Epaper_22-10-12 LHR

I M r a n

1 0 o t h e r P t I l e a d e r s c h a r g e d w I t h P r o h I b I t e d f u n d I n g

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f r e P o r t

tHE Federa Investigat on Agency (F A) on Tuesday registered a case aga nst Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and 10 others leaders in proh bited funding case

The case was f led by the state through FIA’s Corporate Banking Cir c e in Islamabad The first informa t on report (FIR) stated that Ar f Masood Naqvi the owner of the Wooton Cricket Limited trans ferred ll gotten money to a United Bank Lim ted (UBL) account regis tered under the name of the PTI

The First Information Report (FIR) stated that the accused including former prem er Imran Khan violated Fore gn Exchange Act and all of the nom nated persons were benefici aries of the private bank account

The nominated persons in c uded Sardar Azhar Tariq Saifullah Nyazee, Syed Younus, Aamer Mehmood Kiani Tar q Shaikh and Tariq Shaf whereas the manager

of the private bank was also nom nated in the FIR

According to the FIA PTI had a private bank account titled Naya Pak stan, whereas, the bank man ager illegal y perm tted to operate the account

It read that $2 1 m llion had been deposited by Abraaj Group whereas PTI had subm tted Arif

Naqv ’s affidavit to the Election Commission of Pak stan (ECP) that the company deposited the huge sum of money to the polit cal party s bank account

The FIA stated in the FIR that the affidav t was false and counter feit The polit cal party had also re ceived funds from Wootton Cricket and the head of the pr vate bank

facilitated the accused by prov d ing suspicious records

The purpose stated n the swift messages of the transactions is ‘agreed transfer ’ to disguise the true nature, origin, locat on, movement and ownership of these funds Arif Masood Naqvi s also the founder/owner of Abraaj Group, UAE, which col apsed in 2018 Arif Ma sood Naqvi ied about the per form ance of Abraaj ’s funds by nflating their value the compla nt added

Therefore Duba F nancial Ser v ices Authority (DFSA) imposed penalt es on two Abraaj Group compan es for carr ying out unau thorised act vities n Dubai Interna tiona Financial Centre (DIFC) and misusing nvestors money The reg u ator imposed penalties amount ing to $299 30 m llion on Abraaj Investment Management L mited and Abraaj Cap ta respect vely ”

It further said that Naqvi was also facing tr als in the Un ted King dom and the United States for de frauding nvestors

Swat sit-in ends af ter successful talks

SWAT S y e d S h a h a b u d d i n

The almost two day ong sit in staged n protest against attack on a schoo van in Gul bagh area of Swat was ended after successful negot at ons between the District Administration and the be reaved fam ly here Tuesday

The protestors had been demanding arrest of the perpetrators of the attack threatening to march to Is amabad if the authorit es fai ed to accept their demands with n 24 hours

I t i s t o b e n o t e d u n i d e n t f i e d a c c u s e d h a d f r e d u p o n v a n o f a p r i v a t e s c h o o l o n M o n d a y, k i l i n g i t s d r v e r H u s s a n A h m e d w h l e a s e c o n d g r a d e r M a m o o n s u s t a n e d c r i t i c a l g u n s h o t w o u n d s Fo l l o w n g t h e i n c d e n t, t h e a f f e c t e d f a m l y a c c o m p a n i e d b y l o c a l s s t a g e d a s i t n b y p l a c i n g t h e d e a d b o d y o n M n g o r a K h w a z a k h e l a H i g h w a y a t G u i b a g h a r e a o f C h a r b a g h Te h s i The s t n virtual y eft the road blocked for al kinds of traff c

According to Rescue 1122 offic a s, the van w a s t a k n g s t u d e n t s t o a s c h o o l i n G u l i b a g h a r e a o f C h a r b a g h t e h s w h e n u n i d e n t i f i e d a s s a a n t s, r d n g o n a m o t o r c y c e, h a d o p e n e d f r e T h e d r i v e

Marriyum accuses Imran of misguiding public with ‘persistent lying, fabricated narratives’

ISLAMABAD a P P

Minister for Informat on and Broadcasting Mar r yum Aurangzeb on Tuesday warned the citizens against PTI Chairman Imran Khan who was bent upon misgu ding the public w th his persistent ‘ ies and fabricated narratives The peop e should save themse ves from the absolute y fraud and fore gn funded F tna ’ (Imran) who aughs at them behind c osed doors after befool ng them, Marr yum said while address ng a news confer ence “ Liar is the only term which can per fectly def ne the personal ty of Imran Khan,” she main tained referring to h s repeated ies a med at mislead ng the nation’ The minister cla med: “ President Arif A vi, who once held the post of Secretar y General of PTI has declared Imran Khan a liar and endorsed that this person speaks nothing but lies ” Imran Khan, she said, spent his complete energy on creating narratives to cover up his thefts hypocrisy and lies by mis eading the pub ic In fact, she sa d, Imran had assumed that the people wou d start be ieving the l es and accusations if the same are repeated ad nauseam, she stressed However, “ th s drama wi l come to an end when the people wil start real z ing that he s a liar and fore gn funded Fitna she added The peop e should ask themselves how a person could take oath on the same Con st tut on which he had violated in the past Po nt ing out Imran Khan s inquis tive trait, she sa d the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PT ) ch ef started ques tion ng others rather hurling a egations when asked about his own oot and plunder of the na tiona wealth Ironica ly when Imran Khan was asked about the f o r e i g n f u n d s r e c e i v e d b y h i s p a r t y, h e s t a r t e d d e m a n d i n g a c c o u n t a b i t y o f t h e o t h e r p a r t i e s, s h e s a i d T h e P T I h a d f a i l e d t o f u r n i s h e v e n a s i n g l e e v i d e n c e b e f o r e t h e E C P a b o u t o t h e r p a r t i e s w h i c h c o u l d p r o v e t h a t e t h e r t h e y h a d r e c e v e d f u n d i n g f r o m a f o r e i g n n a t i o n a l o r c o m p a n y I m r a n K h a n s h o u d b e t t e r a n s w e r a b o u t h i s o w n p a r t y s f o r e i g n f u n d i n g, w h i c h h a d b e e n v a d a t e d b y t h e d e c i s i o n o f t h e E e c t i o n C o m m i s s o n o f Pa k i s t a n ( E C P ) n t h e r e e v a n t c a s e s h e a d d e d T h e m n i s t e r u r g e d t h e p e o p e t o c o n n e c t a t h e d o t s a n d v e w t h e P T I s f o r e i g n f u n d n g n t h e c o n t e x t o f i t s f o u r year rule which was marred by flawed eco nomic and po it cal policies

steps down; Aslam Iqbal likely to take charge

He

Col

InDIan EnvOy SuMMOnED tO COnDEMn Shah’S CuStODIal DEath: FO

Indian government remained completely indifferent

tH E Indian Charge d’ Affaires

(Cd A) on Tuesday was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey Pakistan’s strong protest against the inhuman custodial death of Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Shah, who had been imprisoned in the infamous Tihar Jail for the last five years

It was deplored that despite Pakistan’s expression of serious concerns over Altaf Ahmed Shah s sharply deteriorating health as well as his daughter ’s letter addressed to the Indian Prime Minister apprising him of Shah s precarious health condition the

It was demanded of the Indian government to immediately investigate the custodial death of Altaf Ahmed Shah and hold to account all those responsible for the brutality, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a press release

Pakistan has further demanded that the mortal remains of Altaf Ahmed Shah be promptly returned to his family so that a proper burial of the deceased in accordance with their wishes can be carried out The spokesperson further said that the government of India not only failed to provide satisfactory medical care to Altaf Ahmed Shah who was suffering from renal cancer but also created

Minister ‘warns’ president not to play politics with army chief appointment

ISLAMABAD M o n to R n g R e p o R t

A minister warned Arif Alvi not to play politics with the appointment of the new army chief, a day after the president said he’d approve the appointment of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa s successor in line with the procedure laid out in the Constitution In an interview with journalist Asma Shirazi on Monday, the president said that “broader consultation on the appointment of the army chief was a must so that a consensus could be developed He also expressed his desire that a summary of the appointment be sent to his office after the consultation has been completed “The president doesn’t have any role under the Constitution of Pakistan in the appointment of the army chief,” Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar told a TV station on Tuesday He said Alvi is politicising the matter to fulfil the interests of his Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) party which Tarar claimed violated the president s role defined in the Constitution Tarar clarified that appointing the army chief is the sole prerogative of the prime minister

176,829 electricit y connections remained pending in DISCOs, KE till June 30

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

As many as 176 829 new electricity connections were remained pending in power distribution companies (DISCOs) including K Electric till June Sources in National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) told APP here that the total load of these connections was estimated as 1,214,699 49 Kilowatt (KW) Sharing details of the connections, they said that highest number of pending connections were in Multan Electric Supply Company (MEPCO), which stood at 80,031, followed by 50,832 in Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) during the said period Similarly 12 827 connections were pending in Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), 10,892 in Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) 11 114 in Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (GEPCO), 6,324 in KE, 1,988 in Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), 1,297 in Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) 754 in Sukkur Electric Supply Company (SEPCO), 713 in Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) and 57 in Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO) Moreover, NEPRA received a total of 12,436 complaints against various DISCOs and National Transmission Despatch Company (NTDC) during last fiscal year 2021 22 Out of total received complaints, some 11,807 have already been disposed of while 629 complaints were still under process during the said period The authority received highest number of complaints 5716 against K Electric followed by 1489 against LESCO while lowest only two complaints were filed against TESCO

inordinate delays in his hospitalization and essential diagnostic tests

Even more heart wrenching was the fact that the Indian authorities remained adamant in denying Shah’s family access to meet him while deliberately delaying the court hearing of his bail plea on humanitarian grounds

It was evident that Altaf Ahmed Shah was victimized and punished because he was the son in law of revered Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani and a true representative of the Kashmiri people

“His death is the consequence of the Indian government’s willful and deliberate negligence, utter disregard for human rights and its systematic campaign to suppress and brutalize the Hurriyat leaders,” it was added

attention It is also alarming that at least 4 Kashmiri political prisoners have died in Indian custody since 2019 the spokesperson said

“The Government of India has also been called upon to desist from unlawfully keeping the indigenous Kashmiri leadership hostage and denying them their fundamental human rights immediately halt its state sponsored terrorism in the IIOJK, release all political prisoners incarcerated on trumped up charges stop human rights violations lift the inhuman military siege and let the people of IIOJK exercise their right to self determination as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and as per their wishes,” it was stressed

ECP resents no appearance of PTI chief, Asad, Fawad in contempt case

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) expressed its resentment over the non appearance of former prime minister Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar before it in the contempt case

PTI leaders including Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar are facing contempt proceedings for allegedly speaking against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja A four member bench of the ECP headed by Sindh member Nisar Durrani heard the case in which PTI’s lawyer

Naveed Anjum showed up

At the outset of hearing, the Election Commission of Pakistan expressed resentment over non presence of PTI chairman Imran Khan, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry despite summons Why don’t we release arrest warrants for the accused? Sindh’s member in ECP said The member Balochistan observed that Sindh High Court only barred from a final decision against Asad Umar, there are no directions about others Naveed Anjum pleaded with the ECP to give a fresh date on which Anwar Mansoor Khan will give arguments as he is busy in Islamabad today

The Balochistan member in the commission said the law has to be abided

NFRCC suggests engaging ‘3rd par ty ’ for developing flood-related dashboard

ISLAMABAD

National Flood Response and Coordination Centre (NFRCC) has suggested the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication to engage the services of Dr Umar Saif or any 3rd party to assist National Information Technology Board on development of flood related dashboard

Sources said that NFRCC has communicated to the Ministry of IT&T and the Planning Commission with regard to unsatisfactory performance on dashboard development by NITB

In light of dashboard demonstration to secretary IT on October 8 2022 it is informed that NITB team is not meeting the expected level of performance on development of NFRCC dashboard, as per direction of Prime Minister it is therefore suggested that Dr Umar Saif or any 3rd party be engaged to assist NITB on development of dashboard, the letter added

It is pertinent to note that the Prime Minister on October 3, 2022 refused to inaugurate the digital dashboard developed by NITB and have given 7 days to complete the dashboard in accordance to meet international standards

Source said that the development of the dashboard is still underway and NITB is unable to complete the work within the time frame directed to the IT Ministry by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif NITB remained in hot waters in recent days due to installation of Indian company software in tablets given to cabinet members

Recently, the Economic Coordination Committee of cabinet deferred the summary of the ministry of IT with regard to the replacement of NRTC tablets used for cabinet portals with the new smart/latest tablets

One can judge the seriousness of the ministry of IT

that most of the high ups reached Dubai to participate in the Gitex conference, instead of complying with the PM directives on development of the dashboard, sources added On the other hand the high ups of the ministry tasked the same officials of NITB to complete the remaining work who had failed to brief PM for development of flood related dashboard

It is pertinent to note that a five days Gitex conference has started in Dubai and sources claimed that a number of foreign or local tech companies have sponsored the tour of Pakistani officials working in different ministries

It is pertinent to note that the Cabinet in June this year also imposed a complete ban on official visits by government officials, functionaries and ministries as austerity measures Only obligatory visits and very important bilateral visits will be allowed and a committee would decide the importance of each visit before giving approval, decided by cabinet

The spokesperson of ministry of IT Junaid Imam on the query of this scribe said that Ministry is a policy making body while NITB is the execution arm of ministry for any development work

NFRCC is the end user while NITB is their service provider NFRCC agreed on a user requirement on which NITB developed the dashboard Now there are new requirements on the direction of the PM so NITB will amend the dashboard accordingly

No Official from the Ministry participated officially in Gitex at any private company’s expense, he claimed

Contracting the member IT point of view, the ministry of IT&T also tweeted that “Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Syed Amin Ul Haque visiting Huawei Cloud booth at the #GITEXGLOBAL2022 event in #Dubai Senior officers from the #MOII were also present This visit is the third by the minister with Huawei after #GitEX last year and this year s MWC

PSC should provide modern technical guidance to farmers: Gardezi

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Punjab Seed Corporation (PCS) is playing a key role in providing quality and cheap seeds to the farmers and there is a need for providing better services to the farmers Punjab Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi said this while presiding over the 122nd meeting of board of directors of Punjab Seed Corporation here on Tuesday PSC Managing Director Shan Al Haq gave a briefing on the agenda of the meeting The Provincial Agriculture Minister said that Punjab Seed Corporation is a trustworthy organization of farmers To provide quality seeds to the farmers, while conducting seed trials on their agricultural farms, they should be planted under the supervision of the seed variety discoverer so that the actual potential yield of the seed can be realized Apart from this, the Punjab Seed Corporation should present a short term and long term plan for the supply of seeds to the farmers in Rabi and Kharif season and the progressive farmers and academia should also be consulted while planting the seed trials He directed to present the comparative statement report of seeds belonging to foreign ,local private companies and Punjab Seed Corporation in the next board meeting Minister Agriculture stressed the need to improve the capacity and profitability of the farms working under the control of PSC He gave instructions to the Punjab Seed Corporation to take immediate measures for getting the membership of International Seed Council On this occasion, Agriculture Secretary Punjab Ahmad Aziz Tarar directed MD Punjab Seed Corporation to prepare a business plan for various crops cultivated for trials on the farms so that in the light of this, KPIs for the corporation can be fixed

M a l a l a a r r i ve s o n 1 0 t h a n n i ve r s a r y o f T T P s h o o t i n g

KARACHI a f p

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday returned to Pakistan to meet flood victims 10 years after a Tehreek i Taliban Pakistan (TTP) assassination attempt against her

Her visit only the second since she was flown to Britain for life saving treatment, comes as thousands of people protested in her hometown where the same militant group is once again on the rise Yousafzai was 15 when the TTP, an independent group that shares a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban, shot her in the head over her campaign for girls’ education

On Tuesday, two days after the 10th anniversary of the attack, she landed in

Karachi, from where she will travel to areas devastated by unprecedented monsoon flooding

Her visit aims to help keep international attention focused on the impact of floods in Pakistan and reinforce the need for critical humanitarian aid , her organisation Malala Fund said in a statement Catastrophic flooding put a

third of Pakistan underwater killed around 1,700 people and displaced eight million, and caused an estimated US$28 billion in damages Yousafzai grew up in the town of Mingora in the deeply conservative Swat Valley, close to the border with Afghanistan

The TTP waged a years long insurgency there that ended with a major military crackdown in 2014 But there has been a resurgence in unrest since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul last year

The TTP has claimed dozens of attacks in recent weeks, mostly against security forces and anti Taliban elders “We are tired and can no longer carry dead bodies,” said Muhammad Ali Shah, the former mayor of Swat

“It is the responsibility of the state to

protect its citizens and provide them with security, but the government’s silence on all these incidents is criminal

More than 5 000 people blocked a main road through Mingora, sparked by the latest attack on a school bus on Monday in which the driver was killed and a 10 or 11 year old boy wounded

The TTP have denied responsibility and the police said they are investigating the motive

Students and teachers walked out of schools including the school attended by Yousafzai that her father established, to call for peace

“Our protest will continue until the arrest of the killers, we will not rise from here until the top government officials assure us of justice and an end to militancy,” said doctor Amjad Ali, 36

by all the citizens, the rights of Election Commission of Pakistan are ensured in the constitution of Pakistan and no one

can snub them, he added Later the hearing was adjourned until October 26

1 2 a R M y M a J O R G E n E R a lS P R O M O t E D t O R a n K O F l I E u t E n a n t G E n E R a l

S ta f f R e p o R t

PA K I S TA N Army promoted 12 major generals to the rank of lieutenant general, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced on Tuesday

The military’s media wing said that Director General ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar was also among the military officials who were promoted

According to the ISPR

statement, those promoted included Major General Inam Haider Malik, Major General Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Major General Nauman Zakria, Major General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal Major General Ayman Bilal Safdar, Major General Ahsan Gulrez, Major General Syed Aamer Raza Major General Shahid Imtiaz Major General Muhammad Munir Afsar, Major General Babar Iftikhar, Major General Yousaf Jamal and Major General Kashif Nazir

The incumbent DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar replaced Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor as the new head

Swat sit-in ends after successful talks

COntInuED fROM pAgE 01

The administration assured that an FIR has been registered and the affected family and Jirga leaders will be informed about the progress in investigation in the case Later funeral for martyred Hussein Ahmed was offered, which was attended by hundreds of people He was later laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard after 40 hours of sit in It is important to mention here that locals blamed the banned Tehreek i Taliban Pakistan for the attack, but the group has denied responsibility No other organisation has also claimed responsibility so far HUGE RALLY DENOUNCES DETERIORATING SITUATION: On the other hand, a protest demonstration was organized by Swat Olasi Pasoon at Nishat Chowk in Mingora, against the deteriorating situation and unrest in Swat, which was attended by thousands of people Civil society members, lawyers, students, political workers and people from all walks of life participated in the protest The protesters were waving white flags, a sign of peace, and chanted slogans “We want peace in our Swat” Jamaat e Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, ANP Provincial President Aimil Wali Khan, General Secretary Sardar Hussain Babak Pakhtunkhwa MAP Mukhtiar Yousafzai Afrasiab Khattak, PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen and other speakers addressed the demonstration The speakers said that unrest and terror activities will not be tolerated again in the peaceful valley of Swat, reiterating the “pledge not to allow anyone to shed blood of innocent people Jamaat e Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed who was also in attendance, said that every citizen of Pakistan had the constitutional right to a safe life protected by the state “But unluckily despite having a huge budget for the defense, the state has completely failed to ensure peace ” PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen said that it was ironic that in the presence of the security forces Taliban managed to enter Swat, and once again, target killings and fake encounters were being carried out “The people of Swat have already witnessed bloodshed Children have seen their fathers dead bodies The people of Swat were disgraced on check posts earlier in 2007, 2008, and 2009 The people of Swat were displaced, and their properties were destroyed and ruthlessly killed he said adding that peace returned in 2009 and till 2022, durable peace prevailed “It is questionable that in a wink of an eye the situation turned into chaos where despite the presence of a large number of security forces, Taliban entered and started sabotaging peace,” he added They said that it is responsibility of the government and state institutions to protect the citizens and today we have only one demand from this protest that we want peace, nothing but peace Speakers said that we want the government and law enforcement agencies to take action against the terrorists entering Swat, otherwise the breakdown of law and order will be considered a failure of the state They said that despite the presence of a large number of law enforcers in Swat, attacks on innocent civilians and disruption of public order are a question mark on their performance

of the military’s media affairs wing in 2020 Earlier in July last, Pakistan Army approved the promotion of 32 brigadiers to the rank of major general

According to ISPR out of the 32, eight officers belong to the Army Medical Corps

The promotion board presided by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, was held at the General Headquarters today as mentioned in a statement released by the military’s media wing

The ISPR s statement also shared names of the brigadiers who

received promotion Those promoted to the rank of major general include Brigadier Omer Naseem, Brigadier Syed Abbas Ali, Brigadier Muhammad Abbas, Brigadier Muhammad Shahid Abro Brigadier Luqman Hafeez, Brigadier Mohammad Yasir Elahi, Brigadier Adeel Haider Minhas Brigadier Syed Ali Raza, Brigadier Shahid Pervaiz, Brigadier Ahsan Waqas Kayani Brigadier Azhar Yasin Brigadier Qaisar Suleman, Brigadier Haroon Ishaq Raja, Brigadier Aamer Amin Brigadier Haroon Hameed Chaudhary, Brigadier Waseem

Pakistan, Korea defence ministries sign MoU on bilateral defence cooperation

Ministerial Bilateral Meeting on Tuesday

In a ceremony held at Army club, the Vice Minister of Korea and Secretary Defence of Pakistan signed the “Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Defence of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Defence Cooperation”, a news release said

Foreign remittances down to $2.4b in Sept: SBP

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

On the invitation of Vice Minister, Ministry of National Defence, Republic of Korea, Shin Boem Chul Secretary Defence Lieutenant General (R) Hamood uz Zaman Khan and Additional Secretary Defence, Ministry of Defence Rear Admiral Faisal Amin visited Seoul for attending the Vice

During the meeting both sides exchanged views on regional and global security and matters of mutual interest, particularly in defence collaboration The deadly floods situation in Pakistan also came under discussion The Secretary Defence, Pakistan thanked the Korean Vice Minister for arranging the bilateral meeting

The MoU would provide solid legal framework for enhancing defence cooperation between the Armed Forces of both Asian countries At the end, it was mutually agreed to conduct such like visits for promotion of defence ties between both countries

Marriyum accuses Imran of misguiding public with ‘persistent lying, fabric ated narratives’

COntInuED fROM pAgE 01

Besides, Kashmir was also sold by the Imran Khan led government, who even campaigned for Modi during the last general election in India by tweeting in his favour, she alleged Marriyum also played the video clips of Imran Khan’s interviews with two different TV channels which showed his contradictory statements on the phone tapping of the Prime Minister Office and the PM House She said Imran Khan in the first place legitimized the phone tapping of the PM House and then took a U turn after his own audios got leaked in which he could be heard saying that We have to play with the cipher”

The PTI chief ’s narrative of a foreign conspiracy against his government was done and dusted as President Arif Alvi had stated that he did not agree with the same, she added

Reacting to the PTI chief s announcement of moving the court regarding the audio leaks, she said “The foreign funded ‘Fitna’ (Imran) should first appear before the joint investigation team (JIT) instead of going to the court He has confessed his crime and it is now time for him to be in jail ”

She said how could a person, who legitimized the phone tapping of the PM House and PM Office, go to court for its investigation “There is no need of that, she added

The minister claimed that Imran Khan misused the state machinery while being in power for four years to victimize his political opponents, but could not produce a single evidence of the latter ’s crimes in the courts She alleged that Imran Khan abducted Tayyba Gul to blackmail the then National Accountability Bureau chairman and coerced the then FIA director general for filing fabricated cases against the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) leadership Imran Khan sent Nawaz Sharif Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz and other PML N leaders to jail in false and fabricated cases she added

Marriyum said the PML N leaders were eventually exonerated in all the fake cases and now Imran Khan stooped so low to name them in his speeches just to achieve his political motives

The minister rued the promises made by Imran Khan with the people for coming into the power which included 10 million jobs, 5 million houses and zero corruption in 90 day time

Imran, 10 others PTI leaders charged with prohibited funding

pAgE

The FIR further said that 12 CTRs/STRs had to be reported by the UBL management to the authorities but they failed to do so Chaudhary Shahid Bashir the operation manager of UBL’s Jinnah Avenue branch in Islamabad, facilitated these suspicious/illegal transactions by not reporting the aforesaid illegalities to the concerned authorities and also allowed Internet Merchant Acquiring Agreement changing the title of the account to Naya Pakistan

Subsequently, the FIA said a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 477 A (falsification of accounts) and 109 (punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed In consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal code has been registered against Imran, his party leaders and the management of UBL

They have also been booked under Section 23

(penalty and procedure) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 The FIR comes days after the FIA took Saifullah Nyazee and Amir Zaman into protective custody for interrogation in the case triggering several condemnations from the party

T H E p R O H I b I T E D f U N D I N G C A S E : Last month, the ECP had issued its verdict in the prohibited funding case previously referred to as the foreign funding case against the PTI, which stated that the party did indeed receive prohibited funding

A three member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander (CEC) Sultan Raja had announced the verdict in a case filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar which had been pending since November 14, 2014

In the verdict, the commission noted that the party “knowingly and willfully” received funding from Wootton Cricket Limited, operated by business tycoon Arif Naqvi The party was a willing recipient of prohibited money of $2 121 500 it said

The ECP said that the party “knowingly and willfully” also received donations from Bristol

Canada Corporation and PTI UK Public Limited Company “From both the companies, the amounts received into its accounts of PTI Pakistan are hit by prohibition and in violation of Pakistani laws “PTI Pakistan, through fundraising campaigns by PTI USA LLC 6160 and PTI USA LLC 5975 was a recipient of donations from 34 foreign nationals and 351 foreign based companies Collection of donations and contributions from foreign nationals and companies are hit by prohibition and in violation of Pakistani laws,” it said The electoral watchdog also said that the PTI had been found to be a beneficiary of donations made by Romita Shetty a US based business woman of Indian origin which was in violation of the law

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said the overseas Pakistani workers sent home total remittances of $2 4 billion during the month of September “In terms of growth, during this month (September 2022) the remittances decreased by 10 5 percent on month on month basis and by 12 3 percent on year on year basis,” an SBP press release said on Tuesday With cumulative inflow of $7 7 billion during July September 2022, the remittances decreased by 6 3 percent as compared to the same period last year, it added The SBP said the remittances inflow last month were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($616 6 million), the United Arab Emirates ($474 3 million) the United Kingdom ($307 8 million) and the United States ($268 1 million)

Cour t accepts Rana Sanaullah’s plea against arrest warrant

RAWALpInDI i n p

A local court has accepted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s plea against the issuance of arrest warrant by the anti corruption establishment (ACE) Punjab After accepting Rana Sanaullah’s petition, the local court summoned the investigation officer (IO) along with the relevant records on October 13 The hearing was adjourned The lawyers of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) challenged the issuance of Sanaullah s arrest warrant in the court of the senior civil judge Ghulam Akbar

Iftikhar Cheema, Brigadier Muhammad Hussain Brigadier Shoaib Bin Akram, Brigadier Kashif Khalil, Brigadier Kashif Abdullah,

Brigadier Amjad Hanif, Brigadier Faisal Naseer Brigadier Ahmad Kamal and Brigadier Saeed Ur Rehman Sarwar, said the statement

COntInuED

Pakistan sPEaks for China and dEvEloPing CountriEs at un

CM Elahi says 2.2m patients treated under health card initiative

LaHoRe S ta f f R e p o R t

Chief

patients

Pa ki s t a n , C h i n a F O s p o ke s p e r s o n s h o l d d i a l o g u e

A JK PM grief over demise of Altaf S hah

Staff RepoRt

Azad Jammu & Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan Tuesday expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the death of veteran Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Shah in Indian unlawful cus tody in New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail Monday night

Paying rich tribute to the de ceased leader the prime minister said that Altaf Ahmed Shah son in law of elderly late Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gillani, had been a staunch freedom fighter who de voted his entire life for the noble cause of freedom Shah, he said, would be remem bered for a long time in the annals of Kashmir history for his indomitable and contribution in the ongoing free dom struggle

“The entire Kashmiri nation is proud of his bravery , the PM said adding that that India could not break his resolve by subjecting him to unjust and inhuman treatment in jail

“The years long incarceration could not dampen his spirit and po litical resolve” he said adding that Shah’s death in custody and jail au thorities denial to provide him right

Planning Ministr y staff rally for raise in executive allowances

ISLaMaBaD

S ta f f R e p o R t

The employees of Planning Ministry took out a protest rally here demanding a 150 percent in crease in executive allowances According to de tails, the employees of Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives took out a protest rally from Block P to Block Q against the Finance Ministry Carrying banners and plac ards inscribed with slogans in favour their de mands, the protesting employees were demanding implementation of 150pc increase in executive allowances The ministry s affairs were disrupted due to the demonstration The protestors have threatened to boycott meetings of the ministry, Executive Committee of the Na tional Economic Council and other platforms if their demands were not accepted The employees claimed that the finance division has flouted the orders of the federal cabinet adding that the ex ecutive allowance was awarded only to a certain group of bureaucrats The finance division s no tification is a malicious violation of the Cabi net’s decision, the demonstrators said, adding that a protest would be stage on a daily basis for two hours from tomorrow The protestors have also threatened to boycott office work from Monday until the government fulfills their de mands They have also decided to move court against the Finance Division’s notification

Plus Group

The

the Groups

of

item proposed

Besides, during the

Meetings with

Member States (PUIC) and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), the membership of the

Parliamentary Union of

and

also expressed their all out support towards the emergency item of Pakistan

In addition to it, the delegation of Pakistan also held bilateral meetings with the delegations from Canada and Qatar to seek their support towards the emergency item proposed by Pakistan

During the meetings, the delegations not only ex pressed their condolences on the loss of precious lives and critical infrastructure but also offered complete support to Pakistan in its endeavors

The decision on the adoption of the emergency item will be taken by the Governing Council of the 145th IPU during its meeting on October 12, 2022

Besides Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation the Parliamentary delegation comprises MNAs Wajiha Qamar and Dr Nisar Cheema

to medical treatment speak volumes as how the India s apartheid regime was treating Kashmiri prisoners

The AJK Prime Minister said that the sacrifices of the Kashmiri martyrs will never go in vain and that day will end The day is not far when Kash

miris’ sacrifices would reach to fruition and the dawn of freedom will appear on the horizon of the Kashmir Valley”

The Prime Minister while ex tending his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family prayed for the departed soul

AIOU to commence final exams from 17th

ISLAmAbAd S ta f f R e p o R t

October 11 () Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is commencing final examinations of programs offered in spring 2022 semester from October 17 2022 till Decem ber 10, 2022 According to the details, roll number slips have been uploaded to students’ CMS accounts and the datesheet is available on the university website (www aiou edu pk) for the programs including Associate Degree (BA, B Com), Associate Degree in Commerce, Associate Degree in Education BBA and BS Accounting and Finance, B ED and BS (ODL) programs Examina tion centers are established in the nearby vicinities of the students to facilitate them Special teams have been con stituted to supervise and monitor the examination process There is a ` zero tolerance’ policy against any kind of unfair practice Moreover due to recent rains and floods, the University had postponed the matricula tion, FA and I Com exams in the districts and tehsils of the regional offices (Hyderabad Larkana and Dadu/Moro) which were scheduled from 12th to 17th September Now these exams will be held from 14th Oc tober to 29th October Roll number slips issued earlier will be valid for the new dates All students have been notified through mobile SMS The admissions for the second phase of semester autumn 2022 are open till 18th October Programs offered in this phase include Associ ate Degree (BA, B Com), BS (ODL), four year BBA, B Ed Post Graduate Diploma and Certificate programs Admission forms are available on the university website

ChInA’S FLOOD COnTrOL EXpErTS TEAM SET TO ArrIvE pAkISTAn TODAy

ISLAmAbAd M a n a b R a R

Agroup of 11 Chinese experts has departed Beijing and would be landing in Pakistan today to assist in the coun try’s flood control efforts

According to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, the team, or ganized by the ministry, also included the personnel from the Ministry of Water Resources and China Meteoro logical Administration

China’s Embassy in Pakistan also posted the photos of farewell cere mony, stating that the experts team would be arriving Pakistan today

Chinese experts team on disaster management leaves for Pakistan today to share experience in addressing the flood MEM and CIDCA held farewell ceremony for them with Amb Haque,” it added

The group will help Pakistan in disaster assessment and flood preven tion and mitigation Since June, Pak istan has been hit by severe floods,

DCs ordered to intensify crackdown on polluters

All the deputy commissioners are duty bound to strictly implement the ban on burning of crop residue and garbage under Section 144 and mobi lize revenue departments staff in the field for ef fective enforcement

Punjab Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sum bal issued the directives while presiding over a meeting held to review the measures being taken to control smog in the province The meeting de cided that all the departments would obtain certifi cates for government vehicles under Vehicle Inspection and Certification System (VICS) and the central control room established in the envi ronment department would be made fully func tional from October 12 The focal persons of environment, agriculture, industries, and other rel evant departments would perform duties in this control room

The Punjab CS directed the authorities to in tensify the crackdown on vehicles and industries that are causing environmental pollution, saying that only brick kilns with zigzag technology would be allowed to operate He mentioned that the role

which resulted in heavy causalities and property losses

Currently, the country remains at a critical juncture in its flood control and disaster relief work, said Zhou Xuewen, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Emergency Management Zhou made the remarks when he went to see the team off at an airport in Beijing The deployment of the team demonstrates China s commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pak istan, he added Moin ul Haque, Pakistan s ambas

sador to China, expressed gratitude from the Pakistani government for the support offered by the Chinese govern ment and people to the country when it is in difficulties He said in the air port he looks forward to seeing China and Pakistan further strengthen coop eration on disaster management, espe cially in early warning and capacity building for disaster control

Ministry of Emergency Manage ment of China and CIDCA held farewell ceremony for the experts team with Amb Haque

MMBL CFDO highlights power of Fintech at GITEX Global 2022

of deputy commissioners is instrumental in con trolling the smog problem and the performance in this regard would be reviewed regularly

Mr Sumbal asked the environment department to provide timely information to the deputy com missioners for action against those who burn crop residue He stressed that the relevant provincial de partments and field officers should increase mutual coordination He said that everyone including gov ernment institutions and civil society should work hand in hand to overcome the smog The CS also issued instructions to the agriculture department to improve the data collection system

Secretary Industries Dr Ahmad Javed Qazi briefed the participants in detail He said that seven anti smog squads had been formed for the inspec tion of industrial units Of these seven squads, three are working in Lahore while one each is in Gujran wala, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, and Multan The authorities sealed 428 old technology brick kilns, registered 226 cases and imposed fines of about Rs10 million Two special squads are working in Lahore for checking smoke emitting vehicles Po lice registered 11 FIRs for burning crop residue in different cities seven in Pakpattan, two in Chiniot, and one each in Okara and Khanewal

Pakistan Nav y & PMSA ships visits Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain

Students Of pAF Schools & Colleges contribute to flood relief activities

While the recent monsoon rainfall and the emerging sit uation of national level floods demand great efforts and support for saving humanity working shoulder to shoul der with the Pakistan Air Force personnel, students of PAF Schools and Colleges made indigenous efforts to bring cheers amongst the distressed children of flood af fected areas The PAF students came together to raise funds on their own to buy treats which included choco lates, sweets and stationery items for the brothers and sisters in these testing times More than 17000 packets comprising sweet treats were distributed in the flood af fected areas which brought back the lost smiles on the faces of suffering children The activity is reflective of PAF s resolve of being the first responder to the nation s call wherein PAF has always stepped forward for con duct of relief activities to alleviate the sufferings of those affected by disasters and natural calamities

More than 200 cameras to be installed under safe cit y project in one month

ta f f R e p o R t

More than 200 cameras would be installed in Islamabad under the safe city project during next one month bring ing the total

of

cameras to 2400 Following the vision of Prime Minister Mian Muham mad Shehbaz Sharif and directions of Minister for In terior Rana Sana Ullah Khan, up gradation of Islamabad Safe City Project is underway During the third meeting between officials of Islamabad Capital Police and Capital Development Authority, it was de cided that safe city cameras would ensure surveillance cover from Srinagar Highway to Islamabad airport and Bhara Kahu to Satra Meel It was also decided that cameras would be installed during October at Margalla bypass to cover the highway More cameras would be installed for coverage at Islamabad Expressway with the purpose to ensure smooth flow of traffic and sur veillance at entry and exit points of the city

Pakistan Navy flotilla comprising Pakistan Navy Ship HAIBAT and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) Ship BASOL visited Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain during overseas deployment

On arrival at host countries, Pakistan Navy ships were received by senior representatives of Pakistani embassies and officials of host navies

The Mission Commander along with Commanding Officers of ships called on high level military lead ership of the host countries During the interactions,

matters of mutual interest and cooperation in mar itime security, ship building capability of Pakistan and training opportunities in PN including sea train ing were discussed Mission Commander conveyed well wishes from Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi for the people of host countries in general and host navies in partic ular The flag showing missions of PN ships in cluded to explore various avenues of cooperation in domains of maritime security and operational in teroperability At harbour cross ship visits by naval personnel and training facilities were exhibited for familiarization

ISLAmAbAd S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan’s largest digital bank, Mobilink Microfi nance Bank Limited (MMBL) s Chief Finance and Digital Officer (CFDO), Sardar Mohammad Abubakr shared his expertise on Fintech Surge: ESG & Fin tech Society, Inclusion & the Environment at the GITEX GLOBAL 2022, held in the 2nd week of Oc tober at Dubai World Trade Centre GITEX GLOBAL, the world's largest tech show, unifies the world’s most influential ecosystems advancing busi ness, economy, society, and culture through the sheer power of innovation MMBL is part of the VEON group, a global digital operator that provides con verged connectivity and online services across seven countries As part of its digital operator strategy, VEON is transforming people’s lives, creating oppor tunities for greater digital inclusion, and driving eco nomic growth across countries that are home to more than 8% of the world’s population During his ad dress, Sardar Abubakr stressed the need to recognize the huge strides Pakistan has made in digitalization Dedicated to harnessing the power of technology MMBL is at the forefront of digital innovation, mak ing digital and financial solutions more inclusive, ef ficient and affordable for everyone especially women and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) two highly influential segments for increased eco

Stakeholders to deliberate agri uplift at kissan conference next week

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Food Se curity and Research in collaboration with Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) has organ ized National Kissan Conference in the next week

The conference aims at bringing together all stake holders to deliberate upon ways and means to de velop agriculture and livestock sector in the country The daylong event is scheduled to be held during next week, which would attended by the top officials from the federal and provincial govern ments field extension departments and non govern mental organizations working for the development of agriculture sector, said an senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Talking to APP here on Tuesday, he said that the representatives of different farmers associations, progressive growers research scientists and mem bers of academia would also participate in the con ference and provide their policy input to compile a comprehensive strategy for the restoration and de velopment of agriculture sector S ta f f R e p o R t

Ample oppor tunities available to boost Pak-Iran trade ties: SCCI

PESHAWAR

Pakistan and Iran possess vast opportu nities to further enhance mutual eco nomic and trade relations in various sectors, emphasized Muhammad Ishaq, President Sarhad Chamber of Com merce and Industry here on Tuesday

He emphasized that promotion of bilateral trade between neighbouring countries is the need of the hour and Pakistan and Iran should take joint ini tiatives to boost up mutual cooperation with Pakistan

The SCCI chief was speaking to the Commercial Attaché/First Consul of Iranian Consulate in Peshawar, Hus sein Maliki here at the chamber ’s house Ejaz Khan Afridi, vice president of the chamber was also present during the meeting Muhammad Ishaq and Maliki dur

ing the meeting discussed avenues and opportunities to further strengthen mu tual economic and trade relations be tween Pakistan and Iran Both sides have stressed the need of making joint and concerted efforts to further improve the mutual cooperation and trade relations SCCI is going to organise a trade expo, aiming to promote locally man ufacturing products, which would also help to enhance trade with regional countries, Muhammad Ishaq disclosed on the occasion Ample opportunities are available to boost up bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran, said Hus sein Maliki However, he stressed that serious attempts are needed to be taken to remove hurdles in the way of bilat eral trade between Iran and Pakistan

He continued to say that mutual understanding and harmony can eradi cate impediments in the mutual trade Hussein Maliki urged SCCI to give

concrete proposals and share details of the upcoming trade expo in order to ensure maximum participation of Iran ian businessmen in the event

Mr Ishaq appreciated the Iranian diplomat’s commitment toward en hancing bilateral trade between Pak istan and Iran He opined that hurdles to Pak Iran mutual trade can be re moved with joint efforts and coordina tion Stressing the need for promotion of formal trade, the SCCI chief viewed the legal trade would boost up the economy of the both countries He asked Islamabad and Iran to take ini tiatives for signing economic and trade agreements

The SCCI chief thanked the Iran ian consul general for felicitating him for becoming president of the SCCI and expressed the hope that Pak Iran mutual trade would be further strength ened during one year remaining in of

fice Earlier, the Iranian diplomat briefed the SCCI chief about opportu nities and potentials for further enhanc ing mutual trade between the two neighbouring countries

He informed the president of Iran Chamber would soon visit different cities of Pakistan and I have desired that he will also visit Peshawar and meet with businessmen in SCCI Hussein Maliki vowed to take joint efforts and initiatives to bring the Iran Pak bilateral trade to new heights He said the entire team of Iranian Con sulate in Peshawar is fully committed and making vigorous efforts to further bilateral economic and trade ties with Pakistan Mr Ishaq on the occasion agreed with proposals of the Iranian diplomat and vowed to work together for improvement of mutual trade rela tions between the two neighboring countries

ISLAmAbAd S ta f f R e p o R t

ISLAMABAD: Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan H E Dr Mehmet Pacaci receiving a Shield from Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal, Amir Fida Paracha, during his visit to Stitching/processing unit of PBM

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Swat rises

Climate rehabilitation and resilience through sustainable financing

PL U S ça change, plus c’est la même chose The more things change, the more they stay the same

It was with a sense of foreboding that the people of Swat staged a massive rally demanding an end to the recent spate of violence in the valley The playbook of the miscreants is the same as it was the last time the valley had been embroiled in a most terrible conflagration

The day after Malala Yousafzai came to Pakistan to visit the victims of the floods, a school van was attacked in her native valley, harking back to the times when she was attacked exactly a decade ago, in almost exactly similar circumstances This is a vicious cycle that does not show any sign of abating

Obviously, it is the security establishment that should take most of the blame in this situation, but the political class, when it comes to how to deal with the establishment’s peculiar style of managing militancy MNAs Mohsin Dawar and till he was still out of jail Ali Wazir, kept on reminding the rest of the parliament, during the fleeting time that they were given the microphone on the floor of the house, that the militants are regrouping all over the former tribal areas and beyond Whereas, the rest of the then ruling PTI had chosen to ignore these cautionings, it was, ironically, Swat’s very own Murad Saeed, who had vociferously attacked Dawar for spreading lies and misinformation against the security agencies Staying quiet on the emerging storm in his home constituency because of political expediency is one thing; rubbishing anyone who does speak out, however, isn’t quite forgivable On the flipside, the time is right for people like Mohsin Dawar, who has pockets of support in all areas that were affected by militancy, including Swat, to bury the hatchet and completely own the current uprising against militancy

There is no way that the larger situation can be resolved without the political government, both federal and provincial being in the driving seat of monitoring and, if not designing, then at least signing off on design, of the anti militancy policy, rather than all this being in the hands of an opaque and unanswerable military bureaucracy That is the way this cookie crumbles the world over If we plan to treat the disease and not just the symptoms anyway

Th e 1st of October is globally cele brated as the International day of older people In 1990, UNGA de cided to devote this day to draw public attention to the problems that older people are facing People celebrate this day with great enthusiasm, organize seminars and conferences and post relevant content on social media to create the impres sion as if the whole world is concerned about older people and only a meagre population exists that needs to be enlightened however, the ground reality contradicts this

We see there has been mushrooming of old age homes everywhere The idea of old age homes is not bad They protect a vulner able group of elders particularly those who remained single without marriage, and those who have no one to take care of them But, the swell in the number of old age homes unveils another grim reality that the rights of old age people are being trampled on Be cause not all the elders enrolled in OAhs are single or do not necessarily lack a caregiver In most cases, elders are sent to the old age

in the core of Pakistan’s banking ideology and not just used as a greenwashing or green image building slogans even after give years, the SBP has yet to mandate any part of Green Banking in the daily bank ing operations

All around the world, the banking industry is one of the driving forces behind the country’s sustainable development Countries like Bangladesh have made Green Banking mandatory and all scheduled banks of Bangladesh are required to allocate at least two percent of their financing towards green finance and 15 percent towards sustainable finance Pakistan can not move forward in the adoption of Green Banking without the formation of a dedicated Green Banking Department/Division and staff in banks and cannot achieve the targets of UN SDGs 2030

A

N age old proverb exists that “it’s no use crying over spilled milk” but does this hold true for the catastrophic consequences of Pakistan’s current flood disasters? The re cent floods in Pakistan have caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the last decade with total estimated damage of approximately $20 billion More than 33 million people have been displaced, one seventh have lost their homes and the mortality count is over 1300 Unfortunately, this is not the first or pos sibly the last climate change related disaster faced by Pakistan Disasters and their aftermath are not the case of spilled milk, rather climate related adverse effects are becoming a recurring threat to the survival of many developing countries all over the world According to research, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and rising sea levels, without adaptation, will cause up to 4 6 percent of the global population to be flooded annually by 2100 Countries like Pakistan need climate and disaster resilience financing to manage the recovery and re habilitation phase of this massive flood disaster and to minimize the potential damages that may arise from such climate change related disasters in the fu ture The State Bank of Pakistan and the banking in dustry can play an important role in this regard by adopting the banking ideology of Green Banking The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may launch vari ous low interest green financing schemes for the re habilitation and rebuilding of the infrastructure destroyed during the current floods Banks in Pak istan may acquire Green Climate Fund accreditation which is targeted toward financing the efforts of de veloping countries in responding to the challenge of climate change This is the time for various Devel opment Financial Institutions (DFIs) to step forward and finance the flood resilience and rehabilitation ef forts in Pakistan Rehabilitation financing is a form of reactive green financing strategy whereas climate and disaster

resilience is a proactive green financing strategy that aims to mitigate the climate change related risks be fore their occurrence through financing green projects such as dams dikes canal dredging new pumping stations, and the resettlement of slums which block waterways Globally, the estimated cost of adapting to climate change is projected to rise to over $100 bil lion per year which cannot be met without climate re silient financing products Both the public and private sectors often face challenges in accessing capital and financing for climate resilience projects Different bonds bring promising potential to the troublesome gaps in financing for climate resilience and rehabili tation or development projects They have been used to finance infrastructure projects around the world for many decades Still, they are largely underexplored to bring diverse sources of cap ital into climate and disaster resilience and rehabilitation projects Various types of bonds can be relevant to in creasing climate resilience including green bonds blue bonds, sustainable bonds, social bonds, catastrophe bonds impact bonds and re silience bonds

By 2030, climate change adaptation costs are expected to range between $140 billion and $300 billion annually and rise to between $280 billion and $500 billion per year by 2050 For more severe scenarios of global warming, these figures are expected to be much greater.

The Government of Pakistan is already strug gling due to a lack of capi tal for the urgently required rehabilitation initiatives and repairs in infrastructure, while simultaneously an ex pected increase in natural disasters and environmental stresses brings into focus a rising cost of maintaining climate resilient facilities and infrastructure The development of eco tourism projects in the northern areas could have avoided the flood damage intensity The construction of en vironmentally unsustainable infrastructures like ho tels near rivers also played a role in the massive destruction Climate resilient financing may also be targeted toward the green financing of eco tourism projects in Pakistan

Flooding disasters are also a great threat to food security due to their adverse impact on the food sys tem and directly linked to the rising food inflation in Pakistan Rehabilitation and resilience financing schemes should be launched for the development of sustainable agriculture products, processes, and in frastructure in Pakistan The challenges of climate change and natural resource degradation in Pakistan can only be overcome through a synergistic blend of public private green initiatives

Green Banking can play a pivotal role in this re gard but only if it is truly embraced and embedded

If the world is to meet the climate challenge, biodi versity, and land degrada tion targets it needs to close a $4 1 trillion green financ ing gap by the year 2050 The current global invest ment in green projects amounts to $133 billion According to research every dollar invested in flood resilience saves up to four dollars in future losses

Many resilience initia tives are not necessarily ad ditional expenditures Most resilience strategies are combined with existing op erations or already needed greening of facilities, proj ect planning documents and business management decisions Conversion of various public and private structure projects like CPeC into green or eco friendly projects can auto matically embed the element of climate resilience into these projects

By 2030, climate change adaptation costs are ex pected to range between $140 billion and $300 billion annually and rise to between $280 billion and $500 billion per year by 2050 For more severe scenarios of global warming, these figures are expected to be much greater The longer climate resilience and adap tation and risk reduction efforts are put off by chronic underfunding, the more difficult and expensive it will be to manage adaptation needs and the harder it will be to save lives and mitigate future suffering

The writer holds a PhD in Green Banking Governance and Risk Management and is working as a Chief Manager Green Banking Office in Bank AL Habib Limited, Pakistan He can be contacted at aasimalibukhari@yahoo com

a r i n g f o r t h e o l d a n d e l d e r l y

midhi 1919) the hOLY Prophet (Pbuh) out rightly excludes the people from believers who do not show reverence for elders

house as their family does not want them They are maltreated, do not get what they deserve, and are considered a burden

In point of fact a rapid increase in the number of OAhs is not a sign of progress It indicates our moral decadence and dead con science that allows us to skirt the responsibil ities towards parents, who had a major role in bringing us up It exposes our level of regret table forgetfulness We forget their sacrifices and no longer bring to our memory that these were people who would not sleep to make us sleep who would strangle their desires for ours, would kill their hunger for feeding us on time In addition, they would work hard to en sure our education proper guidance and best future It is also important to note that their least, or even zero, contribution towards our growth does not warrant their disrespect

Also, there are many elders who neither land in old age homes nor are respected in their own homes They suffer and face the worst They find none to share their woe They are literally voiceless Their shocking tale re mains unspoken and unheard and they even tually leave this world with a heavy heart

Moreover, being a relative is not a pre requisite for respecting elders or the old

Whether a family member or not, whether or not they played any role in our nurturing, whether they are familiar to us or not, every elder deserves esteem at any rate

In the Indian Subcontinent majority of people believe in religion and to be factual, every religion denounces the act of dishon oring others, parents, and elders The reli

gion of peace and compassion Islam also guides us on this matter It has made it oblig atory for Muslims to revere older people

Quran clearly explains the status of Par ents Almighty Allah says; ‘Treat parents with benevolence’ (17:23) This is a general com mand however when Allah talks about old aged parents, he elucidates the ‘way of treatment’ and says; If either or both of them attain old age in your presence, then do not say even ‘ugh’ to them, nor reproach them And always speak to both of them sub missively’ (17:23)

This verse illus trates the special station that old aged parents hold It states that if your parents reach old age you should not utter a single word of contempt before them, regardless of whether you are pleased or annoyed with what they say and no matter how hurtful it is It becomes evident that treating parents kindly is obliga tory but extra care needs to be taken when they are old Any sort of contempt is tanta mount to Allah’s disobedience

The holy Prophet (Pbuh) exhorted that elders should be valued in social matters Their opinion must be primarily considered and youngsters must respect their age main tain a reverent silence before them, and allow them to speak first

Elders and the old should g et due respect from us. We must ser ve as role models for others in this case as well.

Sahl Abu hathma and Rafi b Khadij re ported that once Muhayyisa bin Mas’ud and ‘Abdullah bin Sahl went towards Khaibar and they separated near the palm trees Abdul lah bin Sahl was killed They ac cused the Jews (of this act) The brother of the slain person Abd al Rah man and his cousins huwayyisa and Muhayyisa; went to the holy Prophet (Pbuh) and talked to him about the murder of his brother Since Abd al Rahman was the youngest among them, Allah’s Messenger (Pbuh) said; show regard for the greatness of the old and let the eldest begin speaking’ (Sahih Muslim 1669)

The holy Prophet (Pbuh) assures young sters that if they will respect the old aged person they will certainly be honoured in their old age Anas ibn Malik narrated that the holy Prophet (Pbuh) said, ‘If a young man honours an elderly on account of his age Allah appoints someone to honour him in his old age (Tirmidhi 2022)

In the contemporary world, the old aged are generally treated as a bother but the teachings of the Prophet (Pbuh) should wake us up The holy Prophet (Pbuh) related them with benediction and declared, elders are a source of ‘blessing’, so he who does not show mercy to young and respect ‘elders’ is not from among us (Tabrani 7895) I

(

)

The holy Prophet (Pbuh) also stressed respecting elders and said; he is not one of us who is not merciful to our youngsters and does not respect and honoUr our elders’ (Tir

According to Allah s apostle (Pbuh) honoring the elders is part of Allah’s glorifi cation Abu Musa al Ashari narrates that the Prophet said: Glorifying Allah involves showing ‘honour to a grey haired Muslim’ (Abu Dawud 4843)

‘Allah grants

respite,

If there a

towards

and the old is a

exhibiting

and has become the need of the hour, so people must under stand its significance especially we Mus lims, who believe that Islam provides a complete and perfect

result

Consequences of Russia’s War on Ukraine

countries

In the face of these developments the USA was able to mobilize Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs, financial institutions, and ex ports In response Russian diplomacy appeared to secure the backing of China, with most other nations from Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Arab World steering clear from taking sides

That was in the beginning, when Putin ap peared to be winning

Recent events however point to a change in fortunes for both Ukraine and Russia Ukrain ian President Volodymyr Zelensky proved to be not only an effective campaigner winning sub stantial support for his country from the West, but also emerging as a national hero who in spired his people to fight back against Russia

the cold of winter sets in, shortages of fuel will impact the european public s attitudes maybe not so much with regard to Ukraine, but with their own governments’ inability to meet do mestic needs And the longer the war continues the greater the danger that economic and social pressures created by the presence of seven mil lion Ukrainian refugees who were welcomed as Arab and African refugees were not can become a concern

There is at present remarkable bipartisan support for Ukraine in the USA, with Congress approving, this year alone, more than $66 bil lion in military and economic aid Should the war continue for another year or more, it re mains to be seen whether that level of commit ment remains firm

WAShinGTon WATCh Dr JAmeS J ZoGBy

RU S S I A S latest and expanded inva sion of Ukraine is not too far from the completion of its eighth month with no clear end in sight Although it s dangerous in the heat of battle to make predictions about outcomes, there are some indications as to what the future may hold for the combatants and the world

What we know for certain are these hard cold facts: Tens of thousands have been killed entire communities destroyed, millions forced to flee (many of whom will never return), and there have been hundreds of billions in damage and losses to Ukraine’s infrastructure and the world economy Russia, the invader and erstwhile occupier of Ukraine has also suffered tremendous and unre coupable losses in lives, treasure, and prestige All of this should be enough to say that this is a war that never should have been fought and that no one will win And it didn’t have to be

In the months before the Russian assault, US President Joseph Biden repeatedly warned eu ropean leaders of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s intentions In hindsight, had european allies heeded these warnings and mounted an aggressive campaign of support for Ukraine coupled with smart diplomacy, Putin might have been deterred But US allies did not act leaving Putin to assume that he might have an open road to neutralize what he perceived as the growing threat posed by a Ukraine increas ingly wedded to and armed by the West

In the early weeks of the invasion, there was a sense that Ukraine might be doomed Ukrain ian forces were seen as no match for the Rus sians; there was uncertainty that Ukraine’s TV comedian turned president could provide wartime leadership or that he had enough sup port from the Ukrainian people to engage in a prolonged struggle; and there was a hesitancy in europe to commit the resources that would be needed to defend against Russian threats

Russia initially appeared to face little diffi culty in seizing areas of eastern Ukraine It launched aerial bombardments of major Ukrain ian cities, damaged the country s infrastructure, and threatened its nuclear power plants Millions of Ukrainians fled the country, becoming refugees seeking haven in neighboring european

The Ukrainians who remained in the country have demonstrated national resolve, and the ad vanced weaponry training, and financial support Ukraine has re ceived mainly from the USA, has allowed Ukrainian forces to stop the Russian ad vances in some areas, while recapturing sig nificant amounts of ter ritory in the northeast of the country

As the war drags on, Putin has come under pressure At a re cent summit Putin re ceived embarrassing cautions from the pres idents of both China and India both of whom expressed con cerns about the contin uing war

With the Russian military overstretched, Putin was forced to issue a call for national mo bilization, which resulted in protests and more than 250,000 young men fleeing the country he also engineered a controversially administered referendum in Ukraine’s eastern region, using the results to announce its annexation as Russian territory Ominously, he has threatened more ag gressive bombardments even hinting at the use of tactical nuclear weapons, as a way to regain the upper hand

It does appear that the tide is turning but be fore assuming that these developments foretell the end of the war, the end of Putin s rule, and a clear Ukrainian victory it’s important to con sider the following

In the first place, while it s true that the Russian military is taking an unexpected beating and Putin is facing some domestic opposition, Russia still has considerable assets to put into play And while there are signs of some dissent these are offset by Russian hardliners who share Putin s grievances with the West and desire to regain lost glory The fighting will continue with a warning desperation can make a foe more, not less, dangerous

While europe is now largely unified in sup port of Ukraine, it remains to be seen how, as

Russia’s early successes may have bolstered the Kremlin’s hope of assuming an anti West leadership role, especially among those coun tries who had previously formed the Cold War ’s non aligned movement But prospects for that outcome have faded as the war has dragged on with Russia struggling and appearing cut down to size

Should Ukraine achieve victory, al though it’s difficult to define exactly what that would look like whether it means a col lapse of the Russian military and complete liberation of Ukraine’s territory or a partial withdrawal with Russia retaining control of Crimea and the two h e a v i l y R u s s i a n provinces in the east other challenges will emerge here are just a few:

n Given the downturn in the world’s economy, especially in Western europe, who will help foot the bill for Ukraine s construction?

n As the West, and the rest of the world, scrambled to find replacements to offset the loss of Russian gas they took their eyes off the very real imminent challenges posed by climate change how quickly can we refocus on that real threat?

n If Russia is defeated, will a humiliated and ruined Russia be less of a danger in the fu ture than the current regime? And as that country’s capacity has been diminished by the over extended use of its military, what will happen in Syria?

n With europe‘s renewed dependence on the USA, what about China? At present China is sitting pretty expanding its influence in the Pacific, the Americas, Asia, and the Arab World

The bottom line is that this was a war that never should have been and no matter how it ends, if indeed it does end, its impact will be as unsettling for the world and policymakers as the debacle of Iraq was a decade ago

is

World in need of Peace

WAR is among the major constants of history Peace is merely a period between two wars After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 the United States (US) emerged as the sole superpower and wielded authority unrestrictedly, even bypassing the United Nations (UN) charter by invading Iraq however this unipolar moment was soon challenged by the rise of contending power, China, an economic giant with the second largest economy of $19 5 trillion and is poised to take the top slot by 2030, according to the predictions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) This was followed by an exuberant increase in defence expenditure from $65billion to $178billion within a decade and modernisation of its naval force

This economic and military prowess of China led to the two giants vying for global supremacy

The US has been implying all possible measures, ranging from trade war, anti China alliances, like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and Australia United Kingdom United States (AUKUS), to provoking Taiwan against China to maintain its sway in world order The Taiwan conundrum is about the political status of the island nation China asserts it as a province under one country two systems’ policy, while the US prefers having the ‘policy of strategic ambiguity’, and has engaged with Taiwan in multiple spheres

Its recent manifestations include a visit to the island nation by the third highest American official, Nancy Pelosi, and the US deal to sell modern military equipment worth $1 2billion All this is ringing alarms in Beijing It is a shift from the policy of strategic ambiguity to complete defence assurance Recently, US President Joe Biden declared that American forces would defend Taiwan from Chinese invasion at all costs This abrupt and unexpected reversal has grave repercussions for regional as well as global peace

In contemporary times, global peace is hanging by a delicate thread Any development has the potential to dismantle the entire politico economic and social fabric Multidimensional challenges, such as the spectre of climate change, fallouts of Covid 19, the Russia Ukraine war, energy crisis and the looming economic stagnation have already engulfed the world, and now we have another conundrum in the shape of Taiwan crisis This issue is the greatest threat now among all because it will bring two major powers, and subsequently their allies, in direct confrontation with one another This will mean destruction on a mass scale The ongoing confrontation between Russia and Ukraine is a threat, particularly for europe which is already having an acute energy shortage after the closure of gas supply from Russia which constituted almost 40 per cent of its total demand As a consequence, liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices have soared in the open market Similarly, oil prices have skyrocketed because of the ban over sale of Russian oil, and resulting in imbalance in global supply and demand Lack of access to vast deposits of Ukrainian grain to the world market is also causing a food crisis, especially in the least developed countries Therefore, in such circumstances, any new conflict has the potential to plunge the world into a complete disaster MOHSIN QAMAR CHINIOT

Tax on Proper ties

The Walton Cantonment Board, Lahore, has increased the property tax manifold this year for the residents of Defence housing Authority (DhA) Lahore The property tax, which was Rs24,516 for my house last year, has been increased to Rs112,278 for the current year, which means an abnormal increase of 357 per cent in property tax over the last year

Such an increase in property tax is unprecedented and unheard of in Pakistan Generally speaking, it is almost impossible to absorb such a sudden and high increase in the domestic budget of the residents especially where widows and retired individuals are involved

We are already facing high inflation in the country which has squeezed people s spending power On top of that we now have this exorbitant increase in property tax how can one manage his/her budget with such increase in taxes? The management of Walton Cantonment Board should review this unbearable increase and bring the tax down to a realistic level

EJAZ AHMAD MAGOON LAHORE

Mob Lynching

W I T h street crimes going out of hand in Karachi, ‘street justice’ by enraged citizens against robbers when they get a hand on them is also on the rise The reason behind such incidents, however, is not difficult to comprehend Law enforcement agencies have not only failed in maintaining the law and order situation in the city, but have also failed to ensure that culprits get the punishment they deserve when arrested All concerned should pay heed to the matter going from bad to worse MUMRAIZ KHAN KARACHI

Street lights

T h e R e are no street lights on Sir Shah Muhammad Suleman

Babu Sabu Interchange

The

In BrItaIn and IndIa , we must resIst the tragIc thInkIng that pIts hIndus agaInst muslIms

Guardian C h e ta n B h at t

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e terrible events in Leicester last month saw several hundred young people marching to Green Lane Road on 17 September chanting “Jai Shri Ram” (“Glory to Lord Rama”) Other youths, in response, gathered to chant “Allahu Akbar Both expressed heady allegiance to their god not as a simple demonstration of faith, but as a combative slogan against others Several British politicians have in tervened as have the governments of India and Pakistan Social media “influencers” descended on Leicester to video themselves and their “patrols” and further provoke young people With a few important exceptions most of those intervening chose to enlarge, rather than contest, a dangerous logic of communalism It is in their political interests to keep communities pitted against each other “Communalism” is a term that will be familiar to those who follow the politics of south Asia Perhaps less so to others: it refers to a negative discriminatory or hate driven orientation to people of other faiths, and a superiority regarding one’s faith Once upon a time, in post independence India it was a filthy word To be ac cused of communalism was to be considered to be some thing like a racist or fascist, someone who harboured hatred and wanted to generate antagonism towards other religious or caste groups

But the south Asian tradition of militant anti commu nalism has been ruthlessly banished in India by the hindu supremacist authoritarianism of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and its supreme leader, Narendra Modi, both owing their allegiance to a massive fascism inspired, paramilitary organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak

Sangh (RSS) Their ideology is hindutva, an early 20th century blood and soil concoction that mimicked other ferocious ethno nationalisms It now dominates India

hindutva forces cannot tolerate the presence of Mus lims, Christians, Dalits, protesting farmers, secularists and liberals in India The Indian people attacked by hin dutva politicians and armed groups proliferate daily and are routinely vilified as “anti national” enemies and “ter rorists by a largely complaint Indian media Other vio lent hindutva movements have emerged with force and these are not necessarily or always linked to the RSS family The aim of the hindutva groups is to remove the Muslim (and Christian) presence from the Indian civil and public sphere It is now common to hear about the early warning signs of potential mass atrocities when India is being discussed by human rights folks

The RSS, the BJP and their affiliates have placed strong emphasis on working in the Indian diaspora, espe cially the UK the United States and Canada In Britain for example, the RSS’s Indian organisational structure and its main affiliates are reproduced as religious, women s, stu dent and other wings that work alongside its regular train ing branches for children and young people Among more recent migrants, including those who have arrived directly from Modi s India other hindu right affiliations have re portedly emerged Similar dynamics are found in the in ternational organisation of the Jamaat e Islami from Bangladesh and Pakistan the Muslim Brotherhood from egypt and other sectarian political religious movements These organisations have worked doggedly in UK south Asian communities over many decades and the growth of deep communalism is the outcome, one actively energised by local authority, national government and political party support for these groups and their charitable offshoots

But if we are to talk about Leicester, we would do well to start the conversation further back The east African Gujarati community in Leicester arriving mainly from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s, faced

an extraordinary level of hostility in the UK The neo Nazi National Front was then a very visible mass street movement Racist violence on the streets, parks, shops, workplaces was a routine experience, as was official in difference to that violence

The hostility faced by the east African Asian com munities (among other minorities) was met by a fight back Youth groups organised against racist violence In some of the factories in Leicester and neighbouring Loughborough, Asian workers downed tools in the face of discrimination and enduring hostility And a commu nity was forged, its distinctive character not, at that time, defined by religious belonging but an ordinary, folk Gu jarati ness one transformed by the experience of living in east Africa This was not the rabid “Gujarat Pride” in culcated by Narendra Modi over the past two decades, but the sharing of lived cultures of east African Asians whatever their religious affiliation

From the 1990s onwards, this began to change, those communities becoming defined first by religious affilia tion and then increasingly by political religion Two major international events in 1989 90 signalled the start of that process: the charge of blasphemy against Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses, and the hindutva mass movement initiated by the BJP and RSS to destroy the 16th century Babri Masjid in Ayodhya northern India That movement was to succeed, its vic tory cry being “Jai Shri Ram!”

The hindutva groups in the UK have tried to dis

tance themselves from the Leicester violence, blaming it on “Muslims” As with the tedious view of the Indian RSS when faced with repeated evidence of its atrocities, they say that hindu protests, however provocative or vi olent are always peaceful and hindus are eternally in nocent Locally, some of the established Gujarati communities have blamed recent arrivals from India Sympathisers of Islamism have blamed the “hindu right” They are each following a communal script that is engraved on their political souls

Communal narratives are easy but they are danger ous because of the future consequences for south Asian communities across the UK South Asians in Britain will be living with each other and with others not for the next few years, but for generations to come The situa tion in India is likely to get even more deadly than it al ready is whether or not the BJP win the general election in two years’ time What will be the impact here after the next atrocity in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh? There are other possibilities perhaps wildly utopian but they can be glimpsed now and then in community meetings in Leicester, in the protests organised by south Asian women who refuse to let political religion divide them and in the actions of many in the community who oppose ruthlessly the logic of communalism in their everyday interactions

the cIa thought putin would quickly conquer ukraine. why did they get it so wrong?

The CIA “got it completely wrong,” said one former senior U S intelligence official, who is knowledgeable about what the CIA was reporting when the Russian inva sion began “They thought Russia would win right away ”

When it became clear that the agency s predictions of a rapid Russian victory had been wrong, the Biden admin istration sent the clandestine assets that had been pulled out of Ukraine back into the country, the military and intelli gence officials said One U S official insisted that the CIA only conducted a partial withdrawal of its assets when the war began, and that the agency never completely left

the U S backed government in Afghanistan would col lapse in 2021, leading to a rapid takeover by the Taliban

Some senior U S intelligence officials have since admitted they were wrong in projecting a quick Russian victory In March, Avril haines, the director of national intelligence, acknowledged during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that the CIA didn’t do well “in terms of predicting the military challenges that [Putin] has en countered with his own military ”

V

ee R since Ukraine launched a successful coun teroffensive against Russian forces in late Au gust, American officials have tried to claim credit, insisting that U S intelligence has been key to Ukraine’s battlefield victories

Yet U S officials have simultaneously downplayed their intelligence failures in Ukraine especially their glaring mistakes at the outset of the war When Putin in vaded in February, U S intelligence officials told the White house that Russia would win in a matter of days by quickly overwhelming the Ukrainian army according to current and former U S intelligence officials, who asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information

The Central Intelligence Agency was so pessimistic about Ukraine’s chances that officials told President Joe Biden and other policymakers that the best they could expect was that the remnants of Ukraine s defeated forces would mount an insurgency, a guerrilla war against the Russian occupiers By the time of the Febru ary invasion the CIA was already planning how to pro vide covert support for a Ukrainian insurgency following a Russian military victory, the officials said

U S intelligence reports at the time predicted that Kyiv would fall quickly, perhaps in a week or two at the most The predictions spurred the Biden administration to secretly withdraw some key U S intelligence assets from Ukraine, including covert former special operations personnel on contract with the CIA, the current and for mer officials said Their account was backed up by a Naval officer and a former Navy SeAL, who were aware of the movements and who also asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly

Yet clandestine American operations inside Ukraine are now far more extensive than they were early in the war, when U S intelligence officials were fearful that Russia would steamroll over the Ukrainian army There is a much larger presence of both CIA and U S special operations personnel and resources in Ukraine than there were at the time of the Russian invasion in February several current and former intelligence officials told The Intercept Secret U S operations inside Ukraine are being con ducted under a presidential covert action finding current and former officials said The finding indicates that the pres ident has quietly notified certain congressional leaders about the administration’s decision to conduct a broad program of clandestine operations inside the country One former special forces officer said that Biden amended a preexisting finding originally approved during the Obama administra tion, that was designed to counter malign foreign influence activities A former CIA officer told The Intercept that Biden s use of the preexisting finding has frustrated some intelligence officials, who believe that U S involvement in the Ukraine conflict differs so much from the spirit of the finding that it should merit a new one A CIA spokesperson declined to comment about whether there is a presidential covert action finding for operations in Ukraine

The U S intelligence community s stunning failure at the beginning of the war to recognize the fundamental weaknesses in the Russian system mirrors its blindness to the military and economic weaknesses of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when Washington failed to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 While not all U S intelligence an alysts underestimated the Ukrainian will to fight, the community’s missteps in Ukraine came just months after American intelligence gravely underestimated how fast

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army Lt Gen Scott Berrier, said at the same March hearing that “my view was that based on a variety of factors, that the Ukrainians were not as ready as I thought they should be, therefore I questioned their will to fight, [and] that was a bad assessment on my part ”

“I think assessing morale, and a will to fight is a very difficult analytical task, he added We had different inputs from different organizations And at least from my perspec tive as director, I did not do as well as I could have ”

Yet these admissions mask a more fundamental fail ure that officials have not fully acknowledged: U S in telligence did not recognize the significance of rampant corruption and incompetence in the Putin regime, par ticularly in both the Russian army and Moscow’s defense industries, the current and former intelligence officials said U S intelligence missed the impact of corrupt in sider dealing and deceit among Putin loyalists in Moscow’s defense establishment, which has left the Russian army a brittle and hollow shell There was no reporting on the corruption in the Russian system said the former senior intelligence official “They missed it, and ignored any evidence of it ” Following a string of Russian defeats even prominent Russian analysts have begun to openly blame the corruption and deceit that plagues the Russian system On Russian television last weekend Andrey Gurulyov the former deputy com mander of Russia’s southern military district and now a member of the Russian Duma, blamed his country’s losses on a system of lies top to bottom

Additionally, Putin imposed an invasion plan on the Russian military that was impossible to achieve, one cur rent U S official argued You can t really separate out the issue of Russian military competency from the fact that they were shackled to an impossible plan, which led to poor military preparation the official said

After Russia’s defeat in Lyman, in eastern Ukraine, last weekend retired Army Lt Gen Ben hodges who commanded U S Army forces in europe from 2014 until 2018, also admitted that he had “overestimated Russia’s capabilities before it invaded Ukraine because he “failed to realize the depth of corruption” in the Russian Ministry of Defense The inability of the U S intelli gence community to recognize the significance of Russ ian corruption appears to be the result of an over reliance on technical intelligence Before the war, high tech satel lites and surveillance systems allowed the U S to track the deployment of Russian troops, tanks, and planes, and to eavesdrop on Russian military officials, enabling U S intelligence to accurately predict the timing of the inva sion But it would have needed more human spies inside Russia to see that the Russian army and defense indus tries were deeply corrupt

Since the war began, a long list of weaknesses in the Russian military and its defense industries have been ex posed symbolized by the so called jack in the box flaw in Russian tanks Ukrainian forces quickly learned that one well placed shot could blow off a Russian tank tur ret sending it sky high and killing the entire crew It be came clear that Russian tanks had been designed and built cheaply with ammunition stored openly in a ring inside the turret that can explode when the turret is hit and that crew safety had not been prioritized In July, Adm Tony Radakin, Britain’s military chief, said that Russia had lost almost 1,700 tanks in Ukraine

Weak leadership, poor training, and low morale have led to huge casualties among Russian rank and file sol diers In August, the Pentagon estimated that 70,000 to 80,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine Ukraine has also suffered huge casualties, but Russian front line strength has been badly weakened

Meanwhile, one of the biggest mysteries for U S an alysts has been Russia’s failure to gain control of Ukraine s skies, despite having a far larger air force Air craft design flaws poor pilot training and gaps in air craft maintenance have left Russian aircraft vulnerable to Ukraine s air defenses, which have been bolstered with Stinger missiles and other Western air defense sys tems

The failure of U S intelligence to see the dysfunc tion in the Russian army and defense industries means that it also didn’t foresee Russia’s ongoing battlefield de feats, which are now having a profound political and so cial impact on both Putin and Russia Putin has ordered a partial mobilization to replace heavy battlefield losses sparking large scale protests At least 200,000 people have already fled Russia, including thousands of young men seeking to avoid conscription

intercept

J a m e s R s e n a n d K e n K l i p p e n s t e n

S E C R E T U S O P E R AT I O N S I N S I D E U K R A I N E A R E B E I N G CO N D U C T E D U N D E R A P R E S I D E N T I A L COV E RT AC T I O N F I N D I N G

Chetan Bhatt is professor of sociology at the London School of Economics

T H E R E C E N T D I S O R D E R I N L E I C E S T E R E C H O E S T H E ‘CO M MU N A L I S T ’ P O L I T I C S

T H AT N OW D O M I N AT E S I N D I A

T H A N K S TO T H E RU L I N G B J P

Jaz z par tners with OPay to become first mobile operator to launch e-pins on POS Machines

Jazz, Pakistan’s largest digital operator and the largest in ternet and broadband service provider, has partnered with OPay a fast growing mobile payment Fintech company to offer e pin facility on point of sale (POS) machines through e pins Jazz is the first local digital operator to pro vide an e pin service in addition to scratch cards offering customers a contemprorary approach to top up their mobile credit Deploying Jazz e pins on OPay s current active footprint of 10 000 POSM enables consumers with

BOP

lahore

s ta f f r e p o r t

THE recent devastating rains and flash floods have inun dated vast areas across Pak istan The Bank of Punjab (BOP) a market leader in Corporate Social Responsibility, has once again been at the forefront of car rying out flood relief activities as it solemnly believes that it’s mandatory upon each and every citizen of the country to be actively involved in the rebuilding and rehabilitation of our flood affected brothers and sisters The bank recently launched its employee volunteering program called BOP Madadgar which has been designed to give our employees an opportunity to participate in uplifting society and doing good for the public at large BOP under the flag of BOP Madadgar, is constructing permanent

kICkS OFF

SHELTERS

FOR FLOOD AFFECTEES In ROJHAn

basic shelters using eco friendly build ing materials in the flood affected areas These shelters are durable and have inherent climate resilient proper ties, enabling them to withstand flood ing Additionally these shelters are extremely low cost, easy to construct, and with virtually zero carbon foot print The houses have the flexibility of being disassembled and moved for making permanent construction BOP raised over Rs 3 billion in various flood relief funds which is probably the highest amount any bank collected from general public

On 11th October 2022, Mr Zafar Masud (President & CEO BOP) along with senior members of the man agement visited the camp site of BOP Madadgar ’s maiden flood relief activities in the Rojhan city The Pres ident oversaw the construction activi ties being done for the flood affectees He met the BOPMadadgar team along

with artisans involved in the construc tion work He also met the flood af fected families which have shifted to the shelters provided by the bank

The local administration has iden tified 25 families who are being pro vided shelter homes through the BOPMadadgar Program The staff vol unteers from D G Khan and Multan after being provided with necessary training by artisans from Heritage

S han Foods, The C itizens Foundation join hands to provide quality educ ation

Foundation are constructing the shelters in Rojhan The bank is also supporting the construction of zero carbon shelters in Pono village of Mirpurkhas, Sindh for which the work was started before the flooding The houses built with the support of BOP withstood the floods and provided shelters to people who lost their homes Due to the efforts of the bank, the local villagers now refer to their village as BOP Pono village

Standard

for

As a signatory of the UN Global Compact, Shan Foods has been working relentlessly to fulfill United Nation's outlined sustain able development goals (SDGs) Focusing on the SDG of Quality Education Shan Foods previously supported a class of 25 children studying at a TCF school to receive free education for a full year

Strengthening its role further in its mission to empower the im poverished segment of the society Shan Foods will now be sponsor

ing an entire TCF school to fulfill the students’ educational needs Maria Rashdi, Head of Corporate Communications & PR at Shan Foods, sharing her thoughts at the MoU signing ceremony, said, “Shan Foods has always been committed to work for the better ment and growth of the society Education, being one of the main pillars of a progressive society, has been a focus area that we have been working for We h o p e t h a t t h r o u g h a l l o f o u r

c o l l e c t i v e e ff o r t s , w e c a n e n s u r e a c c e s s t o q u a l i t y e d u c a t i o n t o e v e r y c h i l d i n t h e c o u n t r y a n d a c h i e v e t h e d r e a m o f a p r o s p e r

o u s P a k i s t a n ” L a u d i n g S h a n F o o d s i n i t i a t i v e , I s f a n d y a r I n a y a t , G e n e r a l M a n a g e r S t r a t e g i c P a r t n e r s h i p s a n d C o m m u n i t y Outreach at The Citizens Founda t i o n , s a i d , “ Q u a l i t y E d u c a t i o n i s a n u n d e n i a b l e r i g h t o f e v e r y c i t i z e n , a n d i t i s o u r g o a l t o f u l f i l l t h i s r i g h t o f o u r p e o p l e f o r a n e m p o w e r e d n a t i o n

President Pakistan Medical Commission Prof Dr Noshad Ahmad Shaikh visited Sha heed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University During his visit Vice Chancellor SZABU Dr Tanvir Khaliq, Farmanullah, Mosa Khan followed by Member Examination PMC Brdgr(Rtd) Nasir were also present President PMC also dis cussed the arrangements of MDCAT which is going to be conducted on 13th of November President PMC also shared that SZAMBU will take MDCAT exam of international centers fol lowed by centers in AJK Muzaffarabad and Gilgit under the supervision of PMC President also discussed the steps of holding the examina tion President PMC stated that the exams will be held under the supervision of PMC Presi dent also observed the postgraduate programs of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University

THI organises hear t healthy cycling ride

Belonging to one of the most respected military families of Pakistan he brings with himself over 40 years of experience, most of it in important position in the mil itary and as Chairman on the Board of Di rectors of various companies of Wah Nobel Group, Pakistan Ordinance Factory, National Disaster Management Authority ERRA and Pakistan Humanitarian Forum Being a logistician by profession he is a humanitarian at heart He also served as Chief of Staff in the Special Support

Group for IDPs, overseeing the manage ment of close to 4 million IDPs from Swat and SWA

Working as the head of Pakistan largest public sector enterprise (Pakistan Ordinance Factories) he was able to sig nificantly enhance organizational per formance by doubling commercial sales and exports He is currently also the Chairman Board of Trustees of Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (a collection of 40 International NGOs)

The Tabba Heart Institute (THI) organised a heart healthy cycling ride on Sunday The tour was being led by Dr Bashir Hanif, the executive medical director of Tabba heart in stitute 11 groups from Karachi took part in the cycling tour and more than 150 partici pants were part of the tour The cyclists gath ered at Tabba Heart Institute's Medical Centre in DHA Phase 2 where they were briefed about the services offered and got a short facility tour The purpose of the healthy heart cycling tour is to spread awareness about heart diseases and their prevention on the occasion of World heart day

Emirates appoints new Regional Manager in Pakistan

Emirates has appointed Salem Al Mana as the new Regional Manager for Pakistan,

Save The Children

HBL Prestige footprint expands in ternationally with its lounge in Jumeirah branch, Dubai, UAE The inauguration of the HBL Jumeirah Prestige Lounge was performed by Sultan Ali Allana, Chairman HBL Shaffiq Dharamshi, member of the Board of Directors HBL, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL, valued clients, dig nitaries, and senior leaders of the Bank were also present on the occa sion

HBL has a long standing com mitment to the UAE market and in 1966, was one of the first foreign banks to open a branch in the UAE Since then HBL has provided a wide range of personal and corporate banking products and services to clients through its branches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Shar jah

HBL Prestige provides a world class banking experience to high net worth individuals

After

makes

both, locally and internation ally Commenting on the occasion, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO HBL, said, “We are delighted to bring the HBL Prestige proposition to UAE and inaugurate our first state of the art international HBL Prestige Lounge As part of our continued commitment to our clients in UAE we are confident that they will now experience a dedicated world class service

driving growth Wahid Albalooshi, who was previ ously Regional Manager Pakistan, will be

District Manager Riyadh

Salem s appointment Mohammed Alnahari Alhashmi, Emirates’ Vice President Pakistan said: “I

pleased to welcome Salem to the team in Pakistan which is one of the most important markets for

in the region We look forward to benefiting from his broad experi ence, which will help

and

drive growth of

network

through

Mr

new chairman

RuSSia fiRES miSSilE Salvo on ukRainE bEfoRE G7 mEEtinG

KyIv, UKRAINe Ag e n c i e s

The Kremlin said Tuesday it expects more “confrontation” with the West, ahead of an emergency G7 meeting to discuss the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine

on the second day of missile salvos across Ukraine

R

U S S I A said on Tuesday it launched “mass” strikes on Ukraine hours ahead of a G7 meet ing expected to condemn an earlier missile blitz that Kyiv’s allies said was a mark of Moscow s desperation O ff i c i a l s i n U k r a i n e ’s w e s t e r n r e g i o n of Lviv said at least three Russian missiles t a rg e t e d e n e rg y i n f r a s t r u c t u r e a n d t h e mayor of the region’s main city, also called Lviv, said about one third of the city was without power Russia s defence ministry confirmed the attacks saying it had carried o u t m a s s i v e s

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signed targets were hit”

The G7 meeting comes a day after Russ ian missiles rocked the Ukrainian capital for the first time in months President Volodymyr Zelensky was defiant, warning

Why English audiences have toughest time with Shakespeare

PARIS A F P

All the world’s a stage but the irony is the rest of the globe often has an easier time understanding William Shakespeare than English speakers Thanks to fre quently updated translations that dispense with the ar chaic Renaissance language foreign audiences often find the Bard easier to follow Take “King Lear”, a new version of which opened at the Comedie Fran caise in Paris last week In the original opening scene, the Earl of Kent reacts to being exiled by saying: “Sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and ban ishment is here The new French version translates as, “Since this is how you want to appear, freedom is else where and exile is here” a much simpler sentence to modern ears Olivier Cadiot, who wrote the new trans lation, said his job was “like removing the varnish from a portrait to create something a bit more fresh not something vulgar and modern, but to strip it back a little to render it more alive ” Mostly he aims for “fluidity and precision”, he told AFP, but he could not resist the occasional moment of playfulness, such as translating the famous phrase “every inch a king” into the very current sounding “total royale” ‘ T h e d a n g e r i s r e a l’: In English, many would consider such toying with the Bard sacrile gious There were howls of protest when the Oregon Shakespeare Company set out to translate his works into contemporary English in 2015 (“The danger to Shakespeare is real,” thundered one petition) But that leaves many average theatre goers unable to comprehend the world’s most performed playwright “English audiences are at a disadvantage because the language has evolved and is more and more distant They need footnotes props and staging to under stand,” said Alexa Alice Joubin, a Shakespeare scholar at George Washington University Indeed, a study by the British Council and YouGov in 2016 found that Shakespeare was considered more relevant in many non English speaking countries than back home Overall 36 percent of British respondents said they did not understand Shakespeare compared to 25 percent elsewhere

‘ d y i n g o n T h e v i n e ’: This matters because the difficult language can obscure the important and relevant debates in his work on issues such as race, social hierarchies and the legitimacy of rulers said Ruben Espinosa, a Bard expert at Arizona State Uni versity “There’s a lot of cultural relevance,” he said But the language is so complicated that a lot of the time that is lost on people “If we want to treat him as sacrosanct and leave him untouched, it’s going to be a body of work that s dying on the vine Other coun tries don’t have this problem In Germany and France, famous versions by Goethe and Victor Hugo’s son, Francois Victor are still used but modernised transla tions appear regularly

cities

“The mood ahead of the summit is well understood, it is easily predictable The con frontation will continue Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Russia will “achieve its set goals in Ukraine

Peskov also criticised Washington’s pledge to provide Ukraine with “advanced air defence systems

“ D e f a c to

“The Russians fired missiles at energy infrastructure in the Pavlograd and Kamian districts There is serious destruction Many settlements still do not have electricity,” the regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said on social media

The Ukrainian military’s southern com mand said Russian forces had fired missiles at the southern Mykolaiv and Odessa re gions, also causing damage to energy infra structure

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“During a massive attack in the first half of the day, the enemy launched 16 cruise missiles on south Ukraine It has also dis patched two kamikaze drones against sites of critical infrastructure,” the military said, according to the Interfax news agency

“Following drone and missiles attacks, two such sites were damaged” in the south west, in Vinnytsia region, and two workers were injured”, it added

President Biden re - evaluating US relationship with S audis af ter O pec decision: official

WASHINGTON DC Ag e n c i e s

President Joe Biden is re evaluating the US relationship with Saudi Arabia after Opec+ announced last week that it would cut oil production, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday

“I think the president’s been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to re evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit,” Kirby said in an interview with CNN And cer tainly in light of the Opec decision, I think that’s where he is ”

Biden is willing to work with Con gress on the future of Saudi relations, Kirby added Bob Menendez the Democratic chairman of the US Senate Foreign Re

lations Committee, on Monday, called for a freeze on cooperating with Saudi Arabia including on most arms sales ac cusing the kingdom of helping to under write the Russian war in Ukraine after Opec+ announced last week that it would cut oil production

Biden was disappointed in the Opec+ decision Kirby said and he s willing to work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward

“And I think he’s going to be willing to start to have those conversations right away I don t think this is anything that s going to have to wait or should wait, quite frankly, for much longer,” Kirby added

The issue does not only concern the war in Ukraine but it is a matter of US national security interests, Kirby added

California governor ’s wife amongst accusers at Weinstein sex crimes trial

WASHINGTON T h e A s s o c i AT e d P r e s s

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor who is married to California Gov Gavin Newsom is among the accusers of Harvey Weinstein who will testify at his rape and sexual assault trial that began Monday her attorney said

“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap Newsom s attor ney Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement

“She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women ”

Weinstein, the 70 year old former movie mogul who is serving a 23 year prison sentence after a convic tion in New York, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving Newsom and four other women All of them will testify as Jane Doe dur ing the eight week trial in a Los Angeles court, where jury selection began Monday

The Associated Press does not normally name peo ple who say they’ve been sexually abused, but Newsom agreed to be named through her attorney

The news of her involvement was first reported by The Los Angeles Times

Newsom, 48, appeared in small roles in dozens of films and television shows between 2002 and 2011 Re cently she has directed documentaries including “The

Great American Lie” in 2020 and “Fair Play” from this year Both deal with gender in society

She wrote about her experience with Weinstein in a 2017 essay in the Huffington Post after the New York Times and New Yorker stories made him a magnet of the #MeToo movement but gave few details

Weinstein, who is being held in a Los Angeles County jail, was brought Monday into court in a wheel chair through a side door and climbed from it carefully into a seat next to one of his lawyers at the defense table

He was wearing a blue suit which he is allowed to change into from his jail attire during the trial

He stood with the rest of the room as the first panel of 67 prospective jurors were brought in but sat down about halfway through the process He waved at them from his seat when his lawyers introduced them

The jurors were given a lengthy questionnaire in tended to screen out those who need to be dismissed

Both the questions and answers on the forms are private but previous hearings on its contents revealed that it contains questions on how much media coverage of Weinstein they have seen, and whether they have formed opinions from it, though the judge rejected questions on specific stories and media outlets

The prosecution will be allowed to introduce as ev idence parts of Weinstein s New York conviction for rape and sexual assault

The questionnaire also includes a question about a California law that says the testimony alone of a sexual

assault victim can be sufficient evidence to convict if a juror believes them

The jurors were also given a long list of names of witnesses in the coming trial, including those of the ac cusers to determine whether they have any connection to them The initial witness list in the case had more than 270 names, though fewer than half that are ex pected Most of the prospective witness list has not been made public

One witness, Barbara Schneeweiss, a producer on “Project Runway” and other television shows, was pres ent in court early Monday and was told by a judge she was on call to come in at any time

Two more panels of up to 75 jurors will be brought in Tuesday and Wednesday Questioning of individual jurors is not expected to begin until next week, and opening statements may not begin for two weeks

The trial comes five years after women s stories about Weinstein made the #MeToo movement explode Weinstein is charged with four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts

Most of the incidents in his indictment, like New som’s, happened under the guise of business meetings at luxury hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, which Weinstein used as his California headquarters and where he could be seen during awards season and throughout the year Four of them occurred during Os cars week 2013, when Weinstein releases “Silver Lin ings Playbook” and “Django Unchained” would win Academy Awards

Ahead of Erdogan-Putin meeting, Turkey c alls for Russia, Ukraine truce

ISTANBUL Ag e n c i e s

Turkey on Tuesday called for a ceasefire in Ukraine just days ahead of a likely meeting between the leaders of Turkey and Russia in the Kazakh capital Astana

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo gan, who won plaudits for securing a grain deal as well as Russia Ukraine prisoner swap has long sought to bring together Kyiv and Moscow for truce talks that neither side particularly wants

NATO member Turkey which has stayed neutral throughout the conflict in

Ukraine, has good relations with its two Black Sea neighbours Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Ukraine Unfortunately (both sides) have quickly moved away from diplo macy” since the talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul in March Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview

As the Ukraine Russian war drags on unfortunately, the situation gets worse and more complicated,” added the Turkish diplo mat who called for an immediate ceasefire

“A ceasefire must be established as soon as possible The sooner the better,” he said ‘ v i a b l e c e a s e f i r e ’: Erdogan who

has a good working relationship with Putin despite disagreements on several issues in cluding in Syria is likely to meet with the Russian leader in Astana on Thursday, a Turkish official told AFP speaking on con dition of anonymity

Turkey has refrained from joining West ern sanctions against Russia Erdogan who met Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan last month, is keen to boost trade with Moscow as he tries to stabilise the battered Turkish economy in the run up to elections next June

Ankara has bowed to pressure from the United States and confirmed the last three

Turkish banks still processing Russian bank card payments were pulling the plug

The decision followed weeks of increas ingly blunt warnings from Washington for Turkey to either limit economic ties with Russia or face the threat of sanctions itself

Erdogan has not yet commented on mass Russian strikes across Ukraine on Monday, which Ukrainian emergency services said killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100

Cavusoglu held a telephone call with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba after the attacks, a Turkish diplomatic source said, without elaborating further

During the interview on Tuesday, Cavu soglu called for a “just peace” based on Ukraine s territorial integrity

“There must be a just peace for Ukraine Where is the war going on? It’s going on on Ukrainian soil he said

“A process that will ensure Ukraine’s border and territorial integrity should start Without a ceasefire it is not possible to talk about those issues in a healthy way: a viable ceasefire and a just peace ”

Turkey has rejected Russia s annexation of four Ukrainian provinces as a “grave vio lation” of international law and called for ne gotiations to end the conflict

his country “cannot be intimidated” Moscow’s forces rained down more than 80

day, according to Kyiv Moscow says ahead of G7 meeting it ex pects more confrontation with West

W o m e n

s A s i A C U P : o m A i m A s o h A i l ’ s f i v e - W i C k et h A U l l e A d s PA k i s tA n t o b e At s r i l A n k A

oF F S P I N N E R Omaima Sohail s maiden five wicket haul led Pakistan to a five wicket win over Sri Lanka in the 21st match of the Women s Asia Cup at the Sylhet Interna tional Cricket Stadium, Bangladesh on Tues day afternoon

It was Pakistan women s fifth victory out of six out ings in the tournament, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement

Wi t h t h e w i n P a k i s t a n f i n i s h e d s e c o n d o n t h e points table with 10 points The team will now take on Sri Lanka in the second semi final on Thursday, Octo

ber 13 Earlier today, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first However, they were countered by right arm off spinner Sohail, who managed a breakthrough and took Nilakshi de Silva s wicket in the first over, the PCB added

I n h e r n e x t t w o o v e r s , S o h a i l b a g g e d f o u r m o r e wickets two in every over

Meanwhile, spin twin Nida Dar and Tuba Hasan shared three wickets, after which Sri Lanka were dis missed for 112 in the 19th over For Sri Lanka, their captain Chamari Athapaththu top scored with a 26 ball 41, which included nine fours

W h e n P a k i s t a n c a

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rafiq, Gale among five cricketers reprimanded for social media posts

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S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan’s batting coach Mohammad Yousuf has ruled out changing the na tional side’s opening pair skipper Babar Azam and wicket keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan ahead of the T20 World Cup “For the last two years, the pair have been playing at the top No talk has taken place about it, and with the World Cup ahead, there shouldn’t be any change,” Yousuf said during a post match media talk after New Zealand handed a nine wicket defeat to Pakistan

It s risky to take such a chance Rizwan was the Player of the Match in the first match, after which Babar won the award, Yousuf said Rizwan and Babar have scored more 2,000 runs in partnership since they started opening the batting together

B u t d e s p i t e t h e o p e n i n g p a i r b e i n g

i n t o p f o r m , t h e G r e e n S h i r t s ’ m i d d l e o r d e r d o e s n o t l o o k g r e a t a n d i s u n d e r s e v e r e c r i t i c i s m a f t e r t h e y l o s t a h o m e s e r i e s a g a i n s t E n g l a n d

Against the backdrop of the failing m i d d l e o r d e r, t h e r e h a v e b e e n c a l l s t o p u s h B a b a r o r R i z w a n d o w n H o w e v e r, t h e c o a c h s a i d t h e r e w e r e n o p l a n s t o d o s o “ T h e m a n a g e m e n t t h i n k s t h a t t h e w a y t h e t w o a r e p l a y i n g , c h a n g e s s h o u l d n ’t b e m a d e e s p e c i a l l y w i t h t h e Wo r l d C u p a h e a d , ” h e a d d e d

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Afridi to join national squad for T20 World Cup in Brisbane

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will join the na tional squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2022 in Brisbane as per schedule on Saturday (October 15), after undergoing his rehabilitation programme under the supervision of the PCB Medical Advisory Committee Shaheen is now available for selection for October 17 and 19 warm up matches against England and Afghanistan, respectively during which his match fitness will be assessed by the team management said a press release

Shaheen Shah Afridi: “I am super excited at the prospect of rejoining the national side for the T20 World Cup and playing my part in the campaign It has been a difficult period for me to be away from the game and the team I love the most, and not be part of some gruelling and exciting matches I have been bowling six to eight overs trouble free for the past 10 days with full run up and pace While I have enjoyed bowling and batting in the nets nothing can replace the feel of match environ ment and I can’t wait to be in that setting

“It has been a rigorous and challenging rehabilitation

programme but I have thoroughly enjoyed it To be hon est, I am feeling fitter than ever before and can’t wait to wear the playing kit

I want to thank the PCB Medical Advisory Commit tee as well as the Crystal Palace F C for allowing me to use their outstanding facilities and looking after me so well during the rehabilitation programme

Meanwhile, opener Fakhar Zaman, who is one of the three traveling reserves for the T20 World Cup, will also travel to Brisbane with Shaheen and National High Per formance Centre coach Umar Rashid Fakhar will com plete his rehabilitation under the supervision of PCB’s Chief Medical Officer and team doctor Dr Najeebullah Soomro, following which decision on his participation, if required, will be made

The PCB Medical Advisory Committee includes Lon don based Dr Imtiaz Ahmad (Head of Medical Services at the Queens Park Rangers Football Club & Co chair FA Medical Society) and Dr Zafar Iqbal (Consultant Sports & Exercise Medicine at the Crystal Palace Football Club & Co chair FA Medical Society and has previously worked with Tottenham Hotspur FC Liverpool FC and Kent County Cricket Club)

Pakistan U19 team to play international series at home after 15 years

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan U19 team is all set to play its first international series on their own soil in 15 years As per reports, Bangladesh will tour the country The expected dates of the tour are still not announced officially but it is quite under stood that the tour will take place next month

The Bangladesh U19 squad will be travelling to Pakistan to play one four day match and five lim ited over matches, all of which will take place in Faisalabad A final announcement regarding the tour is likely to be made later this week When Bangladesh s young cricketers visited Pakistan in 2007 it was the last time Karachi had hosted an official youth series Ahmed Shahzad, Shan Ma sood, Umar Amin, Imad Wasim, and Umar Akmal played for Pakistan in that series Bangladesh had names like Tamim Iqbal, Rubel Hossain, Dolar Mohammad and Mohammad Mithun Afghanistan’s U19 squad travelled to Pakistan in 2014, although the games were not recognized as youth ODIs Rashid Khan, Hazrat ullah Zazai Naveen ul Haq and Karim Jannat were those from Afghanistan’s side who went on to represent their country S ta f f R e p o R t

A l l e n p owe r s New Ze a l a n d to T 2 0 v i c to r y ove r Pa ki s t a n

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After Allen was stumped by Mohammad Rizwan, Black Caps captain

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