Epaper_22-10-21 LHR

Willing to talk With Pti in 'l arger national interest': PM

iments to the development projects of the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) within 48 hours

The prime minister chairing a rev ew meeting to discuss the SDF pro ects fac ing delay, sa d the pace and dedica tion showed by the cab net members and relevant officers should be fol owed in future as well

The meeting was also attended by the delegation of Saudi Development Fund SDF s As a Director Dr Saud A Al shammari currently vis ting Pakistan

The meeting was told that the all de partments concerned had fulfilled the requirements to remove obstacles in the projects The prime minister sa d the un necessar y delay in SDF funds had n flicted huge oss to the countr y which necessitated swift pace and ded cation to overcome the deficiency

ISLAMABAD

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said he was will ng to talk with polit ca rival PTI for the “ sake of national nterest ” The statement comes amid spec u ations of backchannel talks go ng on between the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the establishment and the federal gov ernment However, there is no confirma tion yet from any side

Addressing the aunch ceremony of “ Youth Development Initiatives” here, the prime minister said: You didn t shake [my] hand for four years and now you re saying to ‘come to talk with us’? Till when wi l th s two facedness continue? But we w ll be ready for t for the sake of national interest

Dec ning to give any details, the prime minister said he was ready to g ve “any sacrifice” for keep ng the nat onal interest as the pr mar y concern

Since h s ouster former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan has at various points expressed w ll ngness to hold a di alogue with the incumbent government if it was ready to hold fresh elections

It has already been reported in the med a that President Arif Alv was mak

ing backchannel efforts to defuse the current political tension

PM Shehbaz Sharif Thursday an nounced nitiatives of providing 20 000 internships to young eng neers and 75 scho arships to students for studies in the top universities of the world

The Ministr y of Planning and Devel opment w l carr y out the youth nitia tives, which also nclude spending of Rs 40 bil on in 20 most underdeveloped d stricts and building of 250 m ni sports complexes

Addressing the aunching cere mony, the prime min ster said the pro gramme would be expanded further and more nit atives would be launched for the youth, who were a considerable part of the population

Referring to his initiatives as Punjab chief min ster, he said the government of Pakistan Muslim league(N) under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif had under taken different programmes for provid ing high quality education scholarships and laptops to m llions of students

PM L AUDS CAbINET MEMbERS FOR RE MOVINg IMPEDIMENTS TO SDF PROj

ECTS wITHIN 48 HRS: Pr me Minister

Shehbaz Sharif Thursday appreciated h s cabinet members for removing imped

During the detailed briefing about progress on SDF projects it was told that the formalities regard ng Mohmand Dam Project, Jagran Iv project, Shonter Hydropower Project and Gravity Flow Water Mansehra Project had been completed and the agreements in th s regard would be signed soon

The meeting was told that the issues confronting Neelum Jhelum Hy dropower Project and Golan Go Hy dropower Pro ect had been addressed

It was told that PC 1 for the construc tion of a sect on of Neelum val ey Road in Azad Jammu and Kashm r and two tunnels had been completed

Moreover, a the issues re ated to development of nfrastructure in Malakand Reg on and provis on of infra structure and necessar y equipment to Hayaseri Hosp tal had been reso ved

The participants were told that a matters regarding the rehab itation of quake hit Abbotabad and AJK areas had been sett ed between SDF, Earth quake Reconstruction and Rehabilita tion Authority Federa Board of Revenue and Accountant General of Pakistan

Moreover the construction of Shah Salman Hosp tal n Tarlai area of Islam abad was also n progress

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 05

ECP announces verdict in Toshakhana case today

ISLAMABAD

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday reser ved ts verdicts in violation of election’s code of conduct (CoC) case while wi l announce it verdict a ready reser ved n Toshakhana disqualification reference against former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday (today) at 2pm Former prime minister had vio ated the election s code during a by e ection campaign at Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa A three member ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Su tan Raja, heard the case Barrister Gohar representing PTI chairman in the case said that an advisor y had been issued to the KP chief minister and provinc a cabinet m nisters about not part cipating in election ral ies “But no such adv sor y was issued to Imran he clarified He further sa d there was an a legation aga nst h s cl ent that he had wasted money from the national exchequer on the campaign “But truth of the matter is that he did not spend a penny from the exchequer he asserted During the hearing the CEC asked where n the constitution it was written that a person who was already a member of the National Assembly (MNA) could aga n contest for NA seat

Addressing the PTI s awyer Barrister Gohar he asked as to where were the resignations of those 150 MNAs, which PTI chairman always referred to in his speeches Bring those 150 res gnations; we wil accept them right now he said Barrister replied that the rema ning res gnations were with the secretar y Nationa Assembly, and these had not been sent to the ECP

The ECP Spec a Secretar y said that the former prime minister had the right to hold publ c meetings since no advisor y had been issued to him

TOSHAKHANA DISQUALIFICATION REFERENCE: The ECP w ll announce its verdict in the Toshakhana disqua ificat on reference f led against former prime min ster Imran Khan on Friday (today) at 2pm Accord ng to a notice ssued on Thursday ECP ordered all the relevant parties or their counsels to appear before the electoral watchdog at its secretariat n Is amabad

The ECP had reser ved its verdict in the case on September 19 The reference was filed against the PTI chairman by the coalition government for not shar ng details ” of Toshakhana gifts and proceeds from their alleged sale Estab ished n 1974 the Toshakhana is a department under the admin strative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious g fts g ven to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and offic a s by heads of other governments and states and fore gn dign taries

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 05

rejects govt plea to bar

ISLAMABAD s ta

The Supreme Court on Thursday re jected the government s plea to issue an interim order against Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to bar h m from holding the pro posed long march and d rected the government to tack e the issue in accor dance with the aw

A five member arger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan Justice Munib Akhtar Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard the Federal gov ernment s contempt of court petition aga nst PTI chairman for violat ng its May 25 order wherein the party was restricted from holding its Azad March near Pe shawar Mor, Islamabad

Dur ng the proceed ngs the chief justice quoted the government ’s stance that Imran Khan had violated h s ear ier assurance given to the court and his party was again planning a long march and sit in in the capital

Still there were on y speeches and the government could deal with the sit uat on in accordance with the law and take action n urban areas where there

were threats he added

The CJP sa d the aw enforcement agencies had submitted the r separate reports on the court s previous order Some 31 civ ians were injured in the clash on May 25, while Imran Khan an nounced to end the ong march the next morning

He said there was no crowd at pres ent however the government might approach the court if there was a crowd of people (in Islamabad)

He said it was the responsibi ity of the administration to take steps in accor dance with the constitut on and law The adm nistration should ful y prepare itself for any situation and the court would in ter vene even on holidays in case there was any violation of the aw from any side However concrete evidence would have to be brought before it he added

The chief justice said the court ’s duty was to maintain a ba ance The right to protest was conditiona If any polit cal leader violated the court ’s order, then there wou d be serious consequences he warned, adding steps shou d be taken for reconciliat on

He sa d the judges were apolitical

However, the court would have to en sure a level p aying f eld and also it was its responsibility to protect the funda

menta r ghts of peop e he added

The court also directed that the At torney General for Pakistan (AGP) should be provided the copies of agencies re ports on Imran Khan s previous ong march, which were submitted following its (court s) order

AGP Ashtar Ausaf Ali argued that the citizens ’ rights were affected by the PTI ’s May 25 long march The party had sub mitted an aff davit that the peop e wou d not be inconvenienced The

court had a located a spec fic place for the PTI s sit in but it was brought to the D Chowk, which resulted in material losses, he added

He pleaded the court to punish those who had violated its orders The PTI chair man had called upon his workers to gather at D Chowk in contrar y to the as surance h s party had given to the court

He said the Sr nagar Highway was opened for traffic on the court ’s order allowing the PTI workers to gather at the

long march

Parade Ground who nstead reached the D Chowk They had entered the Red Zone, which resulted in clashes with the law enforcement agencies

The AGP sa d the PTI workers also damaged public and private proper ties The PTI s lawyers were in contact with the party leadership during the court proceedings, he added

He said a m scel aneous petition was filed on the night of May 25 request ng action against those responsible for bringing the PTI workers in the Red Zone

He a so read out the SC ’s May 25 order saying the court had prevented the government from arresting PTI work ers The court had also sought reports from the law enforcement and intelli gence agencies, he added

The AGP said it was found that the PTI had violated its assurance as per the re ports submitted by the agencies to the court He sa d he had not been provided copies of the reports The bench assured that he would be given the reports

A G P A u s a f i n f o r m e d t h e c o u r t t h a t p o l c e m e n f r o m K h y b e r Pa k h t u n k h w a a n d A z a d J a m m u & Ka s h m i r h a d a l s o e n t e r e d t h e c a p t a l d u r i n g t h e m a r c h

D E C I S I O N I N C O C V I O L AT I O N R E S E R V E D

M U C H AWA I T E D T H AW I N P O L I T I C A L G R I D LO C K L I K E LY

C A b I n eT C o M M I T T e e A P P R o v e S P R o C e d u R e F o R PAy M e n T T o F lo o d v I C T I M S

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

TH E Sub Committee of Cabinet on Legislative Business (SCCLB) approved on Thursday the procedure for payment of relief grant to the flood victims in Punjab The cabinet committee, led by Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Environment Protection and

Cooperatives Muhammad Basharat Raja, was briefed that the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) would transfer the a m o u n t t o t h e P u n j a b B a n k , w h i c h w o u l d b e d i r e c t l y r e c e i v e d b y t h e affected families

A c o m p l e t e d a t a b a s e o f a ff e c t e d f a m i l i e s h a d b e e n d e v e l o p e d a n d t h e y would be notified through an SMS “The t r a d i t i o n o f i s s u i n g g o v e r n m e n t c h e q u e s a n d t h e r e q u i r e m e n t t o o p e n a n a c c o u n t

IHC directs Interior Ministr y to award citizenship to Afghan national

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the Interior Ministry to take measures for awarding Pakistani citizenship to a 24 year old Pakistani origin Afghan national Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard a petition case filed by 24 year old Fazal Haq belongs to an Afghan migrated family The petitioner contended that he was born in Pakistan and living here for 24 years At which, the IHC chief justice remarked that like many countries including America, Pakistan law also was bound to give citizenship to a person born here The petitioner was required to produce just birth certificate, he added The court directed the interior ministry to conclude its legal work regarding the citizenship of the petitioner till next Friday The officials of the ministry assured the court that the decision regarding the citizenship would be taken as soon after the reification of birth certificate

SHC turns down PTI plea challenging PPP victor y in Karachi by election

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday rejected a petition of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) against the success of Pakistan People s Party (PPP) candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch in the by election of NA 237 “Have you gone to the election tribunal?” the court asked a question from the lawyer for the PTI “If there is any irregularity or rigging, you have the option of going to the election tribunal ” the court said to him “We had gone to the election commission, but the door was not opened [for us],” PTI’s lawyer Shahab Imam Advocate said The option to go to the election tribunal is there only after the election is over ” he added The judge then asked the PTI lawyer did he know where the election tribunal is? The PTI had on Tuesday last challenged the NA 237 by election result in the Sindh High Court (SHC) The plea moved by PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi had alleged that massive rigging had taken place during the by election in NA 237 The workers of the Pakistan People s Party cast fake votes during Sunday s by poll, the plea had further said The SHC had been prayed to order an impartial inquiry into the matter On Sunday, PPP candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch had defeated former prime minister Imran Khan in Karachi s NA 237 Malir constituency PPP candidate had obtained 32 567 votes while Imran Khan stood second with 22,493 votes, as per unofficial result Later in a news conference, the former prime minister had demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold re election in Karachi’s NA 237 constituency, accusing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) resorting to ‘rigging’

has been done away with If the recipient wants, he or she can withdraw the money a s n e e d e d o r t a k e i t a l l a t o n c e A d e b i t c a r d w i l l a l s o b e i s s u e d i n t h i s r e g a r d , ” said the PDMA director general (DG)

P r o v i n c i a l L a w M i n i s t e r K h u r r a m

S h e h z a d Vi r k a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d Wo r k s M i n i s t e r A l i A f z a l S a h i a l s o participated in the meeting

T h e c o m m i t t e e c h a i r m a n s a i d t h a t funds should be provided to flood victims

i n a t r a n s p a r e n t m a n n e r T h e c a b i n e t committee also approved the appointment o f H e a l t h M i n i s t e r D r Ya s m i n R a s h i d a s t h e c h a i r p e r s o n m o n i t o r i n g f o r P u n j a b H u m a n O rg a n Tr a n s p l a n t a t i o n A u t h o r i t y ( P H O TA ) a n d a p p o i n t m e n t o f a m e m b e r of the Punjab Environment Tribunal B a s h a r a t R a j a d i r e c t e d t h e s e c r e t a r y E n v i r o n m ent Protection to increase the number of environment tribunals and establish at least one tribunal in south Punjab

as well

The meeting okayed a notification to declare three hospitals of Sialkot as medical teaching institutes, approved the appointment of provincial finance secretary as director of the Punjab Bank

The SCCLB approved the appointment of an arbitrator for settlement of the dispute between Excise Department and National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC)

Raja Basharat directed the Excise secretary to reduce delay in issuance of number plates to vehicles

The meeting approved the establishment of Sardar Fateh Khan Buzdar Institute of Cardiology in Dera Ghazi Khan while the urban area of Bahawalpur Development Authority was also determined

Aitzaz dispels notion about leaving PPP for joining PTI

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Founding member of Pakistan Peoples Party and prominent lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday dispelled the notion that he was leaving his party to join Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)

In a press conference at his residence here, he cleared that Imran Khan was his friend but he would not leave the PPP

He said that he had been neighbour of Imran Khan for the last fifty years and found him (Imran) as a good person, but it did not mean that he would join the PTI

H e s a i d t h a t h e b e l i e v e d i n p o l i t e n e s s w i t h p o l i t i c a l r i v a l a n d d i d n o t l i k e f o u l l a n g u a g e o v e r political differences He said that during the lawyers’ movement, he was asked to leave the PPP, on which he refused and told the lawyers that he could leave leadership of the movement but not the party

Aitzaz Ahsan said relations with political parties should remain polite He said that the PPP was like h i s f a m i l y, a d d i n g , “ I a m n o t l e a v i n g t h e P a k i s t a n Peoples Party”

He said that the PPP was the only national democratic political party which gave the right to express difference of opinion even in its meetings

C AT declares collec tors ’ committee illegal to decide valuation in MG vehicles sc am

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

The Customs Appellate Tribunal (CAT) has declared the three collectors’ committee constituted by the Federal Board of Revenue illegal to decide the valuation issue involving MG vehicles scam

According to details, Member (Judicial 1) Abdul Jabbar Quershi and Member (Technical 1) Abdul Basit Chaudhry held in their decision that the three collectors’ committee constituted by FBR is illegal without jurisdiction and v o i d a b i n i t i o t o d e c i d e t h e v a l u a t i o n i s s u e i n v o l v e d i n t h e M G v e h i c l e s s c a m I n t h e M G v e h i c l e s c a s e , o n t h e d i r e c t i o n s o f FBR, the provisionally assessed values of imported MG vehicles were finalized on the basis of findings o f a c o l l e c t o r s ’ c o m m i t t e e a n d t h a t t o o o n v a l u e s , lower than the provisionally assessed values which w e r e i n t u r n l o w e r t h a n t h e v a l u e s d e t e r m i n e d b y PCA, the tribunal’s decision stated

“ We h o l d i t b e a n i l l e g a l a s s e s s m e n t a n d w e a r e a l s o c o n s t r a i n e d t o h o l d t h a t t h i s t a n t a m o u n t t o m i s u s e o f a u t h o r i t y t h a t n o s u c h s p e c i a l a r r a n g e m e n t h a s e v e r b e e n i n p l a c e f o r a n y o t h e r i m p o r t e r b y F B R f o r c u s t o m s v a l u a t i o n a n d n o s u c h f a v o r a b l e a n d p r e f e r e n t i a l t r e a t m e n t h a s e v e r b e e n m e t e d o u t t o a n y i m p o r t e r ’ t h e t r i b u n a l h a s

b e e n h e l d Tr i b u n a l h a s f u r t h e r h e l d i n i t s o r d e r t h a t t h e w h o l e i s s u e g e t s c l e a r e d i f v i e w e d c h r o n o l o g i c a l l y I t i s o n r e c o r d t h a t w h e n i n M a y 2 0 2 0 , i m p o r t e r M / s J W S E Z L t d i m p o r t e d 3 v e h i c l e s f r o m M / s S A I C M o t o r C o r p o r a t i o n L t d , i t w a s a s s e s s e d a t $ 1 4 , 7 9 3 p e r v e h i c l e H o w e v e r, w h e n 2 0 8 0 M G v e h i c l e s w e r e i m p o r t e d i n b u l k b y M / s S A I C motors international company limited, the assessed v a l u e f e l l d o w n t o $ 11 , 6 3 2 p e r v e h i c l e s h o w i n g a s u b s t a n t i a l d e c r e a s e i n t h e a s s e s s e d v a l u e s w h i l e t h e s u p p l i e r a n d i m p o r t e r o f t h e v e h i c l e s r e m a i n e d t h e s a m e

It is pertinent to note that directorate general of post clearance (south) Karachi has found that M/s JW SEZ (Pvt) Ltd, the importer of the vehicles, has caused a revenue loss of Rs823 million in the import and assessment of MG vehicles as determined on the basis of values worked out on MG china MSRP

Therefore, M/s JW SEZ (Pvt) Ltd Lahore, the importer, has committed a gross violation of the provisions of Customs Act which caused this massive revenue loss to the national exchequer The tribunal further held that the clearance collectorates should not have assessed the imported MG vehicles below the values assessed in the earlier import of the same vehicles affected between the same exporter and importer

S C re s to re s N O C o f Pa r kv i ew Ho u s i n g S o c i e t y

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Supreme Court on Thursday restored the Parkview Housing Society Islamabad’s suspended No Objection Certificate (NOC) and also suspended the order to file a case against Parkview

A three member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the case During the course of proceedings, the court in its order sent the matter related to the land of Parkview

Society to the chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) and ordered him to review the facts of the land and submit a report The Chief Justice asked why the CDA was not paying compensation to the victims?

He said that CDA’s billions of rupees were being spent on the roads of Islamabad The roads were so wide that even a plane can land in Islamabad but the victims of 1960s of Islamabad were still not being paid he added He said that it was suo motu to act in

IHC asks Imran’s aides to approach banking cour t in prohibited funding FIR

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday extended the protective bails of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s co accused Tariq Shafi and Faisal Maqbool in FIR under Foreign Exchange Act in the prohibited funding case The court instructed the accused to approach the banking court within five days and also join the FIA s investigation Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani heard the case filed by Tariq Shafi and Faisal Maqbool To the query of the bench the accused said that they had appeared before the FIA investigation team Additional Attorney General Munawar Dogal said that the matter pertaining to the trial court’s jurisdiction was still pending The counsel for the accused said that the matter falls in the jurisdiction of the banking court as per the allegations He also read out the FIR before the court The Additional Attorney General said that two sections had been incorporated in the FIR, adding that the matter of Foreign Exchange Act would be seen by a separate court He said that the court also had to view the general and special laws in the case He said that Imran Khan was given bail by the special judge central The court remarked that Imran Khan was given bail by that court due to unavailability of the banking court judge

public interest which was not the jurisdiction of the High Court

The lawyer of CDA said that the victims had filed an application for registration of case against the occupation of the lands

He said that CDA was not bound to give land to Parkview for road If it awarded land to Parkview every society would demand for land, he added

He said that the CDA would issue NOC if Parkview bought land and built a road Justice Ayesha Malik remarked that

the victims had also filed a civil case She asked how civil litigants could file a constitutional petition in the high court Advocate General Islamabad told the court that Parkview had occupied the land Syed Ali Raza, the lawyer of Parkview, said that the advocate general was reading the old report of the deputy commissioner, the land owned by Parkview was 7870 kanals while the possessed land was 5745 kanals Parkview had also given 600 kanals of land to CDA, he added He said 30 houses a mosque and a shrine had been built on the land on which it was asked to build a road

P M S h e h b a z u rg e s K P, Pu n j a b to j o i n c e n t re’s w h e at s e e d s c h e m e

ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) governments to rise above politics and join the Centre’s scheme of providing wheat seeds to flood hit farmers

Chairing a review meeting of National Flood Response and Coordination Centre, the prime minister offered the two provinces to collaborate with the federal government under the scheme which will ensure funding for wheat seeds with 50 percent contribution from both sides

The prime minister mentioned that Sindh and Balochistan had already agreed with the wheat scheme However, despite the

offer by the Centre, Punjab and KP refused to cooperate and instead indulged in playing politics, he regretted

“I request you to accept the offer in view of the plight of the flood hit farmers And if you still reject it, then don t twist the facts that Centre is not extending you assistance,” he said in a meeting also joined by chief secretaries of Punjab and KP through video link

PM Shehbaz Sharif emphasised that Pakistan as a federation comprised its provincial units, saying the situation demanded unity at national level

He feared reduced produce of wheat in the coming season owing to post flood situation and rejected to allow any import of the commodity by the private sector

“In view of emergency situation, I will not allow the private sector to import wheat, he said, adding that the government was aiming to get better bidding of the wheat

PM Shehbaz Sharif further said the government was effectively carrying out relief and rehabilitation work in post flood scenario as the death toll crossed 1,700 including children

He said the federal government through National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was ensuring disbursement of Rs 880 million compensation money and relief goods including food, water, medicines and mosquito nets among the flood affected families across the country

Also, the relief supplies received from

the friendly countries is being distributed through a very transparent channel of NDMA, the premier said

The prime minister also said that China was sending ‘winter tents’ of good quality in view for the flood struck people to help them cope with the upcoming harsh season

The premier, who recently undertook a visit to Sohbatpur area of Balochistan, said the land was still inundated and posed threat of breakout of water borne diseases

The meeting was told that a comprehensive plan for rehabilitation of flood affected people was in progress and a report on Post Disaster Need Assessment compiled in collaboration of the federal and provincial governments and international organizations would be presented to the

prime minister

The prime minister directed to finalize the report to be given to the international donor agencies regarding the estimates of flood losses

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over shortage of wheat in the province In the letter, CM Punjab has demanded one million tons of wheat from the Centre including 300,000 tons on immediate basis and asked the premier to issue relevant directions to Ministry of National Food Security and other concerned departments Meanwhile, Moonis Elahi said that Punjab could face a wheat crisis but Centre is not allowing the province to import wheat

TARgeT oF wHeAT CulTIvATIon In PunjAb SeT AT 16.5 MIllIon ACReS: gARdezI

StAff REpORt

wH E AT cultivation target will be 16 5 million acre which will produce 21 million metric tons during current year in Punjab To achieve food security in the country increasing the production of wheat is indispensable Under the national plan to increase per acre wheat production, Government is providing subsidy facilities and incentives Provincial Agriculture Minister ’s address to the students on the occasion of his visit to University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

Month-long clean green Sialkot initiative kicks off

SIALKOt S ta f f R e p o R t

Under the ‘Clean Green Sialkot’ initiative, a month long cleaning and plantation campaign was inaugurated in the district by Commissioner Gujranwala Division Ghulam Farid, along with Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Khurram Niazi An awareness walk was also organised to create awareness among citizens about the Clean Green Sialkot campaign The walk started from Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and ended at DC Complex Addition Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG) Shahid Abbas Assistant Commissioner (AC) Maham Usman, Chief Officer (CO) Municipal Corporation Sialkot (MCS) Zubair Wattoo SCCI President Abdul Ghafoor Malik, District Bar Association President Asim Deo, journalist community, schools students were also present on this occasion The commissioner told the media that the campaign had been launched in rural and urban areas simultaneously on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, which would continue till Nov 20 He said that the campaign would cover all parts of the city as well as small villages and garbage would be removed completely In future, solid waste would be collected from these areas on daily weekly or fortnightly basis as per the requirement of each area, the commissioner added The commissioner said that during the current campaign saplings and trees would be planted Even today, 10 to 12 feet tall trees were planted in Sialkot district, he added He hoped that the people of Sialkot would fully support the district administration, Solid Waste Management Company (SWMC) and local government institutions by playing their role for the success of the campaign Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Abdullah Khurram Niazi said that under the Clean and Green campaign the Municipal Corporation would plant more than 700 saplings He said similarly other departments and local bodies would also plant trees in Pasrur, Daska and Sambrial The DC said that in the first week of the ‘Clean and Green Sialkot’ campaign, garbage would be collected from villages with a population of more than 10,000, in the second week with a population of up to 10,000, in the third week with a population of up to 5,000 and in the last week with a population of 2,000 or less He said that Solid Waste Management Company (SWMC) and Municipal Corporation were responsible for cleanliness in 24 union councils of urban areas

Special squads have been formed for the purpose, and important intersections and roads of the city would also be washed, the DC added

This year, the target of wheat cultivation for the province of Punjab has been set at 16 5 million acres with the production target of 21 million metric tons

These views were expressed by Minister for Agriculture Punjab Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi during the address to the students on the occasion of the beginning of Wheat cultivation campaign at University of Agriculture Faisalabad

On this occasion, Provincial Agriculture Minister said that the students of agricultural universities will participate side by side with the extension of the agriculture department in the wheat cultivation campaign

and will provide technical guidance to the wheat farmers by reaching their doorsteps so that the farmers can grow more Cultivate wheat on a larger area Minister for Agriculture, Punjab said that wheat is our strategic crop This year due to floods wheat seeds stored in homes have been damaged

Therefore, Federal and Provincial Government are working together in the flood affected areas to ensure timely cultivation of wheat He further said that Punjab produces nearly 75 percent of the total production of wheat and this crop also leads to economic stability of the farmers In order to make this year ’s wheat crop

KSA-based Hala set to acquire Pakistani fintech company Keenu

LAHORE ta i m o o R h a S S a n

Pakistani fintech company Keenu, known for its merchant acquiring business for card payments is in the process of getting acquired at a reported valuation of $45 50 million

A source reliably told Profit that the deal of Keenu s sale had been finalised with Hala However another source close to the company said that the deal was on the table and would require regulatory approvals to complete Launched in February 2016, Keenu is one of the most well known provider of payments solutions for merchants through point of sale (PoS) services

According to its website, the company claims to have taken over 7,000 merchants on board On the other hand, Saudi fintech company Hala is also in the business of offering a payment and wallet solution for individuals and PoS services that enable merchants to accept card payments

Hala is also reportedly an aspirant for the digital bank license in Pakistan

According to the source Keenu has been valued at $45 50 million in the sale Saad Niazi, chief operating officer at Keenu, denied the news of Keenu acquisition by Hala saying further that the valuation was off the mark Keenu’s parent company, Wemsol, was earlier in the process of raising $5 million equity investment from International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank for Keenu as part of its Series A round The IFC website shows that the investment is on hold Wemsol is also an applicant for the electronic money institute (EMI) license from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for setting up e money wallet and payment gateway for consumers and merchants Wemsol was granted pilot approval for EMI license by the SBP in July 2020 While Keenu is not an SBP regulated business Wemsol s EMI ambitions make it a regulated entity, therefore, any sale that involves Wemsol would require SBP approval

FIA summons A zam K han to probe audio leak

ISLAMABAD

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has summoned former prime minister Imran Khan’s principal secretary, Azam Khan, in relation to an investigation into the audio

Deaths in custody intolerable at all, IGP tells cops

Punjab Inspector General of Police Faisal Shahkar on Thursday declared that incidents of torture and escape of accused from police custody are not acceptable under any circumstances, saying stern departmental and legal action should be taken against supervisory officers and officials involved in such incidents The IG Police expressed strong displeasure over the death of a citizen in Sargodha police custody and directed the RPO Sargodha to ensure that the officials involved in the unfortunate incident were given due punishment

IGP Faisal Shahkar issued the instructions to all RPOs DPOs of the province while presiding over RPOs Conference at Central Police Office here on Thursday All RPOs CPOs and DPOs of the

province participated through video link

Mr Shahkar declared that if any incident of custodial death reported in future, the district police officer of the respective district will be held responsible He expressed concern over the rise in crime rate the provincial capital and directed for launching a special campaign to eradicate street crime and organized crime from all major cities including Lahore He said that operations should be conducted on a daily basis against organized groups involved in robbery dacoity kidnapping murder and other heinous crimes The IGP directed to submit progress report to Central Police Office regularly The IGP directed that a vigorous crackdown should be launched on big gangs involved in drug trade and supply chain especially the anti social elements who lure the young students to fashionable and dangerous drugs

PSMA wants expor t of surplus sugar to aver t any crisis in new season

LAHORE S h a h a b o m e R

The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has expressed the fear that if the crushing season starts without export of the surplus sugar stocked in warehouses, the sugar mills would unable to hold new stock

The sugar mills possess ample stock of surplus sugar in warehouses without its export, they will be unable to hold new stock ”

The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) representatives shared the observation during a recently held meeting with the high ups of the Punjab Agriculture and Food Departments regarding start of 2022 23 crushing season The meeting participants included representatives from the government growers and the sugar industry The participants were informed about the sugar recovery which stands at 4 to 6 5 percent in the current month of October

The spokesman for the PSMA, in a statement informed that the general body

members of the association apprised the government representatives of their issues during the meeting He said the meeting was informed that the sugar mills should be allowed to export surplus sugar to create space for holding new stock

He pointed out that the sugar mills were already selling the commodity at the loss of billions of rupees because, saying cost of sugar made during 2021 22 crushing season was approximate equal to Rs90 per kg while the market rate stands at Rs78 80 In this situation,

how can the new crushing season will start, he questioned The meeting was informed that the banks have increased markup rate on 10 percent debt on the current sugar stocks to 15 percent, which is adding to financial loss to the sugar mills

The spokesman demanded that the required finance, which State Bank normally offers to exporters, should also be given to all sugar exporters He said the government should fix credit, which the sugar exporting mills normally gets and also give the rate of sugar export He went on to say that the disasters induced by climate change are a global issue and the government should change its policies pertaining to this new problem to overcome future challenges The government should make prudent decisions in the country’s interest otherwise it will be detrimental to Pakistan and its industry

The sugar industry has appealed to the government to take stock of the situation and forthwith open the exports of sugar in order to save the growers and the sugar industry from any crisis,” he added

profitable, the support price of Rs 3000 per 40 kg has been fixed before sowing to enable cultivation of wheat in more area and farmers can also get reasonable compensation for their labour

Speaking on this occasion, Agriculture Secretary, Punjab Ahmad Aziz Tarar said that Agriculture Department is providing subsidy of Rs 1200 per bag on the seeds of approved varieties of wheat and exhibition plots seminars and use of print and electronic media to introduce modern production technology among the farmers is being used effectively He added that we have to achieve self sufficiency in wheat For this purpose students should go door to door and provide technical guidance to the farmers so that food security can be ensured in the country

In the ceremony, Vice Chancellor of Agriculture University Dr Iqar Ahmad Khan, Vice Chancellor of Aird Agriculture University Rawalpindi Qamar ul Zaman Dr Anjum Ali Director General Agriculture (Extension) and other speakers also addressed

eCP announces schedule for lg polls

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the schedule for local government (LG) polls in the capital territory of Islamabad According to a statement issued by a spokesperson of the ECP the LG polls in Islamabad would be held on December 24, 2022 The date for submission of nominations would be from November 7 to 11 he added The ECP would scrutinize the nomination papers from Nov 15 to 18 The election commission will issue the final list of candidates on November 29 and symbols would be allotted to candidates on December 1, as per the schedule

5 Kashmiri youth detained under black law PSA in Ramban

JAMMu S ta f f R e p o R t

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, police arrested five Kashmiri youth under draconian Public Safety Act in Ramban district on Thursday, today According to Kashmir Media Service, the detained youth were identified as Nazir Ahmad Pala Mohammad Usman Banli, Firdious Ahmad Khan, Abdul Hamid Khan and Anyatullah Wani

Superintendent of Indian Police Mohita Sharma confirmed the detention of the youth under the stereotyped charge of ‘overground workers’

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

leaks

Azam has been asked to appear at the FIA’s office on October 25 at 1pm The corruption watchdog is investigating the audio leaks allegedly featuring Imran Khan and other PTI leaders in a discussion about a cypher

X i n j i a n g d i S pat C h e S f r e S h b at C h o f f l o o d r e l i e f g o o d S t o g w a d a r

S ta f f R e p o R t

CH I N A’ S X i n j i a n g A u t o n o m o u s

Region has sent a fresh flood re l i e f m a t e r i a l w o r t h R M B 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 t o f l o o d h i t p e o p l e i n G w a d a r T h e f i r s t t r u c k o f a i d m a t e r i a l s i n c l u d i n g s l e e p i n g b a g s , t e n t s a n d o t h e r w i n t e r p r o o f i t e m s t r a n s p o r t e d b y t h e g o v e r n m e n t o f K a r a m a y, a c i t y i n the north of Xinjiang, China, has reached in Gwadar

The relief items would be taken to the flood hit areas This batch of aid materials d e p a r t e d f r o m K h u n j e r a b i n X i n j i a n g o n O c t o b e r 5 a n d p a s s e d t h r o u g h P a k i s t a n ’s G i l g i t B a l t i s t a n , K h y b e r P a k h t u n k h w a ,

Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan

It took 13 days covering 3 150 kilome t r e s t o r e a c h G w a d a r p o r t i n P a k i s t a n s a f e l y, C h i n a E c o n o m i c N e t ( C E N ) r e ported Officials of Karamay City believed t h a t t h e P a k i s t a n i p e o p l e w i l l s o o n o v e r come the disaster and rebuild their beauti ful homeland

R e l i e f i t e m s w e r e r e c e i v e d b y C h i n a O v e r s e a s P o r t H o l d i n g C o m p a n y ( C O P H C ) a n d w e r e h a n d e d o v e r t o o ff i cials of the local government

T h e o ff i c i a l o f t h e l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t said that governments of Balochistan and other provinces have been seeking details of flood victims in a bid to distribute the aid as per requirements

Cour t grants police two days c ustody of acc used in S ara murder c ase

ISLAMABAD: A lower court here on Thursday granted the police a two day physical remand of accused Samina Shah the mother of main accused in Sara Inaam a Canadian national, murder case The accused was produced before the court of Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Aamer Aziz by the police During hearing the judge expressed annoyance with police for not submitting of case challan even after passing fourteen days The investigation officer informed the court that challan had been prepared and would be submitted in same day The IO requested prayed the court to grant five day physical remand of the accused as the police wanted to recover locket However the defence lawyer adopted the stance that his client Samina Shah had been cooperating with the police since first day She assisted the police in ar rest of her son he added The lawyer said that the police had applied section 109 on his client which was related to giv ing advice of a crime The police should tell where his client had advised the accused to commit crime he said The court subsequently granted the police a two day physical remand of the accused S ta f f R e

Cour t reser ves verdic t on bail of Swati

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

A lower court of Islamabad on Thursday reserved its judg ment on post arrest bail petition of PTI’s leader Azam Swati in controversial tweet case Special Judge Central Raja Asif Mehmood heard the bail petition of Azam Khan Swati Special Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi raised ob jections at the court’s jurisdiction and said this case should be transferred to the session court He said that the accused had given a hateful statement about the head of a state in stitution through the tweet The institution had no connec tion with the courts decisions he said The accused had used a provoking way against the institutions at a public forum He had also admitted that during the investigation, Abbasi said Dr Baber Awan said that his client had used the right of freedom of expression through his tweet

To ensure transparency and trackabil ity records of all aid items for the flood s t r i c k e n a r e a s a r e b e i n g m a d e d i g i t a l , h e added

Pakistan estimates the total losses from i t s r e c e n t f l o o d s c o u l d b e a s h i g h a s US$40bn, US$10bn more than the govern ment s initial estimate

A r o u n d 3 3 m i l l i o n p e o p l e , i n c l u d i n g a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 6 m i l l i o n c h i l d r e n , h a v e been affected Monsoon rains and flooding have damaged 117,400 acres or 43 per cent of crops and vegetables and around 35,000 acres or 30 per cent of orchards with vary ing proportions in districts that were sur veyed, the Rapid Needs Assessment Report on Balochistan said

M arriyum in Turkiye to represent Pakistan at 12th OIC info ministers conference

which will be focusing on the OIC’s role in different areas of information sector, said a news release on Thursday

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has arrived in Turkiye to participate in the 12th Conference of the Information Ministers of the Or ganization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being held here on October 21 22

Marriyum will represent Pakistan at the conference

Secretary General of the OIC Hissein Brahim Taha will address the inaugural session of the conference ti tled “Combating Disinformation and Islamophobia in the Post Truth Era

The information ministers of OIC member countries will highlight the problems faced by the organization’s

19 nutrition stabilization centers to be established in flood-hit areas

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

World Health Organization (WHO) will continue to sup port the Sindh health department for controlling spread of malaria, water borne disease and to establish 19 Nutrition Stabilization Centers (NSC) to mitigate the effects of mal nourishment in children

According to an official of WHO, 2,000 health facil ities have been damaged in Sindh due to recent flood which was 12 percent of total health facilities in the coun try

He said WHO was supporting floods relief operations in Sindh and gave 30 vehicles to provide medical facilities and 13 boats to reach areas still under water

He said World Health Organization is supporting health service deliveries in Sindh flood affected areas by providing essential medicines, medical equipment and supplies, nutritional supplements as well as renovating and refurbishing damages health infrastructure in the

province, coordinating closely with the department of Health

He said that the floods and rain emergency has caused widespread losses to the lives and property and the most affected area was health infrastructure

He said the WHO also handed over essential medi cines and supplies to the Sindh health department in WHO Sukkur hub

He said WHO was playing active role in relief and re habilitation efforts for the flood affected people in Sindh and added that with the support of WHO, the Sindh health department has been able to establish many health camps and reached areas and people still under water

He said the health department has established camps to cater to over 10 million affected people in the province with the support from WHO THQ hospital Rohri was also given essential equip ment for the labor room and gyne ward and essential medicines and nutritional supplements were provided to Sheikh Zaid Women and Children Hospital Larkana

African member countries and especially discuss the ways to mobilize the media regarding the issues of Al Quds Sharif and Palestine

The conference will also discuss role of the OIC in combating Islamophobia and promoting correct image of Islam

Different ways to promote media skills and train ings in the Muslim world will also come under discus sion during the conference

Sheikupura murder case: Cour t extends physical remand of five policemen

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

u r s d a y e x t e n d e d p h y s i c a l r e m a n d o f f i v e p o l i c e m e n a r r e s t e d f o r t h e i r a l l e g e d n e g l i g e n c e i n t h e S h e i k h u p u r a m u r d e r c a s e , f o r a n o t h e r t w o d a y AT C J u d g e A b h e r G u l K h a n c o n d u c t e d t h e c a s e p r o c e e d i n g s , w h e r e i n t h e p o l i c e p r o d u c e d t h e a c c u s e d o n e x p i r y o f t h e i r p h y s i c a l r e m a n d t e r m D u r i n g t h e p r o c e e d i n g s , t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n o ff i c e r s u b m i t t e d t h a t t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n s c o u l d n o t b e c o m p l e t e d f r o m t h e a c c u s e d a n d f u r t h e r r e m a n d w a s r e q u i r e d A p r o s e c u t o r a l s o s u p p o r t e d t h e s t a n c e o f t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n o ff i c e r H o w e v e r, t h e d e f e n c e c o u n s e l , A d v o c a t e F a r h a d A l i S h a h , o p p o s e d t h e p l e a f o r e x t e n s i o n i n p h y s i c a l r e m a n d o f t h e a c c u s e d T h e c o u r t , a f t e r h e a r i n g a rg u m e n t s o f a l l p a r t i e s , e x t e n d e d t h e r e m a n d o f p o l i c e m e n f o r a n o t h e r t w o d a y s a n d d i r e c t e d f o r p r o d u c i n g t h e m o n e x p i r y o f t h e r e m a n d t e r m F o r m e r S t a t i o n H o u s e O ff i c e r ( S H O ) N a r a n g A b d u l Wa h a b K h a n a n d f o u r o t h e r p o l i c e m e n w e r e a r r e s t e d f o r n o t t a k i n g t i m e l y a c t i o n a g a i n s t t h e a c c u s e d w h e n h e t r i e d t o a t t a c k a n o t h e r c i t i z e n f o u r d a y s b e f o r e t h e i n c i d e n t T h e s u s p e c t , F a i z R a s o o l , h a d b e e n d e t a i n e d b y p o l i c e j u s t d a y s e a r l i e r a f t e r a t t e m p t i n g t o a t t a c k a n o t h e r c i t i z e n w i t h a n a x e P o l i c e e v e n t u a l l y r e l e a s e d t h e s u s p e c t a f t e r h i s f a m i l y p l e a d e d t h a t h e s u ff e r e d f r o m m e n t a l i l l n e s s L a t e r, o n O c t o b e r 8 , t h e a c c u s e d m u r d e r e d e i g h t m e n i n a n d a r o u n d H a c h a r v i l l a g e i n S h e i k h u p u r a

Delay in uplift schemes completion intolerable, CS tells depar tments

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

Punjab Chief Secretary Abdul lah Khan Sumbal directed all departments on Thursday to work hard for transparent and timely utilisation of the devel opment budget, saying that un necessary delay in projects would not be tolerated

He gave the instruction while presiding over a meeting at the P&D Department to review im

plementation of the annual devel opment programme (ADP)

The chief secretary said that it was necessary to achieve the monthly targets related to utili sation of funds for development projects He stressed that time frame from the initiation to the completion of the schemes must be followed He said that the al located funds should not lapse in any case

The chief secretary issued orders to the departments to

take immediate steps to get ap proval for the unapproved schemes and said that progress in implementation of the ADP would be reviewed regularly

He said that the P&D de partment should be informed in case of any roadblocks in exe cution of uplift schemes He also asked the departments to enhance coordination with the P&D Board members for progress on delayed schemes

The P&D Department offi

cials gave a detailed briefing to the meeting about the allocated development budget, release, and utilisation of funds

The meeting was briefed that 4,556 out of 4,992 schemes had been approved and Rs 334 billion had been released out of the allocated funds of Rs 685 billion

The additional chief secre tary (South Punjab) and secre taries of all departments participated in the meeting

ISTANBUL S ta f f R e p o R t

ExPERTS foR STRong InduSTRy

ACAdEMIA LInk AgE To booST EConoMy

peSHAWAR s ta f f r e p o r t

Ex P E RT S have stressed the need for strengthening indus try and academia linkages to boost the industrial sector contribution to strengthen na tional economy

The Experts were speaking at a two day international conference ti tled: Sustainability in Process Industry (SPI 2022) The conference was organ ized by Chemical Department of at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engi neering Sciences and Technology Topi in collaboration with the University of Engineering and Technology, Pe shawar Jahangir Piracha, Chief Exec utive Officer of Engro Chemicals was the chief guest at the conference

The Engro Chemicals CEO spoke in detail about the requirements of the industry, problems confronted by the

industrial sector, responsibility of the government, how to run an industry and product value in the market

“There is a dire need for creation of better opportunities and environ ment for the industry and academic communication while focusing on re cycling,” he said Tauseef Salma, Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, USA said that climate change implications were felt across the entire globe and the developing world badly needed to adopt policies to cope with global warming issues “Recently, one third of Pakistan sub merged in floodwater,” she said Bianca Mortari of the State Uni versity of Sao Pualo, Brazil, Dr Imran Khan of Turkiye, and Dr Guichao Wang of China also expressed their views at the conference and lauded the efforts that both national and interna tional experts belonging to academia and industry gathered and presented

Willing to talk with PTI in 'larger national interest': PM

ContInueD fR oM pAge 01

As urged by the prime minister, the Saudi delegation showed interest in investing in solar energy sector and fund the Diamer Bhasha Dam During the meeting with the delegation on October 17, the prime minister had taken strict notice of delay in projects and directed the authorities concerned to submit a report within a week, prior to the departure of the delegation The prime minister told the meeting that Saudi Arabia always stood with Pakistan and extended unconditional support and assistance on all fronts including foreign affairs Moreover, the Kingdom also extended support to help Pakistan overcome the disastrous situation caused by the floods For this the prime minister thanked Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud He said the Kingdom also assisted Pakistan to overcome the economic issues including for repayment of debts and making investment The prime minister said the prosperity and security of Saudi Arabia were those of Pakistan Pakistan would continue to supporting the Kingdom for the purpose The meeting was also attended by federal ministers including Ishaq Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Chaudhry Salik Hussain Advisor to PM Ahad Cheema special assistants to PM Tariq Fatemi and Jahanzeb Khan and Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan, besides senior government officers The prime minister also hosted a luncheon reception for the Saudi delegation

Still there only speeches: SC rejects gov t plea to bar PTI’s long march

ContInueD fR oM pAge 01

He pleaded the court to issue an interim order on which the chief justice asked about the order’s nature The attorney general replied that Imran Khan was declaring “the attack on Islamabad as Jihad” For the purpose, he was inciting the people in his speeches (at public meetings), besides visiting educational institutions and universities, he added He said it was the state’s responsibility to protect the citizens’ fundamental rights Holding a protest was a fundamental right but the government wanted that anyone from the PTI should inform the court that Imran Khan had no intention of long march, he added The court asked the AGP that whether he wanted the court to seek another assurance from the PTI Justice Ijazul Ahsan said he (AGP) should review the reports first He wanted the court orders in advance for such a situation which had not yet come up, when something would happen, then he could approach the court

their views to resolve the most press ing global issues

Prof Dr Najma Memon of the Na tional Centre of Excellence in Analyti cal Chemistry, University of Sindh said that the main causes of global energy crises included unbridled consumption, population explosion, lack of renew able energy, bureaucratic hurdles, lack of seriousness of the officials in trigger ing academic industry joint efforts to address the burning issue “Energy is the basic need of the people,” she said

Prof Dr Iftikhar Hussain Vice Chancellor of UET Peshawar, said that the conference had provided a golden opportunity for academia and industry to gather, learn from each other, know each other s problems, and work to gether for result oriented research ac cording to the the country’s needs

Industry makes 20 percent contri bution to Pakistan’s gross domestic prod uct (GDP) and majority of the sector

lacks financial strength and sustainabil ity If the government desires the indus try contributes to the country s economy the needs of the industrial sector should be fulfilled,” said Prof Iftikhar

Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid Rec tor GIK Institute, said that the industry and academia could take joint initia tives and research projects while shar ing knowledge to boost the industrial sector production and improve quality

“The conference is a big source of inspiration for UET and GIK Institute We could work together The distin guished researchers and experts from the industry interact with each other and are able to know each other ’s seri ous problems,” he said

Prof Dr Abdul Shakoor of UET Pe shawar said that the global demand for energy had been increasing over the years and if the issue was not addressed by the respective governments, it would spin out of control in the future

corporate corner

Three extor tionists held from Lahore Railway Station

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)

Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhary PTI’s long march was now a matter of days or a week because preparations were in the final stages and PTI Chairman Imran Khan could make the announcement any time soon; hence the party workers should get ready to achieve the real independence

Addressing a press confer ence here on Thursday, he said that the PTI has always be lieved in peaceful protests not in violence and the long march would also be very peaceful and inshallah people would join in millions

However, he said that a wrong impression was being created about PTI peaceful marchers, adding that the PTI was a peaceful political party not like Ansar ul Islam or Gulo Butt Force We don t have any sub terrorist organization, as

there are militant wings of PML N and PPP,” he added

He went on to say that dur ing the last 5 months, Imran Khan has held 60 public gather ings and 250 meetings regard ing the long march, adding that the people were quite passion ate in this regard because the party workers at tehsil level and unions were mobilized and were taken into confidence

About possible talks, he said that the PTI never refused to hold talks with PML N and PPP but no talks would be held for seeking NRO Whatever strat egy would be made regarding the long march, it would be within the scope of the law and constitution,” he added

He said that PTI supported local government but the first priority was general elections Imran Khan is going to univer sities across the country and ad dressing the students, because we have hope from our youth and they will be the vanguard of this real independence move

ment he added

Taking about the fascism of the imported government, Fawad stated that since May 25, the unfortunate events clearly depicted that there have been serious violations of human rights in Pakistan, as people in cluding journalists political ac tivists and even social figures have been kidnapped, stripped naked and tortured

He said that the tactics used to stop the real freedom move ment were never seen in the his tory of the country, as they neither spared the young like Shahbaz Gill nor the elderly like Azam Swati, who were subjected to inhuman treatment which was even unthinkable in dictatorship

Fawad Chaudhary stated that the PTI has yet to give the final call of the long march but dwellers of the federal capital could be seen that huge number of containers were placed at various important places in the metropolitan

ECP announces verdic t in Toshak hana case today

According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division

However the PTI while in government had been reluctant to disclose details of the gifts pre sented to Imran Khan since he assumed office in 2018, maintaining that doing so would jeopardise international ties, even as the Pakistan Infor mation Commission (PIC) ordered it to do so

On August 4, lawmakers from the Pakistan Democratic Movement which is part of the rul ing alliance filed a reference for the PTI chief s disqualification from public office under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution over his hesitance

to share the details of Toshakhana gifts

They submitted the reference to the National Assembly speaker who subsequently forwarded it to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja for further action

In its hearing on Aug 29, the ECP had sought a written reply from Imran by Sep 8 In his reply, the PTI chief had admitted to having sold at least four presents he had received during his tenure as the prime minister of Pakistan

The former premier in his reply maintained that the sale of the gifts that he had procured from the state treasury after paying Rs21 56 million fetched about Rs58m One of the gifts included a graff wristwatch, a pair of cuff links, an expensive pen and a ring while the other three gifts included four Rolex watches

L a h o r e: Railways Police Lahore division have arrested band of three from railway station The accused had extorted cash and cell phone from passenger Saeed Khan The accused namely Awais, Rashid and Kamran robbed the passenger of his valuables from platform 4 of Lahore railway station

Responding to hue and cry of passenger the railways police chased the accused and arrested them forthwith All three of accused are resident of Lahore and one of the accused Awais was found to be previous record holder during investigation Case under relevant law has been registered against them at railways police station Lahore pr

Rangers arrest RAW trained former MQM-London activist

KARACHI

Pakistan Rangers Sindh and Police during a joint intelligence based operation in Liaquatabad Town on Thursday, arrested an Indian intelligence agency (RAW) trained former activist of MQM London involved in terrorism, extortion and killings and recovered arms and ammunition from his possession

According to a spokesman of Rangers, the accused identified as Wasim Javed alias Wasim Boss alias Wasim Tinda was a former activist of MQM London s Liaquatabad Sector He was trained by Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for manufacturing and use of explosive material and handling of different arms

The accused used to head the MQM London’s target killing team and was involved in numerous incidents of target killings and terrorism

During preliminary investigations, the accused revealed that he used to collect extortion money on large scale and was involved in many killings, attempt to murder cases and terrorism for the MQM London till 2013 To avoid his arrest, the accused fled abroad and had recently returned to Karachi Raids were being conducted to arrest his other accomplices

Accused Wasim Javed along with recovered arms and ammo was handed over to police for further legal proceedings

Cour t reser ves verdict on bail plea of A zam Swati

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r e p o r t

A lower court of Islamabad on Thursday reserved its judgment on post arrest bail petition of PTI s leader Azam Swati in controversial tweet case

Special Judge Central Raja Asif Mehmood heard the bail petition of Azam Khan Swati Special Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi raised objections at the court’s jurisdiction and said this case should be transferred to the session court H

v

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t h e t w e e t T h e i n s t i t u t i o n h a d n o c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e c o u r t s d e c i s i o n s h e s a i d

The accused had used a provoking way against the institutions at a public forum He had also admitted that during the investigation, Abbasi said Dr Baber Awan said that his client had used the right of freedom of expression through his tweet His client was tortured and humiliated during the custody, he alleged After listening arguments the court reserved the decision and adjourned the case till tomorrow

A I O U Gwa d a r Ca m p u s t o b e i n a u g u rat e d t o d ay

ISLAMABAD

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is ex panding its regional network to meet the ed ucational needs of people in remote areas of the country where formal education facilities are lacking

AIOU has completed the construction work of Regional Campus Gwadar, and it

will be inaugurated by Minister for Federal Education, Rana Tanveer Hussain on Friday (today)

Vice Chancellor, AIOU, Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum, Registrar, Raja Umar Yunis, Direc tor General Regional Services Dr Malik Toqeer Ahmad Khan, Majid Hussain, Deputy Regional Director Gwadar Campus, Syed Qamaruddin Regional Director Quetta dig nitaries of the area, educational and social ex

perts will participate in the event

Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum on Thursday said that the educa tional needs of the remote areas are being met according to modern requirements

The newly constructed building has a state of the art computer laboratory which is equipped with the latest technology

Moreover it has a library well stocked with invaluable educational resources and

reference books in addition to conference halls and lecture rooms

It is pertinent to mention here that Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum, after taking charge as vice chancellor of AIOU, focused on provid ing educational facilities to the remote areas of the country, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the northern regions Buildings are being constructed to give permanent identity to the campuses

Dr Zia personally met with government officials and philanthropists from different areas to acquire land at suitable locations for campus buildings

In a short period of four years, the number of regional offices of the university has in creased from 43 to 54 across the country, most of which have moved to their own buildings

Regional campuses and model study centers have been established in Moro, Mithi and Sukkur in Sindh Kalat and Kha ran in Balochistan, Attock, Chakwal, Jhang and Sheikhupura in Punjab and in remote areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir

ContInueD fR oM pAge 01

Audioleaks legal battle

TH e r e is an element of grandstanding in PTi chairman’s petition to the Supreme court and its call for a joint investigation team (JiT) to inquire into the audioleaks which seem to have plagued the Prime Minister ’s Office with Prime Minister ’s House apparently infested, the buildings, both official and private, even the outdoors, by bugs; but there is also an element of concern caused by the government s apparent reluctance to pursue the matter vigorously Both the grandstanding and the reluctance may have a common cause Of course, for the PTi, any stick is good enough to hit the government with, but the fact that the leaks have so far been more harmful to the PTi’s narrative both on the foreign conspiracy behind its ouster and its pristine stand against floor crossing (with one leaked clip showing former PM imran Khan speaking openly of buying members), may have persuaded the government to act tardily, as fresh revelations cause the PTi more harm than it

However, though at the kernel of Mr Khan’s petition is the hope that the judiciary will step in once more, and intervene in his favour, there is also the reality that he is not satisfied by the government’s efforts so far, which have included setting up a cabinet committee, and a Joint investigation Team to report to it A preliminary report has been made, and PM’s House employees removed because of it, but the fact that some of the leaks were made after the JiT’s formation indicates that the hacker is not bothered incidentally, it also shows that the hacker is sitting on a mountain of material, from which he, or it, is anxious to release as many excerpts as possible it is not for public consumption what measures have been taken to ensure that such leaks are not repeated However, the public has a right to demand that some public institution, such as a parliamentary committee, is duly briefed by the government about the measures it has taken to prevent a leak, and to handle what has already been leaked Some information will no doubt be leaked, but it does seem ironic for the government to care about leaks from a parliamentary committee after it has swallowed leaks from the PMO itself

T h e l o n g m a r c h t h a t n e v e r w a s

of May 25

At Penpoint M A N I A Z I

WH i l e the recent by election results have been good enough for PTi chief imran Khan to feel that he is still in the game they have not been out standing enough for him to avoid launching a long March cum sit in on islamabad

The long March is not something that imran wants to launch He has not got an adequate response to the various protests he has announced, and the crowds have been relatively sparse indicating that party supporters might be willing to turn out for a show of strength, they are not willing to turn out for city level protests

One of the major handicaps that imran has to overcome is the memory of the May 25 long March, which was, not to put too fine a word on it, a failure Though there was much high drama, and though the PTi workers and police clashed all day long, it was called off because not enough people had turned up The model imran is following is the 2014 dharna Three major factors behind that dharna are missing: the finances then were in place, for the feeding and staying of the protesters, and the assis tance of certain institutions, and the presence of a hard core of PAT workers, who actually proved the basis of the dharna imran hopes to substitute at least the first by con trol of two provincial governments, but the indica tions are that the funds are not forthcoming iman may have sympathizers in the institutions, but they are unable to put the resources of the institutions at the disposal of the PTi as they allegedly did in 2014 Neither of the provincial governments is able to pro vide the sort of dedicated cadres PAT did

Apart from resources the success of the long March will depend on people from outside islamabad being put on road transport The KP government can be relied on for this and the Punjab government can be expected to refrain from the kind of arrests and anti March activity by the police Will that be enough? That depends on what view of May 25 one takes The PTi believes it was subjected to a massive crackdown in Punjab that prevented vast crowds reaching islam abad; opponents feel that the breakdown of law and order throughout the province was avoided

Another big difference between the 2014 dharna and this long March is the much sharper focus of the earlier one, which is probably leading to the delay in 2014, the aim was to introduce imran Khan, to allow him to communicate his message and to build the trust of the electorate in him to the point where it would vote him to power Oh yes, the dharna demanded fresh elec tions in that respect it failed This time around a fresh election is basically the only demand

At that time, the demand was unreasonable be cause it basically asked for a replay of the 2013 elec tion Now, it is more reasonable, but while it is now

more reasonable because it is premature by less than a year, its urgency has apparently increased if the polls are held immediately there is just enough time for the new government to appoint the next cOAS There was no such incentive in 2013 imran has accepted this as his motive by saying that the thieves and dacoits of the PdM should not appoint the cOAS He got into hot water because of the implication that there were three star officers available who would ignore corruption in exchange for promotion, because he or they are not patriotic enough and lacked sufficient spine if indeed such an officer is available, then the question would arise of how such a person rose to a rank where he would be eli gible to be appointed cOAS imran, by the way, has not pressed this point which would require the putting forward a plan of re form for military education and promotions

However, it seems cen tral to imran s political plans that he should be able to se lect the new cOAS it is widely assumed that he has a particular individual in mind However, by assum ing that that individual would be loyal to him would be to ignore basic human psychology An individual who has spent his entire adult life in a particular in stitution one which has given him respect and self worth, cannot be expected to prefer any other institution if there is a conflict between the two imran’s assump tions about the malleability of senior officers is thus un founded it should also be noted that he does not want to make the appointment be cause he has any plans for the Army The sole pur pose is because he wants to use the Army in an accountability role, and so that the right sort of officer becomes the dGiSi, and perhaps the dGMi it should not be forgotten that imran did not want the previous dGiSi changed not because of the Afghan situation but because he had got some inkling of the no confi dence motion that was coming against him

At the same time, one of the factors said to be holding him back is the threat of the release of scan dalous videos imran himself has accused his oppo nents of using ‘deep fake’ technology to make such videos The spate of audio leaks have been accompa nied by the leaker posting descriptions of those videos

The videos have been spoken about for some time, but they have not been made public That some sort of videos exist seems more than likely Whether real or fake, they are likely to be damaging Fear of them being so clearly genuine and so explicit that they turn off PTi supporters may be a good explanation why imran refuses to name a date for the long March That the long March should be avoided is some thing the PTi tacitly admits However is it something to be avoided no matter what the cost, or is it some thing to be carried out when no other options remain?

The problem with the Long March is that it is meant as a bargaining chip, and because of that, no one really has the last word in deciding its timing The goalposts are in the custody of Imran Khan, but what constitutes a goal, will be decided elsewhere That is probably why Imran is dithering. After all, after this, he has no more cards in his hand.

The long March is meant to deliver fresh elections and the appointment of the next cOAS by a new govern ment Anyone acting to stop the long March would do so only if concerned about the Parliament running to full term Though the constitu tion allows for a premature dissolution of Parliament, and though a tradition de veloped in the uK of sitting governments choosing the date for dissolution, it seems that the military would prefer a more stable system, where Parliaments run to their full term it might be remembered that no Prime Minister since 1985 has gone much be yond three years The origi nal provision of the eighth Amendment allowed the President not just to dis solve the National Assem bly, but to sack only the government That was unacceptable even to the tame partyless National As sembly elected in 1988

Who not only wants Parliament to run full term, and thus does not want any long March but pos sesses audios and videos which are being used to blackmail imran? it is perhaps only the institution which he wants to bend to his will

However that does not stop him having an in fluence on politics, and making politics follow that skewed logic The by election results, if they had been decisive enough would have allowed them to substitute for a long March, but now all they have done is made a long March likelier One advantage is that imran does not need to make an overwhelm ing show of force, merely one that is better than that

The problem with the long March is that it is meant as a bargaining chip, and because of that, no one really has the last word in deciding its timing

The goalposts are in the custody of imran Khan, but what constitutes a goal, will be decided elsewhere That is probably why imran is dithering After all after this, he has no more cards in his hand

S u i c i d e s u f f e r i n g s : C h a l l e n g e s a n d s o l u t i o n s

to kill themselves

M A h N o o r A s l A M r Ao

Su i c i d e is the fatal act of killing oneself it is neither an immediate response nor a disease that causes death But there is a negative be haviour that is triggered by soci ety friends or family that leads one to commit suicide Sometimes it injects the idea in the person’s head to commit suicide Most suicidal incidents are preceded by a pe riod of struggle and pain No one can see the struggle or pain except the person who is ex periencing it A person attempts suicide after the tireless struggle to get something but in the end failing to get whatever he or she wished for They also lose their courage to face failure which causes mental health problems These, emtal health problems are increasing rapidly in today s younger gener ation since the most reported incidents of suicide are in younger people every year more than 700 000 people die by suicide all over the world it is the fourth leading cause of death in the younger generation According to some estimation, the current suicide death rate in the world is 9 17 percent (men 12 58 percent and women 5 68 percent) in Pakistan alone, the current suicide rate is 8 90 percent (men 13 30 per cent and women 4 30 percent) The estima tions have confirmed that suicide mostly happens in lower and middle income coun tries, like Pakistan

if we take a look at gender wise suicides, then males are more commonly victims of it compared to their counterpart females (even females seem more depressed in their lives but do not seem to be trying to attempt sui cide On one hand, their endurance level is high and, on the other hand, they share their problems with others like sisters mother or friends This is not practical in the male por tion of society Holding stress for a long time makes a person hopeless that causes death or injects the idea of suicide in minds That’s why the current suicide rate for men is higher than women in Pakistan Thus males consti tute13 30 percent and female 4 30 percent of suicides it can happen in every generation of people but mostly the cases of suicide occur in between the ages of 15 and 24 Most importantly, this age group is also experi encing student life where one faces a lot of problems, such as living without a family, ac ademic stress, failing to get a high score, bullying, lack of confidence, financial issues, fake friends, uncooperative staff, and so on (At this stage of life, one over reacts to many things instead of taking things lightly, they take them head on Most students are found depressed for the above mentioned reasons At

the same time managing different problems causes mental disorders in them, and they fall depressed Some experts say every 5 out of 10 students are depressed these days depression has mostly been found to be a key factor in every suicidal case it mostly happens when a person continuously feels anxious, depressed, unloved, alone, a failure, unimportant, and so forth Sometimes, bul lying due to race gender caste religion and so on, can also become a major cause of de pression constantly feeling or facing these sorts of things and finding no way to get rid of depressive behaviour develops negative thoughts in individuals Factually, when a person sees no hope and no solution to these things then they will think the only option is

Talking about mental health problems is still an awkward or taboo subject for people All that happens is just because of a lack of awareness of mental health in people Our educational institutions should work on these problems They should train teachers how to motivate students during lectures Also they should start weekly or monthly counselling sessions on mental health issues for students They should teach students how to maintain their health while studying and dealing with other life issues during ses sions These sessions will enable students to think about their mental health positively if they are finding something destructive, then they should consult their doctors As human

If we know someone in our friends, family, or community who is suffering from any mental health problems, then we should try to help them out For instance, if we observe that our friend has any sort of mental health problems then our responsibility is to provide them with a happy atmosphere. We must listen carefully to them when they are sharing their problems with us. In this way, they would put out their anxiety and would feel relaxed

beings all of us should help those who are suffering from such problems if we know someone in our friends, fam ily or community who is suffering from any mental health problems, then we should try to help them out For instance, if we observe that our friend has any sort of mental health problems then our responsibility is to pro vide them with a happy atmosphere We must listen carefully to them when they are sharing their problems with us in this way, they would put out their anxiety and would feel relaxed it is human nature or fact that when we discuss our problems with others, then 70 percent of our stress is released

The writer is a freelance columnist

The PTI petition for a JIT shows the government has not done enough

The writer is a member of staff

Imran Khan’s battle for early elec tions

Rising Militancy and Afghanistan’s attitude

AkbAr JAN MArwAt

IN the backdrop of increasing militancy in the ex tribal regions and Malakand divi sion; a massive and successful protest was held in Mingora Swat against the killing of a schoolvan driver in the same attack, two schoolboys were seriously injured After the incident likely carried out by a faction of TTP (Tehrik Taliban Pakistan), the enraged people of Swat and adjoining areas took out a mammoth rally in Mingora in which students and teachers of private schools and members of civil society participated

Prominent politicians known for anti mili tant and anti Taliban views also addressed the rally Well known amongst these politicians were: Manzoor Pashtun of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement; veteran politician Afrasiab Khattak; Awami National Party KP President Aimal Wali Khan and Jamat i islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan The speakers said that once again, the much hard earned peace in Swat and other parts of KP was being disturbed The speakers asserted that this time, Pashtuns would not be derived, nor would they allow any hidden ele ments, to install terrorists on their lands again The speakers correctly reflected the rage of the people of Swat, who have been through the worst implications of militancy during the 2007 9 period The speakers asked how the militants had staged a comeback in the area The speakers called upon the security agencies of the state, to provide security to the people, as it was their basic right The speakers concluded, that if the state did not provide security to the people of Swat, the Pashtuns would take things into their own hands and Pashtuns from all over KP would stand with their brothers in Swat Similar protests were carried out in Battagram and Haripur districts also

The present wave of militancy and the in creased presence of militants or Taliban actively in the ex tribal districts and Malakand division, have markedly increased after the formation of the Taliban Government in Afghanistan local journalists say that some of these Mil itants or Taliban claim a record, as they have come back as per negotiation with the Pakistani state and security agencies The advisor on infor mation to the KP chief Minister denies this claim He gives the wishy washy explanation that the militant actions are taken by Taliban groups, op posed to the negotiation This explanation does not hold much water because the TTP is an amor phous organization of various groups, which only get together for specific tasks, and are not an hi erarchical and disciplined force

The Afghanistan Taliban in Afghanistan, are clearly in a state of confusion and frustration They could clearly not meet the commitments which they made with the international commu nity The most important commitments made by the Taliban regime were the guarantee that their

land would not be used as a launching pad by terrorists and militants Secondly they had prom ised women in Afghanistan would be given equal rights and opportunities, and that girls’ ed ucation would not be curbed at any cost This has clearly not happened

As a result of these measures, the interna tional community is not happy with the Taliban regime, and so for not a single country has rec ognized the new regime in Afghanistan The presence and eventual death of Ayman Al Za wahiri in Afghanistan, has further increased the worst fears of the world community

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently warned the international com munity in the uN Gen eral Assembly, about the active presence of foreign extremist or ganizations in Afghanistan, including those that have been targeting Pakistan

Many other Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia through its fore9ign minister Faisal bin Farhan, called for cooperation among all countries to stop Afghanistan from becoming a centre for the growth and perpet uation of terrorism

The Taliban regime showed unprecedented verbal aggression against Mr Sharif ’s speech deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Starnizai issued an ex tremely billigarent statement against Pak istan accusing it of profiting from the Afghan conflict The most concerning part of Stanikzai’s statement was that the Taliban had proof of Pak istan s manipulation role in Afghanistan and his threat; “if we rise against this, no one will be able to stop us ”

On the other hand the Afghan Taliban com plain that the international community should appreciate their efforts in dealing with terrorist organizations like the islamic State of Kharasan; the TTP; the east Turkistan islamic Movement and the islamic Movement of uzbikistan it is a fact, however, that contrary to the initial claims of the Afghan Taliban, these militant organiza tions have been settled there and are damaging for the Taliban regime and world peace

The Taliban regime s increasing animus to wards Pakistan is badly impacting bilateral ties between the two countries The international community and human rights organisations Have been closely monitoring the situa tion For them, girls education is an issue of extreme importance in spite of getting bilat eral and humanitarian assistance the Taliban regime cannot fully stand on its feet till diplomatic recognition is given by the interna tional community

Even today some architects of Afghan policy behave as if the Afghan Taliban, after overcoming their immediate challeng es, will prove to be Pakistan’s best allies The basis for such hopes and claims seem ver y dubious. But if these apologists of the old Afghan Policy are correct, they should bring their suppor ting evidence to the public realm, and especially share it with Parliament

According to some analysts both the Afghan Taliban and our security agencies suffered from certain common shortcomings also Afghan Taliban as well as our security agencies could not achieve inclusivity

The Afghan Taliban, because of their narrow ideological and litera interpretation of reli gion could not include groups or ethnicities having diverse think ing Similarly our se curity establishment, in spite of repeated ad vice not to put all their eggs in the Taliban bas ket, did just that As a result Pakistan lost leverage with other groups and organisations in Afghanistan

E d i t o r

This threat by the Afghan deputy Foreign Minister is painful for Pakistan, in view of the tremendous assistance that it has provided to them in various forms for the last four decades But it seems that Afghanistan is taking out all the anger and frustration on Pakistan, which it focuses on in the international community Pak istan on the other hand, is perfectly justified in accusing Afghanistan, of not taking firm action against the TTP as it had promised but rather telling the Pakistan authorities to negotiate with the TTP which is clearly not producing positive results for Pakistan

Pakistan has not achieved much in return for its absolute and exclusive support to the Afghan Taliban These key interests hoped to be achieved were: border security; elimination of terrorist networks and trade; and connectivity with central Asian states

even today some architects of Afghan pol icy behave as if the Afghan Taliban, after over coming their immediate challenges will prove to be Pakistan’s best allies The basis for such hopes and claims seem very dubious But if these apologists of the old Afghan Policy are correct, they should bring their supporting evi dence to the public realm, and especially share it with Parliament

The write is a freelance columnist

s m a i l

Need for Chlorine tablets

i T is good to see that many organisations and individuals are taking part in flood relief activities There is a basic necessity however which seems to have gone unnoticed thus far The flood victims are likely to be the victims of many waterborne diseases They need clean drinking water in their makeshift homes in camps they do not have sufficient gas supply to manage boiled water

Some people give them mineral water, but not all brands are safe Also, the bottles release dangerous chemicals if exposed to sunlight for long periods, or if they are reused What the people need is the supply of water purification tablets unfortunately, they are not easily available chlorine tablets must be made available Also other chemicals like potassium permanganate, are also not freely available nowadays apparently for security reasons Vaccination campaigns are fine, but the basic requirement of clean drinking water must be fulfilled first

PROF (DR) YASMEEN KAZI KARACHI

Prices of carbon

W H i l e Pakistan’s contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains low, it has been facing the wrath of climate change phenomenon in the form of heatwaves rains and floods As climate change becomes a critical question, a debate over the contribution of North and South to GHG emissions has gained momentum developing states, particularly Pakistan, are paying the cost of actions taken by the global North The question is why people in western Balochistan and interior Sindh have to pay a particulary high price on this count it is because we neither have resilient technology nor appropriate infrastructure The government should devise practical solutions instead of crying over spilt milk As for the global equation, climate justice is the right answer to the basic dilemma The global North should not bury its head in the proverbial sand, and compensate the global South carbon pricing should be raised by governments at local, regional and international levels on a war footing The more you burn carbon, the more you pay for it it is literally as simple as that

USMAN GHANI QUETTA

Tax on Green Energy

T H i S is with reference to the planned tax on solar power With this step, Pakistan will surely take a huge backward step that will nullify every effort made so far to encourage the use of green energy undeniably the government is deep down in a financial crisis and is trying to squeeze additional revenues from wherever it can However, long term implications of such policy decisions are probably not been given any thought

SANIYA HAFEEZ LAHORE

Self-Ser ving Teachers

P u B l i c S e c TO r education in Sindh has been on the deathbed for decades covid related restrictions and then the closure of educational institutions following calamitous floods have further eroded any hope for improvement

About 22 million out of school children and thousands of dysfunctional, nonviable, closed and ghost schools no more alarm the policymakers According to an estimate, 15,000 schools in Sindh have been affected by the floods this year and another 5,500 have been converted into relief camps As the floodwater is still standing in many of the affected areas, rehabilitation of destroyed or damaged schools might take years Other than the natural causes, the most disappointing development is that majority of the newly appointed primary, junior elementary and high school teachers are unwilling to conduct classes Many of them work in private and non governmental sectors on high remunerations They are neither willing to leave their high salaries in the private sector nor are they ready to forgo their new government school jobs educational officialdom and teacher union leaders can be held accountable for the gradual degradation in our education field union leaders have always tolerated and even defended the absentee teachers They often include in their election panels those who had never taken a single class in their long careers There is a need for unions and officialdom to change their self serving mindset There should be no compromise on education The unions should take the lead and distance themselves from those who only want to draw salaries without performing their duties

The whole system is rotten with elements like commitment dedication and honesty losing their shine corruption, non performance and nepotism are the favoured traits and considered a matter of pride

While there are teachers who prefer their financial interest the newly appointed teachers who do want to teach but are unwilling to grease the palm of the educational bureaucracy are appointed in schools far away from their residence or are being harassed on one pretext or the other Such a behaviour is condemnable

GULSHER PANHWER JOHI

Scholarships

OWiNG to the unprecedented floods that the country faced earlier this year the recipients of Higher education commission (Hec) scholarships especially those belonging to the third batch of overseas scholarship’s phase three, are facing a number of challenges in fulfilling requirements related to documentation

Sometimes access to a particular office is hard, while sometimes officials are out of their offices or busy in relief activities Moreover, the non availability of electricity and poor internet service have increased the challenges manifold in order to execute the scholarship process smoothly and to include a maximum number of candidates, the Hec authorities might consider extending the overseas scholarship phase three till the next year so that those who happen to be in the flood affected areas may get admission to foreign universities

ALEENA KHAN UMERKOT

T

Pr oject SyNdicate r i c h A r d h A A s s

nUClEAr weapons have been a feature of international relations since August 1945, when the United states dropped two of them on Japan to hasten the end of World War ii None has been used since then, and they arguably helped keep the Cold War cold by forcing a degree of caution on both sides of the confrontation between the Us and the soviet Union Moreover, arms control negotiations succeeded in limiting both countries’ nuclear arsenals and stopped or slowed nuclear proliferation Today, only seven other countries (the United Kingdom, France China israel india Pakistan and North Korea) possess nuclear weapons

The question now is whether we are on the cusp of a new era of expanding nuclear arsenals, a more prominent role for them in geopolitics, and efforts by more countries to acquire them Adding to the danger is the sense that the nuclear taboo against possess ing or even using nuclear weapons is fading, owing to the passage of time and to the emergence of a new generation of so called tactical nuclear weapons that imply less cat astrophic results and therefore may seem

The new nuclear era

iNdiaN exPreSS s A l m A n K h u r s h i d

ThE emphatic victory of Mallikarjun Kharge, a solid veteran with 50 years of or ganisational and electoral service to the party, might well have been confidently pre dicted, but not because the election was programmed rather the sense and historical context of the party pointed in that direction

The elections for the president of the indian National Congress should have been a routine affair, given the long history of internal democracy in the party however, we cannot com plain that so much is being made of it this time Of course after over two decades, we will not see a member of the Nehru Gandhi family occupy the highest office of the party al though that was not the intent or as piration of hundreds of party rank and file Yet our leadership has in sisted that this is how it must be and we will make the most of it

Even as we celebrate the initial moments of the tenure of the new president, we cannot stop wondering if many outsiders and the media at large that have shown great interest in the process are genuinely moti vated by a commitment to greater democracy in political parties or sim ply a cynical interest in what the Con gress party chooses to do or not do We seldom see a similar interest shown in the proceedings of other parties big and small if the burden of democracy is to be carried by the indian National Congress, so be it if higher standards and expectations are meant for our party alone, so be it i hope it is now clear that by most standards we have to thank Madhusudan Mistry and the leaders

more usable

russia’s war against Ukraine has made the arrival of this new era more likely in sev eral ways After the breakup of the soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine surrendered the nu clear weapons that remained on its territory in exchange for security assurances since then, russia has invaded twice, an outcome that might persuade others that giving up nu clear weapons decreases a country s security

Then, in the wake of russia’s second in vasion earlier this year, the Us ruled out di rect military involvement on behalf of Ukraine owing to a concern that dispatching troops or establishing a no fly zone could lead to a nuclear WWiii China and others could see this as evidence that possessing a substantial nuclear arsenal can deter the Us or at least impel it to act with greater re straint Most recently against the backdrop of significant battlefield setbacks, russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons in or near Ukraine in an effort to intimidate Ukrainians and force Eu ropean governments and the Us to rethink their support for the country

Developments elsewhere have also con tributed to a rethinking of the value of nu clear weapons regimes and leaders in iraq

and libya were ousted after abandoning their nuclear weapons programs, which might lead others to consider the advantages of retaining or developing nuclear capabili ties North Korea, for its part, remains secure as it continues to expand its nuclear arsenal The world has likewise learned to live with israeli, indian, and Pakistani nuclear arse nals

The danger is that more nuclear weapons in more hands increases the odds that one or more of these unimaginably destructive weapons will be used Deterrence and re sponsible custodianship cannot be assumed Possession of nuclear weapons also has the potential to provide something of a shield that could make non nuclear aggression more common Even the belief that a country was moving to develop nuclear weapons could trigger military action by worried neighbors, possibly leading to a larger con flict

Given these risks the most immediate task is to ensure that Putin’s nuclear saber rattling is not rewarded, lest it set a danger ous precedent This requires maintaining Western military and economic support for Ukraine, as well as regular reminders to rus sia by the Us and its allies that the conse

quences of any nuclear use both for russian military forces in Ukraine and for anyone in volved in the decision, would far outweigh any perceived benefits

At the same time, and certainly before early 2026, when the New sTArT Treaty limiting the two great nuclear powers arse nals expires, the Us should signal to russia its readiness to discuss the next phase of nu clear arms control The number and types of weapons systems to be limited needs to be on the agenda, as does the inclusion of China

The Us, together with its partners in the region, should also take steps diplomatic or military if need be to ensure that iran does not develop nuclear weapons or get so close that it could achieve nuclear breakout without enough warning for others to pre vent it Failing this one or more of iran’s neighbors may well decide they need nuclear weapons of their own such a scenario would take the Middle East for three decades the world’s least stable region, in an even more dangerous direction reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that iran reached with world powers (and from which the Us withdrew in 2018) would help only temporarily because the agreement features

several so called sunset clauses That seems too high a price to pay, as it would allow iran to get out from under significant sanctions, enabling the regime to pursue an even more aggressive foreign policy and provide it a lifeline just when domestic opposition to it is mounting

Another set of concerns is found in Asia Attempts to separate North Korea from its nuclear weapons are going nowhere Full de nuclearization should remain a goal, but in the meantime the Us, south Korea, and Japan need to consider some form of arms control proposal that would limit North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and missile systems in exchange for a reduction of sanctions

The Us should also maintain its close al liance with both south Korea and Japan vis à vis not just North Korea, but also China Failure to do so would most likely lead both countries to reconsider their renunciation of nuclear weapons

For a long time many scholars and pol icymakers operated under the illusion that the nuclear problem was a relic of the Cold War in fact the world is moving closer to an era that could be defined even more sharply by nuclear weapons Changing course is imperative and time is running out

Why is travelling with an Afr ican passpor t so difficult?

of the party to have ensured a free and fair election of the president and that the few friendly complaints of an uneven playing field do not re ally undermine the humongous ef fort to hold a flawless election across the states and Union territo ries on one single day and to com plete counting within the schedule it would only be fair that this honest effort is genuinely appreciated and encouraged as an example to other political parties indeed social or ganisations that contribute to public life in modern times

The emphatic victory of Mallikarjun Kharge, a solid veteran with 50 years of organisational and electoral service to the party might well have been confidently pre dicted, but not because the election was programmed rather the sense and historical context of the party pointed in that direction shashi Tha roor widely admired by the young within the party and general public, made a principled and courageous stand endorsed by a significant number of delegates One hopes that even in defeat he will persevere to help the winner consolidate the elec toral footprint of the party he might have the example of the late rajesh Pilot whose unsuccessful bid for presidentship against sitaram Kesri did not deny him political opportuni ties for the future

There are, of course, other im portant leaders who did not contest this election despite the clear mes sage that all were free to contest and that there would be no officially sponsored candidate They too will have a greater responsibility to use the outcome of the election process as a launch pad for a combative and ideologically refocused Congress party The new president begins his tenure with the benefit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that relentlessly marched on across the country with rahul

Gandhi in an inspirational lead physically and intellectually

This is perhaps the point to un derscore something that is missed by many observers, unknowingly or deliberately rahul Gandhi kept him self aloof from the election process and refused the fervent pleas of in numerable party leaders and cadres to take the presidency once again

The election thus became necessary

But this election does not decide who the undisputed leader of the party is and will remain sonia Gandhi and rahul Gandhi will in different ways continue to provide leadership and guidance to the party for the future even as the stature of Kharge grows he will look after the routine organ isational responsibilities guided by the top leadership that will have more time to work on the vision and outreach as we go into election 2024 mode how things will be stream lined and the consultative process fine tuned will be worked out at the top People who do not understand the ethos and culture of our party should just wait to see how things at the top will be managed

it would suffice at present to un derscore that for the past 20 years, through thick and thin, the party has been deeply attached to the Gandhis and indeed, it was their decision and foresight to give this opportunity to evolve another model of leadership it is important that we give it a chance Time will tell how this helps the party and the country instead of finding fault with what we have done, it is time for our critics to put their money where their mouths are Change by evolution is not to be de valued against change by revolution, because the cost of the latter can be very high and unpredictable

T h e w r i t e r i s s e n i o r C o n g re s s l e a d e r a n d f o r m e r e x t e r n a l a f f a i r s m i n i s t e r

This week a tweet by Dr Ahmed Ogwell a director at Africa CDC, went viral A few months ago, Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAiDs faced discrimination when she was trying to travel Canada for a work related event Cases of travellers with African passports facing discrimination in Western airports are rampant

it’s an exhausting cycle Already, the entire idea of visas doesn t make sense, for the most part, because it only works one way For example, a Kenyan filing an application for the Us visa will part with sh16,000 For an American visiting here? They pay around sh6,000 They don't have to show bank statements, they are not required to show that they are employed, no proof of a return ticket is required in Kenya, we come short of giving the blood of your unborn child to get a simple visitor ’s visa to the states And this is just for ordinary citizens You would think that people in more formal spaces or rather spaces that are shaping policy and development for the future of Africa, and indeed, the world would have a little bit of an easier ride

As we see above, that is not the case, and this is why i say that the entire idea of visas is false, predi cated on a power play that should not be allowed to exist, but funds too many foreign embassies and ‘ex patriates to stop

These supposed first world countries claim that they want Africans to prove that we have business to do in their countries, and promise that we are not going to stay this is another lie obviously because even those who do have ‘business’ there, are still mistreated it begs the question as to why we allow this kind of gross imbalance to exist We are coming to the table as beggars when we should in fact be coming as equals; something we saw quite clearly at the begin ning of the current vaccine apartheid when vaccines were being tested and formulated by Kenyans in

Kenya (and then suddenly rejected on weak bases that no one understood) We have the expertise to produce on an intercontinental level We are the continent with the most natural resources and the youngest popula tions; and if the tourism statistics are anything to go by, better weather, too so why is it that for a continent that is needed m o r e t h a n w e n e e d w e a r e t h e o n e s f a c i n g t h e b r u n t o f t h i s c o n s i s t e n t l y d e r o g a t o r y d e h u m a n i s a tion? it also begs the question as to why the first w o r l d , ’ k n o w i n g t h e i r s t r i n g e n t a n d u n r e a s o n a b l e immigration policies, continue to hold these confer ences in countries that are inaccessible Germany Canada, the Us, et al if anything, we are supposed to be working to wards a global mindset for these big goals under the visions for 2030, sDG aspirations, and all that jazz These big goals meant for the whole world cannot be accomplished if it is only eight nations show up Everyone must have a seat at the table if these countries are not going to be more helpful in facilitating entry why are all these conferences held there, year in year out?

Unless of course I am talking to myself in an echo chamber that assumes that these countries even care to pay attention to the ‘global South ’ Maybe they don’t actually want us there and all this is a grandiose per formance of inclusivity In which case the problem here is much bigger than just visas

THE US, TOGETHER WITH ITS PARTNERS IN THE REGION, SHOULD ALSO TAKE STEPS DIPLOMATIC OR MILITARY IF NEED BE TO ENSURE THAT IR AN DOES NOT DE VELOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS OR GET SO CLOSE THAT IT COULD ACHIE VE NUCLEAR BREAKOUT WITHOUT ENOUGH WARNING FOR OTHERS TO PRE VENT IT

NatioN, KeNya A b i g A i l A r u n g A

What the elec tion of Mallik arjun K harge as Congress president means for the par ty

MALLIKARJUN KHARGE'S EMPHATIC VICTORY IN THE CONGRESS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION MARKS A NEW TURN FOR THE PARTY BUT SONIA AND RAHUL GANDHI ARE LIKELY TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP AND GUIDANCE TO THE PARTY AS KHARGE TAKES ON ORGANISATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

W E A R E T H E O N E S FA C I N G T H E B R U N T O F T H I S C O N S I S T E N T LY D E R O G AT O R Y D E H U M A N I S AT I O N ? I T A L S O B E G S T H E Q U E S T I O N A S T O W H Y T H E ‘ F I R S T W O R L D,’ K N O W I N G T H E I R S T R I N G E N T A N D U N R E A S O N A B L E I M M I G R AT I O N P O L I C I E S , C O N T I N U E T O H O L D T H E S E C O N F E R E N C E S I N C O U N T R I E S T H AT A R E I N A C C E S S I B L E G E R M A N Y, C A N A D A , T H E U S , E T A L

corporate corner

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Par ticipants of 24th national securit y Workshop visit naval headquar ters

sP E A k I N G at the World Cancer Congress (WCC) in Geneva Dr Aasim Yusuf Chief Medical Officer of Shaukat khanum Hospitals, discussed challenges related to Can cer Care in Times of Conflict: Treat ment of Patients from Afghanistan, in Pakistan ” He said that worldwide, more than 89 million people are forcible displaced and 83% of them are hosted by low and middle income countries According to one estimate, 2 7 million Afghans were displaced across borders by the end of 2021 Based on data extrapolated from Pak istan, he said that there are 22,817 new cases of cancer in Afghanistan and be cause of a paucity of cancer treatment facilities, many patients travel outside

gstAr 2022 advocates peace, stabilit y

Karachi p r

Provincial Minister for Information, Trans port and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that the rehabilitation work in flood hit areas has been started in the flood so far the data of 250000 damaged houses has been collected including pictures and videos He said that committees have been formed at the taluk level, in which represen tatives of the Pakistan Army and the Na tional Disaster Management Authority have also been included to make the rehabilitation process transparent and to assure that all de serving person whose house has collapsed can be included in the rehabilitation phase He said that Sindh People's Housing Company has been established for the con

the country to receive cancer care Ac cording to records of Shaukat khanum, the commonest cancers seen in Afghan adult patients are oesophageal cancer and gastric cancer, followed by breast

ogDcl, Dost foundation team up for welfare of drug addicts

islamabad: As a responsible corporate, the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has signed an MoU with DOST Welfare Foundation for the social reintegration of the drug addicted people in the company’s operational Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Launched under the OGDCL’s corporate social responsibility, the two year program will mainly focus on creating awareness among the masses regarding drug use Awareness will be created among people of various age groups in general and the youth population in particular

The program will inform local people about ways to prevent drug addiction Completely sponsored by OGDCL, the program will also facilitate the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicted people at state of the art rehabilitation facilities of the DOST Foundation pr

uBl continues to deliver strong results in 2022

UBL declared Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs 50 7 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, a stellar growth of 29% over last year Earnings per share (EPS) stood at Rs 15 33 (9M’21: Rs 18 59), with strong growth in EPS from Rs 1 91 in Q2 2022 to Rs 5 64 in Q3 2022

The Bank remains well capitalized for future business expansion with a Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 18 4%, which is around 7% in excess of the regulatory minimum requirements The Bank declared dividends of Rs 4 0 per share for the third quarter of 2022, taking the overall dividend distribution to Rs 13 0 per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2022

Strong revenue expansion of 34% in 2022 driven by all core segments

Gross revenues were reported at Rs 94 9 billion for 9M’22, with an increase of 34% over last year Net mark up income grew significantly by 36%, as a well positioned loan and investment portfolio repriced well during the year Maintaining a focus on low cost deposit mobilization remained a priority across the network resulting in an efficient cost of deposits despite a rising rate environment A growth of 13% in the current account portfolio along with the expansion in the core customer base pr

struction for the purpose The minister ex pressed these views while addressing a press conference on Thursday at Sindh Archives

He said that it was federal government stance that funds should be given to the flood affectees for the construction of houses So cash transaction will be made in the accounts of affectees in installments for the construc tion of houses and the committees at the taluk level will monitor it He said that the NGOs are also being taken on board in the construction of houses phase The minister claimed that has responded the huge natural catastrophe on same speed as it's severity

Chief Minister Sindh and his team including Irrigation, local government, Public Health Engineering and other relevant departments are engaged in dewatering and relief activi ties Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the

cancer and colorectal cancer Amongst children, blood cancer is the most com monly reported malignancy

These patients have to travel long distances, often 2,000 km each way to

Ptcl , nokia to explore innovative ict solutions for industr y and business

receive treatment They come to Pak istan on a renewable 2 4 week visa and many miss important appointments, es pecially for follow up once treatment has been completed These patients face unique challenges, which include disruption to family life and livelihood Shaukat khanum Hospitals provide free treatment to those who cannot af ford cancer care on humanitarian grounds, without any discrimination or restriction There is a need to develop cancer awareness programmes and ed ucate people that cancer is curable if you access treatment in a timely man ner The international community should step forward and support devel opment of a cancer centre where peo ple from Afghanistan can access care closer to their homes, along with train ing of physicians, nurses and paramed ical staff, and establishment of a population based cancer registry

Karandaaz joins hands with ministr y of pover t y alleviation, social safet y

islamabad: Karandaaz and MOPASS signed an agreement to undertake joint efforts to advance financial inclusion in Pakistan

The MOU signing ceremony took place at MOPASS in Islamabad and was chaired by Secretary MOPASS, Dr Muhammad Fakhre Alam Irfan, CEO Karandaaz, Mr Waqas ul Hasan, and Senior Program Officer Gates Foundation, Syed Ali Mahmood The ceremony was also attended by senior management from both the organizations pr

islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Nokia have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore together to provide innovative ICT solutions to industries, government, cities, and businesses throughout Pakistan

The purpose of this MoU is to collaborate and tap into the potential of the ICT market and catalyze the digital transformation of enterprises across Pakistan Under this MoU, PTCL and Nokia will engage in discussions to strategize and build a go to market plan to address industry needs selling PTCL solutions with Nokia products and services including Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), a high performance, end to end private wireless networking and edge computing platform pr

ici Pakistan unveils results for quar ter ended sept 30, 2022

Following the meeting of the Board of Directors, ICI Pakistan Limited announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2022

Financial Highlights

• During the quarter under review, the Company entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Morinaga Milk Industry Co Ltd Japan (Morinaga Milk) for a partial divestment of approximately 26 5% of the issued and paid up share capital of Nutrico Morinaga (Private) Limited (NMPL) The implementation of the SPA is subject to receipt of requisite approvals in addition to fulfilment of closing conditions

The Company will continue to hold approximately 24 5% of the share capital of NMPL upon the completion of the proposed transaction Accordingly, as per IFRS 5 Non current Assets Held for Sale pr

state life par tners with Dubai islamic Bank to offer innovative takaful solutions

Sindh government has allocated 7 billion ru pees for the supply of seeds to the farmers He added that 785 deaths have been reported due to recent rains and floods, whose families are being given Rs 1000000 each while ration bags have also been de livered to more than 1800000 families He said that the federal government is disburs ing billions of rupees among flood hit peo ple throughput Pakistan under the Benazir Income Support Program Till now Rs 70 billion have been distributed among the vic tims He said that the Benazir Income Sup port Program was launched by President Asif Ali Zardari during his tenure in office, the purpose of which was to collect data for assistance in routine poverty elevation and availability of data for assistance in case of any natural calamity

Arif habib Dolmen reit management applies for grr listing at PsX

REIT (GRR), which once approved would become Pakistan’s first listed Developmental REIT Globe Residency is a residential project comprising of 2 bed and 3 bed apartments located at Naya Nazimabad, Karachi

Company

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to offer hassle free Shariah compliant financial solutions to DIB customers nationwide pr

L I z T r u S S S T e p S d o w n A S

B r I T I S h p r I m e m I n I S T e r

LONDON Ag e n c i e s

LI Z Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as prime minister, brought down by her economic programme that sent shock waves through the markets and divided her Conservative Party just six weeks after she was appointed

A leadership election will be com pleted within the next week

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not de liver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader having lost the faith of her party

“I recognise though, given the sit uation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conserva tive Party I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him

that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party she said

“This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady

Iran warns Saudi Arabia over ‘reliance’ on Israel

DUBAI Ag e n c i e s

Iran on Thursday said the leaders of regional foe Saudi Arabia should end their reliance on Israel, according to the semi official Tasnim news agency in an apparent reference to growing ties between Israel and Gulf Arab states “You are relying on an Israel which is collapsing, and this will be the end of your era,” Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying in what he called a “warning” to the kingdom’s ruling Al Saud family Salami’s statement contradicts recent comments by a top advisor to Iran s Supreme Leader who called for the reopening of embassies to facilitate rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh “We are neighbours of Saudi Arabia and we must coexist The embassies of the two countries should reopen in order to solve our problems in a better way a Ali Akbar Velayati said on Wednesday

Last year, Tehran and Riyadh began direct talks in an attempt to improve relations which tanked when diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in 2016 Baghdad has hosted five rounds of talks so far, the last in April

Saudi Arabia has signalled its backing for the so called Abraham Accords under which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged relations with Israel two years ago But Riyadh has stopped short of formally recognising neighbouring Israel Israel has voiced willingness to work militarily with its new Gulf partners, which have been more publicly reticent about such a prospect

and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security ”

I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen Thank you

Conservative lawmakers have in creasingly called on Truss to step down after she was forced to junk most of her economic programme which when de livered on Sept 23 sent the pound and government bond markets tumbling

She drafted in former health minister Jeremy Hunt as her new finance minister to try to reset her administration, but on Wednesday her lawmakers turned on each other and another senior minister resigned, leaving Truss’s authority in tat ters Conservative lawmakers say her most likely successors are either her lead ership rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, or Penny Mordaunt, who came third in the race to become the next prime minister just six weeks ago

Modi promises one million government jobs as elec tions loom

NEW DELHI Ag e n c e s

Indian Prime Minister Naren dra Modi s office said on Thursday he would launch a drive this weekend to give gov ernment jobs to one million people, starting with 75,000 immediate appointments, as he tries to tackle criticism of widespread unemployment

Joblessness in the country of 1 4 billion people has stayed around 7% for months some thing that the opposition has regularly pointed out in the run up to elections in several states starting next month

Modi’s office said the 75 000 new recruits would join 38 ministries or departments of the federal government at vari ous levels of seniority

“ A s p e r t h e d i r e c t i o n s o f t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r, a l l m i n i s t r i e s a n d d e p a r t m e n t s a r e working towards filling up ex isting vacancies against sanc t i o n e d p o s t s i n m i s s i o n mode,” it said

It was not immediately

clear if it meant there were one million vacancies in govern ment departments or if some jobs would be created

The aim is to fill up the posts by September next year, Modi said in June on Twitter

India’s unemployment peaked at 23 5% in 2020 in the first full year of Covid 19, then fell back as restrictions eased But it has remained around 7%

since, according to data from Mumbai based the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy higher than the global average Modi stormed to power in 2014 promising to create mil lions of jobs, but the economy has not grown fast enough to a c c o m m o d a t e s o m e 1 2 m i l lion people joining the labour force each year a number that is rising

Iran imposes sanctions on British officials, institutes for ‘backing terrorism’

TEHRAN Ag e n c i e s

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a number of British institutes and individuals for “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups, promoting and instigating terrorism, violence and hate mongering and violation of human rights ”

The ministry issued a statement on its website saying the move was made within the framework of the related legal regulations and sanction mechanisms as well as a “response in kind Iran holds the British government responsible and accountable for supporting terrorists and violators of human rights who organize and instigate rioting and acts of terrorism in Iran from UK soil, said the statement

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks at a press conference in Tehran, Iran, November 15, 2021 /CFP

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir Abdollahian speaks at a press conference in Tehran Iran November 15 2021 /CFP The listed entities included the National Cyber Security Center of Britain, the British Government Communications Headquarters as well as Volant Media Global Media, DMA Media and anti Iranian TV channels they support, namely BBC Persian and Iran International, according to the statement

Iran’s sanctions have also targeted several individuals, including British Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat, and British military commander in the Gulf Don MacKinnon

The sanctions will prohibit the targeted individuals from obtaining visas and entering Iran and will freeze their assets and bank accounts inside Iran

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said they will target people and institutes that have played a role in imposing medical sanctions on Iran and promoting “violence and extremism,” which have caused insecurity in the country following the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini

On October 10, Britain placed sanctions on senior Iranian security officials and the “Morality Police,” saying the force had used threats of detention and violence to control what Iranian women wear and how they behave in public

C hinese diplomac y guided by X i Jinping Thought to c arr y for ward ‘ fighting spirit ’

BEIJING

China’s determination to safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity and funda mental interests of the Chinese nation is un shakable and rock solid, and on the new journey in the future, China’s diplomacy will continue to carry forward the fighting spirit and improve the ability to fight said a senior Chinese diplomat at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Thursday

The press center for the 20th CPC Na tional Congress held a press conference on the topic “Under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Forge Ahead and Strive to Break New Ground for Major Country Diplomacy with Chinese Character istics in Beijing with Shen Beili vice minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, and Ma Zhaoxu, vice minister of the Ministry of For eign Affairs, both in attendance

Chinese analysts said strengthening China’s ability to fight on the diplomatic front means it understands the country faces an unprecedented threat from the outside world, especially from US hegemony, which aims to contain China’s development on all fronts In the future, China will no longer just reactively respond to the provocations and at

tacks launched by the US and its followers but will more proactively shape the interna tional environment to unite more friends and isolate those extremely hostile to China M o r e a n d m o r e c o u n t r i e s a r o u n d t h e g l

a

Chinese model or require other nations or parties to emulate its practice, Shen noted, stressing that “the CPC will not accept the sanctimonious preaching or blindly borrow the political systems of other nations ”

waters and airspace around the Taiwan Is land Photo: Xinhua

diplomatic relations with China has in creased from 172 to 181, while 149 countries and 32 international organizations have de cided to participate in the Belt and Road Ini tiative, he said

p p

s s e d , b u l l i e d and harmed by the US are also expecting China to be more active in contributing to the international anti hegemony campaign said experts

G u i d i n G t h o u G h t: Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy is an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the latest theoretical outcome of the Marx ism of contemporary China in foreign re lated work It embodies the best of the Chinese culture and ethos in our times It is a fundamental philosophy and guide to ac tion for China s diplomacy in the new era

Ma said

In the past ten years, Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy has guided China’s diplomacy to new success China has taken historic strides in its relations with the world and made historic contributions to the interna tional community, Ma remarked Shen outlined the CPC s international exchanges and communications with other countries’ political parties and civil organi zations The CPC will not point fingers at the internal affairs of political parties in other nations nor will the Party seek to export the

Shen noted that it is important for polit ical parties of different nations to seek com mon ground while reserving their differences and step up mutual learning which is instrumental to promoting progress in human civilization

Shen said political parties, whether they are the ruling party or not, should treat each other as equals, respect each other and re frain from interfering in each other ’s internal affairs, regardless of their history, number of members or strength

Warplanes of the Eastern Theater Com mand of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conduct operations during joint combat training exercises around the Taiwan Island, Aug 7, 2022 The Eastern Theater Command continued its joint combat train ing exercises as scheduled on Sunday in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Is land Photo: Xinhua

Warplanes of the Eastern Theater Com mand of the Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) conduct operations during joint combat training exercises around the Taiwan Island, Aug 7, 2022

The Eastern Theater Command continued its joint combat train ing exercises as scheduled on Sunday in the

F i G h t i n G s p i r i t: Under the leader ship of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi at its core, we maintain the strategic focus and carry forward the fighting spirit, safeguarding the country’s dignity and core interests and taking the initiative in tak ing the right of development and security of our country in our hands, Ma said

For instance, we took resolute counter measures against the provocative visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island of Taiwan, firmly opposing Taiwan independ ence” secessionist moves, resolutely con taining interference of external forces and further consolidating the international con sensus on one China principle Also, we res olutely implement the One Country, Two Systems putting in place the National Secu rity Law for Hong Kong and taking targeted countermeasures against unreasonable sanc tions imposed by the US and other Western countries, the Vice Foreign Minister said

We have also exposed lies through pre senting the truth and thwarted some political attempts to contain China by using Xinjiang affairs and we have steadily advanced the negotiation on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea in safeguarding the overall stability of the region

Ma said that over the past 10 years, the number of countries that had established

China, in the past decade, has estab lished diplomatic ties with nine countries that used to be so called “diplomatic allies” of the Taiwan authority he said

While answering a question from the Global Times at the press conference on Thursday about how Chinese diplomacy will reflect “fighting spirit”, a term that has been frequently seen in recent key documents on Chinese diplomacy, in the future, Ma said, “Having the courage and ability to carry on the fight is a fine tradition and distinct char acteristic of Chinese diplomacy,” and China “opposes any type of hegemony and power politics We have unshakable and rock solid determination to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, and the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation ”

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin Univer sity of China, told the Global Times on Thursday that with China getting closer or entering the center of the international arena in the past 10 years, the “counter acting force” released by the hegemony that resists such change will increase, and this is why the fighting spirit is becoming increasingly important for China s foreign affairs

We’ve agreed that there will be a leader ship election to be completed within the next week This will ensure that we re main on a path to deliver our fiscal plans

M e n d i s f i r e s s r i L a n k a i n t o t 2 0 W o r L d C u p s u p e r 1 2

GEELOnG a f p

oP E N E R Kusal Mendis slammed a 44 ball 79 as Asian champions Sri Lanka beat the Nether lands by 16 runs to sweep into the Super 12 stage of the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday, where they were joined by the Dutch despite their defeat The world s eighth ranked team plundered 162 6 in Geelong, blasting 102 of them off the final 10 overs, to set a big target which the Netherlands were un able to reach finishing on 146 9

But the men in orange still went through after United Arab Emirates won their first ever game at a T20 World Cup to upset Namibia by seven runs

The Africans would have joined Sri Lanka in the next round rather than the Dutch had they won, but against the odds, the UAE restricted them to 141 8 as they chased 149 for victory

It is the third successive time Sri Lanka have reached the Super 12 and they will be hoping to repeat their hero

ics from 2014 when Dinesh Chandimal skippered them to the title But it was a rocky road to get there, stunned by Namibia in the tournament’s opening game before crushing UAE then the Dutch

“We knew that we could be the number one in this group, but we missed out in the first match,” said Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka

“The boys have done well though, especially the bowling group I knew the wicket was two paced, so we wanted to bowl well in the first 10 overs and then control the game ” After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Sri Lanka started slowly with Pathum Nissanka and Mendis plodding to just 22 off the first five overs

Nissanka was dropped in the fifth over, but came un done on 14 when hostile pace bowler Paul Van Meekeren returned to the attack and sent down a yorker

Dhananjaya de Silva followed him back to the pavil ion the next ball, out lbw, as Sri Lanka lived dangerously with countless chances falling just short of the fielders

Charith Asalanka and Mendis knuckled down in a 60 run stand to step up the run rate before Asalanka was

caught behind off all rounder Bas de Leede for 31 Mendis brought up his ninth T20 half century with a six then smacked successive sixes in the penultimate over, before he was out going for another boundary, al most carrying his bat

Despite missing injured pace spearheads Dushman tha Chameera and Pramod Madushan, a Sri Lankan at tack with replacements Lahiru Kumara and Binura

Fernando kept the Dutch at bay early on Opener Vikramjit Singh was out for seven off Ma heesh Theekshana, then Kumara got the big wicket of rising star de Leede for 14 Opener Max O Dowd (71 not out) gamely hung on but when captain Scott Ed wards was bowled by Fernando after a quick fire 21, they slumped from 100 4 to 109 8 and the game was all but over

In the later match, Zahoor Khan and Basil Hameed grabbed two wickets each as the UAE reduced Namibia to 69 7 in the 13th over before late fireworks from David Weise (55 off 36 balls) set up a tense last over finale

While a crushing disappointment for Namibia, get ting a first ever win was a huge confidence booster for UAE “A great moment for UAE cricket We had been doing well in patches, but today everything clicked to gether,” said skipper Chundangapoyil Rizwan “This win is really big for UAE cricket, it can tell the world that we are here The final two places in the Super 12 will be decided on Friday with Scotland, Zimbabwe, West In dies and Ireland all still in contention

UAE beat Namibia to send Netherlands into S uper 12 at T20 World Cup

GEELOnG a f p

The United Arab Emirates won their first ever game at a Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday to upset Namibia by seven runs and send the Netherlands into the Super 12 stage of the tournament

The Africans would have joined Sri Lanka in the n e x t r o u n d r a t h e r t h a n t h e D u t c h h a d t h e y w o n , b u t against the odds the UAE restricted them to 141 8 as they chased 149 for victory

Z a h o o r K h a n a n d B a s i l H a m e e d g r a b b e d t w o wickets each as the UAE reduced Namibia to 69 7 in the 13th over before late fireworks from David Weise

(55 off 36 balls) set up a tense last over finale

U A E s k i p p e r C h u n d a n g a p o y i l R i z w a n w o n t h e toss and chose to bat, but it was hard going against an attack led by paceman Ruben Trumpelmann, a key per f o r m e r i n N a m i b i a ’s r u n t o t h e s e c o n d r o u n d 1 2 months ago

Supported by veteran Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, JJ S m i t a n d J a n F r y l i n c k t h e y r e s t r i c t e d U A E o p e n e r s Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind to just 39 off the opening eight overs

As the pressure mounted Aravind (21) found an edge off Scholtz and the first wicket fell

Wa s e e m b e g a n o p e n i n g t h e b a t t o g e t t h e s c o r e board moving and with Rizwan alongside him brought

up his fifth T20 half century, off 40 balls

B u t h e w a s g o n e t w o b a l l s l a t e r s e n d i n g a B e n Shikongo delivery to third man into the safe hands of Trumpelmann

They reached three figures in the 15th over before Alishan Sharafu (4) was out with Rizwan (43 not out) and Basil Hameed (25 not out) driving them towards a respectable total with 33 runs plundered from the last two overs

I n r e p l y, N a m i b i a l o s t t h e i r o p e n e r s e a r l y w i t h Stephan Baard getting a thick edge off Junaid Siddique a n d A h m e d R a z a c o l l e c t i n g t h e c a t c h , t h e n M i c h a e l van Lingen was caught on the ropes

It left them at 16 2 after three overs and with their

work cut out, which did not get any easier when Jan Nicol Lofti Eaton was out lbw on review two overs later to hand India born Hameed a second wicket

When skipper Gerhard Erasmus was bowled by Karthik Meiyappan who took a hat trick against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, and JJ Smit was run out, Namibia were in disarray at 46 5

Zahoor Khan then removed the dangerous Jan Frylinck with a yorker and Zaner Green three balls later, leaving Namibia staring into the abyss in the 13th over But Weise never gave up and partnered by Trumel mann (not out 25) set about rescuing his country with some power hitting, reducing the target to 20 off the last two overs only to come up short

Rain threatens as Australia launch T20 World Cup defence

injur y forces australia into squad re-shuffle at t20 World Cup

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Australia have been forced to re shuffle their squad just days out from their first match at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 following news that back up wicketkeeper Josh Inglis is out of the tournament through injury Inglis hurt his hand while playing golf in Sydney on Wednesday and the reigning T20 World Cup champions have decided to take no risks with the 27 year old and have removed him from their 15 player squad The loss of Inglis opens the door for Cameron Green to continue his meteoric recent rise in international cricket with the 23 year old joining the squad after impressing at the top of the order dur ing Australia’s T20I series in India last month Green hit two half centuries for Australia when filling in for veteran opener David Warner at the top of the order and the tournament hosts may look to utilise the right hander in a similar role at the T20 World Cup should the opportunity arise While Inglis is a capable batter his primary role in the Australia squad was as a back up wicketkeeper to Matthew Wade and he may not have featured during the tournament unless Wade picked up an injury

Rain threatens to derail the Twenty20 World Cup when big guns enter the fray this weekend, with Australia’s opener against New Zealand and an India v Pak istan blockbuster both at risk of being washed out

Parts of Australia are facing a third straight La Nina weather event with a wetter than average summer expected, and downpours are forecast for Sydney and Melbourne from Friday through to next week

Aaron Finch’s Australia begin their title defence against New Zealand at a sell out Sydney Cricket Ground on Sat urday evening a repeat of the 2021 final in Dubai where Mitchell Marsh s unbeaten 77 powered them to an eight wicket win and maiden crown

But the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a “very high (90 percent) chance of showers” and potentially thunderstorms with no reserve days for group games They only come into play for the semi finals and final

It looks equally gloomy for Sunday in Melbourne where India face Pakistan in a hotly anticipated clash with up to 100 000 fans in the cavernous MCG and tens of millions more tuning in to watch

A minimum of five overs a side is required to constitute a match

T h e w e a t h e r c o u l d a l s o c a u s e h a v o c i n H o b a r t w h e r e g a m e s a r e s c h e d u l e d f o r F r i d a y a n d S u n d a y, a l t h o u g h E n g l a n d ’s o p e n e r a g a i n s t Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday has a

fine weather forecast Australia have a golden opportunity to become the first back to back T20 world champions, enjoying the advan tage of being the only winners of cricket s shortest format to have a crack at defending the title at home

But they begin their campaign on the back of a 2 0 series loss to England this month and with Finch admitting they were “tired” after a gruelling build up Despite the tough lead in pace spearhead Pat Cummins insisted they were better placed after defying the odds to win last year s title

“I think in some ways we are even better prepared,” he said this week “We have played a lot more and we have drawn on the experiences from last year

“In saying that, T20 is a very fickle format You look around and there are probably four or five teams that realis tically could win it ”

Kane Williamson s New Zealand enter the competition in mixed form, having lost to South

Africa and Pakistan but recently enjoying victories against Bangladesh and Pakistan Fast bowler Tim Southee is under no illusions that Australia will be a tough opponent, should their game go ahead

You can t give them a sniff They are a class side,” he said

England are in the same six team group as Australia and New Zealand and loom as potentially their biggest challenger, having dominated white ball cricket in recent years

Jos Buttler ’s men suffered a blow on

They were already without injured star batsman Johnny Bairstow with only two teams from each of the two groups making the semi finals India head into their clash with Pak istan as world number one, but without any major silverware since their 2013 Champions Trophy triumph T

“The bowlers, who have come with us in the World Cup, have played enough matches he said with Mohammed Shami taking Bumrah’s place

Pakistan are fresh from winning a T20 tri series in New Zealand and wel come back pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who recovered from a knee in jury The boys are confident said skip per Babar Azam

Q uaid- e -Azam Trophy fif th round ac tion from today

The fifth round action of the Quaid e Azam Trophy 2022 23 will commence from Friday (today) at three dif ferent venues of the country with Northern leading the table with 68 points

Defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are sit ting at the bottom with 26 points

In the fifth round, Northern will take on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium At the Pindi Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi fourth placed Balochistan will take on second placed Sindh This match will be live streamed on PCB YouTube channel The third fixture of the round will be a Punjab derby Central Punjab who occupy the third spot will take on fifth placed Southern Punjab

Central Punjab s right handed batter Tayyab Tahir leads the batting chart with 449 runs from four matches

8 2 4 0 A b d u l l a h h a s t i l l d a t e s t r u c k o n e c e n t u r y a n d t w o h a l f c e n t u r i e s i n t h e t o u r n a m e n t K h y b e r P a k h t u n k h w a ’s S a h i b z a d a F a r h a n a n d N o r t h e r n ’s F a i z a n R i a z a r e t h e o t h e r t w o b a t t e r s t o s c o r e 4 0 0 r u n s i n t h e c o m p e t i t i o n s o f a r I n t h e b o w l i n g c h a r t , S i n d h ’s m y s t e r y s p i n n e r A b r a r A h m e d l e a d s t h e r o s t e r w i t h 2 0 s c a l p s f r o m t w o m a t c h e s H e h a s o n e f o u r f e r a n d t h r e e f i v e f e r s f r o m t h e f o u r i n n i n g s w i t h s i x f o r 1 0 0 b e i n g h i s b e s t f i g u r e s i n a n i n n i n g s t h i s s e a s o n H e w a s t h e s t a n d o u t b o w l e r f o r S i n d h i n t h e i r c o m p r e h e n s i v e 1 0 w i c k e t w i n o v e r K h y b e r P a k h t u n k h w a i n t h e f o u r t h r o u n d m a t c h a t t h e P i n d i C r i c k e t S t a d i u m A b r a r s t e a m m a t e l e f t a r m f a s t M i r H a m z a o c c u p i e s t h e t h i r d s p o t w i t h 1 3 w i c k e t s f r o m t h r e e m a t c h e s B e t w e e n A b r a r a n d H a m z a i s N o r t h e r n s r i g h t a r m o ff s p i n n e r M u b a s i r K h a n , w h o h a s t a k e n 1 7 w i c k e t s f r o m f o u r g a m e s i n c l u d i n g a f o u r f e r

M e a n w h i l e t h r e e m a t c h e s i n t h e f i f t h r o u n d o f

C r i c k e t A s s o c i a t i o n s C h a m p i o n s h i p w i l l a l s o b e p l a y e d f r o m t o m o r r o w a t t h r e e d i ff e r e n t v e n u e s i n K a r a c h i C e n t r a l P u n j a b c o n t i n u e t o l e a d t h e p o i n t s t a b l e w i t h 7 5 p o i n t s b a g g i n g t h r e e w i n s f r o m f o u r o u t i n g s T h e y w i l l t a k e o n f o u r t h p l a c e d S o u t h e r n P u n j a b a t t h e N B P S p o r t s C o m p l e x S e c o n d p l a c e d S i n d h ( 5 9 p o i n t s ) w i l l s q u a r e o f f a g a i n s t t h i r d p l a c e d B a l o c h i s t a n ( 5 5 p o i n t s ) a t t h e K C C A S t a d i u m T h e t w o s i d e s r a n k e d a t t h e b o t t o m K h y b e r P a k h t u n k h w a a n d N o r t h e r n w i l l p l a y a g a i n s t e a c h o t h e r a t t h e U B L S p o r t s C o m p l e x Q u a i d e A z a m T r o p h y ( f i f t h r o u n d m a t c h e s , 2 1 2 4 O c t o b e r ) : K hy b e r Pa k h t u n k h wa v N o r t h e r n , A b b o t t a b a d C r i c ke t S t a d i u m , A b b o t t a b a d C e n t r a l P u n j a b v S o u t h e r n P u n j a b , M u l t a n C r i c k e t S t a d i u m , M u l t a n B a l o c h i s t a n v S i n d h , P i n d i C r i c k e t S t a d i u m , Ra w a l p i n d i

SydnEy S ta f f R e p o R t

Wednesday when pace bowler Reece Topley was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury, with fellow left armer Tymal Mills promoted from his previous status as travelling reserve

spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and key all r

Rohit Sharma said the squad was strong enough to cope

LAHORE

a n i n 11 i n t e r n a t i o n a l m a t c h e s , i s s e c o n d o n t h e b a t t i n g c h a r t s c o r i n g 4 1 2 r u n s f r o m f o u r o u t i n g s i n t h e t o u r n a m e n t a t a n a v e r a g e o f

IHC dIsPoses of NAB’s APPeALs AGAINsT Z ArdArI’s ACQuITTAL

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TH E Islamabad High Court on Thursday disposed of NAB’s appeals against acquittal of PPP Co Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in four references

As hearing began IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah remarked the NAB had no case which is on merit “This court has reminded you a number of times that your appeals are not on merit,” he added

The NAB prosecutor expressed his agreement with the CJ’s observation, saying “Yes, this appeal of ours is not on merit That s why the relevant au thority has approved its withdrawal and now we have requested this hon ourable court to let us take it back ”

The IHC CJ then inquired did the NAB conduct any inquiry about where had the case record gone? The NAB

prosecutor responded that the Bureau had ordered an inquiry into the issue

In a major development in 25 year old cases against Asif Zardari, the NAB had on Wednesday decided to take back appeals against the acquittal of the former president

The NAB in its application had prayed to the court that further prose cution of the appeals will be a useless exercise The available documentary evidence was not in accordance with the legal evidence it added

To make their latest move further formidable, the NAB further prayed that they hardly had on record even the photocopies of the documents against Asif Zardari

Asif Zardari had been acquitted in four reference namely Ursus Tractors, ARY Gold, Polo Ground and SSG Cotecna

The NAB had challenged the PPP Co Chairperson’s acquittal in 2015

NA amends rules, making mandator y speaker’s approval for arrest a lawmaker

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The National Assembly on Thursday approved amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, which among other things require authorities to seek the NA speaker s approval prior to arresting a lawmaker

According to the agenda shared on the NA’s Twitter, Rule 103 which previously required the authorities to immediately inform the speaker in case of a lawmaker s arrest was proposed to be substituted by the following:

“When a member has to be arrested on a criminal charge or for a criminal offence or has to be detained under an executive order, the committing judge, magistrate or executive authority, as the case may be, shall immediately seek approval of the Speaker indicating the reasons for the arrest or detention, as the case may be, and after such arrest, detention or when a member is sentenced to imprisonment by a court of law, the committing judge magistrate or executive authority as the case may be shall intimate the place of detention or imprisonment of the member in the appropriate form set out in the Fourth Schedule

Furthermore, Rule 106, which previously stated that no MNA would be arrested from the Assembly’s precinct without the speaker ’s approval, was proposed to be substituted by: No member shall be arrested within the precincts of the Assembly ” PML N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi presented the amendment resolutions in the house today in a session presided over by Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif proposed that the amendment should also make it mandatory for the speaker or chairman of a committee to issue a production order for a lawmaker who was detained or arrested

Subsequently, all three amendments were approved by the National Assembly

Ambassador of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at General Headquarters on Thurs day, informed ISPR According to an ISPR press communiqué, during the meeting between the UAE ambassador and COAS, matters of mutual interest, bilat eral defence and security cooper

To

ation and regional security situa tion came under discussion

The COAS said Pakistan val ues Emirate’s role in global and re gional affairs and “we look forward to enhance our bilateral relationship” Both sides agreed to further enhance cordial relations and enduring strategic partnership

The visiting dignitary ex pressed grief over the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan, of fered sincere condolence to the families of the victims and hoped for early rehabilitation of affectees

General Bajwa appreciated phenomenal support provided by the UAE Government for the flood affectees He also appreci ated Pakistan s efforts for re gional stability and pledged to play his role for further improve ment in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan at all levels BELGIAN AMBASSADOR MEETS GEN BAJWA: Mean while, Mr Charles Joseph M De logne Belgian Ambassador to Pakistan called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at GHQ

The ISPR release said, during the meeting, matters of mutual in terest, regional security situation and enhanced bilateral & defence cooperation were discussed

The visiting dignitary ex pressed his grief over the devasta tion caused by floods in Pakistan and offered sincere condolence for the families of the victims

The dignitary appreciated Pakistan’s efforts for regional stability and also pledged to play his role enhancing cooperation with Pakistan at all levels

Personal enmit y, not terror behind swat school-van attack: KP IG

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IGP) Moazam Jah Ansari on Thursday said the two separate incidents of gun violence in the province including the attack on school van in Gulibagh area of Swat, were not acts of terrorism rather but personal vengeance

The murder of the school van driver on October 10 in Gulibagh area of Swat was a case of honour killing,” declared the KP IG Police while addressing a press conference here conference in Saidu Sharif in Swat on Thursday He said in the case a man killed the husband of his sister for honour “We have arrested one of the three suspects while the other two will soon be in the police custody ” IGP Jah said, similarly, the incident of firing in Lower Dir that seemed to target children was also an armed clash between two rival groups

It was worth mentioned here that armed men attacked a school van in Char Bagh area of Swat Valley killing the driver and injuring a student on October 10

The shooters targeted the driver of the school van and wounded him fatally adding that 10 11 students were onboard the van at the time of the shooting

The police also confirmed that only one child, sitting in the front seat with the driver, was injured in the attack

Following the incident, the whole valley took to the streets to protest against the attack, believing it was an act of terrorism

The protestors said that the terrorist attacks and the unrest in the province are intolerable “We want peace in the region and we will fight terrorism said the protesters

t y ( P P P ) w o u l d h o l d n e g o t i a t i o n s o v e r t h e L o c a l B o d i e s B i l l a n d o t h e r d e m a n d s o f M Q M P s h o r t l y M e a n w h i l e , t h e K h a l i d M a q b o o l S i d d i q u i l e d p a r t y p o s t p o n e d i t s R a a b t a C o m m i t t e e s s e s s i o n s c h e d u l e d f o r T h u r s d a y a p p a r e n t l y d u e t o t h e t a l k s i n i t i a t e d w i t h t h e P P P l e a d e r s h i p S ta f f R e p o R t

Residents of Mingora, the city where the attack took place, fear it was carried out by the militants but the militants have denied responsibility for Monday’s shooting “All hilltops have been cleared of terrorists and in the next two to three months all the splendor of Swat valley will be restored soon ” Muzzam Jah Ansari claimed Commissioner Malakand Division Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, DIG Malakand Region Zeeshan Asghar DIG CTD Javed Iqbal DPO Swat Zahid Nawaz Marwat and SP CTD Izhar Shah were also present on the occasion KP IG Muazzam Jah said that the situation has changed in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, and the entire region has changed and the situation worsened after the release of criminals and terrorists from prisons

I m r a n u r g e s s t u d e n t s n o t t o g i ve u p f i g h t t o b e c o m e c h a m p i o n s i n l i f e

ford University three times and now I have been invited again he added

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chairman and for mer Prime Minister Imran Khan said that under trial accused has become prime min ister and finance minister of Pakistan, saying that he would announce his long march within few days to rid the country of this “corrupt cabal ”

Speaking to students in Sargodha Uni versity Imran Khan said that universities were the nurseries of future leaders He said that who gave permission to the Punjab Gov ernor to bar political leaders from addressing students in universities, adding that interna tional politicians address students in UK, Oxford University not only invited UK politicians but also world leaders to address its students I have delivered speech at Ox

He urged the Punjab Governor not to lis ten to these thieves who sit above because as people have known him for 50 years, adding that if political leaders did not address the students, how would they know about poli tics and how they form their own views

Imran Khan said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman Shahbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto could come to address the students He said that the country was currently stand ing at a crucial juncture, as some politicians come to power in the name of people and then start looting

He said that when people did not stand for truth, the society was destroyed, urging the students to fight till the end and became cham pions in life as he did in cricket and politics

The PTI chairman stated that bad times

come when you give up, adding, “I learnt a lesson in cricket that the one who fights till the last ball is the champion, your captain will fight these thieves ”

Lashing out at the “imported govern ment,” Imran Khan said that when they hear his name, their legs started trembling He said that the small thieves were in jail and the big ones were given NRO and were roaming freely

“When I went to the assembly, I saw the famous big robbers of Pakistan,” he added Imran Khan went on to say that the society was destroyed, where there was no system of justice and rule of law Imran Khan said that the reason for pros perity in Switzerland was the rule of law, adding that when our Prime Minister is beg ging for money abroad, the respect of the en tire country is lost

Imran Khan said nation died ethically and morally when corrupt people got impor tant slots, adding that only honest leadership can steer the country out of current crises

He said Shehbaz Sharif has been facing Rs 16 billion corruption charges and the case was underway when he became prime minister while Ishaq Dar has involved in money laundering for the Sharif family and gave a written affidavit in 2000 in this re gard, making him the finance minister That is, the cat was put on the milk tray

The PTI chairman said that Asif Zardari was called Mr Ten Percent in India and books were written on his corruption There is no difference between the Governor of Sindh and the Mulajat, adding that half of the cabinets were facing cases of theft Abid Sher Ali’s father said that Rana Sanaullah had committed 18 murders, he added

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SAR GODHA S ta f f R e p o R t

k a r a c h i:

HBL Plaza illuminated in pink to observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Pinktober 2022) and raise awareness about this potentially fatal disease HBL believes in creating a safer and healthier future for women One of the most iconic landmarks in Pakistan, HBL Plaza remains a symbol of Karachi’s skyline