Issuu

monday, 8 august, 2022 i 9 muharram, 1444 i rs 40.00 i Vol Xiii No 39 i 44 Pages i lahore Edition

PM Shehbaz diScuSSeS Mutual tieS with uae PreSident, aMir of Qatar g

terms campaign against sacrifices of martyrs horrifying ISLAMABAD

staff report

rime minister shehbaz sharif sunday thanked president of the United arab emirates sheikh mohammed Bin Zayed al-nahyan for investment of his country in pakistan. in a tweet on social media platform twitter, he said, “grateful to my brother his highness sheikh mohammed Bin Zayed al-nahyan @mohamedBinZayed for the invest-

ment that the Uae is going to make in various sectors of pakistan.” “Both brotherly countries are very keen to further strengthen their multifaceted relationship,” the pm added. Talks wiTh amir of QaTar: meanwhile, prime minister muhammad shehbaz sharif held a telephonic conversation with the amir of the state of Qatar sheikh tamim Bin hamad al thani on sunday and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest. Qatar and pakistan enjoy close and cordial relations. Qatar is home

to over 200,000 pakistani diaspora that is playing a pivotal role in the development of Qatar and pakistan. social media campaign against sacrifices of martyrs, horrifying meanwhile, prime minister muhammad shehbaz sharif on sunday while expressing his displeasure said that the social media campaign, aimed at belittling and ridiculing the sacrifices of martyrs, was horrifying. on his twitter handle, he observed that the self-righteous political narratives were poisoning the minds of the youth and spurring the hate speech. expressing his worry, the prime minister questioned ‘Which way are we headed?” and stressed that the moment called for a deep reflection. after the army copter crash on august 1, certain political zealots and a section of social media activists, launched an abhorring and unacceptable campaign on popular social media platforms to advance their personal and political malice, which drew a strong reaction from the people belonging to all walks of life, political leadership and the state institutions.

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Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS

Date for new eleCtions to Be DeCiDeD By PDM: talal SUMANDRI/ISLAMABAD

StAff RepoRt

AKISTAN Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Talal Chaudhry has said that Imran Khan can stage 100 protests and public gatherings but the date for the new elections would be decided by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). Addressing a press conference on Sunday the PML-N leader said that Imran Khan has been caught red-handed. “Fawad Chaudhry does not have a good understanding of the law, it cannot happen that a cycle thief gets arrested but a foreignfunded person is let free, he added.

He added that Imran Khan used to say that he would bring about a revolution and will not be dictated but he cannot even name the ‘neutrals’. If Chaudhry Pervaiz Illahi was not loyal to his brother Chaudhry Shujaat then how would he be loyal to Imran Khan, he added. He added that multiple Joint Investigation Teams were formed over the Model Town incident but nothing came out of them. PTI wants to stage protests and public gatherings to divert attention from their theft. He added that PTI can stage 100 gatherings and protests but the date for the fresh elections would be decided by the PDM.

THREATS TO INSTITUTIONS DOOM TO FAIL: Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Uzma Bukhari said PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his accomplices would have to surrender themselves before the law of the land as their threats to institutions were doomed to fail. Speaking to media on Sunday, she said Imran Khan should be held accountable for embezzling donation’s funds. She also urged the government to take immediate action as Pakistani political parties were not ready to tolerate Imran Khan, who devoured the money received from prohibited sources and used that money for destabilising the country,

sabotaging China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and harming Kashmir cause. She said Imran had also deceived overseas Pakistanis as he was caught red handed in utilising donation money for creating chaos and anarchy in the country. “Imran must be ashamed of himself when his provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accepted American aid, including 34 keys of donated vehicles from the US ambassador in Pakistan the other day. Likewise, a burn centre and over 20 more projects were being executed by the US government in PTI ruled province. Several new projects were also being

launched in the province in collaboration with the US. “This has exposed Imran Khan’s so called anti American narrative, who feels no qualm in saying “Absolutely Not” to receiving dollars by brazenly ignoring his misleading regime change narrative,” she added, She said despite extraneous efforts, Imran had failed to bring proof against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PMLN’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz. Thrice elected premier Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on clumsy grounds to pave way for Imran who was launched to lead the country under a well orchestrated conspiracy.

Centre to snub Punjab’s choice for chief secretary: report ISLAMABAD: The federal government is considering the names of four Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) civil servants for the appointment of a new chief secretary, a report said on Sunday. Citing people familiar with the development, the report said Babar Hayat Tarar, Abdullah Khan Sumbal, retired Capt. Asadullah Khan and Shehryar Sultan are in the race for the top administrative office. It is also learnt the federal government has decided not to appoint the chief secretary of the choice of the Punjab government. The development came a day after Kamran Ali Afzal, incumbent chief secretary, declined to serve under Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and informed the Establishment Division about his decision. In a letter, he said personal matters led him to relinquish the charge. “Therefore, I cannot continue to serve in the same capacity with the new Punjab government,” he wrote in his letter. StAff RepoRt

Chinese company helps flood-affected people in G-B ISLAMABAD: A Chinese Company has helped the flood-affected people in Gilgit-Baltistan, northern areas of Pakistan. The CEC of Hydropower Seventh Bureau Pakistan Basha Dam and Tangir Hydropower Project Teams responded promptly to the reports of the devastating flood and remained at the frontline of rescue and relief efforts to fight the disaster together alongside Pakistani brothers, a company’s statement said on Sunday. On July 30, a flash flood broke out in the Tangir district of Gilgit-Baltistan due to heavy rainfall, resulting in damage to farmland and destruction of roads and canals, which has seriously affected the lives of the local residents. On July 31, after surveying the flood-hit area, the project team formulated an immediate plan and deployed Tangir Hydropower Station construction personnel and excavator equipment to the affected areas to participate in rescue and relief work, according to the statement. The workers were also involved in clearing the collapsed infrastructure, dredging the wrecked roads, eliminating hidden hazards and refilling the foundations of the irrigation canal to protect the lives and property of local people. After two days of construction work, the project personnel succeeded in unblocking and rebuilding the collapsed roads and communications/transportation has been restored in the affected areas. The statement said that the backfilling of the irrigation canal foundation work is still underway, and the project personnel will continue to pay more attention to the disaster management and will cooperate with the local authorities and people. StAff RepoRt

LAHORE: Motorists passing through rainwater accumulated at Allahu Chowk in Johar Town after downpour on Sunday. photo by ZubAIR MehfooZ

Country heading towards default, warns Sh Rasheed ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Sunday warned the country was heading towards default, blaming the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition for the desperate economic mess Pakistan is in. In a series of tweets, the former minister, while

talking about the economic crisis in the country, criticised the government. He said the foreign exchange reserves, remittances and exports are decreasing, while the finance minister levies tax one week and withdraws the next. Ahmad added that all the constitutional amendments done by the coalition government so far are not for the country but for their own interests. He also underscored August as a politically important month for the nation.

Carrying on with the criticism, he said the leaders have been trying to clean the dirty roles they have played in the political domain by presenting themselves as innocent before the media. “The politicians are washing the stains of their dirty politics in media,” he said. Furthermore, Ahmad said Asif Zardari and the Sharif family are behind the conspiracy theories developed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Imran to visit Karachi for NA-245 by-poll electioneering ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

Pakistan Terhreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will visit Karachi to campaign for party candidate Mahmood Moulvi contest by-election to NA-245 Karachi. The former SAPM on Maritime Affairs Mahmood Moulvi said this after meeting with Imran

Khan in Islamabad where he also briefed the party chief regarding the campaign for by- election in the constituency. Imran Khan during the meeting said that PTI will secure victory in NA-245 and directed Moulvi to run a door-to-door campaign. “People of Karachi trusts PTI,” Khan said. Speaking after the meeting, Mahmood Moulvi said

Imran Khan will soon visit Karachi for the election campaign in NA-245. The by-polls in the NA-245 constituency of Karachi would be held on August 27. The polls were to be held on July 25 but were postponed due to predictions of heavy rains in the province. The seat had been vacated after the death of PTI MNA Aamir Liaquat Hussain.

CITY NOTES: The real American conspiracy CITY NOTES M A NIAZI

I’m sure Imran Khan was distracted by the prohibited funding case verdict, which may be why he didn’t notice Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s killing in Kabul by a specially adapted Hellfire missile loaded on a Predator drone. The outburst directed at the army chief, hoping that he had been on the helicopter, could have been directed at him through the high-profile killing. There are a number of interesting things about his death. He was staying in a building which was owned by an aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Deputy Head of the Taliban, and current head of the Haqqani Network. The founder of the network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, had close ties to Pakistani agencies. Of course, those agencies have nothing to do with al-

Zawahiri. Also, their ignorance is so obdurate that they don’t admit to knowing if he was alive or not. Now al-Zawahiri was definitely the victim of an American conspiracy. Imran should realise that American conspiracies led to fatal results. So far, his being alive indicates that there was no conspiracy. And then the US has trapped him in the foreign funding case because as everyone and the Supreme Court knows he is Sadiq and Ameen. The funding case where Imran was caught with his hand in the till. Of course, the Kuptaan only put his hand in the till to help out Arif Naqvi, who is facing fraud and embezzlement charges in the USA. Those charges are part of the American conspiracy against Imran. Don’t be surprised if Arif Naqvi suddenly conks out. Maybe that would give Imran what he wants, the halo of martyrdom without

actually dying. So the conspiracy goes on, I see that our sportsmen are winning medals at the Commonwealth Games. What has been disappointing has been the way our athletes have been losing to India. I would suggest that those athletes should be put up against the wall as soon as they land, and made to face firing squads for being dyedin-the-wool traitors. And there will certainly be no chance of any of them being adopted to be placed on the same page. Imran is still paying for the sale of the multi-million watch he got from the Saudi crown prince. I mean, would the Saudis have handed such heavy sentences to those who disturbed the peace of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. He would probably have got them be let off as lightly as PTI supporters are in Pakistan. Well, today is Ashura. I know that there are the grand themes of sacrifice and dedication to a cause, but I am struck every

year by the pettiness of the concerns of those who killed the Imam. They were not bothered about Islam, and what it meant, whether Yazid was fir for the Caliphate or not. They were just concerned about doing their jobs, about obeying orders. It was clearly one of the earliest examples of the Nuremberg defence. Perhaps that is one lesson of Karbala we should take: BuReaucrats should pay particular heed because they keep facing such situations. But it’s not just about examining the order received. What do we examine it against? How do we know whether an order is legal? I suppose we have to use the Almighty’s law, which is expressed in the Sharia. That was what the Imam was referring to. Yazid was not capable of being Caliph because of his inability to meet the requirements of the Sharia. The Imam took the path prescribed by Sharia, of putting forward himself as a

candidate. It is a salutary lesson that those who obeyed the orders, who committed the crime of murdering the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), may have kept their jobs, but couldn’t get much out of everything. He had ascended to the Caliphate at 34, at the time the youngest of all Caliphs. But he was dead at 37. So all that effort was really for nothing. Are we about to see more effort for nothing? Imran has decided to contest the nine by-elections to the seats for which resignations are accepted. Everyone and his uncle is scratching their head, wondering why Imran is contesting for seats none of which he will take up. Of course, we mustn’t forget that until he takes oath for one seat, all seats he won remain unavailable to the government, so the bolstering of the government majority would be foiled.

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Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS

ehsaas ration oKayeD: failure to use new niKahnaMa entails jail terM: CM LAHORE

StAff RepoRt

UNJAB Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday declared that any Nikkah registrar who fails to use the new nikkah form (amended) will end up in jail for month one. The chief minister also instructed the authorities concerned to ensure availability of new nikkah forms across the province. A

nikah is usually solemnized by local prayer leaders registered with the government. Known as nikkah khawan or nikkah registrar, they fill up several columns of nikahnama before solemnizing the marriage. Talking with Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, General Secretary of Wifaqul Madaris Al-Arabia Pakistan, Pervaiz Elahi said that nikkah registrars who fail to use the new form will face a onemonth jail term and a fine. Jalandhari called on Elahi in Lahore on

nation kicks off preparations to celebrate 75th birthday ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

eCP decides to re-verify voters aged 100 and above ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to carry out a door-to-door re-verification of voters aged 100 and above. The ECP said that it has provided details of voters aged 100 and above to the provincial and district offices for a re-verification process. “Their names will be added to the voters’ list after getting verified in door to door campaign,” it said adding that the process will continue until August 13.The ECP further said that the process to finalize the voters’ list is in the last phase. On Saturday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rectified its error and added 115100 voters to the voters’ list after they were declared dead previously. According to sources, the voters were added to the list after a verification process and the commission has further directed its field officials to ensure the errors in the list are rectified before their publication on August 25. “Previously there were 3,208,895 voters in the list of dead voters which were later reduced to 3,093,877 after a verification process,” they said.

then-Chief Minister Usman Buzdar before he step down at the end of March 2022. A statement issued by the Punjab government said that the provincial cabinet, under Buzdar, approved an amendment to Muslim Family Laws Ordinance on March 1, 2022. The decision followed a Punjab Assembly resolution passed unanimously on October 26, 2021, demanding that a declaration about the finality of the Prophethood (SAWW) be included on the

ASEAN regional integration to contribute to global economic development

StAff RepoRt

The nation kicked off brisk preparations to celebrate the 75th Independence Day of Pakistan on August 14 with traditional zeal and fervor. As the arrival of Independence Day nears, the government has begun decorating buildings and highways of the city with green flags. Citizens of the country are gearing up to celebrate the 75th birthday with great enthusiasm. The purchase of clothes, dresses and bangles in the national flag color have also see an uptick. People setting up stalls to sell Independence Day paraphernalia have expressed happiness over an increase in income as children throng to buy stuff. A spring of green flags can be seen hoisted on every important road including the main highways of the capital, the expressway and also the Ninth Avenue. In Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), elaborated programs are being chalked out to celebrate the day under the auspices of various social, political and public representative organizations. In AJK capital city, major national flag hoisting ceremony will be held at the President House where AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry will host the national flags of Pakistan and AJK.

Sunday and appreciated the chief minister for his decision to amend the nikkah form. He said that Pervaiz Elahi has rendered a great service to the religion of Islam and will be remembered for it. Jalandhari also lauded Elahi’s efforts to promote religious harmony in Punjab. The amended nikahnama requires the bride and the groom to declare that they believe in the finality of the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW). The decision to amend the nikkan form was taken under

Chairman ASEAN Committee Islamabad (ACI), Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong on Sunday said that regional integration of ASEAN countries is not only essential for the economic prosperity of the ASEAN region but also for global economic linkages and connectivity. The 55th anniversary of this month will be made with the determination that ASEAN will play its full role for economic prosperity, trade integration to promote peace and harmony with the other regions of the world, Chairman ASEAN Committee told media. Ambassador said that ASEAN reaffirmed commitment to address its common challenges and to sustain the momentum of ASEAN’s communitybuilding efforts with a strong sense of togetherness. The Ambassador said that ASEAN’s economic growth could further accelerate to 5.0% in 2022. ASEAN’s total merchandise trade reached USD 3.3 trillion in 2021, of which 21.3% was within the region, while services trade reached USD 743 billion with intra-ASEAN comprising 11.7%, he said. Meanwhile, inflows of foreign direct investments to ASEAN reached USD 174.1 billion in 2021, 12.0% of which was among ASEAN Member States, he added.

The ASEAN were pleased to note the significant recovery in the region’s economy, which expanded by 3.0% in 2021 compared to a 3.2% contraction in 2020. Replying to a question on ASEAN and Pakistan Relations, he said that Pakistan was accorded the status of sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN at the 26th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on 23 July 1993. He said that in trade, ASEAN and Pakistan have undertaken a Joint Feasibility Study for an ASEANPakistan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to enhance and expand the overall ASEAN-Pakistan economic engagement. Replying to a question, he said that data from Pakistan showed that Pakistan trade with ASEAN reached approximately USD$11.0 billion in fiscal year 2022. The 15 member countries account for about 30% of the world’s population (2.2 billion people) and 30% of global GDP ($29.7 trillion), making it the largest trade bloc in region. He said that there is a need to Create favorable conditions for tourism, connect B2B via organizations, business associations, for example between FPCCI and ASEAN business community specially SMEs, ASEAN youth business association, country member CCIs. He suggested that Stability, consistency and continuity in economic policies planning and implementation also resolve for economic integration between Pakistan and ASEAN.

Pakistan sees consistent drop in COVID-19 cases KARACHI StAff RepoRt

Pakistan’s coronavirus cases have consistently registered a downward trend over the last five days, data from the National Institute of Health (NIH) showed Sunday morning. The country has posted zero COVID-19 deaths for the last two days. The last coronavirus-related deaths were reported on August 5 when two patients succumbed to the disease. The total COVID-19 deaths stand at 30,505, according to the NIH data. The country reported 644 infections out of a total 22,126 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, according to the NIH data. The country’s positivity

rate has come down to 2.81%. With the new infections, the total number of cases reported in the country currently stands at 1,558,557 since the pandemic started in 2020. A day earlier, the country reported 673 cases, while the daily count was 750 a day before that on Friday (August 5). Despite the lower daily count, the tally of the confirmed cases in the country has surged to 9,399 – the highest in the last two weeks, according to the data. The last time the active case count grew past 10,000 was on July 16 when the number of cases stood at 10,003. However, 164 patients are still being treated in intensive-care units (ICU) of different hospitals in the country, said the NIH.

nikkah form. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi approved the establishment “Ehsaas Ration Subsidy Program”, which will provide deserving people with Rs1500 per/month. According to details, the Punjab Chief Minister approved the establishment of “Ehsaas Ration Subsidy Program” to provide poor people with subsidized flour, pulses, cooking oil, and other essential food items. The CM advised forming a steering committee for the rapid establishment of the authority. Dr Sania Nishtar would head the steering committee. CM Pervaiz Elahi said that a working group and a monitoring system would be formed for the program. The CM ordered to prepare an ‘Ehsaas Act’ for all the Ehsaas programs.

Karachi police issue traffic plan for Muharram 9th and 10th KARACHI NewS DeSk

The traffic police have Sunday issued the city’s traffic plan to help motorists choose the best available route for their travels ahead of Ashura processions and Muharramrelated religious gatherings and programs. For the Muharram 08, 09 and 10 1444 A.H. that is August 07, 08 and 09 respectively, processions will be taken out from Nishtar Park and will end at Imambargah Hussania Iranian in Kharadar, said a press release of traffic police on Sunday. On Muharram 08 procession starts from Nishter Park at 1:30 PM and will pass through Numaish, MA Jinnah Road, Saddar, it will again return to MA Jinnah Road and conclude at Imambargah Hussania Iranian in Kharadar. All vehicular traffic coming from the city side will be diverted to Soldier Bazar Road, to Coast Guards, Ankleseria Chowk to Jubilee or Nishtar Road. The procession route for Muharram 8 (Aug. 07): Nishter Park, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road, Father Jaminis Road, Mehfil-e-Shah-e-Khurasan Road, Mansfield Street, Preedy Street, Tibet Chowk, M.A. Jnnah Road, Baba-eUrdu Road, Chand Bibi Chowk, Nishtar Road, Nigar Cinema, Altaf Hussain Road, Denso Hall, again MA Jinnah Road, Kharadar Police Station, Bombay Bazar To Hussainan Iranian Imambargah. The procession route for Muharram 9 (Aug. 08): A procession will be taken out from Imambargah Shah-e-Najaf at Martin Road towards Nishtar Park. After the majlis, a procession will move to Nishtar Park at About 12 noon and then will proceed to Imambargah Hussainia Iranian Kharadar. Route Will Be: Nishter Park, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road. Father Jaminis Road Mehfil-e-Shah-e-Khurasan. M.A. Jinnah, Mansfield Street, Preedy Street Tibet Chowk,M.A.Jinnah Road, Boulton Market, Bombay Bazar, Kharadar, Nawab Mahabat Khanji Road To Hussainan Iranian Imambargah. Muharram 10 (Aug. 09): On Youm-e-Ashur after Majalis at Nishtar Park at 8 in the morning, the central mourning procession will be taken out that will conclude at Hussainan Iranian Imambargah in the evening. Procession Route: Nishter Park, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road, Father Jaminis Road, Mehfil-eShah-e-Khurasan, M.A. Jinnah Mansfield Street, Preedy Street, Tibet Chowk,m.a.jinnah Road, Boulton Market, Bombay Bazar Kharadar, Nawab Mahabat Khanji Road, To Hussainan Iranian Imambargah. General traffic will be prohibited on the routes of mourning processions on Muharram 08, 09 and 10, traffic police said. Citizens should take an alternate route. Traffic officials will be present at diversions to guide the public, according to the press release.

Normalcy returns to all major rivers except Indus: FFC ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has said that normalcy returned to all main rivers including Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Kabul except for River Indus which is flowing in “Medium Flood” in GudduSukkur reach. According to daily FFC report on Sunday, the combined live storage of the Tarbela, Mangla & Chashma is 7.837 MAF (i.e. 58.22% of the total 13.461 MAF). According to Flood Forecasting Division (FFD), Lahore, yesterday’s monsoon low over Northwestern Bay of Bengal (India) remained stationary, however it has become well marked and is likely to become more marked. Trough of Westerly Wave continues to prevail over Northeastern Afghanistan and adjoining areas with Seasonal Low lying over Northwestern Balochistan. Mild moist currents both from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal continue to penetrate into upper parts of the country up to 4000 feet. Scattered thunderstorm/rain of Moderate Intensity is expected over the upper

catchment of River Indus, during the next 24 hours. Isolated to scattered thunderstorm/rain may also occur over Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore, D.G. Khan & Bahawalpur Divisions), Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Eastern Balochistan and over the upper catchments of Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi & Sutlej during the same period. Monsoon activity is likely to become vigorous during August 10-14 over Sindh, Balochistan including D.G. Khan division, it will also affect the upper half of the country and rest of the Southern Punjab but with relatively less intensity from 10th to 13th of August. Heavy Rains may generate Urban Flooding in Islamabad, Punjab (Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Lahore & Gujranwala) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Nowshera& Mardan Divisions) from August 10-13. Flash flooding is expected in local Nullahs of Islamabad, Punjab (Rawalpindi, Shakargarh, Sialkot,Narowal) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Abbottabad, Mansehra, Dir, Karak, Lakki Marwat, & Bannu) and

Kashmir from August 10-13. Heavy rains may develop urban flooding in Sindh (Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Dadu, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad & Mirpurkhas) from August 11-14. Flash flooding may also occur in Balochistan (Qilla Saifullah, Loralai, Barkhan, Kohlu, Mosa Khel,Sherani, Sibbi, Bolan, Kalat, Khuzdar, Lasbella, Awaran, Turbat, Panjgur, Pasni, Jiwani, Ormara, &

Gwadar) including Hill Torrents of Dera Ghazi Khan from during the said period. Catchment areas of Rivers Ravi, Jhelum and Chenab may receive heavy downpour, which may cause rise in water level significantly during the forecasted period. All related organizations, particularly PDMAs, related DDMAs, SDMA, AJ&K, District Administrations and local field formations of concerned Irrigation Departments are strictly advised to remain

fully alert & vigilant, take timely actions on warnings issued by the concerned organizations to ensure safety of low lying area communities, public & private property besides irrigation, drainage & flood protection infrastructure etc. IRSA RELEASES 246,500 CUSECS WATER: Indus River System Authority (IRSA) on Sunday released 246,500 cusecs water from various rim stations with inflow of 303,000 cusecs. According to the data released by IRSA, water level in the Indus River at Tarbela Dam was 1540.31 feet, which was 142.31 feet higher than its dead level 1398 feet. Water inflow in the dam was recorded as 165,100 cusecs and outflow as 136,800 cusecs. The water level in the Jhelum River at Mangla Dam was 1162.50 feet, which was 112.50 feet higher than its dead level of 1050 feet whereas the inflow and outflow of water was recorded as 38,200 cusecs and 10,000 cusecs respectively. The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur was recorded as 97,700, 124,200 and 350,100 cusecs respectively.

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Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

04 NEWS

6,000 cOps deplOyed tO gUARd yOUM-e-AsHUR IN RAwAlpINdI RAWALPINDI

Staff RepoRt

LL arrangements have been finalized to observe ‘Ashura’ with religious fervor and reverence to commemorate the supreme sacrifices rendered by Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions for the cause of Islam while over 6,000 cops would guard 64 mourning processions and 113 majalis to be held across the district. The district administration and law enforcers have finalized all necessary arrangements to facilitate the mourners. Rawalpindi District Police, City Traffic Police (CTP), Rescue-1122 Rawalpindi and other departments concerned have finalized all the arrangements for ‘Youm-e-Ashura,’ to be observed on Tuesday. Six main processions of Zuljanah, Alam and

Tazia would be taken out on Ashura from different areas of the city. All the processions would culminate at 10:00 p.m. at Imambargah Qadimi. Clerics and religious scholars would highlight the teachings of Imam Hussain (RA) and various aspects of the tragedy. According to City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, the Police had finalized elaborate security arrangements for peaceful passage of ‘Ashura’ and avoid any untoward incident. Special security arrangements were finalized for Muharram ul Harram in the district as it’s a sensitive area, he said adding, threelayer security cover would be provided particularly to the main Muharram processions with special arrangements ensuring rooftop duty and deployment of Quick Response Force (QRF). The foolproof security arrange-

Imran seeking NRO from political leaders, says Khuhro LARKANA

ments had been finalized for main 10th Muharram procession of city which starts from Satellite Town and culminates at Imam Bargah Qadeemi. Over 2500 security personnel would be deployed to guard the main procession while 3500 cops

NewS DeSk

Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh President Senator Nisar Ahmad Khuhro said on Sunday that Imran Khan was now asking the leadership of political parties for NRO to not file cases and elections should be held on time, but how could Imran Khan be given NRO after the foreign funding case was proven against him? Khan is the man to face the investigation and he can no longer avoid disqualification in the foreign funding case, says Khuhro while addressing a press conference at the Larkana Press Club. He alleged that crores of dollars in the form of foreign funding were transferred to the accounts of President Arif Alvi, Imran Ismail and other PTI leaders and those accounts were hidden whereas receiving prohibited funding by any political party was a crime. Khuhro said that after foreign funds were transferred to Arif Alvi’s account, Arif Alvi should resign from the post of President and face investigation. He said that Imran Khan’s protest outside the Election Commission had failed and now the call for protest on 13th August was also an attempt to put pressure on the institutions. The PPP Senator said that the PTI chief minister of KPK, who talked about American conspiracy, was meeting with the American ambassador, which had proved that Imran Khan was a collection of contradictions. He said that Imran Khan, who talked about not following anyone’s dictation, had now proved himself selected by talking about appointing the Chief Election Commissioner at the behest of the establishment. He said that foreign donors of PTI were now demanding from Imran Khan to return their money and after Fauzia Kasuri was accused of spending two lakh dollars received from Canada for social works by Imran Khan and he should also give an account to the nation about this. Khuhro asked that when founders of Pakistan, including Khuwaja Nazimuddin, Ayub Khuhro, Qazi Fazalullah, Pir Elahi Bakhsh, Hussain Shaheed Suhrwardi and others can be disqualified, then why not Imran Khan? He said that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for life in Panama case for not taking salary from his son’s company, then after the proof came in the foreign funding case, Imran Khan had been proved to be a criminal of the nation as well as not being Sadiq and Amin, hence, he could no longer escape disqualification. He said that on the one hand, PTI members had resigned from the National Assembly while on the other hand, other PTI members, including Muhammad Mian Soomro, were sending their requests for leave to the speaker. He said that Punjab chief minister was not of PTI but of Q-League, while in KPK, the government was a coalition of PTI-FATA and others. He said that the federal government had the majority and the legislation was being passed in the parliament, while the PTI had nothing to do except creating chaos in the country.

A civil judge and judicial magistrate granted bail to Isra University Chancellor Prof Dr Hameedullah Qazi who was arrested on charges of issuing a fake degree, late on Saturday night. During the hearing, the judge asked the Investigation Officer to read out the FIR after which the judge pointed out that there were contradictions in the sections of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and content of the FIR. The judge also underlined that the intent accused Qazi and 3 others of hatching conspiracy against the university but no section pertaining to that offence was inserted in the FIR. The chancellor informed the court that he was manhandled and humiliated during the police custody. He also informed the court that he was kept at a police station near Matiari district for more than 3 hours after which he was shifted to Hatri police station where the FIR was lodged against him. The court granted bail to Qazi against a surety of Rs50,000. According to the FIR, Vice Chancellor Ahmed Waliullah Qazi and 2 other officials besides Hameedullah

were allegedly involved in issuing a fake degree. The FIR’s complainant Zaid Laghari, Managing Director of Isra University and son of VC Isra Dr Nazeer Laghari, alleged that he received the degree and other documents of a student Sheeraz Ali which on verification were proved fake. According to him, the 4 persons accused in the FIR were not authorized signatories for issuance of the degrees. Talking to the media outside the court, Qazi said 2 to 3 uniformed men and 8 to 10 plainclothesmen entered his residence in Muslim Society on Saturday night and harrassed his family and humiliated him during his arrest. He claimed that he was asked to cover his face with his shirt when they were crossing Rajputana hospital so that he could not see where he was being taken. Qazi accused Laghari for lodging fake FIRs against the Qazi family’s members who were legally appointed officers of Isra. “I spent 7 years in the US to complete my PhD. I could have stayed there but preferred to return to my country. But here the manner in which police manhandle the academicians and criminal people forcefully occupy the academic institutions will affect the education of children and youth,” he warned.

High fee at ICT public colleges compel students to move to provincial public colleges ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

High tuition fee of Associate Diploma Program (ADP) and BS programs at Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) public sector colleges in comparison to the provincial institutions is the main cause of departure of students from Islamabad to provinces leaving very few admissions at ICT colleges. According to official sources, students at ICT colleges are charged a fee around Rs25,000 in the first semester while around Rs15,000 in the subsequent semesters. Comparatively the fee structure of public colleges ranges from Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 per semester at provinces which is much lower than the ICT colleges. Many students who aspire to take admission in the ADP or BS programs prefer to go to the colleges situated in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Nazir Ahmed lecturer at Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 college said, “Higher fees mean that study in Islamabad is limited to those students that can afford to pay for ADP/BS programs. It also increases the risk of students dropping out of ICT Colleges. Unfortunately the criterion to educate students is based on wealth rather than talent. These colleges should focus on nurturing the best brains even if they can’t afford to pay high fees. “High fees seem to have compelled the student to

migrate from Islamabad to Rawalpindi resulting in low enrollment and dropouts from ICT institutions”, he said. Kamran, a BS student of Asghar Mall College Rawalpindi said, I am residing at G-9 sector in Islamabad. My parent could not afford my studies at Islamabad colleges due to high tuition fee so I got admission in Rawalpindi. Hamza a student who left H-8 college Islamabad in his 3rd semester said, “The cost of education was high and my parents found it extremely difficult to cope with my educational expenses so I left the college. “There is no policy of the authorities at the helm of affairs to help prevent poor students from dropping out of higher education”, he observed. Mehreen, a student of BS 2nd semester claimed that her parents could not afford to pay her high fees but she forced her parents to continue in the same college as she could not go away from home to study in other institution with less fee. Anum Kaleem a lecturer at Islamabad Model College for Girls(Postgraduate) F7/2 said, “Many college students worry they won’t have enough money to pay semester fees. “Authorities at the Federal Directorate of Education should lower the fee of ADP/BS program of ICT colleges and bring fee structure at par with provincial colleges in order to attract students and help bring them back into ICT colleges”, she stressed.

Balochistan govt condemns malicious campaign against state institutions ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Spokesperson for Balochistan government Farah Azeem Shah on Sunday strongly condemned the malicious campaign against the state institutions on social media, termed it baseless and fabricated. Addressing a press conference here,

The route of the main procession of ‘Ashura’ would be sealed completely and streets on the route would be barricaded. Vehicles and motorcycles would not be allowed to move with the mourning processions. The spokesman informed that Rawalpindi district police had finalized security arrangements for 447 processions and 1925 majalis of Muharram ul Harram while special security arrangements were also finalized for 40 sensitive processions of the district. 2000 volunteers were also performing security duties along with District Police, Ladies Police, Elite Force, Traffic Police, Punjab Highway Patrol, Punjab Constabulary and Dolphin Force personnel, he informed. Senior police officers were visiting all the routes of the Muharram processions to review the security arrangements, he added. 9th Muharram processions and majalis would also be provided tight security cover. 51 processions and 185 majalis were also organized on 7th Muharram while all available resources were utilized to ensure security. According to City Traffic Officer (CTO) Naveed Irshad, the traffic would be diverted on 48 different routes of the city on ‘Ashura’.

Isra University chancellor granted bail in fake degree issuing case HYDERABAD

Staff RepoRt

would provide security cover to other processions and majalis of the district. According to a police spokesman, no person would be allowed to carry weapon in Muharram procession except designated police officers. Police would not allow any-

body to organize a new Muharram procession and on SOPs violation strict action would be taken against the violators, he added. A special 24/7 control room had also been set up in his office, he said. He informed that strict monitoring of Ashura processions would be conducted as Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras had been installed at routes of main Zuljinnah processions and places where majalis would be held. He said special contingents of commandos and police officials would also be deployed on trouble points. According to the security plan formulated in this regard, aerial surveillance of ‘Ashura’ processions would also be conducted to ensure security of the mourners. Additional force of Special Branch Police, Elite Force, Punjab Constabulary, Women Police along with district police would be deployed to ensure security on 10th of Muharram. Special checking of the routes would be carried out before start of the processions and bomb disposal squad would clear the routes. The mourners would be checked with metal detectors and walk through gates would be installed at the entry points of the processions.

she said the elements who had launched a campaign on social media against the security institutions over Lasbela helicopter crash incident were pursuing the agenda of enemies. She said national heroes were martyred in helicopter crash whose sacrifices would never be forgotten and all the people of Balochistan would stand with Pak-

istan army on this occasion of grief. Talking about the no gate-keeping process of information on social media, she said that instead of sharing random news on social media, every Pakistani should confirm the information first before sharing it on any forum. Conveying the message of Chief Minister of Balochistan Mir Abdul Quddus

Bizenjo she said Pakistan was facing great internal and external challenges which needed to be address through national unity and harmony. She said that CM Balochistan was ready to become a bridge between all political parties of Pakistan for national consensus as it was the need of hour to unite the whole nation on a same page.

Niazi’s arrogant attitude to damage country: Hassan Murtaza LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Pakistan People’s Party Central Punjab Secretary General and Parliamentary Leader in Punjab Assembly Syed Hassan Murtaza on Sunday said that arrogant attitude of PTI chief Imran Khan would damage the country politically. In a statement issued here, he demanded that the party which was running poisonous propaganda against the national institutions should be brought to the court of justice. He said those who were politicising the drone attack in the neighboring country were now bowing their heads before ‘Uncle Tom’. He said that love for an ambassador and hate for his country could not make the people fool. He said that a hard time was starting for the Niazi group after Youm-e-Ashura as the astonishing facts in the investigation of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would open the eyes of the people by exposing the real face of Niazi. Hassan said that future of the PTI looked bleak, adding that toshakhana and prohibited funding cases would be proved as detrimental to the politics of Niazi.

AIOU commences admission in merit-based programs ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Allama Iqbal Open University has commenced admissions in merit-based programs offered in the first phase of Autumn 2022 semester including BS, MBA, MS/MPhil and PhD. The deadline for the submission of admission application form is August 22, 2022. According to admission department, prospectuses and admission forms for these programs are available online on the university website (www.aiou.edu.pk) and admission can only be applied via online mode. Online admission procedure is presented in the prospectuses in detail. Admissions to BS, 1.5 and 2.5 year MBA (New Scheme) programs will be granted purely on merit basis whereas the candidates will appear in entry test to qualify for admission in Commonwealth of Learning (COL) MBA/MPA, MS/ MPhil and PhD. These entry tests will be conducted in university’s academic complex from August 26-31, 2022. First and second merit lists will be displayed on the university website on September 5 and September 12 respectively. On the other hand, deadline for depositing fee for first and second merit lists will be September 9 and September 16 respectively. Transparency in the entire admission procedures will be strictly ensured on the special directives of AIOU Vc Prof Dr Ziaul Qayyum.

Monday, 8 August, 2022 | lAHore

news

FInAnce MInISTRy HAndPIckS Ten oF ToTAL 40 cAndIdATeS FoR PoST oF PReSIdenT nBP ISLAMABAD

BRT, cellphone services to remain shut in Peshawar on 9th, 10th Muharram PESHAWAR

ShahzaD paRacha

HE Ministry of Finance has reportedly handpicked 10 candidates out of total 40 shortlisted candidates for the post of President/CEO National Bank of Pakistan. Sources privy to the development informed that Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has reportedly handpicked 10 out of 40 candidates of his own choice after a period of six months. Overall, the Ministry of Finance has received one hundred and 20 applications for the slot of President NBP. The sources said that the candidates included Tahir Hassan, Javed Kureishi, Hasan Raza, Khursheed Zafar, Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti, Farukh Iqbal Khan, Sultana Naheed, Tariq Javed Ghuman, Muhammad Abdullah ahmad and Imran Serwar.

According to document, a seven member interview committee comprising of Finance minister, State minister for Finance and Revenue Ayesha Ghous Pasha, Finance secretary, Addi-

tional Finance secretary, Tariq Bajwa, Jehziab Khan and Shahid Mahmood will conduct the interviews for the candidates for the President NBP on August 13, 2022.

Staff RepoRt

The BRT services would remain closed on 9th and 10th Muharram while the district administration of Kohat has also imposed a ban on pillion riding in view of the security of Muharram. Spokesman for the BRT confirmed the suspension of the BRT service during 9th and 10th of Muharramul Haram. Similarly, the district administration Kohat in view of the security of Ashura, imposed a complete ban on pillion riding on motorcycles from 8th to 10th of Muharram. The citizens of Kohat are requested to cooperate in view of the present situation. Meanwhile, mobile phone services will remain partially closed on 9th and 10th of Muharram in Peshawar, an official of the Police told media during the 8th of Muharram procession wherein huge contingent of Police led the routes here on Sunday in City. He said, in view of security concerns, it has been decided to keep mobile phones switched off like every year in order to ensure security to the Muharram processions coming out from various localities by joining the main procession in Cantonment on 9th of Muharram and in City of 10th of Muharram. The mourning procession will return to its Imambargah through its traditional routes and end for which special arrangements are being made for the security of the procession. Markets and bazaars have been closed in routes of the processions till 10th of Muharram due to the procession in interior city and heavy police force have been deployed on the procession routes.

Four of same family shot dead over enmity PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Four members of a same family were killed when their rivals opened fire on them near Village Lala Kalay over an old enmity here on Sunday. According to the Chamkani police two accused named Bilal and Idrees opened fire on their rivals killing four persons on the spot. The attackers managed to flee from the crime scene. Another report said the incident took place over bargaining for the purchasing of animals in Kala Mandi of Peshawar. The deceased were identified as Bakht Zaman, Sufaid Gul, Mohammad Rehan and Zubair. The deceased persons were the residents of village Masma, Chamkani. The police have registered a case and launch hunt for arrest of the killers at large.

Saudi Vision 2030 oﬀers huge scope for Pakistani IT sector: Report

Sources said that there is a bone of contention between Finance minister Miftah Ismail and State Minister for finance Ayeha Ghous Pasha over the appointment of President NBP. Government on May 11, 2022 had assigned the look after charge of President NBP to group chief CIBG Rehmat ali hasnie to dispose of routine/day to day affairs of the bank. Sources said that the State Minister for finance is also lobbying for candidates. Sources close to development said that initially the Finance minister excluded Pasha’ recommended names from the list, however there are chances that the ministry of finance will add some more names on Wednesday on the instructions of the PM office. Sources said that the appointment of Governor State Bank of Pakistan has also been pending due to differences between the Finance minister and People Party.

Injured PTI MPA underwent surgery, shifted to ward: LRH Spokesman PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

RIYADH NewS DeSk

In line with the Saudi Arabia’s plan to modernise its economy under the mega-investment plan and Vision 2030 programme, Riyadh is working to develop new cities in the Kingdom that offer “huge investment opportunities” for Pakistani companies especially IT companies, Arab News reported. National Data Consultant (NdcTech) chief executive Ammara Masood said: “The banking and financial sector in KSA has been growing at an accelerated pace with numerous players launching their products including traditional and digital banks, fintech companies, and payment service providers.” The chief executive of a top Pakistani digital banking imple-

mentation service provider added that NdcTech – which earlier this year was acquired by IT giant Systems Limited – is also planning to expand in the Gulf market, as it “foresees a great demand.” Masood said: “We are also scaling up operations in the UAE and different GCC countries in the banking sector. These markets are highly competitive, with other implementation partners operating in the region.” She further added in order to enhance the export of services in the coming years, Pakistani IT companies are also keen on exploring the opportunities emerging in the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. The IT exports of Pakistan have been growing after the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s IT and IT-enabled exports hit their record high of $2.6

billion in the fiscal year 2021-22, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan. Vision 2030 – a strategic framework – is an effort to pivot Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency and establish it as a global investment powerhouse with a sophisticated digital infrastructure. The Kingdom is estimated to have mobilised around $500 billion to achieve its goals, including the development of new cities. NdcTech has been operating in Saudi Arabia’s financial sector for years, where it currently works with 12 banks and financial institutions. As a partner of Temenos, a Geneva-based company specializing in enterprise software for banks, with whom it launched a digital lending service for the Saudi Tourism Development Fund in October last year.

Seriously injured PTI MPA Malik Liaqat Khan has been operated upon and shifted to ward, spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital Muhammad Asim told media here on Sunday. The injured MPA was undergoing treatment at Lady Reading Hospital, the spokesman confirmed. He said MPA Malik Liaqat Khan was hit by multiple bullets in his stomach and shoulder and was operated upon and shifted to the ward, spokesperson LRH informed. Malik Liaqat is not fully conscious, it would be premature to say anything about his full recovery, hospital spokesperson said while replying a question when asked about his condition. Three people injured along with the MPA are also admitted to the hospital emergency department, he disclosed. “Malik Liaqat Khan’s nephew Huzaifa is among the injured, said the LRH spokesperson.” Huzaifa was also shot in the stomach and was also operated on, Asim said. He said MPA Secretary Shoaib and friend Shakir are among the other injured. Malik Liaqat Khan was injured in a murderous attack in Dir Lower on Saturday night. The injured were shifted to Peshawar after first aid in Timargarh District Headquarter Hospital, spokesperson LRH said. He said MPA Malik Liaqat Khan was injured along with others in the attacks including his friend Shakir, Secretary Shoaib, and nephew Huzaifa and those dead in the attack were identified as Jan Alam, his brother, Yasir his nephew, gunman Naseer and another person. AttAck on MPA LiAqAt condeMned: Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relation Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif on Sunday condemned attack on PTI’s MPA Malik Liaqat Ali in Dir Lower. In a condemnation message, Barrister Saif said that the Chief Minister has taken notice of the incident and directed police chief to arrest the attackers. Barrister Saif said that such cowardice attack cannot repulse their courageous.

Police fine-tune Muharram 9, 10th security for Hazara Division ABBOTTABAD Staff RepoRt

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Hazara division Mirwais Niaz on Sunday said that Muharram is a special month in terms of security and they have issued an elaborated security plan regarding Muharram 2022, particularly for day of Ashura (10th of Muharram) in the region. He expressed these views while issuing instructions to District Police Officers (DPO) of all 8 districts of the Hazara division. The DIG further said that like every year we have chalked out an elaborated security plan for Muhrram 2022 and deputed more than 4000 policemen in three important districts of the region including Abbottabad, Haripur and Mansehra. Giving the details of the police force deployed in the region Mirwais Niaz said that besides the DPOs of concerned districts, po-

lice officers and policemen from other districts were also deputed to maintain law and order during the Muharram. He said that District police, CTD, Elite Force, Rapid Response Force (RRF), Traffic Police, Special Branch, Bomb Disposal Unit, District Security Branch and Lady Commandos would be deputed to tackle any untoward situation in district Abbottabad, Haripur and Mansehra during the holy month of Muharram. Mirwais Niaz said that we have also installed Close Circuit TV (CCTV) Cameras on the procession routes and Majalis areas, body-worn cameras, and Drone cameras would be used for air surveillance while the security of the region is on high alert and police have established district and regional control room. The DIG said that all concerned departments would provide security clearance certificates of the routs for Muharram processions and Majalis after a complete

search and screaming operation where electricity poles, PTCL poles, post boxes, and ravines would also be checked to make sure the security during the Muharram. The DIG Hazara Police also canceled holidays of all policemen and officers and conducted the mock exercise in the district. All police officers were directed to remain in contact with the Fire Brigade, Hospital, Rescue 1122 and Wapda to tackle any challenge during the duty, moreover Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) would also be installed on the routes of the Muharram procession. The first procession of the Moharram came out on the 6th and 7th Mohrram from Mohallah Dar ul Khair and after passing from its route culminated at Diggi Mohallah while SP headquarters performed the Officer-in-charge duty. On 8th Muharram from Kakul, Lora village Majalis and processions also came out those were provided foolproof security. While

on the 10th Muharram the main procession would come out from Diggi Mohallah Imam Bargah and after passing through its route would be culminated at the same place.

In a similar way, on 11th Mohrram the procession would come out from Lakar Mandi Havelian and passing through Chungi No. 4 would culminate at the same place.

06-07 Comments -8th August 2022_Layout 1 8/7/2022 10:44 PM Page 1

Monday, 8 August, 2022

06 COMMENT

Constitution for future generations only

The government begins work

The Constitution must not be interpreted according to judges’ personal preferences

Summons to PTI leaders the first drops of rain?

T was widely predicted, even before it was delivered, that the election Commission of Pakistan verdict in the prohibited funding case would cause a host of legal difficulties for PTI chief Imran Khan. It seems Mr Khan thought so too, for he did his best to delay the verdict, and to besmirch the reputation of the Chief election Commissioner. A symbol of those troubles is the summons to him for August 23 To explain why the foreign funding should not be confiscated. Apart from the reference, he has also been summoned on August 18 and August 24 in connection with references seeking his disqualification. However, the summons issued by the FIA to leading PTI leaders represents an expansion of the investigation into what might be described as the criminal side of the investigation. Sindh and KP Governors Imran Ismail and Shah Farman, former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Punjab Minister Mahmood ur rasheed, have all been summoned in connection with the case. The eCP had found that these PTI stalwarts had operated party accounts which had not been declared by the PTI, and which online came to light when the eCP=appointed scrutiny committee investigated the records available with the State Bank of Pakistan. There is already a succession struggle within the PTI, based on the assumption that Mr Khan is disqualified, but the party not banned. The FIA had already summoned and deposed three PTI employees, through whose accounts vast sums had passed The Shehbaz government which had suffered a lot of PTI obloquy because of Maqsud the Peon, who died recently in Dubai, may have revenged itself for the persecution in the money laundering case. Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has riposted by expressing the hope that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza will appear on September 6 for the indictment in the money-laundering case. It is a given that the law applies to all. Mr Chaudhry’s argument, that no one dare disqualify a popular leader like Mr Khandoes not really wash, for the law is supposed to apply to all irrespective of stature. That Mr Chaudhry and other PTI stalwarts choose to make this argument indicates that they are willing to concede that Mr Khan was caught fair and square by the eCP. At the moment, all PTI stalwarts, including those who have clear consciences, for the governing coalition seems determined to use the eCP verdict to treat the PTI much as it was treated itself by the PTI. This is not mere revenge, but good politics. If the PTI called its opponents thieves and dacoits, then if those opponents can call the PTI thieves and dacoits, they will not let the opportunity go.

Raja Hamza anwaR

He sentence “Constitution is an organic document that is to be interpreted with a mind to the future generations to come” is one of the cannon in the judicial arsenal that is more often than is necessary applied in interpreting the Constitution by the Supreme Court. The organic assessment of the Constitution has become a euphemism for validating a judicially active interpretation of the Constitution, justifying a form of construction concerned with the result founded on individual judges’ subjective moralities, as opposed to the means employed for reaching that conclusion. The development of Constitutional jurisprudence predicated on ensuring reaching ends and forsaking critical assessment of the means employed to reach those ends have consequently served to abridge and encumber the right of political representation in Pakistan. No part of the Constitution has experienced a more morally zealous interpretation than Article 62(1-f). Take, for example, the case of Samiullah Baloch v Abdul Karim Nousherwani PLD 2018 SC 405, colloquially referred to as the ‘lifetime disqualification case’, in which the Supreme Court declared that any member of Parliament caught by the mischief of Article 62 would be disqualified for life. The Supreme Court while coming to this conclusion drew upon the principle that the Constitution was an or-

Israeli bombing does not provoke the ummah

It’s been three Years now

He death of 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after Israel bombed in what it called pre-emptive strike against the Islamic Jihad seemed like déjà vu. The Islamic Jihad responded with s barrage of rockets, but did not harms a single Israeli in response. Last year saw a similar episode, which led to an escalation to war. Calling it war was perhaps a misnomer, for it was nothing but a turkey shoot for Israeli pilots who had command of the air. This bombing did not provoke the ummah, and there was only one demonstration Amman. From a Muslim problem, it declined to an Arab problem, nd now is merely a Palestinian problem. It might be remembered that Amman would see protests, because the country contains a large number of people who still have refugee status. Perhaps one problem the Palestinian people face is the lack of an identifiable symbol. One may disagree with his politics, especially towards the end of his life, but there is no doubt that Yasser Arafat, with his stubble, keffiyeh and pearl-handled revolver, was an easily identifiable icon of the Palestinian national struggle. The nearest person to be a replacement was Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the Hamas founder. However, he was assassinated in 2004, leaving no one to act as a charismatic figure. PLO chief Mehmoud Abbas is one of the most senior Palestinian leaders, but his lack of a following among Palestinians prevent him from playing the required role. The late Mr Arafat appealed to non-Muslim leftists, Sheikh Yassin to Islamists. Neither could manage to get Israel to allow for the Palestine people to exercise their right of national self-determination. So long as the Zionist entity continues to exist, that right will be given. Instead bombs will fall on flimsy excuses.

Huda Raza

ver many years, the struggle for Kashmir’s freedom continued. Kashmiris’pain increased, and their sacrifices multiplied. It is true that their heart is traumatized; it is true that it bore the tightened chains of oppression and it is true that all their sufferings mark the violations of human rights, but they never gave up on their dreams of freedom, no matter how difficult it was. The Jammu and Kashmir conflict is an unfinished agenda of the partition of the Subcontinent. The Maharaja’s indecision about Kashmir’s land, soon after partition, resulted in the Indian forces invading almost two-thirds of Jammu and Kashmir’s Muslim majority area while the Kashmiri people with the help of Pakistan revolted against the occupied forces, and began their history of struggle for self-determination. Further, New Delhi and Islamabad have engaged in three wars, i.e., the wars of 1948, 1965, and 1971 over Kashmir since the partition in 1947. Some Kashmiri groups resisted Indian rule in their quest for independence or the consolidation of Pakistan. In 1950, India agreed to amend its constitution to grant special status to the part of Kashmir that it administers. India’s only Muslim-majority state for the

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emerged as a victim of the ends and not means interpretation. A constant theme in the short order in Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan v Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf involved lambasting the vice of floor-crossing and defection. The court’s employment of choice of sentences such as ‘cancer afflicting the body politic’, coupled with an assertive direction to the Parliament to legislate against defection inseparably reflects its emotive stake in the issue. Instead of intricately engaging with past precedents to interpret Article 63A, the court relentlessly imported a subjective disdain for defection and floor-crossing that led to an interpretation inconsistent with a past judicial precedent of Wukala Mahaz Barai Tahafaz Dastoor PLD 1998 SC 1263, in which the Supreme Court held that Article 63A is a penalty provision in our Constitution which ought to be applied restrictively. Contrastingly, the majority in deciding the presidential reference invented another penalty of not counting the votes of the defected members. reacting to this judicial invention, the dissenting judges aptly described it to be a ‘re-writing and reading into the Constitution’. Constitutional dilemmas emanating from Article 63A have stoked political strife in Pakistan consequently, tarnishing the sanctity of Parliament as a hallowed institution. It may have been avoided, or at least added certainty for the future had the Honourable Court addressed the unanswered critical issues about the enigmatic relation vis-à-vis the “Parliamentary Party”, “Party Head” and a “Political Party”, as well as the mode and manner which a Parliamentary Party must adopt before issuing a direction to vote a certain way. The use of the Constitution as an organic document emanates from a concept known as the “Living Tree Doctrine”, as advocated by Professor David Strauss. This style of reading the Constitution posits that a Constitution is a document that has to be given a wide meaning, ensuring the document’s longevity in the face of constant socio-economic evolution. Yet, even proponents of this doctrine have had to struggle with the predicament of the judiciary acting as an ecclesial body in acting under the pretext of making an enduring Constitution. It may appear, that the incessant need to attend to the unforeseen peculiarities of future generations have led to an abandonment of the text and the structure of the Constitution for the present generation. The writer is a Barrister and practices law in Pakistan. He tweets at @RajahAnwar

Kashmir conflict: India revoking special status

Bombing Palestinians

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

ganic document to be interpreted for times to come. The court’s view admitted that the virtues of moral sagaciousness, righteousness, honesty, and trustworthiness contained in Article 62(1-f) are subjective moralities and can hardly be objectively assessed. Despite the difficulty in objectively assessing a list of open-ended virtues required of a parliamentarian, the court proceeded to impose a perpetual ban on parliamentarians from participating in elections thereby, invented and reading into Article 62(1-f) an onerous punishment by judicial interpretation. The inducement of shunning non-virtuous behaviour, couched in the organic interpretation of the Constitution had presented the Honourable court a doctrinal leeway to import its subjective morality denouncing what it considered to be non-virtuous behaviour and consequently stipulating a punishment unfound in the Constitution, either textually or structurally. The consequence of such moral reasoning would inescapably bind future courts to treat even cases involving inadvertent omission in the declaration of assets at par with intentional and fraudulent misdeclaration of assets. An alternate result could have been achieved with a structural interpretation of the Constitution. This could have been done by reading Article 62(1-f) contiguously with Article 63(1)(h) as the latter provision espouses the same values enunciated in Article 62(1f). Article 63(1)(h) imposes a disqualification penalty for five years following an imprisonment of not less than two years for being convicted of committing moral turpitude. The court in Samiullah Baloch could have read Article 62(1-f) to stipulate a disqualification for not more than five years. Logic also dictates that a finding of guilt, by a court of law, for committing moral turpitude according to Article 63(1-h) would carry a greater blot on a person’s character and moral righteousness, than an individual who has not been found guilty by a court of law. Penalty for moral turpitude coupled with a subsequent disqualification from contesting elections are two independent penalties conceived by Article 63(1-h). Whereas, Article 62(1f) envisages only one penalty, i.e. disqualification, for virtually the same moral void in a Parliamentarian as one contained in Article 63(1-h) thereby, indicating that Article 63(1-h) was intended to be harsher punishment for committing non-virtuous behaviour than the one contained in Article 62(1-f). Such a structural reading of the Constitution, guided by an overarching fundamental right of individuals to contest elections may have guided the court to find a proportionate punishment for a violation of Article 62(1-f). More recently, Article 63A Constitution has

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last 73 years has been a betrayal of the will of the Kashmiri people. Thisc has been a sharp-edged reality. 5th August 2022 marks one year of yet another such betrayal. Minister of Home Affairs and the First Minister of Co-operation of India, Amit Anil Chandra Shah, told Parliament that Article 370 was revoked; Kashmir was stripped of its special status. Already frosty relations have worsened between the two countries since India abolished Jammu and Kashmir’s limited autonomy on 5 August 2019. The continuing atrocities in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir manifest the anti-peace and antiMuslim “Hindutva” agenda of the extremist rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party (rSSBJP) dispensation. India has not reciprocated Pakistan’s attempts toward harmony and stability. The oppressed Kashmiris were the target of the wrathful Hindutva. The valley was flooded with tens and thousands of trigger-happy soldiers. Brutal crackdowns, unlawful arrests, barbaric killings, and forced abductions made a mockery of India’s dubious secular conscience. Immediate lockdown and a curfew were imposed, putting the valley behind a curtain of terror so the globe would not learn the truth all in vain. IIOJK’s human rights situation has deteriorated following 5th August 2019 India’s unilateral and unconstitutional acts. For nearly two and a half-year, the brutal military siege has martyred thousands of Kashmiris and used brute force against Kashmiri children and women in indiscriminate manners. The Kashmiri youth has been notably attacked in their campaign of relentless oppression. The most brutal depictions of this are the use of pellet guns and eradication of entire regions, adding cumulative punishments to people in IIOJ&K. Thus, the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir have never admitted this illegitimate invasion. Indian violence and brutality have failed to free the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) from Indian captivity. Four generations of Kashmir have witnessed unimaginable atrocities at the hands of occupying soldiers and have made incredible sacrifices. India is oppressing Kashmiri women, children, and men by imposing extensive security forces under the Draconian law of “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act”. In addition to this, the world has witnessed 94,000-plus deaths, with over 7,000 being held prisoner, while more than 10,000 women were raped, and 107,000 children orphaned. Therefore, India, the largest democracy, is mocking universal principles like equality and justice, liberty, and humanity. Peo-

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ple around the world are intensely affected and concerned at the incessant killing rampage, arbitrarily detained Kashmiris and human rights defenders, as well as the rejection to hand over the mortal remains of martyrs by Indian occupation forces. It was not a century ago when the world silently witnessed the rise of the Nazis and today the same silence is evident when we see Gandhi’s state becoming the nightmare that Savarkar envisioned. Thomas Jefferson rightly said; “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” Today, what we are seeing is that international involvement is so conducive for India that it can commit a human rights violation and easily get away with everything it does in Kashmir. Kashmiris are been murdered and have been the victim of brutality and extrajudicial killings, but the world has lost the passion for justice and empathy for the oppressed. Therefore, all peace-loving international organizations and the United Nations must pay attention to Modi’s movements against peace. Pakistan’s government, and armed forces on the Kashmir issue, have constantly spoken on every platform. Thus, Narendra Modi should note that he can’t trample the courage of the freedom of Kashmiris with brutality. In a nutshell, Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the Partition of the subcontinent and the way Pakistan has been wronged, the way we have been parted from our own relatives, from our own brothers, it is the same families that are divided on both the sides of the Line of Control (LOC). We feel their pain; we feel their agony. It is an unleashing of human tragedy and human atrocities. So many crimes have been committed; the occupation is illegal, and the annexation of the territory is illegal. eventually, there’s no power greater than human power. No matter how much military is there if we could remember the first attack on the Holy Kaaba in which the elephants of Abraha came, Allah sent the smallest birds, the Ababil, and they bombarded the ethiopian forces and smashed them like “eaten straw”. It is not always that power is counted by power. Therefore, willpower, determination, and hope are all required to win a war, and this is a war of power against human beings. It’s a human tragedy, and this is a tragedy for which our hearts also bleed. Thus, in the hearts of every Pakistani, there is a Kashmir. The writer is a freelance columnist

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06-07 Comments -8th August 2022_Layout 1 8/7/2022 10:44 PM Page 2

Monday, 8 August, 2022

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

The culture of Pakistan is not abuse I want to draw your attention towards an important issue that is Just two day ago, the news of the Islamic Parties of the Assembly, Jamiat Ulema-eIslam Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat e Islami (JI), rejected the The Domestic violence Bill, on the grounds that the bill is a threat to Pakistan's social and cultural norm. What are these norms they're referring to? To physically and mentally abuse the women ? Is that a cultural aspect of Pakistan. Is this the culture we have been trying to create since the independence? Just recently, a clip of two brother harassing their sister over heritance dispute was all over social media. So it means that our islamic party leaders, support the brother, who were abusing the ladies with hammer, rather the women, who were just asking for their right given to them by islam. It is immediate, that better knowledge and understanding of the world is given to them for them to understand whats wrong, as well as better education facilities and the bill needs to be passed for the women of Pakistan to feel safer in this country of peace. WAniA AShrAf KArAChi

A year after the fall of Kabul The TTP problem has not been solved

a Letter from Prometheus agHa IqRaR HaRoon

UGUST 15 is the date that would be remembered in history because, by the mid-day of this day, the Afghan National Army (ANA) fell down like “House of Cards” and surrendered its weapons to the Afghan Taliban who ultimately entered Parliament House in Kabul and the USsponsored President Ashraf Ghani ran away with bags of ill-gotten money to a neighboring central Asian country. Since the USA ran away from Kabul, Afghanistan is facing disaster after disaster without receiving adequate help from neighbours or from international humanitarian bodies. Famine, hunger, unprecedented floods, earthquakes, and pandemics are unfortunate realities Afghans faced during the last year but the USA did not release over $ nine billion to the Afghan people the USA has in its banks. We must remember that 80 percent of the Afghan economy was foreign funding and foreign donations when USsponsored governments were operating in Afghanistan. Suddenly, this 80 percent went out of the Afghan economy, leaving almost nothing to survive economically. Pakistan is also facing unusual circumstances since US forces ran away before terrorist outfits Pakistan defeated them by sacrificing the blood of over 80,000 citizens and over 6,000 sons in uniform, but they are compelling Pakistan again for negotiations and dialogue for granting peace to a nation of 220 million people. In past, no negotiations brought results for Pakistan and it had to purge terrorists with military might but the situation is reversing and terrorists are gaining ground in Pakistan while operating from Afghanistan. Let’s have a review to understand ground realities in Afghanistan one year after the Fall of Kabul. No country has recognized the Interim Afghan government so Kabul has still not connected with the global economy. The US strategy for the Afghan war since its inception in October 2001 was under fire by military experts and the reemergence of the Taliban confirmed the US war strategy for Afghanistan was not based on reality but rather inspired by taking chances and shifting goal posts. Theconflict costing over $2.26 trillion to the US exchequer, the US military had to flee in mid-night withdrawal from Bagram Air Base and the world saw panicked US soldiers shifting foreigners and friends out of hell gate of Kabul. Over 57 NATO-friendly countries lost this war that is won by no one because the Afghan Taliban are facing different kinds of battles since the with-

drawal of US-led forces and neighbouring Pakistan is still facing the brunt of terrorism and radicalization that were sour fruits of jihadism planted in Afghanistan 40 years ago to defeat the former USSr. Thousands of children died in the winter of 2021 due to malnutrition and health-related problems due to lack of resources and a collapsed economy which brought hunger that is the only reality in Afghanistan. Thousands of books can be written about what happened in Afghanistan since the US launched Operation Cyclone (in 1979) and Operation enduring Freedom (2001) and the shameful withdrawal from Kabul. I covered the Afghan war as a War correspondent in 1995-97 and then in 2001-2006 and know the currents and undercurrents and can summarize that the Afghan wars did not bring anything good for Pakistan which offered its services for all US mess that is still spreading over in the region. My background talks with former military men including those who served in Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence in the middle of the scene when the stage was set for spreading radicalization, drugs, and weapons in the region helped me to understand how Kabul fell instantly. They are of the view that thevUSA entered Afghanistan without a clear strategy and goals and it entered as an angry elephant and the only target was to use Pakistan to defeat Communism by injecting the concept of Jihad into the region. The withdrawal of US interests in the 1990s was due to the collapse of the USSr as the target was achieved. However, the rise of China, throbbing central Asian states, Pakistan’s nuclear success, and surviving Iran were pointers that triggered the US desire to reach Kabul again. The US was waiting for an opportunity to land again in Kabul and 9/11 gave the US the opportunity for entering Kabul with the full support of international forums but having no clear military strategy for sustainable stay, therefore, it kept “shifting goal posts”. Military experts believe that once the USA entered Afghanistan, it decided to stay at any cost because that was a great opportunity to stay in a very sensitive and important region from where it could have an eye on everybody from Iran, China, and Pakistan to Central Asian countries. Though the USA could meddle with everybody while staying in Afghanistan it had no clear strategy to face the realities therefore leaving Afghanistan was the best option for the time being when military strategy faced a great failure. Sometimes military establishments understand that they are going the wrong way but what to do is a question it takes time to understand and answer and this is what happened in Afghanistan. The USA sold its ill strategy to the western world that sitting in Afghanistan it was blocking Iranian and Chinese influence over the region, but everything went wrong and now China and Iran have already a good relationship with the Taliban and China is bailing out Afghan Taliban interim government with business and economic opportunities but without recognizing its legal status. A number of Foreign Affairs experts and military historians believe the US from the very first day it landed in Afghanistan became a victim of slow and fast thinking while putting the risk analysis on the back burner and kept deciding in hurry to gain more. Some of foreign affairs experts call the US war strategy “gambling”. They are of the view that if chance would have favoured the USA, it

could have achieved what it expected to but as the very name gambling represents, without putting your decisions under probability scrutiny, the likelihood of odda against the desired outcome tends to be higher instead of being in favour. We understand that decision-making having a high ratio of probabilities with a higher likelihood toward odds must not be taken by depending on mere chances. Chances of odds in favour or against have no logical framework as they are based on predictions driven by previous experiences. And the nominal data is in percentage, which is based on speculation, on other hand, probable factors can be much more conclusive in risk analysis. Since 1979, Pakistan has been a proactive partner of the USA and the only country that faced the brunt of this historic partnership. There is a long list of what has been confronted by Pakistan in quest of pleasing the USA but the situation is still not pleasant for Pakistan even after the US withdrawal. There was a time Pakistan used to say that the Delhi-friendly government of President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul was nurturing terrorism against Pakistan but the situation is getting worse under the Pakistan-friendly interim Afghan government in Kabul. Pakistan paid heavy costs and won the war against terrorism that was launched against Pakistan by India through previous Afghan governments However, Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) indicated a 42 percent increase in terrorist attacks in 2021 compared to 2020 and this trend is still rising Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) itself claimed 282 attacks in 2021 and said that it had killed more than 500 law enforcement personnel; it claimed an additional 42 attacks in January 2022. Under Afghan Taliban rule, Pakistan had to start negotiations with TTP on the advice of the Afghan interim government and ongoing negotiations are the first after Pakistan launched Zarb-e-Azb against the group on 15 June 2014. reports suggest that Kabul has established bilateral relations with New Delhi which is continuously providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. One year after the Fall of Kabul, I can see there is no difference between Pakistan which is ruling in Kabul, as Pakistan would remain at the receiving end of whatever comes from Afghanistan. In my opinion, negotiations with TTP would ultimately enhance confidence among terrorists who were virtually destroyed by the Pakistan Army when Ashraf Ghani was in power in Kabul. I have been writing for a long that TTP could not be formed and could not be in the swing if it did bot have no upport from the Afghan Taliban but the majority of thinkers had been claiming and blaming TTP as an Indian product. Yes, it got financial as well as technical support from Indian intelligence agencies but its survival within Afghanistan was directly or indirectly linked to its cordial relations with the Afghan Taliban, and reports suggest TTP foot soldiers helped Afghan Taliban to defeat the Afghan Army. The situation for Pakistan is not as simple as the majority of us believed and the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in the post area of Kabul in a US strike indicates that the Afghan Taliban are still supporting terrorist outfits directly or indirectly or they are so weak that they cannot stop or purge terrorists using Afghan soil. The writer is an international award winning journalist who has been in the field since 1988 and appears in national and international media as analyst and political scientist.

Cruelty against women IT hurts me a lot to mention that Balochistan is the only province where girls are suffering a harsh life because cruelty on women is increasing day by day. They are surviving a fearful and painful life in order not be chased by the cruel men of our society. They have left their school owing to our monstrous society. Their vitality is snatched so that they can’t raise their voice. But unfortunately yet our men are unaware of the dignity of women. Most importantly, they are told some statement by their own surrounding that hurts a lot don’t wear such clothes because they are thick, laugh less because you are a women and sit property so that no one should blame you. What’s this? Don’t women have the rights to live the world in their own ways? Why so much cruelty on women? If they are just born to do the home chores, then kill them the time, then give birth in this cruel world - what kind of life is that? It is hard to say that I belong to a society where women are deprived of their rights and where they are just considered workers who manage the work. Therefore, I urge the Government to give their due rights and request to male to please treat them well so that their fear should be finished. rizWAnA riAz AhmEd TurbAT

Roadside begging THIS refers to the beggar’s mafia in the city. They are teasing the passerby people. Their place of begging is a petrol pump, the gate of the shopping malls, and the entrance place of the religious gates and parking areas. They have an eye on the person when they come to such places. As it is a practice that when they stand at the petrol pump for inserting petrol into their cars. The petrol purchaser gives money. They are surrounding the person who is paying the money to the petrol boy. They are targeting the person who is paying money from his wallet. They don’t see that he is with his family or any person who is special to him. Beggars are compelling him to pay him money by all means. Beggars are demanding amounts that they want. But when we refuse then they curse us. They say that you are with wealth and riches. Why you are not giving us money. They bargain and pass the comments. Their attitude is unusual and causes a misdemeanor. So the government must take action against them. This has also been observed that they are professional beggars. They are not needy. They have become habitual of begging. Though they are fit in health. If they do any work other than begging it could be better for them. Due to them, the needy person is suffering. It is therefore requested to the district administration look after the professional beggars who are exploiting the people. As it is law in the other developed countries like Saudi, Japan, and Arab countries that begging is a ban. The police and city administration take strict vigilance. They arrest the beggars sitting in crowded places. So these countries take the responsibility to give security to the person. They see the needy person and pay the monthly remuneration from the treasure. mujEEb Ali SAmo lArKAnA

Femicide in Pakistan LATeLY, three innocent women were murdered by ruthless men. Killing helpless Khadija and Noor does not show that they have conquered the world rather it reflects their cowardice. This is not the only case, many such cases have occurred in the country. According to an estimate of the Women’s Peace and Security Index, Pakistan ranks in 164 out of 167 countries. This highlights a very bad picture of Pakistan in the world. Another report shows that more than 32 percent of women have gone through physical violence in Pakistan. Pakistan’s government is very lazy in giving peace and harmony to women. So, it needs to work on that. The murderers of innocent women must be punished. WASEEm AhmEd hub

A remarkable victory AFTer the persistent rainfall forced the abandonment of the first T20 International of a four-match series between West Indies and Pakistan with no-result at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday, the Men in Green got victory of seven runs over West Indies in the second T20 International at the National Stadium in Guyana on Saturday. I appreciate the praiseworthy performances of entire team of Babar Azam. However, the remarkable scores of 51 and 46 runs by captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad rizwan respectively deserve our appreciation since duo scores helped the Men in Green to set up the great target of 158 for the against team as well as both Men in Green are the backbone of batting line for the team. We Pakistanis believe that the Men of Babar Azam will make the victories in the remaining matches of the series to win the series. muhAmmAd bAKhTiyAr KECh

Monday, 8 August, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

China and Russia Can lead ResistanCe against West diCtating to Rest of WoRld COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD CAN USE A LESSON FROM HISTORY TO NEUTER THE HEGEMONIC POWER OF THE WEST

ivAn TimoFeev

HE experience of the erstwhile Golden Horde, as of many other empires, suggests that directives lose meaning when the mass of players ignoring them becomes critical. Thus, while today’s Western hegemony still retains a large amount of control, the resistance of major players like Russia and China could gradually undermine its dominance. The modern policy of sanctions is to some extent reminiscent of the management practices of the Golden Horde. One of its elements was the system of directives – orders, instructions, and permission issued by the Khan to his subjects and vassals. We remember well from the history books the principles for reigning, i.e. permission from the Khan to Russian princes to own this or that land. Orders were also issued to the clergy, exempting them from taxes or granting them other privileges. These were the tools of imperial policy, formalizing the Khan’s decisions in relation to the rulers or institutions dependent on him. It had a cross-border character, i.e. it was an instrument of governing a subordinate but alien territory. On the one hand, it was the possession of the Khan. On the other, it was a separate state unit. Historians have noted the influence of the Horde’s legacy on the formation of a centralized state built around Moscow. Historian George Vernadsky has pointed to this influence. It would seem that it makes sense to discuss the Horde’s practices specifically in relation to Russia, pointing to the ‘Asian’ nature of its politics, its history of despotism, and excessive concentration of power. Such a narrative has been developing for centuries, in one way or another, among Russia’s western neighbors. However, some imperial practices appear to be universal. Today, they can be seen in US policy, and to some extent, in that of the EU. Russia itself has lost much of its imperial legacy, becoming even more so a nation-state than its Western rivals. This,

of course, does not exclude a transition to imperial organization in the future under certain circumstances. The characterization of the contemporary US and EU as empires poses two risks. The intellectual risk relates to the obvious differences between the empires of the past and modern political forms. In many respects, they are simply not comparable. Equating modern industrialized mass democracies to the oppressive and economically primitive empire of the Mongols will provoke resentment on the part of some and a condescending smile on the part of others. Normative risk is determined by American and Western European identities themselves. For all the differences between them, they are defined by their belief in the free organization of their political institutions, which exclude coercion by force. Their political communities are organized voluntarily, unlike the empires of the past, which were managed through violence and coercion. The American and Western European identity is based on the idea of the superiority of the political organization they have created. It appears to be the fairest in terms of equality of rights as well as the freedom of citizens within the social contract. ‘Significant others’ for such an identity are both the despotisms of the past and some modern states that are believed to be autocracies. These include, above all, Russia and China. The supremacy of capitalism and the market is also part of the Western identity. It is contrasted with unfree economies in which the state plays a key and directive role. From a normative point of view, to call the US and EU empires would almost be a political provocation. Still, such an experiment seems justified, all the more so because there are certain intellectual achievements behind it. Among others, one may recall, for example, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s ‘Empire’. The experiment is based on two assumptions. The first is that in contemporary international relations, inequality and hierarchy persist as a result of differences in power, economic, and human capabilities. The second is that voluntary organization does not preclude coercion and domination. The softness of politics compared to the empires of the past hardly means the absence of coercion and domination per se. In the 20th century, the US was indeed able to create a unique international community that could be called a ‘soft empire’. At its core, it undoubtedly contained an instrument of force and coercion. It was shaped by the outcome of the Second World War, in which the US – together with its allies – defeated and then occupied a number of major states (Italy, Germany, and Japan). However, the economic, technical, and financial supremacy of the US turned out to be much more important. America became the most important source for the

reconstruction of post-war Western Europe and Japan, which later became major economic players. The US not only did not impede their development, it also benefited from it. During the Cold War with the USSR, a system of Euro-Atlantic community was formed in which the US dominated both militarily and economically, avoiding excessive control and coercion. Such diktat, by contrast, was characteristic of the USSR’s relations with its allies in Eastern Europe, with the Soviet economic base proving to be markedly less than that of the US and its Western European allies. The differences in levels of coercion between the Western and Eastern blocs during the Cold War allowed its presence to be downplayed at the ideological level in the ranks of the former and exaggerated in the ranks of the latter. The film epic Star Wars in the late 1980s became a kind of archetype for mass consumption, illustrating the differences between the two systems. In Western Europe itself, a ‘soft empire’ emerged, fundamentally different from, but closely linked to, the US. It was not based on military and political coercion. Formed on the basis of economic integration, the EU created its own ‘universe’ based on common standards and rules of the game, voluntarily adopted by its members. However, over time, the ‘European project’ began to acquire a political component. Until now, it has been negligible as a politico-military player, remaining a junior partner of NATO. However, the power of standards, rules, and bureaucracy ensures – within the EU and in the orbit of its economic influence – a relationship of power and coercion no less effective than the use of force. The US retains its role as the world’s financial leader. The US dollar is a convenient and efficient instrument of international payments. The EU is a major market and the euro also plays a prominent role in international finance. Of course, the humanism and ‘softness’ of Western ‘empires’ has had its limits. Where the use of force was possible, it was used quite harshly. The experiences of Yugoslavia and Iraq showed this. But in the case of Iran, any aggression meant the prospect of much greater losses. The use of economic measures made sense as a cheaper but rather destructive technology of power. Economic sanctions can be considered a key power technology of today’s ‘soft empires’. The US is far removed from the rest of the world in their application, although the EU also applies them, and the UK introduced them into its independent foreign policy system after Brexit. The globalization of dollar settlements allows US financial authorities to monitor transactions around the world, restricting them where they conflict with Washington’s political interests. In a global economy and a US-centric financial system, blocking US sanctions is likely to mean major losses or even collapse for a major

company with any international activity. Hitting systemically important exporters with blocking sanctions can cause enormous economic damage to individual economies, as the experience of sanctions against Iran, Venezuela, and Russia has well demonstrated. The use of secondary sanctions, as well as fines and criminal penalties for violations of US regulations, has disciplined businesses regardless of their country of origin. For example, the Chinese authorities condemn US sanctions, but Chinese companies are forced to take them into account and generally avoid violating them for fear of financial losses and loss of the US market. Until February 2022, large Russian businesses were also careful not to violate American sanctions regimes, even though official Moscow opposed their application and Russia itself was under a number of restrictive measures. Western European business has been hit hard by US penalties and complies with US regulations, despite grumbling from Brussels. The EU itself is actively developing its toolkit of restrictive measures. Today’s sanctions policy is also giving rise to a reincarnation of the practice of issuing directives. By imposing restrictions in one area or another, the US Treasury can, for example, issue a general license authorizing certain transactions. Similar permissions are possible in EU policy. Two recent examples illustrate the practice of rules in relations with Russia. The first example is the situation with food exports. Formally, the US has not imposed an embargo on exports of Russian grain, fertilizers, and agricultural products. However, a number of Russian agribusiness assets came under blocking sanctions. Fearing secondary sanctions and penalties amidst extensive financial and economic sanctions on Moscow following the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine, foreign banks have refused to carry out transactions involving exports from Russian suppliers. Shipping companies have also refused to ship Russian products for similar reasons. Combined with the difficulties of Ukrainian food exports due to the hostilities, rising food prices, droughts, and other factors, the restrictions on Russian supplies threatened to have serious global consequences. The response was a US Treasury ‘label’ in the form of a general license to deal in Russian food. The second example is the situation regarding attempts by Lithuania to block part of the Russian transit to Kaliningrad Region. EU sanctions prohibit the import, transport, and transfer of a number of Russian goods. Under this pretext, their transit through Lithuanian territory was blocked. In this case, the directive was issued by Brussels, explaining that the sanctions do not apply to the transit of these goods by rail. Ivan Timofeev is Valdai Club Programme Director & one of Russia’s leading foreign policy experts.

it’s time we all come together to address the global food crisis

Al JAzeerA AbdullA ShAhid And GAbriel Ferrero de lomA-oSorio

As parents and global citizens, we are very worried about the cost-of-living crisis that the world is facing – the worst in over a generation. The interlinked shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and conflicts have thrown the global food, agricultural, financial and energy systems and markets into turmoil. The ongoing war in Ukraine has added fuel to the already precarious poverty, hunger and malnutrition situation. Besides its tragic humanitarian toll, the war is extending human suffering to all corners of the world through widespread disruptions to the planting, harvesting, transport, and export of major agricultural commodities from the Black Sea region. The war has also disrupted prices of and access to inputs like fuels and fertilisers. And in this context, we welcome the grain trade deal which offers a lifeline to millions, and strongly urge all parties to honour the agreement. Even before the war, hunger and malnutrition were on the rise globally, with an unacceptable 823 million people going hungry in 2021 according to the recent edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report by five United Nations agencies, including FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. That said, the war has pushed an additional 50 million people into severe hunger in 2022 across the world. With food prices continuing to rise, another 19 million more people are expected to face

chronic undernourishment globally in 2023. These are not mere statistics but real people around the world, from Cairo to Caracas, Dhaka to Donetsk, who are going to bed hungry. While everyone is squeezed by food price inflation, the poor are the hardest hit, especially in developing countries, where food accounts for half of a typical family’s budget. They are finding it more and more difficult to afford the food needed to nourish their families, and are being forced to reduce food intake, sell their productive assets, or take their children out of school. As a result, we are seeing years of progress in reducing hunger and poverty reversed, undermining efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 while exacerbating inequalities. The World Bank warns that the war in Ukraine is likely to plunge up to 95 million people into extreme poverty, making 2022 the second-worst year ever for poverty alleviation, behind only 2020. The growing number of export bans and trade restrictions on wheat and other commodities are making the crisis worse. These actions are counterproductive and they must be reversed. We are glad to note that representatives from more than 100 World Trade Organization member countries have recently taken action to step up their efforts to facilitate trade in food and agricultural products and reaffirmed the importance of refraining from export restrictions. In addition, the Group of Seven, which includes major food exporters like Canada, the European Union, and the United States, has already pledged to avoid export bans and other trade-restrictive measures. Food insecurity and malnutrition will remain a key challenge given the intensification of its drivers, including conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns, combined with the high cost of nutritious foods and growing inequalities. WORKING TOGETHER IN THE SPIRIT OF MULTILATERALISM: In challenging circumstances like this, we are all called to come together, united in common responsibility, to address and solve the problem. As the UN secretary-general says: “It takes a world to fix the world.” For us, inaction is not an option. We call on the international community to urgently support affected people, communities and countries

through coordinated action. We welcome and laud several initiatives that have been launched over the past months by governments, institutions and political fora. These are mobilising leadership, finances, political will and a wide range of policy responses to the global food crisis. To succeed, all of us must work together to ensure our actions to address the crisis converge. Millions of lives are at stake and the world’s most vulnerable do not have the luxury of time for duplication or wastage of efforts. PRIORITY POLICY RESPONSES: Thankfully, we know what we need to do, together, to raise our ambition and deliver concrete actions. First, stepping up humanitarian response for those already in need. However, addressing this crisis and the vicious cycles it creates calls for an approach that looks at the emergency today with our focus firmly fixed on strengthening livelihoods against future shocks. Second, urgent stabilisation of markets, debt and commodity prices to immediately restore the availability, accessibility and affordability of food to enable all people everywhere to realise their right to food. We urge countries to continue releasing strategic food stockpiles and inputs into markets, minimise hoarding and other speculative behaviour, and avoid unnecessary trade restrictions. Third, encourage increased local production by family farmers, small-scale food producers, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives, as well as increased consumption of diverse food varieties; diversify sources of imported foods; and reduce food loss and food waste. Fourth, restore fertiliser availability ensuring sustained and affordable access by smallholders and family farmers. This should go hand-in-hand with transformation to sustainable and inclusive production as promoted by the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, including a commitment to increased efficiency in the use of energy and fertilisers, unleashing the potential of agroecology and other innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture. Fifth, reinforce social protection systems needed to prevent vulnerable communities from sliding into poverty and furthering malnutrition. Examples of such measures include the time-proven school meals programme to address the impact of this crisis on children’s malnutrition, or cash transfer programmes to boost the

purchasing power of poor households. Sixth and last, countries need financial resources and the fiscal space to support strong national responses to the crisis. We need to fund existing international financing mechanisms; with the IMF and the international financial institutions (IFIs) playing an essential role. We urge countries that were proposing cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments to reconsider their decisions and instead respect the target to direct 0.7 percent of their national incomes to ODA. ACCELERATORS: Lessons from the 2007-08 food crisis, as well as from the COVID-19 pandemic more recently, show that meaningful and principled policy response should support country-led coping strategies that involve all of society: from farmers to consumers, civil society, and businesses, especially those most affected by the food crisis. Gladly, we have seen many countries around the world, including those that are affected most, put in place a raft of solutions to cushion their people against the crisis. These solutions should be encouraged and supported. The UN secretary-general’s Global Crisis Response Group is providing joint analysis and policy recommendations from the whole of the UN System. We must ensure that our responses are consistent with and guided by the SDGs, which are the comprehensive blueprint for sustainable development. More importantly, we must remain committed to sustainable transformation of our food systems. Only then will we deliver sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food for all people, provide employment and income particularly in rural areas, while at the same time fully respecting planetary boundaries. The imperative to act on the transformation of our food systems is greater now than it was in September 2021 when the UN Food Systems Summit was held. We must do everything possible to end this food crisis and forestall future ones. We have the tools and resources to make it happen. It is time to act together to ensure no one is left behind. Abdulla Shahid is the 76th President of the United Nations General Assembly. Gabriel Ferrero de LomaOsorio is the Chairperson of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

NEWS

Gwadar airport to be operational next year: dG

corporate corner

LAHORE

LAHORE: People select through stalls of old books put on display in Anarkali Bazaar. photo by zubair mahfooz

army, Houbara Foundation team up for greening pakistan thru habitat restoration

IslAmAbAd: Pakistan Army and Houbara Foundation International Pakistan jointly broadcasted seeds of desert plants over Cholistan Desert this morning for the 24th consecutive year. Wildlife habitats are being degraded the world over because of over-grazing and wood-cutting by local communities. Consequently, wild animals and birds are unable to find their favourite foods in sufficient quantities, resulting in their rapid decline and ecological imbalances. In 1998, Houbara Foundation International Pakistan undertook to reinforce the diminishing vegetation through aerial broadcast of seeds of desert plants in the Cholistan Desert, which is the prime wintering habitat of the Houbara Bustard. 177 kg seeds of houbara’s favourite food plants have been broadcasted this year bringing the total seeds broadcast in the last 23 years to over 2789 kg. Regular monitoring of the habitat shows encouraging results, and higher yields of germination are expected as the work goes on. Restoration of complete habitats is a long and laborious task. But, with dedicated support of Pakistan Army, Houbara Foundation aims at continuing to work on this project and restore the ecological balance by reinforcing the desert vegetation and building up populations of the houbara and other wildlife species. pr

Meezan bank president visits naya nazimabad Gymkhana KARACHI: Irfan Siddiqui, President Meezan Bank visited Naya Nazimabad Gymkhana and praised the dedication of Chairman Arif Habib Group, Arif Habib and his team for delivering an amazing landmark to people of Karachi, at Naya Nazimabad. During the visit, Arif Habib informed that they are working to transform Naya Nazimabad into a Sports City by developing International standards sports facilities under one roof. “Fully developed floodlight Cricket stadium, Football Ground, Basket Ball Court, Futsal ground, Taekwondo, Archery, horse riding and paragliding are already operational”, he added. On this occasion, President Naya Nazimabad Gymkhana, Syed Muhammad Talha said that in addition to the Gymkhana, the management of Naya Nazimabad is also constructing a state-of-the-art Hotel that would be helpful during major tournaments. This five star facility will include four multiple restaurants and banquet hall. Additional facilities like top of the line Gym, Swimming Pool, Sauna and other luxurious facilities like International standard Tennis, Table Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Snooker, Card room, Library, meeting rooms, multipurpose Hall etc will also be available at this dream project. Mr. Talha also informed that Gymkhana’s membership will be announced in 3 months’ time. Mr. Irfan Siddique and Deputy CEO Meezan Bank Mr. Arif ul Islam also took part in the ongoing tree plantation drive. Mr. Talha informed that extensive parks and green belts set Naya Nazimabad apart from all other residential settlements in the city. pr

staff report

wadar Port is going to be a shining pearl in the entire region, as the largest Gwadar International airport would be operational next year in Sept 2023 to connect it to the major cities of Pakistan and the world, said director General Gwadar development authority (Gda) Mujeebur rehman Qambrani on Sunday. addressing a ceremony of the business community here, the Gda dG stated that the seaport was getting ready to anchor the mother ships of up to 70,000 Metric Tons. He announced that Gwadar is now being linked to the national grid by the end of next year, as an agreement of a power supply of 100Mw has been signed in this regard to lessen the city’s dependence on electricity supply from Iran. Moreover,

300Mw coal power plant is also under construction to fulfill the immediate electricity demand of the coastal city. He revealed the Gda was going to have a big investment conference in Gwadar to attract new investment in the manufacturing sector in the area.

The director General of Gda informed the businessmen that a chain of International Sea Food is being launched in Gwadar’s west Bay’s kaleidoscopic waters, transforming this site into a major tourist attraction. He revealed in his presentation that a dis-

2,200 ICP cops to guard 9th Muharram gatherings in capital ISLAMABAD staff report

Islamabad Capital Police (ICP) Inspector General dr akbar Nasir Khan on Sunday reviewed security arrangements in connection with 9th Muharramul Harram and decided to enhance vigilance and patrolling in various areas for foolproof security during procession and Majalis. as many 2,200 policemen of Islamabad capital police will be deployed for maintaining peace and tranquility on 9th Muharram. according to the details, a meeting was held to review security arrangements for 9th Muharram at the Central Police office which was presided over by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad dr akbar Nasir Khan. He said that dIG (Operations) Sohail Zafar Chatha would monitor all security related arrangements. He directed all police officials to maintain close liaison with peace committees and organizers of Majalis and processions in Muharramul Haram. all wings of Islamabad

police were given directions to ensure complete coordination for the success of this plan. He said that cooperation of organizers should be ensured with police and law enforcing officials. He directed all police officials to maintain high vigilance of processions through safe city cameras, smart cars, surveillance cameras and drone cameras and it would be looked after by dIG (Safe City). a main control room is established at Safe City Islamabad. The police Commandos along with vehicles would perform the security duties at Imambargahs arranging religious gatherings. He said that it should be ensured that processions would pass through the fixed routes and timings of processions to be observed strictly. He also directed for effective patrolling and use of commando vehicles for the purpose. He directed for maintaining close coordination among all wings of Islamabad police and staff. The IGP said that walk-through gates must be installed at all entry and exit points of Majalis and processions and it should be covered through a large strength of policemen.

Sialkot important economic hub of Pakistan: SCCI SIALKOT app

Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) senior vice president Sheikh Zohaib rafique Sethi said on Sunday that Sialkot was an important economic hub, from where 99 percent products were exported to various parts of the globe. Talking to aPP, he said that currently, around 20,000 active member firms were registered with Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & In-

dustry (SCCI). He said the district was contributing over US 3 billion dollars yearly to the national exchequer through exports and was playing a pivotal role in promoting business and trade activities in the region. He said that Sialkot exporters were the “roaming ambassadors of Pakistan”, which were not only travelling for fetching the highly valuable foreign exchange for the country but also making efforts to introduce Pakistan through their products.

He said thousands of small and medium sized industries were functioning in and around Sialkot and was globally known for its quality products, unique export culture and for manufacturing value-added goods like leather products, sports goods, surgical instruments, gloves of all sorts, textiles items, sportswear, martial arts uniforms & accessories, musical instruments, kitchenware, hollow ware, knives, cutlery items and military uniform badges etc.

pute resolution committee was also formed to address the grievances of the new allottees in this area. In the presentation, Mujeeb Qambrani detailed the various other mega activities in Gwadar and glimpsed the future of the geostrategic future corridor of energy, trade, and logistics to center 70% of the world. with a view to closely interact with the business community of the upcountry, Mujeeb Qambrani visited Lahore’s major industrial associations, textile bodies, auto parts manufacturers, chambers and trade bodies’ representatives, including Pakistan Industrial & Traders associations Front (PIaF), the Businessmen Panel (BMP), Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, PaaPaM, daroghawala Industrial association, Sunder Industrial Estate and the members of the Transport association.

debt trap strangulating national economy: pdp chief KARACHI staff report

Pasban democratic Party PdP Chairman altaf Shakoor said on Sunday that now the debt trap is really strangulating the economy of Pakistan and this deadly noose would be further tightened in the years to come. In a statement issued here, the PdP chief said that successive governments had taken costly loans from foreign lenders, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for unnecessary projects and now what the nation earns goes to pay the principal amount and interests of these loans. He said this is vicious cycle and it is marring our already fragile economy. He said experts say that Pakistan is in a political and economic death spiral that could push it over the same cliff as Sri Lanka, as internal conflict, regional instability, and global uncertainty all threaten the survival of the state. He said that Pakistan’s external debt servicing rose to USd 10.886 billion in the first three quarters of 2021-22 compared to USd 13.38 billion in the entire FY21. The external debt servicing was just USd 1.653 billion in 1QFY22 against USd 3.51 billion in the first quarter of 2020-21. However, the debt servicing jumped to USd 4.357 billion in 2QFY22 and further to USd 4.875 billion in 3QFY22. The increasing size of the external debt servicing in each quarter indicates the government has been borrowing dollars at higher commercial rates to meet its foreign debt repayment obligations. Shakoor said Pakistan recorded a Government debt to GdP of 84 percent of the country’s Gross domestic Product in 2021, he said, adding that it is a very disturbing sign that what we earn almost goes to paying for debt and its intrest. He said this year the government has earmarked rs3.95 trillion for interest payments and repayments on domestic and foreign loans (debt servicing), which is 41.57 percent or over two-fifth of the total budget outlay of rs9.502 trillion for FY2023. He said the country will spend rs510.97 billion on foreign debt servicing and rs3.439 trillion on domestic debt servicing. The government spent a huge amount of rs3.555 trillion on public debt servicing in FY2022 as against the budgeted rs3.059 trillion. Shakoor asked if our Parliament is aware of this grim scenario, what are the ‘institution’ doing to save Pakistan from sinking into the sea of loans. Shakoor said if the trend continues in next few years we will pay all what we earn to our lenders. He said even a blind could see that Pakistan is running fast on the path of default, but the government, Parliament and ‘institutions’ are least concerned to this grim scenario.

Farmers suffer Rs50b losses due to flash floods in Sindh: SAB HYDERABAD staff report

The farmers of Sindh claimed to have suffered losses to the tune of around rs50 billion due to flash floods entailed by heavy monsoon rains across the province. The Sindh abadgar Board (SaB), which lobbies for rights of the farmers, claimed here on Sunday that the crops of dates, cotton, onion, chillies, cauliflower and other vegetables had been destroyed. a meeting of the board, chaired by Vice President Mehmood Nawaz Shah, pointed out that the farmers were supposed to harvest

220,000 tons of dates but the torrential showers destroyed around 150,000 tons. Shah said the dates were either ready for harvest or were being dried up when rains began to lash the province. according to him, the cotton farmers suffered immensely due to water shortage from March to June and the heavy rains starting early July destroyed the crops in the cotton belts in Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and other districts. In addition to that more than 70 percent of onion had also been ravaged in areas of Tando allahyar, Matiari, Mirpurkhas and other districts, he claimed. “The losses will further increase if the incessant rains continue,” he

warned. He said the devastation of the crops had happened at a time when the country was already dealing with high inflation and the farmers were affected by the same in the form of doubling of the cost of inputs. Shah claimed that urea, which was the highest consumed fertilizer, was still not available at the company declared rates. “The agricultural economy is under stress,” he observed, adding that the situation would also leave a negative impact on the economy of Pakistan in coming months. “It is therefore important that short and medium-term measures are taken to rehabilitate the agricultural economy,” he asserted.

The SaB recommended that as part of the short term measures the government should provide interest free loans to farmers of the rain affected areas in addition to waiving taxes and agricultural loans as well. The board pointed out that Kissan Card was being worked out for 2 years but its distribution among the farmers had not yet started. The SaB demanded card’s distribution should be started forthwith. The growers also called for making disaster management bodies more proactive. as part of the medium term measures, the government was requested to restore capacity of the old and natural drains like dhoro Puran, dhoro Naro and others so that

the rainwater could be timely drained. The SaB underlined the need of making Left Bank Outfall drain (LBOd) and right Bank Outfall drain (rBOd) functional. The board suggested that a crop insurance scheme should be introduced to at least to facilitate small and medium sized growers. The farmers said the establishment of a climate emergency fund was also the need of the day in view of the recurrence of extreme events. Syed Nadeem Shah, aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar, arbab ahsan, Mustafa Nawaz Shah, Taha abbassi, Mehtab Lund and other office bearers and members of the SaB attended the meeting.

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Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

10 fOREign nEws

At UN, PAkiStAN ASkS iNdiA to reStore kAShMir’S AUtoNoMy NEW YORK

stAff RepoRt

AKISTAN has called on India to put an end to rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, reverse demographic changes there, and restore the region’s autonomy by rescinding its “illegal” measures of August 5, 2019, to pave the way for a dialogue aimed at resolving the decades-old dispute. “The onus is on India to create conditions for a dialogue to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Munir Akram, Islamabad’s permanent representative to the

United Nations, said in his opening remarks at a webinar organised by Pakistan’s mission to mark Youm-i-Istehsal — the third anniversary of the Indian siege of occupied region. At the same time, he said the dispute must be resolved on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions that granted the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination. “The only legal basis for the resolution of the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir is the Security Council’s decision contained in Resolution 47 of 1948 and several subsequent Security Council resolutions, stipulating that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and

Kashmir is to be decided by its people through a free and fair plebiscite conducted under UN supervision,” the envoy said. Pakistan desires peaceful relations with India, but New Delhi was heightening tensions in the Muslim-majority region by resorting to state terrorism against the besieged people. “To avoid this obligation and justify its colonial occupation and oppression, India has sought to portray the Kashmiri freedom struggle as terrorism,” he said, adding the Kashmiris were campaigning for their recognised right to self-determination which cannot be equated with terrorism.

Ambassador Akram also denounced India’s arrest and torture of the top pro-freedom leadership, especially Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chair Yasin Malik, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a so-called investigation court, and called for his immediate release from prison where Malik has resorted to a hunger strike. In August 2019, the government of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, abolished Article 370 of the Constitution, ending the region’s autonomy and removing its statehood by splitting it into the federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Buddhist-dominated Ladakh.

In his keynote speech, Zeid bin Ra’ad, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Right, referred to the first-ever report on the situation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir that he authored in 2018 and the one issued by his successor, Michelle Bachelet, saying these two reports along with the recommendations contained in them are very much still UN documents, and must be implemented. The UN must oversee, defend and promote its recommendations, including the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry, as the situation in the disputed territory has deteriorated, he said.

Pakistan firmly supports one-China principle: Ambassador Haque BEIJING Agencies

More Ukraine grain sets sail as new shelling hits nuclear plant KYIV, UKRAINE Agencies

Four more ships carrying around 170,000 tonnes of grain set off from the Black Sea ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk on Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said, as Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out a new strike against a Russian-occupied nuclear plant. “The second convoy of Ukrainian supplies has just left… three from Chornomorsk and one from Odessa,” Kyiv’s infrastructure ministry wrote on Telegram. It said that the ships — which it named as the Mustafa Necati, the Star Helena, the Glory and the Riva Wind — were carrying “around 170,000 tonnes of agriculture-related merchandise,” without specifying further. Meanwhile, in Russia, Moscow accused Kyiv’s forces of again shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the south of Ukraine, which it took control of shortly after invading its proWestern neighbour. The Ukrainian army “carried out a strike with a cluster bomb fired from a Ouragan multiple rocket launcher,” the occupying authorities in Energodar, the town where the plant is situated, were quoted by the Russian state news agency TASS as saying. “The shrapnel and the rocket engine fell 400 metres (1,300 feet) from a working reactor”, “damaged” administrative buildings and hit “a used nuclear fuel storage area,” the authorities said, without providing any evidence to back up the claims. AFP was not able to confirm the allegations from an independent source. On Saturday, the plant’s operator, Energoatom, had already said that parts of the facility had been “seriously damaged” by military strikes and one of its reactors was forced to shut down. Both Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of attacking the plant. Because Zaporizhzhia is Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, the prospect of it being seriously damaged in the fighting is setting alarm bells ringing, not least at the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The strikes underline “the very real risk of a nuclear disaster”, the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Grossi, said on Saturday. “Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences,” Grossi said. And the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell condemned the attack as “a serious and irresponsible breach of nuclear safety rules and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms”.

Pakistan firmly believes in the oneChina principle, supports China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will continue to extend full support to its iron brother- China, on issues concerning its core national interest, Pakistan Ambassador to China Moinul Haque said. Responding to question of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan and regarding China’s countermeasures, he told Global Times in an interview that within the bounds of international law, every country has the right to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. In the same vein, Pakistan supports

all efforts of the Chinese government in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said. He also emphasized the importance of upholding the principles of the UN

charter, international law and bilateral agreements. Inter-state relations should be based on mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs, he said. Pelosi arrived in China’s Taiwan island on Tuesday night in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations. The visit is seen as a serious violation of the one-China principle. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry announced eight countermeasures in response. The ambassador said, As ‘iron brothers’ and ‘All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partners,’ Pakistan and China have always stood shoulder-to-shoulder with each other through many challenges. I would like to emphasize here that

Israel, Palestinians agree truce from Sunday evening: sources JERUSALEM/ GAZA ReuteRs

Israel and Palestinian militants have agreed to a truce in Gaza from Sunday evening as mediated by Cairo, sources said, after a weekend-long pounding of Palestinian targets by Israel triggered longer-range rocket attacks against its cities. An Egyptian security source said Israel had agreed to the proposal, while a Palestinian official familiar with Egyptian efforts said the ceasefire would go into effect at 20:00 (1900 GMT). Spokespeople for Israel and Islamic Jihad, the faction it has been fighting in Gaza since clashes erupted on Friday, did not confirm this, saying only that they were in contact with Cairo. The flare-up, recalling preludes to previous Gaza wars, has worried world powers. However, it has been relatively contained as Hamas, the governing Islamist group in the Gaza Strip and more powerful force than Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, has so far stayed out. Gaza officials said 31 Palestinians, at least a third of them civilians, had so far been killed. The rockets have paralysed much of southern Israel and sent residents in cities including Tel Aviv and Ashkelon to shelters. The Egyptian security source said earlier that the proposed truce was to take effect at 2100 GMT. On Sunday morning, Islamic Jihad extended its range to fire toward Jerusalem in what it described as retaliation for the overnight killing of its southern

Gaza commander by Israel – the second such senior officer it has lost in the fighting. “The blood of the martyrs will not be wasted,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement. The salvo came as religious Jews were fasting in an annual commemoration of two Jerusalem temples destroyed in antiquity. Israel said its Iron Dome interceptor, whose success rate the army put at 97%, shot down the rockets just west of the city. Palestinians dazed by another surge of bloodshed – after outbreaks of war in 2008-09, 2012, 2014 and last year – picked through the ruins of houses to salvage furniture or documents. “Who wants a war? No one. But we also don’t like to keep silent when women, children and leaders are killed,” said a Gaza taxi driver who identified himself only as Abu Mohammad. “An eye for an eye.” Israel put the onus was on Islamic Jihad to stop shooting. “Quiet will be answered with quiet,” an army spokesman said. In another potential flashpoint, Jews marking the Tisha Be’av fast visited the site where their ancient temples once stood – the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. The scheduled visits affront Palestinians for whom Al Aqsa is a national as well as a religious symbol. Video circulated online showed some Jews trying to pray in defiance of Israeli regulations, as police moved in to stop them and Muslim worshippers shouted in protest.

China’s largest-ever Taiwan military drills draw to a close BEIJING Agencies

China’s largest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan were drawing to a close on Sunday following a controversial visit last week to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Beijing has raged at the trip by Pelosi — the highest-ranking elected US official to visit Taiwan in decades — ripping up a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington, most notably on climate change and defence. It has also deployed fighter jets, warships and ballistic missiles in what analysts have described as practice for a blockade and ultimate invasion of the self-ruled island — which China claims as its territory. Those exercises were supposed to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion. “For information about another country’s military exercises we suggest you please ask the country conducting them to explain,” a Taiwan defence ministry official told reporters in a text message.

Pakistan would continue to extend full support to its ‘iron brother’ China on the issues of its core national interest, he said. According to the ambassador, the current global geo-political situation remains tense as the world is already grappling with multi-faceted challenges. The regional situation in Taiwan Straits was indeed complicated with the visit. We believe that the world cannot afford another crisis with far-reaching implications for regional and global peace and security, he said. The ‘one-China’ policy outlines that there is only one China in the world; the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole China; and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the expected conclusion of the drills on Sunday. Taiwan’s transport ministry said six of the seven “temporary danger zones” China had warned airlines to avoid ceased to be in effect as of noon on Sunday, signalling a partial drawdown of the drills. It said the seventh zone, in waters east of Taiwan, would remain in effect until 10 am (0200 GMT) local

time on Monday. “Relevant flights and sailings can gradually resume,” the ministry said in a statement. Taipei said some routes were still affected in the seventh area, and authorities would continue to monitor ship movements there. Beijing has also announced fresh drills in the Yellow Sea — located between China and the Korean peninsula — to take place until August 15. Earlier on Sunday, Beijing conducted “exercises in the sea and airspace surrounding Taiwan Island as planned”, the Chinese military’s Eastern Command said. Taipei’s defence ministry confirmed China had dispatched “planes, vessels and drones… simulating attacks on Taiwan’s main island and on ships in our waters”. It detected 66 air force planes and 14 warships operating in the Taiwan Strait, of which 22 crossed the median line and the extended area of the unofficial demarcation in the waters that separate Taiwan and China. Beijing does not recognise that demarcation. China also sent at least one drone over Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen islands, forcing troops to respond with flares, local authorities said.

Civil Society demands opening of Srinagar Jamia Masjid, release of Mirwaiz SRINAGAR Agencies

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society Forum has demanded the opening of Srinagar Jamia Masjid and release of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from his illegal house detention. According to Kashmir Media Service, the Civil Society Forum Chairman, Abdul Qayoom Wani, in a statement issued in Srinagar said It has been now the practice of three years of its closure after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A on August 05, 2019. He expressed concern over the attitude of stakeholders who allow only partial opening of this grand centre of worship for Muslims and its closure at important occasions like festivals etc. Recalling the glorious past, he said that people from nook and corner of Kashmir happened to plan before days to travel to Srinagar as a religious belief to pray Friday prayers at this grand mosque to attain mental peace and thus have been waiting for its permanent opening but three years on now the grand mosque awaits a permanent opening for prayers. Curfew-like restriCtions in srinagar, mobile internet suspended: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian authorities have intensified curfew-like restrictions in Srinagar city and suspended internet services to foil the Muharram processions. According to Kashmir Media Service, curfew-like restrictions were imposed in Ram Munshi Bagh, Kothibagh, Maisuma, Kral Khud, Shaheedgunj, Shergari, Batamaloo, Khanyar and Karan Nagar areas of the city. The authorities also suspended mobile internet services in Srinagar and several areas of Kashmir valley. In a handout to the media, the police said that the Muharram procession from Guru Bazaar to Dal Gate in Srinagar has not been allowed by the authorities. In an order, the District Magistrate of Srinagar said that the decision not to allow the Muharram procession has been taken in Srinagar. Notably, two major processions of 8th and 10th Muharram were banned in 1989 by the then administration and since then no processions have been allowed till now.

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Monday, 8 August, 2022 | LAHORE

SPORTS 11

LET RonALdo LEAvE: RoonEy TELLS UnITEd LONDON

ReuteRs

ORMER Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney believes that the club must let Cristiano Ronaldo leave if they are to build a successful team for the future under new manager Erik ten Hag. The 37-year-old Ronaldo, who re-signed for United from Juventus last season, reportedly wants a move

away from Old Trafford after the team’s failure to qualify for the Champions League. “I think United should let Cristiano Ronaldo go. It’s not that Ronaldo can’t play in a Ten Hag team. He can play in any team,” Rooney, who now manages Major League Soccer side DC United, wrote in a column for the Times newspaper. “Ronny will always score you goals. But my personal view is that

forward to working with him. Rooney, who is United’s all-time leading scorer, added he was hopeful that Ten Hag would be able to establish a clear playing style at his former club. “I couldn’t work out what they were trying to do in terms of game plan, or see any patterns of play,” Rooney said of last season. “I think one of the big things you’ll see from Ten Hag is him really trying to put his stamp on the playing identity.”

United aren’t ready to challenge for the title now, so the aim has to be to build a team that can win the league in the next three to four years, and you have to plan for that.” Ronaldo netted 24 times in all competitions last season, emerging as one of the few bright sparks in an otherwise forgettable campaign for United that saw them finish sixth. Ten Hag this week said he was happy to have a “top striker” like Ronaldo in the squad and looking

Messi turns on style in statement win PARIS AFP

Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half, including with a stunning overhead kick, as Paris Saint-Germain began their defence of the Ligue 1 title with a 5-0 demolition of Clermont on Saturday. Neymar was also in outstanding form for a PSG side who did not miss the injured Kylian Mbappe, with the Brazilian opening the scoring in Clermont before setting up Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos for further goals before half-time. Messi then exchanged passes with Neymar before sidefooting in the visitors’ fourth goal with 10 minutes left. Yet Messi saved the best for last, darting into the box four minutes from the end to control a Leandro Paredes pass on his chest with his back to goal, before converting with an acrobatic overhead kick. That goal had the crowd at Clermont’s Stade Gabriel-Montpied singing the name of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, who endured a difficult first season in Paris. PSG’s victory in new coach Christophe Galtier’s first league game in charge was achieved despite Mbappe missing the trip due to an adductor injury. Mbappe also missed last week’s 4-0 defeat of Nantes in the season-opening Champions Trophy due to suspension. Messi had opened the scoring in that game, while Neymar netted a brace. The duo therefore already have six goals between them this season, with PSG looking in ominous form. “There is no denying we have lots of talent but

what I retain is the collective desire to win the ball back very early, to play with intensity, to never let up,” Galtier, who replaced the sacked Mauricio Pochettino, told broadcaster Canal Plus. “The squad have been very receptive since I arrived. They like to work hard together, have fun together. But the season is long. This was just the first game.” Galtier said he would have no trouble finding a place in the line-up for Mbappe, who is expected to return next weekend and play his first competitive game since turning down a move to Real Madrid to sign a new three-year deal in Paris. “Kylian is an essential part of this project. For a coach, it is not very difficult to integrate a player like him into the team,” Galtier said. He had a little alert and so we didn’t want to take

any risk. “Obviously if we had a difficult game, or a Champions League match, maybe Kylian would have played. We preferred to delay his comeback but he should be back against Montpellier.” Neymar fired in the opener in the ninth minute after Messi was unable to control Pablo Sarabia’s cutback, and it was Neymar who set up Hakimi to blast in the second in the 26th minute. The world’s most expensive player was also the provider for the third goal in the 38th minute when his free-kick from the left was headed in by Marquinhos. Messi then took over at the end, and it is likely to be a long season for Clermont given four teams will be relegated at the end of the campaign, when Ligue 1 will be reduced from 20 clubs to 18. Earler Monaco benefited from a favourable late VAR call to claim a 2-1 win at Strasbourg. The principality side were 2-0 up and cruising when Sofiane Diop struck early in the second half to add to Krepin Diatta’s magnificent opener. However, Habib Diallo pulled one back for Strasbourg and then appeared to have salvaged a draw when he nodded home in the second minute of added time, only for the referee to disallow the goal for a marginal offside after consulting with the VAR. Monaco now travel to the Netherlands to face PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League third qualifying round, second leg in midweek. The first leg ended 1-1. Lyon beat newly-promoted Ajaccio 2-1 on Friday in the season curtain-raiser, with Alexandre Lacazette scoring what proved to be the winner with a penalty.

Rohit overtakes Afridi in list of most sixes in Int’l cricket AGENCIES India’s all-format captain Rohit Sharma became the second highest six-hitter in international cricket, overtaking former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi. According to details, the 35-year-old stroked three sixes in the fourth T20 against West Indies at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, in Lauderhill, Florida on August 6, 2022. He made 33 off 16 balls. He left behind Boom Boom Shahid Afridi in the list of the most six hitters in international cricket to move to the second spot. Pakistan legend had hit 476 sixes in his career from 1996-2018 with 52 maximums in 27 Tests, 351 sixes in 398 ODIs, and 73 sixes in 99 T20 matches. Rohit Sharma now has 477 sixes to his name, with 64 of them coming in 45 Tests, 250 sixes in ODI cricket, and 163 sixes in 131 T20s. However, the player on the top spot is West Indian Chris Gayle, who has 553 sixes to his name. He hit 98 sixes in 103 Tests, 331 sixes in 301 ODIs, and 124 sixes in 79 T20 matches for the Men in Maroon from 1999-2021. Here are the top five six hitters in international cricket: Chris Gayle (WI) -533; Rohit Sharma (IND)- 477; Shahid Afridi (PAK)- 476; Brendon McCullum (NZ)398; Martin Guptill (NZ)- 379.

Pak taekwondo team reaches Turkiye to participate in 5th ISGs KARACHI AgeNcies

Sevilla agree deal to sign Isco on free transfer MADRID ReuteRs

PCB won’t compensate Pakistan players for not playing UAE’s ILT20 LAHORE News Desk

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will not compensate Pakistan players for missing the inaugural edition of the UAE International League (ILT20). ILT20 had contacted several many star players, including skipper Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Rizwan. Few of them had even received an offer of PKR 120 million to 140 million. However, justifying the busiest schedule, PCB is not allowing its cricketers to participate in this league yet. Two star players applied formally for NOC but PCB rejected, while others did not contact after viewing the rejection. According to sources, players will get nothing over missing out on offers of crores as PCB is only obliged to pay compensation if the league is taking place during the off-season. Last month, the PCB Board of Governors (BoG) meeting allocated a special fund under workload management for elite players to keep them fully fit and available for the country. Under this, the intention to compensate up to 60% of the loss was expressed. However, sources say this does not apply to the ILT20 and other leagues because there will be a lot of cricket happening in Pakistan during those days. If the board prevents a player from participating in the league during the off-season, the loss will only be compensated. A top official, when contacted, said that players are now asked to seek permission first, even before naming a league in the draft. If someone joins the draft by himself and then gets selected but does not get the NOC, it will bring our cricket into disrepute. On the other hand, the sources further said that many players are unhappy due to the expected heavy financial loss, they want to meet PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja and put their concerns before him.

Sevilla have reached an agreement in principle to sign free agent Isco on a two-year deal, the LaLiga club said on Sunday. The former Real Madrid midfielder would undergo a medical on Monday before finalising his transfer, Sevilla added. Spanish playmaker Isco will become the Andalusian club’s third summer signing after they brought in defender Alex Telles on a season-long loan from Manchester United on Thursday and centre-back Marcao from Galatasaray last month. Isco confirmed his departure from Real Madrid in May after nine successful years in the Spanish capital, winning 19 trophies including three league titles, five Champions League trophies and four Club World Cups. The 30-year-old, who spent two seasons at Malaga and also played for Valencia, made more than 350 appearances and scored 53 goals for Real. However, he was sparingly used by manager Carlo Ancelotti last season, playing only 17 times in all competitions as Real won the league title and the Champions League.

Isco, capped 38 times by Spain, has worked with Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui twice before — with the national team in the build-up to the 2018 World Cup and later that year during the Spanish manager’s brief spell in charge at Real. The Andalusian club, who finished fourth in the league last season, begin the new campaign with a trip to Osasuna on Friday.

The Pakistan Taekwondo has reached Konya, Türkiye to feature in 5th Islamic Solidarity Games (ISGs). Pakistani athletes will be in action from August 8 to 12; the sevenmember kyorogi squad include Mazhar Abbas, Hamza Omar Saeed, Haroon Khan, Shahzaib Khan, Fatima tuz Zahra, Naqsh Hamdani, and Noor Rehman. Yousuf Karimi and Najia Rasool are male and female coaches. The solidarity games are the biggest sports event in the Muslim world in which athletes from as many as 57 countries are taking part. According to Lt-Col (r) Raja Wasim Ahmed Janjua, President PTF; Omar Saeed, CEO of Pakistan Taekwondo Federation all the athletes and coaches are being sponsored and taken care of by the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and Pakistan Sports Board while the expenses of both main stakeholders of the federation will be paid on their own to boost and encourage their officials and athletes. Meanwhile, the PTF officials are thankful to Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) for the administrative support. Federation’s President Waseem Janjua and the team Head and CEO of Pakistan Taekwondo Federation Omar Saeed said the team will perform well in this mega Muslim World Sporting event as it is upbeat and well-prepared by undergoing rigorous training and preparatory sessions. PTF President Raja Wasim Ahmed Janjua also pins high expectations on the Taekwondo team and is hopeful for better results by the team. It is pertinent to mention here that mainly the renowned and ranked athletes of Muslim countries from Asia, Africa, and European will be featuring in the 10-day Muslim World’s biggest sporting extravaganza.

Ryan Giggs: Manchester United and Wales icon facing court battle MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM AgeNcies

Ryan Giggs is used to life in the public eye as a footballer who grew from a dazzling teenage talent at Manchester United into the most-decorated player in English football history. Giggs is in the spotlight in Manchester once more on Monday as he stands trial on charges of controlling and coercive behaviour against his former girlfriend Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020. The 48-year-old is also accused of assaulting Greville, causing her actual bodily harm, and common assault of her younger sister, Emma Greville, at his home. Giggs has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all charges. But the case has already had implications on his coaching career. Giggs missed the chance to lead Wales to last year’s European Championships after being placed on leave by the Welsh FA since November 2020. He finally resigned from that role in June after Wales qualified for

the World Cup under the stewardship of his former assistant Rob Page. But it is for his exploits on the field for Manchester United that Giggs made his name. Former United manager Alex Ferguson recalled his first glimpse of the boy who would play a pivotal role throughout his Old Trafford reign. “I remember the first time I saw him,” he said. “He was 13 and he floated across the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.” Giggs, who was on Manchester City’s books as a youngster, made his league debut for United against Everton in March 1991 at the age of 17. In his early days the Cardiff-born winger, blessed with explosive pace and a dazzling skill-set, inevitably drew comparisons with 1960s United star George Best, with his ability to torment opposition defenders. Off the pitch he became a pin-up and was one of the most marketable players as the glitzy Premier League era began. He was part of the famous “Class of 92” alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville brothers, but in terms of honours he outdid them all.

The most iconic moment of his career was his winning goal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, when he raced from his own half and slalomed through the Arsenal defence before smashing a shot past David Seaman. Treble-winner: That year United went on to complete an historic treble, their greatest achievement during two decades of almost non-stop success under Ferguson. But there were countless other moments of magic in a career in which he racked up a club-record 963 appearances over 23 years, scoring 168 goals. In his later years Giggs evolved from being a dashing winger into a calm, creative midfield presence, remaining a key player as he approached 40. The Welshman, who won a staggering 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies in a trophy-laden career, finally hung up his boots in 2014. He briefly served as United interim manager at the end of the 2013/14 season, following the ill-fated tenure of David Moyes, and worked for two years as a coach at Old Trafford under Louis van Gaal.

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ECP vErdiCt in forEign funding bEing imPlEmEntEd PEr law: marriyum ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

INISTER for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb Sunday said implementation of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in prohibited funding case was underway as per law. “The verdict in the foreign funding case against PTI has been given, which is being implemented as per law,” she said in a news statement while reacting to PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry’s comments on social media. She said the PTI had been declared a “foreign aided” party under the Political Parties Order 2002. Imran Khan had submitted false affidavit with ECP five times as per the decision. The PTI sought 51 adjournments, changed nine lawyers, and filed 11 petitions with the court regarding the foreign funding case, the minister observed. She said, “all doors are closed for a foreign agent and foreign aided party in the

law.” The minister said the PTI was needed to submit reply in the ECP where it failed to justify a single rupee of the

Children among 41 dead in gaza amid israel truce reports GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Foreign funding case exposed Imran’s character: Sanaullah

agencieS

ISLAMABAD

Nine children were among 17 Palestinians killed Sunday in Gaza, health officials in the enclave said, amid talks of a truce after three days of intense fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel. An Egyptian-proposed ceasefire had raised hopes that Cairo could help broker a deal to end the worst fighting in Gaza since an 11-day war last year devastated the impoverished Palestinian coastal territory. But Gaza’s health ministry announced 10 more deaths late Sunday, among them nine children, raising the toll to 41 since fighting began on Friday. The ministry said more than 300 people have been wounded in Gaza, which is run by the Islamist group Hamas. Two Israelis have been injured by shrapnel over the same period, medics reported. An AFP photographer saw two rockets being intercepted in the centre of Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv on Sunday evening. Earlier in the day, an Egyptian security source said that Israel “has accepted” a ceasefire, adding that Cairo was waiting for the Palestinian response. But a spokesman for Islamic Jihad told AFP “there is no agreement” yet.

Staff RepoRt

Policy continuity urged to achieve long-term economic growth ISLAMABAD MonitoRing RepoRt

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the economy is in recovery mode and stressed political stability and continuity in policies to achieve the long-term economic goals. The minister made the remarks at the launch of a report “One Year Growth Strategy for Pakistan,” which was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economic (PIDE), an Islamabad-based think-tank. He urged the key stakeholders to focus on governance and said that development is contingent upon continuity in the implementation of policies as every developed country witnessed growth after executing the policies persistently for 10 years. “We are going to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence and this is the time we can turn around the country by focusing on key areas like tax collection, remittance, foreign direct investment and exports,” Iqbal said. Economic growth goes hand in hand with foreign direct investment in the export sector, he added. Expressing regret about the performance of the agriculture sector, Iqbal noted that Pakistan could not achieve a productivity increase in it, adding that it is a big challenge to achieve selfsufficiency in this area which is the backbone of the economy. “Small and medium enterprise sector will be promoted as the engine of growth to put the economic development on the growth trajectory,” according to the minister.

funds received in the bank account. There was no need of any response now, she added. “The lies, fraud and drama of a for-

eign agent and foreign aided party must end,” she remarked. She said Imran Khan made false case of 20kg heroine on Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah as he was afraid of him. Imran Khan, out of his fear for Rana Sanaullah, whisked away from Islamabad on May 25 and hid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the minister added. Meanwhile, senior leader of PML-N Senator Irfan Siddique said on Sunday that PTI Chief Imran Khan’s politics was over and his disqualification was most imminent. Talking to a private TV channel, he said no law or court can save Imran Khan from the impending disqualification. He said former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as Member National Assembly and the prime minister as chairman of his son’s Dubai-based company, Capital FZE. How can Imran be declared eligible for holding public office even after taking billion of rupees illegally from foreigners. Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan has been decided. It was now a matter of days, not months.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Sunday fired a diatribe at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, saying that with the announcement of a verdict in the foreign funding case, the character of the former premier has been exposed. Responding to Sheikh Rashid’s statement, Rana Sanaullah said that Imran Khan is trying to divert attention from his theft for eight years. He went on to say that it has been proved that Akbar S Babar is righteous. Moreover, the Interior Minister condemned the vilification campaign against the Army. Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah claimed that former prime minister Imran Khan will suffer defeat during the upcoming by-elections in all the nine National Assembly constituencies that fell vacant after the NA speaker accepted the resignations of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPs. Terming the party’s back-to-back nationwide rallies “political stunts”, Sanaullah declared that Khan was trying to divert attention from his “theft”. It is pertinent to mention here the PTI is preparing to stage a grand power

show at Islamabad’s Parade Ground to decide its strategy with party supporters on the eve of Independence Day. Meanwhile in a statement, the interior minister said the PTI is allowed to stage a public gathering at the Parade Ground, adding, however, it will be a political stunt. “Whoever will not cooperate with the FIA relating to an inquiry into the prohibited funding case [against PTI] will be arrested,” warned the interior minister. Without giving an exact time frame, Sanaullah maintained that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to his homeland ahead of the

next general elections. Reacting to Sanaullah, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry advised the interior minister to be careful while giving remarks about party leadership. “Your value is not more than an SHO of the Kohsar police station,” the PTI leader told the interior minister as the ruling PML-N has no government in any province of the country. Fawad Chaudhry also warned the interior minister of the consequences of his statements. Taking a jab at the interior minister, the PTI leader said that Sanaullah did not visit Faisalabad since PML-N lost its govt in Punjab.

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deploring delhi’s hubris, Pakistan rejects indian mEa’s ludicrous comments ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan on Sunday categorically rejected the ludicrous comments and fallacious claims made by the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson regarding a statement of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The Foreign Office Spokesperson in a press release said, “India’s hubris in this regard is deplorable.” The spokesperson said, “OIC is the largest multilateral forum of Islamic countries representing more than 1.7 billion Muslims and have always been vocal in support of the legitimate rights of the Kashmiri people, who had suffered unspeakably from India’s over seven-decades long illegal occupation and unabated oppression.” The OIC Secretariat, in a statement on August 5, had reiterated its stance over India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). While perpetuating its tyranny and injustice, the spokesperson said India would not succeed in misleading the international community by claiming “socio-economic growth and development” in the IIOJK. “No amount of repetition would turn a falsehood into truth.” In the interest of justice as well as durable peace and security in South Asia, India must honour its commitment to the Kashmiris and to the world community by faithfully implementing the UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir dispute, the spokesperson maintained. Pakistan condemns storming of courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The FO spokesperson said Pakistan strongly condemns the storming of the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli occupying forces, today. This provocative action has blatantly violated the sanctity of the Qibla-e-Awal and hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the world. Such incidents are flagrant violations of international law, international norms and practices. Any attempt to change the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque must stop. Pakistan calls upon the international community to take urgent action to put an end to the Israeli aggression and violations, which continue to fuel violence, tension and instability in the region. For a lasting and just solution of the Palestinian issue, Pakistan renews its call for a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian State, with pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds AlSharif as its capital, in accordance with the relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions. IN TODAY S ISSUE

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Imran says will unveil counter-strategy against ‘fascism’ at 13th public meeting ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Former premier Imran Khan is scheduled to unveil the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) strategy to “counter the imported” government at its ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ powershow to be held August 13. In a tweet on Sunday, the PTI chairman said that he will outline the party’s future plan of action against “fascism” as he questioned if supporters will “bow down before this conspiracy in fear or, as a nation, face up to the challenge?”. Equating the government’s “fascist” policies with “Yazidiyat”, Imran Khan said that: “Every era has its Yazids” in an apparent nod to the holy month of Muharram – the month of mourning for the seventhcentury martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW). The tweet has come only hours after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that “performers” who give an “Islamic touch”

are now in need of a “legal touch”. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader made the comments while responding to former minister Sheikh Rashid’s statement and added that “criminals” in the foreign funding case have been escaping the “legal touch” for the past eight years. Meanwhile, the federal government had decided to take legal action against former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, seeking disqualification following the announcement of a prohibited funding case by the ECP, the country’s electoral watchdog. DRONE FOOTAGE OF K2 SUMMIT: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday shared a drone footage of K2 summit, showing over a dozen climbers at the top of the second highest peak of the globe. Talking to Twitter to share the glimpses of one of top peaks in the world, Imran Khan asked how many people within and outside Pakistan realize that we

live in one of the most diverse landscapes in the world with 12 climatic zones. This is not the first time that Imran Khan has promoted tourism in the country and previously he shared scenic locations in KP to attract tourism. The K2 has become a centre of attraction recently after many climbers from Pakistan and abroad have summited its peak, diverting attention of the climbers to one of the most dangerous mountains to climb globally. On July 22, Samina Baig become the first Pakistani female by scaling the world’s second-highest mountain, K2. Earlier, the extreme weather conditions above higher camps on K2 had halted the progress of mountaineers who were aiming to push for the summit. Several mountaineers, including Abdul Joshi of Hunza, had to abort their summit plans however most were determined and eager to go for the summit once things are cleared. Naila Kiani, Samina Baig, Wajid Nagri, Steffi Troguet, Sirbaz Ali and

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Kristin Harlia waited for ropes to be fixed and the weather to get better. The 31-yearold mountaineer along with other climbers pushed their summit on Friday morning. Samina became the first Pakistani woman to summit the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, in 2013 at the age of 21 and has since set off on a number of expeditions around the world.