Epaper – August 21 ISB 2021 by Pakistan Today

Saturday, 21 August, 2021 I 12 Muharram, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 51 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Two children killed, chinese naTional injured in Gwadar suicide aTTack

ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

suicide bomber on Friday evening detonated his vest and blew himself up as four vehicles carrying Chinese engineers crossed nearby at East Bay Expressway in Gwadar, Balochistan, wherein at least two children have been reported as dead due to the suicide attack. “Today in the evening, in a cowardly attack, a convoy of Chinese nationals comprising four Chinese vehicles with integral security details of Pakistan army and police contingent was targeted on East Bay Expressway in Gwadar,” an official in the ministry of interior said. The targeting took place along the coastal road near a fishermen colony. “A young boy ran out of the colony once the convoy reached there to target Chinese vehicles. Fortunately, soldiers of Pakistan

army in plain clothes employed as hang around security rushed to intercept the boy; who immediately, exploded himself about 15-20 meters away from the convoy,” the official said. The official also informed that a Chinese national was injured during the incident. “The injured Chinese national is stable and has been evacuated to nearest Gwadar Hospital. Unfortunately, two innocent children playing near the incident site lost their precious lives while another two children received critical injuries in the heinous act,” the official informed, adding that the injured have been evacuated to the hospital. The deceased have been identified as 11-year-old Salman s/o Khuda Bakhsh and 10-year-old Salman s/o Haider Nagori. According to rescue sources, the attacker targeted at a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals, wherein three people, including the car’s driver, were injured when

coronavirus in

PakisTan

CONFIRMED CASES:

17,115,272

LAST UPDATED AT 8:01 AM ON AUGUST 20, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

3,239

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,002,430 24,783 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

414,850

374,916

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

153,836 AJK/GB: 29,790/9,482

31,686 ISLAMABAD:

94,714

the suicide bomber blew himself near the vehicle. “Strongly condemn suicide attack on Chinese nationals’ vehicle in Gwadar,” Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani tweeted. Security officials including from the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps have cordoned off the area and an investigation into the incident has been started. Both Pakistan and China recognise the threats posed to their cooperation and collaboration towards the growth and development of their communities under the evolving regional environment. Cognizant of the hostile designs, Pakistan is already undertaking a comprehensive review of the security of its Chinese brothers and is committed to ensuring their safe stay in Pakistan in this journey of progress. “We reaffirm our Chinese brothers our wholehearted endeavours to deal with these threats comprehensively. In this hour of distress, while we are saddened by injury to our Chinese brother and loss of innocent Pakistani children, both countries stand together firmly in defeating the inimical acts aiming to undermine our cooperation and friendship,” said the official. It should be noted that the Balochistan Liberation Army has has claimed responsibility of the attack in a tweet, wherein it alleged that it carried out a ‘self-sacrificing’ operation against a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gwadar, Balochistan. “At least 9 Chinese engineers were killed and several were injured in the attack. This attack was carried out by BLA Majeed Brigade’s member,” Sar Buland Baloch alias Umar Jan claimed in a tweet. However, official statements from the interior ministry state that only one Chinese engineer was injured, leading to the implication that the BLA’s claims are false.

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Pakistan expects Taliban will fulfil promises on women and human rights: COAS RAWALPINDI app

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday said Islamabad expects that the Taliban will fulfil promises made to the international community regarding women and human rights and will not allow Afghan soil to be used against any other country. He made the comments during a speech at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul where he was the chief guest for the Flag Presentation Parade. “We expect the Taliban to live up to the promises made to the international community of women and human rights and that Afghan soil will not be used against any other country,” he said. He reiterated that Pakistan wanted national and regional peace and development. “Pakistan’s sincere efforts in the Afghanistan peace process are for the establishment of a region that is a peaceful, prosperous and economic partner. We have consistently made it clear to the international community that it must play a role in finding a peaceful solution to

24 arrested in TikToker assault case through geo-fencing: minister NeWS DeSk Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Friday informed that 24 suspects had been taken into custody for harassing and assaulting a female TikToker, as well as her companions, after being tracked down through geo-fencing and cross-checking the National Database and Registration Authority database. The above was stated on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, wherein the minister also mentioned that more arrests were expected to take place. She further stated that the negligence of officers during the incident itself was being investigated. Soon thereafter, following a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and other senior officials, the provincial police chief said senior police officers had been suspended for negligence and delayed response in dealing with the incident. “We have suspended SHO and SDPO whereas Divisional SP, SSP Operations and DIG Operations Lahore have been removed from their posts,” Inspector General Inam Ghani wrote on Twitter. Ghani said “strict departmental action will be taken once inquiry committee submits its detailed report on the role and response of other officers.” Meanwhile, a Dolphin Squad officer Zaman Qureshi – who saved female TikToker from the mob – narrated that how he reached Minar-ePakistan and saved a woman being harassed and attacked by people on Independence Day. Speaking to the media, Zaman Qureshi explained how he immediately went to the crime scene after being informed about the incident. Dolphin police squad cop said that he along with his other on-duty police cops immediately ar-

Afghanistan,” the army chief underscored. He noted that Pakistan paid a heavy price for unrest in Afghanistan. Despite its economic woes, Pakistan had sheltered more than three million Afghan refugees for four decades, he added. The army chief said the army could not remain silent on attempts to criticise Pakistan. The conspirators and spoilers were the ones who were an obstacle to regional peace, the COAS said. “We will continue to play our role for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan is essential for the region and especially for the people of Afghanistan,” he said. He said Pakistan Army is proud of its young officers who continued to lead their men from the front with courage and devotion to defending the freedom of motherland. The COAS lauded PMA’s role as the premier training institution of the Pakistan Army and commended the faculty and staff for maintaining high standards of training and grooming the young leaders that formed the backbone of the Pakistan Army.

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more inside

FM urges int’l community to play role for Afghans’ welfare STORY ON BACK PAGE

PM expands Ehsaas mobile food programme to three more cities STORY ON PAGE 02

rived at Minar-e-Pakistan but it took them 30 minutes to reach the crime spot from the Minar-ePakistan entrance gate due to the rush of people. “When I reached Minar-e-Pakistan, the woman was unconscious and her clothes were torn apart,” he recounted. In what has been billed as an abhorrent act of violence against women, a huge crowd of men attacked and looted a woman at the Minar-e-Pakistan. The incident occurred on August 14 when people were celebrating Independence Day at Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Covid-19 recoveries cross 1m mark; 70 more die STORY ON PAGE 02

China can contribute to Afghan development: Taliban spokesman STORY ON BACK PAGE

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

PM exPAnds eHsAAs MObIle FOOd PrOgrAMMe tO tHree MOre CItIes IsLAMABAD

APP

RIME Minister Imran Khan Friday inaugurating the expansion of the ‘Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye’ initiative to Gujranwala, Lahore and Multan, directed the authorities concerned not to compromise on the quality of food served to the needy people. The prime minister inaugurated four food trucks that will serve free cooked meals to daily-wage earners across the cities. With the addition of four trucks under the expansion plan, the total number of such vehicles will be increased to 16. The Ehsaas has been running 12

trucks in 5 cities including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and Peshawar and the program is being expanded to seven

Asim Iftikhar replaces Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri as FO spokesperson IsLAMABAD INP

Pakistan’s former ambassador to Thailand Asim Iftikhar Ahmad has replaced Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was announced on Friday in a statement by the Foreign Offices. According to a statement, Asim Iftikhar held senior positions in Pakistan and in the country s foreign missions prior to his appointment as the spokesperson of FO. According to the details available at the foreign office’s portal, Asim has served at various positions including as the United Nations director-general from July 2014 to June 2017, UN Security Council & Human Rights director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director, Islamabad and other positions. On the other hand, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, who was appointed as the FO on August 05, has been posted as the high commissioner to Australia and will leave soon to take up his post in the country, the FO statement further said.

PIA evacuates 350 people from Kabul

cities including Gujranwala, Lahore and Multan. Each truck feeds 1000-1500 people daily on specified service

points, twice a day and seven days a week. Special Assistant to PM on Social Welfare Senator Dr Sania Nishtar and Managing Director Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar briefed the prime minister on the expansion plan of the free food service. SAPM Dr Shahbaz Gill and Senator Faisal Javed were also present there. During the briefing, the prime mister questioned whether there was any mechanism for a quality audit. In response, Sania Nishtar told that they had received some complaints from Peshawar regarding the quality of the food which were addressed later. To this, the prime minister

repeatedly directed for no compromise on the quality of food, both at trucks as well as Panagahs, because the poor who felt contented only for getting free food, would never complain about its quality. While also reiterating his government’s commitment to serving the poor without hurting his dignity, the prime minister said such initiatives were the reflection of the State of Madinah which had taken the responsibility of their poor people. The prime minister was told that by October, the “Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye” operations would be expanded to all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan with an overall fleet of 40

Schools in Sindh to reopen on Aug 30 News Desk After heeding the Sindh health department’s advisory on the recent rise in Covid cases, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah has further deferred the reopening of schools by one week to now open on August 30. Addressing a press conference in Karachi to address the woes of farmers and crop growers amid the water crisis, he said the deferment of reopening comes after the health department’s warnings of a potential spike in Covid cases. “At this time we will not open schools for one more week. We want that in this one week the school teachers and parents of students get vaccinated.” He stressed that school staff would have to get 100 per cent vaccinated and parents would also have to show their vaccination certificates. “Following this regime, we will open schools next week,” he said.

Get vaccinated in the week-long period, CM Sindh advised the teachers and parents. During the presser, asked whether he had raised the issue of Covid vaccine booster shots for fully vaccinated people with the federal government, CM Shah said he had met the World Health Organisation’s country head and the primary concern at the moment was to administer first or second doses to the population. “If doctors or health practitioners say that now it is necessary to administer boosters otherwise their protection will finish, then the government will have to decide,” he added. He said in the last Khareef season the province got 35 percent less water than accorded by the document. This season Sindh has faced a 19 percent shortage while Khareef is more than halfway past. “I told you there is a crisis in the agriculture sector and irrigation but if Irsa continues to make one-sided

decisions then this problem will reach drinking water for cities as well.” The chief minister warned that a “severe water crisis” could be faced in the future if the authority did not properly compensate the province and

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) with the support of the Pakistan embassy in Kabul and local authorities brought back another 350 passengers from Kabul to Islamabad on Friday. The 350 passengers including foreigners and local Afghans attached with the World Bank and other international organisations were evacuated from Kabul, according to a statement. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Mansoor Ahmad Khan said the embassy had made special arrangements for the safe passage of the people from Afghanistan. Earlier, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said that Pakistan’s state-run airline has resumed special flights for Kabul in order to evacuate Pakistanis and foreigners stranded in Afghanistan. In a tweet, Chaudhry had said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will send its two planes to the Afghan capital on Friday to evacuate 350 passengers, adding that Pakistan’s interior ministry is also facilitating the evacuation of Pakistanis and foreigners from Afghanistan through border crossings. The latest development comes days after PIA halted all flights to Kabul to protect passengers, the crew and the planes after consulting the Afghan civil aviation authorities. Pakistan’s government has been trying to evacuate its citizens and foreigners by air and land routes since the Taliban took over Kabul. For this purpose, Pakistan is issuing visas upon arrival to all diplomats, foreigners and journalists who want to leave Kabul over security concerns. Separately, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram in an interview with CNN said that Pakistan has evacuated about 1,100 people including diplomats, staff of diplomatic missions and international agencies and journalists from Kabul. He said that the Pakistan embassy in Kabul is open and extending facilitation to all those seeking visas and want to utilise Pakistan as a transit point to leave Afghanistan. He said, “We are flying three flights into Kabul airport each day to get out about five hundred to six hundred people.”

Keenjhar Lake’s water level was not increased. Responding to a question, CM Shah said he did not oppose the use of telemetry systems to measure water flow but “before that, accept our rights”.

Covid-19 recoveries cross 1m mark; 70 more die News Desk

News Desk

food trucks in 29 cities that would feed 40,000 people every day and 1.46 million people annually. To date, 831,625 meals have been served across Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Islamabad. On March 10, 2021, the initiative was officially launched by the prime minister to serve free meals to deserving populations in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Under the Ehsaas umbrella, this programme runs through a publicprivate partnership whereby Pakistan Baitul Mal was responsible for the operations of the food trucks and Saylani Welfare International Trust was responsible for the provision of meals.

The number of patients recovered from Covid-19 in the country exceeded one million mark on Friday, the National Command and Operation Centre’s data showed. The NCOC counted 1,002,430 recovered cases after 3,027 more survivors were recorded. Meanwhile, 70 more people lost their lives to the disease, raising the death toll to 24,783. The infection tally also rose to 1,116,886 with 3,239 new cases reported over the last 24 hours after 51,982 Covid19 tests were conducted, the NCOC data showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.23 percent. The number of active cases stands at 89,673, which has been the highest since May 2 when the country recorded 89,661 active cases. Pakistan has administered at least 44,736,977 doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 10.3 percent of the country’s population. During the last week reported,

Pakistan averaged about 716,137 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 61 days to administer enough doses for another 10 percent of the population. Meanwhile, Punjab reported 956 Covid cases and 24 more deaths due to the virus during the past 24 hours. According to provincial health secretary Sara Aslam, 9 deaths were reported from

Lahore during the period. She said that active cases in Punjab now total 20,602, adding that the tally of the positive cases in the province stood at 377,209. She further stated that the total number of deaths due to the virus is currently at the 11,477 mark. The health secretary said that some 342,932 patients have recovered from the disease so far. Sindh reported at least 1,039 new

coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 418,461. According to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, 10 more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the death toll jumped to 6,566. He further said that 1,306 more patients recovered from the disease, taking the total to 364,455. Shah announced that schools will remain closed for another week as the province continued to battle an onslaught of Covid-19 cases. Murad added that teachers and parents of the students will also have to show their vaccination certificates to the concerned authority. He also ordered the authorities to ensure vaccination of all the schools’ staffers. At least 25 more people contracted coronavirus in Balochistan during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 30,845. According to health officials, no deaths were reported in the province. So far 335 patients have died from the deadly virus. As many as 29,981 patients have recovered from the disease in the province so far.

$28bn investment under CPEC in the pipeline: Asad News Desk Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that investment in Pakistan under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is estimated at $53 billion approximately. Talking to the media persons during his visit to Challenge Textile Factory in Lahore on Friday, the planning minister ruled out the possibility of a complete lockdown in the country, saying Prime Minister Imran Khan’s smart lockdown policy has yielded the desired

results. Asad said that 17 projects have so far been completed at a cost of $13 billion while projects worth $12 billion are nearing completion. He said that an inflow of $25 billion has not only created thousands of jobs but also helped increase foreign exchange reserves. The minister said that another $28 billion investment is in the pipeline which would revolutionise the economy of Pakistan. He said that Chinese investment in mobile phone manufacturing would help save millions of dollars in foreign exchange.

On the occasion, SAPM on CPEC Affairs Khalid Mansoor said that installation of power plants in the first phase of CPEC has helped overcome 16 hours of load shedding. “Now we are activating Special Economic Zones so that more quality companies can invest in Pakistan. One window operation at the economic zone will help early solution of problems”, he said. Earlier, Challenge Textiles Managing Director Karen Chen briefed the minister and SAPM about Chinese investment and company’s future plans.

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

PM welcoMes foreign investMent worth $85 Million in Pakistani start-uP airlift

News DesK

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Friday welcomed the recent investment worth $85 million by the world’s leading Venture Capitals in a Pakistani tech startup, Airlift. “We welcome the recent investment of $85 million by leading VCs of the world in Airlift, a company led by young Pakistanis,” he said in a tweet. The prime minister said Pakistan had huge potential as the country was open for business. He expressed the government’s commitment to creating opportunities for foreign investors. “My government is fully committed to creating opportunities,” the prime minister said. Responding to the prime minister’s tweet, Airlift thanked him for bringing

attention to the milestone, adding that it would pave the way for more investments in Pakistani startups. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also praised the achievement. He said he was “glad” to share that global investors were exhibiting confidence in Pakistan’s evolving technology space. Azhar Mashwani, Punjab chief minister’s focal person for digital media, meanwhile, pointed out that investment in Pakistani startups had increased from $170m between 2015 and 2020 to $193m in 2021 alone. “Best of luck to Airlift and all others,” he tweeted. The $85m amount raised is around twice the size of the largest private company initial public offering in Pakistan’s history and the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region. Airlift Technologies Co-founder and CEO Usman Gul said the financing would

add five per cent to the country’s foreign direct investment for the fiscal year 2022. “A year ago, Airlift halted operations on the transit service and diversified into last-mile grocery delivery. Today, our team closed $85m in Series B financing to scale our delivery platform across continents. “With this financing, we as Pakistanis must return to where we started from fighting against the odds and staying true to our core values of hustle, teamwork, resourcefulness, and bias to action. If this is the journey of a thousand miles, we have taken only the first step,” he said. Airlift, a Lahore-based online shopping delivery service, has raised $85 million in Series B financing, the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history. The financing is about twice the size of the largest private company IPO in the country’s history and the highest in the Middle East & North Africa region.

SBP approves Rs82.6m loans for students KARACHI TLTP

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has approved an amount of Rs82.6 million as interest-free loans for deserving students. The apex committee for Student Loan Scheme having representation from State Bank of Pakistan, Finance Division and five major banks (NBP, HBL, UBL, ABL and MCB) has approved Rs82.6 million as

interest-free loans to deserving students for their studies within Pakistan. The amount, approved by apex committee, will be disbursed to 518 deserving students of public sector universities across the country, studying in different disciplines of under-graduation, graduation and PhD studies for the Session 2017-18, 2018-19 & 20192020. The objective of the Student Loan Scheme is to provide financial assistance to the meritorious students

having insufficient means. The loans are granted for a maximum tenor of 10 years from the date of the disbursement of first instalment and repayable in monthly instalments after six months from the date of first employment or one year from the date of completion of studies, whichever is earlier. The National Bank of Pakistan, being the administrator of the scheme, performs all the functions like receiving and scrutinising the loan applications, disbursement of loans and their recovery.

Afghan footballer fell to death from US plane KABUL AFP

An Afghan footballer who played for the national youth team fell to his death after trying to cling to a US plane airlifting people out of Taliban-controlled Kabul, a sports federation said on Thursday. The General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan, a government institution that worked with sporting groups, confirmed the death of Zaki Anwari in the mayhem that erupted at the airport in the capital this week. “Anwari, like thousands of Afghan youths, wanted to leave the country but fell off a US plane and died,” the group said in a statement posted on Facebook. Thousands of Afghans have flocked to the airport this week in a bid to flee the country, following the Taliban’s lightning offensive that ended with them assuming power when president Ashraf Ghani fled. In a harrowing video from the airport on Monday, hundreds of people were seen running alongside a US

Air Force plane as it gathered speed on the runway – several men desperately holding onto the side. Further clips on social media appeared to show two

people falling to their deaths from a C-17 aircraft after it took off. Human remains were later found in a wheel well, the US military confirmed, adding that it was investigating the reported deaths linked to the C-17. “Before the air crew could offload the cargo, the aircraft was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan civilians,” US Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. “Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield as quickly as possible.” US President Joe Biden has come under pressure at home and abroad to explain how his administration was seemingly unprepared for the Taliban’s quick assault – and the way in which US troops are retreating from Afghanistan. Memories of the Taliban’s regime of the 1990s – which saw music and television banned, people stoned to death and women confined to their homes – have caused panic about what lies ahead, prompting many Afghans to try to flee.

PM announces to honour cop on Pakistan Day

IsLAMABAD INP

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced to honour Constable Jamal Kalhoro on Pakistan Day, 23rd March, for dedication to duty. In a tweet, he said, “We have decided to honour Constable Jamal Kalhoro on Pakistan Day, 23rd March, for dedication to duty.” “If anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind,” he quoted a verse from Surah Al-Maidah. A day earlier, the prime minister had shared a video of a young policeman and praised him for his commitment to service and action for saving the life of a person, who had fallen while trying to board a moving train. In the video, a man appears to fall from an overcrowded train into the gap between the carriage and the platform. The policeman rushes to his aid without an ounce of hesitation and drags him to safety. The premier said this is where duty becomes sacred and praised the commitment of the young policeman to serve the people. Earlier in June, the premier had met Islamabad Traffic Police Head Constable Qaiser Shakeel and praised his “conscientiousness” in performing his duty despite being injured.

In IIOJK, few now dare to speak out AFP Public protests in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) were once an almost weekly occurrence but two years after New Delhi imposed direct rule on the region, locals say arbitrary arrests and intimidation by security forces wielding batons and snatching phones have left many too scared to voice dissent. A week before the region’s partial autonomy was abolished, and as a massive troop deployment fanned out to help forestall a local backlash, “Rafiq” was one of thousands put in “preventative detention”. He believes he was arrested because in the past he had “protested against injustices”. Freed after a harrowing year behind bars, the 26-year-old — too frightened to give his real name — says he is a “broken man”. Echoing accounts from a dozen other Kashmiris told to AFP, he and 30 others were bundled onto a military aircraft to a jail hundreds of miles from his home where they were “abused and intimidated”. “A bright light was kept on all night in my cell for six months… It was hard to imagine that I would come out alive,” he said. He at least was finally released. Activists

say that scores of other Kashmiris are languishing in India’s notoriously harsh jails. Mother-of-five Tasleema hasn’t seen her husband Gulzar Ahmed Bhat, who used to belong to a separatist group but left in 2016, in two years. Initially, when police and soldiers raided his home, Bhat was out. So they held his 23year-old nephew until his uncle turned himself in. “I almost beg for work to feed my children,” a tearful Tasleema said, a young child on her lap. India has for decades stationed more than half a million soldiers in IIOJK. Its troops are fighting freedom fighters demanding a merger with Pakistan. Saying it wanted finally to achieve peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government scrapped a section of the constitution guaranteeing the territory’s partial autonomy in August 2019. Kashmiris now no longer have a locally elected government and are ruled by a lieutenant governor appointed by New Delhi. A legislative blitz has seen new laws applied and others scrapped. There are now hardly any senior Kashmiri police officers or bureaucrats in important decision-making positions. Changes in land ownership rules have

sparked accusations of “settler colonialism” aimed at achieving an irreversible demographic shift in the Muslim-majority region. Neither the Home Ministry in New Delhi nor the government’s spokesperson in IIOJK responded to requests for comment from AFP for this article. Many of the 5,000 officially arrested two years ago — and scores more since — were booked under the Public Safety Act, a “preventative detention” law allowing two years’ imprisonment without charge or trial. “In the majority of cases, preventative detention is little more than a tool used… to silence dissent and ensure self-censorship,” Juliette Rousselot from the International Federation for Human Rights told AFP. India has also made sweeping use of vaguely-worded anti-terror legislation — the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act — which effectively allows people to be held without trial indefinitely. Authorities have raided homes, offices and premises of civil society groups, journalists and newspapers, confiscating phones and laptops. One group raided was the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

“All the state institutions that are supposed to protect human rights and civil liberties have also been silenced now, made dysfunctional or threatened into capitulation,” the group’s head Parvez Imroz said. Local journalists say they are under increased scrutiny. Photographers have been assaulted and foreign reporters are effectively barred from the region. When shopkeepers attempted a shutdown in protest this month, police smashed locks to force them to open. Young people say they are questioned and sometimes beaten up at checkpoints if encrypted apps like WhatsApp or Signal are installed on their phones. Over a dozen government employees have recently been dismissed for “antinational activities” or social media posts critical of the government. Last month police were told to reject security clearance for government jobs and passports to those with past involvement in

protests, stone-throwing or activities against “security of the state”. Violence has continued. This month a local official from Modi’s party was killed along with his wife, while 90 suspected rebels have died in clashes so far this year. But while there used to be almost weekly protests, which police would often respond to with tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns, now they are fast becoming a thing of the past. Relatives and even neighbours of those who have protested in the past — or just suspected of having done so — are regularly pressed by police to give written promises to ensure they desist. “I’m now forced to think of my family and relations before opening my mouth to say anything,” said one young man, who spent a year in prison and whose father was made to sign one such undertaking. “It has separated us. Solidarity with each other is no longer possible.”

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

04 NEWS

ISLAMABAD

At leAst 5-7 yeArs needed to fix energy sector issues: tArin

NEWS DESK

INANCE Minister Shaukat Tarin has said that it will take at least five to seven years to resolve the issues of the energy sector. In a meeting with the business community at the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), the finance minister said the government is trying to fix the long standing problems of the energy sector which have not been addressed since long. Tarin pointed out that the excessive capacity for electricity generation continued to build to this day, as various projects launched in the previous years cannot be stopped midway. The finance minister, however, assured that the energy minister and his team are trying their best to address the problems and that policy decisions in this regard will be taken in the coming few months. The minister said that steps have been taken to broaden the tax base with the help of technology. He said data of taxpayers, and even unregistered voters, has been collected from various sources and the authorities can

now tell with 80 percent to 90 percent accuracy the income level of those individuals and how much tax they had to pay. Tarin said that since there is a perception and complaints of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) harassing taxpayers, the payment of taxes would now be ensured through "universal self-assessment and third-party audits". "We will seek the services of 1,500 professionals from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) for the audits," he said, adding that defaulters would be sent reminders to pay their taxes. If they fail to pay their taxes even then, they would be arrested, the minister warned. "It's about time that people who are not paying taxes start paying taxes because otherwise, people like you and I suffer." He added that a new mechanism would also be introduced to ensure proper recovery from the retail sector under which prizes would be given to consumers for ensuring that they collected receipts from retailers. The minister also announced that new programmes would be introduced to support remittances. Tarin said that the Economic Advisory

Council has devised plans for 14 areas — something that had been missing in Pakistan's economic sector for the past many years. "After 1972, planning was abandoned when it came to Pakistan's economy as the Planning Commission was dismantled," he lamented. And since there has been a lack of long-term and medium-term plans, the policies were not effective and focused, he added. Tarin said Prime Minister Imran Khan would be briefed on the progress of those plans in monthly meetings. He added that a cell would also be established in the finance ministry and the help of analysts from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics would be sought to organise the meetings. Admitting that the current account deficit is growing, he assured the businessmen that the government reviews the situation every week and things will improve in the future, especially because he sees great potential for the growth of exports in the information technology sector. He also acknowledged that there has been a rise in inflation, particularly food in-

flation. "Food inflation is rising due to international prices as we are a net importer of food now,” he said, adding that the failure to focus on the agriculture sector has also con-

tributed to the problem. He said administrative and market measures are being taken to address the problems and build infrastructure in the agriculture sector.

Justice Bandial sworn in as acting CJP ISLAMABAD TLTP

Taking oath as acting chief justice of Pakistan on Friday, Justice Umar Ata Bandial pledged to protect and defend the Constitution, saying he will do right to all manner of people according to law without fear and favour. The president has appointed Justice Umar Ata Bandial, senior judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, as acting CJP as the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed has left for the United States

on a private visit. Justice Umer Ata Bandial, senior most judge of the Supreme Court, will act as CJP during the period CJP Gulzar Ahmed remains abroad. Justice Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath in a simple but dignified ceremony in the Supreme Court, principal seat at Islamabad. Judges of the top court, senior lawyers, law officers and officers of Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan attended the oath taking ceremony. Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan conducted the proceedings

of oath taking ceremony whereas officers and staff of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were also present on the occasion. It is pertinent to mention that Acting Chief Justice Bandial was heading a 10-member larger bench while hearing Justice Isa’s constitution petition against presidential reference regarding his removal. The reference was quashed as mala fide on June 19 as it sought Justice Isa’s removal in view of his failure to mention his family members’ London properties in his wealth statement.

Gold hits Rs94,500 per 10gm NEWS DESK Gold prices edged up on Friday and gained around 0.30 percent, as the US dollar’s pullback and Covid-19 concerns keep the prices buoyed. At 1130 hours GMT, gold in the international market was available at $1,786.30 per ounce after gaining $4.90 as compared to its closing value on Thursday last. Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan increased to Rs94,500 after gaining Rs400. The closing prices of the yellow metal in the country remained Rs94,100 on Thursday last. The yellow metal rises the most in four days as the US dollar steps back from a nine-month high amid mixed clues. The US Dollar Index (DXY) steps back from the multi-day high that refreshed early in Asia, down 0.05 percent to 93.52 at the latest. The greenback gauge initially jumped to the new high of 2021 while extending the previous day’s upside moves, backed by

the virus-led risk-off sentiment and tapering concerns. New Zealand extends the virus-led initial threeday lockdown to August 24 after the Covid infections spread out from Auckland to the capital Wellington while Australian Covid cases eased after refreshing the record top the previous day. Germany reports the highest daily Covid cases in three months while numbers from the UK and the US also challenge the market optimism. However, China’s daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 33 versus 46 marked on Thursday. The UK’s push for vaccinating 12–17 years old and the American rush for booster shots portrays vaccine optimism. On the same line was the Western leaders’ readiness to help the struggling Asia–Pacific nations with jabs. Also positive was the news that Japan's cabinet approved a 9.27 billion yen ($84.50 million) emergency budget to help the country's self-defence forces carry out medical aid amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Children at 'extreme risk' from climate impacts, warns Unicef ISLAMABAD TLTP

Pakistan is amongst the 33 countries where children are at “extremely high-risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report by the Unicef. The report, 'Children’s Climate Risk Index', for the first time provides a complete picture of where and how children are vulnerable to climate change, said Henrietta Fore, the executive director of Unicef. The 128-page report warns that nearly half of the world’s children approximately 1 billion children – live in “extremely high-risk countries” where they are exposed to water scarcity, heatwaves, cyclones, flooding and air pollution. “The sur-

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vival of these children is at imminent threat from the impacts of climate change,” notes the report. The 33 countries where children are most vulnerable include Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Niger and Ethiopia. The highest child climate index is of the Central African Republic at 8.7, followed by Chad at 8.5. Pakistan has an index ranking of 7.7 and India’s is 7.4. “Every child deserves a liveable planet,” said Fore, at the launch of the report. Children are more vulnerable to climate and environmental shocks than adults, the report adds, because they are less able to withstand and survive shocks such as floods, droughts, severe weather and heatwaves.

They are also more at risk of death compared with adults from diseases that are likely to be exacerbated by climate change, such as malaria and dengue. Children “have their whole life ahead of them – any deprivation as a result of climate and environmental degradation at a young age can result in a lifetime of lost opportunity,” the report stated. The Unicef is calling for the inclusion of young people in all climate negotiations and decisions, including at the UN Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November. “Young people deserve greater consideration from world leaders and a more meaningful seat at the table in the decisions that will define their future,” Fore said.

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

ISlAmAbAd

NewS

Two children killed, chinese naTional injured in Gwadar suicide aTTack

continued from page 01

RIME Minister Imran Khan last week had stated that no hostile forces would be able to harm the friendship between Pakistan and China, which he termed as “iron-clad”, and expressed his desire to complete the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects in a timely fashion. The premier made the comment during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong in Islamabad in which they discussed bilateral relations, CPEC, coronavirus vaccines as well as mutual cooperation in other sectors. “China-Pakistan cooperation in trade, commerce and

investment, people-to-people contacts, and mining and natural resources was also discussed,” the PMO added. Talking about CPEC, the prime minister had said it was a “transformational project”, adding that Pakistan and China should “work [more closely]” on it to make it a “high-quality demonstration project” of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. He also iterated the government’s resolve to timely complete CPEC projects. Last month, at least 12 people, including nine China nationals and two paramilitary soldiers, were killed after a blast sent a bus plunging into a ravine in a remote region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 14. The bus was carrying Chinese engineers, survey-

ors and mechanical staff to the Dasu dam construction site in Upper Kohistan district, a government official who did not want to be named told media. “The bus plunged into a deep ravine after the blast and caused heavy losses. The rescue operation is launched and the entire government machinery has been mobilised to rescue the injured by air ambulance,” another government official told Reuters, also requesting anonymity. He said a further 28 Chinese nationals were injured. KP Inspector General Moazzam Jah Ansari said two soldiers and two civilians were also among the dead. Several people were injured.

24 arrested in TikToker assault case through geo-fencing: minister continued from page 01

LAHORE: Traffic police officials perform duty during rain in the provincial capital. Zubair MehfooZ

Pakistan expects Taliban will fulfil promises on women and human rights: COAS continued from page 01 Dilating upon future challenges in the view of changing dynamics of warfare, the COAS advised the cadets to wholeheartedly focus on training and remain abreast with the latest advancements in technology to prove equal to the task. “Today is an important milestone in the development and evolution of a great institution like the Pakistan Military Academy. The 4th Pakistan Battalion has shown excellent performance since its inception five years ago,” he

underlined. Addressing the cadets, he said, “Your commitment to dedicate yourself to your homeland is a symbol of fear in the hearts of Pakistan’s enemies.” The month of August, he said, adding, “reminds us of the eternal sacrifices and historic struggle of our forefathers for freedom.” The army chief mentioned that the hardworking youths were the pride and capital of the nation. “The guiding principles of faith, unity and discipline in all the challenges

of life are a beacon for you. No power in the world can harm a united nation in any way,” the army chief said. Despite all the economic and other difficulties after independence, Pakistan not only overcame them but after every challenge it emerged stronger and stronger, he added. “We overcame terrorism and fully defended the borders of the country,” he said. Whether it was a conventional war or a response against terrorism, emergency or natural calamities, Pakistan’s armed forces must always live up to

the nation’s trust, he said. In this month of independence, he said, “We cannot forget our Kashmiri brothers. The people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are the victims of the worst state terrorism and exploitation.” “I assure you that the hearts of Pakistanis beat with Kashmiris. We have always stood by Kashmir and will continue to do so. The international community must realize that regional peace is an illusion until a peaceful and just resolution of Kashmir issue,” he added.

Talking to the reporter, the victim woman narrated the terrible ordeal she had been through. “People yanked my earrings, hurting my ears. They jostled and threw me into the air as if I were a toy or have come from some other world and snatched my bracelet, purse, mobile phones and everything I had that day,” she recounted. When the reporter asked her whether the police or security guards were present at the park at the time of the incident, the victim wasn’t sure about their presence. “Police may have come and ignored [her ordeal] or they may have not been able to notice it given a huge crowd of people present there”, she said. Police registered a case against 400 suspects after videos of the incident went viral on social media and some suspects have been arrested in the case. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed the Punjab inspector general of police to investigate the matter, Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari stated on Twitter, adding that the PM personally spoke to the Punjab IG on both the manhandling of the woman and the vandalisation of Ranjit Singh’s statute at Lahore Fort. “Police is catching all culprits involved in manhandling of female Tiktoker in Lahore and those damaging statue of Ranjit Singh at Lahore Fort,” Bukhari tweeted. The senior PTI leader said that these are gross violations of laws and social norms and the government won’t spare a single person involved in these crimes. Meanwhile, Punjab government spokesman Fayyazul Hassan Chohan Wednesday condemned the Minar-e-Pakistan incident where a woman was assaulted by a mob and said the culprits are being identified through video footage. “The incident of assault on a woman in Greater Iqbal Park is a shameful act which has brought shame to the society,” Fayyaz Chohan said in a statement today. He said that the accused involved in the video are being identified and will be brought to justice. On August 18, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto slammed the incident and asked the government to bring those responsible to the book. “The assault of a young woman by a mob at #minarepakistan should shame every Pakistani. It speaks to a rot in our society,” the PPP leader said. He said that those responsible must be brought to justice. “The women of Pakistan feel insecure and it is all our responsibility to ensure safety and equal rights to all,” he added. While talking to the media at the time, DIG Investigations Shariq Jamal Khan said the police were taking the case as a challenge and promised to take it to the logical end. The police officer said the investigations were underway after the case was filed. “We have the videos and the experts are analyzing as it is a technical process to ascertain who was doing what.” Shariq Jamal said the case is very strong and that they have also recorded the statement of the victim. with additional input from INP

Intelligence report for UN deepens fears of Taliban revenge KaBuL afP

An intelligence report for the United Nations, suggesting that the Taliban are engaged in a door-to-door search for their opponents, has deepened fears of the group reneging on pledges of tolerance. After routing government forces and taking over Kabul on Sunday to end two decades of war, the Taliban leaders have repeatedly vowed a complete amnesty as part of a well-crafted PR blitz. Women have also been assured their rights will be respected, and that the Taliban will be "positively different" from their brutal 1996-2001 rule. But with thousands of people still trying to flee the capital aboard evacuation flights, the report for the United Nations confirmed the fears of many. The Taliban have been conducting "targeted door-todoor visits" of people who worked with US and NATO forces, according to a confidential document by the UN's threat assessment consultants seen by AFP. The report, written by the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, said the Taliban were also screening people on the way to Kabul airport. "They are targeting the families of those who refuse to give themselves up, and prosecuting and punishing their families 'according to sharia law'," Christian Nellemann, the group's executive director, told AFP. "We expect both individuals previously working with NATO/US forces and their allies, alongside with their family members to be exposed to torture and executions."

The German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle also reported that the Taliban had shot dead the relative of one of its journalists while searching for the editor. "The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves," DW director general Peter Limbourg said. 'LIVES UNDER THREAT': The Taliban have repeatedly said their fighters are barred from entering private homes. Nazar Mohammad Mutmaeen, a senior Taliban official, insisted this remained the policy, though he conceded some of their fighters were breaking into homes. "Some people are still doing this, possibly in ignorance," he said in a Twitter post. "We are ashamed and have no answer for it." The Taliban have also insisted women have nothing to fear under their new rule. During their first stint in power, women were excluded from public life, and girls were banned from school. People were stoned to death for adultery, while music and television were also banned. A video posted online by a high-profile woman journalist this week for a government-run television station offered a different reality to the Taliban's new image of tolerance. "Our lives are under threat," Shabnam Dawran, an anchor in state-owned broadcaster RTA, said as she recounted being barred from the office. "The male employees, those with office cards were

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allowed to enter the office but I was told that I couldn't continue my duty because the system has been changed." OPPOSITION: There have been isolated signs of opposition to the Taliban in parts of Afghanistan this week. Small groups of Afghans waved the country's black, red and green flags in Kabul and a handful of suburbs on Thursday to celebrate the anniversary of Afghanistan's independence — on occasion in plain sight of patrolling Taliban fighters. Taliban fighters fired guns to disperse dozens of Afghans in Jalalabad who waved the flag on Wednesday. Russia also emphasised on Thursday that a resistance

movement was forming in the Panjshir Valley, led by deposed vice-president Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, the son of a slain anti-Taliban fighter. "The Taliban do not control the whole territory of Afghanistan," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. In the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul, Massoud, the son of Afghanistan's most famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud, said he was "ready to follow in his father's footsteps". "But we need more weapons, more ammunition, and more supplies," Massoud wrote in the Washington Post.

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

06 COMMENT

US-China Rivalry in South Asia: Challenges and Prospects

Afghanistan based terrorists Need to iron out the issue with Afghan Taliban

ARLIeR this year the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan activists fired on military posts in the two Waziristan agencies from inside Afghan territory. The terrorists also planted IeDs and land mines in bordering areas of the two agencies causing numerous casualties. There are social media reports now indicating that the TTP activists are sneaking into Pakistan’s tribal areas with sinister intentions. A UN report published in February had noted with concern the reunification of TTP splinter groups in Afghanistan. According to the report, five extremist outfits that pledged allegiance to the TTP in July and August 2020 included the Shehryar Mehsud group, Jamaatul Ahrar, hizbul Ahrar, the Amjad Farooqi group and the Usman Saifullah group, formerly known as Lashkar-eJhangvi. Last month in an interview with the CNN, TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud promised to fight to turn Pakistan’s tribal areas into an independent state. From introducing Sharia throughout Pakistan, the TTP has now decide to act as a secessionist network which wants to carve out Pakistan’s tribal areas into a separate country by launching terror attacks on Pakistan’s civilians and security personnel. In his first news conference on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid declared The the Taliban would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a launching pad by terrorist networks to attack other countries. The question is what the Afghan Taliban want to do with terrorist groups operating from their country that include Al-Qaeda, IS, the TTP, the east Turkestan Independence Movement (eTIM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). While the first two terrorist groups have an international programme, the latter three have a country-specific agenda. The TTP and eTIM want to carve out parts of Pakistan and China while the IMU wants to get control of Uzbekistan. Will the Taliban disarm and disband these groups and allow their members to live in Afghanistan peacefully? Will they arrest members of these groups and hand them over to the governments of their respective countries? Or will they push them into the countries of their origin? The last option will be strongly rejected by China and Uzbekistan, as it should be by Pakistan also which has had an extremely bitter experience of the terrorist networks.

Dr rajkumar Singh

he one-time friendly nations are today considered competitors and rivals in the regional and global arenas, despite heavy interdependence and large investments in each other’s country. Almost 50 years ago, in the early 1970s, China and the USA came closer despite sharp differences in economic structure and ideology which also kept in rivalry and enmity, the two superpowers of the time, the USA and the USSR. The secret visit of henry Kissinger to Beijing, followed by a long visit Of President Nixon, materialized with the active role of Islamabad, and paved the way for seeking a common ground of friendship. It took another two or three decades to transform their relationship into competition where the superpower USA and qn expansionist and ambitious China began to compare themselves in multiple dimensions, the economy in particular. From 1980 their economic ties grew rapidly, but did not stop them initiating and maturing a rivalry along with mutual suspicion over each other’s intentions. Gradually, a section of Americans began to view China as a threat to the established order and regional US hegemony States and also feared it would develop into a potential threat to US status as a superpower. In the beginning China rejected the notions but never abandoned its assertive policy and continued seeking new alliances with like-

Bahawalnagar blast Why was the government caught unawares?

he explosion during an Ashura procession in Bahawalnagar not only killed two people and injured 59, at least two critically, but it also exposed a worrisome fecklessness about the government, which did not pay enough attention to the locality’s potential for sectarian violence. It is always unfortunate when there are casualties to mar the commemoration of Ashura, but the reasons why it is particularly unfortunate at this juncture are also the reasons why this incident was particularly disturbing. That Bshawalnagar is known to be a hotbed of sectarianism is known, and it is one of those districts where militants have emphasized sectarian elements of conflict. At this particular juncture, with the allies of the sectarian militants having taken over in Kabul, and with the potential reviving of old relationships, which allowed sectarian militant groups to set up training camps in Afghanistan, any resurgence of militancy must be the cause of trepidation. It is not enough to rely on assurances of goodwill by the new Kabul government, it is important to stop Pakistan becoming victim to the sort of militancy that made the War on Terror one which Pakistan itself owned, which it found itself having to fight if it hoped to survive. This incident should serve as an eyeopener for the authorities not just in Punjab but Pakistan as a whole. Militancy is apparently back even earlier than expected. Its geographical reach is wider than the former tribal areas of KP, or Quetta, which had recently experienced terrorist incidents which were ascribed to militancy. If this phenomenon is not checked in the bud, and if the militants are allowed to regain the initiative which they had only recently lost, the entire country runs the danger of going in fear of another sectarian outrage. As bitter experience in previous years has shown, there is no part of the country safe from having sectarian disharmony imported into it. The responsibility for law and order may rest with the provincial governments, but the federal government must not forget that it must play the lead role in coordinating activities to prevent this developing into a nationwide scourge.

The world must watch carefully aneeza maham

he whole world witnessed extensive and rapid gains of territory by the Taliban across the various parts of Afghanistan over the past few weeks, as the United States’ military forces exit after the decades-long war. Taliban now controls almost the whole country including the capital city Kabul, raising alarm bells at the regional as well as international level. President Ashraf Ghani’s departure from the country has led to the Taliban’s control of the presidential palace. What the entire world is experiencing right now is a precarious and unpredictable situation. The chaos in Afghanistan is the result of the failure of political leadership. Millions of Afghans are in a panic as their dreams of peace, prosperity, and stability have been shattered. however, after assuming power, the Taliban has declared that it desires peaceful relations with other states and expressed pride over expelling foreign entities from Afghanistan. Also, they have assured full security and protection for the Afghan people and the representatives from other countries. The future of Afghanistan has become dependent on the Taliban’s policies and tactics. The USA’s haphazard withdrawal and the Kabul government’s inability to protect the country are responsible for the present chaos in Afghanistan. Women and independent media will have to deal with the repercussions of the Taliban’s rule. Particularly, women are the most vulnerable group to violence as the Taliban rapidly advances their territorial gains across the whole country. The Taliban’s radical interpretation of Islam and the imposition of sharia law comprising of extremist practices in the past have again raised fears among Afghan people. When the Taliban held power in 2001, women were denied employment and education opportunities. harsh punishments including hanging, beating, and stoning women were adopted in the past. All students were male at that time; nevertheless, the Taliban’s control raises fears again as progress made for

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

G-7 and other multilateral forums to prepare an antiChina environment at regional and global levels and has urged the august bodies to act against the growing Chinese influence as a common challenge for all democratic countries of the world. In response, China said the charges and accusations as baseless and warned the bodies not to be involved in sayings of the USA. In its South Asia policy Trump and Biden concentrated on Pakistan and Afghanistan, currently a complex case for the USA, the region where it engaged in war for the last two decades and is now ready to exit fully. China too is busy there with the active support of Pakistan and the sympathy of the Russian Federation, which is most likely in favour of the Taliban against whom the US launched a war on 7 October 2001, while India, the USA, Japan and other democratic countries want an anti- Taliban elected/democratic regime to assume power in Afghanistan in the larger interest of its people and the political system as well. The present scenario of South Asia is not very favourable for the USA, as it was earlier when China was like other nations of the region. In the last four decades it has grown rapidly, touching the US capability at least economically and soon likely to match it in every sector. As a result it has totally upset the regional balance of power, especially when it has got the open support of Pakistan and the tacit consent of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the same polarisation is working against the USA in Afghanistan from where the US and NATO forces have exited. Therefore, it has doubled the US responsibility to eye simultaneously the regional peace and stability. as well as facing Chinese rivalry at regional and global levels. The present US dispensation is trying to balance growing Chinese strength and influence with the like-minded democratic countries of the West. It however, is a one-to-one competition which has threatened the position of the USA. At the regional level, with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the terror group of the country is advancing towards achieving its goal, political power, while Chinese scheme of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is spreading swiftly, as no such project exists in the USA’s world calculations. The writer is head of the political science department and dean of the Social Sciences faculty of the B.N.Mandal University, Madhepura, Bihar, India. He can be reached at rajkumarsinghpg@gmail.com

The Taliban Resurgence

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

minded countries. As matters stand today, it is considered a global competition between two superpowers that is multilayered and multi-dimensional. The competition between the two is not ideological as China did not propagate its ideology like the erstwhile USSR with a plus point that both are more interdependent than America and Russia were. For the first time President Barack Obama realized the actual strengths of China including its real economic power was approaching to challenge the US economic global status with its potential to surpass the USA in future. he tried to convince China to work with the USA as its junior partner in the region and the world, but Beijing refused to accept the assigned status and asked the USA to view China in its transformed form and with the power it holds. The competition sharpened when Donald Trump became US President and launched a trade war against China. With his coming the US Administration labelled China a ‘strategic competitor’ in the context of its National Security Strategy and the US Department of Justice’s start of the ‘China Initiative’ which published a detailed report entailing several steps to contain China at regional and global levels, declaring China a currency manipulator. The emerging situation and the overall steps against China made observers feel there was a return of the cold war as bilateral ties of decades were giving way to undue pessimism, hostility, and a zero-sum mindset in almost every area of engagement. By May 2020, the spread of the covid-19 pandemic, the most fatal infectious disease which originated from Wuhan, China, added a new point for Chinese criticism and blame, in addition to the factors which already existed. Trump, keeping in view the strategy in active consideration, also contacted the President of Taiwan and questioned Chinese claims over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, extended the relationship with Japan to encircle China and marginalize its influence in the region. Since Joe Biden’s takeover as US President, though the central theme has not changed, the style of functioning has, as the new leader is more systematic and pragmatic in comparison to his predecessor who always took hectic decisions and always believed in bilateralism rather than multilateralism, which is a necessary technique to encircle China effectively. Although Biden too felt the need to contain China and, recognizing the Beijing’s challenges in view, continues to remain in tt ouch with NATO,

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

gender equity over the past 20 years will be lost. Though Taliban leaders have now claimed that women are allowed to get the education and work as long as they observe hijab and Islamic sharia laws are implemented, only time will reveal what the future holds for Afghan people particularly women. Pakistan being the immediate neighbour is again exposed to the huge refugee influx; it hosted more than 1.4 million Afghan refugees in the past. With the already struggling economy and multiple challenging issues, Pakistan can’t afford to put further burden on its recovering and reforming economy. A spillover of violent groups and refugees would lead to the destabilization of Pakistan’s infrastructure and urban areas. Another major fear is Afghanistan becoming a ground for terrorism training again. A Taliban-led government is also going to provide more space to terror entities; ISIS and Al-Qaida, threatening Afghanistan and the regional security environment. Likewise, the Taliban’s resurgence is going to cause a significant change in the geopolitics of South Asia. Considering the present circumstances, a political settlement to the conflict seems difficult. Regarding the intensifying situation, ease in visa policy has also been announced by Pakistan recently for media personnel and journalists stuck in Afghanistan. Pakistan is the country that is at the risk of losing more than any other country. Keeping in view the growing in-

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stability on its western borders, Pakistan cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. Pakistan over the passage of time has regularly consulted the Afghan government on the issues concerning peace talks, border tensions, and other issues. The concern is not just limited to the Taliban controlling the Afghan government, but its impact on the other regional countries and their economies. Keeping in view the scenario and panic in the Afghan population, the Pakistan government must support Afghan refugees to the extent possible. The International Community and the organisations must contribute financially to help Pakistan accommodate the refugee influx. Fear of the Taliban’s influence spilling over into adjoining countries is of grave concern. It’s also the responsibility of the international community to ensure a democratic future for Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban’s affirmations of maintaining peace and respecting human rights, regional and global players must urge the Taliban to commit to basic principles, and form an inclusive government. The uncertain circumstances and Taliban’s brutal past practices demand an internationally recognized observer mission to be sent to Afghanistan in order to keep a check on any possible violation of humanitarian and security issues.

It’s also the responsibility of the international community to ensure a democratic future for Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban’s affirmations of maintaining peace and respecting human rights, regional and global players must urge the Taliban to commit to basic principles, and form an inclusive government. The uncertain circumstances and Taliban’s brutal past practices demand an internationally recognized observer mission to be sent to Afghanistan in order to keep a check on any possible violation of humanitarian and security issues

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Freshwater scarcity DeAR SIR, freshwater scarcity is a reality which is threatening the sustainable development of human society. earth’s hydrological (water) cycle has been interrupted by the climate change that makes water-scarce regions of the world drier, and makes the other already-wet regions wetter. Recent reports show that two-thirds of the global population is already experiencing water scarcity for at least one month of the year. however, I believe that it is never too late to take small steps and make a huge difference. every drop will count when you try! The good news is that these alarming facts are being considered, and stakeholders and the general public around the world are all agreeing to take action. Various agencies are putting together policies relevant to sustainable development. equally important, the international scientific community is working to bring more solutions. Finally, and most importantly, increased public awareness and pressure means that there is still hope for a sustainable future. AzmEEnA SirAj KArAchi

Inflation is being exploited

400 men, 800 eyes, and one woman Another incident revealing the flaws of society mohammaD jamal ahmeD

N the Independence Day of Pakistan, 2021, a devastating incident took place. Several videos have surfaced of the horrific assault. A woman was making her TikTok near Minar-e-Pakistan, hundreds of men swarmed the victim, tearing her clothes, molesting, groping, and tossing her in the air. Those standing by decided to make videos rather than intervene. The despicable occurrence went on for an hour before some people finally managed to save her. The tragic event has put every citizen to shame as a wave of utter helplessness and anger has descended upon the country. But what has emboldened these protectors of women to carry out such gross violations in broad daylight? From ‘men are not robots’ to a twisted perception of religion, a plethora of factors have played a role that resulted in this dreadful incident. The extent of the rotten mentality that plagues this nation can be determined by the comments on these videos. Although some are expressing their solidarity for the victim, these remarks, however, are overshadowed by a substantial number of comments justifying this horrific incident. The blame, once again, is being put on the victim rather than the assailants. Questions regarding her dress and whether she was alone outnumbered those expressing sympathy. The accomplices who often justify these kinds of events do it under the garb of religion. Devoid of any empathy, the self-righteous attitude blinds them to the pain of the victim; they believe the victim brought this upon themselves. By laying the responsibility of modesty solely on women, they absolve themselves from guilt and accountability. And when the leader of the nation himself states that men are not robots, they feel validated and empowered. Suddenly, it is men who are the victim of such a fahaash society and not women. Whereas Antonia Abbey, a social psychologist at Wayne State University, tells us that men who blame their victim rather than expressing remorse are more likely to commit the deed again. Since the blame does not lie with them, they feel like they haven’t done anything wrong. Consequently, one factor that remains prevalent in all men who have raped or harassed women is that they do not view themselves as the problem.

Such men enthusiastically call for the veiling of all women but forget what the Quran commands them. Before enjoining modesty upon women, in the 30th verse of Surah Nur - God orders men to lower their gaze and guard their carnal desires. Yet every time our preachers talk about humility, they seem to suffer a wave of amnesia and forget the responsibility of men. It is like what Manto said : Aap duniya ki tamam aurton ko burqa pehna dain phir bhi hisaab ap ko apni ankhon ka dena hoga -( You can cover up every woman in the world but you will still have to answer for your eyes). Another key factor is the misogynistic nature of our patriarchal society. By propagating the narrative that men are somehow superior to women in all aspects, street harassment has reached epidemic proportions. Considered to be a source of amusement for most men, ogling women remains the most common form of public harassment. From inappropriate remarks and gestures to stalking, every woman at some point in her life has suffered sexual harassment. Men also consider harassment as their spiritual right to enforce strict segregation in society. Repeated justifications like ‘that’s what boys do’ and ‘they do it to everyone’ have only trivialized these incidents as a normal part of life. Most families take the harassment done by the male members lightly and laugh it off. This culture has promoted the feeling of invincibility in the male assailants. hence, they consider it their right to have fun at the expense of the vulnerable section of society. In addition to this tradition, the culture of reducing women to sexual objects dehumanizes them as “fantasy sex objects without per-

sonal sexual boundaries” as explained by Shawn Burn, a psychology professor at California Polytechnic State University. Moreover, when victims are not given justice and the offender walks scot-free, it entails traumatic ramifications for the women. From adverse effects on mental health to diminishing self-worth, women often blame themselves for being helpless in the face of such events. They lose faith in society and suffer extensive psychological distress. It includes feelings of frustration, helplessness, shame, nervousness, and depression. Although there are laws that offer protection to women against harassment and sexual abuse, such cases rarely come to light. either to protect the ‘honour’ of the family or because of the general perception that the police are part of the problem, not the solution. Lacking protection from the law and society has only aggravated the situation to the point where a mob felt emboldened enough to commit this horrific incident. When a woman is raped on the motorway, the question is raised why she was traveling at night. When she is harassed in broad daylight, the question is raised why she was not at home. When she is molested by her family members at home, there is a deafening silence. Maybe the cognitive dissonance is too much to bear. The real question is– how many more examples do we need before we realize that there is a big problem in the way we view and treat women? The culture has ingrained violence and harassment and there is a need for immediate reeducation and strict accountability. The state needs to play a proactive role to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

The real question is– how many more examples do we need before we realize that there is a big problem in the way we view and treat women? The culture has ingrained violence and harassment and there is a need for immediate reeducation and strict accountability. The state needs to play a proactive role to prevent such incidents from happening in the future

The writer is a freelance columnist

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

Disordered minds in power BOTh Trump and Johnson have what the Irish physicist and psychologist Ian hughes calls “disordered minds”. Trump is a chronic liar, a purveyor of racism, and a large-scale tax cheat. US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his 22-month investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign described repeated cases of Trump’s obstruction of justice. Trump stands accused by more than 20 women of sexual predation, a behavior he bragged about on tape, and directed his attorney to make illegal payments of hush money that constituted campaign finance violations. Johnson’s personal behavior is similarly incontinent. he is widely regarded as a chronic liar and as unkempt in personal life, including two failed marriages and an apparent domestic altercation on the eve of becoming the prime minister. he has been repeatedly fired from jobs for lying and other disreputable behavior. he led the Brexit campaign in 2016 on claims that have been proven false. As British Foreign Secretary, he twice leaked secret intelligence – in one case, French intelligence about Libya, and in another case British intelligence about Iran. Like Trump, he has a high disapproval rating among all age groups, and his approval ratings rise with voter age. nAvEEd AbbAS mAitlo iSlAmAbAd

Health problems in Pakistan UNDOUBTeDLY, with better health alone, one can perform, contribute, and play their part in the socio-economic progress and advancement of the country. On the contrary, in a condition of poor health one cannot contribute well to the country’s development. It is disheartening that quality healthcare in Pakistan is a distant dream. Almost all public hospitals lack the very basic facilities. every health center is facing an acute shortage of beds, experienced doctors, quality medicines, and kind support Pakistan, being a developing country, is facing a number of flaws in the health sector.Although the medical field has been targeted as a means of quick earning from the sick blood of poor patients. Through all the channels of social life, from government to the private hospitals ,we find health being sold on amount of money. The government is spending billions of rupees yearly on the health sector yet we only get poor infrastructure in hospitals led by poor management. One may occasionally and fortunately find cleanliness, punctuality, and a proper use of equipment in the so-called government hospitals. All these flaws are caused because of private clinics which provide a better environment and healthy medication only to those who can afford it. In first world countries the first step that a doctor takes in treatment is getting to know first hand the patient’s family background as well as their medical history. Moreover, they bring patients in a psychologically strong situation that he/she may fight the disease boldly. In Pakistan there is no rule of law for so-called better health. Doctors do not even comprehend the nature of patient and advise overdose to a psychologically weak patient that makes them more sick. Moreover, doctors are highly paid to provide selected expensive medicine on which they are paid heavy amount of percentage and various so-called gifts. At a larger scale the doctors keep an inexperienced nursing staff which takes charge in their absence.Similarly, unspecialised doctors who do not possess a valid medical degree, operate illegal clinics that lead to an unhealthy life. Due to all these flaws including poverty and high fees of private clinics the patient indulges in self-medication which results in a harmful situation later. It also may be because of common selling of medicine without the approval of a doctor. Concluding the message, the medical authorities and the health sector should ensure fair accountability through proper selection of an experienced staff, well-formed structure of hospitals, breakdown of private clinics, and proper selling of legal medicines. uzAir bin jAlil ShiKArpur

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

WhAt to WAtch for Amid reports of An Anti-tAlibAn movement in AfghAnistAn

stratfor WorldvieW

EVERAL unconfirmed reports indicate former Afghan Vice President Amrullah saleh and Ahmad Massoud, the son of the renowned Afghan resistance hero Ahmad shah Massoud, are rallying anti-Taliban forces in the former Northern Alliance stronghold of the Panjshir Valley — bringing into question the Taliban’s ability to govern the entire country mere days after seizing Kabul. saleh declared himself as the “caretaker president” of the legitimate government of Afghanistan on Aug. 15 after former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in the wake of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul. The following day, photos emerged of saleh meeting with Massoud in the Panjshir Valley, which has repeatedly proven difficult terrain to conquer and remains outside Taliban control. some reports suggest Afghanistan’s former defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, is also joining saleh and Massoud, in addition to several other former Northern Alliance fighters and elements of the Afghan security forces. saleh had close relations with Massoud’s father Ahmad shah Massoud, who fought from the Panjshir Valley against the soviet occupation from 197989, earning him the name “The Lion of the Panjshir.” The elder Massoud also served in the Afghan government as defense minister beginning in 1992, before going on to colead Northern Alliance forces against Taliban rule. He was assassinated by al Qaeda days before the 9/11 attacks in 2001, in part to shore up support from the Taliban for the expected U.s. reprisal. • Tajiks from the Afghan security forces have allegedly arrived in the Panjshir Valley as well with heavy equipment and vehicles, bolstering potential resistance forces. • The Massoud family name widely resonates in Afghanistan, with the sept. 9 anniversary of Ahmad shah Massoud’s death commemorated annually. While they remain unconfirmed, the reports of a budding anti-Taliban movement would fit a logical pattern in Afghanistan. some members of the Afghan government and security forces have fled the country, and

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MAY BLOCK THE TALIBAN FROM ACCESSING AFGHAN MONIES ABROAD, BUT IT IS NOT ASSURED THAT A GOVERNMENT IN EXILE OR A RESISTANCE MOVEMENT WOULD BE ALLOWED ACCESS TO THOSE FUNDS

others have entered into negotiations with the Taliban. However, we would still expect to see others continue to resist Taliban rule through political and military means. The Taliban anticipated resistance, particularly from ethnic Tajiks (Tajik areas of Afghanistan remained largely outside of Taliban control in the 1990s). Taliban forces moved across northern areas of the country before swinging south to surround Kabul in order to disrupt the potential for organized opposition or the reconstitution of a Northern Alliance force. The Taliban reportedly left Jamaat Ansarullah, the so-called Tajik Taliban, in charge of the border with Tajikistan in an effort to split ethnic support for anti-Taliban operations (a tactic seen in many countries, most notably Myanmar, where the military has long pitted ethnic militia against their anti-government compatriots). This also potentially limits any Northern Alliance forces from resupply and recuperation in neighboring Tajikistan. Taliban forces will continue to focus on

the Panjshir Valley, even as they negotiate the final transition in Kabul. There are some reports that the younger Massoud may already be in discussions with the Taliban, which would counter reports of the formation of a new anti-Taliban militia. Massoud, in a recent interview with the Atlantic Council, had raised the potential for some accommodation with the Taliban, and perhaps a federalist structure for rule in Afghanistan. It is possible such ideas are part of the ongoing negotiations in Kabul and Oman regarding the next government of Afghanistan. While this would require some concessions from the Taliban, it would also reduce the likelihood of a continuing civil war, at least in the near term. WHAT TO WATCH FOR As we monitor the situation, we have several outstanding questions we are addressing to determine the significance of opposition to the Taliban and the likelihood of expanded national conflict: Is the reported resistance in the Panjshir

Valley defensive or offensive? • If the reports of a new resistance movement are true, it poses a significant challenge to the Taliban’s control and its search for international legitimacy. The Panjshir Valley provides a strong redoubt for a resistance movement, and while the Taliban claims to control all border crossings and most of the territory between the valley and the border, it is difficult to quell all movement of personnel and goods along the frontier. • The resistance activity could also be more of a defensive operation, with the Panjshir Valley serving as a gathering place for those fleeing the Taliban or resisting Taliban control. There are reports, for example, of ethnic Hazara shias moving into the valley to shelter from the Taliban. This would present a persistent problem for the Taliban, but not necessarily an unmanageable one, at least in the near term. While the Panjshir Valley is difficult terrain to conquer, the same strength of limited accessibility can be a liability, enabling the Taliban to largely bottle up the resistance within a single geographic area. • If this is about building a base for future operations against the Taliban, then we are likely to first see anti-Taliban forces move to the north to open up the border with Tajikistan and establish lines of communication outside Afghanistan to ensure resupply and perhaps even personnel and training. It is possible that the Panjshir Valley first provides a defensive position before later becoming a base of operations for the counter-push against the Taliban, at least in the north. From the Taliban’s perspective, it is vital to deny the opposition, either defensively or offensively, the freedom to use the strategic and symbolic Panjshir Valley. How coherent is this nascent resistance movement? • One of the main challenges of the

Afghan government and security forces has been the inability to overcome ethnic, tribal and political differences. The old Northern Alliance was able to coalesce around opposition to a single enemy and the new resistance may be able to do the same against the Taliban. However, it is not certain that all opposition leaders are equally committed to active resistance. Disagreements about an end goal would provide a space for the Taliban to exploit. • At the same time, the Taliban, in losing their single enemy (the United states and other foreign forces) may face their own challenges of internal cohesion, providing opportunities for anti-Taliban forces to exploit. This could be further exacerbated if central Taliban leadership seeks to enforce their promise of not allowing Afghanistan to be used as a base to attack neighboring countries. This could, in turn, pit the Afghan Taliban against their allies in the south — namely, al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIs) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — shifting their focus away from the northern areas. • What level of external support is there for a militant resistance movement or an Afghan government in exile? • While there is general international criticism of Taliban rule, there is also apparent exhaustion in fighting in the Afghan conflict. Overt foreign support for a resistance movement inside Afghanistan could keep foreign powers on a terrorist attack list, something that would be weighed against the perceived benefits of supporting another Afghan insurgency. Russia and China are both seeking stability in Afghanistan, and the United states is trying to refocus its attention to the Indo-Pacific. Other regional powers like India would also need to weigh the costs and benefits of active support, as would bordering states that would most likely see spillover. Is active foreign support necessary in the early phases of resistance? • If the new counter-Taliban movement has elements of the Afghan security forces, it also likely has access to sufficient arms and ammunition, at least in the near term. In addition, Afghanistan is notorious for being a haven for arms smuggling, providing another avenue for necessary supplies to move. • The international community may block the Taliban from accessing Afghan monies abroad, but it is not assured that a government in exile or a resistance movement would be allowed access to those funds. saleh’s recent move to declare himself as the leader of Afghanistan’s legitimate government may be an attempt to ensure access to those accounts.

While German gymnasts are praised, Muslim women are scorned for modest dress THE AGENCY, RESISTANCE AND LEADERSHIP OF MUSLIM WOMEN IS ROUTINELY IGNORED BY MAINSTREAM GLOBAL NEWS MEDIA

Middle east eye

Shabana Mir

s a Muslim woman and feminist, I am both happy and puzzled by the generous outpouring of support for the German women’s gymnastics team at the Olympics. Rather than the usual uniform of bikini-cut leotards, they opted for full-body leotards, which cover their legs and ankles. The team spoke confidently of spearheading gender reform in athletics globally, as women athletes assert control in decisions relating to their bodies and attire. According to German artistic gymnast sarah Voss, 21: “We hope gymnasts uncomfortable in the usual outfits will feel emboldened to follow our example.” Gymnast Elisabeth seitz, 27, added: “We wanted to show that every woman, everybody, should decide what to wear.” The German gymnastics team’s sartorial decision was warmly welcomed by the world's media. News reports offered vigorous support and articulated every possible rationale for the women’s decision. Key to their framing was the issue of abuse by male sporting authorities, especially by the former UsA Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar. Vogue published “The Powerful story Behind the German Gymnastics Team’s Unitards”, while a BBC article was headlined: “German gymnasts’ outfits take on sexualisation in sport.” In sportBible, Max sherry wrote: “By wearing the unitard, the German competitors hope to protect against ‘sexualisa-

tion in gymnastics’ - something that has been a hot topic in recent years following the sexual abuse scandal involving disgraced former Team UsA doctor Larry Nassar.” CHORUS OF CELEBRATION Reuters wrote about the team “receiving accolades for donning the outfits in the past in a stand against the sexualisation of their sport”. Buzzfeed said: “Germany’s Olympic Gymnastics Team Just Made A strong statement Against sexualisation In sport”, with Isha Bassi writing that “although no rules were broken, this was a huge step forward in allowing athletes to compete and wear whatever they feel comfortable in - as long as it allows them to perform to the best of their abilities.” It is a chorus of celebration, with not a naysayer to be found. Everyone in the news media has been practically falling over each other to offer support to the German gymnasts in their fight against sexualised attire in sports. The support is unprecedented. The struggle is not. Along with many other Muslim women, I wonder about the feelings of Muslim women athletes, who have been kicked out of sporting events for body-covering clothing or head coverings. Tell these Muslim athletes that the German gymnasts are being celebrated, and they may ask: Is “girl power” a function of who these women are, white and European? Are Muslim women also celebrated for their choices when they resist sexist rules and demand control over their apparel and bodies? Quite the opposite. In 2011, the Iranian women’s football team was summarily disqualified by FIFA because of their head coverings. They certainly did not get the same reception as the German gymnasts. The Iranian team was heartbroken at losing this opportunity and wept openly. Global solidarity was thin on the ground. I wrote about this 10 years ago, when I encountered little concern for sexualisation in sport and women’s agency in the news.

DISDAINFUL COVERAGE Compare the ringing endorsements bestowed upon the German team with the cold, disdainful coverage of the Iranian athletes. CBs reported from FIFA’s perspective, saying: “Iran’s women’s team was correctly prevented from playing a 2012 Olympics qualifier wearing Islamic head scarves. Iranian officials were ‘informed thoroughly’ before Friday’s match against Jordan that the hijab scarf is banned for safety reasons.” CNN likewise reported the actions and statement of FIFA, with no attempts to interview the Iranian women as the German gymnasts were interviewed. While there were a few voices vociferously calling out discrimination against Muslim women for attire, by and large, Muslim women simply were not seen as capable of resistance. Only when white European women took on athletic uniforms did it become a worthy cause. A rare voice for justice and equity in sports, Dave Zirin on Al Jazeera demanded of FIFA: “Let them play.” The Us sportswriter exposed former FIFA president sepp Blatter’s objections to the Iranian uniform as baseless, reporting that Blatter “proposed in 2004 that women players wear ‘hot pants’ on the pitch to boost the sport’s popularity. He said that the ‘tighter shorts’ would produce ‘a more female aesthetic’.” Why would such a man have authority over women’s sports? But Zirin’s voice is a rare one. As another brilliant sportswriter, shireen Ahmed, wrote for TRT World: “One of the main reasons that hijab bans and those who fight them have not been garnering attention is because the media does not report on it.” Ahmed has written for years on how athletic organisations fail to offer uniform accommodations, especially in the case of the hijab. she critiques news coverage for its inequalities, as “the gaps in connecting struggles of Muslim women athletes who are victims of the same systems of misogyny, to women who

look like the Norwegian beach handball team, remain vast and immeasurable”. SARTORIAL RESISTANCE The resistance of racialised women athletes is not of interest to the news media. Their sartorial resistance against sexualisation is not read as resistance and agency, but as subjugation. A white German gymnast refuses to wear a bikini-cut leotard, and she is framed as a “girl boss”. A Black Muslim woman like the former college basketball player Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir demands uniform accommodations, and the rulebook is thrown at her, with zero regard for her perspective. Muslim women’s sartorial choices are interpreted as oppression. sports sociologist Nida Ahmad says that coverage of Muslim women “relies on antiquated tropes on oppression of Muslim women”. This gendered Islamophobia is the frame that determines Muslim women’s sartorial resistance as unworthy of widespread solidarity or celebration. In a Mashable article, siobhan Neelastock described some historical highlights of female athletes bucking sexist sartorial demands, culminating in the German gymnastics team. Not a single woman on her list was Muslim, despite their long, unacknowledged struggle against sporting attire. (Neela-stock did include a brief reference to Muslim female athletes’ uniforms, with a link to my Twitter thread on the subject.) A few Muslim women have written about double standards on sports apparel. saba Fatima has examined the difference between how Muslim and non-Muslim women are treated in sporting attire. “Why,” she asks, “is the Muslim case so different for Western non-Muslim feminists?” In UsA Today, Anushay Hossain asks: “Why do we so fiercely support the right of white women to cover but not of Black or brown women to do the same?” In the Flock, Mariam Khan points to how the German gymnasts and the Norwegian beach handball

team were celebrated and defended in the press (the Norwegian handball team was fined for wearing shorts rather than tiny bikini bottoms at the Euro 2021 tournament): “The solidarity shown to both teams has been widely publicised - the singer Pink even stepped in to offer to pay Norway’s fines. And yet, still, Muslim women live an entirely different reality.” WIDESPREAD DISCRIMINATION While the German gymnasts are praised for being courageous and avant garde, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled just last month that private employers may discriminate against women who wear religious clothing. Across Europe, Muslim women face widespread legal, political and popular acts of discrimination for wearing the burqa, hijab, burqini, or even just modest clothing. The sight of several armed French police officers surrounding a Muslim woman wearing a burqini at a Nice beach, watching as she removed a long-sleeved tunic, is burned into the minds of Muslims worldwide. In Germany, where the female gymnasts are fighting sexualisation with international support, there are partial bans on the hijab and burqa, affecting teachers and students. Consider how European Muslim women are slammed with discrimination at the highest and lowest levels, and Muslim female athletes kicked out of sporting events for full-body clothing. Juxtapose them with the German gymnastics team: white women with agency and power, pushing the limits of athletic attire, and leading the way for many more women to come. Except these white European women did not lead the way. But Muslim women’s agency, power, resistance and leadership simply do not compute as reality for mainstream global news media. They do not see us. No matter what we do, they see the ghosts they themselves conjure, and nothing we do convinces them that we are real. ShabanaMirisanassociateprofessor anddirectoroftheUndergraduateEducation at the American Islamic College, Chicago.Sheisauthorof"MuslimAmerican WomenonCampus:UndergraduateSocial LifeandIdentity".

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ISLAMABAD

CPPA SeekS HIke In POweR PRICe by RS1.47 PeR unIT ISLAMABAD

Taliban will have access to 0.2pc of central bank assets: Ahmady STAFF REPORT

AHMAD AHMADANI

ENTRAL Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to approve an increase in the price of electricity by Rs1.47 per unit on account of the fuel cost adjustment for the month of July 2021. CPPA, on behalf of power distributing companies (DISCOs) except K-Electric, has requested NEPRA to increase the electricity price by Rs1.4687 per kWh. NEPRA is scheduled to hold a hearing in this regard on September 1, 2021.

Earlier, NEPRA approved Rs5.27 per unit as Reference Fuel Cost (RFC) for July 2021. However, the CPPA has now informed the authority (NEPRA) that the actual fuel cost remained at Rs6.74 per unit in July 2021. As per details, total power production in July was more than 15 billion units. Of the total power production in July, hydel sources constituted 29.94 per cent, while 15.209 per cent and 10.28 per cent of the electricity was generated using coal and expansive furnace oil respectively. Similarly, the respective shares of power generated through local gas, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), nuclear sources, wind sources, solar, bagasse and High-Speed Diesel (HSD) stood at 8.68

per cent, 20.01 per cent, 10.59 per cent, 3.51 per cent, 0.39 per cent, 0.29 per cent and 0.79 per cent, respectively, of the total power production in the month. According to section 31(7) of the NEPRA Act (XL of 1997) and the mechanism for monthly fuel price adjustment prescribed by the authority in the tariff determination of ex-WAPDA distribution companies, the authority may on a monthly basis adjust the approved tariff on account of any variations in the fuel charges and policy guidelines issued by the federal government. NEPRA, in a public notice, has invited all the interested/affected parties to raise written/oral objections as permissible under the law at the public hearing.

PESHAWAR

The governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan has predicted an increase in the rate of inflation in Afghanistan and clarified that at present, the total national assets were worth more than $9 billion, but the Taliban will have access to only 0.1-0.2 per cent of these assets. Releasing details on his Twitter accounts, Central Bank of Afghanistan Governor Ajmal Ahmady said that according to the bank's international reserves, the total assets were more than $9 billion a few weeks ago, but that does not mean that the bank has $9 billion in cash as by international standards, most of the assets are secured. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently approved an allocation of $650 billion for the country, with the first tranche of about $340 million to be disbursed in August. It is, however, unclear whether it will be disbursed after the Taliban seized the country. “Given that the Taliban are not yet on the international recognition list, it is expected that these assets will be frozen and inaccessible to the Taliban," Ahmady said. The central bank governor added that he can't imagine a scenario where the treasury gives the Taliban access to its funds. Therefore, the Taliban will have access to hardly 0.1 to 0.2 per cent of Afghanistan's . “Moreover, without the approval of the treasury, it was unlikely that any of the donors will support the Taliban government,” he said, adding that the cash flow was close to zero as the security situation had deteriorated. Before the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Saturday, it was hoped that a large consignment of US dollars would be received, but it was not forthcoming and citizens were converting their money into US dollars due to which Afghan currency dropped to 86 against the dollar. "All assets are kept in FED, BIS, Ramp, or other bank accounts. We had a programme with both the IMF and the treasury that monitored the assets,” Ahmady said. The central bank governor further said that the Taliban and their supporters should have realised now that after seizing the capital, they have to govern the country now which is not an easy job. He warned that problems in the country will further increase, inflation will rise and it will hurt the poor as food prices have already started inflating.

PARCO board appoints Irteza Qureshi as new managing director ISLAMABAD:

ADB approves $235m loan to upgrade Pakistan’s national highway PROJECT WILL INVOLVE CONSTRUCTION OF BUS STOPS, EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTRES AND TRAFFIC POLICE FACILITIES TO ENSURE ROAD SAFETY AND EFFICIENT POST-CRASH RESPONSE ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday approved a $235 million loan to further upgrade the 222-kilometre Shikarpur–Rajanpur section of the National Highway 55 (N55) from two lanes into a four-lane carriageway. N55 is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Corridor-5 which links the ports of Karachi and Gwadar with national and international economic centres in the north. The project will involve the construction of bus stops, emergency response centres, and traffic police facilities to ensure road safety and efficient post-crash re-

sponse. Bus stops and emergency response centres will have gender-separated facilities and rest spaces for various users, including the elderly, women, children, and persons with disabilities. The loan is the second tranche of a multi-tranche financing facility designed to provide technical and financial assistance to upgrade N55 and enhance the capacity of the National Highway Authority (NHA). The first tranche of $180 million was approved in September 2017 and financed the improvement of three sections totalling 143 kilometres in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). “This project will increase the capacity of a busy highway section that passes through populous economic centres in Sindh

and Punjab,” said ADB Transport Specialist Rika Idei. “The project addresses key road safety issues, climate resilience and genderspecific needs to ensure that users can travel safely and comfortably. This will facilitate the regional movement of goods and people and support Pakistan’s economic recovery from COVID-19.” The project will also help strengthen the capacity of the (NHA) by supporting a five-year training program which was prepared with assistance from the United States Agency for International Development. The training programme will cover road project operation, maintenance, design, and gender concerns and will be implemented from 2021 to 2025. Pakistan is a member of the CAREC Programme, a partnership of 11 countries to promote economic growth and sustainable development through regional cooperation. CAREC is supported by development partners including ADB, which serves as the secretariat for the CAREC Programme.

Government’s top priority is to boost exports: FM Tarin

STAFF REPORT

The Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) board has appointed Irteza Qureshi as the new Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the company. The new DMD would assume charge of his office during the first week of September 2021. Qureshi is currently engaged with the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He has been working for the organization for the past six years. As per details, Qureshi is a UK qualified Chartered Accountant with diverse experience in private and public sectors and multinational organizations within and outside Pakistan. PARCO is a joint venture (JV) between the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, incorporated as a public limited company in 1974. GoP holds 60 per cent of the shareholding while 40 per cent of the shares are held by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi through its Mubadala Investment Company.

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin Friday said that the Pakistani economy was moving towards the right path and now the government’s focus was on enhancing exports. The finance minister gave these remarks in a meeting with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail at the Governor House in Karachi. The governor and the finance minister also discussed the acknowledgement of Pakistan’s economic development by international organisations. The government has now decided to prioritise

expediting the economic process by increasing the level of exports, it was said in the meeting. Governor Ismail also appreciated the incentives given by the Ministry of Finance during Covid-19 to protect domestic businesses. He further added that the success of Roshan Digital Accounts had helped with the progress of the economy. The Sindh governor also assured that the federal government was giving high priority to the ease of doing business. The meeting, also attended by Member National Assembly Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, concluded with a detailed discussion on the country’s overall economic situation.

SHC dismisses case on track and trace award for lack of jurisdiction ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the case pertaining to the award of millions of dollars worth of track and trace project. The bidder, SICPA SA, had challenged the FBR’s grievance committee’s order with regard to giving Rs120 million track and trace project to M/s AJCL for monitoring of tobacco, sugar, cement and fertiliser. The Swiss-based company through its counsel had stated that the bidding process was tainted and lacked transparency as the sole purpose was to award the license to a predetermined party to the exclusion of others. On the other hand, the order states that M/s AJCL has also raised some objections on the maintainability of suit and territorial jurisdiction of this court through filing an application. AJCL pleaded that tender was floated from Islamabad while all bids were received and evaluated by the licensing committee based in the federal capital, therefore, their orders cannot be challenged in SHC. SHC’s Justice Kausar Sultan in her decision conceded that the Sindh High Court had no territorial jurisdiction to pass an order on track and trace award and accepted the plea of AJCL as well as FBR on the matter. It is pertinent to mention here that FBR had granted the project to the AJCL consortium as it secured 182.93 marks while NIFT and SICPA achieved 163.96 and 162.58 marks, respectively. It is also worth mentioning here that the IMF has also directed Pakistan to implement the track and trace system by June 2021 but owing to court orders, the government missed this deadline. FBR is optimistic to collect Rs100 billion revenue by implementing this project during the ongoing fiscal year.

Pakistan’s marketing expenditures on international trade fall 16pc ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

Pakistan’ marketing expenditures for international trade and exhibitions fell down to 33 per cent (Rs355 million), from 49 per cent (Rs 539 Million) from 2014-2019. This was revealed in the performance audit report on the export market development fund of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). Documents state that TDAP mandate is to improve market access through advertising the government on matters related to trade diplomacy and promoting

the business image of Pakistan in key export markets. The annual federal grant to TDAP has remained almost stagnant, at around Rs1 billion for the last many years. According to the documents seen by this scribe, the pay and establishment charges have gone up from 51 per cent to 67 per cent (Rs561 million to Rs719 million), whereas the expenditures on marketing, which is mostly in foreign exchange, has gone down from 49 per cent to Rs33 per cent (Rs539 million to Rs355 million). The TDAP marketing and promotional activities mainly comprise participation of

Pakistan exporters in international trade fairs, holding local exhibitions, taking exporters delegation abroad, managing incoming delegation and seminars and marketing resources. According to details, almost 80 per cent of the total marketing and promotional expenditure is on holding international exhibitions and fairs. The audit department also revealed that more than 50 per cent of total marketing and promotional expenditures on international exhibitions and trade fairs was spent in Frankfurt, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong, Rome and Moscow.

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ISLAMABAD

Malaysia's New pRiMe MiNisteR bRiNgs gRaft-taiNted paRty bacK to poweR KUALA LUMPUR

ReuteRs

ALAySIA'S king appointed Ismail Sabri yaakob as the prime minister on Friday, returning the job to a party tainted by graft accusations as the southeast Asian nation grapples with a Covid-19 surge and an economic slump. Ismail Sabri replaces Muhyiddin yassin, who stepped down on Monday after coalition infighting cost him his majority, but the new prime minister's backing by the same alliance raises concerns that he will also lead an unstable government. Ismail Sabri is to be sworn in on Saturday, the palace said, after he secured a slim majority with the backing of 114 of parliament's 222 members. "His Majesty expressed the hope that with the appointment of the new prime minister, the political crisis can end immediately and all lawmakers can unite to put aside political agendas," it said in a statement. King Al-Sultan Abdullah has

previously said the new prime minister would have to face a confidence vote in parliament to prove his majority. Ismail Sabri's appointment restores the post to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysia's 'grand old party', which was voted out in a 2018 general election, after a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. He becomes Malaysia's third prime minister since the 2018 election, after UMNO pulled its backing for Muhyiddin last month, citing his failure to manage the pandemic. "With a razor-thin majority, he will need to make sure he does not face rebellions of those who are eyeing his position," said Sivamurugan Pandian, a political analyst at the Malaysian Science University. Ismail Sabri, who was Muhyiddin's deputy and one of the ministers who helped fight the pandemic, takes over at a time when Malaysia's infections and deaths per million rank as the region's highest. Friday's 23,564 cases represented a third straight day of record infections, carrying the tally beyond

1.5 million. A trained lawyer and member of parliament since 2004, Ismail Sabri has been minister for rural and regional development, agriculture and domestic trade in previous governments. Markets had little immediate reaction. The ringgit currency, which has been pressured by the political instability and the pandemic, held steady. tHe return oF uMno: Malaysia has been in a state of political flux since the defeat of UMNO, which had governed for more than 60 years since independence. Two coalitions have collapsed since then because of the infighting. Mahathir Mohamad led the opposition to a historic election victory for the first time, but his alliance collapsed from infighting. Muhyiddin then put together a coalition with parties that had been defeated in the polls, including UMNO, but it, too, proved fragile, as the party balked at playing second fiddle. Corruption could worsen under UMNO's leadership, with no guarantee of the stability its past

governments brought, said Alex Holmes, emerging Asia economist at Capital Economics. "Having an unreformed UMNO back at the centre of power hardly bodes well for the future," he added.

UMNO politicians facing corruption charges include president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former premier Najib Razak, who was convicted last year over a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Develop-

ment Berhad (1MDB). Both men deny wrongdoing. They remain highly influential and were among the UMNO lawmakers who pulled support from Muhyiddin.

Aid struggles to reach remote areas of Haiti quake zone MARCELINE ReuteRs

Damaged or impassable roads were complicating efforts on Friday to deliver aid to more remote parts of Haiti devastated by an earthquake last weekend that killed more than 2,000 people. On the main inland mountain road between the southwestern city of Les Cayes and Jeremie to its northwest, two of the hardest hit urban areas, landslides and cracks in the tarmac made it harder to dispatch aid to farming communities now grappling with food insecurity and access to potable water. The route was littered with boulders and the occasional stranded truck, according to a Reuters reporter. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti is

UK sanctions 7 Russian intelligence agents over Navalny poisoning

of houses. The air smelled of decomposing bodies, and residents said that at least one woman who lived in one of the buildings was still missing. Many of the hospitals remained saturated in the worst-hit areas of Haiti. In Les Cayes' airport, helicopters ferried the injured to the capital, Port-auPrince. The recent kidnapping of two doctors in the capital, including one of the few trained orthopedic surgeons in the country, has further impeded recovery efforts. Some hospitals decided to shut down temporarily in protest, demanding that the gangs free the doctors, local media reported. "(The kidnapping) paralyzes the care that the hospital was beginning to provide to earthquake victims," Radio RFM said, citing the large Bernard Mevs hospital, where the orthopedic surgeon worked.

Taliban not as they were 20 years ago, says Afghan expert DOHA

LONDON

AnAdolu Agency

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The past couple of weeks have seen the Taliban making headlines with their rapid takeover of Afghanistan, which has generated mixed reactions from governments and different segments of society. Ahmad Muwaffaq Zaidan, an expert on Afghan affairs, believes the Taliban today are different from what they were 20 years ago following their rigorous contact with the world. “The scenes we have seen in how Taliban entered Kabul and other cities, and how they have been dealing with state institutions, are reassuring to both Afghan people and the world,” Zaidan, author of “The Long Summer of Afghanistan,” told Anadolu Agency in an interview. He continued, “Compare this entry with the barbarism of (the international coalition led by Washington) entering Baghdad (in 2003), and even with protesters entering Capitol Hall (Congress building) during the days of (former US President Donald) Trump.” After quickly overrunning smaller administrative districts and provincial hubs, Taliban fighters on Sunday entered the Afghan capital Kabul and seized power, taking control of the country for the first time in almost 20 years. The government quickly folded, with President Ashraf Ghani and other key officials fleeing to safety abroad. So far, the Taliban have announced a general amnesty for state employees, encouraged women to participate in its prospective government, and pledged that Afghan soil would not be a springboard for harming any country, which

Britain on Friday sanctioned seven men it said were Russian intelligence operatives suspected of involvement in the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, describing the move as a warning to Russia over its use of chemical weapons. Navalny was flown to Germany for medical treatment after being poisoned in Siberia on August 20 last year with what Western experts concluded was a military nerve agent. Moscow has rejected their findings and accused the West of a smear campaign against it. An updated version of the British sanctions list published by the government on the first anniversary of Navalny's poisoning included seven new names. "The sanctioned individuals are directly responsible for planning or carrying out the attack on Mr Navalny," a foreign office statement said. The action was taken in concert with the United States. "We are sending a clear message that any use of chemical weapons by the Russian state violates international law, and a transparent criminal investigation must be held," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. The sanctions will affect those named who have overseas assets and limit their ability to travel. The document listed Alexey Alexandrov, Vladimir Panyaev, Ivan Osipov, Vladimir Bogdanov, Kirill Vasilyev, Stanislav Makshakov and Alexei Sedov. It said they were all FSB members either directly or indirectly involved in the poisoning. Neither the Kremlin nor any of those named offered any immediate comment. The document cited evidence including phone and travel records showing some of the operatives were present in Tomsk at the time of the poisoning. For others it said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that, due to their positions in the intelligence service, they had "responsibility for, provided support for, or promoted the actions of the operatives who carried out the operation". Navalny was jailed for parole violations on what he says were politically motivated charges when he flew back to Russia earlier this year from Germany. A joint statement by Britain and the United States reiterated their condemnation of the poisoning, which they say was carried out with the Novichok nerve agent. "We call on Russia to comply fully with the Chemical Weapons Convention, including its obligations to declare and dismantle its chemical weapons programme," the statement said.

still recovering from a 2010 quake that killed over 200,000 people. The country was pitched into deeper instability last month by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, by what authorities say was a group of largely Colombian mercenaries. A powerful storm that hit Haiti earlier in the week, triggering landslides, has also made it harder to find victims of last Saturday's quake, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes and claimed the lives of at least 2,189 people. It also injured 12,200 people and the casualty toll is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue, authorities say. In the village of Marceline, 25 km (16 miles) north of Les Cayes, a dozen residents were digging out a vast pile of rubble of what was once a handful

Zaidan described these assurances as “encouraging.” However, he contends that “the next stage will be a test for Taliban,” but expressed hope that the group will benefit from its five-year experience of ruling the country prior to the US-led invasion, as well as countries such as Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, and others with which it has comparatively better relations. Victory or deal? When asked whether the Taliban takeover is the result of battlefield victories or an agreement with the US, Zaidan said it is “a real victory,” citing Western media coverage of the Taliban takeover as the “end of the American era” and the “humiliation” of the West in the Central Asian country. “What US President Joe Biden said about Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires is enough to explain everything,” Zaidan said. Regarding rumours that what happened is not a Taliban victory but rather

a prior agreement with Washington, Zeidan said: “The only agreement, as far as I know, is the Doha agreement signed in February 2020, which stipulated the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.” “The agreement was signed during the Trump administration and the current administration had very little time to get out of Afghanistan safely, and this has unleashed a state of panic and the confusion that we all have witnessed.” He also referred to the blame game between the US and UK over the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, which he said will have “deep, dangerous, and far-reaching consequences.” “The world,” he said, “must prepare for amazing geopolitical changes, where the Taliban will be a major player in the next scene.” Patient negotiator: According to him, the Taliban’s three characteristics of “patient, steadfast, and dangerous negotiator” played a

critical role in their victory. “The Americans demanded that Pakistan arrest Mullah Abdul-Ghani Baradar in 2010, the Taliban’s secondin-command, then asked for his release in 2018, as they were counting on him (for negotiations),” Zaidan said. “They thought that he was one of the moderates, but he proved that he was only moderate with his beautiful words, but with patience and steadfastness on principles, he amazed everyone, in my opinion.” taliban and turkey: Concerning the Taliban’s relations with Turkey, Zaidan stated that the group has “Islamic sentiments and historical love for Turkey,” which he believes should be strengthened in order to address common challenges. “Perhaps the coming days will bring us all good news of this relationship deepening further, which I believe will be for the benefit of the Islamic world, which is facing enormous challenges.” He believes that the Taliban seizing power in Afghanistan will have a “tremendous” impact on Islamist movements. “We see the morale boost it gave to jihadist movements in particular, which may gain at the expense of other (nonjihadist) currents and we see the whole world conspiring against the Arab Spring, of which Tunisia was the last victim,” Zaidan said. He warned that Muslim youth will now be more attracted to the Taliban’s style of seizing power, which is likely to be adopted by people in the Arab world longing to end oppression. “The young generation will therefore see that there is no solution than the Taliban model,” Zaidan concluded.

Saturday, 21 August, 2021

SPORTS 11

ISLAMABAD

Osaka sTunned by Teichmann in Third rOund aT cincinnaTi CINCINNATI

AFP

AOMI Osaka has no regrets over her stunning third-round loss Thursday at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters to Swiss wild card Jil Teichmann. The four-time Grand Slam champion went down 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to the world number 76 and admitted after the upset that her Tokyo Olympic third-round loss was on her mind. “I was doing all I was supposed to do,” the Japanese world number two said. “In the second and third sets I was too defensive. I learned a lot from this match – I can sleep at night.” Osaka lost to an opponent who has struggled with several injuries this season but is now back to health. “I knew inside I had this level and I was able to show it on court,” said Cincinnati quarter-finalist Teichmann. “This week things are working out. I needed to be patient and here I am.” Osaka stayed low-key throughout the post-match media sessions she says she dreads, answering questions and seeming to meekly accept the loss in her final tuneup for the US Open, which begins August 30. “I have high expectations of myself but there was nothing more I could do to win this match,” Osaka said. “I’m almost glad I lost as it gives me so many things to work on in

my game. I just hope the results come in time for the US Open.” Osaka wished she could have won more than $24,200 in prize money to donate in aid of the earthquake recovery effort in Haiti, her father’s homeland, but tournament officials said they would match her donation. “I’m happy, but sad that I didn’t go further,” Osaka said. “But I think I raised awareness. I’m glad we were able to contribute something.” Teichmann took just over two hours to defeat Osaka, breaking the Japanese star six times, three in the final set. “I felt a bit hesitant, and normally I don’t feel that way,” Osaka said. “I put myself in this position by choosing not to play that many tournaments.” Osaka has had a rough ride since withdrawing during Roland Garros over emotional issues and skipping Wimbledon. She has played only two hardcourt preparation matches since the Olympics. “I’m feeling more confident in myself,” Osaka said. “There were times where I was doubting myself. It’s important to remind myself what my strengths are. I think I did that well in the first set. “In the second set, maybe I played a bit more to her rhythm, and also in the third set, as well.” Osaka made 41 unforced errors in the match while hitting only 17 winners while Teichmann struck 21 winners against 29 un-

forced errors. “I’m happy with how I played today,” Osaka said. “I didn’t give up on any ball. But my point construction could be a lot better.”

Women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia powered into the quarter-finals 60, 6-2 over Victoria Azarenka. Barty improved to 13-1 over top-20 op-

Barcelona continue post-Messi era after strong start MADRID AFP

Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao on Saturday (today) in their first away match since the departure of Lionel Messi, hoping to back up a promising La Liga opener last weekend, while Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid also look to notch second straight wins. Ronald Koeman'sBarca beat Real Sociedad 4-2 last weekend despite the shock of seeing Messi leave for Paris Saint-Germain. The Catalan giants are also still without injured winger OusmaneDembele and close-season arrival Sergio Aguero as they look to rebuild despite being saddled with debt and only finishing third last season. Koeman did win his first major trophy as Barca boss last term, his side thrashing Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in a Copa del Rey final in which Messi scored twice. Martin Braithwaite stepped into the six-time Ballon d'Or winner's shoes last Sunday by grabbing a brace, while Memphis Depay impressed on his debut after joining from Lyon. Koeman admitted after the win over Sociedad that other players in his team need to step up without Messi -- who scored 38 goals in his final Barca season.

"We no longer have a player who can decide the fate of matches on his own -- now it will be a collective effort," said the Dutchman. Instability at the Camp Nou is also rampant off the pitch, with president Joan Laporta on Monday saying the club's financial problems are "worrying". He revealed that Barcelona's debts stand at 1.35 billion euros ($1.58 billion) and that their wage bill is at least 25 percent higher than their competitors at 617 million euros. Philippe Coutinho, among those high earners, was not part of the matchday squad against Sociedad and has been linked with a return to the Premier League - where he previously starred for Liverpool. Veteran centre-back Gerard Pique, who scored last weekend, could miss out with a calf problem against Athletic. Atletico Madrid took advantage of Barcelona and Real Madrid's on-pitch woes to win La Liga for the first time since 2014 last season and kicked off their title defence with a 2-1 victory at Celta Vigo. Diego Simeone's Atletico on Sunday welcome Elche to the Wanda Metropolitano, where fans will be present to celebrate their 2021 title triumph. Real have also seen plenty of change in the closeseason, with coachZinedine Zidane departing the club

to be replaced by former boss Carlo Ancelotti. The long-serving defensive duo of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane have also left, for PSG and Manchester United respectively, although David Alaba will be expected to plug one of those gaps after his move from Bayern Munich. Ancelotti brought Gareth Bale back into the fold for a 4-1 thumping of Alaves last week when Karim Benzema, who is reportedly set to sign a new contract, netted a double. All the focus at the Santiago Bernabeu remains on the chase of KylianMbappe, who is still yet to agree a new deal with PSG. This Sunday, though, Los Blancos will be bidding to continue their strong start at Levante. The Netherlands international, alongside Antoine Griezmann, will have to shoulder plenty of responsibility at Barcelona in the absence of Messi, despite having only just arrived in Spain. Depay's last move to a big European club ended in disaster as he left Manchester United in 2016 after scoring just two goals in 33 Premier League games. But he has enjoyed a fine spell at Lyon, where he scored 20 times in Ligue 1 last season, and could be ready to step up at the age of 27.

Chelsea to unleash Lukaku on underachieving Arsenal LONDON AFP

Arsenal's miserable start to the Premier League season could get even worse as Chelsea unleash record signing RomeluLukaku for his debut on Sunday, while Liverpool and Manchester United look to build on a promising start to their title challenge. Lukaku has returned to Stamford Bridge, seven years after his first spell at Chelsea came to an end, for a £97 million fee ($133 million) after leading Inter Milan to the Serie A title last season. The Blues believe the Belgian striker can be the final weapon needed to turn a squad that already won the Champions League last season into Premier League title contenders. Lukaku is already in the top 20 all-time Premier League goalscorers with 113 to his name for West Brom, Everton and Manchester United. But after an unhappy end to his time at United, the 28-year-old's game went to new levels in two seasons in Italy. "I think I've learned much more about myself, setting higher standards for myself," said Lukaku on what his changed in his two years since leaving the Premier League. "As a player I've become more complete because the game in Italy is tighter spaces, much more technical and tactical, which helped me a lot." Arsenal could also have two new recruits registered in time for Sunday with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and midfielder Martin Odegaard set to join the

Gunners. Those two signings would take Arsenal's spending for the transfer window above Chelsea's after the arrivals of £50 million defender Ben White, Albert SambiLokonga and Nuno Tavares. That level of investment has come as a surprise with Arsenal facing up to a fifth consecutive season without the riches of Champions League football. Manager Mikel Arteta is therefore under pressure to turn that backing into results after a 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted Brentford to open the new season. After the visit of the European champions, Arsenal travel to Manchester City next weekend and face heading into the September international break without a single point from their opening three games unless they can spring a surprise. City's title defence got off to a faltering start with a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham last weekend with the future

of Harry Kane still hanging over both clubs. According to reports, Kane remains unhappy at Spurs chairman Daniel Levy's stubborn stance to not negotiate with City despite the English champions' willingness to break the Premier League transfer record for the second time this month. City's bid for the England captain could go as high as £150 million before the window closes, but Pep Guardiola will have to continue without the number nine he craves for Saturday's visit of Norwich. Guardiola's men should be much stronger for an extra week's training with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Rodrigo, OleksandrZinchenko and AymericLaporte in contention after starting on the bench against Spurs due to their limited pre-season after reaching the latter stages of Euro 2020. Liverpool saw off Norwich comfortably last weekend as Virgil Van Dijk make his return from a cruciate ligament injury that derailed the Reds last season. The nadir of a difficult campaign for JurgenKlopp's men was a run of six straight home league defeats that began with defeat to Burnley in January. Sean Dyche's men return to Anfield in very different circumstances this weekend in front of the first full house for a Premier League game since before Liverpool ended a 30-year wait to win the title in 2020. In front of a home crowd, Klopp's side have not lost a league game since 2017. United will also be confident of building on their opening 5-1 win over Leeds when the Red Devils travel to Southampton on Sunday.

ponents this season and will next face off against fellow French Open champion BarboraKrejcikova, who beat GarbineMuguruza 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.

Taliban to allow men's cricket; status of smaller women's programmes unclear KABUL REUTERS

The Taliban have said they will not interfere with the Afghan men's national cricket team, the country's biggest sporting success of recent years, or stop the expansion of the flagship Twenty20 league, an Afghan cricket official said. The fate of much more modest women's cricket programmes, however, remains unclear. Despite the turmoil caused by the stunning fall of the Kabul government on Sunday, the board has confirmed a one-day series against Pakistan will go ahead in Sri Lanka next month and said it was expanding the “Shpageeza” Twenty20 league competition. “The Taliban don't have any issue or problem with cricket, and they have told us that we can continue our work as planned,” said Afghanistan Cricket Board head of media operations Hikmat Hassan, adding that the team was ready for three one-day matches against Pakistan next month. “We have completed our two training camps in Kabul and we have sponsors, a production team, and even the kit ready.” Hassan also said the team should be able to play in the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in October-November. “We are confident we will be able to take part and will be preparing for it over the coming weeks. I don't think there will be a problem,” Hassan said. During their previous spell in power, the group banned most public entertainments but they have never had a particular problem with cricket, a sport many Afghans learned in refugee camps in Pakistan during the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity in Afghanistan. Players such as spin bowler Rashid Khan or big-hitting batsman Mohammad Nabi have become global stars of the game, lighting up Twenty20 internationals and other showpiece competitions like the Indian Premier League (IPL). Afghanistan's own domestic version of the IPL, the “Shpageeza Cricket League” (SCL), a competition named after the Pashto-language word for a six, added two more franchises on Thursday and will be played between September 10-25, the board said. “Given the current problems in Afghanistan, it is an opportunity to bring the country together, bring some joy to the people and put on a remarkable spectacle,” Hassan said. He said the board hoped that stars like Rashid Khan, one of the world's top-rated Twenty20 bowlers, would come home to play in the competition, just ahead of the World Cup. One area which remains uncertain is the future of the women's cricket programmes run by the ACB, which currently has 25 contracted female cricketers and several programmes for girls. The Taliban have said that they will respect women's rights under Islamic law but they have not given any clear indication of how they will treat women's sports. In their previous spell in power, they stopped most women and girls from working or going to school and made them wear burqas to go out, and even then only when accompanied by a male relative.

saturday, 21 August, 2021

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FM UrgeS iNT’l cOMMUNiTy TO plAy rOle FOr AFghANS’ welFAre ISLAMABAD

tLtP

OREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the world community to play its role for the welfare and economic assistance of Afghans. In a telephonic conversation with his Danish counterpart, Jeppe Kofod, he said it is important to ensure the security and rights of the Afghan people in the present circumstances. Qureshi noted that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is important not only for Pakistan but also the entire region. The foreign minister said that Pakistan is extending full facilitation to the Danish government in evacuation of their citizens. The Danish foreign minister appreciated Pakistan’s assistance for the evacuation of Danish citizens from Afghanistan saying, “We are grateful to Pakistani leadership in this regard.” Meanwhile, Qureshi received a telephone call from the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea Chung Eui-yong. The two foreign ministers discussed the current situation in Afghanistan. While sharing Pakistan’s perspective, the foreign minister said that the situation has changed significantly within a short span of time. The foreign minister added that in the prevailing circumstances, it was extremely important to ensure safety and security of the Afghan people and protection of the rights of all Afghans. He emphasised the importance of inclusive political settlement as the best way forward. Qureshi added that it was equally important for the international community

to remain engaged in support of the Afghan people. Along with requisite humanitarian assistance, it would be essential to maintain economic engagement. The foreign minister said that Pakistan would remain engaged with the Republic of Korea and other international partners in promoting efforts for peaceful and stable Afghanistan. He also assured that Pakistan will extend every possible assistance to the Korean side in evacuation of their diplomatic staff and other nationals from Afghanistan. In the bilateral context, the foreign minister said that Pakistan highly values its relationship with the Republic of Korea, having several strands of collaboration including political, economic and cultural. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to take the bilateral relationship to a new level. While expressing satisfaction on the current level of engagement, the two foreign ministers agreed upon the need of enhancing the high-level engagements between the two countries. Noting the increasing economic linkages between the two countries, the Korean Foreign

Minister welcomed the investment in a manufacturing facility in Pakistan by the Korean cell phone manufacturer, Samsung Group. Acknowledging Pakistan’s role as one of the largest contributors to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, the Korean foreign minister invited Qureshi to chair one of the sessions of the 2021 Peacekeeping Ministerial to be hosted by the Republic of Korea in December. The two foreign ministers agreed to remain in close contact to enhance and promote shared objectives. Separately, Qureshi on Friday urged Afghan leaders to sit together and work out a future political structure for Afghanistan that included all “stakeholders,” saying the world was eager to see the Taliban fulfill its promises. The insurgent group, which gained control of Afghanistan after capturing Kabul last week, has been holding talks with different Afghan leaders with what it says is the aim of forming an inclusive Islamic government in Afghanistan. The Taliban have said

they want peace and will not take revenge upon past enemies. They have also promised free media and rights for women within an Islamic framework. A delegation of senior Afghan politicians from different ethnicities is currently visiting Pakistan for talks about the future political setup of their country. The delegates told Pakistani journalists on Thursday they were against a single-party system in Afghanistan, shortly after the Taliban announced the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. “Everyone wants peace and stability in Afghanistan, no one wants bloodshed,” Qureshi said in a statement, conveying Pakistan’s stance on the Afghan issue. “Everyone wants that the Afghan Taliban and former rulers sit together and shape such a structure that would include all stake-holders.” He said any future political structure should be acceptable to all. Pakistan was in favour of a peaceful withdrawal of US and allied forces from Afghanistan and was determined to play its role in this regard, the foreign minister said. “Our ambassador to Kabul is having contacts with different figures, while the Afghan delegation visiting Pakistan shared its views with me and the prime minister,” he said. “Everyone wishes for peace.” He added: “The world wishes to see whether the Taliban are acting on what they are telling it.” He said he would visit neighbouring states in the next few days in order to formulate a comprehensive strategy on Afghanistan. “One must learn from the past mistakes,” Qureshi urged. “We would not want mistakes of the 90’s to be repeated.”

1,100 people evacuated from Kabul due to Pakistan’s eﬀorts: Akram Pakistan has evacuated around 1,100 people — including diplomats, staff of diplomatic missions and international agencies, and journalists — from Kabul, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram said on Friday. In an interview with CNN’s Isa Soares, he said that the situation in Afghanistan was “challenging”. “But our embassy is operating. They are processing all applicants [seeking] visas and those who want to utilise Pakistan as a transit point to leave Afghanistan.” He said that Pakistan was flying three flights a day to Kabul airport so that between 500 to 600 people can be evacuated on a daily basis. He added that Pakistan would also facilitate those wanting to enter Pakistan through the land border between the two countries, provided they have the necessary documentation. “But at the moment, the focus has been on the airport which is under US control, and we are utilising that to take out as many people as possible,” he said. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that Pakistan International Airlines had resumed its Kabul operations, adding that 350 passengers will arrive on Friday. “More flights are scheduled. Likewise, the interior ministry is facilitating people arriving through the borders. Pakistan is at the forefront of helping Journalists and others caught up in the Afghan conflict,” he wrote on Twitter.

Nato pledges to speed evacuations from Afghanistan as criticism mounts More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, a Nato official said on Friday, pledging to redouble evacuation efforts as criticism of the West’s handling of the crisis mounted. Thousands of people, desperate to flee the country, were still thronging the airport, the official who declined to be identified told Reuters, even though the Taliban have urged people without legal travel documents to go home. The Taliban urged unity ahead of Friday prayers, the first since they seized power, calling on imams to persuade people not to leave Afghanistan amid the chaos at the airport, protests and reports of violence. The US is struggling to pick up the pace of American and Afghan evacuations at Kabul airport, constrained by obstacles ranging from armed Taliban checkpoints to paperwork problems. With an August 31 deadline looming, tens of thousands remained to be airlifted from the country. Taliban fighters and their checkpoints ringed the airport — major barriers for Afghans who fear that their past work with Westerners makes them prime targets for retribution. Hundreds of Afghans who lacked any papers or clearance for evacuation also congregated outside the airport, adding to the chaos that has prevented even some Afghans who do have papers and promises of flights from getting through. It didn’t help that many

of the Taliban fighters could not read the documents. In a hopeful sign, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in Washington that 6,000 people were cleared for evacuation on Thursday and were expected to board military flights in the coming hours. That would mark a major increase from recent days. About 2,000 passengers were flown out on each of the past two days, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. Kirby said the military has aircraft available to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people per day, but until Thursday far fewer designated evacuees had been able to reach, and then enter, the airport. Kirby told reporters the limiting factor has been available evacuees, not aircraft. He said efforts were underway to speed processing, including adding State Department consular officers to verify paperwork of Americans and Afghans who managed to get to the airport. Additional entry gates had been opened, he said. And yet, at the current rate it would be difficult for the US to evacuate all of the Americans and Afghans who are qualified for and seeking evacuation by August 31. On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said he would ensure no American was left behind, even if that meant staying beyond August, an arbitrary deadline that he set weeks before the Taliban climaxed a stunning military victory by taking Kabul last weekend. It was not clear if Biden might consider extending the deadline for evacuees who aren’t American citizens. with additional input from News Desk

KABUL China has played a constructive role in promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and is welcome to contribute to the rebuilding of the country, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Chinese state media. The Taliban seized control over the weekend in an upheaval that sent thousands of civilians and Afghan military allies flee-

ing for safety. Many fear a return to the group’s strict interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago. In dealing with the Taliban, an increasingly powerful China may be able to leverage the fact that unlike Russia and the United States, it has not fought in Afghanistan. “China is a big country with a huge economy and capacity — I think they can play a very big role in the rebuilding, rehabilitation, reconstruction of Afghanistan,”

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NATO pledges to speed evacuations from Afghanistan KABUL ReuteRs

More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, a NATO official said on Friday, pledging to redouble evacuation efforts as criticism of the West’s handling of the crisis mounted. Thousands of people, desperate to flee the country, continued to throng the airport, the official who declined to be identified told Reuters. The speed with which the Taliban conquered Afghanistan as US and other foreign troops withdrew surprised even their own leaders and has left power vacuums in many places. The Taliban urged unity ahead of Friday prayers, the first since they seized power, calling on imams to persuade people not to leave Afghanistan amid chaotic scenes at the airport, protests and reports of violence. A witness told Reuters several people were killed in the eastern city of Asadabad on Thursday when Taliban militants fired on a crowd demonstrating their allegiance to the vanquished Afghan republic, as the Taliban set about establishing an emirate, governed by strict Islamic laws. There were similar shows of defiance in two other cities – Jalalabad and Khost – in the east, as Afghans used celebrations of the nation’s 1919 independence from British control to vent their anger with the Taliban takeover. Another witness reported gunshots near a rally in Kabul, but they appeared to be Taliban firing into the air. A Taliban spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Kabul has been largely calm, except in and around the airport where 12 people have been killed since Sunday, NATO and Taliban officials said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with NBC News that the United States is “laser-focused” on “the potential for a terrorist attack” by a group such as Islamic State amid the evacuation. Spanish and Afghan citizens who were evacuated from Kabul arrive at Torrejon airbase in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, August 19, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS Spanish and Afghan citizens who were evacuated from Kabul arrive at Torrejon airbase in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, August 19, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS Criticism of NATO and other Western powers has mounted as images of the chaos and desperation are shared around the world. In one scene captured on social media, a small girl was hoisted over the airport’s perimeter wall and handed to a US soldier. US President Joe Biden is set to speak about the evacuation efforts at 1 pm (1700 GMT) on Friday, having faced a torrent of criticism for his handling of the troop withdrawal, negotiated by the previous US administration. British media reported the country’s spy chiefs may face a grilling over intelligence failings. Several British civil servants remained on holiday as the Afghan debacle erupted, and Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has been heavily criticised for his initial response to the unfolding crisis. The governments of Germany and Australia have also faced calls to do more and speed up the evacuation of citizens and vulnerable Afghans.

US diplomats sent cable in mid-July warning of potential swift Taliban takeover: report KABUL: About two dozen US diplomats in Afghanistan sent an internal cable last month warning US State Secretary Antony Blinken of the potential fall of Kabul to the Taliban as troops withdrew from the country, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The newspaper said the confidential cable sent through a so-called dissent channel was signed on July 13 and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and accelerate an evacuation. The administration has been criticised for leaving efforts to get American diplomats and other citizens, as well Afghan allies, out of the country, until after a Taliban takeover was well under way. US officials declined to confirm specific details or share the contents of the cable. “I think the cable reflects what we’ve said all along, which is nobody had this exactly right in predicting that the government and army of Afghanistan were going to collapse in a matter of days,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer told CNN. A source familiar with the situation said the US State Department took on board the concerns of those who drafted the cable, including by condemning the Taliban’s atrocities ahead of the group seizing the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said diplomats’ views shared with Blinken through the channel were incorporated into policy and planning. “We value constructive internal dissent. It’s patriotic. It’s protected. And it makes us more effective,” Price said. ReuteRs

China can contribute to Afghan development: Taliban spokesman ReuteRs

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Shaheen told CGTN television in an interview late on Thursday. During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with a Taliban delegation in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin last month, he said he hoped Afghanistan could adopt a moderate Islamist policy. China has cited religious extremism as a destabilising force in its western Xinjiang region and has long worried that Taliban-controlled territory would be used to harbour separatist forces.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk