Reckless India’s unilateral decision on Kashmir is a ‘geo-political trickery’ that may have ‘actual consequences that India can’t control’, Chinese government’s mouthpiece Global Times said in an editorial.
Warning India that “a nationalist India has no future” in an editorial titled ‘Unilateral move will incur risks for India’, Global Times said: “New Delhi is too reckless on border issues. It keeps taking unilateral actions and breaking the status quo with impact on the regional situation.
“Its actions challenge surrounding countries’ interests, but it wants these countries to swallow the provocation and accept the new facts made by India,” it said.
“If New Delhi uses nationalism to support its reckless diplomatic moves, a vicious spiral will be launched,” the editorial warned.
“New Delhi is much too confident. India’s 2019 general elections consolidated the Modi administration’s power and status,” it said.
The Global Times, known to carry the views of the ruling Communist Party, also said that opposition to India’s decision by “Pakistan and Muslims in India-controlled Kashmir may have actual consequences”.
“If the Muslims collectively oppose India’s move, it is hard for India’s system to control the situation. We do not see that India has the political and other resources to fully take over the area.”
Accusing the US and the West of “conniving with India”, it alleged that “India also thinks China is busy at the trade war and the Belt and Road Initiative, and so it is a good time to act on border issues”.
“Kashmir is a disputed area in which three large India-Pakistan wars broke out in the 20th century. Pakistan is mostly impacted by India’s move,” it said.
“It would be “unimaginable if Pakistan does not take strong countermeasures,” it added.
Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and announced this by taking to social media on Saturday afternoon.
The swashbuckling all-rounder tweeted, “I’ve been feeling unwell since Thursday; my body had been aching badly. I’ve been tested and unfortunately I’m covid positive. Need prayers for a speedy recovery, InshaAllah”
I’ve been feeling unwell since Thursday; my body had been aching badly. I’ve been tested and unfortunately I’m covid positive. Need prayers for a speedy recovery, InshaAllah #COVID19#pandemic#hopenotout#staysafe#stayhome
Earlier in May, Afridi had bought a cricket bat auctioned by Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim in a bid to raise funds to help fight the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The ICC said that former Pakistan captain Afridi has decided to join the noble cause by buying the bat on behalf of his charity foundation for $20,000. “Mushfiqur Rahim has found a buyer! Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has joined the good cause, picking up the bat on behalf of his charity foundation,” the ICC tweeted.
Earlier in May, Afridi had bought a cricket bat auctioned by Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim in a bid to raise funds to help fight the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The ICC said that former Pakistan captain Afridi has decided to join the noble cause by buying the bat on behalf of his charity foundation for $20,000. “Mushfiqur Rahim has found a buyer! Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has joined the good cause, picking up the bat on behalf of his charity foundation,” the ICC tweeted.
Islamabad: For the first time in 68 years, Pakistan’s economy has marginally contracted by 0.38% in the outgoing fiscal year due to adverse impacts of novel coronavirus coupled with economic stabilisation policies that had hit the industrial sector much before the deadly pandemic.
Except for the agriculture sector that grew 2.7%, the industrial and services sectors witnessed negative growth rates, pulling the overall growth rate down to negative 0.38% in the fiscal year 2019-20, ending on June 30. The per capita income in dollar terms has also dipped to 1,366 – a contraction of 6.1%, but it increased in rupee terms to Rs214,539.
GDP shrinks to $266b, per capita income goes down to $1,366
The National Accounts Committee approved the provisional gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the outgoing fiscal year besides a downward revision of the economic growth rate for the first year of the PTI government. For fiscal 2018-19, the NAC cut the provisional growth rate of 3.3% to 1.9%, which is the lowest in 11 years.
The SBP’s quest for hot foreign money has adversely hit the industries even much before the Covid-19 started impacting the economy. In the end, neither the hot foreign money stayed in Pakistan nor the country achieved sustainable economic growth. There is a need to investigate the sources of hot foreign money inflows in Pakistan that created an artificial sense of economic stability.
Former finance minister Dr Hafiz Pasha had disputed the PTI government’s claim of a 3.3% growth rate and instead claimed a year ago that the growth in the first year of the PTI government was 1.9%. His assessment has become true and finally admitted by the government.
The Planning secretary chaired the National Accounts Committee meeting, which has representation of all the federal and provincial departments concerned, including the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
It is for the first time since 1951-52 that Pakistan’s economy contracted, although the pace of contraction was far lower than -1.5% growth rate predicted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the finance ministry and the SBP.
The GDP — the monetary value of all goods and services produced in a year — is projected to have a negative growth rate of 0.38% during the fiscal year 2019-20 ending on June 30, according to the NAC. These estimates are based on six to nine months provisional data projected for the whole year and adjusted for the impact of Covid-19 followed by the lockdown, it added.
The economic contraction coupled with currency devaluation has caused the size of the economy — in the US dollar terms — to slip to around $265.6 billion from $280 billion a year ago. At the end of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s term, the size of the GDP in dollar terms was $313 billion.
The GDP at the current market prices stands at Rs41.7 trillion for 2019-20. This shows a growth of 9.9% over Rs.37.9 trillion for 2018-19 due to double-digit inflation. The per capita income for 2019-20 has been calculated as Rs214,539 for 2019-20, showing a growth of 8.3% over Rs198,028 during 2018-19. However, in dollar terms, the per capita income has shrunk by 6.1% to $1,366.
The NAC also confirmed the 5.53% economic growth rate for the last year (2017-18) of the PML-N government. The growth came largely from the services sector, which was less job intensive.
Planning Secretary Zafar Hasan chaired the 102nd meeting of the NAC that endorsed the provisional economic growth rate figure on the basis of data received from the federal and provincial governments.
It was the second meeting of the NAC in the past three days. Earlier, on Friday the NAC tried to approve a -0.34% GDP growth rate for the last fiscal year but some members objected to the methodology. The figure is provisional and subject to variation until the final results are available at the end of the fiscal year.
The economic contraction depicts the challenges that the PTI government faced in its second year in power and the miseries caused by the Covid-19 that hit the world at the beginning of December 2019. However, Pakistan started getting affected by the pandemic in the fourth week of March and the government has now completely lifted the lockdown.
Almost every sector of the economy witnessed negative growth. The provisional growth rate in the second year of the PTI was significantly lower than the pace needed to absorb the youth bulge. In the pre-Covid-19 situation, the IMF and the finance ministry had a projected 2.4% growth rate due to stabilisation policies adopted under the Fund programme.
About 87% of the growth came from the services sector and its share in the total size of the economy has increased to 60%. The sectoral shares of various sectors in the economy have also slightly changed. The agricultural sector’s weight in the GDP has further reduced to 18.99% from 19.27% a year ago.
The industrial sector’s weight in the size of the economy was 20.8% a year ago that has gone down to 20.58%. However, the share of the services sector, which is less job intensive, has increased to 60.43%.
The government missed the growth targets set for the services, agricultural and industrial sectors with a wide margin. The sub-sectors of electricity generation, housing services, general government services, and other private services relatively performed better.
The electricity generation and gas distribution is the only sector that outperformed others, as its growth stood at 40.5% against the 10% target set for the outgoing fiscal year.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, will formally announce a provisional growth rate of 3.3% on June 11 with the release of the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20.
Agriculture
After witnessing a 0.6% growth rate in the last fiscal year, the agricultural sector grew this time by 2.7%. But the government missed all its sub-sector targets except forestry and other crops. The government had set a target of 3.5% growth in the agricultural sector for this fiscal year.
The production of major crops increased by 2.9% and other crops by 4.6%. Cotton ginning contracted by 4.6%, according to the NAC. The livestock sector grew by 2.6% and the forestry sector grew by 2.3%. The fishing sector grew by only 0.6% against the 4% target.
Cotton production declined by 6.9% to 9.2 million bales. The production of rice increased by 2.9% to 7.4 million metric tons but sugarcane production fell by 0.4% to 66.9 million metric tons. The output of wheat grew by 1.7% to 24.94 million metric tons. The production of maize showed a growth of nearly 6% to 7.2 million metric tons.
Industries
The industrial sector is the worst hit by the Covid-19 situation, although there was a partial lockdown in the country and some industries kept running. The sector was already facing the brunt of the heavy taxation and unrealistically tight monetary policies that the SBP pursued the sake of hot foreign money.
The government missed some key sectoral targets except for slaughtering, electricity generation, and construction. Against a target of 2.3%, the output in the industrial sector stood at -2.64%. For the previous fiscal year too, the NAC revised the economic growth rate down to -2.2%.
The output of large-scale manufacturing contracted by 7.8% in this fiscal year while small-scale manufacturing grew 1.5% after the government adjusted the adverse impact of the Covid-19.
The slaughtering sub-sector grew at a pace of 4.1%, electricity generation and distribution by 17.7% and mining and quarrying sub-sector registered a negative growth of 8.82%. The construction sector also posted a growth of 8% this year as against a negative growth of 16.7% in the previous fiscal year.
Services
The services sector, which accounts for 60.4% of the size of the economy, contracted by 0.6% against the target of 4.6%. The wholesale and retail trade sector posted -3.4% growth against the target of 3.9%. The transport, storage, and communication sub-sector saw a -7.1% growth rate. The finance and insurance sector marginally grew by 0.8%, housing services grew 4%, general government services by 3.9% and other private services grew by 5.4%.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order authorising sanctions against individuals involved in an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into whether U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
A senior White House official, without providing details, said the ICC probe is “being pushed forward by an organisation of dubious integrity” and accused Russia of having a role.
The order authorises Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to block assets in the U.S. of ICC employees involved in the probe, the official said.
It also authorises Mr. Pompeo to block entry into the U.S. of these individuals.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly assailed The Hague-based ICC set-up to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.
Afghanistan is a member of the ICC, though Kabul has argued that any war crimes should be prosecuted locally. The U.S. government has never been a member of the court, established in 2002. The government imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions against ICC employees a year ago.
The ICC decided to investigate after prosecutors’ preliminary examination in 2017 found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the ICC has jurisdiction.
The senior administration official said the directive authorises sanctions against any individual directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate U.S. personnel without American consent.
‘Mass killings’
The official said the probe threatens to infringe on U.S. sovereignty and that while the ICC was established to provide accountability, “in practice the court is an unaccountable, ineffective and out-of-control international bureaucracy that threatens American service members and intelligence officers.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA.
New York: States are rolling back lockdowns, but the coronavirus isn’t done with the US.
Cases are rising in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.
In Arizona, hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst. Texas has more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than at any time before. And the governor of North Carolina said recent jumps caused him to rethink plans to reopen schools or businesses.
There is no single reason for the surges. In some cases, more testing has revealed more cases. In others, local outbreaks are big enough to push statewide tallies higher. But experts think at least some are due to lifting stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, and other restrictions put in place during the spring to stem the virus’s spread.
The increase in infections pulled stocks down sharply Thursday on Wall Street, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 1,500 points lower and placing the S&P 500 on track for its worst day in nearly three months. The infections dampened recent optimism that the reopening of businesses would drive a relatively quick economic recovery.
The virus is also gradually fanning out.
It is a disaster that spreads, said Dr. Jay Butler, who oversees coronavirus response work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s not like there’s an entire continental seismic shift and everyone feels the shaking all at once. That is also happening globally. Places that suffered early on such as China, Italy and Spain have calmed down but Brazil, India and other countries that were spared initially are seeing large increases. The world is seeing more than 100,000 newly-confirmed cases every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The virus first landed on the U.S. coasts, carried by international travelers infected abroad. For months, the epicenter was in northeastern states. More recently, the biggest increases have been in the South and the West.
The AP analyzed data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer organization that collects coronavirus testing data in the United States. The analysis found that in 21 states as of Monday, the rolling seven-day average of new cases per capita was higher than the average seven days earlier.
Some worry the situation may get worse as social distancing restrictions lift and more people gather. One concern is that large recent racial justice protests across the country might spark at least some spread of the virus.
Another: President Donald Trump this week said he’s planning to hold rallies that may draw thousands of people. He will hold them in four states Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. All of them are among the states with rising cases identified in the AP analysis.
Here’s what’s driving increases in some of the states with notable upticks: ARIZONA
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey ended Arizona’s stay-at-home order on May 15 and eased restrictions on businesses. Arizona residents who were cooped up for six weeks flooded Phoenix-area bar districts, ignoring social distancing guidelines.
The state began seeing a surge of new cases and hospitalizations about 10 days later.
It seems pretty clear to me that what we’re seeing is directly related to the end of the stay-at-home order, said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.
It wasn’t just that the order ended: There were no requirements to wear face masks, no major increases in contact tracing to spot and stop evolving outbreaks, and no scale-up of infection control at nursing homes, he said.
Those are missed opportunities that, if implemented today, could still make a big difference, said Humble, a former director of the state Department of Health Services.
Testing has been increasing in Arizona, which raises the chance of finding new cases. But the proportion of tests coming back positive has also been on the rise.
The AP analysis found Arizona had a rolling average of fewer than 400 new cases a day at the time the shutdown was lifted, but it shot up two weeks later and surpassed 1,000 new cases a day by early this week. Hospitalizations have also risen dramatically, hitting the 1,200 mark last week.
The state also passed another grim milestone last week, recording its 1,000th death.
Meanwhile Arizona hospitals reported they were at 83% of capacity Tuesday, which could force the cancellation of elective surgeries. An executive order Ducey issued in April said hospitals wanting to resume elective surgeries had to have at least 20% of their beds available.
Washington: The White House is floating a theory that travel from Mexico may be contributing to a new wave of coronavirus infections, rather than states’ efforts to reopen their economies.
The notion was discussed at some length during a meeting of the administration’s coronavirus task force in the White House Situation Room Thursday that focused, in part, on identifying commonalities between new outbreaks, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussions.
COVID-19 cases are currently rising in nearly half of states across the country, according to an Associated Press analysis. That includes Arizona, where hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst, and Texas, which now has more hospitalized patients than ever.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was deploying teams to Arizona and other hotspots to try to trace the outbreaks and contain them, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly describe internal conversations. CDC officials and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In addition to Arizona, other states experiencing recent spikes of infections include California, Texas and North Carolina particularly within the Hispanic community.
As a result, the task force is looking at whether those spikes may be tied to legal travel between the U.S. and Mexico, which is experiencing an ongoing severe coronavirus outbreak.
Mexico has had more than 133,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 16,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University dramatically fewer than the U.S., which has surpassed 2 million cases and more than 113,000 deaths.
The U.S. and Mexico entered into a joint agreement in March to restrict non-essential travel along the countries’ border to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, though American citizens and many others are still allowed entry to the U.S., including those conducting commercial traffic and agricultural workers.
Still, cross-border travel is down substantially, and the U.S. State Department continues to urge Americans to avoid all international travel due to the pandemic.
Trump has long tried to used Mexico as a scapegoat, painting the country as a source of crime and disease in the U.S. And he has used the pandemic crisis to push forward some of his most hard-line stalled immigration proposals, including blocking asylum cases and placing new limits on green cards.
In addition to its theory about Mexico, members of the White House task force were also exploring other potential causes for the recent uptick in numbers, noting that circumstances likely differ by location.
Delays in test reporting and the fact that some infected people take multiple tests in order to get an all-clear to return to work are among the other theories that are being explored, but would not account for the increase in hospitalizations seen in some states.
Seoul: North Korea said on Thursday the United States has no standing to comment on inter-Korean affairs, and it is in Washington’s interest to stay quiet if it wants the upcoming presidential election to go smoothly, state media reported.
The statement comes after the U.S. State Department said it was disappointed at North Korea for suspending communication hotlines with South Korea on Tuesday.
“If the U.S. pokes its nose into others’ affairs with careless remarks, far from minding its internal affairs, at a time when its political situation is in the worst-ever confusion, it may encounter an unpleasant thing hard to deal with,” Kwon Jong Gun, director-general for U.S. affairs at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said in comments carried by state news agency KCNA.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rear center, attends a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in North Korea Photo Credit: AP
The United States should “hold its tongue” and address its own domestic problems unless it wants to “experience a hair-raiser,” he said.
“It would be good not only for the U.S. interests but also for the easy holding of upcoming presidential election.”
It is unclear what North Korea would do to disrupt the election or cause problems for U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, said James Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
“If anything, there’s a chance that provocation may even rally the country around the incumbent,” he said.
After a series of historic summits in 2018 and 2019 between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, little progress has been made in dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons programme, and Pyongyang has expressed increasing frustration with Washington’s refusal to ease sanctions.
North Korea said on Tuesday it would sever hotlines with South Korea after days of lashing out at Seoul for not stopping defectors from sending leaflets and other material into the North.
On Wednesday, South Korea said it would take legal action against two organisations that conduct such operations.
Pakistan’s iconic singer Atif Aslam has put speculation to rest, about him bidding adieu to the music industry.
During an interview with Hamid Mir on Geo News’ Capital Talk, the 37-year-old addressed the rumours going rife about his exit from Pakistan’s music scene.
Atif Aslam addressed the rumours going rife about his exit from Pakistan’s music scene
“The topic of leaving the music industry is one that’s quite personal. But I want to keep myself attached to my religion while still being part of the world. I won’t say I will be giving up on music entirely, but I want to highlight important aspects of religion like the 99 names of Allah and Tajdar-e-Haram.”
“I feel happy knowing that there are youngsters who are not just listening to my music but are also getting inclined towards these things. But I am still not quitting music.”
Speaking about the recitation of Azaan that recently took the internet by storm after the coronavirus broke out in Pakistan, Atif said he had a longstanding wish of reciting the Azaan at the Holy Ka’bah in Mecca, which is where the idea stems from.
گلوکار عاطف اسلم @itsaadee کی خواہیش ہے کہ انہیں خانہ کعبہ میں اذان دینے کی سعادت مل جائے ہم سب دعا کرتے ہیں کہ عاطف اسلم کی یہ دعا جلد از جلد قبول ہو جائے آمین #AtifAslampic.twitter.com/mCp4z2AZF8
“I had heard that during the times of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), people used to go up to their roofs to recite the Azaan. That’s where the idea came from and I just went with it without a second thought,” he said.
“A day before recording it, I couldn’t sleep at night and couldn’t hold my eagerness. The feeling was beyond words. I never thought I’d be blessed enough to get a chance like this,” he added.
He further shed light on his recent Coke Studio performance of Asma-ul-Husna [the 99 names of Allah], which received massive acclaim from around the world.
“In life, we do a lot of things, some are virtuous some are sins. I was lucky enough to have performed Tajdar-e-Haram, and I consider myself very lucky to have gotten a chance to perform Asma-ul-Husna. I can’t explain the feeling I got while I was reciting the names.”
Karachi: Spin consultant and mentor of the Pakistan team, Mushtaq Ahmed says more than the skills, the players’ mental strength will matter when top-level cricket resumes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in England.
Ahmed, who recently joined the national set-up, said the series between England and the West Indies will provide lessons as the game is set to resume with that series, starting July 8.
“I think we are going to learn a lot from the West Indies and England series and in the Covid-19 conditions. More than the skills, the mental strength of players will matter a lot. In these difficult circumstances the role of mentors have become very important,” he said.
The Pakistan team is likely to reach England around June 25 to start preparations for their Test and T20 series in a bio-secure environment including remaining in a 14-days quarantine and having nets and practice drills and matches in isolated conditions.
Ahmed also made it clear that the new-look management of the Pakistan team including head coach Misbah-ul-Haq, bowling coach Waqar Younis, batting coach, Younis Khan and he himself were all on the same page and realised the importance of playing in England.
“Players and coaches will require some time to adjust to the new playing conditions and playing in front of empty stadiums. I think the time we have in England before the series will be spent on preparing the players mentally for these challenges.”
“For cricket activities to start in Covid-19 conditions is a tough ask of the players.”
Mushtaq who has worked as spin consultant with teams like England and the West Indies said if the upcoming two series in England go off well then world cricket can slowly get back to normalcy within this year.
“That is why these two series are so important. We have to see how players, especially bowlers, adjust to the new rules like not using spit to shine the ball. We have to see how this will affect performance of the bowlers,” he said.
Sharif (69), a cancer survivor, was currently isolating at home, Geo News quoted spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb as saying, adding that the Leader of Opposition was following his doctors’ advice on how to fight the infection.
Shehbaz Sharif, President of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a party spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
Mr. Sharif (69), a cancer survivor, was currently isolating at home, Geo News quoted spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb as saying, adding that the Leader of Opposition was following his doctors’ advice on how to fight the infection.
Speaking to Geo Pakistan, PML-N representative Ata Tarar revealed that Shehbaz, also the brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had himself tested for COVID-19 after showing mild symptoms of the infection.
He said that the result of the test came back positive on Wednesday evening.
Shehbaz Sharif had appeared on Tuesday at NAB Lahore after he was summoned by the anti-graft body to answer questions related to the assets beyond means and money laundering case.
Earlier this week, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal had tested positive for COVID-19.
PML-N spokesperson Ms. Aurangzeb and her mother had also contracted the virus.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Memon also tested positive for the contagion. Memon is currently under self—isolation as well.
MQM lawmaker Shahana Ashar had also tested COVID-19 positive during the assembly session.
Last week, member of Punjab Assembly Shaukat Manzoor Cheema succumbed to the disease, after a month long battle with the deadly virus, The Express Tribune reported.
MPA in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel, and Sindh human settlement minister Ghulam Murtaza Baloch also lost their lives to the virus in the same week.
Four other members of the K—P Assembly, Faisal Zeb Khan, Salahuddin Khan, Zeenat Bibi, and Jamshed Khan, also tested positive for the virus in the previous week.
The nationwide tally currently stands at 117,172 and the virus has claimed at least 2,317 lives in the country.
