Epaper_22-12-30 KHI

Ta l ks o n w i T h s a u d i a f o r a n o T h e r $ 3 b lo a n : pa s h a

Minister of state for Finance and revenue, dr ayesha ghous pasha has assured that talks w th saudi arab a for gett ng three bill on dollars are under way she was talking to the media after the meeting of the senate Finance committee

she said that the m nistr y s team is making considerable progress and hopefully after the ho idays the talks will move for ward

the state Min ster also said that they are also holding discussions with China for a $3 b llion loan and th ngs are moving for ward in this regard she said that pakistan will also meet its external payment ob igations and will return the loans that are due in Januar y add ng on to that she said that we have more foreign exchange reser ves in the pipeline and there is nothing to worr y about she sa d that Finance Ministr y officials will meet with the iMF off cia s at the donors Conference n geneva on Januar y 9, 2023

she assured that negot at ons with the iMF wi l start again after the holidays and the matters with the iMF wi l be settled as wel she vowed she also said that the ministr y has shared the f ood damage estimates with mult ateral international organizations and w ll also find out how much external funding they w l be able to receive at the donors conference ayesha ghous pasha also said that the government had banned import of unnecessar y and luxur y items n the best interest of the countr y, but now they are relax ng these restrictions and sbp s a so ifting ban on lCs from the 2nd of Januar y earlier respond ng to the presentation of the Ma akand Chamber of Commerce and industr y, at the senate standing Committee on Finance he d on thursday aisha ghous pasha stated that the demand for exemptions shou d be clearly justified she ma ntained that distortions should not be created, due to the proposed sales tax and excise duty exemption for the steel and ghee/cooking o l units in the tribal areas we do not want to create any distortion n the taxation system and if you justify these exemptions, the government would be ready to cons der the same , she added

isht aq ahmad the president of the Malakand Chamber of Commerce and industr y protested that the Fbr had established inland revenue enforcement network (iren) check posts, to conduct sur vei lance of exit points from non-taxab e areas i e Federal y admin stered triba areas (Fata) and the provinc ally adm nistered tribal areas (pata) to taxab e terr tories however the checks posts have created harassment and made llegal cases against the units located n the tribal areas Cha rman Committee after due deliberations directed the officials of Malakand Chamber of Commerce and industr y to provide appropriate justif cations for the demanded exempt ons and further discuss the matter with the government detailed discussion was he d on the restriction of lCs causing delay n development and opening of Five star hotel named Movenpick hote islamabad she added that the restrict on in imports is just a temporar y restriction and will be relaxed as the economic and currency s tuat on improves since 90% of the work is already completed committee members advised the off cials of state bank and Ministr y of Finance and revenue to consider the specif c import requests and work for the mitigat on of the problems faced by the businessmen n this regard PA k i S tA n , t u r k i S h F M S r e S O lv e t O w O r k t O g e t h e r F O r r e g i O

b i l a t e r a l a n d r e g i o n a l m a t t e r s both the eaders re terated their commitment to work together for peaceful and stable afghanistan and for regiona peace and prosper ty Foreign minister b lawal appreciated the turkish solidarity for the f ood affected people of pakistan and continued support for rehabilitation of the flood-hit people and building a climate resistant pakistan pleased to have te ephonic conversation with FM Mevlüt Çavusoglu today appreciated turkiye s solidarity for f ood affectees & cont nued support for rehab litation & cl mate resistant pak stan reiterated commitment to work together for peacefu & stable afghanistan for regiona peace and prosperity,” Foreign M nister b lawa wrote on tw tter nO threAt OF deFAult: Minister for planning development & specia initiatives, professor ahsan iqbal on thursday dispelled the rumors related to default risks of the countr y and ca led for adopting export or ented polic es for publ c and private sector to acce erate export led growth the min ster made these remarks while cha ring a roundtable on Conducive bus ness environment ’ organ zed by the Min str y of planning Commission on thursday the roundtable was attended by the representatives of re evant ministries chambers of commerce and other relevant stakeholders a specific po itical party is propagating the rumors about the countr y s default for the po itical ob ectives; however pakistan has come out of economic crises successfully after taking tough decisions he said the minister said that anyone who talks about the default of the countr y is pak stan's enemy and the po tics of those who declare pakistan as default will default soon to promote private sector investments we need to create an enabling and investor-friendly envronment n the countr y while emphasizing to increase exports to up to 100 bi ion do lars the problems faced by the countr y will be so ved under the leadership of the prime Min ster shahbaz sharif who has adopted the path of stabi ty while moving the countr y in the right direction, he added

P M S h e h b a z , C OA S A s i m M u n i r d i s c u s s n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y

Chief of army staff (Coa s) general syed asim Munir ca led on pr me Min ster shehbaz sharif at the pM office on thursday and discussed prevailing security s tuat on w th him professiona as wel as matters relating to nat ona security were discussed in the meeting, sa d a statement issued by the pM Media wing here gen asim briefed the premier on the security situation of the countr y during the meeting PM SuMMOnS nSC Meeting

s o g l u a n d d s c u s s e d t h e c u r r e n t s i t ua t o n i n a f g h a n i s t a n a s w e l l a s

Furthermore, he said that Ch na offers pak stan a potential export market which we must take advantage of while emphasizing the importance of local and foreign investors in the countr y which he bel eves should be top priority

prime M nister shehbaz sharif has summoned a meeting of the nationa secur ty Committee (nsC) on Friday (today) to discuss matters related to nationa security sources pr vy to the matter informed that the prime Minister has convened the nsC meet ng at pM house on Friday which would be attended by the defence minister, inter or m nister foreign minister and finance min ster as well as the militar y chiefs they said the nsC meeting would be br efed on the recent terror wave across pakistan the high-powered nsC meeting wil take a comprehens ve review of the strategy in the wake of the ongoing surge in terror st attacks Mil tar y officials wil brief the nsC meet ng participants on the r se in terrorism inc dents, situation along pak-afghan border and implemen-

tation of the national action plan (nap) sources added apart from this, ssues related to formulat ng an integrated strategy against terrorism wil also be discussed in the huddle of top civil and militar y leaders al ser vice chiefs security officials, foreign minister, nterior minister, defence m nister finance min ster and information min ster will attend the nsC meeting, which will be chaired by pM shehbaz a day ear ier the militar y top brass vowed to “ fight against terrorists w thout any distinction as the menace of terror sm has reared its ugly head again with a fresh wave of attacks in the countr y the reiteration of the reso ve was made in a huddle of the corps commanders at the ghQ which was presided over by army chief general syed asim Munir

a comprehensive review of profess onal and organisational matters of the army was undertaken it was resolved to fight against terrorists without any distinction and eliminate th s menace as per the aspirations of people of the pakistan,” the interser vices public relations (ispr) said n the statement

the militar y commanders ’ huddle a so came amid a spike in terrorist attacks across the countr y claimed mostly by the outlawed tehreek-e-ta iban pakistan (ttp) wh ch unilatera ly scrapped a ceasefire n november effective y ending a startstop negot at on process brokered by the afghan taliban

P t i a n n o u n c e s c o u n t r y w i d e p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t i n f l a t i o n f r o m t o d a y

of action,” he said

pti leader Fawad Chaudhr y on thursday announced that the party had dec ded to launch a protest movement across countr y from Friday, adding that Chairman imran khan would oin supporters after three weeks

From tomorrow demonstrat ons will be staged aga nst nf ation and the sinking economy [ ] and this movement will continue until the incumbent government is sent packing he said n a med a talk in lahore the dec sion Chaudhr y told journalists, was taken by imran in a meeting with senior party members today these protests w ll be ed by pti Mnas in the r constituenc es,” he said, clarifying that the movement w ll continue n ever y city after three weeks imran khan wil announce the next plan

Chaudhr y a so revealed that a huge protest wi l be organised for the release of deta ned party senator azam swati who has been in custody n a case pertaining to controversial tweets aga nst senior mil tar y officials

Moreover the pti leader re terated that the dea of bringing in a technocrat government “ will not be tolerated ” in pak stan “ if you look at the Constitution, e ect ons are the only way out the pub ic will not accept a technocrat government they wi l only accept general elections,” he stressed

Chaudhr y went on to say that some quarters ” in the countr y were aga nst holding snap pol s i m telling the establishment that they will be entirely b amed for this experiment pakistan should not be made a lab rat he warned talking about the matter of the pun-

jab assembly, the pti leader said he d a ma ority n the province and had the right to dissolve the provincial assembly anytime he alleged that some punjab awmakers were being bribed with trips to dubai saudi arabia, and the united states only if they abstain from the vote of conf dence of Chief Minister parvez e ahi

“ but let me tel you [ ] this game of horse trading will be defeated Chaudhr y par vez elahi wi l take a vote of confidence and then we will move toward dissolution of the assemblies in response to a question on the acceptance of the res gnat on of pti Mnas the former m nister said that the party would not accept individual verification under any c rcumstances

“ no pti Mna is ready to sit in the assemb y hence we have decided to approach the supreme Court for a solution to this problem,” he added

LAHore

iSLAMABAD

P e a C e Ta l ks P o s s I B l e I F I n d I a d e s I s T s F r o M

T e r r o r a C T I v I T I e s I n Pa k I s Ta n : F o

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

During

ISLAMABAD

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Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday had a telephonic conversation with his Turkish

The spokesperson said the recent tours of Foreign M i n i s t e r B i l a w a l B h u t t o Z a r d a r i w e r e a d e m o n s t r a t i o n o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y ’s i n t e r e s t t o e n g a g e w i t h P a k i s t a n a n d d e v e l o p u n d e r s t a n d i n g o n a r a n g e o f i s s u e s

She said Pakistan was also interested in expanding a n d s t r e n g t h e n i n g i t s f r i e n d s h i p a r o u n d t h e w o r l d With the enhanced interactions, visits and exchanges, w e c a n s t r e n g t h e n o u r f r i e n d s h i p c o o p e r a t i o n a n d dialogue with the international community,” she said M s Baloch s aid P akis tan w as grateful to various c o u n t r i e s a n d m u l t i l a t e r a l f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s a n d

o rg a n i z a t i o n s f o r p r o v i d i n g h u m a n i t a r i a n a s s i s t a n c e for the flood-affected people of Pakistan

W h i l e r e p l y i n g t o a q u e s t i o n a b o u t A f g h a n i s t a n s h e s a i d I s l a m a b a d h a d b e e n e n g a g i n g w i t h K a b u l a u t h o r i t i e s o n a l l m a t t e r s , i n c l u d i n g t h e b o r d e r situation and security of diplomats and missions and terrorist threat its Pakistan faces

S h e s a i d t h e A f g h a n - i n t e r i m a u t h o r i t i e s h a d a s s u r e d t o r e s o l v e a l l s u c h i s s u e s s o o n S h e s a i d Pakistan has a natural stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan and it would continue to engage with the neighbouring country

PPP MP says technocrat government unacceptable to his par t y too

ISLAMABAD

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Abdul Qadir Mandokhail a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker, said his party and Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) both are opposed to any attempt to impose a technocrat government in the country

Speaking to a TV station, Mandokhail noted there was no mention of a technocrat administration in the Constitution PTI will not accept a technocrat government nor it will be acceptable to PPP,” he said He said that not a single party was in favour of an ad hoc government in the country, as journalists

considered close to the establishment floated wordy proposals for an administration made up exclusively of non-aligned experts Some sections of the media, widely understood to be sympathetic to the military, demanded to suspend democracy and replace the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government with a cabinet of experts, tasked with stabilising the collapsing economy before new elections could be held Mandokhail, however, said experts were working in various sectors and influenced the decisions He said he had already predicted that Punjab Assembly will not be dissolved despite the announcement made by former prime minister Imran Khan

Coronavirus airport screening returns as cases in other countries climb

ISLAMABAD

Medical staff at airports resumed screening for passengers exhibiting symptoms connected with the coronavirus on Thursday after the government asked the provinces to keep a sharp lookout for any new variants of the respiratory disease, citing an increase in cases in China and other parts of the globe China has registered a surge in infections after ending strict restrictions, while data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows infections have risen in countries including Japan, South Korea and the United States in recent days Health experts have warned an explosion of new cases in China could create a “potential breeding ground” for new variants to emerge Responding to the changing scenario, the Ministry of National Health Services announced tightening up the surveillance regime at all airports and monitor inbound travellers An official of the ministry said the spread of the BF 7 Omicron subvariant the variant behind the latest surge in China was causing serious concerns He added that several additional measures have also been taken to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible variant of the virus Beijing has been rapidly reversing the strict Covid-19 curbs in place since early 2020 after protests that broke out in November in the Chinese mainland’s biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012 His subsequent abrupt U-turn on the curbs which have battered the $17 trillion economy, means the virus is now spreading largely unchecked across the country of 1 4 billion people Reports suggest hospitals across China have become overwhelmed with patients and that the virus is also spreading rapidly among frontline medical workers

He questioned how can someone in their sane mind believe the claim of assembly dissolution when Pervaiz Elahi is influencing all decisions of the opposition

He said the National Assembly speaker had approved the resignations of 11 lawmakers on the basis of evidence” of their intention

Commenting on the de-notification order issued by the governor of Punjab, the lawmaker said the legality of the notification was accepted by the court He said the order for the vote of confidence was not nullified

He clarified that the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the governor ’s order regarding the denotification of the Punjab cabinet but was not nullified

Three

soldiers

mar tyred in exchange of fire with terrorists in Kurram

RAWALPINDI

At least three soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom on Thursday during an exchange of fire with terrorists in KhyberPakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, the military said in a statement According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani troops fought bravely and effectively engaged the terrorists’ location in the Arawali area of the district

During an intense exchange of fire, it said two terrorists were killed and their weapons and ammunition were also recovered The killed terrorists remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces the ISPR added

The military’s media wing stated that 43-yearold resident of Khairpur Subedar Shuja Muhammad, 32-year-old resident of Khuzdar Naik Muhammad Ramzan and 30-year-old resident of Sukkur Sepoy Abdul Rehman embraced martyrdom during the exchange of fire

It said that a sanitisation of the area is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” ISPR further said

The incident came amid a spike in terrorist attacks across the country claimed mostly by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which unilaterally scrapped a ceasefire in November effectively ending a start-stop negotiation process brokered by the Afghan Taliban

The TTP which was comprehensively defeated in a decisive kinetic operation by the military, has found safe havens across the border in Afghanistan from where the group has been directing its terrorist operations in Pakistan Islamabad has called these TTP sanctuaries “redline and pressed Kabul s new rulers to take action against them Experts believe Pakistan’s patience is

are on the table to deal with a resurgent TTP Unofficial data show a 51% increase in terrorist violence between August 15, 2021, and August 14, 2022 – almost a year since the Taliban s takeover of Kabul At least 433 people were killed and 719 injured in 250 attacks across Pakistan during this period

A day earlier, the country s top military commanders vowed to “fight against terrorists without any distinction” The reiteration of the resolve was made in a huddle of the corps commanders at the GHQ which was presided over by army chief General Syed Asim Munir

A comprehensive review of professional and organisational matters of the army was undertaken It was resolved to fight against terrorists without any distinction and eliminate this menace as per the aspirations of people of the Pakistan an ISPR statement had said P r e s i d e n t, P M l a u d Pa k i s ta n a r M y ’ s va l o r f o r a n t i - t e r r o r a c t i o n i n k u r r a M d i s t r i c t: President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday lauded the Pakistan Army for action against terrorists in the Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

They paid tribute to the sacrifices of martyred s o l d i e r s , i n c l u d i n g S u b e d a r S h u j a M u h a m m a d , N a i k M u h a m m a d R a m z a n a n d S e p o y A b d u l Rehman

“ We w i l l c o n t i n u e t o m o v e f o r w a r d a g a i n s t t e r r o r i s m w i t h a f i r m r e s o l v e a n d s t e a d f a s t n e s s Those challenging the security of Pakistan would nowhere find any haven,” the prime minister remarked The president resolved that the efforts of the security forces as well as the whole nation would continue till elimination of the scourge from the homeland He said the prayers of the whole nation went to their brave security forces

Sanaullah says Sector I-10 blast martyred cop to be awarded Tamgha-e-Shujaat

ISLAMABAD

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Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Thursday said that Adeel Hussain, the martyr of the blast which occurred last week in sector I-10, would be awarded Tamhghae-Shujaat for his bravery

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also approved the martyr package for Shaheed Adeel Hussain he said while visiting the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital where he inquired after the health of Constable Muhammad Hanif who sustained injuries in the blast

The minister was accompanied by Inspector General of Islamabad Police Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, Director General Operations Sohail Zafar Chattha and

He lauded the injured policeman and his colleagues who had saved the Federal Capital from a major incident by foiling terrorist’s attempt

The minister said the entire Pakistani nation paid tribute to the brave policemen who sacrificed their lives for the country The country’s security forces would not be demoralized by such cowardly acts of the terrorists, he added

Dr Akbar Nasir said that Adeel Hussain embraced martyrdom, while four other policemen were injured in the bomb blast and the martyr s family was immediately provided with Shaheed package and assured that his heirs would be looked after

O n t h e o c c a s i o n , t h e m i n i s t e r a l s o p r e s e n t e d a bouquet of flowers and a cheque to the injured police constable

Commission to submit fact-finding repor t on missing Baloch students to IHC

ISLAMABAD

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The 14th meeting of the Commission formed in the light of the IHC order to scour the grievances of Baloch students was held here at Parliament House on Thursday for the third consecutive day In the absence of MP Sardar Akhtar Mengal Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed Chaired the meeting A comprehensive review of the draft report was undertaken It was resolved that the Commission will make a sincere endeavour to prepare and submit a comprehensive report swathing the issue from all dimensions and suggesting a way forward The Secretary of the Commission briefed the members regarding the proceedings held so far over the preliminary report prepared in light of the suggestions and input received from honourable members of the Commission pertaining to the issue of Missing Baloch Students and their profiling He also acquainted the panel with the data of the Missing Baloch students received till-date from various sources After touching upon the findings and recommendations of the Commission; formulated in light of the IHC order to examine the grievances of Baloch Students, the panel concluded the discussion and decided to re-convene on 10th Jan 2023 for consideration and approval of the final draft before submission to Islamabad High Court

Third spell of snow fall star ts in Galyat

NATHIAGALI

S ta f f R e p o R t

A f t e r a m o n t h - l o n g d r y w e a t h e r, t h e t h i r d s p e l l o f c u r r e n t w i n t e r r a i n a n d s n o w f a l l h a s b e g u n i n t h e u p p e r p a r t s o f H a z a r a d i v i s i o n I n d i s t r i c t A b b o t t a b a d , G a l y a t a n d T h a n d y a n i r e c e i v e d m o r e t h a n 6 i n c h e s o f s n o w w h i l e i n M a n s e h r a S h o g r a n K a g h a n a n d N a r a n r e c e i v e d u p t o o n e f e e t s n o w D i r e c t o r G e n e r a l G a l y a t D e v e l o p m e n t A u t h o r i t y ( G D A ) h a s d i r e c t e d t h e s t a ff t o b e v i g i l a n t d u r i n g t h e s n o w f a l l a n d c o n t i n u e t h e o p e r a t i o n t o c l e a r t h e r o a d s f o r t r a ff i c H e a l s o d i r e c t e d t o p r o v i d e a l l p o s s i b l e f a c i l i t i e s t o t h e t o u r i s t s a n d l o c a l s w h i l e c o n t r o l r o o m s w e r e f u l l y o p e r a t i o n a l i n N a t h y a g l i a n d C h a n g l a G a l i G D A a l s o d i r e c t e d t o u r i s t s t o a v o i d u n n e c e s s a r y v i s i t s a s s n o w f a l l i s i n c r e a s i n g , d e s p i t e t h e i s s u a n c e o f a t r a v e l a d v i s o r y a l a rg e n u m b e r o f t o u r i s t s h a v e r e a c h e d i n G a l y a t t o e n j o y l i v e s n o w f a l l G D A s p o k e s p e r s o n i n f o r m e d t h e m e d i a t h a t r o a d m a i n t e n a n c e w o r k h a s b e e n s t a r t e d i n G a l y a t d u r i n g s n o w f a l l a n d w i l l m a k e i t p o s s i b l e f o r t o u r i s t s t o a c c e s s t h e t o u r i s t a t t r a c t i o n s s a f e l y w h i l e h e a v y m a c h i n e r y i s b e i n g u s e d i n t h e s n o w c l e a r a n c e o p e r a t i o n

other senior officers

Rana Sanaullah said that terrorists would never be allowed to succeed in their nefarious designs as the country’s law enforcement agencies were fully capable of countering them

FO R E I G N Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Thursday Islamabad wanted India to end its suppression in occupied Kashmir and desist from supporting terrorist activities inside Pakistan to destabilise the country

her year-end briefing, she said Pakistan was interested in peace and dialogue and it was up to the Indian authorities to take a responsible position to improve relations

Pakistan, Turkish FMs resolve to work together for regional peace, prosperit y

counterpart Mevlüt Çavusoglu and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan as well as bilateral and regional matters Both the leaders reiterated their commitment to work together for peaceful and stable Afghanistan and for regional peace and prosperity Foreign minister Bilawal appreciated the Turkish solidarity for the flood affected people of Pakistan and continued support for rehabilitation of the flood-hit people and building a climate resistant Pakistan Pleased to have telephonic conversation with FM Mevlüt Çavusoglu today Appreciated Turkiye’s solidarity for flood affectees & continued support for rehabilitation & climate resistant Pakistan Reiterated commitment to work together for peaceful & stable Afghanistan for regional peace and prosperity Foreign Minister Bilawal wrote on Twitter

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running thin due to Kabul s reluctance to crack down on the TTP bases as Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said during his recent US visit that “all options

resIGnaTIons deadloCk PersIsTs as sPeaker adaManT To IndIvIdual verIFICaTIon

following a contentious vote of noconfidence marred by unprobed allegations of military intervention

of the Pakistan

aD E L E G AT I O N

Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) which called on Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, speaker of the National Assembly, on Thursday to discuss the acceptance of resignations tendered by the party MPs, was told opposition lawmakers were required by Constitution to individually confirm the verification of the letters

More than 120 MPs loyal to Imran Khan resigned en masse on April 11 two days after he was removed as the prime minister

Former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri a PTI lawmaker who was performing his duties as acting speaker after then-incumbent Asad Qaiser ’s resignation accepted the resignation letters on April 15

However, once Ashraf, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart, was elected as the speaker he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing MPs individually, but instead ended up stalling the entire process by blaming it on their

reluctance to step down

The law dictates that even if a member says in [speaker ’s] presence they want to resign but I have information that they are under pressure [sic], I should not accept their resignation ” he said earlier this month The delegation comprised Suri, Malik Amir Dogar, Amjad Khan Niazi, Faheem Khan Amjad Khan Niazi Shabbir Khan Lal, Ataullah Niazi and Tahir Iqbal visited the speaker, and was led by Qaiser

According to a press statement released after the meeting, the speaker said a decision regarding the confirmation of resignation letters would be taken as per the Constitution

and the rules governing the National Assembly He noted that PTI lawmakers had previously been invited to confirm the resignations to no avail He said that a party legislator, Abdul Shakoor Shad, had also approached the high court of Islamabad to block the acceptance of his resignation, according to the statement

“Doors should not be closed [on lawmakers] in politics There should be communication between politicians, the statement quoted the speaker as saying Ashraf also reiterated that each opposition MP will have to personally confirm his intention to resign

G ovt turning a blind eye to Rs1.5b owed by t wo oil, gas companies?

The Prime Minister however raised objections on the proposal that sought the assignment of the working interest and sent the summary back to the petroleum division with certain observations

Profit reached out to both the managing director MPCL and Chief Executive Officer of Spud Energy in regards to questions about the proposed assignment of the working interest in the Hanna block and default on the part of Spud Energy But, both companies failed to respond despite repeated attempts by Profit to get their side on the matter r e s P o n s e o f ( a n d t o ) t h e g o v e r n M e n t

The DGPC has issued repeated requests to both companies to clear the pending royalty amount and the final notice’ was served last year on the 20th April, 2021

Spud Energy responded in August of the same year After depositing Rs 50 million of the overdue amount, the company said they are pursuing collections from Sui Southern Gas

Company Limited (SSGC) and will settle the remaining outstanding amount within 6-8 months

After 6 months in response to the continued violation, DGPC issued another letter on the 17th February 2022, addressed to the executives of SSGC, Pakistan Refinery Limited and Engro Fertilizer Limited ordering them to withhold the payments of both the defaulting companies on account of oil and gas purchases

The letter read that, “the Competent Authority has decided to recover the outstanding royalty amount by directing the nominated buyers to withhold the entire payment to the defaulter of its share in the gas produced from the lease till satisfaction of entire claim and also to deduct at source the royalty amount at the rate of 12 5% from ( ) future invoices

The DGPC in response to questions by Profit stated the government has taken efforts to recover royalty payments and in line with this goal SSGC was ordered to withhold payments for gas purchased from Spud

However, while talking to Profit sources claimed that, SSGC has so far

paid no heed to the repeated requests of DGPC and refused to start withholding payments against shares of Spud Energy

Elaborating on the matter further, he said the outstanding amounts can be recovered according to the procedures mentioned in Petroleum Concession Agreements and Pakistan Petroleum Rules, which includes but are not limited to encashment of Performance Guarantees issuing of Show Cause Notices, Revocation of Petroleum Rights, Blacklisting of defaulting Companies etc

He added that in regards to blacklisting of a company is concerned, actions are being taken in accordance with the applicable “Petroleum Rules” against the defaulting company

When the DGPC was contacted by Profit to get his stance on the proposed assignment of 35% working interest of MPCL to Spud energy which is a defaulter of government payments on account of royalty

The director said according to the applicable rules and regulations, there are specific mechanisms and procedures

for payment of financial obligations Spud has been advised to clear their outstanding financial obligations However, Spud has not cleared its outstanding obligations yet w h y i s n’t s s g c l i s t e n i n g?

While responding to the questions sent by Profit regarding the directions of DGPC to withhold the payments of gas purchased from Spud, the SSGC stated that the company has obtained a legal opinion on the issue

Elaborating on the matter the spokesperson said, as per the legal opinion in the absence of a provision in the General Security Agreement (GSA) or the rules which obliges or authorises SSGC to deduct royalties from payment to the seller, the company is not authorised to make such deductions SSGC cannot blacklist Spud as the federal government is authorised to blacklist a defaulter company

This means without appropriate legal coverage it is not within the purview of SSGC to blacklist the defaulting company and to withhold payments or deduct the appropriate royalty amount at the “source”

CoNTINueD fRoM BACk PAGe

c o M Pa n y b a c k g r o u n d EFERT set up the first urea production facility in Pakistan, a landmark event in the agr i c u l t u r a l s e c t o r o f t h e c o u n t r y, w i t h a p r o d u c t i o n c a p a c i t y o f 1 7 3 , 0 0 0 t o n s p e r y e a r i n 1 9 6 8 Wi t h v a r i o u s debottlenecking and expansion steps, p r o d u c t i o n c a p a c i t y i n c r e a s e d t o 9 7 5 , 0 0 0 t o n s p e r y e a r I n 2 0 0 7 , E F E RT s t a r t e d c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e world s largest single train urea plant of 1 3 Mn tons capacity – EnVen The E n Ve n p l a n t s t a r t e d c o m m e r c i a l operations in 2011

O n 1 s t J a n u a r y 2 0 1 0 E n g r o C h e m i c a l P a k i s t a n L i m i t e d ( E C P L ) c h a n g e d i t s n a m e t o E n g r o C o r p o r a t i o n L t d a n d d e m e rg e d a n d transferred its fertilizer business into a separate wholly-owned subsidiary

E n g r o F e r t i l i z e r s L i m i t e d E F E RT i s e n g a g e d i n t h e m a n u f a c t u r i n g , p u r c h a s i n g , a n d m a r k e t i n g o f f e r t i l i z e r s s e e d s a n d p e s t i c i d e s a n d providing agri services

E F E RT i s m a j o r l y o w n e d b y E n g r o C o r p o r a t i o n L i m i t e d ( E n g r o C o r p ) ( 5 6 % ) , t h e l a rg e s t conglomerate in Pakistan The rest of t h e o w n e r s h i p l i e s w i t h t h e g e n e r a l p u b l i c ( 1 9 % ) , f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s ( 4%), mutual funds ( 3%), insurance companies ( 2%) and others ( 16%)

E F E RT a l s o h a d a c h a n g e i n t o p m a n a g e m e n t e a r l i e r t h i s y e a r M r Ahsan Zafar Syed became CEO from July 1, 2022, after the completion of tenure of the previous CEO Mr Nadir Salar Qureshi (2018-2022)

The new CEO has previously been a s s o c i a t e d w i t h E N G R O f o r o v e r 3 0 y e a r s A h s a n s t a r t e d h i s p r o f e s s i o n a l c a r e e r w i t h E n g r o ( t h e n E x x o n

C h e m i c a l P a k i s t a n L i m i t e d ) H e h a s v a s t e x p e r i e n c e o f l e a d i n g m u l t ibillion-dollar, mega-scale projects and stakeholder management for Engro

H e p l a y e d a k e y r o l e i n t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e U S D 1 1 B i l l i o n E n Ve n P r o j e c t t h e w o r l d s l a rg e s t s i n g l e t r a i n u r e a p l a n t , f o r E n g r o

F e r t i l i z e r s A f t e r E n Ve n ’s c o m m i s s i o n i n g i n 2 0 11 A h s a n s p e a r h e a d e d t h e o p e r a t i o n s o f

P a k i s t a n ’s l a rg e s t r i c e p r o c e s s i n g f a c i l i t y i n M u r i d k e f o r E n g r o E x i m p

Agriproducts Since 2014, Ahsan had b e e n t h e b e d r o c k o f E n g r o ’s E n e rg y v e r t i c a l r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t a k i n g t h e

T h a r p r o j e c t t o i t s c o m m e r c i a l o p e r a t i o n s i n 2 0 1 9 a n d d e v e l o p i n g a p a t h f o r t h e c o m p a n y t o o p e r a t e i n a l i b e r a l m a r k e t u s i n g r e n e w a b l e f u e l s a s t h e s o u r c e H e s e r v e d a s t h e C E O o f E n g r o E n e rg y o v e r s e e i n g investments, operations, and business

d e v e l o p m e n t a t E n g r o P o w e rg e n Q a d i r p u r L i m i t e d ( E P Q L ) , E n g r o P o w e rg e n T h a r L i m i t e d ( E P T L ) , S i n d h E n g r o C o a l M i n i n g C o m p a n y ( S E C M C ) , E n g r o E n e rg y S e r v i c e s L i m i t e d ( E E S L ) , a n d S i d d i q s o n s E n e rg y L i m i t e d B y e s t a b l i s h i n g t h e C P E C - e n d o r s e d T h a r p o w e r a n d m i n i n g p r o j e c t s , t h e E n g r o E n e rg y vertical has been able to successfully unearth Pakistan’s large coal reserves i n T h a r a n d c o n t r i b u t e d s i g n i f i c a n t f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e s a v i n g s f o r t h e Country’s progress E n g r o F e r t i l i z e r s L i m i t e d i s a p u b l i c c o m p a n y i n c o r p o r a t e d i n Pakistan on June 29, 2009 as a wholly o w n e d s u b s i d i a r y o f E n g r o C o r p o r a t i o n L i m i t e d ( t h e H o l d i n g C o m p a n y ) , w h i c h i s a s u b s i d i a r y o f D a w o o d H e r c u l e s C o r p o r a t i o n L i m i t e d ( t h e U l t i m a t e P a r e n t Company)

But Qaiser said that the one-by-one acceptance of resignations was not acceptable [to the party] under any circumstances”

Speaking to the press after the meeting, he said: “One MNA will come [then] the rest will go somewhere outside [of the city and] they will call the second [MNA] after 15-20 days This will take time [so] this would not happen ”

He asserted that the party s resignations should be accepted collectively

The development came after Malik Aamir Dogar, chief whip of the party, contacted the speaker to arrange the meeting

naB asked to explain housing societ y probe against Farah

LAHoRe S ta f f R e p o R t

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday sought a response from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after Farah Shehzadi a friend of former prime minister Imran Khan’s spouse, challenged an inquiry involving a housing society scandal against her A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Shehram Sarwar issued the notice to the dirty money watchdog while hearing the petition filed by Shehzadi During the hearing, Justice Sarwar remarked Shehzadi s name was not placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) or a blacklist She argued the notices sent to her by the agency were based on malafide intention, and pleaded with the court to set them aside In the petition she maintained the anti-graft watchdog had reopened an inquiry closed in 2019 in an act of political victimisation

Pele, Brazil’s legendar y footballer, dies at 82

AGeNCIeS

Pele, the magical Brazilian soccer star who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and bestknown athletes in modern history died at the age of 82 his daughter said on Instagram on Thursday He had been in and out of hospital in recent months after a tumor was found on his colon Pele, whose given name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento scored a world record 1 281 goals, and is the only player ever to win the World Cup three times With sublime skills and a winning smile, he helped make soccer the world’s most popular sport and he charmed popes presidents and Hollywood stars in a seven-decade career as player and ambassador for the sport Born on October 23, 1940, in the small Minas Gerais town of Tres Corações, or Three Hearts , Edson Arantes do Nascimento learned the game from his father a semi-professional player whose promising career was derailed by a knee injury Several aspects of his youth are obscured by myth, including the origin of his famous nickname As Pele (sometimes) told it he often played as a goalkeeper in neighbourhood games, and kids began comparing him to a local player named “Bile” and the letters got twisted over the years Pele holds the World Cup trophy during the World Cup 2006 opening ceremony in Munich, Germany, June 9, 2006 Pele holds the World Cup trophy during the World Cup 2006 opening ceremony in Munich, Germany, June 9, 2006 Whatever the truth he was soon dazzling scouts not as a goalkeeper but as an attacking forward a prototype number 10 He was respected for his range of talents, and more so than any player since, he could do it all: He was two-footed, had tremendous pace and stamina he could head pass tackle and of course, he could score goals He joined Santos at the age of 15 and turned the small coastal club into one of the most famous names in football

CoNTINueD fRoM BACk PAGe

i M P o r t c o v e r i s t h e n u M b e r o f M o n t h s o f i M P o r t s t h at c o u l d b e c o v e r e d b y a c o u n t ry ’ s i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e s e r v e s I m p o r t c o v e r i s a n important indicator of the stability of a currency As per a study by the IMF, 3 months of imports remains b r o a d l y a p p r o p r i a t e f o r c o u n t r i e s w i t h f l e x i b l e exchange rates, given the estimated benefits provided b y r e s e r v e s i n r e d u c i n g b o t h t h e p r o b a b i l i t y a n d i m p a c t o f s h o c k s T h e a n a l y s i s a l s o s u g g e s t s t h a t c o u n t r i e s w i t h g o o d i n s t i t u t i o n s a n d p o l i c i e s n e e d lower levels of reserves i s t h e i M P o rt c o v e r g o i n g t o s l i d e l o w e r ?

The import cover is calculated taking the average

i m p o r t s o f t h e l a s t 3 m o n t h s T h e i m p o r t c o v e r however, in this case may be exaggerated considering the limitations on imports that the SBP had in place and has recently withdrawn “ A t t e n t i o n o f t h e A u t h o r i s e d D e a l e r s ( A D s ) i s invited to EPD Circular letter No 9 of May 20, 2022 a n d C i r c u l a r l e t t e r N o 11 o f J u l y 5 2 0 2 2 w h e r e i n A D s w e r e r e q u i r e d t o s e e k p r i o r p e r m i s s i o n f r o m

Foreign Exchange Operations Department SBP-BSC before initiating any import transaction pertaining to HS Code Chapter 84, 85 and certain items of Chapter 87,” read the circular

Previously, the cash-strapped SBP required Authorised Dealers (ADs) to seek prior permission from the Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD), and SBP –BSC before initiating import transactions which included issuance or amendment of

letters of credit (LCs) registration or amendments of contracts, making advance payments, and authorising transactions on open account or collection basis The approval was granted on a case-to-case basis

While the SBP has removed the restriction, ADs a r e a s k e d t o p r i o r i t i s e o r f a c i l i t a t e i m p o r t s u n d e r essential imports energy imports imports by exporto r i e n t e d i n d u s t r y, i m p o r t s f o r a g r i c u l t u r e i m p o r t s , d e f e r r e d p a y m e n t / s e l f - f u n d e d i m p o r t s , a n d i m p o r t s for export-oriented projects near completion

What this means is that without restrictions, the c o u n t r y ’s i m p o r t s m a y r i s e , b r i n g i n g t h e r e s e r v e s down; and consequently the import cover too w h o o t h e r t h a n t h e i M f ?

T h e t o t a l l i q u i d f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e ( F X ) r e s e r v e s f o r t h e c o u n t r y c l o c k e d i n a t $ 11 7 b i l l i o n , f a l l i n g $293 million in a week, as the change in FX deposits

with the banks increased by a meagre $1 million

According to the Minister of State on Finance and Revenue, Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha, Pakistan expects more forex inflow in the form of a Saudi loan of US$3 billion This loan was also mentioned by FM Ishaq Dar, in the start of December and was expected to come to Pakistan during the month of December However experts suggest that a delayed IMF review has not only cost Pakistan, its credit ratings and an inflated default swap, but also its credibility amongst its bilateral creditors

T h e m i n i s t e r a l s o n e g a t e s a n y c o n c e r n s o v e r

Pakistan defaulting As far as Pakistan’s foreign debt is concerned, the minister says that the government is also in talks with friendly, bilateral countries to roll over their debts that mature in the said time period H o w e v e r, t h e r e s t r u c t u r i n g o f m u l t i l a t e r a l d e b t remains contingent upon the IMF review

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

CoNTINueD fRoM BACk PAGe

KC C I d e l e g at I o n , U S C g a g r e e t o S t r e n g t h e n b U S I n e S S , t r a d e a n d I n v e S t m e n t t I e S

with Mr Panfilo Marquez, US Consul General at Peshawar and Mr Kurt L Beurman, Political and Economic Affairs Officer

The delegation of Khyber Chamber of Commerce & Industry held an hour-long meeting and thoroughly discussed PakistanUS trade ties and the exchange of visits of Pakistani businessmen to US to have business-to-business meetings with different US companies for extending trading ties and to get benefits from the US expertise

President Khyber Chamber of Com-

(KCCI) during a meeting on trade-ties between Pakistan and the US

Executive members of KCCI Muhammad Yousaf Afridi, Moin Uddin Khan and Muhammad Haroon Sabir were also present at the meeting

The main products that Pakistan exports to the United States are house linens, knitted

sweaters, and other clothing articles During the last 25 years, the export of Pakistan to the US has increased at an annualized rate of 4 79%, from $1 26b in 1995 to $4 04b in 2020 The United States is also one of the top trading partners of Pakistan Trade and investment relations between the United States and Pakistan continue to grow and the US government supports this relationship by organizing business-to-business trade delegations, providing technical assistance and promoting business opportunities for US companies to develop US-Pakistan commercial partnerships For more than 70 years Pakistan has been an important partner and that is why we want businessmen of Pakistan should come up to

various trade expos for interaction with various US companies

Both sides also talked about boosting cooperation in lubricant, energy, agriculture, textile and healthcare sectors as well as promotion of digital trade and e-commerce Protection of intellectual property, promotion of laborer rights and economic empowerment of women also came under discussion

However, Pakistan’s business climate has areas that need to be strengthened, including regulation intellectual property protection, and taxation The United States continues to work with Pakistan to achieve business climate enhancements

Syed Jawad Hussain Kazmi, pledged to strengthen trade ties and business-to-busi-

ness contacts to enhance the bilateral trade volume

The US Diplomat assured Jawad Kazmi President KCCI and his delegation to remove all obstacles in visit of Pakistani businessmen and investors to the US besides a guideline would also be provided to other leading businessmen and companies who want to strengthen and expand business trade and investment ties

The Delegation of KCCI thanked Panfilo Marquez US Consul General at Peshawar and Mr Kurt L Beurman for his efforts to support and help the businessmen in expanding trade and investment ties with the US and taking advantage of available business opportunities

three die in nowshera building collapse

LAHORE

The district administration of Lahore restored Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar s frozen assets on Thursday on orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)

NAB also issued a notification to the relevant authorities to restore the finance minister ’s bank accounts which had earlier been frozen Earlier this month, the bureau’s Lahore headquarters issued a letter to the district administration to restore the frozen assets of the finance minister It had ordered unfreezing the property of Hajveri House while directing the concerned authorities to restore Rs507 9 million to the account of Bank Alfalah and Rs0 365 million to the account of Habib Bank

Dar ’s assets were frozen after his continuous absence from court proceedings I t i s p e r t i n e n t t o m e n t i o n h e r e t h a t a r e f e r e n c e

gov t releases rs 4.21b for It projects under PSdP 2022-23

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

T h e g o v e r n m e n t h a s r e l e a s e d f u n d s a m o u n t i n g t o R s 4 2 1 b i l l i o n t o e x e c u t e I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o lo g y r e l a t e d p r o j e c t s d u r i n g t h e f i r s t f o u r m o n t h s o f t h e c u r r e n t f i s c a l y e a r u n d e r t h e P u b l i c S e c t o r D e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m m e ( P S D P 2 0 2 2 - 2 3 ) A cc o r d i n g t o o f f i c i a l d a t a a v a i l a b l e w i t h A P P, t h e g o v e r n m e n t h a s a u t h o r i z e d t h e u t i l i z a t i o n o f d ev e l o p m e n t f u n d s a m o u n t i n g t o R s 4 2 11 2 1 m i ll i o n o u t o f a t o t a l a l l o c a t i o n o f 5 , 7 3 1 7 0 m i l l i o n f o r v a r i o u s o n g o i n g a n d n e w p r o j e c t s o f t h e M i n i s t r y o f I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y a n d Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n O u t o f t h e t o t a l a u t h o ri z e d / d i s b u r s e d a m o u n t , t h e t o t a l a m o u n t s p e n t o n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o j e c t s d u r i n g t h e c o r r e s p o nd i n g p e r i o d ( J u l y - O c t o b e r ) s t o o d a t R s 3 , 4 8 7 3 2 m i l l i o n A c c o r d i n g t o t h e d i s b u r s e m e n t m e c h an i s m o f t h e P l a n n i n g D i v i s i o n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t f u n d s a l l o c a t e d i n t h e f e d e r a l b u d g e t a r e r e l e a s e d a t t h e r a t e o f 2 0 p e r c e n t i n t h e f i r s t q u a r t e r ( J u l y - S e p t e m b e r ) f o l l o w e d b y 3 0 p e r c e n t e a c h i n t h e s e c o n d a n d t h i r d q u a r t e r s a n d t h e r e m a i ni n g 2 0 p e r c e n t i n t h e l a s t q u a r t e r ( A p r i l - J u n e ) o f a f i s c a l y e a r

against Dar, Saeed Ahmed, Naeem Mahmood, and M a n s o o r R a z a R i z v i w a s f i l e d i n 2 0 1 7 I n t h e r e fe r e n c e , N A B a l l e g e d t h a t t h e f i n a n c e m i n i s t e r a cq u i r e d a s s e t s a n d p e c u n i a r y i n t e r e s t s a n d r e s o u r c e s b e y o n d h i s k n o w n s o u r c e s o f i n c o m e i n h i s o w n n a m e a n d i n t h e n a m e o f h i s d e p e n d e n t s a m o u n t i n g t o R s 8 3 1 6 7 8 m i l l i o n

Earlier in November an Islamabad accountability court sent a reference against the finance minister and others in an assets-beyond-means case back to the NAB saying that it did not have the jurisdiction to act under the new NAB laws

D a r h a d a p p r o a c h e d t h e a c c o u n t a b i l i t y c o u r t s e e k i n g h i s a c q u i t t a l i n t h e c a s e u n f r e e z i n g o f h i s a s s e t s , a n d a p e r m a n e n t e x e m p t i o n f r o m p e r s o n a l a t t e n d a n c e i n p r o c e e d i n g s The judge said that the reference does not fall under his court’s jurisdiction under the new NAB laws

According to Express News Dar has taken custody of Hajveri House today (Thursday) while the bank accounts are also expected to be restored soon

QUETTA

S ta f f R e p o R t

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Longov said that Balochistan government had accepted most of the demands of Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) and there is no more justification for politics of agitation

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Home Minister s a i d H D T h a d b e s i e g e d t h e p o r t c i t y o f G w a d a r a n d t h e g o v e r nment has no option but to disperse the protestors

Inspector General of Police Balochistan, Abdul Khaliq Shaikh accompanied the Home Minister during the press conference

He noted that the Balochistan g o v e r n m e n t m a d e f r e q u e n t a n d n o n s t o p a t t e m p t s t o c l e a r r o a d s and disperse the protesters peacef u l l y “ H D T l e a d e r s h i p h a d p r es e n t e d 4 2 d e m a n d s , ” h e s a i d , adding that the provincial governm e n t h a s a c c e p t e d a l m o s t a l l t h e demands of the HDT

The protestors of the HDT tried to damage government prop-

erty on Wednesday When someone will challenge the writ of the government, the law will also come into action,” he asserted

The Minister stressed that the future of Balochistan and our next generation is linked to the ongoing CPEC and other development projects in the city

To a question, the minister said during the ongoing protest in Gwadar the government has been showing patience for the last four days, as miscreants armed with heavy weapons were spoiling the peaceful environment

The minister categorically contradicted the allegations of torture and arrest of women in Gwadar and said no such incident has taken place Blaming the government for attacking female protesters is a deplorable attempt to gain political score said the minister

The minister requested the women and people of Gwadar not to be misguided by the miscreants and said the government is mindful of respecting women

At least three people, including a newborn girl, were killed and four others injured after a residential building collapsed on Thursday due to gas cylinder explosion in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Nowshera city

According to media reports, a cylinder blast took place in a residential house in Pabbi Wapda Colony E Sector of Nowshera Teams of Rescue 1122 reached the spot soon after the incident and started rescue operations as several people were trapped in the building’s debris The rescue agency later announced the completion of the rescue operation to find bodies in the debris According to Rescue 1122, three bodies and four injured were taken out of the debris and were transferred to the hospital The deceased include Wajid, 30, his wife, and a newborn baby girl, while the injured include Niaz Bibi aged 50 years, Zubair aged 33 years, Nimra aged 9 years and Mustafa aged 5 years Earlier, four people, including a couple, had suffered severe burn injuries when a gas cylinder removed from a rickshaw exploded during cooking in a house in Jaranwala The victims were trying to use the cylinder for cooking because of gas shortage in their area They were shifted to the Ghulam Mohammadabad General Hospital for treatment The incident took place near Narrwala Road A rickshaw driver, Muzaffar Iqbal, aged 40, had removed the cylinder from his vehicle for cooking because of the unavailability of gas supply

amnest y scheme for ‘overstaying foreigners’ to expire on dec 31

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The Amnesty scheme for foreigners staying over an extended period in Pakistan will expire on December 31 2022 The Ministry of Interior in a notification issued on Thursday had directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to stop extending the amnesty scheme to the said individuals residing in Pakistan after the expiry of the due date The ministry of interior had given a general amnesty scheme for overstaying foreigners to exit Pakistan without paying charges with a cutoff date of December 31, 2022 After the expiry of the amnesty scheme s period foreigners who have overstayed for more than one year may be put into the blacklist category, barring their entry to Pakistan in the future The NADRA received online applications till December 29, 2022

The penalty charges would be imposed on those overstaying in the country after the date of January 01, 2023

R e p o R t

Punjab Inspector General of Police Aamir Z u l f i q a r K h a n h a s s a i d t h a t t h e r o l e o f CTD is of fundamental importance for the elimination of terrorism, sectarianism and extremism from the province

T h e C T D s h o u l d a c c e l e r a t e i n t e l l ig e n c e - b a s e d o p e r a t i o n s a n d s h o u l d b e more vigilant across the province to puni s h t h e t e r r o r i s t s a s w e l l a s t h e i r f a c i l i t at o r s , e s p e c i a l l y i n v i e w o f t h e s u rg e i n terrorism incidents ”

O n t h e o c c a s i o n , t h e I G P o l i c e r ev i e w e d o p e r a t i o n s a n d a c t i v i t i e s o f C T D a n d w a s b r i e f e d b y A d d i t i o n a l I G I m r a n Mehmood about the performance of CTD and the operations which were carried out this year

On the occasion, Aamir Zulfiqar Khan stressed the file will not be closed in any c a s e w i t h o u t c o m p l e t i o n o f i n v e s t i g a t i o n

“Lives of CTD personnel are very precious to me, therefore, all devised security S O P s m u s t b e f o l l o w e d d u r i n g o p e r ations ”

The IG Police said that the pursuit of extremists and their facilitators should be continued till the end of terrorism and sect a r i a n i s m H e d i r e c t e d t h a t s p e c i a l c a r e should be taken to protect the self-esteem o f c i t i z e n s a s i t w a s a w a r a g a i n s t c r i m e a n d n o t a g a i n s t i n d i v i d u a l s T h e I G P e xpressed that according to me corruption is

n o t o n l y i n t e r m s o f m o n e y g r a b b i n g b u t irresponsible performance of duties is also a serious form of corruption in which the culprits do not deserve any sympathy

T h e I G P w a s i n f o r m e d t h a t 1 2 4 2 9 i nt e l l i g e n c e - b a s e d o p e r a t i o n s w e r e c o nd u c t e d t h i s y e a r w h i l e 1 6 4 2 F I R s w e r e r e g i s t e r e d a n d 2 2 5 1 p e o p l e w e r e a rr e s t e d 6 4 3 6 k g e x p l o s i v e s , 4 8 h a n d g r e n a d e s , 2 5 3 d e t o n a t o r s , 0 7 b a t t e r i e s a n d f i r e a r m s a n d b u l l e t s w e r e s e i z e d f r o m a cc u s e d L i k e w i s e , t h e a c c u s e d o f J o h a r

To w n b l a s t w e r e s e n t e n c e d a n d t h e a cc u s e d o f A n a r k a l i b l a s t w e r e a r r e s t e d

w h i l e 7 4 2 3 0 w e b s i t e s a n d p a g e s i n v o l v e d i n i l l e g a l a c t i v i t i e s w e r e b l o c k e d I G P u n j a b a p p r e c i a t e d t h e o v e r a l l p e r f o r ma n c e o f C T D O n t h e o c c a s i o n o f t h e v i s i t t o C T D , I G P u n j a b a f t e r l i s t e n i n g t o i s s u e s o f p r o m o t i o n , a l l o w a n c e s a n d w e lf a r e o f t h e p e r s o n n e l i s s u e d o r d e r s f o r t h e i r r e d r e s s a l T h e I G P u n j a b a l s o d i st r i b u t e d p r i z e s t o t h e b e s t p e r f o r m i n g o ff i c e r s a n d p e r s o n n e l O n t h i s o c c a s i o n , a l a r g e n u m b e r o f o f f i c i a l s a n d o f f i c e r s i n c l u d i n g A d d it i o n a l I G C T D , D I G C T D , R e g i o n a l R O s w e r e p r e s e n t

NOWSHERA S ta f f R e p o R t

LAHORE

S ta f f

P u n j a b I n s p e c t o r G e n e r a l o f P o l i c e Aamir Zulfiqar Khan expressed the views while presiding over a meeting during his visit to CTD headquarters and addressing officials at a Police Darbar

of every incident of terrorism and bringing criminals to the logical conclusion

E f f o r t S a f o o t t o u N I f y M Q M fa C t I o N S t o I S o l at E P t I I N K a r a C H I

t e e , M Q M - P C o n v e n e r K h a l i d M a q b o o l S i d d i q u i n o w o ff i c i a l l y h a s t h e p o w e r t o make decisions

tH E possibility of the MQM s various factions coming together has increased after the party’s R a b i t a ( c o o r d i n a t i o n ) C o m m i t t e e e xp r e s s e d i t s s u p p o r t f o r f o r m e r K a r a c h i m a y o r M u s t a f a K a m a l - l e d P a k Sarzameen Party (PSP) and Dr Farooq Sattar ’s decision to rejoin the party T h e S i n d h G o v e r n o r ’s H o u s e i s n o w the focal point of political activities Gove r n o r K a m r a n Te s s o r i o f t h e M Q M - P i s playing a crucial role in this situation On behalf of the coordination commit-

S o u r c e s s a i d a l l o f m e m b e r s o f t h e party s coordination committee in Karachi received orders to report to the Governor ’s House on Wednesday night

More than 30 members of the committ e e , i n c l u d i n g S i d d i q u i , Wa s e e m A k h t a r, Khawaja Izharul Hassan, and Qadir Khanzada, participated in the huddle in the presence of the governor

D u r i n g t h e 3 5 - h o u r m e e t i n g , t h e sources said all members of the coordinat i o n c o m m i t t e e w e r e a s k e d f o r t h e i r t h o u g h t s o n t h e P S P a s w e l l a s S a t t a r r e -

joining the party

A l l c o m m i t t e e m e m b e r s p r e s e n t d escribed it as a wise move and welcomed it

The members’ position was that anyone who wished to join the MQM should be acc e p t e d , p e r t h e p a r t y ’s c o n s t i t u t i o n a n d laws

A f t e r a d i s c u s s i o n , t h e c o o r d i n a t i o n committee unanimously decided to entrust Siddiqui with making the decision to unite the MQM, PSP, and Sattar

According to the sources a few coord i n a t i o n c o m m i t t e e m e m b e r s , i n c l u d i n g F e d e r a l M i n i s t e r A m i n u l H a q u e , S e n i o r Deputy Convener Aamir Khan and Iqbal Muqaddam, were not present at the meet-

i n g , a n d t h e i r o p i n i o n s w e r e s o u g h t o v e r the phone

The sources added that these members also supported the joint decision

Tessori is playing a key role in bringing about the merger of the MQM factions

B e f o r e t h e m e e t i n g , h e h a d a l r e a d y contacted Sattar and PSP s Kamal and Anis KaimKhani

At a full quorum meeting to unify the f a c t i o n s , t h e M Q M f o r m a l l y t o o k a l l t h e m e m b e r s o f t h e c o o r d i n a t i o n c o m m i t t e e into confidence for the first time – a development that was being hailed as a significant breakthrough

A joint news conference will likely be

Rehabilitation of flood- devastated people, mitigating impac t of COVID -19 big challenges: CM Sindh

and access to the commercial centre

several issues are settled to bring all the factions together, including the announcements about Sattar and PSP s Kamal KaimKhani as well as their colleagues joining the MQM

The sources indicated that the situation might still need another 10 to 15 days to be resolved M Q M s o u r c e s s a i d t h r o u g h o u t t h e m e e t i n g a t t h e G o v e r n o r s H o u s e , e a c h member ’s opinion was solicited and those who were not there, were also approached for reaching a consensus E x p r e s s i n g c o n f i d e n c e i n S i d d i q u i s l e a d e r s h i p , t h e M Q M s o u r c e s s a i d t h e r e could be no questions raised over the reputation of the party s convener

The PSP too has also scheduled a sign i f i c a n t g a t h e r i n g a t P a k i s t a n H o u s e , t o w h i c h r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m a l l f i e l d s h a d been invited

According to the sources, the PSP leade r s h i p w o u l d m a k e a s i g n i f i c a n t d e c i s i o n a f t e r c o n s u l t i n g w i t h i t s o ff i c i a l s a n d a ctivists The coming days will see the making of these important decisions

Noor Mukadam Case: IHC rejects request of accused regarding foreign nationalit y documents

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the rehabilitation of flood-devastated people and infrastructure and framing an effective policy to mitigate the negative impact caused by Covid-19 were big challenges Shah expressed these views while addressing the participants of 52nd PN Staff Course And 20th Correspondence Staff Course here at the CM House on Thursday

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Home Secretary Saeed Mangnijo, and secretaries of different departments Syed Murad Ali Shah said that Pakistan was a country of over 200 million people, and by 2025 it would have 100 million people in the middle class, making Pakistan, the world’s, 10th largest middle-class country

T h e C M S i n d h s a i d t h a t P a k i s t a n p r o m i s e d t o become one of the fastest-growing economies and he showed his confidence that with the development o f i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , i n v e s t m e n t i n e n e rg y, e d u c a t i o n , v o c a t i o n a l t r a i n i n g a n d r a p i d l y i m p r o v i n g h e a l t hcare, we were poised to take off and compete alongside the rest of the world

The CM Sindh talking about devastating floods said that Sindh was passing through one of the most challenging times of its history, and it was quite explicit from the unprecedented and heavy torrential r a i n s t h a t o c c u r r e d i n J u l y a n d A u g u s t w h i c h claimed 801, lives, including 151 female, and 339 children and around 8 442 were injured

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that as per the Lives t o c k d e p a r t m e n t a r o u n d 4 3 6 , 0 0 0 l i v e s t o c k h a v e p e r i s h e d 2 0 8 7 1 8 6 h o u s e s d a m a g e d a n d c r o p s

s t a n d i n g o v e r 3 , 7 7 7 , 2 7 2 a c r e s w a s h e d a w a y H e added that the survey of the works and service dept i n d i c a t e d t h a t a r o u n d 8 6 0 r o a d s ( 8 4 6 3 k m ) 1 6 5 b r i d g e s , 1 7 4 9 c u l v e r t s , a n d 2 11 5 c a u s e w a y s w e r e badly damaged during the 2022 Floods

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that his government to address this crisis, took Relief and Rescue Opera t i o n s i n w h i c h 2 2 Te n t C i t i e s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d i n Malir Jamshoro Dadu Matiari Thatta Khairpuar K a m b a r- S h a h d a d k o t , a n d d i s t r i b u t e d r e l i e f i t e m s , including 873,000 Tents, 3,775,560 Mosquito Nets, 2 4 2 5 3 1 8 R a t i o n s B a g s a n d 1 4 11 4 1 6 B l a n k e t s have been distributed

The chief minister said that he was also working with the World Bank and has established a public sector company for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged houses in calamity-hit areas Karachi the financial hub and port city of Pakistan, is the world’s 7th largest city, the CM said and added the industry and business success were fundamentally dependent on two key criteria: connectivity

“ T h i s m a k e s S i n d h , i n c l u d i n g K a r a c h i a n d i t s surrounding areas, an ideal business destination, he said Talking about opportunities, the CM said that the Special Economic Zones such as Dhabeji, a Priority Project under China-Pakistan Economic Corrid o r ( C P E C ) w o u l d f a c i l i t a t e p o t e n t i a l i n v e s t o r s t o establish new enterprises or transfer their facilities to Dhabeji SEZ He also mentioned two economic z o n e a p p r o v e d b y t h e F e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t n a m e l y Nausheroferoze Industrial Park, and Bhulari Special Economic Zone, besides, Khairpur SEZ has already been completed and industrial units were being set up on priority Syed Murad Ali Shah said that his government was working hard on the development of Education City in Karachi and has established a Sindh Enterprise Development Fund

He added that the fund has the domain of providing facilities in terms of Technical Assistance, Assistance in preparing feasibilities, Assistance in obtaining loans from banks Assistance in preparing Applications as well as Financial Assistance, including the Payment of Interest (KIBOR) Rate Subsidy100 percent on capital cost

Talking about the challenges, the CM said that effective policy to mitigate the negative impact caused by Covid-19 and encashing opportunities in the postCOVID world was a big challenge

He added that further easing the regulatory framework and investment climate with the support of the federal government, and the federal government / Board Of Investment may evolve a comprehensive Investment Policy giving due space and marketing to the federating units based on their respective comparative and competitive advantages

Th e Le g e n d o f M a u l a J at t g e t s r a re I n d i a re l e a s e

The Legend of Maula Jatt, a blockbuster movie starring Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan will be released in Indian theatres tomorrow, becoming the first Pakistan film to get access to the neighbouring market in over a decade A remake of a cult classic from 1979 the movie will be released in the northwestern state of Punjab and in select cinemas in the capital Delhi, according to Rajender Singh Jyala chief programming officer of INOX Leisure, an Indian multiplexes chain “It will be played in Punjab and a few theatres in Delhi in INOX where there are Punjabi-speaking people,” Jyala told the Press Trust of India on December 26 Pakistani movies have long struggled to gain re-

lease dates in India due to the tense ties between the neighbours In 2016, the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India decided not to screen films featuring the crew from Pakistan

Three years later, following a dogfight in which Islamabad downed at least one intruding New Delhi fighter jet, Pakistan suspended the screening of Indian films in cinemas Last week, another Indian multiplex chain PVR Cinemas shared the announcement of the release of the movie on its website and Instagram, before taking it down “Presenting the official poster of #TheLegendofMaulaJatt! Coming to PVR this Friday the post read It is unclear whether the film will still run at its cinemas The entertainingly old-fashioned action movie, which has become the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time amassing in excess of $10

million, was released on October 13

After Pakistan, the most successful territory for the film has been the UK where it has collected £1 43 million ($1 7 million) in the territory, going past Sanju which took $1 6 million, making it the highest-grossing South Asian film there since Padmaavat which grossed $2 5 million both in 2018 Directed by Bilal Lashari, The Legend of Maula Jatt is although an adaptation of the original Maula Jatt but producers Lashari and Ammara Hikmat have said it is neither a remake nor a sequel The movie features Mahira and Fawad who are familiar to Indian audiences through their popular drama Humsafar and Bollywood Fawad, who was most recently seen in the superhero series Ms Marvel, has featured in Khoobsurat, Kapoor & Sons, and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil while Mahira appeared opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Raees

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has rejected the request of Zahir Jaffar, the key accused in Noor Mukadam murder case, to include his foreign nationality documents in the case Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Thursday heard the case filed by Zahir Jaffar The petitioner ’s lawyer adopted the stance that it should be on record that the accused also held a foreign nationality The chief justice remarked that how it affected the case even if the foreign nationality documents were put on record Whether, the accused wanted to take advantage of his US nationality If it were the case then anyone (foreign national) could come to Pakistan and then flee abroad go after killing someone here, he observed CJ Aamer Farooq said it had already made it clear that the law of land would be applied in the case The court maintained the objections of Registrar Office on the plea and dismissed the case The Registrar Office had objected that no such petition could be filed once the decision in the main appeal was reserved A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the case along with the objections

Gill challenges arrest warrant in SHC

KARACHI

Shahbaz Gill, former chief of staff to Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, on Thursday moved Sindh High Court (SHC) against the issuance of his arrest warrant on sedition charges The former minister had requested an immediate hearing of the petition which, however was turned down by the bench The judge said his court only hears new cases on an immediate basis The court directed Gill to file the plea as per rules and regulations via the rooster branch Last week a district and sessions court in Islamabad issued a bailable arrest warrant for Gill, accused of inciting mutiny in the powerful military The court issued a bailable arrest warrant on his absence and rejected his petition for exemption from personal appearance He should be presented before the court on the next hearing and submit a surety bond of Rs200,000, the judge said Moreover, the court postponed his indictment in the sedition case till January 6

APHC decries growing Indian state terrorism in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Convener of All-Parties Hurriyat Conference

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK)

Chapter, Mehmood Ahmed Sagharon Thursday expressed serious concern over the growing state terrorism by Indian troops in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K)

M e h m o o d A h m e d S a g h a r, i n a s t a t ement issued here strongly condemned the k i l l i n g o f f o u r m o r e i n n o c e n t K a s h m i r i youth by Indian soldiers in Jammu district, y e s t e r d a y T h e y o u t h w e r e m a r t y r e d i n a fake encounter when they were traveling in Sidhra area of the district

He deplored that the Indian troops had martyred 10 innocent Kashmiris so far this

month during their cordon and search operations, out of which seven Kashmiris were martyred during fake encounters or detention He said during this period, 30 Kashmiris were arrested from different areas by the Indian forces and the officials of the Indian notorious National Investigative Agency (NIA), while 195 cordon and search operations and house raids were conducted

The APHC-AJK Convener deplored that the Indian soldiers were continuing genocide of the Kashmiris to turn the Muslim-majority of territory into a minority He said the continued killing of the innocent Kashmir youth is highly condemnable

Mehmood Ahmed Saghar said India cannot change the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir

through its cruel tactics and urged India to abandon its oppressive policy towards Kashmir and give Kashmiris their inalienable right to self-determination

He said the sacrifices of Kashmiri martyrs will not go waste adding that peace could not be established in the region without a permanent solution to the lingering Kashmir dispute

The APHC-AJK Convener demanded of the United Nations and international human rights organizations to take immediate notice of Indian atrocities in IIOJK and increase pressure on India to stop this series

H e a l s o e x p r e

APHC leader Abdus Samad Inqilabi in IIOJK

KARACHI S ta f f C o R R e S p o n d e n t

held at the Governor s House after

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

ISLAMABAD M o n to R n g R e p o R t

KARACHI

S ta f f R e p o R t

T h e e c o n o m y a n d a t e c h n o c r a t s

g o v e r n m e n t

Th e R e is no denying that the economy is in very bad shape A telling sign is that, leave alone talking up the rupee, Finance Minister ishaq Dar felt the need, once again, to say that there was no danger of default While it is possible that Pakistan will duly make its next major debt servicing payment, due next month, the state of the foreign exchange reserves after that will give a skeletal look it should not be forgotten that Pakistan imports fuel not just for its movement, but for the electricity it needs to power its factories, lights its homes and run the tubewells that irrigate the fields where it grows its food it also imports the palm oil used to make vegetable ghee, as well as life-saving drugs Already, there are signs The loadshedding introduced recently, as well as the closure of markets and restaurants are rather desperate attempts to save on power generation, and the furnace imports that make them possible Now that factories are closing down and putting labour out of work the signs of hard times are not just visible, but painfully obvious however, the solution of a technocratic government is not going to work it has been shot down by both the PDM and the PTi, with reason Mainly, they don t work The technocratic governments of the Zia and Musharraf eras showed that carpetbaggers ran in and grasped positions Those eras as well as the PTi era showed that the experts of Pakistani origin preferred to stay abroad, and Pakistan got those who were on the make here, after failing somehow abroad if one looks at the Bangladesh model , when a caretaker government s tenure was prolonged (from October 2006- December 2008), there is a return to periodic elections

Therefore only an elected government can take the country out of its present difficulty The PDM replaced the PTi because it felt better able to handle the economy it is perhaps futile to argue whether the PTi was at fault, except to determine whether the PTi now has any solutions if the present government has any solutions, it must implement them, even if it involves taking hard decisions even if it involves expending more of its political capital

The tapes that came at a convenient time

explaining it to his wife, even though he was clearly not married to her, may not even have met her at the time of the conversation in fact, even if one was to accept the ‘deep fake’ claim by imran’s fans, spouses would not find the audioclips so easily explained

Th e latest audioclips of imran Khan which have been made public actually seem, because of their timing, to have a precise political aim rather than a more general blackening of his reputation however, they also point to other conclusions, shedding light on some aspects of politics in the past

One of the puzzling aspects is who is releasing the clips One story doing the rounds is that they a r e c o p i e s t a k e n b y a n i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c y e mp l o y e e , w h o h a d c u s t o d y a n d i s n o w r e t i r e d , a n d were released from abroad This sounds like some not very expert track-covering The deniability is rather implausible

This also brings us against the most apparent issue of spying in this digital age in the old days not so long ago, tapping meant spool after spool of magnetic tape accumulating, soon creating a storage problem Nowadays a detachable hard drive can contain thousands of hours of recordings Digitizing the old analogue spool recordings is probably the most onerous part of the process after which the recordings are almost instantly transmissible Digitization has much to answer for, and someone has prepared an analogue copy (spool to spool; spool to cassette) can testify

One of the problems highlighted by the audioclips is that of privacy There have to be boundaries, no matter what they are Once upon a time it was relatively easy Once no one else was in the room, a conversation remained secret No longer The telephone has proved a great convenience as there was never any other means of real-time conversation, unless one is to count teleprinters, but phones can be tapped, even when using encryption software electronic conversations are insecure

The ‘deep fake’ argument, even if it was proved on the case of the audioclips, has a limited shelf life, and represents a final frontier of sorts if the signs by which a deep fake is detected, could be removed, then wouldn’t the forensic analysts be fooled indeed, if there is a forensic audit conducted of the audioclips, and the analyst says they are genuine, that argument would be open for fans to make Asked to show the technology, they could simply say that it was secret, and only in the possession of the PMl(N)

A Niazi Joint Editor Umar

The next step are videos So far, none have been produced except a clip involving PMl(N) stalwart Muhammad Zubair, and another PTi stalwart Azam Swati however, the rumours of several involving imran have again revived and seem linked to the audioclips it would not be going too far if one was to assume that the audioclips are not important in themselves, but as a trailer of what might come it is important to note that though the audioclips are supposed to be vulgar, it is not because of what actually is happening, but the references to past activities or to future ones This raises the spectre of what might be heard on other videos, or what might be seen on videoclips imran might be made nervous about other audioclips, or about videoclips Those who might have been imran s interlocutors in risqué conversations, or participants in visually objectionable activities, should also be made nervous The woman alleged to be speaking to imran is no longer married, but the conversation was such that a married woman would have difficulty explaining it to her husband, no matter how deeply in the past it was supposed to have occurred indeed imran himself might have a hard time

Pakistan’s USF

span of just 4 years its mandate of disseminating the benefits of the telecom revolution in all corners of Pakistan has resulted in extraordinary feats USF has cont r a c t e d a n d c o n c l u d e d m o r e t h a n 8 0 p r o j e c t s w o r t h approximately Rs 80 billion Out of its targeted population of 40 million, 20 million people in small towns and remote districts have already been given access to high-speed mobile broadband

Wh i l e the internet and connectivity stand as key concerns in the global cyberspace narrative the lagging exertions undertaken by the dominant Pakistani enterprises on shaping local telecommunication had since long been daunting effective internet governance stands essential in any thriving society, attributable to its ability to advance sustainable human development The forever dismissive attitude towards connectivity in Pakistan has long thwarted its capacity to shape a conversant society, encouraging free thinking and free flow of discourse

Recently, however, the deteriorating circumstances of Pakistan’s communication sector appear ameliorated, since the task of expanding networks across all marginalized areas has been handed to the Universal Service Fund (USF), an initiative of the Ministry of information Technology (MoiTT), under the leadership and direction of its minister, Syed Amin-ul-haque

The mission of the USF is to ‘spread the benefits of the telecom revolution to all corners of Pakistan it ‘ p r o m o t e s t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n services in un-served and under-served areas throughout the length and breadth of the country in the brief

Such accomplishments, amongst other significant factors, are reliant primarily on the organizational mechanics and operations of the USF department, introduced due to the forwardthinking of the iT minister himself, along with the progressive board led by the Secretary iT and the USF team Under such stellar leadership, USF has deviated its path from the more conventional and generic running methods of other governmental offices

Among its central workplace tenets are merit, excellence and discipline which are possibly the most unique practices expected from a bureaucratic office in this country For its merit-based hiring, USF s priority is the aptitude of its candidates who possess sufficient theoretical and practical erudition With core values such as diversity, integrity, growth and innovation those in authority at the MoiTT and USF ensure that only the most highly qualified, proficient, and effective candidates are chosen for the job in return, the Minister of iT and the USF CeO also strive to make this as alluring as possible for this governmental office to hire and retain such qualified personnel, by pushing to-

The existence of such undetectable deep fake technology should have resulted by now in videos of various world leaders (Biden Putin and Zelensky are obvious targets, but indian geeks would prefer their own Rahul Gandhis or Narendra Modis as subjects The application would not be solely political The porn industry would probably benefit the most followed by the film industry in the latter two, there would be no questions asked about genuineness in fact, untraceable deep fakes might leave the film industry (porn and regular), for they are based on fakery anyway, and no one really cares whether traces show up or not on the print, so long as they cannot be detected onscreen however, whatever the technology used, the tendency would be to believe in the audioclips One reason is that imran has never made a secret of his previous life he does claim to have reformed, and though his second wife referred to orgies, his fans suppose him reformed since this third marriage

stop naming retired COAS Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa in his nightly addresses (with him replacing the name with aik admi (a man); and to stop the dissolution of the KP and Punjab Assemblies (which has been put off at least until January 11, and probably even later) Those assemblies may well be what is standing between imran and the release of videoclips There is a classic maneuver by spy agencies called the honeytrap The purpose is to get material on someone which can be used for blackmail The targets are usually diplomats of foreign countries, but it seems that some of the targets in Pakistan have been politicians, bureaucrats and judges honeytraps require the cooperation of women of easy virtue, and if thry belong to the oldest profession, protection is what they need it is possible that imran fell into a honeytrap his first and second wives suffered from the defect of themselves not being ‘under control, and thus not helping him come under control it seems his third wife is on the approved list So was her friend Farhat Shahzadi ‘Gogi’ (and how did they become friends?) if the report that Usman Buzdar ’s second, urban, wife is also a friend, then the mystery of his selection which has still got some PTi leaders puzzled, is solved

While his making use of his celebrity status to have fun may have been natural, it also made him subject to a honeytrap it also created some questions about his honesty that need answering Where does the Riasati-Madina stand? Were his claims mere hypocrisy?

That marriage may conceal a secret his third wife divorced his first husband to marry him his second wife in her book said she had been told by top intelligence men that she was wrong for imran The tapes might answer why imran was picked up, and why it was thought that he could be controlled That the tapes have been made public now does not mean that imran did not know of their existence a long time ago Their revelation would be known to him before, as a Damocles Sword over his head with the revelation damaging to his political career There were two things needed from him: first, to

More generally, can someone who becomes subject of a honeytrap entrapment by his own country’s agencies avoid falling victim to some foreign power? honeytraps are not a discovery of Pakistani agencies, after all imran’s problems may well have only begun he should not self-servingly underestimate the power of these audioclips Voters the world over are hypocrites, who don’t like leaders to be caught with their pants down even if they themselves have dropped them The Pakistani voter has not even done that While Pakistani voters have accepted that their leaders may fulfill their own fantasies they also expect them to have enough sense not to be caught if imran is electorally punished, it will not be for promiscuity, so much as stupidity

an exemplar in government

wards the best employee practices prevalent in the private sector across the globe

Market competitive salaries a tremendous work/life balance, provided through flexible work hours and free weekends, and innumerable employee benefits such as sufficient leave allowance and provision of adequate

Imran’s problems may well have only begun He should not self-servingly underestimate the power of these audioclips. Voters the world over are hypocrites, who don’t like leaders to be caught with their pants down, even if they themselves have dropped them. The Pakistani voter has not even done that While Pakistani voters have accepted that their leaders may fulfill their own fantasies, they also expect them to have enough sense not to be caught Taking

l a w d e p a r t m e n t , h a s t a p p e d i n t o t h e b e s t l e g a l p r a ctices and international standards along with his legal t e a m a t M o i T T a c t i v e l y t a k i n g m e a s u r e s t o e n s u r e that the statutes such as Data Protection laws, Social M e d i a R u l e s , C o m p u t e r e m e rg e n c y R e s p o n s e Te a m Rules and many others rules in the pipeline that overs e e a n d g o v e r n t h e f u n c t i o n i n g o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n within the country are at par with the most superlative international standards

Amongst most of the bureaucratic offices in Pakistan, such proficient work cultures remain nothing but mythical standards, unachievable due to stagnant, archaic, and abortive workplace dogmas which fail in extricating from the employees the best they have to offer Undeserving and uninspired workers in all mainstream government offices have left this country in shambles it is high time that these nepotistic workplaces revolutionize their codes and adopt better initiatives, instead of underworking or overworking their staff

with the USF it is the smooth sailing of this department, which allows it to accomplish the tasks it has mandated and to bring to all corners of the country the connectivity it has long been divested of Acclamation is also owed to the legal department o f t h e M o i T T, w o r k i n g t i r e l e s s l y t o w a r d s u p d a t i n g a n d a m e n d i n g t h e l e g a l s i d e o f c y b e r s p a c e , c o n n e ct i v i t y a n d t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n i n P a k i s t a n w i t h t h e s a m e z e a l a n d s w i f t n e s s a s t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r a l s i d e Through relentless efforts and hard work the Member l e g a l M o i T T M r B a b u r S o h a i l w h o i s h e a d i n g t h e

Taking a leaf from the MoiTT s and USF’s books, work cultures can be changed with strict merit-based hiring, along with fostering a healthy work environment through flexible scheduling, applying managerial best practices, offering a creative incentive, market-competitive salaries, deadline adherence, meeting set goals and agendas and training sessions across the employee chain Acceptance of new ideas and relinquishing the current primaeval practices is the only way to ensure a Pakistan that stands the test of time

The writer reports for Fox News Digital and also a freelance columnist He is currently pursuing an LLM at UC Berkeley and can be reached at mohsin saleemullah@berkeley edu

The writer is a member of staff

medical benefits across the employee chain from top to bottom, make for attractive features inviting competent persons to seek job opportunities

Yousaf Nizami Editor

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

M

Aziz Executive Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor

P o l i t i c i a n s i g n o r e p r i n c i p l e o f m o r a l e t h i c s

in what s largely a phone-sex call recording Two of the three recordings are purely sexual and have nothing political about them ”

Recently, media disclosed: The Ayla Malik and imran Khan story has many twists alleged audio leaks only latest in 2011, she joined imran Khan s PTi The phone recordings doing the rounds on social media in 2022 are most likely from this period, when the two were extremely close imran Khan’s previous wife Reham Khan in her book said that imran had to break up with Ayla Malik after Ayla Malik’s boyfriend asked him to either marry her or leave her Ayla Malik also quitted Khan’s party in 2017, stating that PTi was no longer pursuing the policies of public welfare

he regretted that the moral and ethical values were gradually eroding thus giving space for corruption the rising cases of sex crimes in the country Khan vowed to stop harassment of women by men

Nevertheless, Khan’s guiding principles of Riyasat-i-Madina in connection with Pakistan are quite opposite to his contradictory statements and audio leaks which show his double standards it is mentionable that linda Tripp, the former US civil servant whose secretly taped telephone conversations with a former White house intern Monica lewinsky, documented the sex scandal between her and the then President Bill Clinton

The Washington Post on 18 August 1998 pointed out that President Clinton, who earlier denied it acknowledged that he had an inappropriate relationship with onetime intern Monica lewinsky and deceived the American people about it

The feel-good factor

i was recently in North Karachi where i happened to see how the ruling elite behave like kings while we the citizens are nothing more than lesser mortals i saw a legislator passing through with all the pomp and glory in the shape of security protocol and entourage initially i could not understand what was going on The police vehicle was being driven recklessly, and the two policemen sitting inside were harassing the commuters around while ridiculously trying to make way for the lawmaker s vehicle which was being escorted by police This could have resulted in a serious accident But, then, who cares?

When the Constitution says everyone has equal rights, including the right to protection what justification is there for the lawmakers to have such a protocol? This surely gives the ViPs their feel-good high, but their high is at the cost of the low that the common man feels and has to live with Just a couple of security guards might be justified, but a whole cavalcade trying to move uninterrupted in crowded city areas under police protection is not justified in the name of security concerns if the police force is properly utilised for the citizens of the city, the law and order situation will definitely improve and there will be even lesser necessity of having security escorts Maybe that is not what the legislators want to happen, for it will end their justification of having their feel-good high in the name of security i wonder when, if at all, we will get rid of this colonial mindset, and think of the security and welfare of the common man

HAJRA RAUF KARACHI

CNICs and securit y

S O M e T h i N G seems wrong at the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) as computerised national identity cards (CNiCs) are being issued to Afghan immigrants Recently, i went to a Nadra Registration Centre in Quetta to get my CNiC renewed and was shocked to know that an Afghan refugee had been registered as my second mother The woman had been issued her CNiC as my father ’s second wife

After informing the Nadra officials that the woman had nothing to do at all with our family, i was asked to visit the Nadra verification cell and lodge a complaint, which i duly did After waiting for about 15 days, owing to numerous similar cases pending i was informed how illegally and smartly the Afghan woman was registered as a member of our family

opine that some immoral activities such as deceit theft and falsehood are the principles of politics According to their sense, a good leader should be a good opportunist and hypocrite

This duplicity in politics continued for a long time, but in the modern era, by bringing contentions of politicians and bloody wars of rulers in our bedrooms, the social media made it difficult for them to continue this at the cost of their own people and armed forces

Regrettably, since the present political crisis started on April 9, when Prime Minister imran Khan Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek insaf (PTT), was ousted through a vote of no-confidence, politicians of the PTi and an alliance of the PDM follow immoral activities of the past Setting aside Pakistan’s present multi-faceted crises and challenges, they have changed their political differences into political enmity by ignoring the principle of moral ethics

A study points out: “Moral principles are the foundational beliefs behind moral standards Morality is a subset of ethics, a branch of philosophy that approaches right and wrong issues through logic and reason is concerned with individuals and communities’ right and wrong behavior The democratic health of a nation lies in the ethical nature of its citizens and political representatives fairness in politics, honesty, loyalty, integrity and exemplary behavior in this regard, a renowned website Dylo In (Daily Bite) wrote on December 21: “Multiple audio leaks [of the former Pakistan Prime Minister imran Khan] have already taken the sheen out of his projected image that of an honest man The latest leaks target his projected image, that of a reformed playboy who is deeply religious and profoundly pious in the true islamic way Recordings of his explicit phone sex calls with multiple women have been leaked to the pleasure of the connoisseur of the lasciviously lurid The internet does not forget his lust of a sex addict for his woman colleagues A conversation purportedly between imran Khan and a woman party leader, is quite revealing There are political insights in his conversations sprinkled

And PTi is being investigated for receiving foreign fundings which is forbidden for political parties in Pakistan in the documents submitted to the court, Ayla Malik was shown to have received Rs seven million from party funds, for no explainable reason

Notably, several audios from the Prime Minister ’s house have been leaked online in a span of few months involving PTi and the incumbent government Another audio leak was of imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi in which she talked about the controversial Toshakhana gifts Bushra played a key role in selling a number of gifts, including a watch, the ex-PM Khan received

Reportedly the two-part audio clip was shared by Pakistani journalist Syed Ali haider on his YouTube channel in which Khan can be heard engaged in phone sex with a woman in lewd language

The first audio related to the PTi was leaked on September 28 in which Khan allegedly told his then-principal secretary Azam Khan to play politics on the US cypher On social media the ostensible voice of Khan can be heard as saying to his party’s top leaders that “under no circumstances the country where the conspiracy emerged from must be named The second PTi audio leak came to the fore on September 30, which allegedly exposed Khan’s conspiracy narrative

in fact, in his various public rallies and statements, former Premier imran Khan has almost repeated a similar contradictory approach, while criticizing his rival politicians, the Pakistan Army and its former COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa he rapidly takes a u-turn in the recent past, in his various statements and public rallies PTi Chairman Khan has repeatedly mentioned his vision of Riyasat-i-Madina (state of Madina)

Speaking on the second day of the two-day National Rehmatul-lil-Aalameen Conference on January 17, 2022, Khan stated: Rehmatul-lilAalameen Authority was formed to make youth familiar about the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUh)

he elaborated: “We can rise as a nation by following the guiding principles of Prophet Muhammad (PBUh) [who] raised the level of morality in society and created the distinction between good and evil Muslims of Riyasat-i-Medina had high moral standards and were endowed with values of justice equity and rule of law

According to the BBC Former President Bill Clinton claimed that his affair with Monica lewinsky was a way of managing his anxieties Mr Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying to investigators about his relationship with Ms lewinsky he was acquitted at his Senate trial ” it is noteworthy the new audio tape leaked on social media on October 13, purportedly featuring PM Shahbaz Sharif in which he can allegedly be heard conversing with unidentified person The person is heard telling the premier that Ayaz Sadiq claims the PPP members are demanding a share from the quota of the SAPM (Special Assistant to PM) Shahbaz is heard replying, “Yes, of course Bilawal said so ”

On September 25, two more audios were leaked on the social media One of them was related to a discussion about the PTi lawmakers’ resignations and the other was about former finance minister Miftah ismail

Similarly, earlier on September 13, a leaked audio went viral on social media allegedly featuring Premier Shahbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and others containing a discussion regarding PTi’s resignations They are also talking about london’s permission to accept the resignations

Before that a leaked audio had gone viral on social media, allegedly featuring PM Shahbaz, that contained a discussion regarding PMl(N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz asking for a power plant from india to be imported for her son-in-law

Prime Minister Shahbaz has instituted a high-power investigation committee to probe the issue; particularly the leaks which involved the PM s house and the data hacked from there

Nonetheless PTi leader Musarrat Cheema defended Khan, saying that whenever the former prime minister takes a difficult decision, his fake audios are leaked Some PTi leaders have termed the latest audio clip aimed at blackmailing the PTi, including all other ones as fake ironically although the country’s politicians in the PDM have forsaken all values and ethics of justice, fair play and morality But, it is more surprising that the former Prime Minister imran Khan who wants to make Pakistan Riyasat-iMadina has totally ignored the principle of moral ethics

Sajjad Shaukat can be reached at: sajjad logic@yahoo com

At the verification cell, i met complai-nants from various parts of Balochistan who had come with strange cases One complai-nant told me his father had died years ago, and he recently came to know that an Afghan had been registered as his father in the Nadra database The Afghan had also been issued a CNiC on the basis of the fake family data Another man was there with the complaint that an Afghan had been registered as his brother in such cases, the Afghan refugees in future may claim share in family property and much more And come to think of it even Pakistanis may concoct a fake family history to claim inheritance in targeted families Nadra, which was once considered one of the most transparent and corruption-free institutions stands to lose credibility if Afghans continue to get Pakistani nationality and becoming members of Pakistani families if the immigrants can get Pakistani citizenship so easily, will the indian agencies not exploit such opportunities? The Afghans being given Pakistani citizenship are known to have been involved in several crimes in the host country, and they have surely contributed much to the worsening law and order situation over the years The presence of illegal Afghans has also had a negative impact on the national economy, too, contributing to unemployment and cross-border smuggling And, indeed, they have done great damage to Pakistan s image internationally

To check Afghan refugees’ fraudulent membership in Pakistani families, everyone, especially in Balochistan, should get the Family Registration Certificate (FRC) from Nadra They should lodge complaint against both the refugees and Nadra if they ever find an Afghan registered as a family member and holding a CNiC illegally

Besides, to revive its transparency and credibility, Nadra should have an enquiry commission to ascertain how these Afghan refugees were and are being registered as members of Pakistani families Also, it should find out the loopholes in the system Nadra should begin an intensive anticorruption drive against its employees and bring the culprits to book

Moreover, Nadra should come up with better policies to prevent the registration of any Afghan refugee as a Pakistani, cancel the CNiCs of Afghan nationals and ensure that no such illegal acts are repeated anymore More importantly, no Afghan should ever be recruited in Nadra ABDUL BASIT

Hepatitis screening

h e PAT i T i S, if not treated in time, is fatal According to the World health Organisation (WhO) hepatitis B and C are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally Pakistan has the second largest burden of hepatitis, with almost 15 million people suffering from hepatitis B or C

Since many in the country live without getting a diagnosis or treatment, therefore every year there are around 150,000 new cases and 3035,000 mortalities Most people catch this infection in healthcare settings without being aware of it

in Sindh, hepatitis C has grown to 6 1 per cent from 5pc in 2008, whereas hepatitis B prevalence has shown a significant decrease, falling from 2 5pc to 1 05pc over the same period This has been possible only because of the availability of hepatitis B vaccine

The major risk factors for the transmission include the use of dangerous (un-sterilised/reused) therapeutic injections blood transfusion razor blades and body-piercing equipment Also among the culprits is inadequate sterilisation of surgical, dental and circumcision equipment in clinical settings Drug users and thalassaemia patients carry higher risk than others A non-profit organisation functioning in marginalised periurban squatter settlements noticed during 2020-21 a serious increase in hepatitis C cases among pregnant women With timely intervention 42 such cases received complete treatment The actual disease burden, however, is much higher and needs due attention

The government in Sindh has launched the hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme (hPCP) which should undertake mass screening, especially in squatter settlements where hepatitis prevalence is rather high

NAIM KARACHI

MUHAMMAD HASNI QUETTA

PO l i T i C A l philosophers of the past

sAjjAd shAukAt

Audio leaks are revealing the moral emptiness of both sides

How Isl amopHobIa Has entered a new pHase

lines of encirclement and penetration have already created for nearly all Muslims an almost inescapable web

It is well documented that Islamophobia has become a major ideological position that increasingly shapes domestic and international policies of western and other states as well as popular perceptions of Muslims and Islam We are now in what may be called the era of scientific Islamophobia, characterised by a dramatic increase in methods to spread anti-Muslim bigotry Evidence can be found in various media, official and independent data, NGOs, personal testimonies and abundant academic research over the past three decades Western Islamophobia, in particular, has extremely deep historical roots that go back to at least the Crusades and the colonial conquest and administration of Muslim-majority populations the extensive legacy of both periods, which lasted centuries persists in today s cultures and societies But in the past few decades, the fear and distrust of Muslims has evolved into a fundamental resentment and hatred of Islam this hostility was dramatically boosted by the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent securitisation of Muslims both in the West and in other parts of the world the impact of the global War on terror is farreaching, with domestic, “counter-radicalisation” and “counter-extremism” policies that have proliferated all over the world, including in Muslim-majority societies

More than two decades later, the “clash of civilisations”, “great replacement” and “Eurabia” theories have become mainstream

NEW PHASE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA: Moving well beyond discrimination, some countries are now reaching the point of outright persecution of Muslims, including their own “natural-born” citizens this surge in Islamophobia leaves no western country untouched, not even the most open, tolerant, multiculturalist, democratic and liberal ones

More recently Islamophobia has entered a new phase, characterised by a triple process: convergence and crystallisation (the different Islamo-paranoid governments parties movements and forces that were isolated are now coming together); horizontal/geographic expansion; and intensification/vertical penetration affecting more and more areas of life including the most intimate (the family, parental educational choices, freedom of faith and consciousness, etc) We are now in what may be called the era of scientific Islamophobia characterised by a dramatic increase in creative and effective methods, techniques (both old and new), tools (including legal tools) and anti-Muslim and anti-Islam strategies Like Foucault’s discursive power strategies, those multiple

One example would be the joint policies of France, Egypt and the Gulf countries on “Islamism” and the criminalisation of the Muslim Brotherhood this narrative is reproduced in various countries and used to erode the process of democratisation and other pillars of those societies It is important to identify and name those strategies to understand this phenomenon While there are too many to be exhaustive, here are the top 10 familiar strategies to promote Islamophobia: Muslims as ‘a challenge’, Islam as ‘a problem A key Islamophobic strategy has been the construction of an imaginary and essentialised bogeyman Islam by which the media politicians, prominent public intellectuals and even major artists (including many from the Muslim-majority Arab world) represent Islam and Muslims as a problem an existential threat, or at best a “challenge” (to “the Republic,” “democracy”, “western civilisation” and so on) this problematisation of the presence of Islam and Muslims in western and other countries creates a permanent atmosphere of fear and distrust of that religion and its faith communities It is perpetuated through the relentless creation and hype of false, artificial, or dramatically exaggerated “dangers”, such as “Islamism”, and the manufacturing of episodes of moral panic and outbursts of hysteria, often around feminine Islamic outfits the conspiracist pathologisation of Islamic normality Here, perfectly normal phenomena, including natural transformations of western societies due to demographics and immigration - the transformation of urban space and of certain neighbourhoods, Islamic outfits in the streets, a mosque built next to a Catholic church, etc - are presented, in typical “Islamisation of Europe” conspiracist paranoia, as provocations and even signs of stealth Jihadism: hard evidence of a global ideological project of conquest to replace Europe by a vast Islamic caliphate Normal and harmless cultural changes such as the opening of a mosque an Islamic bookstore and a halal butcher shop in the same neighbourhood are taken as evidence of a planned invasion through the construction of “Islamist ecosystems” Every routine and banal Islamic practice is further proof of a hostile takeover planned and coordinated from abroad by the usual suspects, Saudi Arabia turkey or Qatar

DISCIPLINING MUSLIMS: the securitisation of Islam and Muslims While a plotting Muslim population is a false construct this imaginary Islam narrative has serious political consequences What Jocelyne Cesari named the securitisation of Muslims - exceptional political measures of a usually repressive type such as increased military presence and police controls, systematic surveillance of mosques, etc - stems from this perception of Islam as a threat which pushes governments left right and centre to treat the religion and those who practise it as primarily an “at-risk” population in need of surveillance and disciplining

A state of exception the état d exception which strips Muslims of their fundamental rights using national security as a pretext, has crept into every area of life and affects other communities as well while dramatically in-

fluencing and shaping public policy, culture and academic and intellectual life the weaponisation of democratic principles to cover up this Islamophobic enterprise, fallacies and blatant lies are often spread about the nature of western political regimes and societies that routinely discriminate against Muslims

France is a glaring example of a country and society that is often presented as secular - usually when Islam is being debated Yet this is a misleading, if not false, claim France is absolutely not secular, though it has a secular state which is radically different this means that the religious neutrality and the discretion rule applies only to the state and its official representatives, government workers and civil servants: public school teachers and administrators, judges, elected officials, etc But until the 15 March 2004 law banning religious signs symbols and outfits from public schools French laïcité in its religious neutrality aspect was never meant to target members of society, as that would have violated their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion Enforcing this ban on schoolchildren, and now their parents, represents a grave falsification, a violation actually of French secularism including its foundational law of 1905 on the separation of the churches and the state thus, what was originally a profoundly liberal, egalitarian, and emancipatory law meant to preserve major liberties, including freedom of religion for all, becomes corrupted and falsified beyond recognition into a profoundly illiberal, counterfeit, pseudo laïcité turned into what it is not - an Islamophobic weapon - by those who nonetheless claim to uphold it, it can then be used against Muslims

DIVIDE AND PUNISH: the good Muslim/bad Muslim’ binary Similar to the famous 1963 Malcolm X speech, this classic yet effective divide-and-conquer strategy, easily observable in media and politics, selects certain Muslims for their political obedience, docility, or servility to governments, characterises them as “moderate” and legitimate, then pits them against the critical ones the former are promoted celebrated and paraded everywhere by politicians and media as role models of integration for other Muslims to emulate; their political quietism passivity or active support to governments is generously rewarded (appointments on government and official commissions, etc) while the latter become publicly vilified and labelled “radical” “extremist” “fundamentalists”, “Islamists”, their organisations banned on bogus pretexts, and their leaders and role models persecuted the case of tariq Ramadan is here emblematic

It is noteworthy that this divide-discipline-punish practice can be observed both outside the West, including in Muslim-majority countries such as Morocco Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Pakistan as well as within western Muslim minorities Western double-standards Examples of states subjecting Islam to a separate standard are numerous In one instance, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin launched in 2021 their Charter of the Principles of French Islam, whose goal is to regulate and define not just the structure of the representation of Muslims in France and the internal functioning of mosques but even

Islamic creed and theology itself

When they tried to force Muslim leaders Islamic organisations and mosques to sign the document, they openly threatened with state repression anyone who would refuse Only Islam was subjected to such a treatment because, unlike Catholicism or Judaism, it is perceived as a threat to be controlled and securitised, including by “reforming Muslims No other religious communities were asked to re-educate and reinterpret their faith or ordered to sign such “charters” Only Muslims

the legalisation of Islamophobia Islamophobic prejudices and stereotypes increasingly get codified and entrenched into repressive laws France’s 2004 law against religious (read: Islamic) outfits in public schools or the recent “anti-Islamist separatism” bill, or Law Strengthening the Principles of the Republic serve here again as prototypes and models for other countries such as Canada, Switzerland or Belgium to emulate the specific articles targeting associations, private schools and homeschooling with the clear intention of making those options either extremely difficult or impossible are all based on false stereotypes of “radical” Muslim families brainwashing their children with sharia extremism or sports clubs having become a hotbed of Islamist radicalisation

Catch-22 An even more insidious strategy to corner Muslims in a lose-if-you-do, lose-if-you-don t exclusionary situation consists of presenting them with a double paradoxical and insolvable obligation On the one hand, they are prevented and even banned from engaging in political or even civic activism, which automatically labels them “Islamists” and hangs “political Islam” around their necks On the other, they are regularly summoned to “make their voices heard” publicly, speak “more loudly”, or demonstrate, as Muslims, for example, against Jihadists, whenever a terrorist attack is committed, or publicly oppose other Muslims (the “bad” ones above)

HARD POWER: If none of the above works, then governments have proven willing to use harsher forms of control discipline and punishment Guilt by association and collective punishment Whenever an individual “Jihadist attack is committed somewhere - anywhere - it is attributed to “Islam” and all Muslims are held responsible and called on to denounce it publicly there is no such collective blame for other faith communities, religions or even for other types of terrorism Given this logic, it is hardly surprising that, for example, an entire mosque of 1,500 Muslims would be closed through mere executive decree on the sole basis that an attacker himself unrelated to the mosque, had seen a Facebook video posted by one member of that mosque, which supposedly “incited” him to commit the attack What we have here is a veritable neocolonial management of Islam and Muslims that is increasingly going global Each one of those strategies would be harmful to Muslims But the ten of them combined can only be devastating

It has been a year since the Dharam Sansad in Haridwar, where dozens of Hindu supremacist priests clad in saffron robes called for the genocide of Indian Muslims this gathering was a culmination of a series of anti-Muslim hate assemblies across the country, including in the capital city Delhi at which prominent Hindu clerics made equally vitriolic statements

Bajrang Muni, one of these respected religious leaders” – as he was described by the Indian government’s lawyer in the Supreme Court – had publicly advocated Hindu men to commit mass rapes against Muslim women

Yet, the police did not find a problem with such corrosive speech, just as it did not find anything wrong in the open calls for arming Hindus that were made at the gathering in Delhi It said this was merely a defence of “community ethics” We are told that there is a silent majority that is upset by this vulgarity One wonders why ordinary Hindus or the state apparatus, which identifies itself with them, does not feel offended by this rhetoric Of course there is a limit to our tolerance this level was breached in December when actor Shah Rukh Khan purportedly insulted the sacred hue of saffron by getting co-star Deepika Padukone to wear a saffron bikini in a sequence for the song Besharam Rang – shameless colour –

in his film Pathaan A film critic of long standing even wondered about the wisdom of choosing this outfit because saffron, this person claimed, is India s national colour to identify only this particular colour as being shameless is a display of obvious bigotry: Padukone changes costumes at least six times during the song However this one short shot has forced parliamentarians and Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra to react A prominent priest in Ayodhya burnt an effigy of Khan and casually threatened to burn him alive as well these grievances ring hollow because Indian films are filled with songs and scenes awash with saffron, each competing to be “bolder” than the other they have been watched by millions of religious Hindus who have never registered their hurt or outrage for these insults to the sacred colour there is quite clearly an industry manufacturing hurt Hindu sensibilities

However, even if this abuse is scripted, the way it affects the victims is quite real How could the targets not feel wronged when top state representatives lead the mob that ridicules and assaults their sense of belonging?

Let us not fool ourselves We know the real reason behind this abnormal outrage against Pathaan It is another excuse to incite and justify violence and the industrial-scale irrational hatred against Muslims Since the daily attack on ordinary Muslims barely solicits a response from civil society, attacks on individuals like Khan are necessary to test new ground

Before the troll attack on Khan, there were attacks –real and virtual – on former Vice President Hamid Ansari politicians Asaduddin Owaisi and Salman Khurshid, journalist Mohammad Zubair and actors Irfan Pathan and Aamir Khan they are not ordinary Muslims, but it should be a matter of concern that they can be shot at by extremists, their homes vandalised, accused of trea-

son without evidence by online mobs and that they can easily be jailed

A new understanding has been created that the majority can humiliate even the most celebrated Muslims and their actions will be justified by the press and the state

Often, the targets of majoritarian hate are accused of being conservative or radicalised that cannot work with Khan He cannot easily be accused of disrespecting the Hindu faith since he fits the Sangh Parivar s shabby claims of the ideal Indian Muslim

However, merely respecting Hinduism does not seem adequate any more It appears that Khan is now expected to condemn Islam and gloat at bulldozers mowing down “illegal homes”

Other excuses are also used either to rationalise such attacks or minimise their severity Has Khan made a film on social issues? Has he ever spoken against atrocities against Dalits or women? Isn’t Hamid Ansari an elite Muslim? Had he not always been an establishment man? Does Asassuddin Owaisi not work in Muslim politics? these reasons are made to appear rational enough to ignore attacks on these Muslims

As a consequence, few ordinary Hindus speak out strongly against this violence they say that since Hindus are non-violent by nature these incidents are exceptions they should not be asked to stand against them they tolerate Islamophobic banter on their dining tables, dismissing it as merely humour None of this is really to be taken seriously, they say

Moreover, Hindus have been convinced that it is they who have actually been wronged: this talk of hate and violence against Muslims is actually a conspiracy to defame Hindus those who have committed atrocities against Hindus for 1 200 years are to blame for forcing Hindus to become violent those Hindus who condemn

such violence are derided as seculars or people with a slave mentality, or their Hinduness is questioned that is how Hindus, simply because they are Hindus, are freed from the responsibility of responding to the hate and violence that is being spread in their name then there are Hindus claiming to be allies of Indian Muslims who try to persuade others (and themselves) that this hatred and violence is not real – it is only strategic Ordinary Hindus are non-violent, they say, but are manipulated by fringe elements in the Sangh so that the Bharatiya Janata Party can reap dividends when elections come around But there is more to it than that Violence against Muslim occurs even when there are no elections in sight the home minister of Madhya Pradesh is no fringe element this everyday hounding of minorities is unparalleled in our brief history as a democracy Instead of looking for ways to rationalise this indefensible violence on Muslims, we should at least admit that there is a serious problem with Hindu society and it does no good to keep saying that those who are perpetrating it are fake Hindus Indian Muslims, on the other hand, are supposed to carry two kinds of burdens – the burden of shame and the burden of courage they have to constantly express shame for crimes committed by Muslims across the globe When they are attacked by a mob they are expected to stand for themselves

We know that this bravery can be very costly for Muslims they can be jailed for eternity or killed these Muslims never receive substantive solidarity from Hindus who keep denying the depth of the hatred for Muslims in India Indian Muslims cannot end this violence It is for Hindus to fight this evil within

Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at Delhi University Alishan Jafri is an independent journalist

what the hounding of shah rukh Khan and Indian muslims says about the deep rot in Indian societ y

I N D I A N M U S L I M S C A N N OT E N D T H I S V I O L E N C E. I T I S F O R H I N D U S TO F I G H T T H E E V I L W I T H I N

Middle east eye

A l A i n G A b o n

Dr Alain Gabon is Associate Professor of French Studies and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach USA

A S I S L A M O P H O B I A C O N T I N U E S T O S P R E A D G LO B A L LY, J U S T O N E O F T H E S E 1 0 M E T H O D S W O U L D B E H A R M F U L F O R M U S L I M S . B U T A L L O F T H E M C O M B I N E D W O U L D B E D E VA S TAT I N G

tnership

i s l a m a b a d: A high-profile delegation led by CEO Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) MrTemelKotil, called on Rector NUST EngrJavedMahmoodBukhari at NUST Members of senior management from NUST also attended the meeting which was aimed at exploring new avenues to strengthen collaboration between NUST and Turkey in areas such as joint research establishment of research facilities student and faculty exchanges, academia-industry linkages etc CEO TAI said that Pakistan being a brotherly country is our first preference for outreach He also expressed his desire to recruit talented engineers and scientists from NUST to work on cutting-edge projects of TAI p r

PEDO Officials say cOmPlEtE POwEr PrOjEcts gEnEratE rs32b rEvEnuE

pEShAWAr a z z B u n e r

PA K H T U N K H WA Energy Development Organisation (PEDO) has said that so far several power generation projects have been completed which are generating a revenue of Rs32 billion for the province

PEDO has so far successfully completed at least six major power projects – 36 6 megawatts Daral Khwar power project in Swat, 18MW Pehur power project in Swabi, 4 MW Machai power project in Mardan, 81MW Malakandthree project,17MW Ranulia, and 5 MW Reshon power project in Chitral which was washed away in recent floods

The PEDO officials said an agreement has been signed to supply 18MW of electricity to industry from the Pehure project, from which is earning Rs 254 58 million for annually PEDO has also completed 25 9MW of new solarisation projects, which will generate

annual savings of Rs 423 15 million In 1986 Small Hydro Development Organization (SHDO) was set-up for small power plants in the province, which was later given the status of an autonomous body in 1993 In 2013, the provincial government renamed it as Pakhtunkhwa Hydro Development Organisation and it was again remained as Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation which is working on power generation projects in KP PEDO is currently working on Jabori Hydro power Project which was expected to be completed in October 2022 however, it could not be completed due to various issues with WAPDA PEDO is also working on 11 8 MW Karora project in Shangla, 40 8 MW Koto projecting Dir, 84 megawatt Mittalan project in Swat, 69MW Lavi project in Chitral, 10 5MW Chapri Charkhel project in Kalam and 6 5MW Barando project in Torghar underway, which are expected to produce 232 8MW electricity and which will generate Rs10 billion

of annual revenue Similarly, PEDO has approved the construction of two major power projects with the cooperation of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) The 300MW power project in Balakot will be started with the financial support of the ADB, for which a consultant and firm have been hired, while the 88MW Gabral project in Kalam will be started with the support of World Bank for which PEDO has hired the services of a consultant Briefing the media on ongoing projects Secretary Energy and Power Nisar Ahmad Khan stated that several projects have entered the final stages of completion After completion Khan said these projects are expected to generate over Rs10bn annually for the province He said that the current security situation, closure of Letters of Credit (LCs), increase in taxes on machinery import for hydropower and solar energy projects, are matter of concern as it hamper the timely completion of these projects

Chief Executive PEDO Engineer

2nd National Conference on Iqbal 2022 held at Bahria University

ISLAMABAD

Three days 2nd National Conference on Iqbal 2022 was held at Bahria University at Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore Campuses DrAnis Ahmed Vice Chancellor of Riphah International University was the Chief Guest of the Opening Ceremony held at Bahria University Islamabad Campus (BUIC)

The theme of this year ’s conference was Iqbal s thought and our education system: present and future plan of action in which more than one hundred research scholars and teachers sent their research papers Seventy papers were selected and presented online during the conference Rector Bahria University Vice Admiral (Retd) AsifKhaliqHI(M) while inaugurating the conference, highlighted that Allama Mohammad Iqbal was not associated with any single education system, but was an all-round universal thinker He had thoroughly studied the purpose and existence of man, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and then carried out research on various schools

of thoughts to finally attain his vision

Rector Bahria University further added that education is a field that guides people in all walks of life If education is purposeful, it helps to fulfill the ideological and practical requirements of the nation

Chief Guest, Dr Anis Ahmed, during his speech said that Iqbal had profound knowledge of oriental and occidental philosophies, but the source of his inspiration and the foundation of his philosophical thought was the Holy Quran He emphasized that Iqbal conference is representative of the fact that our national development is intertwined with our academic evolution

Naeem Khan said that work is underway on 42 energy projects of transmission line including hydro and solar power Engineer Khan said that PEDO has successfully completed several small hydropower projects so far, which is generating a total of 172 megawatts of electricity The official said that most of ongoing projects are in the final stages of completion Similarly Engineer Khan said work is underway on solarisation of 4,400 mosques, 8,000 schools, 187 Basic health Units across the province He added that solar energy projects are saving million of rupees annually in term of electricity bills In the second phase Naeem Khan said 291 mini micro-hydro stations are also being constructed in areas deprived of electricity, from which a total of 41MW of electricity will be generated Khan informed that a number of power projects have also been successfully completed in merged tribal districts of the province, which has improved the power transmission system to a great extent

Use of Heaters/Stoves in

Winter S eason

i s l a m a b a d: Gas heaters and stoves pose serious health risks and are main cause of many fatal incidents Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless High levels of carbon monoxide in the air are very dangerous and may cause people to pass out or even die Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are non-specific and can be mistaken for a flu-like illness or even food poisoning Very high levels of carbon monoxide can cause loss of consciousness, seizures and death In winter season, consider safe alternative ways of keeping warm and be careful in using gas/LPG heaters Necessary precautions may be taken while using gas/LPG heaters: Have your heater serviced regularly Have plenty of ventilation – ventilation is very important as it allows fresh air to come in and fumes to go out Be careful when drying clothes inside –keep all flammable materials at least one meter away from the heater Never leave a gas heater running when you go to bed In case of loadshedding/ blackout, please turn off the heaters/stoves Never use or store solvents, aerosols or pressure pack cans near a gas heater – even if the heater is turned off, the pilot light may still be on p r

Meezan Bank Launches Meezan Visa

Infinite Debit Card

be made an integral part of the curriculum COMSATS University Islamabad has created opportunities for internships in different sectors to help its students find the right career path for themselves p r

‘Solar energy is cheap, environment-friendly ’

S i g n i f i c a n t r e d u c t i o n i n e l e c t r i c i ty b i l l i s p o s s i b l e t h r o u g h n e t m e t e r i n g c o n n e c t i o n s p r ove t o b e a r e s p o n s i b l e c i t i ze n b y s av i n g e l e c t r i c i ty C h i e f E xe c u t i ve i e s c o D r M u h a m m a d A m j a d K h a n S o l a r e n e r g y i s d e f i n i t e l y a n e nv i r o n m e n t a l l y f r i e n d l y a n d e xc e l l e n t s o u r c e o f e l e c t r i c i ty O n t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s o f t h e Fe d e ra l G ove r n m e n t a n d t h e M i n i s t r y o f E n e r g y ( Po w e r D i v i s i o n ) , t h e l a u n c h o f n e t m e t e r i n g c o n n e c t i o n s i n I E S C O r e g i o n i s g o i n g o n ra p i d l y, a c c o r d i n g t o w h i c h c o n s u m e r s a r e n o t o n l y g e t t i n g c h e a p e l e c t r i c i ty f o r t h e i r u s e f r o m s u n l i g h t , b u t e xc e s s e l e c t r i c i t y c a n s e l l b a c k t o I E S C O a n d b r i n g i n g d o w n t h e i r e l e c t r i c i t y b i l l s i g n i f i c a n t l y I E S C O C o n s u m e r s c a n g e t a ny k i n d o f i n f o r m a t i o n r e g a r d i n g N e t M e t e r i n g b y c a l l i n g Ka m ra n K h a n , Fo c a l Pe r s o n o f N e t M e t e r i n g C e l l o n Te l N o 0 5 1 - 9 2 5 2 9 3 1 I E S C O h a s s o f a r r e c e i ve d 7 7 9 4 n e t m e t e r i n g a p p l i c a t i o n s o u t o f w h i c h 7 2 7 4 n e t m e t e r i n g c o n n e c t i o n s h ave b e e n p r o v i d e d C h i e f E xe c u t i ve I E S C O D r M u h a m m a d A m j a d K h a n h a s r e q u e s t e d t h e c u s t o m e r s t o m a ke u s e o f t h i s f a c i l i t y a n d m a ke s av i n g e l e c t r i c i t y t h e i r m o t t o p r

University of Wah hosts 10th convoc ation

pr

University of Wah (UoW) hosted its 10th Convocation, at UW Auditorium to commemorate the exceptional achievements of its graduates Prof Dr Jameel-Un Nabi, Vice Chancellor University of Wahpresided over the convocation proceedings as Chief Guest

A large number of dignitaries, educationists, community representatives, faculty members graduating students and their parents attended the Ceremony The Vice Chancellor-UW, in his address stated that our graduates are the ambassadors of the University, with the ability to inspire change and a beacon of hope for the future graduates He expressed his gratitude to the Chief Guest for his valuable

presence at the Ceremony

He, furthermore, apprised the audience about the milestones achieved by the University including Academic Excellence Award, The Impact Rankings 2022 UI GreenMetric Rankings 2022, award of research grants as well as UW s steady progress towards becoming a research-intensive institution He emphasized that the students at UoW are being empowered with the skills necessary to become a useful citizen with the ability to play a

constructive role in development of our motherland He also stressed on the youth to equip themselves with requisite competencies to face future challenges efficiently

During the Ceremony thirty-one high achievers were awarded Gold Medals, Distinguished Students Award in their respective Faculties and Student of the Year Award while a total of 1145 Undergraduate and Graduate students were conferred degrees in the disciplines of Basic Sciences

K a r a c h i: Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic Bank, has launched Meezan Visa Infinite Card – the top most debit card among the cards portfolio offering one of the highest limits and greatest benefits to premium customers of the Bank As the most celebrated card it provides a wide range of features & discounts both locally and internationally The new card complements the lifestyle of elite customers by offering excellent value through exclusive travel perks including access to over 1,000 VIP Airport Lounges globally, 24-hour concierge access and discount on car rentals in addition to various other international offers by Visa Moreover, Visa Infinite Cardholders can also enjoy a wide range of specially crafted deals and discounts on local brands across Pakistan Commenting on the launch, Shariq Mubeen Head of Alternate Distribution Channels at Meezan Bank, said, “The launch of Meezan VISA Infinite Card is aimed at providing the world-class, Shariah-compliant payment product to our most prestigious customers With this card, we have seamlessly blended our exceptional banking services into the lifestyle needs of our elite customers We are confident insh’Allah that our customers will enjoy the exclusive benefits of this card both locally and globally ” p r

Pakistan

Amjad Khan Niazi graced the occasion as Chief Guest Upon arrival, the Chief Guest was received by Commander Pakistan Fleet, Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami and Guard of Honour was presented by a smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Navy Speaking on the occasion, Chief of the Naval Staff expressed complete satisfaction over operational readiness of Pakistan Navy Fleet and lauded the dedication

and professionalism of officers and men for successful conduct of large number of naval exercises including bilateral and multilateral exercises in own and international waters contributing towards regional maritime security and protection of Pakistan maritime interests in the region and beyond

The Admiral commended PN Fleet efforts and contributions in achieving significant operational objectives and milestones and protection of Pakistan s Sea Lines of Communication He highlighted Pakistan Navy endeavours to ensure seaward security of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Gwadar Port and maritime related projects of CPEC

Naval Chief reiterated that Pakistan Navy is fully cognizant of changing geopolitical realities in the re-

gion and stands resolute to defend country’s sea frontiers The Admiral also underscored that prevalent global and regional geostrategic environment demands Pakistan Navy to remain ever vigilant and battle to safeguard Pakistan maritime interests

Earlier in his welcome address Commander Pakistan Fleet Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami highlighted PN Fleet achievements during the outgoing year making particular mention of the conduct of a number of Live Weapon Firings, participation in multilateral exercises, HADR missions, Overseas Deployments and Regional Maritime Security Patrols undertaken by Fleet units Later, Chief of the Naval Staff gave away Efficiency Award shields to best performing units of various Squadrons of Pakistan Navy Fleet

COMSATS projec ts and c areers expo inaugurated in Islamabad

Over 150 Companies participated in the COMSATS’ Projects and Career Expo organized by the Career Development Center, COMSATS University Islamabad, today in the Islamabad Campus Prof Dr Muhammad T Afzal, Rector, COMSATS University Islamabad along with Dr ShahidMahmoodBaig, Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation and Engr Muhammad RazaChohan, Advisor (Academics and NAHE), Higher Education Commission inaugurated the Projects and Careers Expo While talking to media, Prof Dr Muhammad TabassumAfzal, Rector, COMSATS University said that COMSATS’ students receive extensive training in a variety of industry relevant skill sets and are exposed to industry problems as part of their final year research projects to help them succeed in their careers Internships and apprenticeships during their degrees enables students to critically analyze situations in the industry and should

Turkish Aerospace Industries, NUST explore new avenues for par

KArAchI

Navy Fleet Annual Efficiency Competition Parade held at Karachi to mark culmination of rewarding and eventful operational year of Pakistan Navy Fleet units Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad

BankIslami and Institute of Business Management

I s r a e l ’ s N eta N ya H U B a c k w I t H e x t r e M I s t g o v e r N M e N t

forces chief Aviv Kochavi expressed his concerns regarding the creation of a second ministerial post in the defence ministry for Smotrich who will oversee the management of civilian affairs in the West Bank

Israel’s ally the United States has also spoken out Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Washington would oppose settlement expansion as well as any bid to annex the West Bank

But in a statement of policy priorities released Wednesday, Netanyahu’s Likud party said the government will pursue settlement expansion

About 475,000 Jewish settlers among them Smotrich and Ben Gvir live there now in settlements considered illegal under international law Analysts said Netanyahu offered the extreme-right vast concessions in the hope he might obtain judicial immunity or cancellation of his corruption trial He is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, allegations he denies

Denis Charbit, professor of political science at Israel’s Open University, told AFP the government “is the addition of Netanyahu s political weakness linked to his age and his trial, and the fact that you have a new political family of the revolutionary right that we had never seen with this strength in Israel

Bhopal MP booked over controversial remarks at Hindu event

BENGALURU Ag e n c e s

TEL AVIV A F P

aF T E R a stint in opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power in Israel on Thursday, leading what analysts describe as the most right-wing government in the country s history Senior security and law enforcement officials have already voiced concern over its direction, as have Palestinians It becomes for Netanyahu s partners a dream government,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank, told AFP “And one side’s dream is the other side’s nightmare,” he said, adding: “This government is expected to take the country in a completely new trajectory Netanyahu, 73, who is fighting corruption allegations in court, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history including a record 12-year tenure from 2009 to 2021 and a three-year period in the late 90s He was ousted from power in the spring of 2021 by a motley coalition of leftists centrists and Arab parties headed by Naftali Bennett and former TV news anchor Yair Lapid It didn’t take him long to come back Netanyahu

will present his new government to the Israeli parliament for a ratification vote at 11:00 am (0900 GMT)

Following the election on November 1, Netanyahu entered into negotiations with ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties, among them Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism formation and Itamar Ben Gvir ’s Jewish Power party

Both have a history of inflammatory remarks about the Palestinians

They will now take charge respectively of Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank, and of the Israeli police which also operate in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967 ‘T h i r s T f o r p o w e r’: Even before the government was sworn in, the majority parties passed laws that would allow Aryeh Deri, a key ally from the ultraOrthodox Shas party, to serve as a minister despite a previous guilty plea to tax offences

They also voted to expand powers of the national security minister a portfolio set to be handed to Ben Gvir who will have authority over the police

The assignment comes despite Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara s warning against the politicisation of law enforcement”

On Monday, in a phone call to Netanyahu, armed

Smotrich and Ben Gvir “have a very strong thirst for power” and their priority remains the expansion of West Bank settlements, Charbit said ‘ e x p l o s i o n ’ Ben Gvir has repeatedly visited Jerusalem s Al-Aqsa mosque compound the thirdholiest site in Islam It is also Judaism’s holiest, known as the Temple Mount

Under a historical status quo non-Muslims can visit the sanctuary but may not pray there Palestinians would see a visit by a serving Israeli minister as a provocation

“If Ben Gvir, as minister, goes to Al-Aqsa it will be a big red line and it will lead to an explosion, Basem Naim, a senior official with the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, told AFP Israel and Hamas fought a war in May 202l This year, other Gaza militants and Israel exchanged rocket and missile fire for three days in August

In the West Bank, violence has surged this year and many are afraid of more unrest

I think that if the government acts in an irresponsible way, it could cause a security escalation,” outgoing Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on Tuesday, expressing fear over the extremist direction of the incoming administration

Belarus says Ukrainian missile fell on its territor y

fences

formation yet about possible injuries or casualties

The statement said there was no in-

Belarus said a Ukrainian missile fell on its territory on Thursday, raising fears of the conflict spilling over, with the Moscow ally sending investigators to establish the cause of the incident

President Alexander Lukashenko was immediately informed said a statement posted on a Telegram channel close to the presidency

It said an S-300 missile from Ukrainian territory landed between 10am and 11am local time (0700 GMT and 0800 GMT), but gave no location According to two possible leads considered by the authorities the missile either deviated from its trajectory or was shot down by Belarusian air de-

In November a missile landed in a village in NATO member Poland and killed two people, also sparking concern the US-led alliance would be drawn into the conflict in Ukraine

Russia denies having fired the missile, while Warsaw said it was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile launched to intercept Russian attacks

Russia had used the Belarusian territory as a launching pad for its Ukraine offensive

In October, Belarus said it was establishing a joint regional force with Moscow, with several thousand Russian servicemen arriving in the ex-Soviet country

The move has fuelled concern Minsk could also send troops to Ukraine

After a huge outcry, police finally registered a case against firebrand BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur for her inflammatory speech at a convention organised in Karnataka’s Shivamogga recently by a pro-Hindu outfit

The case has been registered at the Kote police station, based on a complaint by Shivamogga District Congress Committee president H S Sundaresh, officials said According to police, the case has been registered against the Bhopal MP under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, and race) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs)

Thakur had on December 25 said Hindus have the right to respond to those who attack them and their dignity as she spoke about the killing of Hindu activists

Speaking at the Hindu Jagarana Vedike s southern region annual convention, she had also told the gathering to give a befitting reply to anyone who infiltrates our house Love jihad they have a tradition of jihad, if nothing they do love jihad Even if they love they do jihad in that We (Hindus) too love, love the god, a sanyasi loves his god,” Thakur said

18 Uzbek kids dead after consuming India made cough syrup

TASHKENT Ag e n c e s

Uzbekistan has said that at least 18 children in the country have died after taking an India-manufactured cough syrup

The health ministry of Uzbekistan in a statement said that the children who died had consumed cough syrup Doc-1 Max – manufactured by Noida-based Marion Biotech in India

The laboratory tests of a batch of syrups found the presence of ethylene glycol, a toxic substance, the ministry said

The syrup was given to children at home as an anti-cold remedy

This is the second time in a year that Indiamanufactured cough syrups have come under the scanner Earlier this year, deaths of 70 children in Gambia were linked to cough syrups manufactured by Indian state

Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals

U N te m p o r a r i l y s to p s s o m e p ro g r a m s i n Afg h a n i s t a n a f te r b a n o n wo m e n a i d wo r ke r s

community,” it said “We will endeavour to continue lifesaving, time-critical activities

The United Nations said on Wednesday that some “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan have temporarily stopped and warned many other activities will also likely need to be paused because of a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women aid workers

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, the heads of UN agencies and several aid groups said in a joint statement that women’s “participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue,” calling on the authorities to reverse the decision

Banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans Already, some timecritical programmes have had to stop temporarily due to lack of female staff,” read the statement

“We cannot ignore the operational constraints now facing us as a humanitarian

But we foresee that many activities will need to be paused as we cannot deliver principled humanitarian assistance without female aid workers ”

The ban on female aid workers was announced by the Islamist Taliban-led administration on Saturday It follows a ban imposed last week on women attending universities Girls were stopped from attending high school in March

“No country can afford to exclude half of its population from contributing to society said the statement which was also signed by the heads of UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation the UN Development Programme and the UN high commissioners for refugees and human rights

Four major global groups, whose humanitarian aid has reached millions of Afghans, said on Sunday that they were suspending

operations because they were unable to run their programs without female staff

The UN statement said the ban on female aid workers “comes at a time when more than 28 million people in Afghanistan require assistance to survive as the country grapples with the risk of famine conditions, economic decline, entrenched poverty and a brutal winter ”

The UN agencies and aid groups –which included World Vision International, CARE International, Save the Children US, Mercy Corps and InterAction – pledged to “remain resolute in our commitment to deliver independent principled lifesaving assistance to all the women, men and children who need it ”

The Taliban seized power in August last year They largely banned the education of girls when last in power two decades ago but had said their policies had changed The Taliban-led administration has not been recognised internationally

NEW YORK

R e u t e R s

MOSCOW Ag e n c e s

Pa k I S Ta n f I G h T T o av o I d d e f e aT I n f I r S T

T e S T a f T e r W I L L I a M S o n d o u B L e T o n

KARACHI S tA F F R e P o R t

PAKISTAN will need to bat out the last day to avoid defeat in the first Test after New Zealand gained the upper hand Thursday through a masterly undefeated double-hundred by Kane Williamson in Karachi

Trailing by 174 runs after the first innings, Pakistan finished the fourth day on a precarious 77-2, with Imam-ul-Haq on 45 and nightwatchman Nauman Ali on four Pakistan have lost their last four Tests including a first-ever 3-0 whitewash at the hands of England and are now 97 runs behind with eight wickets intact

The home team s task of salvaging a draw shouldn’t ordinarily be onerous on a

National Stadium pitch that has not so far taken a sharp turn, but their propensity for middle-order collapses recently has given New Zealand the sniff of victory

Opener Abdullah Shafique was the first wicket to fall as he played an injudicious lofted shot off-spinner Michael Bracewell, and was caught at mid-on for 17 Then Shan Masood was adjudged leg before off Ish Sodhi for 10 before Haq and Nauman saw off the day

Earlier, Williamson’s unbeaten double century enabled the visitors to declare their first innings on 612-9 a good 174-run lead over Pakistan’s 438 Williamson reached 200 with a single off spinner Abrar Ahmed batting for ten hours and striking 21 boundaries and a six in an innings which saw him overturn two leg-be-

fore decisions on 13 and 116

He also survived two stumpings offspinner Nauman on 15 and 21

Resuming on 440-6, Williamson and Sodhi defied Pakistan’s bowling in the first session as the pair took the total to 595 before their seventh wicket stand was broken Sodhi was caught off Ahmed for 65 to better his previous best, also against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2018

Tim Southee and Neil Wagner fell without scoring as New Zealand lost three wickets in the space of two runs, but last-man Ajaz Patel held his ground to help Williamson reach the milestone Ahmed finished with 5-205 his second five-wicket haul while Nauman Ali took 3-185 New Zealand are playing their first Test series in Pakistan for 20 years

Pakistan C ricket Cup semi-finals line -up completes

LAHORE A P P

Balochistan and Southern Punjab eased through to comprehensive wins over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern today in the 10th and final round of the Pakistan Cup to cement their places in the semi-finals of the 50-over tournament in Karachi on Thursday

According to the information made available here by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Central Punjab, who have topped the points table with 14 points will take on fourth-placed Southern Punjab in the first semi-final on 31 December Defending champions Balochistan who ended up with 12 points from 10 matches and on the second spot will take on third-positioned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the second semi-final on 1 January The final of the tournament will be played on 2 January Both semi-finals and the final will be played at the State Bank Stadium The semi-finals will be broadcast live on PTV Sports

In today’s fixture between Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the NBP Sports Complex Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after being put into bat, were bowled out for 133 in 31 overs with Fakhar Zaman (32 37b 5×4) and Adil Amin (28 not out, 33b, 4×4) adding runs with the bat

For Balochistan, Mohammad Junaid was the pick of the bowlers with four for 37 from eight overs Captain Yasir Shah bagged three wickets for 26

In reply Balochistan achieved the

targt inside 19 overs with three wickets down The opening pair of Haseebullah and Imran Butt knitted 64 runs for the first wicket, with left-handed Haseebullah contributing 53 off 32 balls smashing 11 fours Imran, returned undefeated on 63 off 46 balls, hitting 10 fours and one six

In the contest between table toppers Central Punjab and National T20 winners Sindh the latter failed to chase down the 311-run target and with that lost a chance to seal a berth in the semi-finals After being asked to bat first Central Punjab scored 310 for nine in 50 overs courtesy half-centuries by Ahmed Shehzad (67, 83b 6×4 2×6) and Tayyab Tahir (59 46b, 5×4, 3×6)

PCB, Balochistan Gov t to jointly renovate Quetta stadium for PSL matches

QUETTA

S tA F F R e P o R t

T h e B a l o c h i s t a n G o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e P a k i s t a n C r i c k e t B o a r d ( P C B ) o n T h u r s d a y d e c i d e d t o j o i n t l y r e n o v a t e a c r i c k e t s t a d i u m i n Q u e t t a w i t h p r o p e r a r r a n g e m e n t s f o r h o l d i n g P S L m a t c h e s i n t h e p r o v i n c i a l m e t r o p o l i s T h e d e c is i o n t o t h e e ff e c t w a s t a k e n d u r i n g a m e e t i n g o f P C B o ff i c i a l s w i t h P r i n c i p a l S e c r e t a r y o f B a l o c h i s t a n C h i e f M i n i s t e r I m r a n K i c h k i D u ri n g t h e m e e t i n g , i s s u e s p e r t a i n i n g t o h o l d i n g o f P a k i s t a n S u p e r L e a g u e ( P S L ) m a t c h e s i n Q u e t t a w e r e d i s c u s s e d i n d e t a i l I t w a s a s s u r e d t h a t e ff e c t i v e s t e p s w o u l d b e t a k e n f o r t h e s e c u r i t y o f t e a m s a n d f a n s I m r a n K i c h k i s a i d h o l d i n g o f P S L m a t c h e s i n t h e p r o v i n c i a l c a p i t a l w o u l d g i v e a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o t h e l o c a l c r i c k e t p l a y e r s t o i m p r o v e t h e i r g a m e B o t h t h e g r o u n d s a n d w e a t h e r c o n d i t i o n s i n Q u e t t a w e r e s u i t a b l e f o r h o l d i n g s u m m e r c r i c k e t c a m p s , h e a d d e d H e s a i d C h i e f M i n i s t e r M i r A b d u l Q u d d u s B i z e n j o h a d d e e p i n t e r e s t i n p r o m o t i n g s p o r t s a c t i v i t i e s i n t h e p r o v i n c e T h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t , h e s a i d , w a s p l a y i n g a n i m p o r t a n t r o l e i n k e e p i n g h o c k e y a n d f o o t b a l l a l i v e a t t h e n a t i o n a l l e v e l H e s a i d t h e r e w e r e a l o t o f t a l e n t e d c r i c k e t p l a y e r s a c r o s s B a l o c h i s t a n a s t h e g a m e w a s p l a y e d a t Te h s i l l e v e l , a n d o rg a n i z i n g m a t c h e s l i k e t h e P S L w o u l d g i v e t h e m a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o c o m e f o r w a r d a n d s h o w t h e i r p r o w e s s

For Sindh, Asif Mehmood and Sohail Khan took two wickets apiece

In return, Sindh got a decent 43-run start provided by southpaws Saim Ayub (15 20b 1×4) and Sharjeel Khan (32 19b, 6×4), but after the departure of both batters, only Faraz Ali coming to bat at number four showed some resistance with a knock of 64 off 80 balls, which included one four and two sixes

Down the order skipper Anwar Ali (30, 35b, 4×4) and Sohail Khan (43, 29b, 2×4, 4×6) showed some glimpses of brilliance but were unable to assist the Sindh side in reaching the target as they were bundled out for 244 with five overs to spare For the winning side, Usama Mir

grabbed three wickets, while Mohammad Ali and Waqas Maqsood took two wickets each

In the third contest of the 10th round, Southern Punjab, staged a stunning comeback to qualify for the semi-finals Before facing Northern in the final round match, Southern Punjab were placed at the bottom of the table with six points from nine games, but a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Northern and getting the 121-run target in the 16th over not only gave Southern Punjab valuable two points, but also improved their net run-rate which helped them go above Sindh in the points table

At the UBL Sports Complex, after opting to bat first Northern were dismissed for 120 in the 32nd over Mubasir Khan (29, 40b, 5×4) and Umar Amin (25 44b 3×4) were the only batters to score in 20s For Southern Punjab, Mohammad Umair took four wickets for 19 runs from seven overs while Sharoon Siraj grabbed three wickets for 32

In reply, Mohammad Shehzad’s unbeaten 60 off 50 balls which included eight fours and one six helped his side chase down the target in 15 1 overs scores in brieF: Balochistan beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by seven wickets Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 133 all out, 31 overs (Fakhar Zaman 32 Adil Amin 28 not out; Mohammad Junaid 4-37, Yasir Shah 3-26)

Balochistan 137-3 18 3 overs (Imran Butt 63 not out, Haseebullah 53; Ihsanullah 2-31)

Liverpool fans still sc ared by C hampions League final six months on

LIVERPOOL

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Six months on from the chaos that put lives at risk at the Champions League final in Paris, there are Liverpool fans still too frightened to return to watching matches live

Others appear to be watching their heroes “under anaesthetic with the atmosphere at Anfield one of football’s most iconic stadiums, described as “awful” this season by a local member of parliament and fan Ian Byrne Real Madrid s 1-0 win at the Stade de France on May 28 was overshadowed by events surrounding European football’s showpiece event

Kick-off was delayed by 37 minutes as fans struggled to access the stadium after being funnelled into overcrowded bottlenecks on approach

Police then fired tear gas towards thousands of supporters locked behind metal fences on the perimeter to the stadium For many Liverpool fans, the scenes brought back memories of a crush at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 that resulted in the deaths of 97 supporters “I think we’re still all suffering from the after-effects of the final, Joe Blott, chair of Liverpool supporters group Spirit of Shankly, told AFP

“Many people I know and other people are struggling to get to the game now as a consequence of the crowd management

“Them not wanting to go to the game because they ve been to a game is tragic in its own way

There were no fatalities in the French capital but there was still a physical and mental price to pay for both the lack of organisation on the part of the authorities before the match and mudslinging towards supporters in the aftermath

So many people are still damaged by what they experienced,” said Byrne “I think the atmosphere at Anfield is reflective of that It’s been awful this season and that s not down to the football it s been really strange I feel people are at the game under anaesthetic It feels like all the passion has been sucked out ” ‘Fans saved lives’

“The reason there wasn’t a worse disaster is because of the behaviour and experience of Liverpool fans added Blott

“For generations, Liverpool fans have learned the lessons of Hillsborough Why haven’t the authorities?

People were telling people to calm down people were saying ‘make sure you breathe’, ‘don’t climb over ’ , ‘let’s look after the kids’ All of that was by lessons learned and all of that was by football fans I think football fans saved lives ”

UEFA pinned the blame for the late start to the match on supporters arriving late despite thousands having been held for hours outside the stadium before kick-off The French authorities then claimed an “industrial scale fraud of fake tickets was the problem

However, a French Senate enquiry in July found it was a lack of preparation by French authorities and UEFA, as well as poorly-executed security arrangements that were the cause of the mayhem rather than supporter behaviour

An independent report into events around the final found that the unprovoked deployment of tear gas from the French police “constituted criminal assault ”

I m a g e s o f t h e f i n a l t a r n i s h e d F r a n c e s r e p u t at i o n f o r h o l d i n g m a j o r s p o r t s e v e n t s a h e a d o f t h e

R u g b y Wo r l d C u p n e x t y e a r a n d t h e 2 0 2 4 O l y m p i c G a m e s , b o t h o f w h i c h w i l l h o s t e v e n t s a t t h e S t a d e d e F r a n c e

Melbourne looks into hosting Pakistan vs India Test

MELBOURNE

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is looking into the possibility of hosting a Test match between Pakistan and India, who have not played each other in the longest format of the game since 2007 with bilateral cricket between the neighbours suspended Since India hosted Pakistan in a bilateral limited-overs series in 2013 the pair have only competed against each other at 20- and 50-overs World Cups and the Asia Cup The last time they met was at the T20 World Cup in October, where more than 90,000 fans piled into the MCG to watch India win a last-ball thriller MCC Chief Executive Stuart Fox said the atmosphere at that match showed there would be no problem filling the venue for a Test series between the two “The atmosphere for that game, I’ve never felt anything like it,” Fox told radio station SEN The noise after every ball was phenomenal Three (Test) in a row would be lovely at the MCG, you’d fill it every time “We’ve taken that up with Cricket Australia I know the (Victoria) government has as well It’s enormously complicated from what I can understand, amongst a really busy schedule So I think that s probably the greater challenge Fox said he hoped Cricket Australia would keep pushing the proposal with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport s global governing body When you do see some of the stadiums around the world unoccupied, I think it would be much better to have a full house and that atmosphere and celebrating the game with full houses ” Fox added

Mbappe says will ‘never’ get over World Cup hear tbreak

PARIS

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Kylian Mbappe said he will never get over the disappointment of losing the World Cup final after the France star scored the winner on his return to action for Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday I think I m never going to get over it,” Mbappe said, speaking 10 days after he scored a hat-trick in the final against Argentina which the South Americans won in a penalty shootout Mbappe showed few signs of the setback in Qatar as he won and converted a 96th-minute penalty to give PSG a last-gasp 2-1 win against Strasbourg on Ligue 1’s resumption following the World Cup break “As I said to my teammates, there is no reason why the club should pay the price for the failure of the national team they are two very different situations ” Mbappe said Neymar, who was left in tears after Brazil were knocked out by Croatia in the quarter-finals of the World Cup was sent off for two yellow cards in PSG’s victory

gOvT TurnIng blInD EyE TO rS1.5bn OwED by T wO OIl , gaS COmPanIES?

of the oil and gas industry This means that companies are involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas

W O companies involved in the exploration of oil and gas in Pakistan are willfully defaulting on their obligations to pay outstanding royalties to the federal government, according to a recent letter by Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has claimed

The two companies are Spud Energy and Frontier Holdings Limited which have been defaulting on account of royalty payments on the gross petroleum produced by the companies to the government This has been happening for over a year despite repeated notices of the Director General Petroleum Concession (DGPC)

The letter was sent to the principal secretary to the prime minister In spite of the default, Mari Petroleum Company Limited which is partly owned by the government has requested DGPC for the assignment of 35% of its working interest in the Hanna Block to Spud Energy, raising the question of why the government has been letting this go for so long

According to documents from Transparency International Pakistan available with Profit, Spud Energy and Frontier Holdings Limited have been found to be in ‘willful default’ of their obligations to pay an outstanding royalty of nearly Rs 1 13 billion

As per the details in the letter Spud Energy owes the government an outstanding amount of nearly Rs 835 million whereas Frontier Holdings are liable for a sum of Rs 303 million

Contrary to the figure provided by Transparency International, according to documents seen by Profit, the total default on royalty payments on the part of Spud Energy stands at nearly Rs 1 5 billion, (Rs 14 million of Reti Maru, Rs 1 07 billion of Zarghun South and Rs 383 million of Badin IV South) Company profiles

Both the companies, Spud Energy and Frontier Holdings limited are involved in the upstream aspect

Interestingly enough both are subsidiaries of a Canadian company called Jura Energy Corporation The company is listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange, and according to the company website the primary source income is a balanced portfolio of producing, development and exploration assets spread over various basins in Pakistan

What is more peculiar however, is that even though the company only operates in Pakistan, it is listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange All of Jura s assets are held and owned through its two Pakistani subsidiaries namely, Spud Energy and Frontier Holdings Limited What is a royalty ?

In the oil and gas sector, royalty interest refers to ownership of a share of a resource or the revenue generated by it Since natural resources are the property of the state, the government allows certain companies to explore for oil and gas in certain areas and take royalties in exchange In this scenario the Government bears no operational costs in producing the resource, but they still control a piece of the resource or revenue it generates and are owed royalties

When a government grants a company the right, working interest or licence to explore or produce a certain resource, the land is owned by the government but for all intents and purposes is leased to the company for a specific period of time So in order to generate revenue from that resource the government applies a royalty even though the government is not incurring any costs

Considering the fact that the resource could be worth billions, the royalty is a percentage of the revenue generated from the gross production of that particular source This ensures that the government gets its share of the pie too Letter from Transparency International Pakistan

The letter from TIP highlighted the fact that the licence holders Spud Energy and Frontier Holding are

Engro Fer tilizers increases base plant urea capacit y to 950,000 tons

Engro

announced that its base plant is now capable of producing urea up to 950 000 tons per annum “As previously disclosed, to ensure long-term reliability and sustainable safe operations of the Base Plant, Engro Fertilizers Limited (the “Company”) undertook various maintenance, debottlenecking, balancing, modernization, and replacement activities Following that the Company has been testing plant performance and based on assessment we are pleased to disclose that the Base Plant is now capable of producing urea up to 950,000 tons per annum read the notification The base plant (Plant-1) was previously scheduled for maintenance starting September 27 for a period of 60 days On time after 60 days, on November 28th, the base plant resumed commercial operations after successful completion of maintenance activity It should be noted that the base plant had already outlived its useful life Last year, the base plant production capacity was increased from 500,000 tons to 780,000 tons per annum to test the capability of the plant Now, the increase to 950 000 tons per annum is significant because it ensures longterm reliable and sustainable production of the plant Without such regular maintenance of the plant, there is a risk of losing a major chunk of the production capacity, which can be detrimental to the agriculture sector of the country The company has a total of 3 plants, out of which 2 Urea plants are located at Daharki (Base plant and EnVen) and 1 NPK plant (Zarkhez) is located at Port Qasim, Karachi The total capacity of EFERT’s urea plants is 2 275mln MT (Base plant: 975 000 MT p a and EnVen: 1 300 000 MT p a) Zarkhez has a total capacity of 100,000MT In the last quarter ending 30th September, EFERT posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 2 5 billion against a PAT of Rs 4 3 billion last year The decline was primarily due to the super tax imposed on the fertilizer industry For the year ended 31 December 2021, EFERT posted a PAT of over Rs 21 billion, a 25% increase on a yearly basis

Over 3.7m computerised land transactions recorded in Punjab

under an obligation to pay royalty to the government at a rate of 12 5% of the petroleum produced under and saved (gross production of petroleum)”

The letter went on to say that, “it can be clearly seen from their financial statement that instead of paying the outstanding royalties to the government, these defaulters have paid shareholders loans worth millions of dollars using gas sales receipts which is totally not just illegal but also morally incorrect”

Another issue addressed through the letter was the request of the defaulting company, Spud Energy, for a working interest share in an additional block, despite the fact that the company is continuing to evade its legal and financial obligations to the government

“TI Pakistan requests the Prime Minister of Pakistan to kindly look into this matter and if it is found to be correct, then the regulators to first recover the outstanding amount approximately PKR 1 13 billion from Spud Energy and Frontier Holding prior to proceeding further on these contract,” reads the letter sent by TIP to PSPM New block for defaulter?

Additional documents available with Profit also disclosed that MPCL has requested the DGPC to allow the company to assign 35% of its working interests in Hanna Block to Spud Energy from its 100% share and also submitted a draft Deed of Assignment (DoA) with annexures for this purpose

The petroleum division forwarded a summary titled ‘Assignment of Working Interest in Exploration Licences/Blocks’ to the Prime Minister, in which it was requested that the premier authorise submission of the summary to the Cabinet

The fact that the petroleum division forwarded this summary in itself begs a lot of questions For starters why was the summary forwarded despite the fact that the government is aware of the ongoing back and forth regarding the royalty payments This would only give more assets to a company that is already in conflict with the law

Impor ts rise, expor ts dip putting Pak ’s $4.82bn reser ves in trouble

REpORt

The State Bank of Pakistan’s liquid foreign reserves dropped $294 million in the last week bringing the reserves to an eight year low of $4 82 billion on the 23rd of December 2022

The SBP has raised rates on the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) by 2% bringing the rate to 13% compared to 11% earlier

The SBP further adds that in the future the markup rates for EFS and LTFF will change along with the monetary policy rate “ markup rates for EFS & LTFF will be revised automatically so that the gap between the policy rate and EFS & LTFF rates is maintained at 3%,” read the circular

The EFS markup rate was last hiked in April 2022 when it was brought from 3% to 2 5% Why is the SBP bringing up the EFS and LTFF rates?

Tahir Abbas, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited says The government is not in a position of subsidizing these facilities amid overall slowdown in the economy alongside challenges on the fiscal side Additionally, there might be some pressure from the IMF on the SBP and government to cut down these subsidized financing facilities ”

“Eventually the SBP will phase out these schemes and transfer these facilities to ExportImport Banks,” says Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities “The SBP will focus on its core objectives i e price stability and stability of the financial system”, he adds Rauf explains that this will hurt exporters;

During the calendar year, the SBP FX reserves have dropped by a whopping $11 9 billion A $3 994 billion drop alone has been witnessed since the start of the fiscal year in July 2022 As per the ministry of Finance, just the external liabilities for the next quarter stand at $8 3 billion The reserves are not only used to meet external obligations, but also to finance imports The country’s import cover has reached an alarming level of 1 1 months signifying a severe crash crunch

On Tuesday, the SBP withdrew restrictions on imports effective January 2 2023 in an attempt to smoothen the process with the 9th International Monetary Fund (IMF) review to release the next tranche The Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, remains adamant that Pakistan will complete the ninth review of the IMF by the end of January This review promises to bring 1 7 billion dollars to Pakistan under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility He said this while talking at a launch event on Wednesday What is the import cover?

A general measure to know whether the reserves are adequate enough or not is to look at the import cover Countries should hold reserves covering 100 percent of short-term debt or the equivalent of 3 months worth of imports

The Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) has implemented more than 3 7 million computerised land record transactions in the year 2022, depositing income of Rs 16 billion in the form of provincial taxes and service charges

According to data obtained by PLRA computerised land documents have been issued to 2 45 million people in 2022 from the vast network of land records comprising Dehi Marakaz e Mal NADRA e-facility, a total of 232 land record centres and banks whereas 1 25 mutations have been verified

The data also shows that out of a total of 1 25 million mutations about 500 000 mutations were verified through land record centres, about 150,000 through e-service centres and about 600,000 mutations were verified through registry while more than 7,000 mutations were verified from banks and more than 20 thousand from mobile vans

The data further shows that the year 2022 also witnessed a 20 percent decrease in complaints against PLRA on the Prime Minister s portal as compared to the previous year A total of 384 complaints were received in 2022 whereas relief was provided to the complainants by taking immediate action

Similarly, departmental action has been initiated against 144 officers and officials by the authority, while 30 people have been dismissed from their jobs after completing formal disciplinary proceedings Later, Director General of PLRA, Captain (Retd) Ikram ul Haq informed that user-friendly software apps are being developed by PLRA for the convenience of the people

“Automatic acquisition of land record services is being made possible with the help of this app Similarly, Administrative matters are being digitised according to international standards to make revenue administration efficient Moreover, through the universal access of data, citizens can get the services of their desired area from any place PLRA is progressing on the computerization of urban land records to make the land administration system integrated and in line with international standards,” he concluded

Defamation case: SC dismisses Imran’s appeal against striking out of right of defence

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The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday dismissed an appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan against striking out his right of defence in a defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against him The three-member bench heard the appeal at Supreme Court Lahore Registry and dismissed it with a 21 majority while upholding the trial court orders Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who was heading the bench, and Justice Amin Uddin Khan dismissed the appeal whereas Justice Ayesha A Malik dissented with their verdict During the proceedings, Mustafa Ramday appeared on behalf of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and argued that the trial court lawfully struck the right of the petitioner (Imran Khan) to answer the interrogatories of the respondent (Shehbaz Sharif) He said that the trial court passed the orders after the petitioner (Imran Khan) failed to file the reply despite repeated opportunities He submitted that the trial court conducted 21 hearings from the direction of filing the reply to striking out the right of defence in the suit whereas 13 adjournments were taken instead of filing the reply on behalf of Imran Khan He submitted that the petitioner could have refused to give an answer to any question in his reply, adding that the final opportunity to file a reply was also deliberately missed

Rehabilitation of flood-hit population a huge challenge for Pakistan: PM

ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the rehabilitation of flood victims and the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure was a big challenge for a developing country like Pakistan

The prime minister expressed these views as he chaired a review meeting on the Resilient Pakistan Conference to be held in

Geneva next month

Shehbaz Sharif said hundreds of lives and billions of dollars had been lost this year due to flash floods in Pakistan He vowed to make every possible effort to accommodate the flood-struck population

At the climate change conference in Geneva, he said, the government would convey to the world the plight of Pakistan’s flood-hit people The proposals and detailed plan of action regarding the conference were

presented before the meeting

The meeting was informed that the participation of friendly countries as well as development partners and international financial institutions was also expected in the conference

The prime minister directed to finalize the action plan for the conference on a priority basis Federal Ministers including Ishaq Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Sherry Rehman, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Min-

of 2022

especially those that used the EFS considering LTFF and TERF are long term EFS borrowers primarily consist of exporters in the textile, rice, sugar, cement and leather sector As a result of the subsidies being pulled back, exports may decrease adding pressure on the already strained reserves How strained are the reserves?

pR OfIt REpORt

S h a h a b o m e R

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

Fertilizers Limited (EFERT), in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday,

ister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Special Assistants Syed Tariq Fatemi, Jahanzeb Khan, Syed Fahd Hussain and concerned senior officials were present PM briefed on preparations for Climate Resilient Pakistan Conference

Earlier Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and briefed him about the preparations for the upcoming Climate Resilient Pakistan conference

The international conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan will be co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations to be held in Geneva on January 9 2023

The prime minister and the federal minister discussed the matters pertaining to climate change The conference will bring together governments, leaders from the public and private sectors and civil society to support the people and the government of Pakistan after the devastating floods

LAHORE