Epaper_22-10-04 LHR

IMran wIll have to Face l aw on ‘cIpher conspIracy’, says pM shehba z sharIF

g says ‘ Thief’ wanTs To sully The name of insTiTuTions in order To avoid his punishmenT

ass stance

as per the details the premier during a live br efing on flood rel ef efforts ar gued what kind of dashboard has been developed by the niTb

it s a joke it is not a dashboard that is requ red well placed sources quoted the premier as tel ing the meet ng accord ng to the sources the premier expressed dissat sfaction over the dash board and said a real time monitoring pane of nternat onal standards should be ensure wh ch would help better coor dination among institutions and enhance the countr y s credibi ity

pm also instructed the niTb off cia s to add more features l ke the weather alerts to make it a world class p atform con taining all relevant information

“ we should des gn a dashboard which the whole nation should be proud of pm shehbaz sa d

Dar asks Miftah not to worr y about IMF deal anymore

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

ISLAMABAD S h a h z a d pa R ac h a

prime minister shehbaz shar f h t out at former premier and pTi chairman imran Khan for his malic ous campaign against the state inst tutions say ng that the ‘ thief wants to su ly the name of inst tutions in order to avoid h s punishment in a statement issued on monday pm shehbaz wh le dubb ng imran as a con spirator stated that after creat ng a chaos among people the atter wanted to cre ate a confusion among inst tut ons now he denounced the former premier ’s attempt regarding making changes in the contents of the cipher adding that by do ng so he played w th the national se

curity he sa d imran would have to face the law

“ Those who have played with the in terests of the state, they w ll have to an swer the aw pm shehbaz reiterated emphasizing that ever yone was equal before the aw if someone is popular, t doesn t mean he s above the law he added

he said imran s audio eaks had un masked the grave conspiracy he hatched against the interests of pak stan pm refuses to inaugurate digita dash board developed by niTb meanwhile prime minister shehbaz shar f also refused to inaugurate the dig tal dashboard deve oped by national informat on Techno ogy board (niTb) offi cials to ensure transparency in f ood re ief

he exemplif ed a dashboard on dengue outbreak by the punjab govern ment during his stint as ch ef minister which he said, got nternat onal recogni tion as it had contained a l the relevant nformation l ke hotspot areas and the provided fac lities

The pm also po nted out the short com ngs in the design and called for fur ther mprovements to enable it to meet the nation s needs and effectively reflect the coordinated efforts be ng made by the government for relief and rehabil ta tion of the flood stricken people

pm shar f sa d the flood relief dash board must contain a l the relevant infor mat on about ever y tem where the relief tems like qu lts and baby food were sent and where they came from

he said the government would pro vide a l required support for the deve op ment of the dashboard wh ch should not be a makeshift arrangement but rather a fac lity usable even for decades

finance m nister ishaq dar on monday sa d that he knew how to deal with the international monetar y fund ( mf) and no one had to worr y about anything regarding it any more i have to hand e the imf mat ters so from now on neither m ftah nor anybody else has to worr y about anyth ng ” he sa d during an nter v ew with journalist hamid m r a red on geo news dar s statement comes a day after smail, in a tweet, termed the government s decis on to not increase the petroleum deve opment levy (pdl) this month without the approva of the international monetar y fund ( mf) reckless The pml n government on september 30 announced a cut of around five per cent in the pr ces of a l petro leum products for the next fortnight The development came ust three days after ismail had res gned as finance m nister (sept 27) to make way for ishaq dar during the nter v ew today dar said that ismail was a colleague but the two had different points of v ew as he advised the for mer finance m nister not to worr y about the imf i know how to do it as i have so utions and have been dealing w th them for the last 25 years “ prime minister shehbaz sharif h mse f told me that during the united na t onal genera assemb y (unga) session, where miftah was also present, he proposed imf offic als freeze taxes to which they did not refuse he sa d add ng that amid the floods peop e should not be burdened any further dar a so said that the “actua va ue of the pakistan rupee is less than 200 aga nst the dollar and vowed to br ng it down under the deal with the imf the government had to gradually increase the pdl on pe tro eum products to a maximum of rs50 per litre to col ect rs855 bill on dur ng the current fiscal year The previous pTi government had comm t ted a month y pdl increase of rs5 on petrol and hsd until t reached rs50 in januar y for petrol and apri for diesel h o w e v e r, b e f o r e t h e f o r m e r p r i m e m i n i s t e r s o u s t e r h e r e d u c e d t h e p d l t

after com

the pml

to power in

coalit on government refrained from increasing the prices mmed ately however, since may 15, the government has been increasing the pr ces in ine w th the mf deal as pakistan batt ed with the flood catastrophe the government had requested the imf managing director for a three month freeze on the pdl and fuel cost on electricity

Imran dodges disqualification in contempt of cour t case

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

The islamabad high court (ihc) ac cepted an apology tendered by imran Khan for warning a junior judge of legal action and c osed the suo motu con tempt of court notice it opened aga nst the former prime m n ster in august

The high court had been expected to ndict Khan a move that cou d have led to his exclusion from politics for ife f convicted but n the last week of sep tember he apologised and prom sed not to hurt the d gn ty of the udic ar y, in a move a med at avoid ng his disquali f cation

a convicted po it cian is liable to be disqualified for five years at least under the laws

pa k i s t a n h a s s e e n d s q u a l f i c a t i o n on contempt charges before in 2012 the supreme court disqua ified yousaf raza gi lan , then prime min ster, from o

t e m p t f o r r e f u s i n g t o c o m p l y w t h i t s order to reopen dormant fraud nvesti g a t i o n s a g a n s t a s i f a Z a r d a r i, p r e s i dent at the time

T h e c h a r g e s a g a i n s t K h a n a r e r e l a t e d t o a s p e e c h i n w h c h h e a l l e g e d l y t h r e a t e n e d t h e c h e f o f islamabad po ice and the udge in au gust after shehbaz gi , h s former chief of staff was den ed bai in a trumped up sedition case

h e s t a t e d t h a t h e r e a l i s e d d u r i n g t h e p r o c e e d n g s t h a t h e m a y h a v e c r o s s e d a r e d i n e ” t h e c o u r t s a d K h a n h a d p r e v o u s l y d e n i e d b e i n g t h r e a t e n n g in his remarks announc ng the case being d scharged, chief justice athar minallah said the court was satisfied with the “ bona fide apo ogy ” and con duct of Khan

To concerns from additional attorney general amir rehman that Khan had not submitted an “ unconditional apol ogy the udge d rected for a written

submission, not ng it wou d be incorpo rated in the f na order to be issued at a ater point

The verbal apology on september 22 had come after two separate written repl es that were re ected as unsatis factor y ” by the court

The court which had been set to n d ct him at the hearing had then d rected him to submit a wr tten affidavit and postponed the indictment pro ceed ngs unt l october 3

i n h i s a t e s t r e s p o n s e, K h a n h a d o n c e a g a i n a v o i d e d a n u n c o n d t o n a l a p o l o g y b u t a d m i t t e d h e “ m i g h t h a v e c r o s s e d a r e d l i n e w h i l e m a k i n g a p u b c s p e e c h a s s u r i n g t h e c o u r t t h a t h e w a s w i l n g t o e x p l a i n t o t h e u n i o r j u d g e t h a t n e i t h e r h e, n o r h i s p a r t y h a d s o u g h t a n y a c t i o n o t h e r t h a n l e g a l a g a i n s t h e r K h a n h a d v o w e d t o n o t r e p e a t a s i m i a r o f f e n s e n t h e f u t u r e

he had also assured the court that he was wi ling to take any further steps that the court deemed necessar y to avo d criminal proceedings

t o b e r, 2 0 2 2 I 7 Ra b i u l A w w a l , 1 4 4 4 I R s 1 5 . 0 0 I

l

PM ‘deePly oBlIged’ to ChINa foR floods assIstaNCe

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e P o R t

PR I M E Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan was deeply obliged” to the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China (CPC), Red Cross Society of China sister provinces and the People s Liberation Army (PLA) for the continuous assistance during the floods that have inflicted huge losses of life and property

Our Chinese friends continue helping the flood victims in Pakistan Total volume

of aid has increased from 400 million RMB to 644 million RMB We are deeply obliged to Chinese govt CPC Red Cross Society of China, sister provinces & People’s Liberation Army for the assistance, he tweeted according to a report released by Gwadar Pro on Monday

Over the weekend, Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong said that China had so far extended over US $ 90 million in assistance to Pakistan after the devastating floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains

In a video address released on Twitter, the Chinese ambassador reaffirmed his

government’s continued support to Islamabad to help flood affected people

“Instead of finger pointing against China Pakistan cooperation, some country better do real and beneficial things for the people of Pakistan said Ambassador Nong Rong, without naming any country

Pakistan’s economy is facing balance of payments crisis widening current account deficit, slide in its currency to historic lows, and inflation crossing 27%

Devastating floods meanwhile engulfed large swathes of the country in late August, killing more than 1,500 people and causing

damage estimated at US $ 30 billion, fanning fears that Pakistan would not meet its debt obligations Earlier Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also appreciated the support extended by the Chinese leadership in refinancing of syndicate facility of RMB 15 billion (US $ 2 24 billion) to Pakistan

Ambassador to Paksitan Nong Rong

Pakistan rejec ts Indian allegation about its involvement in ‘ int ’l terrorism’

STAff REpORT

The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday “categorically rejected” Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar s remarks insinuating that Pakistan was involved in “international terrorism”

(Information Technology) while Pakistan was known as an “expert in International Terrorism”

Balochistan sees 3,131 malaria cases in past 24 hours

QUETTA S tA f f R e P o R t

The number of vector borne disease malaria is sharply increasing in the flood hit districts of Balochistan on Monday As per sources, five flood hit districts of Balochistan including Suhbatpur Jaffarabad, Nasirabad, Jhal Magsi and Dera Bugti have reported as many as 3,131 malaria cases The report say during the last 14 days as many as 37,224 malaria cases have been registered in the aforesaid districts of Balochistan The current positivity ratio for the vector borne disease is recorded at 49pc in the province Out of total of 37,224 cases, the number of children aged under five years is 6,237 and 31,223 cases are of people aged over five years in Balochistan, the sources said Separately, as many as 12 flood hit districts had been declared ‘sensitive’ for malaria as per sources Sources say Khairpur, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushehro Feroze, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Qambar, Jacobabad, Jamshoro, Larkana, Shikarpur and Dadu are sensitive in the wake of Maralia disease outbreak

Prices of Roti, Naan increased following gov t’s approval

LAHORE

S tA f f R e P o R t

People have now started feeling the aftershocks of elimination of subsidy on flour as the Muttahida Naan Roti Association, Lahore neither sought permission nor waited for the government s notification and went ahead with increasing the prices of Naan and Roti by Rs7 and Rs5 on Monday Now contrary to the government s rate list according to which a Roti s price is Rs10 while that of a Naan is Rs18, 100 grams of Roti will now be available at Rs15 while Sada Naan of 120 grams at Rs25 While both the district administration and price control magistrates are acting like mute spectators A Naanbai said how could he sell Roti at cheaper rates when he was purchasing flour at expensive rates after the subsidy was over? He went on to say that the price of a bag of fine flour had gone up from Rs7 000 to Rs9 000 A citizen asked the Punjab government to spend the public money on masses rather than spending it on the renovation of the Punjab Assembly

According to an Indian news outlet Jaishankar, while speaking at an event in Vadodara city on Saturday, said: “No other country practices terrorism in the manner in which Pakistan has done You show me anywhere in the world what Pakistan has done for so many years against India ”

According to the report, he said that India was thought of as an expert in IT

Responding to his unfounded remarks” the FO in a press release issued today, said they were “yet another manifestation of the Indian leaders obsession to concoct facts with respect to terrorism for misleading the international community and to point fingers at neighbours in a bid to mask India’s own well known credentials as a state sponsor of terrorism and a serial violator of human rights ”

The FO said that “nowhere is state terrorism more evident than in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) where occupation forces continued to “terrorise,

torture and torment innocent Kashmiris with impunity”

“The world is also aware of the saffron terror orchestrated and unleashed by the BJP RSS (Bharatiya Janata Party Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) zealots against Muslims in India, the press release added

The FO said that Pakistan’s contributions towards ensuring world peace such as successful counter terrorism operations to its role in the global fight against terrorism, were “widely acknowledged” by the international community

It added that Pakistan was the only country to stem the tide of terror directed against it from “elements and states with

IHC direc ts to appoint Akhtar Mengal as convener of commission against harassment of Baloch students

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e P o R t

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the government to issue a notification appointing Akhtar Mengal as the convener of the commission that had been formed to prevent harassment of Baloch students

“The government must issue the notification appointing Akhtar Mengal as the convener of the commission within three days, the court added

It is to be noted here that Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had apologised to head the commission

The secretariat of the commission should be

established in the Senate The commission must submit a report on preventing harassment of Baloch students in a month, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah passed the orders

Imaan Mazari appeared before the court on behalf of Baloch students while Additional Attorney General Manoor Iqbal appeared before the court on behalf of the federal government “Kamran Murtaza is available for his inclusion in the commission, said the additional attorney general while presenting his arguments before the court “This issue is important Baloch students are studying in the institution for the purpose of education Why are they unsafe? The court will issue separate orders on this matter,” said the IHC chief justice

ECC takes up wheat impor t agenda via Gwadar Por t

I S L A M A B A D S tA f f R e P o Rt

I n o r d e r t o m a t e r i a l i z e i m p o r t o f w h e a t v i a G w a d a r P o r t E c o n o m i c C o o r d i n a t i o n C o m m i t t e e ( E C C ) h a s f i n a l l y t a k e n u p t h e a g e n d a o f i m p o r t i n g w h e a t f r o m G w a d a r P o r t i n i t s 11 p o i n t p l a n l i s t G w a d a r P r o r e p o r t e d o n M o n d a y E C C i s F e d e r a l I n s t i t u t i o n r e s p o n s i b l e t o a u t h o r i z e k e y e c o n o m i c i n i t i a t i v e i n P a k i s t a n A s p e r t h e a g e n d a l i s t t h e M i n i s t r y o f National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) h a s p r o p o s e d t o a l l o w Tr a d i n g C o r p o r a t i o n o f P a k i s t a n ( T C P ) t o a w a r d t h e c o n t r a c t o f i m p o r t e d w h e a t , i n i t i a l l y f o r t h r e e s m a l l e r v e s s e l s n o t e x c e e d i n g 4 0 , 0 0 0 M T t o n n a g e , f o r b e r t h i n g a t G w a d a r S e a p o r t

T h e s u m m a r y p r e s e n t e d b y t h e M i n i s t r y o f N a t i o n a l F o o d S e c u r i t y a n d R e s e a r c h r e g a r d i n g

t h e i m p o r t o f w h e a t t h r o u g h t h e G w a d a r s e a p o r t w a s d e f e r r e d b y E C C i n i t s l a s t m e e t i n g H o w e v e r i t w a s i n c o r p o r a t e d i n t h e a g e n d a f o r t h e m e e t i n g l a t e r W h e a t i m p o r t s v i a G w a d a r p r o m i s e s t o u s h e r i n a n e w e r a o f b u s i n e s s c o m m e r c e a n d t r a d e v i b r a n c y a t G w a d a r p o r t G PA o ff i c i a l d u b b e d t h e r e a d i n e s s t o i m p o r t w h e a t t h r o u g h G w a d a r p o r t a n e w m i l e s t o n e s a y i n g w h e a t i m p o r t w i l l s p u r u p t r a d e a c t i v i t i e s i n G w a d a r “ I t w i l l a l s o b o o s t u p e m p l o y a b i l i t y a s w h e n b u s t l i n g a c t i v i t y w i l l g e t underway skilled semi skilled and unskilled man f o r c e w i l l b e r e q u i r e d t o h a n d l e t h e e n t i r e s c a l e o f w o r k , ” h e a d d e d I n 2 0 2 0 , t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t a l r e a d y a l l o w e d t h e i m p o r t o f w h e a t a t t h e G w a d a r p o r t and onward transit to Afghanistan through bonded c a r r i e r s i n s u r e d a n d s e a l a b l e t r u c k s h a v i n g a t r a c k i n g d e v i c e

inimical motives

“In reality India has been involved in supporting terrorism against Pakistan from its own territory and from other countries in the region

“India’s mischievous campaign to masquerade as a victim of terrorism and seeking to hoodwink the world community by hypocritically levelling allegations against Pakistan is pathological, the press release said pointing to the example of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadhav as a serving Indian navy officer and intelligence operative who was involved in “planning supporting, abetting and executing terrorist activities in Pakistan and remained a stark reminder of India’s true face of a state sponsor of terrorism”

Islamabad police announce to recruit 1,668 constables

ISLAMABAD

A P

Islamabad police have announced to recruit 1 668 constables and a recruitment board would select suitable candidates against these seats The candidates may submit their applications online within 15 days after the advertisement on website of Islamabad police, with no fee charged against submitting applications All genders have been given equal opportunities in the recruitment process which would be ensured on merit as per vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Following the directions of Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah, IGP Islamabad has constituted a departmental recruitment board comprising senior police officers, which will review all the applications and call the eligible candidates for tests and interviews According to details, Islamabad Capital Police was facing a shortage of manpower for a long time Due to special interest of the interior minister and the efforts of Inspector General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the advertisement has been made for recruitment against 1,668 vacancies offering equal opportunity to all Candidates interested in recruitment can submit their applications online through Islamabad Capital Police website (www islamabadpolice gov pk) while there is no fee for submission of applications No application will be received in writing, email or courier Recruitment centres will be established in various divisions of all the provinces for the convenience of interested candidates The recruitment process will be completely transparent and no attempt to influence the process will be tolerated Strict action would be made against candidates who try to participate in the recruitment process by using false or forged documents No T A/D A will be given to the candidates appearing for test interviews while selected candidates will be informed through the website of Islamabad Police

LHC orders to quash FIR against Moonis Elahi in money laundering c ase

LAHORE Ag e n c i e S

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered to quash the FIR registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against PML Q leader Moonis Elahi under money laundering charges Justice Asjad Javaid Ghural after hearing detailed arguments first reserved the decision and then announced the verdict

As the proceedings commenced, the deputy attorney general Asad Ali Bajwa while shedding light on the important features of the case implored the court that the challan of 13,144 pages had been submitted before the court

Following this, Moonis Elahi’s

counsel Amjad Pervez argued to the court that he had citations of around fourteen (14) decisions to establish his case in favour of the accused petitioner

On a point, Justice Ghural asked how another party could get an FIR registered if the complaint does not come from the actual party To this, the deputy attorney general Bajwa replied that the bank in this case placed before the court is itself allegedly involved in the commission of the offence

On whose direction the inquiry was initiated, Justice Ghural asked Deputy attorney general Bajwa replied that with the approval of the federal government the inquiry was initiated The matter was initiated in light of the Sugar inquiry commission

The court asked whether the FIR had been registered after the registration of FIR against Jahangir Tareen To which Elahi s counsel Amjad Pervez argued the FIR against the PTI leader was registered in 2020 Moonis Elahi s counsel argued that there was a ban in 2007 and 2008 on establishing sugar mills but even then an allegation of establishing a sugar mill in Rahim Yar Khan was levelled

He further argued that the then chief minister issued NOC which was twice testified by the Lahore High Court In 2007, the allegation of money laundering was levelled in the name of employees with fewer salaries The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) probed this matter in detail for a long time but

nothing was recovered to establish the case, the counsel argued

“When NAB found nothing, it [NAB] decided to close the reference he added

He argued that neither the bank nor any private person is the complainant in this FIR and nor the national exchequer bore any loss

The case is purely based on political victimisation merely to harass and blackmail Moonis Elahi despite the fact that he has nothing to do with the case

Justice Ghural asked when was the NOC issued for the sugar mill The deputy attorney replied that before commenting he just wanted to say that sections relating to the banking offences apply to the case

saRa INaM MuRdeR Case: shahNwa z’s PhysICal

foR thRee MoRe days

ISLAMABAD

S tA f f R e P o R t

adistrict and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday extended the physical remand of Shahnawaz Amir the main suspect in the Sara Inam murder case for three days

According to details, the police presented Shahnawaz Amir who is the son of senior journalist Ayaz Amir before the

sessions court of civil judge Muhammad Amir Aziz and sought a three day extension in physical re m a n d

D u r i n g t h e h e a r i n g , t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n o ff i c e r ( I O ) t o l d c o u r t t h a t S a r a I m a m s p a s s p o r t h a d s t i l l n o t b e e n r e c o v e r e d “ T h e p a s s p o r t i s “ m a j o r e v i d e n c e ” a s i t w o u l d s h o w S a r a s t r a v e l h i s t o r y, h e a d d e d T h e l a w y e r o f t h e c o m p l a i n a n t s m a i n t a i n e d t h a t S a r a w a s m u r d e r e d i n

S h a h n a w a z ’s h o u s e “ T h e s u s p e c t w o u l d g e t a w a y i f t h e p o l i c e f a i l e d t o r e c o v e r S a r a ’s p a s s p o r t e v e n 1 4 d a y s a f t e r t h e m u r d e r, ” t h e l a w y e r a d d e d After hearing the arguments, the judge s u b s e q u e n t l y e x t e n d e d S h a h n a w a ’ z p h y s i c a l r e m a n d f o r a n o t h e r t h r e e d a y s M e a n w h i l e , a d i s t r i c t a n d s e s s i o n s c o u r t i n I s l a m a b a d e x t e n d e d t h e i n t e r i m b a i l o f S h a h n a w a z ’s m o t h e r S a m e e n a t i l l O c t 7 ( F r i d a y ) A t t h e o u t s e t o f t h e

h e a r i n g , S a m e e n a a p p e a r e d b e f o r e t h e c o u r t w i t h h e r l a w y e r, A r s a l A m j a d H a s h m i R a o A b d u l R a h i m , t h e c o u n s e l f o r t h e S a r a s f a t h e r, s t a t e d t h e f a m i l y h a d s a i d t h e y d i d n o t w a n t t o i n v o l v e a n “ i n n o c e n t p e r s o n ” i n t h e c a s e T h e f a m i l y s h o u l d b e g i v e n m o r e t i m e t o f u r n i s h p r o o f o f t h e i r d e f e n c e ” R a h i m t o l d t h e c o u r t , a d d i n g t h a t h e a l s o h a d t o g o o v e r s o m e e v i d e n c e i n t h i s

IHC direc ts IGP to submit repor t regarding citizen’s disappearance

ISLAMABAD i n P

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday instructed the IGP Islamabad to submit inquiry report within 15 days regarding the missing citizen Munib Akram who was produced before the court after being recovered

Chief Justice Athar Minallah

disposed off the case after recovery of the citizen

On the query of the bench Munib Akram told the court that he was lifted by unknown people from his house on August 19 My mobile phone and laptop was checked out and I was also given threats, he added The citizen said that he went to his village due to fear and powered off his mobile phone and get

sindh police seek adjournment of lg polls for three months

KARACHI S tA f f R e P o R t

Citing shortage of force Sindh police on Monday sought adjournment of the second phase of the Local Government (LG) elections in the province including Karachi According to a report forwarded by the provincial home ministry to CM Murad Ali Shah, the shortage of personnel has been highlighted by the Sindh police due to rescue and relief work in the flood hit districts of the province The report said Karachi police currently have 23 000 policemen and for the peaceful conduct of LG elections in the second phase, there is a need of 39,000 cops Karachi lacks 16 000 policemen for the smooth conduct of the LG polls as a number of policemen are discharging their duties in the flood hit areas It may be noted that the Sindh High Court (SHC) has sought a written reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the petitions filed by Jamaat e Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) against the delay in holding the second phase of local government (LG) polls in Sindh by October 25

Number of dengue cases continues to rise

ISLAMABAD

S tA f f R e P o R t

The number of dengue fever cases is continuing to rise in Pakistan amid an outbreak due to floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in the country Sindh reported 341 new infections, said the provincial health department The worst hit area was Karachi, the provincial capital, which reported 241 new cases The total number of cases this year in the province has reached 10,495 In the last 24 hours, 287 more people were diagnosed with the disease in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial health department reported The number of active cases in the province currently stands at 2 070 and the total number of cases this year has reached 9,249

back on October 1 The Chief Justice expressed annoyance with the police and said that this court had repeatedly stated that such incidents wouldn’t be tolerated The court was not sure whether this citizen was telling truth or not

The court said that such incidents were not possible without the knowledge of the police The Chief Justice asked that to whom this court

should hold responsible for this

He said that this court had given judgment in 2019 but still such incidents were being taken place The court asked the DSP Legal that whether the action was taken against the SHO of the concerned area’s police station The Chief Justice directed the IGP Islamabad to conduct inquiry into the matter and submit report within 15 days to the registrar office

Japan seeking manpower from Pakistan in IT sec tor

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e P o R t

Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Sajid Hussain Turi met Ms Wakako Sakurai, founder and CEO of Plus W, a Japanese global recruiting company here on Monday and discussed that the Japanese global recruiting company was striving for Human Resources of IT sector for securing employment in IT industry of Japan

During the meeting, the minister discussed the scope of human resource export from different sectors of Pakistan to Japan including the IT professionals, said a press release Sajid Turi also informed the Japanese delegates regarding a state of the art data bank maintained by Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), a manpower promotion agency working under the ambit of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development

Ms Sakurai apprised the minister regarding the establishment of Plus W back in 2020 with an aim of

placing Human Resources to different sectors of Japanese economy especially the IT sector

The Company started its liaison coordination with Pakistani stakeholders in 2021 and concluded an MoA with NUST for opening a Japan Centre in NUST, for future possibility of enhancing IT professionals on job placement in Japan

The Federal Minister applauded the efforts of the Japanese company for enhancing the migration mobility of IT professionals in Japan and also assured all possible cooperation and support from the Ministry of OP&HRD and its attached organization especially the OEC, where the Plus W has shown intention to establish a business centre for IT professionals

The CEO of the company acknowledged the services rendered by the Ministry for legal migration to different destinations including Japan The meeting concluded with remarks of the Federal Minister that the Plus W will help the IT professionals for better career prospects in Japan and this will also strengthen the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Japan

CM S indh direc ts Irrigation dept to clear Indus highway, Roshanabad bridge for vehic ular traffic

Sindh

crop

“I am working day and night to ensure sowing of Rabi crops, particularly the wheat to avoid a famine l i k e s i t u a t i o n n e x t y e a r f o r w h i c h e v e r y o n e i n t h e a g r i c u l t u r e a n d i r r i g a t i o n d e p a r t m e n t s h a s t o b e m y helping hand, he said

The meeting was attended by Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Brigadier Nayar of Engineering Corps Corps 5, Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh Chief Engineer

Irrigation Jamal, DG PDMA Salman Shah, and former chief engineer Zahid Shaikh Those who attended the meeting through video link included Chief Engineer Development II Zarif Khero, MD SIDA Pritam Das, and Chief Engineer Sukkur Sardar Shah River Flood situation: Minister Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro briefing the chief minister said that River Indus was flowing normally at Guddu, Sukkur, and Kotri Barrages

He said that Manchhar Lake has also shown a reduction of water by 5 95 feet, from R L 123 30 R L to 117 35 R L Similarly, the level at Dadu Moro Bridge has come down from RL 130 40 to R L 119 40 that showed a reduction of 11 feet Mr Shoro said that the water level has reduced along FP Bund ranging from 8 5 ft to 11 5 ft in the upper reach of Saifullah and Rice Canal Division, whereas 5 to 8 ft in the lower reach of Southern Dadu Division He further said that the water level along Suprio has also reduced about 6 to 7 ft Reduction along MNV at RD 194 is about 4 2 ft, at RD 210 is about 3 5 ft and at RD 346 is about 11 4 ft

PALSP urges SBP for emergenc y rate c uts to 8 percent

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e P o R t

Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers (PALSP) has urged the State Bank of Pakistan for emergency rate cut as the industry is on the brink of survival due to devastating rains causing havoc to the economy as well Industry “Our association accounts for over 70% of the nation s long steel being produced and it is unfortunate to state that today majority of our members are in distress due to the economic adversities created by record flooding coupled with some other factors

The situation is far worse economically right now in comparison to any period in the history in Pakistan At this point in time more drastic measures are required than Covid relief measures if the industries are to survive These measures need to be announced immediately if we want to protect millions of jobs and avoid social unrest in the country ”

In Pakistan, 1 5 million people were reported to have been diagnosed with Covid 19 whereas the flooding

alone have caused 33 million people to become displaced, a challenge that is seen as 22 times worse than Covid outbreak as many of the areas are still under water and 8 million people have become poverty ridden due to the natural catastrophe The cost burden of the floods on the economy can be seen to be crossing over $40 billion The effects are only starting to be felt as Large Scale manufacturing contracted by a record 16 5% in July

“Things are only expected to get worse Keeping decade high interest rates hold zero logic as there is demand contraction across the board due to the floods Commodity prices have softened, oil prices have come down and we are in a state of economic emergency this is the time when SBP must act boldly to avoid social unrest and instability,”

The key rate currently stands at 15% the highest since the last two decades last seen in April 1999

Industry experts believe that the unbearable benchmark interest rate of 15% is unsustainable for industries while comparing it with other regional countries, the benchmark interest rate in Malaysia is 2 5pc,

Bangladesh 3 08pc and India 5 9pc

It must be noted that the People’s Bank of China cut its rate on a one year loan to 2 75% from 2 85% and injected an extra 400 billion yuan ($60 billion) into lending markets after growth in factory output and retail sales weakened in July and home sales fell by double digits We request Honorable Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar and the SBP to act now ”

PALSP further notes that other economies such as UK, the core inflation stands at 9 9% and the monetary policy rate is at 2 25%, signifying a real negative interest rate of 7 65% It would be prudent to note that UK has announced a £150bn energy subsidy scheme, whereas Germany has deployed €200bn in economic stimulus

However Pakistan s core inflation stands at 13 8% for September and CPI has softened month on month, along with a regional average interest rate of 3 82% Pakistan discount rate must be brought down to 8% effective immediately and further reduced in the coming quarters to a maximum of 6 15% Kibor

r e g a r d F o l l o w i n g t h e a rg u m e n t s t h e c o u r t e x t e n d e d S a m e e n a ’s i n t e r i m b a i l S h a h n a w a z w a s a r r e s t e d f o r a l l e g e d l y k i l l i n g h i s C a n a d i a n n a t i o n a l w i f e T h e incident took place at a farmhouse located i n S h a h z a d To w n w h e r e t h e s u s p e c t l i v e d a l o n g w i t h h i s m o t h e r

O n S e p t e m b e r 2 7 , D i s t r i c t S e s s i o n Court Islamabad acquitted journalist Ayaz

A m i r i n t h e m u r d e r c a s e o f h i s d a u g h t e r i n l a w S a r a I n a m b y h i s S h a h n a w a z A m i r T h e r e i s n o e v i d e n c e a b o u t Ay a z A m i r ’s involvement in the murder the judge said

Nearly 1,700 killed, over 12,800 injured in monsoon rain, floods

ISLAMABAD

S tA f f R e P o R t

The death toll from this season s monsoon rain and flood since mid June has risen to around 1,695 along with 12,865 others injured, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said According to a report released by the NDMA, 630 children and 340 women were among those who lost their lives in separate rain or flood related accidents across the country Sindh was the worst hit province where 759 people were killed, followed by Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which reported 336 and 307 deaths respectively Moreover 2 045 349 houses were destroyed and 1,162,122 livestock perished in different parts of Pakistan, the report said

PC seeks early resolution of bottlenecks hampering steel Mills’ revival

ISLAMABAD

The Privatization Commission (PC) has sought early resolution of bottlenecks hampering the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) According to PC the meeting of PC board was held under the chair of Abid Hussain Bhayo to discuss the current status of PSM and some unresolved matters concerning its revival The board proposed for early resolution of these matters, involving all the stakeholders from the federal government The Board was also briefed about the privatization of House Building Finance Company Ltd (HBFCL), The PC, with the aid of financial advisors, is already engaged in the marketing exercise of the entity In this regard a fresh expression of interest (EOI) and statement of qualifications (SOQ) has been advertised with October 17th and 31st 2022 as respective deadlines The decision to advertise the EOI afresh was taken to make the transaction more competitive and transparent PC board also endorsed that the federal government must reserve its majority in the Pak Reinsurance Company Ltd (PRCL) to maintain the majority shareholding of the government of Pakistan in the company

T h e p o l i c e d e m a n d e d f i v e d a y c u s t o d y o f Ay a z A m i r t o f u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a t e t h e m u r d e r H o w e v e r h i s l a w y e r a rg u e d t h a t t h e p o l i c e h a s n o t y e t p r o v i d e d a l e g i t i m a t e r e a s o n f o r a r r e s t i n g h i s c l i e n t

S tA f f R e P o R t

KARACHI

HOSpItal OverwHelmed aS water-bOrne IllneSSeS Spread

S e H WA N R e u t e R S

tH E e m e rg e n c y w a r d a t t h e m a i n government hospital in Sehwan, a s m a l l t o w n i n S i n d h , i s o v e r w h e l m e d O n a r e c e n t v i s i t , R e u t e r s w i t n e s s e d h u n d r e d s o f people crammed into rooms and corridors, desperately seeking treatment for malaria and other illnesses that are spreading fast after the worst floods in decades

A m i d t h e c r u s h N a v e e d A h m e d a y o u n g d o c t o r i n t h e e m e rg e n c y r e s p o n s e department of the Abdullah Shah Institute of Health Sciences is surrounded by five or six people trying to get his attention

T h e 3 0 y e a r o l d k e e p s h i s c o o l a s s t r e t c h e d e m e rg e n c y s e r v i c e s s t r u g g l e t o c o p e w i t h t h o u s a n d s o f p a t i e n t s a r r i v i n g from miles around after their homes were submerged under water when heavy rains fell in August and September

We b e c o m e s o o v e r w o r k e d a t t i m e s that I feel like collapsing and going on an i n t r a v e n o u s d r i p , ” a s m i l i n g A h m e d t o l d R e u t e r s a s h e s i p p e d a c u p o f t e a i n t h e hospital s canteen during a short break

“ B u t i t ’s b e c a u s e o f t h e p r a y e r s o f these patients that we keep going ” Ahmed is on the frontline of the battle

Okara woman commits suicide after her ‘obscene’ pictures went viral

OKARA S ta f f R e p o R t

to limit sickness and death across southern P a k i s t a n , w h e r e h u n d r e d s o f t o w n s a n d villages were cut off by rising waters

T h e d e l u g e h a s a ff e c t e d a r o u n d 3 3 million people in a country of 220 million

Most of the estimated 300 400 patients arriving at his clinic each morning, many o f t h e m c h i l d r e n a r e s u ff e r i n g f r o m m a l a r i a a n d d i a r r h o e a , a l t h o u g h w i t h w i n t e r a p p r o a c h i n g , A h m e d f e a r s o t h e r illnesses will become more common

“I hope people displaced by the floods can get back to their homes before winter; (if not) they will be exposed to respiratory illnesses and pneumonia living in tents,” he said

H u n d r e d s o f t h o u s a n d s o f P a k i s t a n i s w h o f l e d t h e i r h o m e s a r e l i v i n g i n government camps set up to accommodate them or simply out in the open

S t a g n a n t f l o o d w a t e r s , s p r e a d o v e r h u n d r e d s o f s q u a r e k i l o m e t r e s ( m i l e s ) , m a y t a k e t w o t o s i x m o n t h s t o r e c e d e i n s o m e p l a c e s , a n d h a v e a l r e a d y l e d t o w i d e s p r e a d c a s e s o f s k i n a n d e y e infections diarrhoea malaria typhoid and dengue fever

T h e c r i s i s h i t s P a k i s t a n a t a particularly bad time With its economy in c r i s i s , p r o p p e d u p b y l o a n s f r o m t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l M o n e t a r y F u n d ( I M F ) , i t

does not have the resources to cope with the longer term effects of the flooding

Nearly 1,700 people have been killed i n t h e f l o o d s c a u s e d b y h e a v y m o n s o o n r a i n s a n d m e l t i n g g l a c i e r s P a k i s t a n e s t i m a t e s t h e c o s t o f t h e d a m a g e a t $ 3 0 b i l l i o n , a n d t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n d U n i t e d N a t i o n s h a v e b l a m e d t h e c a t a s t r o p h e o n climate change

Over 340 people have died of diseases c a u s e d b y t h e f l o o d s a u t h o r i t i e s h a v e said ‘ S E C O N D D I S A S T E R ’ : A c c o r d i n g t o the health department of Sindh the worst a ff e c t e d r e g i o n , 1 7 , 2 8 5 c a s e s o f m a l a r i a have been confirmed since July 1

A n t i c i p a t i n g t h e r i s k o f d i s e a s e outbreaks after the rescue and relief phase o f t h e f l o o d s , t h e S i n d h g o v e r n m e n t i s t r y i n g t o h i r e m o r e t h a n 5 0 0 0 h e a l t h p r o f e s s i o n a l s o n a t e m p o r a r y b a s i s i n districts most at risk

We a r e s h o r t o f h u m a n r e s o u r c e s c o n s i d e r i n g t h e m a g n i t u d e o f t h e b u r d e n o f d i s e a s e f o l l o w i n g t h e u n p r e c e d e n t e d r a i n s a n d f l o o d s Q a s i m S o o m r o p r o v i n c i a l l a w m a k e r a n d p a r l i a m e n t a r y health secretary of the Sindh government, told Reuters

T h e Wo r l d H e a l t h O rg a n i s a t i o n ( W H O ) h a s r a i s e d c o n c e r n a b o u t a n

i m p e n d i n g s e c o n d d i s a s t e r o f w a t e r b o r n e d i s e a s e s s p r e a d i n g a c r o s s t h e country, particularly in Sindh I n t h e h o s p i t a l w a r d i n S e h w a n , a young man with a high fever was having fits on a bed outside the main emergency r o o m H i s m o t h e r r a n t o A h m e d , w h o a t t e n d e d t o t h e p a t i e n t a n d a s k e d a m a l e nurse to place cold pads on his forehead

The air was heavy with humidity, and there were not enough air conditioners to c o o l t e m p e r a t u r e s i n o v e r c r o w d e d corridors lined with beds The wards were f i l l e d t o c a p a c i t y a n d a h a n d f u l o f b e d s had more than one patient on them

A h m e d , a g r a d u a t e o f a u n i v e r s i t y i n China described the pressure he and other medics were under

With such influx, we cannot wait for test results for each patient to start the t r e a t m e n t , ” h e s a i d , a d d i n g h e b e g i n s a d m i n i s t e r i n g m e d i c i n e f o r m a l a r i a a s soon as he sees some symptoms

The institute in Sehwan serves people f r o m n e i g h b o u r i n g t o w n s a n d d i s t r i c t s , including those living in camps while the waters recede and rebuilding can begin

J a g a n S h a h a n i ’s d a u g h t e r f e l l unconscious after getting a fever around a week ago He used a boat to get out of his f l o o d e d v i l l a g e o f B h a j a r a a n d f l a g g e d

d o w n a c a r o n t h e n e a r b y r o a d t h a t t o o k them to Sehwan

“ D o c t o r s s a i d s h e h a d m a l a r i a , ” h e s a i d l a t e l a s t w e e k T h i s i s o u r f o u r t h night here There is nothing here to eat but A l l a h h a s b e e n v e r y k i n d t o p r o v i d e e v e r y t h i n g , a d d e d S h a h a n i , w h o s e 1 5 y e a r o l d d a u g h t e r H a m e e d a i s n o w recovering

On the outskirts of town, hundreds of d i s p l a c e d p e o p l e q u e u e d u p f o r r a t i o n s b e i n g d i s t r i b u t e d a t L a l B a g h , a t e n t s e t t l e m e n t w h e r e d i s p l a c e d f a m i l i e s prepared tea and breakfast on open fires

T h e I n d u s H i g h w a y t h a t r u n s p a s t S e h w a n i s d o t t e d w i t h t e n t c a m p s f o r displaced people

S o m e a r e b e g i n n i n g t o r e t u r n h o m e w h e r e w a t e r s h a v e r e t r e a t e d f a r e n o u g h , but not all are so lucky

“There is no one here to help me but A l l a h I p r a y t o A l l a h t h a t t h e w a t e r s r e c e d e i n m y v i l l a g e a n d I c a n r e t u r n t o my home,” said Madad Ali Bozdar B o z d a r, 5 2 , i s f r o m B u b a k , a t o w n l o c a t e d o n t h e n o r t h e a s t e r n b a n k o f M a n c h a r L a k e S p e a k i n g o n F r i d a y, h e s a i d h i s v i l l a g e w a s s t i l l u n d e r 1 0 t o 1 2 f e e t ( 3 4 m e t r e s ) o f w a t e r H e e x p e c t e d t o b e a b l e t o g o b a c k i n a r o u n d t w o m o n t h s ’ t i m e

Okara woman committed suicide after her ‘indecent’ pictures went viral on social media the local police said on Monday The dreadful incident took place in the limits of Haveli Lakha area of Punjab’s Okara, where a woman ended her life after her obscene pic tures went viral The police have arrested one accused in the case, while case has been registered against four suspects Raids were underway to arrest the rest of the suspects in the suicide case Last month, a vic tim of gang rape allegedly committed suicide in vil lage Mehran Soomro within the limits of Kaloi Town of Tharparkar The body of the victim was sent to Taluka Hospital Dipol Town for postmortem The girl was reportedly abducted by some unknown persons five days back and kidnappers, who, after raping her had left her at a deserted place near her village

Gov t moves SC to cancel Shahbaz Gill’s bail

StAff RepORt

T h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t M o n d a y f i l e d a n a p p l i c a t i o n i n t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t t o c a n c e l t h e b a i l o f P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k i I n s a f l e a d e r S h e h b a z G i l l i n a s e d i t i o n c a s e T h e a p p l i c a t i o n w a s f i l e d b y t h e I s l a m a b a d C i t y M a g i s t r a t e o n b e h a l f o f t h e s t a t e I n t h e a p p l i c a t i o n , i t w a s s t a t e d t h a t G i l l i s a c c u s e d o f t r e a s o n a n d t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t s h o u l d a n n u l t h e H i g h C o u r t ’s d e c i s i o n t o g r a n t b a i l t o G u l T h e g o v e r n m e n t i n i t s a p p e a l p l e a d e d t h a t t h e I s l a m a b a d H i g h C o u r t d i d n o t p r o p e r l y e v a l u a t e t h e f a c t s I t s t a t e d t h a t S h a h b a z G i l l i s a c c u s e d o f t r e a s o n a g a i n s t t h e s t a t e a s h e t r i e d t o i n c i t e r e b e l l i o n S o i t w a s r e q u e s t e d t o t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t a n n u l t h e d e c i s i o n o f t h e H i g h C o u r t o n t h e b a i l o f S h a h b a z G i l l

t a n R a i l w a y s o ff i c i a l s s a i d

Relief items from Turkiye included t e n t s b l a n k e t s a n d f o o d i t e m s o ff i c i a l s f u r t h e r s a i d a d d i n g t h a t t h e r a i l

s e r v i c e s b e t w e e n P a k i s t a n a n d I r a n h a v e b e e n r e s t o r e d a f t e r t w o m o n t h s P a k i s t a n s s t a t e r a d i o o n S u n d a y s a i d t h a t T ü r k i y e ’s 1 3 t h “ K i n d n e s s

Tr a i n ” c a r r y i n g 5 5 4 t o n s o f r e l i e f s u p p l i e s f o r f l o o d v i c t i m s , h a s s e t o ff f o r P a k i s t a n Tu r k i s h D i s a s t e r a n d E m e rg e n c y M a n a g e m e n t i n a s t a t e m e n t s a i d t h e train has left Ankara and is expected to

r e a c h P a k i s t a n i n t w o w e e k s Tu r k i s h P r e s i d e n t R e c e p Ta y y i p E r d o g a n h a s o r d e r e d r e l i e f s h i p m e n t s f o r f l o o d v i c t i m s o f P a k i s t a n Total Turkish aid for flood affected p e o p l e o f P a k i s t a n t r a n s p o r t e d b y r a i l a l o n e r e a c h e s t o r o u g h l y 7 2 9 0 t o n s R a d i o P a k i s t a n r e p o r t s Tu r k i s h C o n s u l G e n e r a l i n K a r a c h i C e m a l S a n g u i n a u g u r a t e d a

Islamabad registers downward trend in dengue cases

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Change in weather has decreased the number of dengue cases in Is lamabad the district health officer said on Monday

According to the statistics pro vided by the DHO Islamabad 44 dengue cases have been reported in the federal capital

T h e D H O f u r t h e r s a i d t h e federal capital has so far reported 2 , 5 5 2 c a s e s o f d e n g u e a n d s i x deaths

On the other hand, at least 246 more dengue infections were re ported in Karachi in the last 24 hours, the Sindh health department data showed on Sunday

According to the provincial health department report, so far 36

people had their lives due to the vec tor borne infection in the mega city The majority number of cases in Karachi have been reported in district East, where 66 patients have been infected by the virus during the past 24 hours

District Korangi reported 33 cases, Central 55, Malir 28, South 36 Keamari 13 and District West reported 10 cases

tent city for flood victims named after Tu r k i s h P r e s i d e n t E r d o g a n , a t B h o l a r i , a v i l l a g e i n t h e l i m i t s o f J a m s h o r o d i s t r i c t

Tu r k i s h r e l i e f a g e n c y ’s o ff i c i a l said that Ankara has sent 14 planes and 1 3 t r a i n s o f r e l i e f g o o d s i n c l u d i n g t e n t s , f o o d i t e m s , m e d i c i n e s , k i t c h e n i t e m s , v a c c i n e s , a n d o t h e r s u p p l i e s t o t h e f l o o d h i t r e g i o n s

Yet another ‘missing person’ turns up at IHC

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f Four more trains with relief goods from Turkiye arrive Pakistan

The police produced Muneeb Akram a man who was apparently picked up by security agencies on suspicion of planning undisclosed acts of sabotage, before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday Athar Minallah, chief judge at the high court, who over the weekend ordered the police and intelli gence services to produce the suspect heard the case “This is the second or third incident [within a short period of time] of a person going missing Tell me why is this happening? Who is responsible for this?” the judge questioned a representative of the Ministry of Defence The official told the court: We had asked our agencies to find out Akram s whereabouts after the order of your court However, after the investigation carried out by the two agen cies it turned out neither of them had him At this Justice Minallah said: “Our intelligence agencies are among the best in the world If any citizen is picked up the job of the agencies is to find out about him, not to just say that ‘we do not have him’ ” “Now tell me, who is responsible for all this? This court in its detailed judgment has identi fied the responsible If the boy was not found, the court would hold them all responsible You are di rected to read this judgment once he said

Tuesday 4 October 2022 | LAHORE 04 NEWS Minister blames Imran for historic inflation, ravaged economy

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has blamed the government of former prime minister Imran Khan for soaring inflation and damaged econ omy

Speaking to PTV News he declared that Khan, during his 3 5 year stint in office, was busy hatching conspiracies to divide the state institutions because he wanted to trample the Constitution through his nefarious actions He said the government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition was utilising all its sources to provide relief to the public and avert the impacts of the flawed economic policies pursued by the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI)

He further claimed the PTI during its time in the government victimised the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at all levels by reg istering politically motivated cases against them

Iqbal said that Khan was spreading confusion by playing mind games and attacking institutions through deceitful speeches for his political survival

He claimed that Khan had crossed all red lines by attacking Pakistan Army The military has rendered countless sac rifices in the America led War on Ter rorism and at present is engaged in the relief and rescue efforts in the flood rav aged areas

He however lamented Khan has made the matter of top appointments in the military a topic of his politics

R

PAKistAN iN ‘secoNd PhAse’ of deALiNg with fLood hAvoc: NfRcc

trains from Turkey

Flood Response Coor

Centre

the country has

second phase of rehabili

devastating flood

While no deaths were reported due to flood related incidents across the country, the health ministry was directed to focus on numerous health challenges post floods in cluding dengue and water borne diseases

NAV T TC impar ts training to around 98,000 youth in HiTech, Cyber S ec urity, AI, Robotics

National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) under the guidance of Ministry of Federal Education and Profes sional Training, has so far imparted training to 98 000 youth in 989 institutes in the subjects of Hi Tech, Cyber Security and Artificial In telligence and Robotics as certified skilled professionals

According to official sources, around 71 percent had been employed in Hi Tech Skills a n d i n A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e R o b o t i c s

C y b e r S e c u r i t y e t c S i m i l a r l y, t h e p r o f e s sional training had been imparted to around 379 350 youth

NAVTTC was making all out efforts

under the Prime Minister ’s Youth Skill Devel opment Programme to equip youth with the latest market demand driven and technology oriented income generating technical skills

In this regard, under National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) NAVTTC developed 200 qualifications, 46,725 personnel have been certified and mainstreamed through RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) (Ustad Shagrid) Matric Tech Programme, which is fusion of formal education with technical education “ I t h a s o p e n e d n e w h o r i z o n s f o r y o u t h s e e k i n g e a r l y e m p l o y m e n t I t w a s p i l o t e d i n 1 5 f o r m a l e d u c a t i o n s c h o o l s o f I C T G B a n d A J K T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l A c c r e d i t a t i o n o f 1 0 P a k i s t a n i i n s t i t u t e s h a s b e e n a c h i e v e d a n d 5 3 5 n a t i o n a l T V E T i n s t i t u t e s

The forum was told that out of the nine trains that have thus far reached, relief goods from six have been distributed while three will be unloaded on Monday

Construction of flood resilient shelter homes was also discussed during the session as the proposed model village example gave a comprehensive plan of the structures that provided many families with shelter during the 2010 flooding

During the session, the panel also overviewed the problems caused by a short age of funds and the cost of logistics for re habilitation and settlement of affectees

The forum was also informed that a flood dashboa r d w i l l b e f o r m a l l y l a u n c h e d i n t h e P r i m e M i n i s t e r ’s O ff i c e w h e r e P M S h e h b a z S h a r i f w i l l a n n o u n c e t h e o p e r a t i o n a l f u n c t i o n i n g o f t h e d a s h b o a r d , w h i c h w i l l e n t a i l a l l n e c e s s a r y f l o o d r e l a t e d d e t a i l s

Aimal Wali cancels Edward College visit

PESHAWAR S ta f f R e p o R t

h a v e b e e n a c c r e d i t e d s o f a r 5 0 S m a r t L a b s a n d 5 0 0 C l a s s R o o m s h a v e b e e n s e t u p w i t h t h e C h i n e s e C P E C s u p p o r t N AV T T C a l s o e s t a b l i s h e d t e n ( 1 0 ) C o u n t r y o f D e s t i n a t i o n s ( C o D s ) s p e c i f i c f a c i l i t a t i o n c e n t e r s a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y t o e n s u r e e ff e c t i v e m o b i l i z a t i o n o f s k i l l e d w o r k f o r c e o v e r s e a s , ” t h e y a d d e d P a k i s t a n w a s b l e s s e d t o h a v e a s i g n i f i c a n t l y l a rg e p o o l o f t a l e n t e d y o u t h w h i c h , n o d o u b t , a r e a p o t e n t i a l h u m a n r e s o u r c e a n d N AV T T C a s p e r t h e v i s i o n o f G o v e r n m e n t i s e q u i p p i n g y o u t h w i t h i n c o m e g e n e r a t i n g s k i l l s f o r e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t a n d p r o d u c t i v i t y t h e s o u r c e s i n f o r m e d TVET Accreditation and Quality Evalua tion Committee has recently approved the ac creditation of 77 more TVET Institutes

World Space Week celebrations commence from Oc tober 4 to 10

ISLAMABAD

Institute of Space Technology (IST) Islam abad in collaboration with National Center of GIS and Space Applications (NCGSA) will celebrate World Space Week 2022 from Octo ber 4 to 10 at its Islamabad campus

According to the IST, the annual week long space festivity encapsulates over 100 events, related to space science, technology and its applications

The celebrations are in pursuance of United Nations declaration of October 4 to10 as inter

national week of space aimed at celebrating, and acknowledging the contributions of Space Technology towards betterment of humankind It is the largest annual space event of the world aimed to build up the workforce of tomorrow by inspiring students and educating the public about multifaceted domains of space Pakistan is one of the major contributors in the WSW space festivities, the national activities are held under the patronage of SUPARCO Institute of Space Technology has been celebrating World Space Week since 2005 in l

Space Science and Technology, in line with National aspirations IST organizes a wide range of events to motivate and inspire young minds towards the realms of Space Technology around the year through its Space Education Research Lab under the National Center of GIS and Space Applications (NCGSA) Channelizing these ef forts of space education and outreach through innovative and engaging initiatives at the na tional level, World Space Week 2022 will be celebrated at IST from October 4 10

BOP ’s Khaas Premium Bank ing offering now at Faisalabad, and Karachi af ter Lahore

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Bank of Punjab (BOP) arranged Khaas customers engagement sessions at Faisalabad and Karachi where selective clients were in vited as special guests to meet with the Presi dent/CEO BOP Mr Zafar Masud, Group Head Mr Asif Riaz and other senior members

Explaining his vision and expectations from Khaas premium banking, Mr Zafar Masud emphasized that extensive network of BOP all over the country is a huge advantage to offer premium services to our valued cus tomers BOP Khaas is a giant step towards transforming the image of the bank as one of the fastest growing and progressive entities of the country vis a vis ensuring provision of tai lor made products and services for each seg ment as the core deliverables,” Mr Zafar Masud said He informed that enhanced digital channels and credit cards were also being launched for the BOP customers

The customers also shared their experi ence and expectations from Khaas proposition on this occasion Eulogizing growth and de velopment of BOP, they expressed their ut most satisfaction over bank’s customer care and products and services The Bank of Pun jab (BOP) has launched its priority branches in Karachi & Lahore along with one Khaas center in Faisalabad These Khaas priority centers & lounges symbolize the value that BOP places on its relationship with Khaas cus tomers BOP Khaas provides unique customer experience and relationship management through exceptional services and products It provides differentiated and exclusive product offerings to Khaas customers with discounted fees lifestyle privileges and alliances

at the events

Aw a m i N a t i o n a l P a r t y ( A N P ) P r o v i n c i a l P r e s i d e n t A i m a l Wa l

of Edward Col lege teachers headed by its vice principal held a meeting with Aimal Wali Khan in Wali Bagh Charsadda and requested him to cancel his visit to the college Aimal Wali on the occasion accepted the request of the delegation and an nounced to cancel his visit He said teachers were the builders of the nation

and he could not reject their demand However, he said he would soon meet with the students of Edward College after making consultations with his party col leagues He further said the respect of teachers was above politics However he added that use of abusive language against political opponents inside an ed ucational institution by a political leader was unacceptable

He said that educational institutions should never be used for politics He also thanked the teachers and students who raised their voices for the right and truth and assured that his party was standing by such righteous people The members of the delegation thanked him for accept ing their request and for the hospitality they received at Wali Bagh

A r y a n m e t w i t h P M L N S u p r e m o M u h a m m a d N a w a z S h a r i f i n L o n d o n

They discussed

General Tariq Farooq

t e r I f t i k h a r G i l a n i a n d A b d u l R e h m a n

LAHORE

(NDMA) chief Lieutenant General Akhtar

s c u r r e n t l y u n d e r w a y i n t h e w o r s t h i t a r e a s o f S i n d h a n d B a l o c h i s t a n

The deputy chairperson asked to focus on malnutrition of children and lactating mothers in the impacted areas, while also stressing the need to control epidemic dis eases such as malaria and dengue, which have seen a significant increase in reporting M o r e o v e r, t h e f o r u m w a s a l s o i n f o r m e d o f p l a n n e d i n t e r n a t i o n a l f l i g h t s coming in with relief goods, including do n a t i o n s b y U n i t e d N a t i o n s I n t e r n a t i o n a l C h i l d r e n s F u n d ( U N I C E F ) a s w e l l a s

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

Taking political disputes to cour ts

PO L I T I C A L parties retard the growth of democratic culture and institutions by taking political disputes to courts instead of resolving them through talks inside and outside parliament Despite being victims of the bad practice during the last four years and more, the major parties in the ruling alliance would have added to their prestige if they had defeated PTI fair and square in the next elections rather than proceeding to get IK out of the ring through what could be termed a technical knockout The federal government has decided to take legal action against IK over the ‘cipher ’ audios As if the audios were not enough Imran Khan seems to have also lost the copy of the cipher he had waved in the public meeting in March FIA has been directed to investigate the matter seeking the assistance, if necessary, of other security agencies As PML N vice president Maryam Nawaz put it, Imran Khan deserves to be made an example The statement reveals vengeance more than political wisdom Apparently despite being in power for six months the ruling alliance is not confident of winning the next election fair and square Imran Khan is not innocent either The cipher was sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in US to FO Former Prime Minister Imran Khan instead decided to present the diplomatic cipher as a threatening letter, almost an ultimatum, by a foreign power that was not to be named The plan was prepared by a team led by IK himself As the audios reveal Imran Khan and his principal secretary Azam Khan strategised their moves on the cipher They were joined in the next meeting by the then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi and Federal Minister Asad Umar The team of four decided to play with and make use of a classified diplomatic cable for political purposes They blamed the US and local collaborators for the removal of IK’s government Imran Khan’s opponents have interpreted the plan as a violation of the PM s oath as well as of the official Secrets Act They maintain Imran Khan was sacrificing key national interests for political gains by sexing up a diplomatic cipher Shah Mahmud Qureshi and Fawad Ch have welcomed the probe ordered by the federal government What remains to be seen is if the judiciary is satisfied with the probe and the case prepared on its basis

National carrier

An international embarrassment

PA K I S TA N International Airlines, our flagship national carrier, has been an unprofitable financial glutton and burden on the exchequer for decades Finding value in a PIA ticket, domestic or international, is extremely difficult with its dated fleet and insufficient on board features that in most cases have not even included an entertainment system for passengers for the past several years Making it a commercially viable airline in an already volatile and unpredictable industry such as aviation with stiff local and international competition providing a better product, is therefore a difficult task Add to this the fact that PIA s administrative and managerial problems are like any other government run institution, and that task becomes near impossible An abysmal safety record, with three major crashes since 2000 claiming close to 200 lives, discourages passengers from using the service when other airlines with better track records are available The most recent crash in 2020 following which the aviation Minister at the time Ghulam Sarwar Khan, revealed that close to 262 of the 860 active licenses issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were suspicious, led to PIA being banned by the eU and UK until an audit was passed, which is scheduled to take place later this month Unable to land at heathrow owing to the ban, PIA has been forced to sublet its 7 spots to other international airlines for six months to avoid irreversible cancellation

What is more, rather than focusing on improving the condition of the airline PIA is busy issuing a ridiculous bizarre and unnecessary directives to its female crew, sending out an official circular ordering to wear undergarments Although PIA has since withdrawn the memo, one wonders why the airline’s initial response was not to take any action against the complainant who was evidently spending most of his/her time on duty carefully observing and keeping tabs on the more delicate dressing of his/her female subordinates and colleague

Several plans have been floated to bring the national carrier under some form of private management There is the extreme complete privatization option that the employees unions have successfully defeated multiple times Another proposal is to split the airline up into two companies PIA A and PIA B Granted, privatization at any level will always be a contentious issue but some way forward must be found in order to avoid further international embarrassment and use of taxpayer money to finance an unprofessionally run substandard national carrier

C l i m a t e r e p a r a t i o n s

reached the 48 poorest countries in the world when in reality the true need could soon top $300 billion

Take the US, historically the most polluting coun try in the world Since 1850, it has produced 27 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions of the world, more than twice as much as the second coun try on the list Recently, it was surpassed by China as the largest annual greenhouse gas emitter It is also the largest consumer of oil and gas, and the third largest coal user in the world On top of that, its track record towards accountability is shameful

rowing and corruption, but the overall list of causes is more complex than that Over lending by the US as a way to secure political alliance during the Cold War years, War on Terror and beyond has played a huge role In addition to that tight monetary policy by the US since the 1980s has increased loan interest rates and debt burdens

Re C e N T floods in Pakistan have caused damage and destruction beyond the coun try’s rehabilitative capacity The numbers paint a gut wrenching story 33 million people affected, 1500 lives lost, 727,000 cattle dead 2 million acres of agricultural land ren dered useless, 1 7 million houses, 150 bridges and 3500 kms of roads destroyed

Sindh and Balochistan received up to eight times their usual monthly averages of rainfall, pre ceded by record breaking heatwaves in March and April The total financial damage is estimated to be $19 5 billion When these numbers are read against the backdrop of Pakistan s miniscule contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions while being one of the top ten countries worst affected by climate change, the numbers appear not just shocking, they seem grossly unfair

Such climate change induced extreme weather events will only get more intense and frequent in the future For this the developed world bears direct re sponsibility, and they must compensate the affected countries with climate reparations Steps to that effect have been taken in the past but efforts have fallen far short, and promises have been broken consistently In 2010, the OeCD pledged to raise $100 billion in cli mate finance annually by 2020 but was only able to raise $80 billion One fifth of that amount actually

Former President Obama pledged $2 million to the UN’s Green Climate Fund but never delivered i t C l e a n A i r A c t t h e o u t d a t e d l e g i s l a t i o n t h a t g r a n t s r e g u l a t o r y m a n d a t e t o t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a l P r o t e c t i o n A g e n c y t o c u r b g r e e n h o u s e g a s e m i s s i o n s w a s p a s s e d i n 1 9 7 0 T h e US Supreme Court in a re c e n t r u l i n g c u r b e d t h e p o w er s o f th e ePA , as ex panded by the Clean Power P l a n A n d C o n g r e s s h a s passed no major legislation t a c k l i n g g r e e n h o u s e e m i s sions since 2008

The US bears outsized responsibility, yet it has al ways stuttered in its efforts to take effective measures towards reducing green house gas emissions and ful filling its pledges towards climate reparations Debt forgiveness as an equitable and effective reparatory measure But does it make sense for Pakistan to advocate for it?

It makes humanitarian sense The Universal Dec laration of human Rights, the founding declaration of principles for the international human rights frame work recognizes “inherent dignity of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world Without capital freed up from servicing external debt critical development and social reforms will remain a huge challenge Debt cancellation will allow Pakistan to make more poverty related investments

One might argue that Pakistan accrued debt and must be held accountable in paying it back Certainly, part of the crisis can be attributed to excessive bor

D e m o c r a t i c d e

r e s

i o

Black Lives Matter movement Arab Spring in the Mid dle east emanated from two Revolutionary Women

Tawakkol Karman and Wided Bouchamaoui Frontline women’s struggle brings immediate outcomes and mass movements against the autocratic features of states

The fear that organized frontline feminist struggle can harm the malignant agendas of autocrats populists and authoritarian leaders they start to consolidate the patriarchal support to shore up the emotions to lead a nation and management services through a male Dur ing this struggle, the authoritarian features subvert women s rights to protect their hegemony and rule

The resistance movements against the populist rulers in the state come in the form of mass move ments The morale of mass movements multiply when women join such protests The mobilization of women in history caused to topple of the dictators and sadomasochistic rulers Therefore, the rise of pop ulism and autocratic rulers sabotage women’s rights to bring down their morale and courage to counter the anti democratic characteristics of the state rulers

It makes economic sense too This can be looked at from two angles First, the principle of diminishing marginal utility says that the more you have of a par ticular thing the less value you attach to every addi tional increment of it One thousandth of one percent of the US GDP might not make a dent to the US econ omy but it can wipe off the debt of a small country and allow it to take crucial steps towards supplying basic human needs

Second, the US govern ment is beholden to institu tional investors and multilateral lenders over and above the need of individual countries Investors are un willing to simply erase debt off their balance sheets But forgiving debt can benefit both the US treasury and in vestors Money freed up from servicing external debt will reflect in an increase in demand for imports by debtor countries This will directly benefit labour, agri culture, and industry in cred itor countries An increase in productivity will increase tax revenue and the benefits will trickle up towards investors If done right, it is a win win situation

If the US takes steps to these effect, other creditor countries will follow Time is beyond due for the de veloped world to take the issue of climate reparations seriously and pay their fair share towards compensat ing affected countries Mere acknowledgements and sympathy notes are not enough Debt forgiveness would be a salient way for creditor countries to put their money where their mouth is

The author is a common law jurisdiction lawyer He is an undergraduate of the University of California, Berkeley and has written extensively on legal and socio political topics

rise of the authoritarian ruler and his struggle to side line women in political circles According to Natasha Kaul a prominent scholar authoritarian leader s lime light the traditionalist patriotic femininity to appease the majority conservative class in their countries They base their nationalism on the subjugation of women, legislation against women, and distorting the concepts of women empowerment

Editor

Nizami

Th e rise of Populist leaders and autocracies in the world are mutually declining and stalling women’s rights throughout the world With the democratic emasculation, the shift towards sexism misogyny and dis crimination comes into force because the authoritar ian leaders deem the politically vibrant women as a potential threat Patriarchy and Autocracy mutually reinforce each other in the states In the 21st Century, democracies are eroding and the frontline women’s rights are also under the ominous threat to surviving midst Putin, Xi Jinxing, and Kim Jong un

According to Francis Fukuyama being a promi nent political scientist democracies and women rights go hand in hand The authoritarian resurgence has rolled back the women rights in the newly estab lished democracies as well as the partially autocratic countries even the United States which advanced in Women Rights and Feminist Struggle since 1970 has slowed down with the rise of Donald Trump The policies and sidelining of the feminist struggle during the Donald Trump Presidency have caused the con stitutionally abolishing of the abortion and reproduc tive rights of women

The wave of Patriarchal Authoritarianism has al ways been dreadful for frontline women s struggle From Civil War to the transition of the Political system in many countries feminist struggle played a huge role in economic empowerment gender rights and politi cally inclusive state institutions In the USA it was the feminist struggle when black women launched the

Women’s political mobilization and political con sciousness were harnessed by reversing gender equal ity and gender rights in the countries In China, Xi propagated such policies that suppress the right to pro duce in Uyghur ’s ethnicity Xi forced birth control, re productive rights, and even sterilization for many women The women in China faced threats of impris onment and fines to produce more children Xi Jinxing sidelined the voices of many women who accused powerful men of sexual assaults With the rise of Kim Jong un in North Korea the number of women’s refuge abroad increased three times more than men The rising tides of authoritarianism suppressed women’s rights and women’s voices in many states

The cause of democracy is always established through the inclusivity of all genders in society As an engine of true democratic advancement, activism by women retards the agendas of authoritarian leaders The political leaders in many countries try to rule out women’s rights to protect their ulterior motives The shift in women’s rights and support for masculine rights in authoritarian regimes like a revival of Title IX during the presidency of Trump to favor the accused of sexual assault manifests that it is a systematic feature to mul tiply men s rights by compromising women s rights

Turkish President Recep Tayyip erdogan dissem inated the views of feminine chastity for the idealized generations in the coming future with a focus to insist women focus on traditional family roles rather than their careers The struggle to politicize the traditional patriarchal roles and homemaking for women and roll back their public appearance in Turkey indicates the

In her essay Revenge of the Patriarchs erica Chenoweth argued that autocratic rulers capitalize on their rule to institutionalize the fear of women em powerment in the masses to surface the popular nar ratives against femininity On September 17, 2022, Mahsa Amini was brutally killed by Iranian moral policing which was essentially established to make surveillance over the women dressing Mahsa Amini was traveling with her family and during the routine police search and fist they charge her that she is im properly dressed eventually arresting and killing her within hours In draconian states where the authori tarian rulers lead the state the women s voices are systematically sidelined because such voices can multiply and assemble in mass protest against the sta tus quo The organized campaign against women to weaken the feminist agenda become favorite tactics to make power more concentrated and consolidated Democratic backslide has a huge impact on women’s rights and the inclusion of women into the economic and legal rights in the 21st Century Demo cratic deficit has plummeted during the struggle of the last two hundred years Consolidating women’s rights in the 21st Century is prima facia to sustain democ racy and vice versa Authoritarian leaders sway the emotions of people in conservative settings to make women vulnerable From hungarian Victor Orban to egyptian Abdel Fattah el Sisi they came into power and roll backed the women friendly legislation to en trench their rules in their respective countries The mi sogyny and authoritarianism are part and parcel together so both flourishes together in a draconian fashion ensuring women’s rights and reviving the feministic theory in practice is a hallmark to sustain the democratic ideals and institutional democracy at home and in a global world The re evolution of democracy amid authoritarian, populist, and autocratic rulers can organize women’s rights inclusive institu tions, and equal citizenry in the 21st Century

I am Muhammad Wajahat Sultan Lahore based writer I am columnist in The Nation Pakistan Today Daily Times and Pakistan Observer I have my published articles and opinions on global issues in Europe based Modern Diplomacy I have completed my graduation in Transportation Engineering from UET Lahore My post graduation is in Political Sciences Sociology and English Literature from Sargodha University and Allama Iqbal University Islamabad Respectively

Dedicated to the legac y of late Hameed Nizami Arif Nizami (Late)

Electronic voting machines

In 2018 itself, an initiative was taken to buy one and 50000 eVMs at a cost of Tk 3 829 crore Bangladeshi Taka

EL e C T R O N I C Voting Machine (eVM) is currently an important topic of dis cussion in the political arena of Bangladesh Some reputed experts of Bangladesh are opining that it is almost impossible to manipulate eVMs Therefore, it is not appropriate to have any objection to the tak ing of votes through this

The electronic voting machines (eVMs), which will be used in 150 constituencies in the upcoming 2023 national polls as per the election Commission’s (eC) roadmap, are safe and cannot be tampered with for vote rigging, say some ex perts allaying fears of manipulating the device

On February 1 (2020), a positive change in the conduct of elections in Bangladesh has been initiated through the use of eVMs in the two city corporation elections of Dhaka The current election Commission (eC) has announced the decision to use electronic Voting Machine (eVM) in at least one hundred seats in the 11th National Assembly elections held in the last week of December 2018 Then ruling Awami League leaders and representatives of civil soci ety expressed their opinion in favor of the mat ter On the other hand, Bangladesh s some opposition parties’ leaders called the use of eVMs far reaching Various debates on the mat ter have accumulated in the media

To dispel myths about the use of electronic voting machines (eVMs) in elections, the elec tion Commission (eC) will launch a significant campaign as soon as possible The campaign will be promoted by the commission through radio, television, mosques, and religious institutions

According to media reports eVM Project Director Colonel Rakib has been handed respon sibility for the TVC (Television Commercial) “In addition to the TVC we will also use news papers, Facebook, mosques, and temples to pro mote the campaign We ll run a campaign later on in educational institutions It is a comprehen sive scheme’ he said

A TK 87 11 billion project plan has been fi nalized by the eC to purchase around 200 000 eVMs and maintain older ones in advance of the 2018 12th National Parliamentary election In the forthcoming parliamentary election they have chosen to utilize electronic voting ma chines in no more than 150 seats

With the 150 000 eVMs it now owns the commission can organize elections for 70 to 80 constituencies To conduct elections in more seats the eC must buy new eVMs Between November 2023 and January 2024, 300 con stituencies will vote in the 12th general election he continued They will work on the matter so that the public gain a thorough understanding of eVM and the voting process, and then they will set up promotion of the subject especially before the announcement of the schedule in October 2018, whether there is a need to mess with eVMs or it was said that the eC is not ready or capable of using eVMs on a large scale Use of eVMs will require amend ment in the Representation of the People Order (RPO) etc however, the election Commission has already made all their preparations for the city elections and has succeeded in using eVMs

Although at that time 264,000 eVMs were needed in 300 seats where 2 lakh 20 thousand polling booths were estimated however, 132,000 thousand eVMs were required for 150 seats And there were 14 thousand 600 or more polling booths in about 2 thousand 600 centers in Dhaka North and South City About 35,000 eVMs were used in the two city elections Two members of the armed forces were deployed at each center to provide technical support and the final mock voting was held on January 28

Keeping in mind the action plan of the eC announced in July 2017, we want to look posi tively at the plan to use eVMs in national elec tions It should be remembered that during the current government in Bangladesh since 2010 various experiments were started with this eVM by using it in certain centers in various elections

The election Commission has also used eVMs in the recent Gazipur Barisal Rajshahi and Syl het City Corporation elections For example, in the Barisal City Corporation elections, voters voted through electronic voting machines in 78 booths in 11 centers of 4 wards

Before that, voting process was completed through electronic voting machine in 14 centers of City Corporation of Chittagong and 58 cen ters of City Corporation of Narayanganj On Jan uary 5 2012 several polling stations of the City Corporation of Comilla were held for the first time through the eVM system however, on March 30 2017 the second full election of Comilla City Corporation was held through the use of electronic voting machines or eVMs made with indigenous technology This was the history of the use of technology in polling

Notably, the long queues of voters at the eVM centers in the aforementioned elections indicated their lack of interest in voting with the modern technology Young and middle aged voters voted more comfortably in eVMs Voters voted with their own enthusiasm in the eVM The opinion of the voters is that they have been able to vote safely and easily in a short time by using eVMs Because the benefits of digital Bangladesh are now visible to everyone like daylight Thus, the interest of many voters in using eVM in city corporation elections has been known and trained manpower has also been developed for its use In fact, teaching the concerned officials and voters how to use eVMs and making people mentally ready will increase its popularity

electronic voting systems are one of the ways to strengthen the democratic process in the 21st century by allowing voters to reflect their own opinions Machines or electronic equipment are used to cast votes so the overall process is known as electronic Voting Machine or eVM Its other name is ‘e voting’ In the electronic process, it is capable of both accurate application of votes and speedy counting of votes It has also gradually gained acceptance across the world as a transparent and fair area of voting The eVM system was first observed in 1964 in the elec tions of 7 states of the United States; Gradually the issue of taking votes through punch cards be came popular

Votes have already been taken in different countries of the world using eVMs These in

clude India, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, estonia european Union France Germany Ire land, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Roma nia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Philippines etc In these countries eVMs are mainly used in polling stations as polling places It is also possible to implement e voting using internet personal computer network telephone Newer optical scan voting systems use punch cards, optical scanners In this method, a voter marks the ballot paper and votes On the other hand, in DR eVM (Direct Recording electronic Voting Machine) voting system, the vote collec tion and counting process is conducted with the help of a single machine All voters in Brazil and India use it in all types of elections DRe voting systems are also widely practiced in Venezuela and the United States

Despite some opposition’s allegations, there was no scope for rigging in the use of the eVM system Because it requires the biometrics of the presiding or assistant presiding officer to oper ate, no one could operate without them For some reason the machine was broken but the votes received were not lost The card of the ma chine only contains the information of the voters of that center so no one else could vote And no one could delete someone’s vote even if some one presses the button multiple times, the first vote remains the same Again, the smart card for use in the machine is with the officer in charge, so it was of no use even if someone else occu pied the booth room

On the other hand, if the responsible officer presses the close switch from the control unit at the end of the specified time there is no more opportunity to vote eVMs are not connected to the internet in any way, hence cannot be hacked, voting can be done at the center where the eVM is used When the voter comes to vote, he is given the opportunity to vote by verifying with smart card or identity card number or finger printer After verification with one of these, the voter s picture is shown on a projector which is also seen by all the candidate’s agents and then he gets access to the secret voting room

After being identified as a valid voter, the voter appears in a secret room known as a ballot unit On entering there, he found the ballot paper in the machine and voted by pressing the button next to the symbol After voting the symbol of the candidate you voted for appears on the screen This is the confirmation for the voter as to which mark he has voted for When the voter presses the confirm button, a sound is heard to indicate that his vote has been cast The entire process of eVM is transparent and convenient

As we can see from the City Corporation elections Voters got used to eVMs as election Officers worked for some time to create demon stration, voting education and public awareness each center had at least three technical officers apart from the polling officer Voting should not be affected by technical errors; Let the voters feel comfortable In fact, it is the capacity of the eC that has given acceptance to eVMs There is no substitute for eVM system for fair and or derly election and quick declaration of results The decision to use eVMs in any upcoming local or national elections must be considered positive and commendable

Harunur Rasid is a London based Bangladeshi expatriate who is a Bangladesh and Myanmar affairs observer analyst and researcher

Politics at school

O W I N G to the recent floods many government schools have been converted into flood relief centres The Government Boys high School Qasimabad, hyderabad, is one of them More than 20 families have been accommodated in this school

The administration has provided every possible help to the affected ones A few activists of People’s Youth Organisation (PYO) have come to school and taken over the responsibilities of taking care of the flood victims Soon after taking over the school, they first hoisted their party flags atop the building Although the school administration has handed over all classrooms to the affected people the activists argued with the school administration, asking it to hand them over the clerk’s room, too, which had all the data of students as well as teachers apart from new books for students When they threatened the administration that they would break open the lock if the relevant keys were not given to them, the administration had no choice but to hand over the keys The administration before handing over the room shifted all the records and books to another room A day later, the activists broke into the other room as well without informing the administration, and when administration came to know about that incident the members of the organisation displayed aggressive behaviour and ridiculed the principal, who is a grade 19 officer, and a gentleman to the core

The principal obviously could not do anything against them because the organisation has political backing he informed the higher authorities, but, to my surprise, no action has been taken to date

The education secretary has given clear instructions to all the principals to look after their respective schools to avoid any damage of furniture or building, but when it came to saving their staff from political goons, they were nowhere to be seen This is a story of one school which I personally witnessed There might be many schools facing the same situation But because no one is ready to manage the issue, no one speaks about it The country already suffers from illiteracy and lack of schools, and such hooliganism by a bunch of ruffians backed by some political party, will aggravate the issue The higher authorities should take swift action against those who are illegally taking over schools, transforming them into a hub of their political activities, and further ruining the state of education in the province We keep talking of what might have been if things were done when the time was right Let us do it today

AHSAN KHAN HYDERABAD

Help the commoners

J U S T when the floods devastated one third of Pakistan s land and the flood hit citizenry faced malaria and dengue threats, the pharmaceutical industry realised that the raw material needed to manufacture paracetamol was too expensive for it to produce the required quantity of inexpensive tablets Mysterious, but not quite

The demand of raising the cost of medicines has been rejected by the federal government but sooner or later the government will capitulate to the blackmailing by the pharmaceutical industry eventually, the burden will have to be carried by the millions who are already struggling to survive in the face of rampant inflation

This entire matter needs introspection If the government can import four wheelers and other luxury items for the elite, it can also prioritise the import of raw material needed for mass production of paracetamol on an urgent basis The government can also communicate the need of this medicine to all international donors, including the World health Organisation (WhO), that are contributing to the flood relief programme If tax exemptions can be given to agricultural landlords, and electricity can be provided to the business community at much lower rates, why the government cannot procure medicines for the common man at a subsidised rate? The coalition government can appease its vote bank, particularly the business industry, when the entire nation is made to suffer the crunch of harsh International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions But ironically it has no established writ against the pharmaceutical blackmailers and hoarders of medicines

A major part of standing crops has been destroyed by the floods, and yet the merciless hoarders are busy doing their business as usual with impunity Wheat flour has started to disappear from state run Utility Stores and people are made to run after it Things are bound to get worse from here onwards It is the duty of the state to punish those who are involved in hoarding medicines, and make their summary trials possible, for this offence is a crime against humanity The course of things needs to change and the government should take timely action against all hoarders with zero exception human security has been deemed as the central theme of national security in the country’s National Security Policy Therefore, if the state can spend $450 million for the maintenance and servicing of F 16s, it can prioritise human health as well It is time mal governance and misplaced priorities were questioned by the common man

SAMAN AFTAB LAHORE

Street crime

A walk across the road in Karachi is more threatening than climbing K2

People are safe neither outdoors nor at home The crime rate is out of control, and is increasing by the day The so called city of lights has seen adventurous phases, such as targeted killings, bombings, kidnappings and other terrorist activities Apparently educated but unemployed youth is often involved in street crimes It is logical to address the main cause The state must focus on the young generation

FAISAL RAZAQUE KARACHI

KP’s Educational Board

W I T h the decision of introducing a single educational board by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, private school owners have found themselves in a tight spot and have started demonstrations across the province Previously, educational activities were looked after by subordinate boards that showed leniency towards private schools during the examinations The government must stood firm in its stance

harunur raSid

Ca n B a n g l a d e s h e n s u re a f re e a n d f a i r e l e c t i o n u s i n g t h e m ?

BrITaIN’s fINaNcIal melTdowN carrIes a gloBal warNINg

cent to negative 37 percent in the space of a week But truss’s predicament also reflects a larger issue Across the supposedly advanced economies, the return of inflation has magnified the riskiness of extravagant political gestures For the most part, however, politicians have not gotten the message

washington post S e b a S t a n M a l l a b y

fO R several days of Britain s financial meltdown Prime Minister Liz truss of fered no comment the Independent newspaper led thursday with her pic ture under a snarky headline: “MISS ING: hAVe YOU SeeN thIS PM?” then truss did comment, choosing local radio sta tions as an unthreatening venue her responses were so wooden the deputy leader of the rival Labour Party declared that “truss has finally broken her long painful silence with a series of short painful silences ”

Acerbic zingers aside, truss’s performance is no joke For 10 days the British pound has swung dizzyingly from weak to extremely weak to merely weak again Long term government bonds maturing in 50 years shed one third of their value at one stage, recovering from that un precedented plunge only when the Bank of eng land stepped in Foreign watchdogs from the International Monetary Fund to the rating agency Standard & Poor ’s have condemned truss’s un funded tax cuts which triggered the rout

Clearly this is bad for Britain truss’s net ap proval rating has collapsed from negative 9 per

For 23 years the period from the 1998 collapse of the hedge fund Long term Capital Management to the Biden stimulus of 2021 quiescent inflation empowered central banks to muffle political failures Weak regulation might allow finance to run wild; but in 1998 and re peatedly thereafter swift cuts to interest rates cushioned the shock Politicians might neglect to prepare for a viral pandemic, but central banks bought government bonds by the trillion providing politicians with the cash to buoy bat tered economies with stimulus checks the return of inflation has changed all that Central banks’ primary mission is to stabilize prices, so that the money in your pocket roughly holds its value Money is supposed to be a store of wealth and a unit of account: When it ceases to perform these functions, the operating system of the economy crashes Because of this infla tion fighting imperative, central banks now have to think twice before underwriting political expediency Bailouts involve cutting interest rates and buying government bonds Inflation control demands the opposite Britain s crisis illustrates the pain of this transition In announcing their program of un funded tax cuts, truss’s chancellor of the ex chequer Kwasi Kwarteng behaved like a go go start up that spends money as though it were water, complacently assuming that venture cap italists will supply liquidity without end With interest rates at zero, capital apparently costs nothing Investors would pour money into al most any project because of the tINA principle: there Is No Alternative

Well, now there is an alternative the Fed eral Reserve has hiked interest rates to combat

inflation Investors can stash their cash in U S mortgage bonds and get paid 6 7 percent, more than double what they would have gotten just a year ago Like a start up that burns money with out generating revenue, a government that cuts taxes without squeezing spending can no longer count on the markets indulgence RIP tINA, and hello MARA Markets Are Rational Again

But around the world, politicians have yet to adjust As the economist noted recently, leaders responded to the 1970s energy crisis by telling people to wear an extra layer and cut fuel con sumption We aren t going to starve, West Ger many’s chancellor observed calmly today by contrast, politicians are hurling subsidies at con sumers and suspending gas taxes When the oil shock hit in 1973 the real value of Britain’s ben efits bill hardly changed this time, the govern ment is throwing 6 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to shield citizens from fuel costs

And the bailout reflex extends beyond the energy sector and europe In the United States, the government guarantees bank deposits and mortgages, subsidizes health care and more; now President Biden proposes to spend hun dreds of billions of dollars to cancel student debt Adding up the government’s contingent liabilities, the economist calculates that Uncle Sam is on the hook for debts worth more than six times GDP and that this ratio has shot up lately In 1979, the bottom fifth of U S earners received means tested benefits worth about one third of pretax income By 2018, it was about two thirds

thanks to the 23 year inflation vacation rich societies have grown used to the idea that government can fix stuff this is still true in significant ways the Bank of england back s t o p p e d g o v e r n m e n t b o n d s l a s t w e e k , a l b e i t on a time limited basis But to preserve their ability to help in extraordinary times politi cians must exercise restraint in ordinary ones t h e i n f l a t i o n v a c a t i o n i s o v e r A d j u s t i n g i s going to be painful

Jawaharlal Nehru: The man and the my th

Billions in pandemic fraud

T H E I N S P E C TO R G E N E R A L FO R T H E L A B O R DEPARTMENT NOW ESTIMATES THAT $45.6 BILLION WAS STOLEN OVER T WO YEARS BY CRIMINALS USING FALSE IDENTITIES TO FILE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT CL AIMS. THAT ’S TRIPLE THE ESTIMATE OF A YEAR AGO THE DAMAGE MAY BE E VEN MORE SE VERE

Las Vegas ReView JouRnaL

It was bad enough that unem ployment offices in many states including Nevada failed miserably during the pandemic while facing an ava lanche of claims But the fact that they stiffed many struggling Ameri cans while doling out billions to fraudsters makes the fiasco worse

On thursday, a federal report put a price tag on the rip offs the inspec tor general for the Labor Department now estimates that $45 6 billion was stolen over two years by criminals using false identities to file for unem ployment claims that’s triple the es timate of a year ago the damage may be even more severe the Washington Post reported that investigators said they lacked complete data and fo cused on only “high risk” areas

“the two factors raised the prospect that they could uncover bil lions of dollars in additional theft in the months to come,” the Post re ported this week In addition the in spector general told Congress in March that overpayments of jobless benefits in addition to fraud could total more than $160 billion

the types of scams varied widely the Post found that fraud sters filed multiple claims in numer ous states simultaneously and sometimes used Social Security num bers of the deceased In California, criminals posed as prison inmates including some on death row to pocket checks to make matters worse, state

agencies weren’t eager to provide in formation on this calamity Reuters re ported that the inspector general s office said it had “difficulty getting un employment insurance data from state workforce agencies until subpoenas were issued In some cases, the data sent was incomplete or unusable ”

Chalk that up to bureaucratic hubris and the insular nature of gov ernment agencies Accountability is an afterthought when there are no repercussions for incompetence State agencies understandably buck led under the weight of an unprece dented situation and many have been rewarded with increased budgets and equipment upgrades Yet the prob lems persist Nevada continues to have a backlog of jobless cases, some dating back a year the inspector general found a similar inertia at the federal level the report concluded that the Labor Department has failed to implement previous recommendations to “col laborate with state agencies to estab lish effective controls to mitigate fraud and to work with Congress to require state agencies to cross match high risk areas ” Reuters reported

State law enforcement agencies and the Justice Department have brought a number of cases to court in volving defendants accused of fraud ulently obtaining unemployment and other pandemic benefits Last week the DOJ announced it had reached the “milestone” of charging 1,000 people with bilking the jobless system during the pandemic When they add a few zeros to that number, perhaps they’ll have something to crow about

Th e fears were genuine Many influential, mon eyed, individuals and big companies preferred to give big chunks of money to the ruling party the Opposition cried foul as it lacked the re sources to fight elections in what was turning out to be a one sided electoral fight If your history les sons are weak, you can easily mistake the time and im agery to be, say, the year 2018 and the overwhelming political dominance of India s political space by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Narendra Modi that would be a mistake An eerily similar situation prevailed on the eve of the second General election in 1957 the Congress party, the then dominant force in India’s politics was on the verge of gathering a war chest of 5 crore, a gigantic sum at that time the nascent Op position worried about its ability to muster enough cash to even stay in the reckoning But in these days of alleged democratic backsliding these facts are forgotten, al most conveniently

In Nehru’s India: A history in Seven Myths (Princeton University Press; 304 pages; $39 95), taylor C Sherman sketches a very different history In parsing the myth of a successful democracy during Jawaharlal Nehru’s time she says, Although large scale corruption tied to permit and licence raj is often dated to the late 1960s or early 1970s it can be traced at least to the second general election ” She highlights the now forgotten Serajuddin affair in which a company trading in manganese and chromite was given mining licences and favours this was in return for a donation of 10,000 to Keshav Dev Malaviya, the then minister for mines and fuel the problems that corroded India’s electoral practices such as the inability of the elec tion Commission to ensure expenditures by candidates within prescribed limits corporate contributions to polit ical parties and more can be dated to this period

Why should any of this matter now, 65 years later? the answer has much to do with the myth created as siduously over time, that in Nehru’s time democracy in India was pristine and was suffused with idealism the

other part of the myth is that Nehru’s successors distorted democracy until the Modi era when it was finally twisted out of shape to be something less than democracy Sher man, a professor of history at the London School of eco nomics is clear on this point She writes It is when they remain unexamined, or when they are marshalled to form part of an argument about something else, especially about the present that the myths are produced and am plified most powerfully ”

It is instructive that none of the members of the Nehru industry are mentioned in the book s acknowl edgments this is not a coincidence: this group acts as a gatekeeper for what is acceptable and what is unaccept able on Nehru scholarship in India It is also worth noting that new interpretations of the Nehru period have come from scholars who work abroad tripurdaman Singh’s Sixteen Stormy Days: the Story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India (2021) is another example

What is interesting about Sherman’s interpretation of the Nehru age is her steering clear of any political inter pretations” liberal or conservative this is unlikely to please any of the warring camps in contemporary India, with the possible exception of the Left She notes, By the end of the Nehru era many of those claiming to speak on behalf of Muslims and Dalits were anything but satisfied with India s official secularism Focused as it was on mon umental spaces revered personalities and iconic pieces of legislation, this secularism had left India’s least advan taged communities beleaguered and frustrated in their daily lives ” this comes close to leftist interpretations that have now abandoned the myth of the Nehruvian “golden age and reason that Indian communalism is a much older problem dating far earlier than the contested 1980s

At the core of Sherman’s interpretation is the idea of a myth as a gap between what existed in reality and what was projected later this can be true of any facet of social life and to that extent Nehruvian myths are no different All Nehruvian myths non alignment, socialism, suc cessful democracy a strong state high modernism and Nehru as “architect of Independent India” have this gap in varying measures In some cases, this gap is small and in others more of projection and very little of reality What makes Nehruvian myths striking is their persistent

hold over the imagination of India’s intellectuals (but not its people: they have far more prosaic concerns) It is the differing mechanisms by which these myths were prop agated that make her book a riveting study

Nehruvian socialism is an interesting example Sherman says that during his time as prime minister Nehru refused to define the expression “socialism ” the use of that word without a clear definition has created a gap that has been filled with the assumption Indian so cialism can be equated with Soviet style planning how did this lazy interpretation arise? this was done by a combination of politics and history In this case, the Swatantra Party independent India’s first liberal polit ical experiment laid the groundwork for a caricature of Indian socialism as having “totalitarian” ambitions In the author ’s delicious words, “In the absence of a more complex picture, the blazing furnaces of steel plants have been left to stand for India’s official socialism ” the reality was somewhat more complicated Nehru vian socialism was an attempt to solve collective action problems in areas as diverse as irrigation (such as the con struction of multi purpose river valley dams), industry (factories owned and controlled by the government for producing basic goods like iron and steel and pharmaceu ticals) and other sectors this is closer to the imagination of Dadabhai Naoroji than the brutal plans of Joseph Stalin

As with so many other myths Indian socialism ac quired a life of its own And it was damaging Nehru be queathed the idea along with a part of the apparatus (such as the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act 1951) to his daughter It was during her time that India’s economy was entangled in a web of controls and quotas that choked growth Parts of that pernicious legacy such as the idea that welfare is synonymous with a state controlled economy are yet to be overcome

Sherman’s analysis of the myth of a “strong state” is equally interesting She says the truth of India inheriting a strong state from the raj has more to do with the fact of inheritance and not the quality of the bequest this is true Forging a coherent nation state from a patchwork of independent principalities stretched the capacity of the Indian state to an extreme Where hyderabad could be integrated by mere “police action”, Kashmir had to be

carved out as a distinct political sphere Sherman states, here is the pattern: Indian statesmen and stateswomen recognised that India was a union in the making to meet the differential needs of the nation to be, asymmetric privileges were granted and basic rights were curtailed on an exceptional basis While meant to be transitional, these measures became entrenched, as each attracted a constituency that argued for its extension this is on tar get to give one example, by the end of the 20th century, “asymmetric federalism” originally carved out as an exception due to the weakness of the Nehruvian state gained a hydra like character as India turned into a frac tured and dysfunctional polity

So much so, it has become an article of faith among India’s intellectuals that India’s democracy can survive only by furthering it Never mind the fact that taking this idea to its logical conclusion would have sundered India’s unity the very danger that Nehru and Sardar Val labhbhai Patel did everything in their power to avoid Nehru was India s first prime minister and by the fact alone an interesting figure But he is not a deity to be worshipped on an intellectual altar Sherman has done well to restore some credibility to scholarship on him

In Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths by Taylor C Sherman, Princeton University Press, 304 pages, ₹ $39 95

R O S S T H E S U P P O S E D LY A DVA N C E D E CO N O M I E S, T H E R E T U R N O F I N F L AT I O N H AS

AG N I F I E D T H E R I S K I N E S S O F E X T R AVAG A N T P O L I T I C A L G E S T U R E S. F O R T H E M O S T PA RT, H OW E V E R, P O L I T I C I A N S H AV E N OT G OT T E N T H E M E S S AG E

WHAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT TAYLOR C SHERMAN’S INTERPRETATION OF THE JAWAHARL AL NEHRU AGE IS HER STEERING CLEAR OF ANY ‘POLITIC AL INTERPRETATIONS’, LIBER AL OR CONSERVATIVE. THIS IS UNLIKELY TO PLEASE ANY OF THE WARRING C AMPS IN CONTEMPOR ARY INDIA, WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF THE LEFT

hBL inaugurated Prestige Lounge in Rahim Yar khan

Karachi s ta f f r e p o r t

HBL inaugurated Prestige Lounge located in Rahim Yar Khan This is the 1st HBL Prestige Lounge in the city, making a total of 35 lounges across 14 cities with plans to further expand the Prestige footprint The inauguration of the lounge was done by Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL The Bank s senior leaders were also present on the occasion HBL Prestige provides a world class banking experience to high net worth individuals (HNWIs) This exclusive proposition offers seamless instant account opening with tailored solutions through dedicated digital & physical channels and portfolio managers The account offers personalized banking services to its clients including but not limited to instant world elite debit card issuance, dedicated conference rooms, and top notch alliances The state of the art Prestige Lounges are located strategically in high visibility areas of key cities Commenting on the occasion, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL said, HBL Prestige is exclusively designed and tailored to meet the financial and lifestyle needs of our high net worth clients across Pakistan We are delighted to inaugurate our state of the art HBL Prestige Lounge in Rahim Yar Khan We hope to remain true to HBL Prestige’s motto of ‘With you, in what you value

S h a n F o o d S R e C e i v e S P R e M i e R o F Pa k i S Ta n e x P o R T awa R d aT T h e 4 5 T h F P C C i e x P o R T awa R d S

Karachi

Leading global culinary brand Shan Foods, has been honored with the Pre mier of Pakistan Export Award at the 45th FPCCI Export Awards in recog nition of its export contribution in spice recipe mixes category and for its outstanding services in building a pos itive corporate image in international markets

The award was conferred by the President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, during a ceremony held at Aiwan e Sadar in Islamabad

Organized annually by the Federa tion of Pakistan Chambers of Com merce and Industry (FPCCI) the Export Awards acknowledge the meri torious performance of exporters in different fields of commerce and their service to the country in the form of

valuable foreign exchange that they bring in, and are considered the bench mark of corporate excellence

The FPCCI’s Premier of Pakistan

Export Award accorded to Shan Foods is a testament to the company’s re markable performance across 75 coun tries where it serves, delivering

C hina to complete assistance pack age to Pakistan’s flood affec tees by Oc t 11: Amb Nong Rong

premium quality food products for over 40 years with the same traditional and authentic taste Being one of the most popular consumer choices of recipe mixes around the world due to its unmatched quality and flavors, Shan Foods has not only garnered brand trust for itself but also continues to up lift Pakistan’s name globally through the kind of messaging it puts out and the initiatives it takes for restoring a sustainable society

Syed Rizwan Sr Manger Interna tional Business Operations Shan Foods, on this recognition by the FPCCI, said, “It gives us great pleasure to receive such a prestigious award It is a symbol of pride for Shan Foods at global level in recognition of its con sistent services We will continue to keep up our efforts in serving our con sumers’ needs and making Pakistan proud across the globe

Privatisation commission board meeting held

iSLaMaBaD

Transpor t Minister Chairs 2nd meeting in week to pace up BRT Red Line project

Karachi s

Provincial Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon chaired a second meeting regarding the BRT Red Line project in current week on Monday at his office Asian Development Bank Senior Urban Development Specialist Lloyd Wright, representatives of Agence Francaise De Development ( AFD) , Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , Chief Executive Officer Trans Karachi, contractors of the project attended in the meeting On this occasion Secretary Transport Abdul Haleem Sheikh, Managing Director Sindh Mass Transit Authority Capt ( R) Altaf Hussain Sario were also present The meeting reviewed the pace of progress on the lot 1 and lot 2 sections of the project and discussed the removal of obstacles particularly the utility lines The minister transport Sharjeel Inam Memon said that it was the top most priority of the Sindh government to ensure completion of the project on time so as to provide best and modern public transport facilities to the citizens of Karachi He said that Red Line Project is Pakistan s first biogas project which is concieved with the co operation of Asian Development Bank(ADB), Agence Francaise De Development ( AFD)and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank at a cost of 505 million US dollars He added that after the launch of People's Bus Service and BRT Orange Line in Karachi, the efforts are being made to complete the Red Line project within the stipulated period

H E Mr Nong Rong Ambassador of China to Pakistan calls on Federal Minis ter for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in his office today Federal Minster for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq warmly welcomed H E Mr Nong Rong, Ambassador of China to Pakistan, in Ministry of Eco nomic Affairs today Matters of mutual in terest were discussed in the meeting The Honorable Minister Ayaz Sadiq appreci ated the long term cordial relationship that both countries share

We share a special relationship with China, that we don't share with any other nation in the world He expressed grati tude for all the support that China has given to Pakistan and still giving for res cue and relief during floods catastrophe

He further assured more assistance to be given in reconstruction and rehabilita tion phase While speaking on the Occa sion the Chinese Ambassador expressed the need for a positive projection of the Chinese contribution on Pakistan s Media Minister acknowledged that and stated It is important for our general populace to know what China is doing for us and as sured to ask Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to provide complete assis tance in the said matter

The meeting ended with the vote of thanks from both sides

Federal Minister/Chairman Privatisation Commission Mr Abid Hus sain Bhayo, chaired the 204th Board meeting of Privatisation Commis sion (PC) Federal Secretary Dr Iram A Khan Board members and senior officials of the Ministry attended the important meeting The PC Board was apprised about the current status of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC) and some unresolved matters regarding to its revival The PC Board deliberated on those bottlenecks and proposed for early resolu tion of these matters involving all the stakeholders from the Federal government at the earliest The Board was also briefed about the pri vatisation of House Building Finance Company Limited (HBFCL), as Privatisation Commission along with Financial Advisors are engaged in marketing exercise of the entity Fresh EOI/SOQ have been adver tised with October 17th and 31st, 2022 as respective deadlines The de cision to advertise the EOI afresh was taken to make the transaction more competitive and transparent The Cabinet Committee on Privati sation (CCoP) had approved in 2019 the divestment of 20% GoP shares of Pak Reinsurance (PRCL) through Secondary Public Offering The matter remained suspended on account of absence of consensus among various stakeholders (MoC, PC, SECP, SLIC) pertaining to the maintenance of majority GoP shareholding even after the divestment of 20% shares of PRCL The Board unanimously endorsed that in order to maintain majority shareholding of the Government of Pakistan in PRCL, the Federal Government must reserve its majority in the company Hence the proposal be placed before the coming meeting of CCoP for moving ahead The PC Board’s approval was sought about the strategy to resolve different issues of Sindh Engineering Limited (SEL) and Pakistan Engineering Company (PECO) which have blocked their privatisation It was briefed that the constitution of SEL Board and appointment of a permanent MD will enable the im plementation of necessary decisions with regard to its privatisation The Board members proposed that the matter may be placed before CCoP in its upcoming meeting The Board was also apprised about the overall progress in the privatisation of SOEs, including PSM and HBFCL, NPPMCL and JCC The Federal Minister/ Chairman Pri vatisation Mr Abid Hussain Bhayo emphasized that the ongoing pri vatisation programme and transactions included in it is going to be successful with a robust coordination from the concerned Ministries and Divisions He further added that unless we build a system of strong communication and cooperation among the stakeholders, the privatisation plan will not run on fast track

S i n d h g ove r n m e n t fo c u s i n g o n d r a i n a g e o f

f l o o d, r a i nwat e r f r o m a f fe c t e d a r e a s : M e m o n

ernment are in full swing and 43141 more families have been given ration bags in the last 24 hours

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that the Sindh government is focusing on the drainage of flood and rainwater due to which the dis eases are spreading besides, he said that the rehabil itation phase has also been started and in this regard survey is underway at the Union Council level to as sess the losses He said that a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates has offered to build 300 houses in which schools mosques and community centers will also be constructed, while solar panels will be installed to supply electricity to the houses The minister appealed to the philanthro pists to assist the Sindh government in the rehabili tation of the millions of flood affectees He expressed these views while addressing a press conference on relief and rehabilitation activities at Sindh Archives on Monday He said that the Sindh government is de vising a plan for the construction of houses for which billions of rupees will be allocated

The minister said that seminars will be organized in Karachi Hyderabad Sukkur and other cities inwhich foreign diplomats and foreign media will also be in vited He said that the relief activities of Sindh gov

While 16650 tents, 10770 tarpaulins and other items were also provided to the victims He said that a total of 1241873 families have been provided ration bags so far While 417,635 tents, 433,560 plastic tarpau lins 782 988 mineral water 62 837 jerry cans 14,005 bed sheets, 2,790,079 mosquito nets, 18,916 cattle mosquito nets and other items have been dis tributed among the victims Apart from this PDMA has provided 113 truck mounted dewatering pumps, 79 ground standing dewatering pumps and 175 small dewatering pumps for water drainage from the af fected areas He said that the water flows at Kotri barrage has re ceded to 1 lakh cusecs in the last 24 hours the inflow of water at Kotri barrage was 113600 cusecs and the discharge was recorded at downstream Kotri at 82700 cusecs The provincial minister said that it is a huge calamity, which has caused widespread de struction in the entire province He said that Chair man and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has effectively presented the case of rain victims before the world After which the international community has given tremendous response to help out the flood victims In response to a question, he said that Imran

Khan has been given too much lenency Again he ( Imran) attacked the institutions of the state in the public meeting in taxla yesterday No other Pak istani has the facilities that Imran Khan enjoys he added This person is running a well thought out nonsense campaign on a daily basis He said that Imran Khan arrived at Session court in Islamabad on day when Honorable Sessions Judge was on leave

He added that the way Imran Khan arrived in court wearing black glasses it was only for optics Surpris ingly, the social media team of PTI also accompanied him who was recording videos in the court room

He asked ' was this appropriate way of seeking apol ogy from the honerable court,' He said that stories of corruption of Farah Gogi on transfers and postings in Punjab were talk of the town ' The money minted through the transfer and post ings was sent to Banigala Aleema Khan bought prop erties abroad The kpk Chief Minister s inspection team identified misappropriation of Rs 7 billion in BRT Peshawar Apart from this , Malam Jabba billion tsunami tree scandal foreign funding case are few cases pending against Imran Khan But the institutions remained silent on these cases and stay orders are given to Imran Khan He said that after

Karachi

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL (standing 4th from left) inaugurated the HBL Prestige Lounge in Rahim Yar Khan Senior leaders of the Bank were also present at the inauguration

LahOrE

Chinese Ambassador appreciated the brotherly relations between both nations He stated that the Government of China is actively participating in providing rescue and relief assistance to Pakistan By 11th of Oct, all cargoes carrying flood related immediate relief items will be ariving in Karachi

Ethopian Ambassador H E Mr Jemal Beker calls on Federal Secretary for Commerce Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Faruqi here on Monday

Group photo of Team Unilever Pakistan and CIRCLE Women Association along with President Business Chamber, RYK at the graduation ceremony of the first batch of 50 women in Rahim Yar Khan

DUBAI T h e A s s o c AT e d P r e s s Khamenei bl ames Us, israel for iran Unrest

iR A n S supreme leader Aya tollah Ali Khamenei responded publicly on Monday to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of si lence to condemn what he called “ri oting and accuse the United States and Israel of planning the protests

The unrest, ignited by the death

of Iran’s morality police, is flaring

week despite government efforts to crack down

On Monday, Iran shuttered its top technology university following an hours long standoff between stu dents and the police that turned the prestigious institution into the latest flashpoint of protests and ended with hundreds of young people arrested

Speaking to a cadre of police students in Tehran, Khamenei said he was “heartbroken” by the death

of 22 year old Mahsa Amini in po lice custody calling it a sad inci dent ” However, he sharply condemned the protests as a foreign plot to destabilize Iran echoing au thorities’ previous comments

“This rioting was planned,” he said These riots and insecurities were designed by America and the Zionist regime, and their employees ”

Meanwhile, the Sharif Univer sity of Technology in Tehran an nounced that only doctoral students would be allowed on campus until further notice following hours of tur moil Sunday evening, when wit nesses said antigovernment protesters clashed with hard line pro establishment students

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the police kept hun dreds of students holed up on campus and fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the demonstrations The university’s student association said that police and plainclothes officers surrounded

the school from all sides and detained at least 300 students as protests rocked the campus after nightfall

Plainclothes officers beat a pro fessor and several university em ployees, the association reported

The state run IRnA news agency sought to downplay the vio lent standoff, reporting a “protest gathering” took place and ended without casualties But the violent crackdown drew condemnation even from the Jomhouri Eslami daily, a hard line Iranian newspaper

“Suppose we beat and arrest, is this the solution?” a column asked Suppose that is preventative But will it be constructive?”

Iran’s latest protest movement, which has produced some of the na tion’s most widespread unrest in years, emerged as a response to Amini s death after her arrest for al legedly violating the country’s strict religious dress code However, it has grown into an open challenge to the Iranian leadership with chants of

“Death to the dictator,” echoing from the streets and balconies after dark

The demonstrations have tapped into a deep well of grievances in Iran including the country s social restrictions, political repression and ailing economy long strangled by American sanctions Protests with women burning their state mandated headscarves and crowds chanting for

the downfall of the ruling clerics, have continued in Tehran and far flung provinces even as authorities have restricted internet access to the outside world and blocked social media apps

In his remarks on Monday, Khamenei condemned scenes of protesters ripping off their hijabs and setting fire to mosques, banks and

police cars as “actions that are not normal that are unnatural

Security forces have responded with tear gas, metal pellets and in some cases live fire according to rights groups and widely shared footage, although the scope of the crackdown remains unclear

Iran’s state TV has reported the death toll from violent clashes be tween protesters and security officers could be as high as 41 Rights groups have given higher death counts, with London based Amnesty International saying it has identified 52 victims, including five women and at least five children An untold number of people have been apprehended, with local officials reporting at least 1,500 arrests Security forces have picked up artists and activists who have voiced support for the protests, as well as dozens of journalists

Most recently on Sunday author ities arrested Alborz nezami, a re porter at an economic newspaper in Tehran

Chechnya’s Kadyrov says sending teenage sons to Ukraine front

of the contact line ”

swede Paabo wins nobel medicine Prize for sequencing neander thal Dna

sTocKholM

A F P

Swedish paleogeneticist Svante Paabo, who se quenced the genome of the neanderthal and discov ered the previously unknown hominin Denisova on Monday won the nobel Medicine Prize “By reveal ing genetic differences that distinguish all living hu mans from extinct hominins his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human”, the nobel committee said in a statement Paabo, director of the department of genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago This ancient flow of genes to present day humans has physiological relevance today, for example af fecting how our immune system reacts to infections”, the jury said Covid 19 patients with a snippet of ne anderthal DnA run a higher risk of severe complica tions from the disease, Paabo reported in a 2020 study Paabo, 67, who takes home the award sum of 10 million Swedish kronor ($901,500), will receive the prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal cer emony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniver sary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament Last year the Medicine Prize went to US pair David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for discoveries on re ceptors for temperature and touch, which have been used to develop treatments for a wide range of dis eases and conditions including chronic pain The nobel season continues this week with the announce ment of the winners of the Physics Prize on Tuesday and the Chemistry Prize on Wednesday They will be followed by the much anticipated prizes for Literature on Thursday and Peace on Friday, while the Econom ics Prize winds things up on Monday, October 10

A

JAKARTA A F P

Anger against police mounted in In donesia on Monday after at least 125 people were killed in one of the deadliest disasters in the history of football, when officers fired tear gas in a packed stadium, triggering a stampede The tragedy on Saturday night in the city of Malang also saw 323 people injured

The incident unfolded when fans of home team Arema FC stormed the pitch at the Kanjuruhan stadium after their loss 3 2 to bitter rivals

Persebaya Surabaya

Moscow Ag e n c i e s

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin said Monday he was sending three of his teenage sons aged 14, 15 and 16 to the Ukraine front

“It’s time to prove themselves in a real fight, I can only welcome this de sire, Kadyrov wrote on Telegram, post ing a video of the young boys firing missiles in a shooting range

Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the most difficult sections

He said Akhmat (16), Eli (15) and Adam (14) have been trained for combat “almost from their youngest years” and insisted he was “not joking ”

The video showed the boys in cam ouflage clothing and dark glasses, on tanks, guns strapped to their waists, shooting rocket launchers and machine guns At times the teenagers smile while shooting or made a thumbs up gesture

Kadyrov, a former warlord who leads the Muslim majority Chechnya re public, has been one of Russia’s most vocal supporter of Putin s Ukraine offen

sive The post came as the Kremlin on Monday dismissed his call to use low yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine after a series of military defeats

This is a very emotional moment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a daily briefing with journalists, referring to his statements

In our country, the use of nuclear weapons happens only on the basis of what is stated in the relevant doctrine”, Peskov said

Peskov nevertheless hailed the “heroic contributions” of the Chechen leader to the military operation in

Ukraine Kadyrov called on the nuclear option after Moscow withdrew from the town of Lyman, which took weeks to gain control of earlier this year

In my personal opinion, more dras tic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low yield nuclear weapons,” Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel

He also criticised Colonel General Alexander Lapin, who is in charge of Russia’s forces fighting in the region, calling him mediocre

Death toll rises to 53 in Afghanistan classroom attack

KABUl

Ag e n c i e s

Forty six girls and young women were among those killed in a suicide bombing on an Afghan education centre last week, the Un said Monday as it announced the total death toll had risen to 53

A suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday next to women at a gender segregated study hall packed with hun dreds of students sitting a practice test for university admissions

The attack happened in a Kabul neighbourhood home to the historically oppressed Muslim Hazara community, which has been subjected to some of the worst violence in the country’s recent history

Our human rights team continues documenting the crime: verifying facts & establishing reliable data to counter denial & revisionism, the United na tions assistance mission in Afghanistan (UnAMA) tweeted

It raised the death toll from 43 to 53, adding that a further 110 had been wounded

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, which have often tried to play down at tacks challenging their regime, have said 25 people were killed and 33 others wounded

no group has so far claimed respon sibility, but the Islamic State group (IS) carried out several deadly attacks in the same area targeting girls schools and mosques

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan last year brought an end to a two decade war against a Western backed government leading to a signif icant reduction in violence, but security has begun to deteriorate in recent months

Friday’s attack has triggered spo radic women led protests in Kabul and some other cities

Around 50 women chanted, “Stop Hazara genocide as they marched on Sat urday in the Dasht e Barchi neighbour hood where the attack happened

The rallies have been dispersed by Taliban forces often firing shots into the air and beating protesters

Afghanistan s Hazaras have regu larly faced attacks in Afghanistan They have been persecuted for decades, targeted by the Taliban during their insurgency against the former US backed government as well as by IS

In May last year, before the Taliban’s return to power at least 85 people mainly girls were killed and about 300 were wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht e Barchi

Again, no group claimed responsi bility but a year earlier IS claimed a sui cide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24

10 FOREIGN NEWS Tuesday 4 October 2022 LAHORE a i n s t I n d o n e s i a p o l i c e ove r fo o t b a l l s t a d i u m t r a g e d y

Police responded by launching volleys of tear gas into packed ter races, prompting spectators to rush en masse to small gates where many were trampled or suffocated, accord ing to witnesses

Police described the incident as a riot in which two officers were killed but survivors accuse them of overreacting and causing the deaths of scores of spectators, including a five year old boy

One of our messages is for the authorities to investigate this (inci dent) thoroughly And we want ac countability, who is to blame? said 25 year old Andika who declined to

give his last name

“We want justice for our fallen supporters,” he said ‘M u r d e r e r!’

Outside the Kanjuruhan stadium on Sunday evening, people held a vigil beneath the roaring lion statue the club’s symbol to honour the victims

But fresh graffiti daubed on the walls of the stadium revealed bub bling anger towards the authorities

My siblings were killed Inves tigate thoroughly ” read one message scrawled on the stadium’s shutters, accompanied by a black ribbon and the date of the tragedy

ACAB , an acronym for all cops are bastards”, was sprayed on another wall In Jakarta, hundreds of football fans gathered outside the country’s biggest stadium in Jakarta late Sunday chanting “murderer! murderer! , singing songs in support of Arema FC and placing police tape on the complex’s fence

#photo1Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced a probe into the incident, but rights groups said it should be independent and of ficers should be held accountable for using tear gas in a confined area

We call on authorities to con duct a swift thorough and inde

pendent investigation into the use of tear gas at the stadium and ensure that those who are found to have committed violations are tried in open court,” Amnesty International said in a statement “This loss of life cannot go unanswered ‘ Fa n

’ a

Indonesia s chief security minis ter Mahfud MD said Sunday the government “will immediately take some measures to investigate if there is a legal violation or crime in the in cident ” But the anger gathered pace online, with many posts critical of the police going viral in Indonesia

Investigate thoroughly Firing tear gas in a closed space full of humans is a serious violation,” read one tweet that was liked 11,000 times An online peti tion titled “The police must stop using tear gas” gathered nearly 6,000 signa tures by Monday morning The fallout came as more information emerged about the stampede, with Arema FC’s Chilean football coach saying fans died in the arms of players” “The boys passed by with victims in their arms,” Javier Roca told Spanish broadcaster Cadena Ser “I think the police over stepped their mark ” Fan violence be tween rival groups is an enduring problem in Indonesia

Education is a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan, with the Taliban blocking many girls from returning to secondary education while IS also stands against the education of women and girls

R a M i z R a J a d E F E n d S Pa K i S Ta n T E a M i n w a K E o F

C R i T i C i S M o v E R E n g L a n d d E F E aT

dE F E N D I N G the Green Shirts after a 4 3 T20I series loss to Eng land, Ramiz Raja, Chairman Pak istan Cricket Board (PCB), has said there exists no button for making Pakistan play like Australia as and when required

“Our team have its own playing style

and there s nothing wrong in it in my view, the PCB chairman said in a video post England d e f e a t e d P a k i s t a n i n t h e d e c i d e r o f h o m e s e r i e s a t L a h o r e s G a d d a f i S t a d i u m o n S u n d a y “ I f t h i s s t y l e h a d a n y f l a w s , t h e n o u r t e a m s s u c c e s s r a t e i n t h e l a s t 1 2 m o n t h s w o u l d n o t h a v e b e e n 8 0 % ”

Highlighting the bright side, Raja said t h e p l a y e r s t e m p e r a m e n t w a s i m p r o v i n g a n d t h e y w e r e f i g h t i n g b a c k

I t i s s a i d t h a t p u s h t h e b u t t o n a n d s t a r t p l a y i n g a g g r e s s i v e l y l i k e A u s t r a l i a T h e y a l s o s a y t h a t w e p l a y o l d f a s h i o n e d c r i c k e t I t i s n o t m o d e r n c r i c k e t , R a j a a d d e d

Pa K I S ta N t e a m f o u g h t t I l l l a S t b a l l T h e P C B c h a i r m a n s e c o n d e d t h e a n a l y s i s t h a t P a k i s t a n p l a y o l d s c h o o l c r i c k e t ; h o w e v e r, t h e y d i d s e a l s o m a n y n o t a b l e v i c t o r i e s p l a y i n g t h a t w a y

T h e P C B h a s s t a r t e d a p r o g r a m m e f o r m o d e r n d a y c r i c k e t a n d i t w i l l p r e p a r e c r i c k e t e r s i n t h e n e x t f o u r y e a r s , ” h e h o w e v e r a n d a d d e d t h a t i n t h a t t i m e t h e y w o u l d b e f u l l y p r e p p e d t o p l a y m o d e r n c r i c k e t R a j a s a i d t h e y w o u l d p u t a s m u c h p r e s s u r e o n t h e t e a m a s p o s s i b l e b u t n o t m o r e t h a n t h a t R a j a h a i l e d t h e G r e e n S h i r t s , s a y i n g t h e t e a m f o u g h t t i l l t h e l a s t b a l l

M i a n d a d u r g e s P C B t o a s k B a b a r A z a m i f c a p t a i n c y i s t a k i n g a t o l l o n h i m

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

England Cricket Board thanks Pakistan for hosting its team after 17 years

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has thanked Pakistan for hosting its team after a long gap of 17 years The English side wrapped up the seven match series 4 7, wining the seventh T20I against Pakistan by 67 runs The ECB wrote on Twitter on Monday :”Thank you, Pakistan After 17 years of waiting, a wonderful cricket series and the warmest welcome from the people of this country In the pictures shared on the social media platform, fans could be seen holding posters and expressing their love for the English team The English cricketers also appreciated Pakistan for inviting the team and its security forces for providing a safe space Eng lish cricketer Dawid Malan on Twitter wrote: Bril liant end to a well fought series! A huge thanks to Pakistan for having us and an even bigger thanks to the security forces that looked after us so well was a great experience ” “What a series! Thank you Pakistani,” wrote Ben Duckett

Haaland, Foden help Man Cit y thrash Man Utd

MANCHESTER

e n c e S

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored hat tricks as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 6 3 to move to within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday United needed Antony’s strike and a late Anthony Martial double to save them from a record defeat in the Manchester derby as they re main in sixth, nine points off the top Haaland has now scored hat tricks in each of his last three Pre mier League home games to take his tally as a City player to 17 in 10 competitive games for the English champions “You can see the passes we give each other We always want to go forward and to attack Haaland told Sky Sports “It’s what I love about the team In the end, it’s amazing There is nothing more to say Since also conceding four times inside the first 45 minutes at Brentford in August, United had bounced back with four consecutive Premier League wins to offer hope they are heading in the right di rection under Erik ten Hag But the Red Devils were given a rude awakening of the gulf that still exists between the Manchester giants

Legendary Pakistan batter Javed Miandad has praised Babar Azam for his captaincy during the England series, but he believes if the Pak istani star s batting is suffering due to the load of captaincy then it is time he and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sit down and talk

The 27 year old was appointed captain in the shortest format ahead of the 2019 Australia series In the following year he took over ODI and Test captaincy

Babar is a world class bats man But the board should ask him if captaincy is taking a toll on him There needs to be an honest conver sation between him and the board If he feels he can’t both perform with the bat and lead in the field, then the captaincy should stay with him However, the board should clarify to Babar that he is their pre ferred choice for captain

Pakistan and England will take on each other tonight in the series decider at Gaddafi Stadium in La hore The seven match series is cur rently levelled at 3 3

Miandad emphasised that cricket is both an individual and team game “The players need to think of playing for Pakistan first Once you want to deliver for Pakistan, you will automatically put an extra ef

fort whether you’re bowling, bat ting or fielding

Pakistani players need to re alise that they are good that is why they’re in the final eleven The ques tion of whether you re good enough shouldn’t be there You are good now you just have to deliver what you ve been asked to do on the day Miandad also said that toss won’t and shouldn’t matter on Sunday

Play to your strength If you believe you’re bowling can do bet ter, then you should defend a target If you re batting is firing on all cylinders then go for the chase It is as simple as that ”

With both teams vying for the silverware in a see saw series Miandad says it is important for Pakistani players to avail whatever opportunity comes their way

“No one can predict who’ll win,” said Miandad “When you get an opportunity you will have to avail it You have to constantly analyse the game and take decisions ”

PCB-Bank Alfalah enter school cricket par tnership

So many of our superstars of the 70s, and 80s were products of school cricket This partnership with Bank Alfalah will develop and groom the superstars of tomor row In the last one year, we have made unprecedented investment in pathway and grassroots cricket,” says Ramiz Raja

Bank Alfalah stands proud of its longstanding part nership with PCB and together we’ve continued to sup port the shared passion for cricket in all these years working in collaboration, says President and CEO of Bank Alfalah Atif Bajwa PaKIStaN, 3 october 2022: In order to revive school cricket across the country, the Pakistan Cricket Board and Bank Alfalah have entered a four year partnership The signing ceremony between the two parties was held today at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore As per the partnership agreement the PCB and Bank Alfalah will jointly organ ise a school tournament each year in which 120 schools (to be shortlisted by the PCB) will participate

The PCB and Bank Alfalah will conduct nationwide school drives for making program based interventions to harness & nurture youth with a strong passion for cricket With the growth of the partnership over the four year period, the school participation will increase to 900 schools across the country as part of PCB s grand plan of developing and sustaining a quality schools competition that will not only identify but will also nur ture and groom future cricket stars

A total of 105 PCB designated and approved

grounds will be used for school cricket tournaments in this four year period

PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja: “We have entered an other exciting partnership for the development of cricket School cricket was one of our strengths in the years gone by but unfortunately we were not able to sus tain organised and effective cricket systems in schools in recent years As such this partnership is monumen tal for us and I want to thank Bank Alfalah for aligning with us in the much needed initiative Our aim is not only to revive school cricket but also to develop and sustain it for a long period hence we have launched this initiative with Bank Alfalah “So many of our superstars of the 70s and 80s were products of school cricket This partnership will develop and groom the superstars of to morrow In the last one year, we have made unprece dented investment in pathway and grassroots cricket and this investment will surely benefit Pakistan cricket for the next decade or two ”

T h e t e a m h a v e w o n s o m e t h r i l l i n g m a t c h e s a n d r e a c h e d t h e k n o c k o u t s t a g e i n d i ff e r e n t e v e n t s N a t i o n a l c r i c k e t e r s w e r e s e l e c t e d i n t h e I C C p l a y e r s o f t h e y e a r l i s t W h e r e d o e s i t h a p p e n i n s u c h a b i g n u m b e r, ” h e s a i d M o r e o v e r t h e P C B c h i e f s a i d t h e f a n s h a d t a k e n o w n e r s h i p o f t h i s t e a m a n d f i l l e d u p t h e s t a d i u m s d u r i n g t h e c l a s h e s a g a i n s t E n g l a n d e v e n o n w o r k i n g d a y s

Teams constituted for upcoming South Punjab School Hockey League

MULTAN

S ta f f R e p o R t

Selection of inter district hockey teams for the School Hockey League has been finalized wherein teams will participate with unique names and logos The teams consisting of selected players will contest in the hockey league organized by the School Education De partment South Punjab Under the auspices of the School Education Department South Punjab efforts are being made for restoration and promotion of the national game hockey School Hockey League 2022 is one of the steps in this connection The training of players at the district level for the formation of girls and boys inter district hockey teams has culminated In 11 districts of South Punjab, girls and boys students from public high and higher secondary schools, regis tered private educational institutions and seminary up to the second year were invited were to join for trials After the selection and trial, the team of each district has been formed which will participate in the school hockey league to be held after a few days with its unique logo and name In the school hockey league, the teams of 11 districts of South Punjab, ‘Mushtaq of Multan , Baraq of Bahawalpur , Ghazi of Dera Ghazi Khan’ ‘Khatarnak of Khanewal’ ‘Yaraan of Rahim Yar Khan’, ‘Nadur of Muzaffargarh’ ‘ , ‘Vehari Ke Khilari , Bahawalnagar Ke Barak raftar , Layyah Ke Lajpal’ ‘Lodhran Ke Jawan’ and ‘Rajanpur Ke Rustam’ will contest in the league

Swiatek to skip Billie Jean King Cup finals

WARSAW ag e n c e S

Iga Swiatek will not play for Poland in next month’s Bil lie Jean King Cup finals in Glasgow, the world number one said on Monday as she took issue with the sport’s governing bodies and their handling of the tournament calendar Swiatek had helped Poland progress to the fi nals in April but the tournament will be held from Nov 8 13, just one day after the season ending WTA Finals which will be held in Fort Worth Texas this year “I was thinking it through a lot and discussing it with my team all over again, but I will not be able to play at the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow And it makes me sad,” the Pole said on Instagram “I’m very sorry, because I play for Poland whenever it’s possible and I always give it my best Playing in Poland this year was an honour and I hoped to do this again at the end of the season I m dis appointed that tennis governing bodies didn’t come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tour naments giving us only one day to travel through the globe and changing the time zone ” While the WTA Fi nals are organised by the women s tennis body the Billie Jean King Cup previously known as the Federation Cup is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) “This situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury I’m going to talk to the WTA and ITF in order to change something Swiatek added

M adrid drop first points as Benzema spurns penalty against Osasuna

MADRID a f p

Karim Benzema missed a penalty for Real Madrid as they finally blinked in the La Liga title race, dropping their first points of the season in a 1 1 draw with Osasuna on Sunday Elsewhere Real Sociedad won 5 3 at Girona and high flying Real Betis fell to a 1 0 defeat at Celta Vigo After Barcelona beat Real Mallorca on Saturday Madrid knew they had to win to stay top but were frus trated by Jagoba Arrasate’s well organised side at the Santiago Bernabeu

Benzema, on his return to the side after injury, won a spot kick but then fired it against the crossbar, and also had a goal disallowed for offside as Madrid tried to force a way through Vinicius Junior broke the deadlock just before half time with a cross that snuck all the way into the far cor ner, but Kike Garcia’s well taken header early in the

form back He did his part he had the chance from the penalty It’s an accident, sometimes it happens ”

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told the club s fans at an assembly on Sunday morning that a Eu ropean Super League project was essential, but Osasuna showed domestic football can still offer a significant chal lenge Benzema made his first appearance since Septem ber 6, while Andriy Lunin and Dani Ceballos started in place of injured duo Thibaut Courtois and Luka Modric

Madrid probed promisingly down the flanks while at the other end Abde Ezzalzouli, on loan at Osasuna from Barcelona, crashed a shot into the side netting on a bright display Madrid opened the scoring in fortuitous fashion, with Vinicius whipping in a low cross which caught out goalkeeper Sergio Herrera and crept in at the far post Osasuna complained that Benzema and Antonio Rudiger were offside and interfering with play, but their protests were dismissed

The visitors were level five minutes into the second

half when Kike Garcia brilliantly looped a backwards header over Lunin

The goal meant Madrid have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of the first seven league games

“We were quite solid at the back,” insisted Ancelotti “We conceded a goal from a deep cross, it was quite strange The team was balanced the objective is always to be strong to avoid conceding ” N o way t h r o u g h: Turning up the heat, Benzema drew a stunning save from Herrera although he was off side, then neatly slipped through Rodrygo Goes, who fired over The French striker won a penalty when he was shoved over by David Garcia who was sent off but hit the crossbar with his effort Moments later Benzema had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for offside The draw means Barcelona lead Madrid on goal difference after seven games, with both teams on 19 points and un beaten It is the first time the Catalans lead the league at the end of a fixture round since June 2020

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

pR

second period earned Osasuna a point “What we were missing was scoring that penalty, normally Karim scores them, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told DAZN

“He had no problem playing the 90 minutes It’s been a month since he’s played, he has to get his best

M a s s I v e f I n a n c I a l e M b e z z l e M e n t u n e a r t h e D I n I e s c O

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

tOP management at the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) has been accused of involvement in irregular payments of special al lowance worth approximately Rs 9 25 million to its high ranked officers for 40 months in violation of rules and regulations of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)

According to sources, former chief ex ecutive officer (CEO) of IESCO, Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary Qaisar Shah Chief Auditor (Internal Audit), Raees Haidar, Deputy Fi nance Manager and Irfan Mehmood, Deputy Manager (Accounts) allegedly pocketed Rs 92,50,000

However, a team of Director General (Audit) WAPDA has unearthed this massive financial embezzlement and recommended the IESCO management to investigate the matter and recover the excessive payments

Following the direction, the IESCO management has recovered the amount paid

Pll fails to attract bids for long-term lnG contract

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

T h e s t a t e o w n e d P a k i s t a n L N G L i m i t e d ( P L L ) h a s f a i l e d t o a t t r a c t a n y b i d s f o r i t s t w o p a r t t e n d e r f o r t h e i m p o r t o f L i q u e f i e d N a t u r a l G a s ( L N G ) t o m e e t t h e c o u n t r y s e n e rg y n e e d s A s p e r d e t a i l s P L L h a d i s s u e d a t w o p a r t t e n d e r i n A u g u s t i n v i t i n g f i r m s t o s u b m i t b i d s f o r s u p p l y o f a t o t a l 7 2 L N G c a rg o e s o n a D e l i v e r e d E x S h i p b a s i s a t P o r t Q a s i m , K a r a c h i i n a p e r i o d o f s i x y e a r s H o w e v e r, n o c o m m o d i t y s u p p l i e r h a s p a r t i c i p a t e d i n P L L s t e n d e r t o s u p p l y L N G t o P a k i s t a n o n D E S b a s i s f r o m J a n u a r y 2 0 2 3 t o D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 8 U n d e r t h e f i r s t p a r t b i d s w e r e i n v i t e d f o r 1 2 L N G c a rg o e s ( o n e L N G c a rg o p e r m o n t h ) t o s t a r t f r o m J a n u a r y 2 0 2 3 a n d t o e n d o n D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4 w h i l e s e c o n d d e l i v e r y p e r i o d f o r s u p p l y o f 6 0 L N G c a rg o e s ( o n e L N G c a rg o p e r m o n t h ) w a s t o s t a r t f r o m J a n u a r y 2 0 2 5 t o e n d b y D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 8 A c c o r d i n g t o t h e t e r m s o f t h e t e n d e r, i t w a s m a n d a t o r y f o r t h e b i d d e r t o s u b m i t p r i c e p r o p o s a l s f o r b o t h o f t h e d e l i v e r y p e r i o d s P L L i s a s u b s i d i a r y o f G o v e r n m e n t H o l d i n g s ( P r i v a t e ) L i m i t e d ( G H P L ) w h i c h i s o w n e d b y t h e G o v e r n m e n t o f P a k i s t a n P L L h a s t h e m a n d a t e t o p r o c u r e L N G t o m e e t t h e c o u n t r y s g a s r e q u i r e m e n t

as special allowance to Irfan Mehmood However, no amount has been by rest of the high ranked officers, said the sources

The sources said that though IESCO management on 12 02 2020 had recovered Rs 18,90,000 from Irfan Mehmood, Deputy Manager (Accounts), who was granted addi tional charge of the post of Secretary IESCO from September 2016 to January, 2020 (40 months) the management so far allegedly did not recover the massive amount paid to Shahid Iqbal, Qaisar Shah, and Raees Haidar as special allowance

IESCO board had granted the charge of IESCO chief (CEO) to Shahid Iqbal who was working as General Manager (Opera tion) while board granted the charge of Chief Auditor (Internal Audit) to Qaisar Shah who was working as Deputy Chief Auditor (In ternal Audit) and the board also granted ad ditional charge of Finance Manager to Raees Haidar who was working as Deputy Finance Manager in IESCO, the sources added

It is relevant to note here that according to Director Finance (Regulations) WAPDA dated July 02, 1988, additional charge for

vacant identical or higher posts should not exceed three months

However, it may be extended by another three months with the approval of next higher authority immediately after the expiry of six months of the full additional charge of the particular vacant post, the post shall be treated as having been abolished Moreover, in open violation of these rules, the said of ficers were granted the additional charge for four long years

As per Public Sector Companies (Cor porate Governance) Rules 2013 (Rule 13 & 14), the board shall appoint a chief finan cial officer, a company secretary and a chief internal auditor by whatever name called However, no person shall be appointed as the company secretary of a public sector company unless he is a member of a recog nized body of professional accountants; or a member of a recognized body of corpo rate or chartered secretaries; or person hold ing a master degree in business administration or commerce or being a law graduate from a university recognized by the higher education commission (HEC)

with at least five years relevant experience

Similarly, no person shall be appointed to the positions of the chief financial officer and company secretary unless he is fit and proper for the position Manzoor Hussain Shah Kazmi, Chairman Anti Corruption Cell, Labour Unity IESCO (CBA Union), in an application to Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has requested for a special audit of IESCO for the period 2013 to 30th June 2020 While talking to Pakistan Today/Profit, Manzoor Hussain Shah Kazmi Chairman Anti Corruption Cell Labour Unity IESCO (CBA Union) said that the level of corruption was so high that the amount (Rs 18 90 000) recovered from Irfan Mehmood, Deputy Manager (Ac counts) was not shown in IESCO record and no one in the company knows about the whereabouts of this huge amount

Similarly, he asserted, no one in IESCO knows whether the amount (Rs1890000x3:Rs 5670000+Rs3580000 : Rs 9250000) which was to be recovered from former IESCO chief Shahid Iqbal Chaud hary, Qaisar Shah, Deputy Chief Auditor

Institutions are guardians of national sec urity, not for fulfilling Imran’s ‘nefarious politic al agenda’: M arriyum

months, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had worked day and night to personally su pervise the relief and rehabilitation activi ties in the flood affected areas

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb Aurangzeb on Mon day said the national institutions were guardians of national security and defence, and not “personal guards” of former prime minister Imran Khan who had termed them “watchmen”

The state institutions were not there to help Imran Khan to come back to power, though his entire politics was based on crutches and he was again trying to get back the same but to no avail, she said while addressing a presser

The minister alleged that Imran de sired the institutions “to violate their con stitutional oath and become part of his game The nation however would never forgive “the foreign agent, conspirator and liar”, who, she claimed, had played with the national security and violated the Con stitution “There is a need to make an ex ample out of Imran Khan so that in future no one could play with the national inter ests and the Constitution,” she added Marriyum said during the past two

The unprecedented floods had caused catastrophic losses and it seemed difficult to cope with the ravage, but the prime min ister, the armed forces, provincial govern ments the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the civil society were making concerted efforts to provide relief to the flood victims she added Be sides, she said, friendly countries had also supported Pakistan in the hour of need for which we are grateful to them

She pointed out that during the prime minister ’s recent visits to the United States and Uzbekistan for Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and United Nations General Assembly session, the focus of his activities remained on floods The minister said joint surveys were being carried out with the cooperation of local governments for providing assistance to the affected people in the reconstruction process

Marriyum said at the time when PM Shehbaz was busy in flood relief activities audio leaks of another person who re

mained the country’s chief executive for nearly four years, were surfacing

Preempting his ouster from power she said, Imran Khan waived a paper at a rally on March 27 claiming that a foreign con spiracy as he could be heard repeatedly saying,”we have to play with this cipher”

She said the cipher was sent on March 7 received at the Foreign Office on March 8, and the Prime Minister House sought its copy on March 9 It was astonishing as to why the then PM did not inform the nation about the so called conspiracy against his government instantly, she added

Imran Khan however staged the drama of conspiracy on March 27 when he realized that the no confidence motion against him would succeed as his allies had decided to part their ways with him ” She al leged that a “thief, corrupt and incompetent” Imran Khan had destroyed the country s economy, made a deal on Kashmir, and cre ated chaos and anarchy in the country

Agencies should c are about national sec urit y and not ‘politic al engineering’: Imran

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday said that the job of intelligence agencies was to secure the country and not “political engineering” as he stressed that the recent spur of audio leaks featuring conversa tions between incumbent and for mer government linked officials was a very serious lapse

Imran passed these remarks in an interview with journalist Moeed Pirzada aired on 92 News

“Our intelligence agencies should think of themselves [ ] what are you doing [ ] you are threatening people on social media [ ] this is not your real job [ ] political engineering is not your job your job is to secure the coun try,” he said

The PTI chief s statement comes after a steady stream of audio recordings surfaced of late, of allegedly candid conversations

never meant to be heard by the public of government figures in the Prime Minister ’s Office

The most recent audios pur portedly feature conversations be tween the PTI chief and his former ministers and principal secretary about a cypher that he has for long presented as evidence of a “for eign conspiracy” to oust him from office

Last week, a slew of audio recordings of conversations be tween key government figures including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML N leader Maryam Nawaz and some members of the federal cabinet were released as well raising an all our national se curity concern

Responding to a question re garding the leaks today, Imran said that the most important thing in the fiasco was the taping of the telephone connection of the high est office in the country

“This means that these audios will reach enemies as well,” he

highlighted The point is that they would include so many more things, which may not be impor tant for domestic politics but might include state secrets “And the next question is that our secu rity agencies [ ] someone will have to ask that who is responsible for such a security breach,” the former premier said This should be understood, he went on, that this was a very seri ous security lapse for our country

When asked about PTI s up coming long march, Imran said that an “unimaginable” sea of peo ple will march toward Islamabad

“It will be the biggest in the history of Pakistan and no one can picture what will happen But I won’t tell exactly what will hap pen,” he said, adding that only a close group of people knew the de tails

“Everything we say is leaked [ ] our phones are taped [ ] for

the first time I am feeling as if I am a traitor of the country whose being taped,” the PTI chief added

Talking about the cypher, which the government has claimed is missing from the PM’s Office, Imran said that its master copy was in the Foreign Office

“The master copy [of the cypher] first comes to the Foreign Office and then its copies are sent to the prime minister, president and the army chief,” he elaborated

The PTI chief said that during his tenure, the copies of the cypher were sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and then the National As sembly speaker “But the opposi tion refused to see the copy because they were a part of the conspiracy

“Read the minutes of our last cabinet meeting, we have declas sified the cypher [ ] the govern ment cannot hold any proceedings on it, he said, alleging that PM Shehbaz was a “beneficiary” of the foreign conspiracy

General and Raees Haidar, Deputy Finance Manager was recovered or not

He said this is a case of massive finan cial embezzlement and there is a need for a special audit of IESCO’s accounts from the AGP We have requested DG Audit WAPDA and the AGP to conduct a special audit of IESCO’s accounts but so far, we have not received any response from any side,” said Manzoor Hussain Shah Kazmi, Chairman Anti Corruption Cell, Labour Unity IESCO (CBA Union)

When contacted the spokesman of IESCO said that the IESCO is facing acute shortage of officers and staff and to cover this gap additional tasks are given to officers in addition to their existing task which is a requirement so that work may not suffer

He said the company has to pay around PKR 3 lac to fill a position of BPS 19 with a regular officer including all benefits but for additional charge the company has to pay only Rs 40,000 “Our Board of Directors are competent authority to accord approval for dual charge for above six months till the availability of regular officers,” said IESCO spokesman, avoiding any comment over IESCO’s reluctance to recover the embaz zled amounts from its officers

Despite repeated efforts to secure the stance of IESCO management on various questions pertaining to non recovery of spe cial allowance from its high ranked officers and violation of rules for grant of additional charge to officers for more than six months, the spokesman did not bother to answer

Pakistan asks India to quit state terrorism in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Monday categorically rejected Indian External Affairs Minister s highly “irresponsible and gratuitous” remarks made at Vadodara, India, insinuating Pak istan s so called involvement in interna tional terrorism” “Instead of levelling baseless allegations against Pakistan, India is well advised to abjure its policy of state terrorism in Indian Illegally Occu pied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and against the Muslims in India, the Foreign Office said in a statement The FO urged India to allow the Kashmiri people to ex ercise their right to self determination as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and as per their wishes The Indian EAM s unfounded re marks are yet another manifestation of the Indian leaders’ obsession to concoct facts with respect to terrorism for misleading the international community and point fin gers at neighbours in a bid to mask India’s own well known credentials as a state sponsor of terrorism and a serial violator of human rights,” it said “Nowhere is state terrorism more evident than in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), where over 900,000 Indian occu pation forces continue to terrorize, torture, and torment innocent Kashmiris with im punity,” the FO stressed “The world is also aware of the ‘saffron terror ’ orches trated and unleashed by the BJP RSS zealots against Muslims in India ”

Dar takes notice of ‘malpractices’ in payments to flood affectees

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has taken notice of alleged mal practices in payments to the flood af fectees As per the details, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Moham mad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting to review the payments from cash assistance to flood affectees at the Finance Division today Secretary BISP briefed the meeting that al most ninety per cent of beneficiaries have been paid cash assistance The remaining beneficiaries will receive the payment within the next five days He further in formed that there were a few complaints re garding malpractices in payment at ATMs and POS Governor SBP and President HBL also updated the meeting on the situa tion and informed that a big volume of the relief cash has been distributed to the flood affectees and apprised on taking steps to address the complaints

ISLAMABAD