in Karachi pOlice firing KARACHI: One person was dead and other sustained injuries when the Karachi police personnel opened fire at them at I I Chundrigar Road on Friday. As per details, the victims had raised their hands after seeing the cops, but the policemen still shot them. The victims were traveling on a bike when the police stopped them. The police said that the men were robbers, however, eyewitnesses claimed otherwise.

The police left the scene soon after the incident.

The deceased was identified as Aslam and the injured person was identified as Waqar. The body of the deceased and the injured person were rushed to hospital. Taking notice of the matter, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) South Javed Akbar Riaz sought the detailed report of the incident. Three cops involved in shoot out were taken into custody.

Further investigation into the matter was underway, he added. Last year, a Karachi police cop kept filming a suspect, who writhed about in pain after being shot and injured in a “shootout” with police personnel in Qasba Colony, in lieu of shifting him to hospital. INP

Kp assembly passes 'Kp public Service commission amendment Bill 2020' PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Friday unanimously passed 'Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission Amendment Bill 2020'. Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani chaired the session during which KP Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan introduced the bill. The provincial government has taken a strong stand for getting its share in oil and gas royalty in the meeting of the Common Council of Interests (CCI), Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told the House. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to pay the windfall levy share to the province. INP

(SoPs), however, the departments of Computer Science and English would follow the open merit policy.

Professor Zaidi said that the history, political science and psychology departments were permitted to conduct candidates’ online interviews to test their aptitude for the subjects, and these interviews would have a weightage of 30 per cent. “However, it would be necessary for candidates to qualify the interviews for admissions,” he added.

He also said that all universities had increased 15 to 40 per cent fee this year but GCU did not want to burden its students to this extent. “So, we have revived the seats for admission on the basis of self-finance in each class,” he said.

The fund generated will be used to initiate scholarships for MPhil and PhD students The university’s Academic Council also approved policy for granting admissions to the international students. Professor Zaidi revealed that the admission to the undergraduate programmes would start next week after the final approval of policy from the Syndicate.

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

NEWS 05 Govt unveIls new shIPPInG PolIcy Private company under NAB radar wIth An AIM to AttrAct InvestMent allowed to invest SAR22.5 million abroad ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

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ITH an aim to uplift the local shipping industry, which is lagging behind its regional competitors, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs have announced the country's new shipping policy.

Addressing a media conference alongside Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi highlighted the importance of the shipping industry and ports for any country with a vast coastline.

Zaidi lauded the commerce ministry's role in the formulation of the policy, saying that the new shipping policy has been finalised jointly with the shipping businesses that were directly related to the commerce ministry.

"Under the impact of the new shipping policy, we will soon see registration of 3-4 local shipping companies, which will also ensure job security for our seafarers," Zaidi said.

He informed at the time of independence, there was not a single seafaring ship in Pakistan and Quaid-e-Azam called the father of

Ardeshir Cowasjee to request for help in this regard.

"Ships were not registered in Karachi at the time as and used to be registered in Bombay and Calcutta; the first ship registered in Pakistan was named 'Fatima' by Mr Cowasjee," the minister informed.

He said although a strong shipping industry was eventually developed in Pakistan, it went to near collapse after the nationalisation policy of 1972, with only the public sector – Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) -- remaining in business.

"While the private sector regained its position in other areas of businesses, the shipping side remained neglected by the private investors," he said. "Even now, those Pakistanis who own ships do not get them registered in the country."

The minister stated that Pakistan currently spends around $5 billion annually in terms of freight charges for all foreign trade, of which the share of PNSC is mere five per cent, adding that the national company remained mostly focused on the import of petroleum products.

He said the government aims to invite the private sector in the shipping business, assuring complete facilitation in this regard.

Any officer found involved in corruption will be sacked: PM Imran contInueD on pAge 01 CM Buzdar said that setting up a lake will also help to improve the ecosystem. He maintained that green zones would be established for dealing with hydro and environmental pollution according to the vision of PM Imran. He said that 6 million plants would be planted. He also said that 1.8 million residential units in Ravi River Front Urban Development Project will provide modern residential facilities to the people.

He also said that Ravi River Front Urban Development Project Authority’s Act has been passed. The chairman of authority has been appointed and the board of the authority has been completed. He further said that it is the mega project in the history of Pakistan. This project is a challenge which has been accepted by the PTI government under the leadership of PM Imran, he added. CM Buzdar said that no former governments have dared accept this challenge. No one will be allowed to create hurdles in this project, as this project is accelerating the economic activities, besides creating new job opportunities and promoting local industry, he concluded.

"By the year 2030, customs' duty will be abolished for all ships to be registered in the country so that they become national flag carriers," he said. "The other incentives in the policy include exemptions of sales tax and income tax on all income of the ship."

He said the most important incentive for the Pakistani flag carriers would be the first berthing right. It was an international practice and it saves a lot of money for the ships if unloading is not delayed, he added.

"Another relief for all the private sector is the reduction in the Gross Tonnage Tax (GRT), given that shipping companies agree to accept freight charges in Pak Rupees and not in the greenback. This incentive has been approved in the finance bill of 2020-21."

Under the new marine policy, the state bank has allowed the Long Term Finance Facility (LTFF) for the ships and vessels, which was earlier available to exporters.

"This will help investors buy all floating vessels including tug boats, dredgers, cargo vessels and even the fishing boats to obtain the long term borrowing at three per cent from the banks," the minister said. "This will also help us upgrade our fishing sector to a deepsea fishing industry."

Customs unearths Rs330m under-invoicing scam ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

Pakistan Customs has unearthed a Rs330 million scam wherein importers had imported Tang (brand) drinking powder at an exorbitantly low value of $0.4 per kg, as against the actual amount of $2.39 per kg.

According to officials, this mega case of under-invoicing was revealed under the leadership of FBR Chairman Javed Ghani.

While the import of Tang was reported at $0.4 per kg, customs obtained the actual export documents of such consignments from UAE Customs which reflected the actual value at $2.39 per kg, officials said, adding that evaded amounts of duty and taxes equated to Rs330 million. During preliminary investigations, it was found that certain importers established shell corporations in Dubai which were used for the transfer of capital for the underinvoiced goods while the remaining amounts were transferred through Hawala/Hundi.

CMYK

ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The government has granted approval to a private company for Saudi Arabian Riyal (SAR) 22.5 million equity investments abroad and in this regard has enhanced the authorization power of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to facilitate local companies invest abroad.

According to sources, the federal government has allowed a private company to transfer SAR22.5 million to Saudi Arabia in the name of investment, despite knowing the fact that an inquiry was underway against the said private company with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Sources said that this private company would invest and obtain partnership in a running business in Saudi Arabia. The government has not only made this approval but also enhanced the authorization power of the SBP to allow investment up to $10 million by resident Pakistani companies, they added.

As per details, the federal cabinet's Economic Coordination Com-

mittee (ECC), in its meeting held on 11th March 2020, had given in-principle approval to the Finance Division for SAR 22.5 million equity investment abroad by a private company, directing the division to seek a report from NAB regarding the proceedings against the private company so as to determine whether these proceedings constituted prohibition for the company’s plan to invest abroad.

Subsequently, NAB responded that although an inquiry was underway against the director/owner of this company, it does not constitute any prohibition in terms of investment abroad by the said private company.

Sources said that this matter was also brought to the information of ECC for further directions. During the ensuing discussion, Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar observed that at present, SBP was authorized to accord approval to make equity-based investment abroad by the private company up to $5 million. Beyond this limit, the cases for investment would be

brought before the ECC for consideration and approval.

He said that in order to facilitate businesses, there was a dire need to revise the authorization power of SBP; investment limit in foreign countries should be allowed up to $10 million with a review after every five years.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms & Austerity Dr Ishrat Husaain supported the planning minister, saying that the ECC, on his recommendations long ago, had authorized SBP to allow investment abroad by the said private company up to $5 million, adding that the limit should be revised.

"The ECC considered and approved the summary on 6th July regarding the approval for SAR22.5 million equity investment abroad by Eastern Products (Pvt) Limited Pakistan and also enhanced the authorization power of SBP to accord approval for making equity-based investment abroad by resident Pakistan companies to $10 million," read an official document, a copy of which is available with this scribe.

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

06 COMMENT

Is Indian media reporting of Ram Temple pushing muslim bloodbath?

Lifting curbs on industry Brave, though a bit of a crapshoot

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He government has taken a brave step by lifting the curbs on tourism and hospitality industry. The decision was taken in view of a significant reduction in infections and deaths after the third week of June. There are however fears of a second surge while the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) thinks that the step should have been taken after the end of Ashura.

Besides causing more than 282,000 confirmed cases and over 6,000 deaths, the coronavirus has also badly hit Pakistan’s business and industry. To put life in manufacturing, the government had announced considerable concessions for the construction sector as it is supposed to revive in turn several other industries.

However, one has yet to witness significant activity in the industrial sector. The decision to encourage tourism is welcome as its revival can activate several other sectors that have remained dormant over the last five months. The hospitality sector which employs tens of thousands directly or through ancillaries is one. except for a handful of high-end hotels which are functioning with a limited capacity, thousands of hotels in urban centres and tourist resorts have remained closed. except for takeaways, the restaurants too have remained shut.

The decision to lift restrictions on railways, airlines and metro buses will help the return to normalcy. So will the opening up of parks, gyms and cinemas. There is a need now for a strict mechanism of oversight and punishment for those violating the SOPs. The plan to open the educational institutions needs government attention now. The five-month-long closure of schools, colleges and universities has caused a lot of harm to the students. The attempt to remedy the losses through online learning has exposed the social and regional fault lines in the country. The children from lower-middle-class families who do not possess laptops were outright deprived of distance learning. In a number of tribal districts of KP internet facility is not available to the civilian population. In several districts of Balochistan the signals are too weak to be of any use. Unless the deficiencies are removed, the system as it exists would widen the gulf between sections of population and between the provinces.

Rewriting history in blood irfan raja

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edNeSdAY, 5 August 2020 will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of India. The grand celebrations of placing a foundation stone for a ram Temple in Aydohya will be marked as a burial day of justice and a secular state.

The liberal press in Britain and America branded Indian Supreme Court verdict of “ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid” as a “victory for Modi” and a secular state becoming a Hindu nationalist country.

In other words, the press warned ethnic minorities of the tougher times ahead. ever since the Hindu nationalists succeeded in their plans to destroy the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and replace it with a ram Temple, the Indian Muslims are living in hell, facing lynching, public beating, arrest without charge, and even threats to be expelled. That’s the face of a New India. No place for Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and dalits.

Since then, the BJP has introduced the Citizen Amendment Act and scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. despite public pressure there are no signs of any attempt to rethink.

How many more mosques will be demolished?

Long before the unlawful destruction of the Babri Masjid, a book Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them (1990) claimed, “There are 2,000 mosques that stand on top of demolished temples”. Meenakshi Jain’s recent book Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episode from Indian History (2019) tells the same story.

But, Jaya Menon and Supriya Varma, archaeologists and co-authors. have found “No evidence of Temple under Babri Masjid”. in fact, evidence shows that the demolition of Babri Masjid was a well-planned game. Asaduddin Owaisi identified it “History will remember what happened in december 1949, when the idols were placed surreptitiously in the Masjid and the events that led to the demolition in 1992.”

Obviously, the hostility towards Muslims and mosques did not develop overnight but took years of systematic campaigns to portray Muslims as “bad guys”, “criminals” and the “enemy within”. rama Lakshmi wrote, “Many Hindus, over generations, had been taught to view the mosque as a site of historical humiliation”. Moreover, Lakshmi found BJP leader L.K. Advani “introduced the new language of Hindutva pride” in the early 1990s and used the “historical Hindu wound and made Babri Masjid a

More FATF requirements met Citizens’ rights have to be protected

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He joint sitting of Parliament on Thursday night passed the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matters) Bill 2020 only after two days of consultations between government and opposition. With this, the third of the eight acts the Financial Action Task Force wants Pakistan to pass, if it is to comply with the FATF Action Plan, has become a law and the laws are finally beginning to cut close to the bone, as the new statute provides for Pakistan to provide mutual assistance to other countries for criminals, including handing them over, even if there is no mutual extradition agreement.

One of the concerns of the opposition, which insisted on having over two dozen amendments it proposed being included, was that the Act should not be misused, either by foreign powers, or the home governments, to obtain the handover of Pakistani citizens without reason. religious parties were also against the bill, because those religious leaders who accepted donations from abroad could well fall within the mischief of the bill.

A salutary reminder was given to the House by PPP co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, who said that the goal was to get Pakistan moved off the grey list onto the white list, and apart from passing legislation, having Prime Minister Imran Khan call Al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden a martyr was no help, as was not also the escape from custody of Tehrik Taliban Pakistan spokesman ehsanullah ehsan. He might not have mentioned it, but past precedent does indicate that both are developments which alone would cause the FATF to become uneasy about Pakistan’s bona fides, let alone their coming together.

Pakistan’s government is apparently not taking the FATF issue seriously enough. The goal of getting onto the white list is being downgraded to staying on the grey list.

However, it should not be forgotten that archrival India will do its best to make sure that even this greylisting has consequences on the international financial markets, access to which are the reason why blacklisting is supposed to be such a great fear. Pakistan must act carefully, and decide how far its interests involve its being whitelisted. It must not forget that FATF will not be fobbed off with half-measures, nor will it show any regard for hidden corners.

Hafiz MuHaMMad azeeM

M

r Justice A. K. Sikri of the Indian Supreme Court observed that the law of a society is a living organism. It is based on a given factual and social reality that is constantly changing. Sometimes a change in law precedes societal change and is even intended to stimulate it. In most cases, however, a change in the law is the result of a change in social reality. Indeed, when social reality changes, the law must change too. Just as a change in social reality is the law of life, responsiveness to change in social reality is the life of the law. It can be said that the history of law is the history of adapting the law to society’s changing needs.

One of the chief purposes of a law is to suppress the mischief of the people and to bring ease in their lives. It is designed to bring justice, and not to add chaos in an already tattered and ragged society. And there are always gaps that are required to be fulfilled.

There are always loopholes that lids are required to be placed upon. Therefore, courts are also obliged while interpreting and implementing the law to interpret and implement it, if not completely, at least, close to the hopes of people, because it is their hopes through which one can gauge the goodness or badness of a law.

Are family laws up to the hopes of people? Have they suppressed the mischief they are intended to do so? Let us dissect it through practical realities.

Let us start with Khula. Theoretically Khula is the right of women, subject to certain limitations. But practically the process of Khula is being misused and abused by parties to the suit. By ‘the process of law’ means the procedure provided by the statutes to deliver justice, that is, remedies. And it is not hidden to anyone that in our administration of justice, it is the process or the procedure of the law that with sheer impunity is abused and misused. What is being happened in process of Khula, the women-party pay nominal bribe to the process server including the

Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Irfan Raja is an academic, analyst and activist based in the UK, and a PhD holder at the University of Huddersfield

sufficient, despite the fact that in each case it is forged, fabricated, and concocted.

Then the maintenance part. Yes, in the Sharia, in the Constitution, and in the ethics, it is the husband or the father that is required to provide maintenance to his children and better-half. But the question is newspaper advertisement company to not serve the about the procedure. The ‘presumption of truth’ has summons to the proper address. Women while living again here been given to the assertions of the women. with the same husband, let not come into his knowl- They are not required to prove as per assertions what edge about the plot that is being manoeuvred behind the male is earning. The burden to prove is on the his back. Within a short span of time, with a simple male to assert and then to prove what he is earning.

Otherwise, courts will decide the case in accordance disposition of women, she gets divorced.

All of the remaining allegations, although they with the available women-party’s assertions.

Be that as it may, the universal principle of law left a scar on the face of the man, like he has illegitiis that he who asserts must prove. Here the exception mate relationships with is created to this grundother women, he malnorm in the administratreats her, beats her, he tion of justice, that is drinks, and often does being frequently vionot provide food to live People are losing faith in the lated. Thus, if not at all, to her, are not required to yet one of the reasons to be proved. Moreover, the family laws. These are becoming have seen the enormous man has no right to seek one of the reasons for segregation increase in the ratio of didefamation charges bevorce is these family cause the law considers between husband and wife, and laws. Whenever in adthe allegations as imministering justice, one mune to defamation. The sometimes a reason to ignite party is provided exempamazing part lies in the endless litigation. Thus, it is high tions to prove and disfact that most of these prove, there are hundred cases are trialed ex-parte. time to review the procedure of percent chances of its Next comes the dowry part. The dowry family laws and to amend it while being abused and misused. Thus, the law articles have been given a keeping in due regard to the should not be silent and it ‘presumption of truth’ must not be a cul-de-sac. status. In a plethora of factual and ground realities It must always be dejudgments, the courts signed to bring equilibhave declared that in our rium, harmony, easiness, society every parent gave and justice as per the to their daughter the dowry articles. So, the delivery is unquestionable. And hopes of people. And practically speaking, people are when this fact comes into the knowledge of parties in losing faith in the family laws. These are becoming courts, with the advice of loyal lawyers— who want one of the reasons for segregation between husband legal ethics— they tripled the figures of articles given and wife, and sometimes a reason to ignite endless by them in dowry with a hope that the court will come litigation. Thus, it is high time to review the procedown to the double-figure in judgment. Normally, dure of family laws and to amend it while keeping in each financial document is required to be proved by due regard to the factual and ground realities. two-attesting witnesses, yet here only the assertions Hafiz Muhammad Azeem is an advocate of the are sufficient. Normally, a receipt is also taken as a financial document that is required to be duly proved. high court and teaches law. He can be reached at Here in family cases, only the production of receipt is Khokhar.azeem@yahoo.com.

Unproven assertions are proving a bane

Arif Nizami

Joint Editor

The Indian media is constructing the narrative that shows how Indian Muslims are enthusiastic in supporting their Hindu brothers building a ram Temple in place of the Babri Masjid.

Through a series of columns, opinion pieces, editorials and feature reports a smartly designed and organised chronicle of the Hindu population’s suffering at the hands of various Indian Muslim rulers like Tipu Sultan and Aurangzeb is fabricated to present Hindus as oppressed and victimised.

Moreover, extracts of newspaper texts demonstrate that it is the Hindus’ right to reverse history that was anti-Hindu for centuries, and hence rSS and other Hindu groups are not attacking Muslims, just rewriting and correcting history.

In a systematic push, sections of the Indian media are trying to convince the world that Muslims have no problem if the ram temple is built on the site of the mosque and that ram was their ancestor and they just converted to Islam.

In brief, a double edged storyline reflects two important points: the vast majority of the Indian Muslims are “enemy-within” and Hindus groups involved in building ram Temple are correcting the unforgivable mistakes of the Muslim rulers. ratan Sharda, author of the book Secrets of the RSS proclaimed that “August 5 is a significant date for Independent India” meaning that “Bharat will no more be apologetic about its past, nor about the path it chooses to regain its glory”.

Sharda openly praised the extremist rSS organisation thus: “Thankfully, there were organisations like rSS, great indigenous, rooted leaders like Madan Mohan Malavya, dr. Ambedkar, KM Munshi, rajagopalachari and many others who kept the flame glowing for the right moment”.

If such hateful and horrific literature is endorsed in the mainstream press then anyone can imagine what Modi is planning for the Indian Muslims. So, what will be the price of such reporting? Another Muslim bloodbath?

Today, the Modi government is erasing Muslim history and replacing it with lies, deceptions and selfdeclared heroes of its own creation. But, when the next generations will know the truth behind the building of ram Temple what would they feel about their ancestors India?

The best option is for all those decent and peaceloving Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims join hands to reject Modi’s version of present history and rather start rewriting their own history that allows everyone to live peacefully side by side.

Dissecting procedure of family laws

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

buzzword for hate”.

Today, anti-Muslim rhetoric is a common feature of BJP’s leaders’ political language. Unfortunately, there are no signs of ending. Vinay Katiyar recently vowed that “One job has been accomplished in Ayodhya and two are yet to be done like Ayodhya, temples have to be built at Kashi and Mathura, too”.

Now, some sections of the Indian media and politicians are strengthening a brand new narrative: those Muslims supporting the ram Temple and donating to it are “good guys” and are accepted, but those protesting against it are “bad guys”, “the enemy-within” and should be expelled. ‘Go to Pakistan or Qabaristan (graveyard).’

BJP leaders like Kamal Nath are insisting that “ram Temple in Ayodhya is being built with the consent of every Indian”. The reality is completely opposite on social media sites and in the liberal press.

The Wire report reveals Ayodhya district administration placed restrictions for the media covering the event, for example, “Make no comments on any religion, community, sect, or any specific individual”.

Not because the Modi government is afraid of rioting against Muslims but it is trying to fix an image of rSS that butchered Muslims in the recent riots.

Caravan Magazine reported “A Hindu rioter speaks: delhi violence was “revenge” against Muslims, police gave free rein”. Perhaps, that is why Shahid Masood branded the ram Temple construction event as opening of a Muslim “bloodbath Game”.

So why the media crackdown? Perhaps, to camouflage a year-long lockdown in Kashmir or to coverup the conquest of Babri Masjid by rSS extremists.

This was examined by the Pamela Philipose article: “Backstory: ram Mandir and Kashmir-A Tale of Two Forms of Media Control” Zainab Sikander wrote, “The one thing Indian media is not doing is journalism. In fact, very few people are doing journalism today. Channels from Zee News, Aaj Tak to Network18 likes to add the word ‘jihad’ to everything. Corona jihad or zameen jihad, love jihad, arthik jihad, and whatnot. But if anyone is “Waging” a holy war today, it is Indian media’s jihad against Indian Muslims and Islam”.

Sikander lists events and conspiracies that were associated with the Indian Muslim in recent months. These include, “Tablighi Jamaat conspiracy theories (from spitting to shitting), a dash of anti-nationalism reserved for Muslims who are called more Pakistani than Indian, a huge dollop of ISIS connection (especially in the land of Malayalis), and a generous serving of demonisation through constant use of rhetorics like jihad, halala, triple talaq, beef eaters, and anything that a devious mind can conjure (‘Muslims in India are deliberately spreading the coronavirus’)”.

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Saturday, 8 August, 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

Rain washes away government claims in Karachi FOr the fourth time in around a month, Karachi lay in chaos in the aftermath of another spell of monsoon rains on Thursday. Flooded roads, power breakdowns, toppled trees, roads choked with traffic, damaged structures and authorities’ negligence and hollow promises – nothing was out of the ordinary for the city’s residents as heavy downpours lashed the metropolis.

For the earlier part of the day, the city sizzled as temperature soared past 39 degrees celsius and sea breezes remained suspended. With humidity levels rising from 79 per cent to 89 per cent later in the day, the port city’s residents languished, anticipating that the predicted rainfall would add to their misery. Multiple roads, including Sharae Faisal - the city’s main artery - were soon flooded by rainwater, which disrupted traffic on thoroughfares in the apparent absence of pre-emptive measures.

Besides Sharae Faisal and areas in its vicinity, other localities worst affected on Thursday included Nursery, Soldier Bazaar, Garden, Saddar, Burnes road, North Karachi, New Karachi, Mehmoodabad, Gulshan-eIqbal and others.

Shafiq Ur rEhman Karachi

Karachi’s sewage

Relation between Covid-19 and the great recession The governments could stand the crashes no longer dr rajkuMar SingH

S

INCe the eruption of covid-19, the movement of the global economy slowed down quickly with its features being visible for all to see and believe.

After decades, or almost a century, this happened in world which proved very harmful for human life as casualties crossed over 700,000 with the number increasing with every passing moment It has shattered the whole of our daily routine, no one has ever seen anything like it in their lives In the circumstances, we live with utmost fear and uncertainty about the outcome of the current pandemic. It knows no boundary, recognizes no nation– big and small or rich and poor. In another words, it’s a litmus test of our systems body’s immunity, soundness of economy as well as perfection of the global health system. Its stiffness and rigorous of testing made both human life and economy bound to fail on all fronts. At this time, not to talk of poor and developing countries, the economy of G-7and G-20, the nations who guide and control the movement of entire world economy, is shaken.

This situation has been termed as the coronavirus recession, the great shutdown, the great lockdown or the covid-19 recession. Although, its first sign appeared on February 20 with the crash of the stock market, the International Monetary Fund also warned the nations on 14 April to be prepared for the most severe global economic recession followed by extensive lockdowns in coming days. In practice, the pandemic has put more than one-third of the global population under a house-arrest situation or complete lockdown with nominal freedom for purchasing essential goods of daily consumption. As a result of mass halting of people and their economic activities the world data of unemployment increased abruptly and several state-funded unemployment insurance companies are getting unable to keep the proper processes in order. All developed countries registered a growth of about one percent while developing nations’ economy was badly affected by a drop in remittances and prevailing instability in unorganized sectors. As the emerging situation stopped the tourism business, and thus the movements of public and private vehicles on large scale, there was a visible significant decline in demand of oil, followed by a collapse in its price.

The occasion did much harm to corporate houses already in economic crisis since 20072008. The total corporate debt in eight major countries– China, the USA, Japan, the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany– increased from $34 trillion in 2009 to $51 trillion in 2019. And if the current economic situation continues for longer, the corporates of these countries may be forced not to pay the incurred interests to lenders, also failing to refinance or restructuring their loans. In the pre-pandemic phase too, there was enough indication of an economic slowdown in the world market because of manufacturing activities. Industrial output in 2017 was at its peak and signalled a decline in early 2018 for which the Interna-

tional Monetary Fund noted Brexit as well as a slowdown of about 30 price in oil price was the China-USA trade war as the primary rea- visible at the start of 2020, it went down a fursons. The trade war remained from 2018 to ther 30 percent due to differences among oil early 2020. In the USA wanted to stop unfair producing countries. It was the first time since trade practices by China. This imbalance in the great recession of 1930-31 that a significant trade had brought a mild recession in US man- gap was seen in demand and supply.

The general public doesn’t understand the ufacturing industry and as a result other councomplexities of the share market, but the health tries were also affected negatively.

The current pandemic ruined the world of country’s economy is very closely related to economy already reeling under the several its ups and downs. As the global pandemic has strains due to circumstances beyond control. It affected all aspects of economy a significant was perhaps the most impactful event since the crash in share market was imminent. The crash Spanish flu which took place a Century ago in in market took place on the different day and dates such as the 1918. The precauBlack Monday-1 (9 tions implemented March), Black to check the spread Thursday (12 of covid-19 have In succession, Black Monday-2 March) and Black led to severe global Monday-2 (16 economic disrupcame on 16 March when Dow March). On these tion. As a consequence nationwide futures collapsed more than 1,000 day and dates significant crashes were lockdowns with points. On that very day Asiarecorded in different maintaining social parts of the world. distancing and comPacific and European stock Black Monday-1 pulsory wearing of proved a disaster for masks were enmarkets closed down on a record the dow Jones Inforced. It covered dustrial Average. about 98.5% of fall of 9.7 percent along with a After the opening of world’s student significant record of decline in market on that day, population. Many lost a record of governments have other shares. It all was only due to itmore than 2000 restricted unnecessary movement and the pandemic and the weighty cut points in a single day, the biggest fall non-essential travel in the oil price. These frequent in its intraday tradto and from counAlong this the tries and areas afdeep declines in the stock markets ing. shares of other US fected by the virus. companies also regIn this context due to circumstances beyond istered a decline of 6 “Stay at Home” orgovernments’ control compelled to 15 percent about ders issued during time. Likewise, the lockdowns have them to change their fiscal policy the a number of Asian badly affected those markets fell down who provide in-perand initiate different relief up to 20 percent son services like, from their recent retail stores, hotels, schemes to save the economy highs. The second restaurants, enterfrom collapse crash came in the tainment venues, share market three museums, and days later on 12 beauty salons, and March, whose efso on. Unquestionably, all peoples, economists as well as indus- fects were felt globally. The most affected countrialists, consider the pandemic as the single tries of the world include Indonesia, Columbia factor responsible for economic recession and and a host of others.

In succession, Black Monday-2 came on 16 prevailing uncertainties in the global economy.

Another sector, which the pandemic im- March when dow futures collapsed more than pacted most, was oil, where the price fell due to 1,000 points. On that very day Asia-Pacific and the cut in its global demand. As the movements european stock markets closed down on a of people and vehicles, public and private, were record fall of 9.7 percent along with a significant restricted to almost zero, there was a sudden and record of decline in other shares. It all was only significant cut in oil’s gross demand. To meet due to the pandemic and the weighty cut in the the situation, the Organisation of Petroleum ex- oil price. These frequent deep declines in the porting Countries discussed and decided to cut stock markets due to circumstances beyond govproduction by 1.5 million barrel per day in a ernments’ control compelled them to change meeting held in Vienna on March 5. But unfor- their fiscal policy and initiate different relief tunately, russia and OPeC failed to agree on schemes to save the economy from collapse. the issue of the production cut, and russia along Dr Rajkumar Singh is head of the political with Saudi Arabia announced to increase the production on March 7. A day later Saudi Ara- science department of the B.N.Mandal bia also declared it would sell oil on a discount University, Madhepura, Bihar, India and can be of $6-$8 per barrel to Asian countries. Although reached at rajkumarsinghpg@gmail.com

THrOUGH the column of your well-known newspaper, I would like to draw attention towards the bad condition of the sewage system in our city .

I’m a citizen of Karachi .Majority of the city’s roads and streets are filled with sewage water. It has damaged the infrastructure and continues to cause a traffic gridlock on almost all the main arteries of the city.

There are two main reasons for accumulation of sewerage water on the roads: a deteriorated sewerage infrastructure and blockage of sewerage lines by cloth, bags of sand and solid bricks placed by some “unidentified” elements. The blockage of the sewerage system is becoming a sensitive issue with every passing day with the responsible parties – Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, dMCs and KMC – doing little over nothing to remedy the problem.

Whenever a rain spell hits Karachi, water accumulates for hours on the roads and streets. due to the absence of a proper drainage system . mir mEharULLah mEnGaL Karachi

Freedom is a basic right IT’S been a year now since Kashmir is under a strict lockdown, making it unbearable for them to live peacefully and a lot of them wish that they could just die instead of living in this cruel world where their basic right of freedom is not given to them. every day we hear unfortunate news of Kashmiris being killed because of raising their voice for freedom and peaceful life.

We live in such a cruel world where UAe despite being a Muslim country awarded Narendra Modi with ‘highest civilian award’ right after he put a curfew on Kashmir where a majority of individuals are Muslims and there was no one to raise their voice against it, not a single country condemned this act of UAe. Corona attacked the world and left everyone helpless even the most powerful countries of the world couldn’t save themselves from this virus. every single individual was locked in their homes, unable to leave their houses or roam freely and after some time everyone started getting depressed and frustrated on how long this will go and how long they’ve to suffer. This is exactly what Kashmiris have been going through since last year till now, feeling helpless, caged in a small room, and not being able to go outside fearing that a single step outside their home will be the step towards their death. We got our independence years ago but Kashmir is still struggling for it, its high time that all the world should stand with Kashmir and especially Muslim countries should give their full effort in making Kashmir a peaceful and free place for its people because they are human beings too and I believe freedom is the birthright of every single human being in this world.

Khizran zEhra BaLoch Karachi

Jadhav case THe international court of justice (ICJ) on Wednesday issued its verdict in Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case and rejected most of the remedies sought by India. The court in its verdict rejected a number of Indian demands including annulment of military court decision convicting Jadhav his release and safe passage to India. The court however directed Pakistan to provide effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentence according to its own justice system. The court finally considered that a continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav read a statement issued by ICJ. The court had reserved its judgment in the case back in February. The agent of Pakistan and india made the following submission to the ICJ. The government of india requests this court to adjudge and declare that Pakistan acted in egregious breach of article36 of the Vienna convention on consular relation 1963 (Vienna Convention) in. falling to inform India jadhav of his right under article36 of the Vienna convention on consular relations 1963. declining access to Jadhav by consular officer of India contrary to their right to visit jadhav while under custody detention or in prison and to converse and correspond with him or to range for his legal representation and that pursuant to the foregoing trail. The Islamic republic of Pakistan respectfully request the court for the reasons set out in Pakistan written pleading and it is oral submissions made in the course of these hearing to declare India’s claim inadmissible. Further or in the alternative the Islamic republic of Pakistan respectfully request the court to dismiss India’s claim in its entirety. Pakistani security agencies on march 24 2016 apprehended an on duty rAW agent from Baluchistan the suspect was said to be an officer of the Indian navy working for the covert agency to destabilize Pakistan. Jadhav was tried by FGCM under section 59 of Pakistan army act (PAA) 1952 and section 3 of official secret act 1923 FGCM fund Kulbushan sudhir yadhav guilty of all the charges.

S rEhman Karachi

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

The aTomic bomb saved millions—including Japanese wall Street JourNal

T

John c hopkins

HE atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 75 years ago Thursday and Sunday, respectively, are regarded with horror and regret. But not using the atomic bomb would have been far worse. The overall Japanese deaths attributed to the two bombs are estimated at between 129,000 and 226,000. A July 1945 U.S. government report estimated that invading the Japanese Home Islands would cost five million to 10 million Japanese lives.

The U.S. landing, planned for Nov. 1, 1945, was to be substantially larger than the 1944 Normandy landing in Europe. More than 156,000 Allied troops landed on D-Day. They suffered more than 10,000 casualties, including 4,400 killed in action. They faced 50,000 German troops. The invasion of Japan would have involved some 766,000 Allied personnel.

AN INVASION WOULD HAVE MEANT MASSIVE CASUALTIES. WAR WOULD HAVE DRAGGED ON UNTIL 1947 OR LATER And it would have been harder than DDay, which took the Germans by surprise.

The Japanese had deduced both the approximate landing date (late October) and the landing beaches on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands.

Only after the war did the U.S. discover the magnitude of Japan’s preparation to defend against the invasion. In June 1945, U.S. intelligence estimated 350,000 Japanese troops would defend Kyushu. After the Japanese surrendered, the U.S. military demobilized some 784,000 men on Kyushu.

In addition, there were some 575,000 Kyushu home-defense forces. Unlike the 3 to 1 ratio of Allies to adversaries at Normandy, the Japanese defenders would have outnumbered Allied troops in the initial as-

A strong India cannot be built on religious division

sault landing.

The Japanese also were preparing more than 10,000 planes to make kamikaze attacks on the U.S. landing ships before they could discharge their troops. And Japan had almost five million soldiers and sailors still fighting across Taiwan, Korea, China, Manchuria and various Pacific islands.

Civilians would be mobilized, too. On April 20, 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army issued “The Decree of the Homeland Decisive Battle,” which proclaimed: “Every soldier should fight to the last . . . and our people should fight to the last person.” Every Japanese soldier and civilian—even women and children—was expected to die fighting.

The U.S. government estimated, based on the fierce Japanese resistance encoun-

Mr. Hopkins, a nuclear physicist, was an executive at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1974-89.

An ‘apocalypse’ in Lebanon “THIS IS A TURNING POINT. IT’S NOT THE END OF LEBANON. IT’S THE BEGINNING OF A DIFFERENT LEBANON”

NARENDRA MODI SHOULD FOCUS ON JOBS AND ECONOMY, NOT POLARISATION editorial Board Financial times

When prime minister Narendra Modi laid the silver foundation stone this week at the site of what will become a temple to the Hindu deity Lord Ram in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, it in many ways signalled the end of India as a secular, multifaith republic. In the ceremony, Mr Modi played the role reserved for Hindu kings whose consecration of temples would legitimise their power. The danger is that the country is entering a new era of majoritarianism, where the interests and beliefs of the Hindu majority will take precedence over the rights of minorities, especially Muslims who account for 14 per cent of the population.

The site of the new temple was a former mosque razed by a Hindu mob in 1992. The destruction of the 16th-century house of worship sparked religious riots across India in which 2,000 people died and launched a wave of Hindu nationalism that eventually helped to propel Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party to power. Starting to build a temple on the site of the mosque fits a pattern of the marginalisation of India’s Muslim minority under the BJP administration. It came exactly a year after the removal of autonomy from India’s only Muslim-majority state of Held Kashmir.

For devout Hindus, however, the new temple is seen as reversing the humiliation under the Muslim Mughal empire, which built the Babri mosque on what was a particularly holy site to Hindus. Ayodhya is said to be the birthplace of Ram and the setting for the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. The BJP has argued that it was essential to build a temple on the site to heal India’s “civilisational wounds” and in November India’s supreme court allowed the building to go ahead.

While Mr Modi’s status will be raised among his Hindu nationalist supporters for delivering the temple, his rhetoric on the day was less inflammatory than sometimes in the past, paying at least lip service to national unity. Mr Modi chose to avoid using a dedication to Ram that has become a rallying cry for rightwing Hindu nationalists and opted for a more neutral phrase. But if he truly wishes to ensure the nation holds together, he should turn away from divisive sociocultural issues and focus on delivering a stronger economy that gives jobs and opportunities to far more of India’s citizens.

With an economy that was in trouble even before the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic — India has the world’s third-highest caseload and there is little sign of the virus slowing — it will be tempting for Mr Modi and the BJP to rely on religious symbols rather than government competence to shore up their support. There are at least two other locations in India where centuriesold mosques now stand on ground that formerly housed important Hindu temples. These have also been previously mentioned as sites that must be reclaimed by Hindus and avenged. Such calls must be rejected.

Mr Modi earned a reputation for economic management in his home state of Gujarat and was elected on a platform of rejuvenating Indian growth and incomes. Yet hopes for business-friendly reform have come to little and the economy has been slowing since mid-2018. Recent border clashes have strained ties with an increasingly assertive China. The prime minister still has a choice: to continue down the path he seems to have chosen of pursuing divisive religious politics to reshape India into an even more overtly Hindu state, or focus instead on growth and genuine reform.

Not temples, but a strong economy, modern infrastructure, and opportunities to rise out of poverty would be the true tonic to heal India’s civilisational wounds.

tered on outlying islands, that the war would last another year and a half—through the spring of 1947. It expected between 1.7 million and four million Allied casualties, including 400,000 to 800,000 fatalities.

(Between December 1941 and August 1945, the war in Europe and the Pacific had resulted in 407,000 U.S. deaths.)

Weather would have made matters still worse for the Allies. On Oct. 9, 1945, a typhoon packing 140-mile-an-hour winds struck what was to have been the U.S. invasion staging area on Okinawa. The damage to the invasion fleet and forces would have delayed the invasion by perhaps six months.

On April 4, 1946, another major typhoon hit.

It would have caused another delay. The Japanese would have many months to

strengthen their defenses.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union (which declared war on Japan on Aug. 8, 1945) was prepared to invade the Japanese northern islands from Manchuria. That would almost certainly have led to a Japan divided between a free South and a communist North.

The Berlin Wall might have had a twin in Tokyo. The people of North Japan would have suffered for decades, like the people of East Germany and North Korea.

All this was averted. On Aug. 15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender.

Japan faced a major famine during the winter of 1945-46, which the U.S. ameliorated by providing humanitarian shipments of more than 800,000 tons of food.

The Japanese losses from the atomic strikes were tragic. But their use prevented far more pain, suffering and death than it caused. The U.S. chose the lesser of evils.

New Yorker Robin WRight

Pity Lebanon. The charming Mediterranean nation, smaller than Connecticut, survived a fifteen-year civil war, from 1975 to 1990, that became a battlefield for the entire Middle East—sucking in arms, armies, and issues from around the world. It has endured bombings, hostage-takings, and mass killings by dozens of militias, including the powerful P.L.O. and Hezbollah, both of which used Lebanese soil in order to fight Israel. It has navigated the labyrinthine politics of eighteen religious sects, each officially recognized and allocated proportionate shares of government jobs. It picked up the pieces after the assassinations of Presidents and Prime Ministers, Cabinet members, and Members of Parliament and occupations by Syrian and Israeli troops. It’s been rocked by a series of national protests—from the Cedar Revolution, in 2005, that ousted one government, to the October, 2019, uprising that forced out another Prime Minister. For decades, Lebanon has defied the odds. During an interview on his old Comedy Central show, Stephen Colbert asked me which of the dozen wars that I’ve covered was my favorite. No question: Lebanon and its strife, for my wonderment of that country’s creative, resilient people and its physical beauty as well as the epic political stakes for the country, the region, and the world.

No longer. Lebanon is now on the verge of collapse. It was already a failing state before twin explosions ripped through Beirut’s scenic port, shortly after rush hour began, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The second blast set off a billowing mushroom cloud, reminiscent of a nuclear bomb, and registered seismic waves equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.

The explosion was heard as far away as Cyprus, an island more than a hundred and twenty miles to the northwest. The Lebanese government appealed to every ambulance in the country to head for Beirut.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than a hundred and thirty-five had died, more than five thousand were wounded, and untold numbers were still missing. Hospitals, already overwhelmed with covid-19 patients, treated many of the injured on sidewalks and roads, or turned them away. “There is an acute shortage of everything,” the country’s health minister, Hamad Hasan, told reporters.

Lebanon now faces existential challenges. The blasts destroyed office buildings and apartment blocks across the capital as well as its largest port, which is critical to the trade and imports on which Lebanon is dependent. One governor estimated that more than a quarter million were left homeless, compounding the challenges of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Syrian war refugees in a country of fewer than seven million. A row of towering wheat silos, which play a central role in the country’s importing and storing of food, were among the facilities destroyed at the port. “No words can describe the horror that has hit Beirut last night, turning it into a disaster-stricken city,” President Michel Aoun said at an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, as smoke still rose from the port. “The Apocalypse,” a headline in the Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour read.

The blasts could not have come at a worse time for the country. They may mark the end of modern Lebanon as we know it. The physical signs are everywhere: once famed for its robust night life and rich cultural outlets, Beirut recently has had no electricity for up to twenty hours a day. Rescue efforts were hampered by the power outages. Rancid garbage lines streets and fills open spaces, owing to squabbling among political factions over which of their allies should get the contract to collect it.

Potable water is often in short supply.

Last month, Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean President and the current U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that Lebanon is “fast spiralling out of control, with many already destitute and facing starvation.” Once the banking center and economic pulse for the Middle East, Lebanon is now facing an economic crisis without precedent in its history, the International Crisis Group reported in June. The price of food and basic commodities has risen by at least fifty per cent every month since May. One in three Lebanese is unemployed, due to a long-standing economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. said. As of April, Bachelet reported, a staggering seventy-five per cent of the population needed various forms of aid. The national currency has lost eighty per cent of its value since the October uprising, which was triggered by a new government tax on WhatsApp usage but quickly escalated into demands for a political overhaul of the power structure dominated by warlords turned politicians since the end of the civil war, three decades ago.

The Levantine state is in even worse shape politically than it is physically. “The devastation is far beyond anything I have seen. And I have lived through multiple wars in this country,” Maha Yahya, the head of the Beirut office at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told me on Wednesday, in an e-mail. But, she added, “Lebanon has been collapsing in an exponential manner prior to this explosion.” In a report published two weeks ago, Yahya warned that four of the five key pillars that have sustained Lebanon since it gained independence from France, in 1943, are now crumbling. The power-sharing agreement among sects is deeply dysfunctional. Lebanon’s middle class is disappearing. The country can no longer pretend to be a merchant republic, its long-standing role in the Middle East. Personal freedoms—including freedom of speech, which provided for rich intellectual debate unknown in other parts of the region—are disappearing, as repression and intimidation increase. Even the military, the one national institution that works (sort of), has been weakened by the economic crisis.

“Lebanese politicians are pushing their country over the precipice,” Yahya wrote. “Eight months into a complex crisis that is threatening Lebanon’s foundations, they have yet to take steps to stem the collapse.”

Since the civil war ended, in 1990, Lebanon has been built largely on a political Ponzi scheme, Paul Salem, the president of the Middle East Institute and the son of a former Lebanese foreign minister, told me. The state is now “grievously wounded,” but not yet dead. It faces two stark alternatives, he said: civil-society protest movements that have struggled for fifteen years to provoke change can push even harder for reforms and new leadership, or the “criminal oligarchy” can stitch its corrupt deals and continue to rule—and ruin—Lebanon. “There’s been a new variable since the October protests, when a wide cross-section stood up and rejected the corrup-

tion and old sectarian way of doing everything,” he said. “If nothing is done, then we are headed to becoming a failed state.”

At his briefing on the pandemic, on Tuesday, President Trump described the blast as a “terrible attack.” It was “a bomb of some kind,” he said. In Lebanon, which is always rich with conspiracy theories, speculation ranged from sabotage by Israel to an explosion at an arms depot maintained by Hezbollah at the port. But President Aoun said that the blast was sparked in a warehouse that stored almost three thousand tons of ammonium nitrate confiscated from a Russian-owned cargo ship that had docked in Beirut in 2013 with unspecified problems.

The ship was subsequently abandoned by the owner; and the cargo—one of those dual-use commodities that can be used both for good (as fertilizer, to enrich agriculture) and evil (as explosives, to make bombs)—was deemed too risky to leave on the ship.

So it was offloaded onto the Beirut dock, where it has apparently been sitting in a warehouse for seven years. The fact that the government failed to deal with so much explosive material in the nation’s most strategic port was a microcosm of its broader failures. Given the description of the two explosions, including the orange cloud that was set off by the first, arms experts said that the official story sounded correct. “Storing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a hot warehouse in the middle of a port city is not an ‘attack’—it is tragic incompetence,” Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, told me. “As if the Lebanese people needed more evidence of the abysmally low performance of their successive governments,” Jeffrey Feltman, a former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon and former U.N. Undersecretary-General for political affairs, told me.

The political aftershock from the twin blasts— and the criminal negligence that they exposed—will be much bigger than the explosions themselves, Rami Khouri, the director of global engagement at the American University of Beirut and a nonresident fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, told me.

“There will be enormous public pressure to finally force the political élite to get out of their lives. This will ultimately be seen as the decisive blow that brings down the system.” During the nine months since the October uprising, he said, Lebanon has felt new rumblings among young activists, the media, professional associations, and civil society “getting ready to replace the crappy old system.” The sectarian divide of power—and its fifty-fifty split between Christians and Muslims of all government and civilservice jobs—will remain, he said; it was this division of power that ended the civil war. The primary focus will instead be ejecting the corrupt political élite, who have created a spoils system that excludes all but their own. “This is a turning point,” Khouri said. “It’s not the end of Lebanon. It’s the beginning of a different Lebanon.”

I adore this little country. I return as often as I can. Despite their exhaustion, the Lebanese will almost certainly rise up against the political mafia yet again, possibly in even greater numbers, to demand accountability—and more. Some heads will roll.

Some officials will certainly have to resign. But more meaningful and enduring change? I can only wish the Lebanese well—and hope they once again defy the odds.

Robin Wright has been a contributing writer to The New Yorker since 1988. She is the author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World.”

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

BUSINESS 09 CORPORATE CORNER Samsung unveils five new power devices in Galaxy ecosystem SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. hosted its firstever Galaxy Unpacked virtual event livestreamed from Korea to introduce a new suite of power devices. Five devices were revealed during the event, which seamlessly integrates to empower consumers navigating a rapidly changing world: Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy Note20 Ultra, the most powerful Note series yet; Tab S7 and S7+, versatile tablets for productivity and creativity; Galaxy Watch3, a premium smartwatch along with advanced health features; Galaxy Buds Live, stylish and ergonomic earbuds with amazing sound quality; and Galaxy Z Fold2, the next-generation foldable smartphone with enhanced refinements. PREss RElEAsE

LAHORE: The Pakistan Post Office released a commemorative postage stamp of Rs20 featuring Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC). The stamp is issued to mark the 25th anniversary of the country’s only cancer hospital with free treatment facilities. A ceremony was held on Thursday at SKMCH&RC where Punjab Postmaster General Khalid Awais Ranjha, Postmaster General Central (Lahore) Rana Hassan Akhtar and Shaukat Khanum Hospital CMO & acting CEO Dr Muhammed Aasim Yusuf unveiled the commemorative postage stamp. PREss RElEAsE

Poultry industry calls for early reopening of marriage halls LAHORE HAssAN NAQVI

The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) on Friday urged the government to reopen marriage halls from August 10. The government had earlier announced that marriage halls will be reopened from September 15, after the spread of Covid-19 showed a declining trend. The PPA said that the government has already given the go-ahead for restaurants to open up from August 10 while ensuring implementation of Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The association urged the government to reopen marriage halls from August 10 as well. PPA North Region Vice Chairman Muhammad Fargham, in a press briefing, welcomed the announcement made by the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar regarding the reopening of restaurants and hotels from August 10. Fargham said that the coronavirus lockdowns, which led to the closure of marriage halls and restaurants across the country, have further dented the already struggling poultry industry. He said that the countrywide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has been officially lifted and markets and businesses have been allowed to reopen, adding that keeping restaurants and marriage halls closed will be unfair under such circumstances. He stated that the marriage halls and the restaurant industry have been badly affected by Covid-19 induced lockdowns that have been in place since March 20, 2020. Speaking to Profit, PPA North Region Secretary Syed Javed Hussain Bukhari said that the poultry sector incurred a loss of around Rs400 billion due to Covid-19 related lockdowns adding that the industry shrunk from Rs1,200 billion to Rs800 billion because of the pandemic. According to Hussain Bukhari, the poultry sector makes around 15 per cent of its sales to marriage halls. He added that due to the closure of marriage halls the poultry sector has incurred heavy losses.“We urge the government to reopen marriage halls from August 10 while ensuring the implementation of Covid-19 SOPs, so that marriage hall owners and poultry farmers can recover some of the losses incurred since March,” he said. Hussain Bukhari said that the poultry industry and restaurant and marriage hall owners have been constantly taking up the issue of reopening of restaurants and marriage halls with the concerned authorities. He said that the industry representatives had also written letters to the chief minister and the prime minister, asking them to pay heed to the bad shape of the poultry industry.

Govt aPPointS BRiG (R) Shujah haSSan aS PaKiStan Steel MillS Ceo KARACHI

t

sTAFF REPORT

HE federal government has appointed Brig (r) Shujah Hassan as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pakistan Steel Mills. According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division on Friday, the appointment of Brig (r) Shujah Hassan would be for one year with immediate effect.

"The appointment is subject to termination on one month's notice by either side," the notification read.

Late last month, the PSM Board of Directors had recommended the federal government names of three shortlisted candidates for the post of CEO with priority No.1 candidate having degrees in warfare and strategic studies.

The board found candidate No.1 to be a better fit given the needs of the re-

vival plan and the prevailing environment at the mill. The board directed the PSM management to forward the findings to the Ministry of Industries and Production for further action in this regard.

PSM required a transitory CEO

who could fulfil the role of a strong administrator and guardian of the PSM assets and who could help execute a plan of action to prepare the mill for a public-private partnership.

The transition plan may last from one

MARKET DAILY

stocks suffer modest fall on late selling

to two years. During this transition, there will be no steel production and focus will be on maintaining all assets and operating the non-core functions in the most professional and compliant manner.

It may be noted that as per rule 187(4) of the Companies Act, 2017, the government holds the power to nominate the chief executive of a company where majorly of directors are nominated by the government.

Earlier this month, Industries and Production Minister Hammad Azhar said that the government had decided to privatise the mills as it had become a burden on the national exchequer. He said that PSM employees had not been working for the last many years and now they would get a financial package of around Rs2.3 million per employee as compensation. Besides, he said, employees could also contribute to productivity in the private sector.

KP govt to open 27 rest houses for tourists PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

Despite gaining 299 points in early traDe, Kse-100 enDs lower by 136 points at 40,029.69 KARACHI sTAFF REPORT

After a positive start to the day, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a spell of profittaking near the close of the session, resulting in the benchmark ending in the red zone.

Global equity markets, on the other hand, remained bullish on Friday, whereas crude oil prices moved south from the last close; WTI crude price fell 1.36pc to $41.39, while Brent crude price dropped 1.20pc to $44.56.

"The stock market traded range-bound today, with an upside of 300 points in early trade and loss of around 200 points post-Jumma break," said a report issued by AHL Ltd. "Selling activity was observed across the board, mainly contributed by banking, exploration & production and cement sectors."

MARKET SUMMARY: The KSE-100 Index witnessed volatile activity throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 40,465.95 (+299.83 points) and intraday low at 39,971.11 (195.01 points). It closed lower by 136.43 points at 40,029.69.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 249.69 points to end at 64,060.43, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 30.76 points, settling at 28,042.92.

The overall market volumes contracted from 826.77 million

shares in the previous session to 727.90 million shares (-12pc).

Average traded value also declined by 5pc, from $144.8 million to $136.8 million. Worldcall Telecom (WTL +2.10pc) once again led the volume chart, followed by Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL +6.85pc) and Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +8.17pc). The scrips had exchanged 144.02 million, 52.42 million and 50.41 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower included banking (67.17 points), oil & gas exploration (33.47 points) and cement (30.31 points). Among the companies, United Bank Ltd (UBL 34.33 points), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL 33.06 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC 22.30 points) dented the index the most.

Shedding 1.11pc from its total market capitalization, the oil & gas marketing sector turned out the session’s biggest loser, with

Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO 1.11pc), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL 1.02pc), Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGC 1.99pc), Shell Pakistan Ltd (SHEL 2.23pc) closing in the red.

Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -2.34pc) shared the details of the IPO of its indirect portfolio company, IBEX Limited. “The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option. Shares are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on Aug 7, 2020, and the offering is expected to close on August 11, 2020,” the company stated.

On the financial side, Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (EPCL -3.12pc) declared its financial performance for the second quarter of FY20. The company's sales witnessed a decline of 37pc YoY, while financial cost jumped by 30pc. Its earnings per share fell from Rs0.49 in 2QFY19 to Rs0.01.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government will launch 27 rest houses on Saturday in a bid to provide more facilities to the tourism industry and attract local and international tourists. The 27 rest houses which were earlier under the use of officials from different provincial government departments have been handed over to the KP Tourism Department. KP Tourism Department Spokesman Latif-ur-Rehman while talking to Profit said that the current government has launched several important projects to boost the tourism industry across the province. In the first phase, the provincial government will use government rest houses in Hazara and Malakand divisions. Rehman said that the KP government has decided to open all rest houses for tourists visiting the province which would facilitate tourists and generate additional revenue for the government.

According to sources, millions of rupees on an annual basis were being spent on the maintenance and renovation of these rest houses, which had been providing no financial benefit to the provincial government. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government handed over the guest houses to the tourism department which will rent them out to the general public. The KP tourism department spokesperson said that the rest houses will be rented out to the general public on rates ranging from Rs3,000 per night to Rs8,000 per night.

Gold price shoots to new peak of Rs132,000 per tola ISLAMABAD APP

The price of 24-carat gold on Friday witnessed a sharp increase of Rs2,500 to Rs132,000 per tola compared to its price of Rs129,500 per tola on Thursday. Similarly, the price of 10 grams of gold also increased by Rs2,144 to Rs113,169 compared to its price of Rs111,025 on the previous day, the Karachi Sarafa Association reported. Moreover, the price of silver increased by Rs60 to Rs1,710 per tola compared to its price of Rs1,650 per tola on Thursday. The price of 10 grams of silver rose by Rs51.44 to Rs1,466.04 compared to Rs1,414.6 on Thursday. The price of gold in the international market increased by $4 to $2,054 per ounce compared to $2,050 per ounce during the previous day.

Worldcall reannounces takeover by ARY Digital Network ISLAMABAD sYEDA MAsOOMA

Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL) on Friday filed disclosure with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), informing about the "Substantial Acquisition of Voting Shares and Takeovers".

The letter revealed the intention of ARY Communications Limited and ARY Digital FZ LLC to acquire 51pc shares of WTL, with AKD Securities as the manager to the offer.

AKD Securities issued a similar letter of disclosure on Wednesday (Aug 6).

Following the announcement, WTL's share price witnessed an increase of 41.58pc (from Rs1.01 on Tuesday to

Rs1.43 on Wednesday). Trading volumes also surged from 13,091,000 shares to 242,817,000 shares.

The total number of issued ordinary shares by the company as of August 5, 2020, was 2,458,753,891, or approximately 2.5 billion. Trading of 242 million shares shows that approximately 10pc of the company’s shares changed hands in a single day.

Yesterday, the stock market passed the 40,000-mark as the trading volume increased 65pc (highest of the year), a bulk of which was attributable to the penny stock WTL. However, this is not the first time Worldcall has made an acquisition announcement and witnessed stock price increase because of that. On October 30, 2019 – back then with Shajar Capital as the manager of the ac-

quisition – Worldcall announced its takeover, with the intention to disclose the takeover information on November 1, 2019. But as per PSX data, the announcement was made on October 31, 2019, and the next trading week saw a price upshoot from Rs1.22 to Rs1.70.

Whether this second announcement, this time with AKD Securities, will lead to an actual change of ownership or will it be just another intimation of a takeover is for time to tell.

In a recent interview with Profit, ARY Digital Network CEO Salman Iqbal had said, “We’re still very interested in WorldCall. I think it’s a good company, but it’s dying, and that is the kind of challenge I like. It’s the age of media, and we’re looking to acquire majority shareholding into the company.”

CMYK

As for a timeline on the deal, Iqbal optimistically chirped, “You’ll hear from the PSX very soon. It’s happening. We’re going through with it.”

Another interesting nugget of information about WTL is that 39.98pc of its shares are owned by Worldcall Services Private Limited that has Syed Babar Ali on its board of directors (along with Muhammad Azhar Saeed and Muhammad Murtaza Raza). He was also on the board of directors of the company at the time of the previous announcement but now that position seems to have been taken by his daughter Hina Babar.

This position change is not the only transformation the company went through between these two announcements. From an issued share capital of 1,805,921,917 shares

(approximately 1.8 billion), the company went to an issued share capital of 2.5 billion shares (2,458,753,891 to be exact). Similarly, the majority shareholding by Syed Babar Ali’s Worldcall Services Private Limited also increased from approximately 28pc in October 2019 to 40pc in August 2020.

The second majority shareholder in the Worldcall Telecom – Ferret Consulting F.Z.C – reduced its ownership from 17.97pc shares in October 2019 to merely 7.53pc shares in August 2020, while the third majority shareholder – AMB Management Consultations (PVT) limited – almost completely withdrew its investment from 7.51pc shares in 2019 to 0.24pc in 2020. For reference, in numbers, this is a decrease from over 139 million shares to a meagre five million shares.

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS 2 soldiers killed, 4 injured in IS attack in Iraq BAGHDAD: Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others wounded in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in the eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security source said Friday. The attack took place late Thursday night when IS militants attacked an army base outside a village near the town of Khanaqin, some 165 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, said Alaa al-Saadi from the provincial police. The attack resulted in a fierce clash between the two sides that continued until 2 a.m. local time on Friday (2300 GMT on Thursday) when the attackers withdrew, al-Saadi said. There was no immediate report about casualties among IS militants, he added.

Despite repeated military operations against the IS remnants, they hide in deserts, rugged areas as well as in Himreen mountain range which extends in the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin and Kirkuk, carrying out frequent attacks against security troops and civilians. TLTP

Dengue infects 4,455, kills 9 in Laos VIENTIANE: A total of 4,455 cases of dengue fever have been recorded across the country since January, according to a report from the Lao Ministry of Health.

The dengue fever has caused nine deaths, the Center of Information and Education for Health under the Lao Ministry of Health reported in a press release on Thursday. The highest number of dengue patients is reported in the Lao capital Vientiane with 1,017, while 523 cases were recorded in Bolikhamxay province, and 457 in Vientiane province. The nine deaths included four in Lao capital Vientiane, two in Bolikhamxay, and one each in Khammuan, Xayaboury and Xieng Khuang provinces. Lao health authorities have urged people to clear potential mosquito breeding sites around their homes and workplaces to help control the spread of the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, dengue fever is one of the fastest emerging infections and is currently the most rapidly spreading viral disease known, with Thailand, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore also seeing high incidences. The number of cases in the western Pacific Region has more than doubled over the past 10 years. TLTP

Rajapaksa brothers secure landslide win in Sri Lanka's polls SRI JAYAWARDENEPURA KOTTE: Sri Lanka's powerful Rajapaksa brothers have secured a landslide victory in the country's parliamentary election, according to final results. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) won 145 seats and can also count on the support of at least five allies in the 225-member legislature, according to the results released on Friday. The SLPP's main opponent obtained just 54 seats in Wednesday's vote, which saw more than 75 percent of the 16.2 million eligible voters cast their ballots. The prime minister is most likely to be sworn in the same position by his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and the huge win on Friday could enable them to change the constitution and strengthen the dynastic rule. "Sri Lanka People's Front has secured a resounding victory according to official results released so far," Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a Twitter message. "It is by belief that that the expectation to have a Parliament that will enable the implementation of my 'vision for prosperity' policy will be reality tomorrow." Critics fear the siblings - renowned for their crushing of Tamil separatist rebels to end a decades-old conflict in 2009 - want to end presidential term limits, bring the judiciary and police under their direct control, and extend their dynastic power to a new generation. Sri Lanka's opposition has accused the government of corruption, censorship and intimidation. The election has left the splintered opposition decimated. TLTP

TuRkEy DEnouncES maRITImE DEaL BETwEEn GREEcE, EGypT ANKARA

T

TLTP

URKEy has slammed a "socalled agreement" between Greece and Egypt on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Turkish foreign ministry in a statement declared the deal "null and void", adding Greece and Egypt have no mutual sea border.

The area is located on Turkey's continental shelf, as reported to the United Nations, the ministry said.

It also noted that Egypt had already abandoned 11,500 square kilometres (3,352 square nautical miles) of its continental shelf in a previous agreement it signed with Cyprus in 2003.

In a televised press conference with his Greek counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Thursday the deal will allow Athens and Cairo to secure maximum benefits from oil and natural gas in the area.

Turkey's foreign ministry said the latest treaty sought to usurp Libya's maritime rights.

Turkey will not allow any activity in these areas and will continue to resolutely defend its legitimate rights and interests in the eastern Mediterranean as well as those of the self-declared Turkish

Republic of Northern Cyprus, it added.

In a post on Twitter, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "Greece-Egypt agreement is null and void. Will continue to resolutely defend rights of Turkey&Turkish Cypriots at the table&on the ground."

Turkey said late last month it was sus-

Trump bans transactions with TikTok, WeChat after 45 days WASHINGTON TLTP

US President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders addressing what he dubbed a technological national emergency, barring all transactions with the Chinese owners of social media apps TikTok and WeChat after 45 days.

Citing the “threat posed by TikTok,” the president signed an order on Thursday prohibiting “any transaction by any person… subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd,” the Beijing-based tech firm that owns the platform.

“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People's Republic of China continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the White House said in a release announcing the order, noting the ban would take effect in 45 days.

Moments after the release of the order targeting TikTok, a second measure was announced taking aim at Chinese messaging app WeChat. The White House accused the platform’s owner, Tencent Holdings Ltd, of gobbling up American data, also banning all transactions with the firm after a period of 45 days.

“Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chi-

nese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information,” the second order said, adding that the app also facilitates spying on Chinese citizens.

After that 45-day period, the Secretary of Commerce will identify particular transactions the government wishes to block, according to the order.

The move comes after a previous threat from the administration to rein in the Chinese firm, with Trump vowing to ban it from the country outright late last week, saying he could sign an executive order or invoke emergency economic powers to do so.

Thursday’s measure appears to have done both, as it cites the 1977 Inter-

national Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other executive authorities.

The aggressive moves toward TikTok have provoked harsh reactions in Beijing, with the state-backed China Daily newspaper accusing the US of a “smash and grab” operation to steal the firm from its owners in Beijing.

Though TikTok's general manager Vanessa Pappas said the company had no plans to vacate the US, it reportedly held negotiations with Microsoft for a potential buy-out in recent weeks, thought by some to be an attempt to skirt any coming ban on the firm by passing ownership to an American corporation.

TIKTOK PLANS TO OPEN FIRST EUROPEAN DATA CENTER IN IRELAND DUBLIN: Chinese-owned technology company TikTok has announced plans to build a $500 million European data hub which will be located in Ireland. It is expected to become operational by 2022. The center will store videos, messages and other data generated by European users from the short-form video-sharing app. Until now all of its users' records have been stored in the US, with a back-up copy held in Singapore.TikTok said that the decision to set up a European center was something it had been thinking about "for a long time." The app's director of public policy for Europe, Theo Bertram, told The Irish Times: “This is a demonstration of our commitment for the long term in Europe and this is also about cementing the important role that Ireland plays for TikTok.” He added that “Dublin is really important for us and is going to grow rapidly.” TikTok employs more than 1,000 people in Europe, with over 800 based in Britain and Ireland. It has been expanding its presence in Dublin in recent months as speculation mounts that its Chinese parent ByteDance might decide to locate its European headquarters there. TLTP

Fitch maintains 4.6pc decline in global growth forecast LONDON TLTP

Fitch Ratings' outlook for global GDP in aggregate remains on track with its June Global Economic Outlook (GEO) forecast after the recent bout of official 2Q20 GDP releases. However, China's recovery is proving stronger, while the downturn in Europe has been deeper than expected.

Real GDP in the US, China and eurozone (EZ) combined (which together account for two-thirds of global GDP) declined by 4.1% qoq in 2Q20 compared with a forecast fall of 4.3% in Fitch Ratings’ June 2020 GEO. A much better than expected outturn in China (at +11.5% qoq vs. +8.3% in the GEO) and a somewhat less severe outcome in the US (at -9.5% vs.

-9.9% (not annualised)) slightly outweighed a significantly deeper than anticipated fall in the EZ (at -12.1% vs. -8.9%), said Fitch Ratings.

GDP data for 2Q20 have yet to be released for many of the larger economies covered in the GEO, including Japan, the UK and most major emerging markets, but the releases so far suggest Fitch Ratings’ June GEO forecast of a 4.6% decline in world GDP in 2020 looks on track.

The falls in GDP in 2Q20 were also closely correlated with the decline in visits to retail and recreation venues, measured using daily Google Mobility data. The mobility shock was larger in the EZ than in the US in 2Q20, reflecting more stringent and/or longer lockdowns in France, Italy

and Spain. However, EZ mobility recovered sharply in June.

"The recent surge in coronavirus cases in the US has seen daily retail mobility data flatten off from mid-June, but a plateau in consumption in July and August would still be consistent with our June GEO forecast of a 4.6% qoq (non-annualised) rise in US GDP in 3Q20," said Brian Coulton, Chief Economist at Fitch Ratings.

The recovery in mobility in the UK lagged that in the EZ through June, and weak official GDP data for May suggests that 2Q20 GDP could decline by more than the 14.8% forecast in the June GEO. The recent rise in new coronavirus cases in Spain could also weigh on its 3Q20 recovery.

“We have recently revised up our China 2020 GDP forecast to 2.7% from 1.2% in June but downward revisions to our 2020 EZ GDP forecast of -8.0% are likely in the next GEO, to be published in early September,” said Fitch Ratings.

pending research for oil and gas exploration off a Greek island to ease tensions in the eastern Mediterranean that involved a naval presence from both countries.

Long-standing tensions between the uneasy NATO allies escalated last month after Turkey issued an advisory known as a Navtex for seismic surveys in waters between Cyprus and Crete.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for Turkey to be "sanctioned" and accused Ankara of treading on the rights of Greece and Cyprus, as all three nations scramble to exploit recently discovered gas reserves.

Relations between the European Union and Ankara have deteriorated over multiple issues, despite Turkey still formally being a candidate for membership.

As well as drilling for oil and gas off Cyprus, and support for opposite sides in the crisis in Libya, Turkey infuriated Greece and the EU earlier this year when it stopped preventing refugees from leaving for Europe, causing a surge of tens of thousands of refugees at the Greek border.

20pc of global oil, gas reserves may be wiped out: Exxon IRVING TLTP

After a grim Q2 season for Big Oil, the world’s third-most valuable energy company is warning that 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas reserves may no longer be viable. According to Exxon Mobil, one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas reserves will no longer qualify as “proved reserves” at the end of this year if oil prices fail to recover before then. A flurry of oil and gas companies have written off billions in oil and gas assets as the value of those assets in the current oil price climate is no longer what it once used to be. Exxon was not among them.

Exxon is currently reviewing its oil and gas assets, the results of which should be available

by November. But Exxon has caught some flack for not making many asset adjustments over the last decade, while its Big Oil peers have. Exxon recorded its worst quarterly loss in modern history in the second quarter of this year, booking a loss of $1.1 billion, compared to earnings of $3.1 billion in Q2 2019. Still, Exxon is not moving to cut its dividend, which analysts expect will cost the oil major $15 billion. It is, however, moving to make some job cuts, pension matching contribution cuts, and other cost discipline issues, according to various sources. A large portion of Exxon’s shareholders are retail investors, Exxon continues to make their dividend a priority.

Exxon has been demoted from the world’s second-most valuable energy company last month, as Reliance Industries unseated the supermajor from its long-held position.

Bank of England maintains interest rate at 0.1pc LONDON TLTP

The Bank of England (BoE), Britain's central bank, has announced an unchanged interest rate at 0.1 percent, saying its challenge at present is to respond to the economic and financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a report issued by the BoE on Thursday, its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain rate at 0.1 percent and hold the existing programs of British government and corporate bonds with a target of 745 billion pounds (977.8 billion U.S. dollars) at a meeting ending on Aug. 4.

Meanwhile, the BoE predicted that the unemployment rate will "rise materially" in the near term, reaching around 7.5 percent by the end of the year and declining gradually from the beginning of 2021 onwards. The central bank stated that although many workers have already returned to work from furlough, but "considerable uncertainty remains about the prospects for employment after those support schemes unwind."

Saturday, 8 August, 2020

SPORTS 11

Shan MaSood 156 SetS Stage before PakiStan SeaMerS tear thingS uP MANCHESTER

a

AGENCIES

CAREER-best innings from Shan Masood answered every question England had asked of Pakistan on the first two days of this opening Test. Masood batted for nearly eight hours and faced 319 deliveries for his 156, which highlighted an ability to adapt throughout the course of an innings and effectively told the story of his cricketing life so far.

Not long into the evening session, it was Pakistan asking all the questions when Shaheen Shah Afridi trapped Rory Burns lbw with the fourth ball of England's innings and Mohammad Abbas accounted for Dom Sibley and Ben Stokes to put the hosts under pressure at 12 for 3.

By the close, Ollie Pope had ENGLAND 92 FOR 4 played a steadying hand with an unbeaten 46, but it was going to (POPE 46*, BUTTLER 15*) take much more from him and TRAIL PAKISTAN 326 Jos Buttler, who was not out 15, come the third day after Joe Root (MASOOD 156, AZAM 69) was dismissed by Yasir Shah for a BY 234 RUNS battling 14.

When Azam failed Masood resumed on 46 having to add to his overnight played a supporting role to Babar Azam score of 69 in the face of the previous day. As opener, Masood had some improved England bowling on navigated a tricky start in which Stuart Broad and James Anderson bowled tight the second morning, Masood took the lead role, although he could have been upstaged opening spells.

But England's bowling attack had lost all had Shadab Khan not got too flashy and potency post-lunch on the first day and Ma- skied Bess straight to Root at mid-on after a sood and Azam cashed in where possible knock of 45 from 76 balls that was, until that without taking too many unnecessary risks, moment, very sharp.

Most impressive from Masood has been save for Masood's ill-advised charge at Dom Bess which ended in a missed stumping by his ability to show how far he has come after Buttler. Masood had earlier survived a past disappointments against England - and dropped catch by the wicketkeeper off the particularly Anderson - learning from experience and changing for the better. same bowler.

Masood left balls on the fourthstump line that he would prevoiusly have nicked off to and played with soft hands when he had to so as to avoid offering chances to the slips.

So when Anderson struck with his sixth ball of the day, luring Azam into an attempted drive that ended up in the hands of Root at first slip, Masood didn't panic.

When Anderson and Broad bowled six maidens on the trot between them, Masood maintained the patient approach that had got him this far. Indeed, it was Asad Shafiq who scored Pakistan's solitary run from eight overs bowled by Broad and Anderson

in that period. Shafiq fell for to Broad for 7, caught by Stokes at second slip, followed

by Mohammad Rizwan, caught behind off Chris Woakes, to leave Pakistan 176 for 5.

That brought Shadab to the crease and, having negotiated their way to lunch, Masood adapted after the break. The pair fell into a lovely rhythm of shot-making and nabbing quick singles that frustrated England's bowlers throughout a sixth-wicket partnership worth 105.

England had only conceded 48 runs during the morning session but saw Pakistan regain the momentum immediately after lunch, as Bess and Root bowled ahead of the arrival

ICC Board set to discuss fate of next three world tournaments DUBAI AGENCIES

The fate of the women's ODI World Cup in 2021 and the choice of venues for the next two men's T20 World Cups are the two key issues that the ICC's Board is set to discuss on Friday.

This is the second time the ICC Board is meeting in the past three weeks, having given the nod on July 20 to defer the men's T20 World Cup, which was originally scheduled for October-November 2020 in Australia.

At that meeting the ICC Board agreed to fresh windows for three men's events: T20 World Cups in October-November 2021 and October-November 2022, and the ODI World Cup in October-November 2023, pushed back from its original March-April window.

The ICC Board, though, did not announce who would host the next two editions of the T20 World Cup: would it be India in 2021, as per the original schedule, or Australia who were forced to hold back the 2020 event due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

After the July 20 meeting, the ICC said it would take in the "rapidly changing" environment during the pandemic and would take a "considered decision" before determining the hosts for the next two editions of the T20 World Cup.

It is understood that although there is no cut-off point, the ICC is under pressure to not delay the decision on the host venues for two reasons: taking a quick decision would provide clarity to all commercial partners including the host broadcasters who would be planning their budgets for the next calendar year, and it would also allow member boards to plan windows for bilateral cricket.

While Cricket Australia had raised concerns over its inability to host the event this year, its chairman Earl Eddings had written recently to the ICC, proposing that India swap hosting rights with Australia for the 2021 edition. Doing that, Eddings suggested, would financially help all members. If not, Eddings said it would be "detrimental to cricket" in case the "cancellation" of the World Cup in Australia this year was "replaced by award of" the tournament in October-November 2022.

CA has reiterated at ICC meetings that it was halfway through creating the structure for the event, so it would be easier for them to complete the process if they get the rights for the 2021 edition. The BCCI has not revealed its position. Board president Sourav Ganguly has been attending ICC Board calls since March, and is understood to have empathised with CA during ICC Board meetings. Internally, however, the BCCI is understood to still

be keen on retaining its right to host the T20 World Cup in 2021. At least that was the BCCI position at the July 20 meeting.

One key determining factor, an intangible, would be how the host country has dealt with the pandemic. Currently both Australia and India remain seriously affected, with the latter among the top five countries in terms of official number of cases, which as on Thursday was approaching 2 million, with over 40,000 dead. Doubts linger over Women's World Cup The women's event, comprising eight countries, is currently scheduled between February 6 and March 7 in New Zealand, a country that has kept Covid-19 cases in check. The New Zealand government was also the first to remove restrictions on spectators at sporting events. Greg Barclay, the New Zealand Cricket chairman, recently said a final decision on whether the Women's World Cup would go ahead as scheduled was imminent. Qualifiers for the event, however, have not been conducted yet. It is understood that if the World Cup is given the go-ahead, the plan will be to stage the qualifiers in the UAE at the end of November.

Currently New Zealand has kept its borders closed - anyone entering the country would need to undergo a two-week quarantine.

It is understood that teams would not be allowed to train if that norm remains in place and would need to isolate in their hotel rooms. Add to that a week-long preparation period which would mean at least 21 days before the event starts. It is understood that the ICC is also concerned about who would bear the costs. The member boards would assume it would be the ICC, since it is a global event.

Since the 2017 World Cup in England, women's cricket has gradually gained global recognition with the T20 World Cup final in March 2020, between Australia and India, witnessed by a record crowd of 86,000-plus at the MCG. Commercially, though, women's cricket does not fetch ICC big money.

Either way the ICC Board will be hard pressed to make a decision sooner rather than later. If it postpones the Women's World Cup, the ICC would go without organising a global event for 18 months until the men's T20 World Cup in October 2021.

CMYK

of the second new ball. Masood then stroked his way through the 90s in half-a-dozen balls to bring up his hundred, loudly celebrated on the Pakistan balcony.

The partnership should have been more but Shadab's wild swing at Bess ended things, although it sparked another change in gears from Masood. What looked like being a rebuilding job, became something else when Jofra Archer dismissed Yasir and Abbas with consecutive balls, the former without adding to his score of 5 when he was dropped by Buttler off the bowling of Bess.

Masood flicked the switch, seeking as many runs as he could get before he ran out of partners. He took 16 off one Bess over, including two sixes in three balls, was keen to run a second to bring up his 150 and did when Buttler's relay shy at the stumps went wide and he wore a Broad short ball painfully on the elbow, all before tea.

Masood didn't last long after the break, falling lbw to a Broad delivery that nipped back and struck the back pad on line with leg stump. But by then he had more than done his job, racking up his third consecutive Test century after tons against Sri Lanka in December and Bangladesh in February, the fourth of his career overall. Pakistan's bowlers kept up the good work with Abbas particularly damaging in picking up the wickets of Sibley and Stokes for nought in the space of eight balls. The delivery that bowled Stokes was an absolute diamond that found just enough late movement to beat the bat and kiss the top of off stump.

Naseem Shah showed his pace with no reward and when Yasir chimed in with a faint edge off Root which went through to the keeper, England were left looking to Pope and Buttler to erase a deficit still north of 250.

Who are the favourites to progress in Champions League

LONDON AGENCIES

Who are the clubs well placed to progress from the Champions League last 16? And who has it all to do?

Football's suspension because of coronavirus meant the competition was halted with four last-16 ties completed and four still to be concluded.

RB Leipzig knocked out Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid edged past Liverpool, Atalanta eliminated Valencia and Paris St-Germain fought back to see off Borussia Dortmund.

Two English sides remain in the competition - with Chelsea trailing by three goals against Bayern Munich, and Manchester City leading Real Madrid 2-1. To assess the percentage chance of each side progressing, sports data analysts Gracenote have used their Euro Club Index - feeding the results to BBC Sport.

JUVENTUS V LYON (7 AUGUST, AGG 0-1) What happened in the first leg?

Lucas Tousart scored the only goal while Juve defender Matthijs de Ligt was off the pitch getting treatment for a head injury. Maurizio Sarri's side failed to have a single shot on target.

How has this score played out previously? Teams winning 1-0 at home in

the first leg have progressed 23 times and been eliminated 10 times.

Any hope for Juventus? Lyon's last foray into the last 16 did not go well in 2019. They held Barcelona 0-0 at home in the first leg but then suffered a humbling 5-1 defeat at the Nou Camp.

How have both teams done since the restart? Juve come into the game having clinched a ninth consecutive Serie A title - although they stumbled over the line with some patchy form.

France's Ligue 1 was finished early so Lyon's only competitive game since 8 March was the French League Cup final against Paris St-Germain - which they lost on penalties - on 31 July.

Who will the winners meet in the quarter-finals? Real Madrid or Manchester City MANCHESTER CITY V REAL MADRID (7 AUGUST, AGG 2-1) What happened in the first leg?

Manchester City produced a stunning late fightback as Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne scored in the final 12 minutes after Isco had given Real the lead. Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was sent off, meaning he will be banned for the second leg.

How has this score played out previously? Teams winning 2-1 away in the first leg have progressed eight times and been eliminated once.

saturday, 8 August, 2020

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At leAst 15 deAd As INdIAN CovId-19 repAtrIAtIoN flIght CrAshes oN lANdINg NEW DELHI

A

AGENCIES

T least 15 people were reported dead and dozens injured when an Air India Express passenger plane overshot the runway and broke into two after landing in the southern city of Calicut in heavy rain on Friday, officials said.

The Boeing-737 flight from Dubai was flying home Indians stranded overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were 190 passengers and crew on board, the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. Among them

India’s Covid-19 cases surge past 2m amid 19m global tally NEW DELHI

were 10 infants. Television footage showed rescue workers moving around the wreckage in the pouring rain. The aircraft lay split into at least two chunks after the plane’s fuselage sheared apart as it fell into a valley 30 feet below, authorities said.

Media reports suggested that the plane skidded off a runway, crashing nose-first into the ground. The Kerala state police chief said at least 15 people had been killed, with at least four passengers stuck in the wreckage.The civil aviation ministry said in a statement there was no fire on board.

Local TV news channels showed passengers, some of them lying motionless on

stretchers, brought into a hospital surrounded by health workers wearing masks because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Air India Express AXB1344 was a repatriation flight operated by the government to bring Indians home during international travel restrictions due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Millions of Indians work in the Gulf.

“Pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted referring to Calicut’s new name.

“My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest,” he said.

pM sAddeNed over lIves loss IN AIr INdIA plANe CrAsh ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday expressed sorrow over the loss of lives in an air crash of Air India flight in the Indian city of Kerala. “Saddened to learn of the Air India plane crash in Kerala state leading to loss of innocent lives,” the prime minister wrote in a tweet. “May Allah give strength to the bereaved families in their difficult hour,” he added. An Air India Express plane en route from Dubai skidded off the runway and broke in two at Calicut airport upon landing, killing several passengers on board.

Legislation to meet FATF conditions will destroy business sentiment, NA body says

TLTP

India Friday became the third country in the world after the US and Brazil to pass the 2 million mark in the total number of identified Covid-19 cases. Its death toll from the disease stands at over 41,500. India has added 62,538 new Covid-19 infections since Thursday, marking a record daily increase and bringing the total number of cases to 2,027,074, the country’s Health Ministry announced on Friday. Of those infected, 41,585 have succumbed to the disease. Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, has the highest caseload, accounting for almost half a million identified Covid-19 patients. Meanwhile, more than a million people across Africa have now been confirmed to have had the new coronavirus, as health experts warn the peak of the pandemic has yet to hit the continent. The sombre milestone, reported by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, came more than five months after Egypt reported the continent's first confirmed case of coronavirus on February 14.More than 22,000 people have so far died across Africa from the Covid-19 disease, while over 690,000 have recovered.

OPP MEMBERS SAY PAKISTAN BEING ‘TARGETED’ BY FATF THROUGH IMPOSITION OF STIFF CONDITIONS ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

As the government is in hurry to approve various legislations to meet the conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the members of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs expressed its concerns that the too much legislations on FATF’s direction would destroy the business sentiment in the country.

During the committee meeting, which was chaired by MNA Jamil Ahmed Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh claimed that out of the 27 conditions, Pakistan has already implemented 14 while 13 others have also been partially implemented.

“Full implementation on the said conditions needs legislation,” the adviser, who had appeared in the meeting for the first time, said.

Committee members included Ali Perviz Malik, Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Nafisa Shah and Syed Naveed Qamar

HAFEEZ SHAIKH SAYS LEGISLATION FOR FATF CONDITIONS IS‘NOT AN AGENDA OF THE GOVT BUT IS AN ISSUE OF THE COUNTRY’ were of the view that unlike other countries, Pakistan was being “targeted” by FATF with stiff conditions, which ultimately hurt the business activities in the country.

Hafeez Shiakh said in order to come out of the grey list of FATF, a lengthy exercise was needed, adding that the legislation and required steps were not an agenda of a government but it was an issue of the country.

He pointed out that successive governments could not increase the volume export or investment, besides also failing to improve the standards of life.

“It is high time we work on these issues.”

Meanwhile, other items on the agenda of the meeting included the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020; and The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The committee gave approval to the Companies (Amendment) Bill as well as Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, whereas it deferred the Anti-Money Laundering Bill till Monday for more deliberations.

Afghan Loya Jirga meets to decide fate of 400 Taliban prisoners KABUL TLTP

Thousands of Afghan elders, community leaders and politicians have gathered in the capital Kabul to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement signed between the armed group and the United States.

An agreement by the US and Taliban negotiators in Doha in February stipulates that 5,000 Taliban prisoners should be released from Afghan jails as a precondition to the armed group entering peace talks with the internationally-recognised government.

President Ashraf Ghani's government has released all but 400, saying their crimes were too grave.

Some 3,200 people have been invited to the Loya Jirga in Kabul amid tight security on Friday to debate for at least three days and then advise the government on whether the prisoners should be freed.

"These 400 are those who have been convicted in killings from two to 40 people, drug trafficking, those sentenced to death and involved in major crimes, including kidnapping," Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the president, said. According to Sediqqi, the council will also decide "what kind of peace it wants".

US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the architect of the deal allowing the US to withdraw its forces and end its longest-ever war, warned against the Loya Jirga throwing up any complications.

"We wish the jirga participants success ... and urge them not to allow those who prefer the status quo and seek to complicate the path to peace to manipulate the process," Khalilzad said on Twitter.

Ahead of the Loya Jirga, Human Rights Watch cautioned that many of the prisoners had been jailed under "overly broad terrorism laws that provide for indefinite preventive detention". "Secret trials and torture to coerce confessions may make it impossible to determine which

prisoners actually committed serious crimes," it said.

The Taliban freed the 1,000 prisoners it was holding and US and NATO soldiers already started withdrawing troops in line with the February agreement that the Trump administration pushed as part of the Republican president's election promise to bring the troops back.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Afghans to free the Taliban prisoners, promising help if the wartorn nation moves forward on peace efforts.

"We acknowledge that the release of these prisoners is unpopular," Pompeo said in a statement.

"But this difficult action will lead to an important result long sought by Afghans and Afghanistan's friends: reduction of violence and direct talks resulting in a peace agreement and an end to the war."

In a statement the top US diplomat told Afghan leaders that the Taliban were committed to reducing violence after talks start. "The United States intends to hold the Taliban to these commitments," Pompeo said.

UN offers emergency funds as Beirut blasts death toll rises to 154 BEIRUT TLTP

The death toll in the huge explosions that rocked Port of Beirut on Tuesday has reached 154, Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced on Friday. Hassan said that 20 percent of the 5,000 injuries need hospitalization while serious cases have reached 120 as the shattered glasses caused severe injuries that required surgeries, the National News Agency reported. Two huge explosions rocked Port of Beirut on Tuesday evening, killing at least 154 people and injuring about 5,000 others, while causing massive damages in the city.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is aiding the Lebanese government following the explosions in Beirut by releasing emergency funds, assessing needs and planning alternative aid delivery, a UN spokesman said on Thursday. Already $9 million in emergency aid have been released locally for hospitals and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is expected to release additional funds soon, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The World Health Organization reported three hospitals are inoperable and two more have sustained substantial damage, the spokesman said.

The equivalent of 500 hospital beds has been lost due to damage. Najat Rochdi, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, authorized the funds from the UN's Lebanese Humanitarian Fund.

A special international appeal for additional funds is also anticipated, the spokesman told correspondents at a regular, virtual briefing. Haq said the United Nations will follow up "to make sure that all of the aid that we distribute goes to where it's needed." The OCHA is sending emergency teams that include experts from the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group and UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team to assist with the emergency response. "We do have teams who are specialists in search and rescue who are on the ground for the current phase, which involves trying to find the people who are still missing following the blast," he added. "With the Beirut Port inoperable, the UN and its partners are looking to adjust logistic networks to ensure sustained operations," Haq said. "Humanitarian materials will likely be redirected through the Tripoli Port." The port in the north of the country is a little more than 80 kilometers north of Beirut. "The change may have adverse consequences for some supply chains, as Tripoli Port has a lower capacity than Beirut Port," he said.

"Beirut International Airport remains open for passenger and cargo flights." "We are, in fact, exploring using alternative ports in the short term, including in places like Cyprus and Turkey, to make sure that we can get aid to Syria efficiently while Beirut Port is being repaired," he said.

Amazon officially enters Pakistan with web services SINGAPORE BABAR KHAN JAVED

Having registered a local office under the name AMZ Data Services Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, Amazon is forming a team for Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Pakistan, to drive the adoption of cloud computing.

The move comes two weeks after the technology company experienced a disruption worldwide, which largely impacted parts of the US and Pakistan as a whole.

According to the SECP database, the Pakistan office is led by Paul Andrew Macpherson as the CEO while

Shoaib Munir is a director along with Macpherson.

Speaking to Profit under the condition of anonymity, a spokesperson from Amazon shared that the technology leader is currently seeking a public policy specialist for Pakistan, with a focus on driving AWS cloud computing solution adoption. The role focuses on removing regulatory and political blockers to cloud adoption.

This is a common approach among technology companies when entering small markets, with Bytedance doing the same in June by hiring Hassan Arshad as the head of public policy to work with the

Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to stall a ban of the TikTok app.

As for AWS in Pakistan, the “Framework on IT Governance and Risk Management in Financial Institutions” by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) directed banks to utilise cloud computing technology under the condition that systems and service providers shall be located in Pakistan along with all physical servers and services.

Under this rule, AWS would need to set up its own data center and cloud server in the country.

According to the e-commerce policy framework of Pakistan, the Ministry of Information Technology and

Telecommunication are in the process of formulating Pakistan’s first cloud policy, while the Draft Data Protection Act is at an advanced stage of consultations. The latter draft, which also concerns Amazon, addresses issues concerning data protection in e-commerce.

AWS hopes to work with relevant government departments in Pakistan as they develop and revise policies related to the digital economy, including cloud-first policies, data protection regulations, outsourcing guidelines, cybersecurity policies, tax policy, and over the top regulations. They will also proactively build relationships with key policymakers, politicians, and influencers.

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