Epaper_22-12-21 LHR

Govt seeks provinces’ support for enerGy conservation plan

KH ASIF SAyS eARly ClOSURe OF MARKeTS CAn HelP COUnTRy SAve RS62B

SAyS POlITICIAnS SHOUlD Be FIRST OneS TO ADOPT AUSTeRITy MeASUReS

by end of September last year had now reached Rs2.437 trillion, showing an increase of Rs185billion.

Briefing the media after a meeting of the federal cabinet, Asif that the PM had held several meetings on the issue and a final decision would be taken by Thursday.

He said that estimates had shown that if 20 percent of the government workforce worked from home on a rotation basis, Rs56 billion could be saved. “It is mainly about the nation limiting its lifestyle,” he said.

He further said that the timing of wedding halls would be limited to 10pm, while restaurants, hotels and markets would close down by 8pm. He, however, said that there may be some room for the closing time for restaurants to be extended by an hour. The minister said that by implementing these few steps, the country would be able to save Rs62bn.

33 TTP terrorists killed, two jawans martyred as SSG retakes Bannu CTD Centre

PESHAWAR/BANNU agencies

The security forces, on Tuesday afternoon, took back the Bannu CounterTerrorism Department (CTD) Centre and cleared the building after killing all 33 terrorists inside the compound while securing release of all the hostages from their captivity.

tionary measure had closed educational institutions.

The people in the vicinity were asked to remain indoors and traffic in the area was also suspended.

DeFenCeMinister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that the government would approach the provinces for implementation of a policy aimed at saving energy.

The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif di-

rected authorities concerned to take steps for reducing circular debt in the energy sector.

“The distribution companies of Sui gas should improve the system of recovery of bills and no additional burden should be put on gas and electricity consumers,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

According to power division, the circular debt which stood at Rs2.253 trillion

Asif said that the government was slowly working on shifting to renewable energy but until that was achieved, such measures were important.

He went on to say that energy-efficient fans and bulbs would soon be introduced in the market, which would further help save Rs38bn. “Similarly, if street lights are used alternatively, we would be able to save Rs4bn.”

Bilawal, Blinken discuss reconstruction of flood-hit areas

fected areas.

During the conversation, Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Bhutto Zardari "shared their mutual hope for a productive International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in January and discussed the need for close co-

af-

ordination", according to the US State Department.

Secretary Blinken offered condolences for lives lost in recent terrorist attacks and underscored the United States’ resolute support for Pakistan against terrorism.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister

Bilawal Bhutto conveyed gratitude on behalf of the Government of Pakistan for USG’s flood assistance of $97 million. He expressed the resolve that the two countries would continue to extend mutual cooperation for rebuilding resilient infrastructure in Pakistan. Both the countries would also keep up cooperation to further enhance and diversify bilateral relations and to work together for regional peace and stability, he added.

An officer of the SSG group – the elite unite of Pakistan Army sustained gunshot wounds while two jawans embraced martyrdom during the two hours long operation.

According to officials, the operation conducted by the Special Services Group of Pakistan Army (SSG) was started at 12:30pm Tuesday after the terrorists refused to set free the hostage staff of CTD.

The SSG commandos cleared the compound at 2:30pm after two hours long operation and killed all 33 terrorists inside the centre.

The sources said that around 10 to 15 SSG jawans including an officer sustained injuries while two embraced martyrdom.

On Sunday, the militants held hostage the staff at CTD centre after one of the outlaw snatched a rifle from its staffer after hitting him on head with the brick.

There were reports that the arrested militants were demanding a safe airlift to Afghanistan along with their detained accomplices in return for the release of the hostage staff.

Prior of the operation, the emergency was imposed in all three major hospitals of Bannu, while the local administration as a precau-

SSG ComPleTeS oPeraTion aGainST TerroriSTS aT Bannu CTD CenTre: On other hand, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that the Special Services Group (SSG) had completed the operation against terrorists at Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Centre Bannu, recovering all hostages and killing all members of the outlaw organization.

Sharing details of the operation conducted by security forces against militants, who besieged the CTD center in Bannu, the minister informed the joint sitting of the parliament that all terrorists had been killed and the compound had been cleared at 2:30 pm on Tuesday.

He said that the operation started at 12:30 pm on December 20 (today) and concluded at 2:30 pm. He added around 10 to 15 SSG jawans including one officer received injuries while two embraced Shahadat.

The situation emerged after an arrested militant overpowered staff, snatched a rifle and later held hostages inside the CTD centre in Bannu, he added.

Kh Asif informed the House, “All the terrorists who had taken hostages at CTD centre in Bannu were killed during the operation of security forces.” He said that total 33 terrorists were inside the centre and all were killed in the operation carried out by the Pak Army’s SSG.

According to Musadik Malik, Pakistan’s State Minister for Petroleum, the country will purchase 20,000 tons of gas from Azerbaijan over the next two months to meet domestic demand.

Although this might seem like a huge development for the energy sector, it isn’t. A normal sized lnG cargo that Pakistan receives contains about 60,000 tons of gas on average, and we import 10 cargoes a month that amounts to a total of 600,000 tons. Comparing that to the potential imports in the coming months from Azerbaijan it’s a drop in the bucket.

Despite the fact that these imports from Azerbaijan will not have a significant impact on the looming gas crisis,

it might be enough to keep a few stoves or a few industries up and running for a while a longer. Additional cargoes and gas conservation is the need of the hour to prevent a looming gas crisis. Apart from negotiations with Azerbaijan, according to Musadik Malik the government is working on the TAPI gas pipeline project as well. Pakistan would import 1300 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas each year to address the country’s gas shortfall after the completion of this project.

According to him, “Our gas resources are depleting annually, adding to the pressure to import as much gas as possible to meet the demand”. It’s no secret that domestic gas reserves have been declining at a very rapid rate due to misallocation of gas and inefficiencies within the transmission and distribution networks.

However, building the necessary infrastructure for TAPI to facilitate these imports would take years and Pakistan might not have that long to wait. For this reason the country has also approached oil and gas rich Azerbaijan for potential cargoes of gas, it can be considered as a stop gap measure but a necessary one nonetheless. Why azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan has historically been an oil and gas rich country and is a major supplier of the european market. Due to the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, its role as a major energy exporter has increased significantly.

Ursula von der leyen, President of the european Commission, also emphasised the need for increased cooperation between the european Union and Azerbaijan during a visit to Baku earlier this year. The parties decided to

increase the amount of gas exported from Azerbaijan to europe from 8 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year to roughly 20 bcm by 2027.

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, also recently stated that his nation’s gas exports to europe are expected to increase to “at least” 11.6 bcm next year from an estimated 11.3 bcm this year, according to a report from the Interfax news agency. Azerbaijan provided 8.2 bcm of gas to europe last year.

Azerbaijan is a nation that sits on the border between eastern europe and western Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus and is bordered by Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea to the east, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the northwest, and the Republic of Dagestan to the north.

natural gas and oil resources are

plentiful in Azerbaijan. According to the June 2018 BP Statistical Review of world energy, at the end of 2017, its oil reserves, which totaled 7 billion barrels, represented 0.4% of the world’s reserves. natural gas reserves in Azerbaijan are believed to be 1.3 trillion cubic metres, and the Shah Deniz gas field, with more than 1,000 bcm, is one of the biggest in the world.

Traditionally gas from Azerbaijan is pumped through pipelines from its point of origin to the point of consumption, primarily in Turkey and europe. This greatly reduces the cost of the gas and at the same time ensures consistent gas flows. whereas there is no pipeline network that connects Pakistan to Azerbaijan therefore transporting gas through ships is the only option.

ISLAMABAD staff report

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ISLAMABAD staff report

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Tuesday discussed the floodcaused destruction in Pakistan and reconstruction of the

WB approves financing Worth $1.692Bn in projects for flood - affected areas in sindh

profIt report shahnawaz ali

fLOODSwreaked havoc in Pakistan, this year as thousands died and millions got displaced. Infrastructure worth billions was destroyed by water, and Pakistan, a country already destitute in its financing needs was left dumbfounded at how they will be able to solve this crisis. The government estimated that Pakistan needed an additional 16 billion dollars just to rehabilitate the victims of the monsoon floods. Whereas, international estimates by organisations like Reuters, amount up to $30 billion. Last month, Pakistan put up a strong front at the COP 27 summit and was given the promise of repercussions.

In that same breath, the executive board of the World Bank has announced the financing of 1.692 billion dollars for 5 different programs in Sindh, on Tuesday the

19th of December. According to the World Bank, Sindh was the province worst-affected by the 2022 floods.

The World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, Najy Benhassine said that, “Beyond the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged houses and infrastructure, our engagement in the flood response effort is an opportunity to strengthen resilience, and reform institutions and governance structures”When it comes to disaster management, Pakistan has always been quick to respond and somewhat recover from natural disasters. But some of the more important steps of this management cycle have either been overlooked or are beyond our financial and logistical capabilities. These are steps like sustainable redevelopment after the disaster, and prevention and Mitigation of the disasters. The World Bank’s projects are aimed at these very needs, along with improving institutional capacity to improve future response to such disasters.

According to the press release by the World bank, two programs, worth $500 million each, are aimed at rehabilitation and reconstruction of critical infrastructure and housing. The rehabilitation project will provide, “A community-level cash-forwork program (which) will provide short-term income support to approximately 100,000 households.” The same project will “help restore and improve critical irrigation and flood protection infrastructure, water supply schemes, roads, and related infrastructure.” for more than 2 million people in Sindh.

The second project, namely the reconstruction project aims to build 350,000 multi-hazard resilient housing units by subsidising the construction. Basic rainwater harvesting systems and twin pit latrines will also be provided for better access to water and sanitation.

The Bank also approved $292 million for the Sindh water and agriculture transformation project. “As an immediate

response to the floods, the project will provide cash transfers to approximately 300,000 flood-affected farming households to help restore crop production through the purchase of seeds, fertiliser, and other critical inputs.” stated the World Bank. The project also includes the upgradation of irrigation services using integrated water resource management. It also contains “pilot smart subsidy schemes targeting small- and medium-sized farmers”, which will directly help 14,000 households.

Two of the remaining projects, worth $200 million each are helping towards health services, specifically for maternal and child care. According to the press release, “ The (first) project supports alignment and connectivity with the Federal National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) and will provide conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to 1.3 million mothers and their children to support improved maternal and child health outcomes, particularly in the wake of service disruption after the floods.”

The second project is targeted towards, “rehabilitation and reconstruction of health infrastructure that was damaged in the floods, disrupting the delivery of these services.” according to the World Bank. The project will improve the access to quality healthcare services for the people in remote or peri-urban areas, especially for women, girls and children.

The nature of the Project Financing (debt or aid), is often such that it cannot be used to cover a country’s balance of payments needs. The amount is designated for development and development alone, but the incoming dollars in the current drought is more of a positive than a negative sign for the economy. Simultaneously Pakistan has been a direct victim of climate inaction by the global north, and has an estimated need of more than $16 billion, that can be attributed to the flood. This means that it would need a lot more than $1.692 billion before it can truly claim to have provided relief to the flood victims.

Cabinet okays Chairman IPO appointment in violation of age limit

ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

While approving the summary through circulation the federal cabinet has approved appointment of Chairman Intellectual Property Organization (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) in violation of set rules regarding age limit.

According to insiders, former ambassador Farukh Amil, who has been appointed as new chairman IPO Pakistan for three years, does not meet the age limit set for appointment against the post of MP-1 scale.

According to reliable sources, the MoC had forwarded a panel of three names including former ambassador Farukh Amil; former chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Muhammad Javed Ghani and former Member FBR Customs (Legal & Accounting) Dr Arslan Subuktageen to the cabinet for appointment as chairman IPO Pakistan, an attached department of MoC.

The post of chairman IPO Pakistan has been vacant

since June 2021, as the ministry could not complete the recruitment process for various reasons.

As per details, the candidate, who was proposed as top one in the panel after the selection process has reportedly retired in January 2019 and he is over 63 years old. As per the rules of recruitment under MP Scale Policy 2020, the age of a candidate should not be more than 62 years as he would have to complete the 3-year contractual term by attaining the age of 65.

The selected candidate Farukh Amil has been Pakistan’s Ambassador to Japan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.

However, the candidate on second number, Muhammad Javed Ghani, meets the age limit as he was retired from services on April 10, 2021.

Interestingly the third candidate in the panel also exceeds the age limit set for the MP-1 scale post. Dr Arslan was superannuated from service on July 22, 2020. He was a BS-21 officer of Pakistan Customs Service, served as Member Customs (Legal & Accounting), FBR, DG CPEC

(Customs) and DG Intellectual Property Rights (Enforcement).

However, an official spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, when contacted, claimed that ap-pointment of Chairman IPO was made under the section 9 of IPO Act 2012 not on the basis of MP-1 scale. Interestingly the said act of IPO is silent about the eligibility of the candidate as it simply says “There shall be a Chairman of the Organization to be appointed by the Federal Government for a term of three years.” The MoC official of MoC, when asked, admitted that under this rule even a candidate of over 70 years old can be appointed as chairman.

On the other hand, their Cabinet Division’s OM dated 19-10-2007 which provides that chair-man/members of regulatory authorities/autonomous bodies/ commission etc shall cease to hold office on attaining the age of 65 years or expiry of tenure whichever is earlier. However, the MoC official claims that the Division’s rule was an advisory one not compulsory.

Interestingly, the advertisement published for inviting

applications against the same post clearly shows the emolument as PM-1 Scale. However the advertisement has not mentioned the maximum age limit unlike similar advertisements of ministries/divisions.

According to an insider privy to the development, some potential candidates of the post were concerned that the ministry’s high ups, by not mentioning the age limit and relevant experiences in the advertisement, have apparently tried to facilitate blue-eyed candidates.

Interestingly, the MoC in its advertisement published on February 11, 2022 regarding appoint-ment against the post of Chief Executive of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) (MP-1 scale), another attached department, has clearly mentioned the maximum age limit of 62 years.

The IPO Pakistan, an important organization of the ministry, has been without a head for the past over 17 months as the selection process could not be completed for various shortcomings. The ministry had advertised the post in August 2021.

The government has an Energy Conservation Plan. Is it too little too late?

report asad ullah Kamran

Minister of Defence, Khawaja Muhammad Asif announced on Tuesday that the government has created an energy conservation plan that can result in savings of billions of rupees when implemented. Through this plan the government plans to reduce its energy demand.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey, the import cost for oil grew by 95.9% to $17.03 billion between July and April of FY2022, this accounts for a quarter of the total import bill during the same period standing at $65.5 billion.

Therefore reducing the import bill for oil and petroleum products particularly being used for energy generation can potentially reduce the pressure on the economy. Higher global oil prices and a huge devaluation of the Pakistani rupee make energy more expensive, causing external sector pressure and worsening the country's trade deficit. "If we want to live within our means, we need to change our habits," stated the defence minister. According to Asif, conserving energy from various sources can save billions of rupees. The country is going through one of its worst economic cycles with fast depleting foreign reserves, the country is struggling financially.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister's Adviser Qamar Zaman Kaira guaranteed that Pakistan will not default. He urged citizens to support the government's policy. "Pakistan's largest problem is its import bill, which is $26 to $28 billion and growing. We have no choice but to take these steps, and the nation will have to work with the government " said the advisor. Are we late to the party ?

The plan that Pakistan has presented relies primarily on saving electricity. Pakistan relies heavily on fossil fuels such as oil and gas to produce electricity. The strategy primarily focuses on reducing the electricity demand therefore reducing the need to import these expensive fossil fuels.

The Defence Minister in the press conference held on 20th of December was essentially reading out of a plan the power division had presented to the Prime Minister back in October. The plan had been on the cards for sometime but due to unknown

reasons has been finally announced publicly.

The cabinet had previously assessed the situation holistically during its meeting on May 10, 2022, and directed the Cabinet Division to form a Ministerial Committee on Energy, Water, and Food Conservation.

According to the cabinet decision, the ministerial committee was formed on June 14, 2022, under the chairmanship of federal minister for defence, with the purpose to evaluate and recommend measures for energy, water, and food conservation.

And finally in a meeting led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in October, the power division presented the "Efficiency and Conservation Measures Implementation Roadmap" to the cabinet. The cabinet was told how important international events have disrupted the global energy supply chain. As a result, crude oil and imported coal prices have risen dramatically in the last nine months.

The power division had cautioned that the country's position was becoming unsustainable, and that there was an urgent need to undertake national energy efficiency and conservation measures earlier this year. However political instability and other delays are seeing us implement steps we should have initiated back in May or June.

The “RoAdmAp”

The committee recommended administrative solutions such as the hybrid work model, the closure of commercial markets at 8 pm, and alternate switching of street lights. These initiatives will result in annual savings of over $568 million. Switching to LED lighting might result in an additional $103 million in annual savings.

Third, the committee reported that approximately 2.65 million fans create an annual loss of approximately 0.68 billion units of electricity. A ban on the manufacture of inefficient fans will result in annual savings of around $69 million.

Installed water geysers use around 105 million mmbtus of gas per year, which can be

decreased by 25% through installing conical baffles, resulting in annual savings of approximately $419 million.

This would add up to annual savings of $1.15 billion, although Pakistan would have to do much more to reduce the total import bill, regardless these steps should be welcomed by the general considering that this wouldn’t only be beneficial in the short run but for many years to come. In order to create awareness across the country, the committee also proposed huge energy efficiency and conservation awareness efforts across print, electronic, and social media platforms.

Although this seems like a sound plan in theory, the implementation and effectiveness can only be evaluated a year or two down the road. It would involve a mammoth effort on the part of the government to actually implement these steps, for instance how will the installation of conical baffles be enforced by the government in your home?

The answer to this question is cooperation from the general public for the most part. Another simple answer would be to show how energy conservation is mutually beneficial for all the stakeholders and the economy at large.

But another question arises that even though the federal government has announced these initiatives, being able to implement them at a provincial level would require the federal government to bypass the eighteenth amendment. Here comes in Article 149(4) of the constitution.

WhAT is ARTicle 149(4) of The pAkisTAn consTiTuTion ?

In case of any resistance from the provinces given how Pakistan is going through one of its usual episodes of political chaos, the government would make use of Article 149(4) of the Pakistan Constitution to ensure cooperation between the provinces.

As per the constitution of Pakistan, the fourth clause of the article grants power to the “federal executive authority” to deliver directives to provinces on the building and

maintenance of communication means, and in order to avoid any serious threat to the “peace or tranquillity or economic life” of Pakistan.

This said, it can still become a bone of contention in the court of law given the prevalent political chaos in the country.

WhAT hAve oTheR counTRies done ?

Countries around the world have taken drastic measures in order to become energy efficient and reduce their own domestic bills while at the same time contributing to reducing the overall import bill of the country.

Simple actions are frequently effective. In India, for example, air conditioner makers are required to set the default temperature of a new device at 24°C. This means that when a person purchases an air conditioning unit, it will automatically cool to 24°C rather than 22 or 20°C. Consumers have the option to change it, but many do not and thus save energy without even realising it.

Similarly a drought caused an electrical shortfall in Chile in 2007 and 2008. Chile avoided power outages by deploying a package of measures that included public awareness campaigns and a scheme to distribute energyefficient lighting. The government established long term finances for energy efficiency initiatives, instituted rationing, prolonged daylight saving time, and provided financial incentives for conservation.

Following the 1973 oil crisis, Denmark decreased its susceptibility by drastically reducing its reliance on imported oil, diversifying its energy mix, and implementing an ambitious and comprehensive portfolio of energy efficiency initiatives.

Before the crisis, almost all buildings were heated with oil, and the majority of energy was produced with oil. Subsidies and other initiatives lowered the share of electricity generated from oil from 64% to 5% by 1983. is iT economicAlly feAsible?

There are some arguments against the closure of markets and restricting other forms

of commercial activity. This would fundamentally reduce economic activity considering the fact that shops and restaurants would be open for fewer hours.

However, the influence of energy efficiency programmes on macroeconomic performance must be better understood and quantified in a systematic manner. Energy efficiency improvements can benefit the entire economy, with direct and indirect effects on economic activity measured by GDP, employment, trade balances, and energy prices.

As the situation stands Pakistan not only requires short term fixes but also long term policies and strategies spanning decades to come. Only then can the country only become sustainable. What Denmark was able to achieve should serve as a prime example for the country as we too have been reliant on imported oil for far too long.

Why is iT necessARy foR pAkisTAn?

Cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades can have favourable macroeconomic effects, increasing economic activity and frequently creating more jobs. Efficiency in energy use lowers the amount of energy used to provide services like transportation, lighting, heating, and cooling. Reduced energy service costs free up resources for individuals, corporations, and governments. Considering the dismal situation of the Pakistan economy, these policies come at a time when the government is struggling to meet its financial commitments and running a fiscal deficit. With energy prices still sky high coupled with lower foreign exchange reserves cutting back expenditures on imported fuel is an absolute priority for the government.

Hence it can be concluded that being energy efficient and reducing the overall import bill can potentially have a huge impact on the overall economic outlook of the country in the long run. However it must be noted that stringent checks and regulation is necessary to ensure implementation of the plans to reap the actual benefits. As far as the figures being released by the government are concerned, they must be taken with a grain of salt as there is no verifiable method to estimate these numbers. Furthermore at the moment they are only estimates and only after implementation can the actual benefits of the plan be evaluated.

Even though Pakistan has been late to come up with these measures, regardless it must be stated that these policies are better late than never. But only time will tell whether or not these policies would even come into effect or how beneficial these policies would be for Pakistan.

profIt

tpl - tasc consortium nears acquisition of paKistan’s largest telecom infrastructure

vEON, the largest telecommunications tower operator in Pakistan, has conditionally agreed to sell its 150+ towers. The deal is sold to a consortium of TPL REIT Management Company (TPL RMC) Limited and UAE based TASC Towers Holding (TASC). The announcement was made to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday by TPL Properties (TPLP), the parent company of TPL REIT RMC. The notification to the PSX read:

“Further to our announcements dated September 20 and November 15, 2022, we are pleased to announce that the parent of one of the largest Telecom Tower operators in Pakistan, has conditionally accepted the offer, subject to signing of definitive agreements, all necessary corporate approvals and receipt of relevant regulatory approvals, made by our subsidiary TPL REIT Management Company Limited in partnership with TASC Towers (the “Consortium”) for acquisition of their subsidiary (Telecom Tower Infrastructure

Company) which owns and manages more than 10,500 telecom towers in Pakistan.”

AbouT The invesToRs

TASC, headquartered in the UAE, is a multinational global owner and operator of mobile telecom towers and has deployed and is managing over 14,000 towers in multiple geographies including Middle East, Asia and EU. The Consortium is a synergistic partnership between TPL RMC and TASC with a vision to strengthen Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and support the rapidly growing digital economy. TPL RMC is the pioneer of, and operator of the largest mixed-use real estate asset class REIT in Pakistan and is a wholly owned subsidiary of TPL Properties. TPL Group (including PSX listed companies TPL Corp, TPL Insurance and TPL Properties), has been attracting institutional and strategic investors to Pakistan and this transaction will result in significant foreign direct investment. The proposed acquisition is being supported by one of the largest national financial institutions which is providing debt

structuring advisory & arrangement services.

In September of this year, TPL RMC entered into a strategic partnership with TASC and participated as a consortium in the auction process for the acquisition of Telecom Tower Infrastructure Company through. Later in November, the TPL RMC and TASC consortium submitted a bid for the acquisition of the said Telecom Tower Infrastructure Company. Last week, Bloomberg broke the news that VEON is close to selling its tower infrastructure in Pakistan to TPL-TASC group in what could be the largest such deal in over a decade. The potential deal was valued at more than $600 million (PKR 135 billion).

Two weeks ago, on December 5, ENGRO announced that it was looking into a potential investment opportunity in the tower infrastructure of Pakistan. However, 10 days later ENGRO announced that it was planning to buy back 70 million of its shares. In light of the TPL-TASC deal nearing completion and ENGRO also announcing its buy-backs, it can be surmised that ENGRO has most probably

not been able to win the bid for the tower infrastructure acquisition which is why it has decided to deploy its ample cash reserves elsewhere on the share buybacks.

According to information provided by KASB Ktrade Securities on its LinkedIn page, the tower portfolio is expected to benefit from significant synergies provided by the entire TPL group. The securities firm foresees considerable improvement in site efficiencies after the acquisition.

oTheR deTAils As shARed by kTRAde ReseARch ARe As folloWs

The transaction would require the establishment of a Digital Infrastructure REIT Fund by TPL RMC. The acquisition would be financed by a mix of equity (from the Fund) and debt. TASC Towers Holding would be a strategic investor of the Fund, and further provide technical services, with TPL Properties.

TPL RMC would manage the fund and earn management fees and performance fees

Govt seeks provinces’ support for energy conservation plan

The minister also revealed that the government was in talks with motorcycle companies for electric bikes. “The motorcycles that run on petrol will slowly be phased out. “We have begun imports for e-bikes and have started negotiations with motorcycle companies for the modification of existing motorcycles […] this will save us around Rs86bn,” he added.

If all these measures were translated, Asif continued, “you will see that a lot of money can be saved”. He added that the Ministry of Information would be

over 50 projects of Kp energy dept in merged districts yet to get funds

peSHAWAr aziz buneri

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated Rs2.577 billion for more than 50 projects of the Power and Energy Department in tribal districts but till August, the Finance Department could release only Rs945 million. Sources said that only Rs4.20 million could be spent on power and energy projects in the tribal districts in first six months of the current financial year. The provincial government couldn’t allocate any funds for 20 projects of the Power and Energy Department in merged districts while only Rs100 million has been set-aside for four projects. According to documents, due to unavailability funds, the Power and Energy Department couldn’t spend even a single penny on 36 projects in first two quarters of the current financial year. This will certainly delay the construction of these projects, which are considered important for the development of the much neglected tribal belt. The KP government had included important projects like micro hydro power projects, solarization of mosques and power transmission lines in tribal districts in the annual development program.

running a media campaign to spread awareness regarding these new measures among the public.

Talking about water conservation, the minister said that the government had devised ways through which rain water could be harvested and used for daily household consumption. “In the next few days, we will be approaching all the provinces with this national project and then on Thursday the final approval of the conservation policy will be given,” Asif stated.

He then called on the nation to “normalise” its behavorial patterns as the country was in a “grave economic crisis”, adding that “we can’t afford the culture

of wastage anymore”.

“I also believe that politicians should be the first ones to adopt these changes and become role models for the public,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Pakistan was surrounded by an economic crisis at present, but at the same time assured that the country would not default. “The government is taking all the measures it should, but we also need a response from the public,” he stressed. “If we say that we won’t change our habits […] won’t give any sacrifices and expect the

ContInueD froM pAge 01

The interesting thing to note however is the fact that Azerbaijan is practically landlocked with no ports connected to the open seas. For this reason gas would have to be pumped from Azerbaijan to Turkish ports either on the Black sea or the Mediterranean sea. This might add onto the costs of gas which might just put it out of the reach of Pakistan given the current economic situation.

Furthermore another key aspect to be considered is that, in the scenario gas is transported via ship it would have to pass through the Suez canal. This would further compound the costs, as there are charges associated for ships passing through the canal. Also it would limit the size of the cargoes that can be shipped due to the narrowness of the canal; there is a cap on the tonnage of ships that can pass through it.

Considering the good relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan, growth in trade would be beneficial to both countries. Also the fact that Pakistan is going through one of its worst economic cycles, alternate forms of payments can also be explored between the two countries, for instance fighter jets in exchange for oil and gas.

TuRkmenisTAn- AfghAnisTAnpAkisTAn-indiA gAs pipeline

Musadik Malik also said earlier this year that the TAPI gas pipeline project is on schedule and that, after

reaching financial close, it can be finished in three to four years. Additionally, the minister announced the extension of the TAPI gas pipeline to Gwadar.

The TAPI Pipeline will run roughly 1,600 km from the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border to the PakistanIndia border. During the 30-year period of commercial operation, the pipeline will transport 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan to the corresponding consumers in Afghanistan (5%), Pakistan (47.5%), and India (47.5%).

The project can be a game changer for all the nations involved, especially Pakistan since we heavily rely on gas to fulfil the country’s energy requirements. However the project has been stalled for several years due to disagreements between Pakistan and India in particular.

If a solution is found and appropriate funding can be sourced for this mega project it has the potential to turn around the economies of Pakistan and Afghanistan in particular.

JusT AnoTheR poliTicAl move ?

Although the development is not as big as the potential deal with Russia, nonetheless it can still be viewed as a positive development for the country. Procurement of additional oil and gas would only help to ease the overall gas shortage.

However, as things stand with buckling forex reserves it must be noted that affordable rates are essential for the deal to work out between the two countries.

33 TTP terrorists killed, two jawans martyred as SSG retakes Bannu CTD Centre

ContInueD froM pAge 01

He said that it was a matter of concern that terrorist activities were increasing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and these 33 terrorists who were arrested was evidence of what was happening in KPK.

He said that the chief minister KPK and CTD department, which is responsible for countering terrorism in the province were actually hostages of Imran Khan as his government did nothing during last nine years even in floods and other untoward situations.

The minister said that this incident is again an utter failure of Imran Khan’s government in KPK and added that again Pakistan Army played its role. He added there was no role of the provincial government of KPK in handling the situation, where Imran Khan openly uses resources of the provincial government including its helicopter.

He said that there was a total collapse of the KPK province in the presence of Imran Khan as the CM cannot do anything without his permission.

Later, the minister informed the National Assembly that Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) will share

the complete information about the operation against terrorists. An elite unit of the Pakistan Army retook a counter-terrorism interrogation centre in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa two days after militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group seized it, security sources told Reuters, but the fate of hostages inside remained unclear.

Six security officials and several detainees were inside the centre, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media. “The operation is being concluded and there is no more resistance […] the security forces have entered into the compound,” one security source said.

He said details on the hostages and the number of casualties would be given after the clearance operation was completed.

The military and the interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The operation came after the detainees, who were held for years at the centre, overpowered their guards on Sunday, seized their weapons and took them hostage. On Monday, one officer at the centre was reported killed by the hostage-takers.

Officials tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers but after more than 40 hours of failed efforts, special forces deployed to the area stormed the compound, security and intelligence officials said. They did not elaborate.

By Tuesday afternoon, thick black smoke billowed into the sky from inside the compound, after two explosions were heard. Intermittent gunshots were reverberating across the area, the officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing situation.

Security forces had surrounded the neighbourhood in which the centre is located, where about 20 fighters from the Afghanistan-based group were holed up.

“All options failed and the terrorists refused to free innocent people, so we decided to use force,” a senior security official told Reuters earlier.

He said the minimum force would be used to ensure the safe release of the hostages.

A member of the TTP earlier told Reuters the group’s leadership had lost contact with their people in the compound. “We are told that a military operation has started,” he said.

on the fund’s Net Asset Value (NAV) and its increase. The Fund is required to IPO as per SECP REIT regulations within three years.

TPL RMC will benefit from carry-on investor exit and listing fees.

The underlying Tower business has a tenancy ratio of 1.3x and over the coming years this is expected to grow. Higher tenancy will improve the tower portfolio’s IRR and, in turn, would likely increase the fund’s NAV.

There are plans to improve the energy mix (reduced diesel, increase battery/solar/hybrid solutions) and overall operational efficiency of the tower portfolio. Some of these are likely to be through partnerships with TPL’s associated companies such as TPL Trakker (solutions such as Genset Fuel Monitoring & Maps).

There are plans to add around 4000-5000 new tower sites over the next ten years.

Post acquisition TPL would also be well placed to leverage its relationship with Jazz for synergies with its’ group companies.

The final deal is subject to approvals and consents from the regulatory authorities.

government to do everything […] this is not possible.” Kaira highlighted that the biggest problem Pakistan was facing today was the increasing import bill and warned that if these measures were not taken “we won’t be able to pay the bill anymore”.

“Hence, it is extremely important for the people to cooperate with the government. We also expect the provinces to look at these measures for the prosperity of Pakistan,” he added. Now you can follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Bilawal, Blinken

discuss

reconstruction of flood-hit areas

ContInueD froM pAge 01

"Spoke with Secretary Blinken conveyed gratitude of GoP for USG’s flood assist. of $97 m. Will continue coop [read cooperation] for rebuilding resilient infrastructure in Pakistan; to further enhance diversify bilateral relations; to work together for regional peace and stability," Foreign Minister Bilawal wrote on Twitter. Secretary Blinken also took to Twitter about his discussion with Bilawal. He said, "Spoke with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to express our continued support for the people of Pakistan as they recover from devastating floods. I hope for a productive climate conference next month and give my condolences for the lives lost in recent terrorist attacks."

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Pakistan plans to import gas from Azerbaijan. Will it be enough to prevent a gas shortage?

DiSSAtiSfieD SenAtoRS queStion K-eleCtRiC inAbility to CAteR foR KARAChi’S eleCtRiCity DemAnD

ISLAMABAD staff report

tHESenate Standing Committee on Power Tuesday was apprised that an investment of Rs 474 billion has been made in K-Electric since its privatization in 2005.

The committee which met with Saifullah Abro in the Chair was told that first foreign direct investment of around $ 700 million was made in the company after its privatization.

Imran Qureshi, Chief Regulatory Affairs of K-Electric, apprised the committee that the K-Electric was first established in 1913 and nationalised in 1952. The company has 3.4 million customers and earned its first profit in 2012 after its privatization, he said.

He said K-Electric was currently running six power plants including Korangi Combined Cycle,Korangi Gas Turbine, SITE Gas Turbine, BQPS II, BQPS III, Port Qasim having total capacity of around 1870 MW.

Senator Saifullah Abro said that despite producing 1870 MW with additional of 1100

MW from Government of Pakistan, why KElectric failed to meet the energy requirement of Karachi.

He inquired the K-Electric officials about the cost incurred on these power projects and details relating to Power Purchase Agreement of K-Electric with government.

The Chairman expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing and directed the officials to provide a comprehensive briefing in the next meeting. Chairman Committee Senator Saifullah Abro also expressed displeasure over the continuous absence of Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) and CEO, KElectric in the meeting. The Committee decided to meet and discuss the matter with the Chairman Senate.

The Senate Committee was also briefed by privatization commission about the privatization of K-Electric.

The officials apprised the committee that, in 1992, the government approved a strategic plan for the commercialization and privatization of power sector. K-Electric was making loses for the last 13 years and the

Administrator Karachi thanks China for donating Rs21.7m for flood rehabilitation

KARACHI staff report

Administrator Karachi Dr. Syed Saifur Rahman on Tuesday thanked the Mayor of Shanghai and the Government of China for donating Rs21.7 million for rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged during rains and floods. Consul General of China, Mr. Li Bijian called on Administrator Karachi Dr Syed Saifur Rehman who said that the money given as a donation by the Shanghai Municipal Government will be spent on the development and infrastructure maintenance of Karachi. Consul General of China, Mr. Li Bijian formerly handed over the cheque given by the Shanghai Municipal Government to Administrator Karachi and said that it is a gift from the citizens of Shanghai for restoration of the infrastructure of Karachi affected after the rains. Mr. Li Bijian also invited Administrator Karachi to visit China. Dr. Syed Saifur Rehman said that Karachi and Shanghai are twin cities, the friendship between China and Pakistan is undying. He said that the he people of both the countries have love for each other and a spirit of brotherhood “Mayor of Shanghai, Mr. Gong Zheng had visited KMC which is a source of great joy and pride for us. KMC and Shanghai local governments will work together for the development of Karachi. Technical support of China for improving the infrastructure of Karachi will continue for Karachi,” he added

loss for the year 2001,2002 and 2003 were Rs16.4 billion, Rs17.7 billion and Rs14.4 billion respectively, they added.

They further informed that privatization process for K-Electric was started in 2001 but it could not complete because no suitable buyers came forward and the process was again initiated in 2003 and the contract was awarded to consortium led by Hassan Associates with a bid of Rs 1.65 per share.

Senator Saifullah Abro directed the Privatization Commission to provide all the bidding details relating to financial advisor in the next meeting. Moreover, the matter relating to electricity provided to Balochistan agriculture sector for tube wells was also taken up.

The Chair formed a Sub-Committee and appointed Senator Fida Muhammad as it’s Convener. The Sub-Committee will probe the matter and submit its report within two months’ time.

The committee also discussed the matter of public importance raised by Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan with respect to recruitment process followed for the different

vacant jobs advertised by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO). Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan questioned as why the details relating to agreement between PESCO and University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar has not been submitted before the committee and why do the recruitment process has been held up so far.

Gul Nabi Sayed, CEO PESCO, informed the committee that appointment letters against 128 posts of Junior Engineers have been issued to the selected candidates.

Mushtaq Ahmad Khan inquired the PESCO officials to provide details of candidates, who have scored 80 per cent marks in written tests but failed to secure a place in final selection. Senator Saifullah Abro directed the PESCO to provide lists of written test result and final recommendation of candidates in the next meeting. The Committee also decided and recommended Power Division to put the process of issued orders & joining on hold unless & until the requisite documents are submitted by Power Division.

Regarding a detailed briefing on provin-

President for an integrated national mental health helpline

President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday emphasised the need to set up an integrated, effective and standardized national-level mental health helpline to provide mental health services and counseling at the grassroots level.

The president, chairing a follow-up meeting on mental health here, said a coordinated, sound, and singular approach at the federal and provincial levels, with the participation of the public and private sectors, should be adopted to address the issues of mental health and well-being in Pakistan.

Country Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, representatives of the National Commission for Human Rights, Pakistan Psychological Association, Pakistan Psychiatric Society, other organizations, and officials of the federal and provincial governments attended the meeting.

The president emphasised that

all resources and initiatives taken at the federal and provincial level and in the private sector related to mental health and well-being should be enlisted and incorporated into a single national helpline for providing speedy and prompt mental health services to the people of Pakistan.

He called for enlisting mental health institutions, teaching hospitals, and other mental health facilities, besides creating a database of mental health providers, which should be integrated into the helpline for providing efficient and effective referrals to the patients.

The president said that avenues in the public and private sectors should be explored to meet the financial need of Rs 45 million for the establishment and launching of the first-ever national mental health helpline. He added that after the establishment and activation of the mental health helpline, there should be a fully coordinated awareness campaign through conventional and social media and other means of communication to sensitize the

masses to seek counseling and help through the helpline.

President Alvi called for creating a curriculum on mental health and well-being in coordination with relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors and teaching it at an appropriate level in educational institutions to sensitize students on stress and tension management during their studies and handling emotional and social issues. He said that such students would also be able to educate their family members regarding the importance of mental health and well-being.

He underlined that a separate initiative may be taken to educate parents and family members to remain engaged with their family members and provide mental health counseling and help.

The president said that the HEC, universities and teaching hospitals should create additional seats to encourage enrolment in mental health education to create a critical mass of psychologists and psychiatrists to cater to the need of growing mental health issues in society.

cial government development funds (202023), the Committee unanimously decided and recommended the CEO, PESCO to meet the rehabilitation requirement from ELR funds. The ELR funds may be utilized accordingly.

Senator Saifullah Abro questioned that why agreement between K-Electric and government of Pakistan has not been renewed since its expiry in 2015 and when will the agreement be renewed.

Saifullah Abro directed the ministry to provide correspondence regarding the renewal of agreement between K-Electric and the government in the next meeting.

The meeting was attended by Senators Fida Muhammad, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Zeeshan Khanzada, Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai, Haji Hidayatullah Khan, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Sana Jamali, Additional Secretary for Power Division Arshad Majeed, Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H.Farooqi, Imran Qureshi Chief Regulatory Affairs for K-Electric and other concerned officers.

China to continue supporting Pakistan, says Zhao Shiren

LAHORE staff report

Consul General of China in Lahore Zhao Shiren has said that China will continue its support and cooperation with Pakistan for joint research and also facilitate the Pakistani businessmen in China.

In a meeting with Chairman of Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) S M Naveed here Tuesday, he added that Pakistan and China were set to enhance collaboration for rapid industrialisation in Punjab, especially for encouraging B2B (Business to Business) engagement of Chinese investors with their Pakistani counterparts. Zhao Shiren assured that he would make every possible effort to strengthen the unique China-Pakistan iron-clad friendship and work with Pakistani side to bring the tangible benefits of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor)to both the countries and their people. On this occasion, S M Naveed said that Pakistan wanted to work with the Chinese business fraternity to promote bilateral ties.

PTI MNAs to appear before NA speaker for verification of resignations tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers have decided to appear before National Assembly Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf on December 22 (Thursday) for the verification of their resignations.

The decision was made by PTI after the members did not get a response to the letter they wrote to the NA speaker.

The party Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi had written a letter to Ashraf a few days ago for endorsing their resigna-

tions.

As many as 123 PTI members will gather at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) House, Islamabad, and will walk to the Parliament House under the leadership of Qureshi. All PTI lawmakers resigned on April 11 after former prime minister Imran Khan was being removed through a no-confidence motion by the then-opposition alliance.

Following their en masse resignations, NA speaker summoned all PTI lawmakers who had re-

signed to appear before him individually and verify their resignations. He had set the date between June 6 and 10.

ISLAMABAD staff report

CCP take aCtion againSt PeSCo for abUSing itS DoMinating PoSition

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

tHECompetition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has taken action against Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) for abusing its dominating position and requiring it to restore the right of way to cable, internet and telephony service providers. The CCP has in its Order dated 13 December 2022, found PESCO acting in violation of Section 3 of the Act, i.e abusing its dominant position.

The PESCO was dominant in the market for “Right of Way (ROW) through electric poles availed by different types of cable service providers in the geographic boundary of Peshawar,” as it solely owned/managed the poles and there were no other substitutes. For the same ROW being provided to all cable operators, the Complainants (i.e Nayatel Pvt. Ltd and Cyber Internet Serv-

ices (Pvt.) Ltd) were charged an enhanced fee from PKR 10 per pole to PKR 100 per pole as compared to basic TV cable operators without any legitimate objective justifications. The terms have been held as discriminatory in contravention of Section 3(3)(b) of the Act. PESCO had abused its superior bargaining position and imposed further unfair trading conditions in contravention of Section 3(3)(a) of the Act on the Complainants, i.e that they must provide 10-minute advertisements and free internet connection facilities to all PESCO offices.

PESCO had annulled its pole renting policy after initiation of the show-cause proceedings, mainly on the pretext of safety grounds. However, as the same inter alia related to an essential public utility/ROW and there were no other substitutable means available for the complainants to provide cable, internet, and telephony services to end consumers, thus, negatively impacting consumers and other stakeholders alike, PESCO was found to have abused its

dominant position in contravention of Section 3 of the Act.

PESCO/Respondent’s conduct was also discriminatory as admittedly decommissioning notices related to removal of cables were only sent to the complainants. In this connection, the Bench found support from the applicable telecommunication regulatory regime, particularly, in terms of Section 27A of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 and the 2020 Public and Private Right of Way Policy Directive, which provides that the licensees can use the poles of government and privately owned electricity distribution and supply companies (DISCOs) for aerial installation of optical fibre cables. Moreover, it broadly states that the fee imposed by a public authority for a public right of way shall be on a no profit no loss basis, should not be a means of commercial benefit and there shall be no discrimination against any licensee in terms of the fee charged.

As for the safety grounds raised by PESCO, it could

Tarar hopes OIC convention to strengthen anti-corruption cooperation

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday said that the convention of OIC states would further strengthen cooperation among Law Enforcement Authorities of OIC Member States to address the menace of corruption.

The minister was participating in the first ministerial meeting of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Agencies of OIC Member States in Jeddah to adopt Makkah Al-Mukarrammah Convention on Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Cooperation, said a press release received here.

Being Chair of the Council of Foreign Ministers, Pakistan has played a leading role in finalization of the Convention.

Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar will also hold some

Mobile phones import decreases by 66.08pc in 5 months

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The import of mobile phones witnessed a decrease of 66.08 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year (2022-23) as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Pakistan imported mobile phones worth US $290.570 million from July-November 2022 as compared to the imports of US $856.730 million during July- November (2021-22), showing a decline of 66.08 percent, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Meanwhile, on a year-to-year basis, the import of mobile phones also declined by 69.57 percent during the month of November 2022, as compared to the same month of last year. The import of mobile phones during November 2022 was recorded at $64.520 million against the exports of $212.058 million in November 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the imports of mobile phones also dipped by 1.92 percent during November 2022, as compared to the imports of US $65.780 million during October 2022, according to the data. It is pertinent to mention here that during the first five months of the current fiscal year, the merchandise trade deficit witnessed a decline of 30.14 percent and was recorded at $ 14,406 million this year against the deficit of $ 20,621 million last year. According to PBS data, the exports from July-November 2022 were recorded at $11,932 million against the exports of $12,362 million in July-November (2021-22), showing a decline of 3.48 percent.

bilateral meetings with his counterparts from some OIC Member States.

While delivering Pakistan’s statement, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar appreciated the leadership of

Saudi Arabia for the excellent initiative of Makkah Al-Mukarrammah Convention of Member States of OIC on Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Cooperation.

He highlighted that the Convention would further strengthen cooperation among Law Enforcement Authorities of OIC Member States and help in the identification of problems and sharing of the best practices to address the menace of corruption.

Senator Tarar underscored that corruption was a multifaceted problem with incalculable social, economic and political repercussions.

He urged Member States to deny financial safe havens to criminals and take initiatives to remove all barriers in the recovery and repatriation of stolen assets to countries of origin. He hoped that the Convention would pave the way for improving collaboration among the OIC Member States and facilitate in return proceeds of crime.

CBD clarification

This is in reference to the report published by the title: ‘How The Kalma Chowk Remodel Is Benefiting CBD’s Investors’ today in Pakistan Today by Ms. Bakht Noor. There are some misleading facts quoted in the report which we want to address.

CBD Punjab Boulevard & Kalma Chowk Underpass remodeling project is being constructed in accordance with the authority’s commitment for developing the existing infrastructure which will facilitate the people residing and working in CBD Punjab, along with residents of Lahore, as it will accommodate approx. 250,000 vehicles daily. The project will help in curbing traffic congestion at the intersection of three major roads in the city.

The residents of Lahore have witnessed long queues of running engines causing severe traffic congestion in the vicinity of Kalma Chowk, especially during peak hours. The completion of the project will provide a hassle-free entry to the most anticipated Pakistan’s first business district and will provide a signal-free corridor from Barket Market to Jail Road in connection with a signal-free approach to Ali Zaib Road.

Budget& tImefRAme: PCBDDA has allocated a budget of approx. Rs11 billion for development projects from the budget granted Rs4.22 billion is issued for CBD Punjab Boulevard & Kalma Chowk Underpass remodeling project. CBD Punjab is near completion of the base structure of a state-ofthe-art parking plaza which is being constructed with a budget of Rs2.8 Billion. The remaining budget will be used for infrastructure development. The budget allocated for the project is generated by the authority on

its own through its auctions and other revenue-generating initiatives, there is no point in the involvement of revenue generated from taxpayers. The timeframe for the 365meter-long boulevard was April 2023 but as per the instructions of the CEO of PCBDDA, Mr. Imran Amin and to facilitate the daily commuters the project will be completed by the end of February 2023 which is equivalent to 180 days.

OffICIAl COntRACtOR: The transparency of the project is ensured at every stage, the official contractor was hired through an open bidding process. The contract for the project was awarded to a government contractor National Logistic Cell (NLC), which is blatant proof of the transparency of the project.

ImpACt On envIROnment: CBD Punjab Boulevard & Kalma Chowk Underpass Remodeling project will have a positive impact on the environment as it will help to curb traffic congestion which will result in combating air pollution. Smooth traffic flow after the completion of the project will result in less fuel consumption and minimum release of carbon residue which will help in combating SMOG and other environmental hazards. CBD Punjab is the first LEED-certified project in Pakistan.CBD Punjab has planted around 4000+ saplings which have recorded 100% growth. CBD Punjab has acquired the NOC for the construction of the water storage tank from the Parks And Horticulture Authority (PHA) Lahore, against an amount of Rs38 million. CBD Punjab has provided funds of Rs 5.3 million to PHA Lahore, to plant 10,000 plus trees in the city.

Palm oil worth $1.334b, soybean $144.094m imported in five months

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Edible oil including palm and soybean imports into the country during the 05 months of the current financial year (2022-23) grew by 12.93 percent and 234.36 percent respectively as compared to the imports of the corresponding period of last year.

During the period from July-November, 2022 over 1.269 million metric tons of palm

oil valued at $1.334 billion was imported to tackle the domestic requirements as against the import of 1.334 million metric tons costing $1.527 billion in the same period last year. Meanwhile, over 97,945 metric tons of soybean oil costing $144.094 million were also imported for producing edible oil and manufacturing vegetable ghee to fulfill local consumptions as compared to the imports of 34,672 metric tons worth $43.095 million in the same period last year.

However, on the month on monthly basis, the import of palm oil into the country reduced by 18.43 percent in November 2022 as compared to the corresponding month of last year, according to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

During last month about 284,964 metric tons of palm oil costing $318.112 million were imported as compared to the imports of 322,262 metric tons valuing $389.991 million in the same period last year.

not satisfy the Bench in this regard. In the Order it is observed that, as per the Enquiry findings, the accidents/incidents had decreased from the year 2017-2018 till the year 2020-2021. No further evidence was provided to substantiate these assertions. Moreover, since other DISCOs are already providing ROW on similar rates to fibre optic cable operators and, as such, no denial on safety grounds has been reported or witnessed, the contentions were not acceded to. Owing to the peculiarity of the case, to ensure compliance and to encourage corrective behaviour, the Commission has directed the Respondent to restore access to the ROW and/or provide the ROW to Nayatel and Cybernet, on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms no later than twenty-one (21) days from the date of receipt of the Order. Failing which, the Respondent shall be liable to pay a fixed penalty of PKR 75 million and an additional penalty of PKR 0.5 million for every day after the first of such violations or the subject abuse had occurred.

US considers Pakistani Diaspora as key partner in all sectors

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

At a US-Pakistani diaspora conference here on Tuesday, United States Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Andrew Schofer emphasized that the United States considers the US-Pakistani diaspora as a key partner in the humanitarian, social, and commercial sectors in Pakistan. The United States Mission in Pakistan, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and in close collaboration with the US-Pakistani diaspora, hosted a one-day US-Pakistani Diaspora Engagement Conference, said a press release. The conference showcased key contributions and investments by the US-Pakistani diaspora in the humanitarian, social, and commercial sectors, and explored avenues for future joint engagements. More than 100 participants attended in-person, including members of the US-Pakistani diaspora, and prominent local business leaders. At the closing session, USAID signed two partnership memoranda of understanding with US-Pakistani diaspora entities: one with Datarocx to set up digital centers in Pakistan in the Special Technology Zones.

Teenage suffers cardiac arrest mid-flight

KARACHI: A teenage boy died of cardiac arrest in the plane due to cardiac arrest during his flight to Karachi on Tuesday. According to a report, 19-year-old Hunain Farooq, resident of Baldia Town, Karachi, was travelling in a Serene Airlines flight from Islamabad to Karachi when he suddenly felt pain in his chest. As his condition worsened, the airline authorities asked the Civil Aviation Authority and doctors of health ministry at Karachi Airport to make arrangements to provide him prompt medical aid. But when the traveller was brought out of the plane, doctors examined him and pronounced him dead. The health ministry doctors issued his death certificate. The Serene Airlines flight reached Karachi from Islamabad at 12am Tuesday. Staff RepoRt

Bannu siege

thiNgS were already bad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. After the much vaunted victories of the military in the war against terror, the menace has reared its head all over again. the storming of a CtD center in Bannu by ttP terrorists and the hostage situation of over 36 hours that ensued is a major escalation in the resurgence of terrorism in the country.

in some parts – as we were being constantly informed by Waziristan MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir right before their microphones used to be cut off on the floor of the National Assembly, and before Wazir was arrested for a speech – the menace never went away in the first place.

Back then, the members of the then ruling party, specially some of those belonging to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, used to get more than incensed at even the suggestion that the militants were reorganising. Now, with large anti-militancy rallies being staged by the people of not just the Waziristans but also Swat, those representatives have no option but to chime in.

the government needs to get on top of the situation before it spirals completely out of hand. And by government, we don’t just mean the incumbent dispensation in islamabad, but also the one in Peshawar. Law and order is a provincial subject and the Pti has been ruling the province, in a single stretch longer than any individual party’s entire stretches put together. they have a lot to answer for.

But perhaps it would be wrong to blame either the Pti or the PDM completely, or even ascribe the largest share of the problem to them. the real problem comes from the opacity with which the security establishment designs policies and executes them. the political governments seem to have resigned themselves to this fate. Even in their most spirited democratic, antiestablishment phases, all the parties ask for is that the military establishment refrains from political engineering; their monopoly in matters security is hardly ever contested even by otherwise idealistic civil supremacists.

the spectre of terrorism haunts us yet again. there is absolutely no way we can nip it in the bud without external scrutiny by the elected civil governments, both federal and provincial.

More Mass Shootings

Mass shootings menace the USA

bled that number with an additional 948 school shootings— more than 109 of them being mass shootings (defined as an incident in which four or more have been shot by a gunman).

But school shootings are only part of the story. Eighty-one million Americans now own 415 million guns.  And we use them with regularity on each other. Each of the last three years there have been more than 600 mass shootings— with last year’s 690 being the highest on record. these annual numbers more than double the numbers of mass shootings each year of the previous decade. And this year alone, there have already been 43,000 gun-related deaths, divided almost evenly between murders and suicides.

Every single day in America an average of 12 children die from gunfire. Another 32 are shot and wounded. in fact, guns are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the USA.

in other words, guns are literally killing us, and we are doing nothing about it. Mass shootings have become routine. it’s only when the event is so horrific, like Sandy hook, or Columbine, or Stoneman Douglas, or more recently, Uvalde, that we become shocked.

turing pictures of their families in front of their Christmas trees with each member (including their small children) proudly carrying assault weapons. One featured a note to Santa: “Please bring ammo.” this from the very crowd that rails against “godless liberals, who’ve taken Christ out of Christmas.”

As i’ve noted many times before, the problem of gun violence is deeply ingrained in our culture. From the mythic lore of the Old West, cowboys fighting indians or cops chasing robbers, to the romanticization of the mobsters of the 1920s to today’s video games featuring space invaders and fantasy futuristic weapons that enable our children to have the questionable pleasure of winning by shooting everything in sight— we are sick. And we keep feeding our sickness with more guns and the misguided belief that they give us potency, making us strong and secure.

ThiS past week we passed the 10th anniversary of the day when an obviously deranged young man wielding a weapon of war massacred 20 little children and six of their teachers at Sandy hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We had had mass shootings before. But this time it felt different because the victims were so little and so many, and because President Barack Obama so eloquently, and tearfully, spoke to the nation capturing our collective grief and the resolve that “our hearts had been broken” too many times and that something must be done to end the killing.

the powerful gun lobby went to work and a short time later the Senate voted down a modest gun reform bill by a vote of 60 to 40.

the numbers since Sandy hook are staggering— and increasing at an alarming rate. in the four decades before Sandy hook, there were 1,094 school shootings. But during just the last decade we almost dou-

But there’s a difference. When the slaughter of children occurred a decade ago, there was still a belief that real change would occur. We no longer believe that and have come to settle for minor reforms that amount to but a tweak in the murder machine. it’s as if the life has been sucked out of us and we no longer even dare to hope that assault weapons can be banned, that gun sales can be regulated and limited, or that communities can at least ban weapons of war from within their jurisdictions.

We know that in the face of an epidemic of gun violence such common sense measures should be implemented. But we also know that because conservatives in Congress and the courts have both a bizarre ideological interpretation of the Constitution and/or a pathological obsession with guns, saving our children is not a priority.

Last Christmas, a few “Christian” Republican members of Congress sent out Christmas cards fea-

i remember after one monstrous mass murder in a Louisiana cinema, listening to a debate on CNN in which one panelist argued that if other patrons in the cinema had been armed, they could have stopped the shooter. i had heard much the same after a plane hijacking. the thought of multiple random shooters firing in a darkened theater or in a plane at 30,000 feet is a nightmare, not a solution.

We should pass an assault weapon ban, require universal background checks, and certainly keep weapons out of the hands of children and those who are mentally ill. But we must also make a determined effort to address the root causes of our problem: our pathological obsession with weapons, the power of the gun lobby that blocks reform, and a popular culture that normalizes killing with guns.

We need to constantly hold up before the gun lobby and those who support them the faces of the children who die, and name and shame those whose actions and inaction allow the slaughter to continue. they are as guilty as the shooters and should be made to feel responsible for forgetting the victims of Sandy hook, Columbine, Stoneham Douglas, Uvalde and all the other massacres that have occurred on their watch.

Nizami Editor

M. A. Niazi Joint Editor Umar Aziz Executive Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor

We need to constantly hold up before the gun lobby and those who support them the faces of the children who die, and name and shame those whose actions and inaction allow the slaughter to continue. They are as guilty as the shooters and should be made to feel responsible for forgetting the victims of Sandy Hook, Columbine, Stoneham Douglas, Uvalde and all the other massacres that have occurred on their watch

Public Health calamity in Pakistan

been a huge interregional disparity as well. there is a dearth of policies related to healthcare as well as debilitated healthcare infrastructure.

With the current course of population growth, Pakistan is set to add another 100 million people to its population by 2050. in a country already ravaged by a plethora of issues concerned with economy, politics, governance and national security, overpopulation may prove to be fatal. Pakistan is currently fighting its battle with an existential crisis.

it has been suffering from perpetual political instability, economic downfall, security crisis and social degradation. the sense of normalcy in the country has become a distant dream and the confidence of the citizenry in the state is spiralling downward exponentially. the social, economic and political insecurities are growing and the state is finding no way to bring stability.

it is fighting its own war with its own key elements. But that’s another story for another day. With the issue of rampant population growth, the most significant issue that needs to be addressed is that of public health. A calamity of insurmountable consequences and yet so neglected in our country. hence shows the inherent traits of being a third-World nation.

Pakistan is showing an alarming escalation in its health problems. this, coupled with structural issues, that is, a poor healthcare infrastructure, is a huge concern. Almost 60 million people live in poverty. thus access to quality healthcare is negligible and healthcare disparity is of huge proportions. Poverty is deemed to rise further as a result of faster population growth and perpetuating economic instability. And thus the public health crisis will worsen.

Pakistan has also been facing a precarious situation,

a climate change crisis. the recent example is of calamitous floods that hit the country this monsoon and brought unprecedented destruction. there was huge infrastructural damage across the country as well as large population displacement. the perilous situation of health of the people who suffered from floods is unimaginable. According to the WhO, multiple disease outbreaks happened across the affected areas, including cholera, malaria, dengue and other communicable diseases.

in addition to that, women suffered tremendously from maternal health issues related to reproductive health. there have been childbirths in completely unsafe situations resulting in huge risks for both mother and newborn. Furthermore, the issue of non-communicable diseases has ramped up as well. Overall,thepublic health crisis coupled with the climate change crisis is hugely consequential for Pakistan, already in a deplorable condition.

Pakistan is facing a double burden of disease (BoD), with the endemicity of hepatitis B and C with 8.6 percent affected individuals; the fifth highest tuberculosis burden in the world, and focal geographical area of malaria endemic.

the overall hiV prevalence is 23.0 percent, although 77 percent of those who inject drugs are using sterile injecting equipment. Estimated antiretroviral therapy coverage is 9.8 percent. in addition, the country has high rates of unscreened blood transfusions, a leading cause of disease transmission in Pakistan. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is estimated at 5.3 percent among new cases and 20 percent among previously treated cases. Vaccine-preventable diseases and new emerging infections call for strengthening disease surveillance and response systems

the healthcare system is burdened while allocation of funds from annual budgets is very low. Since healthcare functions under provincial governments, there has

in case of non-communicable disease burden, the picture is not different either. Pakistan tops the charts when it comes to proportion of population suffering from diabetes type ii, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases and malignancies.

Furthermore, due to constant economic instability, Pakistan has been suffering from food insecurity too. As a result, a lack of adequate nutrition is resulting in a dilemma of severe malnutrition. For children it contributes to the high number of child and maternal deaths. Approximately 40 percent of children under the age of five are underweight and more than half are affected by stunting. the body’s natural defence mechanisms are also weakened as a result of poor diet. thus, nutritional deficiency is another public health issue causing increased morbidity and mortality.

Moreover, issues like smog and water pollution are causing addition of toxic substances into food chains, resulting in decrease in average life expectancies across the country. According to a report, 90 percent of drinking water in Lahore contains toxic amounts of arsenic which is a carcinogenic substance. Overall, the picture of public health is dismal in every aspect and the consequences are far greater than being anticipated by the authorities and successive governments.

Furthermore, the healthcare infrastructure has also been in a debilitatrf condition. there are inadequate healthcare facilities across the country. Due to negligence of governments and low allocation of budgets, the situation is becoming even poorer.healthcare staff, especially doctors, are fleeing the country due to inadequate facilities, service structure issues and lower salaries. this has been adding more issues to the quagmire of the healthcare system of the country. And thus, its fight against the rampage of public health issues is falling short.

the way forward to mitigate this important issue in-

way forward to mitigate this important issue includes a universal healthcare policy, increased budgetary allocation, a systemized system of clinical healthcare and community healthcare, enhanced coordination among federal and provincial health ministries

cludes a universal healthcare policy, increased budgetary allocation, a systemized system of clinical healthcare and community healthcare, enhanced coordination among federal and p.ovincial health ministries, adequate facilities for healthcare staff especially doctors, more collaboration with WhO and other concerned international agencies, widely scoped public awareness programmes and a comprehensive, sustainable national healthcare policy. in order to achieve these objectives, and the state must act to bring socioeconomic and political stability and good governance in the country. Lastly, Pakistan is the only country along two other countries in the world that is still fighting against Polio. And if significant steps are not taken soon, the morass of public health crisis will further deepen.

The writer can be contacted at drumairashraf95@gmail.com

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

Dr UmAIr ASHrAf

WASHINGTON WATCH

Dr JAmeS J. ZOGby

Matters are getting worse in KP

The country is too close to the brink for comfort

Yousaf

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami Arif

Nizami

(Late) Founding Editor

The

Pakistan’s political instability

security.People have hopes and are calling the Azadi March a turning point for Pakistan. Even the blind can see the political engineering to bring Pti to power in 2018 as it is the history of democratic regimes in Pakistan. Always the game of political engineering had been organized by the establishment. Now imran Khan was the beneficiary of this play and got the title ladla (pampered favourite). the Pti government has enjoyed unprecedented support from the establishment during its more than three and a half years in power. the Pti’s staunch supporters are also frustrated by the party’s poor performance, ambiguity and delays in government affairs. the Pti’s popularity chart fell due to an unsatisfactory government but the PDM came back to rescue it.

methods, and thus subvert the established political system, but most importantly, they deliver on their promises. Rarely do because their actions go against development, political and economic. Such leaders and movements not only weaken the political system of the state but also destroy other institutions of the state and the rule of law.

Bhutto’s inclination towards class politics along with his open opposition to Ayub Khan soon made him immensely popular with the masses. With an absolutist mentality he also desired absolute power; an absolutist mentality is a problem. Bhutto had become a dictator in the country with his power-hungry mind. the quest for absolute power led him to an uncompromising situation with a power-sharing crisis that directed to a war of independence in the Eastern Wing.

Editor’s mail

Entrepreneurial varsities

i visited a couple of entrepreneurial universities abroad, including University of Saarland, germany and Athens University of Business and Economics, greece, under an EU-funded Erasmus project titled “transforming Academic Knowledge to Develop Entrepreneurial Universities in Pakistan (tAKE-UP)”.

the Athens Centre for Entrepreneurship and innovation of the Athens University of Economics and Business has been effectively playing a pivotal role practically for supporting the young and potential entrepreneurs and researchers to turn their innovative and research-based ideas into sustainable business models. the centre is subsequently helpful in opening start-up companies to address specific business issues by establishing collaborations with start-up teams and tech-talented people both from the faculty and the market. it was learnt during the presentations and interactive sessions in the centre that the entrepreneurial and research teams in the BiCs anywhere in the world can be successful only if they are supported and guided by specialized staff of coaches, mentors and experts, from among the faculty, market and the community, having deep market and technical expertise to accelerate product development and growth opportunities not only in the local but also in global market as well. Further, it was also learnt that collaboration of commercial banks with the universities for the financial support of the start-ups might be very effective for developing the entrepreneurial culture in the universities. in the University of Saarland, the integrated web of innovation laboratories, incubation centres and science parks connected with multidisciplinary research teams, faculty members and experts of various fields was found to be the principal and the major key in making the university entrepreneurial. it was learnt that the cohesion in the whole entrepreneurial web is the master key for the success in transforming the academic knowledge into the entrepreneurial set-up.

During the visit to a few fabrication laboratories in germany, it was realized as to how equipment and machines help and play a role in implementing interactive art and design projects. it was made clear as to how digital production methods work in developing designs by going through the stages of brainstorming, product development, technical drawing and the implementation of a prototype.

the universities in Pakistan should enhance the capacity and space to develop and establish more and more incubation centres, innovation laboratories and science parks, in addition to the fabrication units, and connect them as an integrated web with multidisciplinary research teams, faculty members and experts of various fields, following the models of University of Saarland and Athens University of Economics and Business, for transformation the academic institutions to entrepreneurial.

Dr KhaliD iqbal UnivErSity of GUjrat, GUjrat

ThE Pakistani Political system has always protected the interests of elites. Although political leadership has been the representative authority, they failed to raise hope for a democratic state that would provide socio-economic justice to all Pakistani citizens. the political leadership failed to create harmony on the national language, the role of islam, provincial representation and the division of powers between the centre and the provinces, delayed the constitution and postponed general elections.

in October 1956, Pakistan came out from its infancy, a consensus was build and the first constitution of Pakistan came into force. the experience of democratic government was short but not sweet. in October 1958, gen Muhammad Ayub Khan easily staged a military coup.the political paradigm shifted during the 1960s and 1970s, where class (revolutionary) politics was replaced by authoritarianism as a result of the influx of capital and urbanization.industrial workers, student unions and middle-class socialist ideology emerged here.

Class politics, however, was short-lived when it was replaced by Antonio gramsci’s commonsense politics in the 1980s. in which the lower classes of the society are also stakeholders. to counter the industrial class struggle of the 1960s, Zia furnished Pakistan with political-religious parties and a place in politics through the street mosque culture within the power structure.

For four decades after Zia, the Pakistani political scene was a hybrid of PML(N) and PPP patronage and intellectual politics. Once again, the landscape of Pakistan’s politics has changed when the poor and the educated are uneducated, devoid of critical thinking skills, and who are influenced by anti-American and anti-establishment rhetoric. Anti-establishment and anti-American sloganeering has breathed new life into Khan’s April 2022 lows towards the end of his nearly four-year rule.

More than the dismissal of the Pti, there is public resentment over the return of the previous government, which was accused of corruption and nepotism. this resentment towards the PDM has been well cashed in by the Pti leadership even though it has little knowledge of its linkages with the geopolitical, geostrategic and geo-economic realities of the contemporary international system. the Pti leadership dreams of a utopian world which is far from reality. this is a dream that has been shown to the people of Pakistan.

At present, Pti chief imran Khan’s popularity chart is skyrocketing due to the Pti’s constant tussle with state institutions, including the establishment, but the leadership strategy poses huge challenges in the field of foreign policy and

the Pakistani political structure is moving away from the politics of clientelism towards the politics of fundamentalism, and fundamentalism means instability. here, inciting the youth and people against the institutions of the state, institutional heads and the centre of power of the country can have disastrous effects. this is Pakistan’s political history; the political leadership’s frequent attacks on state institutions, especially on the establishment, when they are away from the government.

Opposition parties call them to rescue from the governmental brutal actions and illegal political cases.

When we look back and open the archives of history, the transition from democracy to dictatorship in germany took place in the context of political instability and economic depression, where people saw in Adolf hitler the charismatic figure of their messiah and saviour.

Pakistan can emerge as a strong state and nation only when the socio-cultural trends of intolerance, exclusivity, nepotism, extremist ideologies and violence that have warped the national fabric, are transformed as a nation.

the Pti’s philosophy of absolute power has hurt Pakistan on the foreign policy front where our Arab allies were angered when turkish President Recep Erdogan tried to hold an islamic summit in Malaysia, while our close neighbor iran was angered when Pakistan participated in a joint military exercise with turkey in Azerbaijan. in addition, the Pti’s poor performance during his tenure, he has several excuses including the lack of a twothirds majority. Now the PDM government which was considered most experienced has taken Pakistan at the point of devastation. its experience, efficiency and administration have been exposed.

All the political parties are dictators in their political rooms now they have joined hands to protect themselves from the case of corruption. these political parties devoid of democracy always came to power for personal interests.

Nation-building needed

iN his famous speech to the Constituent Assembly on Aug 11, 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had outlined his vision for Pakistan. it was probably part of his larger approach to nation-building that he handled the issue of national language because he wanted sentiments of regionalism or provincialism to get absorbed in a stronger national identity.

Under his dynamic leadership, this might well have been possible or he might have come up with a more pragmatic approach to the matter in due course of time, but time was not on his side. What followed after him was unfortunate. Power-hungry politicians along with equally power-hungry bureaucrats ganged up to seize power and in doing so alienated the majority population that was based in the erstwhile East Pakistan. this set off a process which may justifiably be called the process of ‘nation-breaking’. thus, amid the consequent political instability and chaos, the process of nation-building rolled backwards and has since then been moving in the wrong direction. A state that constituted regions that had a long history of remaining relatively independent was supposed to form a loosely knit federation. But it fell in the hands of elements that had political ingenuity and lack of foresight as their characteristic. they took measures that would at best ensure the absence of opposition to their illegitimate rule. Not only did it lead to the absence of healthy political culture, where communities would be equally represented, but also to the brazen exploitation.

here we are reminded of another important factor in state affairs, namely the mentality of the leadership. the mental change of the leaders is the main driving force of the party which determines the course of the state. Populism or populist leadership is a controversial concept with no clear definition. According to Robert R. Barr, some leaders take advantage of political instability through anti-establishment rhetoric. MargaretCanovan another scholar of politics argues that the central message of populism is that power rests with corrupt politicians and unrepresentative elites to the exclusion of the people.

Weberian analytical tools should be applied to study leadership and its style. in a Weberian context, a populist leader appeals to the public through his anti-establishment rhetoric, also known as “grievance politics,” where the spread of misinformation promotes quick solutions to problems, but exploits and resentments are obstacles in his way.

Max Weber focuses on charismatic leaders and their radical mentality, their narcissism, nepotism, demagoguery, and unpredictability. According to him, all these aspects of the leader strengthen the movement and however weaken its organizational effectiveness.

Populist leaders are charismatic, they make the most promises, use effective propaganda

history is witness that totalitarian power not only leads to corruption but also to destruction, Adolf hitler changed germany from a democratic system to a dictatorship and then plunged germany into a bloody war with disastrous results. Bhutto’s hunger for absolute power resulted in the disintegration of Pakistan. Now Pti’s turn to fundamentalist politics is based on direct confrontation with state institutions, including defamation campaigns against high officials and heads of institutions. the Pti young tigers being trained will trouble Pakistani society in the years to come. Our political leaders have a huge responsibility to build the political nursery of the state where they should nurture its political system on politics of reason instead of hatred, vandalism and fundamentalism. Radicalization of an already radicalized youth will permanently tear the fabric of our society.

Pakistan can emerge as a strong state and nation only when the socio-cultural trends of intolerance, exclusivity, nepotism, extremist ideologies and violence that have warped the national fabric, are transformed as a nation. And the political nursery of inclusiveness, tolerance, enlightenment, and coexistence in state building should foster critical thinking skills, inclusiveness, and respect for opposing ideologies in future generations of Pakistan.

The writer has a PhD in Political Science and can be reached atakramzaheer86@yahoo.com

the political opposition from the eastern wing, the majority, was turned into a minority and the provinces that had joined in the hope of enjoying the status of semi-autonomous regions within the federation were merged into one unit. the path chosen by Pakistan was and has been painful and costly, leading to a gradual disembowelment of the version of Pakistan that the Quaid had in mind. Dec 16 comes each year, and each year our policymakers should ponder over what makes the former East Pakistan celebrate its breaking away from the West Pakistan. Similarly, while on Aug 14 we celebrate our independence, we, as a nation, should pause for a moment and think how Jawaharlal Nehru made such a vast country choose the most appropriate path to nation-building and how we failed ourselves.

babar ayoob jaMShoro

Grading system

With education boards employing a new grading system at the matriculation and intermediate levels, aimed at doing justice to hardworking students, there appears to be a quagmire waiting for the majority of students as they will be hit hard.

Not everyone tries to be a topper. Most of them want to be good enough to transition smoothly to the next stage. the brilliant ones will have an opportunity to stand out from the crowd as grades received will lie in a narrow range and, thereby, more specific. Consequently, the so-called ‘competition pressure’ will rise, perhaps chopping down the number of students entering public education institutions. this will lead to even more overcrowded private institutions. is that really what we want?

Besides, there are students who plan to bring the curtain down on their academic career at either matriculation or intermediate level. they move to vocational training or enter the job market owing to the financial circumstances of the households they belong to. Naturally, all the target is to simply ‘pass’ the exam and move on. With the pass percentage rising, their futures are at stake as well. to revise the grading system without actually doing next to nothing about course content and delivery is a tricky approach that may not produce the desired results.

MahEEn WahEED SialKot

Dr mUHAmmAD AkrAm ZAHeer

The PTI is exploiting a lunch to fundamentalism

In IndIA, the cAse oF A mIssIng AmerIcAn AmbAssAdor

countries. Galbraith remains a beloved figure in India.

New YorK Times Meenakshi ahaMed

IT is hard to imagine the United states going for two years without an ambassador representing its interests in Beijing, Berlin, Moscow or Tokyo. Yet

Roosevelt house, the American ambassador’s residence in New Delhi has remained unoccupied since January 2021 — the longest gap on record.

There is no shortage of talk in Washington asserting India’s importance to the United states. President Biden sees it as “one of the most important relationships” for the United states. Yet if India is an “indispensable” partner for America, as the president has declared, why has he allowed the position of ambassador to India remain vacant for almost two years?

American ambassadors to India have often played a vital role in advancing relations between the two countries. In 1962, when India was invaded by China, John Kenneth Galbraith was the American ambassador. Galbraith, who was close to President John F. Kennedy and had good relations with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was instrumental in getting the United states to ship arms and supplies to India.

Until then, Nehru had been lukewarm to American overtures. By swiftly coming to India’s aid, Galbraith changed how Indians saw America and brought Kennedy and Nehru closer. American support for India in 1962 would prove to be a turning point in the relations between the two

India’s problems with China are far from over. Both nuclear powers, they share a 2,100-mile border, and lay claim to territories controlled by the other. China has been increasing its clout in Nepal and Bhutan, which have long been Indian spheres of influence. For decades, Beijing and New Delhi maintained a cold peace, but the growing muscular nationalism in Xi Jinping’s China and Narendra Modi’s India eventually led to confrontations on the disputed border in 2020 in which scores of Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed.

More recently, tensions rose on Dec. 9 after Indian and Chinese forces clashed on the mountainous border near the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls south Tibet. Relations between China and India have been further soured after joint military exercises last month by the United states and India near the India-China border. The Biden administration has also stepped up efforts to deepen its cooperation with the Quadrilateral security Dialogue, the informal security alliance of India, Australia, Japan and the United states that seeks to counter China’s rise, a grouping that Beijing views as hostile.

The shared challenge of China has pushed America and India closer. For the past two decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have made India an essential partner in the American strategy to contain China. The Biden administration’s National Defense strategy report calls for enhancing India’s ability to deter China’s aggression “and ensure free and open access to the Indian Ocean region.” American encouragement of India’s rise has rare bipartisan support, which makes the absence of a U.s. ambassador in India even more surprising.

There are significant economic reasons for greater American engagement with India, which recently surpassed Britain as the world’s fifth largest economy. While India remains poor in per capita terms (it has roughly $2,200 in G.D.P. per person), it is the one of the fastest growing major economies and a vital market for trade and investment.

When will Facebook roll back censorship policies?

presidential election, pushed the false claim that the hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, and he has been criticized for pushing false narratives on Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election.

The letter to Clegg is reminiscent of another letter sent by several congressional Democrats to cable-TV carriers last year, demanding to know why they continue to carry Fox News. As I later discussed in congressional testimony, it was an open effort by those Democrats to censor opposing views by proxy or by surrogate. This is not the first time that some members of Congress have not so subtly warned social media companies to expand the censorship of political and scientific views which they consider to be wrong.

India is a major supplier of pharmaceuticals, including vaccines to the world. In 2021, the U.s. direct investment in India was around $45 billion. As concern mounts over China’s outsize role in global supply chains, American companies have begun to seek manufacturing hubs outside that country. JP Morgan estimates that by 2025, Apple may make roughly 25 percent of its iPhones in India. The U.s. Embassy will need to provide support to American companies trying to enter India.

And India plays an important role in difficult global negotiations on global health, climate change or technology policy. Richard Verma, the U.s. ambassador to New Delhi during the Obama administration, said that India was essential in getting an agreement on the Paris climate accords. Mr. Verma helped facilitate some of the initial meetings that led to engagement between Indian and American leaders.

Major policy decisions such as the climate accords were agreed on by President Barack Obama and Mr. Modi. But in bilateral negotiations, an ambassador plays a key role in hammering out details of trade and defense agreements relying on his or her personal relationships. India assumed the leadership of the Group of 20 in December and has lost no time is projecting itself as a peacemaker following a rules-based international order. India’s foreign minister, subrahmanyam Jaishankar, arguably one of the most talented international diplomats operating today, projects an image of India on the world stage as a responsible nuclear power, resolute against terrorism, and a global force for good.

What you will not get from Mr. Jaishankar is an honest appraisal of the decline of civil rights in India. Ambassadors have been essential in providing Washington with cleareyed assessments about the domestic situation in India — a task that is more essential now than ever. since his election in 2014, Mr. Modi has presided over the consolidation of a hindu-majoritarian politics, systematically concentrated power in the hands of the executive and clamped down on political dissent. The Modi govern-

ment’s onslaught against minorities, freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary has been relentless.

The United states will need to continuously assess the degree to which it and India still share liberal, democratic values. Ambassadors such as Galbraith, Chester Bowles, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Frank Wisner, mixing with civil society, the press, bureaucrats and politicians of all stripes, were able to provide an informative and nuanced assessment about the country’s trajectory.

In April 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Robert Goheen, a former president of Princeton, as his ambassador to India. Mr. Goheen had been born in India and was in a position to observe if India’s experiment with democracy had survived the “Emergency,” the difficult period between June 1975 and March 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended constitutional rights, assumed extraordinary powers, jailed opposition leaders and silenced the press.

The work of diplomats can be hard to pin down as they juggle multiple roles. One of the critical responsibilities of an ambassador is to provide accurate assessments about the political landscape of the host country and to be his government’s eyes and ears on the ground. The absence of an American ambassador today may actually suit policymakers in New Delhi. It allows them to avoid careful scrutiny of its domestic affairs. For decades, American officials lamented that India’s meagre diplomatic presence imposed a ceiling on what India and America could accomplish together. New Delhi has worked to raise its international profile, especially in Washington. It is a shame that America has failed to reciprocate.

A U.s. ambassador is the symbolic projection of American power. During the decades when India was strategically unimportant to the United states, Washington still sent important ambassadors to India. Today there is a glaring absence at the Roosevelt house in New Delhi.

Japan’s rearmament

consent

parlance) as part of their evolution with technology. It did not work; most people are not eager to buy into censorship. Instead, many of them apparently are buying into Twitter.

WITh the restoration of free speech protections on Twitter, panic has grown on the left that its control over social media could come to an end. Now, some of the greatest advocates of censorship in Congress are specifically warning Facebook not to follow Twitter in restoring free speech to its platform.

In a chilling letter from Reps. Adam schiff, D-Calif., André Carson, D-Ind., Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and sen. sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Facebook was given a not-so-subtle threat that reducing its infamous censorship system will invite congressional action. The letter to Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, is written on congressional stationery “as part of our ongoing oversight efforts.”

With house Republicans pledging to investigate social media censorship when they take control in January, these four Democratic members are trying to force Facebook to “recommit” to censoring opposing views and to make election censorship policies permanent. Otherwise, they suggest, they may be forced to exercise oversight into any move by Facebook to “alter or rollback certain misinformation policies.” In addition to demanding that Facebook preserve its bans on figures like former President Donald Trump, they want Facebook to expand its censorship overall because “unlike other major social media platforms, Meta’s policies do not prohibit posts that make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.”

Clegg is given schiff’s telephone number to discuss Facebook’s compliance – an ironic contact point for a letter on censoring “disinformation.” After all, schiff was one of the members of Congress who, before the 2020

In a November 2020 senate hearing, thenTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for censoring the hunter Biden laptop story. But sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., warned that he and his senate colleagues would not tolerate any “backsliding or retrenching” by “failing to take action against dangerous disinformation.”

Others, like sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have called on social media companies to use enlightened algorithms to “protect” people from their own “bad” choices. After all, as President Joe Biden asked, without censorship and wise editors, “how do people know the truth?”

Now, Democrats fear Facebook and other social media companies might “backslide” into free speech as Facebook, among others, is faced with declining revenues and ordering layoffs. Tellingly, these congressional Democrats specifically want assurances that those layoffs will not reduce the staff dedicated to censoring social media.

It is not hard to see the cause for alarm.

This hold-the-line warning is meant to stop a cascading failure in the once insurmountable wall of social-media censorship. If Facebook were to restore free-speech protections, the control over social media could evaporate.

Despite an effort by the left to boycott Twitter and cut off advertising revenues, users are signing up in record numbers, according to Twitter owner Elon Musk, and a recent poll shows a majority of Americans “support Elon Musk’s ongoing efforts to change Twitter to a more free and transparent platform.”

The pressure on Facebook is ironic, given the company’s previous effort to get the public to accept – even welcome – censorship. The company ran a creepy ad campaign about how young people should accept censorship (or “content modification,” in today’s Orwellian

The public response has led censorship advocates to look abroad for allies. Figures like hillary Clinton have called upon European countries to force the censorship of American citizens. Censorship comes at a cost not only to free speech but, clearly, to these companies. Nevertheless, some members of Congress are demanding that Facebook and other companies offer the “last full measure of devotion” to the cause of censorship. Despite the clear preference of the public for more free speech, Facebook is being asked to turn its back on them (and its shareholders) and continue to exclude dissenting views on issues ranging from COVID to climate change.

These members know that censorship only works if there are no alternatives. The problem is that there are alternatives. Fox News reportedly has more Democrats watching it than leftleaning rival CNN, which now faces its own massive cuts and plummeting ratings.

For whatever reason, these companies face declining interest in what they offer. Yet, some Democrats are pushing them to double-down on the same course of effectively writing off half of the electorate and the audience market.

This type of pressure worked in the past because individual executives are loathe to be tagged personally in these campaigns. however, their companies are paying the price in carrying out these directives from Congress.

In the past, many companies willingly – if not eagerly, in the case of pre-Musk Twitter –carried out censorship as surrogates, as the internal Twitter documents released by Musk have indicated. some public officials knew they could circumvent the First Amendment by getting these companies to block opposing views by proxy. however, the public and the marketplace may succeed where the Constitution could not – and that’s precisely what these officials fear, as they see the control of social media erode heading toward the 2024 election.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg once famously told his company to “Move fast and break things.” When it comes to censorship, however, these members of Congress are warning “Not so fast!” if Facebook is considering a break in favor of free speech.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and a practicing criminal defense attorney. He is a Fox News contributor.

As expected, Japan finalized the revisions to its three key security documents, adopting a new security strategy that includes the possession of “counterstrike capability.” It will double its defense spending to about 2 percent of gross domestic product.

It may be too early to say that Japan’s adoption of a new security change will be limited to purely defend itself against possible attacks from China, North Korea and Russia.

What’s certain, though, is that given Japan’s longstanding efforts to ditch its exclusively self-defense policy that had lasted since World War II, the latest changes to its security strategy herald gloomy geopolitical developments in the region.

Japan’s new stance of endorsing counterstrikes against imminent enemy attacks — preemptive strikes that it now justifies as constitutional — appears to have gone beyond self-defense defined under its pacifist constitution.

Not only security experts outside of Japan, but also liberal Japanese media outlets pointed out that the country’s exclusive self-defense policy has been critically undermined with the new changes to its three security documents that are usually revised every 5 or 10 years.

More worrisome is that Japanese politicians do not listen to such criticism based on facts and are expected to push for a revision to the constitution more aggressively — a gloomy prospect that will certainly accelerate military tensions in East Asia.

south Korea is one of the key military powers in the region, with its ground forces in particular showing off strong defense capabilities against North Korea’s threats. With the new security strategy, however, Japan is now bound to eclipse south Korea’s military power by doubling its defense budget to around 2 percent of GDP, or 43 trillion yen ($314 billion), through 2027. By then, Japan will be the world’s third-biggest military power in terms of defense budget following the Us and China.

Japan’s counterstrike capability, which can be abused arbitrarily without

With its militaristic past and the stubbornly unrepentant stance of its leaders, Japan’s newly expanded defense budget for counterstrike capability — including more long-range weapons — raises worries about its military involvement on the Korean Peninsula.

Furthermore, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is said to be thinking of discussing changes to its role in defense when he holds a summit with Us President Joe Biden next month, seeking to reconfigure the two countries’ longstanding division of roles known as “shield and dagger.” If Japan takes more offensive responsibility, it is inevitable that the geopolitical structure in Asia will go through drastic changes.

Given that North Korea test-fired missiles frantically this year — including one that flew over Japan in October and unidentified ballistic missiles on sunday — south Korea, Japan and the Us are expected to work together to keep the North’s saber-rattling at bay. But Japan’s military involvement or provocation targeting the Korean Peninsula based on its new security strategy is an entirely different matter.

Under the south Korean constitution, the country’s territory consists of the Korean Peninsula — including North Korea — and its adjacent islands. The potential for a territorial clash between south Korea and Japan has deepened as the latter’s revised security strategy repeats its sovereignty claim to the south’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, which is called Takeshima in Japan.

seoul’s Foreign and Defense Ministries lodged a formal protest to Japan over its claims to the south Korean territory, but it cannot be completely ruled out that Japan, now armed with counterstrike capability, may take more provocative acts over the islets. Ominously, during a briefing held in Tokyo, a Japanese government official said its exercise of the counterstrike capability does not need approval from other nations.

Meenakshi Ahamed is the author of “A Matter of Trust: India-US Relations From Truman to Trump.”

THE SHARED CHALLENGE OF CHINA HAS PUSHED AMERICA AND INDIA CLOSER. FOR THE PAST TWO DECADES, REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATIONS HAVE MADE INDIA AN ESSENTIAL PARTNER IN THE AMERICAN STRATEGY TO CONTAIN CHINA

FoX News

Jonathan turley

Korea Herald

from neighboring countries, is problematic enough to leave south Korea and other nations in Asia in doubt and concerned. After all, Japan has a dark history of invading the Korean Peninsula on multiple occasions and killed an enormous number of innocent people during World War II.

corporate corner Blue, Pink electric taxi service in karachi on cards: sharjeel MeMon

KARACHI staff report

sINDHMinister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon on Tuesday announced that electric taxi service will be launched soon in Karachi under Sindh Mass-Transit Authority and it is agreed in principle in a meeting that taxi service will be launched in two phases with fleet of Blue and Pink Taxi.

Talking to media at Sindh Assembly media corner on Tuesday, he pointed out that Pink Taxi will be reserved for women only. PPP member of Sindh Assembly Syed Zulifiqar Ali Shah was also present on the occasion. The minister said that in first phase Pink Taxi Service for women will be launched and lady captains will hired to drive pink taxi service and it's fare would be between Rs200 to 500. He added that proper monitoring system including cameras will be installed in taxi service for safety of the passengers. The minister said that on the directives of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, public transport system is

being modernized in the province. He said that BRT orange line is functional and it is being redesigned to integrate it with the green line. He said that people's bus service has been successfully running it's operations in Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad and at the end of December, it will be launched in Sukkur city.

He said that first electric bus service will also be launched soon in Karachi and negotiations on the agreement with operators are in final phase. He said that BRT Yellow Line will start soon and it's construction will commence with construction of bridge along with the Jam Sadiq bridge will also start soon as international bidding process has been started and traffic police had been directed to divert the heavy traffic on the bridge.

TRAFFIC ISSUES: He called traffic a serious issue in the city and JICA has conducted a study on Karachi traffic in 2011. He added that a Lebanese company has been tasked to conduct new study on traffic and it is under way.

REACTION TO WASEEM AKHTAR'S STATEMENT: He added that MQM Pakistan is a coali-

tion partner in center and we have agreed points and we talk in parameters of agreed issues.

He said that they did take Waseem Akhtar's statements seriously. Waseem Akhtar has not raised such issues in any meeting. Whether he (Akhtar) had given statement with the permission of his leadership. He said that Waseem Akhtar might have given such statement in context of upcoming local bodies elections so as to revive their reputation in the public and to activate their workers.

He said that law and order situation in Karachi is much better than past. He said that now no one can close down the city on 10 minutes strike call. Extortion and dead bodies in sakes stopped. No one can set the buses on fire. He added that crime rates in metropolitan cities remains high throughout the world but this doesn't mean that he was defending it.

He added that Karachi is a safe city and for better than law and order situation in Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore. The minister said that Sindh government had allocated 100 percent funds in the budget for the safe city project. The work is underway on the

Two-day Pak Pharma & Healthcare Expo begins today

ISLAMABAD pr

Karandaaz partners with GrowTech to digitize agri value chain

Islamabad: Karandaaz Pakistan has partnered with GrowTech Services (www.growtechsol.com), to facilitate digitalized data driven scientific based agriculture practices in Pakistan and facilitate financial inclusion in the agricultural value chain. Under its “Pilot to Scale” program, Karandaaz has committed a grant to GrowTech Services, testing the impact of digitization of traditional agricultural value chain, on two different crops. The project will foretake the development of an E-Commerce portal, connecting farmers and bulk buyers, and integrates the GrowTech app and e-commerce platform with various payment gateways. This partnership aims to increase the penetration of this App among farmers and promote usage of digital payments through the e-commerce platform. When speaking about the importance of digitizing agricultural value chains, CEO Karandaaz Waqas ul Hasan said, “Pakistan seriously lags behind its peers in farm productivity. We need to approach complex agricultural value chains from all possible intervention points. Farmers, in general, are hesitant in adopting digital payments and technology due to the oftencomplicated procedures involved. As a result, their productivity and income has remained low. Digitizing payments will bring previously unbanked farmers within the formal financial sphere. The data collected from their spending patterns can then be used to create additional interventions.” pr

Globe Residency REIT raises Rs388m

KaRaCHI: Javedan Corporation Limited has received a subscription of PKR387,945,000 from the general public through a two-day offer for sale process. The offer for sale was over-subscribed by 2.77 times. GRR is a closed ended, Developmental REIT Scheme with a limited life of 48 months offering investors the opportunity to become an investor in the Globe Residency apartments project at Naya Nazimabad. 14 million units, which make up 10% of the total units of the REIT Scheme were offered by Javedan Corporation Limited to the General Public at a price of PKR 10 per unit. The REIT fund size is PKR 2.8 billion; PKR 1.4 billion each of Debt and Equity and the project cost is estimated at PKR 20 billion. pr

The 14th Pak Pharma & Healthcare Expo will be opened on Wednesday (today) here at PakChina Friendship Centre. International conference will also be held as part of this event with the theme "Pharma Export Way Forward - Opportunities and Challenges."

Two days Pak Pharma & Healthcare Exhibition and Conference is being organized from December 21-22, 2022 by the Prime Event Management. Mr. Asim Rauf, Chief Executive Officer, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) will inaugurate the exhibition as chief guest.

Organizer Mr. Kamran Abbasi, Director Prime Event told that other guests of inaugural ceremony would include Syed Farooq Bukhari - Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) & Chief Executive Mediflow Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Arshad Mahmood - Chairman PPMA North and Dr. Sh.

Kaiser Waheed - President Medisure Lab Pakistan & former Chairman PPMA.

Panelists of discussion session will include Mr. Hamid Raza - CEO Neutro Pharma & former Chairman PPMA, Mr. Arshad Mahmood, Mr. Usman Shaukat - Director Bio Labs, Mr. Aman Allah Sheikh - CEO Davis Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Faisal Q. Khokhar - Executive Director Remington Pharmaceuticals Industries and Dr Uzair Nagra - CEO Medi Search Pharma.

Kamran Abbasi further told that this exhibition would be focused on pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers, chemicals, laboratory equipment, packaging material, analytical equipment, environmental control, pharmaceutical consultants, hospital & health equipment manufacturers, ambulance and rescue vehicles manufacturers, surgical equipment, fire alarm & equipment, hospital consumables and accessories. There are 50 exhibitors participating in this exhibition including foreign companies from China, Taiwan, Turkey and Germany.

LRBT hosts 6th Annual Golf Tournament to raise funds

KARACHI pr

LRBT, held its 6th Annual Charity Golf tournament to raise funds for the treatment of blindness of underprivileged patients through its network of 19 hospitals and 61 clinics all across Pakistan.

31 teams comprising of professionals from financial institutions, corporates, media and business houses participated and contributed towards the mission of LRBT that “No man, woman or child should go blind simply because they cannot afford the treatment”. Engro Corporation ltd. was the title sponsor of the event for the 6th year in a row, whereas Jubilee Life Insurance, Habib Met-

ropolitan Bank and Orix Leasing Pakistan were the gold sponsors besides this there were 15 associate sponsors and 13 goodwill partners who enabled us to continue our work of giving sight, transforming lives.

The teams comprised of distinguished businessmen and corporate leaders who played in support of the cause of fighting curable blindness. During the closing ceremony, in his concluding remarks, Honorary Chairman LRBT, Mr. Najmus Saquib Hameed thanked all participants who donated and participated to make this event a success. Mr. Eram Hassan Chief Information & Transformation Officer- Engro Corporation Ltd. also spoke on the occasion and distributed the prizes among the winners.

project. He added police is trying to contain the street crime in the city.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: He said that issue of illegal Immigrants is mandate of NADRA and Sindh police is trying to address the issue and has arrested number of illegal Immigrants. He said that these arrested illegal immigrants will be deported after legal formalities.

PTI IN STATE OF CHAOS: He said that PTI is in state of chaos, fear and panic. PTI's own Chief Minister Punjab has called PTI chief “selfish and thankless” but astonishingly no leader of PTI had condemned it. He said that Imran Khan has not spared his patrons, what he will do for the people.

Trans Karachi Board of Directors meeting Provincial Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit and Chairman Trans Karachi has said that all projects should be completed on time, so that the cost does not escalate, as burden of cost increase falls on the government treasury. The provincial minister said this while presiding over the 22nd Board of Directors meeting of Trans Karachi at his office.

IIRA reviews process of ‘Conversion to Islamic’ for FBL Pakistan

KARACHI: Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has been reviewing the ‘first of its scale’ conversion of Faysal Bank Limited, (FBL) Pakistan, to a full-fledged Islamic Bank, since 2020. In our assessment and compared to other ‘Conversions to Islamic’ globally, FBL, Pakistan is the largest conversion by scale, having commenced in 2016 and as measured by exchange rate adjusted deposit size of USD 6,917.4mn (PKR value as of September 30, 2022 - converted to USD at the 2016 exchange rate of 104.8), number of Islamic branches, and range of banking services offered through a Shari’a compliant mechanism. As such, it is the only conversion process, rated by an independent rating agency, during the course of the conversion process. The heretofore Islamic Banking Division’s Shari’a Compliance and Fiduciary Rating was last affirmed on February 8, 2022, by IIRA at “SCFR (pk) 1” on the national scale, which denotes “No material deviations from national regulatory framework for Shari’ah Compliant Finance” and “SCFR (Global) High” on the global scale, which denotes, “High level of conformance to global standards in terms of fulfilling fiduciary obligations of Shari’ah compliant Finance”. Faysal Bank Limited (‘FBL’ or ‘the bank’) is a Pakistan based commercial bank offering commercial, retail, and corporate banking services. pr

IESCO operations circles hold E-court via facebook live today

ISLAMABAD: In continuation of the customer friendly policies, in-charges of all operations circles of IESCO will conduct E-Kachery via facebook live and telephonically on 21st December2022 (Wednesday) from 09:30 AM to 11:30AMto ensure immediate resolution of consumer complaints and issues. IESCO consumers can participates in face book live EKachary by using face book IDSE IESCO Islamabad E-Kachery Phone No. 051-9260194,For Rawalpindi City Circle, SE IESCO Rawalpindi-City E-Kachery Phone No. 051-9292675, For Rawalpindi Cantt Circle, SE IESCO Rawalpindi-Cantt EKachery Phone No. 051-9293048, For Attock Circle, SE IESCO Attock E-Kachery Phone No. 051-4950343, For Chakwal Circle, SE IESCO Chakwal E-Kachery Phone No. 0543668500, For Jhelum Circle, SE IESCO JhelumE-Kachery Phone No. 0544-9270377.Valuable customers are requested to mention their name, bill reference No, Contact No and complete address while launching the compliant. pr

Speakers at IMS-22 underscore importance of over 1000-km-long Pakistani coast

ISLAMABAD pr

The National Institute of Maritime Affairs (NIMA), Islamabad organised third International Maritime Symposium-2022 (IMS-22) titled: “Geo- Economic Dimensions of Indian Ocean Region- Opportunities for the Region and Beyond”. Prof Ahsan Iqbal Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives graced the Occasion as a Chief Guest.

The symposium was well attended by galaxy of participants including academia, maritime professionals, foreign diplomats, researchers from think tanks, faculty & students from universities, serving & retired civil and military personnel. The symposium was also widely attended by the reps of print and electronic media. Eminent speakers from home and abroad, expert in maritime domain, addressed the participants. In the inaugural session Vice Admiral (Retd) Ahmed Saeed, DG NIMA, welcomed the

chief guest, worthy speakers and participants. He highlighted the objectives and importance of the symposium.

The CNS message, read to the audience, underscored importance of Indian Ocean Region as it provides major connectivity routes for global trade, and contains vast natural resources such as oil, gas, minerals and seafood. It is imperative for the IOR countries to cooperate so as to accrue maximum dividends from the immense maritime economic potential. The Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives highlighted that immense resources were available in the huge sea area at our disposal and along the over 1000 KM long Pakistani coast. He emphasized that our younger generation is very promising with tremendous innovative capabilities. He emphasized that the political stability is mandatory for the economic growth.

Keynote speakers, former Ambassadors, Nadeem Riaz President IRS, and Ambassador Inamul Haq highlighted the significance of strong economy of a country

Babel Mandeb and Malacca straits. The smooth flow of trade is important not only for the IOR but also for the global economy.

The learned speakers of second session, deliberated on the geo-strategic environment of IOR especially interest of major powers like USA and its allies and China. It was underlined that all the littorals of IOR and extra regional powers want to ensure uninterrupted flow of maritime traffic and no illegal activities like terrorism, drug and human trafficking and piracy. The chief guest of Session-II, Admiral (Retd) Muhammad Zakaullah NI(M), former CNS, while highlighting the significance of BRI, said that China has gained extended economic reach in IOR. He also mentioned that global order is in changing phase and multipolarity will soon be a reality once again.USA, her allies and India are trying to contain China. How far they would be successful is yet to be seen. The session was moderated by Rear Admiral (Retd) Farrokh Ahmad HI(M).

and extra regional powers rivalry in IOR. Admiral Asif Sandila former CNS and President Board of Advisors of NIMA, while highlighting the importance of the Indian Ocean Region, said that it is hub of major sea routes which connect oil rich Middle East, with rest of the world through choke points, like Strait of Hormuz,

Mujeeb Ahmad Khan, Director Sales & Marketing & Brig. Abid Cheema, Head of Business Development Smart City presenting award to Mr Imran Malik, GM Sales & Marketing Mayfair Properties in London. pr

This year State Life Corporation of Pakistan is celebrating 50 years of service and trust. State Life offices were lit up across the country along with a cake-cutting ceremony that was graced by the presence of State Life's Chairman Shoaib Javed Hussain. By adopting innovation and digitalization, State Life is continuously growing and currently serves over 150 million Pakistani. pr

How CHinese diplomaCy Helped seal

HistoriC nature deal

MONTREAL Agencies

expectations heading into a UN biodiversity conference in Montreal were about as low as they could be. But a broad recognition that it was now or never for nature — and a flurry of late diplomacy by China — helped seal a “historic” deal on a night of high drama.

Dubbed the “ugly duckling” of global policy, the COP15 negotiations were snubbed by world leaders who had just attended a far higher-profile climate summit in Egypt.

Beijing, which held the presidency of the talks, at first appeared to have a hands-off approach, and the defining issue — whether the rich world would pledge enough money so their developing counterparts could protect vanishing species and habitats — seemed too great to surmount.

“For months, there was the question: Where is China?” a high-level source close

to the matter told AFP.

What’s more, relations between China and Canada, which had to step in to host the event because of China’s strict Covid rules, have deteriorated in recent years.

Canada’s 2018 arrest of Chinese telecommunications executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States was followed quickly by China arresting two Canadians.

Just last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping was caught on camera scolding Canada’s Justin Trudeau over a sleight. What’s more, “it’s strange to have a Chinese presidency on North American soil,” said the high-level source — and early signs did nothing to dispel assumptions that China in charge would mean a weakening of ambition.

In the first week, China let Canada run the show shepherding talks on the key issues, from finance to the cornerstone target of protecting 30 percent of land and oceans by 2030.

But as the clock ticked down, it was

China that took charge of the text, in an approach described as “gentle” diplomacy: having subject experts and political representatives work in a calm, even environment, according to another diplomatic source.

“China closed out the deal and cornered the developing countries with the $30 billion financing pledge by 2030,” said a third source, a European negotiator.

When countries of the Global North sought more ambitious targets from the South, China responded by telling them they’d need to up their financing. And Beijing acted as a neutral arbiter, not aligning itself with the Group of 77 as it normally does.

“They’ve taken the risk of putting their own reputation on the line for something many thought they weren’t the natural leaders of,” said Lee White, a British-Gabonese conservationist and minister of water, forests and environment of Gabon.

Nor is China a natural champion of environmental issues, having badly polluted its air and waters and degraded much of its land

Harvey Weinstein convicted of rape in Hollywood trial

involved accusations by four women.

Disgraced US movie titan Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting a woman a decade ago, in what prosecutors said was part of his “reign of terror” over aspiring young actresses in Hollywood.

A jury in Los Angeles deliberated for two weeks before finding the “Shakespeare in Love” producer guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against the woman, who was not publicly named. They did not reach a verdict on several other charges in a trial that had

Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted of sex crimes in New York. Rumours of Weinstein’s impropriety had circulated in Hollywood for years, but his position at the apex of Tinseltown meant few were prepared to challenge him.

That all changed in 2017 with the publication of bombshell allegations against him, ushering in the #MeToo movement and opening the floodgates for women to speak out against sexual violence in the workplace.

The lengthy West Coast trial

heard graphic descriptions of encounters between the once-powerful producer and women who were trying to make their way in the world of movies. Prosecutors painted a picture of a predatory ogre, who for years used his physical and professional prowess to rape and abuse women with impunity. His victims were left terrorized and afraid for their careers if they spoke out against a man who dominated Tinseltown for decades, according to prosecutors.

Weinstein, 70, was convicted on Monday of three of the seven counts he was facing — forcible rape, forcible oral copu-

lation and sexual penetration by a foreign object. All three of those counts related to a victim referred to only as Jane Doe #1, with the crimes occurring in February 2013. The eight-man, four-woman jury acquitted him of one charge of sexual battery by restraint involving another woman. They did not reach a verdict on charges of sexual battery by restraint of a third woman, and were unable to reach a verdict on charges of rape and forced oral copulation against a fourth — identified by her lawyers as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Tunisia arrests former prime minister over rightist departures

TUNIS AFP

Tunisian police have arrested former prime minister Ali Larayedh, his far-right Ennahdha party said Tuesday, accusing authorities of trying to divert attention from calls for President Kais Saied to quit.

The arrest of the Ennahdha number two comes just days after nearly 90 per-

cent of voters boycotted an election to a toothless new parliament established by Saied following his seizure of sweeping powers in 2021.

Larayedh, who served as premier from 2013 to 2014, was detained as part of an investigation into alleged connivance in the departure of thousands of young Tunisians to fight with jihadist groups abroad.

As many as 6,000

Tunisians travelled to Libya, Iraq and Syria to volunteer as foreign fighters, a number that secular opposition groups say indicates deliberate neglect. The investigation, which has also targeted Ennahdha’s veteran leader Rached Ghannouchi, was launched after the vehemently anti-religion president sacked the government and suspended parliament in July 2021.

Twitter users vote to oust Elon Musk as CEO

SAN FRANCISCO Agencies

Twitter users voted on Monday to oust owner Elon Musk as chief executive in a highly unscientific poll he organized and promised to honor, just weeks after he took charge of the social media giant.A total of 57.5 percent of more than 17 million accounts voted for him to step down. Musk, who also runs car maker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX, has not yet reacted publicly to the results.

“The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive,” the South African-born billionaire tweeted before the vote closed. In a response to another tweet, he added: “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.” Musk has fully owned Twitter since October 27 and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking half of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and trying to charge for previously free services.

Analysts have also pointed out that the stock price of Tesla has slumped by one-third since Musk’s Twitter takeover. The share price briefly rallied by 3.3 percent on Monday before fading. “It’s hard to ignore the numbers since [the Twitter] deal closed,” tweeted investment expert Gary Black, saying he reckoned Tesla’s board was putting pressure on Musk to quit his Twitter role.

In discussions with users after posting his latest poll, Musk renewed his warnings that the platform could be heading for bankruptcy. Resorting to Twitter’s polling feature has been a favorite strategy of Musk’s to push through policy decisions, including the reinstatement of the account of former president Donald Trump. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, which defends press freedom around the world, said the polls were a “crude and cynical” ploy. “These methods appear to be democratic procedures, but in reality they are… the opposite of democracy,” said the group’s head, Christophe Deloire.

Unpredictable entrepreneur Musk posted

his latest poll shortly after trying to extricate himself from yet another controversy.

On Sunday, Twitter users were told they would no longer be able to promote content from other social media sites. But Musk seemed to reverse course a few hours later, writing that the policy would be limited to “suspending accounts only when that account’s *primary* purpose is promotion of competitors.” “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he tweeted. The attempted ban had prompted howls of disapproval and even bemused Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, who had backed Musk’s takeover. Dorsey questioned the new policy with a one-word tweet: “Why?”

Musk has generated a series of controversies in his short reign, one which analyst Dan Ives from Wedbush described as a “perfect storm.” He noted that “advertisers have run for the hills and left Twitter squarely in the red ink potentially on track to lose roughly $4 billion per year.”

through agricultural production — a process it is trying to reverse through a greenification campaign. “Countries that destroy their bio-

diversity end up regretting it — I think the Chinese probably got to that point and are now trying to put things right,” said White.

LOS ANGELES AFP

England complEtEs mEmoraBlE 3-0 sEriEs swEEp in pakistan

KARACHI The AssociATed Press

arelentless England lineup powered to an eight-wicket win in the third and final cricket Test on Tuesday to complete a historic series sweep in Pakistan.

England started the day needing a further 55 runs for victory and reached 170-2 within 38 minutes to secure its second successive win with more than a day to spare in its first Test tour to Pakistan in 17 years.

It was Pakistan’s first-ever 3-0 loss in a three-Test series on home soil.

Pakistan fell for 216 against 18-year-old rookie Rehan Ahmed (5-48) in the second innings to set England a modest target of 167 for victory.

Ben Duckett resumed on 50 and remained unbeaten on 82 off 78 balls and skip(per Ben Stokes signed off his team’s dominant ‘Bazball’ brand of aggressive cricket by finishing 35 not out.

Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed could have finished the series with 18 wickets in two Test matches, but Agha Salman couldn’t hold onto a difficult chance from Stoke at long-on with England just 19 runs away from a memorable win.

England won the first Test on a flat

wicket in Rawalpindi by 74 runs in dimming light on the last day before recording a thrilling 26-run win at Multan on a slowturning track inside four days.

Rehan Ahmed conquered Pakistan’s batters in the team’s fortress — National Stadium — on Day 3 and England had motored to 112-2 in the final session through the aggressive batting of Zak Crawley (41) and Duckett. It was just the third loss for Pakistan at the National Stadium in 45 Test matches and the first in 15 years. England was the first team to beat Pakistan there in a Test match in 2000 before South Africa won a Test match here seven years later.

The 3-0 drubbing was also Pakistan’s fourth successive Test loss at home after Australia beat them in the final Test earlier this year to win the two-Test series 1-0.

Pakistan was kept at bay throughout the last three weeks and unable to find the right combination to counter England’s aggressive gameplan, which began at home this summer and now has seen them winning nine of the last 10 Test matches. England’s only loss in that period was against South Africa at Lord’s before the Proteas got beaten 2-1 in the series.

England set the tone of a clean sweep

Stokes: England’s tactical moves paid off in Pakistan

KARACHI The AssociATed Press

tinent.

Stokes’ predecessor Joe Root led England to its only other sweep on the subcontinent when it beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in 2018. And England’s ‘Bazball’ approach to Test cricket under new coach Brendon McCullum, a long-time star for New Zealand, was the determining factor in Pakistan losing a three-Test home series 3-0 for the first time.

England signed off on its first Test tour to Pakistan in 17 years with an emphatic eight-wicket win Tuesday on the fourth day of the final Test in the cricket fortress of Pakistan – National Stadium.

“It won’t really sink in until we get home or in the new year,” Stokes said after scoring an unbeaten 35 in England’s

run-chase that was led by Ben Duckett’s powerful 82 not out off 78 balls. “We understand what we’ve done is pretty special … it will be something to be really proud of. “Coming into subcontinental conditions … everything we’ve tried has come off. I’ve learned a lot in terms of the tactical side, that’s the best thing to come out of it.”

England set the tone of its dominance when its top four batters – Zak Crawley, Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook — smashed belligerent centuries on the opening day of the first Test on a flat wicket at Rawalpindi which later received a demerit point from the ICC.

Stokes made a bold declaration on the fourth day at Rawalpindi that saw England registering a 74-run win in dimming light on the last day with Pakistan less than 10 minutes away from forcing a draw.

Pakistan’s batters cracked under Stokes’ umbrella of fielders surrounding them throughout the 343-run chase before eventually falling for 268.

“The first Test pitch was very, very flat and we just said ‘enjoy the flatness boys, let’s just enjoy this challenge and see what we can do.’”

England blunted the mystery spin of Abrar Ahmed on a slow turning wicket in Multan before registering a thrilling 26run win — also inside four days. Ahmed did pick up 11 wickets in the game, his Test debut, but Brook’s century in the second innings once again gave England enough runs to defend through Mark Wood’s express pace on the fourth day.

“It is a great time to be in this dressing room and a great time to be playing for England,” Stokes said. “I’m just encouraging everyone to turn up every day and enjoy what you’re doing. Obviously it is easier to do when we are winning the way we are at the moment.”

The toss didn’t affect England’s dominance in the series when Babar Azam won his first toss of the series and opted to bat in the final Test. The left-arm spin of Jack Leach and 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed dismissed Pakistan for

304 before England notched a significant 50-run lead through Brook’s third hundred in the series.

Rehan Ahmed’s maiden five-wicket haul, which made him the youngest to do so in men’s Test cricket, once again cracked through Pakistan’s brittle middle-order as England shot out the home team for 216.

“It is exactly what you want when you are picking a team, you want to have discussions that are hard on who to pick,” Stokes said. “Brooky has been outstanding in this series. The way he has played, the way he has taken the game on, the runs he’s scored, the strike rate he has scored at has been incredible to watch.”

Brook was elevated to replace the injured Jonny Bairstow, who scored belligerently during the home summer but was ruled out of England’s historic tour to Pakistan. “He’ll (Brook) be giving the selectors, and me and (McCullum) a migraine,” Stokes said, joking about the next squad selection process, “So yeah thanks Brooky for the sore head.”

India eye clean sweep over Bangladesh as second test begins tomorrow

DHAKA Agencies

India will look to steamroll a plucky but inconsistent Bangladesh in the second Test starting on Thursday in Dhaka to cement their standing in the ICC Test Championship.

The visitors will however again be without injured skipper Rohit Sharma after he missed the first Test with an injured thumb, the Indian cricket board said on Tuesday.

India are currently second in the Test Championship league table behind Australia, who are currently 1-0 up against South Africa in a three-match series at home. The current cycle runs to June 2023, with the nine teams each playing six series. The top two sides will meet in the final at the Oval in London.

India beat Bangladesh in the first Test in Chittagong by 188 runs but the visitors, led by KL Rahul in the absence of Rohit, had to work hard for the victory.

Set a monumental target of 513 runs, Bangladesh put up a strong fight with Zakir Hasan and Najmul Hossain sharing a record opening partnership of 124.

Debutant Zakir made 100 and skipper Shakib Al Hasan added 84 but India kept their cool and got the win, with Axar Patel taking four wickets and Kuldeep Yadav — the player of the match — grabbing three.

“That’s Test cricket. You are never going to get a win that is easy. We have played enough cricket to understand that

there will be phases when the opposition plays well and you need to respect that,” Rahul said. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 90 and 102 not out in two innings, while Shubman Gill also recorded his maiden Test hundred in the second innings. Bangladesh, bottom of the table in the Test championship with just one win from 11 matches, were left ruing their dismal first innings.

“The most disappointing thing is the poor decision-making from the batters,” said coach Russell Domingo.

Babar rues injuries to pacers after 3-0 defeat vs. England

KARACHI The AssociATed Press

Babar Azam was left to rue injuries to his

fast

England completed a sweep of the Pakistan Test series on Tuesday. “We were unfortunate that our main fast bowlers were not fit,” Babar said after England recorded an emphatic eight-wicket win in the third and final Test and handed Pakistan its first 3-0 whitewash in a home Test series. “The new players did perform but couldn’t execute the way we wanted. When things were in our hands we had soft dismissals in those times and due to that we couldn’t win matches which we should have won.” Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Shaheen Afridi was ruled out for the series because of knee injury while Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah also sustained injuries during the first Test which ruled them out for the last two matches. “Fitness has the main role because if you are not extra fit you cannot compete in all the three formats,” Babar said. “You get two to three days to switch from one format to the other and you have to be mentally ready as well.” Pakistan gave Test caps to seamer Mohammad Ali, who took four wickets in the first Test before he finished wicketless in the second Test and got dropped from the final match. Fast bowler Mohammad Wasim had a disappointing debut in the final Test and could take only one wicket and that was after Harry Brook had completed his third successive century of England’s memorable tour.

World Cup winners begin victory parade among euphoric Argentines

BUENOS AIRES

Agencies

Millions of ecstatic fans are expected to cheer on their heroes as Argentina’s World Cup winners led by captain Lionel Messi began their open-top bus parade of the capital Buenos Aires on Tuesday following their sensational victory over France.

Throngs of revelers wearing the national team’s blue and white replica shirts and draped in flags sang, danced and set off fireworks, with many camping out all night to secure spots along the planned route.

After arriving home from Qatar in the early hours of the morning, the players set out at 11:45 am (1445 GMT) from the Argentine Football Association (AFA) training

complex on a 30-kilometer (20-mile) journey to the Obelsik monument in the center of city. They were given a taste of what was to come on when tens of thousands of people lined the route from the international airport, where they landed at 2:40 am, to their brief overnight stop.

“Good morning,” wrote Messi on his social media accounts, alongside a picture of him lying in bed hugging the World Cup trophy at the AFA complex, where the team spent the night.

Tuesday has been declared a public holiday for the celebrations.

“It’s wonderful to experience this moment as an Argentine, sharing it with other Argentines,” said student Fiorella Lavia, 18.

Argentina won the final in Qatar 4-2 on

penalties after a rollercoaster 3-3 draw for their first world title in 36 years.

Messi, who scored twice in the final, was the first player to emerge from the plane, holding the World Cup aloft, with coach Lionel Scaloni right behind him.

Forward Julian Alvarez, a revelation in Qatar with his four goals, was one of the next players out of the Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A330.

A picture of Messi was emblazoned on the plane’s tail with the words: “one team, one country, one dream” on its side.

The players made their way from the plane along a red carpet to a white open-top bus with the words “world champions” as their World Cup theme song “Muchachos” by ska band La Mosca blared.

in Pakistan when four of its batters smashed centuries on the opening day of the first Test and the visitors racked up a worldrecord 506-4.

Young Harry Brook filled perfectly in the shoes of injured Jonny Bairstow with three successive Test centuries on tour and amassed 468 runs.

His 111 at Karachi in the first innings fetched England a vital first-innings lead of 50 runs before Pakistan capitulated against Ahmed’s leg-spin in the second innings.

Captain Ben Stokes believes England adapted well to the conditions in Pakistan with its aggressive and bold tactical moves to register the country’s only second 3-0 Test series sweep in the subcon-

Captain

key

bowlers after

Suzuki dismisses reports of portfolio shakeup as speculation

khawajaSaad Rafique, Federal Minister for aviation and Railway, announced on Sunday that Pakistan International airlines (PIa) had earnt Rs 2.14 billion through its collaboration with Turkish airlines.

“That is correct. The partnership has been very good. we have regularly been able to fully load our flights,” says abdullah hafeez Khan, PIa’s Spokesperson.

The partnership between PIa and Turkish airlines is a codesharing arrangement that allows PIa to access twenty-eight destinations through its counterpart’s hub in Istanbul. These twenty-eight destinations are exclusively across the USa, the UK, and Europe. The mechanism is currently a means for PIa to maintain routes it had been quardened off from after the fake degree scandal.

PIA’s deus ex machina

“we sell the customers a PIa ticket, we transport them to Istanbul, and within

three hours we have them aboard a Turkish airlines flight towards their destination of choice. That is the partnership between the two companies,” says Khan.

This arrangement in the world of aviation is a marketing arrangement in which an airline places its designator code on a flight operated by another airline, and sells tickets for that flight. airlines throughout the world form code-share arrangements to strengthen or expand their market presence and competitive ability.

The arrangement was announced on October 28 with the two countries celebrating 75 years of international relations with first flight commencing on November 15, 2022.

The arrangement came at the backdrop of PIa still suffering from the ramifications of its licence issue dating back to the crash of Flight 8303 on 22 May 2020 after which, then Federal Minister for aviation, Ghulam Sarwar Khan al-

leged that 150 pilots had fake licences. This, subsequently, led to the European Union aviation Safety agency (EaSa) implementing a ban on the carrier, with the Federal aviation administration (Faa) in the US following suit with a similar restriction. These routes accounted for 30-37% of PIa’s revenue according to Khan.

“we operate six weekly flights from Islamabad and Lahore currently” says Khan. No further information has been given as to when this arrangement will be extended to outbound flights from Karachi, however, the extension is in the pipeline. PIa can currently accommodate 3,948 passengers across its six round trip flights, served through its Boeing 777’s that it utilises for the routes.

Stopgap solution

“honestly it’s not the same, in terms of a product. It’s not the same as direct connectivity, but it’s still better than whatever is available in the market,” said Khan

when asked whether this new mechanism was a satisfactory replacement to the direct flights that PIa offered previously.

“Direct flights are obviously better. however, we try to mitigate the back and forth on these flights. In terms of connectivity. It’s still the fastest. Istanbul is on the main route to Europe. You would have through it more or less in some capacity. we have also tried to utilise terminals where we could minimise the walk times. we opted for this instead of directing our passengers to hubs in the Gulf which would have elongated the flight’s duration by an additional three to four hours and where they would have to walk a one to one and a half kilometre,” Khan continues. There is no information as to when this agreement will lapse. “It’s a sustainable solution for the time being. If the restrictions on us (PIa) are rescinded then we can obviously review the agreement,” says Khan.

GRR IPO oversubscribed. What does it mean?

profit report

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Globe Residency REIT, Pakistan’s first development REIT, has been oversubscribed. according to details, GRR had offered 10% of its units in an IPO on the PSX earlier in the month. In response, GRR received applications for 38,794,500 units. Their offering had been for 14,000,000 units, which means the IPO was oversubscribed by 24,794,500 units, giving an oversubscription value of Rs 247,945,000. One unit was valued at Rs 10. a lottery is now likely to be conducted to award the shares. The IPO came as part of a legal necessity that requires real estate projects registered as REITS offer shares to the general public. What is a REIT?

The GRR is a real estate project launched in November 2021 which is building nine apartment complexes within the bounds of the Naya Nazimabad housing project — an ambitious undertaking by the javedan corporation to build a “city within a city” in Karachi. To anyone not keyed in to the specifics of and terminology being used, the above information is French. Essentially, a very brief summary of the entire matter is that arif habib Limited have launched this nine tower project by establishing a ‘Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)’, which is a special category of real estate project that brings public money into real estate projects through the stock market. The reason for establishing this REIT could be the tax-breaks that are offered by the government, but largely it seems that with dwindling trust in real estate the arif habib group

may be going this route to boost investor confidence.

The ‘REIT’ is a legal entity that either acquires land to develop real estate or acquires already developed real estate . The developed real estate is then either sold or rented out, and the money from this is then distributed among the unit holders or ‘shareholders’ in the REIT.

In Pakistan, going for a REIT offers many benefits in the form of tax breaks. For REIT projects, there is no tax on capital gains on transfer of immovable property.

Since REITs are collective investment schemes that take money from investors and deploy it in real estate projects. Because REITs are listed on the PSX, they offer a degree of protection and transparency that regular real estate projects just do not have. and with trust in real estate at an all-time low, a REIT project brings with it a certain level of legitimacy. What does the oversubscription indicate?

Essentially, there are two take-aways from this. The first is the very obvious fact that there are very few investment opportunities in Pakistan. On top of that, most people feel that real estate is a good avenue to invest in. however, recent years have seen a galore of real estate scams that have resulted in an aversion to the classic plot-flipping method of investment that a lot of people preferred. This was also the thesis of Profit’s pre-offering feature story on the GRR; that major shift is happening in Pakistan’s real estate market where property is no longer considered the hedge against inflation it once was. with investors also wary of the many scams and the lawless landscape of real estate in the country, developers are now looking for better ways to make real estate more liquid and transparent. But is it any different from regular real estate projects?

The answer is yes and no. On the one hand, The GRR offered an opportunity to invest in real estate in a different and apparently secure way. Since public money is involved in REITs, the SECP also keeps a direct eye on the matter. This way, regular Pakistanis for the first time have had the opportunity to not just invest in real estate but actually become real estate developers.

On the other hand, there is another issue with this project in particular. That is that the IPO is not being used to fund the project. In fact, the GRR’s management is happy to admit that the project itself is being run in the way all real estate development is funded in Pakistan — through customer advances.

It needs to be clearly understood that this is an “Offer for Sale” by the existing unitholder. This offering is not related to project financing”, says Muhammad Ejaz, CEO of arif habib Dolmen REIT — the management company that is overseeing the GRR. he says that they did not go the REIT route to collect money, and that the financing for this project was still mostly coming the typical way — buyers of apartment files making advance booking payments before the development stage, and installment payments during the development stage.

This is the major risk of the project. If the customer advances are delayed and usually they are due to circumstances beyond the customer’s control, the project will be delayed. The REIT doesn’t generate any cash flows. all the construction and expenses of the REIT are to be financed from the cash advances received from the customers. Thus the GRR unit investors are taking a punt on not only all the units selling but the buyers of these units making payments as per forecast.

Media speculation has been rife over the past month that Suzuki might be potentially replacing its wagonR and Bolan with the Every in its portfolio. The reports, however, have been termed as social media assumptions by a very high ranking source at Suzuki. The Suzuki wagon-R and the Bolan are supposedly on the chopping block for Suzuki. Media reports hint at the former being axed due to its termination in the Indonesian market last year, which was the main source for the car’s completely knocked-down (CKD) kits. Suzuki had continued the wagon-R in Pakistan due to its relative popularity. however, the current slump has supposedly made them reconsider their decision. In contrast, Bolan was touted to be replaced by the Suzuki Every which was unveiled at this year’s Pakistan auto Show. Media reports indicated that the swap decision, though still on the cards, has been delayed till further notice due to the current economic woes plaguing the automotive industry. “If we take any decision on the matter then we will convey it to the media and the industry” the source said.

bilawal defends ‘butcher of gujarat’ comment on modi

iSLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

minister

India, as the “butcher

Gujarat”

the sidelines of a United Nations meeting, noting that he merely referred to “a historical fact”. Modi, a far-right extremist, is accused of not doing enough to prevent the killings of nearly 1,000 Muslims during the 2002 riots in India’s western state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister. In saying so, Zardari responded to his Indian counterpart S. jaishankar’s propaganda who had called Pakistan “the host of Osama bin Laden” and the “perpetrator of terrorism” in the region.

The remark sparked outrage among Indian government officials, with foreign ministry spokesperson, arindam Bagchi, saying it was a “new low even for Pakistan.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, the foreign minister said: “I was referring to a historical reality. The remarks I used were not my own. I did not call I did not invent the term ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ for Mr Modi. The Muslims in India following the Gujarat riots used that term for Mr Modi.” “I believe I was referring to a historical fact, and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult,” he said. “It’s been two days since my remarks […] a member of Mr Modi’s party has announced a 20 million rupee bounty on my head. So, I don’t think the best way to disprove the fact that Mr Modi is the ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ is to adopt such extreme steps,” he said.

Fintech Akhtar Fuiou Technologies set to bring financial services to agriculture; gets pilot approval for EMI operations

EMI license in the May of last year.

Fintech company akhtar Fuiou Technologies (aFT) has received approval from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to commence pilot operations for an Electronic Money Instituion (EMI) license, as it sets eyes on bringing financial services to the largely informal agricultural sector.

Following the approval from the central bank, aFT will be commencing pilot operations for its agriculture focused fintech brand Digitt+ to digitise agricultural payments and distribution of credit products from licensed lenders to farmers.

Launched in late 2020, akhtar Fuiou Technologies is a joint venture between Pakistan’s akhtar Group, Chinese fintech company Fuiou Technologies and a third partner in the venture, Chinese eCommerce platform jollyChic. The company has thus far raised about $2 million in pre-seed funding, and received in-principle approval for

aFT is also arguably the first fintech company that is launching dedicated fintech products for the agriculture sector, that too as a licensed entity. Other EMIs, such as SadaPay and Nayapay, provide funds transfers, bill payments, and card transactions.

Finja on the other hand has a wallet for consumers and merchants but is more focused on providing working capital to merchants under its NBFC license.

Qasim akhtar Khan, founder and chief strategy officer at aFT, tells Profit that their first use case would be to digitise payroll at a sugar mill owned by the akhtar Group, followed by digitising payments from the mill to farmers for sugarcane procurement.

“we want to ensure timely payments to sugarcane farmers; we want to ensure that sugar mills get the visibility on cane procurement transactions,” says Qasim.

“If there are more and more transactions in which cane is procured directly from the farmer rather than the middleman, that results in better recovery for the sugar

mill, timely payment for the farmer, which will eventually result in better prices of the end product for consumers.”

Besides payments, Digitt+ will be gunning to open agriculture for access to finance from banks and other licensed financial institutions. agriculture has largely been considered high risk because of a lack of transparency in transactions, requiring expensive collateral in form of land against small loans. EMI aFT will helping secure sugarcane farmers secure loans from banks and other licensed entities by collateralising cane purchase receipt (CPR). CPR is issued by the sugar mills confirming that the payment is owed by the mill and the actual payment is made later.

“By collateralising the CPR, we are derisking what has historically been known as a risky target segment, the rural farmer in Pakistan. Most of their lending needs are fulfilled by a middleman who charges arbitrary rates, mostly predatory,” Qasim says.

The farmers sell the sugarcane to a mill but receive payments at a later date. The

farmer, due to the lag in recovery of payments, end up going to loan sharks to cover expenses related to farming the next crop.

wth the CPR collateralised, farmer would instead be able to get these loans from a bank or a non-banking finance company (NBFC) through the Digitt+ platform at better rates. “If the farmer is unable to make the payment back to the bank, that amount will be deducted from the CPR, derisking what has historically been a high risk segment for the banks.”

In addition, Qasim says, aFT will be targeting about 100,000 rural merchants, served by another one of their group companies for sale of consumer products, for payments and lending under the EMI license.

however, not all payments would be digitised through the EMI wallet due to limits on transfers by the central bank. Under the EMI regulations, payments of upto Rs500,000 can be made under the licence.

whereas payments to farmers from a sugar mill, for instance, can go up to tens of millions of rupees. Digitt+, therefore, plans

to start with payments of upto Rs500,000 under the wallet operations.

To overcome restrictions that come with an EMI license and to be able to lend from its own deposits, aFT is in the race for getting a digital banking license. The State Bank of Pakistan is in the process of finalising the names of five applicants that will receive the digital bank license this year.

In addition, aFT plans to apply for an NBFC license to be able to lend from its balance sheet, in case plans to become a digital bank do not materialise with this year’s licenses.

“at Digitt+, we are using technology to develop innovative digital financial products focusing on microservices to build a comprehensive platform that will enable the delivery of these solutions to a wide range of users, not only for the retail agri market but for the corporate sector as well, through the provision of specialized business tools.” added ahmed Saleemi, CEO of Digitt+, giving further insight on how the company would unlock the potential of the agri economy.

profit report taimooR haSSan

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has defended his remarks after referring to Narendra Modi, prime

of

of

on