Epaper_22-11-26 LHR

s b p h i k e s p o l

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hikes by major central banks slows pressures on the external account could d minish further,” noted the state ment rather optimistically

in a meeting by the state bank of Pak stan (sbP), the Monetar y Pol icy committee (MPc) decided to hike the po icy rate on november 25 by 100 bps to 16% due to stronger than expected and persistent inflationar y pressures Market partici pants did not expect a hike in Ju y 1998 the po cy rate was 16 5%, making the recent policy rate the highest in 24 years it is aimed at ensuring that ele vated inflation does not become en trenched and that r sks to financial stability are contained, thus paving the way for higher growth on a more sus tainable basis said the Monetar y Po icy statement (MPs) looks like the sbP is more con cerned with rising nflation Moreover iMf ta ks for the next tranche is under way and is delayed this may have also compe led the committee to take this step to f ght inf ation,” says Mohammed soha l ceo of topline securities samiu lah tariq, head of research at Pak kuwait investment company says i think t [the rate hike] was unex pected, but ooking at global central banks t seems n l ne the statement high ghted that amid the ongoing economic slow down inflation is increasingly being driven by persistent global and domes tic supp y shocks that are raising costs in turn these shocks are spilling over into broader prices and wages, which could de anchor inflation ex pectations and undermine med um term growth,” read the statement the committee felt that the r se in cost push inf at on can no longer be over ooked and necessitates a mone tar y policy response

regarding ooking for ward the MPc comments, “ wh le inflation is l kely to be more persistent than previously antici pated it is still expected to fall toward the upper range of the 5 7% medium term target by the end of fy24 sup ported by prudent macroeconomic pol cies, orderly rupee movement, nor maliz ng g obal commod ty prices and benefic a base effects ”

“the MPc noted that the short term costs of bringing inflation down are lower than the long term costs of allowing t to become entrenched at the same time curbing food inf ation through adminis trative measures to reso ve supply cha n bottlenecks and any necessar y imports remains a h gh prior ty ”

s a r e s u t o f c r o p d a m a g e n t h e r e c e n t f o o d s d e s p t e s o m e r e m e d y i n t h e c u r r e n t a c c o u n t d e f i c t i n s e p t e m b e r a n d o c t o b e r d u e t o d e c l i n i n g i m p o r t s ; a n d f r e s h f u n d i n g f r o m t h e a s i a n d e v e l o p m e n t b a n k t h e M P c n o t e d t h a t e x t e r n a l a c c o u n t c h a l l e n g e s c o n t i n u e t o p e r s i s t while the current account deficit cont nued to moderate during sep tember and october reaching $0 4 and $0 6 billion respectively this m provement was mainly driven by a broad based 11 6% fa in imports to $20 6 bil ion, with exports increasing by

La u n c h o f P N S K h y b e r t r u e r e f l e c t i v e o f Pa k -Tu r k i y e d e e p e n i n g t i e s : P M

iStANBUL

accompanied by turkish Pres dent recep tayy p erdogan, Prime Minister shehbaz sharif on friday launched the third of the four MilgeM cor vette sh ps for the Pakistan navy Pns khyber at the istanbul shipyard addressing the launching cer emony PM shehbaz shar f said that the aunch of the ship man fested deep bilateral engage

ment between the two countries in defence cooperation the prime m nister sa d it was high time the two countr es trans formed their ties into a strategic partnersh p as the world was en v ous of the relationship be tween two brotherly countries w h i l e c i t i n g h u g e p o t e n t i a in the field of alternate energy in both countries, he ca led for tu r ke y a n d Pa k i s t a n t o j o i n h a n d s f o r t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f solar wind and hydel energy to

c u t t h e c a r b o n e m i s s i o n a n d open up new avenues of nvest ment cooperation o n h i s a r r i v a l a t t h e v e n u e the turkish president welcomed the prime min ster who was ac c o m p a n i e d b y a h i g h l e v e l d e l e g a t i o n the pr me m nister was given a guard of honour and national anthems of both the countries were also played the MilgeM project based on jo nt co laboration between the two countr es represents a signif cant milestone in the Pak stan türkiye strategic partner ship that continues to progress on an upward trajector y the launching ceremony for the first cor vette for the Pakistan navy, Pns babur, was per formed n istanbul n august 2021 wh le the groundbreaking for the sec ond ship, Pns badr, was held at karachi in May 2022 calling turk ye h s “ second home the prime minister re cal ed the support extended by the people of Pakistan at the time when turkiye was fighting for freedom

2

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adding

however,

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the interbank and open market exchange rates “ on the financ ng side inflows are being negat ve y af fected by domestic uncertainty and tightening global f nancial conditions as ma or central banks continue to raise pol cy rates,” notes the MPc the MPc expects the current ac count deficit to remain moderate in fy23, and expects fore gn exchange reser ves to improve gradua ly as antic ipated external inflows from b atera and multilatera sources materialize ” if the recent decl ne in global o prices ntens fies or the pace of rate

“after incorporat ng the Post disaster needs assessment of the floods and atest developments the fy23 pro ec tions for growth of around 2% and a current account deficit of around 3% of gdP shared n the ast monetar y pol cy statement are re affirmed how ever h gher food prices and core nf ation are now expected to push av erage fy23 inflation up to 21 23%,” sa d the MPc in addit on to chal enges on the monetar y policy s de of the economy fiscal pressures cont nue to pose a challenge despite the budgeted conso idat on for fy23 f scal outcomes deteriorated n Q1 relative to the same period last year the f scal deficit increased from 0 7 to 1% of gdP with the primar y sur plus declining from 0 3 to 0 2% of gdP the MPc attr butes this deterioration argely to a decline in non tax revenues and higher interest payments the MPs adds that in response to the floods the government has imp e mented a number of re ief measures for the agriculture sector including mark up subsidies for farmers and the provis on of subsidized nputs the floods cou d make t challeng ng to achieve the aggressive f scal consolidation budgeted for this year but it is important to minimize slippages by meeting additiona spending needs argely through expenditure re alloca tion and foreign grants whi e limiting transfers only to the most vulnerable,” adds the statement the comm ttee further strengthens the need to maintain f scal d scipline to com p ement monetar y t ghtening the com m ttee remarks that both wou d together he p prevent an entrenchment of inf a tion and lower external vu nerabil t es

the MPc noted inflat on increased s h a r p y i n o c t o b e r d u e t o e l e c t r i c t y p r i c e s a n d f o o d p r i c e s a

6% to $9 8 bil ion

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C o l l e C t o r G B B l A m e S C u S t o m S o f f i C e r S f o r i N v o lv e m e N t i N ‘ m A S S i v e r e v e N u e lo S S e S ’

ISLAMABAD

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

tH E Collector of Customs, Gilgit Baltisran Nisar Ahmad has uncovered in an unusual letter written by him to the Member custom operations FBR a cartel of senior 21 custom officers allegedly involved in corrupt practices causing massive revenue losses in the Gilgit Baltistan customs According to details, the collector GB has informed the member customs operations Mukarram Jah Ansari that DG Custom Intelligence Faiz Ahmad and the Chief Collector customs Islamabad both aggrieved on his revenue raising efforts and a corresponding reduction in the money making opportunities in GB customs had made any honest revenue collection efforts difficult for the collector to make in the GB customs According to the serious allegations made in the collector’s letter, Dry Port Sust in Gilgit Baltistan is being used as a big money making engine and BS 21 custom officers who were required under law to safeguard the import revenue there through their effective supervision were themselves driving that money making engine through their strategy of posting there a principal appraiser Raja

Capt Safdar drops hint on ‘early return’ of Nawaz Sharif

Waseem Ahmad who is known for organising and leading systemic customs crimes and big fiscal frauds including drugs smuggling and protecting this custom official from accountability for his making massive amounts of money at the cost of causing heavy revenue losses every day

The principal appraiser Raja Waseem, it has been alleged, takes from importers a bribe worth Rs3 million on each GD and in return clears around a 30 ton container of different imported goods on payment of a n o m i n a l d u t y a n d t a x e s o f R s 2 8 m i l l i o n causing a massive revenue loss every day o n t h e s t r e n g t h o f t h e s u p p o r t o f D G c u s t o m i n t e l l i g e n c e F a i z A h m a d w i t h whom he allegedly shares the bribe money s o c o l l e c t e d I n h i s l e t t e r t o m e m b e r customs operations FBR, the collector GB customs has disclosed that after his posting a s C o l l e c t o r, h e h a d r a i s e d r e v e n u e collection from Rs2 8 million per container t o R s 6 4 m i l l i o n p e r c o n t a i n e r b u t R a j a Wa s e e m p r i n c i p a l a p p r a i s e r c o n t i n u e d t o erect obstacles on the way including strikes by the local traders

When he proceeded against the Principal Appraiser, the collector added, and sent him off duty the average revenue collection per container rose by 123 5 percent The

collector wrote further that after prima facie establishing his corrupt practices in a preliminary enquiry, when Raja Waseem was ready for suspension and charge sheet, DG Custom Intelligence stepped in to rescue the principal appraiser from the difficult situation The DG custom intelligence, the collector has alleged, spent two hours with member Admin FBR and got the proceedings against the principal appraiser transferred to an additional director of custom intelligence who works under DG in his office at Islamabad M o r e o v e r, t h e c o l l e c t o r d i s c l o s e d i n h i s l e t t e r, t h a t t h e D G c u s t o m i n t e l l i g e n c e s t a r t e d b l o c k i n g t h e c o n t a i n e r s o f i m p o r t e d g o o d s a f t e r h e ( t h e c o l l e c t o r ) h a d r a i s e d p e r c o n t a i n e r a v e r a g e r e v e n u e c o l l e c t i o n f r o m R s 2 8 m i l l i o n t o R s 6 4 m i l l i o n w h i l e h e l e t t h e c o n t a i n e r s o f i m p o r t e d g o o d s g o u n h i n d e r e d w h e n R a j a Wa s e e m p r i n c i p a l a p p r a i s e r w a s c a u s i n g m a s s i v e r e v e n u e l o s s e s , w a s c o l l e c t i n g o n a v e r a g e d u t y / t a x e s o f R s 2 8 m i l l i o n p e r c o n t a i n e r s a n d w a s t a k i n g f r o m i m p o r t e r s R s 3 m i l l i o n p e r c o n t a i n e r a s a b r i b e m o n e y f o r c l e a r i n g t h e i r i m p o r t e d g o o d s a t n o m i n a l d u t y a n d t a x e s Making another important disclosure in

the letter the collector GB Customs has brought in the knowledge of member customs operations that chief collector Islamabad has compelled him twice to disobey the orders of Chief Court Gilgit Baltistan making his working as collector there difficult for him

S o u r c e s s a i d t h a t t h i s i s o n e o f t h e t y p i c a l c u s t o m s c a m s b a c k e d b y s e n i o r custom officers which cause this indebted nation revenue losses worth billions every y e a r Sources told that DG custom Intelligence and Member customs operations have allegedly joined hands to back and cover up such scams How the member custom operation will now react to this scam will show in a large measure how these senior custom officers when confronted with such scams try to push them under the carpet and set to begin their preparations for yet another revenue loss scam

Meanwhile the FBR spokesperson on the query of this scribe replied that Directorate of Customs intelligence in collaboration with officials of Pakistan Customs, have been able to identify cases of misdeclaration and evasion of duties and taxes at Sost Dry Port

Besides generating additional revenue for the state’s exchequer, this collaboration has also enabled identification of delinquent Customs officials, against whom disciplinary proceedings are underway

Regarding the contention of the

‘ Way ’ to elec tions goes through Islamabad, not Pindi: S anaullah

arrangements should not be ignored he added

N)

Collector GB that blocking of consignments by Dt Gen I&I is hampering him from performing his duties, it is pointed out that during the current season more than 465 GDs were filed at Dryport Sost

Out of these only eight (08) GDs were blocked on receipt of credible information about mis declaration of description and quantities For their joint examination the PA (I&I) was sent to Sost who reported to the concerned Assistant Collector on 21 10 2022 and remained there till 3 11 2022

However, out of the eight (08) blocked GDs only three (03) were arranged for re examination The Collectorate had collected duties & taxes of Rs 6 44 million on these three GDs the re examination by PA I&I in the presence of the staff of Collectorate, representative of NLC Dryport Sost and the importer resulted in detection of huge quantity of undeclared items involving cumulative evasion of duties & taxes of Rs 9 44 million (146%) over and above the duties & taxes already collected

Anticipating that further re examination will lead to similar or more detections, the remaining five (05) consignments, despite being blocked by I&ICustoms were not arranged for re examination and were either released manually by the Collectorate at its own or in light of orders of the Court

Nawaz Sharif to return before end of 2022: Kh Asif

ISLAMABAD

(retd) Safdar

Friday reiterated that Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan very soon I have desired to wish Nawaz Sharif his birthday on December 25 in Jati Umrah,” he said while talking to the media outside district courts in Lahore here on Friday Things are getting better in the country More good days will come,” he added “Every time the country starts to develop Imran Khan starts conspiring he deplored In 2013, the Chinese president was scheduled to come to Pakistan But his visit was postponed due to the PTI sit in in the federal capital he maintained and alleged Imran Khan was still following the same pattern “The affairs of the country are getting better But when the economy starts to develop Imran Khan becomes a hurdle,” he criticized Capt Safdar categorically declared that Imran Khan can put as many obstacles as he wants but the country would make progress

There is no logic in political gatherings and Imran Khan should leave his stubborn attitude I advise Imran Khan to postpone the useless gathering as intelligence agencies have informed the government about red alert and any terrorist or terrorist organization can exploit the situation and target the gathering,” Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told media at a briefing on Friday after chairing the meeting at the Ministry of Interior

Rana Sanaullah said that the life of Imran Khan was at risk as per reports from intelligence agencies as such political gatherings can be targeted and anti state elements might attempt to fulfill their nefarious designs

The minister said that he had instructed the police to ensure strict security at all entry and exit points of PTI’s long march venue in Rawalpindi because of a red alert “The stage should be kept bulletproof at every cost and entry to the stage should not only be made safe but the people on the stage should be kept an eye on as well,” he maintained “We have issued an advisory from the federal government and informed IGP and Chief Secretary Punjab to ensure strict security measures from all four sides of the venue and no persons should be allowed to enter without checking Entry at stage should be limited and bulletproof

He advised Imran Khan to come back to the parliament so that the country could move forward as it was the solution to his problems If you don t do this then you will be responsible for everything including inflation, economic turmoil, and political turmoil Stop being stubborn and come do politics instead he added Rana Sanaullah said that when politicians sat together, deadlocks were broken and decisions were changed He said that if Imran wanted a date for elections, he should become a politician “Become a politician and meet your fellows Meet Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Akhtar Mengal Khalid Magsi Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and discuss the elections with them You can even meet Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, they won t refuse, he suggested

The minister said that he had seen his leaders amend their decisions after arguments and discussions He said there was no purpose for PTI s long march now as he would not get a date for elections from Rawalpindi because the establishment as an institution was sticking to its decision that it won t step out of its constitutional role He said that Imran Khan used objectionable language against the institutions during the last 5 6 months and his real face got exposed before the people Rana Sanaullah said that it was not Haqeeqi Azadi March and that people should not attend it because its objective is to create instability in the country

The minister also congratulated Lt Gen Asim Muneer and Sahir Shamshad Mirza for their appointments as Chief of Army Staff and Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee respectively He said that the entire process of these appointments was conducted as per law and constitution and both officers would effectively protect the interests of the country

He said that Imran khan made the worst corruption and he would have to be answerable for all deeds To a question about the return of Nawaz Sharif, the minister said that most of the cases against the PML N supremo were those in which Marriym Nawaz got an acquittal He said that PML N leader would come back and lead the general election campaign

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday revealed that the former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan before the end of 2022

While addressing the National Assembly, the defence minister said the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) protests had violated people s rights adding that everyone had the right to protest but the limits of the Constitution and law should not be crossed

He said that no development work was done during the past four years under the PTI government, and the incumbent government had explained these circumstances to the people Asif also said that the government withdrew money from other sectors and gave it to the flood victims who were undergoing great difficulties due to cold winter nights

The m i n i s t e r m a i n t a i n e d t h a t t h e f e d e r a l a n d p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t s s h o u l d p r o v i d e a s s i s t a n c e t o d i s a s t e r v i c t i m s w i t h o u t d i s c r i m i n a t i o n a n d t h a t t h e g o v e r n m e n t w a s n o t a c t i n g o n p o l i t i c a l p r i o r i t i e s E a r l i e r t h i s w e e k , A s i f s a i d f o r m e r p r e m i e r I m r a n K h a n s h o u l d n o t t a r g e t t h e i n s t i t u t i o n s t h a t “ s u p p o r t e d h i m u n c o n d i t i o n a l l y ” d u r i n g t h e l a s t f o u r y e a r s , a d d i n g t h a t t h e c h i e f o f t h e f o r m e r r u l i n g p a r t y c o u l d n o t d e l i v e r d e s p i t e t h e a s s i s t a n c e e x t e n d e d t o h i m “ A f t e r 7 5 y e a r s , w e a r e a t a p o i n t w h e r e w e c a n s a y t h a t a l l t h e i n s t i t u t i o n s a r e p l a y i n g t h e i r c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r o l e T h e s e i n s t i t u t i o n s e x t e n d e d u n c o n d i t i o n a l s u p p o r t t o I m r a n K h a n , h e s a i d “ H e ( I m r a n ) s h o u l d n o t a t t a c k t h e s e i n s t i t u t i o n s b u t r a t h e r s h o u l d b e a s h a m e d o f h i m s e l f t hat despite their assistance he could not perform ”

IHC extends stay order against construc tion of Bhara K au bypass

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has extended its stay order against the construction of the Bhara Kahu bypass project on a piece of land owned by Quaid i Azam University (QAU) IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb took up the petition of the five faculty members seeking to restrain the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from constructing a segment of bypass project on the university’s land

The court extended the stay order directing the both parties to complete their arguments on the next hearing and deferred the hearing till December 2

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sept 30 laid the foundation stone for the bypass and directed the National Logistics Cell (NLC) to complete the project within three months The 5km long road, including a 1km flyover, will start from Murree Road near the university stop and culminate on Murree Road near the Jugi bus stop adjacent to Punjab Cash and Carry from where it will have a one km long flyover which will end outside the Bhara Kahu bazaar towards Murree

Since the project was an initiative of PM Shehbaz Sharif, the CDA appeared to be more diligent as its legal team was present in the courtroom at the first hearing of the case even though the court had not even put the civic agency on notice But the legal team failed to

get any relief as the court issued a stay order against the construction

The petitioners Dr Azizur Rehman Ilhan Niaz, Aqeel Bukhari, and associate professors Asif Ali and Amir Ali filed the petition through their counsel Kashif Ali Malik

It may be mentioned that the supreme decision making body of the university, the syndicate, had approved the conditional land swap deal with the CDA for the Bhara Kahu bypass project, as nine out of 12 syndicate members backed the agreement with the civic body Advocate Malik argued that the new alignment of the bypass would divide the university s campus and the road would become a de facto border between the two sides of the campus

ISLAMABAD

LAHORE

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML

leader Capt

on

S ta f f R e p o R t

F

R E F U T E S A L L E G AT I O N S L E V E L E D AG A I N S T S E N I O R C U S TO M S O F F I C I A L S

N A B l A u N C h e S p r o B e i N t o r S 2 . 1 4 B h y D e r A B A D - S u K K A r m o t o r wAy S C A m

tH E National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday launched an investigation into the Rs2 14 billion land acquisition scam concerning the construction of the M6 Sukkur Hyderabad Motorway

The anti graft watchdog has summoned record of Naushahro Feroze deputy

commissioner Tashfeen Alam, who was involved in suspicious transactions of over Rs2 billion funds meant for acquiring land for the Hyderabad Sukkur motorway project

The anti corruption authority has also sought record of revenue officials belonging to Shaheed Benazirabad and Sukkur divisions

In a letter written to the Sukkur commissioner, DG NAB Sukkur has asked

commissioner to provide details of amount received from NHA for the land acquisition for M6 motorway

NAB has also asked Sindh government to provide a copy of the joint survey report regarding the construction of Hyd Sukkur motorway

Earlier, the FIA had recommended putting names of the accused of M 6 fund misappropriation in the exit control list Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)

Sindh in a letter to the FIA Immigration Islamabad has recommended to keep the names of the accused in motorway M 6 funds scam in the ECL Deputy Commissioner Naushehro Feroz Tashfeen Alam, DC Matiari Adnan Rashid, Assistant Commissioner New Saeedabad Mansoor Abbasi and branch manager Sindh Bank Mir Mohammad Suhag have been included in the list of the accused

According to documents, the National

K P d e c i d e s to c u t A D P by R s 8 2 b i l l i o n to f u n d fl o o d - h i t a re a s

a z z B u n e R Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to impose a cut of more than R s 8 2 b i l l i o n o n t h e a n n u a l de v e l o p m e n t p r o g r a m w h i c h w i l l b e a l l o c a t e d t o f l o o d a f f e c t e d d i s t r i c t s o f t h e p r o v i n c e O f f i c i a l s s o u r c e s s t a t e d t h a t t h e p r o v i n c i a l P l a n n i n g a n d D e v e l o p m e n t ( P & D ) D e p a r t m e n t h a s

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

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

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e s o u r c e s o f t h e P & D d e p a r t m e n t , R s 8 2 b i l l i o n w i l l b e r e l e a s e d o n l y t o t h o s e d e p a r t m e n t s w h o s e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e w a s a ff e c t e d b y the flood, including the Department of I r r i g a t i o n , C o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d

w o r k s , E n e rg y, 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 l o c a l government, Agriculture and Livestock, Water Resources, Health, Sports, Tourism and Culture Higher Education Multi Sector Development and the Finance Department In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 309 people died and 369 were injured while 94, 464 houses were affected by floods Moreover, 6,74318 were also displaced by heavy rains and floods

Dar, Chinese Ambassador for enhancing Sino -Pak cooperation

I S L A M A B A D

M i a n a B R a R

F i n a n c e M i n i s t e r I s h a q D a r F r i d a y said that the deep rooted and brotherly relations between Pakistan and China a r e u n p r e c e d e n t e d a n d b o t h t h e c o u n t r i e s h a v e h i s t o r i c a n d s t r o n g b i l a t e r a l t i e s i n v a r i o u s e c o n o m i c sectors

Dar expressed these views during a call on Ambassador of the People s R e p u b l i c o f C h i n a N o n g R o n g T h e meeting discussed enhancing bilateral r e l a t i o n s i n e c o n o m i c a n d f i n a n c i a l s e c t o r s b e t w e e n b o t h t h e f r i e n d l y countries

T h e d i s c u s s i o n w a s m a d e d u r i n g t h e c a l l o n m e e t i n g o f C h i n e s e Ambassador with the minister Special A s s i s t a n t t o P r i m e M i n i s t e r o n F i n a n c e , Ta r i q B a j w a , S e c r e t a r y F i n a n c e a n d o t h e r s e n i o r o ff i c e r s o f F i n a n c e D i v i s i o n a l s o a t t e n d e d t h e meeting

Cour t awards death sentence in a child murder c ase

RAWALPINDI: A District and Sessions Court on Thursday awarded a death sentence to an accused involved in kidnapping a child and murdering him Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the verdict after hearing the arguments from both sides The court also imposed Rs 500,000 fine on the accused, Arslan Qamar on charges of murder while on kidnapping charges, the convict will have to spend ten years in prison and pay a fine of Rs 100,000 According to the prosecution the accused kidnapped and killed a ten year old child in the limits of the Saddar Baroni police station in February 2022 S ta f f R e p o R t

RDA demolishes five under construc tion buildings; seals 11 commercial ones

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) demolished five under construction commercial buildings and sealed 11 commercial buildings on Shahpur Syedan Road Rawalpindi on Thursday In line with the directions of the Chairman RDA Tariq Mehmood Murtaza and the Director General Muhammad Saif Anwar Jappa, the Land Use and Building Control (LU&BC) Wing RDA has carried out an operation against unauthorized/illegal commercial buildings The RDA spokesman said that the LU&BC Wing’s staff including Assistant Director Building Control, Building Inspectors and others with the assistance of the Police from the concerned Police Station carried out the operation against illegal commercial buildings and have sealed illegal commercial buildings namely Ayub Plaza, Ma Sha Allah Building Material S ta f f R e p o Rt

O n t h e o c c a s i o n , D a r a l s o h i g h l i g h t e d t h e r e p e r c u s s i o n s o f u n p r e c e d e n t e d f l o o d s f a c e d b y Pakistan which have largely impacted t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e a g r i c u l t u r e l i v e s and properties of the people T h e m i n i s t e r a p p r e c i a t e d s u p p o r t g i v e n b y t h e g o v e r n m e n t o f C h i n a during these testing times and shared t h a t p r e s e n t g o v e r n m e n t w a s t a k i n g v a r i o u s m e a s u r e s t o e a s e t h e l i f e o f m a s s e s b y e n s u r i n g f i s c a l a n d monetary stability

T h e A m b a s s a d o r a s s u r e d h i s g o v e r n m e n t ’s s u s t a i n e d s u p p o r t t o P a k i s t a n i n h o u r o f n e e d a n d s h a r e d t h a t C h i n a s t a n d s w i t h p e o p l e o f P a k i s t a n i n t h e s e h a r d t i m e s H e a l s o t h a n k e d G o v e r n m e n t o f P a k i s t a n f o r giving facilitation to Chinese projects in Pakistan

L aw yers rally seeks suo moto notice over delay in FIR of attack on Imran

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Hundreds of lawyers from the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) rallied in front of the Su p r e m e C o u r t o n F r i d a y t o p r e s s t h e i r d e m a n d f o r a s u o m o t o n o t i c e o v e r t h e i n o r d i n a t e d e l a y i n r e g i s t r a t i o n F I R o f t h e assassination attempt on party Chairman Imran Khan a s p e r h i s v e r s i o n T h e l a w y e r s a l s o p r o t e s t e d a g a i n s t t h e maltreatment meted out PTI Senator Azam Swati and l e a k i n g o f h i s p r i v a t e v i d e o T h e y a l s o b l a s t e d 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 r s h a d S h a r i f T h e l a w y e r s , c a r r y i n g b a n n e r, k e p t o n c h a n t i n g w e w a n t j u s t i c e s l o g a n s I m R A N ’ s F I R : E v e r s i n c e P T I c h i e f I m r a n K h a n h a d s u r v i v e d a n a s s a s s i n a t i o n a t t e m p t , c o n t r o v e r s y a n d d e a d l o c k h a v e b e e n g o i n g o n o v e r t h e r e g i s t r a t i o n o f F I R o f t h e i n c i d e n t a g a i n s t t h e

p e r s o n s a p p a r e n t l y a c c u s e d b y I m r a n T h o u g h t h e P u n j a b P o l i c e h a v e r e g i s t e r e d a n F I R o f t h e a t t a c k f o l l o w i n g o r d e r s o f t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t , t h e P T I h a s b e e n i n n o m o o d t o a c c e p t t h i s e y e w a s h a n d p r e s s i n g f o r a c a s e t h e t h r e e p e r s o n s i n c l u d i n g t h e Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Maj Gen Faisal N a s e e r o f t h e I S I R i g h t f r o m t h e h o s p i t a l b e d a f t e r t h e a t t e m p t o n h i s l i f e , I m r a n h a s w i t h s u s t a i n e d e n e rg y a c c u s e d t h r e e p o w e r f u l p e o p l e i n t h e c o u n t r y t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r, i n t e r i o r m i n i s t e r a n d a s e n i o r m i l i t a r y o ff i c e r f o r a l l e g e d l y p l o t t i n g a g a i n s t h i m b u t h a s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y b e e n e x p r e s s i n g h i s i n a b i l i t y t o nominate them in FIR despite having his government i n P u n j a b T h e P T I l e a d e r s h i p h a s b e e n o f v i e w t h a t t h e n a m e s o f t h e t h r e e p e o p l e s h o u l d b e i n c l u d e d i n t h e c a s e a s o t h e r w i s e , t h e F I R w o u l d j u s t b e a piece of paper for them

PESHAWAR a z i z B u n e R i

Due to the ongoing financial crisis, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has failed to pay salaried most of the project employees in the province

According to sources, thousands of employees have been recruited for more than1000 projects across the province however the employees are deprived

Highway Authority had released an amount of Rs 4 09 billion to DC Matiari for purchase of the land for the motorway The accused drawn Rs 1 82 billion cash from bank for procurement of land for 70 kilometers of the road

An amount of Rs four billion was transferred to another account by the accused and earned 540 million rupees profit AC New Saeedabad paid cash to the landowners instead of cheques, according to case papers

DCs directed to ensure availabilit y of commodities at fixed rates

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

Chief Secretary Punjab Abdullah Khan Sumbal has directed all the deputy commissioners to ensure the availability of commodities at fixed rates, saying that ranking for the districts would be done on the basis of their performance in the price control measures He gave this instruction while presiding over the video link meeting of deputy commissioners to review the prices and availability of commodities, at the Civil Secretariat The meeting decided to fully activate the District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPC) in the districts and intensify the crackdown on wheat and flour smuggling Speaking on the occasion, Chief Se c r e t a r y A b d u l l a h K h a n S u m b a l s a i d t h a t t h e a v a i l a b i l i t y o f f o o d i t e m s a t f i x e d p r i c e s i s t h e p r i m a r y r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i v e o ff i c e r s , a d d i n g t h a t t h e y m u s t p e r f o r m t h e i r d u t i e s d i l i g e n t l y t o p r o v i d e r e l i e f t o p e o p l e f r o m p r i c e h i k e H e d i r e c t e d t h e I n d u s t r i e s D e p a r t m e n t t o p e r s u a d e t h e P a k i s t a n Va n a s p a t i M a n u f a c t u r i n g A s s o c i a t i o n ( P V M A ) t o b r i n g d o w n t h e p r i c e s o f g h e e H e a s k e d t h e d e p u t y c o m m i s s i o n e r s t o h o l d r e g u l a r m e e t i n g s o f t h e D i s t r i c t P r i c e C o n t r o l C o m m i t t e e s a n d c o n t i n u e m o n i t o r i n g o f t h e a u c t i o n s i n t h e m a r k e t s t o s t a b i l i z e t h e p r i c e s o f v e g e t a b l e s T h e C h i e f S e c r e t a r y s a i d t h a t t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t h a s i s s u e d o r d e r s t o b e g i n t h e c r u s h i n g s e a s o n f r o m N o v e m b e r 2 5 H e d i r e c t e d t h a t t h e s u g a r m i l l s b e b o u n d t o s t a r t t h e c r u s h i n g s e a s o n f r o m November 25 and as per law the action be taken against the sugar mills that do not follow the orders In the meeting it was decided to issue notices to 17 sugar mills that have not started boilers

PESHAWAR

SUKKUR

so far The Secretary Industries told the meeting that there are ample stocks of flour and sugar in the province and a 20 kg bag of flour is available everywhere at a discounted pric e o f R s 1 2 9 5

COurt HeAring: nAB witneSS teStiFieS

SHeHBA z , HAmz A never ‘l AunDereD Any mOney’

LAHORE

PR I M E Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza She hbaz on Friday were given a clean chit a NAB witness in money laundering case NAB witness Tajamul Islam, the Silk Bank Manager Operations, told the Spe cial Court (Central) Lahore that no ele ment that depicted money laundering by Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza was detected He presented bank accounts record of two companies before the court The NAB witness informed the

court that Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz had nothing to do with the back accounts of Good Nature company and Unitas Steel Mills The bank accounts of these two companies and of these two persons were not used for money laun dering, he added He further said these bank accounts were also not used for FTT foreign tele graphic transfers Advocate Amajd the counsel for Shehbaz Sharif, also cross examined the NAB witness Hamza Shehbaz did not appear in the court and his application for exemption for appearance was accepted by the judge

APHC welcomes appointment of Pakistan’s new CJCSC, COAS

SRINAGAR

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has wel comed the appointment of Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza as Pakistan’s new Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and Lieutenant General Asim Munir as Chief of Army Staff (COAS)

According to Kashmir Media Service, the APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar thanked Pakistan for its continued moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris in their struggle for right to self determination He urged India to take steps to settle the Kashmir dispute as per the United Nations resolutions for ensuring durable peace in the region Meanwhile, Wariseen Shuhada e Jammu and Kashmir pasted posters on pillars, electricity poles and walls in different areas of the territory containing pictures of Pakistan s newly appointed Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Asim Munir

“The Hurriyat leadership and people of Kashmir greet the new military leadership of Pakistan A strong Pakistan is essential for the success of the Kashmir freedom movement,” the posters read Meanwhile, APHC AJK chapter Convener, Mahmood Ahmad Saghar, and other leaders including Sheikh Abdul Mateen, Imtiaz Wani and Syed Munzoor Ahmad Shah in a joint statement in Islamabad congratulated the new CJCSC Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and COAS Lt Gen Asim Munir They said it is an honor for General Asim Munir to be the head of the brave Pakistan Army They said Pakistan Army is known as the best army in the world and General Asim Munir has the best professional skills to lead this prestigious force

Heirs of six mar t yrs provided job in KP Police

SWAT

Sacrifices of the martyrs of the Ba jaur Police and former levies and Khasadar force for peacekeeping are matchless perpetual and un forgettable and it is fruit of these sacrifices that we are breathing in a peaceful atmosphere, said Re gional Police Officer Malakand, Sajjad Khan on Friday

“Our strong relationship with martyr families will remain forever ”

Malakand RPO Sajjad Khan expressed the views while speak ing at a ceremony held to distrib ute appointment letters to heirs of Bajaur Police in Khar Bajaur on the other today

Commissioner Malakand Di vision Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, re cently transferred Bajaur District Police Officer DPO Abdul Samad Khan, Additional Deputy Com missioner (Finance) Naseer Khan and a large number of heirs of

martyrs attended the ceremony

During the ceremony, the Malakand RPO along with Com missioner Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said that long standing issue of the heirs of the martyrs was resolved today as job in police department was provided to heirs of six mar tyrs of the former Bajaur Levies Force and Khasadar Force

Speaking on the occasion Saj jad Khan paid tribute to the sacri fices of the martyrs in strong words and said that strong nations never forget their martyrs and the entire Pakistani nation proud of

their martyrs

He said that nations remained alive when they remember their heroes and martyrs The RPO fur ther said that Bajaur Police played frontline role in fight against ter rorism and showed bravery in ad verse conditions

The political, social and public circles of Bajaur also welcomed the distribution of appointment let ters to heirs of the martyrs of the former Levies Force and Khasadar Force, saying that the recruitment was the long standing demand of the martyrs’ families

PPP Peshawar gears up for ‘historic’ public meeting on Foundation Day

PESHAWAR: Pakistan People s Party (PPP) district Peshawar leadership on Friday expressed resolve to celebrate the party’s 55th foundation day with great en thusiasm and would hold a historic public meeting in Peshawar on November 30 It was decided in a high level meeting of former office bearers and workers of PPP Peshawar City here on Friday in PK 75 at resi dence of President Pir Muhammad wherein Syed Ayub Shah Anwar Zeb Comrade Haji Tala Muhammad Zulfiqar Afghani, Zulfiqar Awan, Haji Misbahuddin, Malik Liaquat, Sajjad Khalil, Jahanzeb, Haji Imran, Sikandar Iqbal, Tariq Rahim and other officials were also present The workers participated in the meeting and suggestions were made regarding the preparations and organisational matters of the PPP’s 55th Founda tion Day It was decided that the former present office bearers of the party from Peshawar City leadership and workers from Union Council Wards would participate in the celebration with full preparations Speaking on the occasion, Syed Ayub Shah and Zulfikar Afghani said that on the directions of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the provincial leadership, the PPP founda tion day program would be celebrated with enthusiasm and mutual consultation s ta f f r e p o rt

Pakistan repor ts 30 coronavirus cases

LAHORE:

The COVID positivity Ratio was recorded at 0 43 percent s ta f f r e p o r t

All set for first phase of LG polls in A JK tomorrow

MUZAFFARABAD

vision of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Sunday This was said by Commissioner Masood ur Rehman and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police Irfan Masood Kashfi during a joint presser here on Friday The election commission had decided a week earlier to conduct LG

polls in three phases due to the unavailability of addi tional security personnel from the federal government Polling in Muzaffarabad division is going to be held on November 27 (Sunday) while in Poonch division on December 03 and in Mirpur division on December 08

B ook launched, documentar y released on Pakistani mountains

ISLAMABAD

A book launching and documentary release ceremony was held here in connection with the International Mountain Day celebrations Mr Muhammad Abduhu, the famous writer recently published his book titled “Pakistan Trekking Guide

The author explained about the silent fea tures of the book which includes information about the trekking passes lakes glaciers of Northern Pakistan The relevant preparation of treks, equipment required, health challenges, local culture and allied information has been included in the book to provide guidance to the tourists visiting mountain areas of Pakistan Mr Abu Zafar Sadiq, President, Alpine

Club of Pakistan, Mr Zofran Ellahi, PSAI, Mr Munwar Iqbal, Hafiz Basharat, Abdul Wahid Mr AkramAwan and FaiziAwan re viewed and other mountain lovers reviewed the book They all appreciated the efforts made by Mr Muhammad Abduhu for promo tion of trekking

The documentary The Confidence on Gondogoro Peak highlighting the achievement of MasterWise Eliezer was also released and screened at this occasion Mr Ashir Ch his son Aliezer and Ms Hania climbed this peak last year in Autumn This documentary reflects the high courage and confidence of a child who climbed this peak de spite many odds and challenges It serves as a source of motivation for the children to attract them towards

this novel and challenging sport

The documentary was also commented by different mountaineers and trekkers and ap preciated the achievements of the child

Abu Zafar Sadiq deemed it a tribute of Women as Hania’s achievement is aligned with the theme of International Mountain Day i e Women Move Mountains He observed that summit by Hania without having experi ence of climbing seems mountain moved by her The support of Ashir Ch as father to en courage his son Alizer is also appreciated by the participants

Pakistan has reported no death in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of confirmed positive cases has surged to 1,575,039 The nationwide tally of fatalities stands at 30,630 on Friday According to the latest figures issued by the National Institute of Health (NIH), at least 30 persons were tested positive for COVID 19 across the country in the past 24 hours Pakistan has conducted 6,953 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 30 persons tested positive for the disease

LoNg mArch: roAd cLosure At muLtiPLe PoiNts iN t wiN cities creAte NuisANce for PuBLic

fic blockage on Murree Road at night time while taking my son to the panel hospital in Rawalpindi in emergency”

tH E road closure at multiple loca

tions including the entry and exit points of the twin cities due to the long march is not only creating nui sance for the commuters but pa tients students and vendors also

As a result of these halts, the people of twin cities have been facing hardships and remained stuck in traffic jams for hours

Asifa Ikram, a mother of two children while talking to APP said, “We have suffered from a severe mental trauma due to the traf

She said that my son was having breath ing issues and we had to spend three to four hours in a traffic jam with my family There were two ambulances with serious patients but the protestors were not ready to give pas sage to even those ambulances

Shahid Aslam another parent said The long march has created a negative impact on the academic performance of the students as once again the educational institutions have announced holidays which would waste the time of the students and affect their grades ”

He said It is difficult to abruptly switch over to the online mode of education for var ious educational institutions as well as the students due to poor network connections and unavailability of electronic gadgets for all the students”

Arif Mujeeb a government servant said that “I have to travel between the twin cities on a daily basis in order to reach my office but the suspension of public transport and closure of roads due to long march make the travel between the cities a trouble for us”

Due to the closure of main roads the al ternative routes are witnessing long queues of vehicles and people are stuck in rush for

hours’

He said that the online cab services and private cabs also raised their fares and com muters are facing serious issues due to the mess created by the long march

Rehana Parveen, a working woman, was of the view that from the last few years the residents of the twin cities experience the life of a hostage every time

Different political parties have made it a practice to move towards the capital city time and again, blocking main routes and holding the city block for an uncertain period of time which made life of the people of twin cities difficult

Close contest expec ted bet ween PML-N, PTI candidates in Cantt by-polls

However, the real competition is expected between the two rival parties PTI and PML N

A tough contest is expected between Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) candidates in the upcoming Can tonment board by polls on December 4

After withdrawal of nomination papers of the c o v e r i n g c a n d i d a t e s , t h r e e c a n d i d a t e s a r e i n t h e r u n i n c l u d i n g P M L N c a n d i d a t e R a j a A b d u l Q a y y u m , P T I c a n d i d a t e R a j a M u h a m m a d B i l a l and Tehreek e Labbaik candidate Shakeel Anjum

NAB launches probe into ’embez zlement’ of corona funds in KP

peSHaWar S ta f f R e p o R t

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Fri day launched an inquiry into the alleged embezzle ment of corona funds in the Health Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) The director general (health) has been directed to appear at the NAB of fice in Peshawar with all details Payment receipts of the equipment purchased from the corona funds have also been sought “The health authorities have ap peared before the NAB, and all the details have been submitted ” said the Health Department sources “Answers to the questionnaire issued by the NAB have also been given, they added

The by polls is being held after the demise of e l e c t e d m e m b e r f r o m t h e C o n s t i t u e n c y 2 , R a j a Muhammad Ayub a PML N backed candidate

In the earlier cantonment board elections, Raja Muhammad Ayub who also served as vice pres i d e n t i n t h e p a s t w o n t h e e l e c t i o n b y s e c u r i n g 3 , 8 3 6 v o t e s , w h i l e h i s o p p o n e n t f r o m P T I I d r e s s K h a n b a g g e d 2 , 0 6 1 v o t e s , a n d T L P c a n d i d a t e Hafiz Anjum Shakeel secured 1 354 votes Simi l a r l y, i n d e p e n d e n t c a n d i d a t e I k h a l q B u t t s e c u r e d

397 votes

The constituency has 22 822 registered voters including 10,738 women and 11,884 men

The ECP announced the list of accepted can d i d a t e s o n N o v e m b e r 1 5 w h i l e t h e l a s t d a t e f o r withdrawal of candidature was November 17 Pro visional result will be announced on December 4, followed by the official result on December 6

E x e c u t i v e o ff i c e r s o f t h e c a n t o n m e n t b o a r d will serve as the returning officers (ROs) for the b y e l e c t i o n s w h i l e d i s t r i c t a n d s e s s i o n s j u d g e s will serve as district returning officers

IHC reser ves verdic t on admissibility of plea seeking Imran’s disqualific ation

iSLamaBad

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday re served its verdict on the maintainability of a pe tition seeking disqualification of former prime minister Imran Khan over not disclosing in his nomination papers that he had a daughter

The petition was filed by one Mohammad Sajid who stated that the girl was born as a result of Imran Khan s alleged relations with Ana Luisa (Sita) White a wealthy lady” Sita White was the daughter of the late Lord Gordon White, head of the American arm of Hanson PLC, a giant industrial conglomerate

During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq observed there were some conflicting

judgments in the past about the appropriate forum for weighing qualification of a lawmaker

“One opinion is that the ECP is the sole au thority to disqualify a lawmaker while the other is that only a high court can do so , he averred and recalled that the IHC had referred the matter of dis qualification of former PTI senator Faisal Vawda to the ECP At this, the petitioner ’s counsel re counted judgements given by the Supreme Court and high courts on petitions seeking disqualifica tion of lawmakers for concealing information

The IHC chief justice enquired from the pe titioner ’s counsel what would be the course of ac tion if the petition was admitted for regular hearing The counsel insisted that Imran Khan s case was similar to those already decided by the apex court

Launch of PNS Khyber true reflec tive of Pak Turkiye deepening ties: PM

from page 01

He said while supporting the Turkish people, our forefathers never knew that Turkey would stand by Pakistan through thick and thin and all international platforms instead, they had done so out of their reli gious brotherhood

He appreciated the “visionary leadership” of President Erdogan, the prime minister said he had transformed Turkiye into a modern society He also spoke highly of the social welfare projects executed by the Turkish government even in far flung areas besides transforming the agriculture and industrial sectors The prime minister also urged the defence experts from both sides to enhance their defence pro duction capacity with a view to strengthening coop eration for peace in the region

He appreciated the role of President Erdogan in brokering a deal between Russia and Ukraine for wheat export for the benefit of developing countries like Pakistan He told the gathering that Pakistan was recently hit by one of the most devastating floods and within no time Turkiye sent 13 goods trains carrying 72,000 tons of humanitarian goods and 15 Turkey military aircraft carrying food, tent, medicines and medical teams Addressing a joint press stakeout along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here, PM Shehbaz Sharif suggested that Turkiye should join the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to bring about regional prosperity, alleviate poverty and empower the people through better education and health facilities

The prime minister said Pakistan had been “ex periencing and enjoying” the benefits of the CPEC under the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese Presi dent Xi Jinping

“I would suggest that let this be a cooperation be tween China Pakistan and Turkiye This would be a wonderful joint cooperation This will bring prosper ity and progress to this entire region This will help alleviate poverty and unemployment This will cer

tainly empower our poor people This will promote education and health This is how we can meet the challenges of today,” the prime minister remarked

He said that he would be happy to discuss the matter with the Chinese leadership if Turkiye moved ahead on the idea of joining the CPEC

Lauding President Erdogan s warm hospitality the prime minister started his remarks by conveying condolences over the loss of life in a recent terror in cident in Istanbul and prayed for peace of the de parted souls The prime minister said at a time when the tensions were escalating in the world and the in ternational prices of commodities were skyrocketing and going beyond the reach of developing countries, so it was important to take the defence cooperation to a higher level for defence of the two brotherly countries He said Pakistan and Turkiye’s defence co operation should now meet new challenges and have a much bigger scale in terms of skills expertise and cooperation

PM Shehbaz Sharif said in their meeting the two leaders underscored the effective implementation of the trade and goods agreement the two countries had signed in August this year

He said the trade volume of $1 billion between Pakistan and Turkiye did not reflect the brotherly re lations and called for all out efforts to achieve the target of $5 billion dollar trade

In his remarks, Turkish president Erdogan said that both countries were hopeful of further increasing their relations in trade, defence and other sectors ‘ C a l l f o r e n h a n C i n g Pa k T u r k T r a d e r e l aT i o n s ’: Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for enhancing trade relations between Pakistan and Turkey applauding Turkey’s support amid devastating floods in the country

Addressing the participants of an event in Istan bul the PM said that he is really glad to visit his ‘sec ond home’

The PM added that Turkey has supported Pak istan at every international forum and in hours of

need Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is a far sighted leader, and Turkey has become a welfare state under his leadership, the PM added Shehbaz Sharif added that Turkey provided over 72,000 ton of relief goods amid flood in Pakistan In the past, the Turkish President and his wife have vis ited flood affected areas he added

No power in the world can weaken Pakistan Turkey relations, he added He added that Pakistan is working towards cheap and sustainable sources of energy Pakistan and Turkey will have to work to gether toward renewable energy and climate goals, he added The PM invited Turkish investors to invest in Pakistan The PM urged for the enhancement of trade relations between the two countries ‘ B i l aT e r a l T i e s e n T e r n e w e r a o f ‘s T r aT e g i C Pa rT n e r s h i P’’: Prime Minis ter Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Turkiye on Friday on the two day official visit at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan At the Istanbul International Airport, the prime minister and his high level delegation were received by the Deputy Governor of Istanbul and senior offi cials of the government of Turkiye

In a tweet soon after arrival, the prime minister said the bilateral ties between Pakistan and Turkiye had entered a new era of strategic partnership under the leadership of President Erdogan

“We are on the course to unpack the full un tapped potential of the relationship,” he said Shehbaz Sharif said being in Turkey he felt like being at home and added that he was overwhelmed by the warmth of the Turkish brothers and sisters

Launch of third MILGEM manifested brother hood’ Earlier Pakistani Minister for Defence Produc tion Israr Tareen said the launch of the third MILGEM manifested brotherhood and strong de fence collaboration

He appreciated the Turkish Navy and Istanbul Shipyard for ensuring the project s completion within the timeframe

Sabir Khan a daily wager while sharing his views said that we use to earn our bread and butter on a daily basis The suspension of routine life causes misery and pain for the daily wagers whose families heavily depend on their day to day earnings

He said that these long march sit ins and dharnas shut the whole commercial ac tivities and due to the unavailability of work we are unable to fulfill the basic needs of our family

He said that we have no idea how long these long march will remain here and we are worried how we will manage our day to day expenditures in this situation

corporate corner

K a r a c h I: Pakistan Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) and Bank of Khyber (BOK) to partner together to enable Bank of Khybercustomers with innovative digital payment services featuring virtual & physical debit card services alongwith added digital payment solutions Faysal Banks Fintech Express Program is focused on identifying financial institutions and aiding theircustomers’ digital journey through innovative technologies Through this partnership Bank of Khyber willaccess Faysal Bank s Fintech Express Program that is driven by creating partnerships with Banks andFintech to further encourage State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) financial inclusion initiative in Pakistan With this partnership Bank of Khyber will leverage Faysal Bank’s Fintech Express Program to accelerate the customers’ digital journey and provide its customer accessibility to a host of digital solutions to aid theirbanking needs Speaking at the occasion, Mr Ali Gulfaraz, Managing Director and CEO, BoK, said, “Bank of Khyber iscommitted to delivering ease, convenience, and universal acceptability to our customers to transact andmake payments across all channels The partnership between Faysal Bank and Bank of Khyber will helpus strengthen the BoK digital ecosystem by onboarding international payment schemes and digital servicesthat will provide a comprehensive range of payment solutions to our customers Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Yousaf Hussain, CEO, FBL said, “Faysal Bank wants to be thecornerstone of the digital product revolution in Pakistan p R

OICCI, PBC and Unilever collaborate to highlight signific ance of ESG

OGRA hosts webinar on CSR

I s l

‘Prosperous Pakistan

Sustainable Development The Way Forward’ on 24th November,

The

held through an online virtual platform (Zoom

Webinar aimed to provide

across industries with

changing

to leadership, vision,

needs The forum deliberated over the present and future challenges in the fast changing business environment and fulfilling the expectations of various stake holders Specially, the concerns from and for customers workforce stakeholders communities and governments, as well as our resources, climate and a demand for transparent and socially responsible practices and initiatives within organizations came under discussion The Webinar was hosted by OGRA and Chairman OGRA Mr Masroor Khan welcomed the distinguished guest speakers amongst the industry and public sector Chairman NEPRA Mr Tauseef H Farooqi elaborated the CSR system and it s practices in Pakistan In addition to this, senior management of Sui companies, Shell Pakistan, PSO, Mari Petroleum, Total Parco, Attock Refinery, PPL and Indus Foundation participated and conversed their CSR practices which were linked to Environmental, Health, Social and basic economic and infrastructure practices, which influence the sustainability of Business and Society as an integrated system p R

The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) and the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) collaborated to host a design sprint on best practices needed to develop an effective Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework for Pakistan The two day workshop was facilitated by Unilever Pakistan Limited p R

iSLamaBad

WaH Cantt S ta f f R e p o R t

KU and lack of ramps

a l l successive administrations over the years failed to facilitate the life of the physically challenged students at Karachi University (KU) as a re sult such students continue to face challenges even today in this modern age and world in terms of transportation and getting education

For instance, none of the old buildings on the campus has been built with ramps to facilitate the movement of wheelchairs Besides many of the lecture halls have tiered seating arrangements, which makes it impossi ble for the physically challenged to be part of such lectures even the relatively new buildings that have been constructed over the last two decades are no better in this critical regard these basic facilities include a ramp at the entrance of every building, a specially designed sep arate washroom and an elevator or a ramp allowing access to the first floor of any building it should be noted that 2pc of total seats at the uni versity are earmarked for physically challenged students under the special quota system and yet there is no facilitation for them

Some of the old buildings, including the Dr mahmud Husain library (pictured above), were built decades ago and yet provide direct access to the first floor via a ramp So somebody at some point did think of the issue and came up with the right solution Why was the trend not followed once the matter had been acknowledged?

P u b l i c B o r r o w i n g i n I s l a m

TH e demise of Dr muhammad nejatul lah Siddiqi saddened muslims from around the world, particularly those who are trying to explore modern day implications of islamic finance and economics a few decades ago it was generally accepted that there is probably no alternative to current banking and finance to comply with Shariah principles However, dedication and hard work of the likes of Dr Siddiqi opened the door to think creatively to find solutions for eco nomic and financial systems to meet Shariah re quirements

On the banking front there is significant progress in the muslim world from processes and procedures to product development and invest ments islamic banks in Pakistan have emerged from niche to the mainstream, now being rated with their conventional counterparts while secur ing top slots in the ranking which is the outcome of intellectual contributions of such scholars it is clearly evident that lack of scholarliness in most of the contemporary disciplines led to the decline of islamic civilization, leaving cur rent generations into complete confusion as to how one can adhere to Shariah principles in ad vanced and sophisticated subjects there are several factors to blame for the departure of muslim societies from scientific developments, including overall lethargy to probably religious taboos which restricted progress of aspiring scholars However, in economics and finance every endeavour is driven by the motivation to eliminate the curse of usury from society De spite significant progress on the banking side, there is a lot to do to streamline public finance according to Shariah principles which is respon sible to manage a country’s revenue, expendi tures and debt load through various means today tax collection budget expenditure deficit/surplus, and national debt collectively shape the overall structure of public finance But tracing practices of public finance particularly public borrowing, back to more than 1400 years of islamic history remains a daunting task which Dr Siddiqi attempted and brought forth some im portant instances from early islamic history to consider for recent needs of public borrowing

He raised questions such as; did the islamic state in the past borrow? if so, why and on what terms? Were there any alternatives to borrow ing? Dr Siddiqi argued, With these and related questions one can explore the historical records of the many governments, spanning vast regions of the globe over the long period of 1400 years Yet another problem is the islamic authenticity of what the muslim rulers have been doing all these centuries in all these regions authenticity naturally belongs to the decisions and actions of the Prophet (PBUH) the consensus of the com

munity has extended this authenticity to the pe riod of the four pious Caliphs But the problem is that during the reign of four pious Caliphs there wasn’t any need for public borrowing be cause revenues from zakah, ushr, fai, kharaj as well as spoils of war were steadily rising throughout the period which were sufficient to meet all public expenditures nevertheless we can find a few instances of public borrowing from the life of the Prophet (PBUH) in the difficult early years in medina according to Dr Saddiqi “the Prophet (PBUH) borrowed as the leader of all muslims and the head of the state he established at medina it is not at all difficult to distinguish between the Prophet's personal borrowing and his bor rowing for public pur poses since the texts themselves facilitate such a distinction ” according to Hazrat Bilal (R a ) it was the practice of the Prophet (PBUH) that when a man came to him as a muslim and he saw him in need of clothes he would order me and i would go and borrow and buy a cloak for him clothe him and feed him When there are resources available, the Prophet (PBUH) told me, cheer up, allah has sent what you can pay back your loan with!’ ” in another instance Hazrat abu Saeed al Khudhri (R a) reported that a Bedouin came to the Prophet (PBUH) asking for repayment of a debt owed by him He sent a message to Khawla, daughter of Qais, that if she had some dates she should lend it to him till his own dates arrived out of which he could pay back to her in this case the lender was a muslim the second lender whose lending made pos sible the repayment to the first lender was also a muslim the Prophet (PBUH) once said to Safwan bin Umayya “O abu Umayya lend us your weapons so that we can face our enemy to morrow with their help" Safwn asked O muhammad do you want to confiscate them?" He said, no, i want them temporarily with their return guaranteed till we bring them to you ’ He said, ‘there is no harm in (doing) this ’ So he gave him 100 coats of arms with the accompa nying weapons i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o p o n d e r o n a n i n t e r e s t i n g i n c i d e n t r e p o r t e d b y a b u R a f i ( R a ) t h a t t h e P r o p h e t ( P B U H ) b o r r o w e d a s m a l l c a m e l f r o m a m a n t h e n s o m e c a m e l s f r o m o u t o f t h o s e c o l l e c t e d a s z a k a h c a m e t o h i m a n d h e

a s k e d a b u R a f i ' t o p a y b a c k t h e m a n t h e c a m e l ( o w e d t o h i m ) a b u R a f i c a m e b a c k a n d s a i d h e c o u l d f i n d o n l y b e t t e r c a m e l s (older in age) who had their four teeth grown H e ( t h e P r o p h e t P B U H ) s a i d , g i v e i t t o h i m t h e b e s t a m o n g p e o p l e a r e t h o s e w h o a r e g o o d a t p a y i n g b a c k ’

according to the university s Department of Planning and Develop ment, a ramp has been constructed in the new Visual Studies building to access the first floor the building is part of the university’s improvement of academic infrastructure reconstruction project including a new girls hostel, a new science faculty block, a centre for digital forensics, and a new social sciences block the university administration needs to facilitate its physically challenged students by providing direct access to upper floors via ramps if this is not possible, or will take a lot of time, classes should be con ducted on the ground floor when such students are involved

IQRA MUNAWAR KARACHI

Putting employees on a digital leash

a S a trend, employees are exploited and treated unfairly in the country, and are considered personal assets of employers they are often treated as slaves or robots at the beck and call of their masters it is a common prac tice in our part of the world that employees are contacted even after office hours and called back for some missing information

they are tethered through digital communication even on weekends holidays and vacations, without the slightest consideration for their mental and physical health Clearly, such intrusions by the employers disrupt the employees’ work life balance

it is becoming illegal now in many countries to contact employees after office hours, with the exception of some actual and tangible emer gency according to the United States Department of labour a work emer gency is an unforeseen situation that threatens employees, customers or the public; disrupts or shuts down operations; or causes physical or environ mental damage

According to Hazrat Bilal (R A ), “It was the practice of the Prophet (PBUH) that when a man came to him as a Muslim and he saw him in need of clothes he would order me and I would go and borrow and buy a cloak for him, clothe him and feed him.

From cases such as above, Dr Siddiqi con cluded “Borrowing when there is a need is a legitimate activity even if it is from non mus lims Fulfilling needs is one genuine reason jus tifying borrowing while defense is another While early history does not present any record of borrowing for financing economic develop ment it does provide an indirect justification of the same in an age in which economic devel opment has become a sine qua non for need fulfilment as well as for defence State must repay what it borrows even if doing so neces sitates further borrow ing ” i slightly disagree with one of Dr Siddiqi s conclusions that since the lender receives no worldly return public borrowing presumes the lender being motivated by moral and religious consideration to extend qard e hassan During contemporary times qard e hassan may not be able to finance huge economic activities Sec ond now there are several instruments for Shariah compliant public borrowing He also traced instances from the fourth century of islam when governments borrowed on suftajah, a kind of letter of credit and even interest bearing loans which were referred to as gross mismanagement of the financial affairs of an otherwise prosper ous regime as well as the compulsions of cir cumstances created by the maintenance of a large force of mercenaries in the capital cities; but determining Shariah compliance of such bor rowings needs further research However, the work of Dr Siddiqi will continue to serve as a guideline for future researchers in the field of public finance particularly for those who are ex ploring options for Shariah compliant public borrowing may almighty (SWt) rest his soul in eternal peace!

The writer is Associate Professor Manage ment Sciences andHead, Center of Islamic Fi nance, COMSATS University (CUI) Lahore Campus He can be reached at drabdussattar@cuilahore edu pk and tweets @drabdussattar

But here, sadist employers with their colonial mindset deliberately keep their employees on the digital leash after office hours, on weekends and even during vacations France, Germany and Portugal have formed laws barring businesses and offices from contacting employees after work hours the freedom to disconnect with office after work hours has been acknowledged as employ ees’ fundamental right the employers who dare trespass personal bound aries of the employees stand to incur fines as per the laws enacted in those countries in Germany it is strictly prohibited to dismiss employees if they fail to take phone calls after work hours in countries like ours where the colonial past is still present, employers or bosses under the hubris of officialdom or with superhuman powers vested by departmental hierarchy, behave like the Orwellian Big Brother, running their offices as their ‘nanny states’ Just because they can they forget the simple fact that employees under undue pressure and in a threatening atmosphere always underperform they must pay heed to what John Stuart mill said: “a state which dwarfs its men in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial pur poses, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accom plished ” t h e O c c u p a t i o n a l S a f e t y a n d H e a l t h a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ( O S H a ) a p a r t o f t h e U S D e p a r t m e n t o f l a b o u r i n i t s S e c t i o n 1 5 e n j o i n s u p o n e m p l o y e r s t o s a f e g u a r d t h e s a f e t y, h e a l t h a n d w e l f a r e o f t h e i r e m p l o y e e s i t s g u i d e l i n e s s a y : “ H e a l t h i s a s t a t e o f t o t a l p h y s i c a l , m e n t a l a n d s o c i a l w e l l b e i n g , n o t o n l y t h e a b s e n c e o f d i s e a s e i t a l s o d e f i n e s ‘ s t r e s s ’ a s s o m e t h i n g w h e n t h e d e m a n d s o n e m p l o y e e s e x c e e d t h e i r c a p a c i t y t o c o p e w i t h t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s t h e c a l l s f r o m o ff i c e a f t e r d u t y h o u r s a n d u n e x p e c t e d a s s i g n m e n t s d i s t u r b t h e w o r k l i f e b a l a n c e o f e m p l o y e e s w h o t h e n g e t t a u t n e r v e s , f u r t h e r d e p l e t i n g t h e i r e n e rg y, a n d t h e y e n d u p f e e l i n g b u r n t o u t

making

to keep that in mind

The difference

M NADEEM NADIR KASUR

i know of a Pakistani who came from the netherlands having dual nation ality of both the countries, to spend time in his native place He visited his village, land and property During his time here, he was diagnosed with pulmonary disorder and was admitted to a so called international hospital in islamabad Despite spending a massive amount, his condition kept dete riorating, and the hospital kept making money out of his misery

Fearing the worst his children approached the Dutch government and requested for an air ambulance the arrangement was done sooner than one would believe and the man was taken back to the netherlands if anybody wonders why people leave Pakistan this little episode is an apt reply

MUHAMMAD AARAB ISLAMABAD

Various critical studies on the dynamics of corporate system indicate that assigning input and demanding output from employees after office hours exposes the lack of planning and seriousness on the part of the man agement and administration sections of business firms it is to cover up one’s own absence of commitment to the goals and targets of the company

inroads into employees’ life beyond office hours always proves counterproductive for business enterprises Human resource profes sionals

Dr abDus sattar abbasi

H o W F r a n c I s F u k u ya m a ’ s I d e a ‘ t H e e n d o F H I s t o r y ’ m ay H av e b e e n m I s I n t e r p r et e d

and authority to enforce its laws and administer services

Thirdly, the state and its highest representatives is it self constrained by law Its leaders are not above the law

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Fukuyama, now a senior fellow and professor at Stanford University, ap peared to stand firm on his central idea He argued that those states which have eschewed liberal democracy and proclaimed it dead or dying particularly Russia and China remain vulnerable in two specific ways

Firstly, he argues, their reliance on a single leader or small leadership group at the top virtually guarantees bad decision making over the long term Secondly, the ab sence of public participation in any political processes means the support for such leaders is inherently volatile, liable to evaporate at any moment

solution of private property, the resolution of all antithe ses between mental and physical labour, the emergence of a system in which each individual would contribute “according to his ability,” and consume “according to his needs”

But by the end of the 1980s, Fukuyama along with a host of others began to suspect we weren’t going to see a Marxist “end of history” after all The Russian Communist Party, under Mikhail Gorbachev, was moving towards a series of reforms: a “reconstruc tion” (Perestroika) pushing for greater openness and transparency (Glasnost) and even the expansion of profit seeking and commercialisation within the con fines of a planned economy

to address such fundamental tensions; much of Fukuyama’s best known work work favours the general over specifics

This may be no coincidence, given the German ide alist framework out of which his thesis was originally couched Both Hegel and Marx have been accused of a “totalising” vision in which the dirty historical details of stateless people, show trials and pogroms, the human casualties of both liberal and illiberal state building are swept to the side in the name of universal tales of progress

In 1989 a policy wonk in the US State Department wrote a paper for the right leaning international relations magazine The national Interest entitled “The End of History?” His name was Francis Fukuyama, and the paper stirred such interest and caused such controversy that he was soon con tracted to expand his 18 page article into a book He did so in 1992: The End of History and the Last Man The rest, they say, is (the end of) history

Fukuyama became one of those academics whose work was cribbed to a shorthand: The End of History It is, no doubt, a memorable and dramatic phrase but it is as unclear as it is striking

Put very simply, by “the end of history,” Fukuyama did not mean that we had reached a stage where nothing else would occur of historical significance that all problems had been solved and politics would now be smooth sailing

His argument was that the unfolding of history had revealed albeit in fits and starts the ideal form of po litical organisation: liberal democratic states tied to mar ket economies (Or to put it in Churchillian language the least worst form ) Fukuyama’s use of the word “history” here is best approximated by synonyms in sociology such as modernisation or development

He wasn’t saying those states that claimed to be lib eral democracies lived up to this ideal, nor that such a political organisation resolved all possible problems merely that liberal democracy, with all its flaws, was the unsurpassable ideal

For him a liberal democratic state requires three things First, it is democratic, not only in the sense of al lowing elections, but in the outcomes of these elections resulting in the implementation of the will of the citi zenry Secondly, the state possesses sufficient strength

INDEBTED TO HEGEL: The phrase “the end of his tory” was not, in fact, coined by Fukuyama It bears a history, and philosophical currency tracing back to the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 1831) (who coined the term) and his modern in terpreters Karl Marx (1818 1883) and the Russian born French philosopher and statesman Alexandre Kojève (1902 1968) Understanding it requires an understanding of these thinkers

Hegel had argued that history has a telos or goal an end point equivalent to the emergence of a perfectly rational and just state That state would guarantee the lib erty necessary for the full development of all human ca pacities At the same time, it would exist in a state of perpetual peace with other similarly configured states Hegel according to Kojève had witnessed this end of history (or at least the beginning of such an end) with the French Revolution and its universalisation of the ideas of equality and liberty

Fukuyama judged Kojève correct: the French repub lic had not been bettered, despite many fascistic and communist attempts to make it so It is not necessarily that the ideals of the revolution were all realised perfectly (as if the Reign of Terror served as vindication of liber alism) but that as ideals they had manifested them selves decisively, shown their force, and since proved unsurpassable

For Fukuyama Hegel s misfortune was to be thought of by many 20th century intellectuals as a mere precur sor to Marx, for whom the fate of a society and an “end of history was not determined by its ideas but by its material organisation

For Marx, the resolution of historical development would take the form of global communism This would mean the end of the exploitation of man by man, the dis

What makes us vote the way

These democratising and liberalising reforms a re sponse to the totalitarian impulses and long term eco nomic stagnation of the Eastern Bloc both delayed and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991

LIMITATIOnS

Many have accused Fukuyama of a whiggish ten dency towards reifying and valorising a particular model of government the United States specifically as somehow embodying the perfect form of the modern state

But this critique commonly held is largely mis placed Fukuyama has pointed out repeatedly the failures of the US, the misguided collapsing of liberalism with neoliberalism and more recently the populist nation alism of the Republican Party, which he sees as cata strophic and of a piece with parallel developments in, for instance Tayyip Erdōgan’s Turkey and Viktor Orbán’s Hungary

His thesis, therefore, concerning the end of history is not so much that this form of political organisation has been realised, but that, as an idea, it is one upon which we cannot improve And maybe he is right about this But the devil as always is in the details and Fukuyama seems to sometimes pass over those in silence

He acknowledges, for instance, but has provided scant recommendation on how to resolve the inherent tension between the strength of liberal democratic states and the freedoms of their citizens

A strong state will be one which is able to enforce its mandate but how is this enforcement to be squared with the liberties of the individuals that comprise its cit izenry?

Here Fukuyama counsels “balance” We may be given to wonder not only what to weigh, but what metric might be used Furthermore issues about details may run deeper than merely the question of policy resolutions

It is important to point out that the liberal democratic state Fukuyama praises is one which is very rarely es tablished liberally or democratically Recent attempts at forcefully exporting liberal democracy into countries have very often resulted in destabilisations and tyrannies far worse than those they hoped to replace

And what of the recent phenomenon concerning the global resurgence of a number of authoritarian regimes from nicaragua and Sudan to Burma and Iran, whose successes (if not stability) don t immediately give rise to the kind of optimism about democratisation that was at large in the 1980s?

A SOBER STANCE: Even if his commitment to his po sition hasn’t wavered Fukuyama has sobered somewhat in the years following his original article Although as convinced as ever in liberal democratic states as the ul timate form of political organisation he is certainly more sanguine about their imminent victory in the world we actually live in

In an interview in 2021 the norwegian political his torian Mathilde C Fasting pressed Fukuyama on the global rise and damaging impact of populism, and on what Stanford University s Larry Diamond calls demo cratic recession” a decline in the number of democra cies around the world, as well as the degradation of democratic structures within established democracies including the US and Britain:

Fasting: Is what we are witnessing “temporary coun terwaves to quote Samuel Huntington or are they fun damental reversals that belie the optimism before the millennium?

Fukuyama: I don t think you can answer that at this point nobody can, of course As a science, political fu turology has proved itself even more dismal than eco nomics

media feeds

IT might seem to be common sense that the cen t r a l r o l e o f m e d i a i n a d e m o c r a c y i s , a s t w o keen observers of journalism once suggested, to p r o v i d e c i t i z e n s “ w i t h t h e i n f o r m a t i o n t h e y need to be free and self governing ” This logic e m e rg e s f r o m t h e h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d g e n e r a l l y k n o w n as the Enlightenment which saw the concurrent rise of democracy as a system of governance, and science as the means of explaining the workings of the phys i c a l w o r l d T h o s e t w o d e m o c r a c y a n d s c i e n c e e m e rg e h a n d i n h a n d , w i t h t h e e p i s t e m o l o g y o f o n e shaping the practice of the other Both rest on assump tions that humans are inherently rational beings able w i t h t h e r i g h t t r a i n i n g , t o r e a s o n f r o m e v i d e n c e t o conclusion, and willing to change minds (and behav ior) accordingly

F o r p o l i t i c a l s c i e n c e , t h i s i s o f t e n c a l l e d t h e r a t i o n a l c h o i c e t h e o r y o f d e m o c r a c y t h e t h e o r y t h a t d e m o c r a c y r e q u i r e s e a c h i n d i v i d u a l t o v o t e b a s e d o n a logical understanding of the conditions, causes, and c o n c e r n s t h a t s h a p e o n e ’s s i t u a t i o n i n l i f e T h u s t h e c o m m o n b e l i e f t h a t p e o p l e s h o u l d v o t e w i t h t h e i r b e s t i n t e r e s t s i n m i n d , u s i n g r e l i a b l e s o u r c e s o f o b j e c t i v e i n f o r m a t i o n t o f o r m u l a t e t h e i r p o l i t i c a l p r e f e r e n c e s H o w e v e r a p p e a l i n g t h a t i d e a l m a y s e e m t h e e m p i r i c a l e v i d e n c e i n t h i s r e g a r d i s l e s s t h a n e n

c o u r a g i n g D e c a d e s o f r e s e a r c h i n d i c a t e , n o t s u r p r i s i n g l y, t h a t p e o p l e a r e o f t e n q u i t e i r r a t i o n a l , e s p e c i a l l y w h e n i t c o m e s t o m a k i n g s e n s e o f p o l i t i c s P o l i t i c a l d e c i s i o n m a k i n g i s r a r e l y d r i v e n b y f a c t u a l k n o w l e d g e , a n d i m p o r t a n t l y, d e s p i t e t h e i n d i v i d u a l is tic as s u mp tio n s o f r atio n al ch o ice th eo r y it’s s o me t h i n g w e r a r e l y d o o n o u r o w n A c o n t r a r y s t r a n d o f d e m o c r a t i c t h o u g h t h a s l o n g a rg u e d t h a t o u r p o l i t i c a l b e h a v i o r i s m o r e l i k e l y d r i v e n b y o u r s e n s e o f c o l l e c t i v e i d e n t i t y t h a n b y o u r i n d i v i d u a l p e r c e p t i o n s T h e i n f l u e n t i a l 1 9 6 0 s t u d y The A merican Voter made the cas e that partis an iden t i t y o f t e n i n h e r i t e d f r o m p a r e n t s e x e r t s a m u c h g r e a t e r i n f l u e n c e o n v o t e r c h o i c e t h a n c a n b e e x plained by factual understanding of issues This work introduced the fundamental argument that democratic p o l i t i c s i s , a t r o o t , l e s s a n a g g r e g a t e o f i n d i v i d u a l l e v e l c h o i c e s t h a n i t i s a n o u t w a r d e x p r e s s i o n o f i n t e r n a l l y f e l t g r o u p t i e s T h a t p o i n t h a s o n l y b e c o m e m o r e s a l i e n t i n o u r c o n t e m p o r a r y a g e R e s e a r c h e r s f i n d b o t h t h a t p a r t i s a n s h i p s i t s a t t h e h e a r t o f o u r p o litical worldviews, and that partisanship itself has be c o m e m o r e e ff e c t i v e t h a n i t i s i d e o l o g i c a l T h a t i s , p a r t i s a n a ff i l i a t i o n h a s l e s s t o d o w i t h t r a d i t i o n a l p o l i c y p l a t f o r m s o r e v e n a n e c e s s a r i l y c o h e r e n t s t a n d o n t h e i s s u e s , t h a n i t d o e s a s e n s e o f b e l o n g i n g a n d t h e s t r e n g t h o f o u r e m o t i o n a l t i e s t o o t h e r s w i t h w h o m w e p e r c e i v e s o c i a l s o l i d a r i t y o r k i n s h i p A t t h e s a m e t i m e , o u r d i s l i k e f o r t h e o t h e r o u r s e n s e o f d i s t a n c e b e t w e e n u s a n d t h e m h a s b e c o m e a p r i m a r y d r i v e r o f p o l i t i c a l a t t i t u d e s a n d b e h a v i o r T h a t o n l y a p p e a r s t o i n c r e a s e y e a r o v e r y e a r, a s w e s o r t o u r s e l v e s i n t o p o l i t i c a l c o m m u n i t i e s a r r a n g e d a r o u n d a h o s t o f s o c i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , i n c l u d i n g s o c i o e c o n o m i c s t a t u s , r e g i o n , r a c e , a n d r e l i g i o n

In turn contemporary political campaigning is largely about affective representational claims Candi dates often position themselves as prototypes of a par

ticular social group, a living embodiment of its charac teristics and ideals, as well as its fears and insecurities More than simply suggesting resemblance though would be representatives actively work to construct the very identities they then claim to represent Political rep resentation itself the theorist Lisa Disch suggests is the act of providing a potential, but as yet unformed, con stituency with an image of itself of encouraging peo ple to define themselves around “a common enemy a common problem, a common demand” that does not exist outside the representation, but instead is narrated into being by it ”

From this perspective, the real work of political media is narration imagining the political world and the groups that inhabit it This point turns the conven tional understanding of the role of media in a democracy on its head There is little evidence that people attend to news in order to be informed nor that many of us are often persuaded to change our minds We have long en gaged in selective exposure, seeking out likeminded per spectives and following those sources that affirm the beliefs we want to have So too do we engage in selective avoidance in a media environment of unlimited choice, many of us simply pay little attention to the news sources that might challenge our preconceptions and ask us to think otherwise

Instead of information or persuasion then a primary outcome of political media becomes reinforcement: not changing attitudes, but shaping and strengthening beliefs and dispositions through continuous priming Advanced technologies of audience measurement only exaggerate these effects Fox news, for example, uses data that re veal minute by minute patterns of audience attention to manage the topics it presents, the information it provides, and the voices it amplifies The result is an emotionally provocative daily narrative one that is interwoven within the wider digital media ecosystem and amplified via the endless scroll of algorithmically constructed social

As anyone who has spent time “doom scrolling” (or watching cable TV news) knows, the symbolic cur rency of most political media has become outrage, a s e n s e t h a t t h e o t h e r s i d e p o s e s a n e x i s t e n t i a l t h r e a t There is method to the madness here Political scien t i s t s h a v e l o n g n o t e d t h a t i n a c l o s e l y d i v i d e d e l e c t o r a t e , e l e c t i o n s a r e w o n o r l o s t n o t t h r o u g h p e r s u a s i o n , b y w i n n i n g o v e r s o m e o f t h e o t h e r s i d e , but through mobilization convincing the like minded of the need to defeat the other More deeply, political coalitions and constituencies themselves must be mo bilized in order to come into being Theorists distin g u i s h b e t w e e n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , d e f i n i n g o n e s e l f a s a member of a social group, and mobilization, perceiv ing one’s social identity as being in grave enough risk that political action becomes necessary The Trumpist MAGA movement, for example, has been particularly successful in mobilizing white identity not simply in appealing to whiteness as a sense of identity and posi tioning Trump as its representative, but in telling an ongoing story of whiteness under threat and thus ac tivating it politically

T h e t a k e a w a y h e r e i s t h a t p o l i t i c a l b e h a v i o r i s , a n d p e r h a p s a l w a y s h a s b e e n d r i v e n m o r e b y g r o u p i d e n t i t y t h a n b y i n d i v i d u a l r a t i o n a l i t y P o l i t i c a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n m i g h t b e b e t t e r u n d e r s t o o d a s t h e w o r k o f c r a f t i n g c o m p e l l i n g i d e n t i t y c l a i m s w h i l e m e d i a f u n c t i o n t o p r o v i d e t h e s y m b o l i c r e s o u r c e s f o r i d e n t i t y c o n s t r u c t i o n I n t u r n , i n f o r m a t i o n a n d p o l i t i c a l engagement are filtered through identity frames This p h e n o m e n o n i s o f t e n i n a c c u r a t e l y c h a r a c t e r i z e d a s “ p o l a r i z a t i o n ” a c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n r e d a n d b l u e , b e t w e e n e q u a l a n d o p p o s i t e s i d e s I n s t e a d i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o r e c o g n i z e t h a t t h e d y n a m i c i s d e e p l y a s y m m e t r i c o n e s i d e o f t h e c u r r e n t d i v i d e i s a t b e s t a t e n u o u s c o a l i t i o n o f d i s p a r a t e s o c i a l g r o u p s w h o a t t e n d t o a b r o a d r a n g e o f m e d i a n a r r a t i v e s T h e o t h e r i s a n i n c r e a s i n g l y h o m o g e n o u s c o n f i g u r a t i o n p o s i t i o n e d n o t j u s t a g a i n s t t h e l e f t b u t a g a i n s t t h e v e r y n o t i o n o f a m u l t i c u l t u r a l d e m o c r a c y, a n d b o l s t e r e d b y a n i n t e r c o n n e c t e d n e t w o r k o f m u t u a l l y i n f o r m i n g m e d i a o u t l e t s T h e r e a l p o l i t i c a l s t r u g g l e w e f a c e t h e r e f o r e , i s n o t a n e l e c t o r a l c o n t e s t b e t w e e n l i b e r a l and conservative policy preferences, but a deeper def initional fight between democratic citizenship and au t h o r i t a r i a n i s m F o r t h e m o m e n t , d e m o c r a c y i t s e l f i s o n t h e d e f e n s i v e

Jstor Daily g e o F F r e y B ay m

ACCO R D I N G TO S O M E P O L I T I C A L S C I E N T I S T S , I T ’ S M O R E A B O U T

G R O U P I D E N T I T Y T H A N P E R S O N A L I N T E R E S T S

we do?

Chris Fleming is Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts Western Sydney University

T H E I D E A O F L I B E R A L D E M O C R AC Y B E I N G T H E I D E A L F O R M O F P O L I T I C A L O R G A N I S AT I O N I S T H E

P R I M A RY M OT I F O F H I S B O O K ‘ T H E E N D O F H I S TO RY A N D T H E L AS T M A N’

corporate corner

Naveed Qamar atteNds ‘ChiNa-south asia expositioN’ iN KuNmiNg

BEIJInG S ta f f r e p o r t

between Pakistan and China He said Pakistan has learned from China that the miracle of Chinese de velopment owes its origin to the estab lishment of special economic zones We are aware of the significance of SEZs and doing our best to provide state of the art one window facility to business enterprises, he said H

IOFS,

COMSTECH

’

& PARC host three day meeting on ‘Climate Resilient Wheat Crop Improvement

for food sec urity

FE D E R A l Minister for Com merce Syed Naveed Qamar and Additional Secretary For eign Affairs (Asia Pacific) Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at tended and addressed the 6th China South Asia Exposition and the 26th China Kunming Import and Export Fair held in Kunming this week Gwadar Pro reported on Friday At the opening ceremony, Minister Naveed Qamar urged companies par ticipating in the expo to find new ap proaches to enhance investment ties

offering attractive in

also committed to of

fering attractive investment opportuni ties to local importers of various goods I must acknowledge that the geo graphical location and historically close ties between Pakistan and China have great potential and under the Belt and Road Initiative both countries can get fruitful results,” he said later, while addressing the 3rd China South Asia Cooperation forum Pakistani Additional Secretary of For eign Affairs (Asia Pacific) Mumtaz Zahra Baloch welcomed the resump tion of the China South Asia Coopera tion Forum after two years “We have broken new ground under CPEC and Pakistan is ready to

White Ribbon Workplace Gender Inclusion Awards for corporate sec tor launched

LAHORE p r

ISLAMABAD: A three days expert meeting on Climate Resilient Wheat Crop Improvementfor Food security with the special session on Afghanistan wheat issue: The reeding of nutritious and climate resilient varieties was held on 23 25 November 2022 at COMSTECH Secretariat, 33 Constitution Avenue, G 5/2, Islamabad The event was organized by the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), The OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) On the last day of the event on 25 th November, 2022, IOFS delegate members from Kazakhstan, Turkiye, Tunsia and Afghanistan visited National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) Islamabad Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman PARC briefed the delegation about the different on going research and development activities of PARC Senior management of PARC including Dr Imtiaz Hussain, Member Plant Science Division PARC, Dr Shahzad Assad Deputy Director General NARC were also present in the meeting and also participated in the discussion regarding the future collaboration in the field agriculture in general and particularly for the development of climate resilient wheat varieties and resource conservation technologies p r

NUST, Polyclinic Hospital Ink Par tnership

A D: In a landmark development, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) and Federal Government Polyclinic (FGPC) Hospital have reached an understanding, whereby FGPC hospital would serve as the undergraduate teaching hospital for the newly established NUST School of Health Sciences (SHS) The chief guest at the signing ceremony was Mr Abdul Qadir Patel, Minister for National

Services Regulations & Coordination (NHSR&C) Prominent among others present at the occasion were Engr Javed Mahmood Bukhari, Rector NUST;

Ghulam Muhammad Memon Secretary MoST; and senior consultants from FGPC hospital The agreement was signed by Dr Osman Hasan, Pro Rector Academics NUST and Dr Inayat Ullah Baig, ED FGPC hospital Speaking at the occasion Minister for Health Mr Abdul Qadir Patel extended his felicitations to NUST and FGPC hospital on this joint initiative, which, he believed, would augur well for the health sector of Pakistan He was particularly impressed with the meritorious achievements NUST has garnered in a short span since its inception, particularly mentioning the launch of NUST School of Health Sciences (SHS) that would address the dearth of highly skilled doctors in the country p r

RIU signs MoU with HR Metrics to establish a strategic par tnership

Max Strategy Riphah International University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HR Metrics in a ceremony that will strengthen the cooperative relationship among both organizations This MoU is signed to establish a strategic partnership for launching various national and internal programs, conferences, and corporate initiatives In this ceremony MoU is signed by Mr Ahmed Nauman Anees CEO Max Strategy Riphah International University, and Mr Zahid Mubarik, CEO of HR Metrics MoU ceremony was attended by Dr Professor Khurram Shahzad Dean FMS (Faculty of Management Sciences & Riphah School of Leadership, RSL) & Mr Salman Ghani (GM MaxStrategy) and Mr Adil Zaib (Training Officer HDS) Mr Ahmed Nauman Anees (CEO Max Strategy) said that with this partnership, Max Strategy incollaboration with HR Metrics will launch conferences (especially in leadership) training programs faculty capacity building, youth development and workshops within Pakistan and also build internationalpresence p r

White Ribbon, which is part of global men s movement present in over 50 countries for end ing violence against women and girls, has an nounced the launch of White Ribbon Workplace Gender Inclusion Awards for corporate sector in Pakistan First of its kind in Pakistan, these awards will be presented annually to companies which use their position to advocate for gender equality and take steps to advance women’s em powerment These awards are being launchedon November 25 theWhite Ribbon Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women White Ribbon Awards will be presented an nually to the companies which advocate for gender equality and take steps to advance women’s empowerment at workplace The awardswill celebrate and acknowledge the best practices and policies of corporates that take part and highlight gender justice and gender in

clusion for their workforce, customers, com munity and through their CSR and brand com munication and advertisements

All organisations that work on gender equal ity and have shown a positive impact regarding women empowerment at workplace are eligible to apply for these awards There are three cate gories of White Ribbon Awards: Gender Inclu sive Workplace, Gender Responsive Marketplace and Community Engagement and Partnerships For all categories survey forms will have to be submitted online Finalists will be selected based on independent ranking system

K Elec tric unveils Winners of 7/11+ Innovation Challenge

p r

K E l e c t r i c ( K E ) a n n o u n c e d t h e w i n n e r s f o r t h e f i r s t 7 / 11 + I n n o v a t i o n C h a l l e n g e i n p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h I N NOVentures Global at a day l o n g e v e n t h e l d a t H a b i b University in Karachi KE’s 7/11+ Innovation Challenge is the first of its kind event in Pakistan s util ity market designed for entre preneurs, startups, researchers, and university students to promote and ac celerate strategic innovation

Participants spent the first half of the d a y m a k i n g f i n a l p i t c h e s t o t h e e s t e e m e d J u r y f o l l o w e d b y a p a n e l d i s c u s s i o n a n d a w a r d a n n o u n c e m e n t i n t h e s e c o n d h a l f C h a i r m a n N E P R A , Ta u s e e f H Farooqi was also in atten d a n c e a s t h e C h i e f G u e s t The challenge is aligned with the United Nations Sus

tainable Development Goals ( U N S D G s ) , p a r t i c u l a r l y G o a l 7 a c c e s s t o a ff o r d a b l e , r e l i a b l e , s u s t a i n a b l e a n d m o d e r n e n e rg y f o r a l l a n d G o a l 11 s u s t a i n a b l e , i n c l u s i v e , s a f e a n d r e s i l i e n t c i t i e s a n d c o m m u n i t i e s K Electric aims to highlight the i m p o r t a n c e o f i n n o v a t i v e problem solving and critical t h i n k i n g w i t h i n t h e p u b l i c a n d p r o v i d e a p l a t f o r m t o c o n v e n e o rg a n i z a t i o n s a n d i n d i v i d u a l s a c r o s s P a k i s t a n working at the critical inter

section of sustainability and innovation

Participants from various scholastic backgrounds took part in this Innovation Chal lenge in teams, beginning in F e b r u a r y o f 2 0 2 2 g o i n g through stages of pitches, ca pacity building sessions and focused mentoring The jour ney began with over 300 ap p l i c a t i o n s h a i l i n g f r o m several startups universities a n d r e l e v a n t f i e l d s o f s t u d y out of which 10 teams made it to the finals

work with friends and partners all over the world especially in the region to win opportunities for development and prosperity ” she said

She also added that Pakistan has suffered recently from the worst flood ing in history because of climate change and it would like to work to gether with China to combat climate change for mutual benefits

“We would also like to deepen co operation in the agriculture industry, Information Technology Science and Technology and enhance bilateral trade This way, we can unleash the dy namism of our region in this worthy pursuit”, she added

corporate corner

Bestway Cement receives Carbon Neutralization Pioneer Award

D u B A I: Acknowledged for its vision and relentless pursuit of environment excellence, Bestway receivedthe “Carbon Neutralization Pioneer Award” from LONGi Green Energy Technology Co Ltd at aprestigious event held in Dubai to recognize organisations at the forefront of renewable energy revolution LONGi is the largest solar panels manufacturer in the world, developing solutions for utility scale solar power plants, industries and households Speaking on the occasion Managing Director of Bestway Cement Limited, Mr Irfan Sheikh, expressed elation over being the only Company in Pakistan to have been bestowed with such a unique and prestigious honour He reiterated the Company’s commitment towards reliance on green and renewable sources of energy in order to reduce the carbon foot print as well as dependency on the national grid Mr Sheikh highlighted that Bestway had always been a trailblazer in innovation, energy and environment conservation in the cement industry of Pakistan Bestway was the first to introduce Waste Heat Recovery Power Plant (WHRPP) at all it production facilities making it a forerunner in adopting this green technology while prompting others to follow suit p r

OGDCL launches educ ation program for out of school children in Attock

ISLAMABAD: As a responsible corporate, the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) under its CSR Program yesterday launched ‘MASHAL E ELM Program’ for out of school children of village Chappri in district Attock In this regard, an MoU was signed between Vision 21 Global and OGDCL to launch the education program at the cost of PKR 29 816 million The MoU signing ceremony was held at OGDCL House, Islamabad ED (Services) OGDCL Mr Zia Salahuddin, Manager EC&N (CSR) beside other senior officials of both the companies were present on the occasion Under the initiative, quality education will be provided to the children of village Chappri in district Attock through speed literacy program for primary, middle and matric level The duration of the program will be four years including six months Skill Development Program for the students of the community p r

Tr a s h o f K a r a c h i : M e g a p r o b l e m s r e q u i r e s r a d i c a l t h i n k i n g

BAsIL AndREws

The bus bolts on the Hub Dam Road We are shooting past the brown land scape of hills dotted with indigenous shrubs and weeds It is overcast weather and pleasant, though there is a hint of burn in the air After a 20 minute ride the bus halts, the odor of burning intensifies Getting off the bus I finally see the grey hill It is ash grey peppered with specks of dull colors, of discarded consumer waste products: takeaway plastic boxes broken slippers floating poly thene bags, soiled pampers, electronic packaging for a product I cannot deci pher sweet wrappers torn fabric the products are endless For all descrip tive purposes, it is not the quiet brown hills that I sped past a few minutes ago but in some ways, a living, growing,

breathing mound spewing toxic fumes into the surrounding air

The smoke is acrid, and it burns Jam Chakro is the solid waste dumping site over which the “ash col ored” hill grows each day One of two graveyard sites the other at Deh Pass Gondal, the two are the final resting place for the megacity’s household, in dustrial and commercial waste There are many estimates as to the tonnage of garbage that is generated Some quote 10 000 metric tons others say 16 000 tons[1] On the surface the number may not appear alarming but consider the comparison of 2000 tons produced by the city in 1974 versus now touch ing more than 10,000 tons or approxi mately five times in the last forty years The physical dimensions and scale re quired to treat this collectively depre cating mountain of waste we call

garbage has significant costs

For starters, about 500 acres of land[2] has been reserved for the two dumping sites out of which it can ac count for just 40% of the trash The rest ends up in rain fed stormwater drains, or our romanticized beaches and unau thorized community dumping points some of which cause damage to impor tant infrastructure such as water lines below ground, electrical substations, damages land and road on which the waste is dumped and is a certain cause for various pathogenic diseases along side the downgrading of respiratory health of residents surrounding them These, and the methane emissions are a larger concern given that the green house gas has a larger warming poten tial than carbon dioxide

For a megacity such as Karachi where land and real estate value is ap

preciating at a faster rate acquiring land for future waste dumping will cost the megacity’s finances With a fast rate of urbanization and a growing urban middle class that consumes more products will generate higher amounts of waste

In fact, District Central produces about 1900 tons[3] of trash daily As of now an informal economy exists to pick and sort garbage from source to dumping sites that also employs under age children as labor for separating the useful materials from the dumps It is an unsustainable practice notwith standing why children are engaging in unsafe labor when at their age, who should be in school

The author writes about the cli mate crisis, health and environment He tweet @ basilandrews

I S L A M A B

Health

Mr

KARACHI

ISLAMABAD: NHMP IG Khalid Mahmood is presents a souvernir to Islamabad Police IG Dr Akbar Nasir Khan at Central Police office pr

N AT O c h i e f S Ay S u p T O G e r M A N y i f

i T G i v e S u k r A i N e pAT r i O T M i S S i l e S

BRUsseLs Ag e n c e s

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday it was up to Ger many to decide if it wants to supply Patriot missile de fences to Ukraine after Poland urged Berlin to send them

Germany has offered to deploy the advanced US made Patriot system to Poland after a deadly blast believed to be from a stray Ukrainian air defence missile hit a Polish village last week

But the Polish authorities told Berlin to ship the system to Ukraine in stead to help Kyiv defend itself against the barrages of Russian missiles hitting the country

“I welcome the German offer to strengthen the air defences of Poland by offering to deploy Patriot batteries,” Stoltenberg said

But he insisted that any plans to send specific weapons to Ukraine were “national decisions”

Sometimes there are end users agreements and other things, so they need to consult with other allies, but at the end of the day, it has to be taken by the na tional governments,” Stoltenberg said Germany s defence minister said on Thursday that Berlin would have to dis cuss with NATO any proposals to send the Patriot system to Ukraine as it was

T wo dead as Saudi storm disrupts life; cuts main road to Makkah

RIYADH

Ag e n c i e s

At least two people died on Thursday as heavy rains hit western Saudi Arabia, including the coastal city of Jeddah, delaying flights and forcing schools to close, officials said

“Two deaths have been recorded so far, and we call on everyone not to go out unless necessary, the Mecca regional government said on its Twitter page

The Mecca region includes Jeddah, the kingdom’s second largest city of roughly four million people and Mecca city, the holiest city in Islam where millions perform the hajj and umrah pilgrimages each year

The road connecting the two, which many pilgrims use to reach Mecca, was closed on Thursday once the rains began, state media reported, although it was later reopened, authorities said

The state affiliated Al Ekhbariya channel showed footage of worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca circling the Kaaba the cubic structure that is the focal point of Islam under a heavy downpour In Jeddah images posted to social media showed standing water snarling traffic and partially submerging some vehicles

The city’s King Abdulaziz International Airport said that “due to weather conditions, the departure of some flights has been delayed and urged passengers to contact carriers for up to date schedules

The official Saudi Press Agency reported before dawn that schools in the city would temporarily be closed as rains were forecast to continue throughout the day Schools were also closed in the nearby towns of Rabigh and Khulais “to preserve the safety of male and female students”, SPA said

The kingdom is in the middle of final exams, yet schools had already been closed nationwide on Wednesday after King Salman declared a holiday following Saudi Arabia s shock defeat of Argentina in the World Cup

Winter rainstorms and flooding occur almost every year in Jeddah, where residents have long decried poor infrastructure

Floods killed 123 people in the city in 2009 and 10 more two years later

part of the alliance s integrated defences

On Friday a German government spokeswoman said Berlin had taken note of Warsaw s position, adding: We are currently discussing with our allies how to deal with Poland s suggestion

NATO allies have already funnelled billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Ukraine to help it fight back against the

Russian invasion, including modern air defence systems

Germany has provided Kyiv with the medium range Iris T system as part of an effort by Western nations to bol ster Ukraine’s protection against Russ ian strikes

Stoltenberg said he would urge NATO foreign ministers meeting in Bucharest next week to step up deliver ies to Ukraine

The best way to increase the chances for a peaceful solution is to sup port Ukraine,” he said So NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes We will not back down ”

The United States and other NATO allies have so far steered clear of send ing the long range Patriot system to Ukraine The American system is a key part of the alliance’s air defences for its eastern flank

Washington has already deployed Patriot missiles to Poland and Berlin has deployed them to Slovakia

S p a n i s h r i g h t o n w a r p a t h o ve r c h a n g e s t o s e d i t i o n l aw

Spain’s right wing opposition is infuriated over government plans to abolish sedition, the charge used against Catalan separatist leaders, decrying the move as a gift to pro independence parties in exchange for parliamentary support Parliament on Thursday ap proved a bill to reform the crim inal code to drop what Spain’s left wing coalition government sees as an antiquated offence, re placing it with one better aligned with modern European norms

And the change should be in place before the year s end Spanish media reports say

In response, the far right Vox party has called a protest in Madrid on Sunday, while the right wing opposition Popular Party (PP) has convened rallies across the country to express its opposition Right wing parties say eliminating sedition the charge used to convict and jail nine Catalan separatists over their involvement with a failed 2017 independence bid will pave the way for another attempt to separate from Spain

Initially condemned to be tween nine and 13 years behind bars, the separatists were pardoned last year by the leftist government drawing fury from the Spanish right “Great for those in Catalonia who want to stage another coup!” PP lawmaker Edurne Uriarte told a parliamentary debate over the planned law changes

The failed independence bid sparked Spain s worst political

crisis in decades, with then Cata lan leader Carles Puigdemont and several others fleeing abroad to escape prosecution

Spain says its efforts to have them extradited have failed be cause many European countries simply don t recognise sedition as a crime, with the bill seeking to reframe the offence as an “ag gravated public disorder

The bill aims “to reform the crime of sedition and replace it with an offence comparable to what they have in other Euro pean democracies Sanchez said earlier this month “The crimes committed in 2017 will continue to be present in our penal code although no longer as crimes of sedition but as a new type of crime called an aggravated pub lic disorder,” he said

But even Puigdemont has ex pressed misgivings about the legal change, saying those sepa ratists celebrating the move “have learned nothing from the last five years”

The new offence would carry a maximum penalty of five years behind bars, compared with 15 years for the crime of sedition Opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo asked Sanchez to “clarify whether he is actually re forming the crime of sedition to protect Spanish democracy or whether he is just trying to politi cally survive implying the bill was payback for pro indepen dence party support in parliament

“The PP’s stance is clear: we will increase the penalties for sedition and rebellion we will make them criminal offences and will make the holding of an ille gal referendum a crime he said of his party’s position, with a general election on the horizon

The PP managed to ensure Thursday’s vote was vocal, a rare procedure in Spain in which law makers verbally declare their support or opposition for a bill, in a move forcing the more reluc tant Socialists to lay their cards clearly on the table

Afghanistan repairs 70 militar y planes, helicopters damaged by uS

KABUL Ag e n c e s

The Taliban interim administration repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters that were damaged by US soldiers before they left Afghanistan after 20 years in August last year The Afghan Air Force has repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters given to the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani by the US and its allied forces, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khawarizmi told Anadolu Agency in Kabul He added that all of them are now in service and being used by the Afghan Air Force US soldiers had damaged military aircraft helicopters and a wide range of other military vehicles before leaving the country on Aug 31, 2021

“We didn’t have a single operational aircraft when we came to power,” he said The Taliban interim administration then began to rebuild the Afghan Air Force, Khawarizmi said, adding that “over 70 destroyed planes and helicopters have been repaired and put into service so far with our own means and the support of our technicians ” Other damaged and unusable military aircraft and helicopters are still being repaired, he added Approximately 600 pilots and technicians worked for the Afghan Air Force during the previous Ghani government, and a significant number of them left the country in August of last year On the Taliban’s request, approximately 40 pilots and technicians returned to Afghanistan and began their work he said thanking them for repairing the damaged planes and reintroducing them into the air force “We supply the parts we require in the repair of airplanes and helicopters from planes or helicopters that are severely damaged or beyond repair because we cannot purchase spare parts for them We completed these works entirely on our own,” he said, adding that they are also not in a financial position to purchase new military planes or helicopters

M i l i ta ry j e t s, h e l i c o p t e r s i n n e i g h b o r i n g s tat e s: During the Ghani government the Afghan Air Force had 183 planes and helicopters, nearly 70 of which were taken to neighboring countries, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, by Afghan soldiers at a time when the Taliban were seizing provinces one by one and finally the capital Kabul in the first half of August last year

Since forming the interim Taliban administration, Kabul has asked both countries to return its military aircraft and helicopters but its requests have gone unanswered

However, Khawarizmi said negotiations on the issue are still ongoing, “because these aircraft belong to the Afghan people, they must be returned Good neighborly relations necessitate this as well,” he added

Meanwhile, a Taliban official said the Kabul administration has succeeded in re establishing the Afghan army and has raised it to over 100,000 personnel with plans to increase the number of personnel in the coming years “We recruited soldiers from the previous administration and inducted them into the new army he said urging all former soldiers to return to their positions “We accepted everyone who came,” he said, adding that “We are all working together for Afghanistan’s future The newly formed army includes people from all ethnic groups It is important for us to be Afghan and Muslim regardless of race the spokesperson said, using his Uzbek Turk ethnicity as an example “With the establishment of the interim government our training activities for the new army are continuing,” he said of the training of soldiers in the new army

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed the country’s long term friendship with Cuba, “no matter how the international situation may change,” during his in person meeting with Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel Bermudez at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday

China s determination to support Cuba in pursuing socialism will not change China’s will to work with Cuba to safeguard international fairness and justice and oppose hegemony and power politics will not change, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said during their talk

The visit this time by Diaz Canel who is also the first secretary of the Central Com

mittee of the Communist Party of Cuba marks the first China trip made by a Latin American and Caribbean head of state since the 20th National Congress of the CPC, which was held last month

This fully demonstrates the special friendship between the two countries and parties, Xi pointed out

Cuba is the first country in the Western Hemisphere that established diplomatic re lations with the People’s Republic of China, Xi recalled, adding that the bilateral ties be tween the two countries have become an ex ample of solidarity and cooperation between socialist countries, as well as an example of sincere mutual assistance between develop ing countries

After presenting the key outcomes of the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi stressed that the CPC will unite and lead the Chinese

people to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chi nese path to modernization

Xi also added that China will continue to firmly support Cuba in defending its na tional sovereignty and opposing external in terference and blockade, adding that China is ready to work with Cuba to implement the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative and jointly promote world peace and development

For his part, Diaz Canel first stressed that developing ties with China is one of im portant diplomatic principles of Cuba

He said Cuba firmly supports the one China principle and supports the joint con struction of Belt and Road Initiative with high quality He also expressed the country s support to the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative

MADRID Ag e n c i e s

Pakistan team start Practice for test series against engl and

ISLAMABAD

s ta f f r e p o r t

Pa k i s ta n cricket team started their practice session at the islamabad Club Cricket Ground on Friday to prepare themselves for the three match test series against England

England are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on saturday after their test camp at the abu Dhabi Cricket and sports Hub this will be England’s first visit to Pak istan in 17 years to play a test series the first test starts in Rawalpindi on December 1 the series is important for Pakistan to qualify for the finals of the

iCC World test Championship 2022 23

Pakistan has selected two new play ers Mohammad ali and abrar ahmed on the basis of their standout performance in the domestic cricket and they are likely to make debuts in the first test

Meanwhile, Leicestershire leg spin ning allrounder Rehan ahmed has been officially added to England Men’s test squad for the Pakistan tour if selected during the three match test series, the 18 year old will become the youngest player to play test cricket for England Men surpassing Yorkshire s Brian Close who represented the three lions at 18 years 149 days against new Zealand in July 1949

neymar out of Brazil’s next World cup match with ankle injur y

neymar will miss Brazil’s next World Cup game against switzerland after he suffered ankle ligament damage in his team’s opening win against serbia, the team doctor said on Friday the Paris saint Germain forward was seen with a swollen ankle after being substituted during the 2 0 victory against serbia on thursday Rodrigo Lasmar the doctor for the Brazilian football federation (CBF), said the 30 year old had suffered “ligament damage” Brazil right back Danilo will also miss Monday’s match against switzerland with an ankle strain “We will not have these two players for our next match but they continue their treatment with the aim of recovering in time for the rest of the competition the doctor said in a video released by the CBF

Por tugal beat ghana in World cup group H as ronaldo scores in 5th World cup

DohA

a controversial 63rd minute penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal on the way to a 3 2 win over Ghana with all the goals coming in the last half hour there seemed to be minimal contact between the striker and Ghana defender Mohammed salisu in the box in the 62nd minute the striker went straight to ground and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, to the fury of the Ghana team Ronaldo kept calm and fired decisively home to become the first male player to score in five consecutive World Cups although Ghana drew level through andrew ayew 10 minutes later quick fire goals from Joao Felix after 78 minutes and Rafael Leao two minutes later assured the win for Portugal before Osman Bukari pulled a goal back for Ghana in the 89th minute to produce a frantic finale

I r a n s t u n Wa l e s a t Wo r l d C u p a s E n g l a n d t a r g e t l a s t 1 6

DohA a p p

iran scored twice deep in stoppage time to stun Wales 2 0 on Friday and breathe new life into a World Cup campaign overshadowed by protests at home

iran’s players sang the national anthem before the Group B clash, having opted not to in their opener in Qatar, and were worthy winners against a Wales side reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Wayne Hen nessey received the first red card of the World Cup iran, who would have been eliminated with defeat, then pun

ished Gareth Bale’s Wales in the eighth minute of injury time through substitute Rouzbeh Cheshmi’s pow erful drive

the iranians sent their thou sands of fans at the ahmad Bin ali stadium wild when Ramin Rezaeian clipped in a second goal on the counter attack there were emotional scene as iran’s players and staff, including their Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, embraced on the pitch and took in the acclaim of their supporters Mehdi taremi the team s star striker, paid tribute to iran’s fans af terwards thank you to our supporters

they helped us all the time,” said taremi, who was cut down by Hen nessey when the goalkeeper came haring out of his goal

“We need those supporters to support us like always,” added taremi whose side will reach the last 16 if they win their politically charged clash with the United states on tuesday Even those who are in iran behind their tV, we need their positive energy “We have a dream and we want to give that dream a chance ” iran were thumped 6 2 by Eng land in their opening match and be forehand had stood impassively during their national anthem

Italy take doubles to edge USA in D avis Cup quar ter-final

PArIS ag e n c i e s

Fabio Fognini and simone Bolelli cruised to victory in the deciding doubles as italy beat the United states 2 1 their Davis Cup quarter final in Malaga on thursday

“i am really happy, i am here with my ‘brother ’ We played really well, said Fognini, after the pair beat Jack sock and tommy Paul 6 4, 6 4 italy, shorn of their two top players, world number 15 Jannik sinner and 16th ranked Matteo Berrettini eliminated an american team led by ninth ranked taylor Fritz and Francis tiafoe, who is in the top 20 Lorenzo sonego, ranked 45th, opened the tie by coming from a set down to beat tiafoe 6 3, 7 6 (9/7)

Fritz levelled when he survived a tough first set to beat Lorenzo Musetti 7 6 (10/8), 6 3 that set the stage for the first doubles match of the week the first two quarter finals were both settled after the two singles rubbers

Fognini and Bolelli, the 2015 australian Open cham

pions, broke in the ninth game of the first set and the sev enth game of the second to win italy the only one of the eight nations in Malaga whose football team is not at the World Cup, were roared on by strong support

“i’m really proud of my team and of this crowd,” said captain Filippo Volandri it s like we are in italy! all the players did an un believable job Even Matteo who couldn’t play because of injury is here and Jannik is supporting from home ”

Usa captain Mardy Fish did not enjoy his thanks giving “no doubt that was a tough day ” he said “no doubt that they were the better team today ”

“their doubles, they played phenomenally well they’re a great team ”

On saturday, italy, whose only Davis Cup title came back in 1976, will face 2019 runners up Canada or three time winners Germany Jan Lennard struff ranked a lowly 152 in the world gave Germany the lead in their quarter final with a stun ning 6 3, 4 6, 7 6 (7/2) win over 18th ranked Denis shapovalov

latham smashes century as new Zealand down india in 1st odi

AuckLAnD ag e n c i e s

tom Latham was left thanking his lucky stars after smashing a majestic century to steer new Zealand to a seven wicket win over india in Friday’s opening one day international in auckland

Latham hammered 19 fours and five sixes in an unbeaten innings of 145 runs off 104 balls it was his seventh ODi century and his highest score in the format “it was one of those days when everything comes off i don t really know where that came from the stars aligned, things fall into place,” Latham said of his man of the match innings the Black Caps were set 307 to win at Eden Park before Latham and new Zealand captain kane Williamson put on a winning partnership of 221 runs “We bowled short of length and that’s where Latham attacked us,” said india captain shikhar Dhawan

We couldn t make a breakthrough when the partnership was on Latham took the game away for us and that’s when the momentum shifted ” Williamson finished on 94 not out as new Zealand went one up in the ODi series, having lost the twenty20 series to india

“it was an incredible knock by tommy (Latham) he was absolutely on fire,” said Williamson

We were talking in the middle about just getting through the overs, but then he just flicked the switch

“it was one of the more special ODi knocks i have seen and it was nice to be at the other end to watch it ” after being put into bat by new Zealand, india put up 306 and then did not allow new Zealand’s openers to settle as the chase began

Finn allen and then Devon Conway edged shots to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant

india gave ODi debuts to pace bowlers arshdeep singh and Umran Malik, who celebrated with the wickets of Conway and Daryl Mitchell in quick succession as new Zealand laboured to 88 3 However, it quickly turned into a miserable evening for india s bowlers

Williamson dug in with a superb array of shots, including a 79 metre six

He was well supported by Latham, who grew in confidence as the pair broke the indian bowling momentum and took new Zealand to the finish line

Earlier, india’s captain Dhawan put on a superb opening partnership of 124 with shubman Gill Dhawan smashed 13 fours as he made 72 runs off 77 balls before being caught off the bowling of tim southee, who claimed his 200th ODi wicket for new Zealand

india’s run rate slowed as Pant and then suryakumar Yadav were dismissed, leaving the visitors on 160 4 shreyas iyer steadied the innings with 80 runs, including four sixes

Hamilton will host the second ODi on sunday

President hails per formance of national cricket team during T20 World Cup

ments, which were regarded as a billion dollar cricket economy

He said that the way the teammates motivated each other despite losing the game was remarkable He stated that most of the team players were young and ex pressed confidence that they would bring many victories in the coming tourna ments

o f P a k i s t a n ’s C r i c k e t te a m , w h i c h w a s a t t e n d e d b y C h i e f o f a r m y s t a ff G e n e r a l Q a m a r J a v a i d B a j w a C h a i r m a n o f P a k i s t a n C r i c k e t B o a r d R a m e e z R a j a , l e g e n d a r y c r i c k e t e r s o f P a k i s t a n a n d f o r e i g n d i g n i t a r i e s speaking on the occasion, the Presi dent said that despite constraints and hard ships, the team was performing well against international teams in tourna

President alvi said that the whole na tion owed its cricketing stars for their out standing performance “Cricket is an extremely popular game in Pakistan and a good performance by the team brings colours to the lives of all Pakistanis,” he said

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Rameez Raja and Captain of Pakistan s team Baber azam said that it was the sup port of the nation that became their strength during such big tournaments

DohA ag e n c i e s

Some people wiSh to pit pti, Army AgAinSt eAch other: imrAn

The convoys of districts Peshawar Khyber and Mohmand would depart from Peshawar Toll Plaza at 9am

moSt to hold ‘unlaw ful’ meeting of BoD of pSQcA on monday

ISLAMABAD

cH A I r M A N Pakistan

Tehreek

e Insaf (PTI) Imran

Khan on Friday said that some people wish to pit PTI and Pakistan Army against each other

Clash with the Pakistan Army no way This country is mine, and so is its army,” Imran Khan said during an in terview with a private news channel on Friday

The PTI chief pointed out, he only wants strong institutions being run on merit as strong institutions mean a strong country

Imran Khan said that he is going to rawalpindi for the nation and the nation stands with him The rawalpindi protest would be the biggest gathering in history, the nation has risen,” he added He added that he never thought about appointing his favourite Army Chief The only thing he wanted was to do the appointment on merit,” he added

The PTI Chief added that if the government was not ready for elections then there was no point for talks to them “The only way to stabilize the country is a fresh election,” he stressed Imran Khan said that there are good

and bad people in every institution

The former premier said that the PDM government has done nothing but trash cases against them in the past 7 months

ay: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) issued a well conceived and comprehensive plan for timely arrival of conveys from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh to par ticipate in the historic “Haqeeqi Azaadi Long March scheduled for Saturday (today)

The PTI provincial chapters final

ized their strategies as sea of people would converge in rawalpindi from across the country on the call of their captain PTI Chairman Imran Khan

According to the plan, the people of KP province would leave for rawalpindi on Saturday in huge num bers, like the rest of the country The PTI KP caravan would leave from the province under the leadership of PTI provincial President Pervez Khattak to participate in the real freedom march

The caravans of KP South region would reach rawalpindi via CPEC route under the leadership of Provincial Secretary General Ali Amin Gandapur

Similarly, the convoy of district Charsadda would depart from Charsadda Toll Plaza at 9:30 am for rawalpindi, while the cavalcade of district Mardan would depart from Mardan Toll Plaza at 10 am

Likewise, the Haqeeqi Azaadi March’s convoy from district Malakand would set out from Colonel Sher Khan Interchange at 10:15 am

The convoy of district Swabi would depart from Swabi Toll Plaza at 10:45 am and the cavalcade of district Now shera would leave from Swabi rest Area at 11 am The convoys from Haz ara region Hazara would depart from Hazara Motorway at 11:30 am and all KP convoys would reach Murree road Faizabad, rawalpindi by 12:30 PM

Like in KP, the tsunami of people would proceed towards rawalpindi to take part in the real freedom movement

The huge cavalcades from across Punjab would reach rawalpindi on November 26 The convoys from Gu jranwala, Gujarat, Sialkot and Narowal would join the central convoy led by PTI General Secretary Central Punjab Hammad Azhar and reach rawalpindi at 1 pm on Saturday

Pakistan’s default risk probability stands at only 10pc: Dar

ISLAMABAD

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has rejected reports that Pakistan was facing default risk, saying according to Bloomberg it only stood at 10 per cent “as opposed to the claims of 93%

The perception of Pakistan’s risk of default wors ened with the five year credit default swap (CDS) surging by 30 percentage points in a week to 93% on Monday ahead of the repayment of $1 billion for a maturing international bond early next month According to a research house, the CDS had been at 4 2% in January 2021

However the finance minister on Friday shared

a purported infographic of Bloomberg about the es timated default probability in emerging markets

Bloomberg pitches Pakistan s one year proba bility of default at a low of 10% as opposed to a highly dubious number of 93% circulated by an un scrupulous local political leader a few days ago he said while referring to the claims of PTI Chairman Imran Khan

“Pakistan will InshaAllah continue to honour its all financial commitments on time!” A section of global and local experts and bond investors saw the rise in the CDS as a threat to their receivables

Yields (rate of return) on the $1 billion interna tional bond (Sukuk) which is maturing on December 5, 2022, soared to 120% on Monday from around

96% on Friday, indicating the investors’ lack of con fidence in Pakistan whether it would be able to repay the maturing debt

Earlier today, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Gov ernor Jameel Ahmad told a briefing that Pakistan will repay a $1 billion international bond on December 2 three days before its due date

There has been growing uncertainty about the ability of Pakistan to meet external financing obliga tions with the country in the midst of an economic crisis and recovering from devastating floods that killed over 1,700 people

The bond repayment, which matures on Decem ber 5 totals $1 08 billion the SBP chief told a brief ing, according to two analysts who were present

Pakistan to repay $1bn bond early: SBP chief

ISLAMABAD Ag e n c i e s

Pakistan will repay a $1 billion inter national bond on December 2, three days before its due date, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad told a briefing on Friday

There has been growing uncertainty about the ability of Pakistan to meet ex ternal financing obligations with the country in the midst of an economic cri sis and recovering from devastating floods that killed over 1,700 people

The bond repayment, which ma

tures on December 5, totals $1 08 bil lion Ahmad told a briefing according to two analysts who were present Ahmad added that funding has been lined up from multilateral and bi lateral sources to ensure the repayment would not affect foreign exchange re serves An immediate inflow of $500 million was expected next week on Tuesday from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, he said Pakistan’s reserves with the central bank stood at $7 8 billion as of November 18 barely enough to cover a month’s imports Ahmad said reserve levels will de

pend on the continued realisation of expected inflows and rollover of loans from friendly countries, but added he was confident the reserve figure will be much higher by the end of the finan cial year in June 2023

He told the briefing he expects ex ternal financing requirements would be met on time because of inflows from international lenders He pointed out that, despite payments of $1 8 billion in November, reserves remained stable

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said earlier this week that Pak istan’s timely finalisation of a recovery

plan from devastating floods is essen tial to support discussions and contin ued financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners

Pakistan is currently in an IMF bailout programme, which it entered in 2019, but a firm date for the ninth re view to release much needed funds is pending even as it battles a full blown economic crisis with decades high in flation and low reserves

The central bank raised its key pol icy rate by 100 basis points to 16% on Friday in an unexpected move to ensure high inflation does not get entrenched

While the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is already under fire for its failure and irregularities in its attached departments, the ministry is going to hold a meeting of Board of Directors (BoD) of Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) on Monday Official sources, however, term the meeting as “unlawful” as a large number of members of the board do not exist and the board is still incomplete

The ministry, through a notice issued on November 18, 2022 has asked all members of the BoD to attend the meeting scheduled to be held in Karachi However, some officials at the ministry claim that the meeting has been scheduled by the Minister MoST, Agha Hassan Baloch despite the fact that the existing composition of PSQCA BoD, which included nine members, is not in compliance with PSQCA ACT 1996

As per the reliable sources the key members of the board including Director General of PSQCA who is also vice chairman of the board, Secretary PSQCA, Deputy Director General Finance, Deputy Director General (Quality Control), Deputy Director General (Standard Development), and Deputy Director General (Technical Services) do not exist and the said positions of the members are presently vacant

Besides, the post of Secretary PSQCA, who is also secretary of the BoD is also vacant since the retirement of the former secretary last month As per the authority’s act the secretary of the board will issue the notices and minutes of BoD The remaining two members of BoD included one representative from each Ministry of Commerce and FPCCI

Interestingly an official of the ministry (Joint Scientific Officer) has been given the look after charge of the Director General PSQCA who cannot take policy decisions

Despite the absence of six key members/concerned officials of the board, the minister, according to insiders, is interested to hold a meeting of the BoD for taking a few political decisions of his interest

“We are unable to understand the rationale behind holding the BoD meeting instead of appointing a regular head of PSQCA and filling the key positions of the authority It seems the minister who is chairman of BoD is being misled by some interest group,” said an official at the ministry in terms of unanimity

Another interesting aspect of the scheduled BoD is that the Minister, through his PSO on November 11, 2022 has also asked a deputy director (finance) PSQCA Ali Muhammad Bukhari to prepare the agenda of the BoD despite the fact the said official has been sent on forced leave for various inquiries related to financial embezzlement, irregularities and suspicious transactions

In further interesting development, the ministry through a letter sent by Section Officer (Org III) on same date (November 11, 2022) has asked the DG PSQCA to update the ministry regarding financial and administrative mismanagement allegedly committee by DD PSQCA Ali Muhammad Bukhari

An official of the ministry, when contacted, claimed that the Secretary MoST Ghulam Muhammad Memon is not in favor of holding the BoD keeping in view the incomplete composition of the board and other legal issues The minister, who reportedly wanted to hold the meeting at any cost, was reportedly bypassing the secretary office while forcing the acting DG PSQCA Zainul Abideen and officials to arrange the meeting

“Those who understand the legal aspect of the BoD, are reluctant to participate and make arrangements regarding the meeting,” he said

Secretary MoST Ghulam Muhammad Memon when contacted said he was not aware of the BoD meeting, saying that Zainul Abedeen, who holds the look after charge of PSQCA may be aware of the meeting According to insiders, through the BoD the minister, apart from scheduled agenda, was interested in establishing offices and laborarites of the PSQCA in Balochistan besides creating some posts in the authority

P M u r g e s Tu r k i ye t o j o i n C P E C f o r r e g i o n a l p r o g r e s s , p o ve r t y a l l e v i a t i o n

ISTANBUL A p p

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday suggested that Turkiye should join the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to bring about regional prosperity, alleviate poverty and empower the people through better edu cation and health facilities

The prime minister addressing a joint press stakeout along with Turkish President recep Tayyip Erdogan here, said Pakistan had been “experiencing and enjoying” the benefits of the CPEC under the Belt and road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping “I would suggest that let this be a coop eration between China, Pakistan and Turkiye This would be a wonderful joint co operation This will bring prosperity and progress to this entire region This will help alleviate poverty and unemployment This will certainly empower our poor people This will promote education and health This

is how we can meet the challenges of today the prime minister remarked

He said that he would be “happy” to dis cuss the matter with the Chinese leadership if Turkiye moved ahead on the idea of join ing the CPEC

Lauding President Erdogan’s warm hos pitality, the prime minister started his remarks by conveying condolences over the loss of life in a recent terror incident in Istanbul and prayed for peace of the departed souls

He said having sacrificed thousands of lives to terrorism, Pakistan could understand the feeling of the Turkish people and called for joint efforts to wipe out terrorism in all forms and manifestations, not only from Pakistan and Turkiye but the whole world referring to the launching ceremony of the third of the four MILGEM Corvette Ships for the Pakistan Navy, PNS Khaybar, the prime minister said the project was the manifestation of sincerity, purpose and com mitment to enhance mutual cooperation

The prime minister said at a time when the tensions were escalating in the world and the international prices of commodities were skyrocketing and going beyond the reach of developing countries, so it was important to take the defence cooperation to a higher level for defence of the two brotherly countries

He said Pakistan and Turkiye’s defence cooperation should now meet new chal lenges and have a much bigger scale in terms of skills, expertise and cooperation

PM Shehbaz Sharif said in their meeting the two leaders underscored the effective im plementation of the trade and goods agree ment the two countries had signed in August this year He said the trade volume of $1 bil lion between Pakistan and Turkiye did not reflect the brotherly relations and called for all out efforts to achieve the target of $5 bil lion dollar trade

In his remarks, Turkish president Erdo gan said that both countries were hopeful of further increasing their relations in trade, de

fence and other sectors

He said Turkiye fully supported Pak istan’s fight against terrorism and thanked Pakistan for supporting Turkiye against the terrorist act of the Fatih organisation

He said 2022 marked the celebration of

the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations

Expressing grief over the deaths and de struction caused by floods, the Turkish presi dent said, “Our solidarity has been shown to each other during challenging times Pak istan s joy is our joy and their grief is our grief