Senate Speech: Senator A. Rehman Malik calls for national unity to combat Coronavirus

Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator A. Rehman Malik today on Thursday urged the government to take full advantage of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s offer of full support to combat Coronavirus unitedly otherwise government itself will be begging his support a month later.

Need of National Unity: In his speech in the Senate, Senator A. Rehman Malik urged the government to create national unity to combat coronavirus unitedly as it is a threat to our national security which we have to combat with national unity. Referring to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's speech in National Assembly, he said that today Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is offering his full support to the government to fight Coronavirus which the government is refusing but a month later government itself will be begging for his support. He said that he was surprised by the speeches of some members from treasury benches which contrary to the need of the hour were full of blame games. He said we must not play politics on Coronavirus as it is an issue of human lives. Referring to Shah Mehmood Qureshi's speech yesterday in the Senate, he said that we must not turn the issue of Coronavirus into a political platform to play our politics on it. 

Ease of Lockdown will increase numbers of COVID cases: Senator A. Rehman Malik expressed that the government seems confused on the definition of lockdown adding that a smart lockdown means to restrict the moment of the public in a specific area rather partially allowing the movement of the whole public across the country without proper preventative measures and following the standard SOPs of WHO. He said that unfortunately, our country will have a drastic increase in the positive cases of Coronavirus in upcoming days as after easing the lockdown, neither the people are observing social distancing nor the government is implementing the SOPs. He said that the advice of World Health Organization (WHO) is not being followed in markets and streets and other public places. He said that the presence of Prime Minister in parliament in these difficult moments had conveyed a good message to the people of Pakistan. He said as an elder of the Pakistani family, Prime Minister Imran Khan should have attended the Parliament sessions on Coronavirus.

Invoking of Force Majeure to write-off Foreign Loans: In his speech, Senator A. Rehman Malik urged the government to not take further foreign loans and invoke Force Majeure Law to write-off the current foreign debts. He said that he has already submitted two resolutions in this house; one to not take further foreign loans and second to invoke the Force Majeure Law ton write-off Pakistan existing foreign loans adding that the law is a good option with Pakistan to get relief. He said that over 300 lawmakers from around the world have also urged the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to cancel the debt of the poorest countries in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to boost funding to avert a global economic meltdown. He informed the House that in this regard, he had written a letter to FATF President on 21st March 2020 to remove Pakistan name from its Grey List and on 26th March, 2020 another letter to UN Secretary-General to play role in removing Pakistan name from FATF’s Grey List. He said that he was glad that FATF gave Pakistan a temporary relief of six months however if government pursue his plea and work, the name of Pakistan could be removed from grey list forever as it is adversary affecting Pakistan economy. He said that indeed a pandemic brings miseries but we can turn those miseries into opportunities by wise and timely decisions.

Senate Standing Committee Role against COVID-19: Senator A. Rehman Malik in his speech also apprised the house about the Senate Standing Committee on Interior services against Coronavirus. He said that during his visit to Quetta early on February 25, 2020, he felt the potential outbreak of Coronavirus in Pakistan soon after its outbreak in Iran and China. He said that he held the Committee emergency meeting on February 27th specifically on Coronavirus when only two cases of COVID-19 were reported across the country and gave a comprehensive Anti- Coronavirus National Action Plan containing 37 highly important recommendations. He said that situation would fat different today if the Senate Standing Committee 37 points National Action Plan was implemented timely. He said that he had advised the government to hand over all airports and entry points to Army Medical Corps for proper screening of all incoming passengers to timely stop the spread of Coronavirus in Pakistan. Chairman Senate appreciated Senator A. Rehman Malik for his work on Coronavirus and ordered that copies of the Report of Senate Standing Committee on Interior may be distributed among all the members of the Senate.

Govt should bear charges of Corona Tests of Poor: Senator A. Rehman Malik asked the government to bear the charges of coronavirus tests of the poor patients. He asked that the poor patients may be tested either in the government hospitals or reimbursement may be given to private clinics that provide testing facility to poor patients. He said that how those poor can bear these expensive tests for COVID-19 who are even worried for two times of meal. He said that it must be investigated as how testing kits are imported on high price while he knows many suppliers who are willing to provide in very low price as compared to the existing price. He urged the government to focus on agriculture sector and announce relief packages for farmers namely “Kissan Package” as by enhancing our agriculture growth we not only can meet our domestic demand but can also export our agriculture products. He emphasized that it is need of the hour to enhance our agriculture sector. 

Brief on COVID-19: Senator A. Rehman Malik also briefed about the COVID-19 as most recently he has launched his book “Coronavirus- A Threat to National Security”. He briefed the house about the nature, weight, chemistry, spread, destruction and prevention of viruses. He said Senator A Rehman Malik further said that the weight of a virus is measured at 0.85 actograms or 0.85 x (10)^-18 grams, or about one millionth of a trillion grams, and 70 billion viruses that will make a person sick attract about 0.0000005 grams. Since the total number of cases worldwide is now over 4.26 million, the total weight of the rogue viruses, which are present in the world, comes to about 1 gram, he added. He said that this virus and the creator of virus has brought the entire world on its knees with a total of 1 gram of virus. He said that it is necessary that to identify the patient zero and origin of the COVID-19 and for this purpose he had written letter to Secretary United Nation to constitute UN Commission on COVID-19 to investigate the origin and patient zero of COVID-19. He said that he has also written a letter to Mr. Bill Gates as for many times he had predicted about the outbreak of pandemic. He said that he wishes the Hendra virus had been persuaded clinically and medically to invent vaccine for this mother virus which could have enabled the scientists, virologists, biologists to progress quickly in inventing the vaccine for Coronavirus.

At the end of his speech, Senator A. Rehman Malik urged the nation to follow the World Health Organization SOPs and avoid unnecessary moment and stay home. He prayed may we soon get rid of this deadly disease urging the government to create political consensus and unity.

'Dubious PM Modi' by Senator A. Rehman Malik

It is hard to figure out why the US is expressing annoyance with India, as President Donald Trump showed unexpected irritation during his visit to India and expressed it openly in a huge gathering which was arranged by PM Narendra Modi in his honour. PM Modi was looking visually distressed and upset while President Donald Trump was showing annoyance aggressively. The relations between the two were not the same they had during the visit of PM Modi to New York. In a public show in September 2019, he shared the stage with US President Donald Trump at the gala ‘Howdy, Modi’ in Houston, in which both pledged to nurture bilateral relations. It looked like PM Modi and President Donald Trump had perhaps grown closer.

Later in November 2019, ‘Blue Dot Network’ BDN was formally announced at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Bangkok, Thailand on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit by Australia, US and Japan. Led by United States International Development Corporation (DFC), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) joined the Blue Dot Network concept. The project was a visible tentative response to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the USA to further assess connectivity in Indo-pacific regions to create an alternate attraction for the investors and to pull the investment from China by luring in the investors to these new industrial hubs which was to be offered via Indian platform.

The major difference between the USA’s BDN and Chinese BRI is that the Chinese initiative is at a more advanced stage than the BDN which still seems to be in its initial phase. This project was all dependent on its physical location and USA was under the impression that India will provide land and logistic as per US’ desire and earlier understanding reached with India.

A false flag was raised that the pandemic will force the investors to pull out from BRI. India in its short sightedness, bought this idea where India and the US were almost sure that investors were now keen to pull out their investments from BRI and shift operations out of China. India had already offered 461,589 hectares of its land to the US for BDN in various parts of India to attract investors.

China controlled the situation on an emergency basis and restored production, import and export unexpectedly. PM Modi realised that a bird in hand is better than two in the bush and the US realised that India is avoiding its commitment to provide land and other logistics for BDN. By now, this plan of BDN in India becoming known is creating an uncomfortable situation for India.

India’s offer of land to BDN was a serious attempt to destroy China’s industrial hub and is very intriguing. I am on record with my statements that Modi is planning something against Pakistan & China and China must not trust India. USA being a world power has the right to make investment plans and it might have done the right thing but it was PM Modi who tried to pit himself against China and subsequently, he ditched the US to complicate its business model. It is India who was initially against One-Road One-Belt. Now meanwhile, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for American travel sanctions and restrictions against India’s home minister Amit Shah and other principal leadership pointing towards the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, this hangs over Modi‘s friendship with President Donald Trump; he scrapped the status of Kashmir and brought anti-Muslim law in India. I hope USA will now have it reversed to give relief to Indian Muslims and oppressed Kashmiris. It is hard to understand why at this point of time when BDN was blocked by India instead of going forward. There are certain reports emanating from India itself that Indian advisors had advised Modi not to undertake this new venture against China which will be ultimately detrimental to India as it will destroy the India economy.

In conclusion it can be stated that India had plotted a deep conspiracy against China in plans to destroy BRI with an alternative and attractive business plan. The opposition of India must demand facts before it is exposed by a third party. The day is not far away when the world will know the evil designs of PM Modi against China and Pakistan including CEPC. PM Modi first lost his credibility in his own country by destroying its economy, hate-mongering and promulgating highly anti-Muslim discriminatory laws and support to RSS and now it has lost his face by ditching USA.

The Article was published in The Nation on May 10, 2020, Link to the original article is https://nation.com.pk/10-May-2020/dubious-pm-modi

Exposing brutalities in Indian-Occupied Kashmir by Senator A. Rehman Malik

The little Kashmiri girl who has lost her both eyes by pelleting by Indian Forces

In the Pulitzer-winning picture recently gaining traction, the eyes of a female child have been taken away as a result of pelting from Indian troops. This brutal act has pushed this young child into the dark and she will never be able to see her loved ones and the beauty of nature for the rest of her life. The photographs taken by photography journalists, who managed to sneak into areas under curfew in Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and smuggled the pictures to New Delhi, is a depiction of heart-wrenching scenes from IOK. God knows how horrible this captured scene is in reality; without saying anything, the picture is talking about the unprecedented brutalities of Indian troops against oppressed Kashmiris. Nine hundred thousand armed troops have locked down IOK since August 2019 and it is being reported that people are suffering from coronavirus while there is no medical care for them. I would like to salute Mr Dar Yasin, Mr Mukhtar Khan, and Mr Channi Anand of Associated Press – the photographers who let the world see what is happening in Kashmir through their pictures. Their work has been awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography which is a great honour. They have been awarded for taking the pictures of oppressed Kashmiris with their expressive images from Kashmir during this curfew after India stripped it of its semi-autonomy. Yasin and Mukhtar Khan are based in Srinagar, while Anand is from the neighbouring Jammu district. They have shown their courage against all odds and defied the wrath of PM Modi. As all modes of communications continued to be shut down, these journalists/photographers had to gather information on protests, etc. in person. Mr Khan and Mr Yasin had to snake around the roadblocks in the regional capital of Srinagar, facing mistrust from both protesters and troops. Sometimes they had to hide in the guise of protestors in strangers’ homes while hiding cameras everywhere they had a chance to be shot by Indian troops like other Kashmiris that are being killed. They took a great risk with even their families unaware of their whereabouts, while they successfully captured the images of angry crowds, protests, troops, violence and paramilitary actions, and daily happenings.

In another picture, Kashmiri Muslim women are offering prayer outside the shrine of Sufi Saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar, praying for the freedom and safety of their loved ones from Indian troops. Their eyes are looking for their loved ones who will perhaps never come back as a result of the massacre and mass graves filled with young and brave Kashmiri sons, husbands, and fathers. According to the reports of OHCHR dated June 14, 2018 and July 8, 2019, more than 94,000 Kashmiris have been killed so far. 7,000 persons have been killed in Indian custody, 22,000 women have been widowed, 105,000 children have been orphaned and 10,000 women have been raped and molested by the Indian military and paramilitary troops since 1989. More than 8,000 people have gone missing in enforced disappearances by Indian forces since 1989.

Another picture displays how Indian soldiers are destroying motorcycles of college students who were some of the protestors against the alleged rape of a 3-year-old girl in Srinagar. This shows how oppressed Kashmiris are being beaten up by Indian soldiers for demanding the rights and safety of their children. Bravo, dear journalists for defying and exposing the Indian state brutalities against oppressed people of Kashmir! I appeal to world human rights organisations that these three journalists must be given the highest award for risking their lives to report on human rights abuses. I also appeal to the OIC to consider an award for this group of three highly professional and brave photographers to highlight the brutalities being committed against oppressed Kashmiris. I would also like to request the journalist unions of Pakistan to honour this group with an award.

Basically, these pictures have become a source of strength for oppressed Kashmiris, who have reportedly shown their gratitude to this brave group of journalists. PM Modi is fond of Bollywood ideas and I hope he will make a film on these three heroes showing how they circumvented his formidable security ring around Kashmir. These three journalists smartly broke the myth of security and restriction of his troops and managed to sneak in and take the pictures as well as managing to dispatch them to his capital.

Today I wrote a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and local and international journalists unions and organisations to take all the necessary steps to ensure the well-being of these three brave journalists who defied the Indian state aggression against the oppressed people of Kashmir.

The article was published in The Nation on May 8, 2020, link to the original article- https://nation.com.pk/08-May-2020/exposing-brutalities-in-indian-occupied-kashmir 

The corona political circus by Senator A. Rehman Malik

This one-gram virus is becoming more lethal than the nuclear bomb. It has created a hysterical situation among world leadership. Unsubstantiated blame games at the global level can lead to an irreversible cycle of the war of words, which may lead to a serious divide in the international community, which can bring World War III. It only requires a trigger and this serious blame game can be the cause. Propaganda must be halted with wisdom and mutual understanding, learning lessons from World War II and how disinformation started from Pearl Harbour. The world must work together to overpower this invisible enemy and the UN should investigate and find out if any anti-human group or any state were involved in its creation. It is unfortunate that in Pakistan, our politics has made coronavirus a playing field as well, and the political shows look like a circus of allegations which is bad for Pakistan’s image and future political health of the beloved country. Coronavirus is essentially a big force of invaders that gives no warning and uses whatever available means of transmission worldwide.

Those countries who were wise to its attack were quick to block it by hiding its primary medium, which is the human body. Ms Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, acted like a real statesperson as she hid her family (New Zealanders) under a complete lockdown by offering meaning and purpose to what they were being asked to do with direction and care, unlike other world leaders who sought compliance from their people. She cancelled out the medium factor in her country and defeated the disease through the difficult and rare approach of a complete lockdown. The world should be proud of her, as she is an iron lady with great administrative skills. There was no propaganda against the actions under her command. I wish other countries including us also should have followed in her footsteps. I was really upset to note that we, instead of fighting against this virus by destroying it, have already produced corona-affected political media fighting teams where we are not on one page.

It looks like the provincial and federal governments and political parties are working for the media and not the public. Fake publicity and the race to display of their progress are prioritised through their respective advisors etc. Here we have a big question; if public representatives really work for the cause of the public or media – I have seen them being shown on tv while delivering a single pack soap or less than a kilo of wheat as a display for the camera as if he or she has defeated the mighty virus corona. I think all the displays of ration distribution activities should be totally banned from the media.

The world is in turmoil and the western leadership is unable to hold its nervous feelings in; it looks as if this tiny force weighing less than one gram will change the world order in the coming months. This minute force seems to have overtaken the fear of the nuclear deterrent as well. According to research, the weight of a virus is measured at 0.85 actograms or 0.85x(10)^-18 grams, or about one-millionth of a trillion grams. You may check the weight of the virus in the latest medical journals. 70 billion viruses that will make a person sick attract about 0.0000005 grams. Since the total number of cases worldwide is now over 2 million, the total weight of the rogue viruses which are present in the world comes to about one gram.

This virus and the creator of the virus has brought the entire world on its knees with a total of just one gram of virus. I have been posing this question constantly; why, with all the advanced medical technology have we failed to find its antidote so far. Some background interviews indicate that the same virus attacked in 1994-95. Medical experts have been doubtful about its origin right from that time – that it is a natural – but no authentic proof is available. It is said this will keep coming and going and every time with different mortality rates. I have advocated this even in my book to let the world know about its origin and it is for this very reason I was compelled to write to the Secretary General of the Security Council (SGSC) to constitute a high-powered UN commission to trace the origin of this virus and the identity of patient zero.

I am not satisfied with the non-coordination between the federal and provincial governments; immature media teams are acting irresponsibly by causing irreversible damage to a collective thought process and the national unit at this difficult moment in time. I hope the PM will take this seriously and call an All-Parties Conference (APC) and evolve a workable national strategy to counter this invisible force. Our nation needs to follow the path of unity and future actions must be taken with collective spirit and within the defined democratic norms, otherwise it may lead it to collapse, making it subject to circumstantial and abrupt changes.

The article was published in The Nation on May 5, 2020 and link to the original article https://nation.com.pk/05-May-2020/the-corona-political-circus

The Corona Political Circus by Senator A. Rehman Malik

This one-gram virus is becoming more lethal than the nuclear bomb. It has created a hysterical situation among world leadership. Unsubstantiated blame games at the global level can lead to an irreversible cycle of the war of words, which may lead to a serious divide in the international community, which can bring World War III. It only requires a trigger and this serious blame game can be the cause. Propaganda must be halted with wisdom and mutual understanding, learning lessons from World War II and how disinformation started from Pearl Harbour. The world must work together to overpower this invisible enemy and the UN should investigate and find out if any anti-human group or any state were involved in its creation. It is unfortunate that in Pakistan, our politics has made coronavirus a playing field as well, and the political shows look like a circus of allegations which is bad for Pakistan’s image and future political health of the beloved country. Coronavirus is essentially a big force of invaders that gives no warning and uses whatever available means of transmission worldwide.

Those countries who were wise to its attack were quick to block it by hiding its primary medium, which is the human body. Ms Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, acted like a real statesperson as she hid her family (New Zealanders) under a complete lockdown by offering meaning and purpose to what they were being asked to do with direction and care, unlike other world leaders who sought compliance from their people. She cancelled out the medium factor in her country and defeated the disease through the difficult and rare approach of a complete lockdown. The world should be proud of her, as she is an iron lady with great administrative skills. There was no propaganda against the actions under her command. I wish other countries including us also should have followed in her footsteps.

I was really upset to note that we, instead of fighting against this virus by destroying it, have already produced corona-affected political media fighting teams where we are not on one page. It looks like the provincial and federal governments and political parties are working for the media and not the public. Fake publicity and the race to display of their progress are prioritised through their respective advisors etc.

Here we have a big question; if public representatives really work for the cause of the public or media – I have seen them being shown on tv while delivering a single pack soap or less than a kilo of wheat as a display for the camera as if he or she has defeated the mighty virus corona. I think all the displays of ration distribution activities should be totally banned from the media.

The world is in turmoil and the western leadership is unable to hold its nervous feelings in; it looks as if this tiny force weighing less than one gram will change the world order in the coming months. This minute force seems to have overtaken the fear of the nuclear deterrent as well. According to research, the weight of a virus is measured at 0.85 actograms or 0.85x(10)^-18 grams, or about one-millionth of a trillion grams. You may check the weight of the virus in the latest medical journals. 70 billion viruses that will make a person sick attract about 0.0000005 grams. Since the total number of cases worldwide is now over 2 million, the total weight of the rogue viruses which are present in the world comes to about one gram.

This virus and the creator of the virus has brought the entire world on its knees with a total of just one gram of virus. I have been posing this question constantly; why, with all the advanced medical technology have we failed to find its antidote so far. Some background interviews indicate that the same virus attacked in 1994-95. Medical experts have been doubtful about its origin right from that time – that it is a natural – but no authentic proof is available. It is said this will keep coming and going and every time with different mortality rates. I have advocated this even in my book to let the world know about its origin and it is for this very reason I was compelled to write to the Secretary General of the Security Council (SGSC) to constitute a high-powered UN commission to trace the origin of this virus and the identity of patient zero.

I am not satisfied with the non-coordination between the federal and provincial governments; immature media teams are acting irresponsibly by causing irreversible damage to a collective thought process and the national unit at this difficult moment in time. I hope the PM will take this seriously and call an All-Parties Conference (APC) and evolve a workable national strategy to counter this invisible force. Our nation needs to follow the path of unity and future actions must be taken with collective spirit and within the defined democratic norms, otherwise it may lead it to collapse, making it subject to circumstantial and abrupt changes.

The Article was published by The Nation on May 5th, 2020; link to the original article: https://nation.com.pk/05-May-2020/the-corona-political-circus