Epaper_22-12-23 ISB

P u n j a b G o v e r n o r d e - n o t i f i e s C M a M i d ‘ t w i s t s a n d t u r n s ’ o f P o w e r s t r u G G l e

N m dst of the ongo ng power strugg e in Punjab Governor Baighur Rehman de-notified Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhr y Per vaiz Elahi through a not ficat on issued in the late hours of Thursday, effective y disso v ng the prov ncia cabinet

S i n c e C M h a s r e f r a n e d f r o m o bt a n i n g Vo t e o f C o n f i d e n c e a t t h e a pp o i n t e d d a y a n d t i m e t h e r e f o r e h e c e a s e s t o h o l d o f f c e O r d e r s s s u e d t h i s e v e n n g, ” h e w r o t e o n h i s o f f i c i a l Tw i t t e r h a n d l e, s h a r i n g a c o p y o f t h e n o t i f c a t i o n

“ Consequent to the facts that Ch Per vaiz Elahi, CM Punjab, refra ned from obtaining vote of confidence at 1600 hrs yesterday in line with an Order under Art cle 130 (7) of the Constitution of Islamic Republ c of Pak stan issued under my hand on 19th December 2022 n l ne with Rule 22 (7) of the Ru es of Procedures of Provincia Assemb y of Punjab 1997 and that he stil has not done so ever after the lapse of another twenty four hours I am satisf ed that he does not command the confidence of the ma ority of the members of the Punjab Assembly and therefore ceases to hold his office with immediate effect ” the notif cation stated

According to the notif cation the provincial cabinet stands dissolved and the chief minister is asked ot cont nue unti new CM is elected

In terms of Article 133 of the Constitution Ch Per va z Elahi former Chief Minister of the Punjab s hereby asked to continue to hold offic al unti his successor enters upon the office of the Ch ef Min ster ” it added

‘ G o v e r n o r s m o v e i l l e g a l a n d u n c o ns t i t u t i o n a l ’ : P T I s t a l w a r t Fa w a d C h a u d h r y r e j e c t e d t h e Pu n j a b g o v e rn o r s d e - n o t i f c a t i o n o f C h e f M i n i s t e r C h Pe r v a i z E l a h d e s c r i b i n g t h e g o v e rn o r s a c t “ i l l e g a a n d u n c o n s t i t u t i o n a ”

T h i s l l e g a l n o t i f i c a t o n i s s u e d b y t h e g o v e r n o r d o e s n o t i m p a c t t h e c h e f m i n s t e r o r t h e p r o v i n c i a l c a b i n e t i n a n y w a y a n d t h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r nment is work ng as usual he said whi e commenting on de-notification of Pun-

a b C M C h Pe r v a i z E l a h i a n d h i s c a bn e t b y t h e g o v e r n o r Fa w a d C h c l a i m e d t h a t a r e f e rence s be ng prepared to be sent to the president for remova of the Pun ab governor

He announced to chal enge the denotif cat on of Punjab Ch ef M n ster by Governor Balighur Rehman Fawad Ch announced that the party would chaenge the de-not fication of Punjab CM Per va z Elah n court terming the governor s move i legal Taking to Twitter the former federa min ster cla med that the governor ’s step to de-not fy Per va z E ah was not ega ly binding Elahi and the prov ncia cabinet will continue functioning as

usual he added D I S S O LU T I O N O F P U N J A B , K P A S S E MBLIES POSTPONED: Earlier, PTI eaders on T h u r s d a y s a d t h a t t h e p r o v i n c a a ss e m b i e s o f K h y b e r Pa k h t u n k h w a a n d Punjab were un kely to be dissolved on Fr i d a y ( t o d a y ) t h e d a t e p r e v o u s y g ven by party chairman Imran Khan and that the matter would extend into J a n u a r y b e c a u s e o f a c o n s t i t u t i o n a l cris s in Punjab

Former pr me minister mran Khan had ast week announced that h s governments in the two provinces will dissolve assemb ies to pave way for fresh e ections

However Punjab Assemb y (PA) Speaker and PT eader S btain Khan hinted Thursday that the disso ution may be extended t ll the first week of Januar y because of the vote of confidence and no-trust motion aga nst Chief Minister Per vaiz E ah

On December 19, Punjab Governor Ba ghur Rehman had asked Elahi to take a vote of conf dence by 4pm yesterday, whi e PML-N and PPP awmakers had submitted a no-trust motion against the chief minister

In response S bta n had disposed of the governor s order, saying that the instructions were aga nst the Constitution and Rules of Procedure”

In a tit-for-tat move, the governor declared the speaker s ru ing unconstitutiona ” and the coa it on government hinted at the imposition of the governor s rule in Punjab

In a media ta k today S bta n sa d: “ We [the PTI] had to d ssolve the assemblies tomorrow but this might be delayed t ll the first week of Januar y as the no-confidence motion was presented yesterday ”

Not ces in this regard have to be ssued first [ ] and the process w ll take a few more days,” he po nted out

And now that the no-conf dence vote has been submitted [ ] how can the assemb ies be disso ved?”

Regarding the vote of conf dence issue Sibtain Khan said that the governor could summon a specia PA session for the vote of confidence for the chief minister however he could not de-not fy the CM

Governor [Balighur Rehman] had sent a letter regarding the vote of conf dence The PA session s already underway We have responded to the governor s letter n wr ting however he cannot summon a new sess on in between the ongoing PA session as per the Constitution detailed Khan

“ The speaker is also represent ng a constitutional institut on like the governor As a speaker it is not my duty to protect the ch ef minister However have complete powers to enforce the law and protect the honour of the Punjab Assembly Neither any nstitution wi l be sea ed nor seized in violation of the Constitution and law Sibtain Khan said that he w ll ask the governor to not ssue il egal orders

KARACHi

The State Bank of Pak stan (SBP) reser ves clocked in at $6 1 bil on the owest they ve been since April 2014; after plummet ng $584 mill on th s week

“ During the week ended on 16-Dec2022, SBP s reser ves decreased by US$ 584 m ll on to US$ 6 116 2 mil ion due to external debt repayment ” said the SBP S&P Globa Ratings credit score for Pakistan was brought down a notch from B- to CCC+ due to the deteriorating fisca and econom c outlook for the nation

Pak stan s already low foreign exchange reser ves wi l rema n under pressure throughout 2023, barring a material dec ine n oi prices or a step-up in foreign assistance S&P analysts Andrew Wood and YeeFarn Phua wrote

We expect political uncerta nty to rema n elevated over the com ng quarters w th continued pressure from the opposit on to hold early elections added the S&P ana ysts Wh le the S&P upgraded Pak stan’s out ook from negative to stable; the cash strapped countr y has not had the best time with rating agenc es late y F tch Ratings and Moody ’s Investors Ser vice already rank the nation s US$7 8 bi lion in foreign bonds at seven notches be ow nvestment grade, the equ va ent of S&P s CCC+ rating Can we use all the reser ves?

It is important to note that not a l that is n the reser ves can be used by the government The reser ves include cap tal raised through Naya Pakistan Cert ficates Treasur y bil s and Pakistan Investment Bond Holdings These are encumbered reser ves An encumbrance is a restr ction placed on the use of funds The concept is most commonly used in governmental accounting where encumbrances are used to ensure that there w ll be suff cient cash avai able to pay for spec fic obl gations such as loan interest or cert ficate face value upon redemption/ repatriation Contrar y to popular belief, reser ve support from friendly countr es is not included in this amount “ State Bank of Pak stan would like to clarify that SBP liquid fore gn reser ves as published on SBP website do not include any encumbered assets; and accordingly 100% of the SBP Reser ves are fully usable for all purposes exp a ned the SBP n response to a quer y

Moreover the reser ve pos tion is sign ficantly more ser ous ow ng to the import cover fa ling The import cover for the countr y stands at a meager 1 16 months signifying liqu dity and foreign exchange crunch

Why is a low impor t cover alar ming?

Foreign exchange reser ves are assets held on reser ve by the SBP in foreign currencies These reser ves are used to back liabilities and influence monetar y po icy They nclude any fore gn money held by the SBP These may inc ude foreign currenc es bonds treasur y b lls and other

government securities

Economists suggest that it ’s best to hold fore gn exchange reser ves in a currency that is not d rectly connected to the countr y s own currency Most of these reser ves are he d n the U S do lar since t is the most traded currency n the wor d

A genera measure to know whether the reser ves are adequate enough or not is to ook at the import cover Countries shou d ho d reser ves covering 100 percent of short-term debt or the equivalent of 3 months worth of mports

Import cover is the number of months of imports that cou d be covered by a countr y s international reser ves mport cover is an important ndicator of the stabil ty of a currency

Some crises resu t from the withdrawal of foreign capital while others involve the loss of export income or cap tal fl ght by domestic residents These r sks should also be taken nto account when ascertain ng the evel of reser ves For countries where there are drains n the balance of payments because of terms of trade shocks, volat le aid, fore gn direct nvestment and rem ttance inflows and outflows the mport cover remains a useful too As per a study by the IMF, three months of imports remains broad y appropriate for countries with flex ble exchange rates, given the estimated benefits provided by reser ves n reducing both the probab lity and impact of shocks The analysis also suggests that countries w th good inst tut ons and po icies need lower levels of reser ves

LAHORE

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday re terated his demand for early elect ons warning that “countr y was s ipping deeper into a quagmire Previous y they [PML-N] were cha lenging us to dissolve assemb ies but when we dec ded to go ahead with th s decision they introduced two mot ons ” he said whi e addressing the PT protesters via video v deo ink from his Zaman Park residence n Lahore

He was referring to the no-confidence mot on subm tted aga nst Chief Minister Per vaiz Elahi by PPP and PML-N awmakers on Monday and Governor Balighur Rehman s move to order a vote of confidence n a bid to foresta l the d ssolut on of the provinc al assembly

The PTI supporters were staging a demonstrat on outside Punjab Governor House protest Governor Baighur Rehman s potent al move to denot fy CM Per vaiz Elah

I have never witnessed countr y h e a d i n g t o w a r d s d a r k n e s s i n t h e h i s t o r y l i ke t o d a y, ” s a i d t h e f o r m e r p r e m e r Imran sa d he had been demanding ear y po ls not for his party but for the countr y as PTI was already in power in two provinces of the countr y Who want to topp e h s own government as a most 66 per cent of countr y is under our rule then why do we need to do this because countr y is plunging into quagmire he added

Without naming anyone, mran blamed one person for the preva lng econom c and po it cal crises

“ He did to countr y what no enemy cou d do e ght months ago he said while apparently referring to his ouster from power via oppos tion s no-conf dence motion

That a man in enm ty against us put the whole countr y n troub e because of that one man we were treated l ke enemy or traitor he added

The former premier said the countr y was witness ng highest economic growth in its h stor y when h s government was toppled

He went on to say that one man” was sti l tr ying to damage h s party and get h m d squalif ed folow ng the failed assass nation attempt on his life Journal sts and soc al media activists who wrote in our support were brutally tortured ”

LAHORE/iSLAMABAD/pESHAWAR

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S ta f f R e p o R t

S n a p p o l l s o n l y w a y t o s t e e r c o u n t r y o u t o f q u a g m i r e , r e i t e r a t e s I m r a n K h a n

F a w a d C h a n n o u n c e s t o c h a l l e n g e d e - n o t i f i c a t i o n o f P u n j a b C M i n c o u r t

G o v t t o p r o t e c t m i n o r i t i e s ’ r i G h t s i n l i n e w i t h Q u a i d ’ s t e a c h i n G s : p m

ISLAMABAD

religions in the country had equal constitutional and political rights and they were allowed to take part in all fields of life, he added

pr

i

m e minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday

assured that the government would protect the rights of people from all religious minorities, including Christians Sikhs Hindus and Parsis and ensure a secure environment for them Speaking at a ceremony organized here to celebrate Christmas he said We want that Pakistan should move forward according to the thinking and teachings of the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama muhammad iqbal, who called for peace and brotherhood among all religions

He reminded that Quaid-e-Azam muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his speech on August 11, 1947, gave a clear message about the equality of rights of minorities Under the Constitution of Pakistan, people of all

detailed judgment finds swati guilt y of inciting public to commit treason

ISLAMABAD S ta f f r e P o r t

A special court in islamabad said it found Senator Azam Swati of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaf (PTi) party guilty of inciting the public to commit treason over sending out tweets criticising the interference of the military in national politics in a detailed six-page judgment in the case, the judge declared Swati ran a malicious campaign against the military through his Twitter handle The judgement also said the parliamentarian attempted to incite the public against servicemen Arrested by the Federal investigation Agency (FiA) in November, Swati was charged by the government with libel The agency detained Swati after he pressed the former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa on details of his ballooning financial assets Swati had been arrested in October as well for using “obnoxious and intimidating language to criticise the retired general state institutions and other government officials

lhc allows suspended pml-n lawmakers to attend pa session

LAHore t Lt P

The Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench has allowed Pakistan muslim League-Nawaz’s (PmL-N) 18 provincial assembly lawmakers to participate in the session fixed for taking up the no trust motion submitted by the opposition against Punjab’s Chief minister Pervaiz elahi, Speaker Sibtain Khan and the deputy speaker earlier on December 20, the LHC had also allowed the same PmL-N mPAs to participate in the December 21 session summoned by the governor of Punjab requiring Cm elahi to obtain vote of confidence Previously, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly (PA) Sibtain Khan had banned the entry of 18 PmL-N lawmakers for the duration of 15 proceedings of the provincial legislature The action was taken due to their alleged misconduct by hampering the house’s proceedings on October 22, when former chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was presenting a resolution against the election Commission of Pakistan’s (eCP) decision of disqualifying ex-premier imran Khan The TLTP learnt that the notification issued by the assembly secretariat had stated that the aforesaid lawmakers “made a hue and cry” when the resolution was being presented i (speaker) requested them not to hamper the proceedings of the House but they continued raising slogans, used derogatory remarks, and blowing whistles, the statement had noted

ihc grants protective bail to pm’s son-in-law

The islamabad High Court (iHC) on Thursday granted protective bail to Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif ’s sonin-law Haroon Yousaf Aziz A two-member bench of the iHC, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar ejaz ishaq Khan heard a petition filed by Aziz s counsel in the assets beyond means case it may be noted that Aziz was amongst several other accused alongside Pm Shehbaz standing trial in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference of money laundering involving a sum of over rs7 billion Apart from Shehbaz, NAB had nominated his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, sons Hamza Shahbaz and Suleman Shahbaz, daughters rabia imran and Javeria Ali his son-in-law Haroon Yousaf Aziz as benamidars and two employees of the then chief minister ’s secretariat Nisar Ahmad and Ali Ahmad Khan and an employee of ramzan Sugar mills Limited, Syed Tahir Naqvi as their front persons

Unfortunately, Pm Shehbaz said due to extremism and terrorism in the last decades a number of incidents happened which was unfortunate and weakened the protections given to the minorities who felt threatened and vulnerable

However, the Pakistani state succeeded in eradicating terrorism and extremism, he said while referring to the latest incident in Bannu where terrorists made people hostage but later they were killed by armed forces The personnel of armed forces embraced martyrdom during the incident he noted

While felicitating the Christian community on Christmas, he said, “We all share the happiness of the Christian community on this auspicious occasion

He lauded the Christian community for its sacrifices and services for the nation right from the start of the movement for the independence of Pakistan

People from all walks of life including teachers, students religious scholars doctors engineers and labour contributed to the country’s freedom, he observed “We value from the core of our heart your services for Pakistan Your services for the progress and development of Pakistan will be remembered in golden words Justice Cornelius, Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry and Sister ruth Pfau who was German and served the Pakistani nation for 55 years, were examples of service to Pakistan ”

He said the Christian community contributed immensely in the fields of education and defence “i myself got education in a missionary school Sacred Heart He said Hazrat isa gave a message of peace

brotherhood and love to the humanity The Holy Quran mentioned Hazrat isa and Hazrat maryam on numerous occasions, he said, adding all religions promoted peace and brotherhood in the world

“People from all religions across the world whether Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis or muslims wanted to live in peace and harmony Nobody should oppress and do injustice to others or violate rights of others and change religion of each other by force islam nor any other religion allow this ” islam ordered that rights of people of all religions should be protected, he stressed He assured that as per demand of the religious minorities a national minority commission would be formed after legislation in the Parliament

Elahi ceased to hold office after skipping confidence vote: Sana

Chaudhry Pervaiz elahi has ceased to hold the office of the chief minister of Punjab after he stalled the governor s order to obtain a vote of confidence from the provincial legislative assembly by Wednesday afternoon declared the minister for interior on Thursday rana Sanaullah Khan, who was speaking to the press in Lahore said the law was clear in such a scenario and elahi, who is allied with his rival Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaf (PTi) party, cannot ask the governor to dissolve the

parliament now Such a situation would be “illegal and unconstitutional,” and against the rules governing the house he added Baligh ur-rehman, Pakistan muslim League-Nawaz (PmL-N) governor of the province had on Tuesday night asked elahi to obtain the vote, apparently in a bid to prevent the PTi from going ahead with the scheduled dissolution of the assembly on Friday imran Khan, the former prime minister and chairperson of the party, announced last week he would dissolve two provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday, earlier than scheduled, in an attempt to

build pressure on the federal government to hold snap elections Subsequently, on Wednesday, in the face of the provincial government s intention not to comply with the governor ’s directive, Sanaullah claimed if the order was not followed through the governor may notify the chief minister ceasing to hold office

“The governor ’s order denotifying elahi as the chief minister is now just a formality,” he told the media on Thursday “i think it will be issued today The minister added that a notification will be issued as soon as the governor issues an order, and it will be implemented immediately

if this constitutional decision is resisted and its implementation is stopped, the governor can write to the federal government he said After the cabinet’s approval, the federal government can send his advice to the president to approve the imposition of governor ’s rule in the province ”

T h e i n t e r i o r m i n i s t e r a s s e r t e d t h e p r e s i d e n t w a s b o u n d t o f o l l o w t h e a d v i c e o f t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r O n t h e a s s i s t a n c e o f t h e P T i t h a t i t w o u l d w r i t e t o A r i f A l v i t o r e m o v e t h e governor, the interior minister said the p r e s i d e n t w a s b o u n d t o f o l l o w t h e orders of the prime minister

Pakistan gets $281m to combat HIV, tuberc ulosis, malaria

The Global Fund to Fight AiDS, Tuberculosis and malaria has allocated over $281 million for Pakistan to combat the diseases for the next three years, a spokesperson for the ministry of National Health Services told Xinhua The agency has helped Pakistan counter diseases and will continue it for the upcoming three years, Sajid Hussain Shah said The funds will be transferred to national departments dealing with disease control across the country, which will use them to protect the local community from HiV, tuberculosis and malaria said the official A decision was adopted earlier in November to make the allocation for 2023-2025 for building resilient and sustainable health systems in Pakistan, the official said

Punjab Governor de -notifies CM amid ‘t wists and turns’ of power struggle

ContInueD froM pAge 01

He added that he is not sending a letter to the president regarding the governor, however, he will write a letter to the president in accordance with the law if the Cm is de-notified by the governor

To another question regarding Ch Shujaat Hussain, Khan replied that PmL-Q president is a respectable person, however, he has no connection with the Punjab government He added that the parliamentary party has powers to decide on vote in the assemblies K P A s s e m b ly d i s s o l u t i o n P o s t P o n e d: Separately, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief minister mahmood Khan said that the PTi has decided to postpone the dissolution of the provincial assembly until the fate of the Punjab Assembly is decided i n a m e d i a t a l k o u t s i d e t h e H a y a t a b a d S p o r t s Complex in Peshawar today mahmood said: “imran K h a n w i

Assembly

“right now consultation on the matter of the Punjab Assembly is under way The decision regarding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will be taken after these discussions ”

The chief minister added that he was in contact with his party s senior leadership Up until now, imran has not given me any directions on the dissolution i will contact imran today but first a decision regarding the Punjab Assembly will be taken H i g H A l e rt i n P u n j A b A m i d c o n s t i t u t i o n A l c r i s i s : The showdown between the PTi-PmL-Q s Punjab government and the Pakistan Democratic movement (PDm) coalition escalated after Punjab Governor Balighur rehman declared Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan’s ruling as illegal and ultra vires of the constitution

The PA speaker had ruled that the governor had no right to call the assembly session meanwhile, PmL-N leader Atta Tarar claimed that the Punjab governor had every right to de-notify the chief minister over failure to obtain a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly Speaking to media outside the Governor s House he said it was the governor s prerogative to de-notify Ch Pervaiz elahi from the Chief minister Office minister of interior rana Sanaullah also said the Punjab governor had the power to ask the chief minister to take a vote of confidence any time meanwhile, Punjab rangers have been deployed at Governor s House Lahore on the order of the interior ministry ahead of PTi s protest call The Centre is also mulling deployment of paramilitary forces across Punjab to maintain law and order Sources privy to the development said interior minister rana Sanaullah had directed the chief secretary and the Punjab iGP to take measures to protect the public property and ensure law and order c H s H u j A At c A l l s o n Z A r d A r i At b i l AwA l H o u s e: Following the submission of noconfidence motion, PmL-Q President Ch Shujaat and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari had third meeting on Thursday and this time Ch Shujaat visited Bilawal House Lahore The meeting was also attended by Federal minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Sindh minister Nasir Hussain Shah

During the meeting, matters related to Punjab’s political situation, dissolution of Punjab Assembly and no-confidence motion came under discussion A consultation was also held on future plan of action for the province’s political crisis

According to sources privy to the meeting, Cm Pervaiz elahi was in contact with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Asif Zardari after submission of no-

confidence motion Sources within PPP claimed that Pervaiz elahi and the party was on same page for dissolution of the assembly earlier in the day it was reported that Punjab Chief minister (Cm) Pervaiz elahi decided to attend a session of Punjab Assembly (PA) tomorrow after the submission of no-confidence motion

Cm Pervaiz elahi would meet Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan and also chair a joint parliamentary meeting of Pakistan muslim LeagueQuaid (PmL-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi) it is pertinent to mention here that a session of the Punjab Assembly (PA) was adjourned till December 23 (Friday) without any proceedings amid ruckus by opposition PA Speaker Sibtain Khan adjourned the session of Punjab Assembly till Friday without any proceedings The quorum was not fulfilled and the session was lasted for only 15 minutes

P m l - Q P u n i s H e s K A m i l A g H A o v e r ‘ r e b e l l i o n ’: in stunning development on Thursday, the PmL-Q on Thursday ousted Senator Kamil Ali Agha who is a part of Chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz elahi group, from the post of Punjab secretary general for passing a resolution against party President Ch Shujaat Hussain

The basic membership of the party leader was also terminated, and was barred from using the party’s name

PmL-Q Central Secretary General Tariq Bashir Cheema wrote a letter to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and the election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) to terminate Agha s upper house membership

According to the notification issued by Cheema, Agha was removed from the post of provincial secretary general, and his party membership was terminated it stated that a show-cause notice was sent to Agha on the instructions of PmL-Q chief Shujaat

LAHore S ta f f r e P o r t

ISLAMABAD

LAHORE: Large number of Punjab Rangers and Police personnel deployed inside and outside Governor’s House

Photo by zubair Mehfooz

paKistan, us will worK toGether to ensure reGional peace: Bil awal

nations were committed to strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation

9 i n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e o n C l i m a t e r e s i l i e n t

Pakistan in Geneva,” said Ned Price, a spokesperson of the State Department Sherman also expressed condolences for lives lost in recent Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks, noting the two

The law-and-order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has gone south over the last few weeks as an increase has been noticed in threats and attacks on security forces and high-profile politicians

Later, in a tweet, Zardari recalled he had a productive meeting with Sherman, where he appreciated the role of the US in flood relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction

The two sides discussed Congress important role in strengthening PakistanUS cooperation in flood relief measures

S B P u r g e s b a n k s t o b a c k c l i m at e - c h a n g e h i t a g r i s e c t o r

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

The ACAC deliberated on the new directions in agricultural financing particularly regarding climate smart agriculture practices and the role that financial institutions can play moreover, the champion banks, nominated by the ACAC to spearhead the efforts in underserved areas, presented the progress in their respective assigned underserved provinces or regions

Threat from climate change:

This year s floods have illustrated more than anything the impact of climate change in Pakistan, and more importantly the devastating threat it poses to Pakistan’s agriculture, livestock, and consequently food security in short climate change has resulted in a gargantuan increase in the amount of monsoon rainfall that Sindh and Balochistan have seen this year The two provinces saw the highest amount of water fall from the skies in living memory, recording 522% and 469% more

than the normal downpour this year according to the met department

All in all, according to the latest report of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), Pakistan needs at least $16 3 billion for post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction The PDNA report, released by the representatives of the government and the international development institutions, calculated the cost of floods at $30 1 billion – $14 9 billion in damages and $15 2 billion in

losses

The problem with this of course, is that even if these funds come through from the international community in the form of soft loans, aid, or reparations, the small-scale farmers mentioned earlier in the report may not benefit from them

Pakistan faces a problem where even if it is given the climate financing that it is asking for it will not know how to spend this money effectively it is not a question of financing

but of governance Just look at what you need to be spending money on”, says Ali Sheikh, an expert on climate change and development

“You need it for research and development The losses that have been calculated are all infrastructural, but there is very little attention that has been paid to more long-term solutions Losses in agriculture are becoming more and more severe and predictable for example but they continue to happen every single year”

shujaat removes senator Kamil agha for violating par t y discipline

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan muslim League-Quaid (PmL-Q) President Ch Shujaat Thursday expelled Senator Kamil Ali Agha, who is a part of Chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz elahi group, from the post of Punjab secretary general for passing a resolution against party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain The basic membership of the party leader was also terminated, and was barred from using the party’s name PmL-Q Central Secretary General Tariq Bashir Cheema wrote a letter to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and the election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) to terminate Agha’s upper house membership According to the notification issued by Cheema, Agha was removed from the post of provincial secretary general, and his party membership was terminated it stated that a show-cause notice was sent to Agha on the instructions of PmL-Q chief Shujaat Agha was asked for a clarification over a meeting held at the PmL-Q House on July 28, after which another notice was issued on August 4

However, he could not explain the “illegal and unconstitutional move Agha was accused of deliberately harming the honour and status of the PmLQ president “You have violated the code of conduct of the party which has caused immense damage to the party ” the letter issued by Cheema stated

Fauji Fer tilizer temporarily closes dap plant

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

The balanced use of fertilisers can improve wheat productivity by 35 percent and maize by 40 percent, which are the leading contributors to Pakistan’s economy

A b o u t t H e c o m PA n y

But that is not the case as the government diverted the expensive LNG to domestic consumers which cannot afford to pay for it This has resulted in ballooning receivables from the twin gas distributors on the balance sheets of energy exploration corporations primarily the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL)

To summarise it the government has not paid up the subsidy amount it owes to SNGPL and SSGC for providing gas at lower rates than what it actually costs

The debt is parked within other state owned enterprises, as is the common practice of the government even though the government really hasn’t formally defined what constitutes circular debt in the gas sector experts use Sui receivables in the accounts of OGDC and PPL as a proxy to gauge the amount of circular debt

Due to dwindling indigenous natural gas supplies, Pakistan’s reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG) has grown in recent years As a result, the stock of circular debt in the gas sector has expanded substantially during the last

three years

The recent war in Ukraine also shot up LNG prices in the international market through the roof coupled with rupee depreciation against the dollar, it spelled disaster These two factors have had a huge impact on inflating the domestic gas circular debt to alarming levels w H At i s t H e g o v e r n m e n t d o i n g A b o u t i t?

The government announced the formation of a committee on Wednesday to undertake the task of settling the gas sector circular debt, empowering the committee to make meaningful decisions will be another challenge in itself

As per the latest information the committee s Terms of reference (TOrs) include a complete mapping of the gas sector circular debt stock as of June 30, 2022, differentiating principal amount of debt surcharges and penalties

The committee’s other TOrs are to devise a comprehensive circular debt settlement plan based on cash/non-cash release adjustments and to determine the legal and procedural prerequisites for implementing the settlement plan earlier this year the PTi government

passed the Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG)” to address the woes of the energy sector Through this pricing mechanism the government would proportionally include the cost of LNG along with the cost of local gas into the domestic price of the commodity thereby having a price that represents the actual cost

However, in its report regarding WACOG, brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) at the time also stated that, “perhaps, the most impacted would be the residential consumers who form 44% of the total gas sales mix of the country However, we believe the lowest tariff bracket (which makes up 40% of the residential demand and has a current tariff of rs121/mmbtu) will continue to be shielded through a targeted subsidy

This continues to be the case as the country’s reliance on LNG increases This is due to depletion of local reserves, of course and has to therefore be diverted to the domestic market at a price lower than the actual costs

While talking to Profit a senior professional in the LNG industry, Saad Ahmed Qazi, said that there is one and only one way to end the gas sector circular debt problem: Charge the end consumers

the actual cost of the gas they use

“The issue is simply arithmetic,” he said, explaining that “if a commodity costs you $10 and you sell at a price of $6 you will incur a loss That loss will compound over time- we call it the circular debt Whether that loss is in the form of unaccounted for gas, subsidies, or simply refusal to increase the price, it is irrelevant Saad further went on to add that, “if the government is not able to recover the costs it takes to import the gas, it will inevitably end up as circular debt in the value chain in one form or another” However it might be unlikely that this mechanism would be used given the resistance at a provincial level The argument of the provinces is simple: Why should they bear the cost of LNG being primarily supplied to consumers in Punjab as they have enough production of gas to meet their required provincial demand Alternatively for long-term sustainability, incentives for supporting local gas exploration and production operations along with encouraging international players to participate in the domestic market is essential, according to Pak-Kuwait investment Company Ltd Head of research Samiullah Tariq

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) was incorporated in 1993 it is mainly involved in the manufacturing purchasing marketing and distribution of chemical fertilizers for the farmers and agriculture sector of Pakistan FFBL is the only manufacturer of DAP and Granular Urea in Pakistan FFBL commenced its commercial operations in 2000 in 2005, Fauji Group started a Joint Venture with Office Cherifien des Phosphates Group (OCP) and formed a new entity with the name of Pakistan maroc Phosphore S A (PmP) FFBL has 25% equity holding in PmP and has ensured its continuous supply of Phosphoric Acid P2O5 which is a raw material for production of DAP Fertilizer The Fauji Group as part of its diversification strategy acquired 21 57% of shares in Askari Bank and 50 59% shares in Fauji Foods Limited (FFL) formerly Noon Pakistan Limited FFBL has also diversified in the energy sector and has 35 % stakes each in Foundation Wind energy-i & Foundation Wind energy-ii (FWei & ii) FFBL has majority stakes in its two unlisted subsidiaries, FFBL Power Company Limited (FPCL) and Fauji meat Limited (FmL), besides its 100% ownership in FFBL Foods Limited

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

On the occasion, Cm Pervaiz elahi informed that malala Yousafzai had made a request for the recruitment of 25 000 teachers in the schools during her recent meeting with him He directed to complete the induction process of 25 000 teachers at the earliest The Punjab cabinet took a mega step with regard to provision of justice to the common man and approved Punjab Public Defender Service Bill 2020 to provide free legal aid The Cm said that the Punjab government will provide free legal aid to the unprivileged and the process would also help create 1,000 employment opportunities, adding that provision of justice to the common man will be ensured The Punjab cabinet approved extension in the scope of provision of solar pumps for the farmers across the province The Cm maintained that agriculture sector will prosperous with the launch of solar pumps provision programme The provision of water will be ensure to the farmers and would

increase agricultural production it was decided during the Punjab cabinet meeting to formulate a new policy so as to grant ownership rights to the residents of Katchi Abadies

T

approval to establish sports endowment

elahi revealed that international coaches

welfare of players

Approval was accorded to grant special allowance to the leady health supervisors of irmNCH and Nutrition Programme Punjab The Cm approved increase in special allowance up to rs5,000 The approval was also granted during the meeting for the special grant of Punjab institute of Language Art and Culture (PiLAC) worth rs250 million

The Cm outlined that all possible steps will be taken to promote Punjabi Language and Culture in the province

Approval was granted to amend reviewed Punjab Government Advertisement Policy 2020 The Cm censured that Shehbaz Sharif ruined the advertisement policy, adding that it was necessary to provide adequate quota of advertisements to the regional newspapers along with the national newspapers

The Cm highlighted that the amount of work which was done in last four months could not be done in the last ten years The masses can be imparted awareness only through advertisement He directed to lay special focus on the social media and remarked that the present era belongs to digital media Social media wing will be made more effective in the DGPr office The cabinet also granted approval to provide additional resources for the Annual Development Programme 2022-23 The Cm revealed that rs50 billion had been added to the size of ADP to rs726 billion from rs685 billion rs85 billion additional is being spent in the development funds during five months of the current fiscal year in comparison to

last year Approval was granted to make amendments in the Public Sector Universities Act 2022 during the meeting Approval was garneted to delegate the appointment authority to the Higher education Department for appointing principals up to grade 19 in the government colleges

The Punjab cabinet also approved purchase of 300 environment friendly hybrid buses to be run Lahore The Cm disclosed that rs15 billion will be spent on the purchase of 300 environment friendly buses Separate bus stop will be established and separate buses will be run for women in Lahore Special seats will be fixed near the doors of buses for blind and other differently-abled persons Approval was granted for the appointment of caretaker General manager Punjab Pension Funds muhammad Sajid The Punjab cabinet also granted approval to start the recruitment process for the appointment on regular basis for the post of general manager Punjab Pension Funds to the management committee

WASHIngton S ta f f r e P o r t

G N minister Bilawal

Bhutto-Zardari has said Pakistan would continue

“Pakistan and the United States will continue to work together to further enhance and diversify bilateral relations, and promote peace and stability in the region he said in a separate meeting with Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat member of the American Senate the foreign minister thanked him for his steadfast support for Pakistan

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

Govt wakes up to circular debt in the gas sector. Why does it matter?

S I n d h t o e x p e l u n d o c u m e n t e d K A r A c h I

I m m I g r A n t S t o A r r e S t S u r g e I n c r I m e

i o -

The chief minister presided over a meeting, with heads of security agencies in attendance where the focus was converged on the rising crime in the province, particularly the metropolis Shah urged the director general of Sindh

Rangers, Maj Gen Azhar Waqas, to speed up province-wide intelligence-based operations (IBOs) and put suspected robbers behind bars He also directed Sindh police to take strict action against people found involved in violent robberies

“We will not allow terrorism to rear its ugly head again in the country, as the terr o r i s t s w a n t t o s a b o t a g e p e a c e ” s a i d t h e chief executive

It was worth mentioning here that Karachi although notorious for its pick-

pockets and bag snatchers since at least the arrival of the PPP in 2008 has witnessed an alarming increase in street crime after the historic flooding completely submerged onethird of Pakistan

Following the calamity half of the criminals nabbed by police turned out to be people belonging to other parts of the country, mostly flood victims Street crime killed 385 across Karachi in 2018 and 393 people in 2021 At least 3 6 9 s u s p e c t e d k i l l e r s w e r e a r r e s t e d u n t i l

Christians playing commendable role in Pak istan’s development, says Punjab governor

LAHORE S

Punjab Governor Baleeghur Rehman has praised the contributions of Pakistani Christians in the progress and development of the country, especially in the fields of education, health and defence

Addressing the annual Christmas dinner of IBADAT Trust and tree lighting ceremony at St Thomas Center on Wednesday night, Governor Rehman said IBADAT Trust was playing a commendable role in addressing illiteracy in Pakistan

IBADAT has imparted education to over 0 5 million people since its inception in 1980, making them responsible citizens, the governor said, as he appreciated the efforts of the organisation’s leadership for promotion of education in Pakistan Rehman also lauded the community’s services in various sectors particularly education, health and defence, saying Pakistani Christians have always worked for the betterment of society and overall progress of the country “I especially want to express my gratitude to the Christian community and church organisations for helping the government

in aiding the flood affectees in their time of need,” he said

Addressing the occasion, Church of Pakistan Moderator Bishop Dr Azad Marshall thanked the Punjab governor for acknowledging the community’s contributions in the country s development “On behalf of the Christian community I want to assure the Pakistani State of our commitment and dedication to the progress of Pakistan and for its defence”

“Christians are patriotic Pakistanis and continue to serve the nation with dedication commitment and compassion in all spheres of life

Though our community continues to face socio-economic challenges, yet we are hopeful that the state institutions will work to address our concerns, he said Bishop Azad said the Christian community, including churches and faithbased organisations, were continuing their work of providing relief to the flood survivors “We have not forgotten our brothers and sisters in their time of need On the occasion of Christmas I would like to appeal my community members to keep the flood affectees in their prayers and support them in standing back on their feet,” he said

August this year

In 2018, 2,211 vehicles were snatched and 26 846 stolen and 15 678 reported armed robberies of mobile phones Three years later, in 2021, 4,783 cars were snatched 49 608 stolen and 25 000 cell phones snatched

The police told the committee Karachi witnessed a sharp increase in street crime in recent months

They also claimed to have taken measures to improve law and order

Belgian Ambassador expresses solidarit y with flood-affected people

ISLAMABAD

LONDON a f p

A Pakistan-origin chef from Glasgow, who is believed to have invented the curry dish chicken tikka masala, has died at the age of 77 a family member told AFP on Wednesday Ahmed Aslam Ali, who invented the dish by improvising a sauce made from a tin of tomato soup at his restaurant Shish Mahal in the 1970s died on Monday morning, his nephew Andleeb Ahmed said He would eat lunch in his restaurant every day, Ahmed said “The restaurant was his life The chefs would make curry for him I am not sure if he often ate chicken tikka masala Ahmed said his uncle was a perfectionist and highly driven “last year he was unwell and I went to see him in hospital on Christmas Day, Ahmed said “His head was slumped down I stayed for 10 minutes Before I left, he lifted his head and said you should be at work In an interview with AFP in 2009, Ali said he came up with the recipe for chicken tikka masala after a customer complained that his chicken tikka was too dry Chicken tikka masala was invented in this restaurant we used to make chicken tikka and one day a customer said, ‘I’d take some sauce with that, this is a bit dry’,” Ali said “We thought we’d better cook the chicken with some sauce So from here we cooked chicken tikka with a sauce that contains yogurt, cream, and spices ” The dish went on to become the most popular dish in British restaurants Although it is difficult to prove definitively where the dish originated, it is generally regarded as a curry adapted to suit Western tastes Ali said the chicken tikka masala is prepared according to customer taste

Ambassador

said

Pakistan

January 16 to 20 2023 would enhance parliamentary cooperation between both nations The speaker said that Pakistan had been facing severe impacts of global climate change as there has been severe destruction of properties and loss of lives of common people He also said that the Pakistani economy is agriculturebased and flash floods have destroyed the agriculture sector He said that the world was facing global climate challenges, adding only collective effort can transform these challenges into opportunities He also appreciated the support of the Belgian people and government for being the first country to support Pakistan in flood rehabilitation initiatives The speaker stressed on the need to further develop contact between the business communities of both countries to tap the massive economic potential in Pakistan He said Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Belgium as these relations are based on close people-to-people contacts ” The Belgian ambassador appreciated the Speaker National Assembly for his warm welcome He also appreciated the comprehensive schedule of 7-member Belgium’s parliamentary delegation to Pakistan He said that both Belgium and Pakistan share the same cultural and language diversity He added that Belgium was the first country to support Pakistan especially in flood relief efforts Convener Pakistan-Belgium Parliamentary Friendship Group MNA Asia Azeem was also present at the meeting It is pertinent to mention that seven members of the Belgium Parliamentary delegation would visit Pakistan from January 16-21, 2023

KARACHI

chief

of Belgium Charles Delogne called on Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf at Parliament House on Thursday Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf said that enhancing parliamentary interactions and economic cooperation was vital for the prosperity of people and their well-being He

that the official visit of the 7-member Belgium s Parliamentary delegation in

from

corporate corner

KP CM

inaugurates newly-built

BoK Head O ffice Tower

ProTecTIoN of PublIc lIfe, hoNor ANd ProPerT y foreMoST PrIorIT y: IGP

LAHore S ta f f R e p o R t

NE W Ly-P o S T E D Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Amir Zulfiqar Khan on Thursday said that supremacy of constitution and adherence to the law is the main component of his policy

Talking to media representatives after assuming charge of his office at Central Police office, here on Thurs-

day, he said that protection of life, honor and property of citizens and their selfless service will be ensured

The IGP Punjab said that the people are the most important for him and no effort will be spared to provide the best services to them He said that the public order will be maintained in all cases while highlighting the atmosphere of security among the citizens

He said that special measures will be taken to raise morale of police force so that the officials performing field duty in

particular, continue to perform their duties more diligently The IG Punjab said that the supervisory officer who will do good work will get the best posting while there will be no delay in departmental and legal action under zero tolerance for nonprofessionalism He said that he will visit the districts and regions regularly so that the problems can be solved at the grass root level He said that in view of the current situation of terrorism in the country, the security measures should be further improved and the destruction of anti-so-

cial elements will be accelerated under the proactive policy He said that the promotion of IT-based policing and the modern trends prevailing at the global level will be adopted so that the process of public service delivery can be improved through effective policing

The IG Punjab said that media and the police have a close relationship media should keep pointing out the problems and crimes in the society so that criminals could be eradicated with timely measures

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

NdcTech wins Best D igital Platform Implementation accolade at IBS i Global Fintech Innovation Awards 2022

KARAcHi: NdcTech a long-standing partner of Temenos and wholly owned subsidiary of Systems Limited has recently won the Best Digital Channel/Platform Implementation Award at the IBS Intelligence Global Fintech Innovation Awards 2022 The 4th edition of IBSi’s Global FinTech Innovation Awards identifies and honors technology players, banks, and financial institutions from more than 47 countries for their excellence in driving impact through successful implementations and innovations using emerging technologies NdcTech was also one of the prestigious organizations to participate in the awards and secured an accolade for the Best Digital Channel/Platform Implementation for the successful transformation of Bank of Punjab, a leading financial institution with 2 5 million customers and a network of 640 branches across Pakistan This award recognizes NdcTech’s maturity in program governance, use of industry best practices & frameworks as well as execution excellence while delivering value to the bank With NdcTech’s support, the bank launched Digi-BOP, its digital banking platform on Temenos Infinity It is the fastest digital banking implementation in the region delivered by NdcTech This reflects NdcTech’s capabilities, expert support and timely implementation that accelerated the bank’s growth trajectory and allowed it to provide frictionless omnichannel customer experiences through an extensive range of products and services p R E

K A R A c H i: The Engro – 12th SGA President Championship 2022 will tee-off on Friday 23rd December at Defence Authority Golf Club with expectedly 150 golfers participating from all over Pakistan Rawalpindi’s Brig Mohsin Farooq is all set to defend his title from last year In 2021, Brig Mohsin carded a score of 135 which is 9 under par and took the trophy with him Among other prominent golfers in various categories are Omar Khalid, Omar Shikoh Khan, and Saim Shazli who have practiced hard and improved their skills Categories in the Cup include; Amateurs (0 -14), Senior Amateurs (0 – 14), Veterans (70 – 74 years of age) & Super Veterans (75 and above), Ladies (0 – 36) & the Juniors (under 14) The 0 – 5 handicap Ladies will be competing with Amateurs and shall play three days of golf

Ismail Industries extends relationship with SAP for digital transformation

K A R A c H i: Ismail Industries Limited, one of the major Pakistani confectionery and snack food manufacturers, has signed up a roadmap contract with SAP for the digitization of business functions across all its operations SAP has provided various solutions, enabling the manufacturer to move to strategic procurement and improve its supply chain and human capital management

SAFA awards FFC with Gold, Silver and Bronze for best annual report awards 2021

Keeping up with the legacy of excellence, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited (FFC) has won Gold, Silver and Bronze for all 04 categories in the Best Presented Annual Report Awards (BPA) by South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) These awards are adjudged by their Committee for Improvement in Transparency, Accountability & Governance (ITAG) p R

Mr Kewlani said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ’s claims to facilitate exports only remain on papers for sectors like rice He alleged that Mr Dar only supports bigger industries and has no soft corner for the rice sector We are not demanding subsidies for exports”, he said, adding that the finance minister or commerce minister has no time to listen to the problems of Pakistan s second largest commodity export sector Mr Kewlani and his Team in Islamabad discussed various issues including the declaration of industry status for the rice sector, subsidized tariff rates for rice mills and other matters related to rice export trade with the secretary of commerce

Mr Kewlani further said that the rice sector export development fund (EDF) amounting to Rs 12 billion is stuck with the government “We demand that we spend this amount on the growers to improve seeds and cultivation to increase yield”, he said The EDF funds are for the export sector and they should be used for export facilitation

Chela Ram said that despite the government’s announcements, the rice sector is not getting units of electricity at Rs 19 90 The rice sector is not being given the

CDWP clears

seven

status of an industry, which is causing numerous problems, he added

Dollars are not available and this is causing serious problems The containers are piling up and businessmen are unable to open LCs We businessmen are paying the price for differences between political parties”, he remarked There are eight districts in the world whose Banaspati rice is famous he said adding six districts are in Pakistan and two in India

Muhammad Samiullah Former Chairman REAP said that export from the rice sector will increase in the coming month In the first five months, the export of rice dipped by around 10pc Mr Samiullah said that basmati exports will revive in the next five months

Mr Samiullah warned the government to take out protests in support of growers in case the government did not consider rice millers demand He said housing schemes on GT Road in Pakistan are eating up this rare earth in six districts suitable for the cultivation of the world s best basmati rice He said no action was taken The country will become an importer of rice, especially basmati rice No government official is ready to sit down with the people of the rice sector to resolve our problems”, he lamented

development

projec ts wor th Rs 115.80b

ContInueD froM BACk pAge

According to the details, the CDWP has approved a project National Programmer Post-Flood Reconstruction: Climate Resilience Enhancement Project in Balochistan & other provinces at the cost of Rs 88,000 million The Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives will be a sponsoring agency of the project The fed government will obtain a loan from the World Bank (WB) and transfer to the govt of Balochistan as a grant-in-aid

The project will consist of four components which include rehabilitation and reconstruction of community infrastructure including irrigation, drainage, flood protection roads WASH and other community facilities; reconstruction of damaged housing units; livelihood support, natural resources and watershed management and institutional strengthening and reform units Similarly, a federal project steering committee to be co-chaired by Minister MoPDSI & Chief Minister Balochistan will provide policy guidance and monitor overall project and its implementation

“Balochistan has been hit hard by the devastating floods and the provincial government faces financial constraints and can’t finance post-flood recovery and rehabilitation efforts on its own,” said Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal while approving the project The federal government has decided to get a loan from the WB and provide Balochistan as a grant-in-aid We want to assure the people of Balochistan that the federal government stands with them in this time of crisis and is committed to taking all possible steps to address pressing socioeconomic issues,” remarked the Minister

The forum has approved Construction of National Sport City NSC at Narowal (Revised third PC) at the cost of Rs 5,760 660 The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) is the sponsoring agency of the project while Pakistan Sports Board will execute the project The project is for construction of an International Standard Sports Complex having facilities for all the games at one

location at a 3rd revised cost of Rs 5760 660 million All the infrastructure and facilities will be at par with latest international standards and capable of holding international, regional and national level championships/sports events for almost all indoor and outdoor games

The scope of the revised project consists of construction of cricket stadium with pavilion and seating area football ground with athletic track, pavilion and seating arrangement, hockey ground with synthetic turf and seating capacity squash courts with seating steps, two tennis courts, one volleyball court, gymnasium, one basketball court, kabaddi court and covered swimming pool with allied facilities, mosque and others The project was close to completion in 2017 but the previous government was stopped as a result the cost has increased from Rs 2994 329m to Rs 5,760 660m

The forum was informed that the project would have been completed within the approved cost if its funding would not have been stopped in 2018 Due to lack of funding the contractors were demobilized and warranties on many items expired Therefore, because of a delay of 4 years, on account of price escalation, contractor ’s claims and repairs due to damages An additional cost of Rs 2 1 billion shall be incurred which has been verified by the Consultants NESPAK and ZEERAK and the Minister of Inter provincial coordination

During the meeting the minister observed that responsibility should be fixed against the responsible people who deliberately delayed the project which caused a huge loss to the national exchequer Who is responsible for the huge loss to the national exchequer and they must be punished said the Minister adding that the Ministry of Planning Commission will prepare a reference against the responsible people and send it to the Public Account Committee for action

During the meeting, the Minister also observed that due to escalation of cost the claims of the contractors must be verified and in this regard a committee will be formed to verify the claims made by the contractors

Qureshi’s letter replied: Speaker to summon PTI MNAs again for resignations verification

ISLAMABAD

National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Thursday decided to summon Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers for verification of their resignations they tendered on April 11 following ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence vote The speaker has responded to the letter by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi which he sent on December 15 The letter cited verdicts of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Supreme Court (SC) regarding not accepting resignations of the MNAs without verification It stated “It has to be held that before accepting a resignation of a member, the Speaker has to satisfy himself regarding genuineness and voluntary character of the resignation It highlighted that the PTI lawmakers were earlier summoned from June 6 to 10 for the same but none of them appeared Hence, the speaker has once again decided to summon PTI MNAs one by one in his chamber for the legal exercise under Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007 Earlier in July Ashraf accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers The speaker accepted the resignations of several key PTI leaders, including former human rights minister Shireen Mazari exinterior minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, ex-state minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and ex-state minister for information and broadcasting Farrukh Habib, under Article 64 (1) of the Constitution

Chief Minister KP Mr Mahmood Khan & Minister Finance & Health KP Mr Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra inaugurates BOK Head office Tower located at 24- The Mall Peshawar, the event was attended by dignitaries including respected cabinet members Mr Kamran Khan Bangash, Chief secretary along with various departments secretaries/ officials & Commissioner Peshawar, Bank of Khyber BOD members & its management Mr Muhammad Ali Gulfaraz, Managing Director & CEO BOK thanked the respected guests and shared his commitment to further strengthen the modern corporate work environment where every member of the organization including women are catered to as our new building is equipped with a day care center, gymnasium for both men & women and an open cafeteria along with meeting rooms and self-service kitchens on each floor Managing Director & CEO Bank of Khyber Mr Muhammad Ali Gulfaraz presented a donation cheque of Rs 20 Million to the chief Minister KP on behalf of BOK & its employees as a contribution towards the noble cause of CM KP Flood relief fund p R

n g r o - 1 2 t h S G A P r e s i d e n t C ’s h i p b e g i n s at D H A G o l f C l u b K a r a c h i t o d ay

LAHORE: LAHORE: Former federal minister for food security and research Fakhar Imam, Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Khokar and Rabel Sadozai, Director Marketing and Sales, Fatima Fertilizer at a function of 4th Kissan Day Staff photo

R i c e ex p o r te r s d e m a n d i n d u s t r y s t at u s, l a m e n t t r e at m e n t by c o m m e r c e m i n i s t r y

T r y i n g o u t a u s t e r i t y

Going for the wrong things too late

tH E federal government’s austerity measures to bring down imports may simply be a panic reaction because they neither consult stakeholders, nor does it seem that they will need to the fall in demand that has been touted the biggest problem is that the federal government has no means of ensuring compliance by the two PtI-ruled provinces of KP and Punjab sindh has tried to comply but has found a groundswell of resistance both from restaurateurs and shopkeepers, the two groups of stakeholders worst hit the restaurants and shops have been ordered to close early to reduce their use of electricity, and thus to reduce fuel imports As customers and diners will not be driving there, more fuel should be saved Historically, such measures have not yielded the sort of savings the federal government is expecting and needs It seems political posturing, for the best way of reducing fuel consumption is to allow prices to rise, something which the government is reluctant to do It almost seems as if Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has run out of ideas and is now resorting to what will not work Another hope is being held out in the shape of conversion to solar power, by the government that in itself is a major and expensive exercise, and the IMF is sure to ask awkward questions about it If the buyback mechanism had been made simpler, there would have been a greater market-driven drive towards the sort of private sector conversion, domestic, commercial and even industrial, that would have really dented the national fuel import bill similarly, the electric vehicles policy has been complicated, by fuel vehicle interests, making those who want a green vehicle unaffordable the time for ‘greening’ with solar power and electric vehicles is probably past, as now any fiscal incentives will probably be nixed by the IMF the PML(N) was left the handling of the economy because it was supposed to be good at it but a pretty mess it has made of it the austerity measures it is taking seem to be the result of panic, as it realises that it is carrying the can for the inflation and low growth that is afflicting all sectors of the economy the attempts at austerity seem an attempt to avoid the real solution, which is the one demanded by the IMF, that of imposing a price increase on fuel, thus reducing the circular debt Unfortunately for the PML(N), the IMF will not relent on this demand

D i s s o l u t i o n d i f f i c u l t i e s

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

At Penpoint

PtI chief Imran Khan has finally grasped the nettle by the hand and announced the dissolution of the Punjab and KP Assemblies Doing so will mean the playing of his last card to force a dissolution of the National Assembly, and thus the end of his enjoying the political initiative, something he has had after he turned the tables by his rallies to get his May 29 Long March support He had initially lost it when he was ousted through the no-confidence motion against him that momentum had allowed him to propagate his narrative of a foreign conspiracy to topple him, with the assistance of the PDM and the establishment that narrative included a strong element of calling out the Army leadership, specifically the incumbent CoAs, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa He did well in two sets of by-elections, but he failed to achieve two things: fresh elections, and the appointment as CoAs of anyone except the person who, as DG IsI, had pointed out corruption in his family circle

M A Niazi Joint Editor

Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor

If dissolution does not lead to fresh elections nationally, as well as the dissolution of the sindh and Balochistan Assemblies,, though no doubt satisfying to him personally it will have failed Paradoxically one excuse for not holding elections, the floods, also means that it makes a kind of sense to have provincial elections in Punjab and KP which have been less affected by the flooding, before the worse affected provinces they will presumably need a longer time to recover and will benefit from the lower need for resources when holding national and provincial elections together Punjab faces a triple burden rather than a double because it has not had local government elections, unlike KP the elections would be a referendum on Imran As elections have shown so far provincial elections have not been about the provincial government they have either been about the constituency, or about national politics though provincial governments are at the cutting-edge of service delivery, with health, education, and policing all exclusively provincial subjects the PtI is going to base its appeal on Imran ’Khan’s appeal, not the performance of the Buzdar or Mehmood governments, If anything, Ch Pervez Elahi will campaign on his record from his tenure as CM from 2003 to 2008, because his current tenure has not been long enough to campaign on the PML(N) would also like to campaign on Imran and much of its narrative-building will be about the toshakhana gifts, for the corruption issue is likely to be central, with Imran once again promising to combat corruption, but with the PML(N) now having examples of its own to show that Imran was also corrupt, and that too in a mean way the accusations against the sharifs by the PtI were of kickbacks, of failures to provide the money trail the accusations against Imran are sleazy and specific

I m r a n d o e s n o t j u s t h a v e t o a v o i d t h e s e c h a rg e s H e h a s a l s o g o t t o a n s w e r w h y t h e P t I

The

sistance when catastrophic weather conditions wreak havoc on them year after year they risk losing the war for climate justice if they succeed in this battle

NAB got bail, often after long periods in jail, got b a i l I m r a n h a s a l r e a d y s k e t c h e d o u t h i s c o u n t e r : he could not obtain convictions because the corrupt were protected by General Bajwa, who controlled N A B t h e e m p h a s i s o n N A B i s i n t e r e s t i n g , b ecause the statements by Ms tayyaba Gul indicate t h a t t h e P M u s e d h e r v i d e o s o f h a r a s s m e n t t o blackmail the Chairman NAB Why he would do s u c h a t h i n g w h e n h e d i d n t c o n t r o l N A B w i l l doubtless be raised in the election campaign Ch Pervez appears the more reluctant of the two CMs to dissolve, and his defence of General Bajwa is not merely an expression of solidarity with the former CoAs, something Ch Parvez is big on, but also a declaration of loyalty to the establishment If Ch Pervez dissolves he wants it assumed that the establishment wants the Assembly dissolved Mr Khan wants to use General Bajwa as a major campaign tool, and may well try to hang all his failures onto him How Ch Parvez will manage if that is the campaign strategy is not known

The opposition on Tuesday moved both a vote of noconfidence against the CM, and had the Governor ask him to take a vote of confidence Either is sufficient to stop a CM advising dissolution. At the same time, there was no movement in KP, where it seems the opposition does not have the numbers In Punjab, it seems, the numbers are complete, and the move was not merely to stop the dissolution, but to remove Ch Pervez

His argument, said to have been made to Mr Khan, that dissolving will mean depriving Mr Khan of the protection from arrest he currently enjoys in Punjab and KP, especially when it is kept in mind that the caretaker administrations, probably chosen by the Election Commission of Pakistan will not be particularly favourable to Imran It should be remembered that Imran is involved in legal wrangles with the Chief Election Commissioner who has already decided against Imran in the foreign funding case as well as the toshakhana reference the CEC will display the height of professionalism by selecting a neutral caretaker and will be sorely tempted to choose someone anti-PtI (especially since any choice is going to be thus disparaged)

the CEC is likely to make the final selection of caretaker CMs, because the choice is supposed to be after joint consultation by the CM and the Leader of opposition At the moment these two are not on talking terms in either province the Constitution has decreed that if there is no consensus, the ECP will decide Mr Khan may well find himself trapped by his own rhetoric, and unable to accept the caretaker administrations put in place Mr Khan will also find himself facing a similar

problem if he gets the dissolution of the National Assembly he wants there the consultation between Prime Minister shehbaz sharif and Leader of the opposition Raja Riaz Ahmad will be amicable, obviating the need for the CEC to make a decision the only way Imran can stop that is by bringing his party back to the National Assembly, assuming the office of Leader of the opposition, and taking part in a consultation His refusal to talk to ‘thieves and dacoits’ would prevent him from participating in the necessary consultation, with the result that the ECP will have to decide the opposition on tuesday moved both a vote of no-confidence against the CM, and had the Governor ask him to take a vote of confidence Either is sufficient to stop a CM advising a dissolution At the same time, there was no movement in KP, where it seems the opposition does not have the numbers there In Punjab, it seems, the numbers are complete and the move was not merely to stop the dissolution, but to remove Ch Pervez the main motive for this is to allow PML(N) supremo Mian Nawaz sharif a safe passage back home He has no intention of landing to face a Punjab Police contingent eager to haul him off into durance vile His case is a little different from either Ishaq Dar or salman shehbaz, who were both accused on bail from courts, to which they had to surrender Mian Nawaz is a convict on bail from jail, and will have to surrender to the Punjab Prisons Department only then can he obtain bail from the court as his daughter Maryam did one option that has been considered is declaring his house a sub-jail where he can be kept that option requires an executive order, which would not be possible with Ch Pervez in office It is doubtful if a caretaker CM would allow something so blatantly partisan to avoid this, Ch Pervez has to go Incidentally the option of retaining Ch Pervez with the PML(N) providing his 10 members support from outside, has clearly been abandoned Dissolution also means that Mian Nawaz has to come back, no matter if it means going to jail Even if he campaigns, victory is not assured Indeed, going by the latest by-election results, maybe all he can do is ensure that the loss is not a rout

Mo

parties, the CoP process has come under fire as ineffective and untenable

However, CoP27 did result in one significant achievement: the developed economies of the world, including the Us and the EU finally acknowledged some responsibility for the “loss and damage” brought on by climate change, which was a crucial demand of many developing countries

they decided, in the formal language of the conference’s final declaration, “to establish new finance structures for aiding developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in reacting to loss and damage ” ‎A special committee of twenty-four countries will decide the new fund s financing, administration, and distribution towards the end of next year, they are expected to table their findings at the CoP28 summit in the UAE this fund is undoubtedly a cause for celebration But poorer countries must be cautious because they need as-

Pakistan, which had recently experienced terrible floods took the initiative diplomatically in the weeks preceding the conference It ensured that the cries of communities affected by floods could not be disregarded and that wealthy countries felt pressured to do more than just acknowledge the harm their historical emissions have caused Pakistan became the steadfast voice for the developing countries at CoP27, speaking for all countries confronting climate danger as president of the G77 Unsurprisingly, there were attempts to split up developing countries Pakistan deserves credit for keeping the group united by recognizing the particularities of each nation’s circumstances while continuously bringing up the shared goal setting up a loss and damage fund which would be advantageous to all

As Meena Raman, director of third World Network and an authority on the UN climate summits, said to the Guardian: We have seen such divide-and-control efforts time and time again But when the G77 remains strong, we get good outcomes; if they are divided, developing countries lose Recall that John Kerry the top climate change ambassador for the UsA said that a fund of this nature “simply isn’t happening ”

Considering this hurdle, the creation of the fund after CoP27 is an impressive diplomatic accomplishment

But without a justification that is helpful to most people worldwide, such victories are insufficient How-

ever, the G77’s reaction to the fund’s statement is cause for concern Ironically its message Loss and damage is not charity; it’s about climate justice” pulled the rug out from under those who have been fighting the climate justice battle for years Let us be clear: a fund to compensate for losses and damages is not charity, and it cannot ever, even in the remotest sense but what about climate justice? Money cannot replace the lives and livelihoods that have been lost ‎By equating the two, wealthy countries were given a simple exit and one they were willing to take this debate with those who successfully managed developing country diplomacy at CoP27 goes beyond philosophical differences this situation has significant practical ramifications the only idea for such an effort that wealthy countries would accept was the loss and damage fund, which was adopted with a fine print that let them off the hook for responsibility and accountability ‎CoP27 focused appropriately on those who were harmed while turning a blind eye to those who were inflicting it Wealthy countries made the year’s biggest agreement but this is not justice at all

If the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather are caused by climate change, which is believed to be the result of past and present emissions It implies that individuals responsible for the emissions are responsible for the flooding this year in Pakistan and the advancing desertification in North Africa

But who exactly is to be blamed? the industrialized world s governments have admitted that they share some

blame However, the businesses that created, distributed, and profited from the goods that caused the emissions should also be held accountable there will undoubtedly be hot discussions over it However in theory the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have let the genie out of the bottle by merely taking responsibility for the global costs of climate change and paying little attention to the genuine offenders this fund empowers them to wreck the earth as much as they like in return for offering to cover the costs after the destruction they are not even obliged to make the concrete commitments that have long distinguished CoP events

In essence, wealthy countries packaged the dollar as climate justice and sold it to underdeveloped and sorely unheard countries Ronald Reagan, a former Us president, reportedly said, A hungry child knows no politics there is another risk too According to the agreements made at CoP27, a fund would be established to help poor countries that are especially susceptible to climate change ” Climate vulnerability cannot be measured with any degree of objectivity, and no institution has the right to judge who deserves justice more than others Including this stipulation for receiving the cash might compel the countries to pretend to be the most vulnerable to climate change

Conclusively the agreement on a loss and damage fund proves the effectiveness of climate diplomacy and the pressure on wealthy countries to supply outcomes But to use that as a platform for climate justice we must first understand what climate justice is otherwise, true climate justice will always remain a conundrum, and the larger discussion will now focus on the issue of culpability and duty And that, in turn, could dramatically alter the motivations of the key protagonists

The writer can be reached at abuhurrairahah@gmail

The writer is a member of staff

s t experts have labeled the UN Climate Change Conference or CoP27 a failure due to the lack of progress on commitments made during the CoP26 meeting in 2021 and the absence of explicit agreements to phase out fossil fuels More generally, because it relied on unanimous agreement from all

The agreement on a loss and damag e fund proves the effectiveness of climate diplomacy and the pressure on wealthy countries to supply outcomes.

Yousaf Nizami

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

Multiple FIRs

The wish for cross-FIRs must be controlled

Abrief legal introduction of FIR is that it is an information given under section 154 CrPC to an officer in charge of a police station It is the First Information Report and it is known as FIR because of its abbreviation Basically, it is the initial and the first information of a cognizable offence and it is recorded by an officer in charge of a police station It sets the criminal law in motion and marks the commencement of the investigation which ends up with the formation of opinion under section 169 or 170 CrPC, as the case may be, and forwarding of a police report under section 173 CrPC

Furthermore, it is pretty much possible that more than one information is given to a police officer in charge of a police station in respect of the same incident And it often happens that more than one information regarding the same incident is given to a police officer in charge of different police stations this is what is happening in Pakistan It is available in the news, that multiple FIRs are being registered regarding the same incident in multiple police stations across the country the question is whether is it right to register multiple FIRs

In Pakistan and India, the issue of registration of multiple FIRs about one occurrence or incident, due to political or rivalry reasons, is quite normal therefore, superior courts of both countries have time and again interpreted the correct application of law However, there is a difference between the two

In Pakistan, the landmark case is Mst Sughran Bibi vs the State the supreme Court of Pakistan answered the question that whether a separate FIR could be registered for every new version of the same incident when commission of the relevant cognizable offense already stood reported to the police, and an FIR already stood registered in such regard the supreme Court held that after entering the first information relating to commission of a cognizable offence in the prescribed book under rule 24 5 of the Police Rules 1934 the matter became a ‘case’ and afterwards every step taken in the investigation was a step taken in that case the honorable court observed that under Police Rules 1934 when a matter is reported to the police it is given an annual serial number and that number is used forever demonstrating that case in which it is given the court further held that it is not the matter how many numbers of different versions are received by the police in that case; how many numbers of different circumstances arise in that case; how many culprits are brought to the no-

tice of the investigating agency All is that in one single case And all such versions in that case regarding that same incident though brought into notice by different persons are to be recorded by under s 161 CrPC in the same case the court concluded that no separate FIR is required to be registered for any new version in the same case and the same incident the landmark case lay down by the supreme Court of India on the subject is T T Antony Vs the State of Kerala the honorable court observed that though it is quite possible that multiple informations are given to a police officer in charge of a police station in one incident; however he is not bound to enter every such information in the book the first information noted in the station house diary by a police officer in charge of a police station is the First Information Report All other informations after such noting will be called statements under section 161 and 162 of CrPC And no such information or a statement can properly be called an FIR Furthermore the court observed that investigation commences on the basis of entry of the First Information Report After completion of investigation the officer has to form an opinion under section 169 or 170 of CrPC as the case may be and forward his report to the concerned Magistrate under section 173 of CrPC Even more, after filing such a report for further investigation, information or material, the officer need not register a fresh FIR

The Supreme Cour t of India differs with the Supreme Cour t of Pakistan on counter-version cases. Notwithstanding the above difference , registration of multiple FIRs in Pakistan against one offender regarding the same incident must be stopped. It amounts to abuse of process of law and it is also against the law laid down by the Supreme Cour t of Pakistan

Legal loopholes

A Mukhtiarkar was recently killed allegedly by land-grabbers when the official from Manghopir went to get a land vacated in surjani town on court orders several such officials, including assistant commissioners (ACs), have been roughed up, beaten and hurt in the past during these operations by those involved in land encroachments

this has become a common occurrence after the withdrawal of magisterial powers from Mukhtiarkars Now, as Mukhtiarkars and ACs do not carry the powers of first class or sub-divisional magistrates (sDMs) they are unable to apprehend and punish offenders on the spot Additionally, because the ACs and Mukhtiarkars are no longer field magistrates police do not pay attention to their orders

A toothless official without magisterial powers cannot effectively establish the writ of the state in the face of armed-to-the teeth mafias seizing these priceless pieces of government land the government should either approach the judiciary to have executive magistracy restored, or those exercising such powers should be asked to lead antiencroachment operations

the executive magistracy system was dissolved in 2001 Legal experts had criticised the move back then, calling the action draconian under the prevailing laws at the time

Before 2001, ACs used to serve as sDMs, deputy commissioners (DCs) as district magistrates (DMs), and so on they were given the new title of coordinating officers owing to their lack of magisterial authority, the commissioners and DCs have had trouble resolving law and order issues When the executive magistracy system was in place, the DCs, with the additional powers of DMs, used to take decisions immediately over a variety of matters including price increases and public demonstrations

However, when the decision in T T Antony’s case came up for consideration before a threejudge Bench in Upkar Singh vs Ved Prakash the court observed, while distinguishing the case, that if the law laid down by this Court in t t Antony case is to be accepted as holding that a second

complaint in regard to the same incident filed as a counter-complaint is prohibited under the Code then, in our opinion, such conclusion would lead to serious consequences this will be clear from the hypothetical example given hereinbelow i e if in regard to a crime committed by the real accused he takes the first opportunity to lodge a false complaint and the same is registered by the jurisdictional police then the aggrieved victim of such crime will be precluded from lodging a complaint giving his version of the incident in question, consequently he will be deprived of his legitimate right to bring the real accused to book this cannot be the purport of the Code the supreme Court of India differs with the supreme Court of Pakistan on counter-version cases Notwithstanding the above difference registration of multiple FIRs in Pakistan against one offender regarding the same incident must be stopped It amounts to abuse of process of law and it is also against the law laid down by the supreme Court of Pakistan to conclude, in the words of the honorable supreme Court of India, “under the scheme of the provisions of sections 154, 155, 156,157, 162, 169, 170 and 173 of Cr P C only the earliest or the first information in regard to the commission of a cognizable offence satisfies the requirements of section 154 CrPC thus, there can be no second FIR and consequently there can be no fresh investigation on receipt of every subsequent information in respect of the same cognizable offence or the same occurrence or incident” It is high time that investigating agencies in Pakistan start paying attention to and abiding by these principles of law in matters of registration of FIR(s)

The writer is an Assistant District Public Prosecutor He holds an LL M from the Punjab University, and teaches law He can be reached at Khokhar azeem@yahoo com

A bill was introduced in 2017, but it is yet to pass the National Assembly s standing Committee on Law and Justice passed the 29th constitutional amendment draft which included a proposal to restore the old magistracy system in all the provinces such a law will be put into effect by the provinces subsequently to revert to the executive magistracy system in their respective jurisdictions significant reforms are urgently needed in the country’s adminis-trative structure in the light of the lessons learned from the recent shooting incident in which the Mukhtiarkar was murdered

FARHAN ALI SIYAL PADIDAN

Japanese Model

ABACUs was imported to Japan in the 14th century ‘soroban’, the Japanese abacus, provides a visual and tangible tool that allows students to see and manipulate a physical representation of abstract numbers

A BBC documentary showed Japanese children learning abacus this ancient tool for calculation has been replaced by electronic calculators in almost all parts of the world but the Japanese still use the ancient tool for building children’s memory muscles

A professor told the BBC that abacus played a vital role in the rise of Japan after World War II to assess the calculation speed of Japanese children, one girl in the video added 15 three-digit numbers, which appeared on a screen at high frequency, in just 1 5 seconds, and got the answer correct

I sat stunned at the state of my own memory power I could not catch any two numbers to calculate the answer in my mind I was among the top performers in my class for 12 years of my early education in public and private schools in Punjab, and am now in the final year of my bachelor ’s programme Why didn’t I get the same education as my counterparts in Japan did? Why do millions of young students in Pakistan waste the critical learning years doing nothing?

Inspired by the said documentary, I might begin building my memory muscle on my own, which is practically impossible after the age of 20 But what about millions of children in schools who are being deceived every day in the name of education? Don’t they deserve better?

We get to hear Indian and sri Lankan music at weddings, but never get to see the Japanese model of education in our schools When will the state realise that quality education, not just education, is the right of every child? For how many more years the Pakistani students will keep realising that after 16 years of education they have learned nothing?

students are made to fit into a vicious cycle of rote learning, grades and moving to the next class to do all that all over again these critical years can be utilised to impart reading writing and communication skills reasoning, sports and a whole lot of other things Right education is the only way out We need to prioritise what we aim to be as a nation

Dead playing sur faces

t H E approach adopted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in terms of preparation of playing surfaces for the ongoing first test series against England, as well as for the earlier series against Australia, is indicative of its lack of confidence in our young fast bowlers who are being denied the opportunity to play in conditions suited to their skill-set that there have been results does not mean the surfaces were resultoriented the results have come despite the surfaces not because of them

Had we prepared sorting surfaces, regardless of results, Pakistan would have been on the map as a serious cricketing destination for teams and players to look forward to It would have been a very different experience than the traditional subcontinental flavour Even India has outgrown the mindset long ago the wickets we prepared have wasted the two marquee tours that would have changed the perception of Pakistan in the cricket world Instead, they made us look so unattractive and hopelessly out of date as a destination for test cricket And the irony is that we still ended up losing both the series

the current PCB chairman, in his playing days, was never known to be aggressive or pragmatic, unlike his elder brother who was a treat to watch the pitches that are being prepared under his watch are consistent with the no-risk manner in which he used to approach the game as a player, which is unfortunate

We definitely need a quick change in our basic approach and mindset with respect to the preparation of wickets for test matches otherwise, we may not be able to welcome top-tier teams to play cricket in the country

MOHAJIR KARACHI

HAMID HUSSAIN LAHORE

HAfIZ MuHAMMAd AZeeM

TH E first world war was a kind of cultural suicide that destroyed Europe’s eminence Europe s leaders sleepwalked – in the phrase of historian Christopher Clark – into a conflict which none of them would have entered had they foreseen the world at war s end in 1918 In the previous decades they had expressed their rivalries by creating two sets of alliances whose strategies had become linked by their respective schedules for mobilisation As a result in 1914 the murder of the Austrian Crown Prince in Sarajevo, Bosnia by a Serb nationalist was allowed to escalate into a general war that began when Germany executed its all-purpose plan to defeat France by attacking neutral Belgium at the other end of Europe

The nations of Europe, insufficiently familiar with how technology had enhanced their respective military forces, proceeded to inflict unprecedented devastation on one another In August 1916, after two years of war and millions in casualties the principal combatants in the West (Britain, France and Germany) began to explore prospects for ending the carnage In the East, rivals Austria and Russia had extended comparable feelers Because no conceivable compromise could justify the sacrifices already incurred and because no one wanted to convey an impression of weakness the various leaders hesitated to initiate a formal peace process Hence they sought American mediation Explorations by Colonel Edward

HoW

anoTHer WorlD War

House, President Woodrow Wilson s personal emissary, revealed that a peace based on the modified status quo ante was within reach However, Wilson, while willing and eventually eager to undertake mediation, delayed until after the presidential election in November By then the British Somme offensive and the German Verdun offensive had added another two million casualties

In the words of the book on the subject by Philip Zelikow, diplomacy became the road less travelled The Great War went on for two more years and claimed millions more victims irretrievably damaging Europe’s established equilibrium Germany and Russia were rent by revolution; the Austro-Hungarian state disappeared from the map France had been bled white Britain had sacrificed a significant share of its young generation and of its economic capacities to the requirements of victory The punitive Treaty of Versailles that ended the war proved far more fragile than the structure it replaced

Does the world today find itself at a comparable turning point in Ukraine as winter imposes a pause on largescale military operations there? I have repeatedly expressed my support for the allied military effort to thwart Russia’s aggression in Ukraine But the time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation

Ukraine has become a major state in Central Europe for the first time in modern history Aided by its allies and inspired by its President Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine has stymied the Russian conventional forces which have been overhanging Europe since the second world war And the international system – including China – is opposing Russia’s threat or use of its nuclear weapons

This process has mooted the original issues regarding Ukraine s membership in Nato Ukraine has acquired one of the largest and most effective land armies in Europe, equipped by America and its allies A peace process

should link Ukraine to Nato, however expressed The alternative of neutrality is no longer meaningful, especially after Finland and Sweden joined Nato This is why, last May, I recommended establishing a ceasefire line along the borders existing where the war started on 24 February Russia would disgorge its conquests thence, but not the territory it occupied nearly a decade ago, including Crimea That territory could be the subject of a negotiation after a ceasefire

If the pre-war dividing line between Ukraine and Russia cannot be achieved by combat or by negotiation recourse to the principle of self-determination could be explored Internationally supervised referendums concerning self-determination could be applied to particularly divisive territories which have changed hands repeatedly over the centuries

The goal of a peace process would be twofold: to confirm the freedom of Ukraine and to define a new international structure, especially for Central and Eastern Europe Eventually Russia should find a place in such an order

The preferred outcome for some is a Russia rendered impotent by the war I disagree For all its propensity to violence, Russia has made decisive contributions to the global equilibrium and to the balance of power for over half a millennium Its historical role should not be degraded Russia’s military setbacks have not eliminated its global nuclear reach, enabling it to threaten escalation in Ukraine Even if this capability is diminished the dissolution of Russia or destroying its ability for strategic policy could turn its territory encompassing 11 time zones into a contested vacuum Its competing societies might decide to settle their disputes by violence other countries might seek to expand their claims by force All these dangers would be compounded by the presence of thousands of nuclear weapons which make Russia one of the world’s two largest nuclear powers

As the world s leaders strive to end the war in which two nuclear powers contest a conventionally armed country, they should also reflect on the impact on this conflict and on long-term strategy of incipient high–technology and artificial intelligence Autonomous weapons already exist, capable of defining, assessing and targeting their own perceived threats and thus in a position to start their own war

once the line into this realm is crossed and hi-tech becomes standard weaponry – and computers become the principal executors of strategy – the world will find itself in a condition for which as yet it has no established concept How can leaders exercise control when computers prescribe strategic instructions on a scale and in a manner that inherently limits and threatens human input? How can civilisation be preserved amid such a maelstrom of conflicting information perceptions and destructive capabilities?

No theory for this encroaching world yet exists, and consultative efforts on this subject have yet to evolve – perhaps because meaningful negotiations might disclose new discoveries, and that disclosure itself constitutes a risk for the future overcoming the disjunction between advanced technology and the concept of strategies for controlling it, or even understanding its full implications, is as important an issue today as climate change and it requires leaders with a command of both technology and history

The quest for peace and order has two components that are sometimes treated as contradictory: the pursuit of elements of security and the requirement for acts of reconciliation If we cannot achieve both, we will not be able to reach either The road of diplomacy may appear complicated and frustrating But progress to it requires both the vision and the courage to undertake the journey

Henry Kissinger ’ s Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy is out now

Can China break through the semiconductor blockade the US is building?

Do you remember how quickly this whole thing was meant to be over – and not in a good way for Ukraine Back in February as Russian troops massed on the border, there was an anticipation that if and when they launched an invasion, they could reach Kyiv in days This assessment was partly the result of Russia’s own propaganda Moscow believed it could swiftly seize the capital, oust the government, and establish its own regime Russia s military was believed to be large and powerful; how could Ukraine hope to resist?

In the frantic days after the 24 February “special operation” that Vladimir Putin named his illegal invasion, it was about trying to keep Ukraine and its leader alive by rushing in military equipment, and helping tens of thousands escape The timetable of operations was marked in days, and at best weeks Everyone assumed it would only be a matter of time At one point, EU leaders feared if they would ever see their Ukrainian counterpart again Ten months later, we know that was not the case The West overestimated the abilities of Russia’s armed forces, wrongly assumed Putin had a workable plan, and underestimated the capability and resolve of Ukraine s military It had also failed to conceive how Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian known in Washington DC – if he was known at all – for a cameo role in Donald Trump s first impeachment trial would seize the moment and emerge as the defiant face of his united nation So much has changed since then While Russian forces still occupy parts of Ukraine, Kyiv looks more solid than ever with the West coming together to back its people Joe Biden and the US Congress spent more than $100bn for military aid for Kyiv, a windfall for the US arms makers who were called on to stock up Zelensky’s arsenal, but probably essential to his survival And as the months have gone on, so too has the US s involvement in the conflict had become deeper and more intertwined

Initially, the US was content to call on Putin to withdraw his forces Soon, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was

calling for Russia to be “weakened” as a nation, and made unable to launch such an operation again Earlier this month, the US gave in to demands from Kyiv and dispatched its highest capability defence system, the Patriot missile If there was any lingering doubt what is happening in Ukraine is now a full-on proxy war for the US it was dispatched by the visit to Washington DC this week of Zelensky, his first visit outside of the country since the invasion began “I am in Washington today to thank the American people president and Congress for their much-needed support,” Zelensky said after he arrived “And also to continue cooperation to bring our victory closer I ll hold a series of negotiations to strengthen our resilience and defense capabilities ” After heading to the White House for talks, Biden and Zelensky held a joint press conference Later, he was due to be granted the opportunity to address Congress, a rare honour previously offered to the likes of British war time leader, Winston Churchill Dr Matthew Schmidt, an expert on international relations at the University of New Haven, says he does not think the fighting in Ukraine is a proxy war in the classic sense of the phrase However, he says over the course of the war the United States has locked itself in to the outcome more than it was at the beginning at the war” As such, the US is committed to equipping Ukraine s military, but also helping rebuild its infrastructure “And it’s critical that the West does that, and the US has an interest in making sure that the allies do not pull up short on that, because that would essentially, we’d lose the peace and win the war ” he says

In DC, as Zelensky handed Biden a Ukraine military medal, Biden said the US and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defence” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation” He said Russia was “trying to use winter as a weapon, but Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world” He told Zelensky “it’s an honour to be by your side” Zelensky told Biden: “It’s a great honour to be here ” A key part of Zelensky s visit was to try and build relations with any Republicans tempted to dilute the US support and break what has largely been a bipartisan approach to the war

There is a vocal number of hardline, MAGA-aligned Republicans who feel the US should stop sending money to Ukraine Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has even suggested holding an audit

Putin has certainly sought to portray the conflict as a proxy, knowing that it will be easier to sell to the Russian public tens of thousands of military deaths, forced conscription and international condemnation

Yet, just because Putin, who more than anyone carries the blame for what is happening in Ukraine, has his own reasons to describe it thus it does not benefit the West to shy away from the reality The US and other western nations came to Ukraine’s aid They are now inextricably involved in the outcome of the war And the US wants Russia to lose Admitting the scale of the West’s involvement helps sharpen our focus It is also honest

TH E United States is aiming to construct what one journalist has described as a “Silicon Fence” around China, a sanctions barrier that aims to make it impossible for Beijing to import advanced chipmaking technology Washington strives to co-opt allied states into supporting its semiconductor technology export rules against Beijing Having adopted sweeping new sanctions last month, the US wants to blockade China s technological advances as the biggest act of leverage in its attempt to contain the country’s rise

Beginning in 2018, America s primary strategy to restrain China has focused on semiconductors, which Washington sees as a critical asset needed by Beijing to ascend the international value chain and move away from the ‘low-end manufacturing’ with which it has been associated for decades and into the field of high-end products Here, the US fears that its longstanding lead in technologies, and thus, by extension, military technologies, may be overtaken by China, representing a critical threat to its hegemonic position

In implementing this strategy, the US has resorted to one tactic: embargos, and more embargos while also aiming to rebuild the global semiconductor supply chain around itself The US has been progressively adding more and more companies to the Commerce Department’s ‘entity list’, thus prohibiting American companies from exporting critical products to them As of 2022, the list of impacted companies now extends into the hundreds and is still growing

Some companies, such as Huawei and Chinese chipmaking firms have been subject to even harsher restrictions In what is known as the ‘foreign direct product rule the US weaponizes its ownership of tech semiconductor patents in foundational technology to prohibit third-party countries from dealing with the target too Most critical in this have been US efforts to coerce the Netherlands-based lithography firm ASML into not exporting its most powerful chip-making machines to Chinese customers Starting in 2018 it blocked the company from exporting the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, its most critical technology to China

The Biden administration has proved even more ruthless in its bid to tighten the metaphorical noose around China s semiconductor industry and a month ago revealed sweeping rules banning all US firms from exporting high-end chipmaking

equipment to China and also outlawing American citizens from participating in China’s chip industry However, to move forward further, it needs cooperation from allied states and is pushing the Netherlands and Japan to agree to a common position over the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China

But this is easier said than done China is the world’s largest and fastest growing market, and its demand for semiconductors in order to fuel its growth is higher than ever By agreeing to these US-imposed rules, the Netherlands and Japan and their respective industries are poised to suffer, purely for complying with Washington’s interests The chief executive of ASML has been vocal about these concerns But the US does not take ‘no’ for an answer, and both countries have already agreed “in principle” to join the restrictions

Thus, bit by bit, the US is aiming to erect a gigantic ‘silicon fence’ around China The US believes limiting and cutting off the flow of semiconductors entering the country can stifle China’s growth in the long run forcing it to be more dependent on Taiwan for the high-end chips it can get This, in turn, can be used as strategic leverage against China to extract concessions while Washington advances the militarization of its periphery at the same time

This has left Beijing in a rapid race against the clock to develop its own domestic technology and to become self-reliant in semiconductors Already Beijing is preparing a $143 billion subsidy package to its own firms There are some small signs of success, such as China reportedly having reached the seven-nanometer chip process milestone, although this was done using foreign semiconductor equipment it had already obtained

China now faces the daunting task of building its own supply chain, from the bottom up – from scratch This means it must be able to both innovate and invest on a large scale As the US assumption is largely based on the arrogant line of thought that without access to external tech, China can t innovate or progress there is also no guarantee Washington’s strategy will succeed, even if it does put ‘speedbumps’ on the way

Yet it is also a sign of the world we live in today and another measure of how the US is willing to tear up globalization and even reverse it when it produces geostrategic results unfavorable to it The semiconductor supply chain, and the world of open technology as we knew it, has very much gone back to a Cold War era Thus we aren’t talking about integrating the world anymore, but instead are talking about ‘Silicon Fences in the same light as we formerly spoke about the ‘Iron Curtain ’

SpectatoR, UK H e n r y k i s s n g e r

I O N S O N

Independent A n d r e w B u n c o m B e

i s l a m a b a d: The National Science &Technology Park at NUST held the Graduation Ceremony of the 3rd cohort of its Hatch 8 programme at the NUST main campus on Thursday As many as 16 startups built upon disruptive ideas have graduated as part of the third cohort Hatch 8 is a preincubation programme of NSTP, which admits entrepreneurs at the idea stage of their product development and transforms them into viable businesses in due course of time Mr Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, was the chief guest who felicitated the startups upon graduating from one of the most robust innovation ecosystems in the region He was all-praise for NUST for having come up with the game-changing initiative of NSTP, which truly is a breeding ground for innovation p r

GB CM visits British Council ’s HQs

Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Khalid Khurshid visited the British Council’s Headquarters on 21st December 2022 in London During the visit, the Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Khalid Khurshid held a highly important meeting with the senior officials of the British Council Putting emphasis on the British Council’s role in uplifting the education sector of GilgitBaltistan(GB), the chief minister discussed the need to initiate the British Council’s Connecting Class Room Program in Gilgit-Baltistan He also requested the British Council to extend their support for the capacity building of the government’s education department teachers and in delivering various vocational training programs for the youth of the region During the meeting, the Chief Minister GilgitBaltistan Khalid Khurshid said ”it is the government’s primary responsibility to provide equal opportunities to all students belonging to the remote areas of the region s ta f f r e p o r t

I E S C O never forgets ser vices of hardworking staffers even after death

OGDCL makes seCOnD OiL , Gas DisCOvery in a Week in sinDh

ISLAMABAD

BY the Grace of Almighty Allah the Joint Venture of Singhoro Block comprising Oil & Gas Development Limited (OGDCL) AS OPERATOR (76%) Orient Petroleum (19%) and GHPL (5%) has discovered Oil and Gas hydrocarbons from an exploratory well namely Kot Nawab-1 which is located in District Sanghar, Sindh Province Kot Nawab-1 was spudded-in on 3rd June, 2022 as an exploratory well by using OGDCL’s in-house expertise The well was drilled down to 3000 meters Based on the results of wireline logs interpretation,

Drill Stem Test-1 in the Basal Sand has tested 125 Barrel of oil per day (BOPD) & 0 483 million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (MMSCFD) Gas through choke size 28/64 at Well Head Flowing Pressure (WHFP) of 150 Pounds per Square Inch (Psi) OGDCL Spokesman said that the latest discoveries show the aggressive exploration strategy of OGDCL The said discovery is the 11th discovery in Sinjhoro Block which shows the commitment of Sinjhoro JV to exploit the Hydrocarbon (HC) potential of the block and aggressive exploration strategy It has opened a new avenue and will positively contribute to mitigating energy demand and supply gas from indigenous resources and will add to the hydrocarbon reserves base of OGDCL and the Country

Naval Chief meets Moroccon counterpart during official visit

matters of bilateral naval collaboration and regional maritime security were discussed

The Naval Chief underscored Pakistan Navy initiative for ensuring maritime security in the region through Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSP) and participation in Combined Maritime Force

corporate corner

Ankara cultural night marks 75th anniversar y of Pak-Turkiye Diplomatic ties

ISLAMABAD

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi called-on Naval Leadership of Royal Moroccan Navy during an official visit to Morocco Upon arrival at Royal Moroccan Naval Headquarters, Chief of the Naval Staff was received by Naval Chief of Royal Moroccan Navy Vice-Admiral Mostapha El Alami and was presented Guard of Honour During meeting with Naval Chief of Royal Moroccan Navy,

The Naval Chief invited host navy to participate in Exercise AMAN and PIMEC-23 to promote Blue Economy and highlighted the importance of enhancing cooperation between armed forces of both countries through bilateral exercises and training programs Inspector of the Royal Moroccan Navy acknowledged Pakistan Navy efforts and commitment in support of collaborative maritime security for maintaining peace and stability in the region Later Naval Chief called-on Commander Northern Maritime Sector and visited various installations training unit and Royal Moroccan Navy Ship where he was given detailed briefing on roles, capabilities and training facilities of Moroccan Navy

C P O to b e e f u p s e c u r i t y fo r C h r i s t m a s, New Ye a r n i g h t i n

ISLAMABAD

City Police Officer CPO (Operations) Sohail Zafar chatha on Thursday has directed all the subordinates to ramp up security in the federal capital on Christmas and New Year Night in order to avoid any untoward incident and protect lives and property of public

He asked the police officers to not overlook the possible security threats and to remain vigilant to maintain law and order

He issued these instructions after holding a meeting with priests of churches of capital including Iqbal Town and New Shakrial SSP O p e r a t i o n s M a l i k J a m

IESCO

Raja express his views while

to the

quota Chairman BOD IESCO also said that IESCO has never done any favour to them by giving job, its their right and he hopes that they will work hard with dedication as their father did and will play their role towards IESCO prosperity IESCO Chief Executive Dr Muhammad Amjad Khan said that he is very happy today that deceased employees family is now the part of IESCO and he hopes that while working on line they will follow all procedures and safety measures and will work hard as their father did G M Development, GM TSW, DG (HR) and others also participated in event p r

SNGPL says chronic low pressure issues resolved on war footing

lahOrE: On the directions of Minister of State Dr Musadik Malik, Secretary Petroleum is spearheading resolution of gas low pressure issues of areas under the jurisdiction of SNGPL in close coordination with management of the company Ali J Hamdani, Managing Director SNGPL has been monitoring the supply data in real-time The constant monitoring and feedback system in place at Gas House has resulted in resolution of years old chronic issues of low pressure SNGPL has completed and commissioned 10"dia X 9 Km gas pipeline from Ura Chowk to Chak Mandhar Sialkot & 8"dia X 3-Km pipeline from Chak Mandhar to Kharota Syedan chowk Sialkot The cost incurred on this project is Rs 133 Million Resultantly, around 34,000 consumers, residing in more than 100 villages along Gondal road, Said pur, Chaprar road & Head Marala road will be facilitated through this project p r

m e e t i n g Extra police force should be deployed to shield the churches,” said Sohail Zafar chatha Search and combing operations should be carried out in all the district in order to flush out terrorists and suspects, he said adding that all the DPOs should make a strategy to combat crime from their areas

2nd DALFA c attle show from Dec 30

pr

The second DALFA Cattle Show is all set to be held at the Karachi Expo Center from December 30th to January 1st

This cattle show is a regular event to highlight investment opportunities and advance technology in the dairy, livestock, agriculture, and fisheries sectors of Pakistan

This joint venture of Badar Expo Solutions (BXSS) and Dairy Agriculture Livestock

Farmers Association (DALFA) is being held in collaboration with the Sindh enterprise development fund (SEDF) The salient features of this cattle show are breeds contests international breed display, and camel and horse show while it also provides B2B and B2C opportunities for animal purchasing

On the sidelines of this 3-day show cultural and traditional programs, flower show, pets show, birds show, animal parade, and food festival are also to be held

A Cultural Night was organized in Ankara by Pakistan Embassy in collaboration with Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Pakistan International Airlines to commemorate 75th anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Pakistan and Turkiye The event was graced by Chairman Pakistan Turkiye Parliamentary Friendship Group Mr Ali Sahin as chief guest Governor Ankara Mr Vasip Sahin, parliamentarians, dignitaries, representatives of diplomatic corps, media and large number of Pakistani community attended the event Speaking at the event, Member Turkish Parliament Mr Ali Sahin stated that from Balkans War to the epic battle of Canakkale, we have continued our efforts to strengthen our relationship with the strength we derive from culture of brotherhood and solidarity He emphasized that Pakistan and Turkiye share a unique bond of brotherhood, as every Turkish child is born with love for Pakistan and every Pakistani child is born with love for Turkiye p r

Open cour ts best forum to resolve consumers’ issues: IESCO CE

Chief

Imran's statement on expenses of FM official tours fabric ated: Memon

Information

Inam Memon has described Imran Niazi as a habitual liar in a statement on Twitter on Thursday He said that PTI chief Imran Khan always accuses his opponents without any evidence The minister said that Imran Khan's statement regarding the expenses of official visit of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are completely baseless He asked Imran Khan to bring forth the evidence of false and fabricated figures or tender apology p r

Going Global: ‘Social Champ’ highlights Pakistan’s Potential in Lisbon

LAhore

Pakistani SaaS startup Social Champ is rapidly changing the marketing and advertising industry s dynamics They were the only martech startup from Pakistan that attended the "Startup Showcase" under the theme Future of advertising and marketing" in Lisbon Portugal in November Karachi-based Social Champ, founded in late 2019 by Sameer Ahmed Khan Zohaib Shakir and Shakir Ghani, is a social media management tool that allows individuals

and businesses to manage their various social media pages (and profiles) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, Tiktok, Google Business Profile and Pinterest via its web and mobile-based platform Web Summit 2022, which happened recently attracted 71 000+ tech enthusiasts from 160 countries The summit recognized that the tech industry is not always inclusive or welcoming to everyone and wanted to change that by creating a safe, welcoming, and nurturing environment for all "This summit has allowed us to

move in the right direction, said Shakir Ghani Co-founder and COO of Social Champ Being the only martech from Pakistan that was able to secure an alpha booth at the summit and was scheduled to present a pitch with the theme of "40 seconds in 40 words , Social Champ believes that conferences and seminars like these will help them secure better investment opportunities and effortless access to the European market as well as global customers' insights

The global fintech and martech startups at the event discussed areas for adaptation, methods to evolve with the

shifting technology and advertising trends and critical Initiatives that need to be taken to help marketing and digital community progress through innovation and sustainable solutions

The growing tech company gave all tech enthusiasts $100 champ vouchers at the event While talking at the summit, Sameer Ahmed, Founder of Social Champ, said, The future of tech in Pakistan is quite enriching With new innovative startups on each block, it seems like the tech revolution is on its way to helping the world in the toughest

challenges

K a r a c h i : Mr Suleman Chawla, SVP FPCCI, is presenting commemorative shield to Mr Andreas Wegner, Deputy Consul General of Germany in Pakistan Mr Shabbir Mansha VP FPCCI Mr Saquib Fayyaz Maggo Mr Idrees Gigi Sahibzadi Mahin Khan, Mr Diwan Fakhruddin, Mr Mehmood Ul Hassan Awan, and others were also present on the Occasion p r

i s l a m a b a d: IESCO never forgets the services and efforts of its hardworking employees even after their death

Board of Director Chairman Engineer Qamar Ul Islam

distributing appointment letters

families under deceased employees

c a p i t a l

U k r a i n e ’ s Z e l e n s k i y t e l l s U s C o n g r e s s a i d i s ‘ n o t C h a r i t y ’ , U r g e s m o r e s U p p o r t

WASHINGTON/KYIV

e n c i e s

pI D E N T Vo l o d y m y r Z e l e ns k i y t o l d t h e U S C o n g r e s s t h a t a i d t o U k r a i n e w a s a n i n v e s tm e n t i n d e m o c r a c y a n d n o t

charity” as he invoked American battles against the Nazis in World War Two to press for more assistance for his country’s war effort

Zelenskiy’s comments on Wednesday come as Republicans – some of whom have voiced increasing scepticism about sending so much aid to Ukraine – are set to take control of the US House of Representatives from Democrats on January 3

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

Your money is not charity It is an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way Zelenskiy told a joint session of the US Senate and House of Representatives,

we are in war,” Zelenskiy

S P r e s i d e n t J o e B i d e n s p e a k s d u r i n g a j o i n t n e w s c o n f e r e n c e w i t h U k r a i n e ’s P r e s i d e n t Vo l o d y m y r Z e l e n s k i y i n t h e E a s t R o o m o f t h e W h i t e H o u s e i n Wa s hi n g t o n , U S , D e c e m b e r 2 1 , 2 0 2 2 R e u t e r s arlier, Zelenskiy, wearing his trademark olive green trousers and sweater on his first foreign wartime visit, met President Joe Biden, who called for support to keep flowing in 2023 The United States also announced another $1 85 billion in military aid for Ukraine, including a Patriot air defence system to help it ward off barrages of Russian missiles

Zelenskiy said the Patriot system was an important step in creating an air shield

“ T h i s i s t h e o n l y w a y t h a t w e c a n d ep r i v e t h e t e r r o r i s t s t a t e o f i t s m a i n i n s t r um e n t o f t e r r o r – t h e p o s s i b i l i t y t o h i t o u r c i t i e s , o u r e n e rg y, ” Z e l e n s k i y t o l d a W h i t e H o u s e n e w s c o n f e r e n c e , s t a n d i n g n e x t t o B i d e n We would like to get more

TA S S n e w s a g e n c y c i t e d R u s s i a s U S ambssador as saying that Zelenskiy’s visit c o n f i r m e d t h a t U S s t a t e m e n t s a b o u t n o t w a n t i n g a c o n f l i c t w i t h R u s s i a w e r e e m p t y w o r d s

A m e r i c a ’s p r o v o c a t i v e a c t i o n s i n U k r a i n e w e r e l e a d i n g t o a n e s c a l a t i o n t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f w h i c h w e r e i m p o s s i b l e t o i m a g i n e , TA S S c i t e d A n a t o l y A n t o n o v a s s a y i n g Russia said last week, Patriot systems, if delivered to Ukraine, would be a legitimate target for Russian strikes

afghan women barred from entering universities

KABUL

Ag e n c i e s

F e m a l e u n i v e r s i t y s t u d e n t s i n A f g h a n i s t a n w e r e t u r n e d a w a y f r o m c a m p u s e s a f t e r t h e Ta l i b a n - r u n a d m i n i st r a t i o n s a i d w o m e n w o u l d b e s u s p e n d e d f r o m t e r t i a r y e d u c a t i o n T h e d e c i s i o n t o b a r w o m e n w a s a n n o u n c e d o n Tu e s d a y e v e n i n g i n a l e t t e r t o u n i v e r s i t i e s f r o m t h e h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n m i n i s t r y, d r a w i n g c o n d e m n a t i o n f r o m f o r e i g n g o v e r n m e n t s a n d t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s We w e n t t o u n i v e r s i t y, t h e Ta l i b a n w e r e a t t h e g a t e a n d t o l d u s ‘ y o u a r e n o t a l l o w e d t o e n t e r t h e u n i v e r s i t y u n t i l f u r t h e r n o t i c e e v e r y o n e w a s c r y i n g , ” s a i d S h a i s t a , a b u s i n e s s s t u d i e s s t u d e n t a t a p r i v a t e u n iv e r s i t y i n K a b u l A p r o f e s s o r a t a n o t h e r u n i v e r s i t y i n K a b u l w h o d e c l i n e d t o b e i d e n t i f i e d s a i d s t a ff t u r n e d f e m a l e s t ud e n t s a w a y a t t h e g a t e a s t h e y h a d n o c h o i c e b u t t o i m p l e m e n t t h e i n s t r u c t i o n T h e b a r o n w o m e n s t u d e n t s i s l i k e l y t o c o m p l i c a t e t h e Ta l i b a n a d m i n i s t r a t i o n s e ff o r t s t o g a i n i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e c o g n i t i o n a n d t o g e t r i d o f s a n c t i o n s t h a t a r e s ev e r e l y h a m p e r i n g t h e e c o n o m y T h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s A s s i s t a n c e M i s s i o n i n A f g h a n i s t a n a s k e d t h e Ta l i b a n - r u n a dm i n i s t r a t i o n t o i m m e d i a t e l y r e v o k e t h e d e c i s i o n I t a l s o u rg e d t h e a u t h o r i t i e s t o r e o p e n g i r l s ’ s c h o o l s b e y o n d t h e s i x t h g r a d e a n d e n d a l l m e a s u r e s p r e v e n t i n g w o m e n a n d g i r l s f r o m p a r t i c i p a t i n g f u l l y i n d a i l y p u b l i c l i f e ” T h i r d - y e a r p o l i t i c a l s c i e n c e s t u d e n t H a s s i b a , b a s e d i n K a b u l , s a i d s h e w a s s t u d y i n g f o r h e r e x a m s w h e n s h e h e a r d a b o u t t h e a n n o u n c em e n t I t s t o o h a r d t o a c c e p t , i t s u n b el i e v a b l e I c a n ’t b e l i e v e i t ’s h a p p e n i n g ” s h e s a i d “ W h e n t h e r e i s n o e d u c a t i o n f o r w o m e n i n a s o c i e t y, h o w c a n w e b e h o p e f u l f o r a b r i g h t f u t u r e ? ” A c c o r d i n g t o t h e l a t e Tu e s d a y a n n o u n c e m e n t , t h e d e c i s i o n w a s m a d e b y t h e Ta l i b a n a dm i n i s t r a t i o n ’s c a b i n e t S e v e r a l Ta l i b a n o ff i c i a l s , i n c l u d i n g t h e d e p u t y f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i o n s p o k e s p e rs o n h a v e s p o k e n o u t i n f a v o u r o f f e m a l e e d u c a t i o n i n r e c e n t m o n t h s T h e s u p r e m e Ta l i b a n s p i r i t u a l l e a d e r, b a s e d i n t h e s o u t h e r n c i t y o f K a n d a h a r h a s t h e f i n a l s a y o n m a j o r d e c i s i o n s D i p l o m a t i c a n d Ta l i b a n o ff i c i a l s o u r c e s h a v e s a i d t h e i s s u e h a d b e e n u n d e r d i s c u s s i o n b y t h e l e a d e r s h i p

R e u t e R s

Israel s longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday he had secured a deal to form a new government after weeks of unexpectedly tough negotiations with religious and far-right coalition partners I have managed (to form a government),” Netanyahu said on Twitter, minutes before a midnight deadline set by President Isaac Herzog A Herzog spokesperson confirmed that Netanyahu’s statement had been received

Netanyahu s conservative Likud and like-minded religious-nationalist parties close to the ultra-Orthodox and West Bank settler communities won a comfortable majority in a Nov 1 election, promising him 64 of parliaments’s 120 seats

ut the agreement to form a government was held up by disputes over a package of proposed legislation on issues ranging from planning authority in the West Bank to ministerial control over the police

The new government which Netanyahu must now present within a week will take office after a year that has seen the worst levels of violence in the West Bank in more than a decade with more than 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed

A stable government would be a departure from a turbulent period that saw Israelis go to the polls five times in less than four years But the weeks of wrangling have made clear that the coalition may still face significant internal tensions

Its makeup as well as proposals that would give parliament greater powers to

overrule court decisions have also caused alarm in Israel and abroad Critics see a threat to the independence of the justice system

T h e i n c l u s i o n o f t h e h a r d l i n e r s I t am a r B e n - G v i r o f t h e u l t r a n a t i o n a l i s t J e w i s h P o w e r p a r t y a n d B e z a l e l Smotrich from the far-right Religious Zio n i s m p a r t y h a s s h o c k e d P a l e s t i n i a n s a n d l i b e r a l I s r a e l i s Both oppose Palestinian statehood and support extending Israeli sovereignty into the West Bank, adding another obstacle to a two-state solution, the resolution backed by Palestinian leaders, the United States and European governments

Ben-Gvir will serve as security minister, with authority over police, while Smotrich’s pro-settler party will have control over planning in the West Bank, giving it wide powers over the lives of Palestini-

Israel ’s Netanyahu claims to have secured deal to form new far-right govt Belgium cour t to rule on MEP ’s detention in Q atargate corruption sc andal

BRUSSELS A F P

A

Eva

One of Kaili s lawyers, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, told reporters in Brussels that she feels miserable “very troubled” and betrayed by her boyfriend and co-accused Francesco Giorgi

“Things are difficult but we have very strong legal arguments to set her free,” he said, arguing that Kaili is “not a flight risk and not in a position to destroy evidence

She was arrested on December 9 as Belgian police searching a number of addresses, found 1 5 million euros ($1 6 million) in cash Kaili was charged shortly afterwards, and has been in detention since

Another three suspects her partner; the head of an NGO allegedly used to funnel money; and a former MEPturned-lobbyist all of them Italian were also arrested

All four are charged with “criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering”

A Belgian judge authorised Kaili s arrest and detention on grounds that she was allegedly caught red-handed with cash, meaning her usual parliamentary immunity could not be invoked

The MEP denies receiving money from Qatar in exchange for influencing decisions affecting it in the EU parliament

Qatar also denies the bribery allegations and has warned that continued linkage of it to the scandal could “negatively” impact ties and its natural gas supplies to the European Union Closed door hearing: Thursday s hearing is to take place behind closed doors, with a decision expected to be given the same day, according to Belgian prosecutors and the Belgian lawyer for Kaili

Greece

K a i l i s h e a r i n g w a s c o n d u c t e d s e p a r a t e l y f r o m t h e t h r e e o t h e r s u s p e c t s w h o a p p e a r e d b e f o r e t h e c o u r t o n D e c e m b e r 1 4 O n t h a t d a t e , t h e c o u r t o r d e r e d K a i l i ’s p a r tn e r G i o rg i a n d t h e f o r m e r M E P, P i e r A n t o n i o P a n z e r i , t o r e m a i n i n j a i l

The NGO head, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, was ordered to wear an electronic bracelet to track his movements, but that was suspended on appeal

Kaili’s Greek lawyer Dimitrakopoulos said the day before the December 14 hearing that she will fight to prove her innocence”

He said that Kaili did not know of the existence of the cash 150,000 euros, according to a Belgian law enforcement source found in her home

Kaili’s Belgian lawyer, Andre Risopoulos, told Belgian newspaper Le Soir that she strongly denied that she had partially confessed”

He contradicted reports saying she had admitted asking her father to remove the money uncovered at her address

Kaili s father had been held in custody for two days after the police searches before he was released

Panzeri’s wife and daughter were arrested in Italy under a European warrant and could face extradition to Belgium in January to answer charges

Apart from the money found in Kaili’s Belgian apartment, police discovered 750 000 euros in a suitcase with the father and another 600,000 at Panzeri’s place

An international union leader, Luca Visentini, said Tuesday he had received 50 000 euros from Panzeri s Fight Impunity NGO

He said the cash was to cover expenditures for his campaign to take over as general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)

Visentini, who was detained for questioning during the Belgian police raids but later released while remaining a suspect, was suspended by the union’s board on Wednesday pending internal investigations

ans and opening the door to an expansion of Israeli settlements

Ben-Gvir also wants to take greater direct control over the police with legislation that would give him direct authority over policy matters normally decided by the police commissioner

At the same time Aryeh Deri head of the religious Shas party, is bidding to become finance minister, despite a conviction for tax fraud He would take over the m i n i s t r y f o r t w o y e a r s u n d e r a s h a r e d a r r a n g e m e n t w i t h S m o t r i c h , w h o w o u l d s e r v e f o r t h e f i r s t t w o y e a r s o f t h e g o vernment’s term

Netanyahu has said he will ultimately set Israeli policy and has pledged to govern in the interest of all citizens in Israel The veteran leader, who returns after serving a record 15 years in the top office, is on trial for corruption charges he denies

China urges Us to follow Wto ruling on hong kong product labeling

BEIJING Ag e n c i e s

China on Thursday welcomed a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on the United States’ origin marking requirement for products from China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) The WTO ruled on Wednesday that the U S had violated international trading laws by requiring Hong Kong products to be labeled “Made in China,” rejecting Washington’s argument that its national security interests allowed for such labeling China welcomes the fair ruling by a WTO dispute panel, said Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a regular press briefing in Beijing Currently the origin of Hong Kong export products is marked as Hong Kong as Hong Kong is a separate member of the WTO and enjoys the special status as a separate customs territory under “One Country, Two Systems The status of Hong Kong as a separate customs territory is approved by the Chinese government, confirmed by the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and established by the multilateral rules of the WTO,” said Mao It is not granted by any single [WTO] member ” Earlier on Thursday a China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson urged the U S to respect the ruling China hopes the U S will take concrete action to correct its wrongdoings and uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system and the normal trade order, the spokesperson said in a statement On August 11 2020, Washington required Hong Kong products exported to the United States be labeled Made in China In Wednesday s ruling the WTO panel said the U S origin marking requirement had violated the country’s obligation under the trade body s rules

R E S

speaking in English T h e w o r l d i s t o o i n t e r c o n n e c t e d t o a l l o w a n y c o u n t r y t o s t a n d a s i d e a n d f e e l

s a f e , Z e l e n s k i y s a i d a s h e a p p e a l e d f o r b ip a r t i s a n s u p p o r t US President Joe Biden speaks during a

joint news conference with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the East Room of the White House in Washington, US, December 21, 2022 Reuters

Patriots

told reporters at the White House

Russia says it launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities Ukraine and the West describe Russia’s actions as an unprovoked war of aggression Ukraine has come under repeated Russian strikes targeting its energy infrastructure in recent weeks leaving millions without power or running water in the dead of a freezing winter

JERUSALEM

Belgian court will decide on Thursday whether to keep a Greek MEP in jail pending trial on corruption charges in a graft scandal linked to Qatar that has rocked the European Parliament

Kaili, a 44-year-old former newsreader who was booted from her post as parliamentary vice president after police raids earlier this month, has become the face of the case

has opened its own preliminary inquiry into corruption and money laundering

S et h i ta k e S o f f i c e a S i n t e r i m c h a i r m a n o f Pa k i S ta n c r i c k et b o a r d

being replaced by Ehsan Mani after former star cricketer Imran Khan took over as the prime minister

nAjAM Sethi took office as the head of a new 14-member interim management committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday a day after the government removed Ramiz Raja as its chairman and reappointed the political analyst widely considered to be sympathetic to deposed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif

The government has also repealed the constitution of the top cricket governing body and restored it to the 2014 position, aiming to bring back regional departments into the fold of domestic cricket ethi served as PCB chairman between 2013-2018 although he fought legal battles with his predecessor Zaka Ashraf before

new fifa world rankings see morocco climb to 11th spot

RABAT Ag e n c i e s

Morocco has climbed from 22nd to 11th in the latest FIFA world ranking released on Thursday after their heroics at the 2022 FIFA World Cup The Atlas Lions were eliminated by France 2-0 in the semifinals at the World Cup before losing 2-1 to Croatia in the thirdplace playoff, ending their journey with a memorable fourth place as the first ever African side to reach the World Cup semifinals Morocco is now the highest-ranked team in Africa, ahead of Senegal (19th), Tunisia (30th) Cameroon (33rd) and Nigeria (35th) Brazil maintained their first position since February, followed by Argentina, France Belgium and England

kP gov t to invite afghanistan team to play at arbab niaz Stadium

PESHAWAR

The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has agreed to invite the Afghanistan squad for a cricket series in Peshawar Finance Minister of KP Taimur jhagra indicated in this regard that the city is safe for foreign players; hence a match is essential to send a positive image jhagra further stated that Arbab Niaz Stadium is approaching completion, while Hayatabad Cricket Stadium is ready to host matches Former PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja stated earlier this month that overseas players were unprepared to visit the provincial capital Peshawar Zalmi owner javed Afridi also expressed his disapproval of Ramiz’s statement, claiming that it would give the world a negative impression javed Afridi did not attend the PSL 8 draft ceremony in Karachi or the Board of Governors meeting last week in protest

Mani abolished departmental cricket from the domestic cricket and squeezed it into six provincial-based teams at the behest of Khan However, several cricketers and former governing board members had been urging the government to bring back departments into the domestic cricket fold

Mani didn’t accept an extension after his three-year tenure ended last year and Khan brought in Ramiz as the new PCB chairman Ramiz continued to serve as PCB head despite Khan s government ending earlier this year and Shahbaz Sharif becoming prime minister

It is a normal practice in Pakistan that a prime minister, who is also the patron in chief of the PCB, appoints the country’s

head of the cricket board through direct nomination

The new management committee also includes former captain Shahid Afridi and ex-captain of the national women’s team Sana Mir

The government has given the committee 120 days to not only restore departments in its domestic cricket setup but also form a new board of governors

D u r i n g R

o q u a l i f i e d f o r t h e f i n a l o f t h e T 2 0 A s i a C u p

However, Pakistan didn’t fare well in Test matches at home and flat, grassless pitches remained the focal point Australia recorded a 1-0 win when it toured Pakistan

after more than two decades in March and England handed Pakistan its first-ever 3-0 whitewash at home ending Tuesday

The wickets prepared for these twin tours came under severe criticism for Pakistan s loss The wicket at Pindi Cricket Stadium received one demerit point from the ICC in March when only 14 wickets fell over five days during the drawn Test match against Australia

Although England won by 74 runs to open its first Test tour to Pakistan in 17 years in dimming light on the last day, the pitch at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium received another demerit point earlier this month New Zealand arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for two Test matches and three ODIs, starting with the first Test at Karachi starting Monday

S e ve r a l m e m b e r s o f F r a n c e t e a m s u b j e c t e d t o h at e f u l r a c i s t a b u s e o n s o c i a l m e d i a

PARIS

Several

y, a d d i n g i t i n t e n d e d t o f i l e a l e g a l c o m p l a i n t

The abuse aimed at Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni, who missed their penalties in the penalty shootout echoed that received by three England players following the Euro 2020 final loss to Italy last year

French football chiefs issued a strongly worded statement castigating the abusers, who took to social media after a pulsating final which saw France come back from 2-

0 and 3-2 down to take it to a penalty shootout

The team gained much credit with the majority of French people during the tournament and around 50,000 greeted them in Place de la Concorde on Monday on their

return from Qatar

“At the end of the World Cup final several players from the French team were subjected to racist and unacceptably hateful remarks on social media,” the FFF tweeted on the France football team Twit-

ter account “The FFF condemns them and will lodge a complaint against the authors of those remarks ”

Coman – whose introduction in the second-half by coach Didier Deschamps sparked a French revival – has already had his club German champions Bayern Munich leap to his defence

“ F C B a y e r n s t r o n g l y c o n d e m n t h e r a c i s t c o m m e n t s m a d e t o w a r d s K i n g sl e y C o m a n , t h e y t w e e t e d o n M o n d a y “ T h e F C B a y e r n f a m i l y i s b e h i n d y o u , K i n g R a c i s m h a s n o p l a c e i n s p o r t o r o u r s o c i e t y

Politicians were quick to condemn the abuse with the opposition Socialist Party urging the FFF to lodge a complaint Isabelle Rome, minister for equality and diversity, described the abuse as unacceptable

r

Bowler

is ready to return to the side for their two-Test home series against New Zealand but fellow quicks Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf remain sidelined with injuries

Afridi has been out of action since suffering a knee injury during the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on November 13 Naseem and Haris (thigh) played the first Test against England but missed the last two matches “Haris Rauf has not been included in the squad as he is recovering from an injury he sustained while fielding in the

Rawalpindi Test ” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Wednesday

However, fast bowler Naseem Shah, who missed the Multan and Karachi Tests due to a shoulder niggle has been being declared fit and as such, retained in the squad ”

Pakistan have also recalled fast bowler Hasan Ali and picked uncapped middle-order batter Kamran Ghulam to replace Azhar Ali, who retired after the team’s 3-0 series whitewash by England

The upcoming series marks the beginning of Tim Southee’s reign as New Zealand Test captain after he took over from Kane Williamson, who ended his six-year tenure earlier this month

Umesh, ashwin help india dominate bangladesh

DHA KA

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan Thursday inaugurated the newly constructed international standard Hayatabad Cricket Stadium which can now hold PSL-8 or any of the international cricket matches

Provincial Minister Finance Taimur Saleem jhagra Minister Higher Education Kamran Bangash, Minister Social Welfare Anwar Zeb, Minister Sports and Youth Affairs Atif Khan, Members Provincial Assembly, Secretary Sports Captain (Rtd) Mushtaq Ahmed, Project Director Col Bakhtiar, Deputy Project Director Col Akmal, Head NASPAK Saad, Deputy Manager NLC Talha, DG Sports Khalid Khan, Director Youth Irfan Ali, Director Sports Merged Areas Pir Abdullah Shah, PCB Representative for KP Region Babar Khan and Administrator Hayatabad Sports Complex Shah Faisal and other important personalities including players were present Hayatabad Cricket Stadium was com-

pleted in a period of one year under the supervision of Pakistan Cricket Board and ICC at a cost of Rs 1 billion All the facilities of international standard have been provided in the Stadium PSL-8 and other international matches can be held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said while talking to the media during the opening ceremony International level of sports facilities have been created

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only

province

r t h e p r om o t i o n o f n a t i o n a l g a m e h o c k e y, a l o n g w i t h t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f s q u a s h c o u r t s i n a l l d i s t r i c t s , s y n t h e t i c c o u r t s f o r t e nn i s , f o o t b a l l g r o u n d s , f i f t e e n p o l o g r o u n d s , a t h l e t i c s t r a c k s f r o m D e r a I sm a i l K h a n , B a n n u , K o h a t a n d w o r k o n P e s h a w a r w o u l d s o o n b e s t a r t e d H e s a i d f o r t h e p r o m o t i o n o f w o m e n ’s g a m e , a s e p a r a t e g y m n a s i u m e q u i p p e d w i t h a l l i n t e r n a t i o n a l f a c i l i t i e s f o r i n -

door games for females have been neari n g c o m p l e t i o n a s 9 5 p e r c e n t c o n s t r u ct i o n w o r k h a s b e e n c o m p l e t e d i n a l l d i v i s i o n a l h e a d q u a r t e r s T h e C h i e f M i n i s t e r s a i d e q u a l o pp o r t u n i t i e s h a v e b e e n e n s u r e d f o r t h e f e m a l e p l a y e r s o f t h e K h y b e r Pakhtunkhwa w ho also excelled greatly i n t h e f i e l d o f s p o r t s a t n a t i o n a l a n d i nt e r n a t i o n a l l e v e l S e p a r a t e g y m n a s i u m s h a v e b e e n c o m p l e t e d f o r s p o r t s w h i l e 1 5 1 s p o r t s f a c i l i t i e s h a v e b e e n b u i l t f r o m N o r t h Wa z i r i s t a n t o C h i t r a l t h a t a l s o i n c l u d e d 1 5 p o l o g r o u n d s a s w e l l t o p r o m o t e t r a d i t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l s t a n d a r d p o l o

The Chief Minister said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can organize national and international competitions of any game with such international standard facilities

He said when he was the minister of sports the grant of sports was Rs 140 million while the current year ’s ADP of sports has increased to Rs 6 1 billion He said that this stadium is one of the most beautiful stadiums in Pakistan, which is equipped with all the facilities

Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed four wickets apiece on Thursday as India bowled out Bangladesh for 227 runs in their first innings of the second Test in Dhaka Mominul Haque top-scored with 84 but the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals to end their innings about an hour before stumps after electing to bat first India reached 19-0 before bad light forced an early end to the opening day, with six overs still to be played Stand-in India skipper K L Rahul was batting on three with Shubman Gill 14 not out at stumps Rahul was given out legbefore on three off Shakib Al Hasan in the final over of the day but the decision was reversed after review Umesh earlier picked up 4-25 and Ashwin grabbed 4-71 as India stopped the hosts from building a significant partnership despite several batsmen getting decent starts “It’s a 50-50 wicket It is not like it is fully for the pacers or spinners Some balls are doing something and some are not ” Umesh said after the day’s play “You have to be patient One odd ball is kicking from back of length, and if you bowl full it is not swinging or doing anything There is no pace ” Mushfiqur Rahim (26), Liton Das (25) and Najmul Hossain (24) were all unable to lend Mominul an extended spell of support Mominul playing his first match in the series, departed as the ninth wicket when he nicked Ashwin behind the stumps The left-hander hit 12 fours and a six to make his 16th Test fifty, also his first in the last seven Tests

LAHORE

e u T e r s

Naseem Shah has recovered from a shoulder issue and

KARACHI

SBP urgES BankS To BaCk CLIMaTE-ChangE hIT agrI SECTor

PR OfIt REPORt a b d u l l a h n i a z i

LAHORE

THE governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said that banks need to lend support to the agricultural sector in the wake of the devastating floods that hit the country this year Chairing the meeting of the Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) Governor Jameel Ahmad said that climate change is the biggest long-term threat to the country due to its unforeseen impacts

He added that while the government,

businesses and societies are recognizing such threats, we need to take timely actions and allocate required resources for research and development of relevant products and services and capacity building of stakeholders to address them preemptively AGriculture finAncinG in PAkistAn: According to a central bank report from last year 90-94 per cent of farm loans are offered for production and only 6-10pc for agricultural development The share of development loans in total agricultural finance stood at 6pc in 2018-19 This percentage improved to 6 7pc in 2019-20 and

further to 10pc in the first seven months of this fiscal year

On top of this almost 84% of farmers in the country comprise small farmers and rely on informal sector credit at exorbitant rates to meet their agri credit requirements One of the main reasons for the financial exclusion of these small farmers has been their inability to provide collateral to banks Most agricultural loans provided in the country are hard loans which means that banks require collateral in exchange for securing the loan Since farmers rarely own the land they work on, this is an uphill

climb for them

Governor’s remArks: Speaking during the ACAC meeting in Hyderabad Governor Ahmed appreciated the country’s banks for achieving unprecedented agriculture credit disbursement of Rs1 419 billion in FY22 He noted that for FY23, a target of Rs1,819 billion has been set in line with the Government’s priority and added that during the first five months of FY23, Rs 664 billion have already been disbursed

“The prime minister has announced the Kissan Package, comprising of restructuring and rescheduling of agriculture loans,

Fauji Fer tilizer temporarily closes DAP plant

ISLAMABAD

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) has shut down its Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) plant on December 21, 2022, the company announced to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday

“The Company hereby informs that its DAP Plant has been shut down on December 21 2022 to more efficiently manage its DAP inventory owing to demand and supply situation in the market During the shutdown period, planned annual maintenance activity will also be carried out in January 2023 to ensure reliability and sustainable safe operations at the plant After the completion of annual

maintenance the startup of DAP plant will commence based on the DAP market situation Notwithstanding the temporary closure the Company intends to meet the projected DAP demand in the country However, the Urea plant is operating normally” read the notification FFBL did not announce the length of the DAP plant shutdown

Fertilizer offtake has declined in recent months in Pakistan According to the latest report by National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC) for October 2022, the DAP offtake in October 2022 was 71 000 tonnes a significant decline of 79 1% compared to last year in October 2021 NFDC credits this decrease to heavy rains/floods and high prices of DAP fertilizer in the domestic market

According to the same report in its outlook for Rabi 2022-23, the total

availability of DAP is expected to be around 1,158 thousand tonnes, which comprises 300 thousand tonnes of imported supply 399 thousand tonnes of domestic production and 460 thousand tonnes of opening stock The offtake of DAP is estimated around 829 thousand tonnes Situation regarding DAP looks satisfactory as other phosphate fertilizers like NP MAP SSP and NPKs will also be available in the market to meet phosphate demand

In recent months DAP prices have continued to increase making it harder for the farmers to buy and other fertilizer products DAP price during October 2022 was in the range of Rs 8934 to 9,928 per 50 kg bag

Last month the government announced a Kisan Package where the DAP prices were reduced to Rs 11250 per bag from Rs 13 750 per bag This was expected to provide relief to the

farmers The Rs 2 500 decrease in DAP prices will be covered by the government as a subsidy The latest prices for DAP in December are around Rs 11,450 to 11,700 per 50 kg bag

The majority of DAP in Pakistan is imported Earlier this year in August the government decided to regulate the import of DAP by making the Trading Corporation of Pakistan’s (TCP) approval necessary, a move that was criticized by fertilizer manufacturers

The total market for DAP in Paki s t a n i s a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 m i l l i o n tonnes out of which around two-third volume is imported to meet the count r y ’s a g r i c u l t u r a l n e e d s G l o b a l l y, DAP is recognised as one of the most standard source of phosphorus and is u s e d w i t h u r e a t o p r o v i d e b a l a n c e d utrition for crops

mark-up waiver for outstanding small loans in flood affected areas, interest-free loans for subsistence & landless farmers and subsidized loans and risk sharing scheme for farm mechanization, besides other support measures” he said

The governor elaborated that the package will facilitate recovery of farmers from the impact of recent floods and urged banks to implement the package in letter and spirit He also assured SBP s full support to the banks wherever needed

The Governor also underlined that banks have a huge opportunity to exploit the untapped potential of Islamic agriculture financing with respect to SBP’s recent commitment towards transformation of conventional banking to Islamic banking in the next five years

He noted that the share of Islamic financing in agriculture financing is still quite low and urged the industry to work on developing demand driven Islamic financing products specifically tailored to the requirements of the farming community

The governor ’s inaugural address was followed by a presentation on the performance of bank s in agricultural financing

Rice expor ters demand industr y status, lament treatment by commerce ministr y

ISLAMABAD

Warning that Pakistan’s rice exports this year will fall, representatives of the rice sector are demanding that they be given industry-status immediately along with the announced subsidized tariff of Rs 19 99 for the sector as well as the restoration of gas connections to mills

Speaking at a presser after a high-level meeting with officials from the commerce ministry, rice exporter association president Chela Ram Kewlani and other exporters warned the government in case of no timely action the exports of rice will fall short of last year ’s export proceeds of $2 5 billion The association claimed that rice exports have the potential to reach $5bn in the next couple of months if the government provides support

C o n s p i r a t o r s w i l l f a i l t o d r i v e a w e d g e b e t w e e n P M L - Q

P T I : C M E l a h i

,

S ta f f R e p o R t

P r i m e M i n i s t e r ( P M ) S h e h b a z S h a r i f o n T h u r s d a y v i s i t e d C o m b i n e d M i l it a r y H o s p i t a l ( C M H ) w h e r e h e m e t o f f i c e r s a n d s o l d i e r s i n j u r e d i n a n o p e r a t i o n a g a i n s t i n t h e C o u n t e r- Te rr o r i s m D e p a r t m e n t ( C T D ) c o m p l e x i n B a n n u A c c o r d i n g t o I n t e r- S e r v i c e s P u bl i c R e l a t i o n s ( I S P R ) , t h e p r i m e m i ni s t e r v i s i t e d C o m b i n e d M i l i t a r y H os pital (CM H ) in Raw alpindi w here

h e e n q u i r e d a f t e r t h e h e a l t h o f i n j u r e d s o l d i e r s O n t h e o c c a s i o n , t h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r p a i d t r i b u t e t o t h e c o u r a g e a n d v a l o u r o f t r o o p s w h o c l e a r e d C T D c o m p l e x i n B a n n u , s e i z e d b y m i l i t a n t s

Speaking on the occasion, PM Shehbaz reiterated the resolve to extirpate terrorism and break the nexus between terrorists, their supporters and sympathizers till achieving peace and stability

The Prime Minister said writ of the state will be established at every cost and no one will be allowed to disrupt the

hard earned gains of war on terror achieved through unparalleled sacrifices of the nation and the valiant armed Forces

Paying tribute to the troops, PM Shehbaz added that the martyrs and their families have rendered supreme sacrifices for ensuring safety and security of people of the country

Defence Minister meets injured officers, soldiers

M e a n w h i l e M i n i s t e r f o r D e f e n c e K h a w a j a A s i f o n T h u r s d a y m e t i nj u r e d o ff i c e r s a n d s o l d i e r s a t C M H

w h o g o t i n j u r e d d u r i n g C o u n t e r Te rr o r i s m D e p a r t m e n t ( C T D ) c o m p l e x B a n n u O p e r a t i o n A c c o r d i n g t o t h e I n t e r S e r v i c e s P u b l i c R e l a t i o n s ( I S P R ) n e w s r e l e a s e , t h e D e f e n c e M i n i s t e r p a i d t r i b u t e t o c o u r a g e a n d v a l o u r o f t r o o p s w h o c l e a r e d C T D c o m p l e x B a n n u A day earlier, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir visited Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi and met officers and soldiers who got injured during Bannu operation According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), COAS Asim Munir remained with them for some time and inquired about their wellbeing

The army chief appreciated their high spirits and morale and lauded their professionalism during the said operation against the terrorists

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

T h e 7 t h m e e t i n g o f P u n j a b C a b i n e t h e l d h e r e o n T h u r sd a y w i t h P u n j a b C h i e f M i n i s t e r C h a u d h r y P e r v a i z E l a h i , a p p r o v e d r e c r u i t m e n t o f 2 5 , 0 0 0 n e w t e a c h e r s i n S c h o o l E d u c a t i o n D e p a r t m e n t D u r i n g t h e m e e t i n g h e l d a t C M ’s S e c r e t a r i a t , C h i e f M i n i s t e r C h a u d h r y P e r v a i z E l a h i d i r e c t e d t o i n i t i a t e t h e r e c r u i t m e n t p r o c e s s a t t h e e a r l i e s t S p e a k i n g o n t h e o c c a s i o n C M C h P e r v a i z s t a t e d t h a t t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t w a s e f f e c t i v e l y p e rf o r m i n g t o r e n d e r p u b l i c s e r v i c e “ I m r a n K h a n i s o u r l e a d e r a n d w e w e l c o m e h i s c a l l T h e a l l i a n c e o f P T I a n d P M L - Q i s s t r o n g a n d t h o s e t r y i n g t o c r e a t e d i v i d e w i l l f a c e d i s a p p o i n t m e n t a s t h e y h a d i n t h e p a s t O u r a ll i a n c e i s m e a n t t o s e r v e t h e p u b l i c a n d n o c o n s p i r a c y c a n s t o p u s f r o m p r o v i d i n g s e r v i c e t o t h e m a s s e s o f P u n j a b ” , h e d e c l a r e d T h e P u n j a b C M s a i d t h o s e i nd u l g i n g i n c o n s p i r a c i e s w i l l b i t e t h e d u s t

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has cleared seven development projects worth Rs 115 80 billion The forum which met here on Thursday considered seven projects related to the Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Housing and Works Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives and Higher Education Commission (HEC)

The meeting which was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal, was also attended by Secretary PD&SI Chief Economist, Members Planning Commission and representatives from the various ministries As per details the forum has approved National Programmer Post -Flood Recon-

struction: Climate Resilience Enhancement Project in Balochistan & other provinces at the cost of Rs 88 000 million Strengthening of Labs in 5 leading Universities UET, Peshawar, Taxila, Lahore, Khuzdar and NED, Karachi at the cost of Rs 6 636 506 m Construction of National Sport City NSC at Narowal (Revised third PC) at the cost of Rs 5 760 660m Construction of Yarik-Tank Road, DI Khan Development Package at the cost of Rs 4,418 430m, Competitive Grants Program for Policy Oriented Research at the cost of Rs 1,756 000m, Improvement/ Widening of Spera Ragha Road From Kanozai Cross to Loralai Kill Saifullah Road at the cost of Rs 6,136 838m and Innovation Center & Innovation Park at UET, Lahore Sub campus at the cost of Rs 2,966 486m

The government has finally jumped into action to address the spectre of growing circular debt in the gas sector

The government has formed a committee to devise a comprehensive settlement plan to map, manage and eliminate the gas circular debt in an effort to secure the necessary funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF highlighted in its

last Pakistan report that circular debt in the gas sector stood at an alarming Rs 720 billion and that figure doesn’t fully cover the situation as it stands currently

This prompted the IMF to request that Pakistan raise gas tariffs for consumers in order to recoup a portion of the debt

Even though Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week directed concerned officials not to impose any further burden on the country s gas and electricity consumers, it may be the only way to salvage the struggling

economy Gas circular debt ?

The gas industry circular debt is a relatively new situation caused by rising LNG costs and delays by the government in announcing the new and higher tariff consistent with the international gas price hikes Another contributing factor is the government’s inefficient utilisation of this commodity coupled with untargeted subsidies

The fundamental cause of the circular debt is the unpaid government subsidies intended for residential and export-ori-

ented consumers for the consumption of LNG This has hampered Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company’s cash flows (SSGC) as they are not able to recover the actual cost of importing LNG from their respective customers

To make the point clear, LNG costs a lot more than domestically produced gas therefore naturally the price should be set at a level that would allow the recovery of the costs

g A g r i c u lt u r e i s o n e o f t h e m o s t i g n o r e d s e c to r s w h e n i t c o m e s to f i n A n c i n g t h r o u g h f o r m A l c h A n n e l s

n i s n e e d e d s o o n A f t e r, e x p e r t s s Ay

RAWALPINDI

ISLAMABAD

N T I

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 03 C O N T I N U E D O