UK’s Sunak to provide 5 billion pounds of grants to pandemic hit businesses in budget

LONDON: British finance minister Rishi Sunak will announce 5 billion pounds ($7 billion) of additional grants to help businesses hit hard by pandemic lockdowns in his budget statement next week, the government said on Saturday.

Shops, bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, gyms and hair salons would be among nearly 700,000 companies eligible for new direct cash grants of up 18,000 pounds.

The government said the funding takes the total spent on direct grants to businesses during the crisis to 25 billion pounds.

Encouraged by the rapid roll-out of vaccines, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled a route out of lockdown for England. However, some businesses will need to remain shuttered until the summer.

“There’s now light at the end of the tunnel and this 5 billion pounds of extra cash grants will ensure our high streets can open their doors with optimism,” said Sunak.

Local authorities in England will also get an extra 425 million pounds to distribute grants to businesses not eligible for the restart grants, while the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive 794 million pounds of extra funding.

The government has already racked up more than 280 billion pounds in coronavirus spending and tax cuts, pushing Britain’s borrowing to its highest level since World War Two.

While Sunak’s March 3 budget will include more spending to prop up the economy during what he hopes will be the last phase of lockdown, he will also probably signal tax rises ahead to plug the huge hole in the public finances.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sunak said he would use the budget to level with the public over the “enormous strains” in the country’s finances, warning that a bill will have to be paid after further coronavirus support.

Earlier on Saturday the government said Sunak is also expected to announce an initial 12 billion pounds of capital and 10 billion pounds of guarantees for the new UK Infrastructure Bank.

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Over 600,000 migratory birds flocked to Sindh this year: survey

KARACHI: More than 600,000 migratory birds visited Sindh this year (2020-21), according to a survey carried out by the provincial wildlife department.

Every year, the department carries out a survey of migratory birds, particulary waterfowls, visiting the province’s wetlands like Nariri Lagoon, Charwo, Phoosna, Runn of Kutch, Manchhar Lake, Lungh Lake, Sukkur Barrage, Mehrano, Kursh, Acch, Keenjhar, Haleji, Hub Dam, Hawksbay, Ibrahim Hyderi, Korangi Creek, and coastal wetlands of Thatta, Sujawal and Karachi.

Every year #Wildlife Department #GoS carries out migratory bird particularly waterfowl survey. Similarly this year’s (2020-21) survey held from 27th January to 18th February.
Many wetlands like Nariri Lagoon, Charwo, Phoosna, Runn of Katch,
Manchhar lake, Lungh Lake, 1/5 pic.twitter.com/t99uoGhhcp

— SindhWildlife (@sindhwildlife) February 26, 2021

“Historically survey methodology is to reach the target wetland[s], fill [out] information sheet by number counting, round block & transect methods,” the department said.

This year, as many as 612,397 migratory birds visited the province as compared to 741,042 in 2020, 248,105 in 2019, 153,916 in 2017, 150,000 in 2016 and 17,568,90 in 1990.

According to data, species’ diversity witnessed an increase as 32 new species of waterfowls were spotted whereas a total of 86 types of migratory water birds visited these wetlands.

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Myanmar police crack down on protests for second day; one dead, several hurt

Myanmar police shot and killed one protester on Sunday and wounded several as they cracked down in a bid to end weeks of demonstrations against a Feb. 1 military coup, a politician and media said.

Police opened fire in the town of Dawei, killing one and wounding several, politician Kyaw Min Htike told Reuters from the southern town. The Dawei Watch media outlet also said one person was killed and more than a dozen wounded.

Police and the spokesman for the ruling military council did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Myanmar was thrown into chaos when the army seized power and detained elected government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

The coup, which stalled Myanmar’s progress toward democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule, has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets and drawn condemnation from Western countries, with some imposing limited sanctions.

In the main city of Yangon, several people, some bleeding heavily, were helped away from protests, images posted by media showed.

It was not clear how they were hurt but media reported live fire. Myanmar Now media group said people had been “gunned down”, but it did not elaborate.

Police also threw stun grenades, used tear gas and fired into the air, witnesses said.

Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing has said authorities have been using minimal force to deal with the protests.

Nevertheless, at least three protesters have died over the days of turmoil. The army said a policeman has been killed in the unrest.

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Police introduce yet another patrol team

In another project tantamount to a formal admission that the Dolphin Squad, Police Response Unit and Punjab Safe Cities Authority did not come up to the expectation, the police introduced the Ababeel Squad, a patrolling force, on Saturday. The purpose of Dolphin Squad at the time of launch was precisely described as the same, “fighting crime in congested areas and hotspots”. Capital City Police Officer Additional IG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar inaugurated the Ababeel Squad by cutting the ribbon and riding a motorcycle at Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines. Initially, the force comprises of 20 motorcycles and 40 police personnel. A ceremony in this regard was held at District Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh. DIG Investigations Shariq Jamal, DIG Operations Sajid Kiani, SSP CIA, SP Security, SP Mobile Squad, SP Headquarters, all divisional SSPs, members of the Ababeel Squad and Anti-Riot Force (ARF) attended the function. While addressing the ceremony, Dogar said the Ababeel Squad was completely made up of city police’s own resources and the purpose behind its formation was to eradicate crime in hotspot areas of the city. Read Rape attempt on teenage girl foiled The Ababeel Squad in a group of 20 motorcycles and 40 armed police personnel will immediately move, cordon off the area of the crime scene to foil the efforts of criminals to flee as well as alleviate the sense of insecurity among citizens by improving visibility through flag march. He added that Ababeel Squad will function under the supervision of SP Mujahid Squad from Qurban Lines and immediately respond and reach the crime scene in a group of 20 motorcycles. The active visibility of the Ababeel Squad through patrolling will help to improve the sense of security among citizens and create an effective deterrence against crimes, Dogar claimed. Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2021.

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‘Surprise Day marks tremendous feat’

In a special message on Surprise Day on Saturday, Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja has said the astonishing performance of the Pakistan Air Force and the Army against India two years ago was commendable and unrivalled. “After that, the way Prime Minister Imran Khan handed over the imprisoned pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to India after offering tea, he boosted the national pride and dignity,” the minister said. Raja further said the incident not only gave the nation a moral victory over India but also made the world believe that Pakistan has the best armed forces. “We are proud of our Pakistani forces, which on the one hand protected the country's borders from enemy's aggression and on the other hand won the biggest war on terror by sacrificing thousands of our soldiers,” he said. Raja said in the last two years, Indian Prime Minister Modi had been so humiliated by that incident that he had not dared to pose a challenge and was still busy putting up excuses before his people. The minister strongly condemned the Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people. Raja said the struggle of the Kashmiri people for freedom would not go waste. Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2021.

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Jail staff recalled from non-essential duties

Despite the Punjab prisons authorities' complaints of understaffing, hundreds of its employees are reportedly performing non-essential or protocol duties. The chief minister had taken notice of the issue and asked the jail authorities to submit a report and summon the staff deputed at the houses or other places with senior officers. The inspector general Punjab prisons, while disseminating the orders, asked all the superintendents of prisons in Punjab to inform him about the warders appointed on protocol duties. It came forth that their number was in hundreds. In Lahore, over 200 jail staffers had been appointed to serve senior officers of the home or prisons departments. At least 145 staffers of Camp Jail and over 60 from Central Jail had been deputed at places other than their or designated duty points. The IG prisons has called for deputing the warders back at their essential duty points. According to an officer, the prisons department is short of around 4,000 staff members.   He also referred to a commission report submitted to Islamabad High Court last year that had confined that the prisons in the country were overcrowded. The prison population in Pakistan was approximately 77,000, while they had the capacity to host only 56,634 inmates. The report revealed that in Punjab 29 out of 41 jails were overcrowded. It asserted that the overcrowding was the root cause many rights violations. Considering the gravity of the issue, report also included recommendations for police reforms. The recommendations included training of prison staff, immediate filling of vacant posts with trained and qualified staff, reduction in overcrowding of prisons by releasing deserving prisoners on probation, parole and remission, digitisation of prison data, creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) to expedite the process of seeking government approval to transfer sick prisoners to hospitals and ensuring their right to health and adequate medical treatment. The report also proposed external audits of prisons after allocation of adequate budgets for them. Besides overcrowding and understaffing, the report prepared by the commission of the Ministry of Human Rights also stressed that the jail rules did not refer to any training of the staff. Another gap related to the staff of jails and human rights violations, pointed out by the report, was that the prisons jails did not have a proper management system. Efforts were made to contact Minister for Prisons Punjab Fayyazul Hassan Chohan and IG Prisons Shahid Saleem but they did not respond. However, Punjab Minister for Law and Cooperatives Basharat Raja said that the Punjab government was planning to introduce a major reforms package for the employees of jails and common prisoners across the province which would significantly improve the entire prison system. He was visiting the office of Inspector General (IG) Prisons Punjab. Basharat Raja said he was on a mission on proposed prison reforms on the instructions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. He said for the first time any chief minister had thought of the helpless prisoners instead of rich ones. He said that the proposed package would provide quality facilities to the prisoners through legal, financial, social and administrative changes. "A proposal to increase the salaries and allowances of prison staff will also be considered," he added. Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2021.

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Young offenders promise never to fly a kite

Young offenders caught celebrating Basant promised before magistrates that they will never fly a kite. The district courts in Rawalpindi were overcrowded on Saturday with friends and families of young people arrested for flying or selling kites, setting off firecrackers and aerial firing on Basant. Police chose not to put handcuffs on these juvenile offenders and instead bought them to the court with ropes tied around their hands. One group of kite-ban violators was brought with the end of qameez (long short) tied to the qameez of the other one. The judicial magistrates of respective precincts set some 65 underage kite fliers free with a slap on the back of the hand levying a Rs5,000 fine only. At least 31 above 18 offenders were released on personal bail bonds of Rs20,000. However, judicial magistrates sent 47 kite sellers arrested from various areas of Rawalpindi to jail on judicial remand. As per Punjab Prohibition of Dangerous Kite Flying Activities, whoever commits or abets an offence of dangerous kite flying activities at any place shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend to Rs15000 or with both. Distraught families of the young people thronged the district kutcheri drawing the attention of usual suspects of murder, rape, robbery and mugging who are brought here. The young kite-flyers were riled by the special judicial magistrates and many of them promised before the magistrates that they would never fly a kite again. The young suspects committed that they would never do aerial firing or set off firecrackers and give full attention to their education. The court also censured the parents of the young kite-flyers for allowing them to indulge in activities declared illegal by the government. Students including Asghar, Talal Ahmed, Muhammad Younus, and Sohail said that they would never celebrate Basant again. They added that they have been rebuked by their parents and would never repeat the same mistake. Crackdown continues Police arrested around 450 people on Saturday during a crackdown against kite flyers on Basant and seized around 13,000 kites besides, spools of strings, sound systems, fireworks as well as weapons and ammunition. According to a police spokesman, surveillance teams were monitoring kite flyers with the help of drones and surveillance cameras. He said police were conducting raids to trace those seen in videos obtained through drones and surveillance cameras. CPO Ahsan Younas had passed the directives to take strict action against the kite sellers. He made it clear that no one would be allowed to violate rule of law. Earlier, a boy was killed after he suffered an electric shock while trying to catch a stray kite, and dozens of people were injured from stray bullets and in kite flying-related incidents. Though 2,500 police personnel were deployed to check kite flying and aerial firing, people violated the ban to celebrate the festival, especially in Sadiqabad, Dhoke Kala Khan, Pirwadhai, Hazara Colony and Shamasabad, the residents said. Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2021.

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