ATTOCK, JUNE 7 (DNA) – The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak committee (PSGPC) along with other Sikh representative bodies staged a symbolic ‘registered protest on Attack on Golden temple” amid COVID-19 outbreak, to pay homage to the victims at Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal on Sunday.

On the 36th anniversary of Indian army attack on the most sacred and important Gurdwara for the Sikhs  “Darbar Sahib” – known as the Golden Temple in June 1984, PSGPC leaders along with other members of Sikh community staged protest in solemn solidarity with the Sikh community and families of the victims at Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal.

The Sikh community was carrying placards inscribed with different slogans like “Never forget 1984”, “6 June- we want justice”, “Sikhs can never forget 1984” and condemning the Sikh Genocide 1984. The protest was symbolic in nature due to SoP issued by the government and local administration in wake of COVID- 19. The protesting Sikh leaders also raised pro-Khalistan slogans during this protest.

“We are undertaking a genocide remembrance protest against the Indian government for attacking and demolishing the supreme Sikh throne Sri Akal Takht Sahib and to pay homage to the people who fought and to tell the government of India that we have not forgotten the bloodshed of thousands of Sikhs including women and children during operation Blue Star”, Said Pardhan of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Sardar Satwant Singh while addressing to protesting Sikhs.

He added that “We are observing the protest on the call of Sri Akal Takht Sahib- highest religious body of Sikhs”. Sardar Ameer Singh- Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee said the sacrifices of the thousand of Sikhs for their sacred caused would not go in vain and the struggle they launched would be carried forward till the logical conclusion.

During speeches, the leaders of the Sikh community also paid rich tribute to their slain freedom-fighting leader Sardar Jarnail Singh and his hundreds of followers who were ruthlessly killed by Indian troops in the first week of June 1984 at Golden Temple and Sri Akal Takhat Amritsar in ruthless operation Blue Star.

Later, the protesters later also performed Ardas (rituals) in the memory of those who perished during the heinous attack on Sikh religion followers in year 1984 in India.=DNA

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Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan

The red onyx clad room  (khooni Kumra)where we judges met at tea break was a frequent reminder of the dishonest partition award  for punjab given by Radcliffe. Gurdaspur district a Muslim majority area adjoins Jammu And  Kashmir southern border was among the districts-listed in the Indian Independence Act in Pakistan punjab.But the 16th August Award 1947  changed this by giving Muslim majority thesils to india.These were Gurdaspur, Batala, Ajnala, Jullundur,Nakodar, Ferozpur and Zira and part of Kasur..This led to riots ,huge exodus and massive killings of over a million people. While Radcliffe was flying back he was seeing below the bloodshed caused by the last minute dishonest changes he made in the award.

The book freedom at night gives us a factual picture of the consequences.

Why the award was altered so suddenly in favour of india.? According  to Radcliffe to save the railways and the canal system. This argument was never convincing neither did he ever give better reasons for taking an excursion from the principle of contagious communal majority  used for partition. Before leaving Radcliffe destroyed all his notes. .

Who influenced him ? All records  and opinions point towards Mountbatten  and  Nehru who was influencing  him although Mountbatten already had a Kashmir policy.

Beaumont secretary to Mountbatten in a written statement he deposited in 1989 at the All Souls College Oxford had said that “Radcliffe had in fact allocated Ferozepore and Zira tehsils to Pakistan” That. learning of this Mountbatten arranged lunch for Radcliffe and persuaded him to alter this position in favour of india under pressure from  Nehru.. And this was done .According to Beaumont  the viceroy was manipulating from behind the  boundary award.

Alastair Lamb in his book the Kashmir dispute1991 argues that the so called accession to India on 27th Oct 1947 was the end result of deliberate planning, begun well before independence and that it was orchestrated to a considerable extent by Mountbatten..It is argued that origins of the dispute have to be sought in the strategic outlook that the British acquired in regards to India’s vulnerable northern frontier.  So changing the boundary award meant giving strategic access to india for Kashmir.

In his book the agony of Pakistan sir  Ch Zafarulla khan who represented Pakistan before the commission and later before the UN  mentions how Mountbatten had been influencing the British Government and its U.N. representative at the UN against the strong case of Pakistan for self determination in Kashmir.

Ziegler the biographer of Mountbatten said there was good evidence that Mountbatten asked Radcliffe to change the award.

Mountbatten manipulated political changes by installing Justice Mahjan  of punjab as the Prime Minister removing mr Kak who was not agreeing to the conspiracy.  He gave his own plane to carry Mahjan . The lady Mountbatten was in the plane as well .The  Maharaja who was delaying his decision of accession to India too was influenced by Mountbatten    and Sh Abdulla a friend of mr Nehru of the National Congress.

I saw  Sh. Abdulla  at the Liquat gardens Rawalpindi when he visited Pakistan before Nehru’s death. Perhaps he was regretful of his past conduct in becoming s part of the conspiracy. But it was too late. Kashmiris had been betrayed by their own leader.

Kashmir is bleeding since over seventy years. The world is deaf towards the gross violations of their human rights  and state led crimes against humanity. The two nuclear countries were at war three times.  Daily there are breaches of the line of control .A lot of wasteful expenditure is being made for armament by both sides instead of amelioration of the teeming millions. So the pre- partition policy based on strategic considerations contemplated before partition and still nourished seem to be the great impediment. .

Any way legally speaking India is an occupying force , the territory is disputed . Any change in the india constitution has no validity in international Law. We have to expose the Indian brutalities before the world . This is the best we can do and keep Pakistan strong united and prosperous. . My salute to the Kshmiri martyrs of freedom and our soldiers who laid lives in defence.

In the end I supplicate the people and the government of Great Britain to mitigate the great wrong done to the people of Kashmir by Mountbatten and his team by using its influence in stopping Indian aggression against civilian population in Kashmir, altering its disputed status, and by addressing the UN using the norm of Respect 2protection.

Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan 

Chairman,

National Commission  for Human Rights, 

Government of Pakistan. Formerly: Chief Justice Of The Gambia

International Judge Of The UN at The Hague.

Co-Chairman, UNESCO Appeal Board-Paris, France.

Visiting Professor Of  Law at various universities.

TASHKENT (DNA) -The number of jobless people in Uzbekistan has also increased. In particular, according to early estimation, pandemic might impact the income of 450 thousand families. Employment provision and increasing peoples income is the priority of Uzbekistan’s policy.

To address these issues, the country has developed comprehensive and regional programs. Uzbekistan aims to introduce a single Social Registry by the end of 2020. It will be based on the 4 world recognized methods of calculating the poverty line and criteria. Subsistence level and minimum consumer basket regulatory framework will be developed by October 1.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the event on June 3 highlighted the necessity of developing the economy of territories with high unemployment and poor infrastructure, especially in border areas. In this regard, Uzbek Leader emphasized the feasibility of developing a program aimed at increasing employment and improving living conditions of the population, the development of infrastructure in lagging areas. Uzbekistan intends to use all available possibilities for reducing the poverty rate in the country.

 Particularly, in the agricultural sector, in the first half of this year it is planned to provide employment for 25 thousand people by putting 38 thousand hectares of land into circulation and 45 thousand people by the end of the year by developing another 51 thousand hectares.

Twenty thousand hectares of these lands will be transferred to low-income families. 120 thousand hectares released from grain will be allocated for re-growing crops. This might turn into a source of income for almost 300 thousand families. In addition, 107 projects worth 965 million dollars in cotton-textile clusters will create more than 28 thousand new jobs. The State Committee of Veterinary and livestock development will distribute breeding goats, 50 thousand families – a bird, 100 thousand families – rabbits to 28 thousand families with low-income. 85 thousand people will also be provided jobs in construction industry thanks to 3.6 trillion soums allocated from the Anti-Crisis Fund. Credit allocation program of family business is simplified to empower people to increase their incomes. All these measures will ensure a phased increase of the well-being of people. At the same time, the state does not stop working on ensuring strong social support for vulnerable segments of the population. Currently, there are 155 thousand families in Uzbekistan that have lost the bread-winner, 81 thousand low-income families with 5 or more children, as well as 16 thousand single elderly people. 540 thousand families with low-income received 307 billion soums assistance within «Kindness and Support» Nationwide Movement.

Another 992 billion soums of additional funds allocated and the balance of 70 billion soums in the «Kindness and Support» fund will be distributed among those in need. By the end of the year, more than 235 thousand additional families will receive financial assistance.

TASHKENT (DNA) -In the days after the first coronavirus cases were confirmed, Uzbekistan has implemented bold and early health and social distancing measures to depress the spread of COVID-19.

As observed in many other countries, the global economic slowdown and domestic containment measures have affected on households and businesses negatively nationwide in Uzbekistan. To lessen the impacts, the government has adopted a package of anti-crisis measures to increase health spending and enlarge social and business safety nets. In particular, the President of Uzbekistan has signed a US$ 1 billion economic relief plan to boost the economy and aid vulnerable population groups. Severity of the current crisis requires from countries to take extraordinary responses.

Several advanced countries implemented unconditional cash transfer programs that imply handing out money directly to the population. While these countries have an ample fiscal space, most developing countries have no choice but to be creative in terms of finding additional sources for more supporting measures.

In this sense, Uzbekistan has decided to go with unique path which guarantees the macro stability. In addition to abovementioned mechanisms, on April 20, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev put forward an initiative to establish a nationwide movement called «Sakhovat va Kumak» («Generosity and Support»), a joint effort of state and entrepreneurs to provide, on a voluntary basis, targeted charitable and sponsorship assistance to low-income and needy families. «Obviously, distribute money to everyone might look an easy solution. But no economist can predict what this will lead to tomorrow. Thus, we want to create a nationwide movement, «Generosity and Support»» said the President.

In order to implement this initiative, «Sakhovat va Kumak» Fund was established with the Government Decree of 22 April. The budget of the fund is set to be accumulated from the sponsorship and charitable funds of businesses and individuals and to be used primarily for targeted assistance during the quarantine period for families with many children and in need of social protection, persons with disabilities, elderly persons living alone, persons who are temporarily unemployed and who have lost their income. Means of support includes giving cash, food, daily consumer products and medicines.

The Board of Trustees of the Fund «Makhalla» manages accumulated funds at this fund, at the level of oblasts, districts and cities – corresponding Councils of people’s Deputies in regions. The activities of the people’s movement «Generosity and Support» are carried out in cooperation with the territorial offices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, banks and territorial divisions of social protection agency. On April 27, 2020, the Presidential Decree «On additional measures to support the population and businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic» was issued. This decree establishes that the donation of funds, goods and services to «Mahalla», «Generosity and Support», «Mehr-shavkat va Salomatlik», as well as to individuals who are on the list of persons in need of social support are deducted from income tax. Goods and services transferred for charitable purposes are not included in turnover tax and are exempt from value added tax. The Decree also stipulates that grants shall not be regarded as income of individuals if the beneficiaries are included in the list of persons in need of social support. Also, individuals are given an interest-free deferral on the payment of tax on the income of natural persons derived from the lease of residential and non-residential properties. Besides, the Decree introduces a procedure whereby, in 2020, the amount of material assistance exempt from income tax paid to an employee is increased from 4.22 to 7.5 times the minimum wage.

What is the rationale behind this decision? Given the financial constraint that countries face in crisis times, the best approach would be supporting the most affected people, not everyone. Secondly, as is the case in many developing countries, informal sector or people who work unofficially accounts for the significant part of employed population. That means, local entrepreneurs are equipped the most reliable information who are really in need of support. In other words, helping people through «Generosity and Support» mechanism will minimize the problem of information asymmetry. Thus, in analysing the social policies adopted in the context of the pandemic, it can be seen that it uses all possible mechanisms and instruments to mitigate the decline in the income and living standards of as many citizens as possible, particularly the most vulnerable. And using the mechanism of social partnership of the state and business, expands the possibilities of the implemented policy in this direction.

The creation of the popular movement «Generosity and Support» is reportedly widely welcomed by the public. Many entrepreneurs are already actively assisting the State in assisting vulnerable sectors of the population, including through participation in the Sponsorship Coordination Centre of the Ministry of Makhalla and Family Support. It should be emphasized, however, that this initiative is entirely voluntary and that any action aimed at forcing business to sponsor assistance will be severely suppressed. The creation of new formal jobs by entrepreneurs, in view of the preferences granted to them by the State, will also be an important factor in the reduction of the shadow sector and informal employment in the economy, which is in the interest of and operating under all business rules. Going forward, as pointed out by the President, «We must resolve without delay such pressing issues as guaranteed food and other necessary supplies for the 34-million people, prevention of loss of income of citizens, support of citizens needing help».

The President indicated that 14,000 new jobs could be created through agricultural cooperatives and home-grown greenhouses. In so doing, the State will grant a deferral or tax installment or credit to those farmers and entrepreneurs who will help poor families to farm on household plots, to allocate plots in their lands for the cultivation of secondary crops, promote home-based work. This will not only significantly reduce the social impact of the pandemic, but also contribute to the country’s economic potential through the creation of new jobs and increased production, which in turn help to improve the long-term income and living standards of the population.