E-Paper PDF 14th October (LHR)

CMYK

Monday, 14 October, 2019 I 14 Safar-ul-Muzaffar, 1441 I Rs 20.00 I Vol X No 104 I 16 Pages I Lahore Edition

Pakistan offers to assist talks between saudi, iran g

PM says islaMaBad will Play Role oF FacilitatoR RatheR thaN MediatoR iN this ‘coMPlex’ issue, calls oFFeR PakistaN’s ‘owN iNitiative’

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staff report

rime minister imran Khan on Sunday offered assistance to kickstart talks between Saudi Arabia and iran talks during his visit to Tehran, saying issues between the countries should be resolved through political means and dialogue for regional security and stability. Addressing a joint press conference with iranian President Hassan rouhani after a meeting in Tehran on Sunday, Prime minister imran Khan said that his visit was aimed at reducing tensions between iran and Saudi Arabia. He said that Pakistan suffered 70,000 casualties in the war on terror, adding neighbouring Afghanistan also suffered badly in the ongoing conflict.

“The main reason i came here with my delegation is that we do not want conflict in the region.

Pakistan suffered 70,000 casualties in the last 15 years in the ‘war on terror’, Afghanistan is still suffering, and there is terrible devastation in Syria — we do not want another conflict in this part of the world,” Pm imran said.

The prime minister said that Saudi Arabia is one of the closest friends of Pakistan and riyadh has always helped us in all times of need.

He emphasised that Pakistan does not want any conflict between iran and Saudi Arabia, recognising that it was a “complex and complicated issue”. The prime minister said that he strongly believed that any issue could be resolved through dialogue and talks.

He said that any new conflict in the region

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RouhaNi welcoMes touR, says eNd oF yeMeN coNFlict will BolsteR chaNces FoR RegioNal Peace

could have far reaching implications.

The prime minister pointed out that a conflict in the Gulf region could lead to an increase in oil prices and more poverty for the developing countries.

He claimed that “some powers wanted a conflict” between iran and Saudi Arabia. Pm imran said that this was purely his own initiative to come to Tehran and that no one asked Pakistan to do this.

He said that he will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with a “positive state of mind and will emphasise the importance of dialogue between the two countries to resolve differences”.

He said that Pakistan will play the role of facilitator rather than mediator in sorting out the differences between the two brotherly muslim countries. The prime minister said that during his recent meeting with President Donald Trump, he was asked to do something on dialogue with iran.

The prime minister appreciated iran for extending support to people of occupied Kashmir.

He said that more than eight million Kashmiris were under curfew for over two months.

He said that the indian authorities imposed a total communication blockade in occupied Kashmir and a human disaster was unfolding in the region. earlier, President Hassan rouhani said that Pakistan and iran are brotherly muslim countries and have “deep rooted friendship”. He expressed hope that Pakistan and iran could work together for regional peace. rouhani said that they also discussed the developments in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman which were “very critical regions”. He said that the meeting emphasised taking steps to strengthen

Azadi March: Nawaz says it’s time to defend rights

peace and security in the region.

The iranian president said that he conveyed the concerns of iran to Pm imran on developments taking place in the region and also the attack on iranian oil tanker in the red Sea on Friday.

He added that an investigation will be launched to establish the facts on who was behind this attack. He also said that his country thinks that such acts can create instability and insecurity in the region when they are not dealt with properly.

He warned that iran would respond to any threats, saying it was a “big mistake” to think it would not do so. rouhani said that both leaders had a consensus that the key to establishing peace in the region is to stop the war in Yemen. The iranian president emphasised that any goodwill gesture will be responded by goodwill gesture and deeds.

He said that he and Pm imran also discussed the US sanctions, after a nuclear deal was scrapped by President Donald Trump, on iran and emphasised that such sanctions constitute “economic terrorism”. rouhani added that they also discussed that how iranian nuclear deal could be returned to its previous position. He said that the US should return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and lift the sanctions on iran.

He appreciated the prime minister’s visit to iran for discussing a variety of issues.

He expressed optimism that the visit of the premier and his accompanying delegation would have a positive outcome for the whole region and beyond.

The iranian president also hosted a luncheon in the visiting premier’s honour. Foreign minister Shah mahmood Qureshi, Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistan Sayed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and other officials were also present on the occasion.

PM IMRAN MEETS AYATOLLAH KHAMENEI: Pm imran also called on iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei during his one-day visit to the islamic republic.

The premier thanked the supreme leader for support to the people of indian Occupied Kashmir (iOK) for their right of self-determination, said a statement posted on Government of Pakistan’s Twitter account.

“Prime minister imran Khan said that muslim Ummah faces numerous challenges internally and from the outside. it is important to articulate a message of unity and solidarity among the muslim nations,” the statement said.

us urges Pakistan to nip militancy in the bud for own sake STORY ON BACK PAGE

Kate, William to land in Pakistan today STORY ON PAGE 02

BNP-M says may quit alliance over govt’s broken promises STORY ON PAGE 05

Modi dares Opp to revive Kashmir status STORY ON BACK PAGE

Pakistani delegation in Paris for ‘crucial’ FATF meeting

STORIES ON PAGES 02 & 03

Fazl promises ‘peaceful’ march, warns govt against use of force

STORY ON BACK PAGE

CMYK Monday, 14 October, 2019

02 NEWS

Fazl promises ‘peaceFul’ march, warns govt against use oF Force PESHAWAR

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STAFF REPORT

S the war of words between the government and Jamiat Ulemae-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) continues over the impending Azadi March, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday warned the government against the use of force to thwart the protest, assuring the marchers would remain “peaceful” within the ambit of the constitution.

Addressing the party’s Salar Force in Peshawar, he said the JUI-F workers “opted for a peaceful protest for their rights”. The JUI-F chief said all opposition parties were on the “same page” concerning the anti-government march, as he tried to dispel the impression that there were fissures among opposition parties regarding the sit-in.

“The march will begin on October 27 to show solidarity with Kashmiris,” Fazl confirmed. Asserting his party would remain peaceful, the maulana said: “We are

peaceful people, we will not attack parliament or the PTV. Unlike you, we will not hang trousers on the walls of institutions.”

He was alluding to over three-month-long Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sit-in in Islamabad against then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government. Urging the government to refrain from the use of violence, Fazl said they were coming to Islamabad to register a peaceful protest and hoped that the government would not use force to disperse them.

“We will be able to sustain your baton

charges but you will not even be able to withstand a mere puff of air we blow on you,” he warned. “We will go forward as we have no option to turn back.” He termed the incumbent PTI setup an “illicit government” that had been imposed on the country through a “theft of votes”.

“No one comes [to the airport] to welcome him when our fake prime minister goes on a foreign visit. The puppet [prime minister] has been imposed for implementation of the Western world agenda,” said Fazl, evoking the religion once again

in his movement against the government.

“The country was going backward due to the incompetent ruler,” he said, referring to the economic crisis.

“The economy is sinking, factories are being shut and traders are in distress, while the prime minister in an effort to support the economy has now moved on from poultry and livestock to langars,” he quipped. Responding to Fazl, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the maulana was running a “baseless campaign against the government and warned that action would be taken against the JUI-F chief’s illegal steps”.

“We will not let anyone bring stickwielding people to the streets,” said he.

The minister said everyone has the right to protest but the government would not “allow bloodshed on the roads in the name of protests”

Kate, William to land in Pakistan today LONDON APP

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton will land in Pakistan on Monday on their first-ever visit to the country.

According to the statement made by Communications Secretary to the Queen Donal McCabe the duke and duchess of Cambridge will undertake an official visit to Pakistan between Monday 14th and Friday 18th October. This will be Their Royal Highnesses’ first official visit to Pakistan, he remarked.

According to the statement, whilst the “duke and duchess’s programme will pay respect to the historical relationship between Britain and Pakistan, it will largely focus on showcasing Pakistan as it is today – a dynamic, aspirational and forward-looking nation”. It added that from the modern leafy capital Islamabad to the

vibrant city of Lahore, the mountainous countryside in the North, and the rugged border regions to the West, the visit will span over 1000km, and will take in Pakistan’s rich culture, its diverse communities, and its beautiful landscapes. Throughout the tour, the couple will visit programmes which empower young people, and organisations that help ensure they have the best possible start in life.

Access to quality education, particularly to girls and young women is one of the UK’s top priorities in Pakistan. The statement further said that the duke and duchess are looking forward to spending time meeting young Pakistanis and hearing more about their aspirations for the future.

Their Royal Highnesses’ programme will also cover how communities in Pakistan are rapidly responding and adapting to the effects of climate change. This a key area of in-

terest for the couple is that they are keen to learn more about the climate change issues affecting Pakistan and our world, and the positive work being undertaken to combat these challenges.

Meanwhile, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Thomas Drew expressed optimism that visit of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Pakistan will help promote historic relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. In a video statement, he said it will be an exciting program and will focus largely on today s Pakistan and its dynamic, aspirational and forward looking nation. The High Commissioner said the royal couple would like to see the length and breadth of the country, ranging from modern leafy capital Islamabad to vibrant city of Lahore, the mountainous countryside of North and rugged border region of the West.

PM's Iran visit to bolster regional peace: Firdous ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Iran will improve peace and security situation in the region. In a statement, she stated that PM Imran was highlighting the positive and bright side of Pakistan at various international platforms.

Earlier, Firdous claimed that the anti-government agitation by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on October 31 has hidden motives as it is for the freedom of thieves and “not for the freedom of Kashmiris.” She said, “After media talk of [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been exposed and his cat is out of the bag now for the march.”

She termed the political affiliation and moves between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif as the games similar to played by former Pakistani field hockey players Samiullah Khan and Kaleemullah Khan. STAFF REPORT

ROAD ACCIDENT CLAIMS LIVES OF TWO FC MEN QUETTA STAFF REPORT

At least two soldiers of Frontier Corps were killed and five others were injured in a road mishap in Chagai district on Sunday. The FC vehicle was returning to Dalbandin when it collided with a truck, leading to the loss of lives. The dead and injured personnel were shifted to Frontier Corps hospital in Dalbandin, where the injured were given medical treatment and later referred to Quetta for further treatment. The deceased were identified as Sepoy Abdul Qadir and Sepoy Abdul Aziz. On Oct 5, at least 17 people died in Balochistan road accidents. A speeding Karachi bound passenger coach coming from Pasni had overturned near Bazi Top on the Coastal Highway. Resultantly 11 passengers, including women and children, died while 11 others sustained injuries Separately, a speedy Quetta-bound van coming from Khuzdar collided with a Khuzdarbound van coming from Surab on the National Highway. As a result, 5 passengers had died while 36 others wounded.

CMYK

CMYK Monday, 14 October, 2019

NEWS

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azadi march: nawaz says it’s time to deFend rights NAWAZ URGES PML-N MEMBERS TO ENSURE SUCCESS OF ANTI-GOVT MARCH, ASKS FAZL TO RELEASE ‘COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME’ ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

AKISTAN Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has directed all party members to “ensure that the anti-government protest is a success”, as he urged opposition lawmakers that it was about time they stood up to “defend their rights”.

He said this through a letter written to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on October 10, which was shared with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman by a PML-N

delegation that called on him on Sunday.

In his letter, Nawaz expressed his support for the anti-government protest [Azadi March], saying, “This is the time to stand up. This is the time to set aside all convenience and fight for our rights.”

“When the country’s honour, its self respect is at stake, we must stand up and defend our rights,” read the letter. Fazl had earlier met Nawaz and had informed him of the discussions held in JUI-F’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting.

Taking note of those discussions, Nawaz said that he had given a lot of thought to the JUI-F chief’s proposals. Nawaz also asked Fazl to release a “comprehensive

programme” regarding the march. Following the meeting on Sunday, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, while addressing a press conference, said that they had put forth their party’s recommendations for the march.

“Nawaz Sharif has said that maulana sahib’s call for a protest post-elections was the right decision. We support his Azadi March,” he said. He also called on all opposition parties to participate in the march. Speaking to the media, Fazl said that he is grateful to the PML-N for extending its support to his call for a march.

“PML-N, PPP, Awami National Party, Qaumi Watan Party and Muttahida Majlis-s-Amal are all with us,” he declared.

He said that an ‘Azadi March committee’ oversees all march-related matters on a daily basis and that a session of the party’s central executive committee will be held on October 24 after which the final agenda for the march will be announced.

“There is still time. The government

ECP asks Bilawal for explanation over Larkana visit The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a show-cause notice to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari along with other party leaders after he visited Larkana’s PS-11 constituency ahead of a by-election. Bilawal had visited the constituency on Saturday to lead his party’s election campaign where PPP leader Jamil Soomro is slated to contest elections on Oct 17.

Upon his arrival, the PPP chief held rallies in different parts of Larkana, flouting ECP’s code of conduct. According to Para 17 of the conduct, no legislator can visit a constituency where by-elections are scheduled and dates for the elections have been announced. The ECP held Bilawal in clear violation of its code of conduct and sent him a notification to him on Oct 12 asking him to, “explain [his] position” within a day and warned that failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.

“Being a member of the National Assembly, you were fully aware about the announcement of schedule of by-election,” the

notification read. Similar notices were also issued to PPP leaders, who visited Larkana as well, including Nisar Khuhro, Sharjeel Memon, Syed Nasir Shah, Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Sohail Anwar Siyal and others, with the same instructions.

The ECP had announced that by-elections be held in PS-11 after Grand Democratic Alliance’s Moazzam Abbasi was deseated by the Supreme Court in August.

Reacting to the notice, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the spokesman of the PPP chief, said that “no law stops Bilawal to go to his constituency”. He asked how could the ECP send a notice to a member pf the National Assembly for going to his constituency? Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar in a statement on Sunday said that the ECP cannot restore its “lost credibility by such actions”. He said that the ECP has yet to answer questions about the rigged elections in 2018. “What is the logic behind the fact that the army troops could be deployed inside and outside polling stations, but MNA could not go to his constituency,” he asked. NEWS DESK

15 years of service to humanity The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) which started on 14th October 2004, has completed 15 years of serving to humanity providing emergency services in all 36 Districts of Punjab, and during this span of time, the Rescue Services rescued over 7.5 million emergency victims of different emergencies, established Ambulance, Rescue & Fire Services and Community Emergency Response Teams in all Districts of Punjab.

History is evident, that start of Rescue 1122 was necessitated after failure of repeated attempts to revitalize and modernize the old organizations mandated for emergency management. At that time, the Service was started

by Dr Rizwan Naseer with full political ownership and support of then Chief Minister Ch. Pervaiz Elahi,. Now the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) is the leading emergency humanitarian service of Pakistan with infrastructure in all 36 districts of Punjab and is providing technical and training assistance to other provinces. The Punjab Emergency Service Act was also promulgated in 2006 to provide legal cover to the Emergency Services Reforms initiated in 2004 from Lahore.

Rescue 1122 is not just providing the emergency victims with the basic right to timely emergency care but believes in “saving lives and changing minds”. This is vividly reflected in the mission statement of the Service which is “development of safer communities through establishment of an effective system for emergency preparedness, response and prevention”.

Now the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) is the leading emergency humanitarian service of Pakistan and it was a

unique initiative to serve humanity without any discrimination. This is the only reason that every government owned it and served the Nation as the system of emergency management is self-explanatory due to its professional service delivery. The efforts of Founder Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer and his pioneer team, who burns their midnight oil to establish an exemplary model of Emergency Service in Punjab which has been replicated in other provinces of Pakistan, will always be remembered.

After the establishment of Service in Lahore, the emergency management system was established in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad and then across Punjab. Congrats to all Rescue Team including Officers from Rescue Headquarters, Emergency Services Academy, District Emergency Officers and their teams for training of over 18000 rescuers and providing services to over 7.5 million helpless victims of emergencies & disasters and maintained the standards of this Service and gain prayers of the community members with hard work; commitment and dedication. The continuous journey of Rescue Service is full of struggle and new initiatives including establishment of modern Fire Rescue Service resulted timely response and professional firefighting to over 136,000 fire incidents during last 15 years and saved losses worth over 400 billion. It is pertinent to mention that all officers are grateful for the contribution of the Governor Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwa, Mr Hanzala Malik Scottish parliamentarian of that time for establishment of modern fire service in Pakistan and training of Rescue officers from UK fie Service.

CMYK

should resign and go home. If they do not voluntarily do so, we will be forced to send them home,” Fazl warned. The PML-N delegation was headed by Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal and included Ameer Muqam and Marriyum Aurangzeb. On Saturday, Iqbal had said a senior delegation of the party would immediately take Nawaz’s letter to Fazl so that they can give a final shape to the programme of Azadi March.

He had said that Nawaz had agreed with the objectives of the so-called Azadi March and stressed the “important” role

to be played by the PML-N in the face of a “sinking economy” for which he held the government responsible. According to Iqbal, Nawaz had directed the party to “initiate a comprehensive movement so that we can get rid of this government”.

On Friday, incarcerated former PM Nawaz Sharif had thrown his weight behind the JUI-F’s Azadi March, saying that he “fully supports” it. “Our viewpoint is the same as Maulana’s [Fazlur Rehman’s] viewpoint,” said Nawaz while speaking to reporters outside a Lahore accountability court.

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FIA arrests man for blackmailing woman through ‘inappropriate’ pictures The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday arrested a man accused of blackmailing a woman. According to FIA, the woman filed a complaint against the suspect, Pervaiz accusing of blackmailing her through inappropriate pictures. The agency said that it has arrested the suspect and seized his mobile phone which contained pictures and other material. A case has been registered and investigation is underway. NEWS DESK

Around 20 per cent Pakistanis suffering from mental disorders LAHORE: Mental disorders are on the rise not in the country and have become the second biggest illness after cardiac ailments and cancer.

The mental disorders are increasing suicide tendencies among people and one person after every 40 seconds takes his life in the world.

In Pakistan, unfortunately over 20 per cent population is suffering from mental disorders currently. This was stated by chairman of Psychiatry Department of King Edward Medical university and Mayo Hospital’s Professor Dr Aftab Asif in an exclusive talk with APP in connection with the World Mental Health Day observance. The KEMu had also arranged a seminar on the topic of ‘suicide prevention’ among mental disorder patients. He said that mental illness had become a big threat and taking its toll on people from all walks of life. Mental disorders affect nearly 12 per cent of world’s population and about 450 million or one out of every four people around the world experiences a mental illness, he added. He said that mental disorders were affecting the second largest number of people in the world after cardiac diseases and cancer.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that if the number of mental orders patients continued at the current rate, it would become number one disease in 2030 in the world, the expert disclosed. He said that every 40 seconds someone loses his life by committing suicide in the world. In Pakistan, three people out of one lakh ended their lives by committing suicide. Men are more in number compared with women who suffer from mental disorders leading to suicide. He said that suicide had become the second most common cause of premature death among teens and young adults.

Despite progress, still one person dies of suicide every 40 seconds in the world, he added. One adult in four, and one child in ten suffer from mental health issues in the country, he added. In Pakistan, it is estimated that 24 million people are in need of psychiatric assistance. However, allocated resources for the screening and treatment of mental health disorders are not enough to meet the increasing need. According to the WHO data, Pakistan has only 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, one of the lowest numbers in the world. APP

CITy NOTES M.A. NIAzI HE district of Kasur is still in the news, and for all the wrong reasons. After the revelation of the kiddie porn ring in village Hussain Khanwala near Kasur city, there was the assault-cum-murder of little Zainab, which convulsed the nation, in the city itself. This year, there was the serial murderer who first criminally assaulted the children, in Chunian, who killed four children before being caught.

It’s the turn of Pattoki tehsil, where two members of a ‘sensitive agency’ were part of a four-member gang which assaulted a young boy for years, and kept him quiet by threatening to leak the videos they had made of him.

One of the sensitive guys is in the custody of his organisation, which intends to try him. The problem is that non-sensitive people are also to be tried. If it had not been for these non-sensitive people, anybody mentioning the case would probably have been called a traitor. Recently, it seems, three Army majors got it in the neck, with life-terms and reduction to the ranks doled

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Monday, 14 October, 2019

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FundS APProved For eSTABliShmenT oF ArCS AT QAnongoi level LAHORE

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SHAHAB OMER

uNJAB Revenue Department has granted administrative approval of funds amounting to Rs2216.691 for the ‘Land Revenue Services at Qanungoi Level’ project, Pakistan Today learnt reliably.

The authority claims that the project will be completed by December, this year.

It was learnt that the PRLA, with the provision of these funds will establish 69 portable Arazi Record Centers (ARCs) in Punjab with seven portable ARCs to be set up in Bahawalpur division, three in Dera Ghazi Khan division, 11 in

Faisalabad division, nine in Gujranwala division, six in Lahore division, seven in Multan division, 12 in Rawalpindi division, nine in Sahiwal division and five in Sargodha division. PRLA also seeks to set up 46 ARC offices at qanagoi levels in different districts across the province.

Pakistan Today further learnt that the revised cost approved by the Provincial Development Working Authority (PDWP) for Project Cycle 1 (PC 1) is Rs2216.691 which was agreed upon in a meeting held on Sept 24. Sources informed that the revenue department’s R&G cell has through a letter sought administrative approval of Director General (DG) PLRA to issue two amounts of Rs5.250 million and Rs188.300 mil-

lion for payment of contract staff.

The letter also states that an amount of Rs15.500 million has been fixed for special additional allowance, Rs1.725 million for telephone and trunk calls and Rs40.728 million for electronic communication and connectivity. An amount of Rs68.080 million has been fixed for electricity, Rs1.0800 million for rent of office buildings, Rs218.500 million for machinery and equipment and Rs42.000 million for advertisement and publicity.

Similarly, an amount of Rs410.841 million has been fixed for the establishment of ARCs, Rs217.525 million for the purchase of transport, Rs695.575 million for IT equipment and Rs43.600 million for stationary. A total of Rs29.432 million

has been fixed for POL for generator, Rs40.800 million for fuel, Rs49.815 million for software, Rs4.930 million for purchase of transport (others), Rs115.000 million for purchase of furniture and fixture, Rs2.320 million for the R&M of transport, Rs8.040 million for R&M of machinery and equipment, Rs223.182 million for R&M of building and structure (others) and Rs8.7200 million was fixed for others. While talking to Pakistan Today the DG PLRA Hafiz Shukat said, “We have received the letter and the work on the project will start soon. All tenders have been allotted and our target is to complete the task by the end of this year.

These centers will facilitate the public and allow for increased revenue generation.”

Another child abuse case surfaces in Bahawalpur A man in Bahawalpur was arrested for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl. Police said that the suspect, Imran – a close relative of the victim — abducted the child from outside her home on September 14, raped her and then killed her. The girl’s body was recovered from a field on Sept 15, which the police subsequently sent for post-mortem. After the child’s medical report confirmed sexual abuse the police collected DNA samples of 35 people for testing – including family members and relatives. According to District Police Officer (DPO) Bahawalpur Ameer Taimoor Khan, Imran’s DNA matched with the child’s after which he was arrested immediately. He has also confessed to the crime, police said. NEWS DESK CHINIOT: Despite global efforts of creating environmental awareness and restricting pollution, no action has been taken in the country in this regard. Pictured here is a brick kiln emitting hazardous smoke. ONLINE

Jahangir Tareen meets Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to inquire after his health GUJRAT STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen on Sunday visited the house of Chaudhry Brothers and met with Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

PTI leader Jahangir Tareen inquired about the health of PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

He prayed for quick recovery of the political leader.

PTI leader also met with Speaker Punjab Assembly, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. During the meeting, matters pertaining to the overall political situation and

mutual interest mattes were discussed. The other leaders who were present in the meeting include Aown Chaudhry, Salik Hussain, Shafey Husain and others.

Earlier on October 5, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad visited the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to inquire after his health.

It may be noted that the PML-Q chief was under treatment in Germany, due to his illness.

Back in the month of August, a member of Chaudhry family had dismissed the baseless reports of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s death.

Teenager recovered, two ‘kidnappers’ arrested in Sheikhupura raid LAHORE: Punjab investigation police claimed on Sunday to have recovered a teenage boy who was kidnapped from a Lahore locality and arrested two alleged kidnappers. According to the police, the abductee, identified as 15-year-old Saman, was recovered with the help of advanced technology from Sheikhupura. The arrested suspects had lured the teenager away to Sheikhupura, they added. An FIR was registered with the Kahna police station in Lahore. Earlier, on Sept 23, the police had recovered an eighth-grader a week after her abduction from an Okara locality. The district police officer (DPO) Okara said an alleged kidnapper, identified as Afzal, was also taken into custody during a raid in Basirpur town of the city. The teenage girl was abducted by unidentified suspects last week. On Sept 17, a 13year-old girl who had gone missing from Islamabad was recovered by the police from Swat two days after her disappearance. STAFF REPORT

Celebrations in Trenchtown out freely, for spying. If members of the glorious armed forces could spy, couldn’t they omit less heinous crimes? Like at Pattoki? I hope that they don’t bring forward the defence that General Musharraf made of Basant, that it earned foreign exchange.

If one earns foreign exchange by selling kiddie porn, one is doing a national service.

I can imagine one of the Pattoki accused being introduced as a leading exporter at a gathering of businessmen at GHQ, where he would have complained that law enforcing agencies were interfering in the earning of foreign exchange for the country.

Now only one tehsil in the district is left, Kot Radha Kishen. One can only pray that there is no news from there. One thing that will not emanate will be the latest on a T20I series there. We tried one in Lahore, and were whitewashed. I hope this isn’t the price we’ll have to pay all teams about to visit us. Ireland has expressed an interest. They should come, for we don’t have them as the butts of jokes. We have Pathans. In other words, Afghanistan.

Let the series be a lesson to Imran

Khan not to leave the country. Once the Khan is away, the mice will play. And how much more proof does Imran need that Sarfraz is actually a Nawaz supporter?

It remains to be seen whether anyone dies in China because of Imran’s visit. A PTI supporter, Saleem Malik did, in New York, after he had a heart attack after a

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video of his was made. Malik had asked for an accounting of the New York visit, for not only did Imran go there, but a whole entourage of ministers. There was also the little matter of the money spent on the summer event in New York, when the community turned up to listen to the PM speaking. Imran stuck to an official

itinerary, and didn’t take part in any of the activities organised by the community when he went for the General Assembly, such as the event for the Kashmir cause organised by a friend of mine, Agha Saleh. It was not just a big event, but it was organised in the face of an Indian lobby energised by the saffron brigade.

It looks as if the Kashmiris have been abandoned, just as the Kurds have been. It seems Muslims living in mountainous regions should watch out. Kurds have a problem resembling that of the Kashmiris, that of national self-determination. It seemed that they had the uSA in place of Pakistan to provide diplomatic support, what with their support in Iraq and then in Syria, but now it seems the uSA has left them to the tender mercies of the Turks.

Still, the uSA has probably got other things to think about. We could talk about Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani having clients originating from ukraine and Belarus now in jail on campaign finance violation charges, but maybe it would be better to stick to how two Nobel Literature prizes were awarded this year (because none was awarded last year), and none to a rapper. And the Peace Prize went to the Ethiopian PM. Wow, they must be still celebrating in Trenchtown, Jamaica.

CMYK Monday, 14 October, 2019

NEWS

BNP-M sAys MAy qUIT ALLIANce over govT’s BroKeN ProMIses ISLAMABAD

A

STAFF REPORT

s the opposition parties ramp up pressure on the government, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), a government-ally in the Centre, has warned the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that it would quit the alliance if the Prime Minister Imran Khan failed to fulfill his promises regarding BNP-M’s six-point demand.

Addressing a party meeting in Kalat on Sunday, BNP-M Secretary General Senator Jahanzaib Jamaldini said his party had a right to join hands with the opposition if the government didn’t the agreement with the party seriously.

“The federal government isn’t showing seriousness towards missing persons issue while 6% quota in federal jobs is also being violated. We have the right to walk away from PTI’s alliance in the Centre,” Jamaldini said.

The senator said the JUI-F has a right to hold protest, as it is a democratic right of every political party or group. “Intervention in parliamentary affairs would continue resulting in controlled-regimes in the country. A party

Afridi warns new influx of refugees due to violence surge in Afghanistan ISLAMABAD

UAE assisting in over 100 mega projects in Balochistan, KP

APP

Minister for SAFRON & Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi has expressed his country’s concerns over the new wave of violence in Afghanistan, saying that the recent rise in violence in Afghanistan may lead towards new flow of refugees into Pakistan. Afridi expressed these concerns during a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi at Geneva. Afridi said that irrespective of the fast developments taking place in Afghanistan, Pakistan would stand by its commitment for protection of Afghan refugees. Briefing the UN High Commissioner on the measures taken by the Government of Pakistan for the well-being and welfare of the Afghan refugees, Afridi asked Filippo Grandi to work on the challenges being faced by Pakistan in hosting the Afghan refugees, said a message received here. Afridi said that there was a need for the UNHCR teams to reach out to the Afghan refugees staying in refugee camps and provide basic health, education and other amenities. Sharing his concerns with the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, Afridi said that the decrease in UNHCR allocation for Afghan refugees was a source of alarm as refugees already needed more assistance in camps. Briefing the High Commissioner on the humanist approach of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shehryar Afridi said that the premier had agreed to co-convene the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) set for December 2019.

Stressing the UNHCR to accelerate efforts to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, Afridi said that all stakeholders needed to address the impact of refugees faced by host communities. He urged the UNHCR to highlight the contributions of host countries and host communities through effective advocacy campaigns. Afridi told the High Commissioner that Pakistan intends to convene a Conference to showcase the 40 years of hospitality of Afghan refugees in February next year and urged the UNHCR to mobilize support for the event. The minister said that Pakistan did not need any assistance of itself, but the UNHCR must be facilitated to help the refugees with basic amenities. Afridi lauded the engagement of Germany and Italy for refugees cause in Pakistan. UN High Commissioner Grandi deeply appreciated the hospitality and the leadership of Pakistan in hosting of Afghan refugees. He said that the UNHCR looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Imran Khan at the GRF due in December.

was formed in Balochistan within a week while votes were also purchased for a certain party in the elections,” said the BNP-M leader in a reference to the Balochistan Awami Party.

Jamaldini also expressed concern

over escalating inflation in the country, asserting that the PTI’s economic policies were harming the poor people instead of providing them any relief. He lauded services of slain Nooruddin Mengal for the party, saying that the BNP-M and the people of Balochistan will never forget his struggle.

The PTI was able to convince BNPM before the voting on the federal budget after had threatened to abstain from voting, warning that it would go with whoever could address its grievances. However, the PTI assured the party that it would implement its sixpoint agenda soon, after which BNP-M lent support to the ruling party.

“BNP wants laws to ensure that no demographic change would take place in the wake of development projects in Gwadar. They also want assurance that people moving to Gwadar in wake of industrialisation would not be granted right to vote and only locals would have this right,” a source told Pakistan Today at the time.

ISLAMABAD APP

The United Arab Emirates-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP) is working on more than 100 large scale projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, said the top diplomat of United Arab Emirates in Islamabad, adding that the organization was primarily focusing on education and health care sectors during the third phase of its program. “Last year in May, we signed a $200 million cooperation agreement to execute Phase III of the UAE-PAP. This was for more than 100 bigger projects in Balochistan and KP focusing on education and health care,” UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi said.

The UAE-PAP was launched in January 2011 with the objective of providing help and humanitarian assistance to the people of Pakistan and support their development initiatives for a better future. The program’s third phase complements the previous two phases in which 165 development and humanitarian projects were completed at the cost of $365 million. Al-Zaabi said one of the main projects of UAE-PAP was to eradicate polio in Pakistan, though there were also several other programs to improve the country’s water and agriculture sectors.

He added that UAE’s charity institutes, such as Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan foundations, were also managing several projects in Pakistan. “The Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Foundation has built many schools and hospitals in small villages of Muzaffarabad.

They built hospitals, medical clinics, mobile clinics and schools in those areas where even vehicles cannot go,” he said in an interview with Arab News. Al-Zaabi pointed out that Pakistan and the UAE had always maintained a strong diplomatic relationship. “I always call it classical relations between the UAE and Pakistan because the leaders of the two countries have the same vision of looking to the future.” The ambassador said his mandate re-

05

Imran suspends PTI’s provincial bodies ISLAMABAD PPI

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has suspended all existing provincial bodies of the party, including Islamabad Capital Territory with immediate effect. A notification to this effect was issued on Sunday which further stated that different administrative regions of the party have also been launched in the country. It said Islamabad Capital Territory and Balochistan will comprise of three administrative regions while Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will comprise four regions.

JUI-F should refrain from sowing 'discord': Fawad ISLAMABAD: STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman should refrain from creating chaos in the country. “Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz has developed fissures inside the party and now it has been clearly divided into two groups with different ideologies,” he said. “This country requires stability and any attempt to undermine the government will be thwarted,” he added. “The demands of Fazlur Rehman have not been revealed yet but he needs to start negotiations with the government.” “When Shehbaz Sharif is the chief minister of Punjab, he doesn’t experience backache but suddenly when he is discharged from the post, he starts experiencing backache,” Fawad said.

UN decolonisation agenda incomplete without resolution of Kashmir issue, says Lodhi NEW YORK APP

quired him to explore new areas where both countries could work together, identify investment opportunities for entrepreneurs in his country, and facilitate Pakistani business people who wanted to benefit from the UAE market. The envoy added that special emphasis was also placed on improving visa facilities in Karachi and Islamabad to help Pakistani laborers who were looking for work in his country.

Al-Zaabi was awarded the “UAE Medal of Pride” for enhancing bilateral relations between Abu Dhabi and Islamabad by building new partnerships and broadening the scope of economic and trade cooperation in all areas of common interest between both the countries. “We at the embassy believe in teamwork and this medal is not for me but it’s for my team at the embassy,” he said, adding: “Every other day we have a new initiative and idea to improve relations with Pakistan, enhance bilateral trade and also to facilitate Pakistani community in the UAE. I count myself not only as the UAE ambassador in Islamabad but also as Pakistan’s ambassador in Abu Dhabi.”

At the United Nations, Pakistan says the world body’s decolonization agenda would remain incomplete without a settlement of Kashmir dispute based on Security Council resolutions. Speaking to the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee, Outgoing Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi said India illegally annexed Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, turning it into the world’s largest prison. Lodhi said Pakistan will remain the voice of Kashmiris in all international forums especially the UN until justice is done and they are able to exercise their right to self-determination. It was Maleeha Lodhi’s third statement on Kashmir at the UN this week as she pressed on with her campaign to expose Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir.

No respite for IOK people as lockdown completes 10 weeks SRINAGAR INP

In occupied Kashmir, the miseries of millions of residents of Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region continue unabated as the strict lockdown imposed by the Indian government completes 10 weeks, today.

According to Kashmir Media Service, shops and main markets are shut and public transport is off the roads in the Kashmir valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu as a mark of protest to express resentment against Indian occupation. Though private vehicles

are plying on the roads but in the absence of public transport, people find it difficult to get to the hospitals and move from one place to another to meet their loved ones. They can’t even easily communicate with their relatives and friends owing to gag on internet and cell phone services. The lockdown and ban on communications has virtually cut off the Kashmir Valley from the outside world.

On the other hand, Indian civil rights activists talking to reporters in New Delhi urged the Indian government to restore Articles 370 and 35A as well as mobile and internet services, re-

CMYK

move the restrictions on the movement of people in the Kashmir Valley and take steps to bring back normalcy in the territory. Social activist, Shabnam Hashmi, on the occasion said that the abrogation of Article 370 was a mindless exercise carried out by the BJP-led government. Delhi-based journalist and writer, Revati Laul, said that the repeal of Article 370 was the main cause of trauma for the people of Kashmir.

Kannan Gopinathan, the IAS officer, who resigned in protest against human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, addressing a conference in Kerala’s Thrissur city said that denial of human

rights to the Kashmiri people and exclusion of a group of people in Assam in the name of Citizenship Amendment Bill are unconstitutional acts.

Monday, 14 October, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

The silencing of indian held Kashmir: arundhaTi roy on india, modi and fascism Intercept Mehdi hasan

MH: What is happening in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) right now in the state, that was until very recently considered to be Jammu and Kashmir until had it status revoked? How bad is the situation on the ground as you understand it to be?

AR: I haven’t been there since the clampdown. I don’t think I would be welcomed in there. But I have very close friends who are out actually right now. And the situation seems to be that there is obviously a complete communication clampdown.

So, in IHK, traditionally, normalcy has always been a military declaration.

You know, it’s not the people that decide what is normal, it’s the establishment that decides. And so for them normal seems to be to keep seven million people under a complete communication blackout. And that is besides the terror, besides the reports of the thousands who are being arrested, who are being picked up, tortured, all of that.

MH: And the thousands who are being arrested and detained, just to be clear for an international audience who might not be aware of this. These people are not “foreign fighters.” They include leading Indian Kashmiri politicians, people who were even in government with the BJP with Narendra Modi until a few years ago, the former chief ministers of the state have been put under house arrest.

That’s astonishing.

AR: Every single person who has a voice at all has been arrested. And that, as you say, includes all the former chief ministers, people who have been carrying India’s water for the last 70 years. Everybody is in jail. Anybody who has a voice is in jail. Anybody who dares to speak up is being picked up, anybody on the street, you know, and of course, internationally. The people who are negotiating and speaking whether it’s Imran Khan or Modi or Donald Trump, in a sense, you know, why are they negotiating the fate of seven million people who have been caged? I mean, how would it be if seven million people in New York were caged and everybody was deciding their fate and think, “Oh, it’s a good thing for them in the end, you know, they ought to be locked down for 50 days because they don’t know what is good for them?”

MH: People are literally saying this. Roger Cohen of the New York Times, liberal columnist, a liberal American paper, just wrote an op-ed recently saying this could be good for IHK in the long run.

AR: So appalling, so ill-informed and so dangerous, but you know, at least he’s an ill-informed American columnist, but you had, you know, what I call the goodbye India, “Howdy, Modi!” show where 59,000 people were chanting in favor of this.

The preparations are being put into place for a kind of horror that people who are ill-informed or people who don’t have an understanding of the scale at which the dismantling of this country is happening, are all participating in it and that is so terribly disturbing.

MH: I want to come back to that in a moment and that is very disturbing, the big picture, just sticking with IHK for a moment, the two things that IHK is associated with on the international stage when people in the United States or the UK talk about or think about IHK, which is very rarely is terrorism, and nuclear weapons. And I just want

ARUNDHATI ROY HAPPENS TO BE BOTH INDIA’S MOST FAMOUS NOVELIST, WRITER AND ACTIVIST, AND ALSO THE COUNTRY’S MOST FERVENT AND OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF NARENDRA MODI AND HIS HINDU NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, THE RSS. SHE’S RECEIVED DEATH THREATS FROM THE FAR-RIGHT, AND BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING ‘ANTI-NATIONAL’ AND UNPATRIOTIC BY INDIA’S INCREASINGLY JINGOISTIC AND XENOPHOBIC MEDIA to deal with both of those because we hear a lot about terrorism and militancy in the valley, of Muslim and “jihadist violence.” And of course, there is “jihadist violence.” There is terrorism of that form. No one is defending the killing of innocent civilians whether they’re innocent Hindus, innocent Muslims, whatever.

But we don’t hear that much globally about what Indian security forces do in terms of violence, human rights abuses. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, Arundhati, this is one of the most militarized places on earth, if not the most militarized place on Earth.

AR: It is the most militarized place on earth. And perhaps right now there are more Indian troops, and have been more Indian security forces there since 1990, more than probably were deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan by the U.S., you know, and that is a valley that has been locked down. If you follow, for example, there’s the Jammu and Kashmir civil service, JKCCS it’s called. There’s a report, a torture report, which is so chilling to read. I mean, what happened in Abu Ghraib, all these kinds of forms of torture, and variations of it have been commonly practiced there, you know. So, according to the Associated Press 70,000 people have been killed in this conflict. It’s a valley covered with graveyards. Every village has its own graveyard. The gravestones grew out of the ground like young children’s teeth there, you know.

It’s a place where you have had people fighting for self-determination for 70 years. And that fight became militant because of the repression from 1990 onwards. India’s moral position on IHK has never, ever been a moral position. It is a kind of moral corrosion that has corroded all of us. And now the world is looking at it.

MH: But do you really think the world is looking at it? My worry is that the world isn’t really paying much attention. What I find so odd is given the nuclear issue, isn’t it odd how little attention or how little urgency is devoted to the issue of Kashmir on the international stage from the world’s superpowers, given that so many nuclear experts say that the most likely place for a devastating nuclear conflict is not the Korean Peninsula is not the Middle East but in Kashmir or between India and Pakistan over Kashmir?

AR: Well, yes, you’re right. I mean, the whole world isn’t looking at it. But it’s got more attention now than it has ever had before. You know, that’s what I meant. But, you see India and Pakistan last February became the first two nuclear powers to actually carry out airstrikes against each other. Militarily both are very unequal. In a conventional war, they would be very unequal enemies. So, that makes the possibility of nuclear war greater, you know. If they were both equally matched, you know, you can imagine the kind of conventional war taking place, but now, the humiliation of Pakistan, both in the Indian media, the moves that are being made internationally because obviously India has more economic clout, everybody wants to sell India things and weapons and do trade deals, Pakistan is being humiliated and that’s never a good thing in a situation like this. And Kashmiris — forget Pakistan for a minute, you know — Kashmiris who have been pushed to the wall since 1990 are now being caged and humiliated and spoken for and treated in ways where, I

mean, I listen with so much sadness to the fact that again and again, you hear people saying, it’s better to die than to live like this, you know. Young men have shown that they are willing to die, you know, all this time, but now it’s on a different scale all together.

MH: You’ve said that the media is complicit in the violence that we see in places like IHK. For people who don’t live in India, but who are used to, for example, the propaganda and jingoism that comes out of Fox News here in the U.S. on a nightly basis. How does the Indian media operate? How bad are they in comparison to say a Fox News?

AR: Well, multiply Fox News into 400 24/7 channels in every language you can think of, you know, and that’s what you have. And also don’t forget you have a population many of whom are still living in a kind of feudal time.

Who have made a jump from semiliteracy to television, you know. So you know, the kind of fake news and the kind of nonsense that can be put out is just phenomenal.

MH: And there’s this tension isn’t there between the Indian government and the Indian media that wants to say that everyone who has ever picked up a weapon or gone near a weapon in IHK is a foreign-backed jihadist and anyone who says otherwise is an apologist or a defender of that terrorism.

AR: Today’s gotten worse. I mean, I was just reading a statement by the army chief who basically said that anybody who says things are not normal in IHK is surviving by terrorism or you know, sort of invested in it in some way.

MH: You’ve talked about the attacks and abuse that you’re subjected to for speaking out on IHK or against this BJP government across the board.

You’ve talked about, “gangs of stormtroopers” who turn up at your public events call you anti-national, call you a traitor. Arundhati, in India today, someone like yourself, who’s as high profile as yourself, do you have to worry about your safety, for your life even? Because I know India has become a pretty dangerous place for rank and file journalists. And even for prominent writers who have called out the far-right there.

AR: I think right now, really the problem is for journalists and media people in IHK. You know, they are under such great threat. I mean, the only people who have some sort of latitude to write some sort of truth are journalists, local journalists who work for foreign wire services and so on, you know, who report for Reuters or AP or, you know, BBC or things like that. And they’re the ones who I really worry for, you know, seriously.

MH: Of course, and you say, obviously, you say you don’t speak for Kashmiris, but you have traveled to IHK, you speak to people there regularly.

What do you think — And polling is very difficult in that part of the world, in that place, but what do you think the people there that actually want? Is it just greater autonomy to bring back Article 370, which was just revoked overnight?

Is it to join with Pakistan? Is it to be independent? Is it a self-determination?

AR: I don’t think that they could have been clearer. They’ve been saying it for 70 years. They’ve been saying it loudly. They’ve been saying it with their blood since 1990. Of course, it’s selfdetermination.

MH: Talk to me about Hindu nationalism, what it stands for, and what it has in common with the kind of far right nationalism that we’re seeing across the west, whether it’s Trump’s America, Brexit Britain, France, Hungary, in Israel with Netanyahu, what are the similarities between what Modi’s doing there and what’s happening around the world?

AR: The similarities are, of course, the idea of racial supremacy and Aryan supremacy and things like that. Where India at this moment steals a march over all the other people that you’ve mentioned, while they have a lot of dealings with them is that they have an organization that has existed uninterrupted in a way since 1925, banned a few times.

MH: The RSS. AR: The RSS. Recently they announced their plans to start an RSS school to train people to join the army.

And they have a whole lot of Hindu nationalist groups and so, those groups can be pretty violent. They are not directly RSS, but they live under its shade in some ways, under its protection, if you like.

MH: And you’re right about India stealing a march on some of the other countries going through the same far right tendencies. I mean, people call Modi, Narendra Modi, India’s Donald Trump, which I hate, I loathe to be fair to Donald Trump. But to be fair to Donald Trump, he didn’t come to office with blood already on his hands as Narendra Modi did from his time in Gujarat, where he was Chief Minister during those antiMuslim pogroms in 2002.

AR: And he doesn’t have this organization behind him, you know.

MH: Trump doesn’t.

AR: And the RSS has, you know, it has women’s organizations. It has schools. It was a shadow state, but now it is the state, if you know what I mean.

You know, it has people everywhere. So what I wanted to say, and I think this is a very, very important thing for people to know, that abrogating section 370 was an RSS plan from long ago. They’ve always wanted to do this and it’s not nothing surprising in that sense, you know. They wanted to do it. They wanted to do the nuclear tests. They did it.

And now, you know, in the Eastern State of Assam, which borders Bangladesh, there had been a process called the National Register of Citizens, because Assam borders Bangladesh there was this thing that there are a lot of refugees from Bangladesh and we are not able to accommodate them all and so, there was this demand for the NRC and the BJP came in supporting it.

The home minister said, he called the Muslim infiltrators, termites and so on. When the process of the NRC happened today, you have something like 1.9 million people who are not on the list of citizens, let’s say.

MH: Yeah.

AR: So, now the problem that the BJP faces is that many of them are not Muslims. In fact, the bulk of them are not Muslims. So they’ve started to say, “We want a citizenship amendment act, where non-Muslims will automatically be citizens but Muslims will not be.”

Now they are building in Assam detention camps for these more than 1.9 million people. But they’re saying that we want to have the NRC in all the other states. You’re creating a situation in which you will have non-Hindus, as non-citizens. You will have tiered rights.

MH: Which is what the RSS has always wanted, tiered rights with Hindus at the top.

AR: Yes, and then, you’re creating a situation, which is just pre-the concentration camps.

MH: Are you hopeful? Because listening to this interview, it’s pretty depressing. You’re talking about the RSS with boots on the ground. Modi’s just been reelected. Maybe a preview of what’s going to happen in the U.S. next year with Trump, but where is the hope that this is going to happen?

AR: Okay, let me tell you the other side of the story. There are 10 states in India which have these special provisions. On Independence Day when Modi was boasting about how he abrogated Section 370. Many groups in the states in the northeast said we will not celebrate Indian independence because this is a federal country. You can’t just force us all into this. The whole Naga peace talks had to do with their own flag and their own constitution. You know, last week the Home Minister suggested that Hindi should become the national language.

Immediately there were protests in the south. So the more they pull this together, the more it breaks, you know.

We are in a lot of trouble. There is no doubt. All I’m saying is it’s not just going to go entirely their way.

MH: But you have hope?

AR: Well hope, I don’t know about hope. But I’m just saying that, you know, they can’t control even that valley of Kashmir with their 900,000 soldiers or 700,000 soldiers or whatever it is, you know. They don’t know what to do.

They can’t lift their feet off the pedal.

So this is a kind of stupidity, I mean, that’s why I said that rally was like Goodbye, India. Howdy, Modi. You know, because this way they are going to destroy this place.

MH: One last question: I know you said that you worked out long ago that you can’t rely on the compassion of others or people in the West or the international community.

But a lot of people listening to this interview are not in India, and they may want to do something. They may think I didn’t know anything about this, or I did know about this and I want to help. What can people do, if anything? Is there anything people can do listening to this to help the plight of people in IHK? AR: For one, they should read up. I mean, there’s so much written about Modi’s past, about where he comes from, about who he is, about the RSS, about its open admiration for Hitler and Mussolini. People can only do something if they understand, you know.

Someone like Roger Cohen, who wrote that piece in The New York Times, it would be wonderful if he had the integrity to write another piece saying he was wrong, he was ill-informed, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Monday, 14 October, 2019

FOREIGN NEWS 07

Typhoon leaves 19 dead as Japan launches major rescue TOKYO: Helicopters, boats and thousands of troops were deployed across Japan on Sunday to rescue people stranded in flooded homes as the death toll from a ferocious typhoon climbed to at least 19 with more than a dozen missing.

Public broadcaster NHK said 14 rivers across the nation had flooded, some spilling out in more than one spot. The casualty toll was compiled by Kyodo News service and was higher than one given by the government spokesman earlier on Sunday, a day after Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo and battered central and northern Japan with torrents of rain and powerful gusts of wind.

“The major typhoon has caused immense damage far and wide in eastern Japan,” government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters, adding that 27,000 military troops and other rescue crews were taking part in the operation. News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano prefecture where an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, and streams of water were continuing to spread over residential areas. The chopper plucked those stranded on the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters. Aerial footage showed tractors at work trying to control the flooding and several people on a rooftop, with one waving white cloth to get the attention of a helicopter.

Nearby was a child’s school bag. In another part, rows of Japan’s prized bullet trains, parked in a facility, were sitting in a pool of water. A stretch of Fukushima, in the city of Date, was also flooded with only rooftops of residential homes visible in some areas, and rescuers paddled in boats to get people out. Parts of nearby Miyagi prefecture were also under water. The Tama River, which runs by Tokyo, overflowed its banks, flooding homes and other buildings in the area. Authorities warned of a risk of mudslides.

Among the reported deaths were those whose homes were buried in landslides. Other fatalities included people who got swept away by raging rivers. Suga said recovery was on its way. Some 376,000 homes were without electricity, and 14,000 homes lacked running water, he said. Boats as well as helicopters were sent to the flooded areas, while rescue crew dug through dirt elsewhere to try to get people out from homes buried by landslides. Several train service in the Tokyo area resumed early morning, although others were undergoing safety checks and were expected to restart later on Sunday. Ruling party politician Fumio Kishida said the government will do its utmost in rescue operations, including making sure that those who moved to shelters were taken care of. He acknowledged Japan’s power grids need to be strengthened so people in disaster areas can rely on timely information. “So many risks remain, and it is a reality we must stay on guard,” Kishida said on an NHK TV news talk show. “We must do our utmost. In these times, a disaster can hit anytime.” The Rugby World Cup match between Namibia and Canada, scheduled for Sunday in Kamaishi, northern Japan, was cancelled as a precautionary measure, but organisers announced Japan will play Scotland as scheduled on Sunday evening.

Matches on Saturday had been cancelled. Stores and amusement parks had also been closed down. AGENCIES

Putin says Russia has ‘very friendly’ relations with Saudi crown prince MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said Russia has “very friendly personal relations” with Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Putin was speaking in an interview with Arab broadcasters, including Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, ahead of his first visit to Saudi Arabia in over a decade. He also said Russia was studying new investments in Saudi Arabia. Russian company Sibur Holding was looking at building a petrochemical complex in Saudi with investment worth more than $1 billion, Putin told Al Arabiya. AGENCIES

China’S Xi waRnS aTTemPTS To divide China will end in ‘ShaTTeRed boneS’ KATHMANDU

C

AGENCIES

HINESE President Xi Jinping warned on Sunday that any attempt to divide China will be crushed, as Beijing faces political challenges in monthslong protests in Hong Kong and US criticism over its treatment of Muslim minority groups. “Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,” he told Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in a meeting on Sunday, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. “And any external forces backing such attempts dividing China will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming!” he was quoted as saying. Xi, the first Chinese president to visit Nepal in 22 years, arrived in Nepal on Saturday on a state visit. Both sides are expected to sign a deal expanding a railway link between the Himalayan nation and Tibet.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD: Nepal’s Oli told Xi that the country will oppose any “antiChina activities” on its soil, CCTV reported.

China, which is trying to de-escalate a protracted trade war with the United States, has seen its political authority tested by increasingly violent protests in Hong Kong against what is seen as Beijing’s tightening grip on the Chinese-ruled

city. Police in Hong Kong have used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons against prodemocracy demonstrators in the former British colony, which has been plunged into its worst political crisis in decades. US president Donald Trump had said it would be difficult to negotiate with China if anything “bad” happens in Chinese authorities’ handling of the Hong Kong protests.

Trump said he discussed the issue of Hong Kong with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Saturday during their latest round of talks. Both sides reached a “phase-one deal” that has raised optimism for a broader agreement although many fundamental issues remained unresolved and existing tariffs are still not lifted. Washington last week also blacklisted 28 Chinese companies over Beijing’s treatment of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities. China has faced growing international condemnation for what it calls re-education and training centers in the remote western region of Xinjiang. Activists say they are mass detention camps holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims. Before arriving in Nepal, Xi was in India for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try to mend ties over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir amid scattered anti-China protests from Tibetan groups. China sent troops into remote, mountainous Tibet in 1950 in what it officially terms a peaceful liberation and has ruled there with an iron fist ever since.

NEPAL PUSHES TO END DEPENDENCY ON INDIA WITH CHINA RAIL, TUNNEL DEALS KHATMANDU: Chinese President Xi Jinping wound up two days of meetings in Nepal on Sunday with separate deals for a rail link to Tibet and a tunnel, an official said, as the Himalayan nation seeks to end an Indian dominance over its trade routes by increasing connectivity with Beijing. The 70-km (42-mile) rail link will connect Gyiron in Tibet with Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu, making it one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country. A Chinese team has already conducted a preliminary study for the project, which will be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s signature diplomatic and trade push that is attempting to recreate the old Silk Road joining China with Asia and Europe. Alongside, a proposed 28-km (17 mile) road tunnel will more than halve the distance from Kathmandu to the Chinese border, saving on time and cost. “China will now conduct a feasibility study of the rail project and help construct the tunnel way,” Rajeshor Gyawali, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, told Reuters. Nepal has sought to increase connectivity with China since a blockade along its border with India resulted in several months of acute shortage of fuel and medicine in 2015 and 2016. “These facilities will give us alternative trade routes when we face border blockades,” Gyawali said. AGENCIES

India mulls banning Malaysian imports over Mahathir’s Kashmir statement NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India is considering restricting imports of some products from Malaysia including palm oil, according to government and industry sources, in reaction to the Southeast Asian country’s leader criticising New Delhi for its actions in occupied Kashmir. India is looking for ways to limit palm oil imports and may place restrictions on other goods from the country, said a government source and an industry source who participated in discussions led by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on the planned restrictions.

The sources asked not to be named as the proposal was still under discussion. India’s government was angered after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last month at the United Nations that India had “invaded and occupied” Jammu and Kashmir and asked New Delhi to work with Pakistan to resolve the issue.

India revoked the special constitutional status of occupied Kashmir in August, angering Pakistan. The government wants to send a strong

signal of its displeasure to Malaysian authorities, the sources said. India, the world’s biggest importer of edible oils, is planning to substitute Malaysian palm oil with supplies of edible oils from countries such as Indonesia, Argentina and Ukraine, said the sources.

Palm oil accounts for nearly two-thirds of India’s total edible oil imports. India buys more than nine million tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

In the first nine months of 2019, India was the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil, taking 3.9 million tonnes, according to data compiled by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

A spokeswoman for India’s commerce ministry said the ministry could not comment on things that were under consideration. Malaysia’s prime minister on Friday said he had not received “anything official” from India after reports that India was mulling restricting imports of Malaysian palm oil and other products.

The news prompted Malaysian palm oil futures to snap five days of gains to end lower on Friday evening. The benchmark palm oil contract

for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange that had earlier been trading up on the day, fell 0.9 per cent to close at 2,185 ringgit ($522.23) per tonne.

A Mumbai-based refiner said it would not create a shortage of edible oils in India if buyers there stopped importing palm oil from Malaysia.

“Indonesia is eager to sell more and more palm oil to India,” the refiner said, adding that India could also increase imports of soy oil from Argentina and sunflower oil from Ukraine to offset any drop in Malaysian palm oil shipments.

Indonesia wants New Delhi to increase palm oil purchases and wants to buy sugar from India in exchange. Higher Indian imports had helped Malaysia reduce stockpiles in 2019, but stocks could rise again and prices could come under pressure if India curtails or stops imports, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

India’s government is also planning some restrictions on imports from Turkey, one of the government sources said, as Ankara has issued repeated statements on occupied Kashmir, an issue that India considers an internal matter.

50 years after internet conception, dark side stirs fear

SAN FRANCISCO AGENCIES

On October 29, 1969, professor Leonard Kleinrock and a team at the University of California at Los Angeles got a computer to “talk” to a machine in what is now known as Silicon Valley.

The event gave birth to a network that later became known as

the internet — hailed at first as a boon to equality and enlightenment, but with a dark side that has emerged as well. As UCLA marks the anniversary, Kleinrock is opening a new lab devoted to all things related to the internet — particularly mitigating some of its unintended consequences on the internet which is now used by some four billion people worldwide. “To

some point it democratizes everyone,” Kleinrock told AFP. “But it is also a perfect formula for the dark side, as we have learned.” So much is shouted online that moderate voices are drowned out and extreme viewpoints are amplified, spewing hate, misinformation and abuse, he contended. “As engineers, we were not thinking in terms of nasty behavior,” said Kleinrock, 85.

“I totally missed the social networking side. I was thinking about people talking to computers or computers talking to computers, not people talking to people.”

The new Connection Lab will welcome research on topics including machine learning, social networking, blockchain and the internet of things, with an eye toward thwarting online evils. Kleinrock expressed particular interest in using blockchain technology to at-

tach reputations to people or things online to provide a gauge of who or what to trust. For example, someone reading an online restaurant review would be able to see how reliable that author’s posts have been. “It is a network of reputation that is constantly up to date,” Kleinrock said. “The challenge is how to do that in an ethical and responsible fashion; anonymity is a two-edged sword, of course.”

BUSINESSES BEING BAD: He blamed many of the internet’s ills on businesses hawking things that are outdated or unneeded, violating privacy to increase profit.

Instead of clever lone hackers that vexed the internet in its early days, bad actors now include nation states, organized crime and powerful corporations “doing big, bad things,” Kleinrock lamented.

“We were not the social scientists that we should have been,”

Kleinrock said of the internet’s early days. He regretted a lack of foresight to build into the very foundation of the internet tools for better authenticating users and data files. “It wouldn’t have avoided the dark side, but it would have ameliorated it,” he said. He remained optimistic about the internet’s woes being solved with encryption, blockchain or other innovations. “I do still worry. I think everyone is feeling the impact of this very dark side of the internet that has bubbled up,” Kleinrock said. “I still feel that the benefits are far more significant; I wouldn’t turn off the internet if I could.”

WHAT KIND OF BEAST? In the early days, US telecom colossus AT&T ran the lines connecting the computers for ARPANET, a project backed with money from a research arm of the US military.

A key to getting computers to

exchange data was breaking digitized information into packets fired between machines with no wasting of time, according to Kleinrock. A grad student began typing “LOG” to log into the distant computer, which crashed after getting the “O.” “So, the first message was ‘Lo’ as in ‘Lo and behold,’” Kleinrock recounted. “We couldn’t have a better, more succinct first message.” Kleinrock’s team logged in on the second try, sending digital data packets between computers on the ARPANET because funding came from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) established in 1958.

Credit for creating the internet is a topic of debate, since there are a series of key moments in its evolution including arrival of protocols for how data is routed, and creation of the World Wide Web system of online pages.

Monday, 14 October, 2019

08 COMMENT

School education and economy II

Reforming the law NAB Law reforms without the opposition

Learning from Finland

dr Omer jAved

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verY government makes reforms in the criminal law. Changes are often enough made by an omnibus bill, in which amendments are made to a number of laws. This is especially needed where a change of the Pakistan Penal Code also needs a change to one schedule in the Criminal Procedure Code and another in the Limitations Act. It is also true that a reforming government like that of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf could not carry out its mandate without criminal law reforms. It had never made clear exactly what reforms it intended to bring about, but it had also made it clear that it was not one of those parties which felt that there was need for efficient implementation of the law rather than fresh legislation.

However, the law reforms announced on Saturday

by Law Minister farogh Naseem with so much fanfare will be implemented through the promulgation of an ordinance. The superior courts had already closed that backdoor used by lazy law ministries, both federal and provincial, in which the executive legislated, and then introduced that supposed temporary statute to the legislature as a sort of fait accompli. A federal ordinance can be promulgated for six months, a provincial for four; the technique is to have repromulgation take place as soon as expiry. The government could avoid this constitutionally dubious procedure by striking a deal with the Senate opposition so as to get legislation through that House.

A party gains office through a majority in the National Assembly, but it has happened before that it has found itself in a minority in the Senate, and thus in need of the co-operation, indeed help, of the opposition, in carrying out legislation.

However, this government, which apparently considers itself purer than driven snow, would rather put itself on a path of constitutional impropriety than discuss criminal law reform with the opposition. The current reforms package also includes changes to the NAB law. The opposition, which has seen a numerous array of stalwarts fall foul of the accountability watchdog, would have had something to say on the subject, and might have proposed a number of amendments born of bitter experience. However, no one asked. While this might have kept the government pristine, it prevented it building a much-needed consensus.

Sino-US Trade War The end in sight

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HougH the Sino-uS trade war is by no means over, its end has been brought into sight by the agreement between uS and Chinese negotiators in the latest round of talks and most immediately by their agreement that the latest round of uS tariff increases would not take place. In other words, the increase of tariffs on $250 billion of imports to 30 per cent (from the present 25 per cent) will not take place on october 15, while a tariff of 15 per cent on $150 billion of goods will not go into effect on December 15. Though there has been no agreement on a final trade deal, there is an agreement on agricultural products, which will allow the uS to export more to China. It is no coincidence that this will allow uS President Donald Trump to claim success in his support base of farmers at exactly the right time, when he comes up for re-election in 2020.

There was a certain inevitability about the outcome of the talks, though the fact that they had to take place at all, showed that trade can be subject to non-rational impulses as well. one problem that has been highlighted is that the uS is liable to throw its weight around in response to populist pressures. If President Trump had not seen it as electorally advantageous to slap tariffs on Chinese imports, he would not have. It was not just unfortunate for the two, but the entire world, that the trade war occurred, for it meant that there were knock-on effects worldwide, as supply-chains worldwide got sucked in.

There does not seem any way of preventing the uS (or even China for that matter) from throwing its weight around. The uS is developing a habit (markedly under President Trump) of using its own clout to wangle advantages for itself. Hopefully, it will find itself readier to let the invisible hand of the market play its role, rather than decide matters itself.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

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ere, to understand the role of school and its link with social progress, one is reminded of the words of the great American philosopher, educational reformer, and psychologist, John Dewey, that he mentions in his book (1915) titled The School And Society And The Child And The Curriculum. He points out, ‘We are apt to look at the school from an individualistic standpoint, as something between teacher and pupil, or between teacher and parent... And rightly so.

Yet the range of the outlook needs to be enlarged. What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy. All that society has accomplished for itself is put, through the agency of the school, at the disposal of its future members... only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can society by any chance be true to itself. And in the self-direction thus given, nothing counts as much as the school, for, as Horace Mann said, “Where anything is growing, one former is worth a thousand re-formers”.’ finland seems to have understood the importance of school education and has evolved it in ways that has allowed its citizens to become well-rounded individuals that are instilled with a) the spirit of ‘cooperation’ over ‘competition’, b) being ‘creative and innovative’ rather than adopting ‘rote learning’, primarily to pass exams, c) the attribute that favours ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’, and d) inspiration that looks to give more ‘freedom’ to students by schools being less controlling and pushing for conformity.

Hence, based on this though-process, finland has evolved some innovative features for school education, as part of its overall education reform, which in turn, has positively con-

tributed towards strengthening the economy and democracy there. In this regard, the Ministry of education in Pakistan, which is currently in the process of bringing educational reform, should indeed look to learn from the reforms that have been taking place in finland. firstly, providing equal opportunities to all students by creating policies to reduce the difference between the quality of schools across the country. Secondly, to increase creativity, promoting a culture of thinking, and diminishing the role of cramming material, there are no standardised tests in finland with the exception of National Matriculation exam, whereby ‘...which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school. All children throughout finland are graded on an individualised basis and grading system set by their teacher. Tracking overall progress is done by the Ministry of education, which samples groups across different ranges of schools’.

Thirdly, there is less focus on ‘teacher accountability’ and more on selecting teachers with excellent qualifications. In this regard, according to Pasi Sahlberg, director of the finnish Ministry of education, and author of ‘finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from educational Change in finland?’ ‘There’s no word for accountability in finnish… Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted.’ on the contrary, in finland ‘Teaching programmes are the most rigorous and selective professional schools in the entire country. If a teacher isn’t performing well, it’s the individual principal’s responsibility to do something about it’. fourthly, and very importantly, finland education reforms believe in ensuring that ‘basics’ for school educational environment are made available, unlike on creating a stressful environment at school that just frustrates students by

pushing them into a race of ‘excellent marks or upping the ante’. Hence, since 1980s the following basics are ensured, which include ‘a) education should be an instrument to balance out social inequality, b) all students receive free school meals, c) ease of access to health care, d) psychological counselling, and e) individualised guidance’. other important features of the approach taken by finland, and which differentiates it from the overall global attitude to education, include a) providing professional options post college degree, b) starting schools at a less stressful time of somewhere between 9:00-9:45AM, c) keeping one teacher for a subject, where the same teacher teaching a specific group of students continuously for many grades at school, d) a limited number of students per class to create better focus, e) giving less homework, where ‘according to the oeCD, students in finland have the least amount of outside work and homework than any other student in the world. They spend only half an hour a night working on stuff from school’, and f) ensuring a relaxed environment.

In this regard, Mike Colagrossi highlights in the article ‘10 reasons why finland’s education system is the best’ points out ‘Students usually only have a couple of classes a day. They have several times to eat their food, enjoy recreational activities and generally just relax. Spread throughout the day are 15 to 20-minute intervals where the kids can get up and stretch, grab some fresh air and decompress. This type of environment is also needed by the teachers. Teacher rooms are set up all over finnish schools, where they can lounge about and relax, prepare for the day or just simply socialise. Teachers are people too and need to be functional so they can operate at the best of their abilities’.

Dr Omer Javed holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund. He tweets @omerjaved7

Simmering India-Bangladesh bonhomie?

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‘Bangladesh refugees are infiltrators, economic termites’

Amjed jAAved

efore embarking on a three-day visit to India at the beginning of this month, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajid ordered removal, at the government’s expense, of India-east – Pakistan border pillars, bearing engraved the name of Pakistan.

After Partition, more than 8000 pillars were installed in the bordering areas including Satkhira, Jashore, Chuadanga, and Kushtia. earlier, Bangladesh prime minister had presented a portrait of surrendering Pakistan troops in 1971 to visiting Indian PM Narendra Modi. Add to it execution of elderly pro-Pakistan politicos. These puerile gestures were aimed at pleasing the Indian PM. Hasina’s provocative steps violate spirit of Simla Accord as also the Tripartite Agreement between the three.

However, it is to be seen how Bangladesh will cope with the burden of 19,06,657 Bangladeshis about to be flushed back into Bangladesh. India’s home minister called them ‘termites’ in the Indian economy. Already, Bangladesh is groaning under burden of a million rohingya refugees. Then there are the thorny water issues, Teesta river and Bay of Bengal Continental Shelf. The West Bengal chief minister had declared not to part with “even a drop of the Teesta river water” as it would harm the interest of West Bengal.

Incendiary anti-Bengali statements: Telangana BJP MLA T raja Singh Lodh demanded ‘Illegal Bangladeshi settlers and rohingya should be shot ‘if they do not return to their countries like gentlemen’. YS Chowdary of the Telugu Desam Party said illegal immigrants from Bangladesh had settled in Assam as part of a “conspiracy to destroy India”. It is the responsibility of the government to send them back to Bangladesh, he said.

Transition from ‘Bangladesh zindabad’ to ‘drive out Bengalis’: Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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India’s insincerity to Bangladesh stands unmasked. According to its National register of Citizenship, India now dubs Bengali refugees or settlers after 1951 ‘infiltrators’. The register establishes genealogical family trees going back till 1951.

The forbears of some Assamese Muslims go back 500 to 700 years, but they have no document to prove their nationality. India is all set to drive ‘infiltrators’ out. other States: The demand for expelling all Bangladeshis from Indian states is gaining momentum.

Some critics think the onslaught against Bangladeshi Muslims in India is part of Hindutva frenzy to harass Muslim community. Just three months after the final draft of the NrC for Assam was released, India’s Supreme Court tagged a petition seeking a similar process for Tripura.

India’s perfidious attitude in 1971: A bitter lesson of history is that India’s initial objective was not to convert east Pakistan into Bangladesh. India aimed at nothing higher than capturing sizable chunk of territory to establish a Bangladesh government from Calcutta and transfer the bulk of her refugee burden to the liberated area, but a distraught ‘Tiger’ Niazi signed a surrender document, instead of a ceasefire agreement.

After the fall of Dacca, the victorious Indians were least bothered about protecting innocent civilians.

The Indians were busy removing the plunder of their victory to India.

Large convoys of trains and trucks moved military hardware, foodstuffs, industrial produce and household goods including refrigerators, carpets and television set. The khaki of the Pakistani soldiers had been replaced by the green uniform of the Indian army. The Bengalis … were flabbergasted at a change.

ISI linked to Bengalis in Assam: Both Houses of Indian parliament have witnessed a rumpus on the question of pushing back 4.7

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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million Bengali Muslims back to Bangladesh. But, the Bangladesh government has clarified that it won’t take back the returnees as they are ‘Indian nationals’. The fate of Bengali Muslims, settled in Assam since times immemorial, thus hangs in the balance. Many politicians, including former rAW officers, have claimed it was the ISI’s conspiracy to push Bangladeshi Muslims into various Indian states as moles. A retired rAW officer (Sriprakash Jaiswal), in his public statement made startling revelations. He claimed “There were around 12 million such people living in 17 states and union territories as on December 31 2001.” He added, “Assam accounted for 5 million and West Bengal 5.7 million Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally.”

Aside from Jaswal’s recent statement, the BJP government had informed the rajya Sabha in 2006 that ‘as per the available information there are 20 million such persons living illegally in India’. The BJP leaders quote from Sheikh Mujibur rehman’s book to say that Mujib, as an east Pakistani national, wanted to annex Assam into east Pakistan (Bangladesh). Mujeeb in his book, Eastern Pakistan: Its Population and Economics, wrote, “Because eastern Pakistan must have sufficient land for its expansion and because Assam has abundant forests and mineral resources, coal, petroleum etc., eastern Pakistan must include Assam to be financially and economically strong”.

While disenfranchising Bangladeshis, India would grant ‘citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India’. The citizenship criterion violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. The article guarantees ‘equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste,

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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sex or place of birth’.

Yet the NrC process in Assam has overwhelming support across most political parties. There is no consensus as to how the deportation process should proceed. Such a bureaucratic exercise has deep humanitarian implications. It would create new fault lines, especially in a state like Tripura where there is no such unanimity of views on the NrC process. It will play havoc with reconciliation between Bengali-speaking and tribal people.

Bangladesh is tight-rope balancing between China and India.

Many cabinet ministers think that Bangladesh’s future lies with stronger rapport with China. During her visit to China, Sh Hasina discussed a broad spectrum of issues and signed several memoranda of understanding. They covered the power sector, riverine matters including Brahmaputra river, commercial loans and formation of various working groups.

Bangladesh has accepted the Belt and road Initiative.

Pakistan should explore the opportunity to woo a recalcitrant Bangladesh in view of emerging shift in India-Bangladesh relations.

Bangladesh strides in economic growth coupled with population control are laudable. At present, Bangladesh’s income per capita exceeds Pakistan’s. Several factors contributed to Bangladesh’s economic progress– absence of terrorism or insurgency, consistent industrialisation policies for industrialists and investors alike, availability of a flexible, educated, skilled, low-priced workforce, a low defence budget, better in-built accountability measures, and so forth.

Amjed Jaaved is a freelance journalist, has served in the Pakistan government for 39 years and holds degrees in economics, business administration, and law.

He can be reached at amjedjaaved@gmail.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 14 October, 2019

COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

PM Kashmir mission PM Imran Khan after a two-day stopover in Saudi Arabia, has landed in New York to attend Annual uN general Assembly session. He is accompanied by foreign Minister and two of unelected advisors, namely Hafeez Sheikh, allegedly a naturalised uS Citizen and Zulfi Bukhari, a British citizen by birth. Any person who seeks uS citizenship has to pledge on oath that he “absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom I have heretofore been a subject or citizen”. of course the PM will be assisted by our Ambassadors to uN and uSA, but what purpose do these two individuals serve, who when not holding any public office have never lived in this country, nor paid any taxes, neither do they have any stakes in Pakistan. When there was huge demonstration held in London on 15 August participated by thousands of Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Sikhs and some conscientious British citizens, neither of these two gentlemen had time to participate in them, although one of them holds portfolio of overseas Pakistanis.

What is surprising is that a vocal federal Minister was present in London, but he for reasons best known to him, did not take part in it. unlike Indian diaspora, who constitutionally cannot hold dual nationality, nor right to vote in Indian elections, if they hold any foreign nationality, but are united on one platform and support whoever is elected by people of India.

They also send remittances back to India. It is unfortunate that Pakistani diaspora is divided among political parties of Pakistan and are rarely seen to be united on one platform.

GULL ZAMAn Peshawar

Innocent but guilty

Modi is RSS’s avatar

The criminal justice system needs to be fixed

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Syed KASwAr GArdezi

He criminal justice system of most common law countries requires the prosecution to prove and establish the guilt of an accused beyond reasonable doubt. A mere shadow of doubt cast on the prosecution’s version of events is suffice to secure an acquittal of an accused. The simple reason behind this principle is that a thousand guilty men may walk free but not one innocent should be incarcerated wrongly.

Ironically, the aforementioned principle is applied conversely in Pakistan. Thousands of innocents languish in our jails with no end to their miseries in sight whereas the guilty walk free. Due to a number of flaws in our criminal justice system, these poor souls endure living hell and their entire lives are ruined as a collateral of our failing system.

The absence of moral conscience is a significant factor which leads to the incarceration of an innocent person. false testimonies, as time and again stressed upon by the Supreme Court, is the single most significant factor which contributes to landing innocent people behind bars. In order to settle personal vendettas, people in our country are willing to lie under oath and falsely implicate the ones they seek to punish. Similarly, the prosecution in most cases is faulty and questionable reason why it opens doors for even the guilty to walk free. Poor evidence collection and failure to corroborate the events of a crime, as alleged, allows criminals to be free. In spite of the evident guilt of an accused, the learned judges have to let them go keeping in view the principles of law laid down in our jurisprudence developed over the past decades. At the same time, the prosecution wrongly implicates countless individuals and by fabricating testimonies and evidence, secures convictions which are eventually not sustained, However, these convictions wash away formidable years of an innocent individual wrongly implicated.

There is an immense need to reprimand and improve the competency of the trial court judges who, in their sole opinion, determine the guilt or innocence of an accused. Despite blatant contradictions in the prosecution’s allegations, a number of trial court judges proceed to award punishments for reasons best known to them. A much higher responsibility

is attached to the court of a judge hearing criminal matters, as it is their prerogative to decide upon the fate of an individual. faulty evidence should be called out and disregarded at its inception and should not be left for the superior courts to re-examine in almost each and every case. for the sake of non-legal minds, a reference may be made to narcotics cases, where, as per the law laid down by the Supreme Court, the single most important piece of evidence is the forensic lab report whereby it is determined that whether or not the substance recovered from an accused constitutes a narcotic drug or otherwise. Naturally, no man could determine with certainty as to whether a substance is a narcotic drug, therefore the law provides for samples being tested by a forensic lab expert so as to secure the interest of justice. In order to further rule out any mischief, the narcotics rules further provide a prescribed form upon which the lab report should be prepared.

Such lab reports are required to include the full details of all the protocols applied to the tested product so as to rule out even the slightest shadow of doubt. In spite of the mandatory nature of the lab report being prepared on the prescribed form, there are numerous cases in which a conviction has been secured and even sustained by the High Court wherein the forensic lab report is not only dubious but casts a significant shadow of doubt, the benefit of which should be extended to an accused, not as grace but rather as a matter of right.

The prosecution’s failure coupled with the incompetency of trial court judges lands a man in prison, for a crime he didn’t commit.

The simple level of competence required to analyse and see through the material present is lacking and serious attention needs to be drawn to it.

No wonder the acquittal rate by the apex court remains quite high as the lordships see through the fabricated testimonies and deter-

mine the innocence of an accused. Though some of these victims do find relief at the hands of the highest court of the land, the question is, what role is to be attributed to the other courts within the judicial hierarchy? for instance, any death sentence awarded by a trial court is subject to confirmation by a divisional bench of the concerned High Court.

In the event of an accused on death row being acquitted by the Supreme Court, how does such an acquittal reflect upon the High Court which had in the first instance confirmed the death sentence? once the Supreme Court has established that an accused was wrongly convicted, will it not cast a serious doubt upon the competence and legitimacy of the High Court below?

Would the confirmation of a death sentence not amount to an attempted murder?

Along with promulgation of new laws, the government should also prioritise reforming the prosecution departments nationwide. Not only would it reduce the burden on our courts but will also contribute in keeping innocent people free. Similarly, the Supreme Court, being the highest court, should also devise a strategy by virtue of which criminal appeals should be taken up at the earliest. There are examples where innocent men with strong grounds of appeal have been awaiting their turn before the Supreme Court for years and their cries are yet to be heard. Some rare cases have even seen the appellants having been executed beforehand, only to be acquitted posthumously.

The Qazis of today need to be reminded that the actual judgement for all is yet to come. Those with the power to judge others today will be standing in a much Higher Court to be judged where they shall be answerable for every word that they dictate today as judges.

Along with promulgation of new laws, the government should also prioritise reforming the prosecution departments nationwide. Not only would it reduce the burden on our courts but will also contribute in keeping innocent people free.

Similarly, the Supreme Court, being the highest court, should also devise a strategy by virtue of which criminal appeals should be taken up at the earliest

Syed kaswar Gardezi is a lawyer and a columnist. He can be contacted at kaswargardezi@gmail.com

oNLY five people were present at the rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s inaugural meeting, Hedgewar, Moonje, veer Savarkar’s brother ganesh Damodar Savarkar, Lv Paranjpe and BB Tholkar.

With rise of Bharatiya Janata Party, Hedgewar now commands formidable respect with Hindu majority and terrified minorities.

India’s prime minister is avatar of rSS’s founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, who founded rSS on 27 September, 1925.

CP Bhishikar’s biography of Hedgewar, Keshav Sanghnirmata tells how rSS founder equated Muslims to “yavana” snakes. rakesh Sinha, BJP’s rajya Sabha MP and Hedgewar’s biographer, said, “Hedgewar formed rSS in order to consolidate the Hindus. He wanted to liberate them from restrictions imposed by the protracted Mughal-British rule. Driving force for Hedgewar to form rSS was vinayak Damodar (veer) Savarkar’s ideas on Hindutva and motherland. Sarvarkar had spelled out that only those who considered India as their fatherland and a holy land could be considered patriots. He ruled out Muslims, suggesting that their patriotism should always be suspected.

In a work that expressed admiration for Nazi germany’s purge of Jews, golwalkar wrote in 1939, “… the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.” (MS golwalkar, We or our Nationhood Defined, Bharat Prakashan, 1939, 104-105). golwalkar made it clear that in the rSS view, Hindu majoritarian identity politics is the only acceptable nationalism, and any politics of asserting an identity separate from the Hindu identity is ‘anti-national’ and ‘divisive.’ He wrote: “Let us remember that this oneness is ingrained in our blood from our very birth, because we are all born as Hindus.” (Bunch of Thoughts, p 255).

AMJED JAvED Rawalpindi

Commercialisation of education ALTHougH Islam stresses upon importance of seeking education and so did Quaid e Azam, it is shocking that Pakistan government has abdicated its primary function of regulating and providing quality education and promoting research and development by outsourcing it to private sector.

At the time of partition, the subcontinent had two medical colleges attached to hospitals, one of them was KeMC in Lahore and the other was in Calcutta. Some of best pre partition educational institutions were located in Lahore, Peshawar, rawalpindi, Karachi etc, such as gC Lahore, KeMC, Kinnaird College, gordon College rawalpindi, edwards College Peshawar, Murray College Sialkot, Mama Parsi and Madressatul-Islam in Karachi etc. The government owned schools like Central Model in Lahore were as good or even better than private schools. It is unfortunate that instead of improving the quality of education, it has deteriorated. It is primary constitutional function of the state, which it has outsourced and today education has been commercialised. universities, colleges and schools have become a booming industry reaping profits.

Quantity has replaced quality. Similar is the fate of health.

It is the state’s failure to regulate which has resulted in over 4,000 of our doctors with post graduate degrees in MS and MD employed in Mid east and gulf had their contracts terminated because private commercial institutions lacked structured training programmes and did not meet SCfHS regulations. for over a decade the state closed its eyes until there was an international scandal exposing fake degrees being sold by AXACT and so powerful are their protectors that till today nobody has been given punishment they deserved.

No state in the world can survive and achieve economic self-reliance unless it invests in promotion of science, technology, economics and arts etc. educational institutions must not be reduced to commercial business ventures.

MALIk TARIq ALI Lahore

Monday, 14 October, 2019

10 FOREIGN NEWS Firefighters curb southern California blazes LOS ANGELES: Wildfires raging across southern California abated on Saturday with evacuation orders lifted after 100,000 people were forced to flee their homes. A fire that had burned rapidly through the San Fernando Valley in greater Los Angeles was the strongest of several across southern California. By Saturday, it had consumed 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares) about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles, fire officials said, adding that the blaze was about 33 percent contained. All residents were allowed to return to their homes on Saturday as cooler temperatures and lighter winds improved the outlook. “We are prepared for any flare-ups as they occur,” Los Angeles fire captain Branden Silverman told local media. One man in his 50s died of a heart attack as he struggled to save his home, fire officials said.

HIGHWAYS CLOSED: Part of Los Angeles County was blanketed with smoke from the fire, prompting an advisory from air quality officials about unhealthy conditions. The fire broke out Thursday night and quickly grew out of control in the city of Sylmar, driven by low humidity and gusts known as the Santa Ana winds. About 1,000 firefighters, backed by water-dropping helicopters and planes releasing fire retardants, fought the blaze that forced the shutdown of several major highways. The metro line in the area was also closed as were schools and businesses. Some 200 firefighters battled several other blazes in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, including one that tore through a trailer park and was started by burning trash. That blaze destroyed 76 homes and buildings and killed an 89-year-old woman who was unable to escape the flames. Authorities ordered the evacuation of several hundred homes in the area. The wildfires in the south of California erupted as the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), implemented rolling power blackouts that affected some two million people in northern California. The shutoffs were designed to reduce the threat of wildfire that can be sparked by lines downed in heavy winds. Last November, PG&E’s faulty power lines were determined to have sparked the deadliest wildfire in the state’s modern history, which killed 86 and destroyed the town of Paradise. AGENCIES

Arms embArgoes won’t stop turkey’s syriA operAtion: erdogAn

p

RESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that threats of sanctions and arms embargoes by Western powers would not stop Turkey’s military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria. “After we launched our operation, we have faced threats like economic sanctions and embargoes on weapons sales. Those who think they can make Turkey turn back with these threats are gravely mistaken,” Erdogan said in a televised speech. France and Germany said Saturday that they were suspending arms exports to Turkey over its offensive in Syria against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist off-shoot of Kurdish rebels in its own territory, but Western powers used the Kurds as the main ground force against the militant Islamic State group.

Erdogan said he spoke with German Chan-

In a phone call with Erdogan, Merkel “spoke in favour for an immediate end to the military operation”, the chancellor’s office said in a statement.

The operation threatens to drive large parts of the population from their homes, she said, noting that it would also risk “destabilisation of the region and lead to a resurgence of the IS”. AGENCIES

Trump backs Giuliani, but some aides wish he would cut ties

Media magnate or law professor: Tunisia chooses a president TUNIS: Tunisians are voting for president Sunday in an unusual contest pitting a populist tycoon who just got out of jail against a conservative professor backed by resurgent Islamists.

The winner of Sunday’s runoff vote will inherit a North African country struggling to overcome corruption, unemployment and sporadic extremist violence — but proud of its still-budding, post-Arab Spring democracy. The choice for voters between two quirky candidates who have never held political office has made for an unprecedented election. The top performer in last month’s first-round vote was 61-year-old Kais Saied, an enigmatic former constitutional law professor dubbed “Robocop” for his austere bearing. His challenger is Nabil Karoui, a glib, 56year-old media mogul who spent most of the campaign behind bars on accusations of money laundering and tax evasion that he calls politically driven. The only thing the men have in common is their outsider status. A well-heeled entrepreneur who just started his political party this year, Karoui campaigned on promises to fight the poverty that has hobbled Tunisia since its 2011 pro-democracy uprising unleashed revolts around the Arab world. Detractors dubbed him “Nabil Macaroni” because his party distributes the noodles to the poor. He embraced it: “Nabil Macaroni, and proud to be,” Radio Mosaique quoted him as saying Friday. During an unprecedented TV debate, Karoui promised to combat extremist violence by “attacking at its roots” and raising economic prospects in struggling provinces that are fertile recruiting grounds for the Islamic State group and other extremists. A self-proclaimed modernist, he said he would seek partnerships with companies such as Microsoft, Google and Netflix to create jobs, and holds up women as pillars of society. AGENCIES

cellor Angela Merkel by phone on Wednesday and raised the issue of the arms embargo.

“I told her to explain it to me. Are we really allies at the heart of NATO, or has the terrorist group (the YPG) been accepted into NATO without my being informed?” he said. He also rejected the idea of any mediation between Turkey and the YPG. “When did you see a state sit at the same table with a terror group?” he said.

Erdogan said the Turkish military and its Syrian proxies now controlled the border town of Ras al-Ain, while Tal Abyad was being besieged from two directions. Merkel urges Erdogan to immediately end Syria offensive German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to halt Turkey’s offensive in northern Syria immediately, warning it could spark further destabilisation of the region and a resurgence of the militant IS group.

WASHINGTON AGENCIES

President Donald Trump on Saturday stood behind personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, one of his highestprofile and most vocal defenders, amid reports that federal prosecutors in the city Giuliani led as mayor are eyeing him for possible lobbying violations.

Behind the scenes, however, many of Trump’s closest aides and advisers, inside and outside the White House, quietly wish the president would cut ties with Giuliani, whose leadership of New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks earned him worldwide admiration and the moniker of “America’s mayor.”

Giuliani was a force in Trump’s defense during the lengthy Russia investigation by the special counsel.

Yet the effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller led Giuliani to Ukraine, which now entangles the former federal prosecutor and mayor in legal jeopardy and is central to the danger threatening the

presidency he labored to protect.

The New York Times reported Friday, citing a pair of anonymous sources familiar with the matter, that the investigation is linked to Giuliani’s efforts to undermine Marie Yovanovitch, formerly the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has declined to comment on the Times report. Two Florida businessmen with ties to Giuliani were charged Thursday with federal campaign finance violations. Both played key roles in Giuliani’s efforts to get Ukraine to launch a corruption investigation into Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a gas company there.

On Saturday, Trump deployed in Giuliani’s defense the same two-word phrase — “Witch Hunt!” — he repeatedly used to attack the legitimacy of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and now the House impeachment inquiry against him. “So now they are after the legendary ‘crime buster’ and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani,” Trump tweeted while on the way to his northern Virginia golf club. “He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer.” Later Saturday, he told Jeanine Pirro during a telephone interview broadcast on her Fox News Channel program that Giuliani continues as his lawyer. “He’s a great gentleman. He was a great mayor, one of the greatest, maybe the greatest mayor in the history of New York,” the president said. “He was a fantastic prosecutor. I know nothing about him being under investigation … I can’t imagine it.”

IMPEACHMENT PROBE OVERSHADOWS US 2020 DEMOCRATIC RACE WASHINGTON: Joe Biden faces scrutiny over Ukraine, Elizabeth Warren is surging and Bernie Sanders had a heart attack, but recent developments in the Democratic presidential battle are getting minimal attention, swamped by Washington’s impeachment obsession. Most Democratic candidates are pounding the pavement in early voting states like Iowa, but they are finding little oxygen for the nomination race. Broadcast and cable news have been dominated by a burgeoning Ukraine scandal that has engulfed the White House and prompted House Democrats to launch an impeachment investigation of possible abuse of power by Trump. The drama threatens to overshadow what could be a pivotal moment in the Democratic nomination race: Tuesday’s threehour debate with the party’s top 12 candidates. The fourth showdown of the cycle will feature the Democratic dozen clashing on everything from health care and climate to jobs, gun control and foreign policy, as they seek to catch fire with voters. Under normal circumstances the pre-debate chatter would center around whether Biden gets more aggressive against rising star Warren, if Sanders can rebound after health problems, or how second-tier candidates like Senator Kamala Harris or ex-congressman Beto O’Rourke can mount a comeback. But talk of Trump’s fate is the stark new reality, and for lesser Democratic candidates struggling for a breakout moment, their path to the nomination just got harder. “There is a lot of this impeachment inquiry taking over the narrative, and we’re going to see how these Democrats will be able to shape that to their advantage,” Mitchell McKinney, director of the Political Communication Institute at University of Missouri, told AFP. The candidate most impacted by the Ukraine crisis is Biden. A whistleblower complaint at the center of the inquiry alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine’s leader on a July 25 call to investigate the US president’s Democratic rival. Trump says he acted appropriately, but he has relentlessly hammered Biden and his son as “corrupt.”

BIDEN, WARREN FACE ATTACKS: McKinney said Biden could flip the attention to his advantage, convincing voters that he’s the Democrat Trump fears most in 2020. “Biden must demonstrate his aggressiveness and ability to take on the issue of Donald Trump coming at him directly about him and his son,” McKinney said. He has. Saying Trump “betrayed this nation,” Biden on Wednesday called for the president’s impeachment for the first time. “Let me make something clear to President Trump: I’m not going anywhere,” he added Friday on Twitter. “You’re not going to destroy me.” Warren called for Trump’s impeachment months ago, perhaps signaling that, while Biden earlier hedged his bets, she recognized the urgency that a growing number of Democrats feel about ousting Trump. AGENCIES

Canada vote pitches Trudeau into fight of his political life OTTAWA AGENCIES

The gloves have come off as Justin Trudeau struggles to hold onto his parliamentary majority heading into the last week of a tight campaign before Canada’s October 21 general election. The latest polls put his Liberals in a dead heat with the Conservatives, led by Andrew Scheer.

With only 32 percent support each, however, neither of the frontrunners is poised to win enough of the 338 seats up for grabs for an absolute majority in the House of Commons. Barring a trip-up over the coming days, whoever wins the most votes may have to seek the backing of one or more minor parties to form the next government. “Not since the 1980s have I seen an election campaign where the two major parties are so close, and where neither of them has really managed to captivate voters,” said Christian Bourque of polling firm Leger. “The Liberals’ support is close to a historic low, which means Trudeau has not been able to convince enough progressive voters to stick with him,” he told AFP.

“Meanwhile, the Conservatives have been unable to attract centrist voters (beyond their base) over to their side.”

A lack of a defining issue, he noted, has been problematic for all parties in this election, but more so for the two mainstays that have led Canada since confederation in 1867. “The traditional main parties are struggling to captivate, inspire and motivate voters to come out and cast a ballot,” said Bourque. The Liberals, who won 184 seats in the last election with 40 percent of the popular vote trouncing the Tories on 99 seats, have sought to make climate action a key issue this time.

MUDSLINGING: Trudeau defended his record: introduction of a carbon tax to curb global warming, a strong economy with near-record low unemployment, and new trade pacts with Europe and Pacific nations, as well as the United States and Mexico. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have stood alone among all of the parties in pledging austerity measures to return to a balanced budget within five years.

With time running out to sway voters, what started as polite discourse over poli-

cies turned to mudslinging. Trudeau evoked the boogeymen of past and current Conservative parties, accusing Scheer and his Tories of fostering “politics of fear and division” and secretly planning to slash billions in social and infrastructure spending. The full Conservative platform was only released late Friday, just before the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Scheer retorted that Trudeau is a “compulsive liar,” “a phoney and a fraud.”

He raised Trudeau’s wearing of

blackface makeup, his meddling in the criminal prosecution of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin and his firing of the nation’s first indigenous attorney general “for not going along with his corruption.”

“Who do you trust to put more money in your pockets so you can get ahead?”

Scheer said at a campaign stop on Saturday. Scheer, untested since taking the reins of his party two years ago, has struggled to overcome his bland image of a minivan-driving dad of five trying to take

down the Trudeau dynasty.

SMALLER PARTIES TO GAIN? Disillusion with Trudeau, meanwhile, rather than helping Scheer, has boosted the fortunes of New Democrats, which were buoyed also by its rookie leader Jagmeet Singh’s rousing debate performances.

Also on his left flank, Trudeau has had to contend with criticisms from the Green Party for having nationalised a pipeline project to move oil from Alberta to Pacific tidewater for shipping overseas, and the revival of the separatist Bloc in the key battleground of Quebec.

The Bloc had been presumed dead after being reduced to 10 seats in 2015 — two short of official party status. Quebec separatism — after two failed referendums in 1980 and 1995 on splitting away from the rest of Canada — is a no-go nowadays.

But the Bloc has tapped into lingering Quebec nationalism, arguing that it is best positioned to defend the province’s interests within the federation. During the last week of campaigning, Bourque predicted all of the parties would sharpen their personal attacks on rival leaders.

Monday, 14 October, 2019

BUSINESS 11

High tariffs prevent textile manufacturers from using imported raw materials: WB BUSINESS DESK: Pakistan’s reliance on local raw materials as opposed to imported artificial fibres for textile and apparel exports has been linked to exorbitant tariffs and regulatory by the World Bank. The World Bank, in its report titled ‘Trading for Development: In the age of global value chains’, has said the tariffs and duties in Pakistan on intermediaries averages 8 percent, which is four times as high in East Asia, including China and taiwan. “Thus, Pakistani exporters of textiles and apparel — the country’s major export sector — rely mostly on domestic cotton rather than on imported artificial fibers, such as polyester (the leading input to the fast growing global imports of apparel),” the World Bank said in the report. The World Bank said a very small number of textile exporters in the country are presently availing the duty suspension schemes, such as the duty and tax remission on exports, for their imported intermediates as remission takes a much longer time for them. “In practice, approvals for remission take on average 60 days — twice the time specified by law — and clearing customs after approval takes an extra 5-10 days,” the bank said. “For that reason, a mere 3 percent of textile and apparel exporters use the scheme. In Bangladesh, by contrast, obtaining approval for duty suspension on intermediates takes on average 24 hours, and about 90 percent of textile and apparel firms use the scheme.” The World Bank, however, sees strength in the country’s agriculture and livestock sector that could help it improve its participation in the global value chain. “Pakistan’s ability to overcome an export ban on fish and expand horticultural exports attests to the value of building a strong national standards regime,” it said. “Pakistan’s development of a robust national quality standards regime helped to lift the European Union’s ban on the country’s fish exports and facilitated rapid growth in mango and mandarin exports by ensuring full traceability in the supply chain.” Although the country would seem most exposed to the threat of robotization-induced reshoring because its exports are heavily concentrated in goods that robots can help produce, it is one of the commodity exporters that “seem somewhat shielded from the threat of robotizationinduced reshoring,” the World Bank said in the report.

World Bank projects India’s growth rate to go down 6pc BUSINESS DESK: After decelerated economic growth for a second consecutive year, the World Bank has projected India’s growth rate to go down by 6 percent, Indian media outlets reported on Sunday. The report, which was released ahead of the annual meeting of the World Bank with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), noted that India’s growth rate stood at 6.8 percent in the fiscal year 2018-19 – falling from 7.2 percent in 2017-18. However, the bank in its latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus said the country was expected to gradually recover to 6.9 per cent in 2021 and 7.2 per cent in 2022 as it assumed that the monetary stance would remain accommodative, given benign price dynamics. In the first quarter of 2019-20, the Indian economy experienced a sharp decline in private consumption, with a weak growth rate in both industry and services. The report also noted that in the previous year, the amount deficit was 1.8 per cent – widening to 2.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018-19. The World Bank also said that Bangladesh and Nepal are estimated to grow faster than India in 2019. It also said that growth in South Asia is projected to fall to 5.9 percent in 2019, down 1.1 percentage points from April 2019 estimates, casting uncertainty about a rebound in the short term.

CaBInet to devIse strategy to taCkle possIBle WHeat CrIsIs ISLAMABAD

t

SHAHZAD PARACHA

HE federal cabinet will take up multiple issues, including a possible wheat crisis, for discussion in its meeting on Monday.

Sources said that there is a scarcity of around 3.37 million metric ton wheat in total reserves comparable to the last fiscal year due to which the private sector can create a wheat crisis in country.

The concerned departments reported wheat stocks at the level of 7.275 million tons on 05-92019, as compared to 10.648 million tons in the corresponding period of the last year.

Importantly, sources said that Sindh government could not purchase wheat during the current fiscal year.

Ironically, sources disclosed that despite the ban on export of wheat and wheat flour, around 17,650 tons of wheat products have been exported through sea and land route.

In addition to this, the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) has also shown concerns over the prices and wheat situation.

NPMC asked the government to enforce provincial Price Control Act in order to mitigate

the price hike trend in the local market. Moreover, there is a dire need to mobilise the administrative machinery in the provinces/districts.

The ECC meeting also directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to prepare a report (stock position) on wheat situation in the country. In addition, the ECC had also directed Finance Division to call an early meeting of the NPMC to assess the wheat and flour supply situation in different parts of the country, including the federal capital.

Sources said that Minister for Railways, in last cabinet meeting, had also expressed his concern over the stock position of wheat. “A huge quantity of wheat has been wasted due to poor hygienic and bad storage conditions in the warehouses,” he had said.

He suggested that a fresh stock taking may be carried out to know actual stock position of wheat in the country. He pointed out that consumption or wheat flour generally increases from November onwards and hence there is a need to be vigilant about supplies during that period.

RESTRUCTURING PLAN OF CDA: The cabinet will also take up the restricting plan of CDA as sources said that there is a massive conflict of interest in CDA overall affairs.

“CDA is likely to be headed by a non-executive board in context with principles of corporate governance. Till now the board was executives, which meant each member would bring their agenda, present it in board meeting and after approval, they execute it themselves. This is likely to be rectified and now chairman will also be from the private sector, sources added.

MASTER PLAN OF ISLAMABAD: Interior Division will also brief about the master plan of Islamabad prepared by the CDA. Sources told that civic body has proposed not to make regularisation of any illegality, in addition to this, they have also proposed not to make any change in zoning regulations.

Moreover, they have proposed to keep zone 3 as non- residential and shall continue to be green area, besides this, new proposed Master plan of Islamabad envisaged new highways to bypass and short term solutions to water availability.

Sources said that the commission earlier comprised retired government employees then it was changed to professionals, including Nayyar Ali Dada, Ali Asghar. khurram Bargat, Nayab Gardezi . This body has prepared an interim report and proposed TORs for the consultants who will prepare a detailed report.

PIAF calls on government to secure cheap funding LAHORE INP

.As the government’s reliance on expensive foreign funding continued to rise, the Pakistan Industrial & Traders Association Front (PIAF) on Sunday called for generating cheap funding, which has dropped significantly in recent times.

In a press release issued here on Sunday, PIAF chairman Mian Nauman Kabir said that Pakistan’s external debt was primarily increasing because of the government’s inability to enhance exports and attract foreign direct investment. Asking the economic managers to review their irresponsible borrowing behaviour, he said the government has added more than $10.82 billion foreign loans in public debt on high interest in only one year.

Quoting the latest statistics issued by the central bank, PIAF chairman said that the reliance on commercial banks continued during the new government, which is more expensive, as without passing through due diligence process the Ministry of Finance borrowed over $4 billion through foreign commercial banks on short-term basis.

The short-term commercial borrowing was usually obtained at higher rates and without undertaking any due diligence in shape of

seeking approval of the cabinet or the Economic Coordination Committee.

The PIAF Chairman said that it’s a worrying indicator because government reliance on short-term commercial borrowing is increasing, which is expensive, while our capacity to draw foreign inflows from cheap mode of financing is decreasing with the passage of time.

According to statistics, the Asian Development Bank had disbursed $541.17 million in July-June period of 2018-19 against $1.508 billion obtained in the same period of last financial year, indicating that the ADB’s loan disbursement, which was obtained at low interest

rate, decreased by $967 million.

In the same way, the World Bank disbursed $652.75 million during the fiscal year 2018-19 against $1.731 billion provided to Islamabad through IDA and IBRD facility in the financial year 201718.

The official data showed that Chinese deposits of $2 billion were also made part of the total disbursements of loans and grants obtained during the fiscal year 2018-19.

The government has obtained $2.111 billion through multilateral creditors such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, IDB and others in fiscal year 2018-19 against $3.87 billion in the same pe-

riod of last financial year 2017-18.

Meanwhile, PIAF Chairman expressed serious concern over the lacklustre performance in the industrial sector of the country due to wrong policies of the government, saying the economy is likely to slow down further despite government expectations for the GDP growth to clock in at 3.3 percent in FY2018-19.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector shrank 3.78 percent during May from a year ago, as the contraction came amid dismal performance in the fertiliser, leather, pharmaceutical, and chemical sectors raising fears of large-scale layoffs in the industrial sector.

On a year-on-year basis, the LSM dipped by 3.5pc during the first 11 months (July-May) of this fiscal year — falling far behind the 8.1pc target set for the government for FY2018-19.

The LSM data reveals various factors which led to the slowdown including lower Public Sector Development Programme expenditures compared to last year, deceleration in the private sector construction activities and consumer spending on durable goods.

The effect was more noticeable in the construction-allied industries.

Online streaming giants battle for Asian audiences BUSAN AGENCIES

Acclaimed director David Michod's epic "The King" was one of four major Netflix productions screened at Asia's largest film festival this week, underlining how streaming services are increasingly challenging Hollywood and traditional media for the attention of artists -- and viewers.

Asia is seen as an important part of the global streaming industry's growth plan. In conjunction with the main event, Busan International Film Festival also hosted its first Asia Contents Awards reflecting how the market is rapidly changing.

"They gave us the resources and the freedom to make this properly," Michod said of working with Netflix. "I like that I don't feel I am sacrificing myself at the altar of the box office," he added.

So called over-the-top (OTT) platforms or videoon-demand (VOD) -- online services that viewers can access directly such as Amazon Prime, YouTube, Hulu and Apple TV -- are booming.

Hollywood stars including Julia Roberts, Rooney Mara, Brad Pitt and Will Smith, have embraced streaming as audiences grow.

"If people want to can go see (films) on the big

screen they can, but my TV at home is amazing," Michod explained.

Disney and Apple are set to launch their platforms across Asia Pacific this year, capitalising on growing mobile usage and rapidly improving access to faster speed internet.

Vivek Couto, executive director at research group Media Partners Asia, believes the region is "crucial" to the plans of global streaming platforms as there are "massive prospects to go after".

CONTENT BOOM: Online video revenue -- predominantly from film and TV subscriptions as well as advertising -- in the region will increase by 24 percent in 2019, making it worth $27 billion annually, according to a report by Couto's firm.

That figure is predicted to hit $50 billion by 2024. China accounts for around 59 percent of revenue for the region in 2019, according to the report - but its strict regulations make access difficult for outside players with local platforms iQIYI, Tencent Video and Youku dominating.

Google-owned YouTube earns the largest share of revenues in Asia, but Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney's Indian platform Hotstar have all experienced significant growth in the past few years.

"Local content has historically been the preserve

of large incumbent TV networks in markets such as India, Japan and Korea but as content and consumption moves online the availability and creation of premium local content becomes important," said Couto. He added this would drive up demand, and create opportunities for subscription streaming and for advertisers.

HBO Asia had the world premiere of its starstudded Malaysian co-production "The Garden of Evening Mists" at BIFF. The film is pan-Asian by design -- starring Malaysian Lee Sinjee, Japan's Hiroshi Abe, and Taiwan's Sylvia Chang -- but global in ambition.

"VOD platforms widen the distribution and amplify the presence of these Asian films to global audiences," the film's producers said in a statement to AFP. Netflix is rolling out 17 Asian productions, with the platform's first series from Thailand expected to debut by the end of the year.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: Despite the arrival of global giants, local platforms believe they can hold their own.

The Southeast Asian HOOQ platform this week announced 19 productions were in the works all made by film-makers from the region.

"As a company that is built in Asia for Asians, we

believe that local stories are best told by locals," argued Jennifer Batty, the company's chief content officer.

Singapore-based documentary streaming service iwonder recently expanded into eight new southeast Asian markets "As we expand our offerings, a key focus will be finding documentaries from within those markets, accessing local voices who shine their own unique light on their world," said the platform's co-founder James Bridges.

Adapting content to audiences needs will be vital to success.

Around 250 million people regularly watch films on their mobile devices in India.

In response, Netflix introduced a mobile-only version of its streaming, but Asian firms may have the edge on understanding what local audiences want.

"Where I think companies like ours in Asia have the edge is that we are up with the trends out here instantly. We are addressing the way people watch content in Asia," said Indian producer Ekta Kapoor, managing director of the VoD service ALT Balaji.

She added: "We are making shows designed to be watched on mobile devices, not adapted for them.

Shorter-form, about local characters and issues. That puts us ahead.

Monday, 14 October, 2019

12 BUSINESS FeBr for early amendments in taxation as business activities almost shut LAHORE INP

The Friends of Economic & Business Reforms, in a letter written to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman, has requested that amendments related to purchases in income tax returns of retailers not registered in sales tax, may be made at the earliest, as business activities had grinded to a halt due to uncertainty in this regard. In the letter, sent to the FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, FEBR President Kashif Anwar said that the supplies shown by sales tax registered entities in their sales tax returns should be automatically shown, as purchases are shown in the annual business income tax returns of those who are only registered in Income Tax. “This will complete the supply chain from sales tax registered suppliers to the income tax registered purchasers,” he added. Kashif Anwar said that various steps have been taken in the last budget to increase the Tax-toGDP ratio and achieve the mountainous tax collection target of Rs5500 billion for tax year 2020. In this regard, a major and prominent condition of mentioning CNIC on invoices has been added in the Finance Act 2019-20 which is under discussion at all forums. The law has made it mandatory for every sales tax registered person, either manufacturer, importer, dealer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer to mention STRN, NTN or CNIC on sales tax invoice above rupees fifty thousand value to feed Annex-C (Domestic Sales Invoices) of sales tax return which automatically verifies the particulars of buyers and compiles their record internally. If one does not provide NTN or CNIC, the proportionate input sales tax will be disallowed to registered person. On the other hand, all the purchases of sales tax registered persons either local or imported are updated automatically to avail the benefit of input tax in their sales tax return and no purchase entry can be manual. He said that the FEBR is not against documentation rather it propagates for the benefits of becoming filer. But, in order to avail full sales tax input against purchases in sales tax return, the condition of CNIC is adding tensions for sales tax registered suppliers. He further said that it goes without saying that all the legal formalities are for those who are in the tax net and who are more documented. “The condition of mentioning STRN, NTN or CNIC to avail full amount of input tax is for sales tax registered suppliers. But how the chain of supplies from supplier to purchaser will complete when the retailer would not mention those particular purchases in their business income tax return?” “There is no doubt that retailers submit their business income tax returns and do mention the figure of their annual purchases against their turnovers but those purchase figures are not verifiable and have no supporting evidence.” The FEBR president said that the retailers normally hesitate to get sales tax invoice from registered suppliers. Mostly, there is no proof with retailers regarding the justification of their purchases which they mention in their annual business income tax returns. “In regard to purchases made by all retailers, individuals, suppliers, agents and others, not registered in sales tax, it is requested that they may be enjoined to make purchases from sales tax registered persons for their businesses income tax returns. As in the case of sales tax registered persons, all purchases are automatically shown in Annex-A (Domestic Purchase Invoices) & Annex-B (Imports) to avail the benefits of input sales tax,” the letter to FBR added.

partIal Us-CHIna trade deal only 'BaBy step' as tHorny IssUes remaIn

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partial US-China deal may only offer a temporary tariff reprieve because it lacks specifics and leaves the thorny issues for later, analysts said, allowing both economic powers to claim success.

Friday's initial agreement — which included increasing US farm product purchases, and also covers intellectual property, financial services and currencies — finally breaks an 18-month trade spat.

Engulfed in an impeachment inquiry, US President Donald Trump heralded the deal as a major breakthrough.

But it will take weeks to finalise and the details are not clear — nor will it roll back tariffs already in place on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade. "The lack of specificity and even the fact this baby stepped agreement could take weeks to iron out, quickly cooled trader optimism," said Axi Trader analyst Stephen Innes.

After earlier attempts at a truce between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping did not pan out businesses remained cautious, Innes said.

There is "fear this could be more of the same old lather rinse and repeat trade detente followed by trade escalation," he said.

For now, Washington will hold off on a massive tariff increase planned for next week and — as negotiations progress — new December tariffs could also be cancelled, US officials said.

Trump said China had pledged to rapidly increase purchases of American farm products to $40-50 billion — a stunning feat, and more than double 2017 levels. "Substantial progress had been made in such areas as agriculture, intellectual property rights protection, exchange rate, financial services, expansion of trade cooperation, technology transfer and dispute settlement," state-run Xinhua news agency reported citing Liu He, the country's top negotiator.

"The two sides also discussed arrangements for future consultations," Liu said when he met Trump Friday, according to Xinhua.

Previously, Trump has blamed China for backtracking on its promises.

'MAJOR DEAL UNLIKELY': On Friday, the US president played up the "substantial phase one" deal as a result of his hard-line stance with China.

"It's not much and it doesn't get us very far in the big issues, so whether it will lead to anything important is still very unclear," said Barry Naughton, an expert on China's economy at the University of California, San Diego.

The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily warned in an editorial Saturday the trade war would only be resolved by "abolishing all tariffs."

But to get there, the two sides need to address issues such as scaling back Chinese government subsidies that have skewed competition, and opening up sectors dominated by stateowned enterprises (SOEs).

In a step towards that, China recently announced a timetable to remove foreign ownership limits in finance companies beginning next year.

Beijing also passed a foreign investment law in March, promising a level playing field for overseas investors, addressing a major US complaint. But "a significant improvement is... not

very likely," said Song Houze, a research fellow at The Paulson Institute.

"The existence of thorny issues like SOE and tech make a major deal unlikely, which means the existing tariff will most likely stay." The latest truce, however, was essential for both sides as both face cooling domestic growth, he said.

OFF THE TABLE: US restrictions on Chinese investments in its high-tech sectors — blocking Huawei from government contracts — and sanctions on a series of China's tech giants have also cast a shadow on trade negotiations.

The US commerce department said last week it will blacklist 28 Chinese entities it says are implicated in rights violations and abuses in China's Xinjiang region.

"Even if the US and China reach a comprehensive trade deal, the US will likely tighten restrictions on China's access to technology in the coming years," said Wang Tao, head of Asia economics at UBS Investment Bank.

"The US has elevated this issue to national security and it may be hard to reverse, no matter what kind of agreement they reach (or not) on Huawei," said Wang Tao, head of Asia economics at UBS Investment Bank. AGENCIES

PEW warns of serious gas crisis during winter ISLAMABAD INP

President Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) Dr. Murtaza Mughal on Sunday said that a crisis-like situation can emerge in the gas sector during winter which will be more serious than the last year’s crisis.

In a statement issued here, Dr. Mughal said that a crisis can engulf the country in the biting winter as the production of local gas continues to fall and the LNG sector is riddled with inefficiency while both the gas utilities are not pre-

pared to face the challenge.

The consumption of LNG, which is five-time costly than local gas, continues to increase as the government has not materialized the import of cheap gas from Iran or Turkmenistan, he added.

The PEW president said that last year domestic consumers were burdened with Rs29 billion by the gas companies and this year the burden has been estimated to be Rs55 billion due to the shortage of buyers of costly imported gas.

He said that there is a lot of focus on constructing terminals but there is a lack of buyers in the market for which domestic consumers are

made to pay.

Dr. Mughal noted that gas was a little over 50 percent of the national energy mix which has now receded to 35 percent while the share of LNG has increased from zero percent in 2014 to 5.6 percent in 2017 and it will be almost fifty percent in a few years.

The government is set to sell two LNG-based power plants in Punjab at the cost of $3 billion as per the agreement with the IMF. Caution is required in the deal to sell 2640 megawatt power plants as one mistake can leave all the companies dealing in the LNG supply chain bankrupt, he warned.

Realty bites: Indian property slump leaves beleaguered banks exposed MUMBAI AGENCIES

India might have thought the worst of a bad loans crisis was past, but a severe cash crunch in the real estate industry could augur fresh strife for its banks.

A slump in the residential property market is leaving many builders struggling to repay loans to shadow lenders housing finance firms outside the regular banking sector that account for over half of the loans to developers.

With about $10 billion of development loans coming up for repayment in the first half of 2020, according to Fitch Rating’s Indian division, the fallout could spread to mainstream banks that have lent money to the shadow lenders or invested in their bonds.

Indian financial authorities, including the central bank and government, have said this year that the banking sector’s bad loans — totaling more than $150 billion — are on the decline for the first time in four years after ballooning during a debt crisis.

But the number of property developers falling into bankruptcy has doubled during the past nine months, piling pressure on non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), commonly known as shadow lenders.

Potential implosions of these NBFCs could expose banks, according to 12 banking and real estate sources.

A senior banking industry official, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said banks would be affected by the property cash crunch in three ways: their lending to NBFCs, their own direct exposure to developers and also individuals who do not repay mortgages.

“It will be a triple-whammy,” he said.

While the Indian banking system could be hit by billions of dollars of additional soured debt, the cash crunch in the housing market has levied a toll in human misery.

Retired Squadron Leader Krishan Mitroo has paid 90% of the cost of his house in Noida, northern India, to developer Jaypee, and the property was supposed to be handed over five years ago.

However, Jaypee was forced to delay the project and went into insolvency in 2017.

“The project has been stuck and there is no progress at all. Even the bankruptcy court has not been able to resolve the issue so far, it is just hanging in thin air,” Mitroo said. He did not say how much money he had paid, but properties in that project range from about $56,000 to $140,000.

Several such projects are stuck across the country and buyers are waiting for new developers to take interest and complete them with the hope that their hardearned money, which has been stuck for years, won’t be lost forever.

BAD LOANS PILE ‘HUGE’: The

property sector has been battling a downturn for the last 3-4 years. Things have now, however, hit a critical point due to a liquidity crunch hitting shadow banks that are big lenders to both developers and property buyers.

As of June 30, 421 realtors were under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), up from 209 on Sept. 30 last year, data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India shows.

Defaults by two housing finance companies, Dewan Housing Finance Corp (DWNH.NS) and Altico Capital, have increased fears of contagion to the banking system..

Dewan and Altico did not respond to requests for comment.

Shadow lenders will be highly exposed when loans worth roughly 700 billion rupees come up for repayment in the first half of 2020, as many builders may struggle to repay, Fitch’s India Ratings said last month.

“The number of stressed assets in real estate are huge,” said Rohit Poddar, managing director at Poddar Developers.

“The stress now is just the start, only the mid-sized to large developers will survive, others will die.”

If three-quarters of the high-risk category of outstanding real estate loans are not repaid, that could lead to additional bad debt of $15 billion on banks’ books in the next few years, according to confi-

dential research conducted by one of India’s leading real estate consultancies for an international financial client, and provided to Reuters.

The Nifty Bank index , which surged in late September after the government moved to slash corporate tax rates, gave up more than half of those gains as of Friday. Concerns about real estate loans were one factor, according to analysts, but the fall was also driven by low growth in the economy and the overall worsening asset quality of certain lenders.

Banks’ gross non-performing assets fell to 9.3% of total loans as of March, from 11.5% a year earlier, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The improvement was bigger than the RBI had expected, having forecast a drop to 10.3% by March and saying last December the ratio had fallen for the first time since 2015. The central bank said in June it expected bad loans to continue to fall in the current financial year, both the ratio and absolute sum.

But India still has the highest badloan ratio among major economies; by comparison Italy, which has endured a major banking crisis, had a ratio of 9% at the end of last year.

JOB LOSSES LOOM: Indian banks’ bad debt pile ballooned as a result of outof-control lending in 2006-11 when the economy grew rapidly, and beyond that.

They under-reported their bad loans for

years until they were forced by the central bank to recognize and address the issue in 2015.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das touched on the real estate issue this month, saying the central bank would be looking at the sector as part of its sixmonthly report on the stability of the financial system. The next report is due to be released in December.

The RBI declined to make any further comment on banks’ exposure to bad real estate loans.

A rebound in the real estate market could alter the situation, but the outlook is looking increasingly bleak.

Several industry sources said builders were struggling to offload properties, even though they are ready to offer buyers up to 25% discounts on listed rates.

The situation now is so severe that real estate inventories across India are at an all-time high of nearly four years and property prices have not risen in most parts of the country in the last 4-5 years.

Projects worth 1.8 trillion rupees ($25 billion) are stalled across India, according to property consultancy firm Anarock.

As developers go to the wall, more than half a million direct jobs may be lost in the coming months, the National Real Estate Development Council said. The number of indirect job losses from related industries like cement and steel may be even higher.

1

Do you recall a particular incident that made you realise that you should set up Beds Spreads?

All of us ladies keep talking about how we would love to do more for our parents, but after we have families of our own, it becomes more of a dream. In our society, sons contributing to their parents is seen as inspirational. daughters looking out for their parents is seen as neglecting their husbands and children. But it doesn't really have to be this way. Here I'd love to thank my husband too. He supports me financially so well that 100% of the profits of "Beds Spreads" go to my parents. Anyways, this thought kept running in my mind ever since I finished my education how I could do something for my parents so I thought of an online business where I do the online marketing and handle the customers. My dad looks after sourcing and deliveries. It's working out excellently Alhamdulillah.

2

Can you share how one year of running Beds Spreads feels like?

The satisfaction of 100% 5 star reviews is overwhelming. The fact that I have done this completely from home with no investment makes me thank Allah Almighty for all his blessings on me.

3

What made you leave your job and establish your own business?

The job was going great but as all working women would understand fixed work timings are not very compatible with family schedules.

With my own business, I can be more flexible with my schedule, answering queries and processing orders with my husband and son at home.

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Does it often get hectic managing your home, family and business together? no, not really. Or maybe I don't feel it because I'M enJOYInG THIS TOO MUCH!

Bringing Couture to Bedsheets

in Conversation with

Mishelle Yasir

Mishelle Yasir is the proud owner of Beds Spreads, a one of its kind business dealing with customized fine quality bed sheets, comforter sets, children’s bedding, quilts and the list goes on. Continue reading to find more about her inspiring journey as a mother and an entrepreneur.

COKE STUDIO TO OPEN SEASON 12 WITH “WOHI KHUDA HAI” PERFORMED BY ATIF ASLAM!

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enned by Muzaffar Warsi, the lyrics of Wohi Khuda Hai are a praise of GOd as the One Creator of a system that runs and maintains an order of the universe in balance and harmony. The piece goes on to describe this in the various experiences of the human connection with the divine; through the seen and unseen and, ultimately, with one’s heart and soul. A piece that was originally made iconic in the vocals of Ustad nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Wohi Khuda Hai remains a national favorite, as a composition that has been etched into our cultural framework. It has been sung and covered countless times across the globe, taking on different colors, profoundly impacting audiences with the uni-

5 6

You chose a rather interesting idea to pursue, so did you face any challenges in the marketing of your business and getting the word out there to all the people?

Oh yes! My greatest challenge was that with online businesses, there have been so many frauds with clients showing them one thing delivering the other. People don't trust very easily now. So it took time to build that trust. But now people literally look at the reviews on my page and transfer payment within seconds of ordering.

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tive nature of the verses. etched into the framework of Pakistan’s cultural memory, Wohi Khuda Hai is an exploration of wonder and awe at the capacity and ability of Creation and a means to reflect on its beauty.

Firefighters use wetting agents to make water wetter The chemicals reduce the surface tension of plain water so it’s easier to spread and soak into objects, which is why it’s known as “wet water.” Find out which of your favorite science “facts” are actually false.

Would you like to share some time management hacks with all the ammi-preneurs out there?

I'm one of those women who work my schedule around my family rather than the opposite way. I chose to bring my son into this world not the other way round, so neglecting him for work is a big no no!

People often tend to take women entrepreneurs lightly. Have you faced any such till now and how did you tackle them? no. On the contrary, I've had extra doors opened to me being a woman. Times are changing. There are opportunities out there if you know when and where to look. Scaryammi helped me a lot connecting me to like minded businesswomen.

In fact, I got through to Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry through Scaryammi too. Ayesha nasir is doing a fantastic job providing us women with platforms to build ourselves and our businesses.

versal appeal of its poetry. This season at Coke Studio, the rendition presents Atif Aslam in a space that offers an exploration of the essence of the hamd, by witnessing the play of a soundscape that serves the contempla-

The longest English word is 189,819 letters long We won’t spell it out here (though you can read it here), but the full name for the protein nicknamed titin would take three and a half hours to say out loud.

“Running amok” is a medically recognized mental condition Considered a culturally bound syndrome, a person “running amok” in Malaysia commits a sudden, frenzied mass attack, then begins to brood. Learn some more random facts and trivia you’ll wish you’d always known.

Aries: You’re seeking to reignite your excitement for a once-prized possession by buying something else that’s new and shiny.

Taurus: You’re likely mistaken that your plans must be practically perfect before you share them with the public.

Gemini: Nothing clarifies how much more there is to learn about a subject as when you try to teach it.

Cancer: You may believe that you are absolutely right in a disagreement with a loved one, but making them wrong is only counterproductive.

Leo: Familiarity and routine can stifle your creativity and hamper your productivity even with the simplest of tasks.

Virgo: Surprising news or a sudden realization can instantaneously transform your thinking.

Libra: Although you can’t rewrite your personal history, you can use it to alter your current path in a positive manner.

Scorpio: You might be carrying a game of one-upmanship with a colleague or neighbor too far now.

Sagittarius: Increased powers of concentration and initiative help you to be a more efficient steward of your money.

Capricorn: A coworker’s strong desire to be top dog in your workplace could raise your own hackles today.

Aquarius: Unexpected changes on the home front likely catch you off guard now. For example, your partner or roommate might suddenly rearrange the living room.

Pisces: You can choose how to respond to current circumstances even when events seem out of your control. Unfortunately, your emotional insecurities might blind you from recognizing how you surrender your power to another perso.

CMYK

Monday, 14 October, 2019

14 SPORTS

Bottas wins Japanese gp, mercedes cLinch record constructors' titLe

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AGENCIES

ALTTERI Bottas jumped from third to first with an electric start to win the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and the Finn's Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc could only finish sixth in the second Ferrari, meaning Mercedes clinched a record sixth successive constructors' world championship with their double podium finish.

"I'm happy, very happy," said Bottas. "Starting third isn't easy. I had a really nice start, managed to get the lead and then the pace was super good, I could really control the race."

Ferrari had enjoyed a front row lock-out in a rare morning qualifying session caused by Typhoon Hagibis but their race unravelled right at the start.

Vettel twitched before the lights went out and his hesitation enabled the fast starting Bottas to leapfrog from third into the lead. "It was my mistake,"

admitted Vettel. "I lost momentum there. Mercedes had more pace than us, was a tough afternoon to maintain second." Max Verstappen enjoyed a bullet start from fifth in the Red Bull and was overtaking Leclerc on the outside of turn two when the Monegasque drove into the flying Dutchman, causing him

ueFa will 'examine' turkey footballers' military salute ROME

to spin. "He just drove into the side of my car," complained an unhappy Verstappen. Leclerc's front wing was damaged and with bits flying off in all directions — one demolishing the wing mirror of Hamilton just behind — he was forced to pit for a new nose at the start of lap four. He rejoined in 18th po-

sition, fittingly a place behind Verstappen who appeared to be the helpless victim of their collision.

'WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO': Vettel, who escaped sanction for his false start, was left sandwiched between the two Mercedes and made the first strategic move when he dived in the pits for a new set of soft tyres on lap 17.

Bottas followed from the lead on the next lap to take a new set of mediums emerging ahead of Vettel, meaning both the Finn and the German would need to stop again before the end of the 53 lap race.

Hamilton was now in the lead and Mercedes tried to leave him out on a one-stop strategy. But on lap 22 Hamilton reported his front tyres were "dead" and was brought in for a fresh set of medium tyres, rejoining in third.

Hamilton began to close on Vettel who pitted for his final change to medium tyres on lap 32, rejoining in third.

Bottas took on fresh soft tyres five laps later leaving Hamilton again in the lead.

Judy Murray optimistic about Andy´s 2020 fitness dream

AGENCIES

AGENCIES

European football's ruling body said Saturday that they will "examine" reports that Turkey footballers performed a military salute in their Euro 2020 qualifier against Albania to mark their country's widelycondemned armed offensive against Kurds in Syria. "Personally, I have not seen this gesture, which could be considered a provocation," UEFA's press chief Philip Townsend told the Italian Ansa news agency.

"Does the regulation prohibit references to politics and religion? Yes, and I can guarantee you that we will look at this situation." The salute was made after Cenk Tosun's winning goal for Turkey in the game in Istanbul on Friday.

After the match, a photo was also posted on the official Twitter account of the national team. In it, the players are seen making a military salute with the tweet indicating the players "have dedicated their victory to our brave soldiers and fellow martyrs".

In Turkey, it is common for celebrities, including footballers, to show their support for the security forces after attacks or during military operations. The Turkish offensive began on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ordered American troops to pull back from the border area of north-east Syria.

Judy Murray has expressed further confidence in the comeback status of son Andy as the former number one enters a fourth straight week of play on the ATP. Judy Murray, in Linz at the WTA event to put on coaching clinics, said her 32-year-old son is on track for next season.

"It seems really good," the former British Fed Cup captain told AFP. "But it´s still early days."

Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray, coming back from his January hip surgery, played for three straight weeks in Asia.

He reached a Beijing quarterfinal and achieved second rounds in Zhuhai and Shanghai, where he lost this week to Fabio Fognini where he accused the Italian of distracting him during play.

Judy said her son "is getting better and better with each match."

"Remember, he only started playing singles again in August (first-round exits in Cincinnati and Winston Salem).

"A lot of this is about starting to build up match fitness and to be able to recover if you want to play the

next match.

"The only way to test that is to put yourself on the match court.

"Andy´s been surviving a lot of long matches over the past few weeks. His goal is to be ready for the start of 2020.

"He´s in a pretty good place, seems to be moving well and getting faster over the weeks."

Murray confirmed that Andy,

who is set to climb into the top 250 when the ATP rankings are published on Monday, is already in Antwerp planning to play in the ATP 250 event next week even as wife Kim prepares to give birth in the coming days to the couple´s third child. As for any change of plans, she said: "He´s there now, we will have to wait and see (on the birth timing)."

LiverpooL great FowLer earns draw in First a-League match as coach PERTH AGENCIES

Irishman Roy O´Donovan scored an equaliser in the dying seconds to hand Liverpool great Robbie Fowler a point in his opening game as coach for Brisbane Roar in Australia´s A-League Sunday.

While the former England striker was briefly player-coach of Thai club Muangthong United, and worked extensively at Liverpool´s academy, he had no other senior coaching experience when appointed in the off-season. But he steered his team to the pre-season Surf City Cup and they earned a 1-1 draw away to Perth Glory courtesy of Donovan´s header in the 94th minute, cancelling out a first-half strike from Chris Ikonomidis. "I think a point was the least we deserved the way we controlled the ball in the second half," said Donovan after their opening game of the season.

"The gaffer (Fowler) has brought in a great mentality, a really professional setup. Everyone is playing for each other.

The future is bright." Roar struggled last season, finishing above only Central Coast Mariners in the 10-team league, leading to ex-Socceroos striker John Aloisi quitting as coach. This year´s competition has been expanded to include an 11th team -- Western United, who began their campaign in style by beating Wellington Phoenix 1-0 in New Zealand.

The A-League´s all-time record goalscorer Besart Berisha poked home from close range in the first-half to secure all three points for the Melbourne-based team in a highly-charged and free-flowing encounter. It was a bitter pill for the Phoenix after their coach last year, Mark Rudan, defected to become United´s inaugural manager, taking three players with him. In other weekend games, defending champions Sydney FC scored a late goal to topple Adelaide United 3-2, after letting a two goal lead slip.

Melbourne City and cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory ground out a 0-0 draw while Western Sydney Wanderers came from behind to beat the Mariners 2-1.

Italy back among the elite with Euro 2020 berth ROME AGENCIES

Italy punched their ticket to Euro 2020 with a 2-0 win over Greece in Rome on Saturday to turn the page on their failure to qualify for the last World Cup. Decked out in green, a colour they had worn just once before at the Stadio Olimpico back in 1954, Roberto Mancini's new-look Azzurri pushed their perfect run in Group J to seven games for a maximum 21 points.

Despite being pegged back by the Greeks for over an hour the Italians confirmed their dominance and are now assured of finishing top of the group.

Chelsea midfielder Jorginho slotted in a penalty after 63 minutes in the Italian capital with Juventus forward Federico Bernardeschi scoring the second goal on 78 minutes. "I want to thank the fans at the Olimpico for supporting us, even in the first half when we were not brilliant, maybe a little nervous at being back in Rome," said Mancini.

Italy are one of 12 host nations for Euro 2020 with the opening match to be

staged at the Stadio Olimpico.

And Mancini said he hoped that fourtime world champions Italy could relive the "magical nights" of the 1990 World Cup in Rome. "We hope that they will return," said Mancini, "and that in June it will be even more beautiful."

Italy will play at least two of their pool matches in Rome next June.

Mancini has rebuilt Italy since their stunning failure to qualify for Russia 2018 and they reached Euro 2020 with a record three games to spare.

"I'm happy and proud to have helped this team get out of a complicated situation," said the 54-year-old former Italy international. "We've managed to create a team in a short space of time.

"It wasn't easy but we have to thank the players who quickly adapted to each other. "It's a team with character, who play with pride, never give up and fight until the end, but who still need to improve. "We have a lot of work, but we're not far off the best European teams."

MEMORIES OF 1968: The Azzurri had dominated early but were pinned back by the Greeks who had the best chance of the

first half with Gianluigi Donnarumma superbly denying Dimitris Limnios.

Both Lorenzo Insigne and Nicolo Barella were off target with Italy losing Fiorentina forward Federico Chiesa to injury before the break to be replaced by Bernardeschi. Ciro Immobile threatened twice after the break with Alexandros Paschalakis turning away the Lazio forward's header. But the Italians were awarded a penalty after Andreas Bouchalakis used his hand to block a goal-bound Insigne effort.

Jorginho stepped up to convert sending Paschalakis the wrong way to the delight of the 60,000 crowd in the capital.

It was the Chelsea player's third goal for Italy, all from the spot.

Bernardeschi then struck from distance 12 minutes from time, his shot taking a hefty deflection to deceive Paschalakis and guarantee Mancini his eighth consecutive win as coach.

"We'll go to the Euros, to put on a good show and to go all the way because it's been a long time that the Euro is missing from the Italy trophy cabinet," Mancini warned Friday.

CMYK

Italy won their only European title back in 1968. European champions in 2004, Greece are fifth in the six-team group with five points, and next play fourth-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Italy are a great footballing nation,"

said Greek coach John Van't Schip.

"They have overcome the crisis they went through.

"They can be a very dangerous outsider or even one of the favourites for the Euros."

Monday, 14 October, 2019

SPORTS 15

KohLi Lauds india’s ‘hunger’ aFter record 11th-straight test series win

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AGENCIES

NDIA skipper Virat Kohli said Sunday the team´s "hunger" to keep improving has led to their record 11th-straight Test series win at home after outplaying South Africa by an innings and 137 runs.

South Africa were dismissed for 189 after following-on in the final session of day four in Pune, as the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Paceman Umesh Yadav and spinner Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets each as India went past Australia´s previous record of 10 straight series wins on home turf and consolidated their number-one position in the world Test championship.

Kohli set up the win in the second match with his unbeaten 254 — a record seventh double-century for the star batsman — in India´s 601 for five declared, but the captain lauded the team effort.

"We are lucky to have the group of players we have in the last three-four years. It´s amazing to see that hunger and passion for all the guys to keep improving," man of the match Kohli said after the win. "Looking at the larger picture of the Test championship, every game has value so we´re not going to take our foot off the gas in the third Test.

No one´s going to relax at any stage, that´s a guarantee."

Ravichandran Ashwin struck twice in the morning session after the tourists started their second innings trailing by

326. Ashwin had skipper Faf du Plessis — who promoted himself to number four in the batting order — caught behind for five with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha holding on to a juggling catch.

The off-spinner soon got opening

batsman Dean Elgar caught for 48 as South Africa slipped further.

Paceman Ishant Sharma struck with his second ball of the day to trap Aiden Markram lbw for nought.

Markram had a long discussion with

Elgar over whether to review the on-field call but decided not to, only for the replays to suggest the ball would have gone over the stumps. The Proteas were dismissed for 275 at the end of day three in response to India´s 601-5 declared, 127

Australia coach Langer unsure if Steve Smith wants captaincy back

Medvedev thumps Zverev to win Shanghai Masters title

AGENCIES Steve Smith's ban on leading Australia ends in March but the star batsman may not want the Test captaincy back, coach Justin Langer says.

Smith skippered the team until he was suspended for 12 months over a brazen attempt to alter the ball with sandpaper under his watch in Cape Town last year.

Part of his punishment included a further year-long exile from any leadership role.

Calls have grown for Smith to take over from Tim Paine when the ban is lifted since his incredible batting performances helped Australia retain the Ashes against England.

But Langer said it was not a simple decision, with Smith admitting his exploits — 774 runs in just seven innings — left him mentally and physically shattered.

"I've built a good relationship with Steve over the last 18 months, and it [the captaincy] is going to come down to honest conversations," the coach told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday.

“You can see how exhausted he was from the effort he put into his batting (during the Ashes), and whether he wants the burden of captaincy as well is something we'll have to work out over time.

SHANGHAI AGENCIES

Daniil Medvedev won his fourth title of a spectacular year with a thumping 6-4, 6-1 victory over Alexander Zverev in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday.

Victory for the 23-year-old Russian, contesting a sixth final in a row, was more evidence that he is the prime contender to join the "Big Three" of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

The US Open finalist is also able to say that he has finally beaten the German Zverev, another young contender at 22, at the fifth attempt.

This was an emphatic statement from the world number four, needing just 74 minutes to seal the crown.

"I think the stadium was full today and you guys are amazing sup-

port, starting from my first match," Medvedev told the crowd.

"You gave me good energy to win this tournament. Thank you very much, Shanghai will always be a special place in my heart."

Zverev, long touted as the best of the new generation of men´s tennis stars, was error-prone, but had no complaints.

"As I said yesterday, you are probably the best player in the world right now," the world number six told Medvedev.

"How you are playing is unbelievable." Medvedev made a fast start, winning his service game and then breaking Zverev´s for an early 2-0 lead.

Under a closed stadium roof because of rain in Shanghai, Zverev was suffocating, down 3-0 after 11 minutes.

short of the follow-on.

India have not lost a home series since 2013. ´WEAK MINDSET´: Du Plessis admitted Kohli´s knock and India´s mammoth total made the tourists play catch-up after the hosts elected to bat first.

"The way India batted, especially Virat with 250, it takes a lot of mental toughness. Two days in the field can wear you down," said du Plessis.

"Especially that second evening, the batsmen were a bit weak in the mindset.

From then it´s playing catch-up. We were found wanting in this Test match."

Du Plessis said Kohli´s innings was a lesson for any batsman. "He was too good. The hunger stood out, it was great value for us as batters," he added.

South Africa put up some resistance in their first innings with Maharaj, who made 72, and Philander with 44 not out putting on 109 runs for the ninth wicket to frustrate the Indian bowlers.

Ashwin broke the stand with Maharaj´s wicket and then got last man Rabada to return figures of 4-69.

The match will also be remembered for Kohli going past Don Bradman´s tally of 6,996 runs.

Kohli, who now has 7,054 runs from 81 Tests, put together crucial partnerships including a 225-run fifth-wicket stand with Jadeja, who made 91, to extend India´s dominance. Opener Mayank Agarwal also contributed with a century.

The two teams now head to Ranchi for the final match starting October 19.

But the German sent down an ace to finally get a foothold in the match and then broke back for 3-2.

The duo went with serve until Zverev conceded the set with two calamitous double faults on the trot, the last of which he transpired to gift with a horribly mis-hit second serve that drew a few giggles from the crowd. The second set began in the same way as the first -- Medvedev breaking Zverev´s first service game for a prompt 2-0 lead.

He then broke once more in the fourth for a dominant victory, and sealed the title with an ace -- and the most subtle of smiles.

The next generation has stamped its authority on Shanghai with Djokovic and Federer -- beaten by Zverev -- both going out in the quarter-finals. Nadal failed to play because of a wrist injury.

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“I'll be one of the selectors, and I think we'll just work out what's best.”

Paine, who will be 35 in December, will almost certainly retain the role for the home summer Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand, despite occasional criticism of his batting and captaincy during the Ashes.

Langer said he was "doing a brilliant job at the moment". "He's been outstanding in his time as captain. However long he wants to keep playing for is another thing," he added.

Unlike Smith, former vice-captain David Warner endured a miserable return from the “sandpapergate” scandal, struggling to make double figures against England.

But Langer said he still had confidence in the explosive opener, who returned to form with a century for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield last week. "He had a poor series against England, no doubt. That's just a fact, and he knows that," Langer said.

"But he also hasn't lost his talent, because he was the highest run scorer in the World Cup two weeks before the Ashes started, and he was the highest run scorer in the IPL (Indian Premier League) before that. So he can bat. "The other thing about David Warner, my experience tells me that you never write off champion players. And he's a champion player."

Monday, 14 October, 2019

NEWS

US UrgeS pakiStan to nip militancy in the bUd for own Sake WELLS SAYS LET CHIEF HAFIZ SAEED MUST FACE PROSECUTION FOR ‘VICIOUS ATTACKS’ WASHINGTON

t

acting assistant secretary of the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, came via Twitter early on Sunday morning. She said Washington welcomes Pakistan’s recent arrest of four Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders and wants them and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed face prosecution for their “vicious attacks”.

Wells added that Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to pursue action against all

AGENCIES

HE United States has appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to curb militancy but reminded Islamabad that it must do more to stop militants from operating within its borders.

The statement from Alice Wells, the

militant groups and that “Pakistan, for its own future, must prevent militant groups from operating on its soil.” The reminder from Washington comes on the heels of Thursday’s arrest of four aides of Hafiz Saeed on terrorism financing charges.

Saeed, arrested on the same charges, has been on judicial remand since July, a move previously welcomed by US President Donald Trump who wants Pakistan to do more to crack down on militancy.

The recent arrests come ahead of a meeting next week of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog, which will review progress made by

Pakistan in controlling terror financing and money laundering.

Pakistan, included on a so-called grey list compiled by the FATF, has been under increasing pressure to stop the financing of militant groups. The recently released final Mutual Evaluation Report of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) says Pakistan faces high risks of money laundering and terror financing and it needs to improve the understanding of these risks that are also emanating from various terrorist groups operating in the country.

The APG on Money Laundering released its report 10 days before the Finan-

cial Action Task Force’s plenary meeting, which is going to give its decision on Pakistan’s status on its grey list.

After the APG report, chances are high that Pakistan would be retained on the grey list during the FATF plenary meetings from October 13 to 18 in Paris.

Turkish forces say they’ve captured key Syrian border town CEYLANPINAR AGENCIES

Turkey’s military said it captured a key Syrian border town under heavy bombardment Saturday in its most significant gain since an offensive against Kurdish fighters began four days ago, with no sign of relenting despite mounting international criticism.

Turkish troops entered central Ras al-Ayn, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry and a war monitor group. The ministry tweeted: “Ras al-Ayn’s residential center has been taken under control through the successful operations in the east of Euphrates” River. It marked the biggest gain made by Turkey since the invasion began Wednesday.

The continued push by Turkey into Syria comes days after President Donald Trump pulled U.S. forces out of the area, making Turkey’s air and ground offensive possible, and said he wanted to stop getting involved with “endless

wars.” Trump’s decision drew swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and risking the lives of Syrian Kurdish allies who brought down the Islamic State group in Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces was the main U.S. ally in the fight and lost 11,000 fighters in the

nearly five-year battle against IS. Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have made gains recently capturing several northern villages in fighting and bombardment that left dozens of people killed or wounded. The invasion also has forced nearly 100,000 people to flee their homes amid concerns that IS might take advantage of the chaos and try to rise again after its defeat in Syria earlier this year.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, said the United States should carry out its “moral responsibilities”

US preparing to withdraw 1,000 troopS from northern Syria WASHINGTON: The United States is poised to evacuate about 1,000 US troops from northern Syria amid an ongoing Turkish offensive into the region, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Sunday, calling the situation “untenable” for US forces. The withdrawal of the troops from the region comes after US President Donald Trump abruptly shifted policy and withdrew some US troops deployed to support Kurdish forces in the fight against the militant Islamic State group. That decision in turn helped open the door for Turkey to launch an offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“In the last 24 hours, we learned that [the Turks] likely intend to extend their attack further south than originally planned, and to the west,” Esper said in a pre-taped interview with “Face the Nation” on CBS. AGENCIES

Syrian army begins to move troops to 'confront' turkey in northern Syria AMMAN AGENCIES

The Syrian army has begun deploying its troops to northern Syria battlefronts to “confront a Turkish aggression” on Syrian territory, state media said on Sunday.

State media did not say where Syrian army troops were deploying in northern Syria, where a Turkish military offensive with the help of Syrian opposition forces has seized border territory from Kurdish militia.

RUSSIA TAKES PART IN TALKS BETWEEN SYRIA AND KURDISH-LED SDF: The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been holding negotiations with Russian participation, a Syrian Kurdish politician said on Sunday, expressing hope for a deal that would halt a Turkish attack. Ahmed Suleiman, a senior member of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria, said the talks were being held at Russia’s Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, although a source close to the Syrian government said they were taking place in Damascus. Suleiman did not say if he or his party - which is independent from the SDF had a role in the process. The head of the SDF media office, Mustafa Bali, said he had “no comment” when asked about Suleiman’s remarks. “We have confirmed from the start of the (Turkish) invasion that we will study all options that could spare our people ethnic cleansing,” he said.

and close northern Syrian airspace to Turkish warplanes, but that it didn’t want the U.S. to send its soldiers “to the front lines and put their lives in danger.”

During a meeting Saturday in Cairo, the 22-member Arab League condemned what it described as “Turkey’s aggression against Syria” and warned that Ankara will be responsible for the spread of terrorism following its invasion. The league said Arab states might take some measures against Ankara. It called on the U.N. Security Council to force Turkey to stop the offensive.

The Turkish offensive was widely criticized by Syria and some Western countries, which called on Turkey to cease its military operations.

France’s defense and foreign ministries said Saturday that the country was halting exports of any arms to Turkey that could be used in its offensive. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also announced that Germany would curtail its arms exports to Turkey. Maas told the weekly Bild am Sonntag that “against the background of the Turkish military offensive in northeastern Syria, the government will not issue any new permissions for any weapons that can be used by Turkey in Syria.”

Modi dares Opp to revive Kashmir status NEWS DESK Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dared the opposition to restore Article 370 in occupied Kashmir during an election rally in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, reported Hindustan Times.

The Indian premier launched a blistering attack on the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over their stand on Article 370 that had granted Kashmir autonomy post-partition.

Alongside the withdrawal on August 5 of constitutional provisions that gave Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) special autonomy, Modi’s government flooded the region with additional troops and imposed curfew-like restrictions to keep a lid on protests. Months after the move, mobile telephone and internet connections in the occupied valley, home to around seven million people, remain cut off.

“Can these leaders, who’re trying to fool the people with their crocodile tears, bring back Article 370 in Kashmir? Will the people of India allow them to? Will the people of India accept it? I challenge opposition to declare in their manifesto they will bring back Article 370,” Modi said.

He insisted that for the “BJP, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh aren’t just a piece of land or terri-

tory”. “Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh aren’t just a piece of land for us, but is the crown of India. Looking at the security needs, we took the necessary steps. We have also tried our best to ensure normalcy in the area, amidst all the negative powers in and around the area.”

He said that the government’s decision on August 5 to abrogate Article 370 was a historic one that among other things restored rights of the Valmiki community.

Modi’s rally came on the birth anniversary of Valmiki – sage, poet and the original author Ramayana.

“Valmikis had no rights in Jammu and Kashmir for 70 years because of Article 370. There was only terrorism and separatism.

Without naming Pakistan, he alleged that a “neighbouring country was conspiring to create unrest in Kashmir and stressed that the gov-

ernment is committed to bring the situation to normal at the earliest”.

“We have taken steps for security. We are working to bring the situation to normal. We won’t take four months to normalise the situation that had been so bad for 40 years,” Modi said. He accused the Congress of politicising the government’s decision on Kashmir to reap benefits in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. “Some parties are doing politics over Kashmir even in Maharashtra for votes. Congress and NCP think completely opposite to what the country thinks.

They speak the language of a neighbouring country and hesitate to stand by the country,” Modi said.

The prime minister appealed to the people of Maharashtra to once again vote for the Devendra Fadnavis government in the state in the upcoming assembly elections.

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

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pakistani delegation in paris for ‘crucial’ fatf meeting NEWS DESK A Pakistani delegation left for Paris on Sunday to attend the crucial session of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is set to be held in the French capital on October 14 and 15.

The delegation is headed by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar and includes Additional Secretary Finance Sohail Rajput, along with the representatives of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The meeting is of paramount importance as it will discuss measures taken by Pakistan to curb terrorismfinancing and money laundering till April 2019. Pakistan has effectively complied with one of another strong conditions put forward by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) – a regional affiliate of the FATF – to implement measures for curbing black money in the real estate sector Pakistan has undertaken a plan to establish a ‘Real Estate Regulatory Authority’ to restrict black money in the sector. The SECP prepared an initial draft the establishment of the authority in accordance with the standards of the FATF. The country will ensure that lands and properties are not transferred in the name of any terrorist organizations or banned outfit. However, matters pertaining to taxation on the real estate sector are excluded from the scope of the authority. Moreover, federal institutions will support the formation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority – that will make it mandatory for businessmen who are involved in the real estate businesses to register themselves with the authority and essential documentation of the businesses will follow. Importantly, a report finalised by the SECP mentioned that the comprehensive guideline developed by the Commission has helped financial institutions to generate 219 Suspicious Transactions Reports (STRs) in just one year, as compared to 13 STRs in eight years. In order to comply with the FATF’s standards, it has developed a set of regulations –SECP AML/CFT Regulations – in June 2018. Furthermore, it has conducted 167 inspections, focusing on AML/CFT compliance in the cases of 72 securities brokers, 27 non-banking financial companies, 13 insurance companies and 55 high risk non-profit organisations. This year, Pakistan has made significant improvements in its systems to fight money laundering (ML) and terror financing (TF) as per international standards. If satisfied, the FATF may consider exiting Pakistan from its grey list.