Epaper_22-10-24 LHR

m r a n o u s t e d f o r p r o g r e s s o f pa r l I a m e n t, d e m o c r a c y : B I l awa l

tor c calam ty he said

He said that the world should also res cue us to face the challenges after the flood as the rest of the world was responsi ble for the globa warming not Pakistan, adding that today Pakistan was in trouble and tomorrow any other countr y could face the same situation

our core issue should be restorat on of flood affected people s life nstead of po i tics now,” Bilawal said

He said that po it cal clashes wou d con tinue but need of time was to help flood vict ms by joining hands

He said that the people themse ves were strugg ng against the burden of weather change which was injustice as the po itical part es should jointly support them in this hard t mes He said that solution of the mpact of global warming n Pakistan was n working unanimously He sa d that the government would make this challenge as a test case and it would be a pilot proj ect for the globe

LAHORE

foReIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday that the Pak istan Democratic Movement (PDM) saved the countr y at the cost of their pol tical credibility

Addressing the closing session of the 2 day Asma Jahangir Conference at a local hotel here as the chief guest he hoped that constitutional and democrat c journey of the PDM would continue for the better ment of the countr y “ We will together tackle the political and re igious extremism ” he added B i l a w a l s a d t h a t I n d a e u r o p e a n d t h e u n i t e d S t a t e s w e r e a l s o s t r u g g i n g a g a i n s t t h e p o l i t c a e x t r e m i s m a n d e x p r e s s e d h i s h o p e t h e n e w g e n e r a t i o n w o u d w e c o m e d e m o c r a c y a n d r e e c t a n a t u r e o f e x t r e m i s m

He urged the youth to understand the issues of the countr y and protect them selves from the propaganda of an arrogant and selfish person who wanted to destroy the countr y for his po itics

If Asma Jahangir was alive and she asked whether you have become the m n ister in result of a dea then I rep ied her ab

solutely not Bilawal sa d He added that ever ything was not fine, but one should ac cept that the parliament and the inst tutions have progressed in several aspects There is always scope for betterment,” he sa d “It is important to be obser ved for the progress of par iament and democracy that Imran Khan was sent home through a constitu tional way of no confidence B lawal stated

“ W h e t h e r y o u l i ke t o r n o t t h a t t h e r e i s o n l y o n e m e t h o d t o r e m o v e a p r i m e m n i s t e r i n t h e c o n s t i t u t o n a n d t i s n o t r u s t m o t i o n, ” h e a d d e d H e s a i d t h a t h e b e l i e v e d t h a t I m r a n K h a n w a s a s e l e c t e d p r i m e m i n s t e r H e s a d n t h e p a s t p r i m e m n i s t e r s w e r e e i t h e r h a n g e d o r f o r c e d t o l e a v e t h e c o u n t r y H e s a i d t h e p o t c a l p a r t i e s h a d n e v e r t h o u g h t t h a t I m r a n w o u l d a t t a c k o n t h e e c o n o m y o f t h e c o u n t r y f o r h i s p o l i t i c a s u r v i v a l

Bilawal said that as soon as the PDM succeeded in rescuing the countr y from economic crises unfortunately the h storic flood had created another problem for the nation adding that from Gilgit Balt stan to KPK, South Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces had badly affected by the flood and still these areas were in great trouble

“About 33 m llion peop e are affected due to the flood he added The flood was a his

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

He said his coa ition government in the center has saved Pakistan from bankruptcy, adding that the countr y s political histor y has gone through many ups and downs

Bilawal declared Asma Jahangir a ro e model for human rights activ sts and lawyers He emphasized bring ng the situa tion of f ood vict ms before the nation

P P P S e n a t o r Ra z a Ra b b a n P T I S e n a t o r S y e d A l i Z a f a r, P P P ’ s D r N a f i s a S h a h, P M l N l e a d e r a n d f o r m e r P r i m e M i n i s t e r S h a h i d K h a q a n A b b a s i a n d o t h e r p r o m i n e n t f i g u r e s o f t h e c o u n t r y a l s o a d d r e s s e d t h e c o n f e r e n c e

FM CONgRATUL ATES PRESIDENT XI: Minister for foreign Affa rs Bilawal Bhutto Zardar on Sunday fe icitated President xi J nping on his re elect on as the Genera Secretar y of the Communist Party of China

In a tweet on soc al media p atform Twitter, he sa d, “ Heartiest felicitations to Pres dent xi on re elect on as CPC Genera Secretar y It ref ects enduring confidence of the Chinese nation in his sagacious leader ship and befitting acknowledgment of h s lifelong ser vice to Ch na ”

Ko h l i s h i n e s a s I n d i a d e f e a t Pa k i s t a n i n l a s t - o v e r t h r i l l e r

MELBOURNE

R e u t e R s

Virat Kohli struck an imperious half centur y and Rav chandran Ashw n was coo at the death as India secured a four wicket w n on the final ball aga nst arch riva s Pakistan at the T20 World Cup on Sunday n front of a huge Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) crowd

Spin bowling al rounder Mohammad Nawaz had a f nal over to forget, gifting Ind a two w des and a no ball before Ashwin coolly blasted the w nn ng run over mid off as Ind a chased down 160 for v ctor y

Man of the match Kohli was magnificent, driving India to the brink of victor y with 82 not out after digging the team out of trouble n a br lliant partnership with Hardik Pandya (40)

Pakistan were cruis ng to what seemed a mora e boosting victor y but Koh i went ballistic with the bat in the f nal overs to bring India home in front of 90,293 screaming fans and hundreds of mil ions more watching around the world

Well t s a surreal atmosphere I honestly have no words I have no idea how that happened,” Kohl said “ Hardik kept telling me, just bel eve we can stay til the end I m ost for words

Kohli thrashed back to back sixes in the penu timate over against Haris Rauf to push Ind a w thin 15 runs of v ctor y from the final six bal s With Kohli off strike Nawaz had Pandya caught n close with a miscued slog to break a 113 run partnership

Kohli took back the strike and hit a six off a no ball as the wheels fe l off for Nawaz who then bowled a wide Kohli was bow ed off the free hit on the next ba l but the bal rattled for three byes off the stumps

With two ba ls left and two runs requ red, Nawaz had D nesh Karthik stumped but bow ed a wide on what would have been the last bal of the over

Ashwin cleared the in field w th a ca m fin sh to complete the w n, send ng Ind an fans into a frenzy

It was a cruel f nish for Pakistan who had rall ed well to post a defendable total of 159 for eight after losing the toss and starting poor y w th the bat

“A l l c r e d i t t o H a r d i k Pa n d y a a n d V i r a t Ko h l i, ” s a i d c a p t a i n B a b a r A z a m

They shifted the momentum and finished the game well We had a chance, and we just asked the boys to bel eve in themselves but again cred t to Virat Kohli

a t t e n t i o n

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ir fan farooq@pakistantoday com pk

Imran says to for m govt only af ter securing two -thirds majority in polls

former Pr me Minister and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he will never accept government without a two th rd majority elaborating on his party wil not accept power if it does not secure a two thirds ma ority in the next genera elect ons

In h s exclusive inter view with a pr vate TV channel on Sunday evening PTI chairman Imran Khan c a med that the ent re script of h s government ouster and bring in Shehbaz Shar f nto power was written in the cipher “ one is ver y much clear the rulers are not nterested n strengthening democracy rather they are worr ed about protecting their plundered money and how to stash up more and more public money ” , he al eged and regret ted that they did not obstruct B lawal s long march but the ncumbent rulers want to put him beh nd bars so that the masses could not pour onto streets

The PTI chief said that he will an nounce his long march date on Thurs day His ong march w ll be marked in histor y as the ‘ biggest ’ of al ” , he hinted, asserting this time his party s coming with full preparations for the long march

The former prime minister warned that he will end his protest with a long march, saying the countr y would never progress until the rule of law The PTI chief said that there s a dire need for an inde pendent foreign policy for the countr y FULL FAITH IN COURTS TO NULLIFY ECP ’S TOSHAKHANA VERDICT: The former prime minister sa d he has faith n the courts to nullify the verdict of his d squa ificat on by the e ection Commiss on of Pakistan (eCP) in the Toshakhana reference

Cr ticis ng the eCP s verdict Imran Khan alleged that the chief election commissioner (CeC) could not make the decisions independently He said that the countr y w l not achieve prosperity and deve opment goals unti the rule of law

About Pakistan’s exit from the fATfgrey list Imran Khan sa d that the achieve ment was the outcome of his team

Commenting over the reports of the Pakistan Musl m league Nawaz (PMl N) supremo s expected arrival in the coun tr y, he said that Nawaz Shar f ’s return will benefit no one other than the oppos tion “ Nawaz Sharif doesn’t know that ever yth ng is changed in Pakistan

He sa d that the mafia has seized control of Pakistan and the po itical system was not ex sted Khan said that Nawaz Sharif and Asif A i Zardar had been ousted

from the rulersh p due to corrupt on

He said that the ruling parties could not stop the mass movement of the PTI He said that the ruling parties even fai ed to achieve anything in the recent by elections despite using state resources

The PTI Chief a so demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) launch a probe nto the c pher issue

MEETINg wITH RELIgIOUS SCHOL ARS

AHEAD OF LONg MARCH: More than 30 religious scholars from Punjab ca led on former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Cha rman Imran Khan in wh ch various issues were dis cussed on Sunday

The delegation under the leader ship of Chairman of Sunni Ittehad Coun c l Pakistan Sah bzada Ham d Raza, met the ex prem er at h s residence n Bani Ga a former foreign m n ster Shah Mah mood Qureshi, Senator Sh b i faraz and others were also present at the meeting on the occasion, Imran appreci ated Hamid Raza ’s efforts regard ng nter faith harmony on Saturday, the former prime min s ter announced that he would reveal the date for the party s much anticipated ong march on coming friday, saying that he was not expecting any mean ngful result from backchannel talks

Meanwhile the former Prime Minister directed al party organizations to com plete the r preparations for a long march in the next two days as he is go ng to give a ca l for it The report said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ’s Acting Gov ernor Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani Sunday is sued an important message for PTI workers, tel ing them the time of the call for the ong march Mushtaq Ghani n his message said that the party leader Imran Khan will be ca ling for the long march n two days He sa d that for par ticipation in the march, the responsible party workers get themselves registered at Ghani House as soon as possible on the other hand, the preparations for the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf long march in lahore started Sunday as the Pun ab Insaf force Chief Commander Ab d farooq disp ayed flex banners say ing “ Get ready for the long March la hore on the roads of lahore Mian Abid farooq displayed flex ban ners saying “ Get ready for long March lahore in the constituency NA 120

Whi e talking to the media, he said that the whole nation stands with Imran Khan and they are wa ting for an announce ment of the March from the r leader He also said that they are fully pre pared and ready for March

s ta f f R e p o R t

M

y,

Ra b i u

ISLAMABAD s ta f f R e p o R t

SAVeD CouNTRy

PolITICAl CReDIBIlITy

g SAyS ToGeTHeR THey WIll TACKle PolITICAl, RelIGIouS exTReMISM

R I S I n g H I n d u t v A t I d e b e l I e S I n d I A ’ S C l A I m o f S e C u l A R d e m o C R A C y : A J K P R e S I d e n t

WASHINGTON s tA f f R e p o R t

IN D I A’ S reputation as a secular democracy has been eroded ever since the right wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power in 2014, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir President, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, has said

right wing Hindu nation, it was pointed out

B a r r i s t e r C h a u d h r y s a i d t h a t K a s h m i r i d i a s p o r a i n t h e U S h a s p l a y e d a n i m p o r t a n t r o l e i n m o b i l i z i n g g l o b a l p u b l i c o p i n i o n i n f a v o u r o f t h e r i g h t s o f K a s h m i r i p e o p l e , w h i l e h i g h l i g h t i n g t h a t t h e r i s e o f f a s c i s m w a s a c l e a r t h r e a t t o t h e m i n o r i t i e s i n I n d i a Kashmiri Americans, he said, were best suited to b r i n g h o m e t o t h e B i d e n A d m i n i s t r a t i o n t h e importance of playing a role in persuading India and Pakistan to resume their dialogue that would lead to the exercise by the Kashmiri people of their right to self determination as guaranteed under 18 substantive United Nations Security Council resolutions

B a r r i s t e r C h a u d h r y e x p r e s s e d t h a n k s t o t h e O rg a n i z a t i o n o f I s l a m i c C o o p e r a t i o n ( O I C ) t h e second largest forum after the United Nations which

h a s o n c e a g a i n r e i t e r a t e d i t s p r i n c i p l e d s t a n d o n t h e Kashmir dispute and also appointed a special envoy on Kashmir D r G h u l a m N a b i F a i , C h a i r m a n o f t h e Wo r l d Forum for Peace & Justice, said that Kashmir was at w a r t h a t I n d i a c a n n o t w i n l i k e Vi e t n a m f o r t h e United States

“Kashmir is living proof that the people will not compromise, far less abandon, their demand for self determination which is their birthright and for which th ey have paid a p rice unparalleled in the his tory of S o u t h A s i a , F a i s a i d To d a y, h e a d d e d , t h e c h a l l e n g e b e f o r e u s i s t h a t a n e w g e n e r a t i o n i n Kashmir has emerged that doesn’t fear death” “Their fearlessness has led to the powerful protests and the l a rg e d e m o n s t r a t i o n s i n r e c e n t y e a r s ” S e v e r a l o t h e r Kashmiri activists also addressed the gathering

Countr y on brink on default , says Sheikh Rashid

RAWALPINDI s tA f f R e p o R t

Awami Muslim League (ANL) chief and former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Sunday warned that the country is close to default Despite tall claims of the “imported government,” it is a glaring reality that the country is on t h e b r i n k o f d e f a u l t I n a s t a t e m e n t o n Tw i t t e r, t h e A M L c h i e f s a i d t h a t t h e F i n a n c e M i n i s t e r I s h a q D a r h a s f a i l e d a s h e d i d n o t g e t a n y h e l p a n d n e i t h e r w a s h e g i v e n t h e c h a n c e f o r a m e e t i n g S h e i k h R a s h i d u n d e r s c o r e d t h a t t h e c o u n t r y i s c l o s e t o d e f a u l t i n g H e f u r t h e r s a i d t h e u p c o m i n g t e n d a y s o f p o l i t i c s a r e v e r y i m p o r t a n t a n d a l s o p i n p o i n t e d t h a t t h e p r o b l e m o f n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y h a s a r i s e n “ T h e c o u n t r y ’s a s s e t s a r e m o r e p r e c i o u s t o u s t h a n o u r l i v e s , ” h e a d d e d T h e f o r m e r f e d e r a l m i n i s t e r l a s h e d o u t a t t h e c o a l i t i o n g o v e r n m e n t , i n p a r t i c u l a r a t t h e S h a r i f f a m i l y H e s a i d t h e y a r e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r p u s h i n g t h e c o u n t r y i n t o d e e p e c o n o m i c c r i s e s S h e i k h R a s h i d a l s o s h a m e d t h e t o p b r a s s s a y i n g t h a t “ T h e b i l l i o n a i r e r u l e r s d i d n o t g i v e e v e n 1 0 r u p e e s f r o m t h e i r p o c k e t s t o t h e f l o o d v i c t i m s

13 dead, 1,17 1 injured in Punjab road accidents

LAHORE s tA f f R e p o R t

At least 13 people were killed and 1,171 others injured in 1,128 road traffic crashes (RTCs) in Punjab during the last 24 hours As many as 648 seriously injured people were shifted to different hospitals while 523 with minor injuries were treated at the incident site by the rescue medical teams The data analysis showed that 552 drivers, 34 underage drivers,136 pedestrians and 496 passengers were among the victims of the road crashes The statistics showed that 28 accidents were reported in Lahore, which affected 284 people, placing the provincial capital at top of the list followed by 98 in Multan with 108 victims and at third Gujranwala with 84 accidents and 78 victims According to the data, 910 motorbikes 77 auto rickshaws 121 motorcars 20 vans, nine passenger buses, 28 trucks and 96 other types of vehicles and slow moving carts were involved in the road accidents

FAT

11 workers held: Ex-speaker writes to NA speaker against MNA’s manhandling by police

ISLAMABAD s tA f f R e p o R t

The Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) has demanded immediate action against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the Inspector General (IG) Islamabad over police misconduct and criminal like treatment with the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Saleh Muhammad

“The Pakhtoon people are in state of shock and anger over this shameful behaviour of the capital police with their representative, which will lead to impacting harmony among the federating units ”

Former NA speaker Asad Qaiser wrote an open letter to NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf following Islamabad police misconduct with PTI MNA Saleh Muhammad He stated in his letter the Parliament possesses extraordinary sanctity in the political system in terms of role and status He added that the Constitution guarantees the protection of life, property, dignity and honour of the citizens

He said that MNA Saleh Muhammad was also present at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office at the time of the announcement of the Toshakhana reference’s verdict on October 12

Asad Qaiser Qaiser said that Islamabad police violated the rules and regulations and arrested the PTI MNA Muhammad on a baseless charge The former NA speaker said that the capital police exhibited insulting behaviour towards MNA Saleh Muhammad by releasing his photo with a criminal slate inscribed with his details

’s s h a d e s o f g rey

FATF has joined the grand conspiracy against Imran Khan and has removed Pakistan from its grey list It should have expressed its lack of trust in the imported government by moving Pakistan onto its blacklist, so that Pakistan would be forced into default Other countries round the world would have noticed this and refused to give Pakistan any flood relief until a genuine government was elected, which could only be the PTI of course

Virtually the day before, Fitch had downgraded Pakistan’s viability to Ccc+, which was bad news for Pakistan Getting off the FATC grey list was not much to

write home about, because the reason we wanted to get off that list was so that we didn’t lose access to the global financial markets Of course, even if we had been placed on the black list we wouldn t have been shut out Only we would have had to pay a much higher rate of interest In other words Pakistani paper would have had junk bond status

As a matter of fact, we are heading towards that status with the latest downgrade Moody’s has not downgraded yet, which shows they are corrupt elements who are part of the conspiracy to oust Imran Of course, they’ll have to follow suit, and Pakistan will be heading towards junk bond status The downgrade indicates that we are that much closer to the default that will show the rest of the world that Imran should become PM

hanging around his neck

The letter said that this mistreatment has caused pain to the MNA, his family and the party “As the leader of the House, it is necessary for you to take notice of this action by the police he wrote in his letter to the NA speaker Qaiser criticized the police misconduct and stated the action caused pain to the MNA, his family and the political party, whereas, the capital police defamed and insulted the parliament He added that the Pashtun people regretted the shameful behaviour of the capital police with their representative ICT POLICE ARRESTS 11 WORKERS: The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police arrested 11 Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) workers for damaging public property amid a protest after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict to disqualify Imran Khan The workers have been arrested by Bahara police station officers for pelting stones amid the protest in Islamabad Cases were filed in multiple police stations across the capital territory for disrupting peace and creating a law and order situation after the ECP decision

PTI workers that have been arrested include Mujahid, Faraz Man, Haroon, Ayaz Khan, Fazal Mola, Usman Khan Ramzi Khan Mehtab Hussain and Zahid Huss Several members of the local leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) were booked in a terrorism case over alleged vandalism during the protests in Islamabad after ECP disqualified Imran Khan in the Toshakhana reference

the gifts, as he should have done

Of course, the Election Commission showed its complete dedication to corruption by disqualifying Imran in the Toshakhana reference It might have only disqualified Imran for the life of the current Parliament, which is less than a year, but it leaves the PTI without a Chairman for the time being may merely be a harbinger of things to come Of course, Imran should get a stay order from the Islamabad High Court whenever he appeals After all he and his party have encountered the court before and got whatever it wanted from it Of course it should be clear that ECP didn’t do anything wrong in selling gifts In fact, I doubt if any member would have left all those millions to stay tied up in any watches Where the ECP jumped on Imran with both hobnailed boots was not telling them He didn t even tell it he had received

It seems that the basis of the PTI s appeal against the disqualification is that the ECP could hear the case OK Then who can? The PTI lawyers seem to have skirted over that point, just as they’ve skirted the issue of whether a crime had been committed or not

I don’t suppose it included as a ground of appeal the failure of the prosecution to produce evidence of a lalkara, where the criminal is alleged to have yelled out a detailed explanation of why he was committing the crime, such as selling the watches because an ancestor of Muhammad bin Salman had stolen one of Imran’s ancestors buffaloes Imran should have stolen one of MBS’s columns in return, but instead he sold the watch he was presented The CEC got nothing, not even a mention in the statement of assets

Of course, the ECP is against Imran, or else why would he win by elections it supervised? Those seats will now have to have by elections held again You know,

Soldier mar t yred thwar ting terrorists’ attack from Afghanistan: ISPR

RAWALPINDI s tA f f R e p o R t

A soldier of Pakistan Army on Sunday embraced martyrdom while thwarting terrorists’ attack from inside Afghanistan across the international border who opened fire on a military post in Hassan Khel Sector of North Waziristan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a news release said the Pakistan Army troops responded in a befitting manner The martyred soldier was identified as Assistant Lance Daffadar Waqar Ali 32 year old, resident of Chota Lahore, Swabi who embraced martyrdom during the fire exchange Pakistan has consistently been requesting Afghanistan to ensure effective border management Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activates against Pakistan,” the ISPR said The Armed Forces media wing further added that Pakistan Army was determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of its brave soldiers further strengthen its resolve

y o u o n l y n e e d t w o s a f e s e a t s t o k e e p a c y c l e o f p e r m a n e n t b y e l e c t i o n s g o i n g , Back in 1988 Farooq Leghari won both a n a t i o n a l a n d a p r o v i n c i a l s e a t H e o p t e d f o r t h e p r o v i n c i a l s e a t H e d i d n ’t g e t N a w a z , a n d f a i l e d t o b e c o m e C M B B took him in the federal Cabinet He now had to find s seat in Parliament, which he did, by again contesting the national seat he had given up Imran might be shocked by the cowardly resignation of Liz Truss as British PM just because the economy went wrong, but he should remember that that has created space for the comeback of Boeis Johnson Are we to see a comeback of the demagogues? Trump is poised to regain the Republican nomination in 2024, and maybe the Presidency Imran, though he doesn t have orange or yellow hair, nor is he grossly overweight, is one of the ousted populists He too has an election to win Soon or by August next year Johnson might be made unlikely for the role because of his poundage, but he s a feather in the wind

“Gone are the days when India used to be called t h e l a n d o f ( M a h a t a m a ) G a n d h i , h e t o l d a p u b l i c meeting in Washington on Sunday while asserting that r i s i n g H i n d u t v a f a s c i s m c a l l s i n t o q u e s t i o n t h e country s claims that it upholds secular values

P r i m e M i n i s t e r N a r e n d r a M o d i l e d B J P g o v e r n m e n t h a s b e e n p u s h i n g t o c h a n g e t h e s e c u l a r a n d d e m o c r a t i c f a b r i c o f I n d i a i n t o t h a t o f a p u r e l y

LAHORE: Residents of Asil Suleman area of Kahna stage a protest against grabbing of graveyard land outside Press Club photo by zubAiR Mehfooz

CPC nAtIonAl CongReSS to bRIng CHInA CloSeR to ReJuvenAtIon: AmbASSAdoR

BEIJING X N h uA

tH E 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will promote the high quality development of the country and bring i t

rejuvenation of the Chinese nation Pakistan s ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque, told Xinhua in an interview

Haque s comment came as the CPC convenes its five yearly national congress in Beijing As an ambassador, he has visited Xinjiang, Hubei, Shandong and other places to learn about the development and changes in China’s urban and rural areas, industry and agriculture, science and technology, and culture

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 China has made remarkable accomplishments in all fields of human endeavours, he said

He was impressed by the transformation of the education, health and social security sectors, as well as

Rabbani urges all par ties to sign ‘Char ter of democracy-2’

LAHORE s tA f f R e p o R t

Pakistan People s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani urged all the political parties to sign a political contract “Charter of Democracy 2” as Pakistan has a controlled democracy Senator Raza Rabbani was addressing the Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore on Sunday He said when Pakistan became a security state, the requirements of the state changed He said it is very shameful that today even after 75 years of independence, the nation is suffering from doubts about the system of government as the country has a controlled democracy The PPP s senior leader said he was not ready to accept that the country’s elite, judiciary, and other institutions are oblivious to the Constitution of Pakistan With great sorrow he said that today, the parliament has become irrelevant so they need a grand national dialogue now as there is no point in having a charter of the economy without a ‘charter of democracy’

new Petroleum Secy struggles on to resolve long pending issues of gas sector

ISLAMABAD A h M A d A h M A dA N i

Newly posted Secretary Petroleum Capt (r) Muhammad Mahmood has convened important meetings on Monday(today) to devise plan for solution to issues related to gas, it was learnt on Sunday According to sources, the newly posted Secretary Petroleum after assuming office has been vigorously trying hard to solve the issues of petroleum and gas sectors, which were pending since a long time And, for the purpose, the secretary petroleum has been holding important meetings on a daily basis Sharing schedule of the meetings scheduled for Monday, the sources said that the secretary will hold important on supply of gas to fertilizer industry wherein former premier Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi, Minister of State (Petroleum Division) Musadik Masood Malik senior officials of ministry of industries and production, Director General (Gas), Managing Director (MD) of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) will be in attendance Similarly the secretary petroleum has called another important meeting in order to solve the issues of gas supply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Stations, which will be attended by the Energy Task Force chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister of State (Petroleum Division) Musadik Masood Malik DG (Gas) and MD of SNGPL

China’s role in leading global efforts for the mitigation of climate change and exploring new frontiers in space technology quantum computing AI and medicinal research

“Of all these accomplishments, achieving the first centenary goal of establishing a moderately prosperous society by eradicating absolute poverty is indeed one of the crowning achievements of the last decade,” the ambassador said Haque called China s success in people centred development and economic growth “an inspiration for the developing countries,” saying Pakistan appreciates China s success story and desires to learn from it in the areas of rural revitalization, industrialization, socioeconomic development and progress in science and technology

“As an ancient civilization blessed with immense potential, progressive outlook and an acute sense of destiny, I am confident that China will meet its national development goals and emerge as a powerful country with harmony between modernity and history, and between material advancement and ethical refinement,

Haque said

Concerning China’s commitment to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, Haque said it is indeed heartening and reflective of China’s sincere desire for working with the international community on the basis of win win cooperation and mutual respect

“ P a k i s t a n a p p r e c i a t e s t h e p o s i t i v e r o l e C h i n a h a s a l w a y s p l a y e d f o r p r o m o t i n g t h e c a u s e o f g l o b a l p e a c e a n d d e v e l o p m e n t , ” h e s a i d , e x p e c t i n g t o w o r k w i t h C h i n a a n d a l l l i k e m i n d e d c o u n t r i e s f o r t h e implementation of the Global Development Initiative ( G D I )

After the 20th CPC congress, Pakistan looks forward to continuing its closer coordination with China and pushing forward the high quality development of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Haque said I am confident that the outcome of the congress will deepen strategic ties between China and Pakistan and inject new impetus into our bilateral relationship,” the ambassador said

Ashrafi: Islam rejec ts sec tarianism, extremism in all forms

ISLAMABAD A p p

Prime Minister ’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said Islam rejected sectarianism, extremism, and terrorism in all their forms and manifestations

Addressing an “International Tahzeem e Harmain Al Sharifain Conference” in Abuja, Nigeria, he said to get rid of these social evils, it was necessary to disseminate the message of Islam in its actual context, which we received from the holy lands of Mecca and Medina

Ashrafi who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) and Secretary General of the International Tahzeem e Harmain Al Sharifain Council said there was no room for such myths in Islam as it was a religion of peace, security, and moderation

He said the situation of unrest in some Islamic countries was due to external interference which could be stopped by forging unity in the Muslim Ummah

He said the union would help contain Islamophobia and resolve the issues confronting the Ummah on the global level He also endorsed the stance of Saudi Arabia on the oil issue He said

that Pakistan and the entire Islamic world were standing by its narrative for global economic stability

Ashrafi said the entire Muslim Ummah’s message was loud and clear that they would not compromise on the security, sanctity, and stability of the soil of Harmain Al Sharifain at all costs

He said Kashmir and Palestine were the two burning issues of Ummah, and they should be resolved as per the will of the Kashmiris and Palestinians

He said interfaith dialogue was also the need of the hour adding that Pakistan had prepared a document, titled ‘Paigham e Pakistan’ (Message of Pakistan) to get rid of sectarianism,

extremism, and terrorism

Terming Harmain Al Sharifain as the centre of Ummah he said the way Saudi Arabia serves humanity was admirable and praiseworthy

Besides leading Ulema Mashaykh and religious scholars from all over the Islamic world, Dr Ibrahim Jamia Otoyo, Dr Dawood Abdul Baqi Muhammad, Dr Imam Issa Abdul Kareem, Dr Sulaiman Usman, Dr Muhammad Abdullah Al Thani, Dr Sharafuddin Badibur Aji, Dr Muhammad Munir Ilyas, Dr Muhammad Al Haaj Abu Bakr, Dr Abu Bakr Muhammad Al Thani, and Dr Al Khizar Abdul Baqi Muhammad also addressed the conference

Ancient Mohenjo Daro site shows signs of recover y from devastating floods

ISLAMABAD A N A d o l u Ag e N C y

Dampness is still visible in the bases of walls and the main stupa at Mohenjo Daro, the last surviving remnants of the 5 000 year old Indus Valley Civilisation which has been badly affected by the recent rains and flooding in Pakistan

Curators are busy restoring the walls of several pre historic cells through “original technique and likewise materials to save the remnants from further erosion, bulging, and tilting

Mohenjo Daro also known as the Mound of the Dead,” is located 27 kilometres (about 17 miles) from the Larkana district in the southern Sindh province

The floodwaters surrounding the iconic site have damaged several excavated portions, with water seeping through and creating furrows

Rain and floodwaters seeping into the ground have tilted the walls of the heritage site s prehistoric houses, which date back to 2,500 BC and are the last surviving remnants of the Indus Valley Civilisation

The alarming development, according to archaeologists could potentially lead to the walls completely collapsing The ongoing restoration work includes mud capping of the tops of the affected walls and filling of cracks in their lower portions and bases, apart from filling with mud bricks of the gullies caused by rainwaters gushing down the mounds

“Currently we are focusing to arrest two major issues First, to contain the mortar erosion caused by the rainwater that penetrated the walls of the (pre historic) cells and base of the main stupa (standing in the middle of remnants),” said Ali Hyder Gadhai, an assistant archeological engineer, who is supervising the

restoration work

Secondly, he told Anadolu Agency, the eastern wall of “the Great Bath,” a vast bathing area on the northern side of the main stupa which collapsed during the recent rains, has been restored

At present, he further said, the epicentre of the ongoing restoration exercise is the 2nd century BC “Citadel area,” which consists of the pre historic cells, which would serve as housing for monks, the Great Bath, the main stupa and other remnants

The drum of the main stupa, which was a proper dome centuries ago, has been covered by the geotextile (waterproof covering) he added

F u RT h E R R E S TO R AT I O n W I L L TA K E T I m E:

Aggravated by the recent rains and “surface” flooding, erosion of the foundation of the main stupa, which stands 70 foot (21 meter) high from the ground, could be spotted through the naked eye

Gadhai, nonetheless, opined that only those parts of the foundation, which were hit by the surface flooding, have gone softer

The erosion, he said, is being contained through

shoring and wall buttressing, whereas the badly hit parts are being underpinned by the same kind of bricks

To contain the dampness he went on to say brushing off the foundation surface is being carried out

The pointing work will begin once the base and the walls are fully dried whereas work on already dried portions will begin in March amid a dwindling dew factor Gadhai, however, acknowledged that the dampness could take another six to 12 months to completely go away

Although we plan to commence pointing work from April next year we are not pretty sure about that as some portions of the base and the walls, particularly the northern side, do not receive direct or enough sunlight throughout the year ” he maintained

The curators, nevertheless, have not so far adopted any artificial heating technique to dry the wetness

Also they are awaiting the release of funds estimated between 30 and 40 million rupees ($136,856 to $182,477), to begin restoration work of other portions of the spectacular site

‘W I n T E R S A R E n O T g O O d T I m E F O R S O m E R E S TO R AT I O n W O R K S’: Rooh ul Amin, a curator involved in the restoration exercise reckoned that dew will slow down the mud capping work in winter, which is barely a few weeks away The dew, he added, doesn’t allow the mud to dry easily

Also, he further said, the volume of sodium chloride (salt) technically described as mirability shoots up to 300 percent at below 30 degrees centigrade which increases the erosion of walls and bases, aside from causing chipping and flaking to bricks

To control the phenomenon he said a mud plating technique is applied to desalinate the bricks Moreover, Gadhai added, soil stabilisation of the flooring is an annual affair

LAHORE s tA f f R e p o R t

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Shahid Karim Sunday stressed the need for a halt to the acquisition of agricultural land to build housing societies H e w a s a d d r e s s i n g a s e s s i o n t i t l e d : “Climate Change and Floods in Pakistan” o n t h e l a s t d a y o f t h e t w o d a y A s m a Jahangir Conference here at a hotel

He said that he had ordered to stop the acquisition of agricultural land in the Ravi U r b a n D e v e l o p m e n t A u t h o r i t y ( R U D A ) case He informed the session that he had

a l s o r e v o k e d t h e o l d c o l o n i a l l a w o f acquiring agricultural land in the name of building infrastructure

“For God’s sake! stop acquiring agricultural land Building housing societies on agricultural land should be stopped now,” he stressed “In the RUDA judgment, we had declared that the national security is now the food security The new name of national security is now food security,” he pointed out

J u s t i c e S h a h i d a l s o s a i d t h a t h e h a d heard a petition on the improvement of environmental pollution in 2018 The petition on the environmental pollution has

been pending in the court,” he added

T h e L H C j u d g e a l s o p o i n t e d o u t t h a t t h e c o n c e p t o f s e c u r e l i f e w a s i n t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n , a n d h e a d d e d t h a t m a n y judgements of the court were nothing but good paintings

“We need to do more Our constitution is a social link between the people and the s t a t e A r t i c l e 9 o f t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n guarantees life,” he emphasised

The judge also claimed that it had been decided to do something practically then “ A n o t i c e w a s t a k e n o n t h e w a s t a g e o f w a t e r i n m o s q u e s , a n d t h i s w a t e r i s n o w conserved,” he said

“ T h e w a t e r o f D a t a D a r b a r M a s j i d i s also conserved and it irrigates Minto Park Wa s t e d w a t e r f r o m c a r s ’ w a s h i n g i s a l s o being utilised,” he added

Va r i o u s h o u s i n g s o c i e t i e s w e r e o r d e r e d t o p a y m o n e y t o t h e Wa t e r a n d S a n i t a t i o n A g e n c y ( WA S A ) D u r i n g t h e monsoon season, water used to accumulate o n M a l l R o a d a n d L a w r e n c e R o a d i n Lahore,” he informed the session

Now, an underground water tank has been built to conserve this water A c c o r d i n g t o t h e WA S A , t h e groundwater level has not gone down since 2020,” he added

Justice Shahid Karim also threw light o n t h e s t e p s t a k e n f o r s h i f t i n g t h e b r i c k kilns on better technology “ T h e b r i c k k i l n s h a v e b e e n s h i f t e d t o zigzag technology in two and a half years T h i s y e a r, O c t o b e r s e e s s u n s h i n e w h i c h was not visible last year,” he said

A heavy fine of 200,000 has been set f o r b u r n i n g c r o p r e s i d u e T h e c o u r t a l s o b a n n e d p l a s t i c b a g s , ” h e a d d e d “ R i s i n g t e m p e r a t u r e i s t h e b i g g e s t p r o b l e m N o w we will move to controlling temperature I n s t a l l i n g s o l a r p a n e l s a n d p l a n t i n g s a p l i n g s w i l l r e d u c e t e m p e r a t u r e , h e pointed out

L H C j u d g e s t re s s e s e n d to a c q u i s i t i o n o f a g r i l a n d fo r h o u s i n g s o c i e t i e s

F lo o D v i c T i M s r eT u r n h o M e T o s Ta r T l i F e a n e w

KARACHI a n a d o l u ag e n c y

iN the remote village of Allah Bachayo Phanwar in Sindh, Mithal Chandio was combing through the debris looking for intact bricks so he could begin rebuilding his house, which was flattened by last month’s devastating floods that submerged one third of the country

His belongings included damp blankets, a pedestal fan, a few bags and trunks full of clothes, and some crockery When floods hit his village last month he could only grab that much

Located on the outskirts of Dadu district in Sindh, one of the worst affected regions the village like nearly all others in the area was completely inundated by the floods, which forced around 500 residents to take refuge on a nearby road

The raging water levels have since receded, leaving behind clear signs of massive destruction with nothing left intact The village is still surrounded by 4 to 5 foot deep water, giving it an island look Swarms of mosqui toes and houseflies continuously swirl around Boats are the only way to reach the ruined village bring food, or transport the sick to the hospital

“Only men from 10 to 12 families have returned so far during the past week to assess the damage and prospects of repairing the houses, which are currently uninhabited,” Mithal Chandio, a local farmer, told Anadolu Agency

The women and children will join when at least one room of each house is made livable, according to Chan dio, who has five children

Nothing is left intact here It seems that we have to start from zero,” he said, pointing towards the razed walls and cracked wooden doors of his small house

Another resident Ghulam Omer said the village was also hit by flooding in 2010, but the scale of the devas tation was far less

This time triple the amount of water came and left nothing behind except devastation and helplessness

“We are facing a dual challenge First, we have to have money for reconstruction of our houses and sec ondly arrange livelihoods as the massive rains and floods have already wiped out our crops,” Omer added

His cropland is still under water with no chance of receding in the coming weeks if not months U n s U r e a b o U t f U t U r e: Munir Leghari lost his house in the 2010 floods which took him the next eight years to rebuild

But he and his family were only able to live in the new house for four years as the recent floods once again deprived them of a dwelling place

“I had worked so hard to rebuild my house and pay off the loans But I have lost it again, Leghari told Anadolu Agency

He was loading luggage on a canoe at Chandan Mori, also known as Zero Point, located around 15 kilo metres (9 3 miles) from Dadu city, to return to his village after over a month His family, which is currently staying

at a shelter camp in Dadu, will join him “soon ”

I don t know if I will be able to rebuild my house again It had taken me a good eight years, but I don’t know how many years it will take this time, especially when resources have run out he said

At least Rs500,000 are needed to build a small house money that Leghari and many others don’t have

He said his first priority is to find some work to earn a living, which has become so challenging due to an eco nomic slowdown

If I don t find work in a day or two I plan to leave for Karachi or Hyderabad to find something there

“I am not sure what to do,” he said before heading towards Ibrahim Laghari village near the town of Johi

D r a i n a g e o f f l o o D wat e r s r e q U i r e D:

A combination of torrential rains 10 times heavier than usual and apocalyptic floods have killed nearly 1,700 people across Pakistan since mid June

The colossal devastation will cost $40 billion to fix, according to government estimates

The drenching monsoon combined with massive floods, has damaged approximately 45 percent of the country’s cropland, posing a serious threat to food secu rity

Mohammad Musa Babbar, an official at the Al Khid mat Foundation, one of the country’s largest relief and rescue organizations said that the immediate drainage of floodwaters is essential for the resumption of eco nomic activity and the reconstruction process

Almost 80 percent of the land in Dadu and adjoin ing districts are still under water, even after a gap of over a month, hampering the rehabilitation and reconstruction process said Babbar whose organization plans to help flood victims rebuild their homes

There is a shortage of construction materials, particu larly bricks, as almost 80 percent of the brick kilns in Sindh are closed due to the inundation of large swathes of land Even if bricks are available, Babbar said, their trans portation is a big issue due to the inundation of roads

“The government’s top priority should be the clear ance of land and roads, which will generate huge eco nomic activity in terms of agriculture and reconstruction, aside from providing jobs to thousands of flood victims,” he added

S audi CG hosts dinner in honour of S indh Governor

them the governor asked the children to work hard in their studies, because they have to serve the country and the nation when they grow up

T wo die, 25 hur t in Murree school bus crash

MURREE S ta f f R e p o R t

A s c h o o l b u s t a k i n g s t u d e n t s o n a t r i p f r o m K u n j a h G u j r a t m e t a n a c c i d e n t i n w h i c h t w o p e o p l e i n c l u d i n g a t e a c h e r w e r e k i l l e d a n d 2 0 s t u d e n t s a n d f i v e o t h e r t e a c h e r s i n j u r e d , p o l i c e s a i d o n S u n d a y

Reportedly a school bus was taking students to Mur ree from Kunjah on a trip when it crashed near Darya Gali As a result, two persons including a teacher died on the spot while as many as 20 stu dents and five teachers sustained injuries in the mishap The dead and injured were shifted to the nearby hospital where the condition of three students was stated to be critical The ages of the injured stu dents are between 8 and 12 It is feared that the casu alty toll might rise which has created a sense of horror and panic among the parents of the s t u d e n t s

Death toll from floods rises to 1,7 31

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The death toll from this season’s monsoon rain and floods since mid June has risen to 1,731 along with 12 867 injuries in Pakistan the National Disaster Man agement Authority (NDMA) said According to a report released by the NDMA on Saturday night, 645 children and 350 women were among those who lost their lives in separate rain or flood related incidents in the country so far Sindh was the worst hit province, where 792 people were killed followed by Balochistan with 336 deaths, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab re ported 308 and 223 deaths, respectively Over 33 mil lion people and 85 districts across Pakistan have been affected by the floods, it added Rescue and relief oper ations by the NDMA and other government organisa tions were underway in the flood hit areas

Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Karachi, Bandar Fahad A Al Dayel hosted a dinner in honour of Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori at his residence here the other night On the occasion, the consul general congratulated Kamran Tessori on assuming the charge as the Sindh Governor The governor thanked the Saudi Consul Gen eral and said “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have good and strong relations He expressed the hope that the broth erly relations between the two countries would be fur ther strengthened

Meanwhile, Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori hosted a lunch for the children of Sarim Burney Shelter Home at Governor ’s House here Sunday

On the occasion, the governor freely interacted each and every child and played Ludo with them He en quired from the children about the facilities being pro vided to them in the Shelter Home While talking with

He said that the importance and services of NGOs in the social sector are praise worthy, the services of Sarim Burney Trust in various fields are very apprecia ble Governor Sindh further said that the Trust’s shelter homes are important for homeless boys and girls, as they are being provided with calm and quality accom modation Governor Sindh said that taking care of or phans as well as homeless children is also a good initiative

Philanthropists should fully support such institu tions, he added and said that he would fully cooperate in the projects of Sarim Burney Trust

Later the children of the Shelter Home also pre sented recitations, naats, national songs and speeches and also visited various parts of Governor House includ ing Quaid s Room where belongings of the Father of the Nation were available

QWP expresses concern over worsening law and order in KP

PESHAWAR S ta f f R e p o R t

Chairman Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Sunday expressed concern over the worsen ing law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa par ticularly in Swat and urged the government to take concrete s t e p s o r e l s e t h e s i t u a t i o n c o u l d s p i n o u t o f c o n t r o l S p e a k i n g a t a g a t h e r i n g h e l a u d e d t h e p e o p l e o f S w a t d i s t r i c t f o r t a k i n g t o t h e s t r e e t s t o s t a g e p r o t e s t d e m o n s t r a t i o n s a g a i n s t t h e r e c e n t w a v e o f m i l i t a n c y O n t h i s o c c a s i o n k n o w n p o l i t i c a l f i g u r e s h a i l i n g f r o m M a t t a t e h s i l i n S w a t M u m t a z K h a n , U s m a n A l i S i n a a n d M s S h a m i m A z a d A d v o c a t e f r o m M i n g o r a a n d o t h e r s a l o n g w i t h t h e i r f a m i l y m e m b e r s a n d s u p p o r t e r s a n n o u n c e d j o i n i n g t h e Q W P A f t a b S h e r p a o s a i d t h a t t h e p e o p l e w a n t e d r e s t o r a t i o n o f p e a c e a s i t w a s a p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r d e v e l o p m e n t “ I n t h e p a s t , t h e p e o p l e o f M a l a k a n d d i v i s i o n f a c e d d i s p l a c e m e n t d u e t o m i l i t a n c y a n d s u b s e q u e n t m i l i t a r y o p e r a t i o n , h e r e c a l l e d , a d d i n g t h a t t h e p e o p l e c o u l d n o l o n g e r a ff o r d t o f a c e a s i m i l a r s i t u a t i o n

a n d t h i s h a d c o m p e l l e d t h e m t o p r o t e s t a g a i n s t r i s i n g m i l i t a n c y T h e Q W P c h i e f s a i d t h a t m a i n t a i n i n g l a w a n d o r d e r w a s t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f t h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t , s o i t s h o u l d s t o p b l a m i n g t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t f o r t h e p o o r s e c u r i t y “ T h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t c a n s e e k h e l p f r o m t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t i f i t i s u n a b l e t o b r i n g t h e s i t u a t i o n u n d e r c o n t r o l h e c l a r i f i e d Welcoming the ver dict of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualifying Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana reference, the QWP leader said that the former prime minister should move to the court of law if he had any reservations over the decision instead of creating anarchy

Aftab Sherpao said that removing Pakistan from the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force was a posi tive development and hoped this would have a good im pact on the country’s economy C r i t i c i z i n g t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t f o r f a i l i n g t o c o n t r o l p r i c e h i k e , h e s a i d that the people were facing skyrocketing inflation, which had made life miserable for them “Controlling inflation is a test for the government as inflation has reduced their purchasing power, he added

Pa k i s t a n : A l a n d o f m i g r a t o r y b i r d s , w i l d l i f e

PESHAWAR a p p

Known as land of Chakor, Pakistan’s wetlands provide breeding ground for migratory birds arriving from the Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Siberia owing to an enlargement of forestry cover and increase of weeds, insects, plants and suitable winter conditions

Lies at the crossroads for birds migration Pakistan s wetlands, arid and semi arid areas draw influx of migra tory birds, including houbara, cranes, geese and ducks mostly from freezing Siberia the CARs and even Europe during harsh winter season owing to substantial enhance ment in their forest and wildlife habitats

These birds mostly arrive through the international migration route known as the Indus Flyway (IF), from Siberia and the CARs by passing through Karakoram, Hindukush and Suleiman ranges along the Indus River

via KP to downwards Sindh said Dr Mumtaz Malik former Chief Conservator Wildlife while talking to APP

He said houbara population mostly arrive Pakistan in October December due to limited resources of food in the freezing CARs and returns in March April to their native areas

Besides wetlands the desert plains of Punjab Sindh KP and Balochistan are the houbara, ducks, geese and cranes wintering habitats where sufficient food is avail able for their natural breeding

Houbara’s flocks mostly land in Bannu, Lakki Mar wat and DI Khan in KP, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan Cholistan in Punjab Tharparkar Sindh and Balochistan, he said, adding that they eat insects, wild fruits, small reptiles and twigs

Dr Mumtaz said houbara is very sensitive bird and it does not use the route again if they sense any danger on their way during the first journey, adding the bird

move quickly as it takes only few days to reach Pakistan

“The weather determines the exact timing of travel as the large bird has to avoid harsh weather and snowfall in flights he added

“The population travels in groups having a chieftain and once they looses their chieftain, the deputy guides the group to reach its destination

The wildlife expert said houbara can’t stay in severe coldness and Pakistan’s climate is ideally suitable for them during winter for breeding adding in case a houbra looses its mate, the endangered specie takes three to five years to find a new one Dr Mumtaz pointed out that one of the reasons of houbara decrease is the rivalry between its newborn “The sibling hatching first usually kills the other,” and it lays only two eggs in life

He said artificial breading is being carried out in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Morocco under extremely con trolled condition and is very expensive

GB extends school hours to plug learning gaps

GILGIT S ta f f R e p o R t

The government of Gilgit Baltistan has decided to keep pupils in school for longer lessons to overcome the gaps in their learning caused by the unavailability of teachers, the region’s chief sec retary said Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, who blamed the shortage on the insufficient recruit ment of instructors on vacant teaching positions in the past, said his administration has extended the school day by one hour as part of its catch up plans The decision Wani said was “based on the best practices around the world and by keep ing in view the losses incurred by the students These extended hours would be utilised to incul cate learning related to science and technology among students, he added The regional govern ment has also recruited more than 700 teachers both through in house testing and Federal Pub lic Service Commission (FPSC), the chief secre tary said Wani was of the view that this move has been a stepping stone in improving the qual ity of pedagogy in Gilgit Baltistan as it has led to a lower teacher student ratio in schools which is considered a necessity for effective learning”

Since all migratory species are hunted and ducks are mercilessly killed every year in the range states includ ing Pakistan, he said, the population of some duck species, including white eyed pochard, marbled teal and garganey has drastically decreased

He said cranes, because of size, beauty, unique calls, and complex behaviour are also hunted and trapped dur ing their migration in substantial numbers due to non im plementation of laws Dr Mumtaz said climate change has endangered about 90 different wildlife species, in cluding Siberian crane, white backed vulture, long billed vulture, red headed vulture, saker and peregrine falcons and hawksbill sea turtle Kashmir s gray langur, Indus dolphin, finback whale, Balochistan bear, musk deer, hog deer, pangolin, Egyptian vulture, green turtle and nar row headed turtle were also endangered by the climate change, he added

He further informed that around 786 wildlife species found in Pakistan, including 186 reptiles and 173 mam mals, and that about 90 species including 50 mammals, 27 birds and 17 reptiles were placed in categories of en dangered, vulnerable and near to extinction

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

C u T T i n G D i wa L i C a k e , C M e L a h i r e i T e r aT e S M i n o r i T i e S ’ p r o S p e r i T y

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

aspecial ceremony in connec tion with Diwali festival was organised at Chief Minister ’s Office here on Sunday Pun jab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi cut a cake along with the representatives of Hindu and other mi nority communities to mark the Diwali festival He felicitated the Hindu and other minority communities living in Pakistan on the occasion

The chief minister was presented an ajrak as a gift on behalf of the Hindu and other minority communities

The CM said We fully participate in the festivities of the Hindu commu nity on Diwali ” He said that the minor ity students were being awarded scholarships from Matric to PhD level in the government educational institu tions, adding that 2 percent quota had

been fixed for the minority communities in the higher educational institutions

He said directions had been issued to ensure implementation of five per cent job quota for the minority commu nities, adding that 50 per cent scholar ships under the educational scholarship scheme in the central Punjab 35 per

Steps on for permanent solution to enforced disappearance issue, says Tarar

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on Sunday said that enforced disappearance is a serious issue and the coalition government is committed to taking legal and practical steps for its resolution He was addressing a session titled: “Reluctance to Criminalise Enforced Disappearances and Arbitrary Detentions on the last day of Asma Jahangir conference, held at a local hotel on Sunday

He said, “Enforced disappearances have become a stigma for our society

Azam Tarar said that collective efforts would be made for finding solution to the problem Country’s constitution gives guarantee of personal freedom and human rights, he added He said that right to life was the most cherished right in the Constitution The law minister said that it was unfortunate that complaints regarding disappearances were received from Balochistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi, South Punjab and even from central Punjab He said that this matter was related to security; therefore its solution could be discussed in in camera proceedings

Azam Nazeer said that matter of enforced disappearances was raised in the parliament and at different forums, which he added was a result of collective efforts of different segments of society He said that two days earlier the National Assembly passed a bill of Ministry of Law in which it declared enforced disappearances as a crime

He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also held a debate on the issue in the cabinet and a seven member committee in this regard held eight meetings in last 12 weeks He said that the cabinet committee went to Quetta and held dialogue with Sami Baloch in her sit in and it was decided that their demands would be forwarded to the government and practical steps would also be taken in this regard

cent in the south Punjab and 15 per cent in the northern Punjab were being awarded to the minority students He said that scholarships up to Rs50,000 were being awarded to the minority students, who get 50 per cent marks from Matric to higher education level

The CM underscored that by partic

ipating in cultural events of each other helped promote tolerance He said that safeguarding the rights of minorities is a responsibility of the state The CM highlighted that all the minorities in cluding the Hindu community have equal rights, adding that the Hindu and other minority communities are being provided equal opportunities to attain education He outlined that giving better treatment and respect to the minorities is the essence of the religion of Islam

Members Provincial Assembly

Youdester Chohan, Nawaz Chandia, Abbas Ali Shah, Muhammad Shafique, Habkok Rafique Babu, Samuel Yaqoob Mahindar Pal Singh Saira Raza, Fauzia Abbas, Shahida Malika, Nohais Khokhar, Aftab Gul, Muhammad Yasin, Chairman CM Complaint Cell Zubair Ahmad Khan, Secretary Minority Affairs and Human Rights and concerned officials were also present

A sifa for suppor ting government in eradic ation of polio

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

The younger daughter of former Prime Minister Shaheed Muhtrama Benazir Bhutto Ms Asifa Bhutto Zardari requested that parents should sup port the government in its effort to eradicate polio

On the occasion of World Polio Day 2022 she said that the recent polio cases in Pakistan were a threat to our future generations and that children could be saved from childhood diseases like polio through vaccines “We must all come together and work towards polio eradication We owe this to our children We must collectively work towards making Pakistan Polio Free,” she said

With 20 new cases reported in Pakistan in 2022 alone, the government is being extra vigi lant, and it is extremely crucial for us to reach every child under the age of five in order to curb the spread of the polio virus in the country

The back to back monthly polio campaigns are to ensure that our children remain polio free Thanks to these campaigns, Sindh has not re ported a single case of polio since July 2020 and

environment samples in major locations are also negative which is good for the programme and the future of our children

If we continue with the same momentum we will further see significant results, but we must not get complacent and continue the hard work and have regular vaccination campaigns to ensure our children are protected We understand that communities in the super high risk UCs for polio need other services and we are addressing this through new initiatives like creating health facil ities she said

“We must focus on childhood immunisation to prevent childhood diseases; the benefits of vac cination are clear as frequent campaigns can sig nificantly reduce the burden of polio across the country as it has in the past Children can be saved from childhood diseases like polio through vac cination and we seek the media’s help to raise awareness regarding this, she said

P a k i s t a n i s o n e o f t h e t w o p o l i o e n d e m i c countries in the world along with Afghanistan and has so far reported a total of 20 polio cases in 2022

D a r rev i ews I T s e c to r ’s d e c l i n i n g ex p o r t

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired meeting of Prime Minister ’s Task Force on Information Technology (IT) and Telecom at Finance Division Federal Minister for IT& Telecom Syed Aminul Haque, SAPM on Youth affairs Shaza Fatima Khawaja, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, the SBP Governor, Secretary Finance, Secretary IT&T, Chairman FBR, Chairman PTA and other senior officers attended the meeting The meeting discussed the issues related to IT sector ’s declining export and measures to bring it back to a growth trajectory Dar emphasizing the importance of IT sector said that government accords priority attention to IT sector to tap its true potential He said that IT sector has immense potential for growth and could play significant role in strengthening Pakistan’s economy The chair considering the proposals of Ministry of IT&T, directed to the concerned authorities to take steps for facilitation of IT sector and to remove bottlenecks in order to encourage its exports S ta f f R e p o R t

LG gov ts vital for sustainable democratic system: speakers

MIRPUR (AJK)

S ta f f R e p o R t

Without the establishment of local government and the empowerment of elected representatives, neither is public participation in government affairs possible nor can a sustainable and genuine democratic system take hold in Azad Jammu Kashmir These views were expressed by the speakers while addressing a conference organized here on Sunday by the Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms (CPDR) on local body elections to be held in the 3rd week of next month

Former Chief Justice Mohammad Azam Khan lauded the holding of local elections and termed it a wonderful political development Women cannot be empowered without imparting quality education under the Devolution Plan he claimed Justice Azam Khan suggested that to empower the local government in the real sense, reforms should be made in the Local Government Act after the election He said that the provision of quality education is very important for the empowerment of youth and women

Health Minister Dr Nisar Ali Abdali said that despite all the difficulties and reservations, the PTI government is conducting local elections because it has been promised in the party’s manifesto He said that all the stakeholders have agreed to conduct local elections

Former minister and central leader of Muslim League N, Chaudhary Muhammad Saeed while speaking on the occasion said that the local bodies have to be empowered politically and financially He suggested that a District Finance Board should be formed so that each district and village could receive direct government funding Based on population, area, and poverty rate; the government should allocate grants to districts and then the districts to local union councils This formula can open the door to development and prosperity

PTI AJK leader Zulfikar Abbasi said that their villages and cities cannot be cleaned until an effective management system is entrusted to the elected representatives of the local government Coordinator of SDGs for Azad Kashmir Syed Ali Hasnain Gilani said that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations is not possible without the establishment of a local government He said that fortunately Azad Kashmir is ahead of other regions of the country in achieving development goals

Pakistan People’s Party Women’s Wing President and Member of the Legislative Assembly Nabila Ayub said that women have specific problems and needs which men cannot solve and fulfill Therefore, it is important to increase the effective representation of women in elected positions The low representation of women in the politics of Azad Kashmir can be compensated by increasing the representation of women at the local government level

Representation of women in local bodies should be at least 25 percent She stressed that the political parties should give a maximum number of tickets to women so that they gain confidence and participate in national level politics

CPDR Director Ershad Mahmud said that the establishment of local government will bring a key change in the economic political, and social landscape of the region He said that at least 30 percent of the development budget should be given to the local government He said that the local government election will prove to be a game changer

PPP Shaheed Bhutto leader Chaudhry Munir Hussain said that the local government system means a new economic and political process that will bring positive change in our society

Senior journalist Muhammad Shakeel said that facilities like education and health should come under the jurisdiction of local governments Former secretary Information Shaukat Majeed said that for the establishment of an empowered local government system, the government of Azad Kashmir, especially the MLAs, must agree on the distribution of funds

The host of the event, Dr Waqas Ali, in his closing remarks, said that the local government can play a key role in combating the climate change that our country is facing He said that this was the third dialogue session organized by the CPDR and it will continue such activities so that the gap between civil society and the decision making forces is reduced

A m o nt h l at e r, f l o o d v i c t i m s co nt i n u e t o f l o u n d e r

KARACHI a n a d o l u ag e n c y

Under a broiling midday sun a police officer was handing out lifejackets to a group of desperate passengers before they took a dan gerous step to board a boat They had to take a 10 minute journey to cross a 15 meter (50 foot) water channel to reach a breakaway portion of the Indus Highway

Clutching their children and carrying ra tion bags on their heads panicked men and women would scramble to find a place in overcrowded canoe boats to cross the chan nel created after authorities made a cut through a major highway to save this ancient town of Sehwan in Sindh from the torrents of devastating floods in late September

Others were loading their motorbikes, water cans and luggage on the boats to cross the tiny distance, which otherwise would cost them an additional 120 kilometres (74 miles) to reach their homes

Two men holding a young but frail boy were carefully treading through the floodwa

ters to board the boat

“Yes, we took him to the doctor,” one of them briefly replied in a choked tone as the loud chants of the boat operator forced them to hurry up

Muddy floodwaters were still covering large swaths of land across the highway even over a month after the massive floods inun dated a third of the country

The cut in the road was made due to the overflowing Manchar Lake in late Septem ber, disconnecting Sehwan, home to 175,000 people, from the neighbouring Dadu district

Located west of the mighty Indus River in the southern districts of Dadu and Jamshoro and spreading over 250 square kilometres (96 5 square miles), Manchar is also one of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes With an average depth of 2 5 3 75 meters (8 12 feet), the lake can expand to 500 square kilometres (193 square miles) during the peak monsoon season

It otherwise takes only 30 kilometres (18 6 miles) to reach Dadu from Sehwan, but the cut in the road added 90 kilometres (56

miles) to the journey

“This has become a new normal here Every day thousands of people cross this small distance to reach their villages and work,” Saeed Ahmed, a police officer who was handing lifejackets to the passengers, told Anadolu Agency

According to Ahmed, who has been serving here for over a month, some 5,000 people use canoe boats every day to cover the stone throw distance as labourers backed by heavy machinery were dumping rocks into the 6 8 feet deep water to plug the cut

There is no other option but to take a boat to reach Sehwan and look for work and buy groceries as our villages are still under water, said Mahmood Umrani, a local farmer

A supervisor, who is overseeing the re construction work on the road said it would take “another few days” to repair the road

“If it is done, we will at least be free from these financial and physical hassles Umrani told Anadolu Agency

“Our children and women are sick and hungry Our people have been going through

this risk and hassle every day to take them to the hospital or buy food for them,” he went on to say

‘We live in squalor and disease’

Drenching monsoon spells and apoca lyptic floods have killed 1,731 people across Pakistan, mainly in Sindh and Balochistan, the two hardest hit regions

The cash strapped country has also suf fered staggering financial losses amounting to $40 billion mainly in terms of infrastruc ture and agriculture The World Bank fears that the economic backlash inflicted by the super floods might push another 10 million of the country’s roughly 230 million people below the poverty line

Although a large number of victims have started returning to their homes amid reced ing floodwaters in many areas in the two provinces, tens of thousands are still living in shelter camps and tents

Perched on the northern bank of Man char Lake, this dust bowl tent city in the Laal Bagh area is a temporary home to nearly 5,000 flood victims who are still unsure

about their return

“We are counting the days to leave this place We are living here in squalor and dis ease,” said Nooran Bibi, a mother of three who hails from Khairpur Nathan Shah town of Dadu district The ill fated town was among the areas that were completely inun dated by the massive floods

Standing in a queue to grab lunch for her children and herself, Bibi along with thou sands of others left her village and took shel ter at this camp “Houses have been flattened, crops have been wiped out, and the entire village is surrounded by waist deep water,” she told Anadolu Agency

There is nothing left for us there I am not sure whether we will return to our village or not,” added Bibi, whose husband is look ing for work in Sehwan which according to her is difficult nowadays due to the eco nomic slowdown

The flood victims especially in the shel ter camps, are already reeling from huge outbreaks of several waterborne eyes and skin diseases

Dar’s latest stint

TH E reports of Ishaq Dar ’s return to Pakistan and his takeover of the Finance Ministry caused the rupee to rise against the dollar This indicated the markets’ recognition that Mr Dar ’s main claim to fame was the defense of the rupee, and that he would take steps to bring it down what exactly transpired in his meetings with forex dealers and banks is not known but they did not produce any policy measures However the rupee started rising Now, it seems the honeymoon is over, and the rupee has started falling again How far will it go? one prediction is that it will go to 250 to the dollar, which would be a historic low

This cannot be reconciled to Mr Dar ’s statement that a fair value is around 200 However, the market seems to have started rebounding from Rs 220, which indicates that Mr Dar ’s analysis is incorrect Mr Dar has perhaps over estimated the effect of the exchange rate on inflation, the real problem he was sent to tackle, while the exchange rate leaves the average voter cold, inflation determines how voters will choose Imported inflation cannot be ruled out entirely, but it certainly is not as great a cause as Mr Dar assumes It seems to have led him to miss the full impact of the recent floods while getting off the FATF grey list is good news it should not lead Mr Dar to avoid the inevitable conclusion that the fundamentals of the economy remain unsound

Mr Dar has not tried yet to do what he had done in previous tenures, to use the country’s forex reserves to prop up the rupee by throwing them into the market and thus reducing their price Mr Dar must resist the temptation of possibly using the country’s already meagre reserves one major reason for the reversal of the price decline was that Mr Dar ’s arrival had prompted owners of foreign exchange, including speculators, putting their dollars up for sale to avoid taking too big a hit Those dollars have now been absorbed, and the market is left with the normal sources of dollars: exports and remittances Neither have spiked Also, oil bought before he came has now been used up, and oil importers are adding to the demand for dollars Instead of addressing the fundamentals of the economy or even taking the sort of anti inflation measures that would appeal to the voter with a year to go to elections Mr Dar has so far merely given textile exporters a power price freeze; at the taxpayers’ expense

Global economy needs a non-austerit y policy and enhanced SDR allocation

The covid 19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have meant a lot of suffering

place a Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) window to re channel allocated SDRs to move from rich to developing countries, not many amounts have reached the latter up till now

The global supply shock, and the war in Ukraine, have resulted in high food and energy prices glob ally, which in turn have been the main determinant of inflationary pressures, where in many countries inflation has been at decades high levels while a more balanced approach, in terms of demand and supply side policies were needed to tackle inflation, more emphasis has been on using tight monetary pol icy in many countries, including many advanced countries This over hawkish stance has resulted in significantly contributing to both capital flight and high interest payments, while a strong US dollar has also meant greater imported inflation in developing countries like Pakistan

ments must urgently identify alternative financing op tions to support their populations that are coping with multiple and compounding crises from health, energy, finance and climate shocks to unaffordable living costs The report: (i) presents the incidence of budget cuts based on IMF projections in 189 countries until 2025; (ii) reviews the latest 267 IMF country reports to identify the main austerity measures being consid ered by Ministries of Finance and the IMF in each country; and (iii) presents alternative financing op tions, ultimately calling on countries to end austerity by creating fiscal space to finance a people’s recovery and progress toward human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Analysis of IMF ex penditure projections shows that the adjustment shock is expected to impact 143 countries in 2023 in terms of GDP or 85% of the world population Most govern ments started scaling back public spending in 2021, and the number of countries slashing budgets is ex pected to rise through 2025 ’

TH E covid 19 pandemic has had a very dis ruptive impact on poverty reduction Ac cording to a recently released report by the world Bank titled Poverty and shared pros perity 2022: correcting course’ the overall three decade trend of reduction in extreme poverty was reversed during 2020 the year that Covid 19 was declared a pandemic In the foreword of the Re port, President of world Bank Group, David Malpass, pointed out in this regard Covid 19 marked the end of a phase of global progress in poverty reduction

During the three decades that preceded its arrival, more than 1 billion people escaped extreme poverty The incomes of the poorest nations gained ground ’

The practice of vaccine hoarding, and lack of vac cine supply to the global South, led to even more toll taking by the pandemic longer economic recovery time, on one hand, and lack of fiscal space, especially given little debt relief was provided to already debt stressed countries in particular overall meant that the amount of stimulus that could be provided to safeguard against vulnerability and as social safety net was much less compared to what was needed and seriously miniscule when compared to more than $13 trillion that was provided in the rich, advanced countries

In terms of financial support the main occurrence in this regard during the pandemic up till now, hap pened in the shape of enhanced special drawing rights (SDRs) allocation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whereby the maximum allocation limit with the IMF at $650 billion was distributed among member countries Although an important source of expanding fiscal space and providing cushion to domestic curren cies against the US dollar, the majority of the allocation went to rich advanced countries since it was made on the basis of ‘quota’; not to mention that the allocation itself came around one and a half years after the start of the pandemic in August 2021 while the IMF put in

Hence while it is impor tant that tight monetary policy is reined in meaningfully, at the same time it has been ex ceedingly important and in fact overdue for the IMF to make a fresh release of en hanced SDR allocation to the tune of $650 billion and with a more appropriate distribu tion formula than just basing it on quota so as to provide countries especially develop ing countries, with the much needed cushion in terms of foreign exchange reserves and fiscal space In addition to allow countries to be much more prepared in terms of dealing with the consequences of climate change, and to play an active role in reducing the carbon footprint developed countries are yet to fulfil their $100 billion annual commitments towards developing countries

I n cl u s i v e e c o n o m i c g row t h , i n t u r n , r e q u i r e s g r e

Hence, the global econ omy needs a policy of non austerity, and a counter cyclical policy, for transforming economies into being more resilient, produc tive, and having less poverty and inequality This is also important for improving the quality of democracy

The same world Bank published report on poverty also pointed towards the need for greater economic growth, and with better dis tributional consequences The Report indicated in this regard ‘Despite difficult global and domestic circum stances, policy makers must redouble their efforts to grow their economies in the coming years while pay ing careful attention to who benefits from that growth The need for growth that boosts the incomes of the poorest could not be greater than it is today

According to Tristan Kenderdine from Australian National University and Han Ling from Columbia Uni versity, “Belt and Road is part of a wider attempt to recreate complex interdependence and provides the macro geopolitical setting, it is a much broader canvas, one which China hopes to use to smooth its longer term integration into both the world economy and the global security apparatus Unlike Belt and Road (B&R), which is a linear geopolitical concept, capacity coop eration is rather a practical financial measure for shift ing China’s excess industrial plants offshore to perpetuate the investment driven project system model of economic development Going Global 2 0 started focusing on China’s claim to become the champion of free trade China quickly adapted to weaknesses of Going Global 1 0 policy to control corruption and governance issues China also realized that it is not the high handedness and rent

Having said that instead of providing any mean ingful debt relief to developing countries, or releasing a much needed enhanced SDR allocation, so that countries have greater fiscal space to make much needed productive investment, especially those like Pakistan that have suffered immensely from a climate change related disaster like the catastrophic floods in Pakistan that have affected around 33 million peo ple the old mantra of austerity is being advocated

In fact according to a report End austerity: a global report on budget cuts and harmful social re forms in 2022 25’ released in September, many coun tries are already well into practising austerity and are likely to continue this policy in the short to medium term The Report indicated in this regard ‘This report alerts of the dangers of a post pandemic austerity shock, far more premature and severe than the one that followed the global financial crisis Instead of harmful austerity measures (or fiscal consolidation govern

n g G l o b a l a n d C P E C

seeking which can create space for China as a global actor but the partnership and engagement that can open doors of global markets for China

Terminologies which we noticed in several agita tions in Baluchistan particularly in Gwadar clearly in dicate lack of awareness about the transformation in China s going global policies on one hand and probably some on ground mismanagements on the other hand which created unrest in local masses

The most noticed protest in the recent past with the slogan of ‘ G w a d a r k o h a q d o ( ‘Give rights to Gwadar ’) led by Maulana Hidayat ur Rehman, a gen erally acceptable figure, has also raised questions about mishandling by the local administration one of the participants expressed his concerns in these words, “when we go out to the sea, we cannot return home be cause the Chinese VIP movement is happening Imag ine that we spend eight hours working at the sea and then we are blocked because some Chinese engineer is moving about Even if it is a Chinese cook we have to wait on the roads for hours together The situation is so bad that we cannot even take a patient to the hospital if the coastal highway is blocked by the security forces This certainly indicates maladministration of people in charge of daily affairs

There is a need to educate the masses in Balochis tan and Sindh and particularly in Gwadar that China’s f o r e i g n i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f t h e “ f l y i n g g e e s e m o d e l ” drives the economic development of underdeveloped countries at one hand and provides an opportunity to utilize China’s expertise on other, therefore making it a three dimensional policy together with the benefits of B&R initiative

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e G R I S P D e v e l o p m e n t F o r u m , The flying geese (FG) model intends to explain the catching up process of industrialization of latecomer

economies from the three aspects Intra industry as pect: product development within a particular devel o p i n g c o u n t r y, w i t h a s i n g l e i n d u s t r y g r o w i n g f r o m i m p o r t t o p r o d u c t i o n t o e x p o r t e n a b l i n g s u s t a i n a b l e growth Inter industry aspect: sequential appearance a n d d e v e l o p m e n t o f i n d u s t r i e s i n a p a r t i c u l a r d e v e l o p i n g c o u n t r y, w i t h i n d u s t r i e s b e i n g d i v e r s i f i e d a n d u p g r a d e d f r o m c o n s u m e r g o o d s t o c a p i t a l g o o d s and/or from simple to more sophisticated products In t e r n a t i o n a l a s p e c t : s u b s e q u e n t r e l o c a t i o n p r o c e s s o f industries from advanced to developing countries dur i n g t h e l a t t e r ’s c a t c h i n g u p p r o c e s s ” I f w e t a k e t h e FG model optimistically, we can create a win win sit u a t i o n f o r b o t h C h i n a a n d P a k i s t a n a n d p a r t i c u l a r l y those who are directly exposed to the China Pakistan E c o n o m i c C o r r i d o r ( C P E C ) f r o m G i l g i t t o G w a d a r Capacity cooperation model can benefit on two fronts: first, building industrial parks focusing ‘comparative advantage’ for different goods and services; second, u p g r a d a t i o n o f f a c i l i t i e s a n d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e t h r o u g h Sino Pak industrial collaborations utilizing proposed industrial parks

Policy makers have to consider the anxiety of the local population when they exclaim that Balochistan contains the richest mineral resources, but its people receive little of the income derived from those re sources and are deprived of the education, medical care, and are subject to environmental challenges due to extensive mining activities

C h i n a h a s e x c e p t i o n a l l y p r o g r e s s e d i n t h e l a t e s t technologies while Pakistan has a vibrant youth to con tribute to the global demand of technologically skilled human resources Instead of transferring only aging or environmenallyt unfriendly industries to the proposed technology parks included in the master plan of CPEC r e l e v a n t a u t h o r i t i e s s h o u l d d e l i b e r a t e w o r k i n g o n a

And inclusive economic growth in turn requires greater public investment, and with a large scope in terms of economic sectors, including providing broader social safety nets something which is virtu ally impossible to see through a policy of austerity, and overly hawkish monetary policy stance that is currently being adopted by many countries

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona and previously worked at International Monetary Fund Prior to this he did MSc in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom) and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan) among other places He is author of Springer published book (2016) The economic impact of International Mon etary Fund programmes: institutional quality macro economic stabilization and economic growth He tweets @omerjaved7

wide variety of options considering both absolute ad vantage and comparative advantage to develop reliable i n f r a s t r u c t u r e f o r t h e f u t u r e n e e d s o f i n d u s t r i a l a n d technological developments

It is not that complicated to develop frameworks u t i l i z i n g b o t h a b s o l u t e a n d c o m p a r a t i v e a d v a n t a g e s w h i c h a c c o r d i n g t o I n v e s t o p e d i a “ l a rg e l y i n f l u e n c e how and why nations and businesses devote resources to the production of particular goods and services Ab solute advantage describes a scenario in which one en tity can manufacture a product at a higher quality and at a faster rate for a greater profit than another com peting business or country can accomplish Compara t i v e a d v a n t a g e , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , t a k e s i n t o c o n s i d e r a t i o n t h e o p p o r t u n i t y c o s t s i n v o l v e d w h e n choosing to manufacture multiple types of goods with limited resources ”

Pakistan is a country of diverse seasons and lands with innumerable dimensions of producing a variety o f b o t h a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d i n d u s t r i a l g o o d s b a s e d o n l o c a l e n v i r o n m e n t a n d r e s o u r c e s T h e P o l i t i c s a n d economics of CPEC are intertwined due to there being several internal and external stakeholders to the proj ect It is indeed a challenging task to ensure smooth e x e c u t i o n d u e t o n u m e r o u s i n t e r e s t g r o u p s a n d r e g i o n a l f o r c e s b e i n g i m p a c t e d b y t h e p r o g r e s s a n d completion of CPEC

Currently the most important aspect is to address local resistance because despite the promises of con nectivity and development of the entire nation CPEC projects have become a target of terrorist attacks due to both inability to comprehend scope and benefits of the project and interventions of forces which consider CPEC a threat for their regional and global hegemony

This can be achieved by inculcating consensus, ef fective stakeholder management, public education & engagement and inclusion of indigenous communities & all relevant segments of the society

The writer is Associate Professor of Management Sciences and Head Center of Islamic Finance COMSATS University (CUI) Lahore Campus He can be reached at drabdussattar@cuilahore edu pk and tweets @drabdussattar

The beginning of the rupee’s umpteenth decline indicates that the honeymoon is over

D r O m e r J av e D

The delusion of western democratic values

focal point is mostly Taiwan, a self ruled island in the South China Sea contentiously claimed by China Ironically, the USA always recognized Tai wan’s independence Yet to gain the loyalty of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to prevent its en gagement with the USSR, the USA unilaterally cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, diplomati cally recognizing the People s Republic of China If that is opportunism and hypocrisy, what is?

Zain abbas riZvi

TH E drumroll of democracy was sounded by the United Nations, collo quially known as the Allies, as the Nazi clout waned after world war II Under the leadership of the USA, western democracies gradually spurred around the globe, a symbolic departure from the imperialistic ten dencies associated with the European monarchies Unfortunately, while the trend of colonialism re versed by the mid 1960s the centrality of power was never circulated around the world And even in the 21st century, the principles of sovereign po larity are grossly limited to a select few

Even after dismantling Nazi Germany and its autocratic cohort, the western alliance faced its biggest challenge; its expedient ally against Hitler: the USSR The Cold war was arguably the most intense era for global security The mutual nuclear threat allowed no interlude to the USA or the USSR; the cataclysmic consequences were patent during the 1962 Missile Crisis Fortunately, the leaders of the respective powers were fully aware of what they knew; also what they did not know And therefore, even at the nadir of diplomacy, the Soviet US leadership never fully disengaged and managed to avert a nuclear armageddon

However, we somehow always overlook the schemes of the USA that created its hegemony True the USA was able to retrieve Europe and Korea from Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan re spectively Yet, the USA was not directly involved in the war until the attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan on 7 December 1941 By then, millions of Jews were already massacred and displaced in Europe; hundreds of thousands of women and children were brutally raped and murdered in Korea; and western Europe almost razed So the US intervention was not entirely altruistic even if it catalyzed the downfall of the Axis powers

The Cuban Missile Crisis, in simple words, was a 35 day confrontation between the USA and the USSR at the apex of the Cold war However, while subsequent US presidents gush over Kennedy s heroic deterrence against Soviet mis sile deployments in Cuba, they skim over how this precarious juncture came into being due to US deployments of ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey So how did the USA stop a nuclear dis aster? The USSR is supposed to be a tyrant today for pummelling Ukraine because it was joining NATo Yet after over six decades, US sanctions on Cuba for harbouring Soviet nukes are still in place why this double standard?

The US leaders, conservatives and moderates alike, have a new disposition in global politics: be smirch China to undercut its economic ascent The

Admittedly, the USA has practically trans formed Taiwan into a militaristic porcupine to counter any sudden amphibious invasion by the People’s Liberation Army However, how is this any different from the Soviets fortifying Cuba? or NATo deploying armaments in the Baltic states? I agree with the traditionally programmed answer: It is to defend these countries, not to at tack adversaries well, exactly which adversary threatens Israel? why does the USA provide mil itary support to Israel? And why not arm the Palestinians to defend themselves against the sys temic oppression of Israel? why didn’t the USA bolster Iran s defenses when Iraq invaded in the 1980s? And if foreign invasions are categorically nefarious (as repeatedly proclaimed by the west ern leaders over the past seven months), why did the US invade Iraq in 2003? So many questions but not enough adequate answers Yet an implicit answer is ostensibly visible just read between the lines literally! The answer is hypocrisy

The inflationary pressures are crippling emerging economies around the globe The west ern nations have unanimously blamed Putin for the energy and food crisis It is hard to argue against the merits of those claims Russia and Ukraine collectively bear the onus of the global grain supply; Russia is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers; and Russia is the world s largest manufacturer of fertilizers Yet did Russia place sanctions without even a hint of contempla tion of global economic and social repercussions? I unambiguously support befitting actions against Russian brutality But not when the cost harms in nocent working class people who have nothing to do with this war or the power games in Europe!

Countries in Africa and Asia were barely emerging from the devastating effects of the pan demic Now the shortage of food and energy has pushed headline inflation to stratospheric levels Instead of alleviating the pain for the developing world Europe is bidding LNG cargoes away from struggling nations in Asia The irony is that while still buying energy from Russia, albeit at a relatively slower pace the European Union (EU) has the audacity to lecture Asian countries against dependence on Russia Comparatively, the USA is duplicitous on simply another level

The aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve this year have already vaulted the green back to a 20 year high; nearly 40 percent up since its 2011 low against currencies of a broad range of trading partners As the Fed simultaneously al lows Treasuries to mature and roll off its nearly $9 trillion balance sheet, global market disruption is all but imminent Due to the ubiquity of the US Treasuries from mortgages to corporate loans the Fed’s accelerating Quantitative Tightening (QT) is proving insufferable for developing economies with piles of dollar denominated debt Since the dollar is the mainstay of virtually every interna tional market, from commodities to oil to fixed income, a burgeoning dollar is no less detrimental to vulnerable emerging economies than the Russ ian invasion of Ukraine

According to a recent report by The Times, the growing strength of the US dollar has exacer

bated the food crisis in Nigeria and Somalia while pushing Egypt and Kenya dangerously closer to a default on their international debts The Inter national Monetary Fund (IMF) already expects more than a third of the world s economy to con tract by 2023, the severity “resting critically” on the successful calibration of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve This episode is highly rem iniscent of the 1980s when aggressive rate hikes by the Fed invoked a double whammy of debt and currency crises in Latin America later leading to a vertiginous drop in growth worldwide

Thus, while Americans profusely defend their motivations for the collective good in diplomacy, they have not been entirely consid erate of the social implications of their economic policies on the emerging world on the contrary, the IMF is on the prowl to press harsh conditions on desperate nations in exchange for a bailout what choice do these countries have but to ap proach China or (even) Russia for assistance?

If not for the socio economic desperation perforating the resolve of emerging nations across the globe, the rise of right wing politics in Europe and Asia foreshadows a paradigm shift The extremist Hindutva moment under the wings of Indian premier Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a stark example of the fis sures in the western democratic order If political pundits are intuitively precise about their predic tions, then increasing violence against Muslims in India, alongside Jammu and Kashmir, is not just an anomaly consistently overlooked by the western world But it is the beginning of a wave of right wing populist movements that would en snare the democratic ethos

Governments in Hungary, Poland, and Italy have gradually edged toward fascist factions And it is not inane to portend that these rightist elements could substantively enfeeble the democratic order piecemeal before the brewing authoritarian bloc, primarily comprising Russia China and Iran takes precedence and disseminates worldwide

we could intensely debate the theoretical rise of a new world order amid crumbling democracy worldwide a return to the bloc politics of the 60s

However, the fundamental reality is that the USA is trying to fight multiple battles across a diverse range of elements with distinct rivals conniving in a rare display of ideological concord

Yet the downfall could be forestalled by a few confessions The USA should acknowledge that economically isolating Iran has only made it more resilient The US should discern that arming Saudi Arabia is much more in tandem with its objectives than criticizing the royalty for its blatant human rights abuses which ironically the USA was notoriously a part of for decades

The Biden Administration should look for ways to supplant China economically instead of placing predatory tariffs, flaring tensions in the Pacific, or luring Asian economies with empty promises The collective western bloc should have realized by now that blindly placing sanc tions on Russia without paving alternate means of supply would only cause more suffering to the global economy while benefiting Putin’s devious vendetta And ultimately, the USA should pause and consider for a moment

The unapologetic rise of China, the belliger ence of Russia, the self interest of India, the perse verance of Iran, and the connivance of Saudi Arabia All these elements, these distinct traits, have historically, from time to time, served as building blocks and shaped the USA into the superpower it is today So a similar decline is only inevitable

E d i t o r ’ s m a i l

Traffic discipline and driving test

w E often ask our friends ‘how did the interview go?’, or ‘how tough was your test? or did you memorise the entire book? or was the examiner a tough guy?’ we ask these questions because we expect people to prepare for various examinations to ensure that they perform well As a consequence the outcome ensures that people are eligible for the task ahead I find it amazing that when it comes to the crucial driving test, we don’t hear people talk about it in a similar vein

There are millions of cars on our roads The number of motorcycles is much higher And if we include all types of public and private vehicles on roads across the country, the number would be staggering high Is it not important that people take the driving test just as seriously as is the case with any other test or exam?

Back in the 1980s, my mother appeared for her driving test in the United States She took classes, appeared for a written exam and a practical test to finally obtain a driving licence She was rightfully proud of her hard earned licence Pakistani taxi drivers in New York would tell you that driving tests were probably the toughest tests they have appeared in Each would recall one mistake or the other that was pointed out to them by the examiners

Ironically, almost every Pakistani who drives a vehicle owns a valid driving licence A legitimate piece of plastic indicating the colour of your eye, blood group with a dishevelled photo of you from waiting in line at the licence office And yet, the majority seems to be of unqualified drivers worldwide road traffic injuries (RTAs) have been recognised as a public health issue According to a paper by public health scholars at the John Hopkins University, motor vehicle accidents in Pakistan have surpassed being a public health issue and has become an emerging ‘epidemic’

Apparently, police reporting and data collection in Pakistan is done solely for legal purposes and not for research and public policy targets A study done in Karachi alone revealed due evidence of under reporting It also suggested that the magnitude of motor vehicle injuries and deaths may be much more substantial than is evident from official statistics

Things can surely change if we start taking our driving test seriously; just as seriously as we take any other test in life I look forward to the day when I would actually hear someone ask the other ‘how did the driving test go?’

SAADIA OWAIS KARACHI

Keti Bandar

K E T I Bandar is a seaport with the potential to be a game changer for the country as it could boost the national economy About 150 years ago it served as a port, and it makes practical sense to have Keti Bandar as the third largest seaport in the country

It was a centre of foreign trade and commerce in Sindh more than 50 years ago before dams were constructed upstream The once beautiful, flourishing delta was made up of extensive agricultural lands rich with marine resources For their blue economy ships travelled this route from as far away as Europe In the past, Keti Bandar was renowned for its sizable crop fields and its successful poultry business

However if it is developed and linked to M5 and M6 motorways it would be a massive benefit for all concerned A railway track should be constructed for the purpose of transporting cargo, and connecting to other areas of the province Compared to the capacity of the two other ports, Keti Bandar Port has the ability to accommodate significantly larger ships Compared to Gwadar, which is more than 600km away from Karachi, the port s proximity to Karachi and accessibility to highway and rail networks would substantially curtail cargo delivery time to mainstream stations

Additionally, Keti Bandar requires development with assistance from foreign investors and through projects, like the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) In fact, it should be made a part of the CPEC The Russians might also be interested in Sindh, and, in that case, there is a chance they will bring counter investments to the province to compete with American investments in Pakistan

This project may attract further investment as a result The only problem with Keti Bandar seems to be its location Had the port been located in another province, it would have become a modern port long ago The Sindh government should critically analyse the project and come up with a plan to develop it along modern lines

FARHAN ALI SIYAL PADIDAN

Jiwani water woes

J I wA N I is a small town located in eastern Gwadar In fact, it is one of the four tehsils of Gwadar district which is approximately 70km away from the central part of the district The tehsil lacks many basic facilities but its water woes are unbearable The first thing locals do in the morning is to search for water from water wells and other places

They have protested for years blocked the coastal highway and even lost three precious lives for this cause, but the crisis has remained unresolved

In 1987 when unarmed townspeople were holding a rally in the main bazaar to protest against the shortage of drinking water, the security forces had opened fire, killing three people, including a child

Jiwani would surely be the only town in the world where people have lost their lives simply because they were demanding access to drinking water Ironically, nothing has improved and the problem remains the same as it was back in 1987

The town receives water from Ankara Dam via pipeline which is too old to serve the purpose Therefore, the water takes a long time to reach its end point on the other hand the population is increasing rapidly and the need for water is high Most of the people live below the poverty line, and cannot afford to buy water through commercial tankers

Besides in 2021 the provincial government had approved a fund worth over Rs937million to tackle this problem, build new dams and lay new pipelines, but no progress has been made so far

The government must wake up from its rather deep slumber and take immediate measures to address Jiwani’s decades long water woes before it claims even more lives

WASEEM SALEEM GWADAR

e n d y o u r l e t t e r s t o : L e t t e r s t o E d i t o r, Pakistan Today,

S h a a re y F a t i m a J i n n a h L a h o re P a k i s t a n E m a i l : l e t t e r s @ p a k i s t a n t o d a y c o m p k L e t t e r s s h o u l d b e a d d re s s e d t o Pakistan Today e x c l u s i v e l y

S t I l l t h e e n d O F h I S t O r y

OV E R the past decade, global politics has been heavily shaped by apparently strong states whose leaders are not constrained by law or constitutional checks and balances Russia and China both have argued that liberal democracy is in long term decline, and that their brand of muscular authoritarian government is able to act decisively and get things done while their democratic rivals debate, dither, and fail to deliver on their promises These two countries were the vanguard of a broader authoritarian wave that turned back democratic gains across the globe, from Myanmar to Tunisia to Hungary to El Salvador Over the past year though it has become evident that there are key weaknesses at the core of these strong states

The weaknesses are of two sorts First, the concen tration of power in the hands of a single leader at the top all but guarantees low quality decision making, and over time will produce truly catastrophic consequences Sec ond the absence of public discussion and debate in “strong” states, and of any mechanism of accountability, means that the leader s support is shallow, and can erode at a moment’s notice

Supporters of liberal democracy must not give in to a fatalism that tacitly accepts the Russian Chinese line that such democracies are in inevitable decline The long term progress of modern institutions is neither linear nor auto matic Over the years, we have seen huge setbacks to the progress of liberal and democratic institutions with the rise of fascism and communism in the 1930s, or the military coups and oil crises of the 1960s and ’70s And yet, liberal democracy has endured and come back repeatedly because the alternatives are so bad People across varied cultures do not like living under dictatorship, and they value their individual freedom no authoritarian government presents a society that is, in the long term, more attractive than lib eral democracy, and could therefore be considered the goal or endpoint of historical progress The millions of people voting with their feet leaving poor, corrupt, or violent countries for life not in Russia, China, or Iran but in the liberal democratic West amply demonstrate this The philosopher Hegel coined the phrase the end of history to refer to the liberal state’s rise out of the French Revolution as the goal or direction toward which histor ical progress was trending For many decades after that, Marxists would borrow from Hegel and assert that the

true end of history would be a communist utopia When I wrote an article in 1989 and a book in 1992 with this phrase in the title I noted that the Marxist version was clearly wrong and that there didn’t seem to be a higher alternative to liberal democracy We’ve seen frightening reversals to the progress of liberal democracy over the past 15 years, but setbacks do not mean that the underly ing narrative is wrong none of the proffered alternatives look like they re doing any better * * *

The weaknesses of strong states have been on glaring display in Russia President Vladimir Putin is the sole de cision maker; even the former Soviet Union had a Polit buro where the party secretary had to vet policy ideas We saw images of Putin sitting at the end of a long table with his defense and foreign ministers because of his fear of COVID; he was so isolated that he had no idea how strong Ukrainian national identity had become in recent years or how fierce a resistance his invasion would provoke He similarly got no word of how deeply corruption and in competence had taken root within his own military how abysmally the modern weapons he had developed were working, or how poorly trained his own officer corps was

The shallowness of his regime s support was made ev ident by the rush to the borders of young Russian men when he announced his “partial” mobilization on September 21 Some 700 000 Russians have left for Georgia Kazakhstan Finland, and any other country that would take them, a far greater number than has actually been mobilized Those who have been caught up by the conscription are being thrown directly into battle without adequate training or equipment, and are already showing up on the front as POWs or casualties Putin s legitimacy was based on a so cial contract that promised citizens stability and a modicum of prosperity in return for political passivity, but the regime has broken that deal and is feeling the consequences

Putin’s bad decision making and shallow support has produced one of the biggest strategic blunders in living memory Far from demonstrating its greatness and re covering its empire, Russia has become a global object of ridicule, and will endure further humiliations at the hands of Ukraine in the coming weeks The entire Russ ian military position in the south of Ukraine is likely to collapse, and the Ukrainians have a real chance of liber ating the Crimean Peninsula for the first time since 2014 These reversals have triggered a huge amount of finger pointing in Moscow; the Kremlin is cracking down even harder on dissent Whether Putin himself will be able to survive a Russian military defeat is an open question

Something similar, if a bit less dramatic, has been going on in China One of the hallmarks of Chinese au thoritarianism in the period between Deng Xiaoping’s re forms in 1978 and Xi Jinping’s accession to power in

2013 was the degree to which it was institutionalized In stitutions mean that rulers have to follow rules and cannot do whatever they please

The Chinese Communist Party imposed many rules on itself: mandatory retirement ages for party cadres, strict meritocratic standards for recruit ment and promotion and above all a 10 year term limit for the party’s most senior leadership Deng Xiaoping es tablished a system of collective leadership precisely to avoid the dominance of a single leader like Mao Zedong

Much of this has been dismantled under Xi Jinping, who will receive the blessing of his party to remain on as paramount leader for a third five year term at the 20th Party Congress In place of collective leadership, China has moved to a personalistic system in which no other senior official can come close to challenging Xi

This concentration of authority in one man has in turn led to poor decision making The party has intervened in the economy hobbling the tech sector by going after stars such as Alibaba and Tencent; forced Chinese farmers to plant money losing staples in pursuit of agricultural self sufficiency; and insisted on a zero COVID strategy that keeps important parts of China under continuing lock downs that have shaved points off of the country’s eco nomic growth China cannot easily reverse zero COVID because it has failed to buy effective vaccines and finds a large part of its elderly population vulnerable to the disease What looked two years ago like a triumphant success in controlling COVID has turned into a prolonged debacle

All of this comes on top of the failure of China’s un derlying growth model, which relied on heavy state invest ment in real estate to keep the economy humming Basic economics suggests this would lead to massive misalloca tion of resources, as has in fact happened Go online and search for Chinese buildings being blown up, and you will see many videos of massive housing complexes being dy namited because there is no one to buy apartments in them

These authoritarian failures are not limited to China Iran has been rocked by weeks of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police Iran is in terrible shape: It faces a banking crisis, is run ning out of water, has seen big declines in agriculture, and is grappling with crippling international sanctions and isolation Despite its pariah status it has a well edu cated population, in which women constitute a majority of university graduates And yet the regime is led by a small group of old men with social attitudes several gen erations out of date It is no wonder that the regime is now facing its greatest test of legitimacy The only country that qualifies as even more poorly managed is one with an other dictatorship, Venezuela, which has produced the world s largest outflux of refugees over the past decade

Celebrations of the rise of strong states and the de cline of liberal democracy are thus very premature Lib

eral democracy precisely because it distributes power and relies on consent of the governed, is in much better shape globally than many people think Despite recent gains by populist parties in Sweden and Italy most countries in Europe still enjoy a strong degree of social consensus

The big question mark remains, unfortunately, the United States Some 30 to 35 percent of its voters con tinue to believe the false narrative that the 2020 presi dential election was stolen, and the Republican Party has been taken over by Donald Trump s MAGA followers who are doing their best to put election deniers in posi tions of power around the country This group does not represent a majority of the country but is likely to regain control of at least the House of Representatives this no vember, and possibly the presidency in 2024 The party’s putative leader Trump has fallen deeper and deeper into a conspiracy fueled madness in which he believes that he could be immediately reinstated as president and that the country should criminally indict his presidential predecessors, including one who is already dead

There is an intimate connection between the success of strong states abroad and populist politics at home Politicians such as Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour in France, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, and of course Trump in the U S have all expressed sym pathy for Putin They see in him a model for the kind of strongman rule they would like to exercise in their own country He in turn is hoping that their rise will weaken Western support for Ukraine and save his flailing “spe cial military operation ”

Liberal democracy will not make a comeback unless people are willing to struggle on its behalf The problem is that many who grow up living in peaceful, prosperous liberal democracies begin to take their form of govern ment for granted Because they have never experienced an actual tyranny, they imagine that the democratically elected governments under which they live are themselves evil dictatorships conniving to take away their rights, whether that is the European Union or the administration in Washington But reality has intervened The Russian in vasion of Ukraine constitutes a real dictatorship trying to crush a genuinely free society with rockets and tanks, and may serve to remind the current generation of what is at stake By resisting Russian imperialism, the Ukrainians are demonstrating the grievous weaknesses that exist at the core of an apparently strong state They understand the true value of freedom and are fighting a larger battle on our behalf, a battle that all of us need to join

n Sunday afternoon,

The demonstrators were hoping the march against rising living costs and government inaction on climate change would mark the beginning of a nationwide protest movement

Some analysts also think it could be the start of something much bigger and more widespread “We want to fight against government policies they only ever take away money from the poorest, one man wearing a denim jacket and a yellow scarf was yelling into a mi crophone from the cargo area of a small truck “Yes!” the crowd in front of him replied

“We will participate in every action to resist against these unfair policies,” Vincent Gay, the man on the truck, told DW shortly after The 46 year old member of Attac, an nGO fighting for social and environmental justice added that his group was in favor of higher salaries, freezing prices for certain basic goods and decisive ac tion against climate change

LEFT IS HOPING FOR A ‘COMBINATION OF FORCES’ Attac just like numerous other nGOs had

joined a march organized by the so called nupes coali tion The left wing alliance, which first came together for French parliamentary elections earlier this year, in cludes far left party France Unbowed (LFI) France’s So cialist Party, the Greens and the Communist Party Unions hadn t officially joined the march although the crowd included some of their members nupes was also asking to bring down the pension age from 62 to 60, and calling for a basic income for young people LFI’s former presidential candidate Jean Luc Melenchon was in the front row among the protest ers He told journalists that the march was the first day of a cycle of protests You ll experience a week like no other this will be the combination of all forces,” he said Then, he declared the demonstration a success, say ing there had been 140 000 participants Police later put that number at roughly 30,000

Melenchon had been hinting at a strike planned for this Tuesday Unions for teachers employees of the en ergy sector and employees at railroad company SnCF and Parisian metro company RATP will all participate This comes after weekslong strikes at the majority of France’s refineries that have led to higher fuel prices and shortages Employees there have been asking for higher wages and better working conditions The government now fears the march, together with the upcoming strike day, could be the start of a monthlong protest movement especially as President Emmanuel Macron s team is working on a pension reform to increase the retirement age from 62 to up to 65

Bruno Cautres political scientist at the Paris based Center for Political Research at Sciences Po University,

thinks such a protest wave could indeed be in the offing “Today’s march has attracted a considerable number of participants, he told DW

‘PEOPLE FEEL SYSTEM IS UNJUST’ “That shows how deeply unjust many people feel our system is also as they realize some employees are paid a lot more than others,” Cautres added “Paradoxically, the strikes at the refineries have highlighted that as certain employ ees will now receive bonuses of thousands of euros ” “It might well be that that was the final straw that has now incensed the people,” he said Danielle Tartakowsky, a Paris based historian specialized in protest movements also speaks of a “difficult social climate ” “The number of ‘offensive’ strikes in companies has been multiplying that means people don t strike defensively to prevent cuts from happening; they strike to ask for higher salaries,” she told DW “That’s extraordinary!” she added

And yet according to Tartakowsky it s difficult to say if this will lead to monthslong demonstrations like the ones carried out by the so called yellow vests, who protested for more social justice starting in november 2018 “You just can’t know what will be the spark that triggers general strikes such as the ones in the 1960s and the 1990s she said Many workers hoped to return to work on Friday Some commuters opted to hire bicycles and scooters and others took their cars This led to large traffic jams in French cities There were nearly 300 kilo meters of traffic jams in the Paris region

But Philippe Crevel, a Paris based economist and founder of think tank Cercle de l Epargne points out that compared to certain other countries, France’s economy

isn’t doing that badly “Inflation stands at 5 6% com pared to an average 10% across Europe also because the government has been capping electricity price rises for households and subsidizing fuel prices ” he told DW

He added that France’s GDP was predicted to grow by up to 1% next year, whereas a recession was looming in neighboring countries such as Germany

That’s why Crevel thinks the protests are primarily politically motivated The Left and the unions want to take a stand against Macron but I don’t think they will manage to kick off a nationwide protest movement under these circumstances,” he said

COULD OTHER PEOPLE LEARN FROM THE FRENCH? But Claudine Prioul begged to differ She had traveled to Paris from the northwestern department of Mayenne with her husband, Gerard, and her friend Colette Paris All three of them are 70 years old, retirees, members of left wing union CGT and have been partic ipating in demonstrations since they were in their 20s “We need to fundamentally change our political system so that market laws are no longer the decisive factor and the government finally does what the people want,”

Claudine Prioul told DW “I’m struggling more and more to get by with my pension of €1 510 ($1 469) she added Gerard Prioul added that citizens of other coun tries could learn a thing or two from the French and also take to the streets We French always think we achieve nothing with our demonstrations,” he said “But if you compare our situation with that of other countries where no one protests we have gained much more and lost fewer rights over the past decades ”

AtlAntic

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T H E CO N C E N T R AT I O N O F P O W E R I N T H E H A N D S O F A S I N G L E L E A D E R AT T H E TO P A L L B U T G UA R A N T E E S LO W Q UA L I T Y D E C I S I O N M A K I N G , A N D O V E R T I M E W I L L P R O D U C E T R U LY C ATA S T R O P H I C CO N S E Q U E N C E S

T H E A B S E N C E O F P U B L I C D I S C U S S I O N A N D D E B AT E I N “ S T R O N G” S TAT E S, A N D O F A N Y M E C H A N I S M O F ACCO U N TA B I L I T Y, M E A N S THAT THE LEADER’S SUPPORT IS SHALLOW, AND CAN ERODE AT A M O M E N T ’S N OT I C E

Is a new protest movement starting in France? T E N S O F T H O U S A N D S O F P E O P L E H AV E P R O T E S T E D I N PA R I S A G A I N S T T H E H I G H C O S T O F L I V I N G A N D F O R A M O R E D E C I S I V E F I G H T A G A I N S T C L I M AT E C H A N G E . B U T I S I T T H E B E G I N N I N G O F A W I D E R M O V E M E N T A G A I N S T P R E S I D E N T M A C R O N ’ S P O L I C I E S ?

Kurram people demand peace as NA-45 by-polls in doldrums

PARACHINAR S ta f f r e p o r t

The people of Kurram district on Sunday united with one voice that all the tribes have a commitment to maintain law and order situation in the area

A peace march was held by the political, social and religious parties of the entire district in Parachinar

The participants of the march were waving white flags in their hands and shouting slogans in favor of peace After reaching the press club, tribal elders Inayat Tori, Syed Tajumal Hussain Syed Sadaqat Mian Mir Afzal Tori Muzamil Hussain Mujahid Tori, Nushi Bangash, Abdul Samad Wazir and Muhammad Sharif Orakzai and others addressed the gathering They said all the merged districts especially Kurram had been affected in war against terror, and they now deserve long lasting peace in their areas

They also assured the authorities of their readiness to take all kinds of responsibilities for maintaining peace in the area

Meanwhile the disqualification of PTI Chairman Imran Khan by the ECP has raised many eyebrows over the fate of NA 45 (Kurram) by election, scheduled to be held on October 30 as former premier is one of the contenders Since Imran was the approved candidate by the ECP for the constituency, the recent order has jeopardized his position to contest the election as the commission is yet to clarify the situation of NA 45 following the verdict

The district election commission has written to the election supervisor to ask about the Imran’s candidature in the aftermath of October 21 disqualification judgment

Imran Khan should leave politics: Rana Tanveer

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f r e p o r t

Federal Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain Sunday advised Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to leave politics and become chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) “Imran Khan should leave politics and become the chairman of the PCB He has put the entire nation in trouble by spreading lies deception and temptation,” he said while talking to the media in Muridke PML N leader Haji Tariq Dogar was also present on the occasion Rana Tanveer said that Nawaz Sharif had been disqualified for life for not taking a salary from his son “But the election commission’s attitude towards Imran Khan has been lenient He should have been disqualified for life too,” he pointed out Imran Khan has bought properties in New York New Jersey, and Dubai by sending billions of rupees out of the country through the accounts of his relatives Everything is coming to the light slowly he added He also vowed to go to the courts to end the lifelong disqualification of Nawaz Sharif

Hamza notified as leader of opposition in Punjab Assembly

LAHORE S ta f f r e p o r t

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) vice president Hamza Shahbaz on Sunday was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, said a notification issued here on Sunday by the Assembly secretariat

Usually, the opposition leader is notified soon after the election of the leader of the House or the chief minister, who in this case was elected on July 26

Hamza Shahbaz became the Punjab chief minister on April 30 after which he was de notified as the opposition leader, an office he first assumed in September 2018

However, his government was ousted after the Supreme Court declared as illegal the ruling of former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari in the election for the chief minister

F R E E q U A l I T y S E E d S F O R FA R m E R S T O H E l P O v E R C O m E C R O P S H O R TA g E

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f r e p o r t

TH E recent devastating floods have damaged almost 8 mil lion acres of agricultural land countrywide, causing short age of fruit and vegetables

To overcome crop shortages, the government has decided to distribute free high quality seeds to the farmers in the flood hit areas, reports WealthPK

According to an official of the Min istry of National Food Security and Re search (MNFSR) the government has allocated sufficient funds for distribu tion of free seeds to the poor farmers whose crops have been badly destroyed

“The government has decided to

distribute the seeds through the Na tional Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and has released Rs4 billion for procurement Additionally the gov ernment will provide Rs4 billion more to seriously address this issue The flood hit areas need 2 99 million seed bags for the upcoming Rabi season,” he added

land in Balochistan due to which food s h o r t a g e a

culture sector, he said, contributes 24% to the GDP growth, making it the main pillar of our economy Almost all crops have been destroyed by floods, including rice, cotton, pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables

water after the deadly monsoon floods that cost the country an estimated $30 billion loss

ISLAMABAD

Applying cutting edge technology and reduc ing duties on import of raw material can help Pakistan unleash its potential in towel exports

Talking to WealthPK Amjad Hussain

Assistant Manager at Sadaqat Textile Mills, Faisalabad, said Pakistan has the potential to lead the global towel market by using cut ting edge technology, focusing on research and development, as well as ensuring inno vation and value addition

He said the major export markets for Pakistani towels are the United States the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Nether lands He added that during the last fiscal

Minister for National Food Secu rity and Research (MNFSR) has also directed the department of plant pro tection to prepare a comprehensive plan for delivery of farming inputs to the affected areas

d p

e r t y w i l l r e a c h a high level He said it was agreed that t h e p r o v i

e r

m e n t s w o u l d match the amount announced by the federal government

c i a l g

The official said seed distribution had started among the affected farm ers without discrimination The agri

The government has decided to give subsidy on seed and fertilizer to support the affected farmers This sub sidy is for the Rabi season on a cost sharing basis with the provinces The government also plans to provide sub sidy on wheat and edible oil seeds This is in addition to one fertilizer bag per acre given to the farmers the of ficial added

He said Pakistan was facing a looming food security crisis, as vast swathes of farmland in Sindh and Balochistan provinces were still under

Chinese exper ts’ advice to help in rehabilitation of flood-hit areas: official

ISLAMABAD M o n i to r i n g r e p o r t

Chairman of the National Disas ter Management Authority (NDMA) Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik said Pakistan would benefit from the advice of the visiting Chinese flood control expert group in the rehabilitation process of flood hit people

Speaking at a meeting with the delegation, Lt Gen Malik said that Pakistan has a colossal work at hand, but with the help of the Chinese experts and learning from their experiences the coun try will come up outstandingly to tackle the problem and do some thing better for the next phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation

The 11 experts sent by the Chinese government arrived in Pakistan on October 11 and con cluded their inspection and ex change activities in Pakistan on October 21

The expert group, which is organised by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, cov ered six fields including hydrol ogy, meteorology, rescue and relief, disaster assessment, flood control planning and flood con trol management

Xu Xianbiao, head of the Chi nese delegation, shared China’s experience in flood control and disaster reduction and provided the Pakistani side with prelimi nary advice and suggestions for recent disaster relief and medium

and long term enhancement of flood control and disaster reduc tion capabilities

The delegation visited the worst hit Sindh for inspection on October 15 17

The delegation met Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his cabinet on Wednesday and shared their impression of the situation in the aftermath of the floods

D u r i n g t h e m e e t i n g , S h a r i f asked China to help his country i n d i s a s t e r m a n a g e m e n t a n d m a k e i t s e l f r e l i a n t i n d i s a s t e r management

The death toll from this sea son s monsoon rain and floods since mid June has risen to 1,719 along with 12,867 injuries in Pak istan according to the NDMA

K P R A b u i l d s c a p a c i t y o f i t s s t a f f t h r o u g h we e k l o n g t r a i n i n g

PESHAWAR a z z B u n e r

To build capacity of its staff, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) arranged a weeklong training workshop on Comparison of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sales Tax on Serv ices Act 2022 with sales tax laws of the rest of the three provinces

Officials of KPRA Collec torate Directorates and Regional offices took part in the training workshop arranged with the fi nancial assistance of USAID funded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Mobilization (KPRM) Activity at PC hotel Peshawar

T h e a i m o f t h e t r a i n i n g w o r k s h o p w a s t o i m p r o v e t h e skills of KPRA Officers in their

routine working to minimize the

a

d w

d

a

K P R A o ff i cers along with maintenance of order sheets to leave no margin for litigations

Along with comparison of KP Sales Tax on Services Act 2022 with the sales tax laws of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan the train ers also discussed international best practices in sales tax regime

Officials of KPRA who took part in the training workshop thanked USAID KPRM for pro viding them the opportunity to learn from experts in the field of litigations

The training workshop was needed for the uplift of KPRA staff skills in their routine work ings There were weak points in our show cause notices and as sessment orders due to which our orders were set aside by in appeal forums,” said Assistant Collector Waqar Ahmed in his remarks re garding the training workshop

“The training will help in im proving our show cause notices assessment orders and mainte nance of order sheets where there were weaknesses and were ex ploited Now our working will leave now weak points to be ex ploited in litigations,” said In spector Imad Ali The participants were given training completion certificates at the end of the workshop

The official further said under this project, farmers in Sindh and Balochis tan as well as in one flood hit district each of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces would be pro vided with free seeds for wheat and oilseed crops, including mustard and sesame In order to prepare as much agricultural land for crops as possible, the government is dewatering Sindh and Balochistan, he added

Int’l conference on inter faith relations begins at AIOU today

ISLAMABAD: A three day international conference titled: "Interfaith Relations: Challenges and Prospects" would begin at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) from Monday (today) According to an AIOU spokesperson, international and national experts, teachers and researchers will present their research papers during the three day conference

"The purpose of the conference is to promote interfaith harmony and to examine the challenges we are facing today," he added Currently, efforts are being made to create a society based on tolerance all over the world, and this conference will be a milestone in these efforts p r

IESCO issues power suspension schedule

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) on Sunday issued a power suspension programme for Monday for various areas of its region due to necessary maintenance and routine development work

According to the IESCO spokesman, the power supply of different feeders and grid stations would remain suspended for the period from 08:00 am to 02:00 pm including EME Complex, P&T Wini, Jhangi, Azharabad, CWO, Sanghui, Nathawala, Safdar Shaheed, Khaklian, Ahmedabad Feeders Similarly from 09:00 am to 01:00 pm, Basharat, Katas, Dalwal, Tharpal, CS Shah, Dandut feeders and surroundings would undergo power suspension, he added p r

ICP nabs six dacoits with valuables, narcotic

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Capital Police (ICP) apprehended six criminals involved in criminal activities and recovered stolen valuables, drugs and weapons from their possession, police said on Sunday

According to details, Kohsar police team arrested an accused namely Iftikhar and recovered 1175 gram heroin from his possession Likewise, Bani Gala police team arrested an accused namely Shahbaz and recovered one 30 bore pistol from his possession p r

both the industries

year 2021 22, the export of towels was recorded at $1 11 billion

Data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statis tics indicates that the export of towels in Au gust 2022 was recorded at $75 036 million, showing a decline of 9 37% over the same month of the previous year Moreover, dur ing the first two months of (July Aug) FY23, exports of towels were recorded at $150 mil lion, showing a decline of 6 61% over the same months of last year

Amjad Hussain said that Pakistan’s major competitors in towel export are China, India and Vietnam adding that Pakistan should encourage towel manufacturers and exporters to adopt modern production tech niques to compete with their counterparts

He added that exporters faced tough competition from their peers due to higher cost of production caused by lack of modern production technology

Amjad Hussain said that raw materials used in production of towels included cotton yarn and dyes, most of which were produced locally, but were of rather low quality To im prove the quality of towels, producers of dyes would have to improve their quality, he underscored He added that devastating flooding had destroyed cotton crop on a vast area, which would also dent the textile sec tor s ability to achieve the export target for the current financial year

The textile mills official said that Pak istan should seek new markets to increase its

towel exports Non traditional markets such as Russia, Japan, Australia, Austria, France and Canada have significant potential for towel exports, he added

According to a report published by Pak istan Trade Development Authority most of the raw materials for towel manufacturing are produced locally The local producers of dyes and yarn are protected by the govern ment’s imposition of import and customs du ties ranging from 5% to 26%

The report points out that the existing import duties (customs duty, additional duty, and regulatory duty) protect local dye man ufacturers while increasing costs for textile manufacturers The report recommends that lowering import duties on dyes will benefit

According to the Pakistan Business Council the country underperforms in towel exports due to limited access to technology and use of outmoded machinery, ineffective image building and brand development strategies, as well as the effects of currency fluctuation

Amjad Hussain continued that the towel in dustry is labour intensive, but scarcity of skilled labour hampered export growth in terms of quality, productivity and value addition

He suggested launching internationally recognised training programmes for workers to enhance their skills and outputs He said towels made from dyed yarn have greater value than piece dyed ones

ChIna’S XI eXPandS

PoweRS, PRomoTeS allIeS

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

PR E S I D E N T Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, increased his dominance when he was named Sunday to another term as head of the ruling Communist Party in a break with tradition and pro moted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society and the struggling economy

Xi, who took power in 2012, was awarded a third five year term as gen eral secretary, discarding a party cus tom under which his predecessor left after 10 years The 69 year old leader is expected by some to try to stay in power for life

On Saturday, Xi’s predecessor, 79 year old Hu Jintao abruptly left a meeting of the party Central Commit tee with an aide holding his arm That prompted questions about whether Xi was flexing his powers by expelling other leaders The official Xinhua news agency later reported Hu was in poor health and needed to rest

The party also named a seven member Standing Committee, its inner circle of power, dominated by Xi allies after Premier Li Keqiang, the No 2 leader and an advocate of market style

reform and private enterprise, was dropped from the leadership Saturday That was despite Li being a year younger than the party’s informal re tirement age of 68

Xi and other Standing Committee members appeared for the first time as a group before reporters Sunday in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China’s ceremonial legislature in cen tral Beijing

The No 2 leader was Li Qiang, a former Shanghai party secretary who is no relation to Li Keqiang The holder of that post has since the 1990s served as premier the top economic

Leadership changes were an nounced as the party wrapped up a twice a decade congress that was closely watched for signs of initiatives to reverse an economic slump or changes in a severe “zero Covid” strat egy that has shut down cities and dis rupted business Officials disappointed investors and the Chinese public by announcing no changes

The lineup appeared to reflect what some commentators called “Maximum Xi,” valuing loyalty over ability Some new leaders lack na tional level experience as vice premier or Cabinet minister which typically is seen as a requirement for the post L i Q i a n g s p r o m o t i o n a p p e a r e d t o s u p p o r t t h a t a n a l y s i s b e c a u s e i t p u t s h i m i n l i n e t o b e p r e m i e r w i t h n o b a c k g r o u n d i n n a t i o n a l g o v e r n ment Li Qiang is seen as close to Xi a f t e r t h e t w o w o r k e d t o g e t h e r i n Zhejiang province in the southeast in the early 2000s Li Keqiang was sidelined over the past decade by Xi, who put himself in charge of policymaking bodies Li Ke qiang was excluded Saturday from the list of the party’s new 205 member Central Committee, from which the Standing Committee is picked

Another leader who left the Stand ing Committee was Wang Yang a re form advocate suggested by some as a possible premier Wang, 67, is below retirement age

Other new Standing Committee members include Cai Qi, the Beijing party secretary, and Ding Xuexiang, a career party manager who is regarded as Xi s alter ego or chief of staff Wang Huning, the party’s chief of ideology, stayed on the committee The No 7 member is Li Xi the party secretary since 2017 of Guangdong province in the southeast, the centre of China’s export oriented manufac turing industry

None of the members is a woman or ethnic minority The Central Com mittee includes 11 women, or about 5 percent of the total

Indian troops torch APHC leader ’s house, shops in Kupwara

SRINAGAR Ag e n c e s

Russia discusses Ukraine in calls with France, Turkey, UK

MOSCOW Ag e n c i e s

Russia s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu held phone calls Sunday with his British, French and Turkish counterparts, during which they discussed Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said “The situation in Ukraine, which has a steady tendency towards further, uncontrolled escalation, was discussed,” by Shoigu and France’s Sebastien Lecornu, the ministry said Later on Sunday, the ministry said Shoigu held phone calls with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar and UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace In all three calls, Shoigu conveyed “concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a dirty bomb The statements did not provide further details

On Friday, Shoigu held a rare phone call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Both sides confirmed they discussed Ukraine

It was only the second call between the ministers since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 Back in May, Austin had urged Moscow to implement an immediate ceasefire

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Indian troops set on fire the house and shops of All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal in Haft Rada area of Handwara in Kupwara district in the dark of night

According to Kashmir Media Service, Hurriyat lead ers in their statements in Srina gar strongly condemned the Indian army’s brutal act and expressed solidarity with Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal They said that India cannot force the Kashmiris into submission by using such inhuman tactics

The leaders said that the Kashmiri people have not rec ognized India s oppressive oc cupation since the first day and will never do so They appealed to the international human rights organizations to put pres sure on India to stop the viola tions of human rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir APHC leader Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal is on a visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan for the past few week 27 October Black Day posters appeared

Posters appeared in several areas of Srinagar and other areas of territory urging people to mark black day on Oct 27 Tuesday against Indian illegal

occupation of Jammu and Kashmir

According to Kashmir Media Service, the posters of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Movement and Warseen e Shohdai Jammu Kashmir posters said, the Kashmiris are bound to continue freedom struggle against Indian illegal occupation

The posters appeared on walls, pillars and on high way electric polls in different areas of territory said that the Kashmiris are struggling for their right to self determination and observing October 27 day as a Black Day

The posters termed the 27th October 1947 as the dark est day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir

Two pilots dead after Russian jet crashes into building

M o s c o w: Two pilots were killed after a Russian jet conducting a test flight crashed on Sunday into a two storey building in the city of Irkutsk in southern Siberia, the regional governor said The incident comes days after a military jet crashed into a block of flats in the Russian town of Yeysk, killing more than a dozen people, including children “A Su category plane hit a two storey building in Irkutsk on Przhevalskogo street governor Igor Kobzev said on social media with the local department of the emergencies ministry clarifying that a “Su 30 aircraft crashed during a test flight” Kobzev later said that two pilots were killed in the crash but local residents were unharmed He posted a video of the building which he described as a private home for two families of 100 metres squared”, with smoke billowing against a dark sky Firefighters were seen at the scene, working to extinguish the fire that broke out after the crash Russia’s investigative committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that it had launched a criminal case over the incident Ag e n c i e s

Israeli forces shot dead Palestinian

JERUSALEM

Ag e n c i e s

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, and a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem, police said

The Israeli military said its troops were trying to detain a vehicle after its passengers had crossed illegally into Israel It said the vehicle fled and hit a soldier after which the soldiers fired towards the vehicle”

One of the passengers died at hospital, Palestinian hospital officials said

The man’s father told Palestinian Qudsnet news that his son was headed for work when he was shot It was unclear whether he had an entry permit into Israel

The official said Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, was hit by “a bullet to the head at a checkpoint southeast of the city of Qalqilya

The Israeli military said troops had fired on a vehicle carrying three people suspected of trying to enter Israel illegally after it failed to stop for inspection and instead moved off hitting a soldier The soldier did not require medical attention, the army added In a separate incident in the West Bank, Israeli defence officials said a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a manned guard booth, in what it described as a suspected attack In Jerusalem, Israeli police said they shot and “neutralised” a Palestinian who had stabbed and badly wounded an Israeli Video circulating on social media showed the suspected assailant lying wounded at a playground where children had been playing soccer, as an armed police officer stood over him Police said officers neutralised a Palestinian stabbing suspect in Israeli annexed east Jerusalem after an attack that left an Israeli man in serious condition The suspect stabbed a passer by with a knife and fled” the scene north of the Old City, police said

Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak eye comeback ahead of Tor y vote

LONDON Ag e n c i e s

UK former prime minister Boris Johnson returned to Britain from a Caribbean holiday aiming to launch an audacious political comeback, as Conservative rival Rishi Sunak reached the minimum threshold to contest the UK s top job Johnson cut short a luxury stay in the Dominican Republic to join the seemingly three person race to replace outgoing leader Liz Truss with allies telling British media he was up for it Cabinet member Penny Mordaunt, who just missed out on making the final runoff after Johnson quit, was the first to formally unveil her candidacy on Friday

The 49 year old said she was running for “a fresh start, a united party and leadership in the national interest” but is already trailing her rivals by dozens of nominations

The accelerated contest will see the Conservatives’ 357 MPs hold a vote Monday on any candidates with the 100 nominations, before a possible online ballot of party members later in the week if two remain

The Sunak and Johnson camps are reportedly seeking talks to see if there is scope for a unity deal although there is plenty of bad blood since the former prime minister ’s defenestration Sunak’s July resignation helped trigger the government mutiny that ultimately led to Johnson’s ousting

Tory MP James Duddridge, a key Johnson ally who confirmed Friday the ex leader was intent on standing, said that he had now secured the support of 100 colleagues

His apparent bid to return to office just weeks later has already been dec ried by opposition politicians, and even some in his own fractured ruling party who are demanding stability and unity However, both Sunak and Johnson are yet to announce they are running, with reports that a declaration by the former was imminent

The Tories were forced into a second, this time expedited, leadership contest since the summer after Truss dramatically announced on Thursday she would stand down just 44 tempestuous days into her tenure It followed a disastrous tax slashing mini budget that sparked economic and political turmoil which Sunak had predicted

Fa r - r i g h t M e l o n i t a ke s o ve r a s I t a l y ’s f i r s t wo m a n PM

R OME Ag e

Giorgia Meloni officially took over Sunday as Italy’s first woman prime minister at the helm of the country s most right wing gov ernment since World War II

Four weeks after her post fascist Broth ers of Italy party won general elections, Mel oni joined outgoing premier Mario Draghi for a handover ceremony at Chigi Palace the prime minister ’s seat in Rome

After almost 90 minutes of private talks, the pair smiled broadly as Draghi a former European Central Bank chief, symbolically handed over to Meloni a small bell used in cabinet debates

She will later hold her first meeting of ministers comprising members of her party and its allies, former premier Silvio Berlus coni’s Forza Italia party and Matteo Salvini’s

far right League

The Eurosceptic anti immigration coali tion takes over the eurozone’s third largest economy at a time of soaring inflation, an energy crisis and war in Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday she had a “good first call” with Meloni, adding: “I count on and look forward to constructive cooperation with the new government on the challenges we face together ”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany later said he looked forward to working closely together with Italy in EU, NATO and G7” a sentiment Meloni reflected in responses to congratulatory messages on Twitter

Italy’s La Stampa daily spoke of a “Eu ropean beginning on its front page on Sun day “Meloni: down to work, with pride”, headlined the Corriere della Sera On Saturday Meloni and her 24 minis

ters were sworn in before President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome once home to popes and kings of Italy

She declared her intention to get straight to work

Meloni’s ministerial experience is lim ited to three years as youth minister under Berlusconi’s 2008 2011 government, while her party has never held power Brothers of Italy won just four percent of the vote in 2018 elections, but secured a historic 26 per cent of the vote in the September 25 poll

Meloni was a fan of late dictator Benito Mussolini as a teenager, but has managed to distance her party from its neo fascist roots

She presents herself as a straight talking

“Christian mother”, a defender of traditional values and Italy s national interests, particu larly in Brussels

Her party no longer wants Italy to leave the EU s single currency but remains

strongly Eurosceptic, as is the League, which won nine percent in the elections

However, she named committed Euro pean Antonio Tajani, a former president of the European Parliament who co founded Forza Italia with Berlusconi, as foreign min ister and deputy prime minister

In an attempt to reassure investors that Italy’s debt laden economy was safe in her hands Meloni also appointed Giancarlo Giorgetti as economy minister

Giorgetti, who served as minister of eco nomic development under Draghi is consid ered one of the more moderate, pro Europe members of Salvini’s League Salvini will serve as deputy prime min ister and minister of infrastructure and trans port He had wanted the role of interior minister, a post he previously held between 2018 and 2019 That went instead to a tech nocrat Rome prefect Matteo Piantedosi

Coalition tensions

The talks to form a government had been overshadowed by disagreements within Mel oni’s coalition on one of the biggest issues facing Europe the response to Russia s war in Ukraine

She was forced to clarify her strong sup port for Kyiv and EU sanctions against Moscow after Berlusconi was recorded de fending his old friend President Vladimir Putin

Salvini, too, is a long time fan of Putin and has criticised Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine

On Saturday Meloni again affirmed her desire to work with NATO, which she de scribed as “more than a military alliance: a bulwark of common values we’ll never stop standing for NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden sent their con gratulations, as did Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky

official Zhao Leji, a member of the previous committee, was promoted to No 3, which puts him in line to head the legislature Those government posts are to be assigned when the leg islature meets next year

NO TimE TO wASTE AT T20 wOrld CuP: S AFriCA SkiPPEr

SYDNEY a f p

SO U T H Africa captain Temba Bavuma vowed Sunday that his team will come out with all guns blazing in their T20 World Cup bow in Australia, with no time to ease themselves into the tournament

The Proteas have a poor record in global events, never winning a World Cup or reaching a final in either short ball format They failed to make the T20 World Cup semi finals a year ago on net run rate Bavuma s side meet resurgent qualifier Zimbabwe in an all African clash in Hobart on Monday to get their Australian campaign underway with the pressure on

But he said they were up for the challenge

We have Zimbabwe as our opening game There, everything that we’ve spoken about in our meetings and our preparation, we’ll be looking to execute them as well as we can, he said

“We obviously want to start on a positive note We don’t want to kind of ease ourselves into the tournament There really is no time to do that

“Tomorrow will really be an opportunity for us to execute our skills and our plans accordingly ”

Bavuma himself is desperate for runs with his batting form so poor he was overlooked in the auction for South Africa’s new T20 franchise competition

H e f o l l o w e d t h a t b y s c o r i n g o n l y t h r e e r u n s i n three innings in their recent T20 series in India

Making matters worse, he recently fell ill to further hamper his preparations

e

“ I w a

s o i n I n d i a with sickness I came here to Australia still kind of re covering But I ve gotten over that, insisted Bavuma, who was appointed South Africa’s white ball captain in 2021 Zimbabwe booked their berth in the Super 12 at the expense of Scotland in round one on Friday, to continue their good form under coach Dave Houghton Zimbabwe’s first Test captain back in 1992

They have promised to cause as much damage as they can and Bavuma is wary but confident “We k n o w w h a t w e ’ r e g o i n g t o d o We k n o w h o w w e ’ r e going to do it And we re all quite comfortable around all of that ” he said

S ri L ank a beat Ireland in one -sided chase with five overs to spare

HOBART ag e n c e S

A shwin acc used of ‘cheating’ with sneaky attempted fib

MELBOURNE: Indian veteran Ravichandran Ash win has been accused of an unsportsmanlike act after trying to claim a catch that hit the ground against Pakistan After a strong start India looked to have claimed another wicket when Shan Masood top edged a pull shot off the bowling of Mohammed Shami and it flew to fine leg Ashwin had a slow re action and just failed to get to the ball on time as it hit the ground just before his hands got under it How ever he rose to his feet claiming the catch and it had to be checked by the third umpire It was clearly seen on the replay the ball had hit the MCG turf Ashwin was heavily criticised for the act on social media given the heated nature of this rivalry He has previ ously been criticised for Mankad incidents “Ashwin claiming a catch which he knew he hadn t taken is a serious offence in cricket Many non Indian crick eters were banned by ICC for claiming a bump ball under conduct contrary to the spirit of the game Will @ICC ban Ashwin for cheating,” asked Daniel Alexander, a commentator and analyst “How could Ashwin not know he hadn t taken it cleanly, ques tioned Manak Gupta, an Indian anchorperson

ATF 16&U A sian Tennis Tour 2022 commences today

S r i L a n k a c o m m e n c e d t h e i r S u p e r 1 2 c a m p a i g n with an impressive nine wicket triumph over a dis appointing Ireland in Hobart on Sunday

There were many fears for Sri Lanka when they were thrashed by Namibia in the opening match of the First Round, but the reigning Asia Cup champi ons are slowly gathering some momentum

While the nine wicket victory over Ireland was expected by most, the way the island nation went about it was ultra impressive as they clinically dis p a t c h e d o f t h e i r o p p o n e n t s i n c l i n i c a l s t y l e w i t h plenty of improvement to come

Star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (2/25) took his eighth and ninth scalps of the tournament thus far and he was well supported by fellow spinner Ma heesh Theekshana (2/19), who was thrust into the bowling crease during Ireland s batting Powerplay

N o t o n l y d i d S r i L a n k a t a k e w i c k e t s a t r e g u l a r i n t e r v a l s , b u t t h e y a l s o k e p t t h e r u n r a t e d o w n a s I r e l a n d s b a t t e r s w e r e u n a b l e t o g a t h e r m u c h m o m e n t u m a n d w e r e r e s t r i c t e d t o 1 2 8 / 8 f r o m t h e i r 2 0 o v e r s S r i L a n k a s r u n c h a s e w a s a m e r e f o r m a l i t y w i t h i n f o r m o p e n e r K u s a l M e n d i s ( 6 8 f r o m 4 3 balls) continuing his excellent tournament thus far with another half century Kusal Mendis passes 50 on way to Sri Lanka triumph Much of the good Ire l a n d m a n a g e d f r o m e y e c a t c h i n g v i c t o r i e s o v e r Scotland and the We s t I n d i e s w a s u n d o n e a g a i n s t S r i L a n k a , w i t h t h e E u r o p e a n s i d e u n a b l e t o b a c k u p t h e i r s t r o n g s h o w i n g s f r o m t h e F i r s t R o u n d Ve t e r a n o p e n e r P a u l S t i r l i n g ( 3 4 f r o m 2 5 b a l l s ) g o t a h a n d f u l o f b i g s h o t s a w a y e a r l y, b u t y o u n g g u n H a r r y Te c t o r ( 4 5 o ff 4 2 ) w a s t h e o n l y

o t h e r p l a y e r t o l o o k a s s u r e d a t t h e c r e a s e T h e i r b o w l i n g d i d n t f a r e m u c h b e t t e r, w i t h s p i n n e r G a r e t h D e l a n y ( 1 / 2 8 ) t h e o n l y w i c k e t t a k e r a s I r e l a n d s t a r t e d t h e i r S u p e r 1 2 c a m p a i g n i n d i s a p p o i n t i n g s t y l e W h i l e S r i L a n k a w i l l b e b u o y e d b y t h e i r e a s y v i c t o r y, t h e g o o d n e w s f o r t h e m i s t h e y s t i l l h a v e p l e n t y o f i m p r o v e m e n t l e f t i n t h e m a n d c a n p l a y m u c h b e t t e r

F i r s t c h o i c e o p e n e r P a t h u m N i s s a n k a m i s s e d t h e c l a s h a g a i n s t I r e l a n d d u e t o a g r o i n i n j u r y, w h i l e t h e r e s t o f t h e i r b a t t i n g l i n e u p o u t s i d e o f M e n d i s a r e y e t t o r e a l l y h i t t h e i r s t r a p s

T h e r e i s s t i l l f o u r m o r e m a t c h e s S r i L a n k a m u s t n e g o t i a t e d u r i n g t h e S u p e r 1 2 i f t h e y a r e t o r e a c h t h e s e m i s , w i t h t h e i r n e x t t e s t c o m i n g i n P e r t h o n T u e s d a y a g a i n s t t o u r n a m e n t h o s t s A u s t r a l i a

I r e l a n d h a v e t w o f u l l d a y s t o l i c k t h e i r w o u n d s a n d r e c o v e r, w i t h a d i f f i c u l t m a t c h u p a g a i n s t E n g l a n d t h e i r n e x t a s s i g n m e n t a t t h e M C G o n We d n e s d a y

Ashfaq outclasses talented golf professionals to win 41st Punjab Open Title

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

ICU wins volleyball trophy in KP Inter-Varsity G ames

PESHAWAR S ta f f R e p o R t

Islamia College University (ICU) defeated Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan by 3 0 in the boys vol leyball final match played as a part of the ongoing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter Varsity Games here at the indoor hall of the Agriculture University, Peshawar on Sunday

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Embroidery Mills Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2022

place from 24th October to 28th October 2022 at Sports Board Punjab Tennis Academy, Nishtar Park Lahore, where the players from across the Punjab will be seen in action They will be vying for the trophies, medals and certificates in the different categories in cluding Boys/Girls U 14, Boys/Girls U 14 Doubles, Boys/Girls U 12, Boys/Girls U 10, Boys/Girls U 8 and Boys/Girls U 6 M o n i to R i n g R e p o Rt

The hall was jam packed with the university stu dents and local game spectators The final was also witnessed by Agriculture University, Peshawar Vice Chancellor Dr Jehan Bakht along with Brazilian Vol leyball Coach Cristiano, Secretary General of Provin cial Volleyball Association Khalid Waqar Chamkani, Admin Officer Jafar Shah Di r e c t o r o f S p o r t s I s l a m i a C o l l e g e U n i v e r s i t y A l i H o t i , Vo l l e y b a l l C o a c h H i d a y a t u l l a h , A D S p o r t s H a y a N a z a n d o t h e r i m p o r t a n t p e r s o n a l i t i e s

T h e I n t e r Va r s i t y G a m e s c o n t i n u e d i n f u l l s w i n g u n d e r t h e a u s p i c e s o f t h e D i r e c t o r a t e G e n e r a l S p o r t s w i t h g i r l s a n d b o y s f r o m 3 0 u n i v e r s i t i e s c o m p e t i n g i n t h r e e m a l e a n d a s m a n y f e m a l e

The volleyball final produced great excitement b u t I s l a m i a C o l l e g e U n i v e r s i t y d o m i n a t e d t h e p r o c e e d i n g s a n d d i d n o t a l l o w t h e t e a m o f A b d u l Wa l i Khan University to strike back The score was won 25 16, 25 19 and 27 25 Earlier, in the semi finals, A b d u l Wa l i K h a n U n i v e r s i t y d e f e a t e d t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f A g r i c u l t u r e b y 2 3 2 5 2 5 2 4 2 5 1 3 a n d 2 5 2 1 , w h i l e I s l a m i a U n i v e r s i t y b e a t M a l a k a n d U n i v e r s i t y b y 2 5 2 5 , 1 7 2 5 2 1 , 2 3 2 5 a n d 2 5 2 3 A f t e r t h e f i n a l m a t c h t h e c h i e f g u e s t d i s t r i b u t e d t r o p h i e s a n d c a s h p r i z e s a m o n g t h e p l a y e r s R s 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 w a s a w a r d e d t o t h e w i n n i n g t e a m w i t h a t r o p h y, a n d R s 5 0 , 0 0 0 c a s h a n d a t r o p h y w e r e g i v e n t o t h e r u n n e r s u p t e a m i n t h e c r i c k e t e v e n t , D I K h a n U n i v e r s i t y q u a l i f i e d f o r t h e f i n a l b y d e f e a t i n g P e s h a w a r U n i v e r s i t y b y 6 5 r u n s G o m a l University won the toss and batted first and scored 1 5 0 r u n s i n t h e a l l o t t e d o v e r s , i n w h i c h S a b r u l l a h scored 43 runs, Fahad 24 runs, and Hafeez 42 runs

H o w e v e r, f r o m P e s h a w a r U n i v e r s i t y, H a m a d d i s m i s s e d t w o p l a y e r s , Wa h i d a n d A b u B a k r d i s m i s s e d o n e p l a y e r e a c h

Afghanistan will bounce back from England defeat: Rashid

MELBOURNE ag e n c e S

Star spinner Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would bounce back from their opening loss to England at the Twenty20 World Cup having shown “promising tal ent” in the five wicket defeat England bowled out Afghanistan for a paltry 112 in Perth on Saturday but the Afghan spin force led by Rashid dragged the opposition chase to the 19th over by taking five wickets “First game for the guys A d i ff e r e n t e n v i r o n m e n t f o r a l l t h e y o u n g s t e r s i n t h e team First time playing in Australia and the condi

tions, facing the bowlers with speeds of 150 plus, so a great learning for them, said the leg spinner But definitely we will come back Some promising talent is there We are going to be much improved in the up coming games Batting is the area we need to work o n A f g h a n i s t a n w i l l n e x t p l a y N e w Z e a l a n d o n Wednesday in Melbourne

Afghanistan’s batting fell flat with left arm quick b o w l e r S a m C u r r a n b e c o m i n g t h e f i r s t E n g l a n d b o w l e r t o t a k e f i v e w i c k e t s i n a Tw e n t y 2 0 i n t e r n a t i o n a l B e n S t o k e s a n d M a r k Wo o d w h o s e e x p r e s s p a c e e x c e e d e d 1 5 0 k p h ( 9 3 m p h ) a t t i m e s , t o o k t w o w i c k e t s e a c h a s A f g h a n i s t a n w e r e a l l o u t i n 1 9 4

overs R a s h i d r e t u r n e d i m p r e s s i v e f i g u r e s o f 1 1 7 i n h i s f o u r o v e r s a n d w a s a b l y s u p p o r t e d b y f e l l o w s p i n n e r s M o h a m m a d N a b i a n d M u j e e b U r R a h m a n a s t h e y l o o k e d t o r e s t r i c t E n g l a n d , o n e o f t h e t o u r n a m e n t f a v o u r i t e s M u j e e b g o t D a w i d M a l a n w i t h h i s m y s t e r y s p i n a n d o ff s p i n n e r N a b i b o w l e d S t o k e s f o r t w o b e f o r e L i a m L i v i n g s t o n e t o o k E n g l a n d h o m e w i t h a n u n b e a t e n 2 9 o ff 2 1 b a l l s “ T h e w a y w e b o w l e d i t s h o w e d a n y t h i n g b e t w e e n 1 5 0 1 6 0 w i l l b e a g o o d t o t a l f o r u s , R a s h i d s a i d

A f g h a n i s t a n p l a y e d t w o l e f t a r m q u i c k b o w l e r s F a z a l h a q F a r o o q u i a n d F a r e e d A h m e d , b u t t h e y r e l y o n s p i n t o w i n m a t c h e s

The three rounds and 54 holes 41st Punjab Open Golf Cham pionship 2022 supported by Punjab Golf Association came to a most pleasing conclusion for Mohammad Ashfaq, a golf professional of Karachi Airmen Golf Club, at wondrous and sublime PAF Skyview Golf Course here The winner out classed colossally talented golf professionals like Shabbir Iqbal, Matloob Ahmed, Ahmed Baig and a few others to achieve overwhelming victory At the start of the final round today on Sunday, Ashfaq who has yet to attain the leading light status in the national golf arenas of Pakistan, was placed one stroke behind three leaders Shabbir Iqbal Matloob Ahmed and Shahid Javed and not many predicted that the ul timate winner will be someone other than Shabbir or Mat loob or even Shahid But the purposeful and resolute Ashfaq had other plans As the competitive activity in the final 18 holes progressed, noticeable was Ashfaq’s brilliance and his score was adorned with birdies and regulation pars And when the final 18 holes came to an end his score of gross 67 represented an illuminated effort, giving him a commendable aggregate score of 206 ten under par plus elevating him to the star status of the title bearing event and compelling four other bright ones to accept the consoling runners up second position While Ashfaq emerged as the Punjab Open Cham pion, established ones like Shahid Javed, Matloob Ahmed, Tallat Ijaz and A Zahoor were bracketed at a championship aggregate score of 208 two shots behind Ashfaq The top ten positions in Professional Category; Ashfaq (Airmen Golf Club) 68+71+67 206; Shahid Javed (Gymkhana) 68+70+70=208;Matloob Ahmed (Garri son)69+69+70 208;Tallat Ijaz (Gymkhana) 69+70+69 208; A Zahoor (Multan)68+72+68 208; M Naeem (Pe shawar)72+69=69=210; M Shabbir (Islam abad)68+70+73 211; Ashiq Hussain (Multan )72+72+68 212;M Alam (Garrison)73+71+68 212; M Saj jad (AGC)71+71+71=213; Amateur Category Champion was Salman Jehangir with three rounds scores of 70,73 and 73 and an aggregate of 216 Qasim Ali Khan ended up as run ners up His scores were 76,71 and 73 and the aggregate was 220 Damil Ataullah came third ,scores being 73,76 and 72 and a match total of 221 Net section winners were Nosher wan, first net ,Mohammad Shoaib, second net and Ahmed Ji bran ,third net A big development for ladies golf in Pakistan is that they are a part of World Amateur Golf Rankings and their performances are under review perpetually The re quirement they have to meet is to compete over 54 holes in stead of the usual 36 holes In this championship the top lady competitors contested over 54 holes and the results were;Hamna Amjad (AGC) 75+82+77 234;first arkha Ijaz (Defence Raya) 77+79+80 236;second;Aania Farooq (AGC) 76+82+79=237;third ;Suneya Osama (Garri son)91+87+81 259;fourth; Results of other Ladies events; Hadia Osama, first gross; Shahzadi Gulfam, second gross; Dr Fouzia, third gross; Dr Shaheen Irfan, first net; Minna Zainab second net;Aliha Amjad third net; Winner of Senior Professionals Event was Muhammed Akram ;Junior Profes sional Event Winner was M Sahil; The winner in Senior Pro fessional Category was Air Cdre Tariq Usman Abbas; Invitational Category Winners;GP Capt Asim Hafeez ,first gross ;Tariq Usman ,2nd gross;Sqn Ldr Sheraz Wahab ,3rd Gross ;Capt Ali Ejaz first net ;Ch Amir Akram 2nd net;Brig Irfan Iftikhar ,3rd net

El Sir t y, Fayrouz clinch international squash titles

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

World No 27 Mustafa El Sirty of Egypt overcame com patriot Mohammad El

in 49

In the Serena

5, 11

Women Squash Championship, Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir out played compatriot Malak Khafagy 11 6, 10 12, 11 4, 6 11 12 10 in 37 minutes to to win the title Over 30 players from 16 countries featured in the two events The five day championships were organised by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) in collaboration with Pakistan Air Force The men and women events carried a prize purse of US$ 30,000 and US$ 12,000, respectively

PM leaveS fOR SaudI aRaBIa TOday TO aTTend ‘davOS In deSeRT’ SuMMIT

ISLAMABAD s tA f f R e p o R t

PR I M E Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to un dertake a two day visit to Saudi Arabia from Monday to attend Davos in the desert summit an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to expand the Kingdom s role beyond oil in the global economy

Hundreds of delegates from around the world in cluding government officials, business leaders and even CEOs of American companies are attending the two day Future Investment Initiative summit in Riyadh The conference will kick off on Tuesday

According to officials, Prime Minister Shehbaz is visiting Saudi Arabia on the invitation of Saudi crown prince He will attend the two day conference and is scheduled to meet the Saudi leadership The Davos in the desert is taking place at a time when Saudi Arabia and the US clashed over Riyadh’s move to cut oil sup plies despite request by President Biden to the contrary

The US officials were not invited to the invest ment summit, according to the organisers However, 400 CEOs from different American companies will be in attendance A strong Chinese delegation will be in Riyadh highlighting Saudi Arabia’s push to diver sify its options and look beyond the West

Meanwhile, Pakistan considers the conference as

an opportunity to draw world’s attention towards the climate induced floods

Shehbaz is visiting Saudi Arabia as the Saudi crown prince is also planning to visit Pakistan next month Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman is ex pected to travel to Islamabad next month on a crucial visit Pakistan is hoping will lead to yet another financial bailout package from the oil rich Arab nation

The officials, though, are tightlipped not sharing any details of the visit, it seems the two countries are in touch to prepare for the visit

There are reports that the Saudi crown prince

may make a stopover in India on his way to Indonesia in mid November, to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi The visit is expected to last a few hours on November 14, and both leaders are expected to depart for Bali to attend the G 20 summit there on November 15 16, according to Indian media

While MBS is keen to travel to Islamabad, there are concerns that the visit may be delayed or put on hold if Imran Khan decided to launch the much antic ipated long march against the government Prime Min ister Shehbaz Sharif invited the Saudi de facto ruler on a visit to Pakistan when he visited Saudi Arabia in July

The visit comes at a time when the coalition gov ernment led by Shehbaz is facing an imminent long march of former prime minister Imran Khan and when Saudi Arabia is involved in a diplomatic row with the United States over the recent cut in oil sup plies by major exporting countries Pakistan in a surprise and significant move took a public stance on the US Saudi row and backed Riyadh s position

The US has been furious over the OPEC+ move to cut oil supplies by 2 million barrels a day despite request by President Joe Biden to the contrary Biden warned that Saudi Arabia will have to face consequences of the decision and that his adminis tration would revisit the 80 year long bilateral rela tionship with the Arab country

President, PM felicitate Xi on clinching third term

ISLAMABAD s tA f f R e p o R t

President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif felicitated President Xi Jinping on his reap pointment as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country’s military chief for a record third term

Terrorist killed in Shalobar IBO: ISPR

ISLAMABAD s tA f f R e p o R t

The security forces on Sunday killed a terrorist during an intelligence based operation (IBO) conducted in general area Shalobar of Khyber District, following reports about presence of terrorists after intense fire exchange

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) informed in a news release that the forces also recovered weapon and ammunition from the killed terrorist The killed terrorist remained actively involved in terrorist activities against the security forces, it added

A day earlier, four terrorists were killed in an intelligence based operation (IBO) conducted by the security forces in North Waziristan Security forces conducted the IBO in the Spimwam area of North Waziristan after a tip off about presence of the terrorists After an intense exchange of fire four terrorists were killed by the security forces

According to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) the killed terrorists had been involved in attacks on the security forces Arms and explosive material were also recovered from the killed terrorists’ possession during the IBO, the statement added

Earlier in the month security forces had killed two terrorists during an intelligence based operation (IBO) in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

A l v i , o n h i s Tw i t t e r a c c o u n t , e x t e n d e d h i s heartiest congratulations to President Jinping on his re election, and best wishes for his health and happiness” “He is a true friend of Pakistan and champion for All Weather Strategic Cooperative P a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n P a k i s t a n a n d C h i n a t h e p r e s i d e n t p o s t e d i n a t w e e t O n h i s Tw i t t e r, t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r p o s t e d : “ O n b e h a l f o f t h e e n t i r e Pakistani nation I congratulate President Xi Jin ping on his re election as CPC General Secretary for the 3rd term ”

The prime minister further said that it was a glowing tribute to President Xi’s sagacious stew ardship and unwavering devotion to serving the people of China Jinping secured a precedent break

ing third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new top governing body stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang 63 followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People as the new Politburo Standing Committee was introduced, putting him in line to succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he retires in March

The other members of the seven man Standing Committee are Zhao Leji and Wang Huning, who re turn from the previous committee, and newcomers Cai Qi Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi Li Qiang is also new to the Standing Committee All are seen by analysts to have close allegiance to Xi, 69, the son of a Communist Party revolutionary who has taken China in a more au thoritarian direction since rising to power in 2012

“This is a leadership that will be focused on achieving Xi’s political goals, rather than pursuing their own agendas for what they think is best for the country said Drew Thompson a visiting senior re search fellow at the National University of Singa pore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Media’s role in countering disinformation critical, says Marriyum aurangzeb

ISTANBUL A n A d o l u AG e n c y

A minister urged the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states to “optimally utilise” opportunities offered by digital platforms and social media to help improve the image of Islam and Muslims

“The media’s role in this regard, while critical, would only be meaningful if it is given a common sense of direction,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister for information and broadcasting

Aurangzeb was in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul to attend a two day 12th Conference of the Information Ministers of the OIC which concluded on Saturday

The conference underscored the need to combat Islamophobia and hatred against Islam in all manifestations while calling for utilizing new and emerging platforms and technological innovations to present the truth” about Islam effectively

It also emphasized the importance of cooperation among OIC member states in “developing necessary mechanisms to fight disinformation and other related challenges of the post truth era, and devising short, medium, and long term strategic processes in the total fight against disinformation ”

Pa k i s ta n’s c u r r e n t r o l e i n o i c: Pakistan currently holds the chair of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), which Aurangzeb told Anadolu Agency, is a singular honour and important responsibility for the South Asian nation

Several initiatives were taken under Islamabad’s leadership she said including the Plan of Action on the Kashmir dispute, the peace, and security architecture at the OIC, launching and strengthening of humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, efforts for the appointment of a special envoy on Islamophobia and enhancing economic coordination amongst OIC member states in critical areas like trade, investment, and IT cooperation

The initiatives are part of resolutions adopted at an Islamabad summit of OIC foreign ministers in March

“Pakistan is committed to playing an active role in these important areas during and beyond our chairmanship of the CFM,” she said

F r at e r n a l r e l at i o n s w i t h t ü r k i y e:

Aurangzeb said Pakistan and Türkiye enjoy excellent fraternal relations” which have been “transformed into a strategic partnership ”

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan are likely to set up a new refinery in the port city Gwadar, Balochistan with a heavy investment and the newly ap pointed Secretary Petroleum has called an important meet ing in this regard on Monday

According to sources newly posted Secretary Petro leum Capt (r) Muhammad Mahmood has been striving hard to finalize the establishment of a new refinery in the country with the huge investment of Saudi Arabia and UAE They said that the incumbent Secretary Petroleum has been consulting the concerned local stakeholders prior to finalizing the deal for setting up the new refinery in the country And, in this regard a virtual meeting with Saudi Aramco is scheduled on Monday in the petroleum division They said former prime minister Shahid

Khaqqan Abbasi, Minister of State (Petroleum Division) Musadik Masood Malik, Secretary Petroleum, Director General (Oil), managing directors (MDs) of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Pak Arab Refinery Company Lim ited (PARCO) will attend this meeting Last week on Tuesday, present Secretary Petroleum had also called a meeting on the subject matter and former prime minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi, Minister of State (Petroleum Di vision) Musadik Masood Malik, senior officials of petro leum division, Director General (Oil), MDs of Attock Refinery Limited (ARL), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) and Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) attended this meeting said sources In order to materialize the es tablishment of a new oil refinery with the investment of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan, the newly appointed Secretary Petroleum Capt (r) Muhammad Mahmood has been vigorously pursuing to introduce the new refinery policy 2022 as early as possible, the sources added

Sources said that the UAE had earlier planned to set up a deep conversion, state of the art refinery that would have an output of 500,000 barrels per day in Hub (a town in Balochistan) with PARCO while Saudi Arabia also shown interest to set up an oil refinery in Pakistan’s deep water port of Gwadar with oil refining capacity of 500,000 600,000 barrel/day However, since there is no capacity in the system for two new oil refineries, it is likely that Saudi Arabia UAE and Pakistan will jointly set up a new oil re finery in Pakistan with an output of five lakh barrels per day, they added Currently, there are five players operating in the oil refining sector in Pakistan including Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO), Attock Refinery Limited (ARL), National Refinery Limited (NRL), Pakistan Refin ery Limited (PRL) and Cnergyico Pk Limited (CPL) All of the refineries are hydro skimming refineries, except for PARCO which is a mild conversion refinery

Pakistan’s oil refining capacity is about 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to 20 million tons per annum

The product slate typically comprises of energy products i e Naphtha, Motor Gasoline (MS), High Speed Diesel (HSD), Furnace Oil (FO), Kerosene, Jet fuel (JP 1&JP 8), High Octane Blending Component (HOBC), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Light Diesel Oil (LDO) and non energy products

ISLAMABAD G h u l A m A b b A s

As the government has approved fixed elec tricity rates for selected export sectors of the country to facilitate exporters, the rice ex porters have expressed their concern that de spite being a major contributor the rice sector has been neglected

Through a notification issued here on October 19, 2022, the Ministry of Energy has fixed the electricity rate for the five ex

port oriented industries including textiles, leather, carpet, surgical and sports goods

According to Taufiq Ahmed, former Vice President of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), the sector, despite contribut ing $2 5 billion in the exports of the country, was not included in the fixed energy facility

“Even sectors having less than the con tribution of rice in exports have been in cluded in the list Unfortunately we, despite competing, India, the major competitor, have been neglected he said adding that the ex

port of rice could go up to $3 billion if the sector is given the due attention

“The rice exporters are now facing the huge challenge of competing with India in the international market as the exporters in neighboring countries comparatively enjoy good crops stable currency and lower rate of dollar We are unfortunately expecting a set back under the prevailing situation,” the rice exporter claimed As per the notification of the ministry of energy, the energy rate, “Re gionally Competitive Energy Rates for Ex

port Oriented Sectors would be available for the exporter from October 1 to June 2023

Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce, through a summary had requested ECC to ap prove the fixed Rs 19 99/kWh all inclusive rate for the five sectors The same was approved by ECC on October 10 2022 Following the ap proval from ECC and cabinet the ministry of energy has asked all DISCOs (including K Electric) to provide electricity on fixed rate to the five sectors Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mohammad Ishaq Dar had an

nounced the relief measure, saying that the fi nance ministry would bear around Rs100 bil lion for the period of one year, which was the difference of actual and subsidized rate

Earlier, the government provided the elec tricity at the rate of US 9 cents, which was to continue only for two months D a r c l a i m e d that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) g o

e

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