E-Paper PDF 26th November (LHR)

CMYK

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019 I 28 Rabi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 20.00 I Vol X No 146 I 16 Pages I Lahore Edition

GovT moves courT To sTall musharraf hiGh Treason verdicT g

interior ministry asks ihC to stoP sPeCial Court From announCing verdiCt as Co-aCCused hadn’t Been inCluded in trial

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lhC asks musharraF’s lawyer to assist Court in deCiding maintainaBility oF ex-diCtator’s Plea seeking PostPonement oF verdiCt

File photo

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE

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staff report

he Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Monday sought postponement of the verdict in the high treason case against former military strongman General (r) Pervez Musharraf as the Lahore high Court (IhC) admitted the latter’s petition for the same cause.

Reportedly, the Interior Ministry submitted a petition in the Islamabad high Court (IhC) requesting it to stop the special court from announcing the reserved verdict in the high treason case on November 28.

The ministry contended that the co-accused were not included in the trial. The ministry also stated that the prosecution team in the case had been denotified on October 23 but it went ahead with the case without any authority.

The ministry further stated that the court had reserved its verdict on Nov 19, without giving the prosecution team a chance to notify. The government has the power to change the prosecution team, therefore the special court’s Nov

19, order should be declared void and it should be stopped from announcing the final verdict, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, the LhC on Monday took up the petition filed by Musharraf challenging the verdict reserved by a special court.

Justice Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi, who presided over the proceedings, asked Musharraf’s lawyer, Khawaja Ahmed Tariq Rahim, to present two-point statements on Tuesday and assist the court regarding the maintainability of the petition. he was instructed to present his arguments on the following points: how can the LhC hear the petition if there are proceedings against Musharraf ongoing in the Supreme Court?

Musharraf is a resident of Islamabad — how is the petition maintainable in Lahore?

Citing the example of cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Rahim said that Nawaz’s cases were also ongoing in Islamabad but the LhC had found his petition maintainable. he added that it was a matter pertaining to the federal government, therefore, they could appeal to any high court.

According to Rahim, at the time the treason

case against Musharraf was initiated, the approval of then-premier Nawaz had been taken. however, the approval of the cabinet was not sought.

Adjourning proceedings till Tuesday, Justice Naqvi asked the former president’s lawyer to assist them in understanding how the petition could be heard in the LhC. earlier on November 19, the special court concluded the trial proceedings in the high treason case against Musharraf for declaring a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, and ruled that a verdict would be announced on November 28 (Thursday) on the basis of the available record. however, on November 23, Musharraf filed a writ petition in the LhC under Article 199 and nominated the federation as respondent through the secretaries of Interior Ministry and Law Ministry, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) through its director-general and the special court through its registrar.

The former military ruler’s petition stated that he has not been able to return to Pakistan, despite a strong desire, due to his deteriorating health, multiple life-threatening ailments and his ageing mother. he requested the court to pass direction and declare the impugned order passed by the special court on November 19 as unconstitutional. he also requested the court to uphold the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed under the Constitution. “In exercising its discretionary relief, the court must look at the balance of convenience, which lies heavily in favour of the petitioner, as taking away his right to a pleader of his choice, as well as his right to an audience, as a direct consequence of his infirmity, will not only seriously prejudice his case but also set a precedent for all future cases where infirm accused are at a material disadvantage to healthy ones in defending their trails,” his petition read. he requested the court that the respondents be directed to conduct a proper and unbiased investigation into the case, particularly with regards to the names of all alleged aiders and abettors for the proper appreciation of facts and evidence at trial. The former president contended that the application he had filed under section 265-K of CrPC may also be taken up by the special court and disposed of at the earliest.

PM Imran launches Clean Green Pakistan Index

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

NAB to freeze industries owned

by Shehbaz Sharif’s family

nawaz sharif to be admitted to london hospital g

iJaz shah sees disParity Between Former Premier’s health, mediCal rePorts STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 03

IHC withdraws contempt notice against Firdous, cautions Sarwar STORY ON BACK PAGE

two major generals promoted to lieutenant general rank STORY ON BACK PAGE

Fazl claims fresh polls will be held within three months g

Bilawal Bhutto says will attend aPC Called By Jui-F today

STORIES ON PAGE 02

Premier says opp misleading nation on foreign funding case

STORY ON PAGE 02

CMYK Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

02 NEWS

PM IMrAN lAuNCHEs ClEAN GrEEN PAkIsTAN INdEx P ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the Clean Green Pakistan Index (CGPI) as part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s efforts to curb pollution and reduce the drastic effects of climate change. In the initial phase of the CGPI, 19 cities, including Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Okara and Bahawalpur, have been selected to compete on certain issues of public interest.

The selected cities will be judged on addressing issues such as safe drinking water, solid waste management, liquid waste management, city beautification, cleanliness of streets, the usability of parks, tree plantation, total sanitation/hygiene and community par-

ticipation. Addressing the launch ceremony, the prime minister reaffirmed his commitment to making Pakistan “clean and green” and urged the masses to join the government’s efforts.

He regretted that over the past decade, Lahore had lost about 70 percent of its tree cover as the city became an urban center. He noted that pollution levels in Lahore had increased drastically and now pose a danger to its residents because no measures were taken to curb pollution and preserve the environment. “This (deforestation) was bound to have an impact,” he said and promised that the government will gradually increase funds for the initiative. Imran said every segment of the society, including the administration, the elected representatives and the youth should become part of the clean and green initiative to fight environmental degradation and protect the future of this country.

IHC adjourns Nawaz’s appeal against Al-Azizia reference verdict for two weeks ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against Al-Azizia reference verdict issued by an accountability court (AC) for two weeks.

The court of Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani accepted the one-day exemption from hearing the plea of Nawaz Sharif. The NAB additional prosecutor general Jahanzeb Bharwana submitted the reply in Nawaz Sharif’s plea for adding five more witnesses in which he opposed by disclosing that such witnesses were irrelevant and don’t have any concern with such case. He added that the case was in an appeal were no need of such witnesses was necessary as such witnesses were forensic experts that had no concern with such matter. Nasser Bhutta Advocate, counsel for Nawaz Sharif, urged the court for the testimony of such witnesses as it was the fundamental right of his client to avail all options to defend him. The court later adjourned the hearing for two weeks whereas arguments from both parties would also be concluded in the next hearing. APP

ECP serves notice to Faryal Talpur in disqualification case ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday issued a notice to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Faryal Talpur on a petition seeking her disqualification as member of the Sindh Assembly. Talpur is accused of concealing details of her assets in her tax return details that were filed in the ECP. The notice was served on the plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Arsalan Taj and Rabia Azfar. The ECP has asked the PPP leader to file her response on December 9. Speaking to journalists, after the hearing of the plea, Arslan Taj said the PPP stalwart had not disclosed the details of her assets in her tax returns filed in the ECP, while a plea over holding an Iqama is also under trial in the Islamabad High Court against her. STAFF REPORT

He said it was due to the participation of the people that we planted one billion trees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over a period of five years. Now we will make the entire country green with particular focus on the cities where specific areas will be identified for plantation.

Imran said that an efficient local bodies system is also being introduced in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. This system envisages empowerment of the people at the grassroots level. He said the elected representatives at the village level will also be made part of the regional level competitions on environmental indicators. The premier said Pakistan is blessed with immense resources, including twelve climatic zones, fertile land and natural resources. He said we need to value these resources in order to help the country stand on its own feet.

He said given the immense beauty of the country, it will be made a destina-

tion for tourism.

Addressing the ceremony, Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the government is committed to making Pakistan a clean and green country.

He said in the first phase of this drive, healthy cleanliness competition will be conducted in 19 cities. He said students from schools and universities are being engaged in the drive. He urged general public to make this drive success. The adviser said the youth of country should register and participate in this drive and the government will recognize and reward those who actively participate. He said electric vehicles will be introduced to reduce environmental pollution in the country.

The adviser said the government is planning to prevent the water wastage as thousands of gallons of clean water are being wasted in the sea due to lack of policies in utilizing water resources.

Fazl claims fresh polls will be held within three months BILAWAL BHUTTO SAYS WILL ATTEND APC CALLED BY JUI-F TODAY ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday decided to attend an all-parties conference called by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Nov 26, Tuesday, as the latter claimed that new elections will be held within the next three months.

The JUI-F chief had called the opposition moot last week to deliberate over the future course of action against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. According to a PPP spokesperson, the PPP chairman had decided to join the APC. “A PPP delegation led by Bilawal will attend the conference,”

said the spokesperson, adding that Bilawal hoped that Maulana Fazl will share his future plan with the other opposition leaders at the moot.

Fazl had telephoned opposition leaders, including Bilawal and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader Ahsan Iqbal, on Saturday and had invited them to attend the APC. However, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz decided not to attend the APC, said reports.

Meanwhile, talking to a private news channel on Monday, Maulana Fazl claimed that he has been assured that the political scenario will change drastically within the next

three months. The JUI-F chief claimed that people in the power corridors have assured him that the current government won’t be able to continue much longer.

“The opposition’s Rehbar Committee made a straightforward demand that they wanted the prime minister’s resignation or something at par with the resignation,” he said, adding that the resignation was ruled out but the other condition put forth by the opposition was agreed upon.

“We are getting what we asked for, new elections will be held within three months from now,” he said.

The JUI-F chief recently held the ‘Azadi March’ series of protests, urging Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign, a demand rejected by the premier. The protest started with a dayslong sit-in in the federal capital. The sit-in was eventually called off and the opposition parties, led by JUI-F, moved onto ‘Plan B’.

However, the plan to block major thoroughfares of the country did not last long and the party then decided to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Imran says Opp misleading nation on foreign funding case ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that opposition parties were misleading the people on foreign funding case. Addressing a meeting of his spokespersons here, the premier said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had submitted all relevant details to the ECP and it will get a clean chit in the foreign funding case. The prime minister alleged that both the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) raised funds through money laundering. Imran directed his spokespersons to update the masses about all the aspects of the foreign funding case. Talking about the opposition’s protest and APC, Imran said the people have rejected the opposition’s protest call. He said that the opposition has lost the people’s confidence and it will have to wait for four more years. Earlier on November 23, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said the opposition parties had become an example of political hypocrisy.

Firdous, in a tweet, had lamented the opposition parties were hurling political threats to the ECP under a new guise. STAFF REPORT

NAB files supplementary reference against Zardari, Faryal in fake accounts case

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday filed a supplementary reference in the fake accounts case against former president Asif Ali Zardari and MPA Faryal Talpur. In its reference, the anti-corruption watchdog alleged that the funds of a private bank were wrongly used and the land was purchased under the name of a benamidar (ostensible owner). The bureau said that the accused named Mushtaq has a joint account with the former president, adding that according to the bank record, the account was used for the PPP co-chairperson. Funds were also transferred abroad through the same account, the reference alleges.

According to the reference, Rs8.3 billion were withdrawn from the fake accounts and Rs1.2bn were taken out illegally from a private bank’s account. It also says that Rs950 million were then transferred back to Zardari’s account for his use. The reference also alleges that Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani and Mustafa Zulqarnain played a crucial role in the case. STAFF REPORT

Govt moves court to stall Musharraf high treason verdict contInueD froM pAge 01 Musharraf requested that operation of the offending portion of section 9 of the Criminal Law Amendments (special court) Act 1976, denying the accused an adjournment even on grounds of illness and thereby impacting this right to life, be suspended and declared unconstitutional and the trial be adjourned till the petitioner’s medical condition allows

for his safe return to the country to face trial.“The respondents are all performing functions in connection with the affairs of the federation and a petitioner is a person directly aggrieved by their actions in the present case, therefore, he has locus standi to bring the present judicial review proceedings before this court,” he concluded.

HIGH TREASON CASE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)

CMYK

government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

Earlier this year, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation. In his resignation letter sent to the interior secretary, Sheikh expressed his inability to proceed with the case after the imminent change of government at the centre.

Sheikh was appointed as the head of the prosecution in the case in November 2013, by the then-PML-N led government.The former army chief was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

On March 18, 2016, the former president left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list on the orders of the Supreme Court.A few months later, the special court had declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear.Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.

CMYK Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

NEWS

NAwAZ sHArIF TO BE AdMITTEd TO lONdON HOsPITAl IJAZ SHAH SEES DISPARITY BETWEEN FORMER PREMIER’S HEALTH, MEDICAL REPORTS

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AKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif will be admitted to a hospital on the advice of London Bridge Hospital’s Professor Simon Redwood.

The former premier visited the hospital with his brother, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, and son, Hussain Nawaz, on Monday.

Speaking to the media, Shehbaz said that the former premier’s treatment will commence after the real cause of his illness is specified. He

Firdous calls for collective strategy to counter Islamophobia ISLAMABAD APP

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Monday said the Muslim Ummah should adopt a comprehensive and collective strategy to counter Islamophobia. The narrative linked with Islamophobia was a serious threat to the world peace and there was a need to promote the real message of Islam to tackle that issue, she said in a statement on the eve of her departure to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to represent Pakistan in the OIC’s golden jubilee celebrations.

She said being a founder member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Pakistan had always played a pro-active role. Dr Firdous said a bid to desecrate the Holy Quran in Norway was a deplorable and condemnable incident. She said on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, she would raise in the OIC meeting the incident of desecration of Holy Quran in Norway, the latest situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir and the issue of hurting the sentiments of Indian Muslims by allotment of Babri Mosque land to Hindus. The special assistant left for a two-day visit of Saudi Arabia on the invitation of OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud.

also said that he will not respond to the comments made by Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed. “I can only pray for his mental health,” he added.

Nawaz’s personal physician, Dr Adnan Khan told the media that the leading cardiologist had recommended hospital admission for the former premier so that he can undergo angiogram and other medical checkups.He said that Nawaz was attending the hospital on appointment. He also said that Professor Redwood is considered as a world authority on cardiac intervention and his

recommendations are based on the medical record of the former premier.

“He went through Nawaz’s medical history and recommended that he requires cardiac intervention. He suggested that the PML-N supremo should be admitted in the hospital for procedure,” he added.

The physician said that Nawaz’s health needs care and he will undergo a PET scan on Thursday. “Once he has gone through all haematological investigations, we will then have a clear picture of what is required next and what the exact treatment should be,” he said.

It is worth mentioning here that Nawaz had attended the nearby Guy’s hospital last week for blood tests soon after reaching London.

SC looking into legality of internment centres, says CJP ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa on Monday said the apex court was only looking into the legal status of the internment centres as the Supreme Court resumed hearing of the appeals of the federal and provincial governments against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict in the case.

At the onset of the hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor asked the bench to display a video recording explaining why the detention centres were established by the government. “Do you want to show us how dangerous the detainees are,” the CJP questioned, adding that the court was only looking into the legal status of the internment centres. “It is the video of a detention

centre. After the 21st Amendment, no legislation was made over the subject,” the AGP responded, adding that the parliament passed the 21st Amendment “in a hurry”.

“Terrorists, outlawed groups and non-state actors remain present in erstwhile FATA and PATA,” the AGP argued to which Justice Gulzar Ahmed responded that internment centres were established in 2008 but no one had challenged their legal status till now. “It is the first case of the legality of detention centres,” the AGP said, adding that a new law is being made on internment centres and related legal issues, which will come into force within three to four months.

“Do you want the court to suspend the constitution for four months,” the CJP asked the AGP. “I am only pleading for time for enforcement of the new law,” Mansoor replied.

NAB recovers rs290m in fake accounts case ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday claimed to have recovered Rs290 million in the infamous fake bank accounts case. As per the version of NAB Rawalpindi, four suspects and two companies of Sindh Roshan Programme revealed that the financial irregularities had been carried out at the behest of PPP lawmaker Sharjeel Memon. The revealed this

peSHAWAr The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday granted conditional bail to Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) activist Gulalai Ismail’s father, Professor Muhammad Ismail.

A single-member bench of the high court, comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed, instructed Prof Ismail to “be careful” in the future while asking him to submit a surety of Rs100,000 as well as personal guarantees from two individuals.

The professor had been sent on judicial remand on Oct 25, a day after his daughter alleged

that he had been “picked up” from outside the PHC by “men wearing Malitia (sic) dress”.

Following the initial 14-day remand, his judicial custody had been extended further.

A case is registered against Prof Ismail at the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Circle in Peshawar under Sections 10 and 11 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, read with Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

His bail request had earlier been rejected by a special court in Peshawar.

During Monday’s proceedings, Justice Rasheed expressed his displeasure at the absence of

On a question of the bench, the AGP said that presently the 2011 Act was in force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “It is a federal law enacted by the president,” CJP Khosa said. Justice Qazi Faez Isa, another member of the bench, said that the law was enacted by the president in erstwhile FATA but now that the tribal districts have been merged into KP, how is that law still being enforced in the region.

The AGP said that FATA laws have now become provincial laws and a new law is being drafted to cover all these matters.

“Now there is the matter of civil liberties on one side and survival of the state on the other,” the CJP said, adding that the new law must provide solution of both issues.

The bench later adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

information as a plea bargain. While two contractor companies have already paid back the looted money and accused Abdul Sattar Qureshi, Abdul Rasheed Channa, Aslam Pervaiz Memon and Baldivo have opted for a plea bargain. The statements of all the accused will be recorded by the NAB once they have been presented before an accountability court. Earlier, NAB released Abdul Shakoor after he became approver against Abdul Ghani Majeed and others in the fake accounts case. On Sunday, former managing director of Pakistan International Airlines Ejaz Haroon was brought to the capital city by NAB in connection with the fake accounts case. Haroon was produced before an accountability court on Monday in a case pertaining to illegally allotting plots while serving as secretary Kidney Hills Housing Scheme.

PHC grants bail to Gulalai Ismail’s father STAFF REPORT

SHAH SEES ‘DISPARITY’ BETWEEN NAWAZ’S BEHAVIOUR, MEDICAL REPORTS: Interior Minister Brig (r) Ijaz Ahmad Shah said that there was a "disparity" between the medical reports of the former premier and the behaviour he exhibited while departing the country.

He said that if Nawaz had left the country “like a sick person" or boarded the air ambulance on a wheelchair, no suspicions would have been raised.

“After seeing Nawaz board the air ambulance, I wondered if he got healthy with the first glance of the London-bound airplane. Definitely, there was a disparity between the medical reports and the behaviour of Nawaz," he added. NEWS DESK

the assistant attorney general (AG) from the hearing of the bail plea.

Addressing Deputy AG Asghar Khan Kundi, who had appeared in court instead of the assistant AG, Justice Qaiser said that the assistant AG had assured him that he would not be absent from proceedings again and that officials from the AG’s office would appear when needed.

“The attorney general’s office seems to have appointed people who do not appear in courts,” he said.

The judge subsequently imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the AG’s office and banned the entry of the assistant AG to his court.

03

IHC admits petition seeking contempt proceedings against PM The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday admitted a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against Prime Minister Imran Khan over a recent “anti-judiciary” speech. Advocate Samiullah had moved the court against the premier over his November 18 speech. He had contended that the premier had maligned the judiciary in his speech, which amounted to contempt of court. He also attached the relevant part of the speech as evidence.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the petition on Tuesday. A similar petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) by a citizen named Tahir Maqsood, in which he requested the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the prime minister. The citizen’s counsel, Faizan Naseer Chohan, contended that the premier had tried to make cases pending against opposition leaders prejudiced by delivering a speech. To establish maintainability of his petition, the petitioner referred to conviction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Talal Chaudhry and Nehal Hashmi by the Supreme Court (SC) for their anti-judiciary speeches. He asked the court to summon PM Imran in person, disqualify him and order the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-notify him as member of the National Assembly (NA). NEWS DESK

Ishaq dar undergoes surgery as condition deteriorates LONDON: Former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar’s condition worsened later on Sunday, after which his physician recommended an immediate operation to relieve his neck and back from excruciating pain.

His son told the media that his father experienced acute pain on Sunday night but due to the weekend, a surgeon couldn’t be arranged. Ali Dar said that his father is undergoing cervical nerve root innervation under anaesthesia in London. “We moved to Nuffield Health Hospital this morning where my father got admitted. At the moment, he is under anaesthesia and the doctors are carrying the procedure,” said Ali Dar. “Most probably he will be shifted to a private room in another two hours,” he added. He said that the doctors will continue to monitor his father. STAFF REPORT

TwO kIllEd IN dErA IsMAIl kHAN BOMBING peSHAWAr STAFF REPORT

At least two people were killed in a bomb blast targeting a vehicle in Tank area of Dera Ismail Khan on Monday. Police officials said that the bomb was planted on the roadside and was detonated remotely when a vehicle carrying a tribal elder Malik Khan Gull and his son passed near it. Both men were killed on the spot. Police and rescue officials rushed to the scene and shifted the bodies to the hospital for medico-legal formalities. The officials said that the motive behind the murders was yet to be known.

NAB gets 10-day remand of former PIA managing director ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

An accountability court on Monday approved 10-day physical remand of Ijaz Haroon, former managing director of Pakistan International Airlines, in a case related to fake bank accounts.

Ijaz Haroon was produced before the court of Judge Muhammad Bashir under strict security measures.

According to the NAB, the former PIA MD is accused of fraud charges, fake accounts and corruption. Ijaz Haroon had been arrested for his alleged role in corruption with the Omni group,

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the NAB said.

Furthermore, the NAB prosecutor apprised the court that Ijaz Haroon had sold 12 plots to fake allottees as secretary Kidney Hill Housing Scheme and laundered Rs144 million into the Omni group via two fake accounts.

The defence counsel, rejecting the allegations levelled against his client, said Haroon has been appearing before the NAB for an inquiry, the plots were established by Haroon’s father, which were later sold to the Omni group.

The NAB pleaded the court to approve 15-day remand of the accused, while the court

adjourned the hearing after approving remand of 10 days.

The anti-graft watchdog is conducting investigations in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the fake accounts case wherein it forwarded the joint investigation team (JIT) report with directions to investigate and file references.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal BhuttoZardari, his aunt Faryal Talpur, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, provincial minister Anwar Siyal and real estate tycoon Malik Riaz are among as many as 172 accused in the fake accounts case.

04 LAHORE

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

WEATHER UPDATES 0 TUESDAY

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PuNjab assemblY coNdemNs desecRatioN of HolY QuRaN iN NoRwaY LAHORE

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maN muRdeRs wife iN laHoRe NewsPaPeR office

STAFF REPORT

He Punjab Assembly on Monday passed a resolution condemning the desecration of the Holy Quran in Norway.

The resolution, moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid MPA Khadija Umar, was passed with full consensus of the House.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to raise the incident of the Holy Quran’s desecration in Norway with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Condemning the incident, the prime minister directed the foreign minister to immediately contact the OIC and inform it of the country’s reservations in this regard.

Prime Minister Khan maintained such provocative activities against

LAHORE INP

Islam are not acceptable at all. earlier, on Nov 23, the Ambassador of Norway was called to the Foreign office to convey the deep concern of the government and peo-

Nawaz allowed to leave in light of medical board’s report: Yasmeen Rashid LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid on Monday said that she stood by her statements over former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s health reports. In an interview with a British newspaper, Rashid said the medical board, constituted to look after Nawaz, had said that the former premier could not even walk due to the severity of his health issues. She said the best facilities were provided to the PML-N supremo in the light of reports prepared by the medical board. The minister said the doctors had said, in their recommendations, that some of the tests cannot be done in Pakistan and he needs to be shifted abroad. Recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan and some of the cabinet members have expressed reservations about the health of the former prime minister. INP

ple of Pakistan over the incident of desecration of the Holy Quran in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand.

It was underscored that such actions hurt the sentiments of 1.3 bil-

lion Muslims around the world, including those in Pakistan. Furthermore, such actions could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression.

Two arrested in Multan for beating up teacher MULTAN STAFF REPORT

Two people have been arrested after a video of a teacher being beaten up by a group of students went viral on social media.

One suspect, Hamza, has obtained bail. The other two were arrested on Monday by the Cantt police and have been identified as Hassan Farooq and Ahmed.

A day earlier, the police said the teacher pardoned his attackers. The video of Professor Aijaz being beaten up is four to five days old,

claimed the administration of City College in Multan.

They say he pardoned the students and refuse to comment any further. Attempts to reach Prof Aijaz also failed. The video showed Prof Aijaz being violently kicked, punched and beaten with sticks by four to five young men. At least two were students of City College and all were around 22 years old. The issue sprung up over a musical night at the college. Students and outsiders were both allowed in and Prof Aijaz scolded a group for misbehaving.

While he was on his way home in the jurisdiction of the Kotwali police station.

The boys arrived on three motorcycles and attacked the teacher.

In the video, Professor Aijaz can be heard begging the young men to let him go, repeatedly yelling “I’m a teacher, for God’s sake, I’m a teacher”.

The police said that they took the men into custody but the teacher forgave them, so they had to let them go.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had also taken notice of the video.

A female journalist working in a local newspaper here was murdered at her office by her husband, after which police registered a first information report (FIR) on Monday. According to the police, 25-year Urooj was killed as she was attacked with multiple gunshots, one of which went straight to her head, at her office in Qilla Gujjar Singh area of the city. In the FIR filed by one of her brothers, the victim's family has alleged that Dilawar, Urooj's husband, killed their sister due to the fact that she took a separation from him. According to police, Urooj and Dilawar were colleagues at the newspaper office and had married out of free will seven months ago. However, they recently separated due to personal differences between them. "Urooj was living in an apartment at Nicholson Road and was murdered on Sunday night," police said. The victim's dead body was shifted to the mortuary by the police whereas they have initiated an investigation into the murder.

miNoR giRl RaPed iN gujRaNwala GUJRANWALA INP

A man in Gujranwala alleged raped a nine-year-old girl on Monday. According to her family, the young girl had left her home to buy milk from a close-by shop when she was picked up by the suspect who took her into the fields and assaulted her. A report has been filed against the unidentified accused, a police official said while assuring that investigation is underway and the culprit will be caught soon.

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

PRoTecTINg womeN’s RIghTs Is A NATIoNAl ResPoNsIbIlITy: PResIdeNT AlvI

ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

RESIDENT Arif Alvi on Monday said it is the responsibility of the entire nation to play its due role in protecting women’s rights and curbing gender based violence.

He was addressing an event jointly organised by the Ministry of Law and the European Union Delegation in Pakistan in connection with International Day for Elimination of Violence

against Women.

The president said we must think about society’s role as the stick of the law comes later.

He stressed the need to create awareness among masses to end harassment and violence against women.

He said there is sufficient legislation in Pakistan regarding women rights, which needs to be implemented in letter and spirit. He said ethos of laws regarding women rights in Pakistan come from Islam, which granted property rights to ladies.

President Alvi said we should discourage the

tendency of forcing women to gift their inherited property to their male relatives.

The president said Ulema, especially the Council of Islamic Ideology, have a bigger role to play in protecting women’s rights. He said focus of the Friday sermons in mosques should be made on women’s rights. He called for effective use of films, dramas and social media tools to create awareness and to protect women’s rights. He stressed the need to create enabling environment, where women can feel safe and protected to work and move around.

Speaking on the occasion, Law Minister Farogh Nasim said that a number of laws and statues are there in Pakistan which safeguard women’s rights in the country. He said the government has introduced a law to protect women’s property rights as a financially independent woman plays a vital role to create a vibrant society.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said there is no justification of violence against women and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf strongly believes in protecting women’s rights. He said 55 action plans have been undertaken by the PTI Government to deal with the menace of violence against women.

EU Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said that violence against women not only affects an individual, but also hurts the very fabric of the society. She said creating awareness against gender based violence, promotion of girls’ education and gender parity are key priority areas of the European Union.

PTI government has destroyed Pakistan’s economy, says PML-N ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders on Monday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has destroyed the country’s economy.

PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said that the financial statistics of Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Shaikh are as accurate as his knowledge about the price of tomatoes.

Responding to the finance adviser’s statements, Ahsan said that the economy cannot be fixed by accusations and allegations. “The rant about Pakistan being at the verge of economic collapse has actually destroyed the country’s economy,” he added.

He said that the finance adviser was lying through his teeth when he said that the economy was in tatters when the incumbent government assumed charge.

“International financial institutions, including the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have confirmed that Pakistan’s economy was growing at almost 6 per cent and was among the emerging economies of the world,” he added.

The former planning minister said that PML-N supreme leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif handed over a Pakistan growing at 5.8 per cent and with the lowest inflation rate of 3 per cent to the “incompetent and clueless” PTI

government. “This inept regime has shot up inflation to 14 per cent in one year and buried growth to 2.5 per cent,” he added.

This government, he said, has achieved the impossible task of making the fastest growing economy of Asia turn into the slowest moving economy in just 15 months. He also said that the current account deficit is another proof of the incompetence of this government which was inevitable after its policies led to businesses being shut down and trade being slowed.

He said that during the PML-N government, there was a record tax collection with a shortfall of just Rs162 billion but today all growth engines are in the negative. “It is the first time in the country's history that the State Bank of Pakistan

(SBP) is on its way to bankruptcy,” he added.

Ahsan said that another proof of the government's incompetence is that even the country's defence budget has been jeopardised. “Basic public welfare sectors like education and health have also been financially crippled,” he added.

Responding to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech, PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said that pollution is not the only silent killer because a “selected, incompetent and lying prime minister is even more lethal”.

The former information minister said that the prime minister has put up his name plaque over Nawaz’s Green Pakistan project after two years. She said that Imran's ‘Naya Pakistan’ might not

have a billion trees but it sure is close to a billion government lies.

She pointed out that Imran should have at least done his homework before his speech because the parliament had approved the Pakistan Climate Change Act. Marriyum said that Nawaz started the Rs5 billion Green Pakistan project in February 2017.

“Under this programme, millions of trees were to be planted across Pakistan, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), GilgitBaltistan (SB) and erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),” she added.

She said that in Nawaz's Green Pakistan project, the entire country's institutions were to be engaged, including educational institutions. “This also included designating February 9 as the National Green Day. The original legislation included deadlines and targets which Imran shredded and trashed for 14 months,” she added.

Marriyum said that the PTI government has zero work to claim over the formulation of this programme but surely deserves 100 per cent credit for zero progress in the past 15 months.

She further said that instead of wasting nation’s time, money and resources on such events, PM Imran should read this 2017 legislation and work on implementing it. “The entire country is still waiting for a single visionary policy of his own other than his incessant lying,” she concluded.

NEWS

05

PTI will get clean chit in foreign funding case, says Rasheed ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Monday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ( PTI) would successfully come out from ongoing foreign funding case in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Addressing a press conference, Rasheed said that the Mainline 1 (ML1) project was a key project in the belt of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and would soon be completed. “The credit of completing this project goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he said. Hailing the Chinese railway infrastructure as one of the best in the world, the minister said that talks were also underway to initiate the Mainline 2 (ML2) project. Rasheed said that the incumbent federal government would complete its tenure and he was not foreseeing any elections in the near future. He also demanded scrutiny into foreign funding sources of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). He also claimed that a plea bargain was also underway in cases that involved PPP Cochairman Asif Zardari. “Soon a lot of money will be deposited in the national exchequer from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities,” Rasheed said.

Sheikh Rasheed also demanded to investigate Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan and head of medical board treating PML-N supremo, Dr Waqar, for “fooling masses”. “It is our success that Maulana returned emptyhanded after bringing his supporters to Islamabad, demanding the resignation of the prime minister,” he said.

Also rubbishing aside any difference of PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi with the incumbent government, the APML chief said that Elahi was part of the system and contacted Fazl on the request of Imran Khan.

Top Anglican church leaders call Norway Quran desecration 'inhuman act'

LAHORE PRESS RELEASE

Two senior leaders of the global Anglican church have condemned the profanation of a copy of the Holy Quran in Norway, calling it an “inhuman act”. The desecration of the Islamic sacred text took place at a protest by an Islamophobic organisation, Stop the Islamisation of Norway (SIAN), in Kristiansand on November 19. In a joint statement on Monday, Anglican Archbishop of North America Dr Foley Beach and National Council of Churches of Pakistan President Bishop Dr Azad Marshall said that Christians across the world condemn the incident and express solidarity with the Muslims. “We must respect all religions and expect others to respect ours,” they said, urging the Norwegian government to “prevent such actions” and “ensure those responsible are brought to justice as soon as possible”. In his view, Archbishop Dr Foley said that desecrating the holy Quran is a sign of “intolerance and an unsustainable act” and cannot be condoned by any believer belonging to the Christian faith.

Bishop Dr Azad, who is also the Bishop of Raiwind of the Church of Pakistan, said that the incident has hurt the feelings of Muslims across the globe and Pakistani Christians stand shoulder to shoulder with their countrymen in this time. “No one has the right to insult the religion of others,” he said, adding that such sacrilegious acts go against the concept of harmony between faiths and threaten the multicultural fabric of societies and brotherhood.

Islamabad Art Festival 2019 in full swing ISLAMABAD APP

The first-ever International Islamabad Art Festival 2019 (IAF-19) was in full swing in the federal capital, aims at celebrating diversity and creativity in all forms of visual and performing arts.

On day eight of the 13-day long festival, various cultural programmes were held at various locations in the federal capital.

President Islamabad Art Festival, Jamal Shah told APP that the Festival was in full swing with all forms of artist’s performances and displays of exhibitions at Sir Syed Memorial Complex, Satrang Art Gallery, Gallery 6, Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), Arts and Craft Village and COMSATS University.

Islamabad Art Festival 2019 in collaboration

with Satrang Art Gallery organized a solo show of internationally acclaimed miniature artists Nida Ban-

gash titled Confluence.

Nida Bangwash is a visual artist born in Iran and brought up in Pakistan. She is trained in the traditions of Persian and South Asian miniature and experienced in employing these techniques in contemporary art.

Her previous studies explored themes from abstraction, deconstruction or reconstruction, to the political culture or social and from the ephemeral subjective or objective; to the structural; substantial or permanent.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Art Festival in collaboration with Lahore Arts Foundation presented Qawali of Mehr Ali and Sher Ali. The Qawali programme was curated by Sabah Hussain.

British Live performance artist Spike Mclarrity given a live demonstration of his art performance at Sir Syed Memorial Complex.

Amina Art Drawing Workshop on Children’s day

CMYK

was held at Sir Syed Memorial at Islamabad Art Festival.

Chinese Ningxia Cultural troupe also performed at local hotel organized by Islamabad Art Festival.

Iranian Traditional Music show was held at Islamabad Club.

The film screening was also arranged at the Millennium University Campus Auditorium on the same day.

The festival was being organized by the consortium of public and private educational institutions, art galleries and artist associations from across the country in collaboration with foreign embassies, with generous support from the corporate sector.

Artists of more than 35 countries were participating in the festival including Ballet Beyond Borders USA. The thematic focus of the Islamabad Art Festival 2019 was ‘Dialogue between Tradition and Modernity’.

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

Sri Lanka’S MuSLiMS have reaSOn tO fear the new rajapakSa era THE ANTI-MUSLIM SENTIMENTS THAT HELPED HIM GET ELECTED ARE LIKELY TO SHAPE GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA'S TENURE AS PRESIDENT

Al JAzeerA

O

Sultan Barakat

n Saturday, Sri Lankans elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former secretary of defence and brother of two-time former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as their new president in an election that has seen rising religious tensions take centre stage.

Gotabaya's election marked a return to majoritarian politics in the predominantly Buddhist South Asian island nation and left Sri Lanka's myriad minorities, especially the Muslims who constitute roughly 10 percent of the population, in a precarious position.

He secured victory with an impressive 52.25 percent of the vote but achieved this result with hardly any support from Sri Lanka's minorities. This marked a significant shift in Sri Lankan politics since Muslims have long been perceived as "kingmakers" in the country and played a key role in determining the winners of presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2015 presidential elections, for example, they formed a united front with Tamil and Sinhalese opposition groups to defeat then-President Mahinda. But this time around they failed to influence the result of the election and likely lost the opportunity to have a representative in the new cabinet that will be sworn-in in January 2020.

But not having any representation in the cabinet is only the tip of an iceberg of problems awaiting Sri Lanka's Muslims

following Gotabaya's election.

The newly-elected president, who served as defence secretary under his authoritarian older brother between 20052015 and helped him bring an end to Sri Lanka's 26-year war with Tamil rebels, based his campaign for Saturday's election on providing strong leadership on national security issues in general and the perceived threat of "Muslim extremism" in particular. This raised concerns among Sri Lanka's human rights activists, who fear Gotabaya could repeat the human rights violations allegedly committed against minorities during his brother's tenure.

EASTER SUNDAY BOMBINGS BEHIND RAJAPAKSA'S RISE Gotabaya's election victory came on the back of a series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday that killed at least 257 people and wounded hundreds of others.

The attacks, which were claimed by a little known local Muslim armed group, caused the country's Sinhalese Buddhist majority to openly turn on the Muslim community. In the months that followed, as the International Crisis Group (ICG) documented in a recent report, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists waged a campaign of "violence and hate" against Sri Lanka's Muslims, while "a weak and divided political leadership has either stood idly by or, worse, egged on the abuse".

Large-scale violence was seen in Kurunegala, Kuliyapitiya and Minuwangoda among other places. As part of the Buddhist hardliners' campaign against Muslims, it is estimated that more than 30 mosques and Quranic schools, as well as 50 Muslimowned shops and more than 100 houses, were attacked. Leading Buddhist monks, such as Venerable Rathna Himi and Galaboda Ghanasara, also openly criticised Muslims and encouraged violence against them.

All this boosted the political fortunes of Gotabaya who seized the opportunity to position himself as the nation's protector against the "Muslim threat" and to run for president on a security ticket.

The dramatic shift in Sri Lankan society's perception of Muslims and its decision to elect a strictly majoritarian leader like Gotabaya, however, cannot be tied solely to the Easter Sunday bombings.

TENSIONS HAD LONG BEEN SIMMERING UNDER THE SURFACE The growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka that at least partially led to the election of Gotabaya as president is the cumulative result of a set of insecurities specific to the Sinhalese majority.

First, the Sinhalese believe that Muslims in Sri Lanka, who first arrived on the island as traders and continued to be involved in trade over the centuries, are economically better-off than the rest of the Sri Lankan population. This perception fosters a sense of unfair distribution of wealth and is one of the underlying causes behind the long-simmering tensions between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities, which led to bursts of communal violence even before the Easter Sunday attacks.

Second, while the Sinhalese are clearly the majority in Sri Lanka, they carry significant demographic insecurities stemming from the fact that they are a minority in their wider neighbourhood, which is home to some 70 million Indian Tamils. As a result, even a decade after their victory against Tamil rebels, they still have deeprooted fears about being "outnumbered" in their own homeland. Today, certain politicians and military leaders are using this deep-rooted fear to fuel not only anti-Tamil but also anti-Muslim sentiments in Sri Lanka in order to retain power and advan-

Edward Snowden spies on the spies New StAteSmAN StEVEn POOlE

Don’t underestimate the IT guy. Edward Snowden – who in 2013 told the world about the United States’s illegal mass-surveillance of its citizens’ communications – was not a computer genius exfiltrating secrets from the bowels of the national Security Agency (nSA) and CIA through brilliant technical subterfuge. Although he enjoys referring to himself as a “spy”, he was really just a lowly systems administrator for the spies’ computers. But because his sysadmin roles required him to manage documents, he had the top security clearance needed to read any document in the whole system. Then he just methodically copied them on to SD cards and walked out past the guards, day after day, fiddling with his Rubik’s Cube.

It’s halfway through Snowden’s memoir, though, before any secrets get stolen.

The first half details his childhood as the son of two government workers, and his blossoming passion for computers. “What I love and believe in the most is connection, human connection,” he writes, before adding, as only an übergeek would, “and the technologies by which that is achieved.” An early epiphany comes when his father, a gruff electronics engineer for the Coast Guard, brings home a Commodore 64 home computer. Before long, young Snowden is upgrading to a PC and haunting the bulletin boards of the early internet on a dial-up connection. At one point he politely informs the national nuclear-research facility at Los Alamos that he has managed to hack their website.

They call back and offer him a job, not realising he’s still a schoolboy.

By this stage, however, schoolboy Snowden has, like Holden Caulfield, decided that school is full of phonies, “an illegitimate system”. He prefers to read cyberpunk fiction and hang out online

until he graduates. Then 9/11 strikes, and he joins the army. Invalided out after fracturing his legs, he decides he can best serve his country with his computer skills, and so begins his career as a systems guy for the spies, first the CIA and then the nSA. He is notionally employed by corporations such as BAE Systems or Dell, but physically and informationally he is positioned in the belly of the deep-state beast.

Perhaps the most interesting and heartfelt analysis of the whole book, before we even get to the whistle-blowing, is Snowden’s bureaucratic complaint about the absurd results of outsourcing crucial government operations to corporate enterprise. He and his fellow private contractors earn more money and do cooler stuff than the “govies”, actual public employees, many of whom are former field agents (ie, real spies) now pastured out to a help-desk in a corridor. naturally, the intelligence officials who hire the contractors end up waltzing through the revolving door to become handsomely paid executives at the same firms. “Contracting functions as governmentally assisted corruption,” Snowden concludes; it is “America’s most legal and convenient method of transferring public money to the private purse”. Evidently the grift works the same way everywhere.

Being a curious fellow, Snowden uses his security clearance to snoop around in topics that interest him. “In case you were wondering,” he writes drily, “Yes, man really did land on the moon. Climate change is real. Chemtrails are not a thing.” (“Chemtrails” are what conspiracy theorists, including the author naomi Wolf, call the contrails of jet planes: rather than being harmless water vapour, they think they are deliberate sprays of noxious chemicals into the atmosphere, for reasons unclear.) And then, after marvelling at evidence of China’s programme of mass electronic surveillance of its citizens, he starts wondering

if the US is doing the same thing.

Thanks to him, we now know it was, and no doubt still is, under programs codenamed Stellarwind (the name for the “bulk collection” of data), Prism (describing how the nSA could reach into the servers of Google, Apple and the rest, and extract whatever it wanted without a warrant), and Turbulence, through which the nSA can intercept your web traffic and which Snowden says install spyware on your computer.

By the time Snowden moves to a new post in Hawaii for health reasons, he has decided he is going to make it all public.

There follows a deliciously tense sequence describing in cinematic detail how he copied and extracted the files, waiting anxiously for the progress bars to finish during his night-shifts, and meanwhile made plans to abandon his life and his country. Then we hop to his first meeting in Hong Kong with the journalists Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, his sudden worldwide fame after the first reports on his leaks are printed in the Washington Post and the Guardian, and his attempt to fly to asylum in Ecuador. That, of course, got only as far as Russia, where he lives to this day.

Why did he do it? Snowden argues strongly for his principles, prime among which is privacy, which he sees as indivisible from liberty itself. “Ultimately, saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide,” he writes, “is no different from saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.” He describes the horror he felt, knowing what he knew but we didn’t yet, when he was first shown an internet-enabled “smart fridge” in an electrical showroom: “I was convinced the only reason that thing was internet-equipped was so that it could report back to its manufacturer about its owner’s usage and about any other house-

tageous access to resources.

Following the definitive defeat of Tamil separatists in 2009, the post-war economic and social challenges, particularly the lack of progress in terms of reconciliation and resettlement of displaced people, caused the Sri Lankan population to slowly cease its support for Mahinda's government. Sri Lankans raised questions about the need to maintain the very high levels of military expenditure, given that the threat posed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been eliminated completely.

The only way for the government to hold on to power at the time was to turn a blind eye to or even actively encourage the creation of "extremist" Buddhist groups, such as Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Ravana Balaya; groups which sought to represent the country's Muslim minority as the new enemy of the state and, in so doing, helped the government to justify its high military spending.

Moreover, the creation of this new "threat" allowed Mahinda to ask the public to support the incumbent government that defeated the LTTE in the face of a new security crisis.

While all these efforts did not prove enough to keep Mahinda in power - he lost the presidency in 2015 when the minorities he tried to turn into public enemies joined forces against him - it slowly paved the way for his brother's election some four years later. Even after Mahinda's removal from office, radical Buddhist groups continued to steer anti-Muslim feelings in the Sinhalese population. They even tried to use the desperate attempts by a very small number of Muslim-majority Rohingya to reach the shores of the island to convince the Sinhalese majority that Muslims present a threat to them.

The BBS was very vocal of its criticism of the arrival of Rohingya refugees on the island and heavily lobbied the government to "send them back". The group argued that al-

hold data that was obtainable.” As Amazon and other companies launch more and more “smart home” devices, this is truer and more threatening than ever.

If there’s one thing that Snowden wants his readers to learn, it’s that they do not have to helplessly participate in their own surveillance. He recommends, at the very least, that we use encrypted communications: the chat app Signal, the anonymous Tor web browser. He points out that the “cloud” – the fashionable term for storing our documents and email on corporate servers run by Google etc – is really a reassertion of centralised control: “A regression to the old main-frame architecture of computing’s earliest history, where many users all depended upon a single powerful central core that could only be maintained by an elite cadre of professionals.”

Permanent Record – the title refers to the data exhaust of our modern lives, stored indefinitely by governments and corporations – is a thoughtful and elegantly written book, with a nice line in tech-inflected imagery. (On the morning of 9/11, Snowden recalls, he was driving under “a beautiful Microsoft-blue sky”.)

Snowden himself is not part of the global wave of anarcho-nationalism exemplified by figures such as Julian Assange, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and Dominic Cummings, but he does resemble them to the extent that he combines a declared fealty to “democracy” with fantasising about a liberating freedom from any laws at all.

“To this day,” he remarks, “I consider the 1990s online to have been the most pleasant and successful anarchy I’ve ever experienced.” If only, you suspect he wishes, the world could be that way too.

Questions have long been raised – and not only by the predictably furious CIA and nSA leadership – about Snowden’s exact relationship with the Russian security services during his six-year “exile” there. Unarguably his presence has been a PR coup for Vladimir Putin, whose name is not mentioned in the book. nor does Snowden address the fact – at

lowing the arrival of a small number of Rohingya refugees could pave the way for a major Muslim refugee influx which, they claimed, would cause a "religious imbalance" and a higher number of terror incidents on the island. These very same groups also led the attacks and boycotts on Muslim businesses following the Easter Sunday bombings.

Third, Sri Lankan Muslims are treated with a growing sense of suspicion by the Sinhalese partly due to a rising conservative trend linked to religious influence from the Middle East. In early 1980, following the entry of Saudi-funded mosques and satellite television channels proselytising Wahhabi ideals into the country, Muslims in Sri Lanka started to take on increasing signs of religious identity, beginning with the introduction of Hijab as part of school uniforms for girls in the 1980s. This caused alarm among the Sinhalese, who viewed the growing conservatism of the Sri Lankan Muslim community as a worrying sign of its descent into extremism.

These insecurities, exacerbated by the fears triggered by the 9/11 attacks and the consequent mainstreaming of Islamophobia across the world, led the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka to grow increasingly suspicious of Muslims. With some politicians and nationalist groups using these fears and insecurities to gain favour in the eyes of the public, and fringe Muslim extremist groups targeting innocent civilians, these suspicions transformed into outright hostility and caused a return to majoritarian politics in the country.

Following the election of Gotabaya as president, Muslims in Sri Lanka are facing the risk of being marginalised further. As he was elected on the premise of restoring security, Gotabaya is likely to bring forth a government that will play on Sinhalese fears about Muslims and prioritise security on the national agenda. In short, Muslims in Sri Lanka are likely to face a harsher crackdown under Gotabaya's leadership than ever before.

Sultan Barakat is Professor of Politics at the University of York.

least, according to the US director of national intelligence in 2014 – that many of the secret files he copied related not to domestic surveillance at all but to America’s global military operations. Instead, he says he rejected a frank attempt at recruitment by Russia’s security agency, the FSB, on his initial arrival in the country, and that’s the last we hear of spies.

For the story’s final chapter, instead, Snowden paints a sweetly dull picture of a normal Muscovite life: reading stuff on the internet, going to Burger King, and occasionally taking up a generous offer of tickets at the Bolshoi. He married his girlfriend there and makes a handsome living giving talks by video-conference to audiences all over the world. Seemingly the only downside is that he is, he mentions casually, obliged to pirate the video games he wants to play because he “can no longer use credit cards”. Even an ethical hacker, it seems, has to be a little bit unethical sometimes.

Steven Poole’s latest book is “A Word for Every Day of the Year” (Quercus).

Permanent Record, Edward Snowden, Macmillan, i 352pp, £20.

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

Hong Kong lEADEr vowS to ‘lIStEn’ AS votErS SEnD SHArp rEbuKE to bEIjIng HONG KONG

H

AGENCIES

ONG Kong’s deeply unpopular leader vowed Monday to “listen humbly” to voters after the pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections that revealed broad public support for a protest movement that has stirred months of violence.

In a rout that stunned the semi-autonomous territory, candidates seeking to loosen control by China seized an overwhelming majority of the 452 elected seats in the city’s 18 district councils, bodies that have historically been firmly in the grip of a Beijing-aligned establishment.

The result, the first vote to be held since protests engulfed the city, was a humiliating rebuke to Beijing and Chief Executive Carrie Lam. She has stubbornly dismissed calls for political reform and repeatedly suggested that a silent majority supported her administration and opposed the protest movement.

“The government will certainly listen humbly to citizens’ opinions and reflect on them seriously,” Lam said in a statement issued by the government. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing “resolutely supports” the leader and backs the police and judiciary in Hong Kong in “punishing relevant violent and illegal behaviours”.

Opponents quickly called on Lam to

accede to a five-point list of demands, including direct elections for the city’s legislature and leadership and a probe into alleged police brutality against demonstrators. “The government must squarely face public opinion,” said Wu Chi-wai, the chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong’s largest anti-establishment party.

The Labour Party, another leading component of the pro-democracy bloc, attributed the election result to “the sweat, blood and tears” of protesters. There has been no tear gas fired in Hong Kong for a week, rare respite for a city upturned by months of chaos and violence. The lull follows some of the most intense clashes yet between police and protesters at the city centre PolyU campus. Dozens of

FOREIGN NEWS 07

newly elected councillors marched on Monday evening on the campus urging police to allow the small number of hardcore protesters who remain holed-up inside to leave freely. “The people of Hong Kong have spoken,” Paul Zimmerman, a pro-democracy councillor re-elected in Sunday’s poll, said in a speech outside PolyU. “Now is time for the government to respond. Don’t fail Hong Kong again.”

Chatter on a popular web forum used to urge people to turn out for protests called for a march on Sunday to press the government to respond to the movement’s demands. Millions took to the

streets earlier this year after Lam’s government introduced a bill to allow extraditions to China’s opaque judicial system.

It was eventually withdrawn, but the resulting public anger unleashed broader demands and led to violent clashes between police and protesters.

District councils handle mundane community-level issues like garbage collection. But backlit by protests, Sunday’s contest took a new political significance.

The outcome is “a sound repudiation of the (Hong Kong) administration and Beijing’s policy toward Hong Kong,” political analyst Willy Lam said.

Britain is a dangerous mess, former PM Blair says LONDON AGENCIES

Europe police agency hits IS servers in blow to jihadist publicity THE HAGUE: Belgian prosecutors have knocked out several internet servers used by Islamic State, shutting a large number of accounts and websites run by its news arm, in an operation led by Europe’s police agency, the Belga press agency reported on Monday. Europol, the European policy agency, said it would release details of the initiative at a news conference later on Monday. “We were able to shut down a large number of accounts and a series of websites,” Belga quoted prosecution spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt as saying. Europol said in a statement it has been working with nine of the largest Internet platforms to counter Islamic State propaganda operations, including with Google, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram. Europol said on its website it had examined “propaganda videos, publications and social media accounts supporting terrorism and violent extremism” over the course of two days last week. “Telegram was the online service provider” where most offending material was found, Europol said. “As a result, a significant portion of key actors within the IS network on Telegram was pushed away from the platform.” AGENCIES

Former prime minister Tony Blair said on Monday that Britain was in a dangerous mess and that neither his own Labour Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives deserved to win a Dec. 12 election.

Britain is holding an election three years ahead of schedule because parliament was deadlocked over Brexit, unable to agree on how or even whether to leave the European Union.

“We’re a mess,” Blair said at a Reuters Newsmaker event. “The buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going up to now, but should that falter, we will be in deep trouble.”

Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said both major parties were peddling

fantasies, adding that if the opinion polls were accurate, Johnson’s party looked likely to win a majority. Blair, the only Labour leader to win three elections, said his party was now controlled by its “Marxist-Leninist wing” and that its leader Jeremy Corbyn was promising a revolution. “The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end,” said Blair. “The problem with revolutions is that they always end badly.” “The truth is: the public aren’t convinced either main party deserves to win this election outright.” The Dec. 12 vote presents a stark choice between a socialist-run state under Labour, which is offering a second referendum on leaving the EU, and the freemarket Conservatives, who want to “get Brexit done” by the end of January.

Blair, an opponent of Brexit, argued for a second referendum on the decision to leave, saying it would need to be followed by another general election. Johnson has pledged to take Britain out of the EU by Jan. 31 if he wins a parliamentary majority and then to negotiate a comprehensive deal with the bloc covering trade and future relations during a transition period due to end next December.

Blair cast doubt on that timetable and said there was still a risk that Britain could exit the EU in a year’s time without having struck a deal with its biggest trading partner. “No-deal Brexit is not off the table,” Blair said. “This negotiation (on the future relationship) has no chance of being concluded in that transition period.”

Doctors say ailing Assange needs medical care in hospital LONDON: More than 60 doctors have written to British authorities asserting that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange urgently needs medical treatment at a university hospital.

The doctors said in a letter published Monday that Assange suffers from psychological problems including depression as well as dental issues and a serious shoulder ailment.

Assange is in Belmarsh Prison on the outskirts of London in advance of an extradition hearing set for February. He is sought by the U.S. on espionage charges relating to his WikiLeaks work. The letter was sent to Home Secretary Priti Patel. Dr Lissa Johnson of Australia said an independent medical assessment is needed to determine if Assange is “medically fit” to face legal proceedings.

The letter was distributed by WikiLeaks. AGENCIES

UK man in truck deaths case pleads guilty to immigration, property offences

Fresh arrests in Saudi Arabia net intellectuals, entrepreneurs DUBAI AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia has detained at least eight people, mostly intellectuals and writers, two sources including London-based Saudi rights group ALQST said, amid a two-year crackdown on free expression in the kingdom.

They were taken from their

homes in the capital Riyadh and the Red Sea port city of Jeddah last week by plainclothes police but the reason was unclear, said one of the sources. The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Riyadh denies having political prisoners, but senior officials have said monitoring of activists,

and potentially detaining them, is needed to maintain social stability.

Those detained are not frontline activists, the sources said. Some are intellectuals who have published articles or appeared on television while others are entrepreneurs.

As Riyadh takes over the presidency of the Group of 20 countries, it is struggling to overcome intense in-

ternational criticism over its human rights record, including last year’s killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the arrest of women’s rights activists and the devastating Yemen war. Even as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman touted economic and social openness in the traditionally closedoff country, the authorities rounded up critics, an effort that gathered pace in Sept. 2017 with the arrests of prominent Islamist clerics, some of whom could now face the death penalty.

An anti-corruption campaign two months later netted top businessmen and senior officials. It was criticized as a power play and shakedown of the crown prince’s potential political rivals. In mid-2018, more than a dozen women’s rights activists were arrested just as Riyadh lifted a ban on women driving cars. Local media tarred them as traitors, and a court has charged some of them with crimes including contacts with foreign journalists. This April, eight people, including two U.S. citizens, who had supported the detained women were also arrested.

Public protests, political parties and labour unions are banned in Saudi Arabia, where the media are controlled and criticism of the royal family can lead to prison.

LONDON: A British truck driver charged with the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese nationals found dead in a truck near London last month pleaded guilty on Monday to plotting to assist unlawful immigration and to acquiring criminal property. Appearing in court by video link from Belmarsh Prison in east London, Maurice Robinson, 25, from Northern Ireland, was not asked to enter a plea to 41 other charges, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

No trial date was set and Robinson is next due in court on Dec. 13. The victims, 31 men and boys and eight women, were found on Oct. 23 on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, not far from docks on the River Thames.

The oldest of the victims was 44 while three were aged under 18, including two 15-year-old boys. The discovery of the bodies has shone a spotlight on the illicit human smuggling trade that sees poor people from Asia, the Middle East and Africa make perilous journeys, often after paying huge sums to criminal gangs, to western Europe. Most of the victims were from the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh in north-central Vietnam, where poor job prospects and other factors all fuel migration.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones told Monday’s hearing at London’s Old Bailey criminal court that it was likely to be a large and complex case. Robinson admitted to having conspired with others between May 1, 2018 and Oct. 24 this year to commit an offence of assisting unlawful immigration as well as acquiring cash which he knew or suspected came from criminal conduct. AGENCIES

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

08 COMMENT

The myth of PTI media savviness

The crisis of governance in Punjab PTI’s ineptitude blowing up in its face

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ut of the four chief ministers in the country only Mr Buzdar seems to be facing lack of cooperation from bureaucracy. the PtI leadership maintains that this is because many bureaucrats still remain allied to the PML-N government. the more things are not working in Punjab, the more innovative steps are being taken to get the bureaucracy moving. the treatment meted out to two senior bureaucrats was meant to serve as an example to others. this was followed by transfers of the Chief Secretary and several police IGs. Numerous district officers were shifted on the complaints of the PtI law makers and replaced by those supposed to have a soft corner for the ruling party. Despite the measures, there is still no end to complaints about lack of cooperation by the administrators the crack of the NAB’s whip along with the PM’s unending threats of sparing none involved in corruption have produced unintended results. A harassed bureaucracy is on a virtual pen down strike. No one is willing to take decisions that could bring them to the attention of the NAB. On Sunday the PtI core committee faulted the bureaucracy for its governance woes. there is again a talk about large scale transfers of government officers. the federal government cannot exonerate itself of the responsibility for the deterioration of governance in Punjab. One had expected that the PtI would appoint an experienced party leader capable of understanding the complexity of the largest province of the country. It chose for reasons known only to itself a novice who was elected to the provincial assembly for the first time and was supposed to learn to run a province with a population of over 100 million through on job training. Among other things this was sheer injustice to the province and its people. the PtI leadership is currently running Punjab through multiple centers of power. A week and clueless CM suits them all. this is sheer bad governance. As long as the PtI continues to maintain the persona of selfrighteousness, blaming others for its own blunders- the show of no trust in Chief Election Commissioner being the latest example- there will be no end to the country’s problems and the miseries of its people.

Maulana’s maneuverings Shrouded in secrecy and mystery

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AuLANA Fazlur Rehman had been, for the first time in his political career, left out of the thick of things owing to a heavy defeat in the 2018 elections. Prior to this he had always remained relevant allying with the ruling government of the time and taking his pound of flesh in exchange for that support. this was perhaps his primary motivation to organize and execute the much touted Azadi March; to show that he was still relevant. the power show with a mammoth crowd sitting at Peshawar Mor in Islamabad lasted a few weeks only to be scaled down into blocking of highways across major cities as part of a ‘Plan-B’, which has now been reduced to protests at a district level.

All this while, the Maulana has kept his cards close to his chest by not taking the PML-N and PPP completely onboard with his ever-evolving strategy. While both opposition parties had already made it clear that they won’t be part of any sit-in, their contribution to the march otherwise also left a lot to be desired with bare minimum participation owing partly to each party’s own myriad of problems and also being kept in the dark by the JuI-F. Apart from securing some much needed nuisance value the Maulana has also attempted to convey to PM Imran Khan and his party that he too can gain the support of the same powers that had helped the latter come to power.

According to the JuI-F chief he has been guaranteed fresh election in the next three months, stating that PM Khan would be sent packing by December, in exchange for wrapping up his sit-in. the government’s negotiation team has obviously denied any such understanding meaning the Maulana has assurances from other quarters. the JuI-F cannot bring about any worthy change by giving a tough time to the ruling party on its own without keeping the opposition in the loop, discussing and formulating a joint strategy where the goals and the process to achieve them are mutually agreed upon. the APC being held today is a good chance for Fazlur Rehman to right this wrong.

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

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With a detour to media incompetence/dishonesty

hasan aFTaB saEED

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MRAN KHAN inaugurated the HavelianMansehra section of the Hazara Motorway last week. the N-Leaguers, as expected, are claiming that the credit goes to Nawaz Sharif, who started the project. the PtI media team also appeared apologetic about the inauguration. there was no reason why the NLeague’s narrative should have prevailed on the mainstream media. Or for that matter, on the social media, which for the most part, reflected the same trend.

It’s true that the project was started by Sharif in 2014. But by the same token the Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project was started

by Benazir Bhutto and Neelam-Jhelum Hydropower Project by the Musharraf’s regime. this certainly didn’t stop those who came afterwards from laying claim to them. Which raises an important question: With large projects that take time to complete, how to apportion the credit? Or is it just a matter of which side has better media management and propaganda skill (and ‘sympathy’ on the part of the most vocal journalists), as appears to be the case in this country?

But before we go into it, imagine for a moment that PML(N) had come to power in the KPK in the 2018 general elections and had completed the Peshawar BRt. you can be sure about the narrative it would have successfully sold to its support base as well as many outside that base. that they completed in one year what the PtI was unable to do in so many years. And yet, the PtI was unable to sell the same narrative in the case of the Hazara Motorway.

What’s more, judging from the apologetic behavior on display, it appears it didn’t even make a serious effort to.

For a moment moving from the perception side to the reality side of the question, it’s not at all difficult to gauge the contribution of each government toward the completion of a certain development project. It’s all very well to an-

nounce a project, but the true test of any government (as far its sincerity and commitment to a project is concerned) is the amount of money it allocates (and then actually spends) on a certain project. the Hazara Motorway is a Rs. 136.6 bn project. At the time of presenting the 2018 budget, the PML(N) had spent Rs. 63.8 bn on it.

By the time all phases of the project are complete, the balance will have been spent by the PtI. this information can easily be looked up in the Federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). the PML(N)’s contribution can’t be swept under the carpet of course, but is it just a PML(N) project? Wouldn’t it have been much easier for the PtI government to abandon it, and instead divert this fund to (say) the Rawalpindi Ring Road, which could have easily been constructed with it? the ‘credit’ would then have been solely the PtI’s. that would have suited PtI fine. But would that have been good for the country?

And did any PtI official try to tell this side of the story to the citizens? this is not an isolated example either. though the PtI is doing most of the right things when it comes to documentation of economy and refraining from artificially keeping the dollar price in check by taking short-term loans, it’s the failure of its media team to convey to any significant portion of the public outside its support base what it has been doing. the result being that there are still those who believe the PML(N) propaganda, namely, Ishaq Dar being some sort

How difficult is it to look up the figures in the Federal PSDP? While there’s no shortage of selfproclaimed investigative journalists in the country, it’s not at all easy to say that too many of them even know what the Federal PSDP is.

Akhand Bharat The BJP successfully dismantling India’s secularism Fasi Khan

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ANy political entities around the world use diverse methods for political maneuvering by playing with the popular sentimentalities of voters. It is experienced that such rhetoric has the capacity to create spillover effects which are often beyond the jurisdiction of the states.

A recent paradigm can be found in Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party where the fires of jingoism are burning on the political landscape. the rise of Hindu Majoritarianism is not a recent phenomenon but it has its roots in the period preceding the partition of the subcontinent. the seeds of hyper-nationalism were planted back in the rhetoric of the Congress party in 1937 to 1939 where Muslims could not trust their basic rights to be protected under a unified India which had a Hindu majority. this convinced the Muslims of the subcontinent to pursue a homeland of their own where their rights would be safeguarded. the political project of ‘Hindutva’ is the reformation of India according to Hindu culture, values, and way of life. this notion is highly skeptical of secular policies advocated by the India National Congress, on which the Indian constitution is based upon. they consider people who are not Hindus as ‘invaders’ and should be dealt with accordingly. this has stirred the issue of looking at the minorities living in India as problematic. the early success of BJP came in 1989

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of a financial wizard or genius. It may be the case of falsehood having a way of traveling faster than the truth, but the PtI media team must also take the blame for this failure.

And while, first and foremost, its PtI’s failure, it also brings to the fore how incompetent (at best) or dishonest (at worst) our media is, especially the journalists pretending to cover economy. How difficult is it to look up the figures in the Federal PSDP? While there’s no shortage of self-proclaimed investigative journalists in the country, it’s not at all easy to say that too many of them even know what the Federal PSDP is. Similarly, when was the last time some journalist stressed how lethal Daronomics were for the country? there’s this widespread myth that the PtI is all about words and whatever they have achieved is because they are able to sell their narratives better. Especially on the social media it is believed that the PtI has the most effective presence, despite having little material to work with.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. While the PtI certainly needs to improve its performance on the ground, it needs even more catching up to do in narrative building, that is, advertising those things it has been doing right. the PtI will have to do it on its own steam too. It won’t get any help from the media.

when they capitalized on the anti-Muslim agenda by urging the people for an erection of a Hindu temple of Lord Ram at Ayodhya which was already the site of Babri Mosque build by the Mughal Emperor Babur some 460 years ago. After the brief success of BJP in Lokh Saba (lower house), the Babri mosque was finally demolished in 1992, leading to countrywide violent protests resulting in the death of thousands. After 27 years, since the Kar Sevaks demolished the Babri Mosque, the Supreme Court pronounced a 1,045 pages long verdict in favor of the Hindu parties, giving them the disputed land where Babri Mosque stood while the Muslim litigants will be provided with five acres of ‘separate’ and alternative land for replacing the mosque. the Archeological Survey of India published a report in 2003 claiming a lack of archeological substantiation and consensus of a temple under the Babri Mosque but it was regarded as vague and contradictory. An archeology professor at J. Nehru university avouched that the underlying structure of the Babri Mosque resembles the structure of a mosque but such arguments have been rejected and somewhat suppressed.

In his book “the Hindu Way- an introduction to Hinduism”, Indian writer-politician Shashi tharoor states “Hinduism, with its openness, its respect for variety, its acceptance of all other faiths, is one religion which has always been able to assert itself without threatening others. But this is not the Hindutva that destroyed the Babri Masjid, nor that spewed in hate-filled diatribes by communal politicians”.

He further asserts that Hindutva is a virulent

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

distortion of Hinduism which teaches incredible tolerance.

Additionally, to add to the already fraught relations between Hindus and Muslims within India, and with India’s Muslim majority neighbor Pakistan, BJP contributed to the occupation of Kashmir. the illegal annexation of Jammu & Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 and terminating of the special status of this region is an apparent example of how the BJP views and treats the minorities of India.

Article 370 catered the asymmetries of India’s diversity. It was meant to help the provisions of the Indian constitution to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, meaning if a provision of the Indian Constitution was being extended, the constituent assembly of Kashmir had the final say in accepting and embodying it in their state’s constitution to order to make both the constitutions comport and compatible with each other. It was designed to be an ironclad surety to the people of Kashmir for protecting their rights if the constituent assembly framed and proclaimed any extensions from the Indian constitutions. the repealing of this special status demonstrates India’s radical political muscle. Numerous scholars have pointed out the fact that states that have been through a colonial past are more colonial in nature.

Furthermore, endorsing Presidential candidates in the u.S to inviting far-right MPs of Europe to visit Kashmir for propaganda purposes is damaging India’s status. their foreign policy has become an ideological tool as well. thus, sliding into the Orwellian state. It so happens that Pakistan’s inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor coincides with India’s Supreme Court decision of Ayodhya dispute, ascertains that the Radcliffe line is not only a border between these two countries but a bifurcation of two different mentalities. the Hindutva radicals will continue with the obsession of imposing their beliefs about religion and culture and contributing to the construction of a more intolerant India by making it minorities vulnerable.

Fasi Khan is a political science student from Quetta. Tweets at @fasihatme

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Tuesday, 26 November, 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

Portrayal of women in mainstream media BEING a student of media portrayal of women in electronic media infuriates me. We have restricted their role to fashion, cosmetics, gossiping and all sort of nonsense. there are some women who like doing such things but then there is a whole lot of intelligent, goal-oriented, head-strong, visionary women who aspire to bring about social change. Our media needs to promote those sort of ladies rather than belittling them in ads and dramas, objectifying them. I believe it’s mainstream media’s social responsibility to strengthen our women by highlighting their creative and intellectual aspects rather than just treating them as show-pieces.

Khaal o khadd say paray bhi Hai aurat magar, Khaal o khaad say paray dekhta kon Hai. (woman is beyond just body and beauty, but who bothers to look beyond that).

NAJLA AzHAr Lahore

Violence against women

Censorship for survival The stereotypical depiction of women in Pakistani television

amna Khan

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Ou remember in Asim Abbasi’s ‘Cake’ when Sanam Saeed perched on a balcony front, fires a joint and say’s “aaj toh banta hai” - I felt that. I felt it a lot & I think the entirety of the cinema felt it too. the aunties felt scandalized whereas the uncles felt an itch to reach into their Marlboro packs. the children felt self-actualized and we millennials felt that too. throughout the movie in moments of high tension and lack of resolve Amina Sheikh took cigarette breaks. I felt they were all a build-up leading to the grand finale which was that joint.

For me smoke became a metaphor for censoring feelings, censoring lives, censoring unfulfilled desires and in that finale it became a means to censor grief. In a society pretending to be sanitized of all flaws, we prefer to dance around issues, never fully accepting how Muslims moralizing a complicated world is what got us here in the first place. It should look like the ‘Islamic’ republic, who cares if it actually is?

Islamic for a few and a republic for even fewer.

Islamic it is, in fact for the few who are too poor to afford its unislamic lifestyle.

We censor ourselves to maintain a facade, for whom and for what? Surviving in a society of censorship has never been more difficult in this globalized world. Even the Pakistani directors who perpetuate this censorship know it.

Frustrated by their lack of importance they suppress the miserable victim next in line women. In the pyramid of privilege powerful men dangle the carrot influence to taunt those less powerful. Frustration consumes, helplessness breeds hate and women become an easy prey - that’s how the legend of the gold digger was born. It’s easier to make dramas about ‘do takey ki aurat’ than it is about corrupt men who commit tax fraud. the story line is simpler when ‘her’ beauty can be blamed for his indiscretions, it’s far harder to admit that in the minds of men the color of money is the most beautiful of all. All women should be persecuted for wanting the taste of a better life How dare they! Only men can want that, they have won the gender lottery after all. Not censoring powerful men paying 50 crore for their

choice of woman exposes what the director lacks in his masculinity too. you would be surprised to hear Netflix censors too, not ideas or basic human decency. It censors to survive so that quality can slip through the cracks. It censors scenes with cigarette smoking in its turkish version, it censors the Patriot Act in Saudia Arabia another beacon of Islamic democracy. It censors to conquer foreign lands and tweaks itself to comply with countries’ resistant to change. It sanitizes itself to compete and survive in what is about to become a volatile market, a market which interestingly enough, faced its first great upheaval due to the advent of colored television. thinking back it seems like it would’ve been a welcome change but surprisingly enough the industry needed to adjust and update itself technologically and psychologically. We took colour for granted just like we took HD for granted not so long ago. the time capsule suggests that seeing through colour inspired awe and bewilderment at what new possibilities the world could accomplish.

In Susan Murray’s ‘Bright Signals - A history of color television’ she distills the fact that the novelty of colour brought a fresh perspective to entertainment. It made regular life seem boring. It made tV more addictive. Colour allowed television to exceed human experience in real time. It took us on a trip, yes precisely that ‘trip’. Fermenting a new generation full of grand ideas of uncensored, unsanitized & endless vision, visions of popular programming now available to stream.

this industry still functions on the conservative beliefs showcased on a black and white tV screen. the cultural outlook, the sexist mindset is colourless and predictable. Everyone watches a woman betray her saintly, pious husband for money knowing she will in the end suffer. the same storyline, another script about a woman suffering for her wanting a life free from poverty & powerlessness. you know the drill and yet you watch will gleeful envy a woman finding a means to escape. Men can’t escape. their only means of escape is censorship of others. So women who dare to dream in colour are vilified for trying. It doesn’t seem so ironic to me anymore that dogs dream in black and white. Although the local television tries it’s best to censor, the internet doesn’t and that lets a new generation imagine and dream of an unsanitized, unsavory and unlimited world. you remember when Mehwish (from a drama serial that shall remain nameless) saw an expensive necklace on a storefront and goes to her husband ‘I want it and I know it’s expensive but I’ve saved up for it’. I felt that but I felt her husband’s pessimistic response even more, ‘It’ll be sold by the time you collect the rest’ Even then I felt her confidence by how she knew her worth, not asking her husband for help but finding her own way to getting what she wants. Proving you can try as you may but you can’t censor us forever because survival in a world owned by powerful men is what women know how to do best.

In Susan Murray’s ‘Bright Signals - A history of color television’ she distills the fact that the novelty of colour brought a fresh perspective to entertainment. It made regular life seem boring. It made TV more addictive.

Amna Khan is a freelance columnist.

PAKIStAN, a country of over 200 million people and ranks 5th position among the population in the world. But unfortunately, it ranks sixth on the list of the world’s most dangerous countries for women.

According to media reports, more than 51,241 cases of violence against women were reported between January 2011 and June 2017. Among them 15,000 cases of honor crimes, more than 1,800 cases of domestic violence and over 5,500 kidnappings of women during this period. Aren’t the women are having rights to enjoy and pass their lives comfortably? So, why these kinds of cases are occurring and happening, I humbly request to the government for taking strong steps for women’s rights and the ones who are doing violence against their wives, women and daughters. zAHEEr AHmEd Lahore

Child personality development PERSONALIty means the set of qualities that makes a person distinct from the other. Qualities that emerge within the growing age of children make up the child’s personality and this whole process in which external factors impact the personality of the child is known as child personality development.

Sadly, the world in which we are living today, has become very competitive where it has become very crucial to stand out from the rest and be unique to progress. However the focus of our institutions is just on grades and marks. the roles played by these institutions have great significance over a child’s personality development but there are many areas other than academics that go neglected due to the current learning model.

Learning institutions are the second home for children.

Child personality development depends not only on the parental upbringing but also on the way they are evolved in their school, college and university lives. Imparting just bookish knowledge makes the student insecure when it comes to challenging the competitive world. In my opinion the role of these institutions is to make the children self-confident and motivated towards their prime goals instead of making them bookworms. these institutions must focus on both academics as well as co-curricular activities to enhance their thinking ability and it has got to be worked out at the root level to bring the best out of them. Institutions should help the development process of a child in a way that he/she becomes socially, morally, and ethically progressive in the need of the hour.

SHAFAQ AHmEd Islamabad

TikTok is here IF you are not paying attention to the increasing trend of tik tok on young generation than you should start now. yes, tik tok is the most popular short-form lip-syncing video app, the people use this app to create their short term video by using a background music track.It has slowly become the need of every teenager, and they waste hours using this app. they do not realise that they could be utilising this time better by learning a skill, or gaining knowledge or anything else that could help them in the future. Every second young guy or girl using tik-tok and creating videos, Nowadays you will find the more tik tok stars than the film and tv stars. But we can not neglect the negative impact of tik tok on youth. Its all depends on the one who is using it that they want to use it for good sake by learn sometimes from it or they just want to waste their time by misusing it .

ArooJ NAEEm rawalpindi

Furthering peace AS the world at large knows Pakistan has opened up a “hard border” also called corridor for the Sikh community, facilitating them to perform their religious rites free of visa and harassment hassle. this has certainly won the hearts of Sikh people, if not the Indian government. Keeping this in mind, I sincerely suggest and pray to the Indian government to offer visa free travel to the Parsi community of Pakistan to perform similar religious duties at udvada and other places of worship. this act of the Indian government will certainly be appreciated and thanked by the tiny / peace loving community of parsis of Pakistan and those living around the world.

ISPHANyAr BHANdArA rawalpindi

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

10 FOREIGN NEWS

PenTaGon chief fiReS naVy SecReTaRy oVeR SeaL conTRoVeRSy WASHINGTON

D

AGENCIES

EFENSE Secretary Mark Esper has fired the Navy’s top official, ending a stunning clash between President Donald Trump and top military leadership over the fate of a SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq.

Esper said on Sunday that he had lost confidence in Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and alleged that Spencer proposed a deal with the White House behind his back to resolve the SEAL’s case. Trump has championed the matter of Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder in the stabbing death of an Islamic State militant captive but convicted of posing with the corpse while in Iraq in 2017.

Spencer’s firing was a dramatic turn in the fastchanging and politically charged controversy. It exposed fissures in Trump’s relationship with the highest ranks of the U.S. military and raised questions about the appropriate role of a commander in chief in matters of military justice. Gallagher was demoted from chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer after his conviction by a military jury. Trump, however, restored Gallagher’s rank this month.

The situation escalated again in recent days.

On Wednesday, the Navy had notified Gallagher that he would face a Navy SEAL review board to determine if he should be allowed to re-

main in the elite force. While Trump then tweeted that he would not allow the Navy to remove Gallagher from the SEALs by taking away his Trident Pin, which designates a SEAL member, the White House told the Navy it could proceed as planned, according to a Navy officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

That initially appeared to defuse the situation.

The Navy SEAL review board was due to hear Gallagher’s case on Dec. 2. Spencer, speaking Saturday at an international security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that he did not consider a tweet by Trump a formal order to stop the Navy review board. “I need a formal order to act,” Spencer said. He said of Trump’s tweets, “I don’t interpret them as a formal order.”

But on Sunday, Esper said he had learned that Spencer had “privately” proposed to the White

House that Gallagher be allowed to retire in his current rank and without losing his status as a SEAL. Esper said Spencer had not told him of the proposal to the White House, causing him to lose “trust and confidence.” A spokesperson for Spencer, Navy Cmdr. Sarah Higgins, said Spencer had no immediate comment. The White House did not provide details of Spencer’s alleged private proposal regarding Gallagher. In yet another twist, Esper also directed on Sunday that Gallagher be allowed to retire at the end of this month, and that the Navy review board that was scheduled to hear his case starting Dec. 2 be cancelled. At Esper’s direction, Gallagher will be allowed to retire as a SEAL at his current rank. That effectively gives Trump the outcome he sought. In a letter to Trump acknowledging “my termination,” Spencer said he had concluded that he and the president appear no longer to share the same understanding of “the key principle of good order and discipline.”

“I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” he wrote. He did not cite a specific order.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Esper’s position had been that the Navy’s disciplinary process should be allowed to “play itself out objectively and deliberately.” Gallagher, speaking Sunday on “Fox & Friends,” alleged the Navy was acting in retaliation.

Pope urges more help for Fukushima victims TOKYO AGENCIES

Ship with 14,600 sheep aboard capsizes off Romania BUCHAREST: Rescuers were struggling Sunday to save 14,600 sheep loaded on a cargo ship that capsized in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania, they said. The Queen Hind bound for Saudi Arabia overturned for yet unknown reasons shortly after leaving Romania’s Midia port. The crew of 20 Syrians and one Lebanese were rescued, together with 32 sheep, two of which were pulled from the water, said Ana-Maria Stoica, a spokeswoman for the rescue services. “The rescue operation is ongoing… We hope that the sheep inside the ship’s hold are still alive,” she told AFP. Rescuers supported by the military, police and divers were trying to right the Palau-flagged ship and pull it to the port, she said. Romania’s main livestock breeder and exporter association, Acebop, called for an urgent investigation. “Our association is shocked by the disaster,” Acebop president Mary Pana said in a statement. “If we cannot protect livestock during long-distance transports, we should outright ban them.” Gabriel Paun of NGO Animals International alleged that the ship had been overloaded. He added that the Queen Hind had already had engine problems last December. “An investigation must be opened without delay,” he told AFP. AGENCIES

Pope Francis on Monday urged renewed help for victims of Japan’s 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima disaster, warning “nobody can start over alone” as he noted “concern” over nuclear power.

On the penultimate day of his Japan trip, the pontiff heard the stories of those who survived the so-called “triple disaster” — a 9.1-magnitude earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami and sent a nuclear plant into meltdown.

In an emotional meeting,

he embraced 17-year-old Matsuki Kamoshita, who spoke powerfully of his experience as an evacuee, saying he was so badly bullied he “wanted to die.” The 82-year-old Argentine paid tribute to those who rushed to help following the disaster, but warned that more was needed. “No one ‘rebuilds’ by himself or herself; nobody can start over alone. We have to find a friendly and fraternal hand, capable of helping to raise not just a city, but also our horizon and our hope.”

Some 18,500 were killed or are missing after the disaster. The waves swept away

homes and farms, and engulfed the cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Nearly half a million people fled their homes in the first days after the quake and even today, roughly 50,000 remain in temporary housing.

Survivors shared painful memories of the disaster, with Toshiko Kato recalling finding her home had been swept away by the waves. “I remember that when I stood in the rubble where my home had been, I was thankful for being given life, for being alive and for just being able to appreciate it,” she told the pope.

The head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics stopped short of intervening in the debate over nuclear power in Japan, but said there were “important decisions” to be made about future energy sources.

“In turn, this involves, as my brother bishops in Japan have emphasised, concern about the continuing use of nuclear power; for this reason, they have called for the abolition of nuclear power plants,” he said.

Trump is ‘the chosen one, sent by God to do great things,’ says adviser WASHINGTON: Trump has been described as the “chosen one” by his secretary of energy, Rick Perry. The adviser, who has drawn scrutiny for his role in the Ukraine scandal, also compared the US president to a number of biblical kings. “God’s used imperfect people all through history,” Mr Perry told the broadcaster. “King David wasn’t perfect, Saul wasn’t perfect, Solomon wasn’t perfect.” He revealed that he gave Mr Trump “a little one-pager on those Old Testament kings about a month ago”. “I shared it with him and said, ‘Mr President, I know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one and I said, ‘You were,’” Mr Perry said. “I said, ‘If you’re a believing Christian, you understand God’s plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet in our government.’”

After the interview was teased on Fox & Friends, Fox News journalist Ed Henry claimed that Mr Perry said the president was “sent by God to do great things”. The energy secretary’s comments come amid the ongoing impeachment enquiry into Mr Trump, who has been accused of improperly seeking help from Ukraine officials to boost his chances of re-election next year. Mr Perry has so far declined to cooperate with a congressional subpoena, neither providing documents nor testifying to impeachment investigators. During his time in office, the Texan politician has been instrumental in supporting what Mr Trump has called a policy of American “energy dominance”, helping to increase exports of US fossil fuels. AGENCIES

Venetians protest over flooding, cruise ships

VENICE: Thousands of Venetians took to the streets of the Renaissance city on Sunday to vent anger over frequent flooding and the impact of giant cruise ships.

Braving heavy rain, between 2,000 and 3,000 people answered the call of environmental groups and a collective opposed to the boats. Critics say the waves cruise ships create are eroding the foundations of the lagoon city. Chanting slogans such as “Venice resist” and calling for Mayor Luigi Brugnaro’s resignation, the marchers also appealed for a massive project, MOSE, to be mothballed. The multi-billion euro infrastructure project has been under way since 2003 to protect the city from flooding, but it has been plagued by cost overruns, corruption scandals and delays. The protest follows unprecedented flooding earlier this month that devastated the city, submerging homes, businesses and cultural treasures. “Venetians have just endured a deep wound. The flooding… brought this city to its knees and revealed its extreme fragility to the world,” activist Enrico Palazzi told AFP. Venice saw yet another “acqua alta” (high water) event on Sunday, with levels reaching 130 centimetres (over four feet). The UNESCO World Heritage city is home to some 50,000 people, while some 36 million people visit it each year. AGENCIES

Germany’s ‘treasury chamber’ museum in Dresden robbed BERIN AGENCIES

A German state museum with one of the biggest collection of baroque treasures in Europe has been robbed, police said Monday, with media estimating losses of up to a billion euros. The Green Vault at Dresden’s Royal Palace, which is home to around 4,000 precious objects made of ivory, gold, silver and jewels, was broken into early Monday morning.

“This morning there was a break-in at the Green Vault,” police in Saxony state confirmed on Twitter, adding that an estimate of the damages was “not yet possible”. Bild newspaper reported meanwhile that “antique jewellery worth around a billion euros has been stolen” in what it called “probably the biggest art theft since World War Two”. One of the oldest museums in Europe, the Green Vault holds treasures including a 63.8-

centimetre figure of a Moor studded with emeralds and a 547.71-carat sapphire gifted by Tsar Peter I of Russia.

Bild said the criminals had broken into the well-protected palace by attacking a nearby power distributor and climbing through a window. They then proceeded to target smaller items of jewellery, leaving larger, bulkier items behind, Bild claimed, without citing sources.

Founded by August the Strong, Elector of Saxony in 1723, the Green Vault is one of 12 museums which make up the famous Dresden State Art Collections.

Its historic section, which contains around three-quarters of the museum’s treasures, was the one broken into on Monday. With a strict limit on the number of daily visitors, entrance to the historic vault can only be reserved in advance.

Exhibits are arranged into nine rooms, including an ivory room, a silver-gilt room and the central “Hall of Treasures”.

One of its most valuable pieces, the green diamond, is currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is a headline attraction in the temporary exhibition “Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe”. After the Royal Palace suffered severe damage in World War Two, the Green Vault remained closed for decades before it was restored and reopened in 2006. For Saxony’s state premier, the heist went beyond the value of the artefacts stolen. “The treasures that are found in the Green Vault and the Dresden Royal palace were hard-earned by the people of Saxony over many centuries,” said Michael Kretschmer.

“One cannot understand the history of our country, our state without the Green Vault and Saxony’s State Art Collections.” In 2010, the museum hosted a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and then President of the United

States Barack Obama, on the latter’s first state visit to Germany. Monday’s theft is the second high-profile heist in Germany

in recent years, after a 100kg, 24-carat giant gold coin was stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum in 2017.

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

BUSINESS 11

Foreign companies to be provided all facilities for expanding businesses, says PM Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government will provide every possible aid to foreign companies for expanding businesses, and facilitating overseas Pakistanis in sending their hard-earned money back home to Pakistan.

He was talking to a delegation of MoneyGram, headed by its Chief Executive Officer William Alexander Holmes here on Monday.

Welcoming the interest shown by MoneyGram International towards expanding its business in the growing economy of the country, the Prime Minister highlighted significant growth in home remittances witnessed during the current fiscal year - numbers that are expected to further grow in the coming years. The Prime Minister also highlighted incentive package which is under consideration for attracting greater remittances through formal channels. William Alexander Holmes informed the Prime Minister that MoneyGram, in line with the vision of the present government, is complementing its efforts towards financial inclusion especially encouraging emigrants to utilise formal channels for safe and speedy transactions.

MoneyGram International Inc is a globally recognised American money transfer company, which is offering its services at approximately 350,000 agent locations in over 200 countries. It is actively involved in facilitating overseas Pakistanis, with its 7,000 partners across the country, to send their remittances back home, to any bank in Pakistan, in an efficient and easy manner. AGENCIES

ChInA ASkS PAkISTAn To hurry uP wITh ProPoSeD Three SeZS ISLAMABAD

C

SHAHZAD PARACHA

HInA has asked Pakistan to expedite work on three proposed Special Economic Zones (SEZs), it has reliably learned. According to documents available with Pakistan Today, Chinese officials in recently held Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting in the first week of this month, strongly advised Pakistani officials to expedite the work on the proposed SEZs. The recently held meeting of the JCC earlier this month had the SEZs at Rashakai nowshera, Allama Iqbal, Faisalabad and Dhabeji, Thatta as its top priority for discussion. The projects are the ones that the JCC was most anxious to get rolling, and are it is ex-

pected that development work for them will begin sooner rather than later.

The documents further stated that the Chinese side urged the Pakistani side to show initiative and install external infrastructure facilities, as well as introduce targeted preferential policies, and provide “one-window” service in the SEZ at the earliest possible date.

Moreover, the documents also revealed that the Chinese end of the table also encouraged the participation of competent Chinese companies in the bidding process of the Dhabeji SEZ that will soon be started.

According to details, the Pakistani delegation was focused on bringing up the upgrade to Pakistan Steel as its top priority during the meeting. The documents also went on to state that the Chinese side was quick to recognises the importance of

this project to Pakistan. As such, the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) and Donghua Steel have expressed interest and willingness to participate in the project.

It is hoped that companies from the two sides will be able to maintain close communication for an early settlement of related issues, and push for substantive progress as soon as possible. Both sides also discussed industrial cooperation between the two countries, and the fourth meeting of the Joint Working Group on Industrial Cooperation was convened successfully through video link on October 22, 2019.

JCC noted that from October 14th to 19th, 2019, a team of Chinese experts was sent by China International Engineering Consulting Corporation (CIECC) for an industrial diagnosis of Pakistan. The expert team provided

SC seeks federations reply on GIDC in 7 days

PTA says notification regarding Telenor suspension is fake

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Monday issued a clarification about a fake notification that was viral on social media platforms and was being shared for many days telling that soon telecom company Telenor will wind up its operations in Pakistan. PTA advised the public to avoid spreading the notification since it was fake and hold no merit whatsoever. The authority explained it on Twitter that it was aware of a false advertisement circulating via WhatsApp chat groups for users of the mobile operator.

“PTA is aware of a false advertisement circulating via WhatsApp chat groups for users of a mobile operator. PTA clarifies that the aforementioned advertisement is fake,” the company said.

“The public is advised to always check official information sources such as PTA’s website at http://pta.gov.pk or its Twitter & Facebook page for latest news/updates,” the authority added. The fake notification being circulated in social media was misleading the general public, asking them to switch to another mobile network or consume their mobile network credit before December 11, 2019, making the false claim that the services of the private company would no longer be available in Pakistan after the aforementioned date. STAFF REPORT

intellectual and technical support to the industrial and SEZ development in Pakistan, and their work achieved good results. The JCC was hopeful that the two sides would be successful in their mission to set up a long-term mechanism to deepen China—Pakistan industrial cooperation.

Furthermore, the JCC also appreciated the activities of China and Pakistan Young Workers’ Seminar Camp.

Four seminars have been held since the project was launched, and these activities have helped to boost the technical exchanges and people-to people connectivity between Chinese and Pakistani workers. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Ministry for Planning, Development & Reform of Pakistan will sign the MoU to further strengthen the worker’s exchanges between the two neighbours.

LAHORE: A worker pulls a loaded wheelbarrow near a fruit and vegetable market in the Badami Bagh area of the provincial capital to earn his livelihood. ONLINE

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Monday sought reply from federation within seven-days regarding charging of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) to the gas consumers for completion of various projects. The bench expressed dissatisfaction over the answer submitted by the federal government regarding the GIDC fee and progress on gas projects. The top court asked that whether the annual reports had been submitted to Parliament regarding the gas projects if not, what was its reasons. The bench observed that apparently GIDC was a continuity of GIDC acts 2011and 2015. Justice Faisal Arab remarked whether the government was serious to complete the projects. What was the progress of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, he asked. Justice Masnoor asked the representative of federation that when this project would be completed. Justice Mashir Aalma said that the bench had sought a comprehensive report regarding the projects but the federation had submitted a few lines response.

Additional Attorney General (AAG) pleaded that the international projects did not used to complete overnight.

He said the country was facing several international issues regarding execution of TAPI. The court should also view the situation in erstwhile Fata and other areas, he said. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked why a report had not been submitted to Parliament in last eight years regarding the projects. Justice Mashir Aalam said that the consumers had been paying for last year and it was their right to ask the question about their money. How a service fee could be charged to the people when this service was not being provided to public, he said. APP

Petroleum Division rejects news about discovery of shale oil, gas ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

The Petroleum Division (PD) of the Energy Ministry on Monday categorically rejected rumours about the discovery of shale oil and gas in the country, saying no such find had been made, nor was one imminent.

A spokesperson of the Petroleum Division clarified that a task had been given to Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), being the

country’s premier Oil and Gas Exploration and Production company, to undertake the first shale pilot project next month, which had caused the mass confusion. “It is only an initial evaluation being carried out on a trial basis. The lease area for this study is Kunnar and Pasaki fields. Any further speculation in this regard is inaccurate and must be avoided,” the spokesperson said in a press release.

The spokesperson referred the USAID study conducted in 2015 that stated “Pakistan holds sub-

stantial presence of shale oil and gas reserves. However, the conversion of these resources into reserves required high investments with inherent risks.”

The PD would be in a position to assess the potential of these reserves after seeing results of the first drill, being carried out as a pilot project, the spokesperson said, adding “Relevant updates in this regard will be shared as and when required or made available. It is once again requested that any conjectures in this matter be avoided.”

New entrants in tyre industry face scourge of 65pc smuggling ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

While new entrants to the local tyre industry should ideally be thrilled at the thought of new entrants, the continued smuggling of tyres across the country’s borders has made life difficult for new entrants into the industry.

Perhaps most emblematic of this systemic smuggling has been the fact that there has been no shortage of tyres in the country, even though the imports of tyres have contracted by around 2.6 million in

last financial year due to increase in duties. The increased duties were imposed to encourage the local tyre industry, but smuggling has meant that there has been little to no effect of these new policies to improve the trade deficit.

According to sources in the industry, the imports of automotive tyres were close to 5 million in 2017-18, and after the increase in duties, the imports came down to 2.4 million in 2018-19. Despite this decline of 2.6 million tyres, there was no shortage of tyres in the market.

According to Hussain Kuli Khan,

CEO General Tyre, the cut in imports should have been a boom time for the local manufactures but unfortunately it wasn’t. Instead, the gap was filled by smuggled tyres. “How can local tyre manufactures compete when around 30% of duties (custom & regulatory duties) are not paid by smugglers?” he asked.

Talking about new entrants in the sector, he welcomed the new investors in tyre manufacturing, saying the market is big enough for all. He further stated that the influx of new players proves that this sector is viable and growing to attract in-

ternational players. But he cautioned that the new entrants will face a tough time, especially if smuggling of tyres into the country is not controlled soon.

“The present Government seems determined to curb this menace but it needs to translate its words into action because right now smuggling of tyres is around 65 per cent” he said.

He said General Tyre has been fighting a solitary battle in the car and van radial tyres against smuggling and heavy under invoicing. In the farm and motorcycle there are a few other manufacturers.

“We have always advocated that the government must stop smuggling and under invoicing to help the local industry grow.

But unfortunately we had very limited success in this,” he added. He said that attracting foreign investors was the easy part. “now, the government has to make it a viable market for the new plants by curbing smuggling and under invoicing,” said the manufacturer. He further stated that in 2017-18 the government raised duties to help local industries grow and this initiative coupled with the Rupee Devaluation cut the imports of tyres into half.

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

12 BUSINESS CORPORATE CORNER

PAkISTAn FAr FroM reAChInG TAx ColleCTIon CAPACITy, noTeS worlD BAnk ISLAMABAD

T KARACHI: K-Electric and Engro Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a 50MW Solid Waste to Energy Plant at an estimated cost of $175m.

The MoU was signed by KE CEO Moonis Alvi and Engro Energy CEO Ahsan Zafar Syed at KE’s head office. PR

AGENCIES

HE World Bank Group (WBG) has asserted that Pakistan has been receiving only 50 per cent of the taxes from its total capacity to collect.

“Governments cannot function where businessmen do not pay taxes” it read. “Most retailers in Pakistan do not pay tax,” it remarked further on.

The WBG further observed that the federal government has given considerable concessions to the agriculture, construction and textile sectors.

The World Bank, while noting the uneasy taxation system of the state, affirmed that the companies providing services have to file 60 tax returns a year. It pointed out that companies have been separately liable to the centre and the provincial headquarters of tax collection bodies.

The bank has urged the federal government and the provinces to work together for simplification of the taxation system. On nov 6, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said Pakistan valued the financial and technical support provided by the World Bank Group for the institutional reforms and economic development. He had spoken to WBG Vice President Ms Ceyla Pazarbasioglu who was accompanied by Illango Patchamuthu, WBG Country Director.

Ms Ceyla Pazarbasioglu is the Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) at the WBG. She oversees a portfolio of nearly $30 billion of operational and policy work.

During the meeting, the advisor had appreciated the support being provided by the WBG to Pakistan and had highlighted the govern-

ment’s focus on expediting speedy roll-out of the World Bank pipeline of projects and actions were being taken in this regard. Ms Pazarbasioglu had appreciated the economic reforms programme initiated by the government to stabilise the Pakistani economy and accelerate broad-based growth. The WBG team had also congratulated the adviser on the improvement on the ranking of the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).

The team had discussed the Resilient Institutions Strengthening Programme (RISE) with Mr Sheikh. The discussion included an integrated Debt Management Office in the finance division. The meeting had also focused on areas of harmonisation of tax regime, circular debt strategy and national Tariff Policy matters.

The team had apprised Mr Sheikh on the WBG’s assistance being provided to harmonise the sales tax across Pakistan to further

improve the business environment and enhance revenue collection.

In this regard, the adviser was also updated on the progress under the USD 400 million Pakistan Raises Revenue Project which aims to strengthen the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and create a sustainable increase in Pakistan’s domestic tax revenue.

The project will target raising the tax-to-GDP ratio to 17 per cent by financial year 2023-2024 and widening the tax net from the current 1.2 million to at least 3.5 million active taxpayers.

The project will assist in simplifying the tax regime and strengthening tax and customs administration. It will also support the FBR with technology and digital infrastructure and technical skills.

The government has set improving tax revenue with low compliance costs as a high priority.

Bullish sentiment prevails at PSX NEWS DESK KARACHI: Silkbank Limited, signed an agreement with Oman Air at Silkbank Head Office in Karachi where Silkbank Head Alliances, Loyalty & New Initiatives Nouman Butt, along with the Cards & Alliances team, met Oman Air Country Manager Pakistan Abdul Hakeem Al Habsi to sign the agreement. PR

ISLAMABAD: Khushhali Microfinance Bank Limited recently organised an event in Bahawalpur to mark the ‘World Women Entrepreneurs Day’ where it held a motivational session to teach women important skills in order to help them start a businesses using minimum resources. PR

ISLAMABAD: Karandaaz Pakistan, in partnership with The ADB Institute and the Resident Mission of Asian Development Bank, organised the Pakistan Innovative Finance Forum in Islamabad to share knowledge and pool innovative ideas for promoting private sector-driven infrastructure financing in Pakistan, and identify ways to enhance financing access among Pakistan’s SMEs. PR

PSX is one of the world’s best stock markets: Hafeez LAHORE: Evercare Hospital Lahore (EHL) conducted a diabetes camp on November 24, wherein it offered free check-ups at the hospital. PR

LAHORE: Adamjee Insurance has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Infiniun to provide digital primary healthcare services via Infiniun’s proprietary AER Digital Healthcare platform as value added service to its existing and potential health insurance subscribers. PR Sheikh Brothers Chief Executive Sultan Ahmed Sheikh wins ASIA IP AWARD 2019 in a ceremony held in Taiwan for the best trademark practices and services organisation in Pakistan. PR

TCL Communication has launched its latest series of mobile and tablet devices in Pakistan, including the Flagship Alcatel 3X smartphoneand AlcatelTablet series 3T & 1T Keeping true to Alcatel's mission to making the best possible products accessible to any customer, the newest product lineup push for optimized performance while maintaining simplicity in style and experience. PR

Bullish sentiment prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday as the benchmark index gained amid a surge in global equities and institutional interest in cash-rich stocks. Investors reacted positively to the central bank’s monetary policy announcement, which left the policy rate unchanged at 13.25%. Following a positive open, the KSE100 index briefly fell into the red zone in early hours of trading. However, the recovery was quick with the index managing to surge past 38,200 on the back of buying interest.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 286.49 points, or 0.76%, to settle at 38,212.28. A rally was witnessed in cement and banking sectors where Cherat Cement (+5%), Pioneer Cement (+4.9%), Lucky Cement (+4.1%), DG Khan Cement (+2.7%), nBP (+2.5%), MCB Bank (+2.2%), HBL (+1.2%) and UBL (+1.2%) were major gainers of the day.

An upward movement was seen in the auto sector as well where most of the stocks closed higher. Pak Suzuki Motor Company (+5%), Honda Atlas Cars (+5%) and Ghandhara Industries (+4.5%) were among the best performing stocks. Overall, trading volumes decreased to 241.5 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 243 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.8 billion. Shares of 386 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 248 stocks closed higher, 115 declined and 23 remained unchanged. Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 19.1 million shares, gaining Rs1.14 to close at Rs24.63. It was followed

by Unity Foods with 18.6 million shares, gaining Re1 to close at Rs12.09 and TRG Pakistan with 15 million shares, gaining Rs0.94 to close at Rs22.89. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs58.6 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the national Clearing Company of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Graana Group of Companies in collaboration with Iqbal Institute of Policy Studies and National University of Sciences and Technology, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate capacity building initiatives. PR

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Hafeez Shaikh, on Monday expressed full confidence in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), calling it one of the best stock markets across the globe.

Addressing Pakistan Innovative Finance Forum, organised by the Asian Development Bank in Islamabad, Dr Hafeez Shaikh said international confidence was being restored in the Pakistani economy.

“The economy of the country has been put in the right direction introducing effective reforms” he said. He said that the PTI government is fully committed to good governance, transparency and restoring financial discipline to ensure ease of doing business in the country. He went on to explain that the PSX has been expanding its

volume, and investors are gaining back their confidence due to the positive policies of the present govt. The advisor said 16 per cent improvement has been witnessed in revenue, while non-tax revenue has been doubled due to the businessfriendly policies of the govt. He said subsidies are being provided to electricity, gas and loans, while there is no tax on export.

The advisor said that the govt has established a sustainable platform for economic development. He said that foreign direct investment and exports of the country have considerably increased. He ended on a hopeful note, saying that investment in Pakistani Bonds has reached one billion dollars. He hoped that the country will surpass its economic growth target. INP

Oil holds above $63/barrel on US-China trade talk optimism SINGAPORE/LONDON: Oil prices held above $63 per barrel on Monday as positive comments from the United States and China rekindled hopes in global markets that the world’s two largest economies could soon sign an interim deal to end their trade war.

Brent crude futures were up $0.12 at $63.51 a barrel by 1127 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was flat at $57.80.

“It is still all about trade talks,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “It seems to be dominating markets action at the moment.” A move

by China to protect intellectual property was also providing a supportive atmosphere for the trade talks, McCarthy added. Analysts at Barclays said they saw Brent oscillating around $60 per barrel for the next two years.

US national Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Saturday that an initial trade

agreement with China was still possible by the end of the year. On Friday, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed a desire to sign an initial trade deal and defuse a 16-month tariff war that has lowered global growth. Still, concern remains that events in Hong Kong, riven by months of anti-government unrest, could overshadow trade talk progress. O’Brien warned on Saturday that Washington would not turn a blind eye to what happens in Hong Kong, where demonstrators were angry at what they see as an erosion of freedom. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on Dec 5 at its headquarters in Vienna, followed by talks with a group of other oil producers, led by Russia, known as OPEC+. The group is widely expected to extend its supply cut to mid-2020, although the market is keen to see deeper cuts. AGENCIES

SOLIS: ULTIMATE SHOW OF ARTS AND MUSIC

T

By KauKaB Jahan

he third instalment of Solis Music and Arts Festival 2019 took place in Karachi at the Moin Khan Stadium on Saturday November 16th, truly a day to remember in the history of city! The festival featured a stellar line-up of local and international artists as well as immersive brand activations.

The PR of the event was managed by Catalyst PR. The hosts Anoushey Ashraf and Khalid Malik kept energy high all through the night.

The day started with 42 Day Challenge founder Nusrat hidayatullah with the help of Ayesha Omer who warmed up festival attendees with an animal flow yoga session on the sounds of Soul Potion (one half of the FDVM duo).

As day turned to dusk, a listing of local talent took over the stage to ease into the night. Neha Khan brought in some chilled lounge vibes while DJ Maleo warmed up the crowd for Turhan James, who already have played at Solis Islamabad and Lahore this year. he brought in an epic big room eDM set featuring his new song “Feel

Alive” to which the crowd went wild!

For this edition of Solis, the festival explored an eclectic mix of international sounds. hailing from Turkey, Oceanvs Orientalis brought in an interesting mix of electro – oriental sounds, some of which were inspired from Pakistan electronic.

The dynamic FVDM duo known for their groovy contagious vibe and uplifting house music did just that! The crowd was absolutely besotted with their set especially when they added in their remix of Pakistani iconic hits such as Disco Deewane by Nazia hassan and Bibi Sherene. The surprises didn’t stop there as they introduced Ayesha Omer on stage to showcase their first ever collaboration “Flying so high”.

Kill the Buzz delivered dance floor shakers to get the crowd warmed up for the main act of the night- Clean Bandit live in action with a DJ set led by Luke Patterson and vocals with Yasmin Green and Kirsten Joy. Dressed in an all neon ensemble, the group was truly the centre of attention enchanting the crowd with their top hits and a surprise sneak peak at their VIP remix of Rockabye, the classic which is still on youtubes top 30 most watched videos.

The evening was a star studded night with celebrities such as Mehwish hayat, Saqib Malik, Deepak Perwani, Mansha Pasha, Nadia hussain, Zhalay Saradi, Tara Mehmood, Shahzad Noor, Asim raza and many more. The mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhter and his wife also present the occasion.

The Solis team can’t wait to share some exciting news for 2020! Stay tuned.

South Sudan is the youngest country in the world: Some countries are hundreds of years old, while others can trace their nation's history back for thousands of years. But South Sudan in North Africa just gained its independence from Sudan in 2011, which currently makes it the youngest country in the world.

More than 52 percent of the world's population is under 30 years old: According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as of 2012, 50.5 percent of the world's population were people under the age of 30. Around 89.7 percent of those young people live in emerging and developing economies like the Middle East and Africa.

People 60 years and older make up 12.3 percent of the global population: Although the majority of the human population is currently under 30 years old, there are still plenty of older folks among us. In fact, 12.3 percent of people on Earth are 60 years old and older.

That number is expected to reach 22 percent by 2050.

Aries: The first step in obtaining more money, influence, or free time today is to precisely define what it is that you want.

Taurus: Narrowed concentration focused like a laser beam makes some amazing things happen.

Gemini: Big energy is generated when coworkers, teammates, or family members bounce ideas around today.

Cancer: Your creativity may be put to the test and having an extra pair of eyes in the back of your head can come in handy today.

Leo: Your moods may be changing so quickly today that it takes extra time to get your bearings.

Virgo: You may be called in voices loud and clear today to perform several duties simultaneously.

Libra: Confidence surges when you are buoyed by the knowledge that many others believe in the same high ideals as you.

Scorpio: The compulsion to ferret out a guarantee can cause you to look long and hard at another’s motivations today.

Sagittarius: Imagination thrives when you are free to mix and match ideas as you go along. If your creativity feels stifled now, it could be your thinking is too closely aligned with that of a corporation, organization, or social body to which you belong.

Capricorn: Chasing your dreams requires a substantial amount of faith in your own abilities.

Aquarius: Expressing yourself within the warm circle of a congenial group is the most natural thing in the world today.

Pisces: There are countless paths leading to the same destination. It’s useful to study or observe the methods of others who are striving to reach a similar goal.

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Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

14 SPORTS

kane hopes 'winner' mourinho Can end spurs trophy drought

Lisbon

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Agencies

ARRY Kane hopes 'proven winner' Jose Mourinho can deliver the trophies that Tottenham crave after taking over as manager from Mauricio Pochettino.

The Portuguese, back in the game after 11 months out, led his new club to a 3-2 win at West Ham on Saturday -their first Premier League away win since January.

Kane was a staunch supporter of Pochettino, crediting him with making him into one of the top strikers in the world, and visited the Argentine at his

home after his dismissal.

"It's a week I've never really had in my career before," said the England captain. "It was a big shock on Tuesday night for everyone, the players included, and then it was a quick turnaround.

"All of a sudden we've got a new manager, one of the best managers

there's been in the game, so automatically you have to turn your head towards that and focus on the game."

Pochettino, who took Spurs to the Champions League final in June, ended his five-and-a-half year stint with no silverware. Kane has expressed his desire to win trophies at Spurs and is hoping that Mourinho, a former boss of Chelsea and Manchester United, can help him achieve his goals.

"The gaffer's won at every club he's gone to -- there's no hiding away from that," Kane said.

"He wants to win. He's a proven winner. I've made it clear that I'm at the stage of my career where I want to win trophies."I've made it clear I want to win them here and it's a big year for us."

Kane said Mourinho's reputation for winning silverware gave the players confidence.

"It's almost a fresh slate for everyone now to show the manager what they can do and hopefully the players can thrive on that," he said.

Midfielder Eric Dier said the players were lucky to be able to work under Mourinho, whom he called the "perfect" replacement for Pochettino.

"His record is unbelievable and he transmits that confidence. The way he speaks, you believe it, you feel it from him," Dier said.

Marseille climbed to 25 points from 14 matches, eight behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain but one ahead of Angers. Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne are fourth and fifth on 22. Toulouse remain second from bottom.

Depleted Bordeaux, already deprived of defenders Mexer and Vukasin Jovanovic who were both suspended, midfielder Youssef Ait Bennasser, who

could not play because he is on-loan from Monaco, lost centre-back Laurent Koscielny to injury on Sunday morning and winger Jimmy Briand during the warm-up. Monaco, who had climbed away from the relegation zone with three victories in their previous four league games, took the lead against Bordeaux with a goal by Islam Slimani on 15 minutes.

Marseille retake second place in Ligue 1 with Toulouse win Monacco Agencies

Marseille reclaimed second spot in Ligue 1 when they won 2-0 at 10-man Toulouse who cracked in the final 15 minutes.

Earlier on Sunday, Bordeaux edged in-form Monaco 2-1 at home to briefly climb into third and Saint-Etienne drew 0-0 at home against Montpellier. In Toulouse, the home team were reduced to 10 men when right back Steven Moreira drove his studs into Bouna Sarr's knee and received a red card after a video review.

Marseille dominated a scruffy match but struggled to break down Toulouse. The home team defended in depth and even had a chance to take the lead in the 70th minute but goalkeeper Steve Mandanda saved Ibrahim Sangare's header with his foot.

Marseille responded with a decisive moment of inspiration in the 76th minute. Dimitri Payet drew defenders then threaded a clever reverse pass to the darting Dario Benedetto who danced past Baptiste Reynet and coolly slid the ball into the goal.

Three minutes later, Toulouse presented Marseille with a second. Leftback Issiaga Sylla drove a clearance into Valere Germain. The ball bounced to Nemanja Radonjic, who advanced into the penalty area and curled a shot into the net. "We played a good game and the victory is deserved," said Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas.

Toulouse "closed up the game after the red card," said Villas-Boas. "Don't forget Mandanda's decisive save before we opened the scoring. We knew that the first goal would be very important.

"We keep our second place and we have to keep going like this."

Lampard says CheLsea wiLL take ConfidenCe from defeat at man City London: Frank Lampard believes he will learn a lot about his young Chelsea side from how they react to their defeat at Manchester City. Chelsea's six-game winning run came to an end as they were beaten 2-1 by the Premier League champions at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. It is a measure of the London club's progress under new boss Lampard, who has had to rely on youth due to a transfer embargo, that losing to a side that won the domestic treble last season is considered a disappointment.

"Experiences like this are great for them," said Lampard. "They have to take them on the chin in terms of the defeat but also realise these are the kinds of levels we want to get to. "The feeling in the dressing room -- it looked like they are very disappointed. They expect a lot of themselves, so I think we will take an amount of confidence. "Where we want to get to means we might come here and win (in future) and it might mean we can win titles, and win going forward, so I like seeing them disappointed. "I think that that just shows the next question is the reaction we have." Chelsea had gone into the game above City in the table and they took an early lead through N'Golo Kante before goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez won it for the hosts.

Lampard admits his side are probably exceeding expectations this term but has warned against complacency. The former Chelsea and England midfielder said: "It is hard to explain my expectation at the start of the season. "Until you have worked daily with the players, until you bring players who were playing in the Championship last season and younger players here, you don't know exactly how it is going to drop and how it ends up.

"So, (I'm) really happy with a lot of our stuff this season, so maybe that means we are slightly ahead of the curve. "But in football the curve will go downhill very fast if you don't keep on yourself and take a lot of the lessons from Saturday and take them on moving forward." Agencies

Defiant Bale down but not out at Real Madrid Madrid Agencies

When Zinedine Zidane dropped Gareth Bale for a Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain last year, Bale believed it was the beginning of the end at Real Madrid.

Two seasons on he remains but Madrid face PSG again at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, with the Welshman's future still in doubt and his standing among the fans perhaps never lower.

Madrid's two last 16 legs against PSG in the Champions League in 2018, towards the end of Zidane's first spell as coach and en route to their third consecutive European triumph, marked a turning-point between Bale and his coach.

By leaving him out, Zidane's message was clear: he did not trust Bale in the biggest matches. The pair hardly spoke for the rest of the season, even as Bale scored twice as a substitute in the final against Liverpool.

Bale was set upon leaving that summer, only for Zidane to go instead, and while Bale stayed, Zidane came back and their relationship has been frosty ever since. But in the last few weeks, as Bale's behaviour has wavered and the criticism increased, Zidane has become his staunchest defender.

When Bale returned to London to visit his agent earlier this month, Zidane said he had permission to go. When Bale joined up with Wales despite missing six Real Madrid games through injury, Zidane said it was bad timing.

And when Bale celebrated behind a flag that put his club lower down his list of priorities than his country and playing golf, Zidane urged the fans to remember his achievements.

Too MUCH noISE: "I have said before, we need our fans with us," said Zidane after the game on Saturday.

"There's a lot of noise, too much. He wants to be with us and do well and he's done that. Talk, talk, talk, it's not necessary. He's a big part of the group and we are together." Zidane's pleas had fallen on deaf ears not long before, when the screeching whistles at the Bernabeu were loud enough to conclude the majority of fans were unimpressed and wanted to make their point.

Yet after his introduction in the 67th minute of the 3-1 win over Real Sociedad, Bale played well and the whistles for his every touch gradually grew quieter. By the end, there were some applauding as he almost capped a driving run with a goal. "He played 30 magnificent minutes," said Real Madrid director Emilio Butragueno. "He is a player that

has the ability to help us a lot, he looks for space, has a good shot, can score. He was magnificent and we will need him for the challenges ahead."

WE'RE ALL UnITEd: Bale's teammates were supportive too. When Luka Modric added a third goal, following a neat exchange between Bale and Fede Valverde, Casemiro and Valverde sought Bale out to celebrate with him.

"It was a way to show we're all united," said Valverde.

"We are going to support him. I went over to hug him because I respect everything he gives me on a day-to-day basis.

He is a good person, it is impossible not to love him. "He is training very well and contributing a lot on the field. The fans will end up appreciating him again. We are all fighting for him."

For Bale, the prospect of a rapprochement with Zidane is unlikely, even if the Frenchman is keen to maintain the peace for the sake of the team, particularly while the transfer window is closed.

Clubs are not expected to bid in January and while a departure next summer seems more realistic, Bale has made a habit of unlikely revivals.

Just as he delivered in defiance in the Champions League final against Liverpool, it would not be a surprise to see him produce again now, when criticism has

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been at its most intense.

"These discussions are always very public and everyone has an opinion," said Thibaut Courtois, who knows the challenges of winning over the Real Madrid supporters given his own history

with Atletico.

"Gareth has to give 100 per cent to the team. He played very well off the bench on Saturday and the third goal was a great move between him and Valverde.

Now he has to win round the people."

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

SPORTS 15

india fast BowLers in the pink after deBut day-night test KoLKata

i

Agencies

NDIA'S fast bowlers are enjoying a rare moment in the sun after they combined to dismantle Bangladesh in the maiden day-night Test on Indian soil.

Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami took all 19 Bangladesh wickets to fall in Kolkata, a rarity on the sub-continent's pitches where spinners usually rule.

It surpassed the record 17 wickets

taken by pacemen in a home Test in 2017 against Sri Lanka, also at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. In the first pink-ball Test for both sides, India beat Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs in just over two days to sweep the two-match series.

"It was always on the cards that India's pacers would call the shots, but Bangladesh have to be disappointed at the lack of application and fight shown by their batsmen," former India batsman VVS Laxman wrote in The Times of India on Monday.

Skipper Virat Kohli has been all

praise for his pacemen and said workload management was the key to keeping them in top shape. "They gained more experience, now they're bowling well together," Kohli told reporters after India sealed the one-sided win on Sunday.

"They take ownership of their own preparation, their own fitness and communication is very clear... We want you fresh for Test cricket, don't worry about anything else.

"And they feel secure as well that if they don't play, we have back-up bowlers to come and do the job as well. So that

bench strength is also helping us a lot."

The three quicks have been on a roll despite the absence of yorker specialist Jasprit Bumrah, who is recovering from a stress fracture of the back.

Shami and Yadav took 24 wickets between them in India's 3-0 Test whitewash of South Africa last month.

Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowled a total of just

seven overs against Bangladesh, who fell for 106 and 195.

"Doesn't happen often in India when the spinners hardly roll their arm over in the test match," Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan wrote on Twitter.

However, the real test for the Indian quicks will come in January and February, when India will play two Tests in seamer-friendly New Zealand.

George Bailey to round out Australia selection panel adeLaide Agencies

Former Australia ODI captain and current Tasmania batsman George Bailey is set to become the third member of the national selection panel alongside chairman Trevor Hohns and head coach Justin Langer, adding the contemporary voice that Cricket Australia has been searching for in their deliberations for the national team.

Bailey, who is widely respected in Australian cricket circles, will be a departure from tradition by taking on a selection role while still a player, though numerous cricketers have been selectors either as captain or in the summers immediately after retirement, including Hohns, Peter Taylor and Greg Chappell. It was Chappell's retirement from his role as selector following the Ashes series this year that opened up the place taken by Bailey.

CA had previously flirted with the concept of having a current player as a selector when Hohns floated Darren Lehmann as a candidate

prior to his retirement, before the concept was thwarted at board level. Usman Khawaja, the Queensland captain, spoke favourably of the prospect of choosing a current player as a selector when asked about it on Monday.

"I think there is always an option there. I think there is no one more involved and more rel-

evant in the game than people who are actually playing the game," Khawaja said. "I think players are one of the biggest stakeholders, sometimes the most under-utilised and undervalued stakeholders in the game. I think it's always important to have someone in the skin of the game." Communication between selectors and players has improved over the years, but it is believed that the players have suggested it can get better still, something that Bailey will be keenly aware of. Equally he will bring along the perspective of a cricketer who has played more or less his entire career in the Twenty20 era, leading Australia to the global tournament in Sri Lanka in 2012 when they reached the semi-finals.

Other candidates to make the final three included the former Victoria and South Australia batsman Michael Klinger and also Greg Shipperd, presently the coach of the Sydney Sixers.

Langer had also spoken positively of wanting to find a role in Australian cricket for Trevor Bayliss after the conclusion of his time as England coach this year.

KARACHI: The Pro Wrestling Federation of Pakistan (PWFP) and Dreamworld Resort announce another high profile wrestling extravaganza to be held on December 21. PR

trent Boult likely to miss second test due to pain in ribs HAMILTon: Trent Boult is likely to miss the second Test of New Zealand's series against England after leaving the field due to a pain in the right-hand side of his ribs on the fifth day of the first Test. Boult, who bowled one over on the final day before going off, will undergo an MRI scan tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury. In his absence, his fellow left-arm quick Neil Wagner stepped up with five wickets to seal an innings-and-65-run victory. The second Test at Hamilton starts on Friday, and with New Zealand starting a three-match series in Australia soon after that fixture, it seems unlikely he will be risked. Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry are the other seam-bowling options in the 15-man squad. Boult has missed only three Tests since 2016, and just six of New Zealand's 70 since his debut. "A lot was taken out of both teams in this Test," Kane Williamson, New Zealand's captain, said. "It was a really tough effort for long periods. But we have that squad of 15 and all the guys will meet up in Hamilton and we will have to assess the fitness of everybody." Agencies

Jofra Archer racially abused as England slump to innings defeat WeLLington Agencies

New Zealand Cricket says it will apologise to Jofra Archer after the fast bowler received "racial insults" from a member of the crowd following his dismissal during the first Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.

Archer made 30 from 50 balls on the final afternoon of the match, but was unable to prevent New Zealand from sealing an innings-and-65-run win to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.

However, that achievement was overshadowed shortly after the finish, when Archer tweeted about the treatment he had received as he left the field at the end of his innings.

He said: "A bit disturbing hearing racial insults today whilst battling to help save my team, the crowd was been amazing this week except for that one guy, @TheBarmyArmy was good as usual also."

In a statement, NZC said that the perpetrator had not been located, but that the board would be in touch with Archer to apologise.

"New Zealand Cricket will be contacting, and apologising to English fast bowler Jofra Archer, who was racially abused by a spectator as he left the field at the conclusion of the first Test at Bay Oval, Mt Maunganui," read the statement.

"Although security providers at the venue were unable to locate the perpetrator, NZC will be examining CCTV footage and making further inquiries tomorrow in an endeavour to identify the man responsible. "NZC has zero tolerance towards abu-

sive or offensive language at any of its venues and will refer any developments in the case to police.

"It will contact Mr Archer tomorrow to apologise for the unacceptable experience, and to promise increased vigilance in the matter when the teams next

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meet in Hamilton."

Archer later confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the abuser had been a solitary New Zealand spectator, making comments "about the colour of my skin".

He also claimed that the same person appeared to have contacted him via Instagram with further insults. "I don't think it would happen in England," Archer said. It was a tough match for England, but particularly Archer, who was required to bowl a marathon spell of 42 overs in New Zealand's solitary innings, and came in for criticism for an at-times lethargic display.

He picked up a solitary wicket, that of BJ Watling who top-scored with 205, but also served a reminder of his menacing attributes when he struck Henry Nicholls a heavy blow to the helmet on the second evening. The ECB later confirmed that an investigation into the incident was ongoing, in conjunction with NZC, "NZC and ECB ensure that clear guidelines are in place at every venue so that watching a cricket match is safe and enjoyable for everyone," said the ECB in a statement.

"Whilst this is a relatively isolated incident there is absolutely no place for anti-social or racist behaviour within the game and it is vitally important that all spectators feel able to come forward to report such behaviour and feel safe in doing so."

Tuesday, 26 November, 2019

NEWS

IHC wITHdrAwS CoNTempT NoTICe AgAINST FIrdouS, CAuTIoNS SArwAr ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday withdrew a show-cause notice issued to prime minister’s aide Firdous Ashiq Awan for contempt of court and cautioned her as well as Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar against commenting on subjudice matters in future.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, who was presiding over the proceedings, observed that both Awan and Khan hold positions of high responsibility. “If you [give] wrong interpretations with your words, it will make [the public] lose trust in institutions.”

Last month, the court had issued Awan a show-cause notice which noted that while holding a press conference, she had “criticised the judiciary” and had stated that bail granting order to Nawaz Sharif would “open a floodgate of similar requests by prisoners suffering from various diseases”.

Separately, a petition was filed in the IHC against Khan for linking the release of Nawaz Sharif with ‘a

deal’ during an interview.

Earlier this month, the court had reserved its decision on whether Awan and Khan committed contempt after both officials submitted unconditional apologies for their remarks on IHC’s decision to grant bail to Nawaz. In the previous hearing, Khan, while offering an apology to court, had said he did not want to contest the case.

“Common petitioners are the real stakeholders that are looking towards the government and the parliament,” Justice Minallah said during the proceedings. “We expect that, in future, opinions will not be given on subjudice cases.”

Justice Minallah commended Khan for admitting “that his state-

ment was political” but went on to say: “It is not a good thing to ruin the public’s trust because of political statements. Politicians should [work to] increase the public’s trust in the system.” The judge regretted that “both parties [in a case] issue such statements whenever [an unfavourable] verdict is issued”.

The IHC chief justice said that the judiciary was not “scared of criticism but welcomed it”.

“We’re not saying that we (the judiciary) have no shortcomings,” the judge remarked. “We are facing other challenges as well.”

Awan’s lawyer Shah Khawar thanked the court for withdrawing the show-cause notice against the premier’s special assistant on infor-

mation and broadcasting. In a detailed written order issued shortly after the hearing concluded, the judge said that the “court is satisfied that both the contemnors (Awan and Khan) had acted in a manner that constitutes criminal contempt”.

The order also observed that both “alleged contemnors are not ordinary citizens”. “They represent the political party in power and the highest echelons of the executive authorities of the state.” “[…] They cannot be extended the benefit of doubt for not being aware of the facts and the consequences of their statements which tended to prejudice the determination of matters pending before this court,” the order read. It noted that Awan’s remarks were issued during a press conference which she held “in her official capacity as spokesperson of the chief executive of Pakistan”. “The act or statements of [Awan] were at no stage deprecated or denied by the authorities on whose behalf she had held the official press conference, rather the same resonated by other members of the cabinet as well (sic),” the order read. Earlier, during the hearing, Justice Minallah had advised the officials to read the written order.

NAB to freeze industries owned by Shehbaz Sharif’s family The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore on Monday decided to freeze industries belonging to family members of Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in the assets beyond means case.

According to details, Chiniot Power Limited, Ramzan Energy Limited, Al-Arabia Sugar Mills, Crystal Plastics Private Limited, Sharif Dairy Farms Private Limited and Sharif Poultry Farms Private Limited are included in the industries ordered to be frozen in separate orders issued by the chief of NAB’s Lahore chapter. NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem directed the authorities concerned, including the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), to implement the orders with immediate effect.

Shehbaz Sharif, his sons Hamza and Sulaiman, and wife Nusrat Shehbaz will not be able to receive any benefit from the aforementioned industries following the anti-graft body’s move.

Members of the Sharif family and their financial advisers were also given the copies of the directives. In July, the anti-corruption watchdog had ordered to freeze all moveable and immoveable assets belonging to Shehbaz and his family members. In separate letters written to various departments including excise and taxation, revenue and district governments, the anti-graft watchdog banned sale, purchase and transfer of all properties belonging to former Punjab chief minister and his family members, including Tehmina Durrani. NEWS DESK

Gen Bajwa placated China after PTI ministers made ‘baseless allegations’ against CPEC Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Mushahid Hussain Syed has claimed that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had to go to China “to control the situation” after Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) ministers “levelled baseless allegations” against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-related (CPEC) projects. Referring to the accusations made by Minister for Communication Murad Saeed regarding alleged mismanagement in CPEC projects, Syed said not even a single rupee corruption had been proven, adding that former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal “should take Murad to court” over his conduct. Responding to Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice Wells’ statement that CPEC would push the country deeper into an already stifling debt burden, Syed said it was indeed deplorable that the US is opposing the game-changer project. The seasoned politician noted that the project was not aimed at defence, however, it did have various strategic implications. Syed observed that CPEC had a central position in the Sino-Pak strategic relationship and maintained that the PTI leadership should be very careful in giving statements about the flagship projects as they were not fully aware of the sensitivities attached to it. “China has no link with attempts to subjugate right to freedom in Pakistan,” he said. NEWS DESK

2 major generals promoted to lieutenant general rank

Buzdar holds second meeting with PM Imran within 24 hours ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday held a second meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan within the last 24 hours, as talk of replacing the provincial chief executive is becoming louder even within the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) due to the former’s ‘failure’ in handling the affairs of the most important province. Though none of the party leaders would publicly comment against the Punjab set-up, they would admit in background interviews with media channels that their government is failing in running the province.

According to a senior PTI leader, the party’s top leadership is dissatisfied with the performance of Buzdar and a majority within the PTI wants him to be replaced with a better and active political figure “but the question is: How?” Requesting anonymity, the PTI leader told a media outfit that there were various groups of party leaders like ex-secretary general Jahangir Khan Tareen, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, former provin-

cial minister Abdul Aleem Khan and Punjab Information Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal. In this situation, he said it was very difficult to bring all the groups on one page and build consensus on a single name for the coveted post.

Similarly, the PML-Q clearly stated on several occasions that it would reconsider its support to the PTI government in Punjab if the incumbent chief minister was replaced. A source in the PTI’s core committee, which met in Islamabad on Sunday and discussed administrative failures in Punjab, said the issue had been raised in top party circles a couple of times. But, he added, such meetings and discussions were chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan just to have a feeling of the undercurrents in the party cadre but not for taking decisions.

“The decisions are taken solely by Imran Khan whether these are discussed in the core committee or central executive committee or not,” he said. Some TV channels reported that after the core committee meeting in Islamabad on Sunday, PM Imran expressed his annoyance to Buzdar over ‘poor governance in Punjab’ and asked him to deliver even if he had to change any bureaucrat.

RAWALPINDI: The InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) on Monday announced major appointments and postings in the armed forces.

According to details, Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza has been appointed as the new Chief of General Staff whereas Major General Muhammad Saeed has been promoted to the rank of Lt General and appointed as the president of the National Defence University. According to the ISPR, the new postings and appointments are listed below: • Lieutenant General Nadeem Zaki Manj appointed as Director General Strategic Plans Division Force • Lieutenant General Muhammad Amir appointed as Adjutant General • Lieutenant General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood appointed as Commander Mangla Corps • Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood appointed as Commander Peshawar Corps • Lieutenant General Ali Amir Awan appointed as Inspector General Communications & Information Technology (IG C&IT) On Nov 21, the Prime Minister House announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed Lieutenant General Nadeem Raza as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee with effect from November 27. Currently, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat is serving as the CJCSC and is set to retire on November 28, 2019. STAFF REPORT

Netherlands’ Queen Maxima, FM Qureshi discuss rise of Islamophobia in Europe ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who landed in Islamabad earlier in the day on a three-day visit in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for inclusive finance for development, called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday.

The Dutch queen was received by senior officials of the foreign ministry and representatives of the Embassy of Netherlands at Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi on her arrival to the country.

During the meeting, matters pertaining to different aspects of economic and social development came under discussion, according to Radio Pakistan.

They also agreed for the promotion of cooperation in renewable energy, agriculture and horticulture sectors.

The Dutch queen also assured coop-

eration for the realisation of the goals of sustainable development in Pakistan.

Qureshi said that the world community had been recognising Pakistan as a peaceful country due to an improvement in the country’s law and order situation.

The two discussed the rise of Islamophobia in Europe, with Qureshi noting

that there were serious reservations on religious discrimination. “Muslims’ sentiments have been hurt by the Islamophobia in Europe,” he said.

He also stated that Pakistan valued its bilateral relations with the Netherlands, adding that many Dutch companies were running successful businesses in Pak-

istan. “The government is taking steps for promotion of investment and tourism in the country,” he added.

On her visit, Queen Maxima is expected to call on President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan, besides taking on engagements with a range of stakeholders from the public and private

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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sectors. She will also attend the launch of the ‘Micro Payment Gateway’, which the FO described as “an initiative of the State Bank of Pakistan aimed at reducing the costs of small payments and boosting digital transactions to benefit people and promote financial inclusion”.

In a statement announcing the Dutch queen’s visit earlier last week, the FO emphasised that inclusive finance for development is one of the “key priorities” of the government and the country has taken a number of steps in recent years to promote financial inclusion. Queen Maxima has been the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development since 2009.

In this capacity, she is actively engaged worldwide in promoting access of individuals and enterprises to financial services at a reasonable cost, with the aim of improving economic and social development opportunities. She had visited Pakistan in February 2016 as well.