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20 June, 2021 I 9 Dhul-Qadah, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 350 I 32 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Pakistan will not allow bases to Us for action in afghanistan: PM

ISLAMABAD

staff report

rime minister imran Khan categorically ruled out the possibility of allowing the US to operate a military base or conduct drone operations inside Afghanistan using Pakistan’s soil. “Absolutely not,” the prime minister told “Axios on HBO” in a wide-ranging interview airing monday at 3:00 am PKT. “There is no way we are going to allow any bases […] any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not.” The rather blunt response came in response to a question interviewer, Jonathan Swan, asked: “Will you allow the American government to have CiA here in Pakistan […] to conduct cross border counter-terrorism missions against Al-Qaeda, iSiS or the Taliban?” Startled, the interviewer interrupted imran midway, wondering if he was “seriously” ruling out the possibility. Washington is looking for bases around Afghanistan from

where it could gather intelligence on the war-torn country and execute counterterrorism strikes after the completion of troop withdrawal, which it last week said is already 50 percent done. independent observers and people familiar with the situation say that islamabad has refused access to its bases to Washington. Prime minister imran, they say, has long opposed military intervention in Afghanistan and the country’s tribal region and it is unlikely he will back down. Washington has yet to publicly acknowledge islamabad’s refusal to host its military aircraft and drones. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, instead, told a press conference earlier this month that Washington has had “constructive discussions in the military, intelligence and diplomatic channels” in response to a question about a possible drone base in Pakistan. in a story earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Central intelligence Agency chief William Burns visited islamabad last month where he met Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed

Bajwa and the iSi Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed. During the visit, Burns had requested an audience with the prime minister but was refused. reports citing insiders said the Prime minister’s Office informed the spy chief that he will only talk to his counterpart, US President Joe Biden. recently, in an address in Senate, Foreign minister Shah mahmood Qureshi rejected as unfounded the reports suggesting islamabad’s willingness to host American troops in return for incentives and clarified that the government would never provide bases to the US, nor would allow drone attacks “from our soil”. Shortly after, in a cabinet briefing, minister for information Fawad Chaudhry also ruled out the possibility, saying as all these military facilities were under military’s use. “All the airbases are under the use of Pakistan. right now, no negotiations in this regard are underway as the government cannot give any airbase [to any country],” he said.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

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NEWS

CleriC Charged with sexual abuse evades arrest: poliCe LAHORE

Staff report

cleric who was charged with sexually abusing a student at a religious school in Lahore has escaped and the police are working on tracing the suspect, a spokesperson for Lahore police said Saturday. The first information report was registered against Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-

Fazl leader Mufti Azizur Rehman on Thursday after cellphone videos purporting to show the cleric forcing himself on the student went viral on social media. Arif Rana offered no details on how the cleric escaped but said that several raids were conducted in different parts of the city to arrest him and his sons. “His mobile phone was showing different locations within Lahore, but he was not present at any,” Rana was quoted as saying by a local media outlet.

govt does not want to keep Nawaz in jail: Fawad SKARDU inp

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that the government does not want to keep Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in jail as he will be free to go anywhere after returning the looted money. Talking to media in Skardu Press Club on Saturday, he said that the government is also working for legislation to make Gilgit-Baltistan an interim province of the country. He said a historic share in current budget has been announced for Gilgit Baltistan. He said commencement of new flights by Pakistan International Airlines in Skardu will help promote tourism in the province. The minister said, “Our enemies have been devising conspiracies but the people of GB feel associated with Pakistan. GB has a great significance in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor because of its geographical location.” He said steps will be taken to establish a training centre in Skardu Press Club to train young journalist about digital media. He stressed on the need for promoting environment and wildlife reporting. He said the people of GB and Pakistan condemn the illegal actions of India in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has suffered economically by terminating all relationships with India, including trade, the minister added. Talking about Afghanistan, Fawad said that Pakistan will continue to play its role for peace in Afghanistan. Responding to a question about electronic voting machines, the minister said electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used in the elections of press clubs and bar associations.

shehbaz deplores violence in balochistan assembly ISLAMABAD inp

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif condemned the baton charge and “inhuman” treatment meted out to the members of the opposition in Balochistan Assembly on the eve of budget presentation and termed it the “height of fascism”. In a statement, Sharif deplored the treatment the opposition lawmakers had bore during their protest. He said baton charging of the members of the assembly and stop them from attending the session was the height of despotism. He said the use of force was undemocratic and nonparliamentary tools were employed by the despots. He said it was unfortunate that the incumbent government took a democratic protest, a difference of opinion and criticism as personal enmity. Sharif further lamented that the government first adopted the undemocratic attitude in the National Assembly, then repeated it in the Balochistan Assembly. This anarchy is not good in Balochistan Assembly, he declared. He demanded to remove the deprivations of the opposition members and accept their justified demands. He asked the government to pay heed to their demands as preventing them from attending the assembly was no cure to the problem. He demanded of both sides to show tolerance and maturity. Another PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said that the PTI government did nothing during its three years except exacting revenge on its political opponents. Talking to the media outside the anti-narcotics court in Lahore, he said that the government’s much-trumpeted slogan of accountability was also exposed. Khan claimed that late accountability judge Arshad Malik had gone to Sharif family’s residence at Jati Umra to apologise to the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif that he had to give a verdict against him in Al-Azizia Steel Mills case “under duress”. He accused the government of giving a clean chit to PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen in references against him through Federal Investigation Agency. He said that just like corruption cases were filed against Nawaz to take revenge from him, similarly Tareen was implicated in cases to victimise him. He further said that the law minister had rejected the names of candidates Lahore High Court chief justice had sent to him for the appointment of judges because he wanted his blue-eyed boys in the court. “The minister wants the likes of the Arshad Malik to be appointed judges in the courts,” he claimed.

The case has caused a stir, and outrage on social media, with many calling for a strict punishment for the cleric. Aziz denied the accusation of sexual abuse in a video statement issued on social media, saying that he was drugged before the filming of the alleged abuse. He said this was part of a plot to throw him out of the seminary — the Jamia Manzoorul Islamia. The student, who police said appeared to be in his early 20s, said in his complaint

that he has given several video and audio recordings to help police investigate, adding he had gone into hiding because he had received death threats. The police said the student had told them that the cleric had been abusing him for several years. He said he started filming the abuse after he got sick of it, and sent the video clips of the abuse to the head of the Wifaqul Madaris, the body that oversees the religious schools system. Aziz, who is in his 60s and is an active

member of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s faction of the JUI, has worked as a custodian of the seminary for several years. The seminary said the cleric has been expelled from his position, and Wifaqul Madaris said it has stripped him of his title, Mufti, which means a religious scholar.

PML-N to convene ‘APC’ to help evolve political consensus on electoral reforms ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) has decided to convene an All-Parties Conference (APC) to be held in the federal capital next week to evolve unanimous view of political forces on the issue of electoral reforms. The move is being seen an effort to on part of the PML-N to galvanize and mobilize political support against the government’s bill to reform the electoral system including introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed to Pakistan Today that all opposition parties would be invited to attend the APC being planned to be held next week in the federal capital. Asked whether any treasury party would be invited to the APC, Marriyum said, “No”, meaning that the PML-N is actually convening a MultiParty Conference and not an APC as political parties that are part of the coalition government, would not be invited to the moot. Asked whether the Election Commission of Pakistan would also be

IN A RARE MOVE, SHEHBAZ INVITES ECP TO ATTEND APC

invited to the APC, Marriyum said, “Yes”. The move also looks to be an effort to take a lead over the Pakistan People’s Party that normally convenes APCs on key issues to grab center stage among opposition political parties. Representatives of all political parties, social organizations, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other

stakeholders will be invited to the APC, a source in the PML-N told this scribe. The date of the All Parties Conference will be decided soon after consultation. Earlier in the day, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, alleging that the 2018 elections

were rigged. Shehbaz Sharif said there was a need to build consensus on electoral reforms as these reforms were necessary to ensure that the next general elections were free, fair, and transparent, without any interference. He said the PTI government has imposed its electoral reforms agenda through unilateral measures, making it controversial. The letter said that the government’s electoral reforms are unconstitutional and the government has not consulted all relevant political parties. He said the Election Commission itself has expressed serious concerns over the recent election bills which were ‘bulldozed’ in the National Assembly. He said the state institutions have to take responsibility in addition to giving their opinion to ensure free, transparent elections. He said it is the responsibility of the Election Commission to consult with all political parties on electoral reforms. “I urge you to call all the opposition parties for consultation so that a consensus-based plan can be drawn up. This consensus plan can be submitted to Parliament for approval so that in the future, elections can be free, fair and transparent,” the letter said.

ECP says ‘open ballot’ violation of Constitution ISLAMABAD newS DeSk

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has expressed its reservations over changes in several clauses, including constituencies and electoral rolls in the Election reforms bill passed by the PTI government. In a letter to the parliamentary affairs secretary on June 17, the commission has requested that the matter be brought to the notice of Prime Minister Imran Khan before introducing the bill in the Senate. It opposed the inclusion of the word “open ballot” that replaced “secret ballot”. The ECP said that the inclusion of the word “open ballot” was in violation of Article 226 of the Constitution. “The Supreme Court has given a clear opinion in this regard in the case related to the presidential reference,” the letter read. The commission said electronic voting machines (EVMs) required a thorough debate in parliament. It added that there were many issues with the EVMs that remain unaddressed and therefore the ECP could not guarantee that their use would help in holding free and fair elections. It also raised objections to the right of vote for overseas Pakistanis. The ECP expressed concerns on the amendments that would take powers away from the commission and hand them over to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). Earlier this month, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had green-lighted the government’s electoral reforms bill

with a majority vote. The five amendments to the Election Act that have been approved include holding Senate elections through open ballot, granting right to vote as well as conditionally contest polls in the country to overseas Pakistanis and issuance of lists of candidates for reserved seats for women and members of religious minorities within three days.

Declaring a National Assembly, Senate or local government seat vacant if the successful candidate does not take oath within 60 days of the polls and demarcation on the basis of voters instead if population were also given the nod. It was earlier reported a day earlier that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif would write a letter to the ECP seeking

a briefing on the government’s attempts “to encroach upon the commission’s legal domain under the disguise of electoral reforms bill” and its legal implications. They added that a strategy had already been devised to intercept the bill in the Senate; however, it was important for all the political parties to know about the implications of this bill.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

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NEWS

Covid-19 killS 27, infeCtS 991 in a day: nCoC ISLAMABAD

sTaFF rePOrT

TOTAL of 991 people were tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, one of the lowest daily number this year, the National Command and Operation Centre said on Saturday. The national tally of the infected people rose to 947,218 with the emergence of the new cases detected from 46,269 tests conducted across the country, the NCOC said. The number of active cases dropped to 35,491, the NCOC said, adding that a total of 2,296 people are in critical condition. The centre said that a total of 21,940 people died with 27 in the last 24 hours,

and 889,787 have recovered from the disease in the country. Meanwhile, the vaccination drive is in full swing in the country with hundreds of thousands of more people registering themselves for vaccination every day, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said earlier in the week. In a move to stop cross-border disease spread, the NCOC on Friday decided to temporarily suspend incoming pedestrian movement from Afghanistan via border crossings due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring country. However, the border will remain open for transit trade and cargo with strict measures in place, the NCOC added.

Shehbaz moves LHC after sugar business hit with FBR notice LAHORE

Primary school classes to resume from Monday in Sindh AMUSEMENT PARKS, SHRINES AND INDOOR GYMS TO OPEN FROM JUNE 28 KARACHI

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news Desk

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif Saturday challenged in the Lahore High Court a tax audit notice sent to his sugar production units by the Federal Board of Revenue. The petition nominated FBR chairman Asim Ahmad and Inland Revenue chief commissioner as respondents. According to the petition, the revenue collection body had sent on May 21 a show-cause notice seeking a tax audit of the mills. The notice demanded an explanation of a transaction of Rs1.93 billion. However, the IR commissioner later withdrew the notice. The petition further said that the notice was mala fide and sent in violation of the ordinance. The Federal Investigation Agency has summoned Sharif on June 22 to question his alleged role in last year’s sugar scam. According to the call-up notice, the agency was in possession of evidence of over an Rs25 billion fraud. The FIA had sent a questionnaire to Sharif in December last year. He had then said that he would submit his response after consulting his legal team.

As Covid-19 cases decline in the province, the Sindh government announced easing of restrictions, with primary schools opening on June 21. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Sindh government’s Covid-19 taskforce. Chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the taskforce also decided to reopen shrines, amusement parks and indoor gymnasiums from June 28. The meeting discussed the provincial positivity ratio of 3.9pc and the more worrying 8.08pc Karachi and 4.3pc in Hyderabad. “The reduction in cases is conditional on the implementation of SOPs by the public,” the chief minister said. The provincial chief executive told the forum that the Russian Covid-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ would be available in Sindh by the last week of June. “In addition, the province will receive 1.5 million doses of SinoVac vaccine on June 21 and on June 23 about 700,000 doses of Cansino and 400,000 doses of PakVac,” CM Murad said.

NSA Moeed set to attend SCO meeting in Dushanbe ISLAMABAD Mian abrar

Pakistan on Saturday named its National Security Advisor Dr Moeed Yusuf to represent the country at the 16th meeting of the secretaries of the security council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member-states, scheduled to be held at Dushanbe on June 22-23. A source privy to the development told Pakistan Today that Dr Moeed is set to leave for Dushanbe on Sunday. Last year, the meeting was held virtually, in which India had walked out on Dr Yusuf’s refusal to remove Pakistan’s political map from his background. During the visit, Dr Yusuf may also meet

with his counterparts from Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China to discuss matters of mutual interest. The office of the NSA has confirmed that Dr Yusuf will not be meeting his Indian counterpart, who will also be attending the SCO summit. It is pertinent to mention that Prime Minister Imran Khan has already reiterated the Pakistan’s stance that there will be no dialogue with India till it revisits its illegal and unilateral action of August 5. According to sources, Moeed, during the visit, would participate in the joint session of the national security advisors of the SCO member-states and sign the protocol of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Security Council

Secretaries. There is speculation that Afghan NSA Hamdullah Mohib will also be in Dushanbe. Afghanistan is an observer of the SCO but it is not invited to the meeting. “Mohib has recently made multiple baseless accusations against Pakistan. Islamabad has responded formally, accusing him of undermining the progress towards peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan has reportedly stopped engaging with him,” an official said. Therefore, no meeting is expected between the NSAs of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Dushanbe. The upcoming SCO meeting is of special importance as Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to visit Dushanbe for the SCO Heads of State Council meeting later this year.

Govt to abolish tax on import of POS machines ISLAMABAD sTaFF rePOrT

The federal government has decided to abolish tax on the import of point of sale (POS) machines. This was informed by the member Inland Revenue policy FBR to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs which was under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood. The FBR officials informed the committee that the government has decided to abolish tax on the import of point of sale machines due to this large retail stores will be able to import duty free machines. We have a plan to link 0.5 million retailers with the FBR system. The FBR official said that taxes have also been reduced to promote tourism in the country. “Duty for adventure tourism has been reduced by 50 per cent and additional duty has been abolished”. He also informed that duty on the machinery and types of equipment have also been set duty-free for the

promotion of tourism in the country. The FBR officials briefed that the import duty on card reader machines used for credit and debit cards has also been abolished besides the duty on the raw materials of pharmaceutical items has been also set to zero. The officials further apprised the committee that zero duty has been set on all pharmaceutical items to which Senator Sabzwari commented that medicines should also be cheaper in the country now. The committee also summoned the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on the matter. The National Tariff Commission (NTC) chairperson while briefing the committee said that significant relief has been given to various export sectors including textiles in the last two years. “So far, more than 2,000 tariff lines have been reduced to zero while tax duties on all raw materials have been significantly reduced”, she further added. The FBR officials also apprised the committee that the Regulatory and additional customs duty have been exempted on vehicles below 850 cc vehicles. “Duty on

import of auto kits has been reduced from 30pc to 15pc for the promotion of the local auto sector”. Senator Mandviwalla said that “the most expensive cars are being made in Pakistan, duty exemptions are fine but there should be a pricing system”. However, the committee deferred duty waiver clauses on vehicles. The officials of FBR apprised the committee that the duty on Euro 5 has also been reduced. The chairman committee summoned the secretary Petroleum for a briefing on the matter. Matter of abolishing income tax exemption on Mudaraba was also discussed in the meeting. The Committee opposed the decision to abolish Modaraba income tax exemption. The committee recommended restoring the income tax exemption on Madaraba at its previous level. The FBR officials also briefed the committee about business accounts. According to the bill, business accounts will now have to be declared to the FBR and anyone who does not declare its accounts will be penalised. The minimum fine will be Rs.0.1million and imprisonment.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

04 NEWS

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Coronavirus vaCCine shortage to subside from next week: dr faisal sultan SINDH DECIDES TO KEEP ALL VACCINATION CENTRES CLOSED TODAY

NewS DeSk

PEcIAL Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said Saturday that the ongoing shortage of covid-19 vaccination in the country would start to subside from next week. As many as 1.55 million doses would arrive on June 20, 2.5 million jabs on June 22, while from June 23-30, 2-3 million doses along with a raw material to produce 400,000 PakVac vaccines would reach Pakistan, he said. Sindh to shut down its vaccination centres this Sunday: Sindh government, keeping in view the available stock of

the vaccine doses, decided to keep all vaccination centres closed this Sunday. This was decided in a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on corona, chaired by chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, with provincial ministers in attendance. According to a statement released by the Sindh government, the committee was briefed on the pandemic situation and the shortage of vaccines across the country, which has gotten serious in the last few days. The meeting was told that so far 3,243,988 doses of vaccines have been received. Of them, 2,873,857 were utilised and only 370,141 were left. The meeting was also in-

formed about the vaccines which will be provided to Sindh in the coming days, a break down of which is given below: • 1.5 million doses of Sinovac will be received on June 21, • 700,000 doses of cansino on June 23, • 400,000 doses of PakVac on June 23, and the Russian Sputnik vaccine will become available in the last week of the current month or in the first week of July. Situation in Lahore, no better According to a private news channel stock has completely dried up at Lahore’s Expo centre, with doors of hall number 3 of the Expo centre closed to the public.

PIA launches scenic air safari for tourism promotion ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan International Airlines on Saturday launched its first safari flight for Skardu from Islamabad, offering travellers a scenic journey with stunning views of some of the world’s highest mountains and a picturesque northern region. 91 travellers from 13 countries were aboard the maiden flight including Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar in his personal capacity, Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The Sadpara Air Safari flight, named after iconic high-altitude mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, will brief the passengers about the wonders of the country’s north and the se-

cret of tourism including K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak and other mountains in the region. The air safari will take tourists from Islamabad to Skardu, charging a one-way fare of Rs24,000. “Our flight will depart from the Islamabad International Airport and fly over K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum peaks, Deosai Plain and the famous Saif-ul-Malook Lake where every passenger will wonder at the beauty of the air safari from their personal window seat,” said an official statement. Per the reports, after landing at Skardu Airport, the passengers will be able to enjoy complimentary hi-tea at the Shangrila Resort Hotel. The departing flight will take off after two hours. However, “it will be entirely up to

our passengers if they want to take the same flight back to Islamabad or prolong their trip to the region to experience more magical moments,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Niazi told Arab News. Another spokesperson for the airline said that the move is aimed at attracting more tourists to the turquoise lakes. “People living abroad usually fear security deficit while planning a trip to Pakistan,” Arab News quoted Niazi as saying. “Many of them are not aware of the beautiful and scenic locations of the country. Once they experience the air safari and fly over these places, they will surely come back to explore them again.” Niazi further said that the airline would only sell window seats.

Why do young Afghan refugees in Pakistan lack education, skills? kARACHI anadolu agency

Attired in a local traditional loose shirt and baggy trousers, around a dozen students are sitting on a gunny woven jute mat in a small room, solving past papers as part of their preparations for the forthcoming matriculation examinations. The room is a portion of a school for Afghan refugee children in Sohrab Goth, a Pashtun-dominated locality in Karachi. The school, housed in a four-story building inside a residential apartment and staffed by 12 people, is one of the five primary and secondary schools for the refugee children residing in a nearby camp. Some 20 Islamic seminaries also operate in the sprawling camp – commonly known as Afghan Basti. Nestled on the northern outskirts of Karachi, this run down locality with limited access to healthcare and basic sanitation, is home to nearly 250,000 Afghan refugees who were forced to flee their country due to a lingering conflict. According to Syed Mustafa, who founded this school in 2005, around 60% of the children residing in the camp do not attend school. He migrated from the central Afghan province of Parwan following the US invasion in 2001. “This is because of a lack of enough educational facilities, poverty, as well as indifference on the part of parents,” he told Anadolu Agency. His school, which imparts education from Grade 1-12, charges a monthly fee ranging between 400 and 600 Pakistani rupees ($2.7-$4). Over 350 students are enrolled in the school, 200 of being girls, mostly in junior classes. The girl students are studying free of charge, thanks to a couple of local NGOs and philanthropists. EASY VICTIMS: There are around 2.8 million documented and undocumented Afghan refugees in Pakistan, making it the world’s second-largest refugee population after Syri-

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ans in Turkey. Only around half of the refugees are registered, with the rest living without documents, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, which border war-torn Afghanistan. The southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, also hosts 500,000 Afghan refugees. According to the United Nations High commissioner for Refugees (UNHcR), more than 4.4 million refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan since 2002, but many have returned to Pakistan due to ongoing violence, unemployment, and lack of education and medical facilities. “Five schools for a population of over 250,000 are not even worth mentioning. These children are our future, but they are either forced to scavenge, work as child laborers, or just wander around to kill their time,” said Mustafa, warning that out-of-school children can be used for crime and militancy. He was referring to intelligence reports, which suggest that many Afghan youths have joined local criminal groups, including drug peddlers. Many of them have reportedly joined the Afghan Taliban to fight against foreign troops and the Kabul government over the last decade. “These uneducated and unguided children are like a ticking bomb. They can be troublesome for both Pakistan and Afghanistan if immediate steps are not taken to impart them education and other skills.” GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN: But Saleem Khan, the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees, said the refugee children already have access to government schools across Pakistan, in addition to many skill development and scholarship programs for the youth. “We are identifying the areas of higher demand in Afghanistan in order to train the (Afghan) youth. It will not only benefit them here, but they can also play a role in the development of their own country,” Khan told Anadolu Agency.

He cited distance, poverty, and to a certain extent conservative beliefs about female education as key reasons for a large number of Afghan children not attending schools. ATMOSPHERE NOT CONDUCIVE TO REPATRIATION: According to the UNHcR, around 65% of the 1.4 million documented Afghan refugees in Pakistan are below the age of 25. The UN agency, which is running several educational and skill development programs for refugee children and youth across Pakistan, believes that “they deserve to be educated and skilled for the future of Afghanistan.” Besides its dedicated refugee programs, the UNHcR has been supporting the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) initiative, which aims to mitigate the impact of the protracted refugee presence and promote social cohesion among Afghan refugees and their Pakistani host communities. “Youngsters are the agents of change if an empowered and skilled young generation – both men and women – return to Afghanistan, they can better work for the restructuring of their country,” Qaisar Khan Afridi, a UNHcR spokesman, told Anadolu Agency. He, however, acknowledged that the current security and political atmosphere in the war-torn country is not conducive to repatriation. “The preferred solution to the refugee issue is voluntary repatriation. But since the ground realities do not support the goal of sustainable repatriation, chances are dim,” he said. “The return and reintegration need to be sustainable, otherwise refugees may either return or go to the western countries by using dangerous routes or indulge in negative activities.” Afridi urged the international community to ensure security and development assistance, mainly in the areas of health, education, and employment to war-ravaged Afghanistan for the refugees’ sustainable repatriation.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

UAE to sUpport pAkistAni bUsinEssmEn in Exploring EmirAti mArkEt ISLAMABAD APP

nited Arab emirates’ Minister of State for Foreign trade dr thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi has said that the UAe is ready to extend full assistance to Pakistani businessmen to help them explore the opportunities offered by the emirati market. “For us, Pakistan is among the top 25 important strategic global trade partners,” dr Al Zeyoudi said in his remarks at the second trade session organized by Pakistan Business Council in dubai this week. the trade session was held to discuss new business opportunities, boost trade volume between the UAe and Pakistan and capitalise the opportunities relating to dubai expo 2020, being held in October 2021 after delayed due to pandemic. dr Al Zeyoudi said the UAe and Pakistan shared deep bilateral relations based on a long history, trust and trade that showed growth even during the tough times, according to emirates news Agency (WAM). He said in terms of imports, the UAe was Pakistan’s second-biggest partner, besides the two countries also having significant investments in various sectors, including real estate. the UAe recently announced the 100 percent foreign ownership law, which has spurred economic activity and been hailed by the business community around the world,” dr. Al Zeyoudi noted. Pakistan’s ambassador to UAe, Afzaal Mahmood,

boi chairman resigns Board of investment (BOi) Chairman Atif Bokhari has resigned due to “personal reasons”, becoming the third head of the department who has prematurely left office during the tenure of this government, according to a report by the express tribune. Prime Minister imran Khan had appointed Bokhari as the BOi chairman in March last year and he joined the office in April. Bokhari had replaced Zubair Gilani; he remained the chairman of the BOi for about 14 months. He has become the third BOi chairman who resigned during less than three years tenure of the Pakistan tehreek-e-insad (Pti) government. earlier, the prime minister had appointed Haroon Sharif as the BOi chairman in September 2018 who was replaced by Zubair Gilani in June 2019. the report claimed that Special Assistant to Prime Minister, dr Shahbaz Gill, and former BOi chairman Haroon Sharif were among the names being discussed for the chairman slot. NEWS DESK

bitcoin falls 7pc to $35,431.15 in his speech highlighted the scope for Pakistani entrepreneurs to benefit from the UAe’s diverse market and expo 2020. He said Pakistan under its pavilion themed ‘Pakistan – the Hidden treasure’ will showcase the country’s history, culture, agriculture, tourism, and hospitality. the ambassador mentioned that as the economies of Pakistan and the UAe complemented each other, there was a need to explore the value-added advantages in the interest of both sides. Pakistan Business Council (PBC) dubai President,

Ahmed Shaikhani, said the two sides had shown interest in areas such as agri-technology, healthcare and wellness, manufacturing, logistics, information technology and food security. the first meeting between the UAe minister and PBC was held in May, focusing on business opportunities and the ways to strengthen trade. the meeting was successfully concluded with a resolution to boost trade volume between UAe and Pakistan amounting from around Aed30 billion, to doubling it over the next five years.

PayPal overhauls US rates as payments rivalry heats up NEW YORK AGENCIES

PayPal Holdings inc (PYPL.O) is set to increase merchant costs for its branded payment products while lowering the cost of processing some Visa and Mastercard transactions behind the scenes, a bold move in an increasing competitive environment area of digital payments. the strategic shift reflects PayPal’s growing power in online transactions, which has soared during the COVid-19 pandemic. As consumers and businesses flocked to the market leader during the lockdown, its active accounts stood at 377 million, more than double the number in 2015. the company said the move reflects the value of its proprietary services, with consumers nearly three times more likely to complete a purchase when PayPal products are available at checkout, while users of the new Buy now-Later -Option average 15. spend% more.

“We’re changing prices to help our customers understand more clearly where we add value,” said dan Leberman, senior vice president for small and medium-sized businesses and partners at PayPal, in an interview. “the wallet is of enormous value, the card processing is standardized.” PayPal stock rose 2.5% late Friday afternoon. PayPal will charge sellers 3.49% plus 49 cents for processing transactions made through its proprietary products, including its button on merchant websites and its digital wallet, according to material the company reported to Reuters . the higher tariff applies to products such as PayPal Checkout, Pay with Venmo, PayPal Credit and the new Buy it now / Later offer Pay in 4. PayPal has 392 million active accounts, including 31 million merchants worldwide, and also owns Venmo, Braintree and iZettle. it will be difficult for merchants to know how much value they are getting

from PayPal features in exchange for the higher prices, said Ben dwyer, founder of cardfellow.com, who analyzes how deals are being offered to merchants. “PayPal wants to be a comprehensive payment solution, but it’s difficult to do that by selling by value over price.” Sellers pay 2.59% plus 49 cents for PayPal to process online payments with debit and credit cards from Visa and Mastercard from other companies without being noticed. in the past, PayPal charged sellers 2.9% plus 30 cents for payments on most online transactions, regardless of role. Lowering basic transaction processing rates will help PayPal compete with competitors like Stripe and Authorize.net. PayPal expects to attract customers because of the discounts, Leberman said. “We think it’s a bold price,” he said. As large traders tend to negotiate unique deals, rate hikes will mainly hit small to medium-sized businesses, some

of which have lost confidence this year due to nationwide labor shortages and inflation concerns. Continue reading the changes essentially reflect the services PayPal has developed since spinning off eBay inc (eBAY.O) in 2015. Although most of its transactions are online, PayPal will also lower prices for in-person transactions over its network, which should help it compete with Square inc (SQ.n). For most of these purchases over $ 10, PayPal charges 1.90% plus 10 cents. For cheaper purchases, the rate is usually 2.40% plus 5 cents. PayPal’s business boomed during the pandemic as more consumers began spending online. it processed $ 285 billion in payments in the first quarter, 49% more than the same period last year. “it’s about more than just pricing,” said Aaron Press, an analyst at research firm idC. “they’re making sure the market understands that they should view PayPal as a comprehensive payment strategy, not just a payment method.”

LONDON AGENCIES

Bitcoin dropped 7% to $35,431.15 at 20:02 GMt on Friday, losing $2,666.53 from its previous close. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is down 45.4% from the year’s high of $64,895.22 on April 14. ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, dipped 8.66 % to $2,165.68 on Friday, losing $205.45 from its previous close.

indonesia gets $1.3bn loans from World bank JAKARTA AGENCIES

Pakistani traders protest against prolonged closure of Khunjerab Pass ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

Owing to the Pak-China border’s closure that has now lasted for over 20 months, traders who use this land route have begun protesting in islamabad, decrying the massive damage the closure has caused their businesses. the business community has given a week’s deadline to open the border and has warned of sit-ins in islamabad and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). traders in GB lamented that they have lost patience over the continuous closure of the Sost border. Addressing a press conference in islamabad, a group of traders from GB headed by exporters Association Chairman Javed Hussain has appealed to Prime Minister (PM) imran Khan, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the foreign minister, commerce minister and the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan to open the Pak-China border for trade. Hussain said that due to the closure of the border, traders have lost millions of rupees. “All traders of the

region will be forced to hold peaceful sit-ins outside Khunjerab Pass, the Parliament House and Ministry of Foreign Affairs if their demands are not met.” He said that the Pak-China is the only source of livelihood for all small and big traders of the region. China has its borders with Kyrgyzstan, tajikistan and Uzbekistan and normal trade continues but the PakChina border is still closed. Hussain said that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry has issued a notification to reopen the Pak-China border. However, the Chinese authorities have refused to implement the notification due to which the goods imported from China by Pakistani traders are getting damaged in the warehouses of Kashgar, which may cause a further loss of millions. Besides, the goods of diamerbhasha dam, dasu and Mohmand dams lying in the warehouses of Kashgar are also deteriorating. it may be recalled here that China had earlier agreed to open the Khunjerab border for trade but with stiff conditions in view of the Covid-19 situation.

Under the conditions set by the Chinese government, Pakistani exporters and importers would not be allowed to enter China and would instead load and unload goods on Pakistan’s side of the border for inspection and sterilisation. it was agreed that Chinese exporters would leave the goods on a specific location of Pakistan’s side of the border from where importers may receive them after following the SOPs. Similarly, exporters would also leave their goods at the same location which buyers from China would receive after completion of the same process on their side of the border. As per documents available with Profit, personnel and the vehicles of both parties were directed to work in different time frames to avoid direct contact. in this regard, loading and unloading, dropping and hanging up the trailer are to be done separately when the cargo inspection channel is opened. However, the border has remained closed for bilateral trade despite assurances from both countries for unknown reasons.

the World Bank has approved two loans totalling $1.3 billion for indonesia this week to support its Covid-19 response and economic policy reforms, according to statements from the lender and the government. A $500 million loan was approved on thursday to fund indonesia’s free vaccination campaign and expand Covid-19 care and testing facilities, the multinational lender said in a statement on Friday. the $800 million was approved earlier this week. the government on Friday said in a statement it would use the proceeds to open more sectors to private investment, especially in renewable energy, improve access to basic food and facilitate access to the manufacturing sector. indonesia is grappling with a spike in Covid-19 cases weeks after eidul-Fitr festivities, during which many had travelled to their hometowns to celebrate. On thursday, the country reported the biggest daily increase in cases since Jan. 30 of 12,624 infections. its total caseload of 1.95 million and more than 53,750 deaths are the highest in Southeast Asia. the World Bank has provided indonesia with at least $2.2 billion in loans this year including for programmes to deepen its financial markets and to respond to national disasters.

China’s cryptocurrency-mining crackdown spreads to Sichuan SHANGHAI/HONG KONG AGENCIES

China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency “mining” has extended to the southwest province of Sichuan, where authorities ordered cryptocurrency mining projects closed in the major mining centre. Cryptomining is big business in China, accounting for more than half of global bitcoin production. But the State Council, China’s cabinet, last month vowed to clamp down on bitcoin mining and trading as part of

a series of measures to control financial risks. Other popular mining regions, such as inner Mongolia, have cited cryptocurrency mining’s use of electricity generated from highly polluting sources such as coal in orders targeting the industry. Friday’s move in Sichuan – where miners mostly use hydropower to run the specially designed computer equipment used in verifying bitcoin transactions – suggests the crackdown is more broadly based. the Sichuan Provincial development and Reform Commission, and the Sichuan

energy Bureau issued a joint notice, dated Friday and seen by Reuters, demanding the closure of 26 suspected cryptocurrency mining projects by Sunday. Sichuan is China’s second-biggest bitcoin mining province, according to data compiled by the University of Cambridge. Some miners move their activities there in the rainy summer to take advantage of its rich hydropower resources. the notice orders state electricity companies in Sichuan to conduct inspections and make corrections, reporting their results by

CMYK

Friday. they are to immediately stop supplying electricity to cryptomining projects they have detected. the authorities urged local governments in Sichuan to start combing for cryptomining projects and shut them down. it banned new projects. Other regional mining centres including Xinjiang, inner Mongolia and Yunnan have ordered crackdowns on bitcoin mining. Friday’s notice appears to indicate that Beijing’s displeasure with cryptocurrency mining extends beyond cases where it uses

electricity generated by burning coal. “Renewable power does not help,” said Winston Ma, nYU Law School adjunct professor and author of the book “the digital War”. “the four largest mining regions – inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan – have implemented similar crackdown measures, even though mining in the latter two are mostly based on hydropower, whereas the first two are on coal,” Ma told Reuters. Some miners have been considering moving elsewhere due to the crackdown.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

06 COMMENT

Where’s the difference?

After National Assembly, ruckus in Balochistan Assembly

Intolerne is rising in society

A need for compromise

HILe the worst ever ruckus in the National Assembly remained confined within Parliament’s premises, opposition legislators and supporters in Balochistan clashed with police at the gate of the Provincial Assembly on the day the province’s 2021-2022 budget was to be presented. What happened In both places was highly unfortunate. What is more, in both places, the worst could have been avoided had better sense prevailed in the PTI and BAP leaderships. In Islamabad there is a respite for the time being. In Balochistan the opposition is blocking the highways all over the province Opposition MPAs in Balochistan had proposals that they wanted to be included in the budget document before it was tabled in the Assembly. The opposition MPAs maintained that their constituents wanted solutions to their problems related to water supply, electricity, gas, health and education. There was nothing wrong with the demand as the allocation of development funds has to be equitable. Neglecting constituencies that did not vote for the ruling coalition amounts to punishing the opposition voters. The Chief Minister was simply unwilling to hold talks with the opposition on the issue. For four days the opposition members, comprising lawmakers from the JUI, BNP(M), PKMAP as well as independent candidates, protested all over the province beside staging a peaceful, round-the-clock sit-in outside the Provincial Assembly in Quetta. An opposition MNA even suggested postponing the presentation of the budget for five days to enable both sides to reach an understanding through talks. The proposal was disdainfully rejected. This led the opposition to announce that it would not allow the holding of the budget session. CM Jam Kamal Alyani had enough time to hold talks with the opposition to resolve the situation peacefully, which should be the preference of the province’s chief executive. A hubris-ridden BAP leadership was however unwilling to resolve the issue through negotiations. Police was ordered to disperse the protesters by use of force. The budget has been presented under the protection of the police without caring for the consequences of an uncompromising attitude in a highly sensitive province where peace and security are strongly dependent on accommodation. There is still a need on the part of the BAP leadership to reach a negotiated settlement on the budget instead of consigning the province to a wave of protests, shutter-down strikes and blocking of highways.

Rabia ahmed

He USA now has a new Federal holiday, the 19th of June, known as Juneteenth. It commemorates the day slaves– who were mostly Black African, were told in Texas that they were now free and no longer enslaved. Although slavery had been officially outlawed three years earlier by Lincoln’s emancipation Proclamation, the proclamation had been larger ignored in Texas and some other States. In Pakistan people have scoffed at this new holiday, and have called it hypocritical, pointing at the many incidences of racism and violence still occurring in the USA even though its Constitution says that all people are equal. The fact is that much of what happens in the USA

The never-ending dilemma of ignored refugees

GSP-Plus preferences EU concerns must be addressed

solve their problems. Many countries, including the USA, claim sympathy for refugees, but their policies are such as to discourage permanent resettlement. This indifferent attitude has added to the problems of refugees. Thousands of people around the world die after being granted refugee status by the UNHCr in the hope of resettlement in a country where their lives would be safe and they would not be persecuted For feedback, on religious, ethnic and comments, linguistic grounds. Historsuggestions ically, and, the USA was the mostbiggest importantly, supporter of the resettlement of refugees, however “I refuse to it has failed to reeven a single joinsettle a club that refugee after the Trump would have me took over the as aregime member.” White House. – Groucho TheMarx so-called international community and advocates THe Lahoreof human rights including Australia, Gymkhana Syed Fawad ali Shah Canada, doesn’t seem New Zealand, and to be toomany well more european countries behaved a clubwith a few exceptions, days. also followed very human being has a special attach-these US footsteps and have elections to the governing body are taking place and ment to his motherland. He wants to live adopted policies that have some of the arefamily takingand it way too seriously. The and grow oldmembers among his friends practically made it impossides seem to have adopted American campaigning and in the place where he is born. Though sible for refugees to look techniques, some of which haveitonly barely been migration has its own benefits, is painful for peaceful lives in their introduced in the elections to the national and provincial for a person to leave his home whether under countries. The irony for assemblieseconomic in Pakistan, like pre-recorded duress, coercion, compulsion or for po-phone messages refugees fleeing from and short ad films. litical reasons. wartorn It’s aalso led tomeans quite the canvassing, with the elite areas in Muslim To become refugee to lose your idencountries equivalent of ‘biryani ki platein.’ Lavish dinners, not all would not be tity as a citizen and then turning into a rolling stone recognized as refugees them dry.toThe sort The that lives makesofthe electoral college with no of destination reach. refugees with equal human rights. wish these elections took place every year, not every in the current world of economic constraints and soMoreover, some Muslim three are years. cial distress unbearable and cause dejection. countries even imposed little furtherfrom awaytheir in Lahore, at the The pain ofA separation families andfar more more and far ostentatious, Punjab friends isexclusive, unspeakable. Theless voices for the rights of Club, strict legislations trying to get cross the borelections are an extremely low key affair. is a to brotherly Muslim countries. such as Saudi refugees are getting slow and dim. The world con-Thisders Arabia, gentlemens’ good sirs, we don’t have science has to rise upclub, to the agonies of millions of that sort ofUAe, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, thing here. Apparently, simple canvassing not Muscat, Turkey and Morocco. every year refugees across the world. There was a time whenis also on June 20, International refugee Day is celebrated majorityallowed of statesthere. who were signatories to the 1951 with tall claims and commitment to the refugee’s refugee Convention took great steps to ensure the convention but seldom has been witnessed those refugees their due rights and status, but nowadays words being turned into reality. Countries that almost all are restricted to only Twitter, Facebook signed the 1951 refugee Convention avoid reportand video conferences to chant slogans for the ing their progress each year on the number of rights of migrants. No practical work is done to

Today is World Refugee Day

HILe Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi assured european Union High representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell that Pakistan is working on coming into compliance with 27 conventions which qualify an exporting country for the GSP-Plus status, it should be noted that GSP-Plus status was granted in 2014, as a form of relief for the terrible floods the year before. It must be kept in mind that India strongly opposed the move then, and continues to work for its removal. However, while Pakistan has ratified the relevant conventions, its record on implementation has been mixed. This is taking a cavalier attitude towards the eU, to which Pakistan exported €5.5 billion worth of goods in 2020, which is 28 percent of its total exports, and it should be remembered that the GSP-Plus status plays an important role in this, allowing as it does Pakistani exporters zerotariff rating on their goods. In his meeting with Mr Borrell, which took place on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey on Friday, Mr Qureshi did give information about such legislative measures as the Journalist Protection Bill, the Forced or involuntary Disappearance Bill and the Anti-Torture Law, but it does not seem that removed all eU reservations. Among the issues the eU has are the presence of blasphemy accused in Pakistani jails, the press freedom situation and the leeway shown to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, which not only was able to threaten the ambassador of a prominent eU member, France, with expulsion, and despite being banned for its violence, has appealed that order. All those backing the TLP, starting with Interior Minister Sheikh rashid, should remember that offending the eU on this issue might well lead the eU to reconsider the GSP-Plus status it had granted. Also, anyone who asks questions about the eU’s right to interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs, should remember that GSPPlus preference is an eU right, and it is the sole judge of compliance with its conditions.

Arif Nizami Editor Managing Editor

Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

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refugees resettled. It is like time has just stopped for the refugees and they are caught in between a vicious time cycle. The democratic countries should play their role in the welfare of refugees, securing their future and enabling an environment feasible for adjustment and resettlement. There are hundreds of thousands who are still stranded in hostile border areas and many more are witnessing this international refugee day in jails for crimes they never committed. The right groups, watch dogs and international community must raise an effective voice for such deprived people.The refugee Convention protects people fleeing persecution and trauma. It describes an asylum seeker as someone who is outside the country of their nationality “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and “is unable to, or owing to such fear is unwilling to, avail himself of the protection of that country”. Thousands have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea and the real figure is likely to be far higher because so many people disappear without trace. Let’s give hope to those who have crossed the Mediterranean Sea or international borders. Their hope rests in our voice. Let’s raise our voice for the voiceless. The world conscience must realize that refugees are human beings caught in sufferings not by their own choice, but by different compulsions, and they meet special attention and care. I myself have been a refugee journalist for ten years. I think God made me a refugee so that I can inform the world about the plight of refugees through pen. That they open their eyes and learn about the plight of refugees and play their role in helping them. Any citizen of any country like me can become a refugee at any time. But in this society, animals are more respected than refugees. Humanity is gone.

The Refugee Convention protects people fleeing persecution and trauma. It describes an asylum seeker as someone who is outside the country of their nationality “owing to a wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and “is unable to, or owing to such fear is unwilling to, avail himself of the protection of that country

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

religion it claims to stem from. He was murdered because he voiced sympathy for this law’s victims. His bravery was never commemorated, yet the man who murdered him lies buried in a shrine near Islamabad that is daily visited by thousands of admirers that include the son-in-law of a former Prime Minister. Taseer’s death was a loss for the country, because with him we lost a man who had his heart in the right should ring a bell with us here; the maudlin leader- place. He was also a man who spoke out against a law ship, the police brutality against Black Americans, that goes against the state religion of the country. the murders of George Floyd and Arbery, and the JanAnd yet there is that shrine near Islamabad. uary 6th storming of the Capitol. The people of Pakistan have a long way to go bePakistan started out as a secular country. Jinnah fore they can understand the advantages of reason and stated in the first meeting of the Constituent Assem- non-discrimination over violence, peaceful co-exisbly: “you are free; you are free to go to your temples, tence over taunts and jeers. We do not as yet know you are free to go to your mosques or to any other what to do with State institutions where issues can be places of worship in this State of Pakistan. you may discussed and laws made in a reasonable fashion. We belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has appear, sadly, to give credence only to angry protests nothing to do with the business of the State.” and violence, to ‘discussions’ in which missiles fly Later in 1956 Islam was and people die and yet what brought in as the official relido such acts achieve, neither gion of the country, and Islam an understanding of the also proclaims very strictly problems and facts nor any that there is no difference bemeaningful change? Protests By strutting around tween people whatever race and violence, raised voices, they may belong to. throwing words and rude gestures, physical and yet all of these things verbal attacks, you know… objects at each other, are have always been ignored. In the same as we’ve been seePakistan our minorities are the esteemed members of ing these days surrounding still prosecuted, very much the budget in the National National Assembly our so. Hazaras, Shias, Ahmadis, Assembly, is behaviour that Christians are all targeted, likely to make any defines the country in an extheir colonies are destroyed, tremely poor light. positive difference at all? their women abducted and By strutting around forced to convert after being Will their actions lead to throwing words and objects forced into marriage. Asia at each other, are the esany improvement in the Bibi has taken refuge in anteemed members of our Naother country, and Malala Budget? tional Assembly likely to yusufzai is condemned by all make any positive difference and sundry in the country of at all? Will their actions lead her birth because as a woman to any improvement in the she is not supposed to say the Budget? things she does. We claim to be devout followers of Any changes to the budget that such behaviour Islam, a religion that condemns racism, gender bias, manages to engender will be based on appeasement discrimination and violence in no uncertain terms, rather than a wish to make a real difference. All who and yet we call people names based on their gender, indulge in such shouting matches and violent gestures colour and caste, and in the Punjab marry according stand just as sharply defined as all those who visit to caste as well. Qadri’s shrine to lay garlands upon it. Salman Taseer died ten years ago in January, murdered by his own security guard because he spoke Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more against an unfair law, one that goes against the very by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

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reached

Sunday, 20 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

Astrazeneca vaccine A now-viral post on social media is spreading baseless information about the Astra Zeneca vaccine. The viral post suggests that the vaccine has some serious side effects including chills, fever, body aches, headache, etc. I recently got the first dose of the vaccine and had fever and body ache for only a day. The government is required to satisfy people and take them into confidence. Otherwise, people will avoid getting the vaccine. It should also inform people about the possible side effects and what measures should people take to feel better. HAsAn noor Umer AnsArI KArACHI

Economy is more than life

The combat zone

from both the treasury and opposition benches. Like in the past, the opposition did not abide by the letter or spirit of the understanding even for a day. The very next day, they were given full opportunity by the Speaker to pour out their vitriol in abundance through an erroneous and malfeasant narrative. But, exhibiting their traditional, undemocratic and non-parliamentary attitude, they did not have the courage to face the posed to listen to what their political opponents response from the government benches and abhave to say so that they could make a positive sorb the logic and sanity that came from across contribution towards improving the quality and the divide. True to tradition, both the leader of substance of the projected legislation. In the the opposition and Bilawal Zardari, along with event the parties of the opposition opt to stay their coterie of lackeys and bootleggers, staged away from the debate, they lose their right to an unwarranted walkout. The media failed again criticise the outcome. in pointing out this crass duplicity in the oppoMadness it is, but there has been a calculated sition behaviour. method driving it also. From the day the tenure This is not the first time, and this will not be of this Parliament started, the opposition’s effort the last either, when the opposition has violated has been directed towards using all methods foul an agreement it had reached with the governnot to let it work according to established rules ment to run Parliament in an organised and disand regulations. A critical part of that strategy ciplined manner where all parties would be has been not to allow the Prime Minister and his heard to improve the content of legislation. This ministers to speak. Whenever such an opportu- is so because running Parliament has never been nity arose, they would methodically create a the objective of the opposition parties. On the pandemonium in the House. In the process, tech- contrary, their principal objective has always nically and morally, they also forfeited their own been to derail it by sabotaging its work. With right to speak from the floor. In spite of that, in time, and with the development indicators of the a spirit of excessive generosity and accommo- country across multiple fields continuing to imdation, the Speaker allowed time to the opposi- prove with every passing day, their objective tion to vent their uncorroborated accusations and now borders on desperation. They are prepared vitriol. That gave the madness its method: while to do everything to see the parties of the oppothe back of Imran Khan sition continued to because they fully unutilise more than their derstand that the sucdeserved time in the cess of his government Parliament to project will spell the doom of With the winds of change their points of view to their brand of politics the public, the same which is rooted in unblowing across the national was denied to the govabated loot and plunder. ernment and its allied expanse and good news The opposition parties. This was inhernarrative has lost its warming the hearts, it is ently unjust and untentraction. They are a able. It should also be hopelessly divided lot, impossible that such elements noted that no media both at the inter-party house cared to take note and intra-party levels. would be able to survive the of it and debate what They are also conaltered environment where the fronted with increased was actually happening in Parliament and who awareness regarding objective is no longer personal how was responsible for it. It this country has was tantamount to conbeen brutally and meradvancement at the cost of the doning the denial of the cilessly ravaged in the right to the Prime Minstate, but national development past by these gangs of ister and his ministers criminals masqueradand progress in preference to to speak in Parliament. ing as politicians. They For quite some see the end of their role all individual interests. That is time, it was being felt in defrauding the counthat this strategy had the new norm which is likely to try of its assets and run its wicked course promise. But they are blow away the pretentious, false not and could not be gone yet. They are dragged any further. being sustained by the and destructive narrative that What we witnessed in institutions where their the most recent highrecruits, who don’t this bunch of devious voltage demonstration owe their allegiance to charlatans had imposed on the the state but their perof acrimony and abuse was possibly because sons, have continued country and its fate the tipping point had to survive in a culture long been reached and of patronage. most of the ruling With the winds of party parliamentarians change blowing across had run out of patience. So, when they were the national expanse and good news warming provoked in a virulent fashion by a member of the hearts, it is impossible that such elements the PML(N), they gave way to their own emo- would be able to survive the altered environtions which had been piling for long. Sparks ment where the objective is no longer personal went flying. advancement at the cost of the state, but naIn a later development, the parliamentary tional development and progress in preference teams of the opposition and the government held to all individual interests. That is the new norm a meeting and, according to a minister, they ad- which is likely to blow away the pretentious, mitted that “it had brought embarrassment to the false and destructive narrative that this bunch House”. The minister further disclosed that the of devious charlatans had imposed on the counmeeting had proposed the formation of “a par- try and its fate. liamentary committee comprising members from the treasury and the opposition benches The writer is a political and security stratethat would be responsible for the conduct of gist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – their respective members in the House”. It was an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: also decided that no individual would be tar- raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: geted and insulted during the budget session @RaoofHasan

With insults and invectives flying across, stature of Parliament is downgraded

Candid Corner RaooF haSan

“A Parliament is that to the Commonwealth which the soul is to the body. It behoves us, therefore, to keep the facility of that soul from distemper.” –John Pym

BUSe and violence cannot be condoned under any circumstances, least of all on the floor of Parliament. The Lower House was virtually turned into a combat zone with the budget documents flying across, one of which hit a female parliamentarian of the PTI causing serious damage to her eye. Some security personnel also received injuries. It is absolutely imperative that people responsible for perpetrating this mayhem from both sides of the divide should be condemned and duly proceeded against under the rules of the business. There has also been much condemnation of it in the media, and rightly so, but the cudgels have been pointed mostly in the direction of the PTI and its parliamentarians. This is contrary to the ground realities and reflects a dominant bias that the media often exhibits in judging matters concerning the government and the opposition. While it is willing to look the other way when the parties of the opposition are guilty of committing travesties of the gravest nature, it does not treat the government with even a modicum of that generosity. Notwithstanding the intensity and virulence of the altercations, this is not the first time the Parliament has been afflicted with vitriol. In fact, from the day the Lower House held its first session, it has been subjected to the most vicious and demeaning treatment by the opposition parties by hurling abuse and invectives at the government benches. One still remembers that Imran Khan was not allowed by the parties of the opposition to make his maiden speech as the Prime Minister of the country which heralded the chequered spirit the Parliament has remained afflicted with ever since. The tradition of exhibiting gross intolerance having started from that first session of the Parliament has, unfortunately, not shown any signs of abating. In fact, it has become an extremely predictable instrument in the hands of the opposition who, after taking their turns at hurling false, fabricated and unsubstantiated abuse at the government benches, walk out of the House when the latter get their turn to speak. This is against the norms and parliamentary traditions. For the sake of generating a healthy and productive debate about the existing issues, the parties across the divide are sup-

IT is very difficult to understand that what is going on nowadays in our country. Our government is just supporting economy instead of of life. They give priority to economy only. As cases are reaching sky our government doesn’t pay attention upon it. Opening markets and starting transport is very big mistake of our government. Nobody is following SOPs in markets. People are thinking that now they are relax and there isn’t any corona which is totally wrong. AntHony sAHotrA LArKAnA

Fee reduction issue PrIvATe schools have become favourite whipping boys of all & sundry. They are called “mafia” by the parents, politicians & the judiciary. Interestingly, come admission time and one sees long queues of parents outside these “mafia” schools anxious to get their kids entrusted to the very “mafia”. Is the hypocrisy not jarring? education is a fundamental right of every child. In all countries of the world, governments work to provide education through government schools. Not so in Pakistan. Here provincial governments abuse education budgets for corruption to line their pockets. Hence, we sadly hear of “ghost schools”. The government & the worthy Supreme Court believe that it is the responsibility of the private sector to fulfil the global requirement of education for all. Not only should the private sector assume this responsibility, it should do so on terms to be dictated by the education ministers & the judiciary. All sectors of the economy may earn abnormal profits but the private schools should earn a pittance for education is not a business. One is constrained to ask why private schools are being destroyed when the govt itself is incapable of providing basic education of reasonable quality? Do parents realize their targeting of schools is like cutting the tree branch on which they are themselves sitting. mAAz AbbAsI KArACHI

Easing the lockdown

AFTer the outbreak of covid 19, pakistan is facing terrible ecnomic crises. Not only pakistan developed countries are facing this problem too. Due to which the decision of easing in lockdown is made.consensuse, the govt of pakistan has eased in lockdown. Which include reopning of malls, beautypalors, barbear and industries. But inforced of lockdown can result a tough time for health authorities. As they were warning people not to go outside to save your and their lives. But we can see the rush in markest and other places where people are standing nearby each other without precutive gears. even in this pendamic children have been wittnessed with elders while shopping without masks. Almost noone is following SOPs, this carelessness of citizens can bring hardships for health authorities. With the risisng cases of covid 19 the tally has reached 40,151 and 873 deaths. However, within less time the cases can rise up more higher. This easing in lockdown can risk many lives of shopkeepper and laubors. mAHnoor sIrAJ AwArAn

SOPs violation THIS letter refers to the outbreak of COvID-19 in which most countries are facing the initial crisis that is continued to weaken the country’s economy. In Pakistan the pandemic is just considered a rumour and unpredicted according to the citizens notion. On the other hand there is SOPs violation . Inorder to the curb the further spread of coronavirus, traders have been doing extravagance . recently in Quetta 156 shops were sealed and 64 people have been also arrested because of not following SOPs. The traders have been warned about not being violated since the violation will result in closure of entire market . There are great number of administrative issues over the implementation of SOPs as the provinces eased it’s lockdown . Secondly the safety guidelines are as well denied by traders and public. They are visible in overcrowded shops. bArKAtULLAH tUrbAt

Why the law department? UNIverSITy of Turbat (UOT) is the major university of Kech which has been constructed in Ginna with all essentials. Its campuses are providing education too like the Panjgor campus and Gowadar campus, but they are eminently directed and managed. While Turbat university is the main branch which owns a huge issue by the mismanaged department. This is bizarre that all the department are present on the precise spot of university, however, law department is available in the boundary of the public library. The public library is for all public where recently UOT is has been constructing a profound and embellished building in the boundary which highlights as if the scarcity of piece of land persists. The responsible authorities have no idea that due to taking classes in the boundary of the public library most of the students and the public are in hot water as already the library is small without fundamental essentials, and they have been reaching their stride to shift whole law department. Besides, sometimes the students and professors confront problems to get instantly what they need. The authorities must research it and wisely take appropriate measures so that the members of UOT as well the public should not be in trouble. mUdAsIr KArIm tUrbAt

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

The prospeCTs of a posT-demoCraTiC world THE SYSTEMIC COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY POSITS THE PROSPECTS OF A POST-DEMOCRATIC WORLD – A WORLD IN WHICH COUNTRIES DO NOT HAVE A FUNCTIONING DEMOCRATIC MODEL TO LOOK UP TO aL Jazeera

HAMID DABASHI

HE world at large may not have noticed but as i write this article, and in fact ever since the humiliating defeat of Donald trump in the 2020 presidential election, the republican Party has been actively working to dismantle the democratic foundations of the United states by – among other means – systematically limiting people’s voting rights. the more americans vote, the more reactionary white republicans feel threatened by the prospect of full democracy and the more aggressive they become in their efforts to quash the will of the people. Just two weeks ago, senate minority leader mitch mcConnell coordinated his republican colleagues to block the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Us capitol by a mob of trump supporters determined to overturn the result of the presidential election. if this attempted coup had happened in any other country, we would have swiftly classified it as what it actually is – a tinpot dictator’s violent attack on the people’s democratic will. in the Us, however, the massive machinery of the republican Party is working at both state and federal levels to push this atrocity under the rug and sustain the delusion of democracy. the violent end of trump’s presidency was the last indication, if anyone needed any more indications, that democracy in america is exclusively for white people who believe in white supremacy. if these heavily armed and violent white people cannot have their way, then they will burn down the very foundations of this country’s claim to democracy. VOtEr sUPPrEssiOn galOrE it is in the same vein that the republicans are now actively engaged in introducing

voter suppression bills to prevent significant parts of the population from having a say in their own future. this is nothing but a repeat of the Jim Crow laws that were put in place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to prevent african americans from exercising their hard-earned voting rights. as evident in the case of legislation recently introduced in texas, republicans are also trying to make it much easier for judges to overturn the results of an election – something trump and his gang of corrupt lawyers led by the former mayor of new York, rudy giuliani, tried but failed to do after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. the republicans, in short, are making sure that only white americans, or more accurately, white supremacist republicans, get to vote. and, if any others manage to slip through and vote in significant numbers, they want to be able to annul the result. this is the current condition of the so-called “oldest democracy in the world”. the racist republican assault on america’s democratic norms is not limited to voting rights either – it also extends to immigration laws. republicans across the country are working overtime to make it particularly difficult for Hispanic immigrants to become american citizens because they tend to overwhelmingly vote Democratic. Of course, republicans are not the only ones responsible for this sorry state of american democracy. Countless influential politicians, Black and white, republican and Democrat, have long been buried in the deep pockets of predatory billionaires and corporations. Barack Obama, america’s first Black president, was one of them. these billionaires and billion-dollar companies appear to respect the democratic will of americans, as long as they elect candidates who will be loyal and obedient to their power. the leaders of the Democratic Party, such as Chuck schumer and nancy Pelosi, are positing themselves as the champions of democracy who are seeking to expand and protect the voting rights of all americans.

But their protests are meaningless. the corruption of the Democratic Party is part of the problem here. Yes, they protest against the ransacking of the Capitol by white supremacist thugs on January 6, but they are deadly silent on the fact that long before and long after that fateful day, the Us Capitol has been and continues to be attacked by cleanshaven and business suit-attired lobbyists and propagandists. nobody sees, nobody reports, nobody objects to that regular assault on Capitol Hill, which is integral to american politics on a routine and daily basis. so the systematic collapse of american democracy started long before white supremacist republicans embarked on their latest, and perhaps most insidious, attack on the voting rights of americans. nevertheless, the current state of affairs in the Us is highly alarming – not only for americans but all peoples of the world. THE ILLUSION OF DEMOCRACY One should neither exaggerate nor underestimate the catastrophic consequences of the developments in the Us for the world at large. many across the globe have long viewed america as the leading model of democratic governance to which they can look for guidance and aspiration. thus, the systemic collapse of american democracy posits the prospects of a post-democratic world – a world in which countries do not have a functioning democratic model to look up to. What will happen to the struggles for democratic rule across the globe when the “oldest democracy in the world” is falling on its face? Of course, the Us has never really been an ideal democratic model. a country founded on the genocidal slaughter of indigenous peoples, sustained by the course of murderous african slavery, and endured by the dominant ideology of white supremacy before and after its Civil War and Civil rights movement can scarce be the model of democratic governance for anyone. But nevertheless, a fragile democratic aspiration has always struggled for survival at the heart of this republic. Formerly en-

slaved african americans fought for and earned voting rights against all odds – with much sacrifice, enduring relentless assault against their very humanity. after decades of unyielding struggle, Black americans earned the right to vote with the 15th amendment to the Us constitution in 1870. Yes, the 15th amendment did theoretically give african americans the right to vote, but soon the Jim Crow laws made sure these rights remained fictional rather than effectively implemented. Voter intimidation, murder and mayhem, systematically prevented Black people from going anywhere near the voting booths. today the descendants of those very racist southerners are doing their best to prevent african americans and other consistently disenfranchised communities from having a say in their own future. THE WORLD AT A LOSS the scene in the Us is not very hopeful. Even more destructive than republican efforts to limit voting rights or whitewash the January 6 coup attempt are the conspiracy theories that continue to maintain that the last presidential election was rigged, that trump is still the real president, and that the current administration is not legitimate. those who promote these conspiracy theories are not fools. they know what they are doing. they are casting consistent doubt on the legacy and efficacy of the democratic institutions of this country, so their alternative facts become as legitimate as the democratic will of the people who think differently than they do. it is not accidental that michael Flynn, a former military officer who is now fully in the service of Donald trump’s fascistic aspirations, is now on the record proposing a myanmar-like coup in the Us. You cannot be any more blunt as to where this country stands now. Us democracy is crumbling. But do peoples around the world have any other example to look up to in their efforts to achieve democratic governance? should they turn to hypocritical European democracies, which

Religious freedom in America is protected for some more than others WE CAN BEST PROTECT RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BY REFUSING TO WIELD IT AS A WEAPON TO HURT OTHERS L a Times RACHEL S. MIKVA, COREY D. B. WALKER AND REZA ASLAN

laims of “religious liberty” are being used to justify discrimination — and that is not good for religious freedom or american democracy. the supreme Court sidestepped the issue this week with its narrowly tailored 9-0 decision in Fulton vs. Philadelphia. still, the justices held that Philadelphia’s enforcement of anti-discrimination policies — telling Catholic social services that the agency needed to be willing to certify same-sex couples as foster parents in order to renew their contract for foster care — violated the 1st amendment. While we are relieved that the court did not go further to make it impossible to enforce antidiscrimination laws when people or organizations claim a religious reason for their bias, we are very concerned that a religious agency receiving government funding is allowed to ignore laws designed to protect marginalized and minoritized individuals. it is reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s, when religious liberty claims were used to defend schools that had been established primarily to circumvent federal laws against racial segregation. these claims were denied, but if religion is a good enough reason to discriminate based on sexual orientation, then why not race? How about religious difference? in 2019, miracle Hill ministries in south Carolina got a waiver to participate in federally funded foster care even though it turns away Jews, muslims and others — working only with Christians. During the trump administration, nine federal agencies proposed new rules legalizing dis-

crimination under the guise of religious liberty. among other things, those rules exempt government-funded faith-based agencies from laws that guarantee equal access to programs. they expand religious exemptions to laws against discrimination in hiring. they also support health professionals who refused to treat patients on religious grounds. the Biden administration is working to unwind some of these rules, but the larger question remains: Why do some religious people and organizations continue to believe that faith offers them constitutional protection to discriminate? as scholars dedicated to studying the role of religion in politics and public life, we are profoundly troubled that religious freedom is increasingly invoked and interpreted as a kind of diplomatic immunity from the rule of law. the problem is deepened because religious freedom is protected for some more than others. religious liberty was not honored when the indigenous community tried to protect their sacred lands at Organ Pipe Cactus national monument, Bears Ears or standing rock. it was not protected when the third iteration of the “muslim ban” passed constitutional muster. it is not protected when religious pacifists seek to withhold the portion of their taxes that funds the military. Why are questions of sexuality and procreation the dominant issues that get affirmed as matters of religious liberty? Our traditions have much more to say about affirming the value and dignity of all life, caring for the environment, pursuing peace, fostering an inclusive society, welcoming the stranger and eliminating poverty. Where are these issues on the religious liberty agenda? there are, of course, legitimate questions regarding the best standard for decision-making

when government policies bump up against religious practice or belief. the courts have considered whether a law is neutral among religions in its impact, whether there are secular exceptions to the law that would require religious ones as well, and whether the government should have to prove it has a compelling interest that might override free exercise. But equality under the law is also a constitutionally protected right. in the last dissent she wrote before her death, Justice ruth Bader ginsburg warned that the court was breaking from its long-standing principles in allowing “the religious beliefs of some to overwhelm the rights and interests of others who do not share those beliefs,” even when they are causing harm. the House has reintroduced a bill called the “Do no Harm act” that is specifically designed to protect against using religious liberty as a shield for discrimination.  We hope that it becomes law, but, in the meantime, it would be a good rule of thumb for religious organizations and individuals. Evocative of the principle of ahimsa in Jain, Buddhist and Hindu traditions, many religions in fact teach that we must avoid actions that might harm others. religious individuals and organizations have an obligation to balance what they believe with a plural understanding of the broader public good. it requires standing both inside and outside our traditions to examine their impact. We can best protect religious liberty by refusing to wield it as a weapon to hurt others. rachel s. mikva is a professor in Jewish studies at Chicago theological seminary and the author of “Dangerous religious ideas: the Deep roots of self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and islam.” Corey D. B. Walker is a professor of the humanities at Wake Forest University and editor of “african americans and religious Freedom: new Perspectives for Congregations and Communities.” reza aslan is professor of creative writing at UC riverside and the author of numerous books about religion, including “god: a Human History.”

always appear to be on the verge of transforming into fascist dictatorships? should they turn to russia, governed by Putin’s mafia? should they aspire to the mechanised totalitarianism of China, the systemic thuggery of Brazil, the horrors of Hindu supremacy in india, the fake pantomime of democracy in syria, iran or turkey? should they look up to the autocratic regimes in much of the islamic world or the settlercolonialism of israel built on the broken backs of the Palestinians? Where exactly is the model for the future of democratic rule in the world? today, there is no single partially functioning democracy that could offer the world a model or a blueprint. the very foundations of liberal democracy in European Enlightenment modernity have been taken over by predatory capitalism that is robbing the world blind while preaching “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to the same world. today, the only exemplary models of democratic aspiration in the world are massive social uprisings like the Black lives matter and national liberation movements like the one in occupied Palestine. But neither of these movements can achieve their goals alone – they need each other. the symbiotic relationship that has recently emerged between Black lives matter in the Us and the liberation struggle in Palestine allows for both movements to correct each other’s course and grow together. Without active solidarity with Black lives matter, the Palestinian national liberation can easily dissolve into the pathetic banalities of arab politics. Without active solidarity with Palestinians, Black lives matter can easily degenerate into yet more parochial identity politics susceptible to the career opportunism of people like Barack and michelle Obama. the only prospect of full democracy for all the impoverished and tyrannised, robbed and maligned people around the globe is cross-border solidarity beyond the banalities of specific national cultures and towards a transnational public sphere where each nation is saved by the experiences of the other. Barack Obama and Donald trump are two sides of the same coin, as mahmoud abbas and Benjamin netanyahu are integral to the same circle of despair and deception. Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Protest is not terrorism HIGH COURT PICKS HOLES IN DELHI POLICE CHARGESHEET

Tribune, india

ranting bail to student activists natasha narwal, asif iqbal tanha and Devangana Kalita, the Delhi High Court has made it clear that the right to protest is guaranteed by the Constitution, and it must not be conflated with terrorism. Booked under the stern Unlawful activities (Prevention) act (UaPa) for alleged involvement in riots in East Delhi last year, the three were incarcerated for over a year. a three-member Bench of the High Court ruled that Delhi Police’s chargesheet against them had allegations that ‘stretched inferences’ and had ‘alarming and hyperbolic verbiage’. narwal and Kalita are accused of conspiracy to plan riots and destabilise the government on the pretext of protests against the Citizenship amendment act (Caa) and national register of Citizens (nrC), while tanha was accused of planning and organising protests across Delhi. there was one underlying theme in three separate judgments on the accused — that Delhi Police had failed to provide any evidence to support the grave charges of terrorism or inciting violence. in the case of narwal and Kalita, the Bench observed that the allegations against them ‘are not even borne out’ by the material on which they are based; in the case of tanha, the Bench ruled that ‘there is absolutely nothing’ in the chargesheet that might link him to terrorism. the court noted that ‘it seems that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the state, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred’. ‘if this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy,’ it added. Democracy is strengthened, not weakened, by plurality of opinion and the freedom to express it. Democracy is weakened when wild allegations of terrorism and sedition are foisted on people to muzzle them. as the High Court noted, ‘the foundations of our nation stand on surer footing than to be likely to be shaken by a protest, however vicious, organised by a tribe of college students or other persons’. People protesting peacefully for their ideals are an important element of a democracy — invoking the most severe penal provisions against them belittles democracy and trivialises terrorism.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

BUSINESS 09

ISLAMABAD corporate corner

GOvT LiKELy TO ShELvE RS47BN AMi PROjECT DuE TO DESiGN, COST iSSuES ISLAMABAD

PESHAWAR: Sehat Kahani, with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), HEC and the Australian High Commission in Pakistan (AHC), inaugurated three Wellness Centres in leading universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under its mental health Initiative to extend holistic mental health counselling and support services to the students on June 9. Pr

KARACHI: JS Bank and Foodpanda partner to provide financing to home chefs and restaurants under the Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme. The signing ceremony was hosted at the JS Bank Head Office on June 8 between for JS Bank Product Head Social Loans Nafas Nauman and Foodpanda Head of Partnerships and Community Home Chefs Binte Fatima Rizvi. Pr

LAHORE: The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA), after the lapse of five years, has upgraded the long-term entity rating of The Bank of Punjab to “AA+”, with the short-term highest rating of “A1+”. As per PACRA definition, “these ratings denote a very low expectation of credit risk and a very strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, which is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.” Pr

SHaHZaD ParaCHa

HE federal government is likely to cancel the Rs47 billion advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project due to its complex design and high cost. Officials said that the future of AMI projects remains unsure as the government has not agreed on technical fundamentals such as outdated power line carrier (PLC) technology as well as project feasibility, controversial bidding process in the IESCO project and limited participation of international bidders in the LESCO project. Recently, the IESCO board had emphasised reassessing the project from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) which had approved the AMI (IESCO portion is Rs16930 million while LESCO Rs30597 million) project worth Rs47.5 billion in 2016 under the power distribution enhancement investment program –II (TRANCHE-I). Officials said that the Asain Development Board (ADB) was rigorously following this project and reportedly it warned the government that if this project was canceled then they will not invest in the power distribution sector. On the other hand, Pakistan has so far paid 2.7 million dollars as commitment charges to ADB. The IESCO had in 2019 knocked out the global leading AMI company in a controversial bidding process which was allegedly engineered to manage a sole bidder while the LESCO bidding process for AMI is also under evaluation despite passing the 20 months which raises questions on the bidding evaluation process. Officials said that the LESCO had received two bids on November 4, 2019, for the above mega project. “LESCO is facing challenges due to limited com-

petition and participation of international AMI companies which lead to a lack of quality bids received”, officials added. Officials further added that “DISCO’s need to think about the impact of 4th Industrial Revolution4IR on AMI technology. “The AMI technology has transformed rapidly in the last 5 years and any investment in this space has to be re-assessed that should make a viable technology roll-out for the next 10, 15 and 20 years in the utility sector”. Besides this, the rapid global shift in AMI technology after 2014, where utility companies in developed nations are seeking to increase benefits of AMI through upgraded 2nd wave of AMI deployment worldwide, officials added The benefits in 2nd wave AMI technology deployments are ML/Artificial Intelligence enabled compute processing, EV integration with smart meters/grid, home energy management, load disaggregation, demand-side management, outage management, assets analytics, bill forecasting consumer behavioural conservation, and consideration of next-generation communication technology which are currently not part of IESCO/LESCO AMI Project. DISCO’s should have a clear-eyed focus on the fact that it can’t approach the way technology use cases have been in the past. The decisions DISCOs make now will lock ADB backed loan investment into certain paths, which will hinder the country's digital technology adoption rate and enable low carbon economic markets in the utility sector. Officials said that DISCOs should deliberate the proven next-generation technologies that have much more computing power and flexibility into their smart meters, which can enable several applications that can create more value for utilities and customers alike.

PSX introduces 90-day deliverable futures contract from August

METRO Pakistan marks world food safety day

KARACHI: METRO Pakistan celebrated the World Food Safety Day, under this year’s theme, ‘Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow’, at its stores all over the country. The annual theme designated by the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organisation aimed at drawing attention and inspiring actions contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, access to markets, tourism and sustainable development. PrESS rElEaSE

PACRA assigns credit rating to Martin Dow Marker Limited

KARACHI: Martin Dow Marker Limited Pakistan (the Company) has been assigned a long-term rating of A+ and short-term rating of A1 with a stable outlook by PACRA. Martin Dow Marker Limited is a notable name in the pharmaceutical segment of Pakistan operating since 1951. The company operates under the umbrella of Martin Dow Group, one of the largest locally owned pharmaceutical Groups. Martin Dow group is a leading multinational healthcare group in Pakistan with international presence and markets over 100 brands with more than 3000 employees countrywide. PrESS rElEaSE

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday announced the introduction of a new futures eligibility criteria and the launch of 90-day maturity Deliverable Futures Contracts (DFC). The changes would come into effect from DFC August 2021 and would start from July 26. According to a local media report, many investors who believe that the current 30-day future contract was the spoiler of the market as it put the market under selling pressure in the last week of every month, warmly greeted the move. The PSX said in a statement that as per the new criteria, there would be no segregation of A, B categorisation. “Stocks would be selected based on such quantitative factors that measure real liq-

uidity”. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) would also be eligible if certain conditions were met. “However, such companies that have obtained stay order from court against any inquiry/investigation initiated by the Commission shall not be eligible”, PSX observed. All eligible companies and ETFs shall be eligible for trade on Deliverable Futures and Cash Settled Futures Markets. PSX Managing Director Farrukh H. Khan said, “The 90-day DFC shall open each month such that the market shall have three different maturities (current month expiry, next month expiry and last month expiry) at the start of each contract month”. He said that based on the recent notified list, 84 companies and one ETF were futures eligible. NEWS DESK

Nestlé Pakistan, KP Tourism dept, WB launch TREK communication campaign

PTCL Group to support 26,000 employees with Covid-19 vaccination

ISLAMABAD: Nestlé Pakistan, in collaboration with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s tourism department launched the TREK communication campaign in Nathiagali to promote responsible tourism for in the region. “At Nestlé, our vision is that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfill or rivers. To achieve this, we have set ourselves the commitment of ensuring 100% of our packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2025,” Nestlé Pakistan CEO Samer Chedid said. The campaign focuses on a reduce reuse and recycle and a community engagement plan which includes activities that will help in countering the issues of waste, pollution and destruction of wildlife. The partners highlighted the role of tourism in job creation and appreciated the government’s efforts for facilitating tourists by improving accessibility through roads, rescue services and planning of tourism zones. PrESS rElEaSE

KARACHI: PTCL Group has announced its commitment to support its 26,000 employees including its contractual employees and their dependents with COVID-19 vaccination in collaboration with the government of Pakistan. PTCL Group, one of the country’s largest telecom groups and backbone of connectivity in Pakistan, has the highest number of employees across the country from metropolitan cities to the smallest villages of Pakistan. Through this initiative, PTCL Group will be taking care of its large employee base in both PTCL & Ufone. This will also ensure support to the Government of Pakistan in their efforts to direct resources to more impoverished strata of society. PrESS rElEaSE

CMYK

The latest generation of smart meters will allow utilities to “pinpoint exactly what in a customer’s home is using the most energy,”. That can allow customers to get much better data about their energy use and allow utilities to fine-tune efficiency programme offerings, rate designs and other personalised approaches to energy management. “Pakistan has already planned to launch 5G in early 2022 and the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has already been working on the strategic roadmap of 5G availability in Pakistan with the help of World Bank” Officials said that the demanding 5G disruptive communication network will dramatically change the entire AMI deployments which proven wide deployment of IoT devices, broadband and missioncritical services along with a large variety of scenarios, ranging from smart city to smart meters, which will enable huge capacity, zero delays, faster service development, elasticity and optimal deployment, less energy consumption, enhanced security, privacy by design and connectivity to billions of devices with less predictable traffic patterns. Furthermore, it should provide flexible, smart and scalable adaptation and/or association of the available network resources to the requirements of the supported services, enabling a dramatic paradigm shift from legacy CAPEX to the OPEX “Everything-as-a-Service” driven business models. Officials said that the Ministry of Power will also review the project design as well as high cost and it can be cancelled if it could not win the approval of high ups. The scribe approached the Federal minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, for his comments on this project but no reply was received till filing of story.

Dairy industry promises to support PM’s vision to fight against malnutrition KARACHI: Pakistan Dairy Association (PDA) Chairman Ali Khan along with other members of PDA met Ministers from Finance and Commerce and other member from FBR to discuss the taxation issues on dairy sector. Finance Minister committed the dairy sector to remove sales tax anomalies from Finance Budget 2021-2022 and reinstate the previous sales tax of 10% on value added dairy products. The minister also promised to support the UHT liquid milk segment which is vital for nutrition among children and to make dairy products safe as well as affordable for the people of Pakistan. The minister asked FBR to work closely with PDA team and develop a program to provide safe and nutritional affordable products. With the intent of sustainable development of dairy in Pakistan, Dairy Industry proposes a three-year program of consistent policies in taxation regime, which will allow the industry to reinvest major part of the incentive for the growth of dairy sector and increase the awareness of safe milk among people of Pakistan. PrESS rElEaSE

Seismic’ tax policy reforms announced by G7 face aftershocks, says ACCA KARACHI: New tax policies announced recently by G7 communiqué will face hurdles as the proposals are yet to be agreed by the G20 and other jurisdictions, says ACCA today, asserting that the three foundations for a sound tax system are simplicity, certainty and stability. Jason Piper, head of tax and business law at ACCA says: ‘Committing to a global minimum tax of at least 15% on a country by country basis is a challenge, predicated on the agreement of other jurisdictions’ governments. To be truly effective it will need to go beyond the G7, and even the G20, to the OECD’s Inclusive Framework of 139 countries, requiring compromise as governments surrender legal sovereignty in return for an effective, practical framework. And the move for multinationals to pay tax in the countries where they do business - and not just were they are headquartered - will create new legal and accounting challenges for banks, businesses and tax authorities. ACCA says the main challenges are about achieving true parity and fairness. Jason Piper explains: ‘This is indeed a seismic announcement, but it’s more a foreshock than the main event. Corporate taxes contribute only a small proportion of total revenues, and these measures capture only a tiny fraction of even that. The real heavy lifting is done by consumption and personal income taxes, and that is where reforms could make a real difference to the sorts of societies we live in. Jason Piper concludes: ‘Competition on tax policy among countries, whether to take a greater share of revenues or attract multinational business, has been the reality of the international tax environment for many years. What the G7 has announced aims to change this reality – what’s essential is that we all have trust in tax systems and this remains to be seen.’ PrESS rElEaSE

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ISLAMABAD

UltracoNservative raisi elected iraN presideNt as rivals coNcede TEHRAN

AFP

ONGRATULATIONS poured in for ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday on winning Iran’s presidential election as his rivals conceded even before official results were announced. The other three candidates in the race congratulated him for his victory, which had been widely expected after a host of heavyweight rivals had been barred from running. “I congratulate the people on their choice,” said outgoing moderate President Hassan Rouhani without naming Raisi. “My official congratulations will come later, but we know who got enough votes in this election and who is elected today by the people.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan also congratulated Raisi on his “landmark victory”. “Look forward to working with him for further strengthening of our fraternal ties and for regional peace, progress and prosperity,” he said on Twitter. Raisi, 60, takes over from Rouhani in August as Iran seeks to salvage its tattered nuclear deal with major powers and free itself from punishing US sanctions that have driven a sharp economic downturn. Raisi, head of the judiciary, is seen as

close to the 81-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate political power in Iran. Friday’s voting was extended by two hours past the original midnight deadline amid fears of a low turnout of 50 per cent or less. The ballots were counted overnight and authorities were yet to release the official result or turnout figures. Many voters chose to stay away after the field of some 600 hopefuls, including 40 women, had been winnowed down to seven candidates, all men, excluding an ex-president and a former parliament speaker. Three of the vetted candidates dropped out of the race two days before Friday’s election and two of them quickly threw their support behind Raisi. Populist former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one of those who were barred from running by the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists, said he would not vote, declaring in a video message that “I do not want to have a part in this sin.” ‘SAVE THE PEOPLE’: On election day, pictures of often flag-waving voters dominated state TV coverage, but away from the polling stations some voiced anger at what they saw as a stage-managed election aiming to cement ultraconservative control. “Whether I vote or not, someone has al-

UN calls for halt of weapons to Myanmar NEW YORK ReuteRs

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The General Assembly adopted a resolution with the support of 119 countries several months after the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a February 1 coup. Belarus requested the text be put to a vote and was the only country to oppose it, while 36 abstained, including China and Russia. “The risk of a large-scale civil war is real,” UN special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told the General Assembly after the vote. “Time is of the essence. The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing.” Some countries which abstained said the crisis was an internal issue for Myanmar, others did not think the resolution would be helpful, while some states complained it did not adequately address the plight of Rohingya Muslims some four years after a military crackdown forced nearly a million to flee Myanmar. European Union UN Ambassador Olof Skoog said the UN resolution sends a powerful message: “It delegitimizes the military junta, condemns its abuse and violence against its own people and demonstrates its isolation in the eyes of the world.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier on Friday pushed the General Assembly to act, telling reporters: “We cannot live in a world where military coups become a norm. It is totally unacceptable.” The military cited the government’s refusal to address what it said was fraud in a November election as the reason for the coup. International observers have said the ballot was fair. ASEAN SPLIT: An initial draft UN resolution included stronger language calling for an arms embargo on Myanmar. According to a proposal seen by Reuters last month, nine Southeast Asian countries wanted that language removed. The compromise text “calls on all member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.” General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but carry political weight. Unlike the 15-member Security Council, no country has veto power in the General Assembly. The junta’s forces have killed more than 860 people since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The junta says the number is much lower. The UN resolution calls on the Myanmar military to “immediately stop all violence against peaceful protesters” and end restrictions on the internet and social media. The General Assembly also called on Myanmar to swiftly implement a five-point consensus the junta forged with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in April to halt violence and start a dialogue with its opponents. ASEAN has led the main diplomatic effort to find a way out of the crisis, but was split on Friday over the UN action. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar’s UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who speaks for the country’s elected civilian government, voted yes, while Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand abstained. Kyaw Moe Tun said he was disappointed it took so long for the General Assembly to adopt a “watered down” resolution, adding: “It is critically important that no country should support the military.”

ready been elected,” scoffed Tehran shopkeeper Saeed Zareie. “They organise the elections for the media.” Enthusiasm was dampened further by spiralling inflation and job losses and the pandemic that proved more deadly in Iran than anywhere else in the region, killing more than 80,000 people by the official count. Among those who queued to vote at schools, mosques and community centres, many said they supported Raisi, who has promised to fight corruption, help the poor and

build millions of flats for low-income families. A nurse named Sahebiyan said she backed him for his anti-graft credentials and on hopes he would “move the country forward […] and save the people from economic, cultural and social deprivation”. Raisi, who holds deeply conservative views on many social issues including the role of women in public life, has been named in Iranian media as a possible successor to Khamenei. To opposition and human rights groups,

his name is linked to the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988. The US government has sanctioned him over the purge, in which Raisi has denied playing a part. ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’: Ultimate power in Iran, since its 1979 revolution toppled the US-backed monarchy, rests with the supreme leader, but the president wields major influence in areas from industrial policy to foreign affairs. Rouhani, 72, leaves office in August after serving the maximum two consecutive four-year terms allowed under the constitution. His landmark achievement was the 2015 deal with world powers under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. But high hopes for greater prosperity were crushed in 2018 when then US president Donald Trump withdrew from the accord and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. While Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon, Trump charged it was still planning to build the bomb and destabilising the Middle East through proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. As old and new US sanctions hit Iran, trade dried up and foreign companies bolted. The economy nosedived and spiralling prices fuelled repeated bouts of social unrest which were put down by security forces.

Palestinians cancel deal for near-expired Covid vaccines from Israel TEL AVIV ReuteRs

The Palestinian Authority cancelled a deal late on Friday to receive soon-toexpire COVID-19 vaccines from Israel after an initial Israeli shipment showed an expiration date sooner than had been agreed, its health minister said. Israel and the PA announced a vaccine swap deal earlier on Friday that would have seen Israel send up to 1.4 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses to the PA, in exchange for receiving a reciprocal number of doses from the PA later this year. The doses were due to “expire soon”, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement announcing the deal. The PA said they had been “approved in order to speed up the vaccination process” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. “They told us the expiration date was in July or August, which would allow lots of time for use,” PA Health Minister Mai Alkaila told reporters. “But (the expiration) turned out to be in June. That’s not enough time to

use them, so we rejected them,” she said. The PA cancelled the deal over the date issue, a PA spokesman said, and sent the initial shipment of around 90,000 doses back to Israel. Bennett’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rights groups have criticised Israel, which led one of the world’s swiftest vaccination campaigns, for not doing more to ensure Palestinian access to doses in the West Bank and Gaza, territory it captured in a 1967 war. Israeli officials argue that under the Oslo peace accords, the PA health ministry is responsible for vaccinating people in Gaza and parts of the West Bank where it has limited self-rule. The vaccine deal was among initial policy moves towards the Palestinians by Bennett, who was sworn in on Sunday and replaced veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Around 55 percent of Israel’s 9.3 million population are fully vaccinated — a coverage rate largely unchanged by this month’s expansion of eligibility to include 12- to 15-year-olds. Some 30 percent of eligible Pales-

tinians in the West Bank and Gaza, home to a combined 5.2 million people, have received at least one vaccine dose, according to Palestinian officials. According to a poll released on Tuesday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 40 percent of Palestinians are willing to take

the vaccine once it is available, while 35 percent say they and their families are not willing to get vaccinated. The Palestinians have received vaccine doses from Israel, Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates and the global COVAX vaccinesharing initiative.

G4 bid to shake up UNSC likely to fail NEW YORK APP

A desperate move by the aspirants of permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — to scuttle the UN process to reform the 15-member body appears to be heading towards a collapse. The move by the four countries, together known as the Group of Four — G4 — followed their consistent failure to mobilise enough support among the UN’s 193 members to make a formal bid for securing seats for themselves at UN’s high table, reflecting significant opposition to adding more permanent members to the council. The Italy and Pakistan led Uniting for Consensus has been at the forefront of opposing the expansion of the council on grounds that it would become dysfunctional. Instead, the UfC advocates for more nonpermanent seats to make the council more effective and accountable. The Security Council, which is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, has 15 seats. It includes 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms that come from all regions of the world, and there are five permanent members with veto power whose support is essential for any reform to be adopted. These five members are the US, Rus-

sia, China, Britain and France. The process to restructure the Security Council has been underway since 2009 in the Intergovernmental Negotiations, a forum established by the UN General Assembly which operates on the basis of consensus. However, negotiations have made little progress because of G4’s refusal to show any flexibility. The new situation arose on Wednesday when the General Assembly president, Volkan Bozkir, circulated a proposal to roll over the IGN process on Security Council reform to the next assembly session and forward the paper on elements of convergence and divergence, based on the negotiations held during the current session, along with the more comprehensive Framework Document of 2015, which lists the positions of various groups and countries. As in previous years, the assembly president’s proposal was expected to be adopted by consensus. However, it has been learnt that G4 submitted amendments to the proposal to make the elements paper, which was prepared by the IGN’s co-chairs, the sole basis for future negotiations. Throughout the past year, India and the other G4 countries have insisted that negotiations should be held on the basis of a “single consolidated text”. This call for text-based negotiations has not been accepted, having been opposed by a majority of member states in the General Assembly.

In a display of desperation, some of the G4 countries are believed to have made personal attacks on the assembly’s president, who hails from Turkey, and this has further alienated them. Some diplomats at the UN believe that G4’s objective is to do away with the current IGN process on Security Council reforms so that the next General Assembly president, Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives, whose election was actively promoted by India and other G4 members, can start a new process aligned with their objectives to secure support for their persistent bid for permanent membership. During Wednesday’s IGN meeting, Pakistan Ambassador at the UN Munir Akram stoutly defended President Bozkir’s proposal, saying it was consistent with precedent and similar decisions had been adopted in the past. “It is, therefore, most regrettable that some delegations have chosen to continue their divisive efforts in the IGN, to carry them forward into the General Assembly,” he said, adding they were promoting partisan objectives. “These are not procedural amendments; they touch on substance in this process of the IGN itself, and this process of the IGN should not be reopened since we have the co-chairs’ paper.” Ambassador Akram called on G4 to withdraw their amendments and not divide the assembly further, saying they were ultra-vires.

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

SPORTS 11

ISLAMABAD HBL PSL 2021

Karachi KingS dOWn QUetta gladiatOrS By 14 rUnS ABU DHABI

AGeNCIes

ARACHI Kings completed the win they needed to make it to the qualifiers, edging Lahore Qalandars on net run-rate after they swept Quetta Gladiators aside by 14 runs on the last day of the group stage. After putting up 176, the Kings needed to defend 32 off the last over with Jack Wildermuth on strike; a delicious bit of symmetry after Danish Aziz had smoked 32 off the bowler during their batting innings - in a 33run over - to completely change the course of the game. That blitz, a 13-ball 45, propelled the Kings to a total that was too much for the Gladiators, who finished the season with only two wins in ten games. After taking the ball to start the 19th over, the Gladiators' Naseem Shah began hobbling immediately. He could barely get a few steps into his run-up, possibly because of cramp on a hot day, and the ball eventually went to Wildermuth, who had struggled early on and struggled once again.

Danish, who got an inside edge for four first ball, took complete control - hitting the next four balls for six. The last of them came off a slower-ball-turned-beamer as Danish managed to hoick it over the long leg boundary. It was 29 off four balls at the point, and suddenly there was a very real possibility of six sixes in a row, not to mention an over going for 41 runs. Wildermuth might have been pleased those deliveries ended up going for only four. But the match had swung - 136 for 5 in 18 overs became 176 for 6 in 20. After taking the ball to start the 19th over, the Gladiators' Naseem Shah began hobbling immediately. He could barely get a few steps into his run-up, possibly because of cramp on a hot day, and the ball eventually went to Wildermuth, who had struggled early on and struggled once again. Danish, who got an inside edge for four first ball, took complete control - hitting the next four balls for six. The last of them came off a slower-ball-turned-beamer as Danish managed to hoick it over the long leg boundary. It was 29 off four balls at the point, and suddenly there was a very real possibility of

six sixes in a row, not to mention an over going for 41 runs. Wildermuth might have been pleased those deliveries ended up going for only four. But the match had swung - 136 for 5 in 18 overs became 176 for 6 in 20. The Kings began their defence with captain Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir, who went for a combined seven runs. That seemed to set the tone right at the start, as the Gladiators never looked like challenging the bowling till the very end. Sarfraz Ahmed's unbeaten 51 off 33 was a good knock, but neither he nor anyone else in the middle order looked capable of breaking the shackles through the middle overs. The Kings' spinners didn't extract as much turn or gain as much control as the Gladiators' spinners had done. Instead, the win was rooted mostly in the performances of their frontline pacers - Amir, with his economy and a second consecutive slog-overs performance of high quality; Mohammad Ilyas, who picked wickets almost every time he came on; and Arshad Iqbal, whose skiddy, back-of-a-length plan that looked unplayable in the early stages of the innings.

The wickets always seemed to be around the corner, despite a rather safe approach to the chase. The one instance of a batter being fearless came late, with Hassan Khan swinging his bat around for a 15-ball 24; but even after that injection of momentum, the score was 123 for 5 in 16.5 overs when he fell. That was indicative of the Gladiators pretty much always being behind the rate in chase. A lot of the Kings' early runs and momentum came with sixes from Sharjeel Khan, even though both he and Babae Azam struggled for fluency during their 71-run stand. The pitch wasn't one for free-flowing shots, and Sarfraz brought offspinner Abdul Nasir on in the sixth over. Until the 17th over it was only spin, with left-arm spinners Hassan and Arish Ali filling bowling out their overs. Only 83 came in those 12 overs. The Gladiators came into this game with nothing to play for, which allowed them to play a second emerging player in the XI alongside Khurram Shahzad. Arish hadn't played at senior level before, but went away with an impressive haul and a statement before the next season.

India mourns as ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh dies at 91 NEW DELHI AFP

Milkha Singh, one of India’s most successful track athletes who overcame childhood tragedy to seek Olympic glory, died aged 91 late on Friday after a long battle with Covid-19. Tributes to the athlete known as the “Flying Sikh” poured in on social media after the news broke late Friday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was “anguished” by the news. “We have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and had a special place in the hearts of countless Indians. His inspiring personality endeared himself to millions,” Modi wrote. In the passing away of Shri Milkha Singh Ji, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and had a special place in the hearts of

countless Indians. His inspiring personality endeared himself to millions. “Had the honour of meeting you and you blessed me so many times .. the kindest and warmest RIP Milkha Singh sir .. the world will miss a legend like you .. #MilkhaSingh,” tweeted India tennis star Sania Mirza. Had the honour of meeting you and you blessed me so many times .. the kindest and warmest RIP Milkha Singh sir .. the world will miss a legend like you.. #MilkhaSingh “Dad just passed away,” Singh’s son Jeev Milkha Singh, himself a leading pro golfer, told the Indian Express newspaper. Singh had first tested positive for the virus on May 20, the Express reported. His wife Nirmal Kaur also died of the virus earlier this week, the newspaper said. Singh was born in 1929 in Govindpura

village of Muzaffargarh city in Punjab. He lost his family during the tumultuous partition of British India at independence in 1947 before going on to become one of the young country’s first athletic heroes. Singh won gold medals at the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. However, he shot to fame at the 1960 Olympics in Rome when he finished fourth in the 400m after a photo-finish was required to decide the winner. His time of 45.73 seconds was an Indian national record which stood for almost 40 years. But the devastated Singh never fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic medal. His rise to elite athlete made Singh a national hero and inspired a Bollywood film in 2013 called “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” (Run, Milkha, Run). The movie title refers to the poignant last words spoken to Singh by his father. As he was dying, he told Singh to flee or

he, too, would be killed in the post-partition riots sweeping the subcontinent. Millions are believed to have died in the bloody sectarian upheaval. Singh ran for his life and boarded a train with other refugees. “We all grew up with the folklore of Milkha, he’s a larger-than-life figure for us,” said the film’s director Rakeysh Mehra in 2013. “He’s like what Pele meant to football, or what Jesse Owens meant for track and field for the West.” Mehra was drawn to Singh’s story not just for his sporting achievements but for the impact the athlete had on a newborn nation struggling to assert itself, describing him as one of the country’s first heroes outside politics. “This man never ran away from his fears, he ran along with them,” he said at the time.

English-born striker Brereton new hero for Chile in Copa America SANTIAGO ReuteRs

Stoke-born striker Ben Brereton was Chile’s new hero after scoring the winning goal against Bolivia in his first international start in Copa America. The 22-year-old was born to an English father and Chilean mother and got his first call up in May thanks to his recent performances for club Blackburn Rovers. He made a late debut in Chile’s 1-1 draw with Argentina on Monday and the Chilean national side even tweeted a song about him. They were tweeting more chants on Friday after he finished off a counter attack 10 minutes into the match to give Chile a 1-0 win and take them to the top of Group A ahead of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. “And they say Ben, Ben, Ben. And he went Bam, Bam, Bam. And then Bum, Bum, Bum. And it’s a goal by Brereton,” read the chant, posted on social media. Brereton, who ran himself into the ground before being removed after 83 minutes on a muggy night in central Brazil, switched international allegiances to Chile after appearing for England at under-19 and under-20 level. He was part of the squad that won the European Under-19 championship in 2017, with the then Notts Forest striker scoring two goals in the tournament alongside players such as Mason Mount and Ryan Sessegnon. The powerfully built striker got his chance for Chile

in part due to the injury to talismanic striker Alexis Sanchez and he is clearly relishing the experience. He thanked his Chilean team mates and fans after

being called up last month. The bustling forward said he had been told to “hold up the ball and discomfit his opponents.”

Westwood says steady Bland has ideal game for US Open SAN DIEGO ReuteRs

Surprise second round leader Richard Bland has an ideal game to thrive at the US Open, Lee Westwood said after his fellow Englishman jumped to the top at Torrey Pines. Both 48 but with vastly contrasting careers, Westwood trails his friend by six shots but said Bland’s lofty position was no fluke even though he was in uncharted territory. Bland, playing only his second US Open, gave Westwood and Justin Rose credit for helping him learn how to negotiate Torrey Pines. “I got some good info off Lee on Monday and Rosey on Wednesday,” he said after shooting 67 for a five-under-par 137 halfway total. The self-deprecating Westwood chuckled when told of that shoutout and said there was not much information he needed to give when the pair played a practice round on Monday. “He’s clearly playing very well. He’s got a steady game, doesn’t miss many fairways, ideally suited to a US Open set-up really,” Westwood told Reuters. “US Opens are fairly simple, aren’t they? Hit as many fairways and greens as you can. Don’t make double bogeys because they’re a killer. Try and scramble and take advantage of the birdie putts when you have them.” Bland broke through last month to win the British Masters, his first European Tour victory in 478 starts. Former world No. 1 Westwood is contesting his 20th US Open and finished a shot out of the Tiger Woods-Rocco Mediate playoff here in 2008. He said he was “pretty pleased” with his round on Friday, even though he could not convert any of several excellent birdie opportunities, making 17 pars and a bogey in a steady 72. The only putt of note Westwood holed all day was a 40-footer for par at the par-five 13th. “I putted well all day, ran the ball at the hole well and felt like I got unlucky on a few putts so it was nice that that one (on 13) went in,” he said. “(A) one-over (total) feels like it’s in there. There’s always a lot of strange things go on at the weekend of a major, especially a US Open.”

Daredevil motorbike rider Alex Harvill dies during jump practice NEWS DESk Alex Harvill an experienced motorcycle stunt rider was killed in Washington state as he practiced for an attempt at a world record jump. The 28-year-old was thrown from the bike and taken to hospital, where he died. In a statement, the Grant county sheriff Tom Jones said an autopsy would be performed on Friday. “Our deepest sympathies go out to Alex’s family, friends and loved

ones,” Jones said. Video of the crash posted to YouTube was taken down on Friday, although the images remained on several local news stations’ websites. The site for the weekend airshow at Grant county international airport was still advertising details of the record attempt. Harvill, who was married with two young sons, was already the Guinness world record holder for the dirt-to-dirt category, having jumped 90.69m (297.6ft) in 2013.

At the Washington event he was riding a Suzuki 450 as he attempted to better rival Robbie Madison’s 2008 world record in the ramp-todistance category of 106.98m (351ft). Harvill was born in California and lived in Ephrata, Washington, adjacent to Moses Lake, with his wife, Jessica, and sons Willis, five, and a newborn, Watson. A GoFundMe appeal on the rider’s website said Harvill was the family’s sole provider, through mo-

torcycle stunts and a farming job. The site had raised more than $42,000 by Friday morning. In an interview in the Columbia Basin Herald last month, Harvill said he grew up watching the motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, and shared his idol’s legacy of “pushing the limits.” One of Harvill’s final Instagram posts three days before his death featured a photograph of his green and yellow motorcycle in front of the ramp with the words: “I’m getting excited to send this thing.”

Sunday, 20 June, 2021

prayer Timings

NEWS

FM Calls For renewed FoCus on geo-eConoMiCs by asian Countries ISLAMABAD

app

OREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday called for a renewed focus on geo-economics by the Asian countries and stressed upon the need for promotion of a rules-based global order. He participated in a high-level panel discussion on ‘Regional Cooperation in Asia’ along with the foreign ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey. Qureshi highlighted the challenges being faced by Asia in the form of unresolved disputes, tensions induced from within and outside, renewed arms race, containment policies, unilateralism, poverty, Covid-19 and climate change. He is on an official visit to Turkey to participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, where several global political leaders and diplomats have gathered for discussions on important global issues. The theme of the forum is ‘Innovative Diplomacy: New Era, New Approaches’ the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a press release. Highlighting the potential of Asia in the 21st Century, the foreign minister drew attention to the possibilities of cooperation that existed on the continent. He emphasised that connectivity and greater regional integration in the form of

trade and investment would pave the way for a successful Asian century. In this context, he noted that ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as a flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative, offered great opportunities for the countries of the region. Qureshi underlined the three pillars of Pakistan’s policy– regional connectivity, development partnerships, and peace and prosperity. In his remarks, he also laid out five steps to promote greater regional cooperation in Asia, including focus on sustainable development, poverty alleviation and engagement with the international community and international financial institutions for debt relief for the developing countries in Asia in order to provide them with fiscal space to deal with the challenges. During the discussion, the foreign ministers on the panel called for increased multilateralism to deal with the challenges faced by Asia and agreed on the need for a renewed focus on transit and connectivity projects in the region. Meanwhile, on the sidelines of Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Qureshi met his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar, a statement from the Foreign Office (FO) said. The two leaders exchanged views on issues of mutual interest, including the Afghan peace process, bilateral trade and economic relations, according to the statement. Underlining that close coordination is

essential to further advance the bilateral relations and Afghan peace process, the foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s consistent policy towards Afghanistan to strengthen bilateral relations in all areas and achieve a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. He reiterated that there is no military solution to the conflict and expressed hope that Afghan leadership would realise the importance of the occasion and workout a negotiated political settlement. “Peace in Afghanistan will bring stability, economic prosperity and regional connectivity,” he added. Earlier, Qureshi said that one “cannot pass the buck to Pakistan” for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Talking to TRT World, he said that Pakistan has been engaged constructively for peace and stability in Afghanistan and would continue to do so. “But this is a shared responsibility. You cannot pass the buck towards Pakistan. Islamabad is one regional player. There are others global players and there are other interests that are paramount in the region,” the foreign minister said. “So, it has to be a holistic approach and Pakistan will be partner in peace,” he added. Pakistan is keen to see both the Afghan peace process and withdrawal of troops advancing in tandem but in fact there is a disconnection between the two, said the foreign minister. He said Pakistan has called for a re-

government may be bringing more changes to the disputed territory, something that would certainly ignite fresh tensions between Pakistan and India. Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent interview indicated that Pakistan could re-engage with India even if New Delhi simply gave a road map to reverse the August 5 actions. But India prior to today’s development appeared not in a mood to offer anything on Kashmir at the moment. Instead, the relationship may deteriorate further if India further brings changes to the Kashmir region. Qureshi writes to international community: Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has addressed a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations secretary general to apprise them of Pakistan’s grave concern on reports indicating that India may impose further illegal and unilateral measures in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, including division, bifurcation and additional demographic changes in the occupied territory. A press statement issued on Wednesday said that the foreign minister in his letter has drawn attention to India’s continued military siege of IOK, which has continued for over twenty-two months, to suppress the Kashmiris’ legitimate demands through a massive campaign of repression including gross and systematic violations of human rights. The foreign minister has recalled that, since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, Indian occupation forces have killed, tortured, arbitrarily arrested and detained hundreds of Kashmiris, and put almost the entire Kashmiri leadership behind bars. Highlighting India’s design to undermine the exer-

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sponsible withdrawal besides desiring that the peace process go side by side. “What I am seeing is that the withdrawal is taking place at a fairly rapid pace but the peace process is moving ahead at snail’s pace. That is a bit of a disconnection over there. And that is of concern to me,” the foreign minister said. He said he is concerned over the rising level of violence in Afghanistan and which is not just linked to the Taliban, but other spoilers within Afghanistan, who are perhaps not keen to see peace and stability there. “They have their own designs and motives […] This is a complicated situation. There are internal struggles going on within Afghanistan,” Qureshi said. He said other conflicts like the Jammu and Kashmir dispute are also impeding economic progress and integration in the region. Qureshi said that the world has increasingly been embroiled in great competition and confrontation, and people are being forced to take sides. He said the Covid-19 pandemic is still lingering and would obviously leave behind its economic and financial implications, which also necessitated preparedness. The foreign minister said Pakistan has been facilitating the peace process and engaging with all regional powers at every forum including the Doha process, Istanbul process, Heart of Asia and Moscow format.

IIOJK status restoration likely as Modi calls multi-party moot Indian media reported Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for a multi-party moot of Kashmiri leaders on June 24 to discuss the possible restoration of the statehood of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) region. The Modi government had revoked Kashmir’s special status by abrogating Articles 35A and 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019. A massive contingent of thousands of troops was deployed there to add to the already 500,000 strong presence there in order to enforce a strict curfew. Apart from thousands of arrests, all communications were cut off. Subsequently, IIOJK was demoted to a union territory governed directly from New Delhi, while the Ladakh region was carved out into a separate administrative area. According to latest Indian media reports, informal invitations have been sent to as many as 14 political parties of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. But it was not clear about the real objective of the conference, they added. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reached out to these leaders to invite them to the meeting at the prime minister’s residence to discuss the future course of action, Indian Express quoted officials as saying. The report added that among those invited are four former chief ministers of IIOJK— Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. Pakistan this week wrote a letter to the UN Security Council President, expressing concerns over reports that India may be contemplating further divisions, bifurcation and demographic changes in the disputed territory. Given Islamabad’s reaction, it appeared that the Modi

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cise of the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people by changing the demographic structure of IIOJK through the issuance of fake domicile certificates and other measures, the foreign minister underscored that “all the unilateral and illegal actions taken by India in IIOJK since 1951, including the measures initiated on and after 5 August 2019, and any additional unilateral changes that India may introduce in the future, are violations of international law including the Security Council Resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention, and ipso facto null and void.” Stressing that the people of IOK have vociferously rejected the illegal measures imposed by India, the foreign minister called upon the Security Council to fulfil its responsibility to ensure full implementation of its resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. He has also urged the Security Council to call upon India to end its campaign of repression in IOK and reverse all its illegal actions, including those initiated on and after 5 August 2019, and to cease and desist from imposing any additional unilateral changes in the occupied territory. The foreign minister’s letter has also affirmed that Pakistan desires peaceful relations with all its neighbours, including India. Noting that a just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people is essential for durable peace and stability in South Asia, the foreign minister has emphasised that the onus is on India to create an enabling environment for result-oriented engagement with Pakistan. The letter was handed over to the president of the Security Council by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York. news desk

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attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint. Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

PM imran felicitates newly elected iranian president

ISLAMABAD inp

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday felicitated newly elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The prime minister took to Twitter to congratulate Raisi on his landmark victory in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 13th presidential elections. Imran Khan said that he wants to work with Raisi for further strengthening of fraternal ties between Pakistan and Iran and for regional peace, progress and prosperity. “Congratulations to Excellency brother Ibrahim Raisi on his landmark victory in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 13th presidential elections. Look forward to working with him for further strengthening of our fraternal ties and for regional peace, progress and prosperity,” Imran said. Messages congratulating Raisi poured in after he won Iran’s presidential election as his rivals conceded even before official results were announced. The other three candidates in the race congratulated him for his victory, which had been widely expected after a host of heavyweight rivals had been barred from running. “I congratulate the people on their choice,” said outgoing President Hassan Rouhani without naming Raisi. “My official congratulations will come later, but we know who got enough votes in this election and who is elected today by the people.”

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

947,218

Afghanistan running out of oxygen as Covid surge worsens KABUL agencies

Afghanistan’s government is racing to ramp up supplies of oxygen as a deadly third surge of Covid-19 worsens, a senior health official told The Associated Press in an interview on Saturday. The government is installing oxygen supply plants in 10 provinces where the increase in Covid cases in some areas is hovering around 65 per cent, health ministry spokesman Ghulam Dasigi Nazary said. By the World Health Organisation’s recommendations, anything higher than 5 percent shows officials are not testing widely enough, allowing the virus to spread unchecked. Afghanistan carries out barely 4,000 tests a day and often much less. Afghanistan’s 24-hour infection count has also continued its upward climb from 1,500 at the end of May when the health ministry was already calling the surge “a crisis”, to more than 2,300 this week. Since the pandemic outbreak,

Afghanistan has reported 101,906 positive cases and 4,122 deaths. But those figures are likely a massive undercount, registering only deaths in hospitals — not the far greater numbers who die at home.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan received 900 oxygen cylinders from Iran on Saturday, part of 3,800 cylinders Tehran promised to deliver to Kabul last week. The shipment was delayed by Iran’s presidential elec-

tions, said Nazary. Afghanistan has even run out of empty cylinders, receiving a delivery of 1,000 last week from Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, hospitals are rationing their oxygen supplies. Afghans desperate for oxygen are banging on the doors of the few oxygen suppliers in the Afghan capital, begging for their empty cylinders to be filled for Covid infected loved ones at home. Abdul Wasi, whose wife has been sick for nearly 10 days, has been waiting four days for one 45-litre cylinder to be filled at the Najb Siddiqi oxygen plant in east Kabul. Scores of mostly men were banging on the 10-foot steel gate of the oxygen plant. Some rolled their empty oxygen cylinders up against the gate, while others waved small slips of paper carrying the number of their cylinder inside the plant, waiting to be filled. Wasi said there were no hospital beds for his wife, whose oxygen level hovers around 70-80pc. They are rationing her, he said, giving her small amounts of oxygen when it drops to around 45 -50pc.

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

LAST UPDATED AT 7:00 AM ON JUNE 19, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

991

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

889,787 21,940 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

331,094

344,799

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

136,819 AJK/GB: 19,893/5,771

26,529 ISLAMABAD:

82,313