EpaperLHR_2020-09-26

Saturday, 26 September, 2020 I 7 Safar, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 87 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

APS AttAck rePort PointS fingerS At ground fAcilitAtion, lAx Security meASureS

ISLAMABAD staff report

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He findings of a judicial commission tasked with probing the attack on Army Public School, Peshawar in December 2014 — which killed some 150 people, mostly children — have exposed local facilitation to the militants and the lax security measures in place to safeguard the institution which was on a threat alert since August that year.

The revelations were made in the 525page exposé — containing recorded statements of 132 people, including parents of the killed school children and police and army officials — made public on Friday on the directive of the Supreme Court (SC).

The one-person commission, headed

by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim Khan of Peshawar High Court (PHC), was formed in October 2018 on the directives of then chief justice Saqib Nisar after parents of deceased children demanded the authorities form a high-level inquiry panel to investigate the massacre.

The findings were submitted to the apex court in July this year but were not made public.

According to the spokesman for the commission, Imranullah Khan, the probe body had recorded the statements of 140 people and of them, 31 were police and

army officials and the rest were witnesses, including injured students and parents of the children killed in the attack.

The report made public today provides an insight into the security lapses and local facilitation to militants that apparently led to the horrific attack.

The report, in its conclusion, noted that terrorism perpetrated by the country’s enemies had reached its peak in the year 2013-14, but said, “this [still] doesn’t obligate us to hold that our sensitive installation(s) and soft target(s) could be forsaken as a prey to the terrorists’ attack.”

It said the entry of terrorists from across the Afghan border into the school’s perimeter after “befooling the security apparatus” was mainly due to the porous nature of the border and the “unrestrained movement” of Afghan refugees across the frontier.

The report termed as “unpardonable” the assistance provided to the militants by the residents of the school’s locality, saying it was “palpable”.

“When one’s own blood and flesh commit treachery and betrayal, the result would always be devastating,” it stated, adding that no agency, no matter how capable or equipped, could effortlessly counter an attack “when infidels are within the inside”.

According to the report, on the morning of Dec 16, 2014, the APS premises was left unattended after an MVT (security patrolling team) moved towards the smoke

coronAviruS in

PAkiStAn

CONFIRMED CASES:

309,015

LAST UPDATED AT 7:41 AM ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

7

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

798

DEATHS:

294,740 6,444 SINDH:

135,246

PUNJAB:

98,864

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

37,525

14,838

2,610/3,608 16,324

rising from a vehicle set on fire by the terrorists as part of their plan to create a distraction.

Using this edge, the militants entered the school from the backside. Although another MVT responded to the attack, it wasn’t able to buy the needed time for the Quick Response Force (QRF) and Rapid Response Force (RRF) to overwhelm the terrorists before they could “cause the catastrophe”, the report said.

It observed the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) had issued a generic threat alert about terrorists seeking to target army families and academic institutions as retribution for the successful military operations Zarb-e-Azb and KhyberI against militants.

Following this, although the armed forces successfully operated against terrorists’ niches, “the incident of APS plagued their success stories which deserved deification”, the report added.

Detailing the “fiasco” in the school’s security apparatus, the inquiry commission said the number of static guards, which comprised the first tier of security, was “incomparable” to the looming threat. The guards’ improper position and accentuated main gates and front area compromised the school’s security from the back, from where the terrorists managed to enter “with no retaliation”. “equally incomprehensible is the inertia on part of the Askari Guards as well as the deputed static guards to the initial heavy firing and blasts by terrorists,” the report read. “Had they shown a little response and could engage the militants at the very beginning of the attack, the impact of the incident might have been lesser.”

However, it noted that the terrorists’ movement towards the adjacent toddlers’ block of the school was restricted by soldiers of MVT-2 and QRF on their arrival.

According to the report, the unit regulating MVT-1 has been handed down punishment by a “court of inquiry”.

SC SEEKS ACTION ‘AT THE TOP’: During a hearing of the case on Friday, the attorney general while submitting a reply on the inquiry commission’s report on behalf of the government informed the SC that “every possible action” was being taken against the persons involved in the carnage.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Imran urges int’l community to act against state terrorism in held Kashmir ISLAMABAD staff report

Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as the sixth speaker, and highlighted the issue of wave of Islamophobia, speaking on how it had affected Jammu Kashmir dispute, as well as Covid-19.

The premier opened his speech by speaking on the way Pakistan handled the Covid-19 pandemic. “Today, Pakistan’s response is cited among the success stories in controlling and responding to the pandemic,” he said. He went on to remark that many Muslims around the world, particularly in the subcontinent, were being blamed for the spread of the disease.

“Mr president, the pandemic was an opportunity to bring humanity together. Unfortunately, it has instead fanned nationalism, increased global tensions, and given rise to racial and religious hatred” he said, adding that this has exacerbated the wave of Islamophobia.

“This assembly should declare an international day to combat Islamophobia,” he said. While speaking on the rising extremism in

Coronavirus cases on the rise in Pakistan

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

Family protests as Karachi man caught disposing of minor’s body

ISLAMABAD staff report

Amid a steady rise being witnessed in the coronavirus infection, another 798 people were tested positive during the past 24 hours, raising the over a number of cases in Pakistan to 309,015.

The latest figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday morning show that the same period also saw seven coronavirus patients dying. As a result, the death toll has now reached 6,444. Sindh continues to be the most affected province in the country, where 135,246 people have so far contracted the virus.

The similar figures for other provinces and regions are: Punjab 98,864, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 37,525, Islamabad 16,324, Balochistan 14,838, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) 3,608 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 2,610. Meanwhile, 348 people fully recovered from the infection caused by the coronavirus during the past 24 hours, thus increasing the overall number of recoveries to 294,740.

It means the number of closed cases [deaths + recoveries] in the country now stands at 301,184. On the other hand,

India, the premier said, “They believe India is exclusively for Hindus, and others are not equal citizens.”

He talked about how Muslims were incorrectly vilified for spreading the coronavirus and the subsequent segregation and boycotts faced by the Muslims in India.

“As we all know, the marginalisation of human beings leads to their radicalisation,” he added, saying that the Hindu ideology was an attempt to marginalise nearly 300 million people.

Moving onto the Kashmir issue, the PM spoke about the “military siege” orchestrated by the Indian occupation in the area, and how this was an attempt to subjugate the Muslim population of the disputed territory. “An extra-judiciary murdered hundreds of Kashmiris in fake encounters, and refused to even hand over their bodies,” he added.

PM Imran called on the international community to investigate and prosecute this form of “state terrorism”, saying India’s actions were an attempt to “obliterate the distinct Kashmiri identity”. He further stated that this was against the Geneva Charter, council resolutions, and international laws.

STORY ON PAGE 03

11 Pakistanis’ killing in India: Hindus stage sit-in outside Indian HC the active cases have again surged to 7,831 after dipping below the 6,000 level, as more people are contracting the virus in recent days, especially after the reopening of educational institutions.

Of these active cases, 544 patients are in critical condition and being treated in the intensive care units of different hospitals across the country.

As far as the testing is concerned, 37,504 tests were administered in Pakistan during the past 24 hours after which the overall number increased to 3,344,019.

As many as 39,296 students were randomly tested for the novel coronavirus at 763

schools across Punjab, according to the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department. Of them, 38,716 samples came back negative while 81 students were turned out to be positive.

Meanwhile, 26 new coronavirus cases have been detected at educational institutions of Balochistan, the health department said on Friday. With the latest detection of the Covid-19 cases, the number of total cases that have been reported at the educational institutions of Balochistan stands at 406. The health department has conducted 4,237 tests so far to detect the deadly virus in the educational institutions.

STORY ON BACK PAGE

Classes in Sindh to resume from Sept 28, says minister STORY ON PAGE 03

PM assures Ghani of support to Afghan peace process STORY ON PAGE 02

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Saturday, 26 September, 2020

NEWS

FM lauds OIC FOr raIsIng vOICe FOr KashMIrIs glObally ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

oREIgn Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that organisation of Islamic Cooperation (oIC) is a platform for Muslim countries through which the states can work together by a common strategy in resolving any issue of Muslims in the world.

Addressing oIC’s webinar on golden jubilee of oIC on Friday through videolink, the foreign minister said that the hopes and aspirations of Muslim states are linked with this platform and all these countries desire for unity and increase our presence on the world as one voice.

He said during the journey of a halfcentury this second-largest global platform has made many notable achievements. He said, that 50 years ago, 25 Muslim countries had pledged to work together to formulate an action plan to protect their common interests and achieve goals in response to a tragic attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He said, “Through this platform, we are finding ways to promote collaboration in various fields including science and technology, economy and trade, education, youth affairs and women’s issues.”

The foreign minister said that Pakistan is one of the founding members of the oIC, so it has always played a key role in

Proud to be Pak army’s spokesperson, says rasheed LAHORE: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Friday said that he was proud to be the “spokesperson” of Pakistan Army. Addressing a ceremony on Friday, said that the army always played a positive role in disasters and calamities. The railways minister said that the incumbent government will root corruption out of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that the international community is appreciating the timely measures taken by the government for effectively combating coronavirus. He said that Pakistan Muslim Leaguenawaz (PML-n) Vice President Maryam nawaz has dealt a lot of damage to her father’s politics, and she is the one who removed him from power. He also said that the APC speech delivered by nawaz Sharif actually carried Modi and Sajjan Jindal’s words. He criticised the opposition, saying that there would be no sit-ins, resignations or no-confidence motions. The minister said that it is an honour to meet the army chief and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorgeneral. Slamming the opposition for seeking underthe-table deals, he said that the sky will fall if he decides to leak secret telephone data. To a question asking about his views on the military, he said, “Yes, I am the spokesperson of the Pakistan Army. I am proud of that”. He said that he is ready to stand beside the country’s troops and lay down his life for the land.

The minister also said that 1,872-kilometre-long new rail track will be laid out under the Main Line one (ML-1) project. He added that the project will generate some 150,000 job opportunities. STAFF REPORT

seCP data leak: suspect challenges formation of probe body in IhC ISLAMABAD: The prime suspect in Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) data leak issue, Arsalan Zafar, has challenged the formation of the investigation committee in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The prime suspect and SECP additional director Arsalan Zafar moved the high court on Friday to challenge the formation of an investigation committee for probing into allegations of a sensitive data leak. In his petition, Zafar stated that he was sent on forced leave on September 9, besides seizure of his laptop. The petitioner claimed that he had submitted a detailed response to the investigation committee on September 14. The petition read that the inclusion of SECP Additional Joint Director Information Technology (IT), Haroonul Rasheed was made in violation of the law and the probe report was against facts and completely based on assumptions. He also sought the high court to nullify the investigation committee and the issuance of a show-cause notice to him in light of the probe report. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah formed a bench to hear the petition filed by Zafar. The chief justice will conduct the hearing of the petition by himself on Saturday. on September 23, the SECP had issued show-cause notices to its senior officers including additional and joint directors in connection with an investigation into data leak. STAFF REPORT

the improvement and promotion of this body. He said that Pakistan has hosted two oIC Summits and four Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) Conferences and Islamabad is further ready to host the 48th Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Qureshi said that the Muslim Ummah, at the movement, stands at a point where millions of innocent people are being targeted in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

He said that the continued brutal atrocities on unarmed Kashmiris, after Indian illegal and unilateral action, have turned it into a great human tragedy.

He said that it is commendable that oIC has raised the issue of atrocities against Kashmiris globally through its res-

olutions and concrete statements. He added that oIC Contact group for Kashmir has played a leading role in this regard.

The foreign minister said that it is clear that the Kashmir issue must be resolved in the light of the aspirations of the Kashmiris and the United nations (Un) resolutions for the peace and stability in the region.

Expressing solidarity with Palestinian brethren, he said that Pakistan is in favor of a two-state solution for Palestinian issue in accordance with Un and oIC resolutions. He added that the Muslims of Palestine are facing a painful situation and an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital included is only solution of this issue.

UN aviation agency advises Pakistan to suspend issuance of new pilot licences ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

The International Civil Aviation organisation (ICAo) has advised Pakistan to undertake “immediate corrective actions” and suspend the issuance of any new pilot licences in the wake of a scandal over falsified licences, according to an official and a document seen by Reuters.

The recommendations from ICAo, a specialised agency of the United nations that works to ensure safety in international air transport, come days after the authorities opened a criminal probe into 50 pilots and five civil aviation officials who allegedly helped them falsify credentials to secure pilot licences.

“Pakistan should improve and strengthen its licencing system to ensure that it takes into account all necessary processes and procedures and prevents inconsistencies and malpractices before new licences are issued and privileges of suspended licences are re-established,” said ICAo, in a previously unreported letter to the Civil Aviation Author-

ity (CAA) last week.

An aviation ministry official told Reuters that the country has not issued any new licences since July, in the wake of the scandal. The Montreal-based agency’s recommendations come ahead of an ICAo audit to assess the country’s aviation safety management systems.

The ICAo audit, originally scheduled for november this year, has been moved to June, effectively giving the CAA more time to work on reforms, the official said.

A CAA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. An ICAo representative declined to comment on specific details, but said in an email that ICAo is “helping Pakistan to recognise concerns, and if they do not take swift action on them we will actively notify other countries about them.” The pilot scandal has tainted the country’s aviation industry and hurt flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which has been barred from flying into Europe and the United States. In addition to revoking the licences of 50 pilots, Pakistan has also suspended another 32 pilots for a year.

PM assures Ghani of support to Afghan peace process ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan has reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support to Afghan peace process and noted the positive results of these efforts culminating in the Unites States-Taliban peace agreement and the commencement of intra-Afghan negotiations.

In his telephonic conversation with Afghan President Ashraf ghani on Friday, the prime minister also appreciated the steps taken by relevant sides to enable the start of intraAfghan negotiations in Doha. He emphasised the importance of all Afghan parties working for reduction in vio-

lence leading to ceasefire.

The premier further underscored that all Afghan stakeholders must seize this historic opportunity and work together to secure an inclusive and comprehensive political agreement through the Afghan-led and Afghan-owed process. “All Afghan stakeholders should grab this historic opportunity,” he said and added that the Afghan leadership should work jointly for a comprehensive political agreement. He said that Pakistan will fully support the decisions that the Afghan people will take about their future.

It is pertinent to mention here that on September 11, welcoming the momentous intra-Afghan peace talks to

be held in Qatar, PM Imran expressed his contentment in a statement. “Finally, our combined efforts have brought forth the day,” the premier had tweeted welcoming the inception of long-awaited talks. He had added that it was the day that the “Afghan people have been yearning for.”

PM Imran had said that Afghanistan remained embattled with bloodshed and controversies for over 40 years. “For more than 40 years, Afghans have suffered from continued conflict and bloodshed,” he had said and added that Pakistan has endured the fall-out which ensued “terrorism, loss of precious lives, and huge economic cost.”

Punjab reports 10th polio case this year LAHORE: Another polio case has surfaced in Punjab, this time in Ahmedpur East tehsil of Bahawalpur, raising the number of affected children this year in the province to 10. It is the second polio case recorded in Ahmedpur East in 2020.

The child belongs to a rural far-flung area whose hands, feet, face and neck have been affected by the paralysing disease. The child, who belongs to a poor family, is stated to be in a critical condition.

His father is a labourer. After the latest case, the number of children contracting the poliovirus in the country in 2020 has reached 74. Moreover, four children have so far died because of the poliovirus in Punjab since January 1. Two of them were from Lahore. The province-wise distribution of polio cases shows that Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are the most affected regions where 22 cases each have so far been reported this year. Balochistan is the second 22 cases followed by 10 in Punjab. However, no polio case has so far been reported in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), gilgit-Baltistan (gB) and Islamabad. In fact, AJK and Islamabad have remained polio-free during the last six years since 2015. STAFF REPORT

govt wants to arrest shehbaz as gb polls near, claims Marriyum ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim Leaguenawaz (PML-n) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is imposed on Pakistan and the incumbent government wants to arrest Leader of the opposition in the national Assembly (nA) Shehbaz Sharif as gilgit-Baltistan (gB) elections are nearing. The PML-n leader talked to media and said the inefficient and corrupt regime wants to rig the polls and the Results Transmission System (RTS) of 2018 is still being used. Why has the national Accountability Bureau (nAB) chairman failed to hold accountable the ringleader of Malam Jabba, Billion Tree Tsunami and flour scandals? she asked. “Why does PM Imran want to get Shehbaz arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog?

The law was misused for personal benefits.

The applications filed against the PML-n president are based on chicanery,” the PML-n spokesperson remarked. “ STAFF REPORT

sC says nab being ‘selective’ in accountability The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday observed that the national Accountability Bureau was being “selective” in its proceedings as it was sparing those it “approved of” and going after others. Hearing an appeal filed by the anti-graft body against the acquittal of a man named Arshad Ali, who faced bank default charges, a three-member bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam noted that the process of accountability must be indiscriminate. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin, who is also on the bench, asked the nAB prosecutor as to how could bank default case land in the anti-corruption body’s jurisdiction. “Was the government sleeping at the time these loans were being given,” he added. The nAB prosecutor replied that the loan was given without the approval of the board of directors.

The real culprit, he added, was a man named Zulfiqar who had passed away. To this the judge noted that the process of accountability should not be selective and should be carried out in accordance with the law. NEWS DESK

Mazari rules out public hanging of rapists NEWS DESK Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said on Friday ruled out public hanging for rapists, saying that no law for the public hanging of rapists was in the offing.

In an informal conversation with journalists, she said that the government was considering several measures to prevent such incidents from taking place and

ensuring justice for victims.

The human rights minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had rejected the proposal of any such law, citing international conventions that Pakistan is signatory to.

The change in stance comes days after the premier's interview with a private TV channel, in which he had called for public hanging of rapists and said that habitual sex offenders should be physi-

cally or chemically castrated so that they could not commit such crimes in future.

He had added, however, that the hanging of a rapist publicly might be opposed internationally as many countries carried out castration of sex abusers.

Meanwhile, the human rights minister also refuted reports suggesting that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered cases against journalists and rights activists under the Prevention

of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016.

In a series of tweets posted Friday, the minister said: “This was disturbing news so I checked and my information is that it’s incorrect. A private citizen has sent a complaint to FIA against around 12 journalists.

“FIA examines all complaints but no FIR has been registered and FIA can’t register a report under Peca without following the specified legal procedure,” the tweet added.

She urged anyone with “contrary evidence in terms of FIRs” to inform her so that she can follow up.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

NEWS

FaMIly PrOTesTs as KaraChI Man CaughT dIsPOsIng OF MInOr’s bOdy KARACHI

K

STAFF REPORT

ARACHI police on Friday arrested from Shafiq Colony in Federal B Area a man while he was trying to dispose of the body of an 8-year-old boy he allegedly murdered after raping him.

A police official said the man was going to dispose of the body but was intercepted by the residents. Upon discov-

ering the body, his relatives to block the main road in protest.

The victim, Haris, had gone missing in Shafiq Colony, Block-22 of Federal B Area, at around 6:30 pm on Thursday, the area’s Station House officer (SHo) Farrukh Shaharyar said. The officer added that a First Information Report (FIR) was not filed. The family had instead made announcements at the local mosques.

The residents saw a man carrying something in a cloth bag made out of a

bedsheet. They got hold of him and discovered the boy’s body in the bag, according to the officer. The officer further said that they reportedly held a ‘jirga’ to settle the issue.

The body had bruises on the neck and was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for an autopsy.

A medico-legal officer (MLo) at the hospital confirmed that the boy has been raped before being murdered. He said they have found some evidence suggest-

ing he was sexually assaulted but await a chemical examination report that would confirm the rape.

Police registered a case against the held suspect on the complaint of the victim’s father on charges of murder and rape. During the initial probe, the suspect at times admitted to having raped and killed the boy but at other times denied doing so, the SHo said. The body was handed over to his family after the medical examination for burial.

Classes in Sindh to resume from Sept 28, says Ghani KARACHI STAFF REPORT

After some conflicting views presenting by the ministers of Sindh, Education Minister Saeed ghani on Friday announced that all classes below the eighth grade will resume on September 28.

He added that there will be no tolerance regarding violation of standard operating procedures (SoPs) by school administrations. “Pre-primary, primary and secondary classes have all been allowed to go to back to school,” he said, adding that there had been no disruption in the reopening of schools and that it was only the

second phase of reopening that had been delayed by only a week. ghani said that the schools that were sealed were due to two reasons: if a coronavirus case was found in school staff, or if children had been asked to re-join at a time when the permission by the government had not been granted. “now as we resume the reopening of schools, Sindh has decided that very strict enforcement of safety measures will be ensured,” he added. ghani’s announcement after Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho warned against the reopening of schools in light of the rising number of cases.

Dr Pechuho had said to a local news outlet that the Covid-19 positivity rate in the province “has increased

from 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent” and said it was rash to reopen schools in the current circumstances.

Last week, ghani had announced that the reopening of schools for grades six to eight had been delayed due to fears of the novel disease due to the lack of SoPs being followed in educational institutes. The minister had said that as schools reopen on September 28, the provincial government will see how the following of SoPs can be better enforced. “our purpose is not to shut down schools permanently […] we simply seek for them to mend their ways when we see they are not fulfilling their responsibility. They should follow through with the commitments made.

govt wants to take parties along for public interest legislation: PM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the government wants to take along other parliamentary parties for legislation regarding public interest.

Talking to national Assembly (nA) Speaker Asad Qaiser on Friday, the prime minister underscored that legislature has the most important role in protecting and upholding rights of the people under the Constitution and the law. The premier said that the treasury members will continue to play their role for reforms and amendments required in the existing laws. Meanwhile, the speaker convened a meeting of parliamentary leaders on September 28 to seek recommendations from the political leadership over the next elections and the upcoming gilgit-Baltistan (gB) polls. According to details, Qaiser dispatched invitation letters to the parliamentary leaders in the lower house, including Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Asad Mahmood, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Tariq Bashir Cheema, Akhtar Mengal, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Sheikh Rasheed, ghaus Bux Khan Mahar and nawabzada Shahzeen Bugti. The speaker asked all the parliamentary leaders to propose amendments to relevant laws, rules and procedures for the transparency of elections in Pakistan and gB. on last Wednesday, President Dr Arif Alvi gave a go-ahead to holding of general elections for the gB Assembly on november 15. He had approved a summary regarding the polls sent to him by PM Imran. The legislative assembly was dissolved after it completed its five-year tenure on 24 June.

Two more Kashmiri youngsters martyred in IOK ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Indian forces, in their continued state terrorism in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), martyred two more Kashmiri youngsters in Islamabad district on Friday. The youngsters were killed by troops during a cordon and search operation in Bijbehara area of the district. The troops also launched a cordon and search operations in Shopian, Pulwama and Budgam districts. Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that the Indian strategy of using force in the occupied Kashmir has totally failed. Qureshi had reiterated that Kashmir dispute cannot be solved by the use of force. The FM had said that India tried to use force to gag the voice of the Kashmiris through draconian laws and restrictions. There is no precedent of the atrocities that have been committed in IoK since August 5 last year and he made it clear that India cannot succeed in resolving the dispute by these atrocities.

03

Teenage gIrl gang-raPed by Over seven In rahIM yar Khan RAHIM YAR KHAN: A 14-year-old girl was gangraped allegedly by more than seven men in Zahir Pir area of Rahim Yar Khan district, said police on Friday.

Police told the media that a teenage girl was allegedly abducted and gang-raped by more than seven men who later threw her on the road. The officials added that the incident took place in Shaikh Wahan area in the vicinity of Abadpur police station. After committing the crime, the unidentified men threw her on the road after feeding her an intoxicating substance, said police. The relatives said that they reached the site after getting information from the pedestrians. The girl was shifted to Shaikh Zayed Hospital in critical condition. While taking immediate action over the alleged gang-rape incident, the police officials arrested six persons. The officials said that further action will be taken after receiving the medical report. Earlier in the day, a man was arrested in Karachi in the act of moving the body of a minor boy stuffed in a bag in Federal B Area on Thursday night. The residents of the Shafiq Colony caught the man and handed him over to the police. A police official said the arrested man was going to dispose of the body but was intercepted by the residents.

The boy was identified as eight-year-old Haris, who had gone missing Thursday evening. The body had bruises on the neck and was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for an autopsy. A medico-legal officer (MLo) at the hospital confirmed that the boy had been raped before being murdered. TLTP

Two awarded death penalty for raping, filming teenager GILGIT: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday awarded capital punishment to two men for raping and filming a teenager in Skardu. ATC Judge Mahmoodul Hassan announced the verdict, sentencing Muzaffar Abbas and Tajamul Hussain to death. Besides, both were also handed life imprisonment and are required to pay a fine of Rs1 million each. Another culprit, Mubarak was awarded life term with Rs0.5 million fine.

The convicts had forcibly raped the teenager multiple times and filmed the sexual assault to extort money from him. on September 21, an anti-terrorism court in Sahiwal had awarded death sentence to a man for raping and killing a four-year-old girl. Ali Sher Changar was found guilty of abducting, raping and killing the minor girl. The culprit had abducted Mariam, 4, while she was playing outside her house in Hana ghala Mandi area of Sahiwal and subjected her to sexual assault before murdering her on December 2, 2019. TLTP

girl commits suicide after FIa officials neglect harassment complaint LAHORE: A girl allegedly committed suicide after complaints in a harassment case fell on the deaf ears at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore. According to details, the FIA registered a case against an accused, identified as Ali niazi, over a complaint of sexual harassment from a girl in Lahore. Soon after the accused was sent behind bars, his accomplices started harassing and blackmailing the girl to withdraw the case. She approached the director of the cybercrime wing and investigators in the case. However, none of them paid heed to her complaints. According to family sources, the neglect from the FIA officials forced her to commit suicide as she was under enormous pressure to withdraw her complaint. The girl alleged harassment against two teachers of the university after her suicide attempt. “Two teachers harassed me by threatening to fail me in papers,” Saira said. “I complained about it but no action is taken (against them), which led to my suicide attempt.” The VC has formed an inquiry committee of five members to probe the matter, a spokesperson of the university said. INP

newly-wed couple killed in buner over 'viral video on social media' BUNER: A couple who married a month ago out of their own free-will was shot dead on Friday in the Buner district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) by the father of the groom allegedly over a viral social media video. According to police, the firing incident occurred within Daggar police remits of the district after a man opened fire on his son and daughter-in-law, who married a month ago out of their own free will. “The motive behind the murder is said to be a video that has gone viral on social media,” they said. The investigators said that they had shifted the bodies to a hospital and are probing the matter from all angles. Killings of the couples who have married out of free will have been reported frequently in the country and recently a young couple was killed in the name of honour, days after they tied the knot out of their own free will in Abbottabad district of KP. They said that the couple had contracted a free-will marriage against the wishes of their parents a few days back. INP

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Monday, 21 September, 2020

NEWS

PRovIsIon oF HEAlTH FAcIlITIEs To PooR MAndAToRy, noT oPTIonAl: PM ISLAMABAD

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SAYS SOCIO-ECONOMIC UPLIFT OF BALOCHISTAN TOP PRIORITY

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan has said that provision of quality health facilities to the poor is mandatory, not optional. The prime minister said this on Friday while chairing a review meeting on provision of quality health facilities to deserving people under Sehat Sahulat Programme in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

He said that the provision of quality healthcare to people, particularly weak segments of the society, is a priority of the government. He directed the Punjab health minister to review universal health coverage initially in two major cities of Punjab on the pattern of KP. The premier was informed that the Sehat Sahulat Programme has been ex-

panded to all 36 districts of Punjab and so far, about 5.1 million families have been registered under this programme. Under the programme, every deserving family is being provided health cover worth Rs720,000, he was told.

The meeting was apprised that a total of 80,389 people have so far benefited from the program this year.

PM Imran applauded the efforts of the concerned officials and said that a significant increase in enrolment of masses in the programme has been witnessed in the recent past.

He said that they are also planning to launch universal coverage of health facilities under the Sehat Sahulat Programme for two cities of the Punjab province.

Separately in a meeting with Balochistan Minister for Education Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, who called on him on Fri-

Two killed in Karachi gas pipeline explosion: police

FIA traces gang of ATM hackers in Rawalpindi

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

At least two persons were killed and three sustained injuries in a gas pipeline explosion in the New Karachi Town on Friday. According to details, a gas pipeline of a house near Do Minute Chowrangi exploded, resulting in the death of two people and burn injuries to three others. The police said that the pipeline exploded after suffering damage during digging work in the area. “The pressure in the gas pipeline resulted in an explosion,” it said. A house was also collapsed after the explosion, injuring five people. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, where two of them succumbed to wounds, said police. Further investigation into the matter was underway, police added.

RAWALPINDI TLTP

Fire guts garments in Anarkali apparel store LAHORE APP

Fire broke out on the third floor of a three-storey building in the Anarkali market in Lahore early Friday morning. According to details, the blaze engulfed the entire floor of the building. Rescue teams reached the spot and brought the fire under control. They said the fire erupted due to a short circuit. No loss of life was reported in the incident. Rescue sources said that readymade garments, cloth and other valuables worth millions of rupees were gutted.

FIA seizes 13kg gold, foreign currencies in Karachi KARACHI: A top official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday confirmed that at least Rs150 million worth of items, including 13 kilogrammes of gold, as well as US dollars and various other currencies, were recovered during a raid here in the city. In a statement following the operation carried out at a flat on Karachi’s Shaheed-e-Millat Road, the director of the FIA’s Karachi wing, Munir Ahmed Shaikh, said that the raid was carried out at the indication of a suspect, arrested a couple of days ago over suspicion of involvement in the Hawala-Hundi transactions. A sum worth Rs1 million, as well as $18,000, were also recovered from the detainee. Shaikh added that more than half a kilogramme of silver and other currencies, including US dollars, were also seized during the raid earlier on Friday. He mentioned that records of a widespread Hawala-Hundi business were also found on the laptop and mobile phone recovered from the suspect arrested earlier. TLTP

day, PM Imran said that socio-economic development of Balochistan is one of the top priorities of the government.

The premier said that every possible step will be taken for the development of the backward areas of Balochistan and rehabilitation in the flood-affected areas.

They discussed the overall situation of the province, flood-affected areas, including rehabilitation measures in Nasirabad, megadevelopment projects, progress on Sukleji Dam and issues related to the party.

LAHORE: Matric students block roads outside Punjab Assembly in protest of predicted grades.

ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

HED directs LCWU to report on controversial appointment of professor to Syndicate LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) sought a detailed report from Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) on the controversial appointment of Professor of Economics and directed to take the matter of appointment to the Syndicate Committee, Pakistan Today learnt here on Friday.

The letter sent to Vice-Chancellor LCWU by HED states, “Kindly refer your letter No. Reg/LCWU/1237 dated 26-082020, on the subject noted above, received from Registrar LCWU Lahore, along with a report of special scrutiny committee regarding violations/ malpractices in the appointment of Dr Muham-

mad Afzal, Professor Economics, as well as letter No. TE-25/8220 dated 10-08-2020 received from Treasurer, LCWU, Lahore. I am directed to request you to place a complaint against the appointment of Dr Muhammad Afzal on the agenda of the syndicate, with all relevant record, being the appointment authority of faculty member to examine the matter and take the further necessary action as per law under intimation to this office.” On the other hand, the well-maintained sources in HED said that in the light of the report prepared by the Special Scrutiny Committee of LCWU regarding the appointment of Dr Mohammad Afzal, the Registrar and Treasurer of LCWU sent separate letters to the HED. However, in the light of those

letters, the HED directed the ViceChancellor of LCWU to take up the matter of appointment of Dr Muhammad Afzal with the competent forum. Sources also added that Dr Muhammad Afzal, Assistant Professor, Punjab University, was directly appointed as Professor in LCWU in 2013, while irregularities were revealed in Afzal’s appointment during Dr Uzmi Qureshi’s Vice-Chancellorship in 2016 then he was terminated, however, later Dr Afzal was reinstated in 2017 during the tenure of interim Vice-Chancellor of LCWU Rukhsana Kausar. Speaking to Pakistan Today, Additional Secretary HED Usman Khalid Khan said, “We send such complaints to the syndicate and if there is anything against his appointment, the decision will be accordingly.”

Unannounced electricity load-shedding grips Karachi KARACHI TLTP

The people in different areas of Karachi faced immense problems due to severe unannounced electricity load-shedding on Friday. According to details, Orangi Town, Malir, Liaquatabad, New Karachi Town, Lines Area, Manzoor Colony Gulistan-eJohar, North Nazimabad, and other areas are suffering from nine to ten hours of power outages.

The unannounced power cuts have badly distributed routine and business life in the metropolis. Chairman Businessman Group, Siraj Kassam Teli said that monopoly of K-Electric is badly affecting the port-city.

He demanded of the federal government to give rights to other com-

panies in the city to supply electricity as this will ultimately create competition and situation will get better in future. On the other hand, Spokesperson of K-Electric, Noor Afshan admitting the power cuts under load management system, said that only one power plant of KE is operating on furnace oil and the production from the gas-based power plants situated in Site and Korangi is affected due to low gas pressure.

She added that KE is currently facing a shortage of 250 to 300MW. We are in contact with the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) so that issue can be resolved at earliest.

Replying to a question, Noor Afshan said that KE will get an RLNG based power plant with the production capacity of 900MW.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has traced a gang involved in the hacking of automated teller machines (ATMs) on Friday.

The FIA launched an investigation into the matter after receiving numerous complaints of cash transfers from the bank accounts of the consumers. The initial investigation revealed that a gang of five people including two government employees are involved in transferring cash from the accounts of people after hacking the ATMs. The gang was operating from Rawalpindi. The suspects have been traced by the FIA and two of them are working in government offices. Sources said that cases would be registered against the gang. Last week, the FIA uncovered new leads implicating money exchangers listed as ‘A-category’ by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP); namely, car dealers in the Hawala and Hundi case. The federal watchdog had reportedly prepared a list of at least 20 reconditioned car importers, which it claims, have been involved in the Hawala and Hundi transfers of about Rs40 billion. “None of the car dealers (importing reconditioned cars) maintained any legal payment ledger for the transactions,” said an FIA source.

Hit-and-run case: Ex-MPA issued notice on appeal against acquittal QUETTA INP

The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday admitted for hearing an appeal challenging the acquittal of former MPA Majeed Khan Achakzai in a hit-and-run case. A two-judge bench of the high court issued notices to the respondents, including Azhakzai, to come up with their response to the appeal moved by the police department assailing a model court’s September 4 verdict of exonerating him from all charges in the case. The court will conduct the first formal hearing of the case in the second week of October. On September 4, the model court in Quetta acquitted former provincial assembly member (MPA) Majeed Khan Achakzai in the traffic sergeant murder case due to lack of evidence. Judge Dost Muhammad Mandokhail had announced the verdict. Traffic Sergeant Haji Attaullah was run over and killed in Quetta’s GPO Chowk allegedly by a vehicle belonging to then MPA Majeed Khan Achakzai in 2017. The traffic police officer had been seriously wounded in the accident and was taken to Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

NEWS

05

BANKS to dISBurSe LoANS uNder NAyA PAKIStAN HouSINg SCHeme From Next weeK KaRacHi

N

APP

AyA Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) Chairman Lt Gen (r) Anwar Ali Hyder said on Friday that six commercial banks that form the consortium for financing PM’s Naya Pakistan Housing Programme would start giving loans from next week under the guidelines devised by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Anwar Ali Hyder, while addressing a seminar on “Opportunities in Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme for Members of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD)” via video link from Islamabad, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team were making strenuous efforts to boost housing and construction sector in the country while ensuring convenient availability of soft loans and land required in building low-cost houses, fulfilling the lifelong dream of a common man to have his/her own shelter.

He said to make Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme a big success, the federal government had taken various important decisions which included fixed tax regime for builders and developers, 90 per cent tax relief and incentives to private banks for financing this revolutionary housing scheme.

The banks were facing problems in providing soft financing for the houses on a low interest rate but the government had taken drastic steps to ensure the provision house-financing loans at 5 to 7 per cent in-

terest rates.

The lending banks would get a number of incentives and I hope that banks designated for this housing programme would start introducing their products next week, he added.

ABAD Chairman Mohsin Sheikhani said Pakistan was facing shortage of more than 12 million houses and ABAD was working on countering this problem by providing low-cost affordable houses for the last seven years.

ABAD had provided information of low-cost housing schemes to Prime Minister Imran Khan and he had taken this initiative as part of his election manifesto.

Now, he is taking serious steps to fulfill

Imran urges int’l community to act against state terrorism in held Kashmir continued on page 01 The premier added that the people of Kashmir would not submit to Indian occupation. PM Imran emphasised that the Pakistan government was steadfast in helping “Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their legitimate struggle for self-determination”.

PM Imran said that Pakistan has practised “maximum restraint” against India’s attempts to increase military tensions between the two nuclear states through their repeated ceasefire violations.

He said that it would not be possible to have peace in the subcontinent until the Kashmir issue was resolved, and called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take “enforcement actions” to prevent a disaster. PM Imran remarked that Muslims were not the cause of this virus, but victims of it as are many countries. He spoke about smart lockdowns and how this allowed the country to battle the novel disease without indirectly hurting the poorest members of society. Furthermore, he asked for an increase and expanse in the debt relief in order to assure that Pakistan can make its way “out of the woods”. The premier said that Pakistan’s desire for peace and stability is shown through its actions in trying to obtain peace in Afghanistan. He reiterated that military action is not the correct path, and urged Afghan leaders to “seize this historic opportunity to achieve reconciliation” and to arrive at a “political settlement”. “After almost two decades of war, it is imperative not to allow spoilers within and outside Afghanistan to subvert the peace process,” he said, adding that peace would create “new opportunities for development and regional connectivity”.

Speaking on Palestine issue, PM Imran said, “Pakistan continues to support a two-state solution”, and that “a just and lasting settlement is indispensable”. Speaking on the damage caused by illicit cashflow from developing countries to developed countries and off-shore tax havens, the premier said this “leads to the impoverishment of the developing nations” and causes currency depreciation. He talked about the “lack of political will” in developed countries to curb this issue and warned that if this issue is not addressed, it would spark a much larger crisis than the current migration crisis. The premier called on the assembly to “ensure speedy repatriation of stolen wealth.” He further expressed his disappointment in the apparent bigotry of people, such as the republication of offensive caricatures by Charlie Hebdo. PM Imran also spoke on the imminent threat of climate change, citing the Australian fires and other environmental disasters that have taken place this year. He spoke on how Pakistan has committed to planting ten billion trees to counter climate change. The premier his speech by stating Pakistan would continue to support the UN’s goals for global peace and prosperity.

his promise to provide five million lowcost houses to the masses of the country.

He informed that the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, during a meeting with builders here, promised to grant project approval within fifteen days of the submission of finalized documents.

He also promised to provide land for starting low-cost housing in the province similar to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Naya Pakistan Housing Task Force Chairman Ziagham Rizvi said after taking in-depth presentation on housing and construction sector, and 72 allied industries, the prime minister had firmly decided to boost the construction industry as this was

the only industry which had potential of providing enormous amount of jobs to skilled and unskilled workforce along with shelter to the people.

He said that Pakistan’s banks had provided only Rs106 billion housing loans over the last 70 years which is only 0.23 per cent of gross domestic product. Now, the government had carved out 10-year housing plan.

Federal Board of Revenue Former Chairman Shabbar Zaidi said the construction of low-cost houses was possible only when housing financing was available at very nominal interest rates. It would be practical and yielding to provide house financing and land free of cost for the success of Naya Pakistan Housing Programme, he said.

Karachi Development Authority (KDA) Director General Asif Ikram said that KDA was ready for joint venture with builders and developers for low-cost housing schemes. “We are trying to provide free land for Naya Pakistan Housing scheme in Sindh,” he said.

Habib Bank Limited Head of Islamic Finance Salimullah Shaikh and Meezan Bank General Manager Tanveer Hussain said that banks were ready to provide 80 per cent financing for low-cost housing schemes on low interest rates.

Sindh Building Control Authority Director General Ashkar Dawar said he would provide approvals of building plans within 10 days on submission of complete documents and formalities and assured all possible cooperation in executing the projects.

Govt decides to utilise idle capacity of PGPC’s LNG terminal iSLaMaBad AhmAd AhmAdAni

In an apparent bid to avoid looming gas crisis in the upcoming winter season, the government has decided to allocate the unutilised capacity of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to private firms on a short-term basis.

According to sources, the federal government has decided to allocate the idle capacity of Pakistan Gas Port Consortium’s LNG terminal to the private sector for a period of six month, starting 1st October 2020. On the advice of the government, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has already invited interested parties to review the draft agreement and transaction framework for allocation of the unutilized capacity.

The last date for submission of the application for any specific month or for the entire period is 9th October, 2020. Similarly, PLL has

asked private firms to submit their interest along with queries to PLL by 2nd October 2020 to participate in the consultative session.

After receiving letters of interest and queries, PLL may issue an invitation to the interested parties for a consultative session prior to the deadline for submission of the application.

Sources said that the PFPC’s unutilized capacity would be made available only to those interested parties that fulfill the eligibility criteria at Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA)-determined charges for the relevant month. In case the total requirement of the qualified parties exceeds the total available unutilized contracted capacity, individual capacity allocations will be adjusted proportionately.

Sources said that the federal government’s decision to grant permission to private firms to import

and sell LNG would end the fiveyear-long monopoly of state-owned companies in the sector.

They added that by allowing private firms to import and sell the LNG to all interest parties/consumers including compressed natural gas (CNG), commercial, K-Electric, and industrial units etc, the government will save around $1 billion worth foreign exchange.

Talking to this scribe, PGPC CEO Fasih Ahmed termed the government’s decision “a step in the right direction”. He said the utilization of terminals with participation of the private sector will reduce the overall cost of gas, adding that the private sector can more flexibly and speedily capitalize on spot rates to lower the basket price of RLNG. He said that the PGPC has excess capacity of between 150300mmscfd that will soon be operationalised.

Govt sells WAPDA's rest house in Mansehra PESHAWAR: The Ministry of Privatisation has auctioned the Lalazar Batundi Rest House in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for Rs72 million. The 6 kanal 8 marla rest house was owned by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) but it had not been properly utilised for the promotion of tourism. The auction process was completed in a local hotel in Abbottabad yesterday. Six private companies had registered for the auction process. The land auction was started at Rs21.76 million and Hashim Swati of Swat Tourism Development Project made a successful bid. Ministry of Privatisation Auction Committee Director-General Iftikhar Hussain Naqvi, Transaction ManagerSuleiman Amin, Member Auction Committee Zahir Sadiq and Assistant Additional Commissioner Aminul Hassan were present during the bidding. DG Naqvi said that after a gap of seven years, the process of auctioning additional assets has been started in the country. He added that under the policy that is being followed, 1,268 acres land of steel mill in Karachi will be given on lease as well. STAFF REPORT

APS attack report points fingers at ground facilitation, lax security measures continued on page 01 Chief Justice Ahmed regretted that traditionally lower-ranked officials were held responsible for such incidents and “nothing is asked of the people at the top”. This tradition should stop,” he said, adding that the government should take action to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The top judge observed that the militants were able to achieve the objective they had set out for, saying “security institutions should have been aware of this conspiracy.” “The people are not safe even in this much security.” The parents of the deceased children said the incident was not terrorism but “targeted killing”. Seeking action against those responsible, they said they did not want any other parents to go through the pain they endured. The court ordered that a copy of the inquiry commission’s report and of the government’s response be provided to the parents of the APS victims. It also appointed lawyer Amanullah Kanrani as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the case. The hearing of the case was adjourned for a month.

THE COMMISSION: The parents, who approached Justice Nisar had wondered why were proper security measures not adopted after the NACTA informed provincial and federal authorities on August 28, 2014, that the banned militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would carry out attacks against the APS and other military-run educational institutions. The panel became functional on October 19, 2018. The commission was initially given six-week time by the apex court to conduct the inquiry during which it had completed recording statements of the parents, injured students and officials of police and counter-terrorism department. The court granted more time to the commission for the probe as several important statements were to be recorded. TTP commander Umer Mansoor alias Umer Narae had claimed responsibility for the gruesome attack. The US government and the Pakistan Army later confirmed that Umar was killed in a US drone strike in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on July 9, 2016.

PIAF-Founders Alliance clean sweeps first phase of LCCI polls LAHORE: The PIAF-Founders Alliance on Friday won all seven seats of LCCI Corporate Class for year 2020-21. Out of total 3,179 votes, 948 were polled while 19 were rejected due to technical reasons. PIAF-Founder Alliance received 701 panel votes while other candidates only managed 21 panel votes. Winning Candidates included Mian Tariq Rehman (872 votes), Syed Mardan Ali Zaidi (841 votes), Ch Tahir Manzoor (834 votes), Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi (826 votes), Abdul Wadood Alvi (800 votes), Malik Riaz Iqbal (787 votes), Mubashar Naseer Butt (783 votes), Tahir Malik (155 votes) and Muhamad Nawaz (139 votes). In the second phase, polling for Associate Class would be held tomorrow (September 26). As many as 10,670 associate class members are expected to cast their votes. STAFF REPORT

Maple Leaf to boost WHR plant capacity to 25MW LaHoRe hASSAn nAqvi

The Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF) announced the opening of a letter of credit (LC) related to the expansion of its waste heat recovery (WHR) plant to 25MW from the existing 16MW. The company plans to boost its WHR’s capacity with an expected outlay of Rs1.8 billion likely to be financed through the issuance of debt.

The purpose of the said expansion would be to substitute the company’s reliance on electricity generated through expensive alternatives (i.e national grid or FObased generation).

According to KASB Research, the expansion is projected to substitute 10 per cent of the company’s overall

CMYK

electricity requirements (~75MW) and yield an estimated after-tax savings of Rs468 million (EPS: Rs0.43) on an annual basis.

Talking to Profit, MLCF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sayeed Tariq Saigol said that our endeavours as a company has always been to reduce our production costs and increasing our electricity production through waste heat recovery plant will aid in this.

Furthermore, it’s an environmental-friendly way of producing power and we are aiming as a company to reduce our carbon footprint over the coming years, Saigol maintained.

Shankar Talreja, deputy head of research at Topline Securities Ltd also ascertained that as per MLCF’s notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), it is planning to expand its WHR capacity to 25MW

from current ~15.7MW, incurring a capital expenditure of Rs1.8 billion.

Talreja added that the company requires electricity of over 65MW. Majority of which is satisfied through electricity generated by coal, followed by WHR and remaining by grid or furnace oil (FO), whichever is cheaper.

He added that due to an increase in cement demand, we believe this will be a replacement for grid or FO, generating savings to the tune of Rs8-10 per Kwh. Talreja said that as per his company’s back of the envelope calculation, the company’s profitability will be augmented by Rs0.4 per share (annualized). This project is expected to commence by Sep 2021.

As per channel checks, this will be installed with a new line and its utilization can cross 90 per cent, he said.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

06 COMMENT

Devolution of powers under democracy

Bringing back looted wealth Rhetoric without performance

F

ailurE to control the outflow of black money adds to developing countries’ poverty. The world is presently losing $1.5 trillion in illicit financial flows each year. The governments have so far succeeded in retrieving only one percent of the black money, according to a financial analyst with Thomson reuters’. of all this ill-gotten money, 86 percent is flowing through the global banking system. six Pakistani banks were named in the past for involvement in money laundering.

Pm imran Khan raised the issue last year at an event on the sidelines of the 74th session of the un General assembly. He has again taken up the matter while underlining the need for collaboration between countries. it is important to remove the lacunae in prevailing laws that are used by criminals to send the ill-gotten funds abroad. Before coming to power mr imran Khan laid blame for the outflow of billions of rupees on the Pml(n) and PPP leaders. Corruption, the PTi maintained, would come to an end soon after an honest leadership held the levers of power. The PTi’s critics maintain the Prime minister is surrounded by those thriving on corrupt practices. The failure to control wheat and sugar prices are presented as evidence. mr Khan remains clueless on how to bring back the looted wealth. on the one hand he rails against those who have stashed abroad billions looted from Pakistan and seeks international assistance for action against them. on the other hand he announces an amnesty to the criminals in case they invest black money in the construction industry. This weakens the government’s moral position while it encourages the corrupt to continue their malpractices and consider bringing back the wealth if there is a lucrative offer in future.

The Pm has politicized the issue of money laundering.

While the performance of the PTi government’s point man, mirza shahzad akbar and his assets recovery unit has been diddly-squat as far as bringing back the looted wealth is concerned, he has displayed more passion for subjecting the government’s opponents to media trial.

While international collaboration to bring back the looted wealth remains a dream, the government could have at least brought the trading community to documented transactions, setting aside political exigencies.

MiaN rauf

I

n a federal system, devolution is the statutory and constitutional delegation of powers from the central government to regional and local governments, which aims to make governance structure more efficient and responsive to local needs. Devolution of powers at grassroot level is of vital importance in heterogeneous countries like Pakistan, where large segments of the population remain marginalized by centralist and patronage-based governance mechanisms. The framers of our Constitution have adopted the federal form of government for efficient administration as many regional issues under this system are dealt with at state level. it is understood that devolution aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government services by bringing governance mechanism closer to people. no political system is considered completely democratic if it does not have a system of local government. under the doctrine of devolution of powers, local government serves two purposes. The first is the administrative purpose of supplying goods and services, the other is to represent and involve citizens in determining specific local public needs and how such local needs could be met. moreover, a well- functioning and empowered local government can serve a number of political and economic goals by allowing marginalized and disgruntled segments of society a greater say in governance. By giving power to the people, where it actually belongs, the future wellbeing, stability and unity of the nation will be enhanced. local governments can enable the local monitoring communities to manage their primary social and civic task. To make devolution of power effective, the district governments have to be granted vast financial and administrative powers. Effective decentralization of authority is essential to ensures people’s involvement in government from village to the national level. although article 140a of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 casts a duty upon the provinces to establish local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility

Prices keep rising

Scribes in India victims of pandemic, violence

The latest power tariff hike merely adds to the common man’s burden

T

HE national Electric Power regulatory authority (nEPra) has notified a quarterly tariff adjustment of rs 1.62 per unit, which will come in addition to the recent increase in the prices of medicines that will occur after the government amended the drug pricing policy of 2018. The power tariff hike is in fulfillment of the agreement with the imF, whereby the tariff increases, to end circular debt, are an essential condition for maintaining the programme. While other creditors have relaxed their schedules for the covid-19 pandemic, it seems the imF is getting back to business.

The drug price hike of seven percent increases for lifesaving drugs and 10 percent for others, is supposed to be because of inflation. The two tiers indicate that inflation cannot be the sole consideration. it also indicates that the government does have a role in the price levels of a wide range of items. it would do well to remember that it had promised during its campaigning to bring down price levels. it has not done so. it might argue that its formula, recovering looted wealth, has not worked, but whose fault is that? The end result is still higher prices, which people struggle to pay.

Then there is the conundrum of why there is inflation during a depression. This is only possible because of some fault in the purchasing power of money. is the reason in the debasement of the currency brought on by the imF conditions, which included a massive devaluation? This is the government that campaigned on a promise not to go to the imF. it did. and the people now are paying the price, literally. The government is not exercising its considerable powers to regulate prices. This will cost it dearly at the ballot box, because it has been shown by overwhelming empirical evidence that people vote with their pocketbooks, and their single most important pocketbook issue is inflation.

Another cause of death, apart from murder Nava Thakuria

J

ournalism remains a dangerous profession with indian scribes facing various physical, professional or medical emergencies. india loses a number to assailants every year. in addition, many scribes routinely face retrenchments, arbitrary redundancy and humiliation in their workplaces. as the media fraternity has largely lost its credibility and earned brickbats from the masses, the Covid-19 pandemic emerged as a severe health hazard for it. india has lost more media persons to the coronavirus than to violence since January. Thousands of journalists were infected as they were playing the role of corona-warriors along with doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, police personnel and others. Casualties within the media fraternity because of covid-19 now mount every day. lately the country lost five prominent journalists to Covid-19 within ten days. The latest victim has surfaced from agra where senior journalist ami adhar nidar, 50, died on september 19. associated with the highly circulated Hindi Dainik Jagaran, he was hospitalized after he tested positive.

The previous day, anil srivastava, 68, of the united news of india, from Basti in Jammu succumbed to Covid-19 complications. on 18 september itself, Jabalpur-based Harish Choubey, 60, of the widely circulated Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, died in hospital after testing positive. similarly, sirsa paper Sach Kahoon’s abohar-based Punjab journalist, naresh Bajaj, 57, died on september 10. ravinder Kumar, 30, from una in Himachal Pradesh, of Dainik Jagaran, died on the way to hospital after developing symptoms on september 9. lately, assam in northeast india, also witnessed two Covid-19 journo-victims. udalguri-based Dhaneswar rabha, 35, died in Guwahati on september 6. rabha had renal problems, undergoing regular dialysis. next day, senior journalist ashim Dutta, 65, died in silchar. He worked for a Bengali daily in Barak valley, and also had kidney problems.

Earlier, mumbai based senior film-journalist shyam sarma, nellore (andhra Pradesh) based narayanam seshacharyulu, Pune-based television

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devolution and repeatedly accuses the centre of grabbing powers belonging to provinces. But when it comes to empowering local bodies in sindh, it does and authority to the elected representatives of local not want to share its administrative and financial government, the provincial governments remain powers with districts, particularly Karachi, Pakreluctant to endow them with significant decision- istan’s biggest metropolitan city. in his recent press making power and sufficient resources. since conference, the Karachi mayor got emotional and democracy returned to the country in 2008, Pak- lashed out at the sindh government for hindering the istan did not have functional local governments. city’s development.

The absence of devolution of powers to local govThe current local government system should be ernments has been the main hurdle in the way of redesigned and should be given freedom to ensure providing essential public participation in services at the local true spirit. Well-designed level in Pakistan. in local government sys2010, Parliament passed tems help in improving the 18 th amendment to People’s empowerment in real the quality of local servthe constitution, which ices, empowering marsense was the main plank of PTI’s ginalized devolved significant and poor power from the centre communities, and reducagenda of reform as the Prime to the provinces and ing ethnic conflicts. For was lauded as a necesefficient administration, Minister has repeatedly said that sary step to overcome provincial governments centralization of power had Pakistan’s authoritarian should ensure complete legacy of excessively transfer of powers redeprived the people of any centralized governance. lated to services in acThe amendment also recordance with article meaningful say in governance quired the creation of 140a of the constitution affairs. He must struggle to fulfill local governments by so that local bodies can the provinces to bring be involved in the decithe promise he had made to his government closer to sion-making process and people but the provinces provide better service supporters during election days did little to facilitate the delivery. Provincial govprocess of making the ernments should also local governments funcconstitute their own tional.

Provincial Finance ComThe provinces have been slow to establish local missions (PFC) where local governments should get institutions. after the 2013 general poll , local elec- their respective shares from the divisible pool actions were conducted in 2015 on party basis for the cording to the size of population, area and level of first time in the history of Pakistan but the local bod- backwardness. ies were ineffective in Punjab and sindh on account People’s empowerment in real sense was the of new legislation enacted by the assemblies of these main plank of PTi’s agenda of reform as the Prime provinces. The local governments had nominal pow- minister has repeatedly said that centralization of ers and a little finance at their disposal to carry out power had deprived the people of any meaningful developments works. only the KP government gave say in governance affairs. He must struggle to fulfill real powers and money to these bodies. Though Per- the promise he had made to his supporters during vez musharraf’s local system had its flaws, it ar- election days. guably worked much better than the set-ups the PPP and Pml(n) introduced in their respective provinces.

Mian Rauf can be reached at The PPP always considers itself the champion of mianrauf2172@gmail.com

Efficient local bodies are vital for good governance

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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reporter Pandurang raikar, Kanpur-based television journalist neelanshu shukla, Patiala-based photojournalist Jai Deep, Tirupati-based television reporter madhusudan reddy and videojournalist m Parthasarathy succumbed. so did television reporter ramanathan and news videographer E Velmurugan from Chennai, news presenter Davinder Pal singh from Chandigarh, television scribe manoj Kumar from Hyderabad, print-journalist Pankaj Kulashrestha from agra, and orissa’s journalists simanchal Panda, K Ch ratnam & Priyadarshi Patnaik.

Kolkata photojournalist ronny roy was the first indian scribe to die. new Delhi scribe Tarun sisodia killed himself undergoing Covid-19 treatment at aiims. maharashtra’s veteran journalist ashok Churi, who edited marathi weekly PalgharTimes, died at a Palghar hospital. The printerpublisher of Asomiya Khabar (rantu Das) also died at a Guwahati hospital. meanwhile, seven journalists were murdered in separate incidents this year. The last depressing news broke from uttar Pradesh, where ratan singh of the Hindi news channel Sahara Samay was killed by his neighbours in Phephna, Ballia locality on august 24. uP Cm Yogi adityanath announced rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia and the police promptly arrested those suspected.

Earlier, a young assamese scribe was murdered on august 8 at his rented office in Tinsukia, eastern assam. Bijendeep Tanti, 32, of a private channel (NewsTimeAssam), also ran a facebook portal DinPratidinNortheast. He was found dead with severe neck injuries. The police have arrested the main accused, a lady who has reportedly confessed.

Earlier, madhya Pradesh journalist sunil Tiwari, 35, who worked for a Gwalior-based Hindi newspaper, was beaten, stabbed and shot in niwari while returning home on the evening of 22 July, by a group of criminals. The police arrested a few individuals against whose activities Tiwari wrote.

The same day, uP journalist Vikram Joshi, 45, died in a Ghaziabad hospital. Joshi, who worked for local newspaper Jan Sagar Today, was attacked on July 20 by a group of goons who shot at him in front of his two minor daughters after he had lodged a police complaint against some local criminals for eveteasing. The police arrested nine suspects.

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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a digital channel reporter of andhra Pradesh was murdered at nandigama locality on June 29.

Ganta naveen, 27, developed enmity with some influential persons in his locality. They are suspected to organized the crime. The police arrested eight. another news portal reporter, from orissa, aditya Kumar ransingh, 40, was killed on February 16 in Banki. The police arrested two criminals with whom he maintained bitter relations.

The brutal murder of shubham mani Tripathi, 25, from uP shocked the media society as he continued to report against illegal sand miners even after receiving anonymous death threats. He worked for Kanpur-based Hindi daily Kampu Mail, and was shot dead in Brahmanagar, unnao, on June 19 by two shooters as he was returning home on a two-wheeler. The police arrested three.

The pandemic has however crashed the mainstream media industry. Worried owners have already stopped publishing hundreds of physical newspapers and surviving managements closed down editions in different localities, cut pages, went to cut salaries and even laid off employees including senior journalists, citing shrinking advertisement revenues. only a few could raise voices against this and the rest continues to carry on with humiliations in workplaces.

When hundreds of journalists in Guwahati too tested positive for Covid-19, the concerned newspapers, news channels and news portals tried to avoid making news out of this. some infected mediapersons however made personal revelations in social media. Various organizations criticized the media outlets for their selective reporting of this, arguing that they continue identifying other Covid19 affectees by name and photograph, but remain silent for their employees.

What is amazing that assam (read state health minister Dr Himanta Biswa sarma), unlike the other indian provinces, used to name all individuals who turned Covid-19-positive and the local media outlets used the entire information. The logic behind this was that one should be publicly named and photographed after testing positive for Covid19 to make others who came in contact with the concerned individual in the last few days take necessary precautions. it was termed as a social responsibility.

But when the scribes and media workers tested positive, no media outlet revealed its employees were also infected. But what would have been wrong, if the editors named their employees as social responsibilities! after all, testing positive for covid-19 is quite a normal phenomenon (and no matter of shame). rather, the editors could have done it as a matter of pride, saying their employees got infected while working in the pandemic.

Nava Thakuria is a northeast India-based journalist and media activist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Saturday, 26 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

Drug fiend DruG addiction is a monolithic and severe issue in our social boundary. it deduce a normal person into disorder actions. Drug consumers remain disrespected in the society. Drug separates a human from a community. it separates the generation from a reformist and enhanced life. similarly, Drug dealers themselves know that drug devour the life of a human being in the term of devastating the complete life of entire family. Drug generates hundreds of diseases. it creates an irregular and meaningless life, meddles with the inner ego, and disturbs the mind. Drug only makes the society backward. Henceforth, i plea the government to take action against drug trafficking.

Sammi mumtaz turbat

Joblessness

Resetting Post-Pandemic priorities The covid-19 pandemic means the world must change its view of security ali hassaN

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inCE its emergence later last year, covid-19 has been on a rampage, exposing the misplaced priorities countries across the globe have focused on in modern times. Though the pandemic has subsided to some extent, it is as yet far from over. no pandemic in human history have had such far reaching and long lasting repercussions as covid-19 is going to unleash.

The pandemic will certainly set to redraw and reshape the world and its underlying principles.

The havoc it is wreaking notwithstanding, it affords us an opportunity to reassess and rethink what matters most. The wreckage of the postcovid-19 world would be a fertile ground for the global stakeholders to introspect on, rethink and reset the priorities for the safety and welfare of humanity from such cataclysms in the future.

Till the late 20th century, the main focus and investment across the world was to ensure defense from traditional security threats like total, limited or asymmetric wars and mutual conflicts over clashes of interests. However, codification of international rules and principles in the form of international multilateral treaties and international organizations, fears of mutual destruction and deterrence has lowered the traditional security threshold to a level of limited or surgical targeted and intermittent cross border skirmishes and clashes. But despite all this, the mad arms race aimed at gaining global clout and primacy at the cost of social welfare spending continues to be commonplace. Though the world has learnt to build multiple layers of defenses and barriers from security threats of predictable nature, we failed to appreciate to date that non-traditional security threats cost us much dearer than the traditional security challenges facing the world today. Even though the former are common and shared challenges to humanity, all countries across the continents selfishly peruse the latter. no one dares to take globally shared challenges so seriously as to fight with them. This is, as evident from the ravages the world has suffered from the Coronavirus, is the greatest irony of the world today. The unpredictable and apocalyptic outbreak and subsequent devastations of Cov-sars-2 across the continents demand the world to shift attention away from predictable traditional security concepts of territoriality, border conflicts or the wars of interests, of ideologies and of trade towards the unforeseen event humans barely have control over. in other words, we need to redirect resources away from predictable threats of belligerency between or among nations and toward the unpredictable ravages of nature of our own invitation, whose annihilation and rage is unsure and costs incalculable. Contrary to a war between two or more countries whose costs are borne by only those involved, natural eventualities like the pandemics are inclusive in nature: they afflict alike all countries, irrespective of their global clout or primacy. moreover, a sizable number of other challenges facing the world today need a collective, collaborative and pragmatic response and action.

The globally shared threats and challenges

to security and peace include economic inequity would rise is a world different than the existing and injustice, global political fragility and divi- one. The rules of business and activities of life sions, natural calamities, hunger and food inse- are going to be redrawn be its politics, economy, curity, health-related issues, religious insecurity, societal makeup or intellectual temperament. security to life, blatant and frequent violation of Covid-19, for certain, is going to alter the course fundamental human rights, intellectual stag- of human action. at this point an important nancy and brain drain, and environmental secu- question arises, as to who is going to define the rity. since such challenges do cost humanity direction of the post-pandemic course of action. more dearly than all major wars of modern luckily, it’s man. The turning point calls for retimes, they need to be prioritized above all. and designing and reshaping regulations, laws, rules since shared challenges afflict all countries and principles of the world in a holistic and hualike, they demand shared actions and collective manistic fashion. Egalitarianism, compassion, strategies, if they are to be mitigated, if not pre- empathy, equity, ethos, morality among other exalted humanistic commandments, are needed to vented at all.

Henceforth the strategy of collective secu- form the very base of proposed post-pandemic rity for the collective good of humanity must be rules and order.

Given the immediacy and gravity of the adopted in dealing with issues haunting humanity. in other words, any challenge hurting hu- healthcare crisis as posed by covid-19, mapping a universal health manity in one way security agenda or another be dealt should be prioriwith by all countries tized at the top. But collaboratively and Similarly, the principles enshrined for this to materialall available reize, the world needs sources. The conin the concept of collective to reassess its priorcept of Collective ities and divert them security from intersecurity need to be reframed and to a more immedinational relation and ate and predictable security academics applied in tackling the shared crisis haunting huneed to be reinchallenges of environmental manity over time. in vented to deal with this regard, exorbiglobally shared noninsecurity, food insecurity, tant financial allotraditional security cation on military issues. The vocabufinancial and political insecurity, and defense needs lary of such issues is and intellectual insecurity among to be limited to fiextended as collecnance the compotive political secuthe others. By doing this, issues nents of the new rity, collective collective security financial security, like those of covid-19 to a large paradigm. Though it collective legal seextent, would be dealt more may not be easy an curity, collective undertaking to imfood security, coleffectively and in a unified manner plement a plan covlective natural secuering more than rity, collective and the ultimate goal of common seven billion souls health security, colacross the contilective life security, good, safety and welfare of nents, the World collective human humankind be realized Health organization rights security, coloffers a foundalective environmentional basis to build tal security, it upon. Experts collective intellectual security and so on. For this purpose, laws from across the globe must be engaged in on each of the subjects must be framed and cod- preparing the draft agenda for Collective Health ified to apply to all countries across the world. security. it is to be a centralized effort within a input from such laws must be sought from all revamped WHo: all budgetary allocations, all humans living everywhere; experts, jurists, sci- resources, healthcare proposals, and health proentists, intelligentsia, academicians, political fessionals and workers. all countries should leaders, lawyers and laymen. after sifting inputs contribute a fixed amount of GDP to the collecfrom all quarters in all areas, the same would be tive health security paradigm. similarly, the principles enshrined in the screened and weighted based on their productivity and usefulness. once drafts are ready, they concept of collective security need to be remay be made public for discussion and ascent framed and applied in tackling the shared chaland objection therein be dealt with and ad- lenges of environmental insecurity, food insecurity, financial and political insecurity, and dressed by experts committees.

Before proceeding towards the details of intellectual insecurity among the others. By such a scheme, it’s pertinent to emphasize the doing this, issues like those of covid-19 to a necessity of revamping the existing rules and or- large extent, would be dealt more effectively ders in place. The uncertainty and unpredictabil- and in a unified manner and the ultimate goal ity of its outcomes notwithstanding, the of common good, safety and welfare of hupandemic is going to cause a serious blow to the mankind be realized. existing socio-economic and political orders, Ali Hassan can be reached at: one way or the other. once the pandemic is over, so will be the existing beliefs and orders. We alihassanb.34@gmail.com

JoBlEssnEss means not being employed or being jobless. unemployment is a wide problem in our country. First, we have such a low educational quality. no attention is shown towards covering illiteracy rate. our country is a developing country and needs skilled hands but unemployment has increased brain drain. if work and leisure are equally distributed, Pakistan can provide enough jobs to the public. However, corruption and nepotism rules everywhere in Pakistan along with the worrying matter of population explosion. Government must take actions to control population to meet the needs of people and provide education and job opportunities to be a developed nation.

DurDana noor turbat

Air pollution air pollution has worsened in Pakistan as a manificture of low grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn off and colder winter temperatures coalesce into stagnant clouds of smog. Pakistan is ranked one of the worst countries in the world for air quality. and lahore consistently ranked in the most affected cities. according to the pollution monitoring. in 2015, 135,000 Pakistan’s died due to poor air quality. it is less of a luxury and more necessity but unfortunately Pakistan is a worst country the ragas of air quality. The issue of the worst air quality bringing the climate change to Pakistan.

Pakistan has increased tenfold this year.

The Karachi and lahore are among top pollution cities in the country. lahore only experienced 10 hours of good quality air based on the during the first eleven months of 2019. air quality in the city oscillated between bad and hazardous for a total of 223 days so far this year. so the government attempt to improve the situation in lahore, a group of environmentalist are planning to unveil Qn eight metre high air purifier that will remove harmful particles from the air. mahikan Sarwar kEch

Citizenship amendment act THE current citizenship law by the indian government is ominous, particularly, for the muslim communities. This law excludes muslim immigrants. Furthermore, the government of india has left no chance in showing massive violences on the muslims by demonstration against indian citizenship (Citizenship amendment act).

Dishearteningly, more than 25 people faced death due to amendment act, under violence many were arrested. However, the demonstrators carried out slogans and placards by perceiving narendra modi’s inexorable nationalist government’s policies that are putting muslims population and others at risks. The Caa (Citizenship amendment act) enacted by the parliament has caused country wide disturbances and social issues with rampant protests all over the country. such anti-muslim acts and laws are supposed to be eliminated.

The uno is requested to stop the intimidate violences which are in the shape or laws and acts that are conducted agains the muslim communities in india.

Sammi mumtaz turbat

Proliferation of hate-speech soCial platforms are incipiently being euphemistic where ominous stipulations and incongruous speeches are being argued and the arguments are leading towards hatred and enhancing the hate-speech which is the fountainhead of creating quarrels and disputes among the individuals. in recent years, heat-speech had been being injected in the minds and souls of the people through multitudinous social-sites, social-platforms, streaming sites, and online games. recently, Pakistan Telecommunication authority (PTa) is planning to block some social sites, social platforms and various dating sites which are comprehensively creating the negative effect, immoral contents, and societal norms, such as Grindr, sayHi, skout, Tagged, and Tender. Furthermore, TikTok and Bigo removed approximately 3,728,16 videos from July 1 to December 1, 2019, among which 31 carried obscenities, vulgarity, and immorality. according to an estimation that more than 3,004 Twitter account profiles came under suspicion and among them nearly 243 accounts were granted for removal. in the meantime, PTa blocked more than 4,000 social sites in which 218 suspects were detained for accusing of spreading hatespeech about cultures, religions, castes and violating the laws of Pakistan. Despite of these restrictions, the hate-speech is still trending in the social media and people are getting attracted to it and initiating to hate other peoples’ community and religion. o, the government should begin implementing some new initiative and it should spread awareness about hate-speech in social sites to reduce hate-speech. mEhraj altaf hErronk

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

ThE Taliban dEal & US-jihadiST nEgoTiaTionS THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION, NO MATTER WHO WINS IN NOVEMBER, WILL HAVE TO WORK EXTREMELY HARD TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF THIS NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS

CeNtre for Global PoliCy

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KamRan boKhaRi

ALKS between the United States, the Afghan Taliban, and anti-Taliban factions are likely the prelude to a systemic change in the way Afghanistan is governed, and with the Taliban holding most of the power in the talks, a postAmerican Afghanistan is likely to more closely resemble a theocracy than a democratic republic. If talks are successful and the Taliban keep to the terms of the deal, this new government could serve as a test of how far the United States is willing to go to negotiate with nationalist jihadists in order to counter those pursuing transnational agendas.

The Trump Administration’s agreement with the Afghan Taliban represents the first-ever substantive peace negotiation effort between the United States and a jihadist movement. The intra-Afghan dialogue component of this process will prove to be extremely difficult because the country is about to undergo another regime change. Assuming the negotiations succeed – which is not a certainty – and given that the Taliban want to alter the current Afghan state into a theocracy while the other side wants to preserve as much of the current democratic setup as possible, the likely compromise will be a Sunni Afghan version of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Washington needs to ensure that the negotiating process does not break down as well as that the Taliban are counterbalanced by its opponents. More importantly, this experiment with the Afghan Taliban could serve as a template for future negotiations with nationalist jihadists in other theaters as a way to counter transnational jihadist forces such as ISIS and al Qaeda.

REGIME CHANGE IN AFGHANISTAN: Consider the following three statements delivered on the opening day of the intra-Afghan dialogue on Sept. 12 in Doha: “My delegation are in Doha representing a political system that is supported by millions of men and women from a diversity of cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds in our homeland.” (Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the high Council for National Reconciliation); “[Afghanistan should] have an Islamic system in which all tribes and ethnicities of the country find themselves without any discrimination and live their lives in love and brotherhood.” (Chief Taliban negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar ); “The choice of your political system is yours to make.” (US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo).

If it wasn’t already, these remarks should make it clear that Afghanistan is once again in the throes of

regime change, this time via negotiations. The current state, born out of the 2001 Bonn Agreement to replace the Taliban regime and which the U.S. and the international community has spent 19 years and at least a trillion dollars trying to sustain, will undergo massive transformation.

This is the essence of the talks between the Afghan jihadist movement and the anti-Taliban camp, which consists of a divided state plus an array of competing actors across the country and has come to the table from a position of relative weakness. One of the reasons why the country needs a new social contract is because of the absence of a national consensus on mainstream politics.

Instead, disparate factions opposed to the Taliban are also at loggerheads with one another. The opponents of the Taliban who are part of the current setup wish to concede as little as possible but lack the military leverage to drive a hard bargain.

Meanwhile, the Taliban know that they cannot go back to their old emirate and will need to compromise because of their need for international recognition. That said, their desire to dominate a post-American Afghanistan is only getting stronger, especially given battlespace dynamics and the U.S. desire to withdraw as quickly as possible. It is thus likely that any agreement will involve large-scale constitutional engineering – even to the extent of a new state architecture. So, if negotiations succeed and the Taliban agrees to abide by the terms of a deal (which is doubtful), what would a power-sharing arrangement or post-American Afghan polity look like?

The Taliban know that an outright theocratic emirate is not a viable option, so they will have to improvise, most likely creating a hybrid between their medieval Sunni ideal and a modern, Western-style state. There will be a republican component to the future state, but that component will be heavily circumscribed by a thick theocratic layer. In fact, an apex religious leadership post will likely be established. In other words, it would not exactly be an emirate but would feature an emir atop a complex hybrid edifice.

Most new political dispensations are built on modifying existing models, and the Taliban don’t have to look too far for an example to build on. The Islamic Republic of Iran is next door, and despite it being Shiite, its status as the first government of its kind has influenced a great deal of Sunni Islamist actors – even those who deeply oppose them theologically. The Taliban have actually grown close to Iran since 9/11.

There is an ironic paradox here. Because the choice is between continued war or regime-change, the only scenario in which these talks succeed is one in which an Islamist polity emerges. The Taliban will likely make some compromises, but their opponents will be making most of the concessions. These talks should not be viewed through the lens of the number of accommodations that the anti-Taliban camp will be making to the jihadist movement but rather in terms of how much of the current setup will it be able to preserve.

That the Taliban will extract far greater concessions than they will concede is not simply a function of the

The Middle East’s new map THIS IS NO TIME TO WITHDRAW FROM THE MIDDLE EAST OR EVEN TO THINK OF IT AS A REGION UNCONNECTED TO OTHERS

NatioNal iNterest

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RobeRt D Kaplan

he imminent establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and two Gulf states, the United Arab emirates and Bahrain, is part of an on-going process of security cooperation going back many years. While that robs the event of some drama, it also increases its significance. It means that the process of ending the era of Arab-Israeli con-

frontation will continue, culminating perhaps in a political upheaval in Iran. That is the road that the Middle east may now be on.

Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait are some of the Arab countries reported to be considering peace deals with Israel. One or two of those countries may hold back, and Saudi Arabia, while supporting the process of regional normalization with Israel, may officially withhold formal recognition. It doesn’t matter. even without official ties, all these countries have in a spiritual sense ended their hostility to the Jewish state.

The Israel-UAe alliance enjoys virtually unimpeded naval access around the three sides of the Arabian Peninsula: the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf, with only tiny Qatar and the war-torn and chaotic state of Yemen presenting somewhat of a challenge. Meanwhile, the growing military presence of China in Djibouti and potentially in Port Sudan will remain a neutral element regarding this new Arab-Israeli security condominium, which will go far beyond the naval sphere and embrace high-tech security and warfare in all its aspects.

The Middle east is in the complicated process of transformation. For decades since the 1960s, the Baathist totalitarian regimes in Syria and Iraq had organized the rejection front against Israel. But those states, along with radical Libya, are now utterly shattered, even as egypt lies impotent beneath debilitating repression and eco-

upper hand they have in the battlespace but also because of ideational conditions, both within the current Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Afghan society. Many of the factions within the anti-Taliban camp are also Islamists – remnants of the original jihadist insurgency that fought the Soviets in the 1980s. In addition, the 1992 collapse of the Kremlin-backed People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the last real state that the country had, led to the empowerment of medieval religious interpretations – a key reason why the Taliban emirate emerged in 1996.

POLITICAL LEARNING: This is also why the existing U.S.-backed Afghan state has had many Talibanesque legal features. The negotiators of the jihadist movement will be heavily leveraging these factors in order to roll back the many democratic gains made in the 19 years since they were last in power. The United States and the anti-Taliban Afghan camp are well aware of these huge risks, but they are hoping that the jihadist movement has undergone some basic modicum of “political learning.”

They are not wrong, but they are also only correct in a limited sense. Political learning is an extremely complicated, nonlinear, and long-term process. Geopolitical constraints and latitudes may have brought the Taliban to the table, but we are very far from genuine ideational change – to the extent that it is possible.

Taliban reassurances that they are no longer against women’s education and employment does not mean they have actually changed their views; it just means they know what the other side wants to hear. Their goal is not simply to return to where things stood on September 10, 2001: A key part of their political learning involves how to obtain the one critical thing that their last emirate lacked, i.e., international recognition, which they can only gain via the United States.

Political learning is also taking place on the U.S. side. Until now, the closest Washington has come to participating in negotiations like the current ones in Afghanistan were the 2007 talks in Iraq to weaken Sunni tribal support for al Qaeda, which were tactical in nature and did not involve talking to a jihadist organization per se. The Taliban talks will likely serve as a model for other areas requiring political settlements, such as Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. At the same time, these negotiations will prove to be a lesson on the limits of aligning with nationalist jihadists to counter transnational ones such as ISIS and al Qaeda.

A TALIBAN REPUBLIC: The Afghan Taliban represent a key case study of the massive barriers in the path of jihadist groups developing political wings, much less political parties. The politburo headquartered in Qatar is not the Taliban version of what the Sinn Fein was to the Irish Republican Army. Born in an Islamist-Marxist conflict that turned intra-Islamist, the Taliban movement is purely insurgent. It has a political leadership, but the group, as a whole, is light years away from evolving into a nonviolent political movement. The Taliban are hardwired to fight and incapable of gaining

nomic mayhem. The Palestinians, Qatar, and Shiite elements in Lebanon are all that’s left of the Arab rejection front, which now has to rely on support from non-Arab Turkey and Iran.

Of those two, Iran may be the more fragile. Whereas Turkey’s neo-authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip erdogan still operates in a partially democratic framework of rival political parties, as well as of independent mayors and journalists, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime in Iran constitutes a radical theocracy that is far more unpopular than is erdogan’s in Turkey. Moreover, Iran’s regime, unlike Turkey’s, is tied to the price of hydrocarbons which has been in general decline (and that is not to mention the U. S. imposed sanctions), even as the recent Arab peace accords with Israel specifically threaten Iran’s foothold on the Gulf. Finally, Turkey for reasons of geography, culture, and twentieth-century history is a quasi-european state with all the stability which that entails, whereas Iran is not.

Massive anti-regime riots swept throughout Iran in late 2019, and this was before the regime’s mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis. Iran’s regime is under increasing political pressure, demonstrably viewed as illegitimate in the eyes of its people. Responding with terrorism and the deployment of proxy armies abroad, as the regime is likely to do, will be more difficult since the Trump Administration’s assassination of Qasem Soleimani early this year.

Lenin famously said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” essentially nothing has happened in Iran since the 1979 Revolution, and nothing happened between Israel and its Arab neighbors since 1994 when diplomatic relations were established between Israel and Jordan. Then, in a matter of weeks, forces accruing for decades culminated in two peace treaties. One has to wonder whether and when, as part of this process, decades will happen in a matter of weeks in Iran: not right now, but perhaps during the next presidential term in the United States.

In short, the battle for Iranian hearts and minds has

power via elections.

The Taliban’s maximalist demand of an emirate is thus not just a function of ideology; it also has a lot to do with the group’s capabilities and tradecraft. And because the Bonn Agreement is dead and the existing political system itself is up for grabs, the new hybrid regime will be dominated by the Taliban while their opponents will have limited authority. The constitutional engineers will have to create a state structure with a complex web of institutions tied together by legal processes, giving the Taliban the upper hand. Let us consider the four main pillars of governance: executive: The Taliban may allow the presidency to remain in the hands of their opponents to manage day to day governance – as long as it has “religious” oversight via an “emir” (analogous to Iran’s supreme leader). Because the new political dispensation will be the result of an international process, the Taliban mullah who gets to become emir may have far more executive authority than Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Legislature: The Taliban are most vulnerable here.

They have no political party, much less experience competing in elections. It is therefore reasonable to assume that they will face a sizable opposition in parliament. Thus, the Taliban could seek a clerical body to approve or reject laws – something akin to Iran’s Guardian Council.

Judiciary: The country’s Talibanesque clergy serves as a major enabler for the Afghan jihadist movement.

Thus, this branch will represent a stronghold of the Taliban under the coming regime. The courts will not just be packed with ultraconservative clerics. There will also be religious oversight over the civil courts and non-religious jurisprudence.

Security: Being an insurgent group, this is the one power center that the Taliban are most likely to want to dominate. They would want to break the hold of their opponents in law enforcement, the military and the intelligence service under the guise of an insurgent Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration program. The Taliban would want its commanders and fighters to be brought into the state security organs but in a subordinating role. They may demand a parallel military force like Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or they may try to retain their own militia force parallel to the state security forces, akin to hezbollah in Lebanon.

Obviously, such a state is not what Washington wants. however, nearly a generation’s worth of efforts have failed to establish democratic governance.

More importantly, the U.S. strategic objective is to ensure that Afghanistan not return to being a springboard for transnational jihadist activity. For this the country needs a system (however flawed) that absorbs as many jihadist fighters as possible and limits the room for ISIS and its allies to operate, which again assumes successful negotiations and the Taliban upholding their end of the bargain. The next administration, no matter who wins in November, will have to work extremely hard to ensure the success of this negotiations process – one that is at the very least able to balance between the Taliban and its opponents. That is a terribly tall order.

Dr. Kamran Bokhari is Director of Analytical Development at the Center for Global Policy (CGP). Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. He has served as the coordinator for Central Asia Studies at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI).

commenced in earnest following the new Israel-Arab Gulf alliance, as one development inexorably points to the other. It is the internal dynamic in Iran, a highly educated country of 84 million people, that over the coming years has the power to truly change the region.

Yet despite the dramatic events of this past week, parts of Washington remain in a time warp, attacking “endless wars,” as part of an argument to withdraw from the Middle east altogether. An unnamed senior adviser to presidential candidate Joe Biden, quoted in Foreign Policy, even relegated the region to “a distant fourth” in the order of significance, after europe, the Indo-Pacific, and Latin America. In fact, the “endless wars” have been in the process of ending for years now, as U. S. troop levels continue to drop from 132,000 to 3,000 in Iraq, from 100,000 to 4,500 in Afghanistan, and with under a thousand in Syria. We are in a new era: one of Arab-Israeli implicit and explicit cooperation, Turkish neo-Ottoman expansion, and Iranian internal crisis, all under the creeping economic shadow of the Chinese, who rather than view the Middle east as “a distant fourth,” increasingly view it as their key puzzle piece, necessary to organically link up their Belt and Road Initiative in Asia and europe.

The Chinese are consequently building ports and military bases, armed by hundreds of billions of dollars in investments, across the region.

This is no time to withdraw from the Middle east or even to think of it as a region unconnected to others. Indeed, the Middle east is an organic part of eurasia.

Therefore, in the next presidential term, it is time for the United States to help expand and consolidate Arab-Israeli peace in order to limit Turkey’s neo-imperialism and further undermine the regime in Iran: all in the spirit of smartly managing China’s rise across the Indo-Pacific.

Robert D. Kaplan holds the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

BUSINESS 09

CCP RAiDs LAhORE OffiCE Of JAhAnGiR TAREEn’s suGAR miLLs, sEiZEs imPORTAnT RECORD

corporate corner

ISLAMABAD

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ISLAMABAD: Under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme, Pak Suzuki has donated a CO2 Incubator Machine with Auto Sterilization to Indus Hospital. It will be helpful in conducting research against Covid-19 would lead ahead towards new development in treatment at domestic level. PREss RElEAsE

ISLAMABAD: Eighteen, the luxury real estate project, signs Mahira Khan as their brand ambassador; the actress is set to appear in Eighteen’s new TVC campaign. PREss RElEAsE

GHUlAM ABBAs

HE Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Friday raided the head office of JDW Sugar Mills, owned by Jahangir Tareen, in Lahore to impound proofs of the group’s suspected involvement in anti-competitive activities in violation of the Competition Act, 2010.

As part of an ongoing inquiry into the possible anti-competitive activities in the sugar industry, the CCP on 14 September 2020 had carried out a search a search and inspection of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association’s Lahore and Islamabad offices, wherein it impounded the association’s record, including the correspondence done through letters, emails, and whatsapp messages, between various members

and office bearers of PSMA. The impounded data included exchange of emails between a senior official of JDW and PSMA Punjab zone office bearers regarding sensitive commercial information such as mill-wise, district-wise sugar stock position, and even the quantity of cane crushed, sugar produced, recovery percentage, carry forward old/raw sugar, total sugar, quantity sold, balance and sold percentage.

A senior official of CCP informed this scribe that the decision to search the head office of JDW Group was approved by the senior management of the commission in view of the political nature of the case.

“During an analysis of the whatsapp messages exchanged in a group of PSMA officials, the same senior official of JDW was found to be in constant communication with regard to price and stock-related data of sugar mills.”

CAA shifts blame to airlines on pilots’ dubious licences issue KARACHI sTAFF REPORT

Petro Division to float tenders for 20 new E&P blocks in October ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division has planned to auction 27 new exploration & production (E&P) blocks, of which 20 would be advertised in October while the remaining in December. "The advertisement for award of 20 E&P blocks will be given in the first week of October, while seven offshore blocks will be offered in December," a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP. “The aim is to step up oil and gas drilling activities in different hydrocarbon potential areas of the country.” He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was fully aware of the prevailing energy situation in the country and was taking all possible measures to meet the existing and future needs in the oil and gas sector in an efficient manner. The official lamented that the country's existing gas reserves were depleting at the rate of 9.5pc per annum. "Unfortunately, E&P companies made no significant discovery since long." Currently, he said, local gas production was around 3.7 billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD) against the demand of 6BCFD gas. He said the previous governments of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party did not give due attention to increase oil and gas exploration activities, which resulted in energy crisis in the country. "The PMLN government had not awarded even a single E&P block during its five-year tenure, due to which the gap between demand and supply of gas was increasing gradually." Cognizant of the situation, the official said the PTI government, after coming into power, had started a bidding round in September 2018 and subsequently awarded almost 10 new E&P blocks to expedite drilling activities. He said a new block took almost 4-5 years in giving any result as it involved different phases including studies, testing, drilling, and installation of processing plans and pipelines.

The country's total sedimentary area was around 827,268 square kilometers, of which 320,741km or 39pc of the area was under exploration, he added. APP

The data further indicated the senior official’s continued involvement in sharing/receiving sensitive information regarding sugar industry since 2012, when he was nominated as the focal person for coordinating the sugar stock position by PSMA. The CCP suspects that the compilation, consolidation, and distribution of sensitive commercial information using the PSMA’s platform could lead to possible proof/corroboration of collusive activity/cartelization that is violation of the Competition Act. The search team has impounded the relevant print and electronic material from the above-mentioned sugar mill premises for further scrutiny.

RS200BN IN THREE YEARS: It is pertinent to mention here that Jahangir Tareen on Thursday had submitted a reply to the FIA in which he said that his sugar mills made Rs200 billion in

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday blamed airline operators for being behind the entire fiasco of pilots’ dubious licences, claiming that it happened after the airlines provided wrong information on identities of the pilots.

The CAA, while quoting a report prepared by the audit team of the board of inquiry, said that the licences of pilots were suspended and they were grounded owing to the fault of the airline operators.

The remarks from the CAA came after the aviation authority on Friday declared the licences of 30 more pilots as genuine and the additional director licencing issued an official notification in this regard.

The board of inquiry thoroughly verified the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) and Commercial Pilot License (CPL) of the 30 pilots, who

were earlier suspended over dubious licences, and found that it happened after they were provided wrong IDs of the pilots from the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and two other private airlines.

The CAA said that action would be taken against airlines that provided wrong information leading to the entire mess up that also raised serious credibility issues for the Pakistani pilots abroad.

On 15 July, Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (PALPA) said that none of the pilots in Pakistan possesses dubious ATPL licenses.

Our point of view got vindicated once again after the director general of CAA conveyed to their counterpart in Oman in a letter that none of the pilots in Pakistan possesses dubious ATPL licenses, said the pilots association.

The PALPA said that the letter quoted that none of the licenses is dubious and shows that the matter was not handled in an amicable manner.

Govt urged to clear the air surrounding GIDC payments PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has demanded the government to address the reservations of industries, particularly the CNG sector, regarding the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) payments, saying that the government must immediately make a final decision in this regard.

“Businessmen of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa operating in the CNG sector had earlier filed a petition in Peshawar High Court, wherein they had informed the superior judiciary that they didn’t avail the GIDC,” SCCI President Engineer Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz said in a statement on Friday. “So the government’s decision to recover the sum from industries, particularly the CNG sector, is unjustified.”

He made it clear that industrialists/CNG owners would not accept the government’s decision of recovering the GIDC sum via instalments.

“Instead, a high-powered committee, involving all stakeholders, should be constituted by the

government so that a way forward could be chalked out in light of the recent decision of the Peshawar High Court.”

He informed that the Peshawar High Court, while hearing the GIDC case, had directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to submit an audit report regarding GIDC within a month. The superior judiciary also issued directions to OGRA to constitute a high-powered committee to address the GIDC amicably.

For the committee, he said, SCCI has proposed three experts and has asked the OGRA to give them due representation.

Meanwhile, the chamber president requested the federal government that the industries, including the CNG sector, which had been adversely affected

by Covid-19 pandemic situation, should be given relief at all levels.

“Industries have always played a vital role in economic development and employment generation in the country,” he noted, adding that the industries are confronted with severe economic challenges in the post Covid-19 scenario.

three years. Of this sum, Rs81 billion was paid to sugar farmers.

The FIA is investigating the PTI leader in an inquiry into Pakistan’s sugar crisis.

JDW Sugar Mills comprise of three units, two of which are located in Rahim Yar Khan in south Punjab and one is located in Ghotki, Sindh. It accounts for 17pc of the country’s total sugar product.

A sugar inquiry report, issued on May 2, had revealed the way sugar barons had cheated farmers, benefited from subsidies and created conditions so that the price of sugar could go up.

Tareen was among the people accused of benefitting the most from the crisis. The report said that six major groups control 51pc of the total sugar production. Tareen’s JDW Mills have the biggest share that is 20pc of the total production.

Gold price drops to Rs111,800 per tola ISLAMABAD: The price of 24-karat gold decreased

by Rs700 on Friday and was traded at Rs111,800, as against its previous day’s price at Rs112,500.

Likewise, the price of 10-gram gold decreased by Rs601 and was traded at Rs95,850 against its sale at Rs96,451, Karachi Sarafa Association reported. The price of per-tola silver remained unchanged at Rs1,150, while that of 10-gram silver also remained static at 98,594. Gold price in the international market increased by $2 and was traded at $1859 against $1857, the association reported. APP

Low gas pressure continues to impact KE’s generation capability NEWS DESK: K-Electric (KE) continues to be challenged by low gas pressure from the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), said Karachi’s sole energy provider in statement issued on Friday. “While the quantity of the required gas remains available, decreased pressure leads to a decline of 250MW to 300MW in electricity supply at a time when demand is high,” it said. “Because of low gas pressure, KE’s power plants at Korangi and SITE are not able to operate at their optimum capacity despite remaining fully available.” To resolve this issue, KE has requested to purchase re-liquefied natural gas (RLNG), if made available at required gas pressure, to meet short term requirements and is awaiting confirmation on the same. At the same time, the power utility has also requested the federal government to increase supply from the national grid till 800MW from existing NKI and Jamshoro interconnections. KE’s furnace-oil fired power plants are fully functional at this time. The company has expressed concerns that the continued curtailment of gas pressure may lead to socio-economic challenges due to increase in load shedding hours across all consumer segments including industrial zones.

Ali Zaidi inaugurates online portal, website for ports & shipping wing NEWS DESK: Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi has inaugurated an online portal and a website for the ports & shipping wing, Radio Pakistan reported on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, Zaidi said the Ministry of Maritime Affairs has achieved a major milestone by inaugurating a one-window online portal for digitalization of data and facilitation of seafarers, manning agents and ship owners.

Stocks shed 105 points on selling pressure KARACHI sTAFF REPORT

Investors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a jittery session on Friday, with the indices swinging both ways in search of a clear direction before succumbing to selling pressure.

Equity markets around the world also showed a negative trend, whereas crude oil prices went southwards from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 0.84pc to $39.97 while Brent crude price dropping

0.45pc to $41.75.

“The last day of the rollover week replicated what was witnessed for the good part of the outgoing week, i.e. range bound performance and selling pressure. Exploration & production, cement and banking stocks remained the main contributors to the index’s downslide.”

MARKET SUMMARY: After a slow start to proceedings, the benchmark KSE-100 Index touched intraday high at 42,100.73 (+294.36 points) in the second half of the session. However, it failed to sustain its up-

ward trajectory, marking its intraday low at 41,601.94 (-204.43 points). The index finally ended lower by 105.14 points at 41,701.23.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index declined 373.21 points to close at 66,558.61, whereas the KSE All Share Index gained 38.77 points, settling at 29,636.11.

The overall market volumes remained the same at 434.03 million shares. Average traded value increased by 2pc, from $91.1 million to $93.0 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +3.80pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY -0.44pc) and Byco Petroleum Pak-

CMYK

istan Ltd (BYCO +9.99pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 57.51 million, 47.50 million and 28.43 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that dragged the index to the red included cement (-85.38 points), technology and communication (-21.57 points) and insurance (-16.22 points). Among the companies, Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -37.87 points), United Bank Ltd (UBL -21.67 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -21.44 points) dented he index the most.

The cement sector lost 1.80pc from its cumulative market capitalization following

media reports that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has carried out search and inspection of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) Lahore offices to check the "increase in cement prices by manufacturers".

Meanwhile, Murree Brewery Company Ltd (MUREB -7.50pc) declared its financial performance for FY20. The company’s sales fell by 11.11pc YoY; admin cost surged by 28pc YoY; while other expenses increased by 134pc. Its earnings per share went down from Rs44.21 in FY19 to Rs24.64 in FY20.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS Japan Pm suga and china's Xi agree to pursue high-level contacts in first talks TOKYO AGENCIES

Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their first talks to pursue high-level contacts in a bid to promote regional and international stability. “Stable relations are important not just for our countries but for the region and the international community. I want to fulfil that responsibility,” Suga said in comments aired by pubic broadcaster NHK after he spoke with Xi on the telephone. Suga, who became prime minister this month and has little diplomatic experience, must manage relations with Japan’s bigger neighbour as tension between China and the United States increases amid the coronavirus pandemic and lingering trade friction. Suga spoke on the phone to U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday. Japan, a close U.S. ally, is also embroiled in a dispute with China over the ownership of islands in the East China Sea, and is concerned about an uptick in Chinese military activity in the region. A planned state visit

by Xi to Japan earlier this year was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. Suga said he did not discuss rescheduling the visit during the call with Xi.

PUtin sAys RUssiA And Us shoUld AgREE not to mEddlE in EAch othER's ElEctions MOSCOW

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AGENCIES

RESIDENT Vladimir Putin called on Friday for an agreement between Russia and the United States to guarantee not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other’s elections.

In a statement ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3, Putin called for a reset between Russia and the United States and said he wanted an agreement between the two countries to prevent incidents in cyberspace. “(I propose)… exchanging guarantees of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, including electoral processes, including using information and communication technologies and high-tech methods,” he said.

Moscow’s relations with Washington are at post-Cold War lows as the election looms.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the aim of

EU to challenge court ruling allowing Apple to avoid $15bn tax BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it would appeal a court ruling which has sided with Apple over a record €13 billion ($15.12 billion) Irish tax bill. “The Commission has decided to appeal before the European Court of Justice the General Court’s judgment of July 2020 on the Apple State aid case in Ireland,” the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. She said the General Court raised “important legal issues” in its ruling, adding that “the Commission also respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law.” According to Vestager, the same court had previously stated that EU member nations needed to respect European treaties, despite being able to set up their own taxation laws. “We have to continue to use all tools at our disposal to ensure companies pay their fair share of tax,” she said. In July, the EU’s general court ruled that the Commission had failed to prove that Apple had been granted economic advantage via Ireland’s taxes. The Commission’s team, led by Vestager, argued in 2016 that the tech giant had to repay €13 billion in unpaid taxes to Ireland, after the country granted “undue tax benefits” to the firm. Both Apple and Ireland have contested the allegation, with Apple saying that it had never asked for any special arrangements and that the EU has tried to rewrite history. Apple CEO Tim Cook has even called the debacle “total political crap.” The European Commission will now take the case to the highest court in Europe. AGENCIES

tilting it in Donald Trump’s favour, including by hacking into the campaign of his rival Hillary Clinton. Moscow denies that charge.

Trump is currently campaigning for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden.

“One of the main strategic challenges

of our time is the risk of a large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere,” Putin said in the Kremlin statement.

“We would like to once again appeal to the United States with a proposal to approve a comprehensive program of practical measures to reset our relations

in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT).”

He proposed the two countries reach an agreement to prevent major cyberspace incidents, something he compared to a 1972 U.S.-Soviet treaty reached at the height of the Cold War to prevent incidents at sea and in the air from escalating.

He also called for the two countries to fully restore communication lines between their respective agencies to discuss key international information on security issues.

Russia has denied it is attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. campaign, despite evidence to the contrary.

Microsoft MSFT.O said two weeks ago that hackers linked to Russia, China and Iran were trying to spy on people tied to both Trump and Biden. Russia and China dismissed the allegations.

Reuters reported on Sept. 9 that Microsoft had alerted one of Biden’s main election campaign advisory firms that it had been targeted by suspected Russian state-backed hackers. The Kremlin called the report “nonsense”.

Thai republican hashtag trends after constitution change delayed BANGKOK AGENCIES

The hashtag #RepublicofThailand trended on Twitter in Thailand on Friday after parliament voted to push back the question of changing the constitution as protesters have demanded.

During more than two months of anti-government protests, some protest leaders have said they seek constitutional reforms to reduce the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s monarchy but that they were not seeking to abolish it.

The republican hashtag, in English rather than Thai, had been used in more than 730,000 Tweets and was the top trending hashtag in Thailand on Friday morning, according to Twitter.

The Royal Palace did not comment and has made no response to requests for comment on the protests or the demands for royal reform.

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said he had not seen the hashtag and declined to comment on it but said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha was listening to all

sides on the issue of the constitution.

“There are those who want to amend the constitution and others who don’t,” he said.

Parliament, dominated by supporters of the government, voted on Thursday to delay making a decision on whether it will amend the constitution.

The decision angered protesters and opposition parliamentarians, who accused parliament of trying to buy time. Protesters seek changes to a constitution they say was drafted

Value of Russia's oil reserves drops by $164bn MOSCOW AGENCIES

The value of Russia's crude oil reserves dropped by 17 percent, or by US$164 billion (12.7 trillion Russian rubles), in 2019 compared to 2018, Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said in its latest estimate this month. The value of Russia's total reserves of fossil fuels and minerals dropped by US$129 billion (10 trillion rubles) as of the end of 2019, primarily as a result of the drop in the value of crude oil, which makes up 80 percent of the value of Russia's natural resources, the ministry said, reported Oilprice.com. The value of Russia's crude oil dropped in 2019 as operating expenditure rose by 7 percent, and capital expenditure (capex) increased by another 7.2 percent, while the discounted net cash flow dropped by 4.9 percent, and the average price of oil in 2019 fell by 2.2 percent, the Russian ministry said. Oil production in Russia was estimated to have dropped by 0.4 percent year over year in 2019, according to the ministry's estimates. Last year, the estimates from the same ministry showed that the total value of Russia's oil reserves was US$1.2 trillion at the end of 2018, nearly doubling the valuation over the course of a single year. The value of oil reserves reached some 71.7 percent of Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018. The value of oil reserves in Russia will surely take a big hit this year, when the ministry sits down to estimate it at some point next year, because of the crash in prices earlier in 2020. The price collapse, which hit Russia's budget income since oil is a large chunk of it, forced Russia and its friend-foe Saudi Arabia to agree to a new production cut deal to save the prices from plunging further.

to ensure Prayuth, a former junta leader, kept power after an election last year. They also want his departure. Prayuth says the election was fair.

The protests are the biggest challenge to the military and palace-dominated establishment since Prayuth took power in a 2014 coup.

The biggest protest drew tens of thousands of people at the weekend. They cheered calls for reforms to the monarchy, which were first aired in August, breaking a longstanding taboo on not criticising an institution that the constitution says must be held “in a position of revered worship”.

Some protesters say the constitution also gives too much power to the king, who paid a rare visit to Thailand on Thursday for ceremonies honouring his grandfather, Prince Mahidol Adulyadej. The king has spent most of his time in Europe since taking the throne nearly four years ago.

Hundreds of royalists marched to parliament on Wednesday to oppose calls from the anti-government protesters for changes to the constitution.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

NAdAL eyeS Federer’S reCord, 15 yeArS AFter FirSt FreNCH oPeN titLe

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AGENCIES

HE undisputed king of clay, Rafael Nadal is one title away from matching Roger Federer's all-time Grand Slam record, but 15 years on from the Spaniard's first French Open triumph he appears more vulnerable than ever at his beloved Roland Garros.

Nadal owns an astounding 93-2 record in Paris dating back to his debut in 2005, when, still a teenager, he became the first player to win the French Open on his first attempt since Mats Wilander in 1982. Fastforward to the present day, and his 19 Grand Slam crowns -- a record 12 of which have come at Roland Garros -- coupled with Federer's absence after knee surgery leave him on the brink of history at a venue where he has won each of the past three years.

Yet a multitude of factors, mostly beyond his control, have conspired against Nadal and offered hope to his chief rivals -namely Novak Djokovic and recent US Open winner Dominic Thiem.

Boris Becker, a former coach of world number one Djokovic, suggested the rescheduled tournament -- pushed back from its traditional spring billing due to the coronavirus pandemic -- will be tougher than usual for Nadal. The heavier conditions could suit hardcourt players more and negate some of Nadal's lethal topspin, possibly aiding Thiem who has finished runner-up in Paris twice in succession.

"This year is going to be particularly hard for Rafael Nadal. He's my number one favourite but the difference between him and the other players is less big this year than usual," said Becker, a six-time Grand Slam champion.

"He's not in his regular rhythm. He needs match practice. Normally, he was coming to Roland Garros having often played four big clay tournaments, which he had generally won."

Nadal will head into the French Open without a clay title under his belt for the first time, having lost in straight sets to Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-finals at Rome - his first tournament in six months.

"It's not a moment for excuses. I've spent

New Zealand gives nod to PCB to tour AGENCIES New Zealand’s government has given the go-ahead for the Pakistan and West Indies teams to tour the country later this year and in early 2021, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Friday. New Zealand has been one of the world’s most successful nations at containing the new coronavirus and the country’s borders remain closed to almost all visitors. NZC has nevertheless promised a bumper home summer of international cricket, including Test matches against Pakistan and West Indies. “New Zealand Cricket has received government approval to proceed with plans to host international touring sides this summer […] beginning with the West Indies and Pakistan’s men’s teams in November, December and January,” NZC said in a statement. “A press conference to announce the details of the upcoming summer’s international […] schedule will be held early next week.”

NZC is also hoping to host Bangladesh in limited-overs internationals as well as the Australian women’s team in February when New Zealand would have been staging the now postponed 50-overs World Cup. Officials said last month they would be looking at the biosecurity ‘bubble’ model used by England to host recent test series against the West Indies and Pakistan. New Zealand Minister of Sport Grant Robertson said Netball New Zealand had also been given permission to resume hosting international matches but that all incoming teams would be subject to strict protocols. “Getting teams into managed isolation and allowing them to train and be competitive has not been an easy task,” he said. “While sports teams will be operating within a bubble, safety will be ensured through the provision of normal infection prevention control mechanisms like physical separation, normal hygiene practices and PPE. “Training facilities will also be secure, safe and isolated.” New Zealand will also host Australia in two Bledisloe Cup rugby internationals in Wellington and Auckland next month.

LHC stops PCB from taking financial guarantees from PSL franchises for next season AGENCIES The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday stopped the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from taking any financial guarantees from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises for the next season of the country’s premier cricket tournament.

LHC’s Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi issued the orders and asked the PCB to submit its reply in the case filed by the franchises by September 30. On Thursday, the franchises had approached the LHC against the PCB for its failure to address their reservations over the tournament’s financial model. In a petition filed through leading lawyers Ahmer Bilal Soofi and Salman Akram Raja, the franchises said they have been suffering major losses due to the financial model being used by the cricket board over the last five years. They said they were hoping that the league would be profitable for them after the fifth edition took place in Pakistan instead of UAE but that was not the case. “Over the past few months, the relationship between the PCB and the franchises had turned sour while the cancellation of governing council’s meeting, towards the end of July, took matters to the point of no return,” the petition stated. The petition added that the franchises were also not happy with the fact that the PCB had asked them to submit financial guarantee,

by September 25, for the next season, even before the fifth edition has been completed, rather than addressing their grievances. “The franchises were disappointed to see the PCB’s approach, while dealing with them, despite helping the board turn the league into a big brand,” it further stated.

a long time without competing, I played two good matches," Nadal, who skipped the US Open citing Covid-19 concerns, said following the defeat.

"It's a completely special and unpredictable year," he added. "I did my job here.

I did a couple things well and other things bad. At least I played three matches."

SPORTS 11 'BEATABLE ON CLAY': Despite the sense this is the most understrength version of Nadal at the French Open in recent times, Djokovic remains adamant the 34-year-old is again the favourite to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

"The record that he has there, the history of his results, you just can't put anybody in front of him," said Djokovic, himself vying to add to his lone 2016 triumph at Roland Garros.

"But, you know, definitely Diego showed that Nadal is beatable on clay," added the Serb.

"The conditions that they played on, obviously heavy clay, not much bounce, humid, night sessions, we are going to have that as well in Paris. I'm pretty sure that he does not prefer that to a high bounce. I know he likes the high bounce.

"He likes the hot and warm and fast conditions, where he can use his spin a lot. Even though he's the favourite, I think there are players that can win against him there."

Another championship run for Nadal, not accounting for potential walkovers, would take him to a century of wins at the French Open. Only Federer, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have hit triple digits in wins at a single major in the Open era.

Schwartzman agreed that Nadal was still the favourite.

"Rafa is the king. It's his house. He went to Roland Garros many years playing good, sometimes not playing his best and he won.

French Open to allow just 1,000 fans a day at Roland Garros AGENCIES A maximum of only 1,000 spectators will be allowed each day at Roland Garros after the French government insisted on tougher restrictions to counter the resurgence of the coronavirus.

Organisers of the French Open, which gets underway four months later than planned in Paris on Sunday, had hoped for a maximum of 5,000. That figure had already been reduced from 20,000 and then 11,500. French Prime Minister Jean Castex insisted that the Grand Slam tournament must be subject to the same restrictions imposed Thursday on sports events taking place in designated 'red zones' where the coronavirus is showing signs of resurgence.

"We will apply the same rules at Roland Garros as elsewhere," said Castex. "We go from 5,000 to 1,000."

Sources told AFP, however, that the figure does not include credential holders such as officials, media, players and staff. Earlier Thursday, French Open chief Guy Forget said he had hoped to protect the 5,000 limit and that the na-

ture of the Roland Garros complex would work in the tournament's favour.

"We are able to accommodate 5,000, as small as it is, on a 12-hectare area," he said. "We stage the tournament on the equivalent of 15 football fields, outdoors. Everyone wears a mask, even the ball boys and girls and chair umpires."

The limit of 1,000 fans a day represents less than 3% of last year's total attendance of almost 520,000.

There will also be financial repercussions. In 2019, Roland Garros accounted for around 80% of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) budget -- 255.4 million euros out of a total 325 million.

Ticket sales generate nearly 20% of tournament revenue.

When the planned limit was 11,500 spectators, Forget estimated that "the tournament's proceeds (would) be halved", which corresponded to between 130 and 140 million euros.

MURRAY V WAWRINKA BLOCKBUSTER: Meanwhile, three years after the match which turned out to be the "end of my hip" Andy Murray on Thursday was handed a Roland Garros re-

match against Stan Wawrinka in the pick of first round matches.

In 2017, Murray and 2015 French Open champion Wawrinka fought out a thrilling five-set semi-final which saw the veteran Swiss triumph from two sets to one down. Murray, 33, has arguably been paying the price ever since with the former world number one battling a long-standing hip injury which at one stage threatened to end his career. Both Murray and Wawrinka are three-time major winners.

World ranked 111 Murray needed a wild card to play in Paris but will at least be buoyed by a 12-8 winning record over the 35-year-old Wawrinka, the world 17. World number one Novak Djokovic, bidding to win Roland Garros for the second time after his 2016 victory and collect an 18th major, starts against Sweden's Mikael Ymer, ranked 80. Defending champion Rafael Nadal, seeded two and looking for a 13th French Open crown, begins his campaign against Egor Gerasimov, the 83rdranked Belarusian.

Nadal, who is one Slam shy of

‘Nothing surprises me anymore’: Messi slams Barcelona over Suarez’s departure

equalling Roger Federer's all-time record of 20, is scheduled to face third seed and US Open champion Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals.

The 34-year-old Spaniard defeated the Austrian in the last two finals in Paris. Thiem has an intriguing opener against Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open winner and a former world number three. With Federer not taking part, Russia's Daniil Medvedev is Djokovic's scheduled semi-final opponent.

However, Medvedev has never won a match at Roland Garros in three visits.

Defending women's champion and world number one Ashleigh Barty is skipping this year's French Open over health fears.

SERENA VS AZARENKA IN LAST 16?

Also missing is US Open winner Naomi Osaka through injury.

Simona Halep, the 2018 champion, is top seed and the Romanian starts against Spain's world number 70 Sara Sorribes Tormo. Serena Williams, a three-time champion in Paris, continues her bid for a record-equalling 24th major.

Williams, who turns 39 on Saturday, begins against compatriot Kristie Ahn who she defeated in the first round of the US Open. She could face old rival Victoria Azarenka in the last 16, just weeks after the Belarusian won their US Open semi-final. Belinda Bencic said an arm injury would prevent her from coming to Paris.

Gavaskar creates controversy with comment on Kohli and Anushka AGENCIES

AGENCIES Lionel Messi bid an emotional farewell on Friday to Luis Suarez, the day after the Uruguayan striker had said tearful goodbyes to Barcelona after the club sent him to Atletico Madrid.

"Today I went into the dressing room and the awful truth hit me," Messi posted on Instagram, before renewing his criticism of club management. "You deserved to be sent off as what you are: one of the most important players in the history of the club," Messi wrote. "And not to be fired in the way they did it." "The truth is that at this point nothing surprises me anymore."

Messi has a long-running feud with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu which intensified after Barcelona were humiliated 8-2 by Bayern in a Champions League quarter-final in August.

Messi tried to force his exit from Barcelona but finally accepted that he would have to see out the final year of his contract. Meanwhile, two of his closest friends on the team, Suarez and the Chilean Arturo Vidal have left. The 33-year-old Suarez moves to Atletico on a two-year contract on a free transfer, although, if he does well, Barcelona could receive some money. Suarez, who hit 198 goals for Barca, becoming the third highest goalscorer in the history of the club, cried as he bid an impromptu farewell to the club on Thursday.

"I'm going to keep playing, with fresh motivation, with the objective to show I can continue competing,"

CMYK

Suarez said. "Everyone knows the relationship we have, Leo and me. I've already played against him in the Uruguay-Argentina matches, playing against each other is not going to change the feelings we have for each other," Suarez said. Messi and Suarez were neighbours in the beachside suburb of Castelldefels and would arrive at training together.

"How difficult it is going to be not to continue to share the days with you, both on the pitch and off it," wrote Messi in a post accompanied by seven pictures of the two men together, sometimes with their families.

"We are going to miss you very much. It's been many years, many cups of mate, lunches, dinners...Many things that I will never forget." "It's going to be weird to see you with another shirt and much more to face you," wrote Messi. "But I wish you all the best in this new challenge. I love you very much, I love you very much. See you soon, my friend."

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Friday found himself in the midst of a controversy for making an unsavoury comment against Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma after the Indian captain’s forgettable outing in the IPL. After dropping two catches, Kohli, undoubtedly one of the best when it comes to chases, failed with the bat, managing just a run off five balls against Kings XI Punjab here on Thursday night. In the commentary box, Gavaskar came up with a comment involving Kohli’s actor wife Anushka. The remark was in bad taste and did not go down well with the RCB skipper’s fans, with some of them urging the BCCI to remove Gavaskar from the commentary panel. Over the years, on quite a few instances, the Bollywood actress has been blamed whenever the now 31-year-old Kohli underperformed on the cricket field. The Indian batting mainstay had a forgettable outing at the Dubai International Stadium. Kohli dropped his KXIP counterpart KL Rahul twice -- once in the 17th over at deep square-leg when he was batting on 83 and then again in the 18th over when he was on 89. The KXIP skipper then went on to shatter a few record on the way to a 69-ball 132 -- the highest scored by an Indian in an IPL game. Sharma on Friday took to Instagram and posted a message directed towards Gavaskar.

Anushka has been battling this issue for a while now as her name has been dragged into cricket several times in the past when people have spoken about Kohli’s performances.

Saturday, 26 September, 2020

PRAyER TImINGS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:32

11:54

4:13

5:53

5:55

7:16

11 PAkIStAnIS’ kIllIng In IndIA: HInduS StAgE SIt-In outSIdE IndIAn HIgH CommISSIon ISLAMABAD

m

STAFF REPORT

EMBERS of Hindu community from across the country staged a sit-in in front of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to protest the mysterious death of eleven Pakistani Hindus in Jodhpur, India, last month.

A large number of Hindus, led by MNA and Patronin-Chief Pakistan Hindu Council Dr Ramesh Kumar, reached Islamabad late Saturday night from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and various other parts of the

Saudi Arabia lifts Covid-19 travel restrictions for Pakistan: Fo

country in a caravan.

The participants of the sit-in chanted slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government. They demanded a transparent inquiry into the tragic incident from the Indian government. They also called upon the international community to provide them justice. Talking to media on the occasion, Patron-inChief of Pakistan Hindu Council Dr Kumar said that India must provide post mortem report and a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) of the incident to Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi immediately.

He said that people in India are being forced for spy-

ing and being killed over denial. Dr Ramesh Kumar said that the now it’s time to make Indian accountable for the killings in Samjhuta Express.

Dr Kumar said that the peaceful protest of the Hindu community will continue till acceptance of their demands. He said, “We want transparent investigation into killing of eleven Pakistani Hindus at Jodhpur.” He asked the Indian government to share all details and investigation reports with the Hindu community and Pakistan.

He also said that all Pakistanis and especially Hindus want peaceful neighbourhood for promotion of trade and tourism. Kumar said that every religion teaches peace

and harmony. Pakistan’s Hindu Council had given a call for protest against the killings India in August.

Meanwhile, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Hussain also visited the sit-in this afternoon to express solidarity with the participants.

Talking to media on the occasion, he said the government will fully back Hindu community of Pakistan in their demand for transparent investigation into Jodhpur incident. The minister said Modi’s government converted India into a fascist state, which is threat for its neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and China.

Pakistan lodges protest with India over LoC ceasefire breach ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

STAFF REPORT

The Foreign Office (FO) summoned a senior Indian diplomat to register Pakistan’s strong protest over Thursday’s ceasefire violations by Indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) that resulted in serious injuries to two innocent civilians.

Spokesperson Zahid Hafiz Chaudhry, in a statement, said that 35year-old Shakeel Ayub and 8-year-old Luqman Shakeel, residents of Baroh Village, had sustained serious injuries due to indiscriminate and unprovoked

Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri on Friday said that Saudi Arabia has announced to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions for Pakistan. According to the FO spokesperson, the passengers travelling from Pakistan to the kingdom on Iqama (work permit) and visit visa will be exempted from the travel restrictions. “The passengers, however, had to undergo a PCR test within 48 hours after arriving in Saudi Arabia,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that Saudi Arabia has lifted the ban on international flights coming from Pakistan after success in controlling coronavirus outbreak. In a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), the Saudi Arabia government has banned all flights coming from India, Brazil, and Argentina over their failure to control Covid-19 outbreak. “We cannot risk the lives of our citizens by allowing flights from India, Brazil, and Argentine”, the NOTAM read. Meanwhile, the Kingdom has lifted travel restrictions from Pakistan after it managed to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country. The kingdom also announced to resume its visa services from its consulate in Karachi from September 28. A handout issued from the consulate said that after resumption in services, they would start issuing regular work visas, iqamas, and re-entry visas. “For revalidation of visa, the applicant had to submit the passport along with other documents,” it read and further asked the applicants to approach concerned officials for a refund of the visa fee.

Seven uk lawmakers relaunch ‘Conservative Friends of kashmir'

UNITED NATIONS APP

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appealed on Friday to the United Nations to arrange an international conference on the peace process, in the wake of Gulf Arab recognition of Israel. In an address to the UN General Assembly, Abbas asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene the meeting “early next year” and bring in “all relevant parties”.

“The conference should have full authority to launch a genuine peace process based on international law,” Abbas told the virtual General Assembly in a recorded address. “It should aim to end the occupation and grant the Palestinian people their freedom and independence in their own state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and settle final-status issues, notably the refugee question,” he

Seven lawmakers of the United Kingdom’s ruling Conservative Party relaunched a group named “The Conservative Friends of Kashmir” to campaign for self-determination in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and highlight the lockdown of millions of Kashmiris by the Indian forces. “We have relaunched. We campaign for self-determination and an end to human rights abuses in Kashmir and Jammu.

There is growing support for our cause amongst Conservative MPs and activists. Follow us and our work!” said The Conservative Friends of Kashmir on their new Twitter handle. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan welcomed the group and endorsed its statement. “We are immensely grateful to you for re-launching the Conservative Friends of Kashmir. Your voices shine a ray of hope to the wounded Kashmiris in their darkest hours. Besieged, battered, disfranchised — they look towards you and your allies for justice,” said the AJK president on Twitter. The Tory MPs in the group include Paul Bristow, James Daly, Jack Brereton, Steve Baker, Mark Eastwood, Sarah Britcliffe, and Antony Higginbotham. The MPs represent constituencies with significant Pakistani populations and all of them have been vocal in condemning occupation and rights violations inside the occupied territory. Brereton, Daly and Bristow are also members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir (APPGK), which is chaired by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams. Raja Najabit Hussain, chairman of JK Self Determination Movement International (JKSDMI), also welcomed the launch of the group.

said. Abbas made his appeal amid concerns among Palestinians of dwindling support in the Arab world for their decades-long campaign for an independent state.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain earlier this month agreed to recognise Israel, a major coup for the Jewish state and diplomatic win for United States President Donald Trump. The two Arab states, while saying they still support a Palestinian state, share concerns of Israel and the US about neighbouring Iran. “It is delusional to think that the Palestinian people could be sidelined,” Abbas said, and added: “You should all know that there can be no peace, no security, no stability or coexistence in our region without an end to the occupation and without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question.” The Palestinian Authority has refused diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration, saying it is biased toward Israel.

‘US-India trade deal unlikely in next 4 years’ AGENCIES

TLTP

was underscored that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct.

“These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security,” it read. “It was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).”

Palestine's Abbas asks UN for international Mideast conference next year as Arab support dwindles

WASHINGTON

ISLAMABAD

firing by the Indian occupation forces in Baroh Sector of the LoC. He said that the Indian forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons.

This year, he added, India has committed 2,340 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in the martyrdom of 18 people and serious injuries to 187 innocent civilians.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, the statement said, it

Despite India being an important partner for the United States geopolitically, a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) is unlikely to be reached soon regardless of who wins the upcoming US presidential election.

That’s according to Todd Buch-

holz, who served as the director of economic policy at the White House under President George H.W. Bush.

He said that both US President Donald Trump and his opponent Joe Biden look at India amenable but have their own compulsions not to proceed with such a far-reaching deal.

“I find it difficult to imagine that in four years’ time, there could be

FTA between the US and India,” Buchholz said.

The former adviser added that while Trump traveled to India in February and has a great relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he would be wary of going ahead with a deal as it could irk American farmers and also because of the wage differentials.

Pakistan, China special envoys discuss latest status of Afghan peace process ISLAMABAD: China’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Affairs Ambassador Liu Jian on Friday called on Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq and discussed the latest status of the Afghan peace process. Ambassador Sadiq briefed the visiting dignitary on Pakistan’s facilitative role in the Afghan peace process, a press release issued here by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. He remarked that start of Intra-Afghan Negotiations was an historic opportunity for the Afghan leadership to achieve an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan. He reiterated Pakistan’s continued support to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned intra-Afghan negotiations. Ambassador Jian appreciated the important and constructive role Pakistan has played in the Afghan peace process.

Both Pakistan and China shared the same objective of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. The China’s special envoy for Afghanistan Affairs is on his maiden visit to Pakistan since assuming office earlier this year. APP

S Arabia instead of Iran elected to preside over IAEA committee RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has been elected instead of Iran to head the main committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference during its 64th session held currently in Vienna. Seventy out of 112 countries voted for Saudi Arabia, while 37 abstained. The differences with Iran over its controversial nuclear program have deprived it of heading the committee, which is responsible for studying the decisions put before the week-long IAEA General Conference that started on Monday. Iran is also competing with the UAE to get a seat on the Council of IAEA Governors, which is in charge of designing the IAEA general policy for South Asia and the Middle East regions. In his video address to the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York King Salman said the Kingdom’s hands were extended to Iran in peace with a positive and open attitude over the past decades, but to no avail.AGENCIES

Journalists’ safety still not on federal agenda in spite of a year of attacks NEWS DESK Between September 1, 2018 and January 30, 2020, 62 meetings were held by the cabinet, but they did not take up the issue of journalists’ safety, in spite of multiple attacks targeting journalists and media persons, reported a press release by Freedom Network on Friday.

The above information was obtained by the media rights watchdog obtained after filing a request for the information under the Federal Right of Access to Information Act, 2017. The statement was released three days before the International Day for Universal Access to Information.

According to the watchdog’s date, seven journalists and a blogger were murdered, six media persons were kidnapped and 15 were nominated in different legal

cases during the time period. The Freedom Network further said there were 135 “violations” against media persons. “[A total of] 62 meetings of the [federal] cabinet were held during the period of 01 September 2018 to 30 January 2020.

The subject [issues of safety of journalists and impunity of crimes against media] was not on the agenda during the time-interval under discussion,” said Cabinet Division’s Section Officer Jamil Ahmed through the Federal Information Commission.

Recently, several cases have been registered against journalists for posting objectionable content about the state and the army. A few weeks ago, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against journalist Asad Toor for posting “negative propaganda against the state, Pakistani institutions and the Pakistan Army” on Twit-

ter. A similar FIR was registered against journalist and former Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman Absar Alam in Jhelum.

Furthermore, Bilal Farooqi, a senior journalist was detained by Karachi police for allegedly posting “objectionable” material on social media and “defaming” the army. Executive Director Iqbal Khattak commented on the information and said that it was “alarming that the highest governance forum in the country […] remained oblivious to the aggravated levels of violence against journalists and other information practitioners, including murders and attacks”.

“This official disregard to violence against media and its practitioners is a direct contributory to the high levels of impunity that attackers and intimidators

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (PVT) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

enjoy in Pakistan, putting the country in the list of top 10 most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism, according to international media watchdogs,” Khattak added. He pressed the premier to “urgently materialise his promise” to table a bill ensuring the safety of journalists and information practitioners. The press statement mentioned that the bill has been drafted by the government but has been “pending for a long time now”.

Freedom Network had officially request with the government in February of this year “to seek official information on how many times the issue of growing number of murders, attacks and intimidation of journalists was taken up by the cabinet”, according to the statement. The relevant information was obtained from the government only last month.