01 FRONT PAGE (12-9-2021) SUNDAY_LHR

CMYK

12 September, 2021 I 4 Safar, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 73 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

Regional intelligence chiefs fine-tune secuRity stRategy in wake of taliban’s Rise

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he intelligence chiefs of China, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan held an important meeting in Islamabad and deliberated on the developing situation in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The high-level meeting comes days after Lt Gen Faiz hameed’s return from Afghan capital Kabul, which he visited on the invitation of the Taliban.

An informed source told Pakistan Today that the meeting of the intelligence chief was chaired by Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General Lt Gen Faiz hameed.

It may be noted that Pakistan’s foreign minister had also hosted virtual meeting of his counterparts from China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan earlier this week for the same purpose. Russia, however, was conspicuously absent at the meeting.

“Security situation in Afghanistan and region was discussed during the meeting.

Detailed discussion took place on longlasting peace and security situation in the region. The long-term security situation in the region was discussed in detail,” the source said.

The source said that the intelligence chiefs also considered taking joint steps for lasting peace and stability in the region.

“Intelligence sharing was agreed upon

between the heads of the intelligence agencies and an intelligence sharing mechanism was developed,” the source added.

According to the source, the meeting discussed the immediate future of regional security, economic and trade ties with the Taliban leadership.

Last week, the Taliban announced its new interim government, headed by Mohammad hasan Akhund, with Abdul Ghani Baradar as his deputy.

Recent reports have suggested that Russia and some of the central Asian countries have some reservations about the recently announced interim government by Taliban. The situation took a grim turn after Taliban extended an invite to Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, Qatar and Turkey to attend the oath-taking of the interim government. however, Russia announced to skip the oath-taking ceremony of Afghan Taliban government.

“Russia will not take part in any way in the Taliban government’s inauguration ceremony in Afghanistan,” Kremlin has said on Friday.

The speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament said earlier this week that Russia would be represented at the inauguration by ambassador-level officials, the RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Interestingly, a social media account linked to Afghan government announced on Saturday that the Taliban regime has decided to call-off the oath-taking ceremony of the cabinet as an ‘austerity measure’.

Former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an op-ed that Russia and other central Asian countries could face a new wave of a migration crisis owing to the situation in Afghanistan, TASS news agency stated in a report.

Russia has also expressed concerns that with the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan, radical Islamist threats could emanate and spill over into Central Asia.

Centre won’t allow Sindh to collect KMC taxes, says minister The federal government has cited its opposition to the Sindh government’s proposal to collect taxes on behalf of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) through electricity bills.

In a joint press conference alongside Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi in Karachi, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Saturday said that the federal government would not allow it.

“I have spoken to energy Minister hammad Azhar regarding this matter and we will not permit the collection of taxes through power bills,” said the minister, while speaking to the media in Karachi.

On Wednesday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had unveiled the provincial government’s plan to collect two taxes on behalf of the KMC — fire tax and conservancy tax — from the citizens of Karachi through the monthly K-electric bill.

Shah had said that Rs100 and Rs200 would be charged respectively from two categories of consumers [to be carved by the provincial administration] in the Ke bill.

The chief minister had said that he was working to strengthen

Karachi’s local bodies financially so that they could serve citizens from their own resources.

During the presser, the planning minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would visit Karachi before September 30 and inaugurate the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) infrastructure. he said the PPP has ruled over Karachi and the province for 13 years, yet the city is not desperate and there are issues with waste disposal as well. Asad maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan is aware of the problems facing the metropolis.

“The federal government would heal Karachi’s wounds. Work is underway on five major federal projects in the city,” said Asad.

“The Green Line project is a modern transport project. Several of its phases have been completed whereas 80 buses are being bought for it. Some buses will arrive on September 12 while another 40 buses will reach Karachi by next week.”

The minister elaborated that drivers had been recruited and a command and control centre has been set up and the IT infrastructure for the project would be completed soon. news desk

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sunday, 12 september, 2021

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PakiSTani SoLdiER MaRTyREd duRing PEaCEkEEPing MiSSion in Sudan

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URING a peacekeeping mission in Sudan, a Pakistani soldier named Lance Naik Adil Jan embraced martyrdom while on duty.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, Jan, 38, a member of the Frontier Corps Balochistan, was part of the UN mission in Darfur responsible for the protection of civilians and facilitating humanitarian assistance in the district.

The soldier was posted at the African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur. He hailed from Lakki Marwat

district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York said in a statement that Jan “passed away” on Sept 9, “shortly after being taken ill while on duty in El Fasher”.

The soldier “will be fondly remembered as a dedicated, highly knowledgeable and professional”, it added.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), as many as 161 Pakistani peacekeepers have so far laid their lives as part of global peace missions for international peace and stability.

Pakistan is one of the longest-serving and largest

contributors to UN peacekeeping and has a health personnel unit in Darfur as well.

Pakistan’s first UN peacekeeping mission began in 1960 in Congo and so far more than 200,000 Pakistani soldiers have participated in 60 missions in 28 countries.

Pakistan still has more than 7,000 personnel deployed in nine countries as part of 14 ongoing UN missions.

During his visit to Pakistan last year, UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres had appreciated the contribution of Pakistani women in peacekeeping.

“Pakistan is a leader in championing women peacekeepers and an example for other troop contributors,” he had said.

Noor murder cAse

Zahir Jaffer’s father enabled the crime, reveals police challan INTERIM INVESTIGATION REPORT REVEALS NOOR MADE SIX ATTEMPTS TO SAVE HER LIFE NewS DeSk The challan submitted by the police to the trial court in the murder case of the 27-year-old Noor Mukadam revealed that Zakir Jaffer, the father of prime suspect Zahir Jaffer, enabled the crime.

Noor was found beheaded at Zahir’s residence on July 20 in Islamabad’s F-7 area. Noor is the daughter of Shaukat Mukadam, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan. The Islamabad police arrested suspect Zahir on the night of July 20 from his house where, according to Noor’s parents, he killed her with a sharp instrument and severed her head. The gruesome incident sparked a nationwide campaign seeking justice for her.

The interim challan was submitted to Additional District and Sessions Judge

Atta Rabbani on September 9. Earlier, the challan was filed in the court of District and Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti. However, the court tried the case on September 9 and later transferred it.

In the challan, the police also stated in the challan that the crime could have been avoided had Zakir informed the police instead of helping his son.

The challan also stated that prime suspect Zahir had confessed to killing Noor and a DNA report confirmed she was raped. Zahir also gave a statement about beheaded Noor, the challan stated.

According to the police investigation report, Zahir said that when Noor refused to marry him, he forcibly locked her up in a room. He told his guard to not let anyone in and not let her out. He hid her mobile phone in another room, which

was retrieved by the police from a closet in his house on his identification.

Zahir informed his father about Noor’s murder and the father told him there was no need to panic and that his “men were coming to dispose of the body”, the challan said.

The interim challan says if Zakir had informed the police in time, Noor’ murder could have been avoided. The father helped his son, it said.

According to the statement of the suspect, a quarrel with Amjad Mahmood, one of the employees of Therapy Works who was present at the crime scene, took place over a misunderstanding.

The employees of Therapy Works tried to hide the act of the suspect and destroy evidence, the challan said, adding that injured employee Amjad lied to the hospital administration and said he got

injured in a road accident on his medical slip. The interim challan states that the photographs and fingerprints stored in the DVR also belong to the prime suspect.

According to a DNA report from August 12, the suspect raped Noor. The interim challan also states that Zahir had booked a flight to the United States on July 19 but did not travel.

When she jumped from the washroom window to escape, the watchman did not facilitate her. The gardener, Jan Mohammad, also did not allow Noor to open the gate. If he had allowed Noor to open the gate, she could have escaped her death.

Reports said that no poison or drugs were found in the victim’s body.

Meanwhile, the results of the forensic analysis of the victim’s mobile phone and laptop are yet to come.

The challan also states that there is evidence against 12 suspects in the case.

Azerbaijan to host Pakistan, Turkey for joint military drills ISLAMABAD ReuteRs

Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey will hold joint military drills from September 12 to 20 in Baku, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on Saturday, the first such drills between the three countries.

The goal of the “Three Brothers — 2021” exercises is to improve cooperation between their special forces and to share knowledge and experience, the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey and Azerbaijan held joint live-fire drills in Baku earlier this year.

Ankara last year backed Azerbaijan’s effort to drive ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the NagornoKarabakh region.

Rafique condemns Swati’s ‘threats’ against ECP, seeks action against him NewS DeSk Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Saad Rafique condemned the “threats” hurdled by Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati against the Election Commission of Pakistan and urged the relevant institutions and civil society to take action against him. On Friday, during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by PPP Senator Taj Haider and called to discuss proposed amendments to the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2021, Swati had commented that institutions like the ECP should be “set on fire”. HE had also alleged that the commission took bribes to rig polls. The amendments, proposed by the government, primarily seek the use of electronic voting machines in elections and giving expatriates the right to vote — two issues that have been a point of contention between the government and the opposition for long. Swati’s comments on the matter have drawn strong criticism from the opposition, including censure by Rafique on Saturday. Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the PML-N leader said while referring to Swati’s remarks: “They need to hold their tongue.” He said it was perhaps for the first time in history that “the ECP has taken a stand on principles,” and in that case, it was the collective responsibility of the civil society, lawyers and political parties to take notice of the threats made against the ECP and take measures to defend and protect the country’s institutions.

Larger LHC bench to take up petitions against new Model Town incident probe team LAHORe staff RepoRt

A seven-member larger bench of the Lahore High Court was continued to take up petitions filed against the latest joint investigation team to probe the Model Town incident. Headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, the bench features Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Justice Aalia Neelum, Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem, Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh. The proceedings will begin on September 14 (Tuesday). In June 2014, at least 14 people died and dozens injured as police fired shots and tear gas to disperse stone-throwing supporters of Tahir ul-Qadri, chairman of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, in the upscale Model Town neighbourhood of Lahore. The clashes broke out after supporters of the party resisted attempts to clear barriers outside Qadri’s offices in the neighbourhood.

When the police brought in reinforcements in the morning, the confrontation grew, although the police insist they showed restraint. The Justice Baqar Najafi report — a judicial probe into the debacle, released in December 2017 after tooth and nail attempts of the Shahbaz Sharif government to prevent its release — pointed fingers at then-Punjab Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah and police for influencing the heavyhanded strategy of the authorities in dealing with the situation. In January 2019, the Punjab government reconstituted a new five-member JIT to probe the incident. Headed by Allah Dino Khwaja, a BPS-22 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, the team included representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Gilgit-Baltistan police. Two months later, the high court, while announcing the verdict on a set of petitions challenging the legitimacy of the committee, suspended the team until further orders.

Centre won’t allow Sindh to collect KMC taxes, says minister CONtINueD fROM pAge 01 About garbage collection and disposal, the federal minister said around 1.1 million tons of garbage would be removed from the drains of the city.

“Sidewalks, underpasses and overhead bridges are being constructed on these drains,” he said. “About 15ft wide roads will also be constructed along these drains.”

He added that the situation for draining rainwater is now much better and around 90pc of the drains have been cleaned.

“The recent rains have not caused any problems due to the storm drains being cleaned earlier.”

The planning minister said the third project by the federation was of KCR. “Chief Justice of Pakistan helped us with the circular railway project. The project is from

Karachi to Pipri and will cost Rs70 billion. It will cover 43 km, out of which 29kms would be elevated.”

The planning minister further said that the KCR would service 22 stations and the entire project will be run by the private sector. Asad revealed that the premier would visit the port city before September 30 and inaugurate the KCR infrastructure.

Referring to Karachi’s water woes, the minister said the K-4 scheme has been delayed for the last decade, but work on four projects will resume in five months.

“We are trying to complete four projects by August 14, 2023. The Sindh government is responsible for water supply,” he said.

He said that the next general elections in the country will be conducted on the basis of a new census. He added that the previous governments had not given any major plans for Karachi.

Under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme, Rs7 billion was distributed in Karachi and Rs65 billion in Sindh, said Asad and added that Rs21 billion has been allocated for small schemes in the city in the current budget.

“Karachi census has been a long-standing issue,” he said. “Former president Pervez Musharraf did a lot for Karachi but he could not conduct the census. The census was conducted again 19 years later in 2017. We want the facts about the census to come out, involving all stakeholders. The summary will be sent to stakeholders after cabinet approval.”

He added that the census is expected to be completed in early 2023, and constituencies would be demarcated following the conclusion of the exercise.

Asad further said that the Sindh government was not ready to hold local body elections.

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Punjab RESHuffLE: aLEEM kHan RESignS; fivE MoRE MiniSTERS To go HoME ovER 'PooR PERfoRManCE' ISLAMABAD

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NAUMAN LANGRIAL, OTHERS LIKELY TO BE REPLACED

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N a major shock for the Punjab government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and senior provincial minister Abdul Aleem Khan has resigned while another three members of Punjab cabinet close to Jahangir Tareen are likely to be shown the door.

A source said that Aleem Khan has written in his resignation that he cannot take over the ministry due to personal commitments.

According to the source in the ruling party, Abdul Aleem Khan had informed the prime minister about his resignation

after PM Imran became angry with Aleem Khan for carrying on his personal friendship witj PTIs ousted leader Jahangir Khan Tareen.

According to source, senior minister Aleem Khan tendered his resignation in a meeting with the prime minister a few days ago. Aleem Khan was awaiting the prime minister's response on accepting the resignation but after a cold shoulder by the PM, Aleem Imran finally submitted his resignation.

Aleem Khan took a stand in his

resignation that he could not handle the ministry due to personal commitments, so the resignation should be accepted. Senior provincial minister Aleem Khan said that he had met the 0rime minister six months ago and asked for permission to resign in the meeting but the Prime Minister had told me to wait. He said that he informed the prime minister that he would not continue his responsibilities due to personal commitments.

The source said that It should be noted that Aleem Khan is among the ministers

whose ministries are likely to be changed and he resigned after being informed that he would be replaced.

The source said that there is a possibility of change of ministries of five more ministers on the report of authoritative bodies in the Punjab cabinet.

"Authoritative bodies have compiled reports on the performance of ministers for the past three years. The report will be submitted to Prime Minister Imran Khan soon," the source said.

"After the approval of the prime minister, the chief minister will reshuffle the Punjab cabinet," the source said.

The source said that the portfolios of five ministers are likely to be withdrawn due

nsa warns world against abandoning war-ravaged afghanistan, again DR LONG XINGCHUN SAYS CPEC EXPANSION CAN HELP REBUILDING AFGHANISTAN ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR

National Security Advisor (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf Saturday warned the world against abandoning the warravaged Afghanistan, calling it a ‘grave mistake’.

Delivering a keynote address at an international webinar organized by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), titled, “Future of Afghanistan and Regional Stability: Challenges, Opportunities & Way Forward”, Dr Moeed Yusuf said that the world needs to constructively engage Afghan Taliban in order to prevent governance collapse and avert another refugee crisis.

Yusuf said Pakistan was coordinating with the world to have a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

“After the Soviet-Afghan Mujahideen conflict in Afghanistan, the Western world committed catastrophic mistakes. The biggest of the mistakes were abandoning the war-ravaged Afghanistan and sanctioning its ‘most allied of allies’ and Pakistan was the only country which bore the brunt of abandonment of Afghanistan and the subsequent War on Terror,” remarked the National

Security Advisor.

Dr Long Xingchun, President Chengdu Institute of World Affairs of China said that neighboring countries have to play a lead role in rebuilding Afghanistan. He said Pakistan is the most important country in this regard. He said that China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should be expanded into Afghanistan and Gwadar port can play a big role in strengthening the Afghan economy.

Russian geopolitical expert, Leonid Savin, said that the recent take-over by Afghan Taliban has changed the regional and political dynamics and this will have an impact on global politics. He said Russia can recognize the new government if China recognizes it first.

Professor Dr Fazl-Ul-Hadi Wazeen of Salam University of Kabul said that the international community should not corner Afghanistan and give the new government a chance to rule. He said Afghan Taliban must also keep their promises, adopt a reconciliatory approach and refrain from the use of force.

Dr Syed Qandi Abbas of Quaid-e-Azam University said that both Pakistan and Iran expect an

inclusive permanent Afghan government in future.

He said that the current interim government is not inclusive which has included only three non-Pushtun individuals, out of the total 34 cabinet members. He said Iran expects a greater accommodation of nonPushtun people if a civil war is to be avoided in future in Afghanistan.

Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan (R), the acting President of CASS and former Vice Chief of the Air Staff of PAF, in his concluding address urged the world to give peace a chance in Afghanistan and the region after trying everything else in the past.

He also stressed that the regional countries have a common interest in a peaceful and stable Afghanistan while regional connectivity projects such as CPEC could be the harbinger of economic well-being and prosperity for the whole region.

The webinar was moderated by Syed Muhammad Ali, Director Nuclear & Strategic Affairs, Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies. He said that Afghanistan has remained a victim of conflicts and abandonment.

“Now the Afghan people deserve international help to rebuild a stable nation-state, in return for a security commitment by the new Afghan government that Afghanistan’s territory will not be used against any other country,” he concluded.

efforts afoot to build consensus on proposed media regulator: minister ISLAMABAD app

The government of the Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf party firmly believed in fundamental, democratic and constitutional rights of freedom of expression and wished to take all stakeholders on board to create consensus on the proposal of the Pakistan Media Development Authority, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said.

During a meeting with the UK high commissioner to Pakistan, the minister said the authority was aimed at ensuring a cohesive approach to media development and efficient management besides providing one-window operation to media practitioners and the consumers.

Chaudhry further told Christian Turner the government also wanted to

streamline and ease the process for issuance of the no-objection certificate for a film in order to give a boost to the industry. He also clarified the hoax that no criminal section was included in the proposed law. Protection, perseverance and promotion of the democratic values of freedom of expression and right to criticism were vital for any democratic civilised society, he asserted.

At present, as many as seven separate governing bodies were regulating media organisations. These bodies included Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, Press Council of Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Central Board of Films Censors, Press Registrar Office, Audit Bureau of Circulation and Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees.

The minister said these authorities were scattered and, more importantly, digital media platforms were not covered

nCoC daily update: 3,480 new cases, 82 deaths from Covid-19 ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Pakistan on Friday added 3,480 new Covid-19 cases and 82 more deaths, the National Command and Operation Centre said on Saturday. The NCOC, the department leading the campaign against the pandemic, said the number of overall confirmed cases had risen to 1,201,367, including 1,082,988 recoveries. The number of active cases has increased to 91,717 who are under treatment across the country, including 5,373 in critical conditions. According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 82 people on Friday, increasing the total death toll to 26,662.

under any regulatory framework.

He said that in modern times, television, radio and newspapers converged and became a part of smartphones and therefore needed a single regulatory agency. The convergence of media bodies under PDMA was essential to develop electronic, print, digital and emerging media platforms, the minister added. Under the present mechanism of regulation, over half a dozen outdated laws regulations were in place and failed to meet the modern-day requirements of the press.

The minister said under the existing regulatory system, the redressal of public complaints consumed a long time and applications for registration, and grants of NOCs were not processed in time.

He said the new framework would address challenges and requirements for the convergent media environment as per global practices to make Pakistan a major global centre for multimedia

information and content services.

“We wish to do away with outdated laws and bring a simple single law in line with requirements of the modern age, focusing on facilitation for both the media platforms and citizens,” he added.

Unlike the present system which focused on policing and revenue collection, the new authority would focus on development, innovation, digital economy, training and research, the information minister stressed. He said the present laws related to media regulation would be abolished and new legislation finalised in consultation with stakeholders would be enacted. The minister said transparency in all processes would be ensured through the simplification of rules and procedures. He highlighted that PMDA would have separate directorates covering the press, digital media and films and electronic media, as well as media complaints council and media tribunal.

to unsatisfactory performance over past three years.

"Among the ministers whose ministries are at risk are the ministers of the Tareen group," the source said.

The sources added that Labour Minister Ansar Majeed Niazi, Noman Langarial and Ajmal Cheema could also be removed.

Minister for Transport Jahanzeb Khichi, Minister for Literacy and NonFormal Basic Education Rashid Hafeez, Minister for Environment Bao Rizwan and Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun are also likely to be replaced. The source said that new party lawmakers could be given the ministries in cabinet reshuffle.

Pia denies resuming commercial flights to kabul NewS DeSk Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday denied that it would resume commercial flights from Islamabad to Kabul next week. Earlier today, AFP had quoted PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan as saying that the airline had received all technical clearances for flight operations. The report had quoted him as saying that the first commercial plane was scheduled to fly from Islamabad to Kabul on September 13. However, the PIA spokesperson later issued a clarification and denied that the airline was resuming commercial flights. Speaking to Voice of America, he said that there was still some time to go before resuming flight operations, adding that it depends on a multitude of factors on the ground that "are still to be managed". According to the publication, the PIA spokesperson said that media reports suggesting flights would resume from Monday "had been taken out of context". He said that some international institutions and missions in the Afghan capital were regularly in contact with PIA and had requested to run charter flights, prompting the airline to seek permission. “We had actually applied for a charter flight permission to Kabul that was taken up by media and they actually said PIA is now resuming its regular flight operation from Sept 13, which is not the case,” the VOA report quoted him as saying. According to the PIA spokesperson, “certain arrangements” need to be in place before flight operations could resume. Kabul airport was severely damaged during a chaotic evacuation of over 120,000 people that ended with the withdrawal of US forces on August 30. The Taliban have been scrambling to get it operating again with Qatari technical assistance. In the last two days, Qatar Airways has operated two charter flights out of Kabul, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed being taken out during the evacuation. An Afghan airline resumed domestic flights last week.

Citizens aged 15-18 can receive Pfizer vaccine free of charge: nCoC NewS DeSk Citizens between the ages of 15 and 18 will be administered Pfizer jabs only without any charge, the National Command and Operation Centre announced on Saturday. In a statement, the NCOC also said mobile vaccination teams will go to schools and colleges to vaccinate students of the same age group.

The forum said registration certificate number (FormB) of children will be required for their vaccination.

Moreover, the NCOC on Saturday announced that those awaiting their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine may visit a vaccination centre on any day of the week. NCOC, the nerve centre of the government’s anti-pandemic strategy, maintained that citizens do not have to wait for a message from the authority to proceed with a second dose, Radio Pakistan reported.

Pakistan hails uN chief’s report on enhanced multilateralism New YORk app

Pakistan has welcomed the “thoughtful and innovative” new report released by the office of the United Nations secretary-general that set out Antonio Guterres’ vision for the future of global cooperation, insisting the agency must be reformed.

“It is quite clear that we need to look at mobilizing international solidarity, both at the national and particularly at the international level as we witness vaccine apartheid,” Pakistan’s ambassador at UN, Munir

Akram, said at a meeting of the General Assembly convened to launch the report. The report — Our Common Agenda — sets out a bold plan for how the global community must tackle the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity, pandemics, inequality and other existential crisis facing the world. It also reflects upon the solutions needed to lift the world away from divisiveness and fragmentation and build upon lessons learnt from recent crises including Covid-19.

“I would like to welcome the report that secretary general has submitted to us, the common agenda,

and his eloquent presentation of the report this morning,” Akram said.

“We must look to the future as the report, as the secretary general has advocated, but we also need to hold on to the past, to the principles of the charter, to the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] as the blueprint for development and for many of the commitments that have been made, and which we hope will be fulfilled, and not be lost in new processes.”

The report presents a rich field of ideas and proposals for new summits and new processes, he said.

“We need to see what action we

can derive from the processes,” the ambassador said, adding that “what are the actual steps that are needed in concrete terms in order to deal with the crisis of today and the challenges of tomorrow”. Referring to the world body’s main responsibility for peace and security, the envoy said: “Today, we are facing a surfeit of conflicts and disputes, old lingering conflicts, new and emerging threats to international peace and security and we believe that these are the kinds of threats that require attention at the level of leadership and the attention of those concerned at the highest levels.”

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

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LAHORE

Pakistan, China ink MoU to CooPerate in international arbitration BEIJING

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AKISTAn and China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation in international arbitration between the two countries.

The MoU was signed by Pakistan’s Centre for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration (CIICA) and China’s Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (GZAC) in Beijing, CEn reported.

According to GZAC, the signing of MoU symbolizes the joint construction of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by ar-

bitration organisations of China and Pakistan. In the future, the two sides will further promote the “Four Sharing”, explore new paths for the development of online dispute settlement mechanisms, jointly cope with the increasing number of transnational disputes and offer international arbitration services in a better way.

Chen Simin, Director of GZAC, noted on the occasion that the cooperation reached between CIICA and GZAC in the “Four Sharing” will surely promote the cooperation between China and Pakistan in the field of arbitration legal services.

Rana Sajjad Ahmad, Founder & President of CIICA, pointed out that at present, the construction of CPEC is of

Road between Ghakuch, Chitral restored for traffic NEWS DESK The road between Ghakuch and Chitral to Shandur Pass has been restored for traffic.

The road was blocked due to flood water at Gumsing and Hoper areas in Ghizer.

It is pertinent to mention that KKH is the lifeline for trade and people-to-people contact between Pakistan and China as well as between Gilgit-Baltistan and the

mainland Pakistan. In recent years, the KKH has assumed increased importance for being the main link between China and Pakistan in connection with the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The KKH also serves as the main route from China to Gwadar port, which is being developed with Chinese assistance to serve as the main route for China’s exports to the rest of the world.

great importance to Pakistan’s development, and there is an urgent need to improve the relevant legal dispute settlement mechanism.

“CIICA highly acknowledges the innovation and achievements in the construction of the online dispute settlement mechanism of GZAC,” he said, adding that CIICA is willing to collaborate with GZAC to promote the integration and interoperability of arbitration legal services between both countries.

Yang Yong, Director of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Guangzhou Committee, congratulated on the signing of the MoU and said it is hoped that through this cooper-

ation, both sides can deepen mutual understanding and actively promote the development of bilateral trade and investment cooperation with international commercial arbitration.

With the deepening of trade and industrial cooperation between China and Pakistan, how to deal with the inevitable transnational commercial disputes has become a common concern of both sides.

“Therefore, international arbitration is getting more and more important in promoting trade, investment, finance and infrastructure construction in CPEC,” remarked Ahmer Bilal Sufi, Former Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs of Pakistan.

Pandemic increasing risk factors for suicide, warns WHO NEWS DESK Suicide prevention must be prioritised after 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Americas office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned as World Suicide Prevention Day was commemorated on September 10.

Studies show that the global crisis has exacerbated risk factors associated with suicidal behaviours, such as job loss, trauma or abuse, mental health disorders and barriers to accessing health care.

“Suicide is an urgent public health problem

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and its prevention must be a national priority,” said Renato Oliveira e Souza, head of the Mental Health Unit at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

“We need concrete action from all elements of society to put an end to these deaths, and for governments to create and invest in a comprehensive national strategy to improve suicide prevention and care,” he added.

Globally, one in 100 deaths is by suicide, making it among the leading causes of death worldwide and the fourth leading cause of

death among 15- to 29year-olds, after road traffic accidents, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence. More people die each year from suicide than from HIV, malaria, or breast cancer, or from war and homicide, according to WHO. Some of the verbal or behavioural warning signs for suicide include talking about wanting to die, feeling immense guilt or shame, or feeling like a burden to others.

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

LAHORE

IslAmIc BANkINg shows hIghest growth IN 2020-21: rePort KARACHI

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TLTP

HE Islamic banking industry has shown a robust growth during the last six years while increase in its assets and deposits during the last fiscal year 2020-21 remained highest on a year-on-year basis.

This was stated by the State Bank of Pakistan in a recently issued report.

The assets of the Islamic banking industry expanded by Rs408 billion during the last quarter of 2020-21 and stood at Rs4.797 trillion as compared to Rs4.389 trillion in the previous quarter, said the report. The main reason behind this expansion was financing (net) of IBI, which observed a quarterly rise of Rs165 billion during the period under review.

Similarly, investment (net) of IBI, exhibited a surge of Rs17.6 billion. The market share of IBI’s assets in the overall banking industry’s assets was recorded at 17 per cent by the end of June 2021.

Analysis of assets by breakup among IBs and IBBs divulges that IBs recorded a quarterly growth of Rs156 billion to reach Rs2.700 trillion by the end of June 2021. The assets of IBBs reflected a growth of Rs252 billion and stood at Rs2.097 trillion by the end of June 2021.

The share of IBs and IBBs in the overall assets of IBI was 56.3 percent and 43.7 percent, respectively.

The net investments of IBI registered a growth of Rs17.6 billion during the period under review and were recorded at Rs1.363 trillion by the end of June 2021, the central bank said.

The share of net financing and investments in total assets (net) of IBI was recorded at 44.2 percent and 28.4 percent, respectively, by the end of June 2021.

The SBP report said that deposits of the Islamic banking industry also witnessed a quarterly growth of Rs365 billion and were recorded at Rs3.822 trillion. The year-on-year (YoY) growth of assets and deposits was recorded at 32 per cent and 29.7 percent, respectively, by the end of June 30, 2021.

The market share of the Islamic banking assets and deposits in the overall banking industry stood at 17 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively. On the profitability side, the profit-before-tax of the Islamic banking industry was registered at Rs42.6 billion by the end of June 2021,

said the report.

The Islamic banking industry network consisted of 22 Islamic banking institutions, including five full-fledged Islamic banks and 17 conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches by the end of June 2021. During the quarter (April–June 2021), 79 branches were added in the network of the Islamic banking industry. As a result, the branch network of IBI increased to 3,583 branches spread across 124 districts of the country by the end of June 2021. The branch’s network of IBI is mainly concentrated in Punjab; followed

by Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The number of Islamic banking windows (dedicated counters at conventional branches) operated by IBBs stood at 1,562 by the end of June 2021.

Gold price decreases to Rs96,600 per 10gm Bitcoin falls to $45,534 as cryptos remain bearish for second day The cryptocurrency market remained bearish for the second straight day on Saturday, with the market capitalisation decreasing 0.3 percent to reach $2.18 trillion as of 1315 hours GMT. The price of bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, shed 0.70 percent to reach $45,534. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of the biggest cryptocurrency dropped to $856.6 billion. Likewise, ethereum (ETH) price went down by 0.95 percent to reach $3,324. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $389.6 billion. However, XRP inched up by gaining 1.12 percent to reach $1.10. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $110 billion after this increase. Following suit, cardano (ADA) gained 11.89 percent to reach $2.74. Its market capitalisation has reached $88.5 billion after this increase. On the other hand, dogecoin (Doge) price went down by 0.01 percent to reach $0.246. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of doge has reached $32.2 billion. Meanwhile, India is reportedly working on a new way to regulate cryptocurrencies. “The government is planning to define cryptocurrencies in the new draft bill that also proposes to compartmentalise virtual currencies on the basis of their use cases,” according to a media report. According to details, cryptocurrencies will be treated as an asset/commodity for all purposes, including taxation and as per use case — payments, investment or utility. Crypto assets can be either categorized on the basis of the technology they use or they can be defined on their end-use. In addition, the government will decide which cryptocurrencies will be allowed to trade in India. This would be the first time cryptocurrencies will be categorised by the technology they use and the government will focus on the end-use of the asset for regulatory purposes. NEWS DESK

Gold prices went down in the international market with three successive red sessions despite a weaker US dollar.

Gold in the international market was available at $1,1787.80 per ounce after gaining $18 to close the week.

Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan decreased to Rs96,600 after shedding Rs500.

The closing prices of the yellow metal in the country remained Rs97,100 on Friday last. The reverse change in local prices of gold is due to the overnight change in gold prices in the international market. As the local market closes ahead of the in-

ternational market, the difference is settled on the very next day.

According to experts, the US dollar extended its retracement slide from one-week tops touched on Wednesday, which, in turn, was seen as a key factor that benefited gold, the dollar-denominated commodity.

However, a combination of factors held traders from placing aggressive bullish bets around gold and kept a lid on any meaningful upside.

The risk-on impulse – as depicted by a strong rally in the equity markets – acted as a headwind for the traditional safe-haven gold. The global risk sentiment got a boost on news that US President Joe Biden and Chi-

nese leader Xi Jinping spoke for the first time in seven months. Apart from this, a strong rebound in the US Treasury bond yields, along with expectations for an imminent Fed taper announcement capped gains for the non-yielding gold, they opined.

They said that the fundamental backdrop seems tilted in favour of bearish traders, though worries about the fast-spreading delta variant, so far, has helped limit the downside for gold. This makes it prudent to wait for some strong follow-through selling before confirming that the recent strong rebound from the $1,686 region has run out of steam and positioning for further losses. NEWS DESK

FBR chief advises taxpayers to file returns within time ISLAMABAD TLTP

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed has advised taxpayers to file annual income tax returns within time.

The chairman in an FBR publication said that timely uploading of income tax form this year is appreciable activity and must continue in future as well. The taxpayers’ would optimistically take advantage of it this year and would file their returns timely.

The FBR chairman said that the revenue body starts the fiscal year with laurels of 23 percent growth by collecting Rs850 billion during July and August 2021. This historical growth coupled with reforms, enforcement and compliance strategy would further take the revenues to the optimum level. There is no doubt that the government's policies for economic growth and revival are bearing fruit, he said.

For broad spectrum national economic growth, curbing tax evasion and broadening the base by establishing linkages with the provincial governments is imperative, he said. That is why the provincial governments have been offered proactive and technical collaboration especially in the agriculture sector, as many declare their agriculture income in federal ITRs, he added.

The launching of, Single Identifier Number for all domestic taxes which is linked with the CNIC, and Alternate Delivery Channel (ADC) by which any federal tax or duty may be paid without physical visit of the bank shows the enduring commitment of FBR for ‘ease of doing businesses’.

It is heartening to note that the scheme for new Export Facilitation Scheme 2021 has been approved by the Government and adopted by the parliament vide the Finance Act 2021. The issuance of rules would certainly impact in reducing the cost and create the ease of doing business and improve compliance.

Be it international cooperation for exchange of technical experiences or creating friendly environments with the business communities, the FBR has always welcomed all stakeholders including the business chambers as vital players.

The FBR has uploaded the income tax return forms for tax year 2021. Separate return forms for salaried, association of persons and business individuals have also been uploaded. The income tax returns can be filed through web portal and Tax Asaan application.

The taxpayers are provided guidance on filling all the required particulars in the form. The income tax returns can be filed online through smart phones by installing the Tax Aasaan application from Google play store. In this regard, a media campaign would also be launched for awareness and education purposes.

Meanwhile, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to allow a single vehicle owner to transport goods under the transshipment rules.

In this connection, the FBR has issued SRO 1129(I)/2021 to notify draft rules. The tax authorities proposed an amendment to Customs Rules, 2001. A new rule 328A has been proposed for allowing a single transport vehicle owner to transport transshipment goods.

NEWS

05

corporate corner

Guest participants at the partnership unveiling event of Beaconhouse International College 9BIC) with prestigious UK universities included Nassir Mahmud Kasuri – CEO of Beaconhouse International College, Alison Blackburn – Acting British High Commissioner, Nadir Al-Turk – Charge des Affaires Embassy of Palestine, Deddy Faisal Ahmad Sallah – Acting High Commissioner of Malaysia and senior representatives from the University of London (UoL) Worldwide, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, and Beaconhouse International College (BIC). Pr

Image shows a pole located in Saddar Electronic Market area, where a tangle of internet and cable tv wires can be seen. These illegal wires are the reasons for accidents. Relevant, concerned organisations should take concrete action against these life threatening encroachments to protect lives and livelihood of its citizens.Pr

IIPs hosts its first leadership training session at NUst Iqbal Institute of Policy Studies (IIPS) conducted the first session of its Leadership Training Program titled “Maximising Performance at Workplace” at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). The training was conducted by Lt Gen (R) Muhammad Haroon Aslam, President IIPS Advisory board, who highlighted the importance of effective communication, positive thinking, and time management. The event was attended by Chairman Imarat Group and CEO Graana.com, Shafiq Akbar, and company directors including Farhan Javed, Arsalan Javed, Taimoor Abbasi, and Sharjeel Ehmer.

The session shed light on how to maximize performance at the workplace. Through enhanced personality, good communication skills and effective time management, performance of employees at the workplace can be enhanced profoundly. PrESS rELEaSE

UN chief backs Pakistan’s appeal for unfreezing Afghan funds UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has supported Pakistan’s call to release frozen funds of the Afghan government and appealed for an injection of cash into the war-torn country to avoid an economic meltdown.

The UN chief said that the economic crisis would spark a "catastrophic" situation for the Afghan people and be a "gift for terrorist groups." Pakistan has, on multiple occasions, reiterated that the world must not isolate Afghanistan and urged the international community to address the humanitarian needs of the country. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday suggested that the decision of freezing the Afghan funds will not be helpful and be revisited. The UN chief’s remarks for Afghanistan’s help come after his Special Envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, warned the Security Council on Thursday that the freezing of billions of dollars. NE WS D ESK

Moin urges Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Moin-ulHaque has asked leading Chinese entrepreneurs to benefit from an investment-friendly environment in Pakistan.

The ambassador was addressing the participants of the China-Pakistan Trade and Business Forum held on the sidelines of China-ASEAN Expo being held in Nanning, Guangxi Region of China.

The ambassador said a number of ongoing and planned projects being completed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provide tremendous investment opportunities for the Chinese companies. He said that there are vast investment opportu-

nities in the special economic zones being developed under the CPEC, out of which three have already been developed.

Haque also visited different stalls established at the 18th China-Asean Expo and talked with the Pakistani businessmen and buyers.

He said the China-Asean Expo will serve as a platform to boost in-depth development of China-Pakistan cooperation and all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation. He said like the previous year, Pakistan is participating in this year’s expo as a special partner country this year too, adding that Pakistan attended the 17th CAEXPO

with the same honorary title and set up its pavilion and booths to promote its products.

Pakistan, he said, is one of the countries along the Belt and Road and a geographical neighbour to the Asean countries. For many years, Pakistan has actively joined the CAEXPO, through which to enhance its exchange and cooperation with China and other countries along the Belt and Road.

He said the China-Asean countries have a population of over two billion people and a more than $18 trillion economy, which provides a good platform to expand its trade with these countries.

Haque said that Pakistan’s textile sector

CMYK

has a complete supply chain system and the agriculture sector makes it a more competitive country in the world. The government is also focusing on the value addition of these sectors, which would help promote exports.

“Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producing country and now we are paying attention to produce value-added dairy products such as cheese and butter, which are in high demand in China as well as Asean countries,” he said.

He said Pakistan is one of the leading countries in manufacturing sports products, especially footballs are famous across the globe and other leather sports products, in-

cluding boxing gloves.

Pakistani traders and businessmen showcased marble, wood handicrafts, carpets, leather garments and other products of the country in Nanning. Pakistan, with an exhibition area of 81 square metres, has set up a pavilion, as well as 24 booths to showcase its national image and display its products to further promote its exchange and cooperation with China and Asean countries.

The expo is hosted by the departments in charge of economic development and trade in China and 10 Asean countries in collaboration with the Asean Secretariat. NEWS DESK

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

06 COMMENT

Enough is enough

The opposition in its labyrinths Lack of unity and infighting

The Wazir Khan mosque case is disturbing

W

HILE the opposition parties frequently work together in Parliament, the knives are out when they go into public. The PPP and PML(n) attack each other most viciously, even calling into question each other’s integrity, forgetting that this might stand in their way if required by circumstances they have to start an anti-government movement. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has attributed motives to the PML(n) for not supporting his suggestion of a noconfidence move in Punjab. Responding to the charge, the PML(n) and JUI(F) have accused the PPP of acting in connivance with the establishment to break up the PDM. With just two years left for the next elections, a mudfest continues between the PPP and the PDM which is a reflection on the maturity of the opposition.

Once they joined the PDM it was unrealistic to expect that the opposition parties not to express their differences in public. After all, each party has its own manifesto and they are going to contest at places against each other in the next elections. One expects however that they would avoid acting at cross purposes, desist from making secret deals with those in the government camp and shun creating divisions within other opposition parties As things stand, the PPP follows a clearly spelt-out policy, irrespective of whether it helps it to achieve the stated goal of forming its government at the centre. The PPP has consolidated its position in rural Sindh and after winning a national Assembly seat from Karachi in a recent by-poll it feels confident about making further inroads in the provincial metropolis. Punjab remains the PPP’s Achilles heel. It hopes however to win over some of the electables from South Punjab. According to the PPP’s calculations, the next elections would produce a hung parliament, providing it a chance to form the government through alliances with disparate groups as it did in 2008.

The divisions within the PML(n) are likely to damage its electoral prospects if not resolved at the earliest. These have affected the PDM also which works now by fits and starts. Lately it has issued a plan for a mass contact campaign during the rest of the year. Unless the PML(n) resolves its dissensions and the PPP and AnP return to the PDM, the PTI might win by default.

rabia ahMed

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E believe religion to be a powerful thing, and it is; we believe it is meant for all time, and is looked after by the Divine Being Himself. The religion of Islam was handed down to man thanks to the extreme dedication and incalculable efforts of some extremely courageous individuals; in our hands it is meant to be a manual for life, for all humankind.

Why then is the attempt to distort it, and make it accessible only with great difficulty, one of the greatest ambitions for so many humans? Should it not be accessible, so that everyone, Muslim, non-Muslim, men, women and children, they can all access it, easily, without first scrubbing between each toe, and heaven help you if you miss a corner?

For those who dispute the claim that it is inaccessible, check out almost any mosque in Pakistan to see how many women are allowed in. By contrast there are many mosques in the USA, notable among them a mosque in Virginia– and there are others around that country and the rest of the world, where that place of worship is used as a community centre as well as a place for prayer, as it should be.

Men, women and children visit that mosque in Virginia to learn languages, computers, and other subjects. Young people use the main hall as a basketball court, and when it is time for congregational prayers, these young people tidy up and leave the room, perform ablutions before returning, many of them, to join the congregation and pray. It would not otherwise be easy to get as many young people to put in an appearance at a mosque.

It is also not just men who pray here; women do

Inconsistent policies How does he government plan to amnesty past terrorism?

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Consumers need to be aware of their rights

Mishal-e-Noor

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n the 21st century, the role of the tate and the market is interwoven. Both of them play a crucial role in terms of providing goods and services to the general public. The state relies on the market to generate tax revenues. At the same time, the state is also responsible to regulate the market to serve the citizens and protect them from any exploitation. In this equation of state and market, the concerns of consumers are often unheard.

Although Pakistan is a consumer economy, consumer rights– an integral component of civil rights– present a dismal representation in the public policy framework, leaving consumers helpless and dissatisfied. There are three major rights of consumers: 1) the right to have access to goods and services; 2) the availability of goods and services at a reasonable price; 3) the right to have quality goods so that they may be able to enjoy a reasonable life.

Most of the consumer-related problems stem from the crisis of governance in the country and the monopolistic or informal nature of the market. The private sector also seems to exhibit little concern for consumer protection due to its profit maximizing nature. In addition, the lack of awareness of civil rights in general and the pervasive culture of apathy undermines the capacity of citizens to become organized and protect their rights. The government has yet to come up with a robust legal and institutional mechanism to address consumer-related grievances and to protect their rights.

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Religion needs to be taken out of the hands of those who exist with their heads in the sand. We live in a difficult world, one that was never very easy. To make it possible to exist in this world it is important to realise that women, humour, technology, laughter, literature – as well as crime, men, vulgarity and tragedy, they all stem from the same source

Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

Dissatisfied consumers in a consumer economy

RESIDEnT Arif Alvi’s suggestion that the government could offer amnesty members of the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is as wild as it is wolly. Made while giving an interview to a private channel, the idea seemed to be a reaction to the present success of the Afghan Taliban in coming back to power, but it does not seem to have been thought through. The TTP cadres are not going to surrender the way that insurgents have in the past, surrendering their arms at a durbar summoned for the purpose. What was appropriate for rebellious tribesmen would not really work for the TP. Who does the President to surrender? The bomb-makers? Or the facilitators? Or those intending to be suicide bombers?

Meanwhile, the national Command Authority meeting on Tuesday decried the deteriorating force balance in the region, while the apex committee, while reviewing the internal security situation noted the need to implement the national Action Plan (nAP). A fine job of doing that seems to be being done in allowing the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to field 84 candidates in the Cantonment Board elections being held today. There has obviously been a short-circuit somewhere in the system, for the TLP not just engaged in a movement against the government, which led to national paralysis, deaths and injuries, and an announcement of a ban on the TLP. If the TLP was banned, its ticket should have led to disqualifications, rather than pleas that the needed letter had not been written to the Election Commission, as had been done. It wants to ensure that the TTP, which has clearly indicated that it will go on fighting national institutions, and the TLP, which has a record of resisting civil law enforcing agencies, are dealt with leniently, even while there are pious wishes expressed about establishing moves against terror. The lesson is clear, though unfortunate: there is freedom to maim, even kill, and spread havoc, so long as one does not oppose the government, no matter how peaceful he means used.

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

too, although so as not to offend the sensibilities of those prone to take offence, they pray separately, in a gallery upstairs. Tolerance is one of the very important aspects of religion. The Imam of the mosque is a pleasant man. Women can obtain an audience with him just as much as men can, and neither need to make changes to their attire when they do. This is a mosque that would attract followers, a mosque that can achieve much.

This rant was kicked in motion by the criticism leveled at, and even an arrest warrant (a bailable one) issued against a couple of actors and singers who filmed a video in the beautiful Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore. They have been accused of ‘desecrating this mosque.’

The Wazir Khan Mosque is a heritage building, a beautiful one, built nearly 500 years ago. It was recently restored by the Aga Khan Foundation and the norwegian Embassy. What is wrong with using this as a background for a video, the theme of which is nothing offensive, if making it does not disrupt congregational prayers? It is likely, in fact, that seeing this beautiful mosque in the background people will ask “where is this beautiful place?” and make a point to visit it when they are in Lahore. \Religion needs to be taken out of the hands of those who exist with their heads in the sand. We live in a difficult world, one that was never very easy. To make it possible to exist in this world it is important to realise that women, humour, technology, laughter, literature – as well as crime, men, vulgarity and tragedy, they all stem from the same source, the same Divinity, the source of all pleasure and hardship. The hardship exists as a test for us, not a battle zone.

There were a couple of lines doing the rounds of

social media recently which said: ‘Religion is what we do after the prayer is over.’ Doesn’t that make a great deal of sense?

Prayer reminds us of Him, the Being we pray to, and of what He wishes us to do, and He certainly does not wish us to kill, exclude, destroy and mock. His wishes, as stated in the Holy book are to welcome, help, include, love and be just with everyone, not just with one segment of society, or with the segment that can pay for it. Having prayed to Him, that is what we must seek to accomplish.

Instead of disapproving of a mosque being used as a background for a video, lets be happy that this beautiful place of worship was considered worth it.

If that video contains dance and music, so be it.

Laughter, eloquent movement, and beauty, these were all created by the same One Being. There is no inherent crime within any of these things.

Are we so weak and spineless that a video can make us change our convictions?

If one must condemn beauty and music, then let us examine the Wazir Khan Mosque itself. It is hardly an austere building. It is a beautiful mosque, a hymn to the Creator who is worshipped within its walls. If beauty is a crime, why was this mosque allowed? Why do maulvis perform nikahs at weddings where women wear beautiful clothing? At weddings where in fact, very often, too much is spent on that clothing and on those events to the point of vulgarity and waste, making such weddings almost a crime in a world where so many people lack the basics of life? That is the real desecration, is it not?

A mosque does not stand apart from the life around it. They are each part of each other. The must lend each other a hand. Similarly, religion is meant to be incorporated into one’s life, to help us deal with it, to be adapted around changing times keeping the main principals in view.

That is the only way it can hold any meaning. We desperately need to take ours back from the hands into which it has fallen at present, where it is being strangled to death. We must stand up and say: Enough.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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Apart from access, pricing and quality, another right that Pakistani consumers are largely unaware of is the right to information (RTI) under article 19-A of the Constitution. This right states that consumers must be provided with accurate information about the products so that they may be able to make informed decisions. notwithstanding, the trend of misleading and false advertisement is very common in Pakistan especially in the case of online markets.

The covid-19 pandemic and people’s growing health concerns have also made an increasing number of consumers rely on the internet for groceries and other shopping. As per the data released by State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s e-commerce market has expanded 78.9 percent in volume in the fourth quarter of 2020, thereby increasing the revenue to Rs 9.4 billion. However, the consumers are skeptical about the quality and pricing of the products.

Since it is difficult to trace producers/sellers in an online market, consumers often complain about receiving damaged, substandard and overpriced goods.

Furthermore, the return policy of goods purchased online is so complex that the entire loss is mostly thrust upon the shoulders of the consumers and not the sellers. As a result, the consumers are left vulnerable to exploitative forces.

Consumers are not only manipulated through false advertisement but sometimes the labeling of goods, especially edible goods, does not list all of the ingredients present in them. Fruits, vegetables and spices are artificially coloured and sprayed, and the packaged milk that is advertised as milk rarely satisfies the criteria of being called milk. The Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) recently tested 16 packaged milk brands and approved only six brands as safe for consumption.

PCSIR further expressed the apprehension that the rest of the 10 brands are selling milk adulterated with various hazardous chemicals, including detergent powder. The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) urged to ban banaspati ghee as well because it contains high amount of sulfur, trans-fatty acids, palmitic acid and nickel which may have a tendency to cause fatal diseases like obesity, diabetes, mental illnesses, heart diseases and cancer. Chicken – the most demanded food item on our dining tables – is not as healthy as nutritionists suggest because chickens in Pakistan are fed on a diet that contains hormones hazardous to health. Had it not been the tremendous efforts of Pun-

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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jab Food Authority and other provincial food authorities, sellers would still have been exploiting consumers and playing with their health by selling expired products, dead chicken, and donkey or dog meat in the name of mutton.

As far as water as a fundamental human right (under Article 9 of the Constitution) is concerned, consumers are not only suffering from water supply issues but also from the issues associated with its quality and maintenance of filtration plants. Resultantly, a UnICEF report said 50 percent of diseases in Pakistan are water-borne and 40 percent of deaths occur due to poor quality of water. To cater to the supply issue, consumers have to bear the additional expense of purchasing water tankers (Rs. 800 per water tanker (public) and Rs. 2200 to 2500 per water tanker (private)) whereas, to cater to the issue of water quality, consumers have to rely on expensive mineral water. In this backdrop, consumers feel more frustrated when they are bombarded with indirect taxes, unprecedented price hike and increased utility bills.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) reporting 23 percent less income tax returns for fiscal year 2020 compared with the preceding year, which is also one of the manifestations of consumers’ dissatisfaction.

In order to strengthen consumers, it is mandatory to institutionalize them and make them the centre of public policy. The first consumer rights protection law was enacted in 1995. Despite having legislation for the last 25 years, the government has yet to come up with a robust legal and institutional mechanism to redress consumer-related grievances and to protect their rights. Although Article 9 protects consumer rights, it seems missing from political manifestos.

Thus, there is a dire need to have regulations along with enforcement mechanisms such as inspection departments operating across country for accountability and delivery of services.

Moreover, to avoid false labeling and advertisement, it should be made obligatory for advertisers to get their TV/social media advertisements approved by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the products must carry clear disclaimers which consumers may easily understand. Consumers’ lack of information regarding the power of invoice is also one of the reasons behind their miserable state. They either forget to collect the invoice or throw that in the trash-bin right after shopping. It is important for consumers to remember that they cannot take legal action against a seller without an invoice.

The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 12 September, 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

Bags not tools ACCORDIng to Wikipedia,“Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful.” Knowing the consequences of child labour, UnICEF declared 12 June as “World day against child labour” Still, in our country child labour is quite common.

Children, who are the future of Pakistan, are holding tools instead of bags. According to a survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics and the national Child Labour, approximately 19 million children below 14 years of age are working as child labourers in Pakistan due to poverty. They are deprived of their due rights along with education. If our youth is going to be uneducated and engaged in work, how will the country progress? The government must make sure that every child must be a student rather than a labour.

Afroz MJ TurbAT

WHO warning IT’S an horrifying fact that the sheesha smokers are not well perceived about the damaging effects of “sheesha” to the health.It is proved that smoking of sheesha is worse than cigrattes. In a hour long session of smoking sheesha contain 200 puffs while cigrattes contain only 20.

When one smokes it, it not only effect him but also the people around him gets terribly effected without even smoking it.The world health organisation (WHO) had published a report in 2005 mentioning that smoking of sheesha is hazardous for health. Sheesha cafes must have been banned but still there’s no action took regarding this. But now one must understand that a health is above all and sheesha is a silent killer. fizA NAsir TurbAT

A season of words Let’s celebrate our words in their brevity and substance

Candid Corner raoof hasaN “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”

— Denis Waitley

T

HERE is a time to speak, and there is a time to be silent. It is not always a profusion of words that help you convey your message across. There are occasions when silence can do so more effectively. One wonders whether, in our mad rush to occupy space, we have conveniently forgotten that art – the art of silence!

Our television screens are an apt reminder of this infatuation to push in with words irrespective of whether they are serving the desired purpose or not. There is this impatience with barging in with your bit irrespective of whether it is your turn to speak or not. Why this gratuitous and remorseless obsession with the spoken word which is mostly shorn of meaning and substance? They just create noise and, at times, quite unbearable.

Words can have substance, but words can also be empty. Words tell a story, but words can be misleading. Words can elevate your soul, but words can plunge you in depths of despondency.

Words can make you fly, but words can deprive you of your dreams. Words can nurture, words can heal, words can drive you to your destination, but words can also inflict deep wounds which may be incurable. Words speak in their brevity, but words can be silent in their profusion. Words can bathe humans in undying hope, but words can drive them to irremediable impoverishment. Words are makers and words are destroyers. The stories words write come in countless hues and shades, each with its own distinctive meaning and impact.

Life is not all about words. Life is much more than that. In essence, words cannot quite communicate the meaning and purpose of life.

At times, they destroy its spirit. A few words chosen with care may do a much better job than a lot of them blurted at random. Instead of bringing people together, they may drive them apart.

Words can turn close familiarity into estrangement. Words are weavers, but words can also wreck human spirit. Words can generate despondency which may perpetually inflict your soul, leaving behind inconsolable effects.

When I see people talking endlessly without purpose, I feel scared because they are not able to communicate with any level of conviction. In fact, they damage their cause. There is no scarcity of such people. All you need to do is sit in front of the television any evening of your choice and you will meet them flinging themselves out of the screen with words memorised from the choicest dictionary which ring hollow when spoken. They come like metal rods hitting you ceaselessly to cause pain. The affliction is endless.

Conversely, if I see a person sitting in a corner all by himself, I am tempted to approach him and engage in a conversation. I feel certain that in the few words that he may say, he would be able to convey his purpose. Such words leave an everlasting impression on you as you walk away further convinced of the beauty of brevity. not all words convey the same meaning.

Even a combination of words may not always serve the requisite purpose. The manner in which they are spoken may alter their meaning. Words delivered in a monotonous tedium may forever remain devoid of communicating the intended message or sentiment.

There is so much more to words. Human dreams are embedded in words. They take you along unending trails of struggle and yearning.

Faraz sahib said that dreams are everlasting.

They are. They don’t die. They only find expression in new words: Dreams weave words Dreams spread light Dreams breed Socrates Dreams make Mansoors

lacks in substance. It is like a life drifting along without purpose. It is like words have lost their meaning and dreams their shape. It is a feeling of overwhelming pain that bites into your being, leaving behind pangs of remorse. Is this an endless struggle, or will there ever be any respite to conjure up new images to fathom and new causes to celebrate? One is again reminded of Faiz sahib’s incomparable imagery, this caravan of pain which is eternally in motion: This caravan of pain Will it halt somewhere?

This drift of life Will it meet its shore someday?

Our emaciated frame not fully immersed In the tide of blood Only when it does Will our life be spared

Life signifies movement, unstoppable movement.

Words give it the flow it deserves. The drift of life, when woven together in words, has a transporting effect which makes one traverse new vistas, surmount new heights. That gives movement its meaning and human effort its spirit. This is an unending struggle, elevating at times, depressing at others.

In these cruel times, brevity has given way to surfeit. There is so much of everything wasting away, mourning the inherent human insensitivity and absence of caring.

There is this painful monotony which has taken over the flow of things but, deep down, there is a desolate and lonely spirit, forever longing for the beloved to appear from behind the hovering clouds, the immensity of mountains, the flowing streams and raindrops pouring from the skies. The inimitable Faiz has cast this in his magical words: Loneliness like a familiar comrade of old Came by to quaff my desolate soul Together we wait for the moon to rise And see your image glow in every shadow While the current times may have much to celebrate, we don’t see the likes of Faiz serenading human spirit or Faraz defying adversity.

There is much mundane stuff around which

Let the sails not be unfurled Of the ship of wine Let the hurricane of life Subside first There being nothing but lethal poison In the tavern tonight Only those who are fit to die May stay to drink

Life signifies movement, unstoppable movement. Words give it the flow it deserves.

The drift of life, when woven together in words, has a transporting effect which makes one traverse new vistas, surmount new heights.

That gives movement its meaning and human effort its spirit. This is an unending struggle, elevating at times, depressing at others. Words weave these emotions together to give them a purpose. Without words, they would remain meaningless, drifting along circuitous alleys, leading you nowhere. One would be forever lost in the immensity of the world around, struggling to find a clue to move further.

In spite of the turmoil around, one should make an effort not to strip life of its meaning.

We can add to it through the magic of words which come with their inimitable appeal. They turn the ordinary into sublime and give human effort a direction. Let that not be lost as we waste our words falling upon unresponsive souls drifting along in high tide, sans direction.

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com.

Twitter: @RaoofHasan

What a day in Karachi AFTER meeting and touching situation of Karachi, A sudden accident or natural disaster wreaked havoc the whole joints of Karachi. There is a multitude of people who faced the music. Especially those penury people who unable to survive their live in this hot and heavy issue. I may say, a natural disaster is a benediction from Almught Allah, but to sort out this dilemma is responsibility of All people, whether they are in the government sector or private sector.. The whole political leaders as well as ministers of Sindh have carte blanche to overcome this hit potato which has been hocked a person of Karachi. This terrifying gloom is not only faces of middle-class neighbourhood, but also elite class.

Furthermore, This monstrous world already as been faced the music DUE TO COVID-19, A DOZEn OF PEOPLE has LOST THEIR LIVES AT THE DROP OF HAT. It was a setback to this world. Most of the sudden, an incident can be occurred to you at any time. SAME AS natural disaster which is an inevitable.

Recently, I have seen the whole enchidela of the of cities where Rainwater was stagnant on road of each city of Pakistan especially, Lahore and Karachi. Regarding this natural occurrence, Everyone has arisen heap of cinders regarding CM Sahab. Some of them, defamed his reputation in writing words servely. We know that, CM is final and absolute authority to wipe out all daunting tasks from the city, but It is a not only dilemma of Karachi to spick and span the water from the roads but also the others cities are still remaining. This monstrous society is plenary of pompous ass people. We always see our interests and benefits.

We take up-turned and some time, we depart from our right principles.

So We’re being selfish and rapacious regarding our monetary interest and other one. . A hallmark mark quoted can be stated here. this maxim can be infallible at some angles, but not completely top-notch to sigh. So to mock at others, or musterjocular expression, or your facial expression toward personality personality which feels a vestige of degrading our authority concerned who fought with this pandemic situation and tried to prevent us from this baneful disease.

Who took such miraculous and effective steps to desist this disease from occurring again and again, but this society still opposed against him in lieu of extolling. In the nutshell. There is a sophist who depicts that.

Same situation happens above given sweeping statement; Try to Change, TRY TO use creativity to your life, Try to be mature, do not change your paths, where you feel under the weather, try to stand at one’s feet, Try to love choose loved ones leader and proponent him inwardly and outwardly.

Because of Public. They are nothing, but you must take action or protest regarding any illicit act and you do not allow to defame charming personality at any cost.

NirMAl oAd shikArpur

Punishment and discipline DISCIPLInE is the practice of training to obey rules or using punishments to correct disobedience.

It is the teaching of the boundaries. The teaching of what is right and what is wrong. Discipline can be both “positive and negative” For example the positive discipline is admiring children for doing something “good”, or stopping them for doing wrong by counseling. negatives can be like smacking and threatening them for doing something inappropriate. Some Parents and most of the Teachers in school believe that they do well by punishing them or “safe smacking”, Whereas the actual discipline is helping them to understand why certain behaviour is unacceptable. Sometimes after getting smacked children (students) get impinge and start to think that it is alright to beat others. Punishment is not the way to motivate them in order to behave more properly. Yes! Sometimes somewhere it is right to punish but many times the best way is to understand what was the reason behind the aggressive reaction, behaving in an inappropriate way or doing an offence .

After this if they are wrong, the better way is admonishing them to make them stop from doing something unacceptable! not using corporal punishments.

ArifA sAeed lArkANA

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

NeoliberAlism bites the dust iN AfghANistAN

subsTack

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emerald roBinson

VERY morning, it seems that we learn about another fresh defeat in Afghanistan. The most infamous unplanned withdrawal from a country successfully conquered by the United States in the War on Terror — and then returned to the terrorists! — was going so badly that it seemed more like a comedy skit wrapped in a nightmare. Each day, the Biden Administration seemed to ask itself: what’s the dumbest thing we can possibly do over there? And then they did it. We abandoned the airport first, and then called an evacuation! We left behind $84 billion worth of military-grade weapons for the Taliban! We flew home 100,000 bacha bazi enthusiasts but abandoned our own citizens there!

This week’s debacle was so absurd that it was almost diabolical: our very own State Department was busy blocking Americans from evacuating that hell-hole on private flights they had chartered themselves.

How could anyone keep up with all the defeats and debacles and dark jokes that were on us? It was only last week that we discovered that half the population of Afghanistan was pretending to be enlisted in the Afghan Army to be on the CIA payroll. (That particular joke lasted twenty years.) Our military leaders had been reassuring the Biden Administration that Afghanistan’s security forces would hold off the Taliban for a while if we finally left the country and then —poof! — they all quit over the weekend once the Taliban called. A day or two later, they all showed up together at the Kabul airport pretending to be interpreters in order to get airlifted to America.

If this account of the war seems too glib, you will have to forgive me. I’m not a military strategist or ex-veteran so I have no particular insight into the fall of Afghanistan.

But then neither does the Pentagon apparently. My thoughts on the subject are not particularly better than the Joint Chiefs of Staff but neither are they necessarily worse.

I’m just an amateur — but these days aren’t we all?

I wasn’t really for, or against, us staying in Afghanistan. My point of view was more basic: we still had troops in Afghanistan and we hadn’t even pacified Chicago. What did we have to show for our $2 trillion of treasure spent in The Graveyard of Empires? You expect results when our Military Industrial Complex is billing $300 million per day over twenty years. We even deployed a Norwegian-speaking concert piano player named Pete Buttigieg as some sort of combat accountant over there for six months. If our DCO (direct commissioned officer) boys from McKinsey Consulting couldn’t figure it out, who could?

My first question about this long war was simple: what exactly were we still doing over there? Were we still, you know, fighting the Taliban? Or just paying them

YOU EXPECT RESULTS WHEN OUR MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS BILLING $300 MILLION PER DAY OVER TWENTY YEARS off? Did we have any strategic objectives? Was the mission to occupy the country because of its poppy fields?

Or its lithium deposits? Or to teach gender studies to the bloodthirsty natives? (In June, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul celebrated flying the LBGTQ+ flag for Pride Month so you know the rainbow jihadists were beating the actual jihadists on social media at least.) Nobody seemed to have a satisfying answer.

It took about five minutes on the internet to figure out that the Afghan Security Forces were a complete fiction written for an audience of Americans. We were the ones paying for these degenerates to protect themselves.

We stroked the checks and they half-pretended to be soldiers. It was not a convincing lie. Our military trainers sent videos back home showing the hashish-addicted Afghans unable to do jumping jacks or wake up on time in the morning. Clearly these goat-herders were not really worried about being ruled by the Taliban.

It turns out there was never an Afghanistan Army because there was never an Afghanistan civil government — which became obvious when our CIA-handpicked President of Afghanistan fled his country with $169 million dollars while his brother suddenly professed his allegiance to the Taliban without anyone so much as firing a shot. Guess what: there’s no Afghanistan civil government because there’s no civility over there. In fact, they’re all Muslims and they want Sharia for themselves.

And for you too.

This news did not crush me because I had never invested a lot of faith in transforming the illiterate Muslim tribesmen of the Pashtun into globalists by occupying their land. I know: call me cynical. This crazy “Mission: Civilize Them!” thing did seem to be the unofficial goal of the American military though. (We had the diversity classes at Kabul University to prove it too.) Had anyone over at the Pentagon cracked open a history book before trying this out? Which Rand Corporation genius had sold this idiotic plan to the Pentagon brass with a Powerpoint presentation?

What I wanted to know was: how did the war really go in terms of the fighting? (I’m sorry to use such barbaric terms. Call me old-fashioned.) As the journalist Lee Smith explained: “The reality is that America lost its war in Afghanistan more than a decade ago, roughly around the time when CIA officers began bribing aging warlords with Viagra.” Why were we bribing these people with Viagra, you ask?

The Americans knew all about the young boys the tribal leaders kept in their camps. When you choose to adopt a foreign cohort’s cultural habits, customs for

“THE REALITY IS THAT AMERICA LOST ITS WAR IN AFGHANISTAN MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, ROUGHLY AROUND THE TIME WHEN CIA OFFICERS BEGAN BRIBING AGING WARLORDS WITH VIAGRA” THE FALL OF KABUL HAS HIT OUR NEOLIBERAL ELITES VERY HARD BECAUSE IT’S A DISASTER FOR THEIR ENTIRE WORLDVIEW which the elders of your own tribe would ostracize and perhaps kill you, you have lost your civilization.

And because both sides of the political divide should be held accountable, military as well as civilian officials, too, it is unlikely that anyone ever will be.

Since everyone is to blame, holding anyone accountable implicates everyone. So there you have it: our allies were the pedophiles. This led to another obvious insight. Our leaders don’t understand Afghanistan because they don’t understand religion. They don’t respect religion as the animating force of history. They believed in the existence of “moderate” Muslims willing to fight other Muslims to make Afghanistan into a modern nation state. That was ahistorical and absurd. The only thing that our Afghan allies and the Biden Administration were really in agreement about was Viagra.

All of this was before the Biden Administration conducted the most disastrous evacuation in American history.

Now we have hundreds of Americans and allies stranded over there while our military stays busy flying the Taliban home to us. How did 100,000 unvetted refugees get priority treatment over our own people? Does the Biden Administration want to leave hostages for the locals? It looks that way. They’ve got more important priorities anyway, like complaining that the Taliban’s new government doesn’t care about “equity” and doesn’t include enough women to please “the international community.” (They have less to say about the new Interior Minister being on the FBI’s Most Wanted List with a $10 million bounty on his head.) The best chance for our people still trapped in Kabul to get home now is to dress up as Pashtun mujahideen with child brides who want to relocate to Wisconsin to vote blue and then they might get airlifted out.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are weeping all over Washington. The fall of Kabul has hit our neoliberal elites very hard because it’s a disaster for their entire worldview. It’s not that they care about Afghanistan of course. They care that neoliberalism is failing. (When NBC’s Andrea Mitchell shows up at State Department press briefings to scold Secretary Blinken is when you know there’s trouble.) They are self-aware enough to know that if they failed to plan a basic evacuation from a third world country then nobody really believes that they’re competent leaders of the free world. They didn’t just leave CIA contractors behind either. They abandoned the Afghanistan bureau of the New York Times.

(They got out thanks to a private extraction team.) It’s not hard to guess which group is more dangerous to Biden’s poll numbers in 2024 either.

The fall of Afghanistan was so terrible for the credibility of the corporate media that CNN anchor Jake Tapper started quoting the Bible frequently on Twitter for no particular reason. (When atheists married to Planned Parenthood officials start quoting Scripture to convince you to fly half of Kandahar to Fort McCoy, trust me: it’s time to hide your wallet.) All the same people who told you for twenty years that America “had to fight the terrorists over there so that we don’t have to fight them over here” were now telling you that it was our moral obligation to bring “them” home. Fox anchor Bret Baier was concerned enough to invite almost every living neo-con onto his show to get us back into Afghanistan. Never Trumpers like Sandra Smith and Martha McCallum seemed queasy too. You could feel their agitation, and you knew why: Fox News had called Arizona early for this? They bet on Biden and got burned.

All of these elites had assured the American people that the Biden Administration would prevent exactly the kind of foreign policy disaster that the Biden Administration was now presiding over. That’s why it’s so quiet in Washington right now. The deafening silence you hear is our corrupt political class hiding from the consequences of supporting Old Joe. It’s not just Democrats either. Mitch McConnell and most of the GOP establishment have suddenly lost the power of speech on matters they once opined on semi-annually like impeachment.

All the former national security officials, retired diplomats, and disgraced spies who wrote “open letters” to warn us about the Trump Administration have misplaced their pens too. They were all in this thing together.

So Afghanistan’s fall is not just a crisis for Biden but for Brookings, for the Council of Foreign Relations, for the entire foreign policy establishment. It’s a catastrophe for the Democrats and the corporate media and the woke military and the intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley and Hollywood and everyone else who helped Biden get elected. They told us all for five years that President Trump was a dangerous idiot and it turned out that Biden was the dangerous idiot. Their veil of competence has been lifted. The neoliberals have nowhere to hide because they’re hiding from themselves. Their credibility just disappeared in the dust of Kabul.

Vote rigging and the ‘power vertical’ MANIPULATING ELECTIONS ISN’T NECESSARILY A CENTRALIZED AFFAIR IN RUSSIA, BUT HIGH-PROFILE CASES OF ELECTORAL MALPRACTICE ARE AWKWARD FOR MOSCOW ALL THE SAME

Moscow TiMes Ben noBle

“I’m Boris Vishnevsky.”

“No, I’m Boris Vishnevsky.”

“No, no: I am Boris Vishnevsky!”

Russian adaptation of Spartacus? Quite the opposite. Voters taking part in elections for the St. Petersburg legislative assembly will see three remarkably similar faces on candidate information posters when they head to the polls Sept. 17–19. And all three men have the same name (save their patronymics). The Runet is already saturated with images of the “Three Vishnevskys.” Memes are multiplying.

As is now well known, two “spoiler” candidates changed their names — and appearance — in an attempt, it seems, to confuse voters and draw support away from the real Boris Vishnevsky, the leader of the Yabloko parliamentary faction in the St. Petersburg assembly.

The use of spoiler candidates and spoiler parties is far from new: it’s an established “dirty trick” in Russia and other post-Soviet states — and beyond. But this particular case has served as a potent example of the un-levelling of the electoral field in Russia.

A

MANIPULATION BEYOND MOSCOW: Ella Pamfilova isn’t happy. The head of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) called the incident “a disgrace, an

outrage. It’s just making a mockery of voters.”

Some people might be scratching their heads at this reaction. For those who think that all politics — and all electoral manipulation – in Russia is centrally coordinated, it would be odd for the supposed “manipulator in chief” to call out something of her own doing. Might it be that Pamfilova’s team gave the green light for the spoiler candidates to run, but didn’t anticipate the degree to which the case would resonate? That’s certainly one possibility.

But there is another, more plausible account: this is a case of electoral manipulation at the regional level without the foreknowledge of Moscow. And that tells us about the decentralization of politics — and vote rigging — in Russia.

This possibility also helps make sense of another incident. Novaya Gazeta has reported on an audio recording that it claims provides an example of vote rigging training. According to the newspaper, the recording was made at a session involving electoral commission officials in Korolyov — a city in Moscow Oblast’ — during which instructions were given regarding the vote results that should be achieved and how falsification could be used to achieve them.

Pamfilova’s response? The Central Electoral Commission will work with law enforcement to bring those involved to justice. There was, apparently, no attempt to dismiss the allegations as false.

THE “POWER VERTICAL” RUNS INTO TROUBLE: This response from the elections chief likely reflects genuine frustration with lower-level actors, particularly given that Pamfilova has been publicly tasked with making elections appear as legitimate as possible. Optics matter — and the cases in St. Petersburg and Korolyov are dirty splodges on the electoral

landscape.

But such cases shouldn’t be that surprising in a system for which the “power vertical” is more mythology than reality. With “Putinism from below,” the scope for action not dictated explicitly from the federal center is significant. And that can sometimes lead to embarrassing episodes for those at the top. This is the downside of what Mark Galeotti calls Russia’s “adhocracy.”

Anyway, tensions have been simmering for a while between electoral officials in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In June, for instance, Pamfilova said that the Central Electoral Commission had “neither understanding nor constructive interaction” with the northern capital’s leadership. And these frosty relations extend to Korolyov. After allegations of electoral violations there during the 2016 State Duma elections, Pamfilova ordered a review of the work of the city’s electoral commission.

“DOMESTIC” VS “FOREIGN” INTERFERENCE: There is, however, another reason why these incidents are awkward for Moscow. Senior Russia officials have sustained a narrative of attempted “foreign interference” in the run-up to the State Duma elections.

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has claimed that Western countries are intent on casting doubt on the election results. Senator Andrei Klimov — the head of the Federation Council’s Commission for Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation — has claimed that observers of the “collective West” have attempted to interfere in elections. And Ella Pamfilova herself has said that a campaign has been launched outside of Russia to discredit multi-day voting.

The aim appears to be to frame claims of electoral malpractice as “fake” and as furthering the interests of

foreign powers. The narrative runs into trouble, however, when rigging clearly appears to be the result of domestic interference.

DRAMATURGIYA OR DE-CENTRALISED DEVIOUSNESS?: A more conspirological take is that this is all dramaturgiya — scripted political theatre. Except that this charge is usually levelled against faking democracy, rather than acting out the subversion of democracy.

Could it be that Pamfilova engineered these cases in order to very publicly and forcefully rebuke lower-level officials — and with a view to dissuading others from trying similar tricks?

That strains credulity — especially when taking into account the continued stand-off between St. Petersburg and Pamfilova regarding what to do next. The CEC head has called for the two spoiler candidates to withdraw from the elections. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg electoral officials have refused the real Boris Vishnevsky’s complaint against the two, saying that the different patronymics of the three candidates are enough for voters to distinguish the men.

The unprecedented steps taken against the opposition in Russia — as well as independent media — form the most important story of these elections. But we shouldn’t forget that the authorities do not form a monolithic bloc, even when it comes to “managing” democracy. And that has made Ella Pamfilova’s already very tricky position even more difficult.

Dr Ben Noble is Lecturer in Russian Politics at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He is also an Associate Fellow of Chatham House and a Senior Research Fellow at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE

PReSIDeNt AlvI SAyS SeCP IS lAuNChING RS1bN veNtuRe CAPItAl fuND; SeCP SAyS It IS Not LAHORE

SCCI rejects decision of gas suspension to industries, CNG sector in KP PESHAWAR

TAIMOOR HASSAN

I

N yet another embarrassing gaffe for the government and the first for the head of state, President Arif Alvi Wednesday said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) was setting up an Rs1 billion venture capital fund to invest in and support Pakistan’s startups, while the SECP denied that it could not launch any venture capital fund because of its role as a regulator. Speaking at PakLaunch’s inaugural conference, held virtually, to present Pakistan’s startups to a global audience, the president said that Pakistan was the fifth most populous country in the world with a huge youth bulge, most of whom were edu-

cated and English speaking.

“This youth bulge is being facilitated by the government which is improving the digital infrastructure and investing heavily in intellectual change and creating friendly regulations and ease of doing business.

This is the framework in which we want the digital ecosystem to prosper and startups and the IT sector to make progress,” he said.

“The government was making loans available for the youth through the Kamyab Jawan Programme,” the president said, adding that besides the Kamyab Jawan Programme, venture capital was the only way these youth could be encouraged [to become entrepreneurs].

On the same note, the president said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan “which is the regulator of investments and foreign

companies etcetera”, which is striving to create a congenial environment for entrepreneurs and investors alike, was creating an Rs1 billion fund to partner with other SECP approved venture capital funds to invest in startups.

“At the same time, another Rs1 billion venture capital fund is being started so that the startups can roll themselves into the market,” the president said, without specifying if the second fund was also being created by the SECP, any other government organisation or if it was a private venture.

The SECP denied that it had set up or was in the process of setting up a venture capital fund to invest in startups. “The SECP is a regulator and can, therefore, not itself start a fund,” a spokesperson from SECP told this scribe.

STAFF REPORT

The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has rejected the government's decision to suspend gas supplies to industries and the CNG sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) from next week, terming it unacceptable for the business community. Lamenting the move, SCCI President Sherbaz Bilour Bilour, while talking to a group of industrialists here at his office on Saturday, called the decision against the constitutional rights of the province wherein gas is produced in surplus quantity. As per details, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has issued a notification regarding the suspension of gas supplies to general industries and CNG sector in name of load management from September 13, till improvement of the situation in KP. Bilour asked the government to immediately withdraw the decision of gas suspension, warning of protests in case the business community is ignored. He said gas and electricity are prime utility and lifeline for industries, and halting them is tantamount to bringing stagnation in industrial growth. The chamber president went on to say that the industrial growth has already been slowed down in the prevalent Covid-19 scenario, while disruption of gas supply in industrial areas would bring a further negative impact on production with outfall to likely delay export orders as well as domestic supply of goods in the long run. "KP is producing surplus gas against the total consumption; despite this fact, industries are not fully supplying this important utility, which is a sheer violation of the article 158-A of the Constitution that has guaranteed that an area has the first right to fully exploit its natural resources," Bilour said.

Furthermore, he elaborated that gas consumption of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is around 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the total production of approximately 400 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas and 830 tonnes liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on a daily basis. Sherbaz Bilour also expressed grave concern over unannounced and hours-long electricity load shedding to commercial and industrial consumers, asking the department concerned to ensure uninterrupted power supply to businesses and industries, which are the major source behind contributions to the national economy. The SCCI president demanded of the Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, special assistant to prime minister (SAPM) on Petroleum, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and other relevant high officials concerned to take immediate notice of gas and electricity suspension to industries and ensure uninterrupted supply of these major utilities in order to promote industrial development in the province.

India’s forex reserves rise to $642.5bn BENGALURU AGENCIES

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $642.45 billion as of Sept. 3, compared with $633.56 billion a week earlier, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said. Changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in RBI’s reserves. Foreign exchange reserves include India’s Reserve Tranche Position in the International Monetary Fund.

Govt taking steps to resolve problems of business community: Usman Dar

Govt determined to revive film industry SIALKOT APP

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar said the government was well-aware of the problems being faced by the business community and making all-out sincere efforts for their early resolution.

Talking to the business community at a dinner hosted by him last night, he said the government was taking effective steps for the development of industry and strengthening the national economy by taking the business community into confidence. He said that local exporters were playing a significant role in strengthening the national economy.

The SAPM said that a strong industrial base was vital for boosting and increasing the national exports, adding that all impediments in the way of exports promotion would be removed.

He said the Sialkot exporters had written a golden history by establishing two mega projects including Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) and its own private airline namely AirSial Airline on a self-help basis.

He urged the exporters to es-

tablish Sialkot Business Council with a specific agenda on how to increase Sialkot exports from $2.5 billion to $5 billion.

Dar said that sewerage, water supply, solid waste management, traffic management and upgrading of parks projects worth Rs17bn was underway which would provide advanced municipal facilities to the people of Sialkot after their completion. All the development schemes would be completed within the stipulated period, he added.

He said that all the development schemes in Sialkot would be named after those who were paying maximum taxes.

He said that the Kashmir Road underpass had been approved and the work would soon be started.

The University of Applied Engineering and Emerging Technologies was going to be built at a cost of Rs16bn, he said.

The SAPM said that a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was going to be set up over a thousand of acres in Sialkot.

He said that a modern hospital consisting of 1000 beds would be built at a cost of 6bn in Sialkot.

The government had released

Rs3.5bn for the new campus of Govt College Women University (GCWU) at Aimenabad Road, he added.

Sialkot business community lauded the efforts of the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar for his strenuous efforts for the business community of Sialkot during the lockdown.

Provincial Minister for Special Education Punjab Ch. Muhammad Ikhlaq, Minister for Religious Affairs (AJK) Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Leader of Sialkot Business Community Riaz-ud-Din Sheikh, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Qaiser Iqbal Baryar, Chairman AirSial Fazal Jillani, Chairman Dryport Trust Sheikh Naveed Iqbal, Chairman Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association Pakistan (SIMAP) Zeeshan Tariq, Chairman Sialkot Tannery Zone Raza Munir, Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association Faisal Mehbood, Vice Chairman AirSial Umer Mir, Vice Chairman SIAL Chaudhry Sarfraz Ahmed Bhatti and a large number of businessmen attended the function.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, held a meeting with the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, at the Finance Division to discuss the promotion of the film industry. The finance minister urged the revival of the film industry and cinemas to portray a soft image of the country, besides ensuring jobs and economic activities in the sector. It was decided to give incentives to the people associated with the film and cinema industry.

Tarin also promised his full support for the resurgence of the industry. The meeting was also attended by Secretary Information, Secretary Finance Division, FBR Chairman and other senior officers. MONITORING REPORT

Dollar hits 13-month high at Rs168.02

Apple likely to launch iPhone 13 series on Tuesday CALIFORNIA AGENCIES

Apple is expected to launch its latest series of 5G-enabled iPhones in an event that will take place on September 14 (Tuesday).

The event, which will have the tagline “California streaming,” will be streamed online from the iPhone maker's headquarters in Apple Park, California, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company did not disclose which products it is going to launch, but industry rumours indicate that the September event will include the announcement of its iPhone 13 series. Apple does not confirm the names of the products it is planning to launch before official events.

But it has traditionally unveiled its iPhones in September every year, except last year when the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the launch. Apple, which announced

its first 5G-enabled iPhone 12 devices in October last year, is also expected to

launch a new smartwatch and AirPods during the latest event.

According to media reports, the new iPhone 13 series will feature three different smartphones. The new phones are expected to debut in the same sizes as the iPhone 12 devices.

The company is expected to add bigger cameras and higher refresh rate screens for a bright display as it looks to attract more customers. Apple, which shipped nearly 206 million iPhones last year, is expected to deliver 231 million devices this year and 240 million next year, according to investment bank Haitong International Securities.

Compared with its peers, the company was late to enter the 5G race. Rivals Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo introduced 5G smartphones in 2019. Overall, smartphone shipments are forecast to increase 7.7 per cent this year and will reach 1.38 billion units, according to International Data Corporation.

The dollar kept appreciating against the weakening rupee and reached closed to the record high as it was traded at Rs168.02 on Friday as compared with Thursday’s close of Rs167.66, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). According to a local media report, currency dealers said the dollar was traded at 13-month high price after it gained 36 paisa. The highest price of dollar was Rs168.43 on Aug 26, 2020. In early September 2021, the Pakistani rupee became the worst-performing currency in Asia in a basket of 13 currencies as it fell to a 13-month low against the US dollar in the wake of a significant surge in demand for the greenback to make payments for soaring imports. MONITORING REPORT

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LAHORE

TAlibAn hAve TheiR woRk cuT ouT To win heARTs And minds in kAbul

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REUTERS

hair and dirty clothes. They have no manners at all." After 20 years of Western presence, Kabul is no longer the bombed-out shell the Taliban took over in 1996.

While it remains scruffy and trafficsnarled, with overflowing drains, patchy electricity and no running water in many areas, it has a lively urban culture far removed from the austere rural background of most Taliban fighters.

A fan of Barcelona's soccer team with a taste for Bollywood, Ahmad reluctantly let his beard grow and exchanged the Westernstyle clothes he used to wear for a traditional perahan tunban to avoid standing out when he runs into a Taliban checkpoint.

Instead of Dari, the language mainly spoken in Kabul, he is careful to address any Taliban he meets in Pashto, the language of the south and east where most of the fighters come from.

"They have never been in a city and many of them don't speak Dari - as well as Pashto you hear Arabic or Urdu and other languages," he said. "They beat people in the street with their weapons. People are very afraid of them."

REASSURANCE: Taliban leaders say they

FTER 20 years of fighting, the Taliban have tried to present a conciliatory face to the world.

Afghanistan's new rulers have a problem closer to home: winning the hearts and minds of their own people, starting in the capital.

Since the group entered Kabul on Aug. 15, armed members have roamed the streets in battlefield dress, often with no obvious chain of command. Many city dwellers are not used to the sight, and heavy-handed security tactics have not helped.

Ahmad, a Kabul teacher who was a small child when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan 20 years ago, has adjusted to the shock of seeing their fighters on the streets.

But weeks after the city fell, he feels no more reconciled to their presence.

"People in Kabul hate them," he said, with a city dweller's distaste for rough fighters who have descended from the countryside. Ahmad declined to give his surname for fear of retribution.

"You should see them, they are wildlooking people, dirty, uneducated with long

want Kabul residents to feel secure, but they acknowledge they were surprised by the swift collapse of the Western-backed government, leaving next to no time to plan the running of a city of over 5 million people.

They also admit that their fighters, most of whom have known little but years of war, are not trained police used to dealing with the public.

The group says its government is different from the hardline Islamist administration that ruled from 1996 to 2001, and it has promised there would be no arbitrary punishments and that patrols had been ordered to treat people with respect.

"If there is a problem in any area, whether it is a thief or an oppressor or a gunman or a tyrant, let the people know that we have shared our contact numbers everywhere," said Seyed Rahman Heydari, a Taliban patrol commander in Kabul's police district 6.

"Just let us know when facing such issues; we will follow up seriously and arrest the criminals."

When they were last in power, Taliban religious police would beat people breaking the rules, and the group became noto-

rious internationally for its public amputations and executions. This time, several street protests have been broken up by gunmen firing warning shots into the air. People have been detained and beaten with rifle butts and rods and pipes.

Taliban leaders have vowed to investigate any instances of abuse, but have ordered demonstrators to seek permission before holding protests.

For some Afghans, the reputation for swift and harsh justice has provided reassurance in a city which, alongside regular Taliban suicide attacks, has seen kidnappings, murders and violent robberies increase in recent years. "I can see that the security conditions have changed since the coming of the Islamic Emirate government," said driver Abdul Sattar, who drives passengers around the Darul Aman Square area.

"Previously there were lots of mobile phone thieves in the area, but now there's less of that." With no corrupt local police to bribe, he said he had even been able to drop prices to 10 afghanis per passenger from 2030 previously.

BEATINGS: However, demonstrations in Kabul and the Taliban's sometimes violent

Iran invites IAEA chief for talks before showdown with West: report

response to protesters and journalists covering them have undermined confidence in the group's promises to treat the public with respect. "Obviously when children and women see them, they would be afraid of them, because their previous government was terrible," said Kabul resident Rahmatullah Khan.

The new government, made up mainly of southern and eastern ethnic Pashtun men who joined the Taliban in the 1990s, also tempered hopes of an inclusive administration that reflects the concerns of people who grew up in the post-2001 era.

While Afghan society remains profoundly conservative with regard to women's rights even outside the Taliban's ranks, protests by women in Kabul and other cities have underlined how determined some are to preserve the gains of the past 20 years.

On Wednesday, women in Kabul carrying signs reading "A cabinet without women is a failure" underlined scepticism of the Taliban's assurances of the value of women in society and the respect due to them. Heydari, the Taliban commander, said people "should not have any fear in their hearts. We are at their service day and night."

It is a message some are unwilling to believe.

Ayesha, a 22-year-old who worked for a media group before Kabul fell, said she had seen women beaten several times by Taliban and would only go out of her house when absolutely necessary.

"These are very dangerous people, they will beat women and insult them. I don't care what their leaders say, they are completely wild."

Three killed after Russian apartment block gas explosion MOSCOW REUTERS

VIENNA REUTERS

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will fly to Tehran this weekend for talks that may ease a standoff between Iran and the West just as it risks escalating and scuppering negotiations on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, diplomats said on Saturday.

Three diplomats who follow the International Atomic Energy Agency closely said Grossi's trip before next week's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors was confirmed. Others said they had yet to receive word of confirmation. The IAEA was not immediately available for comment. Two of the diplomats said Grossi was due to arrive in Tehran early on Sunday before meeting the new head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami.

The IAEA informed member states this week that there had been no progress on two central issues: ex-

plaining uranium traces found at several old, undeclared sites and getting urgent access to some monitoring equipment so the agency can continue to keep track of parts of Iran's nuclear programme as provided for by the 2015 deal. read more Separate, indirect talks between the United States and Iran on both returning to compliance with the deal have been halted since June. Washington and its European allies have been urging hardline President Ebrahim Raisi's administration, which took office in August, to return to the talks.

Under the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers, Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

SANCTIONS: President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, re-introducing painful economic sanctions. Iran responded as of 2019 by breaching many of the deal's core restrictions, like enriching uranium to a higher purity, closer to that suitable for use in nuclear weapons.

Western powers must decide whether to push for a resolution criticising Iran and raising pressure on it for stonewalling the IAEA at next week's meeting of the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors. A resolution could jeopardise the resumption of talks on the deal as Tehran bristles at such moves. read more The European parties to the 2015 deal - Britain, France and Germany - held a meeting with the United States in Paris on Friday to discuss how to react at the IAEA board and to review options if Iran continues to stall on returning to negotiations.

But diplomats said no decisions had been taken as of yet. Countries on the IAEA Board of Governors will be watching Grossi's visit cto see whether Iran yields either on granting access to the monitoring equipment to service it or offers the prospect of answers on the uranium particles found at the undeclared former sites.

Moves on those issues would make it less likely that a resolution is brought against Iran, diplomats say.

China, Vietnam should avoid magnifying S China Sea disputes: Wang Yi SHANGHAI/HANOI REUTERS

China and Vietnam should refrain from unilateral actions regarding the South China Sea that could complicate the situation and magnify disputes, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told a Vietnamese official, China's foreign ministry said.

State Councillor Wang was speaking with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a visit to Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Wang's visit to Vietnam, part of his week-long Southeast Asian tour, came

about two weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to the region.

The Vietnamese prime minister said in a meeting with the Chinese ambassador just hours before Harris' visit that Vietnam did not align itself with one country against any other. read more China says it has historical sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, but its neighbours and the United States say that claim has no basis in international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which China is a signatory.

Beijing's claim overlaps with Viet-

Afghanistan remittance payouts limited to local currency: report LONDON REUTERS

Afghanistan's central bank has ordered banks to pay out remittances in local currency only, the latest move to preserve scarce U.S. dollars, say sources familiar with the matter. Hard currency remittances have formed an important source of external finance for Afghanistan over the years but dollar availability has dried up in the aftermath of the Taliban's conquest of the country. Western Union Co's agent banking partners in Afghanistan received a directive from the country's central bank in the last few days to pay out remittances in afghani only, said a source close to a money exchange provider. Remittances sent before the directive and selected by the sender for dollar payout can continue to be paid in dollars, the source said. MoneyGram International Inc said it was paying out in afghani only, without elaborating further. Both resumed money-transfer services to Afghanistan last week, having suspended services in August after the Islamist militia captured Kabul. No comment was immediately available from the central bank. Under the leadership of acting central bank governor, Haji Mohammad Idris, a Taliban loyalist who has no formal financial training, the central bank has been moving to restrict dollar outflows amid a pause in foreign aid and a scramble by some Afghanis to get savings out of the country.

nam's exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, as well as those of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Trillions of dollars in trade flow every year through the waterway, which also contains rich fishing grounds and gas fields.

Wang said the two countries should cherish the hard-won peace and stability achieved in the South China Sea and be vigilant to resist the intervention of extraterritorial forces, the Chinese ministry's statement said.

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said in a government statement it was important that two coun-

tries respect each other's legitimate rights and interests, in accordance with international law and UNCLOS. The two sides agreed to continue to strictly adhere to high-level common perceptions, manage disagreements, avoid complicating situations or expanding disputes and jointly maintain peace and stability in the disputed waters, the Vietnamese government statement added.

Vietnam said China would donate 3 million more doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam this year, raising China's total vaccine donations to the country to 5.7 million doses.

Three people died, including an 11-year-old girl, after a gas explosion caused a two-storey apartment building to partially collapse in a Russian village early on Saturday, head of the Lipetsk region Igor Artamonov said. Video footage showed major structural damage to the building in Solidarnost, a village 400 km (250 miles) south of Moscow, and rescue workers on the scene, attempting to clear the rubble. Six other people were injured, five of whom were hospitalised, said Vasily Razmunov, head of the local emergencies ministry. A gas explosion in the central part of the building had caused it to collapse, said the regional branch of Russia's Investigative Committee. Investigators said they had opened a criminal case on the grounds that services provided had not met safety requirements. Gas explosions are relatively common in Russia because of ageing infrastructure and poor safety regulations.

Russia sends armoured vehicles, military equipment to Tajikistan MOSCOW REUTERS

Russia sent Tajikistan 12 armoured vehicles and an array of military equipment, its defence ministry said on Saturday, as Moscow looks to shore up its Central Asian ally that neighbours Afghanistan.

Moscow has held military exercises in Tajikistan and expanded hardware at its military base there, its biggest in a foreign country, since the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban's lightning takeover. Russia is worried about the potential for fallout in the wider region and the possibility of Islamist militants infiltrating Central Asia, which Moscow sees as its southern defensive buffer.

White House says Biden, Xi discussed origins of Covid probe WASHINGTON REUTERS

U.S. President Joe Biden discussed the investigation into the origins of Covid-19 during a call on Thursday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, according to the White House.

"They did discuss a range of trans-national issues including Covid-19, and understanding its origins is of course a primary concern for this administration," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. "Yes, it was a topic raised, but I'm not going to go into further detail."

Biden vowed last month to press China for answers over the origins of a pandemic that has now killed 4.8 million people worldwide. In-

telligence agencies said they could not resolve a debate over whether the virus emerged from a Chinese research laboratory without Beijing's help. read more Beijing denies the U.S. accusation that it has not cooperated with the pandemic source investigation. read more Thursday's 90-minute call was the first talks for the two leaders' first in seven months amid cool relations between the countries. read more A U.S. official who spoke to Reuters on Thursday said Biden had not planned to raise the prospect of U.S. retaliatory action or "costs" if China refused to cooperate on the investigation or a range of other issues.

For his part, Xi told Biden that the two countries should respect each other's core con-

cerns and properly manage differences, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The outlet reported that Xi suggested to Biden that the countries should continue with contact and dialogue and cooperate on issues including epidemic prevention and control and economic recovery, as well as major international and regional issues like climate change.

Psaki described the call as respectful and candid, not lecturing or condescending, intended at keeping channels of communication open between the countries. Climate and human rights were among the topics, she said, and though economic matters were discussed they were "not a major part" of the call.

"It wasn't a call that was intended to produce final outcomes," according to Psaki.

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

SPortS 11

laHore

DjOkOvic wiNS US OpeN Semi-fiNal, keepS qUeST fOR caleNDaR GRaND Slam ON TRack NEW YORK

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REUTERS

ORLD number one Novak Djokovic is a match away from one of the highest achievements across sports, with a calendar Grand Slam on the line after he overcame German Alexander Zverev 4-6 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the U.S. Open semi-final Friday.

Djokovic moved within one win of reaching a men’s record 21 Grand Slam titles and avenged his loss to Zverev at the Tokyo Olympics in front of a roaring crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, with Rod Laver sitting in the front row, 52 years after he achieved the feat, the last man to do so.

Currently in a three-way tie for most men's tennis major titles at 20 a piece with Federer and Rafa Nadal, with whom he makes up tennis' "Big Three," Djokovic could also exceed his rivals in the sheer

number of Grand Slam trophies if he wins Sunday. Both Federer and Nadal missed the year's final major due to injury. read more "There’s only one match left. All in, all in. Let’s do it," Djokovic said.

"I’m going to put my heart and my soul and my body and my head into that one. I’m going to treat the next match like it is the last match of my career."

He will face Russian Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final, after the world number two sent off 21-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in his semi-final.

Djokovic handed the German his first break of the night with a double fault in the first set but otherwise showed no mercy, firing off 41 winners and a dozen aces across the entire match.

The third set was a matter of survival of the fittest. Djokovic had a 40-0 head start in the tenth game only to see Zverev fend off two break points through marathon rallies, including a 53-shot exchange, before he

Smooth sailing so far but storm warnings for US Open teens REUTERS

It's been smooth sailing into Saturday's U.S. Open women's final for teen sensations Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez, but even before one of them has had a chance to hoist the trophy there are warnings of stormy waters ahead. The toast of the tennis world for their mind-boggling success on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts, 18-year-old Briton Raducanu and 19-year-old Canadian Fernandez have set the sport alight with their fearless play and joie-devivre. But when the tournament ends they will step out of their Grand Slam dream into the cold reality of the day-to-day grind, weighted down by expectations and obligations that were not part of their lives two weeks ago. The U.S. Open may be over but come Monday many fans will expect Raducanu and Fernandez to continue to compete at the same extraordinary levels they did in New York. "Everyone is going to want them, every tournament is going to want them to play," said Ashley Keber, the WTA Tour's vice-president of member relations, who leads a team that develops programs and resources for players and their teams. Virtual unknowns when the year began, Raducanu and Fernandez are anonymous faces no more to New York crowds chanting their names and celebrities offering praise on social media. Following her semi-final win over Maria Sakkari on Thursday, Raducanu was asked by a reporter how it felt to be the most famous person in Britain. A lot to digest for a tennis-loving schoolgirl who sat her A-levels, high school-leaving exams, in June. From royalty to the prime ministers of Canada and Britain to sports stars and the famous, the world has taken notice and so has the WTA. While the WTA has programs in place to help players cope with the demands of the sport, Keber acknowledged Raducanu and Fernandez will require a little more diligence. With the Serena, Venus Williams era drawing to an end, the timing of the teens' arrival is impeccable as tennis looks to fill a void with marketable, engaging personalities. Protecting those assets from added stress will be a priority.

"I knew coming into the court today there is going to be a great battle, as we said, prior to this match. I hope that we brought energy."

'THE GREATEST': The 34-year-old Serbian has faced few issues this year at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, taking down sixth-seed Matteo Berrettini in the quarters, after a stellar 2021 in which he has lost just five matches.

He leads Medvedev 5-3 in head-to-head, most recently defeating the Russian in straight sets in the Australian Open final.

"It's going to be a battle against another guy who has been in tremendous form," said Djokovic. "On the other side, I'll be giving it all I possibly got in the tank to win this match."

He has hoisted the U.S. Open trophy three times before already, and has now equaled Roger Federer's record of 31 major men's single finals, but steadfastly avoided questions about the possible calendar slam

Sainz crashes as Hamilton leads final Italian GP practice REUTERS

NEW YORK

broke the German's serve for the set point.

Tied at two sets a piece, Djokovic won a 30-shot rally for the early break, but after fending off four break points saw Zverev convert in the seventh game. He broke Zverev's serve in the next game before hoisting his arms aloft to wild cheers from the crowd. "The best atmosphere of the tournament so far," said Djokovic, who has had a fitful relationship with the New York crowd at times. "These are the moments we live for and these are the kind of unique opportunities that we dream of everyday... So thank you so much for making it special."

The evening was yet another disappointment for Zverev, who came within two points of winning the tournament a year ago and must once again walk away empty handed, after reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros, as well.

"Alexander is a big champion, is someone that I admire on and off the court," said Djokovic.

Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari heavily in final practice for the team's home Italian Grand Prix on Saturday as seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Mercedes.

The Spaniard halted the session when he smashed head-on into the barriers at the Ascari chicane with just over half an hour remaining.

"I had a massive crash," he said over the radio. "That hurt a bit but I'm OK." Sainz, who also crashed in Saturday practice at last weekend's Dutch Grand Prix, was taken to the medical centre and the session resumed with some 20 minutes left.

The stricken Ferrari was returned to the pitlane, with the team saying mechanics were working flat out to get it ready for the afternoon's sprint which sets the grid for Sunday's grand prix at the fastest circuit on the calendar.

Sainzwas given preliminary clearance to race but will have another check before the sprint.

He had qualified seventh fastest on Friday with the sprint awarding points to the top three.

The experimental format is being tried out for the second time after a debut at Silverstone in July.

Team mate Charles Leclerc ended his session a few minutes early, telling the team over the radio: "Guys, I need to box. I cannot explain it here."

A team spokeswoman said

the Monegasque "was feeling slightly unwell".

Hamilton's time of one minute 23.246 was 0.222 quicker than Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas, who qualified fastest on Friday.

Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen was third quickest, 0.416 slower than Hamilton, with team mate Sergio Perez fourth. Mercedes have indicated they will tell Bottas to let Hamilton pass in the sprint race, given the championship situation, if circumstances allow.

Verstappen is three points clear of the Briton after 13 races and Bottas will start at the back of the grid on Sunday after an engine change on Friday triggered an automatic penalty.

Premier League clubs can play South American players after ban threat averted REUTERS Premier League clubs that had prevented players from Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay from travelling to participate in World Cup matches will be allowed to play them this weekend after a threat of a five-day ban was averted.

Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City were among clubs who did not release players for the current international break as they would have been travelling to countries on the UK's COVID-19 red list.

Their home countries had the right to trigger the ban but agreed to waive the FIFA rule after talks.

The decision had been reached "based on positive signals and constructive dialogue FIFA has received from the UK government towards the international match window in October," the game's governing body said in a statement.

The leaders of FIFA, the Football Association and the Premier League had sent a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking to resolve the issue.

"The UK government is now open to find a reasonable solution with the three organisations, who are working closely together in a spirit of mutual understanding, in the interests of everyone," FIFA's statement said.

after his semi-final match.

"I know we want to talk about history. I know it's on the line. I'm aware of it. Of course, I'm aware of it," he said.

"But I'm just trying to lock into what I know works for me. I have my routines, I have my people. I isolate myself. I gather all the necessary energy for the next battle, only the next match, the next match."

While tennis fans the world over enjoy endless debate over who of tennis' "Big Three" can truly lay claim to the title "Greatest of All Time," for Zverev, the matter was already settled.

"If you look at the stats, if you look the pure game of tennis action, he's the greatest of all time," said Zverev. "Nobody is there with him, because most weeks world No. 1, most Masters 1000s titles, most likely going to be the most Grand Slams at the end of the day. "And he has the chance of winning all four in the same year. How do you compete with that?"

Toyota's Rovanpera leads in Greece after day one REUTERS Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera led after the first day of Greece's Acropolis Rally on Friday with championshipleading team mate Sebastien Ogier third. Hyundai's Estonian Ott Tanek was second, 3.7 seconds behind the Finn, with Frenchman Ogier two tenths further behind in a close battle between the three drivers over the day's five rock-strewn gravel stages. Ogier's closest title rivals had a difficult day with Toyota team mate Elfyn Evans suffering a stuck gearbox and losing five minutes while Hyundai's Belgian Thierry Neuville lost six minutes to broken power steering. Ogier, chasing his eighth world championship, is 38 points clear of Welshman Evans with three rounds remaining after Greece. "I was pretty pessimistic starting this day given our road position and the conditions, I was thinking it could be a tough one, but I think I did everything I could and managed to stay out of trouble," said Ogier. "We were really on the limit in some sections and also a bit clever in some rough parts." Saturday, with six stages and 132.56km of competitive action, is the longest day of the Lamia-based rally that started with an opening street stage in Athens on Thursday.

Nadal recovering after treatment on foot problem REUTERS Rafa Nadal said on Saturday that he was recovering at home after receiving treatment in Barcelona for the foot problem that forced him to cut short his 2021 campaign. The 20-times major winner suffered with back issues at the start of the season before pulling out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.

Nadal announced last month ahead of the U.S. Open that the recurring foot injury would not allow him to compete for the rest of year. read more In an Instagram post the 35-year-old Spaniard, ranked fifth in the world, said he had completed his treatment. A source close to Nadal's team said the left-handed player did not undergo surgery.

Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Dawid Malan join Jos Buttler in pulling out of IPL SPORTS DESK Several of England's all-format players have withdrawn from this year's IPL as a result of bubble fatigue and in anticipation of a long winter.

Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Dawid Malan have joined Jos Buttler in confirming their withdrawals. Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes had pulled out previously.

Malan will be replaced at Punjab Kings for the rest of the season by Aiden Markram.

Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Woakes (Delhi Capitals), Malan and Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) have all been named in England's T20 World Cup squad and might expect to be named in England's Ashes tour party, too. As a result, they face the prospect of more than four months away from home including time in quarantine as they move from country to country.

Buttler and Woakes are the fathers of

MARKRAM REPLACES MALAN AT KINGS AS BUBBLE FATIGUE, DEMANDING WINTER PROMPT ENGLISH WITHDRAWALS young children, with Buttler having just celebrated the arrival of his second child.

It has emerged in recent days that all players heading to the IPL (which resumes on September 19) would be required to undergo six days of quarantine. This may well have been a contributory factor in the abandonment of the Manchester Test.

Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, George Garton, Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy are the England players still expected to participate in the IPL. Some are expected to fly to the UAE today (Saturday) on a commercial flight.

One or two others may not depart until after T20 Finals Day (on September 18).

From that group of players, only Sam Cur-

ran and Moeen are expected to be named in the Ashes touring party, though it would be no surprise at all if Moeen, a father of two young children, withdrew from that.

Indeed, the future of that tour looks more precarious than ever after the events at Emirates Old Trafford. A significant number of senior players remain deeply uncomfortable with the prospect of a twoweek quarantine at the start of that tour and, even more so, at the prospect of putting their families through the same. As a result, a number of high-profile withdrawals seem inevitable.

In relation to the Ashes tour, Tom Harrison, ECB chief executive, told Sky Sports on Friday: "Now that this Test series has come to an early conclusion, that

becomes priority number one for us to work through with the players. It's a conversation which now takes the centre stage, because it's looming large on the horizon."

While the ECB are adamant the tour will go ahead, the prospect of a secondstring England side competing in the Ashes is real. Whether that is deemed to compromise the integrity of the events remains to be seen.

A crucial issue for the England players is the uncertainly surrounding travel to Australia at present. While there has been talk of allowing them to serve a relatively soft quarantine - perhaps in a resort hotel on the Gold Coast which would allow them access to golf courses - there are no guarantees. Perhaps more importantly, there are no guarantees such privileges would be extended to traveling family members. There is also the prospect of further quarantine requirements as the tour

party moves between states.

"We should always have that ambition in mind to go to Australia with our best possible team," Harrison said. "It's an iconic Test series to play in, all England players want to be part of it.

"I totally understand the players' perspective on families being present and the conditions under which families are present. I also don't think there's anything unreasonable about the way that debate has been positioned.

"It's a conversation we're having in partnership with Cricket Australia and the Australian government, all trying to get to the right solution for everyone to feel comfortable about going."

What events at Emirates Old Trafford underline, however, is the power of modern players and their refusal to be cajoled into endless tournaments. Not even the IPL or the Ashes are immune to such pressures.

Sunday, 12 September, 2021

PRAyeR timings

NEWS

US mArkS 20 yeArS SiNce 9/11, iN ShAdow of AfghANiStAN wAr’S eNd NEW YORK

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the AssociAted PRess

WENTy years ago, the 11th of September dawned as just a date. By midnight, it was 9/11, the staggering starting point for a new era of terror, war, politics, patriotism and tragedy.

The US marks the milestone anniversary Saturday under the pall of a pandemic and in the shadow of a frantic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which fell to the same rulers who gave safe haven to the purported plotters of the 2001 attacks.

“It’s hard because you hoped that this would just be a different time and a different world. But sometimes history starts to repeat itself and not in the best of ways,” said Thea Trinidad, who lost her father in the attacks and has signed up to read victims’ names at the ceremony at ground zero in New york.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to all three attack sites: New york’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In a video released Friday night, he mourned the ongoing losses of 9/11.

“Children have grown up without parents, and parents have suffered without children,” said Biden, a childhood friend of the father of a September 11 victim, Davis Grier Sezna Jr. But the president also spotlighted what he called the “central lesson” of September 11: “that at our most vulnerable […] unity is our greatest strength.”

Former President George W. Bush, the nation’s leader on 9/11, is due at the Pennsylvania memorial and his successor, Barack Obama, at ground zero.

The only other post-9/11 US president, Donald Trump, is planning to be in New york, in addition to providing commentary at a boxing match in Florida in the evening.

Other observances — from a wreath-laying in Portland, Maine, to a fire engine parade in Guam — are planned across a country now full of 9/11 plaques, statues and commemorative gardens.

Using hijacked planes as missiles, the assailants inflicted the deadliest terrorist attacks on US soil, taking nearly 3,000 lives, toppling the twin towers and ushering in an age of fear.

Security was redefined, with changes to airport checkpoints, police practices and the government’s surveillance powers. In the years that followed, virtually any sizeable explosion, crash or act of violence seemed to raise a dire question: “Is it terrorism?”

Some ideological violence and plots did follow, though federal officials and the public have lately become increasingly concerned with threats from domestic extremists after years of focusing on international terror groups in the wake of 9/11.

New york faced questions early on about whether it could ever recover from the blow to its financial hub and restore a feeling of safety among the crowds and skyscrapers. New yorkers ultimately rebuilt a more populous and prosperous city but had to reckon with the tactics of an empowered post-9/11 police department and a widened gap between haves and have-nots.

A “war on terror” led to invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the longest US war ended last month with a hasty, massive airlift punctuated by a suicide bombing that killed 169 Afghans and 13 American service

members and was attributed to a branch of the so-called Islamic State extremist group. The US is now concerned that al-Qaida, the terror network behind 9/11, may regroup in Afghanistan.

Two decades after helping to triage and treat injured colleagues at the Pentagon on September 11, retired Army Col. Malcolm Bruce Westcott is saddened and frustrated by the continued threat of terrorism.

“I always felt that my generation, my military cohort, would take care of it — we wouldn’t pass it on to anybody else,” said Westcott, of Greensboro, Georgia. “And we passed it on.”

For Angelique Tung, who was at the trade centre for a business meeting on 9/11 and escaped down 77 flights of stairs, the US pullout from Afghanistan stirred empathy for troops who served there. Some now wonder whether their efforts and sacrifices made a difference, which makes Tung think of a question she has asked herself since surviving September 11.

“I hope that, after 20 years, other people are asking that question: What good can come from this?” said Tung, of Wellesley, Massachusetts.

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No Afghan refugee exodus yet but ‘massive displacement’ possible: UN GAZIANTEP ReuteRs

The Taliban victory in Afghanistan has not led to a dramatic refugee exodus but the country urgently needs humanitarian aid to prevent economic collapse and major upheaval, the UN refugee agency chief said. Half a million people had been displaced within Afghanistan in recent months, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said, a number which would grow if health services, schools and the economy break down. “In reality, we have not seen at this point large movements of Afghan people towards the borders of the country,” Grandi told Reuters. “What we continue to see is a very dramatic phenomenon of internal displacement.” Even before the Taliban launched its final push to seize control, three million Afghans were already displaced in a country struggling with drought and the Covid-19 pandemic, and where nearly half the population received some form of aid. “We are really worried […] (about) the economic conditions, basic services like education and health. If those things collapse then we have a massive humanitarian crisis on our hands and most likely massive displacement as well,” Grandi said. The first signs of such a crisis were already visible, with people struggling to buy basic goods and concerns growing over medical supplies. There was a need to “really scale up massively” a sustained humanitarian operation, he said. The UNHCR said two weeks ago that up to half a million Afghans could leave their homeland by the end of the year in a worst-case scenario. Asked how many people may flee in the event of economic collapse, Grandi said it was “anybody’s guess at that point”.

How 9/11 shaped mass surveillance and stifled digital rights WASHINGTON ReuteRs

Shaped by the September 11, 2001, attacks, US internet policy is curbing civil liberties two decades on as anti-terror measures take precedent over people’s digital rights, an advocate warned.

Online privacy in the United States has been eroded by an era of mass surveillance and a belief that the internet must be monitored, censored, and controlled to prevent terrorism, said Corynne McSherry of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“The original sin of the war on terror was that we allowed the government to act without strong accountability or oversight, and that was true when it came to the internet,” said McSherry, legal director at the USbased digital rights group.

“The response to September 11 has shaped so much about internet policy, but the very clear and obvious first one is mass surveillance online,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.

“We may have new technologies, we

don’t have to lose sight of our constitutional principles,” McSherry said.

MASS SURVEILLANCE: Among other campaigns, the EFF has spent more than a decade fighting a legal battle against the online surveillance and interception of communications conducted without a warrant by the National Security Agency, according to McSherry.

“What we saw in the wake of the [September 11] attack was […] an approach by the US government to ‘collect it all’, taking advantage of all the ways people communi-

cate online to suck up as much info as possible, with almost no oversight.”

“It shaped how people behaved themselves on the internet, it sent a strong message to regular people that their activities are not private,” she added. “It has had an impact on how journalists do their work, how activists do their work.” In the wake of the attacks, the US Congress passed the Patriot Act, significantly expanding authority to collect data on Americans, while spy agencies secretly expanded programs of internet monitoring that were later revealed by US

whistleblower Edward Snowden. The federal government’s approach has had a ripple effect on local communities, advocates say, from police departments that collect the online activities of activists to border agents recording the social media handles of immigrants.

“One thing we have seen the last few decades is that law enforcement agencies all down the chain have taken up internet surveillance as a part of what they do — from local police, to border authorities,” McSherry said.

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