EpaperLHR_2020-07-08

CMYK

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020 I 16 Dhū al-Qa‘dah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 10 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

Govt urGes CJP to take notiCe of ‘temPered’ Jit rePort on uzair BaloCh g

FARAZ SAyS SOME POLITICAL PARTIES HARMED SINDH FOR THEIR PERSONAL INTEREST AND TURNED IT INTO A PERSONAL STATE ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

a

day after the Sindh government made public the joint investigation team (JIT) report concerning notorious Lyari warlord Uzair Baloch, the government urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmad to take notice of the report which it claimed was “tempered”.

The appeal comes a day after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in the province disclosed the JIT reports of three high-profile cases — concerning Baloch, the Baldia factory fire incident and former Fishermen Cooperative Society chairman Nisar Morai — after much controversy and litigation in courts.

Addressing a press conference Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz, who was flanked by Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi, said, “We want to rid the people of those who support [these] gangs […]

Zaidi raised this [issue] in the National Assembly because we believe that the purpose of JITs is to tell the people the facts.”

“Zaidi also went to court [in 2017 because] the reports were not being released. Some [political] parties harmed the province for their personal interest and made a ‘personal state’,” he added.

Speaking to the media, Zaidi said that he had approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) for the release of the said reports.

“When the court directed them to release it, [the Sindh government] still did not do so. Then I wrote to the [Sindh] chief secretary. He still did not release them so then I filed a contempt of court petition,” he said. “I wanted to bring up this issue on the floor of the National Assembly as well. They were giving speeches on the budgets but they were working as leaders in JITs and were having gangsters killed [the people they killed].”

Zaidi also presented what he said was

236,422

NEW CASES:

2,691

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

SINDH:

PUNJAB:

134,957 4,888 82,669

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

28,681

10,919

1,383/1,587 13,557

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

KARACHI: Government of Sindh Spokesperson Murtaza Wahab on Monday said that the provincial government fulfilled its promise of release ‘verified’ Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reports over judicial orders. Wahab claimed that the Federal Minister Ali Zaidi recently conducted a press conference where he only talked about the speculations being made on social media platforms. He said that all government documents would have contained signatures and stamps, therefore, nobody could claim about having a JIT report with only four signatures. He also said that there were seven members in a JIT who would sign on a final report. It was the authority of the government to constitute a JIT and its report would be signed by its head first, he added. “The head of a JIT would submit the report to the Ministry of Interior,” he further said. Wahab said that a seven-member JIT had been consituted in Uzair Baloch case and the provincial government released ‘verified’ JIT reports signed by seven members. He said that Zaidi admitted that he did not possess an official document and it should be asked from where he was getting the documents. STAFF REPORT

CONFIRMED CASES:

77

Zaidi claimed that the JIT he had was not the same one the Sindh government has released. “The Uzair Baloch JIT had six people — one person from a special branch of the provincial government, one person from Crime Investigation Department which comes under Sindh government, one from Inter-Services Intelligence which comes under the federal government, one person from Intelligence Bureau (under federal government), one from Rangers (under federal government), and one person from military intelligence (under federal government).”

“On each page, all these four people (from the federal government) have signed but those from the Sindh government have not. What really happened?

The reports were made and they made major discoveries.”

He claimed that there was a “deadlock” between the federal and the provincial governments over the report but the four people from the federal government had sent it forward.

SINDH GOVT RELEASED VERIFIED JIT REPORTS: MURTAZA WAHAB

Pakistan

97,626

ZAIDI SAyS JIT REPORT RELEASED By SINDH GOvT HAS OMITTED NAMES OF PPP LEADERS WHO BALOCH HAD BEEN AFFILIATED WITH

the “original” JIT report on Baloch, said that the gangster had confessed that he met then Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and Faryal Talpur, the sister of former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, and asked that the head money against him be removed.

Baloch allegedly said the head money was withdrawn on Talpur and Zardari’s order, he added.

“On the last page, Baloch said that he feared they would kill him after these revelations and that Zardari and other political figures might take revenge against him, and asked for protection,” he further said.

A six-member JIT was formed by the Sindh government in February 2016 to interrogate Baloch, comprising representatives of security and intelligence agencies.

The JIT unanimously declared him as “black” — guilty of the crimes alleged, finding that Baloch along with his gang members was involved in a large number of murders/target killings of his rivals and innocent citizens including ethnic and “politically motivated killings”.

Coronavirus in

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

g

Government says coronavirus cases are declining in Pakistan g

FARAZ URGES PEOPLE TO ADOPT PRECAUTIONARy MEASURES TO AvOID SURGE IN CASES ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Tuesday said that coronavirus cases have started declining in Pakistan.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan devised a strategy to cope up with the Covid-19 situation keeping in view the country’s ground realities,” he said while addressing a presser to brief the media about the federal cabinet meeting chaired by the premier.

The federal information minister said that the strategy had proved successful and Pakistan remained less affected by the virus than any other country globally.

He also lauded the role of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and said that the country developed infrastructure to deal with Covid-19 on emergency basis and they have improved the number of testing labs to 129 from only two when the pandemic hit the country.

Shibli Faraz said that the virus cases had witnessed a surge after Eidul Fitr and if precautionary

Shehbaz’s cold shoulder worries Bilawal as gulf between PPP, PML-N widens ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

An apparent gulf between the leadership of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has started to impact the possibility of a future alliance between both the major opposition parties as PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has not yet accepted an offer from Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to attend a Multi-Party Conference (MPC). The PPP chief had suggested the PML-N to join an MPC to form a greater alliance against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Bilawal had previously said that the decision would be taken after Shehbaz completes his quarantine. However, well informed sources in both the PMLN and the PPP have confirmed to this scribe that the PML-N leadership has not yet responded to Bilawal’s proposal to convene an MPC despite Shehbaz’s recovery from coronavirus.

Sources said that the PPP chief has started considering alternative strategy for an antigovernment move, adding that during the meeting chaired by Bilawal in Lahore on Sunday, most of the participants proposed to Bilawal to focus on forming a major alliance of the

measures were not adopted then it could see another rising trend after Eidul Azha.

Even the prime minister has decided to celebrate upcoming Eid at home, he said and urged the masses to adopt it and avoid unnecessary outing during Eidul Azha.

While lauding the Adviser to PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, he said that the government presented a tax-free budget despite financial losses. He said that the prime minister has directed Dr Sania Nishtar to launch the second phase of the Ehsaas Programme.

Speaking over pilots’ issue, he said that 28 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots have been terminated from the service over dubious licenses and blamed that these recruitments were made during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) era.

“We have already grounded all pilots who have dubious licences,” he said vowed to take stern action against all PIA and CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] officials found guilty in the licence matter.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

Cabinet approves formation of reforms committee for sugar sector STORY ON PAGE 02

SBP extends period to defer loan principal amount till Sept 30 opposition parties along with anti-Imran Khan parties.

“Some leaders also suggested that the PPP should consult with Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other religious parties so as the PML-N would feel the heat and join the alliance due to public pressure,” said a PPP leader told who attended the meeting on Sunday. “Bilawal is concerned why the PML-N is not responding to the offer made by him. It seems that Shehbaz is not in a mood to launch a street protest against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

Perhaps, cases against him are a major source of his reluctance to join an alliance against the government.”

The PPP leader said that it was

CMYK

more disturbing for Bilawal that despite his presence in Lahore, no PML-N leader contacted him for a meeting, which further suggests that Sharifs are no more interested for a movement against the PTI government.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Coronavirus death toll inches towards 5,000 as cases surge past 234,000 STORY ON PAGE 03

STORY ON PAGE 03

Pak, China, Afghanistan agree to cooperate against terrorism, Covid-19 STORY ON PAGE 05

UN for staying united in anti-terror fight during pandemic STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

wednesday, 8 July, 2020

News

CabineT approves formaTion of reforms CommiTTee for sugar seCTor PM IMRAN KHAN VOWS NOT TO SPARE ANYONE INVOLVED IN SUGAR CRISIS ISLAMABAD

T

GHULAM ABBAS

HE federal cabinet, following the advice of the Ministry of Industries and Production, on Tuesday approved formation of a Sugar Reforms Committee in order to devise a long-term strategy to bring reforms in the sugar sector in the light of recommendations given by an inquiry commission.

According to sources, the formation of the committee was proposed by the Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar.

During the meeting of the federal cab-

inet, Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed not to make any concessions regarding the sugar crisis and carry out across the board accountability. According to sources, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jehangir Tareen is also reported to be involved in the crisis.

"The committee held a detailed discussion on the sugar sector and discussed possible reforms," said the federal minister for information in a post cabinet meeting press conference. Recent forensic audit report of the sugar inquiry commission noted that basic regulation was lacking and suggested improvement in the regulatory system urging the State Bank

of Pakistan (SBP), National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to step up their efforts.

It also recommended that assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners should ensure full payments to farmers and that technology should be used for bookkeeping and a mechanism should be developed to ‘recover the looted amount’.

The sugar commission was constituted by the government in the first week of April following the release of two separate inquiry reports by the FIA on the issue of artificial shortage of sugar and wheat in the country and a sudden increase in their prices during the previous year. After the

release of the report, the opposition had demanded that the prime minister should take action against those who had been declared responsible by the FIA. Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed the issue of fake professional degrees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots. According to sources, the cabinet was informed that 28 pilots of the national flag carrier have been dismissed from service, 37 pilots have been suspended because of suspected degrees, while 450 pilots have been cleared. Similarly, out of the 104 pilots of other airlines, 100 have been cleared and the case of four pilots was said to be in process.

The government has decided to initiate criminal proceedings against pilots having fake degrees Additionally, five officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have also been suspended.

Public hearing of power outage complaints against K-Electric on July 10 KARACHI STAFF REPORT

fazl sees no minus one, says there will be minus all JUI-F CHIEF SAYS IF OPP HAD COOPERATED DURING AZADI MARCH, SITUATION WOULD’VE BEEN DIFFERENT TODAY LARKANA PPI

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rahman on Tuesday said that there will be no minus one but all will become minus as the popularity of Imran Khan has also become zero. He said they were calling an All Parties Conference (APC) on July 9 in Sindh in which all political parties would be invited, adding such APCs would also be held in all the provinces after which an APC would be held at national level as well. He was talking to media persons after offering condolences with Moazim Ali Abbasi and Dr Safdar Abbasi over the demise of Haji Munwar Ali Abbasi late last night. He said the relationship with the Abbasi family was very old that was why he came here to offer condolence over the demise of Haji Munwar Ali Khan Abbasi. Fazl said that Islamic seminaries would be opened across the country today under protest because they cooperated with the government on every forum and observed the standard operating procedures (SOPs), but the government did not respond in a smooth way, adding that nobody would halt them. He said they would not tolerate torture on students of seminaries by the government. “We are political workers and our life is to struggle,” he said. He said that concocted elections were held and a fabricated government with a fake mandate was inducted on the nation. He also said that history told them that they had never accepted rigging as they had a different point of view about it. He further said that JUI-F took it seriously took out an ‘Azadi March’ with 14 million marches, which was also joined by opposition leadership apart from people from different walks of life. He said had the opposition participated in their marches with their activists, the situation would have been very different today. Fazl said that PM Imran used to claim that Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari obtained huge loans in their tenures but his government had taken more loans in two years, he added, he cannot run the government. He said the 18th Amendment was passed unanimously but it was being hindered along with the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. He said that if the Centre had no funds, then why such complaints were not made during PMLN and PPP regimes. The JUI-F chief said that the government cannot fight the media and also cannot digest criticism. He said the budget was approved by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Imran Khan had announced 10 million jobs but over 2.5 million people had been rendered unemployed. He also said that less budget was presented than previous year in the history of the country and the economy of the country had ruined.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has announced to hold a public hearing of complaints regarding excessive electricity load-shedding by K-Electric. The regulatory body, in a press release, said that the hearing will be held on July 10 via video link on Zoom “due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation”.

“All interested stakeholders and the general public may participate in the [public] hearing to share their views/comments regarding the load-shedding position in Karachi,” the statement read.

In a public advertisement in newspapers, Nepra said that those who wished to attend the hearing may send an email to Nepra Registrar’s Office (registrar@nepra.org.pk) in order to get the video link ID and password.

Last month, Nepra had taken notice of complaints regarding continuing unannounced load-shedding in Karachi and directed the power utility to submit a detailed report in this regard. The body had also noted that inflated electricity bills were being charged to consumers.

“Strict directions have been given to K-Electric to take

remedial measures and submit a detailed report to Nepra immediately,” Nepra said.

It added that consumers who were receiving exorbitant bills could file complaints with Nepra’s regional office in Karachi or through their website, by providing the relevant documents.

UNANNOUNCED POWER OUTAGES: In recent weeks, citizens living in the metropolis have complained about excessive billing and unannounced power outages that have added to the misery of soaring temperatures and the coronavirus outbreak. Last month, many residents took to the streets to protest the power outages, blocking main roads and highways to bring the issue to the attention of the relevant authorities.

Protesters said that power outages were also triggering a water crisis, adding to the burden on the common man.

For its part, KE attributed the power outages to the recent fuel shortage in the country.

“Over 70 percent of Karachi, including industrial zones, is exempted from [load-shedding]. The ongoing fuel shortage is, however, leading to generation constraints. This has had an impact on K-Electric’s ability to meet the rising electricity demand on account of high temperatures,” K-Electric had said in a statement earlier.

Luxury brand Hugo Boss places first order of sportswear with Pakistan ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

Germany's luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss has placed its first order of sportswear to a Pakistani company, Prime Minister Imran Khan's Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said on Tuesday.

"Happy to note that a well-known brand, Hugo Boss, has placed its first order of sportswear to a Pakistani company," Dawood wrote on social media site Twitter.

"This achievement was due to the effort of PRGMEA for holding the 35th IAF Fashion Convention in Nov last year, in Lahore," he added, congratulating Ijaz Khokhar, the chief coordinator of the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association.

It may be noted that the International Apparel Federation's (IAF) 35th World Fashion Convention was held in Lahore on November 12-13, 2019, in collaboration with Dutch industry association Modint. German fashion house Hugo Boss is known around the world for its smart men’s

suits. It manufactures clothing and accessories internationally, with its product line ranging from evening wear, shoes, leather goods, eyewear, watches, perfumes to children’s fashion. It recently launched more casual and sportswear styles in order to attract younger people, making major investments in online products after its attempt to go upmarket failed some years ago.

Meanwhile, in another Tweet, the adviser has congratulated the exporters for their better performance despite historic challenges.

"I want to congratulate all our on the good performance in 2019-20, in spite of the very challenging situation caused

by COVID-19. Our exports were only 6 percent less than 2018-19 while the regional countries including Bangladesh was down by 17 percent India by 14 percent," he said. "The good performance was also due to the timely lifting of the lockdown and the good coordination between the center and provincial agencies at the daily meeting of NCOC. Our exporters deserve every praise for their effort, hard work and reaching out to our customers," the adviser added.

flowers laid at graves of Kargil martyrs on behalf of Coas RAWALPINDI INP

Flowers were laid at the graves of Captain Karnal Sher Khan shaheed, Nishan-e-Haider and Havaldar Lalak Jan shaheed, Nishan-eHaider on behalf of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday. Ceremonies were held on the occasion of 21st martyrdom anniversaries of Captain Karnal Sher Khan and Havaldar Lalak Jan to pay tribute to them. Civil and military officials attended the functions along with families of the martyrs. Earlier, the COAS paid glowing tribute to indomitable courage, devotion and exemplary leadership of Captain Karnal Sher Khan shaheed and Havaldar Lalak Jan shaheed, the war heroes from Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Ghizer, GilgitBaltistan (GB), who wrote history with their blood against all odds.

pTi has an anti-education agenda: bilawal ISLAMABAD INP

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday alleged that the agenda of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) is anti-education. The PPP chairman took to the social media website Twitter and said that the ruling party’s consistent assault on Higher Education Commission (HEC) funding is having very real consequences at a time when medical universities are at the frontline battling Covid-19. He said that the PTI has cut HEC funding in last budget and refused to significantly raise funding in this year’s budget. Bilawal went on to say that the cut in the funding of the HEC would lead to the increase in the students’ fees while the staff salaries will be cut and eventually some universities will be forced to shut. Further lashing out at the PTI, the PPP chairman said that the ruling party should be ashamed on its anti-education agenda, adding that they have not even bothered to support medical universities and teaching hospitals during a global pandemic.

Zardari, faryal's indictment in money laundering case deferred ISLAMABAD APP

An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday postponed indictment of former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in money laundering case. According to details, proceedings on a plea bargain of one of the accused in the case could not be completed. Observing this, the court remarked that other accused cannot be indicted until the process is completed. The court, while accepting the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigating officer’s request seeking additional time, adjourned the hearing till July 24.

LHC restores 24 News HD’s licence LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday stayed a decision by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to suspend the licence of news channel 24 News HD over “non-compliance with its terms of license”.

The media regulatory body had on July 3 suspended with “immediate effect” the channel’s licence for “illegal transmission of news and current affairs content”. Following PEMRA’s decision, the management announced to shut down the channel and issued one-month notices of termination of services to its 965 staffers. The court, while issuing notices to the authority and the federal government, sought their replies on the matter during Wednesday’s hearing.

According to a press release issued by the media regulatory body the other day, the licence was in fact issued to Central Media Network (Pvt) Ltd for its sister concern Value TV which “illegally” changed its name to 24 News HD. The channel was granted the licence to air entertainment content but instead, it was “persistently illegally and unlawfully airing news and current affairs in continuous violation of PEMRA laws”, the statement said. Subsequently, the Central Media Network had challenged PEMRA’s suspension in the LHC, terming it “illegal” and nominated the federal government and the authority as respondents.

In its petition, the media house said that PEMRA had issued a show-cause notice to the channel on May 5, adding that the channel’s representative had attended a hearing on the matter on June 1 and a

CMYK

written reply had also been submitted.

However, the petition said, after a decision issued by the PEMRA chairman on July 3, the channel’s licence was suspended on “alleged violation in a change of logo and content without permission”. The petition also stated that the channel had applied for a change in license category in 2015, which was “partially approved”. The petition argued that an order could not be issued solely by the chairman of PEMRA and required the signatures of all twelve members of the body. It also claimed that the authority had allowed variations in the programming of other channels and that this was a case of “discrimination”.

The petition called on the high court to set aside PEMRA’s decision and to issue a stay order until a judgment was given in the case. The defence, while opposing the request for a stay order, ar-

gued that the case could not be heard in the LHC since all the proceedings had been conducted in Islamabad. The lawyer suggested that the media organisation should have approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi, who has decided to hear the case on a daily basis, after hearing the arguments ordered for the channel’s licence to be reinstated and issued notices to the government and PEMRA to respond during Wednesday’s hearing.

PML-N LAUDS COURT’S DECISION: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Ahsan Iqbal, during a press conference, lauded the court’s decision, saying it had “put a stop to an oppressive step taken by the government”.

Earlier on Monday, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) had called for a countrywide strike to protest against the alleged highhandedness of Pemra authorities, suspension of the licence of TV Channel 24 and nonpayment of salaries to media workers by media houses.

wednesday, 8 July, 2020

News

Coronavirus deaTH ToLL inCHes ToWards 5,000 as Cases surge pasT 234,000 COVID-19 CLAIMS 42 MORE LIVES, INFECTS 1,614 OTHERS IN SINDH NCOC NOTES OVER 7,494 VIOLATIONS OF SOPS, HEALTH GUIDELINES ISLAMABAD

a

STAFF REPORT

TOTAL of 2,691 new cases of coronavirus surfaced during the last 24 hours taking the tally to 234,509, said National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday.

The death toll from the virus has reached 4,839 with 77 more deaths were reported over the last 24 hours. A total of 24,577 coronavirus tests were carried out during the aforementioned period.

The total reported cases include 82,669 in Punjab, 96,236 in Sindh, 28,236 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 10,841 in Balochistan, 13,557 in Islamabad, 1,587 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 1,383 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). So far 134,957 patients have recovered and the total active cases in the country are 94,713 COVID-19 CLAIMS 42 MORE LIVES IN SINDH: Coronavirus claimed 42 more lives on Tuesday, lifting the death toll to 1,614 and infected 1,388 others, raising the provincial cases tally to 97,626.

In a statement issued from CM House, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that overnight 42 more patients of coronavirus lost their lives, lifting the death toll to 1,614 which constituted a 1.7 per cent death rate. “Till Monday the death rate in Sindh was 1.6 per cent,” the chief minister said and added this needed to be controlled through awareness and timely treatment.

CM Murad said that 1,388 more cases of coronavirus were detected after conducting 9,317 tests that constituted a 15 per cent current detection rate.

He said that overall, 524,222 samples had been tested which diagnosed 97,626 cases, of them 54,676 patients had recovered, including 821 overnight. The overall recovery rate comes to 56 per cent and detection rate 19 per cent, he added. The CM said that currently 41,336 patients were under treatment, of them 39,713 in home isolation, 349 at isolation centers and 1,274 in different hospitals.

He added that currently the condition of 650 patients was stated to be critical, among them 76 have been put on ventilators.

According to the statement, out of total 1,388 new cases Karachi has 629

LHC extends shehbaz’s interim bail in assets case till July 16 LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday granted one-time exemption from personal appearance to Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and extended his interim bail in assets beyond means and money laundering case till July 16. A division bench, headed by Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem, passed the orders while hearing a prearrest bail petition by Shehbaz in the case. At the start of proceedings, petitioner’s counsel Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar submitted that an application had been filed for exemption of Shehbaz from personal appearance for Tuesday. The bench questioned that why Shehbaz did not appear whereas now he had been tested negative for Covid-19. The counsel stated that Shehbaz had not fully recovered from the virus. He submitted that as per medical experts, a patient was declared recovered if he was tested negative twice. The bench noted that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had, on the previous hearing, offered to exempt Shehbaz and conclude hearing on the bail petition. APP

Will continue to expose pTi government's corruption: pmL-n leaders ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) leaders Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday has lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and vowed to continue to expose its corruption.

While talking to media, Asif alleged federation of feeding mafias under its supervision. We are standing with the masses in this difficult time, he stated. Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal said that PTI leaders have destroyed bureaucracy of Pakistan with ineffective policies. The country is moving backward due to this incompetent government, he stated. INP

cases, 233 South, 164 East, 85 Central, 44 Korangi, 65 Malir and 38 West.

He added that Khairpur has 86, Hyderabad 69, Umerkot 66, Sanghar 66, Shaheed Benazirabad 64, Sukkur 48, Korangi 44, Kashmore 41, Badin 39, Jamshoro 37, Nausheroferoze 27, Matiari 16, Mirpurkhas 16, Tando Allahyar 14, Shikarpur 10, T M Khan, Larkana and Jacobabad seven each, Dadu three and Ghotki one. The chief minister urged people of Sindh to be cautious and adopt standard operating procedures (SOPs) as part of life.

OVER 7,494 VIOLATIONS OF SOPS, HEALTH GUIDELINES NOTED: Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said over 7,494 violations of health guidelines were noted during last 24 hours across Pakistan.

According to NCOC, in consequence of the violations more than 604 markets and shops and 981 transporters were fined and sealed as per the violation.

However, the provincial governments and the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) were making all-out efforts to enforce health guidelines and instructions for public safety and well-being to contain coronavirus spread.

In AJK, 1,102 violations were recorded and in response 28 markets and shops were closed and sealed, 182 transport vehicles were fined as per violations.

In GB, 135 violations of health guidelines were observed, 44 markets

and shops were closed and sealed and seven transport vehicles were fined as per violations.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 3,323 violations were observed where in consequence 147 markets and shops were closed and sealed and seven transport vehicles were fined as per the violation.

In Punjab, a total of 1,925 violations were recorded whereas in consequence 324 markets and shops were closed and sealed, and 531 transport vehicles were fined as per the violation.

In Balochistan, 434 violations were observed where 44 markets and shops were closed and sealed 167 transport vehicles were also fined as per the violation.

In ICT, 30 violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and health guidelines were noted whereas in consequence 3 markets were closed and sealed and 2 transport vehicles were fined as per the violation.

In Sindh, 545 violations were recorded whereas in consequence 32 markets shops were sealed and closed and 105 transport vehicles were fined as per the violation.

Similarly, as many as 352 smart lockdowns have imposed in 55 districts with 2.6 million population.

Moreover, 23 areas in Punjab with population of 621,236 persons, 33 areas in Sindh with 893,821 persons, 244 areas in KP with 836,390 persons, 30 areas in AJK with 87,478 persons, five areas in Islamabad with 65,000 persons and 17 areas in GB with 151,317 persons were kept under smart lockdown.

SBP extends period to defer loan principal amount till Sept 30 KARACHI MEIRYUM ALI

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a statement released on Tuesday announced that it has extended the deferment of principal amount until September 30.

Under this facility, businesses and households can request to defer their loans and advances for a period of one year, while continuing to service the mark-up amount.

The decision has been made in light of the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to stress the cash flow of small and medium sized businesses and households, according to the SBP. Accordingly, this facility will be available to Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) financing, enterprise financing, consumer financing, housing finance, agriculture finance and micro financing only.

The facility will not be extended to corporates and commercial borrowers, considering that a significant amount of

their loans and advances have already been deferred.

“It is expected that more businesses and households, who were not able to avail the facility, will benefit from this extension,” the SBP said. Previously on March 26, the SBP, along with the Pakistan Banks Association (PBA), had announced measures to help businesses during the Covid-19 crisis. One key measure was the deferment of principal amount of loans and advances by banks and Development Financial Institutions (DFIs). Under this facility, businesses and households could request to defer their loans and advances for a period of one year, while continuing to service the mark-up amount. The deferment of principal was not to affect borrower’s credit history, and the facility would not be reported as restructured in the credit bureau’s data. As of July 3, banks have deferred Rs593 billion of principal amount of loans for over 359,000 borrowers. Around 95 per cent of the scheme’s beneficiaries have been small borrowers including SMEs, consumer finance, and microfinance.

Govt to set up markets along Afghanistan, Iran borders PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The federal government has decided to set up border markets at Iran and Afghanistan borders to boost bilateral trade and provide benefit to the locals residing in the nearby areas. The Commerce Division has sought recommendations from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan governments before the implementation of the federal government's decision.

A total of five border markets will be set up in KP which include four in tribal districts and one in Lower Chitral. The proposed areas for border markets in KP include Shaheedano Dhand in Kurram District, Kharlachi and Angor Adda in South Waziristan, Arundo in Lower Chitral, Gursal in Mohmand District and Ghulam Khan and Torkham broders.

Only traders who reside within a 5 kilometre (km) radius will be given the permission to set up businesses in the markets. Similarly, only customers who reside within a 5km radius will be allowed to shop in the border markets. Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Industry Abdul Karim Khan told Profit that construction of trade markets

on the border with Afghanistan would provide employment opportunities to the local population.

According to sources, a joint committee will be set up to identify issues related to the broader markets and to propose solutions to those issues. The committee would also take steps to improve the existing infrastructure and provide facilities to consumers.

The KP Board of Investment and Trade has submitted its recommendations to the KP Department of Industries, which said that the joint committee meeting should be made mandatory twice a year.

The committee includes officials from the private sector as well as the provincial Board of Investment and Trade and the Directorate of Commerce. The inclusion of representatives from security agencies in the committee has also been suggested.

Adviser to the KP chief minister on industry said that according to recommendations apart from raw materials border markets should also trade locally manufactured goods and handicrafts. The KP Board of Investment and Trade has also proposed that the 5km condition for buyers should be removed and that tourists should be allowed to shop in the border markets.

03

govt set to introduce public-private partnership ordinance, 2020 ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to introduce the Public-Private Partnership Ordinance 2020 in a bid to ensure competition and transparency in the award of big projects. According to sources, the Ministry for Planning, Development and Special Initiative, through a summary, had solicited the approval of the federal cabinet for the proposed Public-Private Partnership Ordinance 2020. The planning ministry, in its summary, had pleaded before the cabinet that there was a need to create an enabling environment for public-private partnership by streamlining the project approval process and providing an effective framework for policy guidelines. Sources said the draft legislationPublic Partnership Bill 2020 was approved by the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC), adding that the cabinet in its meeting on 28th April 2020 considered the case and ratified the recommendations of CCLC. The bill has been submitted as draft ordinance for consideration, sources said. It is an established fact that PPP is effective in leveraging the expertise and efficiency of the private sector for enhanced public sector service delivery. In the past, the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) was incorporated in 2006 under the Companies Ordinance 1984 (repealed by the Companies Act, 2017) to enhance the public partnership in Pakistan. Later, the PPP Authority was established under the provision of the PPP Authority Act (VII of 2017) and consequently the assets and liabilities of the IPDF were transferred to the authority. AHMAD AHMADANI

shehbaz demands parliamentary committee to probe atrocities against media ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif called on Speaker Asad Qaiser to form a parliamentary committee to probe the atrocities being committed against media institutions in Pakistan. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president penned a letter to the NA speaker on Tuesday, highlighting the blatant violation of the law, Constitution and democracy in Pakistan due to which journalists in the country were being targeted. Referring to the increasing curbs on freedom of speech and censorship in the country, Shehbaz wrote that this is “an urgent and important matter” and was related to the ‘unusual restrictions’ imposed on the media. The former Punjab chief minister stated that the latest problem pertained to the ban on Channel 24, which he added had adversely affected the households of thousands of families. He stated that in the current government’s tenure, the media has been put in a very tough situation, similar to other industries. “To add pressure on the media, a strategy has been formulated to ban the publication of columnists,” said Shehbaz. He accused the government of having journalists it did not like, sacked from their jobs.

The PML-N president said that lawsuits have been filed against media owners who did not stop from criticising the government, adding that the biggest example of this was Jang Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakeelur Rehman. He added that the lawyers’ community, Pakistan Bar Council’s Executive Committee and other foreign journalist organisations have labelled the government’s policy as “vengeful”. INP

Toshakhana reference: nawaz sharif's summon advertised ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif’s summon in Toshakhana case has been advertised at public places.

According to details, the accountability court observed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is deliberately missing court proceedings and gave him last chance to appear before the court by August 17. Bailable arrest warrant with surety bonds of Rs50,000 were also issued for former president Asif Ali Zardari for his continuous absence from the case. The warrant states that if Asif Zardari does not appear, he should be arrest and be presented before the court. INP

04

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

NEWS

govt to take every step to stabilise flour price: buzdar LAHORE

p

STAFF REPORT

unJAB Chief Minister Sardar usman Buzdar on Tuesday stated that every step will be taken to stabilise the prices of flour and other essential items.

He further said that provision of flour will be ensured at the fixed rate and indiscriminate legal action will be initiated against those involved in an unauthorised increase in the price of the flour bags, said a statement.

He reiterated that indiscriminate action will be initiated against illegal profiteers and hoarders adding that instructions have been issued to cabinet committee for price control

in this regard. Illegal increase in the rates of essential items will not be tolerated and the government will fully protect the rights of the common man, he added. no one will be allowed to exploit the people and every step will be taken to provide relief to the masses, he further said.

Separately, Chief Minister Buzdar presided over a meeting here at Civil Secretariat to review the law and order situation in the province.

The ACS (home) briefed about the overall law and order situation. The meeting decided that activities of the elements involved in sectarianism will be strictly contained and entry and exit points of the province will be rigorously monitored.

It also decided that the ban on collection

Jamshoro ‘stoning’ victim died of head injuries, says autopsy report JAMSHORO: A post-mortem report on the body of a woman allegedly stoned to death in Jamshoro district has confirmed that severe torture was inflicted on her, which led to her death. According to the report, the alleged stoning victim had a fractured skull with her neck and facial bones broken, which severely affected her brain. Moreover, there were severe injuries all over the woman’s body, according to the autopsy which was conducted 12 hours after her death. It concluded that head injuries resulted in her death. According to the police, on June 27, the Motorway Police found a mutilated body of an unknown woman with severe head injuries from the Indus Highway in the limits of Police Station Chachaar.

The Motorway Police referred the matter to the Police Station Chachaar, where the deceased was identified as Wazeera Chachaar, a resident of nearby Wadda Chachaar village. INP

of funds or donations by banned organisations and their facilitators will be strictly implemented.

The CM directed the participants to take every possible step for the protection of life and property of the people adding that legal action be initiated against violators of the law.

Action will be initiated against the criminals under the policy of showing zero tolerance and coordination between federal and provincial line departments should be made more effective, he directed. Meanwhile, every possible step will also be taken against the elements involved in spreading hate material on social media sites, he added.

The CM further directed to take indiscriminate action against the elements in-

Audit unveils Rs127bn irregularities in Sindh LG dept KARACHI TLTP

Serious financial irregularities to the tune of Rs127 billion have been found in Sindh Local Government Department.

According to an audit report of 2016-17 into the Sindh Local Government Department issued

by Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), massive corruption has been detected in eight subordinate institutions of the depart-

ment. A loss of Rs399 million to the national kitty occurred due to the auction of valuable plots in Lyari Expressway resettlement project through fake signature, said the report. Around Rs12 billion expenditure record is missing in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. The Sindh LG Department secretary failed to present the record of expenditure worth Rs10 billion.

Earlier on February 23, the audit

Sanitary workers need extra care, PPE to ward off coronavirus risk ISLAMABAD APP

At the time, when the entire world underlines the need for extra hygiene and precautionary measures to ward off the coronaivrus risk, the sanitary workers of Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) put their lives in peril to keep the city neat and clean.

With total strength of above 1,500, the MCI sanitary workers whose job includes roads cleaning, door-to-door garbage collection and emptying pits and trash

trolleys require extra care and complete safety kits to keep the coronavirus at bay, especially during their exposure to untidy and filthy places.

“We are not being given face masks, sanitizers and gloves on regular basis. Equipment should be provided to every sanitary worker by the MCI whether he is permanent employee of the corporation or working under a private contractor,” a sanitary worker at sector G7 requesting anonymity said.

“I have to buy my own mask daily to ensure safety of mine and

20kg flour bag being sold at rs1,100 LAHORE: The flour prices across the country went out of control as the government failed to implement wheat flour on fixed rate of Rs850 0 per 20-kilogram 0 bag on Tuesday.

According to the details garnered, shopkeepers are selling a 20-kilogram 0 flour bag at the price of Rs1,100 00 day after the government fixed the price of 20-kilogram 0 flour bag at Rs860.

0 The administration has failed to enforce the order of selling of wheat four on the set government price after the Punjab government approved a two-month interim policy to provide wheat at Rs1,475 per maund to flour mills across the province. On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of hike in flour prices in Punjab and directed to ensure provision of floor on cheap rates to poor people. The prime minister while directing the Punjab government to take steps to reduce the prices of flour and said that the price of flour should be restored to its old level and strict action should be taken against the hoarders. Punjab Food Department bowed down to the demands of the owners of four mills and increased the price price of a 20-kilogram 0 flour bag by Rs55 and will now cost Rs860.

0 After the implementation of the new prices, the price of flour will increase by Rs2.75 per kg and in the open market, the flour will be available at Rs 43 per kg instead of Rs40.25.

0 Prices will apply temporarily for the next two months. INP

volved in sectarianism. He told that nGOs' audit has been completed; Punjab Charity Commission has been constituted and a portal has been developed for online registration.

The strategic board will be activated in the Home Department, he added. He also appreciated the performance of the Home De-

authorities in the Sindh province had found irregularities worth millions in the funds earmarked from the provincial Auqaf department for the construction works at shrines.

According to an audit report of 2017-18 into the Auqaf department issued by Sindh auditor general, it was revealed that no internal audit was conducted into an amount of Rs403 million earmarked for the shrines.

“Even there is no record of Rs39 million released for the Auqaf department,” the audit said adding that Rs20 million were released for construction of an outer wall of the shrine in Dadu but no record was presented before the audit authorities of its spending. my family members who live with me in a small flat,” the worker added. He passionately called for providing the safety kits to every worker, especially women and elderly staffers.Another worker performing duty at sector G-6 said he had raised this issue time and again with the authorities concerned but unfortunately it seemed that the words fell on deaf ears.

The worker said efforts of doctors, police personnel, journalists and others were being recognised for performing duties amid the pandemic but nobody acknowledged our work. “We are endangering our own and our family members’ lives just to ensure cleanliness in the city but we are not being called as frontline fighters in a fight against the coronavirus,” he regretted.

partment, CTD, police and concerned agencies. The meeting was told that no sectarian incident has occurred in Punjab from February 2017 till to date.

Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat, Chief Secretary, IG Police and high officials attended the meeting.

Jamshoro ‘stoning’ victim died of head injuries, says autopsy report JAMSHORO: A post-mortem report on the body of a woman allegedly stoned to death in Jamshoro district has confirmed that severe torture was inflicted on her, which led to her death. According to the report, the alleged stoning victim had a fractured skull with her neck and facial bones broken, which severely affected her brain. Moreover, there were severe injuries all over the woman’s body, according to the autopsy which was conducted 12 hours after her death. It concluded that head injuries resulted in her death. According to the police, on June 27, the Motorway Police found a mutilated body of an unknown woman with severe head injuries from the Indus Highway in the limits of Police Station Chachaar. The Motorway Police referred the matter to the Police Station Chachaar, where the deceased was identified as Wazeera Chachaar, a resident of nearby Wadda Chachaar village. INP

DHA kidnapping suspects infected with coronavirus KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday resumed the hearing of the case of Dua Mangi’s kidnapping from Defence Housing Authority (DHA) last year.

The court expressed displeasure over jail authorities for not producing the suspects in the case before it. When asked about their non-appearance, the jail officials explained that some of the suspects have got infected with coronavirus, due to which they have not been presented in the court. At this, the judge directed the authorities to shift the accused said to be afflicted with the virus to coronavirus ward after their tests and present the rest in the court at next hearing. Suspects Muzaffar, alias Moozi; Zohaib Qureshi; Tariq alias, Shakeel; Waseem Raja, alias Kamran and Fayyaz Solangi have been named accused in a charge-sheet filed in the case while Agha Mansoor Hussain, former police officer sacked due to his involvement in criminal activities, has been declared an absconder. INP

KP activates litigation info management system: Bangash PESHAWAR: Taking a revolutionary step in the context of the provincial litigation policy, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Local Government Department Tuesday activated the litigation information management system. Commenting on the new Litigation Information System, Special Assistant for Local Government Kamran Bangash said that a uniform litigation system would help in monitoring the performance of the Local Government Department. He termed it a revolutionary step for the betterment of governance. STAFF REPORT

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

Pak, China, afghanistan agree to CooPerate against terrorism, Covid-19 ISLAMABAd

P

STAFF REPORT

AKISTAN, China and Afghanistan on Tuesday reached consensus on trilateral cooperation against Covid19, Afghan peace and reconciliation process and to strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation against all terrorist forces and networks posing threats to common security.

This consensus was reached during the third round of China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Vice Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue, which was held via video-link.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Mirwais Nab and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood co-chaired the dialogue.

The three sides conducted in-depth discussions and reached consensus on cooperation against Covid-19, the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, and trilateral cooperation.

A joint statement issued by the Foreign Office after the dialogue said that the three sides attach great importance to the ChinaAfghanistan-Pakistan trilateral cooperation and would continue to vigorously implement the outcome of the third China-AfghanistanPakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue.

The three sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening communication and coordination and enhancing mutual trust and cooperation under the trilateral cooperation mechanism.

The three sides agreed to further the cooperation against Covid-19, call on the international community to jointly prevent discrimination and stigma, support the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) leading role in coordinating global Covid-19 response, promote international cooperation on joint prevention and control, and safeguard public health security in the region and beyond.

China and Pakistan appreciated the efforts by the Afghanistan government and relevant parties in expediting the exchange of the prisoners to pave the way for the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations and call for violence reduction and humanitarian ceasefire.

The statement said that Pakistan and China will enhance cooperation with the Afghan government in support of the “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned” peace reconciliation process, the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations at an early date and preservation of the gains since 2001, and look forward to the early restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to further strengthen dialogue and work for continuous improvement of bilateral relations including through the effective implementation of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS). China will continue to play a constructive role in improving Afghanistan-Pakistan relations.

The three sides agreed that the return of Afghan refugees should be part of peace and reconciliation process and underlined the role of international community for a timebound and well-resourced roadmap for the return of Afghan refugees to their homeland with dignity and honour.

The three sides urged for an orderly, responsible and condition based withdraw of the foreign troops from Afghanistan to avoid potential terrorist resurgence.

The three sides agreed to continue to strengthen counter-terrorism and security cooperation, combat the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, and all other terrorist forces and networks posing threats to common security.

They expressed readiness to carry out trilateral practical cooperation in flexible manners, and keep exploring new fields of cooperation, with a view to accumulating outcomes for the 4th China-AfghanistanPakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue.

Organic Meat Company closes IPO book-building KARACHI MEIRYUM ALI

The Organic Meat Company Limited (TOMC), a halal meat processor and exporter, closed the book building process of its initial public offering (IPO) of shares on Tuesday.

TOMC, one of Pakistan’s largest meat exporters, was to offer 40 million shares, or 35.7pc of its stake in the IPO, at a floor price of Rs18 per share, with a maximum price band of up to 40pc.

Book-building registration for TOMC started on June 30 and closed on July 7, while the book-building bidding took place on July 3, 6 and 7.

On July 3, or book building day one, bids for 20.63 million shares for the 40 million shares were received. By the end of July 7, bids for around 68.1 million shares were received from qualified investors for the 40 million offer, or bids worth around Rs1.4 billion. The strike price of the issue was Rs20, which is Rs2 higher than the floor price of Rs 18. The bidding featured both local and foreign high-net investors.

In the next phase, the public

subscription for the IPO for general investors will take place between July 14 and July 16.

In an IPO, a company offers shares to the public in return for capital it can use, usually for expansion or operational purposes. Book-building refers to a period when the IPO is open and bids are collected from qualified investors at various prices, which are above or equal to the floor price. After this, a strike price is determined, that is used for shares to the general public.

Analysts considered the turnout to be higher than expected, as investor response was sustained, despite an economic contraction, and the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the high participation rate of local and foriegn investors suggest there is a growing appetite for IPOs in Pakistan.

TOMC’s IPO is Pakistan’s first IPO of 2020, and the first after fifteen months. Through the IPO, the company is looking to raise Rs720 million, mainly to set up an offal processing facility, and an offal production facility, both in Karachi. The remaining funds will be used to increase TOMC’s product portfolio.

NEWS

05

Govt urges CJP to take notice of ‘tempered’ JIT report on Uzair Baloch ContInued on pAge 01 “There is a difference between these two reports. Their report is 35 pages, the original report is 43 pages. No one from the Sindh government has signed it,” he said. “In the original report, the names of friends are written. The first 6 names [are] Dr Zulfiqar Mirza [once a confidant of Zardari], Faryal Talpur, [MP] Abdul Qadir Patel, Dr Nisar Morai, Senator Yusuf Baloch, and Sharjeel Memon,” Zaidi said and alleged that these names were taken out in the report released by the provincial government. “The political affiliation in the report signed by these four people are not in [Sindh government’s] report. On page 15, their report says ‘accused confessed murder of Jaleel through Jabbar Lahra and Baba Ladla and informed that the dead body was disposed at an unknown place by his gangsters’. The report which we have said ‘accused disclosed that in 2011, Qadir Patel of PPP tasked the accused to kill Razak Commando as he had murdered Edhi Amin, coordinator of Wadir Patel’,” he said. “They removed this part from it. This report tells us why they killed him and on whose orders. It further says that in 2011 ‘Baba Ladla and Jabbar Lahra kidnapped Jaleel from Umer Lane in Lyari and informed the accused who in turn told Qadir Patel of such kidnapping on which Qadir Patel of PPP directed accused to kill Jaleel’,” he added.

Government says coronavirus cases are declining in Pakistan ContInued on pAge 01 He said that the cabinet was also briefed over the sugar inquiry report and the commerce minister informed that they have devised sugar reforms that would help in ensuring the supply of the commodity at lower prices. A negative role of the competitive commission has emerged during the sugar and other crisis and we have decided to bring forward new people to make it more effective, he added. He further said that the cabinet also discussed over change in the money laundering law to make it more effective.

The federal cabinet also approved the appointment of Air Marshal Arshad Malik as the PIA chief executive for another three years. Now, even after he retires from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on July 12, Air Marshal Arshad Malik will serve as PIA chief executive for another three years.

Cotton exports fall 9.93pc in eleven months ISLAMABAD: Raw cotton exports from the country during the first 11 months of FY20 registered a decrease of 9.93 per cent compared to raw cotton exports of the corresponding period of last year. During July 2019 to May 2020, about 12,776 metric tonnes of raw cotton worth $17.005 million were exported, compared to the export of 11,790 metric tonnes of raw cotton worth $18.879 million in the same period of last year. APP

Shehbaz’s cold shoulder worries Bilawal as gulf between PPP, PML-N widens ContInued on pAge 01 He said that Bilawal was given fruitful proposals during the meeting and all options came under discussion to build a major alliance against the government inside and outside the parliament.

“Bilawal looks determined to launch a movement against the PTI government. The reluctance by Sharifs may not deter his resolve. Once the party takes a final decision on its future strategy, Bilawal may launch a campaign,” he added.

When contacted, PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Bilawal chaired a meeting of the party’s information secretaries and spokespersons and that it was not a decision-making forum.

Asked whether the options regarding the MPC were discussed, Kaira admitted that the matter was discussed. “It was a consultative meeting. So various people made some proposals. But deci-

sions would be taken later,” he added.

It may be recalled that on June 28 in Islamabad, Bilawal, along with PML-N parliamentary leader in National Assembly Khawaja Asif, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F’s) Akram Durrani, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Mian Aslam and other party leaders had told a joint press conference that the anti-people budget is rejected by the opposition.

He said that entire opposition had played a responsible role during the coronavirus pandemic.

He also said that Imran Khan being the prime minister is a threat to the health and economic situation of the nation.

“There is leadership in PML-N, PPP and other parties to fight the pandemic. There is no leadership in the PTI to fight it. Shehbaz is sweating Imran Khan even though he is ill. The opposition is giving the government a tough time today and will continue to do so in future,” Bilawal had said.

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

06 COMMENT

The aftermath of the Stock Exchange attack

PTI creates another diversion

Large cities needs commissioners of police

Opposition-baiting no substitute for good performance

Mohib AsAd

L

AST week Federal Minister Ali haider Zaidi waved papers in the National Assembly, posing as if these were pages of a JIT (joint investigation team) report accusing the PPP top leadership of patronizing Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch. Mr Zaidi claimed that a sitting PPP MNA gave instructions to Mr Baloch. Despite protests from the PPP MNAs, the Speaker gave Mr Zaidi enough time to rant against the top PTI leadership, claiming that he was quoting from a JIT report.

On Monday the Sindh government made public three reports prepared by different JITs about the activities of Uzair Baloch, the Baldia factory fire of 2012 and the crimes committed by the former Chairman of the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society, Nisar Morai. earlier the PPP Sindh government had challenged Mr Zaidi to produce any evidence that might incriminate the top PPP leadership.

Mr Zaidi accuses the Sindh government of failing to publish the full report signed by all the six members of the JIT on Mr Baloch . It appears from Mr Zaidi’s claims that there are two JIT reports, one signed by four members belonging to federal agencies and the other by two members from Sindh. One wonders how Mr Zaidi came into possession of the report bearing the signatures of members of federal agencies. But even in this report there is little to frame a case against Mr Zardari or MNA Faryal Talpur. The report in the possession of Mr Zaidi however alleges that a sitting PPP MNA had advised Uzair Baloch to kill a man for murdering his coordinator.

Meanwhile the conclusions drawn in the remaining two JIT reports have enough to embarrass the PTI. The report on the Baldia Town factory fire calls the tragic incident a terrorist act and holds the then head of MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee, hammad Siddiqi, and Rehman Bhola responsible for the horrendous crime. The MQM is now PTI’s crucial ally. Nisar Morai, according to the report was a friend of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, whose family is a part of GDA. The PTI it appears has little inclination and less expertise to resolve the grave challenges facing the country. It has however mastered the art of maligning its opponents. What will matter at the hustings next time, however, is the performance of the party.

T

he terrorist attack at the Pakistan Stock exchange building on 29 June and its aftermath need to be looked at from several angles. Firstly, the preparedness and valour of the private security guards, and the police staff posted at the gate, was first-rate. Kudos is due for the shuhada and the brave survivors. They did us proud. Secondly, that the agencies hostile to Pakistan are alive and kicking. They have a cadre of dedicated criminals available to do their bidding when asked.

This is being met with focused vigilance by the security agencies. Thirdly, that once again it is patent that terrorist money financing is going on at a regular basis. Are we doing enough to minimize this aspect?

Fourthly, that more effective training needs to be imparted to the law enforcing agenciess on officer safety. Fifthly, that all Inspectors-Generals may like to review the lists of Class A key-points, and get the owners to create more effective gating systems than the one at the PSX. It is widely believed that the Indian state funded and organized the terrorist attack. Investigation into the incident lends credence to this theory. India makes no secret of its strategic aim to dismember Pakistan.

It holds seminars on the subject in open forums.

After some respite over 2019, we see an upsurge in the incidents of terrorism in the country. Security agencies have been targeted by insurgents in the erstwhile FATA, and in Baluchistan. We have lost quite a few fine young officers and soldiers and we owe the armed forces a debt of gratitude for these sacrifices. The army is steadfast in holding its defensive positions, under constant attacks by the Afghan army across the Durand line, and by the Indian army across the Line of Control in Kashmir. The Afghans have so far only attacked our posts and forts in the KPK, but the Indians have made a habit of bombing our border villages, killing civilians on a regular basis.

The Indian army has made it a rule of engagement to kill unarmed civilians on both sides of the LOC. After every weekly such action by the Indians, our Foreign Office then invites the Indian envoy to

A counter-intuitive strategy

P

A view from the front lines

ML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat hussain, in a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, has urged him to avoid a ‘confrontation with the media’ while stressing that the ‘fourth pillar of the state’ is necessary and must remain ‘stable’. Ch Shujaat had earlier voiced his concern to Mr Khan over the arrest of Jang editor-inchief Mir Shakilur Rehman by the NAB. his latest advice, to keep cordial relations with the media, has been prompted by the cancellation of a private television channel’s license by PeMRA. Since taking office the PTI government has been unnecessarily and excessively hostile towards any media outlet that is critical of its performance or lack thereof. Over the past two years this has manifested itself in unexplained newspaper distribution and news channel broadcast disruptions. An extension of this treatment is the selective release of government advertisements that constitute a primary source of revenue to keep any mainstream media outlet afloat. Those who toe the line have an obvious advantage over those who prefer to stick to their guns and this is an easily observable reality in the current press-government equation. Moreover, this relationship, as evidenced by recent events, is deteriorating fast. Peaceful protests led by the PFUJ outside the office of PeMRA against the suspension of TV Channel 24’s license were disrupted as guards present at the building resorted to aerial firing.

Incarcerating media owners is perhaps the newest and worst form of this intimidation. Mir Shakeel was arrested close to four months ago by NAB before any formal charges had been framed for an allegedly illegal property transaction that took place 34 years ago.

Attempts to stifle press freedom may be effective in the short term to punish dissent, but it is not a sustainable strategy in the long run. For any normal-functioning democratic nation to progress, a free and vibrant media is necessary. Fact-based, untainted reporting and journalism always finds a way to reach readers despite barriers and this has never been truer than now, in this age of rapid technological advancement, with the Internet making the flow of information very fluid, rapid and constant. It is counter-intuitive to think that a policy of ‘silence through fear’ will go very far. The sooner this is realized the better.

Mohsin sAleeM UllAh

H

OPe is bleak, and survival is uncertain.

That describes the story of hundreds of thousands of lawyers, who may run late on their lives to prevent their extinction in case they don’t find clients. Pakistan’s close-to-death economy and spiked prices of necessities had made our lives miserable; that is further fuelled by the coronavirus outbreak, which has resultantly deteriorated living conditions, and added into our struggle of the survival of the fittest.

For those young lawyers joining the legal profession may pose concerns, and questions lingering in their mind on whether they have made the right choice of career. every year Pakistan sees the influx of thousands of law students graduating from the government and private institutions, who decide to opt for legal education, without realizing if they have the aptitude for that specific field, and its scope in the light of their potential.

For many, it’s the quickest way to get a professional degree and begin earning at an earlier age; which is why the law is the first preference for those who don’t like taking longer routes to avoid rigorous studies. Perhaps, others are not well-prepared to take a firm decision of their own because they are swayed by the peer pressure, and lack career counseling in their last years of high school when they are all geared up for the college applications. To some extent, I won’t blame parents who also inadvertently push their children to choose a specific field of studies of their choice, or otherwise instilling in children’s minds to get some lucrative

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Mohib Asad is a freelance columnist

Why we lawyers are underpaid

Harassing the press

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

the Ministry. The envoy drives in on his BMW, escorted by the Islamabad police. he is given a cup of tea and handed over a letter which ends by saying that the MOFA assures the receivers assurances of its highest consideration. end of matter.

We have had this attitude of kowtowing to the Indians for decades now. There is the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the UN, and several other effective forums where we can agitate for economic and arms embargo sanctions against India. The present Afghan government is being run by the Indian Foreign Office, so any hope of making a dent there is a lost cause unless we checkmate India through diplomacy. Yet, all we do is issue a polite note requesting the Indians to desist from killing our citizens, please.

We must now realize, after observing the vicious anti-Islam trends ongoing in India, that the second term BJP government is hostage to zealot criminals, whose ultimate aim is to raze the Kaaba. And I am not being cynically dramatic. This is my considered view. The holy Quran bears testimony to at least one such attempt in Sura Feel (105). If you look at the RSS/BJP leadership you will quickly identify a lot of present day Abrahas. This may be a quixotic quest but it can lead to great regional disorder if left unattended.

Our diplomacy is too colonial in attitude. Senior diplomats keep saying that for effective diplomacy one needs an underpinning of power. We are a nuclear state, for heaven’s sake. What more power does our Foreign Office want? Although we have a poor government due to bad fiscal management, we are still a middle income country. So our foreign policy should be more aggressive. We should take the Indians to the International Criminal Court for genocide in an area which has special status given by the UN. India will refuse to submit to the jurisdiction of that body; so what!! We will have made our point and produced evidence.

The Financial Action Task Force, which started off as a reasonable institution, has morphed into a political tool in the hands of the G20 countries. Should we not send information to the FATF about India’s involvement in the recent terrorism in Karachi? India, with their membership status in the G20, will proba-

bly have it brushed aside which would further prove that the FATF is no longer a trustworthy forum.

The Baluch Liberation Army and other such shadowy organizations which are the last vestiges of the Azad Baluchistan Movement of the 1960s and 1970s are on a slippery downward slope. Financial oxygen from India is keeping them alive. Over the decades, Baluchistan has transited into a politically strong and economically prosperous province of the country. Since the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the per capita share of the province is more than the other units of the federation. If the political leadership of the province spends these resources wisely, Baluchistan is capable of great developmental strides.

India’s utopian dream of creating another Mukti Bahini is a pipedream on which they are wasting money. Fine with us; it is their money.

To defeat urban terrorism, good policing is of the essence. To begin with, all cities with a population of more than a million must have Commissioners of Police heading the service. London and many cities in South Asia are run by police commanded by a Commissioner of Police. The CP has judicial powers in minor offences,a dedicated budget, and full powers in the recruitment, training and discipline over his staff. The officer is still responsible to the provincial government and is supervised by the Inspector-General. The signal advantage of this arrangement is that it creates a homogeneous police which can do what is called ‘community policing’ in a more effective manner. In such a scenario, intelligence gathering which is like lifeblood to counter-terrorism becomes a routine. A community which trusts the police will lay much useful information with their police station.

When he was the Vice President of the USA, Joe Biden, presently the Democratic nominee for President, spoke at one of the General Assemblies of the Association of Chiefs of Police. here’s what he said: “ Today, it is the local cop who is going to discover the local terrorist working out of a vacant house, who is going to find a bomb in a backpack abandoned at a train station…..it’s going to be the local cop doing his rounds” The Karachi attack is not the last such incident.

More may follow. The hope is that they will be met with the same resolve, yield the same results but without any casualty on our side.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

and trendy degree so as to get back what they would initially invest in it.

Parents have failed to figure out the potential, and skill set, their son or daughter is blessed with. They themselves had been compelled to act a certain way and were deterred with repercussions of failures in case of deviation from their chosen career. I still don’t get why our parents and society are intolerant of our initial failures, which I believe are more important than success in making us stronger-headed and helping us learn some important lesson that would otherwise be impossible.

Cumulating all pressures, from earning good money to falling prey to the wrong choice of career, we are strangling to die our death. Most lawyers are on the verge of either giving up their legal profession either to take competitive exams in the hope of a smooth future, or have indulged in unethical lawyering in pursuit of making money. It’s been a while that lawyers have begun desecrating this noble profession that holds high esteem in the Western countries and remained a first choice of career for some iconic figures, including the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who got us independence by making use of his exceptional lawyering skills. I can recount a few exceptional and visionary lawyers within the country, but they are all foreign graduates of Ivy League universities or graduates of the world’s top law schools. Isn’t it an eye-opener for us to ponder on why our law schools have failed to produce outstanding lawyers, and reasons of our legal education lagging far behind the countries like the USA? To me, the failure traces back its roots to the recruiting process of prospective students in law schools across the country. Just a few years back, the higher education Commission has begun taking the Law Admission Test, which is pretty simple to sail through at the first sitting, because the test doesn’t involve problem-based questions testing analytical and critical thinking, like the Law School Admission Test administered in the USA. With a presence of robust and rigorous screening tests, coupled with meticulous law school application peripherals, including a personal statement to convince the admission’s committee with reasons for joining a law school, and some good recommendation letters from the last attended university– which is yet another eligibility to have a four years undergraduate degree– and post-study work, is appreciated by an admissions committee that helps members evaluate a candidate’s ability to study law.

Moreover, it’s worth mentioning that like Pakistan, students in the USA hire educational consultants, who help them land in their choice of law schools. But universities make sure that they recruit deserving students, and continue producing outstanding lawyers, through a rigorous interview, which is

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

the final step of the admission process, and helps the committee to assess the aptitude of a candidate, and screen out those who had sought help in their application from others.

With stringent admission criteria and transparent recruiting process in place, the universities in the USA produce quality students who join, as junior associate positions in big law firms.

There fresh law graduates begin working at a bare minimum salary of $15,0000 per annum, which is more than what a partner in a Pakistani law firm can get. I’ve hardly known any Pakistani law graduates making their way to Big-Law, neither they seem interested in Pakistan’s market because of the lack of business opportunities, and political interference in their business is a big “NO” for them to expand their operations in Pakistan.

Never mind, let’s talk about what we are left now, the local law firms, which I’ve hardly heard of paying a stipend to their Pakistani law graduates at the outset because of the lack of quality education.

And students from diverse socio-economic and educational backgrounds end up going to substandard law schools. That’s why it’s hard to expect quality work from them, and additionally, senior lawyers have to spend time correcting the basic english language in their legal drafts. Therefore, “it’s hard to pay them anything because they are an expense on us”, that’s what a big law firm’s senior partner told me. however, their stance is different for foreign law graduates, who are mostly swamped with extra work for as little as Rs 40,000 and are expected to work 12 hours a day. Is this how most of the law firms in Pakistan are exploiting talent? That is the reason why foreign graduates don’t like working in the country.

Because firstly they are paid peanuts for half of their life, and secondly, they are expected to do maximum work of a law firm, that too over the weekend, which is a sheer violation of legal professional ethics.

Pakistani Law firms and its managing partners are making money at the expense of the young lawyers, who in the hope of learning and earning money someday are exploited at their hands. The Pakistan Bar Council must ensure that young lawyers are paid well in every law firm regardless of its size.

And the higher education Commission should change its admission approach to recruit new law students according to some international standard. That would help the law graduates to get some decent jobs, because a graduate without a skill set cannot call himself a lawyer.

Mohsin Saleem Ullah is a freelance writer who holds an LLM, in business law from UC Berkeley, reports for The Fox News Digital in Pakistan. He can be reached at mohsin.saleemullah@berkeley.edu or @MohsinSaleemu.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Wednesday, 8 July, 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

Monsoon season MeTeOROLOGISTS of Pakistan have predict heavy rains for next few days, especially in Sindh from 7 july to 10 july have probability of monsoon and heavy rainfall.

In karachi, it has rained very hard that most of the roads like low lying areas become Lakes. As they discovered that in karachi and hyderabad the weather will be the same for the next 2 or 3 days..

Few days ago, in different cities of Punjab it had rained and the weather turned into a very pleasant atmosphere. Monsoons and heavy rainfall is a cause of complete breakdown for urban life.

Like in Mumbai “city of India” their roads turn into gutters and children are swimming in that kind of water. People who are trying to cross the roads through the area are under water at least up to their knees (extra extra).. As we know covid-19 situation is in place and cases are continuously increasing instead of decreasing.

Keeping that in mind, its a request to our citizens to not venture out and stay indoors !

And think 1000 times before proceeding your steps outdoors !

ArifA SAEEd Tunio LArkAnA

Smart lockdowns produce positive results The government has found a way out

MAlik MUhAMMAd AshrAf

D

URING his visit to the National Command and operation Centre (NCOC) on the completion of 100 days of its establishment Prime Minister Imran Khan was told that the smart lockdown strategy of the government had yielded results in regards to balancing life and livelihood, keeping the economy afloat, addressing the issues of the poor and the working classes and containing the spread of the coronavirus. This assertion was supported with reference to the IMF economic Outlook which claimed that Pakistan was amongst a group of 30 countries, which had reversed the projected downturn from -0.4 percent to 1.1 percent from July 19 to May 20, while its exports fared much better as compared to exports from other countries of the region.

It is really hard to take an issue with what the Prime Minister was told. The government decision to adopt the new normal through targeted lockdowns, also called smart lockdown, and simultaneously keep the wheel of the economy going, has surely produced positive results.

Authentic data is available to suggest that in Islamabad and other parts of the country where a smart lockdown was enforced, a sharp decrease in the coronavirus cases has been noticed. According to the figures given by the Islamabad administration, the number of coronavirus cases in Islamabad on 1st June was 771. however after the smart lockdown in the areas with a greater number of infections the count has dropped to 113. The results of opening up of the different sectors of the economy are also quite visible and the people seem to be coping with the situation quite well. Though the number of cases is increasing every day, They are not as alarming as it seemed immediately after eid-ul-Fitr.

The credit for reversing the trajectory of virus infections goes to the efforts made by NCOC. The Prime Minister was right on the mark to acknowledge its achievements in these words “From daily monitoring of the situation to the capacity enhancement of health system and from establishing a credible database to a better resource management and formulation of appropriate SOPs, the NCOC has led from the front in the fight against pandemic” It would be pertinent to point out here that the NDMA has

also made creditable efforts in the procurement political opponents in regards to its handling of of ventilators, protective apparel and other the pandemic is nothing but opposition for the equipment required for treating the covid-19 pa- sake of opposition. The government has made, tients and protecting the medical staff from con- and continues to make, sincere and dedicated eftracting the virus while performing their duties. forts within its means to grapple with the shock As the need for ventilators and other equip- waves produced by the pandemic as well as keep ment arose in the backdrop of the spread of the the economy vibrant.

The Prime Minister stands vindicated as coronavirus, the government also focused on the efforts to locally produce ventilators, sani- most of the world, even the affluent nations, are tizers and PPe. According to Minister for Sci- also pursuing this model to come to grips with ence and Technology Fawad Chaudry, the the pandemic realizing that they could not afford country has succeeded in producing the venti- complete shutdowns of their economies and a lators locally and eight to ten ventilators would way had to be found to live with the virus. Some states in the USA and be handed over to the the worst-hit european NDMA during the curcountries, are also rent week. he also reopening up their vealed that Pakistan It is more imperative for economies with a view was already exporting to restore normalcy. sanitizers and PPe to developing countries like The UK has even althe USA worth $100 million and it would Pakistan. People must sustain lowed opening of pubs and restaurants to rehave a big medical and the efforts of the government vive the social life. It is electromagnetic induspertinent to point out try within the next by observing the SOPs in that in some european three years. That incountries the people deed is good news. As letter and spirit. That is the also took out rallies to they say, there is albest defence against the protest against the lockways a light at the end downs urging the govof the tunnel. The panpandemic currently available. ernments to remove demic has also led to restrictions on their the emergence of a The people by and large have movement and also new industry in the exhibited responsible save their jobs through country to meet its fuof economic acture needs as well as be behavior, which has helped in revival tivities. able to export the It is now accepted equipment produced restraining the spread of the worldwide that till such by it fetching the much time as an effective need foreign exchange. virus in an exponential vaccine becomes availPrime Minister manner. However, they need to able, people have to Imran Khan right from live with the new northe beginning has been get into their heads that the mal and the people opposing the concept have a greater responsiof complete lockdown smart lockdowns and strict bility in making this efjustifiably, maintaining observance of the SOPs was fort successful by that with 25 percent of observing the SOPs, people living below in their own and larger interest social distancing and the poverty line and the economy in dolof the country. The government preferably staying at home to stay safe. It is drums, it was not a feaon its part also needs to make more imperative for desible option. veloping countries like Nevertheless, the govsure that the agencies Pakistan. People must ernment did not lag besustain the efforts of the hind in evolving responsible for enforcing the government by observdifferent strategies ing the SOPs in letter aimed at containment SOPs do not show any and spirit. That is the of the virus and proslackness in this regard best defence against the viding relief to the afpandemic currently fected segments of the available. The people society under the by and large have exehsas cash transfer programme within the available resources. his hibited responsible behavior, which has helped logic was that our social and economic realities in restraining the spread of the virus in an expowere different from other countries and it could nential manner. however, they need to get into their heads that the smart lockdowns and strict not emulate their examples.

A survey conducted recently by Institute for observance of the SOPs was in their own and Public Opinion Research reveals that 63 percent larger interest of the country. The government of people endorse and support Imran Khan’s ap- on its part also needs to make sure that the agenproach and handling of the prevalent coron- cies responsible for enforcing the SOPs do not avirus situation. In the end it is the public show any slackness in this regard. opinion about the efforts and policies of the govMalik Muhammad Ashraf is an academic. ernment that matters the most. To be honest the criticism of the government by its detractors and He can be contacted at: ashpak10@gmail.com

Next generation IN psychology, It is said that “We are the product of what we see and imitate in our daily life.” when this quote came across my eyes, held me thinking and wondering about the younger generation of ours. Since the arrival of userfriendly technology, we all have been stuck under the piles of fictional fun which has no real value in the world. While being physically suppressed by these so-called technology, we have left one thing and unnoticed “Our children observing us.”

In the early age of development (3 to 12 years) children’s brain is more like a photocopy machine. Learning from the environment through observation and what they perceive, it will become the part of their personality. Connecting this theory of psychology with what we have today, you will see a lot of children using smartphone fluently and frequently because they learn it by continously observing their parents and relatives.

Although alot of studies have shown the negative effects of frequent mobile usage on child mind yet the parents rather than engaging them in some physical activity and intellectual exercises, they hand them over the mindnumbing device and this made me pondering if this didn’t dwindle, how will we be able to generate athletes, scientists and leaders for future. Seeing the scenario, it can be obtained that it’s not the children but the parents who must get aware of this for the sake of their next generation.

MiAn AizAz AhMEd ShAdAkoT

Curse of VIP culture We must be aware of the phrase “VIP culture” that entertains the economically blessed people of Pakistan. Under this phrase every special person who holds any particular position is treated as important. every person should be considered VIP and important in Pakistan, VIP culture, that has been dominant in Pakistan for decades, should be finally abolished.

As personally experienced, several people are seen traveling with prestige keeping the blue beacon on their cars and bikes. Why do any politician or police officer think that he is special or above board in the country. There is a little fear in the hearts of local people when they come across any vehicle with a blue beacon on its top, its presence compels the local civilian to stand by until it goes away.

On many occasions, whenever any VIP or special person tends to pass from any particular area, police officials are asked to keep the local civilians on pause until they pass by avoiding any hurdle in their way that is a bad sight of our society. The President of the world’s super power country, United States of America, trample and socialize with the ordinary public of his country without having security.

Will the only removal of the blue beacon from the vehicles change the mindset of our big bosses? Our society is far behind. We need to move on but it will take years to do so. We need to generate the habit of asking questions as well as thinking that why is it like so? Certain questions are raised; like will all these sorts of things be stopped by taking a single step?

Will a convoy be eliminated? Will the traffic not be paused for the politicians? Or will all of this consist of a single debate?

ShAfi AhMEd khowAjA jATi SujAwAL

Inadequate facilities IT is upsetting to see while many countries day by day progressing and flourishing in areas of science technology, education, health and law enforcement however still our country lacks the enthusiasm to even perform the basic state services and give people their basic deserving rights.

As Government Post Office(GPO) Larkana is still derailing behind since many years. As it has shown no any progress in facilitating citizens for state services. Considering Larkana is small city, but still state is responsible to give adequate and equal rights and services to all citizens.

GPO Lahore is limelight for citizens of Larkana as these bigger cities enjoy benefit of better human rights. But Larkana GPO’s building is yet old which needs to be renovated and made afresh again so there is regeneration of faith in state’s plans.

Further as I went there recently there was no proper sitting area for males and females distinctly among environment being unclean, floors detestable and water facilities being detrimental.

Now we come to crux of the matter it took me around 1 hour for clearance of utility bills on crowded day. Staff delayed work deliberately with laziness and engaging in unproductive conversations and did not response genially to any citizens.

Also, there was no follow-ups of SOPs as people entered building without face masks and there was no 1m distancing from each other which illustrated lack of seriousness in Covid-19 crises.It is devastating to face this everytime you go there as citizens expect better treatment for their payment of bills on time. I appeal to responsible authorities to take appropriate actions and regenerate our faith in state soon.

AbduL wAhAb MEMon LArkAnA

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

How Germany fell back in love witH anGela merkel

new York TImeS

c

“WHEN YOU’RE IN POLITICS,” SHE SAID LAST MONTH, “YOU JUST HAVE TO ADJUST TO NEW REALITIES AND SITUATIONS. THAT’S OUR JOB”

AnnA SAuerBrey

HAnCELLOR Angela Merkel of Germany is on her way out. After almost 15 years in office, the pandemic is likely to be her last great challenge. It could also be the one that seals her legacy: The virus has reconciled Germany to its chancellor.

Before the virus struck, Ms. Merkel’s final term was not going well. Though the chancellor had somewhat recovered from the unpopularity and even open hatred she faced during the migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, her party — the Christian Democratic Union — lost ground in the 2017 election and was falling in the polls.

In October 2018, after crushing defeats in regional elections, Ms. Merkel announced that she would not run again in the 2021 national election and shortly after stepped down as head of her party. Her coalition partner, the Social Democrats, were in disarray, too, hitting historic lows in the polls. The European Union was treading water, unable to find common ground on pressing issues such as migration. The chancellor appeared absent and listless.

How things have changed. now, in early July 2020, Ms. Merkel is riding high. The country, with a notably low fatality rate and a high-functioning test and trace system, has contained the pandemic — a success many attribute to the chancellor. In a recent poll, 82 percent of Germans said that Ms. Merkel was doing her job “rather well.” And the Christian Democratic Union is once again far ahead of its challengers.

The pandemic has revitalized Ms. Merkel and burnished her reputation as one of the country’s best leaders.

How did this happen?

When the virus hit, neither Ms. Merkel nor the federal government were technically in charge. Most of the

decisive constitutional powers — closing schools or ordering people to stay home — lay with Germany’s 16 federal states. But the chancellor immediately assumed a leading role, coordinating regular exchanges between the heads of the federal states, pushing for equal regulations across the country and convening top scientists.

She grasped the severity of the situation very early.

Helge Braun, her chief of staff, told me that when he learned in mid-January that the new virus could be transmitted by humans, Ms. Merkel immediately understood the possible implications. That was about two weeks before the first case was detected in Germany. When the number of infections rose in late February, the chancellor knew what to do. She pushed for locking down parts of public life.

Surprisingly, the 16 state governors fell into line.

Partly, it was a matter of political and practical convenience. But it was also a sign of respect for Ms. Merkel and her exceptional ability to weather crises. In her time as chancellor, she has handled the financial crash, the European debt crisis, Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in 2014, the migration crisis and the international fallout from Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in 2016.

“She’s crisis-proof,” Sigmar Gabriel, a leading Social Democrat who was a member of two of her cabinets, told me. “Germany is lucky to have such an experienced leader in times of corona.” The state governors clearly felt the same. “They seemed to be glad that they could hide behind her back,” said Thomas de Maizière, a former chief of staff and longtime confidant of Ms. Merkel.

The chancellor acted quickly and decisively at the European level, too. There, the pandemic opened up old resentments between north and south, as Italy in partic-

ular sought financial and medical assistance some northern countries appeared unwilling to give. It looked like the European Union could unravel. “I believe she understood that this could be Europe’s end,” Mr. Gabriel said.

“She knew that if she didn’t act, member states in need would look for help outside Europe — and China was fired up and ready to step in.”

And that’s what she did. For years, the chancellor was criticized for doing too little to speed up Europe’s integration. But on May 18, Ms. Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron of France proposed an ambitious recovery fund.

They suggested that the European Commission should borrow 500 billion euros, $545 billion, from the financial markets and distribute them to member states in need.

“This,” said Mr. Gabriel, who served as foreign minister under Ms. Merkel, “was a paradigm shift.”

The backlash from northern nations like Austria, the netherlands, Denmark and Sweden was enormous. The negotiations drag on. But Ms. Merkel’s position is clear.

“It is very much in all the member states’ own interests to maintain a strong European internal market,” she noted dryly in a recent interview, “and to stand united on the world stage.” In other words: She saw that the crisis was a great opportunity to overcome reservations about deeper European integration, both in Germany and the continent, and jumped at it.

Most surprising, however, is how Ms. Merkel has successfully managed to connect with Germany’s citizens. In previous crises, she’s had to convince her party or other world leaders. This time, it was the German people.

That could have been tricky. It’s established wisdom that Ms. Merkel struggles to relate to people: The very character traits people cherish most in her — her reliability, her diligence, her levelheadedness — also

create a sense of distance. Her demeanor is soothing, but at times impermeable and impersonal. She’s the chancellor through and through. “There is only one Angela Merkel,” Mr. Braun, her chief of staff, told me. “Behind the scenes, she’s exactly what she’s like in public.”

So it came as a surprise when, on March 18, Ms. Merkel spoke directly and frankly to the German people in a televised speech. The chancellor, by general agreement not a gifted orator, only holds one televised speech a year, on new Year’s Eve. But whether it was what she said that evening — she invoked World War II — or simply the unusual format, it did the trick. For once, Angela Merkel reached the hearts and minds of Germany’s citizens.

Before the pandemic, with a healthy economy and the government boasting a surplus of €19 billion, over $21 billion, Ms. Merkel was criticized for not doing enough. She wasn’t leading her country and Europe; she was merely managing them. The criticism now seems excessive. As Germany held its breath during those terrifying weeks of lockdown, it saw Angela Merkel afresh. no longer overcautious and hesitant, she was instead the duteous and utterly capable leader who was there when her country needed her most. not that she seems to care much about her new popularity. “When you’re in politics,” she said last month, “you just have to adjust to new realities and situations.

That’s our job.”

In India, black markets for tocilizumab spring up as demand for the Covid-19 drug surges A PAPER PUBLISHED IN APRIL 2020 IN THE JOURNAL OF VIRUS ERADICATION ESTIMATED THAT THE HIGHEST LIST PRICE FOR TOCILIZUMAB – FOR A 560-MG SINGLE DOSE – IS $3,383 OR RS 255,849 IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE LOWEST IS $510 OR RS 38,570 IN PAKISTAN

IndIaSpend Anoo BhuyAn

n the night of June 8, Joel Pinto set out on an 18-hour drive from Chennai to Hyderabad and back, all for a single injection of 648 mg for his father, who was fighting Covid-19 in a Chennai hospital. The doctors had prescribed tocilizumab as critical to save Pinto’s father’s life, but they asked him to arrange the 800 mg vial of the medicine himself as they did not have it.

A local vendor had also offered the medicine but at the inflated price for Rs 1.5 lakh. Pinto chose to drive to Hyderabad as the vendor there offered a better price – Rs 92,672 – albeit for a smaller dosage than what doctors had asked him to get.

For 30 days of hospitalisation, his father was handed a bill of Rs 10.26 lakh. Their medical insurance covered only Rs 4.5 lakh of the treatment cost. The Pintos had to spend Rs 6.6 lakh, including the cost of tocilizumab, which was not covered by insurance.

On the other end of the country in Delhi, Rajiv Dhawan, a Delhi-based entrepreneur, was also looking for tocilizumab for his 65-year-old uncle in Ahmedabad, who was in a critical condition, in May. “I began to get phone calls from people saying they were vendors and could offer this drug but at high prices. I had not contacted these people and I do not know how they got my number,” said Dhawan. “Though it seems like the injection is not available in stores, it is being sold in the black market at very high prices.” Dhawan was also told he could get 400 mg of tocilizumab for Rs 1.4 lakh. He managed to get the drug from three different vendors in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad for Rs 25,000 for 80 mg, Rs 32,000 for 400 mg, and Rs 42,000 for 400 mg.

Despite several reports about the difficulties in procuring tocilizumab, a spokesperson for Roche Products India Pvt Ltd, which manufactures the drug, told IndiaSpend, “As a policy, we do not share price details of any of our products.”

This report is part four of IndiaSpend’s series on the increase in prices of medicines and healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic. This part looks at how poor drug supply regulations have further deteriorated during the Covid-19 pandemic. For this, we examine the case of tocilizumab, a drug being experimentally used for Covid19 treatment, but the breakdown of supply chains and

O

black marketing apply to many other drugs, we found.

Tocilizumab is not a new drug, nor is it a “miracle drug” that could treat Covid,-19. It has been around for long and used to treat mostly rheumatoid arthritis. It is undergoing clinical trials currently to ascertain whether it is a definitive treatment option for Covid-19. Right now, doctors across the world are taking subjective calls, based on their clinical discretion, on whether a patient should be administered the drug. This is known as “off-label use”.

But as tocilizumab’s importance grows and the scientific evidence around it comes in, there is a growing problem of supply and affordability. The main reason for this is that the Swiss pharmaceutical major Roche has a complete monopoly over who makes this drug. Currently, only Roche and its subsidiary Genentech make it.

Roche has not licensed it out to any other company. In India, tocilizumab is imported and then distributed by the Indian generic drug company Cipla. This keeps the price of tocilizumab high and the supply tight in India, while families in distress struggle to procure it.

HOW IT WORKS: While the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes Covid-19, once the virus manifests in the body, it attacks several parts of the body. Covid-19 is predominantly a respiratory tract infection. In its severe form, it escalates to acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, septic shock and multiorgan failure such as of the kidneys and the heart.

In severe cases of Covid-19, the virus also causes an excessive activation of the body’s inflammatory response and an immune system malfunction known as a “cytokine storm”. In this situation, there is interference in the body’s normal cell function, which releases an excess of cytokines, causing a disproportionate level of inflammation. Such patients would find it difficult to breathe, despite being given oxygen.

Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists began to consider tocilizumab as useful in severe Covid19 patients who might experience a cytokine storm and to prevent them from deteriorating further. Tocilizumab could block some of this inflammation which causes the cytokine storm.

“If used correctly, tocilizumab could prevent a patient from suffering such serious damage to their lungs that they would need mechanical ventilation,” said Sushmita Roy Chowdhury, a pulmonologist at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Kolkata. At least 15 patients have been given tocilizumab at that hospital and the results have been largely positive so far, added Roy Chowdhury.

LIMITED AVAILABILITY: On June 13, the Indian government updated its clinical management protocol for Covid-19. For the first time, it included a section on investigational therapies, which said that doctors could prescribe tocilizumab, off-label, for some people with Covid-19.

The government’s guidance was specific: “Tocilizumab [off label] may be considered in patients with moderate disease with progressively increasing oxygen requirements and in mechanically ventilated pa-

tients not improving despite use of steroids. Long term safety data in Covid-19 remains largely unknown.” Doctors should especially note if the patient is showing raised markers of inflammation. These patients would also have to be carefully monitored for secondary infections, as tocilizumab leaves them prone to this, it said.

This document also acknowledged that there was a shortage of tocilizumab and other investigative drugs, such as remdesivir, in the country: “Use of these drugs is subjected to limited availability in the country as of now.”

IndiaSpend asked multiple executives at Roche and Cipla to explain the formal process for a patient to get tocilizumab in India, given the trouble people like Pinto and Dhawan faced in procuring the drug. A spokesperson for Roche Products, India, said patients can get it from Cipla who should be distributing this drug to hospitals, hospital pharmacies, government and individual patients with a valid prescription. IndiaSpend also sent queries on this to Cipla, but the company has not responded.

Pinto said he had tried to procure the drug through local Cipla executives whose numbers were listed on a helpline for Chennai. They were not able to get him tocilizumab, forcing him to drive to Hyderabad and back himself. Roche also dismissed IndiaSpend’s direct query on the number of dosages it plans on importing into India in the next few months, with the spokesperson saying, “We have imported multiple shipments in the last few weeks.”

CAN DRUG PRICES DROP? While tocilizumab presents a stark picture of the broken supply chain for drugs leading to inflated prices, it is a similar story in India for other drugs – for Covid-19 and otherwise – too.

Another investigational drug listed in the updated clinical management protocol is the antiviral remdesivir, made by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, which the company has priced at $2,340, or Rs 1.77 lakh, per patient for a five-day course in developed countries.

There have been reports of difficulty in accessing this drug in India, too. However, many state governments, especially Tamil nadu, have made efforts to procure it in recent weeks. Also, Gilead Sciences has licensed this drug out to a few Indian generic pharmaceutical companies such as Hetero Healthcare, which has announced that it would manufacture and sell it at Rs 5,400 per vial.

Another experimental drug, favipiravir, has been given manufacturing and sale approval by India’s drug controller for potential treatment of Covid-19. Each pill of this drug would be priced at Rs 103 and the entire treatment might cost Rs 12,566.

Seriously ill Covid-19 patients will often be given many of these drugs, either one after the other, or simultaneously, making the overall price of treatment hefty for many. Tocilizumab is given to patients in whom many of these other drugs have failed to stem the escalation of respiratory distress and when there are few options left.

Patients and families are often in great anxiety by then.

A paper published in April 2020 in the Journal of Virus Eradication estimated that the highest list price for tocilizumab – for a 560-mg single dose – is $3,383 or Rs 255,849 in the United States and the lowest is $510 or Rs 38,570 in Pakistan.

The study analysed the cost of production for the most promising drugs under investigation for Covid-19, including tocilizumab, remdesivir, favipiravir and hydroxychloroquine. Many of these drugs being repurposed to fight Covid-19 “could be manufactured profitably at very low costs”, said the authors of the paper. These facts can strengthen price negotiations with the pharma companies and save a lot of money for governments around the world, they added. But there are not many legal options available to the Indian government to regulate the prices of these experimental drugs during the pandemic.

“The best option for the government is to undertake a bulk purchase agreement with Roche. This would allow them to negotiate prices, perhaps waive customs/import duties and drive the price down to the lowest level it could,” said Dinesh Thakur, a public health activist who has exposed malpractice in pharmaceutical companies.

It was not practical to expect other pharmaceutical companies to develop a biosimilar for tocilizumab that would be much cheaper and in such a short time, said Thakur. He also said that it was unlikely the Indian government would issue a compulsory license for tocilizumab that would allow a generic company to make a cheaper version of it. “now that the government has put this drug in the clinical management guidelines for off-label use, it should be available in Covid hospitals for those serious cases where it might be indicated. India’s Drug Price Control Order has powers to regulate the prices of drugs used in the treatment of Covid-19,” said Leena Menghaney from Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign.

The Drug Price Control Order affords the government some extraordinary powers to fix the prices of drugs in important or emergency situations. Most recently, this section was used by the government in 2017 to cap the prices of orthopaedic knee implants. “If these powers are not used in this unprecedented public health emergency to prevent profiteering by pharmaceutical corporations, then the system is failing patients and the health system,” said Menghaney.

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

BUSINESS 09

BUS ShARING APP SwvL hIT wITh SeCURITy BReACh; NAMeS, NUMBeRS Of USeRS COMPROMISeD

CORPORATE CORNER

LAHORE

RAWALPINDI: National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) Exam Team conducting its first online supplementary MBBS and BDS exams for the students of its affiliated institutions. Press release

Beaconhouse to launch first fully virtual SOT Conference LAHORE: Beaconhouse is launching its first fully virtual School of Tomorrow (SOT) Conference: A World of Tomorrow: Negotiating a Better Future on July 10-12, 2020, made possible by the support of lead sponsor UBL. Targeting a global audience of over 500,000 people, the SOT seeks to understand how Covid-19 is shaping important global conversations about safer and more balanced futures, as well as pushing educators to reimagine the future of education at both school and university levels. The conference opens with a special message by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation. The Federal Minister of Education, Shafqat Mahmood, and Sindh Minister of School Education, Saeed Ghani, are amongst key Pakistani speakers. Speaking about the conference, Kasim Kasuri, Event Chair and CEO of Beaconhouse, said “The present crisis presents an unprecedented opportunity to us to reimagine the kind of future we truly want, and what we need to do to get there.” Press release

PML-N’s Isphanyar Bhandara condemns halt in temple construction LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (N) minority leader Isphanyar Bhandara (Ex-MNA) has strongly condemned the halt in the construction of a temple in Islamabad. He said Quaid e Azam clearly stated in his historic speech of 11th August, 1947, that “you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of State.” Bhandara said that at the time of independence, minorities were granted the freedom to practice their religion, we must not take away from them that right now. No matter what the circumstances are, we are with the Hindu community. Press release

CDA is all set to improve road infrastructure in sector I-14 ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all set to improve road infrastructure in Sector I-14. In this connection, bids have been opened. NIT cost of the project was Rs8.126 million, however, lowest bid amounting to Rs4.656 (million) has been received which is almost 47.4pc below the NIT cost. Under this project, repair and maintenance work of damaged portions of streets and roads of the sector I-14 will be carried out. The initiative is part of comprehensive strategy of incumbent CDA Administration to develop long neglected sectors and uplift infrastructure in Islamabad. As the construction activities in Sector I-14 are on the rise and people are constructing houses on their plots, therefore, uplift of infrastructure in the sector was direly needed. Realizing the needs of the residents of the sector, incumbent management of the authority decided to undertake required development work in the sector I-14. Press release

US, China remain Pakistan’s top export destinations ISLAMABAD: The United States of America (USA) remained the top export destination for Pakistani products during the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2019-20, followed by China and the United Kingdom (UK), according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Overall exports to the US during the period under review were recorded at $3,588.819 million, as against the exports of $3,727.390 million during the same period last year, registering a decline of 3.71pc. This was followed by China, where Pakistan exported goods worth $1,535.454 million as compared to exports of $1,701.506 million last year, showing a decrease of 9.75pc. aPP

P

TaIMOOr HassaN

OPULAR bus sharing service Swvl on Tuesday disclosed that the firm encountered a security breach, wherein customer data including names, email addresses and phone numbers were compromised.

"We wish to inform you that our team recently identified a security breach that involved unauthorised access to our systems," SWVL said in a note to its users on the company's website.

A security breach occurs when an intruder gains unauthorised access to an organisation’s protected systems and data. Cybercriminals or malicious applications bypass security mechanisms to reach restricted areas. A security breach is an early-stage violation that can lead to things like system damage and data loss.

The company disclosed that it became aware of the unauthorised access to its system took place on the evening of July 3. The investigation into the breach was still underway, the company said in its

note which was last updated on July 6.

Swvl is an Egyptian bus transportation network company based in Cairo that was founded in April 2017 by Mostafa Kandil. It operates buses along fixed routes and allows customers to reserve and pay for them using an app, with operations in Egypt, Kenya and Pakistan in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In Pakistan, Swvl has operations in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. In an announcement in November 2019, the company committed $25 million investment to expand its operations in Pakistan.

It is unclear how many users were affected by the breach. The company did not provide any details elaborating if the security breach was restricted to users in all the countries where it operates or was limited to a specific geography.

Swvl said that as per their investigation, sensitive information like passwords and credit card information were not affected or exposed. It also signed out all the customers from their accounts as a precautionary measure.

"Furthermore, the vulnerabilities have been ad-

Cabinet approves appointment of Rahat Kaunain as CCP chairperson ISLAMABAD sHaHZaD ParaCHa

The federal cabinet has approved the appointment of Rahat Kaunain as the new chairperson of the Competitive Commission of Pakistan (CCP).

According to sources, the cabinet on Tuesday gave a go-ahead to the appointment of Rahat Kaunain Hassan, Moin Batley and Shumalia Lone as CCP members.

It also okayed the Ministry of Finance's proposal to appoint Kaunain as CCP chairperson.

Rahat Kaunain received her LLM degree from King's College London, having focused her academic work on the law of international finance and international business transactions.

Earlier, the finance ministry had shortlisted nine candidates for the said three positions at CCP. These included Rahat Konain Hassan, Shumaila Loan, Moeen Matley, Sameer Ahmad, Muhammad Bilal, Salman Amin, Mujtaba Ahmad Lodhi, Ikramul

Haq Qureshi and Khaqan Hassan Najeeb.

Subsequently, a five-member selection committee headed by Adviser to PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh recommended three names for appointment as members. The other committee members include Commerce Adviser Abdul Razaq Dawood, Institutional Reforms Adviser Dr Ishrat Hussain, Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch and Establishment Secretary Ijaz Munir.

It may be noted that the CCP

was currently working with two members: acting chairperson Shaista Bano and Bushra Naz Malik. However, five members were needed to fill the quorum at CCP. Rahat Kaunain has previously served twice as a member of the CCP, including her 2010-2013 term when she was the CCP chairperson. Interestingly, Adviser to PM on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh was the country's finance minister during Rahat Kaunain's tenure as CCP chairperson.

Sources that during her tenure as the chairperson, Rahat Kaunain was accused of favouring her husband’s law firm as well as facilitating telecom companies during probes against them.

Recently, the CCP has remained in the spotlight after it was revealed in the sugar commission report that the commission remained silent over alleged cartelisation in the sugar industry.

This resulted in the dismissal of the former chairperson of the regulatory body.

S Korea's Eximbank mulls $76m financing for Pakistan's large-scale IT project BUSINESS DESK South Korea's state-run policy lender Export-Import Bank of Korea plans to offer a $76 million-plus loan to Pakistan for IT-related projects including electronic intelligence.

"The size of the loan and project is expected to be larger than the IT Park construction project in 2017," said a top official while talking to The Korea Herald on the condition of anonymity.

The project is aimed at supporting Pakistan’s small and medium-sized IT firms and bolster technology cooperation between South Korea and the South Asian country, the official said, adding that there have been discussions about expanding IT cooperation between the two countries beyond infrastructure, which led to the project taking shape.

The project is still in its early stages due to the coronavirus pandemic, the official stressed. Key de-

tails, such as the master plan and the exact size of the loan are yet to be discussed.

Eximbank is also planning to delay debt repayment of seven loans extended to Pakistan via EDCF that face maturity this year -- there are a total of 13 of such loans extended to the country so far.

This is in line with the government's decision, announced in April, to provide more than $400 million to developing countries for virus-related programmes and delay repayment of debt from 27 developing nations.

"The debt repayment issue is being discussed via the Paris Club," the official explained, pointing to a group of major creditor nations who seek to find solutions for payment problems that debtor economies face.

Eximbank established the Economic Development Cooperation Fund in 1987 to support industrialization and economic growth in developing countries as well as promote bilateral economic exchanges.

dressed, and we are working tirelessly to make sure this doesn't happen again, including deploying further additional security measures. As soon as we became aware of the breach, we launched an internal investigation to determine the cause of the security breach," said the company.

"At the same time, we also engaged with leading cybersecurity experts to help us resolve the data breach and strengthen our security systems," it said.

Profit reached out to Swvl to understand the impact of the breach on Pakistani users. No response was received till filing of this report.

Security breaches like these are not uncommon.

In 2018, hackers accessed the names, email addresses, phone numbers and trip data of users of popular ridesharing service Careem. The company had also denied that any passwords or credit card information was accessed by hackers.

In 2016, ride-sharing service Uber had disclosed that hackers had stolen the personal information of about 57 million customers and drivers. According to reports, Uber had discovered the data breach in late 2016 and then waited to disclose the news almost a year later.

maRKET daIly

Stocks extend rally into seventh day KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with its winning streak for the seventh day on Tuesday as investor participation remained upbeat. "Exploration & production, oil & gas marketing, cement and banking sectors remained in the limelight amid improved investor sentiment," said a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd. "However, after putting up a decent show a day earlier, refinery and chemical stocks witnessed profit booking on Tuesday." The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green zone throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 35,472.68 after gaining 269.91 points.

It settled higher by 170.58 points at 35,373.35.

Among other indices, the KSE-30 Index inched up 34.33 points, while the KSE All Share Index gathered 111.52 points. Of the total traded scrips, 189 advanced, 137 declined while the value of 214 remained unchanged. The overall market volumes increased from 332.2 million in the previous session to 333.9 million (+0.4pc). Average traded value, however, surged by 9pc, from $66.9 million to $73.2 million. Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL -0.04pc), Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +3.34pc) and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM 2.44pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 32.97 million, 31.52 million and 24.13 million shares, respectively. Sectors that painted the index green included commercial banks (+61.30 points) and automobile assemblers (+43.38 points), with Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL +3.87pc) contributing 20.26 points, United Bank Limited (UBL +1.34pc) 15.27 points and Indus Motor Company Limited (INDU +7.50pc) 23.35 points. Meanwhile, the cement sector rallied 1.13pc after the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) declared despatches for the month of June 2020. This meant that Cherat Cement Company Limited (CHCC +3.34pc), Pioneer Cement Limited (PIOC +3.25pc) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL +2.26pc) closed with decent gains. arIBa sHaHID

Gold price rises Rs1,000 to Rs105,900 per tola ISLAMABAD: The price of 24-karat gold increased by Rs1,000 on Tuesday and was traded at Rs105,900, as against Rs104,900 the previous day, Karachi Sarafa Association reported. Likewise, the price of 10-gram gold also witnessed an increase of Rs857 and was traded at Rs90,792, as against its sale at Rs89,935 on Monday. The price of per-tola silver remained stable at Rs1,050, while that of 10gram silver was recorded at Rs900.20. In the international market, the price of per ounce gold remained unchanged at $1,776. aPP

EOBI pensioners to get Rs2.4bn in arrears by next month ISLAMABAD aPP

The Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) Chairman Azhar Hameed on Monday said that EOBI would pay threemonth of arrears amounting to Rs2.4 billion to around 400,000 registered pensioners with increased annuity by August.

“Each retired employee registered with the EOBI will get an increased pension of Rs8,500 coupled with Rs6,000 in arrears from April to June. In total, Rs14,500 will be transferred in the bank account of each pensioner by the cur-

rent month-end,” said the EOBI chairman.

He said that a recent raise of Rs2,000 was announced by the EOBI at the start of this year which was approved by the Federal Cabinet due to active persuasion of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfikar Bukhari.

To a query, Hameed said that the delay in the approval of the recent increase in pension had occurred due to actuarial valuation of the EOBI on the instruction of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The EOBI chairman said that with the

recent increase in pensions, the total increase given to pensioners reached 62 per cent during the last 20 months of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

The EOBI had given a raise of 30 per cent in 2019 after which the annuity reached to Rs6,500, he added. “The government intends to take the pension to Rs15,000 during its five year-term by granting an overall increase of 130 per cent,” said Zulfi Bukhari in a recent interview with APP. Highlighting initiatives taken by the present management for the improvement of financial health of EOBI, the chairman said

that the department had made tireless efforts to bring significant increase in its recoveries and contribution.

Azhar said that EOBI’s revenue collection stood at Rs18.23 billion during FY18, which witnessed an increase of 15 per cent and ballooned to Rs20.7 billion in FY19.

He further informed that the EOBI has achieved the revenue collection target of Rs21 billion for FY20.

He said that the EOBI had been declared as a federal subject by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) last year, enabling the management to pursue its initiative of includ-

ing the informal labourers in the pension net.

“The government intends to ensure the inclusion of undocumented labourers in EOBI pension net by introducing an amendment in the EOB (Employees’ Old-Age Benefits) Act through an act of Parliament.”

After the amendment, surveys and awareness campaigns would be launched to expedite registration of informal workers, he said while responding to a query.

The EOBI chairman further informed that the EOBI Transformative Initiative is also underway which would digitize the entire affairs of the organisation.

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

EgypT, FranCE, gErmany, Jordan warn ISraEl ovEr annExaTIon BERLIN

AGENCIES

The foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan on Tuesday urged Israel to abandon plans to begin annexing settlements in the West Bank, warning such action could have "consequences" for relations.

"We concur that any annexation of Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 would be a violation of

international law and imperil the foundations of the peace process," the ministers said in a statement after a joint video conference. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had set July 1 as the date when it could begin to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.

The move was endorsed by a Middle East plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump in January.

Netanyahu's office made no announcement on July 1 as expected, but said talks were continuing with US officials and Israeli security chiefs.

"We would not recognise any changes to the 1967 borders that are not agreed by both parties in the conflict," the ministers warned in the statement issued by the German foreign ministry.

"We also concur that such a step would have serious consequences for the security and stability of

52 dead in Japan floods as more troops join rescue TSUNAGI AGENCIES

Japan will deploy more troops to search for survivors of devastating floods and landslides that have killed at least 52 people in the southwest of the country, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Tuesday.

Even as rescue operations contin-

ued, with 80,000 personnel already involved and more expected to join, authorities warned that more torrential rain was expected.

Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its second-highest emergency warning for heavy rain and landslides over vast swathes of the country's southwest and said "risks are rising" nationwide.

The heavy rain has caused rivers to burst their banks and sweep away bridges, while landslides have destroyed roads and buried houses, complicating access for rescuers battling to save lives.

At least 52 deaths have been confirmed in the rains that began Saturday across the worst-hit island of Kyushu, local officials said. But with around a dozen people still missing, there were fears the toll would rise further.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga warned that rain was forecast to continue over the next two days.

"Even a small amount of rainfall could cause a disaster. I would like

people to be on full alert against landslides and floods," he said.

In the hardest-hit region of Kumamoto, on the southwest tip of Japan, disaster management official Yutaro Hamasaki said: "We are racing against time." "We have not set any deadline or time to end the operation, but we really need to speed up our search as time is running out. We won't give up til the end," Hamasaki told AFP. Abe said he would double the number of troops deployed in rescue and relief operations to 20,000, as rescuers try to reach people trapped in homes and schools. In one school in Omuta city, dozens of children and their teachers spent a desperate night on the upper floor after the ground level flooded.

"Shoe cupboards on the group floor were swept away and shoes were floating around," an 11-year-old girl told a local newspaper after rescuers arrived.

another pre-dawn factory blast kills two in Iran TEHRAN AGENCIES

Two persons died and three others got injured when an explosion rocked a factory south of Tehran on the wee hours of Tuesday, Iran’s official IRNA agency reported, terming the incident a human error. It was the latest of a string of explosions to have hit the Tehran area and a key nuclear site in the past two weeks. The blast in “a completely industrial zone” of Baqershahr, 23 kilometres (14 miles) from the capital, was caused by “workers being negligent whilst filling oxygen tanks,” it quoted the town’s governor as saying. “The explosion... was so powerful that the walls of the Saipapress factory nearby were also totally destroyed,” Amin Babai said, without giving details on the function of the factory. The incident took place inside the Oxijen factory at 3:03am local time (22.33 GMT Monday), an emergency services spokesperson told media, adding that all the casualties were male and that two of those wounded had been admitted to hospital. Babai said that “firefighters had been on the scene” since shortly after the explosion and “prevented further fires and explosions.”Earlier on July 1, a powerful explosion hit a health centre in the upmarket northern Tehran neighbourhood of Tajrish, killing 19 people and damaging nearby buildings. The fire service blamed a fire that had set light to gas canisters. It came days after a gas tank explosion near a military complex east of the capital, which authorities said caused no casualties. Then last week, the country’s atomic energy agency reported that an “accident” had damaged warehouses under construction at the Natanz nuclear site, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Tehran.

US still ‘knee-deep’ in first wave of Covid-19, warns Fauci WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Unlike countries in Europe, the US failed to get the first wave of Covid-19 under control and is now ‘knee-deep’ in a new surge of it, according to the country’s top epidemic adviser Anthony Fauci. The coronavirus situation in the US is “not very good,” Fauci said on Monday. In less than two weeks, the number of new Covid-19 cases in the country has doubled and reached record numbers, with a spike of over 57,000 recorded last week. Some people have called this a second wave of the disease, but Fauci said that is not the case. “We are still kneedeep in the first wave of this. And I would say this would not be considered a wave; it was a surge, or resurgence, of infections superimposed on a baseline that never got down to where we wanted to go,” Fauci said. The situation in Europe is quite different, he added, saying that European nations have managed to take their first wave of Covid-19 under control and push its spread down to the baseline.

Fauci stressed that the situation needs to be addressed immediately.

CMYK

the region, and would constitute a major obstacle to efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive and just peace," they said.

"It could also have consequences for the relationship with Israel," they added, underlining their commitment to a two-state solution based on international law.

The EU has in recent weeks mounted a diplomatic campaign against annexation, highlighted by a visit to Jerusalem by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to raise concern about the prospective plans. But the bloc cannot threaten Israel with formal sanctions without unanimous support among members.

After occupying the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel began establishing a network of settlements the following decade. Construction continues to this day.

Despite being viewed as illegal under international law, the settler population has jumped by 50 percent over the past decade.

Turkey vows to retaliate if EU imposes new sanctions ANKARA AGENCIES

Turkey has vowed to retaliate the European Union if the bloc decides to impose new sanctions on Turkey due to disagreement over the Eastern Mediterranean.

"Taking decisions against Turkey will not resolve the existing problems, on the contrary, it will deepen them. If the EU takes additional measures against Turkey, we'll have to respond," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at a joint press conference with Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. "If EU further sanctions Turkey, we also have steps to take in the field, in the Eastern Mediterranean," the minister stated. "EU should better be part of the solution instead of part of the problem," he added.

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

ECB Confirms sChEdulE for PAkisTAn, irElAnd visiTs

LONDON AGENCIES

England have confirmed Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl as the venues for fixtures against Ireland and Pakistan this summer. Ireland will visit later this month for three ODIs, while Pakistan have already arrived in the country ahead of Test and T20I series.

The ECB has been working to salvage as much of its home international programme as possible after the Covid19 shutdown, and said that discussions remained ongoing about the possibility of Australia touring, and a proposed women's tri-series featuring England, India and South

ATP unveils revised rankings systems due to Covid-19 stoppage NEW YORK

Africa.

Ireland had been due to play their series, part of the World Cup Super League, in September but agreed to move the games forward, with all three ODIs to be held behind closed doors in Southampton from July 30 to August 4.

The first Test against Pakistan will begin a day later in Manchester, with the teams then moving down to Southampton for the second and third matches at the Ageas Bowl, starting on August 13 and 21. They will return to Manchester for T20Is at Emirates Old Trafford on August 28, 30 and September 1.

"Confirmation of these matches against Ireland and

Pakistan is another important step for our game as we begin to safely stage international cricket again, but also to minimise the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, on cricket at all levels," ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said.

"It has taken significant effort and expertise to allow us to reach a position where cricket is now ready and able to return to the field of play from the elite level to recreational cricket.

"We owe a significant debt of gratitude to the players, staff and administrators of the Cricket West Indies, Cricket Ireland, and the Pakistan Cricket Board for their willingness and co-operation to get international cricket back up and running and allow these matches to be staged.

"Sports fans across the world will benefit as international cricket returns to our screens while it will also provide much-needed financial aid at all levels of cricket in England and Wales as we aim to withstand the challenges in front of us.

"It must be reiterated that there is still much work for the ECB and the cricket network to do as we try to plot a path through this pandemic. Chief amongst our priorities is to build on our commitment to support and grow women's cricket and at the elite level discussions continue to progress to determine the best and safest way to host a tri-series against India and South Africa.

"We also continue to explore options for our England men to play white-ball series against Australia this summer and hope to have news on those series soon."

The majority of Pakistan's 29-man squad flew to the UK in late June, despite disruption caused by a number of positive Covid-19 tests. Ten players did not take the initial flight, but all but one have now returned the two negative tests required to participate in the tour.

Like West Indies and Pakistan, Ireland's players are expected to given an 'opt out' by the selectors in case any have concerns about Covid-19 in the UK.

Shahid Afridi to miss upcoming CPL as he remains unpicked ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

A revised system for calculating world rankings when the tennis season resumes in August following a fivemonth stoppage due to the Covid-19 pandemic was unveiled by the governing body of men’s tennis (ATP) on Monday. The rankings, a determining factor in a players’ ability to enter events and receive seedings, traditionally operate on a “Best 18” results basis over 52 weeks but will now cover a 22-month period from March 2019 through December 2020. International tennis ground to a halt in mid-March, with Wimbledon being cancelled and the French Open being moved to September, and rankings were frozen. The men’s Tour will resume on Aug. 14 with the Citi Open, ATP 500 event in Washington, D.C. Among the key elements of the revised system, a player’s ranking will now be comprised of his “Best 18” results over the 22-month period. A player cannot count the same tournament twice in his breakdown. The ATP also said tour-level tournament points added in 2020 that count in a player’s ranking breakdown will remain on a player’s ranking for 52 weeks, or until the event in question is played again in 2021, whichever comes first.

APP

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Khan Afridi will not be a part of this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as he went unsold in the draft.

The batting sensation, who had represented St Kitts and Nevis Patriots as well as Jamaica Tallawahs in the past, was not picked by any team for the upcoming edition. Meanwhile, T20 specialists Sohail Tanvir and Asif Ali were selected by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Jamaica Tallwahs respectively.

High-profile Pakistan players Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, who were set to feature in the competition will also miss the event as they are part of Pakistan’s 29-man squad that will play three Tests and as many T20Is against England, commencing from August 5.

The CPL 2020 is scheduled to be staged at Trinidad and Tobago from August 18 to September 10.

SPORTS 11

nadal will play madrid, raising doubts over us open participation MADRID AGENCIES

Rafael Nadal said on Tuesday that he will take part in the Madrid Open, raising doubts about whether he intends to defend his title at the US Open. The US Open, whose fate still hangs in the balance, is scheduled to run from August 31 to September 13 on the hard courts of New York while the main draw at the Madrid event on clay starts on September 14. Madrid will serve as a warmup for the rescheduled French Open, the claycourt Grand Slam that begins on September 20. The Madrid tournament director Feliciano Lopez tweeted: "I have spoken to my friend Rafael Nadal who confirmed his participation in Madrid in September. As always, we await you with open arms in the Caja Magica!" Nadal answered: "That's right Feli. See you in September in Madrid. Meanwhile everything is going well!" The United States has seen a sharp resurgence of new coronavirus cases, leading to fresh doubts about whether the US Open will take place.

Leading players, including world number three Dominic Thiem, have said they expect a decision from US Open organisers this week.

int’l kabaddi tournament to be held in Pakistan in december ISLAMABAD PPI

International Kabaddi tournament will be held in Pakistan in December this year, provided Corona pandemic comes under control. In an interview, Secretary Pakistan Kabaddi Federation, Mohammad Sarwar Rana said six countries including host Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Canada and Australia will take part in the event, in which one more team may be added later. He said consent from all participating teams has been received.

Benfica extend verissimo's reign as coach LISBON: Nelson Verissimo will continue as Benfica coach for the final four league games after replacing Bruno Lage at the weekend. The defending Portuguese champions led the league before the coronavirus interruption but after two defeats and two draws in five games following the resumption they dropped six points behind Porto and Lage resigned a week ago.

The 43-year-old Verissimo, who had been an assistant, took over at the weekend and oversaw a 3-1 home win over Boavista. AGENCIES

As relegation battle looms, tensions mount high in Premier League LONDON AGENCIES

Tensions are high as the fight to avoid relegation heads towards a dramatic conclusion in the English Premier League with only a few games left to go.

With just five games left, rock bottom Norwich are seven points from safety and are sliding towards the Championship.

Bournemouth and Aston Villa, who currently fill the remaining two places in the relegation zone, are locked in a four-team battle for survival with fellow strugglers Watford and West Ham. Here's a closer look at the teams scrapping to preserve their top-flight status: BOURNEMOUTH: Thrashed 5-2 at Manchester United on Saturday, Eddie Howe´s side are in free-fall after an eightgame winless run featuring five successive defeats.

The second bottom Cherries, one point from safety, face Tottenham, Leicester and Manchester City in their next three games.

That sequence that will surely determine whether Bournemouth can extend their fiveseason stay in the top-flight for another year.

Bournemouth's lack of goals has been a huge part of their downfall, with the starting line-up at Old Trafford managing just eight between them so far this season.

"Games are running out. If we´re going to stay in the division, we're going to have to start picking up points," Bournemouth winger Junior Stanislas said.

"We'll have no excuses. We can´t keep talking. It´s time for action. "There's no reason why from now until the end of the season we can´t pick points up."

ASTON VILLA: A wretched run of nine matches without a win has left third bottom Villa one point from safety.

Dubious pre-season investment in several underwhelming signings have left Villa relying on captain Jack Grealish to inspire their survival bid.

But Dean Smith's side have lost three of their five games since the restart and still have to face Manchester United and Arsenal before a potential final-day shootout with West Ham.

CMYK

They could count themselves unfortunate not to have secured what would have been a point at Anfield in Sunday's 2-0 defeat against champions Liverpool.

That obdurate display offered hope that Villa could still avoid an immediate return to the Championship, but Smith knows they will have to be more ruthless to achieve that aim. "I don't want to be a valiant loser, we´re scrapping for points," Smith said.

"To out-shoot Liverpool at home at Anfield, in terms of efforts on goal, it's excellent, but we need to take our opportunities.

We never found the quality in the final third they did."

WATFORD: Saturday's 3-0 drubbing at Chelsea condemned Watford to a third consecutive loss, leaving them perilously positioned one point above the bottom three.

Nigel Pearson's fourth bottom team have not won just their stunning 3-0 success against Liverpool on February 29.

After five years in the top-flight, the Hornets, who face Manchester City and Arsenal in their last two games, could find their fate settled by Tuesday's home clash with Norwich and a visit to West Ham on July 17.

"The important thing is we understand

our situation, that we don't fear it," said Pearson, whose men have managed just two goals in their last five games.

"We need to show fighting spirit, and we also need to have the ability to still make good decisions."

WEST HAM: Sitting four clear of the relegation zone in 16th place, West Ham are in the best position to stay up thanks to their surprise 3-2 win over Chelsea last week.

Twice blowing the lead in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Newcastle was a setback in their survival bid, but David Moyes´ side have control of their own destiny.

West Ham have now lost 24 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.

But with games against Norwich, Watford and Aston Villa to come, their forward Michail Antonio is confident of beating the drop. "The mindset for our next few games is that we want three points from each of them, and that's what we believe we can get," said Antonio, whose club have not been in the Championship since 2012.

"Now we've managed to show our attacking form and we are scoring goals, we need to shore up our back as well."

Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

NEWS

UN for stayiNg UNited iN aNti-terror fight dUriNg paNdemic UNITED NATIONS

a

AGENCIES

S COVID-19 continues to disrupt the world’s health systems, economies and local communities, the UN Secretary-General on Monday highlighted how the pandemic has laid bare vulnerabilities to “new and emerging forms of terrorism”, such as cyberattacks, bioterrorism and the misuse of digital technology.

While the coronavirus has put the international community in the crosshairs of a crisis like no other since the founding of the United Nations 75 years ago, António Guterres noted that “like the virus, terrorism does not respect national borders”.

“It affects all nations and can only be defeated collectively”, he said, opening the second annual gathering of UN and international experts known as Counter-Terrorism Week, held virtually this year, with a call to “harness the power of multilateralism to find practical solutions”.

Acknowledging that it is “too early to fully assess the implications of COVID-19 on the terrorism landscape” the UN chief told the first of series of virtual interactive discussions on strategic and practical challenges of countering terrorism during a global pandemic that ISIL, Al-Qaida, neo-Nazis and other hate groups “seek to exploit divisions, local conflicts, governance failures and grievances to advance their objectives”.

Guterres highlighted five areas to guide counter terrorism, beginning with keeping up the momentum.

“This includes continuing to invest in national, regional and global counter-terrorism capabilities, especially for countries most in need of assistance”, he said.

Evolving terrorist threats and trends must also be closely monitored and met with innovative responses that have not only the right technology, tools and concepts to stay ahead of terrorists but that are gender sensitive and recognize that violent misogyny lies at the heart of many groups.

“Full compliance with international hu-

india seeks tighter control on chinese goods coming in from third countries NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India’s Commerce and Industry Ministry is considering stricter scrutiny of goods coming from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and the Asia bloc. The move aims to stop banned Chinese imports coming through these countries. New Delhi had earlier imposed 100 percent physical checks of shipments from China.

The new regulations on Chinese imports follow a deadly border clash last month between soldiers from both countries along a disputed border in the Himalayas in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has reportedly pushed for fast tracking amendments to the customs law to tighten the rules to claim concessional benefits under India’s free trade pacts. It has also requested that the Finance Ministry introduce stringent provisions related to rules of origin, to empower customs officers for checking the abuse of free trade agreements (FTAs). The government had inserted a new chapter in the Customs Act on the administration of rules of origin under trade agreements, giving it the power to suspend and refuse preferential tariff treatment in case of incomplete information or verification and noncompliance, respectively.

china urges Us to stop covid-19 stigmatising BEIJING AGENCIES

China urges White House trade advisor Peter Navarro and his like to respect facts and science, reject the wrong practice of putting political gains above people's wellbeing, and refrain from deceiving the world by telling lies and rumors about Covid-19, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when responding to the U.S. official's repeated stigmatizing China in the name of the disease. "Navarro is a habitual liar and rumor-monger who has been spreading a 'political virus' to stigmatize China under the pretext of the pandemic," Zhao said. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the Chinese government has taken the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough prevention and control measures to contain the spread of the epidemic and effectively cut off the transmission routes of the virus, he said. According to Zhao, Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, temporarily suspended outbound transportation on Jan. 23, when there was only one confirmed case in the United States. On Jan. 31, three major American airlines suspended direct flights between the United States and China, and on Feb. 2, the United States closed borders to China when there were only more than 10 confirmed cases reported in the United States, he added. Zhao further noted that from Jan. 24 to April 8, a period during which Wuhan was under lockdown, there were no commercial flights or trains leaving Wuhan for other Chinese cities or foreign countries.

manitarian, human rights and refugee law is essential, the Secretary-General stated, adding, “the fight against terrorism must uphold these values or it will never succeed”.

His fourth point flagged the need to tackle the spread of terrorist narratives through pandemic-sensitive, holistic approaches, and he said that non-State actors must not be allowed to exploit the “fissures and fragilities” of rising psycho-social, economic and political stresses, related to the coronavirus.

Throughout the upcoming discussions, victims’ voices will be heard to help prevent violent extremism and build inclusive, resilient societies, said Mr. Guterres.

And finally, he stressed the importance of strengthening information sharing to learn from the experiences and good practices of others in the COVID-19 security landscape, saying that “quality capacity-building assistance to Member States will remain an important pillar” of UN counter-terrorism work.

“We must commit to do more and better”, stated the UN chief. “As in every

other area of our mission, our work should be assessed by the difference we make in people’s lives.

In conclusion, Mr. Guterres said that as the discussions over the coming week will feed into next year’s High-Level CounterTerrorism Week – including the seventh biennial review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the second Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism agencies of Member States, and the inaugural Congress of Victims of Terrorism – the UN will remain “fully committed to advancing our common struggle against terrorism and upholding our common values”.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Voronkov, the UN Counter-Terrorism chief, stressed in his opening remarks that although the number of terrorist attacks and fatalities has been declining since its peak during the rise of ISIL, terrorism remains “a major threat to international peace and security” as some groups are extending their reach into new areas.

With this is mind and amid the expanding work of the UN Office of Counter-Ter-

Us looking at banning tiktok, other chinese social media apps: pompeo

UN expert deems US drone strike on Iran's Soleimani an 'unlawful' killing NEW YORK AGENCIES

The January US drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and nine other people represented a violation of international law, a UN human rights investigator said on Monday.

The United States has failed to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack against its interests to justify the strike on Soleimani’s convoy as it left Baghdad airport, said Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The attack violated the UN Charter, Callamard wrote in a report calling for accountability for targeted killings by armed drones and for greater regulation of the weapons.

“The world is at a critical time and possible tipping point when it comes to the use of drones. […] The Security Council is missing in action; the international community, willingly or not, stands largely silent,” Callamard, an independent

rorism (OCT) and its partners, as well as that of the Security Council, he said the UN is implementing more than 300 counter-terrorism capacity-building projects around the world, including 50 overseen by his Office, benefitting 72 countries.

“I think it is therefore safe to say that the United Nations is contributing to the efforts of many Member States and international actors to effectively address the threat of terrorism,” Mr. Vonkov stated.

And while he said COVID-19 has not changed this positive trend, he cautioned that “we must stay vigilant as terrorists are using innovative tactics and tools to exploit vulnerabilities and conditions conducive to terrorism, many of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Picking up that thread, Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) underlined that detention sites must be addressed, noting that radicalization to violence in prison settings represented a “potential breeding ground” for terrorists as well as the spread of COVID-19.T The deputy chief of UN Women, Ăsa Regnér, saw the Covid19 response as “an opportunity to reset counter terrorism and prevention of violent extremism interventions by recognizing and valuing the role women play at the local level during crisis and emergencies and improving inclusivity of women in emergency plans decision making processes”.

WASHINGTON AGENCIES

investigator, told Reuters.

Callamard is due on Thursday to present her findings to the Human Rights Council, giving member states a chance to debate what action to pursue. The United States is not a member of the forum, having quit two years ago.

Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, was a pivotal figure in orchestrating Iran’s campaign to drive US forces out of Iraq and built up Iran’s network of proxy armies across the Middle East. Washington had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces in the region.

“Major General Soleimani was in charge of Iran military strategy, and actions, in Syria and Iraq. But absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the US was unlawful,” Callamard wrote in the report.

The Jan 3 drone strike was the first known incident in which a nation invoked self-defense as a justification for an attack against a state actor in the territory of a third country, Callamard added.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has confirmed that Washington is considering a ban on Chinese social media apps, including the ultra-popular TikTok, apparently inspired by a similar ban in India and Australia’s threat to do the same. Talking to media, Pompeo affirmed “we’re certainly looking at” banning TikTok and other Chinese apps, following the lead of India, which banned 59 Chinese apps after border skirmishes with Beijing, and Australia, which has threatened to do the same. Americans should download the apps “only if you want your information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” he smirked. While acknowledging he “[didn’t] want to get out in front of the president,” the US diplomat nevertheless appeared to threaten 30 million American TikTok users with the withdrawal of their favourite microblogging platform, before attempting to draw a connection between TikTok – recently found by Apple to be secretly accessing users’ clipboards, along with a plethora of other apps – and Huawei, US companies’ primary competitor for dominance of the telecommunications sector. Despite frequent accusations from Pompeo and others in the Trump administration, however, Huawei equipment has not been shown to include the dreaded backdoors to Beijing. The Indian ban divorced TikTok from its largest market, a relationship parent company ByteDance’s Indian office is reportedly hurrying to mend. A US ban would no doubt be catastrophic as well – but it might be more disastrous for Washington, as legions of Tiktok-addicted American teenagers who’ve already taken credit for blocking millions from attending one of President Donald Trump’s rallies are handed a big fat new reason to rebel against their government.

US to force out foreign students taking classes fully online WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The United States said Monday it would not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online in the fall because of the coronavirus crisis.

“Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States,” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

“Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” ICE said.

“If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.”

ICE said the State Department “will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.”

F-1 students pursue academic coursework and M-1 students pursue “vocational coursework,” according to ICE. Universities with a hybrid system of in-person and online classes will have to show that foreign students are taking as many in-person classes as possible, to maintain their status.

Critics quickly hit back at the decision.

“The cruelty of this White House knows no bounds,” tweeted Senator Bernie Sanders. “Foreign students are being threatened with a choice: risk your life going to the class-in person or get deported.” For Gonzalo Fernandez, a 32year-old Spaniard doing his doctorate in economics at George Washington University in the US capital, “the worst thing is the uncertainty.”

“We don’t know if we will have classes next semester if we should go home if they are going to throw us out.”

PLANS UP IN THE AIR: Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester.

A number of schools are looking at a

hybrid model of in-person and online instruction but some, including Harvard University, have said all classes will be conducted online.

Harvard said 40 percent of undergraduates would be allowed to return to campus — but their instruction would be conducted remotely.

There were more than one million international students in the United States for the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

That accounted for 5.5 percent of the total US higher education population, the IIE said, and international students contributed $44.7 billion to the US economy

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

in 2018.

The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, who works as the policy counsel at the Washington-based think tank American Immigration Council, the new rule is “almost certainly going to be challenged in court.”

He explained on Twitter that foreign students will likely struggle to continue their studies while abroad, due to time differences or a lack of access to technology or academic resources.

President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for reelection in November, has taken a bullish approach to reopen the country even as virus infections continue to spike in parts of the country, particularly the south and west.

“SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” he tweeted Monday.

With more than 130,000 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, the United States is the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic.

While cracking down on immigration is one of his key issues, Trump has taken a particularly hard stance on foreigners since the health crisis began.

In June, he froze until 2021 the issuing of green cards — which offer permanent US resident status — and some work visas, particularly those used in the technology sector, with the stated goal of preserving jobs for Americans.