RESCuE uNdERwAy AS INduS, KAbuL RIVERS hIghLy FLoodEd: Pakistan witnessed another day of deaths and devastation on saturday as dozens of people were left dead and thousands stranded as a result of landslides and floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) amid “high to very high” floods in Kabul and Indus rivers. Meanwhile, a rain emergency remained in place in several areas of the province in the wake of unprecedented rains that pushed most of the country into a crisis. death toll from floods, landslides in swat reaches 24 as 12 more killed while Peshawar corps evacuates 22 stranded people from Kumrat. KP cM’s helicopter was deployed to rescue stranded tourists, deliver food in isolatedevacuationsareas. were underway in several KP areas amid a ‘very high flood’ in nowshera, where the water level in the Kabul River has risen above 300,000 cusecs. 150 tourists were reported stranded in upper dir, Kalam and swat for the past three days. however, they were rescued later by army aviation helicopters. KP cM visits flood-affected areas in swat and lower dir, announces Rs1 billion for victims. at present, more than half of Pakistan is under water and millions of people have been rendered homeless as a result of flash flooding generated by abnormal monsoon rains which have entered their eighth spell with no signs of subsiding. according to the latest estimates, nearly 1,000 people, including 300 children, have lost their lives because of rains and resulting flooding that has impacted nearly 33 million people – almost 15 per cent of the country’s population.KPsecretary of Information and Public Relations arshad Khan said that over 500,000 cusecs of water had flooded the province.
Ruling Pakistan democratic Movement (PdM) coalition regretted that at a time when the country is faced with devastating floods, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has “refused” to meet one of the conditions set by the International Monetary fund (IMf) for its deal with Pakistan. accusing the KP government of politicising the matter, the parties, in their joint statement issued on saturday, said that in this connection the letter written by Taimur Khan Jhagra, the provincial finance minister, to Miftah Ismail, his federal counterpart, was a ploy to further deepen the financial crisis. “The PTI is well aware that the IMf board’s meeting, at which it is going to give a green signal to the restoration of its programme with Pakistan, is scheduled to be held on august 29. at this point, the act of writing a letter to the finance minister is based on a mala fide intent,” read the declaration. They went on to add that it was former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan who had signed an agreement with the IMf on tough conditions and then himself flouted it by suspending the programme. The purpose of doing all this was to turn the country financially bankrupt, they alleged. They said the reason why the coalition government was forced to take some difficult economic decisions was that it wanted to save the country from becoming bankrupt. and it was after the labour of four months that the government had at last succeeded in improving the Pakistani rupee’s value as well as the country’s economy, they claimed. They even put the blame for the present inflation in the country on what they called the former PTI government’s flawed economic policies. The coalition parties, in the declaration, however, renewed their pledge to foil all such moves by the PTI and resurrect the economy. The parties also expressed the resolve that all such tactics by the PTI would not distract them from focusing on mitigating the sufferings of flood-affected people.
g Rescue undeRway as Indus, Kabul RIveRs In
Distribution of rs38b begins to flooD victims in sinDh:
“The government has started rescue and relief efforts in all affected areas, while the work on the restoration of road infrastructure is going on on an emergency basis,” he told media persons in swat, adding that 10 tonnes of rations were delivered so far. arshad also said that the helicopter used by KP cM had been deployed for the flood operations. “It will be used to rescue tourists stranded across the province and to provide food items to isolated areas.”
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ISLAMABAD staff report P RIMeMinister Muhammad shehabaz sharif on saturday said that the federal government had allocated a grant of Rs38 billion to support each flood affected family with disbursement of speakingRs25,000.tothe flood affected people in sajawal, sindh, the prime minister said he had already announced a grant of Rs15 billion to sindh province while the distribution of flood relief amount among each family had commenced in sindh province after balochistan under benazir Income support Programme (bIsP). bIsP had the complete data, ensuring prompt and justified distribution among the deserving families, he added. assuring the provincial governments of the federal government’s support, the prime minister said others provinces would also be extended with such grants. The prime minister was accompanied by sindh chief Minister syed Murad ali shah, federal ministers and the relevant authorities. he said with the support of national disaster Management authority and other relevant departments, the federal government continued to support the provincial governments in the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts. he said that a combined survey would be completed soon which would enable them to get an estimate of the damages and losses caused by floods across the country. he said in swat and Kalam, the flash floods had caused colossal losses as hotels had been swept away and scores of lives wereThelost.prime minister also directed Minister for energy engineer Khurram dastagir Khan to supervise the efforts for restoration of power supply in the affected areas.
Pm Sunday, 28 August, 2022 I 29 Muharram, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 59 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
Coalition accuses PTI of trying to derail IMF deal veRy hIgh
Meanwhile, nowshera deputy commissioner (dc) Mir Reza ozgen renewed his call for the relocation of the district’s residents to safer places as flow in Kabul River rose above 300,000 cusecs, resulting in a “very high flood” in the water body.
ISLAMABAD staff report
Country facing unprecedented flash floods, rains: Maryam Aurangzeb
UN helps Pakistan, Afghanistan deal with heavy flooding
LAHORE Staff RepoRt Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb said on Saturday that Pakistan had never faced such highest level of flash floods and intensity of rains in its history. The flash floods and torrential rains inflicted huge human losses and infrastructural damages. Pakistanis should come forward to help and support the people hit hard by natural calamity. Talking to the media, she said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was departing from Lahore to Sajawal district of Sindh to visit the flood-hit areas. She said the country witnessed 190 percent more heavy rains, while Balochistan and Sindh provinces received 400 and 480 percent more torrential rains, respectively. She added that the data showed that such rains of high intensity and flash floods had never been witnessed in Pakistan. “At first, its concentration was very high in Balochistan and South Punjab and for the last two days its concentration also observed in the North,” she maintained. The Minister said that Sindh province was affected the most and damaged due to heavy downpour and flash floods. She said that floodwater washed away houses, cattle and all other belongings of the people due to which, children, old persons and women were in great trouble. Yesterday’s flash flood in Swat caused a number of casualties and huge financial and infrastructural losses, she said and asserted that Kalam, Bahrain, Madyan, Khazakhela and Mingora were completely affected and even concrete buildings fell down there.
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan has been severely affected due to rains and floods, said a Gilgit-Baltistan government report issued here on Saturday. The report estimated that from June 30, 2022 to August 26, 2022, 14 people have died due to floods and rains, while three were injured. The report also mentioned that private property worth over Rs4 billion have been destroyed by the various natural disasters in Gilgit-Baltistan region alone. This includes 383 fully damaged houses and 257 partially damaged “Pakka” houses. 52 bridges have also been destroyed, causing financial losses worth 360 million rupees, said the report. Out of these destroyed bridges, 43 have been partially restored. Other public infrastructure damaged includes 22 power houses, 49 roads, 78 potable water supply lines and over 500 irrigation water channels. The total losses suffered by Gilgit-Baltistan during the last few months is over 7 billion rupees. According to the official data in the the report, the GilgitBaltistan Disaster Management Authority and other government agencies have intensified relief activities for the rehabilitation of the victims.
Umar said that Ismail blames PTI for being unable to reach an IMF deal, while Nawaz Sharif has “testified to his incompetence”. “We were in a much stronger position to negotiate with the IMF,” Umar claimed, adding that the PTI’s efforts were aimed at having Pakistan stand on its own two feet. In response to the unprecedented situation caused by rains and floods, Umar stated that when times are tough, the nation unites. He said that Imran Khan has directed the party to assist flood-affected areas and that “messages are coming in from all over the world urging Imran Khan to help flood victims”. Umar said that discussions with the provincial governments are ongoing and that a decision on flood relief aid will be made soon. He went on to say that if the coalition government believes the country should be ruled with an iron fist, they are “living in a fantasy”. Umar said that “whatever is happening in the country is the result of the ruling government’s failure”. In response to notices of contempt issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to Fawad Chaudhry and himself, Umar stated that under the Constitution, the commission cannot issue the notice, as “it is not a court”.
The United Nations and humanitarian partners have deployed assessment teams to identify needs in the affected areas. The teams are providing life-saving assistance to people, including food, water and sanitation, tents, health care service, psychosocial support and other essential supplies, he said. So far this year, 256 people have been killed by flash floods in Afghanistan, including 118 since August 1, he said. Hearing in Gill’s bail petition postponed
Umar comes to Jhagra’s rescue after letter controversy
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
A Sfloods triggered by historic monsoon rains wreaked havoc across the country, Muslim countries on Saturday stepped up efforts for the provision of humanitarianAccordingaid.toUAE’s WAM news agency, President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the provision of urgent relief aid to Pakistan, which is witnessing torrential rains and floods that have resulted in deaths, injuries and displacements.
sunday, 28 August, 2022 LAHORe 02 news ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
The member organizations of Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) are immediately providing USD 4.8 million for flood affectees. PHF member started the response activities at the earliest and reached out to 362,564 people in KP, Punjab, Sindh, GB and Balochistan, said in a press release issued here on Saturday. The member organizations of PHF are also in process of more resources to better respond the devastating situation caused by the flash floods and a total of USD 3.2 million is in pipeline. Currently PHF members (Qatar Charity, Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid, Muslim Hands, Human Appeal, Save the Children, IRC, CARE International, ACF, HHRD, Concern Worldwide, WHH, Mercy Corps, CESVI, WaterAid, Tearfund, ACTED) are providing response in different sectors and catering to the need of flood affectees related to Wash, Food, Health, Shelter and NFIs.
UAE, IRAn vow to SUPPoRt PAkIStAn AS FloodS wREAk HAvoC
ISLAMABAD: A former chief of the United States Central Command (Centcom) claimed the Taliban always had a safe haven in Pakistan and Washington was never able to resolve that in the two decades of the so-called War on Terror or come to an agreement with Islamabad on the issue. Frank McKenzie, who led the unit from 2019 to April 2022, believes the reason was that the “Pakistanis never believed that we would stay, always thought that we would leave,” he said. “You know that? They were right, we left,” he told NBC News on Friday. McKenzie was of the view that Washington engaged in failed nationbuilding in Afghanistan and insisted on a Western model for the country which was wrong. “We began to engage in nation-building operations and maybe some of that was necessary in a narrower sense to protect our interests but the broader things we did probably ultimately in the long term didn’t help us. They diffused our efforts. “I don’t know that Afghanistan is governable or sustainable with a Western model. I know that Afghanistan is governable and sustainable from an Afghan model. But we paid too little attention to Afghan realities on the ground,” he said. McKenzie said that overlooking the Afghan reality was costly and was a “hubris on our part, and on the international community.” anadolu agency ISLAMABAD inp Asad Umar, secretary general of Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI), on Saturday defended Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance Taimur Jhagra — who landed in hot waters for purportedly backing out of a key International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirement — saying the minister “asked for province’s right” and no one should “suppress his voice”. Umar’s remarks come a day after Jhagra wrote to his central counterpart, Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail, saying it will be “next to impossible” for his province to run a surplus this fiscal year — a key Fund requirement to release a $1 billion tranche. He asked for the government to resolve outstanding issues such as budget allocations for the former federally administered tribal area (FATA), monthly transfers of net hydel profits in accordance with agreed terms, and revival of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, among others. Jhagra said KP expressed its support within 24 hours, and that the provincial government is ready to assist the federal government, but the Centre has not met with the provincial government in two months. “Taimur Jhagra is demanding the right of the province, don’t you dare try to suppress his voice,” Umar said. He claimed the government is “attempting to pin the blame for its own failures” on Jhagra. The PTI leader said the federal government is “incompetent” because “no agreement with the IMF has been reached in four and a half months”.
PHF Country Coordinator Syed Shahid Kazmi shared that Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, and its member organizations are fully engaged with government and donors to take strong position on- on-going floods in the country. He shared that during the destruction, huge and massive efforts are required to provide immediate, relief, rescue, and rehabilitation services at all levels.
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The Rescue department had done a lot of work to ensure emergency relief, she added. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had visited Balochistan, KPK and Punjab, and in the second phase, he was visiting Sindh. The PM visited Sukkur district of Sindh yesterday and announced Rs 15 billion assistance for Sindh government. Besides, instant disbursement of Rs 25,000 cash to each affected family was being done, and the federal government would also provide Rs 10 billion funds to Sindh for procurement of medicines and other instant relief goods, while NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) had been given Rs5 billion funds, she mentioned. Federal Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said that Pakistan Armed Forces, NDMA, civil administration and provincial government were playing there active role in rescue and relief activities in the flood-hit areas. Despite having very low level of carbon emissions, Pakistan was among those ten countries which come under more vulnerability in environmental change, she added.
A district and session court in Islamabad on Saturday once again adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by incarcerated PTI leader Shahbaz Gill for seeking bail when police once more failed to produce the case record before the judge. Additional District and Sessions Judge Tahir Mehmood Sipra heard the petition. During the hearing, the police told the court they failed to contact the investigation officer of the case as his phone was switched off. The IO has reportedly gone to Karachi to investigate another case. Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi contended if the IO even produced the police record today, he could not present his arguments as he first needed to read the record in order to prepare his arguments. He requested the court to put off the hearing till Monday. Raising objection to his request, Gill’s lawyer deplored the delay by police. However, Judge Sipra remarked that he was giving a last chance to the police while ordering them to produce records by Monday. On Friday, the police officer did not present the police record before the court citing the same reason regarding the nonavailability of the IO. The judge then ordered the police to produce the record by Saturday at 12:00 pm and warned that in case of non-compliance, their seniors would be summoned. The PTI leader, in his application, said that those who filed the case against him did so with a mala fide intent and out of a political grudge.
PHF contributes $4.8m to provide immediate relief to flood victims
The UAE president offered all possible assistance to the Pakistan to tackle this natural calamity. In this context, he apprised the prime minister that the UAE would be immediately dispatching food supplies as well as medical and pharmaceutical supplies, in addition to tents and shelter materials. The prime minister briefed the UAE president on the nationwide devastation caused by the unprecedented monsoon rains in the country. The prime minister also acknowledged the ongoing relief work of the UAE Red Crescent and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Foundation in the flood-affected areas. PM Shehbaz thanked the president for UAE’s timely assistance to support the government’s efforts in rescue and relief efforts. PM Shehbaz also received a telephone call from President of Iran Syed Ebrahim Raisi. The premier thanked President Raisi for his sympathy on the flood situation, stressing that Pakistan had been enduring severe monsoon weather since mid-June 2022, with many areas receiving four to five times and even more.
UNITED NATIONS MonitoRing RepoRt
In a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the UAE conveyed his heartfelt condolences over the loss of precious lives due to torrential rains and flash floods in different parts of “HisPakistan.Highness expressed firm solidarity with the people of Pakistan in this difficult time and wished all the injured a speedy recovery,” said a statement.
“President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed also ordered the provision of all humanitarian relief services to the displaced to enhance their ability to overcome the challenges they are facing,” it added. The UAE relief aid includes some 3,000 tonnes of food supplies, as well as tonnes of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, in addition to tents and shelter materials. The UAE relief teams will also provide all kinds of humanitarian support to Pakistani cadres and institutions concerned with efforts to secure the safety of the affected and their food, medical and logistical needs, the statement said.
Staff RepoRt Former Centcom boss: Pakistan never believed US would stay in Afghanistan
Floods killed 14; caused over Rs4b losses since June 30 in GB
“This had caused widespread flooding and landslides, with extreme repercussions for human lives, livelihoods, livestock, property and infrastructure,” he said. Shehbaz underlined that the humanitarian situation was being compounded by drastic impact to infrastructure including roads and bridges, which was impeding both the passage of people to safer locations and the delivery of aid.
The United Nations is helping Pakistan and Afghanistan deal with recent heavy flooding that has caused heavy casualties and material damage, said a spokesman. The UN team in Pakistan is boosting support to authorities in the most affected provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. To date, the UN team has mobilized $7 million to respond to the floods and has provided 1,100 metric tons of food rations, therapeutic feed and nutritional supplements, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Following a rapid assessment, a response plan is being finalized to coordinate the joint response and call for further resources, he told a daily press briefing. In Afghanistan, heavy rains and flash floods over the past week have affected several provinces, affecting more than 8,200 families, said the spokesman. Between August 16 and 21, flash floods killed 63 people and injured 115 others, including women and children. Nearly 3,400 homes are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed, he said.
“Although rescue work in the flood affected areas has been completed, there is still a risk of flooding in the Indus River, so the authorities concerned should remain on alert,” he said. He said that the focus of the government is now on relief and rehabilitation work. “So far 30,000 tents have been provided in flood affected areas. The district administrations of Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Mianwali have been provided funds for disbursement among affectees,” the minister added.
RAWALPINDI Staff RepoRt
MonITorInG Sex crIMInALS: The committee also considered the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Prosecution) (Amendment) Bill, 2022. The bill also seeks to add new sections –24A, 24B and 24C – to the existing law and was moved by Senator Mohsin Aziz. Aziz explained that the purpose of the bill is to monitor the movement of individuals involved in sex crimes within the country so that these convicts cannot go to another city in Pakistan and commit such crimesMinisteragain. of State for Law, Senator Shahadat Awan, opposed the approval of the bill without consulting the provinces first. The committee members ultimately approved the bill following a majority vote. Maternity benefits: The Islamabad Capital Territory Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was presented by Senator Fawzia Arshad for consideration in the committee. Committee members unanimously approved the bill after due deliberations.
03news sunday, 28 August, 2022 | LAHORe ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt t HEUK is providing urgent support to Pakistan after flooding in the south of the country killed at least 900 people. Extreme monsoon rainfall has affected millions of people, with 700,000 homes destroyed. In response to the disaster, the UK will provide up to £1.5m support the relief effort, a press release on Saturday said. The UN is carrying out a needs assessment over the weekend, and a UN appeal is expected to be launched on Tuesday.
Chairman Committee Muhammad Basharat Raja expressed satisfaction that all departments and institutions were busy in the flood affected areas; however, he emphasised the need to make the activities more coordinated.
Punjab ministerial committee reviews flood afectees’ rescue, rehabilitation
Senate panel puts off discussion on law to punish perpetrators of enforced disappearances
Mohmand Dam Project management made a detailed presentation about the pre and post-flood situations. The Federal Secretary and the Chairman were briefed that construction activities were continuing at a good pace on as many as 14 locations of the project prior to the flood that severely hit the construction area yesterday. They were also briefed about the impact of the flood and loss to different components of the project, especially diversion tunnels, re-regulation pond and periphery roads on both banks of River Swat in the project area. It was further briefed that this loss and impact will affect timelines of the project’s completion. The Federal Secretary and the Chairman were also apprised of the measures taken by the project management to avoid any further loss.
to ExtEnd £1.5M
Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South and Central Asia, North Africa, UN and the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, said: “The floods in Pakistan have devastated local communities and the UK is providing up to £1.5 million to help the immediate aftermath. We are witnessing the catastrophe that climate change can cause and how it impacts the most“Myvulnerable.thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and their families and I would like to pay tribute to everyone involved in the relief efforts. We are also working directly with the Pakistan authorities to establish what further assistance and support they require. The UK stands with the people of Pakistan during this time of need.”The UK also provides assistance to Pakistan through international organisations working directly with the victims of the disaster, including the World Bank and the United Nations. It is worth mentioning here that the £1.5m of humanitarian funding is an allocation from existing support to Pakistan and will go to the relief efforts in the areas worst-hit by the flooding. UK also pledged over £55m to partner with Pakistan to fight climate change, manage water more sustainably and unlock climate investment in November 2021 during the COP26 Conference in Glasgow. The Global Climate Risk Index report notes that Pakistan has reported 502 deaths and a loss of $3.772 billion as a result of 173 extreme weather events between 2000 and 2019. Pakistan is among the most disaster-prone countries in South Asia and has suffered an estimated US$18 billion in damages due to disasters during the past decade. This has included: recurrent floods; earthquakes; droughts; and urban shocks (such as heatwaves and dengue). Overall, in Pakistan, 25% of households (49 million people) are estimated to be moderately or severely food insecure, whereas 10% of the households (21 million people) are classified as severely food insecure. The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index suggests that 36.43 million people are chronically vulnerable. Pakistan is the 8th most at risk country globally from the impacts of Climate Change (an improvement from 5th most at risk country in 2020). This year, Pakistan has and is experiencing consecutive extreme climactic events.
AJk to hold lG elections as per party manifesto: PM ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan has said that in accordance with the vision of the party chairman Imran Khan, the PTI government in Azad Kashmir was committed to hold local body elections to transfer power to the grassroots level. He expressed these views while talking to the Central Additional Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and President North Punjab Amir Mehmood Kayani who called on him here on Saturday. The PM while briefing him about his government’s efforts aimed at resolving people’s problems said that private sector was also being encouraged in various sectors to get the people of Azad Kashmir out of the problems. Regarding the flood situation, the PM said that comprehensive arrangements have been made to provide relief to victims and rescue people in flood-hit areas of Azad Kashmir. Expressing his grief and sorrow over the loss of lives due to ongoing flooding across Pakistan, the PM said that after the Corona Pandemic, floods have wreaked havoc in Pakistan. “Hundreds of people were killed whereas property, infrastructure, and livestock worth billions of rupees have been destroyed,” he said. He said that the Azad Kashmir government was also contributing to the relief of the victims. “Dozens of NGOs from Azad Kashmir are currently participating in relief operations in flood-affected areas”, the PM said. Regarding municipal elections, the PM said that holding of local body elections in Azad Kashmir according to the policies of Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf and former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been the incumbent government’s top priority.
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt Senators and officials of the Law Ministry put off for a month deliberations on the proposed bill, aims at amending the law toadd stringent punishment for those responsible for the enforced disappearance of citizens. The panel, however, passed with majority a bill to monitor movement of individuals convicted of committing sex crimes. The forum also deliberated on proposed laws regarding completion of housing projects in Islamabad. This was discussed on Friday during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior. The committee met at the Parliament House with Senator Mohsin Aziz in the chair. During the meeting, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was explored in detail. The proposed bill was sent to the Senate after approval by the National Assembly.Thebill proposes adding new sections including 52B, 512, 513 and 514 to the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) apart from amendments to the Schedule II of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). During the meeting, the Interior Secretary suggested that a meeting of the committee chaired by the Law Minister will soon be held on the proposed bill. Hence, he contended that the committee ought to postpone its consideration of the bill until then. Separately, representatives from the Law Ministry were of the view that the amendments proposed in the bill are present in the existing law and that there is no need for legislation to add the proposed sections.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has constituted a fivemember larger bench to hear the contempt of court case against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. According to details, the Islamabad High Court will hear the contempt of court case against the former premier for allegedly passing controversial remarks regarding female sessions court judge Zeba Chaudhry. The larger bench will be headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah. It also includes Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
Uk to PAkIStAn In Flood RElIEF ASSIStAnCE
ISLAMABAD: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has appealed to the people to massively march towards Hyderpora in Srinagar on September 01 (Thursday) to pay tribute to the icon of Kashmir resistance movement, Syed Ali Geelani, on his first martyrdom anniversary. According to Kashmir Media Service, Syed Ali Geelani embraced martyrdom during custody of Indian police on September 01, last year, at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar where he was kept under continued house arrest for over a decade. The APHC in a statement issued in Srinagar, appealed to the freedom loving people to assemble at Hyderpora graveyard to pay homage to the great leader of the Kashmirfreedom movement. It urged the Imams and Ulema to pay tributes and offer special prayers in mosques for Syed Ali Geelani. It is to mention here that the Indian forces’ personnel had forcibly taken away the dead body of Syed Ali Geelani for burial at Hyderpora graveyard in Srinagar under heavy military siege in the dark of night in violation of the last will of the veteran leader. Staff RepoRt
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Wapda chairman, secy review post-flood situation at Mohmand Dam project larger IHC bench formed to hear contempt case against Imran khan
LAHORE Staff RepoRt
Army rescues families stranded in kumrat amid flash floods
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt Federal Secretary for Water Resources Dr Kazim Niaz and WAPDA Chairman Lt-Gen (r) Sajjad Ghani on Saturday visited Mohmand Dam project to review situation in the area in the wake of the unprecedented flood peaks in River Swat. Both the secretary and the Wapda chairman had a detailed round of various components of the project to have first hand information about adverse impact of the flood in the project area, said a press release. Mohmand Dam Project Director, senior WAPDA officers, representatives of the Consultants and the Contractor were also present during their visit.
APHC calls for march on Sept 1 to pay homage to Syed Ali Geelani
The Pakistan Army troops on Saturday rescued families stranded in Kumrat area of Swat due to flash flood and requested the masses to avoid visiting Swat and it’s surrounding areas amid prevailing floods. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on the direction of Corps Commander Peshawar, the Corps troops established a contact for the search of few families from Islamabad who got stranded in Kumrat due to sudden flash flood. Some 22 people were evacuated through helicopter whereas some families went on hills and could not be evacuated due to bad weather. However, continuous contact was maintained with them and those families were shifted to safer places around those mountain tops. “Those people are safe and will be evacuated by army aviation helicopters as and when weather permits. A ground party is also ready from Khaweza Khela for evacuation.” The ISPR urged that the people were requested not to travel towards Swat and surrounding areas due to flash floods.
A meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Disaster Management, with Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Chairman of the Committee Muhammad Basharat Raja in the chair, reviewed relief and rehabilitation measures being taken and issued necessary directions to the authorities concerned. On the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, relief activities have been started from Saturday in the flood-affected areas by helicopters. For the purpose, two helicopters have already been handed over to the administration and the PDMA Punjab by the provincial government, the meeting was Provincialtold.ministers Sardar Mohsin Leghari and Raja Mansoor Ali Khan, chief secretary, IG Police Punjab, additional chief secretary (ACS) Home, Special Member Board of Revenue (SMBR), secretaries and commissioner Dera Ghazi Khan attended the meeting. Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal and SMBR Zahid Akhtar Zaman briefed the meeting regarding their recent visits to flood affected areas.
QUETTA ReuteRS Already battered by flash floods, Balochistan lost communication with the rest of the country after overnight rains as the nation struggles to cope with the humanitarian disaster, officials said. Historic monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan have affected more than 30 million people over the last few weeks, the climate change minister said on Thursday, calling the situation a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”.Thedestruction of infrastructure and breakdown in communication links adds to the difficulties faced by the authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the region. Pakistan has called on the international community to help as it struggles to cope with the aftermath of torrential rains that have triggered massive floods, killing more than 900 people. The air, road and rail networks in Balochistan are already suspended, cutting it off from the rest of the country.
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
Pakistan recorded 290 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of National Health Services said on Saturday. The new infections were detected after diagnostic testing was performed on 13,439 samples. With the new infections, the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 has risen to 1,568,183 in the country, showed the data released by the ministry. A total of 372 people were reported to have recovered from the pandemic over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,528,517, according to the ministry’s statistics. In Pakistan, 30,571 people have died of Covid-19, with two more deaths reported over the last 24 hours, said the ministry. Sindh is the worst-hit region with 593,147 infections recorded, followed by Punjab, which has reported 520,571 cases.
PAkisTAN sTrivEs To miTigATE ClimATE ChANgE imPACT To ENsurE food sECuriTy
sunday, 28 August, 2022 | LAHORe 04 news ISLAMABAD Xinhua A Sthe agriculture sector of Pakistan remained one of the biggest contributors to the economy, the government has been making all-out efforts to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on the sector to ensure food security, increase exports and improve the livelihood of the farming community.The sector contributes about 24 percent of gross domestic product, accounts for half of the employed labour force, and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics The(PBS).experts and officials are of the view that climate change has seriously threatened the agriculture sector of the country in recent years, hence sustainable agriculture development practices should be introduced to adapt to the new realities of climate change.Tocope with extreme weather events including heat waves, droughts, and floods, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has recently directed concerned ministries to form a comprehensive plan to reform the agricultural sector on an emergency basis, saying the effects of climate change on the sector should be considered while preparing the reformAgriculturalplan. research institutions that produce climate-smart quality seeds should be encouraged and facilitated, the prime minister said, adding his government will also provide loans to farmers to acquire the latest agricultural machinery and all-out efforts would be made to introduce to the farming community the best practices of agriculture in the world.
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
LAHORE Staff RepoRt
The current educational policies at national and provincial levels have a little room for Edtech and alternative learning pathways. Therefore, advanced learning methods must be adopted through similar research initiatives to compete with the advanced world.
Church of Pakistan chief calls for prayers, aid for flood victims
A lidar station set up at the University of Peshawar can provide atmospheric clouds, aerosols, temperature, humidity and other data concerning the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) area, and facilitate research on climate change, pollution and sand storm. The station was put into use in Peshawar, Pakistan earlier this month for climate observation under a Belt and Road project jointly undertaken by Chinese and Pakistani universities, according to People Daily. Jointly built by the two universities, the station is the most advanced climate and environment observation station in Pakistan, according to Huang Zhongwei, a professor with the Lanzhou University based in northwest China Gansu province. The Peshawar station is part of a lidar network that also includes eight stations in northwest China’s Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Combining the lidar network and weather satellites, scientists have built a regional comprehensive weather monitoring system, which will help them build a high-quality database, develop a weather disaster warning system and meet the needs in building new energy, transportation and other key infrastructure, according to Huang. Preparation to build the station started as early as in 2018. Key equipment provided by Chinese side were sent to Pakistan last year. Engineers from the Lanzhou University visited the University of Peshawar from July 25 to August 6 this year to help install the equipment and train Pakistani engineers. We provide the equipment while the University of Peshawar is responsible for the site selection, electricity supply and equipment maintenance. The two sides share the data in the Belt and Road lidar network, said Li Wuren, an engineer with Lanzhou University.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) on Wednesday confirmed that another child in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), was diagnosed as having been paralyzed by wild poliovirus, taking the number of cases in the country to 15 so far in the current year. The NIH Polio Laboratory confirmed that the 17-monthold child was suffering from polio-induced disabilities began showing early signs of paralysis. The southern districts of KP, namely North and South Waziristan, DI Khan, Bannu, Tank, and Lakki Marwat, have become the hotspot of wild poliovirus. Besides one case from Lakki Marwat district reported last week, all cases reported in the current year so far, have emerged in North Waziristan among children under two years of age. The polio eradication campaign has been started across the country on August 22. Polio workers remained undeterred in the face of floods, as they continue to cross dangerous rivers to fulfill their duties. Earlier, the health ministry officials said that the virus was detected for the first time in sewerage samples of Bahawalpur. Another sample with the presence of poliovirus was collected from Rawalpindi, they added. Alarmed by the situation, the officials said that the results of samples from different cities of KP, Punjab, and Sindh were yet to come.
Noting that Pakistan ranked 92nd out of 116 countries on the 2021 Global Hunger Index, Ghulam Abbas Shah, assistant professor of the agronomy department at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi, told Xinhua that climate change is a direct threat to the country’s food production capacity. He said the disruption in the global supply chain due to the Covid-19 pandemic, historic high inflation, rising prices of fuel, fertilizers and locally assembled agricultural equipment also have effects on food security in Pakistan.
“Due to torrential rains and flash floods in Balochistan optical fibre cable, voice and data services have been impacted in Quetta and rest of the main cities of the province,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said on Twitter. Efforts are being made to resolve this unprecedented situation, it added. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter on Friday he had met ambassadors and other senior diplomats in Islamabad “as part of efforts to mobilize all resources.”Amajorrailway bridge washed away between Kolpur and Mach in Bolan Pass, cutting off Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan, from the rest of the country for an indefinite period, officials said.All four highways linking Balochistan with other provinces were blocked because of damaged bridges and landslides.So far, more than 235 people were killed in the province and hundreds of thousands lost their homes, the authorities said.
Bella Raza Jamil, Chief Executive Officer of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi while speaking at a seminar titled: “Investigating Impact on Learning Outcomes Through Use of EdTech During COVID-19,” held here on Saturday. Evidence from an RCT in the Punjab Province of Pakistan ’organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) at a local hotel. In her special remarks, Bella Jamil stressed the need to explore more pathways of accelerated learning through edtech and address the issues of financing and costing in different age groups. Dr Nasir Mehmood, Dean of Faculty of Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, said that students have the experience of immense learning losses, which must be addressed. He emphasized the need for a forum where research findings on edtech can be consolidated to prevent the loss of information. “We need to improve enrollment in terms of gender parity and also find authentic data on it, as there is a lot of contradictory research on this subject,” he added. Susan Nicolai, Research Director of EdTech Hub, said that technology has the potential to solve the global learning crisis, which is under-realized and is caused by gaps in evidence and gaps in the use of evidence. She said that 9 out of 10 children in low-income countries are disadvantaged in terms of literacy and numeracy, which has been intensified due to school closures during COVID-19 pandemic.
Khan Alam, associate professor at the department of physics with the University of Peshawar, said the high-tech instruments from China would help assess and mitigate air quality issues in Peshawar, and observe the impacts on human health as well as climate changes.
Pakistan, China agree to cooperation for climate observation
Balochistan communication links snapped by floods
ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
“As I make this call for a special offering, the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew come to mind. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus says, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me’. I firmly believe that our resilient nation will rise up to the challenge and together we can alleviate the suffering of our Bishopcountrymen.”Marshallsaid that all diocese of the CoP will make utmost efforts to support the disaster relief efforts of the government. “I also appeal the federal government to remove all obstacles hindering the church, faith-based organisations and non-governmental organisations’ efforts in raising funds and relief goods from international donor agencies,” he said. The senior bishop, who is currently abroad to participate in the annual conference of the World Council of Churches in Germany also said that he had decided to cut short his visit and return to Pakistan to supervise the relief efforts of the CoP. 290 new cases
The Church of Pakistan (CoP) has called for special prayers and donations as it endorsed the government’s emergency call for financial support for the people affected by heavy floods triggered by torrential rains across the country. A press release issued by the office of the President of the Church of Pakistan, Bishop Dr Azad Marshall, stated that all CoP churches will offer prayers for the victims of the flooding during Sunday’s mass and appeals will be made to all faithful to donate generously for the relief of the affected people. “While the level of devastation will not be known until the flood waters recede, it is obvious that the people of Pakistan, especially those living in remote areas, are going to need a lot of help. Our hearts grieve over the loss of lives and the devastation caused by this natural disaster and we pray for God’s mercy and grace on our beloved country.
Tally rises to 15 as another polio case detected NWA ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
Covid-19 daily report:
Experts methodsadvancedunderscorelearningthroughedtech
04 NEWS 28 AUGUST_Layout 1 8/27/2022 11:14 PM Page 1
“Shifting to climate-smart modern agricultural procedures such as cultivating high-yield crops, managing water efficiently, and building dams to handle water shortages would be useful to enhance agricultural productivity,” Shah said, adding that special subsidies should be given to farmers to help them increase production. Additionally, natural calamities destroyed a substantial amount of crops and food products every year, so the government should take steps to save food wastage by formulating policies as well as providing crop insurance to farmers. In order to revolutionise the agricultural industry and ensure food security, experts stressed that Pakistan needed to further strengthen cooperation with China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Talking to Xinhua, Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema said Pakistan and China have already pledged to boost cooperation in areas such as livestock and dairy, technology transfer, research and development, and agricultural trade.
PAkIStAn uRgES CoMMunIty to HoLD InDIA ACCountAbLE foR HR AbuSES In IIoJk
Corporate Pakistan Group & Nutshell Group organized thought Leaders Dialogue - The Next Great infrastructure connector. Photograph taken at the conclusion of this dialogue shows (R to L) Aamir Ibrahim, CEO, Jazz (VEON) & chairman, Mobilink Microfinance Bank, Ghias Khan, President overseas investors chamber of commerce & industry (OICCI), senator Dr Musadik Malik, Minister of State (Petroleum Division), Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui, Federal secretary commerce, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, Founder & CEO, Nutshell Group and Corporate Pakistan Group and Ex-Minister of State & Chairman Board.
pr corporate corner realme Pakistan’s Country Director Syed Mashood Hassan shares opinions on Smartphone Industry realme Pakistan’s Country Director offers insight on the string of tough months the smartphone industry has endured leaving industry players feeling downcast After a long and arduous wait, the Government of Pakistan recently announced that LCs, which had previously only been open for essential goods, are now open for all goods including non-essential and luxury items. The final decision to lift the import ban entirely was made in accordance with the final requirements imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Country. The past few months have been plagued with high levels of uncertainty and panic in the market as smartphone companies struggled to adapt to the restrictive situation.
A control Room has also been established at Benazir Income Support Programme headquarters to ensure smooth payments. People can visit BISP headquarters or contact at 0519246312 from 08:00 AM to 07:00 PM for the assistance and other related information.
“These have further increased inflation, but also made a positive effect of alleviating the external financing constraints,” according to the report.
The economy of Pakistan is going through high inflationary and external sector pressures due to higher commodity prices, the Finance Division said. The government is taking all possible measures to counter these pressures so that the growth momentum would remain intact, the finance division said in its monthly economic outlook released on Thursday.Thereport said that recent flash floods driven by exceptionally heavy monsoon rains have reduced the potential output of both main and minor Kharif (monsoon sowing season in Pakistan) crops this year, thereby tempering the positive outlook of the agricultural sector. Highlighting the global scenario, the report said that geo-political tensions remain unabated, worldwide inflation remains high, interest rates show tendencies to rise, and the US dollar strengthens. It noted that Pakistan’s external environment has been facing increasing challenges surrounded by global and domestic uncertainties. It further added that the government has taken necessary measures to comply with the International Monetary Fund’s requirements.
BISP disburses Rs4.78b to flood-affected families in Sindh Economy faces high inflationary, external sector pressures: report
Distribution of Rs38b begins to flood victims in Sindh: PM continued from page 01
KP orders evacuation of thousands near flood-swollen rivers
The spokesperson said the realization of sustainable peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia remained contingent upon peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people. He maintained that it is the responsibility of the international community to come together and demand for India’s compliance with its international obligations within the agreed legal framework espoused by the comity of civilized nations and in keeping with numerous UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
pr Lucky Cement wins 8th International Environment, Health and Safety Award 2022 Karachi: Pakistan’s leading cement manufacturer, Lucky Cement Limited has received the 8th International Environment, Health, and Safety Award 2022. The awards were held by The Professionals Network (TPN) to encourage the inculcation of HSE best practices amongst organizations in Pakistan. HSE has always been a priority for Lucky Cement, and the company has been recognized numerous times for its pro-environment initiatives. This most recent award was bestowed to the company in the category of Health and safety risk assessment and control, signifying the importance that has been placed on health and safety at Lucky Cement.
iSLamaBad staff report
CliMaTE ChangE: Officials blame the devastation on man-made climate change, saying Pakistan is unfairly bearing the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices elsewhere in the world. Pakistan is eighth on the Global Climate Risk Index, a list compiled by the environmental NGO Germanwatch of countries deemed most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change. Still, local authorities must shoulder some of the blame for the devastation. Corruption, poor planning and the flouting of local regulations mean thousands of buildings have been erected in areas prone to seasonal flooding — albeit not as bad as this year. The government has declared an emergency and mobilised the military to deal with what Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman on Wednesday called “a catastrophe of epic scale”. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), since the monsoon started in June more than two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out, 3,100 kilometres (1,900 miles) of roads have been destroyed and 149 bridges have been washed away. In Sukkur, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Swat, farmlands irrigated by the Indus were under water, and tens of thousands of people were seeking shelter on elevated roads and highways as they waited for fresh torrents from the north. “We have opened the gates fully,” dam supervisor Aziz Soomro told AFP, adding the main rush of water was expected Sunday. The flooding could not come at a worse time for Pakistan, whose economy is in free fall and whose politics are gripped by crisis following the ousting of former prime minister Imran Khan by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April.
The spokesperson also expressed deep concern over the gravely disturbing developments and increasing intolerance in India. “Let me reiterate Pakistan’s strong condemnation of sacrilegious remarks against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) made by another BJP official. This is the second time in the last three months that a senior BJP leader has made disrespectful comments towards our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) denoting the worrying yet unmistakable slide of today’s India towards Islamophobia,” he said.
pr peSHaWar afp Thousands of people living near floodswollen rivers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were ordered to evacuate Saturday as the death toll from devastating monsoon rains neared 1,000 with no end in sight. Many rivers in the picturesque province of rugged mountains and valleys have burst their banks, demolishing scores of buildings including a 150-room hotel that crumbled into a raging torrent.
Sindh claimsamidRs550bsuffereddamagesfloods,rainfall:MuradShah UMERKOT: Chief Minister (CM) Sindh, briefing the Prime Minister about the damages caused by the recent floods, said that the estimated financial losses amount to over Rs 550 billion in the province. According to details, the CM briefed PM Shehbaz Sharif regarding the damages caused by devastating floods and heavy rainfall in 30 districts of Sindh in Umerkot. CM Murad Ali Shah told the PM that Sindh received 308% more than the average rainfall in July while the percentage went up to 784% in August. The 2010 flood damaged the right bank of the river Indus while the 2011 floods damaged the left one, he added. He told that Gudda and Sukkur Barrage are passing 550,000 cusec water right now, which has floods are ‘Katcha’ lands. 23 districts have been declared calamity-hit while 101 Taluqas have suffered severe damages, he added. staff report
The Nowshera DC urged for evacuations again today morning, saying in a statement that there was a “very high flood” in the Kabul River in the district. “The water level in the Kabul River in Nowshera has crossed 250,000 cusecs,” said the statement, adding the water level was rising further.
“Pakistan rejects Indian occupation authorities’ sinister move to grant voting rights to Indian citizens in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir that reeks of the sinister designs of institutionalizing settler colonialism,” he added.
05NEWS Sunday, 28 August, 2022 | LAHORE
“The house which we built with years of hard work started sinking in front of our eyes,” said Junaid Khan, 23, the owner of two fish farms in Chrasadda. “We sat on the side of the road and watched our dream house sinking.” The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction. Officials say this year’s monsoon flooding has affected more than 33 million people — one in seven Pakistanis — destroying or badly damaging nearly a million homes.
WORld COMMUniTy URgEd TO sTand Up fOR OppREssEd KashMiRis: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, political experts and analysts have urged the international community to stand up for the oppressed Kashmiris who are facing the worst Indian state terrorism for the last over seven decades. The political experts and analysts in their statements and interviews in Srinagar said that every freedom and justice loving person must raise voice for the subjugated people of IIOJK as every single voice raised in support of the Kashmiris will surely make a difference. They said, supporting the beleaguered Kashmiris is to support humanity. “It is time to stand up for the Kashmiri people before it is too late. It is time to raise voice for the voiceless people of IIOJK. It is time to stop Modi regime from killing Kashmiris in fake encounters. It is time to halt demographic changes being made by Modi regime in IIOJK,” they said.
HYderaBad staff report Financial aid of Rs.25000 under Flood Relief Cash Assistance through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is being provided to every flood affected families in the flood hit areas of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). So far a total amount of Rs.4,784,057,630 have been disbursed among 190,326 affected families under this programme. According to the BISP statement, special payment centers were established in the flood affected areas. 170 campsites in Sindh, 23 in Punjab, 97 in Balochistan and 84 campsites in KP have been thetheopenpaymentgrammeBenazirandMinisteradded.Rs.754,341,55230,030Rs.11,409Rs.2,815,360,366112,159Rs.927,798,712familiesCurrently,established.36,728affectedhavereceivedinBalochistan;familieshavereceivedinSindh;familieshavereceived286,557,000inKPandfamilieshavereceivedinPunjab,itOnthedirectionsofFederalforPovertyAlleviationSocialSafety/ChairpersonIncomeSupportPro-(BISP),ShaziaMarriallcenterswereremainedonSaturday(holiday)fordisbursementofpaymenttoaffectees.TheadministrationofBe- nazir Income Support Programme has directed the concerned staff to fully cooperate and facilitate the people in their respectiveAffectedregions.families can send their CNIC number to 8171 for registration in Flood Relief Cash Assistance program and upon receiving payment message they can visit their nearby campsite to receive their payment.
The spokesperson demanded release of all illegally detained Kashmiri political prisoners and Hurriyat leaders, particularly Yasin Malik, who are languishing in different jails of IIOJK and India. He said Pakistan also condemned India’s continued detention of Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who was not allowed to deliver Friday sermons today.
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On Saturday, authorities ordered thousands of residents in threatened areas to evacuate their homes as rivers had still not reached maximum capacity. “Initially, some people refused to leave, but when the water level increased they agreed,” Bilal Faizi, spokesman for the Rescue 1122 emergency service, told AFP. Officials say this year’s floods are comparable to 2010 — the worst on record — when over 2,000 people died and nearly a fifth of the country was underFarmerwater.Shah Faisal, camped by the side of a road in Chrasadda with his wife and two daughters, described how he saw his riverside home swallowed by a river as the powerful current eroded the bank. The Jindi, Swat and Kabul rivers flow through the town before joining the mighty Indus, which is also flooding downstream. “We escaped with our lives,” Faisal told AFP.
iSLamaBad Monitoring report
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority in KP issued a statement around the same time, saying that the water level in the river in Nowshera was recorded at 315,262 cusecs. It added that the river’s water level in Virk had reached 130,364 cusecs. Meanwhile, the Nowshera DC appealed to citizens to move to safer locations. He said relief camps had been set up for people affected by floods and urged them to shift there.
P AKISTANhas reiterated its call to the international community to hold India accountable for gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Speaking at a weekly press briefing in Islamabad, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said, Pakistan reiterates its call to the international community to hold India accountable for its gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and ensure that Pakistani and Kashmiri prisoners under Indian custody were not expended as cannon fodder in the execution of India’s nefarious designs in the IIOJK.
But many are puzzled why Bangladesh, like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is seeking an IMF loan when it has $39.79 billion in foreign reserves and an inflation rate of 7.48 percent. According to officials, Bangladesh is considering an IMF loan as a preventative measure rather than to put pressure on the economy.
The writer is a freelance columnist 042-36300938, 042-36375965 I Ph: 021-35381208-9 Ph: 051-2204545 www.pakistantoday.com.pk I editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk Pfinance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra had made it known that his government might not be able to fulfill the obligations related to IMF deal. Coming just three days before the IMF’s make-or-break meeting, the move was being interpreted by some as an attempt to sabotage Pakistan’s deal with the Fund. Coming after remarks from former federal ministerFawad Chaudhry maintaining that PTI governments in Punjab and KP may not endorse the IMF deal if there was no agreement on fresh elections, the position taken by Mr Jhagra looks like an attempt by the PTI to foil the federal government’s efforts to seek the Fund’s help. Miftah Ismail has termed the attempt a conspiracy to derail the IMF programme and sink the rupee.Taimur Jhagra maintains that the federal government had failed to fulfil agreements brokered with the KP government, which included payment of Rs 100 billion for important projects. If true, this would be condemnable as the disaster confronting the country requires that the federal and provincial governments develop good working relations. But even if the KP government’s claim was correct, there was a need to settle the differences through talks rather than going public on them while refusing to fulfill solemn undertakings. As time passes the gravity of the rains-cum-floods disaster becomes more evident. While the natural calamity is still wreaking havoc in Balochistan and Sindh, South Punjab and KP are going through the nightmarish ordeal now. After witnessing the situation in Balochistan, PM Shehbaz Sharif is currently in Sindh where he has announced the distribution of Rs28 billion among the victims. The funds have reportedly been handed over to BISP. Keeping in view the destruction of entire towns and villages, with big cities facing damages caused by flooding, power crisis, and hardships caused by lost working hours, this remains is a meagre amount incommensurate with the challenges posed by the disaster. PTI chief Imran Khan too has finally visited DI Khan and Tank. He has found that the level of destruction in KP was massive. He has yet to visit Swat, Hazara, the tribal areas and South Punjab. One hopes he will realize the need to raise funds and to oversee the rehabilitation of the displaced instead of holding political rallies. There is a greater obligation on the part of all parties to put political activities on the backburner and devote their energies to mitigate the suffering caused by the great disaster.
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AUKUS, the trilateral nuclear agreement between Australia, UK and the US, Quad, a maritime military grouping between US Japan India and Australia for Indo-Pacific, are prime examples. This is not to mention the geospatial intelligence sharing agreement BECA between the USA and India or acquisition of the S-400 BMD system by India that continues to undercut stability.
MuhaMMad azaM Khan IMF loan is not Sri Lanka Syndrome or Pakistan Paradox for Bangladesh Nuclear conflict becomesmore and more possible
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T HEREis no denying that Bangladesh's economy is under stress, but it is not in a critical situation. Bangladesh is not an exception to the global economic turmoil that has been caused by everything from the COVID pandemic to the recent invasion of Ukraine. Despite being the 41st largest economy in the world with a $416 billion GDP and one of the fastest growing economies, Bangladesh's balance of payments and current account deficit have been hampered by the tension in the world and rising food and fuel prices. The Bangladeshi government has implemented national austerity measures to limit the flow of foreign reserves, which have already had a good impact on the economy. Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank. has introduced a policy that importing luxury and nonessential items requires a margin of at least 75%, Provisional figures from BB show that the number of new LC (Letter of Credit) openings decreased by 31 percent in July, resulting in a reduction in the payment pressure on imports. Remittance inflow grew by 12 percent to $2.09 billion in July, the first month of the new fiscal year 2022–2023, from $1.83 billion in July of fiscal year 2021–2022. According to BB officials, the government's policy of increasing monetary incentives for remittance senders caused a rise in remittance inflow. In July, Bangladesh's foreign reserves were $40 billion. Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed that her nation's current foreign exchange reserves could cover 6 to 9 months' worth of importts. To reduce the expense of importing fuels, the Bangladeshi government prioritizes industrial areas for planned load shedding. Bangladesh now has sufficient fuel supplies, therefore there is no need to be concerned, according to the chairman of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). Import schedules have also been set for the upcoming six months. Due to the volatile European market, the largest export destination of Bangladeshi garments export,
the government is planning to diversify the export basket with export destinations. Despite all pre-planned successes to tackle global negative waves towards the economy, the recent seeking of a $4.5 billion IMF loan by Bangladesh caused frowns among critics citing Sri Lanka syndrome and Pakistan paradox. There is little point in contrasting Bangladesh's economy with those of Sri Lanka or Pakistan, two of its neighbours in south Asia. Sri Lanka, a struggling south Asian neighbour of Bangladesh, is in desperate need of an IMF loan to survive due to its depleted foreign reserves ($1.92 billion) and skyrocketing inflation (60.08 percent). Pakistan, another neighbour, is also experiencing a high-tension economy with depleted foreign reserves ($8.57 billion) and hard-hitting inflation (24.93 percent).
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nJuly 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a 55-page Russian naval doctrine. The new document ‘casts the USA as Russia’s main rival’. It spells out Russia’s global maritime ambitions for crucial areas such as the Arctic and the Black Sea. It further catalogues the strategic aims of the Russian navy. On the occasion, Putin also announced delivery of Zircon hypersonic cruise missile to the frigate Admiral Gorshkov in coming months. Russia’s vast coastline stretching over 37,650 km (23,400 miles) runs from the Sea of Japan to the White Sea. It includes the coastal areas of the north Sea, Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Reliable estimates put Russian casualties in the near six-month-old war in Ukraine to around 80,000 troops killed or wounded. On the Ukraine side, the figure varies widely, between 100 and 1000 per day. The two warring states are feeling the sharp pain of resource exhaustion and manpower shortages in sustaining the conflict. Russia’s initial objective of capturing Kyiv and unseating pro-West President Zelensky lies in ruin. The war has morphed into one of attrition. It is believed to have shrunk to two theatres, the Donbas region in the east, most of which is in Russian hands, and in the south, where a Ukrainian counterattack, not counteroffensive, can be expected. Ukraine’s military does not have enough military capacity to launch a counteroffensive. It can however mount small counterattacks with the aim to dent Russian morale. Kyiv’s recent drone strike on Crimea, under Russian control since 2014, demonstrates the same, an attempt to regain initiative. Yet with shipments only trickling from its principal strategic Black Sea port of Odessa, now under Russian blockade, Ukraine’s economy is teetering. Just how this war might end, is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain-at some stage the US funding and supply of Western weaponry will reach a tipping point. Europe is already facing an economic downturn. A strategic fatigue in the USA will soon set in as was the case with war in Afghanistan. In the event, Zelensky may find himself alone. With external economic and military assistance drying up for Ukraine and military morale sapping on the Russian side, the two might have to reach a negotiated settlement. Yet uncertainties linger. There has been nuclear sabre rattling by the Russian side. And one cannot rule out deliberate use of chemical weapons or even a nuclear catastrophe. The Russian controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine houses six nuclear reactors containing U-235. The plant located some 550 km southeast of Kyiv stores spent nuclear fuel in containers. Understandably, the spent fuel is the most deadly type of nuclear waste. On August 9 last, Carnegie Endowment, a renowned US think tank held a webinar discussion on a report entitled, “Striking Asymmetries-nuclear Transitions in Southern Asia”. The 300-page report authored by Ashley J. Tellis, a fellow at Carnegie, examines the ‘transitions taking place over the past two decades in the nuclear weapons programme of three countries, China, India and Pakistan. The discussants, top experts from all three countries, presented their perspectives on the document. The report is based on over two decades of intense research including extensive interviews with important source persons in each country. It looks at the nuclear doctrines, weapon stockpiles, delivery systems, strategic defence arrangements, command and control and much more. As explained by the author, all three countries face what he calls “multiplicity of security challenges”. The combined arsenals of three (China 350 warheads, India 160 and Pakistan 165) ‘though modest by American and Russian standards now exceed British and French stockpiles in Europe (around 500 in total)’, according to The Economist. The report does not examine the “transformation” purely from dyadic perspective (India-China or India-Pakistan) (sic) but rather in a “larger strategic context of challenges facing the global nuclear order”. The transitions in the three, according to the Carnegie report, have taken place along three dimensions. These being, changing character of the arsenal (growing and becoming diversified), changes in strategy (shift from countervalue to limited nuclear use) and speed of retaliation or response (from delayed to development of a rapid response). The report ultimately aims at determining the impact of evolving nuclear transitions on crisis stability in Southern Asia amidst some issues of concern and future “uncertainties”. What is redeeming however, according to the report, is the fact that despite increasing risk of miscalculation or accident, all three states still view nuclear weapons as “political instruments” rather than “usable tools of war fighting” (deterrence as opposed to war fighting weapons). The centralised control in each country is “persistent and tight”. And this is what distinguishes their nuclear strategies as opposed to the current strategy of the USA and Russia (counterforce strikes, designed to take out opposing side’s nuclear weapons and limit the damage they might inflict). In overall assessment, “things are more stable than the swelling arsenals suggest”. In its recent issue, The Economist notes, “in one sense, nuclear weapons are stabilising. They preclude among their possessors big wars that have roiled up South Asia through its history”. Some interesting points that surfaced in the webinar conversation included; 1) Pakistan’s nuclear strategy is security driven and has transitioned from credible minimum deterrence to full spectrum deterrence; the first use as a ‘last resort’ 2). Even if the whole world was to move towards disarmament, Pakistan will perhaps still retain its nuclear arsenal as insurance against conventional asymmetry, 3). Despite huge asymmetry, troubled bilateral relations and mutual grievances, Pakistan has never contemplated expanding its nuclear arsenal to develop an ICBM that could target the USA. (This assertion in the report is said to have been out of Pakistan’s fear and threat perception of the USA seizing its nuclear arsenal during the period of the War on Terror). 4) Pakistan will never target Israel because of the obvious proximity of the holy city of Mecca. 5). According to the author, in all case studies of nuclear threats since 1945, there is “not a single instance where China has issued a nuclear threat” (sic) to any country. 6). Of the three countries in focus, none could possibly welcome Russian nuclear sabre-rattling, no matter how justified it may be from Moscow’s perspective. The nuclear maturity augurs well for South Asia and the larger world. There are however several disturbing undercurrents unfolding alongside.
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Maturing Nuclear Age and Unravelling World Rosy shahjehan Bangladesh is going to the IMF even though not in trouble 06-07 Comments 28th August 2022_Layout 1 8/27/2022 11:32 PM Page 1
06 Sunday, 28 August, 2022 COMMENT Lahore – Ph:
A. H. M. Mustafa Kamal, the finance minister of Bangladesh, stated that the nation has applied to the IMF to begin a formal negotiation to receive loans for balance of payments and budget assistance, despite the fact that its macroeconomic condition was "no way in crisis." The amount of assistance will be discussed as part of the programmed design. Bangladesh is not in a crisis, and because its external debt is just about 14 percent of GDP, it is "quite different from numerous countries in the region," according to Rahul Anand, division chief in the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF.
There are clearly two camps in the party: the anti-Miftah lot who think the party should not have taken the tough economic decisions at a heavy political cost and the other that wants to go into elections on time and in the meanwhile relatively improve the condition of the economy. Individuals, such as Abid Sher Ali and Hanif Abbasi, who have issued critical statements against Miftah for his handling of the economy, are staunch proponents of Ishaq Dar running the economy, which is what nawaz wants. The former finance minister’s last stint was however a mixed bag of artificial currency appreciation and soaring current account deficit. Miftah has taken the brunt of the blow coming from record high inflation caused by measures taken to restart the stalled IMF programme and has been moderately successful in introducing some stability to the market. Any abrupt change at the Finance Ministry, leading to a significant policy shift, would be disastrous. Perhaps the PML(n) has chosen to forget the thrashing it took last month at the hands of the PTI when it took back Punjab, that too without any help from the establishment, which makes it an organic and genuine win and an indicator of what is to come in the general elections. The infighting, if left unaddressed and allowed to escalate, will make the PML(n) even less competitive against a charged up PTI going forward. All differences, old and future ones, must be resolved behind closed doors to display unity. PML(N) infighting weakening the the of late Hameed Nizami
Karachi –
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Brothers up in arms? O nEof the undeniable realities and lessons in politics is that it does not take much time or significance of events for the most loyal of companions to switch sides. The recent Punjab by-elections are a case in point as they were able to cause a seemingly irreparable split between the PML(Q)’s top leadership, Ch Pervez Elahi who became CM Punjab as a result, and the ailing Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. So close was their alliance, and intense their codependency, that most considered them brothers while in reality they are cousins. A similar perception exists about the PML(n)’s nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif; brothers who have stood by each other through thick and thin, steering the party thorough a coup and exile to reemerge as the largest national party in 2013 all the while largely managing to not wash their dirty linen in public. However, the recent ouster of Imran Khan to pave the way for Shahbaz to become PM and Miftah Ismail to be chosen as his finance czar has not gone down well in London where nawaz has resided for almost three years.
I Islamabad –
Divertpartyenergies to rescue and rehabilitation YousafEditorNizami Dedicated to
"The main reason to seek a loan from the IMF is to create some buffer in the foreign exchange reserves," said Zahid Husain, a former lead economist at the World Bank in Dhaka. "The IMF support comes in the form of balance of payments support and maybe some budget support as well, which will boost foreign reserves that are not tied to any specific expenditure." If the government pays attention to necessary reforms, budget support from the IMF will be available before the country falls into any crisis, according to Ahsan H. Mansur, former IMF official and executive director at the Policy Research Institute. Once the crisis begins, he said, it will be difficult to get support. Officials from the Economic Relations and Finance Division said that the government will borrow money from the Extended Credit Facility, Extended Fund Facility, and Resilience and Sustainability Facility of the IMF. On the loan obtained through the Extended Credit Facility, there are no fees of any kind, not even interest. Bangladesh will have 5.5 years of grace to pay back this loan over a 10-year term. Two other packages have interest rates that range from 1.54 percent to 1.794 percent. Bangladesh is seeking a zero-interest loan of more than $1 billion from the World Bank in addition to the IMF as part of a wise policy. To aid lower-middle-income nations like Bangladesh in coping with pandemic shocks, the World Bank has for the first time opened up the short maturity lending window without interest. Under the 20th International Development Association replenishment (IDA20), the largest financing package to date totalling $93 billion, the loan window will be available for three years, from July 2022 to June 2025. Twelve years are allotted for repayment, including a grace period of six years. An IDA member country will be able to borrow up to 25% of the IDA20 package's funds in the form of short-term loans. Bangladesh has begun working to obtain the zero-interest loan as soon as possible because the IDA20 package will go into effect in July and the country will leave the list of least developed nations in 2026. If the loan is secured and used in the initial phase, there will be a chance to receive more from the fund that will remain unused for not being taken by other IDA members.Bangladesh has Ba3 credit rating and has never previously missed a payment on an international obligation. Due to Sri Lanka's delay in requesting a loan, they suffered a significant loss; Pakistan did so after a serious problem began. Bangladesh is thus taking a calculated, preventative approach to benefit from loans from the IMF and World Bank to ease the pressure on its foreign reserves in light of a potential future global crisis.
The author can be reached at mazamkhan54@gmail.com
I Web:
Need to halt political rallies
Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor M. A. Niazi Joint Editor Umar ExecutiveAzizEditorAziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor
DRIVInGback home one evening on main Saba Avenue Phase V Extension, Defence Housing Authority (DHA), I was approached from behind by a black twin cabin vehicle with flashing police lights. Since it seems every second car these days has those lights, I paid no attention. Then he blew his police hooter, and I again ignored. Finally, the driver turned on the police siren and I thought I better give way, for this must be a response to something serious. The vehicle whizzed past me at great speed and then pulled up at a restaurant, and out stepped leisurely a few gentlemen, with no drawn weapons, and they walked in for their dinner. This was the reason for the great urgency and using police lights, hooter and siren, in an attempt to make it look like a law enforcement vehicle having officials inside. When the chief minister was appointed by a young well-educated party chairman, I was seriously happy. Surely, these two gentlemen who had been educated at some of the finest universities of the world would bring about changes for all to see, I thought. Alas, that has yet to be seen. There is complete disregard for all laws, rules and regulations on roads, and no official, especially those from law enforcement, even bats an eye. The chief minister has witnessed the almost brutal enforcement of the law in the US while studying there, but we here continue to think laws are only for the books and not to be implemented.
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A loyal vote bank made to believe that the system would change in the next possible elections. That façade is possible only in Pakistan. As the powers that be continue to tighten the noose around the neck of the ousted Prime Minister while seeking a dialogue with him at the same time; the mood in the ousted PM’s Camp or in the PTI camp is that only an election held under the same “nizam” will deliver! That can hold true if the whole electorate is made to believe that. On-ground experiences in the aftermath of the by-elections to the 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly in July reveal another twist in the story. The PTI thrust, it seems, was geared to give the PML(n) a thumping defeat in the ballot. The PTI succeeded in that. However, that same sweep also popped up the scenario of a new Leader of the House in Punjab. The establishment-tested Ch Pervaiz Elahi was elected as the new Leader of the House. For the short-memoried political analysts it may be pointed out that before the April 10 quagmire, the currently elected CM of Punjab was already in line for the slot when Khan himself to ease political pressure in the centre showed Usman Buzdar the Obviously,door.in the new scenario the current CM had all the bargaining chips to convince Khan that he, the winning CM, was the only safe choice to move forward. For that it meant at least two vital provinces of the federation were in the hands of the party for change, the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf. Enough executive power for the revolutionary leader to move about and complete the occupation of the federal government. As things turned out, the Shahbaz Gill fiasco showed to the observers, the party and the average person that the whole system was subservient to the deep state. Here it may be noted that the Sindh government led by the PPP was bold enough to allow the Waziristan-based PTM stage a sit-in for the release of their MnA Ali Wazir. As things stand, the presence of PTI in two provinces, which are also exposed to the unprecedented rains and flood as the outcome of the freak monsoon season; means the party cannot absolve itself from the responsibility it owes to its electorate. So far, apart from the calls from the party supreme leader Imran Khan to the provincial governments to do the needful; the party cadre has not been guided to do the needful in terms of the relief work other than the government’s efforts. In one way the goodwill and the loyalty the party accrued during the period between the period of April 10, 2022 uptil mid-July 2022; on the back of which the party was able to win the by-elections in Punjab, can evaporate in thin air. The reason being that if the public at large identifies the party with that very establishment which is admonished in full force by the PTI. The reason at the core is the PTI insistence that it will capture the system from within like it did in 2018. It is still relying on the hope that once at the key seats, it can steer the country economic fortunes, foreign policy, constitution as well as polity, only based on the fighting-corruptionThatslogan.reason also defines its key stances, like true foreign policy freedom is only possible if elections are held. In addition, the slogan that the neutrals have to be neutral! The insistence on their being neutral suggests that the so-called revolutionaries feel that the establishment has betrayed them by siding with their opponents, meaning the PML (n) and the PPP. Practically, Imran Khan of 2022 might not be anything different from the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of 1966/67. Both were just out of the corridors of power; bore impressive personalities; enough for the Pakistani standards; both were addicted to mouthing radical slogans. Bhutto minced no words in 1967 and after, that once in power he would get out of the US-centred military pacts like SEATO and CEnTO. However, both the military pacts witnessed participation of PAF, SSG commandos taking part with their US counterparts in exercises on a regular basis. Ironically the CEnTO jets were roaring over Karachi,on 27 April 1977 when the sitting PM blamed the USA for plotting rebellion against him on the floor of Parliament, broadcast live on nationalAnTV!electoral promise for the return of the party carries some weight for any intending voter. Promising revolution while not having the insight, courage or even programme for one, smacks of intellectual dishonesty. People might be misguided about the content not available based on personality charisma, but in a society where divergence of views creates debates; such stances may not run for long and have the potential to create disillusionment.Testcases of change from within in the case of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey shows that only the last one succeeded to an extent. Pakistan was on the verge in 1971, it got a party dictatorship. It was again on the verge in 2018. The same thing happened again. In Iran Mossadeq could not upstage the Shah, rather got himself in deep water. In the post-1979 period, the reformist presidents only created frustration in the Iranian society; in the process strengthening the cause of the groups standing and sitting on the fence. Only in Turkey, did the face of the state show some transformation.Practically, it is business as usual for Khan; though the party might try to rebrand it as revolution in the making. A party controlling half of Pakistan, its party leader so much short of revolutionaries that he is contesting by-elections from nine national Assembly seats; can only sustain is particular state of mind courtesy ultra-radical slogans. These ultra-radical slogans have landed the party leaders, grassroottoarydisruptiveset-upognizedmeansbasedAlstoriesall.throughthatitastheandjaat.LeninnocivilianlishedwhichadictablyKhanpriorpreprocessingthesetakingwhichintivistsjournalists-cum-ac-quasiandpartyzealotstrouble;atroublewasnotworthoraffordable.Aswordsgetintothestagetotheweekend,hasbeenpre-grantedbailinnumberofcases;meanstheestab-orderandthepartnersareinmoodtomakeaoutofChShu-Asthetimepassesthesteppinginofworldmediaoccurswellasotherfactors,seemsnottoofaroffapoliticalbreak-isintheairforKhanrelatednewsonQatar-basedJazeeraandIsrael-i24TVChannelthepartyisrec-aspartoftheandisnottherevolution-thepartystrugglespaintitselfas.Toclingtotherealitiesof
Editor’s mail
Pakistani politics, the civil and the military elite has for long cultivated a love-hate relationship with each other over the decades. Selling misunderstanding between a major political party and the military establishment as a matter of national sovereignty by the former, smacks of creating an unnecessary hype and consequently using the same for the political point scoring. It seems the crisis will soon be over. The people of Pakistan have to fight out for themselves the new path. The apathy of the political groups vis a vis worst floods shows the true faces. It is for the nation to understand as early as they can. The writer is a freelance columnist
Smart farming THEagro-economy provides employment for about 45 per cent of the nation’s workforce, contributes 21pc to the gross domestic product (GDP), and accounts for almost 60pc of exports. nearly all arable land, about 23.4 million hectares, is under cultivation as the country strives to meet the sustainable food security threshold for its rapidly expanding population.
Pakistan, which is particularly susceptible to climate change, has been listed as the 12th most negatively affected country owing to the effects of climate change on agriculture and livelihoods. Rural communities are now more susceptible to water shortages in irrigation districts as a result of recent seasonal variations in precipitation and water quality issues. The demand for agricultural water must be estimated in order to manage it properly and professionally. However, due to the volatility of the environment, calculating supply and demand is seemingly difficult. A recent steady decline in agricultural water supply is due to water restrictions imposed owing to severe heatwaves and drought. Consequently, the country must develop and employ smart agricultural practices if it wants to achieve food security. Smart farming is the application of intelligent information and communication technology systems, such as sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud-based processes, machine learning, networking, and artificial intelligence (AI). Within the farming system, such technologies affect crop cultivation, livestock farming, and aquatic farming by increasing farm output, gathering weather data, monitoring crop growth, early detection of crop diseases, preventing crop waste through efficient crop harvesting, monitoring livestock behavioural patterns, tracking animals inside and outside of farms, and increasing production of both crops and livestock. Based on autonomous systems, these technologies may efficiently regulate actuators, improve utility and control resource usage. Additionally, smart farms are anticipated to boost production and efficiency, promote sustainability, expand the agricultural industry to eventually benefit rural and farming communities, and to guarantee that products meet market needs while maximising profits and lowering production costs. Concomitantly, we are aware of the fact that technological advancements have had a serious impact on societies and economies; computers, internet, social media, smartphones, robotics, sensors and cloud-based processes have revolutionised how society organises itself and how individuals and groups make decisions and behave. The practice of farming and food production is not immune to this digital revolution and is forecast to undergo significant change in the coming years and decades. Considering the growing need for research and innovation in this area, it is crucial to be mindful of the potential socio-economic and cultural concerns that may arise as a result of the use of these technologies in smart farming.
THEstate of girls education in rural Balochistan presents a depressing picture. While the illiteracy rate in the country is relatively high, the literacy rate among rural women in Balochistan is pathetically low. It is estimated that less than 2 per cent of female in rural areas of the province are literate. Pakistan has allocated only 2.3pc of the budget for education, which is 0.3pc less than that of 1999. The Education Development Index has placed Pakistan at 113th position out of 120 countries. The current literacy rate of Pakistan is 62.3pc, which means that an estimated 60 million people are illiterate. According to details, Kech district has the highest literacy rate (62.66pc) in Balochistan, followed by Panjgur (59.22pc), Quetta (58.76pc), Pishin (52.97pc), Gwadar (51.97pc) and nushki (51.67pc), as per the 2017 census. The remaining districts in the province performed very low compared to the other districts across the country. Furthermore, Turbat lags way behind in girls’ education than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab and Sindh. Girls in Balochistan are deprived of their fundamental rights like education, and one of the reasons behind this is the exorbitant fee that schools charge. The government must launch awareness initiatives in rural areas and provide incentives to families that may encourage them to send their daughters to schools. maRwa FaqiR muhammadTuRbaT
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COMMENT Imposters
Shooting the enemy with his own weapon
About 50 years ago, our brothers from the Gulf states would come to our hospitals for treatment, and study at our educational institutions. Today, look at our plight and the progress they have made. Illegal car licence plates with ‘applied for registration’ (AFR) written on them and some with no licence plates at all freely roam the streets. On the other hand, these people suddenly become the most law-abiding ones as soon as they land in any Gulf state. They stop at every traffic light and pedestrian crossing, and stand patiently in queues in offices, etc. Is this because they have had better leaders who care more for their people and country, or is it that the only thing that really works is the strict application of the law for all? The relavant people should wake up and do something about it.
07 Sunday, 28 August, 2022
Salmaan RaShEEdiKaRachi
Education of Girls in Balochistan
06-07 Comments 28th August 2022_Layout 1 8/27/2022 11:32 PM Page 2
As the time passes and the stepping in of the world media occurs as well as other factors, it seems not too far off that a political breakthrough is in the air for all. Khan related news stories on Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Israel-based i24 TV Channel means the party is recognized as part of the set-up and is not the disruptive revolutionary the party struggles to paint itself as naqi aKbaR Pakistanis have to find their own path; no one else
Lewis Ford is an IT consultant from England.
I wIll no longEr Pay my EnErgy bIlls
emmanuel Macron, too, believed his triumph in the 2017 French presidential elections offered a mandate to impose regressive economic policies. his attempt to introduce a carbon tax – a policy that violated the basic principle of a “just transition”, wherein attempts to address the climate emergency should not rest on the shoulders of the poorest – led to a social explosion in the form of the gilets jaunes, or yellow jackets. Once again, the people in the streets won. “no tax is worth jeopardising the unity of the nation,” Macron’s chastened prime minister, Édouard Philippe, eventually conceded. Similarly, mass protests played a key role in forcing Macron to water down plans to raise the pension age. Much attention has rightly focused on how public ownership of energy has allowed France to limit energy bill increases to 4% for most households. But any French government without a political death wish would surely prefer to invest bil-
lions in protecting living standards than drive the masses to the barricades. Put simply, France’s rulers fear their people. In Britain, as things stand, they do not. The reasons for this are not culturally ingrained. Our own establishment prefers us to forget it, but the english had a revolution nearly a century and a half before the French, and from Chartists to sufragettes to trade unionists, rebellion is a tradition as english as queueing or afternoon tea. Our complicity in forgeting our own history – nurturing a myth that we are innately placid and will confine our unrest to angrily bellowing at our TV or mobile screens – allows our rulers to justifiably believe they can get away with almost anything. The launch of enough is enough – a new mass campaign to fight the cost of living emergency –offers real hope that popular resistance is coming back to these shores. That it has been launched by trade unions – not least the union of rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (rMT) and its leader, Mick Lynch –is particularly important. This is a movement with an unapologetically working-class leadership. Its task is straightforward: a crash course French lesson for Liz Truss’s likely government. If our rulers are terrified of their own people, drastic measures to protect living standards will follow quicker than you can say “Maximilien robespierre”. Temperatures may plunge, bills may rise, but a hot winter could be upon us.
Daily Star Editorial E nergycrisis. Foreign exchange crisis. Cost of living crisis. Over the past few weeks, these terms have become part and parcel of our regular vocabulary. One thing that connects all these crises –besides the massive suffering of ordinary people – is how those were made inevitable by corruption and mismanagement. A big part of the blame goes to the energy sector, of course, which remains unaccountable. Interestingly, while trying to justify the recent record hikes in fuel prices, the government cited the need for adjustment with global prices but also the burden of subsidies given to the sector for the sake of citizens. But according to a recent research paper, which analysed the prices of electricity bought from 58 private plants between 2004 and 2017, these subsidies have not been used for the benefit of citizens, but rather for corporations. In fact, uncompetitive deals and collusive investing from politically connected investors have cost the taxpayers an estimated USD 1 billion a year in subsidies. The extent of irregularities revealed by the study is truly upsetting, especially when one considers the current state of the economy and where it would stand had those irregularities not been allowed. reportedly, Bangladesh Power Development Board bought electricity from some power plants at a price 25 percent higher than that of identical plants! Leasing of government land in the form of subsidy to some plants led to a 15 percent rise in power prices. Also, the more expensive plants received orders before their lower-cost counterparts, and received gas as a priority too. And the cherry on top of this rotting cake? The government set up contracts with the high-cost rental power plants in such a way that if they were not given orders, they would still be paid for 60 percent of the power they could have produced (capacity charge), meaning these plants would actually end up making more profits if they did not generate power. This highlights the need for competitive bidding which, experts say, would reduce plant-level prices by as much as 26 percent. But we must ask: Can we trust the relevant authorities to take effective action to prevent irregularities when, for so long, the energy sector has been simply a playground for the politically connected individuals and firms to increase their wealth? Can a corrupt system deal with corruption? Unfortunately, the rot has spread so far and wide that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings recently expressed "shock" at the extent of financial irregularities at the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, another agency under the same ministry. The failure to rid these vital state institutions of corruption and mismanagement is totally unacceptable. The higher authorities must accept responsibility for this chronic failure, and must establish accountability in the power sector. Those in charge cannot continue to ignore people's plight while the corrupt exploit systemic loopholes to advance their own interests.
recently, a seasoned political commentator remarked on findings showing that the poorest households in France were facing one of the smallest increases in cost of living in europe. “Another one of those charts which makes you wonder why the French are always so angry with their government,” he mused. But those two facts are surely linked: France’s rulers have a rational fear that their citizens will express their rage with upheaval in the streets and town squares, and this inhibits attacks on their living standards.France is, of course, a self-consciously revolutionary society that sanctifies the sovereignty of the people. This provides legitimacy to explosions of popular unrest. The results over the decades speak for themselves. In May 1968, a brutal police crackdown on rebellious students acted as a trigger for a general strike and mass revolt. Fearing revolution, President Charles de gaulle fled the country, and only the dissolution of the national Assembly prevented the overthrow of the government. With De gaulle triumphing in fresh elections later that year, it is tempting to dismiss the rebellion as a failure, but France’s terrified establishment were compelled to make drastic concessions in the so-called grenelle agreements, above all accepting a massive hike in workers’ wages. A key negotiator at grenelle was the ambitious rising gaullist star Jacques Chirac. nearly three decades later, as president, he would also become the target of popular wrath after his government sought to slash social security, freeze public sector wages and raise the retirement age of railway workers. While Chirac’s prime minister, Alain Juppé, was adamant that he would stand his ground, weeks of mass strikes, workplace occupations and popular protests forced the administration into a grinding retreat.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist.
nOctober 1 this year, I will stop paying my energy bills as part of Don’t Pay UK. That’s when an 80 percent increase on current rates will kick in, the British energy regulator confirmed on August 26. I’m among 120,000 people who have joined this movement, which aims to elevate the voices of ordinary residents of the United Kingdom who are scared for their futures while energy companies reap enormous profits. I’m not an activist and I’ve never been an organiser in a campaign before. Don’t Pay UK is the ideal platform for me – we’re not blocking streets, we’re not stopping anyone from getting to work. We’re normal people. I live in hull and have a very typical family with a wife and two kids, a bit vanilla, actually. We have one boy and one girl; our youngest is turning two next month and our eldest is five. We had our children relatively young: I was 26 and she was 21 when we had our first. I’m an information technology consultant working for the public sector and my wife works in financial services. We’re both very lucky – I had a pay rise in April and my wife started her job in January. We’re paid a lot better than we ever thought we would be at this point in time. I worked my way through the ranks, starting in a junior project administration role, and moved up slowly to being a project manager. But the cost of living is creeping up behind me – just as I’m getting to a point in my career where I’m doing really well. At the same time that I got my pay rise, the price of food and energy leapt drastically. Our nursery provider increased its prices. everything went up. So we didn’t actually feel the pay rise. Practically every month we run out of money. We are still living pay cheque to pay cheque. each month, the week before payday, I find myself thinking about how we have scraps of food left; that we can’t go to the shops for a pint of milk. We don’t live frivolously. My wife and I haven’t been on a holiday since we’ve been together – and we both live quite healthily. We don’t take the kids out somewhere each month for some exotic experience. And yet the cost of living catches up, every time something good happens. We just can’t break that cycle. Our landlord has a five-year fixed mortgage, and has told us upfront that he won’t sell the house before the period is up. So the clock is ticking – we have a finite amount of time to save for a deposit. We’re taking all the steps you expect to make in your 30s. But every time we try to save any money, it just gets chewed up by energy bills, and we know it’s going to get worse. I’m already in debt to my energy company, before prices are set to go higher on October 1. That’s because every three months in england, Scotland and Wales, the maximum amount suppliers can charge is adjusted. regulators have said that the average energy bill will reach 3,549 pounds ($4,164) in October this year, compared with 1,400 pounds ($1,642) a year ago. And in January 2023, it’s expected to go up again to 4,266 poundsThese($5,005).higher prices are leading to skyhigh profits for energy companies like Centrica, Shell and BP. Shell reported second-quarter profits of $11.5bn last month. BP had its biggest quarterly profit in 14 years.But Shell paid no tax on their oil and gas production in the United Kingdom in 2021. Both Shell and BP also paid no corporation tax or production levies on oil they procured from the north Sea between 2018 and 2020. We can’t keep handing over our wages to these corporations so they can protect their profits and payouts to shareholders, while thousands of people in the country die each year because they can’t heat or cool theirWehomes.know that there is a concerted effort by this government to move wealth and money from people – your average workingclass and middle-class citizen – up to a small percentage of rich folks. Look at the cuts to services over the last decade. I know this is a global energy crisis, but we look at other governments and see them taking action to look after their citizens. The French government restricted eDF in France from raising its prices by more than 4 percent. eDF in england was able to raise prices by 54 percent in April, and will be able to charge even more in October. It feels like in this country, wealth is moving up the ladder, not trickling down. Average British people are paying extra to top up the profits of energy companies. That’s why it’s so important to join Don’t Pay UK. We need to send a message to this government that it can no longer play with our lives. The government will use fear tactics, trying to scare us into paying the bills. They will warn us about our credit rating being affected. But I know I can’t afford higher bills – my credit rating will already be affected.Lastwinter the British government offered a meagre 200 pounds ($236) loan for people to pay their energy bills. More recently, the government has announced a 400pound ($472) subsidy to British families to pay their energy bills, while unveiling a 25 percent windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. yet it needs to do more. What we want is for the government to reduce the energy price cap back to a level that’s affordable for all, and to bring in a larger windfall tax on energy companies that are making record profits. In the long term, the government can keep bills down by investing in insulation to reduce energy use and look at bringing critical services like energy and water into public hands. That’s essential. When billionaires are profiting from electricity and water, their incentive will always be to do the least, to get the most. So energy companies will want to increase prices every year. The whole point is charging the most they can to the consumer – while spending the least on infrastructure and their workers – to maximise their profits. The vast majority of us will be seriously impacted by the rising cost of living – which means we’ve got immense power if we act together in our millions. If we don’t join together, bills will just keep going up. And we can’t outpace these bill rises. Food banks in the UK are running out of food and turning people away. People are having to choose between paying their energy bill or feeding their children. The Don’t Pay UK campaign is our last resort. It’s the only choice we have.
08 WORLD VIEW 28 August 22_Layout 1 8/27/2022 10:17 PM Page 1
THE LAUNCH OF ENOUGH IS ENOUGH – A NEW MASS CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT THE COST OF LIVING EMERGENCY – OFFERS REAL HOPE THAT POPULAR RESISTANCE IS COMING BACK TO THESE SHORES
GuarDian owEn JonEs w henmillions of Britons believe rioting is justified over the soaring cost of living, it’s not hyperbole to describe the nation as a powder keg. According to a Comres poll commissioned by the Independent, 29% of voters believe violent disorder is appropriate given the circumstances. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, nearly half think rioting is justified; and even among 35to 44-year-olds it’s over 40%. If such a large chunk of the electorate believes that it’s justifiable to smash stuff up in protest even before the projected hike in energy prices plunges millions of households below the waterline, what fury awaits this winter? Before I’m arrested for incitement under the Public Order Act, this is no clarion call for riots. It is to say that a democracy that is unable to satisfy the basic needs of its citizens brings mass unrest on itself. Martin Luther King aptly observed that “a riot is the language of the unheard”; how else can ordinary people force the powerful to listen? Waiting for a general election that may be two years away will not deal with the imminent humanitarian catastrophe we face. This – entirely legitimate – rage needs to be channelled in ways that can actually force the government to satisfy popular demands, without laying waste to major British cities. That means urgently reviving the tradition of mass peaceful civil disobedience and direct action – the tactics that helped secure many of our rights and freedoms: from women’s right
BANGLADESH POWER DEVELOPMENT BOARD BOUGHT ELECTRICITY FROM SOME POWER PLANTS AT A PRICE 25 PERCENT HIGHER THAN THAT OF IDENTICAL PLANTS! LEASING OF GOVERNMENT LAND IN THE FORM OF SUBSIDY TO SOME PLANTS LED TO A 15 PERCENT RISE IN POWER PRICES
The French protest at soaring costs and get results - what’s wrong with the UK? POLLS SHOW BRITONS ARE FED UP AND WILLING TO CHALLENGE THE GOVERNMENT OVER THE COST OF LIVING. WE MUST REDISCOVER OUR HISTORY OF REBELLION THESE HIGHER PRICES ARE LEADING TO SKY-HIGH PROFITS FOR ENERGY COMPANIES LIKE CENTRICA, SHELL AND BP. SHELL REPORTED SECOND-QUARTER PROFITS OF $11.5BN LAST MONTH. BP HAD ITS BIGGEST QUARTERLY PROFIT IN 14 YEARS Power sector is corrupt to the core
to vote, to the mass movement that brought down Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax. If you’re wondering why governments in other countries have offered more to tackle looming social calamities, there’s a straightforward answer. They still expect mass protest if they fail.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED TO SHIELD WORKING PEOPLE FROM RISING COSTS, WHILE ENERGY GIANTS MAKE RECORD PROFITS
Sunday, 28 August, 2022 08 WORLD VIEW al Jazeera lEwis Ford o
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pr ke takes action against attackers of its office as 5 fIrs lodged Reports of a few violent protests emerged in parts of the city on Thursday against K-Electric in which staff and properties of the company were badly damaged. As a result, the power utility suffered severe losses in its offices in Korangi, Landhi, and Malir, among others. Due to severe damage caused to K-Electric’s IBCs in Landhi and Korangi in particular, both shall remain temporarily closed. Warning about stern action against violent attacks, KE Spokesperson said, “While we respect citizens’ right to peaceful protest, some miscreants are using it as an opportunity to instigate violence and create a law and order situation in the city.
PEShAWAr staff report Advisor to Prime Minister on Political and Public affairs, Engineer Ameer Muqam on Saturday said that all the concerned authorities including National Highway Authority (NHA) has been mobilized to rehabilitate road links that are being severed by devastatingTalkingfloods.to media in Swat, he said that NHA and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) have been directed to expedite efforts in flood affected areas. He said that efforts are underway to mitigate sufferings of people including those who are residing in hilly areas and are faced problems due to damaging of links road. He also appreciated the efforts of PESCO authorities that are working round the clock to restore electricity in areas affected by floods. Ameer Muqam said that he said visited various areas of Dir and Bajaur with PESCO and NHA despite heavy rains and harsh weather conditions. He said that a meeting was also held in Peshawar with PESCO authorities to assess the situation and start efforts to restore electricity in affected areas at the earliest. He said that equipment and necessary machinery has been dispatched to restore electricity in affected areas situated on other side of riverTheSwat.Advisor informed that Grid Station of Khawazkhela and Tank had been rehabilitated and efforts were underway to start all the grid stations affected by recent floods. He said that authorities were also monitoring rehabilitation and restoration work adding provincial government has also been contacted to rescue people stranded on rooftops in areas of Charsadda and Nowshera. He also appreciated the efforts and dedication of Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif to cope with the situation urging the nation to shun differences and jointly work to face calamity and join hands to help affected people.
pr telenor Pakistan to provide free calls in severely flood affected areas of country
09NEWS Sunday 28 August, 2022 | LAHORE corporate corner
The delegation comprised of Sabir Khalifi, Kazim Kishwar Shahi, Majod Muhammad and Raza Muhammadi. ICCI former President Tauseef Zaman, Khursheed Barlas and others were also present at the occasion. The delegation had come to Pakistan to participate in a Pak-Iran trade exhibition.Addressing the delegation, Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the business delegation from Iran and briefed them about the potential areas of JVs and investment in Pakistan for Iranian investors. He stressed that they should capitalize on these opportunities by investing in HePakistan.saidthat Pakistan and Iran are enjoying cordial relations that should be transformed into growing trade and investment relations between the two Hecountries.saidthat both countries have great potential to enhance bilateral trade in many items. He said that the existing level of two-way trade of around USD 1 billion is not matching with the actual potential of both countries and it can be increased to at least USD 5 billion per annum if the potentials of both sides are fully ICCIexploited.President said that Pakistan and Iran should focus on removing tariff and non-tariff barriers to improve the flow of bilateral trade through air, road and railway links as none of these modes of transportation has been fully utilised economically so far. He urged both the countries to consider slashing customs duty on each other’s goods to check the menace of smuggling.Heassured that ICCI would fully cooperate in connecting Iranian investors with right partners in Pakistan. The Iranian business delegation was of the view that Iran and Pakistan should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations and try to organize exhibitions in each other country to explore all potential areas of promoting bilateralTheytrade.saidthat organizing Pak-Iran Trade Exhibition in Islamabad is a right step in that direction and more such exhibitions should be organized on reciprocal basis to improve trade ties between Iran and Pakistan.
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KArAchI pr Pakistan Navy flood relief operations continue in far-flung rural areas of Sindh including Gharo, Jati, Kodario, Chuhar Jamali, Goth Qadir Dino Shah, Jhudo, Mirpur Khas, Saindad Village, Village Balu, Ja kumb near Tando Jan Muhammad, Nakha Village, Thatta, Goths of Kodario, Shahbandar, Chuhar Jamali, Sajawal, Kashmor, Dadu, Jangu Jalbani, Qambar Shahdad Kot and PakistanSanghar.Navy personnel including diving teams rescued stranded families in flooded areas by using boats and shifted them to safer places. PN rescue teams are also taking part in deflooding operations in different areas by using own resources. Moreover, free medical camps established by PN are working in affected areas to provide free medical facilities to the locals. Pakistan Navy troops are distributing ration bags, fresh drinking water, tents and other necessities to affected populace. Commander Coast of Pakistan Navy Rear Admiral Javaid Iqbal under took aerial recce and also visited flood-affected areas to reviewed PN relief efforts.
ISLAMABAD staff report a business delegation of Iran led by Shokouhian visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and showed interest to make joint ventures and investment in Pakistan in various sectors. The delegation expressed keen interest to invest in fields including oil & gas, engineering, mining, construction machinery and fertilizers manufacturing. They identified other areas for joint ventures like electrical vehicles, car batteries, electronic tools, plastic products, dairy products and food & dry fruit industries.
Emergency Response teams of Pakistan Air Force are assisting civil administration in rescue and relief efforts in the flood affected areas of South Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. PAF Bases are actively participating in relief operations. In the past few days 3090 cooked food packs, 7443 pounds medicines, 930 tents and 5153 ration packs were distributed amongst the needy families of Uthal, Lakhra, Matyari, Shahdadkot, Sohbatpur, Qila Abdullah, Fazilpur, Jhaal Magsi, Hajipur, Basti Sher Muhammad and Basti Jageer Gabool. Moreover, 114 patients were attended by medical team of Pakistan Air Force in district Rajanpur area during last 24 hours. 17 persons were also evacuated to safety by Emergency Response teams of PAF which are constantly busy in providing relief to the flood affectees. pr
free voice calls in flood affected areas
Irfan Wahab Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Telenor Pakistan, said, "Our heart goes out to the people affected by this disaster across the country, and we would like to assure them that we are here for them. Unhindered and free communication is the need of the hour, and our teams are constantly monitoring the situation to extend the necessary support.
ufone 4G provides free calls in flood-hit areas
Speaking on the development, Hatem Bamatraf, President & Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, said: “We are aware of the natural calamity that has struck in various parts of Pakistan and believe that it is our duty to extend support towards the affected community. With the scale of devastation, we understand that a majority of the people using our network in the disaster-hit districts may not have access to mobile recharge and hope the free calls will help not only family and friends, but also authorities and relief workers to connect with people most pressed for rescue and relief.”
ISLAMABAD: Extending its support to fellow Pakistanis, Telenor Pakistan has enabled free voice calls for its users in flood affected areas of the country. Torrential rains this year have wreaked unprecedented havoc across the country, dealing heavy damage to the country's southern regions. Telenor Pakistan is offering free Telenor-toTelenor calls in severely hit areas of the country so that residents can stay connected to their loved ones and reach out to authorities to seek help in these challenging times. This facility will enable users who have zero balance or have run out of their bundles and packages, to make calls and stay connected. Telenor Pakistan realises that paramount need the communications plays in such circumstances, and the difficulty faced by the people to recharge their mobile balance.
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NHA mobilized to restore link roads, Khawazakhela, Tank grid stations: Muqam
ISLAMABAD: In this hour of need and calamity, PTA and Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) stand shoulder to shoulder with the flood affected people. CMOs will provide free voice calls (On-net / same network) to all their subscribers in flood affected areas with Zero / Nil balance. PTA acknowledges the efforts of CMOs in providing timely and instant relief to telecom consumers in these challenging times. There will be no call setup charges applicable on call connection and customers having no balance will be able to make on-net calls. PTA continues to monitor the communication channels in the affected areas, ensuring connectivity and providing updates, where necessary.
Islamabad: Pakistani telecom company, Ufone 4G is providing free calls in the flood affected areas to establish connectivity between the affected people, their loved ones and rescue personnel to facilitate relief activities. Ufone 4G will provide free calls from Ufoneto-Ufone network and on PTCL numbers in the flood affected districts. This initiative is valid for both prepaid and postpaid customers. Ufone customer can avail the facility by dialling *4357#. This initiative is currently accessible to Ufone 4G users in Barkhan, Sibi, Kalat, Matiari, Bolan, Jacobabad, Mastung, Naushahro Firoz, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Musakhel, Khairpur, Naseerabad, Kashmore, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Sukkur, Rajanpur, Jaffarabad, Larkana, Thatta, Dadu, Lasbella and Jamshoro for now.
oGdclprovides tents, food hampers to flood affectees in sindh, kPk& Punjab Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program has distributed 380 Poly Ethylene Tarpaulin Tents among victims of monsoon flood surrounding area of OGDCL Kunnar Field District Hyderabad on 25-08-2022. The marginalized homeless local community has been provided shelters from the nonstop spell of rains and flood. It is further stated that emergency relief medicines worth Rs.1.00 Million were also delivered to OGDCL Social Welfare Dispensaries at Kunnar Oil Field and Tando Alam Oil Complex in District Hyderabad through Shifa Pharmacy Islamabad for free health care services to victims of flood. The essential anti-snake and anti-rabies vaccines were also handed over to District Hospitals. OGDCL has also distributed 100 Food Hampers among victims of monsoon flood.
Pak-Iran trade can be raIsed to $5b If both sIdes’ PotentIal exPloIted fully
PAF assisting civil administration in flood relief and rescue efforts
Pakistan Navy further extends flood relief operation in different areas of Sindh
On Thursday, severe damage was caused to our customer-facing offices, and our staff members were tortured, which will not be taken lightly. As many as 5 FIRs have been lodged by KE and CCTV footages have been shared with the law enforcement authorities for identification of the lawbreakers. We have also established contact with the Commissioner Karachi who has assured us of all possible legal cooperation to safeguard KE’s properties and staff. We would like to assure that the negative elements causing riots and vandalism will be dealt strictly according to the law.”
KReMLIN Agencies
The Republican Trump, who is weighing another White House run in 2024, accused the Justice Department and FBI under Democratic President Joe Biden of conducting a “witch hunt” and said the judge “should never have allowed the Break-in of my home.”
New YORK AFP
“Highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records and otherwise unproperly identified,” according to the“Severalaffidavit.of the documents also contained what appears to be (Trump’s) handwritten notes,” the affidavit said. The affidavit said that in June, the Department of Justice informed a Trump lawyer that Mar-a-Lago was “not authorized to store classified information.”
When they raided Mar-a-Lago two months later, FBI agents seized a further
The stunning FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Florida home was triggered by a review of 15 boxes of records previously surrendered by the former US president that contained top secret information — including about human intelligence sources.
stash of documents marked “Top Secret,” “Secret” and “Confidential.” FBI agents also seized binders of photos, a handwritten note, information about the “President of France,” and the grant of clemency made by Trump to Roger Stone, an ally of the former president. ‘The movers’ In a May 25 letter to the Justice Department released along with the affidavit, a lawyer for Trump said classified information may have been “unknowingly included among the boxes brought to Mar-a-Lago by the movers.”
New DeLhI Agencies Amid the ongoing political slugfest between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has dubbed the BJP as a “serial killer of governments”, referring to the fall of elected state governments in Maharashtra and Karnataka, among Speakingothers. at a special one-day Assembly session convened by the AAP government to discuss “Operation Lotus” of the BJP, Kejriwal said, “There’s a new serial killer in town. The people select the government, they (BJP) topple them. They are following the same pattern in Delhi.” Talking of the “pattern” employed by the BJP-led Union government, he said central agencies, like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), would be unleashed against legislators of the Opposition parties to threaten them to join hands with the BJP in toppling governments. The agencies “vanished” immediately after a government fell, he added. Referring to the recent allegations by four AAP MLAs that they had been offered Rs 20 crore to switch to the BJP side, he said, “The rate for Delhi MLAs is Rs 20 crore and in Maharashtra, they announced Rs 50 crore. I don’t know why they have offered less in Delhi…They spent Rs 5,500 cr to buy 277 MLAs, now they have reserved Rs 800cr to buy Delhi MLAs.” He said his government would face a trust vote to prove its majority in the state Assembly and also to expose the failed attempt of the BJP to lure any of their MLAs. As per the Indian media, the AAP government is likely to bring a confidence motion on Monday, August 29. In the 70-member House, AAP has 62 MLAs while the BJP has eight Kejriwallegislators.alsosought to know how BJP had money to “buy” MLAs from other parties. “All the money coming from costly oil, fuel, basic necessities is being used for buying MLAs. All this money from GST (Goods and Services Tax) and inflation is being spent for two things – buying MLAs and writing off loans of billionaire friends of the government,” he alleged.
According to the affidavit, the FBI opened the investigation after the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) received 15 boxes of records in January 2022 that had been improperly removed from the White House and taken to Mar-a-Lago.Itsaidsensitive National Defense Information (NDI) was among the records recovered including 67 documents marked as confidential, 92 documents marked as secret and 25 marked as top secret. Among the documents was intelligence information from “clandestine human sources,” which are among the most tightlyheld government secrets.
Arvind Kejriwal likens BJP to a ‘serial killer’ employed to ‘topple’ state govts
Armed clashes break out in Libyan capital TRIPOLI AFP Rival Libyan groups exchanged gunfire in the Libyan capital overnight Friday-Saturday, an AFP correspondent said, raising fears of all-out conflict in a country facing a grave political crisis. The fighting broke out in various districts of Tripoli between groups armed with both heavy and light weapons, as two rival governments yet again vie for power in the oil-rich but impoverished North African country. Gunshots and explosions rang through the darkened streets of Tripoli, the AFP correspondent said, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties. The crisis pits groups that back the Tripolibased Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdulhamid Dbeibah, against supporters of a rival government led by former interior minister Fathi Bashagha. According to local media, two influential armed groups faced off against one another in Tripoli, where divisions have deepened among militias on opposing sides of the political divide. Bashagha was appointed in February by a parliament elected in 2014 and based in the eastern city of Tobruk, but has since been unable to impose his authority in Tripoli. Initially ruling out the use of force, the former minister has more recently hinted that he could resort to armed conflict. Last week, he called on “Libyan men of honour” to drop their support for Dbeibah’s “obsolete and illegitimate” administration. Bashagha is supported by eastern-based military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who launched an unsuccessful offensive on the capital between 2019 and 2020.
No terror activities in Phulwari, media vilifying Muslims: Fact-finding report
The FBI, in the affidavit used to justify the August 8 raid of Mar-a-Lago, said it was conducting a criminal investigation into “improper removal and storage of classified information” and “unlawful concealment of government records.”
Corcoran asserted that a president has the “absolute authority to declassify documents” and the “criminal statute that governs the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material does not apply to the Governmentpresident.”lawyers had opposed the release of the affidavit but the judge ordered it unsealed with redactions the Justice Department said were necessary to protect an ongoing investigation involving national security. The affidavit was heavily redacted removing the names, for example, of witnesses whose identities the Justice Department and FBI want to keep concealed.
The heavily-redacted FBI affidavit released Friday laid out the basis for a Florida judge authorizing the unprecedented raid on the home of a former president, a move which ignited a political firestorm in an already bitterly divided country.
“The government must protect the identity of witnesses at this stage of the investigation to ensure their safety,” the Justice Department said. In its application for a search warrant, the Justice Department said the investigation was related to “willful retention of national defense information,” an offense that falls under the Espionage Act, “concealment or removal of government records” and “obstruction of a federal investigation.”
M OSCOWand Kyiv traded fresh accusations on Saturday of shelling around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) in Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant three times in the last 24 hours but said the radiation level at the plant remains normal, adding that the technical condition of the plant is monitored and maintained by staff technicians.Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom, however, blamed Russia for the shelling and said there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high. In a Telegram post, the Energoatom said that the damage is currently being ascertained. On Thursday, Energoatom said the Zaporizhzhia NPP was disconnected from the power grid for the first time in its history after fires at ash pits stopped the last power line from working. Both Energoatom and Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporizhzhia region’s militarycivilian administration on Saturday confirmed that the two power units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP were reconnected to the grid and are producing electricity to Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia NPP is one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants and generates a quarter of Ukraine’s total electricity. It has been controlled by Russian forces since early March, but its Ukrainian staff has continued to operate it. In recent weeks, Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of strikes on the facility.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation at the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains “very risky” after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling that caused Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to be disconnected for the first time. More than 18,000 people in the Zaporizhzhia region were left without electricity because of damage caused to power lines, after shelling started a fire near a coal power station which disconnected the reactor complex from the power grid.
10 FOREIGN NEWS Sunday, 28 August, 2022 | LAHORE
The lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, said Trump had “readily and voluntarily” cooperated with NARA’s request that documents be returned and said any investigation should not “involve politics.”
Ukraine’s military command claims to have beaten back assaults by Russian forces in the direction of Donetsk, making gains in the settlements of Soledar, Zaitseve and Mayorsk. Kyiv is set to increase the number of districts on the war’s front lines where civilian evacuations will be mandatory, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister said, as those areas could be occupied by Russian forces and face central heating problems this winter. Video from Reuters shows Russia’s Gazprom burning off an estimated $10m worth of natural gas every day at a plant near the Finnish border which experts say would previously have been exported to Germany. Meanwhile, Russia has blocked the adoption of nuclear disarmament text at the UN following a four-week conference on a disarmament treaty, with Moscow denouncing what it said were “political” aspects of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The conference’s president said it was “not in a position to achieve agreement” after Russia took issue with the document. On the other hand, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for intensifying the alliance’s military presence in the North Pole to counter Russia, as he wrapped up a visit to Canada that included a tour of its Arctic defences.
Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, a central ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would not stop its military campaign in Ukraine even if Kyiv formally renounced its plans to join the NATO military alliance. Meanwhile,
A fact-finding team of human rights activists has found that no terror activities were undertaken by the accused in Phulwari Shareef area of the Indian city of Patna as alleged by the Indian forces and the media. They said the media used the incident to vilify the Muslims and polarise the Muslim and HinduOncommunities.13July,the Patna Police, with the arrest of three Muslim men, claimed to have busted a “potential terror module”. The three arrested Muslims are Athar Parvez, allegedly a former member of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Mohammed Jalaluddin, a retired sub-inspector of the Jharkhand Police, and Arman Malik. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the case and filed two FIRs. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Patna, Manavjit Singh Dhillon, said the accused held meetings and imparted physical training “just as RSS shakhas are held for physical training and imparting training in wielding lathis”. A team of PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) visited the area to dig out the truth related to the incident and talked to local people and family members of the accused. The PUCL team in its factfind report released in Patna said, “Prima facie it appears that the team that is accused of terror activities was not involved in any terror activity being undertaken at the places visited by us. It is highly impractical to impart arms training in a highly populated place without anyone noticing, hearing or seeing it.”
The report slammed the media for using the incident “to vitiate the communal atmosphere by polarising the Hindu and Muslim communities and create fear in their minds”.
Moscow, Kyiv trAde fresh ALLegAtions of sheLLing Around ZAPoriZhZhiA nucLeAr Power PLAnt
Trump raid sparked by recovery of top secret info
Those who were part of the team are Priyadarshi (Member, State Council), Kumaresh Singh, Advocate (Member, State Council), Pushpendra Kumar Singh (Member, State Executive), Nand Kishore Singh (Member, State Executive), Priti Sinha (Member), Ashok Kumar, Advocate (Secretary).
New DeLhI Agencies
Clash of titans: india, Pakistan enCounter in asia CuP today
Southampton, United Kingdom: Erik ten Hag believes Manchester United have learned the lessons of their dismal start to the season as Bruno Fernandes clinched a hard-fought 1-0 win at Southampton on Saturday. Ten Hag’s side sat bottom of the Premier League after losing their opening two games against Brighton and Brentford. But United have recovered from that embarrassing start to secure successive league victories for the first time since February. Fernandes netted with a composed strike early in the second half and the Portugal midfielder’s first goal this season lifted United into sixth place ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches. “I think the players learnt some lessons from Brentford. We were more compact on the long balls. Of course we were really happy,” Ten Hag said. Ten Hag named the same starting line-up that defeated Liverpool 2-1 on Monday, meaning unsettled star Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire were both on the bench.
Young fast bowlers Mohammad Hasnain, who is making a comeback after remodelling his bowling action, and uncapped Naseem Shah could be in line to supplement Haris Rauf and challenge a strong India batting lineup. Shahnawaz Dahani is another fast bowling option for Pakistan.Naseem made an impressive debut in white-ball cricket in the recent ODI series against the Netherlands, claiming 10 wickets in three games that included a fivewicket haul in the last match at Rotterdam to seal Pakistan’s 3-0 victory. Like India, Pakistan has a strong top-three batting lineup with captain Babar Azam scoring heavily up front with Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. Babar and Rizwan were the architects of Pakistan’s superb chase of 152-0 when they scored unbeaten half-centuries against India in the last T20 World Cup group game. The top three Pakistan batters have consumed 70 percent of the balls in the 13 T20 internationals since the last T20 World Cup.
Focus on Kohli in Pakistan vs India match in T20 Asia Cup Pak-India match can turn any player into super-star overnight: Shadab Khan
Mannarino to face djere for Winston-salematP
LAHORe Staff RepoRt All-rounder Shadab Khan has said that any Pakistan-India match has its own pressures, but it also provides the players with an opportunity to become a superstar Atovernight.apre-match press conference, the Pakistan T20 vice-captain said Pakistan-India matches carry immense pressure for cricketers of both countries, and every Pak cricketer cherishes playing against India while being part of the national team. He said the team would not stay content with the past laurels, and try their best to perform well in the Pakistan- India match by taking the positives from their last meeting against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World CupOn2021.losing the semi-finals of the ICC T20 WC 21, he said “we are a good young team, but not a champion team yet; and we can achieve this status by giving our 100 per cent without fear of result on the field.” He said every team participates in the event to win and Pakistan team will give its best to clinch the trophy. Shadab said injury is beyond human control and the team will miss Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr. in the match against India. However, he said cricket is a team game and all players are match-winners in the team, adding the team management has complete confidence in the rest of bowlers that they will do well in the absence of ShaheenAboutAfridi.Hasan Ali, he said the fast bowler was given a break to regain form, but the circumstances paved the way for his return. Shadab expressed the confidence that Hasan Ali has been a match-winning player and he will do well in the Asia Cup 22 also. About the Dubai pitch, he said it is premature to predict about the pitch for the match, adding that the Dubai pitches have equal opportunity for the spin and fast Shadabbowlers.said the cricketers have friendships with players from other teams, adding that the multi-nation tournaments provide an opportunity to get together and learn from each other’sAboutexperiences.thebestfast bowlers missing in the crucial Pak-India tie, he said both the teams will miss their main bowlers, but the team performance will matter at the end of the day. He said Shaheen Shah Afridi is with the team and has been imparting his knowledge to the younger members of the team. Regarding Kohli’s form, Shadab Khan said Virat is a legend and his presence is enough to leave any team in awe, adding that he [Virat Kohli] has set such high standards that only a hundred can satisfy his fans. “I wish him to play a long innings to regain his touch, but not against Pakistan in the match tomorrow,” Shadab responded amusingly.
Sunday, 28 August, 2022 | LAHORE 11SPORTS
Agencies
“My main aim is to help India win the Asia Cup and the World Cup and I am ready to do anything for the team to make it possible,” Kohli said recently. Kohli has played just four of India’s 24 T20s since the last T20 World Cup, which was also held in the UAE. He had a below-par IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore and has scored just 422 runs in T20s this year with an under-par average of 22.21 and a poor strike rate by his standards of just 118.20. Kohli will be the only second player after Ross Taylor of New Zealand to have played in more than 100 games in all three formats of the game.
Pakistan-India cricket match has been estimated to attract up to billions of viewers around the globe. In ICC World Cup matches, India has a record of 11-1 over Pakistan while in Champions Trophy matches between the two sides, Pakistan maintains a 3-2 lead over India. Among all the matches played, some memorable moments were shared by Indians while some were enjoyed by the Pakistanis. Some of Pakistan unforgettable moments include, Javed Miandad hitting a six in the 1986 Australasia cup final in Sharjah when Chetan Sharma bowled the last bowl of the match and Pakistan needed four runs to win. In the Asian Test Championship in 1999 (India), Saeed Anwar struck a match winning 188* making Pakistan to win the match. In the Wills trophy final played at Sharjah, Aaqib Javed claimed a hat trick against India with his best bowling figures of 7/37 off 10 overs. Pakistan won a memorable 2006 series in India. After losing the first two ODI’s, Pakistan went on to win the next 4 ODI’s clinically claiming the series 4-2. It was a famous win for Pakistan as they were hinted as the weakest Pakistani team to tour India. Pakistan beat India in 2009 edition of Champions Trophy by 54 runs. Pakistan downed India by 180 runs, which was the largest margin of victory in the final of an ICC ODI tournament in the final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy at The Oval in London. Pakistan also crushed India by 10 wickets in the sides’ 2021 T20 World Cup opener, and made its first-ever victory over the Men in Blue in a World Cup match. Meanwhile the Pakistan vs India vs Asia Cup 2022 Playing XI (Probables)Pakistan: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani. India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
DUBAi the aSSociated pReSS The traditional rivalry between subcontinental rivals Pakistan and India on Sunday will be spiced up by how well Virat Kohli performs at the T20 Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Kohli returns to international cricket after a break of seven weeks during which India has outplayed the West Indies and Zimbabwe in white-ball cricket without its ace batter. It’s been over 1,000 days since Kohli last scored a 100 in international cricket and he will be looking to make his 100th T20 international appearance on Sunday to end the debate on his future in the shorter version of the game.
“At the start of the game we could have created more but I was satisfied. It is the start of the season, it is tough. You have to battle and we did that today so we were rewarded,” Ten Hag said. “It was a fantastic finish. I am really happy for Bruno. We can improve that is clear. I still feel there is room for improvement, to control more, but we are not that far away.”
CliniCal Fernandes: It took an incredible combination of superb goalkeeping and last-ditch defending to stop United taking the lead midway through the first-half.WhenSouthampton failed to clear a cross, Gavin Bazunu had to scramble to block Anthony Elanga’s shot at the far post. In the ensuing melee, Christian Eriksen looked certain to score but Kyle Walker-Peters blocked his shot on the line before Fernandes saw his goalbound strike repelled by Armel Bella-Kotchap. Bella-Kotchap should have made United pay for those misses when a corner fell to the Saints defender, but he somehow contrived to shoot high into the stands from close-range. Che Adams couldn’t generate enough power to beat David De Gea after making a perfectlytimed run behind the flat-footed United defence. Scott McTominay’s drive tested Bazunu early in the second half, while Bella-Kotchap made a superb tackle to stop Elanga as he prepared to shoot after bursting through on Althoughgoal.United were never dominant, they conjured an impressive move to break the deadlock in the 55th minute.
Fernandes sinks Saints as Man Utd maintain revival
title PARis afp France’s Adrian Mannarino upset Dutch second seed Botic van de Zandschulp 6-0, 6-4 on Friday to reach the ATP Winston-Salem Open final against Serbian Laslo Djere. World number 65 Mannarino won 21 of 26 first-serve points and never faced a break point in dispatching the 23rd-ranked Dutchman after 75 minutes. In the other semi-final, 89th-ranked Djere needed nine match points but finally dispatched 102nd-ranked Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) after two hours and 18 minutes. Huesler saved six match points in a 17-minute 10th game of the second set and saved another in the 12th game to set up a second tiebreaker. After denying Djere on an eighth match point in the tie-breaker, Djere got his first match point on his serve and won it on a forehand winner. Djere reached his fourth career ATP final, his first on hardcourt after three on clay. He won titles at Rio in 2019 and Sardegna in 2020 but lost his Sardegna title defense last year. Mannarino has lost nine of his 10 prior ATP finals, collecting his lone tour title in 2019 on Rosmalen grass. It will be the 34-year-old Frenchman’s first ATP final since November 2020, when he lost the Astana Open final to Australian John Millman. Van de Zandschulp is seeded 21st at the US Open and will begin his run on the New York hardcourts against a qualifier. Mannarino also plays a qualifier in the first round of the US Open. Djere’s first match at the US Open is against ninth seed Andrey Rublev while Huesler opens against 19th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada. isLAMABAD Staff RepoRt t HEbiggest showcase of the Asia Cup 2022 was on the edge when arch-rivals Pakistan and India would come face-to-face at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Both teams were long-time arch rivals and their competition was measured as one of the most intense cricket rivalries known throughout the world.
Ronaldo, keen to leave Old Trafford before the transfer window closes on September 1, was largely anonymous when he came on for the last 20 minutes. Casemiro helped United close out the win as the Brazil midfielder made his debut in a 10-minute substitute appearance following his move from Real Madrid. United were some way short of the intensity and quality that inspired their win against Liverpool. But they showed the grit so badly lacking in the first two games as they kept Southampton at bay after Fernandes’ goal. Ten Hag will be pleased that Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez stood firm at centreback, rewarding his decision to keep Maguire on the sidelines.
But it could be a make-or-break situation for Kohli as it will be the last major event before India picks its squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October. The depth in India’s top-order batting in white-ball cricket — especially in T20s — is so great that in order to accommodate Kohli in the Asia Cup, it had to leave out strong batters like Shreyas Iyer. Pakistan has to rely on its second-string pace attack after destructive pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was ruled out for at least four to six weeks because of a knee injury he sustained while fielding during a Test match in Sri Lanka last month. It suffered a second blow in its pace armoury on Friday when young Mohammad Wasim Junior was also ruled out because of a side strain. Afridi was the wrecker-in-chief when he blew the Indian top-order in the T20 World Cup with the wickets of captain Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav — all three part of India’s team in the T20 Asia Cup. “Left-arm seamers, right now in world cricket, are the most dangerous, causing the most trouble for the batters,” Rahul said in Dubai. “If he (Afridi) had played, it would have been a good experience playing against a quality bowler like that and challenging ourselves.”
11 Sports 28 AUGUST_Layout 1 8/27/2022 11:11 PM Page 1
Won’t rest until each flood affectee not only reached but rehabilitated: COAS President Erdogan commiserates with PM on loss of lives in floods
Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Saturday visited flood-affected areas of Balochistan where he inquired about the well-being of people affected due to devastating floods caused by heavy rains, said InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement. According to the military’s media wing, the army chief visited flood relief and medical camps established at Goth Sadoori, Lakhra and Lasbela. The army chief also met troops busy in relief operations and lauded their efforts. “Safety and well-being of our citizens come first and we won’t rest until each flood affectee is not only reached but rehabilitated,” said COAS. “People of Pakistan are our priority & we won’t spare any effort to assist them in this difficult time, “the ISPR quoted COAS as saying. The COAS also directed army officials to utilise all available resources to assist the civil administration in rescue, relief and rehabilitation of people and infrastructure in the flood-affected areas. “We must reach out to our brothers and sisters in need without waiting for orders and help them overcome this natural calamity,” Army chief Gen. Bajwa directed. Pakistan Army has established flood relief camps at various locations in Karachi to support victims trapped following heavy floods and torrential rainfall.
PM resolves to fully suPPort, assist flood victiMs
Imran clarified that his movement for “real freedom” will continue alongside the flood relief work. Sources, however, said that the party has decided to postpone scheduled political rallies owing to flood devastations across the country. The decision came under heavy criticism from the government coalition who blamed Khan for not collecting funds for flood victims.
The Prime Minister thanked President Erdogan for Turkiye’s humanitarian relief assistance including the arrangements to urgently dispatch tents, emergency food items, and medicines. In the bilateral context, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed commitment to boost relations in all areas. He also thanked President Erdogan for Turkiye’s unflinching support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commiserated with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on loss of lives and extensive damage due to severe rainfall and floods. He added that Turkiye would always support Pak-
RAWALPINDI/QUETTA staff report
ISLAMABAD staff report
On the occasion, the prime minister also appreciated the efforts of the chief minister, administration and the armed forces for their rescue and relief operations in these areas.
prayer timings FAJR SUNRISE ZUHR ASR MAGHRIB ISHA 4:10 5:00 1:30 5:15 7:08 9:15 sunday, 28 August, 2022 nEws
victims during live telethon tomorrow ISLAMABAD staff report
Khan initially had refused to collect funds for flood victims, saying that he was not in power and had no clue of the actual assessment of the needs of the affectees and also did not have proper mechanism to distribute amongHistoricaffectees.monsoon rains and flooding have affected more than 30 million people over the last few weeks across the country. The destruction of infrastructure and breakdown in communication links adds to the difficulties faced by the authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the region. The government has called on the international community to help as it struggles to cope with the aftermath of torrential rains that have triggered massive floods, killing nearly 1,000 people. On Friday during his visit to the flood-hit areas of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Imran announced the construction of 10 more dams in the province to avoid the recurrence of the devastation caused by the ongoing super deluge in the province. Imran Khan visited Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts and interacted with the flood victims at a relief camp set up at the Ratta Kulachi Sports Complex.
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In Faisalabad Division there were two collection points set up in Faisalabad and one each in Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh and Jhang. In Sargohda Division, two points were set up in Sargohda and one each in Khushab, Bhakar and Mianwali. In Jhelum, two camps were set up in Jhelum and one in Chakwal.
SWAT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Saturday visited the flood-affected areas of Swat along with former federal minister Murad Saeed. He also undertook an aerial view of the flood-hit areas in Madyan, Mingora and Matta Tehsil and met with the flood victims. Talking to media on the occasion, Mahmood Khan said that from now, no one would be allowed to construct a house, hotel or any other building along the river bank, adding floods that occurred a month ago badly affected Tank and Karak districts where the provincial government took timely steps and sanctioned emergency funds promptly but unfortunately due to a large scale encroachment on the rivers and stream the loss was higher than expected. The KP lauded that the district administration and other relief agencies played an exemplary role in the flood-affected areas. He regretted the federal government and organizations working under its control including NDMA, neither offered any sympathy or help, nor showed any presence on the ground for rescue and relief activities. He said that the relief activities were going on uninterruptedly across the province by the KP government. syed shahabuddin KP govt will go to any extent to mitigate its people’s sufferings: Mahmood Khan
“The magnitude of the calamity is bigger than estimated. Times demand that we come together as one nation in support of our people facing this calamity. Let us rise above our differences & stand by our people who need us today,” the prime minister maintained.
SAJAWAL staff report P RIMEMinister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Saturday said that the entire country was badly affected with flash floods due to incessant monsoon rains but vowed to overcome the flood related issues with collective efforts. During a visit to review rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas of Faqirani Jat, Oplano and others, the prime minister was given a detailed briefing over the situation and the relief efforts. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and federal ministers also accompanied the primeTheminister.primeminister said that the heavy downpours in the season had caused human losses, damaged road and links infrastructure across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and SpeakingBalochistan.on the occasion, the prime minister said that he witnessed the vast area which was inundated by flood water. In Swat and Kalam, flash floods had caused human and financial losses, swept away road infrastructure and bridges, and now headed towards Charsadda and Nowshehra posing a severe threat there, he said, adding the district administrations, rescue agencies and the armed forces had been fully supporting the rescue and relief efforts and evacuating the people to safe places. He said considerable damage was caused to the Munda dam. The prime minister said in the flood affected areas, the relief efforts were being carried out. Unfortunately, he said huge losses were witnessed across the country, adding that with joint efforts and continuous efforts, they would overcome the challenge posed by the natural catastrophe.
The chief secretary, director general Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Deputy Commissioner, officials of Pakistan Navy and other relevant authorities briefed the prime minister on the relief operations, flood situation and rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure. In a separate tweet on his social media handle, the prime minister said that he was visiting the flood affected areas and meeting people.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Saturday received a telephone call from President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Prime Minister briefed the Turkish President on the latest situation of floods in Pakistan and the government’s efforts to provide relief on an emergency basis. The Prime Minister highlighted that Pakistan had been facing unprecedented monsoon weather since mid-June 2022, with record rainfall. This had caused massive devastation in various parts of the country, resulting in loss of human lives, livelihoods and extensive damage to the infrastructure. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that despite that the rainfall had severely damaged infrastructure, the government was making all efforts to reach out to affected areas and assist people in their relocation and through delivery of aid. The Prime Minister shared that Pakistan had prepared a “UN Flash Appeal” which would be launched on 30 August 2022 and expressed the hope that the international community would contribute towards meeting the funding requirements of the Flash Appeal.
Imran Khan to collect funds for flood
Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan will participate in a telethon to generate funds for the flood victims in Pakistan. The announcement was made by the party’s general secretary Asad Umar from his Twitter handle who said that the details of the telethon will be shared later.
Army eSTAbliSheS Flood relieF CAmpS: The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the Army Flood Relief Camps were established in various areas. The Army Collection Camps set up in Punjab included 10 points by Lahore Division namely: Expo Centre, Saddr Bazaar, Walton Road, Fortress Stadium, DHA-2, Badshahi Mosque, Sheikhupura, Chunian, and Kasur. In Multan Division some 11 collection points were established including five in Multan, three in Sahiwal, two in Khanewal, and two in Okara. Some 17 points were established in Gujranwala Division including one each in Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal, Shakargarh and six in Sialkot whereas one collection point each in Sambrail, Kharian, Gujrat, Sarai Alamgir, Pasroor, Ogoki, Gujranwala and Wazirabad. However, seven collection points were set up in Bahawalpur Division including three in Bahawalpur, one each in Dera Nawab Sahib, Bahawalnagar, Hasilpur and Lodhran. The Punjab Rangers also established collection camps including one each in Lahore, Sialkot, Mandi bahuddin, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur.
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“Our senior leadership met and we decided I would do[an] international telethon to raise funds for flood affectees on Monday night,” the former premier wrote on his official Twitter handle. He said that ‘Imran Tigers’, a term he uses for PTI’s tiger force, will be activated to volunteer for relief work. “A committee under (Dr) Sania Nishtar will be set up to identify and coordinate funds allocation based on needs,” he added.
