Issuu

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021 I 20 Shawwal, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 331 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

Govt aiminG to vaccinate enouGh people to avoid eid restrictions g

Vaccination of people aged 18-29 from Thursday: minister

ISLAMABAD StAff RePoRt

EdErAL Minister for Planning, development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday stated that the government aims to vaccinate a large number of people through July so the country can avoid any restrictions during Eid-ul-Adha. Addressing a media briefing after a session of the National Coordination Committee, that minister said that seven million vaccines had been administered in Pakistan so far with 5.2 to 5.3 million people vaccinated. The eventual goal by the year’s end was to reach 70 million people, he added. “According to our figures, more than 7 million vaccine doses have been administered and some 5.2 to 5.3 million people are included in this who have been vaccinated,” he said. The federal minister said that the target by the year’s end was to inoculate 70 million people across Pakistan with a particular emphasis on achieving vaccination rates at a

sufficiently high level in June and July so that strict and difficult restrictions would not be required before Eid-ul-Adha as had been placed on Eid-ul-Fitr. He added that the federal government had arranged more than 10 million vaccines for this with much more to follow. “Just in the month of June we will have more than 10 million vaccines and then in July a further 10 million,” he said, adding that availability of vaccines had now been ensured despite it still being a issue in some countries. “The NCOC has worked in coordination with the provinces and the provinces have considerably increased their capacity at vaccination centres,” said the federal minister, crediting it as the reason behind Pakistan’s inoculation boost from a few hundred at the start to 383,000 administrations the day before yesterday. “We want to more than double this figure,” said Asad, while stressing the need to further increase vaccination capacity in the provinces and federal territories due to complaints regarding extended waiting times in some vaccination centres of urban centres.

coronavirus in

pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

921,053

LAST UPDATED AT 7:21 AM ON MAY 31, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

2,117

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

841,241 20,779 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

317,665

339,686

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

132,549 AJK/GB: 19,232 / 5,578

25,148 ISLAMABAD:

81,195

Moreover, the government will begin inoculating people in the 18-29 age group from Thursday, Asad announced separately, after a decision to widen the gap between doses to inoculate more people faster was taken. “With this step, the vaccination of all eligible age groups would be carried out. Please register as soon as possible,” he said in a tweet. The government opened up the coronavirus vaccination campaign to everyone aged 19 or older last week. The authorities initially had to deal with vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supplies and had limited shots to people aged 30 or over. But with purchases from China and allocations from the World Health Organisation and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, the government has now secured more than 18 million doses and is keen to get them out into the population. So far, government vaccines have been free, and private hospitals have been permitted to sell shots at uncapped prices. Strict restrictive measures backed by vaccination have enabled a declining trend of the positivity rate as the country reported a rate below 5 percent for the seventh day on Sunday, the National Command and Operation Center said on Monday. According to data released by the NCOC, the government agency leading the fight against the pandemic, the health authorities conducted 52,223 tests on Sunday nationwide, detecting 2,117 new coronavirus infections with a positivity rate of 4.05 percent. In March and April, the nation witnessed a positivity ratio of over 11 percent several times, leading the government to impose strict measures, including the closure of educational institutions, markets, public parks, wedding halls, restaurants, public transport and all other venues of mass gatherings, especially during the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. In May, the positivity rate dropped to over 9 percent and went down further to below 5 percent, the official data showed.

$500m green bond launched to finance Diamer, Mohmand dams ISLAMABAD StAff RePoRt

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the country’s first green Eurobond by Water and Power development Authority to meet the financial needs concerning the construction of the diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dam projects. The bond has been floated for 10 years to raise $500 million at a competitive price of about 7.5 percent interest rate. The prime minister lauded the WAPdA chief and his team for the landmark achievement of securing bonds in the international market, at the launch ceremony of the bond held at the Prime Minister’s House. Imran expressed satisfaction over the interest of leading international investors in Eurobond, saying it reflected their confidence in the government and WAPdA. He lauded the body for the fast pace of construction of dams, which he said was vital to produce clean energy for a green environment and save the coming generations. The prime minister said that the “decade of dams” project, initiated in 2018 should have been worked up five decades ago to ensure water security. “Ten dams to be built in next 10 years will produce 10,000-megawatt clean electricity. It is a step of thinking about our next generations,” he emphasised. He stressed the long-term planning instead of a short-term election-to-election approach to carry out development projects in the country. He regretted that short-term planning in electricity generation resulted in the commodity’s highest per unit rate compared with the rest of the countries in South Asia.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Gwadar Port becomes operational, expected to generate considerable economic activity and jobs GWADAR APP

After becoming fully operational, the Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone would generate economic activities of around $10 billion per annum, besides creating thousands of new jobs, China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority Chairman Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Monday. “Soon after completion of the Gwadar Free Zone, a lot of manufacturing and trading activities will start, cargoes will move, and transshipment activities will increase,” Asim Bawa said while talking to the media after reviewing the Gwadar Port and other projects under CPEC. He further said, “We will continue to monitor the development work in Gwadar till all the projects become fully operational”. Asim Bajwa said the port’s infrastructural work had been completed by the China Port Holding Company at the cost of around $300 million, and its all the four berths were fully operational. He stated that during the last few months, over 67,000

metric tons of cargo had been handled at the port, comprising consignments mostly under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, which were then later transported to Afghanistan. A vessel carrying 8,000 cubic feet liquefied petroleum gas was due at the port on Tuesday, while another ship with 24,000 MT of diammonium phosphate fertilizer and feed cargo slated for Afghanistan would soon arrive in Pakistan from Australia, he added. They had built the port handling capacity, while the customs system was also in place to facilitate the investors and traders, Bajwa said. “Now our full emphasis is to increase the port traffic for which we are pursuing the logistic companies to establish their offices in the city,” he said. With regard to the Gwadar Port Free Zone, Asim Bajwa said its first phase spreading over 60 acres of land had already been completed, with 47 enterprises registered. Six factories had been completed, three of them were now fully operational, while six others were under construction.

For the last three years, he said, both the port and free zone had created some 1,200 direct jobs, while 12,000 more persons were hired for building the support infrastructure. Asim Bajwa said the second phase of Gwadar Port Free Zone would spread over 2,221 acres of land and Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform its groundbreaking ceremony. He added that the China Port Holding Company had already lined up an investor for the second phase, wherein said investor would need some 1,600 acres of land. The investor had pledged a direct investment of $3 billion in the single industry that would create 30,000 jobs. sim Bajwa pointed out that the Eastbay Expressway would directly take the cargo from port to M-8 for onward shipment to Karachi and the rest of the country. Some 94 percent of work on the expressway had been completed, and would hopefully be inaugurated in September, he informed.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

MORE INSIDE

Hamid Mir vows to raise voice for constitutional rights after TV ban STORY ON PAGE 02

Tareen laments delay in release of Zafar report on profiteering claims STORY ON BACK PAGE

FIA summons journalist Asad Ali Toor for ‘defamation’ inquiry STORY ON PAGE 03

China, in major policy shift, announces families can have three children STORY ON BACK PAGE

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

Govt, oPPoSItIon tradE BarBS on PMda ordInanCE IsLAMABAD

NewS DeSk

INISTER for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that new media law will be beneficial for the media workers. In a tweet on Monday, the information minister said that under the new law, media workers would be able to approach courts of law against media houses in case of nonpayment of salaries. He said that Pakistan

Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz opposed the amendment earlier and will do the same now as well because their interests are attached with the owners, not workers. On the other hand, both major opposition parties, PPP and PML-N, on Monday criticised the Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, 2021, terming it a tool to silence opposing voices. PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said that the Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance 2021 is a plan for

Court rejects bail request of suspect in Pakistani-Belgian woman’s murder LAHORe Staff RepoRt

A district and sessions court in Lahore on Monday dismissed the bail request of the prime suspect in the murder case of a Pakistani-Belgian woman. Mayra Zulfiqar, 24, was found dead on May 3 after four attackers reportedly barged into a bedroom in the home of her friend where she was staying the night. Zahir Jadoon and Saad Ameer Butt were two of the four accused of being behind the murder in the first information report filed by Mohammad Nazeer, a relative of Mayra. The court dismissed the application filed by Jadoon as withdrawn. A counsel for the suspect said Jadoon has been arrested by the police, due to which the application for interim bail became infructuous. He requested the court to allow him to withdraw the application. Jadoon, in a statement given to the police, confessed to his involvement in the killing. Nazeer said that Mayra had told him she had become embroiled in a dispute with two male friends after she had refused their marriage proposals, and that they had threatened her with “dire consequences”. The case was registered under sections 302 and 34 — premeditated murder and common intention, respectively — of the Pakistan Penal Code. Last week, Mayra’s father said that he was dissatisfied with the police probe into the murder, but investigators said they were on the right track. Muhammad Zulfiqar appealed for help to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. He asked Yousafazai, to advocate for justice on behalf of his daughter. “My dear daughter Malala, I appeal to you for God’s sake please raise your voice for my daughter. She was like your sister,” he told The Associated Press, sobbing. “Your voice is heard. The only difference is that you have gone abroad after studying here and my daughter came to Pakistan to serve humanity.” In the interview, he also asked for help from Prime Minister Imran Khan. Mohammad Amin, who is investigating the case, said Friday that police were questioning two key suspects. “It is a complicated case, but we are on the right track and, God willing, those who are involved in this crime will not go unpunished,” Amin told the AP, reporting “significant progress” in the investigation.

“institutionalising censorship.” Under the new ordinance, media outlets will “either become state mouthpieces or go under censorship,” Rehman wrote. She said that there will be no onus on the government to provide warning or rationales for clampdowns and that the law may even extend control to digital platforms. PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, meanwhile, called the ordinance a “draconian, authoritarian, repressive and punitive” instrument to

“suppress constitutional freedom of expression of print media, electronic media and online citizen journalism. Earlier, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan Bar Council had rejected the proposed media ordinance too. They had called it “draconian in scope and devastating in its impact on the constitutional principles and guarantees for freedom of expression, media freedoms, and the right to information as well as the profession of journalism” in a joint

Hamid Mir vows to raise voice for constitutional rights after TV ban News Desk One of Pakistan’s top journalists and TV anchors, Hamid Mir, has said that terminations or bans are not new for him, adding that he will continue to raise voice for the rights given in the constitution. He says that his family has also been threatened but this time he is ready to face any consequences. Taking to Twitter, Hamid wrote: “Nothing new for me. I was banned twice in the past. Lost jobs twice. Survived assassination attempts but cannot stop raising voice for the rights given in the constitution. This time I am ready for any consequences and ready to go at any extent because they are threatening my family”. Several journalists stepped forward to show solidarity with Mir. Asma Sherazi, the host of a TV talk show, said the channel management must clarify their position. “If @HamidMirPAK is taken off air or banned from doing program on #GeoNews, more fingers will point towards the powerful establishment & the government while resounding the “words that he said”. Journalists of Pak stand with #HamidMir #Geo management must clarify its position,” she said. Replying to the tweet of Sherazi on the microblogging site, Mir wrote, “I have lost my job twice, escaped multiple assassination attempts but that does not make me stop to speak for the rights given in the constitution”. Mir stated that, on one hand, bills for the protection of journalists are being signed into law while special tribunals are being set up to try journalists on the other, which will be authorised to impose fines up to millions and sentenced three years imprisonment. Mir also called for a parliamentary debate on the matter and stated that decisions of special tribunals will not be challenged in high courts and will only be challenged in the Supreme Court. He also recalled that the International Federation of Journalists declared Pakistan as the fifth most dangerous country for journalists, while 148 attacks on journalist have been reported in the country in the last 12 months, with most attacks happening in Islamabad. Geo TV managment has said that it is their personal decision to send Mir on leave and that it has not been forced by anyone in the government and establishment.

INp

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday lamented that neither the courts, media nor executive are free of influence in the country. He said even the prime minister is not aware of the economic condition and declared that a country cannot progress while resorting to lies. While talking to reporters, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader said that he had been waiting for three years and attending the courts but still was not aware of the charges against him. He lamented the fact that Prime Minister Imran Khan was ignorant of the economic situation. He took pride in

However, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has condemned the move. PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar said in a statement issued on Monday: “The Geo Management should let the journalist fraternity know what prompted them to take such a decision within 72 hours of Hamid Mir’s speech in front of the National Press Club on Friday where he condemned nondemocratic forces for lodging attacks on media persons and Asad Toor.” On Saturday, Mir hit out at the country’s establishment claiming that the latter wants media to run a pro-friendship narrative with rival India. Last week, a clip went viral on social media, showing Hamid Mir very aggressive. He was speaking in the favor of journalist Asad Toor who was beaten and tortured inside his home. “You [establishment] say that your tanks have rusted and that you want friendship with India, when we don’t help you build the new narrative of friendship with India, you call out media for not helping you,” the high profile journalist can be heard saying in the video. Press Freedom in Pakistan is going through tough challenges and bars as the working journalists either are forcibly terminated or their dues and payments are held by the news organizations. Press freedom is deteriorating by every passing day. Self-censorship and bans on journalists by the government authorities have become common trends in the country.

the growth rate during his tenure, saying the GDP rate in 2018 was better than the GDP rate today. He said the premier credulously believed in his advisers who fed him false numbers and false information regarding reduction in inflation. He called on Imran to ask his ministers and advisers to educate him regarding what was the GDP rate in 2018 and where did it stand today, adding that the PM should know what was the per capita income of a Pakistani. Abbasi said countries run effectively if there was the supremacy of law and constitution. He said people who had looted the country were flying in charted planes and those who served the country sincerely for five years were attending court hearings.

Islamabad IG for redressal of gender-based violence complaints on priority IsLAMABAD INp

Islamabad police chief Qazi Jameelur Rehman Monday paid a visit to the gender protection unit in Sector F-6 and directed the officials there to resolve the issues pertaining to violence on women on priority. He was accompanied by the top brass of the capital police. Qazi also interacted with women officials of the department and expressed satisfaction over the facilities being provided there.

Matric exams to be held from July 14, Inter exams from June 26: BISE News Desk

Abbasi laments ‘partiality’ of courts, media IsLAMABAD

statement. The ordinance proposes to repeal all current media-related laws including The Press Council Ordinance, 2002, The Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance 2002, the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Services Acts), 1973, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, as amended by PEMRA Amendment Act, 2007, and The Motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979. All will be merged under PMDA.

Speaking on the occasion, Qazi said that psychiatrist, legal experts and medical experts have been posted at the desk to provide every possible assistance to the survivors and victims of gender-based violence. The unit was extending all facilities under one roof aimed at giving women and children a sense of security, besides bringing the culprits behind the bars. Last week, Islamabad police established a desk with helpline 8090 at the police facilitation centre in Sector F6 to rescue the victims of gender-based violence.

The matric and intermediate exams for students will take place on July 14 and June 26, respectively, and their roll number slips will be issued soon, the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education announced on Monday. Moreover, those staff members that will be invigilating and administering the tests have been advised to get vaccinated at the earliest. “Examination staff are advised to keep their vaccination certificates with themselves,” the BISE controller said. Professor Nasir Jamil, the Controller for Examinations of the Lahore Board of Secondary Education, said preparations for exams are in the final phase. “Candidates will be issued roll number slips soon,” he said, adding that exams will be held under strict compliance with coronavirus safety guidelines and SOPs.

Shehbaz says govt failed to control commodities’ prices LAHORe Staff RepoRt

National Assembly Opposition Leader and PMLN President Shehbaz Sharif criticised the government for its “failure” to control the prices of essential commodities. In a statement, Shehbaz said: “The rulers have no knowledge of the economy and the sufferings of the people as people are hungry and unemployed but it is being propagated that everything is fine.” He further said that people are starving for two meals a day and the country is facing a crisis of rising commodity prices. People are facing shortages of flour, wheat, sugar, vegetables, cooking oil, poultry, milk, eggs, medicines and commodity prices are out of reach of the people, he said. The PML-N president declared that the reason for inflation in the country is the government because every day their corruption scandals are being reported. Sharing prices of the commodities, Shehbaz said that the price of flour has gone up by Rs57 per kg which is an increase of 73 percent while the price of per kg sugar increased up to Rs130. Sharing the evidence of ineligibility of the PTI government, Shehbaz said that the government did not ensure the availability of flour in the wheat surplus country. Earlier, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurenzaib commented: “It’s laughable considering the total increase in three years is only 17 percent. Average of less than six percent per annum. Compare this with the PML-N period when we grew 20 percent per annum. You are actually commending your pathetic performance.”

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

LAHORE

Four MorE IndIan varIant CaSES EMErGE In PaKIStan

News Desk

INDH Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi said Monday that four more cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus have been detected in Pakistan, taking the total number of cases to five. All four people had returned from the Gulf and tested positive upon arrival at the Karachi airport. “Three of them had come from Iraq while another arrived from Muscat,” Jatoi said, adding that three belong to Karachi and one is from Ghotki. They have been quarantined and tests of their family members are also being conducted, he said. A day earlier, the National Institute of Health said that a passenger with Indian variant of coronavirus was reached Pakistan on May 8. The NIH in a statement has issued the details of a case of Indian coronavirus strain diagnosed in Pakistan. The passenger underwent a rapid coronavirus test at a Pakistan’s airport

and the Indian variant of the virus confirmed in him in the diagnosis, NIH stated. The infected passenger was shifted to a quarantine centre of the government, sources said. “The family members of the passenger were also

tested to detect the virus but their tests were found negative,” according to the NIH. “Covid-19 testing of the infected person at the quarantine centre confirmed the Indian variant and minor symptoms were also found in the

passenger,” the NIH said in its statement. “The passenger was discharged from the quarantine facility and allowed to go home after his recovery from the disease,” the National Institute of Health said. The NIH on Friday confirmed the first case of the more contagious Covid19 variant first discovered in India. The NIH spokesman said that Indian strain was found in samples the NIH received for testing. The NIH also confirmed seven cases of South African Covid-19 variant detected in Pakistan in the ongoing month. WHAT IS THE INDIA VARIANT? Viruses mutate all the time, producing different versions or variants of themselves. Most of these mutations are insignificant – and some may even make the virus less dangerous – but others can make it more contagious and harder to vaccinate against. This variant – officially known as B.1.617 – was first detected in India in October.

Vowing to launch targeted attack ‘soon’, police halt Shikarpur operation sHIkARPUR INp

Sindh Police on Monday suspended an anti-bandits operation in Shikarpur, vowing to launch a targeted attack to purge the area of crime bosses and terrorists “soon”. Shikarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Saud Magsi said that the operation was put on hold but a targeted operation would be launched. He vowed to take action against facilitators of bandits. He also promised to go after those who were supplying ration and ammunition to the militants. He informed after the launch of the operation last week, police managed to clear some katcha area and drove bandits to the pakka area. However, some dacoits were still holding in the katcha area, he added.

He expressed his resolve to arrest these criminal elements soon. The law enforcement on Friday continued the operation in Garhi Teghu

and the katcha area of Khanpur city. As many as 200 shelters belonging to bandits were burnt down. Shikarpur police along with the

police force of other districts are engaged in an operation in Garhi Tegho for the recovery of some kidnap victims, including truck drivers Naqeebullah Pathan and Inayat Pathan. They were kidnapped from the Lanju Laro area of Shikarpur a couple of days ago. Reports said that the bandits had recently kidnapped eight people and kept them in the riverine area of Garhi Tegho. Four of them were released by bandits on Saturday night. Police last week launched the operation along with an armoured personnel carrier but bandits fired shots of anti-aircraft guns on the APC from close range. This damaged the APC and killed the four people, including two policemen, present inside the APC. The bandits captured the APC and shared its video through different WhatsApp groups to claim their “victory”.

K-Electric CEO directed to resolve Karachi’s power breakdowns issue kARACHI Staff RepoRt

Buzdar launches Khidmat application LAHORe INp

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday launched the Khidmat Apki Dehleez Per application to facilitate the people at their doorstep. Speaking on the occasion, Buzdar said the programme will improve public service delivery at the grassroots level and announced the government will continue to take such steps to provide relief to the people. He said the app has been developed to help people resolve their problems. Last week, Punjab Minister for Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Bhatti said that the drainage and cleanliness system would improve in all cities of Punjab due to the app. He had urged the people to take maximum benefit from this programme. “We are quite upbeat that Khidmat Aap Ki Dehleez Per programme will leave long-lasting effects on the environment of the province”. He had further said that this programme will further improve after the feedback of the public. “The trend of competition will develop among all the districts through a ranking system,” he said.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail “continued unannounced load shedding” and has directed the K-Electric Chief Executive Officer Moonis Alvi to take personal interest in the ongoing prolonged and unannounced electricity breakdowns in different parts of the metropolis and address the grievances of the Karachiites immediately. Imran Ismail summoned the chief of KE — the utility company responsible for power supply in the city — following reports of increasing outages in the city. During the meeting, Ismail directed the KE CEO to “personally supervise” matters related to load shedding in Karachi and “immediately resolve” the complaints of citizens, a statement issued by the Governor’s House said. The Sindh governor also made telephonic contact with Federal Minister for Energy Muhammad Hamad Azhar during the meeting and called for improving the situation regarding electricity supply in the city. Azhar issued directions to the KE CEO during the call as well, the statement said. Earlier this month, the transmission lines supplying power to Karachi had to be restored after the metropolis suffered a major power breakdown due to the tripping of high tension lines at Jamshoro-Karachi link multiplying the miseries of the Karachi residents in the hot weather. The power supply was suspended in Defence Phase-I, Malir Model Colony, Lyari Kharadar, Khada Market, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, KDA Scheme 33, and several other areas for at least a couple of hours.

An official spokesperson of the Power Division said on May 22 that NK Baldia-1 and Baldia-2 transmission lines were restored at 2:41 pm. According to sources, over 45 grid stations in Karachi got affected due to the tripping of transmission lines after which the power supply to a major part of the city was suspended. Earlier in a statement, the power utility had said that the supply to parts of Karachi was interrupted due to the tripping of a KE’s 220 kV high tension line. “Restoration efforts have already begun and are expected to be completed within one hour and the availability of generation supply is enabling restoration to progress swiftly,” it had added. The ministry of energy had said that the power outage in the city was caused by the tripping of the NKI Baldia-1 and Baldia-2 lines. “The teams of KE and NTDC are working to restore the supply and investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of tripping.” The statement had further added that the system is normal in the rest of the country.

NEWS

CoaS emphasises Pakistan’s resolve to confront terrorism QUeTTA Staff RepoRt

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Command & Staff College Quetta on Monday and addressed officers and faculty there. The address of army chief to Staff Course-2020/21, focused on professional matters, internal and external security situation and matters concerning regional security environment. Speaking on the occasion, COAS Bajwa emphasised Pakistan's resolve and determination to confront global phenomenon of terrorism by adopting whole of nation approach. He said that future of enduring peace and stability in South Asia hinges on ability to resolve long pending issues within the region. This can be complemented through meaningful international support and will to take on complex challenges. Focusing on Covid-19 pandemic, the army chief said that Pakistan Army along with other state institutions will do all to mitigate the challenges faced by people of Pakistan. Only a cohesive national effort shall take Pakistan to progress and prosperity, COAS said. Earlier on arrival at Quetta, the COAS was received by Quetta Corps Commander Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, and Command & Staff College Commandant Major General Amer Ahsan Nawaz.

FIa summons journalist asad ali toor for ‘defamation’ inquiry

News Desk Asad Ali Toor, a journalist and YouTuber, has been issued summons by the Federal Investigation Agency to appear before the body to provide a statement in an inquiry regarding “defamation” of a government institution through social media. A notice was sent to Toor’s residence by the FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Rawalpindi, wherein it was stated that the FIA was conducting an inquiry regarding “defamation of institution of Government of Pakistan through social media” on the complaint of one Fayyaz Mehmood Raja. “The available facts suggest that you are well aware of the facts/circumstances of said inquiry,” it read. “Therefore, you are directed to appear before the undersign[ed]” at FIA police station, Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, Rawalpindi on June 4, 2021, at 11am “to answer such question[s] as put forth to you”, it added. The notice said criminal proceedings could be initiated against the journalist in case of non-compliance. However, the details of the FIA inquiry are not available as of time of filing. It is pertinent here to mention that last week, three unidentified men beat up vlogger and journalist Asad Ali Toor outside his residence in Islamabad late on Tuesday night. Islamabad police said the masked suspects arrived outside his residence located in an apartment building. A scuffle broke out between Toor and the suspects who thrashed him before fleeing the scene. Toor was later shifted to the hospital where his condition is reported to be stable. In a tweet, Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz leader Maryam Nawaz expressed concern. “OMG! This is shocking! May Allah protect him. I hope he is out of danger.” In September last year, Toor was charged with spreading “negative propaganda” against the state and its institutions through social media under the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. In November, the Lahore High Court cleared him of charges, declaring there was not enough evidence to support the charges. Passed in 2016, PECA has been criticised by civil society as a draconian tool used to muzzle free speech. The act criminalises speech, along with speech that criticises state institutions.

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

TelemeTry sysTem TO be insTalled FOr TransparenT waTer disTribuTiOn: FarruKh

NEWS DESK

INISTeR of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that telemetry system will soon be installed on dams and canals to ensure transparency in water distribution amongst the provinces. Addressing a press conference along with Punjab Irrigation Minister and Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh on Monday, Habib said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given clear directions in this regard in order to properly monitor water flow. He regretted that the Pakistan People’s Party is doing politics on the issue of water to create disparity amongst the provinces. He, however, said the opposition party can-

SINDH REJECTS PUNJAB’S OFFER TO VISIT BARRAGES not hoodwink the masses. He said the federal government is ready to take along all the provinces on the water issue. The minister of state regretted that no attention was paid to the construction of dams in the past. “Our water storage capacity decreased from 15.74 million acres of feet to 13 million acres of feet,” he added. Habib said, “We have started construction work on 10 dams which will significantly increase the water capacity.” He said that the construction of dams will also help generate clean and cheap electricity besides providing clean water to the people. Punjab Irrigation Minister Mohsin Leghari said that Punjab is facing a water

shortage of 22 percent and Sindh 17 percent. He said, “We have proposed deployment of independent observers to clear misunderstandings amongst the provinces over the water issue.” In his remarks, Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said that both Punjab and Sindh provinces are facing water shortage due to less rains this year. He, however, was confident that the water situation will improve in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Sindh government on Monday rejected Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s offer to organise a visit of lawmakers to the province’s barrages amid the issue of water shortage.

CM Buzdar had invited Sindh lawmakers to visit Punjab barrages in a step to resolve the issue raised by Sindh regarding the designated water allocation. Sindh Irrigation Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal said in a statement that the provincial lawmakers will not visit barrages in Punjab. He said that the provincial government has complained and protested against the Indus River System Authority, hence there is no need to visit Punjab. Siyal said that the Punjab chief minister should give a reply over releasing water in Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and TaunsaPanjnad Link Canal. The minister was of the view that the link canals were illegally opened in Punjab, causing a huge financial loss to Sindh up to $3 billion. He added that Sindh province must be given 33 million acre-feet of water this season under the designated allocation.

Four peshawar bus stands incur rs800 million loss

Orphan Teenage girl gang raped, culpriTs held KASUR: Three accused gang raped a teenage orphan girl on Monday. Police arrested the culprits during a raid. DPO Imran Kishawar said that a 12-year-old orphan girl whose mother is also disabled used to earn livelihood for her family by working in agriculture fields. He said that accused Ali took the girl to agriculture fields in the name of labour where he along with his accomplices Zulfiqar and Usman gang raped the teenager. The police on complaint of girl, through geo-fencing traced and arrested the culprits who were using their political reference for settlement of dispute. INP

PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

Teachers prOTesTing againsT pay cuTs baTOn charged The teachers protesting against pay cuts were baton charged by Peshawar police when they tried to march towards the provincial assembly on Monday. The police also arrested eight protesting teachers who offered resistance against baton charge. The teachers have demanded the concerned authorities to withdraw the decision of deducting their allowances. The protestors said that they have already suffered a lot because of the coronavirus lockdown and now these cuts will further cause problems. NEWS DESK

Three killed upon resistance during robberies in Karachi KARACHI: Three people were killed and two others injured upon resistance during separate incidents of robberies in different localities of the metropolis on Monday. According to details, armed robbers gunned down Naveed 34, upon resistance during robbery in Saeedabad area of Baldia Town, Karachi. Robbers stabbed to death, 22-year-old Qand Agha and injured Jumma Din 35, upon resistance during robbery attempt near Highway Punjab Cut. The third incident took place Johar More where armed robbers during picket looting opened firing at vehicle killed Wajiul Hassan 60, and injured Hamza 35. INP

Siyal complained about getting a reduced share of water up to 30 MAF of water. On the other hand, the provincial irrigation minister offered experts from Punjab to visit Sindh to ascertain the facts. earlier on May 28, the Indus River System Authority had cut down the water share of Sindh and Punjab due to an “excessive” shortage of water in the country. According to a statement released by IRSA, after the reduction in water share, Punjab is getting 83,000 cusecs of water, while Sindh is being provided 74,000 cusecs of water. Due to prevailing limited storage available in reservoirs and tumbling river inflows, it was inevitable to apply cut on provincial shares, the water body had said in a statement. The Irsa spokesperson had expressed hope that the water situation in rivers would improve in the next 48 to 72 hours.

LAHORE: A view of traffic during heavy rain in the provincial capital. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

Mother, child to be provided best healthcare services: Dr Faisal ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan has said that provision of best medical services to mother and child at public hospitals is top priority of the government. Speaking during his visit to Mother and Child Health Center Aabpara on Monday, he said that innovative steps are being taken to further improve the facilities to control mother and child mortality rate in the country. Dr Faisal said that the incumbent government has paid special focus on the health sector and particularly on mother and child health by starting several mega projects. He said that effective measures are being adopted to achieve targets of universal health coverage. He said that the government is working for expan-

sion of universal health coverage by investing in health systems, especially in Primary Health Care and is committed to implement its agenda to achieve the target of UHC. The Special Assistant to PM reiterated the strengthening of Primary Health Care in the country and taking innovative steps to improve the health status of the population. He assured expansion in coverage of the Sehat Sahulat Programme, which will be instrumental in decreasing the financial burden on the poor and marginalised population and endorsement of the Universal Health Coverage Benefit Package. He said that the government is working on developing strategies and plans for strengthening the PHC services and implementation of UHC plan. Dr Faisal urged the public to strictly adhere to Covid19 Standard Operating Procedures to effectively counter the disease. He urged citizens to wear mask, maintain social distance, wash hands with soap frequently and avoid crowded places.

The auditor general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has raised the audit objections stating that the Department of Local Government was directed to implement electronic bidding system under which bidding was process was completed at 20 percent additional price. If no decision is taken in the electronic process for the first time, then the advertisement will be issued under the old process. On July 17, 2014, the Local Government Department also directed electronic tendering in all the subsidiaries to ensure transparency. However, according to the records of the Director General City District Government, the method of electronic contract was not adopted during the financial year 2019-20 and more than Rs400 million has been collected from all the factories on a daily basis while the said collection has been made without any agreement. No employee of the director general's office was associated with the contractor and there was no record of stationery issued to the contractor. The audit objection said that the whole process was due to poor financial management. If the same contract had been issued electronically by the district government, the public exchequer could have earned more. According to sources, awarding contracts for 4 bus stands on a daily basis caused an annual loss of Rs800.57 million to the exchequer. The highest collection of Rs864, 000 from Peshawar bus terminal, Rs161,500 from Charsadda bus stand and Rs63,000 from Karkhano bus stand has been made on daily basis. Annual revenue from four bus stands is Rs230.94 million from Peshawar bus terminal, Rs70.35 million from Kohat bus stand, Rs60.44 million from Charsadda bus stand and Rs20.27 million from Karkhano bus stand. The term of all the local bodies was completed during the financial year 2019-20, after which the deputy commissioners for the districts were appointed as administrators of the city district government.

Masood lauds health oﬃcials’ role in fight against Covid-19 MUZAFFARABAD STAFF REPORT

Paying tributes to the officials of the health department for their excellent performance amid the coronavirus pandemic, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that doctors, nurses, and paramedics deserve appreciation for their courageous role. The state president expressed these views after the presentation of the annual report of the Health Department for the year 2019-20 and the departmental briefing by the Director General Health Dr Sardar Aftab Hussain Khan. Describing Covid-19 as an un-

precedented health challenge, Masood cautioned that the pandemic is not over and that people should not lower their guard. He said it is important for the health department not only to maintain the same level of preparedness but also to take further steps to bring the fight against the pandemic to its logical conclusion. “We need to keep our focus on awareness campaigns by involving public sector universities, educational institutions, frontline workers, NGOs, community-based organisations, and the media to create awareness and sensitise the individual and communities about the threat of the pandemic,” he emphasised.

LAHORE: Officials of the LPG Association hold a press conference in Lahore. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

LAHORE

nEws

DEbT-for-NaTurE Swap paCTS To bE iNkED wiTh CrEDiTorS oN 5Th: Gul iSLamaBad

STAFF REPORT

TATE Minister for Climate Zartaj Gul has said that Pakistan is all set to sign agreements with Germany, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom on June 5 for debt relief in exchange for investments in environmental conservation efforts across the country. She said on Monday that signing of the debt-for-nature agreement is part of a line-up of events for World Environment Day on June 5, which Pakistan will be hosting for the first time.

Govt aiming to vaccinate enough people to avoid Eid restrictions

She said that Pakistan has assured creditors of its commitment to combat climate change in exchange for “the amount of loans they will forgive.” “We will not pay back the debts, but against that part of the loan, we will make progress on the restoration of the natural environment, whether it will be biodiversity conservation or restoration, or be it green jobs,” Gul added. She said the exact amount for the DFN agreement would be determined “after the final ratification of the agreement by the respective governments.” “These are long standing and non-payable loans under the current circumstances,” Gul said, adding: “Nature-based solutions in exchange for debt relief

will not only reduce Pakistan’s debt burden but will also benefit the environment in the country and the region as a whole.” Gul said Pakistan had qualified for the DFN deal based on its “three-year performance” in conservation efforts, including the prestigious 10 Billion Tree Tsunami program launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2018 which aims to counter extreme weather conditions in Pakistan that scientists link to climate change. “During the last three years, we have shown performance through the Billion Tree Tsunami, Clean Green Pakistan, plastic bag ban, recharge Pakistan, ecosystem restoration, and [by] setting up 23 national

parks,” Gul said, naming various climate initiatives taken by the government. Pakistan is working with lender countries on a debtfor-nature swap programme, which would see debt relief in return for binding commitments to achieve conservation targets, with lender countries agreeing to reduce Pakistan’s outstanding payments and channelling the money into conservation and climate-related expenses instead. Pakistan owes nearly $11.54 billion to the Paris Club of country lenders, including $1.42 billion to Germany, $175 million to Italy, $5 million to the UK, and $403 million to Canada.

Gwadar Port becomes operational, expected to generate considerable economic activity and jobs

Continued from page 01

According to the NCOC, the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 921,053, including 841,241 recoveries, 59,033 active cases, and 20,779 deaths with 43 reported on Sunday. Pakistan has administered 6,130,509 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine till Sunday morning, including 287,109 doses administered across Pakistan in the last 24 hours, the NCOC said. Asad COMPARES OUTBREAK IN PAKISTAN, INDIA: Asad, who also heads the NCOC, shared the mortality rate from the disease in India stood at 236 deaths per million people. “The death toll from corona in India is 236 casualties per million. In Pakistan, the ratio is 92 per million,” the minister tweeted.He said: “If India’s corona[virus] mortality ratio were the same as Pakistan’s, its death toll would be less than 200,000.” He then urged people to adopt precautions and get vaccinated.

NTDC completes repair and rehabilitation work of damaged towers in Sindh

Similarly, he said, the work of Gwadar Airport was also going on at fast pace while the technical and vocational institutes in the city would also be completed in October. He stated that the prime minister had specifically directed to create maximum job opportunities in the area, with capacity building of the local youth by imparting them skill training. The CPEC Authority chairman said a 150-bed hospital was under construction in the Gwadar city,

from Mirani and other areas of the province. Six Chinese companies were ready to sign lease agreements for 32,500 acres of land, on which they would develop a unique model of corporate farming. It would be the first agriculture model farm in Balochistan as similar models were being executed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces as well, he added. About the reservations of fishermen after the development of Eastbay Expressway, he said three bridges were under construction to address their concerns.

$500m green bond launched to finance Diamer, Mohmand dams Continued from page 01

LAHORE: National Transmission and Desptach Company Limited (NTDC) has completed the repair and rehabilitation work of damaged towers of high power transmission lines in Jamshoro, Sindh. The spokesman said that both the transmission lines have been energized and gradual power generation from Port Qasim Power Plant is being added to the national grid, which will be increased to its full capacity 1200MW Subsequently. The spokesman informed that the rehabilitation work was carried out on war footings and during rehabilitation the power supply was provided via alternate sources and NTDC transmission system remained normal throughout the country. PRESS RELEASE

which was a gift from the Chinese president for the local residents. He said the master plan of Gwadar City had also been approved, and it was now at the implementation stage. Clearing the air on all the misconceptions about the Gwadar Port, he said it was now a reality, with lot of development work completed, while handling of cargo was underway. He added that the development of agriculture sector was a key area of focus under CPEC. In that regard, he said, he held a meeting with the agriculture community

Imran said that clean energy production supplemented by the 10 billion trees project would help overcome the impact of climate change and also the rising levels of pollution in big cities. The establishment of 15 new national parks, recharging of wetlands and growing the dense mangroves are the government’s effective steps to counter global warming, he added. The prime minister touched upon other areas where the government was focusing to bring about a change including uniform academic syllabus, health card scheme, controlling mother and child mortality rate, and reforms for promotion of agriculture and livestock. Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen said that the success in securing the interest of international companies in Wapda’s bond showed the confidence of the

international community in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran. He said that completion of the dams was critical for meeting the country’s water requirements, adding that the launch of the bond would help increase the funding for water reservoirs. WAPDA Chairman Muzammil Hussain said that the launch was a major achievement wherein a parastatal organisation the international bond market on its own credentials without any financial obligation on the government. He mentioned that top investment banking company JPMorgan Chase expressed interest in a project in Pakistan after 25 years, and added that the bond enhanced the country’s economic profile. The bank’s vice chairman, Mark Stephen Garvin, in a video message congratulated Pakistan on the launch of the bond and lauded WAPDA’s “unwavering commitment despite challenges”.

According to a report by the body, the Regulation S bond has been launched at a very competitive price of 7.5 percent, which is unprecedented given Pakistan’s sovereign bond maturing in 2031 has a coupon of 7.375 percent. “This will go a long way in diversifying the funding sources for undertaking huge capital-intensive projects,” reads the report. The report states that there was a tremendous appetite for WAPDA’s Indus bond with the order book oversubscribed six times reaching close to $3 billion. This included credible and top companies, including Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Bluebay, Fidelity, Ashmore, Amundi and UBS. “It is a gold-plated transaction and Wapda appointed top [international] banks led by JP Morgan, who have come back to Pakistan after a hiatus. The co-book runners included Deutsche and Standard Chartered with HBL as co-Manager,” the report said.

BOOK REVIEW

Of politico-diplomatic contemporaneity Syed afSr Sajid The aforesaid two books have appeared in quick succession this year. Their subject matter is quite relevant, and contiguous too, to the prevailing politico-strategic and politico-diplomatic situation in our part of the world. Because of their thematic proximity, it was deemed advisable to review the pair together. ‘Pakistan’s Foreign Policy A Reappraisal’: Shahid M. Amin is a veteran Pakistani diplomat who often appears in media discussions on the country’s political and economic scenario, and has to his credit several publications on politics, diplomacy, and foreign affairs besides the present one. It is the third edition (2000, 2010, and 2021 seriatim) of the book comprising eighteen chapters that elucidate themes like the rationale for Partition and peaceful co-existence, the first phase of India-Pakistan relations, Pakistan’s quest for security, the India-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971, the resurgence of Pakistan after 1971, the Afghan problem, Pakistan’s multi-lateral diplomacy, Pakistan’s relations with the Islamic world (Turkey, KSA, Iran, Libya, Egypt, and others), Pak-China relations, a reappraisal of Indo-Pak relations, learning from experience, the Kargil crisis, the OIC, Islamic world and the global politics, the Fall of the Soviet Union, the impact of the post 9/11 scenario on Pakistan’s foreign policy, and a cursory appraisal of Pakistan’s foreign policy between 2010 and 2020. In the first edition of the book, the writer avers that foreign policy is often considered the first line of defence of any country. It is influenced by a country’s history and geog-

Title: Pakistan’s Foreign Policy --- A Reappraisal Author: Shahid M. Amin Pages: 296 – Price: Rs.695/Publishers: Oxford University Press, Karachi.

raphy. Ideology is yet another normative feature of our foreign policy in addition to the geostrategic location of the country. Dispelling the general impression that Pakistan’s foreign policy has always been dictated by the US, the writer argues that in reality Pakistan’s foreign policy ‘had always reflected the country’s preoccupations with India, and could not be described as subservient to the US’. However, around 1980 there was a resurgence of relations between

Pakistan and the US in the wake of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, when they joined hands to neutralize this intervention. Earlier in the 1960’s, due to mutuality of interests augmented by a common concern for the growing Indian hostility to both countries, China came to stay as a pillar of Pakistan’s foreign policy. In the preface to the current (the 3rd) edition, the author argues that ‘the main contours of Pakistan’s foreign policy remained unchanged, which proved that foreign policy reflects national interests’ particularly ‘the search for security and economic welfare’ which are lasting in nature and do not necessarily connect to changes of governments. In August-2019 India’s unilateral termination of the special status granted to Kashmir under article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and its annexation of the occupied territory as a part of India has served to create an irreparable dent in the Indo-Pak relations necessitating an emergent reappraisal of the country’s foreign policy so as to reinvigorate its tilt towards China and the Islamic Bloc (consisting of over fifty states) led by Saudi Arabia. So Pakistan’s international importance could hardly be gainsaid. The author sees Pakistan as ‘a moderate, progressive and traditionally pro-West Muslim state that serves as a counter-balance to radical Islam. The West and many other states have a stake in keeping Pakistan afloat, since its weakening could destabilize a highly volatile area in the world’. He is of the considered opinion that the much-needed political stability could help the country reach an economic ‘take-off’ in the near future to uplift and improve its economy. Thus the author has discussed the formulation of Pakistan’s foreign policy from

Title: No-Win War (The Paradox of US-Pakistan Relations in Afghanistan’s Shadow) Author: Zahid Hussain Pages: 355 – Price: Rs.850/Publishers: Oxford University Press, Karachi.

a fresh angle. He has discussed its structural failures where necessary and calls for new thinking on its various aspects with special emphasis on Pak-India relations vis-à-vis Kashmir. He makes a strong plea for realism and moderation on the part of both nuclear states. ‘No-Win War’ Zahid Hussain is a well known Pakistani journalist, political analyst, and author. Apart from some leading national TV channels, he

also makes periodic appearances on BBC, CNN and Al-Jazeera. He has written research papers for various journals, periodicals, and international think tanks, on regional conflicts, terrorism, and geopolitics. The present book seeks to discuss the intricacies of the ongoing Afghan War (which he terms as a ‘no-win war’) in the context of ‘the paradox of US-Pakistan relations in Afghanistan’s shadow’. It also explores the post9/11 relations between the US and Pakistan besides explaining ‘implications’ for Afghanistan in the ‘war on terror’ while revisiting US and Pakistan’s foreign policy initiatives. The book is spread over eighteen chapters with quasi-eponymous titles suggesting their meanings or implications: History Starts Today!, The Original Sin, The Fall and Rise of the Taliban, The Great Escape, Not-So-Invisible War, Taming Pakistan: Shifting Sands in Washington, Democracy versus National Security, What’s Your Plan for Afghanistan?, Enemies Now, Midnight Raid, Relations on a Slippery Slope, Sorry, But ‘No’ Sorry, Talking to the Taliban, Storming the Witches’ Brew!, Death of Mullah Omar: Battle for Leadership, A Maverick in the White House, Shifting Sands of Afghanistan, and The Endgame. Famed international political analysts Kathy Gannon, Anatol Lieven, and Ahmed Rashid have praised Zahid Hussain’s knowledge and analytical ability in regards to the prevailing politico-diplomatic situation in Afghanistan and his grasp of the Pakistan US relations. In the wake of the impending withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan, the author voices a mix of hope and fear on the prospects of peace in the wartorn region. ‘The hope is that some kind of lasting peace could be reached. The fear is that the expansion of Taliban influence could lead to a resurgence’ of their rule. ‘What will it be? Only time will tell.’ This is his speculation, though arguably modest.

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

06 COMMENT

Some infamous Muslim debates

Shahbaz Sharif on the ropes Failure means a flameout

HE opposition alliance, which had put the government on the defensive, stands divided on account of sharp differences between the PPP and Pml-N. After the PDm meeting on saturday, alliance chief Fazlur Rehman told media that the PPP and ANP were no longer with the alliance, adding however that both still had time to inform the alliance if they wanted to return. While addressing a joint press conference in Charsadda with ANP leader Amir Haider Khan Hoti, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said it would be inappropriate to utter bad things about one another after spending time together doing politics. He contended however that it would have been better for the PDm to follow the action plan signed by the ten parties’ alliance that had called for the use of democratic, political and parliamentary options to confront the PTi-led government inside and outside the parliament. Despite the earlier exchange of harsh words between the PDm and the PPP and ANP leaders, both sides have kept their door open. What is more, the PPP and ANP still consider shahbaz sharif the leader of the opposition in NA. The long simmering differences between the hardliners represented by maryum Nawaz and softliners represented by shahbaz sharif are out into the open. That the Pml-N won almost all the seats it contested in by-elections this years has raised the morale of its legislators who believe they can repeat the performance in general elections due in 2023 provided the establishment remains neutral as it was during the byelections. most of them are unwilling to languish in jails on account of the establishment’s hostility. They have conveyed their views to Pml-N supreme leader Nawaz sharif. While the discussion on the Pml-N’s future course of action continues, shahbaz sharif is required to lead the opposition in the forthcoming budget session, exposing and getting removed anything seen as against the people’s interest. Being a major supporter of dialogue with establishment he is required to persuade those who matter to curtail their role in politics and devote themselves entirely to their constitutionally mandated role. Failure on either front would be the undoing of shahbaz sharif.

A trip down history lane

HASAN AFTAB SAEED

uslims have engaged in some extremely curious debates over the centuries. What has been even stranger than the issues disputed is how much time and needless acrimony, sometimes outright violence (and worse) it took before they could be brought near any sort of resolution. And they continue to make occasional reappearances to this day. The disputes i am referring to are not the games played by the atheists on the believers: ‘Can God make a spherical square?’, ‘Can God make an object so heavy that He cannot lift?’ or ‘Can God make another God like himself?’ – word salads that do not mean anything. Neither am i talking about the interfaith debates between muslims and Christians on the nature of divinity, say. Nor yet silly muslim equivalents of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The disputes i am referring to started when the muslims first came to know of Greek philosophy and logic as translations of Greek texts became available. What made these issues so elusive to any sort of settlement for such long periods of time is the fact that the diametrically opposite positions of the disputing parties in all these debates were backed up alike by verses of the Quran. They were backed up by verses of the Quran when the latter were torn loose from their contexts and were considered in isolation, that is. Which is a pity because if they are considered in their contexts, and all verses on a given subject are considered together as a whole (not individually and selectively), and sufficient thought is given to them, there remains no insurmountable difficulty in settling these issues. in all these debates then, there was much more con-

Censorship under the guise of ‘regulation’ New law will deal a crippling blow to freedom of speech leaving no room for dissent

RimE minister imran Khan and his ministers have stated on multiple occasions that Pakistan’s media is one of the freest in the world. These comments have been repeated with unwavering confidence during foreign media interviews as well. However, the reality is much different and the methods through which print and electronic media has been made to self-censor since the PTi took over is simply unprecedented. in its latest barrage against dissent and valid criticism, the government is planning to push through the Pakistan media Development Authority (PmDA) ordinance that aims to regulate all forms of media and is being advertised as “independent, efficient, effective and transparent”. upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the PmDA is a horrifically draconian collection of rules and regulations that would all but abolish whatever modicum of press freedom is left in the country. To begin with, it would repeal all existing media related laws and make the new authority a single entity through which all licensing, registration and other necessary legal requirements would be processed. it states that the federal government will issue directives to the authority on matters of policy and these would be full and final. Through the authority, the federal government aims to establish crippling limits and enforce changes to editorial policies of media outlets. it will require electronic media to dedicate “5 percent of their 24-hour airtime” to broadcast content “in public interest” as directed by the federal government and would ban airing or publishing anything that would “defame or ridicule” the head of state, armed forces or judiciary. The term “public interest” has been deliberately left vague and it will be determined by the federal government what exactly falls under this category and as per the ordinance any media station acting against it will have its premises seized by the authority. Perhaps one of the most dangerous proposals in the ordinance is the formation of tribunals that identify violations of laws set out under the PmDA and punish the accused media outlets that includes but is not limited to 5-year imprisonment and two Rs 25 million fines. What is more, the only court where the accused can present his defense has been limited to the supreme Court of Pakistan. The obvious motivation behind this is to restrict legal recourse by making it expensive and eliminating the possibility of appeal. in its current form, such a law would be impossible to get through parliament, which is why it will be bulldozed through as a presidential ordinance and eventually lapse. But it would still remain in place for at least eight months. it is therefore imperative that all media representative bodies and progressive media outlets oppose and reject the PmDA collectively and outrightly.

Dr UmAir ASHrAF

“W

E wish”, said Jinnah, arguing the case for Pakistan on 22 march 1940, “our people to develop to the fullest our spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best, and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people.” The PTi Federal government will be presenting its budget for 2021-22 by mid of June with its fourth Finance minister in office. The vision of Prime minister imran Khan for a welfare state with inclusive economic and financial structure has seen one of the most discursive economic policies since he came into the government. He began with his own party’s stalwart Asad umar, a former corporate executive as Finance minister but soon relinquished him of his services and brought in a technocrat Hafeez shaikh to fulfill his vision. But two years later and a drastic inflation in the country saw Hafeez shaikh’s unceremonious exit from the cabinet. Khan again turned to a Politician, a young well-articulated economist Hammad Azhar but his stunt was limited to a mere press conference. And now finally we have a technocrat shaukat Tareen, a banker by profession, back in office to make Khan’s dream of a welfare state and “Riyasat-e-madina” comes true. shaukat Tareen in his interviews and press conferences has put forward his revolutionary ideas to create an inclusive, integrative and welfare economy in Pakistan. An economic setup which shall uplift the poverty-ridden and deprived people in the country. The success of his ideas will be clear in next few months. But an economy constrained by debts and diabolical financial programs of imF and World Bank externally and elites’ interests internally, is difficult to turn into a welfare one over the night.

Editor Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Extreme, superficial and hasty answers to all these questions are generally either due to focusing on one attribute of God (to the exclusion – sometimes negation – of all others) or to placing God inside the framework of time and space (and therefore considering him subject to them), which is a negation of his quality of being Absolute (One who is dependent on nothing).

The author is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed

We have become exactly what Jinnah warned us against

Arif Nizami

Managing Editor

focusing on different aspects of reality (being blind to the other). The solution becomes apparent as soon as one sees the complete picture. The verses that say God guides whom he pleases and causes to go astray whom he pleases (by sealing his heart and putting a veil on his eyes) is by no means talking about a capricious deity acting arbitrarily. According to the Quran, the characteristic behaviour of God (His sunnat) never changes. Whether He helps somebody to advance in the positive or in the negative direction depends on what the man has done with whatever part of guidance he has received earlier. if he accepts the truth without letting vested interests get in his way, he progressively receives more guidance from God, and vice versa. man, then, plays a part in whether God guides him or causes him to go astray. That God is AllPowerful is true; but what is also true is that He is Allknowing and Wise. And he has these qualities all at the same time. Contemplating God with all his qualities simultaneously solves other similar debates as well: ‘Can God lie?’ for example, which believe it or not, was once a hot topic of discussion. While there is nothing that is too difficult for God, God only does Godly things. Extreme, superficial and hasty answers to all these questions are generally either due to focusing on one attribute of God (to the exclusion – sometimes negation – of all others) or to placing God inside the framework of time and space (and therefore considering him subject to them), which is a negation of his quality of being Absolute (One who is dependent on nothing). To avoid getting entangled in unsolvable riddles it is imperative to have a worldview in which God is beyond space and time and where He is considered with all His qualities at the same time. The above debates may be old, but even today many muslims find it hard to resist reading Quranic verses out of context and in isolation. Add to it the reluctance to give sufficient thought to any given issue and there is plenty to learn from these forgotten chapters of history.

The lost cause of a welfare state

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

troversy than there needed to be. The first debate was the same old problem of evil in new packaging. is God the Creator of our actions? This has obvious implications for the free-will/predestination controversy. if God is the Creator of man’s actions, then He must ultimately be responsible for the evil that men do, which has serious implications for the concept of life as a fair test of man. if, on the other hand, we are the creators our own actions, we are independent of God’s Will, which puts limitations on the power of God. The answer of course is simply this: God creates our actions but does not perform them for us. He allows man to choose his course of action and within limits he gives him freedom to act on his choices too, but he also gives him guidance regarding what is right and what is wrong. The resulting responsibility is the basis for man’s test. But because everything that the human being does still depends on the laws of the universe (another name for God’s Will), so there is no question of being independent of God or outsmarting Him. Another epic debate revolved around whether the speech of God (the Quran) was God’s creation. The mutazilites answered it in the affirmative and thus started the unfortunate persecution of anybody who did not openly agree with them. Present-day muslims often wonder what difference it made one way or the other but there was a time when some people thought that an affirmative answer was the only way to refute the divinity of Jesus. (Go figure!) The answer to this riddle is that divine speech is an attribute of God and is therefore Eternal like Him; but, dictated at a particular time, the Quran is a manifestation of that attribute at a specific point of time. God’s Creativity is Eternal, but each of His creations (including the Quran) came into being at some given moment in time. Next, we come to whether God can hold man responsible for things beyond his power. No, vehemently maintained one side on the ground that God is Just and merciful. Yes, said the other, equally vehemently, on the ground that He is the Almighty and there is no stopping him from doing whatever he pleases. Either side quoted verses of the Quran to support their stances. Quite obviously, either side was

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

The question thus arises, how will Khan’s dream of Welfare state come true? As mentioned in the quote at the start of this article, Quaid’s vision was to create a system that is intrinsic and not borrowed. And above all islamic economic system which was the basis of Riyasat e madina, the true welfare state, was intrinsic and not borrowed either. But if we look at current economic and financial system of Pakistan, it is not intrinsic but borrowed. it is based on Western Capitalism and free market trade and is overlooked by their financial institutions. in the past seventy years, we have run over a dozen of imF programs, revised our economy multiple times, brought in so many economic teams and advisors but our economy always failed to progress. Thus, we see downtrodden people struggling to meet their ends. We see a huge gap in wealth, peaked unemployment, worst levels of poverty and illiteracy, healthcare crisis, a failing infrastructure, minimal growth rates and a pernicious GDP. All aligned with an overwhelming debt. We have one of the highest risks of food security crisis in the World. Our agriculture which caters almost 60 percent of the population has halted to an almost unrepairable damage. We have one of the most flawed taxation systems in the World. The elite capture and status quo has made the rich richer and poor poorer. The capitalism, feudalism, economic injustice, economic disparity, debt exploitation, hoarding, banking monopoly and financial inequality have added to our already deteriorating social, welfare and justice system. Our standards of living are crippled. “Pakistan’s economic system is a reminiscent of a proverbial blind man who takes hold of an Elephant’s tail and concludes an Elephant is a kind of brush.” The reason is that we deviated from our intrinsic ideology and needs as mentioned by Quaid and as the teachings of islam. Our governments tried to follow foreign economic systems in order to make their masters happy and to stay aligned with the World, but at the cost of destruction of our own society and economy.

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Quaid told the state Bank of Pakistan inaugural gathering on 1 July 1948. “The economic system of the West has created almost insoluble problems for humanity. it has failed to do justice between man and man and to eradicate friction from the international field. On the contrary, it was largely responsible for the two World Wars... The Western world, in spite of its advantages of mechanisation and industrial efficiency, is today in a worse mess than ever before in history. The adoption of western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contented people.” But in past seventy years we have succumbed to the same system Quaid warned us against. And until we change the whole system, we won’t be able to achieve welfare and prosperity in bits and pieces. Our main goal should be to change and reform the whole system. And our approach to this issue must be intrinsic, realistic, revolutionary and creative. We have to move beyond the blind imitation of the Western economic system and adopt true islamic and national ideological basis. We shall break the status quo, elite capture, feudalism and capitalism and reconstruct our economy on the new foundations that cater our needs and help in economic and social uplift of the people and create equity and equality in the country. We shall have to rebuild our banking system with prohibition of interest, distinguishing halal and haram, create optimization instead of maximization of consumption, create trade ethics, equitable distribution of wealth, and prohibition of hoarding and concentration of wealth into few hands. We shall rebuild islamic system of Zakat and Khiraaj and equitable distribution of land ownership. And we shall guarantee social justice to everyone in the country. Only in this way we will be able to achieve our vision of a Welfare state. The writer is a medical doctor by profession and is a freelance writer. He can be reached at drumairashraf95@gmail.com.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Tuesday, 1 June, 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

Over population WHEN the facilities and food of a country are not enough for its people are called overpopulation. Overpopulation leads to food insecurity and also environmental problems. in Pakistan 60 percent of Pakistanis already live with food insecurity. The main causes of overpopulation are, the decline in the death rate, agricultural advancement, better medical facilities, more hands to overcome poverty etc. However, Pakistan is among the most overpopulated countries in the world, and it remains the fifth most populous country in the world. The population of Pakistan is 224,770,387 according to the census of may 2021. And we can overcome population by these solutions, promote family planning, one-child legislation, government incentives etc. i request to the government of Pakistan to promote rules that overcome population. ASif RASHEEd TuRbAT

Internet scarcity

A third Israel-Hamas war? Another episode of violence must be avoided at all costs

Dr AloN BEN mEir Now that a third Israeli-Hamas war has ended as inconclusively as the two previous wars, will both sides prepare for the next one, or let sanity sink in and chart a dramatically new course that will end the vicious cycle from which neither side can ever escape?

O keen observer of the brutal israelHamas conflict can draw any conclusion other than that both sides have and continue to be delusional about their presumptive goal of destroying the other entirely. if past experiences offer any lesson, israel can inflict massive destruction and casualties and even decapitate Hamas’ leadership, but Hamas will still survive, regroup, rebuild their arsenals, and emerge even stronger. And while Hamas can launch thousands of rockets, israel can absorb such an onslaught and rise to exact an even greater price. To be sure, neither side can ever change the equation, but only set the stage for the next round. What contributes to this impasse is that israel assesses the result of the war in terms of how much destruction it has inflicted, how many militants it killed, and the extent to which it has degraded Hamas’ offensive ability. And since israel considers Hamas as an irredeemable terrorist foe, it must therefore be contained by “mowing the lawn” every few years. Conversely, Hamas measures the outcome in political and psychological terms and its impact on the Palestinian public. in that sense, Hamas can rightfully claim victory in this last war because they successfully usurped the mantle of the defender of the Palestinian cause and the “true guardian of East Jerusalem.” in addition, they inflicted a significant political blow on their rival—the Palestinian Authority—for its lame reaction to the disturbances in East Jerusalem. That said, israel and Hamas cannot ignore the plain reality that neither can make the other disappear. They have to decide where to go from here, and recognize that the status quo is not sustainable, as has been demonstrated time and again. IncreasIng publIc pressure: in Gaza, the Palestinians are despairing. They suf-

fer from poverty, 50 percent unemployment, a broken healthcare system, and shortages of medicine, food, gas, and electricity, along with casualties and destruction they have sustained during devastating wars. They want an end to the conflict with israel, and although this sentiment is not freely expressed, Hamas’ leadership is fully aware that blaming israel for the public’s plight resonates only up to a point. They must meet their public’s demands if they want to prevent widespread unrest. likewise, the israelis are becoming increasingly frustrated with how Netanyahu has been handling the conflict with Hamas (this is the second inconclusive war with Hamas under his watch). The communities adjacent to Gaza have had more than their share of anxiety, fear, and disruptions in their daily lives. most israelis resent that they must rush to shelters for days to seek protection from rockets, all while the economy is badly affected and the cost of waging these wars is ever-escalating with no end in sight to the bloody cycle. in light of the last war and its indeterminate result, israel and Hamas may well be compelled to reconsider their relations and chart a new path to change the dynamic of the conflict, from which both can benefit. First, a long-term ceasefire: The israeli military establishment’s decision to instantly retaliate (disproportionately) to any Hamas provocation, as has been the case in every war, is not the answer any more. israel, which helped created Hamas in the first place to counter-balance the PlO and has witnessed its evolution over the past three decades, must admit it simply cannot wish it away. it is time for israel to agree on a longterm ceasefire (hudna) for 15-20 years, which Hamas has been seeking for several years. israel has legitimate concerns that during such a long respite, Hamas will amass more rockets, build more tunnels, and substantially improve their offensive and defensive capability. These concerns can be mitigated through deterrence or rewards. One is to entice Hamas that full compliance would lead to gradual lifting of the blockade and rebuilding of the infrastructure; two, the violation of the agreement will prompt israel to inflict such a massive blow from which Hamas may not recover. in this regard, Hamas’ arsenal of rockets and other weaponry has been a major point of contention for israelis. under a long-term ceasefire, their current arsenal should be kept under lock and key, with the direct supervision of Egypt, which has long mediated between israel and Hamas. Two, rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure: President Biden’s announcement that the us and other donors will provide billions of dollars to

rebuild what was destroyed during the last conflagration and further expand infrastructure is crucial. The building of schools, hospitals, housing, roads, and electrical grids are critical for every Palestinian in Gaza and also for Hamas’ leadership. Although Hamas challenged israel in the past, knowing that they were inviting massive israeli retaliation, given how dire the conditions have become in Gaza they will be increasingly less inclined to challenge israel again, especially if they want to preserve their political gains from this latest war. Obviously, the us with the support of other nations will establish an unfettered monitoring system to prevent Hamas from diverting any of the aid received for military purposes, especially building tunnels, manufacturing rockets, and training. That said, it will be wise to involve Hamas to participate in the reconstruction efforts to make it increasingly vested in the process. Three, gradual lifting of the blockade: in conjunction with a long-term ceasefire, Egypt, with the strong support of the us, should work with israel and Hamas on a plan that will gradually lift the blockade over a period of five years. The complete lifting of the blockade should be directly linked to Hamas’ renunciation of violence against Israel, and it must demonstrate that by preventing any hostile act against israel by any group from inside Gaza. moreover, Hamas must commit to distance itself from the muslim Brotherhood, because Cairo plays a central role in any ceasefire and its implementation and considers the mB as a terrorist organization. This is the moment when Hamas’ leaders must realize that it is not enough to boast about the psychological and political victory they harvested from the war; they must translate that into practical gains. They have now a crucial opportunity to change the entire dynamic of the conflict by demonstrating moderation, and it will most prudent on the part of israel to seize the moment and move beyond the old and tired notion that Hamas is simply incorrigible. The above may seem too logical of an approach to solve such an endemic conflict between hardnosed adversaries where emotions run high, hatred runs deep, and distrust is all but self-consuming. However, i invite any israeli or Hamas leader to show me if there is any other viable alternative that stands any chance of being mutually accepted.

Israel and Hamas cannot ignore the plain reality that neither can make the other disappear. They have to decide where to go from here, and recognize that the status quo is not sustainable, as has been demonstrated time and again.

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Centre for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. alon@alonben-meir.com

TuRBAT is the second major city after Quetta in Balochistan, but still, people are in hot water as the scarcity of 4G network persists in Turbat .moreover the internet is indispensable which has progressed our lives and made it easier in every sphere ,each works are being done by internet .Furthermore ,it bestow us lots of advantages .it allows the people to learn new things and explore new ideas .However concerned authorities did not find any solution in years to attain it .in this bad situation people are remediless to make connections with PTCl because its network is limited and it needs money . now in corona period all eduacational institutions were closed ,shafqat mehmood announced that at any how exam will be taken of the intermediate , this time no promotion ,if today 4G would be they read and clear their all subjects. in today‘s global for human the biggest thing is internet without it life is nothing. ATiqA KARim TuRbAT

PTI’s begging and borrowing EvERY government elected or otherwise, in Pakistan borrowed for the lending agencies to run the country. Borrowing in essence is not wrong or bad if the country has the capacity and growth to pay off the debts. However, unfortunately, we have been deficit funding our economy where our capacity to retire the debts was never at par with our borrowing. Resultantly, every government had to borrow to retire past debts and to run the country. Every few years or so, the nation gets to hear that we are on the brink of default or complete economic meltdown. The worst part is that our leaders, instead of fixing the problem have always indulged in the blame game. mostly, it was between the PmlN and the PPP with long intervals of dictators. The plot was always the same that the party or person assuming would blame the predecessors for the economic misery of the country but keep doing the same to further bury the economy in debt, which it could not repay. in 2018, PTi entered the scene with a very optimistic and challenging goal to end the vicious economic quagmire country was in. unfortunately, it did not realize the magnitude of the problem while making claims and got stuck in a severe economic jam with loan repayments due and kitty empty. They had no option but to reach out to the imF for loans to keep things going. However, they promised to follow caution and change things in due course. As luck would have it, in 2019 Corona pandemic struck the world leading to a global economic downturn. This put the PTi government in a very tough spot, which they seem to be emerging out of. What surprised and perplexed the nation over the past three years is the attitude of the PPP and the PmlN. Both parties being responsible for the problem to a large extent kept taunting the PTi government for borrowing and begging. One wonders if they really thought that there was another way out. if they really were serious, they should join hands with the government to suggest policies that put the country on the path of economic prosperity. However, if they knew any different, Pakistan would not be in this mess in the first place. As for begging, i would like to draw their attention to the verses of Allama iqbal “maangney wala gada hai sadka maangey ya khiraaj; koi maney y ana maney, peer or sultan sab gadaa.” RAjA SHAfAATullAH iSlAmAbAd

Beautiful Balochistan BAlOCHisTAN is a land like a paradise, but unluckily, nation is unaware for some needful circumstances as about basic privileges. Balochistan is infixed by universal minerals; however, citizens are only engaged with working. We are not getting any profit from these minerals. People only concentrate on money, and it looks as they are unaware but everyone has mind, and right to know wrong or right. There are numerous expensive minerals like gold, silver, coal etc. They take out these minerals for money; however, they can get lots of work by these minerals. They work and earn money to finish the problems of their homes. i suggest people in Balochistan that they should get works instead of earning money. They should produce plenty of new and helpful objects from these minerals. NAvEEd AHmEd Hub

Indian variant ON Friday The National institute of Health confirmed that the first case of the so-called indian coronavirus variant has been detected in Pakistan. The country’s Health ministry said in a statement that a case of an indian variant has been traced after whole-genome sequencing of sARs Cov-2 samples was collected during the first three weeks of may 2021. The sequencing results confirmed detection of seven cases of south African variant and one case of indian variant. The new variant is considered to be responsible for a recent spike in COviD-19 cases in neighboring india. Thanking you. HARum SHujAuddiN Siddiqui KARAcHi

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

The place of MusliMs in hindu RashTRa IN THE CLEAREST ENUNCIATION OF ITS OUTLOOK TOWARDS A MODERN, REPUBLICAN AND SECULAR STATE, THE HINDU MAHASABHA CAME UP WITH A DOCUMENT IN 1945 KNOWN AS ‘THE CONSTITUTION OF HINDUSTHAN FREE STATE’. THERE WOULD BE NO STATE RELIGION. MINORITIES WERE ENVISAGED AS EQUAL STAKEHOLDERS IN A HINDU MAJORITY COUNTRY Open Magazine

Vikram Sampath

ddressing a mammoth gathering of his party at the 21st Annual session of the Allindia Hindu Mahasabha in 1939, which took Calcutta by storm and laid the foundation in Bengal for the party and leaders such as syama Prasad Mookerjee, Vinayak damodar savarkar outlined several important policy decisions. This was his third address as the national president of the party. He dedicated a significant portion of his speech to his party’s outlook towards religious minorities in india, in the imagined ‘Hindu rashtra’ that was being envisioned in the aftermath of the empire. He was principally opposed to using terms such as ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ as they reinforced separateness among indians on communal lines. savarkar however laboured to “relieve our non-Hindu countrymen of even a ghost of suspicion” that they might have about Hindu majoritarian suppression and wished “to emphasize that the legitimate rights of minorities with regard to their religion, culture and language will be expressly guaranteed: on one condition only that the equal rights of the majority also must not in any case be encroached upon or abrogated”. The majority was not to gain any extra privileges by virtue of numerical strength, and conversely the minority too was not to get extra concessions, as everyone was to be treated as equals in the eyes of the law, with faith relegated to private space. He emphasised that “every minority may have separate schools to train up their children in their own tongue, their own religious or cultural institutions and can receive government help also for these.” if anyone infringed on these legitimate minority rights, the Hindu rashtra would intervene to provide justice. savarkar staunchly opposed the communal award of separate electorates on religious grounds and advocated a ‘oneman, one vote’ policy for all indians. This was a reiteration of what he had articulated in his earlier addresses at Ahmedabad and nagpur. it was a long journey for savarkar of grappling with the vexed, civilisational battle that the two dominant communities of india faced. As a young boy he had led a band of his companions in a mock attack on an unused, decrepit mosque in his village Bhagur. But they were absorbing the political rhetoric of the times, in the 1890s, where Hindu-Muslim riots were commonplace across Maharashtra. even a nationalist leader like Bal gangadhar Tilak severely denounced the British government in his Kesari for what he termed as Muslim appeasement when it came to issues such as cow-slaughter or Hindu processional music in front of mosques that often led to a conflagration. in retaliation Tilak often made his ganeshotsavs and shivaji Jayanti celebrations grander and more ostentatious. Young boys such as savarkar who saw leaders like Tilak as rolemodels were obviously inspired by this sentiment of emulating shivaji Maharaj to overthrow ‘alien’ power. These incidents also made savarkar aware of how poorly organised, disunited and easy to subjugate Hindu society was. Yet, in his seminal book that he wrote as a law student in London in 1909, on the 1857 uprising that he called the first war of indian independence, savarkar acknowledged the role of all leaders of the revolution, including Bahadur shah Zafar, Maulvi Ahmed shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal and others. The book ends with a poignant scene from Zafar’s durbar and a quote from the emperor: “ghazion mein bu rahegi jab talak iman ki, Tab toh London tak chalegi teg Hindustan ki (Till there remains a trace of love for one’s faith in our heroes’ hearts, so long the sword of Hindustan will remain sharp and flash at London’s gates)”. in a speech in the presence of his life-long ideological opponent MK gandhi, he had said in 1909: “Hindus are the heart of Hindustan. nevertheless, just as the beauty of the rainbow is not impaired but enhanced by its varied hues, so also Hindustan will look all the more beautiful across the sky of future by assimilating all the best from the Muslim, Parsee, Jewish and other civilizations.” When one objectively assesses savarkar’s life and attitude towards minorities, especially Muslims, it seems to swerve around these very broad lines all through. But like all political ideologies evolve with time and circumstances, his response to the emerging separatist tendencies and virulent pan-islamist movements kept varying and influenced his attitude towards this issue. in the over decade-long incarceration in the dreaded Cellular Jail in the Andamans, the differential treatment meted to Hindu prisoners by Muslim warders, attempts at forced and induced conversions and the British complicity in the matter, and the absence of theological mechanisms within Hinduism to get neo-converts who wished to return to their parental

faith, rekindled his earlier desire to organise and unite Hindu society. This was further accentuated by the dangerous Khilafat agitation that Congress, and gandhi in particular, were fanning in a bid to elicit Muslim participation in the non-Cooperation movement in lieu of Hindu support to re-establish the despotic Caliphate in Turkey that the British had deposed in World War i. As historian rC Majumdar notes, that by making the Khilafat such a vital concern for a large section of indian Muslims whose priority should have been liberating one’s own country that was in shackles rather than barter one’s support for such extraterritorial allegiance, “gandhi himself admitted in a way that they formed a separate nation; they were in india, but not of india.” several Congressmen, including Lala Lajpat rai, Annie Besant, Bipin Chandra Pal, and to an extent even gandhi’s trusted lieutenant Jawaharlal nehru, considered the Khilafat movement as being ridden with dangers. in Khilafat conferences presided by gandhi himself, open calls to violent jihad against kafirs or non-believers were made and despite being warned by Congressmen, including swami shraddhanand, gandhi disregarded them politely. When the movement was launched around 191819, gandhi had promised both swaraj and the re-establishment of the Caliphate in one year. The failure and the subsequent frustration and communal frenzy led to widespread riots and carnages through the 1920s, from the Moplah genocide of Hindu nairs in Malabar to those in Kohat, Panipat, delhi, Bengal, sindh and other areas. The Congress response was usually an act of tenuous balancing and apportioning blame on both communities. When swami shraddhanand was brutally assassinated by a fanatic Abdul rashid, gandhi lovingly called rashid a “dear brother” whom he did not “even regard as guilty of swamiji’s murder.” The murderous Moplahs were described as “brave, god fearing…patriots who were fighting for what they consider as religion.” Castigating this perversion, Br Ambedkar commented: “Any person could have said that this was too heavy a price for Hindu-Moslem unity. But Mr. gandhi was so much obsessed by the necessity of establishing HinduMoslem unity that he was prepared to make light of the doings of the Moplas and the Khilafats who were congratulating them.” savarkar was to continuously oppose this tendency of Congress and gandhi to whitewash crimes and to put a premium on a particular community’s support that only led to organisations such as the Muslim League increase their bargaining power and demand more. in his Ahmedabad address of 1937, savarkar stated this about the League’s perennial holding the nation to ransom: “if you come, with you; if you don’t, without you; but if you oppose, in spite of you, we Hindus will fight out the good battle of achieving the independence of india and herald the rebirth of a free and mighty Hindu nation in the near future…The Hindus will assure them all that we hate none, neither the Moslem nor the Christians nor the indian europeans, but henceforth we shall take care to see that none of them dares to hate or belittle the Hindus also.” savarkar’s treatise in 1923 on Hindutva and ‘Who is a Hindu’ was a direct answer to the pernicious Khilafat agitation and an intellectual salvo at gandhi. He clarified at the outset that Hindutva did not bother itself with the theological aspects of Hinduism, but was more a cultural and national identity marker. Anybody who considered this sacred geography of Bharatavarsha between the indus and the seas as the land of their forefathers that was worthy of one’s devotion, loyalty and allegiance was culturally a Hindu, despite following any faith in their personal lives. Alongside was a call to unite all Hindus, dismantle the varna and caste system and a complete abolition of untouchability. savarkar himself was to make the 13 years of housearrest in ratnagiri from 1924 to 1937 an opportunity to put this Hindutva theory of unification into practice, as a social laboratory where despite a virulent orthodox backlash, largescale social reforms of inter-caste dining, inter-caste marriage, temple-entry, common schools, lakes, wells and festivals for all castes were ushered. He was to make common cause here with Ambedkar who complimented him as “among the very few who have realized” that “it is not enough to remove untouchability; for that matter you must destroy chaturvarnya.” in the tumultuous years since the outbreak of World War ii till the time of india’s freedom, the Hindu Mahasabha was the only consistent political outfit that doggedly opposed Partition, till the very end. it even rejected the Cripps Mission that Congress was willing to accept in return for the defence portfolio, on the grounds that it undermined the integrity of india as every province and princely state was given the freedom of integration with a union federation or autonomy. it played a curious Jekyll and Hyde role where on

the one hand it jostled for a seat on the high table of negotiations with the Viceroy alongside Congress and the League, but surreptitiously kept active back-channel tracks with Britain’s enemies, the Axis Powers in Berlin, rome and Tokyo—one reason the British never came around to trusting savarkar or the Mahasabha. But another proactive agenda of savarkar was militarisation of the Hindus both to infiltrate the British indian Army and thereafter defect soldiers to the indian national Army of subhas Chandra Bose and also to create a power balance between the two communities in the inevitable event of a civil war once the British departed. One community was armed and prepared; another made pusillanimous with several decades of doctrinal non-violence and with calls to disband the indian army altogether after freedom. Ambedkar, who had studied the communal composition of the indian army, flagged the dangers he saw in it. From 36 per cent of infantry and 30 per cent cavalry in 1930, he stated that, “the pre-war proportion of Muslims in the army was between 60-70%, while others pegged that number around 50%…high enough to cause alarm to the Hindus.” it was this strategic importance that the community gave them militarily that further made the British bend over backwards to placate the League and its unreasonable demands. Ambedkar candidly wondered if Hindus could rest easy that the “gate-keepers” would “protect the liberty and freedom of india” when it is attacked by co-religionists from Afghanistan. “Will they,” asked Ambedkar plainly, “respond to the call of the land of their birth or will they be swayed by the call of their religion, is the question, which must be faced if ultimate security is to be obtained.” it was the constant push towards setting up nationwide militarisation boards and drives by savarkar and his associate Bs Moonje that by 1943, 50 per cent of the indian army was made up of Hindus and gurkhas, 34 per cent of Muslims and 10 per cent of sikhs. But for all his suspicion of the community, savarkar in his addresses held out an olive branch to Muslims in particular that if extraterritorial allegiances of pan-islamism or separatist tendencies were curbed, emotional integration was possible. Like Ambedkar, he believed that as long as a section of the Muslim community owed its allegiance to the larger ummah or faith-based brotherhood, there would inherently be two nations within india competing for space. Politically, the Hindu Mahasabha tried to break the Muslim political space by allying with nonLeague Muslim parties to form coalitions or United Hindustan alliances, such as the Krishak Praja Party (KPP) of Fazlul Haq in Bengal and the Unionist Party of sikandar Hayat Khan in the north West Frontier Province. it even formed a broad alliance called the Azad Muslim Conference of anti-Partition Muslim parties, with sir Allah Bux soomro of sind as president, that included the KPP, Unionist Party, sind ittehad Party, All-india Momin Conference, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and others. However, the Mahasabha was bitterly criticised when it even joined hands briefly with the League in some provinces and Congress dubbed them as desperate “job-hunters”. savarkar rationalised it as grabbing every opportunity, however small, to create a lobby and pressure valve that safeguarded Hindu rights. He was horribly mistaken when, despite the Mahasabha presence, some of those ministries passed several anti-Hindu laws and all that these votaries of Hindu rights could do was angrily walk out of the Assembly or the ministry. But interestingly, in the clearest enunciation of its outlook towards a modern, republican and secular state that held all its citizens as equals, the Hindu Mahasabha came up with a 100-page document in 1945 known as ‘The Constitution of Hindusthan Free state’ under a committee composed of LB Bhopatkar, KV Kelkar, dV gokhale and Mr dhamdhere. With no distinction of religion, caste, creed and gender, all indians born here or with parents born here, and domiciled for not less than seven years were to be citizens of the country. sixteen fundamental rights were guaranteed, one of which said: “Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion and the protection of culture and language are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen, and no law shall be made either directly or indirectly to endow any religion, or prohibit or restrict the free exercise thereof, or give any preference or impose any disability on account of religious belief or religious status.” it also laid out that “no person attending any school receiving state-aid or other public money shall be compelled to attend the religious instruction that may be given in the school.” Public money was not to be utilised for the exclusive propagation or benefit of any particular sect, community or religion and that there would be no state religion in Free Hindustan or its provinces. Minorities were thus envisaged as equal stakeholders and not second-class citizens living as tenants in a Hindu majority country.

In search of the real Savarkar Ambedkar was to dub savarkar’s prescription as “illogical, if not queer”. But he said: “this alternative of Mr. savarkar to Pakistan has about it a frankness, boldness and definiteness, which distinguishes it from the irregularity, vagueness and indefiniteness which characterizes the Congress declarations about minority rights. Mr. savarkar’s scheme has at least the merit of telling the Muslims, thus far and no further. The Muslims know where they are with regard to the Hindu Mahasabha. On the other hand, with the Congress, the Musalmans find themselves nowhere because the Congress has been treating the Muslims and the minority question as a game in diplomacy, if not duplicity.” Yet, for a man who was a closet historian and for whom history was a potent tool to inspire action in the present and future, even as he was willing to bury the hatchet of the past in the interest of a modern, peaceful secular india, savarkar was perhaps unwilling to whitewash or forgive the Muslim invaders for the numerous genocidal atrocities committed over centuries. Hence, just three years before his self-willed death in 1966, his book six glorious epochs of indian History postulated in depth about islamic invasions, plunder of lives, property, modesty of women and places of worship in gory detail, calling upon Hindus to learn from past mistakes. Often, because of this treatise, he is held guilty of advocating rape as a weapon against a community. What he actually said was that chivalrous Hindu rulers like shivaji Maharaj or Chimaji Appa took it upon themselves to bear the age-old Hindu tradition of fairness in war, pardon of an unarmed opponent and respect for their women, children, elderly and sick. But these acts of theirs were purely one-sided and unilateral and not even respected by the opponent. This misplaced chivalry of the Hindus had no salutary effects on their Muslim foes, who perhaps viewed this ethical conduct as cowardice, according to savarkar. if instead a fear of “paying back with the same coin” and a similar treatment to their women or places of worship had been placed in the hearts of those barbaric medieval invaders they might have treated this country and its people better, he hypothesised. “if they had taken such a fright in the first two or three centuries,” he theorised, “millions and millions of luckless Hindu ladies would have been saved all their indignities, loss of their own religion, rapes, ravages and other unimaginable persecutions.” While clearly this was not a prescription for current action but of how Hindus could have done better in the past and used ethical goodwill with an opponent who equally recognised and honoured it, the fuzzy manner in which he presented it left it open to several misinterpretations and rightful indignations. But that was one of savarkar’s grievous flaws as an amateur historian, where the poet in him and the consequent flourish often overtook the unemotional coldness and statement of facts that the discipline of history demands. And for this, and several other reasons, savarkar remains today a deeply polarising, a badly misunderstood and a grossly under-evaluated leader, walking the alleys of the indian freedom struggle as a barely discernible ghost. Vikram Sampath is the author of a two-volume biography of Veer Savarkar, the concluding volume of which, titled Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966, is coming out in July.

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE

Pakistan, China open Khunjerab pass for trade, travel

ECC APPRovEs Rs20bN GRANt foR PRoCuREmENt of CovId-19 vACCINEs

NEWS DESK After keeping the border remaining closed for over a year, Pakistan and China opened the Khunjerab Pass route for trade and travel activities on Monday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Pak-China Division in a letter to the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) chief secretary stated that the border point has been opened from both sides. The Chinese embassy in Islamabad had informed the ministry about the opening of the border crossing and asked it to open its side of the border point for resumption of trade and travel between the two countries. The border was closed on December 1, 2019 as per schedule due to the winter season, while the scheduled opening on April 1, 2020 was postponed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. China-Pakistan border remains closed from December 1 till March 31 every year due to severe weather conditions, as per the bilateral agreement. For the rest of the year, however, the border remains open for two-way movement of passengers as well as transportation of goods and cargo. The border was opened for a few weeks in July last year to facilitate the release of stranded containers, and again in September, to shift medical material gifted by the Chinese government to GB to deal with Covid-19.

GRA notifies increase in LPG price for June

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

HE Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Monday approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs20 billion for procurement of 10 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in June. The meeting chaired by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was specially called to provide a technical supplementary grant of $130 million to the National Disaster Management Fund (NDMF) to ensure timely procurement of the vaccine. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Swati, Adviser to the PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Finance secretary and other senior officers. According to the finance ministry,

GOVT TO BUY 1M DOSES OF PFIZER CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

the need for additional funds will be reviewed during the next fiscal year (FY22) and additional funds will be provided accordingly. The administration of the vaccine will be the responsibility of the Ministry of National Health Services and provincial health departments. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is likely to receive consign-

ments of various Covid vaccines in June with over five million doses. In first 10 days of June, shipments of over 3.5 million doses of the vaccines including Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines are expected to reach the country whereas two consignments of Covid-19 vaccines including Oxford AstraZeneca and Pfizer vac-

cines may also be delivered under COVAX. A Earlier on Sunday, a PIA plane landed at Islamabad airport with about 500,000 Sinovac Covid vaccines. The new consignment was shifted to the office of the federal Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), from where the vaccine will be sent to various vaccination centers. Meanwhile, the government has also decided to buy one million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus mRNA vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine will be given to immunocompromised people and those traveling abroad under the age of 40. A bilateral agreement has been made between Pfizer and the National Disaster Management Authority to procure the vaccines, an official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination confirmed. According to reports, Pakistan will receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in July or August, while 23 ultra-cold chain freezers have been purchased to store the vaccine.

MONITORING REPORT The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Monday notified Rs8.04 per kilogram increase in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the month of June. According to a notification issued by the regulatory body, the price of an 11.8 kg LPG cylinder for domestic consumers has been jacked up by Rs94.89 to Rs1667. The previous price of the cylinder was Rs1, 572.

Intel reiterates chip supply shortages could last several years TEIPEI AGENCIES

Intel Corp’s CEO said on Monday it could take several years for a global shortage of semiconductors to be resolved, a problem that has shuttered some auto production lines and is also being felt in other areas, including consumer electronics. Pat Gelsinger told a virtual session of the Computex trade show in Taipei that the work-andstudy-from-home trend during the Covid-19 pandemic had led to a “cycle of explosive growth in semiconductors” that has placed a huge strain on global supply chains. “But while the industry has taken steps to address near-term constraints it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address shortages of foundry capacity, substrates, and components.” Gelsinger had told The Washington Post in an interview in mid-April the shortage was going to take “a couple of years” to abate, and that it planned to start producing chips within six to nine months to address shortages at US car plants. Intel announced a $20 billion plan in March to expand its advanced chip manufacturing capacity, building two factories in Arizona and opening its plants to outside customers. “We plan to expand to other locations in the US and Europe, ensuring a sustainable and secure semiconductor supply chain for the world,” Gelsinger said, without elaborating. Intel’s plans could directly challenge the two other companies in the world that can make the most advanced chips – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. The two have come to dominate the semiconductor manufacturing business, moving its center of gravity from the United States, where much of the technology was once invented, to Asia, where more than two-thirds of advanced chips are now manufactured.

Nestle, under fire over unhealthy products, working on new strategy AGENCIES

HYDERABAD: A workers sorts and packs mangoes in a box before they are dispatched to other areas of the country. ONLINE

Goodyear faces allegations of labour abuse in Malaysia, documents show KUALA LUMPUR AGENCIES

American tire manufacturer Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co is facing accusations of unpaid wages, unlawful overtime and threats to foreign workers at its Malaysian factory, according to court documents and complaints filed by workers. In interviews with Reuters, six current and former foreign workers, and officials with Malaysia's labour department, say Goodyear made wrongful salary deductions, required excessive hours and denied workers full access to their passports. The department confirmed it had fined Goodyear in 2020 for overworking and underpaying foreign employees. One former worker said the company illegally kept his passport, showing Reuters an acknowledgement letter he signed in January 2020 upon getting it back eight years after he started working at Goodyear. The allegations, which Reuters is the first to report, initially surfaced

when 185 foreign workers filed three complaints against Goodyear Malaysia in the country's industrial court, two in 2019 and one in 2020, over non-compliance with a collective labour agreement. The workers alleged the company was not giving them shift allowances, annual bonuses and pay increases even though these benefits were available to the local staff, who are represented by a labour union. About 150 worker payslips, which the lawyer said were submitted to the court as evidence of unpaid wages and reviewed by Reuters, showed some migrants working as many as 229 hours a month in overtime, exceeding the Malaysian limit of 104 hours. The foreign workers are claiming about 5 million ringgit ($1.21 million) in unpaid wages, said their lawyer, Chandra Segaran Rajandran. The workers are from Nepal, Myanmar and India. Goodyear, one of the world's largest tire makers, has challenged both verdicts at the high court. The appeal decision is expected on July 26. The

verdict for the third case, over the same issues, is due in the coming weeks.Goodyear declined to comment on any of the allegations, citing the court process. According to the court ruling last year, Goodyear Malaysia argued that foreign workers are not entitled to the benefits of the collective agreement because they are not union members. FINES AND VIOLATIONS: Workers said they faced intimidation from Goodyear after they filed the lawsuits. Goodyear declined to comment. The foreign workers filed the first two lawsuits in July 2019. Soon afterward, Goodyear asked some to sign letters, without their lawyer’s knowledge, that they would withdraw from the legal action, according to their lawyer. Malaysia has in recent years faced accusations from its own Human Resources Ministry and authorities in the United States of labour abuse at its factories, which rely on millions of migrant workers to manufacture everything from palm oil to medical gloves and iPhone components.

Ethereum rises 5pc at $2,509; bitcoin firm WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Cryptocurrency Ethereum climbed over 5% on Monday to $2,523 but remained more than 40% below a record high of above $4,300 hit earlier this month. At 0950 GMT, it was trading up 4.1% at $2,495.69. Larger rival, Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, was up 0.8% at $36,987 in quiet trading with London and U.S. markets shut for holidays. Bitcoin has been less volatile in recent days but is down by more than 35% this month, weighed by growing regulatory pressures on the sector. It is currently trading at levels last seen in February and at roughly half its peak value of $65,000 seen in April. ETH is a cryptocurrency. It is scarce digital money that you can use on the internet – similar to Bitcoin. If you’re new to crypto, here’s how ETH is different from traditional money. You only need an internet connection and a wallet to accept ETH.

NEW YORK

Nestle said on Monday it was working on updating its nutrition and health strategy after the Financial Times reported an internal document at the food giant described a large portion of its food and drinks as unhealthy. The newspaper said it had seen an internal presentation circulated among top executives early this year stating that more than 60% of Nestle’s mainstream food and drinks portfolio could not be considered healthy under a “recognised definition of health”. The paper said this assessment applied to about half of Nestle’s overall portfolio because categories like medical nutrition, pet food, coffee and infant formula were excluded from the analysis. Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said that including these categories would significantly reduce the proportion of products potentially considered unhealthy.

Israel, UAE sign tax treaty to boost economic cooperation TEL AVIV AGENCIES

Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a tax treaty on Monday, Israel’s Finance Ministry said, describing the move as a spur to business development between the countries after they normalised relations last year. The UAE finance ministry said in October that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Israel on avoiding double taxation.

The tax convention, once ratified by ministers and parliament this year, will be Israel’s 59th and go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. It is the first tax treaty reached in the wake of Israel’s normalising relations with the UAE and Bahrain last year. In parallel, Israel has moved to improve ties with Morocco and Sudan. The treaty is based primarily on the OECD model, Israeli Finance Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, adding that it “provides certainty and favourable conditions for business activity and will strengthen

economic ties” with the UAE. Under the agreement, tax deductions, dividends and royalties are capped. Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the treaty will enable significant promotion of investment and trade that will help both countries’ economies. Since a normalisation deal was signed last September, Israeli and Emirati banks and other companies have signed cooperation deals, while also establishing direct flights.

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LAHORE

GunmEn abduct studEnts from scHool in nortH-cEntral niGEria NIAMEY

AGENCIES

N armed gang abducted students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger on Sunday, police and state government officials said. Armed groups carrying out kidnapping for ransom are blamed for a series of raids on schools and universities in northern Nigeria in recent months, abducting more than 700 students for ransom since December. A spokesman for Niger’s state police said in a statement that gunmen on motorcycles attacked the town of Tegina, in the Rafi local government area of the state, at around 3 pm (1400 GMT) on Sun-

day. He said the attackers were “shooting indiscriminately and abducted a yet to be ascertained the number of children at Salihu Tanko Islamic school”. The school’s owner, Abubakar Tegina, told Reuters in a phone interview that he witnessed the attack. “I personally saw between 20 and 25 motorcycles with heavily armed people. They entered the school and went away with about 150 or more of the students,” said Tegina, who lives around 150 metres from the school. “We can’t be exact because most of them have not reported to the school as at that time,” he said, when asked for further details of the number taken.

at lEast 50 killEd in EastErn conGo massacrEs: rEsEarcH Group AGNECIES At least 50 people were killed overnight in two attacks on villages in eastern Congo, in potentially the worst night of violence the area has seen in at least four years, the Kivu Security Tracker research group said on Monday. The army and a local civil rights group blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group, for raiding the village of Tchabi and a camp for displaced people near Boga, another village. Both are close to the border of Uganda. Albert Basegu, the head of a civil rights group in Boga, told Reuters by telephone that he had been alerted to the attack by the sound of cries at a neighbour's house. "When I got there I found that the attackers had already killed an Anglican pastor and his daughter was also seriously wounded," Basegu said. The KST, which has mapped unrest in restive eastern Congo since June 2017, said on Twitter the wife of a local chief was among the dead. It did not attribute blame for the killings. "It's the deadliest day ever recorded by the KST," said Pierre Boisselet, the research group's coordinator. The ADF is believed to have killed more than 850 people in 2020, according to the United Nations, in a spate of reprisal attacks on civilians after the army began operations against it the year before. In March the United States labelled the ADF a foreign terrorist organisation. The group has in the past proclaimed allegiance to Islamic State, although the United Nations says evidence linking it to other militant networks is scant. President Felix Tshisekedi declared a state of siege in Congo's North Kivu and Ituri provinces on May 1 in an attempt to curb increasing attacks by militant groups. read more Uganda announced earlier this month that it had agreed to share intelligence and coordinate operations against the rebels, but that it would not be deploying troops in Congo.

Egypt's intelligence chief holds truce talks with Hamas in Gaza AGENCIES Egypt's intelligence chief met Hamas leaders in Gaza on Monday to try to bolster a ceasefire between the Palestinian armed group and Israel and to discuss reconstruction plans following the recent hostilities, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said. The visit was the first by an Egyptian intelligence chief to the enclave since the early 2000s. "The discussion is focused on ways to cement the calm and Gaza reconstruction plans following the recent Israeli aggression," said a Hamas official, who asked not to be named. Hamas officials, led by Gaza chief Yehya Al-Sinwar, would urge Cairo to pressure Israel to stop "its assaults against our people in Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah," he said. 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas erupted on May 10 amid Palestinian anger at Israeli police raids around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and plans to evict Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah district of the city to make way for Jewish settlers. Gaza medical officials said 253 Palestinians were killed during the fighting. Hamas rockets and missiles killed 13 people in Israel. Large posters of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian flags decorated streets across the enclave to greet intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Hundreds of people lined up outside the entrance to Gaza waving Egyptian flags as his motorcade drove by.

Tegina said there are around 300 pupils aged between 7 and 15. He said pupils live at home and only attend classes at the site. Most students kidnapped in recent months have been taken from boarding schools. One person was shot dead during the attack and a second person was seriously injured, the state governor’s spokeswoman said. She said 11 of the children taken were released by the gunmen because they were “too small and couldn’t walk”. A group of bus passengers were also abducted, she said. Sunday’s attack in Niger took place the day after the release of the remaining 14 students of a group abducted last month from a university in neighbouring Kaduna state.

‘Time has come’ for pandemic treaty as part of bold reforms: WHO’s Tedros AGENCIES The head of the World Health Organization called on Monday for launching negotiations this year on an international treaty to boost pandemic preparedness, as part of sweeping reforms envisioned by member states. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told its annual ministerial assembly that the U.N. agency faced a "serious challenge" to maintain its Covid-19 response at the current level and required sustainable and flexible funding. Earlier in the day - the last of the week-long assembly - health ministers agreed to study recommendations for ambitious reforms made by independent experts to strengthen the capacity of both the WHO and countries to contain new viruses. The ministers from the WHO's 194 member states are to meet from Nov. 29 to decide whether to launch negotiations on the pandemic treaty. "The one recommendation that I believe will do most to strengthen both WHO and global health security is the recommendation for a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response," Tedros said. "This is an idea whose time has come." It could be a long road ahead if such

a treaty is to be reached. The WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - the world's first public health treaty - was clinched in 2003 after four years of negotiations. The WHO, which has been at the heart of the world's sluggish response to the Covid-19 pandemic, faces a potential shake-up to prevent future outbreaks. Under the resolution submitted by the European Union, and adopted by consensus, member states are to be firmly in the driver's seat of the reforms

through a year-long process. "It's essential that we strengthen global (disease) surveillance and provide the World Health Organization with the authority and the capacity to do this important job for all the peoples of the world," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the talks. "If we are to deliver on this ambitious reform agenda, then we must work together and put other issues aside," he said. The new virus has infected more than 170 million people and killed nearly

3.7 million since emerging in China in late 2019, according to a Reuters tally of official national figures. ‘PATHOGENS HAVE THE UPPER HAND’: WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, welcomed the decisions, saying: "Right now the pathogens have the upper hand, they are emerging more frequently and often silently in a planet that is out of balance. "We need to turn that very thing that has exposed us in this pandemic, our interconnectedness, we need to turn that into a strength," he said. Chile's ambassador Frank Tressler Zamorano said on behalf of 60 countries that a pandemic treaty would help "heed the call by so many experts to reset the system". One panel, headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former president of Liberia, said a new global system should be set up to respond faster to disease outbreaks to help ensure no future virus causes a pandemic as devastating as Covid-19. The experts, who found crucial failures in the global response in early 2020, said the WHO should be given the power to send investigators swiftly to chase down new disease outbreaks and to publish their full findings without delay.

After 100 years remembering, last survivors mark race massacre in Tulsa AGENCIES Lessie Benningfield Randle, 106, can still remember a house engulfed in flames and the bodies stacked in truckbeds, one hundred years later. "I was quite a little kid but I remember running and the soldiers were coming in," Randle said in an interview with Reuters as her hometown of Tulsa prepared to mark one of the darkest chapters in its history. Monday is the centenary of a massacre targeting Tulsa's prosperous African-American community in the district of Greenwood that bore the nickname "Black Wall Street." After a Black man was accused of assaulting a white woman, an allegation that was never proven, white rioters gunned down Blacks, looted homes and set fire to buildings block by block. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed. An estimated 300 people were killed, thousands were left homeless and an entire community that had been seen as a symbol of what Black Americans could achieve was devastated. "This was the Mecca. Tulsa's considerably what Atlanta is today," said Duke Durant, 30, a comedian, actor and Tulsa native, referring to one of the U.S. cities noted for its large, thriving Black community. Events related to the massacre commemoration began ahead of the anniversary. Friday's Black Wall Street Legacy Festival included a parade led by Randle and two other centenarian sur-

vivors, Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis. The three were joined by community organizations and about 450 students from George Washington Carver Middle School, where the parade began. At the parade's start, members of the African Ancestral Society surrounded a horse-drawn carriage holding the three survivors and sang blessings, before marchers headed past tidy homes toward the heart of Greenwood. "We are one," Van Ellis, 100, said from inside the carriage. The commemoration is slated to include a visit by President Joe Biden on Tuesday and the unveiling of the $20 million Greenwood Rising museum. The museum, which is devoted to telling the story of Greenwood, will not be completed in time for the centennial but there will be a "limited preview," a Tulsa commission formed to commemorate the anniversary said on its website. An event scheduled for Monday that was to feature a performance by award-winning musician John Legend and a speech by politician and activist Stacey Abrams was canceled following a dispute with lawyers for the three survivors, organizers said. Organizers said they hoped to reschedule. A candlelight vigil is among the commemoration events still to take place Monday. This year's attention is a departure from the past. For decades, newspapers rarely mentioned the events of May 31 and June 1, 1921. The state's historians largely ignored the massacre and children did not learn

about it in school, according to a 2001 report written by a commission created by the state legislature. Tulsans attribute the silence to a number of factors. Black Tulsans were traumatized, feared it could happen again and did not want to pass on the information to their children, while white Tulsans would not have wanted to believe respected members of their community participated, according to Phil Armstrong, the project director of the centennial commission, and Michelle Place, executive director of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. Place said the 2001 report was written before it was too late. "Many of those survivors of the race massacre were dying or had died so it was an effort to tell their stories and to remember that part of our history and not let it go to the grave, if you will," Place said. The history is also recorded in court records. Randle described the bodies and burning house she saw in a deposition in a lawsuit filed in February by survivors and descendants seeking justice for victims. Calls for reparations have long gone unanswered. Greg Robinson, 31, a community activist and 2020 mayoral candidate, said he was pleased with the increased attention on Tulsa during the anniversary, but added that more work needed to be done to repair the damage. "I'm glad to see people from across the country coming to understand the story of Greenwood," he said. "But make no mistake about it, we have a very clear message that until justice is done, we have work to do."

Tuesday, 1 June, 2021

LAHORE

Gary Stead excited by New ZealaNd’S depth ahead of lord’S opeNer h AGENCIES

EAD coach Gary Stead believes New Zealand are in something of a “luxurious position”, with competition for places and just a couple of question marks around their preferred XI to take on England at Lord’s this week. The identity of Tom Latham’s opening partner and how New Zealand choose to balance the side in the absence of Trent Boult are two major selection issues that will be determined between now and Wednesday. Stead also confirmed that Boult, New Zealand’s regular new-ball partner for Tim Southee, was unlikely to feature in the series against England. The left-armer will fly to England this week, after being allowed home to spend time with family after the curtailment of the IPL, but New Zealand hope he will be in contention for the World Test Championship final against India, which follows the England Tests. “I don’t think you’ll see Trent in the two Test matches here,” Stead said. “He arrives on Friday, our planning and what we’re looking at doing with Trent is having him ready for the WTC final. He’s been home, he has had a week of bowling over there which has been great after the fair amount of isolation time at the end of the IPL. But our view with Trent right now is it’s unlikely that he will play the Test at Edgbaston. He’s more likely to be just available for the one-off Test.” New Zealand have several pace options available to deputise for Boult in their 19-man squad, and Stead said that the surface rolled out for the first Lord’s Test since August 2019 would influence their thinking. “Within our squad here, Matt Henry, Doug Bracewell, and Jacob Duffy are the other seam-bowling options, so they’re the ones that I think are in contention to come in there,” he said. “Or we look at a rebal-

ancing of the team. The conditions we face here in England are slightly different to New Zealand and looking at the pitch at Lord’s today, you see a pitch that has a green tinge definitely. “We’re still two days out. But it’s cut to about 6mm - we’re used to a lot more grass on wickets than that. So we have to make that decision around that final balance of our team before we go into the match.” With Southee, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson all pencilled on to the team sheet, Colin de Grandhomme, who is returning from ankle surgery and likely to be limited as a bowling option, and Daryl Mitchell are the candidates to provide more all-round depth to the side. New Zealand could also have a decision to make over spinner Mitchell Santner, who has only played one Test since the 2019-20 tour of Australia. Santner can provide runs at No. 7 or 8 - he scored a maiden Test hundred against England at Mount Maunganui in 2019 - but suffered a cut to his spinning finger during the intra-squad

warm-up last week. Lord’s has not been a spin-friendly venue in first-class cricket so far this season, although the weather is set to warm up this week. “Mitchell Santner’s come from the IPL, he’s had I guess a reasonably quiet time there. He actually cut the top of his finger the other day in the warm-up game [while] fielding, which was a bit of a blow to him and he’s only had his first bowl back today. But he came through it really well, and what Mitch does is he provides a little bit of a different balance to our team in that he provides you batting opportunity as well. “So the decision we will have to make is will we go with four frontline seamers, as we have in the past year, when Colin was injured and Kyle came into the team and put that different sort of balance on our team; or do you go with three seniors and then you play the allrounder in De Grandhomme and the allrounder in Santner as well. So they’re the different options that we look at when we are balancing our

team, the pitch will ultimately I think determine which way we go.” On the question of who will get the nod at opener, Stead was keeping his cards close to his chest, although he did say “we’ve been pretty consistent around the way that we select our Test teams, and I don’t think that’s going to change too much at this stage”. Tom Blundell has opened in seven of New Zealand’s last eight Tests, while Will Young, who debuted against West Indies in December, comes into the series in good form, having scored two hundreds during his stint in county cricket with Durham. Devon Conway, meanwhile, scored an unbeaten half-century after opening with Latham in the game in Southampton. South Africa-born Conway is yet to be capped in Tests, but has piled on the runs in domestic cricket during his qualification period for New Zealand and comes on tour with averages of 75.00 in ODIs and 59.12 in T20Is after a prolific start to his international career.

‘it happeNS wheN you doN’t expect it’: JameS bracey oN the verGe of teSt debut at lord’S When England announced their 55-man return-to-training squad last summer, it’s probably fair to say James Bracey was in the outer orbit among candidates for the Test side. But Bracey, a well thought of young wicketkeeper-batter from Gloucestershire, who had impressed for England Lions on their 2019-20 tour of Australia, quickly made an impression. Twelve months on, he is on the verge of a Test debut at Lord’s. Having spent almost 20 weeks in bio-secure bubbles as England’s reserve batting option last summer and on tours of Sri Lanka and India, Bracey had been seen as vying for a spot in the top three when the squad to face New Zealand was announced earlier this month. However, with a dressing-room mishap ruling out Ben Foakes, and England’s other wicketkeeping options, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, not considered after their post-IPL quarantine, Bracey is set to take the gloves - something he admits he “didn’t really have on my radar.” “I was really excited when I got the call about being in the 15,” he said. “It’s a bit different to how I have been around the group in the last year or so. I think that step up into the main squad is a big landmark. I have been taken on in each group - originally in the 55 and then it kept being cut down and now I feel like I am really close. I am really keen to get going. “When I heard about Ben it was almost a shock - I didn’t really have it on my radar to be there as a keeper. I knew that Ben was highly likely to take those gloves, and when I got that call it didn’t really sink in straight away but when I arrived in London it started to hit that it was a distinct possibility.” Bracey’s spot has yet to be confirmed, but he is suddenly the frontline option in a position where England have not been short of competition over recent years (Sam Billings, who has kept in the white-ball teams, is also with the squad as cover). AGENCIES

Asghar Afghan sacked as Afghanistan opt for split captaincy AGENCIES Asghar Afghan’s second stint as Afghanistan captain has lasted all of 15 months, with the board deeming some of his tactics during the series against Zimbabwe in March as “questionable”. They have now opted for a split-captaincy model. Hashmatullah Shahidi, the senior middle-order batter, takes over as the new ODI and Test captain, with Rahmat Shah as his deputy. While a decision on the T20I captaincy will be taken soon, legspinning allrounder Rashid Khan will remain vice-captain of that side. Shahidi is among Afghanistan’s more accomplished

longer-format batters, having so far played in each of their five Tests. In March, he became Afghanistan’s first Test double-centurion during the course of a record-breaking partnership with Afghan that helped Afghanistan level the two-Test series against Zimbabwe after they lost the series opener in just over two days. “The decision to remove Asghar Afghan from captaincy was taken based on an investigation conducted by ACB’s Investigative committee,” an ACB media release stated. “It concluded that some of Afghan’s decisions as the captain of the team resulted in Afghanistan’s loss to Zimbabwe in the first Test of the series between both sides in Abu Dhabi in March.”

HASHMATULLAH SHAHIDI IS THE NEW ODI AND TEST CAPTAIN; T20I CAPTAINCY DECISION TO BE MADE SOON The shake-up in captaincy isn’t entirely out of the blue, with the ACB having explored a number of options in the recent past. In May 2019, the ACB wrested the captaincy from Afghan two months before the 2019 World Cup, while splitting the role among Gulbadin Naib (ODIs), Khan (T20Is) and Shah (Tests). Three months later, Naib was sacked and replaced by Khan across formats after Afghanistan ended the World Cup without a single win. Then in December 2019, Afghan was brought back for a second stint. The captaincy reshuffle comes at a crucial time, with the T20 World Cup just five months away. Afghanistan will also travel to Australia after the world event for their maiden Test in the country.

SPORTS 11

Japan considers asking olympic fans for negative covid tests, vaccinations TOKYO AGENCIES

Japan is considering requiring fans attending the Tokyo Olympics to show negative Covid19 test results or vaccination records, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Monday, as a new poll showed public opposition to the Games remained strong. With the opening of the Games less than two months away, public confidence has been shaken by a fourth wave of coronavirus infections and a slow vaccination rollout. Foreign spectators have already been banned and organisers are expected to make a decision next month on whether Japanese fans will be able to attend the Games and, if so, under what conditions. In addition to other coronavirus measures like banning loud cheering and highfives, the Yomiuri said the government was considering whether spectators should be required to show a negative test result taken within a week of attending an Olympic event. The report provoked thousands of posts on social media criticising the country’s continued push to host the Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. The term “negative test certificate” was trending on Twitter in Japan, garnering over 26,000 tweets by Monday afternoon. “If you can’t eat, cheer, or do high-fives, what’s the point in paying for a ticket and an expensive test?” asked a Twitter user, while others questioned the accuracy of such tests. Japan’s top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Monday he was unaware of any decision on the issue. “In order to make the Games a success it’s necessary to take into account the feelings of the people,” Kato said, adding that organisers were preparing to ensure necessary infection prevention measures were in place to stage the event safely. The Tokyo Olympics organising committee did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the report. Japan extended on Friday a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas to June 20. The country has seen a record number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition in recent days, even as the pace of new infections has slowed. In a poll published by the Nikkei paper on Monday, over 60% of respondents were in favour of canceling or delaying the Games, a result in line with previous polls by other media outlets. The Games have already been postponed once due to the pandemic but the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee have said the July 23August 8 event will go ahead under strict Covid-safe rules.

BCCI’s top brass in UAE: IPL, T20 World Cup on the agenda DISCUSSIONS TO BE HELD ON IPL BIO-BUBBLE NORMS, CROWDS, AND HOSTING OF THE ICC EVENT AMONG OTHER THINGS AGENCIES The BCCI’s top brass, led by board secretary Jay Shah, reached Dubai via a charter flight on Monday to finalise plans for the remainder of IPL 2021 as well as discuss the probability of the UAE hosting the men’s T20 World Cup this October-November. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly will reach Dubai on Wednesday to join talks with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). Shah’s contingent comprises Arun Dhumal (board treasurer), Brijesh Patel (IPL governing council chairman), Jayesh George (board joint-secretary), Hemang Amin (BCCI’s interim chief executive officer) and

Dhiraj Malhotra (BCCI’ general manager of operations and tournament director for T20 World Cup). On Saturday, the BCCI was authorised by its members - the state associations - to shift the second half of the IPL to the UAE in September-October after the tournament was abruptly and indefinitely suspended in the first week of May. The BCCI had been forced to pull the plug at the halfway stage due to the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the bubble during the Ahmedabad and Delhi leg of the tournament. A total of 31 matches, including four playoffs, remain to be played. In its talks with the ECB, the BCCI is expected to firstly get the approval of the

UAE government to host the IPL there. The discussions are also likely to go into the preparedness of the three UAE venues - Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah - and the mandatory requirements for creating the tournament bubble for the eight IPL teams. With players arriving from different parts of the world, and not just India, both boards would need to look at the quarantine requirements that need to be satisfied before the BCCI finalises the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the IPL. One other significant point likely to be discussed is around the vaccination for all those that would be part of the IPL bubble. Recently, the Abu Dhabi government approved the hosting of the remainder of PSL 2021 in the emirate on the condition that all six teams and rest of the stakeholders that will be part of the tournament bubble are vaccinated. T20 WORLD CUP MOVING TO THE UAE? The presence of the entire top wing

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of the BCCI in Dubai can be seen as a first move by the BCCI to shift the T20 World Cup to the UAE, which had been named as a cover for India. The ICC has not yet announced the final itinerary for the the 16team World Cup. While India are currently slated as hosts for the event, the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country and the suspension of the IPL has triggered strong doubts over the country’s readiness. At the BCCI’s SGM on Saturday, Ganguly told the members that the BCCI would seek another month’s time to finalise whether India could host the T20 World Cup. One key point the BCCI team is likely to discuss with the ECB would concern the revenue-sharing arrangement for the tournament should it be hosted in the UAE. Recently Malhotra had said on a BBC podcast that while moving the T20 World Cup to the UAE will be the “worst-case scenario”, the BCCI

will still want to retain the hosting rights. The main reason for that is the lucrative sum involved: every match in an ICC global event is worth about USD 250,000-300,000 for the hosting board. With 45 matches, that is a massive amount of money. The other point for discussion would be, if the UAE ends up hosting both the IPL and T20 World Cup, can the venues handle two back-to-back marquee events and the fitness of the pitches in such a scenario. A total of 76 matches will be lined up for the venues if both the IPL and the T20 World Cup are played there, excluding the warm-up matches for the latter. Both boards will also want to consider the prospect of opening up the IPL to crowds. In 2020, when the entire IPL was hosted in the UAE, the BCCI had opted not to allow crowds in. The upcoming PSL in Abu Dhabi, it has been confirmed, will also be played out behind closed doors.

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DISTRICT and sessions court in Lahore on Monday extended the interim bail of estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jehangir Tareen and his son Ali Tareen until June 11 in a money laundering and corporate fraud case. The court also issued a show-cause notice to the Federal Investigation

Agency for transferring its investigating officer in the case. During the proceedings, Additional District And Sessions Judge Hamid Hussain said he would no longer hear the case as a new judge has been appointed in his place. Announcing that he could not hear the arguments, he said he could only give a next date for the hearing. But he also asked about the developments in this case since it began in March. At this, an FIA official, Rana Shahbaz,

said the agency had replaced the IO probing into the cases against Tareen and his family. He informed the court that replacements and transfers were made in the entire FIA cadre. The judge showed his dismay over the transfer of the officer. He wondered how the agency could have replaced the IO without prior permission from the court. The judge issued a show-cause notice to the FIA official who transferred the investigating officer.

While talking to reporters after attending the hearing, Tareen said that Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Senator Syed Ali Zafar to probe allegations levelled against him. He said Zafar after showing a great promise in the case had completed his investigation. He hoped that the report would be made public but lamented the delay, saying its contents still had not seen the daylight. He said rumours were doing the rounds that Zafar apprised the prime minister of the

report’s details verbally, adding that it was also being speculated that the report was in his favour. He lamented that he had been asking for justice in the cases. He asserted that justice delayed is justice denied. During the conversation, Tareen also denied his meeting with any high-ranking government official in Islamabad. He said the registration of a case against MPA Nazir Chohan of his group has further deteriorated the situation.

akistanlauds P Kuwaitforresumption ofvisafacility ISLAMABAD stAFF REpORt

LAHORE: Members of the Lahore Flying Club protest against the relocation of Walton Airport. ZUBAIR MEHFOOZ

US spied on Merkel, other top European oﬃcials through Danish cables: report WASHINGTON AgEncIEs

The US National Security Agency has used a partnership with Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Danish state broadcaster DR. The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service from 2015 into NSA’s role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation. According to the investigation which covered 2012 and 2014, the NSA used

Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück. Asked for comment on the DR report, a spokesperson for the German chancellery said it only became aware of the allegations when asked about them by journalists, and declined to comment further. Denmark, a close ally of the United States, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland and the UK. The internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service was

launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden’s leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR. In Washington, the NSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Danish Defence Intelligence Service declined to comment. “It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries,” Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. “Politically I consider it a scandal.” Sweden’s Defence Minister Peter

Hultqvist told Swedish SVT broadcaster that he “demanded full information on these things.” Norway’s Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told broadcaster NRK that “take the allegations seriously.” A decision in August last year to suspend the head of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service and three other officials from their posts following criticism and accusations of serious wrongdoings from an independent board overseeing the unit, centered around the 2015 investigation, according to DR. The Danish government said last year it would initiate an investigation into the case based on information from a whistleblower report. That investigation is expected to be concluded later this year.

China, in major policy shift, announces families can have three children BEIJING AgEncIEs

China announced on Monday that married couples may have up to three children, a major policy shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world’s most populous country. The change was approved during a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, the official news agency Xinhua reported. In 2016, China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy — initially imposed to halt a population explosion — with a two-child limit, which failed to result in a sustained surge in births as the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities deterred many

couples from starting families. “To further optimise the birth policy, [China] will implement a onemarried-couple-can-have-three-childr en policy,” Xinhua said in a report on the meeting. The policy change will come with “supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country’s population structure, fulfilling the country’s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, the endowment of human resources”, Xinhua said. It did not specify the support measures. “People are held back not by the two-children limit, but by the incredibly high costs of raising children in today’s China. Housing, extracurricular activi-

ties, food, trips, and everything else add up quickly,” Yifei Li, a sociologist at NYU Shanghai, told Reuters. “Raising the limit itself is unlikely to tilt anyone’s calculus in a meaningful way, in my view,” he said. In a poll on Xinhua’s Weibo account asking #AreYouReady for the three-child policy, about 29,000 of 31,000 respondents said they would “never think of it” while the remainder chose among the options: “I’m ready and very eager to do so”, “it’s on my agenda”, or “I’m hesitating and there’s lot to consider”. The poll was later removed. Shares in birth- and fertility-related companies surged. SLOWING GROWTH: Early this month, China’s once-in-a-decade census showed that the population grew at its

slowest rate during the last decade since the 1950s, to 1.41 billion. Data also showed a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman for 2020 alone, on a par with ageing societies like Japan and Italy. China’s politburo also said it would phase in delays in retirement ages, but did not provide any details. Fines of 130,000 yuan ($20,440) were being imposed on people for having a third child as of late last year. “I’m super happy,” said Su Meizhen, a human resources manager in Beijing, who is pregnant with her third child. “We won’t have to pay the fine and we’ll be able to get a hukou,” she said, referring to the urban residence permit that enables families to receive benefits including sending their children to local public schools.

The Foreign Office on Monday lauded the cooperation of Kuwait in the resumption of visas for Pakistan nationals and business persons after a decade. After a ten-years of suspension, the sheikhdom on Sunday announced the resumption of visas, including in family and business categories. This decision was taken after a meeting between Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhalid Al-Sabah. “We greatly appreciate Kuwaiti cooperation in this regard,” FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement. He said that the authorities in both countries were also working together to chalk out a mechanism for the export of manpower in various fields from Pakistan. “Pakistan and Kuwait have fraternal ties, which are firmly rooted in shared faith and values. The bilateral relationship is marked by growing cooperation in diverse fields,” he said. Chaudhri said Pakistan national businessmen residing in other Gulf countries could now avail online visa facilitation for entry into the country. At present, he said, owing to the Covid19 related travel restrictions, only Kuwait nationals are allowed to enter the sheikhdom. However, there is an exemption for medical professionals, he clarified.

Pakistanmandated tohostWorld EnvironmentDay APP Pakistan, despite being the least contributor to global greenhouse gases emissions has been bearing the burden of erratic natural disasters and environmental degradation whereas its initiative to host World Environment Day was its recognition as an international leader in nature-based solution and eco-system restoration initiative. The country has been persistently among the top 10 countries facing adverse impacts of climate change in terms of recurring natural calamities and increased vulnerability due to climate change, said a global environmental watchdog German Watch. The Government of Pakistan has achieved promising milestones with regards to nature conservation, climate action and community development along with gender-inclusive strategies within its available limited resources providing equal opportunities to women of the most vulnerable areas facing environmental degradation. To showcase its nature-based solutions and novel ecosystem restoration, it had announced hosting World Environment Day 2021 in partnership with the United Nations. The UNEP approached Pakistan for hosting the UN Environment Day 2021 in recognition of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech during the highly ambitious coalition of Convention on Biodiversity and UN General Assembly. The UN agency offered the honour of considering Pakistan’s global recognition as international leader in nature-based solution and ecosystem restoration initiatives like Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Plantation Programme, and Protected Area Initiative. This year’s theme of World Environment Day will be ‘ecosystem restoration’ with focus on resetting our relationship with nature. It will also mark the formal launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030. Hosting of “World Environment Day” in Pakistan will bring positive projections for the country providing an opportunity to highlight its commitment and achievement on a global scale to showcase its climate change and environmental protection activities.

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk