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Saturday, 7 March, 2020 I 11 Rajab, 1441 I Rs 20.00 I Vol X No 248 I 16 Pages I Lahore Edition
Pakistan’s first coronavirus Patient recovers comPletely g
sinDH CM COnGrAtulAtEs PAtiEnt’s FAMilY, tErMs His rECOVErY As GrEAt ViCtOrY
Abdullah Abdullah unhurt as gunmen kill 27 at memorial STORY ON BACK PAGE
EU extends GSP-Plus status for Pakistan STORY ON PAGE 03
stocks plunge over 1,100 points amid coronavirus concerns STORY ON PAGE 12
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staff report
AkistAn’s first coronavirus patient, a young student from karachi, who had contracted COViD-19 as a result of the infection, has recovered completely after being treated in a hospital in karachi for 10 days. Yahya Jafferi is believed to have contracted the virus during his visit to the iranian holy city of Qum, where he had travelled to as part of a group of 28 pilgrims. He had tested positive for coronavirus on February 26 and was shifted to the isolation ward of a private hospital in karachi. His family members were also placed in quarantine but were discharged after their tests came out negative. According to officials of the sindh government, during the 10 days of treatment, the patient had been tested three times with the last one coming out negative on Friday morning. As soon as sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali shah was informed of this development, he congratulated the family of the patient and termed his recovery as a great victory.
While the country’s first coronavirus patient recovered fully, the other two in sindh are also showing progress. On thursday, the provincial health department had reported the country’s sixth case of the novel coronavirus in karachi. the patient was identified as a 69-year-old male residing in the city’s District East. taking notice of the case, CM Murad had directed officials to trace and test all those who have been in contact with the patient. “the patient had returned from iran on February 25. the health department was already monitoring the situation, so when he started showing symptoms, officials took his samples and sent them for testing. the patient is currently in isolation at a hospital, while his family members have been quarantined for the time being,” a health official had said, adding that there were now three confirmed cases of coronavirus in sindh. special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza had confirmed Pakistan’s first two cases of coronavirus on February 26, from karachi and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). three days later, the PM’s aide had confirmed two more cases of the virus, once
again from karachi and GB. On March 3, Pakistan’s fifth case had emerged in a woman from GB. Meanwhile, chairing a meeting of the Coronavirus Emergency Core Group in islamabad on thursday, Dr Zafar Mirza had said that the government has screened more than 760,000 people, who were entering the country, for the novel coronavirus. He had reassured that every possible step was being taken to cope with the outbreak. “the federal and provincial governments, as well as other institutions, are fully ready to meet the challenge and protect the people from the virus,” he had said. in addition, separate rooms were being allocated at hospitals to combat COViD-19, he had added. More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, which has now reached some 80 countries and territories. Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home, with italy the latest country to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as the iMF urged an all-out, global offensive against the epidemic.
PM assures provision of all resources to fight locusts
STORY ON PAGE 02
Pti has failed to deliver, says PMl-n STORY ON PAGE 02
IHC bins plea seeking restrictions on Aurat March
Taliban say will only talk with Ghani after prisoners’ freedom
90pc of all people hold bias against women: study STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 03
Qureshi says us must keep eye on elements seeking to disrupt Afghan peace STORIES ON BACK PAGE
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Saturday, 7 March, 2020
NEWS
PM assures Provision of all resources to fight locusts ISLAMABAD
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RIME Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced to provide all necessary resources required for action against locust swarms in the country as he was briefed over the national action plan for their elimination. The prime minister held a meeting in the federal capital to control locust swarm attacks and the chief minister of all the provinces and other officials attended it with some participating it via video link. He was briefed during the review meeting that committees for inter-provincial coordination, surveillance and monitoring purposes are formed while an apex committee to deal with the matter and control room was also established. He was briefed that district-level bodies have also been formed to deal with the matter. The premier was also informed regarding cooperation with China to tackle locusts attack in the country. “We have also provided funds to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),” the Finance Ministry official said.
The chief ministers of the provinces also briefed the premier over the situation and conveyed their suggestions to deal with it. The prime minister assured them that the government is aware of the seriousness of the matter and it is necessary to improve coordination between the federal and provincial authorities to deal with the issue. “We are committed to provide all resources for eliminating locusts from the country,” he said. Farmers are struggling to combat the
worst locust plague in nearly three decades as insect swarms decimate entire harvests in the country’s agricultural heartlands and send food prices soaring. Heavy rains and cyclones sparked unprecedented breeding and the explosive growth of locust populations on the Arabian Peninsula early last year, according to the United Nations (UN). The insects have since fanned out and wreaked havoc on farms from East Africa to India before making their way into Pak-
Karachi gas leak sends 100 to hospital; three in critical condition istan from the desert on the country’s southwestern border with Iran. The crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and urgently appealed for help from the international community. Local surveys of the damage are continuing, but the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture said that nearly half of all crops have been destroyed near the port city of Karachi. Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing has said that drugs weighing 300 tons will arrive in Pakistan from China next week in the first phase to control the spread of locust in the country. He stated this during a meeting with Chairman National Disaster Management Authority Lt General Muhammad Afzal in Islamabad on Friday. He said that China will provide anti-locust spray and machinery to Pakistan in three phases. Yao Jing said that Chinese technicians will also train Pakistani workers in the use of spray machinery. Speaking on the occasion, the NDMA chairman said that China can help Pakistan control locust and establish an emergency air ambulance service.
ENGRO CHEMICALS SAY INCIDENT WAS CAUSED DUE TO ‘RELEASE OF CHLORINE GAS THROUGH THE VENTS’ KARACHI: At least 100 people were hospitalised after a gas leak at Engro Polymer & Chemicals Plant in Port Qasim area of the city on Friday. According to details, at least 19 people were hospitalised at the Pakistan Steel Mills Hospital and 36 were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. The hospital’s executive director, Dr Seemi Jamali, confirmed the cases and said they are all stable. Three of the victims were said to be in critical condition. According to an official statement from Engro, the incident was caused due to the “release of chlorine gas through the vents”. The statement said: “The matter was quickly contained and the affectees were immediately taken for necessary first aid to nearby medical facilities. Patients were being released once cleared after necessary inspection and necessary first aid. No fainting spells, injuries or fatalities have been reported thus far.” S TA F F R E P O RT
PTI has failed to deliver, says PML-N KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders on Friday said that people of the country were not satisfied with the performance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, PML-N stalwart and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the governance model presented by the PTI government failed badly and added the time for change has come. Meanwhile, ex-interior minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the government was not taking any action against mafias involved in wheat and sugar hoarding. “Nation’s money is being looted by intensifying flour and sugar crises,” he
claimed. The presser conference was held after a meeting with former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattar. On the occasion, Abbasi recalled that party leader Nawaz Sharif had asked Sattar to join the PML-N, and said the invitation stands till date. “We haven’t extended an invitation to Sattar today, but continue to hope he will join the PML-N one day,” said Abbasi. Abbasi said Sattar has made a major contribution to the country’s politics and his addition to the PML-N will fortify the cause of democracy. “We will also learn how to do politics from him,” the former prime minister said in a lighter vein. Following the meeting, Abbasi said a new political contract should be drafted in addition to snap polls
in an attempt to solve the issues faced by the country. Commenting on the meeting with MQM, Abbasi said it was not the first time such meetings were being held with other political parties. He said if there was a joint opposition front against the government then the current PTI government would be responsible for that. “Pakistan will not make progress without Karachi which is its heart. PML-N started development projects in the metropolis during its tenure. We do not crave power; we only highlight issues of common people,” he added. Farooq Sattar said PML-N’s previous tenure was better than the current term of Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) if there was to be any comparison between the two.
IHC seeks update on students stranded in Wuhan ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday sought update on the steps taken by the federal cabinet to safeguard Pakistanis students stuck in Wuhan in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Chief Justice Athar Minallah said the court could understand the feelings of the stranded students’ parents. He said he could realize the sensitivity of the situation as this was the first time in the Islamic history that the ‘Tawaf of Khana-eKaba’ had been suspended temporarily. The officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the court that the issue was included as a top
agenda in the cabinet’s next meeting. The parents of the stranded people adopted the stance that Pakistan had established an isolation place in Quetta for the pilgrims returning from Iran. The same steps could be adopted for their China return children. The representative of the foreign ministry said the matter would be decided on coming Tuesday in the cabinet meeting. The chief justice said the court had already decided that it would not pass any written order in that regard. He asked whether the ministry was able to give any date to get back the stuck students. STAFF REPORT
PM orders to name, shame and punish wheat, sugar hoarders ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ordered strict accountability of all those responsible for the wheat and sugar crisis in the country. Imran expressed the resolve to punish all those involved in creating an artificial shortage of wheat and sugar in the country, sending the government and people into a frenzy and resulting in major dis-
comfort for everyone. Khan said that there would be no respite for the guilty as the government had to bear great humiliation and criticism because of the action of a few. The premier also stressed that the government’s policy is based upon transparency and no one would be allowed to sabotage this. STAFF REPORT
SC directs KP govt to prepare manual, digital record of state property ISLAMABAD APP
The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to prepare manual and digital records of state property in six months. A two-member SC bench comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood announced the verdict on a petition filed by Peshawar municipal corporation administrator against Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict. The judgment authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa stated, “To further and better preserve and protect public properties and to have easy access to particulars of all public properties in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is directed to prepare and maintain a complete physical and electronic/digital record of all public properties, which shall include, making
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requisite entries, if not already made, in the revenue/land record in the name of the concerned local government, and mention its area, abutment, coordinates and any other particulars for their easy identification. The record with regard to every local government’s public properties must be permanently maintained by them and copies thereof kept at a centralized location by the office of the Secretary Local Government, Election and Rural Development Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in digital/electronic form.” The court directed the Registrar Office to send a copy of this judgment to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and Local Government, Election and Rural Development Department secretary who was directed to issue written instructions to every village, neighbourhood, tehsil, town, district and city district local government and directed them to ensure compliance with sections 39 of the Act and to submit the requisite reports thereunder.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
ihc Bins Plea seeKing restrictions on aurat March JUSTICE MINALLAH SAYS HOW CAN SLOGANS BE INTERPRETED DIFFERENTLY WHEN ACTIVISTS HAVE MADE THEMSELVES CLEAR IN MEDIA ISLAMABAD
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STAFF REPORT
HE Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday binned a petition seeking restrictions on Aurat March– slated to be held on March 8 to mark the International Women’s Day — and termed it non-maintainable. The court had questioned the petitioners’ interpretation of slogans they had objected to while reserving the verdict earlier in the day. During the proceedings, the petitioners’ lawyers told the court that they sought restrictions on the Aurat March
and shared three slogans that women would chant at such an event. During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said various Islamic laws were being violated in Pakistan and that the court hoped these petitioners would also approach it for the enforcement of all these laws. “The women’s slogans are that they be given the rights that Islam grants them. Can we interpret their slogans by ourselves?” the judge questioned. “It is important that you see the Aurat March in a positive light. On your own, how can you interpret these slogans?” He said the petition was akin to seek-
chinese student accuses PaKistani Professor of sexual harassMent A three-member committee has been formed in Malakand University to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment brought by a Chinese student against her professor, according to a media report. The report said a Chinese student, who has been pursuing her MPhil in the university, has levelled serious allegations of sexual harassment against a senior professor in the Department of English. The university has formed a three-member committee to probe the matter, the report said. The committee, according to the report, has held four meetings so far and it will submit its report soon. The university’s spokesman, Fida Khan, declined to comment till submission of the committee’s report. He only said that an “unofficial email has been made to an unofficial address” in which allegations of sexual harassment have been made against a professor of the university. NEWS DESK
19th amendment will have to be revisited, says Bilawal LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said that political parties would have to revisit the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan. Addressing a students’ session of Law and Politics Society of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, he said that the 18th Amendment had given the rights of education, fair trial, and information to the masses, which were earlier not part of the Constitution. It also transferred all the powers of the president to the prime minister, besides giving several rights to the provinces, which were earlier with the federation, he added. Bilawal said that for the first time the right to appoint judges was given to the parliament through the 18th Amendment. “Moreover, the consensus among the provinces on the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award as part of the constitutional amendment was a historic achievement,” he added. He claimed that the Sindh government had given all rights to the poor labourers after the 18th Amendment. He also claimed that the Sindh government had collected more sales tax than the other provinces despite having a low rate. Significant investment had been made in the health sector in Sindh, he added. LUMS Law and Politics Society President Sikandar Shah and Dean Kamran Asdar Ali also addressed the session. STAFF REPORT
ing prior relief from the court and assured that legal action would be taken if anything against the law happened on March 8. He said yesterday in a press conference, Aurat March organisers said they were asking for the rights granted to them in Islam. “When they made themselves clear in their press conference then how can we have different interpretations?” Justice Minallah asked, adding that the press conference had been broadcasted all across the media. “Who ended the practice of burying girls alive?” the IHC chief justice inquired, in response to which the petition-
ers’ lawyer said Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had done so. “In our society, the birth of a girl is still not considered good,” he added. The judge also questioned the petitioners’ counsel on how many women in the country were given the right to an inheritance, alluding to the difficulties they face despite clear Islamic laws in place. During today’s proceedings, the petitioners’ lawyers told the court that they completely supported women’s rights, adding that they were not opposed to the march or to the rights of women. Earlier this week, the Lahore High Court also wrapped up a petition against the holding of Aurat March, reiterating its earlier remarks that the gathering could not be stopped under the constitution and directing the Lahore district authorities to speed up their decision on an application seeking permission to hold the march.
EU extends GSP-Plus status for Pakistan
(GSP-Plus) status after the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved by the country in enacting new laws for implementation of 27 core conventions of GSP plus. The facility was extended for a period of two years then and for another extension, a report detailing compliance from Pakistan on the conditions required from the country for extending the GSP Plus status was tabled before
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govt will 'support' aurat March if it doesn't trample 'honour' ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Friday said the government would extend complete support to the upcoming Aurat March on a condition that it “does not trample on Pakistan’s honour”. Addressing an event in Islamabad, the PM’s aide said that women empowerment was the government’s “most important mission”. “We regret that those people who are introducing slogans in the media in order to empower women do not realise that the victims of that mindset are [the women of society].” She questioned the certain slogans propagated by the activists and said: “By coming out on roads and raising slogans that are not ‘permitted’ by values observed by our society, religion or family, what kind of power do [the marchers] want?” “We will have to see who are these people who possess this mindset [and] are busy in misleading the entire nation, especially women,” she said, without going into the details of the “mindset”. She pointed out that the constitution provided protection and rights to women and that it was the aim of the government to make women independent. The ‘Aurat March’, as it has come to be known since its first iteration in 2018, was organised by Hum Aurtain — a feminist collective. It has a manifesto demanding basic rights for women in each field of life. STAFF REPORT
Journalist Memon was suffocated to death, reveals autopsy
NEWS DESK Pakistan would continue to enjoy tariff preferences in the European Union (EU) under Generalized Scheme of Preferences-Plus (GSP+) status. This was announced by Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industry and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood in a tweet on Friday. Dawood thanked the European Union institutions for allowing the country to avail from the status and also applauded federal and provincial authorities and Ministry of Commerce’s treaty implementation cell for striving hard to meet the GSP plus obligations. “This would strengthen our resolve to continue to improve the social and economic conditions of our people. I urge the business community to diversify their exports to capitalise on this opportunity to the optimum.” On February 17, the GSP-Plus status given to Pakistan has come under discussion at the European Parliament on Monday as it reviews the country’s request to extend the facility. In February 2018, the European Union (EU) extended Pakistan’s Generalised System of Preferences plus
NEWS
the European Parliament on friday. The report said that a country-wide survey was carried out in the country to determine the situation of child labour. It said that Pakistan is the fourth largest partner in the preferential imports and during 2018, the Pakistani exports to Europe remained at 5.88 billion Euros (€). It said that the largest part of the European imports that comprises of 62.8 percent, came from Pakistan during 2018.
MEHRABPUR: In contrast to the claims made by police in a briefing to the National Assembly standing committee, the autopsy report of the slain journalist, Aziz Memon, revealed that Memon died as a result of asphyxiation. Memon, a journalist associated with a regional Sindhi channel and newspaper, was found murdered last month in Naushehro Feroze. Memon’s body was recovered from a river on February 16 with a wire wrapped around his neck. The reporter had earlier accused the regional Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership as well as Naushehro Feroze police of threatening him for unflattering reporting of party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s ‘train march’ in 2019. The autopsy report came a day after the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior was informed that Sindhi journalist Aziz Memon had died a natural death as the medical report did not confirm any violence or poisoning. Hyderabad Additional Inspector General Police Dr Waliullah Dal and other police officers briefed the committee, chaired by Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, that journalist Aziz Memon was the patient of hypertension, sugar and his medical report did not confirm any murder. STAFF REPORT
TV channels told to refrain from airing 'controversial content' on Women's Day ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Friday issued an advisory pertaining to coverage of International Women’s Day — commemorated on March 8 — and warned TV channels against airing “unethical slogans, play cards (sic) with objectionable content”. The advisory pointed out that the Lahore High Court (LHC) had issued conditional permission for the Aurat March, which is to be held on occasion of the International Women’s Day. In pursuance of the high court’s order, the PEMRA advisory stated that some channels had “aired controversial content with special reference to the slogan relating (sic) to Aurat March”. The regulatory body urged channels to
be “mindful of the fact that telecast of such controversial content is against the commonly accepted standards of decency as well as religious, social, cultural norms and sentiments of public”. “Furthermore, the airing of such vulgar/inappropriate content is not suitable for viewing on TV channels,” the advisory read. The notification did not elaborate on what kind of content would qualify as “controversial” or “vulgar”. It also did not specify the objectionable slogan it referred to in the advisory. The electronic media watchdog further said that telecasting “such content is in violation of Section 20(f) of PEMRA Ordinance, 2002 as amended by the PEMRA (Amendment) Act, 2007, read with different clauses of Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisements) Code of
Conduct, 2015 and aforementioned court orders. “Besides, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on March 5, 2020, has unanimously discouraged the telecast of indecent and controversial content on television channels with special reference to the indecent slogans and banners relating to the ‘World Women Day’ campaign in Pakistan which is being marked on March 8, 2020.” PEMRA’s advisory further said that TV channels should “realise their responsibility and play their due role in building high moral values and character among the viewers”. It also instructed anchorpersons to be “careful in selection of words/gestures and avoid putting such questions/comments which are bold/explicit”. Furthermore, a time-delay mechanism
should be utilised in order to avoid airing any “inappropriate words/content”, the advisory said, adding that channels should also review the content of programmes, bulletins and talk shows through an inhouse monitoring committee to ensure nothing objectionable is broadcast. The upcoming Aurat March has caused contention among some spheres of the public. Petitions to stop the march from being held have been filed in the high courts of Islamabad and Lahore, both of which were dismissed. The Islamabad High Court threw out the petition, declaring it non-maintainable, while the Lahore High Court had observed that the march could not be stopped under the Constitution. The LHC, however, had told the marchers to “refrain from hate speech and immorality”.
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Traffic mismanagemenT damPens crickeT sPiriT LAHORE JAWAD ZULFIQAR
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ollowing some relief during the first few Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches in Lahore, the citizens faced a test of patience on Friday when the traffic remained jampacked in several areas of the provincial capital. Roads leading to the Gaddafi Stadium, where Karachi Kings faced Multan Sultans, remained jam-packed for hours, which led to citizens facing great difficulty in travelling from one place to another. Moreover, the rain added to the miseries of
CITIZENS SAY THE TEAMS SHOULD EITHER BE KEPT WITHIN THE PREMISES OF GADDAFI STADIUM OR BE AIRLIFTED FROM THEIR HOTELS TO AVOID INCONVENIENCE TO COMMUTERS the people, especially those riding their motorcycles, as they stood there, soaked in the rain, waiting for the traffic to move. Speaking to Pakistan Today, citizens complained about being stuck in traffic for hours. They lamented that the authorities did not pay heed to their concerns and blocked the roads for the pleasure of others. Amina Hassan, a citizen who works at an office near the stadium, said that she
remained stuck in traffic for over two hours after leaving her workplace. “What is the point of these matches when the common man suffers the most because of them?” she asked. Another citizen named Murad Khan said that the authorities should either keep the teams within the premises of Gaddafi Stadium or airlift them from their hotels to avoid inconvenience to the people. Other citizens also
2 minors die as house’s roof collapses in Okara 47 people have OKARA: As many as two minors were killed when the roof of a house collapsed in Okara. Police and rescue staff reached the location and commenced an operation. On the other hand, PDMA has issued alert in a wake of possible flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) nullahs. APP
tested negative for coronavirus, says government LAHORE STAFF REPORT
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unjAb Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Friday said that out of 48 suspected coronavirus cases in the province, 44 persons had tested negative and had been sent home. She was speaking at a news conference in Lahore to give updates on the situation. The minister added that three more of the suspected cases tested negative on Friday while the result of one of them was awaited. Talking about pilgrims who had returned to Punjab from Iran, she said that out of “3,056 pilgrims, 2,700 have been screened and sent home” and another “2,500 people are under quarantine at the Taftan border.” Dismissing rumours that the Punjab government is not prepared to deal with the virus, she said: “We have formed a new technical team, even now it is having a meeting at Chief Minister House to decide when to establish red lines such as at what number of cases we will ban public gatherings and close schools.” She added that more than 10,000 people have been trained to deal with possible coronavirus cases. Rashid said that China had managed to control the spread of the virus only through “restriction of movement”. She added that the Punjab government is creating a strategy to prevent an outbreak.
said similar things when asked about the problems they faced because of the cricket matches in Lahore. They said that whenever international cricket comes to the city, they are the ones who suffer the most. They urged the authorities to take alternative measures so that they too can rejoice at the return of international cricket in the country. When contacted, Lahore Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Captain (r) Syed
Hammad Abid said that they had to take tough decisions to ensure the security of international players. “Seven SPs, 15 DSPs, 90 inspectors and 1,700 traffic wardens were deployed during today’s match to ensure the smooth flow of traffic,” he said. However, he added, their plans were disrupted when the rain lashed the city, affecting the overall pace of the traffic. He fur-
ther said that despite this, the traffic did not come to a halt and the police still managed to control the situation. The CTO also advised the people to constantly check the social media handles of the traffic police during the upcoming matches to remain in-
formed about the traffic situation in order to avoid any inconvenience. UPCOMING MATCHES IN LAHORE: March 8: Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings (7:00 pm to 10:15 pm) March 10: Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi (7:00 pm to 10:15 pm)
March 11: Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans (7:00 pm to 10:15 pm) March 15: Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans (2:00 pm to 5:15 pm) Matches on March 18, 20 and 22 will be played between teams that qualify for the next rounds.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
NEWS
Peshawar’s historic mosque oPens for women after 25 years
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NEWS DESK
oMeN worshippers were allowed to attend congregational prayers at the city’s historic Sunheri Masjid (Golden Mosque) on Friday after a gap of around 25 years owing to improved security situation following multiple successful military operations in the region. Tight security arrangements were made to thwart any untoward incident from happening on the occasion. A heavy contingent of women police in uniform and plainclothes was deployed in and outside the mosque. Women expressed joy over the development and prayed for the country’s
progress and prosperity and end to novel coronavirus outbreak, a mysterious virus which originated in a vet market of Hubei’s Wuhan city and has since then spread to more than 90 countries of the world, killing over 3,400 and infecting over 100,000, mostly in China thus far. Until mid-1990s, women would offer Friday prayer in congregation at the mosque situated in the Peshawar cantonment but the practice was abandoned after terrorism badly hit the KhyberPakhtunkhwa capital. Dozens of terrorist attacks took place near the mosque which led to its closure for women almost 25 years ago. Now, with a substantial improvement in the security situation, the authorities have decided to resume the practice.
Punjab cm approves plan to improve law and order LAHORE APP
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has accorded approval to different steps to further improve law and order situation in the province. In this regard, he chaired a meeting at his office on Friday in which decision was made to make recruitment on 10,633 approved vacant posts in the police department. The chief minister also gave in principle approval of recruitment on more than 10,000 new posts in the police department. Approval of purchasing 548 vehicles for patrolling and operational affairs was given as well. The chief minister said that funds would be provided for the repair of old vehicles. 45 under construction police station buildings would be completed this year and new buildings of 101 police stations would be constructed as well, he said. The chief minister added that 48.5 billion rupees would be provided in phases to improve capacity of the police department and to overcome the lack of resources. In the first phase, around 5.5 billion rupees would be given to the police. The latest communication equipment and transport would also be provided to the police, the chief minister said and directed that foolproof mechanism be devised for merit-based recruitment in the police department. The ongoing 45 development schemes of the police department would be completed as soon as possible and 6 billion rupees will be provided in phases for ongoing schemes.
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Last week, a banner was also put up outside the mosque carrying message that separate arrangements are made for women worshippers at the mosque. The move is being praised as a good step to discourage the patriarchal nature of spaces like mosques and hujras from where women are excluded. Pakistan was once known to the world as a terror-ridden country because of the frequent terror attacks that its people had to endure for more than a decade. In the past 10 years, however, incidents related to terrorism have significantly decreased.In the decade following 2010, the Pakistan Army and other state institutions, under a successful strategy, ended the unrest and restored peace in the country.
SC orders to restore KCR within 6 months KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry on Friday said that Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project should be restored within six months. Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed was hearing a petition against illegal encroachments in Karachi. The CJP was briefed by Attorney General, Advocate
court adjourns hearing of ramzan sugar mills case till 19th LAHORE APP
An accountability court on Friday adjourned hearing of Ramzan Sugar Mills case till March 19. Duty Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan condu ted the proceedings due to engagement of the judge concerned, who was busy at the Lahore High Court. The duty judge adjourned the proceedings after competing process of attendance of Hamza Shehbaz who was produced by jail staff. Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearing of Paragon City scam against former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique till March 19. Jail staff produced the Khawaja brothers at the start of the proceedings. A National Accountability Bureau's prosecutor told the court that approver Qaiser Amin Butt could not appear due to illness.
General Sindh, Chief Secretary Sindh and officials of Railway Department during a meeting in briefing room regarding the restoration of KCR. The court ordered restoration of the KCR within six months. It remarked that no further time would be given in this regard. It also ordered the Sindh government to construct roads and remove illegal encroachments. It said; however, it is the responsibility of the federal government to take arrangements for KCR revival.
Advocate General of Sindh informed the court that 14 out of 24 gateways of KCR have become a problem and it was not possible to remove encroachments from 14 gateways. The AG suggested on the behalf of Sindh government that if the KCR of 1995 is restored then many things including Green Line, orange Line and other projects would be stopped so the court may consider the Sindh government’s suggestion and federal government’s plan. The court observed that restoration of KCR under CPeC project it is a lollypop. It said the KCR must be resorted within six months. “We have nothing to do with the CPeC. We want the KCR to be restored,” the court ordered.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
06 WORLD VIEW
Trump's disgracefuL peace deaL wiTh The TaLiban WE WILL BE PLACING OUR FAITH IN THE TALIBAN TO HELP PROTECT AMERICAN NATIONAL SECURITY
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here is a difference between peace and retreat. The Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban represents a full retreat. It’s an agreement that most republicans would deplore if a Democrat president made the deal, and they’d be right to be angry. Let’s begin with the elephant in the room. There is no meaningful argument that the fate of Afghanistan is somehow irrelevant to our national security. The War in Afghanistan was no “war of choice.” On 9/11 our nation suffered its worst attack since Pearl harbor. It suffered its worst attack on an American city since the British burned Washington D.C. on August 24, 1814, and the Taliban were intimately involved. That attack came from an enemy operating with the permission and under the protection of the same Taliban the Trump administration deals with today.
It is true that the conflict in Afghanistan has been long (19 years), deadly (more than 2,400 Americans have lost their lives), and frustrating. It is true that Americans want it to end. And a true peace deal would bring welcome relief not just to the United States, but also to an Afghan nation that has seen indescribable pain and suffering. But there is no hope for peace when your opponent intends to continue the fight, and the hope for peace diminishes further still when the proposed peace agreement diminishes allies and strengthens your enemies. If you read the peace agreement itself, you’ll note immediately that it gives the Taliban a series of concrete, measurable gifts. First, there’s an immediate allied withdrawal – down to 8,600 American troops (and proportionate numbers of allied troops) within 135 days. The remainder of American and allied forces will leave within 14 months. At the same time, the United States will immediately and substantially reinforce the Taliban by seeking the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners by March 20. even worse, the United States further agreed to a goal of “releasing all remaining prisoners over the course of the subsequent three months.” It will do this at the same time that it commits to the “goal” of removing sanctions from
members of the Taliban that include travel bans, asset freezes, and an arms embargo. The combination of the planned American retreat and the planned prisoner release would represent a substantial change in the balance of forces in Afghanistan. This would come without any agreement by the Taliban to cease hostilities against our allies. At this point, the deal looks worse than a simple withdrawal. America can leave all on its own without also agreeing to seek the release of Taliban prisoners. It can leave all on its own without promising to ease sanctions. So why agree to the additional concessions? America is making these concrete concessions in exchange for unenforceable promises from an untrustworthy enemy. The Taliban promise that they will not allow its members or members of al-Qaeda to use Afghan soil to threaten American national security. The promise to “send a clear message” that those who threaten the United States “have no place in Afghanistan.” Yet the agreement released to the public provides no verification or enforcement provisions for these assurances, and once America is out of Afghanistan, our ability to enforce those promises absent a new, substantial military buildup will be limited to nonexistent. In other words, we
will be placing our faith in the Taliban to help protect American national security. There are frustrated Americans who will accept this agreement regardless of the terms. They’ll consent to the betrayal of our allies and the reinforcement of our enemy because they believe we’ve “failed” and that it’s time to end the “endless war.” But we must reject the narrative of failure, and phrases like “endless war” shed more heat than light. The American military in Afghanistan has not failed in its ultimate objective since 9/11. It has kept America safe from any terrible repeat of that dreadful day. It has removed the Taliban from power, and denied Al-Qaeda and other enemies the safe havens they need to reconstitute and re-emerge as a worldwide terrorist menace. No, we have not extinguished the Taliban, and no we have not transformed Afghanistan. But we have defended our nation, and we are now defending our nation while suffering only a small fraction of the casualties (and deploying a fraction of the troops) from the height of the Afghan war. And debates about “endless war” all too often presume that our conflicts with jihadists can end on our command. They cannot. If jihadists do not choose to lay down their arms, our best efforts to end America’s long conflict will come to naught. Indeed, our very effort to extricate ourselves from these conflicts can end up bolstering our enemies and harming our national security. We’re forgetting the lessons of our re-
Inside India’s Muslim pogrom MOBS BURNED DOWN AT LEAST FOUR MOSQUES, TWO SCHOOLS, 287 HOUSES, 327 SHOPS, AND 415 VEHICLES. THE DELHI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SAID THE VIOLENCE CAUSED NEARLY $4 BILLION IN DAMAGE
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ehTAB Khan, a 28-yearold manual laborer, left home to buy milk on February 25. By the time he returned, a right-wing hindu mob had gathered outside his street. As he tried to pass through, the crowd grabbed him, beat him to death, and set his body on fire. Three days later, I met his brother, Mohammad rashid, 41, outside the mortuary of the Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital in Delhi. rashid was waiting for Mehtab’s remains. rashid told me, “There was a video of him that went viral. Someone showed us the video, and we went to the nursing home. his charred body was lying on the floor in the corridor.” he showed me a screengrab on his phone—it was Mehtab’s partially blackened corpse. An hour after hindu extremists murdered Mehtab, President Donald Trump attended a banquet just 15 miles away hosted by ram Nath Kovind, India’s president and a long-time member of the rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (rSS), a hindu supremacist paramilitary group. The murder of Mehtab wasn’t the only one during Trump’s visit. Across Delhi, at least 52 people, mostly Muslims, died in four days of riots and more than 350 people were injured. During that time, mobs burned down at least four mosques, two schools, 287 houses, 327 shops, and 415 vehicles. The Delhi Chamber of Commerce said the violence caused nearly $4 billion in damage. While walking back from the mortuary, I met Tabassum, as she headed to a nearby police station to request the body of her 35-year-old brother, Musharraf. When rioters filled her street, she, her brother, and his family took refuge in a hindu neighbor’s house. “We stayed for two days with the hindu family.… When the mob arrived, my brother hid under the bed, but they sprinkled kerosene in the room and said, ‘We will burn the house if you don’t bring the men out.’ They dragged him from under the bed
and beat him. he was then set on fire and thrown into a nearby sewage drain,” Tabassum told me. The police asked her and her brother’s widow to visit the police station to fill in some documents before receiving the body. “We won’t go back now. We escaped this time, but for how long can we be safe? Our neighbors are telling us not to come back. It is dangerous,” she said. The government is not innocent in these attacks. The anti-Muslim ideology of the rSS is driving both the decisions of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the pogroms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to power in 2014, joined the rSS when he was just 8 years old. Founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram hedgewar, the rSS was heavily influenced by German and Italian fascism, and maintains that India should be a nation of hindus. hedgewar himself said, “if hindusthan [India] is to be protected, we should first nourish the hindu culture.… Mere geographical lumps do not make a nation…. It is therefore the duty of every hindu to do his best to consolidate the hindu society.” Today, the rSS has 60,000 branches and more than half a million members. In the past 10 years, the organization has doubled in size, and the Bharatiya Janata Party is essentially the political arm of the rSS. In 2019, Modi passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which provides citizenship to refugees of every faith—except Islam—from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan. Coupled with the National register of Citizens (NrC), which is forcing Indians to prove their citizenship, the laws could make tens of millions of Muslims deportable. In Assam state alone, the government informed 1.6 million people, or 6 percent of the population, that they would be considered illegal aliens. The BJP now wants to implement the NrC across the country, with at least 10 detention centers under construction to hold Muslims who can’t prove their citizenship. The protests against these laws is what attracted the hindu supremacists to Mehtab’s street. A few yards from his home, outside the Farooquia Mosque, crowds had been protesting the CAA and NrC for 45 consecutive days. Demonstrators graffitied nearby walls
with “No NrC, No CAA.” Since the BJP came in power, hate crimes against Muslims have increased. From 2009 to 2019, police recorded 287 hate crimes, with more than 90 percent of them occurring in the last five years. The amount of hate speech by politicians has also spiked; one study showed a 500 percent rise from 2014 to 2018. On February 28, after the noon prayers at the now damaged Farooquia Mosque, I met Aas Mohammad Shafi, 49, a local contractor. he said he saw the attack and told me, “After shooting at people, the mob, supported by the police, broke into the mosque and dragged our two clerics out. They were beaten up brutally, and the mosque set on fire.” Shafi added, “We had CCTV [cameras] installed here, and [the rioters] must have seen it, so they broke all the cameras and its main control room the next morning.” The rioters set on fire another nearby mosque. Afterward, soot covered the walls, and a cupboard, once filled with copies of the Quran, contained only ashes. On social media, a video showed a man climbing to the minaret of a third mosque in order to fly the saffron flag used by right-wing hindu groups. The terror didn’t stop after those attacks, rashid told me. “I have videos of what they did the following night. My mother was crying that night, and they were screaming that there are people hiding in your house,” said rashid, sobbing. he showed me a video on his phone of a group of men carrying swords and batons and destroying surveillance cameras. In the same neighborhood, rioters set fire to the Arun Modern Public School. When I visited, the shells of burned-out vehicles were parked in the courtyard, and scorched books and benches sat in heaps in the classrooms. Before trying to destroy the school, people stole cash, laptops, and other equipment from inside. Qasim Zaidi, a faculty member of the school, told me, “They were rioters, and they don’t have a religion or identification. Locals gave us photos, and we saw them wearing helmets or covering their faces. We can’t identify anyone.” For Indian journalists, it can be a dangerous story to report. hindu mobs
have forced male journalists to drop their pants, so they could check to see if they were circumcised, and therefore likely to be Muslim. Female journalists have been asked for their names and harassed. In its assessment, the Delhi Minorities Commission concluded that the violence was “one-sided, wellplanned.” The commission chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan said, “We have said that the violence was one-sided as that’s what we felt from what people told us. They said that it was not possible for outsiders to pinpoint shops and houses owned by Muslims. So there had to be insiders who were helping the outsiders.” Many residents, including Shafi, told me they called 100, the police help line, but no help arrived. Multiple eyewitnesses told me that police officers were part of the mob on the first night of violence, and then in the following days, they stood by and did nothing as the violence unfolded. Multiple videos also appeared to show police and mobs throwing rocks at Muslims together. At a local private hospital, where paramedics cleaned the wounds of the injured, a doctor told me police prevented ambulances from reaching them. On February 26, a local court had to order law enforcement to allow ambulances safe passage. even with the ambulance being blocked, his hospital, which has only 15 beds, received hundreds of injured patients. It was clear to everyone whose side the police were on. Walking around Delhi, I saw terrified faces of Muslims, and it’s no wonder: At any time, a mob could persecute, hunt, and lynch you. As a Kashmiri, the sight of stones on the streets, burnt buildings, funerals, and injured people is sadly familiar. We’ve witnessed it for decades in Indian held Kashmir, which is transitioning from its own violent clampdown. But to many in Delhi, this level of violence is shocking. “We never thought this would happen, ever,” rashid told me. “The government has done this, and it is spreading violence for the next 50 years. Muslims are traumatized and terrorized. We are frightened. People are beaten up just because of a Muslim name.” Fahad Shah is a Kashmiri journalist and the founder and editor of The Kashmir Walla, a weekly newspaper.
cent past. In 2011, the Obama administration removed the last remaining military footprint from Iraq. It did so when American enemies in Iraq were far weaker than American enemies in Afghanistan. And, unlike the Trump administration, it did not deliberately seek to reinforce those enemies as it left. Yet three years later, American forces were back. The rise of ISIS led to killing on a mass scale and metastasized the international terror threat under ISIS. America was compelled to respond. The bad faith of the Taliban is already evident. There are reports of renewed fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces, and the Taliban have reportedly already rejected any talks with the Afghan government until the Afghans release 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The Afghan government is understandably reluctant to simply give thousands of reinforcements back to its deadly enemy. A war-weary American public should resist the Trump administration’s retreat. It should not tolerate any agreement that reinforces and strengthens the Taliban. There are things that are worse than “endless war,” and if we doubt that truth, there is a memorial in downtown Manhattan that should remind us that mortal threats can emerge even from the farthest reaches of the earth. David French is a senior editor at The Dispatch and a columnist for Time. His next book, Divided We Fall, will be released in 2020. He is a former major in the United States Army Reserve.
Laws for the war on corruption TERMS LIMITS WOULD SHIFT THE FOCUS IN THE WORK OF THE PRIME MINISTER FROM POLITICAL SURVIVAL, WHICH IS OFTEN ACHIEVED THROUGH UNACCEPTABLE MEANS WHILE RIDING ROUGHSHOD OVER IMPORTANT PUBLIC INTERESTS, TO EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE Editorial Haaretz
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he lost political year that Israelis have endured as a result of the indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and three successive elections call for solutions that will minimize the likelihood of this ever happening again. Yisrael Beiteinu, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, was the first political party to announce, in light of the results of this week’s election, that it will sponsor legislation limiting a prime minister to two terms in office and barring any Knesset member who has been indicted from serving as prime minister. These laws would not apply retroactively, but would be in force as of the next general election. If they pass with the support of 62 Knesset members – that is, all legislators from Kahol Lavan, Labor-Gesher-Meretz, the Joint List and Yisrael Beiteinu – Netanyahu won’t be able to run in the next election as a candidate for prime minister, if his trial is still under way at the time of the election. had these laws been in effect during the 2010s, when Netanyahu himself supported them, Israelis would have been spared the fierce debate over whether a person who has been charged with bribery can serve as prime minister, and they also would not have had to face three general elections in the space of a year. Moreover, such legislation would have kept the issue from winding up in the high Court of Justice. It’s even conceivable that it would have saved Netanyahu from indictment for serious offenses, since the alleged crimes were born of his desire to stay in power. The charges at the heart of Case 4000, the most serious of the three, stem from events that took place in the term that began in 2015, Netanyahu’s third consecutive term as prime minister and his fourth overall. As the years passed, Netanyahu lost his caution, crossed red lines and worked against the public interest. This behavior stemmed directly from his excessively long tenure in the Prime Minister’s Office and from the fact that his political survival became his top priority, ahead of any other goal. Terms limits would shift the focus in the work of the prime minister from political survival, which is often achieved through unacceptable means while riding roughshod over important public interests, to effective performance. Netanyahu himself once supported a twoterm limit for the prime minister, and also believed that a prime minister who had been indicted could not remain in office, because “there is the fear, and I have to say it is real and not without basis, that he will make decisions based on his personal interest in political survival and not based on the national interest.” Kahol Lavan Chairman Benny Gantz’s first test will be to ensure that this happens.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
'Left to the dogs': Migrants at turkey-greece border Lose hope EDIRNE
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HEN Sawsan al-Musawa heard last week that President Tayyip Erdogan had opened Turkey’s borders for migrants to cross into Europe, the Syrian mother of four left a refugee camp in eastern Turkey and headed west to the Greek border. Six days later, Musawa and her children, including two sons with cerebral palsy, were camping at a bus station in the border city of Edirne, tired, frustrated, and angry as their dream of a new life in Europe came to an abrupt end at the EU frontier. “Why did he (Erdogan) do this to us if he knew Greece won’t let us cross?” she asked, sitting on a rug near a pile of bags full of clothes and diapers for her sons, aged 13 and 7, who lay on the ground making jittery movements and looking scared. Thousand of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Africa are camped out along a stretch of the border between Turkey and Greece, two NATO allies whose relations – never easy – have been further strained by the migrant crisis. Now, many migrants are confused
and unsure what to do. Some like Musawa said they had spent their paltry savings on the 1,300kilometer (800-mile) journey from a refugee camp outside the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep to Edirne in the country’s northwest, near to Greece and Bulgaria. Others started boarding buses to head back to places across Turkey where they
iran's fM adviser passes away after contracting coronavirus TEHRAN AGENCIES
An adviser to Iran’s foreign minister who took part in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis has died from coronavirus, the official IRNA news agency reported. Hossein Sheikholeslam, “a veteran and revolutionary diplomat” died late Thursday, IRNA said. Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus which so far has infected 3,513 people and killed at least 107 people in the Islamic republic. Six of those who died from coronavirus are politicians or government officials. Before his death, Sheikholeslam was an advisor to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. A former ambassador to Syria, he also served as deputy foreign minister from 1981 to 1997. Sheikholeslam was also one of the students involved in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. That year, and less than nine months after the toppling of the American-backed shah, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. This prompted Washington to sever diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980. The hostages were freed in January 1981, after 444 days in captivity. The novel coronavirus has also claimed the livesof other high-profile Iranian officials, including Mohammad Mirmohammadi of the Expediency Council which advises supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Other deaths linked to the virus include Mohammad Ali Ramezani, an MP from Gilan, one of the worst-hit provinces in the country. Tehran MP Fatemeh Rahbar is currently in a coma after being infected, according to ISNA news agency. Iran has closed schools and universities, suspended major cultural and sporting events and reduced working hours across the country to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus, which has spread to all of its 31 provinces.
had built temporary lives, doing menial jobs. Men, women and children still holding out hope sat on the banks of the Maritsa river, feeding on biscuits, potato snacks and soft drinks handed out by aid groups and local charities. Families started bonfires as the sound of crying babies blended with the muezzin’s call to prayer blasting from a towering white mosque.
FOREIGN NEWS 07 ERDOGAN IS USING US: Turkish police have closed the main bridge in Edirne toward the Greek border to migrants and journalists, allowing only local residents to pass. The crisis started last week after Turkey, host to 3.6 million Syrian refugees, said it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal to halt migration flows to the European Union in return for billions of euros in aid. “Erdogan is using us to press the EU for money,” said Tamam Srmini, a 21year-old from the Syrian city of Aleppo. “But we have to try. We have no choice. We have no future in Turkey.” He and six other Syrians were trekking through fields, helped by maps on their mobile phones, hoping to find a spot shared by friends where they might be able to cross the border. Under a metal railway bridge, vans picked up African migrants and shuttled them on dirt roads toward the border. Villagers cast their fishing rods nearby undisturbed. “They are smugglers,” said Mohammed Shmbati from Sudan. “They take 50 (Turkish) liras per head, as if it’s not enough that the Turkish government is using us like pawns. Women and children can’t walk there, so they take advantage.” Turkey says it has not asked any Syrian refugees to leave. “If they choose to stay, they can. If they choose to leave, they can,” the presidency’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said. Back at the bus station, Musawa asks her cousin Taher, who helped her to reach the border, to chase away street dogs trying to open biscuit bags. “We are left to the dogs,” she said.
suicide attackers strike outside us embassy in tunis TUNIS AGENCIES
A double suicide attack shook the Tunisian capital on Friday as assailants wounded six people including police guarding the US embassy, authorities said. An explosion rocked the Berges du Lac district where the embassy is located around midday, causing panic among pedestrians and motorists in the area. Two assailants died in the attack, the first to hit the capital since June 2019, according to officials. Police said one attacker tried to enter the diplomatic mission but was prevented by police guarding it. A policeman who witnessed the attack said a suicide bomber who was travelling on a motorcycle was also killed. Body parts were seen strewn on the ground. “The operation led to the death of two assailants, wounded five police and lightly injured a civilian,” the interior ministry said in a statement without giving further details. Police dispatched reinforcements to the area, including forensic experts as a helicopter flew overhead. “It’s tough to have to go on working when your colleagues have been wounded,” a police officer at the scene of the attack said. The US embassy said in a statement posted on Twitter: “Emergency personnel are responding to an explosion that occurred near the US Embassy in Tunis. “Please avoid the area and monitor local media for updates.”
Elizabeth Warren quits race for Democratic presidential nomination CAMBRIDGE AGENCIES
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, once a favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, dropped out of the race on Thursday, setting up a twoman duel between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. “I am suspending my campaign for president,” the 70-year-old progressive lawmaker announced following her disappointing performance in the Super Tuesday primaries. “But I guarantee I will stay in the fight for the hardworking folks across the country who have gotten the short end of the stick,” Warren told reporters outside her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “That´s been the fight of my life and it will continue to be so.” Warren said she was not ready to endorse either of the two remaining major candidates — Biden, the 77-year-old former vice president, or Sanders, the 78year-old leftist senator from Vermont. “We don´t have to decide that this minute,” she said. “I want to take a little time.” Warren´s withdrawal leaves only one woman in the Democratic field, Tulsi Gabbard, but the Hawaii congresswoman has never been a significant factor, polling at less than one percent. Warren said she regretted there would not be a woman in the top spot on the Democratic ticket against Republican Donald Trump in November. “The hardest part of this is all those little girls who are going to have to wait four more years,” she said. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
pulled out of the race this week and two other female senators — Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — dropped out earlier. Warren was asked whether being a woman had something to do with her lackluster performance at the polls. “If you say, ´Yeah, there was sexism in this race,´ everyone says, ´Whiner,” she said. “And if you say, ´No, there was no sexism,´ about a bazillion women think, ´What planet do you live on?´” “I promise you this, I´ll have a lot more to say on that subject,” she said. ‘FIERCEST OF FIGHTERS’: Biden and Sanders both praised Warren in tweets following her announcement. “Senator @EWarren is the fiercest of fighters for middle class families,” Biden said. “Her work in Washington, in Massachusetts, and on the campaign trail has made a real difference in people´s lives. “We needed her voice in this race, and we need her continued work in the Senate.” Sanders said Warren “has run an extraordinary campaign of ideas —
demanding that the wealthy pay their fair share, ending corruption in Washington, guaranteeing health care for all, addressing climate change, tackling the student debt crisis and vigorously protecting women´s rights.” “Without her, the progressive movement would not be nearly as strong as it is today.” Warren´s withdrawal came after she failed to win a single state on Super Tuesday, including her own, Massachusetts. Her decision to quit the race came one day after that of billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dropped out after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing of his own and endorsed fellow centrist Biden. Trump responded to Warren´s withdrawal with a tweet mocking her and Bloomberg. “Elizabeth ´Pocahontas´ Warren, who was going nowhere except into Mini Mike´s head, just dropped out of the Democrat Primary…THREE DAYS TOO LATE,” Trump said. “She cost Crazy Bernie, at least, Mas-
sachusetts, Minnesota and Texas,” the president said of three of the states at stake on Super Tuesday. “Probably cost him the nomination!” ‘I HAVE A PLAN FOR THAT’: Warren led some national polls last summer but never managed to build a broad coalition to carry her through to success in the primaries. She made her mark in the race on policy strengths but was quickly overshadowed on the left by Sanders, making his second bid for the nomination after losing out to Hillary Clinton in 2016. “I was told at the beginning of this whole undertaking that there are two lanes, a progressive lane that Bernie Sanders is the incumbent for, and a moderate lane that Joe Biden is an incumbent for, and there is no room for anyone else in this,” Warren said on Thursday. “I felt that wasn´t right, but evidently I was wrong.” Warren, a former Harvard law professor, cut her teeth on the 2008 financial crisis, guiding president Barack Obama towards creation of a consumer protection agency. Her experience as a number-crunching people´s advocate helped project her early image as a can-do policy wonk and she quickly became associated with the catchphrase “I have a plan for that.” One of the most notable moments of Warren´s campaign was her debate evisceration of Bloomberg, something she alluded to on Thursday. “In this campaign, we have been willing to fight, and, when necessary, we left plenty of blood and teeth on the floor,” she said. “And I can think of one billionaire who has been denied the chance to buy this election.”
Denied in life, India's lower-caste Dalits fight for land in death NEW DELHI AGENCIES
India’s lower-caste Dalits are increasingly asserting their claims over land so they can bury their dead, human rights activists said on Friday, as their traditional burial grounds are targeted by real estate developers and higher-caste Hindus. Last year, a viral video of Dalit men lowering a dead body by a rope from a bridge after an upper-caste community in the southern state of Tamil Nadu refused to allow the funeral procession to pass through their land, sparked a public uproar.
In other states, Dalits sometimes have to keep their deceased relatives for several days until they can resolve where to bury or cremate them, said Lalit Babar, general secretary of the National Federation of Dalit Land Rights, an advocacy group. “We do not have land for housing or for livelihoods. Now, we are being denied land for dying,” he said. “We have launched campaigns in several states to demand that our traditional burial grounds be returned, or new land be allotted,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the sidelines of a land con-
ference in Delhi. India banned caste-based discrimination in 1955, but centuriesold biases against lower-caste groups, including Dalits persist, making it harder for them to access education, jobs and homes. More than half the country’s lower-caste population is landless, census data showed. While several states have laws aimed at giving land to Dalits, few have done so, according to Dalit activists and leaders. Meanwhile, a growing population and rising pressure on land to build homes, highways, airports and industry is triggering conflicts, with
farmers and lower-caste citizens most affected. In rural areas where caste biases are most entrenched, Dalits have lost their burial ground to village elites, Babar said. “Even where we do have land, there are no facilities like water and electricity. Or we are not allowed to pass through the village with the body to go to the burial ground,” he said. After a recent campaign by Dalit rights groups, authorities in the western state of Maharashtra have allocated small plots of land for cremation in villages with Dalit populations, he said.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
08 COMMENT
Coronavirus diplomacy
Approaching a government ally
A discreet exercise by the PML-N
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three weeks ago, if not earlier. ter imran Khan also called according to an inside Chinese President Xi Jinsource, a ward tucked away ping and offered all possible from the main hospital buildhelp, which is great. But Misleading the nation in ing had coronavirus patients what is not great is the fact and some suspected it. The that we did not evacuate our the name of expediency is rude awakening came only students stuck in Wuhan when a young staff member (from where the virus emnever a good idea. History landed there mask-less, lookanated) while war-torn tells us that and if we continue ing for a colleague. alarmed countries like syria, iraq to see a member of the staff and afghanistan did. instead to ignore the coronavirus danger, without the protective mask, we kept dispatching masks a colleague there hurriedly to China, assuming that we shall be repeating it with asked him to leave as coronPakistan, the great nuclear worse consequences. It is better avirus patients and suspected power, would by some mircases were kept under obseracle remain coronavirusto be wise than be clever by vation in that ward. free! While india stopped The government reexport of masks, we opted half in such grave matters mained tight-lipped about it. to mask the scale of the not possible that the federal coronavirus in Pakistan. government’s special assisnotably and ironically, QudSSia akhlaQue tant on Health was unaware barely any mention was made by official quarters about the possible risk of of the cases at Pims which incidentally happens to be the virus being transmitted from China— where it a government hospital. according to a well-connected o it has taken the Government of Pakistan, originated. With continuing flow of heavy traffic friend, one coronavirus patient had also fled from the which is so often in denial about the reality from China this way, and flights still coming in from hospital around a week ago. on ground, a fair amount of time to offi- urumqi and thousands of Chinese present throughout apparently one of sahiwal power plant’s chiefs, cially acknowlPakistan, there were no who returned from China after a visit last month, also edge (last week) alarms bells set off at all! brought back with him the coronavirus. He passed the first case of Coronavirus The large presence of Chi- through the airport, drove for a couple of hours with his in the country. For weeks nese in Gwadar, on the colleagues and worked for a few days before finding out And all this happened amid they had us believe that our Karakoram Highway, and in and deciding to quarantine himself at the plant facility. land of the pure was so it is one thing to stand by friends when the going the territory is no sePakistan expressing solidarity cret,capital blessed that while our neighyet all was kept quiet gets tough for them. but another to mislead your own boring countries including people for expediency’s sake. Keeping people in the with coronavirus-struck China. on this front. afghanistan, india, iran and so what was the objective dark about coronavirus in Pakistan is basically keepPrime Minister Imran Khan also behind this ‘silence’? To take ing them off guard and thus delaying preventive Turkey were reporting cases of the virus, we had none! sino-Pak diplomacy to a new measures. also it undermines the government’s credcalled Chinese President Xi after weeks of repeated high and create more goodwill ibility and creates distrust, raising questions about assertions by our top federal Jinping and offered all possible for our cash-strapped country! how much it is hiding. cabinet members that no The first step towards addressing an issue in To keep the coronavirus under help, which is great. But what is wraps as this beastly virus earnest is to acknowledge its existence. it is self-decoronavirus case had been reported in Pakistan, we finot stand in the way of feating to be in denial about it. Downplaying the exnot great is the fact that we did must nally got breaking news last the Pak-China all-weather istence and scale of coronavirus spread in Pakistan Wednesday evening that the not evacuate our students stuck friendship! so the entire focus will serve no purpose. To the contrary it will backfire first case had surfaced in of our far-sighted government to government’s own disadvantage. misleading the Karachi. and this just a couin Wuhan (from where the virus and state was on the impend- nation in the name of expediency is never a good ple of days after Pakistan ing danger of coronavirus idea. History tells us that and if we continue to ignore emanated) while war-torn sealed its border with iran to being transported into Pak- the coronavirus danger, we shall be repeating it with avoid the spread of coronworse consequences. it is better to be wise than be istan from iran! countries like Syria, Iraq avirus. The fact is that reportedly clever by half in such grave matters. and all this happened the first coronavirus patient and Afghanistan did. amid Pakistan expressing Qudssia Akhlaque is a senior journalist and has was admitted to the Pakistan solidarity with coronavirusinstitute of medical sciences been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. struck China. Prime minis(Pims) in islamabad about She can be reached at: qudssia@hotmail.com
Denial by design
HilE their goal might have been the same, the Pml-n approached the mQm in a more prudent way than had PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The later had issued statements through the media calling upon the mQm to help topple the PTi government in return for ministries in sindh. He had understandably drawn a blank. The Pml-n’s approach was more politic and its less ambitious proposals more attractive. The party formed a high-level delegation comprising its top guns, who were led by former Pm shahid Khaqan abbasi to visit the mQm central office in Karachi. During the talks mr abbasi dwelt on common points, thanking the mQm for supporting the demand for the production of incarcerated Pml-n parliamentarians. He said the delegation was not visiting the mQm as a government ally but as an old acquaintance who had also once been an ally. Despite the Pml-n having undergone the worst suffering during the last year and a half , mr abbasi made it known that his party wanted the PTi to complete its tenure so that its failures are known to all and sundry while it would not be a part of any deal to overthrow the government. The Pml-n thus succeeded in extracting a commitment from the mQm to conduct joint meetings more frequently to strengthen democracy. There is a trend in the opposition parties to use the ample time available to them in exposing the government, conducting long marches, train marches, shutter-down strikes and sit-ins with the aim of overthrowing the government. They have thus little time to do their homework. once in power they are found to be clueless about how to meet economic and social challenges. since the announcement of the Charter of Democracy, the opposition has hardly ever tried to sit together to formulate a joint strategy to cope with serious issues facing the national economy or to hammer together an equitable accountability framework, or ponder over poverty reduction measures and introducing transparency in government working. With the PTi unwilling to change is self-righteous posture, there is a need on the part of the opposition parties and even government allies to work together to settle these issues. The discourse can reduce enmities and bring participants together.
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Building collapse Karachi must tighten building laws, as must other cities
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HE collapse of a building in Karachi’s Gulbahar was not a stand-alone event, but it also brought down two adjacent buildings, and ended up killing 14 people. This follows other building collapses and a couple of serious fires in Karachi as well as lahore. The Karachi collapse shows the danger created by the rising price of land, as an owner was tempted to build a sixth storey on a five-story building, which was already on an 80-yard plot. a five-story building on such a small plot is already asking for trouble, and a sixth storey was merely guaranteeing it, and the collapse occurred during construction. as the adjacent buildings were also multistorey, the confusion was further compounded. The sindh Chief minister has ordered an enquiry into whether the expansion had been approved by the Karachi Building Control authority, but a more precise enquiry would encompass whether the laws themselves, including therein all rules, regulations and bye-laws, are adequate, and to what extent are they implemented. The enquiry should not just be directed against the greedy building owner, but the officials who turned a blind eye because they had been bribed substantially. However, there is no bypassing the laws of physics. Contravening them has serious consequences, which proved tragic in Gulbahar. While such tragedies must be stopped by proper planning and implementation of laws in Karachi, provincial governments must pay attention to the situations brewing in so-called smaller cities, in all provinces, like Hyderabad in sindh, Quetta in Balochistan, Peshawar in KP, and Faisalabad, rawalpindi, Gujranwala and multan in Punjab, as well as the federal capital islamabad itself, which all have populations of more than a million, according to the 2017 census, not to forget the 77 other municipalities with a population of over 100,000. Though the country is still classified as rural, with just over 63 percent of the population in rural areas, according to the last census, that means that there are about 72 million people in conurbations, who need to be protected from tragedies like the one in Gulbahar by effective legislation and rigorous implementation. That will require attention from the provincial governments, in whose jurisdictions building laws fall. it is not just the sindh government which must put its shoulder to the wheel, though it must handle the attention now.
Reporting from the Valley Where journalism has become a crime MaeMuna Sadaf
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ournalism is a way to communicate the present situation of any area to the rest of the world. Journalism is a global profession. Journalism can be written, broadcast live, photo, or whatever the medium of communication. Photojournalists are mostly first-hand sources, the witness of conflicts and human rights violations. They especially face life-threatening problems, because their work too often is (literally) the most graphic evidence against wrondoers. Journalism especially photojournalism is considered a difficult profession because it is meant to expose the right as well as the worst in a society. Journalism is specifically difficult in war-stricken areas. But in indian occupied Kashmir, journalism is considered a crime. Due to frequent internet blocking by the indian government, journalists in indian occupied Kashmir face difficulty in sending out their stories and fulfilling their duties. in the recent lockdown after the revoking of article 370 of the Constitution, life in indian occupied Kashmir became stagnant and miserable. The blocking of the internet has ceased communication. The indian authorities had snapped the broadband internet connection of the Kashmir Press Club. This move meant 200 journalists, who are members of the Kashmir Press Club fraternity, could not file their reports. Hence, internet blockage is the main hindrance in pursuing the profession of journalism in indian-occupied Kashmir. Besides the difficulties they face because of the internet blockage, journalists of the Valley face imprisonment, torture and even murder for performing their obvious duty. They are continuously harassed. The indian authorities are seeking forced undertakings from news organizations giving assurances that they will defend the indian defined narrative. india has also issued an advisory to international journalists who are working in india, reminding them that they would need prior permission to travel to “protected
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad
Umar Aziz
Asher John
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areas” including indian-occupied Kashmir. Journal- pressed its concerns over the dismissal and detention ists of indian-occupied Kashmir are bound to ensure of journalists. any journalist broadcasting the truth is accused the following of versions promoted by the indian government. They are summoned and called to police of spying and supporting Pakistan. These journalists are detained, tortured and stations often. The detention left without any proof of the of Journalists in the Counter allegations against them. in insurgency Centre (Cargo) the recent curfew, journalin srinagar has become a The United Nations ism is the profession that routine matter. suffered the most in indian Beside local journalists, should take positive actions occupied Kashmir. only a Peerzada ashiq, who works few local and international for The Hindu, was also and pressurize India to bring journalists are daring enough summoned to Kothi Bagh peace in the Valley and provide to work in indian occupied Police station. He was interin today´s situation. rogated for breaking news security to the journalists. India Kashmir operating freely from the regarding indian occupied Valley has become a dream Kashmir. aqib Javaid of should allow International for he journalists of indian Daily Kashmir Observer was interrogated for interjournalists and news agencies occupied Kashmir. Concluding more, the viewing aasiya andrabi to work in Indian Occupied Human rights commissions (Chairman of the condemned india for its Dukhtaran-e-millat). asif Kashmir, while providing genocide in Kashmir, includsultan, assistant Editor at ing the suppression of peothe Kashmir Narrator, a sufficient security to them. ple from any walk of life. newsmagazine, was arrested The Indian Army should be Human rights Watch urges on charges of defaming india to ensure the security india and for possession of prohibited from capturing or of journalists in indian ocincriminatory material on cupied Kashmir. The united his laptop. none of these torturing any registered nations should take positive charges were substantiated. journalist regardless of any actions and pressurize india These assaults on journalists to bring peace in the Valley are an attempt to suppress proven allegation. Human Rights and provide security to the freedom of expression in inindia should dian occupied Kashmir. violations should be controlled journalists. allow international journalon the other hand, ists and news agencies to under the draconian unlawwork in indian occupied ful activities Prevention Kashmir, while providing act 1967 (uaPa), journalists are captured, detained, tortured and molested by sufficient security to them. The indian army should the indian army for portraying the true events to the be prohibited from capturing or torturing any regisworld. recently, pellets were fired on four photo- tered journalist regardless of any proven allegation. journalists in the shopian area of the Valley. This as- Human rights violations should be controlled. sault left these journalists injured. The asian Forum Maemuna Sadaf is a freelance columnist for Human rights development (Forum-asia) ex-
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Saturday, 7 March, 2020
COMMENT 09 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
Will the Kashmir perfidy impair the Indian Union?
Coronavirus alarms !!! How to get through the coronavirus epidemic death. The symptoms of infection appear maxi- persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different condimum in 14 days. standard recommendations to prevent infec- tions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or tion spread include regular hand washing, cov- humidity of the environment). The following ering mouth and nose measures arE noT efwhen coughing and fective against CoViDsneezing, thoroughly 2019 and can be cooking meat and eggs. harmful: smoking, takavoid close contact Shortages of masks are ing traditional herbal with anyone showing symptoms of respiraleading to panic. Mouth masks remedies, earing multiple masks, taking selftory illness, such as have become rare commodities medication such as coughing and sneezing. People can catch and were sold even at 50 times antibiotics. in any case, if you CoViD-19 from others have fever, cough and who have the virus. more their original price. Use difficulty breathing, The disease can spread seek medical care early from person to person disposable handkerchief or to reduce the risk of dethrough small droplets tissue. Don’t worry and don’t dr ZeeShan khan veloping a more severe from the nose or mouth infection and be sure to which are spread when panic. It is an infection and share your recent travel a person with CoViDHE news of CoronaVirus infection 19 coughs or exhales. history with your health it will be controlled was reported in January this year from These droplets land on care provider. While the Wuhan, China. The panic it caused has objects and surfaces World Health organizarampaged all over the globe up till around the person. tion (WHo) is assessnow. 3390 patients have died from this other people then ing ongoing research on infection by Friday morning (GmT), more than catch CoViD-19 by touching these objects or the ways CoViD-19 is spread. WHo is coordi2700 from China alone and mortality is still surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or nating efforts to develop vaccines and medicines continuing, but the good news is that more than mouth. People can also catch CoViD-19 if they to prevent and treat CoViD-19. 55,000 patients have also recovered from it be- breathe in droplets from a person with CoViDremember, a mask should only be used by cause its recovery rate is well above 90 percent. 19 who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is health workers, care takers, and individuals This infection is most dangerous for old people, why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 with respiratory symptoms, such as fever and specifically with weak immunity, and only two feet) away from a person who is sick. cough and common people do not need to wear percent infected patients show serious health stay at home if you begin to feel unwell, masks. Before touching the mask, clean hands condition. However, there are 98,700 cases have even with mild symptoms such as headache and with an alcohol-based hand rub or soap and been reported world slight runny nose, until water. Take the mask and inspect it for tears or wide. in Pakistan five you recover. if you de- holes. orient which side is the top side (where persons have been develop fever, cough and the metal strip is). Ensure the proper side of tected with the infecdifficulty in breathing, the mask faces outwards (the coloured side). tion, four from Karachi seek medical advice Place the mask to your face. Pinch the metal Common signs of infection and one from islampromptly as this may strip or stiff edge of the mask so it moulds to abad. Coronaviruses include respiratory symptoms, be due to a respiratory the shape of your nose. Pull down the mask’s (CoV) are a large faminfection or other seri- bottom so it covers your mouth and your chin. fever, cough, shortness of breath ous condition. ily of viruses that cause after use, take off the mask; remove the elastic illness ranging from the antibiotics do not loops from behind the ears while keeping the and breathing difficulties. In common cold to more work against viruses, mask away from your face and clothes, to severe diseases such as more severe cases, infection can they only work on bac- avoid touching potentially contaminated surthe middle East respiterial infections. faces of the mask. Discard the mask in a closed cause pneumonia, severe acute CoViD-19 is caused bin immediately after use. Perform hand hyratory syndrome (mErs-CoV) and the by a virus, so antibi- giene after touching or discarding the mask– respiratory syndrome, kidney severe acute respiraotics do not work. an- use an alcohol-based hand rub or, if visibly tory syndrome (sarstibiotics should not be soiled, wash your hands with soap and water. failure and even death. The CoV). a novel used as a means of pre- shortages of masks are leading to panic. coronavirus (nCoV) is symptoms of infection appear vention or treatment of mouth masks have become rare commodities a new strain that has CoViD-19. They and were sold even at 50 times more their origmaximum in 14 days. not been previously should only be used as inal price. use disposable handkerchief or tisidentified in humans. directed by a physician sue. Don’t worry and don’t panic. it is an according to reto treat a bacterial in- infection and it will be controlled. search, Coronaviruses Concluding, if you think a surface may be fection. Possible vacare zoonotic, meaning cines and some specific infected, clean it with simple disinfectant to kill they are transmitted between animals and peo- drug treatments are under investigation. They the virus and protect yourself and others. Clean ple. Detailed investigations found that sars- are being tested through clinical trials. your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans The most effective ways to protect yourself wash them with soap and water. avoid touching and mErs-CoV from dromedary camels to hu- and others against CoViD-19 are to frequently your eyes, mouth, or nose because according to mans. several known coronaviruses are circulat- clean your hands, and cover your cough with the a survey, a person normally touches his face 23 ing in animals that have not yet infected humans. crook of the elbow or tissue. times a day. avoid shake hands or hugging othCommon signs of infection include respirait is not certain how long the virus that ers as precautionary measures. tory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath causes CoViD-19 survives on surfaces, but it and breathing difficulties. in more severe cases, seems to behave like other coronaviruses. studDr.Zeeshan Khan tweets infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute res- ies suggest that coronaviruses (including prelim- @DrZeeshanKhanA1 and cabe be reached at piratory syndrome, kidney failure and even inary information on the CoViD-19 virus) may dr.zeeshan.alias.ghazikhan@gmail.com
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CHina supports Pakistan on Kashmir. under the sino-Pakistan Boundary agreement (march 2, 1963), China yielded 2,000 square kilometres of administered territory to Pakistan (contrary to misconception). like Kashmir dispute, mcmahon line is a maleficent legacy of British colonial raj. maxwell in his book, india’s China War, showed the boundary between Tibet and China, curved round its southern extension to show what would have been the boundary between india and Tibet. The proceedings of the agreement were made public in 1935 and the survey of india began to mark the lines on their maps. india and China have divergent perceptions of the mcmahon line. China wants india to settle the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan first. let india realise that indian union is a cauldron of centrifugal movements. How did the indian union come into being? Through compromises with ‘rebellious’ icons like sheikh mohammad abdullah of Kashmir, master Tara singh of East Punjab, lal Denga of mizoram, angami Zapu Phizo of nagaland, and so on. What happens to this union if China begins supplying weapons to various insurgent groups fighting in northeastern india and the west? india arrested several intellectuals for links to separatist movements including Kashmiris and naxalbaris (indiatvnews dated august 30, 2018). india alleges that ‘the arrested accused were involved in procuring weapons and arming the rebels through international routes’. The naxalites want to carve out an independent zone extending from nepal through Bihar and then to Dandakarnaya region extending upto Tamil nadu to give them access to the Bay of Bengal as well as the indian ocean’. several pro-naxalite revolutionary bodies (People’s War, maoist Communist Centrei, and Communist Party of nepal) merged their differences (october 15, 2004) to achieve their sea-access aim. if China supports india’s rebels, the portents are that disputed Kashmir could trigger disintegration of the indian `union’. let india read the writing on the wall. AJ MALiK Rawalpindi
Unleash the power of those beautiful books Toni morrison died in new York City at the age of 88. The nobel literature laureate had authored almost 11 novels apart from children’s books. Way back in 1993, morrison had become the first africanamerican woman to win the nobel literature Prize. most american English newspapers have been singing the praises of morrison. For example, The new York Times has called her a towering novelist in its coverage. Her writing prowess had been widely accepted and applauded at the world stage. The fact that her novels like Beloved hugely exposed the facets of the african-american slavery, and the omnipresent reach and the impact created by her writing and speech skills are far more inspiring. speaking of all these interesting stories, i as an English content writer and as an English trainer have just got inspired to no end. The interesting fact is that there have been interesting and beautiful English newspapers, magazines and books aplenty around the world. a voracious reader and a “book lover”, i have been buying a lot of English newspapers and books in various places. all i do/want in the morning is to go to the newspaper stalls wherever i am. This having been the effect of my humble study of culture and passion for languages. i sincerely convey my condolences on the demise of Toni morrison. The international media houses should pitch for such great authors to literally fill up the world with beautiful books and newspapers that are replete with inspiring stories and words. P. SENTHiL SARAvAN DuRAi Mumbai
Indian violence in Kashmir THE ongoing spate of gruesome violence by the racist indian government in indian-occupied Kashmir has torn us apart. our hearts ache at seeing the bloodshed and the killing of innocent people in a place regarded as heaven on earth. india has never spared any effort to hegemonize Kashmiris with spine-chilling atrocities and in modi’s regime the magnitude of oppression has reached its peak. Earlier the use of widely-banned cluster ammunition on Kashmir civilians caused widespread outrage followed by the revocation of article 35-a and article 370, a sheer violation of Geneva convention and the international law. Consequently, Kashmir will lose its autonomy and will be merged with india as a union territory. This will bring more chaos in Kashmir which is already struggling for peace. indian nation strongly supports these measures and feel that this is a so-called solution to prolonged Kashmir issue. are they really so naive to think that Kashmiris will ever forgive and forget and peacefully coexist with the Hindus? Today, even the world has acknowledged the true essence of two nation theory. Thus, these actions will merely aggravate the issue and will induce rebellion. Categorically, the complete capture of Kashmir has been an ulterior aim of modi all along. This is bound to result in a catastrophe. it is about time india is held accountable for all the atrocities and violations of human rights. un and oiC must play their part to mitigate the warmongering situation in Kashmir. SONA BAKHTAwAR BiJARANi Shikarpur
Inflation is being exploited inFlaTion, another benefit of the incumbent government, has made wretched every individual. understandably, government had to impose such taxes and was left with no other option. However, this has increased the prices of basic commodities and has been worst borne by the poor. Furthermore, i feel that the business community including shopkeepers and retailers are availing undue advantage of this by charging more than the actual price in the name of inflation. Therefore, it’s difficult for a common man to meet his needs. The state and concerned authorities should take immediate action against these overcharging shopkeepers and ensure that no one misuses tax policies to their own profit. AwAiS AHMED Shikarpur
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
10 FOREIGN NEWS
eating soLo, avoiding rush hour: china cautiousLy returns to Work SHENZHEN/BEIJING
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AGENCIES
HINA is making uneven progress in its return to work after more than a month of coronavirus disruption, with many factories running at under half capacity and office workers avoiding their colleagues. New reported cases of the virus cases are
declining outside of Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and much of China is shifting its focus to getting back to business. Some 21 of the 31 mainland regions have lowered emergency response levels. Yang Lu, who works in sales for a security company in the southern city of Shenzhen, said her office of around 300 people is back to work, but she tries to stay away from people.
“I come to the office earlier than others and leave late,” she said. Around 80% of restaurants and shopping centers have reopened in major cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou, search engine Baidu said on Thursday, although traffic is light in restaurants and malls. Over 90% of businesses in the large southern province of Guangdong had resumed work as of Tuesday, state media said. Yet the picture is mixed, depending on location and industry. While 60% of logistics companies across China have returned to work, the government said on Friday, analysis from brokerage Nomura suggests that just 44% of businesses in sectors directly affected by the outbreak were up and running as of March 1, up from 37.7% a week earlier. “Reopening a factory is easy. All you need to do is get a guard and hire a few cleaning ladies and you’re all set,” said a government official in the city of Wenzhou, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. “But resuming production is a whole dif-
ferent matter,” he said, noting that market demand, availability of workers, and finding adequate supply of safety equipment like masks are all challenges. Employers also fear workplace infection. “If someone tests positive for the virus, all of the employees have to be quarantined and you have to pay them at the same time. It is not a fair trade,” the official said. DON’T MEET ME AT THE WATER COOLER: As white collar workers return to offices, many are reluctant to socialize. Workplaces are limiting lunchtime interactions while office buildings restrict the number of people allowed in elevators. In much of Beijing, offices are permitted to operate at just 50% capacity, and only 30% in the Dongcheng district. An administrative worker at a school in Shanghai said he had been ordered to eat lunch alone at his desk and to report to human resources all the people he has been in “close contact” with each day. Schools in the city remain closed. Many avoid the office altogether.
sanctions-hit iran struggles to make cancer drugs KARAJ: A lab-coated technician leans over a bioreactor at an Iranian pharmaceutical plant producing cancer drugs – a tall order since equipment imports fell victim to US sanctions. A huge corridor bathed in artificial light and smelling of disinfectant leads to the bioreactor room at the Actoverco factory, to which AFP was given rare access. Six hundred people run production lines at the facility in an industrial district of Karaj, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Tehran. Technicians wear scrubs, face masks, gloves and surgical caps as they work. In the bioreactor, cells are multiplied then transferred to tanks for use as cultures to produce medication. “Much of the equipment that we are using either in production or in laboratory, they are considered as dual-use and they are sanctioned,” said plant manager Reza Mostofi. “We have many issues at the moment. Because of the sanctions, usually we can’t either transfer the money or the supplier is not willing to sell the machinery that we need.” AGENCIES
A WeWork employee who was not authorized to speak with the media estimated that just 10% to 20% of workers have returned to the company’s eight Shenzhen offices since the virus broke out. A spokesperson for the company said safety was the company’s priority, without commenting on returnee numbers. Richard Craggs, chairman of Shenzhenbased catering firm Nom Nom, figures that about 30% to 40% of workers in the factories it supplies in Guangdong province are back on the job and said business is down about 80% from a year earlier. Before the outbreak, Nom Nom distributed up to a million meals a month to factories, schools and offices around the province. Local governments are providing financial support to help businesses stay afloat, with the southern city of Zhuhai offering companies 500 yuan ($72) for each new employee they hire, while paying firms 80 yuan a day to compensate for each employee still under lockdown in Hubei province. Fu Rongyao said employees at his factory in the eastern province of Zhejiang, which makes holiday lighting, had heard the government was providing workers stipends of 2,000 yuan per worker. He says he has received no such benefit and is unsure of how to apply for it. So far only 10% of his staff had returned. “They say, will you give this money to us? … Their thinking is, if you give this to us first, then we will come.”
Saudi king removes economy minister RIYADH AGENCIES
Saudi Arabia in its latest cabinet reshuffle has relieved the economy minister from this post after Saudi media reported that King Salman issued the decree, as the kingdom grapples with plunging oil prices. Saudi Press Agency said late Thursday
that the king “relieved” Mohammed al-Tuwaijri from his position as economy minister and tasked Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan with overseeing the ministry. Tuwaijri was appointed as advisor to the royal court with the rank of minister, the agency said. This comes 10 days after Saudi Arabia announced the creation of three new ministries, for tourism, sports and investment.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
CORPORATE CORNER
KP’s matchbox industry on the verge of closure AZIZ BUNERI
ISLAMABAD: Vivo has unveiled the third generation of its APEX concept smartphone – APEX 2020. Known for its iconic innovation, APEX 2020 builds on the success of its previous generations and features more cutting-edge technologies.
ISLAMABAD: U Microfinance Bank Ltd has signed a grant agreement with Karandaaz Pakistan, with funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will help U Bank further its mission of financial inclusion of women.
LAHORE: The management of Coca-Cola İçecek Pakistan (CCI), a leading bottler within the Coca-Cola System, recently organized a ‘sustainability workshop’ at a local hotel.
ISLAMABAD: Synergy Group of Companies Founder/Managing Director Ahmed Kapadia receives an award from President Dr Arif Alvi during the 24th All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) Awards.
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PESHAWAR
hE match manufacturing factories in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have been struggling hard to continue with the production as 100 per cent increase in the cost of raw materials and its suspension from China due to the coronavirus has led to the closure of six units so far. Almost 50pc of the matchbox industry has witnessed a closure, rendering 700 employees jobless, it was learnt. The industry, which used to export match products to Afghanistan, Central Asian Republics, South Africa and other countries in the past, is now facing severe crisis owing to rising cost of raw materials and power tariff. Owners complain that the KP’s match industry couldn’t be restored to its full-scale production level despite billions of rupees worth funding by domestic and international agencies in the province during the last 10 years. The KP Economic Zone Development and Management Company claims it has restored 40 industrial units in the Peshawar Industrial Estate, but it doesn’t include any matchstick manufacturing unit. There are 13 match factories in KP out of which six units have been shut down. These are Top Star Matches, The Frontier, Afghan Matches, Aalm Matches, Bilour
Matches and Sher Matches. The matchstick units that are currently working include Venice Matches, Mohsen Matches, Pak Matches, Iqbal Matches, Asim Matches, Khyber Matches, and Ashraf Matchbox Factory in the Peshawar Industrial Estate. Two other factories- Fine Mach and Syed Match- operated in the Khatar Industrial Area. Sarhad Clearing and Forwarding President Ziaul haq Sarhadi told Pakistan Today that match exporters to Afghanistan and CARs were facing difficulties because of the border management and the WeBOC clearance system. he said the traders needed shipping forms, invoices, packing lists and certificate of origin, adding the entire process needed 24-hour electricity and telecommunication systems, which is not available at our border with Afghanistan. Potassium Polaroid, which is being imported from China for match manufacturing, was available at Rs300 per kg few weeks ago, but now its price had jumped to Rs600 and supply was almost halted due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, Sarhadi added. he further said the prices of
other raw materials used in match production had also witnessed an increase of 100pc in Pakistani markets, adding the match and matchbox prices had not been increased despite a rise in input cost, causing the industry a huge loss. Sources said one of the major reasons of the crisis was the failure of the KP government to provide loans to small businesses affected due to terrorism in the province. As major banks were not releasing loans to the businesses in KP, all industries including match units had adversely affected. In addition to the exorbitant costs of raw materials, use of electricity had dropped up to100,000 units in the Peshawar Industrial Estate owing to high electricity tariff. Mohsin Aziz, who is associated with the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf and runs his own match factory, told this scribe that hundreds of labourers working in seven operational match units were fearing job loss. “The biggest issue the match industry is currently facing is an increase in the prices of raw materials and electricity, which has led to the manufacturers to shut down their units,” he added.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad reports $870m loss in 2019 DUBAI
LAHORE: The Bank of Punjab has signed an Agreement with Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA) for the continuation of financial inclusion services for the citizens of Punjab. Under this partnership, BoP is providing its Branchless Banking Services to Punjab government’s social grant projects designed for the uplifting of underprivileged segment of society. PRESS RELEASE
fbr confiscates rs630m worth nonduty paid cigarettes
SIX OF 13 MANUFACTURING UNITS HAVE CLOSED THEIR OPERATIONS DUE TO A 100PC INCREASE IN THE COST OF RAW MATERIALS
AGENCIES
ISLAMABAD: National Bank Pakistan (NBP) was conferred with 'Business Performance Award' in the public sector category during the 24th All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) Awards.
BUSINESS 11
Abu Dhabi’s long-troubled national carrier Etihad has reported losses of $870 million in 2019 after losing billions in recent years, calling the result “encouraging.” Since 2016, Etihad has lost a total of $5.62 billion as its strategy of aggressively buying stakes in airlines from Europe to Australia exposed the company to major losses. The company has since started to claw its way out of financial trouble. In February, Etihad announced it would sell 38 aircraft to an investment firm and a leasing company in a deal valued at $1 billion. Etihad said that revenue would be reflected in its 2020 results. “There’s still some way to go but progress made in 2019, and cumulatively since 2017, has instilled in us a renewed vigour and determination to push ahead and implement the changes needed to continue this positive trajectory,” Etihad CEO Tony Douglas said in a statement. By comparison, Etihad lost $1.28 billion in 2018. Etihad reported losses of $1.52 billion for 2017 and $1.95 billion in 2016. Etihad reported revenues of $5.6 billion, compared to $5.9 billion in 2018. It carried 17.5 million passengers last year, down from 17.8 million in 2018. It at-
tributed the lower revenues to cutting back on routes as part of its restructuring plans. Etihad also has restructured planned aircraft purchases from Airbus and Boeing. It said its fleet now has 101 aircraft in it, down from 106 the year before. Abu Dhabi’s rulers launched Etihad in 2003, competing with the established Dubai government-owned carrier Emirates that flies out of Dubai International Airport only 115 km away. In 2018, Etihad began loaning pilots to Emirates under a new program. Both Emirates and Etihad compete in the long-haul carrier market, using their nation’s location between East and West to their advantage. Both airlines continued to fly to Beijing amid the ongoing outbreak of the new coronavirus, even as other Western airlines have cut flights. Etihad has asked cabin crew to consider bringing forward paid leave from later this year to April, due to the shrinking demand. “Global restrictions on travel and retiming of events have caused many passengers to change their travel arrangements, and the airline is among many realigning resources to accommodate these changes,” it said in a statement. The hard times have forced Etihad to sharply reduce its orders from Airbus and Boeing, canceling dozens of aircraft in the process.
ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The Federal Board of Revenue’s intelligence wing has confiscated Rs630 million worth non-duty paid cigarettes, it was learnt on Friday. According to sources, the FBR’s Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation-Inland Revenue (I&I-IR)-Karachi, headed by Senior Auditor Saeed Khan, visited a warehouse at Gulbai SITE Area and found 1,290 cartons of non-duty-taxes paid cigarettes. “The cigarettes have been detained on account of non-production of valid documents,” an official source privy to the development informed. “The value of the detained stock is estimated around Rs630 million -- Rs356 million under federal excise duty and Rs273 million on account of sales tax evasion. It is pertinent to mention that I&I-IR, under the leadership of DG Dr Bashir Ullah, has also made significant headways in its anti-Benami initiative.
banks to remain open this weekend: sbP KARACHI STAFF REPORT
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has directed authorised banks to keep all their designated branches in the country open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday (March 7, and March 8, 2020). This decision has been made in order to facilitate intending pilgrims for hajj 2020 to deposit their application forms, along with their dues. The 13 authorised banks include the National Bank of Pakistan, habib Bank, United Bank, MCB Bank, Allied Bank, Bank of Punjab, Bank Alfalah, Zarai Taraqiati Bank, Faysal Bank, Askari Bank, Bank Al-habib, habib Metropolitan Bank and Meezan Bank. The decision is part of Pakistan’s hajj Policy 2020, which was released by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith harmony on February 19.
oil plunges to lowest since 2017 NEW YORK AGENCIES
Oil prices tanked more than 8pc on Friday to their lowest levels since mid-2017 after Russia balked at OPEC’s proposed steep production cuts to stabilize prices. OPEC’s plans for deep and prolonged output cuts were derailed as non-OPEC producer Russia refused to support the move, arguing it was too early to predict the impact of a coronavirus outbreak on global energy demand, sources told Reuters. The number of people infected with the virus worldwide surpassed 100,000 and the economic damage intensified, with business districts beginning to empty and stock markets tumbling. OPEC and Russia’s failure to secure a deal sent the price of benchmark crude into a tailspin. Brent futures fell $4.32, or 8.6pc, to $45.67 a barrel by 11:03 a.m. EST (1603 GMT), lowest price since June 2017. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $3.82, or 8.3pc, to $42.08.
Ambassador Siddiqui invites US investors to tap Pakistan’s potential ISLAMABAD: OPPO has unveiled its Find X2 series – a flagship lineup of 5G devices that delivers an all-around powerful camera experience and battery life, with one of the most advanced screens in the industry.
LAHORE: BankIslami Pakistan Limited, in collaboration with the Centre for Islamic Finance of Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS), successfully conducted a certified programme on Islamic finance for its branch managers.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), one of the world’s leading international peace and strategic insight think tanks, invited Pakistan’s Ambassador for Foreign Investment Ali Jehangir Siddiqui the other day to speak on Pakistan’s investment climate and existing PakUS business ties. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Siddiqui highlighted Pakistani government’s efforts to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) through incentives, reform, and trade agreements. “Pakistan has jumped 28 ranks in the latest Ease-ofDoing-Business (EODB) rankings by the World Bank and given that the report measures comparative performance of
countries, Pakistan has made considerable improvement through reform”, the Ambassador stated. Siddiqui went on to narrate success stories of foreign investment in Pakistan including the telecom sector which had foreign ownership and management. he further identified sectors such tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, which he said, offered vast potential for successful investment. Opening remarks were followed by a fireside chat-styled conversation to discuss Pakistan-US business ties, the outlook for improving Pakistan’s anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) enforcement, Pakistan’s experience of doing
business with China under CPEC, and the role that Pakistani and American businesses and entrepreneurs should play in Pak-US relations. During the discussion, Ambassador Siddiqui underscored the exponential improvement made by the current administration in order to comply with the FATF’s requirements. “To date, Pakistan has largely addressed 14 of 27 action items, with varying levels of progress made on the rest of the action plan. however, just one year ago Pakistan had made close to no progress on compliance and even by October 2019 Pakistan had only addressed of 5 of the 27 action items on the FATF action.”
he also emphasized that significant efforts were being made to ensure timely prosecution and adjudication of CFT and money laundering cases which were an important element of the FATF action plan. On being inquired about the experience of working with Chinese companies under CPEC, Ambassador Siddiqui explained that the experience was largely positive. “Training and technology transfer resulting from CPEC will have positive outcomes for Pakistan over the long run.” Siddiqui commented further on the openness of CPEC projects for international collaborations, emphasizing on the need for US and other international players to proactively search for oppor-
tunities to collaborate on CPEC projects. The event was hosted by James Schwemlein, a nonresident scholar in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Schwemlien is a former US diplomat experienced in South Asia and US foreign economic policy. The South Asia program of the endowment, hosts policy debates relevant to the security, economic and political developments in the region. The program’s diverse team of experts offer in-depth analysis on South Asia’s most pressing challenges to various stakeholders. The event was attended by politicians, academics, media, and policy makers. BUSINESS DESK
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
12 BUSINESS MARKET DAILY
stocks plunge over 1,100 points amid coronavirus concerns KARACHI STAFF REPORT
In line with global market trends, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a lacklustre session on Friday, with the KSE100 nosediving over 1,200 points intraday amid rising coronavirus concerns. Foreign investors remained net sellers in the previous session (Thursday), registering a net outflow of $3.18 million. On the economic front, Pakistan's total foreign exchange reserves remained flat at $18,869 million (as on Feb 28, 2020). The reserves previously stood at $18,743 million (on Feb 21, 2020). Net reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan increased 1.32pc while net reserves with commercial banks declined $39 million. Shedding 1,259.15 points, the KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday low at 38,122.96. It finally settled lower by 1,162.44 points at 38,219.67 after failing to find any positive trigger. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 2,341.38 points to end at 60,180.29, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 670.94 points, closing at 26,557.85. Out of the total traded shares, 65 advanced and 237 declined. Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included banking (-362.26 points), oil & gas exploration (-243.12 points) and fertilizer (154.55 points). The overall market volumes declined from 340.72 million in the previous session to 244.06 million, with Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF -0.78pc), Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL -3.41pc), Pioneer Cement Limited (PIOC -1.34pc) and DG Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC -0.33pc) topping the volume chart. The scrips had exchanged 27.25 million, 25.87 million, 22.31 million and 14.59 million shares, respectively. The oil & gas exploration sector turned out to be the top loser of the day, shedding 4.69pc in its cumulative market capitalization. Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC -6.54pc), Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL -6.05pc) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL -4.92pc) all closed in the red.
Weekly inflation drops 0.32pc ISLAMABAD APP
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based weekly inflation for the week ended March 5 decreased by 0.32pc as compared to the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the combined income group was recorded at 128.74 points as against 129.15 points registered in the previous week, according to latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The weekly SPI was collected with base 2015-16, covering 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group, up to Rs17,732, witnessed 0.28pc increase, as it went up from 132.23 points in the last week to 132.60 points during the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 11.59pc, while for the lowest group, it increased by 10.78pc. Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,733 to Rs22,888, and from Rs22,889 to Rs29,517 increased by 0.16pc, and 0.02pc, whereas from Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 per month, it reduced by 0.11pc and 0.6pc, respectively. During the week under review, average prices of 18 item registered a decrease, while that of 12 items prices increased with the prices of 21 items remaining unchanged. The prices of the commodities that recorded an increase in their prices during the week under review included potatoes, onions, eggs (farm), sugar, long cloth, bananas, lawn printed, rice (irri6), georgette, shirting, mutton, toilet soap, washing soap, gur, curd, vegetable ghee, cooked daal and beef (with bone). Similarly, the prices of commodities that witnessed a decline included tomatoes, LPG, petrol, hi-speed diesel, garlic, pulses (gram, masoor, mash, moong), wheat flour, chicken (farm) and mustard oil. Commodities with no price change included rice (basmati), bread, fresh milk, powdered milk, cooking oil, vegetable ghee (pouch), salt, chillies, tea, cooked beef, tea (prepared cup), cigarettes, gents sandal, ladies sandal, electricity charges, gas charges, firewood, energy saver, matchbox and telephone call.
KP govt initiates over 150 develoPment Projects to uPlift tribal districts PESHAWAR
a
STAFF REPORT
S many as 168 development projects have been initiated in the newly merged districts under the Accelerated Implementation Plan (AIP) with the aim to bring these areas at par with other developed districts of the province. This was informed during a meeting held on Friday to review the progress and implementation of AIP projects. The meeting, chaired by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, also had KP Elementary & Secondary Education Minister Akbar Ayub, Adviser to CM on Information Ajmal Wazir, Relief & Rehabilitation Minister Iqbal Wazir, Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan, Principal Secretary to CM Shahab Ali Shah and other highups in attendance. The top officials reviewed in detail the progress made so far on the developmental projects under AIP launched for the sustainable develop-
‘41PC OF THE TOTAL FUND ALLOCATED FOR MERGED DISTRICTS HAS SO FAR BEEN UTILISED IN FY20 UNDER ACCELERATED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN’ ment of merged districts. Obstacles hindering the smooth implementation of some of the scheme were also flagged at the forum and important decisions were made to resolve them. The meeting was informed that 41pc of the funds allocated for merged districts have been utilized under the AIP during the current financial year. To improve service delivery in the health sector, a major scheme has been approved for the provision of medical equipment in district and tehsil headquarters hospitals of the merged areas. Similarly, work on the rehabilitation of damaged schools in the tribal districts has been initiated and work orders have already been issued to this effect. The meeting was informed that 71pc of the funds allocated under the
Insaf Rozgar scheme has been spent to provide employment opportunities to the youth of merged districts. In addition, 71pc of the funds allocated for the extension of Rescue 1122 services to merged districts have also been utilized. It was further informed that implementation of several projects in merged districts was slow due to issues related land acquisition, but now the issue has been resolved once and for all by making necessary amendments to Land Acquisition Act which will accelerate the implementation process of these projects. The concerned authorities informed the meeting that a public access campaign has been launched in merged districts to directly interact with the people of merged districts so that their inputs could be availed for
Govt committed to utilising demographic dividends: minister ISLAMABAD APP
Economic Affairs Minister hammad Azhar said on Friday the government was committed to investing in the country's huge demographic dividends and turn its immense potential into a vibrant economy. "This will also enhance opportunities in the job market, generate revenues and put the country on the path to development and prosperity," he said while delivering the keynote address at the concluding session of the two-day "Thought Leaders Summit 2020". Organised by the British Council of Pakistan, the event was attended by a large number of experts in the fields of research,
higher education, digital, creative and cultural economies. The minister spoke on a variety of subjects ranging from creative economy to higher education, digital economy, equality, inclusivity and enabling environment and reiterated the government’s resolve to turn all those challenges into opportunities. Sharing the vision of job creation for youth, Azhar said Pakistan could garner huge benefit from its demographic dividends. “Other countries like Indonesia, Japan, China and India have taken advantage of their demographic potential, but unfortunately Pakistan has not utlised it despite the fact it has worlds’ richest potential in that particular field." “We are committed to generat-
ing opportunities in the job market in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the government, by branding Pakistan’s potential of demographic richness." Speaking on the subject of digital economy, Azhar admitted that in this field too, Pakistan had not performed well in the past. “Digital starts-ups usually begin with the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),” he said adding there was a time when this particular sector’s share used to be 16pc but in recent years it had steadily declined to 8pc." he said, "The State of Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance has taken bold initiatives and in the next three to four years, it will be back at 16pc."
the sustainable development of the areas. Besides, the public of the merged areas have also been provided the facility to contact the Chief Minister Secretariat directly by telephone for their complaints and redressal of their grievances. Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that rapid development of merged districts was the top priority of the present government and directed all concerned authorities to think out of the box and implement the development plan in merged districts expeditiously. The chief minister further directed that work should be initiated on a war footing for the solarization of district and tehsil headquarter hospitals and schools of merged districts, adding that work on the construction of sports' complexes should commence in all the merged districts to promote sports activities in the areas. Mahmood Khan said that no stone would be left unturned for the accelerated development of tribal districts and expressed hope that people of these areas would soon notice a positive change in their day to day life.
Punjab wheat suffers due to extreme weather Wheat fields spreading across 400,000 acres in Punjab have been affected following extreme weather conditions in the province. Rain and increased levels of humidity in the air have posed threats to the cultivation of crops this year, according to farmers. “We had worked very hard on these crops but the weather brought us huge losses,” a farmer said. Agricultural experts have also called the situation dangerous and advised farmers to remain cautious. “Rainfall and humidity in the air is likely to make wheat go stale,” agricultural expert Naveed Asmat said. “We have advised farmers to provide spot treatment as soon as they find these traces in the crops,” he added. Last year, the yield of wheat was estimated to be 623,000 metric tonnes.–NEWS DESK
Factory emissions continue to damage crops along Hudiara drain LAHORE HASSAN NAQVI
Standing crops of peas and berseem sown on more than 150 acres in the suburbs of hudiara drain are getting damaged by fumes from different types of factories (including chemical factories), Pakistan Today has learnt. An agriculture expert of the area, on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that the emission of poisonous fumes from the adjacent factories along both sides of hudiara drain are badly affecting the vegetative growth of field crops, especially peas and berseem fodder. he said that this phenomenon, for the last two years, has been occurring in the winter season, thus encouraging the farmers to shift from vegetable to other crops. The expert claimed that the facto-
ries in the area are producing certain pesticides that are used to kill sugarcane weeds; they release fumes that cause damage not only to crops but also to the health of people living in the area. Talking to this scribe, Zafar Iqbal, a farmer from Kachha village, said, "I
have sown peas on 30 acres and berseem on 10 acres and my crops have been adversely affected by factory fumes." Iqbal said that his crops had turned white due to the chemical reaction that took place after the fumes released from factories. "This crop was our only source of income."
Sharafat Ali, another farmer from Tibba village, said apart from his crops, factory fumes are also causing a grave damage to the health of his children and animals. "These fumes have polluted the air in our village which has led to asthma and respiratory infections among the villagers," said Bhola Gujjar, a farmer from Kachha village. he said that they also wrote a letter to the agriculture department, asking it to look into this matter and take action against those factories whose fumes are adversely affecting the earnings and health of people. Talking to this scribe, Dr Sehar Raza from Ganga Ram hospital said that long exposure to air pollution can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), which can result in breathing-related difficulties, including chronic bronchitis that makes it difficult for the patient to breathe.
Construction work on 115km Jalalpur Canal finally commences ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI
After a lapse of three months, construction work on the much-awaited Jalalpur Irrigation Project (JIP) has finally commenced, Pakistan Today has learnt. According to sources, construction work on the 115.7km JIP has started almost three months after its foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sources said that out of total 380 RDs (reduced distances), only five RDs (1RD = 1,000 feet) have so far been given to the contractor while up to 33 RDs would be handed over by the end of March whereas the remaining RDs would be given in May this year. They claimed that construction work of JIP has commenced as per official timelines
and that the project was scheduled to be completed by 2024 with an estimated cost of Rs32 billion. The total required area for JIP construction has not been acquired as yet, but the process was underway and would be com-
pleted soon, sources added. They said the land acquisition process [for JIP] had earlier witnessed a delay due to slow payments to affectee landowners by the concerned district administrations. It is pertinent to mention that the total
cost of the project was approximately Rs32 billion, of which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide 88pc while remaining 12pc would be paid by the Punjab government. Punjab irrigation and agriculture departments were the implementing agencies for this project. On February 7, 2018, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the construction of JIP at a cost of Rs32,721.46 million. The repayment period of loan was set at 15 years with an interest rate of LIBOR+0.60pc. According to ADB, JIP was located along the right bank of River Jhelum in Punjab. “The project will create new non-perennial irrigation services for enhanced agricultural production on 79,750ha in Pind Daden Khan and Khushab districts. The
project will increase Kharif crop intensity by 50pc, improve crop yield and reduce land degradation. It will directly benefit over 200,000 rural people; mostly poor. “The project will (i) construct over 200km new irrigation canals, (ii) introduce institutional reforms and establish farmers' organizations (FOs), and (iii) build farmers capacity. It will contribute to food security and economic growth and will alleviate rural poverty in the project area.” Earlier, the prime minister was expected to lay the foundation stone for Jalalpur Canal on December 13, 2019. however, the PM refused to do so until "issues pertaining to land acquisition were resolved amicably". however, on December 26, 2019, PM Imran Khan had laid the foundation stone for the said canal.
The happiness FTT Was in Lahore from Singapore and one of the sessions they facilitated was at Sukh Chan. Ayeshah and Rabi , the two founders focused on the importance of self healing. How the energy of our thoughts and words can powerfully impact our day to day life negatively and positively. The participants got to experience a deeply relaxing meditative experience on Gratitude and Manifestation that entailed aromatherapy,, Reiki and Palo santo aura/energy clearing.
Biographical Sport Film on the Life of Wasim Akram Announced during PSL 2020
HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD
As the epic PSL opening ceremony for 2020 unfolded, there was more than just one thing that left the crowds in high spirits; Wasim Akram’s biopic titled “Akram: An Era” was announced followed by cheer and applause echoing into the night. The opening ceremony took place on February 20, 2020 at the National Stadium in Karachi followed by a special announcement featuring Wasim Akram developed for the PSL ceremony alone. The Homeric story is reported to go on floors at the end of this year and the makers have yet to issue a Release date. Much of the star cast is in talks with the script already locked in-place. “Akram: An Era” will be produced under the banners of “502 Productions” and “Pomelo Films” with Executive Producers Addeel Niazi and Arsalan H. Shah strapped in for the ride. Whereby Niazi will be steering the ship as Director of the project. This genre of movies is certainly not new to the audiences of Pakistan or even across the globe with much critical, and commercial success in recent years and with Wasim Akram’s worldwide fan following this will surely be a cinematic triumph. Former Cricketer and Sultan of Swing, elaborated on his thoughts. “The fact that films are being made on cricket and, more importantly, sports stars is not only a good sign for the film industry but for the sport as well. Movies are a unique portal to engage a whole new generation, I am looking forward to participating in the production and cannot wait to see how this pans out.” The movie is said to not only highlight Wasim Akram’s many accomplishments but also indulge in his personal life and endeavours outside the stadium. Already talk of the town, fans have triggered social media threads on the many chapters they are excited to see on the big screen. Whilst cricket enthusiasts are waiting to see Sultan of Swing’s story unravel, many are eager to witness cast selection particularly for Wasim Akram, Huma Akram and Shaniera Akram. Executive Producer and Director Addeel Niazi understands the uncertainties involved in a project that finds its root both in passion and profession, he explained, “ Wasim Akram is to date one of the most legendary names in the cricketing world, and having the opportunity to project his journey on-screen to his fans is as thrilling as it is nervewracking. We hope that we can do justice to his story. I have found the kind of people who feel equally devoted to the script and together I am certain we will create something whimsical whilst inspirational.” Executive Producer, Arsalan H. Shah added, “Like every other cricket fan, I too am in awe of Wasim Akram and after having taken care of his interests for over a decade.
Galileo's middle finger is on display at the Museo Galileo in Florence,, Italy.
Quetzalcoatlus,, the largest known flying animal ever,, was as tall as a giraffe. It may have used its powerful forelimbs to pole-vault into the sky.
High schools and universities in New Zealand are allowed to keep up to a pound of uranium on the premises for educational purposes.
Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom postpone Haridwar school names gym after Taapsee Pannu Amitabh Bachchan twins with Abhishek in Japan wedding amid coronavirus outbreak as she inspires students with Rashami Rocket prep red and white kurta-pyjama, reminded of Singer Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom have reportedly Riding high on the critical success of her latest film, Thappad, Bol- his hit Bade Miyan Chote Miyan
postponed their wedding, which was supposed to take place in Jaipur. Perry confirmed reports she was expecting her first child -- Bloom's second -- on Wednesday, reports aceshowbiz.com. A source told Entertainment Tonight the star couple have had second thoughts about planning a big wedding in the Far East due to the coronavirus outbreak, and as such they are now planning to exchange vows in 2021, by which time the Roar singer will be a mother. Though she didn’t reveal the gender of the baby, she said her due date is sometime this summer. Bloom, 43, was previously married to supermodel Miranda Kerr and they share nine-year-old son, Flynn together, while Perry was married to British comedian Russell Brand for two years. The couple is planning a “small and intimate” wedding. Japan is one of the high risk countries with over 1,000 cases of coronavirus on record, with overall 12 deaths.
lywood actor Taapsee Pannu has begun preparing for the shoot of her next film, Rashami Rocket. The school where she has been practising has named a gym after the actor. Taapsee plays the lead role in the film about Gujarat athlete Rashmi. Folks from her village fondly call her Rashmi Rocket, given her speed. The actor has been training at a school ground in Haridwar, where she is also shooting for Vinil Mathew’s romance-thriller Haseen Dillruba, a Mumbai Mirror report said. Director Akarsh Khurana told the tabloid, “The students were so inspired by Taapsee that the school named their gym after her. She trains for two hours every day for better stamina and the body language of an athlete.” Rashami Rocket will be Taapsee’s third athletic turn on screen, after Saand Ki Aankh and Soorma. However, Akarsh also told the daily, “The sport forms the backdrop of the film, while the story narrates an athlete’s journey from anonymity to fame and how she gets caught up in the politics and corruption of the sports system along the way.”
Actor Amitabh Bachchan shared a collage with his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan. The father and son can be seen in red-andwhite combination. Sharing the picture, Amitabh wrote: “Bade miyan toh bade miyan, chotey miyan subhan Allah! When the Son starts wearing your shoes and clothes, he becomes your Friend ..!! How ya doin’ buddy! Joi Bangla .. Joi ‘Bob Biswas’.” The first line is a popular song from his 1989 film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Abhishek has been shooting for his next film, Bob Biswas. Amitabh is perhaps the busiest actor from his generation; he will be seen in Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra along with Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor. The film is the first part of an ambitious fantasy trilogy, to be produced by Karan Johar. Amitabh will also be seen in Chehre, where he stars opposite Emraan Hashmi. The actor also has Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo, where he appears with Ayushmann Khurrana.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
14 SPORTS
'NeaR-iSolatioN' - coRoNaviRuS thRowS S KoRea olyMpic plaNS iNto chaoS Seoul
t
Agencies
RAVEL restrictions around the world on arrivals from virus-hit South Korea are plunging its Olympic preparations into turmoil, with some athletes considering self-imposed exile and some at risk of missing the Games altogether. South Korea is a country that takes the Olympics seriously, coming eighth in the medal table at Rio 2016 with nine golds, and fifth at London 2012 with 13. But it also has the largest number of reported novel coronavirus cases in the world outside China, with the national total passing 6,000 on Thursday, less than five months before the Tokyo Olympics. Scores of countries and regions have imposed travel restrictions and more than 20 -- including Olympic host Japan -- have ordered two weeks' quarantine on arrivals from South Korea. Around 40 others have barred foreigners who have recently been in the country. Unless exemptions are granted, the measures make it impossible for South Koreans to take part in international competitions in those countries -costing them ranking points and sometimes
putting Olympic qualification in doubt. The national judo team were planning to arrive in Russia next week for the Ekaterinburg Grand Slam from March 13 to 15. But on Wednesday, Moscow announced its two-week quarantine. Most of the remaining judo competitions are in countries that already have entry bans, including Turkey, Mongolia
Milan-San Remo cycling race postponed because of coronavirus
and Qatar. "What's really hard is that the list is getting longer and the situation is changing nearly every hour," said an official from the Korea Judo Association, which is trying to secure exemptions from Russian authorities. He still expected the South to compete in most of the 14 weight classes in Tokyo. "But you never know with sports," he
added, "because an underdog could suddenly emerge at the Grand Slam or Grand Prix and one of our athletes could lose their spot by just a point or so." - 'Really difficult' - Archery and taekwondo were South Korea's most successful disciplines in Rio, with five medals each. But the country's Olympic archery trials were postponed indefinitely this week due to the virus, and once selected the team were to take part in the Archery World Cup in May in Antalya, Turkey -which has an entry ban. Similarly the taekwondo team would normally compete at the Asian Championships in Beirut in May, and officials are seeking an exemption from Lebanon's entry ban. South Korean boxers taking part in the current Asian Olympic qualifying tournament in Jordan -- which has also imposed an entry ban -- were only allowed into the country after testing negative for the virus. "It was a really difficult journey," trainer Lee Sang-wook wrote on his Instagram account. Some stars rushed out of South Korea as the infection numbers climbed, to avoid the risk of restrictions. South Korea dominates women's golf, with six of the top 13 in the current LPGA rankings.
Rashid Khan three-for, Najibullah Zadran 42 consign Ireland to defeat in rain-hit T20I SportS DeSk
Milan Agencies
The Milan-San Remo cycling race has become the latest sporting event in Italy to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the organisers announced on Friday. The race's start town Milan is in Lombardy, a COVID-19 hot-spot, and so far 148 people have died from the outbreak in Italy. The event was first staged in 1907 and has been cancelled three times previously, in 1916, 1945 and 1946. The one-day event, scheduled to take place on March 21, was shelved alongside next week's Tirreno– Adriatico, a week-long stage race. No alternative dates for either races have yet been given. The Strade Bianchi, the first big race of the Italian cycling season set to for Saturday, was also cancelled Thursday. The eagerly awaited MilanSan Remo covers an epic 291km and due to its great length is part of the prestigious so-called Monument races, very long one-day classics. Elsewhere the Paris-Nice stage race in France is set to go ahead starting Sunday despite several top teams withdrawing due to fears over the virus. Riders from the postponed and cancelled races have been scrambling to take part at ParisNice with Peter Sagan, Romain Bardet and Vincenzo Nibali all late entries. Conversely fears of the virus caused several teams to pull out of Paris-Nice, namely British team Ineos, Spain's Movistar and on Friday afternoon Dutch team Jumbo, whose leader Primoz Roglic had been among the favourites to win. Cycling was rocked last week when the UAE Tour was abandoned due to the coronavirus when two Italian mechanics were diagnosed to have the virus.
While three of Afghanistan's bowlers conceded more than 9.75 per over, Rashid Khan's four-over spell of 3 for 22 ensured Ireland could post only 172 for 6 in their 20 overs. After that, brisk scoring from opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz and the No. 6 Najibullah Zadran, who both maintained strike rates of over 200, kept Afghanistan 11 runs ahead of the DLS par score when the rain arrived 15 overs into the chase, handing the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-game series. Ireland had won the toss, and on the back of a 63-run stand between Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien inside the powerplay, they got off to a flying start. But then Mujeeb Ur Rahman struck off the powerplay's last delivery to remove O'Brien for 35. Stirling, however, continued his charge, hitting a half-century before being dismissed for a 41-ball 60. Khan, who dismissed Stirling via a caught and bowled, then dismissed Andy Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker to keep Ireland's run-scoring in check. Despite some late hitting from No. 5 Harry Tector, what Ireland could post was 22 runs fewer than the average first-innings score in the three T20Is that had been played at the ground previously. Afghanistan openers Hazratullah Zazai and Gurbaz got a fifty stand by the fifth over of the chase, but the latter was soon trapped lbw by offspinner
AFGHANISTAN 133 FOR 5 (NAJIBULLAH 42*, SINGH 2-18) BEAT IRELAND 172 FOR 6 (STIRLING 60, O'BRIEN 35, RASHID 322) BY 11 RUNS (DLS METHOD)
Simi Singh. Zazai was then bowled trying to cut Singh three balls later, and at the end of five overs, Afghanistan were 55 for 2. Karim Janat and Asghar Afghan were then both run-out in quick succession, which reduced Afghanistan to 70 for 4, but then Samiullah Shinwari and Najibullah put on 63-run partnership to drag Afghanistan out of trouble. They batted under a steady drizzle,
with one eye on the DLS par score that they were always ahead of - but then Shinwari perished trying to slog Boyd Rankin in the 15th over. With 30 balls to go, Afghanistan needed 40 runs, but that's when the rain got heavier. Najibullah did not wait for his new partner as the umpires asked both teams to exit the field, and 25 minutes later, they confirmed that no more play would be possible.
Setien admits his assistant wrong to slam Barca players Barcelona Agencies
Quique Setien admitted on Friday his assistant Eder Sarabia was wrong in the way he lambasted Barcelona's players with a series of foul-mouthed rants during last weekend's Clasico. Spanish television programme Vamos showed Sarabia making a number of angry outbursts, in which Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Pique and Nelson Semedo were among those targetted for criticism by Setien's assistant coach. Barca were beaten 2-0 by Real Madrid and Sarabia's antics on the bench have caused a stir in the Spanish media, with some reports claiming the players were unimpressed. Setien told the newspaper El Periodico on Thursday he had apologised to the players and when asked about the issue in a press conference on Friday, he added: "This topic doesn't need too much attention, the only thing he has done wrong is the way he has expressed himself, which I don't like and I want to make that clear. "It is normal to shout on the pitch, it is normal to warn the players, to communicate and to demonstrate your character in this way, I love that and that doesn't worry me. "What I am worried about is the way it happens. We have apologised because there are a number of words that I understand should not be used when you represent a club like this. "For the rest, everyone accepts that a coach and his assistant shout and the players accept that as well." The loss to Madrid has put the pressure back on Barcelona, who are now a point behind in La Liga ahead of a tricky game at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday. "I have no problem with the players," Setien said. "The players are taking everything with an extraordinary attitude. Some give us their opinion because we ask for it but they are clear about everyone's role." Real Madrid play away at Real Betis on Sunday and Setien is confident there will be plenty of twists during the run-in. "I think it will be very difficult for the two leaders to win all their games until the end of the season," he said. "The league is very complicated and it takes a lot to win the games, not only for us but for Madrid too. "We're fine, we are motivated to keep pace by winning all the time but sometimes you can slip up." Barcelona confirmed on Friday that Arthur Melo has ankle injury and will miss the game against Real Sociedad, who play at Camp Nou after beating Mirandes on Wednesday to reach their first Copa del Rey final in 32 years.
Irate fans could provide more Bundesliga banner headlines Berlin Agencies
When Hoffenheim kick off at Schalke in the Bundesliga on Saturday many eyes will be on the fans behind the goals rather than the players on the field. Last week, away to Hoffenheim, Bayern fans unveiled a banner with 17 minutes to go which halted the match. When the players returned, they played keep-ball for the rest of the game, which hardly mattered as league leaders Bayern were six goals up. The key word in the banner was the German for "son of a bitch" which has become a code for Dietmar Hopp, Hoffenheim's 79year-old billionaire owner. The majority of Bundesliga clubs are, in theory, fan owned and supporters are hostile to the rich owners who have transformed English, French and Italian football. Bayern fans were showing support for the ultras at their great rival Borussia Dort-
mund, who used the inflammatory phrase to describe Hopp and were then banned by the German football federation (DFB) from travelling to games away at Hoffenheim. Banners insulting Hopp and criticising the DFB for attacking terrace culture were also unveiled by Cologne and Union Berlin fans. The latter led to their game against Wolfsburg being interrupted. The previous week, the match between Borussia Moenchengladach and Hoffenheim was halted when home fans unveiled a banner showing Hopp in rifle crosshairs. On Wednesday, when Schalke hosted Bayern in the German Cup, home fans unfurled a banner asking their opponents if they tried the same insult "will you stop playing so we'll get a penalty shootout?" Bayern won 1-0. Fans of second-division Bochum, a neighbour of both Schalke and Dortmund, moved the debate in a fresh direction in their draw with Sandhausen. After Arsenal loanee Jordi Osei-Tuti
scored they revealed a banner that said: "A son of a bitch is insulted: all of Germany is shocked - Racism on a daily basis: nothing happens."In February, Hertha's Jordan Torunarigha was sent off after throwing bottles in rage after being racially abused in a German cup game, at Schalke. On its website, explaining to Hoffenheim fans, who have chanted their support for their owner with often robust language, how to get to Veltins Arena, Schalke made clear banners would be allowed. "Fans do not require permission to bring flags with a pole that is up to two metres in length or fence banners." Schalke are enduring another season of unfulfilled promised, mired in sixth but already 10 points off the Champions League places. Hoffenheim are two points and two places further back, heights that would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. Many will be anticipating the banners more than the mid-table action.
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
SPORTS 15
ShahiD afRiDi eNteRtaiNS lahoRe cRowD BefoRe RaiN RuiNS gaMe
PSL TODAY’S MATCH VS 2:00 PM peShawaR ZalMi
RAWALPINDI
iSlaMaBaD uNiteD
MULTAN SULTANS 102 FOR 6 (AFRIDI 35, WASIM 214) V KARACHI KINGS NO RESULT SportS DeSk
hBl scoreBoArd MultAn sultAns innings (20 overs MAxiMuM) MM Ali c Jordan b Aamer Yamin .............................................................................................29 Zeeshan Ashraf c Jordan b Mohammad Amir.....................................................................28 shan Masood (c)b imad Wasim...............................................................................................9 rr rossouw c Walton b Aamer Yamin.................................................................................0 rs Bopara c Walton b imad Wasim.......................................................................................4 Khushdil shah c Jordan b umer Khan...................................................................................8 shahid Afridi not out..................................................................................................................35 sohail tanvir not out..................................................................................................................10 extrAs: (lb 4, w 1) totAl 102/6 (16.5 overs, rr: 6.05) ....................................................5 FAll oF WicKets: 1-17 (Zeeshan Ashraf, 2.6 ov), 2-37 (Moeen Ali, 5.4 ov), 3-37 (rilee rossouw, 5.5 ov), 4-42 (ravi Bopara, 6.2 ov), 5-53 (shan Masood, 10.4 ov), 6-64 (Khushdil shah, 11.5 ov) BoWling: Mohammad Amir 2.5-0-15-1, Aamer Yamin 3-0-17-2, cJ Jordan 1-0-9-0, imad Wasim 4-0-14-2, iftikhar Ahmed 2-0-7-0, umer Khan 3-0-22-1, MJ Mcclenaghan 1-0-14-0
M
ULTAN Sultans put in arguably their worst batting performance of the tournament, but were bailed out by the Lahore weather. With Shan Masood's side having limped to 102 for 6 in 16.5 overs, the heavens opened, with no further play possible. This had been a distinct possibility with rain having lashed the city for much of the past 24 hours, before the clouds cleared to allow the game to start on time.
Karachi Kings started brightly, while Multan, playing their first game back in Lahore after three at home, found themselves under pressure from the outset. A disciplined start from Karachi produced dividends when Zeeshan Ashraf's low-percentage swipe found a diving Chris Jordan at mid-on, before Moeen Ali, the only Multan player who looked in touch, topedged Aamer Yamin to find Jordan prowling once more. What followed was nothing short of a collapse, with Rilee Rossouw edging Yamin to the keeper first
Millman comeback puts Australia in charge against Brazil MaDriD Agencies
pcB set to hold asia cup at neutral venue SportS DeSk The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani, while talking to reporters on Friday, revealed that the upcoming Asia Cup will have to be hosted at a neutral venue. The chairman of the PCB confirmed that Pakistan is still the host of the upcoming event while stating that he did not care about the statements made by the Board for Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). “Asia Cup will be hosted by Pakistan however the event would have to take place at a neutral venue. If we insist on hosting the event in Pakistan, the Indian team will not take part. We do not care what the BCCI says,” Mani said. Mani stated that no foreign player was receiving any additional monetary incentives to tour Pakistan at the moment. “In the past, the PCB had to pay the West Indies’ players an additional sum of 25 thousand dollars in order to convince them to tour the country however no foreign player is currently receiving any additional forms of monetary incentives,” he concluded. Earlier, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had claimed that the upcoming edition of Asia Cup will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this year. While speaking to reporters at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the BCCI President confirmed India’s participation in the tournament. "Asia Cup will be held in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will play," Ganguly said. BCCI also hosted the 2018 Asia Cup in UAE because of strained political relations between Pakistan and India, which made it difficult to obtain visas for the Men in Green players to play in India.
A rousing comeback saw John Millman stun Thiago Seyboth Wild to give an Australian team missing Nick Kyrgios a 2-0 lead over Brazil in their Davis Cup qualifier Friday. With a slot in the Madrid finals at stake, Jordan Thompson put the home team on the front foot in the opening singles, beating the experienced Thiago Monterio 6-4, 6-4 at Adelaide's Memorial Drive. It looked like the visitors would strike back in the second rubber as rising star
Seyboth Wild, who won his first ATP title in Chile last week, served for the match at 5-4 against Millman. But the Australian, cheered on by a patriotic crowd, broke back and took the second set in a tiebreaker before running away with the third to post a gutsy 4-6, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2 win. "I think I showed a bit of grit out there," said Millman. "I used the bench, the team and I soaked up the experience of (captain) Lleyton (Hewitt) and Rochey (coach Tony Roche). "That's what Davis Cup is all about, never giving up."Earlier Thompson, who improved his
ball, and Ravi Bopara lasted just two balls. Umer Khan removed Khushdil Shah for a tenuous 16ball 8, and Multan were reeling at 64 for 6.It was a bitterly cold day for the crowd to endure, and they didn't even get a completed game, but they may console themselves for one reason: they got to see Shahid Afridi in full flow with the bat once more. An exquisite, and effortless, flick off Mitchell McClenaghan flew over midwicket for six, before he repeated the dose the next ball to liven up a subdued crowd at Gaddafi Stadium.
Davis Cup record to 7-4, ensured Australia started on a winning note. The opening set went with serve until he lifted his intensity to convert on his first set point with the help of a netted forehand. He carried the momentum into the second as Monterio's error count mounted, racing to a 4-1 lead before his focus lapsed and the Brazilian roared back to 4-4. But it was ultimately Thompson's day, with another break in the 10th game handing him victory. "It was just a really solid match," he said. "I'm really pleased with the result and the performance." Hewitt's team is without Kyrgios who is dealing with a wrist injury that forced him to retire in Acapulco last month, while Alex De Minaur was a late withdrawal as he struggles to get over an abdominal tear.
pcB to honour Kiran and Sarah on international women's Day SportS DeSk The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will honour Olympic swimmer Kiran Khan and the country's top-ranked female tennis player Sarah Mahboob on March 8 — International Women's Day. According to a press release issued by the PCB on Friday, the two athletes will be honoured for their services though the Hamaray Heroes platform. Khan has been recognised by the World Olympians Association for representing Pakistan at multiple Olympic events and is a recipient of the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, the statement said. Over the course of her career, Khan has bagged 327 national gold medals and 47 medals in international competitions, it added. Mahboob is the first female tennis player from Pakistan to secure a qualification in the main draw of an International Tennis Federation’s tournament — a feat that she achieved in 2010, the statement read. In 2004, she became the youngest-ever Pakistani national champion, at the age of 14, and is currently the country's top-ranked female tennis player, it added. Hamaray Heroes is a user-based campaign launched before the start of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 through which fans and followers can nominate the nation's unsung heroes through the PSL website. According to the statement, members of Pakistan's national women's cricket team will also attend the PSL match between Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings on Sunday, and will lead the teams from the dug-outs to the middle. PCB Commercial Director Babar Hamid, said: “Women are an integral part of any society and play an enormous role in its development. “The PCB [...] has decided to use the PSL platform to celebrate the women of our country and create awareness [...] to make our society more inclusive," he said.
Paris Marathon postponed until Oct 18 due to coronavirus pariS Agencies
The Paris Marathon, scheduled for April 5 with 60,000 registered runners, has been postponed until Oct. 18 due to the coronavirus outbreak, race organizers told AFP in a statement Thursday. Last weekend's half-marathon in the French capital was also cancelled over fears of the deadly virus that has killed over 3,300 people worldwide. That race has been rearranged for Sept. 6. "Immediately after the cancellation of the Paris half-marathon less than 24 hours before the start, the teams from the Paris city council and Amaury Sport Organisation came together to find a new date for the event. We are pleased to announce that the half-marathon will take place on Sunday 6th September," ASO said in a statement." "Regarding the marathon, we have reached an agreement with Paris city council to move the marathon to the 18th
October with the aim of avoiding any last-minute cancelation." The announcements came after the French government on Saturday ordered the cancelation of "gatherings of more than 5,000 people" in enclosed areas as well as some external events. The French health ministry reported Thursday two more deaths from coronavirus infections, bringing the country's total to six, and 92 new cases since Wednesday. Morocco and Nigeria were on Thursday added to the list of countries at highest doping risk by the athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), less than five months from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Countries worldwide are classified by the AIU in three categories - A, B and C - according to the level of doping risk to the sport, with category A having the highest doping risk to the sport and category C the lowest. Morocco and Nigeria join Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ukraine as having category A status. Russia has been banned over doping since November
CMYK
2015. The AIU, the independent antidoping watchdog for track and field, said that in 2019, the Nigerian athletics federation failed to report on compliance as a category B country."This very serious sit-
uation motivated the AIU board to move Nigeria into category A," it said.Turning to Morocco, the AIU said that, despite significant efforts, "a number of national level issues have not been addressed".
Saturday, 7 March, 2020
NEWS
AbdullAh unhurt As gunmen kill 27 At memoriAl for AfghAn leAder TALIBAN DENY CARRYING OUT ATTACK ON GATHERING IN WHICH FORMER AFGHAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE WAS ALSO PRESENT KABUL
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AGENCIES
UNMEN attacked a ceremony in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday where a top Afghan political leader, Abdullah Abdullah, was present but escaped unharmed. At least 27 people were killed and 29 others wounded at the event, according to Afghan officials, the first big attack on the capital since a troop withdrawal agreement was signed last week in Doha between the United States and the Afghan Taliban. Health Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said the victims were taken to local hospitals. Afghan security forces were still trying to flush the gunmen out of a half-finished apartment building, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.
The Taliban said in a statement they were not involved in the attack. “The attack started with a boom, apparently a rocket landed in the area, Abdullah and some other politicians […] escaped the attack unhurt,” Abdullah’s
spokesman, Fraidoon Kwazoon, who was also present, told Reuters by telephone. The gathering marked the anniversary of the death of Abdul Ali Mazari, an ethnic Hazara leader who was killed in 1995 after being taken prisoner by the Taliban.
Abdullah, runner-up in the last three Afghan presidential elections, each of which he disputed, has served as chief executive of a coalition government since 2014 and is also a former foreign minister. Broadcaster Tolo News showed live footage of people running for cover as gunfire was heard. President Ashraf Ghani tweeted that the attack was “a crime against humanity and against the national unity of Afghanistan”. He added he had telephoned Abdullah, his longtime political rival. Abdullah is contesting an Electoral Commission announcement last month that declared Ghani the winner of September’s presidential election. Several people were killed in a similar attack on the same commemoration last year. The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack. Hazaras are mostly Shia Muslims. Minority Shias have been repeatedly attacked by militant groups in Afghanistan. The US has been trying to spearhead efforts towards a lasting peace arrangement. Violence decreased during a sevenday hold-down agreement with the Taliban leading up to last Saturday’s deal, though the Taliban has since resumed attacks on Afghan forces. A senior Western security official said all checkpoints in Kabul were on high alert. “It’s too early to say but for now we are intensifying security,” the official said.
Taliban say will only talk with Ghani after prisoners' freedom
ComediAn AmAnullAh pAsses AwAy in lAhore ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Comedian Amanullah Khan passed away in Lahore after a terminal illness, his family said on Friday. According to the veteran comedian’s family, he was suffering from lung and kidney disease for a while and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city. Born in 1950, Amanullah is regarded as one of the best television standup comedians. He has a world record of 860-day night theatre plays and also received Pride of Performance Award. He had appeared on several late-night shows on different TV channels. Before his death, he was working with a private channel’s program Khabarzar. Amanullah was born in Gujranwala in 1950.
‘it’s not a drill’: global CoVid-19 cases surpass 100,000
The Afghan Taliban have expressed their willingness to participate in the intra-Afghan peace talks scheduled on March 10 if the Afghanistan government agreed to release their prisoners. “If the provisions of the agreements are implemented and prisoners are released, the Islamic Emirate is prepared for intraAfghan negotiations on March 10. Our negotiation team and agenda are ready and will go ahead as agreed,” Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of Taliban’s political office based in Doha said in a statement.Shaheen, however, made it clear that Taliban would not be responsible if there was a delay in the start of intra-Afghan dialogue. “If the negotiations are delayed beyond the stated date, the responsibility will rest with the others,” the Taliban spokesperson added. The deal signed between the United States and Taliban aimed at ending the US’s longest war is facing obstacles after Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani announced that his government had not agreed to a clause set out in the deal. Ghani had objected to arrangements within the deal that would see the Afghan government release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as a condition for direct talks between the armed group and the government. “The government of Afghanistan has made no commitment to free 5,000 Taliban
prisoners,” President Ghani told reporters in Kabul on Sunday, a day after the accord was signed in Qatar’s capital, Doha. After 18 months of negotiations and nearly 20 years of war, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement set to pave the way for the withdrawal of all US and NATO troops from Afghanistan and a commitment by the Taliban that Afghan territory will not be used to launch attacks on other countries. AGENCIES
Qureshi says us must keep eye on elements seeking to disrupt Afghan peace ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday, condemning the attack in Kabul during a political rally earlier in the day, said that the move was made by those who are against the establishment of peace in Afghanistan and seek to use the country for their own gain. He said that a close eye will have to be kept on those that are sabotaging the peace process, calling on US and other global powers to keep an eye on such elements. The foreign minister said that the exercise is one that will test our patience but that there is no other solution but to remain steadfast in the pursuit of peace. He regretted that for the past 19 years, the country had been witnessing such incidents and noted that the people of Afghanistan truly desire peace. “The attack is extremely regrettable and condemnable,” he said, adding that the Taliban had denied any involvement in it. “Those who seek to disrupt peace are in Afghanistan and also outside of it,” he said, without elaborating further. The foreign minister pledged Pakistan’s support in whatever assistance it can provide. Twenty-seven people were reportedly killed and 29 were wounded when a political rally led by Afghanistan leader Abdullah Abdullah was attacked by gunmen. The Taliban immediately denied responsibility for the assault, which occurred at the commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari — a politician from the Hazara ethnic group. Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said gunfire had erupted from a construction site near the ceremony in the city’s west. The ceremony was attended by many of the country’s political elite, including Abdullah Abdullah. The interior ministry later confirmed to reporters that “all the high-ranking officials were safely evacuated from the scene”. The incident comes less than a week after the US and Taliban signed a deal that would pave the way for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops in 14 months.
Critics of India’s Modi govt face sedition charges NEW DELHI AGENCIES
The global number of novel coronavirus cases has crossed 100,000 on Friday, killing over 3,000 people so far across the world. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, 100,276 people have been affected by the virus which originated from China’s Hubei province. Meanwhile, 3,404 people have died while another 55,694 have recovered. According to AFP, at least 89 countries apart from China have been affected by the disease, especially South Korea with 6,284 cases and 42 deaths, followed by Iran with 4,747 cases and 124 deaths, and France with 423 cases and seven deaths. However, while there has been an increase in the number of global cases, China’s central province of Hubei, excluding the provincial capital Wuhan, reported zero new cases of coronavirus over 24 hours for the first time, Reuters reported. ‘THIS IS NOT A DRILL’, WARNS WHO: The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned governments that the global spread of the new coronavirus is “not a drill” and requires significant action by public health authorities to contain the outbreak, CNN reported on Friday. Although public health authorities across the globe have the ability to successfully combat the spread of the virus, WHO is concerned that in some countries the level of political commitment does not match the threat, the report quoted him as saying. Togo confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus after a 42-year-old woman tested positive following her return from a trip to Benin, Germany, France and Turkey. The presidency in the West African nation of eight million people said the patient, who lives in the capital Lome with her family, was “currently isolated in a treatment centre for infectious diseases” after testing positive on Thursday. Two British Airways staff members have tested positive for coronavirus and have been isolated and recovering at home, the airline said. “Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed that two members of our staff have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” British Airways said in a statement. GENCIES
Sharjeel Imam was a little-known research scholar and a student activist until Indian police launched a manhunt across five states to nab him for a protest speech he gave calling for a month-long road blockade in the country’s northeast. “Create debris on the railway tracks and roads,” Imam told the crowd, exhorting them to cut off the northeastern state of Assam from the rest of the country. Massive protests had broken out
in Assam and elsewhere in India in December after a law was passed that fast-tracks naturalisation for some religious minorities who immigrated illegally from some neighbouring countries but excludes Muslims. In the wake of his speech, some leaders of prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party labelled Imam a “secessionist”. A lawmaker from Modi’s party said that people like him “should be shot dead publicly”. In January, the 31-year-old was arrested and charged as an enemy of India under a British colonial-era sedi-
tion law. Modi’s government has increasingly brandished the law to silence critics, intellectuals, human rights activists, filmmakers, students and journalists, with police arguing that words or actions of dissent make them a threat to national security. Official data reveals as many as 332 people were arrested under the sedition law between 2016 and 2018, though only seven were convicted, suggesting that police have struggled to gather evidence against the accused. Nevertheless, India’s notoriously slow criminal justice system ensures
that the movement and speech of the accused are severely hamstrung as long as cases remain pending. While charged, people can’t obtain passports or government jobs and must show up to court as required. “The real punishment is in the trial where a person has to spend days, sometimes even months, to try and prove innocence,” said Chitranshul Sinha, an Indian lawyer who has written a book on the history of the sedition law. “This is enough to harass or silence people,” he said, calling it an “oppressive, black law”.
90pc of all people hold bias against women: study PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE HOLDING AT LEAST ONE SEXIST BIAS AT 99.81PC IN PAKISTAN UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES
Almost 90% of the global population irrespective of gender holds some prejudice against women, a United Nations study released Thursday — ahead of International Women’s Day — indicated. The UN Development Programme studied 75 countries representing 80% of the world’s population and found that
nine in 10 people — including women — hold such beliefs. The prejudiced views include: that men are better politicians and business leaders than women; that going to university is more important for men than women; and that men should get preferential treatment in competitive job markets. The percentage of those holding at least one sexist bias was largest in Pakistan — where 99.81% of people held similar prej-
udices — followed by Qatar and Nigeria, both at 99.73%. Countries with the lowest population of those with sexist beliefs were Andorra, at 27.01%, Sweden with 30.01%, and the Netherlands, 39.75%. France, Britain, and the United States each came in with similar scores, 56%, 54.6%, and 57.31% of people, respectively, holding at least one sexist belief. The numbers show “new clues to the invisible barriers women face in achieving equality” despite “decades of progress,” the UN Development Programme said in a statement accompanying the report.
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