EpaperLHR_2020-09-28

Monday, 28 September, 2020 I 9 Safar, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 89 I 52 Pages I Lahore Edition

Imran warns agaInst hasty wIthdrawal of foreIgn troops from afghanIstan

ISLAMABAD staff report

w

HILE reports coming from the United States suggest the Pentagon has started planning to remove its troops in Afghanistan by next spring, Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned against the hasty withdrawal of foreign troops from war-torn Afghanistan, terming it as an “unwise” move.

In an Op-Ed for The Washington Post, the prime minister observed that the intraAfghan talks which began between the Taliban and Kabul government negotiators in Doha, Qatar on September 12 to discuss a political solution to end decades of war in Afghanistan were a “rare moment of hope” for the country and the South

Asian region.

The comments come as President Trump has been touting US troop drawdowns in the region in the final stretch of the presidential campaign as evidence he is delivering on his promise to end America’s “endless wars.” Reports suggest the US expects to be at about 4,500 troops in Afghanistan by November.

However, Imran says any such move would be “unwise”. “All those who have invested in the Afghan peace process should resist the temptation for setting unrealistic timelines. A hasty international withdrawal from Afghanistan would be unwise,” he wrote.

“We should also guard against regional spoilers who are not invested in peace and see instability in Afghanistan as advantageous for their own geopolitical ends.”

CoronavIrus In

pakIstan

CONFIRMED CASES:

310,275

LAST UPDATED AT 8:44 AM ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

6

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

694

DEATHS:

295,613 6,457 SINDH:

135,766

PUNJAB:

99,128

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

37,617

15,013

2,649/3,662 16,440

The premier further said: “We have arrived at a rare moment of hope for Afghanistan and for our region. We also learned that peace and political stability in Afghanistan could not be imposed from the outside through the use of force. Only an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process, which recognizes Afghanistan’s political realities and diversity, could produce lasting peace.”

Defining Pakistan’s role in the peace talks, he said it has always been at the forefront in facilitating the process, citing the example of a letter written by US President Trump in 2018 seeking Islamabad’s assistance in “helping the US achieve a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan.”

“We had no hesitation in assuring the president that Pakistan would make every effort to facilitate such an outcome — and we did.”

The premier added that, just like Washington, Pakistan too does not want to see Afghanistan become a “sanctuary for international terrorism ever again.”

Counting the costs of war, he said that since the deadly 9/11 attacks, more than 80,000 security personnel and civilians had lost their lives in the “largest and most successful fight against terrorism.”

This is even though Pakistan “continues to be the target of attacks launched by externally enabled terrorist groups based in Afghanistan,” he wrote, adding that he hoped for the Afghan government to “control ungoverned spaces inside its territory” to limit attacks against the Afghan people, international coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan, and other countries in the region, including Pakistan.

In his closing comments, Imran reiterated Pakistan’s support for the Afghan people in their “quest for a unified, independent and sovereign Afghanistan” which is at “peace with itself and its neighbors.”

Speaker cancels consultative meeting on electoral reforms as Opp turns down invite ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

In a major blow to the efforts launched to evolve consensus between the treasury and opposition benches on electoral reforms to ensure transparency in the upcoming elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar Sunday night cancelled a scheduled consultative meeting to be held on Monday afternoon after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) decided to boycott the meeting.

An informed source told Pakistan Today that the speaker decided to call off the meeting after PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and JUI-F leader Asad Mahmood, the son of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, refused to attend the meeting of the parliamentary leaders.

When contacted, a spokesman of the lower house confirmed to Pakistan Today that the scheduled meeting of the parliamentary leaders had been can-

CPEC enables greater synchronisation with foreign companies, says Gen Bajwa newS DeSk China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Chairman Lieutenant General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa explained how the mandate of the authority is in the implementation of projects, particularly in coordination with foreign investors.

In an interview with Global Village Space, General Bajwa explained how this authority has facilitated the coordinated the management between local ministries and foreign companies, adding that the scope of CPEC has expanded in the last five years. “The government felt that they needed one window operation where you could have the foreign investors come and get their job done,” he said.

Bajwa added that all the projects taken up by CPEC were under the purview of the Planning Commission of Pakistan (PCP), and that the authority itself pursues the implementation of the plans.

Bajwa talked about the ways in which CPEC has helped fill the gaps in the communication and power infrastructure of the country, adding that the country has seen an investment of $8 billion in energy

alone, with another $4 billion in communication. He added that there are another $9 billion and $3 billion that would come into execution soon.

When responding to a question regarding his role as chairman during the pandemic, Bajwa said that no project has been left pending now, and added that the biggest project they’ve tackled has been ML-1.

“It’s a historic, monumental project for logistics in for infrastructure in Pakistan, and I see that every business is going to become viable as far as the freight traffic through railway is concerned; but it’s also going

to bring a revolution in the passenger movement from between [sic] Karachi and Peshawar,” said the chairman.

According to Bajwa, the official timeline for this 1870km line is seven to nine years, but he was hopeful it might be completed sooner.

Along with ML-1, the CPEC chairman remarked that one of their greatest achievements was obtaining approval for the development of Gwadar.

Therein, he spoke of the coastal highway, the construction of a large airport thanks to the $230 million grant, the 2,400 acres of the Free Zone. Reportedly, there has been interest from the West and from Gulf cities in this “governor-free zone”.

“We have the Gwadar city’s master plan already worked out by a Chinese consultant company, and now is ready for launch. It has already been approved by the prime minister and the cabinet,” Bajwa said.

Furthermore, he spoke on development in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), which includes a 1120-megawatt hydropower project in Kohala, a 701-megawatt project in Azad Button, and the Mahal project.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

celled due to unavoidable engagements. When asked to elaborate, the spokesman did not comment any further.

According to a handout issued by the National Assembly Secretariat on Thursday, prominent among those invited are PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Asad Mehmood of the JUI-F, Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F also withdrew from attending the meeting.

Sources among the opposition group say that the PML-N and JUIF had decided to boycott the meeting over what they called the recent national events and also the ‘partisan role’ played by the NA speaker in recent legislation.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia separatists leave at least 23 dead STORY ON BACK PAGE

Afghanistan’s Dr Abdullah Abdullah to visit today STORY ON PAGE 02

Officer injured in attack on polio team in Chaman STORY ON PAGE 03 in today’s issue

attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint.

Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

02

Monday, 28 September, 2020

NEWS

eU injects €5M for basic health service provision in sindh, balochistan ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE European Union (EU) has mobilized €5 million for UNICEF to ensure availability of basic health care services for women and children in Sindh and Balochistan in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This support will be provided through the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) department and reach over 1.25 mil-

lion individuals in three districts in Sindh (Karachi East, Larkana) and Balochistan (Jafarabad). The EU is working to strengthen Pakistan’s primary healthcare system and improve resilience to emergencies and disasters.

The EU’s support will allow continuation of life-saving basic services and infection prevention and control measures, including increased access to water and sanitation, to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19.

In addition, frontline health workers will receive PPE’s to continue carrying out their

duties. There will also be greater efforts for community mobilization & awareness, and to increase access to safe severe acute malnutrition treatment for young children in Sindh and Balochistan during the pandemic.

Healthcare providers and frontline workers will also be trained to set up telemedicine services to increase coverage and access, and frontline workers will also receive the critical psychosocial support they require during this challenging time.

Earlier, Ambassador of the European

Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said, “Mothers and newborns are at particular risk during the pandemic. Their well-being is of paramount importance. Our support will help ensure that they continue to receive basic health services – including immunizations and nutrition treatments – in a safe environment. The EU will continue to work closely with its partners to support Pakistan’s healthcare system during this difficult time.”

This contribution to UNICEF is part of the EU’s dedicated €150 million package for

afghanistan’s dr abdullah abdullah to visit today

M9 Motorway death toll in passenger van fire rise to 15

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) of Afghanistan, will be visiting Islamabad on a three-day visit from September 28-30. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including prominent members of the High Council for National Reconciliation.

During the visit, Dr Abdullah will call on the Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Arif Alvi and will have interaction with Senate chairman, National Assembly (NA) speaker, foreign minister and other dignitaries. He will deliver a keynote address at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad and also have interaction with the media. This is Dr Abdullah’s first visit to Pakistan in his capacity as chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation. The visit will provide an opportunity for wide-ranging exchange of views on the Afghan peace process and strengthening of Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations and people-to-people interaction. Pakistan attaches high importance to its fraternal ties with Afghanistan, rooted deep in shared history, faith, culture, values and traditions. Pakistan fully supports all efforts for peace, stability and prosperity of the Afghan people. The visit of Dr Abdullah will contribute to further strengthening amity, brotherhood and close cooperation between the two countries.

Met office forecasts rainfall in upper parts of country ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The weather conditions in most parts of the country will remain hot and dry, while upper Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Potohar region of Punjab received rainfall on Sunday. The same region is also expected to receive rain with thunderstorm or windstorm on Monday, Pakistan Meteorological Department said in its weather forecast. The met office has also predicted thunder and dust storms in Bhakkar, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar districts in southern Punjab. Some areas of upper KP, upper Punjab and GB received rainfall during last 24 hours. Earlier, the PMD in a weather forecast predicted rain with wind and thunderstorm in upper parts of the country from Saturday night to Wednesday. Met Office informed that a western disturbance likely to enter upper parts of Pakistan from Saturday night (September 26) and likely to prevail till Wednesday (September 30). Under the influence of this weather system rain or wind- thunderstorm is expected in KP, GB, AJK, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Mianwali, Khushab, Sargodha, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad and Kasur during Saturday (night) to Wednesday with occasional gaps. Dust-thunderstorm are also expected in Bhakkar, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur from Sunday to Tuesday, according to the forecast. This weather system will subside the hot weather conditions in upper and central parts of the country, PMD said.

the short- and medium-term response to the Covid-19 crisis in Pakistan. This support is being extended through our development work, humanitarian aid and working with civil society organizations. UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, Aida Girma said, “In response to Covid-19 pandemic, UNICEF is working closely with the Government of Pakistan, leading the Risk Communication and Community Engagement besides assisting the country in continuation of essential services including immunization, education, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, and procurement of Personal Protective Equipment for frontline health workers. We are grateful to EU and ECHO for their generous contribution to this humanitarian cause. It will not only provide an impetus to our efforts but will also help Pakistan to counter the socio-economic impact of the pandemic, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable women and children.”

LAHORE: Photographers of different countries take images at the historical Shalimar Gardens on World tourism Day, which is observed on September 27 since 1980. ONLINE

Police discover empty hospital room as they visit to record Tallal's statement FAISALABAD STAFF REPORT

Punjab police attempted to record the statement of Tallal Chaudhry after the attack on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader in Faisalabad, only to find his hospital room empty, authorities said on Sunday.

The hospital staff told the officers that Chaudhry had been discharged an hour earlier when the team arrived to take the PML-N leader’s statements.

Chaudhry, former state minister for interior, received injuries in his left shoulder and other parts of the body when unidentified individuals stopped his vehicle and physically tortured him at midnight on September 23. However, the incident was not reported until September 26. According to the police, he was on his way to Madina Town from his home in Faisalabad when the incident happened.

Rumors circulating on social media allege a love affair between Chaudhry and Ayesha Rajab Ali, a PML-N MP from Faisalabad, in which the former was saddened by the “disloyalty” shown by the latter. He, subsequently, tried to forcefully enter her house and as a result, was

beaten by her brothers.

Police said the that four-person committee would contact both Chaudhry and Ayesha as soon as possible, while the PML-N formed its own three-person committee to look into the matter. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) alleged that the attack was conducted by the parliamentarian’s brothers, as Chaudhry had supposedly been harassing her.

“The news about me being broadcast based on sources is not rooted in facts,” he said on Twitter. “Until my position is presented, please do not run any news that may create misunderstandings and resentments.”

He added that it had “nothing to do with any woman MNA” and requested the media to “understand the familial sensitivities pertaining to women”.

“The honour and dignity of all mothers, sisters, and daughters should be taken care of. It’s reprehensible for some government miscreants to politicise the incident,” he stated. Furthermore, the female MP’s brother claimed that while the attack did take place near their house, they were not involved. “Chaudhry is like a brother to us,” he added, saying they often met to discuss politics.

CM inaugurates Punjab Tourism app LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar Sunday inaugurated the android-based Punjab Tourism app during the international observances of the World Tourism Day. While chairing a high-level session, CM Usman Buzdar inaugurated the Punjab Tourism app besides launching the Department of Tourist Services (DTS) app.

He said that the app contains information about 511 tourism spots and other details related to routes, hotels and facilities being provided by Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP).

CM Buzdar said that DTS system app is introduced for the tour operators where they can make online regis-

tration. The chief minister directed concerned authorities to add facility of online payments.

In his message on the World Tourism Day, the Punjab CM said that the provincial government formulated a new policy which transformed tourism as an industry.

He added that the tourism sector plays an important role in socio-economic development and the best source to generate income for locals.

Buzdar said that beautiful places in Pakistan always attract tourists and it is among the priorities of the government to promote the sector besides providing essential facilities to them.

179 rest houses have been opened for citizens across Punjab and more spots are being developed under a comprehensive policy by the provincial authorities, he added.

KARACHI: The death toll in passenger van fire at the M9 motorway has jumped to 15 after another victim of the horrific road crash succumbed to his wounds, according to rescue authorities.

The ill-fated passenger van, carrying 22 passengers, was coming to Karachi from Hyderabad when it overturned near the cerement factory at the motorway and caught the fire. According to the rescue sources, the DNA samples of the bodies have been collected to identify the victims as the bodies have burnt completely. The bodies have been shifted to Edhi morgue from Abbasi Shaheed hospital and will be handed over to the heirs after identification, said the authorities. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressed grief over the deaths of innocent people in the motorway van accident and has directed the authorities to provide better medical facilities to the injured. He has also summoned a report from Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives and directed Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro to provide the best medical assistance to the injured. TLTP

pakistan to produce heart stents, x-ray, dialysis machines: fawad FAISALABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said that a unit to produce medical equipment in the country locally has been established in Faisalabad Industrial Zone. Fawad, in his tweet, said that local manufacturing of all this equipment would greatly reduce medical device imports worth Rs1.4 billion. He added that Pakistan will now produce injections, canolas, x-ray machines, heart stents, dialysis machines in Pakistan. Earlier this month, Fawad had vowed to make Islamabad Pakistan’s first city where transport will be fully electric. While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Fawad had said that the federal government would import 120 electric buses this year, and local assembling of battery powered buses would start next year. STAFF REPORT

defence minister witnesses Kavkaz multinational military exercise in russia RAWALPINDI: Defence Minister Pervez Khattak has witnessed the multinational military exercise, Kavkaz 2020, in Russia’s Astrakhan region which was participated by Pakistan Armed Forces, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Sunday. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak was accompanied by Chief of Logistic Staff Lieutenant General Azhar Saleh Abbasi. Khattak also met soldiers from Pakistani and Chinese contingents. According to media reports, approximately 80,000 soldiers participated in the military exercise from September 21 to 26 that aimed at assessing the ability of troops to react to various challenges and learn from each other’s experiences. STAFF REPORT

Monday, 28 September, 2020

NEWS

nawaz sharif’s narrative aiMs at creating Uncertainty, chaos: shibli faraz ISLAMABAD

M

APP

INISTER for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday said that Nawaz Sharif’s narrative was aimed at creating uncertainty and chaos in the country.

Talking to the media, he said that Nawaz Sharif's “revolutionary” stance was fake and based upon double standards, adding that voices were being raised on Nawaz’s narrative within his own party.

He said that some of PML-N members understood that their leader was using them for his personal interests, adding that there were good people in PML-N. The minister said that Sharif family

was also facing certain issues and quoted Sheikh Rasheed who had remarked that more divisions within ranks of PML-N would surface soon.

The minister said that the political movement of PML-N was baseless and without any solid reason as they wanted to create chaos which was now being evident in PML-N itself.

He said that under such circumstances, what would be the moral value of PML-N's activities.

Faraz said that the noose was tightened on PML-N leadership due to National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) cases. He said that in this situation, the opposition was making efforts to blackmail the government and threatening to tender resignations from the assemblies.

"If they resign, the government will hold by-elections and get majority in

pM constitutes cabinet committee on disposal of legislative business ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted a cabinet committee for the disposal of legislative cases. The committee, which will be headed by Minister for Law and Justice Dr Farogh Naseem as its chairman, will examine whether a fresh legislation or amendments in the existing laws are in line with the constitutional scheme and not in violation of any existing law, and fall within the mandate of parliament. The committee will also have the mandate to examine the contents of fresh legislation and rules as well as amendments to the existing laws and rules and give its recommendations as to whether the same are in line with the policy of the government or constitutional and legislative scheme. STAFF REPORT

the house which will also prove beneficial for legislation," the minister added.

He said that opposition was using various tactics to dislodge the government, but they would fail in their de-

signs. Faraz said that PML-N was looking for a deal and making contacts constantly with the government's people.

After failing to frustrate Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-related legislation, now the opposition wanted to come on streets, he added.

The minister said that PML-N leaders had always done politics of nepotism because they had been in the politics for making assets.

Faraz said that due to various initiatives of the government, economic stability was being achieved in the country.

The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was committed to accountability of all the corrupt elements.

Replying a question, he said that PML-N organizing campaign was in full swing in Faisalabad.

Ramesh urges govt to invoke ICJ jurisdiction over Pakistani Hindus’ murder in India ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Patron in chief of Pakistan Hindu Council, Dr Ramesh Kumar, has asked the government to help put up the murder of 11 Pakistanis Hindu in Jodhpur, India, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, he said that Pakistani Hindu community demands from the Hindu majority state of India to investigate the Jodhpur incident transparently and share the progress made in this connection with Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan Hindu Council called off the previous day's sit-in to avoid any disturbance to the general public by blocking roads of the capital.

He said that extensive coverage of the sit-in was given

by national and international media which helped to highlight the issue worldwide. He urged the Indian government to come out of the blame game and work for the prosperity and development of the region.

Questioning the steps taken by Indian government in recent past, he said that introducing citizenship act and revoking articles from the constitution are not for the service of humanity. He pledged that he will make out all efforts to provide justice to the family of killed Pakistanis. Speaking on the occasion, Shrimati Mukhi, a lady from the ill-fated family, said that Indian government did not even allow their other relatives to see the dead bodies of their family members. She demanded from India to provide proofs if they committed suicide.

Shrimati Mukhi said that she will not stop protesting until she receives Justice.

03

teenage girls shoot dUring Marital dispUte in village Family members are suspected in the shooting of two female teenagers in Sobdar Wah village near Dadu, wherein one of the victims has been killed and the other is in critical condition, police said on Sunday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Shah Pir Bux Chandio for KN Shah Taluka reported that officers arrived at the victims’ home after reports of a shooting were received, but the unidentified culprits had escaped by then. The DSP believe that that a “matrimonial dispute” resulted in the shooting. The victims were cousins and had been quickly taken to a local hospital. An autopsy is being conducted of the deceased, while the cousin is receiving treatment, DSP Chandio said. The victims’ uncle and cousin are the prime suspects in the shooting, said Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Hyder. Dadu Senior Superintendent of Police Farrukh Raza Malik did offer comment on the matter but did say that police were investigating all aspects. A First Information Report (FIR) is yet to be registered. NEWS DESK

officer injUred in attacK on polio teaM in chaMan A Levies officer was injured during an attack on a polio team in Chaman’s Thekedar area, according to police reports. The attack was led by unknown men, said Chaman Assistant Commissioner (AC) Zakaullah Durrani, adding that the women’s polio team was administering polio drops to children when the attack took place. “The suspects first opened fire at the Levies guard with the team and then fired at the women,” he said, adding that the fortunately, the women quickly took refuge in a house and managed to remain safe. Muhammad Sadiq, the injured officer, was quickly taken to a local hospital where he was given first aid treatment. He was then transferred to Quetta for further treatment. AC Durrani added that investigations have begun into the matter. He said that the police have begun a search operation for the assailants. The anti-polio campaign in Balochistan has been delayed until further notice due to this attack. A five-day anti-polio campaign started across the country last week. Around 40 million children under the age of five will be administered polio drops. NEWS DESK

Monday, 28 September, 2020

04 NEWS

LoCALS end ProteSt After MAnAgeMent'S ProMISe to oPen border for generAL PubLIC PESHAWAR

t

AZIZ BUNERI

HE local tribesmen have ended their protests after they were assured by the authorities that the Torkham border crossing would now be open for general public. The people were protesting against the crossing point’s closure for pedestrians from the last one week, which has negatively affected trade activities on the border route.

The protestors said that they were doing legitimate business through Torkham crossing point and the weaker sections of the society were engaged in earning a living for their children, therefore, they will not tolerate the closer of the border for local population. The protestors said that it is the responsibility of the state and government

to provide relief to the citizens, provide employment opportunities, instead of snatching the already available jobs.

Local journalist Jibran Shinwari told Pakistan Today that the closure of the border not only makes it difficult for ordinary people crossing the border, but also severely affects the livelihoods of people on both sides of the line. Shinwari added that the volume of trade has been also reduced due to untimely clearance and other technical issues and if both the governments did not take this issue seriously, the traders will also face the loss of billions of rupees.

Local elders said that a large portion, as part of their business, cross the border line every day. Most of the people are also employed as daily wagers, but due to the ban on the pedestrian traffic for the past several months, it has several affected them to earn their living. After a week-

long protest, the border management has assured the protesters that the border will be fully opened in two weeks and that the government will soon announce the opening of the border to the public for seven days a week.

Yesterday, local leader Malik Darya Khan Afridi, MPA Shafiq Sher Afridi, Torkham Border Trade Union President Farman Shinwari and other leaders held talks with security forces officials at Torkham Border Zero Point. During the meeting, the agreed to keep the border open for pedestrians, after which the protest sit-in at Torkham border was ended peacefully. Darya Khan said that he will stand by his people in every hour of need and will continue to support them in all their legitimate demands. He said that it is the rights of local people to have free access to cross the border crossing to earn their living.

He also said that he was grateful to the officials of civil administration and security forces for their cooperation in accepting the legitimate demands after successful negotiations and now the Torkham border will be open for Pak-Afghan citizens for three days weeks and after some time, will be open seven days a week.

The Torkham border is currently open for pedestrian traffic only one day a week due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has severely affected the livelihoods of people on both sides of the border. Also, people coming from Afghanistan for medical treatment have to wait for days to cross the border and reach hospitals in Peshawar.

Farman Shinwari said that if the decision taken in the meeting was not implemented, our peaceful protest would continue and the Pak-Afghan highway would once against be closed.

Chenab land erosion poses threat to adjacent villages in Jhang

Crash survivor shows confidence in PIA

JHANG TLTP

Chenab River changing its route for last several years near Jhang and has moved forward to the urban area by one-and-half kilometer in these years with land erosion, posing threat to dozens of settlements in the area, according to reports. It has been reported that erosion due to river is a grave threat to cultivation of hundreds of acres as Chenab River after flooding season each year erode the land more forcefully, and in this process moving to destroy several villages and eat up the cultivable land and crops, local people lamented. An embankment was built in the past government with 30 million rupees cost but it failed to stop the land erosion allegedly due to defective construction of the structure. The river erosion has claimed hundreds of acres cultivable land in the district in Khanwana, Sandela and Sahmal villages after erosion of fields in Jogera and Seech Nagar areas, local inhabitants said. Presently Kholra Baqar area in Jhang facing land erosion by Chenab. The river has destroyed 200 acres of cultivable land and 50 houses in the area and posing threat to a settlement having around 15,000 population. Director General Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has said that the Chief Minister of Punjab has approved a project for construction of a protective dyke and the funds for the project likely to be released soon.

Sindh CM asks govt to stop treating the province like a stepchild

ISLAMABAD: A beautiful view of the federal capital. INP

CDA allots plots worth millions on fake documents ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The Capital Development Agency (CDA) has allotted plots worth millions of rupees on fake documents with the connivance of land and revenue officials, Profit learnt on Sunday.

CDA Chairman Amir Ali Ahmad had established a committee to check fake allotments after which the committee gathered documents from the civic agency's revenue and land wing. According to documents, officials of CDA's revenue KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government must stop treating Sindh like a stepchild, said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, further asking Prime Minister Imran Khan to play his role in handling all provinces equally.

Murad said the above on Sunday to local journalists while visiting Kandhkot, adding that no one would be allowed to divide Sindh. Shah claimed that both the PTI and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leaders were conspiring against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government, and requested they stop these so-called dirty politics when most parts of Sindh were facing terrible floods. Replying to question about Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed’s recent statements, he refused to comment on someone “who always beats around the bush”.

This statement in question where regarding Rasheed’s claims that opposition party leaders had met with the army chiefs privately. Regarding reopening schools, Murad said that it was mandatory for Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be followed, and that schools would reopen from 28 September. The threat of the deadly virus is still very much here, he warned. STAFF REPORT

wing had verified 40 kanal in Sarae-Karboza under Nusrat Shaheen's name in 2014. Subsequently, CDA's land wing allotted ten plots worth Rs180 million in C16 worth under the woman's name.

Sources said that the committee wrote a letter to Islamabad Capital Territory's (ICT) revenue wing for the record's verification with regard to the land in Sara-e-Karboza after which the patwari of the area, Muhammad Basharat, informed the committee that CDA’s documents issued to Nusrat Shaheen are fake as

ICT documents do not have any such records. They said that the Revenue Department Deputy Tehsildar Mirza Saeed had verified the ‘fake’ documents and his alleged frontman, Naveed Abbasi, collected the money through made through the scam. It is pertinent to note that Mirza Saeed was an employee of the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) who merged himself in CDA through his lobby.

Sources also said that a number of CDA officials have been found involved in this forgery despite the fact they are serving on important posts.

KARACHI: Mr Zafar Masud, President and CEO of Bank of Punjab one of the only two survivors of the tragic PIA air crash on 22nd May 2020 took to the air once again.

Overcoming his fear of flight just months after surviving an air crash, Mr Zafar Masud bravely chose PIA as his carrier of choice. Mr Masuds trip on flight PK 304 from Karachi to Lahore departed at 1500hrs on September 26, 2020. At Jinnah International Airport, Mr.Zafar Masud was welcomed by PIA Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Khalilullah Sheikh and Chief Technical Officer & Head of Engineering Mr. Amir Ali. He was assured of all safety measures being taken for his flight by ground and air staff alike. Upon landing in Lahore, CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik personally received the distinguished guest at the arrival gate. Mr Zafar Masud said that despite the trauma he previously faced, he had a pleasant flight with PIA. He added that it was one of the smoothest landings he has ever experienced. Mr Masud is part of PIA's reforms process and restructuring drive and has said that he stands firmly in support of the national airline, an airline where he said he felt at home, both now and before the incident.

CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik thanked Mr. Zafar Masud and expressed that PIA feels indebted to him and his patronage and confidence in PIA. He said PIA will strive to meet the expectations of all civilians and is working tirelessly to bring prestige back to the airline. PIA remained under fire after the air crash which killed 97 passengers, and shed light on the issue of fake licenses of nearly one-third of Pakistan’s pilots. Out of the 262 pilots found with fake licenses across Pakistan, 101 of them were with PIA. The airline has since grounded and suspended all pilots suspected of having a dubious license and increased safety and security measures on all flights. PIA has also agreed to cooperate with all investigations regarding concerned regulatory licensing authorities. PRESS RELEASE

Man kills wife, commits suicide LAHORE: A man shot allegedly himself after killing his 20-year-old wife over a domestic spat, police said on Sunday. The man killed his wife in the Gulshan-e-Ravi area after which he travelled to Samanabad and turned the gun on himself. According to police, the bodies were recovered and shifted for autopsy. Police sources suggested the couple indulged in a heated argument before the incident. The relatives of the deceased individuals were being questioned as authorities probe the murder-suicide case. APP

Stray dog bites 5 in Karachi

LAHORE: The participants of a cycle rally organised by Chughtai Lab on World Heart Day pose for a group photograph with Dr Umer Chughtai. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

KARACHI: Five people, including three children, were injured when a stray dog bit them in Clifton’s Teen Talwar area on Sunday. The incident was confirmed by the executive director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Dr Seemin Jamali, where the injured were brought for treatment. The injured have been sent home after being provided medical care, police said, adding that the condition of the victims is out of danger. The incidence of stray dog bites has increased in the metropolis during the past few months. In 2019, some 7,000 dogbite cases were reported at the hospital with four cases of rabies, whereas in 2018 over 5,000 similar cases were registered at the facility. APP

Monday, 28 September, 2020

‘Imran lIkEly tO annOunCE ECOnOmIC PaCkaGE, PrOvInCIal rIGhtS fOr GB’ iSLaMaBad

G

GHULAM ABBAS

IlGIT-Baltistan (GB) Governor Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon on Sunday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to announce an economic package for GB during his visit next month as the government contemplates on whether to make GB the country's fifth province.

According to the GB governor, who met the prime minister last week, Imran is likely to announce an economic package for GB during his visit to Gilgit which is scheduled in the first week of October.

He said that the prime minister, apart from making announcements regarding development projects, would also inaugurate medical and engineering colleges in the area.

He also said that the premier may also take the people of GB on board about the government’s reform agenda for the area through granting a provisional constitutional provincial status to the region.

Although the government intended to grant a “provisional provincial status” to the strategically-located GB through amendments in the constitution, opposition parties wished to hold consultations on the issue after the election of GB legislative Assembly session scheduled on November 15.

An official source also informed Profit that the premier, who is also the GB Council chairman, would chair the session which has

SOURCES SAY GOVT MAY ALSO ANNOUNCE PLANS TO BUILD TUNNEL AT BABUSAR TOP TO FACILITATE TRAVELLING TO GB THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

not been held during the past two years.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has been approving the council's annual budget for not holding the session regularly.

According to sources, the ruling party which wishes to win the election in GB would also announce the construction of rest houses at about 70 places to promote tourism under the economic package.

Additionally, loans will be provided to locals for building huts and guesthouses at tourist destinations.

CPEC enables greater synchronisation with foreign companies, says Gen Bajwa continued on page 01 “We have the Triple M Road also in our projects, but I think we first focus on the projects of energy because the prime minister of vienna was first [sic] to go towards cheaper electricity,” he remarked, showcasing the manner in which CPEC’s coordinative abilities can help develop AJK. Bajwa remarked that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which had been worked on were selected as they showed “a lot of promise with the opening towards Afghanistan where we see now peace coming in”.

He further spoke on these SEZs, particularly about the interest of foreign investors in Dhabiji. The CPEC chairman emphasised the focus of the premier on creating employment opportunities within Pakistan. Bajwa spoke on both the history and the future of the project. He called the project “a carry forward of the KKH [Karakoram Highway]” and said, “we are at the peak of our engagement with Chinese over CPEC”. Bajwa also mentioned other potential highways, such as a connection of Gwadar to Quetta, Islamabad to Quetta, and upgrading the railway connection with Iran. Whether or not these other projects will be part of CPEC or some other authority is up to the discretion of Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), said Bajwa.

Further, the government may also announce plans to build a tunnel at Babusar Top to make travelling to GB possible throughout the year.

Earlier, while talking to Profit, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and GilgitBaltistan Ali Amin Gandapur had claimed that the 73-year long deprivations faced by GB's people would soon come to an end.

Besides the constitutional rights and the provincial setup, the minister added, important steps were also being taken for the development of the region.

According to the Gandapur, work on the Moqpondass Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would begin under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), while the government would also take steps to improve health, tourism, transport and education facilities.

“To provide better healthcare facilities to the people of Gilgit Baltistan, the government will provide MRI and CT scan machines to all district headquarters hospitals, while basic health units (BHUs) will be provided with ultrasound machines,” he said.

It may be recalled here that the government and the opposition had discussed the issues of granting provincial status to GB during a meeting between a government team comprising Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar with leader of Opposition and Pakistan Muslim leagueNawaz (PMl-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and PMl-N’s secretary general Ahsan Iqbal were also present on the occasion.

The opposition parties urged to deal with developments regarding GB’s constitutional issue after the GB legislative Assembly election keeping the impact on polls.

The elections, earlier scheduled for August 18, were postponed due to the Covid-19 situation whereas the five-year term of the previous assembly had ended on June 24, bringing an end to PMl-N's five-year rule.

Govt’s tourism initiatives leading to socio-economic uplift of rural areas: PM iSLaMaBad APP

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that various initiatives taken by the government for promoting tourism were playing a crucial role in the development of rural areas.

“Several new tourist destinations have been explored in rural areas which is expected to uplift the local population’s economic and social status,” he said in a message on the observance of ‘World Tourism Day’ on Sunday.

He said that the nation was celebrating the day as a country that hosts some of the world’s most kook vistas and fascinating cultures.

On this year’s theme ‘Tourism and Rural Development’, the prime minister said that the tourism sector provides impetus to the economic development in rural areas which are in dire need of economic activity for their betterment.

“Tourism not only helps in the empowerment of rural communities by generating employment and boosting trade but also enables them to protect their heritage and allow other people to ex-

perience their incredible cultures and traditions,” he said.

He further said that the government’s efforts of placing rural development at the heart of tourism policies through education, investment, innovation, technology and employment transformed the livelihoods of millions in the country.

The prime minister said he would like to inform the international commu-

nity that the people of Pakistan were waiting for tourists from around the globe.

“Pakistan has diverse landscapes from mountains to sea along with a dynamic history. Pakistan has limitless potential for tourism which the world has yet to discover. We would extend our hospitality to whoever visits our mountains, deserts, rivers, forests, and coasts,” he said.

NEWS

05

Speaker cancels consultative meeting on electoral reforms as Opp turns down invite continued on page 01 Turning down the invitation, Shehbaz said GB is a sensitive and national issue and is connected with the Kashmir cause. He demanded that the federal government should not obstruct the process of transparent and free elections in the region. “The government should not sacrifice this issue for its politics. Federal government should not become a hurdle in transparent elections in Gilgit-Baltistan region,” he said, adding that his party has decided not to extend cooperation to the government due to its “dictatorial behaviour”. “Speaker was not empowered to intervene in electoral affairs of Gilgit-Baltistan,” the opposition leader said, adding, “The government refused every offer of cooperation by the opposition and used it for its political motives.”

Shehbaz further said that he would abide by the resolutions and decisions passed at the All Parties Conference (APC), adding that considering the ‘government’s attitude’, his party has decided not to cooperate with the treasury benches in any way for the future polls. He said that the speaker has no authority to interfere in the electoral affairs of the region – a claim which has no logic. PPP leader Dr Nafisa shah said that her party will not be part of the consultative meeting, adding that she could not understand why the speaker had called the meeting. She further said that her party wants free and fair elections in GB. Per parliamentary traditions, the NA speaker has been playing intermediary role between the treasury and opposition benches to help the proceedings of the lower house’s session run smoothly. In this regard, former Speakers including Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Dr Fehmida Mirza, Malik Meraj Khalid and Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani have set precedents. Even former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani had played pivotal role in getting the 18th Constitutional Amendment passed from both houses of the parliament through consensus.

Speaker Asad Qaisar had asked all the parliamentary leaders to propose amendments to relevant laws, rules and procedures for the transparency of elections in Pakistan and GB. On Wednesday, President Dr Arif Alvi gave a go-ahead to holding of general elections for the GB Assembly scheduled to be held on November 15.

He had approved a summary regarding the polls sent to him by Prime Minister Imran Khan. The legislative assembly of GB was dissolved after it completed its fiveyear tenure on 24 June.

Bhola, Charya and Anda Fry City NoteS M A NiAzi

W

Ell, they finally got around to handing down a verdict in the Baldia Town fire case, in which 100 factory workers were killed after the factory was set on fire, with death sentences given to Abdur Rehman Bhola and Zubair Charya. They committed the gruesome deed because the factory owner refused to give any extortion money to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which ordered Bhola and Charya to do what they did.

The names reminded me of the MQM before the 1992 operation, and Altaf fleeing to the United Kingdom, not just because of the methods, which continued for years afterwards, but because of the nicknames. In the Altaf days, ‘Bhola’ was not a name for the local sector in-charge. He would be named after something he was known for. like the MQM sector in-charge known as Nadeem Anda Fry, because

of his partiality to fried eggs. This was the era when the MQM was apparently establishing a parallel state structure. For example, the sittings of an MQM panjandrum who rejoiced in the name of Javed langra were a crypto-Supreme Court, because Javed, or perhaps we should say Mr Justice langra, dispensed justice, and those who had disputes were encouraged to take matters before him, rather than approach the regular courts. Money was extorted even then, which was a sort of proto-taxation system. The political and defence force was the same, the MQM. I wonder who was the MQM’s CBR Chairman. I do not know what he was called. Somebody Jaibtarash I suppose, for taxmen are all the same.

‘Burger’ was a nickname given to those who liked burgers (and apparently there were quite a few), not those who had attended English-medium schools. That type of ‘burger’ might be in the MQM, but was unlikely to be at the business-end, and rise to the rank of sector in-charge. The earlier generation, like Altaf himself and Farooq Sattar and the late Imran Farooq were educated (Altaf qualified as a pharmacist, while the latter two are both doctors). However, sector in-charges, even three

CMYK

decades ago, were unlikely to have done a masters in philosophy, especially with nicknames like Anda Fry. Zubair Charya might be in the same tradition, and he reminded me of recent United States Defence Secretary Mike ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, who earned that nickname when commanding a division. I would not like to find out how Zubair earned his moniker, but I am sure it was something which made the MQM high command feel that it made him reliable for arson, for all that he was known as crazy.

The missing element was the police investigation. luckily for the arson victims, and unluckily for the accused, the lahore CCPO was not involved. The man who said that the motorway rape victim was herself responsible for travelling so late without checking her fuel, would have blamed the factory owner for not paying the extortion money. And the workers, who did not check that he had paid. But it seems he was not near the investigation. The lahore CCPO would have soon sorted out the matter if he had been allowed a little quality time with the factory owners.

There has been a fire on the motorway, meanwhile, on the lahore-Sialkot stretch, but on the Karachi-Hy-

derabad one. There was no rape, no robbery, but 13 people were killed when a passenger van caught fire. I wonder who the lahore CCPO would blame for that, He would probably want to know whether the journey to Hyderabad was at all necessary.

I know he has got a lot of bad press recently, but if you think about it, he is the ideal person to enforce a lockdown. Someone who truly believes that people should sit at home, preferably with one light burning, not to see but to scare away thieves, going nowhere, doing nothing, with as many locks bolted as possible. Now with a second wave predicted, maybe at last the police will be allowed to contribute by allowing them to enforce the lockdown.

The lockdown has been very hard on the police, as it has been on all businessmen.

The pamdemic has been hard on everyone, what with the US (the world’s worst affected country) crossing 200,000 deaths before the world crossed a million deaths. India is the world’s second worst affected country with almost 100,000 dead (a milestone it may well have crossed by the time you read these lines. I hope no one is competing.

Monday, 28 September, 2020

06 COMMENT

The Elite

Striking a conciliatory note Shahbaz tries to build bridges

P

We need to contemplate the Creation

ML(N) President Shehbaz Sharif has said that reconciliation is the only way forward, and that during his address to last Sunday’s All-Parties Conference, PML(N) supremo and former PM Nawaz Sharif had only pointed out what the Constitution and the law said. In a conversation with senior journalist on Saturday, Mr Sharif made it clear that he still favoured cooperation with the military, and that he had not switched to the line of thinking within the party associated with Nawaz’s daughter Maryam. Perhaps incidentally, he also torpedoed any chances, slim as they already were, of the success of the opposition movement against the PTI government, which had given it until January to resign, or to face a long march. With Mr Sharif at the head of the PML(N), without his full devotion to the overthrow of the government, it would be impossible to create divisions between the PTI and its backers, which seems to be the underlying method of the opposition at the moment. As Mr Sharif is President of the party, but also Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, his role in the coming months is that more crucial.

The division between the brothers allows the PTI to claim, as it has done, that the APC, or rather the Pakistan democratic Movement which it produced, will not be able to do anything, because if one major party is paralyzed because of this infighting, it will be unable to play the part it is supposed to. Thus, runs the PTI argument, there is no threat to the government. If indeed the PTI appears too feckless to continue in power, then the PML(N) appears too riven by internal divisions to provide much of an alternative.

The PML (N) must decide exactly where it stands with respect to the establishment. More important, both Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif must sort out what line to work on. While cooperation regardless may have brought some personal benefits, it has not led either to any diminution of the antipathy to the PML(N) or the sympathy for the PTI. It is possible that if Mr Sharif veers around to taking on the establishment, the expected movement will fail to dislodge the government, or that if it succeeds, it will dissolve in the opposition fighting against each other. However, if he does not, that failure is virtually guaranteed.

Humayun GauHar

I

am struggling to wrap my mind around the highly misused word, “elite.” Shorn of its political connotations, the word means the best of the best, the crème de la crème; someone who has reached the top of his or her vocation. So the top dancer is amongst the elite of dancers and so on and so forth. Include whoever you want: singers, comedians journalists, cricketers, bureaucrats, politicians, whoever you wish. But sadly, in Pakistan, the word has come to imply wealth, especially ill-gotten wealth, corrupt businessmen, corrupt politicians, the elite amongst the bad.

People are stuck in a rat race and they never thing of how and when they will drop out of the race and start contemplating bigger things like the Creator and His many creations, all of which we are not aware.

We are not even aware of the invisible virus that causes covid-19 and fall prey to it. A small, invisible virus that has accelerated global change, decimated economies and is causing political upheaval now and in the future. Consider how the US President is threatening to violate the Constitution and the political system, which will lead to seminal change. He says he would not leave his office without kicking and screaming and if the election results are close, a handful of judges could decide the outcome, as they did in the year 2000. They cause the worst amongst the worst, the elite of the worst, to grab political power.

That happened with George W Bush who unleashed horrific wars on our part of the world and in the Mid-

Wrong solution for a serious problem

F

Dr Omer JaveD

The scope of reform for media can be pretty much summed up with these two quotes: ‘There are laws to protect the freedom of the press’s speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.’ – ‘License of the Press’ by Mark Twain

‘T

HERE always must be, or at any rate there always will be, some degree of censorship, so long as organised societies endure. But freedom, as Rosa Luxembourg [sic] said, is ‘freedom for the other fellow’. The same principle is contained in the famous words of Voltaire: ‘I detest what you say; I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ – ‘The freedom of the press’ by George Orwell (unpublished preface to ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell) Media has an important role in making available information to the consumers of information in almost every field of life. Information helps shape the decision-making of agents in political, economic, and social aspects of their lives. In this sense, media holds great responsibility, and influence in determining the quality of democracy and economic development in any country.

Unfortunately, this role of media has been influenced by the personal agendas of the collusion of the politico-economic elites, under the overall neoliberal assault, and which is basically to perpetuate the extractive institutional design for

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Humayun Gauhar is a veteran columnist in Pakistan and editor of Blue Chip magazine.

business, and “experts” funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) “flak” as a means of disciplining the media; and (5) “anticommunism” as a national religion and control mechanism. These elements interact with and reinforce one another. The raw material of news must pass through successive filters, leaving power and wealth perpetuation. The interest of only the cleansed residue fit to print. They fix the the demos stands compromised in turn, especially premises of discourse and interpretation, and the in developing countries where the quality of in- definition of what is newsworthy in the first stitutions and regulation has traditionally been place, and they explain the basis and operations quite weak. of what amount to propaganda campaigns.’

Here, while social media has given greater inAny reform strategy for the reform of media dependence to people in general, in terms of free- should look to undo the ‘elite capture’ in media dom of expression, yet the primary sources of that uses these filters to the advantage of the colinformation, with substanlusion of politico-ecotial economic means to atnomic elites; in the sense tain and disseminate of of influence over both doinformation, still remain in mestic and international the hands of big-budget policy. The other imporA free and unbiased media is media businesses. This tant aspect of reform of means they primarily hold an important pillar of the media is the uplift of state the propaganda machine, media as a role model for progress of individual states, which filters and angles inboth accurate disseminaformation to their own intion of information, and and true success of terests primarily. Various for airing content with studies have documented greater analytical depth, multilateralism for resolving this ‘self-selection’ and and larger variety of topdomestic and international ‘self-censorship’ of inforics. Seen together, for inmation on various imporin the case of political and economic issues. stance tant happenings, both in Pakistan, this would mean terms of their absence of stronger regulation and A comprehensive reform coverage in mainstream greater incentivization of based on inclusive input from media in general, and immedia, but also picking and choosing information proving the quality of Pakall relevant stakeholders is as to portray a certain kind istan Television (PTV) in of picture to public. particular. Currently, there indeed long overdue.

Such a World renowned intelis a lot to be asked for on lectual dissident, Noam reform has become all the both these counts.

Chomsky, identified these There is a need to keep more important in the wake of a healthy ‘filters’ in media in its balance between ‘propaganda model’, freedom of media, and enthe neoliberal assault which he co-authored with suring that media remains Edward Herman, which unbiased in the way it secan be understood from lects and disseminates intheir 1988 book Manufacformation.

This is turing Consent, and which is equally relevant now extremely important for strengthening the quality as then, as follows ‘A propaganda model focuses of democracy, and in ensuring a competitive envion this inequality of wealth and power and its ronment for economic development. A free and unmultilevel effects on mass-media interests and biased media is an important pillar of the progress choices. It traces the routes by which money and of individual states, and true success of multilaterpower are able to filter out the news fit to print, alism for resolving domestic and international pomarginalize dissent, and allow the government litical and economic issues. A comprehensive and dominant private interests to get their mes- reform based on inclusive input from all relevant sages across to the public. The essential ingredi- stakeholders is indeed long overdue. Such a reform ents of our propaganda model, or set of news has become all the more important in the wake of “filters,” fall under the following headings: (I) the the neoliberal assault. size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media Omer Javed holds PhD in Economics degree firms; (2) advertising as the primary income from the University of Barcelona, and previously source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the worked at International Monetary Fund. He tweets media on information provided by government, @omerjaved

One of the key safeguards of democracy

EdERAL Information Minister Shibli Faraz disclosed that Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering banning TikTok, the popular video streaming social media platform, because it is spreading obscenity contrary to Pakistani cultural values. If Senator Faraz is to be credited, Mr Khan is increasingly worried by the increasing incidents of sexual violence. Mr Khan needs to be made aware of two things. First, the prime suspect in the Motorway gang-rape, which has convulsed the nation, has not yet been arrested, even though the crime was committed on September 9. Second, access to social media platforms has not been linked to such deviant crimes, at least not in any scientific study.

Such a blanket assumption against social media is a little surprising in the chief of the PTI, which is supposed to be media-savvy and which has shown that it has better adapted to the social media than the rest. Mr Khan is perhaps showing his age by this persistent worry of the effect of social media on minds. It is perhaps worth noting that US President donald Trump, who has forced TikTok to sell its US operation, expressed greater concern about the Chinese government’s access to US citizen’s data than about any moral threat that it might pose.

There is a distressing tendency against those in power, usually males above a certain age, whose instinctive reaction is to ban things they do not understand. Mr Khan has been accused of doing some wild things in his salad days. They are presumably untrue, but he must know contemporaries who had run riot. Now that age has crept up on them, how many have repented? More significant, how much wild behaviour was prompted by social media, especially in the era when there wasn’t any? As a problem of governance, there is the issue of whether such bans are feasible. The recommendation that PEMRA be used to monitor the electronic media seems a control mechanism, under which vulgarity might flourish unchecked, but opposition will be censored. After all, if TikTok is guilty of vulgarity, it is under the eagle eye of the Chinese authorities, which do not tolerate any dissent.

Joint Editor

yet aware of. People who understand better realize that the Big Bang was really the big expansion that is continuing. Time and space was also encapsulated in that singularity yet seekers of knowledge, and you cannot blame them, ask what caused the Big Bang.

What was there before the singularity? What was there before the Creator? What did the universe expand into since there was no space? What is outside the universe is unknown so the scientists chose to call it, “Nothingness.” They put a lid on it but years later they have returned to Nothingness having acquired some more knowledge and are now realizing that, ‘Everything is in Nothing.’ Wrap your mind around that. That past, present and future are simultaneously present. Out go our Swiss watches and our many calendars. That which has to happen in the future has already happened; that which happened in the past is with us. If that doesn’t require a total understanding of Time, what does? Since Time was encapsulated in the singularity there was no ‘before’ or ‘after.’ So what was there before the Creator is a facetious question. I could go rambling on, but I will stop before I run out of steam.

We started off with the concept of the elite. To assume that the elite are the source and cause of all our problems is to narrow your thinking. All our problems are caused by the many weaknesses of Man and getting rid of the elite will not make the problems vanish. The struggle should be to help cause good elites to rise out of the slumber that they are in. Instead we go on creating more bad elites. Get rid of the “bad” elite and corruption won’t go away but it will reduce.

So step off the gravy train and start considering your place in the universe. Scientists will tell you, as I said earlier, that we are insignificant. That is by measureable science. But by the power of the mind, we are more significant and necessary than we think we are, for we are the only known creation of God that tries to understand Him and worship Him. Elites are not demons that come to haunt you at night. They just have to be understood and explained.

Reforming media

Banning Tiktok

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

dle East, causing multiple crimes against humanity.

And for no rhyme or reasonable reason. This is the methodology by which the world changes so fast.

Reminds me of what Rumi said, “Half of life is lost in charming others. The other half is lost in going through anxieties caused by others. Leave this play, you have played enough.” This is an invitation for self analysis and introspection and thinking about our real duties in life, which is to uphold the unity of the Creator, be good to His creations and try and understand what role you should really perform in this life, which leads to union with the Creator. If you get onto that path, you’re unlikely to perform bad deeds and please the Creator.

This is what we ask for in the first chapter of the Quran, Surah Al-Fatiha when we ask God to show us the path trodden by those who please Him and not those who displease Him. In answer, God gave us the Quran as a guidebook to keep us on the Correct Path.

Political leaders whose decisions and actions affect the lives and livelihoods of those for whom they are responsible should keep this foremost in their minds.

They should ask themselves, “Would the next step that I am considering please the Creator or not?”

The problem is we hardly understand the Creator.

How can we when He is Everything and we are insignificant nothings? But the more we strive, we get onto the path of understanding. No wonder we have been told to strive our utmost to acquire knowledge.

Some knowledge leads to more knowledge and also to understanding how little knowledge we have. I am reminded of a saying attributed to Hazrat Ali. I am paraphrasing that: unfortunate is the man who knows no failure because he doesn’t get a chance to know himself, and I would add, doesn’t get a chance to see God. Thus a little knowledge is not a dangerous thing.

We make it dangerous when on a little knowledge we build grand theories that affect Creation. Thus it is better to have some knowledge instead of a little knowledge.

Our little knowledge tells us that the universe was created with what is called the Big Bang when the singularity, which contained everything that is in this universe including time and space, was created. It expanded under its own laws of physics that we are not

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 28 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

Illegal Transactions by Indian Banks RECENTLy, a Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by the United States banks with auditors conducted an investigation along with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that over 44 Indian banks have been scrutinized in binding with transaction entities and individuals revealed by the Indian Express. According to the investigation that Indian banks are figured to be SARs linked to more than 2,000 transactions equal to more than one billion dollars between the year of 2011 and 2017, the state-owned banks include Punjab National Bank (290 transactions), State Bank of India (102), Banks of Baroda (93), Union Bank of India (99), and Canara Bank (190) while the private banks involve HdFC bank (253 transactions), ICICI Bank (57), Kotak Mahindra Bank (268), Axis Bank (41) and IndusInd Bank (117) among others. Furthermore, the report more elaborates that most of the transactions were carried out through international payment gateways of foreign banks such as the branches of a State Bank of account in Canada and an account with the name of Union Bank of India in the United Kingdom (UK). However, these transactions are the very proof of the money laundering and it is a violation of the laws and these banks should be fully accounted for.

MEhraj altaf hErronk

Accountability?

Nawaz and his sons are often issued, then why not Tareen and his son? The allegations against the latter are also worth billions and his alleged leaders received quite unprecedented relief from actions have also had a direct impact on the both the government as well as the courts. In country’s economy. From the looks of it, Tareen fact, the executive and the judiciary continued has also been involved in money laundering, acto pass the buck when it came to affixing respon- cording to the allegations being levelled. Then sibility for allowing Nawaz Sharif to travel why isn’t the Pakistani consulate in London abroad. Provisional bails for a few weeks and moving forward to apprehend Tareen and bring conditional permissions to travel abroad were him back to face the charges? In all probability, also introduced in our jurisprudence.

Tareen may be proved innocent and cleared of These new forms of accountability are not all charges, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t synonymous to the one promised to the nation. face the brunt of accountability. Imran’s inaction Even the ongoing cases on Tareen reflects his are not being presented half-hearted and hypowith proper prosecution critical policies towards and the conviction rate the country. While even With a few years under his isn’t as desired. On the the smallest of allegacontrary, NAB has tions against the belt, Imran needs to been continuously repPML(N) has to be conreevaluate his policy rimanded by the strued strictly, serious Supreme Court for arones against his own pertaining to accountability bitrary exercise of circle are being considpower. The latest view ered liberally. and bring into its fold all authored by Mr Justice The Punjab Chief those against whom Maqbool Baqar leaves Minister put in place by little room for NAB to SyeD KaSwar GarDezi IK is facing NAB allegations and sufficient claim competence. A charges for issuing an mere semblance of illegal liquor permit, of material is available.

In the all things. Examples HARGING through the cheering morality would perturb absence of this, history will had always been given crowds in July 2018, Imran Khan fin- the conscience of the of the West by IK durished his marathon to the corridors of NAB chairman, resultnot be lenient with him. ing his opposition days power, crowning himself on the finish ing in his resignation as of crying out and yet, line or was crowned, perhaps. An era all those being released the level of morality of change was promised, a prosperous future and by the superior courts which he preached a stronger democracy too. The bedrock of his as- are initially arrested cension to power was the call for accountability pursuant to a stroke of his pen. However, the from the West is nowhere to be seen. Relying upon his own standards, Buzdar should have re‘across the board’. His main selling point was to moral aspect appears to be buried deep.

Another interesting form of accountability signed and cleared himself of all charges first. hold the politicians accountable and retrieve the allegedly looted and plundered wealth of the is the one where senior members of PTI are Tareen should fly back and appear before FIA helped in escaping the country before the claws and all other related authorities investigating the people of Pakistan.

Prior to being seated on the throne, Imran of accountability could grasp them in their hold. charges against him. As a leader, it is Imran’s reKhan had been at the forefront for demanding None other than Jehangir Tareen, a previously sponsibility to ensure compliance with accountaccountability and holding public office holders close aide of Imran Khan, departed the country ability procedures.

While Imran and his government have been accountable for their actions and, in some cases, unharmed as soon as the sugar baron’s escapades came to light. The sugar after a Supreme Court judge calling for accountamassing of wealth report, which attributes ability, at the same time, they have failed themover the years. In fact, significant financial selves to hold their own accountable. This form it was his own petition gain to the PTI stalwart, of selective accountability as has been opined by which saw the then Two years down the lane, should have seen some many commentators recently, is not going to Prime Minister Nawaz action being taken. bode well in the annals of history for IK and his Sharif being sent home accountability has taken However, before the government. The executive hasn’t strengthened owing to a mis-declarather swift turns for PTI. A commencement of any over the past two years; on the contrary the same ration pertaining to his such action, the PTI has further been weakened since Imran’s ascenunwithdrawn salaries few provincial ministers were leader left the country sion to the top seat. Shaky policies and inconsisconstituting assets. indefinitely. Tareen’s tency in handling matters have failed to inspire Considering it as a arrested by NAB in a smooth departure confidence. feather in his hat, seemingly across-the-board amidst an investigation Failing to bring Jahangir Tareen into the ambit Imran led his party to a raises several questions of accountability will leave no moral ground for victory in the general accountability, only to be to which no answers the IK-led government to focus on Nawaz’s abelections with the been and will be sence from the country. The rule of law will not biggest promise being released on bail after a heavy have provided by the govern- prevail if selective trends are followed. Institutions accountability. ment. bashing of the NAB at the will further degenerate and democracy will remain Two years down Imran Khan’s talk in the darker parts of the corridors. the lane, accountability hands of the High Court. of accountability immeWith a few years under his belt, Imran needs has taken rather swift diately becomes hypo- to reevaluate his policy pertaining to accountaturns for PTI. A few critical when he failed bility and bring into its fold all those against provincial ministers to take action against whom allegations and sufficient material is were arrested by NAB in a seemingly across-the-board accountability, Tareen. On the face of it, he may have issued available. In the absence of this, history will not only to be released on bail after a heavy bashing statements of treating everyone alike and by or- be lenient with him. of the NAB at the hands of the High Court. The dering investigations into the sugar scam howSyed Kaswar Gardezi is a lawyer and a groundless cases were admonished in the written ever, no meaningful steps have been taken to orders, confirming the notion of the balancing bring Tareen and his son into the purview of ac- columnist. He can be contacted at factor in accountability. Similarly, the PML(N) countability. Statements regarding bringing back kaswargardezi@gmail.com

Why Nawaz must be brought back if Jehangir Tareen isn’t?

C

Tyrannical society THE facts highlighted from the motorway gang raped which has been brutalised with a small girl. The incident of gang rape in pakistan is high and such cases rarely caused public outrage and affront. But the motorway gang rape hit a sensitive nerve and caused public repulsion on extraordinary scale. Furthermore, the society is not following the constitution and laws but they are violating the laws. due to inhumanity in the society such huge crime is increasing. Very young girls are raped and killed in the citizens.during 2015-2017, for to instance, 385 persons were sentenced to death each year. His they reduced the number of murders per year? did the murder in Pakistan come down? Pakistan is trying to control crime by increasing severity of punishment but the experience of all nations in the world shows that sever penalties do not cause decline in crime. Painfully, gang rape is the serious crime in the country. Thus, the government should terminate such crime and save the women which are the builder of the nations. najEEb Swali turbat

Journalists safety FREEdOM of speech is the basic right of every individual. The constitution itself vows to take the responsibility of journalists safety.

Unfortunately Pakistan state has dramatically witnessed the vulnerable situations significantly on account of journalists safety.

According to the fresh reports, from September 1, 2018 till January 30, 2020; there 62 Federal Cabinet conferences held but none of any conferences have taken journalists issue as a concerning subject matter.

Furthermore in the same period, saven journalists were killed, six abducted, fifteen faced FIR and together 135 violations have been disclosed.

I request the relevant authorities to take concrete action on the above mentioned issue. Likely, we are already notorious in the international media on the journalists safety matter. aSif Murad uMrani karachi

Tranquility TRANQUILLITy literally means a state of being free from civil disturbance or absence of violence. In life,peace is very essential and people do alot to maintain peace around them. It provides a man a peaceful,pleasant and a serene environment without fear. He can be far from tensions and worries. People think of making laws to be followed for the maintenance of peace,uprooting of terrorism ,corruption and other worst act like child labour,child marriage, gender bias, religion bias etc to be forbidden.

Moreover,tranquillity assists a society to step forward ,the civilians to be safe,united and gather for decision making. For instance,when the citizens act on a peaceful and a calm surrounding and are united,they can support one another for an acute issue. In this manner,the society with its inhabitants can move forward and live an excellant life. In addition,it is a position to be a prudent man with strong hopes,ambitions and intention and require sincerity so that the difficulties vanish.

MEhnaz alijan turbat

Corona in Balochistan CORONA-VIRUS (COVId-19) is almost interminable and badgering for the mere globe. In recent months, COVId-19 has been very ominous and with annals of deaths while the second phase of COVId-19 is prognosticated to be more advertent comparing to the first layer.

However, with the incipient of the winter, more than 73 new confirmed cases have been reported in Balochistan on Friday and the tally has reached 14,938 cases since the pandemic and more than 145 deaths.

According to the spokesperson of the General Health Balochistan (GHB) that over 2,386,09 tests were conducted in the province on Friday among whom 78,492 were negative. Furthermore, the recovery rate of the patience is 13,455 some are battling it with medical care and some are belittling it by sitting at home. The government should spread more awareness about the SOPs within the province through Social Media and other electronic sources because it might come with more deaths in its next phase.

MEhraj altaf turbat

Monday, 28 September, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

It’s tIme for PalestInIans to make theIr own Peace Plan THE MAIN STRENGTH OF THE API FOR THE PALESTINIANS WAS THAT IT COULD BE PRESENTED AS AN ARAB CONSENSUS. NOW THAT HAS BEEN BROKEN, THE API PROVIDES THEM WITH NO LEVERAGE

BlooMBerG

P

HuSSEiN iBiSH

ALESTINIANS are understandably furious at the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for agreeing to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, but it leaves them with no choice but to formulate their own strategy for ending the occupation.

The Palestinian leadership has been remarkably passive in recent years, especially since the announcement of the

Trump administration’s so-called peace plan last January. Instead of replying with a constructive and compelling counterproposal, the Palestine Liberation Organization simply rejected the plan out of hand.

President Mahmoud Abbas didn’t have to persuade the 22-member Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation to fully endorse his rejection.

Most European governments also dismissed the Trump proposal.

This surge of international support may have given the Palestinians a false sense of security. Instead of coming up with their own plan, they have been relying mostly on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (API), which promised Arab recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state.

This was a huge mistake, because the Palestinians didn’t control the API’s implementation, or even its interpretation. When

first promulgated, the API was generally understood to make normalization contingent on an agreement. However, some Arab countries began contemplating mutually reciprocal steps, with Israel easing (or promising to ease) the occupation in return for Arab diplomatic overtures. The idea was to create a virtuous cycle that would eventually lead to ending the occupation and normalization of relations around the same time.

Now the UAE and Bahrain have effectively inverted the original concept, frontloading normalization and leaving the bigger questions over the occupation to some future date. For now, they are satisfied merely with the understanding that there will be no further Israeli annexation in the West Bank.

The main strength of the API for the Palestinians was that it could be presented as an Arab consensus. Now that has been broken, the API provides them with no leverage.

The dollar’s decline has only just begun

Project Syndicate STEPHEN S ROACH

In the second quarter of this year, the US experienced the sharpest plunge in domestic saving on record, dating back to 1947. Because that will continue, and the current-account balance is following suit, the dollar's real effective exchange rate can head in only one direction.

The US dollar has now entered the early stages of what looks to be a sharp descent. The dollar’s real effective exchange rate (REER) fell 4.3% in the four months ending in August. The decline has been even steeper as measured by other indexes, but the REER is what matters most for trade, competitiveness, inflation, and monetary policy.

Although US President Donald Trump has little personal interest in human rights, democracy, or the rule of law, his administration has brought these values to the fore in its confrontation with China. In doing so, it has effectively declared a new cold war.

To be sure, the recent pullback only partly reverses the nearly 7% surge from February to April. During that period, the dollar benefited from the flight to safety triggered by the “sudden stop” in the global economy and world financial markets arising from the COVID-19 lockdown. Even with the recent modest correction, the greenback remains the most overvalued major currency in the world, with the REER still 34% above its July 2011 low. I continue to expect this broad dollar index to plunge by as much as 35% by the end of 2021. This reflects three considerations: rapid deterioration in US macroeconomic imbalances, the ascendancy of the euro and the renminbi as viable alternatives, and the end of that special aura of American exceptionalism that has given the dollar Teflon-like resilience for most of the post-World War II era.

The first factor – America’s mounting imbalances – is now playing out in real time with a vengeance. The confluence of an unprecedented erosion of domestic saving and the current-account deficit – joined at the hip through arithmetic accounting identities – is nothing short of staggering. The net national saving rate, which measures the combined depreciation-adjusted saving of businesses, households, and the government sector, plunged into negative territory at -1% in the second quarter of 2020. That had not happened since the global financial crisis of 2008-09, when net national saving fell into negative territory for nine consecutive quarters, averaging -1.7% from the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2010.

But the most important aspect of this development was the speed of the collapse. At -1% in the second quarter, the net saving rate fell fully 3.9 percentage points from the pre-COVID 2.9% reading in the first quarter. This is, by far, the sharpest one-quarter plunge in domestic saving on record, dating back to 1947.

What has triggered this unprecedented collapse in net domestic saving is no secret. COVID-19 sparked a

temporary surge in personal saving that has been more than outweighed by a record expansion in the federal budget deficit. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act featured $1,200 relief checks to most Americans, as well as a sharp expansion of unemployment insurance benefits, both of which boosted the personal saving rate to an unheard of 33.7% in April. Absent these one-off injections, the personal saving rate quickly receded to a still-lofty 17.8% in July and is set to fall even more sharply with the recent expiration of expanded unemployment benefits. Offsetting this was a $4.5 trillion annualized widening of the federal deficit in the second quarter of 2020 (on a net saving basis), to $5.7 trillion, which swamped the $3.1 trillion surge in net personal saving in the same period.

With personal saving likely to recede sharply in the months ahead and the federal budget deficit exploding toward 16% of GDP in the current fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the plunge in net domestic saving in the second quarter of 2020 is only a hint of what lies ahead.

This will trigger a collapse in the US current-account deficit. Lacking in saving and wanting to invest and grow, the US must import surplus saving from abroad and run massive external deficits to attract foreign capital. Again, this is not esoteric economic theory – just a simple balance-of-payments accounting identity. The validity of this linkage was, in fact, confirmed by the recent release of US international transactions statistics for the second quarter of 2020. Reflecting the plunge in domestic saving, the current-account deficit widened to 3.5% of GDP – the worst since the 4.3% deficit in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the global financial crisis.

Like the saving collapse, the current-account dynamic is unfolding in an equally ferocious fashion. Relative to the 2.1%-of-GDP current-account deficit in the first period of 2020, the 1.4-percentage-point widening in the second quarter was the largest quarterly deterioration on record (dating back to 1960).

With the net domestic saving rate likely headed into record depths of between -5% and -10% of national income, I fully expect the current-account deficit to break its previous record of 6.3% of GDP, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2005. Driven by the explosive surge in the federal budget deficit this year and next, the collapse of domestic saving and the current-account implosion should unfold at near-lightning speed.

It is not just rapidly destabilizing saving and current-account imbalances that are putting downward pressure on the dollar. A shift in the Federal Reserve’s policy strategy is a new and important ingredient in the mix. By moving to an approach that now targets average inflation, the Fed is sending an important message: zerointerest rates are likely to persist for longer than previously thought, regardless of any temporary overshoots of the 2% price stability target. This new bias toward monetary accommodation effectively closes off an important option – upward adjustments to interest rates – that has long tempered currency declines in most economies. By default, that puts even more pressure on the falling dollar as the escape valve from America’s rapidly deteriorating macroeconomic imbalances. In short, the vise is tightening on a still-overvalued dollar.

Domestic saving is now plunging as never before, and the current-account balance is following suit. Don’t expect the Fed, focused more on supporting equity and bond markets than on leaning against inflation, to save the day. The dollar’s decline has only just begun.

Stephen S. Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China.

This means Palestinian leaders now must come up with their own approach to ending the occupation or be left with none at all. And they have to face the fact that they will be dealing with Israel directly, not as part of a cohesive Arab bloc.

Palestinian paralysis stems not only from a lack of good options, but also political cowardice and crippling disunity within the leadership. This can best be rectified by elections.

If the vote is restricted to the West Bank — because Hamas won’t let people in Gaza participate and Israel may exclude East Jerusalem — it’s still worth doing.A fresh mandate is essential to restore the credibility that the leadership will need in order to make the Israelis a bold counter-offer. That must perforce contain significant concessions on emotive issues like refugee return and land swaps.

There must also be a serious effort at national reconciliation among the Palestinians

themselves. This could be pursued through collective bodies such as the Palestinian Legislative Council, or through a nationalunity arrangement with Hamas. Even if it can’t be accomplished overnight, it must be credibly attempted.

A serious Palestinian counterproposal would’ve been a lot more effective in January or February, but it’s never too late to demonstrate diplomatic credibility. If Joe Biden wins the U.S. presidential election, that would be a perfect opportunity for Palestinians to issue their own plan, on the grounds there is now once again an American leader they can take seriously.

Gulf Arab countries, including the UAE and Bahrain, would welcome an opportunity to demonstrate that they haven’t turned their back on the Palestinians. As they develop stronger relations with Israel, they should be in a much better position to help.

But this can only happen if Palestinian leaders drop the crutch of the API and act decisively, in the name of the undoubted national emergency their people now face.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

Will the latest reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas succeed?

Middle eaSt Monitor DR AHmET AliOglu

Senior officials from Fatah and Hamas have been meeting in Istanbul for the past few days, and have reportedly reached a deal for elections within the next six months. The last Palestinian parliamentary elections were held in 2006 when Hamas won with an unexpected landslide. Since then, the differences between the movements have ensured a political split which has seemed impossible to mend.

What, then, has happened to bring them together to seek reconciliation as a matter of national urgency? Are the current talks a genuine attempt towards sincere reconciliation and unity? Importantly, will these talks in Turkey succeed?

The context, of course, is the rush by some Arab states to normalise relations with Israel. For the Palestinian leadership, these unilateral moves towards “peace” deals with Israel means principally the concession of Palestinian rights. The UAE and Bahrain claim that their “Abraham Accords” with Israel serve the Palestinian cause and that Israel will not proceed with the annexation of the West Bank and will allow Muslims to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque.

However, according to the Israeli leadership weeks ago, annexation is not a priority simply because the Trump administration does not have the appetite to move forward with the plan prior to the presidential election in November.

The UAE and Bahrain have basically abandoned the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative in which the Arab League drafted a 10-sentence proposal for an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict during a summit in Beirut. The initiative called for normalising relations between the Arab world and Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories and a ‘’just settlement’’ of the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN Resolution 194, as well as the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The moribund Arab League has not even condemned the UAE-Bahrain deals. Back in 1979, when Egypt, the biggest Arab country and one of the founders of the organisation, signed a peace treaty with Israel, the other members voted to suspend Egypt’s membership and transfer the League’s headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Egypt was only reinstated as a member of the League in 1989, and its headquarters returned to Cairo the following year.

The Israel-Egypt treaty meant the cessation of the state of war that had existed since the fighting which followed Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence; normalisation of relations; and the complete withdrawal of its armed forces and settlers from the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War in 1967. Today, the Emiratis are normalising relations in return for a potential arms deal with the US to purchase F-35 jet fighters. Israel is opposing any such arms deals in order to maintain its military supremacy in the Middle East.The Palestinian Authority has quit its current chairmanship of Arab League meetings and might reconsider its relations with the organisation. Ultimately, with these notorious deals with the UAE and Bahrain, Israel has made no concessions whatsoever and the Palestinians have gained nothing in return.

Washington’s strategy of excluding the Palestinian leadership has simply been reinforced further.

The inauguration of Donald Trump in the White House in January 2017 was a turning point in the bilateral relations between the PA and the US administration. Trump was upfront in proclaiming his unequivocal support for Israel: he closed the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s mission in Washington, citing Palestinian leaders’ resistance to peace talks and attempts to get an international court to prosecute

ULTIMATELY, WITH THESE DEALS WITH THE UAE AND BAHRAIN, ISRAEL HAS MADE NO CONCESSIONS WHATSOEVER AND THE PALESTINIANS HAVE GAINED NOTHING IN RETURN. WASHINGTON’S STRATEGY OF EXCLUDING THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP HAS SIMPLY BEEN REINFORCED FURTHER Israel for alleged war crimes; he cut US donations to UNRWA programmes for Palestinian refugees; and, most importantly, he relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The PA was not even invited to the Bahrain Conference last year when Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner tried to tout bedrock principles at untenable discounts. At that time there were no buyers, but now it seems that there are some Arabs who are more than willing to pay the price.

It is not only Kushner who has offended the Palestinian leadership; the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has reportedly stated that Washington is considering support for the former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan to be the next PA president. The Israeli newspaper which reported this quote has now said that Friedman was misquoted. It is obvious that the Americans and their allies are concerned about the successor to the 85-year old President Mahmoud Abbas.

This is a historic moment that could lead to a breakthrough for the Palestinian cause if it is managed well and with good intentions. The situation is like the early days of this century, when the then President Yasser Arafat, the Godfather of the peace process, realised that all of his efforts to reach a just peace deal with Israel had been led into a cul-de-sac. He found himself locked and isolated in his compound in Ramallah under virtual house arrest and so gave the green light to the Second Intifada and the formation of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, Fatah’s military wing.

Mahmoud Abbas had the chance to echo Arafat’s stance but has been betrayed by the Arab League, his Israeli “peace partners”, the US “peace broker” and Dahlan, his old friend in Fatah. The Hamas-Fatah preliminary agreement reached in Turkey will be tested soon. The US election is pending and if Donald Trump is re-elected he will most likely move forward with his policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If that happens, it is likely that Fatah will have no other option but to get closer to its people and its rival factions. However, if Joe Biden wins in the US, Abbas might reconsider his rapprochement with Hamas.

The agreement of both parties is undoubtedly historic, and a Palestinian election would rejuvenate the leadership and its agendas. The PA will hold the international community responsible for respecting the electoral will of the Palestinian people and put pressure on Israel to allow elections in occupied Jerusalem. Most importantly, it will be a test of the universal standards of democratic nations and whether they will endorse the Palestinians’ election choices.

Monday, 28 September, 2020

BUSINESS 09

Food Security Ministry launches markup subsidy scheme for agriculture sector

DuAl oil PiPEliNE likElY to bEgiN SuPPlYiNg PEtrol FroM oCtobEr

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

APP

The National Food Security and Research Ministry on Sunday launched a markup subsidy scheme for the agricultural sector under the fiscal package announced by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. An amount of Rs6.861 billion would be spent for 10 per cent markup subsidy on agriculture loans disbursed

by Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in this regard. The scheme is valid all over the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) AJK and Gilgit Baltistan (GB), a press release issued on Sunday said. The government would bear markup at rate 10pc on agricultural loan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-21 from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, and an individual farmer shall bear a balance mark up as per the agreed terms. Farmers up to 12.5 acres of land with a passbook as collateral are eligible while the subsidy shall be available on the date of full payment of the loan, the due date or up to June 30, 2021, whichever is earlier. In case of default, the borrower shall be liable to pay applicable mark up for the defaulted period. All Agri-loans (Production and Development) fall under as per the above criteria, are eligible. The ministry has also launched a cotton whitefly subsidy scheme under the package wherein an amount of Rs6.00 bn would be spent as subsidy on the purchase of whitefly related pesticides. Further, a subsidy of Rs300 per pack of pesticide meant for white flies is also being offered. The subsidy would be Rs300 per application at an average of four applications per acre and will cover five million acres in Punjab and Sindh provinces, which is around 80pc of the cotton area.

Petroleum Division to float tenders for 27 new E&P blocks ISLAMABAD APP

The Petroleum Division (PD) has planned to auction 27 new Exploration and Production (E&P) blocks for stepping up oil and gas drilling activities in different hydrocarbon potential areas of the country. “The advertisement for the 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 official said that the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) government was fully aware of the prevailing energy situation in the country and taking all possible measures to meet the existing and future needs in the oil and gas sector in an efficient manner.

“The country’s total sedimentary area is around 827,268 square kilometres, out of which 320,741 km or 39pc of the area was under exploration,” he said.

The official said the country’s existing gas reserves were depleting at the rate of 9.5 per cent annually and unfortunately, E&P companies have made no significant discovery since long. Currently, he said, local gas production was around 3.7 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) per day against the demand of six BCF/day. “The previous government did not award even a single E&P block during its five-year tenure due to which the gap between demand and supply of gas continues to increase gradually,” he added.

Cognizant of the situation, the official said the PTI government, after coming into power, had started bidding round in September 2018 and subsequently awarded almost 10 new E&P blocks to expedite drilling activities. It may be mentioned here that a new block takes almost four to five years in producing any result as it involves different phases including studies, testing, drilling, and installation of processing plans and pipelines.

APP

t

HE Petroleum Division has completed the dualisation process of the Machike-Tarujabba white oil pipeline from Karachi to Sheikhupura to ensure a smooth supply of petrol and diesel to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) whereas it is likely to be operational from October.

The pipeline will help reduce reliance on the traditional mode of transportation through tankers.

“The oil pipeline that was used to move diesel from Karachi to Sheikhupura has been dualized. Now it is ready and likely to be operational in October for the supply of both diesel and petrol in batches,” a sen-

ior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP. He said the pipeline would be expanded to Peshawar for which a contract had been awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), which had completed its necessary work.

“Hopefully, practical work on the expansion project would start in the next few months and be completed in a period of 18-24 months,” he added.

With the completion of this project, the official said all imported diesel and fuel besides local production in the South of the country, would move through the pipeline from Karachi to Peshawar instead of oil lorries.

However, he said, onward distribution from OMCs’ oil depots to petrol pumps would remain intact through tankers. “It will greatly help reduce traffic

congestion, environmental pollution and transportation cost.”

Under the project, a 427-kilometre pipeline from Sheikhupura to Peshawar would be laid aimed at ensuring a smooth supply chain of petroleum products from Karachi to Peshawar.

The pipeline had been conceived after frequent incidents of oil tankers’ overturn, especially Ahmedpur Sharqiya tragedy in 2017, to ensure safe, efficient and reliable mode of supplying petroleum products across the country.

The project consists of three sections including Machike-Chak Pirana (135-km), Chak Pirana-Rawat (117-km) and Rawat-Tarujabba (175-km), which would be capable of transporting dual oil products like High Speed Diesel and Motor Spirit Oil to different depots.

Production of life saving drugs likely to be affected as pharma imports blocked NEWS DESK The country’s pharmaceutical industry is facing a shortage of raw material needed to manufacture lifesaving drugs since tensions with neighbouring India rose significantly last year.

The raw material is imported from India as it is the only producer of the required raw material.

According to the details, bureaucratic hurdles obstructing the clearance of goods may affect the production of medicines needed to cure snakebites, tuberculosis and cancer.

Pharma Bureau Executive Director Ayesha Tammy Haq while talking to a group of journalists in an online meeting on Saturday said that the issue had come up at local ports.

“Pakistan has a policy to import essential goods like active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for medicines from India despite tensions. However, local

ports take three to four months to clear them, which is causing a shortage of medicines in the market. The port authorities clear APIs imported from other countries the very next day, hence, they should also clear imports from India within a day,” she said.

Further, she lamented the mishandling at ports due to which the imported raw material was lost several times and pharmaceutical firms had to import the material from India again as it had expired.

It may be mentioned here that although raw material for cancer medicines is possible to import from other countries, it would cost 1,000pc more.

Haq emphasised the fact that already expensive cancer medicines would be out of the reach of most patients if the price of such an import is added to the medicine’s cost.

It may also be mentioned here that the government has asked the

industry to begin manufacturing APIs imperative for the country’s medical needs to promote import substitution and reduce dependency on India.

Commenting on this development, Haq said that it was a plan that would take anywhere between half a decade to a decade to get on ground.

“This is a long-term plan. It may take five to seven years to materialise,” she said, adding that industrialists need to make new investments of millions of dollars after the government comes up with a policy in this regard.

The number of multinational companies in the pharmaceutical sector has gone down to 24 from 40 a few years ago. There are around 700 pharmaceutical companies manufacturing and marketing 7,000 drugs in Pakistan.

The industry has also outlined these issues in meetings with high-ranking government officials, who have assured it of addressing them.

China’s Xpeng unveils flying car prototype at major Beijing auto show BEIJING AGENCIES

Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng revealed it is working on a flying car model and showed off a prototype of the vehicle at the Beijing motor show – the biggest international event held for the industry since the pandemic began.

During the show, which kicked off on Saturday, the Chinese rival to American EV maker Tesla said that it wants to invest in flying car technology. According to its CEO, He Xiaopeng, the carmaker is funding air taxi startup Xpeng Heitech, in which he owns a majority stake.

The startup is behind the development of a dronelike ultra-low altitude flying car, dubbed the Kiwigogo.

Equipped with eight turbofans, the vehicle can carry two passengers at an altitude of between five meters

and up to 25 meters, according to Xpeng. Heitech said it obtained 15 patents on its proprietary intellectual rights over seven years.

However, the levitating car is still being developed and it is unclear when it will be available on the market. Other automakers such as Toyota and Volvo owner Geely are also working on similar technology, while General Motors is reportedly considering the aerial taxi market.

The Guangzhou-based EV maker did not elaborate on how much it is going to spend on the development of the technology, but said that it wants to evaluate the prospects of the air-enabled mobility space before substantially expanding investment.

Xpeng acquired massive funds for research and development after the company held a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which helped it to raise about $1.5 billion.

Pak-Afghan trade important for national economy: NA speaker ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser has stressed the need for increasing trade and cultural relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Talking on a local media channel on Sunday, he said the two countries should increase trade and culture relations with each other as Afghanistan has a significant role in Pakistan’s national economy. “Both the countries should also work to enhance government to government and people to people contacts,” he said, adding that Pakistan had always played an important role for establishing peace in Afghanistan because a peace over there is in Pakistan’s favour. In response to a question, he said that Pakistan would extend a warm welcome to Abdullah Abdullah who is heading the Afghanistan delegation for the peace process, adding that his visit would also be helpful for strengthening relations between two countries. He said that Pakistan was formulating a new visa policy which would be helpful for further improving relations with each other. To another question, he replied that Pakistan had always rendered sacrifices for Afghan refugees and has been serving them with open hearts from many years. APP

Cement exports rise 5.6pc YoY in July-Aug ISLAMABAD: Cement exports from the country witnessed an increase of 5.60 per cent during the first two months of the ongoing financial year (FY 2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last FY. The country exported cement worth US$44.540 mn during July-August (2020-21) against exports worth US$ 42.149 mn during JulyAugust (2019-20), showing a growth of 5.60 per cent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, data shows exports increased by 29.35 pc by going up from 1,064,154 metric tons to 1,376,536 metric tons. Meanwhile, on a YoY basis, exports increased by 28.93pc during the month of August 2020 as compared to the same month of last year. On a MoM basis, exports, however, decreased by 5.85pc. APP

US tightens exports to China’s top chipmaker citing risk of military use SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The United States has imposed restrictions on exports to China’s biggest chip maker SMIC after concluding there is an “unacceptable risk” equipment supplied to it could be used for military purposes.

Suppliers of certain equipment to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation will now have to apply for individual export licenses, according to a letter from the Commerce Department dated Friday and seen by Reuters.

The latest move marks a shift in U.S. policy from earlier this year, when applicants seeking “military end user” licenses to sell to

SMIC were told by the Commerce Department that the licenses weren’t necessary, according to three people familiar with the matter.

SMIC said it had not received any official notice of the restrictions and said it has no ties with the Chinese military.

“SMIC reiterates that it manufactures semiconductors and provides services solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses,” SMIC said.

“The Company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses.”

SMIC is the latest leading Chinese technology company to face U.S. trade restrictions related to national security issues or U.S. foreign policy efforts. Telecoms giant

Huawei Technologies had its access to highend chips curtailed by its addition to a Commerce Department blacklist known as the entity list.

“There’s been a lot of coverage on the Trump administration’s actions regarding TikTok, but the more significant action – from a global economic standpoint and that will have considerable ripple effects through global supply chains – are the increasing restrictions on SMIC and other Chinese national champions like Huawei,” said Nicholas Klein, a Washington lawyer who specializes in international trade. He said these actions are more likely to draw a retaliatory response from Beijing.

The United States has moved to ban the

CMYK

popular short video app TikTok, citing national security concerns stemming from its Chinese ownership.

SMIC’s new designation is not as severe as being blacklisted, which makes it difficult to get any export license approved.

The Pentagon earlier this month, Reuters was first to report, said it was working with other agencies to determine whether to blacklist SMIC for its purported links to the Chinese military.

US companies including Lam Research, KLA Corp and Applied Materials, which supply chipmaking equipment, may now need to get licenses to ship certain goods to SMIC. It is unclear which suppliers received the letter, but typically once the Commerce De-

partment comes to the conclusion that there is a risk of military use or diversion, it sends that information to the companies.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security declined on Saturday to comment specifically on SMIC, but said it was “constantly monitoring and assessing any potential threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests”.

The administration has increasingly trained its focus on Chinese companies that bolster Beijing’s military. Last month, the United States blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted people it said were part of construction and military actions in the South China Sea, its first such sanctions against Beijing over the disputed strategic waterway.

Monday, 28 September, 2020

10 foreign newS trump demands Biden take drug test before or after tuesday debate US President Donald Trump demanded on Sunday that his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, take a drug test either before or after the pair's first debate on Tuesday, in his latest salvo against his opponent's mental acuity. “I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night,” Trump tweeted. “Naturally, I will agree to take one also. His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???” he continued, without offering any evidence for the claim. According to US media reports, on Saturday their teams finalised the conditions for the debate, to be moderated by Fox News reporter Chris Wallace, including forgoing the traditional handshake and with only a small audience due to Covid-19 restrictions. The condition of a drugs test was not mentioned. Both septuagenarians are prone to blunders and gaffes when speaking. But the 74-year-old Trump has spent months denigrating 77year-old Biden's mental state, and suggested several times in recent weeks without any evidence that the former vice president may be using unspecified drugs to boost his performance. For the most part Biden has shrugged off the accusations, calling for voters to observe the two men together. “Watch me. Look at us both,” he said in an August interview with ABC. On Saturday Biden said he expects “personal attacks and lies” from the president during the debate, likening Trump to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

Tuesday's clash in Cleveland, Ohio, the first of three 90-minute debates, represents the first time voters will have the chance to see the candidates facing off against one another directly.. AGENCIES

Us regulator plans test flights for Boeing 737 max on wednesday WASHINGTON: The top US aviation regulator plans to test-fly Boeing’s grounded 737 Max on Wednesday in an attempt to show an antsy public that proposed fixes will be safe, according to a recently sent notification to Congress. Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson, who is licensed to fly the 737 along with several other jetliners from his time as a pilot at Delta Air Lines, will be at the controls of a Max that has been updated with a variety of fixes the agency has proposed and may soon make mandatory. The announcement of the flight comes after the FAA and the other three leading aviation regulators elsewhere in the world this week completed assessments of new pilot training requirements for the Max, the agency told lawmakers. The flight and the completion of training reviews are strong signals that the FAA is confident in Boeing’s best-selling plane and closing in on the final approvals needed before it can return to airline service after 18 months. AGENCIES

43pc of global active smartphones to be 5Gready by 2023 BEIJING: The year 2020 marks a milestone year for the general mobile market, as the number of active smartphone users will reach 3.5 billion or around 45 percent of the entire global population, says researcher Newzoo. According to its new Global Mobile Market report, China will account for over a quarter of the global number of smartphone users in 2020. Regions like Central-Southern Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America will steer much of that growth due to increasing smartphone penetration and improving (mobile) internet infrastructure in those areas. The report showed that just under 200 million active smartphones will be 5G-ready by the year’s end, accounting for just five percent of the global number.

That number will continue to grow, reaching 4.8 billion by 2023, with 42.7 percent of them compatible with 5G technology. With the majority of mobile users playing games, there will be 2.5 billion mobile gamers by the end of 2020 and that number will also spike towards 2023. AGENCIES

UN calls for NUclearpowered NatIoNs to dIsarm NEW YORK

t

AGENCIES

HE United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antnio Guterres has called on nuclear-powered nations to reverse course and return to a common path of nuclear disarmament.

While speaking on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons he expressed the UN commited itself in 1946, to ridding the planet of nuclear weapons after the devastating death and destruction, and the aftermath of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima

and Nagasaki.

Almost 75 years later "the world continues to live in the shadow of nuclear catastrophe," Guterres said.

"Relationships between states possessing nuclear weapons are characterized by division, distrust and an absence of dialogue. As they increasingly choose to pursue strategic competition over cooperation, the dangers posed by nuclear weapons are becoming more acute."

"This International Day highlights the need to reverse course and return to a common path to nuclear disarmament.

The use of nuclear weapons would affect all states, meaning that all states have a

responsibility to ensure that such deadly armaments are never used again and are eliminated completely from national arsenals," Guterres said.

"Covid-19 has exposed a wide range of global fragilities, from pandemic readiness and inequality to climate change to lawlessness in cyberspace; our preparedness to address the threat of nuclear weapons is one of those vulnerabilities. We need a strengthened, inclusive and renewed multilateralism built on trust and based on international law that can guide us to our shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons."

"Those states that possess nuclear

Bangladesh urges greater international action on Rohingya status UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES

Bangladesh is hosting more than one million Rohingya, a mainly Muslim minority community who are stateless, most of whom fled following a wave of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017.

"More than three years have elapsed. Regrettably, not a single Rohingya could be repatriated. The problem was created by Myanmar, and its solution must be found in Myanmar. I request the international community to play a more effective role for a solution to the crisis," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a pre-recorded speech to the UN General Assembly.

The annual gathering of Heads of State and Government in the iconic General Assembly Hall is being held virtually this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Like many of her counterparts, Prime Minister Hasina outlined steps her Government has taken to address the crisis and mitigate its impacts.

Although Covid-19 has impeded

economic progress in Bangladesh, she said the authorities implemented initiatives which prioritized both lives and livelihoods, such as introducing some $13.25 billion in stimulus packages for industries, and expanding social safety nets.

"We have readily arranged food and other assistance for people who are rendered jobless due to Covid19. This arrangement has benefitted nearly 10 million families. We have provided scholarships to four million students. We have also given cash incentives to five million people, including farmers, workers and labourers affected by the pandemic," she said.

"To ensure healthcare of the common people, we are providing 30 types of medicines free of cost through 18,000 community clinics and union health centres," she continued, noting that overall, the pandemic's impact has been minimal due to the various interventions.

Meanwhile, food production has been the top priority during the pandemic, she said. Special arrangements have been made to keep

industries up and running, among other measures, all in compliance with health guidelines.

"Consequently, our health sector and economy are still comparatively at a better shape. Despite the Covidinduced stagnation in global industrial outputs, our GDP has registered a growth rate of 5.24 per cent, which is expected to be seven per cent in the next fiscal year."

Prime Minister Hasina said Covid-19 has been a stark reminder "that our fates are interconnected and that no one is secured."

She expressed hope that any vaccine against the disease will be readily available to anyone, anywhere who needs it. Bangladesh could also contribute to the process, she added.

"It is imperative to treat the vaccine as a 'global public good.' We need to ensure the timely availability of this vaccine to all countries at the same time," she told world leaders.

"If we are provided with the technical know-how and patents, the pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh has the capacity to go for vaccine production in mass-scale."

TikTok case to undermine US competitiveness, says lawyer LOS ANGELES AGENCIES

While expressing concern over the TikTok cases, a lawyer from an international law firm has termed the Trump administration's ban on TikTok and the related series of lawsuits as a point of discouraging foreign companies from investing and operating in the United States.

"I believe the actions of the Trump administration in the TikTok case and some other matters may raise concerns among foreign tech companies about the openness of the U.S. markets and the traditional presumption that decisions would be made in an even-handed manner under the rule of law, " Dan Roules, managing partner of the Shanghai Office of Squire Patton Boggs said.

Squire Patton Boggs, headquartered in Cleveland of Ohio, is one of the 30 largest law firms in the world and has 45 offices in 20 countries and regions. Roules is a business lawyer with over 20 years of work experience focusing on helping Chinese companies understand and

cope with legal, political, and other issues while investing abroad.

"Journalists and lawyers would write and talk about the potential negative implications of these actions," he said, adding that the negative effects would only show up slowly in future for foreign companies that are not Chinese, if more similar measures were implied by the authority.

He warned the emerging trend of Tech Nationalism behind TikTok's case would not be stopped easily in the internet industry, since "the exercise of national sovereignty over local aspects of the internet has been evolving for several years and has its proponents in various countries."

"What has changed significantly, however, is that under President Trump, the U.S. leadership in promoting a global internet first faded, and now has become a force for active decoupling," Roules said, adding such challenges are likely to continue regardless of the outcome of the approaching U.S. elections.

3,500 US firms challenge Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods NEW YORK AGENCIES

Lawsuits against the Trump administration have piled up over the last fortnight as some 3,500 American firms, including auto majors, retailers and pharmacies, were reported to challenge US tariffs on billions of Chinese goods.

The suits, filed by a wide range of companies in the US Court of International Trade in New York, seek to declare unlawful the latest rounds of levies on Chinese products imposed by Washington amid a wider trade dispute with Beijing.

They name the US trade representative,

Robert Lighthizer, and the Customs and Border Protection agency as defendants.

Some of the companies accuse the Trump administration of waging an “unbounded and unlimited trade war impacting billions of dollars in goods imported from the People's Republic of China by importers in the United States,” while others point at officials’ failure to comply with administrative procedures and impose tariffs within a required one-year period.

Many industry leaders and some of the biggest US corporations included on the S&P 500 index are now challenging the tariffs. In addition to electric carmaker Tesla, which is seeking a cancellation of tariffs

along with a refund for duties already paid, other big-name producers such as Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are suing the US government. The long list of plaintiffs, totaling around 3,500 according to Reuters, also includes the operator of major US pharmacy store chain Walgreen, retail firms from various spheres such as Pep Boys, Home Depot and Target Corporation, as well as clothing company Ralph Lauren and guitar manufacturer Gibson Brands among others.

The world's two largest economies – the US and China – have been locked in a simmering trade dispute since 2018.

While the two sides finally came to a partial truce at the end of last year, known as

a phase-one deal, the bulk of Chinese imports are still subject to tariffs. According to the deal, Chinese goods worth around $250 billion remained under 25-percent tariffs, while a 7.5-percent levy was kept for around $120 billion of imports.

Lawsuits challenging the US’ tariff policy came shortly after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled last week that Washington’s trade war with Beijing breached the body’s rules, meaning that the multi-billion dollar duties are essentially illegal. The Trump administration was quick to accuse the body of being “completely inadequate to stop China’s harmful technology practices.”

weapons must lead. They must return to real, good-faith dialogue to restore trust and confidence, reduce nuclear risk and take tangible steps in nuclear disarmament. They should reaffirm the shared understanding that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought. They should take steps to implement the commitments they have undertaken," the UN chief said.

"The death, suffering and destruction caused by the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki must not be repeated. The only guarantee against the use of these abhorrent weapons is their total elimination."

Iran unveils 700-km new naval ballistic missile TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday unveiled a new naval ballistic missile, local media reported. The missile, named Zolfaqar Basir, was put on display at the National Aerospace Park which was opened in the capital Tehran earlier in the day. Zolfaqar Basir has a range of 700 km and its warhead is equipped with an optical seeker. "We have been able to turn the (U.S.) sanctions into the opportunity for prancing progress in the defense industry," said Hossein Salami, chief commander of IRGC, at the unveiling ceremony, according to official news agency. The IRGC on Sunday opened the National Aerospace Park as a permanent exhibition venue for IRGC's aerospace achievements.

Iran boosts oil exports to 1.5 mbpd despite sanctions TEHRAN AGENCIES

Oil exports from Iran hit a year and a half high in August despite heavy sanctions from the US, according to a recent estimate from TankerTracker. Iran is estimated to have exported nearly 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate so far in September, in what would be the highest level of Iranian exports in a year and a half and double the observed exports in August. Two other tanker-tracking firms have also seen an increase in Iranian oil exports so far in September, although not as much as TankerTrackers.com has found. Since the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and exports in May 2018, the Islamic Republic has been using various tactics to ship crude abroad without being detected, including by tankers switching off transponders or documents stating the oil does not originate from Iran.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said earlier this week that “America has waged a war against Iran with no blood,” referring to the sanctions on Iran’s oil. Iran continues to export oil in defiance of the US sanctions, and it seems to have recently increased its oil exports despite the fact that official figures still put the shipments at very low levels. China, for example, the world’s largest oil importer, is likely receiving much more oil from Iran than the official figures report, according to various reports, media investigations, and tankertracking firms. In August, Iran was exporting a lot more crude oil than US figures suggest, data from TankerTrackers.com has revealed, as reported by NBC News. According to the data, Iran was exporting as much as 600,000 bpd, using ship-to-ship transfers with transponders turned off to avoid detection, skirting US sanctions. The daily average number compares with an estimate of 227,000 bpd made in a US Congressional report, NBC’s Raf Sanchez wrote on Twitter. Last year, a US State Department official told the media that the department was tracking ship-to-ship transfers and was working with other governments to ensure that they, too, were tracking such moves that became one of few ways for Iran to still get its crude to foreign markets.

Monday, 28 September, 2020

JAMeS, LAKeRS beAT NuggeTS IN gAMe 5 TO ReACH NbA FINALS

L

AGENCIES

EBRON James wore out the path to the NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference, making annual trips out of Miami and Cleveland. Now he’s the best in the West.

And for the first time in a decade, so are the Los Angeles Lakers.

James punctuated his 27th postseason triple-double with a big fourth quarter, powering the Lakers to a 117-107 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night to win the Western Conference finals in five games. James finished with 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to become the fourth player to reach 10 NBA Finals. It took him two seasons to make it with the Lakers, after falling short of the playoffs in an injuryplagued first season following eight consec-

utive trips with Miami and Cleveland.

“For me personally the job is not done,” James said. “For us as a franchise, I’m extremely proud to be a part of this franchise getting back to where it belongs and that’s playing for championships and competing for championships, representing the Western Conference this year in the championships. So, this is what I came here for.”

The Lakers will face either Miami or Boston in their 32nd NBA Finals appearance, most in league history. They haven’t played for the title since beating the Celtics in 2010 for the last of their 16 championships and hadn’t even made the postseason in the last six seasons.

Anthony Davis added 27 points and will end his first season with Los Angeles by playing in his first NBA Finals.

Australia’s Alyssa Healy breaks MS Dhoni’s T20I record AGENCIES Former India captain MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the greatest wicketkeepers of the present era. Dhoni, who left international cricket in August, led the Indian team to three ICC trophies - 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. Dhoni also played some decisive innings lower down the order and went on to be viewed as one of the best finishers of his time. But while Dhoni’s captaincy and batting continued to be tested throughout his career, no one ever questioned his skills as a wicketkeeper behind the stumps. In his career, Dhoni achieved 91 dismissals. But that record has now been broken. Australia women’s cricket star Alyssa Healy on Sunday surpassed Dhoni’s record to take the top position in the list of wicketkeepers with most dismissals in T20i. Healy achieved the feat in the 2nd T20I against New Zealand at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, when she stumped Amy Satterthwaite and then caught Lauren Down behind the stumps to take her total dismissals to 92 in 114 matches. Australia Women eventually went on to win the match by 8 wickets, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against New Zealand.

‘Virat Kohli is human, not a machine’: Childhood Coach Rajkumar Sharma AGENCIES Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli is known to lead by example. But the first two games of this edition of the Indian Premier League saw Kohli score 14 against SunRisers Hyderabad and 1 against Kings XI Punjab. This has seen fans lose their calm, but coach Rajkumar Sharma feels it is just a part of a sportsman's life. Speaking to ANI, Kohli's childhood coach said that the benchmark that the India captain has set is the reason why fans have lost patience so quickly and want to see the batsman score runs every time he takes guard. "It is just a part and parcel of a sportsman's life.

You have good days and you have bad days on the pitch.

It is just that Kohli has set such a benchmark that people forget he is only human and not a machine. You are bound to have off days and there is nothing wrong with it. People will ask if there is some technical issue or a mindset issue, but I will again say that it is a part of the game. "You cannot succeed every time you walk onto the pitch. Kohli's fans have been so used to seeing him perform consistently that even one bad inning makes them sad," he pointed. The last game saw Kohli also miss a couple of catches which ultimately saw KXIP skipper KL Rahul score a match-winning hundred.

Does the coach feel that his student is a little impatient as he hasn't been on the pitch for close to six months?

Rajkumar answered in the negative. "Firstly, like I said before, these things happen. Anybody can miss a catch or two. Even Jonty Rhodes missed a catch here and there. Javed Miandad was considered a great fielder and if you go back and look, he also did slip once or twice.

"So, this has nothing to do with patience or the urge to set the tone after the resumption of cricket. It is just a bad day on the field which can happen to even the best.

He has played enough cricket to come back strongly and lead from the front," the coach smiled.

“We battled through a lot this year starting with the beginning of the season and we know the job’s not done,” Davis said during a trophy presentation in a mostly empty arena at Disney World, instead of in front of their fans at Staples Center. “It’s a great feeling but we’ve got four more to win.”

Nikola Jokic and Jerami Grant each scored 20 points for the Nuggets, who had fought off elimination six times before the Lakers finally put them away. Jamal Murray added 19 points and eight assists but the star guard struggled with foot pain and lacked his usual explosiveness.

The Nuggets had come back from 3-1 down in the first two rounds before being finally ousted a month since they would have departed the bubble had they lost the first time they faced elimination, in Game 5

SPORTS 11 against Utah on Aug. 25.

“It’s not the end goal but to make it as far and surprise as many people as we did, it’s a good feeling,” Murray said. “So, try to come back next year and try to come back stronger.”

Denver fell far behind one more time but James wouldn’t allow another comeback. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed a guy take over a game the way he did in the fourth quarter tonight in person,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.

Denver coach Michael Malone noted the difference in experience between his young team and James, who tied Kareem AbdulJabbar for third all-time with his 10 finals appearances.

“We were playing against a guy who this is routine for him and so we take some solace in that,” Malone said, “and my challenge to our group is that we’ll be back.”

Only Celtics Hall of Famers Bill Russell, with 12, and Sam Jones with 11 have reached more NBA Finals than James.

The lead was up to 72-56 four minutes into the third with Murray hobbling, but the Nuggets — who were down 15 in the third quarter of Game 5 against Utah and 16 at the

Murray faces brutal battle against old foe Wawrinka in Paris AGENCIES Former world number one Andy Murray chose to focus on the funny side of his French Open firstround draw against Stan Wawrinka as the pair brace themselves for another battle on the Parisian clay on Sunday.

Murray will be making his first Roland Garros appearance since losing to fellow three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka in the 2017 semi-final.

“Obviously it’s an amusing draw,” Murray told reporters. “It would probably have been nicer to play someone different at the beginning, and potentially build your way into the tournament.

“That match I played against Stan a few years ago was a brutal one.”

Murray came out of a gruelling five-setter which lasted over 4-1/2 hours in 2017 with the initial signs of a hip problem that has since proved persistent. His Swiss opponent has also faced lengthy spells on the sidelines and undergone multiple knee surgeries.

“I didn’t know that it was that bad, but

then at the end of the Stan match, in the fifth set I was struggling to push up on my serve and moving to my forehand, and I never felt the same after that match,” said Murray.

After career-saving hip re-surfacing surgery, Murray crossed Wawrinka’s path again in last year’s Antwerp final in which the Briton rallied from a set and a break down to lift his first title since 2017.

Earlier this month, Murray battled back from two sets down to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the U.S. Open first round before losing to Canadian youngster Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Heading into this year’s final Grand Slam, Wawrinka was seeded 16th, while Murray needed a wildcard with his ranking still tottering at 111.

Murray accepts there are still question marks over his fitness levels, but he refused to rule out another memorable Grand Slam run in Paris.

“The positive is, you win against Stan in the first round, and it can open things up or make you feel much better as well.

So we’ll see what happens on Sunday,” the 2016 runner-up said.

French Open: Rafael Nadal says he is not happy with ‘slower’ Wilson balls AGENCIES The tennis will be played in what some call extreme conditions, and others refer to as favourable. The victories, however, will come in a different space.

Rafael Nadal commented on the weather, which is wet and windy and not ideal for outdoor fare. Autumn in Paris is not for picnics. He then held court on the 'slower' Wilson balls, which have replaced Babolot. The defending champion, aiming for a staggering 13th French Open title, wasn't whining. He just simply underlined the challenge before him.

"The most difficult conditions for me ever," the 34-year-old, seeded two, said. At the other end of the men's singles draw is the world No.1 Novak Djokovic. The 33-year-old, seeded to meet the Spaniard in the title round, is not a betting man, but he said if Roland Garros is that one tournament, then it's Nadal you would bet on.

The Serb, whose play revolves around an electric counter, pointed at the relentless Diego Schwartzman, Nadal's conqueror in Rome last week. The 28-yearold Argentine showed that the 12-time champion can be beaten on clay. Djokovic comes into the tournament with a near-flawless 31-1 win-loss record for the season, having suffered his only loss in 2020 to his own temper, which saw him ejected out of the US Open. The Serb's record-breaking 36th ATP Masters title in Rome might have worked as a stain remover then, wiping out a difficult memory, tipping him as the man to beat in the world's fashion capital.

"He likes the high bounce, the hot and fast conditions where he can use his spin a lot," Djokovic said of Nadal. "I think there are players that can win against him." Nadal shrugged.

CMYK

"I've always been beatable on clay," he said, before adding, "at the same time, it is true that I had a lot of success on this surface."

The 34-year-old, who wields a Babolat Pure Aero stick, isn't pleased with the tournament changing balls, shifting to Wilson from Babolat. Nadal practised with the new balls at home in Mallorca, finding it slow even in relatively warmer climes. He argued that the balls, which would become heavy in moisture-laden conditions, could prove dangerous, leading to shoulder and elbow injuries.

Dominic Thiem, the US Open champion, said the old balls were his favourite on the Tour. "They really were perfect for topspin," the third-seeded Austrian said. "They are fast and take the spin incredibly well.

The new ball is good, it's just a little bit slower."

Djokovic wondered if the ball was heavier, or if it just sparked that feel given that the French Open is being played in September, almost October. Four months is a considerable passage of time in a tennis calendar. Colours change with the seasons.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the fourth seed, looking for his maiden match win in Roland Garros, having lost his opening matches in his first three visits, is enjoying the conditions.

"Maybe it can help me. It's a bit colder, the balls don't fly as much, don't go as spinny. I can play some flat tennis maybe," he said. "Tennis is an interesting sport, when one player doesn't like something, a second one is going to like it." Nadal, who has enjoyed so much success on the grainy, coral-hued surface, doesn't need any tutoring on adjusting to conditions.

"I'm here to fight to play with the highest intensity possible," he said. "I know very well this place. Is about being patient, being positive."

same point of Game 5 against the Clippers — put together a comeback fueled largely by Grant. They came all the way back to tie at 84 on Murray’s free throws, before Davis made a 3-pointer with a second to go.

James made consecutive baskets while getting fouled early in the fourth, pushing a two-point lead to 95-88. When Denver made one last push to cut it to four, James set up Danny Green for a 3-pointer for his 10th assist, then made a jumper himself to extend it to 108-99.

Murray said he was battling a bruised foot that didn’t improve when he changed sneakers.

TIP-INS: Nuggets: The Nuggets became the 16th team in NBA history to lose 10 games in a single postseason. The record is 11, shared by four teams, most recently the 2009 Orlando Magic. They also became the second team to play at least 19 games in a single playoff and finish with a record below .500; they were 9-10, as were the Washington Bullets in the 1979 postseason.

Lakers: The Lakers have wrapped up all three series in five games. ... Vogel said Davis was bothered by just some minor soreness after rolling his left ankle in the fourth quarter of Game 4.

‘It's too cold’: French Open start hit by bleak weather AGENCIES Victoria Azarenka walked off court three games into her French Open first round match complaining of the chilly conditions on a rainswept start to a tournament delayed four months by the coronavirus pandemic. The Belarusian 10th seed led Danka Kovinic 2-1 before play was paused on Court Suzanne Lenglen after just 15 minutes amid gusting winds and temperatures of around 10 degrees (50F). "This is getting a little ridiculous. It's eight degrees. I'm not waiting," said Azarenka, refusing to hang around "sitting like ducks" as the supervisor came out to inspect conditions. "It's too cold. I live in Florida, I'm used to hot weather." She added: "You guys are joking right? You don't see what's happening? You guys are not playing, so you have no idea. "It's raining for like 15 minutes and we're playing, who cares? You can't hold your racket because it's so wet." Despite the interruption on the second show court, play largely continued elsewhere at Roland Garros including on Philippe Chatrier under new the retractable roof. The roof on the showpiece court has 11 metal and canvas sections, weighing 350 tons each for a total area of 10,000 square metres. It can cover the sport's most famous clay court in 15 minutes, while allowing air to pass through the sides.

The roof cost 55 million euros ($64 million) and brings the French Open into line with the other three majors. It could play a key role with a dreary forecast for the first week, vastly different to the warmer conditions in the tournament's traditional May-June time slot. David Goffin, the 11th seed from Belgian, took on Italian teenager Jannik Sinner in the first match on Chatrier. Opening day will also see 2018 champion Simona Halep start her bid for a third Grand Slam, while Andy Murray plays fellow three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in a rematch of their epic 2017 semi-final.

Delissa Kimmince, Rachael Haynes shine as Australia defeat New Zealand in the second T20I AGENCIES Delissa Kimmince's three-wicket haul and Rachael Haynes' 40-run knock helped Australia defeat New Zealand by eight wickets in the second T20I of the three-match series on Sunday at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane. With this win, Australia has gained a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series. Both sides will now play against each other in the third and final T20I on Wednesday, September 30. Chasing 129, Australia got off to a flier as openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney put on 50 runs inside the first five overs, but finally, the onslaught was ended by New Zealand's Lea Tahuhu as she dismissed Healy (33) in the fifth over.

Soon after, Mooney (24) was also sent back to the pavilion by Amelia Kerr in the eighth over, reducing Australia to 64/2, still, 65 runs away from the target.In the end, Meg Lanning and Haynes ensured that Australia did not suffer from any more hiccups. The duo put on an unbeaten stand of 65 runs to take Australia over the line by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare.

Haynes and Lanning remained unbeaten on 40 and 26 respectively. Earlier, a spirited bowling performance helped Australia bundle out New Zealand for just 128 in the allotted 20 overs. After opting to bat first, New Zealand got off to a poor start as the side lost Sophie Devine (9) and Maddy Green (7) with just 16 runs on the board. Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite revived the innings for New Zealand as the duo put on 49 runs for the third wicket, but Georgia Wareham got Australia back into the match with back-to-back wickets of Satterthwaite (30) and Hayley Jensen (7), reducing New Zealand to 80/4 in the 12th over.

Monday, 28 September, 2020

PrAyEr TImINGS

NEWS

clashes between azerbaijan and armenia seParatists leave at least 23 dead

a

AgENcIES

RCH foes Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday accused each other of initiating deadly clashes that claimed at least 23 lives over a decades-long territorial dispute and threatened to draw in regional powers Russia and Turkey.

The worst clashes since 2016 have raised the spectre of a fresh war between long-standing rivals Azerbaijan and Armenia which have been locked for decades in a territorial dispute over the Armenia-backed breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.

Sixteen Armenian separatist fighters were killed and more than 100 wounded in fighting, rebel officials said.

Both sides also reported casualties including at least one Armenian woman and child. Baku said that an Azerbaijani family of five were killed in shelling launched by Armenian separatists.

A major confrontation between Muslim Azerbaijan and majority Christian Armenia threatened to embroil regional players Moscow and Ankara and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on global powers to prevent Turkey from getting involved in the conflict. “We are on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus,” Pashinyan warned.

Azerbaijan's “authoritarian regime has once again declared war on the Armenian people”, he added. France, Germany and the European Union swiftly

urged an “immediate ceasefire,” while Pope Francis prayed for peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the military flareup with Pashinyan and called for “an end to hostilities”. “The Russian side expressed serious concern over the resumption of large-scale clashes,” the Kremlin said.

But Azerbaijan's ally Turkey blamed Yerevan for the flare-up and promised Baku its “full support”.

“The Turkish people will support our Azerbaijani brothers with all our means as always,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted. Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of violating a ceasefire, saying it had launched a counter-offensive to “ensure the safety of the population”, using tanks, artillery

missiles, combat aviation and drones.

Azerbaijan imposed martial law and a curfew in large cities and said it had captured from Armenian rebels a strategic mountain that helps control transport communications between Yerevan and the Armenian-held enclave.

'SAcREd HOmElANd': In a televised address to the nation earlier on Sunday, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev vowed victory over Armenian forces.

“Our cause is just and we will win,” he said, echoing a famous quote from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's address at the outbreak of World War II in Russia.

“Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” he said.

Both Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation.

“Get ready to defend our sacred

Pakistan exPresses deeP concern over renewed tension in nagorno-karabakh ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday expressed deep concerns over the deteriorating security situation in Nagorno-Karabakh region and reiterated its support to Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh. "The intensive shelling by Armenian forces over the weekend on civilian populations of Azerbaijani villages of Terter, Aghdam, Fizuli and Jabrayil region is reprehensible and most unfortunate," the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson said in a press release. This could compromise peace and security of the entire region. Armenia must stop its military action to avoid further escalation, the press release added. Pakistan stood with the brotherly nation of Azerbaijan and supported its right of selfdefence. "We support Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh, which is in line with the several unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolutions," the spokesman further reiterated Pakistan's stance. APP

indian banks caught in illicit financial activities NEWS DESK At least 44 Indian banks have been caught carrying our hefty transactions in a set of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by US banks with the watchdog, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. Records released by US Department of Treasury's FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Investigation Network, show 44 state-owned and private banks in India conducted suspicious transactions. In total, these banks carried 2,000 transactions valued at over $1 billion between 2011 and 2017. Data gathered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) from the suspicious activity reports (SAR) filed by US banks, shows that the flagged transactions carried by the Indian banks could be related to activities such as money laundering, terrorism and drugs. The development comes after years of India's failed attempts to push Pakistan to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist over accusations of money laundering and terror financing. According to the suspicious activity reports, several Indian banks were involved in the illegal flow of money within and outside the country. These banks include the stateowned Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank, among others. Commenting on the damning report on India’s illicit financial activities while speaking to a local media outlet, Dr Shahida Wizarat, Head of Economics Department, Institute of Business Management, said “Pakistan needs to raise this issue at every forum. Islamabad needs to assemble a coalition of countries that have been at the receiving end of India’s terrorism to raise this matter before the International Court of Justice, the United Nations and FATF.”

homeland,” Pashinyan said on Facebook.

Armenia said that Azerbaijan attacked civilian settlements in Nagorny Karabakh including the main city Stepanakert. Pashinyan's wife, Anna Hakobyan, said that she had travelled to a hospital in Stepanakert to be with her Karabakh “brothers and sisters”.

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said there were reports of dead and wounded.

“Extensive damage has been inflicted on many homes and civilian infrastructure,” it said. Karabakh's rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan pointed to “civilian casualties,” while Armenia said a woman and child were killed.

'WAR IS RESumING': Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the Nagorny Karabakh region from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives.

Talks to resolve one of the worst conflicts to emerge from the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union have been largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.

France, Russia and the United States have mediated peace efforts as the “Minsk Group” but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010.

Pope Francis told crowds on Saint Peter's Square he was praying for peace and called for “concrete gestures of good will and fraternity” from the warring sides. Political observers said global powers should intensify talks to stop the conflict. “We are a step away from a large-scale war,” Olesya Vartanyan of the International Crisis Group told AFP.

G20 receives 46 debt relief applications as countries fight Covid-19 RIYADH AGENCIES

The G20 recently disclosed the number of eligible countries asking for debt relief rose to 46 applicants since April from regions all over the world as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on the global economy.

Africa made up the bulk of the applications with 30 nations seeking assistance under the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which began in April and runs until the end of the year, the G20 said in a statement. “All major official bilateral creditors remain committed to suspending due debt service payments to the most vulnerable countries in these challenging times," Bandr Alhomaly, the G20 Presidency International Financial Architecture Working Group (IFA WG) policy lead, said. "These commitments are complemented by the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Multilateral Development Banks to DSSI-eligible countries.”

The group of 20 major economies, which is currently headed by Saudi Arabia under a rotating presidency, in April agreed to a time-bound suspension of debt repayments to help poor nations strengthen their healthcare infrastructure and deal with the economic effects of the pandemic. The initiative stands to benefit 73 members of the International Development Association on a debt service plan with the IMF and the World Bank, as well as the least developed nations as defined by the United Nations.

So far, the initiative has helped 43 countries defer $5 billion in official debt service payments, freeing up funds to finance social, health and economic measures in response to the pandemic. Measures to curb the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 32.7 million people worldwide according to Worldometer

data, have hit poorer countries particularly hard and could push up to 100 million people into extreme poverty in 2020, according to IMF projections.

The G7 finance ministers said they back an extension of the G20's debt relief scheme given the ongoing financial needs of low-income countries, according to a joint statement. In its September 25 meeting, the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group said it would present its recommendation on the feasibility of extending the DSSI beyond 2020 to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors during their next meeting on October 14.

It also discussed efforts to further develop risk insurance and boost private sector investment, especially in low-income countries, according to the statement.

The historic level of capital outflows from emerging markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ways to restore sustainable flows of capital and develop domestic capital markets was also discussed by the working group.

"As we begin to look towards a stronger, more resilient recovery, the G20 is exploring structural approaches to secure longer-term financing to developing countries, including through the development of domestic capital markets and crowding-in private sector investments," Alhomaly said. The DSSI provides an estimated $14bn of immediate liquidity relief by bilateral official creditors alone in 2020. The G20 is also working with international organisations to complement these efforts. This includes multilateral development banks who are planning to commit $75bn for DSSI-eligible countries over the period between April to December 2020 alone, as part of their $230bn commitment for emerging and low-income countries in response to the pandemic.

In addition, since late March, the IMF has provided debt relief to 28 DSSI-eligible countries and also provided financial assistance of more than $88bn to 81 countries, 53 of which are DSSI-eligible countries.

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:33

11:54

4:11

5:54

5:53

7:13

india’s debt to surpass 90pc of gdP amid record economic contraction: s&P NEW YORK: Despite retaining India’s credit rating at the lowest investment grade, ratings agency S&P Global warned that the Asian economy will face mounting deficit and debt levels in fiscal 2021 in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis. In its forecast released earlier this week, S&P said it expects India's debt-to-GDP ratio (the debt levels compared to gross domestic product) to surge over 17 percent from the previous year before it reaches 90.6 percent in the fiscal year to March 2021. The outlook is similar to the estimates of two other major ratings firms, with Fitch pegging general government debt to jump to 84.5 percent of GDP and Moody’s placing it at 90.1 percent.

While S&P says the pandemic will lead to a record nine percent downturn for the Indian economy, it has not changed the country’s long-term sovereign rating so far, keeping it at BBB-. Despite the agency earlier warning that it would be harder for some Asian economies to recover from the crisis, the analysts believe that India can bounce back in FY22. According to S&P predictions, the Indian economy can expand 10 percent next fiscal year due to the base effect of steep decline in 2020-2021. “We expect economic activity in India to begin to normalize in fiscal 2022, resulting in real GDP growth of about 10%,” it said, adding that an additional stimulus measure will help to avert a steeper downturn. Nine percent contraction predicted by S&P is less dramatic than other prognoses, most of which expect India’s economy to shrink in double digits in FY21 after its GDP fell by a record 23.9 percent from April to June. New Delhi-based think tank, the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), recently warned that the country’s economy may drop by 12.6 percent this fiscal year. Moody’s forecast a 11.5 percent contraction in India's economic growth, while Fitch is just a little more optimistic, predicting a fall of 10.5 percent. AGENCIES

trump picks barrett as he moves to tilt Us supreme court rightward WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and she pledged to become a justice in the mold of the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia, setting another milestone in Trump’s rightward shift of the top judicial body. Trump’s announcement during a flag-festooned White House Rose Garden ceremony - with Barrett, 48, by his side and her seven children on hand -- sets off a scramble

by Senate Republicans to confirm her as the president has requested before Election Day in 5-1/2 weeks, when he will be seeking a second term in office. If confirmed by the Senate to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 on Sept 18, Barrett would become the fifth woman ever to serve on the court and would push its conservative majority to a commanding 6-3. Like Trump’s two other appointees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett is young enough that she could serve for decades in the lifetime job, leaving a lasting conservative imprint. Barrett is the youngest Supreme Court nominee since conservative Clarence Thomas was 43 in 1991. Scalia, who died in 2016, was one of the most influential conservative justices in recent history. Barrett previously served as a clerk for Scalia on the high court and described him as her mentor, citing his “incalculable influence” on her life. “His judicial philosophy is mine too: a judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers,” Barrett said. On the court, Scalia voted to curb abortion rights, dissented when the court legalized gay marriage - he called it a “judicial putsch” - and backed broad gun rights, among other positions. With Trump’s fellow Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, a confirmation appears certain, although Democrats may try to make it as difficult as possible.

Barrett, a devout Roman Catholic who earned her law degree and taught at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, was appointed by Trump to the Chicagobased 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 and is a favorite of religious conservatives, a key Trump voter bloc. AGENCIES

Global trade recovers to 75pc of pre-pandemic levels as monthly exports rise LONDON AGENCIES

Global trade has recovered to about 75 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 crisis levels as every region recorded a rise in monthly exports, although at varying degrees of speed and strength, according to Capital Economics.

China and the US recorded the biggest increases in monthly exports among all regions, Capital Economics said in its Global Monitor report on September 25. However, while China's exports had returned to their pre-virus levels by the end of July, exports from the US were still 13 per cent lower, it said, citing world trade data from the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

More recent data, including Purchasing

Managers Index readings for September, indicate the recovery has continued throughout the third quarter. "Given the encouraging signs from the timely hard data and survey evidence, we suspect that trade is currently three quarters of the way back to its pre-virus level," the report by Capital Economics' global economist Gabriella Dickens said.

The signs of recovery come after the Covid-19 pandemic hammered the global economy during the second quarter, disrupting international trade flows, supply chains and air travel. The virus has infected more than 32.7 million people and the death toll has exceeded 994,000, according to Worldometer statistics. About 24 million people have recovered so far.

In July, world trade had regained two-

thirds of flows wiped out by the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 6.6 per cent below its December 2019 peak. This was an improvement from May, when world trade fell 17 per cent below its December 2019 level.

World trade volumes jumped by 4.8 per cent in July following a record 7.8 per cent rise in June, Capital Economics said, citing CPB Netherlands Bureau data.Trade among Asian countries – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore – continued to recover in August with volumes just 1.2 per cent below pre-virus levels, compared to 4.8 per cent below in July, the report said.

September's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) estimates for advanced economies showed that exports for developed markets manufacturers jumped to 51.8,

up from 50.8 in August – one of the only sub-components to rise.

World trade has performed better than gross domestic product declines as "strong demand for Covid-related products has partially offset weakness elsewhere", it said.

For example, in China, exports of goods such as personal protective equipment, medical products and electronics has accounted for roughly half of the 10 per cent year-onyear growth in exports in August.

Similarly, the International Institute of Finance suggests that trade across emerging markets is also starting to recover this month, according to an EM Growth Tracker report published earlier this month.

"August marks the first time since the Covid-19 shock with improving trade fig-

ures" across emerging markets, the report said. However, questions on the trade front remain with restrictions in place to contain the pandemic deemed a "drag on activity" and US-China trade tensions continuing to weigh on the trade outlook for emerging markets, it said. The global economy will contract this year by more than 4 per cent, with an estimated swing of 6.8 percentage points leaving a shortfall in global output by the year end of more than $6 trillion, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Trade will shrink by around one-fifth this year, foreign direct investment by up to 40 per cent and remittances will drop by over $100 billion, the UN agency said in its Trade and Development Report recently.

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