NEW DELHI, May 31 (DNA): Justification of the abrogation of the special
status of Jammu and Kashmir and endorsement of the controversial
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
during his address to the nation on Saturday drew strong criticism with
some political analysts saying Modi’s speech could trigger more anger in
Kashmir.

While commenting on the Modi’s address, the critics called the
assertions as a brazen attempt to deny the reality and further the
Hindutva agenda at a time when India should more be focusing on
mitigating the sufferings of the Kashmiri people and overcoming great
economic and health crises inside India and Jammu and Kashmir.

“Sadly, Modi lives in deep denial, and we are supposed to get used to
this denial of reality,” Siddiq Wahid, a Kashmiri professor at
Dadri-based Shiv Nadar University, told an Arab daily, adding that the
speech could trigger “more anger in Kashmir.”

“Kashmir is headed for more conflict — both domestic and international —
and anger. It is headed for more alienation,” he added.

Modi’s speech nearly two months after the lockdown is seen by political
analysts as a “brazen attempt to insult the sensibilities of the
people.”

Urmilesh, a Delhi-based political analyst and columnist who takes only
one name said that Modi’s actions in India and Kashmir had weakened
democratic credentials in the country. “Never before has democracy in
India looked so weak and as besieged as it is looking now. The action in
Kashmir and the citizenship legislation weaken the democratic
credentials of this nation. It’s unfortunate the prime minister openly
peddles such divisive agenda.”

The Modi’s address to the nation comes a day after India’s economic
growth was shown to have fallen steeply to 4.2 percent in 2019-20 from
6.1 percent in 2018-19.

“The economy has been doing badly since 2016. It was growing negatively
in the last two years due to lack of growth in the unorganized sector,”
Prof. Arun Kumar of the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University
said. DNA

===========

RAWALPINDI, MAY 31 (DNA) – Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan while acknowledging the social services of BTM Global and its dedicated team, has said that serving the suffering humanity  is the greatest virtue.

He made these remarks while addressing an event organized  by BTM Global to distribute food package among the migrated afectees of Surgan -Neelum valley at Kashmir Colony Chakri Road Rawalpindi.

Speaking as Chief Guest at the function, President Masood especially appreciated the BTM Global Chairperson Sumaira Farrukh for extending generous help to the people of Azad Kashmir and urged the participants to play their for alleviating the human sufferings. Terming Covid 19 as a dangerous and fatal pandemic, the president urged the people to take precautionary measures for containing the diseases from further spread

President Masood said before covid- 19 outbreak, the people of Sugan valley had suffered a horrible calamity of snow avalanche that claimed over 180 precious human lives and left many inured and maimed.

The State President said that Pakistan army had also played a pivotal role in rescuing affected population and providing them relief through helicopters. He said AJK government and number of NGOs had also served calamity hit people at this most critical time and he himself visited the affected area and consoled people and encouraged them to face the horrific situation with courage and bravery.

President while commending the efforts of Sumaira Farrukh chairperson BTM global has said that she and her Organization had provided food to almost all people of AJK districts and he has great appreciations and admiration for her social services . He said if people like her are alive, humanity would remain alive. He said Sumaira Farrukh is imbued with the passion of human service. Her heart feels the pain of people in trouble and though she lives in England but her heart beats with the people of AJK.

At this occasion, Mrs Farrukh said in her address that if she is engaged now in serving people of AJK, it’s all due to encouragement of president Masood Khan, who always provided guidance inspired her to do social work for the welfare of downtrodden and neglected segments of the society.

The event was also addressed by Mr Adnan Qadri and President Kashmir committee Neelam, Qari Orangzeb. Both the speakers highly appreciated President Sardar Masood for his matchless efforts to highlight Kashmir issue at global level and providing dynamic leadership to the people of Azad Kashmir.=DNA

==============

Tashkent, Uzbekistan,  MAY 31 – A high-level event on the theme “Accelerated implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Water Supply, Sanitation and Climate Action” was held at the UN in a video conference format, Dunyo news agency reported.

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the UN, Bakhtiyor Ibrahimov, acquainted the conference participants with the comprehensive measures taken by the government of our country to mitigate the harmful effects of the Aral Sea crisis on the environment and the livelihoods of the population living in the region.

Particular attention was paid to the activities of the UN Multi-Partnership Trust Fund for Human Security, established on the initiative of the President of our country, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, for the Aral Sea region, as well as the prospects for mobilizing additional financial resources for the effective implementation of projects and programs of socio-economic importance.

The event, which was attended by representatives of UN Member States, environmental experts, was part of the implementation of General Assembly resolution 73/226, “Mid-term comprehensive review of the International Decade of Action: “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028”. In particular, the resolution emphasizes the importance of the relationship between water and the environment and expresses concern that climate change may exacerbate global water scarcity.

Huma Balouch

Whenever the world experienced a health crisis, it provided an opportunity for creating major changes. For instance, all spheres of political leadership in the global system interact, reinforce, and implement adaptive decisions at much faster pace in response to humanitarian emergencies

The current financial market turmoil, crude oil prices slump and temporary truce in all armed conflicts around the world in response to the COVD-19 pandemic chaos makes it clear that the intrinsic value of health sector goes beyond its contribution to human development. The catastrophic impact of COVID-19 crisis and the highest one-day death toll being reported in developed countries starkly spotlights the centre of gravity on the health related issues that receive a lot less attention than economic sector, but are equally or perhaps even more crucialfrom a long-term development perspective for developed as well as developing countries. The massive educational, business, industrial and other workplaces closures hinge strongly on the premise that no one isleft behind in terms of health is crucial as a precondition and driving force for inclusive economic growth and development, poverty alleviation and universal access to education.

In view of inadequate responses to the Millennium Development Goals to overcome the challenges of a changing climate and weather extremes, conflict, inequality, hunger and malnutrition, water insecurity, rapid urbanization and disease outbreaks that left us all more vulnerable, several countries learned their lessons and responded far more rapidly to United Nations’ universal call to action for SDGs. As actions which may contribute to one of the SDG targets may also have an impact on other targets, SDGs are quite clearly more interdependent and integrated. Such recognition is especially crucial as some overarching issues, such as pandemics, can affect multiple targets simultaneouslyand exponentially. For instance, the ranking of some of the countries with leading positions according to their GDP (PPP) per capita drops significantly in the Human Development Index when economic dimensions of health inequality is taken into account.Likewise, the relationship between the role of health equity and growth in ICTs adoption also works both ways around. Such interlinked nature of SDGs and its explicit health-related targets provide a new context as there is a health component affecting achievement of many of the targets such as attaining gender equality, reducing poverty and improving education, not just those under SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being  – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).

Following the UN Sustainable Development Summit, held for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, and in response to the global emergence of more than thousand epidemic events in more than hundred countries in just 15 or so years, some hopeful signs were seen during 2016-2017, when UN Secretary-General’s Global Health Crises Task Force (in 2016) and WHO-World Bank joint Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (in 2017) were established to mobilize and strengthen collective national, international and multilateral action for global health security and emergency preparedness. But despite considerable economic upheaval caused by viral outbreaks, and clearly identified mechanisms and policy solutions by the relevant health panels, an overwhelming majority of countries failed to make a fundamental shift in their health policies and were unprepared for the next devastating pandemic outbreak.SDGs provided both an obligation and an opportunity to the leaders to rethink development systems and approaches to overcome problems to collective action in the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Whenever the world experienced a health crisis, it provided an opportunity for creating major changes. For instance, all spheres of political leadership in the global system interact, reinforce, and implement adaptive decisions at much faster pace in response to humanitarian emergencies. The current situation suggests a clear need to adopt a coordinated approach which may not focus solely on overcoming the crisis but ensure effective short and long-term initiatives with engagement of all political stakeholders, civil society actors, private sector and public institutions to better design the frameworks and responses to make the best use of the synergies between different goals as well as to manage aftermaths of pandemics.One such capacity that is now more relevant than ever is of the digital and mobile technologies in healthcare delivery system.

Calls for concerted action for strengthening the institutional foundations to support developing countries in their efforts to harness S&T for their sustainable socio-economic uplift came following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992. One of the earliest and thoughtful contributions made in this vein was by Pakistani Nobel Laureate, Prof. Dr. Abdus Salam, whogave the idea of establishing an Intergovernmental platform, the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), for providing visionary leadership to developing countries for utilizing and mobilizing STI as an integral component of strategies for promoting sustainable development.

At its inception as a high level forum of regional cooperation in S&T, represented by Heads of State/Government, COMSATS assumed an advocacy role for sensitizingthe relevant government machinery in its 27 Member Statesfor investing in STI for development and encouragingthe decision-makers to strongly interact with the scientific communityto incorporate relevant mechanisms and policies in their activities and development agenda. A platform for the latter was also made available in the form of a network of 22 renowned International Science and Technology Centres of Excellence. COMSATS is mandated to facilitate achievement of sustainable socio-economic development in the South long before the realization of 2030 Global Agenda. The major initiatives of COMSATS that laid solid foundations for STI development included, inter alia, establishment of high-quality educational institutions (COMSATS University) and Infrastructure (COMSATS Internet Service); International Thematic Research Groups (ITRGs) for promotion of cutting-edge research using multi-, Inter-, and transdisciplinary approach; COMSATS Telehealth program (CTH) pioneer in using ICTs application for providing healthcare in community-based settings; COMSATS Centre for Climate & Sustainability (CCCS) a broad coalition of academic and research institutions and organizations working on environmental risks to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and various group training courses and workshops for technologists and practitioners from its Member Countries for building and strengthening education and research capacities.

To join and support COVID-19 response efforts and to carry on the momentum of progress towards achieving SDGs, COMSATS aims to give better insight into wide range of social, economic and environmental determinants of health, bring the regional- and national-level discussions with a multi-sectoral approach on mitigating the socio-economic impact of this crisis and alongside improving capacities and skills of personnel working across health and health-related disciplines.

Huma Balouch, is Senior Assistant Director at COMSATS Secretariat, working to promote and map awareness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among COMSATS’ Network