EpaperLHR_21-05-8

Saturday, 8 May, 2021 I 25 Ramzan-ul-Mubarak, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 309 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

LHC aLLows sHeHbaz to traveL abroad for mediCaL CHeCk-up g

No oNe williNg to trust imraN because of his u-turNs, says Pml-N PresideNt

LAHORE staff report

t

he lahore high court (lhc) on friday conditionally allowed opposition leader in National assembly shehbaz sharif to travel abroad for medical check-up. the court allowed shehbaz one-time visit to united Kingdom from may 8 to July 5 for medical check-up, besides seeking reply from respondents.

Justice ali baqar Najafi passed the orders on a petition filed by shehbaz for removing his name from blacklist. the court had reserved the verdict after hearing arguments of the parties earlier. advocate amjad Pervaiz on behalf of shehbaz argued before the court that his client was arrested in connection with ashiana and ramzan sugar mills cases in 2018 but he got bail in february 2019. however, his name was put on exit control list and it was removed on direction of the lhc, he added. he submitted that shehbaz was scheduled to visit consultant in connection with his

treatment in london but his name had been put on the blacklist. he argued that step of putting his client’s name on the blacklist was illegal as he had not been served any notice. at this, the court questioned a deputy attorney general whether name of shehbaz had been put on blacklist. to this, he stated that he could not assist the court without taking instructions from the concerned quarters. the court directed the law officer for taking instructions from concerned quarters and adjourned hearing for short time. later, the law officer stated that he could not get instructions as the office hours had finished. he pleaded with the court for fixing the matter after eid holidays. however, the court adjourned further hearing till 2.00pm and summoned shehbaz. as the proceedings started again, shehbaz appeared before the court. at this stage, the law officer submitted that shehbaz had not pointed out any emergency in his plea. he submitted that shehbaz claimed of developing many top class health

Coronavirus in

pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

850,131

LAST UPDATED AT 8:50 AM ON MAY 7, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

140

4,298

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

747,755 18,677 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

289,646

314,517

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

122,520 AJK/GB: 17,660/5,358

23,016 ISLAMABAD:

77,414

facilities, therefore, he should get himself treated from said facilities. but Justice Najafi questioned what are the reservations of federal government over departure of shehbaz. the court addressed the law officer and questioned whether he thinks that shehbaz would not return or the government needed any guarantee. he remarked that the petitioner had gone abroad and then came back in past. however, the law officer submitted that he needed some time for consultation as officials had gone due to long holidays. the law officer also read out affidavit given by shehbaz while leaving with Nawaz sharif to london earlier. he also pointed that shehbaz was main accused of money laundering case and the trial court was recording statements of witnesses in the case. at this, the court questioned whether trial court proceedings would be affected if shehbaz was allowed to go abroad. the court questioned shehbaz about emergency of going abroad. shehbaz submitted that he was a cancer survivor and he received treatment from New york and london for it. “i have been advised regular check-up from dr martin but it was suspended for some time as i was behind the bars,” he added. he submitted that he needed urgent treatment in the light of tests conducted in jail. shehbaz assured that he would return immediately on completion of treatment. advocate amjad Pervaiz also submitted return ticket of shehbaz for July 3. subsequently, the court reserved its verdict on the petition on completion of arguments of parties. later, the court conditionally allowed shehbaz to travel abroad in view of assurance given by him and also sought reply from respondents till July 5. talking to reporters in lahore, the Pml-N president said that by the grace of allah, he was released with dignity and on merit. “being in court in this scorching heat raises my spirits”, he added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

fiqah-e-hanfia lahore sehr: 3:41 aM iftar: 6:47 PM

karachi sehr: 4:28 aM iftar: 7:06 PM

fiqah-e-jafaria lahore sehr: 3:31 aM iftar: 6:57 PM

islaMabad sehr: 3:29 aM iftar: 7:07 PM

karachi sehr: 4:18 aM iftar: 7:16 PM

Gen Bajwa discusses security, bilateral ties with Saudi crown prince

isLAmAbAd staff report

chief of army staff (coas) general Qamar Javed bajwa called on saudi crown Prince mohammed bin salman and deputy defence minister Prince Khalid bin salman in Jeddah, the military’s media affairs wing said on friday. in a statement, the interservices Public relations (isPr) said that matters of mutual interest, the regional security situation including developments in the afghan peace process, bilateral defence, security, collaborating for regional peace and security were discussed during the meeting. the coas said that Pakistan is resolute in its commitment to safeguarding

Tarin says govt to spend $6bn minimum to boost growth isLAmAbAd staff report

finance minister shaukat tarin has said that the government plans to boost spending on large infrastructure projects by as much as 40 per cent to create jobs and foster productivity in an economy crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. in an interview with bloomberg, tarin, who took office last month, said that the federal government will earmark as much as rs900 billion ($6 billion) for development expenditure in the year beginning July. the economy needs to expand by 5 per cent next year, he said. “that’s the bare minimum we need for a country this size,” said tarin, who is due to present a new budget next month for the world’s fifth most-populous nation. “there are almost 110 million youth.” tarin, a former banker, was appointed last month as the fourth finance minister since Prime minister imran Khan’s government took power in 2018. he also served in the role between 2008 and 2010, helping the nation avoid default by securing a bailout from the international

islaMabad sehr: 3:39 aM iftar: 6:57 PM

the sovereignty and territorial integrity of saudi arabia and defence of the two holy mosques, the isPr statement said. “the crown prince acknowledged Pakistan’s role towards regional peace and stability. he also said that the relations between the kingdom and Pakistan are based on bonds of brotherhood and mutual trust and both nations will continue to play their part for peace, stability and betterment of the muslim ummah,” it added. the army chief is currently on a four-day visit to saudi arabi ahead of Prime minister imran’s scheduled three-day visit to the kingdom from may 7 to may 9.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

more inside

Overseas Pakistanis have trust in PM Imran, says Fawad STORY ON BACK PAGE

guards open fire on man for resisting eviction notice in gadap town STORY ON PAGE 03 monetary fund. he comes into office as Pakistan faces a third wave of coronavirus cases, prompting authorities to order a week-long shutdown that may weigh on economic activity and hurt incomes. tarin’s plan will reverse his predecessor’s decision to lower spending to narrow the budget deficit, which he estimates to be a little above 7 per cent of gross domestic product in the current fiscal year through June, against 8.1 per cent in the previous year. tarin said that he expects the deficit in the next fiscal to be 1 or 1.5 percentage points lower.

while balancing the budget will be key for Pakistan’s current $6 billion loan program with the international monetary fund (imf), the new finance minister is negotiating with the organisation for more wriggle room to support economic growth. the government’s gdP target for next year is a percentage point higher than the imf’s 4 per cent projection, and tarin is seeking to boost growth to 6 per cent in the year after. the washington-based lender sees the economy expanding 1.5 per cent in the current fiscal period after a rare contraction last year.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

PM Imran for incorporating new development projects in PSDP STORY ON PAGE 03

india’s virus surge pressures modi to impose strict lockdown STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

LHC HALtS SUgAR SALE IN RAMAdAN BAzAARS LAHORE TLTP

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HILE issuing directives to provincial government to ensure availability of sugar at Rs85 per kg at local market outlets on Friday the Lahore High Court (LHC) issued restraining order over sale of sweetener in Sasta Ramadan Bazaars.

Earlier, Punjab government has issued a notification about fixing the ex-mill and retail price of sugar at Rs80 and Rs85 respectively. Tandlianwala Sugar Mills Ltd,

Noon Sugar Mills Ltd, and Ms. Macca Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd have invoked the LHC jurisdiction over provincial government’s order of fixing the ex-mill sugar price at Rs80.

On Friday, a single-member bench of the LHC Justice Shahid Jamil Khan issued the directives while hearing identical pleas of the millers observing under what law all quantity of sugar was being sold in Ramadan Bazars.

The bench expressed dissatisfaction over the provincial government arrangements to tackle the sugar supply in the local market for across the board buyers

saying setting up Ramadan and Jumma Bazaars meant the administration has failed to control prices at local markets. However, the provincial law officer submitted that such Bazaars were meant to provide relief to the poor and downtrodden people.

Pointing out the reason about long queues of sugar buyers in Ramadan Bazaars the law officer apprised the bench that local markets faced a shortage of sugar due to its sale in Ramadan Bazaars.

“Under what law all sugar was sold in Ramadan Bazaars?” the court asked, calling for the commodity to be sold to the common man at Rs85 per kilogramme.

The bench observed that this is not the matter of sugar only but of all essential commodities. “The absence of a mechanism to fix prices of essential food items is the cause of inflation,” it noted.

The Lahore commissioner said that Ramadan Bazaars greatly benefited the poor. The poor were turned into beggars, the bench retorted, asking why food items are not available at cheaper rates at citizens’ doorstep.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier suspending notification about fixing ex-mill and retail sugar prices in the province the LHC directed provincial government to take sugar mill owners on board through deliberative consultation to determine one of the essential commodities prices for consumers.

Mills counsel had alleged the provincial government was making a dent in the reputation of his clients by leveling false allegations of hoarding. He informed the Industries Department deputed its officials in the mills to enforce the ex-mill price of sugar. The council opposed the notification saying the provincial government is not competent to enforce its prices to mills. On such ground, the lawyer urged the court to set aside the notification in the issue.

Later, hearing of the matter was adjourned till date in office.

NEPRA approves reduction in fuel adjustment charges for May 2021 NEWS DESK National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Friday announced to reduce fuel adjustment charges for the month of May 2021.

According to a notification issued by the power regulatory body, Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) sought a reduction in fuel adjustment charges by 61 paisas per unit. The NEPRA said that it held a public hearing on fuel charges adjustment (FCA) on 28 April 2021 and later approved a reduction in charges by 64 paisas per unit. “The reduction will only be applicable for the month of May 2021,” the notification read. The power regulatory authority announced that the reduction in charges would also be applicable for K-Electric consumers. The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of Discos has demanded a reduction of 61 paisas per unit to pass on the benefit of a better energy mix with consumers. The CPPA said that it had charged consumers a reference fuel tariff of Rs6.23 per unit in March while the actual fuel cost turned out to be Rs5.61 per unit and hence 61 paisas per unit should be adjusted in consumers’ bills for next month. Total energy generation from all sources in March was recorded at 8,965 Gwh at a total cost of Rs49.7 billion at an average rate of Rs5.55 per unit. Of this, about 8,614 Gwh were delivered to the Discos at Rs48.37bn, at an average rate of Rs5.61 per unit.

Sarina Isa will have to prove money trail for UK properties: Anwar

LAHORE: Citizens wait at the bus stand to return to their hometowns before travel restrictions come into effect. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

ISLAMABAD

Govt places Ahsan Iqbal’s name on ECL NEWS DESK The federal government has placed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) MNA Ahsan Iqbal on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The Interior Ministry has placed PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal’s name on no-fly list on the National Accountability Bureau’s request over

the Narowal Sports City Complex case.

The case is being heard by an accountability court in Islamabad.

The federal cabinet approved the decision on Friday. Iqbal, a former interior minister, is accused of causing losses worth billions to the national exchequer by initiating the sports city project in his home constituency.

According to NAB officials, the

Pakistan Sports Board illegally used its authority for the construction of the sports city. 14 stadiums were meant to be constructed as part of the project, which was initiated in 2009.

In April 2018, the Rs2.9 billion project was inaugurated by the then president Mamnoon Hussain. NAB had launched an investigation into the matter

APP

the same day it was inaugurated. The bureau said it had received a complaint of embezzlement.

Iqbal had challenged the reference against him and raised reservations over what he has termed a ‘fake case’.

The court dismissed his reservations and allowed NAB to continue the investigation.

Former attorney general for Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan on Friday said that Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife Sarina Isa would have to declare the money trail for three properties she had shown in the income tax returns. Talking to a social media channel, the former attorney general said that it was an admitted position that she did not have the said assets till 2013. “This is also an admitted position that she had not declared agriculture properties in 2013. Till 2013, she had no property except a house. Now as three agriculture properties have surfaced, she will have to prove where they came from,” he commented. He said that the income should naturally precede the properties shown to have been purchased in 2013 or 2014. He said that in the tax returns, Sarina had declared three properties in London.

CCP issues show cause notices to top 19 poultry feed mills over cartelisation ISLAMABAD TLTP

After finalising inquiry report against top 19 poultry feed companies in the country on Friday Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has decided to issue show cause notices to the feed mills over cartelisation of the poultry feed price.

The CCP has completed an enquiry in the poultry industry where it has been revealed that nineteen poultry feed companies have been involved in price coordination and their alleged anti-competitive conduct has caused poultry feed price rise.

“Poultry feed mills are each other's competitors, and any discussion and coordination on prices is prohibited

under Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010.

Accordingly, following the findings of the enquiry report, show cause notices will be issued to poultry feed companies involved in the prima facie violation of Section 4 of the Act”, CCP statement says.

Poultry feed comprises approximately 75-80 per cent of the cost of broiler meat and eggs. Therefore, the hike in feed prices has affected the prices of chicken and eggs, which are the most commonly consumed high protein foods. The CCP's enquiry revealed that from December 2018 to December 2020, the feed mills colluded to raise the poultry feed prices by Rs825 per 50kg bag, thus making the feed 32 per cent costlier for the poultry farmers.

Moreover, data from the Pakistan Bureau of

Statistics (PBS) for September 2020 shows that chicken prices rose by 18.31 per cent and eggs by 5.2 per cent.

The rise in these prices coincided with an increase in feed prices by almost Rs. 100 per bag.

In October 2020, after another price increase by poultry feed mills (by Rs125 on layer and 175 on broiler feed), the chicken prices rose by 26.62 per cent and eggs by 23.81 per cent as compared to the previous month. In November 2020, poultry feed prices rose again by Rs150 per bag, and in this month, the prices of chicken and eggs rose by 20.76 per cent and 5.23 per cent. In December 2020, another price increase in poultry feed by Rs250 per bag caused prices of chicken and eggs to rise by 3.21 per cent and 14.08 per cent, respectively.

The CCP took a suo motu notice of the concerns and complaints received, through the PM Citizens Portal and the CCP's own online complaint management system, alleging that some of the leading mills in the country collusively raised poultry feed prices. The complainants also included poultry farmers whose business were hit by the costlier feed prices.

During February 2021, the CCP raided two major poultry feed producers and impounded crucial evidence pointing towards price change coordination among the feed companies. The impounded record revealed that officials of 19 feed mills were using an active WhatsApp group where one feed producer would announce its intended price increase and the rest expressing and sharing their willingness to follow suit.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

03

gUARdS oPEN fIRE oN MAN foR RESIStINg EvICtIoN NotICE IN gAdAP toWN

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NEWS DESK

RIvATE guards alleged shot a resident of Karachi’s Gadap Town during Bahria Town Karachi’s (BTK) move to raze down several agricultural lands to pave the way for housing projects in the outskirts of the city. Moreover, it had been reported that, along with the guards, the firing had been carried out by policemen in civvies as well.

Moreover, the police officials were reluctant to share any information about the incident.

However, Abdul Hafeez, an activist of

Sindh Indigenous Rights Alliance and resident of Kathor area, said that the BTK guards along with police tried to destroy the crops in Kamal Khan Jokhio Goth on Friday morning but the locals put up resistance and forced them to abandon the attempt.

However, the armed private guards accompanied by police both in uniform and civilian clothes returned to the scene again after Friday prayers and started destroying the crops with bulldozers, according to Hafeez.

In resistance, about 100 residents tried to stop the guards. One of those residents threw a stone at the guards, upon which they

opened fire. At least one villager, Shaukat Khaskheli, sustained a bullet injury, while another suffered minor injuries.

The guards allegedly took away the injured villager and 3-4 other locals with them, Hafeez said. villagers were protesting against the BTK personnel and demanding that the injured person be handed over to them and that a first information report (FIR) be lodged against the BTK guards.

Hafeez later told a local news outlet that instead of taking Khaskheli to a hospital, BTK personnel took him in an injured state to the local police station to get an FIR registered against him.

Locals then reached the police station, got hold of Khaskheli and shifted him to hospital.

The activist said that around 50-60 acres of agricultural land was being demolished to pave the way for BTK’s new housing projects near Kathor.

In a tweet, Hafeez said that the BTK officials had told the owner of the land that the land had been awarded to the real estate giant by the Supreme Court (SC) and therefore the demolition work would continue. However, they were unable to produce any documents when asked to support their claim by the owner, the activist added.

The development comes a week after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party rules Sindh, said that he had taken notice of reports of villagers being evicted by employees of BTK and law enforcers in Karachi and demanded a report on the matter.

The PPP chairman had said that the apex court’s decision was in front of everyone and neither he nor anyone else wanted to commit “contempt of court”.

Hafeez said BTK officials had stopped their eviction efforts after Bilawal took notice of them, but they had resumed the same today after a gap of a week.

Asad emphasises need for joint ventures in SEZs ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has emphasised the need for joint ventures between investors of Pakistan and China in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He was talking to Ambassador of China to Pakistan Nong Rong who called on him in Islamabad on Friday. Matters related to bilateral relations and projects under CPEC and the upcoming Joint Coordination Committee meeting came under discussion. While discussing the progress of CPEC projects it was noted that work on Allama Iqbal Special Economic Zone in Faisalabad and Rashakai SEZ is progressing smoothly and a large number of investors have shown interest in investments in these economic zones. The planning minister said that maximum facilities would be provided to the foreign investors. The ambassador said that the Chinese side would continue to actively encourage investors to benefit from investment opportunities in these zones.

LAHORE: People crowd into a shopping mall ahead of the lockdown. JAwAd ZULFIqAR

Gen Bajwa discusses security, bilateral ties with Saudi crown prince cONtINuED fROM pAgE 01 On Wednesday, Bajwa met Chief of General Staff (CGS), Saudi Armed Forces, Gen Fayiadh Bin Hamed Al Rowaily. “CGS KSA […] assured full cooperation and support from KSA in all initiatives aimed at improving regional cooperation, peace and stability,” the ISPR had.

According to the military’s media affairs wing, the two commanders had discussed regional security situation, including the Afghan peace process, and military-to-military bilateral cooperation.

Gen Bajwa had called for greater military-to-military

cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries and said it would positively impact regional peace and security.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday began his three-day visit to Saudi Arabia in an effort to rebuild strong relations with its long-time ally after the relations had deteriorated over recent years. He reached in Riyadh on Friday after an invitation from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The premier was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including the foreign minister and other members of the cabinet. While Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have historically been close allies, their strong

ties have suffered several setbacks, analysts have said.

During the visit, Prime Minister Imran’s consultations with the Saudi leadership will cover all areas of bilateral cooperation including economic, trade, investment, energy, job opportunities for the Pakistani workforce, and welfare of the Pakistani diaspora in the Kingdom. The two sides will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. A number of bilateral agreements/MoUs are expected to be signed during the visit.

In a statement on Thursday Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri had said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long-standing and

PM Imran for incorporating new development projects in PSDP ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan has emphasised on incorporating new projects to the Public Sector Development Programme that would increase economic activity and create employment opportunities across Pakistan. He was chairing a meeting on the proposed recommendations for year’s PSDP, in Islamabad on Friday. The meeting discussed issues related to utilisation of ongoing development projects and funds under Public Sector Development Programme in the current financial year, outline of development program for the next financial year, setting priorities for new schemes and continuous review of progress on ongoing projects. The prime minister directed to finalise the suggestions given in next meeting in the light of some instructions during this meeting.

historic fraternal relations, rooted deep in common faith, shared history and mutual support.

He had said that the people of Pakistan hold the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the highest esteem. The relationship is marked by close cooperation in all fields and mutual collaboration on regional and international issues, in particular those faced by the Muslim Ummah. Saudi Arabia is a member of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokesperson had said that regular high-level bilateral visits continue to play a pivotal role in providing impetus to the fraternal ties and close cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

04

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

Sindh notifies public holidays for Eid-ul-Fitr NEWS DESK The government of Sindh on Friday announced Eid-ulFitr holidays throughout the province from May 10 to 15.

"The government of Sindh declares May 10 to 15 (Monday to Saturday) as public holidays on the occasion of holy festival of Eid-ul-Fitr 2021 throughout the province of Sindh for all the government offices, au-

tonomous bodies, corporations and local councils, working under the administrative control of the government of Sindh," read the notification issued by the Services, General Administration and Coordination Department.

The notification said essential services and departments as well as offices engaged in prevention and control of Covid-19 emergency will not be able to avail the holidays.

Govt to avail all lEGal optionS aGainSt dEciSion allowinG ShEhbaz to Go abroad: Fawad ISLAMABAD APP

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iniSTEr for information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Friday said the government would avail all legal options against the court decision allowing Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-n) President Shehbaz Sharif to go abroad.

The minister, in series of tweets, said such hasty decisions were not even taken in a panchayat. it was a joke with the law because Shehbaz Sharif was involved in money laundering of billions of rupees. He said it would be unfortunate if the PML-n leader escapes from law in such a manner. Shehbaz Sharif, he said, had earlier

given a guarantee that his elder brother nawaz Sharif would return from England after medical treatment.

What had happened to that guarantee, he asked.

He tagged the copy of an affidavit submitted by Shehbaz Sharif in the Lahore High Court and said it was the guarantee he had given for nawaz Sharif's visit abroad. instead of giving notice to Shehbaz Sharif for giving a fake guarantee and recalling nawaz Sharif back to the country, he himself is now being sent abroad. Fawad lamented that Prime Minister imran Khan had pointed out weaknesses in the justice system many times but the opposition parties were not ready for reforms. The main reason for their refusal was that their interests were linked to the present rotten system, he remarked.

Experts emphasise need for national policy on genetic disorders KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Sanofi Pakistan on Friday announced that a series of webinars was held to discuss and debate about the needs of patients of genetic disorders. Special Assistant to PM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin rashid, Professor Dr Huma A Cheema, and Lysosomal Storage Disorders Society President Atif Ejaz Qureshi participated in the webinars.

Giving an overview of the burden of rare genetic disorder in Pakistan, es-

pecially Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs), Dr Huma said, “According to a conservative estimate, 50 per cent of children in Pakistan die of rare genetic disorders after malnutrition and diarrhea, but there is no policy to safeguard the lives of children living with rare genetic diseases.” With the assistance of Sanofi Pakistan, the Children’s Hospital in Lahore has established a central registry to determine disease’s prevalence. Commenting on the national health agenda, Dr Sultan candidly shared that there had been no dis-

course on rare diseases as governments used to give weightage to more common diseases with larger impacts. in the context of Covid-19 and other more common conditions, he said, “it is inevitable that rare conditions end up going to the back burner.

However, a child with a rare disease has the right to healthcare as much as a child with a more common disease.” Dr Sultan termed formation of disease registry crucial to decision making on resource allocation, particularly in the devolved healthcare system of Pakistan, and also promised to revisit the Orphan Drugs Policy, 2017, acknowledging that the policy needs revision.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

Iran’S Supreme Leader SayS fIgHT agaInST ISraeL IS a pubLIC duTy

I

rAN’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim nations on Friday to keep fighting against Israel, which he said was not a state but a “terrorist garrison” against the Palestinians.

“The fight against this

despotic regime is the fight against oppression and the fight against terrorism. And this is a public duty to fight against this regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a televised speech.

He was speaking on Iran’s annual Quds Day, which uses the Arabic name for Jerusalem, held

on the last Friday of the holy month of ramadan.

“Muslim nations’ cooperation on Quds (Jerusalem) is a nightmare for the Zionists,” he said.

Iranian officials have called for an end to Israel, including by a referendum that would exclude most of its Jews while including Pales-

tinians in the region and abroad.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the government to cancel its annual Quds Day parade. But Iranian state media showed footage of motorcyclists and vehicles flying Palestinian and Lebanese Hezbollah flags driving through Tehran streets. agencies

An inimitable modern Epic

BY SYed afSar Sajid Title: ‘Garden of Secrets Revisited: An Epic Poem on Divine-Human Encounter’ Author: Ejaz Rahim Publisher: Dost Publications, St. 15, I9/2, Islamabad Pages: 248 – Price: Rs.575/-

Ejaz rahim, a versatile literary genius from Pakistan, has once again, in a harmonic succession though, trumpeted his egress on the cosmopolitan literary horizon with his epochmaking poem named ‘Garden of Secrets revisited’ which he has soulfully sub-titled as ‘An Epic Poem on Divine-Human Encounter’. The University of Toledo (US), in recent past, honoured him by holding a series of events in his presiding presence to celebrate the publication of his grand poem ‘I, Confucius’, in particular and his vast but esteemed poetic output in general.

Epic is an ancient literary genre with its origin rooted in the Greek antiquity (around 9th century BC). It is generally assumed to be the highest type of narrative poetry envisaging a long narrative poem with characters and action of heroic proportions. The works of Homer (Greece: 850 BC), Virgil (rome: 7019 BC), Horace (rome: 65-8 BC), and Ovid (rome: 43 BC-17/18 AD) recount the adventurous exploits of heroes of indomitable physical and mental postures pitted against their diabolical adversaries --- both human and non-human; finally emerging triumphant in the minacious odyssey.

The setting conforms to the stature of the hero and other characters --- ample in space and scale approaching the cosmic.

The action involves heroic deeds. The epic must have greatness and it must produce far-reaching consequences in which the destinies of great men and nations are involved. The presence of the supernatural in the epic as deus ex machina serves to advance the plot and resolve its complications. An epic poem is therefore, a ceremonial composition couched in a ceremonial style corresponding to its elevated subject and architecture.

Ejaz rahim’s epic in renowned scholar and poet Dr. Shahzad Qaiser’s words, is ‘an existential journey in the company of the Muses to explore the realms of Divinity and humanity’, religion, science, philosophy, literature, art, culture, and spirituality being the cognitive vortices of its episodic expanse. To Prof. Akbar S. Ahmed of the American University, Washington DC, this work conflates the spirit of rumi and Homer metamorphosing into a theme of love. Lloyd Jacob, M.D., formerly President of the University of Toledo, US, regards it as ‘a true tour de force, peripatetic across time and space’. Shoaib Sultan Khan, a pioneer of rural support and uplift in Pakistan, earlier also connected with a monumental poverty alleviation campaign in South Asia, views this work as ‘one of the best messages I have read or heard for the youth, showing the relationship between Science and God’.

This epic, modelled on a classical design with structural innovations matching its thematic contours, is spread over some fifteen books (besides the Prologue and Epilogue) captioned: (I) Petitioning the Holy Prophet (PBUH); (II) Arrival of the Muses; (III) The Muses Speak; (IV) Science and the Divine:

Of Miracles and Mysteries; (V) God, Man and Monkey; (VI) The Caveman; (VII) God and religions in History; (VIII) God and Christian Theologians (Since the 16th Century AD); (IX) God and Western Philosophers (Since the Sixteenth Century AD); (X) A Workshop on Mathematics; (XI) The Garden of Secrets; (XII) The Poets’ roundtable (Blake, Shelley, T.S. Eliot, Iqbal); (XIII) The Holy Prophet (PBUH) as Perfect Exemplar; (XIV) Muses Sketch a Framework of Divine-Human relationships; and (XV) A Debate on Worldly Pain and Suffering.

Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-rahman, a well reputed UNESCO Science Laureate and a former Chairman of HEC, has written a thought-provoking foreword to this book. In a prolific scientific analysis of its subject and theme, the learned doctor remarks that ‘the concept of the universe arising from a single entity is mentioned in the Holy Quran, in which we are told that all creation was originally a singularity which was torn apart to form our universe’. He has elucidated the complex phenomenon of the universe being analogous to a biosphere, and life being a product of a star dust accruing from a nuclear fusion in the elements occurring in the centre of hot burning stars. As a result of a collapse of the stellar dust, planets were born including the planet of our earth.

Thus our life on earth has its origin in the biochemical structure of the stars. The organic composition and functioning of the human body connects it to the constants and variants of atomic and molecular permutations impacting the subliminal as well as manifest levels of vital human body parts such as the heart, the mind and the senses. Concluding his argument, he says that his musings and the poem of Ejaz rahim are ‘reflections of the same reality perceived from different angles’.

In his authorial note, Ejaz rahim proclaims that the instant poem ‘represents a struggle to find common ground between the secular and the sacred in the world we inhabit and in our lives’. He thinks that poetry tends to seek correspondence between the physical and the spiritual, a process ‘that can fuse thought with emotion and imagination with language’. He wishes his audience mostly comprising educated youth to ‘plough through the vast fields of knowledge and experience before rushing to conclusions about life and the universe’, steering clear of doubt, despair, and ignorance. The protagonist of the poem disguised as Everyman, invokes the Muses to help him ‘explore the DivineHuman encounter through the domains of religion, Science, Theology, Mathematics, Metaphysics and Poetry’. The voyage across the ages of oblivion and enlightenment is successfully concluded with divine blessings and the bounteous intercession of the Holy Porphet (PBUH).

The poem is thus purported to be ‘an essay into the relationship of God, Man and the Universe across space and time’. A full reading of the text of the book would eventually lead a discreet reader to concur with Dr. Asad Ali Shah’s view that this book is verily the magnum opus of Ejaz rahim without of course endorsing his view regarding the hypothetical inferiority of his (Ejaz rahim’s) 24 other poetic works. In fact the term ‘magnum opus’ is a misnomer in regards to a product of art as it implies ‘perfection’ which is synonymous with ‘effort’ and not ‘accomplishment’. The 14th century Iranian poet Mahmud Shabistari’s

epic ‘The Garden of Secrets’ (‘Gulshan-eraaz’) and Allama Iqbal’s poem titled ‘New Garden of Secrets’ (‘Gulshan-eraaz-e-Jadeed’ annexed to his Persian verse collection ‘Zabur-i-Ajam’) are stated to be the two vital sources of this poem.

But its texture and treatment is verily Ejazesque, if one could take the liberty to coin the word to illustrate the poem’s awesome intertextuality. It would also be pertinent here to recall Javed Amir, a well-known Pakistani diasporic writer and globe-trotter, based in the US, who says that the experience of reading this book is akin to ‘swimming in a sea of knowledge, wisdom and philosophy’.

Here are some quotes from the poem to let the reader evaluate for himself its post-modernistic comparatist accent and diction pursuant to the condition and tradition of epic as an age-long though grandiloquent literary genre, focussed on the universal ‘themes of life and death, reason and faith, mind and matter, and transience and permanence’.

Mind power and material energy/Are the new super powers.

But today’s challenge calls/For a deeper blend/Between religion and Science/And a closer relationship/Between God, Universe and Man – Science and religion need/To have a common vision/That celebrates the Universe/Of Matter, Life and Man/As a single indivisible span. religion stands for a balance/Between Life and Death/In the odyssey of existence. reality, said Einstein is ‘understood religion’./Science for him was an instrument/To achieve that understanding.

Neither doctrinal Faith nor doctrinaire reason/But a direct mystical experience of God/ Brought certitude in our lives: Let me escort you through/The Garden of Secrets whose/One and only secret is this -/Life is an opportunity to discover/Love’s hidden door of bliss.

God’s dearest treasure/In His own eyes is a human being/Who strives to build a better world/With all his faculties and powers.

God-Man relationship/Is most eloquently expressed/In the person of the Holy Prophet/Seen as an Ideal Human Being/And a Perfect Exemplar We who think/It is enough to pray/Five times a day/To win a niche in Paradise/Need to revisit the Holy Prophet’s/Journey through life/With greater clarity.

‘The potentialities of human experience in any age are realized only by a tiny minority, and the important poet is important because he belongs to this. Indeed his capacity for experiencing, and his power of communicating are indistinguishable; not merely because we should not know of the one without the other, but because his power of making words express what he feels is indistinguishable from his awareness of what he feels. He is unusually sensitive, unusually aware, more sincere and more himself than the ordinary man can be.

He knows what he feels and knows what he is interested in. He is a poet because his interest in his experience is not separable from his interest in words; because, that is, of his habit of seeking by the evocative use of words to sharpen his awareness of his way of feeling, so making these communicable.’ Ejaz rahim can be aptly ranked as an ‘important poet’ in this sequence.

Tarin says govt to spend $6bn minimum to boost growth continued from page 01 “We need 2 million jobs every year,” he said. “If we do not go into growth mode, we will have a major crisis on the streets.” The central bank, which has cut interest rates to a three-year low to support the economy, has been on pause mode for a while and has left some of the heavy lifting to the government. “First we have to get more revenues,” Tarin said, adding that he’s targeting about 6 trillion rupees next year in tax authority revenue, compared with this year’s 4.75 trillion-rupee target. “Unless we get more revenues, forget about any incentives to boost the economy.”

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LHC allows Shehbaz to travel abroad for medical check-up continued from page 01 He said that all Prime Minister Imran does is pin the opposition against the wall, and added, “The first time I was out on production order in the National Assembly, I called out the NAB-Niazi nexus, which time later proved. Bashir Memon confirmed my statement on the NAB-Niazi nexus.” Shehbaz said that if the government was focused on the public and the nation, the situation would have been different. “If Imran Khan felt the pain of the public, he would use all possible resources to acquire vaccines. We went all out to eradicate dengue during our tenure. After Fajr prayers, we used to get standing water extracted from houses and roads and sprayed anti-dengue spray in the city,” he said.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

06 COMMENT

Blasphemy accusations being used to silence women’s rights activists

Holding others responsible for own failures In parliamentary democracy, buck stops at PM

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RIMe MINISTeR Imran Khan has an extra-large team of ministers, advisors and special assistants who look after different departments. The PM is supposed to run the country with their help. Farsightedness and competence are the primary requirements for successfully running a country comprising a 220-million population. The country has a parliament where the PM can get laws required to run the country passed provided he maintains working relations with the opposition. The country also has a number of institutions with functions clearly defined in the constitution.

A perception is getting strengthened with the passage of time that Mr Khan lacks both farsightedness and the ability to run the government. The PTI governments has been permanently at loggerheads with the opposition. The PM has remained fully focused on maligning the opposition and putting its leaders behind bars. Meanwhile the government tends to put the blame for its failures on state institutions, government departments and mafias.

Unhappy over a judgment by a Supreme Court bench headed by Mr Justice Faez Isa, he made the President send a reference against Mr Justice Isa in wanton disregard of the law. efforts were made to implicate his wife also in the case. The government lost the reference, the subsequent court case and the following review petition.

In March Mr Khan continued to condemn again and again the eCP Chairman for insisting that the Constitution did not allow open ballot in Senate elections, a position that no more suited him.

The accusations against the country’s embassies early this week indicate that Mr Khan still has a woefully inadequate understanding of embassies’ consular work. As the himself mentioned, most of the complaints pertain to passports and ID cards, come under the domain of the Ministry of Interior and NADRA. Instead of seeking explanation from the quarters concerned, the PM publicly ridiculed and brought into disrepute the embassies for no fault of theirs.

It is a matter of common knowledge that justice is both delayed and costly in this country. What is expected of Mr Khan is to devise ways and means to resolve the issue instead of complaining that an alliance has been formed between judges, police and the land mafia. If this has really happened while the Interior Ministry controls the Police, FIA, and Anti-Corruption Department, the PM himself cannot be exonerated.

A dangerous path to tread Sania arif

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he annual Aurat March continues to be targeted with unsubstantiated allegations, and scandalized by, as experts call then, upholders of patriarchal inertia. This year, however, the Aurat Match received unprecedented backlash.

The opposition of the march used the religious tool, which observers note is the most dangerous one to target someone in Pakistan. It is the same tool which has killed students like Mashal Khan, and which led to the killing of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

The charge of blasphemy has been used to silence many in Pakistan. The Islamist adversaries of the Aurat March accused the organizers of having disrespected Allah and the Prophet (PBUh), mentioning two specific incidents. One of them was based on a doctored video, which was circulated on social media.

The video, which has since proven to have been fabricated, claimed that participants of the march were raising anti-Islam slogans. The leading voice in this allegation was of a senior journalist. he said, “I cannot even describe what has been done in Aurat March, but this is for sure, the government should not only ban Aurat March but also arrest the organizers.” he further claimed that “very dangerous material” has become public with regard to Aurat March. he appealed to the federal and Sindh governments to investigate the issue and if it is true, those responsible should be arrested.

A storm on social media pushed demands for action against Aurat March, based on the video. Rights activists and the official Aurat March Twitter handle shared the original video proving the fabrication.

Digital rights activists point out that the spread of

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iqra Liaqat

he shopkeepers of Punjab have announced that they will defy the lockdown imposed by the government, and will open their shops to shoppers anxious to cut a dash on eid. The government has finally deigned to impose a lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Retailers are naturally irate at the disregard shown for the pre-eidul Fitr sales, the biggest single shopping event of the year, on which their profitability for the entire year turns. Perhaps adding insult to their defiance, they point out the example of Saudi Arabia, where there has been a shutdown ordered, but where shopkeepers have been given one 24-period to open. Punjab’s shopkeepers say they would have had no objection to obeying such a directive. however, that would have required some negotiation on the part of the government, which would have implied a modicum of competence, which seems to be lacking.

An example is the ban imposed on intercity travel, which is prompting cities to be evacuated by all those who planned to go back to their native villages for eid, with much longer holidays than before, as the government has given eight, instead of the more usual four, holidays.

There was none of the usual announcement of special trains being run, so as not only to encourage people to leave the cities, but also to prevent the unseemly lastminute scrambles, often by families with little children, that are taking place. Again, this would have required a degree of planning, an exhibition of negotiation skills, that seem beyond the Punjab government.

The imposition of a lockdown was not going to be a casual decision. Timing it for eid holidays raises the possibility of those going out of city spreading it in their villages. It is to be hoped that the government is not following an ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ policy. The coronavirus has less chance of wreaking havoc in the open spaces of the rural areas, but in the congestion of small towns, it will be deadly, but only in the coming days and weeks. The real enforcement must come not from the government, or even the retailers, but from ordinary citizens.

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OveRTy is a multidimensional phenomenon. It cannot be restricted to the unavailability of food only. It is about food security and the certainty that the food chain won’t be broken abruptly or behave unpredictably. A hope can be entertained that prices of commodities would remain the same for a certain period without the formation of any cartels. Precious earnings would not be eviscerated.

Poverty also includes the inability to attain bare minimal standards of living, affordable clothing, and have access to health facilities and clean drinking water. Additionally, it includes lack of access to educational, economic, and political opportunities and resources. Consistent low incomes in households make people prone to poverty. Such households are at the margins of subsistence and highly vulnerable to risks and economic shocks.

A broad survey has been conducted in a study which identified certain key characteristics of poverty. A household having a low literacy profile and minimal education opportunity is vulnerable to poverty. The situation gets further aggravated when vocational skills and training is not made available to the people. Although the economic model exists of a larger than usual household having more earning hands that keep it afloat, yet the incidence of any health or financial accident rips apart the economic equilibrium.

Possession of tangible and intangible assets also explains the poverty profile of an individual. A low savings rate would not allow investing into any tangible or intangible asset. This could hurt economic sustenance and restrict exploiting any incentives that could be reaped. A disproportionate reliance on informal sector employment opportunities also creates uncertainty because economic bubbles may burst, leaving the employee jobless with no recourse to any other opportunity.

Since Pakistan is a predominantly agriculture-dependent society with shrinking industrial sprawl; a hallmark of low incomes and savings rates has calibrated poverty in terms of very low per capita ownership of land, livestock, house and other physical assets. Presently, the diversification of asset ownership is restricted to certain economic models prevalent in the country. A mix of livestock and land is owned largely by the agrarian class, whereas land and other physical and intangible assets are held by the landed and business class. What is striking, however, is the

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Experts underline the danger of this trend of using blasphemy to silence women’s rights activists is a decade-old ploy of Islamists. They say that Islamist policies have long silenced marginalised segments in the country, including women

The writer is a freelance columnist

The country is for everyone, not just the few

Inefficient execution

Managing Editor

mission Pakistan (hRCP) has also issued a statement: “This is not just repugnant; it is an incitement to violence. We demand that action be taken against all such persons.” After a serious backlash, Ffederal Relligious Affairs Minister Noorul haq Qadri promised an action against the people who did this. “The characters [who are] involved in it will be exposed and cases will be made [against them],” he said.

Despite the social media awareness campaign and the rightful demands for apology, retraction and clarification, none came. experts say this was because it is easy to accuse someone of blasphemy in Pakistan, but accepting the responsibility and apologizing over false allegations is not the norm the people follow here. Observers noted that Ansar Abbasi, for instance, simply explained that he hadn’t said that Aurat March participants had done something wrong, he had simply pointed out an issue.

Despite the clarifications and proof that video was doctored, a Peshawar court has ordered the filing of a case against Aurat March organizers for blasphemy. An additional judge has ordered the police to register a case on a petition by a local lawyer. experts underline the danger of this trend of using blasphemy to silence women’s rights activists is a decade-old ploy of Islamists. They say that Islamist policies have long silenced marginalised segments in the country, including women.

Poverty as a national crisis

The Great Eid Lockdown

Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

the material without verification underlines the fast growing trend in the virtual sphere. human rights activists have condemned the barefaced targeting of the Aurat March.

“We all remember the case of Mashal Khan. It’s sad and worrying to see some well-known media persons becoming a source of spread of malicious propaganda against Aurat March organisers by sharing edited videos without verification,” said rights activist Jibran Nasir.

“I was present at Frere hall when the slogans for Azaadi were being raised.

They didn’t say “Allah bhi sun lay”, they said “Mullah bhi sun lay”, they did not say “Rasool bhi sun lay” but they said “Fazlo bhi sun lay” (as in Fazl ur Rehman of the JUI[F]).”

Meanwhile, Aurat March Twitter handle wrote: “Misinformation is the tool of those individuals and groups who seek to weaken the feminist movement and silence the voices of those who are marginalized.” After the uploading of the original video, march organizers demanded a public apology from Ansar Abbasi and others who circulated the doctored video. “The malicious campaign against Aurat March and Aurat Azaadi March has caused irreparable harm to individuals and the movement. We demand that all those part of this disinformation campaign ApologizeToAuratMarch NOW!” Meanwhile, actors, politicians and other activists also demanded an apology from those responsible for spreading the fake video. The human Rights Com-

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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low savings rate due to high inflation and fuel prices.

Pakistan has made considerable headway in alleviation of poverty in the recent decade. In 2004-05 around 23.9 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in the country.

Since then the performance in alleviating poverty is nothing short of a miracle considering the fact that the country sustained its biggest earthquake and largest floods in 2010 and 2011 which affected more than two-thirds of the country’s population. Poverty declined to 11.2 percent in 2018-19.

Poverty in both rural and urban areas is declining with a poverty headcount of 12.5 percent in urban and 30.7 percent in rural areas, as per latest statistics.

Among the major causes of poverty are unemployment, low literacy, poor skill sets and lack of economic opportunities. Unemployment is running in double digits at 11 percent of the population. This is a huge factor in driving people to poverty. It is also interlinked with literacy rate. The matters get worse when unemployment and literacy are further studied on urban, rural and gender bases. Statistics also indicate that the plight of the female population is far worse than of the male.

Poor skill sets are a barrier against entry in the labour markets. Fact of the matter is that people are not prepared for vocational and skill-based training. The labour market requires specialized training to train people as masons, carpenters, electricians, goldsmiths, mechanics, and so on. There is no demand and supply management for people who are entering the labour market and no plan has been

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

made to give them requisite training. Moreover, the dynamics of the rural and urban market are also ignored as no quantification is done. Lack of economic opportunity can only be addressed if a broad strategy to absorb people in the labour force is formulated. expansion of industry and investment in the manufacturing sector could increase the participation of people. As the economy slows down, the prospect of job contraction is becoming increasingly problematic with the narrowing of economic opportunities.

Poverty eradication and alleviation can be achieved by following different approaches. A strong argument has been made in favour of providing employment opportunities to people so as to utilize their latent talents, increase the economic activity in different arenas and achieve a sustenance-based economic model. A case in point has been the example of China where in the private sector in collaboration with the government tried to give maximum employment to people. In two decades from 1980 to 2000, more than 300 million people have been pulled out of pervasive poverty. The argument next proceeds to rationalize income inequality so as to reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and to let the market dynamics help people make choices for themselves. This solution is also amenable to the resolution of a dual economy issue since it prevents the segmentation of the economy and opportunity.

Poverty eradication and alleviation can be achieved by following different approaches. A strong argument has been made in favour of providing employment opportunities to people so as to utilize their latent talents, increase the economic activity in different arenas and achieve a sustenancebased economic model. A case in point has been the example of China where in the private sector in collaboration with the government tried to give maximum employment to people. In two decades from 1980 to 2000, more than 300 million people have been pulled out of pervasive poverty

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

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

PM in Saudia

Cultural identities in South Asia: the way forward Though home to vast cultural diversity, it was also home to great tolerance

Dr rajkumar Singh

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N present-day global society, we find a contradiction, a gap, between cultural identity and practices of politics and society as well, especially after the coming of globalisation and liberalisation which know no national boundaries and simply believe in trans-border socio-political, economic and cultural exchanges on a large scale, paving the way for the clash of social identities on the one hand and nationalism on the other. even the clash itself works in both waysbetween and among the nations where people of different cultural identities live and within the same nation which is composed of people having dissimilar cultural communities and each and every community is conscious enough to protect and promote its own, inherited identity, obtained in the name of culture and civilization. In this context, the word ‘culture’ has got an extended meaning and directly relates to nature, a part of biology and genetics which is the basis of our physical features and our environment and surroundings that also shape our identity, and cultural diversity means differences in both senses.

In today’s state system practically all types of identities are governed and controlled by political, administrative and legal structures framed by the government. As a result of the transnational exchanges on a large scale with global access of diverse expat, diaspora and migrant communities, segments of people with these identities have become international actors who desire to see and feel the development of their area and community in worldly relative terms. Thus, the different cultural identities of South Asian countries, although having different cultures are one in feeling and requirement.

And this is why the governments of the day are focusing loudly on inclusive growth to get satisfactory results or appease all the bases of society and politics.

The region of South Asia and its peoples present a picture of diversity in unity, indeed of

immense diversity within a very broad contour of unity. Among them there is great diversity in natural attributes– imposing hills and mountains, lush green river plains, arid deserts and brown plateaus. The South Asian societies are marked by a plural character in terms of languages, cultures, regions and religions. The peoples of South Asia speak at least 20 major languages and if we include the more important dialects, the count rises to over 200. The very diverse languages and language families of South Asia have made enormous contributions to world literature from ancient to modern times.

The major countries of South Asia also share a common historical past in the form of the British colonial rule, but in terms of political stability, economic regeneration and socio-cultural change they remained poles apart in the post-Independence period with the exception that they cooperated each other both at the bilateral as well as multilateral levels under the umbrella of such forums as the economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (eSCAP), the Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth. The years following their independence were full of internal characteristics of the polities comprising the region, which ranged widely from democratic, federal and parliamentary to monarchical and unitary.

The region of South Asia shares certain things in common, and they are the religious–cultural heritage of the ancient and medieval times, and the administrative, political, educational, economic institutions. Adherents of major world religions, hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism are found in the Subcontinent. hinduism with its ancient roots, modern transformation and multiple interpretations, plays a vital part in the culture and politics of the subcontinent. The greatest cultural and political achievements of Islam have taken place in the Subcontinent, where more than 400 million of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live today. each of the three most populous countries of South Asia – India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have nearly 140 million Muslims, next only to Indonesia as the largest Muslim countries in the world. Buddhism, apart from the formal adherents in the land of its birth, continues to flourish in Sri Lanka and the himalayas as well as in east and Southeast Asia. South Asia has also significant numbers of Jain, Zoroastrian, Christian and Sikh minorities.

In the spheres of culture, economy, politics and society the modern South Asian history witnessed a number of significant changes in which the pivotal role was played by the intermediate social groups in the construction and continuation of the British Raj. As a result of these social groups the colonial state succeeded in intervening in the earlier communal and caste categories. They also refashioned the social relations of class by the linking of Indian economic regions to a wider capitalist system, and thus created a new group in the Subcontinent’s society for their benefit.

The states of South Asia emerged as sovereign entities after a prolonged struggle against

colonialism. In the post-colonial era, nation building became an arduous task. It was all the more challenging for multicultural states to blend the diverse religious, linguistic and ethno-cultural groups into a national mould. The majority of these states devised the mechanism of a secular democratic order to achieve this objective.

The departure of the Raj left a legacy of uncertain frontiers and other disputes among the legatee states. It was complicated further by the lack of self – confidence in the leadership elites of the new nations who frequently direct the fears of their citizens against neighbouring nations in a mistaken belief that this will strengthen the spirit of nationalism and inspire internal cohesion. Real problems among neighbours do exist and in the South Asian System we can easily discern two types of dialectical struggles that have in the past influenced the nature of ties in the region. One type of struggle is by India for a regional role of dominance, maturing into either a sphere of influence or a hegemonic order. Another is primarily influenced by India’s ambitious role, is the struggle

by Pakistan and others for autonomy, independence and a sovereign existence.

Terrorism has profoundly influenced inter– state relations in South Asia. With the world’s fastest-growing markets, fastest–rising military expenditures and most serious hot sports coupled with a toxic stew of boiling religious, political ethnic, strategic and historical animosities, made all the more volatile by endemic poverty, illiteracy and the sheer agony of daily existence, Asia holds the key to the future international security order.

Much of Asia’s terrorist violence is concentrated in its southern belt, which in the past decade emerged as the international hub of terrorism. This southern part of Asia, encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Chinese-ruled Xinjiang and Tibet, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar, are wracked by terrorist, insurgent, and separatist violence in a manner unmatched elsewhere in the world. The number of annual fatalities in terrorist–related violence in South Asia far exceeds the death toll in the Middle east, the traditional cradle of terrorism. The entire expanse from the Middle east to South-east Asia is home to militant groups and troubled by terrorist violence posing a serious challenge to international and regional security.

Developments in several parts of the world are prompting scholars and policy makers to reexamine old theories of terrorism. The terrorist slaying has belied the arguments that, ‘Simply killing a lot of people has seldom been a terrorist objective. Terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead. It, in general, challenges the secular fabric of South Asia.

The writer is head of the political science department and dean of the Social Sciences faculty of the B.N.Mandal University, Madhepura, Bihar, India. He can be reached at rajkumarsinghpg@gmail.com

PRIMe MINISTeR Imran Khan will pay a three-day official visit to Saudi Arabia from May 7-9 on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other members of the cabinet, the Foreign Office said Thursday.

During the visit, the Prime Minister’s consultations with the Saudi leadership will cover all areas of bilateral cooperation including economic, trade, investment, energy, job opportunities for Pakistani workforce, and welfare of Pakistani diaspora in the Kingdom.

The Foreign Office in a statement issued prior to the visit said “the two sides will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.” A number of bilateral agreements and MoUs are expected to be signed during the visit, it said. The Prime Minister will also meet the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. yousef Al-Othaimeen, the Secretary General of the World Muslim League, Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa and the Imams of the Two holy Mosques in Makkah and Medina.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will interact with Pakistani diaspora in Jeddah.Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also long-standing and historic fraternal relations, rooted deep in common faith, shared history and mutual support. The people of Pakistan hold the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques in the highest esteem. The relationship is marked by close cooperation in all fields and mutual collaboration on regional and international issues, in particular those faced by the Muslim Ummah.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. Saudi Arabia is home to more than two million Pakistanis, contributing towards the progress and prosperity of both countries.

Regular high-level bilateral visits continue to play a pivotal role in providing impetus to the fraternal ties and close cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Sohail ali Khan iSlamabad

Covid impact on mental health The COvID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people around the world. COvID-19 pandemic has caused anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in different population groups, including the healthcare workers, the general public, and the patients and quarantined individuals. The guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support of the inter-Agency standing committee of the United Nations recommends that the core principles of mental health support during an emergency are not hard to promote human rights and equality, use participatory approaches, build on existing resources and capacities, adopt multi-layered interventions and work with integrated support systems.COvID-19 is affecting people’s social connectedness, their trust in people and institutions, their jobs and incomes, as well as imposing a huge toll in terms of anxiety and worry. The COvID-19 pandemic has caused stress, anxiety, and worries for many individuals.

Recently, in Pakistan, a father has killed his three children by throwing them in the river due to not having money to facilitate them with food during this pandemic, and shamefully to say the present government is failed to save the lives of which is just playing the role of a statue that needs help from others to maintain itself.

Khuda dad baloch Karachi

Preparing for the next lockdown The Federal Minister for education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mehmood decided to close all educational institutions from 27th April to June 15th, and on May 5th it was announced that a lockdown will be imposed in Punjab on May 8th. While all these measures were taken to encourage people to stay at home and protect themselves from the coronavirus, it also increases the chance of playing online games.

Last year, during the month of July, the PTA banned an online game called Players Unknown Battleground or PUBG, for short, as the government believed it was associated to three suicide cases that occurred in the same year. The government later lifted the ban, however in case the government feels online games are affecting people’s mental health during the upcoming lockdown and decide to ban them again, they could take the advice of leading mental health experts in the country to ask if such a decision will be useful or not. They could further ask these mental health experts on how suicide or other mental health problems could be prevented during lockdowns. The government could then take measures according to their advice. If the government keeps in view the advice of mental health experts when dealing with issues relating to mental health, there might be a decrease in mental health issues in the country. hafSa huSSain KARACHI

Rapists are free I just want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities towards a very serious issue which is being neglected by government and though they are not taking it as serious as it is required to be concerned. It is public hanging of rapists or a strict punishment or sentence should be imposed on rapists.

Rape, from the last few years it has become a major problem in our country. There are at least 11 rape cases reported in Pakistan every day. Is this the Islamic Republic of Pakitan where a woman didn’t feel herself safe. Rape is criminal offense in Pakistan. Punishment for rape in Pakistan under the Pakistani law is either death penalty or imprisonment of between ten and twenty five years.

Married and unmarried women are raped, girls are raped, childs are raped, boys are raped, trans man and woman are raped, animals are raped, old age woman are raped. even some of them are raped and murdered.

This is a loss of many innocent lives. But what, the rapists are roaming freely, finding their new target.

This is the high time for the government that they should have to take strict actions on rapists in order to safe the lives of innocent and amplitude of woman. And we will feel safe and free and confident. madiha Zubair Karachi

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

IndIa’S natIonal government lookS IncreaSIngly hapleSS

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economiSt

WO short months ago Narendra Modi’s government was one of the most popular and confident in India’s history. Now, judging by fresh election results, by the eruption of criticism even in the largely docile mainstream media, by sharp reprimands issued by top courts, by thumbs-down judgments by seasoned analysts and by a level of rage on social media unusual even for India’s hothouse online forums, the prime minister and his government are in trouble.

It is not simply that evidence has mounted of repeated failures to heed warnings of an impending second wave of covid19, including from the government’s own health experts. Nor is it just that Mr Modi and his team have struggled to respond to a calamity greater than India has experienced in generations. Indians are accustomed to ineptitude and meagre support. Rather it is a sense of utter abandonment, especially among the politically noisy middle class, that is driving the anger.

The epidemic continues to worsen. On May 5th the country reported over 412,000 new infections, its highest number yet. Half of all cases of covid-19 recorded around the world are in India, up from one in 25 at the start of March. The number of covid deaths tripled in March, and then in April leapt by

CONFRONTED WITH CATASTROPHE, THE STATE HAS MELTED AWAY a factor of ten. With a quarter of all tests in the country returning a positive result, up five-fold in the past month, it is clear that India’s monster second wave has yet to reach its peak. Already nearly a quarter of a million Indians have died after being infected by the virus, and that is going by the government’s own numbers.

For any country to suffer such devastation is awful enough. But even as the official death toll has mounted, faith in its accuracy has sunk. epidemiological and anecdotal evidence point to massive undercounting. Journalists across India have detailed scores of cases where official tallies are much lower than those gathered from hospitals, crematoriums and obituaries. In rural areas, where two-thirds of the population lives, both data and health care are even harder to come by.

Partly as a result, a curve that has moved as sharply as the one describing infections is the one tracing the reputation of India’s government, albeit in the opposite direction.

Mr Modi has done himself no favours.

During much of March and April he devoted far more energy to campaigning in one state election, in West Bengal, than to increasingly urgent cries of panic. In response to the revelation that his government had hugely miscal-

culated the availability of vaccines, he turned to showmanship, declaring a national “Tika utsav” or Inoculation Festival. Since it was launched, the number of people getting vaccinations every day has fallen by half, owing to shortages. Belatedly addressing the public on April 20th, Mr Modi warned against lockdowns and called instead for testing, isolating the infected and tracing their contacts. Recognising that it was too late for such measures to have any effect, most Indian states and big cities locked down anyway.

The crisis has forced Mr Modi’s government into embarrassing policy reversals. Its vaccine campaign, touted in January as the world’s biggest and most generous, has been sharply adjusted. After banning vaccine exports to address the national shortfall, the government abruptly declared that individual states and private actors would have to bear half the burden. Despite proclaiming self-reliance as the hallmark of his new India, Mr Modi broke with a policy begun by the previous government of rejecting foreign aid, and welcomed planeloads of medical supplies donated by more than a dozen foreign governments. The severity of shortages, particularly of oxygen, and the wrenching and very public misery caused by this growing

disaster made it impossible not to.

But the misfortunes of Mr Modi’s government have been compounded by haplessness. The public, overwhelmed with anguish at death on so vast a scale, has been flabbergasted by repeated revelations of incompetence. Initial shipments of aid, they discovered, had been held up by officials wanting to impose duties. These were eventually removed and local sales taxes abolished or reduced. (But on oxygen concentrators, a life-saving instrument, this was from a crushing 28% to a merely gouging 12%.) In the state of Gujarat it was revealed that factories making gas-storage tanks, which use oxygen in the manufacturing process, had halted production of the desperately needed containers because the government was allocating all oxygen to hospitals.

The state’s displays of pure callousness have also been shocking. Residents of Delhi, whose hospitals are completely full, have been treated to the spectacle of the solicitorgeneral arguing that its state government, which needed help with oxygen supplies, was being a “cry baby”. With the capital under strict curfew, Mr Modi’s government has also given special licence for work to continue on a $2.6bn project to overhaul the

grand government buildings of the city centre, including a fancy new residence for the prime minister.

Meanwhile the chief minister of uttar Pradesh, tipped by some as a successor to Mr Modi, has not only declared that there is no oxygen shortage in his poor state of 225m people, but that individuals and even hospitals that spread “rumours” of shortages would be vigorously prosecuted. “This government has lost its mind,” shouts a man who has just lost his niece in a hospital in Meerut, a city in north-western uttar Pradesh, in a scene captured by Newslaundry, an investigative news group. “They talk of being a superpower, but what kind of superpower can’t even find oxygen for its people?” elections, of course, will prove the real test of what this change in fortunes may mean for Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He does not face a national one until 2024, so he may have enough time to repair damage and right his ship. But early omens are not good. Results of state elections announced on May 2nd left the BJP and allies with just one out of four prizes.

More tellingly, the party was hammered in West Bengal, the state it had fought hardest to win. This was not a referendum on Mr Modi’s handling of the pandemic: many Bengali voters dislike the BJP’s thinly disguised bigotry and see its Hindi-speaking, ostentatiously religious leaders as culturally alien. The voting was in eight phases, meaning that many ballots were cast before the deadliness of the second wave became clear.

Significantly, the margin seems to have widened as the voting went on and deaths mounted. In uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, village-level elections showed a sharp tilt against BJP-endorsed candidates in parts of the state considered its fiefs. One of them was Varanasi, Mr Modi’s own parliamentary constituency.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are starting to solve An appeal to Prime Minister Modi: Please step down their differences without America TURNS OUT NOT EVERY PROBLEM IN THE MIDDLE EAST NEEDS OUR HELP

Slate

S

FrEd KAPLAn

AuDI and Iranian security officials have been holding secret talks since January without any u.S. involvement—a bit of news that has led some to bemoan a decline in American power as President Biden seeks to withdraw from the Middle east. But in fact, this is good news, both for the united States and for the prospects of calm in the region.

The development might also serve as a lesson for u.S. foreign policy broadly—a sign that Washington doesn’t need to involve itself in every conflict in the world, that sometimes its self-vaunted role as a peacekeeper or mediator only heightens tensions, and that sometimes it’s best to let local powers work through their problems on their own.

The secret talks were first reported last month in the Financial Times. The British news site Amwad.media has since reported that five such meetings have been held, beginning as far back as January, and that some of these sessions have also included officials from the united Arab emirates, egypt, and Jordan, on topics ranging from the war in Yemen to security in Syria and Lebanon.

Soon after publication of these scoops, since confirmed by the New York Times and several others, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—whose spokesman at first denied the report—said in a TV interview, “We are seeking to have good relations with Iran…. We are working with our partners in the region to overcome our differences with Iran.” This week, the chief spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said that the Islamic Republic is ready to hold talks with Saudi Arabia “at any level and in any form.”

Saudi Arabia and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since 2016. Their leaders and diplomats have practically hissed war threats at one another since before then.

In other words, even if the talks don’t produce many tangible results, we are witnessing a monumental political shift.

By all accounts, this shift was spurred by recognition that the united States is moving away from the Middle east. A senior Biden adviser told me, during the transition between election and inauguration, that the region would rank “a distant fourth” in Biden’s priorities, after Asia Pacific, europe, and South America.

President Trump also talked about pulling away from the Middle east, but he always kept his heart—and the taxpayer’s wallet—open for Saudi Arabia. The key change is that Biden is hardening his attitude toward the royal family. As Trita Parsi recently put it in Foreign Policy, “It’s not so much anything Washington has done but rather what Washington has stopped doing—namely, reassuring its security partners in the region that it will continue to support them unconditionally, no matter what reckless conduct they engage in.”

What Biden stopped doing most notably was providing arms to the Saudi military for use against Iranian-backed rebels in neighboring Yemen. (Settling the war in Yemen was the main topic in the first Saudi-Iranian talks.) Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have also explicitly criticized the Saudi government’s killing of u.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi (an act that Trump waved away as inconsequential) and announced a review of all arms sales to Riyadh (in contrast to Trump’s push to sell the royal family as many arms as they wanted to purchase).

Biden’s pushback also marks a departure from President Obama’s policy, which, in many ways, perpetuated Washington’s accommodation of Saudi interests—a carryover from u.S. policy dating back to just after World War II—despite his avid desire to “pivot” away from the region. For instance, in order to placate Saudi anxieties over his signing of the Iran nuclear deal (which would involve lifting u.S. sanctions against Tehran), Obama allowed Riyadh to use American munitions against Iranianbacked rebels in the Yemen war. (Obama later regretted this concession.)

What would have happened if Obama had rejected the Saudis’ request for a green light and simply pursued what he saw as u.S. interests—signing the Iran nuclear deal, perhaps sympathizing with Saudi concerns, pledging to counter any and all acts of Iranian aggression in the region, but also saying, “No, we’re not going to help you wage your dirty war in Yemen”? The Saudis would have expressed outrage. Other Sunni powers in the

region might have joined in. But then what?

What would they have done to weaken u.S. power, influence, interests, or values?

In an earlier era, they might have stepped up hostilities toward Israel. But in recent years, the Saudi Crown and other Sunni powers have cozied up with Israel, a partner in the cold war with Iran—which, even if the Saudi-Iranian talks are fruitful, isn’t about to vanish.

Ignore moral values for a moment. Is there any reason, on strictly geopolitical grounds, for an American president to accommodate Saudi interests when they compromise our own? No. This seems to be the conclusion that Biden and his team have reached. Yes, Biden will continue to consult with the Saudis and the other Sunni powers (as well as with Israel) as he and the european leaders try to revive the Iran nuclear deal (which Trump killed). Those countries also have an interest in where those negotiations lead, and our interests converge or coincide on a number of issues. But, like most countries on the planet (very much including Saudi Arabia), the u.S. should pursue its own interests and values—and it should avoid putting those interests and values on the line in trying to settle disputes among other countries, especially since we often end up intensifying those disputes, as turned out to be the case when Obama tried to mollify the Saudis after doing a deal with Iran.

Of course there are exceptions to this rule. We should exert our influence when dealing with solid allies, especially where we are obligated by treaties to protect their security. Mediating the historical tensions between South Korea and Japan, for example, is very much in our interest, as those tensions—between Asia Pacific’s two most powerful democratic countries—impede cohesive policymaking within the larger regional alliance, in some ways our most vital alliance in the world’s most dynamic region. exceptions aside, this is not a call for isolationism. It is instead a description— which Biden and his team seem to be groping towards—of what a reasonable policy in a fractured world should be. It’s a policy driven by interests, values, and obligations that really matter—not by vague and outdated notions of what “geopolitics” or “perceptions of influence” might dictate.

Letting Saudi Arabia and Iran reach some modus operandi on their own does not reflect a decline of American power, nor is anyone likely to see it that way. It’s more likely to be seen as a sensible end to the squandering of our resources.

AS WE DIE IN OUR HOMES, ON THE STREETS, IN HOSPITAL CAR PARKS, IN BIG CITIES, IN SMALL TOWNS, IN VILLAGES AND FORESTS AND FIELDS – I, AN ORDINARY PRIVATE CITIZEN, AM SWALLOWING MY PRIDE TO JOIN MILLIONS OF MY FELLOW CITIZENS IN SAYING PLEASE SIR, PLEASE, STEP ASIDE. AT LEAST FOR NOW. I BESEECH YOU, STEP DOWN

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W

ArundhAti roy

e need a government. Desperately. And we don’t have one. We are running out of air. We are dying.

We don’t have systems in place to know what to do with help even when it’s on hand. What can be done?

Right here, right now?

We cannot wait till 2024. Never would people like myself have imagined the day would come when we would find ourselves appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for anything. Personally, I would rather have gone to prison than do that. But today, as we die in our homes, on the streets, in hospital car parks, in big cities, in small towns, in villages and forests and fields – I, an ordinary private citizen, am swallowing my pride to join millions of my fellow citizens in saying please sir, please, step aside. At least for now. I beseech you, step down.

This is a crisis of your making. You cannot solve it. You can only make it worse. This virus prospers in an atmosphere of fear and hatred and ignorance. It prospers when you clamp down on those who speak out. It prospers when you man-

age the media to such an extent that the real truth is only reported in the international media. It prospers when you have a prime minister who has never held a single press conference in all his years in office, who is incapable of fielding questions, even now in this moment of numbing horror.

Hundreds of thousands of us will die, unnecessarily, if you don’t go. So, go now. Jhola utha ke. With your dignity intact. You can have a great life ahead, of meditation and solitude. You yourself have said that’s what you want. That won’t be possible if you allow this mass dying to continue.

There are many in your party who can take your place for now. People who know they must get on even with political opponents in this moment of crisis. Whoever that person is – from your party, with the approval of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – can head the government and a crisis management committee.

The state chief ministers can elect a few representatives so that all parties feel represented. The Congress by virtue of being a national party can be on the committee too. And then scientists, public health experts, doctors, experienced bureaucrats. You may not understand this, but this is what is known as democracy.

You cannot have an Opposition-mukt democracy. That is known as a tyranny.

This virus loves tyrannies.

If you don’t do this now, as this outbreak is increasingly viewed as an international problem, as a threat to the world, which it is – your incompetence is giving other countries a legitimate excuse to try and interfere in our affairs, try and take charge. This will compromise our hard fought for sovereignty. We will become a colony again. This is a serious possibility.

Do not disregard it. So please go. It is the most responsible thing for you to do. You have forfeited the moral right to be our prime minister.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE Goldman Sachs offers bitcoin derivatives to investors Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) is allowing Wall Street investors to trade with a derivative tied to bitcoin prices, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Goldman, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, has opened up trading with nondeliverable forwards that eventually pay out in cash, the report said. The bank will protect itself from the cryptocurrency's volatility by buying and selling Bitcoin futures in block trades on CME Group (CME.O) using Cumberland DRW as its trading partner, according to the report. Goldman declined to comment on the report. The move comes after the Wall Street bank restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk earlier this year, with plans to begin dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients. read more Bitcoin has been gaining mainstream acceptance in recent months. CNBC reported earlier this year that Morgan Stanley (MS.N) in March became the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is also preparing to let certain clients invest in an actively managed bitcoin fund for the first time, CoinDesk reported last month. Bank of NY Mellon Corp (BK.N) in February formed a new unit to help clients hold, transfer and issue digital assets, while BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), the world's largest asset manager, has also added bitcoin as an eligible investment to two funds. AGENCIES

Fed's super-easy policy likely to stick after weak jobs report WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The 266,000 jobs that U.S. firms added in April were “nowhere near” what was expected, a Federal Reserve official said Friday, adding little to the “substantial further progress” officials want to see before considering changes to monetary policy. “I hoped to see a stronger report today,” Richmond Federal Reserve president Thomas Barkin said in webcast comments to a West Virginia business group.

Barkin said he thought the results were largely driven by labor supply issues and “frictional” barriers such as mismatches between available workers and job skills, and workers still facing child care and other constraints. Many, he said, flush with savings and with enhanced unemployment benefits still available, have the “wherewithal” to wait to return to work and may be doing so. Still, it gives Fed policymakers little reason to do anything but keep the monetary policy tap wide open until it is clear the economy is on a path back to full employment.

“This puts less pressure on the Fed to prematurely talk about tapering. They wanted to be patient and hold off on it,” said Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James in Baltimore, Maryland. The unemployment rate rose in April to 6.1% and remains well above the 3.5% it reached in the months before the pandemic, the Friday report showed. Just 57.9% of the population was working last month, slightly up from 57.4% in December but still well short of the 61.1% as of February 2020. And the economy is still short more than 8 million jobs compared to its pre-crisis level. The job losses remain concentrated among leisure and hospitality industry companies that were hardest hit by the pandemic, a particular concern to the Fed since that industry is a major source of jobs for lower-wage and less-skilled workers. A Reuters poll of economists had predicted the economy would add 978,000 jobs in April. Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic had said Thursday he looked for “a really strong number” of perhaps more than 1 million. The Fed in December said it would not consider changing monetary policy, and particularly its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases, until there had been “substantial further progress” in reaching its full employment and 2% inflation goals. Since then prices of some goods have surged, but Fed officials feel the rise is likely temporary and their hope is to raise inflation to a persistent 2% -- something that will only become apparent over time. Policymakers have made clear they won’t be satisfied until the combination of job gains and evidence of more to come have put the economy on a path towards “maximum employment.” After the report, interest rate futures traders slashed bets the Fed will start raising rates next year, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to a two-month low.

US hirinG takeS biG Step back; ShortaGeS oF workerS, raw materialS blamed

U

S job growth unexpectedly slowed in April, likely restrained by shortages of workers and raw materials as an economic recovery bolstered by rapidly improving public health and massive government aid fueled a boom in demand.

The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday, which showed a plunge in temporary help jobs - a harbinger for future hiring - as well as decreases in manufacturing, retail and courier services employment, could heat up the debate on generous unemployment benefits.

The enhanced jobless benefits, including a government-funded $300 weekly supplement, pay more than most minimum wage jobs. The unemployment benefits were extended as part of a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 pandemic relief package approved in March. Montana and South Carolina are ending government-funded pandemic unemployment benefits for residents next month.

Economists say some workers could still be fearful of returning to work even as all adult Americans are now eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccinations. Others also cited problems with child care as in-person classes remain limited in many school districts.

Shortages of raw materials, documented in several business surveys, are also hindering hiring.

"The employment gain is understated in part because of the generous largess from Washington," said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "Short-staffed restaurant owners are working overtime, truck drivers are impossible to

find even after a hefty increase in hourly wages and loading docks at warehouses are keeping trucks idle as there aren't enough workers."

Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 266,000 jobs last month. Data for March was revised down to show 770,000 jobs added instead of 916,000 as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls would advance by 978,000 jobs.

That left employment 8.2 million jobs below its peak in February 2020.

Twelve months ago, the economy purged a record 20.679 million jobs as it reeled from mandatory closures of nonessential businesses to slow the first wave of Covid-19 infections. That plunge could have thrown off the model that the government uses to adjust the data for seasonal fluctuations, resulting in the April payrolls number being below forecasts.

Unadjusted payrolls increased by 1.089 million jobs after rising by 1.176 million in March.

"We have warned frequently that the Covid-19 shock last spring would echo through the seasonally adjusted data and cause significant volatility," said Scott Ruesterholz, portfolio Manager at Insight Investment in New York.

"That is likely what is happening with this report."

As such, the report did little to change expectations that the economy entered the second quarter with strong momentum and was on track for its best performance this year in almost four decades. New claims for unemployment benefits have dropped below 500,000 for the first time since the pandemic started.

Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher. The dollar (.DXY) was weaker

against a basket of currencies. Prices of longer-dated U.S. Treasuries fell.

SCRAMBLE FOR WORKERS: Many states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, have lifted most of their coronavirus capacity restrictions on businesses as more Americans get vaccinated. But the resulting burst in demand, which contributed to the economy's 6.4% annualized growth pace in the first quarter, the second-fastest since the third quarter of 2003, has triggered shortages of labor and raw materials.

From manufacturing to restaurants, employers are scrambling for workers. The moderate pace of hiring could last at least until September when the enhanced unemployment benefits run out.

Leisure and hospitality gained 331,000 jobs in April, with hiring at restaurants and bars accounting for more than half of the increase. Government employment picked up as school districts hired more teachers following the resumption of in-person learning in many states.

But temporary help services employment dropped by 111,400 jobs.

Manufacturing employment fell by 18,000 jobs, with payrolls at motor vehicle manufacturers dropping 27,000. A global semiconductor chip shortage has forced production cuts.

In the transportation and warehousing industry, employment for couriers and messengers fell by 77,000. Retail employment dropped by 15,300 jobs.

With workers scarce, employers boosted wages and increased hours for employees. Average hourly earnings jumped 0.7% after dipping 0.1% in March. The average workweek rose 0.1 hour to 35 hours.

April's employment report could bolster President Joe Biden's plan to spend another $4 trillion on education and childcare, middle- and low-income families, infrastructure and jobs. The Federal Reserve has signaled it intends to leave its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero and continue to pump money into the economy through bond purchases for a while.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April from 6.0% in March. The jobless rate has been understated by people misclassifying themselves as being "employed but absent from work." Without this misclassification, the unemployment rate would have been 6.4% in April.

Despite last month's sharp moderation in hiring, the labor market is improving. The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, climbed to 61.7% from 61.5% in March.

Still, at least 4 million people, many of them women, remain outside the labor force. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, dropped to 10.4% from 10.7% in March.

The employment-to-population ratio, viewed as a measure of an economy’s ability to create employment, edged up to 57.9% from 57.8% in the prior month. About 4.183 million people have been out of work for more than 27 weeks, accounting for 43.0% of the 9.8 million people classified as unemployed last month. That was little changed from March. AGENCIES

S&P hits record, Nasdaq jumps 1pc as weak jobs data eases Fed tapering worries The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials hit record highs on Friday, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq index jumped 1% after weak U.S. jobs data eased worries about the Federal Reserve reducing its massive stimulus program anytime soon.

The Labor Department's closely watched employment report showed U.S. employers hired far fewer workers than expected in April, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by only 266,000 jobs last month after rising by 770,000 in March. read more Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by nearly 1 million jobs. Data also showed unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April from 6.0% in March.

Highly valued stocks such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) rose between 0.4% and 1.7%.

The MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets (.MIWD00000PUS) also hit an all-time high, while European equities (.STOXX) extended their record run.

"One number doesn't make a trend, but it takes some of the heat off the economy overheating and in-

flation moving dramatically higher," said Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James.

"This puts less pressure on the Fed to prematurely talk about tapering."

The jobs report alleviated concerns about rising inflation and potentially higher U.S. interest rates which would weigh on the valuations of growth companies.

Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher in early afternoon trading, with a 1.3%rise in technology stocks (.SPLRCT) leading the advance.

Financials (.SPSY) dropped 0.1%, with interest rate-sensitive shares of lenders Bank of America (BAC.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Citigroup Inc (C.N) trading lower. The S&P 500 banks sector (.SPXBK) fell 0.4%.

"If this is a one-off jobs report, if the economy is recovering as strongly as we anticipate, that is something that could drive yields higher and favor other value names and reopening plays at the expense of tech stocks," said Matt Weller, global head of market research at Forex.com.

At 12:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Aver-

age (.DJI) was up 161.58 points, or 0.47%, at 34,710.11, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 33.13 points, or 0.79%, at 4,234.75 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 174.79 points, or 1.28%, at 13,807.64.

The Nasdaq is set to fall 1.1% this week, its worst weekly decline since early March. The S&P 500 is tracking gains, while the Dow is set to mark its best weekly performance in nearly one month.

Payments firm Square Inc (SQ.N) rose 6.3% after reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit, as surging demand for bitcoin fueled a jump in cryptocurrency transactions on its application. read more Streaming device maker Roku Inc (ROKU.O) jumped 11.5% following upbeat revenue outlook, while fitness equipment maker Peloton Interactive (PTON.O) gained 6.1% as it laid out steps to improve the safety of the equipment. read more Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.36-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 116 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 114 new highs and 34 new lows. AGENCIES

Jobs report shows 'long way to go' in economic recovery, says Biden WASHINGTON AGENCIES

President Joe Biden on Friday predicted a “long way to go” for U.S. economic recovery from a pandemic-spurred slump and urged Washington to do more to help the American people after a disappointing jobs report.

U.S. job growth unexpectedly slowed in April, likely restrained by shortages of workers and raw materials.

Biden and his team have said his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, the Democratic president’s first major legislative accomplishment, is helping to bring the economy back from its pandemic plummet.

“Today’s report just underscores in my view how vital the actions we’re taking are,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “Our efforts are starting to work.

But the climb is steep and we still have a long way to go.”

The White House is pressing for trillions of dollars more in spending on infrastructure, education and other priorities. Republicans, however, object to the high price tag of Biden’s initiatives and critics have raised concerns about inflation and a disincentive, thanks to generous unemployment benefits, for people to return to the workforce.

The White House dismissed that criticism on Friday. Biden said he had not seen evi-

dence that enhanced unemployment benefits were putting a drag on employment figures.

Jared Bernstein, a member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, told Reuters Biden’s COVID relief and stimulus package, known as the American Rescue Plan, had helped generate an average of more than half a million jobs per month over the last three months, April notwithstanding.

“Those are big numbers, and the fingerprints of the American Rescue Plan are all over those additions,” he said.

Bernstein said no course correction was required from the White House, a theme echoed by Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives,

CMYK

who pressed for passage of Biden’s next legislative push.

“The disappointing April jobs report highlights the urgent need to pass President Biden’s American Jobs and Families Plans,” she said in a statement. “We need to take bold action to Build Back Better from this crisis by investing in our nation, our workers and our families.”

Republicans viewed it differently.

“Why is anyone surprised that the jobs reports fell short of expectations?,” said Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida on Twitter. “I told you weeks ago that in #Florida I hear from #smallbusinesses every day that they can’t hire people because the govern-

ment is having them not go back to work.”

The share of Americans who are either working or looking for work rose last month, and the number of people who said they are not looking for jobs because of COVID-19 fell by 900,000 in April, Bernstein said, pushing back against criticism from some employers that the benefits had kept some people from returning to the workplace.

“Thus far, we don’t see a correlation between unemployment insurance benefits and lack of employment,” he said.

“What we do see is a lot of people who are still hesitant to go back to work because of safety concerns, care issues, schooling issues, and we’ll continue to watch this very closely.”

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

10 fOREIgn nEWS

LAHORE

IndIa records 1.5m new covId-19 cases In a week NEW DELHI AGENCIES

I

NDIA reported another record daily rise in coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing total new cases for the week to 1.57 million, as the country's vaccination rate falls dramatically due to a lack of supplies and transport problems.

As India's deadly second wave of Covid-19 continues unabated and its total number of cases now stand at 21.49 million, with infections spreading from overcrowded cities to remote rural villages that are home to nearly 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion population.

The country reported a record daily 414,188 new cases on Friday, while deaths from Covid-19 swelled by 3,915, bringing total deaths to 234,083.

Medical experts say the real extent of Covid-19 in India is five to 10 times the official tallies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave,

after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became "super spreader" events.

His government has also been criticised for delays in the country's vaccination programme, which medical experts say is India's only hope of controlling the second Covid-19 wave.

The Hindustan Times newspaper on Friday demanded: "Accelerate the vaccine drive, get the second wave of the pandemic under some control..."

While India is the world's biggest vaccine maker, it is struggling to produce enough doses to stem the wave of Covid-19.

Modi has stressed that Indian states must keep up vaccination rates. Although the country has administered at least 157 million vaccine doses, its rate of inoculation has fallen sharply in recent days.

"After having achieved a rate of around 4 million a day, we are now down to 2.5 million per day due to vaccine shortages," Amartya Lahiri, an economics professor

Saudi Arabia wants to see 'verifiable deeds' from talks with Iran, says official RIYADH AGENCIES

A Saudi foreign ministry official said on Friday that talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran aim to reduce regional tensions, but added it was too early to judge the

outcome and Riyadh wanted to see "verifiable deeds". The coments by Ambassador Rayed Krimly, head of policy planning at the ministry, were the first public confirmation from Riyadh that the rivals - who severed ties in 2016 were holding direct talks.

at the University of British Columbia was quoted as saying in the Mint newspaper.

"The 5 million a day target is the lower bound of what we have to aim for, since even at that rate, it will take a year for us to get everyone two doses. The situation unfortunately is very grim."

SOUTHERN STATES: The European Union on Thursday backed a US proposal to discuss waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines in an effort to increase the supply and access to vaccines, especially in vulnerable developing countries.

India's healthcare system is crumbling under the weight of Covid-19 patients, with hospitals running out of beds and medical oxygen. Morgues and crematoriums cannot handle the number of dead and makeshift funeral pyres burn in parks and carparks.

Although northern and western India bear the brunt of the disease, the share of the five southern states in the country's daily surge in infections rose from 28 per cent to 33 per cent in the first seven days of May, data shows.

In the southern city of Chennai, only one in a hundred oxygen supported beds and two in a hundred beds in intensive care units were vacant on Thursday, from a vacancy rate of over 20 per cent each two weeks ago, government data showed.

In India's tech capital Bengaluru, only 23 of the 590 beds in intensive care units were vacant, and only 1 in 50 beds with a ventilator were vacant, a situation officials say points to an impending crisis.

New Delhi's ubiquitous three-wheeled autorickshaws have become makeshift ambulances to ferry Covid-19 patients.

"We must all help each other out at this time of need to get out of this situation," said autorickshaw driver Raj Kumar, who wears a protection suit. There is a plastic partition between him and the passengers at the back.

"If everyone stays home because they are scared, then who is going to help those in need?"

Several Indian states have imposed various levels of social restrictions to try to stem infections, but the federal government has resisted imposing a national lockdown.

"At times like this, people look for some sign that politicians are listening...what is happening today is a betrayal of hope and a slap in the face of the dream that was a modern progressive India," columnist Vir Sanghvi wrote in the Hindustan Times.

"We will beat Covid eventually. But by then thousands more will have lost their lives."

Aid from foreign countries continued to pour in, as consignments from Poland, Netherlands and Switzerland reached India on Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.

Israeli troops kill two Palestinians in West Bank firefight AGENCIES Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians and wounded a third after the men opened fire on a base in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the latest in a series of violent confrontations amid soaring tensions in Jerusalem.

Dozens of Palestinians in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood are at risk of being evicted following a long legal battle with Israeli settlers, and Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli police in the city on a nightly basis since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramazan.

The tensions have radiated across the region, with neighbouring Jordan warning Israel against further “provocative” steps.

Israeli police said three attackers fired on the base near the northern West Bank town of Jenin. The Border Police and an Israeli soldier opened fire in response, killing two of the men and wounding a third, who was evacuated to a hospital. Some 70,000 people attended the final Friday prayers of Ramazan at Al-Aqsa, the Islamic endowment that oversees the site said. Thousands protested afterwards, waving the green flags of the Islamic group Hamas and chanting pro-Hamas slogans before dispersing peacefully.

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing for more violence in the coming days.

Sunday night is “Laylat al-Qadr” or the “Night of Destiny,” the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramazan. Worshippers will gather for intense night-time prayers at

the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, a flashpoint holy site sacred to Muslims and to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. Sunday night is also the start of Jerusalem Day, a national holiday in which Israel celebrates its annexation of east Jerusalem and religious nationalists hold parades and other celebrations in the city. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a verdict on the evictions.

Israel's archenemy Iran was meanwhile marking its own Quds (Jerusalem) Day on Friday. The national holiday typically features anti-Israel protests and fiery speeches by Iranian leaders predicting Israel's demise.

“The downward and declining movement of the Zionist regime has begun and will not stop," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address. He called for continuing armed “resistance” in the Palestinian territories and urged Muslim nations to support it.

This year, Ramadan has coincided with an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence focused on Jerusalem, where Palestinian protesters have repeatedly clashed with Israeli police over restrictions on outdoor gatherings at the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City. On Thursday, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian suspected of carrying out a drive-by shooting earlier this week in the West Bank that killed an Israeli and wounded two others.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian during a confrontation near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Rocket debris unlikely to cause any harm: China BEIJING AGENCIES

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday most of the debris from a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend will be burned up on reentry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm.

The US military said on Wednesday what it called an uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by US Space Command. The Long March 5B rocket blasted off from China's Hainan island on April 29, carrying the unmanned Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters on a permanent Chinese space station. The location of the rocket's descent into Earth's atmosphere as it falls back from space "cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry", which is projected to occur around May 8, US Space Command said. Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters this week there was a chance that pieces of the rocket could come down over land such as in May 2020, when pieces from another Chinese Long March 5B rocket rained down on the Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. He said potentially dangerous debris would likely escape incineration after streaking through the atmosphere at hypersonic speed but in all likelihood would fall into the sea, given that 70 per cent of the world is covered by ocean.

The military said several Palestinians had thrown firebombs toward soldiers. In recent days, protesters have scuffled with police and settlers over the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem. Several Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah have been embroiled in a long-running legal battle with Israeli settler groups trying to acquire property in the neighbourhood north of the Old City. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza — territories the Palestinians want for their future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians view east Jerusalem — which includes major holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims — as their capital, and its fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.

JORDAN CRITICISES SETTLEMENT EXPANSION: Neighbouring Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994 and is the custodian of Al-Aqsa, weighed in on Friday, saying “Israel's continuation of its illegal practices and provocative steps" in the city is a “dangerous game.”

“Building and expanding settlements, confiscating lands, demolishing homes and deporting Palestinians from their homes are illegal practices that perpetuate the occupation and undermine the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace, which is a regional and international necessity," Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi tweeted.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

SPORTS 11

LAHORE

aBid and azhar Centuries Put Pakistan in strong Position against zimBaBwe HaRaRE

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AGENCIES

ENTURIES by Abid Ali and Azhar Ali put Pakistan in a strong position on the first day of the second Test against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on Friday.

Abid (118 not out) and Azhar (126) put on 236 for the second wicket before tall fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani brought Zimbabwe back into the match by taking three wickets with the second new ball.

Pakistan had reached 268 for four at the close. Abid and Azhar came together with the total on 12 in the eighth over and ground down the Zimbabwe bowlers before Azhar edged Muzarabani to gully in the last half hour of the day. "It wasn't a tough wicket so after we lost an early wicket we thought we should bat long and wise," said Azhar. "It came off and Abid and I had a long partnership." Azhar admitted that despite his team's dominance there was still pressure to perform. "Since I only play one format, it's not too tough to motivate yourself.

"But there's a bit of pressure when you play Zimbabwe because if you do well it's not recognised because it's against Zimbabwe. "If you don't do well, people say he can't score against Zimbabwe."

Azhar's dismissal was followed by a second failure in the series for Babar Azam, Pakistan's captain and star batsman, who

Pakistan 268 for 4 (azhar 126, abid 118*, Muzarabani 3-41) vs ziMbabwe

drove Muzarabani to point after scoring two.

Babar was out for a first-ball duck in the first Test at the same venue, which Pakistan won by an innings and 116 runs.

Muzarabani struck again when first Test centurion Fawad Alam dragged a short ball onto his stumps after scoring five.

Muzarabani finished the day with three for 41. His five-over spell with the second new ball yielded three for 12.

'TOUGH DAY': "It was a really tough day," said Muzarabani. "We just had to be patient.

If we can keep them under 360 we will be happy." Azhar did not give a chance on the

Manchester united to face villarreal in europa League final

ROME AGENCIES

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer criticised football authorities for Manchester United’s punishing schedule after his side advanced to the Europa League final on Thursday, calling it “physically impossible” for his team.

United advanced to the May 26 showdown with Villarreal in Gdansk 8-5 on aggregate despite losing 3-2 to Roma in their semi-final second leg at the Stadio Olimpico. And now his players have to face the prospect of four Premier League fixtures in 10 days after Edinson Cavani’s brace staved off a valiant attempt at a comeback from their Italian opposition.

On Sunday they travel to Aston Villa and by next Thursday they will have hosted Liverpool and Leicester, the visit of Fulham coming the following Tuesday.

“It’s unheard of. It’s made by people who have never played football at this level,” raged Solskjaer to BT Sport.

“It’s physically impossible for the players. We have not been dealt a good hand. We are going to need everyone for these four games. It’s a short turnaround but we have to be ready.”

The Norwegian coach was also angry about his side’s display on Thursday, admitting that had it not been for a sensational second half in the first leg which gave them 6-2 lead they could very well have been dumped out by a spirited Roma team who created, and wasted a hosted of opportunities in Rome. “The second half

today was disappointing, very, very poor, but we’re in the final,” he said.

“We played one very, very good half at Old Trafford which has taken us through.

“I’m disappointed we lost, especially the way we played in the second half.

“It could easily have been 8-6 to them.

It was a strange game. We kept giving them the ball but luckily we have one of the best keepers in the world. We are in the final and are looking forward to 26 May.” CLINICAL CAVANI: Cavani’s goals in the 39th and 68th minutes ensured United’s place in the final, the Uruguayan having also struck a double at Old Trafford. Roma had gone ahead on the night midway through the second half with goals from Edin Dzeko and Bryan Cristante in a three-minute spell, and Alex Telles’ own goal gave the hosts a second-leg win with seven minutes to go.

Roma battled from the outset with Gianluca Mancini forcing an early save from United goalkeeper David De Gea, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan nodding the resulting corner into the side netting.

Cavani repeatedly proved dangerous, pouncing on a Roger Ibanez blunder to rattle the bar and then forcing a save from Roma keeper Antonio Mirante.

The Uruguayan finally broke through six minutes before the break, collecting a Bruno Fernandes through ball before firing past a beaten Mirante. De Gea did well again to save from Mkhitaryan and Dzeko either side of the break.

The 33-year-old Dzeko levelled the

match in the 57th minute when he got his head to Pedro’s cross to beat De Gea. Cristante got the second three minutes later, connecting with a Lorenzo Pellegrini to revive Roman hopes.

De Gea then pulled off a miraculous double save on from a Dzeko header and Pedro’s follow-up, and Cavani struck again after 68 minutes when he headed Bruno Fernandes’ centre past Mirante.

Roma did not give up and Telles’ own goal offered some consolation to a team set to be coached next season by former Man United manager Jose Mourinho.

“It was important to come out with our heads held high and have a good game,” said Cristante. “We deserved it, we had a great Europa League this year and it was right to end it like this.”

Meanwhile, Villarreal boss Unai Emery came back to haunt Arsenal as the Spanish side held out for a 0-0 draw at the Emirates to set up a Europa League final against Manchester United with a 2-1 victory on aggregate.

Defeat means the Gunners will miss out on Champions League football for a fifth consecutive season with the pressure building on Emery’s successor Mikel Arteta. Sitting ninth in the Premier League, Arsenal are now on the verge of failing to qualify for European football for the first time in 26 years.

“We are devastated,” said Arteta. “We tried everything until the last minute. I think we deserved to win the game but the details define these ties.”

CMYK

way to his 18th Test century.

Abid was dropped on 94 during an anxious progress to his third Test hundred – his first since reaching three figures in both his first two Tests, against Sri Lanka, in December 2019. Abid had already spent 17 balls in the nineties when he stretched for a flighted,

wide delivery from left-arm spinner Milton Shumba and edged a chance which was put down by wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva.

It took Abid another 19 deliveries before he cut Tendai Chisoro, another left-armer spinner, to reach the milestone with his 14th boundary. Abid faced 246 balls and hit 17 fours in his innings. Azhar scored his runs off 240 deliveries with 17 fours and a six.

Zimbabwe started the day well, claiming the wicket of Imran Butt in the eighth over.

Butt top-edged a pull to midwicket against left-arm opening bowler Richard Ngarava after scoring two off 20 balls.

But Abid and Azhar settled in on an easy-paced pitch after seeing off some good bowling by Ngarava and Muzarabani.

Zimbabwe, already hit by injuries to three leading batsmen, had a new injury concern when Roy Kaia was taken off on a stretcher shortly before tea. Fielding at short leg, he was struck a heavy blow above the left knee by a pull shot from Abid.

Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement at close of play that Kaia had suffered bruising and his knee was swollen and tender.

He was unable to return to the field but will be assessed on Saturday morning.

Pakistan gave a debut to 36-year-old seam bowler Tabish Khan, who replaced all-rounder Faheem Ashraf in the only change from the first Test. Zimbabwe also had a new cap in fast bowler Luke Jongwe, who replaced injured opening batsman Prince Masvaure.

PCB ComPletes first Phase of Players’ vaCCination NEWS DESK The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday said that it has completed the first phase of its coronavirus vaccination drive for players and support staff. In a tweet, the cricketing body said that the country’s leading cricketers across all formats of the game and support staff have been vaccinated. In the first phase, 57 players and 13 officials of the men’s team and 13 NHPC men and women coaches were vaccinated. A number of franchise players and support staff, besides PCB match officials involved in the February-March phase of the HBL Pakistan Super League, were also vaccinated. The vaccination drive was started on March 4 in Karachi and it continued for more than four months before its conclusion on May 6, when eight players of Pakistan’s squad for the ongoing Test series against Zimbabwe were given second doses in Harare. In the next phase, which is expected to commence shortly, remaining domestic men cricketers, national women cricketers, age-group cricketers and support staff of the domestic, national women and age-group teams will be vaccinated. The vaccinations were done in collaboration with the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). “The PCB has a duty of care towards its cricketers, especially in the ongoing [coronavirus] pandemic, and keeping that in mind we requested the NCOC for vaccines during the HBL Pakistan Super League 6," said PCB Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer.

nadal, osaka win top Laureus sports awards SEVILLE AGENCIES

Tennis players Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka picked up the Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards on Thursday with football star Mo Salah and Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton also recognised.

World number two Nadal claimed his fourth Laureus award as he was recognised for his 13th French Open and recordequalling 20th major. Osaka, who won the US Open for the second time and has four majors, is now a two-time Laureus winner.

"Winning the French Open and equalling the 20th Grand Slam of Roger Federer has been an unforgettable moment," said Nadal.

"It means a lot to equal my great rival, but at the same time, my great friend." Osaka was recognised also for her anti-racism stance particularly at the US Open where she wore face masks bearing the names of Black Americans who died as a result of police clashes or were victims of racial injustice.

"Regarding my activism on the court, I think it is important to use my voice, because for me I feel like I often hold back a lot and worry about what people think of me, but you know if you have a platform it is very impor-

tant you use it," said the Japanese star.

Bayern Munich, winners of the UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga, won the Laureus World Team of the Year Award.

Liverpool and Egypt attacker Salah won the Sporting Inspiration Award for his support of various charities, many in his home town of Nagrig. He is also a powerful advocate of women's rights in the Middle East.

Hamilton was named the inaugural winner of the Laureus Athlete Advocate of the Year award for his support for racial justice, wearing a Black Lives Matter helmet and black race suit and taking a knee at each Grand Prix. Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot was one of the most emotional winners.

He received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year after fighting back from cancer to win X-Games gold medals.

Patrick Mahomes took the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award after leading the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 to their first Super Bowl appearance and win in 50 years. Tennis giant Billie Jean King was honoured with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement award. Chris Nikic, who became the first person with Down's Syndrome to complete a full Ironman, received the most votes in the global Laureus Sporting Moment award public vote.

Saturday, 8 May, 2021

prayer timings

NEWS

Overseas PakIstanIs have trust In PM IMran, says Fawad ISLAMABAD

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ARRIVAL OF AMAZON IN PAKISTAN A BIG DEVELOPMENT: DAWOOD

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INISTER for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said that the prime minister spoke on the rights of Pakistanis living abroad, especially the labour class, adding that the overseas Pakistanis had shown great trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He cited the fact that remittances from Pakistanis abroad had touched record high and they were playing an important role in building the national economy.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Chaudhry asked why action should not be taken against those in the foreign services.

It is pertinent here to mention that Prime Minister Imran, while speaking to envoys posted in 19 countries through video conferencing, said that he had noticed “shocking callousness” of Pakistani diplomats posted overseas after a few recent incidents involving expatriates.

During the presser, the information minister said: “There are incidents where embassy officials placed rocks and blocked routes to (Pakistani) embassies so labour could not enter. Should proceedings not be initiated against them?”

He said that the details of events which had caused Prime Minister Imran Khan to address the country’s ambassadors and point out their mistakes should be examined.

He added that in one instance, an embassy which is currently under investigation, had mishandled the case of a woman being continuously raped while working at someone’s home.

The minister said that the victim had approached the embassy to seek help.

“However, the officer present had told her off by saying: ‘You’ve already had three divorces before. Why don’t I hand you over to the police?’ This response led her to go back to the house,” he said.

“If Pakistan’s prime minister doesn’t talk about this behaviour, then who will?

If the government and the prime minister can’t stand with the working class and the poor then what right do we have to remain in government?”

The information minister further added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government stood by the weaker sections

of the society against the powerful people.

“If our prime minister cannot stand by weaker Pakistanis then we have no right to remain in power,” he said.

The minister said that the powerful section of the society had to realize that the weaker section was their responsibility. He said that he was surprised at the reaction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership over the prime minister’s remarks.

He also said that the government was ready to talk to the opposition so it (the opposition) should adopt a serious approach for electoral reforms.

He maintained that he had already said that reelection should be done in NA-249 and the other day’s events proved that it was a case of re-polling not recounting as seals of the ballot bags were broken and form 46 were missing.

He further stated that all this controversy was due to opposition parties’ refusal to adopt a serious approach for the reformation of the electoral process. He added that opposition leaders should realize the court cases against them were a separate issue.

On the occasion, the minister gave some good news to the media, and said that the cabinet had given approval to the Journalist Protection Act which would prove to be a landmark legislation for the welfare and better working environment

for working journalists.

He added that a new institution would be set up for redressal of journalists complaints.

He said that the government had released Rs400 million to media houses and the purpose of providing funds to media houses was to pay salaries to media workers on Eid. He stressed that a programme for support of media houses was being launched and a Media Development Authority would be constituted.

Replying to questions from journalists, Fawad said that the prime minister’s inspection was tasked to investigate the Saudi Arabia-based Pakistani embassy and its chairman Ahmad Yar Hiraj would submit the initial report within 15 days to the prime minister and then the next phase would be initiated on that matter.

Regarding Prime Minister Imran’s promise of provision of 10 million jobs and five million houses, Fawad made it clear that these two major promises were not election promises but the PTI and its government meant it.

He said that he was compiling the data on job provision, but over one million Pakistanis had got employment abroad during the last two and a half years, whereas thousands were employed in government and private departments.

The minister said that the Prime Minister Housing Scheme initiative had received applications for the provision of Rs52 billion loans and so far, Rs12 billion had already been released under this programme.

Fawad said that this year, a large number of houses would be constructed while the construction sector had already been showing promising turnaround and rising continuously.

He added that the production of cement had been doubled and the related sectors had also shown promising growth.

During the press conference, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production Dawood said that the arrival of Amazon to the country was a big development.

Dawood said that it was on the demand of all the stakeholders that the platform of Amazon was introduced in the country.

“And now with Amazon’s entry, the logistic companies would have to strengthen their capabilities,” he asserted and added that now the exporters, as well as personnel of the logistic companies, would be imparted training.

The adviser to the prime minister said that goods manufactured in Pakistan were still on sale on Amazon. He informed that trade worth $4 trillion was being done through e-commerce in the world these days.

He said that the world market would be open for Pakistani manufacturers to export their goods and it would bring a major impact on Pakistan economy and will also open new job opportunities in the e-commerce and IT sector in Pakistan.

Dawood said that they were in talks with Amazon for sometimes and now they have allowed the government to make a preliminary announcement in this regard before the formal announcement of the company.

He underscored that Pakistani manufacturers were already doing business on Amazon but they could not create a seller ID from Pakistan and would have to depend on a third party for selling their products on Amazon.

He added that now the onus will be on the manufacturers to keep the standard of their products high. He said that they have also worked with the State Bank of Pakistan for making the payment structure for Amazon sales a smooth one.

To a question, Dawood said that he would soon hold a meeting with Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen to discuss the ecommerce related issues and the role of the Federal Board of Revenue.

No Eid holiday for healthcare staff amid pandemic, Sindh notifies As the country fends off the global pandemic woes propping up in the third wave, the government of Sindh has Friday notified that private hospital staffers will be on duty while vaccinations center shall too remain open sans three eid days.

According to the notification released by the Sindh government, except for the three gazetted Eid days, from 13- to 15 May, the vaccination centers will remain open on all federally announced holidays.

Eid holidays have been canceled across Sindh for all healthcare workers on the government of Sindh’s payroll, that is, in view of rising Covid trend. Separately to happen today, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), too, announced that the vote recount on the NA-249 by-poll will continue during Eid, canceling Eid holidays of the provincial staff.

The ECP has decided that its provincial offices with necessary staff will remain open as vote recount will con-

tinue on the Eid days.

The election commission has issued a notification to abolish Eid holidays in the Sindh offices as offices of the returning officer and district returning officer will remain open.

The recounting of votes in the National Assembly (NA) constituency NA-249 by-election continued on the second consecutive day today (Friday) despite boycott by all the political parties except Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). neWs DesK

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India’s virus surge pressures Modi to impose strict lockdown With coronavirus cases still surging to record levels, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing growing pressure to impose a harsh nationwide lockdown amid a debate whether restrictions imposed by individual states are enough. Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some of the Supreme Court judges have suggested the lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns, where hospitals are forced to turn patients away while relatives scramble to find oxygen. Crematoriums and burial grounds are struggling to handle the dead. On Friday, India recorded a new record of 414,188 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, Its tally has risen to more than 21.4 million since the pandemic began with faint hopes of the curve going down quickly. The health ministry also reported 3,915 additional deaths, bringing the total to 234,083.

Experts believe both figures are an undercount.

The official daily death count has stayed over 3,000 for the past 10 days. Over the past month, nearly a dozen out of India’s 28 federal states have announced less stringent restrictions than the nationwide lockdown imposed for two months in March last year. Modi, who held consultations with top elected leaders and officials of the worst-hit states on Thursday, has so far left the responsibility for fighting the virus to poorly equipped state governments. Dr Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said a complete, aggressive lockdown is needed in India just like last year, especially in areas where more than 10 per cent of those tested have contracted Covid-19. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a public-private consultancy, acknowledged that different states were experiencing different intensities of the epidemic, but said a “coordinated countrywide strategy” was still needed. According to Reddy, decisions need to be based on local conditions but should be closely coordinated by the centre.

“Like an orchestra which plays the same sheet music but with different instruments,” he said.

Anthony Fauci, US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, also suggested that a complete shutdown in India may be needed two to four weeks to help ease the surge of infections. “As soon as the cases start coming down, you can vaccinate more people and get ahead of the trajectory of the outbreak of the pandemic,” Fauci said in an interview with the Indian television CNN News18 news channel on Thursday. He did not provide specifics of what a shutdown should entail. He said it appears there are at least two types of virus variants circulating in India. He said B117, which is the UK variant, tends to be concentrated in New Delhi and that the 617 variant is concentrated in the worst-hit western Maharashtra state. “Both of those have increasing capability of transmitting better and more efficiently than the original Wuhan strain a year ago,” Fauci said.

Modi imposed a two-month stringent lockdown last year on four hours’ notice. It stranded tens of millions of migrant workers who were left jobless and fled to villages with many dying along the way. Experts say the decision helped contain the virus and bought time for the government. India’s economy contracted by 23 per cent in April-June quarter last year and showed recovery as the restrictions were eased.

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) projection of 12.5pc growth in 2021-22 financial year, beginning April, is expected to suffer again with the surge in infections. agencies

WHO gives emergency approval to Sinopharm, first Chinese Covid vaccine GENEVA agencies

The World Health Organisation approved a Covid-19 vaccine from China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm for emergency use on Friday, a boost to Beijing’s push for a big role in inoculating the world.

The vaccine, one of two main Chinese coronavirus vaccines that collectively have already been given to hundreds of millions of people in China and elsewhere, is the first developed by a non-Western country to win WHO backing. It is also the first time the WHO has given emergency use approval to a Chinese vaccine for any infectious disease.

A WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators that a product is safe and effective. It also allows it to be included in COVAX, a global programme to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries, which has hit supply problems.

“This expands the list of Covid-19 vac-

cines that COVAX can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing.

The WHO had already given emergency approval to Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and, last week, Moderna.

The decision to approve Sinopharm’s vaccine was taken by WHO’s technical advisory group, which began meeting on April 26 to review the latest clinical data as well as Sinopharm’s manufacturing practices.

Also read: Pakistan has received 4.06 million doses of Covid vaccines so far A separate group of WHO experts, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), voiced concern this week over data provided

by Sinopharm on the risk of serious side-effects in some patients, but was confident in the vaccine’s ability to prevent disease, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

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Tedros said that, following the approval, SAGE had recommended that adults over 18 receive two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.

SAGE found an efficacy of 78.1% after two doses in multi-country Phase III clinical trials, according to the document. The vaccine’s developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group, had announced an efficacy of 79.34%.

The WHO has said it could reach a decision on China’s other main Covid-19 vaccine, made by Sinovac Biotech, as soon as next week. The technical experts reviewed it on Wednesday.

China has deployed around 65 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and more than 200 million doses of the Sinovac shot.

Both have been exported to many countries, particularly in Latin America, Asia and Africa, many of which have had difficulty securing supplies of vaccines developed in the West.

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