Epaper_22-11-16 LHR

Dar postpones proposeD petrol price

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r e p o r t

ministEr for finance senator ishaq Dar on tuesday sa d the government has decided to keep the prices of petroleum products unchanged for the second half of november 2022 b r i e f i n g m e d a h e r e M i n i s t e r f o r fi n a n c e s e n a t o r i s h a q D a r a n n o u n c e d t h e g o v e r n m e n t s d e c s i o n t o ke e p t h e p r i c e s o f pe t r o l, h i g h s p e e d D i e s e l, l g h t D i e s e l, a n d ke r o s e n e o i l u n c h a n g e d f o r t h e n e x t 1 5 d a y s the current pr ces for petrol are rs224 80 per litre rs235 30 for highs speed Diesel (hsD) rs186 50 for light Diesel and rs191 83 for kerosene oil the minister said that as per the gov ernment decision of nov 9 the state bank of pakistan (sbp) and the national bank of pakistan (nbp) have fi ed applications in the supreme Court regarding the pending appeals n riba case Dar sa d after federal shariat Court s (fsC) verdict n riba (interest) case, the gov ernment is withdrawing its cases n the fsC the state bank of pakistan (sbp) and the nat onal bank of pakistan (nbp) decided to withdraw their pleas for the resumption of the interest based financ a system the fi nance minister added that the sbp and

M nister for

and rev enue senator Mohammad ishaq Dar pres ded over the meeting of the Eco nomic Coord nation Committee (ECC) at finance Division on tuesday federal Min ster for power khurram Dastgir khan Min ster of state for finance and revenue Dr aisha ghous pasha, Min ster of state for petro eum Musadik Ma sood Malik sapM on f nance Mr tariq bajwa, sapM on government Effect veness Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb khan Coordi nator to pM on Commerce & industr y rana ihsan afzal, federa secretar es, Chairman fbr and other senior officers at tended the meeting

M i n s t r y o f i n d u s t r i e s a n d pr o d u c t i o n submitted a summar y on cont nuation of pr i m e M i n i s t e r ’ s re l i e f pa c ka g e ( p M r p ) a n d s a s t a a t t a n i t i a t i v e f o r k h y b e r pa k h t u n k h w a b e y o n d 3 1 s t a u g u s t 2 0 2 2 a f t e r d e l i b e r a t i o n, t h e E C C a p p r o v e d

c o n t i n u a t i o n o f p M s re l i e f pa c ka g e ( p M r p ) a n d k h y b e r pa k h t u n k h w a s a s t a a t t a n i t i a t i v e f r o m 1 s t s e p t i 1 5 t h n o v 2 0 2 2 o n t h e e x i s t i n g m o d e l o f u n t a r geted subs dy at the prevailing rates and a location of add tional funds amounting t o r s 4 9 0 8 m i o n o v e r a n d a b o v e t h e r e g u l a r b u d g e t a r y a l l o c a t i o n t h r o u g h supplementar y/techn cal supp ementar y g r a n t t o r e c o u p t h e a m o u n t a l r e a d y spent by usC the ECC also allowed con t i n u a t o n o f p M r p o n h y b r i d m o d e l f o r a period w e f 16th nov to 30th June, 2023 ( E x c l u d i n g ra m z a n ) a n d a l l o c a t i o n o f f u n d s t o t h e t u n e o f r s 1 0 7 5 5 m o n t h r o u g h s u p p l e m e n t a r y / t e c h n i c a l s u p p e m e n t a r y g r a n t a n d c o n t i n u a t i o n o f k h y b e r pa k h t u n k h w a s a s a t a t t a i n i t i a t v e a n d p r o v i s i o n o f s u b s i d z e d a t t a f r o m 1 6 t h n o v 2 0 2 2 t o 3 0 t h J u n e 2 0 2 3 a f t e r r a t i o n a z i n g n u m b e r o f s t o r e s, w t h a l l o c a t i o n o f f u n d s o f r s 1 5 6 0 6 8 m o n t h r o u g h s u p p l e m e n t a r y / t e c h n i c a l s u p p e m e n t a r y g r a n t Min str y of industries and production submitted a summar y for release of funds for ssgC for gas supply to pakistan steel Mills (psM) it was shared that the produc tion of psM has been at a halt since 2015 and low f ame gas of 2 mi lion cubic feet per day (MMCfD) s being supplied to psM primari y to preser ve the Coke oven bat ter es and refractor y kilns the ECC after deliberation approved rs1 258 248 mil ion for sixteen month gas bil s from the a ready approved budgetar y a location of rs10 billion to psM for fy 2022 23 and releasing of an amount rs298 248 mi lion for the pe r od from March to June 2022 t h e E C C c o n s i d e r e d a s u m m a r y o f M n i s t r y o f E n e r g y pe t r o e u m D i v i s i o n o n c o n t i n u a t i o n o f s u b s i d i z e d r l n g s u p p l y t o fa t i m a f e r t a n d a g r i t e c h l t d a n d a l l o w e d o p e r a t i o n s o f t h e p a n t s o n s u b s d i z e d r l n g f r o m o c t o b e r, 2 0 2 2 t o D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 2

the ECC a so approved techn ca sup p ementar y grants worth rs100 million in favour of Ministr y of information and broadcasting for creation of film and Drama finance fund for promotion and support of film ndustr y in pak stan rs 9,767 mi ion ncluding fEC usD 12 667 million for Min str y of Defence against var ious approved projects during Cfy 2022 23 and rs 60 606 million to the national Commiss on for human r ghts (nChr)

the ECC deferred the summar y pre sented by M nistr y of Energy, petroleum D vision on deregulation of super or kerosene oil/ light diesel o l and E 10

D u b a i b u s i n e s s m a n re v e a l s w h a t Im ra n c o n c e a l e d i n T h o s h a k h a n a g

a l e

s

an expensive graff wristwatch worth at least rs2 bil ion gifted by saudi Crown prince Mohammad bin salman to former pr me minister imran khan, was so d by farah gogi and shahzad akbar to Dubai based businessman umar farooq Zahoor appeared on geo news programme aaj shahzeb khanzada kay sath Za hoor, the pakistani origin nor wegian mil lionaire, claimed he has ev dence to prove he bought the rare watch and three other toshakhana gifts from farhat shahzad also known as farah gog for

7 5 mil ion Dirhams in cash

the businessman appeared n live programme to show evidence of the purchase as well as all the toshakhana gifts he owns now the businessman alleged that he was later on blackma ed and fake cases of money laundering were regis tered against him by the federa inves tigation agency (fia) at the behest of shahzad akbar after he refused to listen to the demands made by his former wife soph a M r za in an affidavit Zahoor says: i umar farooq, s/o late Zahoor ahmed res dent of r/o (address as per Cnic) house no D

102/1 block 4 C ifton karachi currently residing at Muhammad bin rash d City, District one Duba united arab Emirates (uaE) do hereby solemnly affirm and de clare on oath that i was introduced to Ms farhat shahzadi by Mr shehzad akbar and bought the following orna ments jeweller y sEt 2 by graff from Ms farhat shahzad having CniC no 35201 2625741 8 and passport no bp5147413 for aED seven M lion and f ve hundred thousand Dirhams (aED 7,500,000) pa d as cash” the gifts mentioned inc ude Dia mond Mastergraff tourbil on M nute re peater with Makkah Map D a gM2751 Diamond Cufflinks w th 2 12ct h if and 2 11ct i if round D amonds gr46899, Diamond gent s ring 7 20cts vvsl rose go d pen set with pave Diamonds and Enamel Mecca Map

S h a r i f t e s t s p o s i t i v e f o r C o v i d - 1 9 — a g a i n

ISLAMABAD

s ta f f r e p o r t

prime M nister shehbaz sharif has tested positive for Cov d 19 Marriyum aurangzeb h s min s ter for informat on, wrote on twit ter on tuesday s h a r i f h a d r e t u r n e d r e c e n t y f r o m lo n d o n w h e r e h e w a s v i s i t i n g h i s b r o t h e r a n d d i s g r a c e d f o r m e r p r m e m n s t e r n a w a z s h a r i f this is the third time the prime minister has tested posi tive for the virus after having previously contracted the dis ease earlier this year in Januar y and in June 2020

responding to the news, president Dr ar f alvi expressed good wishes for h s health and prayed for shar f ’s ear y recov er y he also emphasised taking good care during the phase of sickness, his office said raja per vez ashraf and Zahid akram Durrani, speaker and deputy speaker of the na tional assemb y prayed for shar f ’s health and speedy re cover y radio pakistan reported they said the prime min ster would recover soon and con tinue to steer the countr y toward the path of development and prosper ty fo r m e r pr e s i d e n t a n d pa k i s t a n pe o p l e ’ s pa r t y pa r l i a m e n tarians (pppp) asif ali Zardar has p r a y e d f o r t h e q u i c k r e c o v e r y of the pr me Minister Mian shah baz sharif according to a spokesman for the bi awal house here on tuesday the former president

hoped, the prime Minister shah baz sharif after speedy recover y w l ser ve the countr y and the nation as well federal Min ster for informa tion and broadcasting Marriyum aurangzeb in her tweet said the prime Minister shahbaz sharif had tested positive for Covid 19 he was feeling unwell for the past two days the pM initiated a coronavirus test after the ad vise of a doctor

E a r e r i n f o r m a t i o n M i n i s t e r M a r r i y u m a u r a n g z e b i n a t w e e t h a d p o s t e d t h a t pr i m e M i n i s t e r s h e h b a z s h a r i f t e s t e d p o s i t i v e f o r c o r o n a v r u s t h i s m o r n i n g s h e m e n t i o n e d t h a t t h e p r i m e m n i s t e r w a s f e e l i n g u n w e l l f o r t h e l a s t t w o d a y s a n d g o t h m s e l f t e s t e d o n t h e a d v c e o f a d o c t o r she also appealed to the general publ c and party work ers to pray for the ear y recover y of the prime minister

Meanwhile, pakistan re ported 32 new cases of coron av rus on Monday the Ministr y of nat ona health ser vices said, taking the overa l ta ly of in fected people ncreased to 1 57 million a tota of 30 629 people have died of Covid 19 in pak istan, with no new death re ported in the countr y accord ng to the ministr y on Monday 4 191 samples were tested for coronavirus throughout pakistan, and the lat est positiv ty rate stood at 0 76 percent

the gifts

“

she told me that akbar had asked her to meet me n Dubai

“after verifying the authent city of the items i didn t negotiate the pr ce i paid her whatever she asked for as these gifts are pr ce ess as soon as the payment was made gogi reported on the phone to akbar that the deal was through and thanked him for introducing her to me akbar thanked me for buying the toshakhana gifts and requested that i don t speak about th s matter to any one i agreed

Zahoor says things remained quiet until akbar got in touch w th h m aga n and spoke on behalf of sophia Mir za, Zahoor ’s former wife, asking him to re turn the r two daughters to pakistan

nbp fi ed appeals to withdraw their p eas on october 31 the federal govern ment had decided to keep the prices of petroleum products unchanged ECC approves cont nuation of pM rel ef package, sasta atta initiative for

ISLAMABAD

ta f f r e p o r t

Zahoor who is an ambassador at arge for the republic of liberia, says that it was n March 2019 when former accountability minister shahzad akbar ntroduced h m to gog and to d him he should meet her dur ng a Dubai vis t and look at the unwanted rare gifts she wanted to sell he says when he met gogi and saw

he was instantly nterested be cause these items are rare and priceless

gogi was frank she told me the his tor y of these gifts and said these have been given to prime minister imran khan by the saudi Crown prince and that she wanted to sell these on behalf of imran khan and his w fe bushra begum

i f t s ’ s

At IDEAS-2022, FM CALLS FoR DIALoGuE AMonG REGIonAL , Int’L pL AyERS to EnSuRE pEACE

would also witness the exhibition

FO R E I G N Minister Bilawal Bhutto

Zardari has called for dialogue among regional and international players to ensure peace and stability at regional and international levels

Pakistan, being a responsible state, is always committed to play its role for international peace ”

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was speaking the inauguration of 11th edition of International Defence Exhibition and Seminar IDEAS 2022 in Karachi on Tuesday which will continue till Friday

Addressing the ceremony, Bilawal welcomed all guests to the special edition of innovation and excellence

He remarked that the incumbent government inherited an economic

catastrophe as Pakistan was on the precipice of default however he credited the concerted efforts from the coalition “for the unity that helped the economy survive an imminent danger

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan s defence industry has now achieved a good level of quality and reliability and its products are comfortably competing in the international market

He said Pakistan is now exporting high level defence products to more than 60 countries and scope of these exports could be extended by promoting public private partnership in the field

He said the best way to safeguard and strengthen national security is to achieve economic self reliance, rebuild and strengthen political institutions and ensure rule of law He said in order to do so each and every institution should function in its

constitutional domain with primary focus on their objectives

The Foreign Minister also stressed upon the need of resolution of long standing issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions and aspirations of people of Kashmir in the interest of regional peace progress and economic development F o u r d ay I d E a S 2022 S ta rt S I n K a r a c h I : Earlier the four day International Defence Exhibition and Seminar IDEAS 22 started in Karachi on Tuesday

Defence Export Promotion Organization has arranged the exhibition, which brings together defence industries from across the globe to showcase their latest technological innovations A large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors

IDEAS is a defence exhibition which brings together the defence industry’s players across the globe to showcase the latest technological innovations

The previous defence exhibition held at the same venue was in 2018 As is the tradition of the usually biannual event since the year 2000, IDEAS 2022 will showcase a number of splendid activities encompassing the world’s advanced defence technology demonstrations, international seminars, the IDEAS Karachi Show networking and business expansions through Business to Business and Business to Government engagements Federal Minister for Defence Production Israr Tareen, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and civil and military officials attended the inaugural ceremony

Around 300 exhibitors from 32 countries display their latest and innovative products while more than 500 national and international delegates are taking part in the exhibition the state run radio service reported

Apart from the six halls of the expo centre three marquees have also been set up one of which has been named after Kashmir

The 10th edition of IDEAS in 2018 had some 45 countries exhibiting their products and this year that number has grown to 64

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted that the IDEAS had evolved into a platform that highlighted Pakistan’s growing footprint in the global defence market

“Arms for Peace, theme of IDEAS’22, reflects Pakistan’s desire for peace & stability Good to see that our defence sector is catering to demands of tech era,” he said

SC ser ves notice on Imran, aides in ECP contempt c ase

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Imran Khan’s sons leave for London from Lahore

The Supreme Court on Tuesday served notices on Imran Khan, former prime minister, Asad Umar, secretary general of Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) and Fawad Chaudhry, senior vice president of the party, in a contempt case involving Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) A three judge bench comprising C h i e f J u s t i c e U m a r A t a B a n d i a l , J u s t i c e Ay e s h a A M a l i k a n d J u s t i c e

A t h a r M i n a l l a h h e a r d t h e p e t i t i o n moved by the election tribunal to club a l l t h e p e t i t i o n s o r i g i n a t e d o u t o f t h e c o n t e m p t c a s e s a g a i n s t l e a d e r s o f t h e opposition party pending before courts across the country

During the course of proceedings, the bench remarked that the commission requested to transfer the cases to one court The commission was of the view that at a time when they should be preparing for elections they were busy contesting cases in courts, it added

Gov t to adopt constitutional procedure for polls: Musadiq

ISLAMABAD

Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadiq Malik on Tuesday said that the coalition government would adopt constitutional procedure for holding the next general elections The general elections would be conducted next year he said while talking to a private television channel He said the prime minister has the authority to announce timeframe for early elections The minister said the incumbent government would complete its constitutional tenure and the next general elections would be held in 2023 He said the last regime of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) had damaged the economic sector during its government tenure He said the incumbent government was taking tough decisions to improve the national economy and business sector adding all out efforts were being made to provide relief to common man

LHC adjourns overseas voting rights case for indefinite period

LAHORE

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a plea seeking the provision of voting rights to overseas Pakistanis for an indefinite period As per details the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan failed to submit their response in the case Plea filed by a citizen named Salman Shabir said the right of casting vote is a basic human right of every citizen After the initial arguments, LHC Judge Justice Shujaat Ali Khan sought a progress report regarding the provision of voting rights to overseas Pakistanis Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) sought a response to the pleas provision of voting rights to overseas Pakistanis

The chief justice said the ECP also presented a judicial precedent of merging cases with the order of the Supreme Court The commission is invoking Article 186 A of the Constitution, he added

According to the clause, the Supreme Court may if it considers it expedient to do so in the interest of justice, transfer any case, appeal or other proceedings pending before any high court to any other high court

He asked if there was an example of the decision of the Supreme Court to merge the cases of different high courts At this, the counsel for ECP noted the Supreme Court in 1999 ordered the consolidation of income tax cases pending in various high courts

U p o n t h i s t h e c h i e f j u s t i c e s a i d t h a t c l u b b i n g o f c a s e s p e n d i n g i n d i ff e r e n t h i g h c o u r t s m u s t h a v e t h e same point of law

He then asked who the petitioners were in various contempt cases The counsel replied that Khan Chaudhry and Umar had filed cases against the ECP in several high courts across the country

Justice Malik said the Supreme Court in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) cases had declared that cases pending before high courts would not be clubbed

Justice Minallah recalled the Supreme Court had clubbed all the cases pending before the high courts in the Hajj corruption case

The ECP counsel said that cases of a

Justice

The chief justice asked under which constitutional authority did the Supreme Court order clubbing of cases pending in the different high courts The counsel

Pasha for struc tural reforms to mitigate climate - change losses

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

State Minister for Finance and Revenue, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha here on Tuesday highlighted the importance of structural reforms and policy decisions to make the country flood resilient and cope with the challenges posed by the climate change The Committee met under the chairmanship of Qasier Ahmed Sheikh Member National Assembly (MNA) to discuss the various issues pertaining to ministry and its attached departments

Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue she said that the country was facing a painful situation after floods however added that government recently had taken some hard decisions to cope with the situation and help improve the overall economy The minister said that due to the recent floods, almost 9 million of country s population has gone below poverty line

She said the floods have also damage economy adding the country s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to come down to 2 percent during the current fiscal year (2022 23) owing to recent floods that had badly hit the country She said the government has had fruitful discussions with all stakeholders regarding economic situation of country after massive monsoon flooding The committee was told that 30 billion dollars economic cost to Pakistan has been estimated by multilateral institutions due to recent floods It was estimated that Pakistan’s financial needs will be around 15 to 16 billion dollars Multilateral institutions have been

receptive to the economic situation of Pakistan and talks are ongoing for front loading certain programmes A positive response from Multilateral institutions such as Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is anticipated

She said that Planning Commission and World Bank were working together to estimate total losses inflicted by the recent floods which currently have been assessed to be around $ 30 billion

Ayesha Ghaus Pasha maintained that the government had so far spent Rs120 billion to provide immediate relief to the flood hit people These include Rs 25 000 per family through income support programme and Kissan relief package of Rs 600 billion

Meanwhile, the committee was informed that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had not been able to achieve Sales Tax and Custom Duty targets due to import compression

There has been an increase in income tax target collection however sales tax and custom duty targets have not been achieved The main cause is due to import compression (of about 16 9 percent till end of October for current fiscal year)

Additionally, the committee was also told that as of yet, 2 581 million tax filers have submitted returns opposed to 3 6 million filers last time (although time in filing returns is still remaining)

The committee showed its concern regarding lack of increase in tax filers and taxes being taken from existing filers only The committee also showed its apprehension regarding tax regime in flood inundated areas such as Khairpur

said that the injunctions of the high courts in the contempt of Election Commission case had also been challenged in the Supreme Court

The court directed that the ECP petitions against the injunction of the high courts should also be fixed with this case

Subsequently, the hearing of the case was adjourned for two weeks

SC puts off hearing of presidential reference on Reko Diq till today

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of presidential reference on the Rekodiq agreement till Wednesday (today) A five member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Jamaal Khan Mandokhel heard the presidential reference filed in the case The president on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had filed the reference to seeking the top court’s opinion on e Reko Diq settlement agreement During the course of proceedings, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said that the Minerals Act 1948 was not included in the list of federal or provincial laws in the 1973 Constitution and some provisions of the Minerals Act went under the jurisdiction of the Federation, and some provinces Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial inquired whether a law would be under the jurisdiction of both the federation and the province at the same time Justice Yahya Afridi asked whether the government could not have amended the Minerals Rules He questioned why was there a need for amend to Minerals Act, 1948 Justice Muneeb Akhtar said that laws were not implemented like magic The same law would prevail which was similar at the federal and provincial level he added Justice Yahya Afridi said that the court would intervene if fundamental human rights were affected by the amendment of the Minerals Act Balochistan government’s lawyer Salahuddin Ahmed said that the bench raised a question about the admissibility of the reference The Rekodiq Agreement was a matter of public interest to which the President was empowered to send a reference, he added The court held that the questions asked in the reference were vague and the questions were not necessarily framed on a precise point The Supreme Court of India had declared that the Supreme Court could give an opinion on the points raised in the argument it added

The Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan s sons on Tuesday left for London from Lahore airport As per the details both Kasim and Sulaiman left for Lahore airport from Zaman park under strict security PTI leader Mian Aslam Iqbal drove them to the airport Upon reaching the airport people gathered around them and started taking selfies Imran Khan s sons landed in Lahore Thursday to visit their father after getting injured in an assassination attempt during the party’s long march in Wazirabad Imran Khan and several other PTI leaders were injured after a man opened fire near the PTI reception camp at Allahwala Chowk during the party’s long march

similar nature might receive conflicting judgments from different courts

Malik said the apex court would decide when the conflicting decisions were challenged before the Supreme Court

nEpRA CoMpLEtES HEARInG pRoCESS on DISCo’S pLEA to InCREASE powER tARIFF unDER QtA MECHAnISM

respective power consumers under QTA mechanism NEPRA’s members Engineer Rafique Ahmed Shaikh and Engineer Maqsood Anwar were in attendance

Sources in the power sector said that if NEPRA allows recovery of above Rs 43 billion from the consumers of ten DISCOs then the power tariff of these DISCOs will go up by approximately Rs 2 18 per unit for first quarter (July September) CFY 2022 23

According to NEPRA if the Authority (NEPRA) grants approval to increase the power tariff of all DISCOs then this hike in power price will be applicable on all categories of power consumers except lifeline consumers and the consumers of K Electric as well “The Authority will issue its detailed judgement after necessary scrutiny of the data said NEPRA

NEPRA’s

The increase in electricity tariff was sought on account of capacity charges variable O&M Use of System Charge (UoSC) and Market Operator Fee (MOF), impact of T&D losses on monthly FCA and additional recovery on incremental sales, sources added

Earlier, 10 DISCOs including FESCO, GEPCO, HESCO, IESCO, LESCO, MEPCO, PESCO, QESCO, SEPCO and TESCO have sought a total adjustment of Rs 43,337 million for the first quarter (July September) CFY 2022 23 under QTA mechanism Out of the total adjustment, DISCOs sought adjustment of Rs31 billion

under the head capacity charges Rs2 169 billion worth adjustment under variable O&M, Rs6 341 billion adjustment on account of Use of System Charges (UoSC) and Market Operator Fee (MOF) Rs 7 408 billion as Impact of T&D (Transmission and Dispatch) losses on monthly Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) and additional recovery on incremental sale of Rs4 248 billion According to DISCOs application, FESCO has sought Rs6 377 billion, GEPCO Rs5 337 billion, HESCO Rs450 million, IESCO Rs2 704 billion LESCO Rs9 101 billion MEPCO Rs10 688 billion, PESCO Rs2 129 billion, QESCO Rs3 663 billion, SEPCO Rs905 million, and TESCO sought Rs1 282 billion respectively

ECP reserves judgment in Karachi LG polls postponement case India using communal approach to crush Kashmiris’ freedom struggle:

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reserved its judgment on the case of repeated postponement of Local Government elections in Karachi

A five member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja heard LG polls postponement case saying that the commission will soon announce its reserved decision, a decision that could come into force

Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab said that the first phase of the local polls in Sindh have been completed, “while in Karachi we are ready to hold elections in two phases” Murtaza Wahab said the Sindh

government was unable to hold elections currently It is our responsibility to hold elections you have taken this power from us,” CEC remarked “Under which rule you have amended the local government law ECP member Ikramullah Khan asked “It is not possible to provide security forces and administrative staff for the elections in Karachi “About 1,300 polling stations in Karachi are sensitive, and every station requires eight officials,” said Wahab

Member ECP said what the Sindh government wanted Murtaza said the provincial government has approved postponement of LG polls for 90 days

According to rules announcing elections was the right of Sindh government and the provincial

government will announce holding elections in consultation with the election commission Sindh Chief Secretary said due to floods, the deployment of 17,000 security personnel in Karachi was impossible IG Sindh Police also backed the government’s stance to put off local government elections Any untoward incident could happen, we have a shortage of 17,000 personnel,” he said We can hold election on the order of the election commission but will face security issues,” IG Sindh said ECP special secretary Zafar Iqbal said that the LG polls were postponed due to floods in the province Sindh government has already approved postponement of LG polls for 90 more days He said the ECP was ready to hold

elections in Karachi Supreme Court has also ordered holding elections in Sindh Zafar Iqbal said in light of the Supreme Court’s orders local bodies’ elections should be held at the earliest Delay in the local bodies polls is a violation of the top court’s order,” the secretary said The ECP secretary asked the Ministry of Interior about the position of Frontier Corps (FC) and Pakistan Rangers for the provision of security and maintenance of law and order situation during the local government polls

Interior ministry official said We are not in a position to fulfil the security needs of the local government elections the official said The situation does not allow us to deploy civil armed forces at these elections”

Dubai businessman reveals what Imran concealed in Thoshakhana gifts’ sale

Zahoor and Sophia have been involved in court battles over the custody of their twin daughters for the last 14 years or so Akbar, says Umar Farooq, threatened him to send his daughters to Pakistan and settle the dispute with Sophia on her terms or face consequences Zahoor said: “I refused to be blackmailed and a campaign of terror was started against me by Akbar He used the FIA to register fake cases of international financial crimes

Unfortunately my biggest mistake was to buy this expensive watch as I was flagged as a wealthy person and an extortion campaign started against me using the entire government bodies including the cabinet of the former prime minister, who gave blanket approval to Akbar to go after me Interpol was misused trying to extradite me to Pakistan through a Red Notice “ According to Zahoor, Akbar lied to the cabinet of Imran Khan and took permission to register fake criminal cases against him in collusion with his ex wife Sophia

The gifts include Diamond MasterGraff Tourbillon Minute Repeater with Makkah Map Dial GM2751

Diamond Cufflinks with 2 12ct H IF and 2 11ct I IF

Round Diamonds GR46899, Diamond Gents Ring 7 20cts VVSl Rose Gold Pen Set with Pave Diamonds and Enamel Mecca Map Exclusive photo by author

The gifts include Diamond MasterGraff Tourbillon

Kp freezes development fund after reallocation of Rs18.9b

PESHAWAR

a z i z B u n e R i

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government froze the development funds and allowed the reallocation of more than Rs18 billion to nine administrative departments, but the departments do not have any funds and the process is limited only to paperwork The Planning and Development (P&D) Department allowed nine administrative departments to re allocate funds worth Rs18 billion Thus Rs6 95 billion has been allocated to Department of C o n s t r u c t i o n a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s R s 4 6 b n t o H e a l t h d e p a r t m e n t , R s 2 5 2 b n t o D e p a r t m e n t o f P r i m a r y a n d S e c o n d a r y E d u c a t i o n , R s 1 2 0 b n t o I r r i g a t i o n D e p a r t m e n t , R s 1 2 6 b n t o l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t d e p a r t m e n t , R s 1 9 b n t o m u l t i s e c t o r d e v e l o p m e n t R s 1 8 2 t o A g r i c u l t u r e d e p a r t m e n t a n d R s 3 7 3 0 m i l l i o n t o t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n H o w e v e r, t h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t h a s w i t h d r a w n t h e e n t i r e d e v e l o p m e n t f u n d b y f r e e z i n g t h e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o g r a m a n d t h e r e a l l o c a t i o n o f f u n d t o a d m i n i s t r a t i v e d e p a r t m e n t s i s l i m i t e d t o p a p e r w o r k o n l y

Minute Repeater with Makkah Map Dial GM2751, Diamond Cufflinks with 2 12ct H IF and 2 11ct I IF Round Diamonds GR46899, Diamond Gent’s Ring 7 20cts, VVSl Rose Gold Pen Set with Pave Diamonds and Enamel Mecca Map Exclusive photo by author

“The FIA Corporate Crime Circle Lahore also initiated an inquiry against me over allegations of fraud and money laundering of around Rs16 billion on the complaint of my ex wife who was blackmailing me My name was placed on the Exit Control List; non bailable warrants in one of the FIRs were obtained from the Court without fulfilling the legal requirements and based on said non bailable warrants, my passport and CNIC were blacklisted and Red Warrants were issued through Interpol by National Crime Bureau Pakistan for arresting me I am speaking out now to tell the truth to Pakistanis what kind of people these are who occupied high positions in Pakistan ”

PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi had retained all the 112 gifts worth Rs142 02 million from the Toshakhana of the Government of Pakistan by paying less than Rs40 million only

P t I d E n I E S Fa r a h G o G I’S l I n K to S a l E: A PTI source said that Farhat Shahzadi has denied any involvement in the deal She has not made any public statement but Shahzad Akbar took to Twitter to deny allegations made against him

Shahzad Akbar said he had never met or spoken to

Zahoor He said that Zahoor registered a case against him in Islamabad’s Secretariat Police Station “He registered a fake case against me although the law is that no case can be registered unless a person is in the country,” he added He said Zahoor was “FIA’s wanted man” but his case was terminated by the current government

Shireen Mazari said: “A wanted man, a criminal and we are to believe his word! Joke! Earlier this morning dictator Zia s man Gen (retd) Chishti gave a bizarre presser to try and target Imran Khan followed by this drama Desperation written large especially when nothing works Fawad Chaudhary said Imran Khan had purchased the watch following due process

This is reflected in his tax returns and in the election commission filings The person Geo and Jang interviewed has no relation with Imran Khan directly or indirectly; the watch was not sold to him

PTI made several allegations against Zahoor including his pictures with a few retired generals and alleged the current govt was behind him

Former PTI minister Faisal Vawda said that he had met Zahoor with a Dubai sheikh on the instructions of Imran Khan

Referring to his viral picture Vawda said he met Zahoor in his ministry’s office on instructions of then PM Imran Khan and the meeting was attended by four other ministers including senior officials

ApHC

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

All Parties Hurriyat Confere (APHC) has said that India is using military might with Hindutva approach to suppress the Kashmiris struggle for securing their inalienable right to self determination The APHC spokesman in a statement in Srinagar urged the Modi reg to shun its communal agenda in Kashmir an internationally designated disputed territory, and pave the way for settlement of the dispute as per relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, said a press release The spokesman made it clear to India that the sacrifices of more than half a million people who laid their precious lives, tens of thousands who migrated to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and thousands including APHC leadership facing illegal detention would not be allowed to go to waste

pakistan Consulate Chengdu held fundraiser for flood-hit people

BEIJIng

Pakistan Consulate in Chengdu, China, in collaboration with the Belt and Road Talent Development Fund held a fund raising event to raise funds for flood relief in Pakistan and to help Chinese children in need around Dujiangyan’s neighboring localities A colorful performance of dance and music was put on display be children aged between 3 10 in city of Dujiangyan, Sichuan province to raise the funds Acting Consul General, Agha Hunain Abbas Khan attended the event and thanked the BRTDF for its generous contribution and efforts for helping the flood affected people of Pakistan and donating individuals A letter of appreciation was also handed over to BRTDF for its continued efforts to help Pakistan

China appreciates Pak istan for bringing Dasu attack ’s perpetrators to full justice

China appreciates the efforts made by Pakistan to get to the bottom of Dasu terror attack and bring the perpetrators to full justice, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday Pakistan has carried out the investigations of last year ’s July 14th Dasu terror attack with utmost seriousness and made every effort to get to the bottom of the case and bring the perpetrators to full justice This is much appreciated by China, Mao Ning said during her regular briefing held at the International Press Center (IPC)

A local court in Pakistan recently made sentences on several suspects that organized and participated in the Dasu terror attacks last year Certain suspects have been sentenced to death

She said, now that the suspects had

been held accountable We now know that justice has prevailed There are fellow compatriots who lost their lives in the attack and they can now rest in peace Mao Ning remarked that China would remain firmly supportive of Pakistan’s counter terrorism efforts and hoped the safety of Chinese nationals institutions, and projects in Pakistan would be duly protected

The spokesperson said that the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government followed a people centered approach to governance

She said that the Chinese government had applied a national approach to holistic security and people’s security was its ultimate goal Protecting the security of overseas Chinese nationals, institutions, and projects is of great importance to us and

we have made tremendous efforts in that regard, she added Mao Ning said that the Chinese side would further increase inputs in improving risk alerts, enhance emergency response capabilities and work with relevant countries in resolutely protecting the security of overseas Chinese nationals institutions and projects

To a question, the spokesperson said that she was not aware of reports about the use of bulletproof vehicles by Chinese workers working for China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

She, however, said that both China and Pakistan were in close communication and cooperation to uphold the safety and security of Chinese nationals in the construction of CPEC

To yet another question, she termed untrue reports of a protest in the port

city of Gwadar against CPEC projects

These reports are untrue The organizers have said in public that the protests are not targeting Chinese side or the CPEC, she added

The spokesperson remarked that the Gwadar port was a flagship port of CPEC It had a focus on people’s livelihood China always followed principles of mutual respect and consensus and consultation in this process

She said that in all the projects that China had in this zone, China had assisted in building primary schools, training academies, hospitals and also the solar panels donated by China, improving the lives of people

China is ready to work with Pakistan for high quality development of CPEC and to ensure the smooth running of all projects in Gwadar port to deliver more benefits to the people, she added

ISLAMABAD

BEIJIng S ta f f R

A JK PreSIdenT WArnS IndIA AgAInST Any MISAdVenTUre In LIberATed TerrITOry

e r i n g o f y o u n g g r a d u a t e s

“For the graduating students, it is the most impor tant milestone in their life as they are going to start a new journey”, he said adding that the students who re ceived Certificates of Achievement / Gold Medals today should realize that they were among the lucky ones who got the opportunity to get higher education

life or obtained a degree, but the real education is how well you become a citizen of the country in which you live”, he added

In his speech, the Chairman Higher Education Com mission of Pakistan Dr Mukhtar Ahmed while highlight ing the importance of education said that in order to remain competitive in the world there was dire need to improve the education system

The AJK President during his visit also met vari ous delegations in which he said that there were long s t a n d i n g d e m a n d s i n c l u d i n g c o n s t r u c t i o n o f j u d i c i a l campus, establishment of grid station, acquiring land for university and CMH hospital

He expressed these views while addressing the first annual convocation of University of Poonch Haveli Campus at Haveli in Forward Kahota in Poonch divi

QWP terms PTI chief’s U turn a confession to crime

PESHAWAR s TA f f r e p o r T

their motherland Extending his heartfelt felicitations to graduating students and their parents, the president

h a p p y t o b e p a r t o f t h e a u g u s t g a t h

“There are still a large number of people in our country who unfortunately do not have enough re sources to avail this opportunity”, Barrister Chaudhary said “Education is not the name of the thing that you have acquired knowledge about a particular aspect of

The convocation was attended by former Minister C h a u d h r y M u h a m m a d A z i z , f o r m e r M i n i s t e r a n d M e m b e r o f A J K L e g i s l a t i v e A s s e m b l y f r o m H a v e l i F ais al M umtaz Rathore former A s s embly candidate Ta r i q S a e e d , M e m b e r o f K a s h m i r C o u n c i l S h u j j a Rathore, and others

E a r l i e r B a r r i s t e r C h a u d h r y v i s i t e d H e a d S t a r t School, a private sector education institution in Bagh

President for enhanced trade with S erbia

ISLAMABAD

s TA f f r e p o r T

Qoumi Watan Party (QWP) Provincial Vice

Dr Faiza Rasheed has termed the U turn of

Imran Khan Niazi from the foreign conspiracy narrative a con fession to the crime In a statement issued here on Tues day, she said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and security institutions were reiterating that no external or internal conspiracy motivated the no confidence motion against Imran Niazi, and were attributing it to his own misdeeds She said when PTI chief and his cronies realised that they were going to be thrown out of the government through the constitutional way, they staged a nefarious drama to defame the nation and the country

5 cops charged with murder, SHO arrested

FAISALABAD s TA f f r e p o r T

The Tandlianwala City Police have registered a case against five policemen including station house officer on murder charge and started investigation after arrest of the SHO A spokesman s a i d h e r e o n Tu e s d a y t h a t C i t y Ta n d l i a n w a l a p o l i c e h a d a r r e s t e d a n a c c u s e d M u h a m m a d I r f a n s o n o f G u l z a r o f M o h a l l a h S h a m s P u r a , i n a n a r c o t i c s c a s e a n d a l l e g e d l y t o r t u r e d h i m t o d e a t h T h e p o l i c e t h r e w h i s b o d y near Tayba Town to hide their crime, and asked a man to call Rescue 15 and inform it about presence of a body The rescue police shifted the body to mortuary of Tehsil Head quarters (THQ) Hospital Tandlianwala for post mortem Receiving information about the incident acting City Police Officer (CPO) Abdullah Ahmad di rected the SP Sadar division to probe the matter and submit a report at the earliest During initial investi gation, SHO Mazharul Haq, head constable Nasir, constables Shahid Naveed Afzal and Walayat were found guilty of custodial death The City Tandlianwala police registered a case against the accused under sec tions 302, 342 and 201 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 155 C of Police Order 2022

P r e s i d e n t D r A r i f A l v i h a s u rg e d t h e need to substantially enhance the vol ume of bilateral trade between Pakistan a n d S e r b i a a n d p r o m o t e b u s i n e s s a n d t r a d e a c t i v i t i e s b e t w e e n t h e t w o c o u n t r i e s t o f u l l y a c h i e v e t h e p o t e n t i a l o f t r a d e a n d e c o n o m i c c o o p e r a t i o n T h e P r e s i d e n t e x p r e s s e d t h e s e v i e w s w h i l e t a l k i n g t o P a k i s t a n ’s A m b a s s a d o r d e s i g n a t e t o S e r b i a , A l i H a i d e r A l t a f , w h o c a l l e d o n h i m , h e r e a t A i w a n e S a d r o n Tu e s d a y

Ta l k i n g t o t h e A m b a s s a d o r d e s i g n a t e , t h e P r e s i d e n t u rg e d h i m t o m a k e e ff o r t s t o e s t a b l i s h b u s i n e s s a n d c o m m e r c i a l l i n k a g e s a n d i n c r e a s e c o o p e r ation with the Chambers of Commerce o f b o t h c o u n t r i e s

He asked the envoy to make efforts f o r i n c r e a s i n g t h e f r e q u e n c y o f b i l a t eral visits between the two countries to e x p l o r e n e w a r e a s o f c o o p e r a t i o n p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t h e f i e l d s o f h i g h e r a n d technical education, Information Tech n o l o g y a n d c u l t u r e

The President said that Pakistan of fered a conducive environment for in v e s t m e n t a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r cooperation between Pakistan and Ser b i a i n t h e f i e l d s o f h y d r o p o w e r, r a i l w a y s c o m m u n i c a t i o n i n d u s t r y a n d commerce, renewable energy and waste m a n a g e m e n t t e c h n o l o g i e s s h o u l d b e explored

He also asked the Ambassador des i g n a t e t o m a k e e ff o r t s f o r o p e n i n g a r e s i d e n t m i s s i o n o f S e r b i a i n I s l a m a b a d , w h i c h w o u l d g r e a t l y f a c i l i t a t e b u s i n e s s e s a n d p e o p l e t o p e o p l e c o n

Militants, who killed Chinese men in Kohistan bus attack

PESHAWAR

An anti terrorism court convicted and sentenced to death two militants for killing 13 people in a suicide attack last year in the upper Kohistan district of Khy ber Pakhtunkhwa, police said Zeeshan Asghar, deputy inspector general (DIG) of Hazara police, told reporters in Abbottabad that Judge Sajjad Ahmed Jan announced the verdict in the high security prison over the weekend, after months of trial

He said the court awarded 13 death sentences to Mohammad Hussain and Mohammad Ayaz for killing nine Chinese engineers, two paramilitary troops and two other locals plus a 10 year prison term for each of the 32 people wounded in the attack

The judge also imposed heavy fines

Hussain and Ayaz were found guilty of orches trating the July 14, 2021 suicide attack on a bus on a mountainous road in the Kohistan region The bus

,

sentenced to death

was carrying Chinese engineers working on the Dasu dam project in the region Nine Chinese were killed and 27 wounded in the attack as the blast toppled the bus into a deep ravine Two Pakistan Army troops es corting the Chinese and two others were also killed

Officials initially believed a gas leak caused the explosion But the Chinese embassy in Islamabad in sisted the bus had been attacked, and Pakistan later found traces of explosives at the site

The court acquitted four other suspects for a lack of sufficient evidence against them Six suspects were still at large

Asghar, the police officer, said a search was on going for the missing suspects and an appeal would be filed against the acquitted four suspects

An attorney for the convicted men was not imme diately available for comment

The northwestern region borders Afghanistan and has long been a scene of tension by war torn country based militants of the Tehreek i Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group

FY 2021-22: Audit reveals huge irregularities in CMCH

LARKANA p p i

The annual audit and inspection report of the Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Larkana for the FY 2021 22 revealed 58 irregularities worth millions of rupees PPI learnt here on Tuesday

The Deputy Director of the Auditor General of Pakistan Department in its letter revealed apart from other irregularities that the record of diet expenditure of Rs22 838 million was not provided for audit scrutiny, hence chances of misappropriation could not be ruled out In another objection the authority further alleged that during scrutiny of accounts record of CMCH office, it was observed that salaries of Rs58 660 million were paid to absconders but they were not mentioned in the working strength list/with out working in the hospital, hence investigation is rec ommended with recovery from the employees

It further revealed that salaries of Rs87 84 million were paid to 46 doctors who were absent from duty for a long time but no action was taken against them de spite communicating to the health secretary The audit further disclosed that during a visit to the Emergency Department, two to three doctors were performing du ties to treat hundreds of patients at a time, and no fe male doctors/house officer was found, while electricity was shut The report further added that an estimated

rent of Rs30 million was outstanding and not recov ered from unauthorized occupants of shops and can teen within hospital premises because shops were given without proper contract agreement and bidding since 2000 It further revealed that quarters were al lotted to various employees and others however elec tricity charges of estimated amount Rs229 20m were neither deducted from their salaries nor effective sys tem prevails for timely installation of separate elec tricity meters and dues There are a total number of 191 bungalows and quarters

Another objection includes that it was observed that various contracts of Rs526 756m were awarded to suppli ers but performance guarantee @ 5% of contract amount of Rs26 33m was not obtained Another objection claimed that GST of Rs9 843m was not deducted Codal formalities were not completed during purchase of equipment of Rs526 607m Advance payment was made for purchase of machinery and equipment of Rs521m but the supplies were not made by the supplier which showed weak finan cial management In para No 18, it has been mentioned that an expenditure of Rs6 201m was incurred on account of purchase of medicines in excess as there was no need to purchase a huge number of medicines resulting in blockage of government funds In para 22, the audit team observed that an expenditure of Rs8 705m was incurred on account of purchase of bulk medicines by own tender through LP instead of following CRC guidelines

FIA summons Faisal Vawda, Murad in Arshad Sharif murder case

ISLAMABAD s TA f f r e p o r T

A f a c t f i n d i n g c o m m i t t e e s e t u p b y t h e F e d e r a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n A g e n c y ( F I A ) t o p r o b e t h e m u r d e r o f s e n i o r j o u r n a l i s t a n d a n c h o r p e r s o n A r s h a d S h a r i f h a s s u m m o n e d t w o p r o m i n e n t m e m b e r s o f t h e P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k e I n s a f ( P T I ) i n c l u d i n g F a i s a l Va w d a a n d M u r a d S a e e d T h e t w o p o l i t i c i a n s h a v e b e e n d i r e c t e d t o a p p e a r b e f o r e t h e c o m m i t t e e o n M o n d a y, N o v e m b e r 2 1 F a i s a l Va w d a w h o s e r v e d a s t h e f e d e r a l m i n i s t e r f o r w a t e r r e s o u r c e s , h a d i n a p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e a t t h e N a t i o n a l P r e s s C l u b i n I s l a m a b a d h a d c l a i m e d h e k n e w w h o w a s b e h i n d t h e a t t a c k a n d t h a t p l a n s t o m u r d e r t h e j o u r n a l i s t h a d b e e n h a t c h e d i n P a k i s t a n S u b s e q u e n t l y, h i s p a r t y m e m b e r s h i p w a s r e v o k e d a f t e r h e p o i n t e d f i n g e r s a t h i s p a r t y M u r a d S a e e d w h o s e r v e d a s t h e f e d e r a l m i n i s t e r f o r c o m m u n i c a t i o n s d u r i n g t h e P T I g o v e r n m e n t , t o h a d m a d e c e r t a i n c l a i m s a b o u t w h o w a s t h r e a t e n i n g A r s h a d S h a r i f w h i c h h a d f o r c e d h i m t o f l e e t h e c o u n t r y T h e F I A s a i d t h a t s i n c e b o t h p o l i t i c i a n s h a d c l a i m e d t o h a v e i n t r i c a t e k n o w l e d g e a b o u t t h e t h r e a t s f a c i n g t h e s l a i n j o u r n a l i s t , i t w a s i m p o r t a n t t h e y p r o v i d e a l l t h e d e t a i l s t h e y k n o w t o t h e a u t h o r i t i e s

PIA launches non-stop flights from Islamabad and Lahore to Istanbul

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has launched di rect flights to Istanbul from Islamabad and Lahore, the operator of Istanbul Airport said on Monday The pas sengers of the flag carrier will be able to travel to 28 destinations in Turkish Airlines’ network thanks to the expansion of the codeshare deal between the two car riers, Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA), the operator, said The first flight has departed from Lahore for Istanbul The PIA will offer Islamabad Istanbul flights four days a week and from Lahore twice a week Istanbul Airport is expected to welcome additional 150,000 passengers of the PIA Kadri Samsunlu CEO of IGA said: “We are pleased with Pakistan International Air lines Islamabad and Lahore flights, which will boost tourism between the two countries and provide Pak istani travelers with connections to nearly 300 destina tions worldwide from a major hub like Istanbul ” Amir Hayat, CEO of PIA, said Türkiye is Pakistan s natural ally and it was the right time for the strong fraternal bond between the two countries to turn into a fruitful commercial aviation relationship

MIRPUR (AJK)

Z A D Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister

Mahmood Chaudhry while denouncing the Indian defense Minister ’s recent threaten ing statement, has warned the enemy that any aggression against AJK or misadventure by India would be responded to in the same manner

t a c t s T h e P r e s i d e n t c o n g r a t u l a t e d A l i H a i d e r A l t a f o n h i s a p p o i n t m e n t a s P a k i s t a n s A m b a s s a d o r d e s i g n a t e t o Serbia and expressed the hope that he

w o u l d a c c e l e r a t e t h e P a k i s t a n i m i s sion’s efforts to further improve bilat e r a l t i e s b e t w e e n t h e t w o f r i e n d l y countries

Chairman

PTI chief

KARACHI A n A d o l u Ag e n c y

C O P 2 7 m u s t P u t P E O P L E at h E a r t

O f i t s a G E n d a : s h E r r y r E h m a n

PE O P l E and their lives par

ticularly vulnerable commu nities, must be at the heart of COP27, along with the will to put them back on their feet as they face the accelerated impacts of climate stress The loss and Damage agenda must be taken forward with clear political will said Senator Sherry Rehman, Federal Minister for Climate Change at COP27

“This COP has been advertised as the ‘Implementation COP’ and often billed as one that will put Adaptation at its core, but while we seek to find common ground on shared challenges including a commitment to announced pledges and NDCs, we are yet to see the momentum to move forward on the business of saving ourselves from the uncertain post 1 5C degree future,” she remarked in a news release

The Minister was speaking at the high level loss and Damage plenary, where she said that the Global South has high expectations for the creation and announcement of a loss & Dam age Facility from this COP We are still committed to all the goals of this

COP despite emitting less than 1% GHG globally, but we have expecta tions from the members of the UN FCCC We have articulated our concerns at every step, and as we come close to the finishing line, there is a concern that if we don t see a window or a facility that indicates a commit ment towards repairing loss and dam ages, then it is going to be the ‘other 1%’ that will suffer and fail their vul nerable populations she stated

The Minister also highlighted that vulnerable countries under extreme public debt cannot be left alone to deal with the impact of climate change, and

Passenger plane skids off runway during landing in Peshawar

ISLAMABAD X i n h ua

A passenger plane slipped off the runway while landing in Peshawar on Monday, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said The flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was coming from the Saudi port city of Jeddah city when the accident took place at Bacha Khan International Airport, Saifullah Khan, a spokesperson for the agency, told Xinhua He said that it was a minor accident, as all passengers and crew were safe The incident caused a temporary disruption of flight operations at the airport until the plane was cleared from the runway, he said, adding that two flights were diverted to Islamabad during the disruption of the operation Sources at the airport told Xinhua that heavy rains that made the runway slippery caused the accident

ECP begins scrutiny of nomination papers for LG elections

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has started scrutiny of nomination papers for local government elections on specific seats of union councils municipal committees and corporations in 32 districts of Balochistan The scrutiny process will be completed by Thursday while polling will be held on the 14th of December According to the preliminary list of candidates, 3,263 nomination papers have been received for 2,082 reserved seats for women, 1,820 nomination papers for 902 seats for farmers, 1,807 nomination papers for 902 seats for workers and 316 nomination papers have been received for 902 seats reserved for minority communities

the global financial system must be rewired to address these new existen tial challenges “We are also told that until 2030 the cost of surviving the impacts of loss and damage which our emissions haven’t caused is going to cost us US$348bn I under stand that no country has that kind of resources to unlock, but Pakistan shouldn’t be told to go to private in vestments and make attractive business plans; that s not going to be enough There must be a transformational deci sion here, especially about the political and financial system and how it will serve the countries that are extremely

indebted We need to talk about how we can stay alive, and about what com mitments come out of this COP27 she said The Minister held a meeting with the Turkish Minister for Environ ment, Murat Kurum

Kurum expressed condolences for the lives lost in the tragic flood in Pak istan and promised support in relief and reconstruction efforts Minister Rehman thanked the Turkish counter part and expressed her gratitude for the technical support Turkey has extended to Pakistan for disaster management and housing reconstruction She also told her counterpart about Pakistan s stance at COP27 and shared Pakistan’s position for an announcement of a loss and Damage Finance facility

The Federal Minister also visited the European Union Pavilion on their invitation to meet with the delegation of EU Parliamentarians and share Pak istan s concerns

The Pakistan Pavilion also hosted ARUP, a global engineering company, which generated discussions on sustain able rebuilding for critical infrastructure lost through the floods this summer Other panels focused on gendering re covery from climate trauma as well as Pakistan’s energy transition plans

corporate corner anf seizes 7 32.385kg drugs, 186 litres of hCL

I s l a m a b a d: Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) Pakistan seized 732 385 Kg drugs, 186 liters hydrochloric acid worth US$ 13 063 million internationally and arrested 23 persons including a foreigner and impounded eight vehicles while conducting 30 counter narcotics operations throughout the country The seized drugs comprised 2 213 Kg Opium, 7 599 Kg Heroin, 718 850 Kg Hashish, 2 173 Kg Methamphetamine (Ice),1 550 Kg Marijuana and 186 x Liters Hydrochloric Acid(HCL) ANF Balochistan recovered 434 500 Kg drugs & 186 Liters Hydrochloric Acid(HCL) in 7 operations, arrested 5 persons in drug smuggling while seized 2 vehicles (HCL) ANF KPK recovered 232 17 Kg drugs in 8 operations while 2 personsincluding 1 foreigner arrested in drug trafficking and seized 1 vehicle The seizeddrugs comprised 0 255 Kg Heroin and 231 915 Kg Hashish ANF Sindh recovered 55 75 Kg drugs in 5 operations while 7 personsarrested in drug smuggling and seized 4 vehicles All cases have been registered at respective ANF Police Stations under CNSAct 1997 (Amended 2022) and further investigations are under process pR

fBr maximizing tax compliance in countr y

I s l a m a b a d: On the directives SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha and FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad, Member Public Relations Sardar Ali Khawja visited various large organizations in Lahore to highlight the importance of filing tax returns before the extended due date of November 30, 2022 Continuing with FBR’s intensive drive to maximise tax compliance among eligible taxpayers across the country, Member PR met senior officials of, among others, GEPCO, SNGPL, PARCO, Bank of Punjab, Pepsi Co International Coca Cola International JDW Sugar Mills Almoiz Industries, Nestle Pakistan and MCB During his meetings, he highlighted the significance of filing returns by the eligible entities as well as by the employees of those organizations Member PR also visited the head offices of Allied Bank and LESCO Later, Member PR also visited Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) pR

Varsities’ research must spur progress: UoG VC minister criticises imran for ‘compromising’ foreign policy

The University of Gujrat vice chancellor has underscored the need for all ongoing research at national universities to carry the potential of resolving various issues the country faced with and spur further progress and development Prof Dr Shabbar Atiq expressed the views while chairing the 16th meeting of the Advanced Studies & Research Board (AS&RB) at Hafiz Hayat Campus on Tuesday The AS&RB is responsible for guid ing and facilitating the students in their academic and research activities by devising strategies

for MPhil and PhD programs of higher education

“The quality of the aca demic and scientific research activities must be improved The benefits of the research at the universities must trickle down to our industrial work ers,” Dr Shabbar Atiq said

The vice chancellor said that a research project is worth spending time and effort on if it has the potential to spur the country’s progress and develop ment He emphasized the need for maintaining the quality of MPhil and PhD programs

The proceedings began with the approval of the recom mendations and agenda pre

sented in the previous meeting Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Mushahid Anwar presented the agenda of the meeting as Director AS&RB The members presented useful suggestions for improving the ongoing MPhil and PhD pro grams in various departments Prof Dr Muhammad Faheem Malik, Dean Prof Dr Shahid Iqbal, Dean Prof Dr Faisal Mah mood Mirza, Dean Prof Dr Zahid Yusuf, Director ORIC Dr Audil Rashid, Director QEC Dr Rashid Saeed Dr Atif Jafari and others board members of affiliated col leges Dr Shahid Saeed Qureshi, Dr Noor Zaman and Dr Adnan Adil attended the meeting

In meeting with Zong CEO, Haque vows to launch 5G technology next year

Federal Minister for IT and Telecom munication Syed Aminul Haque Tues day vowed to launch 5G technology in the country next year

The minister expressed these views while talking to Wang Hua, the CEO of Zong who called on him in his office

Matters related to spectrum, 5G technology connectivity and the pro vision of quality telecom services were

also discussed during the meeting Additional Secretary (Incharge) Ministry of IT and Telecommunication Mohsin Mushtaq was also present in the meeting The Minister said that the provision of broadband services across the country was the topmost priority of the Ministry of IT

He urged the telecom sector to up grade its infrastructure to provide qual ity services to the masses, saying that every possible step is being taken to re solve issues of cellular mobile opera tors

FCCU hosts workshop on application of groundwater treatment tech

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Department of Environmental Sciences, Forman Christian College (A Chartered Uni versity), hosted a two day workshop on 9th and 10th November 2022 at FCCU for its r e c e n t p r o j e c t e n t i t l e d “ S c i e n t i f i c a n d s u s t a i n a b l e a p p l i c a t i o n o f g r o u n d w a t e r t r e a t m e n t t e c h n o l o g y f o r s a f e d r i n k i n g w a t e r supply in Punjab, Pakistan” This project is funded by the Government of Korea under Official Development Assistance (ODA) to t h e G o v e r n m e n t o f P a k i s t a n t h r o u g h E c o nomic Affairs Division and Ministry of Sci ence and Technology, Pakistan This project

received a funding of 1 2 million USD for a period of three years from Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and Korean In tellectual Property Office (KIPO) For this project, FCCU is the main implementing in s t i t u t e i n P a k i s t a n i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h

Dankook University (DKU), South Korea

This is a first of a kind of flagship project on water treatment technology awarded to a private university with a focus on research and field applications of developed technology to serve the marginalized communities The project aims to contribute to the health of Pak istani people from areas which are the worst affected in terms of contamination and lack of safe drinking water supply system Especially

marginalized communities of the Punjab will be benefited from this project by provisioning of safe drinking water and it will be instru mental in achieving agenda 2030 and SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation

K o r e a n d e l e g a t i o n c o m p r i s e d o f s i x people and Korean Ambassador Mr Sang pyo Suh joined this event Around 230 par ticipants including researchers students and i n d i v i d u a l s f r o m p u b l i c p r i v a t e o rg a n i s a t i o n s r e g i s t e r e d f o r t h e e v e n t H e a d o f t h e

Department of Environmental Sciences Dr D e r k B a k k e r i n a u g u r a t e d t h e e v e n t f o l l o w e d b y a n M o U S i g n i n g c e r e m o n y b e t w e e n F C C U a n d D a n k o o k U n i v e r s i t y (DKU), South Korea

However,

SHARM EL SHEIKH S ta f f R e p o R t

GUJRAT

ISLAMABAD

Qamar Zaman Kaira, advisor to the prime minister on Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan Tuesday castigated the former government of Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for “ruining” Pakistan’s foreign policy during its tenure and isolating the country on the international stage Speaking to a TV station, Kaira said Khan did nothing for the country in both domestic and foreign arenas and in fact has damaged Pakistan’s relations with the United States for no reason

the government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was trying its best to restore its ties with the United States The minister claimed Khan played with the destiny and dignity of the country and nation by pointing fingers at Washington with whom Pakistan had a historic relationship “Khan only wants to return to power,” he said, adding that his party’s leaders are “scared of his confused policies ”

LAHORE

E x i t J o y

nO one can say they didn’t see it coming, the ban on the Pakistani film Joyland But the signing off on its exhibition by three censor boards had suddenly given some cinema goers a bit of false hope The mirage, as it were, is gone now, and we are left with the stark realities of cultural expression in the country pulled back into focus

For a brief moment, the way a Pakistani bowling pace attack tears through those first couple of wickets and fans temporarily suspend disbelief in their minds and think their depressingly low total is, indeed, defendable, Pakistani film goers had some hope kindled by Joyland and the mark it just might finally leave on the global scene, bagging arguably the biggest accolade in film, the Oscar after all, it got rave reviews at Cannes and other reputed film festivals, and was Pakistan’s official entry for the Oscar awards for best foreign film and it was getting raving reviews in the press What was going to stop its fair fight to be first nominated for best foreign film, and then, maybe even clinch the award itself?

Well, there’s that little technicality requiring films in the category having been exhibited in the country for at least one week With the ban on the movie, all academy award dreams have flown out the window

The real tragedy moves beyond merely missing an award Those, we can have many more chances at The tragedy is how a mob, basically, can stop a form of cultural expression not even a mob, but a group of individuals threatening to bring out a mob Three censor boards Sindh, Punjab and islamabad whose job it was to see the movie and clear it, saw it and cleared it The people asking for the ban haven’t even seen the movie and, therefore, don’t even know what they are protesting, really

The focal point of the tragedy at the moment is the hapless transgender community, which has been told that they cannot be represented on screen as anything other than the butt of crass slapstick jokes That fleshed out, realistic portrayals aren t something that they deserve

But does anyone deserve those in this state that even hates stories?

The Pundits got it wrong

Dr JAmeS J ZOGby

MU c H ink has been spilled before and since the US midterm elections, with most of it missing the mark Pundits who had unrealistic expectations re garding the outcome are now reacting in shock (or horror or delight depending on their po litical persuasion) as their projections have been found wanting

For example those who forecast a “big red wave” are left to explain why it didn’t materialize never sat isfied with simply being wrong, there are those who are now breathing a sigh of relief and incorrectly as suming that the closeness of this election means that the US electorate is moving away from the polariza tion that has come to characterize our polity

Republican majority (which might still swing a bit ei ther way when the final votes are counted) The Sen ate is no different it now appears likely that the current 50 50 split between the parties will continue into the next congress another area where the pundits are wrong is in their assessment of the fading power of Donald Trump Before Election Day commentators mistak enly framed the contest as a nationalized popularity contest between President Biden and former President Trump While it was true that Trump had a hand in advancing some of his favoured Republican candi dates, midterm elections are mostly localized contests So while some Trump acolytes lost against more pop ular Democrats, it’s a stretch to see the outcome as a definitive referendum on the former president in the wake of the elec tion, there is a virtual media frenzy portraying Trump as the big loser and a drag on his party There are reports of other Republicans feeling emboldened to challenge the wounded leader in 2024 For some in the media, it’s a done deal Trump is out, replaced by a new “flavor of the month ”

A Niazi Joint Editor

Editor

They are wrong There never was going to be a “big wave,” and we remain as deeply divided as ever as i wrote a few weeks back this election was always going to be a “nail biter” with the outcome never as sured Even before votes were cast, it should have been clear that the needle separating the gap between the two parties in congress would move centimetres, not metres Here’s why: as a result of a decennial re districting process favouring them Republicans ap peared certain to pick up a few new seats They were counting on the public’s sour mood over inflation and high disapproval ratings for President Biden to give them an extra advantage in winning additional seats But there were limits to how far they could grow their numbers because of the 435 congressional seats that were being contested, only about 10% were competi tive The remaining 90% were solidly either Demo cratic or Republican With Democrats holding a slim eight seat majority in the House of Representatives, it was reasonable to assume that Republicans might take control of the congress but unreasonable to as sume a landslide Even now, days after the election, at least 21 congressional seats remain “too close to call with the networks projecting a possible 221 214

Once again, caution is advised it’s important to re call how many times Trump was declared finished in 2015 6 Each time there was a new scandal or an embar rassing debate performance, the press declared his candi dacy dead There were ru mours as late as the Republican convention that the party leadership would try to end his candidacy al though he is a deeply flawed human being, his hold over a substantial component of the Republican constituency re mains strong and should Trump decide to run again, the party establishment will quietly gripe, fuss, and fume, but they ll avoid alienating Trump’s fervent base One last observation about how some got this election so wrong: The defeat of some Trump loyal ists and the closeness of the final results do not mean that americans are coming together in fact, as the exit polls make clear the country remains as deeply polarized as ever it’s just evenly divided between two warring camps Democrats voted for their party s candidates Re publicans for theirs independent voters split down the middle Democrats give Joe Biden high ratings, Republicans don t Republicans give high ratings to Donald Trump, Democrats don’t Similarly, partisans on each side have deeply unfavourable views of the

tance and need of that decision for the state

group, or community wants to go after tar gets achieve goals and succeed in life by taking the right steps For them, the right step is a step forward in doing so, they for get the importance and need of stopping tak ing a step back, and then starting again in our pursuit of goals and targets, we get so anxious and overcommitted that we forget the power of thinking and taking the right step at the right time

Ta k i n g a step back is not always a step in the backward direction but sometimes it can be a step in the right direction a step in the right direction does not always mean a step in the forward direction given the con ditions and circumstances a backward step could be a life saving step a positive step and a step in the right direction

For example a person moving towards a destination is about to be hit by a car on the road but suddenly he realizes the situa tion analyzes the threat and takes a step or two back, and saves his life He might have taken backward steps but only to save his life to move again

The same person could have miscalcu lated the gravity of the threat and continued moving and got hit by the car He might have lost his life or could have damaged his chances of moving again on his feet toward the destination

This applies to all life events, circum stances, and situations Every individual,

Pakistan is going through a severe insta bility crisis for the previous six or seven months and the crisis has only grown with time The dilemma of all the stakeholders in volved is that none of them is taking a step back and the worst part is that they are not think ing about it This is when m i s c a l c u l a t i o n s happen and result in bigger losses amid as for the intensity and grav ity of the matter, a stage was reached where it would have been consid ered a defeat for the side who would have acceded to the demand of others not taking into ac count the impor

The Long March that was temporarily discontinued after the assassination attempt on imran khan, began on november 10 Meanwhile the time in between presented a small opportunity to all the stakeholders to find a solution to the current conundrum it would have been a win win situation for all as no one would have lost Had the solution been sorted out, it would have given rise to a sigh of relief from the people of Pakistan

The current turmoil is far more severe and tense than the earlier ones with a lot at stake for Pakistan and its people

The situation can get out of hand very quickly be cause PTi support ers are more agitated and charged than ever after the life at tempt on imran khan and the gov ernment is not will ing to take a step back either

The solution to even the most diffi cult problems can be found on the table But for that at least all the stakeholders need to sit and try to find a solution

moving forward If Republicans do win control of the House, they will be unable to restrain themselves. There will be investigations of the President and his family, maybe even a move toward impeachment, and government shutdowns owing to their refusal to pass budget extensions

“other side ” and their views on issues like abor tion climate change immi gration, gun control, and racism are mirror images of each other not only didn’t this election ease the polariza tion it accelerated it Both parties and their related in terest group political com mittees spent an unprecedented $10 billion in TV and digital advertising during this campaign There were no positive messages of healing and national unity Many of the ads fo cused on attacks against the other party’s candidates and projections of negative doomsday scenarios if that other party should win This incessant polluting of the political discourse has been corrosive a few examples: 60 percent of Republicans still believe that Biden didn’t win the election and is an illegitimate president and in just the first 10 months of 2022, there have already been 9 625 recorded threats against members of congress Because we still don t know what the final outcome of this election will be, it’s hard to make projections moving forward if Re publicans do win control of the House they will be unable to restrain themselves There will be investi gations of the President and his family, maybe even a move toward impeachment and government shut downs owing to their refusal to pass budget exten sions all of this will only deepen the polarization, making the next two years both difficult and divided

The fundamental changes in any work ing system can be brought peacefully and ef ficiently by finding discrepancies and analyzing them exploring the benefits of changes, and the agreement of all the parties involved for the changes it can only happen with the realization of the need for change

The question of modifications and amendments in the running of democracy in Pakistan can only be addressed if there is a realization among the stakeholders that evo lution and change are necessary Unless that happens every attempt is bound to fail and this transition should be peaceful as it does not require any violence in fact, anarchy and violence can be prevented in the future if there is an agreement among the stake holders for the changes

Pakistan needs a solution now it cannot afford further polarization The current mess will go out of hand if not controlled now

Politicians are nothing without people institutions are nothing without people and,

make

both politicians and institutions are nothing without the state

People coming against the institutions and losing trust in them and institutions los ing their credibility and support will only harm Pakistan in the future Having fought extremism and terrorism for years we should not let polarization destabilize Pak istan further

Elections are not that far away Pakistan will ultimately get elections, if not now then in the next year But the question is should Pakistan be destabilized in this case when elections are not that far away?

Pakistan’s current economic situation needs political stability it needs a capable government with a mandate to take effective steps it is time all the stakeholders take a step back and take the country out of the tur moil it will not be a backward step rather it will be a step in the right direction

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

Pakistan’s current economic situation needs political stability It needs a capable government with a mandate to take effective steps. It is time all the stakeholders take a step back and take the country out of the turmoil

Because we still don’t know what the final outcome of this election will be, it’s hard to

projections

WASHINGTON WATCH

Yousaf Nizami Editor

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

M

Umar Aziz Executive

Aziz ud Din Ahmad Joint Editor

Role of Bangladesh-Myanmar defence diplomacy in solving crises

diplomacy, the Bangladesh government has taken a step forward in solving the border and Rohingya crisis through successful military diplomatic activities iT must be of no surprise that in special circumstances, a country’s mili tary diplomacy plays an instrumental role in managing foreign relations

Relations between the two countries are now at a chilly level, with rounds of talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar surrounding the Ro hingya crisis and Myanmar ’s last minute bungling of repatriation in such a context, Bangladesh is looking for a possible solution to this crisis in military diplomacy

Just like political diplomacy, military diplo macy has had positive discussions with Myan mar ’s military leadership to resolve the Rohingya crisis, and in terms of defense coop eration, the relationship between the two coun tries will accelerate and strengthen mutual trust with this friendly country

TH E R E had always been tension along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar along the 271 kilometer sea and land boundary between the two nations, the two have a history of conflict For instance a border battle with the Myanmar military in 1978 necessitated the de ployment of Bangladeshi troops along the bor der When Myanmar sent out its naval ships to place a korean drilling rig in Bangladesh’s ex clusive economic zone close to St Martin’s is land in 2008 Bangladesh too came dangerously close to having a maritime conflict But the cur rent issue really began in 2017 with the exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar

The entire world is aware that in 2017, more than a million Rohingya refugees sought safety in Bangladesh These refugees have been hosted by Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds To maintain regional stability, the Rohingya refugee situation must be solved

Bangladesh is under great pressure due to the current Rohingya crisis in dealing with this crisis the country has had to face and continues to face, some new diplomatic realities it sud denly discovered that some of its long time friends were no longer with it it has largely failed to achieve the expected results by apply ing traditional diplomatic methods to resolve the crisis Therefore, there is a need for new thinking in the successful application of the various meth ods of modern diplomacy Such as economic diplomacy, military diplomacy, or cultural diplo macy Military diplomacy is a special strategy among the strategies used by various countries to protect the country s interests and strengthen the state’s diplomatic position in the interna tional arena, and both its influence and applica tion in the current world are increasing

What did Bangladesh do at that time? First and foremost, Bangladesh found a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the tension it currently ex perienced at the border with Myanmar There has never been any notion that it can resolve the issue through violence or armed war But diplo matic action alone is insufficient it must be supported by deterrents because de terrents are what give diplomatic actions bite Some international experts have also contended that the military balances are likely skewed in favor of Myanmar, making it challenging for us to demonstrate an effective level of deterrence How ever, Bangladesh made an effort to make sure that its diplomatic actions have a solid foundation in an effort to deliver protest notes to the Myanmar ambassador, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry has so far used diplomatic channels it hasn’t changed anything in addition to civilian

The Bangladesh army and border guard have seen success in military diplomacy before in May 2014, the Border guard Bangladesh (BgB) member naik Mizanur Rahman was killed in firing by Myanmar ’s Border guard Po lice (BgP), causing intense tension on the border between the two countries

Later on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the then BgB Director general took the initiative to develop bilateral relations with the BgP in June of that year he led an eighjt member Bangladesh delegation to a meet ing of the BgB and Myanmar Police Force (MPF) chiefs in Myanmar s capital nay Pyi Taw

This was the BgB’s first meeting with the MPF The meeting was considered as a mile stone in the development of the border forces of the two countries BgB and BgP worked to gether for a long time by accepting the land bor der agreement during the visit of the then BgB Director general

This brings relief to Bangladesh’s 261 km border with Myanmar Based on that meeting Myanmar then expressed good neighbourly be havior with Bangladesh a Myanmar military commander visited Bangladesh and met its army chief in Dhaka in an apparent attempt to improve relations and boost regional security on October 27 according to an iSPR statement, the Myan mar military’s special operation commander, Lt gen Phone Myat explained the situation in Myan mar and how the junta was trying to maintain law and order while working with friendly countries The statement said Bangladesh army chief dis cussed improving military relations, discussions between commanders and training exchanges

Bangladesh cOaS gen Shafiuddin ahmed called for Myanmar to work with Bangladesh to ensure regional security and the rapid repatria tion of the Rohingya community Myanmar s delegation expressed interest in cooperating in professional growth and training exchanges, in creasing friendship and solving problems bilat erally, the statement said general Shafiuddin stated in September that Bangladesh s armed forces were prepared to act if Myanmar ’s troops continued to fire across the border while pursuing the arakan army He claimed that he complained strongly to his coun terpart in Myanmar about the shelling gunfire and interference with jet and drone flights that resulted in the death of a Rohingya refugee and injuries to others in the Bandarban district

Tatmadaw, the military of Myanmar, has been engaged in combat with the aa in northern Rakhine State close to the Bangladeshi border Since august, Bangladesh has complained to the

international community about fighter jet and drone flights over its territory as well as mortar and machine gun rounds that cross the border Mohammad ikbal, a 17 year old Rohingya teenager, was killed by at least three mortar rounds launched into Bangladesh on September 16 Six other people were also hurt The visit was welcomed and is a great development a battalion level flag meeting between BRB and BgP decided to improve bilateral relations be tween the two countries while the Myanmar side regretted the recent incidents of shelling along the Bangladesh Myanmar border The meeting stressed the need to take necessary steps to boost commu nication, confidence, and trust between the border guarding forces of the two friendly countries although it has a long history military diplomacy is currently being addressed in sev eral nations The Rohingya issue and the most recent border dispute have a negative impact on the peace, security, and stability of the region Regional peace and security will be threatened by the Rohingya repatriation’s delay Military in fluence and diplomacy may play a decisive role in ending the Rohingya crisis

additionally given that Myanmar is cur rently governed by a military government, the military s position will be able to strengthen bi lateral ties The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry can therefore develop plans and measures to end the Rohingya issue with this goal in mind The solution to the border conflict between Bangladesh and Myanmar lies in multilateral diplomacy Strengthening military diplomacy is necessary in this regard although Bangladesh and Myanmar share a border of 271 km, the Rohingya refugee crisis has been a long standing bilateral issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh But in order to assist in resolving this regional humanitarian crisis, both involved parties must participate in mean ingful political dialogue To establish a long last ing political solution, Myanmar and Bangladesh could use military diplomacy as a tactic

Basically, there should be regular exchanges of visits, training sessions, and joint exercises between the military forces of Bangladesh and Myanmar These will lessen mistrust while boosting assurance and comprehension addi tionally this may assist in resolving the region s ongoing Rohingya refugee problem

Bangladesh and Myanmar must forge mili tary diplomatic ties in order to successfully han dle the Rohingya repatriation process The Rohingya situation might be resolved with the use of military diplomacy and clout The military role will be able to promote bilateral relations be cause Myanmar is governed by a military regime

Military diplomatic communication is an ef fective strategy in strengthening relations with neighboring states as Myanmar is Bangladesh’s only neighbouring country after india, its strate gic importance is undeniable for Bangladesh it has tried all kinds of bilateral and multilateral ef forts to deal with the ongoing Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, but so far, no promising results have been achieved

The influence of the military on state power in Myanmar is immense apart from that the current Rohingya crisis falls within the ambit of the army as a result, any move to deal with the crisis without involving the country’s army is bound to fail Had there already been a close professional relationship between the Bangladesh and Myanmar armies that relation ship could have been put to good use in de es calating the current crisis\

The writer is a freelance columnist

Better parenting

nEgLEcTED parenting is an essential factor that explains the transformation of an innocent child into a grown up of debatable character and low intellect This is true even in the most privileged sections of our society The state juggling with the plethora of problems must realise that a neglected child today is a disturbed adult tomorrow and indeed a neglected wrongly parented child of yesterday is the rude, irrational adult of today From the political domain to the social spectrum, is it too hard for us to see uncouth louts roaming the streets of Pakistan and lording over social media?

The gruesome fate Sarah inam met recently, just a year after the gory episode involving noor Mukadam, is an indication confirmation, actually that the chronic wound is beginning to rot We need to raise better children Period it is time to ask ourselves if we are raising our children as we should The quality of parenting available to our children needs a serious assessment Trends, traditions, societal pressures and social customs in society remain unchecked in most households indeed, there are households that encourage such consequent tendencies, thereby producing potentially unbalanced characters

according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly three in four children, or 300 million children aged 2 4 years, regularly suffer maltreatment around the globe What we see in men in our society is the manifestation of the treatment these men have been subjected to as a child; only the manifestation is sometimes exacerbated due to personal inclinations and, of course, the lack of the rule of law

Studies show that more than 78 per cent prisoners have actually had abused childhoods in Pakistan, with no training for the parents, children face sheer neglect and are subjected to severe corporal punishments and humiliation that surface in a negative shape in their adulthood a 25 year old Business graduate, who still finds it hard to sleep alone in a room as she recalls her childhood traumas, once recalled that every time she made a mistake her father would lock her in the room for the whole night growing up with the constant fear of getting locked up and feeling suffocated, her childhood traumas have silently qualified her future roles in various capacities With no one to go to for help and suffering continuously and in silence, such children grow into emotionally unbalanced adults and try to avenge the very society which failed them as a child another student a boy all of 22 years finds it hard to have an eye contact with elders Beaten into a pulp, the boy relived the memories of the torture he endured as a child in a conservative, closed and vastly illiterate society matters take a grave turn when children are treated badly by their very own parents, either because the parents are not qualified enough, or are also suffering from depression and anxiety it is time we started taking care of the root causes; mere politically motivated cosmetic antidotes might make us look better on the surface, but they will not halt the internal rot and degeneration which is at the core of society if we don’t take that route, the wounds will keep spitting blood out on our faces from time to time

MUHAMMD ALI FALAK TEXAS, USA

Rising crimes in Hub

R E S E a R c H suggests that small towns and suburbs have a lower crime rate compared to big cities That may be so, but what about the small cities that happen to be in close proximity to cosmopolitan centres? Say Hub? The crime rate, i say, is good enough to give karachi a run for its money

Hub is the industrial city of Lasbela district in Balochistan, while karachi is the world s 7th largest and Pakistan s most densely populated city, which is the capital city of Sindh But the two cities are pretty much neighbours in terms of geographical distance

With a population of 0 2 million, Hub has been experiencing a high crime rate because of multiple reasons and one of the factors can safely be related to its proximity to karachi Hub is used as a safe haven for many an absconding criminal from karachi Once they feel settled with the help of the local gangsters, they start their criminal activities in Hub

Since the crime rate went through the roof in the metropolis, it was a matter of time before Hub was to feel the impact Today, motorcycle snatching is at its peak, while mugging incidents are frequent enough to rival the rate in karachi in both cases, there is no end in sight Since Hub has recently been notified as a new district, the provincial government would do well to reshape the policing system to curb the increasing crime rate in the city

TANIA ROONJHO HUB

Unsettling settlers

T H E case of amiram Ben Uliel is not a one off incident a Jewish settler, he has recently been convicted of firebombing a Palestinian family s home in the West Bank back in 2015 which killed a baby and his parents, and severely wounded a four year old boy This is but an unfortunate reality of life in the occupied areas

The Jewish state was formed by European settlers who have no right to be in the arabian peninsula Theodor Herzl, an austro Hungarian, David Ben gurion from Poland and many more were all settlers who came from Europe it is interesting to note how Hungary today does not want any people of colour in their country, yet they support the complete settling down process of the whites in the middle of a brown region This is hypocrisy at its best By sentencing Uliel, the occupiers have been trying to show that the government has distanced itself from the settlers, apparently trying to portray as if the settlers are the problem not the state it wants to show to the world that israel is doing everything to stop violence carried out by the settlers

The fact is that the settlers are protected by the state and are led to places to carry out violence against the native Palestinians The occupation army provides full protection to the settlers as they carry out such attacks about 475 000 Jewish settlers have occupied Palestinian lands there because the state wants them there There are Jews who refuse to serve in the occupation army, and want Palestine to be given back to the Palestinians These Jews like the Palestinians are harassed too and at times beaten up because they challenge the occupiers

This year, many Palestinians have lost their lives, while many have been imprisoned for no reason The settlers are not welcomed in the arabian peninsula The sooner they return to where they come from, the better it will be for them and for the world peace at large

ANGABEEN AHMAD KARACHI

moderniSaTion

n“O man ever steps in the same river twice said heraclitus the ancient Greek philosopher, in explaining the unity of opposites The notion of mod ernisation serves a perfect argument in this regard: all nations share a common vision for mod ernisation, but have to follow different pathways to achieve it Learning from lessons and experience of other modernised nations notwithstanding, China, as a country unique in population, culture, history, social system and many other senses cannot simply transplant any others paradigm, but has to set the criteria and fix the road map that suit but only its own case

Based on exploration and practice since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in particular the breakthroughs in theory and practice since 2012 when socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the country to blaze an indigenous trail to achieve modernisation, which is for the first time comprehensively expounded by the newly concluded 20th National Congress of the CPC It contains elements common to the modernisation processes of all countries, but is characterised by features unique to the Chinese context

First, it is the modernisation of a huge population China is working to achieve modernisation for more than 1 4 billion people, a number larger than the combined population of all developed countries in the world today This is a task of unparalleled difficulty and complexity that inevitably labels our pathways of development and methods of advancement with uniqueness

Second, it is the modernisation of common prosper ity for all Achieving common prosperity is a defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and in volves a long historical process The immutable goal of our modernisation drive is to meet the people’s aspira tions for a better life We will endeavour to maintain and promote social fairness and justice, bring prosperity to all, and prevent polarisation

Third, it is the modernisation of material and cultural ethical advancement Material want is not socialism, nor is cultural impoverishment China inherited a splendid cultural heritage brewed throughout its history lasting for millennia thus is naturally entitled to the right of well rounded development in both material and cultural ethi cal terms By advancing its culture in a socialist way, China will create a new form of human advancement

Fourth, it is the modernisation of harmony between humanity and nature China is committed to sustainable development and to the principles of conserving and pre serving resources, protecting the environment and letting nature restore itself The country will continue to pursue a model of sound development featuring improved pro duction, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems to ensure sustainable development

With utmost importance it is the modernisation of peaceful development In pursuing modernisation, China will not tread the old path of war, colonisation, and plun der taken by some countries That brutal and blood stained path of enrichment at the expense of others caused great suffering for the people of developing coun tries In the course of its peaceful rise China pledges to

stand firmly on the right side of history for world peace, joint development and human progress

To realise the aforementioned visions, the congress re emphasises a two step strategic plan From 2020 through 2035, China will significantly increase its com posite national strength, substantially grow the per capita GDP to be on par with that of a mid level developed country, and basically realise socialist modernisation Then from 2035 through the middle of this century, China will become a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful, leading the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence

The five years ahead will be crucial for China getting our efforts to a good start, whereas the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change in which strategic opportunities, risks, and challenges are concurrent, and uncertainties and unforeseen factors are rising To guar antee the achievement of Chinese modernisation it is es sential for China to uphold and strengthen the overall leadership by the CPC, and to keep following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics We will apply a people centred development philosophy, and remain committed to reform and opening up Meanwhile, to meet obstacles and difficulties head on China needs to carry forward a fighting spirit While pursuing modernisation on our own path, we also observe with admiration that Bangladesh spends no effort in exploring its own way towards modernisa tion Under the able leadership of the honourable Prime Minister Sheikh hasina and with joint efforts of all

Bangladeshi people, the country has grown from a boat to a cruise It is now the second largest economy in South Asia, and is expected to become the ninth largest consumer market within a decade Bangladesh has im pressed the world by its steady and fast growth A bright and promising future lies ahead of the pearl of the Bay of Bengal

As Chinese President Xi says the dream of Sonar Bangla well connects with the Chinese dream of rejuve nation At operational level, Bangladesh s development strategies such as the Vision 2041 perspective plan are synergising closely with the Belt and Road Initiative More opportunities of cooperation on achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being ex plored by us both, under the Global Development Initia tive It is my deep belief that, in our respective but joint struggles in pursuing modernisation and realising na tional dreams, China and Bangladesh would work as the closest friends and sincerest partners to promote the hu manity’s shared values of peace development fairness justice, democracy, and freedom, to address global chal lenges and to continue building a community with a shared future for mankind

HE Li Jiming is the ambassador of China to Bangladesh

iran protests: What is the endgame? The

h e most positive aspect of Monday’s talks between US president Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is that they took place at all Relations between the world s two largest economies have been going downhill with alarming speed; according to some reports, Chinese officials were recently stonewalling over preparations for a meeting between the two men on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali But the world has already seen tensions over Ukraine erupt into a full blown invasion by Russia’s Vladimir Putin A Chinese attack on Taiwan would be even more catastrophic A shift in US China relations has been necessitated by Beijing’s nationalist and authoritarian turn under Xi over the past decade and its increasingly vocal calls for reunification with the self governing island of Taiwan But Beijing was angered by US house Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August which prompted a military show of strength by China and Biden has gone further than previous presidents in pledging to defend the island Last month, the White house imposed stringent export controls targeting China’s advanced semiconductor industry Washington s determination to restrain Beijing s ambitions to surpass it as the world’s leading military and economic power means further decoupling from China is inevitable But Washington must at the same time manage relations with Beijing with care It should be guided by three principles: that decoupling should not crash the global economy; that war must be avoided; and that China’s co operation is still needed on a range of global issues There are some similarities with the US Soviet detente that took shape some years after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis though the US and Soviet Union had already come to the brink of nuclear war, and economic ties were paltry Detente was rooted in part in building contacts between functionaries at various levels The US and China similarly each need to understand how the other thinks It is positive, then, that Biden and Xi agreed to designate officials to keep talking A potential path is open to more constructive relations China could begin by restoring judicial co operation on issues such as extradition, and on drug enforcement, as well as bilateral climate change talks, which Beijing suspended after Pelosi s visit to Taiwan Resuming military to military communications is also essential to mutual confidence and security For its part, the US has some room for manoeuvre in how strictly it implements its controls on semiconductors It also has scope for restraint in its language over Taiwan Biden took care on Monday to insist there would be no change to the One China policy, under which Washington acknowledges but does not endorse Beijing’s view that Taiwan is part of China Biden has capacity to engage in some behind the scenes manoeuvring should the next house Speaker seek to repeat Pelosi s trip to Taiwan though the president has maintained that such initiatives are Congress’s prerogative In the longer term, Washington’s drive to slow Beijing s acquisition of leading edge military technologies should be combined with co operation in areas of mutual concern These extend not just to the green transition, but also nuclear proliferation, pandemic prevention, and debt restructuring for emerging markets Biden insisted in Bali the US would “continue to compete vigorously” with Beijing But as former Australian premier and China expert Kevin Rudd notes, competition between the two has been perilously unmanaged To avert a disastrous deterioration the time has come for some careful management

SI N C e the reform movement emerged in Iran in 1997, a large faction of so ciety has supported its advocacy of reforms from within the establish ment, through the ballot box But in 2020, during moderate President hassan Rouhani’s second term, parliamentary elections signalled the end of an era The Guardian Coun cil, which vets candidates, opted to disqualify hundreds of people from running, mostly target ing reformists and moderates

Then came the 2021 presidential election Any candidate who could threaten the election of ebrahim Raisi, including longtime parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, was disqualified For the first time since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989, all three branches of power fell under the control of the conservatives

There were signs that unrest was brewing in the country Although Khamenei has asserted that voting is a religious duty , and the leader of the reform movement former President Mo hammad Khatami also urged people to vote, the turnout last year was the lowest in the Islamic Republic’s history at less than 50 percent na tionwide People turned their backs on the ballot box, indicating that their faith in and hopes for peaceful reform had vanished

Under the Raisi administration, the notori ous morality police have become violent in en forcing the national dress code on women who did not properly wear the hijab In Tehran in September, they arrested Mahsa Amini, who collapsed at a detention centre and died three days later Police denied reports that officers had beaten her with a baton and banged her head against their vehicle

Amini’s death coincided with one of the worst economic crises since the inception of the Islamic Republic Rampant inflation high un employment, widespread corruption, a lack of social and political liberties, and this discrimi nation against women created simmering dis content in the country The Covid 19 pandemic, along with Khamenei’s insistence on keeping the

nuclear programme, which resulted in the impo sition of scores of international and American sanctions, thus ruining the livelihood of millions of Iranians, exacerbated the situation Consider ing his fatwa that nukes are forbidden under Islam (haram), he hasn’t offered any convincing justification for the existence of the programme

RALLYING CRY: Against this backdrop, the country needed only a trigger to explode After Amini s tragic death, the biggest protests in years rocked Iran but the uprising has been dif ferent from all others in the last four decades For the first time, women took centre stage, as “woman, life, freedom” became the rallying cry for protesters

The protests have been the longest by far in the past four decades however if neither the ruling elite nor the protesters step back, the country could be headed towards a protracted conflict Khamenei has rarely been attacked so directly at this level, with protesters hurling in tense profanities against him, aiming to de sacralise his religious and legal position

The far reaching involvement of universities and schools, especially girls schools, has been unprecedented since the 1999 uprising This time social media has played a key role, intensively documenting the crackdown by Iranian authori ties and motivating the younger generation to continue the protests Celebrities, inside and out side of Iran, were startlingly public in their sup port for the anti government protests Several female celebrities, as a symbol of feminist soli darity, raised their voices across the world Iranians in europe Canada the United States, and Australia organised unprecedented mass rallies showing unity with the protesters inside Iran But will these protests change the behaviour of the ruling elite, or even change the regime itself? What will it take for this unprece dented weeks long uprising to succeed?

The central slogan of “woman, life, free dom” is progressive and supported by millions of Iranian women That said it is not enough to attract the large faction of society struggling to put food on the table While according to the ministry of labor 30 million Iranians live in ab solute poverty”, a report by the semiofficial Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) maintains that seven out of ten (59 million) of the Iranian population live under poverty line

‘DOMINO THEORY’

At the same time the protest movement is leaderless This makes it

impervious to easy destruction Some of the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled dictators were a clear model for the leaderless movement, but early hopes that the revolutions would end corruption and usher in a new era of economic equity quickly collapsed as power vacuums emerged even Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, is now an autocracy

Meanwhile, Iran’s regime is a totalitarian “system”, as opposed to one man rule, although Khamenei sits at the centre of the system Over throwing a system that has the support of a faction of society is not as easy as bringing down Zine el Abidine Ben Ali or hosni Mubarak, the former Tunisian and egyptian leaders who had ruled for decades, in a matter of days The reality is that the current struggle is partly the continuation of a cen tury old battle within Iran’s fragmented society be tween the conservative camp the main element of the ruling elite of the Islamic Republic and the modernists (liberal Muslims and secularists)

One might argue that a leader inside Iran could be neutralised by the regime, as occurred during the 2009 uprisings by putting Mir hos sein Mousavi under house arrest A realistic so lution could be popular leadership outside the country Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led Iran’s 1979 revolution, used to live outside Iran

At present, a popular opposition leader sup ported by people from all walks of life does not exist, either inside or outside the country

So far, the ruling elite has firmly stuck to the “domino theory” arguing that if the regime takes a step back, protesters will become more aggres sive and demand more until the regime col lapses Still some conservative figures within the system have attempted to convince the cen tres of power that revising some laws “will not lead to a domino like fall of the system

Overall, to succeed, any movement in Iran needs a popular leader to mobilise, unify, give direction and ultimately fill the power vacuum if the regime collapses The leader should bring the demands of the needy to centre stage, giving voice to the millions of people struggling to keep their heads above water This doesn’t mean abandoning the vital slogan of “woman, life, freedom which aims to bring hideous discrim ination against women to an end

N , A N D P LU N D E R TA K E N B Y S O M E

U N T R I E S . T H AT B R U TA L A N D B LO O D S TA I N E D PAT H O F E N R I C H M E N T AT T H E E X P E N S E O F OT H E R S C AU S E D G R E AT

U F F E R I N G F O R T H E P E O P L E O F D E V E LO P I N G CO U N T R I E S

C H I N A I S WO R K I N G TO AC H I E V E M O D E R N I S AT I O N F O R M O R E T H A N 1.4 B I L L I O N P E O P L E, A N U M B E R L A R G E R T H A N T H E CO M B I N E D P O P U L AT I O N O F A L L D E V E LO P E D CO U N T R I E S I N T H E WO R L D TO DAY

middle easT eye

Shahir Shahidsaless is an Iranian Canadian political analyst and freelance journalist writing about Iranian domestic and foreign affairs the Middle East and the US foreign policy in the region

TO S U CC E E D, T H E M OV E M E N T N E E D S A P O P U L A R L E A D E R TO M O B I L I S E, U N I F Y, G I V E D I R E C T I O N, A N D U LT I M AT E LY F I L L T H E P OW E R VAC U U M I F T H E R E G I M E CO L L A P S E S

corporate corner

UnjUSt APPLICAtIon of L AwS CAn CrEAtE DIStrUSt, PoL ArIz AtIon In SoCIEt y: PrESIDEnt

ISLAMABAD

PR E S I D E N T Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said that when the laws were not applied justly and objectively according to their true spirit, intent and purpose, it created distrust and polar ization in society and stressed that it should be avoided

He said that all the pillars of the state, the parliament, judiciary, and government should endeavour and en sure the right and accurate application of the laws in all situations and on all persons at all times equally and fairly

The president expressed these views while talking to senior officers of the National Command Authority (NCA), at Aiwan e Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release

He said that there was a need for political stability, the continuation of the policies, adoption of innovation, and research and development in all sectors especially in science and tech

nology, increasing the quality and quantity of human resources in IT sec tor, providing quality and pertinent ed ucation in schools and madrassas bringing 25 million out of school chil dren to schools These steps would help in ensuring speedy development and progress of the country, he added

The president said that the entire world was in dire need of graduates in the Information and Technology sector and those nations that succeeded in providing IT graduates speedily, both in terms of quality and quantity, were making progress in the highly compet

GCCI delegation apprises fBr chief of owes

11th edition of IDEAS 2022 begins at Expo Centre

itive environment

He said that Pakistan should take all possible steps to increase the quality and quantity of its IT experts to provide much needed human resources to the country and to increase the IT based exports internationally which could provide much needed relief to the country’s foreign exchange reserves

He said the right decisions made at the right time, quality decision mak ing, intellect and knowledge of the country’s scientists, trained and capa ble human resources and persistent ef forts in the right directions would help

Parishae Adnan showc ases debut collec tion at Distric t 19

Parishae showcased her debut Fall/Winter 2022 collection this weekend Parishae Adnan’s col lection is a take on femininity women s em powerment and fashion, which has evolved over the years and continues to do so with the changing times The collection consisted of a total of 25 beautiful looks

The collection is titled “Un Gaze,” a dou ble edged play on the encapsulation of the fe male form It aims to vanquish the male gaze and puts the power and control back in women’s hands The collection emphasizes the need for sustainability and green living at the forefront Adnan worked with an environmen tally friendly approach while designing the capsule couture collection

Talking about the collection, Parishae says, “This collection is about coming into power and realizing that it exists The game changes when one becomes aware of it To be honest, I’m a little tired of men depicting what femininity should be defined as I reject society's version of femininity in favor of the modern aesthetic

Several notable names were a part of the

PIA commences Lahore Istanbul flights

lay sound foundations for the develop ment and prosperity of the country

While highlighting the importance of cyber security, the president said that in the near future all the defences and deterrents of any country would have cyber security at its central place as it would be required to safeguard and protect national data, ensure unin terrupted provisions of services safe guard critical national infrastructure and to shield the country and its people from the threats of cyber warfare

This, he said, would need intellec tual and human capital, knowledge, in novation and determination compared to the capital intensive brick and mor tar defence systems

Talking to the officers, the president highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence and quantum computing adding that it should be adopted at all levels and at all forums and be persist ently promoted until it was fully em braced by the education, research, and other relevant institutions in the govern ment and private sectors

PMC chief holds post examination analysis of MDCAt

ISLAMABAD: After successful conduct of MDCAT examination in national and foreign venues where almost 204,000 students appeared, PMC President Prof Dr Noushad Ahmed Sheikh held a meeting of Post MDCAT Examination Analyze on Tuesday with all relevant stake holders and examination department of PMC After receiving complaints by the candidates, it was learnt that in MDCAT Exams there were few out of syllabus questions in some provinces President PMC took notice of the same President PMC Prof Dr Noshad Ahmad Shaikh directed Vice Chancellors of all public universities to re check their question papers analyse any discrepancy found in paper and may be addressed at the earliest and it must be compensated In the meeting it was also learned that 8% of the students were absent therefore it was decided that their fee for the MDCAT shall not be refunded The President PMC appreciated the entire staff especially staff of Examination and IT division for putting unprecedented efforts for conducting a smooth & transparent exam It is pertinent to mention that for the first time in the history of Pakistan the MDCAT exam was held in one day on both national and international venues The result of MDCAT exam will be uploaded on PMC website after a week so students can apply further MDCAT exam was held at 55 different centers PR

KE ensured zero public safet y incidents during monsoon

ISLAMABAD: Despite a record rainfall and prolonged monsoon season this year, K Electric successfully ensured zero public safety incidents associated with its system This achievement of KE came to light and remained the central point of discussion during an insightful webinar Transmission & Distribution Network Protection organized by NEPRA on Friday Focused on safety of transmission and distribution networks, the session was commenced by Chairman NEPRA Mr Tauseef H Farooqi who gave opening remarks and welcomed all the participants as well as speakers on behalf of the Authority He said that this webinar was happening under NEPRA s Power with Safety initiative and was glad to see that progress was being made on HSE front

After the opening remarks, Chief Distribution Officer at K Electric Mr Amer Zia was invited to shed light on safety culture in KE Mr Amer Zia started his address by thanking the Authority and Chairman NEPRA for organizing this crucial session which could cascade important learnings pertaining to safety among industry peers PR

N AV T TC , E U e n v i s a g e m u t u a l c o l l a b o r a t i o n f o r s k i l l s , e m p l o y m e n t o f p r o s p e c t i ve m i g r a n t s

ISLAMABAD

European Union (EU) and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission ( NAVTTC) on Tuesday discussed skills and employment op portunities for prospective migrants

A European Union delegation led by Ylva Johansson Commissioner for Mi gration & Home Affairs, in that regard, met with Amir Ashraf Khawaja, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training and Sajid Baloch, Executive Director NAVTTC

The Executive Director NAVTTC said on this occasion that NAVTTC under the leadership of Federal Minis ter for Education and Professional Training, Rana Tanveer Hussain, is

equipping

NAVTTC whilst Executive Director thanked EU for its consistent support to provide income generating skills & employment for youth NAVTTC under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional

Training has taken numerous steps to organize TVET system of the country on modern lines NAVTTC is delivering training in accordance with the internationally de manded and recognized requirements

On the occasion Federal Secretary for Education, Amir Ashraf Khawaja said that the government is committed to empower youth by equipping them with the latest income generating skills and to increase its participation in the national development EU delegation appreciated the service delivery & performance of

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) led by Humais Gulzar Mughal, Senior Vice President of GCCI visited FBR Headquarter and met Mr Asim Ahmad Chairman, FBR The meeting was also attended by Mr Mukarram Jah Ansari, Member Customs Operations The representatives of GCCI highlighted the issues faced by their members including

cash margin restriction on import of aluminum scrap staff RePoRt

has selected Temenos (SIX: TEMN) to take its digital and core banking to cloud, in partnership with NdcTech Invest Bank will adopt an end to end retail and wholesale banking solution on the Temenos Banking Cloud, becoming one of the first in the UAE to adopt a full SaaS model for its digital and core banking platform The front to back capabilities of Infinity and Transact delivered as SaaS on Temenos’ open platform for composable banking will enable Invest Bank to modernize legacy platforms, bring new products and services to market faster, as well as deliver more innovative customer experiences Ahmad Mohamed Abu Eideh CEO Invest Bank commented: We are proud of this partnership with Temenos and NdcTech to transform our digital and core banking William Moroney, Managing Director MEA, Temenos, said: “Temenos has unmatched experience and expertise in the Middle East, and so we are delighted to welcome Invest Bank as our latest regional signing to the Temenos Banking Cloud PR

KE's Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Sadia Dada, and Chief Financial Officer Aamir Ghaziani visited customers in Korangi to personally deliver the new, environmentally friendly 'Hara Bill' This step is KE's pledge to reduce its carbon footprint, which is also aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals PR

KARACHI

designer s debut show These include Pakistan football team captain Hajra khan, comedian Faiza Saleem, travel blogger and comedian Amtul Baweja, activist Mehrub Moiz Awan and renowned journalist and influencer Sabah Bano Malik among others Renowned makeup stylist Nabila and her team did the hair and makeup for the show

KARACHI: The 11th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS 2022) kicked off here on Tuesday at Expo Center, Karachi IDEAS is a premier defence industry show and the region’s best platform for international defence systems promotion POF has always been a key participant at the annual event This year again POF is participating with great enthusiasm to present its top grade, innovative product range to the participants and observers arriving at IDEAS 2022 from around the globe

Chief Guest Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister visited the POF Stall He was accompanied with Muhammad Kamran Khan Tessori, Governor Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh and Muhammad IsrarTareen, Federal Minister for DefenceProductio staff RePoRt

LAHORE:

LAHORE: PDMA DG Faisal Farid and Bank of Punjab Group Head Nofel Dawood sign an agreement for disbursement of relief assistance to flood affectees Punjab Relief Commissioner Zahid Akhtar Zaman and other officials also present on the occasion PR

W o r L d p o p U L at i o n h i t s 8 b i L L L i o n o n t U e s d ay, c r e at i n g m o r e c h a L L e n g e s : U n

nATiOns Ag e n c i e s

tHE world s population reached 8 billion on Tuesday, growing by 1 billion in the last 12 years and re flecting the rapid population spike of the past few decades, according to the United Nations

The UN s World Population Prospects 2022 report has also specified that eight countries, including Pakistan, will be the biggest contributors in the next billion mark population rise The other nations are: India, Egypt, Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Philip pines, and Tanzania

The report said India is set to become the world s most populous country by next year, surpassing China The UN attributed the “unprecedented growth” of the population to the increase of the human lifespan as a result of improvements in healthcare, medicine and nutrition as well as high levels of fertility in some countries

“8 billion hopes 8 billion dreams 8 bil lion possibilities Our planet is now home to 8 billion people, the United Nations Popu lation Fund (UNFPA) tweeted

“Unless we bridge the yawning chasm between the global haves and have nots, we are setting ourselves up for an 8 billion strong world filled with tensions and mis

trust, crisis and conflict,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said

The report said that India’s population stands at 1 412 billion in 2022, compared with China s 1 426 billion India is projected to have a population of 1 668 billion in 2050, way ahead of China’s 1 317 billion people by the middle of the century

The UN described the global population reaching 8 billion as a “remarkable mile stone , with long term significance for both rich and poor countries While it took hun dreds of thousands of years for the world’s population to reach 1 billion, the world grew from 7 billion to 8 billion just since 2010 a reflection of advancements in health

As the world is expected to grow even more to over 10 billion during the next 60 years as the U N ’s population division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) reported, population growth is slowing relative to the past, and the U N warns that the challenges of feeding, housing and keeping that level of people from pollut ing the climate will be significant

On the bright side, the increase in global life expectancy grew to almost 73 years, and is expected to reach 77 years in 2050

Another key point in the U N ’s popula tion report, updated in its November brief, is the gender divide: Today there are just slightly more men than women, but that even

S audi crown prince cour ts Asia amid row with Washington

A F P

Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince has embarked on a multi stop Asian tour, shoring up the Gulf nation s ties with its biggest energy market and signalling grow ing independence from Washington amid a bitter row over oil supply Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s 37 year old de facto ruler, left Monday for the Group of 20 summit in Bali Indonesia

The official Saudi Press Agency said the trip would include “a number of Asian countries though officials have not yet confirmed details of the itinerary

A likely stop is South Korea, where local media reported the crown prince will meet business leaders He is then expected to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Coop eration forum, starting Friday in Bangkok

The trip comes as Riyadh feuds with Washington over the OPEC+ oil cartel’s October decision to cut production by two million barrels per day

Amid spiralling inflation and high en ergy prices, the White House worked hard

to prevent cuts in oil production

In July US President Joe Biden visited Jeddah, reversing a 2019 pledge to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over its human rights abuses notably the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi allegedly by Saudi agents

The US blasted OPEC+ s cuts as akin to “aligning with Russia” in the Ukraine war, and warned of unspecified “conse quences

Though both Biden and Prince Mo hammed are in Bali for the G20 summit the White House says the president has no plans for a bilateral meeting

Despite announcing record profits from oil sales in recent months, Saudi officials vigorously defend their policies as driven purely by economics

The standoff has done little to curb speculation about the kingdom’s shift away from its longtime security and energy part

ner Prince Mohammed s latest trip makes that shift seem even more plausible, said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham

“This is a trip to further instill coordi nation with energy markets in Asia, but also to show to the wider Western world and es sentially to the United States, that Saudi Arabia is not lacking in options in terms of partnerships he said energy Ties: Sealed at the end of World War II, Saudi US ties are often de scribed as an oil for security arrangement

Yet for the past decade, Saudi crude’s top export markets have been in Asia: China, Japan, South Korea and India Saudi officials, therefore, began plac ing special emphasis on cultivating ties in the region well before Prince Mohammed became heir to the throne five years ago, explained Aziz Alghashian, an analyst of Saudi foreign policy

“But what I would say is the market and economic driven foreign policy of Saudi Arabia now has amplified this and expedited these kinds of trips and this focus on Asia,” he said

out by 2050

The 8 billion person number is also a wake up call for the U S since the report says that global migration “will be the sole driver of population growth in high income countries ”

The report was originally published on World Population Day five months ago It projected Tuesday as the day for the 8 billion person milestone, now dubbed the “Day of Eight Billion, to be launched by DESA, the U N ’s health agency (WHO) and the U N ’s population fund (UNFPA) at U N Head quarters in New York A more recent policy brief with graphs and projections by DESA was updated this month

n

Agencies

War, rain and economic hardship have de pressed Ukraine’s wheat plantings, depriv ing the nation of vital export earnings in 2023 and heralding another year of tight global supplies and potentially high prices for basic foodstuffs

Ukraine is one of the world s top wheat exporters with key buyers including Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Indone sia, and Bangladesh and a further drop in production will leave many scrambling to find alternative supplies

The race to secure grain is likely to drive up global prices even hitting im porters who don’t buy directly from Ukraine

Ukraine harvested around 19 million tonnes of wheat this year, down more than 40 percent from the previous season s record of 33 million tonnes and a further

sharp drop in production looks inevitable in 2023, analysts said

I n a f u r t h e r b l o w t o p r o d u c t i o n p r o s p e c t s , c a s h s t r a p p e d f a r m e r s i n Ukraine are also reducing the use of vital c r o p i n p u t s s u c h a s f e r t i l i s e r s L e s s f e r tiliser means lower yields for the farmers t h a t d o p l a n t F a r m e r s p r e f e r t o s e e w h a t h a p p e n s n e x t y e a r s o d i d v e r y l i t t l e p l a n t i n g i n t h e f a l l P e o p l e j u s t w a n t t o w a i t a n d s e e w h a t h a p p e n s , s i t o n t h e m o n e y m a y b e t h e y d o n ’t h a v e m o n e y t h e r e a r e d i ff e r e n t r e a s o n s , ” K e e s H u i z i n g a , a D u t c h n a t i o n a l w h o r u n s a 1 5 0 0 0 h e c t a r e d a i r y a n d c r o p f a r m i n c e n t r a l U k r a i n e

The drop in production will affect some of the world’s poorest countries Ukraine exports some wheat to Turkey where it may be processed into flour and shipped to Africa particularly sub Saharan Africa and also into soft wheat based pasta which is popular among consumers in developing

countries owing to more affordable prices compared to the pasta made from durum

The Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), which was set up by G20 members to strengthen global food security, has warned another poor crop in Ukraine would mean global stocks would not re cover for at least another year, ensuring prices remain high and markets are volatile

The food crisis also coincides with the continued economic fallout from the Covid 19 pandemic climate shocks and high energy prices

I fear that higher food prices are here to stay not only because of the problems in Ukraine All other producers are facing high fertiliser, fuel, labour and transporta tion costs ” analyst Georgi Slavov of broker Marex Solutions said

In contrast, prices the farmers receive in Ukraine remain very low due to the dif ficulty and high cost of moving crops across the war torn country to export hubs

“Everyone is saving money and plant ing with minimum costs (including less fer tiliser use), which leads to a very significant drop in yield next year,” Dmitry Skornyakov, chief executive of Ukraine farm company HarvEast said Alexander Karavaytsev, a senior econ omist at the International Grains Council, said lower fertilizer application could also have an adverse impact on the quality of the crop It is understood that soils in Ukraine have some buffer owing to invest ment by farmers in previous years, and Chernozems (black soils) are the world s most fertile soils ” he said “Still quality can be affected by persistently reduced fer tiliser application rates

LOWer eXpOrT eArnings: A sharp drop in production is also likely to mean Ukraine s wheat export rev enues fall far below the roughly $4 billion in the 2021 22 season, according to Reuters calculations

Twitter prank spurs unexpec ted scrutiny of insulin prices

sAn FRAnciscO

A F P

A Twitter imposter cost a US pharmaceutical giant billions of dollars, but the viral prank triggered another unexpected crisis a new wave of scrutiny of the high cost of its in sulin Authentic looking fake accounts pro liferated last week after Twitter rolled out a paid verification service the latest in a string of chaotic developments since Elon Musk’s blockbuster $44 billion buyout of the influ ential platform

Among the victims was drugmaker Eli Lilly, whose stock price nosedived eras ing billions in market capitalisation after

a parody account stamped with a verification tag purchased for $8 tweeted that insulin was being made available for free

The company was forced to issue an apology for the misleading message from a fake Lily account,” but the disinformation stirred fresh attention to a long festering de bate about high insulin prices

“What you should *actually* apologise for is price gouging life saving insulin,” tweeted Chicago based human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid

“People are dying because of your greed (and) cruelty Apologise for that

Gaining traction alongside such com ments was a cartoon meme with a half ele

phant, half human character riling up people to be more upset about the price of insulin than the price of gas

“Fake Eli Lilly might be offering some thing closer to the truth than real Eli Lilly Peter Maybarduk, from the nonprofit Public Citizen, told AFP “Parody is successful when it reveals embarrassing and widely un derstood truth ”

‘Abusive pricing’: In recent decades, insulin prices have soared in the United States, costing more than eight times more than in 32 comparable high income coun tries according to a 2020 Rand Corporation study

A survey released in October by the non

profit T1International showed that one in four respondents living with diabetes re ported rationing their insulin because of the financial strain

On Monday which marks World Dia betes Day, dozens of advocacy groups in cluding Public Citizen sent a letter to Congress demanding a stop to what they called insulin price gouging

“There’s no defense for Eli Lilly’s abu sive insulin pricing said Maybarduk It s long past time we provide access to insulin for all, and yes it should be free,” he added The backlash against Eli Lilly show cased the real life potential of online disin formation to trigger chaos and financial loss

MNusa Dua, Indonesia: Russia’s Foreign Min ister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Ukraine’s conditions for restarting talks with Moscow were “unrealistic,” speaking at the G20 summit where pressure was mounting on Russia to end the conflict “All problems are with the Ukrainian side, which is categorically refusing negotiations and putting forward con ditions that are obviously unrealistic ” Lavrov told reporters He said he had put forward that position during a meeting with French Presi dent Emmanuel Macron and that he had ex plained Russia’s position during talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Russian and Ukrainian officials held several rounds of ne gotiations during the early stages of the con flict including meetings hosted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan that ended without agree ments to curb fighting Along with the UN and Turkey, Russia and Ukraine this summer inked a deal to unblock several Ukrainian ports al lowing for grain exports from one of the world’s largest producers But Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv cannot hold peace negotiations with Moscow as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power Sholz and Macron are well aware that this process is hindered by Ukraine, which, including through laws, by Zelensky’s decree bans negotiations with the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said, adding “this is not a question for (Russia)” “We want to see con crete evidence that the West is seriously inter ested in disciplining Zelensky and explaining to him that this cannot continue, that this is not in the interests of the Ukrainian people the foreign minister said Putin was forced to skip the summit as he reckons with a string of em barrassing battlefield defeats and a grinding war that threatens the future of his regime

china successfully launches remote sensing satellite yaogan 34

isLAMABAD

Ag e n c e s

China successfully sent a new remote sensing satellite of the Yaogan 34 series into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 9:38 a m (Beijing Time) on Tuesday The Yaogan 34 03 satellite car ried by a Long March 4C rocket, successfully entered its planned orbit This remote sensing satellite will be used in areas such as land re sources survey, urban planning, crop yield esti mation, and disaster prevention and mitigation, ecns cn reported It was the 450th flight mis sion of the Long March carrier rocket series

The company s stock price has marginally recovered since last week’s drop

But in this rare instance, it brought to the fore a much ignored public health issue ‘pAnic’: “The disinformation is not with out ramification Eli Lilly’s stock price dropped dramatically,” Al Tompkins, a sen ior faculty member at the Poynter Institute told AFP

But exploiting Twitter s chaotic rollout of its paid verification policy, the prank man aged to make the insulin drug price conver sation relevant to a lot of people ”

On Friday Twitter disabled sign ups for the contentious feature known as Twitter Blue, with reports saying it had been tem porarily disabled to help address imperson ation issues but not before several brands took a hit

UniTeD

RiYADH

LOnDOn R e u t e R s

Uk raine’s sparse wheat plantings sow fur ther trouble for Pak istan food securit y

L a v r o v s a y s U k r a i n e ’ s t e r m s f o r n e g o t i a t i o

s ‘ u n r e a l i s t i c ’

D j o ko v i c D i s pat c h e s t s i t s i pa s i n at p F i n a l s o p e n e r

TURIN, ITALY Ag e n c i e s

nOVAK Djokovic had enough of an edge at the beginning and the end as he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas

6 4, 7 6 (7/4) on Monday in the ATP Finals, a defeat that ended the Greek s hopes of finishing the year at number one

Djokovic is ranked just eighth in part be cause he missed two majors over his vacci nation status, starting the year by being thrown out of Australia ahead of the Aus tralian Open

With the 2023 edition starting on Janu ary 16, Djokovic has said his lawyers were talking to Australian officials On Monday he said they had not reached an agreement “Nothing official yet,” he said “We are waiting They are communicating with the government of Australia That’s all I can tell you for now ”

In Turin Djokovic is chasing a record equalling sixth title in the season ending

event previously known as the Masters Cup that brings together the season’s top eight fit players

The Serbian broke Tsitsipas in the open ing game and was not threatened on his own serve as he took the first set

The first game was very important to break his serve,” Djokovic said “Starting with a break of serve is obviously a huge boost in confidence and a relief as well be cause we both knew it would be a tight match ” Tsitsipas managed the only break point of the second set in the fourth game after two Djokovic double faults, but the Serbian steadied and held serve

In the tie break the Serbian raced to a 5 1 lead Tsitsipas delayed the inevitable by taking three points before Djokovic took his first match point

“I held my serve really well throughout the match,” said Djokovic “I played a great tie break very solid all the way through The Tsitsipas loss means the injured Car los Alcaraz will end 2022 at the top of the rankings unless Rafael Nadal who lost his

opening match on Sunday can win the tour nament Tsitsipas, who is 24, cannot collect enough points to reach number one even if he rebounds to win the tournament

“I deeply believe that I can reach that spot one day,” he said “I’m not really that much in a rush to be honest Of course it would have been better if it happened this week ”

Djokovic is tied on five titles in the event with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl Only Roger Federer, on six, has won more

All the players said it Every match is finals here, there’s no clear favorites to be honest,” said Djokovic “You got to be really sharp from the start

The two set victory put Djokovic atop the Red Group ahead of the day’s other win ner No 7 Andrey Rublev of Russia who beat his compatriot Daniil Medvedev 6 7 (7/9), 6 3, 7 6 (9/7)

Rublev appeared on course to take the first set as he opened up a 4 1 lead Wo r l d n u m b e r f i v e M e d v e d e v, w h o was inconsistent all day on his serve mix

ing 24 aces with eight double faults, battled b a c k , s a v i n g t w o s e t p o i n t s a t 5 6 t o w i n the set in a tiebreak

Rublev rediscovered his rhythm in the second set as Medvedev continued to strug gle on his serve In the third set tie break, Medvedev saved three match points at 3 6 and then a fourth But he was powerless on the fifth match

Pak istan, Ireland all set for series decider in Pink R ibbon match

Pakistan and Ireland women’s sides are all set to take on each other for one last time at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday (tomorrow) The last T20 will decide who takes the T20I trophy home as the series is tied at 1 1

The tourists, who went down in the three match ODI series 3 0, came back stronger to win the first T20I beating the hosts by six wickets In the second T20I, Pakistan bounced back to win the match by six wickets with one over to spare

The third T20I will begin tomorrow at 1000 with the toss taking place at 0930 The PCB will live stream the match on its YouTube channel

Tomorrow s game has added signifi cance with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as part of its social corporate re sponsibility supporting the Pink Ribbon

campaign to create awareness about breast cancer In that regard, both team captains, players, match officials and commentators will wear pink ribbons during the course of the match and aware ness messages will be displayed inside the stadium Entrance for the match is free for spectators with four enclosures Imran Khan, Rajas , Fazal Mahmood and Saeed Anwar open to the public The PCB also encourage fans to wear pink for Wednesday s fixture

Opening batter Javeria Khan who scored 35 runs in the second T20I, speak ing ahead of the third T20I said, T20I format is such that there is very little mar gin to make mistakes The Irish side have learnt a lot from the ODI series and they have shown the results in the T20I series

“We will sit down again, rectify the mistakes made in the second T20I and will make sure we do well in the third T20I and win the match comprehen

nor thern amass 605 for eight against sindh, Qasim’s 111 rescues central punjab

LAHORE s tA F F R e P o R t

Umar

and Qasim Akram hit hundreds for Northern and Central Punjab respectively on day two of the ninth round of the Quaid e Azam Trophy matches being played in Karachi and Lahore There was once again no play in Abbottabad in the tie between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab due to overnight rain and a wet outfield Over at the National Bank Cricket Arena (National Stadium, Karachi), table toppers North ern resumed their first innings at 350 for one and went onto cross the 600 run mark to finish with 605 for eight (declared) against Sindh Umar scored 140 off 198 balls (11 fours, two sixes) to spearhead his side s batting per formance following first day centuries by openers Hasan Raza and Mohammad Huraira Faizan Riaz contributed 47 and Umar Waheed scored 35 Northern called off their innings after 154 5 overs batting Sindh who are number two behind Northern in the points table, finished day two at 52 for no loss (19 overs) Khurram Manzoor was bat ting on 20 and his opening partner Saim Ayub was 32 not out when stumps were drawn for the day Over at the LCCA Ground, Central Punjab made a resounding come back against Balochistan courtesy a smashing century by promising all rounder Qasim Akram Resuming at the overnight score of 67 for four Central Punjab managed to post a hugely competitive 349 run total Qasim recorded his maiden first class century and played a pivotal role in his side’s recovery The right hander hit 17 fours and one six in his 111 off 162 balls Qasim added 140 runs for the fifth wicket with Faheem Ashraf, the left handed Faheem hit seven fours and a six in his 60 Wicketkeeper Ali Shan provided the impetus to the innings from the lower order by compiling 53 off 113 balls (seven fours), he was the last batter to be dismissed Ali’s dismissal brought an end to the day s play Balochistan will start their first innings tomorrow

sively ” Meanwhile Ireland captain Laura Delany expressing her views in the post match ceremony at the end of the second T20I said “Disappointed with the outcome of the match, we let ourselves down in the field We don t feel we are missing a power hitter it’s all about exe cuting plans in the middle

It is now up to the other batters to step up and cash in the opportunity Over all, happy with the performance of the squad at the moment

The star performer for Pakistan in the series has been Nida Dar The senior all rounder has scored 89 runs which in cludes 69 in the first match and has bagged three wickets For her all round performance in the second T20I, Nida was named player of the match This was her 10th player of the match award the most for any Pakistan player She surpassed Bismah Maroof s nine and Javeria s eight player of the match awards till date

For Ireland 22 year old right handed batter Gaby Lewis has scored 73 runs from two outings in the series, with 69 not out her best coming in a winning cause in the first match The 20 year old Orla Prendergast has scored 59 runs and with her right arm fast bowling has grabbed three wickets Pakistan T20I squad: Bismah Maroof (c) Aimen Anwar Aliya Riaz Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Javeria Khan, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wk) Nida Dar Omaima Sohail Nashra Sandhu, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin and Umm e Hani Reserve player: sidra nawaz Ireland T20I squad: Laura Delany (c), Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Cara Murray, Celeste Raack Eimear Richardson Gaby Lewis, Jane Maguire, Leah Paul, Louise Little, Mary Waldron, Orla Prendergast, Rebecca Stokell Shauna Kavanagh and Sophie MacMahon

Ronaldo says Man United owners ‘don’t care’ about club

made his name during his first stint at Old Trafford from 2003 to 2009

point as Rublev closed out the match, slumping on to his back after two and a half hours on court

a

australia captain cummins opts out of indian premier league

MELBOURNE R e u t e R s

A u s t r a l i a c a p t a i n P a t C u m m i n s h a s o p t e d o u t o f p l a y i n g t h e l u c r a t i v e I n d i a n P r e m i e r L e a g u e ( I P L ) i n 2 0 2 3 , c i t i n g a h e a v y i n t e r n a t i o n a l s c h e d u l e T h e Te s t a n d O n e D a y s k i p p e r p l a y e d t h e l a s t t h r e e I P L t o u r n a m e n t s w i t h K o l k a t a K n i g h t R i d e r s ( K K R ) b u t c u t s h o r t h i s 2 0 2 2 c a m p a i g n d u e t o a h i p i n j u r y “ I ’ v e m a d e t h e d i ff i c u l t d e c i s i o n t o m i s s n e x t y e a r ’s I P L h e s a i d o n Tw i t t e r o n Tu e s d a y T h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l s c h e d u l e i s p a c k e d w i t h Te s t s a n d O D I ’s f o r t h e n e x t 1 2 m o n t h s , s o w i l l t a k e s o m e r e s t a h e a d o f a n A s h e s s e r i e s a n d Wo r l d C u p C u m m i n s h a d a d i s a p p o i n t i n g c a m p a i g n a t t h e r e c e n t T 2 0 Wo r l d C u p o n h o m e s o i l , t a k i n g o n l y t h r e e w i c k e t s f r o m f o u r m a t c h e s a t a n a v e r a g e o f 4 4 0 0 a s d e f e n d i n g c h a m p i o n s A u s t r a l i a c r a s h e d o u t b e f o r e t h e s e m i f i n a l s A u s t r a l i a ’s A s h e s t o u r o f E n g l a n d s t a r t s i n J u n e 2 0 2 3 b e f o r e I n d i a h o s t t h e 5 0 o v e r Wo r l d C u p i n O c t o b e r D e c e m b e r

afridi cleared of serious knee injur y

LAHORE R e u t e R s

Cristiano Ronaldo say Manchester United’s owners the Glazer family don t care about how successful the Premier League giants are on the pitch in another salvo against the club

The five time Ballon d Or winner has been a pe ripheral figure this season under new manager Erik ten Hag and was disciplined for refusing to come on as a substitute But the Portugal superstar had returned to the side in recent weeks and even captained the Red Devils in a 3 1 loss at Aston Villa

However the 37 year old was absent from the squad in Sunday’s 2 1 victory over Fulham in United’s final match before a six week break for the World Cup

In an explosive interview with TalkTV on Sunday Ronaldo, who made his name at Old Trafford, said he felt “betrayed” by United and that he believed senior club figures were trying to oust him

In another part of the interview released on Mon day, he continued to wage war on the club where he

The forward who returned to the club last year said he does not speak to the Glazers, the Americans who have owned United since 2005, and they do not have the club s best interests at heart The Glazers they don’t care about the club professional sport As you know, Manchester is a marketing club,” he said They will get money from the marketing the sport it’s, they don’t really care, in my opinion

“The fans, they’re always right I think the fans should know the truth should know that the players want the best for the club I want the best for the club This is why I came to Manchester United ”

Ronaldo won three Premier League titles and the Champions League during his first stint at United but the club have not won any silverware since 2017 Rooney clash: Ronaldo said there were some things inside the club” that were preventing United from competing with rivals Manchester City and Liv erpool and it would be hard for them to return to the top in the next few years

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has been cleared of serious damage to his knee after his dramatic break down during the Twenty20 World Cup final The pace spearhead hurt his knee when taking an outfield catch in the defeat to England in Melbourne on Sunday and was unable to bowl out his four overs The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said a scan on Monday had con firmed there was no signs of injury and Afridi’s dis comfort was likely due to a forced knee flexion However, it appears unlikely that Afridi will be available for the home Tests against England and New Zealand through December and January The PCB said his “return to international cricket will be subject to the champion fast bowler ’s successful completion of the rehabilitation programme and fol lowing go aheads by the medical staff ” Medical staff had advised a two week rehabilitation Afridi injured the same knee in Sri Lanka in July and was ruled out of the Asia Cup and the home T20 series against England before rejoining the squad for the World Cup in Australia New Zealand tour Pakistan in December and January for a two Test series and three ODI matches

England, Netherlands arrive in Qatar as Infantino c alls for focus on football

DOHA Ag e n c i e s

England and the Netherlands will be the first World Cup heavyweights to arrive in Qatar on Tuesday as FIFA President Gianni Infantino again urged teams to focus on football

The pleas from football’s world gov erning body have struggled to be heard in some countries as the countdown to Sun day’s kick off has intensified the focus on

Qatar ’s treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community FIFA launched its “Football Unites the World” campaign with a video featuring star players including Neymar Karim Benzema, and Edouard Mendy Infantino said: “Although football is and should be our main focus the FIFA World Cup is also about values and causes that extend far beyond the pitch and we are delighted that football stars past and present have joined us to pro

mote and highlight these topics, which also unite the whole world USA coach Gregg Berhalter ex plained why his team is displaying a rainbow logo at their training base in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal “We think it’s important, wherever we think that when we are on the world stage and in a venue like Qatar, to bring awareness to these issues,” he said We recognise that Qatar has made major strides and there has been a ton of

progress but there is some work to do ” Infantino also called for a one month ceasefire in Ukraine to mark the World Cup, saying sports could bring people to gether He told leaders of the Group of 20 major economies gathered in Bali that he was not “naive” enough to believe the World Cup could solve the world s prob lems But he said the tournament offered a “unique platform”, with an estimated five billion people expected to watch on television

P e a c e p e

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

LAHORE s tA F F R e P o R t

Amin

LONDON A F P

E a r ly p o l ls o n ly way o u t t o av E r t lo o m i n g d E fa u lt, wa r n s i m r a n

fO R M E R prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday accused the incum bent government of destroying the country’s economy, saying the economy is on verge of default amid rising default risk’

“Foreign investors will be wary of investing in Pakistan amid rising default risk I ask those who hatched conspir acy who is responsible for this mess? he said while addressing a PTI’s long march via video link on Tuesday

The former PM was referring to Pakistan’s risk of default, measured

through the five year currency default swap (CDS) index, which spiked 4 2 percentage points to a new high at 64 2%, suggesting that the country lacked resources to meet the growing import payments and foreign debt re payments on time Pakistan is scheduled to repay $1 billion against a five year Sukuk (Shariah compliant bond) maturing on December 5, 2022 “The default risk is increasing under the incumbent gov ernment as country could fail to pay off its external debts ”

Imran said inflation has doubled since the coalition government led by PML N came to power with all eco nomic indicators including exports, re

mittances and tax collections are on the decline Imran while quoting Pakistan Economic Survey said economy wit nessed historic growth during his nearly four year tenure

He went on to say that the econ omy started declining after the incum bent rulers were imposed on the country through “conspiracy”

Reiterating his demand for early elections, the PTI chief said snap poll was the only way forward to steer the country out of crisis

“Our income is declining as exports and remittances have fallen so how do we earn to pay off our debts There is only one way out of this crisis elections ” Imran said in case of default, Pak

istan will be forced to compromise on its most important national security element” to avail bailout package from foreign powers ChieF eleCTion Commis sioner is allY oF pml n: The PTI said that Chief Election Commis sioner (CEC) is also an ally of the rul ing PML N, while the lack of justice in Pakistan is the cause of the coun try’s destruction A d d r e s s i n g l o n g m a r c h p a r t i c i p a n t s t h r o u g h v i d e o l i n k h e s a i d t h a t t h e r i s k o f r e p a y i n g l o a n s t o b a n k s w a s 5 % d u r i n g P T I g o v t ’s t e n u r e t h a t h a s n o w e x c e e d s 5 6 4 p e r c e n t w h i c h m e a n s o u r e c o n o m y h a s b e e n d e v a s t a t e d

Will Pakistan’s motorcycle industry be able to move beyond CD 70 frame?

scale, and thus it was more affordable for the vendors and the newer entrants to retain those parts than to experiment with newer ones”

There is one and only one undisputed King of Pak istan’s roads: The CD 70 From the 31st March 2020 to the 31st of March 2021, Atlas Honda sold upwards of 800,000 CD 70s

When corroborated with the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association s (PAMA) figures at just 800,000 units, the CD 70 would have constituted 59% of Atlas Honda and 44% of the entire industry’s sales during the aforementioned period This would place it firmly in first place, far ahead of all comparables

For context, Road Prince and United Auto, in contrast, managed to achieve a combined figure of 392,069 units over the same period Interestingly, most of the models sold by Road Prince and United Auto have frames similar to that of the CD 70“ Al most 80% of our two wheeler market consists of CD 70s and its replicas Dr Naveed Arshad Associate Professor at LUMS, told Profit However, ask any motorcycle customer and they will tell you that they would want nothing more than for this iconic frame to be put to rest in favour of newer iterations The question then is how can the industry move beyond this? Understanding that requires looking at local manufacturers assembling Chinese motorcycles and their Japanese counterparts separately T h e C h i n e s e a n d T h e i r r a C e To T h e b o T T o m i n p r i C i n g : Chinese motorcycles flooded the Pakistani market in the 2000s as a means to provide customers with more affordable options to the Japanese incumbents The modus operandi for all the companies at the time was to replicate the CD 70’s frames and complement it with their own cor porate strategy Muhammad Salman Director Sales and Marketing at Road Prince, explaining this phe nomena to Profit, states “dors that were manufactur ing for Honda had already achieved economies of

Looking at the portfolios of Road Prince along side other local manufacturers based out of Lahore, Hyderabad, and Karachi, it is easy to see that they continue to adhere to this strategy The fundamentals that applied when they entered the market hold true still so long as Honda maintains its market leadership

“The Japanese have better profitability because of their international parent This also provides them with stronger international supply chains We have to experiment with different brands as we experiment to see what’s successful in the local market ” Salman ex plained to Profit about why local players are not able to introduce more up market variants with new(er) frames in the higher engine displacement categories at least Despites Salman’s comments, the Japanese have also not been able to make significant headway as well in terms of their more premium offerings

T h e J a pa n e s e ’ s a n d i m p o rT s r o s : In contrast to the rest of the industry, Yamaha and Suzuki only cater to the upmarket segments in Pak istan However based on PAMA s figures they com prised only 3% of all industry sales in the aforementioned period Similarly, Atlas Honda pro vides no sales information about its more premium offerings in its financial statements which is an aber ration for the reporting that they do conduct for their 70cc, 100cc, and 125cc segments The aberration hints at the sales for Atlas Honda’s more upmarket variants to also be negligible

So what is the problem in this situation? “SROs 655, 656, aur 693” Afaq Ahmad, Vice President Mar keting at Honda Atlas tells Profit The aforemen tioned SROs cumulatively comprise the policy framework for levying duties upon automotive parts imported into Pakistan “New models struggle upon their introduction to the market ” Ahmad told Profit

“Newer models require new parts that are simply not available in Pakistan Companies need to invest large sums of money for the undertaking whilst they are also required to begin localisation from the onset of the new product All of this pushes up the cost which makes it simply unfeasible for customers who are ac customed to low prices to buy these products ” Ahmad continues

One glance at the more premium offerings pro vided by local players reliant on the Chinese market reaffirms Salman s notion of how the Japanese at least benefit from stronger supply links due to their international parent Yamaha and Suzuki, irrespective of their market positioning, are appreciably more af fordable than some of the premium offerings by Road Prince and its contemporaries

T h e p r o b l e m w i T h o u r l o C a l i s a T i o n p o l i C i e s : The final question one might ask is if no one else then why hasn t Honda Atlas been able to utilise its market leadership to steadily phase out its old frame for newer ones? Particularly, given the 95% localisation figure Ahmad quoted to Profit The answer to that lies in the notion of local isation in Pakistan

“The wires are made in Pakistan but the material for them is imported,” Ahmad told Profit This is the same situation for a myriad of other products that are otherwise built inside of Pakistan Vendors across Pakistan have managed to localise various different parts of vehicles, but have not decoupled themselves from the global inputs This in term makes them as reliant on the Rupee s performance against other cur rencies as any other commodity in Pakistan Subse quently, the only likely means beyond the CD 70 frame is for either the Rupee to appreciate signifi cantly, more so than ever before, or for Pakistan to somehow manage to discover the requisite natural re sources needed for the motorcycle manufacturing value chain

Coas pays farewell visits to pma Kakul, Baloch regimental Centre

RAWALPINDI

s ta f f r e p o r t

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday visited Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul and Baloch Regimental Centre, Abbottabad as part of his farewell visits Upon his arrival at PMA, the COAS was received by Commander Rawalpindi Corps Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) news release said

The COAS laid floral wreath at the Martyrs’ Monument and offered fateha He also interacted with the cadets and officers of PMA

The COAS, while addressing the cadets, appreciated the exceptionally high standards of Pakistan Army’s premier training institution and its efforts towards grooming future leaders He also advised cadets to focus their energies on the pursuit of professional excellence

Later on, the COAS visited Baloch Regimental Centre

After laying floral wreath at the Shuhada Monument, he interacted with serving and retired officers and troops of the regiment, and paid rich tribute to their supreme sacrifices

Earlier on arrival at Baloch Regimental Centre, the COAS was received by Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas

fBr suspends flagship initiative of pos invoicing prize scheme

Federal Board of Revenue has suspended the flagship initiative of Point of Sales (POS) invoicing Prize Scheme after 10 months FBR on Tuesday suspended SRO 1005 of 2021 regarding POS Prize Scheme till 31st January 2023 to make it more inclusive and participatory for the public All invoices verified during intervening period will be included in the next prize draw The new scheme will be launched after discussions with Tier 1 retailers, card acquirers issuers and other stakeholders and anew scheme would be launched very soon

Sources said that the tax department want to ascertain how much revenue has been collected by offering this scheme It is pertinent to mention here that FBR has hold 10 lucky draws so far and in each lucky draw, department has given 1017 lucky winners amount ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs1 million

Imran’s motives behind ‘ridic uling nation’ to be exposed soon: S anaullah

ISLAMABAD

Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan on Tuesday said that Imran Khan was ridiculing the nation and his motives will be exposed soon Talking to a private news channel, he said that due to Imran’s protests the Saudi crown prince has postponed his visit which would have benefited Pakistan s economy up to $17 billion He termed the PTI’s long march failed despite using

resources of the KP and Punjab provincial governments and police support The PTI leaders were targeting state in stitutions to promote their foreign agenda, he said, adding that Imran was giving anti state statements in frustration

Rana Sanaullah called Imran Khan to conduct a med ical examination of his injuries by an independent medical board to verify the false claim of receiving four bullets

“If it is proved that Imran received four bullets, I will resign from politics forever,” Rana Sanaullah challenged

The accused of the firing on Imran Khan has been ar

rested by their workers and now he is in police custody which was proven self motivated he added Rana Sanaullah said that Imran Khan has been changing his narrative on daily basis to malign the state institution He said that Imran Khan through long march wants to create chaos in the coun try, adding, we will not allow this to happen in future He said the government would not compromise on capital’s se curity and would provide protection of the lives, and prop erties of its residents To a query about the Arshad Sharif murder case he said that if six persons are handed over to

him he would sum up the whole issue within six days adding that the available evidences show that Arshad Sharif s mur der was planned Constitutional procedure followed for IK removal: Meanwhile, Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif on Tuesday said that coalition partners had adopted a constitu tional procedure for the removal of former prime minister Imran Khan, who had been ousted from power through vote of ‘no confidence’ Imran Khan, after losing power, had started a campaign to malign national institutions, he said while talking to a private TV channel

Au t o m o t i ve s e c t o r f i n d s s o m e r e s p i t e i n O c t o b e r

The Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers As sociation (PAMA) has released its members’ sales data for the month of October Overall sales have risen by 14% on a month on month (MoM) basis with increases seen in the pas senger cars, jeeps and pickups, and two and three wheeler segments However, despite the rally sales are still down 37% year on year (YoY) in comparison to October 2021

The largest nominal increase was seen in the two and three wheeler segments The seg ment rose to 113,706 units in October, against September ’s 99,581 However, sales still fall short by 36% YoY in comparison to the 178,229 units sold in October 2021 Jeeps and pickups saw the largest relative increase with 2,240 units sold in October in comparison to September ’s 1,833 YoY sales are down 38%

when compared to October 2021’s 3,611 units sold Finally passenger cars saw 11 129 units sold in October against 9,213 units sold in September YoY sales are down 36% when compared to the 17 413 units sold last year

On the other hand, the trucks and buses segments saw a decline in MoM sales The former saw sales decline to 326 units in Oc tober against September ’s 378 and last year ’s 484 The latter saw sales decline to its lowest point this financial year with only 1,890 units sold in October This is compared to Septem ber s 2 149 units sold and October s 2021 s 5,361 Only four of PAMA’s members saw a MoM reduction in their sales figures with every one else averaging a MoM increase of 40%

Looking at companies strictly in the four wheel passenger and commercial car busi ness, Toyota and Honda Cars saw increases in their MoM sales, whilst Hyundai did not Toyota saw its MoM sales rise 3 374 units

sold in comparison to September ’s 2,617 units Similarly Honda saw sales rise 1 425 units sold in comparison to the previous month’s 1,280 units Hyundai conversely saw sales dip to 486 units compared to the previous month’s 967 units

Looking at the company’s strictly in the two and three wheeler markets, there were mixed results abound Atlas Honda, the leader of the pack saw its sales rise to 95 249 units sold in comparison to the previous month’s 85,042 units Atlas Honda’s sales also place it in first position in terms of sales across all companies Ravi, Qingqi, and United Autos also saw their sales increase to 44 units sold, 613 units sold, and 10,077 units sold in com parison to the previous month’s 37 units, 475 units and 5 226 units sold respectively Yamaha and Road Prince are the only two companies in this segment that saw their sales decline on a MoM basis in the segment

Yamaha recorded 1,130 units in comparison to the previous month s 1 223 units whereas Road Prince saw its volume decline to 3,068 units compared to the previous month’s 3,344

Looking at companies providing strictly commercial vehicles Hino and JAC saw their sales rise to 93 and 70 units compared to the previous months 70 and 62 units sold Master and Isuzu, in contrast, saw their sales dip to 111 and 103 units sold when compared to the previous month’s 113 and 189 units sold The tractor segment saw Millat regain its top po sition against Al Ghazi Its sales rose 1 503 units compared to the previous month’s low of 638 Conversely, Al Ghazi saw its sales dip to 387 units compared to the high it saw with 1,511 units in the previous month

Finally operating across multiple seg ments, Suzuki saw its sales rise to 11,528 compared to the previous month’s 9,046 units With the exception of Hino all of

PAMA s member s saw a YoY decline when their figures are compared to October 2021 Hino, in contrast, saw it’s YoY sales in Oc tober rise by 9% whereby it recorded 93 sales compared to October 2021’s 85 units Companies are likely to have breathed a sigh of relief when looking at their October fig ures in comparison to the lows they saw in September However there is still no guarantee if the rebound carries over into November and if the industry subsequently stabilises “The sit uation is unprecedented so no one can com ment on the matter right now ” Abdul Waheed Khan, Director General of PAMA, told Profit

“The quota system, freight charges, the non availability of computer chips, and the prices of raw materials have reduced sales Furthermore, there has also been a reduction in demand as well ” Khan stated when asked by Profit why sales were down 37% YoY However, Khan stated that the situation would improve beyond the immediate future due to the sector ’s continued engagement with the Government for a redressal of the aforementioned complaints

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ISLAMABAD

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