NEW DELHI TIMES R.N.I. No 53449/91 DL-SW-1/4124/20-22 (Monday/Tuesday same week) (Published Every Monday) New Delhi Page 24 Rs. 7.00 30 March - 5 April 2020 Vol - 30 No. 9 Email : [email protected] Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221 Sinn Féin makes Is God on a leave substantial gains in of absence? As hundreds of our fellow human beings Irish elections die painful deaths every day because of The 2020 general election in Ireland took place COVID-19, and millions more suffer in self- in February, to elect the 33rd Dáil Éireann, the isolation, it is painful to hear so-called ‘men Lower House of Ireland’s Parliament. All but of God’ asking us to pray for forgiveness one of the 160 seats were contested, with the and beg for mercy from the ‘most beneficent Ceann Comhairle (speaker) being returned and most powerful’. None other than Pope automatically. The members, Teachtaí Dála Francis claims he has asked God to stop the (TDs), were elected by single... coronavirus epidemic while his... By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Page 3 By Tarek Fatah Page 2 Pakistan’s reverse thought process: Seeks opening up Kashmir to coronavirus! By NDT Pakistan Bureau Page 2 Eating habits and spread of Trespassing the binary Writing a greener story in Asia deadly viruses and the Pacific By now you must be fed up with reading or listening to It is imperative that in lives we hold the potential to Rising economic prosperity and poverty reduction may things about the Corona Virus. It has taken everyone’s differentiate between good and bad, but it is also important not tell the whole story of progress in Asia and the Pacific. attention away from what they do, to whether... to understand what actually comprise of being... Telling signs in the natural world recount... By Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Page 22 By Dr. Pramila Srivastava Page 21 By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Page 20 For critical insights One Year* Five Year* Subscribe Rs. 350 Rs. 1500 For more information Contact : +91-9999 337 800 To Subscribe E-Paper Whatsapp +91 9999 478 735 * Details on Page 21 1 twitter@NewDelhiTimes facebook.com/newdelhitimes www.NewDelhiTimes.com 2 30 March - 5 April 2020 Opinion NEW DELHI TIMES Pakistan’s reverse thought process: Seeks opening up Kashmir to coronavirus! own people except begging for money. Pakistan ◆ By NDT Pakistan Bureau is a sailor on a sinking ship, playing music to @NewDelhiTimes the passengers drowning instead of helping them into the lifeboats. Pakistan should not play [email protected] politics over the humanitarian crisis and focus instead on the exponentially spread of the virus P akistan called upon India to remove in best interests of the region. China reportedly communication bottlenecks in Jammu has provided vaccine to Pakistan. and Kashmir and ensure supplies of essential commodities and medical supplies to contain The WHO expressed fears on Corona spreading the spread of COVID-19. to populous countries like Bangladesh, Photo Credit : Getty Images Pakistan, India and neighbourhood. Spanish In the SAARC leaders’ video conference Kashmir (PoK) has no hospitals and doctors Corona poses existential problems for flu persisted for around a year. Testing time on COVID-19 called by Modi, Pakistan to treat Coronavirus. Existing doctors refuse Pakistan; all-weather friend China cannot for COVID-19 is just around the corner. Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Mirza to go inside the hospital while Indian Kashmir help much. Mobility of Pakistan students When own house is burning, no sane person showcased pseudo-concerns on the blockade gets medical attention at par with other parts stuck in the UK needs attention. Pakistan’s worries about neighbour’s house. But of communications, distribution of medical of India. Pakistan PM’s first response to knowledge about disinfection and hygiene Pakistan’s old habits die hard. supplies and relief. Remember, Pakistan left Corona was, “write off the debts”. Showcasing is rudimentary. The world needs to wake When the entire world is in lock-down its students in lockdown in Wuhan to die, Pakistan’s poverty Imran seeks loan waiver up before thousands of Pakistan occupied mode and isolation is the prescribed norm, ignoring parents’ repeated SOS, just because from the world community and shamelessly Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) even the US-Canada have closed borders, China told it to, contending that life and asked for money, not ‘medical’ assistance! patients start dying. Pakistan wants Kashmir residents exposed death are in the hands of Allah! Placed in Poverty has got into Pakistan genes! to the deadly virus. Can Pakistan reopen Iran similar situation, humanitarian India urgently In Sindh, Coronavirus is spreading like a forest border? Corona’s faster spread in Pakistan air-lifted Kashmiri workers from Corona- Sindh and Balochistan witnessed an exponential fire with thousands infected. Checking its than in India is worrisome. affected Iran. Difference in approach! spike in coronavirus due to the Taftan spread should be priority supreme. Pakistan disaster and should top the priority list. should take care of patients there. Tackling India is better prepared, better equipped and Blockades and isolations contain the spread Sadly, Pakistan is focused on optics, not the pandemic demands proper quarantine, doing better in combating the virus under of Coronavirus; that’s why the whole world is real work, linking solutions of all problems proper medicines, and equipment; lecturing Modi’s proactive leadership. Indian Kashmir following it. An ignorant Pakistan laughably to Kashmir. Pakistan leaders must smell others can wait. has far better medical facilities, hospitals and seeks the opposite. Which planet is Pakistan coffee and not use Kashmir, IMF, India, healthcare than Lahore, Karachi or Peshawar. living in? How illogical a government can Afghanistan, Nawaz and Zardari, to detract India has better medical services, infrastructure Pakistan is fixated on neighbours’ internal be? Kashmir blockade is over long back. from their incompetence. Forget Kashmir and leadership. Islamabad should think about matters and everything else except its own Given poor education infrastructure, such and count the toll. people, not everyone else in the world. It lack of comprehension is understandable but should ask for masks and Personal protective people. Pakistan should look inward and Pakistan must stay updated on international Pakistan has neither expert physicians nor equipment (PPE) to save doctors and medical worry less about India and Indians. India has news on the urgency of isolation. facility like testing kit to deal with Corona’s staff. An opportune time to beg for more! new Sheriffs-Modi and Shah-who know what severity. Ignoring the WHO norms will be to do. Playing politics at this critical hour of a Pakistan government fails to comprehend disastrous. India has expert physicians, PM Imran Khan has no knowledge, no medical emergency or going back again to its the impending crisis. The Pakistan occupied pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies. experience, and no intent to look after his original business Kashmir won’t help. Is God on a leave of absence? Elsewhere, in India videos have emerged of attacked a Sikh temple in the Afghanistan Kardashian and Justin Bieber have spoken, ◆ By Tarek Fatah Author & Columnist, Canada Hindus being asked by a community leader capital Kabul, killing 25 and injuring dozens do we need God? to drink cow urine to prevent COVID-19 more. On the other side of the world, a video @TarekFatah while Indian Muslim leaders boast that Allah ISIS and many other Islamic leaders consider emerged of an Iranian devout Muslim [email protected] has made them invulnerable to the disease. Sikhs and Hindus as ‘Kafirs’, a derogatory licking the pillars of a shrine as he boasted, s hundreds of our fellow human beings The insanity of believing that a supernatural word used by religious Muslims to identify “I am not afraid of coronavirus.” A die painful deaths every day because of being could trigger epidemics to punish his non-Muslims. COVID-19, and millions more suffer in self- own creation sent me back to 1843 when Karl Not to be outdone, a Pakistani Islamic cleric isolation, it is painful to hear so-called ‘men Marx wrote, “Man makes religion, religion Perhaps God was not listening to the Pope. claimed the coronavirus was Allah’s way of of God’ asking us to pray for forgiveness does not make man.” Yet he acknowledged Had he given his ear to the Pontiff, he could punishing China after he claims he heard and beg for mercy from the ‘most beneficent that “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed have immobilized his jihadi ranks and asked the cries of a Muslim woman being raped and most powerful’. None other than Pope creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, them to ‘cease and desist’. by two Chinese men. What he couldn’t and didn’t explain was why Allah had punished It wasn’t just the Pope or the Ayatollah that Iranians and Italians for a crime committed the Almighty was turning a deaf ear to. by two Chinese men. Superstars such as Justin Bieber prayed online to his followers where he begged God The prize for idiot of the year should go for forgiveness but failed to ask his fellow to a Catholic priest in South Africa. In a ‘Covidiots’ to keep six feet apart. And then report published in Kenya Today, a South there was Kourtney Kardashian who said, African pastor Rufus Phala allegedly made the “pandemic is a punishment from God for his parishioners drink the disinfectant the world’s evils.” Dettol, as a preventive measure against the coronavirus. Kardashian took to Twitter to share a passage from the Bible about epidemics, which was The article said that about 59 people were originally shared by rapper Young Thug, reported dead while four remained in critical with “pay attention children” scrawled condition.