EpaperKHI_20-12-7

Monday, 7 December, 2020 I 20 Rabi al-Akhir, 1442 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XI No 158 I 52 Pages I Karachi Edition

Pakistan demands Protection for islamic sites in india g

Foreign oFFice says construction oF temple on BaBri masjid’s site is a part oF Bjp’s agenda oF converting india into a ‘Hindu rasHtra’

Seven die of Covid-19 in Peshawar due to lack of supplemental oxygen ISLAMABAD staff report

ISLAMABAD tLtp

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aKistan has called upon the world community, the united nations and relevant international organisations to play their role in preserving islamic heritage sites in india from the extremist ‘Hindutva’ regime. on the 28th anniversary of the tragic demolition of the historic Babri masjid, Foreign office (Fo) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez chaudhri on sunday urged india to ensure the safety, security and protection of minorities, particularly muslims and their places of worship. “today is a sad reminder of the demolition of the historic Babri masjid in india,” he said, adding that the painful scenes of the demolition of Babri masjid in 1992 still remain fresh in the minds of not only muslims but all conscientious persons in the world.

He termed the new illegitimate structure – which the Hindutva-driven Bharatiya janata party (Bjp) has campaigned for and is bent upon constructing as part of its agenda of converting india into a ‘Hindu rashtra’ – as a scar on the face of so-

called “largest democracy” in the world.

He said that the flawed judgement of the indian supreme court in the Babri mosque case last year not only reflected the preponderance of faith over justice but also the growing majoritarianism in today’s india.

He also said that the recent shameful acquittal of the criminals responsible for demolishing the historic Babri mosque in 1992 represented another egregious travesty of justice. “the extreme haste in starting construction of a temple at the Babri masjid site amidst the ravaging covid-19 pandemic, anti-muslim citizenship amendment act (caa), the looming national register of citizens (nrc) to disenfranchise muslims, the targeted killings of muslims in delhi with state complicity in February 2020, and other anti-muslim measures point to the fact how muslims in india are being systematically demonised, dispossessed, marginalised and subjected to targeted violence,” read the statement. it said that the organisation of islamic cooperation (oic) has passed numerous resolutions, condemning the odious act of demolishing the historic mosque. recently,

coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

416,499

LAST UPDATED AT 8:43 AM ON DECEMBER 6, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

58

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

3,308 DEATHS:

355,012 8,361 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

182,473

122,955

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

49,220

17,440

7,278/4,719 32,414

at the 47th session of the council of Foreign ministers (cFm) held at niamey, the oic called upon the indian government to take immediate steps to implement its commitment to reconstruct the Babri masjid on its original site and to punish those responsible for its demolition, prevent the construction of the temple on its site, take immediate steps to ensure the protection of the other 3,000 mosques, and ensure the safety and protection of the muslims and islamic holy sites throughout india.

He maintained that in line with that spirit, pakistan once again urges the indian government to ensure safety, security and protection of minorities, particularly muslims and their places of worship, and fulfil its responsibilities under the universal declaration of human rights and other international instruments, including the recommendations of the oic.

“We also call upon the international community, the united nations and relevant international organisations to play their role in preserving the islamic heritage sites in india from the extremist ‘Hindutva’ regime and ensure protection of minorities in india,” he added.

as many as seven patients died of coronavirus-related complications at Khyber teaching Hospital, peshawar, after oxygen tanks arriving from rawalpindi failed to reach the facility on time. according to the hospital administration, the incident took place late saturday night. reports quoting hospital sources suggest patients admitted to other wards of the hospital were also facing difficulties due to the absence of oxygen cylinder. “the hospital orders oxygen cylinders from rawalpindi,” said one KtH spokesperson. “[in this instance] the reserves did not arrive on time from rawalpindi.” the spokesperson said the demand for oxygen inflated during winter and disclosed the administration was probing the late arrival of these tanks.

Khyber (Kp) pakhtunkhwa Health minister taimur jhagra said he has directed the hospital’s board of governors to complete an inquiry and take action within two days. “there was an incident at KtH last night involving a shortage of oxygen supply. i have directed the Bog to conduct an immediate inquiry & take action within 48 hours.

Economic indicators show strong performance despite Covid-19: Khusro ISLAMABAD

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more inside

Terrorist India taking unjustified steps against minorities: FM STORY ON PAGE 03

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despite challenges faced on domestic and external fronts, particularly in the wake of the second wave of covid-19, the key macroeconomic indicators have shown strong performance, Federal minister for economic affairs, makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar said on sunday. “the key economic indicators are showing strong performance despite challenges posed by the second wave of covid-19 and depressed economic conditions that encircled globally,” he said. in a detailed statement on the state of the economy, the minister said that the current account imbalances inherited from the previous government stood firmly addressed while the economic performance was remarkable in the context of sharp growth contraction worldwide.

He said that the government was confident that the gross domestic product (gdp) would even surpass the growth target by june 2021, setting the stage for much higher growth

if found unsatisfactory, or if otherwise required, the govt will immediately order its own independent inquiry,” he tweeted. “all the facts of the case will be made public. meanwhile, a request has been made on social media not to circulate unverified information. neither this, nor any other incident will be left unused, to improve the health system; it’s service, and it’s [a] system of accountability and transparency.” the state of covid-19’s mismanagement was further highlighted by the provincial doctors association (pda) of Kp on sunday, wherein it was revealed that 2,770 health officials including 1,240 doctors have been infected by covid-19 in the province so far. the pda highlighting infections in the provincial healthcare sector stated that 398 nurses contracted coronavirus while working on the front line. moreover, 1,132 other provincial health workers were infected by the disease, the pda said in a statement. during the pandemic 43 health workers, including four nurses, have been martyred by a coronavirus infection. “eight paramedics and six other healthcare workers were also martyred by the covid-19 in Kp,” the doctor’s body said.

nawaz laments attacks on democracy in pakistan STORY ON PAGE 03

the following year. the economy is expected to maintain this strong momentum and gather more steam going forward, he said and attributed the economic turnaround to the performance of different economic sectors.

He further said that the current account Balance (cad) for the first 4 months of the fiscal year 2020-21 registered a surplus of us$1.2 billion as against a deficit of us$1.4 billion in the same period of last year, adding this strong performance of current account balance was achieved after 17-years. the worker’s remittances

during the first four months of Fy2020-21 stood at $9.4 billion as against $7.5 billion of the last year, the minister said. the workers’ remittances registered a strong growth of 26.5 per cent which augurs well for the external account stability. such excellent growth in workers remittances has been achieved by a combination of policy measures that include anti-money laundering regulations and incentives for the promotion of financial transactions through the formal banking system.

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Pandemic could push over a billion into extreme poverty, warns UN

STORY ON BACK PAGE

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Monday, 7 December, 2020

NEWS

Govt Not iN favour of taKiNG PuNitivE aCtioN aGaiNst PDM LEaDErs vioLatiNG soPs: asaD iSLamaBad

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INISTER for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday said that incumbent government was not in favour of taking punitive action against the

leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) violating standard operating procedures (SOPs) in public meetings.

In an interview with a private television channel, he said that political leaders behind opposition parties, particularly Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N), were creating ambiguity among the masses about coronavirus.

Economic indicators show strong performance despite Covid-19: Khusro Continued from page 01 The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has witnessed a 150 per cent YoY Increase in October 2021. FDI during October 2020 was $317 million as compared with $126 million recorded in the same months last year. An increase in FDI reflects the return confidence of international investors and growing optimism about the economic future of the country. The minister said that the Largescale Manufacturing (LSM) continued to rebound, expanding by 4.8 per cent in FY21 Q1, against a contraction of 5.5 per cent in the same quarter last year. Evidence of momentum returning could be seen from growing production of cement, textile, automobile and home appliances, he said. Growth in LSM is largely supported by PM’s package for the construction industry and special measures announced by the government for the industrial sector to fend off additional costs caused

by Covid-19. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he added, had also achieved the target of revenues by collecting Rs1.69 trillion during the July-November period of the current fiscal year against the target of Rs1.67 trillion. The revenue collection is higher by Rs69 billion or 4.2 per cent as compared to Rs1.62 trillion collected in the same period of last fiscal year.

The pace of inflation has further eased to 8.3 per cent in November 2020 while the average inflation rate in the first five months of the current fiscal year stood at 8.8 per cent. The official External Inflows during the first 4 months of FY2020-21 were recorded at $3.2 billion as against $2.5 billion the same quarter last year. This 28 per cent increase in external inflows would help strengthen the forex reserves. The minister said Foreign Exchange Reserves held with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased to $13.11 billion as against $8.24 billion in the corresponding period of last year, showing a growth of 59 per cent. Improved forex reserves would further stabilize the exchange rate and build a buffer against any external shocks, he added. Pakistani Rupee has shown strong performance as it appreciated about 4.9 per cent in the last five months and was declared the third best-performing currency in Asia. He said that the country’s external account stability was supported by major improvements in key economic indicators and confidence of international financial markets. Looking ahead, the government’s planned external inflows were more than sufficient to cover upcoming payments. The recent announcement by G-20 for the second round of debt relief coupled with favorable capital market conditions for the launch of a sovereign transaction and enhanced inflows on account of improvements in trade, remittances and FDI will give further strength to the external account position of the country.

The PDM was organising big gathering at open places and creating impression that general public would not be affected by spreading the virus, he stated.

Seeking media’s help, the minister said that media should launch a drive to convince the opposition leaders for ceasing public meeting in the current situation.

To a question about arresting leaders

iSLamaBad Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, special representative to the prime minister on religious harmony and the Middle East, has lauded Kuwait’s efforts in deescalating tensions and facilitating the resumption of ties between Gulf countries.

Ashrafi, who is also chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), said Kuwaiti Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmed Jabir Al-Sabah had “played a very effective and imperative role for (the)

of opposition posing serious threats to human health, he said that the prime minister was not in favour of taking serious action against the leaders of PDM due to hype that might be created through media to save the skin of leaders violating SOPs. He, however said that action could be taken for safety and security of the people from coronavirus pandemic.

Aviation officials, minister 'misusing' luxury vehicles iSLamaBad SHAHZAD PARACHA

Senior officials from Aviation Division and its Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan have been accused of misusing a number of luxury vehicles of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The chief operating officer (COO) of Airport Management, Islamabad International Airport -- in reply to engineering services director, CAA Headquarter in Karachi, with the subject “detailing of MT vehicles at aviation division” -- informed that nine vehicles have been deployed to officials including Khan.

The letter states the minister has kept "GH-034 Toyota Prado since 7/1/2020", similarly, Senior Joint Secretary and Aviation Division spokesperson Abdul Sattar Khokhar has kept "AUH-253, Toyota Corolla since 13/2/2020". Another Corolla, ADD-902, had been given to a former aviation secretary, who was looking after the affairs of CAA. However, the letter states that it was taken back on December 1.

Meanwhile, the CAA has also deployed four vehicles to staff officers to the aviation secretary as well as the

minister. The CAA has also taken back AJH-752, a Suzuki Alto, from the personal staff officer (PSO) to CAA director general, Tashfeen Arshaf, on December 1 on the transfer of acting DG. Sources claim that Ashraf, who also holds the charge of commercial and estate director has deployed the vehicles to senior officials to retain his position.

On the other hand, the audit officials also wrote to aviation's Human Resource Director in Karachi to discuss the "Para" pertaining to his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree, sources said.

The minister can keep the cabinet division allocation vehicles, whereas the government officials can use the vehicles for official purposes, sources added.

The senior officials of the division are getting the monetisation allowance ranging from Rs65,960 to Rs95,910 and still kept the official vehicles for their personal use.

While negating the monetisation policy, one abovestated officer also got himself allotted a driver from the Pakistan Meteorological Department, sources added.

Pakistan Today reached out to Khokhar for a comment but he did not respond until the filing of the story.

FAISALABAD: A police case was registered against some 2,500 leaders and activists of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday for violating coronavirus restrictions during a convention for workers in Faisalabad a day earlier. The case was lodged at Sargodha Road police station. PML-N leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Awais Leghari and others had participated in the event. The government portal keeping track of the outbreak in Pakistan posted 3,308 fresh infections and 58 deaths during the last 24 hours. With 53,126 active cases, the number of confirmed infections now stands at 416,499.

The death toll, meanwhile, has soared to 8,361.

Meanwhile, the PML-N has geared up for the December 13 rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Lahore and started implementing its plan of holding workers conventions throughout the provincial capital.

A preparatory meeting for the scheduled rally was held at the party's Lahore secretariat.

Presided over by party's vice president Maryam Nawaz, it was attended by senior party leaders including Abbasi, Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafique and others. During the meeting, it was decided that Maryam will tour all 14 National Assembly constituencies in the city between December 7 and 10. STAFF REPORT

Cop dies of Covid-19 in Karachi KARACHI: A policeman from the CounterTerrorism Department (CTD) passed away from coronavirus in Karachi on Sunday.

According to a report, Syed Masoom Shah, who was personal secretary to a CTD senior superintendent of police (SSP), was admitted to a hospital after his coronavirus test came back positive a few days ago. However, he breathed his last on Sunday. APP

Seven die of Covid-19 in Peshawar due to lack of supplemental oxygen Continued from page 01 The doctors’ body complained that the families of the martyred health workers have yet to be given the martyr’s package. The doctors and other health workers have also been deprived of the corona risk allowance, which had previously been announced by the government. It is pertinent to mention here that the number of staff with coronavirus at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad has risen to 200. The PIMS spokesperson Dr Waseem Khawaja said recently that none of them was in critical condition. Two more wards at the hospital have been converted into isolation wards.

Earlier, the outpatient department at Islamabad’s PIMS was shut down due to rising coronavirus cases among the staff. The number then was at 181. Khawaja had said that they have suspended routine operations and are only handling emergency cases. Three weeks ago, the hospital administration shut down all surgeries at the hospital. Emergency cases and cancer treatment remain exempted. Moreover, 58 more people succumbed to coronavirus across the country during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 8,361, said the

PM’s aide lauds Kuwait’s efforts to defuse Gulf crisis STAFF REPORT

2,500 booked for flouting virus guidelines during PML-N workers' convention

resumption of relations among Gulf countries.” “Endeavors on part of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf countries to resolve confronting issues among Muslim countries is a very positive and good omen,” he said in a statement. Ashrafi's statement comes days after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Friday a resolution to a bitter dispute with Qatar seemed “within reach” after Kuwait announced progress towards ending the threeyear diplomatic row. Saudi Arabia – along with the UAE, Bahrain and

Egypt – severed diplomatic ties with Doha in June 2017 after accusing Qatar of supporting regional extremist organisations and terrorist groups.

They urged the country to change its policies as a condition for dialogue. “We are in full coordination with our partners in this process and the prospects that we see are very positive towards a final agreement,” Prince Faisal told AFP on the sidelines of a security conference in Manama on Saturday, adding that “the eventual resolution will involve all parties concerned”.

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday. 3,308 new cases of the coronavirus were reported across the country during the past 24 hours, pushing the national tally of infections to 416,499.

According to the NCOC, a total of 41,645 samples were tested in the previous 24 hours, out of which 3,308 turned out to be positive. The NCOC said that the national positivity ratio for coronavirus has surged to 7.94 per cent. According to the latest data, the highest positivity ratio was observed in Mirpur with 22 per cent, followed by Karachi with 17.39 per cent and Peshawar with 16.02 per cent. The positivity ratio in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) stands at 10.83 per cent, 11.62 per cent in Balochistan, 2.68 per cent in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), 6.16 per cent in Islamabad, 11.29 per cent in KP, 4.42 per cent in Punjab, and 11.47 per cent in Sindh.

The number of active cases has risen to 53,126 while 2,483 people recuperated from the disease during the last 24 hours, taking the tally of those defeating the highly contagious pathogen to 355,000.

Out of 8,361 died of Covid-19 across the country, 3,011 died in Sindh, 3,162 in Punjab, 1,404 in KP, 340 people in Islamabad, 169 in Balochistan, 98 in GB: 98, and 177 in AJK. In Balochistan, at least 48 more people

contracted coronavirus in Balochistan during the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 17,440.

According to health officials, no deaths were reported in the province. So far 169 people have succumbed to the disease. As many as 16,663 people have recovered from the disease so far.

In GB, at least 11 more Covid-19 cases emerged during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 4,719.

According to health officials, no deaths were reported in the region. So far 98 people have succumbed to the disease. Three more patients recovered from the disease in the region as the total reached 4,468.

Meanwhile, the administration of Islamabad on Sunday sealed the inner hall of Faisal Mosque because of the violations of coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs). The congregational prayers will not be offered in the inner hall of the mosque. The decision was taken after precautionary measures were not followed during the Friday prayers two days ago, the administration confirmed. Furthermore, the Punjab government has issued orders to make all field hospitals on divisional level functional including Lahore’s Expo Field Hospital amid a raging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Misbah says not being allowed to train hurting Pakistan’s preparations in New Zealand agenCieS Not being allowed to train in their managed isolation in Christchurch has affected Pakistan’s preparation for the series against New Zealand, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said on Sunday. Eight members of the 53-strong Pakistan squad have tested positive for coronavirus since their arrival, prompting the New Zealand health ministry to revoke the tourists’ training exemption on Friday.

“Top professional athletes require a certain environment to prepare so that they can perform at the minimum expected levels,” Misbah said in a statement after naming an 18-member squad for the three-match

Twenty20 series set to begin in Auckland on Saturday.

“While we completely respect and understand the New Zealand government laws … there is no denying the fact that the implementation of certain regulations has affected our athletes, both mentally and physically”.

Misbah, however, had no doubts that the tourists, currently undergoing a 14-day isolation period, would be ready to challenge New Zealand who thumped West Indies inside four days in a Hamilton test on Sunday.

“When we will leave the isolation facility in the next day or two, we will try to put all this behind us and focus on the challenge of facing New Zealand in both the formats,” said the former Pakistan captain.

Monday, 7 December, 2020

TerrorisT india Taking unjusTiFied sTePs againsT MinoriTies: FM MULTAN STAFF REPORT

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OREIGN Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan has provided irrefutable evidence of Indian statesponsored terrorism to the United Nations (UN).

Addressing a news conference in Multan on Sunday, the foreign minister said that India has become a terrorist state which has been taking unjustified measures against minorities’ particularly Muslim population in the country.

The foreign minister said that voices against Kashmir policy are being raised within India now which is a big diplomatic achievement for Pakistan. He said that Pakistan has given two-time consular access to India for convicted spy Kulbhushan Jadhav but New Delhi is escaping from the legal process.

FM Qureshi said that Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan and the peace process between Afghan government and

the Taliban is progressing.

He feared that Covid-19 situation could worsen in the country in the coming month of January. He said that

suspect arrested for torture of underage maid gets bail FAISALABAD: A day after police registered a case against a man and a woman on charges of thrashing a minor domestic help in Faisalabad, a district and sessions court granted post-arrest bail to the man. Footage of torture of the girl identified as Sadaf, 11, had gone viral on social media on Saturday, showing a teenage boy, his mother and uncle, later identified as Rana Munir, slapping and pushing her in a street. According to police, Sadaf was tortured after she had a scuffle with children related to Munir. Madina Town police on Saturday registered a case against Munir and the woman. The case was registered on the complaint of Samina Nadar, Child Protection Officer (CPO) of the Faisalabad Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CP&WB) under sections 34 and 328-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Nadar said a citizen had called the CP&WB helpline on Saturday and also shared the torture footage. She said the incident took place on December 3. Faisalabad City Police Officer (CPO) Sohail Chaudhry had last night announced to have arrested Munir. However, Duty Judge Zulifqar Ahmed Sunday approved Munir's request for bail against the surety bonds of Rs100,000. Chaudhry said the girl was handed over to her parents. He further said justice would be dispensed to the girl. STAFF REPORT

ehsaas survey continues to register deserving families: sania ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar has said that phase-wise Ehsaas Survey continues across the country to register deserving families in different programmes. Giving replies to various queries on Twitter on Sunday, Dr Sania said that registration desks are also being set up at tehsil level to facilitate the deserving people.

Sania said that in the first phase of Ehsaas Kifalat programme, payment is being disbursed among four point three million registered women. She also said that payment can be received only through biometric verification at the ATM cabin of the designated bank without a debit card. The SAPM said that each registered woman is being provided Rs12,000 as first instalment.

Dr Sania said that providing relief to the poor and underprivileged people of society is the top priority of the government. She said that the government has already started a national socio-economic survey across the country to register deserving families for Ehsaas programme. She hoped the survey for Ehsaas programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) would be completed by April next year. She said that 80,000 deserving people are being given interest free loans every month to start their own businesses. TLTP

the situation in terms of Covid-19 cases can become worse if the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are neglected.

Cautioning the nation about the second wave of the pandemic, he urged the masses to ensure implementation of the SOPs and asked the religious scholars and media persons to come forward to create awareness among the masses.

Commenting on the recent PDM’s public rally in Multan, the FM said that in his opinion the opposition should have been given permission to hold a rally in Qasim Bagh without any barriers. He bashed the dual standards of the opposition parties on the Covid-19. “On one hand the PPP government is imposing a smart lockdown in Sindh and on the other side it is carrying out public rallies,” he added.

He further said that PDM is risking the lives of the masses by holding public rallies in the pandemic. Terming the alliance of the PDM “unnatural”, FM Qureshi claimed that they are only striving to save their corruption. Nobody has stopped the opposition from tendering resignations from the assemblies, he added.

Nawaz laments attacks on democracy in Pakistan NEWS DESK Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, once again talking about the supposed rigging during the 2018 elections, lamented the state of democracy in the country, and pointed out that no prime minister has been able to complete their term without an attack on democracy taking place.

"Until now, none of the [elected] prime ministers have been allowed to complete their constitutional term.

Every few years, democracy is attacked and martial law is imposed," he said while addressing a convention of the party's social media workers on Sunday. He added that those who helped create the country have been labelled as traitors, while the popular contemporary leaders have been jailed and made out to be robbers. He said that "Iqbal did not dream of this Pakistan". He told his followers to ask themselves what had happened to the country, and questioned how to could be treason to call out those that "made a state above a state". "These undemocratic forces have choked freedom of expression in the country, choked the poor and unemployment, have crushed them with inflation," he said. "These are painful things but all they are worried about is how to stop Nawaz Sharif."

"It is not possible for them to hide their lies any longer, or to suppress the voice of the common man," he

SIALKOT Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) threat to resign is merely a joke as these people don’t have the courage to resign and the government will not fall into the trap of the opposition.

She said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power through the power of vote, adding that the government could not be toppled by the rallies.

Lashing out at the opposition over their irresponsible behaviour during the second wave of the Covid-19, she termed the opposition's rallies as the main cause of the

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Christian girl killed over refusal to marriage proposal RAWALPINDI: A Christian girl was reportedly killed in Rawalpindi after her parents rejected a marriage proposal sent by a Muslim man, named Shehzad.

Officers from the Koral Police Station claimed on Sunday to have arrested an accused named Faizan, while raids are being carried out to arrest the prime suspect, Shehzad. The deceased, Sonia, and the accused were residents of the Old Airport area in Rawalpindi.

Shehzad's mother is also said to have sent her son's proposal for Sonia, but her parents refused as she was to marry another man, identified as Faizan. According to police, on the day of the incident, the girl was travelling with Faizan on the highway when Shehzad opened fire on her. The police said that, as per the preliminary investigation, the murder appears to have been carried out of personal resentment. However, the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police said the police were investigating all aspects. Last month, a young Christian girl, Arzoo Raja, was reportedly abducted, forced to convert and marry a 44-year-old Muslim man in Karachi. Appearing before the Sindh High Court (SHC), Arzoo was asked if she was under any pressure to which she replied that she had married the accused, Syed Ali Azhar, and embraced Islam willingly.

According to the report submitted by the five-member medical board, three X-rays of Arzoo were taken from different angles and after reviewing the medical reports, her age was determined to be between 14 to 15 years.

The bench observed that Arzoo could not consent to marriage as the medical board and National Database and Registration Authority records, according to which she is 13 years old, both deemed her underage. The court further noted that this being the case, it was not possible for her to enter into a legally valid marriage with Azhar and thus she could not return to him. TLTP

Minor boy sodoMised by gang, killed in lahore

MaryaM thanks sM teaMs for spreading nawaz's voice declared. Speaking the same occasion, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that thanks to the efforts of their social media teams, “Nawaz Sharif's voice has reached across the country”. She urged them to continue carrying “forward Nawaz Sharif's narrative", as this had positively impacted the party’s popularity and reach.

Furthermore, she encouraged her party workers to embrace the first information reports (FIRs) placed against them and to remain steadfast in the face of adversity. These remarks come a week before the scheduled Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Lahore. The 11-party anti-government alliance is planning on holding its next rally at the Minar-ePakistan monument on December 13.

While Prime Minister Imran Khan has not outright prevented them from doing so, he has warned that arrests will be levied against those who partake in the rallies. The reason for discouraging the rally is to curb the spread of Covid-19, which has been showing an increasing number of daily cases over the month of November.

Firdous terms PDM’s en masse resignation threat a joke STAFF REPORT

NEWS

spread of Covid-19 in the country. The insensible opposition leaders are unable to understand the severity of the situation and these people have nothing to do with the people’s problems but are only concerned to save their looted wealth, she added. She said that PDM leaders are mentally sick as they only care for themselves and not the public at large. The SACM said that the opposition should refrain from putting the lives of innocent people in danger just for its nefarious designs. On December 13, the people of Lahore will blow air out of the PDM balloon, she further said. Firdous said that 25 more people succumbed to coronavirus during the past 24 hours in Punjab. She added that 662 more people tested positive for the Covid19 in the province.

LAHORE: A man on Sunday handed over to parents the body of a seven-year-old boy, who was sexually assaulted by a group of men before being killed, in Lahore’s Green Town after conveying that he had died in a road accident. According to details, the body of the victim, seven-year-old Ahsan, was handed over to parents by the accused claiming that he had died in a road accident. The body, whose throat was slit, was shifted to a hospital and during a medical examination, it emerged that he had been sexually assaulted. The police said that the medical report has revealed that Ahsan was murdered using a knife after he was sodomised. The police have arrested one of the accused as his other accomplices have fled. “More revelations will emerge as the accused have confessed to his role in the horrific incident during an initial probe,” they said. The man narrated that he along with his other accomplices took the child to an abandoned home, where they sexually assaulted the child before killing him. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report to proceed with further legal proceedings,” they said. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Inspector General of Police (IG) Inam Ghani took notice of the horrific rape and murder incident and sought a detailed report into the matter from their subordinates. TLTP

PdM rallies responsible for rise in Covid-19 cases: Faraz ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Senator Shibli Faraz has expressed sadness over the increased number of coronavirus cases in Peshawar and Multan amid Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) public gatherings. In a tweet on Sunday, the information minister said that recent Covid-19 figures are worrying and these political rallies are responsible for the increase. He said that such political gatherings are becoming a major cause of coronavirus spread in the country. The minister said that holding of such gatherings is tantamount to the violation of law and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Faraz said that the opposition leaders have quarantined themselves in their homes in a comfortable environment, while people are being used for personal political gains. STAFF REPORT

pakistan reaffirms cooperation to Uncted in anti-terror efforts ISLAMABAD TLTP

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram held a meeting with Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of Security Council Michèle Coninsx in New York.

They discussed areas of common interest and reaffirmed their commitment to close cooperation in the efforts of counter-terrorism, according to a statement issued by the Pakistani Mission on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, Akram said

that Pakistan looks forward to working closely with UNCTED and strengthening bilateral cooperation.

A day earlier, UN Under-Secretary General for Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov called upon India and Pakistan to reduce tensions, and engage in a dialogue and pursue solutions in accordance with the United Nations Charter and UN Security Council resolutions.

The UN under-secretary general for counter-terrorism said this while talking to Akram in New York.

Akram has handed over a dossier on Indian terrorism to Vladimir Voronkov.

The UN counter-terrorism chief promised to study the dossier, which has been prepared by Pakistani agencies after full investigation of India’s systematic campaign to promote terrorism and subversion in Pakistan, the statement said.

Islamabad on November 15 presented a detailed dossier containing evidence of India's involvement in terrorism being carried out in Pakistan.

"Today, we have irrefutable facts that we will present before the nation and the international community through this dossier," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said as he addressed

a press briefing at the Foreign Office alongside Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar.

The ISPR chief said that India had suffered "substantial loss" in Pakistan's "befitting reply".

"You can see a pattern of constant ceasefire violations," Qureshi had said, adding that the dossier contains many details and some of them will be used in "the time of need". He further said, "The world knows that when Pakistan was busy partnering in the peace process, India was laying a web of terrorism around us."

Monday, 7 December, 2020

04 NEWS

Buzdar approvEs MultiBillion-rupEE paCKagE For laHorE upliFt LAHORE

p

STAFF REPORT

UNJAB Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has approved a multibillion-rupee special development package for Lahore.

The chief minister approved the multibillion-rupee package while presiding over a meeting of the governing body of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

The meeting decided to start mega projects for providing relief to the people of Lahore. Usman Buzdar said that a stateof-the-art 1,000 beds hospital would be established on the land of LDA at Ferozepur Road near Arfa Karim Information Technology Park at a cost of Rs7 billion. This hospital will have a capacity of 400 beds in the general ward, 400 beds in cardiology and 200 beds in blood diseases wards.

The chief minister said that a 2-kilometres-long overhead bridge started from

Nolakha Police Station would be constructed from the railway station to Sheranwala Gate at a cost of Rs4.5 billion.

The project will not only provide relief to the residents of wall city but also improve the flow of traffic.

He further stated that a project of setting up of an overhead bridge at Shahkam Chowk would also be started which will cost Rs1.5 billion. He said that the construction of an overhead bridge would solve traffic problems at Shahkam Chowk.

He said that 10 underground water tanks would be constructed in Lahore to store rainwater at a sum of Rs1 billion.

This project will ensure the timely drainage of rainwater. “Neither I will have to go on the roads during rain for the in-

spection nor will people have to face the difficulties,” Buzdar added.

He said that in the first phase 4,000 apartments will be constructed in LDA city for the low-income segment and the cost of the project is estimated at Rs40 billion. It is planned to build more than 35,000 apartments on 8,000 kanals of land. He directed to send a summer report in this regard to the CM's Office within 7 days and said that PC-1 of this project should be prepared and approved by December 31.

A modern bus terminal will be constructed at Thokar Niaz Baig, he said and directed the transport department for the design of the bus terminal by December 10.

Green electric buses will be plied in major cities of the province including Lahore.

An underpass will be constructed on Band Road Chowk heading towards Samanabad which will smooth the flow of traffic. He further maintained that an underpass will also be constructed on Ferozepur Road near Gulab Devi Hospital. Underpass and flyover bridge will be constructed at Karim Block Market Chowk. The project will cost more than Rs2 billion.

He said, “We are delivering the mega projects which are the right of the people of Lahore as these schemes are the need of the city and necessary for the convenience of the citizens.” He directed for the speedy execution of all these projects. He said that the government will provide resources and funds on a priority basis for these projects.

“I will not tolerate any delays in these projects,” Buzdar warned. All necessary matters should be settled as soon as possible. Action will be taken against those who made the delay, he warned.

GILGIT: The autonomous region in the grips of a harsh winter. INP

3 illegal water hydrants stealing 1.5m gallons dismantled in Karachi KARACHI TLTP

The water board personnel in an operation against water theft on Sunday dismantled as many as three illegal water hydrants pumping 1.5 million gallons of water out of the water line and suspended connections of others. The managing director of Karachi Water Board, police and revenue officials were present during the raids on illegal water hydrants in the city. Sindh’s Minister for Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the SHO Pirabad police station has been suspended over his failure to halt water theft in the area. “A mafia was stealing water from the main water supply lines in an organized way,” said Shah, promising stern action against the officials involved in water theft in the city. The water board officials dismantled illegal water hydrants in Manghopir and other areas in the vicinity. “The water board took action against illegal water hydrants in Yaro Goth, Khairabad Goth and Rozi Goth and also confiscated motors and other equipment during the operation,” the MD Water Board said. “More than 1.5 million gallons of water was being pumped out from the water line with three illegal water hydrants,” the water board chief added.

The illegal connections were supplying water to various areas in the vicinity. Water from these illegal connections used to be stored in RCC tanks from where it was supplied through tankers to various parts of the city.

CM reviews treatment facilities at Corona Field Hospital in Expo Centre LAHORE INP

In the wake of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the province, Corona Field Hospital in Expo Centre Lahore has been reactivated on the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar. The chief minister on Sunday visited the Field Hospital and reviewed the treatment facilities for the corona affectees.

He also inspected various sections of the field hospital and the ambulance. CM Buzdar was briefed about the shifting of coronavirus patients by ambulance. He met the doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff of the hospital and appreciated their spirit for serving the suffering humanity.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM stated that 300 beds with oxygen and portable ventilators have been arranged in the Field Hospital of Expo Centre. Treatment of outdoor patients is being started besides providing all necessary facilities in the field hospital. He said that the best way of protection from the Covid-19 is to stay at home. He also said that coronavirus has affected Lahore and the situation is alarming, but the government is also vigilant and fully prepared. He further maintained that the government is taking all precautionary measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. The chief minister directed to keep the ample stock of oxygen. Talking to the media, CM Buzdar said that unlawful assemblies are banned and the law will take its course over the violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Hospitals reserved for coronavirus patients have been reactivated across the province. Ventilators and necessary medical facilities are being provided in the hospitals, he added. He said, funds of more than one billion rupees have been provided to the health department for this purpose. Due to increasing cases of corona, all the teaching hospitals have been restored to their position of June. HDUs in hospitals have also been restored. The opposition should not play with the lives of the people by holding rallies. The law will take action on unlawful assemblies and gatherings, he warned. Provincial Minister for Health Dr Yasmeen Rashid, secretary primary and secondary health, Lahore division commissioner, secretary information and concerned officials were also present on the occasion.

Masood pins low hopes on Biden administration for Kashmir mediation ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the possibility of mediation on Kashmir issue by the new United States administration led

by Joe Biden is not high, but the US as an influential member of the United Nations Security Council can play a pivotal role to resolve the issue between India and Pakistan.

He made these remarks while addressing a webinar hosted by the London School of Economics Student Union’s Pakistan Development Society as a foreign policy expert. The event was also addressed by former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and others.

The Trump administration, with the help of Pakistan, had made good headway on the issue of Afghanistan and also President Trump attempted to act as a mediator to resolve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. But later he (Trump) backtracked

and instead adhered to maintaining an artificial balance between the two countries and then the mediation offer came to nought”, he said.

Khan, however, expressed his optimism that the new US government under the leadership of Presidentelect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect, Kamala Harris would come forward and dissuade India from killing the Kashmiris and help end the human rights violations taking place in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

“Our success in achieving the desired goals would depend on our advocacy and our outreach. This should not only be limited to the government level but the nongovernmental sector particularly the civil society has to be involved in order to make Kashmir a civil rights movement,” he asserted.

Sardar Masood went on to say that in 2019, soon after India stripped Jammu and Kashmir of semi-autonomous status and split it into two Union Territories, Biden-Harris very plainly said, “Kashmiris are not

alone in the world and that they are keeping a track on the situation”.

The AJK president said that we must see that Pakistani expatriates in America have the same kind of ingress into the US power corridors as the Indian diaspora. Pakistanis in the US, he said, are around 700,000 and they have a key role to play in influencing decision making directly or indirectly.

Referring to the situation in IOK, President Khan said that there is a genocide taking place. Around 2.2 million non-state Hindus from all over India have been brought into IOK just in the past four months.

He suggested, “Our policy on Kashmir should be proactive and we should build our own narrative to help stop the killing of Kashmiris in IOK and prevent India from turning the disputed region into a colony.”

Rejecting bilateral talks with India, Masood Khan categorically stated that the solution of Kashmir conflict lies in multilateral diplomacy.

Fog continues disrupting flight schedule at Lahore airport LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Flight schedule remains disturbed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport due to foggy weather conditions for the second consecutive day on Sunday, as several more domestic and international flights were cancelled and delayed.

The flight schedule was disrupted following the immense foggy situation in Lahore which led to cancellation and delay of several domestic and interna-

tional flights. According to details, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight numbers 342 and 410 which were scheduled to depart for Najaf and Dubai have been cancelled while the flight number 307 departing to Karachi was also cancelled. A private airline’s flight coming from Najaf was cancelled as well followed by the cancellation of foreign airlines’ flight from Dubai to Lahore.

Meanwhile, six other flights of the PIA and International Airlines are facing delays due to foggy weather in the

provincial capital of Punjab.

A large number of passengers at the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore are waiting for the revival of their respective flights.

Earlier on Saturday, several domestic and international flights were cancelled and suspended due to foggy weather. The PIA flight numbers 304 and 306 coming from Karachi were cancelled while the flight number 307 departing to Karachi was also cancelled.

A private airline’s flight departing to

Dubai from Lahore airport was cancelled as well followed by the cancellation of foreign airlines’ flights from Muscat and Dubai. The outbound flights to Istanbul, London, Kuwait, Doha, Abu Dhabi were also delayed for departure, besides the arrival of other flights of foreign airlines.

The cancelled flights include Oman Air’s flights 341, 342 from Muscat, flights 416 and 417 of Airblue, PIA flight number 307 for Karachi. Turkish Airlines’ flight number 715 for Istanbul and 258 of British Airways for London were delayed.

Monday, 7 December, 2020

NEWS

05

ThE (fIrsT) KApTAAn pAssEs CIty NotES

M

M A NIAzI

IR Zafarullah Khan Jamali passed away in Rawalpindi, of Covid-19.

Well, he died of a heart attack, but he had two obvious predispositions towards the illness. He was over 60 (being 76) and he was obese.

Not grossly obese, you understand, but someone who had a middle-aged spread. I don’t know what it is about hockey backs, but they seem to develop comfortable stomachs and capacious trousers in later life. I’m generalising because one of my uncles (now departed) was a left back of enough ability to have made it to the Punjab University team, a team which Mr Zafarullah once skippered. Another hockey player, a half-back though, who went into politics, was Akhtar Rasool, the Olympian and one of the greatest centre-halfs ever. He never went beyond a Punjab ministry, though. The late Mir Zafarullah was the first prime

minister from Balochistan, and also the first international sportsman. Well, he was like Imran in that, but Imran isn’t from Balochistan. Mir Zafarullah was not only president of the PHF, but had been its chief selector earlier. He never played for Pakistan, but he played for a Punjab side against a visiting Kenyan team. He was a Lahori lad, going first to Aitchison, and then to Government College, ending up with a masters in Political Science from Punjab University. Of course, the difference between Imran and Mir Zafarullah is that the latter had given up on the youth vote a really long time ago, for he was this stocky figure even as a young man, back in the early 1980s, when he was a member of Zia’s Babinet and was not yet 40. He was older than Imran, but only by about nine years. He was born on January 1.

Back in the day, that was a sure sign that the father wasn’t really sure.

Another Baloch politician who passed away, possibly because of covid-19, was Sherbaz Mazari, who became head of NDP after it replaced NAP, whose head Wali Khan was re-

moved after the Hyderabad tribunal. Of course, Of course, his passing didn’t scare Imran as much as Mir Zafarullah’s. The latter had also captained Punjab University, and was also known, as is Imran, as Kaptaan, to some Mir Zafarullah actually passed away after they had discovered not one, not two, but three vaccines. And that’s not counting the Russian or Chinese ones. That means he missed what is probably going to happen, which is the most ugly race ever to get doses of thew vaccine.

So far, there isn’t a one-dose vaccine.

So if you get the first dose by hook, what if you can’t work the crook to get the second in time?

Meanwhile, we’ve got back to online schooling. That means the kids can catch up with their favourite show while they pretend to be in class. Of course, teachers are catching up. Now they insist that kids keep their mikes on, which means they catch the sounds of their environment. Which includes favourite shows. The preferred combination is one laptop for the show, and one for the class, but you can get by on getting the class on you mobile phone.

One of the unintended consequences has been that parental curfews mean nothing: if you had decided that your kid wouldn’t get a mobile or a laptop till they got to college, forget it. Before, they were valuable educational tools.

Now they’re essential.

And despite all of the technology and so on, it still took our Foreign Office about a month to realize that Joe Biden had been elected president. In the bad old days one would have suspected Trump of having passed on a payment to somebody, but now we have only honest and clean government.

So honest and clean that it did not stop NAB starting a new case against Ishaq Dar. It came after he appeared on BBC’s Hardtalk. Is that a preliminary to Nawaz Sharif’s deportation? He was declared a proclaimed offender by the Islamabad High Court after it was assured by his tailor that the prescribed long yellow kurta with blue polka dots and black dhoti had been prepared.

PML-N sources have complained that his fright wig is not yet ready, and the large mole on his cheek is not yet ready.

But NAB is in a hurry.

Thousands protest in London against India's farming reforms LONDON: Thousands of people protested in central London on Sunday over Indian agricultural reforms that have triggered mass demonstrations in India. A crowd of demonstrators converged on the Indian embassy, located on Aldwych, a major artery in the centre of the British capital, and groups marched around the Trafalgar Square area, a Reuters photographer at the scene said. Tens of thousands of farmers have protested in India against three laws the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce. Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers. Britain is home to a large Indian diaspora and many Britons who trace their family roots to India are strongly engaged with news from the country. There was little social distancing in evidence at the London protests and few participants were wearing face masks. The Metropolitan Police warned that people taking part in a gathering that did not respect Covid-19 restrictions risked being fined, and called on people to leave the area. AGENCIES

UAE target of cyber attacks after Israel deal, official says DUBAI AGENCIES

Drone footage shows deserted Taksim Square, a popular touristic neighborhood, during a nation-wide weekday curfew to combat the spread of Covid-19. AGENCIES

The United Arab Emirates was the target of cyber attacks after establishing formal ties with Israel, the Gulf Arab state’s cyber security head said on Sunday.

The UAE in August broke with decades of Arab policy when it agreed to forge ties with Israel in a move that angered Palestinians and some Muslim states and communities. Bahrain and Sudan have followed suit.

“Our relationship, for example, with the normalisation with Israel really opened a whole huge attacks from some other activists against the UAE,” Mohamed Hamad al-Kuwaiti said during an onstage interview at a conference in Dubai. Kuwaiti said the financial sector was targeted but did not elaborate. He did not say if any of the attacks were sucessful or provide details on who the perpetrators were He also told the conference that the number of cyber attacks in the UAE increased sharply after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Kuwaiti said traditionally many attacks in the region originate from Iran, without specifying who is behind them. Iran has also said that it has been a victim of hacking.

Explainer: The potential impact of Brexit without a trade deal LONDON/BRUSSELS AGENCIES

Britain and the European Union sought on Sunday to strike an elusive trade deal, with failure likely to end with trade in chaos, markets tumbling and a huge economic price to pay.

Here are some of the potential pressure points of a no-trade deal after five years of Brexit crisis.

STERLING: Investors and banks have predicted that a deal will eventually be done, so a no-deal would hit sterling, according to major foreign exchange traders.

The shock referendum result on June 24, 2016 sent the pound down 8% against the U.S. dollar, its biggest one-day fall since the era of free-floating exchange rates began in the 1970s.

That was nearly double the 4.3% drop on Sept. 16, 1992, when financier George Soros “broke the Bank of England” after his bets against the pound were instrumental in the currency’s exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

TRADE: Overnight Britain would lose zerotariff and zero-quota access to the European Single Market of 450 million consumers.

Britain would default to World Trade Organization (WTO) terms in its trade with the

27-state bloc, making it in effect as distant to its biggest trading partner as Australia.

Britain would impose its new UK global tariff (UKGT) on EU imports while the EU would impose its common external tariff on UK imports. Non-tariff barriers could hinder trade, with prices predicted to rise for consumers and businesses.

Borders risk disruption, especially the main crossing points, with shortages of certain foods possible as Britain imports 60% of its fresh food.

Any disruption would be felt most keenly by sectors that rely on just-in-time supply chains, including autos, food and beverages. Other sectors likely to be affected would include textiles, pharmaceuticals, and chemical and petroleum products.

The EU is Britain’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 47% of its trade in 2019.

It had a trade deficit of 79 billion pounds ($106 billion) with the EU, a surplus of 18 billion in services outweighed by a deficit of 97 billion pounds in goods.

Even with a deal, Britain’s reasonable worst-case scenario is that 7,000 trucks bound for the continent could stack up in the southern English county of Kent.

THE ECONOMY: A no-trade deal would wipe an extra 2% off British economic out-

put in 2021 while driving up inflation, unemployment and public borrowing, Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast.

The OBR said tariffs under WTO rules and border disruptions would hit parts of the economy such as manufacturing that were emerging relatively unscathed from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The long-term hit could be costly for both Britain and the 27 remaining EU members. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is Britain’s biggest EU trading partner.

The shock would be felt unevenly across continental Europe, with those likely to be hit worst including Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Malta and Poland.

The Halle Institute for Economic Research has forecast that EU companies exporting to Britain could lose more than 700,000 jobs if no trade deal is agreed.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Both sides want to avoid a hard border between the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the EU. Implementing the Northern Ireland protocol of the 2020 Brexit Treaty will be complicated without a trade agreement.

Under the treaty, Northern Ireland remains, in effect, in the EU’s single market

CMYK

for goods and aligned to its customs rules after Dec. 31 unlike the rest of the United Kingdom.

Exactly how checks, regulations and paperwork will work between Britain and Northern Ireland is not yet clear. But without a trade deal, the divide between Britain and Northern Ireland would become more distinct.

Brexit without a trade deal could allow Northern Ireland to become a back door into the EU’s single market, thus raising the spectre of a hard border on the island of Ireland for the first time since a 1998 peace deal.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to three decades of sectarian violence between mainly Protestant Unionists who favour continued British rule and mainly Catholic Irish Nationalists who want a united Ireland.

ACRIMONY: Both sides would likely blame each other for any chaos after a nodeal exit and Europe would be split just as it faces the challenges of China’s rise, Russian assertiveness and the continuing fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Such a failure could shake the bloc that was created to bind the ruined nations of Europe into a global power after World War Two. The EU would lose one of Europe’s leading military and intelligence powers, its

second-largest economy and the only financial capital to rival New York. Britain would be alone, left far more dependent on its alliance with the United States.

Britain is also pushing ahead with legislation known as the Internal Market Bill that would allow it to break parts of the 2020 Brexit Treaty relating to Northern Ireland, making it unclear how far it would implement the divorce deal.

CITY OF LONDON: London, the world’s international financial capital, is largely ready for Brexit as a trade deal was never going to cover Britain’s most globally competitive industry.

While most banks and investors have found ways to navigate Britain’s departure from the bloc, the long-term impact of an acrimonious Brexit would be unpredictable and the EU would likely try to grab more market share from the City of London.

London is the centre of the world’s $6.6 trillion a day foreign currency markets, accounting for 43% of global turnover. Its nearest EU competitor, Paris, accounts for about 2%.

The British capital is also the global centre for euro trading, a potential headache for the European Central Bank. ($1 = 0.7442 pounds)

Monday, 7 December, 2020

06 COMMENT

Fiscal stimulus and debt management

The courts weigh in IHC notes the role of free speech in democracy

Poorer countries need their debt written off

I

n remarks made during the Islamabad High Court’s hearing of the Tiktok ban case, IHC Chief Justice Mr Justice Athar Minallah has questioned the new social media rules, which require social media platforms to set up offices in Pakistan if they wish to operate in the country. Though the government argues that it is imposing the rules to protect citizens from harm, Mr Justice Minallah noted that they were not in consonance with Articles 19 and 19A of the Constitution, which provided for freedom of information, and the citizen’s right to information, respectively. Mr Justice Minallah noted how court decisions were subject to criticism, and thus government actions had to be also.

It should be noted that freedom of information (and thus also comment) about government decisions is essential to voters for making correct decisions. In fact, that is why there is a guarantee of access to information.

If citizens are unaware of what their government is doing, or if the government tries to hide what it is doing, the citizen will not be able to make informed decisions at election time. The government should note that its attempts at control are becoming increasingly obvious, and the criticism that is being voiced by civil society, is now being expressed by the judiciary, which should tell the government that its attempts are increasingly inept.

The government should realize that it is trying to apply methods evolved for controlling print and electronic media, for social media. While print media needed printing presses and electronic media OB vans, social media only needs servers, which can be placed in ordinary houses. The government seems to be relying on traditional methods suggested by a mentality that is not so much oldfashioned as outdated. That was unexpected in the case of a government headed by the PTI, which prides itself on being at home in the new media. The government needs to realize that there is no putting the lid on social media, and the new reality that government bases the electoral appeals on the truth rather than on attempts to conceal or distort facts. If this is the age of the fish-bowl, governments, being the biggest fish in it, are most exposed. The PTI’s own lack of performance is causing even the judiciary to sit up and take notice of its attempts to hide the truth.

Dr Omer JaveD

‘C

OvID-19 has hit the global economy hard. Governments around the world have already injected $11 trillion in fiscal measures to keep the economy afloat, and the United nations’ conference on trade and development (Unctad) calculates that low-income countries will require an extra $2.5 trillion immediately to prevent economic collapse.

Failure to address the economic fallout will have devastating consequences.’– ‘How can we pay off the global coronavirus debts? Tackle the powerful’ by Ben Tippet in the Guardian The pandemic has badly hurt economies worldwide. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects global economy to contract by around 4.4 percent during 2020; the deepest recession since the Great Depression of 1930s. At the same time, poverty numbers are soaring, with the World Bank indicating that as many as 150 million could fall below the poverty line. Given this deep recession, even the IMF, which is generally pushing for austerity, has been advising countries for ‘fiscal stimulation’, primarily through enhancing public expenditure in infrastructure projects.

The IMF expects that given recession, higher public investment would most likely lead to greater economic growth, due to the likely existence of a greater ‘fiscal or spending multiplier’. A recent IMF blog ‘How a collective infrastructure push will boost global growth’ quantified the impact of public spending on economic growth as ‘If economies with room

Covid-19 still needs caution No guarantee of last winter’s miracle

T

He latest figures for the covid-19 pandemic should remove any doubt, if any existed, that the second wave has gripped the northern Hemisphere. It should not be ignored that the first wave had not completely died down before the present one is upon us, and it seems likely that this second wave will be deadlier than the first. Already, new infections on Saturday reached 3119, while 43 people died. There are now 52,359 active cases, with 3001 people in hospitals and 337 on ventilators. As the number of those hospitalized and on ventilators rise, the initial onslaught of winter comes to mind, when hospitals became taxed beyond capacity, not just from a shortage of beds and ventilators, but of medical staff, and of the Physical Protective equipment they needed. The first wave caused the healthcare system to come dangerously close to collapse.

This present wave is likely to push it over entirely.

The government should stop deluding itself by blaming the Pakistan Democratic Movement for spreading the virus. On Saturday, it was noted that the positivity rate had reached 17.57 percent in Abbottabad, 15.26 percent in Rawalpindi and 6.5 percent in Lahore, and 14.31 percent in Karachi. Only in the last-named, had there been a PDM rally. While it planned one for Lahore, even there the massive gathering for the funeral prayers of Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi is a likelier superspreader event.

However, there was no attempt to do anything about it.

The main problem with wrongly assigning the cause merely to play politics would be a failure to pay attention to actual solutions. At present, the government’s laudable concern about keeping the economy open should not be put ahead of the lives of the citizenry. The effect of closing down educational institutions has been diluted by keeping open shopping malls and restaurants. The government should be ready to order closures wholesale.

This will happen if it keeps up with the piecemeal ‘smart lockdowns’ anyhow. The government must also not have any illusions about the coming of a vaccine. Though indications are encouraging, they are too late for this winter. It still must be navigated, which is only possible through proper preparation, not wishful thinking.

Sumeera aSghar rOy anD rehan SaeeD

P

OOR farmers had not recovered from the attack of crop-eating locusts, yet they were destined to meet another worldwide blight, of covid-19. The agriculture sector’s development rate had already declined because of locust losses; the pandemic resulted in further lowering the line of development on a graph. Whether a poor farmer or a landlord, a supplier or a distributor, and seller or a purchaser, everyone faced complications because of the lockdown. earlier to the outbreak, Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product growth for the year 2019-2020 was 3.2 percent, with agriculture growing by 2.9 percent, which was two-thirds of the total GDP growth for 2019-2020. Already the slowest GDP growth in Asia, the prediction for the current fiscal is in the negative, i.e., -0.4 percent, with agriculture as the only sector showing positive growth of 2.7 percent according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics 2020. With 39 percent of its labour force and 63 percent of the country’s total population connected with this profession, agriculture has become the backbone of Pakistan’s economy by participating in over 19 percent of the national GDP. As it is said that no chain is stronger than its weakest bond, likewise every component in the agriculture sector is equally important, whether to be a producer, consumer, or supplier. The lockdown resulted in disrupting this chain due to non-availability to traders of transport, farm inputs, fertilizers, pesticides, and diesel fuels. As Punjab and Sind are the main producers of agricultural goods, subsequently, they are hit worst by the pandemic. Conditions further worsened when a ban was imposed over the interprovincial supply of goods, especially wheat.

Interprovincial supply of goods is brought into action to satisfy the supply-demand ratio. Besides countering health crises, developing countries like Pakistan also had to alleviate omnipresent economic desolation. The lockdown resulted in a spike in unemployment. Consequently, it resulted in people’s migration back to their home towns, which followed an inverse relationship between available food and consumers.

A sharp and unexpected increase was seen in the members of households.

Editor Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund. He tweets @omerjaved

Farmers too must digitize in the post-lockdown world

Arif Nizami Umar Aziz

Just as a gift voucher frees up money to spend on other things, a country that receives SDRs can trade them for real currencies to repay foreign debts, freeing up money for healthcare and poverty reduction

Covid-19 effect on Pakistani Agricultural productivity

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

to spend were to increase infrastructure investment spending by ½ percent of GDP in 2021, raise it to 1 percent of GDP in 2022, and keep it at that level until 2025, and economies with less fiscal space spend about one third of that amount over the same period, global output could increase by close to 2 percent by 2025. About a third of that impact would come from cross-border spillovers. To see this, consider a set of hypothetical scenarios where each country raises infrastructure spending on its own, without benefiting from higher spending abroad. The global impact in that case would on average be about 1.2 percent.’

Having said that, debt levels of developing countries which were already witnessing a steep rise for some years before the pandemic, have had huge responsibility to steer their economies, especially the vulnerable sections of its society with both through much higher public health sector spending– especially in terms of providing vaccines– and also infrastructural spending. A Guardian article ‘Debt in developing countries has doubled in less than a decade’ highlights these debt headwinds to providing the needed fiscal stimulus as ‘Developing nation debt has more than doubled in the past decade and left more than 50 countries facing a repayment crisis, according to a campaign group. Data from the Jubilee Debt Campaign shows that even without taking full account of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a sharp jump in the number of poor countries in debt distress since 2018. Debt relief was provided for poor countries at the end of the 1990s and in the mid-2000s, but the JDC said external debt payments as a share of government revenue had more than doubled from 6.7 percent to 14.3 percent since 2010 and were at their highest level since 2001.’

At the same time, needed public investments should direct the post-covid global economy towards a ‘green’ economy; one that puts global economy on sustainable footings by actively fighting against a fast-approaching climate change crisis. Overall, while the advanced countries have been able to inject huge

amounts for fiscal stimulus, the developing countries have not been able to come anywhere close to providing the needed response.

In this regard, Ben Tippet in another article ‘Paying for the pandemic and a just transition’ pointed out ‘The Global South has been prevented from implementing the same level of unprecedented state support seen in the Global north. As discussed below, record high levels of debt and capital outflows have drained resources from the Global South at exactly the point it needs to invest in health, social care and economic support systems. Shockingly, sixty-four countries currently pay more on debt servicing than on health care.13 Both UnCTAD and the IMF estimates that the Global South requires an extra $2.5 trillion immediately to meet these financing needs. If this was taken out as debt today, repaying it over the next 10 years would cost global governments $283 billion a year in repayments.’

Given the need therefore to both provide fiscal stimulus during the pandemic, and going forward to deal with the impact of a deep recession that the world overall finds itself in, and to effectively manage serious concerns about mounting debt, therefore requires large scale debt cancellations of developing countries. In the same Guardian article, Mr. Tippet highlights a number of steps, among others, in this regard as ‘To deal with this, low-income countries immediately require their debts to be cancelled and money injected into their economies. Following the call of Unctad and Progressive International, the international community should cancel $1tn of the debts of low-income countries and issue $2.5tn of special drawing rights (SDRs)– the IMF’s own international currency. Just as a gift voucher frees up money to spend on other things, a country that receives SDRs can trade them for real currencies to repay foreign debts, freeing up money for healthcare and poverty reduction.’

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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People whose businesses were linked with milk were affected most as a nationwide lockdown followed shutdown of marriage halls, hotels, restaurants, and sweet shops. Much of the milk was disposed off as traders were unwilling to purchase milk from dairy producers. Low milk prices ensued from the shutting down of milk consumers, and this resulted in the disappointment of dairy producers. Food crops are divided into two basic groups, cereals crops and fresh produce. As far as cereal products are concerned, they can be easily automated, but human labor is mainly done by producing and handling fresh products. Besides, they are highly perishable and is easily damaged by weather extremes. When the lockdown was imposed, these fresh products were getting their final touch, which followed traders and the market’s unavailability.

Consequently, they went waste.

Another problem which emanated from the lockdown was that many farm owners could not find inputs like fertilizers and pesticides for their crops. Due to the absence of such inputs, crops’ production diminished to alarming rates, which followed a decline in prices and lower interest among traders.

As per a survey conducted by the Asian Development Bank, 33 percent of respondents showed that they faced losses in their wages owing to covid-19.

As December has arrived and apprehension of the hasty spread of cases is also expected with the second wave of covid-19, the government is rethinking about implementation of a lockdown. Still, it must take some smart steps before its imposition to avoid antecedent hardships faced by citizens and the working sector.

What can be a possible way forward for farmers?

The government should ensure the accessibility of agricultural inputs even during lockdown so that

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

disruption in the chain is not to be seen again. Curtailment of the marketing of agricultural goods must be avoided. Following these two steps mentioned above, steadiness in agricultural goods prices must be maintained to ensure producers’ interest. Besides it, easy loans to farmers and waivers to those who have already taken loans must be facilitated. Any lockdown must be fecund rather than pernicious.

The world is now moving to ubiquitous technologies like smart wireless sensors, the internet of things, near-Field-Communication (communication protocols for communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm or less), and cloud computing, for the quality monitoring of agricultural produces from farm to fork. In order to make sure that the finest and fresh quality reaches to the consumer, and enabling them to use quality tracking window, resulted in greater customer satisfaction. It could play an astonishing role during plague to minimize the chances of spread, assisting the tracing of the source of origin. In the era of covid-19, it could be used for the decision making of food distribution, to tackle the consumers’ imbalance ratio due to a lockdown or smart lockdown, resulted in prices stability and diminished food wastage.

The world is now moving to ubiquitous technologies like smart wireless sensors, the internet of things, NearField-Communication (communication protocols for communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm or less), and cloud computing, for the quality monitoring of agricultural produces from farm to fork

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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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.

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

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 7 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

The appoint of CAA chief must be reversed THe appointment of Pakistan Administrative Service officer retired Flight Lieutenant Khaqan Murtaza as the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority by the federal government on november 28 must be mulled over again since he seems ‘very unfit’ for the highly technical and challenging job amid the ban by the International Aviation Organization on PIA to 188 countries following unfortunate revelations: 262 pilots with fake licenses. The incumbent government need to realize that only a person with highly competitive and challenging disposition can steer the airline from this bad episode.

Ali AqdAs lAhore

The protests and coronavirus

Pakistan’s voting system E-voting needs verification before it can win public trust

mOhSin Saleem ullah

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ITH all amazement, I’m writing this column to express my excitement of knowing that Pakistani citizens including overseas could use an e-voting system for the next general elections. That made iy to the headline of every international newspaper, as Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to have fair and transparent elections in the country. Since the government’s effort to digitalize Pakistan is laudable, technological-driven steps help in boosting the country’s economy. That said, having a completely digitalized voting system may sound a blessing for the developing nations, whereas it’s a futile effort to preclude opposition parties from leveling allegations of election rigging, which was in vain when President Donals Trump disclaimed credibility of the United State elections, albeit votes were cast through electronic voting in most of the states. Since 2016, Americans have been concerned about foreign interference in US elections is a major concern, due to the paperless voting machines being easy to target by foreign adversaries that might exploit it.

However, in a developing country like Pakistan to what extent e-voting could replace the paper ballots, when the country has limited technological resources, and a constrained budget to spend on digitalizing the voting system, remains a question. Touchscreen and electronic machines have remained the most efficient and credible option for conducting elections across the world, but over the years the experts have raised concerns and warned against its adoption, because e-voting lacks an auditable paper trail, and software could be prone to hacking that would change votes, and sway election results. With no assurance of transparency, and the fear of cyberprofessionals invading the election authorities’ database, are the main reasons for the governments to switch back to the paper ballot voting system. Critics of e-voting, including computer security experts, believe that the machines are badly programmed, and the voting software is proprietary, so no one claims what’s inside the machines except the voting-machine makers, who have fought in court to prevent anyone from examining their software. e-voting machines sometimes fail to boot up, fail to record votes, or even record them for the wrong candidates─ that is, in cases when someone notices a problem. A machine can appear to perform properly from the

outside, but record votes inaccurately. Without a paper backup trail or some other means to verify votes, there is no meaningful way to determine the integrity of the machines or an election.

The proponents of internet voting are arguing that e-voting can potentially make the election process significantly faster for voters who can use it and have lesser long queues as it allows voters to vote quickly at the polling station. Also, people are increasingly relying on technology across various sectors as more and more transactional processes are being digitized. This is also becoming the case with elections, where computers and other technology have become indispensable to their conduct. now, the covid-19 pandemic has engulfed this planet, which has increased interest in and the demand for moving services to remote, online spaces. As this demand increases, election decision-makers must recognize the unique nature of electoral processes and take into account important risk factors when considering the use of a newer form of voting.

While the cost of e-voting could eventually become lower than traditional voting, it can produce ballots in multiple languages, and allow voters to make lastminute changes. Additionally, it would allow overseas Pakistani, and disabled voters to cast ballots without any external assistance.

Though, its implementation is another challenge to the Pakistani government, that would take several election cycles to achieve as there is significant new procurement, training, public awareness campaigning, and security involved with the launch of this system. Internet voting often relies on unaccounted costs such as a strong identification infrastructure– biometric voter cards, smart ID cards, which can be expensive if not already in place. While internet voting can seem appealing to boost voter turnout, studies have shown that this is not generally the case. The research found that internet voting may make voting more convenient for regular voters, but it doesn’t attract new voters. Young voters, in particular, appear to be more concerned with why they should vote at all, rather than how.

Most forms of electronic voting improve the speed and reliability of casting ballots. Whereas, at the same time, internet voting can effectively exclude other communities those who either do not have access to or do not know how to use the technology, disproportionately impacting older and rural voters in many cases. If implemented, there would be a need for extensive, robust voter education. The technology that underpins e-vot-

ing is highly sophisticated, involving advanced mathematics and cryptography. With a low literacy rate in Pakistan, it’s important to note that not all voters are necessarily comfortable with technology; particular care should be exercised to understand the level of technological literacy in Pakistan. Most voters will not understand how it works, and this lack of understanding could undermine public trust. This trust can be earned by establishing thorough procedures, including audits, and providing stakeholders with enough information for them to fully comprehend the sequence and mechanisms of the voting process.

Careful consideration should be given regarding the views of the public. A lack of trust in an electoral process can dramatically impact the perceived legitimacy of those elected. eventually, introducing e-voting requires major changes to the national legal framework governing elections. Initially, there is a need to run pilot projects that may require special permission, before an overall revision of the legal framework is implemented if such voting is to be introduced nationwide.

Hybrid digitalpaper solutions, with a voter verifiable Paper Audit Trail (vvPAT), are becoming the norm for the communities that insist on using such machines. They are still touchscreen but print out ballots that verify a voter’s selection. voting activists want the federal government to mandate that all e-voting machines have a voterverified paper audit trail─ a paper printout that would allow voters to check their vote on the paper before it drops into a secure box. The paper trail works, however, only if states are required to manually recount a certain percentage of the paper votes to compare them against the digital votes and check for anomalies. California─ a state in the USA─ requires e-voting machines to provide a paper trail, requires counties to perform a one-percent mandatory manual recount of all elections. For paper trail legislation to be effective, it should also designate the voter-verified paper trail as the final word in cases where it differs from the digital vote since it would be easy for someone to programme the machines to print out one vote but record a different one digitally. Also, there are several common-sense steps that could be implemented that would improve transparency and lessen the opportunity for fraud.

For paper trail legislation to be effective, it should also designate the voterverified paper trail as the final word in cases where it differs from the digital vote since it would be easy for someone to programme the machines to print out one vote but record a different one digitally.

Also, there are several common-sense steps that could be implemented that would improve transparency and lessen the opportunity for fraud

The writer can be reached at can be reached at mohsin.saleemullah@berkeley.edu or @MohsinSaleemu

THe Corona test was declared mandatory for the people to participate in the engagement ceremony of Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, but on the other hand, mass sit ins and protests are being called by the PPP against the incumbent government. no one is requested to follow the SOPs before being part of these large scale protests. This will, hands down, cause the spike in Corona virus cases to new levels. With thousands of cases being reported on a daily basis, Pakistan has now 52,359 active cases with 3,001 patients in hospitals and 337 on ventilators. The electorates need to realize that the lives of their voters. People, on the other hand, should realize that their lives matter the most and not the participation and chanting slogans in these protests.

WAqAs KhAn lAhore

PDM foolishness PDM is playing it’s crucial role in defeating PTI government but their words come in nothing as a result. Recently, PM Imran Khan along with ministers criticized PDM for insisting on Peshawar rally despite coronavirus threat. However, we face a very devastating crisis during these times but yet they wanna continue protests and blame the PM for his policies. He also said that the same PDM a strict lockdown but are now playing reckless politics with people’s safety. They are even defying court orders and holding protests daily and cases are dramatically being increased. I request the government of Pakistan to forbade them to show their faces in protests due to virus deaths and second wave destruction.

BArKAtullAh turBAt

Karachi’s electricity woes I want to bring the kind attention of the authorities towards the unsolvable and irresistible problems majority of Karachi has been facing for years.

The poor management of Ke has been involved in several corruptions and fails to provide electricity in every area of Karachi. The production of electricity is way more than what is given to this city. electricity thefts have been reported in several areas that is the biggest reason why there is shortage of electricity in those areas.

Bills of electricity have been increased and it is making people frustrated to do thefts of electricity to make the burden a lot less. even if the bills are paid regularly it is still reported that there is shortage of electricity as well as load shedding for several hours in summers. Karachi is known for its humid and scorching heat in summers and it is the main reason why it is very important to take strict action against crime and to take major steps against these problems of the nation that is loyal and is ready to cooperate this issue. I hope you will kindly publish my letter in your esteemed paper so the authorities may realize our difficulties and take the necessary steps in the matter. tAyyABA AthAr KArAchi

Shibli on the offence MInISTeR for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Sunday said Maryam Safdar’s incoherent speech at the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-n) social media workers’ convention in Lahore depicted her mental disarray and confusion. Referring to the Sharif clan, the minister said in a statement that Maryam was representing the second generation of a family, which always exploited and looted the country.

“Their only faith is money and they always give respect to the money, for which they always earned humiliation and disgrace,” he said. The people had understood now that the Sharif family was befooling them for their personal fight and vested interests, he added. Shibli went on to say that their narrative had no place in politics as slogans like “go nawaz go” were being raised at their own convention, and especially after the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) elections, where their party faced humiliation. If the sharif family had any self-respect, they would have quit the national politics after the GB elections, he remarked. The minister said people had no doubt that Maryam Safdar was completely confused and had reached to the extreme level of depression and frustration. He said coronavirus emergency was imposed in the country and the cases of infection were increasing with every passing day. A political leader who had conscience and felt for the people could not even think of flouting the coronavirus related health guidelines, he noted. Shibli said people had seen how the ongoing efforts of international organizations, government and media in a fight against the pandemic were ridiculed at the PML-n social media workers convention. This was condemnable and causing embarrassment to the country at international level, he added.

The minister said the coronavirus was spreading at fast speed, that had put a strain on the hospitals. “We have been facing constant pressure from all walks of life and all schools of thought that the government should take strict action against such unwise politicians to protect the lives of poor people,” he stressed. ilhAn rehAn islAmABAd

Monday, 7 December, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

Can The allIes TrusT amerICa anymore?

PROjEct syndicatE

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JOSEPH S NYE, JR

RIeNDS and allies have come to distrust the United States. Trust is closely related to truth, and President Donald Trump is notoriously loose with the truth. All presidents have lied, but never on such a scale that it debases the currency of trust. International polls show that America’s soft power of attraction has declined sharply over Trump’s presidency.

Can President-elect Joe Biden restore that trust? In the short run, yes. A change of style and policy will improve America’s standing in most countries. Trump was an outlier among US presidents. The presidency was his

first job in government, after spending his career in the zero-sum world of New York City real estate and reality television, where outrageous statements hold the media’s attention and help you control the agenda.

In contrast, Biden is a well-vetted politician with long experience in foreign policy derived from decades in the Senate and eight years as vice president. Since the election, his initial statements and appointments have had a profoundly reassuring effect on allies.

Trump’s problem with allies was not his slogan “America First.” As I argue in Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump, presidents are entrusted with promoting the national interest.

The important moral issue is how a president defines the national interest.

Trump chose narrow transactional definitions and, according to his former national security adviser, John Bolton, sometimes confused the national interest with his own personal, political, and financial interests. In contrast, many US presidents since harry Truman have often taken a broad view of the national interest and did not confuse it with their own. Truman saw that helping others was in America’s national interest, and even forswore putting his name on the Marshall Plan for assistance to post-war reconstruction in europe.

In contrast, Trump had disdain for alliances and multilateralism, which he readily displayed at meetings of the G7 or NATO. even when he took useful actions in stand-

India’s angry farmers have reason to worry

BLOOMBERG

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MIHIR SHARMA

he third rail of Indian politics has always been agriculture. While the economy has been partly liberalized since opening up to the world in 1991, the process has largely bypassed the three-fifths of Indians who depend for their livelihoods, directly or indirectly, on farming. In September, the government finally introduced a muchneeded set of changes to how agriculture is organized and how produce is sold in India.

Now tens of thousands of agitated farmers have marched upon New Delhi in protest.

The protests may have less to do with the recent reforms, which allow farmers to enter into direct contracts with purchasers and which eliminate the monopoly government warehouses previously held on the wholesale trade, than those that may be coming. The answer isn’t for the government to reverse course — it’s to go further.

Unlike many other countries, India doesn’t provide direct income support to its farmers. Various farm insurance schemes have also failed to get off the ground. Instead, what the government does is buy produce — mostly rice and wheat.

This is then stored in the warehouses of the state-controlled Food Corporation of India and distributed at a subsidized price to the population. The system guarantees farmers a set price for their output, while their inputs — water, power, fertilizer, seeds — are free or subsidized. It dates from the 1960s, when famines devastated an India that did not grow enough to feed itself. For several humiliating years, the country survived on U.S. food aid — what was then called a “ship-tomouth existence.”

Following pressure from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s White house, Indian policymakers shifted from imposing a cap on food prices, inspired by Soviet-era economics, to setting a minimum support price, as advised by American economists. That, to-

gether with newly developed food grains, became the basis for the so-called Green Revolution, in which wheat production doubled in less than a decade.

Unfortunately, the subsidies for rice and wheat caused too few farmers to plant vegetables, which are subject to major price fluctuations. (They are a constant headache for the inflation-targeting central bank.)

Meanwhile, India produces too much grain, which is now rotting in government granaries. Policies designed for an India on the edge of starvation don’t fit the India of today, which should be more worried about quality of its nutrition.

Those policies were also geographically biased, mostly benefiting the prosperous state of Punjab in northern India and neighboring regions. Although it only accounts for 2% of India’s population, Punjab was responsible for four-fifths of government wheat purchases earlier this year.

The state, which is practically semidesert, also grows water-intensive rice.

Farmers use free power to pump groundwater to flood their fields, causing the water table to fall to critical lows. Power subsidies eat up 10% of the state’s budget, leaving it unable to spend on other development activities. Not surprisingly, most of the demonstrators converging on Delhi come from these same regions. The issue is one of trust. The government has insisted that it does not intend to end the current grain procurement system. But, given how it rammed through the September reforms hastily and with minimal discussion, farmers don’t believe the pledge.

And they shouldn’t, because the current system can’t last. historically, the subsidies have been so politically important that India has held the entire World Trade Organization to ransom in order to protect them. But the arrangement cannot be sustained unless backed by a political consensus. The protesters recognize that the passage of these new laws implies that that consensus is eroding. In many parts of India, there has been little or no protest. To those most dependent on agricultural support prices, the end of the system may now look inevitable.

The problem is that the government has failed to admit this and explain how it intends to compensate those farmers and regions that will lose out if subsidies are eliminated. On top of the recent reforms, India needs to develop a more modern income support system for those who grow its food. An assurance that nobody is going to wind up losing their livelihood would help convince the agitated farmers that overdue changes are not something to fear.

Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

ing up to abusive Chinese trade practices, he failed to coordinate pressure on China, instead levying tariffs on US allies. Small wonder that many of them wondered if America’s (proper) opposition to the Chinese tech giant huawei was motivated by commercial rather than security concerns.

And Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and the World health Organization sowed mistrust about American commitment to dealing with transnational global threats such as global warming and pandemics. Biden’s plan to rejoin both, and his reassurances about NATO, will have an immediate beneficial effect on US soft power.

But Biden will still face a deeper trust problem. Many allies are asking what is happening to American democracy. how can a country that produced as strange a political leader as Trump in 2016 be trusted not to produce another in 2024 or 2028? Is American democracy in decline, making the country untrustworthy?

The declining trust in government and other institutions that fueled Trump’s rise did not start with him. Low trust in government has been a US malady for a half-century. After success in World War II, three-quarters of Americans said they had a high degree of trust in government. This share fell to roughly one-quarter after the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal of the 1960s and 1970s. Fortunately, citizens’ behavior on issues like tax compliance was

often much better than their replies to pollsters might suggest.

Perhaps the best demonstration of the underlying strength and resilience of American democratic culture was the 2020 election. Despite the worst pandemic in a century and dire predictions of chaotic voting conditions, a record number of voters turned out, and the thousands of local officials – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – who administered the election regarded the honest execution of their tasks as a civic duty.

In Georgia, which Trump narrowly lost, the Republican secretary of state, responsible for overseeing the election, defied baseless criticism from Trump and other Republicans, declaring, “I live by the motto that numbers don’t lie.” Trump’s lawsuits alleging massive fraud, lacking any evidence to support them, were thrown out in court after court, including by judges Trump had appointed. And Republicans in Michigan and Pennsylvania resisted his efforts to have state legislators overturn the election results. Contrary to the left’s predictions of doom and the right’s predictions of fraud, American democracy proved its strength and deep local roots.

But Americans, including Biden, will still face allies’ concerns about whether they can be trusted not to elect another Trump in 2024 or 2028. They note the polarization of the political parties, Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat, and the refusal of congressional Republican leaders to condemn his

behavior or even explicitly recognize Biden’s victory.

Trump has used his base of fervent supporters to gain control of the Republican Party by threatening to support primary challenges to moderates who don’t fall into line.

Journalists report that about half the Republicans in the Senate disdain Trump, but they also fear him. If Trump tries to maintain control over the party after he leaves the White house, Biden will face a difficult task working with a Republican-controlled Senate.

Fortunately for US allies, while Biden’s political skills will be tested, the US Constitution provides a president more leeway in foreign than in domestic policy, so the shortterm improvements in cooperation will be real. Moreover, unlike in 2016, when Trump was elected, a recent Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll shows that 70% of Americans want an outward-oriented cooperative foreign policy– a record high.

But the lingering long-run question of whether allies can trust America not to produce another Trump cannot be answered with complete assurance. Much will depend on controlling the pandemic, restoring the economy, and Biden’s political skill in managing the country’s political polarization.

US President-elect Joe Biden may have promised a “return to normalcy,” but the truth is that there is no going back. The world is changing in fundamental ways, and the actions the world takes in the next few years will be critical to lay the groundwork for a sustainable, secure, and prosperous future.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is a professor at Harvard University and author, most recently, of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump.

Vaccines don't save lives.

Vaccinations save lives.

ESPECIALLY IF THE COVID-19 INOCULATIONS ARE DEPLOYED SPEEDILY AND ACCEPTED WIDELY

REasOn

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RONALD BAILEY

N less than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, several safe and effective vaccines against the coronavirus are apparently on track to be approved and made available later this month. This spectacular achievement is in large part due to the federal government's Operation Warp Speed program that incentivized pharmaceutical companies to rapidly develop and deploy these vaccines. Operation Warp Speed's chief science adviser MoncefSlaoui told The Washington Post that he expects there will be enough COVID-19 vaccine to immunize every American by June 2021. Vice President Mike Pence said that vaccine distribution could begin during the week of December 14.

But as emory University infectious disease researcher Walter Orenstein reminds us, "Vaccines do not save lives. Vaccinations save lives." The question of just how many infections, hospitalizations, and lives lost could be averted by the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is at the heart of a new modeling study in health Affairs by a team of harvard and Yale researchers led by infectious disease physician Rochelle Walensky.

It's great to have highly effective vaccines, but as the researchers observe, "how well a vaccine program 'works' will also depend on how quickly it can be manufactured, how efficiently it can be distributed to locations in greatest need, how persuasive health messaging can be in promoting public acceptance, and how consistently the public can adhere to the many complementary prevention strategies (e.g., masks, hand-washing, distancing) to limit the spread of the virus."

To get at the question of how well the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine campaign might work, the researchers set up a heavily caveated

model that seeks to take into account the relative efficacy of vaccines (25, 50, 75, and 90 percent) that are preventive, or severity reducing (disease modifying), or a composite of both. The model also takes into consideration the pace (speed of deployment) and coverage (extent of vaccine uptake) as they interact with various epidemic severity scenarios. The researchers also consider various lag times for the vaccines to become fully effective. For simplicity the simulation uses a population of 100,000 people.

In their base case, the pace is 0.5 percent of the population is vaccinated daily and they assumed an eventual coverage of 50 percent of the population. They defined three different epidemic severity scenarios based on basic reproduction numbers, that is, the average number of people to which an infected person will transmit the virus, ranging from a best case of 1.5 to a baseline case of 1.8 to a worst case of 2.1 people. In the best case scenario, people are keeping the basic reproduction number lower by adhering to social distancing, mask wearing, and other preventive practices. The higher number is associated with greater crowding indoors as the weather grows colder.

They also sketch out a scenario in which the basic reproduction number is 1.2 cases per infection. As it happens, that appears to be close to the current nationwide level.

Their baseline scenario assumes an epidemic basic reproduction number of 1.8. With no vaccinations, more than 61,000 people out the population of 100,000 would become infected within six months. Cumulative deaths would reach 2,725 and hospitalizations would peak at 1,780 people. The researchers then assume that 50 percent of people are inoculated with a composite vaccine that is 50 percent effective after 42 days at preventing—as well as reducing—disease severity. In that case, total infections drop to around 37,000 (32,000 unvaccinated and 5,000 vaccinated). Cumulative deaths among the unvaccinated fall to 1,430 and to only 16 for those who are vaccinated.

Peak hospitalization drops to 962 people.

Keep firmly in mind that these calculations are not predictions about what will actually happen in the coming months. They are designed to provide some insight on how the interaction of the speed of deployment, vaccine uptake, and the severity of the epidemic could affect the trajectory a vaccination campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a scenario with a six-month time horizon (say, by this June) in which the basic reproduction number is 1.5, the vaccine is 90 percent effective, 1 percent of the population

is vaccinated daily, and 90 percent are eventually vaccinated, infections are cut by more than 90 percent below what they would have been without a vaccine. If the epidemic is more severe, with a basic reproduction number of 2.1, then infections over six months in that scenario are only reduced by a little over 60 percent. The basic reproduction number for the COVID-19 pandemic now depends largely on the actions we choose to take—avoiding crowded indoor spaces, mask wearing, and proper hygiene—to slow the trajectory of the pandemic for the next several months as the vaccines are rolled out.

While the highly effective vaccines that appear to be in the pipeline are critical to ending the pandemic, the researchers point out, "the benefits of a vaccine will decline substantially in the event of manufacturing or deployment delays, significant vaccine hesitancy, or greater epidemic severity."

With respect to vaccine deployment, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified last September in a Senate hearing that it would take about $6 billion to adequately fund the speedy distribution of the coronavirus vaccines. A bipartisan $908 billion stimulus plan proposed in Congress would authorize $16 billion in health care funding that would allocate some spending for coronavirus testing and tracing and vaccine distribution. extensive vaccine hesitancy would stymie the development of real herd immunity to the coronavirus. Most researchers now believe that achieving the herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 would require that close to 60 to 70 percent of the population will have to have been infected or vaccinated. The good news is that a poll released in early November by the STAT biomedical research newsletter and the harris Poll reported that 63 percent of Americans responded that they would get inoculated if the COVID-19 vaccines were 90 percent effective. In clinical trials, the Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are more than 90 percent effective in preventing infections. My hope is that as vaccine-hesitant Americans see most of their neighbors getting inoculated, that they too will choose to take the responsibility to protect themselves and vulnerable others from the COVID-19 scourge.

Ultimately, this modeling exercise suggests that millions of infections, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and tens of thousands of deaths can be averted in the coming six months if we keep the COVID-19 epidemic relatively under control and persuade our neighbors to take advantage of this amazing biomedical achievement.

Monday, 7 December, 2020

BUsinEss 09

Govt working to set up IT infrastructure FAISALABAD APP

The government is making efforts to develop the information technology (IT) infrastructure in Pakistan and in this connection, basic and fundamental structure is being provided to IT companies, said Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Senior Manager Infrastructure Muhammad Akbar. In a meeting with Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Hafiz Ihtesham Javed on Saturday, Akbar stressed that the infrastructure would help the educated youth of Pakistan to develop and export software to the growing global markets. He said his company was presently running 14 software technology parks while in the next phase, 40 more parks are planned to be established in different cities, including Faisalabad. He gave details regarding the performance of the 14 functioning software technology parks in Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi. Akbar said that Faisalabad possessed immense potential to develop a full-fledged IT industry, adding that the IT ministry was streamlining its policies to further develop this sector at the grassroots level. “It will also be used to create employment opportunities in the country,” he added. Speaking on the occasion, the FCCI president appreciated the efforts of the government to develop the IT sector and pointed out that the FCCI had allocated a floor in its complex for establishment of Techno Park.

Number of return tax filers decreases by 23pc The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received nearly 23 per cent less income tax returns for the tax year 2020 compared to the preceding year ahead of the Dec 8 deadline. According to a report by Dawn, the board received 1.31 million tax returns until Dec 5 as against 1.69m returns filed in the tax year 2019. These include both salaried and non-salaried individuals, the association of persons and companies. The tax received with returns stood at Rs6.5 billion during the period under review as against Rs12.8bn received over the corresponding period of last year, reflecting a decline of 49.2pc. Earlier, the last date for filing income tax returns for the tax year 2020 was extended since September to facilitate individuals to file their returns whereas non-filers will have to submit an application to the concerned tax office for getting extra time for filing returns. It may be mentioned here that in the budget 2019-20, the government enhanced penalty rate to Rs40,000 from Rs20,000, where any person fails to furnish a return of income. MONITORING REPORT

Iran prepares to raise oil exports if sanctions eased TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iran has instructed its oil ministry to prepare installations for production and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said on Sunday, ahead of a possible easing of U.S. sanctions after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. They quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying that Iran exported more than two million barrels a day before U.S. President Donald Trump exited the 2015 nuclear deal with six powers in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have hit Iran’s economy hard by sharply cutting its vital oil exports. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on Jan. 20, has said that he would return to the pact and would lift sanctions if Tehran returned to “strict compliance with the nuclear deal”. Rouhani said on Sunday that his country was preparing for a speedy increase of its oil production, the official IRNA news agency reported. “The Oil Ministry will take all the necessary steps to prepare the oil industry’s facilities to produce and sell – proportionate to the available capacity – within the next three months,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. It is estimated that Iran exports less than 300,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), compared to a peak of 2.8 million bpd in 2018.

KPITB To TraIN 2,500 womeN IN dIGITal SKIllS ISLAMABAD

T

AZIZ BUNERI

HE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB) is all set to begin the second phase of training 2,500 women in digital skills so that they may play their role in boosting the digital economy of the province in specific and Pakistan in general.

The said initiative, ‘Women Empowerment through Digital Skills, is a component of KPITB’s initiative, Digital Jobs in KP. The programme aims to train women across seven

divisions of KP, including newly merged districts on employable digital skills to ensure women’s inclusion in the digital economy.

Women between 18 to 30 years of age, with a KP based domicile and a minimum of intermediate education, are eligible to apply for the training programme. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, classes will be also conducted online and on-campus.

Applicants can enroll themselves into one of the following digital skills currently being offered; Social Media Marketing, Graphic Designing, WordPress Design and Development, Blogging & Content Writing, and Digital Tools Productivity.

Advisor to KP Chief Minister on Science and Information Technology Ziaullah Khan Bangash praised the initiative and assured the continuity of government efforts for promoting such interventions that enable women to benefit from digital employment opportunities.

Bangash further added that this programme will set an example for other provinces to follow.

Maira Yousaf, a resident of Peshawar and a graduate of the first phase of the programme, said that the course was very well structured. “The trainers provided us with basic and advanced knowledge through interactive live sessions. They equipped me with the right tools to help me get started in this field.”

PARC, WFP to promote agriculture in desert areas ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Saturday reiterated their resolve for working together and strengthening bilateral cooperation to promote agriculture and livestock sectors in desert areas of the country.

Consensus to this effect was shown in a meeting of WFP and PARC Arid Zone Research Institute Umerkot, Sindh, said a press release.

A delegation of WFP led by Senior Programme Policy Officer Manuela Reinfeld visited PARCAZRI and discussed areas of mu-

tual collaboration in order to promote the agriculture sector in desert areas for food safety and security of people living in these areas.

PARC-SARC Director General (DG) Dr Attaullah Khan along with other high officials were also present in the meeting and apprised the delegation about the search activities conducted in the institute.

While briefing about the ongoing activities and future prospects of a PARC substation, Dr Attaullah Khan told the WFP delegation that PARC AZRI Umerkot was working on the reclamation of desert areas.

He said that PARC, in collaboration with the international devel-

opment partners and donner agencies, are replicating successful agriculture and livestock models to eliminate drought and turning the barren deserts into grasslands.

“These models help create livelihood opportunities to the communities living in these areas, besides providing them food for daily consumption,” he added.

The delegation also reviewed the research and development activities carried out by the research institute and its impact on local communities and took interest in models being developed for fish farming, kitchen gardening, advanced Irrigation and a biogas plant.

UAE businesses optimistic about returning to pre-Covid profitability by 2022 ABU DHABI AGENCIES

The UAE companies are more optimistic than their global peers about returning to pre-Covid profitability levels in the next two years, according to the latest survey from HSBC. About 90 percent of UAE companies expect to return to profitability by the end of 2022 compared with the global average of 81 per cent. However, 18 percent of UAE respondents expect to reach profitability as soon as the end of this year, the HSBC Navigator survey showed.

“UAE companies have always been resilient and innovative,” Daniel Howlett, HSBC’s regional head of commercial banking, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey said.

“Despite the slowdown during the pandemic, business is slowly returning to pre-Covid levels and companies are finding ways to maximise their potential, adapt

to the new environment and really focus on sustainable measures that will help their companies grow and be able to future-proof them from unexpected disruptions.”

HSBC Navigator draws from a survey of more than 10,368 companies in 39 markets, including 151 companies in the UAE and another 560 in the wider Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region, making it the largest survey of its kind.

The study gauges sentiment and expectations of businesses in the near to mid-term on topics ranging from business outlook to future strategy to international trade, supply chains and sustainability.

The UAE was one of the first countries in the region to roll out stimulus packages to support businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the global economy. Last month, the Central Bank of the UAE extended its Dh50 billion ($13.61bn) Targeted Economic Support Scheme to June 30 next year in an effort to continue supporting the economy.

Saudi Arabia raises official January crude price to Asia DUBAI: Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco has raised the January price for its Arab light crude to Asia to $0.30 a barrel over Oman/Dubai crude, up $0.80 from December, a company document showed. It has also set the January OSP of its Arab light crude oil to the United States at plus $0.55 a barrel over ASCI (Argus Sour Crude Index), down $0.30 a barrel from December, according to the document. Aramco also set its OSP for Arab light crude oil to Northwestern Europe to minus $1.40 a barrel to ICE Brent. AGENCIES

Kia recalls 295,000 US vehicles for fire risks WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Kia Motors Corp said on Saturday it is recalling 295,000 U.S. vehicles for engine fire risks. The Korean automaker said the recall covers some 2012-2013 model year Sorento, 2012-2015 Forte and Forte Koup, 2011-2013 Optima Hybrid, 2014-2015 Soul, and 2012 Sportage vehicles because an engine compartment fire can occur while driving.

Dealers will inspect the engine compartment for fuel or oil leaks, perform an engine test and make any repairs including engine replacement, as necessary. Kia said it is currently developing a Knock Sensor Detection System software update. Last week, Kia and affiliate Hyundai Motor Co agreed to a record $210 million civil penalty after U.S. auto safety regulators said they failed to recall 1.6 million vehicles for engine issues in a timely fashion. The Korean automakers agreed to consent orders after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the automakers inaccurately reported some information to the agency regarding the recalls. Kia’s civil penalty totaled $70 million, including an upfront payment of $27 million, requirements to spend $16 million on specified safety measures, and a potential $27 million deferred penalty. The settlement covers recalls in 2015 and 2017 for manufacturing issues that could lead to bearing wear and engine failure. In the new Kia engine recall, NHTSA opened an investigation in 2019 into non-crash fires in Kia and Hyundai vehicles. The agency in July recommended Kia conduct recalls on certain models with a higher fire complaint rate, the automaker said. Kia said “based on NHTSA’s recommendation” it had made the “decision to recall certain Kia vehicles as a preventative measure to mitigate any potential fire risk.”

Hyundai on Friday recalled 129,000 U.S. vehicles because connecting rod bearings may wear prematurely, which over time can result in engine damage and increase fire risks.

Britain in ‘final throw of the dice’ as EU trade talks set to restart LONDON/BRUSSELS AGENCIES

Britain and European Union negotiators will meet in Brussels on Sunday in what the British team said was a final throw of the dice to clinch a post-Brexit trade deal.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Saturday, and instructed their teams to resume the talks in a last ditch attempt to bridge significant differences.

Both sides acknowledge that time is running out to strike a deal before a transition arrangement expires at the end of the year and

sources gave a pessimistic readout after Johnson and von der Leyen spoke on Saturday.

“This is the final throw of the dice,” a British source close to the negotiations said.

“There is a fair deal to be done that works for both sides but this will only happen if the EU is willing to respect the fundamental principles of sovereignty and control.”

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that the Sunday talks with his British counterpart David Frost would show whether a new trade deal could be struck.

In a joint statement after their call, Johnson and von der Leyen said that “no agree-

ment is feasible” if differences on the three thorny issues of governance, fisheries and competition rules, known as the level playing field, were not resolved.

Negotiations were paused on Friday after hopes of a deal earlier in the week evaporated, with the British team saying that the EU had made demands incompatible with its sovereignty and warning that the talks could end without agreement.

If they fail to reach a deal, a five-year Brexit divorce will end messily just as Britain and its former EU partners grapple with the economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMYK

Monday, 7 December, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS US military capable, determined to defend Constitution: Gen Milley WASHINGTON

ThoUSandS of fileS STolen froM naTo CyBerSeCUriTy ConTraCTor; 2 held

AGENCIES

ROME

Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and highest-ranking military officer in the US, repeated on Wednesday the military’s determination to “defend the Constitution and protect the American people and their way of life". Speaking at the Brookings Institution during a tumultuous transition of power from departing President Donald Trump to president-elect Joe Biden, Gen Milley said no one should underestimate the might and determination of the US military. “As far as our military goes, I don’t want anyone to mistake it," he said. "Our military is very, very capable. "We are ready for whatever comes our way. We are determined to defend the US Constitution and to protect the American people and their way of life. No one should doubt that." His assurances followed a retweet by former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was pardoned by Mr Trump last week, which contained a call for the White House to declare martial law and re-run the past month's presidential election. Trump has not conceded but the US government’s General Services Administration has authorised the transition to begin, while the Justice Department has flatly rejected claims of widespread fraud in the election. Gen Milley also indicated that a new administration would take office on January 20. He said the armed forces would follow Mr Trump's decision to withdraw 2,500 troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by January 15. But Gen Milley said that a new administration would decide the next steps five days later. “What comes after that, that will be up to a new administration,” he said.

Gen Milley also defended continuing US talks with the Taliban as a way to reach a settlement to the two-decade war. A negotiated settlement with the militants might appear “odious”, he said, but "that is the most common way insurgencies end". “We believe that now, after 20 years, we've achieved a modicum of success,” Gen Milley said. The US presence in places such as Somalia and the Middle East is being reassessed, he said, and pointed to the geopolitical challenge that China posed. "We are taking a hard look at a repositioning of the force to better enable us to conduct counter-terrorism operations,” he said. Gen Milley said military bases would be re-examined, depending on their relevance to US interests. “Is every one of those [bases] absolutely, positively necessary for the defence of the United States?" he asked. "Is every one of them tied to a vital national security interest?” Gen Milley said the challenges to modern societies was centred on a new kind of warfare, especially cyber threats. Reliance on electricity, attacks in space and infiltration of digital communications systems are all vulnerabilities that the US military is improving its readiness to tackle, he said. He said he expected the military would be distributing a Covid-19 vaccine in the next three weeks at the latest.

AGENCIES

British index provider to drop 8 Chinese firms after US blacklisting LONDON AGENCIES

FTSE Russell, an arm of the London Stock Exchange, announced plans to delete shares of eight Chinese firms from certain products shortly after Washington added them to a blacklist of companies with alleged Chinese military ties. The international index provider will remove shares of the eight enterprises from its FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS), its FTSE China A Inclusion indices, and associated indices beginning on December 21 following the quarterly index review. The list of affected firms includes China Communications Construction Company, China Spacesat, China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision, CRRC, Dawning Information (Sugon), China National Chemical Engineering Group and China Railway Construction, according to a statement by the London Stock Exchange Group. A combined market capitalization of the blacklisted firms amounts to $143.1 billion, according to Bloomberg data, compiled at the close of trading on Friday. “Sanctioned companies will only be considered for re-inclusion in standard FTSE Russell indexes after a period of 12 months from the date of sanctions being removed,” the group said.

i

TALIAN police have arrested two suspects on charges of stealing sensitive data from the computers of Italian defense group Leonardo. The company provides cybersecurity services to NATO. Based in Rome, Leonardo specializes in aerospace and security. It's one of the world's largest contractors and boasts NATO among its customers when it comes to cybersecurity. Yet, its image suffered a heavy blow when it turned out that a former employee and a contractor managed to bypass the company’s cybersecurity defenses and steal sensitive data from right under its nose.

In a lengthy investigation, prosecutors from the Italian city of Naples found out that two hackers managed to get away with stealing the company’s

secrets between 2015 and 2017. Both men were detained on Saturday.

One of the suspects allegedly infected the company’s computers with a specially engineered Trojan virus through a USB device. The virus then spread to 94 machines belonging to IT departments of the company’s Aerostructures and Aircraft Divisions, including 33 located at a factory in the town of Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples.

Over two years, the hackers managed to steal some 10 gigabytes of data equaling some 100,000 files, including management and human resources records, information on procurement and distribution of capital goods as well as documents related to the design of civil and military aircraft. The virus also infected over 50 computers belonging to other companies and individuals that were active in the aerospace industry.

The investigation was launched following a com-

plaint filed by the company itself, Leonardo said in a statement, adding that the defense group “is obviously the injured party in this affair,” adding that it “has provided maximum cooperation” to the police and “will continue to do so to enable the investigators to clarify the incident.”

According to Italian media, the company alerted authorities in 2017 after it detected suspicious data flows coming from some of its computers. Leonardo also only identified the suspects as a “collaborator” and a “non-executive employee” of the company.

Italian La Repubblica newspaper reported that former consultant, Arturo D'Elia, was identified as the alleged hacker and placed into custody while company employee, Antonio Rossi, was put under house arrest.

Some other reports also suggested that the head of the company’s Cyber Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) was suspected of attempts to obstruct the investigation by providing them with misleading data.

Trump calls on Georgia governor to reject election result GEORGIA AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump campaigned in Georgia on Saturday for two Republican senators at a rally that some in his party feared could end up hurting, not helping, their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat.

In his first rally appearance since he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 presidential contest, the Republican Trump reminded the chanting crowd that he came to southern Georgia to persuade them to vote Republican in runoffs on January 5.

But he quickly turned to his repeated claims, made without evidence, of widespread fraud in the presidential election.

"They cheated and rigged our presidential election but we'll still win it. And they are going to try to rig this election too," Mr Trump told the crowd in Valdosta, who chanted "We love you!" and "Four More Years!"

He repeated his attacks on Republicans who have refused to back him, including Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp. Earlier on Saturday, Mr Trump phoned Mr Kemp and pressured the governor on Twitter to take further steps to help him overturn the election results.

The outgoing president's claims of widespread voter fraud have been rejected by state and federal

officials across the country, and his campaign's numerous legal challenges have almost all failed.

Biden was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Georgia since 1992. Statewide recounts, including a painstaking review by hand of some 5 million ballots, turned up no significant irregularities.

The January runoffs pit two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, against well-funded Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, seeking to capture a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in 20 years.

The races will determine which party controls the US Senate. Democrats, who already have the majority in the House of Representatives, need to win both seats to control the Senate. If Republicans win one seat, they will retain their majority and be able to block much of Mr Biden's legislative agenda.

Mr Biden said he would visit Georgia to campaign for the Democratic candidates but did not give a timetable for his trip.

Governor Kemp did not attend the rally due to the death in a car crash of Harrison Deal, a close family friend of the governor and staffer for Ms Loeffler. He had an active exchange with Mr Trump on Twitter earlier in the day, however.

"I will easily & quickly win Georgia if Governor @Bri-

anKempGA or the Secretary of State permit a simple signature verification ... Why are these two 'Republicans' saying no?" Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

After Mr Kemp responded that he had "publicly called for a signature audit three times," Mr Trump said that wasn't good enough, and added in a second tweet that Mr Kemp should immediately call a special session of the state legislature.

"Your people are refusing to do what you ask. What are they hiding?" Mr Trump said.

In a move unprecedented in modern US history, the Trump team has tried, without success, to get Republican-controlled legislatures in battleground states won by Mr Biden to set aside the results and declare Mr Trump the winner.

Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes - more than the 270 required - to Mr Trump's 232. The Electoral College will meet on December 14 to formalise the outcome.

Trump told the Saturday rally his challenge was headed to the US Supreme Court "very shortly," without elaborating. Legal experts do not see a path to the nation's highest court, however.

Richard Hasen of the UC Irvine School of Law said it was unclear what case Mr Trump was referring to, but added: "I don't think any of these efforts stand any chance of success."

US representatives add digital currencies to 2021 defence bill WASHINGTON: The United States government is preparing to pass the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the latest bill includes a broad definition of currencies and includes “digital currencies.” However, after more than 50 NDAA bills passed, President Donald Trump plans to veto the act which is expected to authorise more than $740.5 billion. The digital currency addition to the latest NDAA, follows a number of politicians who want more oversight on stablecoins. U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, the head of the House Financial Services Committee, wants the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to retract recent crypto-asset guidance. This week, U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch, Jesus Chuy and Rashida Tlaib introduced the Stablecoin Tethering and Bank Licensing Enforcement (STABLE) Act. The representatives insist the stablecoin bill is aimed at “protecting consumers from cryptocurrency-related financial threats.” As far as the latest NDAA completion is concerned, the current U.S. President Donald Trump plans to veto the 2021 NDAA. Trump is not too pleased with the NDAA’s section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The President explained that the NDAA’s language in that particular section protects ‘Big Tech’ firms like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. AGENCIES

China says taking steps to ease shortage of containers BEIJING AGENCIES

Responding to the ongoing reports of a shortage of containers and the shipping industry’s struggle to manage the supply of containers, China’s state-run media is reporting that China is taking steps to ease the shortage of containers. The officials cited a surge in China’s exports and the low turnaround rate of containers from aboard as the causes for the increased demand for containers. They also noted that it is the peak season for exports to Europe and the United States, which is also contributing to the shortage of containers. Speaking at a news conference, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said that steps are being taken to increase the supply of containers. They said that China will continue to work with related parties to provide more containers to the market, speed up the turnaround of containers, and help container manufacturers to expand productivity. The state media noted that the China Container Industry Association is urging shipping container manufacturers to increase the production of the standard boxes. They reported that China has produced 300,000 TEUs per month since September to help ease the shortage. Chinese container manufacturers have reportedly extended their normal working hours from eight hours to 11 hours a day. The growth of shipments from China, the officials said, has been sustaining the global economy and helping to stabilize global supply chains.

They cited a 79 percent year-over-year increase at Shanghai in railway-to-port multimodal transportation of containers as an example of China’s growth in throughputs and efforts to support global trade. According to Shanghai International Port Group, the total throughput of containers in Shanghai Port exceeded 40 million TEUs as of the end of November, marking the fourth consecutive year that the port broke the world record it set in 2017. Also, they reported a better than five percent increase in container volume in 2020 at the Tianjin Port and a container throughput of 15.8 million TEUs during the first nine months of the year in southern China according to the Guangzhou Port Group. The surge in exports the Chinese officials said has also resulted in increased shipping rates. As a result, they said China would “tighten monitoring of the shipping market to further stabilize the rising logistics costs in international trade.”

Rift emerges in Google's AI unit after prominent scientist leaves CALIFORNIA AGENCIES

Google’s decision to part ways with a prominent researcher laid bare divisions within the company’s artificial intelligence unit and subjected its leader, the lauded software engineer Jeff Dean, to widespread scorn.

Timnit Gebru, a renowned scientist and one of the few black women in AI, said last Wednesday she was fired over an email she authored expressing dismay with management and the way it handled a review of her research.

Ms Gebru had been co-head of the team examining the ethical ramifications of AI.

What followed was a torrent of criticism of Google’s AI division, much of it aimed at Mr Dean. “The termination is an act of retaliation against Dr Gebru, and it heralds danger for people working for ethical and just AI – especially black people and people of colour — across Google,” a group of hundreds of academics and researchers, many of them Google employees, wrote in an open letter. Among its demands: that Mr Dean and his colleagues explain their decision-making around Ms Gebru’s research.

The fallout threatens to tarnish the reputation of one of the industry’s leading research shops, a division of Alphabet's

Google that not only aids development of lucrative products but also contributes significantly to the world’s understanding of AI. And in a company brimming with computer scientists, few have been as revered as Mr Dean. He oversees a sprawling research empire and has publicly championed more diverse hiring in AI and computer science. His programming prowess became the subject of corporate lore and glowing press coverage, including one article that called him the “Chuck Norris of the internet”.

“Ousting Timnit for having the audacity to demand research integrity severely undermines Google’s credibility for supporting

rigorous research on AI ethics,” said Joy Buolamwini, the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League who wrote a ground-breaking paper with Ms Gebru on racism in facial recognition software. The widely cited 2018 study showed facial recognition software misidentified dark-skinned women as much as 35 per cent of the time – compared with near precision in white men.

Dean and Google representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment. In an email to colleagues on Thursday, Mr Dean defended his handling of the matter. He wrote in part that Ms Gebru hadn’t followed company policy in submitting the paper for

peer review, that it ignored “too much relevant research”, and that Ms Gebru and colleagues made unrealistic demands when they were informed “that it didn’t meet our bar for publication”.

Under Dean, Google has assembled a diverse group of AI ethics scientists with backgrounds in tech and social science, but some of those employees are now wondering if they are free to do their jobs. Inside Google’s research unit, several people openly questioned their future at the company, while others felt compelled to apologise to recently hired researchers, according to a person who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

Monday, 7 December, 2020

Hardik, dHawan, natarajan Hand india unassailable 2-0 lead in t20i series

INDIA 4 FOR 195 (DHAWAN 52, PANDYA 42*, KOHLI 40, SWEPSON 1-25) BEAT AUSTRALIA 5 FOR 194 (WADE 58, SMITH 46, NATARAJAN 2-20) BY SIX WICKETS

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AGENCIES

ARDIK PANDyA’S heavy hitting delivered India a T20I series victory over Australia and their third consecutive win of the tour to give the captain Virat Kohli something to show for his trip down under in an undulating encounter at the SCG. The Australians were led by Matthew Wade in the absence of Aaron Finch due to injury, and he led from the front with a swift halfcentury at the top of the order. But the remainder of the Australian innings was spasmodic, and without any of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc, the bowling attack was well and truly below the usual level of expertise.

Kohli, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan ensured India would be in the contest until its closing passages, whereupon Pandya lined up his scoring zones with brutal efficiency. Daniel Sams was defending 14 from the final over, but with a pair of towering blows beyond the straight midwicket boundary, India claimed the series with two balls to spare.

WADE BATS WHERE HE WANTS: In 31 previous T20Is, Wade had opened just four times. Handed the keys to the car on Sunday as stand-in captain, Wade made the most obvious captain’s call available to him - promoting himself to the top of the order and the role in which he had been so dominant for the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL. There was an international basis for the decision - Wade’s only score beyond 50 had been as an opener against India as far back as 2012, also at the SCG. In Canberra on Friday, Wade had looked somewhat lost in the middle order, an experience not uncommon to his T20I career. But at the top he was able to dictate terms, and the boundaries followed almost as if by clockwork

AGENCIES Having clinched the Formula 2 title, Mick Schumacher knelt beside the PREMA machine that had just won him his second single-seater championship and took a moment. He would need a few of these in the aftermath of the Sprint Race, as he attempted to come to terms with what had just happened, pausing briefly during an interview, and apologising: “I am sorry, it is hard for me to talk. It might take some time [to sink in], but it is definitely a good feeling.”

Schumacher – who will drive for Haas in Formula 1 next season – fittingly sealed his promotion into the pinnacle of motorsport with the F2 title, winning out over Ferrari Driver Academy rival Callum Ilott, thanks to an incredible tally of 10 podiums, including two wins.

Asked whether taking a title into his rookie season of F1 would make a difference, the 21-year-old replied: “I think it’s very important. Bringing a championship

through a more tightly packed new-ball field.

Wade’s crisp striking to kick off the innings gave the Australians a supercharged start, and his progress to 58 gave him some truly striking numbers as a T20I opener. How much more often he gets the chance remains to be seen.

WADE, FOLLOWED BY FADE: It was a surprise when Wade found a fielder - Kohli no less - when he tried to find or clear the boundary a 12th time, and a still greater surprise when Kohli dropped it. Certainly Wade registered who he had hit the ball towards and then immediately turned on his heels as if already dismissed. This was a mistake, since the direction of the dressing rooms meant Wade took his eye off the ball, and then found himself run out by Kohli’s return.

Australia’s loss of early momentum was also down to T Natarajan, who in two games has shown himself to not only be at ease in international company, but a valuable point of difference among so may right-armers. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah’s absence was felt, but nowhere near as keenly as that of their Australian counterparts The remainder of the innings was overall a failure to fulfill Wade’s early promise, as Steven Smith could not quite find his timing, Glenn Maxwell did not hang around long enough to do genuine damage, and the late contributions of Moises Henriques and Sams were cameos rather than definitive exclamation points on the innings.

All the while, the hosts and the visitors knew that Australia had a severely weakened bowling attack with which to defend their tally.

LEGSPIN EXCELS: Mitchell Swepson had struggled to drop onto the right length at Manuka Oval, having been called up at short notice, and dragged short of where he wanted to be as a result. He appeared far better adjusted to the T20I format this time around, and in combination with Adam Zampa seemed to

have bowled the overs that were going to keep the touring side short of their target. Notable was the appearance of a wrong’un to deceive the otherwise fluent Sanju Samson, on a pitch that offered just enough grip to the slow bowlers.

Zampa, too, had his moments, albeit somewhat more expensive. His dismissal of Dhawan arrived through a fraction of extra bounce from an overspun delivery, and Kohli’s respect for Zampa’s offerings was evident throughout their duel. The disappearance of Maxwell for 19 from his first and only over, however, hinted at some of the punishment being meted out elsewhere, to a decisive effect as far as the game was concerned.

PACE IS VANQUISHED: If Mitchell Starc had struggled to contain India’s batsmen on a similar SCG surface before the tour caravan moved to Canberra, there was always a question to be asked of how the likes of Sams, Andrew Tye and Sean Abbott - equivalent to a middling BBL pace attack - were going to fare against a line-up lacking only Ravindra Jadeja.

Sams and Tye both had their moments, the former offering handy changes of pace including the change-up that found Kohli’s outside edge, and the latter impressing with an extra turn of pace that might easily have won at least one lbw verdict.

However, as the chase evolved and India’s batsmen found their range, the bowlers looked increasingly defenceless. Wade elected not to return to Abbott after his first two overs went for 17, a curious call given the fact that the SCG is his home ground, and relied upon Tye and Sams for the final two overs. Defending 25, they gave up the runs from 10 of the 12 balls required. Australia’s depth has been well and truly tested over these two series and, while balanced against the need to prepare for a Test series, been found wanting.

SPORTS 11

Green team to continue with NZ tour, PCB says NEWS DESK The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to continue with the cricket team’s tour of New Zealand after considering pulling them out during a meeting earlier this week.

Six members of the Pakistan squad tested positive for the coronavirus after their arrival in Christchurch last month. Another player tested positive two days later.

Subsequently, all players were moved into 14-day quarantine and the team’s exemption to train in isolation was revoked. Since then 43 players with the exception of those who tested positive, have tested negative in three separate Covid-19 swab tests.

But the New Zealand Health Ministry on Friday refused to give permission to the Pakistan squad to come out of hotel isolation and practice among themselves, as their two weeks in managed isolation in Christchurch had not been completed.

The isolation period will end on Thursday. “In consultation with the team management, and giving weightage to international cricket and taking into consideration the PCB’s longstanding relationship with New Zealand Cricket, it was agreed to continue the tour as originally planned,” Sami Ul Hasan Burney, the PCB’s director for media, told a private publication.

The Pakistan team are touring

New Zealand to play two test matches and three T20 international matches this month and next. The test matches are part of the inaugural 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship.

Earlier, the PCB had contacted the New Zealand health ministry and cricket board, calling their denial of the exemption to the Pakistan team disappointing, according to a press release. “I have contacted New Zealand Cricket Board and Ministry of health and expressed my disappointment for not allowing them to hold practice session[s] despite [the] negative report of Covid-19 tests,” PCB chief Waseem Khan said in a press statement.

The Pakistan A team, part of the touring squad, were also scheduled to play two four-day matches against the New Zealand A team. The first one scheduled to be played in Queenstown has been cancelled.

“There is no denying the fact that the team has been in an unusual situation since their arrival in Christchurch, which is unproductive and unhealthy for any professional athlete,” Burney said.

“The PCB understands the situation, both from the players and NZC perspectives, and fully backs all its players whose contribution for the resumption of international cricket in this pandemic is overwhelming and unmatched.”

soutH africa-england odi abandoned after positive covid-19 tests Sunday’s One Day International between South Africa and England in Paarl has been abandoned after two members of the tourists’ party returned unconfirmed positive tests for the novel coronavirus, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said. A decision will be made on whether the final two matches of the series will be played on Monday and Wednesday as scheduled once the results of the tests have been ratified. The abandonment follows a fresh round of testing after two hotel workers in the bio-secure environment in which both teams are staying returned positive results.

England had previously expressed concern over the strength of the biosecure environment. “We regret that we are unable to play in today’s ODI, but the welfare of the players and support staff is our primary concern and whilst we await the results of further tests the medical advice from both teams was that this game should not take place,” Ashley Giles, managing director of England Men’s Cricket, said in a statement on Sunday. “We remain in constant dialogue with Cricket South Africa and will continue to work closely with them to determine how best to move forward.” South Africa’s director of cricket Graeme Smith said they hope the final two matches could be played. “We are deeply regretful of the situation we find ourselves in after the amount of time and energy that has been put in place to host a successful tour,” he said. “We are in continuous talks with the ECB as we navigate the situation under the guidance of our combined medical teams.” The unconfirmed positive results take to seven the number of Covid-19 related incidents on the six-match white-ball tour, two of which occurred in the South Africa camp before the series started. There have now been five in the bio-secure environment. Roy Davies, general manager of the Vineyard Hotel where the teams are staying, said the hotel is still investigating how two staff members contracted the virus. “At this stage, it is not clear how the staff members became infected as neither have left the bio-secure area since November 16 and they do not work on the same team or in the same area,” he said in a statement. “Our Covid-19 response team is endeavouring to establish all the facts and contact tracing is underway.” It would be a huge blow for cash-strapped Cricket South Africa if the rest of the tour were to be cancelled and place into doubt future visits by Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia in the next few months. AGENCIES

‘I wanted to achieve something myself’ – An emotional Mick Schumacher opens up after F2 title win title with you on your CV into F1, that is great. I had one in [European] F3 and now I have one in F2 as well – one of the top championships to compete in.

“To win against great competition – Dan Ticktum in F3 and now Callum [Ilott] in F2, who I know very well from the FDA – has been a great challenge. The better the competition, the more you develop as a driver. I will carry everything through to F1.”

Finishing outside of the points for just the fourth time this season – and the first since Round 4 – it was a nervy final race for Schumacher. The German locked up heavily on the very first lap and damaged his tyres,

which forced him into an unwanted pit stop after several further lock-ups.

Returning in 20th position, Schumacher would have lost the title had Ilott – then third – taken P2 and the fastest lap. But the UNIVirtuosi racer suffered from heavy degradation and ultimately crossed the line 10th.

“My goal was to win the last race, so I am a bit disappointed with my performance,” conceded Schumacher, who finished in P18. “Nevertheless, we have done enough over the whole year to give us the opportunity to have a bad race.

“Today was anything but easy. It was very windy, very gusty, and very sandy – but

CMYK

what matters is that we are here now.”

Schumacher clinched the F2 crown two decades on from his father’s first F1 world championship with Ferrari, carrying with him a level of pressure that F2 has never seen before. From the outside looking in, the German has always seemed so cool and collected, but was this actually the case?

“It was mainly that I had an expectation of myself,” he explained. “I wanted to achieve something myself and I wanted to prove to myself that I am here for a reason.

“Obviously, the start of the season wasn’t what we planned – we didn’t put everything together and that was mainly

from my side; I think that the team was great all year long. But step by step, the podiums started rolling in, and those two victories as well.

“I think the relationship that I have with the team, it is really about that. I have known my F2 team for two years and the whole PREMA team for five years. I think that creates a bond, it creates trust and that is very important in a championship.

“When times were tough, we managed to stick together and motivate each other to keep on pushing, to keep on working on ourselves, to keep on striving to try and move forwards – and that is what we did.”

Monday, 7 December, 2020

PrAyEr TImINGS

NEWS

PandemIC Could Push over a bIllIon Into extreme Poverty, warns un ROME

a

AGENCIES

NOTHER 207 million people could be driven into extreme poverty by the severe long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total number to more than one billion by 2030, warns the UN. According to a new study from the

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released this week, a “high-damage” scenario would mean a protracted recovery from the pandemic. The report anticipates that 80 percent of the pandemic-induced economic crisis would persist for over a decade, stalling the pre-pandemic growth trajectory.

A “baseline Covid” scenario, based on current mortality rates and the most recent growth projections by the Interna-

Pfizer seeks emergency approval for Covid-19 vaccine in India, media say NEW DELHI: Pfizer Inc. has applied for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India, media said on Sunday, the first to do so in a country with the world’s second-highest number of infections. The US company, whose vaccine was recently approved by the British government, has written to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), CNN-News18 reported citing a government source. Officials at the DCGI and the health ministry did not respond to requests for comment. A government official, however, told Reuters that no application had been received as of Saturday night. Pfizer could not immediately be reached. Indian officials have said they are pinning their hopes mainly on locally tested vaccines instead of those developed by Pfizer and Moderna Inc. AGENCIES

tional Monetary Fund, would result in 44 million more people living in extreme poverty by 2030, compared to the development trajectory the world was on before the pandemic.

“As this new poverty research highlights, the Covid-19 pandemic is a tipping point, and the choices leaders take now could take the world in very different directions,” said the UNDP’s Administrator Achim Steiner. “We have an opportunity

to invest in a decade of action that not only helps people recover from Covid-19, but that resets the development path of people and planet towards a fairer, resilient and green future.”

The report indicated that focused investments could prevent the rise of extreme poverty, however, lifting 146 million from its grip, and even exceed the development trajectory the world was on before the pandemic.

Saudi prince strongly criticises Israel at Bahrain summit RIYADH AGENCIES

A prominent Saudi prince harshly criticised Israel on Sunday at a Bahrain security summit that was remotely attended by Israel’s foreign minister.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades and served as ambassador to the United States and Britain, warned that any normalisation deals needed to help the Palestinians obtain their own independent state.

He described Israel as a “Western colonising” power. He said Israel has “incarcerated [Palestinians] in con-

centration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations — young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice.

They are demolishing homes as they wish and they assassinate whomever they want.”

Although the prince does not hold any official position, his stance is seen as closely mirroring that of King Salman. In contrast, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has signalled a greater willingness to quietly engage with Israel to counter common rival, Iran, and boost foreign investment in the kingdom.

Prince Turki’s comments come as

Indian farmers vow to intensify protests after talks fail again NEW DELHI AGENCIES

The Indian government and protesting farmers were unable to break their deadlock in talks, with the farmers saying they will intensify their demonstrations against new agriculture laws and continue blocking key highways on the outskirts of the capital.

Protest leaders rejected the government’s offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pricing, and stuck to the demand for total repeal.

They also announced a nationwide strike for Tuesday.

They said they would intensify their agitation and occupy toll plazas across the country on the strike day if the government didn’t abolish the laws. The two sides will meet for further discussions on Wednesday.

Thousands of farmers are protesting against reforms that they say could devastate crop prices and reduce their earnings. They have blocked highways on the outskirts of Delhi for the last 10 days.

The farmers say the laws will lead the government to stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices and result in exploitation by corporations that will push

down prices.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government insists the reforms will benefit farmers. It says they will allow farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment. But farmers say they were never consulted.

Saturday’s talks between Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and 35 farmer leaders were the fifth since the laws were passed in September.

“We had very good discussions today and we wanted a clear solution but it was not possible,” Tomar said after almost five hours of discussions. “We will consider all the demands they have made and we will reach a solution.”

“We assured them that minimum support prices for crops will stay.”

However, the leader of a farmers’ union was quoted by the dpa news agency as saying that: “The government offered amendments to the law, but we want them repealed and, if new laws are made, they must be done with consultations with farmers’ associations.”

The farmers are camping along at least five main highways on the outskirts of the national capital territory and have said they will not leave until the government rolls back what they call the “black laws”.

neighbouring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recently moved to normalise relations and establish ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has insisted that any normalisation between it and Israel can only happen alongside a lasting peace deal involving a twostate solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who spoke immediately after Prince Turki, said: “I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative. “I don’t believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the Middle East,” he said.

Farmers in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the laws for nearly two months. The situation escalated last week when tens of thousands marched to New Delhi and clashed with the police on the outskirts.

According to mdeai reports, real differences had emerged between the two sides about what to do about the laws. “Farmers maintain that because [they think] the laws are so fundamentally flawed, because they were created without consultation with farmers and pushed through parliament without a proper vote, that nothing short of repealing the laws will do. And they are only expecting the protests to get bigger,” according to a report.

One of the farmers told NDTV news channel on Saturday that they were prepared to carry on with the protest until January 26, India’s Republic Day, and, if needed, beyond that.

The laws add to already existing resentment from farmers, who often complain of being ignored by the government in their push for better crop prices, additional loan waivers and irrigation systems to guarantee water during dry spells.

With nearly 60 percent of the Indian population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, the growing farmer rebellion has rattled Modi’s administration and allies. Modi and his leaders have also tried to allay farmers’ fears about the new laws while also dismissing their concerns. Some of his party leaders have called the farmers “misguided” and “anti-national”, a label often given to those who criticise Modi or his policies. Many opposition party leaders, activists and even some allies of Modi’s party have called the laws anti-farmer and expressed support for those protesting.

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eu calls for probe into Palestinian teen’s killing

by Israel BRUSSELS AGENCIES

The killing of a Palestinian teenager by the Israeli army in the illegally occupied West Bank has been termed a “war crime” and the European Union Delegation to the Palestinians has called for an investigation into the incident.

Fourteen-year-old Ali Abu Aliya was shot in the stomach during a protest on Friday against Israeli land theft in the al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah. He died in a local hospital, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“Children enjoy special protection under international law,” said the delegation in a tweet. “How many more Palestinian children will be subject to the excessive use of lethal force by the Israeli security forces?” it said, adding that the “shocking incident must be swiftly and fully investigated by the Israeli authorities in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

On Saturday, mourners carried the teenager’s body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, through the streets in Ramallah and al-Mughayyir, chanting: “With soul and blood we will redeem you, martyr.”

The Palestinian foreign ministry as well as the Palestinian factions termed the incident a “war crime”, adding that Israel must be held accountable.

The spokesman for the Fatah movement, Osama al-Qawasmi, said Palestinians should respond to the teenager’s killing by adhering to “national unity”.

In a statement, Hamas said Abu Aliya’s death “confirms the criminal truth about the occupation army”, saying Israel must be prosecuted.

“We affirm the need to return to the national consensus on the option of resisting the occupation, one that is capable of responding to the crimes of the occupation and stopping the escalating attack of settlers,” Hamas said.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, said: “The targeting of children and the use of live ammunition against them is a blatant and direct violation of international laws and conventions, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel ratified in 1991.”

The Palestinian Authority presidency called on “the international community to work to provide protection for our people, end the occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 450,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the territory, home to more than 2.8 million Palestinians.

The stateless Palestinians hope to create their own independent country in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in besieged Gaza as part of a two-state solution, but the issue of Jewish illegal settlements on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war has long been a stumbling block in the nowstalemated peace process.

China prepares large-scale rollout of Covid-19 vaccines BEIJING AGENCIES

Provincial governments across China are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country’s 1.4 billion people.

Developers are speeding up final testing, the Chinese foreign minister said Thursday during a UN meeting, as Britain issued approval for emergency use of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine candidate and providers scrambled to set up distribution. China’s fledgling pharmaceutical industry has at least five vaccines from four producers being tested in more than a dozen countries including Russia, Egypt and Mexico. Health experts say even if they are successful, the certification process for the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries might be too complex for them to be used there.

However, China said it will ensure the

products are affordable for developing countries. One developer, China National Pharmaceutical Group, known as Sinopharm, said in November it applied for final market approval for use of its vaccine in China. Others have been approved for emergency use on health workers and other people deemed at high risk of infection.

“We must be prepared for large-scale production,” said Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who has overseen much of the country’s response, during a visit Wednesday to developers, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Sun visited one of Sinopharm’s Beijing subsidiary companies; another producer, Sinovac, and a research lab under the National Medical Products Administration, a regulatory agency that approves medical products for public use.

The government has yet to say how many people it plans to vaccinate. Sun said plans call for vaccinating border personnel and other high-risk populations this month.

The companies are using more tradi-

tional techniques than Western developers.

They say unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, which must be kept frozen at temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit), theirs can be stored at 2 to 8 C (36 to 46F). The Chinese producers have yet to say how they might be distributed.

More than 1 million people in China have received experimental vaccines under emergency use approval. Health experts question why China is using them on such a vast scale now that the outbreak is largely under control within its borders.

Health officials previously said China will be able to manufacture 610 million doses by the end of this year and ramp-up to 1 billion doses next year.

The government of Jiangsu province, where the major city of Nanjing is located, issued a procurement notice for vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm on Wednesday for emergency use vaccinations.

Authorities in Sichuan province in the west, which has about 85 million people, an-

nounced Monday they were already buying vaccines. An official newspaper in Anhui province, southeast of Beijing, said a local residential committee issued a notice asking whether residents want a vaccine.

The Sichuan and Anhui announcements said the vaccine, given in two shots, would cost a total of 400 yuan ($60).

Vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm were approved for emergency use in July.

In October, Zhejiang province south of Shanghai offered the public vaccination under emergency use authorization. It said people considered high-risk would get priority. In November, the Communist Party secretary for Sinopharm said almost 1 million people had received its vaccine. In September, Sinovac’s CEO said about 3,000 of its employees had taken their vaccine. He said the company provided tens of thousands of doses to the Beijing city government. Developers have yet to disclose how effective their vaccines are and possible side effects.

Sinopharm has clinical trials under way

in 10 countries including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Peru and Argentina with nearly 60,000 volunteers. It has built two facilities in China capable of producing 200 million doses per year.

Sinovac has trials in Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia. Its most recent publicized data, a study in the science journal the Lancet, showed its candidate produced lower levels of antibodies in people than those who had recovered from Covid-19. The company projects it will be able to produce a few hundred million doses of the vaccine by February or March of next year.

Another producer, CanSino, is testing in Russia, Pakistan and Mexico and pursuing partnerships in Latin American countries. Its vaccine, which has been used on an emergency basis with the Chinese military, uses a harmless adenovirus to carry genes into human cells to generate an immune response. A fourth company, Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., is conducting final stage trials across China.

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