Epaper_22-09-28 LHR

PM forMs high-Powered Panel to Probe audio leaks

g VOWS TO FOLLOW CONSTITUTION FOR APPOINTMeNT OF NeW ARMy CHIeF

g SAyS gOVT TOOK PAKISTAN OUT OF INTeRNATIONAL ISOLATION

military head.

Responding to a question on appointing the army chief with consensus, he said: “Did he [Imran Khan] consult us when he extended the tenure of the army chief? We will follow the Constitution and law.”

On criticism about discussing “sensitive matters” with ruling party supremo Nawaz Sharif in London, PM Shehbaz said he discussed matters related to the economy and others with his Quaid and added that there was nothing wrong with this.

His statement came in response to deposed prime minister Imran Khan’s suggestion to defer the appointment of the new army chief until after the next elections, maintaining that the incumbent government lacked the legitimacy to make the important appointment.

Describing his meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) moot in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and 77th session of the UN general Assembly as “encouraging”, PM said Pakistan had come out of international isolation due to the efforts of present coalition government.

NAB tells LHC Maryam Nawaz’s passport ‘not required any more’

LAHORE staff report

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that it does not require passport of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

The statement was made in a reply filed by the bureau to an application filed by Maryam Nawaz for return of her passport, which was surrendered to the LHC deputy registrar (judicial) after she got bail in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

The NAB further stated in its reply, that it was a matter of enforcement of fundamental rights and as per judgments of the Supreme Court, the registration of a criminal case could not deprive citizens from exercising the fundamental rights.

ISLAMABAD staff report

PRIMeMinister Shehbaz Sharif has announced constitution of a high-powered committee to investigate audio leaks allegedly featuring the conversation of the premier with the highprofile government officials and ruling party leader Maryam Nawaz.

“This is a very important matter and this serious security lapse and breach are a big question mark then who will be willing to come to meet the prime minister [amid fears of bugging],” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

“Anyone will think 100 times before discussing any sensitive matter at the PM House.”

“I have taken notice and am forming a high-powered committee to investigate the matter,” he added

Responding to a question related to one of the leaked audio clips, PM Shehbaz said Maryam Nawaz – who is also his niece – did not ask for any favour from him regarding the import of her son-in-law’s power plant machinery from India.

“Dr Tauqeer told me that his [Maryam’s son-in-law Raheel] half machinery was already imported during PTI’s tenure and the other half is remaining,” he said.

“If the [import] of half of the machinery is remaining then it’s a loss. However, we did not consider it appropriate to take up this matter

in the federal cabinet since the matter involves India. “There was nothing illegal in this.”

Referring to the alleged audio fiasco involving PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the premier said unlike his predecessor, he did not discuss anything about “diamonds and jewellery”.

He also asked the media to highlight the content of audio leaks which exposed the corruption of “Imran and his cronies”.

The announcement came a day after PM Shehbaz summoned the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on September 28 to discuss audio leaks.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had told a private news channel that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) had completed an initial inquiry and a report regarding the audio leaks would be presented before the NSC on Wednesday.

The audios drew sharp criticism from the opposition, which expressed concerns over the security of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). However, several government ministers insisted that the audios pointed to no wrongdoing.

Soon after the audios surfaced, there was a storm on social media, many bashing the government and expressing shock at the way sensitive audios had purportedly leaked from the PMO.

ArMy CHief’s AppoiNTMeNT: Commenting on the controversy surrounding the next army chief’s appointment, Premier Shehbaz said he will follow the procedure laid in the Constitution and law for the appointment of the new

“By straining relations with various countries, the previous government had put Pakistan in isolation,” the prime minister said.

He said the way former prime minister Imran Khan used to talk about various countries was not appropriate for a country desiring to have good relations.

The prime minister, who arrived in Pakistan last night after his official visits to the United Kingdom and the United States, said during his recent visit to Uzbekistan to attend the SCO moot, the flood situation in Pakistan vis a vis climate change was highlighted.

He said Pakistan despite having less than one percent share in the global carbon emission was facing the severe negative effects, which was also evident from the recent devastating floods in the country.

Shehbaz Sharif said during the SCO moot as well as his meetings with various leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President ebrahim Raisi etc., he highlighted the losses caused by floods in Pakistan and the leaders, besides expressing their solidarity, also assured their cooperation to mitigate the sufferings of flood-hit people.

The prime minister said similarly during his address at the 77th session of the UN general Assembly as well as the sideline meetings, he highlighted that with overall economic loss of over US $ 30 billion, the recent devastating floods had caused 1,500 deaths, destroyed millions of houses and destructed infrastructure.

The LHC had issued notices and sought reply from the NAB on Maryam Nawaz’s application for return of her passport, on last hearing, September 14

A three-member LHC bench headed by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti on Tuesday heard the civil miscellenous application filed by Maryam Nawaz for return of her passport, in a pending petition.

As the proceedings started, Maryam Nawaz’s junior counsel informed the bench that senior counsel Advocate Amjad Pervaiz was busy before another court and he would reach this court within a few moments. He pleaded with the court to wait a little.

However, the chief justice took a strict notice of Amjad Pervaiz’s absence and remarked that the time was fixed for hearing of the case and Amjad Pervaiz was aware of it. Whether he was unaware of which bench was larger and where he had to appear, he added.

Subsequently, the bench adjourned the further proceedings till October 3. However, Advocate Amjad Pervaiz entered the courtroom soon after the judges left.

Maryam Nawaz had submitted that a LHC division bench granted bail to her in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case on November 4, 2019 and ordered for depositing Rs70 million and surrendering her passport to secure the release. She submitted that freedom of movement was a fundamental right and no one could be deprived of that fundamental right for a long time. She submitted that she was deprived of her fundamental right despite a lapse of four years. She pleaded with the court to issue directions for the return of her passport.

The agency opposed the return of the travel document to Nawaz, saying her brothers and other members of the family are already in London to look after Sharif who travelled to the British capital in 2019 on the pretext of medical treatment and has since refused to return.

Dar sworn in as senator to become finance minister today

ISLAMABAD staff report

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani on Tuesday administered oath as Senator to Ishaq Dar of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) amid protest by opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Upper House of the parliament.

Meanwhile, Miftah Ismail, minister for finance, formally resigned from the office, paving the way for Dar to take over. He had announced his decision after a meeting with the party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif in London on Sunday.

In his resignation letter dated September 27, Ismail wrote: “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my country in your [Shehbaz Sharif’s] administration, which was an honour and a privilege.”

Dar, who remained in self-exile in the United Kingdom since 2017, was elected in absentia as a senator on a technocrat seat from Punjab in March

2018 but did not take oath due to his stay in London.

The Supreme Court disqualified him from the office in July 2017 after an investigation into the undisclosed wealth of now-deposed prime minister Sharif and his family.

During the ceremony, senators from PTI gathered near the rostrum and chanted slogans after which the chairman called in security personnel.

Shahzad Waseem, leader of the opposition in the House, said the tradition of the House had never been that a “man absconds and comes back”.

“His seat remained empty for four years. An ordinance was introduced only to protect him,” he added.

Waseem went on to allege Sharif, prime minister at the time, helped Dar escape. “According to my information, he [Dar] has not surrendered before the court, he has come straight to the Senate. Does the Senate not have

any respect? Absconders come and go unhindered […]”

Dar is expected to take oath as the nation’s sixth finance minister since the last general elections in 2018 on Wednesday at 10:00 am.

He is taking office, for the fourth time — from 1998-99, 2008 and 2013-17 — with the challenge of getting the economy out of one of its worst balance of payment crises that has seen foreign reserves falling to a month of imports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board last month approved the seventh and eighth reviews of a bailout programme approved in 2019, allowing for a release of over $1.1 billion.

TALL CLAiMs, pLuMMeTiNg rupee: Dar, after his return on Monday, said he wanted to get Pakistan out of its economic rut and stressed he wanted a strong and stable rupee. He has favoured an artificially overvalued currency in his previous tenures as fi-

nance minister.

“The Dar factor is at play. There are memories of how he kept the dollar

rate stable,” said Fahad Rauf at Ismail Iqbal Securities.

Biggest challenge in decades: shahBaZ calls on nation to help flood victims

KARACHI Staff RepoRt

sHEHBAzSharif has urged the nation to work in unison by extending a helping hand to the people hit by the most severe flooding in Pakistan’s recent history that has killed more than 1,600 people and left a third of the country underwater.

Lending a helping hand to the people in distress was a noble service, he said, and stressed the need for rising above politics and what he said was a number game in order to converge the energies to help the flood victims.

Without naming his predecessor Imran Khan, Sharif said the situation in the country demanded reaching out to the homeless instead of holding public gatherings.

In an address to the locals during his visit to a tent-city set up in Jhakro village of Dadu in Sindh to accommodate the victims of flooding, he said all segments of society — including the federal and provincial

governments, and the people across the country — needed to work hand-in-hand with an objective to mitigate the problems of the flood-stricken population.

The prime minister arrived in Dadu district in the morning to oversee the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

He expressed satisfaction over the efforts made by the Sindh government, the army and the disaster management authorities in providing relief to the floodaffected people.

PM said the flood affected 33 million people including 1,600 dead and inflicted a loss of $30 billion to the economy.

He mentioned the government had disbursed Rs42 billion among the floodaffected people as part of relief and rehabilitation activities.

The prime minister reiterated Pakistan alone could not overcome the challenge of massive floods and called upon the world to amplify its assistance to Pakistan. He expressed gratitude to the philanthropists for providing relief assistance to Pakistan in the hour of need.

He assured the flood-hit people that the government would leave no stone unturned in extending help to them.

Flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and members of the provincial administration, the prime minister visited the

tent-city where he was given a detailed briefing on the damage caused by floods.

Sharif was apprised that floods affected all areas of district Dadu, leaving 37 persons dead while damaging its infrastructure and crops.

Despite lapse of month, breach in MMD canal yet to be plugged

BADIN Staff RepoRt

Thousands of residents of District Badin from different union councils have been facing numerous difficulties due to unplugged breach in Mirpurkhas Main Drain (MMD) of Dhoro-Puran Canal.

According to details, despite lapse of a month, the authorities concerned including the Irrigation Department have appeared unable to plug the 300-feet-long breach in Mirpurkhas Main Drain (MMD), Dhoro-Puran Canal. The breach has wrecked havoc in six union councils of Taluka Tando Bago of District Badin

During his interaction with patients at a medical camp, the prime minister inquired about their health and assured them of the best possible treatment. He directed the authorities concerned to ensure the availability of necessary medicine at the camp to cope with the emerging challenge of malaria, diarrhoea and other epidemics and breakouts.

Sharif also visited a makeshift school set up on the premises of another tent-city aimed at preventing the loss of education of the students after the floods swept away their schools. Speaking on the occasion, he announced the construction of a smart school for the children of the area equipped with the latest technological facilities. He also mingled with the children at the school and joined them in chanting slogans of Pakistan zindabad.

The prime minister resumed visits to the flood-ravaged cities within 24 hours of his return from London where he had gone to meet his brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the appointment of the next army chief.

Railway service to resume towards Karachi by october

including Hayat Khaskheli, Saman Sarkar, Khairpur Gamboh, Sangi Pharho, Malkani Sharif, Oliya Jarkas and others.

The floodwater from this breach has displaced thousands of residents of these six UCs besides destroying standing crops and infrastructure.

The residents of these union councils have been residing in roadside camps, tent cities and in villages still flooded with rainwater. Apart from human beings, lives of thousands of heads of livestock including buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep, camels, donkey and poultry are at stake.

Other hand, hundreds of the people have also held protest against the apathy of the authorities concerned who were according to them not much interested to plug the breach in MMD canal, accusing them of lethargy and dillydallying to drown more population of Taluka Tando Bago.

The residents regretted that no tangible effort could be made so far for survival of livestock and other animals, adding that people have although suffered losses of billions of rupees in shape of standing crops destruction over thousands of acres. They feared that if efforts were not made for survival of livestock, it might brought economic destruction in future ahead.

They informed thousand of

population including children, women were forced to reside in roadside camps and tent cities without having basic facilities even difficult to get meal once in a day. Other hand, people who were settled in the camps were facing issues including dirking water, food and emergency medical facilities.

Social activists have appealed the NDMA, PDMA and provincial government to come forward for assistance of the flood victims. They also urged the government authorities to take tangible steps for plugging breach in the MMD Canal- Dhoro-Puran in district Badin.

IRC unveils reports to mitigate calamities turning into human disasters

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) on Tuesday launched its recent reports on local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) conducted in four districts, two each from Balochistan and Sindh, to mitigate natural catastrophes turning into human disasters through informed policy guidelines and recommendations at local level.

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) organised the launching ceremony of IRC’s LAPA Reports carried out in Thatta of Sindh and Chaman of Balochistan here and also hosted a detailed panel discussion to initiate expert discourse on the action plan document.

The session was moderated by Director Policy, SDPI Dr Shafqat Munir Ahmed.

Executive Director SDPI, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri in his welcome remarks underlined that informed decision making and enhanced resilience was all about adaptation at the local level. He added that the catastrophes turning into human disasters could be avoided through better and well conceived policies and their strong implementation.

He said the LAPA Reports were right policy documents at the macro level and was a good topic of discussion. “2022 is the manifestation of warming planet be it unprecedented heatwaves in Pakistan, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), unprecedented downpours in monsoon. It is warming due to

govt not to increase medicine prices: senate told

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel Tuesday informed the Senate that the government, keeping in view suffering of the people, would not hike the prices of medicine. Responding to a question, during question hours, he said, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had increased the prices and thrown medicines out of the reach of common people. Responding to a question he said, the Liver Transplant Section of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore was nonfunctional for the last three years. However, the Liver Transplant Unit was established in 2011 and it has delivered 200 Living Donor Liver Transplants (LDLT) with the first Cadaveric Liver Transplant in the history of Pakistan and more than 2,300 Liver, Pancreas Cancer, Benign and Trauma Surgeries. At present, Liver Transplant / HPB Unit at Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore is performing the Liver, Pancreas Cancer, Benign and Trauma Surgeries. Furthermore, the Hospital has been registered with Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) and soon Liver Transplant will start with the inclusion of requisite Human Resource in the department. app

anthropogenic human activities.” Dr Suleri mentioned that Pakistan was one of the least emitters of carbon dioxide emissions but this planet would continue to warm, adding, “But we can’t sit idle and have to do our lot like local level adaptation plans, mitigation through local resources and tap international support where possible.”

He noted that Pakistan would plead its case for concrete loss and damage at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP-27) in Sharm El-Sheikh as the country was highlighting climate justice, compensation, loss and damage and others.

He underlined that LAPA was the timely policy framework that would act as one stitch in time saves a nine.

Country Director IRC Shabnam

Baloch said the present era masses were unfortunately living in a world facing extreme natural disasters. “One in seven Pakistanis are affected due to floods and there were diseases spreading, and economic losses ripping off the country’s economy.” She noted that the catastrophe of massive torrential rains and floods had put the country 25 years back as Covid19 pandemic was also a massive set back in terms of education, economy and social impacts on the masses.

“We are sitting on the brink of many natural calamities as we underwent unprecedented heatwaves where Jacobabad became the hottest city in the world with blazing 51°C temperature and drought in Cholistan which is the country’s second largest desert.”

pakistan-Us ties no longer hyphenated with afghanistan, india: fm Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan-US ties were no longer hyphenated with Afghanistan and India as Washington and Islamabad were discussing ways to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. “Not only I am presently surprised but I am absolutely impressed by the new foreign policy approach of the US towards Pakistan,” said Bilawal while responding to a question related to Pakistan-US ties at Wilson Centre in Washington. “There is also an increased feeling in our [PakUS] interaction that we are no longer hyphenated — Af-Pak or Pak-India. Only Pak-US that’s a good thing,” he remarked. Bilawal said Pakistan and US have for long time seen each other through the prism of Afghanistan. “It is heartening to know that [this time] during engagements with [US officials] we just didn’t think and talked about Afghanistan. We talked about enhancing trade and economic cooperation,” he remarked. Bilawal also cited a recent visit of US Special Representative on Business and Commercial Affairs Dilawar Syed to Pakistan, saying that bilateral ties between the two countries were improving.

Staff RepoRt

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Railways is likely to resume its service towards Karachi during the first week of October that had badly affected due to unexpected monsoon rains and flash floods across the country. “The restoration work of railway tracks are in full swing with the help of Frontier Works Organization (FWO), district administration of Sindh and Pakistan Railways,” sources in the Ministry of Railways told APP. They said on the direction of Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, the department had utilized all available resources to restore the rail service in flood affected across the country. The sources said that a trial run of an inspection train has also been started to check the maintenance of the track and the Railways authorities have directed the carriage department staff to complete technical work shortly. In the first phase, they said the decision to run the freight train operation from October 1 has been made subject to the receding of water and the clearance of signals and bridges. Pakistan Railways also directed the concerned authorities to complete the ongoing survey of the affected installations on a war footing and speed up the rehabilitation process, said the resources. They added that the technical and nontechnical staff of the department was working in three shifts to restore the tracks once the flood water recedes.

dasti arrested

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The police have arrested Jamshed Ahmad Dasti, a former MP and chairman of Awami Raj Party (ARP), from Rawalpindi in a case of suspected fraud. A union of truck drivers has accused Dasti of wilfully defaulting on an Rs3.8 million loan. He was arrested after he checked in at a hotel in the garrison city. He is expected to be handed over to the Muzaffargarh police for further investigation.

court frees ayaz amir in daughter-in-law murder

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Tuesday freed senior journalist Ayaz Amir, who the police arrested and charged with abetting the murder of his daughter-in-law killed last Friday. Sara Inam, 37, a Canadian national, was bludgeoned to death in broad daylight allegedly by her husband and Amir’s son, Shahnawaz Amir, at a farmhouse in Chak Shahzad, a suburb of Islamabad that falls in the jurisdiction of Shahzad Town police station. The police arrested the suspect from the crime scene and booked him the following day under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of station house officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan. Inam was killed a day after she arrived from Abu Dhabi where she was working as a financial specialist. She got married to Shahnawaz three months ago in Chakwal, the hometown of Amirs. It’s widely believed the couple knew each other before marriage and the marriage was of their own choice, not arranged by their families. The following day, police booked Amir and his former wife, Samina Shah, and arrested the veteran journalist for his alleged involvement in the incident.

Staff RepoRt

oveR 0.2m tons wheat seeds ReqUiRed to cateR foR needs of flood-hit faRmeRs: na

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

nATIONALAssembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research on Tuesday was informed that over 205,000 tons of wheat seeds would be required to tackle with the needs of the farmers of flood affected areas in the country.

The committee which met here with Member National Assembly (MNA) Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan in chair, discussed the matters relating to revival of agriculture sector and overcoming the devastation caused due to recent flash floods and torrential rains. The meeting also deliberated on the arrangements so far made for the sowing of Rabi crops, particularly cultivation of wheat in flood hit areas in the country as wheat was the major cash crop and vital source to fulfill the dietary needs of local population.

Meanwhile, senior officials of Ministry of National Food Security and Research briefed the committee about the arrangements made for wheat sowing in flood hit areas in the country and other

pta issues revised quality of service regulations for fixed broadband services

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

steps which were being taken to revive local agriculture sector after devastation of flash floods and torrential rains.

It was further informed that government was preparing a special package of incentives for wheat growers of flood hit areas to restore and revive the agriculture in these areas, adding that the package would have special focus on enhancing area under wheat cultivation.

Besides, it was also proposed to

provide one bag per-acre DAP to farmers of the affected areas as an amount of Rs80 billion would be required to execute this scheme, which would ensure proper intake of fertilizers during the season in areas that were affected due to floods.

The committee apprised that the provincial governments would also have to pay their 50 percent share in this subsidy scheme and the package of incentives for flood hit areas would be

presented before Prime Minister for approval.

Meanwhile, Secretary Committee Rao Ajmal Khan directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to take immediate steps for ensuring the availability of all agriculture inputs during Rabi season, particularly for the farmers of flood effected areas in the country. He also directed the ministry for ensuring adequate supply of certified seeds of wheat to growers in order to bring maximum area under wheat cultivation to fulfill the local requirements of staple grains.

The meeting also directed the federal and provincial governments to take immediate measures to ensure provision of all agricultural inputs to farmers, particularly the farmers of flood hit areas in the country to ensure time sowing of different crops to maintain food safety and security in the country.

Among others, the meeting was also attended by the senior officials of Ministry of National Food Security and Research and its allied departments including Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and others.

Dar sworn in as senator to become finance minister today

CONtINuED fROM pAgE 01

“There is no way (the rupee) can sustainably move against the tide in the current scenario,” Rauf said in reference to the dollar strengthening against all currencies.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reviewed the existing Broadband Quality of Service Regulations, 2014 and has issued revised Fixed Broadband Regulations after due consultation with all the stakeholders. The Regulations shall be known as “Fixed Broadband Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations, 2022”. These regulations have been updated keeping in view existing and emerging fixed broadband technologies including xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), Cable Broadband (DOCSIS 3.x), Fixed Wireless, Fiber to the Home (FTTH)/GPON, Satellite Broadband, etc, said a news release issued here on Tuesday. The aim is to better gauge the services agreed upon by the service providers with the end users. The regulations included aspects such as: fixed broadband internet speeds for download data throughput should be at least 4Mbps (up from 256 kbps) and 2Mbps upload. 80% of the advertised download speeds should be available at all times to the end users. Moreover, PTA will not only conduct QoS Surveys and test the quality of services being provided to consumers, but it shall also implement and execute the recurring National Broadband Measurement Program (NBM). For this purpose, pre-configured devices shall be placed with group of volunteers and line performance shall be measured all the time. The results shall be available on dedicated servers placed on designated places as decided by the Authority. Such testing can either be undertaken by authorized PTA officers or through designated agency hired for the purpose.

inviting imran for lecture: centre removes gcU vc from search committee

LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

Vice-Chancellor Dr Asghar zaidi was dismissed on Tuesday from the search committee established for federal universities after he invited PTI Chief Imran Khan to address the Government College University Lahore. According to a notification issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Asghar zaidi has been replaced with Dr Shoaib Mir as a member of the search committee. In his letter to Governor Punjab Muhammad Balighur Rehman, advocate Sardar Farhat Manzoor Khan criticised the vicechancellor’s take and wrote that “children were sent to the university for higher education and ethics”. He said that Khan used political and immoral language, urging action should be taken against zaidi for allowing him to address the university. The former prime minister gave a speech at GC University, after which a letter was sent to the governor to take action against the university’s VC.

Ahead of his formal appointment, the rupee had risen throughout the day after reports that he would take up the role, a change that comes in the midst of an economic crisis in Pakistan that has been exacerbated by deadly floods.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked me to accept the responsibilities of finance minister,” Dar said in a statement broadcast on Pakistan Television on Monday evening. “By the grace of Allah, I will try my best to get Pakistan out of this economic rut.”

During a previous tenure ending in 2017, Dar claimed Pakistan was going to become the world’s 18th strongest economy, but the country is facing economic turmoil, exacerbated by widespread floods estimated to have cost it nearly $30 billion.

Dar’s disqualification petition withdrawn from ECP

A plea seeking disqualification of former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was withdrawn by the petitioner from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

An ECP’s four member bench heard the case. Petitioner Azhar Siddique said he wanted to file a petition in High Court for disqualification of Ishaq Dar, hence the petition was being withdrawn.

The commission directed the petitioner to submit

written plea for withdrawal of the petition. The ECP Member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the decision on the case had been reserved.

On Monday, the ECP had reserved its verdict on a petition seeking to declare Dar’s seat in the Senate “vacant” over his failure to take oath as a senator within 60 days of being elected.

Dar’s counsel had argued that the ordinance, promulgated by the president, about 60 days for taking oath “does not apply on his client”.

“The ordinance lapsed after completing its constitutional life,” the lawyer argued, adding that a member cannot be disqualified if he did not take the oath even for 5 years.

Dar’s return stuns Imran Khan: marrIyum: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Tuesday said it seemed that the return of senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ishaq Dar had stunned the person like Imran Khan with a ‘fascist agenda’. It would continue to haunt the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief in the future as well, she said in a statement with reference to the remarks of PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry. The minister said hue and cry on Dar’s return by “a foreign agent, and a thief of diamonds and watches” was somewhat natural. It was a reality which the PTI leaders would have to accept. She said since Dar had not been convicted by any court of law he would soon take oath as senator.

Pakistan becoming hub for global IT organizations: Amin

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul-Haque said on Tuesday that Pakistan is becoming an important hub for the best IT talent and global IT organizations in terms of time zone.

“Partnering with Pakistan, the fifth largest and most populous country means partnering with a huge repository of capable and delivering youth,” he in his key policy

address at the Ministerial Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU PP-22) in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, said a news release received here.

He said, Pakistan had always been open to partnering in all areas that were mutually beneficial for all the stakeholders. It certainly included technology as one of the preferred undertakings.

Amin said; Pakistan had geared itself up for rapid adoption of Information and communication technology (ICT) to deliver the socio-economic development of the country which was committed to the country’s people.

gardezi for awareness of farming community on modern production tech

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Minister for Agriculture, Punjab Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi chaired the first meeting in Lahore to review the production strategy of the next wheat crop. While addressing the meeting, Gardezi called for ensuring production targets of wheat for next crop and assigning the field staff to perform their duty of making the farmers aware about modern production technology. Provincial Minister directed to provide standardized agricultural inputs to the farmers and issued instructions to the DG Agriculture(Extension) to hold meeting with the authorities of irrigation department for availability of canal water to the farmers at time of wheat sowing. He maintained that he will personally monitor the sowing process of wheat and in this regard he directed to organize mega farmer’s gathering at Divisional and District level. Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi said that there is need to aware the farmers regarding non-cultivation varieties of wheat crop so that, the farmers use only approved varieties of wheat seed which can increase the yield per acre. Provincial Minister Agriculture also constituted special committee for ensuring production targets of wheat which will frame the strategy for achieving the production targets, so wheat production could be increased. Meeting was attended by Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr. Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Pest Warning Rana Muhammad Faqir Ahmad, Director Agricultural Information Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar, Director Crop Reporting Abdul Qayyum and other senior officers.

ids, passports can’t be blocked on unruly behaviour: interior ministry

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Ministry of Interior officials Tuesday clarified that the identity cards and passports of Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom cannot be revoked merely on the basis of their inappropriate behaviour towards lawmakers. The clarification came after Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Ata Tarar announced that action will be taken against those who misbehaved with Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb in London. The interior ministry has clarified that a person’s passport and identity card cannot be revoked because of their unruly behaviour, adding that separate legal requirements are to be fulfilled in order to block these documents. Earlier today, while addressing a press conference, Tarar condemned the incident that took place in London, assuring that action will be taken against all those who misbehaved with Aurangzeb. “I condemn the way Aurangzeb was treated. I have prepared a request which I will submit to the Ministry of Interior,” he said, adding that the trend of publicly harassing PML-N leaders, which has been going on for quite some time now, was “unacceptable”. He had said that the character certificate issued by the interior ministry for visa purposes will be cancelled for all those people who were involved in this act. Two days ago, Aurangzeb was harassed by a group of PML-N’s political opponents while she was in a coffee shop in London, United Kingdom. The information minister was in a café near the Marble Arch station to buy coffee where she was heckled by a group of PTI supporters, who surrounded the minister and began yelling at her. The crowd also continued to videotape Aurangzeb without her consent. The women supporters of PTI continued to target her with inappropriate allegations, while also accusing her of being a thief. The PTI protestors swarmed around Marriyum and did not let her be during what appeared to be her time off from her official duties as a minister.

Recovery of flood-hit trout fish sector to take years in KP

pESHAWAR app

The recovery of trout fish farming in mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needs years as majority of the stock along with hundreds of farms have been washed away by disastrous floods.

The recent devastating floods in Kohistan, Swat, Chitral, Manshera, Shangla, Dir lower and Upper has wreaked havoc on trout fishing farming industry by completely destroying 375 number of farms and nine public sector hatcheries.

Apart from destroying hundreds of fish farms, the ferocious flood also swept away fish stock weighing hundreds of tonnes.

“Majority of the trout fish farms are destroyed in Swat around 220 in numbers

while 50 in Manshera, 29 including one hatchery in Dir Upper and remaining in other district,” informed zubair Ali, Director Fisheries Planning and Development KP. Talking to APP, zubair said damage to trout fish stock is enormous and its recovery will take years.

Almost majority of the stock in farms and river water is swept away down country and development of new fish stock needs a lot of resources for which the Fisheries Department has submitted a three years recovery plan.

In the first year of recovery plan, we have submitted projects costing upto Rs. 800 million and for full recovery the department needs a hefty amount of Rs. 2.5 billion, zubair told APP.

Public sector hatcheries including the largest at Madyan in Swat is completely

destroyed and department don’t have fish fries to distribute in remaining farms for recovering of fish stock losses.

The Fisheries department, he continued, is contemplating a plan to import trout fish eggs for hatching and distribution of fries in different farms.

These fish eggs would be imported from Turkey, Italy and some other countries, zubair apprised APP.

In response to a question about collection of fries of trout fish from farms in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, zubair said these areas fish farm are not so large that will fulfill need of KP.

Even fish hatcheries in KP supplied fish fires to farms in AJK and GB region, he added. zubair said trout fish farms industry also faced sever losses in 2010 floods but at that time number of farms

were less only around 20 to 25. Whereas now, he continued, we have farms in hundreds of numbers. After 2015 a rapid growth of trout fish farms in KP was witnessed which was also due to a probusiness policy of KP government of paying subsidy up to Rs1.8 million to owners for setting up of business.

zubair said trout fish farm has emerged as a handsome profit generation business, making an income of Rs700,000 to Rs900,000 on monthly basis. This high profit attraction lured a number of people to the business resulting in increase of trout fish farms in the province.

About damage to river ecology due to deadly flood, zubair said breeding and feeding spots in river have been damaged while high speed water swept away fish stock down to plain region.

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

AhsAn IqbAl urges busIness communIty to explore globAl mArkets for exports

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

mINISTERfor Planning, Development and Special Initiative Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday called upon the business community to explore the global market for promoting Pakistan’s exports and bringing foreign exchange to the country so that Pakistan can grow faster.

He said the businessmen would have to be embedded with the spirit of the 21st century to go out and find new opportunities for increasing exports of Pakistan, which were vital to improve our economy.

He said this while addressing as the Chief Guest at a reception organized by Is-

lamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) in honor of foreign diplomats.

Atadjan Movlamov Ambassador of Turkmenistan and Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Mohammed Karmoune Ambassador of Morocco and Dean of African Corps, Ambassadors/High Commissioners of Italy, UAE, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Philippine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Jordan, South Africa, Malaysia, Iraq, Nigeria, Sweden, Germany, Bangladesh were present.

The representatives of Embassies of Japan and USA as well as Zamurrad Khan Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Sweet Homes, senior political leader Syed Zafar Ali Shah and a large number of business community were present at the occasion.

In his welcome address, Muhammad

Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the flash floods had created great problems for Pakistan’s economy.

He urged the foreign diplomats to play role to enhance the exports of Pakistan to foreign markets that would provide important cushion to our economy.

He said that Pakistan was producing many quality products including marble, granite, textiles, surgical instruments, medical equipment, chemical and pharma products.Besides, it also producing sports goods, leather products, food products including rice, fruits & vegetables, IT products and IT enabled services and cooperation of foreign diplomats was important to increase their exports.

Atadjan Movlamov Ambassador of

Turkmenistan and Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Andreas Ferrarese Ambassador of Italy also spoke at the occasion and assured of their cooperation to promote business and economic interests of Pakistan in international market.

Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Muhammad Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari newly elected President ICCI, Khalid Iqbal Malik and Zafar Bakhtawari former Presidents ICCI also spoke at the occasion and highlighted the potential of joint ventures & investment in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy. They urged the diplomats to cooperate in bringing more foreign investment to Pakistan that would enable our country to achieve sustainable economic growth and address economic challenges with ease.

Truckloads of apples start to rot as blocked Kashmir highway halts deliveries

SRINAGAR ReuteRS

Roadworks have halted thousands of trucks carrying millions of dollars worth of apples on occupied Kashmir’s main highway, a major union leader said, triggering protests by growers as their produce begins to rot.

Highway repairs were causing massive delays along the highway that connects the disputed Kashmir valley to the rest of India, meaning huge expected

losses. “We have 8,000 trucks carrying apples worth 100 crore rupees (one billion rupees, or about $12.25 million) stranded on the highway for the last two weeks,” Bashir Ahmad Basheer, the head of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Union, told Reuters.

Employing more than three million people, fruit cultivation is an economic lifeline for the Himalayan region, which is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan.

All 10 major wholesale fruit mar-

reforms ordered by punjab ombudsman increase phA revenue by 120pc

LAHORE: As a result of the departmental measures taken on the orders of retired Maj. Azam Suleman Khan, ombudsman of Punjab, the revenue of the Lahore wing of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) has increased by 120 percent. Compared to the Rs440 million for the financial year 2020-21, the authority earned Rs978 million in 2021-22, collecting an additional profit of Rs534 million. In a statement released on Tuesday, a spokesman for the office said the provincial ombudsman gave these orders at the complaint of Rahmeen Akram of Johar Town neighbourhood of Lahore who requested introducing departmental measures to end malpractices in the marketing directorate. Staff RepoRt

kets in the Kashmir valley were shut on Sunday and Monday as farmers protested against what they said was traffic mismanagement.

“The apples in the truck have started rotting now,” said Rajesh Kumar, a trucker from the northern Indian state of Punjab. “I don’t know how many more days I will be here,” he said, adding he had been stuck on the highway for six days.

The Divisional Commissioner for Kashmir said this year had seen a

bumper apple crop of more than 2.1 million metric tons due to heavy rain.

“We have difficulties in the movement of traffic on the highway due to shooting stones (falling rocks) but it is beyond human control,” Commissioner P.K. Pole told Reuters.

Repair work on the SrinagarJammu highway would be finished this week, a local government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Pakistan committed to peaceful S. Asia goal despite India threat: Akram

Pakistan told the United Nations it has made several proposals to keep South Asia free of nuclear weapons since India’s maiden nuclear test in 1974, but regretted that none of them drew a favourable response from the world community.

Speaking at an event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to its long-standing goal of a nuclear weapons-free world achieved in a universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory manner, with assurances of undiminished security for smaller nations. “Despite continuing provocations and threats,” Ambassador Akram said, “Pakistan remains committed to the goal of a peaceful and stable South Asia,” pointing out that Islamabad, over two decades, proposed a number of initiatives to promote peace and security and prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons in South Asia.

But, he lamented, none of those proposals elicited a positive response. The event was held as the highlevel annual debate in the General Assembly Hall came to an end. “In South Asia, nuclear weapons ca-

pability was introduced by one state in 1974,” the Pakistani envoy said, in a thinly-veiled reference to India. “That state also initiated the South Asia nuclear weapons explosions in 1998. Pakistan was compelled to follow suit in order to restore strategic stability and deter the aggression with which Pakistan was threatened immediately after our neighbour’s nuclear weapons explosions of 11th May 1998.”

Following the 1998 nuclear tests, he said, Pakistan proposed the establishment of a Strategic Restraint Regime (SRR) in South Asia, to be premised on three interlocking and mutually reinforcing elements of conflict resolution, nuclear and missile restraint and conventional arms balance.

“The proposal remains on the table,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s security policy continues to be defined by restraint and responsibility and avoidance of a mutually debilitating arms race in the region. Backing all international efforts seeking to promote fair and equitable solutions to disarmament and non-proliferation challenges, the envoy said, adding that meaningful progress on nuclear disarmament can only be achieved through fulfilment of the obligations undertaken by leading nuclear weapon states; resisting global or regional dominance by any state or group of states; addressing the threats to peace and security.

Imran secures bail extension over violation of administrative authority

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

A district and sessions court in Islamabad extended until October 13 the interim bail of former prime minister Imran Khan and the leadership of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party in a case pertaining to violation of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The law empowers district administration to issue orders in the public interest that may place a ban on an activity for a specific period of time. Such a ban is enforced by the police who register cases under section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for violations of the ban. Section 188 carries a

maximum penalty of six months in prison or a fine, or both.

In August, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Khan on charges of flouting a ban on public gatherings exceeding four persons imposed under Section 144 by holding a rally to protest against the arrest and purported torture of Shehbaz Gill, his chief of staff, in Islamabad on the 20th.

Babar Awan, counsel for Khan, appeared before the judge on his client’s behalf and sought exemption from court appearance for the former prime minister.

Khan is currently in Lahore and, therefore cannot attend court, Awan said, requesting the judge to extend his bail period.

pm lauds ksA leadership for provision of relief assistance

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday thanked the leadership and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for their strong expression of support for the flood victims in Pakistan, including provision of relief assistance through establishing an air bridge between the Kingdom and Pakistan. The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting with Ambassador of the KSA to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Al Malkiy who called on him. To sustain the upward trajectory in bilateral relations, the prime minister underscored the importance of regular bilateral exchanges at various levels. He also conveyed his cordial greetings for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. The prime minister recalled his recent telephonic conversation with the crown prince and said that there was a shared desire to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in diverse fields. The prime minister also appreciated the important contribution of the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in relief efforts, who personally visited flood-affected areas.

Staff RepoRt

four militants killed in quetta: police

QUETTA: The counter-terrorism unit of Balochistan police shot dead four members of a proscribed organisation in Quetta on Tuesday, it said. The encounter occurred in the Hazar Ganji neighbourhood of the provincial when a truck was asked to stop at the checkpost, the police said. But instead of stopping their vehicle, the militants opened fire at the police. In retaliatory fire, the attackers were killed on the spot. The deceased were smuggling heroin to Karachi from Quetta. The consignment was taken into custody by the team, the police said. Staff RepoRt

UNITED NATIONS Staff RepoRt

CM ELAHi ANNouNCEs CoLoNiEs, FREE

MEdiAL FACiLiTiEs FoR LAwyERs

LAHorE staff report

PUNJABChief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Tuesday announced that lawyers’ housing colonies would be established in every tehsil and district of the province and their families would be provided free medical facilities equal to gazetted officers.

He was talking to a delegation of Supreme Court lawyers led by Barrister

Ali Zafar, Abid Zubairi and Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui who called on him at CM’s office to discuss different matters.

Former federal minister Moonis Elahi, Advisor Amer Saeed Raan, and Hasaan Niazi Advocate were also present.

The chief minister announced the restoration of public defender act without any delay and added that around 1500 lawyers would be accommodated through this act. He announced the construction of a parking plaza near the Shah Chirag building and a service structure for the public prosecution de-

PM forms high powered panel to probe audio leaks

conTinUEd from pAgE 01

Shehbaz Sharif said during his address to the UN General Assembly, he forcefully presented Pakistan’s view-point and stance on the issues of Kashmir, Palestine and Islamophobia. He said the plight of Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), atrocities in the IIOJK, August 5, 2019 illegal action of India in the IIOJK, and the treatment meted out to Muslims in India were also highlighted in the address. The prime minister said during his visit to the United States to attend the UN General Assembly he was effectively assisted by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, and others. About his visit to UK, the prime minister said besides representing Pakistan at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, he also attended the reception hosted by King Charles, who expressed sincere sympathies for the flood-hit people of Pakistan and talked fondly about the friendly ties. Shehbaz Sharif said he also thanked the United Kingdom for the 15 million pounds flood relief assistance.

NAB tells LHC Maryam Nawaz’s passport ‘not required any more’

conTinUEd from pAgE 01

However, it was before the government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition appointed Aftab Sultan, a former chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) who former prime minister Imran Khan accused of assisting the PML-N in selecting its candidates for the general elections in 2018, as the new chairman of the bureau.

Interestingly, Sultan himself is a suspect in a reference NAB approved in 2020 against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly illegal purchase of 73 high-security vehicles for the security of foreign dignitaries. The suspects are accused of favouritism and illegal use of vehicles, causing a loss of over Rs1,952 million to the national exchequer.

Who is Soomro Sharif bridge?

iSLAmABAd Mian abrar

While Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is flying high these days, there is a PTI lawmaker who is in an indirect contact with former Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif.

Informed sources have told this scribe that PTI’s sitting MNA and former caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro is in indirect contact with senior Sharif but the talks are in an initial stage. The sources said that Soomro’s nephew, Jawad Sohrab Malik — a billionaire Pakistani businessman from Islamabad — is the link between the two and is very close to Sharifs.

The sources said that Nawaz Sharif also held his recent meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to decide the fate of Miftah Ismail at Jawad Sohrab Malik’s flat in a bid to keep the location of the meeting a secret.

“The first of the three meetings on this issue was not held at Hasan Nawaz Sharif’s office but at the apartment of Jawad Sohrab Malik. The second meeting was also held on Saturday between Sharif brothers, Ishaq Dar and

partment. He announced to repair the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) and hostel buildings and said that the PBC building was completed in his last tenure. “I have always prioritized the welfare of the legal fraternity and issues of Supreme Court lawyers will be resolved on a priority basis” he said.

Practical work would be visible in the next few days while his doors were always open to the lawyers’ community, he added.

The delegation thanked the CM for the solution to their problems and

noted that the work done by Parvez Elahi in his last tenure was still remembered by the people.

Jahangir Jhoja, Arshad Jehangir Jhoja, Asif Cheema, Manzoor Warraich, Saqib Gondal, Sardar Tariq, Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, Basharat Gul, Muhammad Jahanzeb, Rana Zulfiqar, Nadir Dogal, Mukhtar Ranjha, Safdar Bosal, Ch. Munawar, Ameer Abbas, Waheed Raja, Agha Usma, Sahibzada Amjad Nawaz, Shamshad Malhi, Mudassar Warraich, Muhammad Nawaz and others were included in the delegation.

Murtaza urges int’l companies to introduce modern agricultural machinery

iSLAmABAd staff report

Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mahmood on Tuesday urged the international companies manufacturing agricultural equipment to introduce modern machinery in Pakistan to increase per hectare yield and to minimize the loss of grain.

A four-member delegation, headed by Manager Agriculture Machinery Overseas Service Department of Japan based Kutoba Corporation Haruhiko

Nakano, called on him here, said a press release.

While discussing a complete ban on import of used and reconditioned machinery, the minister said that the move would create massive job creation opportunities in the country.

Murtaza assured the delegation to provide all possible facilities to the corporation for installing their assembly lines in Pakistan for agricultural machinery.

“This would not only help us in minimizing import bill but also, government could generate revenue by exporting machines to

other countries,” the minister added. He urged the delegation to manufacture spare parts in Pakistan in order to increase the acceptance of new machinery among the farmers.

The delegation told the minister that it had developed various kinds of agricultural machinery, including engines for agricultural machines, tractors, combine harvesters and rice transplanters.

The delegation said that the corporation was ready to support Pakistani farmers by addressing their needs in the agriculture sector.

Pakistan Army continues relief operation in flood-hit areas of Balochistan

QUETTA staff report

Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps Balochistan continued relief and rehabilitation operations in the flood-affected areas of Balochistan, said a handout on Tuesday.

Inter Services Public Relations Balochistan chapter said “Pak Army along with the civil administration is carrying out relief activities in the calamity-stricken areas of the province.

While giving details of the ongoing relief operation, it said that as many as 14 relief camps are working in the flood affected areas of Kohlu, Bolan, Sibi, Dera Murad

a few others at the same apartment. It was initially reported that the meeting was being held at a secret location but the curtains and furniture of the apartment was a give-away that it was not in the Avenfield flats, Ishaq Dar’s house or Hasan Nawaz’s office,” the sources said.

While media persons ran to several locations to track the movements of PMLN leaders on Saturday when the pictures of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif whispering into each other’s ears emerged and the second picture showed a wider room featuring Ishaq Dar in the frame of three at an upscale building. Later, it emerged that the meeting was held at Jawad Sohrab Malik’s apartment which is located in an upscale block of flats in central London’s expensive area – mostly populated by Arabs from Middle East and Russians.

The third and last meeting on Sunday was also held at the same apartment which was also attended by Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Malik Ahmed Khan. It’s at this meeting where the decision was taken that Ishaq Dar would accompany PM Sharif in his plane to take oath on Tuesday as Finance Minister of Pakistan.

Jawad Malik has several business interests in the Middle East, Pakistan and the UK. Jawad Sohrab Malik is known to have maintained connections in the power corridors in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. When contacted, Jawad Sohrab Malik refused to comment over the matter.

corporate corner

FBR Enabled Refund Adjustment Tab in Return Forms for Facilitation of Taxpayers

Federal Board of Revenue has received a number of representations from various Tax bars, businesses and other stakeholders on the issue of non-availability of refund adjustment tab in the return forms available in the Iris, an online portal of FBR for return filing. In order to ensure smooth filing of returns and to improve ease of doing business and decrease cost of compliance of taxpayers, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has enabled refund adjustment tab in the return forms. This facility will enable taxpayers to adjust their pending refund claims against admitted liability of TY 2022 at the time of filing of tax returns who had filed applications to claim their outstanding refunds of previous years. In this regard it is informed that refunds applications filed up to 27.09.2022 are eligible for adjustment of refunds. This facility is available to all taxpayers who have not claimed excess adjustment against previous years’ refunds. pr

Jamali, Jafarabad, Nasirabad, Sohabatpur and Jhal Magsi districts where 17880 flood-hit people were provided with cooked food along with other facilities.

During the last 24 hours, as many as 3070 ration packets, 12150 water bottles, tea leaves, 2000 blankets, 4589 mosquito nets, warm clothes, hygiene kits were distributed in Bolan, Sibi, Kalat, Khuzdar, Awaran, Jafarabad, Nasirabad, Jhal Magsi and Sahabatpur districts.

“The process of water drainage is also going on from many areas of the province including Sahabpur,” ISPR further said.

Meanwhile, FC Balochistan is providing full assistance to the calamity-hit people for the construction and

repair of their damaged houses in Qila Saifullah by providing them steel garders, doors and paint and other construction materials.

Under the supervision of Pakistan Army and FC Balochistan, 6 collection points were also established in Quetta for the relief of flood victims so that timely assistance can be provided to the deserving people.

“A total of 68 free medical camps were organized by Pakistan Army, FC Balochistan, PDMA and welfare organizations during the last 24 hours to control epidemics and other diseases in the flood-affected districts, in which 6853 patients were treated, The handout further noted that efforts are afoot to restore the means of transportation at earliest.

A high-level delegation of e& led by CEO International, e&, Mikhali Gerchuk called on Federal Secretary IT, Mohsin Mushtaq to discuss matters pertaining to telecom industry in Pakistan and its significance in economic growth. President & Group CEO PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf was also present on the occasion. pr

Despite talks with TTP continuing

No end to attacks by the network

The Army’s talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have remained shrouded in secrecy. What had perturbed many was the TTP’s demand to undo the merger of FATA with KP which had been effected through a constitutional amendment. For others in KP who had opposed the TTP and were on the hit list of the terrorist network any possibility of general amnesty for the TTP was a perturbing idea. While the PMl(N) was averse to meddling in security affairs, some of the coalition partners, particularly the PPP, insisted that Parliament must be taken on board on the issue of talks.

in June a meeting on national security attended by the civil and military leadership, decided that the talks with the proscribed TTP would be held only under the framework of the Constitution. it was also decided that an in-camera briefing would be held on the matter and later the prime minister would take Parliament into confidence. however secrecy continues to prevail regarding agreementsreached with the terrorist network. A number of incidents led to conjectures that the TTP had been offered safe passage back to Pakistan from Afghanistan in exchange for unspecified measures to be taken by the militant network.

in July Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed that local administration and police in southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had become “powerless” as armed people were “ruling” those areas. in lower Dir a vehicle carrying a PTi MPA was fired at, injuring the lawmaker seriously while killing four of his companions. in Swat, which had passed through a nightmare during the takeover by the TTP, there were protest rallies across the district against the recent wave of militancy. The iSPR however dismissed the reports as grossly exaggerated and misleading.

Recently terrorist attacks have taken place in Swat, Mardan, North Waziristan South Waziristan and parts of Balochistan, like harnai, bordering Afghanistan. Questions therefore continue to be raised about the ongoing negotiations with the TTP. expressing unhappiness over terrorist activity in Swat, Supreme Court puisne judge Mr Justice Qazi Faez isa has expressed surprise over negotiations with being held with terrorists and wondered what was being offered to them and by whom. There is a need for transparency in dealings with the TTP to avoid doubts and suspicions.

Leaks probe

A national security issue

iNTeRiOR minister Rana Sanaullah has chosen to somewhat downplay the matter of audio recordings of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior PMl(N) leaders, stating that the private conversations did not necessarily take place at Prime Minister’s Office and only an inquiry, which has been ordered, could determine that. That is certainly not how the PM is looking at this problem, terming it a ‘very serious lapse’ at a presser yesterday, calling a meeting of the NSC and constituting a high-level committee to conduct a probe. The recording apparatus used seems to be a bugging device rather than a phone tap, which raises a number of pertinent questions that are likely to have some very dangerous and uncomfortable answers. how long has the bug been in place? Are there multiple ones in different rooms? how did they get there in the first place? There are reports of a much larger cache of recordings being out there and the data is being used to blackmail the government for money. it’s therefore possible that similar leaks, possibly involving senior politicians, bureaucrats and heads of important state institutions, come to the fore later. PM Shehbaz Sharif rightly pointed out that this incident will have far reaching diplomatic consequences as foreign officials who regularly visit PMO to discuss sensitive matters will hesitate to hold such meetings going forward.

Former PM imran Khan was of course bound to make political use of these audio leaks, being the government’s primary opponent. Apart from incorrectly accusing Mr Sharif of facilitating imports from india which are banned, he went after the Chief election Commissioner, even though he cannot be heard in any of the recordings leaked so far. The government must realize that until and unless there is a thorough investigation conducted by a highpowered independent JiT to ascertain what exactly happened, who is responsible and the scale of the breach, confidence in the security apparatus of the country will remain shaken. That the recordings are unlikely to be of the conventional nature, ones that are periodically released to damage the reputations of politicians, makes this matter much worse as the government and intelligence agencies no idea who is behind it.

How democrats lost white voters

once had been the backbone of their party.

During the Clinton Administration, i was invited to a chat with the President. i began by telling him about my old neighborhood in Upstate New York. it was largely italian American and immigrant, with three generations living in two-family post-war duplexes. Most had good union jobs in the cotton mills a few blocks away. When the mills closed and moved their operations overseas, thousands lost their livelihood and were forced to move looking for alternative employment.

extended family ties severed as older folks were left behind. And nuclear families were also threatened by looming economic disaster. homes were abandoned and left to disrepair as the city’s population dropped from 100,000, to 58,000.

grant descent, i pointed out that by ignoring them, we had lost legislative elections in Midwestern states and that the impact of those losses would be devastating to all voters in those states. i asked that in addition to focusing on “our base” the party directed more resources toward winning their votes, as well. his response was “We can’t waste money on groups that aren’t ever going to vote for us.”

While pundits will be focused on which party retains control of the Senate and Congress, there is a deeper issue at stake in this election: the polarization that has made our political system dysfunctional. Because Democrats and Republicans speak only to their “base voters” the divisions only become deeper with each election. For Democrats, the problem is that they have not only lost the support of many white voters, but show little interest in making the changes that will win them back.

When trying to understand how Democrats lost white working class voters, four stories come to mind: in 1984, both President Ronald Reagan who was running for re-election and his challenger, former Vice-president Walter Mondale, appeared before the National italian American Foundation dinner. Mondale was accompanied by his running mate, Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, an italian American. Mondale’s speech was a string of “i’m for this or that” and was met with an unenthusiastic response. in fact, his only applause lines were when he mentioned his running mate’s name.

Reagan began his remarks with “My grandmother, like yours, came to this country with nothing but her hopes and dreams for a better life and the determination to work hard to improve her lot in life. i stand before the inheritor of her dreams and the beneficiary of her hard work.” When he finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room because the hollywood actor had let them know that he understood their story. i left upset, because Reagan gave the speech that Democrats had always given and Mondale demonstrated that he, like too many other Democrats, had forgotten how to connect with the very voters that

When i asked Clinton what could be done about this, his immediate response was, “we’re never getting those jobs back. instead we have to invest in continuing education and retraining in hightech jobs.” i was startled since it was clear that he had never met my 50 or 60 year old neighbours and his flippant answer showed no understanding of or compassion for their plight and needs.

During the 2008 elections, i had a prominent Republican conservative activist on my TV show. he was making the traditional Republican arguments about lower taxes, cutting government, and deregulation, when i asked him “if that’s the case, why do your candidates spend so much time railing against abortion, immigration, and racial justice.” he responded, “Those are shiny objects we dangle in front of angry voters to win their support, so we can win elections in order to pursue our economic policies.”

Then in 2014, after Democrats had suffered terrible losses nationwide, i was at a meeting of the party leadership where the party’s pollster made a presentation of the results. he noted that the election wasn’t as bad as some thought because Democrats had won handsome majorities of its base vote - which he spelled out to mean young people, educated women, and Black, latino, and Asian voters. The problem was that despite winning these groups, Democrats didn’t win enough of them and so needed to spend more to turn out more of these voters.

Since i chaired the party’s council that represents voters of european and Mediterranean ethnic immi-

The point is that Democrats lost touch with white ethnic voters and like the Republicans were pursuing their own version of “either-or” politics.” They spoke to liberal “elites” and their “base,” but ignored or insulted others. As a result they left the field wide open for Republicans to prey off the fears of the white working class to win their support. They were losing jobs, seeing the values they had been taught to believe now called into question, feeling the “American Dream” that had inspired them was now beyond reach and that Democrats weren’t paying attention to them. The issue wasn’t race, per se, rather it was the feeling of having been abandoned and vulnerable that had enabled Republicans to exploit race, immigration, or cultural change as reminders of their fear of being ignored by Democrats and left behind. A recent University of Maryland poll found that “white Americans see an increase in discrimination against other white people and less against other racial groups.” More than just a lack of empathy, poorer whites feel a sense of abandonment.

This November, Democrats have a chance to turn this around. in Pennsylvania and Ohio they have nominated candidates, John Fetterman and Tim Ryan, who speak to the frustrations and aspirations of white working class voters. Although their policies differ, as Fetterman is somewhat more politically progressive than Ryan, both address themselves to the needs of those who’ve lost jobs and are struggling with a changing economy. They haven’t abandoned critical issues like women’s rights and racial equity, but present them in the context of policies that are good for everyone. That is the way forward for Democrats both to defeat Trumpism and become a party that can govern in the best interests of all Americans.

The writer is President, Arab American Institute.

Flood-induced migration in Sindh

IT is anticipated that between 25 million to 1 billion people will migrate by 2050 due to climate change. hence, climate-induced displacement directly impacts urban life because most of the migrants move toward cities to seek a safe and better life. Alone in 2022, 30 million people have been displaced in the world by climate-related disasters. According to Anadolu Agency, a Turkish-basednews agency, about 0.7 million people migrate annually from rural to urban areas in Pakistan owing to floods and droughts. Pakistan has experienced large and small natural disasters since its inception. These disasters included floods, earthquakes, windstorms, droughts, and more; these catastrophizesdestroyed the infrastructure, lives, livestock, livelihood, health, education, communication, business, qnd suchlike. The 2022 rain-flood has been the worst natural calamity in the history of Pakistan which affected and damaged it more than the indian Ocean tsunami 2004, the Kashmir earthquake 2005, haiti earthquake of 2010 and even 2010 flood. Thus, hundreds of thousands of people have been compelled to live on the roadside since the pouring rain of August in Sindh that hit more than 50 million people. Reuters reported that Sindh has been the most affected province by this ‘’unprecedented climate change’’ that received 471 percent of the rain, which has not been observed for 30 years. According to Sherry Rehman, federal Minister of Climate Change, one-third of the country has been submerged through this heavy monsoon rain. The flood has impacted more than two million acres of which Sindh has the highest share of 1.54 million acres. About 3000 km of roads and 145 bridges have either been severely damaged or destroyed. NDMA reported that 80 districts of the country have been declared as ‘calamity-hit’ including 23 districts of Sindh. Approximately, 896,000 houses have been destroyed, 386,039 houses have been under flood water and more than 135,710 households become internally displaced persons (iDPs) in Sindh. Moreover, 116,65 entirely and more than 0.3 million partially houses have been destroyed. Addition-

ally, the death ratio has also been enhanced up to 1500 and 12,728 have been injured in which southern areas of Sindh have reported 578 deaths and 8,321 injuries. The government has estimated the loss of $30 billion as well as declared a national emergency on 30 August 2022 and appealed to national and international donors for aid.

CM Sindh, Murad Ali Shah talked to the media on 11 September by saying that about 30 million people have become iDPs, and more than Rs 53.3 billion have been lost by the agriculture and livestock sectors only. Furthermore, he added, it will take three to six months to drain the flood water. in fact, most of the rural areas of Sindh have been badly hit by unprecedented heavy rain. Kacha houses, made up of mud, have been destroyedby the flash floods in rural villages of Sindh. Similarly, the flood water retreated within days in KPK and Balochistan but it receded for weeks in Punjab, and months in Sindh due to the level terrain of Sindh. Therefore, the infrastructure of rural areas had adversely impacted, and people were trapped in their villages because most of the roads were either submerged or cut off to evacuate the flood water.

The recent unprecedented flood of 2022 caused a huge displacement which has broken the previous record in the history of Pakistan. Sindh and Balochistan are the worst impacted provinces regarding the loss of humans and infrastructure. environmental migration is a kind of forced migration in which the people are not ready to leave their prior region (homes), therefore the government compelled them to leave their homes during these unprecedented flash floods especially in Dadu, and Khairpur Nathan Shah. According to a survey of SRSO, Karachi and

Tharparkar are the least affected areas by this natural calamity. Moreover, 50-60 p of flood victim people of Dadu, Khairpur, and Naushero Feroz districts of Sindh have either permanently migrated to safe cities, especially Karachi, or at least in the short term. Thereafter a month of rain, most of the impacted areas such as Dadu, Mehar, Khairpur, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Benazir Abad, among others have been under water and they are looking forward to aid.

During the flood of 2010 in which two million people were displaced, 70 percent of flood victims could not go back to their homes and consequently, they migrated to urban areas. in the last decade, the ratio of the urban population has increased from 35.27 percent to 37.4 percent and it is estimated that it will reach 50 percent by 2030. According to the census of 2017, Sindh is the most urbanized province of Pakistan with a ratio of 52.02 percent and it was 48.75 percent in the 1998 census. Thus, the current unprecedented heavy rain in Sindh has also enhanced the ratio of migration from rural to urban areas. Resultantly, the rural life of Sindh has gradually been devastated by this natural catastrophe as well as the mismanagement of the provincial government.

it has been disclosed that 54 percent of the total urban population of Pakistan lives in ten big cities. however, there are 540 towns excluding big cities existing in Pakistan thus, the remaining population is living in these towns. We must have to facilitate these towns at a large scale in the field of education, health, housing, and livelihood infrastructure to mitigate the migration of rural areas. To avert climate-induced migration, the government should have to invest in rural areas as well as provide essential services to flood-affected people.

The writer can be reached at aliasad326@gmail.com

asaDullah mahesar

washington watch Dr James J Zogby

The issue wasn’t race, per se, rather it was the feeling of having been abandoned and vulnerable that had enabled Republicans to exploit race, immigration, or cultural change as reminders of their fear of being ignored by Democrats and left behind.

It has been disclosed that 54 percent of the total urban population of Pakistan lives in ten big cities. However, there are 540 towns excluding big cities existing in Pakistan thus, the remaining population is living in these towns.

The majority of displaced people won’t go

Editor’s mail

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

Laws of nature

iNSTeAD of making proper plans to avoid a catastrophe in future, people generally seem to be busy looking up to the skies. The best way to minimise damage and loss is to understand the laws of nature and find ways to not to come in their way. For instance, a simple law is that water flows from high to low levels and the only way to avoid its wrath is not to hinder its course. We should find the course of water and must not obstruct it by building any kind of structure. it’s as simple as that.

Khayyam Durrani Karachi

University road woes

ReCeNT rains in Karachi have badly affected the University Road, making it difficult and hazardous for students to commute to and from the university every day. They are almost always late for the classes and, on the way back, they get to their homes much later than they used to before the recent rains. Relevant quarters should take up the matter on an urgent basis.

UMAIMA KHAN KARACHI

A maiden visit to UNGA

onrushing water which had washed away large number of villages, demolished and destroyed thousands of houses and massively uprooting trees and infrastructure facilities in all the four provinces, but mostly in Sindh and Balochistan.

Pakistan was paying heavy price for the doings of the developed countries in the context of emission of gas causing global warming, the Prime Minister said, warning the world at large that if nothing was done in concrete terms then the global warming menace would not remain confined to his country and move onwards to other countries sooner or later.

While dilating on his country’s relations with other countries, Shehbaz quite rightly pointed out that Pakistan was a peace loving country and believed in having cordial good relations with all countries, particularly its neighbours, including india.

linked with durable and lasting peace and securing in neighbouring Afghanistan, so all should join hands with Pakistan to avoiding another civil war, rising terrorism, dug trafficking or flow of new Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries. While calling for immediate release of the frozen funds of Afghanistan, he went on to call for greater humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan helping them to avert looming threats of hunger and health crisis. The UNGA was further told that isolating the Afghan interim government could only add to the suffering of Afghan people who are already destitute and that Pakistan was engaged in encouraging due respect for the rights of Afghan girls and women to education and work.

Austerity

WiThOUT taking proper economic measures, such as strict enforcement of austerity in all matters, any amount of loan will not improve the country’s economic conditions.

One fails to understand why the government does not stop extravagant expenditure, such as giving luxury cars and bungalows to government officials who draw monthly salaries in six and seven figures. if vehicles are not provided free, they get drivers, petrol and maintenance allowances. Their bungalows come with free electricity, gas, water, phones and servants; all paid by taxpayers’ money. Why can’t we get out of this arrangement? This step alone will ensure massive savings. in China, the government had withdrawn the facility of official cars to its staff, saving billions every year. And China did it despite the fact that its foreign exchange reserves were worth over a trillion dollars. it was done because it needed to be done in the name of rationality. Why can’t Pakistan take such prudent measures to reduce expenses? We need to do it out of necessity; not just rationality. When the common man earning a monthly income of, say, Rs25-30,000 has to pay for petrol to keep his motorcycle functional, why cannot the highly paid officials pay for it? When the common man has to pay for electricity, gas, water and just about everything, why cannot the officials do the same?

ZAFAR IQBAL KARACHI

MDCAT

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) ‘s 77th session commenced in New York on September 20 and continued for a week till September 26.

More than 140 heads of state, heads of government and state representatives were there to participate in the UNGA deliberations as a number of heads of state and government addressed the forum deliberating on matters of bilateral and international interests and concerns .

Pakistan was represented at the UNGA this time by Prime Minister Muhmmad Shehbaz Sharif, this being his first visit there ever since he assumed power in April 2022. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs hina Rabbani Khar, and Federal Minister for information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, among others.

The Prime Minister addressedthe UNGA as scheduled on September 23 and put forth Pakistan’s case quite convincingly and strongly while highlightingthe plight and miseries of the large number of people affected by unprecedented flash floods and heaviest rains, plainly telling thatthe massive devastation and destruction in not parts of the country due tofloods and rains was the most adverse impact of the climate change, ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts while one third of the country still was under flood water according to the country’ s available limited resources, and emphatically called for continued excessive flow of relief goods for the floods victims from friendly countries and international humanitarian organizations.

Planes loads of relief goods from more and more countries were landing every other day at islamabad and Karachi Airports quite frequently but Pakistan needed much more help and assistance from the international community and organizations for continuing massive relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the infrastructure in the flood-hit areas and also saving the flood-hit people from onrushing winter season. The Prime Minister said quite rightly that the flood-affected people were now exposed to epidemics arising from waterborne diseases and they also needed medicines for recovering from these killing diseases.

The UNGA was told that more than 30 million people, including women and children, have perished in the heaviest ever rains, and floods’

Offering the olive branch to india, the Prime Minister went on to saythere can be no durable peace and stability in the region unless the lingering Kashmir dispute was resolved peacefully in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions by granting the birthright of self-determination to the oppressed, suppressed and struggling people of indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir as huge occupying indian security forces are continuing their brutalities and atrocities and killing innocent unarmed Kashmiri youth every day .

The Prime Minister further pointedly stated that india should reverse its unilateral action of 5 August 2019 ending special status of the occupied territory andcontinuously persisting with measures to change demography of occupied Jammu and Kashmir in an attempt to turn the4 Muslim majority into a minority by issuing millions of fake domicile certificates .to hindus and settling thethem there in flagrant violations of all international laws .

While discussing the emerging menace of islamophobia .in india and other countries around the world, the prime minister pointedly and quite emphatically stated that officially sponsored campaign of oppression against india’s 200 million Mulsims was the worst manifestationof state terrorism being undertaken by indian government in furthrance of islamphobia.The world body and its member states should take concrete measures to combat islamphobia and promote interfaith harmony as the UNGA had only earlythis year had adopted a resolution which was moved by Pakistan with suport of oter islamic countries declarng March 15 as the international Day toCombat islamophobia, the UNGA forum was rightly reminded.

As regards Afghanistan, the prime minister said that peace and stability in Pakistan was

it is worth mentioning here pointedly that the prime minister was there in New York for five days on hi maiden visit for addressing UNGA and availed the opportunity to interact face to face with number of heads of state and of government who were gathered for the UNGA session and apprised them aboutthe havoc which heavy floods and rains had wreaked on a large number of people in Pakistan, urging and exhorting them for more and more help and assistancefor relief, rehabilitationof the large number of people rendered homelessby unprecedented rains and floods caused by heat wave ,overcoming huge losses to the standing crops and reconstruction of massively destroyed and uprooted infrastructure in floodand rains-hit areas as early as possible.

it was good to note that the heads of state and of government, as well as chiefs of international financial and humanitarian institutionsand organizations, with whom the prime minister interacted on the sidelines of the UNG, expressed their sympathies and solidarity with flood-hit people, assured in most casesof their assistance for helping in relief and rehabilitation ofthe suffering people and infrastructure facilitiesreconstruction and also for economic stability to the maximum extent possible in quite positive and appreciable manner.

The prime minister’s maiden visit can easily be termed as quite successful, productive and result-oriented despite it being his first visit there.

The prime minister, who was visiting floodhit areas across the country, could have avoided going to New York and addressed the UNGA session virtually but then he would not have got the opportunity to interact with large number of world leaders at the UNGA as he did during his stay there. he should keep these good, positive and profitable activities going on in the right direction for the welfare and well-being of the people at large without any political or other considerations and working for a stable national economy.

The writer can be reached at zahidriffat@gmail.com

POSTPONiNG the medical and dental college admission test (MDCAT) indefinitely for medical colleges is short-sighted and totally unnecessary. Nations with living and healthy morale carry on the good work to maintain quality in every field of life, especially education. No matter what happens, life goes on. And it should. We must get up and start with a new vigour. Medical education in Pakistan has deteriorated so much in the recent past that there is a warning from the World Federation for Medical education (WFMe) of derecognising Pakistani doctors in the United States and europe from 2023. instead of improving the quality of entrance test, we are postponing/cancelling it. This is like destroying medical education, i am afraid. We should wake up from our deep slumber and act beyond petty politics on a war footing to improve our image by meeting the requirements outlined by the WFMe if Pakistani doctors want to continue to compete internationally. Also, the national licensing examination (Nle) must be revived to satisfy the WFMe, while MDCAT should be held as soon as possible to keep medical education on track.

PROF SERAJUDDAULA SYED KARACHI

Alarming situation

JUST when flood victims were thanking their stars for being alive, they realised that the emerging health crisis is just as bad as the floods were. Dengue and malaria are rampant across the country but have escalated in the flood-hit areas. Dengue has become a health emergency to deal with. Moreover, the current shortage of basic medicines, like Panadol, is making things worse. The municipal authorities need to speed up the process of destroying breeding points of mosquitoes.

WUSATULLAH RUSTAMANI HYDERABAD

Unhygienic condition at BUHMS

The Bolan University of health and Medical Sciences (BUhMS) is the only medical university in Balochistan. The unhygienic condition prevailing on the premises, especially in hostel washrooms and canteens, is unworthy of a medical education institution. Those who are trained to treat patients are becoming patients themselves as the intensity of viral and bacterial infections is severe on the premises. The authorities should wake up to the reality and do the needful.

ZOHAIB M HASSANI NASEERABAD

Is NLE fair?

eVeN though the national licensing examination (Nle), conducted for both national and foreign medical students, is a computerised affair, it still takes the relevant authorities two weeks to announce the results. The result of computerised tests should not take more than a few hours. Moreover, it is strange that 80 per cent of national graduates passed the test compared to only 6pc of foreign graduates. every three months, the foreign graduates need to pay a hefty amount of Rs12,000 for sitting the exam again. is it fair?

LATIF KHAN

The prime minister, who was visiting flood-hit areas across the country, could have avoided going to New York and addressed the UNGA session virtually but then he would not have got the opportunity to interact with large number of world leaders at the UNGA as he did during his stay there.

muhammaD ZahiD rifat

PM used the visit to push for flood relief

hIndu natIonalIsts now pose a gloBal proBlem

al Jazeera somDeep sen

InDIa’s Hindu right wing has long advocated for its vision across the world.

Overseas offshoots of Prime Minister narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have helped in this, as have allied groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council.

now, recent events in Leicester in the United Kingdom suggest that their dream of propagating Hindutva, their political philosophy, is coming true in new ways – violently, on the streets of cities far from India.

On september 17, young Hindu men marched through the streets of Leicester, chanting “Jai sri ram” – now a Hindu nationalist war cry – and attacking Muslims. This is the muscular brand of Hindu pride and chauvinism that Hindu nationalists have always aspired to.

These tensions have been in the offing. In May, a Muslim teenager in Leicester had to be hospitalised after an unprovoked attack by a Hindu crowd. In august after India’s

win against Pakistan in a cricket match, a Hindu group walked through the streets chanting “Death to Pakistan” before attacking a sikh man. There were similar reports after a second cricket match between the two countries that India lost. In response, groups of Muslim men have also held protests – in one instance, a man pulled down a flag from outside a Hindu religious centre.

There is, of course, a long history of Hindu nationalist and Conservative Party collaboration in the UK. In the lead-up to the 2016 London mayoral elections, Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith sent antiMuslim campaign literature to Hindus and sikhs to bring down his Muslim opponent, sadiq Khan, of the Labour Party. On the eve of the 2019 UK general elections, there were reports that Hindu nationalist groups in the country were actively campaigning for Conservative candidates, since Labour’s then-leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had criticised the Modi government’s 2019 crackdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir actions represented attempts at influencing an overseas election. However, this is not just a UK problem. The scourge of Hindu nationalism has gone global.

‘TRUE FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE’ Like in the UK, Hindu nationalists have actively campaigned for right-wing, Islamophobic candidates in the United states. This was apparent during the 2016 presidential elections when Hindu groups went all out in their efforts to mobilise Hindu americans for republican candidates.

In 2015 an Indian american lobby, the republican Hindu Coalition (rHC), was launched by Chicago-based businessman

shalabh Kumar, who has had close ties to Modi. Its members donated to former Us President Donald Trump’s campaign and the rHC supported him as he ran for the presidency. at an event with the group ahead of the vote, Trump declared: “The Indian and Hindu community will have a true friend in the White House.” He also praised Modi, calling him a “great man,” and released a campaign video wooing Hindu americans.

ahead of the 2020 Us presidential election, Modi acted almost as a campaigner for Trump, holding two joint rallies with the realtor-turned-politician – one in ahmedabad, India, and the other in Houston, Texas. In the latter event, Modi seemed to give tacit backing to Trump’s re-election campaign, even uttering the phrase “ab ki baar, Trump sarkar (This time, it’s going to be a Trump government)”.

However, like in the UK, the Hindu right in the Us has now moved from electoral influence to demonstrations of street might. In august this year, bulldozers adorned with posters of Modi and the BJP chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi adityanath, appeared at an Indian Independence Day parade in edison, new Jersey, apparently celebrating the disturbing trend of local governments demolishing the homes of Muslim activists in India. Following criticism, the organiser – the Indian Business association – apologised for the incident.

OPEN THREATS: In Canada too, Hindu nationalists have been making waves. In December last year anti-sikh slogans and the Hindu swastika appeared outside a sikh school. Canadian academics have been harassed and faced death and rape threats from diaspora Hindutva supporters for criticising

a brief history of hollywood’s justification of Israeli war crimes

arabs and Palestinians continue to be vilified.

although Israel was represented in a positive light by Hollywood filmmakers, the Israelis themselves were quite marginal in the content creation process. Until recently, the Israeli construct was mostly built on behalf of Israel, not by Israel itself. “Things began to change in 1997,” wrote Brian schaefer in Moment Magazine. It was then that the La Federation’s entertainment Division and the Jewish agency launched the project, the Master Class, which: “For nearly 15 years… brought countless actors, directors, producers, agents, managers and top studio and network executives to Israel, introducing many of them to the country for the first time, and taught Israelis how to pitch their projects.”

tHe introduction of an Israeli Mossad agent as the latest Marvel movie character crosses the line, even by Hollywood’s poor moral standards. However, the Israeli superhero, sabra, must be understood within the rational progression of the Israelification of Hollywood, a phenomenon that is surprisingly new.

sabra is a relatively old character, dating back to Marvel comic The Incredible Hulk in 1980. On 10 september, however, it was announced that the Israeli character would be included in an upcoming Marvel film, Captain america: new World Order.

expectedly, many pro-Palestine activists in the Us and around the world fumed. It is one thing to introduce an ordinary Israeli character with the mere aim of normalising Israel, an unrepenting apartheid state, in the eyes of Marvel’s impressionable young audiences. However, it is far more sinister to normalise a state intelligence agency, Mossad, known for its numerous bloody assassinations, sabotage and torture.

By adding sabra to its cast of superheroes, Marvel studios has shown its complete disregard for the massive campaign by millions of fans around the world who, in 2017, protested the inclusion of former Israeli soldier Gal Gadot as Marvel’s Wonder Woman. Gadot is a vocal supporter of the Israeli government and military.

In response to the news, many rightly highlighted Hollywood’s inherent bias, starting in the 1960s movie exodus by Otto Preminger, with Paul newman as the lead actor. The film provided pseudo-historical justification for the colonisation of Palestine by the Zionists. ever since, Israel has been elevated, celebrated and included in an everpositive context by Hollywood, while Muslims,

The indoctrination of american actors and filmmakers through these visits and the introduction of many Israeli actors and filmmakers to Hollywood paid dividends, leading to a major change in the narrative on Israel. Instead of simply communicating Israel to american and international audiences using references to historical victimisation, positive association or even humour, Israelis began to make their case through Hollywood directly. and, unlike the haphazardness of past messages – good Israel, bad arabs – the new messages are far more sophisticated, tailored around specific ideas and designed with full awareness of the politics of each era.

steven spielberg’s movie Munich (2005) was released within the cultural context of the Us invasion of Iraq as part of Washington’s socalled “war on terror”, where human rights were violated on a global scale. Munich was a selective “historical” account of the supposedly difficult choices that Israel, namely Mossad, had to make to fight its own “war on terror”. That was the era when Tel aviv tirelessly underscored its affinity to Washington, now that both countries are purportedly victims of “Islamic extremists”.

Unlike Munich, the popular TV series Homeland was not just another pro-Israel american argument that justifies Israeli wars and violence. The series itself, one of the most racist, Islamophobic shows on television, was entirely modelled on the Israeli show HaTufim.

The writer and director of the Israeli show, Gideon raff, has been included in the american version, serving as an executive producer.

The change in the ownership of the narrative may seem superficial – as pro-Israel Hollywood propaganda is being replaced by organic Israeli propaganda. However, this is not the case.

The pro-Israel agenda of the past – the ro-

the Modi government in India.

In June, ron Banerjee, a Canadian Hindu nationalist openly called for the genocide of Muslims and sikhs. “It is awesome what Modi is doing,” Banerjee said, in an interview to a YouTube channel. “I support the killing of Muslims and sikhs in the republic of India because they deserve to die.”

australia too is witnessing an uptick in hate crimes committed by Hindus against Muslims and sikhs. One such attacker, Vishal sood, was eventually arrested for a series of attacks on sikhs, and was convicted and deported since his visa had expired. When he got back to India, he received a hero’s welcome.

attempts have also been made by Indian authorities in australia to silence critics of Modi and his Hindu nationalist policies. Thirteen academic fellows resigned from the australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne citing interference from the Indian High Commission and attempts to censor research and writing that presented an “unflattering” image of India.

WHY HAS HINDUTVA GONE GLOBAL? Undoubtedly, the rise of Hindu nationalism globally has much to do with the rise of Modi. since becoming prime minister in 2014, he has overseen a highly controversial citizenship reform that discriminates against Muslim asylum seekers, scrapped the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and built a temple at the location of a historic mosque demolished by Hindu hardliners in 1992. all while going after opposition leaders, activists and critics.

Modi’s success in delivering on Hindutva’s promises at home has inspired his supporters in the diaspora to exude a sense

of chauvinistic pride abroad. However, world leaders are guilty too, of legitimising Modi, giving this subsection of Hindu expatriates the conviction that their bigoted vision has some global cache. From Trump to former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and from former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin netanyahu to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, multiple rightwing politicians have presented themselves as “friends” of Modi.

even those Western leaders who do not have a particularly pronounced right-wing agenda have been keen to establish and develop their economic and strategic ties with India while turning a blind eye to the Modi government’s dismal human rights record.

WHAT IS NEXT? Islamophobia now appears to be a matter of public and foreign policy for India. The Indian High Commission in the UK responded to the events in Leicester by specifically referring only to the worries of the Hindu community there.

However, Leicester should serve as a wake-up call: Hindu nationalism cannot be ignored any more as a domestic, Indian issue. The movement has gone international – and is taking an increasingly violent form in other countries too. It is now a threat to democratic principles, equality and human rights everywhere. India under Modi will not address it. The world must.

Somdeep Sen is Associate Professor of International Development Studies at Roskilde University in Denmark. He is the author of Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial (Cornell University Press, 2020).

Iran lashes out at BrItaIn, norway over support for protests

manticisation that followed the creation of Israel in 1948 – did not last long. The Israeli defeat of arab armies in 1967 – thanks to the massive Us military support of Tel aviv – replaced the image of nascent, vulnerable Israel with that of the brave Israeli army, capable of defeating several militaries at once. It was then that Israeli soldiers toured Us colleges and schools, talking about their heroism on the battlefield. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent massacres, like that of sabra and shatila, forced a rethink.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Israel largely existed in Hollywood as comic relief, from shows like Friends, Frasier and, more recently, The Big Bang Theory. references to Israel were often followed by laughter – a clever and effective way of linking Israel with positive, happy associations. The “war on terror”, starting in 2001, coupled with the creation of the Master Class project, allowed Israel to return to the Hollywood universe, not as an occasional reference, but as a staple, with Israeli shows or joint Us-Israeli productions, defining a whole new genre: making difficult choices to fight terrorism and ultimately save the world.

The exploitation of Israeli women on magazine covers, for example, Maxim, was an entirely different shady business, catering to a different audience. The half-naked Israeli army girls have succeeded, in the minds of many, in justifying war through sexual imagery. This genre became particularly popular following the bloody Israeli wars on Gaza, which killed thousands.

Israel’s growing influence on Marvel movies is a combination of all of these elements: the sexualisation of the supposedly strong, empowered woman, the normalisation of those who carry out Israeli crimes – Gadot, the soldier, sabra, the Mossad agent – and the direct injection of Israeli priorities as part of everyday american reality. Yet, there is a silver lining. For decades, Israel has hidden behind false, romanticised historical notions, making its case to the Us and other Western public, often indirectly. The wars on Gaza, the exponential growth of the Palestinian boycott movement and the proliferation of social media have, however, forced Israel out of hiding.

The new Hollywood Israel is now a warrior, often forced to make difficult moral choices, but it is, like its american counterpart, ultimately a force for good. Whether Israel will succeed in maintaining this image will depend on several factors, including the pro-Palestinian communities’ ability to counter such falsehood and hasbara.

NatioNal iNterest Trevor FilseTh

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the British and norwegian ambassadors in Tehran over their support for the country’s ongoing protests. The Iranian government claimed the support has exacerbated tensions and created a “hostile atmosphere” for diplomacy.

British ambassador simon shercliff was called to the ministry on saturday as part of an official diplomatic protest to the British government for its hosting of three outlets—BBC Persian, Manoto TV, and Iran International TV, according to Iran’s official Irna news network. all three of the networks broadcast via satellite, which reaches greater distances and is more difficult to block than conventional television broadcasts.

The Foreign Ministry told shercliff that the three outlets had helped to “incite … violence and spread … riots,” claiming that they represented state-approved interference. It was particularly critical of Iran International, which it had previously accused of accepting funding from saudi arabia, Iran’s primary rival in the Persian Gulf region. Iran International has denied this accusation.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also questioned norwegian ambassador sigvald Hauge over “meddlesome” remarks made by the country’s parliament speaker, Masud Gharahkani, who was born in Iran and has voiced support for the protests. The Foreign Ministry’s meeting with Hauge occurred after Gharahkani posted a video to his Twitter page in which he spoke to demonstrators in Persian and voiced support for the protests. “Mahsa amini, 22, died after she was caught by morality police on the streets of Tehran,” the parliament speaker wrote in norwegian. “In the streets of Iran, young people are crying out for justice. They dream of the same freedom and democracy I have in my country, norway.” The Foreign Ministry claimed in a statement that Gharahkani’s remarks were “wrong” and “unconstructive” toward the two countries’ relationship.

as Tehran issued its complaints against London and Oslo over the weekend, the protest movement—sparked by the suspicious death of Mahsa amini, a twenty-two-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by the country’s morality police for failing to cover her hair in public—has continued to spread. By some accounts, major demonstrations have now taken place in nearly 150 cities across all of Iran’s thirty-one provinces, and Iran’s diplomatic posts abroad have also increasingly come under protest. The Iranian embassy in London has seen near-continuous demonstrations since amini’s death, and on saturday night, two unidentified men threw a Molotov cocktail at the Iranian embassy in athens, Greece, before escaping on a motorcycle.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

THE RECENT UK VIOLENCE SHOULD SERVE AS A WAKE-UP CALL. HINDU NATIONALISM IS NO LONGER A WORRY JUST IN INDIA

CANADIAN ACADEMICS HAVE BEEN HARASSED AND FACED DEATH AND RAPE THREATS FROM DIASPORA HINDUTVA SUPPORTERS FOR CRITICISING THE MODI GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

Middle east MoNitor

Dr ramzy BarouD

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the British and Norwegian ambassadors in Tehran over their support for the country’s ongoing protests

corner

KOrEA TO ASSIST ‘TrEE PlAnTATIOn’

In PAKISTAn TO COmbAT ClImATE ChAngE

ISLAMABAD Staff report

THEEmbassy of Korea in Pakistan would assist and encourage the “Tree Plantation” drive with the objective of supporting Pakistan in combating Climate Change.

Speaking at the inaugural of tree plantation event in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Korean Ambassador Suh Sangpyo appreciated the efforts of the Pakistan government and its citizens in Climate change mitigation and mentioned other green and sustainable development initiatives being undertaken and possibilities of cooperation.

The tree plantation activity held near the Shah Maqsood Interchange of the Hazara Motorway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was jointly organized by the Embassy of Korea, Forest Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pakistan said a news release.

The Ambassador also mentioned the significance of such plantation activities in restoring biodiversity and ecosystem amidst devastating floods crisis and global warming.

Senior officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest department, IUCN and Haripur University Faculty and students were present at the ceremony.

ADB vows support for mitigating climate change impact: President

will be channeled through existing and new projects in sectors including farm inputs, food production and distribution, social protection, irrigation, and water resources management, as well as projects leveraging nature-based solutions.

ADB will continue to invest in other activities which contribute to food security such as energy transition, transport, access to rural finance, environmental management, health, and education.

Pakistan Advertising Association elects new Chairman and CEC

Syed Jawaid Iqbal of CMC (Pvt) Ltd., has been elected (unopposed) as Chairman, Pakistan Advertising Association, the sole body representing the advertising profession and allied sectors, on national level.

Others elected (unopposed) include Brig (R) Muhammad Zubair Rehan (Creative Junction) as Senior Vice Chairman and Mr. Jawad Humayun (Channel 7 Communications) as Vice Chairman.

Mr. Fahd Khan (Manhattan Communications) has been elected as Chairman Zone “A”, Mr. Usman Attique Butt (Interlink Advertising) as Chairman Zone “B”, and Mr. Nadeem Kabir Alvi (Oktopus 360 Media) as Chairman Zone “C” while Mr. Javed Qadeer Khan (Marksman Advertising) as Secretary Finance.

Also elected as members of Central Executive Committee (CEC) are Mrs. Seema Jaffer (Bond Advertising), Mr. Khalid Rauf (Lowe & Rauf), Mr. Ahmed Jamal Mir (Prestige Communications), Ms. Faiza Nadeem (Vantage Media), Ms. Neesha Dara Khan (Manhattan International) and Mian Mobeen Shafaat (Oak Media). pr

Int’l Tourism Day celebtations conclude with prize distribution ceremony

Islamabad: The two-day activities of International Tourism Day 2022 concluded here Tuesday in a colorful prize distribution ceremony organized by Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) on the theme “Rethinking Tourism”. The events concluded with presentation of the summary recommendations formed in various sessions of National Tourism Conference and prize distribution ceremony of photographic and art competitions Advisor to Prime Minister on Tourism and Sports, Awn Chaudry distributed as many as nine cash prizes and certificates to the winners of photographic competition including Ilyas Allaah Buksh, Yawer Talib, Amjad Imdad Rashdi, Abdul Baqi, Altaf Noori, Zulfiqar Ali, Muzamil Hussain Toori, Asif Hussain and Shahbaz Ahmed. A total of six cash prizes were given to the winners of painting competition. Speaking on the occassion, Awn Chaudry said that Tourism sector which has many opportunities of job creation, is the priority of the government but right now we have to focus on those hit by worst disaster of floods and the nation must be united to support those facing worst situation of natural disaster. pr

ISLAMABAD Staff report

Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa Tuesday said that the ADB would continue its support in mitigating the climate change related crisis in Pakistan.

Expressing sorrow over the unprecedented losses during the recent flooding in Pakistan in a virtual press conference, the ADB president said the bank had already approved a $3 million grant to support the Government of Pakistan’s emergency relief efforts amid widespread floods across the country.

He said ADB knew the suffering of Pakistani people and was committed to help Pakistan overcome the devastating impact of this natural disaster and provide immediate relief to affected families.

Responding to a question about Pakistan’s recent flooding and climate issues in the press conference held virtually on the occasion of 55th ADB annual meetings, the president said Developing Asia would require US $1.7 trillion per year to support climate resilient infrastructure and to meet the infrastructure needs.

He said ADB was providing unprecedented support of $100 billion to deliver climate financ-

ing to its developing member countries from 2019 to 2030.

“To reach this $100 billion ambition we are exploring the opportunities for investments in climate change mitigation, scaling up adaptation project that focus on resilience and increasing climate financing”.

He said the ADB ‘s ambition was also to provide at least $34 billion out of $100 billion on climate adaptation financing by 2030.

He said the grant, financed from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF), would help fund the immediate purchase of food supplies, tents, and other relief goods to support flood victims across the country.

Meanwhile the ADB also announced plans to provide at least $14 billion over 2022–2025 in a comprehensive program of support to ease a worsening food crisis in Asia and the Pacific, and improve long-term food security by strengthening food systems against the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The assistance expands ADB’s already significant support for food security in the region, where nearly 1.1 billion people lack healthy diets due to poverty and food prices which have soared to record highs this year. The funding

“This is a timely and urgently needed response to a crisis that is leaving too many poor families in Asia hungry and in deeper poverty,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, in remarks at ADB’s 55th Annual Meeting.

“We need to act now, before the impacts of climate change worsen and further erode the region’s hard-won development gains. Our support will be targeted, integrated, and impactful to help vulnerable people, particularly vulnerable women, in the near-term, while bolstering food systems to reduce the impact of emerging and future food security risks.”

Asia and the Pacific is vulnerable to food shocks, as some of its countries depend on imported staples and fertilizer. Even before the invasion of Ukraine, nutritious food was unaffordable for significant portions of the population in many ADB low-income member countries.

As well as supporting vulnerable people, ADB’s food security assistance will promote open trade, improve smallholder farm production and livelihoods, ease shortages of fertilizer and promote its efficient use or organic alternatives, support investments in food production and distribution, enhance nutrition, and boost climate resilience through integrated and naturebased solutions.

Over 2,000 schemes underway in south Punjab, says ACS

Staff report

The Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) South Punjab Saqib Zafar said that work on more than 2,000 development projects was underway at a cost of Rs 240 billion in south Punjab.

He said the projects include 1,548 ongoing and 443 new schemes.

He was addressing a review meeting regarding Annual Development Programme (ADP) in south Punjab at his office here on Tuesday.

The ACS asked all the secretaries to closely monitor the projects for completion within the stipulated time period and to ensure hundred percent utilization of the released funds.

He instructed them not to compromise on the high quality of construction work and to follow the guidelines of the government regarding the development projects.

The meeting was informed during briefing that work was ongoing in 541 projects in Multan, 439 in Bahawalpur and 502 projects in DG Khan division.

Secretary Education Dr Ehtesham Anwar, Secretary Services Nausheen Malik, Secretary Livestock Nasir Jamal Hotiana, Secretary Board of Revenue Tanveer Iqbal Tabasum, Secretary Forests Sarfraz Magsi, Secretary Agriculture Saqib Ali Ateel and Secretary Health Muhammad Iqbal attended the meeting, while Secretary P&D Aftab Pirzada briefed the meeting about the projects.

Tobacco growers urge government to abolish advance tax

in Islamabad.

Following the government’s reluctance of accepting demands of the tobacco growers regarding advance tax, the growers have decided to launch a protest in Islamabad against the imposition of taxes on tobacco crops.

While addressing a press conference here at National Press Club on Tuesday President Kissan Board Rizwan Ullah said that the growers have unanimously rejected the Rs 380 per kg advance tax on tobacco.

While urging the government to withdraw Rs380 per kilogram advance tax on the tobacco leaf, the growers have announced that in case of further delay in abolishment of the tax they would stage a protest

He claimed that imposition of the advance tax on the tobacco crop was the result of a nexus between the government officials and multinational tobacco companies. He said the tax was aimed at eliminating the local tobacco industry and purchasing the crop from farmers at cheaper rates.

Addressing the press conference President Mehnatkash Labour Federation Ibrar Ullah said that the price of tobacco per kilogram in the open market was Rs256 per kilogram while the advance tax on it was Rs380 per kilogram.

He said the advance tax on the tobacco leaf was hurting the sale of the crop in the market and this would render over 15,000 laborers and 20,000 families of the farmers jobless.

He said that all farmers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province would stage a sit-in in Islamabad if the advance tax on the crop was not withdrawn.

President of Tobacco Growers Association of Pakistan Liaqat Yousafzai termed the imposition of the advance tax on the tobacco crop as “public enmity.” He said that rates of tobacco were increasing the world over while they were decreasing in Pakistan.

The farmers in Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Boner and Mansehra grow the tobacco crop and they have urged the government to facilitate them by withdrawing the advance tax on it.

Other speakers on the occasion said the government was collecting billions of rupees annually in taxes through this crop, but it was not ready to provide relief to the public. They

said the government should facilitate the farmers in sowing and harvesting of the crop as this was contributing billions of rupees in taxes annually.

Naimat Shah Roghani, president of farmers rights protection organization, said that imposition of the advance tax on the tobacco crop was the result of a nexus between the government officials and multinational tobacco companies. He said the tax was aimed at eliminating the local tobacco industry and buying the crop from farmers at cheaper rates.

All tobacco farmers of the KP province have warned the government of protests in front of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in Islamabad and to block the motorways if it failed to withdraw the advance tax of Rs380 per kilogram.

lahore: Mr. Chakkrid Krachaiwong, Ambassador of Thailand to Pakistan, Mr. Lutfee Useng, Consul General of Karachi, and Mr. Arif Suleman, President Pak-Thai Business Forum, attended two days Thai Festival. pr

karachI: Foodpanda, Coca-Cola Ićećek Pakistan, and The Coca-Cola Export Corporation are creating “Real Magic” by entering a long-term partnership to bring exclusive deals and discounts for foodpanda customers. pr

lahore: DG Khana Farhang Iran Jafar Runas gives away souvenir to Dr. Nazra Khan on his visit to LUMS University. Dr. Fatima Fayyaz is also present. pr

ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbaS

MULTAN

RussIa Issues new nucleaR waRnIng as contesteD ukRaIne RefeRenDum enDs

aNally of President Vladimir Putin issued a stark new nuclear warning to Ukraine and the West on Tuesday as Russia began releasing results of referendums it bills as a prelude to it annexing four Ukrainian regions.

Moscow’s latest broadside came as European countries rushed to investigate unexplained, major leaks in two Russian natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, which posed risks of explosions and the sinking of any ships that enter the area.

The Kremlin, which has blamed technical problems for earlier cuts in Russian gas supplies to Europe, said it could not rule out sabotage, without saying who was to blame.

Russia’s confrontation with the West has driven up global inflation and sharpened energy and food crises in many countries since its Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine, which was met by tough Western sanctions and Russian retaliatory measures.

Tuesday’s nuclear warning by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, is one of sev-

eral issued by Putin and his associates in recent weeks.

Analysts say they are designed to deter Ukraine and the West by hinting at a readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons to defend newly annexed territory, where Russian forces have faced strong Ukrainian counteroffensives in recent weeks.

In wealthy Dubai, poor get free bread from machines

DUBAI aFP

With the cost of living surging, free hot bread distribution for the poor has been introduced in Dubai, a rich Gulf emirate where millionaires rub shoulders with hard-working migrants.

The city of skyscrapers soaring above the desert, which imports almost all of its food, has been impacted by rapidly rising consumer prices, a global trend exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ten vending machines were installed last week in supermarkets, with a computer touch screen allowing people to select different types: loaves for sandwiches, pitta bread or flat Indian-style chapatis. The machine has a credit card reader — for donations not payment.

“A friend told me there was free bread, so I came,” said Bigandar, a young man from Nepal who works at a car wash, not wanting to give his full name. Like millions of Asian migrants, he dreamt of making a fortune in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He headed for Dubai, a city that has earned a reputation for conspicuous consumption and excess. According to government figures from the Dubai Statistics Center, the food price index, which tracks the monthly change in the cost of a basket of food commodities, rose by 8.75 percent in July, year on year.

The cost of transport has jumped by more than 38 percent.

‘Disadvantaged’

The bread machines are the initiative of a foundation set up by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

“The idea is to go to disadvantaged families and workers before they come to us,” said the foundation’s director, Zeinab Joumaa alTamimi. Anyone in need can now get hot bread just “by pressing a button”, she said.

The oil-rich UAE has a population of nearly 10 million people, 90 percent of them foreigners, many labourers from Asia and Africa.

Boost climate action or we’ll see you in court, activists tell governments

“I believe that NATO would not directly interfere in the conflict even in this scenario,” Medvedev said in a post on Telegram.

“The demagogues across the ocean and in Europe are not going to die in a nuclear apocalypse.”

‘Sham referendums’

First partial results from votes cast inside Russia on whether the four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine should be incorporated into Russia showed overwhelming majorities in favour, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.

It was a widely anticipated announcement after a five-day referendum that Kyiv and the West have denounced as a sham and say they will not recognise. Ukraine urged the EU to impose new punitive sanctions in response to votes it said were carried out at gunpoint in many cases.

LONDON aFP

Governments around the world must scale up climate action “or face further legal action”, an open letter from campaign groups warned Tuesday, as battles over policies to cut emissions and protect the environment are increasingly fought in the courts.

From legal efforts to steer governments to do more to curb fossil fuel pollution, to court action over companies’ misleading green claims, the number, scope and ambitions of climate litigation is expanding, say experts, with an increasing number of cases are being launched against governments.

Medvedev’s warning differed from earlier ones in that he predicted for the first time that the NATO military alliance would not risk a nuclear war and directly enter the Ukraine war even if Moscow struck Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

Putin said on state TV the votes were designed to protect people from what he has called the persecution of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers by Ukraine, something Kyiv has denied.

“Saving people in all the territories where this referendum is being held is at the top of our minds and the focus of attention of our entire society and country,” Putin said. agencies

Both ‘our partners’: US says ties with India, Pakistan independent of each other

WASHINGTON agencies

The United States has responded to India’s objections to Washington’s move to provide Pakistan $450 million for refurbishing the country’s F16 fighters fleet to deal with terrorist threats, saying both South Asian nations are “our partners.”

“We don’t view our relationship with Pakistan, and on the other hand, we don’t view our relationship with India as in relation to one another,”

State Department Spokesman Ned Price told his daily press briefing on Monday. “These are both partners of ours with different points of empha-

sis in each,” he said, amid warming US-Pakistan relations. Earlier, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar criticized the US decision, saying his government had conveyed that the fighter jets were allegedly used for operations against India.

“We look to both (India and Pakistan) as partners, because we do have in many cases shared values. We do have in many cases shared interests. And the relationship we have with India stands on its own. The relationship we have with Pakistan stands on its own,” Ned Price remarked.

Early this month, the Biden administration approved a $450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment

programme to Pakistan, reversing the decision of the former Trump administration to suspend military aid to Islamabad.

In a notification to the US Congress, the State Department said it had made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale for sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of $450 million, arguing that it would sustain Islamabad’s capability to meet current and future counter-terrorism threats by maintaining its F-16s fleet. In response to another question, Price said, “We also want to do everything we can to see to it that these neighbours have relations.

And that will continue if they do not use the upcoming United Nations COP meeting in Egypt to substantially enhance their climate action, according to an open letter signed by lawyers from more than 20 organisations around the world.

“Governments of the world: your delay is costing lives. Strong action is needed now to protect people and the planet,” the letter said.

“If you continue to fail us, we will continue to turn to the courts to demand accountability.”

The groups said they had already launched more than 80 legal cases around the world to “compel” governments from the Netherlands to Brazil, warning that the world was on the “precipice of the most serious intergenerational violation of human rights in history”.

Research from the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics this year has found that of the 2,000 or so climate legal cases filed since 1986, almost a quarter were started since the beginning of 2020.

Some 80 of these cases have been filed against national or subnational governments since 2005, the research found, with a record number of 30 new cases submitted in 2021.

Perhaps the most successful of this kind of case was environmental group Urgenda’s landmark 2019 victory in Dutch courts, which saw the government ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by the end of 2020. The target was largely met. “Climate action is a legal duty. Yet governments are failing to comply with their own laws and commitments,” said Sarah Mead Co-Director of Climate Litigation Network, part of the Urgenda Foundation, which signed the letter.

“We want to make sure that countries understand that the law is on our side.”

Cases rise: But legal rulings can go both ways. In June, the US Supreme Court ruled that the government’s key environmental agency cannot issue broad limits on greenhouse gases.

Italy’s far-right Meloni begins tricky government talks

ROME agencies

Italian far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her allies began Tuesday what is likely to be a weeks-long process of forming a new government, with crises looming on several fronts. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, which triumphed in Sunday’s elections, has no experience of power but must assemble a cross-party team to tackle sky-high inflation and energy prices, and relations with a wary Europe.

The 45-year-old is hoping to be the first woman to lead Italy as prime minister, but needs her allies, Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and former Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, for a majority in parliament.

The division of the top jobs — notably economy, foreign affairs, the defence and interior ministries — will always be political but now, more than ever, “will have to reflect areas of expertise”, the Stampa daily noted. In the past, it has taken anything between four and 12 weeks for

a new administration to take office.

But the first deadline for action is coming up fast, with debt-laden Italy due to submit its draft plan for next year’s budget to Brussels by October 15. President Sergio Mattarella will begin consultations on who should lead the new government only once the Senate and Chamber presidents have been elected by parliament, which meets on October 13. With families and businesses struggling with huge bills aggravated by the Ukraine war, sorting out the budget will be “like scaling Everest without oxygen tanks for the new cabinet”, the Corriere della Sera daily said.

Meloni sought to reassure investors during the election campaign that, despite her radical past, she will be a safe pair of hands. But the Italian ten-year bond rate increased to its highest level since October 2013 on Tuesday morning.

And the gap between German and Italian interest rates, the closely watched spread, rose above 250 points for the first time since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020.

– Non-controversial, credible –

The European Commission was set to approve Tuesday the second instalment of post-pandemic recovery funds to Italy, worth 21 billion euros, a government source said. But Meloni has said she wants to renegotiate the deal with Brussels, potentially putting the rest of the fund — worth a total of almost 200 billion euros — at risk.

Agnese Ortolani, senior Europe analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said she expected Meloni “to continue to reassure the markets by picking a non-controversial figure for the role of finance minister”.

“She will also want to avoid reputational damage by nominating someone who is not perceived as credible by the markets,” she said in a note.

Meloni’s allies have been pitching for heavy-weight positions, Salvini wanting his old job as interior minister back, and Berlusconi eyeing president of the Senate.

Their disappointing performance in the polls, however, with neither reaching 10 percent while Brothers of Italy’s secured 26 percent, means Meloni may already be planning to sideline them.

Iran steps up activist, journalist arrests in protest crackdown

aFP

Iran is stepping up arrests of activists and journalists in a crackdown against civil society as anti-regime protests rage nationwide, activists say.

20 journalists have been imprisoned since the protests erupted earlier this month over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested by the country’s morality police, according to the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Numerous activists and lawyers have also been held, including the prominent freedom of speech campaigner Hossein Ronaghi who was arrested over the weekend.

The arrests come on top of severe internet restrictions and blocking of sites including Instagram and WhatsApp, which

activists say is aimed at preventing details of the protests from reaching the outside world.

“By targeting journalists amid a great deal of violence after restricting access to WhatsApp and Instagram, the Iranian authorities are sending a clear message that there must be no coverage of the protests,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

‘DefenDing prohibiteD’: Ronaghi, bitterly critical of Iran’s Islamic leadership, said in a video posted at the weekend that he had initially eluded arrest by escaping his flat when agents came for him.

But he was then detained on Saturday when he went to Tehran’s Evin prison to meet prosecutors and was also beaten by security agents, his brother Hassan wrote on Twitter.

His mother told Manoto TV in an interview that Hossein Ronaghi’s leg was broken.

Reports said that his lawyers, who ac-

companied him to Evin, had themselves been detained.

Two other lawyers have also been arrested, lawyer Saeid Dehghan wrote on Twitter.

“This means defending protesters is prohibited!” he said.

Security forces on Monday raided the home of activist and writer Golrokh Iraee and arrested her, according to a message on her Twitter account.

Iraee, well known for campaigning against stoning sentences in Iran, has spent much of the past decade behind bars.

And activist Majid Tavakoli, who has been repeatedly imprisoned in Iran in recent years including after the disputed 2009 elections, remains in jail after his arrest in the early hours of Friday.

‘We are not safe’: Activists said two university students in their early 20s who

were also beginning careers as writers — Banafsheh Kamali and Maedeh Jamal — had also been arrested.

Videos posted on social media claimed to show the moment Jamal was arrested, with a female voice heard yelling for help.

Among the 20 journalists held, according to the CPJ, are photojournalist Yalda Moaiery, who won international recognition for an iconic 2019 photo of protests, and reporter Nilufar Hamedi — who exposed the case of Amini by going to the hospital where she was in a coma.

Hamedi’s husband wrote on Twitter that Hamedi had said in a call from jail that she was in solitary confinement, and was unaware of the charges against her.

Moaiery is being held in the notorious Qarchak women’s prison outside Tehran, from where she told the Iran Wire news web-

site that “we are not safe here” and “the situation is very bad”.

The authorities also arrested five prominent members of the Bahai religious minority in different cities across the country, said Diane Alai, representative of the Bahai International Community to the UN in Geneva.

The Bahai — Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority but not recognised in the Islamic Republic — had already been experiencing a crackdown even before the protests started, with senior figures arrested and homes destroyed.

Activists had accused the Iranian authorities of being in the throes of a crackdown even before the protests began. Two of the country’s most acclaimed filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof were among those arrested.

TEHRAN

Six PAKiSTAn PlAYerS TO feATUre in 2022 ABU DhABi T10 leAgUe

DUBAI AgencieS

ABUDhabi T10 League is set to get underway in a couple of months and the player drafts for the tournament took place on Monday (September 26). Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium will host the tournament’s sixth edition and will be played from 23 November to 4th December this year.

Coming to the player draft this year, each squad retained a few names from the 2021 edition. Dwayne Bravo (Delhi Bulls), Andre Russell (Deccan Gladiators), David Wiese (Deccan Gladiators), Mohammad Amir (Bangla Tigers), Matheesha Pathiraana (Bangla Tigers) are some of the popular names that were retained by their previous teams for the upcoming edition.

The two new teams Morrisville Samp Army and New York Strikers will be led by David Miller and Kieron Pollard, respectively and they have snapped up some fine names as well. Each team signed up one platinum player ahead of the draft and

named one icon player for the season.

Bangla Tigers retained Mohammad Amir while five Pakistanis were also drafted by the teams. Imad Wasim will play for Delhi Bulls while Wahab Riaz and Azam Khan will represent New York Strikers.

Team Abu Dhabi has snapped Amad Butt while Mohammad Irfan to play for Northern Warriors.

Abu Dhabi T10 League 2022 –Complete Squads

Delhi Bulls

Dwayne Bravo (icon, c), Tim David, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rilee Rossouw, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Will Jacks,Najibullah Zadran, Dominic Drakes, Richard Gleeson, Keemo Paul, Mitchell Stanley, Shiraz Ahmed, Karnal Zahid, Aayan Afzal Khan, Imad Wasim, Jordan Cox

Team Abu Dhabi Chris Lynn (icon), Fabian Allen, Phil Salt, Adil Rashid, Naveen-ul-Haq, Tymal Mills, Jamie Overton, James Vince, Brandon King, Amad Butt, Darwish Rasooli, Alishan Sharafu, Abid Ali, Ethan D’Souza, Mustafizur Rahman, Peter Hatzoglou Northern Warriors

Wanindu Hasaranga (icon), Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell (c), Adam Lyth, Reece Topley, Kennar Lewis, Wayne Parnell, Adam Hose, Chris Green, Rayad Emrit, Gus Atkinson, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Usman, Hamdan Tahir, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohammad Irfan Bangla Tigers

Shakib Al Hasan (icon, c), Evin Lewis, Colin Munro, Hazratullah Zazai, Joe Clarke, Benny Howell, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Amir, Matheesha Pathirana, Nurul Hasan, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Rohan Mustafa, Chirag Suri, Umair Ali, Dan Christian, Jake Ball Deccan Gladiators

Nicholas Pooran (icon), Andre Russell, David Wiese, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Luke Wood, Josh Little,

England ready to host Pakistan, India cricket series

LONDON Web DeSk

The two neighboring countries, Pakistan and India, have not faced in Test cricket since 2007 due to political tensions across borders.

According to Daily Telegraph, England have now offered to be a neutral host for the future Pakistan-India Test series.

ECB’s deputy chairman Martin Darlow talked to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) during the ongoing England T20I series in Pakistan and offered England venues for a potential three-match Test series in the future. The two countries play each other regularly in ICC and Asian events. India may

accept the proposal as it would be more politically acceptable for them to play Pakistan on neutral turf.

Meanwhile, the publication reported that PCB are not keen on playing India at the moment at a neutral venue but are grateful for the ECB’s offer, which shows the growing relationship between the two boards.

It must be noted that Pakistan players are also barred from playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

No Pakistan players are playing in the South Africa T20 league in February, where all the teams have India owners, raising questions about the influence of private investment in national leagues.

American mountaineer Hilaree Nelson missing on Manaslu mountain in Nepal

WASHINGTON AFP

Renowned US ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson has gone missing on Nepal’s Manaslu mountain, on the same day that an avalanche killed a Nepali climber on the same peak, expedition organisers and officials said Tuesday.

Nelson was skiing down Manaslu after having successfully summited the world’s eighth-highest mountain with her partner Jim Morrison on Monday.

search and rescue team, Ghimire added. “I haven’t felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on a past adventure into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya,” Nelson said in an Instagram post on Thursday.

“These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways.” The 49-yearold has had a career spanning two decades and is described as “the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation” in a profile on sponsor North Face’s website.

In 2012, she became the first woman to summit the highest mountain in the world, Everest, and its ad-

jacent Lhotse within 24 hours.

Six years later, she returned to Lhotse and made the first ski descent of the mountain, which earned her the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks and foreign climbers that flock to its mountains are a major source of revenue for the country.

Odean Smith, Will Smeed, Zahir Khan, Curtis Campher, Zahoor Khan, Adeel Malik, Sultan Ahmed, Jason Roy, Taskin Ahmed The Chennai Braves

Dasun Shanaka (icon), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Carlos Brathwaite, Obed McCoy, Maheesh Theekshana, Olly Stone, Ben Duckett, Sam Cook, Sikandar Raza, Ross Whiteley, Kobe Herft, Karthik Meiyappan, Vriitya Aravind, Sabir Rao, Laurie Evans, James Fuller Morrisville Samp Army

David Miller (icon), Anrich Nortje, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Johnson Charles, Chamika Karunaratne, George Garton, Andries Gous, Jacobus Pienaar, Ibrahim Zadran, Ahmed Raza, Kashif Daud, Basil Hameed, Sheldon Cottrell, Karim Janat New York Strikers

Kieron Pollard (icon, c), Eoin Morgan, Azam Khan, Paul Stirling, Romario Shepherd, Andre Fletcher, Wahab Riaz, Jordan Thompson, Kesrick Williams, Izharulhaq Naveed, Tom Hartley, Muhammad Waseem, Nav Pabreja, Muhammad Farooq, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul.

China gifts World Cup giant pandas to Qatar

DOHA AFP

China announced it will give Qatar two giant pandas to mark the World Cup being held in the Gulf state. China’s ambassador to Doha, Zhou Jian, said that “Suhail” and “Soraya” would arrive in Qatar in October, ahead of the 32-nation tournament that starts November 20. The planet’s most populous nation did not qualify for the World Cup but Chinese companies have been involved in the construction of mega projects around the event. “This is a gift presented by the 1.4 billion Chinese people for the Qatar World Cup, and will surely become a new symbol of China-Qatar friendship,” the envoy said at a reception. Suhail is the name of one of the brightest stars visible in the Gulf region, while Soraya is the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster.

“She had an accident yesterday as she was descending shortly after her summit. We are trying to get clarity on what happened,” Jiban Ghimire of Shangri-La Nepal Treks, which organised the expedition, told AFP.

On the same day, an avalanche hit between Camps 3 and 4 on the 8,163metre (26,781-foot) mountain, killing a Nepali climber and injuring a dozen others, the government’s tourism department said.

The death was the first confirmed casualty of the autumn climbing season in Nepal.

Constant rain and snow have been a challenge for the 404 paying climbers attempting to reach the summit of Manaslu this year, and bad weather was also hampering rescue efforts, with helicopters unable to fly on Monday due to the conditions.

Ghimire said that the weather had improved on Tuesday and a helicopter was headed to the site of Nelson’s accident.

Morrison safely reached base camp and was accompanying the

The industry was almost completely shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but the country reopened its peaks to mountaineers last year.

Babar Azam closes in on another record of Virat Kohli

LAHORE StAFF RePoRt

Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam is all set to rewrite history in the upcoming encounter between the hosts and England on Wednesday at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The 27-year-old, who has two centuries in T20I cricket, is closing in on another massive feat which can pave the way for the star batter to surpass Virat Kohli in the shortest format of the game. Former Indian captain Kohli is the quickest batter to complete 3,000 runs in the shortest format of the game. Kohli had achieved the feat in 81 innings for Team India. The former Indian skipper became the fastest batter to 3000 runs during England’s tour of India in 2021. Tomorrow, Babar has a chance to shatter Kohli’s record in the 5th T20I between Pakistan and England at Karachi. The 27-year-old has smashed 2,939 runs in 79 innings for the Green Army. Thus, Babar needs to score 61 runs in fifth T20I to upstage Kohli by achieving another massive feat in T20I cricket. Earlier, Babar became the secondquickest batter to 8,000 T20 runs during the ongoing series between Pakistan and England.

Usman Wazeer to face Thai boxer for WBO Youth title on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD

APP

Pakistan’s ace pugilist Usman Wazeer, who boasts an undefeated 8-0 record with five knockouts will take on Thai warrior Somphot Seesa for the vacant WBO Youth 147lbs world title in the Highland Boxing Show in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. Nicknamed ‘Asian Boy’, Usman is all set to move to the WBO’s welterweight world rankings provided he defeats his 23-year-old opponent. Already the Asian welterweight champion for the WBA after flooring down hard-hitting Phatiphan Krungklang in June, this year in his hometown in Gilgit-Baltistan, the 22-year-old Usman said he had been undergoing tough training to claim another prestigious title. “I’ve been training hard for the fight and feel fully fit. I want to make my nation proud but I request my fans back at home to pray for me,” Usman told APP on phone. “Though it will be the home ground for my opponent, I’m determined to outwit him and clinch the title. I’ve been fighting abroad in the past and don’t feel any sort of pressure, rather I’m waiting anxiously for the bout,” he added.

US URgeS PAkISTAn TO Seek

debT ReLIeF FROm ChInA

ISLAMABAD

desk

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Pakistan to seek debt relief and restructuring from China, its single-largest creditor after the country has seen widespread flood-induced devastation.

At least 1,600 people have lost their lives while the estimated cost of flood damages and losses stands at a staggering $28 billion with nearly a third of the country still submerged by the deluge. Pakistan has made similar appeals for “debt swaps for climate action” to other countries.

“I also urged our colleagues to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructure so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods,” Blinken told Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Washington, according to a state department readout of the meeting.

The two officials also discussed the US flood relief, counter-terrorism cooperation and Pakistan’s relations with India. Pakistan has to repay around $1.1 billion to the Paris Club countries.

Overall Pakistan owes $10 billion to rich countries that include Japan,

France, Germany, the US and others.

The country has to pay $16 billion dollars to the non-Paris Club countries. Out of that Pakistan owes $14.6 billion alone to China.

According to the international news agency Bloomberg, Pakistan owes about a third of its total external debt to its neighbouring country. Beijing has made nearly $26 billion in short and medium-term loans to Pakistan and Sri Lanka over the past five years as its overseas lending shifts from funding infrastructure toward providing emergency relief, according to AidData, a research lab at William and Mary, a university in the US.

Plans are in place for the government to speak with China after talking with the members of the so-called Paris Club, an informal group of wealthy nations that bailed out governments from Argentina to Zambia, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told Bloomberg in an interview last week.

Pakistan is a flagship for China’s Belt and Road Initiative with projects worth more than $25 billion completed.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also cautioned Islamabad that investments in the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could raise growth prospects

but the project loans could “pose a risk to debt sustainability”, it said in a report released this month.

The impact of the historic flooding became more evident by the end of August, about the same time that Pakistan secured a $1.1 billion loan from the IMF to help avert a default.

Pakistan has spoken with the Fund and World Bank about immediate debt relief as well. The US on Tuesday announced $10 million in aid for Pakistan’s flood relief efforts in addition to the already announced assistance of $56.1 million after FM Bilawal met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Washington DC.

According to the Foreign Office spokesperson, Bilawal apprised Blinken about “the devastation caused by the cataclysmic floods with more than 33 million people displaced and a huge loss of lives and livelihoods”.

The minister also highlighted the relief efforts of the government and people of Pakistan and thanked the US government for its assistance.

US UrgeS PakiStan to imProve tieS with india: Meanwhile, the US has advised Pakistan to improve ties with India while sidestepping New Delhi’s concerns over upgrade assistance for Islam-

abad’s F-16s. “In our discussions today, we talked about the importance of managing a responsible relationship with India,” said Blinken. Blinken’s comments came after India’s defence and foreign ministers opposed a US decision to provide a support package of about $450 million for Pakistan’s fleet of US-made F-16 fighter jets.

When asked about Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar calling on the US to review its warming relationship with Pakistan and criticising the authorisation of $450 million for the F-16 programme, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price reportedly said, “the relationship we have with India stands on its own; the relationship we have with Pakistan stands on its own. We also want to do everything we can to see to it that these neighbours have relations with one another that are as constructive as can be possible.’’ “We don’t view our relationship with Pakistan, and on the other hand, we don’t view our relationship with India as in relation to one another. These are both partners of ours with different points of emphasis in each, and we look to both as partners because we do have in many cases shared values, we do have in many cases shared interests,’’ he elaborated.

Fawad urges ECP to send reference for Shehbaz’s disqualification

ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhary blasted Shehbaz Sharif and said that there was no need to investigate the latest audio leaks from the PM’s house since he himself confirmed their authenticity, demanding that ECP should send a reference to special tribunal for his disqualification forthwith.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s press conference on Tuesday, Fawad Chaudhry said that Shehbaz testified the validity of the leaked audios, therefore, no further investigation was needed in this regard.

He demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan should take prompt action and initiate process to get him disqualified immediately because allowing anymore the power in the hands of “imported clowns” would be disastrous for the country.

Fawad Ch stated that the terrible game of criminals and puppets should be come to a halt since without any

further delay and elections should be held instantly to get the country out of the disastrous situation.

Lashing out at the ineptness and incompetence of the imported government, Fawad Ch stated that the cabal of crooks had put a question mark on the honor, respect and security of the Prime Minister’s House.

He said that Shehbaz Sharif reneged on his oath by confirming consultation with Nawaz Sharif on the issue of Army Chief, adding that they had been saying since day one that the constitution had been completely ignored by handing over the affairs of the state to criminals.

He said that Shehbaz Sharif created serious issues for the state institutions through his press conference, adding that the Prime Minister has clearly lied regarding the Supreme Court on the issue of the secret letter.

The PTI leader demanded that Chief Justice of Pakistan should take notice of PM’s statement, as the nation was awaiting.

Talking about PM’s foreign tour expenditures, Fawad Ch stated that there was no need to discuss

details of his foreign visits, adding that the details of expenses on foreign trips were not hidden from the nation, which they could even provide the nation again.

He said that a completely ignorant person pertaining to Pakistan’s political and economic requirements made the country isolated globally even during this calamity.

He said that the looted and plundered national wealth in the vaults of Shahbaz Sharif, his brother and the whole family was the main stumbling block to stop the world to help Pakistan in this hour of need.

Fawad Ch revealed that when natural disasters occurred in 2006 and 2010, the world stepped up to help Pakistan wholeheartedly.

Talking about Dar’s homecoming, Fawad stated that the arrival of Dar was a slap on the face of Pakistan’s justice system, adding that when a fugitive returned to his homeland and occupied high positions, the justice system could never gain the public trust no matter how many speeches the judges delivered.

CII proposes amends to ‘Transgender Persons Act 2018’

ISLAMABAD staff report

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday proposed the government to bring amendments in the existing Transgender Persons ‘Protection of Rights’ Act 2018 to protect the rights of genuine “intersex persons.”

The council, in its high level meeting, said the government should devise a committee comprising the CII members, scholars, legal and medical experts to review the present bill pertaining to the transgender persons so that a comprehensive legislation could be made by analyzing it from all aspects. The council said, several provisions in the current bill, as a whole were not compatible with Shariah principles and may cause new social problems. The council, appreciating the NAB Amendment Law 2022, said its recommendations related to the NAB Law should also be included.

Lucky streak continues as rupee gains Rs3.11 against dollar

ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistani rupee on Tuesday gained Rs3.11 against the US Dollar in the interbank trading and closed at Rs233.90 against the previous day’s closing of Rs237.01.

According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling rates of Dollars in the open market were recorded at Rs 232.5 and Rs 235 respectively.

Whereas, the price of Euro decreased by Rs 3.87 and closed at Rs 225.65 against the last day’s closing of Rs 229.52. The Japanese Yen lost 03 paisas to close at Rs 1.62, whereas a decrease of Rs 2.82 was witnessed in the exchange rate of the British Pound, which was traded at Rs 252.80 as compared to its last closing of Rs 255.62. The exchange rates of Emirates Dirham and Saudi Riyal decreased by Rs 1.15 each to close at Rs 63.68 and Rs 62.19 respectively.

Comment on Pak-US ties: FO asks India to mind ‘inter-state norms’

ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistan on Tuesday urged India to refrain from commenting on bilateral ties between Pakistan and the United States, stressing to respect basic norms of inter-state relations. “India needs serious introspection of its diplomatic conduct,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in response to media queries about unwarranted remarks by the Indian Minister for External Affairs. Indian Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankat had raised questions over the “merits” of the US-Pakistan relationship, saying that Washington’s ties with Islamabad had not served the “American interest”.