BENGALURU: India’s coronavirus cases hit a record peak for a fifth day on Monday as countries including Britain, Germany and the United States pledged to send urgent medical aid to help tackle the crisis overwhelming its hospitals.

Infections in the past 24 hours rose to 352,991, with overcrowded hospitals in Delhi and nationwide turning away patients after running out of supplies of medical oxygen and beds.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the storm of infections had shaken the nation.

Hospitals and doctors have put out urgent notices saying they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.

The United States will immediately send raw materials for vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to help India respond to its massive surge in infections, President Joe Biden said on Sunday.

Germany will send oxygen and medical aid in the coming days, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday, while the European Commission has also said it aims to send oxygen and medicines.

India, with a population of 1.3 billion, has a tally of 17.31 million infections and 195,123 deaths, after 2,812 deaths overnight, health ministry data showed.

Health experts say the death count is probably far higher.

Outstanding performances from Rizwan and Hasan Ali helped Pakistan in securing a victory in the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday.

While chasing a par total of 166 in the third T20I, the home team put on a brilliant batting display but still ended up 24 runs short as they managed to score 141 in their allotted 20 overs at the expense of seven wickets.

Opener Wesley Madhevere finished the innings with the top score of 59 off 47 balls with the help of seven fours.

For the visitors, pacer Hasan was the star performer as he claimed four wickets and gave away just 18 runs in his quota of four overs.  

Earlier, after opting to bat first, Pakistan managed to post a par total of 165 for the loss of three wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rizwan played a brilliant knock of 91 not out off 60 balls with the help of five fours and three sixes.

He was well supported by captain Babar Azam who scored 52 off 46 balls with the help of five fours.

Pacers Luke Jongwe was the pick of the bowlers he claimed all three Pakistan’s wickets and gave away 37 runs in his quota of four overs.

For his outstanding batting performances, Rizwan was named the Player-of-the-Match and the Player-of-the-Series.

Both teams will now compete in the two-match Test series, starting from April 29.

ANKARA, APR 25 – U.S. President Joe Biden‘s declaration that the 1915 events during the Ottoman Empire period constituted genocide is “simply outrageous” and Turkey will respond in various ways over the coming months, Turkey’s presidential spokesman said on Sunday.

Biden broke on Saturday with decades of carefully calibrated White House comments over the 1915 events, delighting Armenia and its diaspora in the United States but further straining ties between Washington and Ankara, two NATO allies.

“There will be a reaction of different forms and kinds and degrees in coming days and months,” Ibrahim Kalın — the presidential spokesman and adviser — told Reuters in an interview.

Kalın did not specify whether Ankara would restrict U.S. access to the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, which has been used to support the international coalition fighting Daesh [ISIS] in Syria and Iraq, or other measures it may take.

Turkish officials swiftly condemned Biden’s statement on Saturday, and Kalın said Erdogan would address the issue after a cabinet meeting on Monday. “At a time and place that we consider to be appropriate, we will continue to respond to this very unfortunate unfair statement,” he said.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces in World War One, but denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.

TROUBLED RELATIONS

For decades, measures recognising the Armenian genocide stalled in the U.S. Congress and most U.S. presidents have refrained from calling it that, stymied by concerns about relations with Turkey and intense lobbying by Ankara.

But those relations are already troubled. Washington has put sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of Russian air defences, while Ankara has been angered that the United States has armed YPG terrorists in Syria and not extradited the U.S.-based FETO ringleader who has been accused of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.

Navigating those disputes will now be even harder, Kalın said. “Everything that we conduct with the United States will be under the spell of this very unfortunate statement,” he said.

Kalın said U.S. officials had told Turkey that the declaration would not provide any legal basis for potential claims of reparations over 1915 events.

Nevertheless, Erdoğan told the U.S. president when they spoke by phone on Friday, their first conversation since Biden took office three months ago, that it would be a “colossal mistake” to go ahead with his statement.

“To reduce all that to one word and try to implicate that Turks were involved, our Ottoman ancestors were involved in genocidal acts is simply outrageous,” Kalın said. “It’s not supported by historical fact”.

DNA

Islamabad, APR 25 – 150 prominent academics and civil society leaders have written a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan demanding the withdrawal of the HEC amendment ordinance and restoration of the HEC as an independent national regulatory body.

The government promulgated the HEC (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 on 25 March 2021, through which the tenure of the Chairperson was reduced from 4 to 2 years, the current Chair, Dr. Tariq Banuri, was removed from his position, and HEC was placed under the Federal Ministry of Education. 

The signatories of the letter include senior educationists, Vice Chancellors, journalists, former ambassadors, generals and other government officials, parliamentarians, and human rights activists. They include such names asLUMS founder Syed Babar Ali, human rights activists Ms. Hina Jilani, Mr. Harris Khalique and Mr. Karamat Ali, Council of Islamic Ideology Chair Dr. Qibla Ayaz, former VCsProf. Qasim Jan and Prof. Adil Najam, NCSW Chair Ms. Khawar Mumtaz, journalists Mr Hussain Naqi and Mr. M. Ziauddin, educationists Mr. ShamshKassimLakha, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali and Dr. Ayesha Razzaque, business leader Mr. Farooq Sumar, and former Senators Javed Jabbar and Farhat Ullah Babar,among many others.

The signatories expressed serious concerns that major decisions that affect the lives of millions of students were taken hastily and secretly by the Federal Government without consulting the parliament, the Council of Common Interests (CCI), or the Higher Education Commission. These are statutory bodies with a real stake in the issue.

The relegation of the status of the HEC from an independent national body, with representation from all provinces, to a subordinate entity of the federal government, will have implications for inter-provincial relations as well as the autonomy of higher education institutions.

The signatories questioned the logic behind reducing the term of the Chairperson to two years, stating that there is no evidence that shorter tenures will improve the quality of higher education. They also said that dismantling the statutory protection accorded to Chairperson’s tenure will render similar government’s commitments worthless, and that this will create sever problems of governance.

The letter points out that the incumbent Chairperson of HEC, Dr. Tariq Banuri is a Harvard trained Economist who was appointed on the recommendation of an independent selection board, composed solely of professionals with no participation along partisan political lines. Since his appointment he had initiated a series of reforms to bring greater transparency, accountability, and commitment to quality in the system of higher education. Removal of the Chairperson mid-way in his tenure will derail this agenda.

The letter demands that the HEC (Amendment) Ordinance must be rescinded, the Chairman be restored to his position, and the universityfunding restored to the levels required to bring the requisite improvements in the quality of education and research in the country.  

Myanmar’s newly formed National Unity Government (NUG) welcomed the five-point consensus on the coup crisis during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“This is what the National Unity Government has been calling for,” it said in a written statement released on Sunday.

The new government made up of opponents of the military regime also appreciated Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s strong words for Myanmar’s junta to release the detainees.

They stressed that they are waiting for a firm action by ASEAN to de-escalate the conflict.

“We eagerly await the engagement by the ASEAN Secretary General as mandated by this meeting. We look forward to a firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and restore our democracy and freedom for our people and for the region,” the statement read.

According to the ASEAN chairman’s statement issued after Saturday’s meeting, five points were agreed by the leaders or their representatives with the consent of the Myanmar junta leader.

ASEAN also agreed that “constructive dialogue among all parties concerned shall commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people.”

A special envoy of the ASEAN chair shall “facilitate mediation of the dialogue process,” they said, adding, the bloc shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre and the special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned.

In addition, the bloc emphasized the importance of Myanmar’s continued efforts in addressing the situation in the Rakhine state, including starting the repatriation process in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner.

The ASEAN leaders meeting was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on Saturday, presided over by current chair Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah from Brunei Darussalam.

State leaders or envoys from ASEAN countries attended the meeting, including Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar junta chief.