Epaper_22-10-15 ISB

Civil , miltary huddle deCides to fast traCk Counter-terrorism measures

ISLAMABAD

M i a n a b r a r

tHe civi and mil tar y leadership of the countr y on friday decided to form a federa level apex committee headed by the prime min ster and to reactivate the nat onal counter terror ism authority (nacta) that would work together with the counter terrorism Departments (ctDs) at the provincial level to ensure ma ntenance of aw and order situation in across countr y the dec sions were taken at an extraordi nar y session of the national security commit tee (nsc) held here the meeting presided over by prime Minister Muhammad shehbaz sharif was also attended by federal ministers ser vices chiefs, heads of ntell gence agencies and senior offic als the meeting decided to again make functional the system at the federal and provincia levels for counter ng terrorism the counter terrorism system wou d be rev ewed and steps would be ident fied so that the sys

tem could be made more effective, the nsc dec ded and added that this system would closely mon tor the situat on and bring im provement in the counter terrorism activities the nsc also approved effect ve steps to make the secur ty of projects of ch na pakistan economic corridor (cpec) foolproof in that connection nacta would act as a coordina tor and the provinces would implement the counter terrorism plans it was decided n the meeting that the counter terrorism system would be equipped with modern technology with required upgra dat ons in this connection ava ability of re sources would be ensured and steps would also be taken for ramping up capabilities according to an official statement ssued by the pM s Media Wing the meeting re viewed the overall law and order situat on n the countr y and vowed to ensure the security of people s ives and property at ever y cost the official handout sa d that the partici pants of the meeting vowed to reassure that the blood of ever y pakistan was ver y precious

and the law would str ctly deal with ever y per son involved in shedding the blood of any cit izen of the countr y “ the participants of the meeting were briefed by the offic a s concerned on peace and security s tuat on in the countr y the par tic pants reiterated the pledge that the sacri fices of martyrs would not be allowed to go waste, says an official statement issued here fol owing the meet ng the statement added the meeting declared that the nation and the state nstitutions were united, and had the same voice for protecting the life and property of the c tizens, defence of the territo r a integrity of pak stan rule of const tution and law and for enforc ng the writ of the state the statement said the whole nation was united with the clarity of mind on the above objec tives whose achievement would be ensured at ever y cost, the nsc pledged the meeting reviewed the incidents that undermined the law and order n different parts of the countr y, inc uding swat, condoled with the affected fam lies and prayed for the departed souls our citizens rendered exemplar y sacri fices and played a historic role along with the brave forces in the war against terror sm ” the attendees appreciated the role of all law enforcement institutions including pakistan army, rangers and pol ce for estab ish ng law and order and for security and defence of the countr y, and also paid tr bute to the martyred off cers and jawans for the sacred cause the meeting was held in wake of massive protests held in swat, shangla and adjoining areas over the emergence of mil tant groups in Malakand agency and a sharp r se in the in cidents of violence, extortion and threats hur ed at cit zens al egedly by mi itant groups in an attack on a school van, the driver of the van was martyred while several ch ldren were injured the attack resulted into massive protests in across swat and ad oining areas

the participants saluted the fam lies of the martyred and acknowledged that the mar tyred wrote great tales of braver y and courage w th their sacrifices

Member of the national assemb y Mohs n Dawar and awami national party eader Mian ift khar Hussain also attended the meeting

Ta l k s w i t h T T P b o r e n o c o n c r e t e o u t c o m e s : K h A s i f

ISLAMABAD

Minister for Defence khawaja Muhammad asif on friday said the recent ta ks with the outlawed tehreek e ta iban pakistan (ttp) bore no concrete outcomes whereas the armed forces were fu ly capable to contain any threat to national security addressing the arab news pakistan annua conference 2022 as a keynote speaker, the Minister said the s tuat on n khyber pakhtunkhwa (kp) was under control and would be tackled am cably in case of any untoward situation khawaja asif made it clear that the kp government should take cognizance of the situat on whereas the federal government would support t in any case to counter terrorism it is ver y heartening to see public com ng to streets on their own for their r ghts i feel confident that the situation will be contro led However, the recent revival of few terrorists s an expected spi lover from afghanistan he said the Minister added that the success of relationsh p between pakistan and afghanistan was of great s gnificance as pakistan could not remain oblivious to what was happening in afghan stan “peace in pakistan is dependent on peace in afghanistan We w ll use peaceful means to resolve the matter and we wil use force if it s inevitab e to purge the countr y from the menace of terrorism ”

He ment oned that the defence forces of pak stan were fu ly equipped and the most battle hardened anywhere n the wor d “ the frontline forces for the last three decades are f ghting against extremism our exper ences and sacrifices are unmatchab e ” the Defence Minister also shed light on the role of media in national security ens and sa d the importance of media for the national security was of huge significance in the present era the kingdom of saudi arabia (ksa) had undergone ver y fundamenta changes under the leadership of crown prince Muhammad B n sa man and media was p aying fundamental ro e in th s regard “any change in departure from traditional way of governance to modern era practices is something like a paradigm shift wh ch has occurred n the ksa

O N T I N U E D O N

I m r a n d u b s b y- p o l l s r e f e r e n d u m t o d e c i d e c o u n t r y ’ s f a t e

former prime min ster and pakistan tehreek e insaf (pti) chairman imran khan declared on fr day that

stor

always remember

who et the foreign conspiracy succeed and nstalled the

He

the

Will we remain slaves or see real

only

ferr ng to prime Minister shehbaz shar f imran said that during his tenure when a fore gn dign tar y arrived to meet him, the foreign office used to brief h m about the person When shehbaz goes for any meeting, ever yone knows he has b llions of dollars in fore gn banks he added

He said that the next generation of the current rulers was ready to take over Dign fied nations do not beg but she hbaz begs whenever he sees a white person he added lashing out at the prem ere for his body language wh e meeting russian president vladimir putin imran said that he was sitting like a schoo chi d before the headmaster

He said that shehbaz and his son were about to be punished but nstead, they were imposed upon the nat on talking about the per formance of h s government, the former premier sa d that the last two years of the pti govern ment were the best n the last 17 years as the countr y grew by 5 7% and 6% in terms of gDp growth

avirus pandemic

pakistan

be

programme

he questioned

He said that karachi is pakistan’s fi nancia capital if karachi prospers pakistan prospers

karachi is unwel , the entire countr y feels it it is the financial engine of pakistan he added imran said that during pti

mind,

only slaves behave the way

behaves,” imran said

y

“according to World Bank, pakistan prov ded the most jobs after the coron avirus pandemic al institutions of the world were accepting that pakistan was among the three countries which saved its economy and poor from the coron

tenure, despite the fact the party did not have government in the province it man aged to finish greenline Brt

ect and

a so addressed karach ’s long stand ng water prob em for the first time i see that nter or sindh is also ready for real freedom after i m done with [long] march my en tire focus will be on nter or sindh i will come to karachi as well My sindhi brothers be ready i w ll go to ever y dis tr ct We wi l free you from this beemari ca led Zardar he added imran said that sunday s by polls were not just elections but a referen dum the fate of the countr y is being decided these daco ts f rst loot the countr y and then make dea s When they re held accountable they flee abroad and seek nro,” he said

He sa d that since the current rulers have come into power inflation has reached record levels “ We have never seen such inflated rates of electricity and petrol When we eft, the price of petrol and diese was around rs150 per litre the sa aried class is the hardest hit the rupee has also deva ued by 30 per cent he added

KARACHI

g Meeting also approves effective steps to Make security of cpec projects foolproof

All set fOR By-POlls As cANDiDAtes AskeD tO eND electiONeeRiNG

respective constituencies after the deadline

tH E Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the candidates contesting by elections to eight National and three Provincial Assembly seats to end their election campaign until 12:00 am midnight Friday

According to ECP all the parties and their candidates had been directed to end their political campaign and public meetings from the midnight falling between Oct 14 and 15, 2022 While no candidate or party leader would address gatherings or corner meetings or take out processions in their

At least three killed, four injured in Mastung blast

StAff REpORt

The political parties and the candidates must follow the provision of law and exercise self restraint to enable polls could be held in peaceful manner on October 16, 2022 Legal action would be taken against those political leaders and parties on violating the rule

By elections are being held in 11 constituencies including six constituencies of Punjab, three of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two constituencies of Sindh on Sunday (tomorrow)

The constituencies included NA 22 Mardan III, NA 24 Charsadda II, NA 31 Peshawar V, NA 108 Faisalabad VIII, NA 118 Nankana Sahib II, NA 237 Malir II,

NA 239, Korangi, Karachi I NA 157 Multan IV Provincial Assembly constituencies included PP 139 Sheikhupura V, PP 209 Khanewal VII, and PP 241 Bahawalnagar V Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan is contesting by elections in seven out of eight constituencies of the National Assembly

The by polls in NA 45 Kurram I has been postponed due to law and order situation and polling date will be announced later The NA seats were vacated after speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had, on July 28, accepted the resignations of PTI MNAs nine on general seats and two on reserved seats for women

The lawmakers whose resignations were

ratified were part of more than 120 who had resigned from their NA seats en masse on April 11 two days after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from the top office in a no confidence vote

ARRANGEMENTS FINALIZED:

Preparations are underway for the by elections to be held on Sunday, while head to head competition is expected on eight National Assembly (NA) seats and three constituencies of Punjab

According to details Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is a candidate for seven national seats

In NA 157 Multan Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s daughter Mehar Bano Qureshi and Yousaf Raza Gillani’s son Ali Musa Gillani

are competing

Furthermore, NA 118 Nankana Sahib is expected to be a tight contest between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PML N candidate Dr Shezra Mansab Ali Khan, while Syed Afzal Hussain Shah of Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is also in the race

Meanwhile, preparations for the by elections in three constituencies of the National Assembly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have been completed

On the other hand in the city of Khanewal of South Punjab, the preparations of the constituency PP 209 by election are at peak Eight candidates are participating in the by polls, while tough contest is expected between the candidates of PTI and PML N

NEPRA fines Mepco Rs28m over gross negligence

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e p o R t

At least three people were killed and four injured during a blast in Mastung district of Balochistan on Friday Levies sources told The Express Tribune that a vehicle carrying a dead body was targeted via a landmine in Qabu area of Mastung Deputy Commissioner Mastung Sultan Bugti said that the vehicle of tribal leader Shah Nawaz Bangulzai was targeted in the attack He confirmed that three people were killed and four were injured in the attack, adding that the injured were rushed to Mastung hospital for medical treatment The tribal elder was carrying the dead body of a tube well operator, killed by unknown men in the Qabu area when he was targeted through a landmine

PkR registers meagre loss amid impor ters’ rush to buy dollar

StAff REpORt

Pakistan’s rupee once again registered a decline on Friday, depreciating 0 02% against the US dollar in the interbank market to cap off a volatile week for the currency that saw it breaking its 13 day long streak According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee closed at 218 43 after depreciating Rs0 05 against the greenback The drop in inflows following a decline in the foreign exchange reserves impacted the market sentiment and encouraged importers to buy dollars at the prevailing rate before it became expensive The excessive supply of dollars in the market helped the rupee to stage a 13 day long rally However the supply of foreign currency decelerated following a decline in remittances ad reserves Going forward, analysts expect the currency to remain range bound in the coming days and see momentum to sustain amid expected inflows from multilateral institutions Globally, US dollar remained steady against other currencies as investors wait for US inflation figures out later on Thursday The data is expected to reinforce bets that the Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively tighten policy

Weekly sPi inflation down slightly to 28.44pc

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e p o R t

The weekly inflation in Pakistan, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), slightly decreased by 0 57 percent for the period ended on October 13 compared to the previous week, ARY News reported on Friday, quoting Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has imposed a fine to the tune of Rs28 million on the Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) over gross negligence resulting in fatal accidents during the period from July 2020 to December 2021

According to NEPRA the Authority (NEPRA) upon receipt of reports of 16 deaths in different electrocution incidents during the period in question, constituted a two member Investigation Committee under Section 27A of NEPRA Act 1997 to visit the respective areas, conduct investigation, ascertain and determine the facts and possible violations of NEPRA Laws, Rules and Regulations The Investigation Committee’s report revealed that 11 out of the total 16 fatalities occurred due to MEPCO s negligence These fatalities included 04 of MEPCO’s employees and 07

persons from the general public

In light of the above the Authority issued a Show Cause Notice to MEPCO on 17 05 2022 under Section 27B of the NEPRA Act, 1997 and later provided an opportunity of hearing to MEPCO on 04 07 2022 said the NEPRA

Based on the evidence, perusal available of record and submissions made by MEPCO invoking the relevant provisions of the laws, rules and regulations; the Authority observed that MEPCO has failed to discharge its statutory obligations to maintain safety standards as laid down in the relevant laws, code and manual “The Authority has therefore imposed a fine of Rs 28 million on MEPCO said NEPRA adding the Authority while directed MEPCO to provide compensation of Rs 3 5 million each to the bereaved families has also instructed MEPCO to ensure provision of jobs to the dependents of the deceased families and documentary evidence of the same shall be submitted to the Authority

PTI writes in to UN body about Swati ’s abduc tion, c ustodial tor ture

Shireen Mazari wrote that the government, backed by the establishment, has responded with repressive measures especially in the wake of PTI sweep of a series of by elections held on 17 July in the province of Punjab despite a concerted effort of rigging by the government the Election Commission of Pakistan and the State “I had written to you in August 2022 drawing your attention to the abduction, subsequent arrest and custodial torture on Dr Shahbaz Gill but unfortunately there seemed to have been little response, which has erroneously signaled to the government it can continue with impunity the use of custodial torture including against the leadership of the PTI,” she added

Gov t appoints Police Officer Javed Akbar Riaz as DG NAB

ISLAMABAD A h m A d A h m A dA n

S tA f f R e p o R t

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) took up the issue of the imported government s constant violations of international conventions and laws by illegally detaining and custodial torturing of PTI Senator Azam Swati before the world human rights bodies, demanding his early release and bringing culprits to book

Dr Shireen M Mazari, former minister for human rights and Senior Vice President PTI wrote letters to the Human Rights Committee, Geneva and the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/19) on Friday on the arrest and subsequent torture on Senator Azam Swati

She said that Pakistan has been engulfed in a political crisis in the aftermath of a regime change scheme to remove the government of PM Imran Khan and replace it with a combined opposition government with a bloated cabinet comprising primarily of members out on bail

Therefore she said: Once more I would like to draw the attention of the United Nations Special Procedures mechanisms to the human rights violations that were committed on the person Senator Swati

She wrote that according to his own statement, given before the media while being presented to the magistrate court, he was stripped and tortured for his crime to post one tweet (attached below) crticising the army chief by name She said that unfortunately, the Senate Chairman under pressure from the State refused to issue his Production Orders to attend the Senate Session the next day so the Senator remains in FIA custody where it is fear he will be subjected to more torture She said that apart from the brazen a

The federal government on Friday appointed Javed Akbar Riaz a BS 20 officer of Police Service as Director General (BS 21) National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and issued a notification in this regard According to the Establishment Division notification, Javed Akbar Riaz, presently serving in Federal Investigation agency (FIA), has been appointed as DG NAB It reads that he has been transferred and his services have been placed at the disposal of NAB for further posting as DG under Section 10 of Civil Servants Act 1973 with immediate effect and until further orders

According to sources, in pursuance of the Establishment Division s notification dated 12th October 2022, the NAB chairman has appointed Javed Akbar Riaz as DG on deputation basis for an initial period of three years on standard terms & conditions with effect from 14th October, 2022 He will assume the charge as DG, NAB Karachi upon his arrival sources added The sources also informed that the Chairman NAB has approved postings/transfers of one DG and three Directors who are currently serving in KPK, Balochistan, federal capital and a notification regarding their postings/transfers is also issued As per sources, Chairman NAB has approved postings/transfer of Brig (r) Farooq Naser Awan, DG from NAB Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) to NAB Headquarter (HQ), Islamabad on attachment basis for special assignment

Power D ivision seeks PM’s nod for Iesco, Lesco & Fesco BoDs reconstitution

have been proposed Similarly, one representative of power division and one representative of finance division (not below Deputy Secretary/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary) and one representative of the Government of Punjab (not below the rank of Bs 19) as Ex officio is proposed to be the part of new BoD of FESCO

For LESCO BoD, the name of Mian Waqar Aziz as chairman BoD of LESCO while the names of Hafiz Muhammad Nouman Ghias Uddin Ahmed S Muhammad Ali A Sadiq, Jahanzaib Badar, Mujahid

Islam Billah, MA Goraya and Ahmed Bakhsh Tarar as Independent Directors of LESCO and the names of Ch Arshad Iqbal, Saad Rao, and Faisal Khokhar are nominated as Consumer Representatives in the proposed new LESCO BoD Similarly, one representative of power division and one representative of finance division (not below Deputy Secretary/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary) and one representative of the Government of Punjab (not below the rank of Bs 19) as Ex officio is nominated to be the part of new BoD of LESCO

Minister for Energy (Power Division) has seen and authorised the submission of this summary, said sources

Ministry of Energy (Power Division) is the administrative line ministry for ten power distribution companies (DISCOs) The afafirs of these companies (DISCOs) are governed under the provisions of the Companies Act 2017 and the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013 through a BoD nominated by the government as per provisions of Sections 165 of the Companies Act, 2017

fM Bil AWAl’s letteR ON Al ARMiNG situAtiON iN iiOJk DeliveReD tO uNsc PResiDeNt

Biang of Gabon

The Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his letter urged the Security Council and the Secretary General to make concerted efforts to help settle the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people

On Wednesday Ambassador Akram described India’s occupation of Jammu and Kashmir as the worst manifestation

President Alvi approves Presidential iqbal Awards for three authors

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday approved Presidential Iqbal Awards of the years 2015 20 in recognition of the literary and research work of three authors on National Poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Ikram Chughtai has been given presidential award on his book ‘Iqbal Aur Germany’ (Iqbal and Germany), authored in Urdu language Dr Abdul Khaliq has been awarded for his English language book ‘Allama Iqbal, Concept of Ego and Related Perspectives , and Ghaus Bakhsh Sabir for his book Balochi language on Iqbaliat The president approved the awards in line with Article 48 1 of the Constitution and Iqbal Academy Ordinance 1962 President Alvi is the patron in chief of Iqbal Academy Pakistan S tA f f R e p o Rt

uk to provide additional £10m aid for Pakistan flood relief effor ts

ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom (UK) will provide an additional £10 million of life saving humanitarian support for Pakistan’s flood relief efforts According to details, the additional humanitarian aid was announced by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State for South Asia (FCDO), during his visit to Pakistan In addition to the UK s £26 5 million donation in humanitarian funding, a UK Royal Air Force flight recently delivered eight boats and ten portable generators for flood relief operations The extra support will be spent on urgent life saving needs such as providing shelter, water, and sanitation to prevent waterborne diseases, according to a statement issued by the British High Commission Islamabad It will focus on supporting people who are still displaced and those returning to their land by helping re establish communal water supplies, the statement

fazl calls Jui cec’s meeting on Oct 19

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema e Islam Fazl (JUI F) Chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman has called an important meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) on October 19 in the federal capital Talking to APP, JUI F Spokesman Muhammad Aslam Ghauri on Friday informed that the invitations had been extended to the CEC members to attend the meeting He said besides discussing Pakistan and regional situation, the performance of JUI F federal ministers would be reviewed in detail He further said the flood situation and party performance would also be the center point of the meeting A p p

of modern day colonialism while underscoring the need for a settlement of the decades old dispute

Speaking in the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee, the Pakistani envoy pointed out that since 1946 80 former colonies had gained independence, but there are still people who are denied the right to self determination “most prominently the people of occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Palestine

Talks with TTP bore no concrete outcomes: Kh Asif

COntInuED fROM pAgE 01

The Minister added that it was not only welcomed in the KSA rather in the region and beyond He mentioned that media and change went hand in hand during the transformation triggered in any society as media played a lead role in bringing about that change Khawaja Asif said the national Security at present was fundamentally the economic

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

lHc suspends Rana sanaullah’s arrest warrants

LAHORE

S tA f f R e p o R t

The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has suspended the arrest warrants against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah According to details, the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC suspended Anti corruption Establishment Punjab s (ACE) arrest warrants against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and summoned the Director General (DG) Anti corruption on October 16 Anti corruption Punjab has issued arrest warrants for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) leader for allegedly taking bribes against the approval of a housing scheme

imran dubs by-polls referendum to decide countr y’s fate

Multiple startups from different National Incubation Centers have participated with Ignite National Technology Fund in GITEX exhibition in Dubai, attracting a large number of visitors from across the world Ignite established a large country pavilion in Zaabeel Hall 5 at GITEX this year and selected startups from different verticals to showcase the entrepreneurial potential of Pakistan in different areas including MyTM (Fintech), MapAlytics (AR/VR), XpertFlow (AI), Empowering People and Organizations (e services), Asani IO (CleanTech), InstaCare (HealthTech), Brayt (Ecommerce), Edversity(EdTech), WonderTree( AR/VR), and Orbit (EdTech)

Media, he said was

h e p r e c u r s o r o f w a r s i n t h e p r e v i o u s t i m e s a s i t w a s a l w a y s t h e m e d i a w h i c h b r o u g h t t o t h e f o r e f r o n t t h e s t r a t e g i c s t a n c e o f w a r r i n g p a r t i e s I p e r s o n a l l y f e e l m e d i a i s p l a y i n g a c r i t i c a l p a r t i n P a k i s t a n T h e e l e c t r o n i c a n d s o c i a l m e d i a u n d e r w e n t a d r a s t i c i n c r e a s e e x p o n e n t i a l l y T h e M i n i s t e r u n d e r l i n e d t h a t t h e u s a g e o f m e d i a b y t h e p o l i t i c i a n s e s p e c i a l l y t h e s o c i a l m e d i a w h i c h w a s m i s u s e d n e e d t o b e u n d e r s t o o d i n t h e c u r r e n t s c e n a r i o “ I t ’s p l a y i n g h a v o c w i t h w a r s p o l i c i e s a n d s t r a t e g i e s t h r o u g h f a k e n e w s I p e r s o n a l l y f e e l t h a t t h e p l a c e o f m e d i a i s a b s o l u t e l y f u n d a m e n t a l I t h a s b e c o m e t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t p a r t o f t h e n a t i o n a l l i f e ” He added that the failure or success of politicians b e i n g p o l i t i c a l w o r k e r s o r p a r t o f a n y s t r a t e g i c g o v e r n m e n t n o t i n P a k i s t a n r a t h e r e l s e w h e r e r e l i e d o n t h e m e d i a a s h o w i t h a n d l e d i t “ T h e m e d i a w a r s d u r i n g U S S R a n d U S A c o l d w a r h a v e b e e n f o u g h t b e t w e e n t h e m o n p r i n t m e d i a a n d a b i t o n e l e c t r o n i c m e d i a T h e i d e o l o g i c a l p a r t o f t h e s e w a r s h a v e d i m i n i s h e d o v e r t h e y e a r s T h e c o m m e r c i a l c o n s i d e r a t i o n s o f t h e m e d i a h o u s e s i s a l s o a r e a s o n f o r i t a s i t h a s g a i n e d m u c h p r e c e d e n c e ” H e a l s o m e n t i o n e d t h a t t h e c o u n t r y w a s f a c i n g

T h e M i n i s t e r a l s o r e s p o n d e d t o v a r i o u s q u e r i e s o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l a n d l o c a l m e d i a m e n H e s a i d t h e change of command in the armed forces was a matter o f s a n c t i t y w h i c h s h o u l d b e k e p t s a c r e d H o w e v e r, w h e n t h i s m a t t e r w a s t a k e n i n t o t h e r e a l m o f p o l i t i c s t h e n t h i s s a n c t i t y w a s o b l i t e r a t e d , h e a d d e d “ I h a d h e l d t h e p r o c e s s o f a p p o i n t m e n t s o f t w o A r m y C h i e f s i n m y t e n u r e a s d e f e n c e m i n i s t e r a n d i t h a d n e v e r b e e n s u c h d i s c u s s i o n o n t h i s i s s u e I h a v e v e r y h i g h h o p e s t h a t a l l i n s t i t u t i o n s w i l l p e r f o r m t h e i r r o l e s a s d e f i n e d b y t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n “ We w i s h t o h a v e g o o d t i e s w i t h U S O u r F o r e i g n M i n i s t e r, P r i m e M i n i s t e r a n d C h i e f o f A r m y S t a ff ( C O A S ) v i s i t s r e m a i n e d g o o d a n d f r u i t f u l H e a d d e d t h a t t h e c o u n t r y ’s r e l a t i o n s w i t h K S A w e r e d e c a d e s o l d a n d i t w a s v e r y i m p o r t a n t a n d h a d a p i v o t a l r o l e i n o u r f o r e i g n p o l i c y T h e K i n g d o m h a s h e l p e d u s a t v e r y c r i t i c a l t i m e s M o r e o v e r, t h e C r o w n P r i n c e ’s v i s i t t o P a k i s t a n w i l l s t r e n g t h e n t h e b i l a t e r a l t i e s f u r t h e r a s i t w i l l h e l p i m p r o v e i n t h e d o m a i n o f d e f e n c e a n d i n v e s t m e n t We n e e d i n v e s t m e n t i n P a k i s t a n t o r e v i t a l i z e o u r e c o n o m y S o , i t i s a v e r y i m p o r t a n t v i s i t R e p l y i n g a q u e r y o n I s r a e l , h e s a i d , “ We t r e a t t h e i s s u e o f P a l e s t i n e a s d e a r t o u s a s K a s h m i r I s r a e l i s a n a p a r t h e i d s t a t e t h a t b e l i e v e s i n d e n y i n g v e r y f u n d a m e n t a l r i g h t s t o P a l e s t i n i a n s I h a v e v e r y s t r o n g v i e w s o n K a s h m i r a n d P a l e s t i n e T h e I s r a e l i t r e a t m e n t o f P a l e s t i n i a n s i s w h a t N a z i s d i d t o t h e m T h e v i c t i m s a r e t h e t y r a n n i z e r s o f t o d a y ” , h e a d d e d

PR spending Rs1b to replace obsolete signals on Lodhran-S handara sec tion

trains

Pakistan Railways (PR) has worked out a plan to replace old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran Multan Khanewal Shandara Bagh mainline section during the current fiscal year

According to an official, the Pakistan Railways had allocated Rs1 billion for the project titled: “Replacement of old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran Multan Khanewal Shandara Bagh mainline section ”

He told APP on Friday that the signaling system of 44 stations was automated by Computer Based Interlocking (CBI) over Shandadpur Mirpur Mathelo and Lodhran Shandara Bagh section

The initiative, he said, had considerably improved the arrival and departure timing of trains owing to swift operation in the automated section The engineering restrictions on tracks were being removed to curtail the running time of passenger

at

COntInuED fROM pAgE 01

“Thieves” must not be let to succeeded Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has termed the prevailing situation a “decisive moment” in the history of Pakistan, saying that if thieves succeeded by getting NRO 2 then the country will have no future He expressed these views while addressing lawyers in the city court during his day long visit to Karachi on Friday If a small thief is in jail while a big thief is sitting in the PM’s House then what will be the future of the country?” Imran said the lawyers understand the importance of rule of law and added that if rulers continued to violate the law then the country’s future will be bleak “We must not allow this to happen ” He reiterated once again that he not doing politics but waging Jihad against thieves to get real freedom I want you all to be with me in this The struggle for the creation of Pakistan was led by lawyers so we want lawyers to be with us in the struggle ” Lashing out at his political opponents Imran said crooks returned to the country after getting NRO to plunder the nation’s wealth again The lawyers of our country have always fought for the rule of law and they played a major role in the 1947 Pakistan Movement, he added Imran arrived in Karachi ahead of crucial by elections on Sunday in which he is contesting simultaneously from seven national assembly constituencies of the country

“Pakistan Railways is rigorously pursuing Main Line I project under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to upgrade its track which faced delay during the last four years,” he said

He said Rs 5 billion were already allocated for the ML I project in current fiscal year 2022 23 The project would increase trains speed from 120 to 160 km per hour he added The official said the journey time would be reduced by half after the implementation of the project

He said that the Pakistan Railways had procured 230 new passenger coaches from China and the modern coaches would provide comfortable journey to the passengers as per international standards

arrive

The first

c t c rowd s at G

Three of these startups qualified for the Supernova pitching competition at GITEX

GITEX is the largest technology event in the middle east which has attracted more than 100,000 visitors from more than 170 countries this year There are more than 5,000 exhibitors and 800 startups exhibiting at GITEX this year in different areas including metaverse, 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud & edge, cybersecurity, fintech, blockchain, data analytics and smart cities Inaugurating Ignite’s pavilion at GITEX, Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Aminul Haque said he was delighted that future stars of Pakistan were showcasing their ideas at GITEX this year

This clearly shows that entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan is on the rise,” he added

The minister said Ignite had doubled the number of Pakistani startups participating at

T E X

GITEX this year which reflected Ignite s efforts towards promotion of startup ecosystem of Pakistan ” While conveying his thoughts on the occasion Secretary IT & Telecom Mohsin Mushtaq said that startups were creating jobs, empowering women and bringing investments We are witnessing growth in not only the number of startups but also an increase in our network of national incubation centers, investors interest and startup competitions

“More than $340 million has been raised by Pakistani startups till September 2022 despite the 30 per cent reduction in global startup funding, Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite noted He said considering that Pakistani startups had raised more than $870 million over the last 5 years against average equity of 25 per cent, total valuation of Pakistani startups was estimated to be around $3

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e p o R t

To ConduCT Survey of flood-hIT AreAS for reConSTruCTIon of houSeS

KARACHI

CH I N E S E Consul General in Karachi Li Bijian on Friday

briefed Sindh Chief Minister

Syed Murad Ali Shah about their rehabilitation activities after the recent floods in the province

Li Bijan informed that a team of their experts is scheduled to visit the flood af fected areas of Sukkur division to survey the collapsed houses and then select the

areas to reconstruct the houses said a spokesperson of CM Sindh

The Chinese consul general also pre sented a $ 100 000 cheque to the chief min ister for Karachi and (Renminbi) RMB 500,000 for CM Fund for flood affected people

The CM Sindh thanked the consul general, the Chinese government and the people for helping the Sindh government in the rehabilitation of the affected people of Sindh Speaking on the occasion, Syed Murad Ali Shah said the well reputed peo ple from the private sector have been in

ducted into the company constituted for the construction of the houses collapsed during heavy rains so that transparency could be ensured The funds raised or taken as loans from the lending agencies for the construc tion of the houses of the flood affected peo ple would be utilized transparently and its audit would be conducted by a well reputed firm,” the CM said Murad Ali Shah invited philanthropists, the international community, brothers, friendly countries, and multinational com panies to come over and select a

locality/Mohalla or a village for the con struction of the collapsed houses and under take the work from the contractors or construction company of their choice and the provincial government would extend them all kind of support

He said heavy rains and floods dam aged 3 8 million houses for which his gov ernment had negotiated a loan of $ 500 million to reconstruct the houses, but the number of houses was so huge that more help and assistance was needed to house all the displaced people

Cellphones

L A H O R E

prices go skyrocketing in Lahore markets

PTI senators protest against A zam Swati’s arrest

President Alvi signs three bills into law

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday signed three bills into law, after their passage by the parliament The president signed Export Import Bank of Pak istan Bill 2022 and Publication of Laws of Pak istan (Amendment) Bill 2022 He also gave his assent to Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Oath and Fees) Amendment Bill 2022 President Alvi assented the said three bills under Article 75 of the Constitution

Cabinet committee decides to lease unused land for farming

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Punjab Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, in its meeting held under Parliamentary Affairs Minis ter Mohammad Basharat Raja, decided on Friday to lease unused state land for corporate farming Finance Minister Mohsin Khan Leghari Senior Member Punjab Board of Revenue Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Member Colonies Shahid Niaz, Secretary Law Secretary Agriculture and other officials concerned attended the meeting

Governor opens free food facility, water filtration plants at Multan railway station

MULTAN S ta f f R e

P u n j a b G o v

a

o r M u

r

ligh Ur Rahman on Friday inaugu rated a free food facility for porters ( Q u l e e s ) a n d t w o w a t e r f i l t r a t i o n p l a n t s a t M u l t a n c a n t o n m e n t r a i l way station

Speaking at the post inaugura t i o n c e r e m o n y, t h e G o v e r n o r s a i d that recent floods were a big chal lenge for the country that not only rendered almost four million people homeless but also affected the na tional economy

Such challenging situations de mand society’s humane attitude in aid of the troubled communities, he said and heaped praise on noted in d u s t r i a l i s t K h a w a j a J a l a l u d d i n R u m i f o r a d d i n g f r e e f o o d , r a t i o n and clean drinking water facilities a t t h e r a i l w a y s t a t i o n i n c o n t i n u a tion of his social service activities

P u n j a b G o v e r n o r c o m m e n d e d

P a k i s t a n A r m y a n d D i s a s t e r M a n agement Authorities for playing an a c t i v e r o l e i n r e s c u i n g p e o p l e stranded in flooded areas, and pro viding them relief

Baligh Ur Rahman held philan t h r o p i s t s i n h i g h e s t e e m f o r t h e i r s w i f t r e s p o n s e i n s u p p o r t o f t h e p e o p l e w h o s u ff e r e d i m m e n s e losses in floods

H e s a i d t h a t f l o o d s h a d a l s o

suspended train operations that had left Qulees without earning means a n d a d d e d f r e e r a t i o n f o r Q u l e e s was a step in the right direction

K h a w a j a J a l a l u d d i n R u m i s a i d t h a t t h e f a c i l i t y w o u l d s e r v e f r e e m e a l s t o 3 0 0 Q u l e e s d a i l y a n d p l e d g e d t o c o n t i n u e p h i l a n t h r o p i c a c t i v i t i e s u n d e r t h e R u m i F o u n d a t i o n R u m i s a i d t h e f o u n d a t i o n w a s a l s o p r o v i d i n g f r e e l u n c h d a i l y a t F a t i m a J i n n a h a n d D H Q h o s p i t a l s i n M u l t a n a n d a d d e d t h a t a c h i l l e r w a t e r f i l t r a t i o n p l a n t w o u l d a l s o b e m a d e f u n c t i o n a l a t K h a n e w a l r a i l w a y s t a t i o n w i t h i n a m o n t h

E a r l i e r d i v i s i o n a l s u p e r i n t e n d e n t r a i l w a y s M u l t a n d i v i s i o n H a m m a d H a s s a n M i r z a s a i d t h a t railways Multan provided ration to 1 0 0 0 f l o o d h i t f a m i l i e s b e s i d e s medical aid to 3000 affectees

P u n j a b G o v e r n o r a l s o d i s t r i b u t e d r a t i o n b a g s a m o n g t h e Q u l e e s o f M u l t a n , B a h a w a l p u r, D e r a N a w a b a n d L o d h r a n r a i l w a y s t a t i o n s

All Pakistan Traders Association calls for de sealing of Centaurs Mall

Baloch

the

ministration in general and of the deputy commissioner (DC) in particular is quite inappropriate with the local traders Addressing a press conference along with traders representatives, Ajmal said that the arrogant conduct of the DC with the business community is intolerable and he should be removed from his office without any delay

He warned of a forceful resistance if any attempt is made to arrest any trader in connection with the fire in cident, without any reason He demanded free hand to the traders to carry out business activities with peace of mind He made it clear that the business community will not pay new taxes being imposed on them unethi cally

The traders leaders said that the administration of the Centaurs Mall taking prompt action and evacuated the people after the inferno erupted from the kitchen of a food outlet in the mall which is highly laudable, but regretted that despite no one was hurt in the incident the mall had been sealed without any reason and FIR has been registered, unfairly

He demanded de sealing of the Centaurs Mall forth with He warned of besieging the DC office if a bid is made to arrest anyone in connection with the fire incident in the mall and the traders will resort to stage sit in there and further announced to resort to shutter down of the business centres

He asked the federal capital administration to avoid harassing traders by slapping section 144 against the traders if they wanted to arrest the PTI chairman Imran

ISLAMABAD: The senators of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Friday wore black armbands and protested against the arrest of PTI Senator Azam Swati During the Senate session, the PTI senators protested in the House and tore up the copies of the agenda They also chanted Release Azam Swati slogans in the Senate Dr Afnan pointed out the quorum The quorum was incom plete; therefore, the Senate deputy chairman adjourned the session

PA K I S TA N I S o V e R W h e L M I N G Ly L A u D C h I N A ’ S S u P P o R T

ta f f R e p o

Al M O S T all Pakistanis have a very positive view of Iron Brother China and its consis tent support to Pakistan and they consider China as their trusted friend, a survey revealed, ac cording to Gwadar Pro on Friday

As part of the Sinophone Border lands public opinion survey in Pak istan in June 2022 over 1 200 Pakistani respondents were asked two open ended questions about their per ception of China Respondents are drawn from all regions of Pakistan and included a representative sample of age groups and genders The same questions have also been asked in many other coun

tries but Pakistanis gave the most pos itive answers

The first survey question asks what first comes to people s minds when thinking of China The most common answers, as the word cloud reveals were friend best friend “good friend,” and “trusted friend ”

Chinese people are perceived as friendly and hardworking The country itself is seen as being strong, and de veloped with many respondents label ing it a superpower

Also, China is seen as helpful and supportive of Pakistan The connection between the two countries is described as a “brotherhood” and many people celebrate it by saying “long live Pak istan China friendship ”

The second question asks whether people’s general view of China get bet

Clarification

With reference to Profit's cover story “The big boys of banking make big bucks, but are they worth it?” published in the 10 16 October, 2022 edition of Profit magazine the yearly salary of Mr Shoaib Mumtaz President & CEO, MCB Bank was misstated as Rs 233 52 million Mr Shoaib Mumtaz assumed charge as Acting President & CEO of MCB Bank ltd on 21st December 2021 while the yearly salary mentioned in the story is based on remuneration / severance allowance disbursed to his

ter or worse during the previous three years and why An overwhelming ma jority of the Pakistani respondents (85 percent) gave a positive answer

An overwhelming majority fo cused mostly on China’s support to Pakistan in the form of the China Pak istan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chi nese investment, or China’s COVID 19 support

The results prompt an important question: Why are the attitudes of Pak istanis so overwhelmingly positive to ward China, and why so much more so than in other countries? The answer is that their positive attitudes are linked to China’s long term support for Pak istan, especially through CPEC, and Pakistan’s otherwise rather isolated position in South Asia, where it lacks other firm allies

In particular, the positive attitude correlates with Chinese investments flowing into the country under the label of CPEC which was frequently mentioned by the respondents

Transport and energy infrastruc ture so badly needed in Pakistan have been built New power plants have added energy to Pakistan’s power grid Roads and railways are being constructed

Nevertheless what drives China s popularity among the citizens of Pak istan is that China is really Pakistan’s stalwart ally It is the only country that is currently willing to invest massively in Pakistan

It is certainly encouraging for the growth of China Pakistan relations that people in Pakistan are so positive about their close friend

PU- C AD hosts seminar, exhibition ‘Mian Ijazul Hassan S even D ecades of Painting’

corporate corner

Centre backs Meta & ITA for ‘WeThinkDigital Program’ in GB

SNGPL signs LPG distribution agreement with SLL

L a h o r e: As part of its measures to facilitate gas consumers during the winters, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has entered into LPG distribution agreement with Sui Southern LPG Limited (SLL) The agreement in this regard was signed today (Friday) at the Sui Southern Gas Head Office in Karachi MD SSL Amir Mahmood and SGM (ES) SNGPL Imran Yousaf signed the agreement MD SNGPL Ali J Hamdani and MD SSGC Imran Maniar witnessed the ceremony Syed Jawad Naseem, SGM (BD) SNGPL, Jalees Ghalib, CFO SLL and Ali Khan, DGM (Treasury) SLL were also present on the occasion SNGPL has embarked on introducing LPG as alternate fuel in line with Government of Pakistan’s direction and MD SNGPL Ali J Hamdani’s vision of diversifying the Company’s business and to ensure supply of gas to consumers This is of paramount importance at this time owing to scarcity of energy and astronomical prices of gas in the world This milestone has been achieved under the visionary leadership of MD SNGPL Ali J Hamdani in a record period of time pR

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Principal College of Art and Design (CAD), Uni versity of Punjab, Prof Dr Sumera Jawad organ ized a seminar and exhibition titled: Mian Ijazul Hassan Seven Decades of Painting” here on Fri day to commemorate Hassan’s journey of excel lence The exhibition and seminar were organized by the MPhil students, belong to session 2021 23, as part of their research project

The exhibited work is based on Hassan’s se lective artwork spanned seven decades and was especially prepared for the benefit of the students and scholars The work predominately represents his impression of people, society and the prevail

ing circumstances exist in the society

The seminar was divided into five segments highlighted the distinct facets of Hassan’s quest over the decades These segments included his early life, his contribution as a painter, his contri bution as a writer and poet, his contribution to wards the art community, and finally his contribution as a thought provoking artist Al though the seminar was presided over by the MPhil scholars however against each segment renowned artists and scholars were invited to shed further light on Hassan’s quest They included Fakir Syed Aijazuddin Shahnawaz Zaidi Dr Syed Akmal Hussain, Amna Pataudi, and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan The seminar ended with a souvenir distribution ceremony and dinner

Covid cases witness significant drop

A meeting presided by Federal Secretary (Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training); Aamir Ashraf Khawaja was held at Ministry of Federal Education s office on Friday for implementation of the WeThinkDigital Phase VI” in Gilgit Baltistan Partners for the project i e , Meta and Idara e Taleem o Aagahi (ITA) attended the meeting which was organized to endorse the implementation of the project across 10 districts of Gilgit Baltistan WeThinkDigital Program provides resources to build a global community of responsible digital citizens equipped with skills for a digital world The initiative aims to spread awareness among children/teachers/adolescents/youth/citizens aged 13 18 (grade 6 to grade 10) and above, to improve digital literacy and safe use of the internet through capacity building The main objectives of the initiative are generating awareness regarding cyberbullying, safe internet practices, aiding children, adolescents, and youth groups on navigation of digital spaces and introduction of digital citizenship to children pR

FBR chief opens conference hosted by Directorate General of I&I Customs

Mr Asim Ahmad Chairman Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) addressed the inaugural session of the quarterly coordination & performance review conference of the Regional Directors of the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation Customs; an important arm of the FBR He informed the participants that the top priority areas of the Government of Pakistan were to combat smuggling of goods, vehicles, currency, and mis invoicing The Chairman made it very clear that the Directorate General, I&I Customs, had the capacity and competence to come up to the expectations with respect to each of these priority areas He assured the Director General, Mr Faiz Ahmad Chadhar, that all possible resources required to achieve the desired results will be provided by FBR pR

KidzVits, Sehat Kahani team up to fight malnutrition

u s t r a l i a p r ov i d e s $ 5 m i n h u m a n i t

country is expected to take months to sub side He said that the flood impacted crops, food security and livelihoods

Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Neil Hawkins has said that the Australian government provided $5 million in humani tarian assistance to help the people of Pak istan adversely affected by the devastation caused by recent flooding

In an exclusive interview with APP, Neil Hawkins said that Australia would continue to assist Pakistan in overcoming the enor mous challenge of recent floods adding that the water, now covering over one third of the

The High Commissioner also lauded Pakistani authorities engaged in rescue and relief operations in flood affected parts of the country

To a question, he said the climate change issue is affecting Pakistan and Aus tralia, to which both countries have to coop erate He underscored that both sides must know how to protect people and other re sources He informed Australia that the issue had been a big challenge, so all rele

vant ministries collectively made a compre hensive policy for the future

Answering a query on trade cooperation, Neil Hawkins called the Pakistani market and business people have great potential and are vibrant He said the private sector of Pak istan is enthusiastic and Australia welcomes Pakistani traders and business people to play their role in enhancing bilateral trade

The High Commissioner explained the educational cooperation and said that more than 14000 Pakistani students were studying in Australia “My message to those seeking study visas is to prepare the documents well,

double check and avoid mistakes to get the visa Australia approves 90 percent study visas for Pakistanis,” he added Neil Hawkins encouraged the Pakistani students already studying in Australia to complete their graduation as four years stay for work is granted “Six years for those who complete masters and after six years stay, the student can apply for citizenship as well, said the High Commissioner Commenting about agricultural cooperation, the High Commissioner said that the Australian agri culture scientists also assisted farmers in Sindh regarding soil quality and under soil

water availability He noted that for the fu ture growing population, Pakistan needs more fertile and Agri land

He informed that Australian Agri sci entists had made a device that detects water levels under the soil “The device has six senses/ electrodes to be penetrated the soil, and it indicates different colors which cor r e s

had

eign

improve

Inciting mutiny again

The arrest of former federal minister Senator Azam Swati in Islamabad was for blaming COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa for the recent acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son hamza in a money laundering case, but it occurred the same day as his leader, PTI chief Imran Khan, called out General Bajwa s institution the Army for the terrorism afflicting Senator Swati’s ancestral region of Swat Mr Khan was clearly being disingenuous in blaming the military for the resurgence of religious militancy in the region after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, for while the Taliban have allegedly been backed by the intelligence agencies that the PTI now blames for removing Mr Khan’s govern ment, KP has been under PTI rule since 2013, quite apart from Mr Khan’s quiet support of the Taliban, which won him the sobriquet ‘Taliban Khan’ from his critics If there has been any decline in the law and order situation in KP the blame falls squarely on the PTI Senator Swati’s blaming of the acquittal of the PM and his son on the COAS may have seemed to him to bring together two strands of the PTI narrative: that the PTI was ousted to stop its anti corruption crusade; and that the COAS had played a role It added an echo from PML(n) Quaid nawaz Sharif ’s naming General Bajwa for Mr Khan’s depredations This did not prevent the powers that be from registering an FIr for inciting mutiny as well as criminal defamation Senator Swati might well have profited from the example of Dr Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested for inciting mutiny, because of a statement he made on Tv Dr Gill remained under arrest but was ultimately bailed out however, Dr Gill had to spend August 9 and September 22 in jail for his August 8 broadcast

Whatever the personal consequences for Senator Swati, it does illustrate the lack of tolerance of the institu tions for criticism, and the swiftness of the response This might illustrate the growing unease within the govern ment as the PTI’s as yet unannouned Long March ap proaches, even though Senator Swati was not expected to bring a vast crowd from his native Mansehra The PTI it self dos not come out of the episode with credit Mr Khan’s attempt to blame the Army for the resurgence of militancy does not explain what his government was doing in KP, while Senator Swati’s blaming the COAS for the Sharifs’ acquittal does not explain why the PTI could not bring the case to fruition even if one accepts that there was no element of victimization

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

Yousaf Nizami Editor

M A Niazi

Editor Umar Aziz

Editor Aziz ud Din Ahmad

W h y c a n

t t h e M y a n m a r m i l i t a r y j u n t a h a n d l e b o t h i n t e r n a l a n d e x t e r n a l p r e s s u r e ?

Things are mving to inter vention

The Myanmar military junta can never han dle both internal and external pressure for various reasons Thus, this brutal military should be dismantled as soon as possible

The world leaders have no clue they are

dealing with intolerably dumb, uneducated, and cruel soldiers of this "private army", led by power crazed generals Today thugs fear the wrath of the people

The only thing the Myanmar military knows is vio lence What world actors have to do is to invade Myanmar, dismantle the Tatmadaw and send all its generals to the hague as war criminals Thus, the world leaders must realize that they must intervene in Myanmar to dismantle this barbaric, uncivilized army Myanmar army is a destabilizer of world peace

There must be no compromise on this Myanmar is strategically important After gaining independence from the British in 1948, the country suffered from long military rule Myanmar has a long history of conflict between the military and the gov ernment with various regional ethnic groups, but this has become more widespread in recent times The military coup has plunged the country into a crisis with strained ethnic relations and a resurgence of civil war According to geopolitical analysts, Myanmar's governance is essentially divided into three entities

The first is the State Administration Council (SAC) or the body of top officials engaged in the governance of the country, the second is the body of senior mili tary officers and finally the Cabinet however Min Aung hlaing, as the head of the armed forces and the leader of the coup, overshadowed these entities and gradually gained power By declaring martial law the state has absolute power The military junta is using torture and killing as a weapon to suppress dissent, following the policy of autocracy It has also enacted a series of draconian laws to consolidate its grip on power, threatening the legal protections and funda mental rights of the Myanmarese people In addition internet access is limited and online newspapers and social media platforms blocked recently, a new law has been issued there punishing the liking or sharing of an anti government post on social media by im prisonment

In February last year Myanmar's military gov ernment first declared a state of emergency on taking power In August, the emergency was extended for six months The junta s main priority is to stay in power As a result, the economy is now in crisis, and the people have to pay the price

After the imposition of military rule the country was subjected to a Western economic embargo For eign aid and investment were suspended As a result, the country s reserves have been decreasing since last April Due to the internal crisis and the war in Ukraine, the prices of everyday products are increas

h e E c o n o m y o f W a r

r e c o r d s T h e r u s s i a U k r a i n e Wa r s h o u l d thus be assessed in terms of the economic i n t e r e s t o f t h e l a rg e s t a r m s e x p o r t i n g c o u n t r i e s t h r o u g h t h e M i l i t a r y I n d u s t r i a l

Complexes (MICs) I n l a t e F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 2 , w h e n t h e r u s s o U k r a i n i a n w a r s t a r t e d , i t s e e m e d l i k e r u s s i a c o u l d c o n q u e r U k r a i n e i n a matter of a few days but surprisingly, Kyiv is yet to be conquered Why is it taking so l o n g f o r a b i g p o w e r l i k e r u s s i a t o c o n q u e r U k r a i n e ? W h a t a r e t h e f a c t o r s t h a t k e e p U k r a i n e c o n f i d e n t i n i t s r e s i s t a n c e against russia? A possible answer can be t h e s u p p o r t a n d p r o v i s i o n o f m o d e r n w e a p o n s b y t h e U S A t o U k r a i n e F o r i n stance, the most recent military aid of $3 billion for Ukraine and its 18 neighbours a l o n g s i d e a p a c k a g e o f $ 6 7 5 m i l l i o n o f a m m u n i t i o n , a r m o u r e d v e h i c l e s , a n d heavy weaponry was provided to the coun try in September 2022

Another unanswered question is ‘who is winning this war? The answer may be nei ther russia nor Ukraine but the

ufacturing companies

Between 2016 to 2022 the US, UK, China russia France and German arms in dustries exported 80 percent of the world’s lethal weapons These largest arms export ing countries are also involved in exporting arms to Ukraine amidst the war

ing On the other hand, many people are not paying electricity bills, and no one is paying taxes as part of the non violent movement supported by the nLD government The government's revenue collection has hit rock bottom The country s economy has shrunk by nearly 20 percent in the past year Accord ing to an ILO report published last January, by the end of 2021, half of the country's population or about 2 5 million people are below the poverty line 1 6 mil lion people or about eight percent of the total work force have lost their jobs, and about 1 3 million people are at risk of food insecurity On the other hand, in view of the global and domestic crisis, the value of the Kyat, the currency of Myanmar, contin ues to fall against the dollar On 1 February 2021, the kyat was 1395 to the dollar, and is now 2113 Accord ing to The economist, the country's central bank de cided to sell 10 percent of its reserves to prevent the fall of the kyat In this situation, the military junta is trying to retain reserves by imposing currency con trols and import bans As a result, people are deprived of essentials like medicines Myanmar s military junta is now facing fierce re sistance from various ethnic minorities Moreover, a shadow government called national Unity Government (nUG) was formed to counter the government The shadow government has al ready appealed to the inter national community for support, to which the USA, the european Union and ASeAn member states have responded The nUG also formed a guerrilla force called the People's Defense Force (PDF), which was formed to counter the mili tary s brutal crackdown on protesters

are now having a lot of success in fighting against the army and the area they control is also increasing Armed groups from different ethnic groups have stepped up cooperation among themselves to over throw the junta news website The Irrawaddy re ported that members of Myanmar s top seven armed ethnic groups met in September in Pangsang, Wa state, amid rising violence At the same time, the anti military Myanmar people are fighting against the government by joining the activities of various insur gents and armed groups

An anarchic situation prevails across the country

As the days go by, along with the overall situation in Myanmar, the position of the junta is also weakening.

In this situation, the intervention of the international community is necessary to restore peace in Myanmar

As a result the govern m e n t h a s t o f i g h t a g a i n s t v a r i o u s e t h n i c g r o u p s i n t h e b o r d e r p r o v i n c e s w h i l e o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i t h a s t o f a c e p r o d e m o c r a c y P D F f o r c e s i n v a r i o u s p r o v i n c e s i n s i d e t h e c o u n t r y B e c a u s e o f t h i s , t h e g o v e r n m e n t i s f a c i n g d e e p p r o b l e m s i n e s t a b l i s h i n g p o l i t i c a l c o n t r o l i n M y a n m a r O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , t h e m i l i t a r y j u n t a i s d i p l o m a t i c a l l y l o s i n g a c c e p t a n c e w i t h t h e r e s t o f t h e w o r l d d u e t o a u t h o r i t a r i a n t a c t i c s a n d b r u t a l r e p r e s s i o n A s a r e s u l t , t h e y w e r e a l m o s t d e f e a t e d o n t h r e e f r o n t s d i p l o m a t i c p o l i t i c a l a n d m i l i t a r y ethnic armed insurgent groups operating in Myanmar have become stronger than before They

According to a statement by Myanmar s Special Advisory Council, only 72 of the country's 330 town ships are now under the junta s control; As a percent age that is only 17 percent of the total land area; 52 percent is under nUG and various ethnic groups and no party has absolute control over the rest of the country Moreover, the Myanmar army is in a very tight position in rakhine More than two thirds of rakhine State's land area is now under the control of the Arakan Army According to the nUG statement, more than 20,150 soldiers of the army were killed in the clashes from September 7 2021 to September 2022 Myanmar s military is dominated by the Bama ethnic group But the recent military operation in Bama dominated areas has created anti junta sentiment among them More than 2000 soldiers and 5000 po lice officers have defected since the coup according to the People s embrace group Along with the loss of lives and troops the army also lost control of several mili tary outposts In the last 17 months Myanmar s military junta has lost control of about 90 military posts to armed groups from various ethnic groups in the country

After the military coup in 2021 people from all walks of life in Myanmar participated peacefully in the anti junta movement But due to the retaliatory brutal repression by the Min Aung hlaing administration the peaceful movement turned into armed resistance, which continues to this day

The conflict is escalating

Added to this is the country s economic crisis and in surgency by ethnic armed groups in border areas

An anarchic situation prevails across the country

As the days go by, along with the overall situation in Myanmar the position of the junta is also weakening In this situation, the intervention of the international community is necessary to restore peace in Myanmar

The writer is a freelance columnist

g a l l t h e p r e v i o u s

however, the USA dominates the global arms market The share of the USA in the global arms market is 35 percent and it is the top exporter of major weapons producing

hitech lethal arms, such as howitzers, anti ship missiles, Stinger missiles, and Javelin anti tank missiles

The top global US arms producing companies are Lockheed Martin, B o e i n g , northrop Grum man, General Dynamics, and raytheon These are the US based arm manufactur ing companies

M o r e o v e r , countries like the United Kingdom, Germany France and China have raised their de fence budgets Weapons are being sold like cupcakes and weapons industry shares are in creasing steadily For instance, the share of various mentioned arm producing com panies like General Dynam ics rose about 12 p e r c e n t , raytheon by 8 percent Lockheed Martin by 18 percent, and northrop Grumman by 22 percent If the same practice continues, states with a minimum budget for their self defence will be in unending fear of war Ultimately, it is the failure of assurances provided by the

treaties signed by non nuclear states for their safety and survival and international peace and security The arrival of military hitech weapons such as laser weapons, automatic rifles, and hypersonic missiles has made the world more insecure, urging the states to focus more on defence than human development

hunger that is not fed Those who are cold and not clothed

The world’s weapon producers will simply continue to exploit man’s ability to fulfil their financial desires The international community should take effective and rational measures to bring a ceasefire not only to the Russo-Ukraine War but also to other war-torn countries of the world such as Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and so on Also, it should move towards the implementation of disarmament treaties in letter and spirit and should provide effective security assurances through confidence building measures between those countries that feel threatened by each other Lastly, the objective of ‘The New World Order’, which was to ensure the smaller states' security, and not the major powers' national interests nor the monopoly of arms producing industries, must be reintroduced and reemphasized

US President Dwight D eisenhower in his tenure (1953 61) rightly expressed his fear of the military industrial complex he said, every gun that is made every warship that is launched, and every rocket that is fired signifies in the final sense a theft from

The world’s weapon producers will sim ply continue to exploit man’s ability to fulfil their financial desires The international community should take effective and ra tional measures to bring a ceasefire not only to the russo Ukraine War but also to other war torn coun tries of the world such as Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and so on Also, it should move to wards the im plementation of d i s a r m a m e n t treaties in letter and spirit and should provide effective secu rity assurances through confi d e n c e b u i l d i n g measures be tween those countries that feel threatened by each other Lastly, the ob jective of ‘The new World Order ’ , which was to ensure the smaller states security, and not the major powers national interests nor the mo nopoly of arms producing industries, must be reintroduced and reemphasized

The writer is Assistant Research Fellow Balochistan Think Tank Network, Quetta

Azam Swati’s arrest is for the same crime as Shahbaz Gill’s

Reformer

AMOnG the most powerful social movements humanity has ever observed, Islam is regarded as the most dynamic one that brought revolutionary changes in the socioeconomic and political values of society as it existed at the time Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a leader who led the process It is easy to portray the remarkable image of the Prophet pragmatically without any religious bias

It is a fact that a true leader cares about people’s wellbeing first and foremost, followed by putting in place a secure social setup Before Islam s advent society was gripped by wickedness and extreme chaos The poor and the women were maltreated There were social evils aplenty Against this backdrop, the Prophet brought about revolutionary changes in social values and societal dynamics The Prophet by promoting the concept of shared society (Ummah), provided fundamental equality to all human beings It was a milestone in the history of humanity in the context of sociology

Diversified aspects concerning the role of Prophet as a social reformer need to be promoted which would be much better than merely ‘celebrating’ eid Miladun nabi

DR INTIKHAB ULFAT KARACHI

Impor tance of Merit

A r m e d F o r c e s

F l o o d R e l i e f O p e r a t i o n s C o n t i n u e

forts which continue in the flood ravaged regions while the national Disaster Management Authority (nDMA) is also playing its role in this regard

In fact whenever Pakistan faces a major challenge, people look at armed, naval and air forces for support This is quite true in case of the current flood circumstances which have wreaked havoc in almost all provinces of the country The Pakistan Army, Pakistan navy and Pakistan Air Force are all actively participating in flood rescue and relief operations

These forces have established relief funds for the victims of the flooding areas In this spirit, all the general officers of the Army have also donated one month’s salary to help the vic tims Apart from this other officers are also giv ing financial donations on a voluntary basis even,the Pakistan Air Force Women’s Associa tion (PAFWA) has collected cash donations amounting to more than rs 14 million

Babar Iftikhar on September 1 stated that the na tion was generously contributing to the relief ef forts of the Army to support the people affected by the floods he elaborated: “Since the begin ning of the crisis caused by the recent monsoon rains, the armed forces have been working day and night in the affected areas for the last two months”

he added: “Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had made detailed visits to the flood affected areas of Sindh, Balochistan, Khy ber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab and reviewed the ongoing relief operations on ground

DeSPITe various efforts at national and international levels, the differ ently abled persons continue to suffer on account of the decisions taken by the Sindh education and Literacy Department

I am a prime example in this regard I am partially blind, but I have cleared tests conducted for primary school teacher (PST) and junior ele mentary school teacher (JeST) purely on my own merit I scored 60 marks in PST test, which makes me eligible for a job in the merit category

PAST experience proves that during any natural calamity like earthquake or flood, besides people who serve the needy through humanitarian services by providing generous aid Pakistan’s armed forces cope with the drastic situation boldly

The unprecedented deadly floods and ex traordinary monsoon rains which began in June this year have destroyed lives, livelihoods and infrastructure in various regions of Pakistan, leaving one third of the country underwater

Latest figures of the national Flood re sponse Coordination Committee (nFrCC) re leased on October 13 show that over 176 153 acres of crops were destroyed, over 2 16,974 cattle died, over 466,366 homes affected, over 160 460 homes were partially affected while 117,356 were completely demolished amid the flooding across the country

earlier media reported that owing to the floods, more than 2000 persons have died; more than 30 million people have been affected, 2 mil lion acres of crops destroyed 5 563 km of roads and 243 bridges have been damaged half a mil lion people were in displacement camps and many others were without shelter

Officials say this year ’s floods are compara ble to 2010 when over 2,000 people died and nearly a fifth of the country was under water

Foreign media called Pakistan’s flood as a result of climate change with a serious climate catastrophe The rain spell and floods have neg ative effects on the people in the flood ravaged areas also from the pandemic diseases as a number of persons have died

Taking cognisance of the large scale devasta tion, the Pakistan Government has declared a state of emergency The government has established a flood relief fund, namely, the Prime Minister ’s Flood relief Fund, 2022 for providing relief and rehabilitation to the flood affected persons The Fund accepts donations and contributions both from domestic and international sources

Meanwhile, in a live telethon on 29 August 2022, Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) and former Prime Minister Imran Khan raised funds for victims of devastating rains and floods, and received commitments of over rs 5 5 billion, donated by overseas and domestic Pak istanis In a second telethon held on September 11, Khan collected approximately rs 5 billion for the flood victims In a third telethon on Septem ber 18, he collected more than rs 3 billion

The entire Pakistani nation, civil society and humanitarian organisations (nGOs) have also stepped forward to assist in the rescue and relief ef

And besides monetary assistance, all three branches of the country s defence are distribut ing rations on ground The Army has established more than 200 relief collection points across the country and the Air Force has also set up camps Donations by various segments of society are being dispatched to these flood relief camps nevertheless these three forces pounded and distributed pack ages basic needs of life such as ration, cooked food packs, fresh drinking water, blankets, clothing items, tents etc These armed forces have also set up medical camps which are providing medical treatment and medicine to the flood affected patients

Taking note of the drastic effects of the deadly floods and extraordinary monsoon rains, Un agencies and many individual countries in cluding China, Japan and Islamic countries like Turkey, have sent several planes loaded with aid, while the United Arab emirates (UAe) has been one of the most generous contributors, and sent so far more than 45 flights carrying aid for flood victims numerous rich countries as well as the european Union (eU) have also announced fi nancial support For example, the eU provided €350 000 and the US provided $56 5 million in humanitarian aid to re spond to the floods, and announced $ 10 million additional aid

During his repeated trips to the flood-affected areas of Sindh on September 10, talking to the media, COAS General Bajwa urged the people of the country to help the flood victims generously and stated that the world will help to some extent

Particularly, the Pakistan Army is en gaged in a massive res cue and relief operation in the regions affected by torrential rains and flash floods The Army has established a relief and rescue Organisa tion under headquarters Army Air Defence Command to manage these operations Army’s teams rescued a number of people stranded in the flood hit areas, including women and chil dren along with their belongings and shifted them to safer places An example of the relent less bravery shown by the Army is that of Corps Commander 12 Corps Lt Gen Sarfaraz Ali Commsnder Pakistan Coast Guard Brig (ap proved Maj Gen) Amjad hanif Commander en gineers 12 Corps Brig Muhammad Khalid Major Saeed Ahmed, Major Muhammad Talha Manan and naik Mudassir Fayyaz who em braced martyrdom after their helicopter crashed during en route from Quetta to Karachi in rela tion to a rescue operation While the fleet of hel icopters of Army Aviation the Pakistan navy and Pakistan Air Force were deployed in flood stricken areas, their emergency response teams are also assisting the civil administration in res cue and relief efforts of South Punjab, Balochis tan and Sindh Thus, these forces have also saved the life of thousands of individuals

notably, Director General (DG) of Inter Services Public relations (ISPr) Maj Gen

But, this financial assistance is not enough, as Islamabad requires $30 billion to respond to the massive losses because of ex traordinary floods and rains

In this regard, dur ing a two day visit to Pakistan, the Un Sec retary General, An tónio Guterres appealed to the international community on Septem ber 9 for massive fi nancial support flood hit impoverished Pakistan needs about $30 billion to recover from the floods, which he, himself assessed by surveying these areas through helicopter

It is noteworthy that during his repeated trips to the flood affected areas of Sindh on September 10, talking to the media, COAS General Bajwa urged the people of the country to help the flood victims generously and stated that the world will help to some extent And in a statement, the ISPr said that General Bajwa on September 13 visited flood affected areas in interior Sindh and met troops busy in flood relief efforts providing med ical and administrative care to affected people in noshero Feroz General Bajwa also interacted with the locals and assured them that the Pakistan Army would continue to serve people to mitigate their suffering till they are rehabilitated Later the Army Chief was flown for aerial reconnais sance of flood hit areas of Sindh ” nonetheless coping with the current sea like flood waters, Pakistan’s armed forces’ flood relief operations continue

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international af fairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants Invisible Balance of Power: Danger ous Shift in International

Moreover, I scored 48 marks in JeST test, which makes me eligible for job against the designated quota for the disabled But, unfortunately, the district selection committee has denied me any of these two teaching jobs, quoting the policy of the education Department which apparently bars the completely blind from teaching The committee has completely neglected the fact that I am partially blind, can read and write, and that is why I had qualified the test on merit The committee even harassed and questioned me repeatedly as to who had taken the test on my behalf This is clearly unacceptable I have a right to acquire job as per the Constitution, which is being violated by the education Department Moreover, the decision by the director concerned is in gross violation of the Sindh empowerment of Per sons with Disability Act, 2018, the Disabled Persons employment and re habilitation Ordinance, 1981, and the United nations Convention on right of Persons with Disabilities to which Pakistan is a signatory The relevant authorities should take notice so that the visually impaired are not margin alised The state is responsible for ensuring that I am able to compete with those who are blessed with all the abilities Besides if I can qualify the test, then surely I can teach as well

KHALID HUSSAIN DAHRI NAwABSHAH

Gov t's lack of attention to Karachi's street crimes

A number of letters have appeared in this section on the rising level of street crimes in Karachi, but have clearly failed to attract the attention of the rulers It seems the city has become a goldmine for the criminals who continue to operate with impunity having no fear of the law taking its course Things have now gone so bad that even those in charge of law and order are feeling the heat themselves And all this is despite the fact that a paramilitary force is stationed in Karachi for the last 30 years Should the Karachiites request the United nations to send a peacekeeping force to maintain law and order in the metropolis?

The change in the political setup earlier this year and the worsening situation of law and order over the last several months may well be a coin cidence, but people are wondering if they have any correlation The situa tion indicates a sort of collapse of governance and calls for judicial intervention

SHAISTA ANwAR KIRmANI KARACHI

Anomaly

A Sindh government advertisement recently claimed that because of the “continued rapid increase in dengue and malaria cases, the Sindh healthcare Commission has announced a half per cent reduction in the prices of tests conducted to diagnose these diseases” however in the accompanying table showing both existing and revised prices, the reduction is 50 per cent (even higher in some cases) The government should check the educational qualifi cation of the person(s) who drafted and approved the said advertisement

SHAKIR LAKHANI KARACHI

Lack of Empathy

PAKISTAn has indeed been devastated by the recent floods that destroyed infrastructure, displacing millions of people and leaving close to 2,000 people dead Standing crops were destroyed and there are doubts about the next seasonal crop because the floodwater has still not been completely drained out Besides, those in the flood relief shelters, including children and expecting mothers, have their own tales to tell, with hunger and dis eases being the main features of their existence

As happens in almost every calamity, relief and rehabilitation operations have been led by the armed forces in the remotest of areas, especially in Sindh and Balochistan All such far off places have a large number of lords having millions of acres of land against their name and earning billions of rupees for years and years, but it is unfortunate that when the times get tough they are seldom seen anywhere close to their own areas They prefer to spend time in their urban abodes, waiting for the government to announce some financial relief for the affected people Once that happens, they be come the most affected people and made the most of such an opportunity equally heartless are people who have been known to be hoarding a large stock of life saving drugs even when dengue, malaria and other mal adies are rampant in the affected areas There is no fear of any accountabil ity on anybody’s part

Sajjad

A look At whAt cAused the recent cl Ashes with isrAel And whAt cAn be expected to hAppen next

POLITIC AL

AR, A NE W ARMED UPRISING TAKES HOLD

A

slew of armed attacks against Is raeli soldiers inside the West Bank has sent shock waves throughout the military and intelligence estab lishment in Tel Aviv On the Pales tinian side the territory has witnessed a level of violence not seen since the early 2000s and is encouraging a popular armed struggle

Last Saturday a lone Palestinian gun man exited a vehicle at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem, opening fire and killing an Israeli soldier and injuring two others The attack took place at the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint, a segment of East Jerusalem that, despite being annexed by Israel in 1980, has been enclosed by a separation wall that cuts the refugee population off from the rest of Jerusalem So far this year, around 120 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank alone, a higher death toll than in Gaza

The attack on Saturday was of particular importance in influencing events on the ground; embarrassing Israel’s security estab lishment, and resulting in tough crackdowns on Palestinians spurring on a further escala tion in the days following the shooting Video footage of the incident revealed that a single armed gunman wielding a handgun was able to fire eight bullets at Israeli forces and flee with relative ease after his gun jammed Stationed at the checkpoint were Is raeli soldiers, police and private security guards, none of which were able to prevent the attack and so far the Israeli authorities have failed to even capture the unnamed gunman

As a reaction to the shooting the Shuafat refugee camp, which Israeli forces originally raided in the belief that the attacker was hid ing there was completely closed off as a form of collective punishment Videos, as well as eyewitness reports, from within the refugee camp also revealed a particular bru

tality with which Israeli military forces cracked down on the camp residents The images coming out of the camp, combined with Palestinian solidarity with the armed at tacker at the checkpoint, led to Palestinians taking to the streets to confront Israeli forces throughout the West Bank and wider East Jerusalem area

On Tuesday, the newly declared armed movement that is based in Nablus city, Areen Al Aswad, announced on Telegram that they had been behind another attack on Israeli forces, which had resulted in the killing of Staff Sergeant Ido Baruch The group, known in English as the ‘Lions Den’ had carried out the attack using operatives who fired from a speeding car at Israeli forces, near the Deir al Sharaf area Following this Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid offered his condolences to the family of the Israeli sol dier and vowed to arrest the perpetrators im posing a strict military lockdown in Nablus and surrounding areas

On Wednesday the people of Shuafat refugee camp and Lions Den armed group called for civil disobedience, and this later received wide support from student unions throughout the West Bank In the Jenin refugee camp last year, the ‘Jenin Brigades’ armed movement was declared On Septem ber 2 this year, ‘Areen Al Aswad’ an nounced its formation in the Old City of Nablus However these groups are not the only threat to Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, the violent and non violent struggle is now part of a decentralized pop ular movement These developments have struck fear and confusion into both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) the Palestinian quasi governmental entity that maintains limited powers in some areas of the West Bank

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW?

Just as was the case in 2015 16, when Palestinian armed attacks primarily using

knives seemingly started occurring out of nowhere and had no clear coordination with any leadership, Israel’s military and intelli gence establishment has again grown con fused with recent developments In May 2016, a report was produced for the Israeli Intelligence and Heritage Commemoration Center, which tied a brief uptick in violent attacks on Israelis to events in Jerusalem and even attempted to blame the Palestinian Au thority for being behind it The conclusions drawn from Israel’s annual ‘Herzliya Con ference’ of 2016 also failed to conclude de cisively why such a wave of attacks had occurred totalling in the hundreds during an eleven month period

The armed uprising, as a means of op posing Israeli occupation seemed to have g o n e d o r m a n t i n s i d e t h e We s t B a n k a n d w a s r e s e r v e d p r i m a r i l y t o G a z a s i n c e t h e e a r l y 2 0 0 0 s I n 2 0 0 2 d u r i n g w h a t w a s k n o w n a s t h e S e c o n d I n t i f a d a , w i n g s b e longing to a range of Palestinian political parties were for the most part crushed by w h a t I s r a e l c a l l e d ‘ O p e r a t i o n D e f e n s i v e Shield The military operation lasted from March to May 2002 killing 497 Palestini ans and injuring 1,447 After 2007, when t h e u p r i s i n g w a s o ff i c i a l l y e n d e d , t h e armed groups in the West Bank had either been disbanded or disarmed and their fight ers had joined the PA’s security forces, oth e r w i s e t h e y w e r e d e a d s i l e n c e d o r i n Israeli military prisons The PA’s security f o r c e s , w h i c h u n d e r t h e c o m m a n d o f i t s former leader Yasser Arafat had taken part in confronting Israeli forces during the up rising Washington and Tel Aviv took note of this and decided to restructure the PA s security forces in order to ensure that they would protect Israeli security interests and could not revolt once more

What both Israel and the Palestinian Au thority are failing to understand is that the current round of tensions cannot be traced

back to a single event, as was the case in the 2015 16 escalation If we take a look at the newly formed armed movements, the most well established of which are located in the north of the West Bank, their fighters are pri marily between 18 and 25 years of age and taking note of this is very important

The Palestinian Authority, which was created as a result of the Oslo Agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), is now nearing 30 years as a quasi governmental organization work ing under Israeli occupation The PA was supposed to lead the way to forming an in dependent Palestinian state after only five years The armed groups that exist today are comprised of fighters, most of whom were born after the PA was formed and cannot re member in detail what occurred during the Second Intifada

The Palestinian Authority has lost all credibility in the eyes of the people of the West Bank and, in fact, it has devalued the net worth of the Palestinian cause throughout the Arab world Last year, around 80% of Palestinians polled said they wanted PA President Mahmoud Abbas to resign a sta tistic which grows year by year against the unelected Palestinian leader No matter how many settlements Israel builds or what the statements or actions of Tel Aviv’s leader ship, the PA continues playing the role of security coordination The PA has failed in its mission, the Oslo Accords are no longer relevant, and the younger generation of Palestinians are fed up

There is no way for Israel or the Pales tinian Authority to stop the current trend of armed struggle in the West Bank by con fronting it with limited violent operations; such as the arrest campaigns carried out by the PA s security forces or Operation Break the Wave’ by Israel, the latter having gone on since March 31 There are only two ways of facing this; a full scale Israeli military op

eration or granting significant concessions to the Palestinians of the West Bank, rebooting the “peace process” and the acceptance of Hamas as a real political representative of the Palestinians If Israel and its Western al lies do not choose quickly, chaos will con tinue to spread

The biggest problem for the Israelis right now is that they don’t have anyone to engage with because the armed uprising has no lead ership, the armed groups also have no com mand and control structures that we know about, and there are many assailants who carry out attacks as lone wolves This means you cannot end the rebellion by killing lead ers or arresting them For the PA, they cannot commit to any large scale crackdown against the armed movements if they attempt to do this then the guns will quickly turn on them and many in the ranks of the PA security forces will likely switch sides We have al ready seen PA security force members join in on attacks against Israeli checkpoints and, in Nablus last month armed militants opened fire on PA forces after they arrested a prominent Hamas fighter named Musab Shtayyeh

On Tuesday night, the secretary general of Lebanese Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah commented on the events that are ongoing inside the West Bank, calling it an intifada It now seems that this title is rapidly being attached to the growing armed revolt inside the territory, this could very well be the beginning stages of the Third Intifada a very scary prospect for the PA and Israel alike

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst journalist and documentary filmmaker cur rently based in London, UK He has reported from and lived in the Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News Direc tor of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump's Pales tine Israel Catastrophe

AS the social scientist Badri Narayan has observed, ‘If Babasaheb Ambedkar were alive today he would probably have been quite amazed to see how po litical parties with completely different ide ologies are vying with each other to associate themselves with his persona ’ For Narayan, Ambedkar s life and work have been reinvented and reimagined ‘to occupy a larger space in the public imagination’ than ever before

Narayan attributes this to Dalits becom ing more politically aware than in the past and political parties using their proclaimed commitment to Ambedkar s vision as their instrument of political outreach to Dalit vot ers Yashica Dutt, echoing Ananya Vajpeyi, argues that it is precisely because he opposed them: ‘his blunt analyses about complex power structures were too dangerous for the upper caste establishment and it was safer to neutralise Ambedkar by appropriating him: The BJP, known for its astute political

strategy, discovered that Ambedkar was a clear and direct path to Dalits and their votes But they couldn’t possibly risk engaging with his ideas, which directly attack their foundational principles and would not be palatable to the powerful upper caste vote bank So they appropriated Ambedkar but did not discuss his philosophy or his criti cism of the established power structure By aligning with Ambedkar ’s image, which has been a symbol for Dalit rights, they would like to project themselves as a political party that stands for equality But most political parties want nothing to do with his ideas

The decision of the Aam Aadmi Party government elected in Punjab in 2022 to dis play portraits of Dr Ambedkar (as well as the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh) in govern ment offices was one more example of the iconic status he has now attained in India

It can of course be suggested that the decision was merely a cynical ploy for the Dalit vote, which is estimated at some 16 6 per cent of the electorate But that too rep resents a significant change from Ambed kar s day, when Dalits found themselves being taken for granted especially since they were outnumbered by caste Hindu vot ers even in the constituencies reserved for Dalit candidates

Today, the Left parties, the right wing BJP, the centrist Congress, and the non ide ological AAP have all expressed their admi ration for Ambedkar, decades after mainstream politicians doing so might have made a difference in his own life

Strikingly, Ambedkar might well have derived greater satisfaction from the birth of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Kan shi Ram and later Mayawati, which estab

lished the principle that Dalits would be bet ter off representing themselves through a party dedicated principally to their own ad vancement, rather than by seeking benefits from mainstream political parties vying for their votes Indeed, the BSP formula has re s u l t e d i n M a y a w a t i b e i n g e l e c t e d t h r e e times as chief minister of India s most pop ulous state, Uttar Pradesh a Dalit woman in command of the government of India’s Hindi heartland, something unthinkable for p e r h a p s 3 0 0 0 y e a r s b e f o r e h e r a s c e n t t o p o w e r i n A r y a v r a t a a t t h e c u s p o f t h e twenty first century

It was a vindication of Ambedkar ’s con viction that Dalits needed to assert them selves politically, rather than depend on the grace and favour of the ‘upper ’ castes

But he himself was never able, through any of the parties he established, to achieve meaningful political power except as a parliamentarian appointed by the larger na tionalist party, the Congress

Similarly in his own lifetime the com bative Ambedkar had never been regarded as a contender for high national honours; yet in 1990 thirty four years after his death the minority government of Prime Minister VP Singh, anxious to shore up its levels of po litical support awarded him the country s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna

Ambedkar statues continue to proliferate around the country but they are getting big ger and more majestic as the competitive adulation of Ambedkar in statuary proceeds apace

The Statue of Knowledge a 70 foot tall statue of Ambedkar, was unveiled in Latur city, Maharashtra, in April 2022 Soon followed an announcement from the state of Telangana that a 125 foot tall statue of

Ambedkar would soon be installed at NTR Gardens near Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyder abad Maharashtra, not to be outdone, de clared that work on a memorial to Ambedkar in his native Mumbai was progressing smoothly and the world class monument is expected to be completed by March 2024’

With a budget of Rs 1,000 crore and made of bronze and steel, it will be the tallest Ambedkar statue in the world at 450 feet, standing as high as a fifty storey building and weighing 80 tons The site will feature other Ambedkar memorabilia and a replica of Chawdar Lake, the site of his first agita tion (There is already a more modest memo rial in Airoli in Navi Mumbai, which also features a library dedicated to Ambedkar s life and works ) On 19 May 2022 the state government of Andhra Pradesh went better and announced it wished to rename its Konaseema district as the Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district

The government has issued a notification inviting objections and suggestions from the people residing within Konaseema on the proposal to rename the district It is consid ered highly unlikely that anyone would ob ject It is only a matter of time before another state government decides to take the next step and name an entire city after Ambedkar All this would have been greeted with in credulity in India just fifty years ago, but it is a measure of how much Ambedkar s stature has grown

The attitude of India’s newly dominant Hindutva movement towards Ambedkar has also evolved Initially dismissive of him for his savage remarks on Hinduism and his mo bilisation of the Dalits which went against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s

emphasis on Hindu unity the Hindutva movement was relieved when he chose to convert to Buddhism, an Indic faith, rather than to Islam or Christianity and began speaking of him with respect after his death

Two prominent RSS ideologues, Dat topant Thengadi and Dr Krishna Gopal even authored books on Ambedkar The RSS duly celebrated Ambedkar ’s birth cen tenary and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule s death centenary, in 1990, praising them for their efforts to reform Hindu society and rid it of discriminatory practices and injustices By the time of his 125th birthday, the BJP was in full celebration mode, and their attempts to appropriate him have proceeded apace with Prime Minister Modi frequently invok ing Ambedkar in his speeches and BJP grandees conspicuous by their presence at local ‘Ambedkar Jayanti’ celebrations on his birth anniversary each year In 2022, the BJP extended the observance to an entire ‘social justice week’ commencing on Ambedkar ’s birthday

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T H E S E C R E TA RY G E N E R A L O F L E B A N E S E H E Z B O L L A H , S E Y Y E D H A S S A N N A S R A L L A H , CO M M E N T E D O N T H E E V E N T S T H AT A R E O N G O I N G I N S I D E T H E W E S T B A N K , C A L L I N G I T A N I N T I FA D A . I T N O W S E E M S T H AT T H I S T I T L E I S R A P I D LY B E I N G AT TA C H E D TO T H E G R O W I N G A R M E D R E V O LT I N S I D E T H E T E R R I TO RY, T H I S CO U L D V E RY W E L L B E T H E B E G I N N I N G S TA G E S O F T H E T H I R D I N T I FA D A

AioU rises in academic development , student facilitation

Islamabad: Allama Iqbal Open University has expanded its access to the whole world as a result of the recent digitalization of its system In the last semester a good number of students from America, Africa, Germany, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates enrolled themselves in different programs of AIOU, and tesultantly the university received a significant amount from these admissions of international students This is viewed as a good step towards self sustainability Moreover in the last few years the University has laid special focus on signing MoUs regarding faculty and students exchange programs, and joint degree initiatives with national and international institutions including universities and research organizations from the United Kingdom, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and others in the last four years Another important initiative taken by Vice Chancellor, AIOU, Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum was the agreement with Turkey and United Kingdom regarding the professional development of AIOU’s faculty and staff and now university is sending small cohorts of faculty and staff for training The present Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum, has introduced the university to the international level through these major initiatives International students studying at this national university is not only a source of pride for the university but also for the country Among the 16 other major initiatives of Dr Zia Al Qayyum are the e registration of tutors, provision of information to students under one roof and establishment of a facilitation center to solve their problems, expansion of university infrastructure, providing internet packages to students at discounted rates for AIOU students, the launch of email and SMS service for immediate notifications for students, call centers for students' problems and provide prompt response and establishment of "Online Complaint Management Center", tracking system for information of books and verification of exams, and degrees AIOU has also established a Center of Excellence To explore and research on Seerat Un Nabi SAWW, Sufi traditions in Pakistan and South Asia and explore Iqbal s political philosophical and academic thoughts, three different chairs have also been established pr

President PMC attends curriculum revamping workshop at rMU

CTD ArresTs ATTACker on CHinese CliniC in sADDAr k ArACHi

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sI N D H C o u n t e r Te r r o r i s m D e p a r t m e n t ( C T D ) h a s a r r e s t e d Wa q a r K h u s h k , a t e r r o r i s t b e l o n g i n g t o t h e S R A w h o w a s i n v o l v e d i n t h e a t t a c k o n H U d e n t a l

c l i n i c i n S a d a r a r e a i n a t a rg e t e d o p e r a

t i o n c o n d u c t e d w i t h t h e h e l p o f i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c i e s T h e m o t o r c y c l e u s e d i n t h e t e r r o r i s t a c t h a s a l s o b e e n r e c o v e r e d f r o m t h e a c c u s e d P r o v i n c i a l

M i n i s t e r f o r I n f o r m a t i o n S h a r j e e l I n a m M e m o n r e v e a l e d t h i s i n a p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e o n F r i d a y H e w a s f l a n k e d b y A s i f I j a z S h e i k h D I G C T D S S P I n v e s t i g a t i o n S y e d F i d a H u s s a i n S h a h , M a z h a r M a s h w a n i i n c h a rg e o f C T D T h e m i n i s t e r s a i d that the terrorist organization SRA/Sindh People's Army targeted HU Dental Clinic in Saddar area of K a r a c h i i n w h i c h a d u a l n a t i o n a l R o n a l d R a y m o n d C h a o , d i e d A c c o r d i n g t o C T D , t h e m i n i s t e r added that the target of terrorist organization were D r R i c h a r d H o n o P a o a n d h i s w i f e P h i n Ta i n w h o were injured in the attack The provincial minister s a i d t h a t C T D S i n d h w i t h t h e h e l p o f i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c i e s c o n t i n u e d t o f o l l o w t h e t e r r o r i s t s b y c a r e f u l l y e x a m i n i n g t h e f o o t p r i n t o f t h e t e r r o r i s t , w i t h t h e h e l p o f C C T V f o o t a g e a n d p h y s i c a l a p p e a r a n c e M o r e t h a n 1 0 0 C C T V c a m e r a s w e r e e x a m i n e d H e s a i d t h a t w i t h t h e h e l p o f m o d e r n t e c h n o l o g y a n d i n f o r m e r s , a c c u s e d Wa q a r K h u s h k h a s b e e n a r r e s t e d b y C T D i n a s u c c e s s f u l o p e r a t i o n

He further said that the accused belongs to the S i n d h P e o p l e ' s A r m y, a s u b s i d i a r y o f S R A A c c o r d i n g t o C T D , t h e m i n i s t e r s a i d t h a t a c c u s e d was in contact with Asghar Ali Shah alias Sain and Z u l f i q a r K h a s k h e l i a l i a s S a f e e r T h e t a rg e t w a s

g i v e n t o t h e a c c u s e d b y Z u l f i q a r K h a s k h e l i H e s a i d t h a t C T D a n d i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c i e s ' t e a m s h a v e b e e n f o r m e d t o a r r e s t t h e o t h e r a c c o m p l i c e s o f t h e a c c u s e d F u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f t h e a c c u s e d i s i n p r o c e s s a n d r e c o r d o f t h e a r r e s t e d a c c u s e d i s s o u g h t f r o m o t h e r p o l i c e s t a t i o n s H e s a i d t h a t t h i s i s a m e s s a g e t o a n t i P a k i s t a n e l e m e n t s t h a t P a k i s t a n i s n o t a n s o f t t a rg e t i n a n y c a s e , t h e y m a y b e s u c c e s s f u l i n t h e i r o p e r a t i o n s t e m p o r a r i l y b u t t h e y w i l l h a v e t o f a c e t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s a t t h e e n d T h e m i n i s t e r p r a i s e d t h e p e r formance of CTD and intelligence agencies saying t h a t t h e y h a v e d e t e c t e d a n o t h e r h i g h p r o f i l e c a s e o f t e r r o r i s m i n s h o r t s p a n o f t i m e a n d a r r e s t e d t h e a c c u s e d H e s a i d t h a t S i n d h C h i e f M i n i s t e r h a d t a k e n n o t i c e o f t h e s a d i n c i d e n t o f a t t a c k o n d e n t a l c l i n i c i n S a d a r a n d t a s k C T D t o s o l v e t h e c a s e H e s a i d t h a t C T D a n d S i n d h P o l i c e h a v e p l a y e d an important role in solving all the major incidents o f t e r r o r i s m , s u c h a s K a r a c h i U n i v e r s i t y b l a s t ,

S a d a r b o m b b l a s t K h a r a D a r b o m b b l a s t

S a f o o r a n t r a g e d y a n d f a m o u s Q a w a l A m j a d S a b r i m u r d e r c a s e H e s a i d t h a t t w o D a e s h t e r r o r i s t s w e r e a l s o k i l l e d i n t h e e n c o u n t e r a f e w d a y s a g o H e s a i d t h a t t h e t a rg e t o f t e r r o r i s t s i s n o t a n i n d i vidual but Pakistan They wanted to create atmos p h e r e o f f e a r s o a s t o b a r f o r e i g n i n v e s t m e n t i n t h e c o u n t r y a n d s t o p d e v e l o p m e n t p r o j e c t s O n t h i s o c c a s i o n D I G C T D A s i f I j a z S h a i k h s a i d t h a t t h e a c c u s e d Wa q a r K h u s h k u s e d t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e p r o t e s t o f M i s s i n g P e r s o n e a r l i e r L a t e r, h e c a m e i n c o n t a c t w i t h t h e l e a d e r o f t h e g r o u p , A s g h a r A l i S h a h H e s a i d t h a t B L A , S R A a n d o t h e r t e r r o r i s t o rg a n i z a t i o n s w o r k t o g e t h e r f o r s p r e a d i n g t e r r o r i s m

A n s w e r i n g t h e q u e s t i o n s , P r o v i n c i a l I n f o r m a t i o n M i n i s t e r S h a r j e e l I n a m M e m o n s a i d t h a t

LUX Style Awards 2022 Entering 3rd decade of celebrating and honoring Pakistani talent!

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I s l a m a b a d: President PMC Prof Dr Noshad Ahmad Shaikh visited Rawalpindi Medical University and attended curriculum revamping workshop Prof Muhammad Umar Vice Chancellor RMU, Prof Jahangir Sarwar Khan Principal RMC, Prof Rai Muhammad Asghar Controller of Examination/ Director Medical Education/ and VCs, Principals & other faculty members of various medical universities & colleges of Punjab also attended the workshop President PMC addressed the delegates of UHS & RMU and stated that it is pertinent to devise a uniform curriculum as Pakistan is under way of getting accreditation of WFME accreditation President also shared that PMC is working day and night to facilitate doctors, students and its stake holders PMC has improved its facility management system and resolving all relevant queries on priority He further emphasized that all the vc and stakeholder should be on board with PMC to further flourish the medical dental profession pr

Pak Hotels Association holds annual election

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The LUX Style Awards (LSA) has continued to be the pinna cle of talent recognition in Pak istan for the last 21 years The annual award ceremony has re mained committed to the enter tainment industry and served the people of our country by acknowledging the commend able work of their favorite artists during the previous year The awards empower diverse voices across Pakistan and play an instrumental role in promot ing local talent and putting our stars on the world map

Asima Haq, Beauty and Wellbeing and Personal Care Pakistan Head Unilever Pak istan, said, “As we stay true to this vision, we also realize that our country is facing one of the biggest calamities of all time We want to use this stage

to also support Pakistanis whose lives have been im pacted by the floods To this end, Unilever Pakistan has contributed close to USD 1 Million in rehabilitation ef forts aimed at creating climate resilient infrastructure, sus tainable housing and microfi nance for re enabling lost

livelihoods with the hope that this gesture will support the flood victims as they rebuild their lives

With this sentiment, LSA will acknowledge the hard work of the entertainment in dustry in a befitting manner and light up its stage to bring posi tivity and hope to all Pakistanis

Nestlé employees donate Rs6m for flood rehabilitation effor ts

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Pakistan Hotels Association’s annual election results were announced at its 58th Annual General Meeting, held on September 30, 2022 The following Office Bearers have been elected for the term 2022 23 Mr Mustansir Zakir as Chairman, MianAkramFarid as Senior Vice Chairman, Mr Faisal Qayyum Khan as Vice Chairman North, and Mr Abdul Jabbar Rathod as Vice Chairman South Mr Mustansir Zakir has been elected as Chairman, who is associated with Hashoo Group for more than 25 years, and is the CEO of Hashwani Hotels Limited, the owners and operators of Islamabad & Karachi Marriott Hotels and Zaver

Continental Hotel Gwadar Mr Zakir is a Fellow

of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and Associate Member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICAM) He has done his certification in Hospitality and Strategic Management from Cornell University, USA Mr Zakir has remained Chairman and Executive Committee Member of PHA in the past as well, playing a vital role in the hospitality

behalf of the Pakistan Hotels Association

S i n d h P o l i c e i s w o r k i n g h a r d t o c o n t r o l s t r e e t

crime Just as terrorism has been controlled street

crime will also be controlled He said that the Wit n e s s P r o t e c t i o n A c t w a s e n a c t e d d u r i n g t h e t e n u r e o f f o r m e r S i n d h C h i e f M i n i s t e r S y e d Q a i m A l i

S h a h P e o p l e h a v e t o a c t a s r e s p o n s i b i l e c i t i z e n a n d l o d g e a n F I R o f s u c h i n c i d e n t s a n d c o o p e r a t e w i t h t h e p o l i c e a s w i t n e s s H e a s s u r e d t h a t S i n d h G o v e r n m e n t a n d S i n d h P o l i c e w i l l p r o v i d e p r o t e c t i o n t o t h e m u n d e r t h e Wi t n e s s P r o t e c t i o n A c t O n t h e q u e s t i o n o f w e a p o n s l i c e n s e , h e s a i d t h a t w e a p o n s l i c e n s e s a r e i s s u e d t o c i t i z e n s a s p e r t h e l a w f o r s e c u r i t y t h e r e i s n o t h i n g w r o n g w i t h i t I f a c i t i z e n a c q u i r e s a r m s l i c e n s e t o p r o t e c t t h e m s e l v e s a n d t h e i r c h i l d r e n , i t i s t h e i r r i g h t H e s a i d t h a t t h e C h i e f M i n i s t e r o f S i n d h o r m i n i s t e r s d o n o t h a v e a n y a r m l i c e n s e q u o t a H e a d d e d t h a t I f a m i n i s t e r r e q u i r e s a l i c e n c e h e f o l l o w s t h e s a m e p r o c e d u r e f o r a w e a p o n l i c e n s e a s a c o m m o n m e n O n t h e q u e s t i o n o f I m r a n K h a n ' s v i s i t t o K a r a c h i h e s a i d t h a t t o d a y ' s p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e s h o u l d b e l i m i t e d t o t h e a r r e s t o f t h e t e r r o r i s t , h e d o e s n o t w a n t t o t a l k a b o u t I m r a n Khan He said that Imran Khan is also performing t h e s a m e t a s k t h a t S i n d h R e v o l u t i o n A r m y, S i n d h P e o p l e s A r m y o r B L A a n d o t h e r t e r r o r i s t o rg a n i z a t i o n s a r e d o i n g T h e m e t h o d o f b o t h i s d i ff e r e n t , t h e a i m o f b o t h i s t o t a rg e t P a k i s t a n a n d d e f a m e t h e c o u n t r y Te r r o r i s t o rg a n i z a t i o n s a r e d o i n g t h i s t h r o u g h weapons, while Imran Khan is doing it through his s o c i a l m e d i a t e a m O n t h e q u e s t i o n o f w h o w i l l s t o p I m r a n K h a n f r o m d e f a m i n g t h e c o u n t r y, h e s a i d t h a t i t i s t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f r e l e v a n t i n s t i t u t i o n s t o s t o p I m r a n K h a n B u t i f t h i s m a n d a t e i s g i v e n t o C T D

S i n d h i t c a n p e r f o r m t h i s t a s k v e r y w e l l

iGP islamabad restructures Capital Police on modern lines

LAHORE p r

Employees of Nestlé Pakistan, through a com pany wide donation drive, raised PKR 6 mil lion in cash donations, which will be extended to Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance for flood re habilitation efforts across Pakistan Nestlé invited its employees to make vol untary donations which resulted in raising PKR 3 million This was matched 1:1 by the company and a total of PKR 6 million was raised This fund is named as the Nestlé Reha bilitation Fund in partnership with Akhuwat, to extend interest free loans to the flood victims for rehabilitation purposes

S h a

In view of the facilities to the citizens at the police station level, two officers will be deployed along with the SHOs and 50 more motorcycles and 150 officers will be assigned to the patrolling staff for more effective patrolling and better response The IGP said Patrolling duties will be monitored by an officer of SP rank, safe city cameras will be used for traffic management, which will work under the supervision of the Chief Traffic Officer The Nomenclature of all DIG rank officers was changed into Capital Police Officer, SSP traffic into Chief Traffic Officer, while zonal SP's will be called as Divisional Police Officers, he maintained pr

MPCl hosts Corporate Briefing session

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) held Corporate Briefing Session at its Head Office in Islamabad on Friday, October 14, 2022, in partnership with KTrade Securities(formerly known as KASB Securities) A large number of market analysts, members of the brokerage houses, shareholders, and employees attended the sessionin person as well as virtually on MS Teams Mr Faheem Haider, Managing Director MPCL, and Mr Nabeel Rasheed, CFO MPCL, briefed the participants about the Company’s business operations during the FY 2021 22 including major achievements, on going exploration, production and development projects, financial performanceand future plans A Q&A session followed during which the Managing Director and other members of the senior management replied to the participants queries regarding different aspects of the Company s business operations and ongoing projects The Managing Director appreciatedPSX for promoting the corporate briefing sessions, which provide an excellent platform for communication between the companies and the stock market participants He thanked all the stakeholders for their continued support to MPCL and assured that the Company will continue its admirable legacy of ensuring food and energy security of the Country and contribution towards socio economic development through its sustainable operations pr

Islamabad: On the special instructions of Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Inspector General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan has restructured the Islamabad Capital Police on new lines to make the Operations Division more efficient in view of the law and order situation, a police public relations officer said He said that, IGP Islamabad has developed the Islamabad Capital Police on new lines in view of the crime prevention and law and order situation in the federal capital

I r a q e l e C t S N e w p r e S I d e N t a N d p r e M I e r , e N d I N G S ta l e M at e

IR A q ’s parliament on Thursday elected Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Rashid as president, who im mediately named Mohammed Shia al Sudani prime minister desig nate, ending a year of deadlock after a na tional election in October last year

The presidency traditionally occu pied by a Kurd, is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote for Rashid was a key step toward forming a new govern ment, which politicians have failed to do since the election

Rashid, 78, was the Iraqi minister of water resources from 2003 2010 The British educated engineer won against former President Barham Salih, who was running for a second term

He invited Sudani the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc known as the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran aligned factions, to form a gov ernment Sudani, 52, previously served as Iraq s human rights minister as well as minister of labour and social affairs

Sudani now has 30 days to form a cabinet and present it to parliament for approval Thursday’s vote, which was the fourth attempt to elect a president this year, took place shortly after nine rockets landed on Thursday around the Iraqi cap ital’s Green Zone, according to a military statement At least 10 people including members of the security forces, were in jured in the attack, according to security and medical sources

Similar attacks took place last month as the parliament was holding a vote to confirm its speaker

Thursday’s parliament session comes a year after an election in which populist Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al Sadr was the biggest winner but failed to rally support to form a government

Sadr withdrew his 73 lawmakers in August and said he would quit politics, prompting the worst violence in Baghdad for years when his loyalists stormed a government palace and fought rival Shi’ite groups, most of them backed by

Hindu mob vandalises mosque in Gurgaon; attacks Muslim men, women

GUR GAON Ag e n c i e s

A mob of more than 200 Hindu extremists ransacked a mosque in Bhora Kalan village in Gurgaon, assaulting Muslims who were praying inside and threatened to expel them from the village Though the anti Muslim violence happened in Bhora Kalan village Wednesday night, no arrests were reported

According to a complaint filed by Subedar Najar Mohammad, Bhora Kalan village has only four houses of Muslim families

“The ruckus began Wednesday morning, when a mob comprising about 200 people reportedly led by Rajesh Chauhan alias Babu, Anil Bhadoria, and Sanjay Vyas surrounded the mosque and entered the prayer hall where they threatened the namazis with expulsion from the village,” Mohammad said “In the night again, when we were praying inside the prayer hall in the mosque, the mob came and assaulted the namazis and even locked the prayer hall They also threatened to kill us, read his complaint

Following Mohammad’s complaint, an FIR was registered against Rajesh Chauhan Anil Bhadoria Sanjay Vyas and several others under charges of rioting, trying to cause religious strife, and unlawful assembly at Bilaspur Police Station

“We built a small mosque in our village area in 2013 since there were no mosques at that time Hindu society has objected since then and tried to create disruption Every day we are threatened and asked to leave the village When Muslims from other villages come to offer Namaz once a week, i e , Friday, the Hindu community obstruct them and create chaos, Shakeel, a local Muslim resident, told to the media

Iran and with armed wings

Sadr, who has not declared his next move, has a track record of radical action, including fighting U S forces, quitting cab inets, and protesting against governments Many fear protests by his supporters Security personnel had deployed checkpoints across the city closed off bridges and squares and erected walls across some of the bridges leading to the fortified Green Zone on Thursday

“Now Iran backed groups are domi nating the parliament, they have a friendly judiciary and have dominated the executive (authority) they will need to benefit from it one way to benefit from it is to do it gradually or suddenly and try marginalize or expel pro Sadrists from the state apparatuses said Hamdi Malik, specialist on Iraq’s Shi’ite militias at the Washington Institute, adding the approach on how they do it will deter mine how Sadr will react

Under a power sharing system de signed to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq’s

president is a Kurd, its prime minister a Shi’ite and its parliament speaker a Sunni

The presidency was fiercely con tested between Iraqi Kurdistan’s two main parties the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which backed Rashid after with drawing its own candidate, and its tradi tional rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which nominated Salih

Rashid’s election raises concerns about escalating tensions between the KDP and PUK, who fought a civil war in the 1990s

The KDP and PUK were un able to iron out differences and agree on one candidate

The relationship between the PUK and the KDP is at its lowest , ” said Zmkan Ali Saleem, assistant professor of political science at Sulaimani University

However, the tension will not lead to a break in the relationship between the parties and will eventually calm down because Rashid is a PUK member and his wife is a powerful figure within the party, Saleem added Ag e n c i e s

Judges’ repor t indicts Indian state machiner y, media, BJP leaders for 2020 Delhi riots

A citizens committee comprising Indian judges, in its report on the 2020 Delhi riots, has flagged the failures of Indian state machinery, indicted the BJP leadership for pro voking anti Muslim sentiments dur ing electioneering, and condemned media for vilifying Muslims

The report titled Uncertain Justice: A Citizens Committee Re port on the North East Delhi Vio lence 2020 was authored by the committee chaired by Justice Madan B Lokur, former Judge of the Supreme Court

Other committee members in cluded Justice AP Shah former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts and former Chairman of the Law Commission Justice R S Sodhi, former Judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice An jana Prakash, former Judge of the Patna High Court, and G K Pillai, former Home Secretary Govern ment of India

The report delved into the fac tors which led to the killing of 53 people after the Hindu fanatics at tacked on the protestors who were demanding the repeal of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), passed by the Indian parliament

“The Muslim community was grappling with deep fears of loss of citizenship stemming from the combined effect of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), passed in December 2019, with po tential exclusion through the Na tional Register of Citizens process, the report said

The report relied on legal doc uments including FIRs, charge sheets, and orders passed by courts

The committee highlighted the “state failures”, including those of the Delhi Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi gov ernment, as well as the irresponsi ble role played by the Indian media

“Speeches, statements and slo gans by BJP functionaries, promi nently Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur, characterised the protesters as traitors, enemies, and violent trou blemakers, within a divisive Hindu Muslim binary,” the report stated

The committee also noted the specific targeting of anti CAA protest sites, including at Chand Bagh Kardampuri Jaffrabad Mustafabad and Khajuri Khas

“Calls for violence against the so called “traitors”, in the form of the “goli maaro” (Shoot the traitors) slogan were casually repeated with no censure The vilification of the protests and anti Muslim hate was amplified by widely viewed televi sion news channels and social media,” the report found

In 171 page report, the judges’ committee observed that Delhi Po lice failed to prevent the violence even though there were enough warning signs since January 2020 indicating a tense build up

“There were also instances of police complicity of varying de grees, the report said

The committee also found that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gov ernment in Delhi did “precious lit

tle during this entire time to medi ate between the communities, even with the warning signs”

While mobs clashed and caused damage to each other, Mus lim identity, ranging from individ uals to homes, businesses, and places of worship, was targeted This grim mix of targeted as well as generalized violence, resulted in the death of 40 Muslims and 13 Hindus, the report said

It also highlighted the targeted application of the Unlawful Activi ties (Prevention) Act (UAPA), an anti terror legislation, into one of the FIRs connected with the riots severely restricting the avenues of the accused to get bail during the course of the trial

“This Committee has carefully considered whether the criminal ac tions alleged in the first chargesheet filed in FIR 59 qualify as “terrorist” acts (see Chapter 8) and found no material in it substantiating the al legation that the “unity, integrity, security economic security or sov ereignty of India” was threatened ”

The report condemned news media for mirroring the politicians’ hate narrative directed at anti CAA protesters and Muslims It said that the social media platforms were widely used to propagate divisive Hindu Muslim narratives and calls for violence The analysis of top six most viewed Indian television news channels by the committee reveled reportage of events surrounding the CAA framed the issues as Hindus versus Muslims”

China urges Nor th, South Korea to create environment for fresh dialogue

Ag e n c i e s

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Friday said the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) should strive to create conditions for resuming meaningful dialogue

Mao made the remarks in response to China s take on the ROK’s sanctions on 15 individuals and 16 institutions tied to the DPRK missile program due to a ballistic missile the DPRK launched toward the eastern waters of the Korean Peninsula

All parties should face up to the crux that caused the peninsula s long deadlock, and keep to the direction of political settlement to prevent escalating the tension, she added

A man watches a news broadcast showing file footage of a DPRK's missile test in Seoul, ROK, October 14 2022 /CFP

A man watches a news broadcast showing file footage of a DPRK’s missile test in Seoul, ROK, October 14 2022 /CFP

According to Reuters, ROK’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the latest missile was launched at 1:49 a m on Friday (1449 Thursday GMT) from the Sunan area near DPRK’s capital, Pyongyang, and flew about 700 kilometers to an altitude of 50 km at a speed of Mach six ROK’s National Security Council (NSC) condemned the DPRK for escalating tensions calling its moves a violation of a 2018 bilateral military pact that bans “hostile acts” in the border area

DPRK’s military issued a statement via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) early on Friday saying that it took strong military countermeasures,” over ROK’s artillery fire on Thursday

The JCS said the aircraft incident occurred for about two hours from 8:30 p m on Thursday (1130 GMT), during which about 10 DPRK’s planes flew as close as 12 km north of the sea border and 25 km north of the Military Demarcation Line It said the ROK air force conducted an emergency sortie with its superior air force, including the F 35A” and a proportional response manoeuvre

The General Staff of the DPRK s Korean People s Army (KPA) accused the ROK of taking “provocative action” with the artillery fire, which lasted about 10 hours

“The KPA sends a stern warning to the ROK’s military inciting military tension in the frontline area with reckless action,” its spokesman said, according to KCNA

Pu t i n o p e n fo r t a l k s a s Ky i v s e e k s m o r e we a p o n s f r o m We s t

between Russian and Ukrainian forces

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Fri day that Russia is always open to negotiations, and if Kyiv is ripe for talks, then mediation ef forts of those who offer would be required

He made the remarks at a news confer ence in the Kazakh capital Astana where he s been attending meetings with regional leaders

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying we have repeatedly reiter ated that we remain open to negotiations to achieve our objectives”, in the comments to the Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday

Meanwhile, Ukraine expects the U S and Germany to deliver sophisticated anti aircraft systems to Kyiv this month, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday

There is a U S decision to supply us with a very well known NASAMS system: the first few batches Our specialists are al ready being trained And they will be deliv

ered this month,” Reznikov said on Ukrain ian television

He mentioned Ukraine would take deliv ery of the IRIS II air defense system from Germany in October

Ukraine’s armed forces have liberated more than 600 settlements from the Russian occupation in the past month, including 75 in the Kherson region, Ukraine’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occu pied Territories said late on Thursday

Some 502 settlements have been liberated in the northeast Kharkiv region where Ukrain ian forces last month advanced deep into Russian lines, the ministry said, adding that 43 settlements were liberated in the Donetsk re gion and seven in the Luhansk region

“The area of liberated Ukrainian territo ries has increased significantly the ministry said in a statement on its website

On Thursday, the Russian appointed governor of Ukraine s Kherson region ap pealed to residents to evacuate amid fighting

“Evacuation from the Kherson Region to our other regions is necessary in order to en sure maximum safety for our people Our forces on the right bank in Kherson continue to hold back attempts by Ukraine’s armed forces to break through the defenses”, An drey Turchak, the first deputy speaker of the Federation Council, secretary of the United Russia party’s General Council, said on Fri day according to TASS

A five story residential building was de stroyed by shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, October 12, 2022 /CFP

President

and no soldier left in captivity

“By defeating this enemy, we will re spond to all enemies who encroached on Ukraine on those who lived, who live and

who will live on our land This will be a vic tory for all our people This will be a victory for the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zelen skyy said

U k r a

Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Ukraine s De fenders Day holiday on Friday by promising victory over Russia and freedom for Ukraine

In a video address delivered on hills out side the capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s armed forces for defending their country He said everything that had been taken away from Ukraine would be returned,

BEIJING

PakisTaN Thrash Bl aCk CaPs To wiN Tri-series; PM greeTs TeaM

S ta f f R e p o R t

a

L L R O U N D E R Mohammad Nawaz helped Pakistan to a five wicket victory over New Zealand on Friday to win the tri series

Twenty20 final in Christchurch with three balls to spare It was a good sign for Pakistan going into the World Cup in Australia with an opener against arch rivals India on October 23

After the hosts finished on 163 7 at Hagley Oval, spinner Michael Bracewell checked Pakistan s early mo mentum in the tourists’ reply, before Nawaz stepped up with his decisive 38 off 22 balls

Haider Ali also made a useful 31 off 15 balls

Having also steered Pakistan out of trouble in Thurs day’s dead rubber win over Bangladesh, Nawaz pro duced another stellar innings before Iftikhar Ahmed sealed victory with a six in the final over

I just backed myself when I came on yesterday and today, all the preparation in the nets meant I had a clear mind,” said man of the match Nawaz

I have been batting in the middle order in club cricket, which helps a lot, and I was very happy to fulfil the team’s expectations in me ”

The Black Caps World Cup finalists last year started well with captain Kane Williamson the top scorer with a masterful display of stroke play to chalk up 59 off 38 balls The hosts flew out of the traps with Finn Allen hitting three fours before he was caught by Naseem Shah for 12 off six balls Williamson came in to settle nerves with his first half century in any format in 2022 after struggling for form following an elbow injury

“It was a great game, Pakistan are a strong side and all credit to the way they turned the game s momentum, said Williamson

“There was a lot of good in it, but it was frustrating not to get over the line In reply, formidable Pakistan

Third T20 between australia and england abandoned due to rain

CANbErrA

ag e n c i e S

England were denied a clean sweep of their T20 se ries against Australia when persistent rain forced the third match to be abandoned in Canberra on Friday Needing 130 to win from 12 overs, Australia were 30 3 from 3 5 overs when rain forced the players from the field for the third and final time England captain Jos Buttler said his team was building up well to the T20 World Cup, after winning the three match series 2 0 “We made some good strides in Pakistan and we came here (Australia) and continued that form ” Buttler said It was a disappointing end to the match, the last official game for both teams before the World Cup, which starts on October 22 After being sent in by Australian captain Aaron Finch, Buttler smashed 65 from only 41 balls as England reached 112 2 in their 12 overs Australia, already 2 0 down in the three match series, then needed 130 to win based on the Duckworth Lewis method And they got the worst possible start when Chris Woakes had Finch and number three Mitchell Marsh caught with the first two balls of the match to stun the home side He then dismissed Glenn Maxwell in the third over to leave the Australians in huge trouble at 17 3 before rain forced an early end Finch earlier won the toss and chose to field, with Australia getting away to the perfect start themselves as Josh Hazlewood had Alex Hales caught at first slip in just the second over Buttler and Dawid Malan looked comfortable and after a slow start began to accelerate, but shortly after the first rain delay Malan miscued an attempted slog off Pat Cummins and was caught at mid off by Marsh for 23 A second rain delay saw the match shortened to 12 overs each, and Buttler came out firing, blasting 22 runs off the 11th over to help set a challenging total Woakes bril liant opening spell made that target unlikely and an Australian defeat appeared to be saved by the rain “It was really hard to stop the (English batters) and credit to them they outplayed us Finch said

PAris ag e n c i e S

Less than five months after Kylian Mbappe signed a new three year contract to supposedly end the uncertainty about his future, Paris Saint Germain are once again fac ing up to the possibility of losing the

superstar

german Rizwan lbw for 34 runs off 29 balls

But just as he did against Bangladesh Nawaz came to the crease to wrestle back control of the match Iftikhar ’s towering six with three balls left clinched victory in style “It’s disappointing that we can’t take the winners’ cup home,” said Bracewell, who finished man of the series What lost us the game was those last couple of overs at both ends, but we can take a lot of positives into the World Cup PM Shehbaz Sharif also felicitated the national cricket team on winning the T20 Tri series “Congratulations to Team Pakistan for a great series win,” he said in a tweet as Pakistan won the final against New Zealand by five wickets The prime minis ter lauded the “amazing” performance of the players that ended up in the victory of Pakistan “And what an amaz ing finish today with Nawaz, Haider and Harris playing significant role, he said Shehbaz Sharif wished success to Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for the T20 World Cup being held this month All the best to Babar 11 for the upcoming T20 World Cup ” he said

Pakistan recalls Fakhar Zaman to squad for ICC T20 World Cup

LAHOrE

S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan have made one change

their squad

Cup Australia

and Usman Qadir

Fakhar

squad

Usman

included

change

g l a n d ( 1 7 O c t o b e r )

a n d A f g h a n i s t a n ( 1 9 O c t o b e r ) , d u r i n g w h i c h t h e t e a m m a n a g e m e n t w i l l a s s e s s t h e l e f t h a n d e d b a t t e r s f i t n e s s h e s a i d P a k i s t a n s q u a d : B a b a r A z a m ( c a p t a i n ) S h a d a b K h a n ( v i c e c a p t a i n ) , A s i f A l i , F a k h a r Z a m a n , H a i d e r A l i , H a r i s R a u f , I f t i k h a r A h m e d K h u s h d i l S h a h M o h a m m a d H a s n a i n , M o

Pakistan middle - order batting shows glimmer of hope in C hristchurch

LAHOrE

The Pakistani middle order batting has been under a scan ner for the past few months, and it got a lot of flak from the fans for its lacklustre show in the ACC T20 Asia Cup 2022, the seven match T20I home series against England and the group stage matches of the tri series featuring Pakistan, Bangladesh and hosts New Zealand in Chirstchurch, New Zealand The last being the only series where the Shaheens emerged victorious on Friday

Though some individual performances from the mid dle order batting can be recalled form the memory lane but no such match can be quoted where the middle order batters rallied to win a match for the Pakistan team since the ICC Men s T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE and Oman

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earned more pub lic ire after the Pakistan team for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia was announced last month and ace all rounder Shoaib Malik and Imad Wasim were ignored Chief Selector Mohammad Waseem had claimed that the best squad was picked keeping in mind the con ditions in Australia the host country of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Pakistani cricket fans looked dis satisfied with the team selection only due to the selection of certain middle order batters who had lost confidence of the fans but not the management

The onus of burden was on the middle orders batters like Haider Ali Iftikhar Ahmed Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah to justify their inclusion in the World Cup bound squad through their glittering performance with the bat Notwithstanding some individual performances from all rounders Shadab Khan and Muhammad Nawaz in the tri nation series in New Zealand, a lot was wanting from the middle order batters It was not until the final of the tri nation series in Christchurch on Friday when Pakistan

middle order showed a glimmer of hope through a match changing knock of 31 off 15 balls from Haider Ali and match winning innings of 38 (22) runs by Muhammad Nawaz Iftikhar Ahmed also played a responsible knock of 25 off 14 balls and finished the match with a six off Tickner across the mid wicket fence

The thunderous knock of 31 runs from Haider Ali turned the tables on the hosts New Zealand who had al most pushed the Pakistan team to the wall by the 12th over when Mohammad Rizwan fell with the total at 74 3 Haider Ali added quick fire 58 runs off 26 balls with Muhammad Nawaz and by the time he fell of a slower ball from Tim Southee in the 16th over with the total on 132, Pakistan team could see the victory well wrought on the clear Christchurch skies The victory in the last match of the tri series meant that Pakistan lifted the trophy be fore entering the T20 World Cup

H a i

i n n i n g

has boosted his morale and thanked the team manage ment for keeping faith in him despite failures He said

Multan clinches

n a l B a n k o f P a k i s t a n ( N B P ) T 2 0

B l i n d c r i c k e t t r o p h y 2 0 2 2 ( G r a d e 2 ) ,

M u l t a n b y d e f e a t i n g A b b o t t a b a d w i t h a m a rg i n o f 7 4 r u n s T h e f i n a l m a t c h w a s p l a y e d a t S p o r t s C o m p l e x S t a d i u m h e r e o n F r i d a y A b b o t t a b a d w o n t h e t o s s a n d a s k e d M u l t a n t o t a k e g u a r d M u l t a n Te a m ’s C a p t a i n M u h a m m a d S a f d a r p l a y e d a n e x t r a o r d i n a r y i n n i n g s o f u n b e a t e n 2 1 3 * r u n s a n d w e l l s u p p o r t e d b y G h u l a m A k b a r w h o a d d e d 5 9 r u n s i n t h e t o t a l T h e M u l t a n t e a m f i n i s h e d w i t h a g i a n t t o t a l o f 3 0 6 r u n s f o r t h e l o s s o f t w o w i c k e t s i n s t i p u l a t e d 2 0 o v e r s A b b o t t a b a d w a s a b l e t o s c o r e 2 3 2 r u n s b y l o s i n g f i v e w i c k e t s i n 2 0 o v e r s R i a s a t K h a n r e m a i n e d t o p s c o r e r w i t h u n b e a t e n 1 4 8 r u n s A r s l a n a n d A k b a r t o o k o n e w i c k e t e a c h M u h a m m a d S a f d a r f r o m M u l t a n t e a m w a s d e c l a r e d m a n o f t h e m a t c h O n t h i s o c c a s i o n , B u s i n e s s H e a d N B P S a i l A b b a s , C h a i r m a n P a k i s t a n B l i n d

C r i c k e t C o u n c i l S y e d S u l t a n S h a h D i v i s i o n a l S p o r t s o ff i c e r R a n a N a d e e m A n j u m w e r e t h e c h i e f g u e s t s w h o d i s t r i b u t e d p r i z e s a m o n g t h e p l a y e r s P l a y e r of th e Tou r n a m e n t: B 1 : R i a s a t K h a n ( A b b otta b a d ) , B 2 : N i a m a t U l l a h ( Q u e t t a ) B 3 : M u h a m m a d S a f d a r ( M u l t a n ) B e s t W i c k e t K e e p e r : A m j a d M u g h e r i ( H yd e ra b a d )

Ligue 1 bench this weekend as

the task of boosting the club’s image

The work involved going after a number of targets earmarked by the club, including a supporter slapped by Neymar after PSG lost the 2019 French Cup final and a woman who accused the Brazilian of raping her

But there were also internal targets such as Adrien Rabiot now with Juventus and Mbappe himself

The Qatar owned club sit top of Ligue

and their Champions League group, but all is not well in the French capital with a raft of reasons given for Mbappe reportedly wanting away It has completely overshadowed PSG’s build up to Sunday s game against bitter rivals Marseille

The speculation started on Tuesday, hours before Christophe Galtier ’s team hosted Benfica in the Cham pions League, with Spanish sports daily Marca and sev eral French media reporting that Mbappe wants to leave as early as the January transfer window Mbappe has in recent weeks let it be known publicly that he is unhappy with the position he has been asked to play in new coach Galtier ’s system, pointing out after playing for France last month that he has much more freedom” playing for his country Mbappe still scored his 12th goal of the season for

PSG as they drew 1 1 with Benfica but it is believed he is disappointed the club did not sign a top class centre forward in the close season for example Robert Lewandowski who went to Barcelona

PSG’s football advisor Luis Campos told Canal Plus that Mbappe had “never spoken to me about leaving in January However that was before the investigative website Mediapart reported on Wednesday that an agency called Digital Big Brother (DBB) had worked on behalf of PSG to deploy a series of Twitter accounts with

“We worked for PSG It bothers us for our reputation that PSG deny working with us,” Frederic Geldhof, who worked for a subsidiary of DBB called UReputation, told AFP PSG have “firmly” denied the allegations that they asked the agency to work on their behalf

We were doing everything to get him to extend his contract We were not going to secretly troll him,” one source, formerly connected to the PSG board, told AFP of the claims Mbappe was targeted

The affair carries similarities to the ‘Barcagate’ scan dal which saw Barcelona allegedly hire a company to

board on social media

opponents of the club

It may do little to help the relationship between PSG and their biggest star,

if there is surely little prospect of the club agreeing to sell Mbappe

the

openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan smashed Tim Southee on his 100th T20 international appearance for nine runs in the opening over, then hit Trent Boult for 10 in the second Bracewell then intervened and grabbed the wickets of Azam and Shan Masood, and Ish Sodhi trapped dan

T h o u s A n d s d i s A P P r o v e ‘ wAv e o F m i l i TA n C y ’ AT m A m m o T h s wAT r A l ly

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

TH O U S A N D S of people took to streets in Swat valley on Friday against the recent wave of militancy in the area, demanding action against ter rorists at Charbagh Tehsil

The protesters gathered at Charbagh Chowk in Charbagh Town and chanted slogans against the recent wave of militancy and terrorism They demanded the government to take stern action against miscreants, threatening otherwise they would be constrained to march on the federal capital Prominent among the participants were Provincial head of Pakistan Mus lim League Nawaz (PML N), Amir Muqam, Olasi Pasoon President Fawad Khan ANP District President Ayub Khan Ashari, President District Bar Association Mushtaq Khan, JUI (F) leader Hilal Danish, Jamaat e Is lami leader Naveed Khan, veteran

politician Mukhtar Khan Yousafzai and other elders of Swat Amir Muqam said that the Federal government has taken the notice of re cent terror attacks and would take every possible step for the restoration of peace Prime Minister Shehbaz

Power tariff hiked by 19 paisa/unit under FCA for August

ISLAMABAD A h m A d A h m A dA n i

Already burdened power consumers will find additional burden as National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved 19 paisa per unit hike in power tariff on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) of August 2022 and issued a notification to this effect According to NEPRA notification, the authority has reviewed and assessed an increase of Rs 0 1918 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in the applicable tariff of Ex WAPDA power distribution companies (DISCOs) on account of variation in the fuel charges for the month of August The NEPRA had earlier fixed the reference fuel charge component for August 2022 at Rs 10 0852/kWh while actual fuel charge component registered at Rs 9 8934/kWh As per NEPRA notification, this increase of 19paisa/unit in electricity price shall be applicable to all consumers categories except Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and lifeline consumers of all the DISCOs The said adjustment shall be shown separately in the consumer s bills on the basis of units billed to the consumers in the month of August 2022 The XWDISCOs shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of August 2022 in the billing month of October 2022, said NEPRA notification While adjusting the Fuel Adjustment Charges the concerned XWDISCOs shall keep in view and strictly comply with the orders of the courts notwithstanding this order, NEPRA notification added Earlier CPPA on behalf of power distribution companies (DISCOs) except K Electric asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to approve Rs0 2192 per kilowatt hour (kWh) under FCA of August, 2022 and NEPRA conducted a hearing in this regard on September 29 The CPPA in its application has submitted that the total electricity generated with various fuels in the month of August was recorded at 14 052 59 GWh at a basket price of Rs10 0587 per unit The total cost of energy was Rs141,351 million The power generation with hydel source was 5,353 69 GWh (giga watt per hour) constituting 38 10 per cent while power production with coal fired power plants was 2,163 01 GWh which was 15 39 per cent of the total generation at a price of Rs20 5441 per unit

Sharif had ordered the law enforce ment agencies to maintain law and order at ever cost, and maintain peace in the valley We will not tolerate ex tremism and terrorism at any cost”, said Amir Maqam, adding that people of Swat were peace loving and he

would stand by them in every situation

We have rendered matchless sac rifices for our mother land and will do the same if needed The activities of terrorists in the district in the presence of hundred and thousands of police and law enforcing agencies, have raised questions in the minds of the people

We have decided to keep our surveil lance on miscreants in every nuke and crony of the district”, said Mukhtar Khan Yousafzai, leader of Pakhtun Khwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP)

The spokesman for Swat Qaumi Jiga threatened that if the state failed to provide security to the people of Swat, they would march and would call for a sit in in front of parliament

“We are tired to give more sacri fices, and burying dead bodies This time the people are aware and know their enemy”, said Ayub Khan Ashari, adding that all residents of the valley irrespective of their political affilia tion, were united against the menace of terrorism

I m r a n K h a n d e m a n d s e n d t o ‘r e i g n o f d a c o i t s ’ i n S i n d h

kArAchI

S tA f f R e p o R t

In a veiled dig at Sindh’s ruling party PPP, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said Friday that the reign of “dacoits” in the province should come to an end Khan’s remarks came during his visit to Karachi as he rallies his party workers for the anti government “Azadi March”, for which the date is yet to be announced In a recent gathering, the PTI chairman told his workers to be ready as he could give the call for the march “at any time”

In his address today the PTI chairman said that in the next general elections, his party would form governments in Sindh and the Centre Sindh s resources are stolen and they are si phoned out of the country,” the PTI chairman said Khan urged Karachi’s youth to come for ward and partake in politics as political move ments in the early days would begin from the metropolis

“Had there not been violence in Karachi, it would have progressed more than Dubai,” Khan

said as he vowed that now, things would change for the port city as “no power” could stop his party from getting its mayor elected in the up coming local body elections

“After the local body elections, we will also emerge successful in the general elections,” he said

The PTI chairman also said that the incum bent government, which came into power through a foreign conspiracy , would not re main in office for long “My nation has stood up for its future ”

Seperately while speaking to lawyers in the metropolis, the former prime minister said that the nation is facing a “decisive time” as if “big thieves keep getting NROs then the country would not have a future

He said that lawyers understand the need for upholding the law and that is why they should support his cause

Powerful people steal money and launder it abroad This is why, I am waging jihad and I want all of you to support me,” the ex prime minister said

Former B alochistan High Cour t C J shot dead outside mosque in K haran: police

QUETTA Ag e n c i e S

Former Balochistan High Court chief justice Muhammad Noor Meskanzai was fatally shot outside a mosque in Balochistan’s Kharan area, a police official said on Friday Kharan Superintendent of Police Asif Halim told media that unidentified assailants opened fire at him outside the mosque, which left Maskanzai gravely injured He was taken to a nearby hospital where he died of his injuries

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo expressed grief over the demise of the brave and fearless judge

He added that his services were “unforget table” and stressed that the “cowardly attacks of the enemies of peace cannot intimidate the na tion” Quetta Bar Association announces boycott of courts

Meanwhile, Quetta Bar Association Presi dent Ajmal Khan Kakar condemned the incident and announced a boycott of the courts along with mourning for three days

Pm, CoAs meet to discuss ‘national securit y’

ISLAMABAD

S tA f f R e p o R t

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held an important meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa which was followed by a high level meeting regarding national security

According to reports received from Prime Minister House a high level meeting was held regarding national security wit Prime Minister Shehbaz in the chair, in which senior military officials including Army Chief General Bajwa also participated In the meeting, important issues related to the security of the country were deliberated upon, while the situation in Swat and concerns of the local people were also discussed in detail

Before the meeting, the army chief held a separate meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz in which the security situation of the country was discussed Gen Bajwa informed Shehbaz Sharif about his recently concluded visit to the United States and meetings with the US officials, while the prime minister discussed about his visit to Kazakhstan and meetings with world leaders In the meeting, the economic and financial situation of the country also came under discussion PM Shehbaz and COAS General Bajwa discussed in detail the national security and overall security situation in the meeting

imF, wB, isdB reiterate continued suppor t to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD S tA f f R e p o R t

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) assured Pakistan of complete cooperation and support as the country suffers from the consequences of devastating floods The commitments of continued support to the country by the lenders were made during separate meetings with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is currently in the United States to attend annual meetings of the WB and the IMF

According to a press statement, the finance minister met IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh who appreciated the government’s policies

In a separate meeting with President World Bank David Malpass, Dar thanked him for the bank s assistance in rescue and relief operations during the catastrophic floods, which put a third of Pakistan underwater, displaced eight million destroyed or damaged two million homes, crippled 1,500 hospitals and clinics, and caused an estimated $28 billion in damages

The statement added that Malpass assured to continue to support Pakistan to help it overcome its socio economic challenges due to the floods The finance minister also held a separate meeting with Vice President WB’s South Asia Region Martin Raiser During the meeting, Raiser assured support to the country to overcome the economic crisis it currently faces During a meeting with Dar, IsDB President Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser appreciated Pakistan s efforts to stabilise the economy while providing relief to the flood affectees

PML-N says no deal for acquittal of PM S hehbaz, M ar yam, Hamza in graf t c ases

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif Friday flayed the statement of PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan about the recent acquittal of the Sharif family members, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, allegedly under a deal with the establishment

Addressing a press conference along with other federal ministers including Infor mation Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Ahsan Iqbal here, Asif said PML N leaders

Maryam Nawaz Hamza Shehbaz and the prime minister were acquitted by the courts on merit, not due to any “deal”

PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan earlier this week claimed that the establishment “rescued” the Sharif family in corruption cases, saying that graft cases against PM

Shehbaz, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were “open and shut” cases

Responding to his allegations, Asif said the PML N leaders have always respected the Constitution and courts and the recent court verdicts have proven their innocence

We have proved from our words and actions that we don’t want to violate the Constitution and the verdicts have been an nounced by the courts on merit,” he added

The defence minister further said the PPP leader s allegations were a reflection of “his frustration and personal temptation”

“Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz ap peared before JITs [joint investigation teams] hundreds of times We have always demonstrated respect for the judiciary ”

Responding to a question, Asif ruled out that his party would take action against the

PPP leader under Article 6 of the Constitu tion This person [Aitzaz Ahsan] does not have any value or political stature to take such action against him ” However, the min ister added that the government will defi nitely” retaliate and take action against him under the law and the Constitution

The ruling PML N s reaction came a day after its coalition partner the PPP distanced itself from Aitzaz’s statement and reportedly decided to suspend his party’s membership

In a statement, the PPP said Aitzaz’s statement was his personal view and termed it against the party line

Responding to a question, the defence minister said the PML N was working on a plan to oust the PTI led provincial govern ments through “Constitutional and legal means”

“We will use our Constitutional and

legal right against them [provincial govern ments] when the time is ripe

He also lashed out at PTI Chairman Imran Khan, calling him “an arrogant person who only loves to make money

Responding to Imran’s recent statement, Asif said the deposed premier would brag about a one page mantra and appreciate his government’s relations with the military when he was in government

Imran on Wednesday said that his gov ernment was not at liberty to call all the shots as he was all but a figurehead and said the actual rule was of “someone else” He lamented that the country was supposed to be his responsibility during his time in office but “someone else” held the reins of rule

The defence minister said the next gen eral elections will be held at the scheduled time, saying that polls cannot be held under

anyone’s pressure He added that any deci sion regarding holding elections will be taken by Premier Shehbaz in consultation with coalition partners Speaking on the oc casion Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal added that Sindh and Balochistan are witnessing the worst devastation due to recent floods and organising the elections in the next eight months “seems impossible”

He further said efforts are being made to complete the rehabilitation process by April next year Ahsan said the final results of the new census will likely come in March next year after which four months are required for the delimitation of constituencies as per the Constitution

Ahsan said that objective of the cam paign being run by Imran is not to have elec tions in the country but to create chaos and uncertainty

ISLAMABAD