E-Paper PDF 30th October (LHR)

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Wednesday, 30 October, 2019 I 1 Rabi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 20.00 I Vol X No 120 I 16 Pages I Lahore Edition

Nawaz’s al-azizia coNvictioN suspeNded for 8 weeks g

two-judge BeNch sAys former premier cAN move puNjAB govt for exteNsioN iN BAil

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NAB supports BAil pleA oN ‘humANitAriAN grouNds’, court sAys ANti-grAft wAtchdog ‘oNly pArty with A cleAr stANce oN mAtter’ STORY ON PAGE 02

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LHC adjourns Maryam Nawaz’s bail plea till Oct 30 STORY ON PAGE 02

CMYK Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

02 NEWS iHC suspends Nadra’s decision to suspend Hafiz Hamdullah’s citizenship ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday suspended the National Database and Registration Authority’s (NADRA) decision to cancel the citizenship of JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah. Hearing a petition filed by the former senator, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah sought a reply from NADRA within two weeks and directed the authority as well as the Interior Ministry not to take any action against Hamdullah. In a letter dated Oct 11, NADRA said that Hamdullah “is not a citizen of Pakistan,” adding: “Therefore, NADRA vide its orders U/S 18(1) & 17(2) has canceled and digitally impounded the CNIC issued to Mr Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor.” Subsequently, the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PeMRA) directed all television channels to stop inviting the JUI-F leader on talk shows.During Tuesday’s hearing, the defense counsel questioned the basis of NADRA’s move since Hamdullah had contested multiple elections before and also served as a senator. Upon asking, a NADRA representative, who was representing the authority, told the court that action on Hamdullah’s nationality was also taken in December last year as his documents, submitted to a district-level committee, were proven fake and the committee was informed as well. According to him, a letter was written to the ex-senator regarding his citizenship status and Hamdullah had also appeared before a district-level committee to discuss the matter. “The committee asked Hamdullah for his documentation and the documents he submitted turned out to be bogus,” said the NADRA official. Justice Minallah inquired about the whereabouts of Hamadullah’s children and was told that one of them was currently serving in the Pakistan Army.

“If a mother is willing to sacrifice her son for this soil, then how is her husband’s citizenship being doubted?” the IHC chief justice remarked. The court also suspended the PeMRA notification barring Hamdullah from television appearances, stating that “only the federal government holds the authority to pass such an order”.

Hafiz Hamdullah has contested general assembly elections for six times. He remained a member of the Senate on a JUI-F ticket from March 2012 to March 2018.

He had also been a health minister in the Balochistan cabinet from 2002 to 2006. STAFF REPORT

THree CHiLdreN iNjured iN KurraM bOMb expLOsiON PESHAWAR: At least three children received injuries when a bomb exploded in central Kurram on Tuesday. According to details, the explosion took place in the Jamal Mela area of central Kurram, a subdivision of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, where three children aged between 5 and 6 were wounded. The police officials said that the affected children were shifted to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Sadda. Heavy contingents of security forces cordoned off the entire area and commenced the investigation into the incident. STAFF REPORT

Nawaz’s aL-azizia CONviCTiON suspeNded fOr 8 weeKs ISlaMaBaD

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STAFF REPORT

He Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday suspended the jail term awarded to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case for 8 weeks as it approved a bail plea filed by his brother, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif. The verdict had been reserved for a short period before it was announced on Tuesday afternoon. The court, in its order, said that two surety bonds of Rs2 million each will have to be submitted to the court to secure Nawaz’s release. The court further announced that for an extension in bail, the Punjab government should be approached.

Nawaz, who is serving a sevenyear jail term in the Al-Azizia case, last week secured bail on medical grounds in the ongoing Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the Lahore High Court (LHC). He is currently under treatment at Services Hospital in Lahore where he was admitted on Monday last week after his health suddenly deteriorated. A two-member bench, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, heard the appeal on Tuesday.

Before the verdict was reserved, Justice Farooq had asked Nawaz’s counsel, Khawaja Haris, whether the president can grant amnesty to Nawaz before the bail plea is announced. To this, Haris had replied: “He can invoke his presidential powers at any time. However, customarily, all forums are first approached.”

The court had observed that NAB seemed to be the only party with a

clear stance on the matter and that the federal and provincial government were refraining from taking up a position. “On which condition should we grant you bail?” Justice Farooq had asked Haris. “On whichever condition that can give Nawaz Sharif a chance to recover,” he had replied.

The court then presented Nawaz’s counsel with four options: To forward the matter to the executive; to suspend the sentence in accordance with the time frame recommended by NAB; approve the petitioner’s application; reject the application.

In response, Haris had said it would not be advisable to forward the matter to a government which is “utterly against the Sharifs”. At this, Justice Kiyani had said: “The prime minister and chief minister do not belong to a party. They belong to the entire country and province.” Haris had then pointed out that the attorney general had even objected to the interim bail granted to Nawaz. “We have come to court. Kindly decide the matter in accordance with the law,” the counsel had requested. Justice Kiyani had said that if the government decides on the matter “it won’t be termed a deal”. The counsel had reiterated the request for the court to decide the matter. “We will respect the decision,” he had said. Subsequently, the court had reserved the verdict. earlier during the hearing, the court asked doctors, who are part of the medical board overseeing Nawaz’s treatment, if it was possible for the former premier to recover without staying in the hospital. The doctors responded in the negative and said that the PML-N supremo required medical supervision at all times. The board informed the court

that Nawaz had been given 80 injections in order to bring his platelet count — which was reported to have dropped to dangerous levels — to normal. The doctors said that earlier, the platelets injected in Nawaz’s body would be destroyed but added that the count was not wavering any more.

When asked if Nawaz had suffered a heart attack during his medical treatment, the doctors responded in the affirmative. However, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid told a presser on Saturday that Nawaz had an angina attack on Friday, but fortunately, it did not damage his heart.

Nawaz’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan, who had arrived in court before the hearing started, said that so far, the board was not able to figure out the reason behind the destruction of the platelets in the former premier’s body. He told the court that Dr Raza Shamsi had been summoned from Karachi for Nawaz’s treatment.

“He (Nawaz) is still unstable,” Dr Khan said. “I have never seen him in such an alarming condition.”

He said that the former premier’s blood pressure had shot up after dinner on Monday night as well.Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who appeared before the court on Tuesday, assured the bench that the provincial government was providing the best medical care to the former premier. He told the bench that the provincial government was working to bring forth prison reforms. Defence counsel in the CSM case, Khawaja Haris, during his arguments, expressed dissatisfaction with the medical care of his client so far.

‘Azadi March’ enters Punjab lahore STAFF REPORT

Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is expected to reach Lahore late on Tuesday night, where supporters will accord him a welcome reception at Thokar Niaz Baig. Before reaching the provincial capital of Punjab, the caravan will pass through Sahiwal, Okara, and then Kasur. JUI-F spokesperson Maulana Saleemullah Qadri said that the reception will include dinner after which the caravan will move towards Samanabad Mor via Multan Road where a welcome camp has been set up by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The caravan will then advance towards Chaubarji Chowk where the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has set up another welcome camp. The marchers will then proceed to Data Darbar and on to Azadi Chowk to participate in a huge rally which is to be addressed by the JUI-F chief with other opposition members in tow. The Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH) has also set up a camp at Bhaati Chowk on Ravi Road.

The Azadi March, which entered its third day on October 29, had entered Multan along with PPP leaders earlier in the morning. It may be mentioned here that Awami Raaj Party leader Jamshed Dasti has joined the marchers too. While addressing the marchers in Multan, PML-N’s Javed Latif said that the march is not just of Fazl but 220 million people. “If you want Kashmir’s freedom, then you must fight for your own freedom first. We will not back down till people are free. I am giving you Nawaz Sharif’s message. All PML-N workers are standing with you,” he said.

PML-N leader Javed Hashmi who was also present on the occasion claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan was not on the same page as the rest of the nation. “I know Imran Khan really well. I have served as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) president. I know that Imran Khan doesn’t accept the Pakistani nation. Well, then we don’t accept such a leader,” he said. Hashmi, a veteran politician, also added that his party will be part of the JUI-F’s initiative “on every step, in every city of Punjab”. Fazl, who had ar-

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rived on a container in Multan, also addressed his supporters with assurances that the movement would be successful.

“This march will enter the corridors of power and sweep away all the trash,” he said while addressing the marchers. earlier in the day, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued directives to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government stating that highways were to remain open so that the participants of the Azadi March could pass through.

A two-member bench of the PHC said that the provincial government should not set up containers to block any road till Attock while advising the participants of the march to maintain peace as well.

A senior lawyer associated with the JUI-F had moved the PHC last week seeking orders for the government against creating hurdles on main highways in the province for the Azadi March. Additionally, while hearing another petition at the same time, the court also directed Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PeMRA) to give the opposition and government equal air time.

“So far we are not satisfied with the medical board’s treatment. The board itself is saying in its report that it is unable to manage [Nawaz’s treatment]. “Services Hospital does not have machinery to conduct [medical] tests. Nawaz Sharif has to be taken to different places for his tests to be conducted.” Haris explained that Nawaz’s body was not able to generate platelets naturally and he was being given steroids and medicines in order to increase the platelet count. However, the treatment to increase platelet count posed an increased risk of a heart attack.

The lawyer clarified that while his client did not doubt the intention or capability of the doctors appointed for treatment, the medical board itself was not satisfied with Nawaz’s reports. He insisted that the former premier should be allowed to get treatment from doctors of his choice.

“Why doesn’t NAB submit a request for suspension of the sentence?” asked Haris. “If Nawaz Sharif’s condition improves, he can serve his sentence again.”

NAB SUPPORTS BAIL ON ‘ H U M A N I T A R I A N GROUNDS’: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, during his arguments, said that the anti-corruption watchdog would not oppose bail on humanitarian grounds. “I will not talk about merit, Nawaz Sharif’s condition is serious,” he said. “If we do grant a bail, how long should it be for?” Justice Farooq asked the NAB prosecutor to which the latter said that the court can decide in accordance with a Supreme Court verdict that granted a six-week bail to seek medical treatment within the country.

LHC adjourns Maryam Nawaz’s bail plea till Oct 30 lahore STAFF REPORT

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on a petition seeking bail of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case till Wednesday.

The hearing was adjourned over the request of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore Director General Shehzad Saleem.

Responding to the appeal, the defence counsel recalled the court had not issued any notice to Saleem and that he can brief the case in this hearing. However, Justice Ali Baqir Najafi adjourned the proceedings saying that the arguments will be recorded in the presence of the NAB counsel.

A day earlier, an LHC division bench had adjourned the hearing of Maryam Nawaz’s bail petition in the case till Oct 29 seeking arguments from the parties.

The division bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem heard the post-arrest bail petition of the PML-N leader, wherein Additional Prosecutor General Jehanzaib Bharwana represented the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Advocates Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervaiz appeared on behalf of the petitioner. During the proceedings, the bench asked whether Maryam Nawaz had been allowed to meet her ailing father, Nawaz Sharif, in hospital.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

UN body URgEs fUll REstoRAtIoN of hUMAN RIghts IN IoK

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HE United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) while expressing “extreme concern” over human rights abuses in India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) has urged the Indian authorities to “fully restore” human rights in the occupied territory.

In a statement released on Tuesday, UNHCHR Spokesperson Rupert Colville said that the international human rights body is “extremely concerned that the population of India-occupied Kashmir continues to be deprived of a wide range of human rights and we urge the Indian authorities to unlock the situation and fully restore the rights that are currently being denied”.

“On August 5, the government of India revoked constitutional provisions granting partial autonomy to

the state of Jammu and Kashmir and announced the creation of two separate federally-administered Union Territories, which will come into effect this Thursday (October 31),” the statement said, adding that at the same time, very restrictive measures were imposed.

“Although some of these measures have been relaxed, their impact

Internet services disrupted across Pakistan as submarine cables go offline Internet services across the country partially crashed on Tuesday evening, due to a fault that developed in international submarine cables that connect Pakistan.

“We regret to inform you that due to international submarine cable fault, internet services are impacted across Pakistan,” said Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in a post on Twitter. “Our technical teams are working on fully restoring internet services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience.” As per reports, the disruption started when two cables went offline.

“IMEWE and SEAMEWE 4, that carry almost 50 per cent of Pakistan’s internet traffic, went offline due to a fault at a location that’s yet not determined,” a local media outlet reported. NEWS DESK

Aviation body rejects India’s complaint on Pakistan’s airspace denial to Modi

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has rejected India’s complaint against Pakistan’s refusal to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use its airspace for an overflight. According to First Post, the ICAO said flights carrying national leaders are considered “state aircraft” and are not subject to the body’s provisions. The Indian government had sought Pakistan’s permission to use the country’s airspace on Oct 28 for the Indian premier, who is visiting Saudi Arabia to participate in an international business conference. However, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced on Sunday that Pakistan had denied the request. Qureshi, in a statement, had said that the decision was taken in the context of Black Day and “in view of the continued gross human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. In response to India’s complaint, First Post quoted the ICAO spokesperson as saying: “The Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), which ICAO helps governments to cooperate under, only applies to the operations of civilian aircraft and not to state or military aircraft.”

“Flights carrying national leaders are considered state aircraft, and are therefore not subject to ICAO provisions,” the spokesperson added. This was not the first time Pakistan denied India’s request to use its airspace. The government in September had also denied India’s request for Modi to use Pakistani airspace for his flight to Germany. The decision on Sunday came with tensions simmering between the two nuclear-armed rivals after India stripped occupied Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status through a presidential decree and imposed a strict security and communication lockdown that has continued nearly three months now. NEWS DESK

on human rights continues to be widely felt,” the spokesperson said.

“There have been several allegations of excessive use of force including the use of pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas and rubber bullets by security forces during sporadic protests, with unconfirmed reports of at least six civilian killings and scores of serious injuries in separate

incidents since August 5,” it added.

The UN body also said that it has received reports of armed groups threatening residents who are trying to carry out their normal business or attend school, as well as several allegations of violence against people who have not complied with the armed groups’ demands.

“We have also received a number of allegations of torture and illtreatment of people held in detention. These must be independently and impartially investigated,” the UN human rights body added.

“The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, the State Information Commission [which implements the right-to-information laws] and the State Commission for Protection of Women and Child Rights are among key institutions being wound up, with the new bodies to replace them yet to be established,” observed the body in its statement.

Nawaz Sharif fighting battle for life: ex-PM’s personal physician LAHORE INP

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s health is in a critical condition and he is fighting a battle for survival, his personal physician Dr Adnan Khan said on Tuesday.

In a series of tweets, Dr Adnan said, “Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) & NSTEMI (heart attack) is further complicated by deteriorating Kidney functions.” “Former PM #NawazSharif, critically unwell, is fighting the battle for his health & life. Thrombocytopenia (Low Platelet Count) & NSTEMI (Heart Attack) is further complicated by deteriorating Kidney functions. Poor Blood Sugar & Blood Pressure control is taking its toll” he tweeted.

“Pending Scans/Biopsies, diagnostic dilemma still ensues from multiple complex pathologies & co-morbidities.

In a paradoxical catch 22 situation; establishing a definitive diagnosis & subsequent man-

agement poses considerable risk to #NawazSharif’s fragile & unstable health” he tweeted.

He added that the poor blood sugar and blood pressure have also taken a toll on the former premier’s health.

The doctor further said, “Pending Scans/Biopsies, diagnostic dilemma still ensues from multiple complex pathologies & co-morbidities.”

The chief executive of Sharif Medical City said that doctors were also having difficulty establishing a definitive diagnosis while

subsequent management poses a considerable risk to the former premier’s health.

Meanwhile, hospital sources said that Sharif had lost close to seven kilos since he was admitted to hospital. They added that before being admitted his weight was 107 kilos and now it had reduced to 100 kilos. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was shifted to Services Hospital Lahore last week for medical examination and treatment after his condition deteriorated with a sudden drop in his platelet count.

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Afghan firing injures six, including woman, along Pak-Afghan border CHITRAL: At least six citizens, including one woman, were injured by unprovoked firing of Afghan forces along the Chitral border on Tuesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported. According to the ISPR, the Pakistan Army responded with retaliatory firing after the Afghan security forces fired mortars and heavy machine guns from Nari District in Kunar province. The shelling from the Afghan security forces targeted the civilian population in Arundu village.

Pakistan troops responded effectively and targeted Afghan Border posts Kandkxi and Dilbar from where the attack was being initiated. The exchange of firing, however, stopped once the military authorities of both countries spoke over a telephonic call. STAFF REPORT

PEMRA chief gets contempt notice for misusing court’s name ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued a contempt of court notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Chairman Saleem Baig for “using the court’s name without prior permission or context as means of persuasion to enforce strict guidelines on media houses and anchors”. The notice was issued by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah who was presiding over a hearing of a contempt of court case against media houses who had “transgressed legal boundaries to discuss sub-judice matters” in television programmes.

During the proceedings, Justice Minallah remarked that misusing the court’s name will not be tolerated and those found guilty would be punished. Last week, the media regulatory body had directed the anchors hosting regular shows not to appear as “experts” in talk shows on their own or other channels. In addition, media houses were advised to select the guests in talk shows with the “utmost care and keeping in view their knowledge and expertise in a particular subject”.

“As per the PEMRA code of conduct, the role of anchors is to moderate the programs in an objective, unbiased and impartial manner, excluding themselves from the personal opinions, biases, and judgments on any issue. Therefore, anchors hosting regular shows should not appear in TV shows whether own or other channels as subject matter experts,” it had said.

During Tuesday’s hearing, IHC directed the PEMRA representative to provide a transcript of all the programs in question who had “gone against the law and stepped over legal boundaries”. The court said that such conjecture brought a bad name to the court’s esteem and gave way to unneeded hearsay which could be damaging to court proceedings and adversely affect on-going cases. STAFF REPORT

Rabiul Awwal moon sighted, Eid Miladun Nabi on Nov 10 KARACHI: The new Islamic month, Rabi Ul Awwal’s moon has been sighted, Central Ruet e Hilal Committee made the announcement on Tuesday. The day of 12 Rabi Ul Awwal (Eid-e-Miladun Nabi), on which birth of Hazrat Muhammad’s (SAWW) is celebrated, will fall on November 10, Sunday. Chairman of the committee Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman presided over the gathering this evening at Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) office. Zonal committees from Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta also gathered evidence and witnesses regarding moon sightings. STAFF REPORT

Zalmay Khalilzad takes push for Afghan peace to Pakistan ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

A US peace envoy remained in Pakistan on Tuesday as part of efforts to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 18 -year war, even though President Donald Trump has not expressed any interest in resuming talks with the Taliban.

The envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday and was expected to hold talks with the country’s powerful military chief on Tuesday. Officials in Pakistan, where the Taliban governing council is believed to be headquartered, have been pushing for a resumption of direct US-Taliban talks since they collapsed in early September after Trump halted talks with the Taliban and cancelled what had seemed an imminent deal. Trump’s move followed a series of violent attacks in the Afghan capital that killed several people, including a US soldier.

During their meeting Monday, Khan called on all sides in Afghanistan’s protracted war to “take practical steps for the reduction of violence,” according to a statement. Civilian casualties have been rising fast in recent months, according to the UN, which blames both insurgents and US and Afghan government security forces. So far this

year, there have been more than 8,000 casualties.

The Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said last week that if the US were to go back and sign the nearly imminent deal with the Taliban, there would be a cease-fire first with US and NATO troops, followed by a negotiated cease-fire between the insurgents and Afghan forces. “If the US returns to the negotiating table and signs the agreement, then there will be a cease-fire and reduction of violence,” Shaheen said. Khalilzad arrived in Pakistan from Afghanistan, where he met with leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, who has mostly dismissed any talks with the Taliban not led by the Kabul government. But Afghanistan has just come out of a presidential election marred by allegations of corruption and fraud. Nearly a month since the vote, which appeared to have a low turnout, no results have been released. Preliminary results are now expected on Nov. 14. Ghani and his current partner in a so-called unity government, Abdullah Abdullah, are the leading contenders for president.

The two men jointly lead Afghanistan’s unity government, cobbled together by the U.S. after the 2014 presidential elections were so deeply flawed that a clear winner could not be determined.

On Tuesday, Ghani’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who has a prickly relationship

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with the US, told reporters in Kabul that the government is seeking a month’s cease-fire with the Taliban before any negotiations, as well as evidence that the Taliban leaders can restrain their fighters. The Taliban now hold sway over nearly half of Afghanistan. Mohib also blamed Pakistan for the war and urged Islamabad to sever ties with Taliban. Mohib has been a strident critic of US talks with the Taliban and publicly railed against Khalilzad earlier this year in Washington. Since then, he has been shunned by U.S. officials.

Last week, Khalilzad was in Moscow, meeting with Chinese and Russian representatives.

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Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

WEATHER UPDATES WEDNESDAY

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Lahore traders observe strike in protest of tax poLicies LAHORE

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SHAHAB OMER

AHORE traders called for a twoday strike on Tuesday in protest of the government’s tax policy and conditions on providing CNIC. On day one of the strike all major markets in the provincial capital remained closed. It was learnt that wholesale markets in Shah Alam, the walled city, Icchra, Ferozepur road and Badami Bagh along with other small retail markets observed the strike.

Similarly markets in Urdu Bazaar, Band Road, Davis Road, Saddiq trade center, Baghbanpura, Mughalpura, Dharampura markets, Anarkarli, McLoad Road, Gunpat Road, Nila Gumbad, Daroghaywala, Naqsh Bandi Bazaar, Gold Markets, Cantonment Board Markets, Brandath Road, Cycle Market, Mintgomery Market also remained closed.

Lahore chamber of commerce also supported the strike and no activity was carried out there.

Traders said that they were disen-

chanted with policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and said they could not afford the imposition of new taxes.

Malik Aftab, a trader from Shah Alam said, “We call for the government to take its decision back since it is hurting our businesses and destroying our livelihoods.”

Another trader Shahid Khan said, “People are so fed up with increased inflation and the rise in prices that there is no buying power among people now. I deal in wholesale ladies suits and have never had much trouble since the past twenty years when I first started off in this business but the policies of the current government and the prevailing economic environment is proving to be detrimental to our ability to do business; I have lost many customers and am now even considering closing down my shop.”

Khawaja Ehsan, a shopkeeper from Dharampura said, “We will remain on strike for two days so that the government realizes the severity of the matter. Even if we open our shops and businesses we would not be earning anything, therefore going on strike will not affect us much.”

A shopkeeper of Mughalpura area, on the other hand, told Pakistan Today that he could not earn anything on Tuesday because of the strike. “I am going home empty-handed and have two kids to feed.

I am unable to understand the policies of the new government as it is doing nothing but harming poor people like myself.

Another salesman of Band Road area said, “The strike will only make people like us suffer. We have no other source of income. My wife works as a cook in two houses and I work at the shop to make ends meet. How will we be able to earn our livelihoods in such an environment?”

While talking to Pakistan Today, president of the All Pakistan Anjuman-eTajran, Ashraf Bhatti said that there was a camp set up to protest against the government. “Traders have staged a successful strike and have proved that we do not agree with the IMF’s agenda. The country will likely suffer a loss of billions of rupees as a result of this strike which will force the government this issue.”

“Our future strategy will be based on the government’s response,” he added.

President of Anjuman Traders Khalid

Photo: Zubair MehfooZ

Pervez said, “We haven’t refused to pay taxes but we have been urging the government to conduct surveys of the markets. It is not possible to transfer all the burden of the IMF agreement on to the traders. The government must reconsider its decision.”

Pakistan Trader Alliance Lahore President Nasir Hameed Khan while talking to Pakistan Today said that the government should pay heed to the traders’ concerns as the country is going through a period of serious economic instability, “There should be no CNIC matter involved in the purchasing of items up to Rs500, 000. From these trading markets, not only the traders but several others as-

sociated with the business also earn a livelihood. This is a cycle which the government fails to understand.”

Mujahid Maqsood Butt a trade leader said, “The government should fist control smuggling and must work on controlling illegal trade and then it should turn its attention to traders.” “The PM needs to realize that traders are not a part of any political party or association,” he added.

Traders demanded a fixed tax to be imposed by the government in addition to limiting the working capital in turnover tax at 15 crores. They also disagreed with the government’s policy of CNIC provision and demanded that the income tax form should be a one-pager.

chunian man rapes, fiLms friend's wife at home

Lahore ranked second most poLLuted city on 29th

CHUNIAN: Police confirmed on Tuesday that a man was arrested for luring a friend’s wife to his home, where he allegedly raped her and filmed the ordeal so he could blackmail her later. A spokesperson for Chunian police told media that the suspect, identified as Nazakat, lured his friend’s wife to his home in Kot Umarwatto and allegedly sexually assaulted her. He also made a video of the rape and threatened to post the video online if she did not stay silent about the matter, according to the first information report (FIR) registered with the police. The medical report confirmed that the rape took place. The district police officer (DPO) for Kasur, Zahid Nawaz Marwat, said that under no circumstances violence against anyone will be tolerated. Police will make sure that the victim gets justice, he added. STAFF REPORT

According to rankings released by the World Air Quality Index (AQI), Lahore ranked the second most polluted city on Oct 29. Indian capital New Delhi ranked first with an average concentration of fine particulate matter at 373 Air Quality Index (AQI), followed by Lahore at 188 AQI in cubic metre of air.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning the Punjab provincial capital briefly ranked first in the list of most polluted cities. Karachi, on the other hand, ranked seventh with an average of 153 AQI. Air pollution is expected to cause over seven million premature deaths around the world this year and have a major impact on the global economy in the future.

Lahore’s air pollution is caused largely by vehicle and industrial emissions, smoke of burning garbage and crop residue and dust from construction sites. NEWS DESK

Two killed, 34 injured as bus overturns near Sheikhupura SHEIKHUPURA: At least two people were killed and 34 others injured when a bus overturned in Sheikhupura in the wee hours of Tuesday.

According to details, the accident occurred near Sheikhupura interchange on Motorway when the driver of the bus fell asleep during driving resulting in the incident. Rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the injured to DHQ Hospital in Sheikhupura. INP

Lahoris to enjoy fifth Music Meet in February The date for the fifth edition of the Lahore Music Meet (LMM) has been announced to be held on Feb 1-2, 2020 at Alhamra Art Center. The twoday event features four stages of live performances, plus masterclasses and conversations with musicians on the sidelines of the festival and will be open to the general public. Since 2015, LMM has been a platform featuring upcoming artists from Pakistan’s emerging, contemporary and traditional music landscape. NEWS DESK

CMYK Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

NEWS

Seawater SwampS dozenS of villageS in coaStal belt aS cyclone Kyarr intenSifieS KARACHI

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STAFF REPORT

s the intensity of very severe Cyclonic storm (VsCs) “Kyarr”, developed in the east central Arabian sea, grew on Tuesday, the seawater has started entering into more homes located in the coastal belt areas of Karachi. Hundreds of people, who were evacuated on Monday, still could not return to their homes and are facing immense difficulties in carrying out their daily life activities.

The affected neighbourhoods mainly include Rehri Goth, one of the neighborhoods of Liaquatabad Town, and Lath Basti in Rehri Bin Qasim Town and Chashma Goth.

According to spokesperson of National Disaster Management Authority, in case of any emergency NDMA has established 300 camps in Malir. Authorities have warned swimmers to refrain from going to beaches in Karachi, Badin and Thatha, and banned boating and fishermen from venturing in the open

sea till Nov. 5. several villages have been inundated in seawater; however no loss of human life and property damage has been reported so far. Importantly, hundreds of boats are still stuck in the sea and have not returned to the coasts. Amid panic and fear as sea level rises in the coastal areas of Thatha, people have been forced to leave their homes in more than 20 villages of shah Bandar area.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) latest advisory, the super Cyclonic storm over Eastcentral Arabian sea has tracked northwestward during last 12 hours and now lay centered near Lat 18.6°N and Long 64.2°E with maximum sustained surface winds of 230240 kmph gusting 265 kmph, at about 750 km southwest of Karachi and 1080 km northeast of salalah (Oman).

It stated: “Kyarr is likely to move further northwestwards during next 36 hours and then turn southwestward.” “There is no direct threat to any coastal area of Pakistan; however, due to exceptionally strong winds around the system’s centre and

roughness in sea, low-lying islands may suffer by water intrusion due to high tides.” The PMD further expected scattered Ds/Ts-rain in lower sindh and along Makran Coast during Wednesday-Friday, and advised fishermen to not venture in open sea till 31 Oct. Tropical Cyclone Warning Center of PMD is regularly monitoring the intensity and track of this Tropical Cyclone. The concerned authorities are requested to keep them

abreast of the system updates through PMD website.

Earlier, volunteers of the Fisherman Co-operative society and employees launched a rescue operation in the affected areas and evacuated more than 100 families to nearby buildings of colleges and schools.

The employees asked the maritime security to provided plastic boats for conducting rescue operation in the affected area.

Christians demand return of Peshawar’s Edwardes College CLERGY LEADERS SAY WON’T ALLOW KP GOVT TO GRAB CHURCH-OWNED PROPERTY LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

The Peshawar High Court’s ruling in favour of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for assuming control of the church-owned historical Edwardes College in Peshawar continues to draw a strong reaction from the Pakistani Christian community living in the country and in other parts of the world.

Christian community leaders on Tuesday called on the government to restore the control of Peshawar’s Edwardes College back to church authorities. Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club,

community representatives said, “The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has taken over control of Edwardes College which was previously under the control of the Peshawar Church.”

Presbyterian Church of Pakistan Moderator Reverend Dr Majeed Abel, Bishop Abraham Daniel of the sahiwal Baptist Church, former Lahore Bishop Alexander John Malik, minority lawmaker Khalil Tahir sindhu and other representatives of the Christian community addressed the event.

Addressing reporters, Dr Abel said that we have records certifying that Edwardes College is a church

property and “if its status is not restored then we will have no option but to protest”.

He said that the college should be handed over to the church in accordance with the constitution and supreme Court rulings which state that any property which falls under jurisdiction of a religious body cannot be taken over by the government.

Bishop Abraham Daniel, in his address, criticised the KP government for grabbing the church property illegally. “All Christians unanimously demand the return of Edwardes College to the Church of Pakistan. The Imran Khan government should walk its talk on the protection of rights of minorities in Pakistan,” he said.

On Friday, National Council of Churches-Pakistan President Rt Rev

Bishop Dr Azad Marshall had also demanded the return of the Edwardes College to the church.

In a press conference, Dr Marshall said that he was optimistic that Prime Minister Imran Khan will personally look into the Edwardes College issue and hand over its control back to the church.

“Edwardes College has been the pride of the Pakistani Christian community. We hope that the prime minister will consider the services of our people in the education sector and help us in restoring the lost glory of the institute. I believe the church can turnaround Edwardes College into another great institution like the Forman Christian College (FCC) in Lahore,” he said, adding that it would also help in boosting the confidence of the Christian community in the Pakistani state.

China disapproves FATF’s politicisation, takes exception to anti-Pakistan designs BEIJING APP

Reiterating its support to Pakistan at the FATF platform, China has categorically announced that it did not want the forum to be politicized as some countries are pursuing their political agenda in a bid to blacklist Pakistan. Talking to a group of visiting Pakistani journalists in Beijing, Deputy Director-General for Policy Planning of Asian Affair in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Yao Wen said

China stood with Pakistan and would block any attempt to include Pakistan in the blacklist.

He said China made it clear to the United states and India that China cannot do this and goes beyond the purpose of FATF. Yao Wen said the Financial Action Task Force is not meant to put any country in the blacklist, rather to support it to take action against terror financing.

He said Pakistan is effectively pursuing its National Action Plan, and China encouraged it to act against terrorists and strengthen its system.

Mr Yao welcomed the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority by Pakistan and said it would help expedite work on CPEC projects. About the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India amid Kashmir tensions, Mr Yao said relations between China and Pakistan were mature enough to handle such visits. “Mutual trust between China and Pakistan is very high while we have a deficit of trust with India since we have so many problems and differences [with them],” he added.

05

verdict reserved on Safdar’s bail plea in hate speech case LAHORE: A local court here on Tuesday reserved a verdict on a bail plea of Captain (r) Muhammad safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz sharif, in a hate speech case. The court also reserved its verdict on an application seeking physical remand of the PML-N leader for investigation. A government lawyer moved the application on behalf of the state challenging the Oct 22 ruling of a judicial magistrate who turned down a plea for physical remand of the PML-N leader. He stated before the court that an investigation against the accused has hit a snag owing to the judicial magistrate’s decision of not handing over the custody of safdar to the police for interrogation. He said they needed his custody for a polygraph test to verify the veracity of a video in which he is reportedly seen inciting people against the government. The counsel, thus, pleaded with the court to grant remand of the accused. STAFF REPORT

lHc moved against trial court's ruling in rana Sanaullah case LAHORE: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Tuesday moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the trial court’s decision of not hearing the drug case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana sanaullah on daily basis. The petition, which was filed by the authority’s legal director, reminded the court that a drug trafficking case was filed against the PML-N Punjab president on July 1 and a challan was timely submitted. The ANF took the stance that the trial court ignored the facts in rejection of the plea which had sought day-to-day hearing in the said case. The anti-narcotics body requested the LHC to nullify the trial court’s decision and allow the hearing to be conducted on a daily basis. On Oct 20, Minister for safron and Narcotics Control shehryar Khan Afridi requested the court to hold day-to-day hearing in the case against sanaullah, whom he had referred to as the ‘El Chapo’ of Pakistan. El Chapo is a Mexican drug lord who is considered to have been the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. At present, he is serving a life term in a United states prison. But in his live press conference, the minister called sanaullah ‘Pakistani Al Pacino’ — the Godfather-fame Oscar-winning American actor — and not the drug lord ‘El Chapo’. STAFF REPORT

baba guru nanak University to welcome Sikhs from around the world: buzdar LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday announced that over six billion rupees were being spent on construction of the Baba Guru Nanak University in Nankana sahib. In a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, Buzdar said, “The credit of this historic achievement goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan.” The establishment of this university will welcome sikhs from all over the world in addition to providing a qualified higher education institute to locals, CM Buzdar said. “Punjab government has decided to set up eight universities and five institutes in the province during one year,” he added. CM Buzdar further said that the University of North Punjab was being set up by his government in Chakwal while the University of south Punjab was being established in Layyah. He added that construction of the center of excellence in Nankana sahib was also nearing completion. sehat Insaf Card scheme has been launched in Nankana sahib to provide free medical facilities to thousands of deserving families, he added.

CM Buzdar said that Rs70 crores have been allocated by the government for the welfare of the country’s minorities. STAFF REPORT

UK politician says India revoked IOK invitation as he wanted to ‘move freely’ Chris Davies, member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the UK, on Tuesday said that he had received an invitation to travel to Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) but the offer was withdrawn after he insisted on moving in the Valley “unaccompanied by military, police or security forces”. Davies, who is an MEP from Liberal Democrats party, said he was invited by an organisation called WEsTT (Women’s Economic and social Think Tank) on Oct 7. The invite was withdrawn three days later, the member of the Euro-

pean parliament said, after he insisted on being able to move around freely.

An Indian government official refused to comment on the issue, insisting that the government wasn’t involved in planning or organising this visit. WEsTT, the organisation which had organised the visit, has not responded to a request for comment yet. several MEPs including Davies’ party colleague, Bill Newton Dunn are currently in India visiting Jammu and Kashmir.

“I was happy to accept on the condi-

tion that during my time in Kashmir I would be free to go wherever I wish and talk to whoever I wish, unaccompanied by military, police or security forces but accompanied by journalists,” he said in a statement.

“I am not prepared to take part in a PR stunt for the Modi government and pretend that all is well. It is very clear that democratic principles are being subverted in Kashmir, and the world needs to start taking notice”.

Davies said he represented many peo-

CMYK

ple in his north-west England constituency who have family links in Jammu and Kashmir, who wanted to speak freely to relatives and wanted their voices heard.

Davies has been a vocal critic of India’s decision to revoke Article 370 and was among the 45 members of parliament from the United Kingdom and peers who asked the UN secretary-General Antonio Guterres in August to prevent what they described as an “unconstitutional attack on Kashmir’s autonomy”. NEWS DESK

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

The deaTh of The world’s mosT wanTed man ‘TERRORISTS WHO OPPRESS AND MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE SHOULD NEVER SLEEP SOUNDLY, KNOWING THAT WE WILL COMPLETELY DESTROY THEM’

New Yorker

a

RObiN WRigHT

BU Bakr al-Baghdadi, the reclusive leader of the world’s deadliest terrorist movement, was killed during a daring night-time raid by US Special Operations soldiers in northwestern Syria, President Trump announced, in an address to the nation on Sunday morning. After five years of spawning terror that reached the far corners of the globe, the leader of ISIS was trapped—“whimpering and crying and screaming”—in a dead-end tunnel, with three children, Trump said. “The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear.”

As US troops closed in, Baghdadi—a forty-eight-year-old Iraqi who proclaimed himself “emir” of the Islamic State caliphate, in 2014—detonated his suicide vest.

The tunnel collapsed; Baghdadi and his three children were killed.

“He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.” A military tech team, which had samples of Baghdadi’s DNA, sifted through the debris and matched parts of Baghdadi’s body within minutes.

“It was him,” the President said.

Several other ISIS fighters and two of Baghdadi’s wives died during the raid; other ISIS members were captured. No American troops were killed, Trump said. The only US injury was to a trained Special Forces canine. The US teams managed to seize sensitive material, including plans for future ISIS operations.

The two-hour raid was so efficient that US forces, ferried in on eight helicopters, did not need to use a robot that they had brought with them to lead the way, in the

event that explosives were used.

They “accomplished their mission in grand style,” Trump declared.

“This raid was impeccable.” The President watched the mission unfold as it began, shortly after 5 pm Eastern time, from the White House Situation Room, after an afternoon of golf. Trump said the technology was so sophisticated that it was like watching a movie.

Experts called the Baghdadi raid a major advance in the decades-long campaign against jihadi extremism globally. “It’s a significant blow to ISIS and a tribute to our Special Forces, who have been on his trail, with some close calls, over the last five years,” Brett McGurk, the former US Presidential envoy to the campaign against ISIS, told me. “Baghdadi is significant because he declared himself the caliph and the head of a caliphate that was a rallying cry for tens of thousands of extremists around the world. That will be hard to replace.” At the same time, however, “it does not end the threat of ISIS, of course.”

Since 2014, Baghdadi had been the world’s most wanted terrorist; he long had a US bounty—of twenty-five million dollars—on his head. In 2017, Russia erroneously claimed to have killed him, in an air strike on Raqqa, ISIS’s capital. His real name was Ibrahim Awad alSamarrai. He was born in Tobchi, Iraq, near Samarra, to a devout family that followed the ultraconservative Salafi school of Sunni Islam.

He joined the resistance against US troops after the invasion, in 2003.

He was arrested by American forces in 2004 and held in Camp Bucca, a prison that became infamous as a breeding ground for extremism. At the time, Baghdadi was deemed a minor player and released after a few months. He later went on to assume the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq, after US-led air strikes killed its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006. The Islamic State in Iraq, as it later came to be known, was forced underground. It had only a few hundred followers.

Baghdadi gained global notoriety after his ragtag militia of jihadis exploited the chaos in Syria, in 2013, to build a base of operations and expand into the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria—or ISIS. It began luring tens of thousands of fighters, from five continents.

In 2014, Baghdadi’s men blitzed across the border into Iraq, sucking up land, besieging major cities, slaughtering local men who refused to join ISIS, enslaving women, and forcing the far larger and better-equipped Iraqi Army to flee. By July, ISIS held a third of Syria and a quarter of Iraq—redrawing the map of the Middle East and creating a caliphate roughly the size of Britain. It stretched from the Turkish border all the way to the outskirts of Baghdad and reached within twenty-five kilometres of the border with Iran. Baghdadi ruled over some eight million people. His caliphate thrived financially by selling oil from northeastern Syria, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from banks, extorting businesses, and levying taxes.

In his first public appearance, Baghdadi declared ISIS’s caliphate at the millennium-old Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in the northernIraqi city of Mosul. “Support the religion of Allah through jihad,” he demanded, dressed in a black turban, denoting descent from the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“Terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death in the places where you expect to find it, for the dunya [worldly life] will come to an end, and the hereafter will last forever.... This worldly life is only amusement and diversion.”

Unlike Osama bin Laden, the late leader of Al Qaeda, who was killed in another US Special Forces raid, in 2011, Baghdadi rarely released audio or video messages. He never gave interviews. He was last heard from in April, a month after a US-backed campaign seized the last chunk of ISIS-controlled territory, in Baghouz, in the oil-rich scrub-

lands of Syria, bordering Iraq. In an eighteen-minute video, Baghdadi tried rally his followers and counter the idea that ISIS had been defeated. “The war of Islam and its followers against the crusaders and their followers is a long one,” Baghdadi said, sitting on the floor of a bare, whitewashed room, among a small group of followers.

In a striking comment, Trump thanked several other parties for unspecified cooperation in the US raid. He cited the Kurds in the Syrian Democratic Forces, Russia, Iraq, Turkey, and even Syria’s Assad regime. After Trump’s announcement, the SDF commander, General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, tweeted, “For five months there has been joint intel cooperation on the ground and accurate monitoring, until we achieved a joint operation to kill Abu Bakir al-Bagdadi.” Despite Trump’s decision to withdraw most American forces from Syria, Mazloum tweeted that the joint USand-SDF campaign against ISIS is “going strong and soon there will be other effective operations.” (The Syrian Democratic Forces, which lost eleven thousand troops fighting the ground war against ISIS, now holds about twelve thousand ISIS prisoners and another seventy thousand family members.)

Baghdadi was the most elusive of the ISIS leaders. US air strikes picked off several of his top lieutenants, including the propaganda chief Abu Muhammad alAdnani, known as the “Voice of ISIS,” in 2016. At one point, there was a joke among US counterterrorism officials about the most dangerous job in the world being Baghdadi’s No. 2, as they were picked off one after another.

One of the most startling aspects of the raid was Baghdadi’s location, in Idlib—a long way from the area that he once ruled and where his followers are still waging an insurgency. McGurk, the former Presidential envoy, asked, “A big question is what was Baghdadi doing apparently in a hideout less than five kilometres from Turkey’s

border? In a province Turkey ostensibly controls and maintains with military outposts.”

ISIS has survived earlier leadership losses, including a US air strike that killed Zarqawi, in 2006.

Zarqawi was an early architect of the movement and helped it survive the surge of US troops in Iraq, in 2006, and also the tribal awakening, in 2007. ISIS may try to do it again.

“ISIS has a blueprint, which it has already been following, that mirrored what they did the last decade during similar setbacks,” Aaron Zelin, an expert on jihadi movements at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told me. “ISIS, no doubt, was grooming potential replacements and what could happen next. I would be surprised if much changed on a day-to-day basis in the near-to-medium term.”

Today, ISIS is strongest in the Deir Ezzor region in Syria and the Diyala region in Iraq, Zelin said.

US intelligence has estimated that ISIS has between twenty thousand and thirty thousand fighters in underground cells still operating in both countries. In these areas, ISIS has far fewer capabilities, weapons, financial resources, and propaganda outlets than it had up until 2016. “But it is building back strength after the loss of its territory,” Zelin said.

ISIS—like Al Qaeda, its jihadi counterpart—is also a decentralised movement, with arms beyond Syria and Iraq. The Sunni-extremist movement still has “provinces”—or wilayas, in Arabic—in Afghanistan and a dozen other countries, according to the Counter Extremism Project.

One of its most active branches is in Afghanistan, where the United States, NATO, and the Taliban all fear the rise of ISIS’s Khorasan wing. In August, an ISIS suicide bomber struck a wedding party in Kabul, killing sixty-three and wounding almost two hundred more. ISIS followers or supporters have carried out attacks even in countries where it does not have formal wings, including Lebanon, France, and Belgium. On Easter, after the caliphate’s collapse, it carried out suicide bombings at three churches in Sri Lanka, killing more than two hundred and

fifty Christians. Its followers in the United States have carried out attacks in San Bernardino, Orlando, and on the Ohio State campus.

“Ideally, we would use this significant event to consolidate positions and uproot ISIS networks with intelligence gained from the site,” McGurk said. He acknowledged, however, that “that will be harder to do after the events of the last month in northeast Syria,” from which President Trump abruptly ordered the pull-out of American Special Forces soldiers. Other experts think that the ISIS leader’s elimination will have a more enduring impact than any earlier transitions. “Baghdadi is dead, and ISIS is hit hard,” Daniel Byman, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of the new book “Road Warriors: Foreign Fighters in the Armies of Jihad,” told me.

“The group will endure, but this is another major blow to an organisation whose core is under siege.”

Baghdadi’s death is potentially a boost for Trump as he faces the growing threat of impeachment. In his address, he framed the capture or killing of Baghdadi as his top national-security priority.

The President’s promise that he will withdraw US forces from the “endless wars” in the Middle East has been popular on the campaign trail, and a theme to counter political trouble at home.

Trump vowed that the Baghdadi raid would not be the last.

The United States is already tracking his successors, the President said. “Baghdadi’s demise demonstrates America’s relentless pursuit of terrorist leaders, and our commitment to the enduring and total defeat of ISIS. The reach of America is long,” he warned, pointing out the recent US raid that killed Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son and heir.

“Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly, knowing that we will completely destroy them.”

Robin Wright has been a contributing writer to The New Yorker since 1988. She is the author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World.

Here’s how US forces finally tracked down and killed al-Baghdadi PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS ISLAMIC STATE GROUP LEADER KILLED IN US RAID IN SYRIA Time JOHN WALCOTT

For all the attention, invention and investment that the US intelligence community devotes to spy satellites, communications intercepts, and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was launched by the same old-fashioned tool that led to Osama bin Laden: human intelligence.

After years of trying in vain to get a real-time lock on al-Baghdadi’s location, the big break came not from space or from a strategically located eavesdropping post, but from the wife of an alBaghdadi aide and one of the couriers he employed to avoid using mobile phones and computers that could have made him easier to track. US officials said the two were captured in western Iraq.

Using names and locations that the wife and courier gave up, two US officials said on Sunday, the CIA and Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officers began recruiting agents along the routes that alBaghdadi travelled in the desert astride the Syrian-Iraqi border. Officials began surveilling routes he used, places he stopped, and looking for patterns to his travel, including his brief stays in small villages such as the one where he died.

The US Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, Florida, had standing plans for targeting al-Baghdadi and his

small inner circle, said a third official.

Some called for the use of drones, which the CIA and the military have employed in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere, this official said. Others relied more heavily on inserting Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs on the ground, as the US did in targeting al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

The official described the plans as “basic blueprints” and said they were rehearsed and updated constantly as ISIS lost its grip on cities such as Mosul, where the group’s leaders hid among thousands of civilians. “I don’t think we could have done this without the help we got from the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, which continued after we began the troop pull-out,” one of the officials said, quickly adding that Iraq military and intelligence officers “kicked the whole thing off.”

President Donald Trump gave approval for the operation, codenamed Kayla Mueller after an American woman taken hostage, raped repeatedly and murdered, to begin on Friday (5 pm EDT), the first two officials said, and the raid began at roughly midnight local time at the airfield in Erbil, Iraq with a mix of eight Apache attack and CH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying Delta Force special operators and at least one dog.

The attackers flew low to avoid detection for about 70 miles from Erbil to Barisha, a village just north of Idlib where

al-Baghdadi, his bodyguards, and some of his children were spending the night.

As the attackers approached their landing zone outside the building that housed al-Baghdadi, which spies had described and which unmanned US surveillance planes and satellites had photographed, the Apache helicopters and fixed-wing warplanes laid down a barrage of covering fire, the officials said, heavily damaging the compound. Following standard procedure, the force first tried to persuade the inhabitants to leave the compound, but without success, then blew holes in the walls rather than using the doors or windows.

At some point, al-Baghdadi fled down a tunnel beneath the compound, with the US forces in pursuit. In announcing alBaghdadi’s death, Trump has described him as “crying, whimpering, screaming”

as he was trapped at the dead-end tunnel and detonated an explosive vest. None of the officials confirmed that account.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper told CNN that soldiers tried to persuade alBaghdadi to give himself up. “We tried to call him out and asked him to surrender himself. He refused,” Esper said. Instead, al-Baghdadi blew himself up along with three children he’d taken into the tunnel, the officials said.

The officials’ descriptions came on the heels of Trump’s own gory and detailed account of not only the raid, but the intelligence efforts leading up to it. Among other details, Trump said “two or three efforts” to capture al-Baghdadi had been called off in recent weeks because the ISIS leader changed his travel plans; that the raiders had seized “highly sensitive” ma-

terial and information from the targeted compound; that they’d had the technology to test al-Baghdadi’s DNA quickly; and that the forces had spent about two hours in the compound. Trump also gave an accounting of the number of aircraft involved in the mission, and the amount of time al-Baghdadi had been in intelligence officials’ sights before the raid.

Samantha Vinograd, a former security official in the Obama administration, said on CNN on Sunday, “It’s really unprecedented when you think about how much detail he actually went into.” “Immediately after a special operation like this, there’s increased risks of retaliatory attacks and risks to human sources on the ground. The level of detail that President Trump went into in that press conference increases the risk to sources that may still be on the ground,” she said.

Michael Downing, the former head of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau for the Los Angeles Police Department who has studied ISIS’ organisational structure, says there’s already a heightened risk of blowback from ISIS as a result of al-Baghdadi’s death. “Now is one of the most dangerous times,” Downing says. “When you injure an animal, that is when it is most dangerous.”

At his news conference, Trump defended his use of gory details in describing what he said were al-Baghdadi’s final moments. “I think it’s something that should be brought out so that his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died,” Trump said.

“He didn’t die a hero. He died a coward.”

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

lebanon’s PM saad haRiRi Resigns aMid unPReCedented PRotests

BEIRUT

l

AGENCIES

ebanon’s under-fire prime minister Saad Hariri has resigned following nearly two weeks of unprecedented protests demanding political change.

Hariri told a press conference he had “reached a dead end” and that the country needed a shock to break the crisis. He said

he would tender his resignation and that of the government to President Michel Aoun.

A protest movement has gripped Lebanon for almost two weeks, calling for an overhaul of a political class viewed as incompetent and corrupt. Banks and schools have remained closed and the normally congested main arteries in Beirut blocked by protesters.

Hariri’s press conference took place after dozens of counter-demonstrators loyal

to Shia groups Hezbollah and Amal attacked the main protest site in the capital Beirut.

Black-clad men wielding sticks and pipes destroyed the protest camp that has been the focal point of countrywide rallies against a political elite accused of rampant corruption and steering Lebanon towards economic collapse.

The turmoil has worsened Lebanon’s deep economic crisis, with financial strains unseen since the 1975-90 civil war leading to a scarcity of hard currency and a weakening of a weakening of the pegged Lebanese pound. The show of force came after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said last week roads closed by protesters should be reopened and suggested the demonstrators were financed by its foreign enemies and implementing their agenda.

Smoke rose as some of the tents were set ablaze. Hezbollah and Amal supporters had earlier fanned out in the downtown area of the capital shouting “Shia, Shia” in reference to themselves and cursing protesters. “With our blood and lives we offer ourselves as a sacrifice for you Nabih,” they chanted in reference to parliament speaker Nabih Berri, head of the Amal Movement. “We heed your call, we heed your call, Nasrallah,” they chanted.

Security forces did not initially intervene to stop the assault, in which protesters were hit with sticks and were seen appealing for help as they ran, witnesses said. Teargas was eventually fired to disperse the crowds.

14 dead, 865 injured after police opens fire on protesters in Iraq’s Karbala BAGHDAD AGENCIES

At least 14 people were killed and 865 wounded overnight after Iraqi security forces opened fire on protesters in the holy city of Kerbala, medical and security sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Three protesters died in the southern city of Nassiriya from wounds sustained in earlier protests, medical sources said.

Iraqis took to the streets for a fourth day on Monday in the second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s

government and a political elite they say are corrupt and out of touch. The total death toll since the unrest started on October 1 is now at least 250 people. The unrest, driven by discontent over economic hardship and deep-seated corruption, has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which from 2003 to 2017 endured a foreign occupation, civil war and an insurgency by the militant Islamic State group.

Security forces fired tear gas at school and university students on Monday who defied a warning from Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and joined thousands in Bagh-

dad protesting against his government.

Soldiers were seen beating high school students with batons in two Baghdad districts. A Defence Ministry statement condemned the incident and said the soldiers did not represent the Iraqi army as a whole. It did not say if they would be punished.

Populist Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who backs parliament’s largest bloc and helped bring Abdul Mahdi’s fragile coalition government to power, called on Monday for early elections after a curfew was announced in the capital Baghdad.

FOREIGN NEWS 07

IS chief Baghdadi buried at sea

by US military WASHINGTON: US officials have said the body of Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was buried at sea, as fresh details surfaced about the US special forces operation that led to his death over the weekend. Syrian Kurds claimed to be a key source of the intelligence that led Americans to Baghdadi after years of tracking the man behind a five-year reign of terror across much of Iraq and Syria. And an unnamed US military dog became an unlikely hero of the raid, incurring injuries as it chased Baghdadi down a dead-end tunnel underneath his northwestern Syria hideout, where the jihadist blew himself and three children up with a suicide vest. The US military basked in success Monday after eliminating the founder and spiritual guide of the Islamic State (IS) group, capping a years-long campaign to crush the Sunni Muslim extremist organization that had at one point created a “caliphate” the size of England. “His death marks a devastating blow to the remnants of (IS),” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper. He praised the nearly hundred-strong force that helicoptered to the rural compound in the Idlib region of Syria in a complex mission that required coordination with Russians, Kurds, Turks and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to prevent US aircraft from being fired upon. “They executed the raid in all of its facets brilliantly,” Esper said. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said no one was injured in the operation, despite the US team taking fire when they arrived. They took two men prisoner, and Baghdadi’s body was taken to a secure facility for a DNA test that would confirm his identity, Milley said. “The disposal of his remains has been done, is complete and was handled appropriately,” he added, saying it was handled “in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” Another Pentagon official confirmed that Baghdadi’s body was put into the sea at an unnamed location, similar to the 2011 sea burial of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after his death in a US special forces raid in Pakistan. AGENCIES

IS leader’s death ushers in new phase for the group BEIRUT AGENCIES

One of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s last audio messages was an appeal for his followers to do everything in their power to free Islamic State detainees and the women being held in jails and camps in northeastern Syria.

With news of the extremist group’s leader’s death, Kurdish security forces worried about the possibility of attacks or rioting have been tightening security at these facilities, which hold more than 80,000 members and supporters of the militant group, including women and children.

Fear of chaos already was running high over the fate of those detained after this month’s Turkish military invasion of northeastern Syria, which ushered in major troop changes in the area about two weeks after al-Baghdadi’s message. Kurdish officials said they needed to divert fighters and logistics to the front line to ward off the Turkish offensive. Turkey moved troops into areas along the border, while Syrian border guards were deployed in others.

A shaky cease-fire is in place and an agreement to redeploy Kurdish forces away from the borders. While news of alBaghdadi’s death had not been announced in the camps on Monday, many of his supporters living in detention facilities and camps in Syria have telephones

and they most likely heard the news.

“If our men are in prison, we are the soldiers of the Caliphate,” some of the women held in al-Hol, the largest holding camp in northern Syria chanted Monday, according to a security official with the Kurdish-led internal security agency. The official wasn’t authorized to talk to journalists and spoke anonymously.

The camp is home to 70,000, most of them women and children including about 11,000 foreigners. More than 10,000 prisoners, including 2,000 foreigners, are in detention facilities in northeastern Syria. The nighttime raid by U.S. special operations forces was a blow to the militant group that became a global organization under his leadership. His demise only few months after losing the group’s territorial hold ushers in a new phase for IS amid uncertainty over the new leadership as thousands of its supporters and members languish in prisons.

The decentralized group, with members estimated anywhere between 14,000 or 30,000, has already pivoted toward insurgency after losing its territory in the last couple of years. But its branches abroad and the number of those who pledged their allegiance have increased.

Who the next leader is will likely determine whether the group will dig in to consolidate its hold on Syria and Iraq — or focus on global outreach.

The group has not officially announced al-Baghdadi’s death or named a new leader. In public, followers and supporters have not eulogized the 48-year old. But social media posts by groups affiliated with IS note that the death of a leader doesn’t spell the end of ideology.

“Jihad has not stopped with the death of a leader or Emir,” said a post on Shmoukh al-Islam page, or glory of Islam. It added: “What if the leader of the Believers is martyred, we will stay the course and to whoever follows we renew the pledge.”

Experts and security officials say one of al-Baghdadi’s close aides will likely succeed him. But the shadowy head of IS

was security-obsessed and known for turning on members of his close circle.

One possible favourite is Abdullah Qardash, an Iraqi Turkman from Talafar and a former officer in Saddam Hussein’s army. The two met in a U.S. prison in 2003 and Qardash became al-Baghdadi’s top security henchman.

The IS Shura council, the shadowy group’s leadership of 10 or so people, is supposed to choose the next leader if al-Baghdadi had designated a successor. But it’s not clear how many of them are still alive.

Another of al-Baghdadi’s close aides, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, was killed in a joint U.S. operation with Kurdish forces

in Jarablus on Sunday, hours after alBaghdadi blew himself up during a U.S. raid. Little is known about al-Muhajir, who was appointed spokesman in 2016 and is believed to be a foreigner given his nom de guerre, the migrant.

Syrian Kurdish forces spokesman Mustafa Bali said his fighters believe alMuhajir was in Jarablus to facilitate alBaghdadi’s travel to the area, which is administered by Turkey-backed fighters.

“More (IS figures) remain hiding in the area,” Bali said Sunday.

The new leader’s priority, experts say, will likely be prison breaks. The group’s previous incarnation organized some of the most spectacular prison escapes in Iraq in a year-long operation called “Breaking the Walls.” It was responsible for at least eight different prison breaks, freeing nearly 500 people between 2012 and 2013.

“It has almost always been a priority (for the group), the question is whether it’ll be able to pull it off,” said Hassan Hassan, an IS expert and an analyst at the Center for Global Policy.

Forces from the Kurdish-led internal security agency were “on high alert” in anticipation of possible riots in the camps, attacks on the prisons and an increase in “revenge attacks” in northeastern Syria where most of the group’s members and supporters are, the official with the agency said.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

08 COMMENT How will the Azadi march end?

The PTI has goose bumps

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S the Azadi March led by the JUI-F and owned by eight other opposition parties enters Punjab the PTI government remains high-strung. Two high Courts approached to seek a ban on the march, have turned down the petitions ruling that peaceful protest was a right of the citizens. Despite several provocations by the government, the processionists were calm and peaceful as they entered Punjab after a twoday journey through Sindh. On Tuesday Punjab home Department issued an advisory warning that the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman faces a life threat from the Indian RAW and the Afghan NDS. Many think that instead of trying to create a scare, the Punjab government needs to provide foolproof security to the Maulana who is leading the march and those around him.

The PTI government is understandably nervous over what the marchers might do once they reach Islamabad.

A written agreement binds JUI-F not to enter the Red Zone. however, both Mr Khan and Maulana Tahirul Qadri had given a similar undertaking before entering the capital in 2014 only to blatantly violate it. The government has meanwhile deviated from the agreement by taking action against two JUI-F leaders, banning Ansar-ul-islam without seeking JUI-F’s views and creating hindrances in the way of the marchers coming from Balochistan. The Peshawar high Court had to intervene to stop KP government from creating hurdles in the way of the marchers. The JUI-F’s stand that once inside Islamabad, the opposition’s Rahbar Committee will decide the future course of action is a source of worry for the government.

By ruling through ordinances the PM is in fact locking down the parliament. The approach leaves no option for the opposition other than confronting the government outside Parliament. The callous and inhuman treatment of the opposition leaders while calling any relief given to them by the courts as a “deal” leaves no option for the opposition other than going for the government’s jugular.

Unless the PTI administration drops its vindictive approach, develops proper relations with the opposition and gives due importance to Parliament, this may not turn out to be the last or the most effective march against the government.

Traders fed up Easing in reforms a better route to take

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he PTI government’s tax reform initiatives have been largely unpopular across all industries as is the case with any exercise where new taxes are introduced, older ones increased and the tax collection body, the FBR, becomes overactive. Traders across the country are currently observing a two–day strike, protesting new measures by the government to broaden the tax base, which include compulsory sales tax registration, providing valid CNIC on buying and selling of goods worth over Rs50, 000 and a revised sales tax on mobile phones. Traders have actively avoided the tax net, keeping their dealings strictly in cash to either completely avoid or at least minimize their tax liability.

The used car markets across the country have a similar set of grievances, protesting, as they are unable to import cars in the volumes they had gotten used to due to the government’s restrictions. In their case as well, advantage was being taken of a loophole in the used-car import policy. The government has to collect taxes to survive and meet the near impossible target of Rs5.5 trillion in this financial year. It is already lagging after missing the first quarter target by a whopping Rs116 billion. As the economy goes through a cripplingly low growth rate that is projected to remain low in the short to medium term, a higher cost of borrowing, rupee depreciation and record inflation; businesses are already having a tough time making ends meet. Add to that a new set of taxes and an overzealous documentation drive, and one can understand their frustrations. But it is also unfair to expect the salaried class and other taxpayers to fill the gap created by those who do not pay their fair share.

The government should therefore, instead of being so stringent in its implementation of the new policies, be a bit more forthcoming. Meeting with the various representative bodies to hash out genuine issues and arrive at a middle ground would be a good start. Fulfilling the promises made in any negotiations would be imperative.

Short of this, such protests will continue unabated. The government must be more inventive in its approach towards disgruntled members of the business community.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

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Umar Aziz

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Joint Editor

Executive Editor

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Crisis of credibility for mainstream media Long live journalism! nava Thakuria

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N the eraof the World Wide Web, where consumers become used to various free internet-providing services, the news itself becomes the victim of circumstance as few people would prefer to pay for news channels and also newspapers. The increasing number of free-to-air (FTA) television channels has fulfilled the demand for millions of news consumers.

But slowly the FTA is also losing its market space with the invasion of internet television (news portals with audio-video packages) across the globe.

As satellite news channels in various regional languages are booming in India, questions relating to their consistency and sustainability also become pressing. With a population of over one billion, India today supports more than 800 satellite television media outlets, half of them are news and current affairs channels and most of them face the crisis of credibility.

According to the Union information & broadcasting ministry in New Delhi, over 410 privately-owned Indian news channels survive telecasting news and news-related content in various languages, including english. Most of them are registered as FTA media outlets, but even though the news-broadcasting industry in India is a Rs 20 billion business.

As these news channels carry the FTA tag, they are not entitled to ask money from the viewers. This implies that the news and other programmes, which are produced and telecast by these channels, are mean for free consumption to the audience. The consumers have to pay only to the distributors, either the cable transmission agencies or the direct to home (DTh) operators.

The operating cost of these FTA news channels is seemingly managed from the advertisement revenues. Indirectly it means, not the viewers but the advertisers always enjoy a say (influence) in the content of news channels, irrespective of its merit and authenticity. So it is well-taken that, totally dependent as they are on advertisement revenue, it is difficult to imagine how the television channels can pursue ethical, credible and impartial journalism.

Northeast India with a population of over 60

million today hosts many privately owned satellite news channels including News Live, DY365, Pratidin Time, Prag News, Assam Talks and so om, with a few entertainment and localized cable news channels. These channels, none being paid or payable in nature, beam news and other programmes, mostly in Assamese, english, hindi and other regional languages.

The region supports hundreds of newspapers, published in various frequencies and different languages like english, Assamese, hindi, Bengali, Bodo, Meitei, Khasi, Mizo etc to cater the need of dedicated readers. Most of the newspapers nowadays start websites to expand their visibility almost across the world. Some have also developed both portals as well as e-papers for the benefit of readers taking advantage of cheaper Internet access in the country.

The proprietors of Guwahati-based FTA television channels are unanimous in claiming that they have to pay around Rs 10 million, one-tenth of their expenditure, to cable network agencies annually for facilitating distribution of their programmes.

Similarly, the privately-owned DTh service providers also ask for a similar amount from them to provide space in their packages. It means the channel owners have expenditures from production to distribution.

But the cable television operators’ association in Guwahati argues that they have a legitimate right to charge channel owners. They even claimed that the carriage fee is lawful under government guidelines. It also pointed out that operators had a lot of market risk and troubles. They also expressed displeasure over the Assam power distribution company charing for the use by operators of roadside electric poles for laying wires to subscribers.

There is no clarity on how much money private DTh operators in India ask from FTA channels. however, those service providers always select channels with the motive of financial benefit only. They would hardly pay regard to the commitment of those television channels to subscribers in general.

The DTh operators in India today tap over 60 million active subscribers and the number is increasing every month. With quality transmission, the DTh operators have empowered the subscribers to select their packages (unlike depending on the mercy of cable operators in case of cable connection) and also the broadcasters to

Present times– relevant thoughts Let Imran Khan be himself Sirajuddin aziz

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eSPITe many temptations to do so, I exercise extreme restraint to not comment politically or even semi-politically. But here I succumb, largely as a concerned Pakistani.

Our Prime Minister not only made a moving and impressive speech at the UN General Assembly, but also with conviction and success he interacted articulately with the politicians, together with the financial and business community, of the USA. The whole nation was made proud. his confidence and truthfulness made a dwarf of the Indian propaganda machine.

In extolling the speech, most of our media went on over-drive, almost celebrating as if Kashmir, with that one speech, had been liberated. To undo great leaders, the media heaps tons of appreciation, which in one or the other manner distracts the leadership from other pressing issues. It is expected that Imran Khan will be cognisant of the sycophants. Indisputably his performance at the UN was remarkable; he came out as a voice of the underdeveloped world and as the representative of the Ummah. history teaches us that any politician from the less-developed world, or even anyone laying claim to the leadership of the Muslim world, is not tolerated. This nation lost one of its brilliant sons, when he attempted to seek leadership of the Third World and the Muslim Ummah. One prays that Imran would not pursue this utopian position. he has tasks at home. Let’s put the speech on the backburner, but not the cause.

Some sections of the usually unfriendly media have been highlighting the economic morass the country seems to be in. While some of the criticism is justified, there has to be simultaneous realization that economic turnarounds do not happen overnight. This is more true, when you inherit an exchequer with empty coffers; coupled with a disoriented bureaucracy. In economics, all concepts and even tested theories, begin with the prefix, “…… all things remaining the same” and all propounders(economists) know so well, that nothing ‘remains the same’ . All factors are in a continuous state of dynamic change. In the life of a nation, its economics is always about the long term and not the short; for long term

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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gains, great nations have paid the price of sacrifice in the short term. Imran Khan must directly educate the masses; he will be surprised that majority are ready to face pain, for the future.

The recent economic gains of reduction in current account deficit, the slight increase in exports, the decline in imports and the encouraging rise in Foreign Direct Investment, are positive news. These outcomes are not necessarily entirely due to domestic economic policy, and have been helped by changing factors of the global economy. The improvements shouldn’t be merely a matter of statistics, but of sustaining the positive trends. A slight change in oil prices can throw everything back into a spin. We cannot ignore impact of international economics.

Perception makes greater inroads into the minds of both local and foreign investors. We can tell the world that the economy is responding to policy initiatives. This is only self-serving; economic gains have to be accompanied by positive perception. Are we as a nation doing that?

Is the media creating a positive perception?

Staying on the FATF grey list will continue to haunt us till February. The group is acting more like a superpower, asking us at every single meeting, despite the great strides made to combat terror financing, “to do more”. This is a matter of perception. We enjoy the benefit of better local regulations than most immediate neighbours, yet there is suspicion. The presence of a hostile country in the group demands our Foreign Office use diplomatic channels more effectively, with focus on managing the perception.

The CPeC has been portrayed as a game changer for Pakistan’s economy– what are we doing about it? Is the pace of development satisfactory? If we do not have enough exportable surplus of goods to go on the CPeC, what exactly will CPeC be for us? A mere road connecting China to the Gulf and Africa!

By not adequately recognizing this need for industrialization on it, are we putting it in jeopardy? For years, nay decades, we have talked of industrial parks and special economic zones, of the type China has successfully developed. But alas! Very little substantive has been achieved.

In 1978, when China embarked upon opening its economy, it developed the concept of Special economic Zones, like South Korea, with completely distinct and separate policies, for their operations; and in case of China to the contrast of the centrally planned economy of the country.

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know the exact number of subscribers across the country, whereas the cable operators show lower number of subscribers to siphon a huge amount of subscription money.

In India, private DTh services have already completed a decade, the first being licensed in 2003. Initially concentrated on the rural market, where cable operators are not visible even today, soon the DTh operator reached into the cities.

By 2006, Tata Sky had joined in the competition with a high-quality signal and lots of choices for subscribers. The remaining operators entered in and after 2008 to give a huge boost to the Indian television distribution market.

Media forums including electronic Media Forum Assam (eMFA) and Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) continue raising voices for reforming the distribution system of local news channels.

They argue that the monetary transaction between the channel owners and cable network operators as well as private DTh authorities should be made accountable under the country’s income tax laws.

When an FTA news channel has to spend for everything including the production and distribution of its news (plus other programmes) to the subscribers without claiming even a rupee, the entire expenditure has to be compensated from the advertisements and then their commitment to the viewers can be at stake.

Perhaps, it is the time to have a few payable news channels in various regional languages, so that they can survive with contributions from subscribers. Till the internet television dominates the space, news channels with a transparent and dedicated management may function without any diktat, when conscious viewers would prevail over them and finally those media outlets might become credible sources for news and views.

Needless to mention, internet media outlets have cleverly combined both the flavor of newspapers and news channels. here the readers (also viewers) can have a text in words and also audiovisual inputs. In the long run, these outlets, available in the expanded space of smart phones, may ruin the market of news channels and newspapers.

The time has really come for the managements of mainstream media outlets to reinvent themselves so that journalism lives longer.

Nava Thakuria is a Guwahati based media activist The Chinese economic managers very intelligently selected 13 coastal cities, for the creation of the SeZs, as the test-tube laboratories of capitalism. They did not out of any political expediency choose Urumqi or the hinterland States.

They wanted to fully exploit the maritime route for promotion of their exports. In the last 30 years we have seen the emergence of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and a list of the successful economic zones. Today if you remove the thin barbed wire between Shenzhen and honkong; you cannot know which city you are in.

Against this approach, just review what locations we have chosen for creating special economic zones. Karachi and Gawadar should be natural choices. Our SeZ policy must tie up with the CPeC route.

Many of our leaders say, we want to learn from China! So why don’t we? Why do we have to re-invent the wheel? Borrow Shenzhen’s blueprint, tweak partially to suit local conditions, and implement.

From atop the container, Imran made numerous promises, with practically impossible timelines. Admittedly, today he must be in full realization, that what may have appeared doable from the other side of the table, is actually difficult. That’s not an issue. An upright man learns more quickly on the job– he pursues his objectives with obstinacy. The nation hasn’t lost hope.

Imran must not allow himself to be caged by the sycophants that naturally surround his office. The distraction put in his path, can be set aside, if only he learns to distinguish between important and urgent and important but not urgent. That can happen only, if we let him be.

The long march! Why? Who is this new Mao-se-tung? Certainly nowhere near his stature. Why do our politicians have to put to shame and abuse the long march concept of Mau and Chou? Political pygmies look very funny when they adorn unsuccessfully the giant’s clothing, and then act as clowns.

Under what de jure or even de facto authority can any individual ask a popularly elected Prime Minister to resign? Obviously such demands are outside the ambit of democracy, even its aberrant versions. In a democratic setup, losers in an election must wait for next elections; while waiting they must serve the constituencies they lost from; otherwise the results of next elections can’t be different.

Will the nation please let the Prime Minister work and not derail or distract him? he may very well be the last of the upright and honest breed of politicians, in this land of pure.

Sirajuddin Aziz is a freelance columnist.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail

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

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

K-Electric: committed to exemplary customer service

Observance of Black Day The Kashmiris will never give up

Malik MuhaMMad aShraf

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N the backdrop of the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution which ended the special status of the state, the Black Day this year was observed in Indian-Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan and wherever the Kashmiri diaspora lives across the world, with a renewed zeal and determination. It was encouraging to note that preceding the observance of Black Day, a growing number of countries disapproved the Indian action in IOK and urged India to restore normalcy by ending the communication blackout and releasing the political detainees following the diplomatic offensive launched by Pakistan to sensitize the world about the gravity of the emerging situation and the plight of the people of IOK, more so by Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the UN General Assembly.

The Black Day has been observed every year since 27 October 1947 in protest against the military occupation of Kashmir by India in a brazen and blatant breach of the Indian Independence Act and the Partition Plan. The people of Kashmir revolted against the Indian move.

With the aim of changing the demographic realities, the Indian troops, the forces of the Maharaja and hindu extremists resorted to reckless massacre of Kashmiri Muslims who were 87 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir. The ensuing situation led to war between India and Pakistan. Since then, notwithstanding UN resolutions regarding settling the question of accession of Kashmir through plebiscite and promises made by Nehru and Lord Mountbatten to make a reference to the people, India continues to occupy Kashmir and deny the right of self-determination to the people of the state.

According to the Indian Independence Act, the rulers of princely states were given the choice of freely acceding to either India or Pakistan, or remaining independent. They were, however, advised to keep the geographical proximity and demographic realities in view while deciding the accession. In the case of Kashmir, both these elements were negated.

The revolt of Kashmiris against their ruler’s

pretensions to join India and the resultant war Amnesty International, the Indian troops have between India and Pakistan, is a strong testi- brutally killed more than 100,000 people and mony to the fact that the people of Kashmir raped 11,060 women since then.

The Indians have also been using ruthless wanted to join Pakistan.

In regard to the UN resolution on Kashmir, force since the unfurling of the current uprising it is relevant to point out that in the wake of the in the backdrop of killing of Burhan Wani in war that broke out between the two countries July 2016, which continues unabated. Reportafter the landing of Indian forces in Kashmir, it edly the Indian security forces have killed 755 was India which took the matter to the United Kashmiris, raped 903 women, maimed and inNations, which facilitated an immediate cease- jured thousands of them through the use of pelfire. The UN, during the course of its delibera- let guns and destroyed 3002 structures and tions on the subject, passed 23 resolutions, buildings. During the month of September including two UNICeP resolutions of 13 August alone, the Indian security forces martyred 42 1948 and 5 January 1949 calling for a plebiscite Kashmiris. It is pertinent to point out that even in Kashmir under the auspices of United Na- the UNhRC in its report has pointed out blatant violation of human rights tions. It is quite evident in IhK by the Indian that the Independence Act, forces.

Partition Plan and the UN Regrettably the interresolutions vividly recogIndia must realize and national community and nized the right of the right UN do not seem inof the people of Kashmir acknowledge the ground the clined to force India to reto decide their future solve the Kashmir issue in through their free will. realities and fulfill its consonance with UN resIt is also pertinent to commitments given to the olutions. The Indian govmention that the UN ernment is also trying its through its resolutions 91 UN and the people of best to portray the situaand 122 also repudiated tion in Kashmir as acts of the Indian stance that the Kashmir as enunciated in terrorism sponsored and issue of accession of Kashmir had been resolved by the UN Resolutions. The backed by Pakistan in a bid to raise a smokescreen the constituent assembly UN as a peacemaking over what its security of IOK. These resolutions forces are doing in the reiterated that the question body also has to show Valley and also to isolate of accession could not be Pakistan globally. resolved by any means sensitivity to the The Kashmir dispute other than enunciated in continued plight of the undoubtedly poses a grave the UN resolutions on the threat to peace and security subject. This proves bepeople of Kashmir and in the region besides havyond any doubt that the Indian claims of Kashmir have its own resolutions ing a debilitating effect on the prospects of changing being an integral part of implemented the dismal economic situIndia represent a travesty ation of the people of both of the facts and lack any India and Pakistan as well legal basis. This claim has as other countries of the realso been effectively gion. The continuation of negated by the high Court of Jammu and Kashmir in a landmark judgment hostilities between the two will harm both of on the attempts by the Modi government to have them. history is a witness to the fact that no peoArticle 370 of the Indian Constitution repealed ple can be kept under subjugation against their which gives special status to Kashmir. The judg- will for long. The people of Kashmir come what ment said “Article 370 of the Indian Constitution may, are not going to accept Indian occupation is a permanent provision and cannot be abro- as is evident from their continued struggle. Simgated, repealed or even amended. Jammu and ilarly, Pakistan, being a party to the dispute, canKashmir retained limited sovereignty and did not not remain oblivious to what is happening in the merge with the dominion of India after partition Valley. It has the right to extend moral, political in 1947”. The Indian Supreme court also gave a and diplomatic support to the liberation movement launched by the people of IOK till such similar verdict on the subject.

The Indian intransigence about fulfilling its time as India agrees to act in line with the UN obligations in conformity with the UN resolu- resolutions. India must realize and acknowledge tions and its insistence on Kashmir being an in- the ground realities and fulfill its commitments tegral part of India, led to two more wars with given to the UN and the people of Kashmir as Pakistan and eventually to the launching of an enunciated in the UN Resolutions. The UN as a armed struggle by the people of Kashmir in peacemaking body also has to show sensitivity 1989 to win their freedom. Since then India has to the continued plight of the people of Kashmir been using its military might ruthlessly to sup- and have its own resolutions implemented. press the freedom struggle. According to reports Malik Muhammad Ashraf is an academic. compiled by human rights organizations within India and those working on global level like He can be contacted at: ashpak10@gmail.com.

APROPOS to the letter published in Pakistan Today, dated October 24, 2019, titled ‘K-electric Billing’, Mr. Farhan Qadri, Ke would like to apologize for the less than satisfactory experience you had at our Customer Care Center (CCC) in Malir. We also understand your frustration at the response you received through our other Customer touch points and would like to stress that as a customer-centric company we pride ourselves on providing our customers with exemplary service. having said that, with regards to your case about change of name, we would like to clarify that as per standard practice, once you have paid the differential security deposit (SD), which is charged in case there is a difference between sanctioned load and connected load, only then will the change of name be reflected in the next billing cycle. Also, please note that the turnaround time for the entire process, from the date you submit the application to the change of name being reflected on your bill is 19 days.

K-electric has simplified the process of applying for a new connection or change of name on the bill to facilitate its customers. All new owners of properties with existing meters are obligated to apply to Ke for a name change. For this the new owner needs to submit an application requesting a change of name on the bill, accompanied by Sales Deed/Sub Lease/Mutation Letter, a copy of new owner’s CNIC and last paid bill with no outstanding dues. After this has been submitted a Ke team will conduct a survey of the premises, which will identify changes in the sanctioned load, if any, after which the applicant will be asked to pay the differential SD. Change of name is performed after SD is paid and sanctioned load is also updated.

You can also learn more about the name change process or any other query on our website https://www.ke.com.pk/customer-services/faqs/. however, if you still feel that you have not been catered to adequately or in case of any further queries then please email us at bill@ke.com.pk, or contact us via our social media platforms, on Facebook or Twitter. Share your complete contact details and our customer support representatives will reach out to you.

K-ELEcTric SPoKESPErSoN Karachi

Demise of a Nation FOR what reason is Pakistan envisioned as an “ungovernable” state? A denomination it never carried before? Can anything be done to restore it to the track from which it derailed? Questions which have prevailed over Pakistan for the past three decades. Answering these relevant but complicated questions would be nothing less than magic but we do not pretend to have a magic wand to answer them or a crystal ball to foresee the future. In all humility, what we can do is to figure out why Pakistan was among the top ten developing countries ahead of China, India and many others in economic and social indicators recording an average GDP growth rate of 6 percent annually for over 40 years until 1990s and how Pakistan’s image fell of a cliff from 1990 onwards. how did Pakistan get left behind both economically and in terms of social development? Pakistan has during this period gained notoriety in the international media as one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Tourism has evanesced and the policies on education, health and poverty alleviation have deteriorated year by year. The one question that every citizen asks is, where did we go wrong? having ruled out factors such as security and terrorism, inflows of foreign assistance, preference of military rule, external economic environment and diversion of public expenditure towards defence which may have played some roles but were not the main reasons of poor performance, we turn our attention to the institutions of governance. There is by now great deal of evidence that points us in this direction.

The principal argument is that the process through which good economic policies are translated into the rise in incomes involves the institutions of governance. It is the quality and responsiveness of these institutions through which the implementation of social and economic policies takes place. The institutions of governance comprise the judiciary, necessary for the protection of rights, enforcement of contracts, the legislature which provides regulatory framework and the executive which makes policies and supplies public goods and services. If the access to the institutions of governance for common citizens is difficult and time consuming, the benefits from growth get distributed unevenly and only those with power enjoy access to these institutions. Lack of good governance means police brutality, corruption in accessing public services, ghost schools, missing medicines, high cost and low access to justice, criminalization of politics and lack of social justice. These are just a few results of the crisis of governance.

Is Pakistan to remain ‘ungovernable’ or can the tables turn? If Pakistan can strengthen its institutions by cleaning out the corruption and institutional mismanagement, and if Pakistan can come up with a strong and tactical economic and foreign policy then the day is not far when Pakistan will get back to the trajectory of an annual average growth of 6 percent. however, the successful execution of such policies will depend upon the tendency of the ruling party to maintain political stability and ensure clarity in their sense of direction. Will the current government which promises change do so? All we can do is to have faith in our abilities and make a sincere effort by doing our bit. Pakistan Zindabad!

AbbAS FATEH-ud-diN ASiM Lahore

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

10 NEWS

Russia and Cuba Rebuild ties that fRayed afteR Cold WaR HAVANA

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AGENCIES

VER the last year Russia has sent Cuba 1,000 minibuses, 50 locomotives, tens of thousands of tourists and a promise to upgrade the island’s power grid with a multi-million dollar improvement plan.

Russian-Cuban trade has more than doubled since 2013, to an expected $500 million this year, mostly in Russian exports to Cuba. And a string of high-ranking Russian officials has visited their former ally in the Caribbean, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. On Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel lands in Moscow for meetings with officials including President Vladimir Putin, with the expectation that they will move forward on deals for more trade and cooperation.

Russian-Cuban ties are far from the Cold War era of near-total Cuban dependence on the Soviet bloc, which saw this is-

land as a forward operating base in the Americas then largely abandoned it in the 1990s. But observers of Cuban and Russian foreign policy say there is significant warming between the former partners prompted in part by the Trump administration’s reversal of President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba. Cuba and Russia are also heavily supporting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has been trying to overthrow.

“We did make huge mistakes in the 1990s while turning our backs on Cuba.

That time is definitely over, and I’m absolutely sure that our relations deserve better attention from Russia,” said Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament. “They deserve more investments from Russia both in terms of finances and equipment of course, but also human resources. And definitely we should assist, we should help, Cuba; we should support Cuba as

long as it’s discriminated against, as long as it’s sanctioned, as long as it’s blockaded by the United States.”

Neither country provides many details about their improving relations, but Russian products being exported to Cuba in-

clude new-model Lada automobiles and Kamaz trucks. There’s a new CubanRussian joint venture to produce constructions materials, and when Medvedev visited Cuba this month, he inaugurated a petroleum products plant and signed deals

to repair three Soviet-era power plants.

The Russian Thermoelectric plant Erneto Che Guevara operates in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. When Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Cuba in October, he signed deals to repair three Soviet-era power plants.

(AP Photo/Ismael Francisco) As tourism from the U.S. slackens, Russian visits rose 30% in 2018, to 137,000. “Russia is trying to preserve the zone of influence it had during the era of the Soviet Union, looking for partners in Latin America and letting Washington know that it’s still a great power,” said Arturo López-Levy, a Cuban-born assistant professor of international relations and politics at Holy Names University in Oakland, California. “Cuba’s signing up for projects that can benefit it, and are already showing results on the island.”

Russia is making no secret of its desire to play reliable partner to an island facing hostility from the United States, including sanctions on ships bringing oil from Venezuela.

“It’s obvious, the U.S. desire to create a toxic atmosphere around cooperation with Cuba, to frighten investors and block the flow of energy,” Medvedev said during his trip to Havana. “Cuba can always count on Russia’s support.”

Army officer says he raised concerns about Trump and Ukraine WASHINGTON AGENCIES

One-time rival of Germany’s Merkel assails her leadership BERLIN: A one-time rival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has assailed her leadership style, adding to tensions in her centre-right party after its dismal performance in a state election. Friedrich Merz, 63, ran last year to succeed Merkel as leader of her conservative Christian Democratic Union but was narrowly defeated by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. He still has many supporters in the party. On Sunday, the CDU finished third in an election in Thuringia, a state it once dominated. In an interview Monday night with ZDF television, Merz pointed to the “abysmal” image of Merkel’s national government — a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats that has been dogged by infighting. Merz said the party is in “a really difficult situation” and the main reason why is that “the inertia and lack of leadership of the chancellor has been hanging over this country like a blanket of fog for years.” “Things can’t go on like this, and I simply cannot imagine that this kind of government in Germany can carry on for another two years until the end of this parliamentary term,” Merz added. Merkel, 65, chose to step down as party leader last year, saying she won’t seek a fifth term as chancellor but intends to serve out her current term, which is due to end in 2021. Sunday’s was the fourth poor election result for the CDU since Kramp-Karrenbauer took over the party in December. It has lost ground in three state elections in the country’s east and in the European Parliament election in May. Merz professed his support for Kramp-Karrenbauer, saying that she “hardly played a negative role and it is overwhelmingly the chancellor who is in the focus of criticism.” But his intervention comes at an unhelpful time for Kramp-Karrenbauer, who has had a rough ride as she tries to reconcile a party that has both liberals and supporters of a more conservative approach, such as Merz’s backers. The CDU is expected to choose its candidate to be the next chancellor next year. Amid questioning of her position, Kramp-Karrenbauer on Monday challenged critics who think things should be done differently to come forward at a party conference next month. Merz was the CDU’s parliamentary leader until Merkel pushed him out of the job in 2002.AGENCIES

A military officer at the National Security Council twice raised concerns over the Trump administration’s push to have Ukraine investigate Democrats and Joe Biden, according to testimony the official is to deliver Tuesday in the House impeachment inquiry.

Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq and, later, as a diplomat, is prepared to tell House investigators that he listened to President Donald Trump’s July 25 call with new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and reported his concerns to the NSC’s lead counsel.

“I was concerned by the call,” Vindman will say, according to prepared testimony obtained Monday night by The Associated Press. “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine.”

Vindman is the first official who listened in on that call to testify as the impeachment inquiry reaches deeper into the Trump administration and Democrats prepare for the next, public phase of the probe. He’s also the first current White House official to appear before the impeachment panels.The inquiry is looking into Trump’s call, in which he asked Zelenskiy for a “favor” — to investigate Democrats — that Democrats say was a quid pro quo that could be an impeachable offense.

Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to denounce the probe as a “sham,” adding: “Why are people that I never even heard of testifying about the call. Just READ THE CALL TRANSCRIPT AND THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX IS OVER!” Vindman, a 20-year military officer and decorated veteran, testify that he first reported his concerns after an earlier meeting July 10 in which U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland stressed the importance of having Ukraine investigate the 2016 election as well as Burisma, a company

linked to the family of Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

Vindman says he told Sondland that “his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push.”

That account differs from Sondland’s, a wealthy businessman who donated $1 million to Trump inauguration and testified before the impeachment investigators that no one from the NSC “ever expressed any concerns.” He also testified that he did not realize any connection between Biden and Burisma.

For the call between Trump and Zelenskiy, Vindman said he listened in the Situation Room with colleagues from the NSC and Vice President Mike Pence’s office and was concerned. He said he again reported his concerns to the NSC’s lead counsel.

He wrote, “I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security.”

Vindman, who arrived in the United States as a 3-year-old from the former Soviet Union, served in various military and diplomatic posts before joining the NSC. He was the director for European affairs and a Ukraine expert under Fiona Hill, a former official who testified earlier in the impeachment probe. Hill worked for former national security adviser John Bolton.

Vindman will be a key witness. He attended Zelenskiy’s inauguration with a delegation led by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and he and Hill were both part of a Ukraine briefing with Sondland that others have testified irritated Bolton at the White House.

Vindman will testify that he is not the whistleblower, the still-unnamed government official who filed the initial complaint over Trump’s conversation with the Ukraine president that sparked the House impeachment in-

quiry. He will say he does not know who the whistleblower is.

“I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honour to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics,” wrote Vindman, who was wounded in Iraq and awarded a Purple Heart.

“For over twenty years as an active duty United States military officer and diplomat, I have served this country in a nonpartisan manner, and have done so with the utmost respect and professionalism for both Republican and Democratic administrations,” he wrote.

The testimony comes a day after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House will vote on a resolution to affirm the impeachment investigation, set rules for public hearings and outline the potential process for writing articles of impeachment against Trump. The vote is expected Thursday.

It would be the first formal House vote on the impeachment inquiry and aims to nullify complaints from Trump and his allies that the process is illegitimate, unfair and lacking due process.

Democrats insisted they weren’t yielding to Republican pressure. Pelosi dismissed the Republican argument that impeachment can’t begin without formal approval from the House and brushed off their complaints about the closed-door process.

“I do not care. I do not care. This is a false thing with them,” Pelosi said. “Understand, it has nothing to do with them. It has to do with how we proceed.”

Pelosi’s announcement Monday came just hours after a former White House national security official defied a House subpoena for closed-door testimony, escalating the standoff between Congress and the White House over who will testify.

Charles Kupperman, who was a deputy to Bolton, failed to show up for the scheduled closed-door deposition after filing a lawsuit asking a federal court in Washington to rule on whether he was legally required to appear.

UK moves closer to December election for 1st time since 1923 LONDON AGENCIES

The leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party told fellow lawmakers Tuesday that he’ll back an early election for Britain now that the prospect of crashing out of the European Union without a deal has been taken off the table.

The move by Jeremy Corbyn pushes the country closer to its first December election since 1923. Corbyn’s remarks came only hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to ask lawmakers for the fourth time to approve an early election,

saying voters must have the chance to break the Brexit deadlock in Parliament.

“We have now heard from the EU that the extension of Article 50 to Jan. 31 has been confirmed, so for the next three months, our condition of taking no-deal off the table has now been met,” Corbyn said. “We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen.”

In an effort to blunt opposition to an early vote, the government said Monday it would delay further consideration of the EU divorce deal until after the election, which the government wants to hold on

Dec. 12. Johnson on Monday had accused opponents of betraying voters’ decision to leave the EU and said that without an early election, the government would be like Charlie Brown, “endlessly running up to kick the ball only to have Parliament whisk it away.” “We cannot continue with this endless delay,” he said.

Two opposition parties, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party, had proposed an even earlier election date in hopes that there wouldn’t be enough time for the government to push through its Brexit bill before Parliament is suspended ahead of the election. The two parties said

they will consider Johnson’s latest proposal, though they still prefer a Dec. 9 date.

“It cannot be the 12th,” said Liberal Democrat lawmaker Chuka Ummuna, who suggested his party could accept a compromise date of Dec. 10 or 11. “We will see what else they come forward with,” he said. “We have got to break the gridlock.”

However, it is possible that amendments to the bill could see the date move yet again. Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron tweeted with tongue in cheek: “Hang on, I don’t think Corbyn has specified which Christmas….”

Johnson took office in July vowing to

“get Brexit done” after his predecessor, Theresa May, resigned in defeat. Parliament had rejected her divorce deal three times, and the EU had delayed Britain’s scheduled March 29 departure, first to April, and then to the end of October.

The EU on Monday agreed to extend the Brexit deadline for a third time, this time until Jan. 31. Johnson, who said just weeks ago that he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than postpone the U.K.’s leaving date past Oct. 31, was forced to seek the extension on Parliament’s orders to avoid a no-deal Brexit, which would damage the economies of both Britain and the EU.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

BUSINESS 11

Talks beTween govT, Traders fail; shuTTers To remain down Today apat preSident criticiSeS finance adviSor and fbr cHairman for ‘backtracking from deciSionS taken during earlier talkS’ ISLAMABAD

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GHULAM ABBAS

S the government and the traders' community failed to reach an agreement on Tuesday, the traders have announced to observe shutter down strike on Wednesday (today) as well.

On the other hand, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has once again reminded the traders that an overwhelming majority of them were not paying their due taxes.

Talking to media at the finance ministry, he said out of the around 3.5 million

traders across the country, only 392,000 traders were in the tax net. The government, he added, was striving hard to bring all traders into the tax net so that the economic burden could be shared.

"The contribution of traders in the economic development of the country could not be ignored," he maintained.

"Economic growth of the country is not possible without the support of traders."

He stated that talks with traders were underway so that a consensus could be reached. The nationwide strike call was given by a cluster of five different trade bodies. All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran (APAT) President Ajmal Baloch criticised the government functionaries, saying that

imC sales drop 41pc to rs20.7bn in Q1fy20 indus motor’s profit after tax drops 62pc to rs1.32bn in first quarter fy20 ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Amid crisis in the auto sector, Indus Motor Company's net sales turnover for the 1st quarter of fiscal year 2019-20 (Q1FY20) decreased by 41pc to Rs20.7 billion as compared to the turnover of Rs34.9 billion for the same period of the last fiscal.

The company's profit after tax decreased by 62pc to Rs1.32 billion, as against Rs3.51 billion in 1QFY19.

The IMC Board of Directors met on Tuesday to announce the company's unaudited accounts for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

IMC's net profit declined mainly due to a decrease in sales volumes. The company’s combined sales of CKD and CBU units for the period under review decreased by 56pc to 6,839 units, as against 15,560 units sold in the same period last year. IMC's market share in the overall market stood at approximately 20pc during the first quarter.

The company produced 8,036 units of vehicles for the three-month period, a decrease of 49.7pc when compared with 15,977 units produced in the same period of FY19.

A decline in sales volume was observed in all segments, mainly on account of price impact due to additional customs duty and levy of FED; rise in interest rates also reduced auto financing.

More importantly, fear factor in customers on account of the government's documentation drive led the customers to hold their expenditure not only in the auto sector but in other sectors as well.

Keeping in mind the market conditions and the economic downtrend, the company observed approximately 30 non-production days (NPDs) to minimise its costs as the best alternative. Further, from the month of October, the company started to operate on a single-shift basis, which is expected to continue until improvement in market demand.

The earnings per share of the company for the first quarter stood at Rs16.78 as compared to Rs44.63 reported during the same period last year. The BOD also declared an interim cash dividend of Rs7 per share for 1QFY20, compared to Rs32.50 per share in 1QFY19.

As per the IMC Chief Executive Officer Ali Asghar Jamali, "Despite the broader macroeconomic challenges and higher inflationary environment, IMC is managing the pressure by improving its efficiency, and placing tighter controls on overheads.

"The company remains committed to the 'Customer First' philosophy that demands a high level of contribution, dedication and efficiency from all levels in the company, to delight all our valued customers throughout the supply chain."

Hafeez SHaikH SayS traderS’ Support important for economic growtH, but expanSion of tax net utmoSt priority the traders were being pushed to become violent or break laws. "They are only wasting our time," Baloch said. "Either they are too smart and are trying to fool us in front of the traders or they are inviting aggression from our side."

He blamed the PM's finance advisor the FBR chairman for backtracking from the decisions taken during earlier talks. "The strike will continue and we will request those who had opened their outlets today to observe shutter down tomorrow," he added.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to negotiate with the traders and resolve their is-

sues peacefully.

ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that the country, at present, cannot afford strikes and shutdown of business activities. "We appeal to the prime minister and finance advisor to give due consideration to the demands of traders who have been forced to go on strike," he said in a statement, adding that instead of enforcing tax laws in one go, the government should adopt a gradual approach to broaden the tax base.

The ICCI leader said that it was difficult for small traders to maintain accounts of their income and expenses and if they were registered in sales tax, it would enhance their cost of doing business.

MARKET DAILY

nepra all set to raise power price by rs2.97 per unit

KSE-100 lands in red amid political noise KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Contrary to the previous session, investors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a jittery ride on Tuesday, as the indices traded within a narrow range owing to political uncertainty.

As per media reports, Jamiat Ulema-eIslam-Fazal's (JUI-F) Azadi March entered its third day on Tuesday. The JUI-F marchers, accompanied by senior leaders of main opposition parties, reached Multan earlier in the day. The caravan, led by party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, would reach Lahore late in the evening.

Meanwhile, the business community’s two-day shutter down strike against the imposition of taxes has commenced. The traders have warned to expand the protest if the condition of presenting a CNIC copy for buying and selling goods up to Rs50,000 is not withdrawn.

On the economic front, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) delegation is currently discussing with the Pakistani authorities its $6 billion 39-month long economic programme.

Gaining 154.96 points, the KSE-100 Index recorded an intraday high at 34,016.55. The index then rolled in the opposite direction to reach its intraday low at 33,715.97 after losing 145.62 points. It closed lower by 64.08 points at 33,797.51.

The KMI-30 Index dropped by 196.83 points to end at 54,959.09, while the KSE All Share Index settled lower by 43.28 points at 24,500.50.

The overall trading volumes improved

"FBR should engage traders in the dialogue process, as traders also want to resolve this issue through talks," ICCI president said.

Business centres in major cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore observed shutter down strikes on Tuesday. The charter of demands for the two-day strike included the abolition of the condition to submit CNIC, restoration of the Rs1.2 million income limit for income tax, announcement of fixed tax scheme for traders, stoppage of actions by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the registration of mobile phones, restoration of the old property tax system, stoppage of the imposition of penalties by different institutions and the collection of professional tax from professionals and organizations reduction in trade tax.

significantly from the previous session and were recorded at 225.08 million (up 66pc on a daily basis). Worldcall Telecom (WTL +9.91pc), The Bank of Punjab (BOP +5.19pc) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIBTL -3.18pc) held the first three slots on the volume chart. The scripts had exchanged 37.53 million, 22.56 million and 10.63 million shares respectively.

The pharmaceutical sector gained +2.02pc in its cumulative market capitalization. GlaxoSmithKline (Pakistan) Limited (GLAXO 5.00pc), Ferozsons Laboratories Limited (FEROZ +4.99pc) and Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceutical Pakistan Limited (SAPL +4.65pc) ended with decent gains.

Indus Motor Company Limited’s (INDU -1.31pc) profit fell to Rs1.32 billion in the first quarter of FY20 compared with Rs3.51 billion in the same period of last year. Gross profit margins slipped from 14pc in Q1FY19 to 9.7pc. An interim cash dividend of Rs7 was also declared by the company.

The Searle Company Limited's (SEARL +3.04pc) gross profit margin improved from 33pc in 1QFY19 to 48pc in 1QFY20. Distribution cost went up by 20pc, finance cost surged by 38pc while other income declined by 79pc owing to which earnings per share slipped from Rs3.44 to Rs2.58.

Systems Limited (SYS +0.95pc) announced earnings per share of Rs2.43 for 3QFY19 as compared to Rs1.65 in 3QFY18, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited (SCBPL +1.35pc) decalred an EPS of Rs1.09 (Rs1.09 in 3QFY18) while Highnoon Laboratories Limited (HINOON +5.00pc) posted an EPS of Rs6.92 (Rs5.90 in 3QFY18).

ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is all set to jack up power price by Rs2.97 per unit under the head monthly fuel price adjustment for the month of September 2019.

Earlier, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), on behalf of the power distributing companies (DISCOs), had asked NEPRA to increase the electricity price by Rs2.97 per unit on account of fuel price adjustment, sources said.

The CPPA had pleaded NEPRA that variation in the fuel cost for electricity generation should be adjusted. Following the request, the power sector regulator had decided to hold a hearing on 30th Oct (tomorrow) to take a final decision in this regard.

According to sources, the electricity consumers would be burdened with an additional Rs25 billion after the approval from NEPRA. "This proposed hike in electricity price will be collected from power consumers during the month of November," sources added.

CPPA, in its application, had informed NEPRA that approximately 13.62 billion units of electricity were produced at

the cost of Rs70 billion during September.

It elaborated that out of the total power generation in the said month, 37.09pc was generated from hydel sources, 16.39pc from coal, 6pc from residual fuel oil (RFO), 5.50pc from nuclear sources, 1.10pc from wind sources, 0.45pc from solar, 11.85pc from gas and 21.06pc from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"Pursuant to Section 31 (7) of the NEPRA Act (XL of 1997) and the mechanism for monthly fuel price adjustment prescribed by the authority in the tariff determination of Ex-WAPDA distribution companies (DISCOs), the authority may on monthly basis make adjustments in the approved tariff on account of any variation in the fuel charges and policy guidelines as the federal government may issue and notify the tariff so adjusted in the official gazette,” an official NEPRA document read.

It is pertinent to mention that NEPRA in its decision dated 8th October 2019, pertaining to FPA of July, had increased power prices by Rs1.78 per unit owing to variation registered between the actual fuel charges and the reference fuel charges.

KP admin places one-month ban on wheat export to Afghanistan ISLAMABAD HAMID KHAN WAZIR

On directions of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa government, the district administration of North Waziristan on Tuesday banned the export of wheat, flour, fine atta, maida and sujji to Afghanistan for a period of one month to control inflation.

The North Waziristan District Administration took the decision to check the illegal export and movement of the above-stated items to Afghanistan, which could create their shortage in the district and could increase their prices abnormally.

Deputy Commissioner North Waziristan Tribal District Abdul Nasir Khan said that anyone found vi-

olating this order would be dealt with as per law.

“It has been made to appear to me by the Director, (Food) government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), vide his letter No. 3390/ET-Check Post for Wheat, dated 26-10-2019, that shortage of Wheat and Flour is likely to be created in North Waziristan Tribal District due to illegal movement of Wheat, Wheat Flour, Fine Atta, Maida and Suji to Afghanistan, and is thus likely to increase their prices abnormally,” according to an official notification.

“Therefore, if the said movement is not checked, it is likely to create a crises like situation in North Waziristan Tribal Districts, and (could) cause hardship for the public at large, and might lead to law and order situa-

tion,” the notification added.

Deputy Commissioner Nasir Khan said, “Under the authority of (the) powers vested in me under section 144 Cr.P.C, I do hereby prohibit and ban the movement of wheat, wheat flour, fine Atta, maida and suji from North Waziristan Tribal District to Afghanistan.”

He said that anyone, contravening this order is liable to be proceeded against under Section 188 PPC. This order shall come into force immediately and shall remain in force for a period of one month unless modified or withdrawn earlier, he added.

The deputy commissioner said that the decision was taken in the best interest of the public to check the movement of these items to Afghanistan

without valid authorization.

It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has already ordered ban on the export of wheat and flour to Afghanistan.

He issued the directives while chairing a meeting on the establishment of Hattar Special Economic Zone on Monday.

CM Mahmood Khan said that an adequate quantity of wheat and flour was available in the province and that the federal government had also agreed to provide 3, 00,000 metric tonnes of wheat to KP. The chief minister also ordered strict action against hoarders, stating that all those involved in creating artificial crisis would be strictly proceeded against in accordance with the law.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

12 BUSINESS CORPORATE CORNER

KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) recently held its 43rd annual general meeting. The programme elaborated on the company’s latest achievements and role as a trusted partner across all national stakeholders. PRESS RELEASE

mof sees no hurdle in firsT review of imf Programme 'deSpite SHortfall in targetS, imf officialS SatiSfied witH fbr'S performance' ISLAMABAD

KARACHI: The 68th Annual General Meeting of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) was held recently at a local hotel. Members approved financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, along with the auditor’s report. PRESS RELEASE

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Marriott Hotel General Manager Maurizio Romani greets Cuban Vice President Dr Roberto Tomas Morales Ojeda. The Cuban delegation is on a state visit to Pakistan. PRESS RELEASE

LAHORE: realme has fortified its leadership in the market by launching Pakistan’s first 64MP ultra high-resolution quad camera smartphone – realme XT. PRESS RELEASE

nbp posts rs16.3bn profit after tax The National Bank of Pakistan Board of Directors on Tuesday approved the bank’s financial statements for the nine-month period ended June 30, 2019. During the period under review, total income of the bank amounted to Rs79.4 billion which is 20.3pc higher than Rs66.0 billion recorded during the same period last year. Net interest income closed at Rs53.9 billion while non-mark-up/interest income closed at Rs25.6 billion, up by 23.7pc and 13.7pc respectively. With an increase of 26.2pc YoY, the bank’s profit before taxation amounted to Rs29.2 billion as against Rs23.1 billion for September 2018. After-tax profit for the nine-months period amounted to Rs16.3 billion, higher by 1pc compared with Rs16.2 billion earned during the corresponding period of 2018. The drop in after-tax profit is mainly attributed to higher taxation charge of 44pc as compared to 30.0pc for the corresponding period last year. Net profit translates into earnings per share of Rs7.68 as against Rs7.60 for the corresponding nine-month period of prior year. Total assets of the bank amounted to Rs3,025.4 billion, which is 8.1pc higher than Rs2,798.6 billion as at December 31, 2018. These represent 13.8pc of the banking industry’s total assets. The bank’s market share in deposits, advances and investment stood at 14pc, 12pc, and 15pc respectively. BUSINESS DESK

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GHULAM ABBAS

MID speculations of a strict International Monetary Fund (IMF) review of Pakistan's loan programme, the finance ministry sees no hurdle in the first review of the $6-billion loan programme. IMF officials are quite satisfied with the implementation status of the programme during the first quarter of this financial year ended September 2019, said a finance ministry official on Tuesday.

"Unlike the reviews of previous IMF programmes, the visiting mission is not going into every detail this time around. They [IMF officials] seem quite satisfied with the progress made

by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) despite the shortfall in set targets," he stated. "There should be no issue in the release of the second loan tranche worth around $451 million."

Pakistan is expecting the completion of the first review and the release of second tranche by

December this year, subject to the approval of the IMF Executive Board.

Talking to media at the finance ministry on Tuesday, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Sheikh maintained that the IMF has acknowledged the performance of his economic team.

After meeting with the IMF mission team, led by its Pakistan, Middle East and Central Asia Mission Chief Ramirez Rigo Ernesto, Shaikh said owing to the bold steps taken by the government, the economic stability is now becoming visible. "The containment of current and fiscal deficits and stabilisation of exchange rate are indicative of the government's success in putting the economy on the track of long-term growth," he said.

To a query, he said he would not increase burden on the already taxpayers, adding that efforts are being made to include tax avoiders into the tax net.

"Only an increase in Pakistan's income tax figures can help the country repay its loans," he said. "We are extending subsidy electricity and gas to the industry with an aim to increase our exports."

Earlier, as per the officials, Hafeez Shaikh told the visiting IMF mission that Pakistan valued its cordial relationship with the IMF and that the relations were further strengthened during his

recent visit to Washington where he held productive meetings with the senior IMF management.

He said Pakistan acknowledged the support and financial assistance extended by the IMF. "Prime Minister Imran is personally overseeing the progress made in various sectors of the economy."

As per the finance ministry officials, Ramirez Rigo Ernesto appreciated the positive results being produced by the policies and strategies put in place by the government to remove imbalances in the economy.

He said volatility in the exchange rate has been reduced while successes have also been achieved in other areas, especially on the fiscal front, which indicates that the government is moving in the right direction.

He said the IMF mission is looking forward to having a meaningful and productive review with a forward-looking approach and a focus on the adjustments required till March, especially in the power sector and fundings from various bilateral and multilateral sources to boost Pakistan’s foreign exchange.

The meeting was attended by State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Reza Baqir, Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, Special Finance Secretary Omar Hamid Khan and other senior officials of the Finance Division.

aptma voices against govt’s seizure of containers ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

As governments in the centre, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have seized thousands of containers to control the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl's Azadi March, exporters have started creating hue and cry over the halt of export activities.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Commerce, the All Pakistan Textiles Mills Association (APTMA) has informed that the massive seizure of containers has put the export orders at stake.

According to the millers and exporters, owing to the seizure of containers, export ship-

sngPl sets up camp office in islamabad BUSINESS DESK Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has established MD camp office in Islamabad. The office will ensure immediate resolution of key federal and provincial matters and improve coordination with the parliamentarians and federal government offices. A full-time dedicated general manager has also been posted for coordination purposes.

SNGPL board has also approved setting up of a full fledge office in Karak, in line with the demands of the locals. This is likely to be approved by OGRA shortly, following which the office will start functioning. This will facilitate customer service at door step and help improve upon the unaccounted for gas situation.

ments are not reaching ports while vessels are sailing away without the consignment. "The nonfulfilment of international commitments would lead to disputes, reduction in customers' base and market share."

A large number of export shipments, which were ready to be shipped, have been confiscated to block roads. As a result, the truck and container companies have now started holding their remaining containers and trailers at their stations to avoid confiscation.

According to officials at the commerce ministry, similar concerns were also raised by various trade bodies and export associations.

Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association had

protested over the illegal impounding of containers loaded with goods by the law enforcement agencies in various cities of Punjab.

The association had also written letters to Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, the commerce secretary, Punjab chief minister and the provincial chief secretary.

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while expressing concern over impounding of cargo containers for road blockade, has urged the authorities to use empty containers for the said purpose as containers carrying tradable goods would incur a loss of billions of rupees to the businessmen in general and exporters in particular.

na body calls for comprehensive strategy to increase external trade BUSINESS DESK National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Commerce and Textiles on Tuesday stressed the need for a comprehensive strategy to increase the country's external trade.

The Senate committee, chaired by MNA Syed Naveed Qamar, also sought a report from the Federal Board of Revenue regarding the resolution of issues pertaining to the textile industry.

Commerce Secretary Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera briefed the committee on structural changes required to ensure that Pakistani embassies abroad could play

a role in promoting trade, economic and investment partnership with other countries.

He also briefed the committee on steps taken to ensure that Pakistan continues to benefit from GSP Plus Status.

He said the government has planned to explore the new potential market in all major regions of the world.

"We are reviewing the previous policies for appointment of trade officers in different countries of the world,” he stated, adding that according to the new policy, quarterly review of the performance of trade officers would be ensured.

‘Saudi Aramco aims to begin planned IPO on Nov 3’ DUBAI/RIYADH: Saudi Aramco aims to announce the start of its initial public offering (IPO) on Nov 3, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after delaying the deal earlier this month to give advisers time to secure cornerstone investors. The people also said Aramco’s chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, was not present at the conference on Tuesday as he was meeting investors abroad ahead of the offering. Aramco is looking to float a 1pc to 2pc stake on the kingdom’s Tadawul market, in what would be one of the largest ever public offerings, worth upwards of $20 billion. Aramco, in response to queries by Reuters, said on Tuesday the oil company “does not comment on rumor or speculation. AGENCIES

KSA urged to increase Pakistani manpower quota in new Taif project ISLAMABAD INP

The government has formally requested the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to enhance the quota of Pakistani workforce in the multi-billion dollar 'New Taif City' project.

"Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari has requested the Saudi authorities to enhance Pakistani manpower's quota in Taif city project," an official

source revealed on Tuesday.

He said the request was formally conveyed by the special assistant during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia where he held discussions with the Saudi authorities to explore new avenues for bolstering Pakistani manpower export to Saudi Arabia.

He said the new Taif project comprises the establishment of a new airport, development of Okaz City, technical oasis, residential areas, a university and an industrial city.

The official said that Saudi Arabia had also extended an offer to im-

port Pakistani manpower through 'Musaned' – a digital platform launched by KSA to facilitate the labourers’ recruitment process and ensure the protection of their rights.

“Pakistan would send its workforce to Saudi Arabia through 'Musaned' shortly as the process would take some months,” he added.

Besides Saudi Arabia, he said, the overseas ministry was planning to link its digital portal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to as to develop a close liaison between the workforce and foreign

employers.

"The move would eventually minimise the middleman's role in overseas employment and would help the country train its workforce as per the international markets' demand," he added.

The official said the UAE's Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) had offered Pakistan access to its labour market's database which would provide updated information on job opportunities in the Emirates.

“MOHRE had also agreed to activate the joint committee that was formed for

implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed recently to ensure the protection of Pakistani workers' rights and resolving their legal job disputes in the Emirates.”

According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, as many as 568,464 Pakistanis were registered for overseas employment during the last one year (Sept 2018 to Sept 2019). In comparison, some 424,867 went abroad for job assignments during the previous year (Sept 2017 to Sept 2018).

7

1

How did rise and rebirth come into being?

For years I wasn't sure if I ever wanted children.

In response all I ever heard was “haw haye” as if I was some sort of freak. I didn't touch the topic and mostly avoided it - until I got married. I realize that the process of pregnancy and postpartum is quite scary.

And the horror stories don't help. I decided that rather than just listening to stories, I wanted to explore the world of birth more closely. With evidence from observing real labor (and so far, I have not fainted nor thrown up), and collecting data that backs best practices. I wanted to explore how women have been dealing with their pregnancies and coping with motherhood for generations; all over the world. I then wanted to combine this with factual evidence and take a more scientific approach towards the birthing process. It was in this exploration that Rise and Rebirth was born (no pun intended).In my prenatal yoga check-ins, women express similar feelings to the ones I had: not feeling as though they have enough emotional support during this overwhelming period; or feeling dismissed. And in many ways through them I learned the power and gift of being able to nurture. We always talk about nurturing babies; but who holds and nurtures the mothers who carry them? And this is why I started Rise & Rebirth. So that it could be a space to nurture young mothers through this tough but beautiful time.

2

What are some of the qualifications and experiences you had to gain before launching a program such as Rise and Rebirth?

I myself was born and raised in the US, but both my parents are from Karachi. I came to Pakistan only after I got married. Before moving here, I earned my master’s degree in public health (MPH) from the University Of Texas Health Science Center; and I’ve worked in the public health sector for almost 10 years on various health issues. But my passion has always been reproductive and maternal health. My first practicum was with a neonatal health intervention in South Asia.

I am also a yoga alliance certified prenatal yoga teacher (RPYT-85) and a 200-hour teacher in hatha, Vinyasa, and Kundalini yoga from my home state of Texas! Currently I'm completing my training with CPPD London as a mental health counselor specializing in maternal mental health; and am seeing clients with clinical supervision.

3

What made you decide to combine yoga with mental health therapy?

Gradually more and more evidence has come about to point to a fundamental truth that we are only now starting to see: the body and the mind are not only deeply connected; but the body is an imprint of the mind. As well as all our past experiences, beautiful or painful. A job that focuses on both body and mind requires constant learning, exploration, and a deep understanding of what the body needs. I'm still learning how to do this myself. My favorite work around this topic is by Bessel van der Kolk and the way his research has helped create the movement around trauma-informed yoga. I see yoga as a great avenue for connecting with the body, but it is by no means a substitute for the work that needs to be done in therapy. For too long the conversational model of therapy has dominated the mental health space. It’s a pleasure to see more practitioners breaking that mold to incorporate more of the body.

4

What are some of the best measures a couple can take to get into the right mindset to welcome their child?

Acquiring knowledge and being open to the changes that take place in a marriage when a child is born. Couples must try to create the optimal environment for baby even before it leaves the womb. Perinatal psychology points out how important it is to understand the circumstances around a child's birth. So a couple who prioritizes their marriage and builds that trust and team-effort- mentality is more likely to be able to cope with the difficult times.

What are some of the most common problems your clients face in maintaining a positive mindset and what is your advice to combat such problems?

The last thing anyone who is feeling low wants to be told is "be positive". Nobody can be positive all the time. Even to get near that level takes a lot of mental effort and clients would have to reframe limiting beliefs. They often face some tough situations in their lives: a stressful job or education, no support at home from family, societal pressure to conform to, and so much more. I refrain from giving advice because each client knows their truth better than anyone else could. What I encourage is that clients should take it slow. One day at a time. They should be around people and things that can take them out of their mind and into their body. They should really embrace the concept of continuous "healing" rather than wanting to be "fixed".

Rise and RebiRth; a new chapteR is young paRents' lives Saba Danawala has found her true calling in the work she does. Intrigued by the mysterious and beautiful process of birth she went out of her way to understand the process like no one else. Her discoveries and passion to help the growing community of young mothers has translated itself into her passion project: Rise and Rebirth. This unique yoga experience helps women sort through not only their physical; but mental health conditions for the duration of their pregnancy and early stages of motherhood.

5

Becoming a parent is a drastic life change.

How do your classes help couples to prepare for this change?

Our classes help couples to build honesty with each other and actually acknowledge how they feel about the upcoming birth in a safe space.

Being a parent is difficult on both partners and there are very few reminders that this is a team effort. These classes are about a relatively new change in our society- the involvement of the father. Fathers in our society have been seen with such a rigid lens during birth: to fulfill materialistic needs and leave the physical exertion to the woman. I find this more harmful than helpful, and it only perpetuates the stereotype that the birth process and childcare should be in the hands of women. I have even noticed two prominent scenarios: husbands who walk into my couples sessions are either very caring and want to support their wives. Or they are a little apprehensive and genuinely just need help and training on how to be there for their wives; and that's perfectly fine! The feedback I've gotten from these new mothers is that their husband's constant reminder to breath, affirmations, and techniques of soothing go a long way in making birth an experience not a chore.

6

In a country where having a mental health illness is heavily stigmatized, how do you manage to break the ice and make your clients feel comfortable?

It's all about the relationship. Building that trust, respect, and being able to hold space for our clients. I don't care what swanky technique you're using or what big words you throw out, clients must connect to us as therapists - and as humans.

8

Can you offer any advice to new mothers who may be struggling with postpartum depression or with maintaining a healthy mindset?

Seek outside help if you aren't getting the support you need at home. You aren't crazy and it isn't all in your head. And to all families out there: postpartum depression is not made up. It can be experienced by mothers AND fathers (yes, you heard that right). It includes good and bad days, and it is not the same as baby blues, so please refrain from comments like: “yeh sab ko hota hai”. If your loved one who delivered anywhere from 0-2 years ago is exhibiting any of the following signs, please don't ignore them! Fatigue Feeling sad, hopelessness, and/or overwhelmed, trouble sleeping and eating, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, losing interest in things that you once used to enjoy, withdrawing from family and friends no interest in your baby, thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby.

9

What are some of the physical benefits that yoga can provide for pregnant women?

There are so many! But above all, the biggest one I've seen with my ladies is keeping prenatal anxiety contained. Here are some of the others: Improved sleep. Rested mama = happy mama -Increase the strength, flexibility and endurance of muscles needed for childbirth.

-Acts like a relaxant to help the body undergo changes.

-Decreases lower back pain, nausea, headaches and shortness of breath.

-Helps you focus on yourself and your growing baby without outward distraction.

10 11

Pakistanis often feel that mental health issues are more prevalent in western countries; having spent time in the US do you think there is any truth to this assumption?

There is no truth to such an assumption. It is extremely painful to watch families deny mental health issues. If we can't even talk about it, much less report it, then we can't have a prevalence rate either (thank you, public health degree!)

Who would you recommend the rise and rebirth programs for?

Prenatal/Pregnancy Yoga: For women 12 weeks along into their pregnancies Postpartum Support Group: For women anywhere from 0-18 months after delivery Mindful Yoga: Perfect for beginners, those looking to reduce stress and/or COMPLEMENTARY psychotherapy, and postpartum moms Labor Preparation Workshops: For couples wanting to work through the physical demands of labor Don't forget to check our social media! www.facebook.com/riseandrebirthyoga www.instagram.com/riseandrebirthyoga

Aries: Knowing what coworkers and supervisors expect of you makes it easier to get along with them.

Taurus: As the pace of life changes, you may need to recapture your own rhythm. Maybe someone springs a surprising request that catches you off guard.

Gemini: Your objective eye allows you to see multiple sides of a problem. Naturally, you want to help lift the fog for all involved.

Cancer: You may unceremoniously run out of patience and want immediate change.

Leo: An unanticipated issue with a family member shifts your priorities around today.

Virgo: Your clever ability to deliver a message tactfully enables you to caution close friends about potentially risky behavior without being a buzzkill.

Libra: You may be intrigued by an innovative technology and can’t wait to get your hands on the newest cell phone, computer, or camera.

Scorpio: You could go overboard today as you provoke people’s reactions with your shocking behavior.

Sagittarius: You may try to lose yourself into someone’s fantasy world today. Your sentimental mood might prompt you to start a movie or pick up a book and then forget to put it down.

Capricorn: You might have to show a colleague some tough love today.

Aquarius: A schedule change at home or work dramatically alters how you function at either place.

Pisces: Your mind is running rampant with a deluge of information today, but you might not know what to do with it.

CMYK

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

14 SPORTS

Nepali climber claims New speed record for world’s 14 highesT peaks KATHMANDU

a

AGENCIES

Nepali mountaineer on Tuesday smashed the record for summiting the world’s 14 highest peaks, racing up all “8000ers” in just seven months, according to a post on his social media accounts.

Nirmal Purja completed the climb of the 14 mountains, all over 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) in seven months, the post said. The previous record was almost eight years.

“MISSION ACHIEVED! says

@nimsdai from the summit of #Shishapangma,” read the post on Purja’s Facebook page, referring to the final peak in China. Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka completed the same feat after seven years, 11 months and 14 days in 1987 after Italy’s legendary Reinhold Messner became the first to scale the 14 peaks a year earlier.

South Korean Kim Chang-ho completed the challenge one month slower than Kukuczka — although unlike Kukuczka, who died in a climbing accident in 1989, he never used supplementary oxygen. The 36-year-old

Purja, a former member of the Gurkhas — a unit of Nepalis recruited into the British army — as well as the elite Special Boat Service, kicked off his ambitious “Project Possible” in April.

In the first part of his record attempt, Purja climbed Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu — among the highest of the “8000ers” — in just one month.

A month later, he headed to Pakistan for the second part, where he first tackled the notorious Nanga Parbat at 8,125 metres.

Battling sleep deprivation to

meet his target, Purja said he was almost sprinting up and down five of Pakistan’s highest peaks including Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and K2, the second tallest in the world. Twenty-three days later he was standing atop Broad Peak, his fifth and final mountain of the second phase. Purja began his final push in September, reaching the tops of Cho Oyu and Manaslu within a week. When he first told others about his new quest, “everyone was laughing at me and saying ‘how it will be possible’?” Purja told AFP in a recent interview.

“It is about trusting your abil-

ity,” he had said as he relaxed in Kathmandu waiting to ascend the final peak. “You always need to have (a) positive mindset because sometimes things will go wrong.”

He also said that he wanted to use his feats to inspire the next generation of Nepali climbers to break his records. Sherpas — Nepalis who often work as guides

for foreign mountaineers — are the backbone of the country’s lucrative climbing industry, but don’t attract as much attention or accolades as their international companions.

“Nepal is home to the highest peaks in the world. There are so much better climbers out there who (haven’t) got the opportunity,” he told AFP in Kathmandu.

Osaka suffers WTA Finals injury heartbreak for second year running SHENZEN AGENCIES

Tokyo unveils 2020 venue inspired by Japanese architecture TOKYO: Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Tuesday unveiled a custom-built $188 million gymnastics venue inspired by Japanese architecture that uses wood brought from around the country. The futuristic-looking Ariake Gymnastics Centre in central Tokyo uses 2,300 cubic metres of wood and is intended to hark back to traditional building techniques that predated the use of modern materials. The structure features a gently undulating roof, with external walls constructed from lengths of cedar wood. Supporting rods allow the building to look from a distance as though it is suspended in the air. Organisers said it was intended to look like a “a wooden bowl, floating in the bay area”. The building, one of a handful custom-built for the Games, “symbolises Japan’s wood culture and viewers can feel its simple beauty”, the organisers said. “We’re using a lot of wood,” venue general manager Koichi Fukui told reporters. “We can smell wood and feel the warmth of wood,” he said. Built at a cost of 20.5 billion yen, the venue features a domed ceiling constructed from Japanese larch with no steel framework and is among the largest of its kind in the world. The venue can seat 12,000 spectators on long benches placed around the space. The main Olympic stadium designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma also heavily features the use of wood in a nod to traditional techniques.

The gymnastics venue is a temporary site, which is expected to be converted into an exhibition centre after the Games. Organisers say they plan to repurpose some of the wood from the site, including the benches, in the exhibition centre and other sites including schools. AGENCIES

Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka vowed to be fit and firing for her Australian Open title defence after her season was abruptly cut short by injury at the WTA Finals on Tuesday.

The two-time Grand Slam winner, who was on a hot streak of 11 matches, withdrew from the season finale with a shoulder problem — the second straight year she has been forced out due to injury. Third-ranked Osaka, who retired during last year’s edition of the lucrative year-ender with a hamstring injury, had been due to play world number one Ashleigh Barty later on Tuesday.

Her place in Red Group will be taken by world number 10 Kiki Bertens, who will now face Australia’s Barty in Shenzhen.

The 23-year-old Osaka said she was unsure of the severity of the injury to her right shoulder, which she initially hurt during her triumph in Beijing earlier this month. “I felt it immediately (in her first match on Sunday),” she told reporters. “When I woke up the day after it was throbbing.

“It’s just a little bit painful. I don’t think it’s something that I would immediately need surgery for,” she added. Osaka had started the $14 million roundrobin tournament with a tough three-set victory over Petra Kvitova on Sunday to extend her

winning streak, after titles in Beijing and Osaka. She had been determined to make amends for a disappointing WTA Finals debut last year, when her winless campaign ended with a tearful retirement against Bertens. “I thought I was playing well. I definitely wanted to win here,” Osaka said.

Once she recovers from the injury, Osaka’s attention will turn towards the Australian Open in January, where she will defend a Grand Slam title for only the sec-

ond occasion. “I just want to train really hard,” Osaka said. “Last year during the off-season, I trained really hard for Australia. I felt like going into the Slam I was really fit. I just want to try to duplicate that.” Even though it ended prematurely, Osaka was pleased with her back end to the season after a tough stretch where she suffered a stunning first-round exit at Wimbledon followed by a lacklustre US Open title defence.

She rated 2019, which started on

a high in Melbourne, as a more pleasing season than last year, when she made her Grand Slam breakthrough by beating Serena Williams in a tempestuous final at Flushing Meadows. “(Losing at Wimbledon) was the lowest emotional feeling I’ve ever felt,” she said. “After the US Open, I set goals. I was able to win tournaments. That was definitely the highlight. “I definitely think that this year was somehow better (than last year),” she added.

AC Milan post record 145.9m euro loss

MILAN AGENCIES

Italian giants AC Milan, struggling to re-

capture the glory days of seven European Cups and of their heyday under media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, on Monday posted a record loss of 145.9 million

euros ($165 million) for 2018.

The losses, which were some 20 million above 2017, will be covered by majority shareholder, US fund Elliott, which took over the Rossoneri last year after Chinese businessman Li Yonghong defaulted on a loan to buy the outfit.

Milan, one of Europe’s most storied clubs, have accumulated some 500 million euros of losses over the past six seasons, during which time they have been absent from the money-spinning Champions League. This season they were excluded from the less lucrative Europa League for financial fair play violations.

As one means of pulling the club out of the financial mire its owners are pushing, along with neighbours Inter Milan, for the construction of a new stadium complex in Italy’s northern business hub.

The two have long shared the current home the San Siro. If municipal authori-

CMYK

ties give the green light to that plan that would “raise revenues substantially,” said chairman Paolo Scaroni, former boss of energy group Eni. “All the top European clubs bring in stadium receipts topping 100 million euros. For AC Milan and Inter they reach about 34 million,” said Scaroni. “This difference risks being the reason the clubs don’t put in the showing they ought to in Europe,” he added.

AC Milan won the last of their European titles in 2007 — three years before Inter won their third and most recent crown. If the stadium deal does not come off then “there is a plan B, still with Inter,” said Scaroni without elaborating.

He did note that the search was under way to increase sponsorship but “if we are losing games then it’s more difficult.”

Unlike the club’s late 1980s zenith when the likes of Dutch trio Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gulllit and Frank Rijkaard

were in their pomp, this season the Milanese are mired in mid table.

“There is a clear and audacious vision on the part of Elliott, which is to return Milan to the top table of Italian and world football without it taking 10 or 15 years,” club chief executive Ivan Gazidis said.

Aside from a new stadium the club intends to “invest in young footballers to turn them into top drawer players,” he added. After their poor start this season in Serie A Milan earlier this month sacked Marco Giampaolo as coach and brought in Stefano Pioli as their ninth coach of the decade. But the move is yet to provide a bounce, with Piolo’s side earning just one point to date in his two games in charge, losing 2-1 to Roma on Sunday to stand 12th, seven points off a Champions League place. Inter are looking to claim a berth as they lie second, a point behind leaders Juventus.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

SPORTS 15

Conditions in AustrAliA ‘totAlly different’ from rest of the world, sAys misbAh LAHORE

P

AGENCIES

AKISTAN head coach Misbahul Haq spoke of the unique challenge of playing in Australia, and the difficulty of adjusting to conditions and the pitches, particularly for batsmen. The recently appointed coach, for whom the upcoming tour is just the second since being given the job, also termed it a big opportunity for his young side, while acknowledging Pakistan needed to become more consistent in their performances.

“The conditions are totally different than when you play in all other parts of the world,” Misbah told reporters in Sydney.

“So you need to adjust to that pace and bounce especially in the batting unit and obviously when you’re bowling, because in Asian conditions your biggest strength is your spinners. You have to bowl slightly differently here, the lengths are different, even the lines are different for the pacers here.

So these are the challenges we are looking at ahead of this series. We want to address those and the kind of talent we have, if we can be disciplined in all departments, I think we can produce good results.”

Misbah was appointed coach to relatively unanimous approval after the PCB

decided to part ways with Mickey Arthur and his staff. A home series against a depleted Sri Lanka side represented an ostensibly soft start to his reign, but Pakistan found themselves overturned comprehensively in the T20I series, losing all three games comfortably, leading to the departure of Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain, with Azhar Ali succeeding him in Test cricket and Babar Azam in T20 internationals.

Misbah admitted an Australia tour would be a challenge for the captains, but believed they were good enough players to manage. “Sometimes it’s a challenge for the captains. Azhar has already captained in Australia. He’s a bit experienced, he knows, and he’s played a lot of Test cricket. Babar is new, and so it will be really important for me to pass on advice. The team also needs to support him and execute plans.

“Some of the bowlers who have experience can help him too. Imad Wasim is there, Wahab Riaz is there, Mohammad Irfan... they can really help him, setting the fields, having their bowling plans executed properly. Obviously it’s a new thing, new experience for him but I think all these challenges will help him get stronger and be bigger in stature.”

In a squad already replete with surprises, Usman Qadir‘s selection raised eyebrows, particularly in Australia. Until

recently, it was believed the legspinner had ambitions to play international cricket for them. He’d even said so himself. Misbah spoke about the process that led to the 26-year old being picked for Pakistan.

“The last couple of years now, we’ve just been playing Shadab Khan, who’s been slightly out of form. There are very few legspin options in Pakistan. A few of the youngsters have come up just in this season, and Usman Qadir is one of them.

He played the T20 tournament there and he bowled well. We picked Usman because he has experience playing in Aus-

tralia, knows the conditions and with his height, especially, gets little bit more bounce also. I think his variations, the flipper and the googly for example, gave him a bit of an advantage. That was the reason behind his selection. We need to develop someone in that department, so that we have a back-up for Shadab, especially before the World Cup.” The youngest players Pakistan have selected have come in the form of fast bowlers. Sixteen-year-old Naseem Shah, 18-year-old Muhammad Musa and the more experienced 19-year-old Shaheen

Afridi are all part of the Test squad, the first two almost completely unknown outside of Pakistan, which Misbah thought might give his side an advantage. He singled out Naseem for high praise. “He’s bowling well. Especially in the four-day competition that’s going on, first-class, he’s bowling well. The good thing about him is he’s bowling well in all spells. He’s now playing his fourth first class game of the [Quaid-eAzam trophy] back home, and in all spells he’s bowling quick. His control with the ball is also good. I’m looking forward to him bowling here in Australia where the conditions will also give him some assistance in getting pace and bounce. Everybody is excited to get him in the team.

“There is always the surprise that plays a part in selection but again you need to bowl well in Australian conditions. Only pace is not going to favour you. The good thing with him is he can bowl in good areas also. At Under-19 levels he bowled really well with the new ball and the old ball and he’s doing that in first-class cricket, too.

Looking forward, if he can just put the ball in the right areas at that pace, it could be a surprise package.” There was still time for Misbah’s characteristically bonedry wit to emerge, too. “Of course the unpredictability could be frightening for Australia. But it could be for us, too.”

Shakib Al Hasan banned from all cricket for failing to report bookie approaches DHAKA AGENCIES

bCCi will have ‘contract system for first-class cricketers’: sourav Ganguly MUMBAI: In a move that could signal a major shift in Indian cricket, newly-elected BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has said that the board will bring in “a contract system” for first-class cricketers, and that the new finance sub-committee will be asked to put the process in place for it to happen. “We will bring in a contract system for first-class cricketers,” Ganguly told PTI in an interview. “We (office-bearers) will ask the new finance committee to prepare a contract system. “It’s just been four-five days [since he took charge] and in between there was a Diwali break. It will take about two weeks to assess everything and move forward. There is a lot of work going on.” Even before he had been formally appointed to the position, Ganguly had said that domestic cricket, and cricketers, would be a major area of focus for him in his stint at the BCCI, which will be for a ten-month period before he serves the mandatory three-year cooling-off period for completing six consecutive years at a state association and/or at the BCCI. “My biggest priority will be to look after first-class cricketers,” he had said, adding that he had asked the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to provide financial security for domestic cricketers when the panel was put in place by the Supreme Court to supervise the BCCI. “I have been requesting that to the CoA for three years. That’s the first thing I will do, look after the financial health of our first-class cricketers.” AGENCIES

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s Test and T20I captain, has been banned by the ICC from all cricket for two years, with one year of that sentence suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code.

His offences related to two tournaments in 2018: an ODI triseries in January, also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and one match in the IPL, where he was a player with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Shakib, 32, is Bangladesh’s leading current cricketer and among their all-time greats. He is currently at No. 3, No. 1 and No. 2 in the ICC allrounders’ rankings for Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively, and is also a valuable member of the various T20 franchises he is part of across the world.

He will be free to resume international cricket on October 29, 2020, subject to his satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction. He is likely to miss most - or all - of next year’s headline event, the World T20 in Australia, which runs from October 18 to November 15.

The ICC charged Shakib under Article 2.4.4, for failure to report two approaches to engage in corrupt conduct during the tri-series and for failure to disclose full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in corrupt conduct in relation to the Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kings XI Punjab match in IPL 2018 on April 26, 2018. In order to avoid the oneyear suspended sentence coming into effect, Shakib must not commit any offence under the ACU code during the initial one-year suspension, and participate regularly in anti-corruption education and/or rehabilitation programmes.

The ICC said that Shakib had accepted the charges and agreed to the sanction in lieu of an anti-corruption tribunal hearing.

“I am obviously extremely sad to have been banned from the game I love, but I completely accept my sanction for not reporting the approaches,” an ICC statement quoted him as saying.

“The ICC ACU is reliant on players to play a central part in the fight against corruption and I didn’t do my duty in this instance.”

Alex Marshall, ICC’s general manager - integrity, said, “Shakib

Al Hasan is a highly experienced international cricketer. He has attended many education sessions and knows his obligations under the Code. He should have reported each of these approaches.

“Shakib has accepted his errors and cooperated fully with the investigation. He has offered to assist the Integrity Unit in future education, to help younger players to learn from his mistakes. I am happy to accept this offer.”

The Shakib development has come at a time of huge upheaval

in the BCB. Only a week ago, Shakib had led a players’ strike in Bangladesh, which came to an end last Wednesday after the BCB ceded to all the demands.

The news also comes on the eve of Bangladesh’s tour of India, which starts on November 3.

Shakib was meant to leave with the Bangladesh T20I squad on Wednesday for the tour, which comprises three T20Is and two Test matches. Bangladesh have not yet announced their Test squad for the tour.

Sri Lanka under pressure to keep series alive

BRISBANE AGENCIES

An upbeat Sri Lanka went to Australia threatening to continue their

outstanding Pakistan form, but like a skyrocket that veers off and flies through the neighbour’s open window, they only managed to wreak the most alarming - though

spectacular - type of damage. It is difficult to imagine how the Adelaide match could have gone any worse. Kasun Rajitha’s record 0 for 75 made headlines, but the spinners also went at more than 10 an over, and Lasith Malinga went wicketless. On the batting front, no one made 20. Sri Lanka have had some limp limited-overs performances in the past two years, but this was among the very worst.

Australia don’t exactly have the record of an ace T20 side, having won only two of their seven most-recent series, but may have reason to consider themselves one of the best outfits in the world, with the return of David Warner and Steve Smith. Plenty is known about the explosive top three -

Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell rounding it out - but there is a cohesive attack there too. On Sunday, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins essentially ended what slim chances Sri Lanka had of chasing down a gargantuan target, by blasting out the top three inside four overs. Sri Lanka could then barely get the Australian spinners off the square, and surrendered a clump of wickets to the wristspinner Adam Zampa, as they often do.

One year out from the T20 World Cup at home, Australia seem like they have the building blocks of a strong team at their disposal.

When they arrived in Australia, Sri Lanka thought they had building blocks too. They have the galling challenge of winning in Brisbane if

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they are to avoid not only a series loss, but also talk of the Pakistan series having been a false dawn.

There seems to be no team Glenn Maxwell enjoys playing more. He walloped 62 at a strike rate of 221 on Sunday, but going by his overall record against Sri Lanka, he might have actually underperformed. In four innings against them, he averages an astounding 140.5 (there are two not outs in there), with a strike rate 225. Particularly on tracks that do not offer drastic turn, Maxwell appears to have a psychological hold over the Sri Lanka attack their bowlers seemingly incapable of out-manoeuvring or out-thinking him. More than a fifth of Maxwell’s career boundaries have come against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka made a litany of mistakes in the first match, but the first might have been to put Australia in to bat on what seemed an excellent batting surface. The decision seems especially strange when you account for Sri Lanka’s four previous T20s, which they had won batting first. Captain Lasith Malinga, who finds himself in the odd position of having to reimpose his leadership after the team did well without him in Pakistan. A victory at the Gabba could ease the pressure on him a little.

PITCH AND CONDITIONS: There is no rain expected, but cloud cover is forecast, which could aid swing with the new ball.

Otherwise, expect your standard fast, bouncy Gabba surface.

Wednesday, 30 October, 2019

NEWS

JusTice isa’s counsel says inquiry violaTes sJc’s mandaTe SC JUDGE’S COUNSEL SAYS PRIOR APPROVAL OF FEDERAL CABINET IS MANDATORY BEFORE SUBMISSION OF PRESIDENTIAL REFERENCE JUSTICE ISA OFFERS TO PROVIDE DETAILS OF SURVEILLANCE OPERATION AGAINST HIS FAMILY MEMBERS

ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE counsel for Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Tuesday contented that the government’s initiation of inquiry against the Supreme Court (SC) judge had violated the mandate of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) as only the latter was allowed to probe a sitting judge.

As the full court bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the presidential reference against Justice Isa, Munir A Malik, the counsel for the SC judge, argued that President Dr Arif Alvi should have sent the reference to the federal cabinet for approval before the administration was allowed to investigate the judge.

He contended that this equates to targeting the judiciary, therefore, the reference must be dismissed based on “mala fide intentions”. He also said that SJC should have taken these aspects into consideration before proceedings were initiated on the reference.

SURVEILLANCE OPERATION: Justice Isa’s counsel also told the court that his client has offered to submit a sealed affidavit explaining how he was aware of his family being under surveillance. To this, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor Khan said that the apex court was not allowed to record evidence under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.

Justice Bandial, however, said that as the petitioner has accused the executive authorities of

mala fide intentions, he was now trying to provide evidence for it.

Justice Isa’s counsel said that the government never declared how it gathered information on the SC judge. He added that a private agency based in the United Kingdom (UK) was hired to track Justice Isa’s activities there during the past decade. “I cannot say what mode of surveillance was employed. Emails could have been hacked, or phones tapped, or the defence attache may have obtained secret information related to the UK properties,” said Malik.

He further said that this was evident from the way the government attached the entire travel history of the judge and his family in its reply to the court. He argued that the relevant authorities issued notices to his client, seeking declaration of assets and tax returns for the period between 2015 to 2018. He added that the mentioned documents had already been submitted.

Justice Muneeb Akhtar replied that the court cannot establish mala fide intent on the basis of interferences.

Justice Bandial said that the apex judicial body could not simply dismiss a presidential reference against as a judge as it was bound to conduct a proper inquiry.

The counsel then quoted the judgement of the apex court in the case of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, wherein the top court had dismissed the presidential reference against him on the basis of mala fide intent. He added that the top court has the power to conduct an ordinary judicial review of the conduct of executive authorities in relation to a reference against a judge. “The SJC’s conduct can be reviewed on the basis of the principles laid down by the top court in the Iftikhar Chaudhry case,” he added.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till Monday. It is worth mentioning here that the reference filed against Justice Isa alleges that he acquired three properties in London on lease in the name of his wife and children between 2011 and 2015, but did not disclose them in wealth returns. Justice Isa has contested that claim, saying he is not a beneficial owner of the flats — neither direct nor indirect.

PM Imran warns Azadi marchers not to violate pact ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that the government would not create any hurdles in the opposition’s Azadi March as long as its participants followed the law but warned them of strict action if agreement signed with his negotiation team is violated.

Imran said the government committee, formed to engage with the opposition leadership on Azadi March, is completely independent, adding that the government was neither part of any secret deal nor will it compromise on ongoing corruption cases. The federal cabinet deliberated upon the Azadi March for a little over an hour during which Prime Minister Imran was also briefed on conditions of the Azadi March pact and assured that the participants of the protest would not violate the agreement. The premier expressed satisfaction on the negotiation committee’s efforts thus far.

“We will not create hurdles if the march remains peaceful and within the legal boundaries … however, strict action will be taken if the agreement is violated,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, PM’s Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan, while complaining over attitude of certain fellow cabinet members, told the premier that PEMRA’s decision regarding senior anchorpersons was so harshly criticised on social media that it appeared as if some ministers were themselves part of the opposition. “Criticism by own ministers cause serious humilia-

tion,” she remarked. To which, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry quipped, “Real embarrassment is caused when decisions are retracted within hours”.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari echoed Fawad’s remarks, saying curtailing freedom of expression was unacceptable.

Prime Minister Imran told Firdous that it was foolish decision to impose a ban on senior anchorpersons. Prime Minister Imran directed his cabinet not to issue any political statement on PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s health. He said the government is not only praying for his swift recovery but also providing the best possible medical facilities to the three-time prime minister.

Following the cabinet meeting, the premier convened a separate meeting with the federal ministers in the committee room, where he ordered them to avoid commenting on the health of former premier Nawaz Sharif. He asked them to deal with the matter seriously.

The federal cabinet also approved 14 out of 17 points of the session’s agenda. It also approved the recommendation on principle for constructing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) secretariat which will be headed by the Federal Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar.

The constitution of a special committee under the anti-money laundering act was also approved by the cabinet members. Moreover, the federal government took major decisions for the development of major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Multan as the policy for the construction of high-rise buildings was approved by the cabinet.

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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The cabinet members also directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and its subordinate institutions to immediately prepare standard operating procedures (SOPs) besides removing its objections.

Ministries and divisions were directed to make appointments on the top positions at the earliest.

A series of other decisions were also taken in the session, including the approvals for the draft law of Healthcare Facilities Management Act – 2019, re-organisation of Board of Directors (BoDs) of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Pakistan Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Limited, BoDs for Government Holding Company Limited.

The cabinet also gave approval to the agreement to end decadeslong dispute for on financial claims between Pakistan and Russia besides commending the summary to review estimated cost of land acquisition for Dasu hydropower project Stage-I. Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already approved construction of the dam.

The cabinet also decided to launch Ehsas Undergraduate Programme in November and approved 50,000 scholarships for students in the next four years. The scholarships will be awarded on merit-cum need basis and students of 120 public sector universities will be eligible for the award. Children hailing from a family with an income of less than 45,000 rupees will be eligible for the programme.

50 per cent of the scholarships will be given to female students, while two per cent quota will be reserved for minorities and the disabled.