EpaperLHR_2020-09-16

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020 I 27 Muharram, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 77 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

sChools reoPen with striCt Coronavirus soPs g

authoritiEs sEal Educational institutE g Education ministEr says institutions in islamabad aftEr 16 casEs found violating covid-19 rEportEd during targEtEd tEsting guidElinEs will bE closEd

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

M

illions of students across the country returned to classes on tuesday after a break of six months, as schools and colleges began to reopen for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus in february.

Educational institutes were closed in march as the coronavirus began to spread in the country, but, with daily infection numbers falling, the government last week announced a staggered resumption of classes. “may allah make us successful in this test, and may the loss suffered by the students be compensated,” minister of Education shafqat mahmood told reporters in islamabad. senior schools were the first to restart, with middle school set to go back next week and primary school the week after. the long closure led to the cancellations of exams and left academic calendars in disarray. “studies have been very badly affected,” naseem akhtar, principal of a girls’ school in the port city of Karachi, told

reuters. “we appreciate the decision of the government to open schools from today.” “the safety of these children is in our hands,” Karachi teacher sameera chaudhry told reuters. pakistan has recorded 302,424 cases of the coronavirus and more than 6,300 deaths but daily infections have been slowing from a peak of nearly 7,000, and 118 deaths, in one day in June. on monday, authorities reported 404 new cases and six deaths. “online classes are not as interesting as real-life classes. in regular classes, when we do not understand something, we can easily ask the teacher to explain,” said student dua mohammad saleem. she said she was pleased about the safety rules but some government officials were skeptical, saying younger children will not be able to follow the rules. meanwhile, an educational institute in islamabad has been sealed after 16 cases were reported from the institution during targeted testing, confirmed national command and operation centre (ncoc) on tuesday. as per details shared by the ncoc, the

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

302,424

LAST UPDATED AT 7:47 AM ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

6

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

404

DEATHS:

290,261 6,389 SINDH:

132,250

PUNJAB:

97,817

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

37,079

13,621

2,426/3,269 15,962

institution was sealed after surfacing 16 coronavirus cases. meanwhile, the contact tracing is currently underway to contain the spread of the virus. federal minister for information and broadcasting shibli faraz has said that as a result of prime minister imran Khan's successful strategy, economic and educational activities have been restored along with protection of human lives. in a tweet on tuesday, the information minister urged teachers and school administrators to ensure implementation of precautionary measures in educational institutions. the minister thanked god on the reopening of educational institutions and restoration of children's educational activities.

‘INSTITUTIONS VIOLATING GUIDELINES TO BE CLOSED’: mahmood said the government will close the educational institutions found violating the guidelines devised to curtail the coronavirus crisis in the wake of the opening of institutions across the country. the minister, who was on a visit to public sector educational institutions in islamabad, said the decision to reopen the institutions “was not an easy one”. the safety and well-being of students is the government’s top priority, he added. mahmood further said that the authorities have also been directed to monitor the observation of standard operating procedures (sops) in public modes of transportation. precaution is the only way to deal with this crisis, he observed. according to the guidelines issued by the government, masks have been made mandatory for both teachers and students, while administrative staff has been directed to ensure the availability of sanitisers at the entry points. religious seminaries across the country have also reopened. similarly, the vocational and technical institutions started functioning as well.

National Assembly passes bill to curb terrorism financing ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

the national assembly (na) on tuesday passed the anti-terrorism (third amendment) bill, 2020 aimed at using new techniques to investigate terrorism and its financing. the bill was moved by faheem Khan. the legislation is an important one as it seeks to implement laws against terror financing and money laundering so that pakistan does not make the financial action task force's (fatf) black list. the bill states that for 60 days the investigation officer will have a permit to use certain techniques to ascertain where the money to fund the terrorist activity was received from. these techniques include tracking down communications and monitoring the computer systems of the suspects. a written request to the court can be given to obtain an extension for 60 more days. the criminal law (amendment) bill, 2020 was also introduced in the house by amjad ali Khan. the bill proposed amendments in the pakistan penal code and the code of criminal procedure, penalising the intentional ridiculing and defaming of the armed forces of pakistan or any of its member. a person guilty of such offence will be punished with imprisonment for a term up to two years or fined for up to rs500,000. the purpose of this amendment is "to prevent hatred and disrespectful behavior against the armed forces". the lower house was informed that the national disaster management authority (ndma) has been carrying out relief and rescue operations in the rain-hit areas across the country. responding to a calling attention notice, advisor on parliamentary affairs dr babar awan said currently chairman ndma, lt gen-

Imran reiterates determination to lift people out of poverty LAHORE STAFF REPORT

prime minister imran Khan performed the ground breaking of ravi riverfront urban development (rrud) project on tuesday. speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said this will be the planned city equipped with all the latest facilities. he said that six million trees will be planted in it. the prime minister said that the people at home and at international level are evincing their interest in this mega project. he directed the provincial government that there should not be any delay in the execution of this project and assured the federal government's full support in this regard. the premier said that the government will provide basic infrastructure in this new city project whilst the rest of the city will be raised from the investment. he said that this city will have separate centres for information and technology and education. pm imran said that there will also be affordable housing in the city to accommodate the poor people. he said the that government is also giving loans

eral muhammad afzal, along with teams of experts, is visiting sindh to personally monitor the relief efforts. he said that food packages and tents have also been distributed among the rain affected people across pakistan. later, the house resumed discussion on the situation arising out of unfortunate crime of gang rape against a woman on the lahoresialkot motorway. taking part in the discussion, minister for science and technology fawad chaudhry stressed the need to reform the justice system in pakistan to increase conviction rate in rape cases to prevent such inhuman acts in the society. he said that a rape victim should be treated as victim of violence and women investigation officer should be appointed to handle these cases. he added that improving the justice system in the country would help in combating the rise in rape and harassment cases rather than hanging. he also said that that incidents such as that of the lahore motorway gang rape would vanish from memories in the next couple of days as it happened in previous cases of similar intensity. the federal minister said that the accused involved in the Zainab case was arrested and hanged. “the public sentiment against the incident died down after the punishment, however, the rape cases continued unabated even after this,” he added. sharing the figures, the minister said that only 5 per cent of convictions have been made in the rape cases and this figure is other than the cases that are not reported to the police. many sexual assault cases go unreported as victims fear that someone might say as to why you have gone out without checking fuel, he said while taking a jibe at the lahore ccpo over his controversial remarks.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

One remanded, another arrested in motorway gang-rape case STORY ON PAGE 03

Journalist booked for promoting 'anti-state' content on social media STORY ON PAGE 02 on low interest rates so that the salaried class, labourers and low-income groups could own their houses. the prime minister said the vision of naya pakistan is to lift the people out of poverty.

“Establishing a new city is not an easy task and you will definitely face difficulties and barriers. however, this new city is the need of lahore and pakistan. neither anyone has cared about those living in 40 per cent rural areas of lahore nor pursued town planning after thinking about the poor people,” he said.

the pm said that the pace of construction of ravi riverfront project possesses importance and the federal government will provide maximum assistance for removing all barriers in the urban development project. “the project will be completed with the coordination of the private sector and the punjab government will complete its infrastructure. the country will witness huge foreign investment through the ravi riverfront project which is being initiated under a comprehensive plan,” he said.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Non-bailable arrest warrants issued for Nawaz Sharif by IHC STORY ON PAGE 03

israel, uaE, bahrain sign ‘historic’ trump-brokered accords STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

NEWS

PAkistAN rejects 'uNwArrANted refereNces' iN us-iNdiA couNter-terror stAteMeNt ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

AKISTAN has rejected the “unwarranted references” to itself in a statement issued by the US-India Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group and Designations Dialogue, underlining the “urgent need” for Islamabad to take steps to ensure that its territory is not used for militant attacks.

The rejection comes in response to a statement issued on September 10, wherein the two countries had denounced the use of

terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms.

The statement called on Pakistan to ensure that “no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks, and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot”.

Responding to the statement on Tuesday, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, through a statement, said, “Our serious concerns and rejection of the unacceptable reference to Pakistan in the joint statement have been conveyed to the US side.”

He observed that the international community was well aware that Pakistan was among the countries most affected by cross-border terrorism “sponsored and supported” by India.

“Pakistan has repeatedly underlined that peace and stability in South Asia is threatened by the irresponsible policies and actions of the RSS-BJP [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party] regime in India — including towards its minorities, its state terrorism in occupied Kashmir, and its belligerence against Pakistan and other countries in the region.”

The statement further observed that “it is important that partner countries take an objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from endorsing positions that are one-sided and divorced from ground realities.”

“The international community also recognises Pakistan’s efforts, sacrifices and successes in the fight against terrorism,” Chaudhri added.

“The international community must urge India to reverse course and desist from playing a role detrimental to regional peace and stability,” the statement concluded.

Journalist booked for promoting 'anti-state' content on social media RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

The Rawalpindi police have filed a first information report (FIR) has been registered against an Islamabad-based journalist for posting “negative propaganda against the state, Pakistani institutions and the Pakistan Army” on his social media account.

Asad Ali Toor was booked on a complaint by Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed, a resident of Rawalpindi, who claimed that “in the last few days, [Toor] has used derogatory language for high-level government institutions, including the Pakistan Army which is a grave crime according to the law.”

The FIR has been registered under sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code and sections 11 (hate speech), 20 (offenses against the dignity of a person) and 37 (unlawful online content) of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

Toor, while sharing a copy of the FIR on Twitter, termed it a “sad development”.

The case against Toor is the third such complaint to be registered against a journalist in the past few days.

A similar case was registered against journalist and former Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra)

chairman Absar Alam in Jhelum.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Chaudhry Naveed Ahmed who claimed that Alam had used “extremely vulgar” language against Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Army on Twitter and other social media which he said was tantamount to “treason”. “[The soldiers of] Pakistan Army sacrifice their lives to protect the citizens and are at the forefront when disaster strikes […] the entire world acknowledges the services of Pakistan Army,” the FIR read.

“This is the first time that the country has an honest prime minister who is taking steps [for the betterment of the country] by

working day and night. Absar Alam has made defamatory statements against the prime minister and used extremely unbefitting language,” the FIR said.

It alleged that Alam, despite living in Pakistan, was “furthering the objectives of the enemies of Pakistan”.

The FIR was registered under sections 124 (assaulting president, governor, etc., with the intention to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power), 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 499 (defamation), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 20 (offenses against the dignity of a person) of PECA.

Active Covid-19 cases stand at 5,774 in country: NCOC ISLAMABAD TLTP

A total of 290,261 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in Pakistan, making it a significant count and bringing the number of active coronavirus cases in the country to 5,774. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 404 more people tested positive for the infection during the last 24, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 302,424. Over the aforementioned period, 27,277 tests were conducted.

Loss of six more lives was reported during the last 24 hours, lifting the death toll due to the Covid-19 to 6,389, the NCOC said. So far, more than 2.9 million tests have been conducted across the country. At present, 1,011 patients are under treatment in 735 hospitals across the country, out of whom 98 are on ventilators.

Meanwhile, the global tally of coron-

avirus cases stands at 28,479,553, while 21,300,417 patients have recovered and 933,492 have died so far. The US, the worsthit country, has 6,750,160 cases. It is followed by India, which has 4,930,236 cases, Brazil has 4,349,544 and Russia has 1,073,849 confirmed cases. Pakistan has dropped to number 17 among the list of countries affected by the coronavirus disease.

KP ANNOUNCES 87 MORE CASES: Coronavirus infected another 87 persons during the last 24 hours in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The provincial health department, in a statement on the coronavirus situation in KP, said that no death by coronavirus was reported in the aforementioned period.

According to the statistics released by the provincial health department, 87 new cases of coronavirus were reported during the past 24 hours, increasing the total count of the infected people in the province to 37,079.

President emphasises promotion of distant education for accelerating pace of progress ISLAMABAD INP

President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said scope of hybrid and internet-based education had increased manifold as the world grappled Covid-19 and asked the nation to take hold of global opportunities by equipping themselves with knowledge compatible with contemporary market.

"As a silver lining amid hard times, the pandemic has pushed the nation to necessarily adapt to new ways in ensuring access to distance education, which must continue," the president said while addressing the convocation ceremony of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

In line with safety measures against

Covid-19, the convocation was held with limited number of students comprising medal-winners only, while the rest of graduates witnessed the live ceremony telecast through web-link.

President Alvi, also the chancellor of GIKI, said that compared with conventional brick and mortar education facilities, the e-learning system had greater outreach with lesser expense.

He said that it was time for educational institutes to work on easing up distancelearning systems and asked GIKI and other universities to increase the content of elearning in their syllabus.

He also said that for Pakistani nation, the areas of agriculture and medicine offered high prospects for education in Artificial Intelligence and computing to explore new vistas of opportunities.

PAf jet oN routiNe trAiNiNg crAshes iN Attock ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet crashed near Pindigheb, Attock during a routine training mission on Tuesday, the air force said in a statement. According to the statement, no loss of life was reported. “The pilot ejected safely.

No loss of life or property has been reported on [the] ground,” the statement said. The air force said that a board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the crash which is the fifth such incident since the start of this year. Earlier in March, a PAF F-16 aircraft crashed near Shakarparian in Islamabad during rehearsals for the Mar 23 parade. Wing Commander Nauman Akram was martyred in the crash. Another PAF trainer aircraft had crashed on Feb 12 during a routine training mission near Takht Bhai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district. It was the third PAF training aircraft to have crashed while on a routine training mission in less than two months. In the same month, a PAF Mirage aircraft, which was also on a routine operational training mission, had crashed near the Lahore-Multan Motorway. Pilots in both cases had ejected safely. Earlier in January, a PAF aircraft had crashed while on a training mission near Mianwali. Both pilots – Squadron Leader Haris bin Khalid and Flying Officer Ibaadur Rehman – aboard the PAF FT-7 aircraft had lost their lives in the crash.

PM to announce special package for most under-developed areas: Asad ISLAMABAD APP

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Tuesday informed that the Prime Minister Imran Khan would announce a special development program for the most under developed areas of the country in few weeks. In his tweet, the minister said that he had spent two days in Southern districts of Balochistan including Awaran, Turbat, Khuzdar and Gwadar where he found that it was necessary to observe the ground realities of the residents of those areas."Before announcing a development package (for these areas), observation of ground realities of the areas was necessary," he added.He further said that "in the midst of all the deprivation that we saw in South Balochistan in the last two days, there was one bright spot”. The women of this area are far more empowered than in other parts of Pakistan, he added.He said that it showed that women empowerment was a cultural issue, and was not level of wealth and education.

NAB chief vows eradication of corruption to ensure development ISLAMABAD INP

National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has said that the anti-graft body is committed for eradication of corruption from national institutions to ensure the development of country. Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad on Tuesday, the NAB chief stressed the need for self-accountability to eliminate the menace of corruption from the society. He said that corruption is the biggest obstacle in the way of progress and prosperity that needs to be dismantled. Justice (r) Iqbal said that the bureau is working diligently to resolve the issues being faced by the general public. On the occasion, the NAB chief also distributed cheques amounting over twenty-four crore rupees among the affectees of Modaraba scam.

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

NEWS

oNe reMANded, ANother Arrested iN MotorwAy gANg-rAPe cAse LAHORE

A

STAFF REPORT

SESSIONS court on Tuesday granted six-day physical remand of Shafqat Ali, one of the two prime suspects in the motorway gang rape case.

Additional Sessions Judge Misbah Khan handed over the custody of the suspect to police for six days for investigation.

rested on Monday and he confessed to his crime. Whereas, Abid Ali is still at large and is expected to be arrested soon.

Earlier in the day, police arrested another suspect in the gang-rape case from Chichawatni, district Sahiwal, during a raid. The arrested man, named Bala Mistri, is the owner of the auto workshop where prime suspects Shafqat and Abid Ali used to work.

The police said investigators were in-

Shafqat, who confessed to his crime, was brought to the court amid tight security with his face covered with a piece of cloth.

The police incorporated Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in the case, which means that it will now be heard by an anti-terrorism court and not an ordinary court.

Shafqat, one of the two men believed to be the culprits of the gang rape on Lahore-Sialkot motorway last week was ar-

3 remanded in rape, murder case of minor girl KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday granted physical remand of two suspects in the rapecum-murder case of five-year-old girl Marwah until September 26. The court handed over the custody of Faiz and Abdullah to police on physical remand on its request for investigation into the case. The court directed the investigation officer to present them on the next hearing. The investigation officer (IO) informed the judge that one suspect, named Rab Nawaz, was set free as he could not find any evidence showing his involvement in the felony. He said he would present a report to the relevant judicial magistrate in this regard.

The IO, Inspector Qurban Hussain Abbasi, further spoke on a third potential partner in the crime and said that a local tailor, Muhammad Javed, identified the pieces of cloth used to wrap the girl's body and disclosed that one of his employed tailors was given these exact pieces. On further investigation, said the IO, the officers discovered that the tailor’s employee had a criminal history and was the victim's neighbour.

The suspect's wife had left him six to seven years ago, the IO said, adding that during interrogation, the suspect had disclosed that he, along with two others, had subjected the minor girl to gang-rape, which resulted in her death. Marwah was found raped and murdered on September 6, two days after going missing from the old Subzi Mandi area of Karachi. Police said the girl’s body was found wrapped in a piece of cloth at a trash heap on a plot. STAFF REPORT

Non-bailable arrest warrants issued for Nawaz sharif by ihc ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif petitioned an exemption from his court appearance, but the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for him during a hearing to ensure the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader’s appearance. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani said that the PML-N leader had not undergone a surgery nor was he admitted to a hospital despite citing medical issues as the reason for obtaining bail and traveling to the United Kingdom. “Our bail order has expired, which has its own effects,” the judge said during the hearing regarding the cancellation of Nawaz’s bail in the Avenfield properties reference.

“Do we announce a ruling on this without hearing the other side,” the court remarked, citing that they needed to hear the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal to make a ruling. In this regard, NAB Additional Prosecutor General Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana said the court could appoint a legal counsel to represent Nawaz. STAFF REPORT

girl Allegedly rAPed By lANdlord iN sArgodhA

terrogating Bala Mistri about the hideouts of his close associate, Abid.

Shafqat had revealed to the police that Bala Mistri was not involved in the felony.

Abid phoned him and Bala Mistri the day the crime was committed but Mistri did not turn up, Shafqat was quoted as telling the police. A police official, however, said Mistri had remained involved in criminal activities along with Abid.

SC adjourns Daniel Pearl murder case hearing due to Sindh’s prosecutor general’s mother’s death ISLAMABAD APP

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing of a case, against acquittal of accused by the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Daniel Pearl murder case, due to death of Sindh's prosecutor general’s mother.

A three-member special bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik heard the appeals filed by the government and Pearl’s parents challenging the acquittal of the previously convicted men by the Sindh High Court (SHC). The government of Sindh had filed leave to appeal under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against the impugned judgment passed by Sindh High Court on April, 2.

At the outset of hearing, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik observed that there was ambiguity in the statement of prosecution's witness taxi driver.

He asked how did the taxi driver know that such white man was Daniel Pearl.

The court adjourned hearing over Sindh's prosecutor general request due to the death of his mother.

The counsel for Sindh government, Farooq H Naek pleaded the court to fix the case before September 30.

Justice Qazi Amin asked Naek how the Sindh government had appointed him as private counsel in the case.

Naek responded that all legal requirements were fulfilled and if the court says, he could withdraw himself

from the case.

He pleaded the court to suspend SHC decision regarding acquittal of Ahmed Omar Sheikh.

Justice Qazi Amin responded that the court would announce decision after accepting the appeal for hearing.

Naek said that there was a provision in SC’s rule eight which allowed the apex court to issue stay on appeal.

Justice Manzoor Malik asked Naek that the rule he was referring was about sentencing not acquittal.

He asked Naek to prove with record that which witness saw abduction of Pearl. He asked under which sections were the accused convicted.

Naek said that the taxi driver testified that he saw abduction of a white man.

Justice Malik asked was there only one white man in Karachi. He asked the counsel to prove with record that the abducted person was Pearl.

Naek said that how could a taxi driver knew the name of a ride? The witness later identified the abductor as Sheikh, he added.

Justice Malik said that the court had to decide on the evidence and record, not on anyone's knowledge.

The counsel for Sheikh said that his client was in jail despite his acquittal.

Naek said that the trial court sentenced the accused to death under the Anti-Terrorism Act. He said that the high court had sentenced Sheikh to seven years while acquitting the rest of the accused.

Later, Justice Mushir said that the bench was referring the matter to the chief justice to fix the case before September 30.

SARGODHA: Yet another rape case has been reported from Punjab where a 16-year-old housemaid was allegedly raped by a landlord in Sargodha on Tuesday. The incident happened in Melowall in the limits of police station Miani in Sargodha, where a housemaid had been repeatedly raped by the landlord for the last 6 months. The police have moved the girl to the hospital for her medical reports, while a case has been registered against the alleged rapist on the complaint of the brother of the girl. Earlier on Sunday last, two girls were allegedly raped in different incidents in Punjab. According to details, a 40-year-old man allegedly raped his 17-year-old stepdaughter in Gujranwala’s Pasban Colony. According to police, the teenage girl in her statement to police has alleged that her stepfather, Gulzar, had raped her several times. A case has been registered against the suspect on the victim’s complaint. In another recent incident, a girl was allegedly gang-raped by three people in Bahawalpur district of the Punjab province as she was returning after attending a marriage ceremony. The victim, a resident of Chak 7 BC in Bahawalpur, claimed in a complaint filed with the local police that she was on her way home after attending a marriage ceremony when the accused abducted her. “Three people raped me and further threatened to kill me on informing police regarding the incident,” the girl said. It is pertinent to mention here that horrific incidents of sexual abuse have been reported from parts of the country after two major incidents of the Marwah rape and murder case in Karachi and the gang rape of a woman at Lahore motorway shock the entire Pakistan. TLTP

teenager dies after falling from school stairs in karachi KARACHI: A 15-year-old student reportedly died after falling from the stairs of her school in Karachi's Federal B Area on Tuesday. The teenager identified as Areeba Asif was a grade nine student. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Central Aslam Rao, while confirming the incident, said that an investigation into the matter has begun. INP

500 tech-based farms to modernise agriculture sector, Senate told 17 DAMS TO BE COMPLETED IN CURRENT FISCAL YEAR; NO DECISION TO CONSTRUCT KALABAGH DAM TAKEN ISLAMABAD TLTP

The Senate was informed on Tuesday that 500 technology-based farms of different sizes would be established to strengthen the agriculture sector on modern lines.

Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry told the House during question hour that the technology-based practices at these farms will help optimise the per acre yield. He said that this project will bring revolution in the lives of small farmers.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told the house that the federal government is pro-

viding funds for construction of sixty small, medium and large dam projects in the country. He said that 17 dam projects are to be completed during the current fiscal year.

He said that work has been started on DiamerBhasha and Mohmand dams which will greatly contribute to enhancing the country’s water storage capacity. He added that WAPDA is also planning to construct several new dams including Kurram Tangi Dam Stage-11 and Sindh Barrage to cope with the issue of water shortage. The minister of state said that the provinces are being given their due water share as per the water accord of 1991. In case of any water shortage, it is shared amongst the provinces, he added.

Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan informed the house that delimitation of constituencies has almost been completed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for the purpose of holding local government elections. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said that the government has not taken any decision regarding construction of Kalabagh Dam. He said that all the provinces will be taken on board on the construction of water reservoirs.

The chair said that Kalabagh Dam cannot be constructed without consensus amongst the provinces.

The minister of state for parliamentary affairs said that the prime minister has taken strict notice of motorway rape incident. He said those involved in such despicable acts must be given strict punishment.

Taking the floor, the senators strongly denounced the motorway rape incident. They said that legislation should be carried out to award strict punishment to those involved in such barbaric acts.

In race to secure Covid-19 vaccines, world’s poorest countries lag behind AGENCIES Developing nations are at risk of being left far short of the Covid-19 vaccine supplies they need as richer countries secure billions of doses even before the drugs pass final clinical trials, according to health experts.

The U.S., the European Union, Japan and the U.K. have agreed to purchase at least 3.7 billion doses from Western drugmakers developing vaccines, according to announcements from the companies and countries in recent months. That tally includes options available for additional doses. China and India, two countries with large vaccine-making industries, are also expected to direct much of their production to their own vast populations.

That is likely to tie up nearly all of the immediate global vaccine manufacturing capacity, experts said.

Meanwhile, an initiative backed by the World Health Organization intended to pool global resources to efficiently buy and distribute the vaccine equitably across the world will struggle to obtain enough vaccine

03

for developing countries to inoculate even their most vulnerable citizens, experts said.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration said it wouldn’t support the initiative. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” said Judd Deere, deputy press secretary at the White House. The patchwork pattern of vaccination coverage that is likely to emerge as wealthier countries vaccinate widely while poorer countries remain exposed could prolong border closures and trade and travel disruption while allowing the virus to thrive in many places and remain a global threat, health experts said.

“Next year is a year of scarce resources.

Whatever we have, it won’t be enough to vaccinate everyone,” said Mariângela Simão, assistant director general at the WHO. “It is in everybody’s self-interest to collaborate globally because we need this pandemic controlled in all countries.”

The rush to develop a vaccine capable of

preventing or blunting the coronavirus and then secure supplies has largely bypassed attempts at global coordination. No vaccine is yet through trials, so it is unclear which are going to be effective immunizations. Many of them will require two shots, meaning that if the entire globe’s population were to be vaccinated with them next year, an unprecedented and unachievable amount would be required, of up to 14 billion doses.

The WHO-backed initiative—known as Covax—initially envisioned most if not all countries contributing to a common fund to buy collectively so that countries aren’t competing against each other. It estimated global capacity for manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines at two billion to four billion doses before the end of 2021.

Vaccines would then be distributed globally first to protect the planet’s most vulnerable populations, from health-care workers to the elderly, and later to more general populations.

Instead, many countries with the means have struck individual deals with vaccine makers before the Covax initiative even

knows how much money it will have.

Countries have pledged over $1 billion toward the fund’s goal of $5.4 billion—the amount it believes is necessary to get one billion doses for developing countries. In total, the fund is seeking $18 billion. It has set a deadline in early October to receive the initial pledges. The initiative says it has secured future access to 100 million doses for poorer countries so far, or about 10% of its goal.

“We of course prefer a multilateral approach,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that is helping organize the project. “The problem with every country doing bilateral deals is that many countries will get left out, and you will also have an inefficient use of resources, which is worrisome going forward.”

The U.S. has announced deals for 1.6 billion doses, the EU for 1.5 billion doses, the U.K. for 380 million doses, and Japan for at least 280 million doses, for at least eight different vaccines from various companies, according to a series of announcements from those countries. Many of these have been with Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and As-

traZeneca PLC, the three Western companies with vaccines in final-stage trials.

Many wealthy countries are paying for vaccines to be manufactured now, even before the results of final trials are known.

They have accounted for some vaccines not proving effective by buying far more doses than the size of their populations from multiple suppliers. “The default that countries are heading towards is noncooperation,” said Thomas Bollyky, director of global health at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

“If the perception is that every other government is going to hoard, your government will hoard also.”

Those pushing for broader distribution of vaccines haven’t given up hope that the developing world will obtain significant quantities. That now depends largely on the initiative managing to increase global production capacity, said Gavi’s Mr. Berkley.

He said that some richer countries might share some of their vaccines but he didn’t want to rely on “leftovers” to serve developing countries.

By Monday, the deadline set by Covax for signing up, 92 developing countries had applied, along with 80 richer countries willing to provide financing, including Germany and Japan.

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Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

NEWS

Punjab government oPPoses ProPerty tax exemPtion on five-marla houses LAHORE

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SHAHAB OMER

UNJAB Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht has opposed the property tax exemption on five marla houses and said that the property tax exemption should be in line with the value of the property. Presiding over the first meeting of the Resource Mobilisation Committee (RMC) for the fiscal year 2020-21 on Tuesday, organised by the Punjab Finance Department at the Civil Secretariat, the provincial minister said

that there was no logical justification for tax exemption on five marla houses.

“Property tax should be assessed according to the value of the property. To improve the property tax system, it is necessary to revise the 1958 Act. Tax on municipal services should be linked to property tax. Improvements in WASA, sewerage and waste management services will increase the value of the land.

The Punjab government wants to promote the concept of profitable taxation in the province. Consideration should be given to reduction rather than increasing the tax rate to improve collections,”

Bakht suggested. Bakht added, “The current government has also taken revolutionary steps to strengthen local government.

With the increase in the powers of local governments, their resources are also being improved.” On the other hand, the director of Punjab Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) department said that if the number of five marla houses in just Lahore is taken into account, they are much greater than the large-size properties.

“A recent third-party survey conducted by ET&NC has also revealed that the number of properties of five marla and below is very high and if the government had levied

Cabinet approves cancellation of licences of 22 more pilots ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the cancellation of 22 more pilot licenses based on the licenses having been obtained through ‘fake computer-based’ examinations.

A source in the federal cabinet told Pakistan Today that as a result of investigation and hearing of appeals, 22 pilots have been identified who obtained their respective licences based on ‘fake computerbased pilot examinations’.

Out of 22 pilots, the licenses of six pilots who had received stay-orders from Lahore High Court (LHC) against their suspension have also been cancelled.

The court also directed that action shall not only be departmental, but that criminal cases shall also be registered against the people who committed illegal or wrongful acts in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has initiated a criminal investigation against the CAA employees

Two killed in firing over old enmity in Mianwali MIANWALI: Two people were killed in a drive-by firing by armed motorcyclists who fled the scene after committing a crime, and the police said that the incident was the outcome of old enmity.

According to details, the incidents took place in Sanda area of Mianwali where armed men of a rival group came on motorcycles and shot bullets at two people of an opponent group. INP

and other people who are directly or indirectly involved in the aforementioned offences. So far, five officers and staff of CAA have been placed under suspension; three employees (one officer and two staff members) have been dismissed from service after following due process under the law. Action against one CAA employee is pending due to stay granted by the Sindh High Court (SHC), while an investigation against the remaining staff members is on-going.

The cabinet reaffirmed its resolve in reforming all the institutions including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and CAA, whose governance was compromised during the previous governments.

According to the document presented in the federal cabinet meeting, 22 licenses issued on fake exams included the names of pilots Mian Khalid Mahmood Hasrat, Shoukat Mehmood, Saifur Rehman Khan Burki, Muhammad Faisal Mirza, Hassan Iqbal, Baset Rehman, Aaqib Moeed Khan, Muhammad Ammar, Zaryab Bashir

Cheema, Muhammad Bilal Chugtai, Shahid Saeed, UmarSalim, Muhammad Zubair, Asif Ali Malik, Sher Afghan Jogezai, Omar Farasat, Muhammad Anas Ayub, M. Fahad Bin Zameer Raja, Raja Hashim Khan, Annum Liaqat, Muhammad Naveed Khokhar and Syed Khurram Ali. The cabinet has already directed that Board of Inquiry shall continue working to assist the Aviation Division in scrutinizing all 262 suspected cases.

a tax on these houses considering their value, a large amount can be deposited in the government treasury,” the director added. Similarly, an official of the Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) said that the sale and purchase of 3 marla and 5 marla properties in urban areas of Punjab is also very high. “Many small investors buy five-marla or three-marla houses instead of investing in seven-marla or 10marla properties because they can be easily bought and sold. If the government imposes a tax on this category of houses, it is expected to increase the prices of these properties,” the official added.

DisableD woman raPeD in the metroPolis KARACHI: Despite the all-out efforts and promises of the government, cases of gangrape continue as a disabled woman was raped on Tuesday. According to details, two culprits barged into a shanty in Baldia Ittihad Town, Karachi and raped a disabled woman. The culprits also tried to rape another woman present in the shanty but she resisted and, upon hearing the noise, some people gathered at the scene because of which the rapists fled. The disabled woman was shifted to a hospital for medical tests and the police have started an investigation after registering the case against the unidentified accused. INP

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

FertIlIser plAyers urge govt to exteNd gIdC reCovery perIod by eIght yeArs LAHoRe

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HASSAN NAQVI

ERTILISER players have reportedly approached the government, requesting recovery of outstanding Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) dues (Rs109bn on non-concessionary gas) in 10 years instead of two years, as decided by the Supreme Court.

Fertiliser players have cited their "worsening liquidity situation" as the reason for seeking an extention in GIDC collection. In case the request is dismissed, the players may resort to increasing urea prices by Rs500 per bag to Rs2,100 per bag.

Earlier this year, the fertiliser sector had reduced

urea price by Rs400 per bag on the expectation of GIDC waiver.

According to Ailia Naeem, a senior research analyst AKD Securities Ltd, the government and fertiliser players may chalk out a more amicable solution with respect to the recovery of outstanding GIDC dues.

"The recent decision of the Supreme Court should result in an outflow in the range of Rs6-60bn from the fertiliser sector, while netting off GIDC payables by available cash and short term investments imply a net cashflow burden of Rs3-20bn for these players."

According to Naeem, amid the aforementioned background, "our numbers suggest that a 48-months extension for GIDC should be sufficient for the players worst hit by the GIDC decision".

On the possibility of a price hike, she said it could be a possibility given the urea inventory at 334,000 tonnes is much lower than the last 12-month average of approximately 590,000 tonnes.

Naeem informed that local prices are currently at a steep 50pc discount to international prices.

"An increase in urea price by Rs500 per bag would be more than sufficient for Fauji Fertiler Company Limited (FFC), Engro Fertilizers Limited (EFERT) and Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited (FATIMA) to meet the net cash burden resulting from GIDC outflow," she maintained. "However, we see limited possibilities for such a price hike."

A more likely situation could be a 12 to 24-month extension along with Rs100-200 per bag urea price hike.

Steel industry opposes tariff reduction proposals of NTC ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

As the National Tariff Commission (NTC) has proposed a reduction in tariff on import of finished or semi-finished steel products, the local steel industry has voiced its serious concerns about the move, saying that it would ultimately result in de-industrialization in the country.

In a letter sent to Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers (PALSP) has informed the ministry that any reduction in tariffs on imported finished or semi-finished steel products under the garb of “Tariff Rationalization” will result in de-industrialization and closure of steel industry as well as massive unemployment in the country.

As the ministry is working on ‘tariff rationalization’ through consultation with different stakeholders, the NTC has proposed reduction in tariff on imports of the finished steel products, removing the

protection given to domestic industry.

“First of all, the government must realize that reducing tariffs on domestically manufactured items without providing a globally competitive business environment will surely lead to de-industrialization. Pakistan ranks dismally low (#110) on the Global Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum and this shows that our business environment is not competitive with other countries. All major steel exporting countries feature much higher than Pakistan in the competitiveness index,” the association said in the letter.

According to PALSP, the local industry does not agree with the proposal submitted by the NTC earlier this year to the Tariff Policy Board for the long steel sector.

“It is baffling that the NTC had submitted a tariff proposal to virtually de-industrialize the steel sector. There is no evidence of any export bias in the local steel industry as there is cut-throat competition and current margins are close to zero. Resultantly,

SBP allows banks to open branches on Saturdays KARACHI: As coronavirus cases continue to decline across the country, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has permitted banks to open a limited number of branches across the country on Saturdays. As per the central bank's directives, bank branches operating at business centres and ports will be allowed to remain open on Saturdays.

Previously, the SBP had ordered all banks to remain closed on Saturdays owing to a rise in Covid-19 cases across the country. However, as cases of the virus have declined and normal business, an dwith trade and educational activities resuming across the country this month, the SBP has allowed banks to open their selected branches on Saturdays. All branches that open on Saturdays will have to abide by the coronavirus safety protocols and health guidelines issued by the SBP. TLTP

there is no evidence of abnormal profits either. In fact, the domestic steel industry has been successful in bringing new capacity and technology to meet the quality and quantity requirements of the economy. The domestic steel industry creates import substitution in excess of $ 1.2 billion per year.”

The proposal comes at a time when other countries are increasing protection and moving away from reducing tariffs on finished & semi-finished steel products, particularly in the steel industry. This is due to a global oversupply in the steel industry where anti-dumping and anti-subsidy/countervailing investigations have been a commonplace over the past five years.

PALSP opined that reducing tariffs at this point in time will only open the flood-gates for millions of tonnes of steel to be dumped into Pakistan that is lying surplus in other countries. The domestic steel industry has invested billions in recent years to bring in new capacity and world-class technology to

improve efficiencies and competitiveness. However, the government needs to do its part to make substantial progress on the much-delayed and much-needed structural reforms to reduce the cost of doing business, enable fair competition, fix tariff anomalies, and facilitate core industry issues before considering tariff rationalization.

The steel industry has been going through a tough time over the past couple years. Foreseeing mega-projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Prime Minister’s Naya Housing Project, local business groups have made huge investments in the recent past in hope for a surge in demand - only to have been handed a stifled economy under a strict International Monetary Fund (IMF) program that saw massive increases in costs due to unprecedented currency devaluation, uptick in interest rates (now revised), increase in energy costs, increase in taxation (GST) and a nosedive in demand.

Govt lifts ban on export of Tyvek Suits, antimalarial drugs ISLAMABAD: With the removal of restrictions on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks, sanitizers etc, the government on Tuesday has also lifted the ban on the export of Tyvek Suits and the anti-malarial drugs, including Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine. According to details, this decision was undertaken in the federal cabinet meeting on a summary initiated by the Ministry of commerce. At the beginning of Covid-19 outbreak in Pakistan in March 2020, the federal cabinet imposed a ban on the export of various items of PPE as well as anti-malarial drugs, which were being used as a part of treatment for Covid-19. STAFF REPORT

With 69pc annual growth, Pakistan ranked eighth fastest-growing freelancing economy LAHoRe TAIMOOR HASSAN

Global payment platform Payoneer, in its latest report “Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance of Opportunities,” has ranked Pakistan as the eighth fastest-growing freelancing economy in the world with a year-on-year growth of 69 per cent.

The same report ranked the Philippines, India and

Japan as the top three fastest-growing freelancing markets, with the Philippines market growing 208 per cent annually, India 160 per cent and Japan showing 87 per cent annual growth.

Following the global trend, the demand for freelance services in Pakistan was hit hard due to the overall slowdown of the global economy and the desire of businesses worldwide to cut costs. Earlier, Payoneer report on State of Freelancing Report During Covid-19 had noted that

CMYK

64 per cent of Pakistani freelancers reported a drop in their revenues due to many businesses and companies cutting outsourcing costs and halting new projects.

“Likewise, this response is reflected in the revenue figures where freelancing continued to grow year-onyear but temporarily slowing from 21 per cent growth in March to 16 per cent growth in May,” the report noted. However, while the demand for freelancers took a tough hit, at the peak of the pandemic, 82 per cent of Pakistani freelancers in State of Freelancing During Covid-19 report were confident that demand would rise once the crisis subsided.

This confidence was proven correct as revenues soared in May. Low short-term revenue growth in the first quarter of 2020 was followed by soaring revenue growth in the second quarter of 2020.

The optimism of Pakistani freelancers for a strong bounce-back was proven to be correct. For the first half of 2020, freelancing revenues declined by 5 per cent in January, but soared to the peak in July, exhibiting 47 per cent growth month-on-month.

The report particularly lauded Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) e-Rozgaar Programme as a key contributor in this regard.

“One factor that goes a long way to explain this is that in April, local government authorities took the initiative to rapidly shut down educational institutes as a way to contain the spread of the virus,” the report read, adding that this led to the development of a new online education system and as part of this initiative, government training programmes, such as e-Rozgaar, expanded its services throughout the country, offering people a new way to enhance their professional capabilities.

“The mission was to help expedite freelancing skills for thousands and enable them to earn a living in the most in-demand fields and ultimately lead to a higher employment rate,” the report highlighted.

The sudden rush to learn new skills online also boosted the demand for online instructors. e-Rozgaar’s training programme allowed those with previous freelancing experience, as well as some sort of previous teaching experience, to easily apply and earn extra income by sharing their expertise with eager students.

NEWS

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Imran reiterates determination to lift people out of poverty contInueD on pAge 01 Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar said that it is a historic opportunity that PM Imran has laid the foundation stone of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Project and the dream of the largest project in the history of the country is being materialised.

The chief minister deplored that the plan of this project was envisaged seven years ago but the past rulers could not start it because the projects aimed at bringing real changes in public lives were not their priorities. The CM said that the government will develop a 46-kilometre long lake in the bed of River Ravi. It is an environmentfriendly project and more than 6 million planted trees will considerably reduce environmental pollution. Along with it, a barrage and wastewater treatment plant will also be installed for water and the rainwater will be stored in the lake, he added.

National Assembly passes bill to curb terrorism financing contInueD on pAge 01 He said that there are suggestions that rape culprits be hanged, however, it would have been easy if it would have resolved the rising rape cases. The minister further lamented that the man allegedly involved in the motorway case was released earlier in a similar case after securing a deal with the victim. “The solution of this problem lies in improving the justice system in the country,” he said. Minister for Narcotics Control Azam Swati said exemplary punishment should be given to the culprits involved in rape incidents. This House also passed a resolution urging the government to direct the police, investigation institutions and media not to broadcast or publish the ethnic identity of any accused or criminal until and unless his/her ethnic identity is registered on his/her identity card. The resolution was tabled by MNA Saifur Rehman and signed by other lawmakers. Another resolution submitted by Rehman stated that the government may direct police, investigation agencies and media that no information about the arrest of any accused may leaked to public at large which may benefit the accused in any way. That resolution was also passed by the House.

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

06 COMMENT

While India buys more arms suicides in India rise

Opening educational institutions The challenge and the opportunity

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iTH the number of positive coronavirus cases and casualties having considerably gone down, the government has started a stage-wise opening of the educational institutions beginning from yesterday. SOPs tried and tested in a number of countries have been issued along with a number of precautions suggested by the nCOC. as experience in other countries indicates, the exercise might not be altogether risk free.

With a whole generation of students having already lost six months of education, the risk is worth taking provided necessary precautions are put in place to reduce the potential hazards. it would be easier for the upscale schools chains in big cities which charge heavy fees to implement the SOPs in letter and spirit. With considerable funds at their disposal, they can get class rooms sprayed, procure accurate thermometer guns and hand sanitisers and encourage students to frequently wash hands in the already available washrooms. The vast majority of schools run by the provincial or local governments face the financial crunch as do schools run by private organisations or individuals with shoestring budgets. Students from working-class families may not be able to buy a new mask every day.

Many schools in small towns and villages do not have access to clean water and washrooms, let alone sanitisers or soap.

The situation offers both a challenge and an opportunity to the government. a widespread violation of SOPs in schools could turn these into hotbeds of the pandemic. This can be stopped by the government’s intervention. Last month there were reports of over twothirds of PM imran Khan’s Covid-19 relief package, amounting to Rs540 billion, having remained unspent in the fiscal year 2019-2020. The funds need to be diverted to upgrading vital facilities like toilets and clean water, and providing spraying equipment, chemicals and masks in schools of all the four provinces as well as in GilgitBaltistan and aJK.

Trillions for military hardware while meager resources for Covid-19 relief Amjed jAAved

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ndia is riding THE hobbyhorses of aCTOR Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide and China’s intrusion across the Line of actual Control (though denied by indian prime minister in allParty conference). China’s concocted trespass across the LaC, and warning shots in air (denied by China) were used aS ploys to boost india’s worldwide military spending spree.

The media has pointed out ‘in the last few years, india has become the suicide capital of this planet. india has the highest suicide rate in the South-East asian region, according to the World Health Organization’s latest report. Other reports on social media suggest it might be the global leader in suicides’. data released by india’s own national Crime Records Bureau (nCRB) reveals `a quarter of suicides in india during 2019 were by daily wage earners: nCRB’, ` as many as 32,563 daily wage earners ended their lives in 2019and formed 23.4 percent of the total suicide cases in the country, up from 30,132 in 2018, the data showed, an increase of 3.4 percent compared to 2018’`. at least one in every five persons who committed suicide in 2018 was a daily wage earner and every sixth victim was a housewife.

Farmers’ suicides figure stood at 10, 437. Farmers’ and wage earners’ suicides together come to 43,000 people in 2019. Most suicides go unreported. in april 2005, indian media reported `300 indians commit suicide every day’. The crux of the problem is that poverty-alleviation benefits do not trickle down to the masses.

Successive prime ministers paid lip service to welfare.

For instance, the prime minister in 2005, dr Manmohan Singh, reprimanded the heads of various ministries for their failure to follow an integrated policy to alleviate poverty in india. He observed that there has been no tangible pro-poor progress in various sectors, particularly rural agriculture and industries. He told senior bureaucrats that hollow GdP growth figures had not been able to stop suicides in the rural and urban areas. not only the farmers but also the factory workers were committing suicide to end their perpetual financial misery.

The indian media had highlighted the fact that ‘Every day, at least 300 persons in india commit suicide─ in most cases, by hanging, or by consuming pesticide or other poisonous substances. according to home ministry sources, the number of suicides during 2001 was 1, 08,506; in 2002, it rose to 1, 10,417. in 2003, 1, 10,851 people decided to end their lives’.

These figures ‘are based on police records’.

Punishing rapists As usual, the real malaise will remain unaddressed

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RaGEdiES such as the one that took place on the motorway last week, where a mother was raped in front of her children on a presumably safe highway of Lahore after midnight, tend to start a national conversation about what needs to and should be done to stop such incidents from taking place in the future. Understandably there is anger, fear and public outrage over what has happened and a larger section of society is demanding exemplary punishment for the rapists involved in this heinous crime to the extent of being hung publicly. Prime Minister imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of public executions as it would not be ‘internationally acceptable’, but said that the government will table a bill allowing castration, either surgically or chemically, with the severity of punishment depending on the degree of the crime that will also be defined in said law. Hopefully the bill is debated extensively rather than bulldozed through parliament like so many others. This is a high-profile case similar to the rape and murder of Zainab ansari two years back. The man responsible was hung the same year, yet there has been hardly any let up in the frequency of such horrific crimes. Chemical castration has been tried in some countries with mixed results but wherever the death sentence or surgical castration has been tried as a remedy for rape and pedophilia, it has not stopped it nor brought down the rate of such crimes. a sick mind that has been conditioned over the years to become a sexual predator having gone through biological changes brought about by external factors such as childhood psychological trauma and various other experiences is too far gone to be deterred from committing crimes of a sexual nature out of fear of punishment.

The outcome that is being expected from this legislation cannot be achieved without long-term structural reforms where education will play a key role to elevate the status of women, who are treated as secondgrade citizens in society and whose voices are muffled by a well-entrenched patriarchal culture. Cities must be made safer through better policing and a robust investigation and prosecution apparatus must be in place to ensure speedy justice. The motorway incident would probably not have happened if the road was patrolled or if there was any response by the motorway police. Extreme punishment in such cases will not solve anything unless the real malaise is identified and remedied.

Rape and responsibilities The Motorway incident reverberates HAfiz muHAmmAd AzAeem

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EPREHEnSiBLE, deplorable, despicable, extremely repugnant, and totally unforgivable, indefensible, outrageous, and non-compoundable is the offence rape.

However, however much detestable as it is, it is still an offence and requires a trial.

These days, due to the horrifying and appalling motorway-incident of rape, the whole country’s moral conscious is under anguish and pain. no compensation except the punishment could heal the wounds. and as it was claimed in media by authorities, the accused is previously a record-holder. Then the whole country’s question is: why do such culprits get scot-free? Why do they have a second chance?

Why do they get acquitted? Whose fault is it? allegation of crime, how much heinous is the offence, is one thing; its trial is another. Many blame the investigating agency; the investigating agency blames the lawyers; lawyers blame the investigating agency and legislators; legislators blame the courts; courts again blame the investigating agency for poor collection of evidence. awfully no one is ready to accept the blame. nevertheless, all are collectively responsible.

Firstly, with regards to the investigation agency, many basic negligences can be removed. Whenever the information is registered under section 154 CrPC of the offence of rape. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for investigation of Rape Cases, 2013 must be followed by the police. it provides that its investigation must be conducted by a female police officer. The police must behave with utmost sympathy with the victim, so that she may be able to explain the incident. immediate access of a psychiatrist must be made available to her. The foremost important task is to send the victim for medico-legal-examination forthwith. She must be medically examined with her consent only. no compulsion should be there. Her statement must be got recorded before the magistrate.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

The largest number of suicides in rural areas was due to the inability to buy seeds for future crops. Government regulations, which prohibit hoarding of seeds for future crops, are never heeded by influential zamindars. india boasts of its forces, including Special Forces trained in Colorado (USa), having bloodied the Chinese nose in the Ladakh confrontation. it talks of having trained ferocious dogs to smell out Chinese nocturnal intruders. But, unabated suicides in indian armed forces reflect its sagging morale. a Sepoy, Prince Kumar, 25, killed himself at Chinar camp in Rehambal, Udhampur (iHK) with his service rifle on January 17. He was a resident of Hoshiarpur in Punjab, posted in 112 Territorial army and was on guard duty. On 21 March 2019, a jawan, ajit Kumar from 187th Central Reserve Police Force Battalion, killed three of his colleagues─ a fragging, in military jargon─ and then himself.

One jawan commits suicide every third day.

Some politicians, including Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav has publicly taunted indian prime minister narendra Modi with this. in 2018, there were 8, 16 and 83 suicide cases in the three forces’. in 2017, the number of suicide cases was 5, 21 and 77 in navy, air Force and army, respectively. Between 2011 and 2018, there were 891 deaths by suicide of members of the indian armed forces. it was reported in 2018, that `More indian soldiers killed by themselves than by enemie over the period 2001-20, suicides and fragging remained unabated among forces.

Even over 40 per cent of women, rarely deputed for combat duty, in paramilitary forces, committed suicide. it was baffling that the women’s suicides took place often at peace stations. Over 40 percent of women in paramilitary forces commit suicide, despite never having to face combat duty. india’s national Crime Records Bureau data shows that women only constitute 2 per cent of all central paramilitary personnel. However, they account for more than 40 percent of the suicides. Suicide rate for women in these forces is 396.9 per lakh compared to just 11.2 per lakh for men. There is clear evidence to suggest that women are more stress-prone than men. Gen Bipen Rawat, then india’s army chief, publicly taunted women for their unsuitability for quasi-military duty.

Home Ministry data, confirmed the number of jawans belonging to regular as well as paramilitary forces who committed suicides is more than those killed in action.

Why morale is sagging? The real malaise is discrimination between jawan and officers. The segregation prevails not only during service but also

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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Moreover, her clothes should be taken into custody. She must be treated with empathy to get herself ready for cooperation with medical officers and police. Her parents and guardian must not delay in registering and reporting the matter to the police because after three days the possibility of semen detection might not be possible. However, thanks to the honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan that has held, in many cases of rape, that lack of dna-test-report alone is not sufficient if the case is otherwise proved beyond the shadow of doubt. The male accused should also be passed through a potency test. and lastly, the outdated, medieval, disgraceful, immoral, Two-Finger-Test must be replaced with medically equipped modern scientific procedures and methods.

Secondly, with regards to learned professional trial lawyers. advocacy is one of the sacred professions. “Wakeel” is one of the beautiful names of God. it means the trustee, the disposer of affairs. What trust is it? if truth be told, it is a two-way trust: primarily, one towards God who gives us the knowledge to do justice, as it is written in Surah al-Baqara, verse no.

32 “they said, Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us; indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise”; thereafter towards his client, to prepare, to present, and to assist the court in humble, gentle and diligent manners. Lastly, if the lawyer knows that the accused did the crime as alleged and he is the real offender, he must refuse to take his case. Because as it opined by God in Surah al-imran, verse no. 110 “You are the best nation produced (as an example) for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in allah (SWT)”.

Thirdly, with regards to learned trial courts. a court is a place of hope. Where the miserable comes, in the hope of having justice. Justice is another name of feelings. it cannot be seen, rather it must seem to be done. a normal prudent mind can tell in particular circumstances whether justice has been done or not.

Then expectations from a judge naturally would be high as compared to him. a judge must have all laws on the sleeves of his robes. His primary duty is to ac-

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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after retirement. The forces provide dreary toilets, kitchens and messes to jawan as against exotic facilities for officers. a famous club `Colaba MumbaiUnited Services Club used to display a sign-board at its gate “SaiLORS and dOGS nOT aLLOWEd inSidE”. Officers earn hefty commissions in military purchases (BOFOR guns, Rafale aircraft, aS400 defence system, etc). india’s neighbours China and akistan are nuclear powers. So, colossal expenditure on conventional weapons by india is not understood. nuclear deterrence does not mean matching bomb for bomb. nuclear victory would at best be pyrrhic.

Here is a bird’s-eye view of her acquisitions. Procurement of 36 Rafales and 12 Su-30 MKi aircraft and 21 MiG-29. Upgrading existing MiG-29 aircraft.

The MiG-29 procurement and upgradation from Russia will cost Rs. 7,418 crores. Producing the Su-30 MKi at the Hindustan aeronautics Limited will cost Rs. 10,730 crores. india’s `defence acquisition Council approved arms procurement projects worth $5.55 billion, including domestic efforts worth $.4.44 billion. The inventory includes Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, upgrading BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles; software-defined radios; nirbhay land-attack cruise missiles, astra beyond-visual-range missiles, Excalibur artillery rounds for M777 ultralight howitzers (USa), igla-S air defense systems (Russia), Spike anti-tank guided missiles (israel), 100 modified K-9 Vajra 155 mm/52 caliber self-propelled tracked howitzers (South Korea), S-400 Missile air defense System (Russia), and Rafale fighter jets (France). impending collapse: india is heading for a recession, widespread unemployment, fall in growth rate, and fall in purchasing power and demand, industrial production, and so on. The central government’s fiscal deficit will rise to about 5.1per cent of Gross domestic Product in fiscal 2021, with considerable upside risk depending on the quantum of forthcoming fiscal support. in contrast with military spending, india earmarked $260 billion in coronavirus relief measures. india can hoodwink its own people but not the world. it is now number two in terms of COVid 19 infections, overtaking Brazil and just behind the USa. it should allocate its meagre resources for people’s welfare instead of frittering them away on military purchases.

Amjed Jaaved is a freelance journalist, has served in the Pakistan government for 39 years and holds degrees in economics, business administration, and law.

He can be reached at amjedjaaved@gmail.com.

quaint himself with updated knowledge of the law.

Failure of a counsel to properly assist the court should not be an excuse for him. Then his second duty is to apply the law properly. He must not be swayed away from it by surmises, presumptions, feelings, rather he must follow the law and law alone. in rape cases, he must understand the facts, the victim, and must have a check and balance on the police officers during investigation, on lawyers during examination and crossexamination, and others during court-proceedings from making harassment and undue annoyance to the victim. He must be neutral and must be conscious all the time. as he is the guardian, not only of the victim’s rights, but also those of the accused person.

Fourthly, with regards to the legislators. Legislation is the duty of legislators. They are being voted and paid to do legislation primarily. But here it is deeply sorrowful and regretful that the Pakistan Penal Code was originally prepared by Lord Macaulay in 1860 as the indian Penal Code and after independence, we adopted it with the same definitions, objects, and offences mentioned therein. The same is with the case of procedural law: The Pakistan Criminal Procedure Code was romulgated in 1898. it is 2020. The whole world has changed, except the laws. The nature, mode, and manner of crime have been changed, except the laws. The purpose, object, and effects of crime have been changed, except the laws. Regretful, is it not?

To conclude, Rape being an offence is really a reprehensible, deplorable, despicable, extremely repugnant, and totally unforgivable, indefensible, and outrageous act. and after seeing, again and again, horrible incidents in this country, it has become a norm to blame each other: the investigating agency blames the lawyers; the lawyers blame the investigating agency and legislators; the legislators blame the courts, and courts again blame the investigating agency for poor collection of evidence.

Be that as it may, all of them are collectively responsible.

So, stop blaming each other. Start supporting each other to not let scot-free these sinners who brought shame for all of us. The sooner the above terse responsibilities acceded by each, the better it is for the safety and lives of the citizens of this country.

Hafiz Muhammad Azeem is an advocate of the high court and writes on various topics. He can be reached at Khokhar.azeem@yahoo.com. His articles can be accessed on hmazeem.blospot.com. He holds an LL.M. from the Punjab University and teaches law.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Wednesday, 16 September, 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

A cultural problem THE recent surge in rape cases is evident of something fundamentally wrong prevalent in our society that we cannot seem to pin point as a nation. The population of this country consists of 49% women and 32% children and yet these are the ones suffering the most. This makes us realise that ‘minority’ does not imply the number of the group, but the autonimy and practicable rights they have.

So why is it when women march to ask for their rights, half the country is riled up under the pretence of haya. But when a woman is raped, infront of her 2 children, all we get is victim blaming from authority figures. This whole rape culture starts from the lack of culmination of emphatic values in an individual which is society’s and guardians responsibility to teach you. in the past two days another student has come forward with her story where she had been harassed by a boy named ibsham. ibsham is 18, however he’s been harassing the girl and her sister since 2016, when he was only 14. despite being notorious for his anger issues, and being diagnosed with emotional disorders, he had access to heavy weapons in his home. That speaks a lot about the upbringing we do. The hashtag #ibshambehindthebars has been trending all over the social media. Since the girl also revealed she had filed FiR and gone to the court to no avail, she was scared for her life her family’s life after the Motorway Case, and didn’t want to wait for another officer to make excuses on her abusers behalf. This again points towards a desperate need of systematic reforms. But how many more daughters, mothers, and sister would we have to present to the monster for it to happen?

Sakina Rizvi kaRachi

Hit and run MPA

Back to square one The intra-Afghan talks have failed, which none can afford

mAlik muHAmmAd AsHrAf

T

HE intra-afghan dialogue which was inaugurated in doha on august 12 after protracted efforts by all the stakeholders, particularly by Pakistan, designed to find an afghan-led and afghan owned solution to the conflict in afghanistan, has failed to make any progress. Reportedly a serious deadlock has emerged between the negotiating sides as both did not show flexibility in their respective stances. Consequently the peace plan has been cancelled over deadlock on the mode of punishments for different crimes.

Taliban deputy leader Mullah abdul Ghani Baradar was quoted as saying “Both sides have failed to agree to the deal, or even negotiating because we could not agree on the middle ground between stoning people to death─ which we were never going to compromise on anyway─ and not stoning people to death.”

The hopes for an end to the conflict in afghanistan expressed by the regional powers and the world community on the eve of the inaugural ceremony of the dialogue have dashed to the ground. We are back to square one. Reportedly the US Special Representative for afghanistan Reconciliation, ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, is flying to Pakistan to hold discussions over the strategy for resumption of talks. all those countries, including Pakistan, which have been striving to bring the two sides to the negotiating table in the hope of finding a durable peace in afghanistan, owned and supported by all segments of afghan society, would feel dismayed over this inauspicious development.

On the eve of the commencement of the talks, akistani Prime Minister imran Khan, in a statement, while welcoming the commencement of intra-afghan dialogue, had said, “Finally our combined efforts have brought forth the day that the afghan people have been yearning for.

Through relentless efforts Pakistan has played a pivotal role in facilitating the afghan peace process to this juncture. it is now for the afghan leaders to seize this historic opportunity to work together constructively and secure an inclusive,

broad-based and comprehensive political settle- on imposing their own thinking on the other ment. Successful culmination of the afghan-led side, will lead to frittering away the chance to and afghan owned peace and reconciliation find peace that has come their way through reprocess is indispensable for afghanistan and for lentless efforts of the international community and Pakistan. regional peace, stability and prosperity.” it is a now-or-never opportunity both for the it is an irrefutable reality that among the regional countries, Pakistan undoubtedly has the Taliban and the afghan government to end the highest stake in peace in afghanistan. Pakistan’s conflict and give the peace to their people which support to an afghan-led and afghan-owned so- they deserve. if they fail to capitalize on this oplution of the conflict in afghanistan is dictated portunity, there is a danger that the country by her own strategic, security and economic in- would relapse into a never-ending internecine terests, as well as its innate desire for peaceful conflict and may never be able to find peace. co-existence with her neighbours. That is why it Both the Taliban and the afghan government made such relentless efforts for the commence- have to give serious thought to the likely consement of the dialogue between the USa and the quences of their failure to agree on the political Taliban, eventually paving the way for the much future of afghanistan. in this regard few would tend to differ with needed intra-afghan negotiations. it is pertinent to mention that Pakistan has not only been in akistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s reiteration contact with the afghan that all the afghan Taliban, but also with stakeholders must seize the afghan governthis historic opportument, to iron out muPakistan along with all the nity to secure an inclutual differences and sive, broad-based and urging upon it the desirstakeholders would remain comprehensive negotiability of peace in the ated political solution. interest of afghanistan engaged in having both the He rightly emphasized and the whole region.

The peace agreeparties agree on resumption that there was no military solution to the conment between the USa of the suspended talks. flict in afghanistan and and the Taliban had inthat political settlement deed created a historic However in view of the was the only way foropportunity to bring peace to strife-torn stalemate that has emerged, ward. While calling for the implementation of afghanistan after two it is really not possible to the Peace agreement in decades. The onus was entirety, he also re-afshifted to the afghan predict how long it would firmed that Pakistan leaders to grab it and turn it into a springtake to convince both parties would continue to support an afghan-led and board for future peace for re-engagement in the afghan-owned peace and tranquility. as they for durable say, there is many a dialogue with a positive and process peace, stability and slip betwixt the cup prosperity in the region and the lip, so it was flexible attitude, more so the and beyond. Pakistan not expected to be an and afghanistan have easy undertaking to Taliban who seemingly are historic, cultural and reagree on the future ponot prepared to concede ligious affinities and it litical arrangement in was the result of the afghanistan due to the anything on their stance fellow-feeling for their existence of conflicting interests within the regarding future structure of afghan brothers that it has been hosting the country as well in the governance in the country afghan refugees on its regional environment. soil for the last four it was expected to test decades. the political acumen, Pakistan along foresight and unwavering commitment on both sides to achieve the with all the stakeholders would remain endesired objective. For now at least they have gaged in having both the parties agree on refailed to come up to the mark, have left the task sumption of the suspended talks. However in view of the stalemate that has emerged, it is incomplete. in spite of both sides having expressed their really not possible to predict how long it commitment to finding a workable solution to would take to convince both parties for re-enthe conflict, they have failed to find a common gagement in the dialogue with a positive and ground to have the process of negotiations flexible attitude, more so the Taliban who going, which is a basic element in ensuring con- seemingly are not prepared to concede anytinuity of the dialogue and finding a negotiated thing on their stance regarding future structure settlement. Lack of flexibility on the part of the of governance in the country.

Taliban leadership is really regrettable. They Malik Muhammad Ashraf is an academic. must realize that the people of afghanistan deserve peace. Their rigidity, and their insistence He can be contacted at: ashpak10@gmail.com

On 24 June 2017 achakzai was arrested because of a hit and run case where a traffic police warden was killed. Following the incident, achakzai had appeared on some TV channels and attempted to provide some justifications.

He had admitted to driving the vehicle when the accident took place. The CCTV footage are also present. However, lately on 4 September, 2020, achakzai was acquitted by a local Balochistan court over insufficient evidence. “Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”( Oliver Goldsmith). Our laws are just designed for poors. Laws engulf the poors and rich engulfs the laws. These laws are made by people in power and most of the time broke by them. Law must be equal for everyone. Without knowing the significant of every individual our country will never develop. afRoz MJ TuRbaT

Reforming religious seminaries iSLaM is the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity. The contemporary Muslim considers that islam only falls within the jurisdiction of ulemas and Madrasa students. However, islam has its own socialpolitical economical structure which means islam is the religion which has a wider domain. it has been said that marriage completes the Eman of Muslims. it means Muslims have to actively perform not only their religious duties but also the functions assigned to them by the society such as (Haqooq ul bad. (The Rights of the people). But unfortunately, in Pakistan islam is limited within Mosques. Why can’t a Madrasa student be a soft engineer or a political activist? There is no other option left for them except to pursue their career in seminaries where the pay of the Hafiz and aalmm is very low. Comparatively the students of universities after passing out from the institutes have multiple options to go. The is an undeniable fact that the religious scholars and ulemas performed their functions with respect to the maintenance and rules and regulations of Madrasa very well and without the financial support of the Pakistan Government. The state has its primary duty to consider students of seminaries as their citizens provide them opportunities in every field. Students of Madaris can play a crucial in every issue of Pakistan which can easily be solved by them such as population bomb and portraying the rights and duties of Muslims because every class of Pakistani society respectfully follow their teachings. There is a dire need for Madras reforms so that every individual of Madras can play his due role in the social-economic political development of the county.

LiaqaT huSSain LahoRE

Selling education EdUCaTiOn is about learning skills and knowledge. it also means helping people to learn how to do things and support them to think about what they learn. But unfortunately in Pakistan people are selling education.as the private institutions are demanding for fees for the months in which the students have not seen the face of school.and the rate of fees is very much high that a common person can’t teach or admit their kids in private schoolsOn the other hand, we can take the example of BMC university. Where the fees was above one lack. it came down know by the protest and the struggles of the students.They are suffering a lot due to high level of fees and the institute is with no facilities.Yet they are on a hunger protest and many people are face many hurdles. 5 people have faced death in which 2 where the students and 3 were the employees of BMC. and many are serious and shifted to the hospitals. Why the government is paly with our lives? Why the government is so careless? aren’t we human?

MEhJabEEn MuniR TuRbaT

Alcohol consumption in youth YOUTH in Pakistan are the most affected by drugs and alcohol and the numbers of addicts are increasing at rate of 40,000 per year. due to such a high rate of alcoholics, our country can be the most alcoholic country in the world. On the other hand, they are destroying their lives, society country as well making their family in trouble. While the most disturbing fact is that majority of heroin addicts are under age of 24. They drink alcohol as a part of fashion and on occasions but sadly they don’t have any idea this act be the cause of their death. i humbly request them to stop using these things and also government should ban such bad things.

MaRYaM SaJJaD TuRbaT

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

The problem wiTh sofT power THE SOFT POWER 30 PROJECT RANKED THE UNITED STATES FIFTH GLOBALLY IN 2019, ITS LOWEST POSITION SINCE THE PROJECT BEGAN

Foreign Policy research institute

i

Margaret SeyMour

nternational relations is going soft, with countries from india to Qatar to turkey opting for soft power persuasion over hard power pressure. Soft power collectively refers to the tools in a nation-state’s arsenal that do not punish, reward, or threaten other actors into preferred behavior. it stands in direct contrast to hard power, that is, the tools which do serve as sticks and carrots in international relations. Soft power, for example, includes cultural exchanges and public diplomacy initiatives to help shape behavior, while hard power might explicitly promise trade incentives, threaten economic sanctions, or military action. While the concept was first coined three decades ago by scholar Joseph nye, soft power has been practiced by nation-states for centuries. Still, it has yet to gain the same credibility or accolades as its hard power counterpart in the national security space. in fact, U.S. soft power, by some measures, is in decline. the Soft Power 30 project ranked the United States fifth globally in 2019, its lowest position since the project began. internally, this decline mirrors the differences in the budgetary allowances of the Department of Defense (hard power) and Department of State (soft power) for the last two decades. While some of this disparity could be attributed to the inherent cost differential of the two approaches—a Pr campaign costs less than an air power campaign—the increasingly large difference between the two accounts is indicative of a U.S. overreliance on hard power.

Considering soft power’s relatively low-risk and low-cost nature, in combination with the castrated successes of military campaigns since 2000, we’re left asking the obvious question: Why hasn’t the United States shifted to a foreign policy approach that incorporates more soft power approaches in lieu of continued bloated hard power initiatives?

DEVELOPING SOFT POWER APPROACHES IS COMPLEX Soft power approaches are targeted to-

ward human beings with all their individualistic complexity. With hard power approaches, planners are provided with straightforward intermediate targets, buildings, bomb depots, and bank accounts. Concrete in iraq is more or less the same as it is on bombing ranges in the United States and thus reacts similarly to various firing solutions. on the contrary, preferences, beliefs, and societal norms are influenced by any number of factors, meaning the residents of a village outside of nairobi are likely to react very differently to the same messaging as suburban-dwellers outside of Chicago. this dynamism necessitates a great deal of expertise, interagency coordination, and crossdisciplinary approaches. take the Shared Values initiative (SVi), a soft power campaign designed to increase pro-american sentiments across the Muslim world in late 2002. led by advertising executive Charlotte Beers, the idea was to show Muslims abroad that islam and american culture were not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually supporting. in her development of a complex campaign aimed to “sell” the United States abroad, Undersecretary Beers failed to sell the concept to U.S. diplomats despite support from thenSecretary of State Colin Powell. in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, policymakers and the public were seeking straightforward, swift solutions, not complex and time-consuming public opinion initiatives. another part of this challenge stemmed from a culture throughout the Department of State that advertising work was both ineffective and less noble than the esteemed profession of diplomacy, often equating advertising to propaganda. “You can’t sell Uncle Sam like you sell Uncle Ben’s,” was a common critique—a critique that alludes to the complexity of soft power campaigns while also dismissing an interdisciplinary approach that this very complexity requires.

SVi was cancelled after its initial run and largely considered a failure by its critics. Charlotte Beers departed shortly after the campaign was cancelled, citing health reasons. Champions of the policy argue it was never truly given a chance and was cancelled prematurely, in part because of the second flaw of soft power.

THE DIFFICULTIES IN MEASURING OPERATIONAL SUCCESSES Soft power is hard to quantify, and thus it is hard to measure its success. Hard power, focused more on measurable resources (money, soldiers, bullets), is a straightforward counting game, and so are the results of its applications. Soft power aims to change attitudes, which is a hard “thing” to which to assign a number or

level.

Using targeting as an example, the joint targeting process includes two evaluative concepts—measures of performance (MoP) and measures of effectiveness (Moe). the former, MoPs, measures how friendly forces are completing targeting tasks and asks planners “are we doing things right?” the latter, Moes, measures the impact of those actions and asks, “are we doing the right things?” Using these concepts in an operational military environment, targeteers and intelligence analysis can track the progress of campaigns and ensure that friendly forces are striking the right targets with the right weaponry to have the pre-determined effects.

Still, the effects of soft power are tangible—and can be measured. the successes of the Cold War cultural exchanges serve as one example with the longstanding and respected Fulbright scholarship program as a second. Graduate student exchanges, as part of the U.S. Cold War policy, had two important effects. First, it grew a body of U.S. students with knowledge and understanding of the Soviet Union during a time when much of U.S. policy was based on conjecture and fear. Second, on the Soviet side, it grew a body of russian scholars who understood how far behind their communist country was and allowed them to discern between truth and governmentsponsored domestic propaganda. likewise, Fulbright scholars studying in locations around the world routinely return to their home countries only to reinvest their knowledge and build on their experiences—further fostering global understanding and diplomacy.

Because soft power is not confined to the domain of the U.S. government, with public and private industries contributing to U.S. influence abroad, the effects of soft power can be seen in other ways. take the role of the english language in the netherlands as an illustration. Upwards of 93% of residents in the netherlands speak english; much of this trend can be attributed to the dominance of american film and textbooks coupled with the relatively small size of the Dutch population.

Quantifying the successes of soft power can work, but the process becomes much more of a qualitative over quantitative exercise. it is much easier to calculate the destruction of a training compound or to count enemy dead than it is to track proU.S. sentiments in a key village. Part of this problem is a sense of time—feedback from a bombing or freezing of a key group’s assets (hard power approaches) is near real time. Calculating anti-U.S. sentiment (soft

power metric) throughout a region is not. this soft power feedback is hamstrung by time in two non-concurrent ways. First, analysts need time to allow preferences to change, and second, they need time to collect new data. the shift in language in the netherlands, for example, took years to manifest fully. the effects of the cultural exchanges were not apparent or public until after the iron Curtain had fallen. one of the most comprehensive reviews of soft power, developed and conducted by Portland and USC Center on Public Diplomacy, was first released five years ago and is compiled once a year. Battle damage assessments, on the other hand, are often released to the public in near real time, as evidenced in President Donald trump’s order to attack Shayrat air Base in Syria in april 2017. the strike was immediately followed by an announcement to the american public. President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission accomplished” speech also stands as an example of the simplicity of success when it comes to hard power, regardless of its premature nature. it was relatively easy to convince the american public that U.S. efforts in iraq were not only complete, but also successful based on the results of military action. the lessons of psychology and marketing tell us that simplicity sells, and selling is the most difficult challenge to soft power.

SELLING SOFT POWER SUCCESS IS HARD it is not that soft power has more complex strategic aims; changing human behavior should always be the goal of a foreign policy. the strategic aims of soft power are more transparent and more directly translated in the operational phases of execution. it is much more difficult to obfuscate strategic aims during a soft power initiative because the operational “targets” are often human behavior and attitudes and are not easily quantifiable.

U.S. foreign policy can be characterized, generally, as traditional and slow to change. this traditional approach has been long-centered on realist principles with the prioritization of hard power. even the department charged with “soft power” programs like diplomacy and cultural exchanges face their own internal organizational culture barriers. in the SVi, for example, State Department officials were very reluctant to accept an interdisciplinary approach from an advertising executive, disparaging Undersecretary Beers with comments on her dress and demeanor.

Moreover, this history of traditional approaches has been punctuated over the past three decades with periods of increased

“toughness” abroad, most notably in the Middle east. in short, the United States prioritizes toughness and traditional measures.

Soft power is doubly handicapped in this regard because, as mentioned above, it is new. it’s also not considered to be “tough.”

Years ago, when explaining soft power to a young Corporal in the Marine Corps, i presented two different types of leadership. the first included threats and rewards to push subordinates to perform required tasks: “take out the trash every day or get written up.” the second encouraged the same behavior by appealing to the subordinate, by setting the example and earning his/her respect resulting in the Marine taking the trash out because he/she wants to be seen as a team player and as a good Marine without explicit threats or rewards. When asked which form was more effective and generally preferable, the Corporal immediately favored the latter. “that’s soft power,” i replied. “no, i still don’t like it. it’s soft, and leaders aren’t soft,” he retorted. While this could be dismissed as a singular incident not indicative of a larger trend, a glance at any political campaign will show you that policymakers don’t win elections on being “soft.”

While critics rightly point out the limitations of soft power, many critiques fall flat. eric li, a Shanghai-based venture capitalist and social scientist, argues that countries overestimated their soft power capabilities since the end of the Cold War. that’s not a criticism of soft power itself, but rather an indictment of an over- or misreliance on it. the crux of li’s argument isn’t against the utility of soft power, but rather its overall presence, or lack thereof. other scholars beholden to the realist school of international relations are resistant to even considering the potential effectiveness of soft power because much of soft power is reliant on non-state actors, actors deemed irrelevant by the tenets of realism.

Ultimately, most critics simply believe soft power doesn’t work in international relations, but offer little concrete evidence to support these assertions.

Soft power has real limitations, and there are real challenges to its effective use in international politics. However, these challenges are not so much a reflection of soft power’s utility, but rather its political desirability, none of which challengse its validity or effectiveness. all policy is politics, and if the United States seeks to redefine and reshape foreign policy in a post-pandemic world, policymakers must first recognize and be willing to take the political risk in order to avoid the unnecessary risks associated with a one-dimensional hard power dominant foreign policy.

As an active duty intelligence officer with the US Marine Corps, Seymour successfully completed three tours overseas.

We must ask tough questions about Facebook’s role BUT PROBLEM OF FREEDOM, CIVILITY, CENSORSHIP GOES DEEPER

indian exPress PrataPBhanu Mehta

Facebook is rightly coming under scrutiny for the way it regulates speech. the complaints against Facebook are: Political partisanship, not being attentive enough to hate speech and fake news, opaque algorithms that direct users to particular kinds of content, inadequate privacy controls, and inordinate and unaccountable power to shape public discourse. these complaints take on an even sharper edge when there is a perception, as reported by the Wall Street Journal story, that key functionaries of Facebook might have views that blatantly support a political party.

But while we hold Facebook accountable, we should be under no illusion that there any are easy solutions to the challenges posed by Facebook. We are in the midst of a

revolution akin to the printing revolution of the 14th and 15th centuries, and later what Benedict anderson called print capitalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Both empowered masses of people, enabled new forms of knowledge and transformed the Self. they allowed the creation of new community identities like nationalism. But they also enabled new forms of hate to emerge and consolidate as political forces. We are in the midst of a similar transformation.

But as we use existing legal provisions to hold companies like Facebook to account, it is important to not miss the forest for the trees. one of the reasons Facebook is in trouble is because the political views of its key officials were clearly apparent. But here is the challenge. Facebook now might be a private company in form, but it is close to a public utility in function. it has also taken on the role of a free speech regulator. traditionally, these are roles carried out by government. and in order to be seen to be neutral, government officials, like bureaucrats and judges, had to project political impartiality. often this meant rules and codes of conduct that apply to bureaucrats and judges. even many private companies will have such codes. Sometimes these are clampdowns on free speech. But on other occasions, they can stem from a legitimate concern that private views, if publicly disseminated, detract from the credibility of a

role. Where this should be a legitimate concern can only be determined by looking at the function of an institution. But one of the remarkable developments of the last few years has been the complete fusion of social media, private and public roles.

While the stated political partisanship of Facebook officials is coming under scrutiny, the irony is that the manifest political partisanship of public officials is going unchallenged. it is, for instance, remarkable how many serving iaS officers now don’t just disseminate government schemes, but openly violate norms of civil service neutrality, without repercussions. even in official circles, where non-partisanship was appropriate, the norm has been eroded. So why pretend to be surprised if it is eroded in companies currying government favour? the deeper question is this: is the price of maintaining consistent credibility a forbearance that allows one to maintain a strict boundary between the public role and private or political views. Can this separation be made in an age where literally the boundary between public and private is breached every time you tweet or post? the second issue is one of censorship.

Predictably, both the Congress and BJP are claiming to be victim of Facebook’s censorship policy. But the truth is this: Censorship, whether public or private, will always invite charges of partisanship. in fact, in the mod-

ern age, unless you build a Chinese firewall, it is probably hard to censor, things get disseminated one way or the other. in some instances, people almost court censorship, because the point is to draw attention through inviting censorship or getting political mileage out of playing victim. But here is the dilemma: Freedom of expression is easy to institutionalise when speech is, as it were, safe. Where it leads to incitement, violence, attacks on group identity, or awful forms of subordination, people’s convictions about defending free speech fade. the way in which we pretended speech was safe was by making a bunch of distinctions. there is a distinction between speech and action.

Whether or not speech or an incitement is a function of context and so forth. in some sense, social media makes these distinctions difficult to maintain. the distinction between speech and action has become harder in an age where speech goes viral with unpredictable effects. one of the features of social media is that it de-contextualises and re-contextualises speech. Content that seems within the bounds of safety in a particular context, can have vile implications in another. So let us be under no illusions, censorship will not only remain, but get even more deeply politicised, no matter who does the censoring. there is also the incongruous question of how much authority to censor we want to grant private and relatively unaccountable entities like Facebook? Many politicians, from Donald trump to Kapil Mishra, engage in speech that might be construed to be

harmful. But the honest truth is that liberals should equally worry about the fact that we are giving private companies authority to potentially censor or redirect the speech of elected officials. this will most likely rebound in a democratic backlash against free speech, more than it will cleanse the system of hateful speech. there is the elephant in the room: the business models. Facebook invites attention because of its great power, which needs to be regulated. But it is not clear that lots of competition is going to solve concerns about partisanship and censorship in social media.

For even with competition the business models will be driven by two logics. the first is the blurring of the distinction between public and private. Social media cannot profit unless everything private becomes public. this business model is not just true of social media; it is nauseatingly true of television.

But liberal freedoms are premised on a distinction between the public and the private which all contemporary models undermine, with our willing connivance. the second is whether, in some sense, hate pays. is it the case that hate and polarisation are now things that we find vicariously thrilling, and companies will cash on it?

So while we need to ask tough questions about Facebook’s role, let us not pretend that all we are doing is enacting a performance. resisting Facebook’s power will require a more radical withdrawal from a logic of profit that blurs the boundary between public and private, without which no freedom and civility is possible.

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

BUSINESS 09

corporate corner

ADB PreDiCtS eConoMiC reCovery for PAKiStAn AS CoviD CASeS DroP

A

ISLAMABAD: Descon Engineering Limited (Pakistan & overseas) recently conducted its first CEO Communication Session for the fiscal year 2020-21, bringing together employees and key stakeholders of the company. The event was opened by HR President Maqsood Ali, who further passed it on to the CEO Nadeem Bajwa. PRESS RElEASE

NEWS DESK

broad economic recovery in Pakistan is expected in the current fiscal year (from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) as the economic sentiment improves with the expected subsiding of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resumption of structural reforms, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released on Tuesday.

"Pakistan has achieved notable success in containing the dual health and economic challenge presented by Covid-19," said ADB Country Director for Pakistan Yang Xiaohong, adding that as the curve flattens and businesses activity resumes, the economy is showing signs of resilience and recovery.

THE BANK LAUDS PAKISTAN’S RESPONSE TO COVID-RELATED CHALLENGES, EXPECTS INFLATION TO DROP TO 7.5PC IN FY21 “The government’s rapid mobilization of Rs1.2 trillion relief package, comprising emergency financial support to daily wage earners, cash transfers to low-income families, accelerated procurement of wheat, support for health and food supplies, and financial support for small and medium enterprises helped shield the poor and most vulnerable during the pandemic,” the country director said. “ADB remains committed to supporting Pakistan through this difficult period and helping the country get back on the path to growth.”

In its Asian Development Outlook

2020 Update, the ADB revised the 2020 growth forecast for Pakistan to -0.4 per cent and for 2021 to 2.0 per cent. In April this year, the ADB had forecast Pakistan to grow 2.6pc this year and 3.2pc next year.

The report said that Covid-19 severely impacted the country's economic activity in 2020, erasing gains achieved in the first half of FY20.

The suspension of travel and the closure of nonessential businesses induced concurrent demand and supply shocks.

Rising food prices pushed inflation from 6.8 per cent in FY2019 to 10.7 per

Big industry expands 5.05pc YoY in July ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT KARACHI: TPL Life has partnered with The Health Bank (THB), a global health management company headquartered in Singapore, offering excellence in healthcare services using technology and innovation. PRESS RElEASE

KARACHI: Ufone employees have moved to a new modern office in Karachi. Group CHRO Syed Mazhar Hussain inaugurated the office and addressed the employees. PRESS RElEASE

The Large-scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) production grew by 5.02pc on a year-onyear basis during the first month (July) of the current fiscal year (FY21) as compared to the corresponding month of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Tuesday.

The LSMI Quantum Index Number (QIM) was recorded at 134.14 points in July 2020, against 127.73 points in July 2019.

The highest increase of 2.25 per cent was witnessed in indices monitored by the Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.77pc increase in indices monitored by the Provincial Board of Statistics and 1pc increase in the products surveyed by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC).

On a month-on-month basis, the industrial growth witnessed an increase of 9.54pc in July 2020 when compared with the indices of June 2020.

The major sectors that showed growth during the period under review included textile (1.66pc), food, beverages and tobacco (21.73pc), coke and petroleum products (18.34pc), pharmaceuticals (19.20pc), chemicals (0.19pc), non-metallic mineral products (29.01pc) and paper and board (5.04pc).

On the other hand, the LSM industries that witnessed negative growth included automobile (23.31pc), iron and steel products (11.13pc), fertilizers (5.06pc), electronics (33.31pc), leather

products (35.95pc), engineering products (32.60pc), rubber products (15pc) and wood products (18.63).

It is pertinent to mention that the provisional QIM is being computed on the basis of the latest production data received from sources, including Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) and Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBoS).

OUTCOME OF ‘COVID CONTROL MEASURES’: Pakistan's planning minister said Tuesday the government's ability to control the Covid-19 pandemic "early" has benefited the country's economy in terms of growth in the large-scale manufacturing sector.

Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar termed the gain as a "dividend of controlling Covid early", which paid off Pakistan "on the economic side also, as V-shaped recovery gets confirmed".

"Large scale manufacturing numbers for July show more than 9pc growth over June and more than 5pc growth vs July 2019," Umar said in a Twitter post.

In a parallel development, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which, in June, had approved $500 million loan to Pakistan as part of the CARES Programme, said in a report released Tuesday that the country could see economic recovery in 2021 if Covid-19 subsided and structural reforms were resumed.

Rashakai SEZ to pave way for rapid industrialisation in Pakistan: BOI ISLAMABAD: Law enforcement agencies, whose duties bring them in close andfrequent contact with members of the public, are on high risks to the Covid-19 virus.

Tomitigate this risk, Hashoo Foundation handed over protection kits to Islamabad Traffic Police. PRESS RElEASE

ISLAMABAD: The Board of Investment (BOI) said on Tuesday that the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would pave a new way for modern industrialisation in Pakistan, besides bringing huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. Talking to APP, BOI Secretary Fareena Mazhar informed that Pakistan and China had recently signed a development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to promote the ease of doing business (EODB) in the country. “Through this milestone, the government intends to provide conducive business environment to investors so that FDI could be brought to the country,” she said. APP

estonian recruitment app meetFrank selects Pakistan as first asia office BABAR KHAN JAVED In a bid to disrupt the job discovery and recruitment aspect of talent acquisition in Pakistan, MeetFrank has launched opened its app for the fifth-most populous country of the world. As the first Asia office for the Estonian technology companies, the company spoke to Profit about its rationale for entering the emerging market.

“When selecting new markets for MeetFrank, we are evaluating the pool size for early adopters from the B2B side,” said Kaarel Holm, CEO of MeetFrank. “Based on our previous experience, one key component for early success is a strong and vibrant start-up community. Pakistan is becoming a start-up hub in the region and the start-up ecosystem growth is on exponential growth.”

He told Profit that these are the variables and factors which led MeetFrank to triple down on its investment and entry into Pakistan, adding that go to market for the Estonian technology company is based on marketplace size

and transactions. Holm told Profit that revenue is a byproduct of building exceptional products, adding that the key to success is to provide as much value to users as possible. As for targets, Holm expects his Pakistan country manager Aaqib Syed to acquire at least 500 to a thousand business customers.

In Pakistan, LinkedIn has 4.79 million users and averages around two thousand job postings a day which costs $495 for a 30-day listing, which means LinkedIn earns well over $1 million per month from Pakistan alone.

“User wise, we aim to attract 250k - 500k users within the next 12 months,” said Holm. “Historically, 70pc of our growth has been organic in all the markets. The rest of the 30pc is achieved through marketing activities.”

While the app is free for users looking for a job, Holm insists that this does not make the users the product, in that the business does not monetize its userbase through submitted data. The monetization solely depends on hiring organizations, much like LinkedIn, which pay to post their open positions

on the MeetFrank platform, which can be viewed on the web but accessed at a deeper level through the app.

Design thinking experts told Profit that a user’s inability to experience the service on the web may hamper the growth of MeetFrank in Pakistan, given that even LinkedIn offers a comparable web-based experience instead of pushing users to the app in its entirety. The web experience of MeetFrank does in fact feature Pakistan market insights which show that the company has 54 corporate customers and nearly ten thousand users, of which nearly 18pc are actively looking for work.

“At the moment we have 1 employee in Pakistan, who acts as a country manager,” said Holm. “Due to Covid-19, it is hard to predict what will be the headcount by December 2020. At the moment we have halted the team build-up in Pakistan until the situation becomes more clear and our people from HQ can travel to Pakistan.”

Holm told Profit that the initial plan was to have approximately ten to fifteen employees within the first six

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months, wherein local roles would have been for sales, support, and account management, which is similar to the hiring strategy of Joyy Inc and Jack of Digital.

“C19 has been a difficult time for most of the companies and it has affected us as well,” said Holm. “Our strategy has remained more or less the same with some added business lines.

We are now more heavily focused on remote hiring and positions and entered into freelance jobs a couple of months ago. The biggest effect probably related to the fact that we can not travel to our operating countries and this has made opening up new markets more challenging than before.”

According to data from Sensor Tower, MeetFrank has ranked in the top 100 apps in Pakistan within the business category for the Google Play Store since July 2020. The app enjoys a similar ranking on the Apple App Store.

The aforementioned database listing does not suggest that the Estonian technology company has similar capability competitors in either the top 100 list.

cent in FY2020, but inflation is expected to slow to 7.5pc in FY2021, the report added.

The current account deficit eased considerably as merchandise imports fell steeply due to containment disruptions, lower oil prices, and local currency depreciation.

The report said as inflationary pressures eased, the State Bank of Pakistan cut its policy rate by a cumulative 625 basis points from March to June 2020 to 7.0 per cent and introduced additional measures to support the economic recovery.

ADB further predicted that Pakistan's current account deficit is likely to remain contained at the equivalent of 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product in FY2021.

market daily Stocks end in red as investors continue to book profits KARACHI STAFF REPORT

In line with the previous session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw volatile activity on Tuesday, with the indices swaying in both directions before ending in the negative zone. Global equity markets, on the other hand, displayed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices headed north from the previous close; WTI crude price surging 1.91pc to $37.97 while Brent crude price increasing 1.85pc to $37.95. "The market opened on a positive note and maintained the momentum for the most part, but selling pressure in the final hour pushed the index down to the red," said a report issued by AHL Ltd. "Profit booking continued from the previous session; investors have generally been switching positions from stocks that have nearly doubled from their recent bottoms (cement) into stocks that have had muted performance (banks and oil marketing)."

MARKET SUMMARY: The benchmark KSE-100 Index swung in both directions on Tuesday, registering its intraday high at 42,831.01 (+299.70 points) and intraday low at 42,263.22 (-268.09 points). It ended lower by 184.89 points at 42,594.98. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 224.31 points to close at 67,600.74, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 73.20 points, settling at 30,159.46. The overall market volumes jumped from 509.52 million shares in the previous session to 662.80 million shares (+30pc).

Average traded value also increased by 28pc, from $87.5 million to $111.9 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -1.04pc) K-Electric Ltd (KEL +0.49pc) and Byco Petroleum Ltd (BYCO +4.19pc) topped the volume chart, exchanging 63.86 million, 54.04 million, and 42.62 million shares, respectively. Sectors that dragged the benchmark index to the red zone included banking (-64.20 points), fertiliser (50.98 points) and investment banking (-25.25 points).

Among the companies, Engro Corporation Ltd (ENGRO 39.12 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (DAWH -22.42 points) and United Bank Ltd (UBL -21.03 points) dented the index the most.

KMBL partners with United Autos for commercial financing ISLAMABAD: Khushhali Microfinance Bank Limited (KMBL) has signed an MOU with United Auto Industries (Pvt) Limited to facilitate Khushhali Microfinance Bank customers with 2 wheeled and 3 wheeled vehicles. Under the partnership, Khushhali Microfinance Bank customers will be able to get bikes and loaders on easy finance via Khushhali Sarsabz Karobar and Khushhali Sarmaya product lines. Bikes or two-wheeler financing will be offered to employees of existing partners with whom Khushhali Microfinance Bank already has an agreement, via Sarsabz Karobar. Whereas, loader or three-wheeler financing will be offered in the open market, via Khushhali Sarmaya. PRESS RElEASE

PepsiCo, WaterAid enable safe water access for 30,000 people KARACHI: The first phase of PepsiCo’s ‘Access to Safe Water Program’ has made safe water accessible to 30,000 people in Lahore. With the help of its on-ground partner WaterAid, a total of eight water filtration facilities have been rehabilitated. The intervention has focused on underserved urban settlements in Gulberg, Sultanke and Dhoop Sari. The filtration plants provide sustainable safe water to targeted communities including three schools.

20 water user committees have been formed to oversee the operation and maintenance of the water filtration plants. A female resident of Gulberg commented on the rehabilitated facility in the area, “The filtration plant in our area was not functional and for a long time I had to travel quite far to get water for myself and my children. I am happy that the plant is functional again.” PRESS RElEASE

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS Putin’s oPPonent navalny Posts Photo from hosPital, Plans to return to russia MOSCOW

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AGENCIES

USSIAN opposition politician Alexei Navalny shared a photograph from a Berlin hospital on Tuesday, sitting up in bed and surrounded by his family, and said he could now breathe independently following his poisoning last month.

The photo - the strongest evidence yet of Navalny’s advancing recovery since he fell violently sick in Siberia on Aug. 20 - was swiftly followed by confirmation from his press spokeswoman that he planned to return to Russia.

“Hi, this is Navalny. I miss you all,” he wrote in the caption to his Instagram followers. “I can still hardly do anything, but yesterday I could breathe all day on my own.

Actually on my own.”

Navalny, the leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell violently sick in

Siberia last month and was airlifted to Berlin.

Germany says laboratory tests in three countries have determined he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, and Western governments have demanded an explanation from Russia.

Moscow has called the accusations groundless. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Tuesday that Moscow was open to clearing up what happened to Navalny, but it needed access to information on his case from Germany.

He said Moscow did not understand why, if French and Swedish laboratories had been able to test his medical samples, Russia was not being given the same access.

The case has put further strain on relations between Russia and the West, already at a post-Cold War low since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the attempted poisoning of a former Russian double agent with the same Novichok nerve agent in England in 2018.

No other option but for Navalny to return to Russia, says spokeswoman German Chancellor Angela Merkel has faced calls to punish Russia by suspending work on a Nord Stream 2, a nearly completed pipeline bringing gas from Russia to Germany.

‘NO OTHER OPTIONS’: The photograph showed Navalny sitting up in bed and looking towards the camera, with his wife Yulia supporting him with her arms and their two children looking on.

The New York Times on Tuesday quoted a German security official as saying Navalny had spoken to a German prosecutor about the attempt on his life and said he planned to return to Russia as soon as he recovered.

Confirming the report, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter: “No other options were ever considered.”

Peskov had said earlier on Tuesday: “Any citizen of the Russian Federation is free to leave Russia and return to Russia. If

Trump and Biden clash over US wildfires as campaign turns to climate change Joe Biden branded President Donald Trump a “climate arsonist” on Monday for refusing to acknowledge global warming’s role in deadly wildfires sweeping the western United States, while Trump blamed lax forestry and declared, “I don’t think science knows.”

Dozens of conflagrations have raged with unprecedented scope across some 4.5 million acres (1.8 million hectares) in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, laying waste to several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 36 people.

The fires also have filled the region’s air with harmful levels of smoke and soot, bathing skies in eerie tones of orange and sepia while adding to a public health crisis already posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ten deaths have been confirmed during the past week in Oregon, the latest flashpoint in a larger summer outbreak of fires accompanied by catastrophic lightning storms, record-breaking heat waves and bouts of extreme winds.

Those incendiary conditions gave way over the weekend to cooler, moister weather and calmer winds, enabling weary firefighters to gain ground in efforts to outflank blazes that had burned largely unchecked last week.

Fire managers cautioned that the battle was hardly over. Thunderstorms forecast for later in the week could bring much-needed rain but also more lightning. Officials also braced for a rise in the death toll.

As disaster teams scoured the ruins of dwellings engulfed by flames amid chaotic

evacuations last week, Oregon’s emergency management authorities said they had yet to account for 22 people reported missing in the fires.

At least 25 people have perished in California wildfires since mid-August, and one fatality has been confirmed in Washington state.

More than 6,200 homes and other structures have been lost, according to figures from all three states.

FIRES FOCUS CAMPAIGN ON CLIMATE: Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee slammed by Republicans for not visiting disaster areas, spoke from his home state of Delaware on the threat of increasingly frequent weather extremes that scientists have pointed to as evidence that climate change is supercharging the fires. AGENCIES

Oil markets to remain fragile for rest of 2020: IEA PARIS AGENCIES

Oil markets are set to remain “even more fragile” for the rest of the year as Covid-19 infections increase globally, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly market report. The Paris-based agency expects demand to fall even further by 8.4 million barrels per day in 2020, compared to its earlier estimate of 8.1m bpd. The revised projections are a result of “continued teleworking and weak aviation sector”. Covid-19 cases are nearing the 30 million mark globally, with 933,150 deaths as of Tuesday, according to Worldometers, which tracks the pandemic. The IEA also slashed its demand estimates for the third and fourth quarters of 2020 by 100,000 bpd and 600,000 bpd, respectively. The agency expects demand growth for 2021 at 5.5m bpd. China is expected to “recover strongly” while India, a key driver for oil demand is showing renewed weakness.

The South Asian country has the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases globally, with infections nearing 5 million, with more than 80,000 deaths.

Opec on Monday cut its oil demand projection by a further 400,000 bpd for this year, despite a pick-up in consumption from OECD countries. Oil demand is expected to decline by 9.5m bpd, resulting in overall demand of 90.2m bpd this year, according to the exporters’ group. "The uncertainty created by Covid-19 shows little sign of abating,” the IEA said. “In various places, the situation is worrying and we are seeing localised lockdowns. These developments weigh heavily on economic activity and lead to lower expectations for a recovery in energy demand.” Demand during seven months between January and July averaged 10.5m bpd below the levels seen last year. The initial pick-up in demand from the easing of lockdowns has flattened as Covid-19 infections surge in many places. "India has seen a continued upsurge in Covid-19 cases, contributing in August to the biggest month-on-month fall of oil demand there since April,” the IEA said. The agency also revised oil demand growth for the second half of the year by 400,000 bpd. Opec+, the alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, which helped draw down inventories at the height of the demand and price slump is increasing output. The group, which cut at a record level of 9.7m bpd between May and July, has pared back the curbs and is cutting 7.7m bpd from the markets since August. Opec+ is set to convene its joint technical and monitoring committees on Wednesday and Thursday. With increased output in the oil markets, the IEA revised implied stock draws at 3.4m bpd, around 1m bpd less than estimated last month. "Stock draws suggest firmer prices but the front of the price curve moved down during August and prices for physical barrels (Dated Brent) fell below front-month futures, usually a sign of weakness,” the IEA said.

China coronavirus vaccine may be ready for public in november: official BEIJING: Coronavirus vaccines being developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November, an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. China has four Covid-19 vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. At least three of those have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use programme launched in July. Phase 3 clinical trials were proceeding smoothly and the vaccines could be ready for the general public in November or December, CDC chief biosafety expert Guizhen Wu said in an interview with state TV late on Monday. Wu, who said she has experienced no abnormal symptoms in recent months after taking an experimental vaccine herself in April, did not specify which vaccines she was referring to. A unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and US-listed Sinovac Biotech are developing the three vaccines under the state’s emergency use programme. A fourth Covid-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June. Sinopharm said in July that its vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of this year after the conclusion of Phase 3 trials. Global vaccine makers are racing to develop an effective vaccine against the virus which has killed more than 928,000 people. Leading Western vaccine makers pledged earlier this month to uphold scientific study standards and reject any political pressure to rush the process. AGENCIES

india says it has doubled budget for roads and bridges on China border NEW DELHI: India has doubled the budget for vital roads and bridges along the undemarcated border with China in recent years in response to Beijing’s rapid infrastructure development on its side, the Indian defense minister said on Tuesday. Troops of the two countries are locked in their most serious face-offs for years along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or informal border in the western Himalayas, raising fears of a broader conflict. One of the reasons for the tensions has been India’s recent construction of roads and airfields near the border in the Ladakh region bordering Tibet, the Chinese side has said. AGENCIES

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

SPORTS 11

‘ACtEd LikE A FOOL’: NEyMAr rEgrEtS MArSEiLLE rEd CArd N

AGENCIES

EYMAR said he "acted like a fool" following his red card against Marseille but called on football officials to do more to combat discrimination after accusing Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez of racism.

The Brazil forward was one of five players sent off after a mass brawl at the end of PSG's 1-0 loss in Ligue 1 on Sunday, and later claimed Gonzalez had called him a "monkey" in a series of furious tweets.

PSG have stood by the world's most expensive player, saying the club "strongly supports" him, but Neymar conceded he would accept his punishment which is expected to be revealed by the French league's disciplinary commission on Wednesday.

"Yesterday I revolted. I was punished

with red because I wanted to hit someone who offended me," Neymar said in a lengthy Instagram post Monday.

Andy Murray and Eugenie Bouchard given French Open wild cards AGENCIES Former world number one Andy Murray, who has been battling back to fitness following radical hip surgery, was handed a wild card Monday for the French Open which begins on September 27. The 33-year-old Scotsman reached the Roland Garros final in 2016 but is now ranked at 110 in the world as he attempts to rebuild his career. Murray lost to the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round of the recent US Open where he was also handed a wild card. Following his defeat he said he was pleased with how his metal hip coped in his first Grand Slam outing since the 2019 Australian Open, when there was talk of him retiring. Former world number five Eugenie Bouchard, a semi-finalist in Paris six years ago and former Wimbledon runner-up, was also given an invitation after reaching the final of the WTA event in Istanbul at the weekend, her first final for four years. Meanwhile, Spain's clay-court king Rafael Nadal called for caution on Monday with the French Open set to be played in front of spectators later this month despite coronavirus concerns. Nadal, who will bid for a 13th French Open title in Paris, returns to competition this week on clay in Rome for the first time in six months due to the pandemic. "I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's the situation's going to look like in Roland Garros," the 34-year-old told journalists when questioned about the French Open. "Let's see how the virus evolves the next couple of weeks. Hopefully in a good way. Doesn't look like that, no? Let's see." "We need to be patient and we need to wait to see how the situation improves." The world number two could match Roger Federer's 20 Grand Slam titles if he wins in Paris.

The French Open which has been pushed back from May to a September 27 start, could host up to 11,500 spectators per day.

PCB seeks advice from ECB on bio-secure bubble for Zimbabwe series

"I thought I could not leave without doing something because I realised that those in charge would not do anything, did

not notice or ignored the fact."

Neymar was dismissed for slapping Gonzalez on the back of the head, with teammates Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes also sent off, as well as Marseille's Dario Benedetto and Jordan Amavi.

"In our sport, aggressions, insults, swearing are part of the game, of the dispute.

You can't be affectionate. I understand this guy partly, all is part of the game, but racism and intolerance are unacceptable," Neymar continued.

"Should I have ignored it? I don't know yet... Today, with a cool head, I say yes, but in due course, my companions and I asked the referees for help and we were ignored.

"I accept my punishment because I should have followed the path of clean football. I hope, on the other hand, that the offender will also be punished.

"Racism exists. It exists, but we have to

stop it. No more. Enough!" "The guy was a fool. I also acted like a fool for letting me get involved in that," he added.

MARSEILLE DEFEND GONZALEZ: PSG have lost their opening two games of the season for the first time since 1984/85, and face another spell without Neymar whose first two seasons in France were marred by injuries.

They host Metz on Metz on Wednesday in what was originally scheduled to be their Ligue 1 season opener.

Meanwhile, Marseille issued a statement of their own defending Gonzalez. He denied racism and accused Neymar of being a bad loser. "Alvaro Gonzalez is not racist. He has shown us that by his daily behaviour since joining the club, as his team-mates have already testified," the statement read.

The league's disciplinary commission, which will decide the punishments, could investigate Neymar's accusations against Gonzalez, who Marseille claim was spat on by Angel Di Maria.

Marseille pledged to "fully cooperate" with any investigation and said the club would remain at the disposal of the commission. Any racist behaviour carries a maximum suspension of 10 matches. Spitting directed at another player can lead to a ban of up to six matches. Kurzawa meanwhile could be suspended for up to seven matches for violent conduct after aiming a punch at opposition full-back Amavi.

Usman Khawaja details racism in Australian cricket, calls for change AGENCIES Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has even earlier spoken about having to deal with issues of racism while growing up in the country.

Over time, Usman Khawaja, who moved to Australia when he was five, has become the country’s most highprofile cricketer of Asian descent since he made his Test debut in 2011.

But he has said that the perception of being a cricketer from the sub-continent has associated certain tags with him, that have been difficult to shrug off in the many years that he has played for Australia.

"I always had that 'lazy' undertone when I was growing up and I think part of that was my relaxed nature but part of it was also because I was Pakistani, and subcontinent people were seen as lazy, not doing the hard yards and whatnot," he told cricket.com.au.

"Running has never been natural to me, so when we used to do lots of fitness testing I wasn't as good as every-

one else. When you put that against where I was from, that did play against me. "I like to think we're starting to move on from that, but there's definitely still that undertone I still hear (similar stereotypes), if someone's a bit different, he added.

Things have changed for better over

Smith no certainty for series-decider against England: Langer AGENCIES Australia batsman Steve Smith is recovering from his head injury but is no certainty to be recalled for the one-day series decider against England, coach Justin Langer said on Tuesday. Smith missed the first two matches after being hit on the head by a ball in the nets last week and is expected to have his fitness assessed during a training session later in the day. The decider is at Old Trafford on Wednesday. “He is definitely tracking in the right direction and we are hopeful he will be right for (Wednesday),” Langer told reporters in a video call. “He did all his running (on Monday), some high speed running, worked hard as part of the protocols. He has ticked every box at the moment.”

last decade, says Khawaja Although he has admitted that over the last decade things have changed in Australian cricket, he also agreed that more needs to be done.

"The older I've gotten, the more I've realised that when it comes to diversity especially in cricket in general I think

we've been OK at it but we're still just not quite there.

"If you look at the landscape in terms of multicultural cricketers around, we've got a few subcontinental cricketers myself, Gurinder (Sandhu), Arjun Nair, Jason Sangha and Tanveer Sangha coming up through the ranks (but) we've still got a long way to go,” Khawaja said. It is with this in mind that the Queensland skipper has decided to undertake a role adjacent to his playing responsibilities. He has joined the Cricket Australia working group tasked with creating an action plan focusing on greater cultural diversity and inclusion.

"During this time we're living in, there are a lot of civil rights issues going on, especially in America with the Black Lives Matter movement.

"We can't just stick our heads in the sand and say, 'Everyone's perfect, everything's fine, and there's no way for us to improve'.

"We can improve in so many different ways and this is just one of them,” the Australian added.

Women's Hundred players can keep their contracts for 2021, ECB confirms AGENCIES: The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Tuesday all players who were offered contracts for the Women's Hundred this year can renew their deal on the same terms for 2021. The Hundred, an innovative franchise-based league which includes an American sports-style draft, was due to launch in mid-July but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ECB said in a statement that players would get the option of rolling over their contracts into 2021 and sticking with their current team on the same pay, while those that turn it down can sign with other teams starting from October. "Covid-19 has caused some uncertainty for athletes, especially female athletes, so being able to provide immediate clarity and assurance to the women's players is very important," said Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the Hundred women's competition.

AGENCIES The PCB has sought advice from the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on creating a bio-secure environment for the forthcoming international series against Zimbabwe, starting next month. The Zimbabwe team is scheduled to reach Pakistan on October 20 after which the board is expected to schedule their T20 and ODI matches in Multan and Rawalpindi. “These two venues are under consideration since both will be hosting the National T20 Championship in a bio-secure environment because of Covid-19 restrictions,” a PCB source said. According to the source, the series against Zimbabwe is being taken very seriously by the PCB as it will create a parameter of organising international series at home against other countries in prevailing conditions due to Covid-19 pandemic. The PCB will also be hosting four remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League 5 in November in Lahore with the domestic season also in full swing from late September to February. The PCB is yet to decide on the itinerary for a series against South Africa which could either be held before the new PSL season or post that in late March, 2021. The PCB is also hopeful that New Zealand, Australia and England will play away series against them in the next 20 months as per their FTP plan.

England have not forgotten Black Lives Matter movement: Jofra Archer AGENCIES English cricketers “have not forgotten” the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement,” assured pacer Jofra Archer, responding to Micheal Holding’s criticism of his side which did not take a knee before matches against Australia and Pakistan. West Indies fast bowing great Holding did not appreciate that fact that England have now stopped taking a knee during matches. The BLM is a political and social movement, advocating non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people.

“We have not forgotten, no one here has forgotten about Black Lives Matter,” Archer was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “I think it is a bit harsh for Michael Holding to not do some research before criticising. I’m

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pretty sure he doesn’t know what is going on behind the scenes.

“I don’t think he has spoken to (CB chief executive) Tom Harrison. I have spoken to Tom and we have stuff running in the background,” the Barbados-born England fast bowler said but did not specify what it was.

Having faced slurs for missing England’s second Test against the West Indies for bio-secure breach in July this year, Archer urged social media platforms to extinguish racial abuse. “I think a lot of stuff is being put into place now,” said Archer, who was subjected to racial abuse by a spectator during England’s tour of New Zealand last year.

“People can be prosecuted a bit easier, though I think it may have to go a bit further as some people are still a bit worried of what could happen to them.

“As long as there is social media and the person

doesn’t have to confront you I think it will still go on.

All we can do is try and act accordingly, report it and do what’s best.”

Archer, adjudged man-of-the-match for his 3 for 34 figures in the second ODI against Australia, said he is strong enough to deal with such an issue, but is worried about mentally fragile people.

“I think I am strong enough to deal with it but what happens when they start targeting someone who is not as mentally strong and it starts affecting them? We have to try and stamp it out as much as possible,” he said.

“I saw one lady comment about my chain but chains have nothing to do with cricket and if she knew me she would know I have had my chain since I was 14 or 15. You can’t make everyone happy but the majority are happy and that makes me happy,” the 25year-old cricketer said.

Wednesday, 16 September, 2020

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AGENCIES

HE United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed agreements on Tuesday for normalising relations with Israel, becoming the latest Arab states to break a longstanding taboo in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran.

US President Donald Trump hosted the White House ceremony, capping a dramatic month when first the UAE and then Bahrain agreed to reverse decades of ill will without a resolution of Israel's decades-old dispute with the Palestinians.

Atop a balcony with Trump overlooking a crowd of several hundred on the White House lawn, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood alongside Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani.

The deals, denounced by the Palestinians, make them the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps to normalise ties since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Meeting Netanyahu earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said, “We'll have at least five or six countries coming along very quickly” to forge their own accords with Israel. But he did not name any of the nations involved in such talks.

Speaking from the balcony, Trump said: “We're here this afternoon to change the course of history,” terming it “a major stride in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity.” He said the three Middle East countries “are going to work together, they are

friends.” The back-to-back agreements mark an improbable diplomatic victory for Trump.

He has spent his presidency forecasting deals on such intractable problems as North Korea's nuclear program only to find actual achievements elusive.

Bringing Israel, the UAE and Bahrain together reflects their shared concern about Iran's rising influence in the region and development of ballistic missiles. Iran has been critical of both deals.

With Trump up for re-election on November 3, the accords could help shore up support among pro-Israel Christian evangelical voters, an important part of his political base. Speaking to Fox News hours before the ceremony, Trump said he expected more Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel and predicted the Palestinians would eventually join as well or else be “left out in the cold.” One target of White House appeals is Saudi Arabia, the biggest Gulf Arab power. So far the Saudis, whose king is custodian of Islam's holiest sites and rules the world's largest oil exporter, have signalled they are not ready.

Another target is Oman, whose leader spoke with Trump last week. Oman was expected to send its ambassador to Tuesday's

DOHA AGENCIES Normalising relations with Israel "can't be the answer" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Qatari official has said, adding that Doha will not join other Gulf Arab states in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. "We don't think that normalisation was the core of this conflict and hence it can't be the answer," Lolwah al-Khater, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said in an interview with Bloomberg. "The core of this conflict is about the drastic conditions that the Palestinians are living under" as "people without a country, living under occupation," she said. Al-Khater's statement came ahead of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signing their normalisation deals with Israel in a ceremony scheduled in the White House later on Tuesday. The deals will normalise

ceremony, a senior US official said. There was no word on whether the Saudis would attend, though their quiet acquiescence to the agreements has been seen as crucial.

Meeting the Emirati foreign minister before the ceremony, Trump thanked the UAE for being first in the Gulf to agree to ties with Israel and left little doubt the Iran issue was

diplomatic, commercial, security and other relations between Israel and the Arab states. Palestinians have slammed the deals as grave betrayals by the Arab states, further undermining their efforts to achieve self-determination. The Palestinian leadership wants an independent state based on the de facto borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem. Arab countries have long called for Israel's withdrawal from illegally occupied land, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and a settlement that leads to the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state in exchange for establishing ties with it. Earlier this month, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told White House adviser Jared Kushner that Doha supports a two-state solution, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, to end the conflict with Israel.

overhanging the event.

Trump predicted that Iran, under heavy US sanctions, would want to reach a deal with Washington, which has been trying to get it to renegotiate an international nuclear deal. Tehran has shown no sign of budging.

NETANYAHU UNDER PRESSURE: “An exciting and a historic day for Israel! On the way to make peace for peace, peace through strength,” Netanyahu tweeted before the ceremony. He signed off with emojis of US, Israeli, Bahraini and UAE flags.

Although a diplomatic win for Netanyahu, the ceremony takes place while he faces criticism at home of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a corruption trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust that have led to frequent street protests.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and describes his trial as a leftist political witchhunt aimed at unseating a popular right-wing leader. In a nod to the coronavirus that has hit the United States and the world, the White House is encouraging but not requiring the participants to wear masks. It was left to the leaders whether to shake hands, the official told reporters.

Some differences remain despite warm-

SCO NSAs meeting rejects India's objections on Pakistan's political map ISLAMABAD A meeting of National Security Advisers (NSAs) of Shangahi Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has rejected India's objections on Pakistan's new political map.

Special Assistant on National Security Moeed Yusuf represented Pakistan in the online meeting.

India, which was represented by Ajit Doval, had formally raised an objection against Pakistan on the display of the political map.

In its reply, Pakistan highlighted that India under international law has no legal rights to claim the internationally recognised disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India. Pakistan also categorically rejected Indian assertions that the newly released political map included

any part of Indian territory.

Pakistan informed the SCO Secretariat that India's illegal and unilateral actions in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) were in grave violation of the United Nations (UN) Charter and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

Furthermore, Pakistan emphasised that the new political map represented Pakistan's rights and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. It emphasised that Pakistan retains an abiding commitment to seeking a resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute through a free and impartial plebiscite in accordance with the UN Charter and the UNSC resolutions. The SCO agreed to Pakistan's position.

Dr Yusuf said that Pakistan considers SCO as a vital platform to forge closer ties

with regional partners and promote various mechanisms and processes for multifaceted linkages, connectivity and cooperation among the member states.

He said that the SCO member states can reap benefits of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Eurasian Economic Union, the two landmark initiatives. “Economic Diplomacy and connectivity are high on the agenda of our government and we stand ready to contribute in trans-regional economic and trade development,” he said.

Dr Yusuf, while talking about Afghan peace process, said that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is important for peace, stability and connectivity in the region and beyond. In this respect, he welcomed the commencement of Intra-Afghan negotiations.

“Pakistan has long held that there is no military solution to the conflict in

Afghanistan and that a negotiated political settlement is the only way forward,” he said. He also said that Afghan stakeholders must seize this historic opportunity and work together to secure inclusive, broadbased and comprehensive political settlement. He assured that Pakistan will continue to play the role of a facilitator in the peace process.

He further said that Afghan people alone have the authority to decide on the future of their country. “No outside actor should be seen as the guarantor of peace in that country. The process must be Afghanowned and Afghan-led,” he stressed. Dr Yusuf said that Pakistan shares SCO’s strong opposition to the three evils: terrorism, extremism and separatism. He asserted that Pakistan wishes peace in the region and resolution of all outstanding disputes through peaceful dialogue.

Trump says he wanted to assassinate Assad WASHINGTON AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump has claimed he wanted to “take out” Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2017 but was deterred by then-Defense Secretary James Mattis – after previously denying an assassination was even discussed.

“I would have rather taken [Assad] out,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Tuesday, insisting “I had him all set,” but “Mattis didn’t want to do it.”

The admission flies in the face of Trump’s 2018 claim during a White House briefing that the suggestion of killing Assad

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BLAMES EX-DEFENSE CHIEF MATTIS FOR STAYING HIS HAND was “never even discussed.” Journalist Bob Woodward reported in his 2018 book Fear that Trump was itching to have the Syrian leader assassinated after an alleged chemical weapons attack in 2017 – a claim Trump denounced as “total fiction.”

During the Fox & Friends interview, however, Trump said it was Mattis who stayed his hand, calling the ‘Mad Dog’ general “highly overrated” even as he claimed he didn’t regret not having Assad killed.

The president went on to blame Mattis

for “not doing the job in Syria or Iraq with respect to ISIS,” claiming the US “took out 100 percent of ISIS” as well as the terrorist group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but only after Trump “fired” the general.

He also appeared to lump in Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani with the terrorist group, calling him “the biggest of them all” and bragging about his assassination by airstrike. While the Baghdadi killing was widely praised, the murder of Soleimani – the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force – was internation-

ally condemned for its potential to further destabilize the Middle East.

Mattis loudly quit as Trump’s Defense Secretary in December 2018, claiming in his resignation letter that he’d walked out in protest over the president’s efforts to withdraw from Syria and fulfill his campaign promise to wind down the sprawling Middle Eastern conflicts launched by his predecessors. Trump’s efforts to depict him in retrospect as a reluctant warrior clash with the veteran general’s determination to remain in Syria indefinitely – and with Trump’s own recent condemnation of Pentagon careerists who want nothing but war all the time.

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

ing ties. Trump said on Tuesday he would have no problem selling advanced stealth F35 fighter jets to the UAE, which for years has sought to obtain them. But Israel, which has the F-35, has made clear it still objects to such a sale. Frustrated by the Palestinians' refusal to take part in Trump's Middle East peace initiative, the White House has sought to bypass them in hopes they will see the deals with the UAE and Bahrain as incentives, even leverage, for peace talks.

The Palestinian leadership, which has long accused Trump of pro-Israel bias, has denounced the Arab rapprochement with Israel as a betrayal of their cause, even though Netanyahu agreed, in return for normalisation with the UAE, to suspend a plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians view the new agreements as weakening a longstanding pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries. Though negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians last broke down in 2014, some Gulf Arab states and several other Arab countries have long had quiet, informal contacts with Israel.

iran warns us against 'strategic mistake' after trump's threat TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iran has warned the United States against making a "strategic mistake" after President Donald Trump threatened Tehran over reports it planned to avenge the killing of top general Qassem Soleimani. "We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake and certainly in the case of any strategic mistake, they will witness Iran's decisive response," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a televised news conference on Tuesday. Trump on Monday promised that any attack by Iran would be met with a response "1,000 times greater in magnitude," after reports said Iran planned to avenge Soleimani's killing in a US drone attack in January this year. A US media report, quoting unnamed officials, said an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa was planned before the presidential election in November. "According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani," Trump tweeted. "Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"

Relations between Washington and Tehran have worsened since Trump unilaterally pulled out of a landmark international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018. Washington is pushing to extend an arms embargo on Iran that starts to progressively expire in October as well as reimposing UN sanctions on Tehran. The Iranian navy last week said it drove off a US aircraft that flew close to an area where military exercises were underway near the Strait of Hormuz. The military said three US aircraft were detected by Iran's air force radars after they entered the country's air defence identification zone.