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The outrage machinery

Arifa Noor Updated 15 Sep
2020

The writer is a journalist.

IT was hard to figure out what to write this week. Not that there was a shortage of issues but it is
occasionally (perhaps frequently?) difficult to figure out what to say about the much-discussed topic
that dominates a news cycle.

Earlier in the week, a Jane Fonda interview in the New York Times — which was a good read and even led
to a long discussion with a friend — had caught my eye leading to thoughts about the shrinking space for
English writing, apart from politics, in Pakistan. It was going to be a lament with much boring moaning and
groaning from a subeditor on the lack of good writing such as profiles, interviews, long essays and even
cultural writing, which once did exist. It would have been a nostalgia-ridden piece about the good old days
when Herald and Newsline provided some space for stories and commentary, which were about more than
just politics (which is not to say we are doing much justice to politics either for there is little political
reporting also). Navel gazing is a frequent professional hazard.

But then the rape on the motorway happened. And the nonstop coverage of an important and not necessarily
a „political‟ issue began.

Since then, much has been said and written about women rights, rape and the judicial system, the police and
the government. There was no shortage of coverage or material but it was not an easy watch even though
most of the channels and shows were on the „right side‟ as they had picked up the cudgels on behalf of the
rape survivor.

Women lawyers, women activists and women police officers were

conspicuous by their absence on the channels.
But then, as most Pakistanis would know well, good intentions are not enough.

In this case, the good intentions translated into outrage and noise without any empathy for the people
involved. Did any one of us try to put ourselves in the shoes of the survivor and her family and imagine how
the coverage would affect them? This after all is how we are supposed to make decisions when covering
sensitive issues.
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It is hard to believe most of those expressing their horror bothered to stop for five minutes to apply this rule
to any editorial decision they made.

Partly, the problem is of sheer numbers. There are far too many news outlets and if each of them is covering
an incident at the same time, the flashing red announcing „breaking news‟ on channel after channel creates
unacceptable levels of noise.

But not everything can be attributed to the multiplier effect.

There were constant visuals of the car and the greenery around; flashing coverage where one channel had a
reporter shouting excitedly about their „scoop‟ in the shape of the medico-legal report (in hindsight, it can‟t
even be said with certainty that they had the scoop); the dramatic music playing in the background; and the
incessant shouting on the talk shows.

But the fights and shouting apart, when the focus shifted to the affected people, it was worse. In talk show
after talk show, guests and their host tried their hardest to paint a picture of the pain and distress the survivor
and the children must be going through and the burden they would carry for life. No one wanted to be left
behind in their effort to show their concern. A female politician broke down as she tried to describe their
lifelong trauma. In the process, empathy and good journalism lay trampled, abandoned at the door of many a
television studio.

It was all well-intentioned, though.

Social media was no better where detailed threads were dropped, providing details about the survivor and
her children that should have been left private. And then promptly shared by others.

No one considered if any of the reporting or information shared would have been bearable if one‟s own
loved ones were involved. A crime was committed and we are all too busy proving how strongly we felt
about it. and if in doing so, there is an invasion of privacy, it should be ignored because it was well-intended.

It seems as if in recent years, the fear that our „goodness‟ will not be noticed if we do not shout it when in
front of the mike has made us forget that joining the outrage is not and should not be the role journalists
assign themselves.

But as if this were the only problem with the coverage.

The guests are also a dissertation, just waiting to be written. Politicians are holding forth — the government
ones should do nothing but agree to the removal of the CCPO and the opposition to condemn. Not for them
any nuanced talk on the real issues such as the problems within our legal system, or how we need more
resources for better investigation of rape cases or the need for special training of police personnel who
respond to such crimes. What steps can be taken for a smoother judicial process and treatment of rape
survivors during the court case? But few bothered, for such discussions would allow little room for shouting
and confrontational exchanges.

Male journalists continue to dominate, and were allowed to hold forth on every aspect of the matter — from
the incident, to crimes against women to the CCPO to even the night of the incident. Did we really need so
much mansplaining? Women were still in short supply to discuss women rights, it seems. The women
lawyers, women activists and women police officers were conspicuous by their absence on the channels. As
one young academic noted in a tweet, one programme had a discussion about police training and gender
sensitivity training of the personnel — with only men on the panel.

The intention was right, after all. But then are good intentions enough? In the world of today, it seems they
are, for some of the people, all of the time.

The writer is a journalist.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

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Impunity isn‟t exactly

popularity
Jawed Naqvi Updated 15 Sep
2020

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

IT‟S a common error of perception to confuse political impunity with popularity. The distinction
makes a big difference in understanding the core features of fascism, which have mostly eluded South
Asia. Ziaul Haq‟s recourse to public flogging in Pakistan did strike terror in many hearts but he
crucially failed to win over the people. Pakistan acquired all the accoutrements of a fascist state,
except the missing popular support. Other Pakistani dictators have been shown the door by unarmed
people.

In Modi‟s India, TV channels bombard the gullible with a similar power projection. In this they work in
cahoots with web-based platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. The process is all in all a shabby attempt to
pass the state‟s impunity as the government‟s popularity.

Read | Facebook refused to check hate speech by India's BJP fearing business fallout: WSJ report

Friends condole with friends with great concern that India has gone fascist. They undermine a different way
of seeing it. Popular support for wilful dictators was a necessary ingredient in Italy and Germany in the
1930s. There‟s no compelling evidence — other than perennially fudged opinion polls — that Prime
Minister Modi has won himself invincibility any more than what everybody manages to get in India‟s first-
past-the-post electoral system.

Nehru with his winning streak offered to resign on at least two occasions. Indira Gandhi swept the elections
in 1971 and had to hide behind the emergency in 1975. How else can we explain the dichotomy between
Modi‟s two innings and the fact that half the Indian states run opposition governments, including Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, West Bengal, Punjab,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi? Why do cow vigilantes not succeed there? In several other states,
namely Manipur, Goa or Madhya Pradesh, Modi‟s BJP gained power by backdoor methods. And where
have the cow vigilantes disappeared in the beef-eating but BJP-ruled northeast?

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Friends condole with friends with great concern that India has gone
fascist.
What we are witnessing in India today is impunity, state-backed impunity. Some years ago, the late Dr
Mubashir Hasan was visiting India. His close association with Z.A. Bhutto had given him handy insights
into how democracies work and how they fail or fall short. In his view, Bhutto‟s gradually revealed lust for
unbridled power and his attendant insecurities laid low many hopes for robust democracy taking durable
roots in Pakistan. If anything, the lust for power contributed to the parting of East Pakistan.

Mubashir Sahib visited the erstwhile communist-ruled West Bengal and some other Indian states, possibly
Hyderabad, before it de-linked from Andhra Pradesh to become the capital of Telangana. His observation
was noteworthy. Any cadre-based (or caste-based) party can ally with state police to wreak havoc on the
opposition. The left thus terrified Mamata Banerjee as she does the left today. Dalit leader Mayawati was
feared by the powerful landed Thakur castes when she was in power. Now the Thakurs have the goods on
her. There‟s no guarantee of course that Thakurs or any caste works in unison, though they usually do.

The ruler of Uttar Pradesh walks with a spring today though he was bawling like a baby in the Lok Sabha
not too long ago. It was a sight to watch communist speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee consoling
Yogi Adityanath who cried bitterly over police harassment unleashed on him in Uttar Pradesh by a
backward caste government. Saffron-clad Yogi is of the Thakur/Rajput caste and has been putting some very
loveable people in prison. Erstwhile chief minister Rajnath Singh is also a Thakur, and was in fact a major
power within the BJP to contend with. He was party president, in fact. No more. Yogi the Thakur has
outsmarted Rajnath the Thakur. Inserting the Muslim trauma into the narrative at every pause is to play into
the hands of motivated TV anchors whose lifeline is the Hindu-Muslim binary.

There is a Muslim issue, a serious one, of course. However, its genesis precedes the arrival of Hindutva, and
the travails of the community are duly recorded in the Sachar Committee report among others, of how
shabbily Muslims have been treated since independence, including by the left in West Bengal in terms of
their gainful employment. Were the Dalits treated better? Or the tribespeople?

Read | Today's India is living the nightmares of its founding fathers

What Mubashir Sahib had gleaned from his visit is evident elsewhere. Rival groups in Tamil Nadu use the
police to their advantage and suffer at their hands in turn, depending on who is in the saddle on a given day.
In the Modi era, the lumpen proletariat, which was traditionally on the wrong side of the law, and suffered
for it, suddenly finds itself as local vigilantes with total support from the police thanas, the thanas where
they once used to be strung upside down from trees or wooden frames and tortured mercilessly for alleged
petty crimes.

By calling lumpens lumpens one often walks away from the problem, however. How does one bring the
shunned elements into the mainstream of everyday struggle and human fellowship? The left and liberals
largely used the term as a pejorative synonym for a veritably untouchable class; the BJP converted the
perceived social waste into gold. This lumpen proletariat is the purported brown shirts or the black shirts of
Hindu fascism. Are they that, or will they shift with the power base, as would the police, if Mubashir Sahib
is right?

There‟s a fear that haunts the BJP. It comes from a nationwide resistance of which Muslims are only a small
part. It is an invisible coalition of Dalits, Kashmiris, Sikhs, Christians, backward caste Hindus, tribals and
left activists (distinct from Maoists) and of course several mainstream parties.

The other day, Delhi Police named CPI-M chief Sitaram Yechury in the riots staged in Delhi by state actors
in February. Countless innocents have been arrested. Impunity is growing, Hindutva‟s appeal is waning.
Sudha Bharadwaj and Umar Khalid, Anand Teltumbde and Devangana Kalita, Gautam Navlakha and
Natasha Narwal and many others would agree from their respective prison cells.

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The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

Lost tradition
Amatuz Zahra Rizvi 15 Sep
0
2020
SINCE time immemorial, storytelling has existed not only as an art form but also as an integral part
of childhood across all cultures and civilisations.

But the contemporary era of ephemeral fads, virtual lives and rapidly changing technologies appears to have
diminished patience for the simple pleasures of childhood, such as storytelling. Only a generation ago in our
part of the world, storytelling was one of the simplest and purest forms of entertainment and learning in
children‟s lives. But the „modern‟ age has rendered this tradition „old-fashioned‟ with many people not
giving it much thought, or convincing themselves that storytelling is a waste of time and effort.

In the past, especially in the subcontinent, telling stories to children was not only a source of entertainment,
it was also a way to engage their imaginations and inculcate the desired values. Children would spend hours
with the elders of the family listening to fables and stories that carried forward centuries-old traditions
underscoring lessons about love, kindness, courage, integrity and forgiveness. Various stories provided
insight into human nature in an entertaining manner, explained how ordinary beings can perform
extraordinary deeds by choosing to do the right thing and how any individual can contribute towards making
this world a better place.

Such time spent with family elders also helped children develop intimate and impactful relationships with
their grandparents or parents because it allowed for a greater sharing of thoughts, feelings and desires among
generations. It also enhanced family ties, something that is slipping away in the present era. Listening to
stories was also a way for children to understand human nature and develop their emotional intelligence.

Storytelling sessions will help children value their heritage.

However, perhaps the most important function of these stories was that they honed children‟s language skills
and helped them develop a deeper understanding of their native languages. These stories involved repeating
specific words, idioms and phrases, thereby enriching children‟s vocabulary while also improving their
diction. This aspect of storytelling, besides helping children understand the subtleties of their mother tongue,
also enabled the development of a holistic personality.

I began to tell stories to my daughter when she was just a few months old. Now at eight years, her teachers
tell me that her vocabulary is that of an adult in both English and Urdu. She is also learning a third language
— Chinese — and she appears to be doing so with far more ease than her peers. This can be attributed to
listening of stories — primarily in Urdu (her mother tongue) from a very young age — as research suggests
that communication in one‟s mother tongue in the early years of life boosts the linguistic component of a
child‟s brain, ensuring sound linguistic skills for better communication and an understanding of others and
one‟s own life events. Such development also leads to better performance in academics and everyday life.
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Unfortunately, native languages are facing multiple challenges to stay relevant in most parts of the world,
including Pakistan. A legacy of our colonial past, our country‟s education system still struggles to promote a
foreign language while hindering the growth of native languages.

Another challenge is how new technology has become the go-to source of entertainment for many children.
Most of the content that is available online is in English, and this readymade, effort-free form of
entertainment for nuclear families has put storytelling on the back-burner.

The overall decline in the reading culture, increasingly demanding academic schedules of children and
dearth of well written stories in Urdu and other native languages have also contributed to the dwindling
interest in the endearing tradition of storytelling.

Storytelling can be revived at home by having weekly or fortnightly get-togethers with elders and children
participating in this age-old tradition. Similarly, schools can promote storytelling by inviting a family
member once or twice a month for storytelling sessions in local languages. These are inexpensive measures
and can be introduced by elite as well as low-cost schools in the country. This activity could also strengthen
the relationship between parents, teachers and school managements, which in turn, could boost the
children‟s academic performance.

Such a revival in schools and homes may encourage literary figures and other influential personalities to join
in the effort to revive a lost tradition and inculcate a sense of pride in children for their rich heritage and,
most importantly, allow them to enjoy their childhood in a world that is rapidly forgetting the importance of
this time of life.

The writer is an educationist.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

Absent innovation
Uzair M. Younus 15 Sep 2020

The writer is a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council and host of the podcast Pakistonomy.
LOOK around at the leading economies in the world and you will find that all of them have a robust
innovation ecosystem that is propelling their society, and the world at large, forward. These
ecosystems are expanding our ability to deal with climate change, transforming how we communicate,
harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to improve lives, and much more.

The Global Innovation Index (GII) compares the innovation capacity of 131 countries, measuring them
across 80 indicators to “explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education,

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infrastructure and business sophistication”. Pakistan ranks 107 out of 131, coming in behind the likes of
Rwanda, Tanzania and Nepal. Like many other global indices, this index offers a grim assessment of where
Pakistan stands.

Pakistan fares even worse in the human capital and research capacity pillar, coming in at 118 out of 131.
Countries like Zambia, Togo and Mozambique are ranked higher. One could look at Bangladesh‟s ranking
of 129 and argue that Pakistan isn‟t that worse off. However, doing so would ignore the fact that compared
to Pakistan, Bangladesh has developed a more solid foundation for human capital development in recent
years — over 93 per cent of Bangladeshis aged 15 to 24 years old are literate compared to 75pc of
Pakistanis, according to Unesco.

Pakistan is ranked 119 in the infrastructure pillar, behind the likes of Uganda, Senegal and Botswana. This
should not surprise anyone: Pakistan is a laggard in terms of broadband internet connectivity — the country
has about 50 million 4G connections, which is about 30pc of total subscribers; the average for South Asia is
43pc. The country also has a significant gender divide: about 40pc of women own mobile phones compared
to 93pc of men.

It is vital to expose students to modern technologies.

The index offers some bright spots, highlighting that Pakistan has the ability to compete with the rest of the
world: it ranks 87 in business sophistication and 69 in knowledge and technology outputs. Export data backs
this up: Pakistan earned almost $1.5 billion from July 2019 to June 2020. This is evidence that despite
significant challenges pertaining to human capital and infrastructure, Pakistan can competitively provide
technology services to the world.

To make progress, Pakistan‟s academic, business and policymaking community must come together to
execute a long-term innovation plan. Given the youth bulge, it is vital for the country to invest heavily in
improving youth literacy and expose students to modern technologies and creative thinking. It is also vital
for the government to place a greater emphasis on women‟s education and incentivise their entry in the
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Investing in improving higher education institutions, particularly those focused in engineering and
information technology, is a necessity. However, recent fiscal crises have led to cuts to the higher education
department‟s budget and the situation is unlikely to improve in the near-term.

One creative way to get around this short-term constraint is to accelerate the adoption of 4G internet across
the country and boost mobile penetration. Reducing the taxation and regulatory burden on technologies,
including new consumer hardware, can lower barriers for broadband internet access. This can allow citizens
to connect with the rest of the world and take advantage of the distributed learning opportunities that are
available for free on the internet.

Expanded access can be particularly empowering for young girls, many of whom face significant cultural
and religious barriers when it comes to accessing higher education.

By empowering society to innovate, Pakistan can grasp the opportunity provided by transformational
innovation to accelerate human and economic development. But to do so, the country must provide its youth
the space and freedom to clean up the catastrophic mess that it has inherited.

But this will only remain a pipe dream for as long as people in positions of power believe that the internet is
a corrupting influence that is eroding cultural values and undermining the youth‟s religious beliefs. In such
an environment, the preference to control the internet by banning apps and regulating content will
overpower long-term innovation needs of society.

These generational attitudes have stifled innovation and creativity for decades in Pakistan. Old men in power
continue to use their influence to constrain society‟s intellectual and cultural growth. As a result, younger
generations do not have the space to experiment, test new ideas, break down age-old traditions, and chart a
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new, more exciting path forward. The insistence on continuing with this failed experiment to control society,
which has neither eliminated vices like corruption nor led to equitable economic development, is folly.

The writer is a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council and host of the podcast Pakistonomy.

Twitter: @uzairyounus

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

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Dawn International News

UN begins annual meetings with
Kashmir on agenda
Anwar Iqbal Updated 15 Sep 2020

The Security Council’s agenda is set in accordance with the established rules and procedures and can only be
changed by a consensus.
UNITED NATIONS: The annual meetings of the United Nations began in New York on Monday with
Kashmir on the agenda as an unresolved dispute.

In doing so, the world body ignored India‟s efforts to remove the 72-year old issue from the UN Security
Council‟s agenda for this year. The council‟s Resolution 47, which calls for a peaceful resolution of the
Kashmir dispute, was adopted on April 21, 1948.

In his speech to the 75th UN General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Imran Khan “will once again
project the cause of the Kashmiri people and call for international action to end India‟s massive human
rights violations,” said Munir Akram, Pakistan‟s permanent representative to the UN.

The prime minister will also seek the undoing of illegal measures that India has imposed in Kashmir since
Aug 5, 2019, when it forcibly merged the occupied territory with the union, he added.

Mr Khan will address the UNGA on Sept 25 and will also participate in a high-level meeting on Illicit
Financing and the Summit on Biodiversity. All these are virtual events as the Covid-19 pandemic has
prevented world leaders from physically attending the 75th UNGA.

Since the illegal merger, India has been continuously trying to get the Kashmir issue removed from the
council‟s agenda, but Pakistan has successfully thwarted its moves.

The Security Council‟s agenda is set in accordance with the established rules and procedures and can only
be changed by a consensus. A member state cannot change the agenda unilaterally.

“We hope the General Assembly will uphold the right of self-determination and that human rights bodies
will demand access to investigate India‟s violations,” Ambassador Akram said.

Besides Kashmir, Pakistan will also work with other Muslim countries to get decisions that denounce
Islamophobia and protect Islamic religious sites.

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Pakistan will also join other developing nations to promote their objectives in finance, debt relief,
infrastructure investment and science and technology, Ambassador Akram said. Pakistan presently holds the
Presidency of the UN Economic and Social Council.

“The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to
multilateralism,” is the theme for the 75th session of the UN.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

Pakistan‟s efforts made Afghan

talks possible, says Bajwa
The Newspaper's Staff Reporter
Updated 15 Sep 2020

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa speaks to US Special Representative for Afghan
Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who called on him along with his delegation, on Monday. — APP
ISLAMABAD: With the United States seeking continued support for peace in Afghanistan, Chief of
the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Bajwa on Monday credited Prime Minister Imran Khan for
Pakistan‟s role in the start of intra-Afghan talks.

The COAS was talking to US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who was
visiting Pakistan along with his delegation.

Mr Khalilzad‟s latest trip to Pakistan came a day after the start of long-delayed dialogue between the
warring Afghan factions in Doha. The talks kicked off with a high-profile ceremony that was, besides the
Afghan government and Taliban delegations, attended by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, chairman of
Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and senior diplomats from several countries.

At the inaugural ceremony, a number of European countries praised Pakistan for its contributions to the
peace process.

Secretary Pompeo had at the ceremony thanked Qatar for its support and said his country “will never forget
the solidarity of our many allies and partners who have stood with us in the long struggle to end this war”.

Credits Imran for facilitating Doha dialogue

The Inter-Services Public Relations, the military‟s media affairs wing, said Mr Khalilzad “greatly
appreciated” Pakistan‟s role in the ongoing peace process saying “it could not have succeeded without
Pakistan‟s sincere and unconditional support”.

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Pakistan says it facilitated the US-Taliban agreement signed in February, got the warring sides to observe
ceasefire on Eid, and helped break the stalemate over the prisoners‟ release that had been delaying the start
of the intra-Afghan dialogue.

Gen Bajwa said: “Prime Minister Imran Khan has given clear vision regarding peace and connectivity in the
region and all elements of national power are united towards making that vision a reality to ensure long-
awaited peace, progress and prosperity in the region.”

In a statement on Mr Khalilzad‟s trip, the US embassy said he “stressed the need for ongoing regional and
international support for this historic opportunity for peace”.

Prime Minister Khan in his statement on the start of the talks had said Pakistan had fulfilled its role for
peace in Afghanistan though he assured that his government would continue to support the peace process.

It is believed that despite the stated commitment of all countries to an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led
process, external support would be required for the dialogue to succeed.

Till Sunday night, the talks in Doha had focused on “the schedule and principles for the upcoming
meetings,” to quote Taliban‟s political office spokesman Dr Mohammad Naeem. They still had not begun
discussing the contentious issues. Getting a ceasefire is likely to pose the biggest challenge to the progress of
the dialogue.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

Kabul presses ceasefire demand in

Taliban talks
Agencies Updated 15 Sep 2020

Delegates are seen before talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar September
12, 2020. — Reuters
DOHA: The Afghan government on Monday pressed its calls for a truce with the Taliban, reiterating
its desire for a long-term ceasefire at historic talks in Qatar.

The two sides are in the early stages of meetings in Doha as they try to hammer out a deal that would bring
19 years of bloodshed.

The head of the peace process for the Afghan government, Abdullah Abdullah, suggested that the Taliban
could offer a ceasefire in exchange for the release of jailed fighters.

Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi tweeted on Monday that the presence of government
negotiators at the talks “is aimed at achieving a ceasefire, ending the violence and ensuring lasting peace and
stability in the country”. The United States struck an agreement with the Taliban in February that will see it
withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

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The deal, which paved the way for the Doha negotiations, did not commit the insurgents to any reduction of
violence, only requiring that it be “an item on the agenda” in negotiations.

Schedules and a code of conduct for the talks were discussed in meetings on Sunday and were due to
continue on Monday, according to the government side, but talks on substantive issues are yet to get under
way.

Afghan government delegates warned that negotiations, which take place even as fighting continues in
Afghanistan, would be arduous and messy.

Nearly two decades since the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, fighting still kills dozens of people
daily and the country‟s economy has been shattered, pushing millions into poverty.

Officials said six police were killed in a Taliban attack in Kunduz at the weekend, while five officers were
slain in Kapisa province.

A roadside mine blast in the capital also wounded two civilians, while another blast hit Kabul district, .

During a speech at the opening event, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar repeated the
insurgents‟ message that Afghanistan should be run according to Islamic law.

Kabul graveyard
As Taliban and Afghan government negotiators met in Qatar, around 50 families gathered at a graveyard in
Kabul on Monday imploring them not to forget the rights of victims of violence.

Demonstrating families gathered at a cemetery where many of the victims of a 2018 bomb attack at a school
in west Kabul were buried.

One boy cried next to the grave of a classmate, another waved a banner reading in Dari: “Who represents the
victims in peace negotiations?”

Many of those gathered at the graveyard, some by the graves of their loved ones, called for lasting peace.

Raihana Hashemi, 28, whose sister was killed in a separate 2018 incident in which protesters were shot near
a school, said that around two months ago she and other families had created a “National War Victims
Network” to elevate concerns they were being forgotten during the peace process.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

Johnson says plan to break Brexit

treaty needed to counter EU‟s
„revolver‟
Reuters Updated 15 Sep 2020

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Johnson, who has a majority of 80 in the lower house of parliament, is facing a growing rebellion from lawmakers in
his Conservative Party. — Reuters
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday a bill that would break
international law by breaching parts of the Brexit divorce deal was needed because the European
Union had not taken a “revolver off the table” in trade talks.

Johnson accuses the EU of threatening to use the withdrawal treaty agreed in January to put up trade barriers
between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, and even to impose a food blockade, the latest
brinkmanship of a four-year saga since Britain voted narrowly to leave the bloc.

The EU says Johnson‟s plan would wreck trade talks and propel the United Kingdom towards a messy
Brexit. A derivatives industry source said on Monday the European Commission had delayed a decision on
euro clearing, ramping up the pressure.

As Britain‟s House of Commons began debating the Internal Market Bill, which the EU has demanded
London scraps by the end of September, Johnson said the bloc had shown in talks it was prepared to go to
extreme and unreasonable lengths.

He said the bill would stop the EU using part of the Brexit divorce deal relating to Northern Ireland as
leverage by threatening to block exports from elsewhere in the UK to the province.

“The intention of this bill is clearly to stop any such use of the stick against this country,” he said. “That‟s
what it does. It‟s a protection, it‟s a safety net, it‟s an insurance policy and it‟s a very sensible measure.”

However, Johnson, who has a majority of 80 in the lower house of parliament, is facing a growing rebellion
from lawmakers in his Conservative Party.

All of Britain‟s living former prime ministers have expressed concern about his plan.

His previous finance minister, Sajid Javid, said he could not support the bill unless it was amended.

“Breaking international law is a step that should never be taken lightly,” Javid said in statement. “Having
carefully studied the UK Internal Market Bill it is not clear to me why it is necessary to do so.” Conservative
lawmaker Rehman Chishti, who was Johnson‟s special envoy for freedom of religion, quit his role over the
issue while Johnson‟s former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, who is influential with colleagues, was also
critical.

“No British minister should solemnly undertake to observe treaty obligations with his fingers crossed behind
his back,” Cox said in The Times newspaper.

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, who was self-isolating due to a possible
coronavirus case in his household, said he would oppose a bill that broke international law.

Johnson‟s plan to explicitly break international law has plunged Brexit back into crisis less than four months
before Britain is finally due to leave the EU‟s orbit at the end of a transition period.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

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Pakistan, S. Arabia to cement

strategic ties
The Newspaper's Staff Reporter
Updated 15 Sep 2020

The resolve was expressed during a telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and
Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir. —
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Monday agreed on increasing the frequency of bilateral
visits for strengthening the strategic relationship.

The resolve was expressed during a telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi and Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir. “Underscoring close Pak-Saudi
fraternal ties, the FM reaffirmed commitment to further enhance this strategic relationship,” FO spokesman
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri tweeted.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020

India says China laying cables to

bolster communications at border
flashpoint in Ladakh
Reuters Updated 14 Sep 2020

Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops backed by tanks and aircraft are locked in an uneasy stalemate along a 70
km-long front to the south of the Pangong Tso lake in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. — AFP/ File

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Two Indian officials said Chinese troops were laying a network of optical fibre cables at a western
Himalayan flashpoint with India, suggesting they were digging in for the long haul despite high-level
talks aimed at resolving a standoff there.

Such cables, which would provide forward troops with secure lines of communication to bases in the rear,
have recently been spotted to the south of Pangong Tso lake in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, a senior
government official said.

China‟s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to questions on the matter from Reuters, while
defence officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops backed by tanks and aircraft are locked in an uneasy stalemate
along a 70 km-long front to the south of the lake. Each country has accused the other of escalating the
standoff.

A third Indian official said on Monday that there had been no significant withdrawals or reinforcements on
either side since the foreign ministers of the two countries met last week.

“It is as tense as earlier,” he said.

Above Leh, Ladakh‟s main city, Indian fighter planes flew throughout the morning, their engines booming
and echoing across the valley surrounded by brown, barren mountains.

“Our biggest worry is that they have laid optical fibre cables for high-speed communications,” the first
official said, referring to the lake‟s southern bank, where Indian and Chinese troops are only a few hundred
metres apart at some points.

“They have been laying optical fibre cables on the southern bank at breakneck speed,” he said.

Indian intelligence agencies noted similar cables to the north of the Pangong Tso lake around a month ago,
the second government official said.

The first Indian government official said the authorities were alerted to such activity after satellite imagery
showed unusual lines in the sand of the high-altitude deserts to the south of Pangong Tso.

These lines were judged by Indian experts — and corroborated by foreign intelligence agencies — to be
communication cables laid in trenches, he said, including near the Spanggur gap, among hilltops where
soldiers fired in the air recently for the first time in decades.

Indian officials say a build-up in border infrastructure on their side is also likely to have played a part in the
months-long confrontation.

The Chinese have complained about India building roads and air strips in and around their disputed border,
and Beijing says this triggered tensions along the border.

A former Indian military intelligence official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the
matter, said optical fibre cables offered communications security as well as the ability to send data such as
pictures and documents.

“If you speak on radio, it can get caught. Communications on optical fibre cables is secure,” he said.

The Indian military still depends on radio communications, the first official said, although he said it was
encrypted.

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0344-4224969
Daily Dawn Editorials by CSS Consultants

Basic English with Khubaib Chaudhary (CSS/PMS)

0344-4224969
Daily Dawn Editorials by CSS Consultants

Basic English with Khubaib Chaudhary (CSS/PMS)

0344-4224969
Daily Dawn Editorials by CSS Consultants

Basic English with Khubaib Chaudhary (CSS/PMS)

0344-4224969