Epaper_23-01-16 ISB

PTI, PML-Q PIck Three naMes for Punjab careTaker cM

g AHMAD NAWAZ SUKHERA, NASEER KHAN AND NASIR SAEED KHOSA AMONG CANDIDATES

LAHORE staff report

oUTGOINGPunjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Sunday announced that both the PTI and PML-Q had finalized three candidates – namely: Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, Naseer Ahmad Khan and Nasir Saeed Khosa as their picks for the Punjab caretaker chief minister.

Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was speaking to the media outside PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence after both the leaders held a consultative on the matter.

Sukhera is a serving bureaucrat, Khan is the former federal health minister and Khosa is a retired civil servant.

It is to be noted that Elahi had signed a summary to dissolve the Punjab Assembly. In a brief one-line advice addressed to Governor Balighur Rehman, Elahi said: “I Pervaiz Elahi, chief minister of Punjab, hereby, advise you to dissolve the provincial assembly.”

On Saturday, the provincial assembly automatically dissolved after Rehman refused to sign Elahi’s summary. Elahi announced the names on Sunday night, saying that the selections were made by

Imran himself.

He later also shared the names in a tweet, saying that the names would now be sent to Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman. He urged the opposition to “think with an open heart” and said that if it did, he could see consensus being reached.

During the media talk, Elahi was also asked whether the PML-Q was considering joining the PTI.

“We have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow. All our MPAs MNAs and party officeholders are coming for that and we will discuss [the matter] there,” he said.

“They (the PTI) have told us that ‘if you are absorbed into the party (PTI) then it will be good for you and the party’,” he said, adding that his son Moonis also felt the same.

He also said that the preparations for introducing a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were “100 per cent complete”. FawaD CH invites PML-n FOr COnsuLtatiOn : Earlier in the day, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry invited the PML-N to consultation on the caretaker set-up in Punjab following dissolution of the provincial assembly.

“We want the PML-N to come up to table for consultation with PTI to install a consensus caretaker set-up in Punjab”, he elaborated and noted that

PPP leading allegations tinted LG polls in Karachi, Hyderabad

KARACHI staff report

The PPP is leading the second phase of Sindh local body elections tinted by allegations of electoral irregularities, rigging low turnout, and an unusual delay in results from polling stations in Karachi.

Polling—which took place in 16 districts of Karachi and Hyderabad divisions in the second phase—began at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break.

As the vote count gained momentum, unofficial results started pouring in from several districts of Hyderabad division.

According to unofficial results, PPP appeared to have swept the polls in Hyderabad Division, emerging victorious on more than 726 seats. While 56 independent candidates secured seats in the division. Meanwhile, PTI bagged 50 while GDA could only manage 11 seats. JI and JUI-F claimed 10 and five seats respectively.

Taking to Twitter, PPP Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari said that his party had "swept" the local bodies elections in the province.

But, hours after the end of polling, results were still awaited from most districts in Karachi division, with reports of polling agents not receiving Forms 11 and 12 from presiding officers, and reporters complaining of being barred from covering the vote counting process.

Meanwhile, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami's Karachi chapter Hafiz Naeem ur Rahman threatened to stage sit-in protests if the results of the local body elections were not announced on time.

He claimed that some Deputy Commissioners working in favour of the PPP-led Sindh government were interfering in the process. He said that his party had not been provided the forms even after 10pm.

"If the forms are not provided in the next one hour and the ROs do not announce the results, there will be sit-ins across the city," he warned, adding that the party's would announce its strategy after consultation. Earlier, despite the demands of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the consecutive requests of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)led Sindh government to delay the polls, the local body elections were held as per the schedule.

Govt keeps POL prices unchanged to provide relief to masses: Dar

ISLAMABAD staff report

Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar here on Sunday said that the government has decided to keep the existing prices of petroleum products unchanged for next 15 days to facilitate the masses, particularly to provide relief to lower-income people during intense winters.

Addressing a press conference, the minister said that these prices would be applicable from January 16, 2023 and would remain in force for next 15 days to January 31, 2023.

He said that the decision for keeping the existing prices of petroleum products unchanged in local market was taken under the special directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to provide relief to common man, particularly the lower income groups and ensure provision of fuel at household level on affordable prices to meet the winter requirements.

The price of diesel will remain unchanged at current level and it would be available on existing price of Rs 227.80 per liter, petrol Rs 214.80 per liter, kerosene oil Rs 171.83 per liter and light diesel oil at Rs 169.00 per liter, he added.

Due to movements of petroleum prices in the international markets, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has recommended Rs 8.76 per liter increase in kerosene oil and Rs 7.73 per liter of light diesel oil. However, the government has decided again to keep the existing prices of other oil products unchanged.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Sunday strongly rejected speculative reports circulating in a section of the media about the shortage of petrol and diesel in the country.

g FAWAD CH INvITES PML-N FOR

CONSULTATION ON CARETAKER SET-UP IN

PUNJAB

his party will propose two names for the caretaker chief minister (CM). “If the opposition does not agree on the proposed names, the matter will be referred to the parliamentary committee and the election commission,” he added.

He further said that they would try to come up with a better name through consensus. Meanwhile, Fawad also said that party Chairman Imran Khan would not meet any defiant member, asking the latter to respond to the show cause notice to the

party secretariat.

A day earlier, the Punjab Assembly was dissolved as Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman excused himself from signing the summary, saying he could not become a part of the process, ARY News reported on Saturday.

Taking to Twitter, Governor Punjab wrote: “I have decided not to become part of the process leading to the dissolution of Punjab Assembly.”

Shujaat, Zardari diScuSS economic, Political Situation

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

PAKISTANMuslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q)

President Ch Shujaat Hussain visited Bilawal House here on Sunday night and called on Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman and former President Asif Ali Zardari. Both the leaders discussed several political issues including caretaker setup in

Punjab, political situation of the country and the general elections in Punjab.

On the occasion, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leadership was also contacted and was taken on board.

Ch Shujaat congratulated Zardari on victory of the PPP in the Sindh local bodies elections. The leaders expressed their consensus that economic situation of the country was in trouble and was facing severe challenges.They got agreed that it was responsibility of the leadership of the

joint efforts needed to steer country out of crises : ashrafi

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Representative to the Prime Minister for Interfaith Harmony and Middle Eastern Affairs

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has said that the country was facing economic challenges and collective efforts were needed to steer the country out of current challenging situation. Talking to the media after attending ‘Hazrat Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) Conference’ at Johat Town, he said that all stakeholders would have to come together and prepare a solid plan of action for betterment of the country. Ashrafi, who is also chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, said that religious leadership should also play its role for development and prosperity of the country. He said the political and religious leaders should end their differences and strengthen the national economy with joint struggle. “We should take constructive steps to bring the country on a par with the developed countries, beyond political and religious affiliation,” he said. It was easy to talk about the state of Madina but it was difficult to constitute a state on its pattern, he said and added that the nation should be educated about the system of ‘Khilafat-e-Rashidah’ and the measures taken for welfare of common people in that era. He said the Pakistan Ulema Council had decided that the virtues of Syedna Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) and the system of Khilafat-e-Rashidah and the state of Madina would be described in the Friday sermons across the country. He said that teachings of Syedna Siddique-e-Akbar (RA) should be promoted among the youth as it was a light for all Muslims.

Pti will clinch Sindh lG vote, says leader

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, a lawmaker of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), has claimed the opposition party will be successful in the local government elections taking place in the 16 districts of Sindh on Sunday. Cheema said the people of Sindh have rejected the hooliganism and blackmailing tactics of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). She also alleged that attempts at rigging were made but ultimately remained unsuccessful. On Twitter, Cheema also stated the Punjab Assembly had been dissolved and that general elections will take place within the next 90 days. She further added the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) cannot compete with the PTI in a political battle as their leader, Nawaz Sharif, is an absconder. Cheema opined that the future of Pakistan is now bright.

country to overcome the economic challenges as strong economy would ensure strong politics and democracy.

The meeting between Chaudhry Shujaat and Asif Ali Zardari continued for over an hour in which both senior politicians discussed the economic and political situation of the country.

The meeting was also attended by Chaudhry Shafay Hussain and Chaudhry Salik Hussain. The politicians also held discussions regarding the Punjab elections

and other political matters. They agreed on continuing joint efforts to cope with the economic challenges. They said that strengthening of economy will also empower politics and democracy in the country.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry has invited Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for consultation on Punjab caretaker set-up after the provincial assembly stood dissolved.

Rasheed accuses Zardari of settling old score with PML-N

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad alleged on Sunday that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari is settling old scores with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In a tweet, Ahmad also urged the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition to stop avoiding elections and instead face them head-on. He credited former prime minister Imran Khan for changing the country’s politics and predicted that the schedule for the next general elections will be announced by April 15.

He also criticised the finance minister, stating that people are withdrawing funds from foreign commercial accounts following a recent statement by Ishaq Dar, and predicts that there will be long queues for flour and banks will be closed.

The AML chief also said that the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) are old foes and urged the latter to quit the ruling alliance after

Work on Reko Diq project

initiated: CEO Barraik Gold

The aim of the event was to highlight the ownership and partnership of the people of Balochistan. On this occasion, Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and CEO Barrick Gold Mark Bristow signed the documents for the payment of 3 million dollars by the company to Balochistan as part of the agreement.

The amount will be transferred to the Balochistan government this month, while under the agreement; the payment of royalties from the company to Balochistan will also be started from March this year, along with the social and economic development of the company area.

Addressing the gathering, Mark Bristow said that, he was grateful for the welcome from his friend, the Chief Minister of Balochistan Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, and Assembly members.

“We are encouraged that this evening and this meeting are historic as we begin work on the project at the beginning of the new year.

In a statement, the former federal minister said that he wants Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to consult with his party on caretaker set-up in Punjab.

Fawad Chaudhry noted that his party will propose two names for the caretaker chief minister (CM). “If the opposition does no agree on the proposed names, the matter will be referred to the parliamentary committee and the election commission,” he added.He further said that they would try to come up with a better name through consensus.

KP residents risk lives by using plastic bags filled with natural gas

KARACHI anadolu agency

Local residents in a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have to put their lives at risk just to use natural gas to cook food at home. The Karak district in the province is known for its rich resources of natural gas and oil, but the government has yet to develop any proper infrastructure system to supply gas to local residents and surrounding areas. Local people have developed ad hoc methods such as extracting gas from a main supply line with a hose — instead of proper drilling — and then filling plastic bags like helium balloons to transport them from the field for use in home cooking. “We’re carrying gas in these plastic bags even though all of us are aware of the dangers of this method,” Hazrat Janan, a local resident, told Anadolu Agency. In the town of Banda Daud Shah, natural gas was discovered years ago but the government has not developed any system to provide gas to the surrounding region, thus forcing locals to use a risky method and put their lives in danger. The locals make a hole in the main line and put in a pipe and taking it some distance from where they fill the plastic bags themselves. The residents don’t measure the gas by cubic meters but with a plastic bag, filling locally made bags from here and there. At first glance, outsiders who see these balloons might imagine them to be children’s entertainment balloons but in reality, they are huge bags full of fuel for people to cook their dinner. “We use this gas with a pump connected to the stove, putting the bags next to the fire while cooking,” said Janan. He added that there have been many accidents with this volatile gas in which people got wounded or even died. “In one incident here in our village one person died and two women suffered burns. “We have our own natural gas but we can’t use it safely,” he lamented.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barrick Gold Corporation, Mark Bristow on Sunday said engineers of the company had arrived at Reko Diq field and they had started preliminary work while the recruitment process had also been started for the project.

He said this while speaking at a simple but impressive ceremony held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat after the signing of the Reko Diq agreement.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, CEO Barrick Gold Mark Bristow, Acting Speaker Balochistan Assembly Sardar Babar Khan MusaKhel, Opposition leader Malik Sikander advocate, Provincial ministers, Senator Manzoor Khan Kakar, Parliamentary leader and opposition members besides a team of experts working on Reko Diq project and provincial authorities attended the ceremony.

A confident dissolution

city noteS

If you were to ask me, the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly was inevitable after the vote of confidence. Ch Pervez Elahi, that canny politician, must have realized that he could not carry on with the majority he had, 186, which was the exact minimum he needed to retain office.

That meant a working majority of one, as 185 members can be presumed on the other side. It also showed that theoretical limits are all very well, but they don’t really work well in practice. I suppose that they are really meant for emergencies. Well, the present case was an emergency all right.

Well, Ch Pervez is only CM until a caretaker is appointed, but he can look back at his second tenure with some satisfaction. After all, he became CM even though his own party, the PML(Q) only had 10 members. That’s not much in a House of 371. And then to demonstrate his possession of the confidence of the majority by only one vote! He was previously CM between 2008 and 2013, but nothing he did was as brave, not even his promise to vote 1000 times for Pervez Musharraf as President in uniform.

Imran Khan is trying to take the credit, but the really bright guy was Bilawal. I think he was the one who first taunted Imran with keeping the Punjab and KP governments while demanding that the National Assembly be dissolved. Of

Mark Bristow said that Barrick Gold Corporation has established a project office in Quetta. “A team of experts has been chosen as this is a joint venture, so we are also representing local experts in our team,”

He noted that establishing a cordial and trusting relationship with the community and their welfare will be our top priority.

Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo on the occasion said the participation of the opposition leader in today’s ceremony was evident from the fact that government and opposition are on the same page regarding the Reko Diq agreement.

He said officials who brought the agreement to a successful conclusion had worked hard with sincerity. “We pray for the success of the parties involved in this project,” he concluded.

course, now there is the question of how to avoid arrest. Imran may be the victim of political persecution, or he may be a villain of the blackest hue deserving the fullest rigour of the law, but the fact is that he has nowhere to avoid arrest, except either Azad Kashmir or Gilgi Baltistan. Going there in the depths of winter is not the most pleasant prospect. Even if it’s feasible. Does it beat being arrested? Well, that’s something only Imran can decide.

Anyway, he could only avoid the risk of arrest so long as the Assemblies continued. They have to be dissolved in August, and then it’s between him and the caretaker governments. You know, I never realized it before, but caretaker governments could do what elected governments might be ducking. Like accountability.

That would probably fit in with a military provenance. Have you ever noticed how Martial Law rulers are very strong on accountability. Except Yahya.

Well, that makes a lot of sense, because that would have meant accountability of the preceding regime, that of Ayub Khan, and nobody wanted that, did they? Heck, even after Yahya was replaced by a civilian regime, and even though the Hamoodur Rehman Commission presented its report, there was no accountability of the loss of East Pakistan, and even the report was not published.

Instead, the Zia regime published a White Paper about Bhutto’s corruption. So the loss of half the country was somehow seen as less than the alleged embezzlement of a couple of jeeps (out of 150) gifted by the Shah of Iran, or the installing of some air-conditioners at AlMurta\za, Bhutto’s Larkana residence.

There’s been some progress, presumably because of corruption, what with the UAE not only rolling over a previous loan of $2 billion, but lending another $1 billion. That’s not just bravery

Fills in 20 minutes, lasts 2 or 3 hours: The natural gas is put into the bags through a small valve inserted into the mouth of the bags to prevent leakage. The other end of the bags is tied to a stone on the ground so they don’t take off like a helium balloon. A bag fills up in 20-25 minutes on average. An electric pump of Rs2,000 is sufficient to use the “bag gas” in their homes. Through this pump, they can cook food from bag gas in home stoves.

One bag of gas is enough for two to three hours of consumption. “We requested the government develop proper gas infrastructure in our area and protect our lives,” Janan said. Suhana Khattak, another resident of Karak, says locals know using these balloons is like putting explosives in their kitchens but there’s no other way to do it in a homemade way. “Men and women are bringing home these gas bags, but sometimes we’re even sending children to bring gas home in these plastic bags,” she said.

She added this is not safe and that people doing it fear that accidents could happen but again there is no other option right now.

but foolhardiness, and it’s also known as throwing good money after bad. Saudi Arabia has also agreed to give us $1 billion worth of oil products on tick. And they’re only doing so because Shehbaz is giving them a cut.

But Pakistan (sort of) avoiding default was not something that hurt. In fact, it made me happy. What hurt was the death of Lisa Marie Presley. At 54, she died young. But she was Elvis Presley’s only child. Someone who was old enough to remember his death. And then that of one of Lisa’s husbands, Michel Jackson, would also remember Majid Jehangir, one of the stars of Fifty Fifty, still one of the most innovative of all Tv programmes. He was most memorable as an elderly Memon. His partner was the great Ismail Tara. All the icons of the end of the 20h century are passing. The only person who refuses to admit that was a long time ago is Imran. But that is when he won the World Cup.

Ma niazi

Special

boycotting the second phase of the Sindh local government elections.

Ahmad further claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be asked to seek a vote of confidence from the National Assembly, while PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will not return.

QUETTA Staff RepoRt

Will Send Summary to Governor for KP aSSembly diSSolution on tueSday: KP cm

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

KHYBERPakthunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Sunday stated that he will send a summary on Tuesday to the governor for dissolution the provincial assembly.

Taking to his twitter handle on Sunday, the KP CM said the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) will be re-elected in the general

elections and form a government with a twothirds majority.

“As per directives issued by Imran Khan, the summary for dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be sent to the governor on Tuesday. Inshallah the PTI will return with a two-thirds majority,” he said.

Earlier, he said in his statement, “I have always said I am a humble worker of (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. I owe this office to him. I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute if he

asks me to dissolve the provincial assembly.” He mocked those who claimed he was in Lahore for consultations. “What is there to consult? How can I say ‘no’ to Imran Khan?” he questioned.

“The moment I get a nod from Imran Khan, the provincial assembly will cease to exist.” The move comes after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly as PTI Chairman Imran Khan inches closer to fulfilling his promise of disassociating from the “current corrupt political system”

by quitting the two assemblies.

On Saturday, the KP CM had reiterated that he wouldn’t hesitate for even a moment to dissolve the provincial assembly as and when he was instructed by Imran to do so.

“I have always said I am a humble worker of Imran Khan. I owe this office to him. I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute if he asks me to dissolve the provincial assembly,” he had said while addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected body of the Peshawar Press Club.

Karachi records coldest morning of winter season

KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Karachi residents woke up to the coldest morning of the season on Sunday, with the temperature dropping to a low of 6 degrees Celsius, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 6 degrees Celsius with 50 percent humidity in the air. However, weather analyst Jawad Memon reported the temperature in the northern parts of the city dropped to 4.5 degrees.

The lowest temperature in the city was recorded

Scci holds consultative session on enhancing export to china

PESHAWAR aziz BuneRi

The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) organized a consultative session titled: How to increase export to China,” here at chamber house. The meeting was presided over by SCCI Senior Vice President Shahid Hussain, while Vice President Ejaz Khan Afridi, member of executive committee Ms Qurtul Ain, former executive member Zahoor Khan, Vice Chairman, SCCI Standing Committee on Land Route Naeem ur Rehman, Coordinator of SCCI Research and Development Cell Ishtiaq Ali, and Research Officer Ms Sumaira, said in a press release issued here on Sunday. The main purpose of the meeting was to hold discussions on several proposals regarding the increase of exports to the People’s Republic of China. In this study meeting, it was discussed in light of a research of the possibility of enhancing export to China both through sea and land routes, especially through those provinces and areas proximity to Pakistan. During the discussion, it appeared that the seaport is quite far away, and instead through the seaport, export to China of Khyber Pakhtunkwha and Punjab manufacturing products through sost route is very feasible and appropriate. If a feasibility study would be prepared of various cities of KP and Punjab province in which comparative analysis regarding freights/fares, duration and expenses could be made so the export besides through seaport, would also be enhanced through land routes, the participants of the meeting said. In the meeting, it was also discussed about expenses, fares/freights and time consumption during export to China through seaport. Shahid Hussain told the meeting import from Afghanistan and re-export to China is being carried 100 per cent through seaport route, while meeting discussed the enhancement of export of essential items and products import from Afghanistan and re-export to China through land routes, he informed. The SCCI’s SVP viewed that employment opportunities would be generated with promotion of economic and trade activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Balistan and Hazara division. The meeting also discussed the enhancement of export with China through the sost border. The meeting noted that fares/freights, time and expenditures would be saved by export to China through land route along with seaport route. Shahid Hussain said SCCI will also hold a comparative analysis of the export through land routes, how much it would bring positive impacts on the country’s economy, exports, trade and businesses. On the occasion, the participants presented various proposals and suggestions and agreed that weekly review meetings will be held and minutes of the meetings will be shared with federal relevant ministries and departments concerned.

at Jinnah Terminal, with a mercury drop to 4.3 degrees.

According to PMD, the temperature was recorded at 8.5 degrees at the PAF Faisal base, 7.5 degrees at the Masroor base, and 4.5 degrees in the northern part of the city at night.

PMD also forecasted that the weather will remain dry and cold for the next 24 hours, with winds blowing from the northeast at speeds of 10-12 kilometres per hour. Memon predicted that the severe cold weather will continue until January 16.

PMD reported that Sindh is currently experiencing a spell of chilly weather due to a westerly system that

entered the province via Balochistan.

In its weekly weather outlook, PMD stated that cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country, with specific areas experiencing fog and snowfall throughout the week.

The citizens in Murree faced inconvenience as the water froze within the pipelines at the hill station, which is a popular tourist destination during winter. In Punjab, the M-2 motorway was closed for traffic from Lahore to Khanqah Dogran as fog blanketed different cities in the province. The motorway police closed traffic from Faizpur to Jaranwala and M-11 from Lahore to Sambaryal.

PTI, PML-Q pick three names for Punjab caretaker CM

COnTInUED fROM PAgE 01

“I would rather let the Constitution and law take its own course. Doing so will not hamper any legal process as Constitution clearly provides a way forward,” Baligh ur Rehman wrote.

The development came after Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi obtained vote of confidence from Punjab Assembly during a special session of the provincial assembly in the wee hours of Thursday. Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan chaired the session in which PTI leader and Member Punjab Assembly Mian Aslam Iqbal tabled a resolution expressing confidence in the Chief Minister.

As per details, 186 members of ruling coalition reposed confidence in leadership of Chief Minister while opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) boycotted the session.

FulFilleD Commitment: Earlier today, Elahi said on Sunday that his party “fulfilled its commitment” to Imran by dissolving the provincial assembly despite conflicting statements by people in the “opposite camp” as he revealed the PTI offered his son Moonis the presidency.

In a press conference in Lahore, the former chief minister said that it was initially said that PML-Q would back out of dissolving the assembly.

“But we assured Imran that this was our commitment to him and we stood by it. They offered to give Moonis (Parvez’s son) the presidency but we refused because we didn’t want it to look like this was a trade.

“I told them we will look at these things later. There was no trade […] we did this (dissolve the assemblies) because we trust Imran and know that he is capable of leading the country,” he asserted.

Elahi went on to say during the upcoming polls, the PML-N would be hiding its face because it had been “completely exposed now”.

“This is the reason Nawaz has refused to return to Pakistan,” he said, adding that the PML-N supremo had realised that his party would be defeated.

“I stand by Imran’s statement […] We took a vote of confidence, now it is time for Shehbaz to take a vote of confidence,” the PML-Q leader said, referring to the PTI chief’s statement last night in which he had said that the prime minister will be “tested” through a confidence vote in a tit-for-tat move similar to the one he himself had faced as the premier in April.

Continuing, Elahi stated that when Shehbaz would have to undertake a confidence vote, cracks would appear in the coalition government.

“And you will see […] it will fall and then won’t ever be able to get back up.”

Punjab assembly Dissolution: Earlier, hours after taking vote of confidence of a majority of lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi formally advised the governor to dissolve the provincial legislature on Thursday. The move had capped weeks of speculation, legal wrangling and a public spectacle of the differences between the ruling allies in Punjab — the PTI and PMLQ — over whether the assembly would be disbanded or not.

Pm, President express grief over loss of lives in plane crash in nepal

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has expressed deep sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives in the plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal. In a statement, he said in this difficult and sad time, our sympathies and prayers are with the government of Nepal, the affected families and the people of Nepal. “May Allah grant the bereaved the courage to endure this trauma with patience and perseverance,” he added. On the other hand, President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday expressed his deepest condolences over the sad loss of precious lives in a plane crash in Pokhra, Nepal. The President conveyed his prayers for the families of the victims who lost their lives in the tragic incident and prayed to Allah Almighty to grant them the strength and the courage to bear this loss with patience and fortitude.

Govt keeps Pol prices unchanged to provide relief to masses: dar

COnTInUED fROM PAgE 01

“Sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel are available across the country,” OGRS spokesman Imran Ghaznavi said in a press statement. He clarified that useable stocks of petrol and diesel were good enough for 17 and 32 days respectively, while more cargoes carrying 80,000 MT (Metric Ton) of petrol-(Motor Spirit Oil) and 90,000 MT HSD (High-Speed Diesel) were at berth/outer anchorage. He said local refineries were also operational and playing their due role in meeting the demand for petroleum products.

PPP leading allegations tinted LG polls in Karachi, Hyderabad

COnTInUED fROM PAgE 01

Despite the demands of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the consecutive requests of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Sindh government to delay the polls, the local body elections were held as per the schedule.

Despite delaying tactics and uncertainty swirling over the holding of the final phase of the local government elections for over two years, the polling was finally held. However, the MQM-Pone of the most popular political parties in the two cities - boycotted the elections.

Yesterday, there had also been a delay in the distribution of polling materials from the dispatch centres established in all the districts of the city. However, ballot boxes, ballot paper, ink and other supplies were distributed by the evening.

Polling: Due to the deaths of 23 candidates and the election of six candidates unopposed in seven districts of Karachi, polling was held on 1,200 out of the 1,230 seats of chairman, vice chairman and ward member.

Additionally, 410 candidates were elected unopposed in the Hyderabad division, 310 in the Thatta division, and 27 candidates had died. A total of 17,862 candidates are competing against each

other out of which 9,057 are from Karachi, 6,228 from Hyderabad and 2,577 from Thatta division.

There are over four million voters in Karachi, for whom 4,990 polling stations were built. Of these 3,415 were sensitive, 1,496 were highly sensitive and 79 were declared normal. The seven districts of Karachi Division were divided into 25 towns. District Central is the largest district with five towns and 45 union committees, where the number of registered votes is over two million.

District East is the second largest district with five towns and 43 union committees and about 1.4 million voters.

Four towns and 37 union committees were formed in Korangi where there were over 1.4 million voters. The West District consists of three towns and 33 union committees where about 0.9 million voters are registered.

There are three towns and 32 union committees in the Kemari district where the number of registered voters is 844,851. Similarly, the Malir district has three towns and 30 union committees with 743,205 voters, while the South district has two towns and 26 union committees with 995,54 voters. According to the data, there are 1,040 candidates in Malir, 1,450 in Korangi, 1,579 in East, 876 in South,

1,144 in West, 1,781 in Central and 1,258 in Kemari district.

irregularities in KaraChi:

The ruling PPP filed a complaint with the ECP regarding candidates interfering in the electoral process.

The complaint stated that in Kemari District, Maripur Town, Machar Colony, UC-6, about four polling stations are overcrowded, the polling process is slow and the candidates are disturbing the polling staff in performing duties.

The PPP requested the commission to conduct a “timely investigation” into the matter in order to “ensure free and fair elections”. According to reports, PPP leader Salman Murad attempted to enter polling station number 202 and 203 in the metropolis. The polling staff asked Murad to leave the station, however, despite their resistance, the PPP leader forcefully entered the station. Shortly after, PTI workers gathered outside the polling station and the police arrived in large numbers.

Moreover, the PPP also filed a complaint with the electoral watchdog against PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi for allegedly attempting to break the seal of ballot boxes in Tehsil Municiap Committee Jinnah.

seCurity measures: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) put strict

security measures in place at all polling stations. “We have deployed 43,600 cops for election duties,” said Karachi Police chief Jawaid Alam Odho, adding that only 79 polling stations were normal. He mentioned that 500 Rangers personnel will also be deployed at various locations.

CCTV cameras were also installed at sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations and a control room was set up for monitoring. The central control room has been established for three days and will continue to function uninterrupted until the results of Sindh’s LG polls are announced. It will also issue immediate orders in case of complaints.

The electoral watchdog stated that “no interference will be tolerated during polling”, adding that “immediate action will be taken against the violators”.

mQm-P boyCotts Polls: In a latenight development on Saturday, the MQM-P announced boycotting the local government elections in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Thatta divisions scheduled to be held today. “Our reservations over the delimitation of local government constituencies have not been addressed despite several assurances from the provincial government,” MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said while addressing a news conference after attending a major huddle at the party’s Bahadurabad headquarter.

55pC work at new Gwadar airport

Completed, test fliGht in 60-day: Gda

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

nEWGwadar International Airport (NGIA) has met its fresh completion benchmark as more than 55 percent multi-tier works have finally been accomplished in stipulated time, promising its first test flight within 60 days, Gwadar Pro reported it on Sunday.

The Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) official told Gwadar Pro that the construction of NGIA costing Rs51.284 billion is going to be further expedited in the backdrop of the fresh push of government as well as harmonization of all stakeholders including Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Meanwhile progression on the installation of state-of-the-art security features, an integral part of NGIA is moving into high gear with the installation of 39 hold or hand baggage scanning machines. The scope of work includes procurement/installation of Dual

Additionally, NGIA will also be regularly inspected by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other security agencies like European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure that required security standards are being implemented.

The reliability factor regarding screening of passengers will enhance

after the installation of new machines.

This will increase the confidence of airline operators regarding the security of passengers & baggage handling systems.

Safe airport will encourage foreign airlines to start operations to/from Gwadar and would generate economic activity to benefit CAA and Gwadar.

Besides, the pace of the entire scope of work of NGIA involves civil work, structural work, mechanical work, engineering work, and communication.

As per detail, with the joint effort of

professional teams of CCCC and CAA, the fencing around NGIA was completed. The rest of work regarding construction of ATC tower, runway, apron, taxiway, operational building, complex registration office, water supply system, PTCL fiber optic, desalination plant, grid station and security system have picked maximum acceleration.

Primarily NGIA spreading over across an area of 4,300 acres will welcome the entire load of national and international passengers. In the second phase, after the cargo complex is built, it will come up with a new capacity to handle multiple cargo stuff.

It will be the biggest in Pakistan and will also become the nation’s second airport. It will have the capacity to accommodate narrow-body aircraft such as ATR 72 and Boeing B-737, as well as wide-body aircraft such as Airbus A-380 and Boeing B-747 for domestic and international routes. The airport will be operated under the open sky policy and will be developed under the guidance of CAA.

Police carry out flag-march in Wana to create sense of security

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN Staff RepoRt

The police force held flag march in Subdivision Wana on Sunday aimed at maintaining law and order situation in the area.

According to the vision of Regional Police Officer Dera Ismail Khan Muhammad Saleem Marwat, the flag march was led by South Waziristan District Police officer (DPO) Shabbir Hussain Shah and SP Investigation Fazal Subhan.

The flag march, participated by police from all the police stations, was started from Police Line Wana and culminated at the same point after passing through Main Bazaar and various high-

ways.

Speaking on this occasion, the DPO said the confidence of the masses in the police force would be increased through this march that the police were there with high morale, full enthusiasm and full preparation for their protection. He expressed the commitment to fulfill the responsibilities with honesty in any case. He said the South Waziristan Police was a public friendly force and it was the department’s commitment to respect the people and help them.

The people of the area appreciated the district police for holding flag march, saying, it had boosted their morale. It proved that our police are present among us with full spirit.

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

At least 200 devotees from Pakistan are expected to attend the 719th annual Urs of Hazrat Amir Khusrau (RA) to be held from May 4 to 11, 2023 in New Delhi, India.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Muhammad Umar Butt told APP that this year the ministry received 989 applications, against the capacity of 200

people.

He said that Additional Secretary, Religious Affairs, Syed Atta-ur-Rehman conducted the computerized balloting on Tuesday in the committee room of the ministry.

He said all applicants could check their status on the official website of the ministry www.mora.gov.pk.

“Last year, 110 pilgrims attended the Urs of Hazrat Amir Khusrau and laid the traditional

Capital’s air quality remains unhealthy

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The federal capital’s air quality on Sunday was reported unhealthy despite light rain jeopardizing health of vulnerable age groups comprising children, women and the elderly people at risk of contracting respiratory ailments. Air pollution in the metropolis remained high since the onset of the fall season as prolonged dry weather, increased vehicular traffic, garbage and wood burning continued to surge.

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PakEPA) daily air quality report indicated a heightened ratio of air pollutants, recorded above permissible limits, and the air quality was unhealthy. The Agency is responsible to ensure the protection of the environment under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997.

The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which was a hazardous atmospheric contaminant, remained beyond 62 micro grammes per cubic meter on average which was higher than the NEQS of 35 mic-programmes per cubic meter and denoted the air quality unhealthily. PM2.5 is generated through the combustion of an engine, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material and dust blown up by fast-moving cars plying on non-cemented patches of the roads.

The EPA officials claimed that the vehicular emissions due to increased automobiles was one of the leading cause of bad air quality. The industrial emissions were already subsided due to carbonabsorbing advance technology installed at various steel manufacturing units.

Senior Pulmonologist at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Dr Zia Ul Haq told APP that the dry and cold air at different phases due to increased exposure of an individual in the outdoors caused breaches in the lining of the respiratory tract which used to lead to an infection and also damage the normal secretions taking place inside the breathing organs causing respiratory ailments.

He said the pulmonologists usually advise the elderly above 50 years of age or patients of chronic heart, kidney, and lung diseases to get the flu vaccine during the peak winter season to avoid respiratory diseases.

The senior pulmonologists said the people were also advised to avoid unnecessary prolonged outdoor visits during the morning and evening timings of cold weather whereas in case of any visit they should properly cover their eyes, and face by wearing face masks and coverings.

Moreover, he also directed the masses to ensure the intake of warm fluids as necessary beverages like warm water and hot tea etc. to control damage to the respiratory tract amid bad weather and air quality.

‘chaadar’ on behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan, besides offering prayers for the development and prosperity of the country”, he said.

The Pakistani group was greeted at the mausoleum by Sajjadah Nasheen Dewan Tahir Nizami along with other members of the Dargah Committee on the occasion, Umar said.

Hazrat Amir Khusro (RA), a spiritual disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, is famous for his

love for humanity, as a means of realizing love with the Creator and has ardent followers all across South Asia, including Pakistan. The devotees turn up in huge numbers from all over the world, each year, on the occasion of his annual Urs.

The visit of Pakistani pilgrims is covered under the framework of the 1974 India-Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines. No visits could take place in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus restrictions.

Lianhua

Chinese patent medicine are being listed in Pakistan promoting intensive collaboration, China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

Lianhua Qingwen capsules, a Chinese patent medicine owned by Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has obtained permission to be listed in Pakistan.

This is the third Chinese patent medicine to be marketed in Pakistan after Tai Ji Huoxiang Zhengqi oral liquid and Jian Zhi syrup were licensed for sale and use in Pakistan.

As a representative drug for the treatment of infectious diseases of respiratory system viruses, Lianhua Qingwen capsules have been included in the diagnosis and treatment protocols or guidelines for infectious public health events such as influenza A, influenza B and COVID-19 issued by China’s National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine for more than 30 times, and has shown unique value in the prevention and control of the epidemic worldwide.

The launch of Lianhua Qingwen in Pakistan is another overseas marketing license, following registration approval or import licenses in nearly 30 countries and regions including Canada, Thailand and Singapore.

Even the sale and use of Lianhua Qingwen in Pakistan has played a role in the country’s fight against the pandemic. In the future, China-Pakistan medicine collaboration can be expanded to the treatment of common cold, various pathogens, hyperglycemia, hypertension, etc.”

Cao

of

International,

(CEN)

Tang Yunxia(also known as Donna Tang) from TAHOTA Law firm in China highlighted that “we can use these similar cases to help Chinese investors in the pharmaceutical industry invest in Pakistan, improve the local capacity to produce medicines, and also export to Middle Eastern countries.”

View/Computed Tomography (CT) Hold & Hand Baggage Scanning Machines at NGIA by CAA.

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Qingwen capsules distributor, Pakistan Huazhilong International Trading Company and Tai He Tai Law Firm worked together for 31 months to apply for the listing approval number from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. The application process was a major success for the company team and the Chinese law firm.

Wei, CEO

Huazhilong

said in a recent interview with China Economic Net

that “listing in Pakistan is of great significance to the internationalization of Lianhua Qingwen and other Chinese patent medicine.

PUNjAb ASSEmbly diSSolUTioN NEGATES dEmoCrATiC

PArliAmENTAry NormS: ikHTiAr WAli

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

NOTWITHSTANDINGwith the mounting pressure of the PTI leadership, former Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi’s irrational act to dissolve Punjab Assembly despite friendly Opposition has widely been criticized by political leaders and experts, who considered it negation of democratic principles and parliamentary norms besides sanctity of votes in the country.

“The premature dissolution of Punjab Assembly has shattered the confidence of people of Punjab, who are ready to make all those political parties and leaders involved in this illogical act accountable for their ir-

rational actions in the upcoming election,” said Ikhtiar Wali Khan, PML-N spokesman KP and Member Provincial Assembly while talking to APP on Sunday.

“Being the students of political science, we all knew that democracy derived strength from the power of people, who had a strong say in policies and decision-making of the governments while accepting each other’s criticism with open heart for bringing about improvement in the system and address peoples problems at their doorsteps rather dissolve assemblies prematurely,” he said.

He said early dissolution of Punjab Assembly has signified political intolerance in PTI leadership as well as in its allied parties and people of the largest province would take revenge from them in the upcoming election.

Ikhtiar Wali said that Punjab Governor did not become part of the premature dissolution of Punjab Assembly and PTI should now get ready of people wrath in the country’s largest province.

“The people knew that how the mandate of Pakistan’s biggest province was stolen from the PML-N in the 2018 election,” he said, adding that his party would regain its mandate by winning Punjab Assembly elections with two-third majority.

Professor Dr A.H. Hilali, former Chairman, Political Science Department, University of Peshawar said in democracies, people elect their representatives to govern them through a parliamentary form of government for five years and take decisions for their well-being rather wait for long time due to

chain mechanism.

Gwadar port receives another DAP fertilizer vessel under APTTA

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Gwadar Port, being operated under the flagship China Economic Corridor (CPEC), has received another bulk vessel of DAP fertilizer under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, and will discharge approximately 28,000 metric tons.

An official of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives told APP that the DAP fertilizer received on the port would be transported via Chaman and Torkham.

The official added that entire East Bay Express Way in the port city had been filled with trucks waiting to enter the Gwadar Port. The port has also started receiving government imports of bulk cargoes as three consecutive vessels carrying 90,000 MT of urea have already arrived at the port and

clocked the fastest discharge rate.

This was made possible due to the efforts of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, Gwadar Port Authority (GPA), Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and Pakistan Customs, the official added.

These bulk cargoes were discharged and after bagging at the port, will be transported from Gwadar to other destinations in Pakistan. Next month, the Gwadar Port will start handling 450,000 MT of TCP wheat.

The TCP on behalf of the government decided to handle the import of urea and wheat through Gwadar Port. This movement will ease the huge congestion at other ports of Pakistan due to the high traffic of vessels carrying bulk cargoes, which results in delaying the operation and transportation of shipments; thus, disturbing the entire supply

premature disolution of the assemblies.

He said people of Punjab would economically suffer due to issues related to upcoming budget after disolution of the Punjab Assembly. He said democracy was more than just a set of government institutions as it largely depends on political tolerance, values, mindset, practices and norms inevitable for socioeconomic growth and human development.

Dr Hilali said many forms of governments including monarchy, aristocracy, colonialism and dictatorship were practiced in the world but all these systems were gradually replaced following the introduction of democratic form of government in ancient Greece.

The notion of democracy is basically stemmed after the treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Import of these government cargoes offers substantial benefits to locals and will generate various economic activities and employment opportunities for locals in terms of 100% shipping agencies services by locals.

Gwadar Port is the industrial nerve center of Gwadar Free Zone and offers substantial economic benefits to importers in terms of highly efficient operations, advanced cargo handling, vast storage areas for all types of cargo, extensive ancillary facilities, and faster turnaround time and delivery. The port due to its unique geographical position makes it a fast-economical link between land-locked Central Asian states and the rest of the country.

Gwadar port and Freezone are all set to become the hub of international trade which will help the country earn much-needed foreign exchange in the near future, which is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to promote regional economic integration.

A sizable share to import of wheat and urea at Gwadar Port will play a vital role to operationalize and also generate business opportunities both in Gwadar and along CPEC highways, which is very essential for the uplift of Balochistan.

Cold wave to grip most parts of country: PMD

US airline honors Pak origin employee over punctuality to duty during last 35 years

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

A US airline has honored a Pakistan origin employee by inscribing his name on the aeroplane as reward for his punctuality to duty during the last 35 years of service. Muhammad Zaheen, who belongs to Peshawar city, has now a days been inscribed on an aeroplane of United Air Line as a reward of his dedication and punctuality to duty. Selection of Muhammad Zaheen has been made from among 85,000 employees of the Airline and is considered as an honor for whole Pakistani community and dwellers of Peshawar city. The Airline made two offers including cash gift card of US$10,000 and a paid two weeks vacation trip around the world along with wife to Muhammad Zaheen as reward of his record dedication to duty, but he avoided both the offers and made a request for inscription of his name on the aeroplane. “My forename is `Muhammad’ and I wanted to see the name of our Prophet (PBUH) flying high in skies and coming into the notice of people traveling in the plane,” Zaheen told APP. It was a difficult decision for the company because in the history of United Airlines, never any employee’s name is written on the plane, but my CEO finally agreed with my request, he added. Muhammad Zaheen who is currently on visit to his ancestral city Peshawar apprised APP that he migrated to USA in 1986 and is serving in United Airlines for the last 35 years. During the last 35 years of services, I have never been late to office and not availed any leave even the medical, Zaheen told APP. He said he also wanted to portray a good image of Pakistan as people will ask over reading the name on plane and will be informed that the person belongs to Pakistan and is awarded for his punctuality to duty, Zaheen explained. He said his mother used to wake up her children for Fajar prayers and this made his habit of waking up early in the morning and helped me in performing duty on time. Furthermore, he continued, his company honored him every year by awarding him which instilled in him encouragement to work more and with more dedication and perfection.

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Cold wave will continue gripping most parts of the country during the next 24 hours as per Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecast. Mainly cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country, while very cold in Balochistan, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

According to the synoptic situation, continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country.

Frost is likely to occur over plain areas of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Sindh, Potohar region and Kashmir during morning hours.

Windy weather conditions are also likely in plain areas. During the last 24 hours, very cold and dry weather prevailed over most parts of the country.

The lowest temperatures recorded during the period were Leh-15 C, Kalam -14, Ziarat -11, Kalat -10, Astore, Gupis, Nokkundi, Quetta, -09, Dalbandin -08, Skardu, Hunza, Malamjabba, Parachinar -06, Zhob, Bagrote -05, Rawalakot, Dir and Gilgit -04 C. Khunjerab Pass to remain open on Jan 17, 18

The Pakistan-China border point Khunjerab

Pass will remain temporarily open on January 1718, 30 and February 10, 2023.

According to the press release issued by the Information Department GB on Sunday, the decision was made for the transportation of heavy machinery for the construction of the Diamar Bhasha Dam through the Khunjarab border on January 17-18.

The border will also remain open from January 30-February 10, 2023 for the transportation of stranded trade goods in China, it said.

and it became socially more favorable after the French Revolution in 1789, he said, adding that political philosophers like Rousseau also advocated about democracy as the most justifiable form of government to address the people’s issues based on political tolerance and acceptability of each others’ mandates.

NSTP launches rising starts Startup Competition for minorities, women

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

January 15 (Sunday) was the last day for the minorities and women having innovative business ideas to take part in the Rising Stars Startup Competition by submitting a three-minute video. The Rising Stars Startup Competition was launched by the National Science and Technology Park (NSTP) in collaboration with U.S. Embassy Pakistan for minorities and women. According to the NSTP, the programme will run for nine months where the participants will get a chance to network and get training from industry experts. Draper University has been on-board as the knowledge partner of the programme and Pak Mission Society as the outreach partner. The winner will be awarded the Rising Star Award of PKR 1,000,000 while the second and third winners will be given PKR 600,000 and PKR 400,000 respectively. Other awards include those for the Best Female team, the Regional Winner and the all Special Recognition Award for the team with the most outstanding idea. Women and ethnic or religious minorities aged 18 years and above having minimum qualification of Intermediate were eligible to three-minute video describing their business idea to Whatsapp number:0345-3351939.

FGEHA to launch residential projects in eight cities

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) will shortly start new residential projects in eight major cities of the country to provide housing to government employees and general public. “The authority has already received several applications from land owners, companies and firms interested in the mega projects,” sources in the FGEHA told APP. They said the applications were invited from land owners, developers, firms and eligible individuals for the supply of land for housing schemes (plots, houses and apartments) projects in major cities of the country. The procedure for applications and selection was being followed as per Joint Venture Regulations 2020, they added. They said the authority was planning to launch new residential projects in eight major cities of the country, including the twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Other cities are Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi. “The new housing projects will be started for federal government employees and the general public on the basis of a joint venture,” they added. To a question, they said the pace of different development projects, being executed under the FGEHA, had been accelerated significantly to provide modern residential facilities to employees in the shortest possible time. “There are 3,432 apartments in Chaklala Scheme, while the Skyline Apartments comprise a total of 3,945 units,” they added.

Int’l workshop: ‘Defining Research, Innovation Strategy for Excellence’ in Feb

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

COMSTECH-the OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation has planned to arrange an international workshop on “Defining Research and Innovation Strategy for Excellence” next month in February.

According to an official of COMSTECH, the workshop, scheduled to be held from February 20-24, is being arranged in collaboration with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU).

The workshop, to be held at Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), will be designed to address the interest of university management, research scholars, officials and policymakers, enforcement officers, in universities of Least Developed Countries of the OIC.

The workshop is aimed at identifying core competen-

cies and focus areas within Research and Innovation framework, that aligns the university research and innovation portfolio with national needs and global challenges.

The objectives also include promoting entrepreneurial activities by leveraging upon the university research base, to find innovative, low-cost, indigenous solutions to diverse societal challenges and transfer technologies and innovations through prolific collaborations with public and private enterprises –technology diffusion.

Resource persons from the National University of Science and Technology, (NUST) will deliver lectures and share experiences on how to improve the quality of research by investing in its human resources, creating an environment conducive to research, and fostering applied research and innovation in academic institutes.

NUST has become an example to follow for evolving its education, research, and innovation ecosystem.

NUST worked diligently in developing contempo-

rary facilities, academic curricula, international linkages, competent faculty, and nurturing talents for the nation. NUST has formulated its Research and Innovation Excellence Strategy (RISE) 2025 as its fiveyear strategic initiative that will build upon the momentum gained during the last three decades and is chalked out by horizontal-vertical partitioning of different components of the ecosystem – education, research, and innovation.

NUST Research and Innovation Strategies for Excellence – NUST RISE 2025, will help in building its achievements and propel NUST to reach new heights in service to the nation, global community, and meeting diverse challenges for humanity.

About the registration, the official informed that the physical participation is limited only to Africa through the web link: https://forms.gle/zsoZDsoiTezVLe37A while the virtual participation will be through https://forms.gle/1zF9fNQBTmWa5vFL9.

Loose talk

How does the idea of an interim set-up flow from the Punjab Dissolution

THe dissolution of the Punjab Assembly has not even caused the dissolution of the KP assembly so far, but it has already caused the sort of panic in Islamabad that it was supposed to, and there is some evidence that, the ruling PDM coalition, especially the PML(N) is leaning towards the idea of a ‘technocratic government.’ Its keeping petroleum product prices steady for the next fortnight indicates that it is not willing to take the sort of steps that the IMF requires it to, before it releases the next tranche of the eSF package. It seems as if the PML(N) is not willing to expend any more political capital, especially not before the coming election in at least the Punjab, and is tired of taking the difficult decisions that cost it popularity. Voices within it are saying that unpopular, inflationary, vote-repelling decisions are best made by a technocratic government.

The technocratic government idea is not a good one, because it has never worked. It has been tried often enough, by martial law governments, and by the previous government in the shape of an army of PM’s advisers and SAPMs, all of whom were advertised as the best thing since sliced bread. It merely provides an opportunity for a deviation from the Constitution. It was tried in Bangladesh, in 2007, when polls were postponed. This was an attempt to break free from politics which seemed monopolized by the Awami League and the BNP, but the result was disappointing, as these two parties came back in the elections in December 2008. The Awami League has ruled since, with questions being raised about subsequent elections. The only person who benefited was economist Fakhruddin Ahmed, who headed the government at this time. He was about as technocratic as they come, complete with a doctorate from Princeton.

There should be no attempt to avoid elections, no matter how unpleasant the results are expected to be. Some PML(N) figures may look to a technocratic set-up to take the decisions it would prefer not to, and to put off the PTI victory that they fear, but ultimately, it should be realized, only an elected government can negotiate the crisis the country faces. A ‘technocratic government’ also suffers the disadvantage of the universal condemnation it has attracted across the political spectrum, and is unlikely to command even the limited authority it had in Bangladesh over a decade ago.

ONe message that is coming out of both the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank is that the world is still to recover in any sustainable way from serious economic challenges. A still-continuing Covid-19 pandemic– although significantly less intense than its variants during the first two years– aggregate supply shock, a fast-unfolding climate change crisis, and lack of any meaningful multilateralism have been some of the main reasons for the delay in both global economic recovery, and putting it on much-needed resilient, inclusive, and sustainable path, especially for those in the global South, who during all this time were denied vaccine justice, a meaningful debt moratorium/relief effort, and any significant level of provision of climate finance.

Hence, World Bank in its January 2023 published ‘Global economic Prospects’ (GeP) report highlighted the difficult economic outlook for the current year, and the main challenges as ‘Global growth is expected to decelerate sharply to 1.7 percent in 2023–the third weakest pace of growth in nearly three decades, overshadowed only by the global recessions caused by the pandemic and the global financial crisis. This is 1.3 percentage points below previous forecasts, reflecting synchronous policy tightening aimed at containing very high inflation, worsening financial conditions, and continued disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.’ In the particular case of Pakistan, economic outlook remains very difficult, with economic growth rate for fiscal year (FY) 2022/23 forecast at only 2 percent, and which becomes only

A very challenging global economic outlook

slightly better, as per the forecasted number, in FY2023/24 at 3.2 percent.

Moreover, a recent The Financial Times article ‘The threat of a lost decade in development’ by Martin Wolf, highlighted the report to be indicative of global economic challenges being particularly worrisome for developing countries, and if not properly dealt with, could mean ‘lost decades’ for a number of ‘vulnerable places. He pointed out in this regard ‘The shocks of the past three years have hit all countries, but they have hit emerging and developing countries particularly hard.As a result, according to Global economic Prospects 2023, just out from the World Bank, the convergence of average incomes between poor and rich countries has stalled. Worse, it might not soon return, given the damage already done and likely to persist in the years ahead. …An obvious danger now is that of waves of defaults in over-indebted developing countries.Taken together, these shocks will cause long-lasting effects, perhaps lost decades, in many vulnerable places.’

Hence, given the gravity of the economic challenges at hand, it is important that a mission-oriented, purpose-driven, effort is launched at the global level that deals with both the neoliberal assault, and climate change crisis, so that the global economy is put on a much-needed strong footing; something that was missing when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. As can be seen from the GeP report, economic growth for most of the countries across the global North and South went into the negative zone in 2020– the year the pandemic was declared– and even after nearly three years into the pandemic, the global economic outlook still remains extremely difficult; not to mention deep weaknesses of global supply chains, deeply ill-prepared public health sectors, and serious lack of climate change related disaster preparedness that the pandemic brought to the fore.

Similarly, IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, also raised serious concerns at the global economic outlook, as pointed out by a recent FT published article ‘Recession will hit a third of the world

Hence, given the gravity of the economic challenges at hand, it is important that a mission-oriented, purpose-driven, effort is launched at the global level that deals with both the neoliberal assault, and climate change crisis, so that the global economy is put on a much-needed strong footing; something that was missing when the Covid-19 pandemic

In the line of fire

prove that as far as his downfall from power is concerned. The interesting thing is that he himself negates his propagated narrative after some time.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan has no match as far as conjuring up false narratives and propagating them with unrivaled consistency is concerned. His entire politics is premised on the philosophy that one should speak lies with such consistency and intensity that people start believing in their legitimacy. Who in the country is not aware of his narrative of 35 punctures on which based his agitation against the government and when the judicial commission as a result of inquiry into alleged rigging repudiated his claim, he admitted in an interview with a private TV channel that it was only a political talk. Somebody had told him about it.

Since his ouster from power through a constitutional process he has been hurling unsubstantiated allegations against state institutions including establishment, particularly targeting his benefactor, former COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, whom he holds responsible not only for his removal from power but also the current state of affairs in the country. He however has not come up with any undeniable or circumstantial evidence to

He concocted a conspiracy theory against his government by the PDM with the help of the USA and establishment, which was based on a cipher message sent by our ambassador to the USA. In more than 70 public rallies across the country he tried to sell this narrative. However in the end he withdrew from his rhetoric regarding involvement of the USA andestablishment in the much-trumpeted conspiracy against his government. He stated that if the establishment was not involved in removing him it at least could have stopped the impending eventuality. Yet another statement, that he had sent Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen to General Bajwa six month before the no-confidence move to urge upon him the desirability of stopping the PDM from going ahead with its no-confidence move, contending that the change would destroy whatever had been achieved in the domain of economy, also falsifies his conspiracy theory which he invented later on.

However when he came under criticism by media and the intellectual circles for his somersault on the issue, he reverted to the old narrative in regards to the role of the establishment in his down-fall. He is now relentlessly pressing the narrative of political engineering by the establishment irrespective of the fact that it has repeatedly announced to remain apolitical which it proved during the no-confidence motion by not taking sides and the reiteration by the new COAS to this effect.

Addressing a women workers convention in Karachi via video link Imran Khan remarked “I fear that unfortunately, our establishment has not learnt from the past. Today we are seeing political engineering being carried out. The merger of MQM factions and BAP members from Balochistan joining PPP testifies to this reality. Similar efforts are afoot to bring PML into power in Pun-

jab while a different game is being played in KPK in order to weaken PTI. Look at the past and see how much Pakistan has lost out on because of the establishment’s political engineering. We have seen long-term disasters for short-term gains because of this.” He also reiterated the stance of his party for immediate elections to winch the country out of the quagmire that it is stuck in.

this year. IMF chief warns’ as follows: ‘A third of the global economy will be hit by recession this year, the head of the IMF has said, as she warnedthat the world faces a “tougher” year in 2023 than the previous 12 months. The US, eU and China are all slowing simultaneously, said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva. …Her comments suggest theIMFis likely to soon cut its economic forecasts for 2023 again; it usually publishes updated projections during the World economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which takes place later this month.’

Moreover, noted credit rating agency ‘Fitch Solutions’ in its November 2022 published article ‘Fitch Solutions global macro key themes for 2023’ pointed out ‘We expect that global real GDP growth will slow from 3.1 percent in 2022 to 2.0 percent in 2023. Other than the pandemic in 2020, this would mark the slowest pace of growth since the Global Financial Crisis. Developed markets will be hit hard, with a painful recession in the eurozone as well as a light and short recession in the US. …While leading indicators such as commodity prices, shipping rates and inflation expectations all point to weaker price growth, we believe that it will take a while for headline inflation to reach central bank targets. In fact, while inflation will trend lower over 2023, it is unlikely to hit central bank targets over the next nineto-12 months in most economies. Inflation will remain sticky in those economies that have been hit by large supply shocks…’

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund.Prior to this, he did MSc. in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom), and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan), among other places. He is author of Springer published book (2016) ‘The economic impact of International Monetary Fund programmes: institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth’.He tweets @omerjaved7

What Imran is trying to say is that not only General Bajwa was responsible for the prevailing situation but the new COAS is also following the footsteps of his predecessor. The establishment is continuously in the line of fire from the PTI Chairman and his cohorts notwithstanding the fact that the former made an institutional decision in February 2021 to stay apolitical and, as General Bajwa revealed, to end the Army’s intervention in politics which it has been doing in the last 70 years.

Nobody in his right mind appreciates the intervention of the establishment in the political domain and its playing a role in the making and breaking of governments. There is also no denying the fact that the country has suffered enormously due to the establishment encroaching upon civilian territory. But what Imran is saying now is nothing but hypocrisy of the first order. The question arises that if he thought that political engineering by the establishment was harmful, then why did he accept it when it was done to catapult him in the corridors of power?

Is it not mind-boggling to note that while he castigates the establishment for political engineering he still wants the new COAS to ensure free and fair elections in the country? It actually is tantamount to inviting intervention of the establishment in the political affairs of the country irrespective of the fact that it no longer intends to do so.

Well, if the establishment has played a negative role, the politicians are also equally responsible for the state of affairs the country is faced with at the moment. Their failure to put the country on the path envisioned by the founder of the country and to perpetuate their vested interests by not changing the archaic colonial system of governance and building their fortunes through in-built avenues of corruption, has been instrumental to the intervention of the Generals in the political domain.

It is a good augury that the establishment has itself realized its folly and decided to remain apolitical in the future. That should be welcome. The politicians must learn from history and try to resolve the contentious political issues themselves through Parliament, which is the true forum for such undertakings.

Malik Muhammad Ashraf is an academic. He can be contacted at: ashpak10@gmail.com.

malik muhammaD ashraf

It is a good augury that the establishment has itself realized its folly and decided to remain apolitical in the future. That should be welcome. The politicians must learn from history and try to resolve the contentious political issues themselves through Parliament, which is the true forum for such undertakings

Dr Omer JaveD

hit

Anything that could go wrong, has

PTI chief Imran Khan has built up a lot of false narratives

Yousaf Nizami Editor

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

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

Beat White Logic

Turning classes into Creativity Pools!

Last week, in the course, we came across a concept known as “White Logic”. This concept has roots in the West’s colonial pursuits. To unpack the concept, let’s first explore the annals of history. In the 19th century, the West in a concerted manner started colonial pursuits in the wake of the Industrial Revolution although the colonial project had been started in the 15th century when Columbus, they say, discovered “America”.

Two months before, I enrolled myself in a course entitled De-colonial Research Course, initiated by the Center for Critical Peace Studies (CCPS) at the University of Management & Technology. The course, I must say, is eye-opening and revolutionary in the academic landscape of Pakistan. When I say it’s eye-opening, it’s in the sense that it’s shaking all my previous understanding of International Relations (IR). By the way, I have an MPhil in IR from Punjab University, Lahore, and have graduated from Government College University, Lahore, with a major in Political Science. I have been teaching IR for the last two years. However, when I say that De-colonial Research Course is shaking my bases, it’s in this way that it’s introducing me to a new world of IR.

When I say, it’s introducing me to a new world of IR, it’s in this sense that, initially, I had this belief unconsciously that the whole discourse of IR was rooted in the West. Talk about the History of IR which I teach as well to second-semester students. It’s in reality the West’s history. Talk about theories of IR. They are all coming from the West and explaining Western reality. Talk about any other domain in IR. Its starting point is the West. either it’s explaining Western reality or is full of insights from Western scholars over any reflection of life in the Western world.

Before my introduction to the Decolonial Discourse Course in such a nuanced way, I— like many— had unconsciously this belief that what was in IR, was the reality of the whole world. However, after being a part of the Decolonial Research Course for one month, when I say that the course is eye-opening, it’s in the sense that all my previous bases of IR are shaking. Decolonial Discourse is built upon the premise that knowledge creation should be contextualized. Whatever knowledge is present in IR, it’s an explanation of Western reality. Calling this discourse the discourse of the world or perceiving it this way is nothing less than structural violence which is robbing people in other parts of the world of their creativity and potential. The whole focus of the Decolonial Research Course is how first we need to be conscious of how our thinking has been hijacked since we have indulged ourselves in Western discourse and how we need to consciously observe our contextual reality and build knowledge for our contexts.

Focus on the word “Discovered”. It implies as if life on the American continent before 1492 was like that of aliens and was like a mystery. Only europeans had this key to the unfolding of that mystery and they did it when Columbus reached there. The point I am trying to make is that portrayal of history in the way that “Columbus discovered America” shows that the story of America starts from the point of Columbus’s discovery and it is the fact as well that we don’t know anything about how life existed in America before Columbus reached there.

In history, we are not told about the dark sides of colonialism, especially in the sense of what Columbus and his followers did to Native Americans once they reached there; how Native American communities were systematically terminated, and how europeans settled over there.

Let’s deconstruct it. In simple words, it’s like wherever colonizers went, they did not regard the life and lifestyle of natives. So, for example, you can take it in a way that when Columbus “discovered” America and he did not find Americans like him, he started portraying their reality as primitive, ignorant, uncivilized, and barbarian, and took it upon himself that he was there to civilize. This is how we understand the concept of the “White Man’s Burden” emerged, which means that it’s the sheer responsibility of the “White Man” to civilize the uncivilized lot in other parts of the world and that is what we call “White Logic”. In simple words, “White Logic” means “I am better than you”; “I am going to educate you” or “I am your protector”. It’s a logic that does not regard others. It’s a logic that believes in the superiority of one over the other. It’s a logic that believes in control.

After learning the concept of “White Logic”, I asked my students in classes “How can we decolonize classes?” The majority of the time, I found them blank.

It’s because perhaps they have not experienced many classes in a de-colonial shape where knowledge is being co-constructed, instead of them being instructed all the time.

That’s how the history of the world has been structured, supporting western reality and suppressing the reality of the other parts of the world. In the Decolonial Research Course, our discussions revolve around how we need to be conscious of the Western constructed bubble in the knowledge domain and how we can consciously build a knowledge domain that reflects our and our ancestors’ reality.

So once the West started colonial pursuits, they not only started occupying the infrastructure of the occupied lands but also started building a superstructure for sustaining their control over the infrastructure. In simple words, east India Company— a British trading company— made its way into the Subcontinent under the guise of trade. Because of their advancement in military and mature political intellect which they developed in the wake of turbulent european history before they went for colonization across the globe, they initially started occupying infrastructure which, in other words, is a material control of the Subcontinent, and then to sustain that control they developed a superstructure in the shape of a political system, economic system, educational system, and social system as per their wishes.

One other thing which the West introduced as part of its colonial adventure, was the introduction of “White Logic”. What does it mean?

At present, seemingly we have got independence from colonizers; however, we have not made our way out of “White Logic”. That’s the message we are getting again and again in the Decolonial Research Course. Our whole educational system is embedded in “White Logic”. Our classrooms are a classical reflection of White Logic where a teacher portrays himself/herself all in all and considers students as blank slates who have no space to think or say anything outside of the syllabus. All our universities’ infrastructure and superstructure have been built upon “White Logic” in terms of the hierarchical structure of organizations in which there is no space for disagreement and things move from top to bottom instead of the other way around.

Last week, we ended the Decolonial Research Course class with one question that was assigned to us and that is, “How can we decolonize our universities?

After learning the concept of “White Logic”, I asked my students in classes “How can we decolonize classes?” The majority of the time, I found them blank. It’s because perhaps they have not experienced many classes in a de-colonial shape where knowledge is being co-constructed, instead of them being instructed all the time. In some classes, some of the students came up with quite creative answers.

I would like to end with a message for those who are engaged in academia.

Make “White Logic” a point of discussion in classes and make students aware of this monster. Make a collective effort not to feed this monster but knock it down because it’s a creativity killer.

The writer is a lecturer at Department of Political Science & International Relations in University of Management & Technology, Lahore. He can be reached at inamullah.marwat@umt.edu.pk

Editor’s mail

CNICs and security

SOMeTHING 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 NADRAofficials that the woman had nothing to do at all with our family, I was asked to visit the NADRAverification 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.

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 NADRAdatabase. 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 NADRAif they ever find an Afghan registered as a family member and holding a CNIC illegally.

Besides, to revive its transparency and credibility, NADRAshould 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. NADRAshould begin an intensive anti-corruption drive against its employees and bring the culprits to book.

Moreover, NADRAshould 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 MUHAMMAD HASNI QUETTA

Insulin prices

MOST pharmaceutical companies have been exploiting the masses by raising the prices of their products unilaterally and arbitrarily. It is a pity that the regulatory authorities concerned do little in the name of market regulation.

Diabetes is a life-long condition which needs life-long management. Type 1 diabetes is often diagnosed soon after birth. Such people need the administration of insulin injections across their lives. There is no substitute that may do the trick. Till last year, the insulin that was available for Rs1,000 now costs Rs2,300. What are the pharmaceutical companies up to? Do they want diabetics to die? Surely they do because they know more than the diabetics that there is no alternative available in this case.

Without any support from any quarter, people living with diabetes spend millions of rupees just to be alive. The pharmaceutical companies, it seems, want the people to spend billions because mere millions are not good enough for their financial balance sheets.

MANSOOR UL HAQUE SOLANGI KARACHI

Double standards

THe road to hell is paved with good intentions, goes the maxim which applies to the current scenario in the field of medical education in Pakistan. In the good old days, after doing Intermediate, the high achievers used to get admission in medical colleges; no questions asked. And the system worked fine, producing wonderful doctors.

Subsequently, it was noticed that certain educational boards give unreasonably high marks to their students who would then capture disproportionately high number of seats in medical colleges compared to their more competent counterparts enrolled with other education boards. The anomaly was overcome by introducing a standardised test, which is now called the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT). All the successful pre-medical students who want to get admission to any medical or dental college/university in Pakistan have to qualify MDCAT to enter the fields of medicine and dentistry. It was introduced in the country with good intentions to end the disparity in capability assessment method and to harmonise different marking criteria prevalent among various educational boards.

MDCAT initially succeeded in bringing uniformity. All the candidates were assessed through the same yardstick. But then politics crept in, as it always does. This year, medical colleges/universities in Punjab adopted double standards, with students getting assessed by two different MDCAT systems. The harder one was conducted by Punjab, and the easier one was conducted by Islamabad, the federal capital. In Punjab, only 178 students could secure more than 90 per cent marks, whereas in Islamabad, around 1,000 students crossed that threshold. To add insult to injury, students from Islamabad are allowed to capture all the available seats anywhere in Punjab. This has made a mockery of the concept of standardisation.

Just a few days before the test was scheduled, when the paper had already been settled, Islamabad opened the portal and allowed the candidates to change their ‘province’. I definitely have no objection to federal board students sitting the exam under the Punjab category, but in that case, the same yardstick should have been applied for assessment purposes, which was not the case. The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the authorities concerned should take notice of this dual standard to save the future of students belonging to Punjab.

inamullah marwat

ExplodIng thE myth of how cIvIlIsatIon BEgan

Middle eaSt eye Joe Gill

IT is tragic that we will never see a debate on the prehistoric origins of humankind between the late great David Graeber and the vastly over-promoted Yuval Noah Harari, the coffee table reseller of Enlightenment fables about human development. Graeber was an activist and anthropologist who died in 2020, just before the publishing of his final work, The Dawn of Everything. It is a fitting testament to a lifetime devoted to challenging capitalist orthodoxy in the humanities and politics. The book, co-authored with archaeologist David Wengrow, is a stunningly original riposte to the big beasts of grand narrative histories of the world such as Jarrod Diamond, Steven Pinker and Harari.

Thanks to the work of anthropologists and archaeologists, the evidence has been building in recent decades pointing to complex forager societies which built monumental sites and supported large settlements over thousands of years of prehistory.

This flies in the face of the traditional school of human evolution which told us that complex societies, those that built great monuments and urban settlements, did not exist prior to the spread of agriculture (if they did build anything noteworthy it was effectively dismissed as an anomaly to the rule). This view can no longer be sustained, and yet many big-name writers persist with this orthodox view of humanity’s journey.

The complex foragers are the inconvenient truth of our prehistory, roughly from 9000 BCE to 3000 BCE, that Graeber and Wengrow illuminate with reference to more recent indigenous societies in the Americas, Africa, Oceania and elsewhere.

One of the most famous sites that exemplifies this is Gobekli Tepi in southeast Turkey, dating to some 9000 BCE, a site of spectacular sculptures, huge gatherings,

Scroll Suchintan DaS

Ifirst encountered Hazel Selzer in the archives. She could not have been more than four, but still figured prominently in a list that attributed her with a political opinion based on what was perceived to be her father’s political stance: anti-Nazi. Her brother was three. This document was the “nominal camp roll” for the parole camp at Satara – one of the several sites where the British Indian Government had interned foreigners with transnational connections in general and Axis links in particular, during the Second World War.

The Selzers – Hermann and Kate – were German-Speaking Jews holding Polish passports. Both were doctors by profession and had fled Europe on the cusp of Hitler’s rise to power. Their children – Hazel and Michael – were born in Lahore and were consequently designated subjects of the British Empire. With the German invasion and takeover of Poland, the senior Selzers became stateless people – deemed “enemy aliens” by the colonial state.

Hazel and her family were kept behind barbed wires for almost the entirety of the war and for a while even after the cessation of hostilities. This experience of growing up in subcontinental camps – of being on the receiving end of prejudiced and arbitrary state action – left a lasting imprint on the earliest memories of her childhood that she can recollect.

Now that I encounter her almost eighty years later, I find her in the middle of an act of conjuring images and voices from a deeply personal past that also happens to be weaved into a larger history – of war and empire, loss and belonging, trauma and reconciliation. As objects and ephemera provoke reminiscences and thought, Hazel dives deep into the sea of tenacious and fragmented memories – of growing up, Jewish, in a beloved house, in post-war and post-Partition Lahore, in Pakistan.

GUESTS, NOT CITIZENS: This is a beautifully written memoir that starts with the story of a perceptive young girl who kept a diary and wrote letters back home in Lahore as she navigated her way through a

and probable human sacrifice. Infuriatingly, it is treated as an afterthought in Harari’s Sapiens, despite its construction 7000 years before Stone Henge and thousands of years before the first major civilisation of the classical era in the Fertile Crescent. It is one of numerous monumental sites built by forager (hunter-gatherer) cultures, requiring a major rethink of traditional theories about the emergence of agriculture and the first states. This remarkable site has little or no place in the outdated version of prehistory usually called the “agricultural revolution”. Yet for Graeber and Wengrow, it forms an important part of the story of the upland sector of the Fertile Crescent among other megalithic sites erected 5000 years before the conventional start of the Middle East civilisation narrative.

In Sapiens, Harari rehashes the traditional view of human development from the Stone Age - in which he compares early humans to primates. “The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were insignificant animals with no more impact on their environment than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish.”

Then, with the so-called cognitive revolution, we move from tribal nomadic society to the birth of agriculture (humans blindly working for wheat), ancient empires and finally capitalist modernity. It’s a process which Harari depicts as largely inevitable and arriving at the best of all worlds, the one we live in now: global neoliberal capitalism. This familiar narrative has somehow survived against the ever mounting evidence that the transition to farming, large states and empires was far more contingent, and often reversed.

NOBLE SAVAGE MYTH: As Graeber and Wengrow remind us, the idea of the noble savage, who at some point discovered the secrets of farming, leading to the descent of man into a system of hierarchy, exploitation and oppressive states was not based on evidence at all. It was a speculative theory thought up by Jean Jacques Rousseau and other European writers in the 18th century.

In The Dawn of Everything, the authors show that when crop growing began in what is now Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, around 11,000 years ago, it did not quickly alter the established seasonal foraging and hunting patterns and instead was complementary to it.

Over 4,000 or more years, neolithic societies in the Fertile Crescent, where wheat cultivation and animal herding began, continued to forage and hunt and follow a seasonal pattern of existence; they gathered in settlements for a few months and then dispersed into smaller groups during the hunting seasons. The domestication of

wheat took 3000 years, a very slow revolution indeed. Unlike modern hunter-gatherers who only survive in remote regions, the fisher-foragers of the past often lived on the coast and at the mouths of rivers and deltas in places of abundance in fish life, fauna and easily gathered wild crops. There was sufficient food for surpluses to support complex settlements and for the building of large monuments for ritual and seasonal gatherings, as seen in pre-Columbian Mississippi and Stone Henge.

Such societies did not support a permanent ruling class and did not evolve into states, as happened much later, even if certain individuals were elevated to higher, sometimes sacred, status. Wealth was not usually hereditary and there was no equivalent to modern money. Land ownership was communal and often rotated by lot (It was only the Romans who established the concept of absolute private ownership of property, rather than stewardship, points out Graeber).

PROJECTING CAPITALISM BACKWARDS: In other words, these societies were not in a headlong rush towards state building, class differentiation, and private property. In much macro-history writing, a neoclassical idea of economic rationalism is projected back onto neolithic societies, seeing patterns of accumulation and inequality that really belong to the modern era, and dismissing evidence that doesn’t confirm this.

In Europe, the arrival of farming some 5000 years ago lasted several hundred years but was violently ended when the settler communities were attacked and slaughtered by surrounding forager peoples, as evidenced by the presence of mass graves. Only later was agriculture once again adopted.

The authors also show that the earliest cities in Ukraine and Mesopotamia of the 4th millennium BCE were egalitarian and organised without the presence of kings, temples or royal palaces. Even where kings appeared, they had to tread carefully. “Popular councils and citizen assemblies were stable features of government in Mesopotamian cities”, and among neighbouring peoples such as the Hittites, Phoenicians and Philistines. All of this predates the Athenian assemblies that we usually assume to be the birthplace of democracy.

The first warrior aristocracies of the late 4th millennium “emerged in opposition to the egalitarian cities of the Mesopotamian plains”, a clash between warrior elites and urban societies that is a common theme across history.

The fundamental question that The Dawn of Everything opens up is the idea that history is a unidirectional process towards farming, hierarchy, states, empires and capitalism. This is the convenient view of late capitalist ideology projecting our particular historical epoch, which is barely 500 years old, back through the millennia to hugely diverse societies.

INDIGENOUS CRITIQUE: While mainstream western historians exalt our civilisation as having the highest values of morality compared to the tyrannies and barbarism of the past, the Wendat people of the American northeast had a dim view of European society they encountered 300 years ago, what the authors call the indigenous critique.

As Wendat intellectual Kandiaronk put it to a French interlocutor: “To imagine one can live in the country of money and preserve one’s soul is like imagining one could preserve one’s life at the bottom of a lake. Money is the father of luxury, lasciviousness, intrigues, trickery, lies, betrayal, insincerity - of all the world’s worst behaviours.”

Perhaps Harari and Graeber would agree on one thing at least: both accept that the human capacity to create and change the stories and myths that guide us is our unique and abiding gift for changing the world.

Joe Gill has worked as a journalist in London, Oman, Venezuela and the US, for newspapers including Financial Times, Morning Star and Middle East Eye. His Masters was in Politics of the World Economy at the London School of Economics.

school in India that was meant for educating Americans. Consequently, she grappled with several competing identities – both aspirational and domestic like European and Jewish, and also accidental yet intimate such as Anglo-Indian and Pakistani.

Hazel poignantly narrates what it meant to be born white in a brown city. She does this by talking not just about boundaries and hierarchies – of accent and attitudes, but also about connections that transcended conventional norms and defied hard and fast categorisation. Hers is a story of departures and returns and yet there is a certain mooring –urban and affective – that ties her early life with postcolonial Lahore over and over again.

And yet, one cannot help but note that most of her “growing up” happened outside Pakistan – in Mussoorie, London, and Canberra, until the Selzers, threatened by the changing political climate, permanently moved out of their hometown in 1971. Hazel herself asks this question in the book and notes that perhaps there is no satisfying answer. What cannot be taken away from the specificity of her experience, however, are two things: a sense of being perpetually in transit and a profound feeling of loss and longing for a city, a home, a place, and a possession – all acquired through that chancedirected event called birth.

The book is divided into two parts, neither neatly chronological, and both reflective – perhaps for the better. The very structure of her memoir makes Hazel contemplate, with her readers, her self-imposed role as the family archivist, the reasons for her strained relationship with her brother, and the question of why her parents decided to send them both abroad to receive European education and manners under the aegis of what she calls “a network of [Jewish] foster care” administered by close and distant relatives,

knowing well that it created an unbridgeable gap within the family.

In 1971, as it was made clear to them that as Jews, they could only be “guests” from whom the benefit of hospitality could be withdrawn, and never full citizens in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the senior Selzers emigrated to Israel while Hazel and Michael settled down in the UK and later in the USA. The second part of the book is really Hazel’s quest for closure – a build-up to her 21st century rendezvous with the city that cannot be taken out of her: Lahore.

It is precisely this part of the book that prevents it from becoming a “simpler story of a childhood home” in Hazel’s own words. Her preparation for obtaining a Pakistani visa, having been to Israel several times in the past, and the associated anticipation and uncertainty before travel is recounted almost in the manner of a thriller.

BUT SIGNIFICANT:

times, they have a fallout over politics again: this time over the rise of Trump.

Hazel, who now hosts a progressive leftleaning radio talk-show, previously did not see eye to eye with her father regarding his growing Zionist views either, but at least they had been able to rejuvenate a filial bond—something that has not been the case between the two siblings. When does a memoir-writer stop writing? Hazel doesn’t provide any answer but concludes her memoir shortly after raising this question.

The great merit and perhaps also a small shortcoming of this book is its tender tentativeness – of both prose and purpose. It makes the reader pause and reflect but does not always deliver on its promise: one would expect a lot more of Lahore and Pakistan in this memoir – especially given its title – but both fade out of the narrative by the early 1950s, with Hazel and Michael leaving for England, much before the family’s permanent relocation in 1971.

with her and derive pleasure from reading about her extraordinary life lived in interesting times.

Some, like me, perhaps, will also find Hazel’s story resonating with this poem by Perumal Murugan that I first read in college, a few years ago.

Hometown Don’t be in haste to ask anyone about their hometown

TENTATIVE

“What do our passports know about who we are?” Hazel asks, as she pauses and reflects on “border anxiety” – the fear of being denied entry, of being turned down, of only having a precarious claim to belong – susceptible to the vagaries of ambiguous official interpretations: of the law and of people. She reminds us that in zones such as the immigration queues at airports, all of us are aliens in some measure or the other. Our passports do not belong to us but to the states ruling over our mobility.

She is in fact able to return to Lahore, not once, but three times between 2011 and the Covid-19 pandemic. Between these visits in different capacities, she is able to reconnect with her estranged brother after thirtyeight years – Lahore serves as a bridge – but this is hardly a fairytale, and, as though paying homage to the spirit of our polarising

Nonetheless, this is a significant historical testimony and a remarkable account of a city that now exists only in memory and of an astonishing life that could only have been lived in the mid-twentieth century. The many photographs of documentary value accompanying the text and Hazel’s exquisite leafages that adorn the pages as illustrations add verve and poise to this book. It speaks in the tongue of and about a certain cosmopolitan flair that is on the verge of disappearing from our increasingly globalised and fragmented world.

This memoir certainly deserves a large readership. Yet, not many people will know about this book, and I am afraid fewer will read it now. However, Hazel’s writing is also meant for posterity – generations yet to come if this world as we know it survives – who will certainly find great value in ruminating

There might be people who cannot tell you their hometown

There might be people who dream about their hometown

There are, perhaps, people who have forgotten their hometowns There are, perhaps, people who have left behind their hometowns

There could also be those who stay, yet don’t live there could even be those who were chased away by their hometowns

It is possible there are also those who have no place to call their own

(Translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan)

A House in Lahore: Growing Up Jewish in Pakistan, Hazel Selzer Kahan, Selfpublished.

THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING CHALLENGES A MAINSTREAM TELLING OF PREHISTORY THAT IGNORES THE COMPLEX SOCIETIES CREATED BY NOMADIC PEOPLE

‘Born white in a brown city’ HER PREPARATION FOR OBTAINING A PAKISTANI VISA, HAVING BEEN TO ISRAEL SEVERAL TIMES IN THE PAST, AND THE ASSOCIATED ANTICIPATION AND UNCERTAINTY BEFORE TRAVEL IS RECOUNTED ALMOST IN THE MANNER OF A THRILLER

Anf recovers over 90kg drugs in six operations; arrests three

RAWALPINDI Staff RepoRt

Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Pakistan while conducting six counter-narcotics operations seized over 90 kg narcotics and arrested three accused, said an ANF Headquarters spokesman here on Sunday. He informed that the ANF foiled a bid to smuggle drugs from Jamrud to Peshawar and recovered 36 kg charras from a car intercepted near Ring Road. The ANF also arrested two accused residents of Muzaffarabad. In another raid, the ANF recovered 36 kg charras from a double cabin vehicle intercepted near Multan-Vehari Road. In a joint operation, the ANF and FC seized 10 kg of charras in Khyber area. Similarly, the ANF Sindh recovered 6.3 kg suspicious material absorbed in curtains in a raid at a private courier office in Clifton area. The parcel was booked for Australia. In another operation at Karachi International Airport, the ANF recovered over 1.2 kg Ice drug from trolley bag of a Jeddah bound passenger resident of Sukkur going on flight no SV-705. In sixth operation, the ANF recovered 50 grams weed from a parcel received in Lahore at a private courier office from UK. The spokesman said that separate cases have been registered against the accused while further investigations are under process.

Rs150.560 million being spent on advancing nMDc project

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The government has allocated funds amounting to Rs 150.560 million in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2022-23) to advance an ongoing project of establishing a modern National Minerals Data Centre (NDMC). The project, initiated last year, is aimed at compiling data of available minerals for the facilitation of investors and future projects planning in the country. The two-year project is being jointly carried out by the Petroleum and Planning Divisions in consultation with all Provincial Mines & Minerals Departments including that of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Geological Survey of Pakistan. “Pakistan has world-class minerals’ resource potential but contribution in the national GDP is 1pc which is considerably below the global average of 2-8% of GDP primarily due to non-availability of integrated geological, regulatory and other relevant data that is the basic requirement for investment facilitation and projects’ planning,” according to an official document available with APP. Under the project, Geographic Information System (GIS)- based integrated solutions and application development would be established to ensure the availability of online geospatial data and maps for investment facilitation and benefit of the stakeholders in the minerals sector. The NMDC would contain information such as geological and geochemical maps, minerals sample analysis reports, airborne geophysical maps, areas granted and applied for mineral titles, roads and rails layers, geographical borderlines (province, district and town), reserves areas like ‘strategic, forest and religious places.’ The compiled data would be categorized for publication through a web portal as per guidelines issued by the government. “The exercise will be a regular activity and information will be updated accordingly,” the document said.

PDM GOvt ReADy tO tAke vOte Of cOnfiDence, SAyS HuSSAin

SHEIKHUPRA Staff RepoRt

fEDERALEducation Minister

Rana Tanveer Hussain has said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) will give three names for the caretaker government in Punjab on Monday (today).

“There should be a caretaker government that conducts fair and transparent elections in the Punjab province.”

In a media talk in Sheikhupra on Sunday, Rana Tanveer Hussain said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) led government was ready to take the vote of confidence as it has required members in the

National Assembly.

He said that the elections will be held in the Punjab province only where the assembly has been dissolved. “PTI will now have to face failure.”

Rana Tanveer disclosed PTI is yet reluctant to dissolve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly.

“After the dissolution of provinces’ assemblies, Imran Khan’s empire will be no more,” he predicted.

Holding Imran Khan responsible for the current economic crisis of the country, the minister claimed that Pakistan was going well till 2018.

He said PDM led government is trying to fix the economy of the country and it will take at least one and a

half years at least. Talking about the MQM’s recent development, the minister claimed that MQM is an integral part of the government and will remain with the coalition government.

He said that government representatives should be allowed to conduct election campaigns in their respective constituencies.

‘Punjab PeoPle got rid of incomPetent govt’: Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal has said the people of Punjab have got rid of the incompetent and corrupt government.

Addressing a press conference in Narowal on Sunday, he claimed that

Youth, artists role important in boosting Pak-China friendship, cultural ties

Rawalpindi Arts Council.

On this occasion, the participants welcomed the guests by hoisting the flags of Pakistan and China and chanted slogans of Long Live Pakistan-China friendship. The young singers showcased their talent and received a standing ovation for their performances.

RAWALPINDI Staff RepoRt

President All Pakistan Chinese Overseas Youth Federation (APCOYF) Aasma Ismail Butt on Sunday said the young generation and artists would have to play an important role in making Pak-China friendship more stable and highlighting the culture of both countries.

Under the supervision of APCOYF chief Aasma Ismail Butt, a musical night was organized at

the Rawalpindi Arts Council for artists representing the youth, setting an example of New Year happiness and Pakistan-China friendship, a press release said.

This was the first program to promote the art of young singers from the platform of APCOYF.

The young singers highly appreciated the efforts of the president of the federation Aasma Ismail Butt and thanked the president of the federation for providing a platform to the new young singers in the form of the

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt, Finance Secretary National Press Club Nayyer Ali, RIUJ President Abid Abbasi, Rudn Enclave Housing Society GM Mohammad Rashid, Echo Builders Real Estate and Marketing CEO Naeem Pasha attended musical night as special guests.

The guests appreciated the efforts of Federation President Aasma Ismail Butt in highlighting the culture of Pakistan and China.

The APCOYF president was presented with an honorary shield by Mohammad Rashid, GM of Rudn Enclave Housing Society, Naeem Pasha, CEO of Echo Builders Real Estate and Marketing.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan himself gave an end to a government that was formed after rigging.

“The mandate of Pakistan’s biggest province was stolen from the PML-N in the 2018 election,” he recalled.

The minister alleged that PTI’s Punjab government had committed corruption of billions of rupees in the name of development works. Ahsan Iqbal further alleged that Imran Khan transferred Punjab’s funds to other provinces.

He termed the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly a “blunder” by the PTI, saying that PML-N will defeat Imran Khan in the election easily.

Sufficient fuel stocks available in country: OGRA spokesman

A spokesman for Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Sunday strongly rejected speculative reports circulating in a section of the media about the shortage of petrol and diesel in the country. “Sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel are available across the country,” OGRS spokesman Imran Ghaznavi said in a press statement. He clarified that useable stocks of petrol and diesel were good enough for 17 and 32 days respectively, while more cargoes carrying 80,000 MT (Metric Ton) of petrol-(Motor Spirit Oil ) and 90,000 MT HSD (High-Speed Diesel) were at berth/outer anchorage. He said local refineries were also operational and playing their due role in meeting the demand for petroleum products.

Elusive Leopard Cat specimen added to PMNH collection

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) has added a newly discovered specimen of an endangered elusive Leopard cat to its collection which will be a source of attraction for wildlife lovers and researchers.

The Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), a small cat belonging to the family Felidae was found dead on the 76th National highway towards Murree in Islamabad late Wednesday night on December 14, 2022.

Renowned wildlife lover and an official of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services, Rana Muhammad

Riaz, found the dead specimen and reported the incident to the Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH). A team under the supervision of Muhammad Asif Khan, Curator Zoological Science Division PMNH, approached Rana Muhammad Riaz to receive the specimen and shifted it immediately to PMNH.

The leopard cat is listed as the least concern on the IUCN Red List, it generally ventures out at night to search for food and water. According to a study, 46.6 percent of roadkill in the Potohar plateau occurs in Rawalpindi and its surrounding areas. The 76 National highway has a dense green cover on both sides and the area is rich in wild flora and fauna.

For the currently reported road

killing of ecologically important wildlife, it is mandatory to install wildlife signs boards along the highway for public awareness and to minimise such incidence in the future.

Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) Islamabad was established in 1976, under the patronage of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan. PMNH has four divisions namely Botanical Sciences, Earth Sciences, Zoological Sciences and Public Services.

The first three divisions are engaged in the collection, preservation, identification and research activities related to plants, animals, fossils, rocks and minerals resources of Pakistan.

Quaid’s philosophy, principles key to Pakistan’s turnaround: speakers

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Speakers at the Quaid-e-Azam leadership lecture organized by Pakistan’s premier organization devoted to promoting the vision and philosophy of the Founding Fathers, said that Quaid’s leaders based on character, courage and commitment would be key to the country’s turnaround in the future.

The Nazriya Pakistan Trust (NPT), launched the Leadership Lecture with the first talk by former PAF head, Air Chief Marshal (ACM-R) Sohail Aman here on Sunday, a news release said.

Terming ACM (R) Aman an ‘authentic Pakistani hero’, Chairman Senate Committee

on Defence, Senator Mushahid Hussain, Vice Chairman of NPT, said the Quaid-e-Azam through his leadership based on ‘character, courage and commitment’ had set a unique example which inspired the Muslim masses and led to the struggle which created Pakistan.

“Thanks to the Quaid-e-Azam and the founding fathers, we are today living as free citizens of a free country,” Mushahid Hussain said, underlining that ‘the nation must honour its heroes who are role models’ for the people of Pakistan.

He said the ‘people of Pakistan have guts and the spirit but they are let down by weak leadership’. Senator Mushahid Hussain lauded Air Chief Marshal (R) Sohail Aman for building a modern fighting force in the

Aman spoke of ‘passion and determination’ as key elements of leadership and added that the Quaid-e-Azam proved through creation of Pakistan that ‘nothing is impossible’.

He also mentioned that Pakistan’s superior strategy and decisive leadership had humbled India during ‘Post-Pulwama Crisis’ in February 2019, when ‘we had 8 Indian aircraft within our grip, with electronic warfare tracking their every move and we have could have taught them a bigger lesson, but we didn’t want to escalate’.

Presiding over the meeting, NPT Senior Vice Chairman, Mian Farooq Altaf, talked about various attributes of the Quaid-eAzam’s leadership, his impeccable integrity and his honesty, and his uncompromising

stand on Pakistan, adding ‘the Quaid gave all his property to educational institutions and his family derived no benefit from the creation of Pakistan’. Conversely, today he warned against ‘worshipping power and money’, as character was more important than these worldly material possessions.

The meeting began with an Introduction to Nazriya Pakistan Trust by its Secretary, Naheed Gill, while the Trust Additional Secretary Saifullah Chaudhry conducted the proceedings, which included Tilawat from Holy Quran, Naat, National Anthem and a popular anthem acclaiming the leadership of Quaid-eAzam, ‘Millat ka Pasban hai Muhammad Ali Jinnah’. A packed audience of 200 plus persons heard the speeches with rapt attention.

form of the Pakistan Air Force, which gave a befitting reply to Indian aggression against Pakistan in Balakot in February 2019, which was ‘Pakistan’s finest hour along with the Nuclear Tests in May 1998’.

In his speech, Air Chief Marshal (R) Sohail

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

IsraelIs rally agaInst netanyahu ‘government of shame’

nounced on January 4 a controversial plan to hand more powers to lawmakers in appointing judges and overriding supreme Court decisions.

Indian army Day: troops constantly brutalizing Kashmiris in IIoJK

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

tensof thousands of people protested in central Tel Aviv saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin netanyahu’s new hard-right government, which critics say threatens Israeli democracy.

Protesters braved the rain for the rally, brandishing signs with slogans decrying a “government of shame” and urging: “bring down the dictator”, AFP correspondents said.

Israeli media reported 80,000 people joined the rally, citing police sources. Police gave no official estimate after reporting 20,000 protesters earlier in the evening.

The demonstration is the biggest since netanyahu’s new government took power in late December in Israel, a country of just over nine million.

“The situation is worrying and scary,” said 22-year-old protester Aya Tal, who works in the high-tech industry. “They want to take away our rights… We must unite.”

Other rallies were held in Jerusalem, outside the prime minister’s and the president’s residences, and in the northern city of Haifa, local media reported.

Already Israel’s longest-serving premier, netanyahu returned to power at the head of a coalition with extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, some of whose officials now head key ministries.

Protesters called for netanyahu, who is fighting corruption charges in court, to resign. “Bibi (netanyahu) doesn’t want a democracy, we don’t need fascists in the Knesset,” read one sign at the Tel Aviv protest, referring to the Israeli parliament.

tourists surge back to Jordan’s desert marvel Petra

PETRA afp

Tending to his camels in Petra, Jordan’s spectacular archaeological marvel hidden deep in a desert canyon, Hussein Bdoul is all smiles: the tourists are back.

After years in which the Covid pandemic turned the storied “Rose City” into a ghost town, the father of seven is back at work, offering visitors rides on his decorated animals.

“Tourism has returned and the numbers are even greater,” said Bdoul, 35, wearing Bedouin garb with a red keffiyeh scarf over his long black hair, reflecting on a resurgence last year.

“At the time of the coronavirus pandemic, we did not see anyone in Petra,” said Bdoul — a disaster for the town where, he said, “90 percent of people work in tourism”.

“We hope from God Almighty that people will stay well.” Jordan tourism authorities confirm that Petra is back in business and drew 900,000 visitors last year, close to the record of one million set in 2019.

Jordan as a whole received 4.6 million visitors in 2022 — almost four times the level from 2020 — earning the country $5.3 billion.

Top draw Petra, famous for its stunning temples hewn out of the rose-pink cliff faces, is a United nations World Heritage site and was chosen as one of the new seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 online poll.

‘Save democracy’

The crowd filled the streets surrounding Tel Aviv’s Habima square and chanted “democracy, democracy”, according to an AFP correspondent.

Opposition parties had called on Israelis to join the demonstration — organised by an anti-corruption group — to “save democracy” and in protest at a planned judicial overhaul.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin an-

In Israel, which does not have a constitution, the supreme Court currently has the authority to repeal laws it considers discriminatory.

Former supreme Court judge Ayala Procaccia told the crowd the Israeli public “will not accept… the destruction of the basic values of our system.”

“We are at a fateful moment for the future of Israel,” she said.

The new government has also announced intentions to pursue a policy of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and carry out social reforms that have worried members and supporters of the LGBTQ community.

The rally included messages against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and calls to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community.

“There’s no democracy with the occupation,” read one sign. ‘Fight’ netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli prime minister indicted while in office. He denies the charges against him of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

UK sending heavy tanks to Ukraine, prompts Russian warning

ter for making decisions that “will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners”.

British Prime Minister Rishi sunak pledged to provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.

The pledge saw a swift reaction from Russia which warned it would only “intensify” the conflict.

“Bringing tanks to the conflict zone, far from drawing the hostilities to a close, will only serve to intensify combat operations, generating more casualties, including among the civilian population”, the Russian embassy in the UK said.

sunak said the tanks were a sign of the UK’s “ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine”, according to a readout of a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s european allies have sent Kyiv more than 300 modernised soviet tanks since Russia invaded in February 2022. But they have so far held off on dispatching the Westernmade heavy tanks that Ukraine has repeatedly requested to push forward against Russian invaders.

Zelensky thanked the UK on Twit-

Heavy loSSeS: Ukraine’s forces have taken heavy losses in the battles of soledar and Bakhmut in recent months and have called on the country’s allies to give it more support.

Russia said on Friday its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of soledar in east Ukraine, its first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks, although Ukraine said fierce fighting was still under way.

“To win this war, we need more military equipment, heavy equipment,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also said that he had spoken with Us secretary of state Antony Blinken and “emphasised the need” for Ukraine to receive Western-type tanks. The UK will also send around 30 As90s, large, self-propelled guns, operated by five gunners. FearS oF eScalation: The tanks will arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks, a second statement from sunak’s Downing street office said later saturday, adding that the UK will also begin training the Ukrainian

Armed Forces to use the tanks and guns in the coming days. “As the people of Ukraine approach their second year living under relentless Russian bombardment, the Prime Minister is dedicated to ensuring Ukraine wins this war,” a Downing street spokesman said.

“The Prime Minister is clear that a long and static war only serves Russia’s ends. That’s why he and his ministers will be speaking to our allies across the world in the days and weeks ahead to ramp up pressure on Putin and secure a better future for Ukraine.”

The issue of heavy tanks has long been a key one for Kyiv and many experts see providing Ukraine with modern tanks as a vital building block in its ability to win against Russia.

Germany has been especially hesitant of supplying heavy tanks.

It has delivered powerful mobile artillery and air defences but remains fearful of an escalation with Moscow if its tanks face off directly against their Russian opposite numbers. sunak was committed to working with partners to ensure Ukraine was “in the strongest possible place to enter future peace negotiations from a position of military, economic and diplomatic strength and secure a strong and lasting peace”, the statement added.

When India is celebrating its 75th Army Day, today, its troops are constantly brutalizing the Kashmiris in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. A report released by Kashmir Media service, today, real brutal face of the Indian army is on display on daily basis as it is involved in extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture and abuse in the occupied territory.

It said the inhuman and brutal Indian troops have killed 96, 163 people since January 1989 till 31st December 2022 in IIOJK. Indian army is trained in committing genocide, crimes against humanity & war crimes, it added. The report said the Indian army has no justification to celebrate its day as its men are involved in heinous crimes in India and the occupied territory and is notorious for conducting cordon and search operations against oppressed people in India and in IIOJK. It lamented that the Indian troops had killed thousands of civilians in India’s northeastern region during the past two decades and the killing fields of the occupied territory had exposed the real face of the Indian army.

ukraine puts Dnipro toll at 21 after wave of russian strikes

KYIV, UKRAINE agencies

Ukraine said sunday that the death toll had risen to 21 after a Russian missile slammed into a tower block in the city of Dnipro during a massive wave of strikes causing power outages and blackouts across the war-torn country. Ukrainian officials said more than 40 people were still missing after the Dnpiro strike saturday, which came as Ukraine celebrated the Old new Year, a popular holiday, and as Britain became the first Western country to offer Kyiv the heavy tanks it has long sought.

At least 21 people were killed and 73 others wounded in saturday’s attack on the Dnipro tower block, Ukraine’s regional council head Mykola Lukashuk said.

A 15-year-old girl was among the dead, officials said, after dozens of people were pulled from the rubble. “Rescue operations continue. The fate of more than 40 people remain unknown,” regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said sunday.

Rescuers battled through the night in a bid to free a woman trapped under the rubble after hearing her voice, the state emergency service said. The strike destroyed dozens of flats in the Dnipro apartment block leaving hundreds of people homeless, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official at the presidency. The Ukrainian army said the block was hit by an X-22 Russian missile that it lacked the capacity to shoot down.

At least 67 killed in Yeti Airlines plane crash in Nepal

POKHARA, NEPAL agencies

At least 67 people were confirmed dead sunday when a plane with 72 onboard crashed in nepal, police said, in the Himalayan country’s deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.

“Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were still in the 300-metre (600-foot) gorge the aircraft plunged into.

This was partially confirmed by the army, with a spokesman saying 29 bodies had been retrieved and that there were 33 more at the site in Pokhara in central nepal.

“The aircraft crashed into a gorge so it is difficult to bring the bodies search and rescue is ongoing. no survivors have been found yet,” army spokesman Krishna Prasad Bhandari told AFP.

One local official said that some survivors had been taken to hospital — but this was not confirmed by either the airline Yeti Airlines or others. Yeti spokesman sudarshan Bartaula told AFP that among those on board — 68 passengers and four crew — were 15 foreigners including five Indians, four Russians and two Koreans. The rest

were nepalis.

The flight from Kathmandu slammed into the gorge and smashed to pieces between Pokhara’s domestic and brand new international airport on sunday shortly before 11:00 am (0515 GMT).

After the crash, rescue workers were hosing down parts of the wreckage of the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop while smoke drifted out of a ravine as hundreds of people watched.

The area was strewn with what appeared to be parts of the aircraft, including seats.

Footage shared on social media, which appeared to be shot just after the crash, showed raging flames on the ground and black smoke billowing into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the footage. Another unverified clip shared online showed a plane flying at a low altitude over a residential area banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.

Pokhara’s international airport, which opened on January 1 is meant to gradually replace the old one, established in 1958. The city is a gateway to religious pilgrims and international trekkers.

– Poor record –

nepal’s air industry has boomed in re-

cent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.

But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance.

The european Union has banned all nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns. The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

Aircraft operators have said nepal lacks infrastructure for accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where deadly crashes have taken place in the past. The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by nepali carrier Tara Air — 16 nepalis, four Indians and two Germans — died when it crashed.

Air traffic control lost contact with the twin-propeller Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.

Its wreckage was found a day later, strewn across a mountainside at around

14,500 feet (4,400 metres) above sea level.

After that crash authorities tightened regulations, including that planes would only be cleared to fly only if there was favourable weather forecast throughout the route.

In March 2018, a Us-Bangla Airlines plane crash-landed near Kathmandu’s notoriously difficult international airport, killing

51 people.

That accident was nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu. Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

LONDON afp

Kohli’s 166 helps india crush sri lanKa by record 317 runs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM agencieS

ViRATKohli smashed an unbeaten 166 to help india beat Sri Lanka by 317 runs and record the highest-ever victory margin in a one-day international as they swept the series 3-0 on Sunday.

Kohli’s third century in his last four matches and a 116 by opener Shubman Gill powered india to 390-5 in Thiruvananthapuram.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj then returned impressive figures of 4-32 as india bowled out the tourists for 72 in 22 overs as india went past New Zealand’s 290-run thrashing of ireland in 2008.

A 131-run second-wicket stand between Gill and Kohli stood out after india elected to bat first. Gill put on 95 runs for the opening wicket with skipper Rohit Sharma, who made 42, to set the tone for the team’s batting domination.

Fatima’s fifty gives pakistan winning start in u19 Women’s T20 Wc

POTCHEFSTROOM agencieS

Eyman Fatima played a crucial knock of unbeaten 65 from 60 balls after lively fielding efforts put Pakistan on top as they beat Rwanda by eight wickets in their opening match of the iCC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, here on Sunday.

The young Pakistani women’s side dominated the opponents with superb all-round performances on the field to reduce Rwanda to 106/8 in the allotted 20 overs.

Pakistan, however, reached the target with 13 balls to spare as Fatima and skipper Aroob Shah led the batting charge after the Green Shirts were once stuck at 36/2 in the 8th over.

Aroob made an unbeaten 20 runs from 21 balls while Fatima smashed 11 boundaries during her matchwinning half-century.

Opting to bat first, Rwanda underwent complete batting chaos in the middle after skipper Gisele ishimwe and opener Cynthia Tuyizere stitched a valiant secondwicket partnership of 52 runs.

Following an early scare in the first over when Areesha Noor Bhatti cleaned up Merveille Uwase in the first over, ishimwe and Tuyizere tried to bring sanity before Pakistan triggered a batting collapse with three run outs and a wicket each to Zaib-un-Nisa, Anosha Nasir, Areesha and Aroob Shah.

With a cautious knock of 45-ball 40, ishimwe topscored for the side with seven of their batters failing to cross the double figures. Tuyizere, on the other hand, made 21 from 37 balls.

Pakistan will next play England on Tuesday before taking on Zimbabwe on Thursday.

partnership with Shreyas iyer, who hit 38, and went on to record the ton with his arms and bat raised to an applauding crowd.

The ball before Kohli got his hundred saw a nasty collision at the square-leg boundary between Vandersay and Ashen Bandara, with both fielders stretchered off. Dunith Wellalage came in as a concussion substitute for Vandersay and batted for the tourists at number eight.

Kohli changed gears after his 46th ODi century — three behind Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 49 — as he smashed Karunaratne for two successive sixes.

Kohli, who surpassed Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene’s 12,650 ODi runs to enter the top five all-time run getters, reached his 150 in 106 balls and finished off with 13 fours and eight sixes.

Sri Lanka were never in the chase after Mohammed Siraj struck thrice in his first five overs including the wickets of Avishka Fernando, for one, and Kusal Mendis, bowled on four.

Cricket: Pakistan women’s series against Australia today

BRISBANE agencieS

Bismah Maroof-led Pakistan women’s side will take on Australia in the first of the three iCC Women’s Championship ODis at the Allan Border Field, Brisbane on Monday. The second ODi scheduled on Wednesday, 18 January is also at the same venue, while the third ODi will be played at the North Sydney Oval, Sydney on Saturday, 21 January.

The ODi series will be followed by three T20is to be played from 24 to 29 January in Sydney, Hobart and Canberra. Before coming to Australia, the women’s team held their practice camps in Lahore and Karachi where they also featured in various intra-squad matches.

Since arriving in Brisbane last week, the Pakistan team have conducted extensive practice sessions which include a 50-over match against the Governor General’s Xi at the Allan Border Field on Fri-

day. Even though the tourists lost the game, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana and Nida Dar showed their skills in the bowling department, while Bismah Maroof scored a half-century, showcasing her batting form ahead of the ODi series.

Australia hold the top position in the iCC Women’s ODi rankings, while Pakistan are positioned on the ninth spot. in the iCC Women’s Championship 2022-25, Pakistan after winning five of their six outings are second in the table behind

india, whereas Australia will play their first Championship match on Monday against Pakistan.

Pakistan will be eyeing to carry forward the momentum after they clinched a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka in Karachi in June last year and later achieved a 3-0 sweep over ireland in Lahore in November.

While talking to PCB Digital on the eve of the series, captain Bismah Maroof said: “We had good practice sessions here at the venue.

derajat off-road Jeep challenge in di Khan from Mar 16

DERA ISMAIL KHAN Staff RepoRt

Third Derajat Off Road Jeep Challenge 2023 is being held from 16th to 19th of March in Dera ismail Khan as part of a grand Derajat festival.

Men and women jeep racers from all over the country besides some foreign sports persons are expected to participate in the championship.

Provincial Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Faisal Amin Gandapur while chairing the meeting, directed all concerned departments to make all necessary arrangements for this purpose in addition to streamlining the departments of tourism, local govt & rural development.

Gandapur said that during last 2 year people enjoyed the festival and it was very well received by the people. However, better arrangements have been made this year so that people could have maximum recreational opportunities in the area.

Sharing the details of the event, the minister said that the Derajat Off-Road Challenge along with China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route will be held from March 16-19 as part of a grand ‘Derajat festival’ in Dera ismail Khan.

20-K cup 2023: akhlaq stars in apollo club win

LAHORE agencieS

Phenomenal batting display by batter Muhammad Akhlaq steered Apollo Club to a 15-run triumph over Valencia Gymkhana Cricket Club in the 21st match of the 20-K Cup 2023 T20 Cricket Tournament match at Pindi Gymkhana Cricket Ground on a bright sunny Sunday. The tournament, which is a regular annual event, aims at reviving and promoting cricket at club level. it is being played in the memory of Col Fateh Sher Khan and its sole sponsor is Nabeel Ahmad, who is a former Pakistani cricketer now based in America. Apollo Club started their innings strongly and succeeded in posting a huge total of 195 runs on the ascoreboard losing just four wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Both the openers Muhammad Akhlaq and Hashim ibrahim batted with authority and scored 44 runs for the first-wicket partnership. Muhammad ishfaq provided the first breakthrough to Valencia Gymkhana when he sent packing Hashim ibrahim on his personal score of 16 runs.

After that player of the match Muhammad Akhlaq and Rehan Nadeem stitched the significant 94-run secondwicket partnership before M Akhlaq losing his wicket at his individual score of 83 runs off 44 balls that included 5 boundaries and 7 sixes. Reyan Nadeem was the next, who was sent back to the pavilion when he was playing at 43. He played 40 balls and hit 1 four and 3 sixes.

Abyaz Rizvi was also a key contributor from Apollo Club as he smashed 18-ball 35 runs with the help of 1 four and 3 maximums.

CAS Open Golf C’ship concludes

KARACHI Staff RepoRt

The concluding ceremony of 42nd CAS Open Golf Championship was held at Airmen Golf Club & Recreational Park, Korangi Creek, Karachi. Air Marshal Hamid Rashid Randhawa, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Administration), PAF was the chief guest at the occasion.

Ace Golfer Muhammad Shabbir won the title on the final day of 42nd CAS Open Golf Championship with a gross score of 278 (10 Under par).

2nd position was clinched by Muhammad Alam 285 (3 under par) while third position was

Speaking at the occasion, the Chief Guest congratulated the winners and appreciated the management committee & officials of Airmen Golf Course for making the event a huge success. He further said that Pakistan Air Force would continue to promote golf along with other sports.

The Championship which featured over 300 golfers was played over 18 holes for five days at one of the most challenging golf courses of the country.

Chief of the Air Staff Open Golf Championship was introduced in 1977 and ever since has been a regular feature in PGF and PAF annual sports calendars.

Five-star Al-Attiyah and Benavides take honours at Dakar Rally

stage, having built up a commanding advantage in the first week and deployed a safety-first strategy in the second half of the race.

Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah on Sunday won his fifth Dakar Rally driver’s title and second in a row, with Argentina’s Kevin Benavides securing his second motorbike crown.

The 52-year-old Al-Attiyah won three stages and had more than an hour’s advantage in the overall standings over Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who also finished runner-up last year.

Al-Attiyah’s Toyota team-mate Lucas Moraes of Brazil finished third on his debut in the iconic test of endurance which reached its climax in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Al-Attiyah took the overall lead after the third

“We just finished and i’m so happy. it was a difficult Dakar for everyone,” said Al-Attiyah. “it’s crazy to manage to defend my title. i’m very happy to win five times, and Mathieu (his co-driver Mathieu Baumel) four… Sorry, Mathieu!

“We didn’t have to attack like crazy. We managed to get through the second week and win the Dakar at the end, that’s what really matters.”

Loeb gave it all he could as he won a record six successive stages in the second week. But the 48year-old Frenchman had lost so much time on the first part of the race that it was a lost cause. “After the beginning of the Rally we had we could not hope

for better than this,” said Loeb.

“Nasser was so consistent that he was unbeatable, he produced a brilliant performance without any mistakes.”

Moraes — whose co-driver Timo Gottschalk was Al-Attiyah’s partner in his first win in 2011 — was proud as punch to be the first Brazilian to finish in the top three. “it was important for the rally community in Brazil because it had never happened before,” he said.

“i’m going to celebrate with all the Brazilian photographers.” – ‘Incredible’ –

The car category may not have had a lot of suspense about it but the motorbike title race more than made up for it with plenty of thrills and spills.

DAMMAM, SAUDI ARABIA agencieS

Rohit missed out on a fifty after he fell to Chamika Karunaratne but Gill kept up the attack with Kohli and raised his second ODi hundred, celebrating it with a fist bump.

Gill smashed Jeffrey Vandersay for four fours in the over after the ton, but was soon bowled off a slower delivery from Kasun Rajitha.

“King Kohli” put on another century

achieved by Hamza Taimur Amin & Muhammad

Zubair with the gross score of 288 (0 under par).

Govt alleGedly vIolates InteRnatIonal oBlIGatIons In PRoMotIons of BuReaucRats

ISLAMABAD shahzad paracha

tHEFederal Government is reportedly violating international obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption signed by Pakistan in 2005 in promotions of bureaucrats.

Sources said that the government is bound to promote civil servants on the basis of five criteria, namely, efficiency, transparency, merit, equity and aptitude under article 7 of the UN Convention.

However in Pakistan, efficiency of a civil servant is gleaned through his performance evaluation reports which are most of the time based on love-hate relationships between the seniors and subordinates and do not reflect the reality.

In addition, the transparency and equity in promotions get fatally wounded when CSB promotes an officer having low scores in PERs and

trainings by awarding to him more marks from a stock of 30 marks placed at CSB’s discretion and denies promotion to another officer having higher PER and training scores by giving him less marks from their stock of 30 marks placed in their hands.

In addition, Pakistan’s domestic legal framework for promotions in the form of section 9 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973 clearly founds elevations in civil service on merit and also provides in rule 8-A of the Civil Servants (appointment, promotion and transfer) Rules 1973 three tools including prescribed length of service in the present grade, promotion related training as well as department examination to measure the merit for promotion.

Sources said that the merit measuring tools of departmental examination and trainings clearly provided in rule 8-A for a promotion to grade 22 are openly violated every time the PM chairs the high powered boards to decide the civil ser-

Bilawal: PPP will support PM in ‘potential’ vote of confidence

ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced his party will support Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a vote of confidence, should the president call for one.

In an interview on a chat show, the PPP Chairman pointed out though currently there is no indication that such a situation will arise, the PPP will be ready to “complete the numbers.”

He also discussed the party’s preparations for upcoming local government elections, saying the PPP has appointed representatives in each union council and is aiming to secure mayoral positions in cities such as Hyderabad.

In addition, he touched on the topic of separation from the Federation, stating it would not be in the best interest of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). He emphasized the importance of allowing governments to complete their terms, describing it as a “major success” for democracy.

Regarding the general elections and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) ruling alliance, the foreign minister acknowledged the possibility of seatto-seat adjustments between parties. He also emphasised the PPP’s readiness for elections as a political party.

he said that his party is not afraid of local or general elections and the confusion is clear after Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision. “Our preparation is complete and we are hopeful, we will take our space,” he said and urged the workers should come out in large numbers and exercise their right to vote. The PPP chairman said that the economy is struggling due to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan, adding that they are seeing that the economy will stabilize, that is why they want to sabotage the affairs. He said Pakistan has experienced biggest natural disaster in the history, and it is necessary to pull Pakistan out of the difficult situation first, adding that it is not in the interest of the country to go for general elections immediately.

Bilawal urged MQM-Pakistan to fully participate in the second phase of Sindh local body elections scheduled to be held today.

vants’ promotions to grade 22 and the merit measuring tool of departmental examination is openly violated every time the chairman FPSC chairs CSB to decide civil servants’ promotions to grade 20, 21.

A blatant violation of the existing domestic as well as Pakistan’s internationally agreed upon legal framework for promotions in civil service have played a decisive role in breeding in the civil servants their self centered tendencies and their hopelessness about career advancement without money and power.

Sources said that in the civil service departments like FBR as well as district administrations which offer huge corruption opportunities even to the beginners as the new entrants in service set their gaze on and begin to amass financial resources which they believe are the ultimate tools for their elevation in civil service.

In this run after money from the outset of their civil service career, focus on

the work efficiency, quality and productivity gets sacrificed at the altar of lust for money thus bringing to the civil service a crowd of civil servants always busy accumulating the armaments to fight a battle for their own elevations in their careers instead of working for the people for whose service they had been recruited in the first place.

Sources said that the Prime Minister may chair the meeting of the high powered selection board during this week to promote grade 21 officers to grade 22.

Sources said that the merit in civil service promotions has been thrown away by placing 30 marks at the CSB’s discretion for promotions to grade 20 and 21 and by laying down a few vague criteria in 2010 rules in violation of the UN Convention for promotion to grade 22.

The scribe asked Secretary Establishment Inamullah Khan for his comments on this matter but no reply was received till filing of story.

Despite odds, govt committed to polio eradication: PM

ISLAMABAD staff report

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday inaugurated a three-day nationwide anti-polio drive by administering polio drops to children.

In a brief ceremony held here, the prime minister said that a nationwide drive was being started to overcome the resurfacing of the polio cases.

The prime minister said that floods in the summer season had disrupted the national drive, but despite all those difficulties, the polio workers carried out the onus with their hard work and commitment.

He further observed that unfortunately, Pakistan was among the few countries where polio cases had resurfaced.

A few years back, during the government of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, these cases were completely eradicated, he added.

The prime minister said about 20 cases of polio were reported from Waziristan, but due to consistent efforts, these were restricted and controlled and did not spread to other parts. The prime minister also lauded those frontline workers and law enforcement agencies personnel who had laid down their lives for achieving the objective and embraced shahadat.

He said that their sacrifices would always be remembered.

“I have the conviction that all the provincial governments, along with the federal government will continue collaborating to eradicate the disease forever,” he added.

The resurfacing of the few cases had certainly raised concerns among

the partners including Bill Gates Foundation, World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders, he added. The prime minister said that during a telephonic conversation, Bill Gates had expressed his commitment to support the government’s efforts to eliminate the disease.

The prime minister also expressed his gratitude to the WHO, stakeholders, related departments, law enforcement personnel and the daughters of the nation for their continuing efforts and commitments.

The prime minister mentioned that he had held meetings with the federal health ministry officials and others, whereas the federal and provincial governments were all supporting these efforts.

He expressed confidence that they would control the disease with collective efforts. Earlier, the prime minister also gave away certificates to the best-performing polio workers.

PM exPresses grief over loss of lives in Plane crash in nePal: Prime Minister Muhammad She-

hbaz Sharif has expressed deep sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives in the plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal.

In a statement, he said in this difficult and sad time, our sympathies and prayers are with the government of Nepal, the affected families and the people of Nepal.

“May Allah grant the bereaved the courage to endure this trauma with patience and perseverance,” he added.

countrywide antiPolio caMPaign: The other hand, the federal government has decided to launch the nationwide anti-polio campaign from Monday (today). According to information, the federal government has completed consultations with the provinces on the nationwide antipolio campaign. The campaign will be carried out in two phases.

The first phase will be initiated between January 16 to 20 and the second phase will be carried out from 23 to 29. The anti-polio drive will run in Azad Kashmir, GilgitBaltistan and four other provinces.

Work on two WB-funded 245MW power projects to begin this year

PESHAWAR aziz buneri

The World Bank will start 2 hydropower projects of 245 megawatts in district Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year, the completion of which will generate an annual income of more than Rs13 billion to the province. While it has been decided to add a security package by making quick amendments to the documents before starting these energy projects. This decision was taken in a high-level meeting with the World Bank mission chaired by the Secretary Energy and Power Nisar Ahmad Khan. WB Senior Energy Specialist Muhammad Saqib, along with other members of the mission, Chief Executive PEDO Engineer Naeem Khan, Chief Engineer of KHRE Program Shah Hussain and respective project directors also participated in the meeting.

In the meeting, Chief Executive PEDO Engineer Naeem Khan, while giving a briefing, said that with the financial support of the WB, the construction work on 2 hydropower projects in Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be started this year, which include 157 MW Maidyen Hydropower Project and 88 MW Gabral Kalam Hydropower Project. In this regard, a 450 million dollar agreement has already been signed between the WB and the provincial government. Moreover, these projects will be completed by 2027.

In the meeting, Secretary Energy KP Nisar Ahmad Khan said that both power projects are very important for the development and prosperity of the province, the completion of which will start a new era of development in the province. On one hand, the projects will bring huge investment in the province and on the other hand, new employment opportunities will be available, he added. He assured the World Bank mission that the provincial government is making fool-proof arrangements for the security of the staff working on the energy projects and is in touch with the local police, administration and other security agencies. He issued instructions to the officials that security package should be prepared and practical work may soon be started so that the people of the province can benefit from its fruits.

JI will not allow anyone hijack its mandate, warns Rehman

KARACHI staff report

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman warned against the “undue” delay in the announcement of results, saying the public will besiege the entire the city if the Jamaat mandate was stolen. Addressing a presser at Idarah Noor-e-Haq, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman declared that the ECP was duty bound to provide results to the party in time, saying it was their constitutional, democratic, and legal right. While congratulating successful candidates in the local body polls and encouraging those who lost, the JI city chief said the party won’t allow hijacking people’s mandate. Commenting on his party’s position in the elections during Geo News show Naya Pakistan, Hafiz Naeem said: “I am wary of making big claims about the polls, but according to what the numbers are showing our position is good in District Central, District East, and District Korangi. These districts have approximately 125 union committees.”

He added that JI is also leading in several places across District East; in fact, it is also ahead in some areas in Keamari. However, the JI’s senior leader said Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and the secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have issued clear orders to provide Forms 11 and 12, which are not being followed.

Pakistan’s average productivity growth from 2010 to 2020 remains 1.5%: study

ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

In Pakistan, average productivity growth has been 1.5% from 2010-2020 which is not enough if Pakistan wants to achieve Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of over 78 percent on a sustainable basis.

Productivity is the measure of how efficiently inputs, such as labor and capital are used to produce output. The growth of productivity is a crucial determinant of an economy’s growth.

A study — titled “Sectoral Total Factor Productivity in Pakistan,” —conducted jointly by the Planning Ministry and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) shows the country’s average productivity growth has been 1.5% from 2010-2020. However, 1.5%

productivity growth is not enough if Pakistan wants to achieve desired GDP growth of around 7-8 percent.

The study used unique listed and nonlisted data from 1,321 firms divided into 61 sectors, to estimate the productivity growth in Pakistan.

According to the study’s results, highproductivity growth sectors are mostly services-based or tech-based, whereas most of the sectors that have medium to low or negative productivity growth are in manufacturing.

The study maintains that one plausible reason for the aforementioned sectors could be greater competition in services. The study further finds states, “the manufacturing sectors are protected in Pakistan, which insulates them from the competition; protecting a sector retards any incentive to improve efficiency.”

The Planning Ministry has recently launched the Champions of Reforms (COPs)

network to bring together professionals from different sectors to contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country.

The analysis also shows that export-designated sectors (not export-oriented firms in a sector) have either low or negative productivity growth. Moreover, sectors that are the recipient of subsidies also have low to negative productivity growth.

It further highlighted that productivity growth turned negative around the time of elections thrice and once during the COVID period. This, perhaps, suggests that the overall macro environment and political transitions casts significant impact on productivity and GDP growth.

The study’s results further furnish some serious implications. One of such implications is that the negative productivity in the subsidy recipient sectors is essentially a deadweight loss to the economy. It also acts

as a barrier to private sector development. Meanwhile, the below-average performance of the export-designated sectors is a wakeup call for all because it implies that Pakistani exports are not competitive compared to its competitors’ exports.

Having higher factor productivity, or simply productivity, is a key building block for global competitiveness, without high productivity, we cannot compete at the international level, said Asim Saeed, Member Private Sector Development and Competitiveness at the Planning Commission of Pakistan.

Asim, being a key player behind this study, noted that the only sustainable way for Pakistan to rid itself of the perplexing macroeconomic woes was to substantially substitute foreign currency refinancings and more foreign debt with a foreign currency stream of export dollars. “This is possible

only if we wholeheartedly embrace productivity as our national emblem,” he remarked.

The study further concludes that to move the country towards a higher growth trajectory, solid measures and right steps are inevitable to improve productivity. In Pakistan, episodes of liberalization and marketfriendly policies are key to ensuring high productivity and increasing GDP growth on sustainable grounds, urges the study.

High productivity and GDP growth in Pakistan are also correlated with better macroeconomic fundamentals, structural reforms, institutions, governance, and private sector dynamism.

“Providing discriminatory incentives to certain sectors and firms retards competition in the economy, which eliminates the need to improve efficiency and hurts the private sector’s development,” said Omer Siddique, Senior Research Economist at PIDE.