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Saturday, 5 February, 2022 I 3 Rajab, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 218 I 14 Pages I Lahore Edition

Pakistan, China sign aCCord on industrial CooPeration under CPeC

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AKISTAN and China on Friday inked the Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrival in Beijing the previous day.

The prime minister is in China to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and meet the Chinese leadership.

State Minister and Chairman Board of Investment Mohammad Azfar Ahsan and Chairman National Development & Reform Commission (NRDC) He Lifeng signed the accord.

The objective of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Industrial Cooperation is to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), promote industrialisation and development of economic zones, and initiate, plan, execute, and monitor projects, both in public as well as the private sector.

The engagement with China under JWG is envisaged to increase labour productivity in Pakistan, enhance industrial competitiveness, increase exports, and sustain

diversification in the exports basket.

During the 8th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting of CPEC held in 2018, both sides had signed a Memorandum of Understanding that formed the basis for future engagements between the parties under the ambit of industrial cooperation.

As CPEC entered its second phase, which primarily revolves around the development and industrialisation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the need for a comprehensive framework agreement became imperative.

Similar agreements have also been signed for Early Harvest CPEC Projects on energy and infrastructure.

With continuous efforts of the Board of Investment (BoI), both sides reached the consensus to elevate the existing MoU into a Framework Agreement in 2020.

After extensive stakeholder consultations and with the approval of the prime minister, BoI shared the draft framework with NDRC in November 2020, which has been formulated keeping in consideration

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

the needs of CPEC Phase II. The signing ceremony of the framework agreement is a significant outcome of the prime minister’s visit and a top agenda from the Chinese side as a testimony to their interest in CPEC. PM hOLDS MEETINGS WITh ChINESE BuSINESSMEN: Later in the day. Prime Minister Imran Khan held a series of meetings with officials from China’s leading state-owned and private companies.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the premier met with executives from China Communication Construction Company, Huazhong Technology, Zhejiang Seaport Group, Challenge Apparel, Hunan Sunwalk Group Royal Group, China Road and Bridge Corporation, Zhengbang Group and China Machinery Engineering Corporation.

“The corporate leaders briefed the prime minister on the progress of their on-going projects in Pakistan,” the PMO statement said.

The Chinese businessmen showed a keen interest in expanding investment in Pakistan in projects related to recycling of metal and paper, energy, textile, fibre-optic networks, housing, dairy and water management, it said.

In his remarks, PM Imran appreciated the keen interest of the Chinese companies to invest in Pakistan.

“Highlighting deepening economic and trade ties between the two countries, he informed the Chinese corporate leaders about steps [taken] to create [a] conducive environment for Chinese investment in Pakistan and encouraged them to benefit from business friendly policies for investment in CPEC SEZs,” the statement said. News Desk

Indian COAS’ claim regarding LoC ceasefire ‘misleading’: DG ISPR DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar on Friday refuted Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s claim that the ceasefire arrangement on the Line of Control (LoC) was holding because India had negotiated from a “position of strength”.

As per the details, the 740-km LoC had seen unprovoked artillery shelling and firing from across the dividing line until February last year when India and Pakistan recommited themselves to the 2003 ceasefire, bringing relief to the lives of the affected population.

It is pertinent to note that on Thursday, Indian Army Chief Naravane said the ceasefire continued to hold because India had negotiated from a position of strength, according to a report by Indian news agency ANI. Naravane while speaking about the ongoing military stand-off with China on India’s northern border, stated that the “developments adequately underscore the requirement for ready and capable forces, with an optimal component of boots on ground backed by modern technology”.

DG ISPR termed the claim “clearly misleading”.

The ceasefire was agreed “only due to Pakistan’s concerns for the safety of people of Kashmir living on both sides of the LoC”, he tweeted. “No side should misconstrue it as their strength or other’s weakness.”

SBP receives $1.05bn from IMF

It is pertinent to note that the surprise truce announced in late February 2021 had brought an end to years of violence along the frontier that saw thousands of skirmishes rattle the Himalayan territory, where the two sides have used artillery, mortars, and small arms.

The deal effectively reinstated an earlier ceasefire signed by the two sides in 2003 that had been trampled by thousands of violations in recent years.

The ISPR stated that the original deal had largely held until 2016, when tensions exploded in occupied Kashmir, resulting in a surge in violence between the two sides.

As fighting along the LoC raged, ties between the rivals went into freefall with India repeatedly accusing Pakistan of sending infiltrators across the LoC, while Islamabad lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for stoking Hindu nationalist sentiment against Muslims.

The two sides came close to another all-out war after an attack inside India-occupied Kashmir in 2019 led to tit-for-tat air strikes. But even after stepping back from the brink, fighting along the LoC escalated, reaching an apex in 2020 with thousands of clashes reported.

But the damage from coronavirus and slowing economies — along with a geopolitical tug of war — appeared to have convinced both the sides to halt for the time being. News Desk

more inside

PM joins world leaders at Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,448,663

STORY ON BACK PAGE LAST UPDATED AT 8:23 AM ON FEBRUARY 4, 2022

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

48

6,377

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,317,385 29,420 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

547,920

485,810

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

199,195

34,634

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

39,894/10,837

130,373

SBP on Friday announced that it has received $1.05 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the successful conclusion of the sixth review of the External Fund Facility (EFF).

The IMF decided to resume the stalled $6 billion loan programme, after the conclusion of the 2021 Article IV consultation and the sixth review of the extended arrangement under the EFF for Pakistan.

The completion of the sixth review allowed the authorities to draw the equivalent of SDR 750 million (about $1 billion), bringing total purchases for budget support under the programme to SDR 2,144 million (about $3 billion).

The EFF was approved by the board on July 3, 2019 for SDR 4,268 million (about $6 billion).

The programme aims to support Pakistan’s policies to help the economic recovery

from the Covid-19 pandemic, ensure macroeconomic and debt sustainability, and advance structural reforms to lay the foundations for strong, jobrich, and long-lasting growth that benefits all Pakistanis.

The next review (seventh) under the $6 billion EFF programme will be due in April 2022. The last and final eighth review is expected to be done in September 2022. News Desk

Tyrant Indian army, RSS goons couldn’t suppress Kashmiris’ struggle for independence: Rasheed STORY ON PAGE 03

Three terrorists killed in Balochistan’s Kech: ISPR STORY ON BACK PAGE

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Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS

CPEC delivering tangible benefits to people of Pakistan, China: PM Imran

PHC suspends schedule of KP LG polls

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RIME Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is delivering tangible benefits to the people of two countries.

He was talking to Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission of China, He Lifeng during a virtual meeting with him in Beijing on Friday.

As per the reports, the meeting reviewed the progress of ongoing CPEC projects and discussed the preparations for future initiatives.

PM Imran Khan said PakistanChina All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership is time-tested and timeless and despite COVID-19

News Desk The PHC on Friday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification to hold the second phase of the local government polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 27, and asked the ECP to hold the elections after April, owing to unfavourable weather conditions across the province next month. As per the details, the PHC’s Abbottabad bench issued the directions while hearing a petition filed by a citizen who contended that various districts in the province would be shut by heavy snow in March, and the voters would struggle to reach polling stations because of the snow-covered roads. Earlier on January 20, the ECP had announced the schedule and a code of conduct for the second phase of LG polls in 18 districts of the province. It is to note that the first phase of elections was held in 17 districts on Dec 19. However, in its order today, Justice Shakeel Ahmed of the PHC’s bench remarked that the authorities were bound to ensure law and order situation and weather conditions were normal in areas where polls were to be held. “However, the ECP failed to take decisive action despite various letters written by the provincial government and reports submitted by the meteorological department to the ECP for postponement of the second phase of polls in the disturbed area(s),” the court said in its order. As per the details, the Met office, in letters to the ECP, had predicted snowfall and heavy rains in mountainous areas of the province in the month of March and urged the ECP to review its schedule for the polls. The court further explained in its order that “there should be a set of laws and rules containing provisions with respect to all matters relying to, or in connection with the election.” “We, therefore, set aside the impugned Notification No. No.F.16(1)/2021-LGE-KP dated 20.01.2022, and direct the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan to reschedule the Elections after Ramadhan 2022 or as and when the weather is normalized in the aforementioned areas,” the court order concluded. The PHC stated that it was of a view that fair, free and transparent elections were not possible in the disturbed areas. After the court’s order, the ECP sent a letter to all returning officers, asking them to not issue any notification pertaining to the LG polls until further orders.

News Desk

pandemic, work on all CPEC projects progressed steadily.

He appreciated efforts of the National Development and Reform Commission of China and relevant authorities of both sides in this regard.

The PM noted with satisfaction that CPEC’s early-harvest projects have transformed Pakistan’s economic landscape laying a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth.

Reaffirming the commitment of two sides to timely completion of CPEC projects and its high-quality development, the Prime Minister vowed to continue efforts to achieve Gwadar’s potential as a hub of regional commerce and industry and prioritize preparatory work on the ML-I and other key energy projects.

‘Great honour’: Hindu senator presides over Senate session on Kashmir News Desk Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli chaired today’s session where the Senate unanimously passed a resolution to express solidarity with Kashmiris in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day, which will be observed across the country tomorrow (February 5), The session was welcomed by the loud thumping of desks as she sat on the chair’s seat.

In her own tweet, Kohli said it was a “great honour”. “It is great honour [that] I chaired the Senate session called to discuss the current situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day,” she said.

“A Hindu presiding [over] the Senate session on Kashmir in Pakistan. Chairman Senate [asked] our colleague Krishna Kumari Kohli to do the honour. In connection with #KashmirSolidarityDay, it’s a strong message going out depicting [the] difference between Pakistan and Hindustan,” Senator Faisal Javed Khan said on Twitter.

The senator, who was elected in 2018 to a reserved seat on a PPP ticket, thanked party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for giving her an opportunity to become

a member of the upper house of Parliament.

It is pertinent to note that Kohli became the first Hindu Dalit woman to be elected to the Senate in 2018.

Prior to becoming a senator, she was an activist in a village in Nagarparkar.

The resolution passed during today’s session, paid tribute to the heroism and valour of the Kashmiris, while rejecting the illegal and unilateral action taken by India on August 5, 2019, and demanded that it revoke the step, calling it a “gross violation of all United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir”.

The resolution further warned India that the worst form of state terrorism would not break the will of the Kashmiri people or crush their legitimate struggle.

It condemned the unabated Indian human rights violations, war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law in IIOJK. “Ever since Aug 5, 2019, hundreds of innocent Kashmiris have been martyred, arbitrarily arrested or rounded up under trumped-up charges,” the resolution stated.

It denounced the illegal Indian measures to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory as well as “efforts to peddle a facade of normalcy” and demanded the immediate release of all political

prisoners in IIOJK. Lawmakers demanded that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his “fascist RSS organisation” be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. The resolution also called on the Indian government to stop extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris in fake encounters and cordon-and-search operations.

The resolution reassured the Kashmiri people that the government, people and Parliament of Pakistan would always stand firm with them in their just struggle until it is resolved according to their wishes and as per the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

It further called on the international community to take note of “India’s belligerence, intransigence and brazen persistence of cruelty against the Kashmiri people, including the danger of genocide which is now documented internationally”.

“The Senate of Pakistan reiterates its support to the people of Kashmir in the just struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination every step of the way,” the resolution concluded.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will send a copy of the signed resolution to different world leaders and the UN secretary general.

IHC reserves judgment on petition seeking investigation into Nisar’s audio News Desk The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its judgment on Friday on a plea seeking investigation into ex-CJP Saqib Nisar’s alleged leaked audio clip.

A petition filed by former president Sindh High Court Bar Association Salahuddin Ahmed, seeking an inquiry commission to be set up to investigate the audio clip was heard by the High Court, during which the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan opposed the proposition, questioning the narrative that one person’s audio clip had made the entire judiciary appear ‘compromised’.

The AGP asked that “What is the difference between the petitioner and Rana Shamim?” referring to the alleged affidavit of Gilgit-Baltistan’s former chief justice in which he has claimed that ex-CJP Saqib Nisar influenced the case against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Khan further argued that “no inquiry was ordered when a CJP was attacked, or when a briefcase full of cash was sent to someone”, adding that “the judiciary didn’t appear compromised when a prime minister was hanged”.

The AGP maintained that the message being given through the plea was that “the judge will be summoned to Jeddah, Lahore and will not be left alone even after his death.”

“The argument regarding the entire judiciary being compromised seems to only starts with this case,” the AGP remarked.

He further stated that an investigation into the audio scandal will affect the ongoing case against Rana Shamim and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Islamabad

High Court.

“The petition should be rejected as it could affect the pending case. The court should not get involved in this matter,” he added.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah, while responding to the AGP’s arguments, remarked that his arguments were alarming.

The AGP asked the court how would it maintain a balance in the case considering that one party claims the audio clip is real while the other denies it, opining that it will be difficult for the court to do so. “[Journalist] Ahmed Noorani claims the audio clip is authentic on the basis of a forensic analysis while a TV channel showed how the clip appears to have been edited in places [also on the basis of a forensic analysis],” the AGP said.

“Even if a commission is formed, can there be any guarantee that the pending appeal will not be affected?” Khan stated, adding that another reason for the plea to be dismissed was that the petitioner claims he does not possess the original audio.

Addressing the court, petitioner and lawyer Salahuddin Ahmed argued that he “had inquiries been conducted in the Maulvi Tamizuddin case, Bhutto’s judicial assassination, dismissal of a chief justice on the pretext of a briefcase, we would not have had to see this day”.

“If we will keep leaving everything to past judgments, history will continue repeating itself,” Salahuddin said, stating that he considered himself an affectee of the audio clip scandal.

“Whether it is Nawaz Sharif or Allah Rakha, my problem is the role of my chief justice,” the lawyer argued.

To this, the AGP stated that he would like to make a proposal to the petitioner and

the SHCBA. “If the petitioner says he will be equally upset if this happens to an Allah Rakha then how about we start with conducting an inquiry into [former CJP] Sajjad Ali Shah’s removal?” Khan said.

The petitioner, responding to the proposal, remarked that the AGP was now suggesting of opening up absolutely old cases.

However, the court maintained that if this “door was opened” for the government then pending cases will be interfered with.

It later reserved its judgment on the petition.

The incidenT: On November 21, 2021, journalist Ahmed Noorani shared an

audio clip claiming that the former CJP had directed his subordinates to send Sharifs to jail “as institutions wanted to bring Imran Khan into power”.

The journalist said that a US-based firm has verified that the voice in the leaked audio clip matched with the retired CJP’s.

However, the former top judge of the country declared it “fabricated”.

A day later, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) faced-off over the explosive audio clip of the former chief justice of Pakistan.

As per sources, following the release of the audio, Prime Minister Imran Khan

conveyed to his party leaders that they should apprise the people about the PMLN’s past, especially how they had allegedly attacked judiciary and influenced judges to get decisions in their favour in the past. The premier was quoted as saying that the government respects the institutions and stands by them.

On the contrary, PML-N President and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the former top judge’s audio leak shows how former PM Sharif and his daughter were “targeted” through a grand scheme to keep them out of the political process, adding that justice should now be done.

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

Tyrant Indian army, RSS goons couldn’t suppress Kashmiris’ struggle for independence: Rasheed IsLAMABAD

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APP

NTERIOR Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Friday said that the tyrant Indian army and RSS goons could not suppress the continuous struggle of Kashmiri people for their independence. The minister, in his special video message ahead of Kashmir Solidarity Day, said that the entire world has acknowledged the way in which the struggle for independence has been kept alive by the Kashmiri people through their unmatched sacrifices.

The Indian forces have not achieved any success despite killing innocent people in police encounters, he said.

The Indian government has issued

more than three million fake domiciles to change proportion of Kashmir’s population on the pattern of Israel, he said.

He said the Kashmiri people are struggling hard to get independence from the clutches of India, adding that the whole world has also realised unabated atrocities of Indian forces on the innocent Kashmiris in the Indiaoccupied Kashmir.

He India, who always claims to be a secular state, has exposed all over the world as an extremist country, he said.

Rasheed said the sympathies of Pakistan and the whole Islamic world are with the Kashmiri people.

“Long live Pakistan and long live Kashmiri struggle for independence,” he said.

Imran first head of state from Pakistan to be invited to Olympics: minister News Desk Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry stated on Friday that PM Imran is the first head of state from Pakistan to be invited to the Olympics.

The information minister stated that the PM held successful video conferences with Chinese industrialists from more than 18 sectors, asking them to cooperate with Pakistan.

Fawad further added that the PM will also give an interview to China Global Television Network (CGTN), the largest television network in China.

It is pertinent to note that the PM will be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games 2022 being held in Beijing. Over 20 heads of state will attend the opening ceremony, which will start at 5pm

PST today.

In this regard, the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Monday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to China is economically and politically “very important” for the country.

In a video message, Tarin said the government would ask China for help and propose that Beijing brings industry to Pakistan.

The visit, which is not officially a bilateral one, is also being used as an opportunity by Islamabad to discuss some pressing bilateral issues, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Prior to the visit, several preparatory meetings took place in Islamabad to fine-tune the agenda, which focused on enhancing trade, seeking investment and transfer of industries from China to Pakistan.

Young AJK artists paint life in Kashmir with hope for peace MUZAFFARABAD AnAdolu Agency

While Pakistanis and Kashmiris are set to observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day on Saturday in support of the pro-freedom movement in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), young artists pick colour and brush to paint daily life in the picturesque valley.

Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) officially observe the day on February 5 every year since 1991 to express solidarity with the people of IIOJK. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Rabia Zainab, a fourth-year student at the Arts and Design Department of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Muzaffarabad, said she has tried to bring hope to the people, encouraging them to stay “steadfast” in their struggle against the suppression.

“Apart from purple, I have used yellow (water) colour, which is a symbol of happiness and hope. I wish to intrigue the oppressed with the feeling of hope for a bright future and self-satisfaction through my piece,” she said.

Titled Light in the Darkness of Life, Zainab’s artwork is part of a painting contest organised by the university to highlight the different aspects of life in Kashmir, especially in the context of solidarity day, through colours.

“Hope is like a trust that we can give to others. It is a remedy for despair and grief, in addition to courage and will to live,” she said, referring to the dominating purple colour, which is a symbol of strength.

“Tomorrow awaits us because of hope. We all suffer calamities in common and if there is no hope (for a better tomorrow) we might have given up earlier,” she maintained, citing the psychological impact on a common Kashmiri caused by casualties, sieges, and economic destruction for decades.

Since India and Pakistan were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Kashmiri groups in IIOJK have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with Pakistan. According to several human rights organisations, thousands of people have reportedly

been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989. essence of peace: Echoing Zainab’s views, Hafiz Usman Naeem said in his piece of artwork, predominantly a pencil drawing showing a child in a cage, he has attempted to paint the essence of peace and hope for the “oppressed” Kashmiris.

“A good piece of art can either soothe the pain or make it more intense. It (drawing) also shows the silence of the UN and the international community over a continuing streak of human rights violations in the valley,” the young artist told Anadolu Agency.

“The child is caged but only temporarily because one day the valley will lighten up with the fire of freedom,” he maintained.

“Let’s be hopeful of a great outcome.”

Syed Bilal Kazmi, another university student taking part in the contest, used watercolours to paint a Kashmiri mother holding her child in her arms.

With an eye-soothing green background, the highlight of Kazmi’s artwork is the “supreme smile” of the woman attired in a blue Kashmiri gown, and sporting a traditional cap.

“Even though she has long been facing a myriad of hardships, her happiness tells the world how courageous a Kashmiri woman and mother can be,” Kazmi said while speaking to Anadolu Agency.

While holding her child, the woman makes a victory sign, vowing to remain steadfast in the face of multiple challenges she has been facing for decades. half-widows: Rukhsana Khan, the head of the Arts and Design Department, said that dozens of young artists took part in the contest, painting various themes in regard to “circumstances on the other side of the divide,” including “half widows,” and destruction of Kashmir’s cultural identity and violation of human rights etcetera.

Half-widow is a term given to Kashmiri women whose husbands have been missing. Several human rights groups accuse the Indian forces of being involved in the forced disappearances during the ongoing conflict in IIOJK. Moreover, she said the young artists have also painted the agony of Kashmiri youths and their struggle for their homeland, in addition to the traditional architecture of Kashmir valley. The valley comprises Muzaffarabad and the scenic Neelum Valley.

The artworks will be put on display on February 5 at the university campus.

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Covid-19 kills 48, infects 6,377 in a day: NCOC News Desk Pakistan reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths — 48 — in the last 24 hours, since October 7, 2021, taking the overall death toll to 29,420, the National Command and Operation’s Centre (NCOC) revealed on Friday. The number of new cases in the last 24 hours stands at 6,377 after 1,513,619 diagnostic tests were conducted, placing Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity ratio at 9.94%. The graph indicates a consistent increase in hospitalisation, with 1,618 patients in critical care, but the positivity rate has remained below 10% for the fourth consecutive day. The new infections placed Pakistan’s confirmed case count at 1,448,663, while the active case count clocked in at 101,858. Earlier this week, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan asked the public to stop being lazy and get a booster shot if they haven’t already, as Pakistan continues its battle against the Omicron-driven fifth COVID-19 wave. He had said that earlier, the NCOC was only asking people to get the booster dose, but now it is recommending it again based on scientific evidence. He had recently urged people to get their COVID-19 booster shots if six months had passed since they got their second vaccination dose. “Scientific data has shown that people need an additional dose of the vaccine despite being fully vaccinated for protection against COVID-19 if six months and over have passed,” Dr Sultan had said, while addressing a press conference after attending a meeting at the NCOC in Islamabad.

Rupee continues to recover against dollar kARACHI TlTP

The rupee continued its sharp recovery against the dollar and made a gain of Rs1.04 on Friday. The exchange rate ended at Rs174.48 against the greenback from the previous day’s closing of Rs175.52 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The rupee maintained gaining momentum for the last eight consecutive days since reaching Rs176.98 on January 26, 2022. During this period, the local currency gained Rs2.5, or 1.41 per cent, against the greenback. Experts said there were multiple reasons for the recovery in the local currency, which included approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranche, transfer of funds under Sukuks and decline in the import bill for January 2022. The IMF Executive Board met on February 2, 2022 and approved over $1 billion 6th tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. This will take the total disbursement by the IMF under the EFF program to $3 billion to Pakistan and will support the foreign exchange reserves of the country.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country deteriorated sharply. Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves plunged $397 million to $22.085 billion by the week ended January 28, 2022 as against $22.482 billion by the week ended January 21, 2022. The dealers said the rupee might also get support, as the latest number of import bill had shown a decline over the previous month after imposition of measures introduced through the minibudget. The import bill in January 2022 recorded a decline of 22 per cent to $5.9 billion, compared with $7.58 billion in December 2021, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

New industrial policy to focus on exports: Khusro IsLAMABAD TlTP

Government has decided to introduce framework to connect the competitiveness of SMEs to LSM in upcoming industrial policy, focusing on enhancement of local production. Chairing the preliminary meeting of industrial policy on Friday Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar urged the senior officials of his ministry to chalk out a framework to connect the competitiveness of SMEs to LSM in upcoming industrial policy. Bakhtyar informed the new industrial policy would be a focus on the enhancement of local production, an increase in value-added exports, and import substitution to ease the chronic problem of trade deficit and spur industrialization to promote jobs in the country. Secretary Industries and Production and senior officials of the Ministry and the consultants of Asian Development Bank and UK-FCDO (Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office) for industrial policy formulation were also present at the meeting.

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

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NEWS

Giraffe dies at Lahore Zoo due to ‘bLood infection’

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10-year-old male giraffe died at the Lahore Zoo on Friday, reportedly due to “blood infection”, announced zoo director Muddasir Hasan.

As per the director, the giraffe was “under treatment for blood-related illness”. Although the animal has been buried, the cause of death could be confirmed after the autopsy of the wild animal that will be released in the next two days.

It is pertinent to note that there was only one pair of giraffes in the zoo and after the death of the animal that

was aged 10 years, only a female giraffe has been left.

This giraffe, along with two female companions, was procured by the Lahore zoo in 2018, but one of the female giraffes died soon after her arrival.

Consequently, the contractor procured another giraffe as a replacement but she too died during the quarantine period.

As both deaths had occurred during the quarantine period, the dealer was bound to provide another animal to the zoo, but he has not made any deliveries so far. News Desk

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and members of CPNE pose for a photograph. ZubaiR MehfooZ

Efforts to be made to increase revenue of Railways: Swati LAHORE PR

Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati has said that all out efforts will be made to increase revenue of the railways.He said this while presiding over a meeting at the PR Headquarters here on Friday. He said that professionals should be hired from an open market if needed for betterment of the department,adding that a vivid change in the performance of the department was his desire. He directed the officers to serve the nation with dedication and commitment. The minister ordered the officers to take effective steps for the removal of hurdles on tracks and adopt a strategy to curb a trend of bogus passes and ticket dodgers. He ordered to present a report to the ministry about revenue on weekly bases. The minister directed the executive director Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services Limited (PRACS), a sister organization of the railways, to work with freedom for betterment of the department. The minister said that the best practices of international level should be followed to put the department on way to progress. Earlier, the minister was given briefing about performance and future projects of the PRACS, train safety, installation of electric metres with the help of Wapda and matters of the PR signal system.

Solidarity with IOK TEHminA JAnJuA The people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, have suffered decades of an inhumane occupation. As if this was not enough, the Indian government completely set aside international norms, and its own commitments, to annex Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019. The promised right to self-determination, endorsed by UN Security Council resolutions, was jettisoned. And, along with this illegal annexation, human rights violations intensified.

The actions taken by the Indian occupiers, especially after August 2019, reflect an elaborate strategy of military occupation, land confiscation, influx of nonKashmiris and creation of new settlements.

The strategy comes straight from the Israeli playbook of Palestinian occupation.

The International Russell Tribunal on Kashmir, held in December 2021 in Sarajevo, expressed deep concern at the restrictions on fundamental freedoms and gross human rights violations. The Tribunal heard accounts of wide spread disappearances, torture and the use of rape as a “primary weapon of the Indian army in Kashmir”. The Tribunal concluded that these crimes seem to meet the “definition of genocide.”

Today, Kashmir has been turned into the world’s largest prison. The spate of

killings of the Kashmiri youth appears to be part of the policy of elimination of the young.

The situation in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir is dire. Solidarity today with the Kashmiri people, therefore, should not be confined to a series of public events held on 5 February. Solidarity must be made more meaningful. It should manifest itself in concrete actions that would, firstly, alleviate the suffering of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, and, secondly, help in the realization of their right to self-determination.

We need to be clear: the struggle of the occupied people of Jammu & Kashmir to live in accordance with their wishes, will be long and difficult. India has always sought to renege on its international commitments to the Kashmiri people. However, the current Indian government is ideologically committed to reject the rights of the Kashmiri people. The prospects of political solutions are bleak.

Quaid e Azam was prescient in understanding the mindset of the Indian leadership when making the demand for Pakistan. Today, the reality of this mindset has come out in the open, whether in the context of Jammu & Kashmir or, more broadly, in the treatment of Muslims and minorities in India. Even the “saner” elements in India continue to evade responsibility in this regard.

Today, the Indian occupiers are aggressively pursuing policies of demographic, electoral and settler engineering. The people of Jammu and Kashmir face an existential threat.

Solidarity, today, demands more resolute measures. The focus should be on actions in three areas.

One, comprehensive media and communications strategies need to be developed. Sustained international attention is required to get traction for a just solution for Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

For this, the Kashmiri and Pakistani diaspora, and international human rights activists, need to be mobilized for a broad international campaign. The visibility provided to the anti-apartheid struggle, and now for the Palestinians, was made possible only through sustained media campaigns and many years of hard work by a network of supporters.

Effective media campaigns and a broad network of activists are a prerequisite for generating international pressure against Indian policies.

Two, measures need to be taken in the realm of lawfare. All legal options should be carefully examined to raise the Kashmir issue in international fora. Legal experts at the International Russell Tribunal on Kashmir at Sarajevo, had focused on four thematic areas including

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genocide, de-colonization, settler-colonialism, crimes against humanity (mass graves, rape as a weapon of war). Their findings could be used to launch legal challenges in various international bodies. It would be helpful to set up a small group of international law experts to examine lawfare options.

Three, a viable course open to the people of Jammu and Kashmir is to take sustained civil disobedience actions.

There is a rich literature on civil disobedience that draws upon the history of such movements. There is a need to learn from this literature, and develop “menus” of possible actions. This would facilitate measures that the Kashmiris can take. In this context, a small group of political scientists and Kashmiri activists can be convened to develop civil disobedience “took kits” that would have utility for the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Pakistan’s rationale is inextricably bound by the idea that we will side with the oppressed and resist the oppressor.

This underpinned our support for decolonization, the anti-apartheid struggle and the ongoing struggle of the Palestinians.

It also underpins our unflinching solidarity with the people of Kashmir. But, today this solidarity needs to be urgently translated into specific actions.

The writer is the former foreign secretary of Pakistan

resilient power structure vital for resilient cities: K-electric ceo KARAcHi PR

CEO K-Electric, Mr. Moonis Alvi stated that renewable energy has to be integrated into the power sector in a way that adds versatility to the system, calling a resilient power network the “backbone of a resilient city.” These comments were made while addressing a global virtual audience at the Future of Energy webinar titled “Strengthening Climate Action: Role of the Power Sector,” which also featured prominent thought leaders and industry experts including Malik Amin Aslam, Minister for Climate Change and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate. The panel discussion was curated to gather insights on the opportunities and bottlenecks of Pakistan’s ambitious plans to increase the share of renewable energy in its generation mix. Ranked as the 8th most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change, Pakistan’s industries and power sector have an important role to play in exacting a transformation.

Addressing the audience, SAPM Malik Amin Aslam shared that clean energy is one of the main pillars of climate action and a key message from the Glasgow Pact, along with nature-based solutions. He stated that while Pakistan is not a big emitter, the national vision is clear – Pakistan wants to be part of the solution to climate change.

In this regard, the country has extended protected areas in Pakistan by 50% over the last year, and is forging the path forward with clear quantifiable targets for the climate vision by 2030. The presence of a clear 10-year plan put Pakistan ahead of other countries on the mission to achieve a net-zero future. Chairman NEPRA Tauseef Farooqi also shared the role the regulator was playing with its vision of providing “Power with Prosperity.” He shared that out of over 300 licensees on NEPRA’s CSR Portal, 145 had invested over PKR 4.4 billion in their efforts to take ownership of the communities they operate in.

Cumulatively, this investment had created almost 18,900 jobs. He commended the Federal Government’s efforts and the visionary IGCEP which had recently been approved, calling it the “first time that a scientific way has been developed to expanding capacity,” and stated his assurance that this will have a significant impact in lowering the cost of electricity to end consumers as well.

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS ITP to take action against vehicles with unauthorised number plates ISLAMABAD

ChInESE fIrmS DESIrE TO buIlD rEPrOCESSIng Park In gwaDar: manSOOr BEIJING

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As per directions of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younis ITP constituted special squads to take action against vehicles with fancy and non-pattern number plates in the capital city .

The action has also been ordered against those preparing such number plates and vendors, according to the officials. According to the details, Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) have challaned 3,137 vehicle During last one month in on going campaign for violating traffic rules. The ITP has intensified action against fancy and non-pattern number plates, Senior superitendentent of Traffic Police Rai Mazhar Iqbal said that the efforts of the officers and Jawans have helped significantly reduce the number of fatal accidents. He said further similar initiatives need to be taken to ensure safety of lives of the citizen and make Islamabad an accident-free city. He further said that in future, the ITP aim to enforce a zero tolerance policy as it is moral responsibility to spread awareness regarding road safety while enforcing laws.

Similarly, the behaviour of citizens on the road reflects the social norms of the society, he added. He said ITP officers are well trained through seminars and have been instructed to treat citizens with love, sincerity and humility. He was of the view that violation of traffic rules leads to accidents. Appealing the citizens, the SSP Traffic Islamabad said that to ensure smooth traffic, the role of the citizens is also very important. Obeying traffic rules can save your life and the lives of others, never violate traffic laws and be responsible and patriot citizens.

Digital currency makes Olympic debut

BEIJING TLTP

China is ready to showcase its state digital currency, the e-CNY, as an official payment method at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which started on Friday.

According to a statement from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), all payment services related to the Olympics have been prepared, including accounts, bank cards, mobile payments, cash, and the digital yuan.

RT reported that the e-CNY is China’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is essentially a clone of the fiat yuan in the form of a digital asset. Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, which are banned in China, the e-CNY is fully controlled and governed by the central bank. The e-CNY is already accepted at the Beijing Olympics’ official store in the Main Media Center (MMC), which officially began 24-hour operations on Monday.

The Olympics will be part of a gradual e-CNY rollout, which has already been test-launched in five major Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Shenzhen. On January 4, the PBOC also launched the e-CNY wallet on the iOS and Android app stores countrywide. By mid-January, the e-CNY wallets had nearly 261 million individual users, roughly one-fifth of the entire Chinese population, with e-CNY apps ranking as the fastest-growing by downloads in the country.

However, the e-CNY is still in pilot mode. Although the wallet is available for download across the entire country, only users from the five pilot cities and the Olympics venue can sign up and actually use the digital currency. For now, the e-CNY can only be used for a limited number of transactions.

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PECIAL Assistant to Prime Minister on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khalid Mansoor on Friday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has interacted with a variety of Chinese state-owned and private companies which expressed the desire to establish a $3.5 billion reprocessing park in Gwadar and a $350 million textile cluster near Lahore.

Khalid Mansoor, who is accompanying the prime minister during his four-day China visit, told media in Beijing that a consortium of three Chinese companies expressed the willingness to build a metal and paper re-processing park in Gwadar within two to three years. He said the prime minister held a “clear communication” with National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) staff who assured full support and commitment for the successful ex-

ecution of the second phase of CPEC while maintaining high pace and quality.

Mansoor told the media that the prime minister had been assured that the joint working groups in 10 varying sectors would provide technological and fi-

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This world cancer day, Ehsaas Tahafuz has announced its policy to extend support to cancer wards across Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is estimated that over 170,000 new cancer cases are reported every year. According to estimates, cancer is responsible for the highest deaths in Pakistani population, and the most common cause is inability of patients and their families to bear the catastrophic health expenditures. Ehsaas Tahafuz is the government of Pakistan’s sister programme alongside Sehat Sahulat to protect the vulnerable population from catastrophic health

nancial support for the realization of projects.

He said, during their meeting with the prime minister, the representatives of three major agricultural firms wanted to establish a modernization research lab and a demonstration plot on the Chinese pattern to improve yield and seed quality in Pakistan.

Moreover, the Chinese fertilizer companies also desired to invest in the export-oriented growth of corn and soybeans besides another one interested in the dairy sector to enhance the export of milk and other dairy products.

Besides, another Chinese textile firm, reputed for high export-quality apparel, also planned to build a textile cluster over 100 acres of land on LahoreKasur Road by investing $350 million which would also create around 20,000 jobs.

The SAMP claimed that after the prime minister’s visit, Pakistan would be able to get commitment from a variety of sectors and major companies of Fortune 500.

PropSure Digital Solutions launches digital data of urban areas PropSure Digital Solutions launches digital data of Pakistan's planned area, achieving an essential milestone in the country's real estate sector.

The digital map of Pakistan was unveiled during a ceremony attended by the esteemed Chairman IMARAT Group and CEO Graana.com Shafiq Akbar, Chairman Advisory Board Lt. Gen (R) Haroon Aslam, Director PropSure Taimoor-ul-Haq Abbasi, Group Directors Mr. Farhan Javed, Mr. Sharjeel E. Ahmer and Mr. Arsalan Javed.

Addressing the event hosted at National Science and Technology Park (NSTP), Chairman Shafiq Akbar said, “The launch of digital map of Pakistan's planned area is an important milestone in the history of the country's real estate sector.”

While lauding the team for their efforts, he added, “This con-

IESCO issues power suspension schedule ISLAMABAD PR

tribution by the IMARAT Group ensures much needed transparency that would resolve the existing issues in Pakistan’s real estate sector.”

While speaking at the occasion, Chairman Advisory Board Lt. Gen. (R) Haroon Aslam said, “A whole team of experts, comprising of experienced and equally seasoned young talent, is behind this digital

transformation. This contribution is a testament that the country's destiny through the real estate sector can be changed through proper resources and planning.

Director PropSure Taimoor-ulHaq Abbasi added that the launch of this digital map is to help every Pakistani, especially overseas Pakistanis can acquire complete details of any property. PR

According to Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO)’s spokesman, System Maintenance/Development Work is in process. Therefore power supply of below mentioned feeders/areas will be temporary suspended as per given schedule: On 06th February, From 09:00 AM to 02:00 PM, RCCI-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Sihala College, Chowk Pindori Feeders, From 10:00 AM to 04:00 PM, Lilla Town, Ahmed Abad, Safdar Shaheed, Sanghoi, Nathwala Feeders and surroundings will remain off. IESCO management apologizes to its esteemed customers for the power outage. If the work is completed ahead of time, the power supply can be restored even before the scheduled time.

Islamabad IGP directs policemen to resolve public complaints on priority ISLAMABAD PR

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younas directed all police officials to resolve the public complaints on priority.

The IGP said that the purpose of holding these khuli kacheries is to resolve public issues immediately and purely on merit.The IGP while listening public complaints strictly directed all concern officers to take immediate and strict action against land grabbers. “No one would be allowed to grab property of any citizen” he added. Islamabad police chief said that it is our prime responsibility to

provide protection to the lives and property of the citizens and resolve their problems on priority. He said

Ehsaas Tahafuz policy for cancer patients announced ISLAMABAD

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expenditures. Tahafuz is now rapidly scaling up nationwide, after a successful pilot over the last two and a half years in Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi. The programme supports patients facing catastrophic health expenditures, who are not covered by Sehat Sahulat. A facilitation desk has also been established at the holy Family Hospital to identify the eligible patients for Tahafuz.

The programme is already running in 10 hospitals and has 900 packages across 21 departments. “We have taken a principal decision to include cancer packages in Ehsaas Tahafuz”, said Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM while speaking to media at the hospital. Cancer, she said, is the single com-

monest cause of catastrophic health expenditures. “Since cancer treatment is most expensive, Ehsaas Tahafuz is now ready to integrate cancer related packages in its scope of support”, Dr. Sania further added.

Dr. Sania also visited the Holy Family Hospital to meet the cancer patients being treated under Ehsaas Tahafuz. At the hospital, Dr. Sania was welcomed by Medical Superintendent, Dr. Shazia Zeb and her team.

SAPM took round of the hospital and met with cancer patients and their families.

Later, Dr. Sania also held a meeting with technical team of medical experts, hospital administrators and programme verifiers to review the progress of Ehsaas Tahafuz.

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that citizens at `Open Court’ should be behaved in a respectful manner and their trust on police department

to be won through resolving their issues. He said that interaction with people also ensures accountability of the policemen and they should address public complaints on merit by considering them their own issues.

He said that positive image of policemen should be ensured before them through unbiased approach towards anyone. The IGP hoped that interaction during `open katcheries’ would help to promote friendly policing. Such interaction with citizens are aimed to promote community policing, resolve the issues of people at their door steps through merit and curb activities of anti-social elements, he added.

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06 COMMENT

Pak-TTP relations create space for others

America’s South Asian dilemma How to counter China’s growing influence?

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RESIDEnT Joe Biden cold shouldered Prime Minister Imran Khan and declined even to have a telephonic interaction with him. Pakistan’s new ambassador to the USA is still waiting for the State Department’s agreement to the appointment. And now suddenly a State Department spokesman maintains that Pakistan is still a strategic partner. It is reportedly for the first time in years that the USA has emphasised its strategic partnership with Pakistan. The statement comes on the event of Mr Khan’s visit to China. Or is the sudden eruption of bonhomie caused by India’s refusal to toe the US line on Ukraine and a missile deal with Russia? The USA is definitely not prepared for a continuous decline in South Asia.

Scared at China emerging as an economic and financial superpower, the USA is keen to block Beijing’s way and do whatever it takes. Washington is trying to create war hysteria by raising the bogey of China as a military threat. Unable to beat China economically, the USA has started to create regional blocs to take on China.

Beginning with nATO allies the Biden Administration has worked hard on Japan, Australia and India to bring them together in a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue as a part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, which is aimed at taking on China, by force if required.

It is not an easy task. China’s offer of Belt and Road initiative, with CPEC as its marquee project, has a lot of attraction for many countries, including Pakistan, as it is seen as a vital initiative promising inter-connectivity and economic development. The USA has promised a similar project but it has not yet gone beyond planning. The USA is keen to use India as a regional hegemon, a role new Delhi is willing to accept. But this creates problems for India inside the country as well as in the region. Despite close relationship with the USA, India is keen to maintain defense ties with Russia. What’s more Indian industry is unwilling to allow unhindered access to US goods.

Pakistan needs to further strengthen its relations with China which has helped Pakistan through thick and thin.

This should by no means lead to estrangement with the USA. It benefits neither China nor Pakistan to revert to a situation typical of the Cold War era.

Dr QAisAr rAshiD

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n 8 november 2021, the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced to have reached an agreement with the government to cease hostilities for one month, primarily for the month of november. Since then, Pakistan government has been on a mission to appease the TTP. On secretly negotiating with the TTP, the government has also been subjected to severe criticism by social activists. The government has been found defensive, claiming that it negotiated with the TTP within the ambit of the Constitution and the law of the land. Further, it did not negotiate directly with the TTP but through intermediaries. Pakistan thought that negotiating with the TTP is justified by the talks being part of the country’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Reportedly, the interim Afghan government facilitated the talks between the TTP and Pakistan. At least three rounds of talks took place: one in Kabul and two in Khost. As a goodwill gesture, the Pakistan government even released 100 TTP prisoners to reciprocate the ceasefire. Such was the level of happiness of the government. Ruefully, most freed TTP prisoners had not completed the mandatory six-month de-radicalization and rehabilitation process at the internment centres set up by the government. Currently, Pakistan yearns to turn the ceasefire into a permanent peace deal.

Pakistan’s acquiescence emboldened the resolve of the TTP. During the negotiations, the TTP made three demands: first, the TTP be permitted to open a political office in a third country; second, Pakistan’s government would reverse its earlier action of the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; and third, Islamic Shariah would be enforced in Pakistan. Taken

Plots ruled out

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HE Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled on a petition, forbidding the allotment of plots to judges and other civil servants in public housing schemes, thus ending a perk of office almost considered a right. This will thus end the practice of judges getting plots at official rates, and them selling them at market rates, with the difference proving a tidy sum which would merely enrich them. The IHC has ruled that the Federal government had wrongly formulated the policy whereby the unsuccessful applications for one sector, were turned into applications for schemes in four sectors of Islamabad.

The IHC has ruled that there was no reason to privilege certain groups over others on state lands.

It is appropriate to note that the application of plots to judges, of both the superior and subordinate judiciary, who were eligible as being government employees, could conceivably act as an inducement by the government to obtain decisions in its favour. It should be remembered that allotment of plots was not part of the original terms of service, and could also be varied by the federal government in the course of time. Unlike salaries and allowances, it involves a discretionary component which can be controlled by the government in its favour. The IHC has thus acted to turn into a right, something which the government has the power to use as the sun of its favour, to be turned hither and thither as it willed. That power of getting favourable decisions applied also to civil servants.

Though the judgement may have stopped the allotment of plots to civil servants and judges, it also applies to generals and journalists. The IHC may have started a process of putting a cap on the process.

AthAr Noor

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n the every corner and region of the world, attempts to dominate in different forms and in different ways are spreading. At a glance, regional and global issues are closely linked to the spread of these marginal and regional hegemonies. So the global political structure is always changing.

Following the Ukraine crisis, the situation in the international arena is again tense. There is a great dilemma as to whether a new world war will break out. Russia has already deployed about 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. Like Crimea in 2014, Russia seems to be heading for another conflict. On the other hand, The USA has 8500 troops ready to fight on the Ukrainian border.

From the beginning, the only way to avoid war on the Ukraine question was to consider the “diplomatic table”. Although long discussions have already taken place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden on this issue, they didn’t become fruitful. Russia appears to be continuing its military presence along the eastern Ukrainian border. And by sea Ukraine has lost contact with the rest of the world, and the Western world is worried about that.

Is Russia going to launch a military attack on Ukraine? If Russia invades Ukraine, it will be the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II. If war really breaks out, how will the USA and Euro-

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Pakistan’s society, there are elements which are dissatisfied with the state of the enforcement of Islamic Shariah. These elements keep others confused and disgruntled, fanning discontent in society. By demanding the enforcement of Islamic Shariah interpreted in its own way, the TTP is provoking such elements. The issue may not die easily. Any turmoil based on enforcing Islamic injunctions, and even for anti-blasphemy movements, would raise the same religious sentiments.

In December 2021, the TTP announced the end of ceasefire on the excuse that Pakistan did not follow the commitments made in peace negotiations. The situation indicates that the conflict between Pakistan and the TTP would linger on.

Pakistan’s demand has been that the government of Afghan Taliban in Kabul should take punitive actions against the TTP. This is a tall order. The first preference of Afghan Taliban is to govern Afghanistan and not to fight against the TTP at the behest of Pakistan. It is difficult to expect that the Afghan Taliban would take any action against the TTP, though the Afghan Taliban have expressed their intent not to permit anyone to use Afghan soil against Pakistan. Second, the Afghan Taliban cannot take military action against the TTP even if the TTP is unwilling to reconcile with Pakistan.

Pakistan may be trying to break the TTP apart into factions for easy handling and settlement. Pakistan thinks that there are reconcilable elements within the TTP ranks who can be wooed to tranquility to wane the rank and file of the TTP. negotiating with the TTP has shaped an imbalance. Baloch nationalist groups have raised pressure on Pakistan to negotiate with them as well. Last month, a bomb blast in Anarkali Lahore was claimed by a Baloch militant group. Similarly, security forces are coming under attacks launched by Baloch dissident groups in Balochistan. Apparently, they are creating space to negotiate.

In short, confrontation with the TTP is not over.

If Pakistan’s government negotiates with the TTP, other groups would also demand and expect similar rounds of negotiations and settlement.

Confrontation with the TTP is not over. If Pakistan’s government negotiates with the TTP, other groups would also demand and expect similar rounds of negotiations and settlement

The writer can qaisarrashid@yahoo.com

be

reached

at

‘Ukraine crisis:The West Versus Russia’

The IHC ruling has wide consequences

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

together, all the three demands indicate that the TTP was speaking from a position of strength.

Though the negotiating team of Pakistan’s government turned down the demands on one excuse or the other, the demands revealed the intent and purpose of the TTP. Demanding a political office in a third country is reminiscent of the practice of the Afghan Taliban who proclaimed themselves Kabul’s legitimate owners and sought a political office in Doha (Qatar) to negotiate with the US government. not all examples are meant for following. The TTP is a marginalized militant organization in Pakistan and cannot claim the space it never owned.

The threat of militancy, whether it comes through the horrific incident of attacking the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014 or through bomb blasts in various cities, cannot afford the TTP any relevance. nevertheless, by negotiating with the TTP in Kabul and Khost, Pakistan’s government recognized the semblance of the TTP’s political office in any country. By doing so, Pakistan’s government inadvertently reinforced the resolve of the TTP. Similarly, the merger of the FATA with KhyberPakhtunkhwa is constitutionally protected. The FATA used to offer leeway to outlaws and militants alike to seek refuge, as this remained a lawless area outside the ambit of the law of the land.

This kind of demand indicates the TTP’s bent of mind to have an anarchic unruly area under its sway. In the past, under the Af-Pak strategy of 2009, the US troops stationed in Afghanistan declared the FATA part of Afghanistan for operational purposes. The world censured Pakistan for tolerating a lawless region inside its border. The area remained condemned by the alQaeda hideouts exposed by drone strikes.

Since 31 May 2018 (through the 25th Constitutional Amendment), the FATA has been part of the province and the process is irrevocable. With that, the stranglehold of the TTP is gone and this point would remain a source of contention between the TTP and Pakistan. It is unlikely that the issue is resolved. The TTP may be thinking of deriving strength from the Afghan Taliban to stir unrest in the FATA in an attempt to reclaim the area, not only physically but also to revert it to its previous state of unruliness.

The TTP knows that sentiments of the Pakistanis can be exploited in the name of religion. Further, in

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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pean nations take it? The important question is whether the victory in this crisis may be a matter of national existence and dignity for Kiev and Moscow.

So why would nATO involve itself in this ongoing war? The reason for nATO’s involvement in the war may be that if Washington and Brussels (nATO Headquarters) fail to stand by them in this extreme crisis in Ukraine, the message will reach the rest of the world that the USA’s security promises are not to be trusted. Washington will also do its utmost to stay in Europe’s geopolitical power. On the other hand, the bigger the rift in Russia’s relations with the West, the closer the country becomes to China. If this is the case then maybe World War III will start.

Before World War I, America’s military might lagged behind that of Europe. Later, in the early 20th century, the USA initiated and developed industrialization.The SA then became the world’s leading industrial power.The emergence of a single superpower in world politics led to major changes in world politics after the First World War. After the Second World War, major changes took place again.The USSR emerged as another superpower, competing with the United States in world politics. Those who were facing each other centered on ideological conflict. The whole world was then divided into capitalism and socialism. In the Cold War, the two superpowers indirectly confronted each other in arms races, space races, proxy wars, and propaganda. The final result was that the USA remained the world’s sole superpower, overthrowing the USSR in 1991. The goal of the USA was to stop the spread of communism and to remain the sole superpower.

On 24 August 1991, Ukraine declared independence from the former USSR. The European Union (EU) countries have long borders with Ukraine.

Ukraine shares a 2,414-kilometer border with Russia itself. Ukraine also has deep cultural ties with the country.The Russian language is also widely spoken there. Since 2014, Moscow has been trying to take

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

control of eastern Ukraine illegally. Russia is deeply dissatisfied with Ukraine’s growing inclination towards European institutions.

Russia wants Ukraine not to join nATO. If Ukraine becomes a member of nATO. naturally one superpower will never tolerate letting the other superpower preen itself near their house. However, the West, consisting of the USA, the European Union and nATO allies, has repeatedly denied the allegations.That is why Washington does not want Russia to annex the whole of Ukraine. Apart from ideological and political reasons, there are also economic aspects behind this crisis. Putin wants Ukraine to join the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), a Moscow-controlled free trade alliance launched in 2000. However, Kyiv has always refused to join the alliance.

Apparently, if Russia somehow invades the neighboring country, they may have to pay a high price.

Ukraine’s military capabilities are also much stronger than before. Russia annexed Crimea with the help of Russian-backed separatists.

If Russia were to invade Ukraine again, it would have to distance themselves from the Ukrainian people and face major repercussions.

On the other hand, Russia, which is rich in natural gas and oil, knows very well how much gas and fuel oil in Europe depends on them. Therefore, it is safe to say that it will not risk Ukraine’s reliance on this reliable source of energy.

The logical way to avoid conflict is still open.If the international community can force all parties of the Ukraine crisis to engage in diplomatic talks to avoid the conflict, that would be the appropriate way to resolve the crisis. Failure to formulate effective policies that prioritize the interests of all parties through intensive and non-negotiable dialogue will soon make it impossible to address this international security crisis.

Failure to formulate effective policies that prioritize the interests of all parties through intensive and nonnegotiable dialogue will soon make it impossible to address this international security crisis.

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

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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

Recipe for the development of Pakistan

Entrepreneurship inculcates prosperity An entrepreneurial spirit is essential for national progress

Dr AbDus sAttAr AbbAsi

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COnOMIC progress of leading economies around the globe is the consequence of entrepreneurship, which flourished in their societies due to specific facilitation to develop an appropriate ecosystem to assist relevant stakeholders, particularly the entrepreneurs.

China’s claim of eliminating poverty, according to current standards, is the result of entrepreneurial culture in almost every sector of the economy from high-tech industries to agriproducts. China claims that no one lives in the country below the official poverty line of $2.30 per day at their disposal. This is indeed incredible, in a country of almost one and a half billion people you can’t find a single person below the poverty line.

This all happened due to the entrepreneurial culture which China inculcated in the society over the years. Small scale entrepreneurs are vital drivers of China’s economy; they constitute 60 percent of GDP, provide 80 percent of jobs and contribute about half of national tax revenue. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been declared as the backbone of US and EU economies. In the USA 30 million small businesses account for nearly two-thirds of net new private sector jobs in recent decades. According to the official website of the European Commission SMEs, surprisingly, represent 99 percent of all businesses in the EU. The website further states, “SMEs employ around 100 million people, account for more than half of Europe’s GDP and play a key role in adding value in every sector of the economy. SMEs bring innovative solutions to challenges like climate change, resource efficiency and social cohesion and help spread this innovation throughout Europe’s regions. They are therefore central to the EU’s twin transitions to a sustainable and digital economy. They are essential to Europe’s competitiveness and prosperity, industrial ecosystems, economic and technological sovereignty, and resilience to external shocks.”

The process of setting up a business and taking on financial risk needs nerves, energy and patience. People who create new businesses are a rare species especially those who are innovators, and sources of new ideas, goods, services, and business or procedures. It is the responsibility of educational institutions, government agencies and other stakeholders to sensitise and

mentor people with an internal locus of control to experience and testify their unique ideas.

It is, however, not a straightforward undertaking to mobilise an entrepreneurial mindset in a conservative society such as ours. There is a need to encourage working-age people to take the risk of establishing new ventures to realise their dreams of independence and self-actualization. nevertheless, it needs training and development on one end and an appropriate startup ecosystem on the other.

We can witness turnaround if we perform appropriately on the training and development front to the targeted segments both in terms of human resource and potential sectors. Two recent events strengthened my belief that our young generation, especially women, has enormous potential to foster entrepreneurship in the society. The first is the project titled “Financial empowerment of women through entrepreneurship in Pakistan” in collaboration with Cardiff University UK and ACF UK funded by Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. We enrolled 24 women and delivered a training for three weeks followed by mentoring sessions to develop their respective business plans which they eventually presented to a few highnet-worth-individuals, corporate executives and academics in a showcasing event at the end of the project.

It was pleasant surprise that a participant visited me after a month and shared her success story of selling specially designed masks and matching headscarves through a social media campaign. Her enthusiasm was amazing. The second is my recent visit to Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design where I delivered a lecture on the importance of entrepreneurship to final year students. A hall full of participants, most of them female students, took keen interest in the subject and expressed desire to learn more about the startup ecosystem of the country.

According to a recent study, Pakistan needs to create 1.3 million additional jobs on average every year till 2035 to cater to the growth of working-age people. Considering existing circumstances it seems quite impossible for the government sector to fulfil this need. We can address this huge demand by ensuring extensive growth of entrepreneurship in every sector from replicative to innovative entrepreneurship.

Pakistan’s recent ranking in Global Innovation Index is 107 two points down from last ranking. It means we cannot expect innovative breakthroughs quite often on the entrepreneurial front. But there is huge potential, even in replicative entrepreneurship, for Pakistan in several segments. Unique selling propositions coupled with compliance to standards can open innumerable doors for Pakistani startups in both local and international markets. The survival rate of new business is around 50 to 60 percent globally; however, interestingly it is around 80 percent in

Pakistan according to a study conducted in 2016.

Factors of failure in Pakistan include inability to access capital, absence of appropriate business plans and avoidance of partnership. These factors clearly indicate lack of awareness and training.

There are quite a few venture capital firms and individual & syndicate angel investors who are investing in Pakistani startups. According to a report Airlift raised $12 million and Bykea $13 million in 2020 while overall 28 percent of venture capital was invested in the transport industry.

In terms of number of deals, e-commerce ranked first followed by FinTech. In Pakistan, generally, entrepreneurial initiatives lack appropriate training and development support. Mostly people realise their dreams out of their own conviction and personal endeavours, but now there are enough opportunities to seek formal guidance and counselling to develop well-thought business plans from vision and mission to market analysis, survival income estimates, startup finance to growth aspirations. Therefore all those who desire to realise their dreams through entrepreneurship should look around themselves for possible mentoring opportunities focusing websites of relevant organizations.

Partnership remains a taboo in our society even today, which limits the potential of entrepreneurial initiative. In today’s closely knitted global community it is collaboration which multiplies chances of success and faster growth. Hence it is necessary for aspiring entrepreneurs to welcome partnership opportunities, adopting necessary regulations, in terms of ideas, expertise, finance, and facilitations to bring synergy in their operations.

Currently Pakistan stands at 120 on the Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI), while India is at 68 and China at 43. It is our belief as Muslims that nine out of ten sources of income come from business activities, while honest and sincere businessmen will be placed with prophets, siddiqeen and shuhada.

This faith requires genuine commitment from all stakeholders to cultivate entrepreneurial culture in the society with enabling environment.

The key role of the government remains vital to develop a nurturing ecosystem to make entrepreneurship flourish in the country. Initiatives such as ITBs, nICs and Ignite are worth appreciating but ignoring other sectors is damaging to the equitable progress of the nation.

The government needs to develop sector-wise incubation centres and sector- specific funds to seed startups in every sector of the economy.

The bottom line remains, the promotion and facilitation of entrepreneurial culture in the society is inevitable for the prosperous future of our coming generations.

The key role of the government remains vital to develop a nurturing ecosystem to make entrepreneurship flourish in the country.

The writer is Associate Professor of Management Sciences and Head, Center of IslamicFinance, COMSATS University (CUI) Lahore Campus, and can be reached at drabdussattar@cuilahore.edu.pk

CURREnTLy, Pakistan has been undergoing a tough phase. Many problems of a severe nature have engulfed the entire nation. In light of that, the following recipe is suggested for the development of the country.

Education is a panacea to all our social, political, economic, and religious ills. If we have to succeed in the true sense of the word in the comity of the nations, then we have to give due importance to the aspect of education in our country. Quality education has to be ensured at the primary, secondary and higher levels. This would automatically widen our roads for development in other fields of life as well.

Economic stability is of vital importance for any country. In the case of Pakistan, every effort must be made to boost up both the agricultural and industrial sectors of our economy. Besides this, a due focus should also be given to bringing both local and foreign private investments into the country. This will boost up economic activity in the country.

The maintenance of law and order is of supreme significance to any government. We must bring down the rising incidents of terrorism, murder, theft, kidnappings for ransom, robbery, etc. in our country. This will provide a good sense of security to our citizens. This will also help in improving the overall international image of the country.

Unemployment has become cancer for our society. Many brilliant unemployed youths have fallen into many vices such as theft, robbery, drugs, etc. The incidents of commitment of suicides are also on the rise due to the same. It is, therefore, the need of the hour that maximum job opportunities should be created both in the public and the private sectors of the country so that our unemployed youths are able to get jobs there and become useful citizens of the country. Poverty has become a great menace in our society. In order to reduce the same, the government ought to provide small loans (on soft conditionalities) to deserving poor families so that they can open up their businesses and earn livelihoods for their family members. Besides this, the departments of Zakat and Ushr and Bait-ul Mall must be made more effective and vibrant. Funds, out of these departments, should be provided to really deserving people.

Corruption, at any level, should be done away with forthwith.

Exemplary punishment should be given to all those who are found involved in this evil without any discrimination. Both our legal and judicial systems have become rotten. There is a greater need to make these institutions cheap and quick for the common man. It has often been seen that one has to wait for years to get justice from courts of the country; especially the lower courts. Justice delayed is justice denied.

All the institutions of our country should be strengthened by bringing major surgery into them. Without reforming our institutions, all our efforts for improving our system will go in vain. The institutions and departments like judiciary, police, revenue, education, health, etc. need major overhauling to make them people-friendly.

The menace of terrorism has to be wiped out from our country once and for all if we have to make a progress in the true sense of the word. We have to exterminate all the forces of extremism and terrorism from our land if we have to see the return of peaceful and happy days both for our citizens and for the foreigners. I hope the above recipe will help in attaining true development for our country.

ABDUL SAMAD SAMO Karachi

Gaming in Pakistan I remember playing my first video game, Snake, more than thirty years ago. Over time games have become more entertaining and complex. When I was a kid my parents used to stop me from playing games, saying they were bad for me.

Over the years research has shown that playing video games can be beneficial. Surgeons play games to improve hand-eye coordination. Kids are learning the basic concepts of technology, savings and other skills through games. Games are also used for helping reduce stress and improve well being of players. Games allow the player to immerse their mind and thoughts into the game, leaving their worries. Therefore burn victims are told to play snow and ice themed games to help them heal better and reduce their pain.

Because of the improved graphics quality of games, they are now used to teach skills and knowledge. For example, a chemistry game allows the students to mix different chemicals and see the reaction, in a game of test tube mixing. Similarly, Oil and Gas companies are using games to train workers on equipment on oil rigs. While flight simulator game has been used by pilots for training. There are many more simulator games like farming, train and boat simulators. Pakistan should tap into this gaming market and use it to generate jobs and spread knowledge. The government should promote game companies by offering zero tax for five years and then slowly increasing tax on the industry. Similarly, the government should fund the production of games that teach new skills to its players.

The government should also hold competitions for teaching interactive games for adults. Every participant would submit a game concept that would tackle that year’s competition with its theme problem. Every entry would get a minimum cash prize and the top three winners would receive a government contract for the development and use of their game.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER P ENGR PESHAWAR

Illegal wealth in UAE THE Hascol and nBP scandal has highlighted many things. Besides the weak internal security for avoiding such huge loans by government-owned banks, the fiasco has also highlighted how stolen money is siphoned off to UAE. UAE has clearly become the favourite location for criminals and stolen wealth. Pakistan’s government should take this matter up with the UAE government and ask them to return stolen wealth and arrest the Pakistani criminals living in UAE. A central agreement between the two countries for a clear mechanism of highlighting criminals and stolen wealth and their timely return to Pakistan should be agreed upon between the two brotherly nations.

This will deter future criminals and money transfers to UAE and will also help the UAE rid of criminals from their country, while Pakistan’s government will be able to recover the significant stolen wealth.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER PESHAWAR.

08 WORLD VIEW 5th February 22_Layout 1 2/4/2022 9:10 PM Page 1

Saturday, 5 February, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

SoutheaSt aSia Should prepare for a new cold war THE SOVIETS LOST THE LAST GREAT POWER STRUGGLE, NOW CHINA IS GIVING THE US A RUN FOR ITS MONEY

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EW parts of the world paid as high a cost during the Cold War as Southeast Asia. The superpower conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union divided the region into pro- and anti-communist camps, spawning five wars in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam over four decades. Today, U.S.-China competition is fueling a so-called “new cold war” with familiar structural characteristics.

In fact, the Sino-American great-power confrontation is a continuation of an unfinished ideological struggle, this time pitting the U.S.-led and Western-based alliance system against a China-centric global network of client states, many of them with various shades of authoritarian governance. The Soviet Union lost the Cold War, but China is now giving the West a run for its

money in the sequel. And Southeast Asia will once again be a major theatre.

For about two decades following the end of the Cold War, America seemed to enjoy a “unipolar” moment enabling it to reshape the global order — and free markets and democratization spread around the world. But liberal democracy and market capitalism were subsequently weakened from within, particularly following the 2008 global financial crisis, enabling a growing challenge by alternative models of authoritarianism and state-directed economic development.

The vaunted Western promise of liberty and prosperity was increasingly discredited by an accelerating concentration of wealth and power, deepening social divisions and seemingly intractable political polarization.

Electorates became more skeptical and disillusioned about what democracy and capitalism could deliver — an alienation compounded by runaway globalization and rapid technological change.

Southeast Asia was not immune to these trends. Many people in Thailand, the Philippines and elsewhere, resentful that their incomes and living standards had fallen behind, were attracted to populist or authoritarian alternatives.

Populist leaders around the democratic world bypassed established centers of power such as the media and the traditional political class, connecting directly with voters. Significantly, many of Asia’s populists, once elected, had little effective rule of law to constrain them.

Enter China, whose appeal thrives on the shortcomings of Western democracy and free-market capitalism.

China’s model is still Leninist, but while the Communist Party of China exercises centralized political control along totalitarian lines, the country’s economic development and management are market-consistent (though not market-driven). China thus challenges and frustrates the Western model of liberal democracy and market capitalism in unprecedented ways.

The ideological battle that the Soviet Union previously waged with the West has taken on a new form with the rise of China, which feels entitled, even destined, to reclaim its glorious past. But the inherent contradictions between political totalitarianism and market-consistent capitalism make China strong and weak at the same time. no other modern state has been able to have its cake and eat it by imposing centralized control and repressing individual rights and freedoms while running a successful market economy that improves its people’s living standards.

One might argue that the Chinese state drives a capitalist economy in the same way that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan pioneered state-led capitalism from the 1960s to the 1980s. The major difference is that the latter countries were strong U.S. allies and partners that developed well-consolidated Western-style democracies.

China is neither a U.S. ally nor democratic, and very possibly never will be.

The Soviet Union confronted the U.S. in proxy con-

from Modi to Mamata, how did indian politics become so dependent on the cult of personality?

WITH PARTIES ONLY WEAKLY ABLE TO CONTROL LOCAL LEADERS, IT MAKES SENSE FOR THEM TO PROP UP A LARGER-THAN-LIFE LEADER WHO CONNECTS DIRECTLY WITH VOTERS

IndIa In TransITIon NeelaNjaN Sircar

i

n January, Kunwar Ratanjit Pratap narain Singh, a former MP with the Congress party, defected and joined its archrival, the Bharatiya Janata Party. But this was not any ordinary party member. Singh had been an MLA many times with Congress, a Union Minister with the party, a former president of its youth wing and was perceived to be close to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Across the world, especially in consolidated Western democracies, defection from such core members of a major party is extraordinarily rare.

However, this kind of party defection is woven into the political culture of India – so much so that it is popularly referred to as “aaya Ram gaya Ram” politics, a reference to Gaya Lal’s frequent party shifts in 1967. In the last five years, 417 MLAs or MPs (9% of the 4,664 legislative seats in India), have switched parties and re-contested the election. Such high rates of defection and “floor crossing” are also seen in other developing world democracies like Brazil and South Africa. This lack of filiality among a party’s legislators and members is what I refer to as weak partisan attachment in India.

While recent scholarly attention has been focused on economic and political centralisation under Prime Minister narendra Modi, I wish to show that political centralisation is a natural response to the weak partisan attachment that is endemic to Indian politics. In particular, creating a direct political connection between the political leader of a party and voters, through centralisation of political attribution, minimises the negative electoral consequences of party defection.

In fact, it was the regional parties in India that were the first to engage in such extreme political centralisation, and Modi is, himself, a successful chief minister from Gujarat. In this sense, the current moment represents a “regionalisation” of national politics – ie, the introduction of regionalist modes of politics into national politics.

CENTRALISING POLITICS: By the 1990s, as Congress’ once impressive party machine began to crumble, a number of regional parties began to show electoral success. A quick calculation shows that the effective number of parties

– the inverse of the sum of the squared proportion of seats held by each party – for MLAs at the state level would grow from around four in 1986 to over eight in 1996.

Among the most successful new parties were the Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United), nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Trinamool Congress. notably, many of these new regional parties were essentially “family-owned firms” in which the control of the party rested with the founder and her or his family. How can we explain this retrenchment when the weakening of the Congress Party should have made for a more democratic politics?

When potential legislators display weak partisan attachment, new parties with little brand value are particularly susceptible to party defection from individual candidates. Consequently, new parties are particularly wary of building upon the popularity of individual candidates if they are to cultivate a stable party vote share. In such a scenario, the optimal strategy for a new party is to centralise “political attribution” so that there is a direct connection between the voter and the leader of the political party – so that each individual candidate has minimal impact on the party’s appeal and electoral outcomes. This is often done through mobilising state and media resources, in addition to the party organisation, in order to deify the head of the political party.

While this is well-established in state-level elections, similar phenomena are now being observed with the BJP and Modi at the national level. As I have argued elsewhere, the key implication of this mode of politics is that the popularity of a political party hinges on the perceived integrity of its leader rather than delivering on policy outcomes and promises. Thus, the form of political centralisation we observe is the antithesis of a model in which citizens hold their direct representative accountable for the quality of economic performance.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE: The centralisation of political attribution has been significantly aided by technological change in the ability to provide direct targeted transfers to citizens. In particular, this new welfare architecture has made it easier to centralise political attribution by branding welfare delivery around the political chief of the party in lieu of more local actors.

This has occurred through two key policy and technological changes in the Indian context.

First, the universal identification program in India (Aadhar) and the proliferation of Jan Dhan bank accounts to integrate the Indian population into the formal banking system have ushered in a system in which the government can efficiently initiate direct benefit transfers into bank accounts for many government schemes.

This effectively bypasses local intermediaries and other local actors who may otherwise claim credit for economic delivery. This greater focus on direct targeted benefits is core to what Arvind Subramanian has termed the “public provision of essential private goods and services”.

Second, through a bevy of innovations in branding, carried out through carefully targeted advertising, media management and control over the party organisation, the party leader is able to more efficiently claim credit for welfare delivery than ever before.

Interestingly, this centralisation is occurring in parallel to a vibrant system of local political intermediaries who negotiate access to the state on behalf of citizens. In order to make sense of this apparent contradiction, it is important to note that India is widely seen as a “weakly institutionalised party system” in which the basis for connections between voter and party are not strongly ideological in nature but rather rooted in economic delivery.

This does not mean there are no discernible ideological dimensions in Indian politics, only that these ideological cleavages may not be determinative of party competition and candidate selection. However, budget and welfare allocations are decided in a centralised manner in India by party and government leadership. These technological innovations have generated a closer relationship between allocation decisions and credit-claiming, creating more centralised political attribution.

TICKET DISTRIBUTION: Furthermore, party tickets are still distributed in a highly centralised manner decided by party leadership (there are no primaries for any major party) and thus, the renomination of candidates is subject to the larger aims of the party leadership. This means that irrespective of local performance, centralised parties with “low intra-party democracy” are generally unlikely to renominate the same candidate to prevent the entrenchment of local power.

Indeed, in the 2014 general election in which Modi came to power, a sitting MP had only a 53% chance of being renominated to stand again for election. Even if renominated, an incumbent had just a 50% chance of being re-elected for an overall incumbency rate of 27%. This pattern is true at the state level as well. In India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, the proportion of first-time MLAs has been at least 60% in each election since 1977, with 78% of MLAs being elected for the first time in the most recent state elections. These processes ensure that local leaders cannot divert political attribution from the central leader. none of this is to deny the unique role of Hindu nationalism, the BJP’s party organisation and narendra Modi in political centralisation in India. However, it is important to understand how the current political centralisation at the Center is an adaptation of an existing system thriving at the state level in India. My hope here is to show that political centralisation is about more than one leader or one party, but rather a structural phenomenon with wide prevalence in India.

Neelanjan Sircar is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He was a CASI Fall 2021 Visiting Scholar and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from 2013-’15.

flicts, such as the Indochina wars, but eventually lost the Cold War because it could not keep up with the West’s more dynamic capitalist economic development. China has yet to confront the U.S. directly in military terms, despite its unprecedented arms build-up, preferring to keep its powder dry for clashes over trade and technological innovation.

But, like the U.S. three decades ago, China is trying to reshape the global system in line with its preferences. The resulting face-off between the new East and the old West would be best settled through a process of compromise and accommodation that accords China a greater international role and prestige befitting its global weight. If denied, China will likely become resentful, self-righteous and belligerent. But, because the parameters of such accommodation are fluid, the new cold war will continue to play out. nowhere will the impact of this new superpower tussle be more evident and consequential than in Southeast Asia, which is increasingly divided over what China stands for and how to respond. China appears to have the upper hand in the region for now. But the COVID-19 pandemic may soon expose fundamental flaws in China’s system, because, having committed to elimination of the coronavirus, it cannot fully reopen its economy.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and other democracies’ current high infection numbers could eventually enable them to cope with COVID-19 more effectively. If they can capitalize on that possibility, it would rebalance the new cold-war struggle in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak is a professor and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science in Bangkok.

pressures converge, increasing the chance of an iran nuclear deal TIppInsIghTs editorial Board

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HE talks to revive the JCPOA are inching along in Vienna. While little progress has been made, influential factors and actors are stepping up to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear Deal.

Even as many stakeholders continue to push for stricter sanctions and a continuation of the “maximum pressure” policy, China has explicitly made its opposition clear.

Beijing, a signatory of the original deal, has also not shied away from blaming President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal for unraveling the agreement.

Despite America’s “maximum pressure” campaign, China has continued trade with Tehran. non-oil trade between the two from March 2020 -21 was valued at $18.715 billion. Early last year, Beijing inked a 25-year cooperation agreement with Iran, bringing Iran into its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. The agreement, pending the Iranian parliament’s approval, hinges on Tehran reviving the nuclear deal.

The Iranian economy has suffered greatly under international sanctions. Tehran is eager to solicit investment from Beijing in the oil and gas, infrastructure, and petrochemical sectors. China can use its considerable leverage to bring Iran to the table.

Unlike the first time around, the discussions about reviving the accord are also supported by Iran’s neighbors, the Arab countries. The Arab leaders, taken into confidence by the U.S. and European leaders, are holding parallel talks with the hard-line regime. Having witnessed the failure of President Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, the Gulf neighbors are willing to put aside their differences to bring peace and stability to the region. With Israel and the U.S. on one side, and Iran on the other, the region is tense.

Escalating tensions could affect the growth and prosperity of the region. nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have come forward to urge Iran to find a way to revive the nuclear deal. Already wary of Tehran’s interference in its neighboring countries and the Shia-Sunni sectarianism, the Gulf nations have a vested interest in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In return for substantially limiting its nuclear program and de-

escalating sectarianism, the Arab states are willing to extend sweeping economic and financial relief measures and explore trade and investment opportunities.

Trade with the largest economy in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia, will substantially boost Iran’s struggling economy. The UAE is currently Tehran’s second-biggest trading partner. Besides trade, cooperation between the countries will enable Iran to access technology to strengthen its oil sector. Reeling under the global pandemic, Tehran would benefit immensely from assistance in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Besides all these commercial concerns, a lesser-known issue could compel Tehran to seek the cooperation of its neighbors and end its isolation: water. Iran is experiencing “one of its driest spells in half a century.” The amount of water in reservoirs is down to 30% from last year.

Power blackouts are frequent. A disgruntled population has staged protests, and eight protestors have been killed. Iran would need the support and cooperation of its neighbors, who have joined together under the Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East Climate Change Initiative, to tackle the issue.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s recent visit to Moscow calls attention to the Moscow-Tehran dynamic. Russia, another signatory of the accord, has stated that it wants the nuclear deal to be revived. At the same time, it also supports Tehran’s demand “for guarantees that the United States would not walk away from a revived deal.” Talks about a twenty-year cooperation agreement between the two nations have been doing the rounds.

Russia would likely be drawn closer to Iran if the Ukrainian crisis perpetuated by President Putin escalated to military action.

The various stakeholders each have their own agendas for supporting the nuclear deal revival discussions. Reports suggest that Tehran is a few weeks away from building a nuclear bomb if allowed to continue on its current path.

Despite such ominous reports and discord within the American negotiation team, many hope that an acceptable deal can be reached soon. It may be time to retire tools that have not yielded the desired results. Putting aside maximalist positions and finding that elusive mutual trust would be critical to ensure a safer Middle East.

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS

Exports increased by 18.7pc in January: Razak ISLAMABAD TLTP

Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment , Abdul Razak Dawood on Friday said that country's exports increased by 18.7 percent to USD$ 2.546 billion in January 2022.

The Ministry of Commerce would like to inform that in January 2022, our exports increased by 18.7 percent to USD$ 2.546 billion as compared to USD 2.145 billion in Jan 2021, the adviser commerce said this on his official twitter account.

The Adviser said that for the first seven months of current FY (July-January 2022) the exports grew by 24 percent as compared to USD$ 14.255 billion, adding that a declining trend has been noticed in the monthly imports.

Razak Dawood said that as compared to imports in December 2021, which stood at USD$ 7.580 billion the imports in January 2022 have declined by -22 percent to USD$ 5.908 billion. These were USD$ 4.803 billion in January 2021, he said.

Exports to USA surged by 25% YoY in January: The United States of America (USA) remained the top destination of Pakistan’s exports in January 2022 with $570 million worth of shipments against the exports of $456mn recorded in the same period last year, up by 25% YoY. This was followed by China, wherein Pakistan exported products worth $230mn against the exports of $189mn in the same period last year (SPLY), showing an increase of 21%, according to pre-PBS provisional data available with the Ministry of Commerce.

While exports to Italy, the third top export destination, surged by 93% YoY to $118mn from $61mn in SPLY. Next in line is Spain, the exports to Spain during January 2022 were recorded at $113mn against the exports of $78mn in the corresponding period last year, depicting a growth of 44% during the said period.

Among other countries, Pakistani exports to the United Arab Emirates increased by 24% YoY to stand at $104mn against $83mn during the said period.

NHA declares Techno Consortium most advantageous bidder for Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway National Highway Authority (NHA) on Friday issued a final evaluation report regarding the proposals submitted by interested bidders and declared Techno-consortium as the most advantageous bidder.

The proposal of a bidder named Techno-consortium secured 1st position and the proposal of Zahir Khan & Brothers (ZKB) obtained 2nd position.

NHA has declared the Techno-consortium as a most advantageous bidder for the construction of SukkurHyderabad Motorway under Public Private Partnership on Build-Operate-Transfer Basis (BOT) basis.

In the final evaluation report, technical proposal of Technoconsortium consisted of two local firms, Techno and ACC and an Italian construction company called Cooperativa Muratorie Cementisti (CMC) di Ravenna which obtained 71 marks and ZKB secured 75 marks while In the financial proposal Techno-consortium obtained 98.43 marks and the ZKB secured 24.24 marks in its financial proposal.

Similarly, ZKB in its financial bid has quoted Rs37 billion as capital VGF during construction and Rs143 billion as operational VGF while Techno-consortium has quoted Rs9.5 billion capital VGF during construction while the consortium has not claimed a single rupee as operational VGF. Techno-consortium was initially disqualified by the evaluation committee. Later on NHA’s Grievances Redressal Committee (GRC) deliberated upon the grievance and accorded its decision that Techno consortium is technically qualified. According to sources, the project is of national importance and is going to cost the government Rs9.5 billion directly payable in the shape of capital VGF during construction while the government will gain Rs73.58 billion in terms of NHA share in present value terms. The project entails the construction of a 306 km green-field six-lane access controlled road. The concession period of the project is spread over 25 years. AhmAd AhmAdAni

THiRd LNG TERmiNAL To bE fuNCTioNAL by NExT yEAR, SAyS HAmmAd AzHAR

m

INISTER for Energy Hammad Azhar on Friday said that currently two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals are operating in the country to meet the ever-growing energy needs of consumers, hoping that the third facility would be functional by next year.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the minister said Qatar, one of the top suppliers of LNG in the world market, was also looking to invest in establish-

ing an import facility in Pakistan.

“The government is looking into setting up its own import facility by converting a portion of a state-owned liquefied petroleum gas terminal,” he said.

He said Pakistan was pursuing a strategy to open up the oil and gas sector, under its ease-of-doing-businessplan, for active participation of private entrepreneurs to meet the increasing demand for energy in the country.

Hammad said the government was

making legislation to expand access to foreign supplies to users representing about 70 per cent of winter demand.

“The current supplies are such that we can barely even meet our current customers. Gas is running low in Pakistan and we have to supplement it,” he said.

Domestic gas production has fallen by about a fifth over the past two years and the legislation that would allow LNG to be supplied to local customers is set to go to the upper house for approval.

09

As LNG is more expensive than local gas, a detailed discussion on pricing would be needed, but increases won’t be “drastic,” the minister said.

Hammad said Pakistan was also using its surplus electricity as an alternative to reduce the demand for gas.

The government, which has already offered incentives to use electricity rather than gas for heating, was exploring ways to encourage industries to move permanently away from gasfired generators, Hammad said. APP

Govt revises profit rates for saving schemes The government on Friday reduced the rate of profit by 40-72 basis points on various saving schemes.

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) announced a decrease in the rate of profit on the Pensioner Benefit Accounts, Behbood Saving Certificates, Regular Income Certificates, Special Savings Accounts, and Defence Certificates.

However, profit rates on savings accounts have been increased.

The new rates have come into effect today. The rate of profit on Pensioner Benefit Account and Behbood Certificate was decreased by 72 basis points each to 12.24 per cent while the rate of profit on Regular Income Certificates was revised downwards by 48 basis points to 10.32 per cent.

In addition rates on special savings accounts were reduced by 40 basis points to 10 per cent.

The rate of Defence certificates was reduced to 10.40 per cent from 11.12 per cent, whereas rates on saving accounts have been raised by 1 per cent to

8.25 per cent.

The CDNS reinvests the money in government

papers like Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) and treasury bills (T-bills). GhuLAm AbbAs

KP industrialists protest increased charges in electricity bills The Marble Factory Owners Association in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have called for a shutter down strike against the collection of charges in terms of Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) in electricity bills.

The association said that they are forced to shut down their units as they are unable to pay such a hefty amount in electricity bills.

The electricity consumers in KP are forced to pay FPA, marble industry in particular is charged an additional Rs.600,000 to Rs1 million in electricity bills, said Marble Industry Association Provincial President Sajjad Khan.

He further said that a unanimous resolution was passed in KP Assembly against FPA as the province is producing cheap electricity from its hydel resources.

Sajjad Khan further said that power generation in KP is 5700 megawatts while the

province consumption is hardly 2300 megawatts. However, it has to purchase this expensive electricity from the federal government at Rs52 per unit.

According to Malakand Marble Association Senior Vice President Gul Roz Khan more than 80 per cent of the industry in KP has been shut down due to expensive electricity.

He said that more than 5000 marble factories now find it difficult to survive in this environment. Gul Roz said that the marble industry is a major source of employment in KP. He said that more than 6000 trucks, more than 3000 mining excavators, bulldozers, spare parts shops, hotels, petrol stations in Buner district are directly associated with the marble industry.

The Awami National Party (ANP) has submitted an adjournment motion in the KP assembly against the ‘drastic’ increase in

electricity bills due to Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA).

The adjournment motion stated that marble and other factories in KP have been closed due to the “exorbitant” increase in taxes.

“Factory owners and thousands of workers have been forced to protest and thousands of families of factory workers are now jobless,” the adjournment motion said.

The adjournment motion said that the central government should abide by the constitution and allow provinces to benefit from their natural resources. In addition the motion stated that the increase in electricity prices was “tantamount to robbing” people of KP of their constitutional rights.

The motion demanded that the KP government stand firm and retrieve the province’s legal and constitutional rights from the federal government. Aziz buneri

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Mired in scandal, British PM Johnson fights to shore uP authority LONdON

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RITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fighting on Friday to shore up his authority after a senior aide resigned over his false claim that the leader of the opposition Labour Party failed to prosecute a notorious child sex abuser.

Johnson, who in 2019 won the biggest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher, has repeatedly refused to resign over revelations that he and some of his staff attended Downing Street parties during COVID lockdowns.

Those revelations raised questions about Johnson’s often chaotic style of leadership and have led to the greatest threat to him since he took office. They follow a series of other scandals.

Johnson admitted that problems needed to be fixed at the heart of Downing Street, which serves as both his home and the nerve centre of the British state.

Munira Mirza, his head of policy who had worked with him for 14 years, resigned on Thursday over Johnson’s claim that Labour leader Keir Starmer failed to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile during his time as director of public prosecutions (DPP).

Johnson’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, said pointedly that he would not have made such a remark. Starmer has cast Johnson’s comment as a ridiculous slur — and conspiracy theory — that shows Johnson is unfit to be British leader.

Ministers presented three additional resignations which followed Mirza as evidence that Johnson was fixing the problems at Downing Street and “taking charge”, though there remained considerable anger at Johnson within his own party.

“I’m deeply troubled by what’s going on,” Huw Merriman, a Conservative lawmaker who chairs the transport select committee, told BBC radio.

Merriman said that if a prime minister did not shape up then he would have to go,

adding that many Conservative voters were upset and saddened about recent events at the highest levels of the British state.

A member of Johnson’s policy unit also quit on Friday, the editor of the Conservative Home website said. Downing Street declined immediate comment.

While opposition parties and some of Johnson’s own lawmakers have called on him to quit, there is concern that toppling a British leader at this juncture would leave the West weakened as it faces a potential military crisis in Ukraine.

With inflation soaring at the fastest rate in 30 years, anger at the government is likely to deepen ahead of the May local election.

Leading rivals within the Conservative Party include Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak, 41, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, 46.

To trigger a leadership challenge, 54 of the 360 Conservative MPs in parliament must write letters of no confidence to the chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee.

A snap poll by YouGov conducted on

Jan. 31 showed that 63% of voters wanted Johnson to resign, though another YouGov poll showed just 31% thought he would resign.

Asked what was going on in Downing

Street, junior energy minister Greg Hands told Sky: “Resignations have been made, resignations have been accepted.”

“This is the prime minister taking charge,” he said.

Yemen rebel attack on UAE brings tragedy to Indian families THe ASSOcIATed PreSS

Inside US raid on ISIS leader: Months of preparation, then a deadly blast WASHINGTON ReuteRs

US forces rehearsed the helicopter raid over and over, hoping to capture Islamic State’s leader on the third floor of a residential building in a Syrian town on the Turkish border, where he was holed up with his family.

But before they could reach him, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi detonated a suicide bomb, triggering a large explosion that blew mangled bodies — including his own — out of the building into the streets outside.

President Joe Biden, who monitored the raid from the White House’s Situation Room, called Quraishi’s suicide a “final act of desperate cowardice.” It echoed of the self-detonation of a bomb by his predecessor, Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, during a US raid in 2019 in Syria.

For residents in the town of Atmeh, the events were terrifying, as US forces swept in aboard helicopters before trying to evacuate civilians from the cinder-block building, using loudspeakers to tell them to leave.

“Men, women, and children raise your hands. You are in safety of the American coalition that is surrounding the area. You will die if you don’t get out,” said one woman recounting the US warnings.

Marine General Frank McKenzie, who oversees US forces in the region and was providing updates to Biden, said US troops got six civilians, including four children, to leave the first floor of the building before the blast ripped apart the top floor.

“The explosion, which was more massive than would be expected from a suicide vest, killed everyone on the third floor and in fact ejected multiple people from the building,” McKenzie said, adding that Quraishi, his wife and two children died.

A second US official later said two of Quraishi’s wives and one child were killed.

As US troops advanced to the second floor, one of Quraishi’s lieutenants and his wife started firing on the Americans and were killed.

One child was found dead there, McKenzie said, and three other children and an infant were brought to safety from the second floor.

Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 peo-

ple died, most of them women and children.

The Pentagon said at least two armed members of a local al Qaeda affiliate were killed by gunfire from a US helicopter after they approached the scene of the raid while US troops were still at the site.

TargeT on The Third floor: US officials said Quraishi’s death was another setback for a group that once ruled a self-proclaimed caliphate stretching across the territory in Syria and Iraq. It is now waging insurgent attacks.

Planning for the operation began in early December, when officials became convinced the Islamic State leader was living in the building, the officials said. Biden received a detailed briefing on options for capturing Quraishi alive on December 20, a senior White House official said.

One official said the operation was complicated by the fact Quraishi rarely left his residence on the building’s third floor and relied on couriers to interact with the outside world.

The number of children seen in the area and families believed to be living on the first floor led US officials to try to craft a mission aiming to safeguard civilians, they said.

That ultimately required putting US forces at risk in a raid, instead of launching a remote strike, the officials said.

US military procedures to guard against civilian casualties are under scrutiny following a high-profile mistaken drone strike in Kabul during the US evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan that the Pentagon initially hailed a success. The Pentagon said it would review all the information from the Atmeh raid to ensure no civilians were harmed by US forces, but stressed all indications so far were that civilian deaths were caused by Islamic State fighters themselves.

Biden gave final approvals for the mission on Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the top American military officer, US officials said.

Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials received realtime updates from Austin, Milley and McKenzie as they watched the operation unfold on several screens from the Situation Room, the officials said.

First, there was a pop, like firecrackers, then the world itself seemed to splinter.

Ramjan Rath felt a sharp pain. He looked down, and realised he was on fire.

Rath, whose fuel tanker blew up in a fatal attack on Abu Dhabi claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels last month, was standing by his truck filling out forms when the drones hit.

“I saw my vehicle burning right in front of my eyes. There was fire on my feet,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday from an Indian canteen in Mussafah, the industrial district of Abu Dhabi where the explosion occurred at a nearby state-owned oil facility. “I shook with terror. It wasn’t clear what had happened, it all happened so fast.”

He remembers blood gushing from his leg as he ran for his life. Sirens howled. Hours later, he was in a hospital room.

The 24-year-old had come a long way to the industrial side of the Emirati capital, where Yemen’s brutal war reached for the first-known time on Jan 17. He grew up in a tiny village in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, the youngest son of a farmer.

Rath knew nothing of the years-long civil war that has riven Yemen, killed thousands of civilians and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

He’d never heard of the Houthis who seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and have been battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE since 2015.

Ramjan Rath, who survived a Jan 17 Houthi attack on a fuel depot, speaks with The Associated Press in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday.

Like the millions of other low-paid expats who make up the vast foreign labour force powering the UAE’s economy, he had come to the country four years ago for work — the chance to carve out a bit of security for his parents and four older sisters in rural India.

It was a relentless life as a truck driver, working up to 12 hours a day to send money home. But it was a safe one.

Unlike in India, he said, the police were honest, the roads well-paved. He never feared for his life in the federation that is home to oil-rich Abu Dhabi and glitzy Dubai — a refuge in a Middle East mired in conflict and economic collapse.

Yet that changed in a single, violent instant.

“There’s pain, physical and mental.

When I sleep at night, or whenever I’m alone, I remember the blast,” Rath said.

He recalls being consumed by guilt in the hospital bed, thinking the inferno must have been his fault, the result of some safety mishap he’d overlooked.

His leg wound required 10 stitches.

The ache lingers, causing him to limp.

His truck is gone. He can’t work until he heals. He will never tell his family what happened to him, he said. It’s a burden they cannot bear.

But he is alive, and for that he said, he is grateful. Three of his colleagues from India and Pakistan were killed — years of work and accumulated opportunities put to an abrupt end.

One of them was Hardeep Singh.

Newly married at 29, he had a bachelor’s degree in computing, enviable skills in the ancient Indian sport of Kabbaddi and dreams of joining his young wife in Canada.

“The house is empty,” Hardeep’s cousin Gagandeep Singh, who called him a brother, said from their village in Indian Punjab. “He was our light, our loveable one.”

Hardeep, known to his family as Appu, was the only child of a widow, saddled with the unyielding obligations of a breadwinner. After his wedding last spring, he returned to work in the UAE as a tanker driver for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. He drove night shifts in the emirate of Sharjah. But that bright Monday morning, a fellow driver in the Mussafah district went on leave. Hardeep was sent to replace him. His family never spoke to him again.

His wife, 21-year-old Kanupriya Kaur, has come undone.

“I have no words,” she said by phone, her voice ragged. “There is no future and my memories are full of pain.”

Darkness has settled over the village of Mehsampur Khurd, where Hardeep’s

remains returned last month for a massive memorial. Children who knew him as the “fun one” in the village wept, attendees said.

It has been a shock, that the trail of Yemen’s devastating war has been profoundly felt not only at an Abu Dhabi fuel depot but also an ocean away, in an Indian town home to golden temples.

The Saudi-led coalition has bombarded Yemen for years, drawing international criticism for hitting non-military targets like markets, schools, hospitals and wedding parties. The attack on Abu Dhabi that wounded Rath and killed Hardeep triggered a fierce wave of Saudi and Emirati airstrikes on Yemen.

The deadliest one struck a Houthirun prison in the northern city of Saada, killing some 90 people. Another strike took the entire country off the internet for days.

Meanwhile, residents of the UAE have witnessed a steady drumbeat of missile and drone interceptions over the past weeks, mostly claimed by the Houthis.

The relentless rhythm of interceptors had been far more familiar to residents of Saudi border towns than the gleaming cities of the UAE, where expats outnumber locals nearly nine to one and beaches are bustling this time of year with tourists soaking up the winter sun.

The puncturing of the illusion of safety, Gagandeep said, is another reason for mourning.

“I can’t accept this. In this war between two countries, our son is lost. Our family is damaged,” he said. “Never have such things happened in the past.”

Saturday, 5 February, 2022 | LAHORE

SPORTS 11

HBL PSL: PeSHAwAr ZALmi BeAt KArACHi KinGS By nine runS

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News Desk

ESHAWAR Zalmi bowlers and Shoaib Malik guided their team to a comprehensive nine-run victory against 2020-champions Karachi Kings in match number 11 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the National Stadium, Karachi.

Wahab Riaz-led Zalmi had set a 174-run target for Karachi Kings after they were put to bat first by the Kings.

Despite the Kings batters’ early collapse, Babar Azam played a sensational inning and scored 90 runs off 63 balls with the help of 12 fours and one six.

No other batter could score even 35 runs against a strong Peshawar Zalmi’s bowling attack.

Mohammad Umar picked up three wickets, while Shoaib Malik, Hussain Malik and Usman Qadir took a scalp each.

Early in their innings, Zalmi looked set to post a huge total in the powerplay but once Umaid Asif removed the dangerous Hazratullah Zazai in the sixth over, the run rate slowed down. Peshawar’s batting faced another setback after Asif removed Kamran Akmal in the 10th over. Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik looked all set to capitalise on the start given by the openers but Aamir Yamin removed Ali to put a dent in Peshawar’s batting.

When Ali’s wicket fell, Zalmi were 103/3 with seven overs left in the innings.

However, a 59-run partnership

between Malik and Australian Ben Cutting helped Zalmi recover. It was Umaid Asif, once again, who broke the partnership by dismissing Cutting in the last over of the Zalmi innings. Peshawar ended their innings for 173/4 courtesy of Malik’s 52 from 28.

TeamS: Karachi Kings: Babar Azam (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Ian Cockbain, Mohammad Nabi, Sahibzada Farhan, Lewis Gregory, Imad Wasim, Aamir Yamin, Umaid Asif, M Talha Khan, M Imran Jr. Peshawar Zalmi: Kamran Akmal, Hazratullah Zazai, Haider Ali, Hussain Talat, Shoaib Malik, S Rutherford, Ben Cutting, Wahab Riaz (captain), Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, M Umar.

PCB, CA revise dates for Australia’s tour of Pakistan News Desk

Hasnain suspended over illegal bowling action News Desk Pakistan paceman Muhammad Hasnain was suspended on Friday from further participation in the ongoing seventh edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) as well as any form of international cricket after a examination found his action illegal, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement. Hasnain, 21, was reported for a suspect action during a stint with Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Big Bash League last month. In a press release, the PCB said the assessment on Hasnain “stated his elbow extension for his good length delivery, full length delivery, slow bouncer and bouncer exceeded the 15-degree limits”. Under the International Cricket Council rules, an illegal bowling action is one in which the bowler’s elbow extension exceeds 15 degrees. The PCB said it would appoint a specialist to work with Hasnain to rectify his action, adding that Hasnain would not be allowed to feature in the ongoing HBL Pakistan Super League, but would instead work on modifying his action. Hasnain is a promising fast bowler, who has so far played 18 T20Is and eight ODIs for Pakistan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Cricket Australia on Friday announced the revised itinerary of the Australia cricket team’s tour of Pakistan next month for three Tests, three ODIs and one T20I. The tour will start and end in Rawalpindi with the opening Test to be played from March 4 to 8 and the four white-ball matches to be played from March 29 to April 5.

The change in the venue of first Test means that the second Test will be played in Karachi from March 12 to 16 and the third in Lahore from March 21 to 25.

“The Cricket Australia has formally approved its side’s five-week tour and confirmed that its best combination of players will visit Pakistan for the first time in 24 years. We are really excited to host Pat Cummins and his players, and look forward to a competitive series. While Australia will arrive at the back of strong performance in their home series against England, our team has been playing excellent cricket resulting in our players sweeping the ICC awards.

This braces for a keenly contested series, something that the fans will thoroughly enjoy and remember for a long time,” the PCB said in a statement.

“The schedule has been revised to ease logistical and operational challenges as well as to avoid Pakistan Day rehearsals, which usually commence in Islamabad in the second week of March.”

The Tests will be part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs are linked to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League from which the top eight sides, including hosts India, will

qualify directly for the 2023 fifty-over World Cup, according to the statement.

Schedule: First Test: March 4 to 8 in Rawalpindi Second Test: March 12 to 16 in Karachi

Rohit Sharma to lead India into 1,000th ODI New DeLHI AFP

India’s new white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma will start his full-time ODI tenure on Sunday as his team will play the West Indies in their 1,000th one-day international, the first side ever to reach the milestone.

The encounter at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad is the first of a three-match series but will be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. India passed 500,000 deaths from the virus on Friday, although infection rates in the current Omicron outbreak have slowed in recent days.

“I was the captain of India in the 500th ODI,” India’s cricket chief Sourav Ganguly told Indian magazine Sportstar — a 2002 game against England in Chester-le-Street.

“It is a big moment for Indian cricket, but unfortunately, the match will be played without a crowd.”

The hosts have been hit by the virus themselves with four players including Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad being isolated after testing positive. Mayank Agarwal has been added to the squad and will be a candidate to open the batting alongside Rohit, although vice-captain KL Rahul remains a possibility.

The 34-year-old Rohit, who took over the T20 and then ODI captaincy from Virat Kohli, was ruled out of India’s tour of South Africa by a hamstring

injury when the visitors lost the Test series 2-1 and were whitewashed 3-0 in ODIs. He is leading the one-day side in a year that will see the T20 World Cup in Australia and is favourite to be named Test captain as well.

Indian broadcasters have been promoting the West Indies series with a song on Rohit’s comeback likely to boost the hosts, and the star batsman acknowledged the compliment.

“Humbled by the lovely rap @StarSportsIndia Looking forward to be back on the field and take inspiration from the fans’ continued support as India takes on West Indies,” Rohit wrote on Twitter.

India have home advantage but will face a tough challenge against the West Indies who are fresh from a 3-2 T20 triumph against England at home.

The once mighty West Indies, two-time ODI World Cup winners, celebrated the series win after their disastrous T20 World Cup defence and a shock 50-overs series loss to Ireland.

Pace bowler Kemar Roach has been recalled to Kieron Pollard’s side and the spotlight will be on pace bowler Jason Holder, who claimed a hat-trick and took four wickets in four balls in the seriesclinching T20 win over England.

“For me, this is the closest that I’ve felt a group be in a very, very long time,” Holder was quoted as saying by website ESPNcricinfo.

“Honest to God, the energy I felt from the meetings…most contributions I’ve ever seen in a West Indies dressing room. Even though you might not understand a certain decision, everybody’s still buying in with it.”

But he added: “I don’t think it’s a finished product and we’ve got to strive to be consistent.”

The ODIs will be followed by three T20 matches at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Third Test: March 21 to 25 in Lahore First OdI: March 29 in Rawalpindi Second OdI: March 31 in Rawalpindi Third OdI: April 2 in Rawalpindi T20I: April 5 in Rawalpindi

CAS Open Golf Championship begins

PR Featuring around 400 golfers from all over the country, Chief of the Air Staff Open Golf Championship kick-starts at Airmen Golf Club and Recreational Park, Korangi Creek today. Air Vice Marshal Zubair Hassan Khan, President Airmen Golf Club and Recreational Park inaugurated the Championship. In the first round of the tournament TallatIjaz, Muhammad Shahzad and ShahbazMasih scored 70 (2 under par). Trailing were Bilal Hussain, Khalid Khan, Muhammad Munir, Matloob Ahmed and Akbar Mehroz who finished the round at 71 (1 under par). Ahmed Baig, MinhajMaqsood, Abid Rana and Muhammad Shabbir remained third on the card board with score 72 (par). The 41st edition of the CAS Open Golf Championship is one of the biggest golf tournaments of the country, with participation of over 100 professional golfers. Matches in the category of Professionals, Senior/ Junior Professionals, Amateurs, Airmen Golf Club Members, Ladies, Veterans and Invitees will be played during the championship. Rupees 10.5 Million prize money Championship will be played over 18 holes for four days at one of the most difficult golf courses of the country. Brand new MG ZS (1500cc) has also been put on offer for the player who scores Hole-in one.

Saturday, 5 February, 2022

pRayeR timiNgs

NEWS

PM joIns world leAders At BeIjIng wInter olyMPIcs oPenIng cereMony P RIMe Minister Imran Khan, who is on a four-day visit to China, joined other world leaders at Beijing’s National Stadium to witness the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics 2022 on Friday.

The prime minister, who reached China on Thursday, was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar on the occasion.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, attends the opening ceremony of Winter Olympics 2022. — APP Among the athletes parading at the ceremony was Pakistani skier Mohammad Karim from Gilgit-Baltistan. The 26-year-old is the only Pakistani athlete who will compete in the Alpine Skiing Slalom event on February 16.

A tiny four-member contingent will be representing the country at the Winter Olympics, the Pakistan Olympic Association announced on Tuesday. Besides Karim, it includes Syed Noman Ali as the chef de mission, Nadeem Ajmal Khan as the team leader and Mirza Mohammad Qamar as the Covid-19 liaison and the coach.

PM Imran and his delegation rose from

their seats to join the spectators in welcoming Pakistan’s squad as it paraded at National Stadium, waving the national flag. opening ceremony: Friday’s ceremony began shortly after President Xi Jinping and International Olympic Committee Chaiperson Thomas Bach entered National Stadium, also called Bird’s Nest stadium.

According to media reports, around 3,000 athletes from 91 nations would compete across 109 medal events in the Winter Olympics, which will conclude on February 24.

Soon after the start of the ceremony, the Chinese flag was passed among 56

people representing China’s different ethnic groups before it was raised and the national anthem performed.

Held on the first day of Spring by the Chinese calendar, the ceremony saw an opening act by dancers waving glowing green stalks to convey the vitality of the season, followed by an explosion of white and green fireworks that spelled the word “Spring”.

On a three-dimensional cube resembling a block of ice, lasers carved imagery from each of the previous 23 Winter Games. The block was then “broken” by ice hockey players, enabling the Olympic rings to emerge, all in white.

That was followed by the traditional “parade of nations”, with each of the 91 delegations preceded by a woman carrying a placard in the shape of a snowflake resembling a Chinese knot.

In keeping with Olympic tradition, the parade was led into the stadium by Greece with the rest ordered by stroke number in the first character of their Chinese name, which meant Turkey was second, followed by Malta, with host China set to go last.

The entrances for “Hong Kong, China”, as well as for Russia, generated applause in the partially filled stadium.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the highest profile foreign leader present for the Games, could be seen in the stadium without a mask. However, the athletes from his country were unable to carry its flag due to doping violations, marching instead under the standard of the Russian Olympic Committee.

The opening ceremony took place under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic and a diplomatic boycott of the Games by some countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, over alleged human rights violations by China. The crowd itself was pared down, with organisers deciding last month not to sell tickets to Olympic events to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

A “closed loop” separated competitors and other personnel from the Chinese public throughout the Olympics. app

Pakistan deeply concerned over worsening HR situation in IOK: FO ISLAMABAD iNp

Kashmir Solidarity Day will be observed on Saturday to reiterate Pakistan’s resolve to stand by Kashmiris and extend all possible support to them till the realization of their right to self-determination.

Addressing a news briefing on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said Pakistan is deeply concerned about the worsening human rights and security situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK), which continues to be under military and police siege.

He said extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris are continued with impunity. “Hardly a day passes without any news of a fake encounter or a so-called cordonand-search operation by the Indian occupation forces.

Since January 1, at least 24 Kashmiris have been martyred in this unabated reign of terror,” he said.

The spokesperson said that the international community must act to stop the wanton oppression and persecution of the besieged Kashmiris under illegal occupation.

He said Pakistan salutes the resilience of the Kashmiri people, who continue to stand firm in their just and

peaceful struggle for their legitimate right to self-determination as pledged to them by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

He said the world must take cognizance of the plight of Kashmiris, hold India accountable for its widespread

brutalities and human rights violations in IOK. He also urged the international community to play its due role for resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

FAJR SUNRISE

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Hoshab, Panjgur and other areas.

The ISPR stated that the killed terrorists were involved in terrorism activities across Balochistan and a cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from their hideout after the operation.

Separately, six people, including two Levies personnel were injured after unknown miscreants threw a grenade at a Levies checkpost in the border town of Chaman in Balochistan, officials said.

Security officials arrived at the scene immediately after the incident occurred and cordoned off the area. The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Chaman.

Chaman Deputy Commissioner Jumma Dad Mandokhail confirmed the number of injured and said the incident took place at a checkpost located on Chaman’s Roghani Road.

The ISPR said at the time that both the

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Activist takes on Hindu heavyweights in India’s biggest state poll Rajeev Yadav was a teenage documentary maker in the late 2000s when he filmed a prominent Hindu monk in northern India making fiery speeches to roaring applause by crowds of followers.

The saffron-clad monk, Yogi Adityanath, has gone on to become chief minister of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people who vote in a key election this month that opinion polls suggest will return him to power.

Despite odds stacked against him, Yadav, 35, is running as an independent candidate in the state ballot, campaigning against what he calls the “politics of hate” by Hindu hardliners which minority communities say marginalises them.

The issue has been central to Indian politics since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed to power in 2014 and increased its majority five years later.

Modi and other BJP leaders including Adityanath have defended their record, saying that they do not discriminate and are pursuing policies that will benefit all Indians.

The main opposition Congress party and activists like Yadav argue that by putting the Hindu majority first, they are pursuing a divisive agenda.

Communal tensions have spilled into violence in recent years, including in Uttar Pradesh which has a large Muslim population.

“Activism alone is no longer enough,” said Yadav, sitting on the roof of a mud and brick home overlooking paddy fields in his hometown of Azamgarh. His rivals in the local election are from the BJP, Congress and the regional Samajwadi Party.

Yadav’s group, Rihai Manch – or Platform for Liberation – is best known for providing legal aid to Muslims, who make up some 14% of the population nationwide, and Dalits, who are considered to be lower caste in India.

In 2019, during nationwide protests against a citizenship law that Muslims said discriminated against them, the group said that two of its members were arrested by police.

The state police chief told reporters at the time that Rihai Manch had incited violence during protests, something it denies. UN human rights representatives condemned the arrests and alleged assault of hundreds of protesters and activists.

Thorn in side: Upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states are a key barometer of the BJP’s popularity ahead of national elections in 2024.

For Yadav it is an opportunity to provide an alternative to Adiyanath, who supporters on the Hindu right and some political analysts see as a potential successor to Modi.

“It is not just Muslims, there are the downtrodden, the backward castes, who are also being oppressed by this government,” said Yadav.

As well as championing those groups, he has vowed to look into how the police treat them and also fight for higher incomes for farmers in the rural area.

Adityanath’s spokesman rejected the idea that any community was being targeted.

“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given space to every voice,” Rakesh Tripathi said.

Yadav has long been a thorn in Adityanath’s side.

When Adityanath became chief minister in 2017, television news channels aired clips from incendiary speeches he had made in the late 2000s and which had been filmed by Yadav. Those videos form part of the evidence in a long-running hate speech case against Adityanath that is at the Supreme Court.

In one of the videos filmed in the eastern town of Gorakhpur in 2007 and aired on multiple TV channels later, Adityanath appears to condone violence in response to the death of a Hindu boy. Deadly communal riots broke out in the city after the remarks.

“The language he was using was the most extreme form of Hindu nationalism we had heard,” said Yadav.

BJP officials and Adityanath representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the footage. ReuteRs

Three terrorists killed in Balochistan’s Kech: ISPR Three terrorists, including two high-value targets were killed by security forces in the Balgatar area of Balochistan’s Kech district during a follow-up clearance operation at a hideout linked with recent terrorism activities in Panjgur, the military’s media affairs wing revealed on Friday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that “the terrorists’ hideout was surrounded on a major intelligence tip-off” “Security forces encircled the well dug out [hideout] and [engaged] in an intense exchange of fire” with the terrorists hiding there, it said, adding that three terrorists were killed in the incident.

The statement said the killed terrorists were identified as militant commanders Summair alias Bahar, Altaf alias Lalik and Phailan Baloch, who was involved in terrorism activities against security forces in

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attacks were “successfully repulsed while inflicting heavy casualties to terrorists”.

According to the ISPR, 13 terrorists were killed and seven security personnel, including an officer, martyred during the armed attacks and in the and subsequent security operations against the attackers.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the attack and lamented the fact that a commercial city like Chaman was targeted by terrorists.

He assured citizens that the provincial government would protect their lives and property. “We will eradicate the scourge of terrorism with the cooperation of the people,” he said, directing officials to tighten security arrangements in the area.

These incidents have been reported two days after terrorists attempted to attack security forces’ camps in Balochistan’s Panjgur and Naushki. News Desk

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

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Saturday, 5 February, 2022

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54x8 World View 5th February 2022 (Page 02)_Layout 1 2/4/2022 9:36 PM Page 1

Saturday, 5 February, 2022

WORLD VIEW

UncoverIng the cAA’s lArger strAtAgem THERE IS ONE CLUE TO THE LOGIC THAT INFORMS THE CAA: THE LEGISLATION INTENDS TO PRESENT THE PERPETRATOR AS MUSLIM, AND ONLY MUSLIM

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tUDent protesters have exacted their first concession from the powers that be. the Prime Minister has denied any official intent to compile a countrywide national register of citizens (nrc), nor to build detention centres to contain those classified as noncitizens. the implication is to delink any connection between the nrc and the citizenship (amendment) act (caa), 2019. this signals an official intent to shift the focus of public attention from the nrc to the caa. the reworked message: What could be more benign than an act that reaches out to oppressed religious minorities in the neighbourhood? those who continue to protest must either be misinformed, misguided or ill-intentioned.

THE LARGER PICTURE: there is a fourth possibility: the student protesters may be right. to make sense of the protester’s point of view, one needs to look beyond the list of those included, which is indeed the benign half of the picture. the other half is the list of those excluded. Only a grasp of reasons that explain both sides of the list, those included and those excluded, can give a sense of the whole picture.

Why does the list of minorities include only those from Pakistan, Bangladesh and afghanistan? Why not from other neighbours such as Sri Lanka, china and Myanmar? could it be because the ruling powers in these countries are not officially Muslim? i can think of only one reason why a government pledged to Hindutva would exclude ‘persecuted Hindu’, such as the tamils of Sri Lanka, from the list — because their oppressor does not claim to be an official representative of islam. Here is one clue to the logic that informs the caa: the legislation intends to present the perpetrator as Muslim, and only Muslim.

NO ‘VICTIM’: For a second clue as to the kind of reasoning that informs this double process of exclusion and inclusion, let us focus on the exclusion of the most persecuted minorities in the region, such as the rohingya of Myanmar or the Uighurs of china.

Just as the legislation recognises only Muslim perpetrators, it recognises no Muslim victim. to complete the list of those excluded, we need to focus on oppressed Muslims in countries where the ruling power officially claims to be Muslim. those oppressed may be targeted as groups such as ah-

madiyya or Shia, or they may be identified as individual critics. One such instance was headlined by the Karachi daily, The Dawn, of December 23, 2019: “academic Junaid Hafeez Sentenced to Death on Blasphemy charges by Multan court.”

Whether intended or not, it is these reasons that make the caa a demonic rather than a benign legislation. More than helping out persecuted minorities, its effect will be to demonise and isolate one group, Muslims, as exclusively a group of perpetrators. the official discourse thus seeks to present Muslims as a politically and morally legitimate target for persecution by a government-mobilised majority. it is this stratagem that student protesters have exposed. the student protesters consciously claim to follow an earlier generation of nationalist leaders — evoking names such as Gandhi, ambedkar, azad. inspired by the independence movement, they pledge non-violent action. indeed, these non-violent protests have exploded in the face of brutal official repression.

A CONTINUING PROCESS: Like the independence movement, the protest is not a standalone event, but an ongoing process. it resembles what the South africans used to call “rolling mass action” at the peak of anti-apartheid mobilisation. Few have bothered to draw up a blueprint or even define a destination for the protests. though many demand “independence”, the call does not adequately sum up what these protests are about. Perhaps more accurate is the accompanying call for the defence of secularism, specifically as incorporated in the indian constitution.

Secularism does not necessarily translate into denouncing the presence of religion in the public sphere. instead of a simple opposition between secularism and religion, protesters tend to distinguish different trends within secular and religious realms. they embrace secularism which accommodates diversity, but not the French-style laicity that openly shuns it. a recent Oped favourably contrasted religious sentiment that reaches out to embrace as opposed to fundamentalisms that thrive on exclusions. their pledge to emulate the earlier generation of nationalists also hides the important ways in which the protests depart from the independence generation in significant ways. the protest leadership comes from loosely coordinated student groups. there are hardly any luminaries in the protest, whether from the world of finance or industry or entertainment. they keep a distance from political parties. indeed, many of these youthful protesters seem disillusioned with party politics. rather than look to representative democracy as the guarantor of people’s rights, they are in search of new and popular ways of defining and defending these rights. in pointing to new possibilities, they seem to follow a trend that can be discerned at a global level, in places such as Lebanon, Sudan, algeria, France, chile, Hong Kong, and so on, in what we may define as the contemporary post-arab Spring era.

Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University and director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala, Uganda.

UK murders and Putin's hand THE AUTHOR ALSO TRACES THE UPWARD TRAJECTORY OF A WORKADAY KGB OFFICER NAMED VLADIMIR PUTIN WHO BECAME A DEPUTY MAYOR AND LATER ROSE TO BECOME THE LEADER OF RUSSIA Washington times

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en Macintyre, a columnist for the London times and the author of “the Spy and the traitor: the Greatest espionage Story of the cold War,” “a Spy among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal,” and other fine books on spies and espionage, wrote about a russian GrU (military intelligence) assassination group operating in europe that is the descendant of the Soviet assassination organization SMerSH, the counterintelligence unit that inspired ian Fleming. “if the idea of a ruthless spy-killing unit sounds like the stuff of fiction, that’s because it became precisely that,” Ben Macintyre wrote in his times column. “in the James Bond novels, ian Fleming portrayed Smersh (director of operations: rosa Klebb) as a massive counterintelligence network that more closely resembled the KGB.” Ben Macintyre wrote that the real SMerSH was effective in not only murdering Soviet traitors (some of whom were undoubtedly innocent, he noted), but SMerSH also instilled terror among potential enemies and enforced obedience in Soviet citizens. “and now it is back, with a new name and a new remit but essentially the same purpose: to put the fear of God, and assassination, into russia’s enemies, traitors and deserters,” Mr. Macintyre wrote. “according to intelligence sources, Unit 29155 is an elite sub-unit of GrU assassins that operated out of the Haute-Savoie in the French alps, conducting a variety of wet jobs across europe: notably the attempted poisoning in Salisbury of GrU officer-turned-Mi6 spy Sergei Skripal, and the attempt to kill a Bulgarian arms dealer in 2015.” in ian Fleming’s classic 1957 thriller “From russia with Love,” James Bond was the target of a SMerSH plot to assassinate him and discredit British intelligence in a scandal. SMerSH sent out from russia a psychopath assassin named red Grant to kill Bond. ian Fleming admitted that his plots were fantastic, but he also said they often lifted the tip of the veil to reveal the real world of espionage.

Heidi Blake’s “From russia with Blood” (a clever take on ian Fleming’s “From russia with Love” title), lifts the veil off a series of murders in the United Kingdom and places blame squarely on russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Ms. Blake, formerly assistant editor of the British Sunday times (where ian Fleming also worked years before), is the global investigations editor at BuzzFeed news and oversees an award-winning team in the U.K. and the United States. Her team’s investigation into russian assassinations in the West was named a Pulitzer finalist in 2018. in the foreword to her book, she explains how she flew to new york in 2014 to meet the BuzzFeed news investigations editor, Mark Schoofs. She was meeting the editor to discuss setting up an investigative unit at BuzzFeed’s’ U.K. office. “i came carrying a newspaper clipping containing the first clues to a mystery i hoped the new team might solve,” Ms. Blake writes. “it described how a multimillionaire property tycoon had plunged to his death from the fourth-floor window of a London town house a few days earlier — becoming the latest in a group of men, including the exiled russian oligarch Boris Bere-

zovsky, who had all died under bizarre circumstances. i was fascinated by what lay behind this expanding web of death at the heart of London — and so was Mark.”

Ms. Blake goes on to note that as she was setting up the team, she received a call from the ex-wife of the tycoon who died in the fall.

“Her ex-husband had been murdered, she said, and by coincidence she wanted my new team to investigate. More serendipitously still, she was sitting on a large trove of documents detailing the activities of her ex-husband and his associates in the years before their untimely deaths.” the author traces how a privileged few benefitted from the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and gobbled up the state-run utilities and companies at mostly rigged auctions and became oligarch billionaires. the author also traces the upward trajectory of a workaday KGB officer named Vladimir Putin who became a deputy mayor and later rose to become the leader of russia. the russian government forged a partnership with russian organized crime and the favored oligarchs, enriching the selected few. But as some oligarchs fell out of Mr. Putin’s favor, some were arrested and imprisoned, some died mysteriously, and some left russia with their millions and moved to London. One such oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, attempted to undermine Mr. Putin from London. this did not end well for him. nor did it end well for a former KGB/FSB officer who worked with the oligarch. “From russia with Blood” is a well-written and well-researched book that reads like a thriller.

Paul Davis covers crime, espionage and terrorism.

FROM RUSSIA WITH BLOOD: THE KREMLIN’S RUTHLESS ASSASSINATION PROGRAM AND VLADIMIR PUTIN’S SECRET WAR ON THE WEST

By Heidi Blake, Mulholland Books, $15.99, 336 pages

America’s Iraq war may escalate after airstrikes on Iranian-backed groups US AIRSTRIKES WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A MESSAGE OF DETERRENCE FOR THE ATTACK NEAR KIRKUK. BUT THIS BRINKMANSHIP COULD LEAD TO A WIDER CONFLICT

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Orty-eiGHt tense hours separated an attack that killed a U.S. contractor at a base near Kirkuk on Friday, December 27, and U.S. attacks against the Kataib Hezbollah militia in iraq and Syria on Sunday. it is a serious response that backs up six months of Washington’s rhetoric which has warned iran of a strong and decisive response to any attacks by tehran or its proxies. the United States opened a new chapter in iraq on Sunday with its airstrikes. the strikes, carried out by F-15s and other aircraft, hit five targets, three in iraq and two in Syria. the largest strike hit a headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah in al-Qaim and killed several members of the militia. according to local reports abu al-Khazali, a commander of Brigade 45 of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), was killed.

Brigade 45 is made up of Kataib Hezbollah members and is officially a paramilitary unit within the iraqi Security Forces. the airstrike is a response to rocket fire that killed a U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. personnel at the K-1 base northwest of Kirkuk. it was the latest of at least ten attacks since October 2019. these attacks actually began earlier this year when rockets were aimed at U.S. bases in February and May. When U.S.-iran tensions skyrocketed in May the attacks increased. in May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to iraq to warn of iranian attacks. the attacks did come, but in the form of mining oil tankers in the Gulf and then the downing of a U.S. drone in June. then iran shifted tactics a bit, targeting Saudi arabia’s abqaiq facility and also targeting israel. there were iranian rocket attacks on

israel in May of 2018 and in January, September and november this year. iran’s strategy is complex. in iraq, Syria, Lebanon and yemen it works with local forces. these include Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels and Shia militias, many of them linked to the islamic revolutionary Guard corps. Pompeo calls these “proxies” and warned on December 13 that iran’s proxies had “recently conducted several attacks against bases where iraqi Security Forces are co-located [with] US and international coalition personnel.” the United States and coalition are in iraq with thousands of forces to fight iSiS. the United States had reduced its diplomatic staff in iraq due to the iran tensions. Protests in iraq that began in October led to the resignation of Prime Minister adel abdul Mahdi and the country has a leadership vacuum.

President Barham Saleh, who met with Pompeo at the sidelines of the Un in September, has threatened to resign. the U.S. role in iraq has become increasingly complicated well. With iSiS largely defeated in iraq in the fall of 2017, the United States shifted to stabilization, training and dispatching Security Force assistance Brigades—in an advisory role—to advise the iraqis and Kurdish Peshmerga. the coalition highlights weekly raids against iSiS and the United States conducts some airstrikes. However, Lead inspector General reports show that tensions with iran are increasingly on the minds of U.S. forces. the iran tensions span iraq and Syria. this is partly a result of the war against iSiS which spanned across both countries.

Similarly, pro-iranian groups in Syria and iraq also fought iSiS and filled the vacuum left behind. in iraq, that meant that the Popular Mobilization Units, a group of mostly Shia militias, set up bases in places like Kirkuk, nineveh and anbar province. in al-Qaim, for instance, the 45th Brigade of the PMU, linked to Kataib Hezbollah, set up a base. it also built a base on the Syrian side in a house. iran also built a base on the Syrian side near albukamal called the imam ali base. together Kataib Hezbollah units and the imam ali base have been hit by israeli airstrikes.

For the United States, the concern in iraq and Syria is multi-layered. after the

U.S. withdrawal from part of northern Syria, it repositioned units to guard oil and keep a presence in southern Syria. it has warned the Syrian regime against advancing into these areas east of the euphrates or around the tanf base on the Jordanian base. in February 2018, the United States helped stop a Syrian regime advance near Deir ezzor that included russian mercenaries. in Syria, the United States has expressed concern that israeli airstrikes might lead the Syrian regime or its allies to target the United States. in iraq, the United States says israeli airstrikes have complicated the mission a bit. israel has said it opposes iranian entrenchment in Syria and iraq. in a sense, the United States and israel view iran’s threats similarly, but they have different challenges. israel wants iran to stop moving munitions to Syria and reduce its presence. the United States wants to be able to continue the anti-iSiS campaign without iranian-backed harassment. But iran has shown that it will conduct tit-fortat pressures in response to sanctions and other issues. iranian-backed groups, such as Kataib Hezbollah and asaib ahl al-Haq (aaH) have a long history of opposing and fighting the United States in iraq, only stopping momentarily due to the war against iSiS. the United States sanctioned Kataib Hezbollah leader abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in 2009 and he is wanted for terrorism charges in Kuwait. Washington also sanctioned Qais Khazali, leader of aaH, in December and has sanctioned Harakat Hezbollah al-nujaba, another PMU militia. all this adds up to a very tense December, even without the attack and retaliation that just took place. PMU militia leaders like Muhandis want the United States to leave iraq. the Pentagon says that Kataib Hezbollah has been responsible for past rocket attacks on bases where U.S. forces are present. these attacks have become increasingly threatening since October; they have included different types of rockets, including iranian-made 107mm rockets. On December 27, a total of thirty-two rockets fired from an improvised rocket launcher in the back of a Bongo truck, struck the K1 base. U.S. personnel were there as part of an anti-iSiS operation. the rockets set off a munitions facility. One U.S. contractor

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was killed.

On December 29, the F-15s dropped their ordnance in iraq and Syria. the Pentagon says that targets included command and control areas and also storage facilities that Kataib Hezbollah has used to plan and execute attacks on the U.S. and coalition forces. the decision to strike in both Syria and iraq shows that Washington views the threat as spanning the border. it is highly unusual for the United States to conduct airstrikes this way, across borders at the same threat. the only parallel might be the conflict against groups like al-Qaeda that have spanned continents and resulted in U.S. drone strikes, many of them confidential, from Pakistan to africa. the strikes represent a keen understanding of the threat that Kataib Hezbollah poses. it is not just an iraqi militia: its leader trained with the irGc in the 1980s and it is part of iran’s regional strategy. in that sense, like aaH and other groups in iraq, it has played a role in Syria, established relations with Hezbollah, and has threatened israel. Like the rest of iran’s proxies, it views itself as “resisting” the United States in the Middle east. the trump administration has been reticent to get involved in a conflict with iran despite the rising tensions since May. However, the trump administration has tested iran’s role in iraq in the past. in October 2017, former Secretary of State rex tillerson said that the iraqi militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah, should go home now that the war on iSiS was over. then-Prime Minister Haider al-abadi condemned tillerson and said the militias of the PMU were the hope of the future of iraq and the region. in December 2018, President Donald trump said the United States could use iraq to “watch iran.” Similar statements in January 2019 ruffled iran’s feathers and angered iraqi politicians who didn’t want iraq used as part of a U.S. war with iran.

Hadi al-amiri, head of the Badr Organization, which is part of the PMU, warned in May that tensions with the United States and iran could “burn” iraq. the tensions point to a crucial moment for the United States in iraq. Washington has already left iraq several times in the past: in the 1990s, after the Gulf War US

forces withdrew and again in 2011. now pro-iranian groups want to see the United States leave again. iraqis don’t want a U.S.iran conflict or a proxy conflict in iraq. But many iraqi protesters have been protesting iran’s presence as well, not only the U.S. presence. iranian consulates have been burned, militia headquarters have been targeted, and iranian-backed militias have been accused of killing protesters. this means the United States is in a different place in iraq today than in 2011. However, the killing of members of Kataib Hezbollah and the attacks straddling the iraq-Syria border illustrate that a larger conflict is already taking place. this conflict has existed under the surface, involving iran’s actions in the Gulf, and Houthi attacks on Saudi arabia as well as israeli airstrikes against iran in Syria and iraq. Kataib Hezbollah has been seeking to strike at the United States since May, when the rocket attacks began. at the same time, iran is accused of transferring ballistic and other missiles to iraq. the PMU are at a crossroads after the U.S. strikes. they can choose to escalate the conflict and show that they are the new power behind the throne in iraq, a sort of iraqi version of iran’s irGc. Or iran may seek to reduce tensions. yet iran will likely choose both options, as it has in the Gulf and in Syria. trump has been reticent to commit more U.S. troops to foreign wars that he portrays as endless sunk costs. iraq is a sunk cost in this estimation and trump has said iSiS is defeated on the ground. that puts the United States in a complex position, wanting to maintain some presence in iraq and southern Syria, but not wanting a large new conflict with iran or iran’s proxies.

Five airstrikes were supposed to be a message of deterrence for the attack near Kirkuk. it shows the United States has been watching several Kataib Hezbollah’s sites for weeks or months. But Kataib Hezbollah didn’t evacuate its locations, assuming it was safe. this is the brinkmanship that could lead to a wider conflict. that conflict could stretch thousands of kilometers from the Gulf to israel’s Golan Heights.

Seth J. Frantzman is a Jerusalem-based journalist who holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis and a writing fellow at Middle East Forum. He is the author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East (forthcoming Gefen Publishing).