Epaper_23-07-26 ISB

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C O A L I T I O N G O V T S T E E R E D C O U N T R Y O U T O F

E C O N O M I C C R I S I S D E S P I T E A L L O D D S : P M

DI KHAN

S ta f f r e P o r t

PRIME Minister Muhammad Shehabaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the coalition government resolved the economic crisis and put the country on track during past 16 months in the face multifaceted challenges like devastating flood hit the country soon after he took charge of the office

The country has emerged out of the current economic crisis Prime Minister Shehbaz Shehbaz Sharif asserted while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of eight development projects in Dera Ismail Khan here on Tuesday PM Shehbaz vowed to break the begging bowl by curtailing government expenses reported state media

Lashing out at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and former prime minister Imran Khan Shehbaz said that the former premier exploited the economic situation he himself had created to gain political mileage

The prime minister emphasized that devastating floods hit the country soon after his government took office amid growing inflation and an unrelenting political crises Yet the

coalition government managed to steer the country out of the economic crisis he said

We faced devastating floods on one side, and inflation, pressure by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a political crisis on the other Such challenging problems have never been faced by me in my whole life he said Shehbaz said that all the coalition parties had unanimously decided to ensure economic stability at all costs, including their politics

Such resolve on their part helped the government bring the country out of crisis he said adding that there was record wheat production as compared to the previous decade, which saved the country billions of dollars

The prime minister claimed that political opponents had wished for the country to default but such hopes were thwarted by the incumbent government

Had former regimes fully utilised the country s rich resources such as hydropower, the country might have had affordable and clean energy said Shehbaz stressing the overhaul of a faulty power transmission system that causes losses worth more than Rs400 billion to the national exchequer

Vowing to break the pattern of borrowing Shehbaz said that a com-

prehensive plan of Pakistan Green Initiative has been undertaken to take the country to new heights of development and prosperity

Meanwhile, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was present on the occasion thanked the prime minister for his personal interest in ensuring the development of the area Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had laid the foundation for many mega projects, which the PTI government seized hampering economic development claimed Fazl He claimed that industrial estates being established in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan would change the fate of the people in the area Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir was full of praises for the premier as well He said that development projects which were suspended between 2018 to 2022 were now being completed on priority

Due to the PM s personal intervention, 5,000MW of electricity was added to the national grid in just 16 months said Dastgir

The transmission line in Thar was completed in a few months and work on three new grid stations of Rs2 billion in Dera Ismail Khan was initiated by the current government, he added Similarly, Minister of State for Communications Asad

Mehmood said that the coalition government is committed towards creating a link road between Gwadar Port and other Central Asian countries under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

He said the projects inaugurated by Nawaz are being restored and completed in various areas, espe-

cially in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P)

A sufficient supply of energy at an affordable price is being ensured, said Minister of State for Petroleum

Dr Musadik Malik

In the past year around 270 mmcf gas worth over $1 billion was discovered from various areas of the

country he said Of which 138 mmcf has already been injected to the system while the rest would be included soon, he added Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali the National Assembly deputy speaker provincial ministers and government officials were also present on the occasion

B i l a w a l , B l i n k e n d i s

c u s s r e

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f r e P o r t

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal

Bhutto Zardari received a telephone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during which they discussed the regional security situation cooperation for lasting peace in Afghanistan, and bilateral trade and economic cooperation

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the current positive momentum in Pak-US ties during telephonic conversation a statement issued by the foreign office spokesperson said on Tuesday Foreign Minister

Bilawal underscored that Pakistan valued its longstanding and broad-based relationship with the US and wished to further deepen the partnership He noted that during the past one year, apart from holding six Dialogues exchange of high-level visits had diversified and solidified the relationship

The foreign minister underlined the priority attached to economic and trade relations and Pakistan s particular interest in advancing cooperation on climate change and green energy Thanking the US for its support, Bilawal said that the Standby Arrangement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would provide impetus to Pakistan s economic and development imperatives and that Pakistan was committed to bringing structural reforms in its economy to make it more competitive and attractive for business and foreign investment The two Foreign Ministers underlined the importance of constructive engagement between Pakistan and the United States for promoting peace security and development in the region They also discussed the regional security situation, including the threat from terrorism, and reaffirmed their desire to continue close cooperation for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan

The foreign minister noted the importance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative especially from the perspective of developing countries and concerns regarding food security and inflation and stressed the need for continued concerted efforts with a view to reviving the deal at the earliest Secretary Blinken stressed that democratic principles and respect for the rule of law are central to the US-Pakistan relationship and these values will continue to guide this partnership forward S h a h z a d Pa r ac h a

Parliament’s

ISLAMABAD

The Joint Session of the Parliament on Tuesday deferred the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 following objections raised by lawmakers during discussions on the proposed amendments Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Syed Ali Zafar and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senators Mian Raza Rabbani and Taj Haider expressed concerns over the amendments proposed in section 230-(a) of the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 which pertained to the functions of the caretaker government

However, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer

Tarar clarified various points raised by the lawmakers and said that every amendment in the bill was discussed in the parliamentary committee

The objections prompted National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf presiding over the session to direct the deferral of eight bills including the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to allow lawmakers more time for consideration of the proposed changes

According to section 129, sub-section 1 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly members can propose amendments to a bill when a motion is carried for a bill to be taken into consideration If notice of an amendment has not been given at least one day before the relevant clause or schedule of the bill is to be considered, any member may object to the moving of the amendment

In such cases the objection prevails unless the Speaker allows the amendment to be moved

The deferred bills included the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2023; the Exit from Pakistan (Control) (Amendment) Bill 2023; the Maintenance and Welfare of Old Parents and Senior Citizens Bill 2023; the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill 2023; the Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the International Institute of Technology, Culture and Health Sciences Bill, 2023 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2023

Apart from deferring the eight others until the next session the joint sitting also passed three government bills including the Qanun-e-Shahadat (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2023 During the session, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar emphasised the importance of enhancing procedures and ensuring that culprits face the full consequences of their actions when discussing the Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill 2023 which was one of the three bills passed by the Parliament

The government also withdrew the Protection of Parents Bill, 2023, citing that an identical bill introduced by private lawmaker Rana Maqbool Ahmad fulfilled the government’s objectives

ISLAMABAD S ta f f r e P o r t

Pakistan is again at the crossroads The federal government once again faces the dilemma to choose an appropriate person for the slot of FBR chairman after the retirement of the current incumbent of office on July 30 this year

private sector to

an IRS chairman the customs part of FBR where typical mega frauds recur with regular periodicity becomes largely an autonomous and unaccountable body for two reasons The IRS chairman, largely unaware of the custom laws and procedures and least interested to learn the dynamics of custom matters at his stage of service practically frees the member custom operations from his monitoring and oversight

Women parliamentarians from the opposition PTI protested in a joint session of Parliament on Tuesday after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif used sexist and derogatory remarks while referring to them in yet another instance of using offensive language for women politicians He made the remarks in response to criticism by parliamentarians including PTI Senator Ali Zafar of the manner of legislation in Parliament and the bulldozing of bills In his address Asif made a reference to former prime minister Imran Khan, recalling the bulldozing of legislation and the dissolution of the National Assembly during his tenure “Depraved women should not lecture on chastity,” he said, following which a woman was heard responding to him in the live broadcast on the session To that Asif said if he says anything else they would use the woman card They will say We are women and how he is talking about us At this point, laughter was heard in the House Asif then went on to call the women parliamentarians the “remains and ruins” of Imran, pointing towards the benches where PTI members were seated including Senators Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur Sania Nishtar Falak Naz Chitrali and Fawzia Arshad This is the garbage left behind by the PTI chief, which has to be cleared , he added This drew a strong reaction from the PTI women parliamentarians who stood up from their seats and demanded that Asif take his words back Amid loud protest from them the defence minister continued with his address saying He (Imran) doesn t have the courage to appear in courts today And they defend him How brave and courageous will be a person who is defended by women? Speaking after Asif, Senator Taimur said only one’s moral character and conduct differentiated people “I was worried at the language being used by such senior political figures I’ve never heard such words in my house She said it was sad to note that fellow MNAs had used words such as garbage and barking We don t respect someone else when we don t consider our own self to be respectable, Taimur added For his part, the NA speaker called for order in the House and the word “garbage” was expunged from Asif ’s speech There was no strong condemnation of the remarks during the session from any of the members apart from those belonging to the PTI Notably PPP s Sherry Rehman was sitting just a row behind Asif and remained busy conversing with Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar for the most part and laughed at one point However, it was not clear whether she was laughing at Asif ’s remarks Making this observation PTI s Farrukh Habib questioned why Rehman and other women MNAs from the treasury benches stayed silent at Asif s remarks He also called out Asif for repeatedly being offensive towards women

on any member custom operations by an IRS chairman has prompted and promoted in the custom department massive and large-scale maladministration and some of the most daring mega scams which caused revenue losses worth hundreds of billions of rupees The recent customs scam at Karachi perpetrated by the senior officers of the level custom collectors is a case in point W h y d o e s c h o i c e o f F B R c h a i r m a n m a t t e r f o r Pa k i s t a n ? g W h e n e v e r c h i e f o f r e v e n u e b o d y r e t i r e s, i n f i g h t i n g s t a r t s b e t w e e n C u s t o m s, I n l a n d r e v e n u e s e r v i c e o f f i c e r s t o c a p t u r e t h e p o s t C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 03 C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 03

The tenure of Mohammad Asim, the current incumbent of the office of chairman FBR and an Inland revenue service officer amply illustrates that choosing an IRS man to head FBR has far reaching and devastating consequences for Pakistan’s economy Under

Khawaja Asif draws ire after calling PTI’s women parliamentarians ‘garbage’

SANAULL AH ACQUITTED IN BUREAUCRATS THREATENING CASE

GUJRANWALA S ta f f R e p o R t

IN T E R I O R M i n i s t e r R a n a S a n a u l l a h Tu e s d a y w a s a c q u i t t e d by an anti-terrorism court in a case i n v o l v i n g t h r e a t s t o t h e P u n j a b c h i e f s e c r e t a r y, h i s f a m i l y, a n d other officers

The court issued the decision after the case’s plaintiff altered their statement The case was originally filed against the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) politician at the Industrial Police Station in Gujranwala on August 25, 2022, after a complaint was lodged by Sheikh Shekaz Aslam, a leader from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), citing threats made by Sanaullah

After the court hearing the minister spoke to journalists about fearlessly ap-

Naeem Panjutha appointed spokesperson to PTI chief on legal affairs

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Tuesday appointed Senior advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha as spokesperson to PTI Chairman Imran Khan on legal affairs

According to a notification issued by PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan on Tuesday, the appointment has been made after approval by the PTI Chairman S ta f f R e p o R t

pearing before the judges without resorting to any form of concealment such as using buckets over one s head “All our leaders, including me, ap-

Gwa

BEIJING

90 cherr y orchards, 15 treatment facilities and Packhouses allowed to expor t cherries to China

ISLAMABAD: In a landmark achievement the General Administrations of Customs, China (GACC) has allowed 90 cherry orchards and 15 cold treatment facilities and Packhouses to export cherries to China

This is a big achievement for the Pakistan government where Department of Plant Protection under the MNFSR in close collaboration with Ministry of Commerce, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Gilgit-Baltistan Rural Support Programme (GBRSP) Agriculture Department

Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chamber of Commerce

GB became able to achieve the market access for cherries exports to China according to a report carried by Gwadar Pro on Tuesday This brings good news especially to the farmers of GB, as their main source of earning is based on this fruit Moreover, Pakistan being the agrarian economy can also look for enhancing exports in other domains as well by improving quality standards as per global markets This agreement opens a gateway to further exports to international markets given the quality standards remain sound Further, up-gradation of more orchards and facilities are in pipeline with DPP to make them at par with international standards to achieve major shares in high end markets of Asia Europe United State of America (USA) and Australia and obtain their registration for export to China also Pakistani Minister of National Food Security and Research, Tariq Bashir Cheema said that the government had succeeded to resolve 12 years long pending issue of market access of cherries exports from Pakistan to China General Administrations of Customs, China (GACC) confirmed the Department of Plant Protection (DPP), Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R), that Pakistani businessmen could export cherries to China from DPP registered orchards and Packhouses said an official statement issued here This marks a huge success towards boosting exports of Pakistani cherries and the overall economy of the country”, Cheema emphasized in the statement The focus courtesy of Tariq Basheer Cheema and Federal Secretary MNFS&S Zafar Hassan regarding cherries exports and bringing exports quality to global standards was the prime factor behind this success Their visionary leadership and determined efforts to widen the export base of Pakistani fruits manifested in seeking market access for cherries showed the statement S ta f f R e p o R t

IHC reser ves verdict on admissibilit y of Toshakhana, cipher cases

broke down doors of the court or stop judges from doing their work

We faced the law as a common man We did not put buckets on our heads, nor did such dramas,” he added Earlier in February the ATC had also issued an arrest warrant to apprehend Sanaullah and asked the police to present him on March 7

peared in the courts he said adding that he hadn t informed anyone before coming to the court The interior minister said neither he nor any of his party’s members

The China-funded New Gwadar International Airport, a flagship project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is likely to be inaugurated soon Commercial Counselor Pakistan Embassy Beijing Ghulam

Qadir said on Tuesday

Mr Qadir told the state news agency

APP that a high-powered Chinese delegation will fly to Pakistan to participate in the inauguration ceremony

Launched in 2019 the $230-million project fully funded by the Chinese government is located in the Gurandani 26 km east of Balochistan s Gwadar city Covering an area of 18 square kilometres, the new airport will be the secondlargest airport in Pakistan

This construction project managed by the China Airport Construction Group, comprises 32 components, including runways, taxiways, aprons, a terminal, and airport support infrastructure, utilities and facilities The groundbreaking ceremony of the airport was held on March 29 2019 The implementation of the project was handed over to the Aviation Division The construction

T h e c a s e a g a i n s t t h e s e n i o r P M L - N politician was registered under Section 7 o f t h e A n t i - Te r r o r i s m A c t ( p u n i s h m e n t for acts of terrorism), and Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) 189 (threat of injury t o p u b l i c s e r v a n t ) a n d 5 0 6 ( p u n i s h m e n t for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan P e n a l C o d e I t s t a t e d t h a t t h e i n t e r i o r minister made threatening remarks on a TV show

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court reserved its decision on the admissibility of the three pleas filed by the PTI chief in the Toshakhana case challenging the maintainability of a criminal complaint against him for allegedly concealing details of Toshakana gifts IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq conducted the hearing At the outset, the chief justice greeted Imran s counsel Khawaja Haris with “good to see you” In his arguments Haris emphasised that the case against his client was driven by “malafide intent He asserted that the record being used by the prosecution against Imran should also be presented before the court Haris further highlighted that the ECP had acknowledged the disparity in signatures between a witness’s complaint and affidavit Upon hearing the arguments the IHC reserved its verdict on the admissibility of Imran s pleas Separately the IHC also reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the notices, provision of details, and request to prevent the arrest of the PTI chairman in the cipher case The IHC chief justice presided over the hearing and Imran’s counsel Latif Khosa appeared before the court As the hearing commenced Khosa expressed his disappointment stating that even the prime minister s house was not adequately protected Khosa also raised concerns about the lack of clarity regarding why his client had been summoned by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) He urged the court to take action and bar authorities from arresting the former premier The court reserved its decision after hearing arguments S ta f f R e p o R t

work began on October 31 2019

As per media reports the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Pakistan has completed the safety check of the airport and declared it clear and fully prepared for flight operation The new airport will be capable of handling a combination of ATR 72 Airbus (A-300) Boeing (B737) and Boeing (B-747) for domestic as well international routes

Bilawal, OIC Secretar y General discuss incidents of Quran desecration in Sweden

tions of international law, the Foreign Minister briefed the OIC Secretary General about the resolution adopted by the Parliament of Pakistan in a joint sitting on July 6 2023, and observance of ‘Youm-e-Taqaddus Quran’ across Pakistan on 7 July 2023 reflecting the aspirations of the people of Pakistan to safeguard the sanctity of the Holy Quran

The Foreign Minister appreciated the urgency with which OIC was responding to these reprehensible acts under the stewardship of the Secretary-General He commended the OIC for holding an Open-ended Extraordinary Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on 2 July 2023, in Jeddah, and issuance of comprehensive Communiqué after the meeting

Indian woman Anju marries Pakistani friend; conver ts to Islam

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday spoke with Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General, Hissein Brahim Taha, over the telephone The call was made against the backdrop of recurring incidents of the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and other European countries Condemning the despicable acts which were clear viola-

The Foreign Minister also welcomed the OIC decision for holding Emergency Ministerial Meeting on this issue and briefed the Secretary-General about his telephone calls with the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye in this regard The OIC Secretary General commended Pakistan s efforts to combat and counter Islamophobia and appreciated the leading role played by Pakistan in this regard at the UN

The Foreign Minister assured the Secretary-General that Pakistan stood ready to actively participate in all OIC initiatives to arrest the reprehensible tide of Islamophobia

DIR UPPER: The Indian woman who came all the way to Upper Dir in Pakistan contracted a court marriage on Tuesday and said she had arrived in the country of her ‘own free will’ Thirty-five-year-old Anju, a resident of the Indian city of Delhi, reportedly followed her heart as she embarked upon the journey to the country a few days ago to see her 25-year-old lover Nasrullah who hails from the scenic region of Upper Dir Anju is reported to have converted to Islam from Christianity prior to the wedding, and changed her name to Fatima The couple tied the knot in a local court of a district and sessions judge Their virtual bond blossomed into love prompting her to make the daring journey into Pakistan a usually unlikely love match Issuing a brief statement earlier in the day, the woman requested the Indian media to not disturb her parents Malakand Division Deputy Inspector General Nasir Mehmood Satti confirmed the nikkah of Anju 35 and Nasrullah 29 The woman has taken the name of Fatima after conversion to Islam, he said Earlier, Police confirmed that Anju arrived in Pakistan via Wagah border on July 22, and Nasrullah received her in Rawalpindi In an earlier statement Anju had declared her love for Nasrullah saying their friendship on Facebook had indeed turned into love and now she could not imagine her life without him Meanwhile, security sources said that investigations were under way regarding the friendship between Anju and Nasrullah S ta f f R e p o R t

Probe ordered into PML-N leader ’s harassment of helpless woman

RAWALPINDI e j a z a R S h a d C h e e m a

The Regional Police Officer (RPO)

Rawalpindi Region Syed Khurram Ali has ordered an inquiry to verify the allegations of a woman that PML-N former MPA with alleged nexus of police is implicating her two brothers in bogus cases to grab their precious piece of land situated along with IJP Road informed sources on Tuesday

SSP Investigation Rawalpindi Zunaira

Azfar has been tasked to hold inquiry into allegations of land grabbing attempts levelled by a female applicant namely Shabana Saleem against PML-N former MPA Ziaullah Shah following the orders of top cop of the region the sources said According to sources a female citizen

Shabana Saleem, a resident of House Number 412-C, Sector 2, Awan Market in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, appeared before Complaint Cell of Office of the Additional Inspector General of Police/RPO on 24 July 2023 and lodged a complaint (Diary Number 1121/2023/RCCI) stating Pirwadhai police had registered a bogus case number 910/23 under section 337A(iii) against her two brothers, Amir Salim and Tariq Aleem, on application of Sheikh Humayun and arrested both of them She added the police had lodged the fake FIR against her brothers at behest of former MPA of PML-N Zia Ullah Shah who wanted to grab their plot measuring 31 Maralas situated alongside IJP Road The applicant alleged that the ex-MP of ruling party had also been involved in rop-

ing her brothers in number of bogus cases in the past besides hurling threats at them in order to grab their land

She told RPO that the lower courts have laid down verdicts in favour of her brothers while another case regarding land

is also pending with Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench

“The powerful former MPA of N League has hand in gloves with Pirwadhai police and is also trying to implicate her brothers in cases lodged against PTI in order to deprive them to their legal right she said Shabana Saleem appealed the RPO to hold inquiry into cases lodged against her brothers and to provide them with justice as powerful politician of ruling party is attempting to grab their land with help of police

RPO Rawalpindi Region Syed Khurram Ali has accepted the complaint of female citizen and forwarded it to SSP Investigation Rawalpindi Zunaira Azfar for holding a detail inquiry into allegations and to submit her report with RPO Office

Pak- C hina Floric ulture cooperation to boost Pakistan’s economy

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Pak-China Floriculture cooperation to boost Pakistan’s economy, said Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Pakistan in China Pakistan is a country of small farming households with a long history and rich experience in floriculture There is a huge potential for cooperation between China and Pakistan in the flower industry, said Naeem Iqbal Cheema said adding Floriculture is a

popularity among local farmers

Here you will find more than 80 flower varieties in Hashopee Garden It is a very profitable business that we should bring people to For instance, one kanal of land can produce 10,000 sticks of lily flower, and one stick can sell for 400 rupees in the market of Karachi The lily bulbs left in the ground after cutting is also a separate asset with separate value This is dual income Saqib said emphasizing the high profit of the flower industry Two important climatic factors are required for flower bulb production One is the large difference in temperature between day and night The other is the dry weather with low rainfall These conditions are very suitable in Gilgit-Baltistan and many other places in Pakistan He added To boost the potential of Pakistan s floriculture industry, further efforts in technology improvement and industrialization need to be done As Pakistan has very good ties with China which is now the world’s largest

flower producer as well as an important participant in the foreign trade of flowers, China can be a potential partner that Pakistan can cooperate with and has great floricultural experience that Pakistan can refer to Pingyin county of Shandong China is now home to a rose planting area of about 4,000 hectares and more than 40 rose processing enterprises

“Almost every household in our village grows roses because the soil and climate here are suitable for it ” said Yao a 70-year-

old local farmer who grows one mu (0 067 hectares) of roses adding that the flower industry not only makes his village very beautiful in April and May but brings good incomes to the villagers To help farmers grow roses more easily and earn more, the county government also built a big data platform to provide them with growing data such as weather and marketing

A lot of companies and processing plants were established in the town so that farmers can sell their flowers easily Products made with roses in the county range from food and cosmetics to medicine, and have been sold to more than 10 countries and regions

Aside from experience reference PakChina cooperation in the flower industry can also help Pakistan expand its sale channels

Currently in Pakistan fresh flowers are normally used for ceremonial and decorative purposes, while dried petals and potted plants are mainly exported to Gulf countries

As one of the biggest flower consumers in the world China’s flower imports have been

growing rapidly in recent years “Contract farming with Chinese stakeholders for production of dried flower buds and petals for export to Chinese markets is a feasible avenue

The presentation of value-added products such as flower essential oil, flower jam and cosmetics will further expand the visibility of Pakistani flowers among Chinese customers ” suggested Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan Vice Chancellor of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Pakistan s floriculture exports could also be enhanced by targeting global markets through the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)

Naeem Iqbal Cheema added

Earlier this year the BRI Rose Industry Consortium was officially established to promote bilateral and multilateral trade and personnel exchanges among the BRI countries

Productive clusters of Pakistani roses have also been established along the Belt and Road to bring additional gross revenues In the future such floriculture cooperation will be extended to more flower varieties

N ew

d a r I n t ’ l A i r p o r t t o b e i n a u g u r at e d s o o n : E nvoy

ECP DEFERS PTI CHIEF’S INDICTMENT IN CONTEMPT CASE UNTIL AUG 2

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

TH E Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday deferred the indictment of PTI Chairman Imran Khan till August 2 in a case pertaining to contempt of the electoral body and the chief election commissioner (CEC)

The ECP issued the directives as a fourmember bench headed by member Nisar Durrani heard the case During today s hearing Imran made his first appearance before the electoral watchdog since the case was taken up in October last year

A day earlier, the ECP had ordered Islamabad police to arrest Imran and present him before the election watchdog The ECP had initiated contempt proceedings against the PTI chief party leader Asad Umar and former information minister Chaudhry last year for allegedly using intemperate language against the chief election commissioner and the electoral watchdog

However instead of appearing before

Khawaja Asif draws ire after calling PTI’s women parliamentarians ‘garbage’

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

Meanwhile, the PTI termed the remarks absolutely shameful The party said in a statement that the defence minister ’s remarks were a a clear attempt to “depoliticise women” TV Anchor Absa Komal also pointed out that this was not the first instance of Asif using insulting terms for women and said PTI Senator Taimur rightfully expressed shock at hearing such language from someone with decades of political experience” Previously in 2016 he came under fire from opposition lawmakers for making offensive remarks against then-PTI MNA Shireen Mazari during an NA session Using derogatory language specifically targeting Mazari, Asif had pointed towards her and said, Someone make this tractor trolley keep quiet” when she and some other lawmakers protested to his speech on loadshedding during Ramazan “Make her voice more feminine he had said according to eyewitnesses Another lawmaker had chimed in from the government benches to say Keep quiet, aunty In 2017, he had sparked an outcry after referring to Firdous Ashiq Awan as the PTI’s “newly acquired dumper”

Sporadic rain disrupts flight operations at Karachi Airpor t

KARACHI: Heavy to intermittent rain lashed different parts of Karachi for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, which apart from routine life, disrupted flight operations at Jinnah International Airport The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecasted that the rain spell would continue till July 26 According to a spokesperson for the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) PIA flight PK368, supposed to fly from Karachi to Islamabad, faced suspension due to the “severe weather ” Similarly, PIA’s flight PK304, which was supposed to fly from Karachi to Lahore was also affected by unfavorable weather conditions Furthermore flight PK308 to Islamabad was also affected by the weathe r c o n d i t i o n s l e a d i n g t o i t s s u s p e n s i o n T h e s p o k e s p e r s o n s a i d t h a t p a s s e n g e r s w e r e i n f o r m e d a b o u t t h e f l i g h t s c a n c e l l a t i o n , a n d a l t e r n a t i v e a r r a n g e m e n t s w e r e b e i n g m a d e t o a c c o m m o d a t e t h e m o n o t h e r f l i g h t s S ta f f R e p o R t

the ECP the three had challenged the ECP notices and contempt proceedings in various high courts on the grounds that Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017, which is the statutory provision regarding the commission’s power to punish for contempt was against the Constitution The PTI leaders had also sought from the high courts a declaratory relief from the charges

But in January, the Supreme Court had allowed the ECP to continue proceedings

against Imran Chaudhry and Umar and on June 21, the ECP had decided to frame charges against the trio

In the July 11 hearing, they did not appear before the commission despite being summoned following which the ECP issued arrest warrants for Chaudhry and Imran It had however accepted a plea by Umar s lawyer to allow him an exemption from the hearing Today, Imran appeared before the ECP

bench alongside his counsel Shoaib Shaheen A member of the ECP bench stated that they had intended to indict the former prime minister in the case today

However, the PTI chief ’s counsel requested the electoral watchdog to defer the hearing as he needed more time to gather the case record In response the ECP asserted It is your responsibility to manage the file and case record

Subsequently, the watchdog accepted the counsel’s plea and postponed the indictment until August 2 It also directed him to ensure Imran’s presence during the next hearing After the hearing Imran was asked by journalists if he would apologise to the commission He responded by saying Do you think I should apologise? Why should I tender an apology when I did not make any mistake?” When a journalist asked if he would “take more U-turns” Imran said he would keep taking U-turns

Another journalist commented that it seemed Imran had become a lawyer to which the PTI chief said, After so many cases, I have become a lawyer

Why does choice of FBR chairman matter for Pakistan?

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

The insider officials within FBR are of firm conviction that fish rots from the head and likewise, they hold, all customs revenue loss scams are planned in FBR and then chosen custom officers having criminal orientations are posted at the places where these plans need to be executed

All this happens under the nose of an IRS chairman who practically parts with his monitoring and supervisory oversight on member custom operations leaving him alone to exercise arbitrariness to indulge in maladministration and to plan and execute massive revenue loss scams in the custom collectorates

A member of custom operations is the happiest person under an IRS chairman Under the current IRS chairman who is retiring within a week’s time Mukaram Jah Ansari the member custom operations is stated to have done many things which a member custom is typically prompted to do under an IRS chairman The member custom massively misused section 5 of the Customs Act under which a junior officer can be authorized to exercise certain specified powers of a senior officer if the senior is not available

Under the nose of the current IRS chairman, the member custom systematically sidelined many senior officers and entrusted their offices to more pliable and more obedient junior officers resulting in criminal offences by those junior officers causing revenue losses worth billions The members custom created scores of ghost and paper organizations just to expedite promotions in the custom department

He dished out massive rewards on his favourites for their routine office work besides also encouraged exclusion of custom officials conniving in frauds from FIRs and criminal prosecutions He suppressed whistle blowers and harassed them after they pointed at custom frauds He kept disciplinary proceedings against officers pending for a year and set the proceedings into motion only after an officer accused in such proceedings blew the whistle on custom frauds under his administrative

control Member s activation of dormant disciplinary proceedings against Director Reforms and Automation Ashraf Ali after his reporting of a 1 4 billion dollar custom scam in Karachi is a case in point

However choosing an FBR chairman from custom service is no less lethal Only the roles are reversed The customs service chairman reduces the member custom operations into insignificance and takes in his own hand all the arbitrariness and the planning and execution of frauds and revenue loss scams in the custom collectorates

The period of Nisar Mohammad Khan and Javed Ghani, two custom service chairmen, and Late Zahid Khokhar and Tariq Huda their member custom operations illustrates this relationship

It is pertinent to note what happens in the IRS under a customs chairman

A custom service chairman, largely unaware of the intricate Inland revenue matters and least interested to learn these intricacies at his stage of the service practically frees the IRS from his oversight and control and lets it marry in its own tribe

In practical terms, an IRS chairman is chairman of the IRS part of FBR and a customs chairman is chairman of the customs part of FBR

This explains the rampant maladministration fiscal frauds and massive revenue loss scams under the IRS and custom service chairman of FBR in the past Sometimes, the government appreciates the risks and dangers involved in choosing FBR chairman from the taxation services and makes a choice from the officers of Pakistan administrative service For one thing PAS officers have better administrative and managerial exposures, the attributes badly needed for an FBR chairman

Unlike taxation service officers, PAS officers are alien to the FBR’s work force and can not establish their collusive connections upto the gross root levels

The PAS officers have few friends and foes in the FBR establishment Unlike the custom and IRS chairmen, the PAS officers do not divide the revenue administration into warring factions their friends fighting their foes

The PAS officers lack the human infrastructure within the FBR establishment to plan and execute mega revenue loss scams These officers are taken much more seriously by the FBR work force

When a taxation service chairman assumes office, the workforce immediately assumes that money making will be his top priority and they begin to seek adherence with some expected and prospective money maker group

The things unfold differently when a PAS officer assumes office as chairman FBR The workforce begins to speculate about the chairman s priorities The work force begins to set its direction right just because it begins to fear the unknown priorities

In case an honest and harsh administrator from PAS is chosen as chairman of FBR he needs to take little time and effort to reverse the taxation service chairmen s administrative devastations Some technical men from the private sector have also served as chairman of FBR A private sector man carries all the advantages of a PAS officer except his lower administrative exposure profile However, a private man s less administrative exposure may be at times compensated by his technical expertise which the PAS officers may lack in The choice of a chairman for FBR matters because a right choice promotes in FBR the establishment of a culture of authority coupled with accountability

This leads to a transparent and vibrant revenue collection and minimizes fraudulent revenue losses

On the other hand a wrong choice immediately sets into motion countrywide revenue loss mafias who connive with senior custom officers and cause massive revenue losses The smugglers also celebrate the wrong choice and make tight collisions with the top tax men in FBR to make hay while the wrong choice continues A right choice for the post of chairman FBR holds the promise to help revive Pakistan’s economy A wrong choice carries the potential to subjugate Pakistan’s sovereignty to the foreign donors for all time to come

or 4 years, he added Next step, the company in the 2nd phase next year has a plan to launch Mini Pickups and 2 wheelers bikes specifically for ladies The 2 doors electric car will travel up to 225 km with a one-time charge The 4 doors electric car can be used for 350 km for one charge the CEO told Gwadar Pro The USD 5 million PakistanChina joint venture will complete 100 percent technology transfer within two to five years According to the company, the manufacturing products will be exported to many countries and regions including Europe and Turkey S ta f f R e p o R t

Unknown persons vandalize Ahmadi place of worship

KARACHI: An Ahmadi place of worship was vandalized by unidentified individuals in Karachi on Monday Community elders lodged a complaint at Shah Faisal Police Station in this regard, seeking action against those responsible as per the law According to the complaint, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune the incident took place at around 3 45 pm Around seven to eight persons entered the site named Baitul Mubarak and climbed up using wooden ladders and damaged a portion of the building The miscreants then fled the site Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesperson of the Ahmadi community, Amir Mehmood said that the police complaint was registered soon after the incident “This is the third [such] incident in Karachi and 11th in Pakistan in this year so far he said He added that the police have not yet arrested any persons involved in the last two attacks in the city “We have CCTV footage of the attacks and police can easily identify the miscreants,” he said According to Mehmood the site of this recent attack was built in 1948 Meanwhile a video of the incident showed a group of men damaging the worship place with hammers while a ladder can be seen leaning against the wall The government has utterly failed to provide security to Ahmadi places of worship in clear violation of Justice Jilani’s 2014 ruling ” lamented Mehmood “Despite a wave of attacks on Ahmadi centres in Karachi the government [has done] nothing to protect them M o n i to R n g R e p o R t

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Muslim and Christian religious leaders on Tuesday condemned the recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran by individuals in Sweden and Denmark and demanded the European countries to stop allowing such provocative actions carried out in the name of freedom of expression

A d d r e s s i n g a j o i n t p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e with Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) chairm a n H a f i z Ta h i r A s h r a f i a t t h e D i o c e s e o f R a i w i n d C h u r c h o f P a k i s t a n ’s P r e s i d e n t B i s h o p A z a d M a r s h a l l s a i d t h a t P a k i s t a n i C h r i s t i a n s d e n o u n c e t h e l a t e s t i n c i d e n t o f burning of the Holy Quran in Copenhagen

D e n m a r k

Last month an Iraqi refugee desecrated the Quran in Sweden and now the Danish government has allowed two others to do the same in front of the Iraqi embassy These actions cannot be condoned by followers of any faith

We urge the European governments to reconsider their policies in the larger interest of peace and interfaith harmony across the world,” he said

“Freedom of speech and expression should never be used as a means to despise others and spread hatred Such actions are committed by individuals who have no association with any religion and they do this to sow discord and unrest in communities, he added

The senior church leader said that the leaderships of both the global Catholic and Protestant churches have also condemned acts of Quran desecration

Head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Anglican Consultative Council’s Secretary General Bishop Anthony Poggo have categorically said that the church does not endorse such spiteful actions We always have and will continue to raise our voices against religiously provocative actions,” he said The bishop also expressed concern over the desecration of the cross during protests organised by religious parties against the incidents in Europe

We understand the anguish and pain of our Muslim countrymen and stand with them in solidarity but the manner in which our holy symbol was insulted during demonstrations has hurt us deeply Such reactions are

uncalled for and should be condemned by Muslim leaders ” he said Marshall also highlighted the situation in Sargodha city where some elements were targeting Christians after blasphemous posters were pasted on the walls of a mosque by unknown persons

“Christians in Sargodha are living in fear as police is randomly raiding homes in Maryam Town and picking up men for questioning No Christian can even think of committing blasphemy against Islam s prophet and we believe that some individuals or groups are stoking religious tensions there with some vested interest We urge the Punjab government and police to conduct a transparent investigation and ensure the protection of the Christian community he said

Addressing the media Allama Ashrafi demanded that the European Union and United Nations take immediate notice of incidents of Quran desecration and enact laws to respect the sanctities of all divine religions at the global level Islam and all divine religions promote peace security moderation and tolerance The teachings of any religion do not endorse violence or extremism, and those who spread violence and extremism do not represent any religion,” he said

Catholic Archbishop of Lahore Sebastian Shaw Church of Pakistan Faisalabad Diocese Bishop Aleem Anwar and Bishop of Sialkot Alvin Samuel were also present at the press conference

Now Contempt of Parliament

TH E Contempt of Parliament Bill has passed through the Senate on Monday, going through the Senate after having earlier been passed by the National As Fortunately, it is not going to be used to stifle criticism of Parliament but its provisions do allow a bicameral Contempt Committee to impose a years’ imprisonment on contemnors, as well as fine them Rs one million The need for the Act arose because of the confrontation between Parliament and the Supreme Court, with the Supreme Court threatening to take action by issuing contempt notices to parliamentarians who had criticized the Supreme Court Contempt of Parliament has been defined as refusal, or causing refusal, of any person, from appearing before parliamentary committees, or bringing documents before them At stake is the desire of the Public Accounts Committee to have the Supreme Court present to it its financial records and the Supreme Court’s insistence that it was a separate branch of government and thus not obliged to appear before any parliamentary committee The Supreme Court has stayed a bill changing the Supreme Court procedure for constituting benches in suo motu cases but did not carry out any contempt proceedings for failure to implement its orders for elections within the constitutionally mandated 90 days

The contempt power seems a good one to those that do not have it All courts have this power but of late it seems to be extending itself

It is a coincidence that only a day after the law was passed the Election Commission of Pakistan postponed to August 2 the indictment of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, after his personal appearance made the arrest warrants issued for him infructuous

However, the ECP had never before been thought of as a body which could punish contempt of itself expressed by speech criticizing, in this case, the Chief Election Commissioner That Parliament has not arrogated such a right to itself is wellcome, but who is to say that it will not in future by a small addition to the present Act

That Act has not become a law yet and now all eyes are on President Arif Alvi, whose assent is needed for it to become law However at most he can delay it by refusing assent Even without any delay on his part, there is a very limited time for Parliament to act before its inevitable dissolution leads to the automatic dissolution of all committees including the proposed Contempt Committee The Act will only be useful for future Parliaments

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami Editor

M A Niazi Joint Editor Umar Aziz Executive Editor

F o r A r a b A

m e r i c a n s

, B l u e i s N o t B l u e

A n o t h e r ex a m p l e o f t h e U S A f avo u r i n g I s ra e l b l i n d l y

NE W S last week that the USA and Israel were about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) advancing Israel s entry into the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) shouldn t have caught us by surprise But it did For months, we had been assured by various Biden Administration officials that Israel could not meet the requirements of the programme Concerns focused on the VWP s statutory requirement that participant governments must guarantee full reciprocity to US citizens seeking entry - without regard to race, religion, or national origin

For the Biden Administration to sign this MOU is an insult to Arab Americans, especially Palestinian Americans given Israel’s decades of discriminatory entry/exit treatment of our community attempting to visit Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

As has been well documented, Israel routinely disregards US passports, blatantly ignoring the rights of Arab Americans and Americans practicing First Amendment expression for Palestinian rights These US citizens have reported being harassed detained and outright denied entry by Israeli officials During these incidents Arab Americans have been stripsearched, questioned for hours about family and property histories, and even forced to give access to their social media accounts

For months, Biden Adminisatration officials held that like all other 40 countries in the programme Israel must meet the statutory requirements including reciprocity before being admitted Yet the US has signed this MOU when there has been no demonstrable change in Israel s behaviour since the latest push to admit it into the VWP began two years ago The requirement of reciprocity continues to be ignored with the blatant discrimination Israel exhibits in its treatment of Arab Americans seeking to enter the country or the OPT In fact since then Israel has issued even more onerous restrictions on visiting Palestinian Americans as part of Israeli s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) rules

In the draft of the MOU circulated, Israel’s restrictive COGAT procedures are left intact for a subset of U S citizens for at least a year The COGAT procedures create an additional restrictive short-term visa process for Americans entering the West Bank undermining the guarantee of reciprocity required for admission into the VWP While the MOU s terms state that COGAT is superseded by the MOU, the next section clarifies that COGAT still applies to US Citizens that are West Bank residents until May 2024

P a k i s t a n c a n c r e a t e a m o r e p r o d u c t i v e w o r k f o r c e

It must understand workplace safet y

valuable asset: their people

Adding to the issue is the lack of OHS-related policies procedures and enforcement infrastructure by the government The existing labor laws in Pakistan are outdated and inadequate, as they fail to address the broad range of health and safety risks posed by modern and complex manufacturing industries Furthermore the current labour inspectors lack the qualifications to act as health and safety inspectors and lack the mandate to enforce worldclass safety practices in the manufacturing sector

at which point the VWP compliant program will “be made available to them ” At no point does the MOU state that VWP entry procedures will become the default for US residents of the West Bank even after full adoption of VWP procedures Further, travel to the OPT are governed by the COGAT rules, but what if I am a Jewish American going to an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank? How is allowing one set of rules for Palestinian Americans and another for Jewish Americans not an example of our government endorsing racism against its citizens? Furthermore throughout the MOU, the US allows Israel the leeway to deny visitors entry for undefined security concerns a rubric which Israeli has too often abused in the past One month ago we were informed that there would be a 30-day test to see if Israel would apply non-discriminatory policies to visitors We scoffed at this plan noting that after having endured five decades of abusive behaviour at the hands of Israeli border officials, we demanded more, concrete evidence of change

The hope we had that our government was paying attention to our concerns was bolstered by recent evidence of the Biden Administration’s frustration with the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The USA has asked the Israelis to not build settlements they announced 5,000 more units We pushed them to control settler violence and stop home demolitions it continues We’ve pressed them to stop provocative raids yet in just the past year Israeli forces were directly responsible for killing US citizen Shireen Abu Akleh during a raid So when President Biden called Netanyahu s government the most extremist in Israel s history and continued to delay inviting him to meet in the USA, we assumed that the Administration wanted to send a message to the Israeli leader and his coalition

practice of continually rewarding Israel’s bad behaviour that has created their sense of impunity and fueled the very extremism about which we claim to be concerned ]

PA K I S TA N , the fifth most populous country in the world, possesses a vast human resource that can play a crucial role in its economic growth However the country s large labour force faces significant challenges particularly in terms of occupational health and safety Many workers in Pakistan are employed in hazardous industries such as agriculture, mining, construction, logistics and manufacturing where both the potential risk and actual rate of accidents and injuries are alarmingly high

According to ILO reports 2 2 million people die every year from work-related accidents or illness, more than 270 million workers are injured and an estimated 160 million suffer work-related illness globally While the incidence of occupational accidents decreased from 4 3 percent of workers per year to 2 7 percent in 2021 in Pakistan on average every 37th worker in Pakistan experiences an occupational accident or injury each year, placing the country as having among the highest rates of workplace accidents and fatalities worldwide According to the Labour Force Survey of Pakistan (2020-21) mainly the occupational injury sufferers belonged to agriculture (29 3 percent) construction (19 7 percent) umanufacturing (19 1 percent) wholesale & retail trade (13 7 percent), and transport/storage & communication (10 2 percent) It is worth noting that a significant number of occupational health and safety incidents in Pakistan go unreported, making it difficult to determine the actual extent of incidents and casualties

Regrettably the manufacturing industries in Pakistan are predominantly led by entrepreneurs and investors who either lack an understanding of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risks in the workplace or fail to prioritize the implementation of measures that ensure the safety and well-being of their employees These owners are often willing to invest in insurance policies to protect their assets but they fail to invest in preventive measures that can safeguard their most

A stark example of the consequences of neglecting workplace safety occurred in 2012 when a massive fire engulfed a factory in Baldia Karachi claiming the lives of more than 250 workers Shockingly even an incident of such magnitude failed to trigger the muchneeded reforms by the government Presently, there is no single federal body in Pakistan with the authority to draft and implement OHS policies rules and regulations In the aftermath the Baldia incident the provinces of Sindh Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have enacted legislation on occupational safety and health but are still far from creating the necessary infrastructure and support for effective implementation

Instead of reinventing the wheel, Pakistan can look to developed nations such as the United

I m p rov i n g o c c u p a t i o n a l h e a l t h a n d s a f e t y i n Pa k i s t a n r e q u i r e s a c o l l a b o r a t i v e

e f fo r t f ro m t h e g ov e r n m e n t , e m p l oy e rs , e m p l oy e e s , a n d o t h e r s t a k e h o l d e rs B y

p r i o r i t i z i n g t h e s a f e t y a n d w e l l - b e i n g o f e m p l oy e d p e o p l e , Pa k i s t a n c a n c r e a t e a m o r e p ro d u c t i v e a n d p ro s p e ro u s wo r k fo rc e t h a t c o n t r i bu t e s t o t h e c o u n t r y Ês e c o n o m i c g row t h a n d d ev e l o p m e n t w h i l e u p h o l d i n g i t s c o r e fo u n d i n g va l u e s a n d p r i n c i p l e s .

What message did Biden send? In a day’s time the Administration announced both a meeting with the Israeli PM and the decision to sign the MOU on the VWP

[Note to historians: it s this confounding US

States of America for best practices

The United States of America established the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970 creating an agency within the Department of Labor responsible for private-sector employers OSHA has the necessary infrastructure and resources to ensure its successful operation Over the years, OSHA has formulated nearly 1,000 standards covering a wide range of industries their associated risks and preventive and protective measures

To address the much-needed reforms in occupational health and safety management the Government of Pakistan must establish a national occupational health and safety governing body similar to OSHA under the Department of Labour This national body should enact a national occupational health and safety act Provincial acts must be aligned with the national act

The national OHS-governing body should be provided with the necessary resources and infrastructure to guarantee its success The OHS-governing body would focus on creating both horizontal and vertical standards related to occupational health and safety Horizontal standards would apply to all industries and employers covering aspects such as emergency preparedness and response Vertical standards would be specific to certain industries and employers, addressing their unique risks and requirements, such as standards for the construction industry

To ensure the effective development of OHS policies and procedures a team of competent health and safety experts should be appointed in collaboration with local industries foreign OSHA agencies and International Labor Organization (ILO) experts Additionally, a skilled and empowered team of health and safety inspectors should be deployed with the mandate to conduct inspections and issue citations for violations

Improving occupational health and safety in Pakistan requires a collaborative effort from the government employers employees and other stakeholders By prioritizing the safety and well-being of employed people, Pakistan can create a more productive and prosperous workforce that contributes to the country’s economic growth and development while upholding its core founding values and principles

The writer is an experienced health and safety professional

Israel into

This decision is an egregious breach of responsibility owed by the US government to its citizens. It is an insult to my community· and the law that created the visa waiver programme

Reading through the circulating US-Israel MOU is deeply troubling First, we do not yet have the official MOU but rather are reviewing versions shared by news outlets and various sources Why has the Biden Administration not yet released the MOU? And of the existing 40 countries in the programme how many have had to have a reciprocity outline as the Israeli statement identified it? On initial review, while other countries have signed MOUs about enhanced security around the VWP there has been no other MOU for a visa waiver country that redefined reciprocity to allow for disparate treatment of American citizens based on their ethnicity or national origin Reciprocity is required in the statute If Israel met the requirements of the law and therefore the visa waiver programme redefining reciprocity in an MOU would not be required Additionally on the first page of Annex A in the MOU we find the following Israel s regulations state that discrimination the unfavorable treatment of a person, or group of persons, based on several factors which can include their national origin religion or ethnicity – is unacceptable I repeat discrimination is unacceptable While allowing for declarative statements that defy fact and claiming to be a roadmap to “clarify” reciprocity, what the MOU does is allow Israel to redefine reciprocity to serve its purposes With this MOU the Administration has disregarded the legal requirements of joining the VWP to Israel s benefit

By admitting Israel into the VWP in violation of statutory requirements, the Administration will choose to abandon the rights of Arab American citizens to give Israel a political perk This decision is an egregious breach of responsibility owed by the US government to its citizens It is an insult to my community and the law that created the visa waiver programme

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

E d i t o r ’ s m a i l

S e n d y o u r l e t t e r s t o : L e t t e r s t o E d i t o r Pakistan Today 4 - S h a a re y F a t i m a J i n n a h L a h o re P a k i s t a n E - m a i l : l e t t e r s @ p a k i s t a n t o d a y c o m p k L e t t e r s s h o u l d b e a d d re s s e d t o Pakistan Today e x c l u s i v e l y

Pakistani expor ters in a global context

I T is a matter of great relief for Pakistan that we have successfully reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a stand-by arrangement worth $3 billion This will help us avert the looming threat of default and a possibly disastrous economic scenario portrayed in the film Mad Max

While much has been written about the chaos that follows a sovereign default it is important to remember the words of renowned writer Ernest Hemingway, who aptly wrote in The Sun Also Rises:

How did you go bankrupt? Two ways; gradually then suddenly

Although we now have some breathing space, our policymakers must take all necessary measures to ensure an increase in exports This is crucial because our trading partners’ central banks are currently tightening their monetary policies and raising interest rates to cool down their economies and combat inflation Recent statements from the United States Federal Reserve the Bank of England and the European Central Bank have emphasised the need to continue raising the interest rates even if it means entering recession The rise in yields in the US treasury market and UK gilts market indicates the challenging times that lie ahead

But what does this mean for Pakistani exporters when our main trading partners’ economies are heading towards a recession? The signals are already evident in the data such as the recent rise in unemployment in Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy

Based on the recent statement from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), we can anticipate inflationary pressures in the coming months, particularly in terms of wage inflation

This can have a detrimental effect on exporters, adding to their costs Moreover historical data from 2013 to 2017 shows that the fixed exchange rate has not been favourable to our exporters’ competitiveness, as there is a clear correlation between a strong currency and a reduced export quantum for Pakistan

For small and medium-sized exporters who are already grappling with high electricity costs, the forthcoming tsunami of inflation will make it even harder for them to meet export targets and compete in the global market with the trading partners entering a recessionary phase Pakistani decision-makers must recognise that we operate in a global marketplace, and if the Western economies experience a recession, other countries like Bangladesh and China will adjust their strategies to support their exporters Therefore, it is imperative to provide support to exporters in Pakistan during this challenging period They can bring in valuable foreign exchange, and that will surely help lift Pakistan out of its debt crisis

Drawing from the wisdom of Herman Kahn, the renowned military strategist who formulated the Kahn s Escalation Ladder and was founding member of the Hudson Institute, it appears that the world is turning a blind eye to potential risks With geopolitical tensions escalating in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the possibility of a miscalculation between China and Taiwan leading to a war the dangers of a global trading disruption could surpass even the Russia-Ukraine conflict In such a scenario it is crucial for Pakistani decision-makers to have a contingency plan in place to address the potential plummeting of our exports

The authorities need to prioritise and support the community of exporters They play a vital role in generating valuable foreign exchange for the country By standing together and providing the necessary assistance the communityof exporters can navigate through the current debt crisis and secure a prosperous future for Pakistan

By admitting

the VWP in violation of statutory requirements, the Administration will choose to abandon the rights of Arab American citizens to give Israel a political perk.

Primar y Education: A foundation of upward learning COMMENT 05

education introduces students to diverse cultures, promoting tolerance, acceptance, and appreciation for differences

The requirements of elementary education may vary based on the country state province or educational sys-

Ensuring that every child of elementary school age has access to education and is enrolled in school is a fundamental requirement Governments and educational authorities strive to reduce barriers to enrolment, such as distance financial constraints and cultural norms

LE A R N I N G in primary education is a dynamic and crucial process that lays the groundwork for future academic success and personal growth It aims to create curious confident and lifelong learners who are well-prepared to navigate the challenges of further education and life beyond school

It serves as the foundation for further learning and development The key aspects related to learning in primary education include core subjects Primary education typically covers core subjects, including language arts (reading writing grammar) mathematics science and social studies These subjects lay the groundwork for more advanced learning in later classes Reading and Literacy: Reading is a primary focus in primary education, as it is the gateway to all other learning Teachers help students develop reading skills and foster a love for reading

MATHEMATICS: In early math education students learn basic arithmetic number sense measurement and problemsolving skills to build a strong mathematical foundation Science and Inquiry: Students are introduced to basic scientific concepts through inquiry-based learning, encouraging them to ask questions, explore, and experiment

S O C I A L S T U D I E S: Social studies in primary education introduces students to their communities cultures geography and basic historical events Art Music and Physical Education: Creative arts and physical education are integral parts of primary education, promoting selfexpression, creativity, and physical health

D I F F E R E N T I AT E D I N S T R U C T I O N : Teachers

use differentiated instruction to accommodate diverse learning styles and abilities ensuring that every student has an opportunity to learn effectively Formative Assessment: Formative assessment is used to monitor students progress and understanding throughout the learning process It helps teachers adjust their teaching and provide timely feedback B

Primary education emphasizes building social skills such as cooperation empathy and conflict resolution to foster positive interactions with peers

S : Elementary educat i o n r e q u i r e s w e l l - q u a l i f i e d a n d t r a i n e d t e a c h e r s who possess the knowledge, skills, and passion for teaching young children Teachers should understand child development, employ effective teachi n g m e t h o d s , a n d c r e a t e a s u p p o r t i v e l e a r n i n g environment

C C U R R I C U L U M: A well-defined and age-appropriate curriculum is crucial for elementary education The curriculum should cover core subjects like language arts (reading, writing, grammar), mathematics, science, social studies, as well as other subjects like art music physical education and possibly foreign languages D

: Schools need access to appropriate learning materials,

learning and prepare students for a digitally driven world Overall elementary education requirements are designed to provide a nurturing engaging and supportive learning environment that helps children develop essential knowledge, skills, and values during their formative years

increase in school enrolment rates The number of outof-school children has decreased significantly and more children are attending elementary schools

C G E N D E R PA R I T Y: India has made progress in reducing gender disparity in elementary education Efforts have been made to ensure equal access to education for both boys and girls D

De-

improvements, there are still issues with the availability of proper infrastructure and facilities in many schools, especially in rural and remote areas Lack of adequate classrooms libraries sanitation facilities and clean drinking water remains a concern

While enrolment has increased the quality of education in some schools remains a challenge Issues include teacher shortages, inadequate training, high student-teacher ratios, and outdated teaching methods

AT E S: Dropout rates continue to be a concern especially among marginalized and disadvantaged communities Factors such as poverty child labour, early marriages, and lack of interest in schooling contribute to this issue

must be inclusive catering to the needs of all students including those with disabilities and special learning requirements Schools should provide

Modi’s India is moving in an illiberal direction

but also through vigilante violence

FINANCIAL TIMES

M A R T I N WO L F

TO D AY S India is an illiberal democracy Freedom House, the US thinktank, puts it at the same level as Hungary, whose leader, Viktor Orbán, invented that phrase But it rates the components differently: political rights notably electoral politics are healthier in India than in Hungary but civil rights are weaker Worse the latter have deteriorated substantially under BJP rule since 2014 India s ratings on democracy are still far higher than those of, say, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Turkey But it is not a “liberal democracy”: Freedom House simply labels the country partly free

Yet as India s polity has become less liberal its government has become more effective World Bank indicators show that political stability and absence of violence , control of corruption , regulatory quality” and “government effectiveness” have improved since Narendra Modi became prime minister But “voice and accountability” and rule of law have worsened His government is more repressive and more effective than its predecessors As Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University notes in India s Democratic Longevity and Its Troubled Trajectory”, the country’s vigorous democracy was an anomaly It should not have lasted in an agricultural country with a significant rate of illiteracy Yes this democracy was imperfect with high levels of corruption and violence not to mention Indira Gandhi s emergency in the mid-1970s But it worked Varshney s hypothesis is that political ideology played a central role in first creating the democracy and now weakening it The founders of independent India believed in democracy

Over time as its politics became more fragmented politicians thought democracy was in their interest, too, since it allowed them hope to fight another day But today s Hindu nationalists have a different point of view: for them, a true Indian must be a Hindu Their critics are “anti-national” and so inherently treasonous

This perspective justifies administrative and legal action against independent voices in universities think-tanks and the media The government can now designate any individual a terrorist based on personal writings, speeches, social media posts, or literature found in their possession According to Rahul Mukherji close to 17 000 civil society organisations have been denied registration or renewal since 2015 Moreover minority rights especially of Muslims are under attack not just through the law or administrative decrees,

All this is clearly illiberal But is it also undemocratic? Majoritarians argue that they are entitled to do what they wish because they won But a dictatorship of the majority is still a dictatorship Moreover without freedom of association and opinion an opposition cannot function Rahul Gandhi a leading opposition politician has been sentenced to two years in prison for remarks he has made on Modi Such intimidation makes a competitive democracy infeasible Moreover, as is too often the case in first-past-the post multiparty elections the BJP won a huge majority of seats in 2019 despite winning fewer than 40 per cent of votes This is hardly a true majority

Yet we must remember that democratic rights do not of themselves fill empty stomachs or produce good jobs Encouragingly, a recent report from the UN Development Programme argues that between 2005 and 2021, 415mn people were lifted out of “multidimensional poverty” and the incidence of poverty declined from 55 per cent to 16 per cent The most rapid declines occurred in the poorest states and union territories The Modi government must take a good part of the credit for this

At the same time, as Ashoka Mody notes, the employment record of India is persistently poor

A crucial failure is India’s low (and falling) female participation rate Moreover the growth rate has not accelerated under the BJP Even today s India stack of universal digital access and the successful direct distribution of welfare payments derives from the unique identity system created by Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, when Manmohan Singh was prime minister Moreover strong and centralised government can make big mistakes Demonetisation in 2016 was such a mistake Another was the Covid lockdown in March 2020 which forced some 40mn migrant workers to return home, many of them on foot Moreover, such governments frequently have over-close relations with business cronies This one seems to be no exception

For someone who has long admired the vigour and diversity of Indian democracy this growing illiberalism is depressing It is particularly depressing given India s rising role in the world I can see no good reason why a predominantly Hindu society should not tolerate minority faiths I can see no reason either why it has to assail a diverse civil society Yet that is where the Modi government seems to be going

Those who worry about this will be reminded that Hindus are highly tolerant According to a 2021 study of religious attitudes by the Pew Foundation, 85 per cent of Hindus (who are 80 per cent of the population) believe that “respecting all religions is very important to being truly Indian” Unfortunately the 15 per cent who do not share this view are 90mn adults Moreover nearly two-thirds of Hindus say it is very important to be Hindu to be truly Indian Thus the politics of religious identity carry dangers for both freedom and stability even in India This government rides the tiger of politicised religion on what it hopes to be a long journey towards the destination of creating a modern prosperous and strong India The question is not just where it will end up but whether it can avoid being eaten on its journey

In the sphere of elementary education the government has undertaken various initiatives to improve the quality of education and increase the number of children attending school However challenges persist and there is still work to be done to ensure that every child in India receives a quality elementary education

key points regarding the status of elementary education in India are:

The Right to Education Act enacted in 2009 made education a fundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years The act aimed to ensure free and compulsory education for all children, improving access to elementary education

B INCREASED ENROLMENT: The RTE Act along with various government efforts has led to a substantial

IN India s 75-year history as an independent country, two political parties have, at different times, dominated its public life: the Congress Party, from independence in 1947 to the 1990s; and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for most of the twenty-first century From a Western perspective each party has exhibited a particular strength and a particular weakness while in power The Congress Party installed a democratic political system when the country became independent, with free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, and the protection of the rights of minorities The BJP, by contrast, has violated democratic norms but done better in managing the nation’s economy The political and economic history of independent India’s first three-quarters of a century thus becomes a study in contrasts

Ashoka Mody an Indian-born economist who has worked at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and now teaches at Princeton University, sees that history differently In his account of India since 1947, India Is Broken: A People Betrayed, Independence to Today, a book that combines the passion of a jeremiad with the clinical precision of an economic treatise complete with many charts and graphs he argues that a baleful indeed disastrous continuity has marked and marred India s post-independence history For 75 years successive Indian governments, in his telling, have failed to deliver what matters most in the life of any country: a decent standard of living made possible by the availability of good jobs As a result, by his estimate fully sixty percent of India’s 1 4 billion people live either in abject poverty or on the brink of it

Mody credits Jawaharlal Nehru the prime minister during the formative years 1947 to 1964 as being a humane nationalist who believed in the norms of equality, tolerance, and shared progress For him, the practice of these norms meant more democracy, secularism, and socialism, properly understood as equality of opportunity Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi however who held that office from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984 departed from democratic practices by imposing authoritarian rule for twenty-one months from 1975 to 1977 a period known as the Emergency She also opened the way to the corruption that pervades Indian public life today, which includes an unhealthy penetration of government by organized crime throughout the country

On economic matters Nehru adopted a strategy for growth that emphasized large industrial projects within India’s borders He spurned reliance on labor-intensive manufacturing for export which would have created jobs on a far larger scale The export-oriented approach that he rejected started the rapid economic growth that the countries of East Asia, notably Japan and China, enjoyed in the decades after World War II In this way Nehru’s economic ideas hampered India’s economic progress

As for the BJP it has shown little regard for some of the basic tenets of democratic governance Its Hindu-nationalist ideology has led to discrimination and worse against India s 80 million Muslims It has harassed independent journalists and recently managed to have the leader of the Congress Party–Rahul Gandhi, Indira Gandhi s grandson–sentenced to prison on a trumped-up charge

The BJP prime minister Narendra Modi boasts of the country’s economic achievements under his leadership–building to be sure on liberalizing reforms instituted by a Congress government in 1991 under the pressure of a balance of payments crisis Ashoka Mody is not impressed with the BJP s economic record, however, depicting its stewardship as a species of crony capitalism that has conferred favors and ad-

G M I D - D AY M E A L S C H E M E : T h e M i d - d a y Meal Scheme which provides nutritious meals to s t u d e n t s h a s b e e n i n s t r u m e n t a l i n i m p r o v i n g school attendance and nutrition levels among children It s important to note that the status of elementary education in India is constantly evolving, and efforts by the government, NGOs, and other stakeholders are ongoing to address the challenges a n d f u r t h e r i m p r o v e t h e e d u c a t i o n s y s t e m i n t h e country

The writer is a Youth Motivator, presently Professor of Political Science and Dean of Social Sciences along with Dean Student’s Welfare (DSW) at B N Mandal University Madhepura (Bihar) India His 23 books published in addition to 900 articles in national and international journals and daily newspapers from 25 foreign countries

India’s failure

The lack of jobs in sufficient numbers and of adequate quality for India’s 1 4 billion people stands as the world’s largest democracy’s greatest failure

vantages on wealthy members of the business community in return for the government s political and financial support

The author identifies the vast majority of Indians as losers from the BJP s policies as they were from those the Congress carried out Throughout its independent history, India has failed to generate the jobs necessary for popular well-being because, as Mody sees it, the Indian government has consistently failed to invest adequately in the public goods that job-creation on the necessary scale requires above all primary and secondary education public health and urban infrastructure He also criticizes the reluctance of successive Indian governments motivated by a particular definition of national pride and honor to devalue the national currency, the rupee This made the country’s exports more expensive than they should have been and so limited what India was able to sell to other countries

The combination of wrongheaded economic policies corruption and crony capitalism the author concludes has enriched a few Indians–the country does have its share of billionaires–but has blocked the kind of economic progress that other Asian countries have made since World War II

To be sure, India s record in its first seventy-five years is not an entirely bleak one The country does have some impressive achievements to its credit Not the least of them is its continued existence as a single unified state despite the many differences among its people Indians speak for example twelve major languages and many other lesser dialects This unity has no historical precedent A united and independent India within its present borders never existed before 1947 India has persisted, as well, as a democracy, despite the BJP’s encroachments on the liberties of some of its citizens It continues to hold free and largely fair elections In a recent one in the important southern state of Karnataka the voters evicted the BJP from office That outcome points to another salient feature of twenty-first-century India: political and economic conditions are not uniform across the country On most measures of individual well-being, the south ranks higher than the north India’s GDP has grown by between three and 4 5 percent since the 1980s an eminently respectable performance; and while GDP is not necessarily the definitive measure of national wellbeing it does count for something By far the greatest number of Indians work in agriculture and Indian farmers while beset with difficulties, have done better in feeding the country s population in recent years than was the case at the time of independence Furthermore, the digital revolution has come to India, which had 1 2 billion mobile phone subscriptions in 2022 Virtually all Indians have a digital ID number that they can use for financial and other transactions The country has a thriving high-tech sector although it employs only a tiny fraction of the country s work force; and its elite educational institutions–while also accessible to only a very few–produce graduates as skillful, sophisticated, creative, and generally impressive as any in the world, although many choose to live and work abroad, not least in the United States In the midst of these undoubted national successes however the glaring failure at the center of Mody’s history stands out In providing a decent life for the masses of its people the country lags behind not only the West Japan and China but also, increasingly, behind countries historically poorer than India such as Vietnam and Bangladesh For any Indian government in the years ahead, addressing that failure will loom as its most urgent challenge

Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A Herter Professor Emeritus of American Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies a member of the Editorial Board of American Purpose and the author of The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower (2022)

His govt has taken huge risks in riding the tiger of politicised religion

A R

R E A D Y I N C A S E O F U K R A N I A N A G G R E S S I O N

UKRAIN Ag e n c e s

BELARUSIAN Emergency Mini s t e r Va d i m S i n y a v s k y s a i d

M o n d a y t h a t i t s m i n i s t r y i s a l l set to aid other ministries if any armed conflict breaks out or any u p r i s i n g t a k e s p l a c e w i t h i n t h e s t a t e a s P r e s i d e n t A l e x a n d e r L u k a s h e n k o e a r l i e r c a l l e d o n e v e r y c i t i z e n t o r e s p o n d t o a n y kind of aggression

Employees will be ready to assist the ministries in the event of an armed conflict or some kind of riots in which a significant number of personnel must be involved,” the minister Sinyavsky told State Belarus 1

President Belarus earlier stated that every man and not only a man is needed who is able to at least handle weapons to respond to an act of aggression

Though Belarus did not send its own military to join the Russian special military operation in Ukraine that commenced in

February 2022 the President allowed his long-term ally Moscow to use its territory for its military purposes and enter the neigh-

bouring country

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

Meta, Microsof t, hundreds more own trademarks to new Twitter name

PRIFIT r e u t e r s

Billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to rebrand Twitter as X could be complicated legally: companies including Meta (META O) and Microsoft (MSFT O) already have intellectual property rights to the same letter X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges – and the company formerly known as Twitter could face its own issues defending its X brand in the future

There s a 100% chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody,” said trademark attorney Josh Ger-

ben who said he counted nearly 900 active U S trademark registrations that already cover the letter X in a wide range of industries

Musk renamed social media network Twitter as X on Monday and unveiled a new logo for the social media platform a stylized black-and-white version of the letter Owners of trademarks – which protect things like brand names, logos and slogans that identify sources of goods – can claim infringement if other branding would cause consumer confusion Remedies range from monetary damages to blocking use Microsoft since 2003 has owned an X trademark related to communications

about its Xbox video-game system Meta Platforms – whose Threads platform is a new Twitter rival – owns a federal trademark registered in 2019 covering a blueand-white letter “X” for fields including software and social media

Meta and Microsoft likely would not sue unless they feel threatened that Twitter s X encroaches on brand equity they built in the letter,

speak during a meeting at the Bocharov

Ruchei residence in Sochi, Russia June 9,

2023 Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speak during a meeting at the Bocharov

Ruchei residence in Sochi Russia June 9

2023 Reuters ince the operation began, Belarus and Russia organised several joint military training exercises and in June President

Lukashenko allowed his country to be used

as a base for Moscow s nuclear weapons

This move was broadly criticised by the Western countries urging Minsk and Moscow to refrain from such acts

L u k a s h e n k o h a s a l s o f r e q u e n t l y m e t w i t h R u s s i a n P r e s i d e n t V l a d i m i r P u t i n , w i t h t h e l a t e s t t w o - d a y t r i p o f t h e B e l a r u -

sian president to Moscow ending Monday

w h e r e t h e t w o l e a d e r s t a l k e d a b o u t a s t r a t e g i c p a r t n e r s h i p R u s s i a a n d B el a r u s a r e l i n k e d i n a p a r t n e r s h i p c a l l e d t h e u n i o n s t a t e i n w h i c h M o s c o w i s b y f a r

t h e d o m i n a n t p l a y e r

The perception that Lukashenko, a pariah in the West, depends on Putin for his survival had fanned fears in Kyiv that Putin would pressure him to join a fresh ground offensive and open a new front in Russia s operation against Kiyv

Putin met for the first time with his ally Alexander Lukashenko after Wagner s failed mutiny late last month for two-day talks as he helped mediate a deal between the private mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin

There is no counteroffensive

Lukashenko said during the meeting before being interrupted by Putin: There is one, but it has failed ”

Both leaders met hours after the Russian army had struck Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa

In a sign of the importance of the meeting Putin said at that time that he had changed some of my plans so that talks with Lukashenko could last two days

C hina’s top legislature

ISLAMABAD

M i A n A b r A r China’s top legislature convened a session on Tuesday to review a draft criminal law amendment and vote to decide on official appointments and removals The key appointment was reappointment of State Councillor Wang Yi as China’s Foreign Minister removing Qing Gang Wang Yi has been serving as

reappoints

Wang Y i as Foreign Minister, reviews law

State Councillor of China besides also working as Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee

Additionally Pan Gongsheng has been appointed as China s central bank governor replacing Yi Gang, according to a decision adopted at the session Pan is also the head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE)

Pan deputy governor of the People s Bank of China (PBC) was also appointed as secretary of the central bank’s Party committee on July 1 He, along with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen when she visited China recently

The session also reviewed a draft criminal law amendment with the aim of strengthening relevant regulations concerning bribery and p u n i s h m e n t of corrupt i o n - r e l a t e d crimes committed by int e r n a l personnel of

private enterprises in accordance with the Party s anti-corruption efforts and its overall policy of protecting private companies in line with the law

Regarding increased penalties for bribery the draft stipulates stricter punishments for six scenarios including repeated bribery, bribery to multiple persons, and state personnel committing bribery Simultaneously, it adjusts the starting point and levels of punishment for bribery crimes to align with those for accepting bribes Wang Yi, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who served as the Chinese ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2007, began his career in the foreign ministry in 1982 Besides working in the for-

eign ministry, Wang also served as director of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council from 2008 to 2013 B e t w e e n 2 0 1 3 a n d 2 0 1 8 , Wa n g s e r v e d a s t h e m i n i s t e r a n d d e p u t y s e c r e t a r y o f t h e CPC Committee of the foreign m i n i s t r y F r o m 2 0 1 8 h e s e r v e d a s t h e S t a t e C o u n c i l o r m e m b e r o f t h e L e a d i n g C P C M e m b e r s G r o u p o f t h e S t a t e C o u n c i l , a n d f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r b e f o r e Q i n t o o k u p t h e p o s it i o n i n 2 0 2 2

Qin was promoted to the vice minister of the Foreign Ministry in 2018 and three years later became Chinese ambassador to the US He arrived in the US in July 2021 to take his post as Chinese ambassador He was appointed as Chinese foreign minister according to a decision made by the 13th National People s Congress Standing Committee, on December 30, 2022

At least 15 killed, 19 missing in Indonesia ferr y sinking

JAKARTA

Ag e n c i e s

Indonesian authorities recovered the bodies of 15 passengers and were searching for another 19 people missing after a small ferry capsized during a short 20-minute journey near Sulawesi island the national search and rescue agency said on Monday Of 40 passengers on board only six were known to have survived the accident on Sunday night the agency said in a statement All the victims have been identified and handed over to the families while the survivors are now being treated in local hospitals,” said Muhamad Arafah from the local branch of the search and rescue agency Photos shared by the rescue agency showed bodies covered in cloth on the floor of the local hospital The cause of the sinking which occurred at about midnight was still unclear The vessel was ferrying people across a distance of just 1 kilometre (less than half a mile) in Muna island, about 200 km (124 miles) south of Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province The journey between two small towns on either side of Mawasangka Bay was meant to be just 20 minutes long Teams searching for the missing were diving at the location where the vessel sank and patrolling nearby waters in rubber boats, the agency said Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and accidents are common as lax safety standards often allow vessels to be overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment

Xi stresses high-qualit y development of armed forces with high-level governance

BEIJING

s tA f f c o r r e s p o n d e n t

Xi Jinping general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has stressed promoting high-quality development of the armed forces with high-level governance Xi presided over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Monday The session was convened ahead of China’s Army Day, which falls on August 1

The day was designated to commemorate the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Describing strengthening all-around military governance as a profound change in the CPC s military governance philosophy and methods, Xi emphasized its crucial role in modernizing China s system and capacity for governance Xi demanded efforts in building a modern governance system for the armed forces to provide a strong guarantee for achieving the goals for the PLA centenary in 2027 It is essential to recognize the significance of strengthening all-around military governance as the PLA amid rapid advances in global sci-tech revolutions and profound changes in military affairs, is at a crucial juncture in its drive to achieve the goals for its centenary, Xi said Noting that strengthening all-around military governance concerns all aspects of national defense and military development Xi stressed efforts to enhance the top-level design and strategic planning of military governance and improve overall coordination Xi said efforts should also be made to strengthen military expenditure management and supervision and advance innovation in strategic governance Emphasizing the need to integrate military governance with reform and the rule of law Xi urged efforts to consolidate and expand the achievements in reforming national defense and the armed forces and step up the implementation of rules and regulations and supervision

CORPORATE CORNER

UNITED NATIONS S TA F F R E P O R T

PAKISTAN has urged the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), the UN body supporting peace efforts in conflict-affected countries, to expand its coverage to include Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir

Peacebuilding is a growth industry Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN General Assembly which debated the annual report on the 31-member Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund The Pakistani envoy recognizing the increasing demands of the Peacebuilding Commission said its financial resources are only half of what is required Yet we must acknowledge that the PBC s coverage is not universal, he said Significant situations such as in Afghanistan and in Jammu and Kashmir are not among those addressed by the Peacebuilding Commission Ambassador Akram added The Commission he said must remai responsive to national priorities

Money of EOBI, poor people will not be let go to waste: Turi

Occupation mafia have become billionaires by earning the blood and sweat of poor people, Prime Minister and Chief Justice should take timely notice! The money of EOBI and poor people will not be allowed to go to waste Sajid Hussain Turi Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Sajid Hussain Turi has disclosed that ten years ago EOBI has paid a huge some amount of 2600 million to Park View City a housing society owned by the leader of the Pakistan Tehreeke-Istehkam party, Abdul Aleem Khan) for total 742 plots (684 residential and 58 commercial) and another 226 commercial plots in the River Edge Housing Scheme Lahore which is now known as Park View Society At the same time the housing society Eden owned by the former Chief Justice Supreme Court Iftikhar Chaudhry Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry will also have to answer It should be remembered that this land was bought at double the price at that time While three-fourth of this property has not been completed so far While all payments have been made in lump sum 10 years ago On which no positive progress could be made so far It should be noted that the current value of this property has exceeded more than eight billion rupees

Officers of Inland Revenue

Ser vice host farewell dinner in honour of FBR

and enhance national ownership and regional cooperation, while spotlighting its advisory role While the Commission advice must be substantive it should receive bottomup information and analysis from the Government the resident coordinator and other stakeholders on country-spe-

cific situations Further, the Pakistani envoy expressed support for expanding finances through additional and innovative sources while observing that a percentage of peacekeeping budget funds should be kept for peacebuilding towards the end of peacekeeping mandates

In addition, the Peacekeeping Fund

Chairman of Pakistan Business Group Punjab Chapter, Visits Rawaf Al Mina, Applauded

for Enhancing Hajj Pilgrimage Services

KARACHI S TA F F R E P O R T

In a gesture of cooperation and goodwill Sheikh Muhammad Zunnurain the Chairman of the Pakistan Business Group Punjab Chapter and Al Fursan Group of Companies, paid a visit to Rawaf Al Mina During his visit, he was warmly welcomed by Deputy Chief Executive Officer Waheed Fadel and the two leaders engaged in discussions concerning bilateral trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as well as various sectors of mutual interest

One of the key topics of discussion was the successful provision of services to Hajj pilgrims, with a particular focus on the improvements in facilities and services that were made during the Hajj season of 1444 Hijri Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Zunnurain extended his gratitude to the senior management of Rawaf Al Mina for their pivotal role in serving the Hajj pilgrimage and ensuring a comfortable and smooth experience for the pilgrims

During the meeting, Chairman Zunnurain also highlighted some of the concerns and complaints raised by pilgrims during the recent Hajj urging for

further enhancements in facilities and services for the next Hajj season of 1445 Hijri

In response Waheed Fadel the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Rawaf Al Mina reassured Chairman Zunnurain and the Al Fursan Group that they are committed to continuous improvement He pledged to provide even more facilities and services to ensure the comfort and satisfaction of the pilgrims during the upcoming Hajj season As a token of appreciation and in the spirit of friendship Waheed Fadel presented Chairman Zunnurain with various gifts from Saudi Arabia including some from the sacred city of Makkah

Igniting Path to Progress: Knowledge Platform to empower marginalized communities through D igital Educ ation

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T

I n a p o w e r f u l s t r i d e t o w a r d s e m p o w e r m e n t Z o n g

4 G h a s p a r t n e r e d w i t h K n o w l e d g e P l a t f o r m a r e n o w n e d e d u c a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y c o m p a n y t o l a u n c h a g a m e - c h a n g i n g i n i t i a t i v e t h a t w i l l t o u c h t h e l i v e s o f t h o u s a n d s o f s t u d e n t s f r o m m a rg i n a li z e d c o m m u n i t i e s

This strategic alliance endeavors to provide tailored courses and comprehensive learning solutions to over 60 schools igniting inclusive growth and holistic education

The initiative focuses on schools in the heart of marginalized areas along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) belt Empowered by Knowledge Platform's cutting-edge technology and interactive modules students in the 9th and 10th grades will be equipped with interactive whiteboards computer labs internet access and a wealth of resources that transcend traditional boundaries

At the core of this project lies the deployment of Knowledge Platform's state-of-the-art digital learn-

ing solution which includes a diverse array of educational resources spanning English, Mathematics and Science subjects These digital materials have been meticulously designed to align with the national curriculum fostering a dynamic and engaging learning experience for both students and educators In addition to digital content and assessments the initiative will also integrate innovative learning games into the classroom environment These gamified educational experiences are designed to promote critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creativity while making the learning process enjoyable and interactive for students

T h e o ff i c i a l s p o k e s p e r s o n f o r Z o n g 4 G w h i l e commenting on the partnership said Our partners h i p w i t h K n o w l e d g e P l a t f o r m e p i t o m i z e s Z o n g 4G's steadfast commitment to shaping a brighter tomorrow for the upcoming generation through innov a t i v e s o l u t i o n s a n d d i g i t a l e m p o w e r m e n t , " T h e spokesperson added "Together we forge an extraordinary path that will unlock boundless opportunities and pave the way for a transformative era of education and progress

Education Minister inaugurates newly established academics & examination block with S audi Funding at IIUI

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T

Federal Minister for Education

Rana Tanveer Hussain inaugurated the Academics and examination

Block at International Islamic University (IIU) that is established with the Saudi funding to facilitate the students as per international standards and modern technology requirements

The Federal Education Minister was received by H E Dr Hathal Homoud Alotaibi President IIU at the new Academic and examination Block where he apprised him of his vision to facilitate the students on top priority with the use of modern technology and one stop approach He told

that the new academic block and Students Facilitation centre will be equipped with modern technology state of the art gadgets and well trained staff Senator Dr Hafiz Abdul Karim, Special Assistant to Prime Minister was also present on the occasion

Speaking on the occasion

Rana Tanveer Hussain said that IIU is one of the best universities in Pakistan , while specially thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, H E King Salman bin AbdulAziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for extending consistent cooperation to this university since its inception He said IIU is a promising seat of learning as it is providing quality

education to more than 30 thousand students including foreigner students of more than 40 countries He appreciated the efforts and vision of Dr Hathal Homoud Alotaibi saying that his student centric approach is laudable and this new facility to solve the issues of the students with use of modern technology is useful addition He added that the university is heading towards right direction in his leadership He called upon the universities to replicate the approach of IIU that university adopted for students facilitation

Talking about the Saudi assistance to the university Rana Tanveer Husssain said since inception of IIU KSA is extending cooperation to university

Solus Labs HackFest 2023, Southeast Asia

KARACHI S TA F F R E P O R T G r e e t i n g s f r o m S o l u s L a b s , a t e c h i n c u b a t o r s p ec i a l i z i n g i n w e b 3 p r o j e c t i n c u b a t i o n , f u n d r a i s i n g , a n d d e v e l o p m e n t

We are excited to propose a collaboration opportunity with National Incubation Center Karachi as a Strategic Partner for the Southeast Asia region NIC Karachi is an initiative of the Ministry of IT, funded by Ignite, and operated by LMKT dedic a t e d t o e m p o w e r i n g i n n o v a t i v e e n t r e p r e n e u r s through mentorship, training, and access to funding Wi t h o v

the event and creating a greater impact together!

should be deployed for peacebuilding only; development funds should not be used for this purpose, Ambassador Akram emphasized

The Commission’s performance he said should be evaluated on the basis of actual outcomes rather than the number of meetings and engagements

Most other speakers, underlining the importance of the Commission, spotlighted the value of national experience and ownership along with the need for adequate funding

The President of the General Assembly Csaba Korosi underscoring the importance of joint efforts before conflict erupts, said: Peace cannot be kept by force ” Unless Member States place conflict prevention at the core of their peace efforts the 2030 promise for a safe sustainable future will slip beyond the reach of many he stressed

Emphasizing that, 18 years after its creation, the Peacebuilding Commission is strategically placed to keep pace with evolving threats, the president encouraged the entity to make greater use of its advisory functions

PAFL A , MMBL Sign Strategic Par tnership To Promote Freelancing in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T

Pakistan Freelancers’ Association (PAFLA) and Mobilink Microfinance Bank Limited (MMBL) signed a strategic partnership to bolster financial literacy inclusivity and entrepreneurship across the country Under the collaboration, PAFLA and Mobilink Microfinance Bank will organize events and workshops, provide support to freelancers, offer academic assistance and establish incubation centers across Pakistan Besides, the two partners will also collaboratively conduct roadshows and executive events all across Pakistan In this connection The MoU was signed by Ghazanfar Azzam President and CEO of Mobilink Bank and CEO PAFLA Tufail Ahmed Khan at Mobilink Bank s Headquarters in Islamabad Co-founder PAFLA Ibrahim Amin was also present on the occasion Through this strategic alliance and shared commitment PAFLA and Mobilink Bank will strive to empower entrepreneurs and drive economic growth Further the Bank will open Freelancer Accounts for existing and new members of PAFLA besides providing them mentorship, training, learning opportunities, and co-working spaces across different cities These educational events will play a crucial role in creating awareness and understanding of the app’s features

Rice expor ters must focus on value addition - Governor Sindh

Governor Sindh Kamran Khan Tessori has stressed upon Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) to focus on value addition so as to enhance rice exports while ensuring maximum quality This he said while talking with a delegation to REAP led by its Acting Chairman Haseeb Ali Khan at Governor House Other members of the delegation included Dr Muhammad Hafeez, Muhammad Anwar Mianoor, Jawed Jillani, Ashfaq Ghaffar, Muhammad Bashir Altaf Hussain Shaikh Arif Muhammad Bashir Altaf Hussain Shaikh and Arif Ali Khan Governor Sindh asked the Association to also search for new markets for Pakistani rice to enhance its exports Rice was an important item which is exported from Pakistan and with identification of new markets valuable foreign exchange could be acquired for the country, he observed Governor Sindh assured that he would endeavour his utmost to resolve the problems of REAP members Relevant authorities would be approached to facilitate REAP members he further assured

Telenor Pakistan announces change of Chief Marketing Officer

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

Telenor Pakistan today announced a change in its executive leadership team as Umair Mohsin the current Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will be stepping down from his position to pursue opportunities outside the company In light of this change, Omer Bin Tariq, currently Chief Business Officer, will assume the role of CMO effective from 18 August 2023 As Umair Mohsin embarks on the next chapter of his professional life the company extends its gratitude for his invaluable contributions and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors Taking over the reins as the new CMO will be Omer Bin Tariq who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and strategic acumen as the Chief Business Officer of the company, a position he currently holds

E P R A N O T I F I E S P O W E R TA R I F F H I K E U P T O R S 7 . 5 0 P E R U N I T

government would be picking up a subsidy of Rs158 billion, the notification added The federal cabinet last Saturday gave a go-ahead to a massive increase in the base tariff of electricity by up to Rs7 50 per unit against the national average tariff determination of Rs4 96 by the power regulator T h e a p p r o v a l w a s g i v e n b y t h e c a b i -

n e t v i a c i r c u l a t i o n s u m m a r y s o u r c e s t o l d

G e o N e w s a n d a r e q u e s t h a s b e e n s u b m i tt e d t o N e p r a

A day earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz

Tower Islamabad

The power ministry during the hearing submitted that the increase requested through the Instant Motion is within the overall revenue requirement determined by Nepra and despite the proposed increase, the

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Raja Riaz on Tuesday opposed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ’s proposed candidature for caretaker prime minister s role saying there is no any need for immediate elections in the country

The tenure of the National Assembly is set to expire on August 12 and meetings are under way between the members of the government on the details of an interim set-up

If the government is dissolved before the National Assembly completes its term on August 12 elections would be held within the next 90 days If the assembly completes its tenure, the Election Commission of Pakistan is bound to hold polls

S h a r i f s a i d t h a t l i f e l i n e ( u p t o 1 0 0 u n i t s ) and protected category of consumers (101200 units per month) would be exempted f r o m t h e r e c e n t m a s s i v e i n c r e a s e i n t h e power tariff Earlier this week, the regulator also hiked the tariff to increase revenue collection for the loss-making power dist r i b u t i o n c o m p a n i e s ( D i s c o s ) d u r i n g t h e current fiscal year

The federal government sought approval

within the next 60 days

Earlier this week reports emerged of Dar as a possible candidate for the caretaker prime minister s slot However the PML-N a day ago appeared to be backpedalling on the idea, apparently in the wake of its outright rejection by both its ally PPP and the opposition PTI

Speaking on the matter with Dawn com today Riaz the de jure opposition leader in the NA also rejected the idea of Dar heading the caretaker setup The elections will not be held for two years if Ishaq Dar becomes the interim prime minister,” said Riaz, who is a member of the parliament on PTI’s ticket despite severing ties with the party and openly acknowledging that he would contest the next elections on PML-N s ticket Riaz said no one would accept the va-

Civil Judge’s wife booked for allegedly tor turing maid in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD

The Islamabad Police has booked wife of a civil judge in for allegedly torturing a 14-year-old teenage girl working at her home as maid Sources said that Police Station (PS) Humak on Tuesday registered a FIR against the wife of civil judge, Chaudhry Asim Hafeez, under sections 506/342 of Pakistani Penal Code (PPC) on complaint of Manga Khan the father of victim housemaid

The victim housemaid has been identified as Rizwana who later on shifted to hospital for medical treatment they said Some legal experts claimed that the police had allegedly inserted weak sections in the FIR instead of relevant laws that attract to nature of injuries caused by use of some blunt weapon by the accused wife of judge According to sources, Manga Khan, a resident of Street No 16 Jinnah Colony Sargodha lodged a complaint with PS Humak stating that a civil judge Asim Hafeez had employed her 14-year-old daughter Rizwana as housemaid through Chaudhry Mukhtar the person known to him (applicant), in his house located at Zaraj Housing Society on GT Road against Rs 10000 monthly wage He told police that Ms Somayya, the wife of judge, made his daughter to talk to her mother once or twice in a month on phone The applicant said he along with his wife Shamim and brother in law Muhammad Fayyaz reached at house of judge on 23/7/2023 to meet their daughter

As I stepped in the house of judge, I heard screams of my daughter coming out from a room We rushed to the room where we saw she was lying on floor in injured condition,” said Manga Khan, adding that there were wounds on the head face legs and body of his daughter

Her teeth were also broken and there were bruise on her neck as if somebody attempted to suffocate her to death

Her ribs were also broken said father of the girl in his application he filed with the police

from the cabinet adjusting different rates of increases for various consumer categories through cross-subsidy, though without affecting the overall revenue requirement According to a Nepra statement the revised national average tariff for the 2023-24 fiscal year has been determined at Rs29 78 per unit kWh which is Rs 4 96 per unit higher than the previously determined national average tariff of Rs24 82 While the regulator cited the rupee s devaluation, high inflation and interest rates, the addition of new capacities and overall low sales growth as reasons behind the increase it was actually hiked to meet one of the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of introducing structural reforms in the energy sector However, the applicable tariff would be much higher after including surcharges, taxes duties and levies besides monthly and quarterly adjustments

lidity of the general polls if they were held under Dar as the caretaker premier adding that Defence Minister Khawaja

Asif had also given a clear stance on the issue The PML-N should reveal a name or run it on the media There is no need for me to consult on it As the opposition leader I have to give my three names I will meet the prime minister by August 1 on the caretaker government issue he said Riaz said he would soon initiate the consultation process regarding the nominee for the caretaker prime minister, saying that he had meetings scheduled on Wednesday or Thursday with other opposition leaders on the issue

An economist should be the caretaker prime minister he added Riaz was also dismissive of the need

Corruption probe: PHC bars NAB from arresting BRT contractor

PESHAWAR S ta f f R e p o R t

of elections within its constitutional timeframe upon the current assembly s early dissolution or tenure expiration Elections are not necessary in the country, he said adding that it did not matter if general elections were not held even for a decade

“The problems of the country and the people are more important The solution to the challenges faced at this time is most important the opposition leader asserted

Riaz was appointed as the opposition leader in May 2022 after being nominated by NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf

He was part of a group of PTI dissidents who had chosen to stay in the National Assembly even as other party MNAs had resigned at the directions of the party chairman

Police officer mar tyred in suicide blast during Jamrud IBO

and trying to nab the terrorist who fled

A video shared on social media features a police official entering Ali Mosque carefully looking for the terrorist who after being encircled blows himself up inside the mosque upon arrival of the officer The explosion was so huge that fire and smoke engulfed the entire mosque while the building also was exploded fully The KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) confirmed the incident and the martyrdom of the police officer

In a statement, the K-P IGP praised the selfless and swift actions of the police personnel at the scene including Additional SHO Adnan Afridi who sacrificed his life on duty

PESHAWAR

S ta f f R e p o R t

A police officer was martyred in a suicide explosion on Tuesday while attempting to neutralise two suspected terrorists in an intel-based operation at a roadside mosque in Khyber district s Jamrud area police said Police said that they carried out the intelligencebased operation after receiving information of the presence of the two suspected terrorists at a mosque in the Ali Mosque area of Jamrud

According to police, the martyred officer was identified as Additional Station House Officer (SHO) Adnan Afridi who displayed immense bravery by attempting to neutralise the suspected terrorist at the empty mosque The terrorist detonated his explosives when the courageous police officer enter the roadside mosque

The accomplice of the suicide bomber was said to have fled the scene following the bombing Law enforcement personnel are carrying out an investigation

He said that the security forces were actively present at the scene following the blast, responding to the situation with promptness and determination

Despite the circumstances, the police put their lives on the line to protect innocent civilians from further harm he added The suicide explosion on Tuesday is the latest in a series of bombings targeting police and security personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

On Thursday, three policemen and a civilian were martyred after two suicide bombers disguised in police uniforms targeted a Tehsil Offices Compound in Khyber district’s Bara area Swift response from the security personnel at the scene led to the killing of the two attackers but the detonation of the suicide bombers vests caused part of the building to collapse, resulting in the martyrdom of three policemen and a civilian Nine policemen and two civilians were also injured in the attack The attack came hours after two policemen were martyred in a shooting at a check post in Regi Model Town further escalating security concerns in the region

Court summons PTI chief to record statement in Toshakhana case

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

A lower court on Tuesday summoned the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman for recording his statement under section-342 as the cross-examination of two prosecution witness was completed in the Toshakhana criminal case Additional District and Sessions Judge

Hamayun Dilawar heard the Toshakhana case

The PTI leader s lawyer Khawaja Haris resumed crossexamination of prosecution witness District Election Commissioner Waqas Malik To a lawyer’s query, the witness said the ECP had served notices to the PTI chief and sought details about the purchaser and receipts of Toshakhana

ISLAMABAD a h m a d a h m a da n i

The federal government has agreed to the

gifts Amjad Pervaiz counsel for the Election Commission of Pakistan said the witness had never been part of the proceedings in the ECP regarding the matter and the defence lawyer was asking the questions to mislead the court

He said the PTI chairman had never told the details of the purchaser of the gifts to the ECP The ECP’s proceedings were never challenged before any court, he added Amjad Pervaiz said the witness had not prepared the documents rather he just received the same from the ECP

The judge remarked that neither the facts about the Toshakhana gifts were being heard by the court nor the ECP s decision was challenged here The witness had repeatedly told that he was not part of the ECP s proceedings, he noted and said if something was not written in the

government and PPDA representatives along with other stakeholders in the oil industry was the second round of talks Initially petroleum dealers expressed reservations about the proposed increase but eventually agreed to the terms after hours of discussions Under the agreement, the dealers’ mar-

attached documents then the witness was not responsible for it To a query the witness said that he knew that tax returns used to be submitted to the ECP by the members of the Parliament every year before December 31

Every member had to disclose their assets, which were transferred or purchased till June 30, through FormB, he added The defence lawyer said that the witness was wrong as a member was supposed to submit the details only related to the transferred assets He also said that his cross-examination was based on the documents which were attached with the complaint The witness said that the PTI chairman had not attached any proof regarding the Toshakhana gifts with Form-B for the years of 2019-20, and the said form was itself a proof

gin will increase by 41 paise per litre every 15 days over the next four fortnights instead of a one-time raise This will lead to an overall increase of Rs 1 61 per litre in petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) prices, in addition to any revision made by the government Presently the dealers margin stands at Rs 6 per litre on petrol and diesel With the new agreement it will rise to Rs 7 64 per litre after two months

Last week, PPDA had threatened a nationwide shutdown of petrol stations from

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting contractor of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in an inquiry into a corruption case Twomember PHC bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmed and Justice Faheem Wali sought a detailed response from NAB on the next hearing to be held on September 25 The bench allowed NAB to continue inquiry but should not arrest the contractor Counsel for the petitioner Advocate Shamail Ahmed Butt told the court that NAB had started an inquiry alleged corruption in the BRT project despite the fact that a writ was filed against the BRT in 2017 and subsequently the court had declared the contract transparent He said that another bench ordered an inquiry but the Supreme Court declared the inquiry null and void He contended that the BRT contract was awarded according to law and now the petitioner was being harassed The court ordered NAB to submit a detailed response on the next hearing and asked the contractor to cooperate with the investigation The court also directed the contractor to appear before the NAB investigation team on the next hearing

Consensus repor t prepared for amendments to Election Act: Tarar

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer

Tarar Tuesday said that the parliamentary committee on Electoral Reforms has prepared a consensus report for amendments in the Election Act with aim to ensure transparency in electoral process Speaking in the Joint Sitting of the House on Tuesday, he said the committee performed this task in the national interest and nothing has been kept under the carpet He pointed out that the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms headed by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had representation from all the political parties except for the PTI Sharing some points of the report Azam Nazeer Tarar said it has been proposed that the presiding officer on the Election Day will transmit a snapshot of Form-45 to the Returning Officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan He said it has been compulsory for the Presiding Officer to transmit election results by 2 a m and in case of any delay the Presiding Officer concerned will have to explain the reasons He said aspiring candidates can use their bank accounts for their election related expenditure The Law Minister further said the report also proposes that the Election Observers will be accredited by the Election Commission of Pakistan Responding to points raised by different members Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the sanctity of legislation warrants that due procedure is followed He however, said the elements should not give us lectures, who used to bulldoze bills when they were in power He recalled that 54 bills were passed in just one minute during the previous regime The Joint Sitting of the Parliament passed “The Qanun-e-Shahadat

(Amendment) Bill 2023 The Control of Narcotics

Substances (Amendment) Bill 2023 and The Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2023 The Joint Sitting of the Parliament was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday at 12:30 p m

dealers sales figures to determine their actual profit margins Concerns were raised a b o u t d i e s e l a n d p e t r o l s m u g g l i n g f r o m I r a n , w h i c h d e a l e r s c l a i m e d h a d l e d t o a

30% reduction in their sales said sources

The agreement was signed by DG Oil Imran Ahmed Masroor Khan Chairman OGRA and Abdul Sami Khan Chairman PPDA

July 22 if their margin demands were not met Following successful negotiations with the Minister of State for Petroleum, the nationwide strike was deferred until Monday

According to sources in the petroleum division the dealers’ initial demand was an increase from Rs 5 per litre to Rs 11 but it was ultimately agreed that the margin would be determined based on actual data acceptable to all stakeholders D u r i n g t h e d i s c u s s i o n s , t h e g o v e r nment also focused on collecting petroleum

Following the agreement the Petrol Pump Dealers Association (PPDA) expressed its appreciation to Chairman Abdul Sami Khan, an ex-Minister, for successfully negotiating the upward revision of margins

The PPDA delegation led by Chairman Abdul Sami Khan also included other key members With the successful resolution of the margin issue, the government aims to avert a nationwide strike and continue to address concerns related to the petroleum sector, ensuring a stable supply chain and fair pricing for consumers

n e e d fo r p o l l s ’ : N A o p p o s i t i o n l e a d e r re j e c t s D a r ’s c a n d i d at u re fo r c a re t a ke r P M

No p e t ro l s t r i ke a s g ov t, d e a l e r s t a l k s b e a r f r u i t