EpaperKHI_20-12-19

Friday, 19 December, 2020 I 3 Jumada Al-Awwal, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 170 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

In meetIng wIth talIban, Pm Imran stresses need for lastIng Peace In afghan g

Premier cautions against sPoilers who continue to make attemPts of disruPting Peace Process

ISLAMABAD

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staff report

rime minister imran khan has highlighted that intra-afghan negotiations provide a historic opportunity to the afghan leaders for achieving durable peace and stability through an afghan-led and afghan-owned peace process. talking to taliban Political commission (tPc), headed by mullah abdul ghani Baradar, which called on him in islamabad on friday, the premier reiterated that there is no military solution to the conflict in afghanistan.

Pm imran expressed hope that the afghan parties would continue to build on the recent positive developments in the intra-afghan negotiations. he underscored Pakistan’s consistent support to an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settle-

ment. he also underlined the need to be vigilant about the role of spoilers, who continue to make attempts to disrupt and derail the peace process. the prime minister expressed concern over the high level of violence and called on all sides for a reduction in the violence leading to a ceasefire. highlighting peace and stability in afghanistan, he said that it will provide a strong impetus to economic development, regional integration, and connectivity, benefitting afghanistan and the region. the discussions focused on the progress in the afghan peace process and the way forward. the tPc delegation’s visit is part of Pakistan’s serious efforts to facilitate the afghan peace process to achieve a peaceful, stable, united, independent, sovereign and prosperous afghanistan. earlier this week, foreign minister shah mahmood Qureshi had said that Pakistan desires durable peace in

afghanistan while talking to a delegation of the tPc in islamabad. the minister had said that Pakistan played its possible reconciliatory role in the agreement reached between the afghan taliban and the united states in doha, adding that the agreement on the rules for intra-afghan talks was a welcome development. on the occasion, the afghan taliban delegation head mullah abdul ghani Baradar had lauded Pakistan’s reconciliatory efforts for peace in afghanistan. the delegation of the taliban Political commission had arrived at new islamabad international airport (iia) on wednesday morning from doha on flight Qr-632. the delegation had been received by senior Pakistani officials and escorted under tight security. this is the third visit of mullah Baradar to Pakistan and the latest trip comes as the taliban and afghan government took a 20-day break in their talks taking place in doha.

Pakistan has time and again urged the taliban to start talks soon with the afghan government to end decades of conflict, telling visiting officials of the group that an intra-afghan dialogue could help ensure regional stability. analysts claim islamabad has had a close association with armed groups in afghanistan dating back to the soviet union’s invasion of the country in the late 1980s and continues to exercise influence over the taliban.

“Pakistan has a lot of leverage, short of military options, including allowing and restricting the taliban’s mobility,” Barnett rubin, a senior advisor on afghanistan and Pakistan under the obama administration told reuters.

India planning surgical strike against Pakistan: FM Qureshi ABU DHABI staff report

foreign minister shah mahmood Qureshi has said that after the exposure of fake indian ngos by Brussels-based disinfolabs, india was planning on launching a surgical strike against Pakistan to divert attention away from its internal affairs. the above was said on friday during a press conference in abu dhabi, wherein the foreign minister claimed that information had been obtained from intelligence agencies regarding a planned strike.

Qureshi noted that Pakistan had revealed “india sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan” through a dossier that it shared with the international community. “an important development has cropped up […] i’ve learned through our intelligence forces […] that india is

planning a surgical strike against Pakistan,” said Qureshi, adding that india was trying to obtain “tacit approval” from “important players”. fm Qureshi, speaking for Pakistan, opined that india was engaging in these tactics to divert attention from “serious internal issues” – namely, the deteriorating human rights situation in indian occupied kashmir (iok) and the recent farmers’ protest in india. “india may at any time repeat a Pulwama-like drama to divert attention from the internal problems and was planning an action along the loc and working Boundary,” he said. the farmers’ protest is growing as opposition parties, civil society, and trade unions have expressed their support for them, he said, adding that the minorities were “uncomfortable in india.”

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un vehicle damaged by indian fire across loc ISLAMABAD staff report

the indian army purposefully opened fire on two officers belonging to the united nations military observer group in india and Pakistan (unmogiP), who were in a vehicle near the line of control (loc), confirmed foreign office (fo) spokesperson Zahid hafeez chaudhri on friday. around 10:45 am today, indian troops “specifically targeted” and the un vehicle which was “en route to interact with cfV victims in Polas Village in chirikot sector”. the Pakistan army evacuated the un personnel to unmogiP field station in rawalakot.

“the un vehicle was damaged, fortunately, the officers were not injured. the officers were immediately evacuated

by Pakistan army and brought back to the unmogiP field station in rawalakot,” the spokesperson said. the inter-services Public relations (isPr) stated that un vehicles are clearly recognisable,

even from long distances “due to their distinct make and type and clearly visible markings”. chaudhri termed the incident as a reprehensible act of unprovoked firing, and said that the actions taken by india against the unmogiP officers is ‘indicative of a new low in the conduct of indian occupation troops’.

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Saturday, 19 December, 2020

NEWS

PM lAunCHeS SeHAt SAHulAt ProgrAMMe for AJK ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan launched Sehat Sahulat Programme for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) at a ceremony in Islamabad on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said this programme will provide health insurance to 1.2 million families in the territory and they can get medical treatment from three hundred and fifty health facilities across Pakistan.

The prime minister said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had started this project from

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the process has now begun to extend the facility to every household.

In Punjab, six million families have been provided with the health cards and the provincial government there is striving to provide this facility to the entire population by the end of next year, he added. PM Imran said that the launch of this programme in Azad Kashmir will also send a message across the Line of Control (LoC) where a “fascist and oppressive regime” is subjugating the rights of people.

He said that, given the economic constraints, launching this universal health coverage program was a

SC rejects appeal against IHC decision on SAPMs, advisers The Supreme Court (SC) upheld the decision of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding advisers and special assistants to the prime minister (SAPMs) and rejected a petition pertaining to their appointment.

The prime minister can appoint a special assistant at his own discretion, said the apex court. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed added that appointments of advisers and special assistants is the discretion of Pakistan and he can appoint any expert for consultation. The appeal was heard by CJP Gulzar, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan after Justice Munib Akhtar recused himself. The lawyer of the applicant, Ikram Chaudhry, in his arguments before the court said that the appointments of SAPMs do not fall under Services of Pakistan and the cabinet can only appoint five advisers. When the lawyer attempted to quote the precedent of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, Justice Ahsan said this case does not involve the matter of dual nationalities. Furthermore, he said that the court had already allowed a citizen with dual nationality to hold the post of a special assistant. Earlier in December, the IHC dismissed a petition filed against the appointment of five unelected advisers and 15 SAPMs. The IHC judgment had noted that Article 93 of the Constitution allows the prime minister to appoint up to five advisors and conferring of a federal minister status on an advisor is “only for the purpose of perks and privileges” and “does not make the advisor a federal minister as such”. NEWS DESK

Interior minister orders to remove unneeded police checkpoints in Islamabad Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has directed the police to remove all unnecessary police checkpoints in the federal capital. According to Radio Pakistan, Rasheed said that people will no longer face difficulties due to the checkpoints. “Police has been handed over six vehicles equipped with the latest technology,” said the interior minister. “It will be provided with eight more vehicles for security purpose.” Acting on the instructions of the interior minister, Islamabad police has replaced all the checkpoints except those in the Red Zone with mobile checkpoints. Talking to journalists after inauguration of drive-in cinema in Islamabad, the minister said that all checkpoints have been removed except three as police mobile vans would active instead of checkpoints. He said that first drive-in cinema was inaugurated in the federal capital in collaboration with Jazz and Capital Development Authority (CDA), which would provide a recreational activity to citizens during the times of the coronavirus pandemic. He asked the management to charge only Rs50 per vehicle. Drive-in cinemas have the advantages of in-person viewing while staying in the comfort, privacy, and safety of your own vehicle. The minister said that the CDA has started improving all public parks in the capital. Park was also being set up in the Minister Enclave, he added. NEWS DESK

courageous decision by the government He also said that this program is in line with the principles of the State of Medina.

The prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to transform Pakistan into a welfare state as per the vision of founding fathers.

This is not the only welfare programme launched by the premier recently. On Wednesday, PM Imran had directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to extend the ambitious Kamayab Jawan Programme to the merged tribal districts. He had also directed them to improve internet and mobile network coverage in merged tribal districts for benefit of the tribal people.

KP Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had been present on the occasion.

PM Imran had also directed the KP government to take more steps for the promotion of tourism to generate employment opportunities and enhance the province’s revenues.

The premier had said that the people have high expectations from the PTI government and directed provincial ministers and members provincial assembly to frequently visit their respective constituencies to monitor development projects on the ground, as well as making efforts to address people’s problems at their doorsteps.

India employing 'brutal tactics' to create terror in Pakistan: Faraz ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that not only is India employing “brutal tactics” to alter the demography of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), it is also stirring up terrorism in Pakistan.

In a tweet on Friday, he said that India has been running a vicious propaganda campaign against Pakistan for years.

He also said that the international community, the European Union and United Nations should take notice of such nefarious activities.

Earlier this week, Faraz, addressing a seminar titled “Understanding Hindutva Mindset and Indian Hegemonic Aspirations” in Islamabad, had said that the Hindutva mindset of the Indian government has endangered peace

in the region. The information minister had added that the Modi regime’s agenda is based on hatred and its fascist steps have exposed the Indian claims of a secular state.

The minister said that Pakistan presents its perspective on regional issues on the basis of facts whereas India distorts facts and spreads false propaganda against Pakistan. This has been vindicated in a recent report by EUbased DisinfoLab, Faraz had maintained.

He had said that the DisinfoLab report has vindicated Pakistan’s stance as it has proved that India is using dirty tactics and distorting facts and spreading false propaganda against Pakistan. While regretting that the international community’s silence over fascist tactics of India is questionable as such Indian tactics have endangered the regional peace and stability, Faraz had said that Pakistan would continue its efforts to expose India.

PDM pressuring army in attempt to get NRO: PM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party opposition alliance, was trying to put pressure on the army in the hopes of creating conflict between the Pakistan Army and the federal government so they could get an NRO, but that would never be granted.

Talking to a private news channel on Friday, the premier said that this tactic had been tried in the past, but maintained that giving NRO to those who looted the national exchequer would be a great dishonesty with the nation. He added that there is "a lot of anger" within the army over the verbal attacks of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his party against the top military leadership.

He added that the army was tolerating their statements as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was a percipient person who could

exercise good judgment.

"I praise Gen Bajwa today. To attack an army chief in this manner; a reaction comes from the army," PM Imran said, referring to the manner in which Nawaz would accuse the military leadership of creating a "state above a state" during the various PDM rallies. Nawaz, who had addressed the rallies virtually from London, had also accused COAS Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) DG Lt Gen Faiz Hameed of having rigged the 2018 general elections to "impose the incompetent Imran Khan" on the country.

"There is composure in [Army Chief Bajwa], that is why he is tolerating this. There would be a big reaction if somebody else was leading the army," the premier added. The prime minister added that appealing to the army to remove the democratically elected government would be classified as treason under Article 6 of the Constitution. PM Imran also alleged that the army had helped create Nawaz. He said that the PML-N supremo was "manufactured by the army against the PPP".

Pakistani-American Ali Zaidi named in Biden’s climate team NEW YORK APP

US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday announced appointments of key members of his climate team, which included Pakistan-born Ali Zaidi, who will serve as deputy White House Climate Coordinator.

Zaidi, 33, is currently New York’s deputy secretary for energy and environment and is the highest-ranking Pakistani-American in the Biden administration.

He will work under Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former president Barack Obama and now leads a major advocacy group, to coordinate the new administration’s domestic climate agenda.

“This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on day one to confront the existential threat of climate

change with a unified national response rooted in science and equity. They share my belief that we have no time to waste to confront the climate crisis, protect our air and drinking water, and deliver justice to communities that have long shouldered the burdens of environmental harms,” Biden said in a statement.

A press release issued by Biden’s transition team described Zaidi as “a leading climate expert and longtime advisor to the president-elect,” noting that he helped draft and implement the Obama-Biden Administration’s Climate Action Plan and negotiate the Paris Climate Agreement. Zaidi, who immigrated from Pakistan, grew up in the Rust Belt outside Erie, Pennsylvania. He studied at Harvard and Georgetown Universities.

“Zaidi brings the cross-sector and multi-disciplinary experience needed to deliver a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis,” the press release said.

Pakistan calls for strengthening migrants' protection ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has called upon the international community to show greater solidarity by strengthening cooperation to enhance the protection, well-being, working conditions, and effective integration of migrants. International Migrants Day is being observed on Friday to raise awareness about the challenges and difficulties of international migration. This year the theme of the day is “Reimaging Human Mobility.” The theme assumes special significance owing to the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of migrants around the world. In a statement on International Migrants Day on Friday, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that as a country of origin, transit, and destination, Pakistan believes in the potential and promise of migration, as it unlocks a host of opportunities for the individuals and their families as well as the countries concerned. He said that the Pakistani diaspora overseas is not only a major source of support for our national development but also contributes to the progress of host countries. Pakistanis living abroad have excelled in all fields in their host countries. The spokesperson said that under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, all necessary measures are being taken to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, to promote the welfare of our migrant workers, and to create special investment opportunities for them in Pakistan as well. STAFF REPORT

Shaheen-IX to enhance interoperability between Pak-China air forces: CoAS RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that Pakistan-China joint exercise will not only improve combat capacity of both Air Forces substantially but will also enhance interoperability between them with greater strength and harmony. The army chief said this on Friday during his visit to an operational base of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to witness the Pakistan-China joint air exercise “Shaheen-IX”, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The COAS said that such joint training ventures are vital to increase combat readiness of both countries to face emerging geo-strategic challenges. While interacting with the base personnel, the COAS appreciated the professionalism and dedication of PAF and reiterated the importance of interservices harmony and synergy for operational success. He said that PAF’s cutting edge aside, what makes it second to none is the high morale and thorough professionalism of its personnel. Shaheen-IX is 9th in the series of joint exercises between PAF and PLAAF which started in 2011 and are held in Pakistan and China on alternate basis. Earlier, the COAS was received by Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force. STAFF REPORT

PtM lawmaker shifted to Karachi in special flight KARACHI: Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and MNA Ali Wazir, who was arrested by the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a pending case in Sindh, was shifted to Karachi on Friday through a special flight.

The Sindh police investigation teams were present to receive him at the airport. He was escorted in an armored police vehicle to a location, not yet divulged, for further investigations in the case of anti-state speech for which he was booked. Wazir allegedly made in his December 6 speech anti-state remarks which compromised the stature of the national armed forces according to the police case. Peshawar police had arrested the MNA earlier this week over his anti-state remarks in a public rally held in Karachi. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police arrested MNA after the Sindh home department had earlier written to KP authorities requesting Wazir’s arrest as he made on December 6 some antistate remarks. TLTP

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

83 more lose life to Covid-19; 2972 fresh infeCtions reported ISLAMABAD TLTP

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he coronavirus pandemic claimed 83 more lives, whereas 2,972 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday.

According to the NCOC, the death toll in the country due to Covid-19 has reached 9,164. A total of 3,261 patients recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours while 2,447 patients were stated to be in critical condition.

The total count of active cases in the country is 42,478 while the positivity rate was recorded at 7.58 per cent. According to the NCOC, with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country, the national tally of cases now currently stands at 451,494.

A total of 39,171 tests were conducted across the country during this period, while 6,216,060 samples have been tested thus far. Overall, 399,852 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far in the country.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll has risen by over 1,000 since the start of December, data issued by the NCOC showed on Friday. The virus has claimed 1,073 lives in the last 17 days, bringing the national death toll to 9,168.

The death toll for the first half of the current month is higher than in November when a total of 1,268 people died of coronavirus. It was even lower before as the month of October recorded 339 Covid-19 deaths and September 186.

With over 1,300 new cases, Sindh’s Covid-19 tally has reached 201,080 while the second most infections have been reported in Punjab with a cumulative tally of 130,122. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has recorded 54,021 cases, Islamabad 35,700 and Balochistan 17,868. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) have so far reported 7,893 and 4,810 infections, respectively.

fiA probes shehbaz in money laundering case in jail

ANOTHER KP DOCTOR DIES; SINDH SURPASSES 200,000 INFECTIONS Pakistan has one of the highest recovery rates in the world as over 87 per cent of those diagnosed with the novel coronavirus have recovered. Most number of recoveries have been reported in Sindh with 178,027 people surviving the virus. Punjab has reported 115,701 recoveries, followed by 48,254 in KP, and 29,417 in Islamabad. Balochistan recorded 17,258 recoveries, AJK 6,588 and GB 4,607.

Meanwhile, another doctor in KP lost his life on Friday, after contracting coronavirus. Dr Muzaffar Sayed contracted coronavirus while discharging his duties and was under treatment at the Sedo Teaching hospital. The coronavirus has claimed the lives of 37 doctors in the province so far.

Meanwhile, the number of fatalities from Covid19 was recorded highest in Sindh within 24 hours as the pandemic intensified during its second wave across the country. The number of fatalities from Covid-19 was recorded highest within 24 hours in Sindh province while 51 out of 83 deceased patients of the virus were put on ventilators in different medical facilities. Moreover, the highest positivity rate was recorded in Sindh’s hyderabad city up to 24.59 per cent and the lowest in the GB region up to 1.63 per cent. The rate of positive coronavirus cases stands at 17.71 per cent in Karachi.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the positivity rate was recorded at 9.3 per cent, 7.59 per cent in Balochistan, 5.4 per cent in Punjab, 5.45 per cent in the federal capital Islamabad, 8.66 per cent in KP, 10.69 per cent in Sindh, 17.21 per cent in Rawalpindi, 3.79 per cent in Faisalabad, 3.4 per cent in Multan, 9.28 per cent in Peshawar, 6.96 per cent in Swat, 14.49 per cent in Abbottabad, 5.65 per cent in Quetta, 13.57

TLTP

A team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrived at Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday to interrogate Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif in Rs25 billion money laundering case. The team quizzed Sharif, who is also the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, about his alleged role in the money laundering. A day earlier, it interrogated his son hamza Shahbaz in the case. The FIA had registered the alleged money laundering case of Rs25 billion against him and his two sons, hamza and Suleman, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. earlier, the agency had written a letter to the Punjab prison department seeking permission to record statements of the father-son duo in Kot Lakhpat Jail. “The investigation officers of the FIA want to interrogate/record the statements of accused hamza Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday and accused Shahbaz on Friday, respectively in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore,” read a letter written to Lahore deputy inspector general prisons. On November 11, an accountability court had indicted Shehbaz, his son hamza, daughter and other family members in a money-laundering reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

per cent in Muzaffarabad, 8.8 per cent in AJK’s Mirpur and 2.25 per cent in Gilgit.

In Multan, 45 per cent of ventilators dedicated for coronavirus patients are in use, 42 per cent in Islamabad, 34 per cent in Lahore and 27 per cent of ventilators dedicated for coronavirus patients are in use in Peshawar.

Regarding the oxygen bends, the NCOC data showed that 38 per cent beds are being used for patients in Islamabad, 39 per cent in Multan and 60 per cent in Peshawar.

Amid the rising number of cases, the AJK on Friday government has allowed wedding halls to reopen in the valley, with the rules stipulating that wedding halls are allowed to hold gatherings of up to 300 people with strict adherence to the coronavirusrelated standard operating procedures (SOPs).

The administrations of the marriage halls will be bound to provide masks and sanitizers to the attendants, the notification read. Furthermore, only 30 people can attend marriage ceremonies being held at homes.

On November 22, a complete lockdown in parts of AJK was enforced for 15 days after rising Covid-19 cases in the region. This decision came during a meeting of the AJK cabinet that met with Prime Minister Raja Farooq haider in the chair. The meeting was briefed that the coronavirus situation in the valley has worsened as Covid-19 positivity rate has gone up to 19 per cent. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Irfan Saleem while seeking cooperation from the public in tackling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Mirpur district had asked them to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary movement.

UNGA unanimously adopts Pakistan’s resolution on right to self-determination ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

LAHORE

AJK WEDDING HALLS REOPEN WITH RESTRICTIONS

The United Nations General Assembly stamped its approval on a Pakistan-sponsored resolution that reaffirms the right to self-determination for peoples who are subjected to the colonial, foreign and alien occupation.

“By adopting our resolution, the General Assembly has reaffirmed our legal, political and moral case in support of all peoples, including the Kashmiri people, to struggle for self-determination against foreign occupation by all means available to them,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram told APP after the 193member body took action on the draft.

Adopted by consensus, the resolution, which was cosponsored by of 71 countries, calls on countries to immediately cease their foreign military intervention in and occupation of foreign countries and territories, as well as acts of repression, discrimination and maltreatment. The text was recommended last month by the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with Social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

“This resolution empowers legitimate freedom movement and renews international commitment to help those living under occupation and subjugation,” Ambassador Akram said.

“Pakistan will continue to speak up for all peoples who are suffering under foreign occupation,” he declared.

“This has been a cornerstone of our foreign policy and we are proud to be the voice of the voiceless.”

Under the terms of the resolution, the General

Assembly would reaffirm the universal realization of the rights of all peoples, including those under colonial, foreign and alien domination, to self-determination as a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights.

The resolution also declared the General Assembly’s firm opposition to acts of foreign military intervention, aggression and occupation, since these have resulted in the suppression of the right of peoples to selfdetermination and other human rights in certain parts of the world.

It called on those States responsible to cease immediately their military intervention in and occupation of foreign countries and territories, as well as all acts of repression, discrimination, exploitation and maltreatment.

The Assembly would also deplore the plight of millions of refugees and displaced persons who have been uprooted as a result of these acts and reaffirms their right to return to their homes voluntarily in safety and honour.

The UN human Rights Council has been requested to continue giving special attention to the violation of human rights especially right to self-determination, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been requested to report on this in the General Assembly at the 76th session next year.

The assembly deferred action on two draft resolutions: “Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar”, and “a global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”. The resolutions would be reviewed after budgetary considerations.

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Asad Umar tests positive for coronavirus Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has tested positive for coronavirus. Asad, who also heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), announced the test result on Twitter on Friday, saying, “Just got my Covid-19 test result and it is positive. I will be isolating at home." The NCOC is also working as the country’s coronavirus-monitoring body. At present, Pakistan's coronavirus positivity rate is 7.59 per cent with close to 3,000 new infections and 84 deaths reported over the past 24 hours. The total tally of cases stands at 451,494. NEWS DESK

lance naik mehfooz remembered on martyrdom anniversary ISLAMABAD: The 49th martyrdom anniversary of Lance Naik Muhammad Mehfooz Shaheed Nishan-ehaider was observed on Friday. In a tweet, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DirectorGeneral (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar said the nation venerates supreme sacrifice of Mehfooz who embraced martyrdom at Wagah Border in 1971 war. he said that the courage and extremely daring actions of Mehfooz in the battlefield are a sublime precedent worth emulating by all defenders of motherland.

Mehfooz was born on October 25, 1944, in village Malkan of district Rawalpindi. he received his early education from his village. In 1962, he joined the Pakistan Army and after completion of basic military training in 1963, he was placed in 15 Punjab Regiment. he took part in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 at Wagah border. A company of the 15 Punjab was ordered to attack Kangri Pull inside enemy territory.

During the attack, a bomb exploded near Mehfooz in which he got badly injured and his machine-gun became out of order. he crawled into a nearby trench of a martyred soldier and got hold of the machine-gun and started firing. During this, he noticed that an enemy machine-gun was effectively engaging his own troops.

Mehfooz crawled towards the enemy trench and on reaching within 10 yards charged on it. he caught the enemy fire by his neck and pushed him to death.

Meanwhile, the other two enemy soldiers kept on stabbing him with their bayonets. Mehfooz became badly injured and embraced martyrdom. however, his hands never left the neck of his adversary, who was later freed with great effort. On March 23, 1972, the government, in recognition of Mehfooz’s bravery, awarded him with the top military award ‘Nishan-e-haider.’ TLTP

ihC seeks ptA’s reply till Jan 25 in social media rules case ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad high Court (IhC) on Friday issued notices to the parties in a petition challenging social media rules devised by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). IhC Chief Justice Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition filed

by Journalists Defence Committee of Pakistan Bar Council over the request of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists to challenge social rules devised by PTA. The high court issued notices to PTA and sought response over the petition till January 25. Barrister Jahangir Jadoon appeared in the hearing to represent the petitioner. Jadoon told the court that social media rules have been challenged after making a thorough review of the Constitution. Justice Minallah remarked that freedom of expression is very important for a society. The court wrote in its order earlier for avoiding such legislation which gives the impression of denying press freedom. he continued that it is a case of public interest and those societies have never risen up after being denied for free expression. The IhC chief justice directed that the rules framed by the relevant authorities should be forwarded to all stakeholders to hold meaningful dialogues. The IhC CJ added that violation of Article 19 and 19-A could not be made at any cost. TLTP

NAB sends 26-point questionnaire to Fazlur Rehman ISLAMABAD TLTP

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday sent a 26-point questionnaire to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in order to proceed with the investigation into corruption allegations against him.

The anti-corruption watchdog directed Fazl to submit the response till December 24, besides providing evidence. The NAB authorities have also warned him for facing legal action if he fails to submit a response in the said time.

Through the questionnaire, the anti-

corruption watchdog’s investigators sought sources of income of the politician. They asked him to provide details of properties bought by his father, as well as the inherited properties owned by him and other family members besides providing particulars regarding his annual sources of income.

The anti-graft body questioned about the complete details of the JUI-F chief’s 64 kanals of land in Dera Ismail Khan and two kanals and 15 marlas of agriculture land which were bought on the name of his son.

The sources of income were also sought for the purchase of five marlas land in Multan Cantt by his son. The investigators asked the politician to clarify the association of Gul

Asghar, Noor Asghar, Muhammad Jalal, Sher Bahadur, Yasir, Abrar Ali Shah, Sharifullah, Taka Khan, haji Shehzada, Abrar Ahmed and Muhammad Ramzan with his religiopolitical party. Fazlur Rehman has been directed to provide details of other assets belonging to him and family members including siblings in term of gifts besides giving particulars of other land bought by him or purchased for anyone else.

The details of the assets sold by him and family members were also sought, as well as the records of hotels, shops and houses that have been constructed on the name of other persons. The politician was directed to disclose expenditures of the election

campaign, foreign tours, bank accounts, tax particulars, seminaries registered with his names along with its bank accounts, registration records and income details.

It has been directed to Fazl to provide details of the government land allotted to him, close aides and other workers of his religiopolitical party. he has been asked to provide records of all local and foreign bank accounts belonging to JUI-F, assets’ details and donors of his religiopolitical party.

Fazl was questioned for the income sources to cover expenses of his royal lifestyle and alleged usage of political influence for benefiting his brother to get a government job.

earlier on December 15, it emerged that NAB had started to tighten the noose around Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) head and JUI-F chief as it has issued call-up notices to people who have business ties with him.

Ibrar Ahmed Khan, son of Muhammad Ismail, was conveyed NAB notice through Islamabad CCPO while DI Khan DPO handed over the NAB notices to Muhammad Jalal, son of Azam Khan; Abrar Ali Shah, son of Asghar Shah, and Abdul Rauf, son of Abdul Sattar. The latter was sent two call-up notices of NAB. The NAB had asked all five of them to appear before the anti-graft body on December 16 in a corruption inquiry against Fazl.

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

04 NEWS

PAKiStAN EDUcAtioN Policy to bE fiNAliSED iN MARch 2021 ISLAMABAD

i

AHMAD AHMADAni

N a bid to ensure equitable opportunities of education for all children across the country, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MFEPT) is likely to finalise ‘Pakistan Education Policy 2021’ through a consultative process

by March next year.

Well-informed sources disclosed to Pakistan Today that the ministry has asked the four provinces to give input for developing a policy that ensures equitable opportunities of education for all children across the country.

The sources said that the ministry has sought input and feedback regarding the key aspects and topics of the policy, which

should be included in the document. The ministry has desired to develop a policy document, which should ensure a national cohesion across the religious and ethnic divides and the divergence that is essential for the context of the country.The ministry will compile the inputsmethodicallyto develop a draft document for further consultations with the stakeholders.

According to the sources, the stages of preparing the policy include, broad consultative stage between December and January 2021, drafting stage during first week of February 2021, re-consultation with the stakeholdersstage between February and March 2021, and approval stage till March 23, 2021.

MFEPT Additional SecretaryMohyuddin Ahmad Wani has asked all the

key stakeholders through a letter to submit their inputs as early as possible. In the letter, he stated that the ministry is embarking on the task of developing the ‘Pakistan Education Policy 2021’ through a consultative process on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

In the current Covid-19 conditions, the ministry is working closely with the provincial governments to ensure a coordinated national response for young people of the country.The need to coordinate resulted from a desire to ensure equity for all children and institutions across the country and accumulation of inputs from every area before finalising the document.

It is pertinent to mention that a National Education Policy (NEP) was developed in 2009. But later, the

50 new NADRA centres to be opened: Sheikh Rasheed

Constitution of Pakistan 1973 was amended in April 2010 and the education sector was fully devolved to the provinces.

After the 18th amendment, the status of the NEP 2009 was revisited and a joint declaration on education was signedby the representatives of all the provinces and areas in September 2011.The declaration stated that the NEP 2009 will continue to be a jointly-owned national document, subject to such adaptation as necessitated in view of the amendment.

However, at present, an updated and comprehensive education policy is not available to represent the country. Therefore, the MFEPT is reaching out to all the stakeholders to develop a policy that ensures equitable opportunities for all children across the country.

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid chairs a meeting at Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department.

CM Buzdar inaugurates first phase of tourism project LAHORE APP

Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday inaugurated the first phase of ‘Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project’ worth Rs830 million in collaboration with the World Bank to promote tourism sites.

Addressing the ceremonyhere, the CM said that the government would make the province a hub of tourism as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.Punjab, the land of five rivers, has huge potential in tourism, but there is a need to take effective measures.

He said that more initiatives for tourism promotion would be executed under the project in near future. In the first phase, work would be carried out in Chakwal, Mianwali and Khushab, while in the next phase, tourist spots in KotliSatian would be made accessible through better road network.

He further said that tourism, including religious and cultural sites, has great potential in Jhelum, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Attock and some other areas.

The government would also promote the spots in these areas.

“The government would also extend cooperation to public-private partnership mode of work to carry out development work at different tourism spots in the province. Investment in this potential sector by private investors would also be encouraged,” he said.

“The tourism development department

would work for the tourism promotion without any hurdle, as the government has ensured availability of sufficient funds for department. Along with tourism, several steps for the promotion of cultural activities in the provincehave also been taken by the government.”

“It is for the first time in the province

that as many as 176 rest houses are opened for the general public and the booking process for these rest houses is online for the convenience of the public. The doubledecker bus initiative for sightseeing, previously available in Lahore, has been extended to Rawalpindi. It would be further expanded to other cities soon.”

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Friday said that 50 new National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) centres would be opened across the country, particularly in far-flung areas, to facilitate the people. Talking to media persons at NADRA headquarters here, the minister said that provision of various facilities to the common people is the government’s top priority. NADRA centres would be extended to the far-flung areas of the country. He added it has been decided to issue ordinary computerized national identity cards (CNIC) to the poor people without any fee within 15 days.

“NADRA will issue the first CNIC free of cost within fifteen days, instead of forty days,” he said. “Passport and ID card offices would be opened in all the embassies of the country under the supervision of NADRA and with the support of the Foreign Office. The number of NADRA mobile vans would also be increased to 300 to facilitate the people residing in remote areas of the country. The government is fully committed to resolvethe problems of oversees Pakistanis. Their issues would be resolved on priority basis.” Replying to questions, the minister said 16,000 employees, including 3,000 on contract basis, are working in the NADRA. Not a single contract employee would be laid off. There are around 700,000 registered Afghan people in the country. Talking about the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the minister said: “It seems that the PDM would take part in the coming Senate elections, which could be held any time during February 12 to March 12 next year. [Prime Minister] Imran Khan is going nowhere and the government under his leadership would complete its five-year constitutional tenure.” To a query, the minister said currently Pakistan has no agreement with the United Kingdom for extradition of the criminals. Earlier, the minister was briefed by NADRA Chairman Usman Mobeen about the functions of the organisation. APP

University of Karachi announces deadline for admissions KARACHI: The University of Karachi on Friday announced the deadline of online applications for open-merit admissions in the master and bachelor programs for the academic year 2021. The university announced that online applications for the admissions will be accepted till December 24. The aspirants can see the details of eligibility, number of seats and documentary requirements in the Admission Prospectus-2021 available at the university’s web portal. The university had opened admissions for master programmes in applied chemistry and chemical technology, applied physics, Arabic, Bengali, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, chemistry, computer science, economics, economics and finance, education, English, environmental studies, genetics, geography, geology, health, physical education and sports sciences, history, international relations, Islamicbanking and finance, Islamic history, Islamic learning, library and information science, marine science, mathematics, microbiology, and some others. The bachelor programmes were offered in actuarial sciences and risk management, agriculture and agribusiness management, Arabic, Bengali, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, computational mathematics, economics, English, financial mathematics, geography, geology, health, physical education and sports sciences, and some others. PR

District authorities succumb to oil tanker association’s blackmailing tactics LAHORE HAssAn nAqvi

Taking advantage of overreliance on oil tankers for fuel supplies, the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) has once again pressurized the government to withdraw orders aimed at reducing traffic jams and improving road safety.

On December 16, the tankers’ association had announced a strike to protest the Rawalpindi district administration’s decision to bar the entry of oil tankers in

city areas during the daytime hours.

As per the new rules, the movement of oil tankers was to be restricted only between 10pm to 6am, as a survey of the city and cantonment areas had showed that morning and evening rush was mainly due to the presence of heavy vehicles.

With the announcement of strike, oil supplies to Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad Airport and power plants were stopped. A severe fuel crisis was feared in these areas as only up to two days of stock was available at petrol stations. In ad-

dition, the protesting drivers had also gathered outside government buildings, besides blocking roads across the twin cities.

However, after several rounds of discussions between the district administration and APOTOA, the authorities buckled under pressure and allowed the tankers to operate from 7pm to 7am in the city areas and after 10pm till the morning in cantonment limits.

The association also agreed to the demand of ensuring the tankers’ safety and assured of following the standard operating procedures issued by the Oil and Gas

Regulatory Authority (OGRA).

Estimates by OGRA suggest that 85pc of oil tankers are non-compliant with the prescribed safety standards.

These safety violations have resulted in major accidents, like the Ahmedpur East tanker explosion in 2017, which led to tragic loss of more than 200 lives. Currently, it is estimated that around 12,000 oil tankers are engaged in the transportation of more than 60pc of petroleum products across Pakistan. These tankers cause road congestion, accidents, pilferage, late deliveries and immense damage to the highway network due to being overloaded.

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

NEWS UN vehicle damaged by Indian fire across LoC continued from page 01 The incident comes as relations between the two South Asian nuclear powers remain tense and Indian troops routinely target Pakistan Army positions and civilian areas in the region. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is currently on a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said earlier that India is planning a surgical strike against Pakistan, and urged the international community to play their part in keeping peace in the region.

Pakistani troops guarding the LoC and Working Boundary with India have been put on ‘high alert’ to frustrate the Indian designs. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pakistani forces have been given clear instructions to respond to any ‘misadventure’ from India.

Telecom sector key driver for growth, job creation: Hafeez Shaikh Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said that telecom is one of the fastest growing segments of Pakistan's economy and is a key driver for growth and employment generation in the country. The finance minister said this during a virtual meeting with Telenor Group Global President and CEO Sigve Brekke on Friday. The finance minister appreciated the services provided by the telecom industry and assured all possible cooperation in the ongoing projects. The CEO reiterated the company’s support to Pakistan during these testing times "as connectivity will be of great importance for the nation’s recovery efforts in the year ahead". As an enabler of economic activity, Telenor has an important role to play in reviving the country’s long-term growth trajectory, he added. Brekke said creation of a predictable business environment with fair regulatory regimes for spectrum licencing and taxation remained key to improve the business climate and receive future foreign investment in Pakistan. NEWS DESK

BOP becomes market maker for debt securities on PSX The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) held a gong ceremony to welcome The Bank of Punjab (BOP) onboard as a market maker for debt securities on the exchange. To mark the occasion, an agreement was signed between PSX and BOP at PSX trading hall on Friday. Following the accord, BOP became the first bank to be recognized as market maker for both conventional and Shariah-compliant debt instruments on PSX. The agreement was signed by PSX MD & CEO Farrukh H Khan and BOP President & CEO Zafar Masud. Speaking on the occasion, Farrukh Khan said, “I am very happy to welcome Mr Zafar Masud and BOP to PSX. It is indicative of their commitment to the development of Pakistan’s capital markets that BOP is one of the first banks to become a market maker on PSX. We welcome this development as this will lead to increased growth and dynamism in the debt market, which is crucial for the economic progress of Pakistan.” Meanwhile, in his address, Zafar Masud stated, “Today marks an important day for us. The Bank of Punjab will be the first bank in Pakistan market making for both conventional and Shariah Compliant securities as well as corporate debt instruments at the PSX portal. This makes us the first public sector bank offering a bouquet of services in collaboration with PSX.” NEWS DESK

PM IMraN LaUdS eCONOMIC reCOvery, STreSSeS MaXIMUM FaCILITaTION OF COMMON MaN islamabad

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StAff rEPort

RIME Minister Imran Khan has called for immediate measures to pass on the benefits of improved economic indicators to the common man. Chairing a high-level meeting of his economic team in Islamabad on Friday, the premier noted that the government’s business-friendly policies were now bearing fruit.

“The country’s economy is back on track due to the efforts of the present government," he said, adding that the world was also acknowledging Pakistan’s economic achievements amid Covid-19.

The PM expressed contentment over the increase in remittances from abroad and their maintenance at the level of $2 billion per month. He also voiced satisfaction over the growth of large-scale industry, record performance of the construction industry and increasing exports of the textile sector.

Imran Khan opined that loans to the youth and the construction sector on easy terms by banks would further strengthen the economy. "Pakistan has successfully

overcome the difficult challenges and is now planning to open new vistas of development."

A day earlier, PM Khan had stressed the need to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve

The post-vaccine world talha aslam With the pandemic, rattling the world economies and tattering the power structures, a cure seems like nourishment to the withered roots of economic structures. A recent report issued the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has signaled even a viable Covid-19 vaccine will not contain economic damage. The report also mentioned how the virus has affected the world economy and stipulates the decline of global trade, industrial production, employment, ultimately relegating the livelihoods of common man.

In order for world to defend the economic hits of covid-19 , a comprehensive strategy needs formulation upon financial projections of year 2020. Such projections indicates that an additional 130 million people could be thrown into extreme poverty With the borders closed and air travel prohibited in the globalized world of the 21st century, businesses are shutting down leaving millions jobless. The entire world is looking for ways to cope up with the new normal, such as the education industry, making policies to transfer knowledge through digital classrooms, and struggling for the survival of its workforce. The automobile industry in the US faced a decline of 24 %. According to the International Energy Agency, the crude oil consumption is 8 % lower

on average this year than last year, following by a sudden and massive drop in global demand after the covid-19 outbreak With the economists and political leaders arguing over acquiring vaccine, many are ignoring the havoc it inflicted upon the fragile economies of the world. The world is divided among the developed and the developing. Major economic structures depend upon the former investing in the latter as it seems with China growing its influence over the trade routes and America with its policies of economic control, both are dependent upon each other for stable economic growth. The question here arises who will get it first and who will be left for the last.

With poor health systems in the underdeveloped regions, will it be possible for the poor nations to comply with the vaccine prices or will it be given as a donation once it's fully utilized by the developed as in the case of polio?

The covid-19 crisis highlighted the glaring disparities in vaccine development and vaccine delivery and these effects will be more severe for the developing with their inadequate health systems.

In our minds, we believe that vaccine is like a holy grail and once discovered it will end the pandemic for us. To fight pandemics, the vaccine is one tool against it, and finding a vaccine is just one step in this fight because there is a difference in the existence of a product and access

to a product. We need to reroute our economic priorities in structuring health systems to sustain the blow of pandemics by ensuring their efficacy. With the fever of nationalism looming over the economic think tanks, the already economic situation will only get worse resulting in loss of livelihood for not only developing but the developed, as the former markets are important for the latter in the capitalized world.

The health professionals believe that six out of ten viruses can transfer from animals to humans.

Signifying with environmental degradation and changing climate patterns, the pandemics could become the new reality of the living world. In such a haphazard scenario, economists and world political leaders need to review their strategies about the course of trade in the globalized world. Cultivating the values of globalization to reshape the structures of production and delivery is an imminent need to be addressed by multilateral cooperation. In economic terms, no economy can fully restore unless others around are picking up at the same time.

Therefore, a more inclusive restructuring of trade policies can lead to, securing livelihoods of millions, revival of industry and economic stability.

The author is an academician and holds a degree in media studies. His area of interest is international politics and foreign affairs.

Oil hits nine-month high above $52 as vaccine rollouts support london AGENCIES

Oil hit a nine-month high on Friday and was headed for a seventh straight weekly gain as investors focused on the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and looked past rising case numbers and tighter lockdowns in Europe.

Pfizer has applied for approval in Japan for its vaccine, which is being used in the United Kingdom and the United States. US Vice President Mike Pence said US approval for Moderna’s shot could come later on Friday.

Brent crude was 50 cents, or 1pc, higher at $52.00 at 1447 GMT, having reached $52.02, its highest since March. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was

up 46 cents at $48.82 after touching $48.87, its highest since February.

“Oil prices are very healthy under the circumstances,” said Bjornar Tonhaugen of Rystad Energy.

“Market euphoria has not stopped really.”

US lawmakers are trying to agree a coronavirus relief package but a new potential roadblock emerged as some Senate Republicans insisted on language ensuring that expiring Federal Reserve lending programmes cannot be revived.

“Looking ahead, oil prices should continue to find support from the prospect of a Covid relief bill and accelerating vaccine rollouts,” said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM.

Even so, surging virus case numbers in major economies and new movement restrictions in Europe are impacting the immediate prospects for oil demand. The number of US cases rose by at least 239,018 on Thursday.

Oil gained support this week from weekly US supply data showing crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels, more than expected.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, are supporting the market by slowing the pace of a planned increase in supplies next year.

OPEC+ plans to add 500,000 barrels per day of supply in January and will meet in early January to decide on next steps.

WHO investigators heading to China in early January to probe coronavirus Zurich AGENCIES

World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Friday an international team led by the UN agency would be going to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, said international experts would go to the central Chinese city

05

of Wuhan, where the first cases of Covid-19 were detected last December.

“We still do not have a take-off date because we are working on the logistics around visas and flights. We do expect the team to be going there in the first week of January. There will be quarantine arrangements,” Ryan told a news conference.

“The team will visit Wuhan, which is the purpose of the mission. The point of the mission is to go to the

CMYK

original point at which human cases were detected.

They will fully expect to do that,” he added.

WHO officials also said that three-quarters of cases were occurring in the Americas, and thanked Canada for committing to donate vaccine doses to other countries.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19, said the agency was in touch with South African researchers who identified a new variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus.

the economic indicators which were already on a positive trajectory. He also directed the officials concerned to achieve at the earliest the targets set for the promotion of SMEs.

India planning surgical strike against Pakistan: FM Qureshi continued from page 01 “The mishandling of the coronavirus by Indian authorities is known to everyone and the impact that it is having on their economy is known to all of you,” he added. He urged the international community to play their part in obtaining a peaceful solution between the two nuclear neighbours, stating that Pakistan “is fully prepared to respond and defeat their designs” and would “respond immediately and effectively”. The Pakistan Army had been put on high alert amidst a possible threat of another attempt by India to conduct a surgical strike inside Pakistani territory. FM Qureshi is on a two day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to strength the bilateral relations between the two countries. During his visit, he met his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. “The Pakistani community in the UAE has played a pivotal role in promoting contacts at a public level between the two countries,” the foreign minister had said during a meeting with Nahyan, where he added that Pakistani community in the UAE has been facing difficulties and stressed the need for an early resolution. The top diplomats also discussed the positive progress made in establishing peace in Afghanistan. Qureshi said Pakistan was committed to continuing its sincere efforts for peace and stability in the region, including the Afghan peace process. Both sides agreed to continue consultations on issues of mutual interest.

UN confirms its vehicle hit as UNMOGIP observers monitored ceasefire violations at LoC UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Friday confirmed that a vehicle of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was hit by an "unidentified object" near Rawalakot on the Pakistani side of Line of Control (LoC) in disputed Kashmir region, but the occupants were not injured. "The mission is currently investigating the incident," Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in response to a question from APP at the regular briefing in New York. He said the incident occurred when UNMOGIP military observers were conducting routine monitoring activities near Rawalakot as part of the mission's mandate to observe and report on ceasefire violations at LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. "UNMOGIP personnel and the driver were not harmed but the vehicle sustained some damage," the spokesman said. In Islamabad, the Foreign Office (FO) said that Indian troops "specifically targeted" the UN vehicle carrying two UNMOGIP officers from across the Line of Control, in what was termed a "new low" in their conduct. The UNMOGIP officers were on their way to Polas village to meet with the victims of Indian ceasefire violations when they came under fire, the foreign office said. The officers were immediately evacuated by the Pakistan Army and brought back to the UNMOGIP field station in Rawalakot. The incident happened as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a press conference in Abu Dhabi that he had credible information that India was planning a 'surgical strike' against Pakistan to divert attention from its internal affairs. APP

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

06 COMMENT

I still mourn, do you ?

Avoid making institutions controversial By taking decisions on their behalf

The perpetrators went unpunished

P

RIMe Minister Imran Khan has announced two steps ahead of the forthcoming Senate elections.

For unstated reasons he wants the Senate elections, that are traditionally held in March to be conducted this time a month earlier. To put an end to the malpractice of buying a seat in the Senate made possible by secret ballot, he wants elections through a show of hands. The use of money on a mega scale has not only brought a bad name to the Senate elections, but has also been widely condemned in the past by the present opposition parties. Both the proposals have however been shot down by the PDM leaders.

The opposition maintains that it is for the eCP rather than the government to announce the election schedule. By deciding to hold the Senate election in February, the government has undermined the authority of the eCP. While agreeing in principle that there is a need to put an end to the trading of votes, PML(n) Vice President Maryam nawaz has accused the PM of hypocrisy. According to her, the PM used the agencies in August last year to make a number of opposition Senators vote against the party whip, thus sabotaging the no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. now that the PTI is unsure of the loyalties of its allies and some of its own legislators, Mr Khan has suddenly turned into a moralist.

The demand by Mr Khan for a show of hands is impracticable as underlined by the Attorney General himself.

The Senate polls are cast on principle of proportionate representation where the voter elects more than one candidate.

According to him, what the government has proposed is an open ballot as opposed to the current secret ballot. The government wants the name of the voter written on the back of the ballot paper to be open to scrutiny. The open ballot however clearly violates Article 226 of the Constitution which explicitly stipulates by use of the mandatory “shall” that “All elections under the Constitution, other than those of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, shall be by secret ballot.” The self-explanatory formulation leaves little space for the Supreme Court for interpretation.

To put an end to the secret ballot in Senate elections requires constitutional amendment rather than recourse to the apex court.

muhammad Zahid rifat

E

AST Pakistan, the eastern wing of the country, died on 16 December 1971 at the Paltan Maidan in Dacca ( now spelled Dhaka). On its debris emerged a new country, Bangladesh, as a result of a big conspiracy and naked aggression by India in the garb of the Mukti Bahini, a force patronized by the neighbouring country through Shaikh Mujibur Rehman.

It was on this day, perhaps the darkest day in the history of Pakistan so far and also for the future, that the then Commander eastern Command, Lt Gen A.A.K. niazi, had surrendered before the Indian Armys Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora at a ceremony symbolically laying down his pistol. The very presence of the Indian general established the bitter fact that it was India, and none else, who had caused the separation of east Pakistan from West Pakistan and breaking the country which had emerged on the world map only on 14 August 1947 out of nowhere, and which was hardly 24 years old.

The factors responsible for this great tragedy are yet to be identified and the guilty ones have not been punished, despite being so named in the comprehensive Report of the Commission of Inquiry headed by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice hamoodur Rehman.

The three-member Commission of Inquiry was constituted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who had become the President as well as the first-ever Civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator at the Fall of Dacca after the then President/CMLA/Commander-in-Chief General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan had stepped down, handing over remainder of Pakistan, which was founded by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah through the struggle of the Muslims for a separate homeland of their own to his successor.

To refresh the memory of the readers, it is mentioned here that the other two members of the Commission of Inquiry were Mr Justice S. Anwarul haq, a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Mr Justice Tufail Ali, Chief Justice of the Sindh and Balochistan high Court. even 48 years after the Great Tragedy that resulted from the shameful Fall of Dacca, those named in the hamoodur Rehman Commission Report, submitted in two parts, have not been named as such so far, what to talk about those who had caused the dismemberment of Pakistan being tried and punished in any manner whatsoever.

The Commission’s Report itself has not been

Economy in trouble An apparently insatiable appetite for foreign debt

T

he government’s apparently insatiable appetite for foreign exchange, which has led it engage in $4.5 billion fresh borrowing so far this fiscal year, not yet half over, including $1.1 billion in expensive commercial loans, last month, have led it become so desperate for the next IMF tranche, that it has agreed to a power price hike it had previously rejected as politically unacceptable.

While nothing has changed on the political front so as to make the proposed hike more acceptable, the government’s need for foreign exchange seems to have increased. The looming of a bullet repayment of $2 billion to the UAe is coming, which means that the pursuit of foreign exchange will continue.

These borrowings are not project loans from development institutions, which mean that projects will be carried out which will ultimately result in the ability to repay through increased tax revenue, and which are often given at concessional rates. They are straight-up commercial loans, which are made at high interest rates, and without a thought to where the money will go. The government’s appetite for such funds reflects not just poor economic management, but poor diplomacy. The impending UAe repayment is a case in point, but the Saudi withdrawal successively of $2 billion in deposits from the State Bank of Pakistan illustrate the problem. The deposits were made for political reasons, and were withdrawn because of political reasons.

After encashing the goodwill created by years of diplomacy, this government could not avoid offending Saudi Arabia to the extent that it withdrew its deposits.

That Saudi withdrawal forced the government to accept the power tariff hike, which will get the IMF to revive its extended Fund Facility, suspended for noncompliance, even though it will be inflationary for consumers, and suppressive of growth and employment. It forces a comparison with the previous government, which so managed its own IMF package that it completed the programme and fulfilled the conditions without complaint. The present government had come to power by claiming greater economic competence, and vowing never to go to the IMF. If it had to go to the IMF, did its failure to meet its admittedly onerous conditions represent that greater competence?

Sumeera aSghar roy and rehan Saeed

W

hen one looks in the pages of history just a few decades back in 1970, China was sandwiched between two superpowers, the USA, and the USSR. China was economically isolated and diplomatically quarantined, but within just three and a half decades, what happened?

This led China to this path of progress and glory, where it has emerged as one of the most influential nations in the World, not only economically but also diplomatically. how did they address poverty? China has lifted hundreds of millions of people, out of poverty in such a short time. On every front, China has shocked the world and its economy, consistently proving its might for the last three decades as the fastest growing economy of the world and with climbing numbers after every passing day. The real reason behind this is Beijing’s Consensus, which is more commonly known as China’s Development Model. It includes the Peoples Republic of China's economic and political policies and the pathway that set the foundation of modern China. This model not only helped China to make its economy grow; besides, the policies are thought to have contributed to ’China’s “economic miracle” and eightfold growth in its Gross national Product over two decades. The model began to receive considerable attention following 2008-2009.

Severe economic downturns occurred in Western economies, which faltered and recovered slowly while Chinese economic growth remained dynamic; comparisons began to portray the China Model or the Beijing Consensus as China’s alternative to the Washington Consensus.

‘China is writing its book now; the book represents a fusion of Chinese thinking with lessons learned from globalization culture's failure in other places. The rest of the World has begun to study this

Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

I am still mourning the Great Fall of Dacca, though I never had a chance to visit East Pakistan. I particularly get very sad on December 16 every year and avoid indulgence in any joyous and happy activities, both at home and outside anywhere. Do you share my feelings, sentiments as well as serious concerns over how the guilty ones go scot-free on this another anniversary of the tragic demise of East Pakistan

The covid-19 pandemic showed other countries

Arif Nizami

Joint Editor

were certainly not ordinary, there was gap of communication and the local commanders could have continued fighting and laying down their lives. This would have earned them more respect and honour in the eyes of their fellow countrymen than the humiliation to which they were subjected in the Prisoners of War (POW) camps in India.

Cutting the saddest story rather short, this scribe would regretfully like to mention the names of the Army Generals and senior officers who were named in the hamoodur Rehman Commission Report and ask still a very pertinent burning question as to when and what punishment was given to them?

They were Gen Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, Gen Abdul hamid Khan, Lt Gen S.G.M.M. Pirzada, Major General Mitha, Lt Gen Irshad Ahmad Khan, Maj Gen Abid Zahid, Maj Gen B.M. Mustafa, Lt Gen Amir Abdullah Khan niazi, Maj Gen Muhammad Jamshed, Maj Gen M. Rahim Khan, Brig G.M. Baquir Siddiqui, Brig Muhammad hayat, Brig Muhammad niazi, Cdr Gul Zareen of Pakistan navy, Brig S.A. Ansari, Brig Manzoor Ahmad, Brig Abdul Qadir Khan, to mention only the senior officers.

I am still mourning the Great Fall of Dacca, though I never had a chance to visit east Pakistan. I particularly get very sad on December 16 every year and avoid indulgence in any joyous and happy activities, both at home and outside anywhere.

Do you share my feelings, sentiments as well as serious concerns over how the guilty ones go scot-free on this another anniversary of the tragic demise of east Pakistan. Please join me in praying to the Almighty to save us from any more such tragedies, either at the hands of the military dictators or the civilian rulers.

The writer can be reached at zahidriffat@gmail.com

The world built by China

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

made public in full so far, as it contained the names of many sacred cows. The respect and reputation of a number of army generals and senior army officers is perhaps as much more superior, protected and safeguarded than the Motherland itself.

The duly censored part of the hamoodur Rehman Commission was made public many years back without the names of those found guilty, and as such did not offer a true and full picture of the dirtiest episode ever enacted, at least as viewed by the three senior most judges of the Superior Courts.

The Fall of Dacca had occurred when a military dictator was at the helm of national affairs. As a matter of sheer coincidence, another military dictator was at the helm of affairs in 2006 as the President/Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee/Chief of Army Staff, Gen Pervez Musharraf, who was on record as having advised the people of Pakistan to forget the 16 December 1971 great tragedy. And most unfortunately, a turnaround over the Kashmir issue then also seemed to be imminent.

The then Commander of the eastern Command was on record as having said that he had surrendered to the Indian Army on the orders of GhQ in Rawalindi. he had thus written a new chapter in the greatest-ever surrender, by about 90,000 Pakistanis, most of whom were Army officers and jawans.

The burning question that still irks the mind of this scribe and must also be disturbing millions of others who were witness to the Great Tragedy from close or distant angles, is whether those who were forced to surrender before the enemy could not lay down their lives in the defence of the sacred soil of the Motherland? no doubt the Commander eastern Command had surrendered before the Indian Army General on a green signal from GhQ, and the Army officers and jawans were bound to follow the command. But the circumstances which prevailed then

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book’ (Ramo, 2004:5). here are some lessons that the World needs to learn from the Chinese model of development, particularly underdeveloped or developing countries, to change their fate. The Chinese model of development's real success is gradual and pragmatic reforms, particularly in the post-Deng era; this proverb was very common “yu shi Ju jin” which means that there is always a room for adaptable and flexible change in the governance environment. The other beneficial thing is good governance, the exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to look after a country’s affairs on all levels, with particular consideration for such ethical universal norms and principles including equity, accountability, consensus orientation, transparency and the rule of law.

For a diplomatic win, over the last three decades, China went to every country and all continents and won trust by engaging the other nations in the projects like, the One Belt One Road Initiative, and South-South cooperation. China is helping other countries to improve infrastructure by building roads, railways, helping countries to make their cities look more beautiful, building dams and so on. China did not choose the path of brutality and wars to win over other countries.

Progress in science and technology, development in the rural sector, and reforms in agricultural production, demonstrated a pattern of stable growth, and this is due to the impact of economic reforms in the rural areas and change in governmental policies related to agriculture production and the farmer’s wellbeing, which make it more modernized. The agriculture sector played a vital role in the Chinese economy during the reform period (1978-2012). At first, rural reform concentration on household production systems enhanced output and productivity significantly. This helped millions of people to get out of absolute poverty since 1970. As the second step, China increased the agricultural productivity along with carrying out institutional reforms allowing the mobility of rural

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labor force that has led to unprecedented largescale, rural-urban migration, which helped China to carry out an incredible “resource shift” to increase the economic growth. More recently, in China from 2000-2012, China’s agriculture production nearly doubled, and its milk production increased by 3.5 times, and vegetable oil production increased by 17.64 percent.

During this timeframe, the agriculture sector witnessed an increased level of integrated mechanization, which increased by almost 18.8 percent to 56 percent. Current research shows that the annual growth rate of China’s TFP (total factor productivity) of the agriculture sector rose by around one percentage point during 1985-2010. According to the Ministry of Agriculture China, the contribution of technological progress to China agriculture growth TFP was 54.5 percent in 2012. From 1985 to 2010, the annual growth rate of China’s TFP was 3.8 percent on average, of which the annual growth rate of agricultural technical progress was 5.1 percent.

The countries which are on the same road of poverty, unstable economy, low GDP, and where food security is the biggest concern, should learn from the Chinese model of development. If these countries cannot apply the model in full form and spirit, they can still take some relevant points and amend the policies and plans accordingly. If China can create its World, why cannot any other country.?

The way China encountered the covid-19 pandemic signifies the place of China in the current world order, where the most developed economies and their updated health departments 'could not stand against this catastrophic wave of plague.

Sumeera Asghar Roy is a PhD candidate at the National key laboratory of Fruit's genetics improvement at China Agricultural University, Beijing. She holds a master's degree from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.

Rehan Saeed is a postgraduate student at the College of Agricultural Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Saturday, 19 December, 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

Foreign Airlines Operation

Conversations in the year of fear m.J. akbar

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eCeMBeR began with a mild joke, so it is easy to forget the month of March when laughter suddenly disappeared, and a deep, pervasive panic consumed our nation. Maybe amnesia is necessary for survival after passing through the valley of the shadow of death. hearts echoed with silent lament; the air was quickly polluted by the hysteria of psychological spreaders, that puffed and puerile tribe of doomsday-mongers, some of them garbed in the quackery of false doctors.

Panic is the contagious corollary of a pandemic. nothing in this endless year was more heart-rending than the sight of mass migrations as the poor fled their urban nightmare and sought their original communities. Philosophy had an answer for our wracked consciousness: this too shall pass. But that comfort, while coherent in the collective, trembled on the edge of individual uncertainty.

It was between november and December that a weak joke began to flit through mobiles: given the declining numbers, the pandemic would disappear even before the vaccine arrived.

A second one turned up. The success of the vaccine has been estimated at between 70 and 95 percent, but India’s survival rate is over 98 percent, so who needs the vaccine in India?

India had the lowest death rate of any major country with a democratic and open system of records. From mid-September, the figures began sliding consistently, and unexpectedly. On the day of writing, the total number of dead is 143,709, out of 9,906,165 registered cases.

Long before the arrival of any vaccine, Indians came to terms with this upheaval. In October, the public mood began to change. not that people became careless; they merely decided they were not going to die before death. Indians were not being foolhardy; they were becoming confident that while the pandemic was a scourge of fate, its management was in safe hands.

There is still debate over whether the country should have been put into lockdown in the third week of March; that debate is rife with partisan opinions. The more sensible option is to test it with logic. The first lockdown was necessary not because it would drive out pestilence, but to prevent dislocations inherent in panic. It would control contagion, but not eliminate it.

India needed time to create the vast health-care infrastructure and emergency commodities supply chain essential for this calamity.

Who wore a mask in India before March?

Who produced a mask? no one. We had no ventilators. Sanitizers? We had insufficient knowledge. In the circumstances, Prime Minister Modi’s pandemic management was practical and comprehensive. nudged into line, hospitals and medical centres began to adjust to the demands of this crisis.

Modi’s mix of symbolism and pragmatism worked. he made people a part of the solution,

instead of a problem for which they were not responsible. The village and the mohalla became guardians against the virus.

Modi led a federal and national effort, in cooperation with every Chief Minister, including the one or two who remain recalcitrant, to create as good a safety net as India could improvise. nothing is impervious, but doomsday had been postponed.

In a democracy, recognition of quality leadership comes not in newspaper articles or internet pontification, but through elections. Modi has won almost every election since the pandemic began, including in Bihar, where opinion polls almost unanimously predicted the opposite.

Pollsters often get things wrong because they have little patience for context. how many of the number-jugglers, for example, remembered this rabi harvest when they were canvassing the villages?

This April, the country was at a nervous standstill. Prime Minister Modi took measures quietly, to ensure the harvest, with its large requirements of labour, was completed. There was no reason for farmers to forget in October what had saved their harvest in April.

At the start of the lockdown in March, there was genuine apprehension of food shortages.

Food scarcity is not only a condition of production and supply. Fear can turn a problem into a calamity. If an average urban household decides to hoard five kilograms of grain, all the supply in the world cannot keep up with demand. But people quickly found the confidence to buy what they needed and no more. They were certain of assured availability by a hands-on government.

Bread and sport, says an ancient adage, keep the people calm. With the arrival of rains, sport crept back onto the television screen. even though the casualty radar flickered between heavy and light blips, there was no return of lockdown. By november, the economy began to show revival; manufacturing was up, as was GST, an accurate measure of commercial transaction. What was the big story of 2020? May I suggest an unusual answer? The virus was, one assumes, an accident, perhaps one waiting to happen but nevertheless an accident. A story, in my view, is a narrative of human endeavor. For me, the big story of 2020 was the quiet, persistent and meticulous way in which democracy conquered dread. elections were held in India, at every level from state to village and municipality, all through the pandemic. The decision to hold them is taken by the election Commission in consultation with the government. But they are successful only if people vote. We also witnessed in 2020 perhaps the most peaceful round of elections in our history. This was clinching proof that life was back to its regular cycle in India. Remarkably, the elections did not lead to any spike of cases.

There were 73 million voters in Bihar; 57 per cent participated in three phases, taking their decision on 71 seats on 28 October, 94 seats on 3 november and 78 seats on 7 november. It was better than a carbon copy of a non-pandemic

schedule. There were elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, hyderabad, Assam and Goa. The only subdued turnout was in hyderabad, and this had more do with an absence of political enthusiasm rather than fear of disease. here are the newspaper headlines a day after the panchayat elections in Goa: Amid Covid, 57% of rural Goa votes, keeps parties guessing; Usually vocal, mining belt goes silent this time; Salcete records 47% turnout; 31 Covid patients turn up in PPe suits to cast vote; Police drop rifles, arm themselves with thermal guns; Cong., nCP in verbal duel at Benaulim. In other stories, the ruling party, BJP, claimed victory and the principal Opposition, Congress, accused the election panel of turning a blind eye to violations. Gripe is usually a sign of weakness, and so it proved. The BJP won an overwhelming victory.

One self-important American newspaper, always happy to overegg the pudding, uses as its brand line the claim that ‘Democracy dies in darkness’. Quite the opposite. everyone can see in light. It is only democracy, illuminated by the principle of the collective good, powered by an accountability mathematics that can bring down any government, which has the force to outlast darkness. The American presidential election proved this, not because of the results but because of voter participation. Both candidates got over 74 million votes; Biden had 81,282,896, Trump got 74,222,484. The figures are the highest ever for both parties, in the middle of a health disaster that has already taken over 300,000 American lives.

A virus without borders should encourage solutions without borders. A century ago, the world learnt little from the global affliction of the so-called Spanish flu. There is some good news today. According to one estimate, 200 million would have been dead by now instead of 1.5 million if the lethal rate had been the same as in 1918 and 1919. hope of control in 2020 and 2021 is because the crisis has lifted national compartments. Manufacturing abilities in India have teamed up with research facilities in Britain; testing is transnational; and pricing must become affordable.

Death is not sentimental. But the pandemic was cruel. Death was lonely. You disappeared into the void alone and isolated, without family or friends. The only conversation you had was with yourself. eerily, this was also true of those who survived. For long periods, conversation was rationed. You spoke, mostly, to yourself. This probably needs another term: perhaps ‘inversation’ rather than ‘conversation’. When I think back to an elder I loved and respected but who has now gone, or a friend of long ago who passed away, thoughts sink into a conundrum.

Of what use were those hedgehog quills of ambition, or the many years of telephone power, to an individual trapped for a month in a sterile room staring at the slow but inexorable arrival of the angel of death?

Why does religion offer an angel of death, but no angel of life?

I think, said a French philosopher, therefore I am. The truth may be elsewhere: I think and therefore I am not.

Mobashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Guardian. He has also served as Editorial Director of India Today. He tweets at: @mjakbar.

WhILe it is understandable that after gross mishandling by CAA/PIA and Aviation Ministry in failing to implement and incorporate international safety requirements, the void created by initial 6 months ban on all PCAA regulated airlines by eASA, it was unavoidable in the interim period, but allow foreign airlines. To add salt to injury Aviation minister raised unsubstantiated issue of fake licenses. however, the government and CAA claiming it a success that following British Airways, now Virgin Airlines will also be allowed to operate direct flights to northern hubs Islamabad and Lahore, from where almost 80% of international traffic originates, is shocking. even Ground handling was given

by Virgin to a UAe based company. The Aviation Ministry and Government of Pakistan should rejoice only when permission is given to CAA regulated airlines to resume eU operation. These european airlines facing acute revenue shortfalls, would in all probability, lobby that ban on PIA prolongs. The fact is that PIA had been operating into the eU airspace and all major destinations without any complaints by regulators until 2004. It is the choice of executives placed at helm in both CAA and PIA who have personal egoistic issues etc, in failing to digest that whatever maybe their status and networking within Pakistan, they must submit and comply with recommendations of ICAO and other regulators such as eASA etc. Failure to comply with international industry practices has resulted in repetitive suspensions (2005 and 2011) with disastrous long-term consequences and financial impact on national exchequer and forex reserves. Millions of US Dollars will now be transferred from the revenue earned by these foreign airlines to their bank accounts abroad. The most recent ban followed when CAA and PIA teams agreed to implement in 2019, six corrective action plan items. Whether it is lack of commercial aviation expertise or incompetence etc, CAA failed to enforce upon PIA to adopt Safety Management System acceptable to eASA. Ample time and repeated warnings were given to PIA/CAA and on 30 June they imposed a complete ban on PIA into eU initially for 6 months, and if they fail to comply with mandatory recommendations another three months, which is the situation now; if we fail to satisfy eASA Safety Audit, than by end of March there will complete revoking of Third Country Operation permit into eU airspace. In 2007 the problem started when former DMD niaz appointed a single vendor located in a remote part of the UK and delays in prompt availability of essential spare parts, resulted in “systematic deficiency in maintenance”. no lessons were learned because by 2011, another controversial MD and DMD Siyani appointed Transworld Fze Dubai as the single vendor, with disastrous consequences.

MALIK TARIQ ALI Lahore

Tackle Them All Head-To- Head The recent IRC - International Rescue Committee - report has been shocking, bringing out new challenges to the world. First up, the report needs to be taken seriously as it has been dwelling at length on possible threats from the world conflicts, climate crisis and COVID-19. I think there have been many countries facing these crises on the watchlist prepared by the IRC. The report has just confirmed the prediction that all those issues like COVID, climate change would be in existence even well into the upcoming year of 2021. So the international community should look for immediate strategies to stand up to the challenges ahead. Interestingly, I have been seeing many a welfare platform in my native areas like Korkai, Tuticorin, Tiruchendur, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli in Tamil nadu, many of which have long been involved in such selfless acts as humanitarian aid. Practically speaking, there must be more action on the ground. It is not just about visiting the websites and seeing the details over there. Rather, more and more action plans are required to reach out to the people and countries in dire need. For this to happen, the world organizations like the IRC, the Un should have rigorous plans of action in the first instance. Going back a few centuries, it should be crystal-clear that many social reformers in Asia had made numerous pathbreaking social activities through the various sources and facilities available in the past. Back in this 21st century, all the technological advances have gone to the next level. even then, the whole gamut of the relief aid has not been able to reach out just on time. True to form, all those reports from different platforms have to be translated into impeccable action through strong strategies and multilateral cooperation across the board. Only then will it be possible to tackle the issues like corona, world conflicts, climate change crisis.

P SEnThIL SARvAnA DuRAI Mumbai

City of mangoes transform into city of problems

DIVISIOnAL headquarter Mirpurkhas the most varied city of Sindh have been facing various problems for a long times, Such as drinking water, sewerage system, education System and health and road infrastructure. here Mirpurkhas municipal committee fails to provide own services, include Sanitation, Sewerage, Waste Management, Streets, Slaughterhouse, Parks, dispensary, Lighting and others services, in different areas of Mirpurkhas there are lots of garbage and drains get out of the water and gather on the roads, affecting people to face difficulties. here there is a lack of drinking water from time to time, it is estimated that approximately 6 lacks of the total population is deprived of clean water and numerous die due to drinking dirty water, especially in rural areas. Moreover, while many affluent households can afford to buy water tankers and mineral water, this puts a strain on the finances of the average citizen. The search for safe water sources also causes citizens to divert their attention and time, acute shortage of drinking water in different areas of the city such as nai Para, hirabad, Jamnadas colony, Mir colony, Gharibabad and others, Another important issue of the city is the traffic jams, due to traffic jams on the main roads and adjacent roads creates problems for the areas and the motorists besides noise pollution. A number of anti-encroachment drives were launched by the authorities concerned in all areas but the situation never changed in the city. At this time major issue of city is garbage and waste disposal system. A city of gardens and mangoes change now a city of garbage. Most of Several roads and streets of different localities of the city are heavily littered with garbage. Major Serious issue of city is health in this regards Patients in Mirpurkhas are not being provided with proper medical at the Civil hospital, which is leading to a major health crisis in the area. even though every year medicines are provided to the hospital according to its quota, patients are only given primary drugs for free, such as Disprin and Panadol, if they require other medications, they are told to go and buy it from private pharmacies outside the hospital. What happens to the rest of the medicines provided to the hospital is still unresolved.

M nASIR IQbAL Mirpurkhas

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

Congress party needs to ditCh the nehru-gandhi family ONCE AN ASSET, THE CLAN HAS BECOME AN ELECTORAL LIABILITY THE CONGRESS PARTY HAS BECOME MORE A PARTY OF DYNASTS THAN A SERIOUS POLITICAL ENTERPRISE, TO ITS OWN COST

Foreign Policy

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anIK JOshI

NDIA is a country of dynasties, and the most famous is the Nehru-Gandhi family. the first family member to serve as president of the Indian National Congress was Motilal Nehru, father of Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the group from 1919-20 and again from 192829. After the second term, he was succeeded by his son Jawaharlal, who served the first of many terms at the top job— as president of the Congress in 1929-30, 1936-37, 1946, and 1951-54—as well as being India’s first prime minister from 1947-64.

By the time his daughter, Indira Gandhi, who acquired her convenient (but unrelated to Mohandas Gandhi) name by marriage, became president of the Congress in 1978, it was already a well-established family business. however, she turned it up a notch.

In Nehru’s time, there were still heads of the party who weren’t from the family, but since 1978 (except for a short gap between 1991-98) the Indian National Congress has been led by a member of the Nehru Gandhi family. Since 1998, Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister rajiv Gandhi, has led the party, save for the years between 2017-19 when her son, rahul Gandhi, was in charge.

In the earlier days of the Indian republic, the family name evoked feelings of respect and admiration across the country.

My father, who was born in India in the 1960s and grew up in Delhi, recalled that even there, people wanted to vote not for Indira Gandhi, Congress politician but for Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter, even

though she was running in rae Bareli in the state of Uttar Pradesh—almost 400 miles away. today, the Nehru/Gandhi name has lost the shimmer it once had. It no longer stands for an Allahabad prison sentence, a willingness to give up a family home for the betterment of the nation, or the independence of a new nation. Now, it stands for nepotism, scandals, and faux secularism. Voters have gone from looking for Nehru’s daughter to looking away from his bloodline and there’s no sign the party is trying to even change in the face of this.

During the emergency, when Indira Gandhi took near-absolute power for 21 months, the Congress shifted from an allIndia party to an all-Indira party. Congress luminaries like Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, and JivatramKripalani were either removed from the party or left it, and some were jailed. In their place, a cabal of family members, sycophants, and yes men rose to power, each pursuing their own ends. Sanjay Gandhi, Indira’s first son, pursued projects like large-scale sterilization of poor Indians and the demolition of sites like impoverished areas around the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi. eventually, Indira Gandhi decided to hold elections in 1977, and she and her version of the Congress lost in a historic blowout leading to the formation of the first non-Congress government. the Indira Congress wasn’t down for the count, however; they eventually came back to power in 1980. the biggest continuity between the Congress of 1977 and the Congress of 1980 was that they were both one-woman institutions with everyone else playing a supporting role. however, this was not to last—in 1984, Indira Gandhi was murdered by two of her bodyguards over her support of Operation Blue Star, the assault on the Golden temple in Amritsar (one of the holiest sites in Sikhism). her assassination kept her reputation alive. had she continued on as a politician, she would have to further an-

swer for the emergency (the 18 month suspension of democracy within India) and the authoritarianism unleashed by her and her family, her assault on a Sikh holy site, and more. however, as a martyr to India, she didn’t really have to and in making her one, the Congress Party also made some of her changes permanent.

Yet this was in some ways, the best chance for a non-Gandhi to lead the party. the outpouring of sympathy across India meant that the Congress Party was already likely to do well and thus, could take a risk.

Many were considered for the role, among them future President Pranab Mukherjee, but ultimately, they weren’t selected. Indira Gandhi’s other son—rajiv Gandhi, best known as a pilot, was instead made the face of the party. rajiv was a young man, still India’s youngest prime minister. he was also seen as a face of reform as well as continuity—he was, after all, a Gandhi. rajiv Gandhi led the party to the biggest victory in the history of the Lok Sabha— more than 400 seats out of the body’s 542.

But his time in office is perhaps remembered best for all the scandals—especially the Bofors Scandal and the Shah Bano case. In Bofors, he was accused of profiting from military contract deals between the Bofors arm manufacturer and the Indian Army. Shah Bano was a far different affair—a complex scandal over religious divorce vs secular law. Gandhi and his advisors were worried about a political backlash and loss of votes from Muslims, because the judgement may have been seen to set up Muslim religious beliefs regarding divorce on a collision course with secular law. Unfortunately for Gandhi, the backlash came anyway; though not solely because of Bano or Bofors, his party lost the 1989 elections. the next set of elections happened in 1991 and rajiv had no chance to finish them—he was assassinated by a tamil suicide bomber while campaigning, and succeeded by PamulaparthiVenkata (P. V.) Narasimha rao as Congress leader and

prime minister. For the first time, there was no member of the clan waiting in the wings.

But by 1998, poor performance and internal party discontent gave another Gandhi a shot. Sonia Gandhi, rajiv’s widow, was made party president—the first Gandhi in the role since her husband around 10 years earlier. She was different from many Congress presidents—she was an Italian-born Catholic who had met rajiv while he was at the University of Cambridge. however, by the 1990s she was no outsider to Indian politics—her mother-inlaw Indira Gandhi had taken a liking to her, and brought the young woman under her wing when she first moved to India. By the time rajiv was assassinated, she was a well-known figure. With her ties to both previous Congress prime ministers, she was seen as capable of leading the party to brighter days. With the assistance of Pranab Mukherjee, she was made president and since then, only one other person has shared the title with her—her son rahul Gandhi, who held it for two years from 2017-19. In comparison, since 1998, the BJP, the chief rival of the Congress, has had 10 individuals as party president— none of whom were related. the Congress Party has become more a party of dynasts than a serious political enterprise, to its own cost. After winning the 2004 and 2009 elections in a coalition with several parties, the Congress-led coalition lost the 2014 election in a blowout, and their 2019 performance was highly dispiriting to supporters.

It is clear it is time for change—the question remains whether the party will act on it.

When rahul Gandhi resigned from the presidency, he was clear that the next president should be a non-Gandhi. the Congress Working Committee responded to this by making his mother the acting president. Sonia Gandhi has now spent more time atop the INC than Jawaharlal Nehru.

When members of the Congress, including rajya Sabha Leader Ghulum Azad and former Union Ministers Shashi tharoor, KapilSibal, and more sent a letter to the Congress president seeking elections for the Congress Working Committee, their request was ignored and at least one of them lost their positions for speaking out.

In all likelihood, Sonia Gandhi will lead the party for as long as she wants to and after that, it will probably be led by one of her children. rahul, after his

back-to-back national drubbings, is probably out for good, but Priyanka Gandhi, her daughter, is still a possibility and as she is in charge of the Congress’ 2022 Uttar Pradesh election strategy, maybe she’ll be able to demonstrate political knowhow and aptitude. however, this is unlikely—when she led the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign in UP, the only winner in the 80 seats contested was her mother in rae Bareli.

Congress will probably continue to lose younger leaders either to the BJP as they did JyotiradityaScindia or lose them to the backbenches, like Sachin Pilot. Increasingly, the party which once had most of the younger leaders of India—from Nehru to Patel to Gandhi to Maulana Azad—will find itself without them as they ask why they should hitch their star to a party that doesn’t care for them or their future.

Nehru’s work swings in the balance here. It is true that the BJP has taken increasingly authoritarian actions, and it is also true that they’ve changed the face of the country. however, this happened with the support of the voters and that is the nut that must be cracked—how did all these people come to vote this way? this isn’t only an academic question—this is what the party must resolve because the voters in Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh that sent Nehru to the Lok Sabha in 1951, 1957, and 1962 sent a BJP candidate, Keshari Devi Patel, to the Lok Sabha in 2019, and this has happened across the country.

One answer to this question can be found in Modi’s 2014 campaign, which was mainly about corruption. Modi projected himself as a far less corrupt politician—one from an ordinary family, without children of his own. It was a stark contrast with the UPA’s scandals. Congress doesn’t need a childless leader, but it doesn’t need to be tied to the mast of the Nehru-Gandhi clan either. A non-Gandhi might be able to mount a serious challenge to Modi. As former Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha has written, the history of India and the Indian National Congress are closely tied. If the country is to stay a democracy, the party must do so as well, and they must act before it’s too late to make a difference.

Anik Joshi is a public policy professional in Washington D.C.

Warning! an army of russian trolls has invaded tiktok THE KREMLIN IS USING ITS TESTED METHODS ON THE VIRAL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM, BUT TIKTOK USERS HAVE DEVELOPED “ANTI-BODIES” TO BOTS AND TROLLS

Moscow TiMes

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Ilya KlIshIn

hether you live in Moscow, Berlin, New York, tokyo, Delhi or Buenos Aires, chances are you still think tiktok is some kind of marginal Chinese social network where teenagers from all over the world dance and sing. Not anymore, it isn’t.

Consider tiktok in russia. the numbers are simply astounding. As of late 2019, 8 million russians were on the platform, most of whom were, indeed, teenagers. But now, just one year later, the number of russian users has skyrocketed to 20 million — most of whom are between 25 and 34 years of age. the number of tiktok users worldwide stood at 800 million back in prequarantine January, according to the Digital 2020 report prepared by We Are Social and hootsuite. But it is probably safe to say that the number will have surpassed the 1 billion mark by early 2021.

Although it would be pointless to

deny that tiktok is growing more powerful by the day, it is still possible to try to fight it — as outgoing U.S. President Donald trump attempted to do this past year. Of course, like many of his other punitive measures, this effort also proved futile. Nevertheless, another option is to harness the power of tiktok in the service of your own goals. As they say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

In fact, this was exactly the strategy the russian authorities adopted for all the main social networks starting in 2011. that’s when hundreds of thousands of Muscovites used the internet to organize anti-government protests that filled the streets of central Moscow.

Again, this wave of protests was what prompted the Kremlin to get serious about the internet. the ruling authorities either eliminated each major online media outlet or coerced it into taking a pro-Kremlin stance. Many opted to relocate to russia’s near-abroad for safety’s sake. Investigative journalism has become the domain of small-scale initiatives ever since. the authorities began actively blocking sites, including by extrajudicial means. they introduced laws labeling certain individuals and groups as “foreign agents” as well as other laws that effectively introduced partial censorship of the media, making it illegal to, for example, “offend” the sensibilities of religious believers or the authorities. the vague wording of the laws and the overly broad

interpretation of their intent has compelled journalists to censor their own work constantly to avoid trouble.

In this way, leaders easily routed the russian media and drove them into the ghettos where they have remained for the past 10 years. Muzzling the few major russian It players turned out to be easier still: the country’s siloviki, or security forces, used their time-tested method of applying pressure or else coercing companies to sell off assets to Kremlin-friendly individuals.

Significantly, the Kremlin did not apply the same repressive policy against the biggest players of all — Google, Facebook and twitter. true, government officials occasionally appeared on tV threatening to block one of the giants, but every instance inevitably ended with leaders imposing ridiculous fines amounting to no more than several hundred, or at most, several thousand dollars.

No one knows why the government took this particular approach. If it was from a desire to save face, well, leaders had repeatedly lost face many times before. It might be that it was technically too difficult for them to block a major platform without suffering serious fallout. In the end, the authorities only succeeded in blocking LinkedIn, which had not been particularly popular in russia anyway. they also set out to block the popular telegram messenger service, but officially abandoned the effort after several

years of trying.

Of course, if the Kremlin were to follow the example of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — who switched off the country’s internet connection when anti-government protests were at their peak — it would only cripple russia’s entire technological sphere, including the economy. Instead, leaders might emulate China by building a full-scale “sovereign” and parallel internet. evidence suggests that the Kremlin has been attempting to do just that in recent years, but the result remains unknown.

One way or another, it was this state of affairs that first prompted the Kremlin to develop its atypical “soft power” approach. the Kremlin concluded that since it could not yet shut down the major social networks, it would thwart the West, domestic opposition and the country’s independent media by shaping public opinion with the help of “troll factories.” these are large office buildings on the outskirts of major russian cities filled with paid employees laboring around the clock writing posts and commentary on social networks according to instructions from government handlers.

When russian journalists — including this author — first reported the existence of troll factories in 2013-2014, many said it sounded too crazy to be true. however, after the U.S. presidential election upset in 2016 and the Brexit vote in Britain, talk of russian trolls no longer sounded paranoid and the whole world became interested. the social weapon that had proven so successful domestically had been redirected for “export.”

As it turns out, it is simple to manage public opinion using only basic psychological methods. For example, the number of likes and dislikes affects how viewers

perceive a video. Also, readers tend to automatically ignore both the high-profile and main comments on a video, but if many of the comments are negative, then doubt creeps into the user’s mind. exactly the same methods are now being used on tiktok. For the last few months, I have been carefully studying what you might call the site’s popular socio-political content: jokes about President Putin as well as material on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the protests in Khabarovsk and Belarus. I can now definitely say that the same thing we saw 5-7 years ago on twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram is gaining momentum on tiktok.

A huge number of accounts is appearing with strange nicknames such as “user58311400.” these accounts have no accompanying photos, publish nothing of their own and have no subscribers. And now, they are starting to post aggressive comments that express the Kremlin’s propaganda in a nutshell: before Putin, everything was terrible; Putin is the best ruler in the world; the West dreams of destroying russia; and opposition members in both russia and Belarus are only Western puppets. however, credit must be given to the older generation of tiktok users who have developed what during the pandemic we might call “anti-bodies” to such propaganda. they almost immediately identify the bots and trolls and openly ridicule them. Maybe this is why, at the end of 2020, the phrase “Putin is great” seems somehow unnatural on the internet.

Ilya Klishin is the former Digital Director of the New York-based Russian-language RTVI channel. He is the founder of KFConsulting.

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

buSinESS 09

SrI LAnKA rEvErSES dECISIon To InCrEASE domESTIC TAx on PAKISTAnI KInnow

corporate corner

LAHORE: Keeping with its tradition, Descon has marked its 43rd Founder’s Day to commemorate the success and legacy of the company. Pr

ISLAMABAD: High Commissioner of the United Kingdom Dr Christian Turner visits the historical Murree Brewery Company with his family and friends. Pr

ISLAMABAD

I

GHULAM ABBAS

N a positive development that will further promote and enhance Pak-Lanka bilateral trade, the Sri Lankan government has reversed its decision to increase the cess (domestic tax) on imported mandarins (kinnows).

According to officials of the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan has been a leading and steady supplier of quality mandarins to the Sri Lankan market in recent years. But Sri Lanka had last month announced a sudden increase in domestic tax on imported mandarins from LKR30/kg to LKR160/kg, which had made kinnow export from Pakistan almost four times costlier than before.

Although the tax was imposed on all imported kinnows, the move particularly affected Pakistan, as

kinnow is a concessional item under the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA). Moreover, the citrus season in the country had just commenced and the increase in cess had placed existing export orders in jeopardy. Pakistan Fruits and Vegetables Association (PFVA), exporters and Sri Lankan importers had also expressed concerns over the tax increase and had requested the Sri Lankan government for intervention in this regard.

Officials said that the Ministry of Commerce, through its Trade & Investment Attaché Asma Kamal in Colombo, immediately took up the matter with the concerned authorities in Sri Lanka so as to reach an amicable resolution on the matter.

It is expected that this reversal in tax would support Pakistani kinnow exporters amid challenging circumstances in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, they added.

Appreciating the move on the part of the Sri

Lankan government, PFVA opined that the withdrawal of taxes would ultimately help Pakistan meet its kinnow export target of 350,000 tonnes this year.

PFVA head Waheed Ahmed lauded the role played by the MoC, especially Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razzaq Dawood, as well as the efforts of the trade and investment attaché appointed in Sri Lanka, who effectively raised the matter in front of the Sri Lankan authorities.

The PFVA had identified the issue of Sri Lanka increasing the cess on kinnow on November 30.

It may be noted that the kinnow exporters aim to fetch foreign exchange worth $210 million this season with the export of additional 50,000 metric tonnes (MT) to meet the set target of 350,000MT this season.

In Pakistan, the total production of citrus fruit is above 2.4 million metric tonnes, of which the share of Kinnow is around 70pc-80pc.

Weekly inflation drops 0.22pc ISLAMABAD APP

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed inaugurates The Jazz Drive-In Cinema at F-9 Park. The initiative is a collaboration of Jazz, Activemedia and the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Pr

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)based weekly inflation for the week ended on December 17 witnessed a nominal decrease of 0.22pc as compared to the previous week.

The SPI for the week under review in the combined consumption group was recorded at 140.73 points against 141.04 points registered in the previous week, according to data released by the

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group during the week under review witnessed an increase of 8.24pc. The weekly SPI, with base year 2015-16, covers 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

The SPI for the lowest consumption group, up to Rs17,732, witnessed 0.96 percent decrease and went down from 147.46 points in last week to 146.04

points during the week under review.

Meanwhile, weekly inflation for the consumption groups from Rs17,732Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517; Rs29,518-Rs44,175; Rs29,518Rs44,175; and above Rs44,175 per month also decreased by 0.60pc, 0.56pc, 0.51pc and 0.03pc, respectively.

During the week under review, prices of eight items decreased, 20 increased while that of 23 remained unchanged.

The items that recorded a decrease in their average prices included tomatoes

Govt terms 45pc increase in foreign debt reports ‘misleading’ ISLAMABAD: Sarsabz Fertilizer, a flagship brand of Fatima Fertilizer under the Fatima Group, along with government dignitaries on the occasion of second Kissan Day celebrations, pledged to work for farmer prosperity.

The day was proposed by Fatima Group as a special firsttime initiative in 2019 to recognize December 18 as ‘Kissan Day’ in Pakistan which was also recognized by the federal government. Pr

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Affairs Division has rejected media reports that the country witnessed a 45pc increase in its foreign loans over the last five months.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Economic Affairs Division said, “Media reports regarding 45pc increase in foreign loans in 5-months period are completely incorrect and misleading.”

Explaining key facts, the division claimed the government received gross external inflows of $4.5 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year (July-November 2020) as against the annual budgeted estimate of $14.37 billion. During this period, the government paid back $2.9 billion on account of external public debt and its servicing. "Thus, net inflow was $1.6 billion," it added.

The division further informed that the budgeted estimate of external debt payment and its servicing for FY2020-21 is $11.369 billion. "During the tenure of the current government, the total external inflow amounted to $26.6 billion which were primarily used for repayment of external public debt and its servicing of $23.4 billion.

Thus, net inflow was $3.2 billion," the statement read. TLTP

FBR forms body to resolve refund-related issues in KP

ISLAMABAD: Ashfaque Ahmed, General Manager & Head of Technology at EFU Life Assurance Ltd, has been recognized at the ‘World’s Biggest CIO Leadership Excellence x Awards’ organized by the Global CIO Forum. Pr

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday constituted a provincial complaint resolution committee for the settlement of issues related to sales tax refund in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The sixmember committee comprises Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak (convener); chief commissioner Inland Revenue (IR) Regional Tax Office (RTO)-Peshawar; chief commissioner IR (RTO, Abbottabad); additional commissioner (RTO, Peshawar); Khyber Match and AYS Electronics CEO Adeel Rauf; and Rakaposhi Pharmaceuticals Director Saad Zahid. According the terms of reference (TORs), the complaint resolution committee shall review the nature of complaints/issues possible solution and take immediate actions for resolution; follow up with concerned field formation till the issue is resolved; maintain complete record of complaints/issues, mechanism adopted for resolution and post resolution action required, if any; and share data with the board on monthly basis including issues received, resolved and pending for resolution. TLTP

MARKET DAILY

KSE-100 retreats, gives in to selling pressure KARACHI STAFF rEPOrT

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) succumbed to selling pressure on Friday, with the benchmark index failing to sustain early gains and closing in the red.

The performance of global equity markets also remained mixed, whereas crude oil prices slipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 0.19pc to $48.27 while Brent crude price falling 0.39pc to $51.30.

"The market moved in a narrow range today, mainly on the back of selling pressure ahead of the short rollover week," a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read. "Key stocks in banks, exploration & production and oil marketing companies helped the index stay afloat, whereas last half hour of the session saw brisk

activity in steel sector that improved the price performance of underlying stocks."

SUMMARY The benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day on a positive note, gaining 188.87 points to touch intraday high at 43,955.56. It, however, lost momentum thereon, slipping to its intraday low at 43,638.33 (128.36 points). The index finally settled settled lower by 26.14 points at 43,740.55.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 101.01 points to close at 71,646.60, whereas the KSE All Share Index added 63.72 points, ending at 30,738.36.

The overall market volumes contracted from 497.52 million shares in the previous session to 482.53 million shares (-3pc). Average traded value, on the contrary, increased 5pc, from $140.8 million

to $148.2 million. Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL 4.17pc), Fauji Foods Ltd (FFL +1.92pc) and K-Electric Ltd (KEL +0.78pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 38.07 million, 31.50 million and 28.65 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower included fertilizer (-41.66 points), cement (-26.30 points) and automobile assembling (-7.65 points).

Among the companies, Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO -33.98 points), Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL 11.14 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (-10.25 points) dented the index the most.

Shedding 1.65pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector ended as the session's worst performer, with Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO 3.21pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL -1.53pc) and Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -4.17pc) ending in the negative.

CMYK

(25.81pc), potatoes (18.55pc), onions (8.34pc), chicken (2.25pc), moong pulse (0.58pc), masoor pulse (0.32pc), gur (0.26pc) and wheat flour (0.21pc).

On the other hand, commodities that recorded an increase in their average prices included electricity charges, garlic, petrol, diesel, bananas, eggs, washing soap, mustard oil, sugar, cooking oil (loose), pulses (gram and mash), vegetable ghee (tin and loose), shirting, milk (powdered), rice (Irri 6/9), LPG cylinder, firewood and mutton.

Engro Fertilizers wins prestigious IFA Green Leaf Award KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers has secured the first runner up position in nitrogenous fertilizers category at the International Fertilizers Association (IFA) Green Leaf Award 2020. With this achievement, Engro Fertilizers has become the only fertilizer company from Pakistan to be recognized on the IFA platform this year for demonstrating extraordinary x leadership in safety, health and environmental (SHE) management. The company was presented with IFA accolades last year as well for its strong performance. On being announced the award winner, Nadir Qureshi, CEO of Engro Fertilizers, said, “Safety is our license to operate. The Company’s entire leadership and Daharki site team are personally committed to uphold safety principles in everything that we do. It is the foundation on which we have built trust with our employees, business partners and stakeholders over the last 54 years.” Pr

British Council conference on Pak-UK education to focus on post-Covid world ISLAMABAD: The British Council conference titled ‘PakUK Education Gateway: Rethinking and reshaping a resilient higher education system’ will discuss key issues facing the sector in the ‘new’ normal, the role of leadership in building resilient higher education systems, and lessons learnt from the pandemic. It will celebrate some of the concrete contributions that the Pak-UK Gateway programme has made so far. Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Asad Qaiser, at the inaugural session said: By investing in our youth’s development through the knowledge economy, the government aims to generate an educated workforce, build empathy and tolerance and rapidly improve Pakistan’s positioning in the global market. Organisations like the British Council in Pakistan are playing an incredible role in helping us achieve that goal.” Pr

BAT progresses Covid-19 candidate vaccine into phase-I human clinical trials KARACHI: British American Tobacco’s US Bio-tech arm, Kentucky Bio Processing (KBP), has announced plans to commence a Phase I first-time-in-human study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate following approval of its Investigational New Drug application by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Enrolment for the study is expected x to begin shortly. The Covid-19 vaccine candidate (KBP-Covid-19; NCT04473690) will become one of a number of potential vaccines to have progressed beyond pre-clinical testing. The study is designed to enroll a total of 180 healthy volunteers who will be divided into two age cohorts, age 18-49 and age 50-70. Each group will then be subdivided into low and high dose treatment groups (N~45) and randomised 2:1 to receive either the low dose (15 μg KBP-Covid-19 vaccine + 0.5 mg adjuvant) or placebo, or high dose (45 μg KBP-Covid-19 vaccine + 0.5 mg adjuvant) or placebo. Pr

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS Turkey has evacuated seven Syrian military posts: report ANKARA AGENCIES

Turkey has evacuated seven military observation posts in northwest Syria, pulling back troops from territory controlled by the Syrian government to areas held by insurgents and Turkey-backed rebels, a report quoting a Turkish source said on Friday. Turkey had set up a dozen military posts in the region in 2018 as part of an ill-fated deal it reached with Russia and Iran to calm fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels. Ankara backs the forces fighting Bashar al-Assad, while Moscow and Tehran back the Syrian president. Several Turkish military posts were surrounded last year by the Russian-backed Syrian government forces. Turkey vowed at the time to maintain its presence at all of them but it started withdrawing in October. Citing the source, who requested anonymity, the report said that the last of the evacuations was completed on Thursday night, and the forces were being redeployed within territory controlled by the Ankarabacked forces under an understanding reached with Russia.

“It is not in the form of troop withdrawal or reducing their numbers. The situation is just about changing location,” the report quoted the source as saying. Syrian rebels say Turkey retains between 10,000 and 15,000 troops in northwest Syria, alongside rebel fighters backed by Turkey and militant forces it has committed to disarm and contain.

Already home to nearly 4 million Syrian refugees, Turkey is determined to prevent further influx of people fleeing fighting. The United Nations says there are about 4 million people in northwest Syria outside Syrian government control, of which 2.7 million have been displaced during the nine-year conflict.

Ethiopia offers reward for information on fugitive Tigrayan leaders ADDIS ABABA AGENCIES

Ethiopia is offering a 10 million birr ($260,000) reward to anyone with information on the location of fugitive leaders of the rebellious force in the northern region of Tigray, the government said on Friday. The reward to help capture leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was announced on state-run broadcaster EBC and later tweeted by the government’s taskforce on the Tigray crisis. TPLF leaders, believed to be hiding in the mountains since the capital of the region was captured by federal forces on November 28, have said that they are fighting back. Reuters has not been able to reach them for comment for more than a week. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and nearly a million fled their homes during air strikes and ground battles in Tigray last month. The conflict has raised concerns among Ethiopia’s international allies about the possible destabilisation of Africa’s second most populous nation. The European Union has postponed nearly 90 million euros in budget support payments to Ethiopia due to the bloc’s concerns over the crisis, according to an internal EU document seen on Wednesday. Ethiopia, host to the African Union headquarters, is a diplomatic heavyweight in a volatile region and its troops are valued for their service in peacekeeping missions in Somalia and South Sudan. Federal troops seized Tigray’s capital Mekelle on November 28 and now control the major towns in the region. Some power and telephone links were restored earlier this week in Mekelle after a virtual communications blackout since the federal offensive began on November 4.

FrEEd NigEriaN SChOOLbOyS rETurN hOME, TELL OF bEaTiNgS aNd huNgEr KATSINA

S

AGENCIES

CORES of schoolboys who were rescued from kidnappers in northwest Nigeria arrived back home on Friday, many of them barefoot and wrapped in blankets after their weeklong ordeal.

The boys, dressed in dusty clothes, looked dazed and weary but otherwise well as they got off buses in the city of Katsina and walked to a government building. One, who did not give his name, said the captors had told him to describe them as members of the militant group Boko Haram, although he suspected they were armed bandits.

“They beat us morning, every night. We suffered a lot. They only gave us food once a day and water twice a day,” he told Nigeria’s Arise television.

A week earlier, gunmen on motorbikes raided the boys’ boarding school in the town of Kankara in Katsina state and marched hundreds of them into a vast forest that spans four states.

Security services rescued them on Thursday, authorities said. However, many details surrounding the incident remain unclear, including who was re-

sponsible, whether a ransom was paid, how the boys’ release was secured and whether all of them are now safe.

The abduction gripped a country already incensed by widespread insecurity, and evoked memories of Boko Haram’s 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in the north-eastern town of Chibok.

Six years on, only about half the girls have been found or freed. Some were married off to fighters, while others are assumed to be dead.

Any Boko Haram involvement in this kidnapping would mark a geographical expansion in its activities from its base in the northeast. The region is also plagued by armed gangs that rob and kidnap for ransom.

Hours before the rescue of the boys was announced on Thursday, a video started circulating online purportedly showing Boko Haram militants with some of the boys. It was unable to verify the authenticity of the footage or who released it. The boy interviewed by Arise TV was one of those who spoke in the video.

“They said I should say they are Boko Haram and gangs of Abu Shekau,” he said, referring to a name used by a Boko Haram leader. “Sincerely speaking, they are not Boko

Haram ... They are just small and tiny, tiny boys with big guns.”

Another of the boys told that the kidnappers had initially taken them to a hiding place.

“But when they saw a jet fighter, they changed the location and hid us in a different place. They gave us food, but it was very little,” he said.

On Friday, the boys from the Government Science Secondary School walked from the buses in single file, flanked by soldiers and armed police officers, and were taken to the government building to meet the governor.

“We are very grateful. We are very grateful. We are very grateful,” a man who said he was the father of two of the pupils told Arise TV. The boys were later brought back to the buses and driven off for medical checks, officials said.

A group of parents waited to be reunited with them in a shaded parking lot in another part of town.

Hajiya Bilikisu, in a creamcoloured veil, said she had started to lose hope that she would ever see her son, Abdullahi Abdulrazak, again. “I was just crying, crying with joy, when I saw them, my son” in pictures after the release, she said.

“They have to recovery psycholog-

'Invisible shipwrecks' belie falling migrant deaths: UN

ically,” she said. “They went through trauma. We have to try to counsel them, so they can now become normal persons.”

Hafsat Funtua, mother of 16-yearold Hamza Naziru, said she ran out of her house with joy “not knowing where to go” when she heard the news.

“I could not believe what I heard until neighbours came to inform me that it is true,” she said. She later returned home to pray.

The mass kidnapping piled pressure on the government to deal with militants in the north of the country. It was particularly embarrassing for President Muhammadu Buhari, who comes from Katsina state and has repeatedly said that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated”.

Buhari said he had congratulated the state’s governor and the army, in a brief clip from an interview posted on his Twitter account earlier on Friday.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed told journalists on Friday the abduction was “totally unacceptable”.

“Our children should not have to go to school in trepidation. The federal government is doing everything possible to secure all our schools, and indeed all Nigerians,” he said at a press conference in the capital, Abuja.

Outrage in Sri Lanka over cremation of Muslim Covid victims COLOMBO AGENCIES

GENEVA AGENCIES

The number of deaths recorded on migratory routes fell this year, although Covid19 difficulties and so-called “invisible shipwrecks” mean the real number is probably much higher, officials at the UN migration agency said on Friday.

The IOM’s Missing Migrants report showed 3,174 deaths compared to 5,327 in 2019.

“The decrease in recorded migrant deaths is not necessarily an indication that the number of lives lost truly dropped in 2020 as Covid-19 also challenges our ability both to collate data on deaths during migration and monitor specific routes,” the IOM said.

Crucially, the data does not include losses from at least 15 so-called “invisible shipwrecks” in the Mediterranean - events that cannot officially be corroborated because the vessels cannot be located and information is insufficient.

If officials learn about them at all, it is often through bereaved family members.

Sometimes, the only indication is floating bodies.

In a poignant indication of the problem, the bodies of four children washed up on the shores of Libya this week from a boat believed to be carrying North and West African migrants. “Incidents like this happen way too often. These are the ones we know about and the number of lives lost on the crossing are much higher (than reported),” said the

IOM’s Safa Msehli.

The report said 729 deaths had been confirmed in the central Mediterranean in 2020.

Msehli estimated that at least 600 more people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year in unrecorded incidents. “There are gaps, serious life-threatening gaps in the monitoring of these routes,” said the IOM’s Paul Dillon, calling for rigorous, state-led search and rescue capacities.

The IOM data also showed an increase in fatalities on some routes, such as the journey to Spain’s Canary Islands, where 593 deaths were recorded compared with 210 last year.

More migrant losses were also recorded in South America, with many of the 104 recorded from Venezuela.

Muslims in Sri Lanka are outraged over the forced cremation of a 20-day-old Covid-19 victim last week against the family’s wishes, the latest in more than a dozen such cremations in the Buddhist-majority country since the pandemic erupted. Ignoring the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines which permit both burials and cremations, Sri Lanka in March made cremation mandatory for people who die or are suspected to have died of the coronavirus infection. On December 9, baby Shaykh was forcibly cremated in a cemetery in Borella, the largest suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo–the youngest among 15 Muslims to be cremated, thereby denying them Islamic funeral rites. Shaykh’s father MFM Fahim told the media he could not gather the courage to witness the burning of his infant son’s body. “I told them that I cannot go into a place where they are burning my baby. My friends and family asked the authorities how they can go ahead with the cremation when neither of the parents had signed any document giving consent,” Fahim said. Muslims and Christians bury the dead. But Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy for those infected with Covid-19 has left minority communities feeling helpless and angry. “It is a communal decision they took.

‘Life is short’: Wuhan's Covid-19 survivors share lessons one year on WUHAN AGENCIES

In late 2019, Wuhan businesswoman Duan Ling and her surgeon husband Fang Yushun began to hear snippets in hospital chat groups about a disease emerging in the city’s respiratory wards.

Duan did not pay much attention at first.

Fang had that year returned from a stint studying in the United States, and the pair, both 36-years-old, were planning a family, starting a costly round of fertility treatments.

“But as more and more news came, we began to realise this was something different from previous infectious diseases,” said Duan.

In just over a month, Fang would become one of the first people in the world to contract what came to be known as Covid19, which has since infected over 74 million worldwide and killed more than 1.5 million.

During the early days of the outbreak, the city’s hospitals were crushed with patients, testing was scarce, and many doctors

worked unprotected.

“At that time, there were a lot of undiagnosed patients appearing already in Wuhan.

That is why we still do not know how he got infected,” said Duan.

Fang probably caught the disease in the hospital where he works, but the couple also lived within walking distance of Wuhan’s Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where several initial cases were linked, which led to the discovery of the disease.

On the day his case was confirmed, February 3, just over 420 people had died of Covid-19 and Wuhan had begun announcing several thousand new cases a day.

Wuhan was also two weeks into what became a gruelling 76-day lockdown that cut the city off from the rest of China.

“I finally felt that the numbers are not just some cold facts, because among those 2,388 people, one of them is the protector of my small family,” said Duan.

Fang was lucky. While 3,869 people would eventually die of coronavirus in

Wuhan, he suffered only a moderate case and still had to go to work even after he began showing symptoms, Duan remembers.

Duan also believes it is possible she caught the virus, as she showed some symptoms around the same time, but testing in Wuhan was scarce in the first months of 2020, and limited to some frontline workers and severely ill patients.

When Fang entered hospital, he had a high fever, his resting heart rate was over 100 beats per minute, and his chest X-rays resembled ground glass. Duan characterised the time as surreal.

“When I was alone, I would watch the video of him playing guitar in the dormitory during his study abroad” in 2019, she said, choking up when she recounts the difficult two months they spent apart during his illness and recovery.

“But this epidemic had never let me cry once, and I always believed that we would get through this,” she said.

Video snippets shared by the couple

show a masked Fang moving slowly around his ward in blue and white pyjamas.

While Fang was one of the first confirmed patients in the world, his status as a Covid-19 survivor now puts him in a club of over 70 million people worldwide, many of whom continue to face complex health issues.

Some nine out of ten Covid-19 survivors experience lasting side effects, and the longer term impacts of the illness are not known.

Duan says relatives and friends are still frightened Fang’s disease could re-activate.

“They might also raise this concern when we go to the party with them, so we would not go. So there will still be some uncomfortable things in my heart.”

Today, Wuhan has largely returned to normal. The city has not reported a new Covid-19 case since May. Its streets, bars, wet markets and restaurants are crowded.

But for some families less fortunate than Fang and Duan, memories of the traumatic early days are still hard to forget.

“There is nothing left to say for me,” said one Wuhan woman surnamed Chen, who caught the disease along with her mother, father and sister in January. Her father died in early February.

“Even though Wuhan has returned to normal, you cannot turn off the news ... you cannott escape these memories when the whole world is experiencing it,” said Chen, who declined to use her full name because she was warned against sharing her story by local police early in the pandemic.

For Duan and Fang, they are focused on the future. The pair are moving into a new apartment, which was offered at a 15 per cent discount to frontline medical workers by a local property developer. Surrounded by unopened cardboard boxes, they discuss plans to re-start fertility treatments. “Life is actually quite short, and life is also a process with many surprises,” said Duan. “Every day of peace and quiet is actually quite precious. So, we will cherish our time together more in the future.”

Saturday, 19 December, 2020

NeW ZeALANd STArT SerieS WiTh fiVe-WiCKeT WiN oVer PAKiSTAN AUCKLAND

N

AGENCIES

EW Zealand cruised to a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Twenty20 international at Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday.

The Black Caps ended on 156-5 with seven balls to spare after losing the toss and being set a target of 154.

Tim Seifert top-scored for the hosts with 57, while debutant paceman Jacob Duffy took 4-33.

Pakistan never recovered from a slow start, despite a fighting 42 from stand-in captain Shadab Khan. Haris Rauf was the tourists’ best bowler, taking 3-29.

Pakistan had a rocky preparation for the match when 10 of their touring

party tested positive for Covid-19 dur- ternational game now so definitely in ing quarantine after arriving in New the next game we will do better.”

Player of the match Duffy made a Zealand. Players also received a rebuke from local health authorities for sensational start, dismissing opener Abdullah Shafique for a duck in flouting social distancing rules, his first over. He then and were unable to train claimed the scalps of until they were allowed NEW Mohammad Rizwan out of their hotel on ZEALAND 156 FOR 5 and Mohammad December 8.

(SEIFERT 57, CHAPMAN 34, Hafeez in his secIn contrast, ond as Pakistan New Zealand RAUF 3-29, AFRIDI 2-27) BEAT lost three wickets were coming off a 2-0 series win PAKISTAN 153 FOR 9 (SHADAB 42, in three balls to slump to 20 for over the West InFAHEEM 31, DUFFY 4-33, four. dies and playing in BY 3-27) KUGGELEIJN Khushdil Shah home conditions.

FIVE WICKETS was out for 16 when “We looked a little he mistimed a ball from bit rusty out there,” Khan Ish Sodhi straight to Martin admitted, saying the variable pace of the pitch made it tough for Pak- Guptill in the field. Khan tried to resistan’s batsmen. “We have had an in- cue his side’s innings, smashing 42

from 32 balls before Duffy coaxed a top edge to Sodhi.

Pakistan’s attack made early inroads as two quick wickets from Rauf restricted New Zealand to 72-3 at the 10-over mark.

Seifert brought up his half century off 35 balls but was out on 57 after a sharp catch from Ashraf, who then dropped an easy chance sitter to give Mark Chapman a life. Mitchell Santner steered his team to victory with a six to seal the win.

The second and third T20s will be played in Hamilton and Napier on Sunday and Tuesday, with the first of two Tests starting in Mount Maunganui on December 26.

Pakistan are fourth in the world T20 rankings and New Zealand are sixth.

India dismiss Australia inside a day to lead in Adelaide

SA add uncapped Van Tonder to Test squad for Sri Lanka series CAPE TOWN AGENCIES

South Africa have added uncapped batsman Raynard van Tonder, seamer Lutho Sipamla and all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius to their squad for the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka that starts in Pretoria on Boxing Day. Former South Africa Under-19 captain Van Tonder, 22, has been in a rich vein of form in the domestic four-day competition, scoring 604 runs at an average 67.11 this season, including a doublehundred just this week. Sipamla has been capped before in white-ball cricket but earns his first Test call-up, while Pretorius has recovered from a hamstring injury that had made him a doubt for the series. Cricket South Africa say the addition of the trio is “part of the organisation’s plan to integrate more players at the conclusion of the latest round of the CSA 4-Day Cup”, but comes amid a number of Covid-19 cases in domestic matches in which members of the Test squad played. It forced CSA to postpone a round of four-day domestic games that were scheduled to be played from December 20-23. So far there is no indication that any of the Test squad have tested positive for the virus. The addition of the trio takes to 19 the number of players in camp for the twogame series. The second Test against Sri Lanka will take place in Johannesburg from January 3. Squad: Quinton de Kock (captain), Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Beuran Hendricks, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Sarel Erwee, Anrich Nortje, Glenton Stuurman, Wiaan Mulder, Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne, Migael Pretorius, Dwaine Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Raynard van Tonder.

Khabib Nurmagomedov crowned BBC's World Sport Star 2020

ADELAIDE AGENCIES

India dismissed Australia for 191 in 72 overs on Friday to take a 53-run first-innings lead that looked highly unlikely in the first half hour of a dramatic second day of the day-night first Test at Adelaide Oval.

Fifteen wickets fell as bowlers ruled supreme on a balmy day at a ground once renowned for big scores, the last coming in the final 25 minutes when Pat Cummins bowled Prithvi Shaw for four to continue the India opener’s poor run of form.

Shaw’s opening partner Mayank Agarwal and nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah survived a nervous last couple of overs under the lights to take India’s second innings tally to 9-1 and the lead to 62 runs at close of play.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin combined with paceman Umesh Yadav and Bumrah earlier did the damage for the tourists, bowling with discipline and taking wickets in bursts to break up potential partnerships.

While Tim Paine played a captain’s innings of 73 not out to limit the damage, INDIA India will be disappointed with a 244 (KOHLI 74, string of dropped catches.

STARC 4-53) AND 9 FOR “Certainly not our best performance but you have to give India 1 LEAD AUSTRALIA 191 credit, they bowled really well and (PAINE 73 NOT OUT, put us under pressure,” Paine said. enticed Steve Smith into an edge to “We have got to chase what we have ASHWIN 4-55, give Ajinkya Rahane an easy catch got to chase. Whether that is a big at first slip.

UMESH 3-40) score or little score, we know it is With one run from 29 deliveries, it BY 62 RUNS going to be a challenge.” was Smith’s lowest score since he got a Australia had started the day by skitduck in the first Test against South Africa tling the last four Indian batsmen at a cost of in November 2016.

11 runs in less than half an hour to dismiss the tourists Travis Head and Cameron Green became Ashfor 244. win’s second and third victims, the latter’s dismissal Bumrah removed Australia openers Joe Burns helped by a fine catch from Virat Kohli at midwicket. and Matthew Wade for eight runs apiece in quick suc“I do not want to sit back and think whether that cession before tea, however, and Ashwin (4-55) is the best or not,” Ashwin said when asked to rate drove home the advantage after the break. his performance.

Off-spinner Ashwin has struggled on his previous “There is an innings to go and I am looking forAustralian trips but he struck a mighty blow when he ward to the entire Test series. It is a great opportunity

SPORTS 11

LONDON AGENCIES

Khabib Nurmagomedov, who announced his retirement from mixed martial arts after defending his UFC lightweight title in October, has scooped the BBC Sports Personality's World Sport Star of the Year award. The Russian extended his perfect professional MMA record to 29-0 by beating Justin Gaethje, months after the death of his father, coach and mentor Abdulmanap following complications arising from coronavirus in July. Moments after defeating Gaethje with a triangle choke submission, Nurmagomedov symbolically placed his gloves on to the cage mat and said: 'It was my last fight. There is no way I am going to come here (again) without my father.' The 32-year-old has come out on top of a public vote on the BBC Sport website, seeing off pole-vaulter Armand Duplantis, basketball's LeBron James, golfer Dustin Johnson, footballer Wendie Renard and boxer Katie Taylor. Marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge had received last year's award.

for me.” India would have been in an even stronger position had Bumrah and Shaw followed their captain’s lead, but they spilled easy catches that would have sent Marnus Labuschagne on his way early in his innings.

Yadav (3-40) finally trapped Labuschagne lbw for 47 after the second break and when he had Pat Cummins caught at gully three balls later, Australia were in big trouble at 111-7.

Paine’s resolute 73 off 99 deliveries, combined with some more poor catching from the Indian fielders, kept the home side in touch heading into day three, however. The four-match series continues after Adelaide with Tests in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Wayne Rooney's son Kai signs for Manchester United

Whatmore appointed Nepal head coach KATHMANDU AGENCIES

Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to victory in the 50overs World Cup in 1996, has been named head coach of Nepal’s national team. “Dav is extremely keen to take on this new challenge, as he strongly believes Nepal has great talent and a very bright future in international cricket,” the Cricket Association of Nepal said in a statement on Thursday. The Colombo-born Australian has also coached Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Nepal did not qualify for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in India and Whatmore’s first major task is to help them reach the 2022 edition in Australia.

2021 U-17 Euros cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic NYON AGENCIES

LONDON AGENCIES

The 2021 men’s and women’s U-17 European Championships have been cancelled due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, UEFA said on Friday.

“Based on a constant monitoring of the development of the pandemic ... the UEFA Executive Committee decided after consultation with all 55 member associations to cancel and/or

Wayne Rooney’s son, Kai, has signed for Manchester United, the former United and England striker said on Thursday.

The 35-year-old Rooney posted a picture on Instagram alongside his wife Colleen and 11-year-old Kai, who held up a United No. 10 shirt - the number his dad wore for the Premier League club - with his name on the back.

“Proud day. Kai signing for Manchester United. Keep up the hard work son,” Wayne Rooney said.

Rooney senior joined United from Everton in 2004 and became the club’s record goalscorer, netting 253 times in 559 appearances over 13 years at Old Trafford before re-joining Everton. Also England’s all-time leading scorer, Rooney moved to Major League Soccer side DC United in 2018 before joining English Championship club Derby County as player-coach in January this year.

CMYK

postpone some of the 2020/21 youth national team competitions,” European soccer’s governing body said in a statement.

UEFA also said the men’s U-19 Euros would go ahead in July in Romania, with the women’s event set to take place in July-August in Belarus.

Euro 2020, UEFA’s flagship tournament which was due to take place this June, was postponed by a year and will run from June 11–July 11, 2021.

saturday, 19 December, 2020

PRAyER TImINGS

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indiA to fAce firm militAry response if it Attempts Any misAdventure AgAinst pAkistAn: fo ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE Foreign Office (FO) has emphatically stated that India will face an assured top-notch military response if it attempts to take to any ill-meaning misadventure against Pakistan.

At his weekly news briefing in Islamabad today, FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that Pakistan has credible information that New Delhi is planning to undertake a military misadventure across the line of control for which it is trying to seek understanding from major powers, reported Radio Pakistan.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan’s armed forces are fully prepared to defeat Indian designs. Any miscalculation will re-

sult in global embarrassment for India as it faced last year, he added.

The FO spokesperson further warned that any conflict scenario would seriously destabilize the region and would have catastrophic consequences. He said that this information been shared with the important world governments.

Zahid further remarked that any military conflict between Pakistan and India would also seriously undermine the peace prospects in Afghanistan, leading to further instability in the region. He said that the entire responsibility would rest with India, should this scenario play out.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan urges the international community to advise India against any irresponsible act and to desist from any action that would jeopardize regional peace and stability.

He said that the irrational approach is driven by Indian frustration emanating from internal unrest due to the RSS-BJP regime’s policies aimed at the subjugation of religious minorities and the disadvantaged segment of the society.

The spokesperson said that a series of events and developments have exposed the real face of India to the world community.

The recently released dossier by Pakistan has left no doubt about New Delhi’s tactics involving state-sponsorship of terrorism, he added.

Zahid said that India would be well advised to desist from any misadventure for the regional peace and security.

He strongly condemned the targeting of a United Nations vehicle carrying two officers of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMIOGIP)

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15, including 11 children, killed in AfghAnistAn bomb blAst A suspected rickshaw bomb killed at least 15 civilians, including 11 children, on Friday at a Holy Quran recitation ceremony in central Afghanistan, officials said. Initial information suggested that explosives were placed in a rickshaw in a district of Ghazni province, interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. At least 20 people were wounded.

Afghanistan continues to be hit by violence even as the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban have been holding meetings since September to discuss an end to the 19-year war. Western countries have begun a sharp troop drawdown. Most of the victims in Friday's attack were under 18 years old, Wahidullah Jumazada, spokesman for the provincial governor of Ghazni, said.

Killings by small, magnetic bombs placed under vehicles have unnerving Afghan officials, activists and journalists, who blame the Taliban for the attacks. At least 10 government officials and aides have been killed by "sticky bombs" in recent weeks, mostly in the capital, Kabul. AGENCIES

by Indian occupation forces in the Chirikot sector of the Line of Control (LoC) earlier this morning. He said that the UN officers were on their way to Polas village to meet with the victims of the Indian ceasefire violations. He also said the UN vehicle was damaged but fortunately the officers were not injured. He added that the officers were immediately evacuated by Pakistan Army and brought back to the UNMOGIP field station in Rawalakot.

Zahid said that the reprehensible act of unprovoked firing by India on the UNMOGIP officers is indicative of a new low in the conduct of Indian occupation troops.

The spokesperson said that this year alone, India has committed 2, 992 ceasefire violations to date resulting in the martyrdom of 27 people and serious injuries of 249 innocent civilians.

modi offers talks to end india protests against farm reforms NEW DELHI AGENCIES

KARACHI: A view of newly-inducted Pakistan Navy corvette class ship Tabuk. PPI

iran rejects iAeA chief's call that new agreement needed after biden takes office Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday rejected the United Nations agency chief’s suggestion that reviving Iran’s nuclear deal after a new United States administration comes to power would require striking a new agreement. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Rafael Grossi, who heads the IAEA that polices Iran’s compliance to the 2015 nuclear deal, said there had been too many breaches by Iran for the agreement to simply snap back into place when US President-elect Joe Biden takes office next month. Biden has said the US will rejoin the deal “if Iran resumes strict compliance.” After US President Donald Trump quit the deal in 2018 and reimposed U.S. sanctions, Iran responded by breaching many of the deal’s restrictions. “Presenting any assessment on how the commitments are implemented is absolutely beyond the mandate of the agency and should be avoided,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador to IAEA in Vienna, tweeted. “@iaeaorg played its part during negotiations on the JCPoA.” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, architect of the 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, has repeatedly said Tehran’s nuclear steps were reversible if the United States lifted sanctions and fully respected the pact. AGENCIES

India says border with China stable, seeking early end to face-off NEW DELHI AGENCIES

Indian and Chinese diplomats agreed on Friday to work towards an early end to the biggest confrontation between their troops in decades at their Himalayan border where 20 Indian soldiers were killed in June.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said commander-level talks in the last two months had led to “stability on the ground” and that more efforts would be made to restore peace.

The diplomats at Friday’s meeting concurred that the next round of talks between senior commanders should be held soon so that both sides could work towards “early and complete disengagement of troops” along the de facto border known as the Line of Actual Control.

Since the June killing of the Indian soldiers by Chinese troops using rocks and clubs, the nuclear-armed rivals have sent tens of thousands of troops to the rugged frontier between India’s Ladakh region and the Chinese-held Tibetan plateau.

Indian officials told Reuters last month that in a bid to ease the border tension, the neighbours were formulating a plan that involved creating no-patrol zones, pulling back tanks and artillery, and using drones to verify withdrawal from the confrontation site. It was not immediately clear how the de-escalation efforts were playing out on the ground, but India has actively worked against imports of Chinese goods and their local businesses since the border conflict.

China, however, has surprisingly been buying more rice and steel from India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended India’s biggest farm reforms in decades but offered to “very humbly” hold further talks with farmers protesting against the laws they fear would erode their incomes. Tens of thousands of farmers have blocked roads leading into New Delhi for the past three weeks demanding a repeal of laws that give them the option to sell directly to private companies. The government says the change is necessary to boost farm returns and improve storage and other infrastructure.

But the farmers, mainly from the northern agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana, fear private companies would eventually dictate terms and the government would stop buying grains like wheat and rice from them at a minimum guaranteed price. In online remarks to farmers of the country’s biggest wheat-producing state, Madhya Pradesh, Modi said there should be no cause for concern and repeated the government’s position that farmers would be assured of a price like earlier. “The modern facilities available to the farmers of major nations should also be available for those from India, it cannot be delayed any longer,” he said. “Still, if anyone has any apprehension, and in the interest of the farmers of the country and to address their concerns, we are very humbly ready to talk on every issue.” His comments came as farmers, many in their sixties or above, brave north India’s harsh winter to camp out in the open on Delhi’s borders with their tractors and trailers parked bumper to bumper. After a series of previous meetings with Modi’s ministers, the protesters have said that nothing short of an official annulment of the three laws will be enough to change their position. Rakesh Tikait, a farmers’ leader, said after Modi’s speech that the premier was trying to privatise agriculture to benefit companies and not them.

QAU researchers find mutations in coronavirus transmitting in Pakistan Researchers from Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) have identified major changes within the genome of the coronavirus that took place during local transmission in Pakistani society, a local news outlet reported on Friday.

Dr Amir Ali Abbasi, professor and chairperson of the National Centre for Bioinformatic at QAU and co-lead of the research, remarked his team’s scientific work can assist in designing small-molecule inhibitors that perturb specific functions of coronavirus in the suppression of host im-

munity, which may help to reduce disease burden and assist recovery of patients.

Pakistan, he said, is currently facing the second and most deadly outbreak of novel coronavirus. He believed it is an urgent need to generate and analyse large-scale genetic data of Covid-19 to see what is causing coronavirus in Pakistan.

This genetic information can be used in combination with epidemiological data to inform public health decision-making in Pakistan and prevent the virus from spreading even more, Dr Amir added.

The research, titled “Evolutionary and structural analysis of SARS-CoV-2 specific evasion of host immunity”, was done in collaboration with China and the United States, and published in Nature’s Genes & Immunity journal. The study discovered that during transmission in different countries, evolutionary substitution may alter and reposition the secondary structural elements of the SARS-CoV-2 to create new intra-proteins contacts that may enhance the virus’s ability to inhibit host immunity.

Simply put, the virus had evolved to be

more effective in inhibiting a person’s immune system.

This is why the coronavirus spreads so fast to the lower respiratory tract of humans and causes the severe respiratory syndrome.

Furthermore, the researchers screened the genomes of more than 160 viruses from 40 countries. Their findings and data add to a growing body of evidence that coronaviruses share a common ancestor from late 2019, suggesting this was when the virus jumped from a previous animal host into humans. NEWS DESK

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