Epaper_23-01-18 LHR

POWER POLITICS

ECP

35 morE Pti mnAs As sPEAkEr nA ACCEPts rEsignAtions

ISLAMABAD Saleem Jadoon

Aday after Pti chairman imran khan dropped a hint at return to the national assembly, Speaker Raja Pervaiz ashraf on tuesday accepted resignations of 35 Pti lawmakers, prompting the election commission of Pakistan (ecP) to de-notify 35 Mnas – 33 general and two reserved seats. in addition to the 35 Pti lawmakers, the ecP also de-notified awami Muslim League (aML) chief Sheikh Rashid ahmed. according to an ecP notification, 35 seats of the national assembly are now vacant including 33 general and two reserved seats. the 33 Mnas de-notified, include Murad Saeed, na 04; omer ayub khan, na 17; asad Qaiser, na 18; Pervaiz khattak, na 25; imran khattak, na 26; Sheharyar afridi, na 32; ali amin khan, na 38; noor ul haq Qadri, na 43; Raja khurram Shahzad nawaz, na 52; ali nawaz awan, na 53; asad umer, na 54; Sadaqat ali khan, na 57; Ghulam Sardar khan, na 59; Sheikh Rashid Shafique, na 60; Sheikh Rashid ahmed, na 62; Mansoor hayat khan, na 63; fawad ahmed, na 67; M Sanaullah khan Mastikhel, na 97; Muhammad hammad azhar, na 126; Shafqat Mehmood khan, na 130; Malik Muhammad amir dogar, na 155; Makhdoom Shah Mehmood hussain Qureshi, na 156; Zartaj Gul,na 191; faheem khan, na 241; Saif ur Rehman, na 242; Muhammad alamgir khan, na 243; Syed ali haider, na 244; aftab hussain Shafique, na 247; attaullah, na 250; aftab Jehangir, na 252; Muhammad aslam khan, na 254; Muhammad najeeb haroon, na 256 and Muhammad Qasim khan Suri, na 265. aliya hamza Malik and kanwal Shauzab,

who were elected as Pti Mnas on reserved seats for women from Punjab, were also denotified. the de-notification of the lawmakers comes days after Pti chief imran stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would be asked to take the vote of confidence. with Pti dissident Raja Riaz holding the parliamentary party leader’s position in the national assembly, Pti fears that he may decide to vote in favour of the prime minister if President dr arif alvi asks Shehbaz Sharif to take the trust vote.

Raja Riaz leads the group of Pti Mnas who did not tender their resignations when the party decided to quit the assembly in the aftermath of imran’s ouster.

in a meeting with media persons at his Zaman Park residence on Monday, imran said planning and consultations with party leaders as well as legal experts were afoot to strate-

gise how Pti’s turncoats can be stopped from siding with the ruling coalition of Pakistan democratic Movement (PdM).

Speaking to the media in Lahore earlier today, Pti’s fawad chaudhry said that the after the dissolution of the khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies, the party would focus on “sending the government home”.

he said that the Pti wanted to sit down with the federal government to work on an electoral framework. he noted that while Pakistan’s economic woes were substantial, they could be solved if political stability was brought.

“we want the federal government to sit with us for [formulating] an election framework. But in the current situation, the federal government is adamant on not holding elections.”

he said that the Pti had formed a committee headed by Pervaiz khattak that would go to the na speaker and ask for party members to be given the offices of leader of the opposition, parliamentary leader and chairman of the public accounts committee.

“we are hopeful that the plan for ousting the federal government will be completed in a few weeks.”

‘Another Attempt to run AwAy from generAl elections’: Reacting to the denotification of the lawmakers, fawad “thanked” the na speaker for accepting the resignations.

“But until you accept 70 more resignations, the posts of the na opposition leader and the chairman of the Public accounts committee belong to the Pti,” he said.

Pti central information secretary farrukh habib alleged the na speaker had accepted the resignations with “ill intent” because he found out that the Pti intended to remove Raja Riaz as the na opposition leader.

stepping closer to imran’s goal: Kp cm signs summary for dissolution of provincial assembly

after 48 hours,” he added.

khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief Minister Mahmood khan tuesday night signed a summary, advising Governor haji Ghulam ali to dissolve the provincial assembly, stepping closer to Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) chairman imran khan’s plan to pave the way for general elections in the country.

the kP chief minister’s move for kP assembly dissolution ensued the Punjab assembly dissolved by ch Pervaiz elahi after Governor Balighur Rehman refrained from signing the summary sent to him.

the Pti chairman had announced the dissolution of the khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies in november last year. however, the plans were delayed due to consultations with allies and countermeasures adopted by the ruling allies in the centre.

the kP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad ali Saif confirmed the development, saying that the summary for the dissolution of the assembly has been forwarded to the governor.

“even if the governor does not approve the summary, the assembly will automatically stand dissolved

the Governor house confirmed receiving the advice to dissolve the assembly. the advice to dissolve the assembly has been received, Governor ali told the media, adding that he would decide on the matter according to the law and constitution.

hours before the dissolution of the kP assembly, national assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz ashraf on tuesday finally accepted the resignations of 35 members of the lower house of parliament — 34 belonging to the imran khan-led Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) as well as awami Muslim League (aML) chief Sheikh Rashid.

asad Qaiser, Qasim Suri, Pervez khattak, ali amin Gandapur, Murad Saeed, Shehryar khan afridi, and imran khattak are among the lawmakers whose resignations have been accepted. the speaker also accepted the resignation tendered by awami Muslim League (aML) chief Sheikh Rashid.

the move to dissolve the legislature was made after an online meeting between party chairman imran khan, the provincial cabinet, and former kP governor Shah farman at the chief Minister’s house.

ecc moves on Kissan package promises, energy issues

in Pakistan that had cost the economy roughly $40 billion.

the economic coordination committee (ecc) of the cabinet has approved ‘duty Reduction’ for import of second hand tractors. the move is a part of benefits meant to be passed on to farmers through the Prime Minister’s kissan Package 2022.

federal Minister for finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad ishaq dar presided over the meeting of the economic coordination committee (ecc) of the cabinet. in pursuance of Prime Minister’s announcement of the kissan Package-2022, Ministry of national food Security and Research (MnfSR) prepared and presented a detailed Package to the ecc including a proposal regarding import of up to 5year-old tractors with duty reduction. Kissan package and tractor industry the kissan Package is a Rs1,800 billion support package that the Government of Pakistan announced on october 31. the package was part of a series of measures that the Government had taken on the backdrop of the terrible flooding across the summer

under the package, the government will give Rs10.6 billion loans to small farmers across the country while small farmers of flood-hit areas would get loans worth Rs 80 billion. in addition to the interest-free and subsidised loans, subsidies will also be given on farm imports such as fertilisers, electricity, seeds, and even tractors.

the most immediate impact of the measure will be that it will provide a lifeline to the domestic tractor industry whose current five month sales volume is 52% lower compared to the same period last year. as to how much of this tax relief the companies pass on to the customers is debatable, particularly given how Millat tractors, one of the two major tractor manufacturers in Pakistan, is currently embroiled in a conflict with the office of the federal tax ombudsman over tax fraud as part of a previous Government scheme aimed at the agricultural industry.

Ministry of industries & Production shared a proposal/position paper “import of used/old tractors in cBu condition classified under Pct codes

8701.9220. 8701.9320 8701.9400 and 8701.9500 with depreciation allowance in value at not exceeding 50% of value of tractor”: date of first registration of tractor in the country of export shall be taken as date of manufacturing”; (c) “fBR shall make corresponding changes in relevant customs General order (cGo) for finalisation of the customs value of imported tractor”. ecc meeting

Sources said that fBR also has proposed to maintain the existing mechanism for depreciation per month and up to a maximum of 60%, to facilitate the end kissan package. Moreover, fBR has also suggested to include Pct 8701.9290 in the proposal to make it all inclusive for agriculture tractors.

Sources said that the Ministry of commerce has allowed import of up to 5-year-old tractors, an amendment has to be made in iPo 2022 in order to implement the subject direction of the cabinet regarding kissan Package 2022. it also proposed to allow import of agriculture tractors not less than 5 years. the age of the tractor shall be determined from January 1, 2022 till the shipment as per the date of landing.

for the purpose of determining the year of manufacture for a used tractor, the shipment shall accompany a certificate from oeM or a certificate of first registration or a PSi issued by one of the PSi companies listed at appendix-h iPo 2022, verifying the year of manufacturing. other decisions

the finance division also presented a summary on proposals of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) regarding equity investment of uSd 4.9 million by fauji foundation for acquisition of shares of daharki Power holding Limited and submitted that the Govt allowed fauji foundation to make equity investment abroad of uS$ 12 million in ‘daharki Power holdings Limited’ in 2008. fauji foundation, asian development Bank and daharki Power holdings Limited, Bvi entered into an agreement in 2008, which provided adB the right to exercise the put option in respect of 2,750,000 shares subscribed by it. the ecc considered the proposals of SBP and allowed equity investment of uS$ 4.9 million by fauji foundation for acquisition of 2,750,000 shares (18.64% stake) of daharki Power holdings Limited and granted waiver/exemption to

fauji foundation from the policy enumerated in foreign exchange Manual being incorporated as a trust under charitable endowment act 1980.

the Ministry of energy (Petroleum division) presented a summary for assignment of working interest in exploration licences/Blocks. the ecc after discussion approved assignment of 34% working interest of M/s Pakistan oilfields Limited (PoL) and 6% of M/s attock oil company Limited (aoc) to M/s Polskie Gornictwo naftowe i Gazowinictwo S.a (Polish oil and Gas company) (PoGc) in kirthar South Block (Sindh).

the power division also submitted a summary regarding amendments in the Standardised Security Package documents (SPds) for the large solar Pv projects, based on the market response on the earlier modifications by the competent forum and in order to ensure the viability of the project. the ecc after discussion approved the proposals that indexation of tariff in the SPds be on an annual basis and payment mechanism for settlement of invoices as per framework Guidelines.

pASHAWAr Staff rePort

profIt report

Shahzad Paracha

High-powered Russian delegation set to discuss oil, LNG deals

PML-N forwards two NaMes for caretaker cM sLot

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

PAKISTANMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has forwarded two names for appointment of caretaker chief minister to Punjab Governor Muhamamd Baligur-Rehman.

In a letter issued here on Tuesday, Hamza Shehbaz, being the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, forwarded the names of Syed Mohsin Raza

Naqvi and Ahad Khan Cheema for caretaker chief minister slot.

As Hamza Shehbaz is not present in the country, he nominated MPA Malik Ahmed Khan to further coordinate with the Punjab chief minister on the issue of caretaker CM.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Malik Ahmad Khan held a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday and revealed that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has finalized the names for the caretaker chief

PtI blasts govt for not disclosing toshakhana’s 50-year record despite court order

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership blasted the government for non-disclosure of the 50-year record of Toshakhana gifts despite the court’s orders, saying that if the Toshakhana records were made public it would expose all the thieves of the country. PTI Central Secretary General Asad Umar and PTI Central Secretary Information Farrukh Habib said that the PTI Chairman Imran Khan disclosed all the records of the gifts received from the Toshakhana while the government of crooks was resisting the court orders fearing that it could put them in the troubled water. Asad Umar raised a question that why the imported government was so reluctant to give the 50-year record of Toshakhana, which was being sought by the court. He said that the legs of all the thieves were trembling as the disclosure of the details of Toshakhana gifts would expose them. Talking about the economic debacle, Asad Umar said that out of 22 sectors of large scale manufacturing, 15 have negative growth in July to November while four have zero growth. He went on to say that the devastation was widespread across the industrial landscape. He further revealed that large scale manufacturing continued to shrink vs last year, as it downed 5.5% in in November as compared to the same month last year, adding that from July to December the large scale manufacturing down by 3.6%. “Each passing day of this imported government sinks Pakistan further into disaster,” he added.

Membership of 25 MPs restored on filing mandatory statements of assets

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday restored the membership of 25 parliamentarians and allowed them to function as members of Senate and National Assembly on filing their mandatory statements of assets and liabilities to the commission. According to an ECP official, the parliamentarians, who were suspended over non-submission of their asset details, had now filed their statements of assets and liabilities, and fulfilled the legal requirement in conformance with the relevant election laws. It is pertinent to mention here that the ECP had suspended the membership of 271 parliamentarians for non-submission of till their statements of assets and liabilities. The membership of four Senators, including Rana Mahmood-ul-Hassan Ahmed Khan, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Saeed Ahmed Hashmi has been restored. While 21 National Assembly members including Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Raja Riaz Ahmed, Noor Alam Khan, Saad Waseem, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Shahida Rehmani and others have been restored. The Election Rules, 2017 provide that every member of an assembly and Senate would submit to the ECP on or before December 31st each year, a copy of his statement of assets and liabilities, including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children, as on June 30 on Form B. The election rules also provide that the Commission on January 16, by an order, suspend the membership of a member of an assembly and Senate who fails to submit the statement of assets and liabilities by January 15, and such member will cease to function till he or she files the statement of assets and liabilities.

minister of Punjab.

After the meeting, SAPM said he had completed consultation with the premier over the matter. He added that the names will be forwarded to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Malik refused to reveal any of the names till they get approval from coalition partners. SAPM said that after approval from Zardari, the premier will send these names to Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister

Shehbaz Sharif held consultations with the leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to finalize the name for caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab.

The prime minister in a telephonic conversation discussed the matter with former president Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan People’s Party, Muslim League (Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb stated

that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif telephoned top leadership of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to hold consultations on the name of caretaker chief minister of Punjab. In a tweet, she said that the PM called former president Asif Ali Zardari, Muslim League (Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

The prime minister also held consultations with the ally parties leaders on the political situation of the country, she said.

COAS vows to thwart enemies attempts to destabilize Balochistan

RAWALPINDI Staff rePort

Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir Tuesday visited Khuzdar and Basima areas of Balochistan and reviewed formation’s operational preparedness along with measures being taken to ensure a peaceful and secure environment.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the COAS was briefed on prevailing security situation and formation’s operational preparedness along with measures being taken to ensure a peaceful and secure environment.

While interacting with troops COAS emphasized on maintaining optimum operational readiness to thwart the attempts by foreign sponsored and supported hostile elements to destabilize Balochistan, the

military’s media wing said.

“We are aware of the nefarious designs of external enemies of Pakistan to disturb the hard earned peaceful environment in Balochistan,” COAS remarked. The COAS said that Army’s deployment and operations are being focused in Balochistan to provide enabling environment for benevolent people centric socioeconomic development, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday. Earlier on arrival COAS was received by Lieutenant General Asif Ghafoor, Commander Quetta Corps.Last month, the country’s top military commanders vowed to “fight against terrorists without any distinction” as the scourge of terrorism has reared its ugly head again with a fresh wave of attacks in the country.

The reiteration of the resolve was made in a huddle of the corps commanders at the GHQ which was presided over by Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir.

fazal: No elections in Punjab and kP following dissolution of assemblies

Maulana Fazal

NA passes bills to enhance punishment for disrespecting Ummahatul Momineen, Ahle-Bait, Sahaba

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed two private member bills including the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2021 as reported by the standing committees.

The bills were piloted by Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Dr Nafisa Shah in the House respectively. The statement of objects and reasons of the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 says that a few people are involved in blasphemy on the internet and social media etc, and they upload such pages and messages covertly.

However, due to Capital Punishment in section 298c, the ratio of people involved in blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is very low. The fact may be observed that disrespecting the Companion of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and other sacred personalities not only promotes terrorism and disruption in the

country but also hurts people from all walks of life.

In section 298-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, the punishment against the person who disrespects the wives, family and Companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), is imprisonment for a minimum of three years period along with a nominal penalty while this is a bailable crime. Due to this simple punishment, the criminals, despite, the punishment, commit the same crime again. Hence, due to such simple punishment, the people try on their own to punish the criminal which increases the violence.

It is the responsibility of Parliament to review all factors by which terrorist activities promote and prosper within Pakistan by comprehending this matter with sensitivity and seriousness.

Moreover, some crimes mentioned in the list of crimes are very lesser in nature than disrespect of Ummahatul Momineen, Ahle-Bait, Khulfa-eRashideen and Sahaba-e-Kiram but their punishments are more than that mentioned in section 295-A of Pakistan Panel Code.

A snap election will be held in Punjab after the chief minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, triggered the poll last week by calling for the legislature to be dissolved, putting pressure on the central government of Shehbaz Sharif ahead of the planned general election. Holding elections in a province with 110 million people, around half of Pakistan’s population, would be an expensive, logistically complicated exercise for a government dependent on foreign aid and reeling from the impact of last year’s devastating floods. By bringing forward a provincial vote, however, political analysts say Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) could pressure the government into holding a countrywide election earlier to avoid the huge double cost of two votes. Commenting on the apparent reluctance of the government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance which he heads to hold early elections, Rehman, who was speaking to reporters after attending a convention in Peshawar on Monday, insisted that national politics should be carried out in accordance with constitutional provisions and not subject to anyone’s whims. He went on to claim that the ousting of former prime minister Imran Khan was a result of PDM efforts rather than a foreign conspiracy. He also discussed the Constitution and Pakistan’s political system, stating that it is based on four pillars: Islam, democracy, federalism, and parliamentary democracy. He emphasised that Pakistan is an Islamic country as declared by the Constitution and cannot adopt secularism. During the conversation, the politician also touched upon political issues such as the war in Afghanistan and the suppression of Muslims in other countries.

PMO: Talks with India on hold until reversal of Kashmir autonomy revocation

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) made it clear that any talks with India can only take place after the country reverses its “illegal action of August 5, 2019.”

This action, according to the PMO, was aimed at altering the demography of the Muslim-majority state of Indian-occupied

Kashmir. The statement emphasised that “without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible.”

This statement comes a day after Shehbaz Sharif called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to hold serious and sincere talks to resolve issues, including the ongoing conflict in Kashmir, and suggested the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leadership could play a key role in bringing India and Pakistan to the negotiating table.

Tensions rose high when India unilaterally revoked the autonomous status of its part of Kashmir later in 2019, which Sharif said resulted in “flagrant” human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. Ever since, official talks between the two countries have been suspended, although there were some backdoor diplomacy attempts to resume negotiations — one brokered by the UAE in 2021.

“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is let’s

sit down at the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues, like Kashmir,” Sharif said in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel on Tuesday.

He said he had taken up the issue with UAE’s president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in his recent visit to the Emirates.

“He’s a brother of Pakistan. He also has good relations with India. He can play a very important role to bring the two countries on the talking table,” Sharif said.

The two arch-rival nuclear powers have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947. Two of the wars were over Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region, which both nations claim. Each controls half of it.

The two neighbours got closer to a fullscale war in 2019 when the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) downed an intruding Indian MiG-21 aircraft and captured its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, after the plane crashed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

It was the second corpse commanders’ conference Gen Munir chaired since taking over the baton of command from Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa who doff his uniform after the completion of his extended tenure last month. However, no statement was issued by the military after the first huddle.

PESHAWAR Monitoring rePort

ur-Rehman, leader of the far-right Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, declared there will not be any elections in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the dissolution of local legislatures, without elaborating further.

LAHORE: Rescue 1122 firefighters trying to put off fire erupted in spare parts warehouse on Montgomery Road. Photo by zubair Mehfooz

JaMaat aNNouNces Protest agaINst rIggINg

‘MIscoNduct’ IN sINdh LocaL goverNMeNt vote

KARACHI Staff rePort

JAMAAT-E-ISLAMIhas called for countrywide protests against the results of the local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, alleging that the results have been engineered.

Siraj ul-Haq, party chief, while speaking to the press late on Monday, said the delay

Pakistan joins nations in urging Israel to end sanctions on Palestinians

NEW YORK afP

Some 40 countries on Monday called on Israel to lift sanctions it imposed on the Palestinian Authority earlier this month over its push to get the UN’s top court to issue an advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation. On December 30, the General Assembly passed a resolution requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. In retaliation, Israel announced a series of sanctions, including financial ones, on January 6 against the Palestinian Authority to make it “pay the price” for pushing for the resolution. In a statement to journalists Monday, the United Nations member states, reaffirming their “unwavering support” for the ICJ and international law, expressed “deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership and civil society following the request by the General Assembly” to the court. “Regardless of each country’s position on the resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, and more broadly in response to a General Assembly resolution, and call for their immediate reversal,” the members said. The statement is signed by countries that voted for this resolution — Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Ireland, Pakistan and South Africa, among others — but also by some that abstained — Japan, France and South Korea — and others that voted against, like Germany and Estonia.

Pakistan warns of taliban defections to IsIs amid afghan economic crisis

NEW YORK Staff rePort

In an interview with Newsweek, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram warned of potential Taliban defections to ISIS-K if the current economic woes in Afghanistan continue. He specifically named insurgent groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), but also the regional ISIS-Khorasan branch, called ISIS-K or ISIL-K, saying that sometimes these groups worked together against Pakistan’s interests. Akram further warned that other groups such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) also needed to be combated, but that such efforts on the part of the Taliban would be difficult to achieve as long as the government found itself short on income. “We have to deal with this,” Ambassador Akram said, “and we are determined to deal with it internally.” And while he said, “we’ve dealt with this in the past,” the diplomat warned that new challenges have emerged in trying to influence the Taliban-led government and that it was in their immediate interest to take on all of these groups. “Now we have a situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban need to be convinced to deal with all of the terrorist movements, not only ISIL-K, which they are fighting, but others,” Akram said. “We understand the situation, but we have to find an effective strategy for dealing with it.” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari recently spoke with his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaq, offering his condolences over the attack near the foreign ministry in Kabul.

in the release of results by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was raising doubts. He said that JI had emerged as a big party in the elections, and the polling agents’ results prove that the party has a majority.

Party spokesperson Qaiser Sharif also said the party had given a call for protests on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the chief of the party’s Karachi chapter, Hafiz Naeem ur-Rehman, said the people of the provincial capital voted for JI as the biggest party in the city.

Rehman, criticising the government, said the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) connived with some individuals of the ECP and returning officers to plunder JI’s mandate. He also said the tribunal played a “brave” role by holding the elections on the scheduled date, but the body’s preparation and arrangements weren’t up to the mark.

Rehman further alleged the deputy commissioner of West Zone and assistant commissioner of Shah Faisal changed the

KP finance dept fails to use annual development fund

PESHAWAR aziz buneri

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Department hardly managed to spend some funds on three projects out of seven development projects, included in the Annual Development Program (ADP).

The provincial government had allocated Rs 18.22 billion to seven projects of the finance department of the current financial year’s ADP of which the finance department has released Rs505.989 million in the last six months, while the department has spent Rs 130 million on three projects until August.

The provincial government has spent Rs6.7 million allocated for the project to increase the capacity of the finance department, while Rs 120

million, out of Rs3.965 billion, has been spent on KP Revenue Mobilization and Resource Management Program. Similarly the provincial government has Rs3.8 million, out of Rs 14.2 billion, on the better development project.

The KP finance department sources said that the rate of allocated funds’ spending was extremely slow during the last six months while department has failed to utilize even a single rupee on three projects till August.

The political “cold war”, said the sources, between the provincial and federal governments has led the province into a very critical situation as not only the ongoing uplift projects of the finance department have been delayed, but also important projects, included in the ADP of other departments, got delayed due to lack of funds.

results. He added that JI will stage sit-ins outside the office of the ROs who changed the results, and the biggest protest will be at the office of the deputy returning officer where the most rigging took place.

Finally, Rehman said that JI is open for talks with every party but first the counting of its seats should be done properly. He said JI chief Haq has spoken to the chief election commissioner in this regard, and that Karachi’s mayor would be from JI.

suspect in murder of lawyer afridi held in custody for two days

PESHAWAR Staff rePort

ISLAMABAD Staff rePort

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) is aligned with Pakistan’s development strategy and national interests.

According to a Radio Pakistan’s report, in an interview with China Economic Net, he said the initiative has boosted Pakistan’s economy and living standards of its people over the last decade through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The Minister said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will assist Pakistan in contributing

to better connectivity of economic powers in Central and South Asia, making the region the future hub of the world’s economy.

He said during the next stage of CPEC, Pakistan will explore trade activities, with special emphasis on business to business cooperation with China.

Ahsan Iqbal said the government will play a role in connecting business schools between the two countries and assist the business community in better understanding of Chinese market.

He said as China’s all-weather strategic partner and direct beneficiary of BRI, Pakistan’s energy, infrastructure, technology, and industrial sectors have all fetched benefits since the start of CPEC.

Pakistan sees rise in malaria and tuberculosis infections

DAVOS reuterS

Climate change is increasing malaria infections in Pakistan, among other nations, the executive director of the world’s biggest health fund said in Davos.

Huge surges in malaria infections followed recent floods in Pakistan and cyclones in Mozambique in 2021, said Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

“Whenever you have an extreme weather event it’s fairly common to have a surge of malaria,” he said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos. The increase in extreme weather events, and the resulting large pools of standing water that attracts mosquitoes, are leaving poorer populations vulnerable.He said climate change was also changing the geography of mosquitoes. The highlands of Africa, in Kenya and Ethiopia, are now succumbing to malaria because of a shift in the low temperatures that once made the area unsustainable for mosquitoes.

Sands runs the world’s largest global fund, which invests in fighting tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in some of the poorest nations in the world. The fund, which set a target of raising $18 billion, has so far raised $15.7 billion, the largest amount of money ever raised in global health. Part of the shortfall, he said, was a billion-dollar hit from currency fluctuations that affected donations.

Looking ahead, climate change is just one of the factors that could hamper efforts to eradicate the diseases, Sands said. The war in Ukraine has led to a worsening of AIDS and tuberculosis.

In middle-income countries such as India, Pakistan and Indonesia, tuberculosis cases amongst the poorest populations are also rising.

With fears of a global recession rising, Sands said those countries would come under increased pressure. “I think the big concern from our perspective is what happens to health budgets in the 120 or so countries we are investing.” And even within those health budgets, how much is being taken up by Covid?”

RUDA’s industrial zone emulates measures to fight pollution

rePort

Keeping in view the prevalent policy, RUDA has initiated a comprehensive plan to monitor, control and mitigate the effects of pollution in its territorial limits.

“Very comprehensive measures are initiated in RUDA Industrial Zone 1 where a survey is underway to collect data effecting the environment on one hand and suggesting the measures to address the problems of

environmental degradation on the other,” says a handout issued here.

“This exercise will result in the mitigation of the factors contributing towards the smog of the city which is otherwise being aggravated by the unbridled use of vehicles, emitting petrochemical fumes in the atmosphere.

RUDA is also facilitating the existing industries to acquire environmental NOC from EPA,” the statement said. “Converging on the other realm of development

For

and environmental atmospherics of the area,” it added.

A suspect has been remanded in police custody for the alleged killing of Abdul Lateef Afridi, a prominent lawyer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), on Monday. The 80-year-old was sitting in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) bar room when Adnan Samiullah Afridi opened fire at him, according to police. He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital but could not survive. The suspect was arrested from the crime scene and moved to East Cantonment Police Station where a case was registered against him. An officer at the police station said Adnan had confessed to the crime and that he had killed the victim over a family feud. Separately, Muhammad Ijaz Khan, the chief of Peshawar police, formed a fact-finding committee, with the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of investigations as its head, to determine how the attackers managed to sneak a weapon into the court’s premises. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 24 hours. The suspect was presented before Judicial Magistrate Badar Munir Tuesday, who accepted the police plea and remanded Adnan into custody for two days. He has also confessed to a murder at the police station, maintaining the attack was motivated by a longstanding family feud. The slain barrister was among seven people acquitted in December of the charge of killing anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Aftab Afridi and his four family members in 2021, after the judge declared the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the lawyer and his son. Judge Afridi, who was posted to Swat, had come under a gun attack near Ambar Interchange in the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 4, 2021 when he was travelling in his vehicle with his family on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway. The ambush had killed the judge, his wife and his pregnant daughter-in-law along with her three-year-old son and injured his guard and driver. The court’s decision to acquit the suspects had sparked controversy, with many questioning why the prosecution failed to bring the real perpetrators of the audacious murder to justice.

‘China’s BRI aligned with Pakistan’s development strategy, national interests’

LAHORE Staff

in the area, RUDA has undertaken the laying of sewerage and constructions of roads in the phase 1 of RUDA’s Industrial Area.

achieving better design delineations and linking the internal communication arteries, an entrance gate, measuring 80 feet wide and 35 feet long is being constructed. Ravi industrial Estate Association has already appreciated the efforts made by RUDA in improving the operational

CPEC EPIC MAnIFEStAtIon oF PAk-CHInA All wEAtHEr StrAtEgIC PArtnErSHIP: SPEAkEr

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

SPEAKERof National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf Tuesday described China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as epic manifestation of ironclad friendship and all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China.

Addressing the launch of All-Pakistan Chinese Enterprises’ Association (APCEA) sustainable development report 2022, he said the project was mutually beneficial for both countries rather than the whole region could reap benefits from the project owing to its viability.

The event was jointly organized by the SDGs Secretariat of the National Assembly of Pakistan in collaboration with APCEA at the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services.

He also said that sustainable economic development had always remained a top objective for Pakistan despite challenges. CPEC had played a massive role in the attainment of the above objective through enhanced connectivity and socioeconomic development.

SDGs Secretariat in collaboration with APCEA organized the launch of a report titled “APCEA Sustainable Development Report 2022”. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the CPEC projects in Pakistan while highlighting the contribution of the CPEC in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The speaker said the CPEC was one significant strategic imperative that had received attention in Pakistan and around the world. The project’s continuing second phase had shifted its emphasis to the Pakistani education industry, economics, infrastructure, and sustainability includ-

FM Bilawal, Chinese Vice Premier agree to further enhance Sino-Pak partnership

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Both sides discussed the multifaceted economic cooperation between Pakistan and China and agreed to maintain close coordination to further enhance the mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries, a brief statement issued here by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

ing the opening of technical education institutions and the initiation and expansion of student exchange programs, he added.

Mr. Wang Jie, Executive Vice Chairman APCEA and CEO of Bank of China Limited Pakistan Operations, in his welcome address, elucidated the vital need for realizing the importance of sustainable development and taking all possible corrective actions. APCEA Sustainable Development Report 2022 briefly summarizes the sustainable development achievements of Chinese enterprises in the year 2022.

He expressed APCEA’s beliefs about the terms “sustainability” and “sustainable development” which go beyond generating renewable energy. He stated that Chinese enterprises practice sustainable development in all aspects, to support Pak-China relations.

Consequently, their guiding princi-

ple is the fulfillment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including reliability, technological advancement, the welfare of the local community, and the development of their talents.

Romina Khurshid Alam, Convener National Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs, while highlighting the key takeaways from the report she stated that with “Pakistan’s youth bulge in mind and the Phase II of the CPEC, there is a need to prioritize the construction of new schools, technical and vocational training facilities, and higher education institutions while also renovating the existing ones”.

She further highlighted the role of CPEC towards the sustainable development goals especially SDGs 7 (Clean Energy), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 13 (Protect the Planet), and 17 (Partnership for Goals).

Petition filed in IHC against dissolution of Punjab, KP assemblies

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

A petition had been moved to Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday challenging the dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies by the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf.

Petitioner Shaukat Rasheed had named chief secretaries of two provinces, establishment division, ministry of inter-provincial coordination, secretary of parliamentary affairs, and PTI as respondents in the case.

The petition said that as per the constitution, an assembly had a five-year term and it was sup-

posed to work for the welfare of the people. It was necessary to have solid grounds to dissolve the assembly and it couldn’t be done for the sake of personal wishes, it added.

It further said no public referendum was conducted before dissolving the Punjab assembly and no any solid reason was mentioned in the summary. The petitioner prayed the court to set aside the decision regarding the dissolution of the assembly without any reason.

He said that dissolving the assemblies was an act to disrespect the public mandate. Such decisions for political gains would cause a financial burden on the country’s economy, he said.

Police on guard as anti-polio drive underway in Malakand

SWAT Syed Shahabuddin

Malakand Regional Police Officer (RPO) Muhammad Sajjad Khan Monday said that strict measures had been adopted for the safety and security of health workers busy carrying out polio vaccination during the ongoing antipolio campaign. Speaking to local media persons after the five-day anti-polio campaign launched in Malakand division, the RPO said that the safety and protection of the polio teams were the top priority of police for which concrete measures had been taken. He said that about 12,603 security personnel were providing security to the health

workers and vaccinators. “A heavy police force has been deployed across Malakand division for the effective and peaceful conduct of the five-day anti-polio campaign. To keep an eye on suspected elements, a number of blockades have been established. At the same time, the campaign is being closely monitored to avoid any unpleasant incident across the division,” he informed.

He issued orders to all the district police officers to supervise polio teams in their respective districts and ensure security of the polio teams, police officers and children who were being vaccinated. “Make sure use of bulletproof jacket and helmet and avoid using mobile phones while performing duty. During the polio cam-

paign, blockades have been set up on entry and exit points as well as on main highways across the division to keep an eye on suspicious elements,” he said and added that all resources were being utilized to make the anti-polio campaign a success. He stressed that repeated polio vaccination was imperative for building strong immunity among children to prevent them from lifelong paralysis.

“About a total of 12603 police officers and officials are working with polio teams across the division, including 3342 in Swat district, 1163 in Buner district, 1286 in Shangla district, 2263 in Lower Dir district, 1574 in Upper Dir district, 533 in Upper Chitral district, 900 in Lower Chitral district and 1542 in Bajaur district have

Center helping Balochistan youth to acquire skilled based education under CPEC

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The federal government is providing better opportunities to the youth of Baluchistan especially that of Gwadar to acquire modern education and technical skills under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In order to shape and enhance the skills of the active population of Gwadar, Federal Government has launched many initiatives. One such initiative is vocational training in various engineering disciplines. The objectives of the project also include the development and generation of technical know-how in the field of precision mechanics, instrument technology, and die and mold technology. Technical Training Center for Precision Mechanics and Instrument Technology, Gwadar is one such CPECrelated project which has been built for Rs 1200 million. The center will also provide consultancy services to the local industry on designing mechanical products, jigsaws, and fixtures which will help in skilling the local community, increasing exports, and creating employment opportunities.

Qasim Suri approaches IHC against FIA’s action

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)’s leader Qasim Suri on Tuesday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against FIA’s notice on inappropriate tweet about TV anchor Saleem Safi.

He stated in his plea that a complain was filed to the Federal Investigation (FIA) on basis of political rivalry. Journalist Saleem Safi had alleged him for trying to target his personal life as the twitter comment had affected the privacy of his family, he added.

He said that being an activist of PTI, he defended the ideology of Imran Khan at every forum. The tweet which was referred by the complainant was an answer of journalist’s tweet dated December 28.

Qasim Suri said that he had commented about the journalistic career of Saleem Safi which had no connection with his personal life. There was also no any provocative material in his tweet and he had never commented on privacy of his family, he said.

The petitioner said that the journalist had leveled false allegation on him and his complaint did not fall under cyber crime act. He was being dragged into the inquiry without any reason, he added, adding that the parents of everybody were respectful and he could not even imagine inappropriate statement against one’s parents. He visited Saleem Safi to condole his mother’s death and the journalist also visited him on death of his mother, Qasim Suri said.

He prayed the court to suspend the FIA notice till the final judgement in the case and also set aside its inquiry.

PAC seeks report on irregularities unearthed in constituent departments of Narcotics Division

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday directed the Narcotics Control Division to submit a complete overall report on irregularities found under its departments in the next meeting scheduled to be held on January 25 particularly the registration of bogus drug cases against politicians and others individuals.

The meeting was chaired by MNA Noor Alam Khan, who queried the authority concerned on the procedures and rules followed by the Narcotics Control departments during the registration of such cases.

The authorities told the committee that there was a need of sometime to compile a comprehensive report for a briefing over the matter.

The chairman of the committee directed the authorities concerned to appear after full preparation in the next meeting to be held in the coming week and no excuses would be entertained.

He mentioned that nobody was above the law but fake cases

of heroin should not be registered against anyone for political victimization.

Noor Alam Khan strictly urged that this practice should be abolished from Narcotics Control Division on a permanent basis to ensure transparency in its investigation processes. He further said the previous government had registered a heroin case against Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah through Narcotics Control Division during its regime.

“It is embarrassing to see in the video that officials of Narcotics Control have asked for money from people at Islamabad International Airport which de-

famed the country,” he added.

The PAC chair asked the authorities concerned that whether they had taken stern action against the perpetrators or not.

The matter of fake cases against politicians had been raised by MNAs Sheikh Rohale Asghar and Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir during the PAC meeting.

Secretary, Narcotics Control Division, Humaira Ahmed informed the committee that the officials were registering the cases against individuals while acting on information. “Narcotics Control is taking guidelines from its Federal Minister to conduct and ensure investigation process in a transparent

manner,” she said.

MNA Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed said the Narcotics Control Division should review its rules, assuring that PAC would facilitate them in the legislation.

The PAC meeting was attended by MNA Nuzhat Pathan, MNA Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, MNA Syed Hussain Tariq, MNA Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir, MNA Sheikh Rohale Asghar, MNA Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, MNA Ramesh Kumar Vankwani (via video link), Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed and Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday met Chinese Vice Premier, Liu He at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland.

MINISTEr dENouNCES AudIo dISCuSSING MP ABduCTIoN To dEThroNE ShArIf

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

THEinterior minister requested the chief justice and the speaker of the National Assembly to take action following the release of a leaked audio recording apparently discussing the abduction of an MP as rumours

that the president would ask for a vote of confidence from the prime minister mount.

The recording, which has been circulating on social media, reportedly features two Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) lawmakers, Hussain Elahi and Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, discussing the abduction of a woman lawmaker in the National Assembly.

In the audio, which is slightly over a minute long, the two men can be heard strategizing on a potential vote of confidence for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has hinted at returning to parliament to ensure that “turncoats” do not aid Sharif in obtaining the vote of confidence.

Rana Sanaullah Khan has con-

President for realizing full potential of Pak-China bilateral trade

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday stressed enhancing bilateral trade with China, which currently stood at $27.8 billion, and said the strengthening of businesses could prove mutual reward.

Talking to the outgoing Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), 19 projects were completed, 28 were under construction, and 41 were in the pipeline. President Alvi said CPEC was a transformational flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, which had the potential to act as the pivot of regional peace and connectivity.

The expeditious completion of four broad clusters of cooperation – Gwadar Port and its auxiliary features,

Power Politics: ECP denotifies 35 more PTI MNAs as Speaker accepts resignations

ContInueD froM pAge 01

PTI leader Hammad Azhar alleged that the Election Commission had “received orders from Avenfield”. “Another clumsy attempt to run away from general elections,” he said.

PTI’s Zulfi Bukhari said that the NA speaker had claimed he couldn’t accept the resignations collectively and each lawmaker had to verify their resignations individually. “Imran Khan thinks of re-entering the National Assembly to seek a vote of no-confidence against Shehbaz Sharif. Within minutes there’s a mass acceptance,” he said.

PTI’s en masse resignations: The PTI had announced mass resignations from the National Assembly in April last year, a day after party chief Imran Khan’s ouster as the prime minister through a no-confidence vote and shortly before Shehbaz Sharif was elected as his successor.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on July 28, 2022 accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers who had resigned after the vote of no confidence against the former PM.

The PTI had first challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 1, contesting that it was “unsustainable”. The IHC, however, had dismissed the petition on Sept 6, 2022.

The party then approached the Supreme Court, praying it to set aside the IHC order, terming it “vague, cursory, and against the law”. A decision on the PTI’s plea in the apex court is still pending.

Ashraf told a PTI delegation on Dec 29, 2022 that the party’s lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification of their resignations as the latter insisted on them being accepted in one go.

energy projects, transport infrastructure and industrial cooperation including the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) – would change trade, business and investment outlook of the country, he said.

The president observed that with shifts underway on the world stage, there was a need to further expedite the progress on CPEC so that the goods should start moving from South China to the Gwadar Port and upward in a regular manner.

The second phase of CPEC should be pursued expeditiously to promote agriculture; innovation and IT sector; industrial cooperation; livelihood generation and poverty alleviation; automobiles, textiles and leather manufacturing; and shifting of Chinese industries to Pakistan wherever possible, he added.

The president said that the signing of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement in January 2020 had fur-

demned the alleged planning of the abduction of a woman, stating that the PTI’s intention to “buy the conscience” of PML-Q and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers has been “exposed before the public.”

He called on the chief justice, Umar Ata Bandial, to take note of the audio and this “trade of conscience,” and urged Raja

ther liberalized the trade resulting in a significant expansion in trade volumes, noting that as per data for the first 11 months of 2021, bilateral trade reached a record high at $27.8 billion registering an increase of 60 percent with the corresponding period of 2020.

Pakistan’s exports amounting to $3.6 billion also registered an increase of 68% year over year, he added. The president expressed his satisfaction over the encompassing cooperation between the two countries in the fields of defence to socio-economic development

He conveyed his deepest gratitude to the people of China and President Xi Jinping for extending generous financial support to Pakistan which helped the country to deal effectively with the financial situation faced by it and during global warming-induced super floods last year which proved helpful in alleviating the suffering of the flood affected persons. He said the Chinese grant to the Presidency would be used to build a digital outreach platform to provide help to people under stress or facing mental health issues. He said the First Lady during her upcoming visit to United Kingdom would engage the psychologists and psychiatrists of the Pakistani diaspora in the United Kingdom to seek their active involvement to provide online counselling and advice to people facing mental health situations.

Stepping closer to Imran’s goal: KP CM signs summary for dissolution of provincial assembly

ContInueD froM pAge 01

In a statement, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan thanked the government and opposition lawmakers, as well as members of the civil service, for their service over the past four years.

He also expressed confidence that his party will establish a government with a two-thirds majority in the upcoming general elections, which must be held by October.

Furthermore, the chief minister stated there was instability in the country due to “imported” rulers, a reference to the government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) at the Centre, and that getting rid of the corrupt gang had become inevitable. He also thanked the public of KP for posing their trust in him.

Cabinet taken on board about assembly dissolution: Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday informed the provincial cabinet that a summary to dissolve provincial assembly would immediately be moved to the Governor and also expressed gratitude to cabinet members, MPAs and bureaucracy for their support to his government.

Presiding over the 86th cabinet meeting here at the CM house, Mahmood Khan said that the four-year in power spent very good and he was

grateful to people of KP for endorsing trust in him, adding that dissolution of assembly would not be delayed any further and the summary would be moved to the Governor immediately in vital nation interest. He hoped that PTI would come to power again with two third majority after winning the next general elections.

On the other hand, PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif attending an important party meeting via video link from London had directed its leaders and workers to start preparing for elections in Punjab and pledged that the central government would not be “blackmailed” by the PTI chief’s demand to hold snap elections in the country.

The former prime minister has been demanding general elections since he was ousted in April after losing a contentious parliamentary vote of confidence marred by allegations of military involvement. He has also led nationwide protests against his successor, Shehbaz Sharif.

Shehbaz has repeatedly rejected Khan’s demands, saying elections will be held as scheduled later this year. According to a party insider, the elder Sharif, too, has been categorical about the former prime minister’s demand. “Nawaz had said come what may, we will not be blackmailed by Khan’s demand. The general elections will be held on time,” he said.

Dar lauds Nong Rong’s contributions in enhancing Pak-China ties

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

decades

PTI rejects Sindh LG polls results; demands probe

He said that said Sindh government used state resources to manipulate the polls results and used several tactics to keep the voter turnout low.

Lashing out at the PPP for using state machineries to manipulate LG polls, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said that the PTI rejected the results of second phase of local body elections in Sindh, demanding an investigation into the rigging of LG polls.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Fawad said that the manner in which elections held, new precedents of rigging were set, as Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and PPP’s Sindh government tried to keep voters away from elections by issuing security and bomb blasts alerts.

Fawad stated that today it became clear as to why PDM was opposing EVMs, as If EVM machines were used, the voting results would have not been delayed. He said that the LG polls was made a joke, as the results of Karachi local body elections could not come despite lapse of three days.

Reacting over the government’s nominations, Fawad said that names proposed by PML-N for the caretaker chief minister were a joke and “non-serious”. “It is a joke if they have proposed these names but they haven’t been communicated to us,” he said, adding

that the names proposed by the PTI and the PML-Q were “serious”.

“We think that consensus should be developed on those names,” he said and added that Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera and Nasir Khosa were good citizens. Fawad noted how Malik Ahmed had stated earlier that flexibility could be demonstrated with regards to the names suggested by the PTI.

In an apparent reference to reports claiming that Khosa had refused to take up the mantle of caretaker CM, Fawad said: “I request Nasir Khosa to change his mind. This will be his contribution to Pakistan. I can imagine that it is a difficult thing.” He said the country’s entire bureaucracy was well aware of the reputation of the two.

Pervaiz Ashraf, the speaker, to do the same.

In the recording, a man believed to be Elahi is heard saying that “the parliamentary leader right now is Moonis Elahi [… ] but he has three and we are two.”

The other voice, believed to be that of Hussain, then proposes that a “woman can be abducted.”

Elahi allegedly responds by saying he would suggest the idea to Moonis and that the woman could be sent on “vacations.”

It should be noted the name of the woman is not mentioned in the audio by either Hussain or Elahi. Q League leaders have demanded that an investigation be carried out to verify the authenticity of the alarming audio and the involvement of the two if it is found to be true.

Telenor appoints Mindshare as their Media Agency

pr

Telenor has appointed Mindshare as its media agency, for both traditional and digital, following a competitive pitch. Mindshare Pakistan, part of GroupM, is the largest media buying house in Pakistan and is continuously thriving on data, digital and technology along with its conventional portfolio of business. The agency also secured gold wins for Campaign Asia’s Media and Digital Media Agency of the Year recently. Understanding the significance of a data-driven approach, this partnership between Telenor and Mindshare is set to bring several positive changes for both parties and the telecom industry. Telenor, with its vast reach, customer base and real-time data, will benefit greatly from Mindshare’s expertise in media, digital and buying. "We are truly honored to be appointed as Telenor’s media agency in Pakistan. This provides us with an incredible opportunity to work with one of the most robust telcos. My team and I are extremely delighted and motivated to apply the best of our thinking and capabilities to create winning momentum for Telenor. The tech-driven mindset and the agility in adapting to new challenges are few of the many reasons why the synergy between the two organizations seems promising and passionate." said Agha Zohaib, Managing Director, Mindshare Pakistan.

Summit Bank Ltd holds Extraordinary General Meeting

pr

Summit Bank Limited is pleased to announce that a key milestone relating to equity injection from H.E. Nasser Abdulla Hussain Lootah (the Investor), a UAE National and a long standing friend of Pakistan, has been completed. In this regard, the shareholders of the Bank at their Extraordinary General Meeting held on January 16, 2023 passed the requisite resolutions authorizing the equity injection. The President of the Bank, Jawad Majid Khan, emphasized that the Investor’s commitment to the Bank is demonstrated by the fact that, despite the current economic situation of the country, he has already placed the requisite funds i.e. PKR 10 Billion with the Bank as advance against proposed issuance of shares. The completion of the transaction will enable the Investor to acquire a majority equity stake and management control of the Bank, subject to regulatory approvals. Going forward, the Investor intends to convert the Bank to a full-fledged Islamic Bank.

ECC moves on Kissan Package promises, energy issues

ContInueD froM pAge 01

Another summary was presented regarding the Enhancement of Oil and Gas production from Tal Block (KPK) proposing sale of gas from Mamikhel South discovery to third parties in accordance with the Petroleum Concessions Agreement (PCA). It was also submitted that the State Owned Entities (SOEs) have around 70% working interest in TAL exploration Licence. This arrangement will be to the benefit of the Government of Pakistan in the form of increased dividends and taxes and it will be an opportunity to enhance private sector participation. The ECC considered and approved the proposal. The ECC considered and approved a summary submitted by the Ministry of Commerce on policy regarding B2B barter trade mechanism, especially where there is absence of banking channels and generally to facilitate trade with other countries.

LAHore Staff RepoRt

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday lauded the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong’s contributions in enhancing and cementing

old brotherly ties between Pakistan and China and facilitating Chinese government’s all out support to Pakistan. He made the remarks during a lunch hosted by him in honor of the outgoing Chinese Ambassador. Ishaq Dar extended best wishes of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Nong Rong.

06-07 Comments - 18th January 2023_Layout 1 1/17/2023 10:37 PM Page 1

Talking Kashmir

Dialogue

the only path to a peaceful solution

PRIME MInISTER Shehbaz Sharif asking his Indian counterpart to ‘sit down and have serious and sincere talks’ over ‘burning issues including Kashmir’ is a welcome step towards attempting to normalize relations with our recalcitrant Eastern neighbour. India’s consistent unsubstantiated allegations of Pakistan sponsoring terrorism can only be addressed in any meaningful and satisfactory way if the former is able to produce credible and tangible proof of this activity so that the latter can take necessary action to make things right. For this, a conversation has to be had by sitting across each other on the negotiating table, not through hyperbolic statements by foreign offices or colorful jingoistic television programming.

But perhaps the larger issue at hand is that of Kashmir. Spontaneous protests broke out all over the Valley after Indian Prime Minister narendra Modi rescinded the status of Indian-Occupied Kashmir in August 2019. India tried to put down the protests through draconian measures. With separatist leaderships in jail, and peaceful protesters dispersed by recourse to pellet guns, this forced young political activists to turn into militants. Instead of realizing that militancy in IOK was a homegrown affair, India blamed it on Pakistan. This further strained relations between Pakistan and India.

Any war between India and Pakistan, who both possess nuclear bombs, could be devastating not only for the two neighbouring countries, but also the entire region and beyond. The only way out for India is to seek the resolution of the issue through talks with Kashmiris and Pakistan, who are also stakeholders in the resolution of issue. For decades, Pak-India tension has forced both to spend an extra large chunk of their budgets on defence instead of education, health and poverty alleviation.

While fully supporting the Kashmiris’ right of selfdetermination at all international forums, Pakistan should simultaneously try to normalize relations with new Delhi. Improved relations could become a factor in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. An enhanced PakIndia trade and facilitation of people-to-people interaction can create strong peace lobbies in both the countries that could help in the resolution of all disputes, especially the Kashmir issue.

Another step in tearing Palestinians out of the land

and professional well-being of the Palestinians who lived in the neighbouring towns and villages of the Hebron district. To protect the settlers travelling from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, the Israeli military established numerous checkpoints and closed side roads.

The situation borders on the absurd. Residents from two Palestinian villages could no longer drive the short distance to Hebron to shop and visit with relatives and friends.  The route was cut by military blockades at two points, roughly 50 metres apart.  Arabs driving from the villages were forced to park on one side and then walk to the next barricade to secure a taxi into Hebron.

ulation of East Jerusalem.

In reality, what Israel calls East Jerusalem encompasses a large swath of the West Bank including 28 Palestinian villages. For decades this metropolitan area served as the hub for the region. It’s where Palestinians shopped, worked, went to the theatre, got medical attention and social services. It was the centre— and now it was closed. Jerusalemites who economically benefited from employment servicing their compatriots lost their jobs, as did those who lived beyond the boundaries of the now closed city who were unable to navigate the checkpoints to go to work in Jerusalem.

AT its core, the struggle over the future of Jerusalem isn’t only about religion. Though it may sound sacrilegious to some, the core issue extends beyond historical claims to holy sites or who gets to pray where and when. It’s also about power. Specifically, it’s about Israel’s continuing penchant for flaunting their power, while Palestinians make a last-ditch effort to salvage some shred of control over their lives.

This power struggle can be viewed through many lenses, but nowhere is it more clearly visible than in the tale of two Palestinian cities—East Jerusalem and Hebron—and the connections that bind their fate.

In 1994, after an extremist Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinian worshipers in Hebron’s Al Ibrahimi Mosque, the Israelis imposed several repressive measures that particularly impacted Hebron and Jerusalem. The Israelis claimed that they implemented these measures in order to preempt any Palestinian retaliation for the massacre. And so, while an Israeli committed the crime, it was the Palestinians who paid the price.

In Hebron, Palestinians living in close proximity to the few hundred Israeli settlers who had illegally occupied buildings on Hebron’s Shuhada Street were evicted from their homes. Additionally, the Israeli military deployed over 1,000 well-armed soldiers and closed off major streets effectively shutting down the souq.

Where thousands of Hebronites once strolled and shopped, now there were empty streets and closed shops with graffiti covering the walls of Arab shops: stars of David, and Hebrew slogans reading “Death to the Arabs” and “Goldstein is our hero.”

The stress and hardship this placed on Hebron was obvious as was the disruption to the economic

Settler rioting, empty Arab shops, police beatings of Palestinians, the closure of the old city and the destruction of its economy, the daily harassment and pressure— this became daily life of Hebron.

Equally distressing were the measures the Israelis implemented at the Al Ibrahimi Mosque, the scene of the massacre. They took complete control of the building and physically divided it into Jewish and Muslim sections, with almost two-thirds reserved for a Jewish synagogue. While Jews have relatively free access to the building, Palestinians are forced to wait in humiliating lines and pass through numerous Israeli controlled checkpoints to enter.

Their reaction is not as Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a senior member of the current Israeli government, claims, born of racism or antisemitism. Rather, it’s because they fear that what happened to the Al Ibrahimi Mosque is what the future holds for Al Aqsa. And this they can’t abide. It is a religious issue to be sure, but, at its core, it’s about their need to protect the last semblance of control they feel they have

To add insult to injury, on dates of religious importance to Judaism, Israelis routinely close the entire Mosque and its surroundings to Palestinians. And recently, Israel announced plans to seize land around the Mosque to build an elevator to provide access for Jewish worshippers.

I say that the fate of Jerusalem and Hebron are connected for two reasons. First, as part of the “protective” measures taken post-Goldstein, Israel instituted the complete closure of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. This closure was even more complete than the one instituted in Hebron, with profound economic, social, cultural, political, and even psychological consequences for the Palestinian pop-

The absence of jobs and opportunities for the young Palestinians in Jerusalem has produced both cynicism and despair, as has the closure, which, for all intents and purposes, cut the heart of Palestine away from the est of its body.

Like their kinfolk in Hebron, as they lost control over their lives and futures, Palestinians in Jerusalem lost hope. And as they witness increasing settlement construction, land confiscations, and home demolitions as part of Israel’s effort to Judaize the city, that loss of hope has turned to resentment and resistance.

The one place, indeed the only place, where Palestinians feel any semblance of control is at the Haram al Sharif and the Al Aqsa Mosque. And this brings me to the second reason why the fate of the two cities is inextricably linked.

When Palestinians see the increased numbers of heavily guarded Israelis invading the Haram area, the acts of incitement that accompany these “visits,” and the declared intent of Israeli extremists to seize control of the area, they feel profoundly threatened.

Their reaction is not as Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a senior member of the current Israeli government, claims, born of racism or antisemitism. Rather, it’s because they fear that what happened to the Al Ibrahimi Mosque is what the future holds for Al Aqsa. And this they can’t abide. It is a religious issue to be sure, but, at its core, it’s about their need to protect the last semblance of control they feel they have.

In the book, BRICS and Global Governance, emerging markets and developing countries are increasingly playing a defining role in those trends, particularly in the growing cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries in the form of south–south cooperation. It was also said bythe Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, famously said, change is the only constant in life. Similarly, international relations are not immune to change. Saudi Arabia is speculated to join BRICS, which can potentially be a strategic game changer in the global arena.

The BRICS countries have a growing military and political influence on the global stage. By forming a bloc, the BRICS countries can exert a collective influence and present a united front on issues of their mutual concern. BRICS is a bloc whose name stands for the five member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and

There have indeed been discussions in the past about expanding the membership of the BRICS grouping, but to date, no new members have been admitted. Saudi Arabia has recently applied to join the BRICS; however, the admission of the oil-rich Kingdom will be based on the consensus of all the countries of the bloc. It is important to note that the BRICS countries are sovereign nations with their interests and priorities, and any decision to expand the grouping would likely require consensus among all member countries. It is also possible that other factors, such as the potential impact on the group’s dynamics and goals, could be taken into consideration in any decision to admit new members.

In the BRICS summit of 2023, the inclusion of Saudia, Arabia will be expected to be discussed. On December 8, a meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud saw an optimistic approach between China and the Arab world. If Saudi Arabia were to join the group, it could potentially bring additional economic and political influence to the bloc, because of its vast energy resources. We can understand Riyadh’s submission to join BRICS through multilateralism and national interest. Saudia Arabia is a Petro-state and earns 80 percent of its export income from oil. According to the Brookings Institute report 2020, “profits from oil export are expected to turn down due to expected decline in global demand by 2040”. To reduce oil dependence and diversify its economic resources, Saudi Arabia launched the Saudi Vision

2030 programme. Saudi Arabia has indeed sought to diversify its partnerships in recent years. As a major oilproducing country, the Kingdom has long had close ties with the USA, but it has also been looking to strengthen its relationships with other countries, particularly in Asia. The agreement to sell oil to China in exchange for Chinese currency (the yuan) is one example of this.

Saudi Arabia is a major player in the global economy, and its decisions can have significant impacts on the international market. As a major exporter of oil, it can regulate global oil prices and has played a key role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The country also has a large and diverse economy, with significant investments in various sectors

including healthcare, technology, and infrastructure. It is not uncommon for countries with significant economic power to have more autonomy in their foreign relations and to be able to choose their partners more selectively.

If BRICS decides to build up its membership with Saudi Arabia, it will stop Petro Dollar recycling. Saudi selling oil offers the USA a $7 trillion benefit which may shape a bilateral currency exchange deal under which the BRICS countries would not have to buy oil in dollars, especially India and China the two largest users of oil. The USA will experience a significant blow since China alone owns $1 trillion in US Treasuries. Without buying oil in dollars, the Chinese may sell those bonds, putting a dent in the US economy, so even if China merely withdraws its treasury bonds, the USA will have one trillion dollars less in bonds. If Saudi Arabia joins BRICS the break becomes almost definite.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to reduce its reliance on any single country and to increase its influence on the global stage. This can be seen as an effort to move away from a traditional role as a provider of raw materials and towards a more active role in shaping global events.

The writer is a Research Officer at Centre for International Strategic Studies, AJK. She canbe reached at Nsheikh536@gmail.com

is

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

South Africa. Together, these countries represent a significant portion of the world’s population and economic output. BRICS accounts for nearly 42 percent of the world population, 27 percent of the land area, and 32 percent of global GDP (PPP). If the grouping were to be expanded; it could potentially increase the global influence of the BRICS bloc.

NAZIA SHeIkH

WASHINGTON WATCH Dr JAmeS J. ZOGby

Dedicated

to

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

Hebron and Jerusalem: The impact of loss of control

Heathrow nuclear scare?

India tried the blame game even though its own record is far from good

LAST month, during routine scanning of cargo at the Heathrow Airport, the British police came across a package with a “very small quantity of uranium”. The undeclared material was discovered on a passenger flight on 29 December.The Indian news agencies and Daily Mail Online reported January 10 “it was destined for an Iranian business with premises in the UK”

Being “not of weapon grade” the uranium was incapable of being used for improvising a “dirty bomb” (a radiation dispersal device). However, some news agencies and uncanny experts tried to whip up “dirty bomb” scare out of the incident. Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, former commander of the UK’s nuclear defence regiment lent credence to the unfounded scare. He said: ‘Uranium can give off very high levels of poisonous radiation. It could be used in a dirty bomb.’Indian news agencies and the Daily Mail Online, in their reports, magnified “a very small quantity” into “several kilograms” of uranium. It was claimed that the package “originated” in Pakistan though it was headed for an Iranian business in Britain.

British Police Commander, Richard Smith clarified: ‘I want to reassure the public that the amount of contaminated material was extremely small and has been assessed by experts as posing no threat to the public. Although our investigation remains ongoing, from our inquiries so far, it does not appear to be linked to any direct threat.

‘As the public would expect, however, we will continue to follow up on all available lines of enquiry to ensure this is definitely the case.

‘However, it does highlight the excellent capability we and our partners have in place to monitor our ports and borders in order to keep the public safe from any potential threats to their safety and security that might be coming into the UK.’ ‘The material has been identified as being contaminated with uranium.’

India’s own record is dismal. Let us recall a few incidents.

India has a sprawling civil and military nuclear programme that spreads over several states. In an article in The Diplomat, Sitara noor highlighted shortcomings in the safety and security of India’s nuclear facilities In India’s radio-active bazaar: Recurring incidents involving theft and sale of nuclear materials demonstrate why

India must develop an independent nuclear regulatory body, she said: ‘While global markets are taking a dip due to economic recession, India’s illicit uranium market seems to be flourishing. In February, eight people including two Indian officials were apprehended in nepal for illegally possessing and attempting to sell “uranium-like substance”.The material was reportedly smuggled from India.This was not just a one-off incident— theft and sale of nuclear and radioactive material in India is a recurring phenomenon. Earlier in May 2021, reports of the seizure of 7 kilograms of highly radio-active uranium worth 210 million Indian rupees from a scrap dealer raised serious concern about India’s nuclear security capabilities. Over the past two decades over 200 kilograms of nuclear and radio-active materials has reportedly disappeared from Indian facilities. Frequent incidents of loss and theft of nuclear and radio-active materials in India indicate the failure of the nuclear security systems at multiple levels. First there seems to be a gap in the material accounting and control systems to ensure that not even an iota of material is left unaccounted.Second, the nature of incidents in India hints at the involvement of insiders— someone working at the nuclear facilities or mining sites working independently or colluding with an outsider. This indicates the serious risk of insider threat and a failure of personnel reliability program.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, ‘Terrorist interest in chemical and biological weapons is not surprising, given the relative ease with which some of these weapons can be produced in simple laboratories…Although popular fiction and national attention have focused on terrorist use of nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons are more likely choices for such groups’”.

not only sarin, but also several other chemical agents like mustard, tabun, soman and VX are capable of dual use as pesticides and as chemical weapons.Chandra points out, “chemical warfare agents ‘can quite literally be manufactured in a kitchen or basement in quantities sufficient for mass-casualty attacks”.Experts agree that it is more difficult to manufacture Sarin gas, used by the “terrorists” in Japan, than mustard, tabun, soman, et al. To some experts, an effective bio-terrorism facility could be built for $ 200,000 to $2 million.

The Heathrow nuclear material is now seen as ‘deadly’ but the UK-based media agency reported that the uranium was ‘not weapons-grade’ – and so could not be used to manufacture a thermonuclear weapon. It appears that “dirty bomb” is a hoax to exploit nouveau-nuclear or nuclear-threshold nations.

Third, the recurrence of nuclear security lapses with such impunity indicates serious issues with nuclear security culture in India…’

It is much easier and cheaper to make a chemical or biological bomb than a “dirty bomb” (It is believed that the chemical bombs used by Saddam’s Iraq against Iran were made with Indian know-how).Though a “dirty bomb” has never been used by any “terrorist”, a bio/chemical bomb was actually used by Japan’s former doomsday-cult Guru Shoko Asahara.

The Guru stands sentenced to death “for masterminding the deadly 1995 nerve/chemical gas (sarin) attack on the Tokyo subway and a string of other crimes that killed 27 people”.

The cult’s quest for biological weapons was overshadowed by its chemical attack capability.

The cult members were trying to develop botulinum toxin by utilizing toxin of the green mamba snake and poisonous mushroom spores,

Regarding use of chemical/biological weapons by “terrorists”, Professor Ramesh Chandra points out in his Global Terrorism “The US government indicates that these weapons are well within the reach of terrorists.

Biological weapons, too, are easier to manufacture than “dirty bombs”.Viruses could cause smallpox, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola. The threat of biological weapons is obvious from the fact that: (1) The charges for anthrax, Q fever (Coxiella burnetti) and Venezuelian equine encephalomyeletus cultures from a leading US culture collection are about $45, $80, and $81 respectively.Besides, nature abounds with microscopic killers.Bacillus anthracis resides in hides and carcasses of wild or domesticated animals and plagues in prairie dogs, chipmunks, black rats, deer mouse and coyotes. Chandra states that “The cost estimates for a bio-terrorism facility vary quite widely from $200,000 to $2 million...Instructions for how to mass produce, purify, and concentrate microbes can be found in textbooks and scientific journals”.

The Heathrow nuclear material is now seen as ‘deadly’ but the UK-based media agency reported that the uranium was ‘not weapons-grade’ – and so could not be used to manufacture a thermo-nuclear weapon. It appears that “dirty bomb” is a hoax to exploit nouveau-nuclear or nuclear-threshold nations. It could be a weapon of mass disruption, but not a weapon of mass destruction.Real threat emanates from chemical or bio-weapons.

The writer is a freelance journalist, has served in the Pakistan government for 39 years and holds degrees in economics, business administration, and law. He can be reached at amjedjaaved@gmail.com

Editor’s mail

Marking papers is a serious business

In Pakistan, there are 145 universities in the public sector and 99 in the private sector registered with the Higher Education Commission (HEC). All these universities are following the HEC policy guidelines for the implementation of a uniform semester system in higher education institutions of the country.

Section 11.1 of the guidelines reads, “… in each semester, students may be required to appear in quizzes, tests, midterms, final examinations, presentations (individual/group), group discussion, and submit projects/assignments/lab reports, etc. These assignment marks (to be determined by the teacher concerned) will have different weightage contributing towards the overall assessment in per cent…”

Some teachers use this authority and ask the senior students to mark the papers of the juniors. This has happened at various institutions, including Islamia College University, Peshawar, and Islamia University, Bahawalpur, according to the students enrolled in those institutions.

So, how should a paper be made and marked? It depends on the semester teacher. Who should be given the grace marks? It also depends on the semester teacher. Who should be a failure? To a great extent, it also depends on the semester teacher. It is because of these guidelines that university students cannot say a word against their teachers even when the teachers are not present there. These guidelines bound the students to obey and surrender before their teachers. They cannot complain against their subject teachers even if they are not teaching well; or even when they are not teaching at all. On the part of the teachers, they teach the way they like, follow the method they prefer, and those who have a permanent job have the luxury of being as whimsical as they want to.

To have the examination answer sheets officially marked by a designated third party is a great option we have. The third party could be of two types. It could be other teachers of the same university having similar expertise to that of the concerned ones, and the third party could also be the teachers of nearby universities. By adopting such a policy, we may save our teachers from such false allegations, and our students from getting black-mailed.

ABDUL SALAM ISLAMABAD

SBP deadline

THE State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued repeated reminders that old banknotes of Rs10, Rs50, Rs100 and Rs1,000 denominations can be exchanged from the Banking Services Corporation (BSC). I wonder why should there be a cut-off date for the exchange of legally issued banknotes that have been withdrawn. Many senior citizens sometimes misplace their currency, and they should not be penalised for forgetting to exchange their legally issued banknotes within the deadline.

The Bank of England has a citizen-friendly policy under which the withdrawn notes can always be exchanged not just with the bank itself, but also at designated banks and post offices. There is no ‘last date’ for exchange. The SBP should do away with the concept of deadlines in such cases.

KHALID HYDER RAWALPINDI

Saffron fanatics

WITH another Bollywood film coming up for release, fanatics in India are at it again, finding something or the other to claim their sentiments have been hurt. The extremists, as is almost always the case, are being led by prominent figures of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The current thing to have ‘hurt’ the sentiments is the supposed disrespect of the saffron colour. However, the extremists — the Hindu Taliban in India, we may well call them — use religion only when it suits them and serves their interests. The politics of religion in India is at a dangerous level whichever you look at it. One is allowed to make hate speech, spread violence against other religious communities, indulge in corruption, and commit fraud if one is wearing the saffron colour, but wearing the same colour in a movie song is objectionable. BJP power is based on communal politics. The higher the level of hatred in society is, the more popular the BJP gets. The two entities happen to be directly pro-portional, and that is what the problem seems to be with India and Indian politics.

ANWAR SAYAB KHAN BANNU

Writing as meditation

WRITInG helps one think critically and pay attention to the present moment. When you write with a pen, as opposed to typing, more body systems are involved and, therefore, your ability to focus improves phenomenally.

Writing is a slow process, which often makes it preferable to typing. Rough drafts pop up in our minds all the time, but when you write with a pen, you have to hold on to a thought for a longer time than when you are typing it. This makes writing a more composed and mature process. We all know that not every thought is worth pursuing and it is hand-writing that can be a preliminary filter for better, worth-spreading thoughts.

Writing engages more body systems than does typing. When you write a sentence, your hand appreciates the structure of each alphabet. For writing ‘cat’, you have to draw the half-circle of ‘c’ and acknowledge its structural differen-ces from ‘a’ and ‘t’. But when you type ‘cat’, all you need from your hand is to perform a monotonous activity of pressing on the keyboard ‘c’, ‘a’ and ‘t’. In other words, writing entails more attentional and muscular investment than typing. Keeping these aspects in mind, I have started focussed pen writing (FPW) activities and would like to encourage others to do the same. During FPW sessions lasting 30 minutes, one has to avoid using mobile or the internet. Away from the startle of getting notifications, FPW has the potential to become a meditation session when you are so engrossed in the present moment that you forget the world around you.

Likewise, FPW allows you to appreciate the power and serenity of being quiet. The amount of useless talk we often engage in on a daily basis is mindboggling. Talking, although faster than writing, is often a waste of time and mind. When you are comfortable in the company of people enjoying silence during FPW sessions, a different kind of bond is formed where the act of speaking becomes redundant. It is a wonderful sensation to have in life.

JAMSHED ARSLAN KARACHI

AmJeD JAAveD

TiMe Bruno MaÇÃES

aconsensus is beginning to form that a new war in Ukraine has become inevitable. In large measure this is due to the escalation in both rhetoric and military preparedness coming from Moscow. Combined, they create a situation where the costs of retreating for Russia might now be too high. The clout and credibility acquired over the last decade—which people close to the Kremlin applaud as a return to superpower status—would suddenly evaporate were President Vladimir Putin to order the troops amassed on Ukraine’s borders to return home.

At present, it seems very unlikely that the Kremlin will get more than symbolic concessions from Washington, much fewer than it perhaps hopes to get after more concrete tokens of Russian determination. The problem is not just that Washington will never make the kind of commitments about NATO expansion that Russia has demanded, but that most people in the Biden Administration think such commitments are a red herring. Putin is less interested in substantive commitments than in the spectacle of Russian assertiveness and American retreat. A deal would invite further provocations from an emboldened Russian leader. hence the gloomy forecasts.

The question, were Russia to make a move, is what kind. Kremlin insiders such as longtime foreign policy advisor Sergey Karaganov have downplayed the prospect of an invasion followed by territorial occupation as leading nowhere. “The seizure of Ukraine is not included in our military plans,” he recently said, “if only for the reason that capturing a country with a destroyed infrastructure and an angry population is the worst possible scenario.” Similarly, a document authored by a number of leading Ukrainian military experts argues that “a large-scale offensive operation in an attempt to hold large occupied territories is an adventure that has no

WhaT happens nexT in UkRaine coUld change eURope foReveR

WE LIVE IN A NEW ORDER WHERE POWER MUST BE BALANCED WITH POWER

chance of a positive outcome for Russia.” One mooted possibility is an amphibious invasion through the Sea of Azov. Such an operation would not be easy to accomplish. Ukrainian forces have been preparing for just such a scenario since 2014 and would be able to put up sufficient resistance that a Russian invasion would become prohibitively costly, measured in either Russian casualties or the time needed to conclude the hostilities. Russia could always combine a ground invasion with massive air support, but at what cost in civilian lives? As a former european head of State put it to me this week, “the big question is whether it will be also an air war. If yes, it will be a slaughter. If not, it will not be easy for Russia.”

Putin is certainly aware of the dynamics of public opinion in Western democracies. News of repeated atrocities in Ukraine would lead to the adoption of the most punitive economic sanctions. And then there is the possibility of a Ukrainian insurgency, inevitably supported by the West. In urban areas and in the west of the country, Russian troops and even transport convoys would be subject to isolated but deadly attacks. Sabotage would be another weapon of Ukrainian insurgent groups and even targeted assassinations could not be ruled out. When I talked to a number of security and intelligence officers in Kyiv in 2018, they offered that argument as final reassurance that Russia would not try to invade and occupy further Ukrainian territory, including the famed land bridge connecting the Donbas to Crimea or isolated bridgeheads somewhere on the Black Sea Coast.

Although militarily less ambitious and therefore less risky than an outright invasion and occupation, other kinds of military intervention might be politically bolder, as the intervention in Syria in 2015 undoubtedly was. One model Putin might be tempted by is the punitive strike. In a way he would be mimicking American practice—as exemplified by the air strikes Bill Clinton ordered against Iraq after it refused to cooperate with weapons inspections—while overturning the existing American monopoly on the use of military power, a monopoly already breached in Syria. The logic of a punitive strike would flow naturally from the ratcheting up of tensions we have seen in recent weeks.

Ri sing i nflati on is about to ch ange the economic debate

New incidents may be manufactured in coming days, after which Putin would address Russia and the world, explaining that he had no alternative but to order a series of air strikes and limited ground operations against targets inside Ukraine, as a way to eliminate a threat against Russian interests. his goal would be to degrade Ukrainian defence capacities, provoke a political crisis in Kyiv and affirm a new precedent for Ukraine and beyond. A symbol of imperial power rather than an ugly battle for territory.

After a humiliating military defeat, Ukrainian President Zelensky might even be ousted by a Moscowaligned new government in Kyiv, as suggested by revelations from the British Foreign Office over the weekend. And with Ukrainian defenses significantly degraded, Russia would be in a privileged position to launch new hostilities at any time in the future.

If the strikes end after a week or so, and mass civilian casualties are avoided, would they qualify as the kind of “minor incursion” President Biden thinks one could live with? We know european countries remain deeply divided over what level of Russian aggression should trigger sanctions, with Germany even pushing for an energy exemption in proposed dollar sanctions on Russia. Given these constraints, the Western response might be kept within certain limits, but neither Ukraine nor world politics would survive unchanged.

The existing security order in europe would be broken beyond repair. europeans would suddenly be living in a world where Russia would have a claim to intervene anywhere in its near abroad or even beyond, any time it felt important interests were at stake. The Russian television anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, known as a reliable Kremlin mouthpiece, explained on air during the past weekend that the current crisis is not about Ukraine: “The scale is much bigger.” he is right, but then the military endgame is unlikely to be the prolonged and costly battle for territorial control over Ukraine—a new Chechnya, as Boris Johnson called it earlier this week—that Western leaders keep warning Moscow about.

The crisis is not about Ukraine but about Russia. If Washington is serious about limiting Russian power, it

should focus less on what comes after a Russian attack than on offering Ukraine the tools to defend itself, especially during the initial stages of conflict, when air and standoff missile strikes will be deployed against military bases, power plants, key transportation nodes and other critical infrastructure. A visit to Washington by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in November detailed an urgent need for air defense capabilities. Ukraine believes the ability to shoot down Russian aircraft can deter Putin from invading.

We no longer live in the old liberal order where rules must be enforced and violators punished. We live in a new order where power must be balanced with power. The U.S. must reflect on whether it can afford to reduce its presence in europe before a proper counterweight to Russia has been created in Brussels. The pivot to Asia may need to wait for a solution to the european crisis. As for europeans, they need to quickly prepare themselves for a new world, where their sovereignty and security may well be at stake.

economic sanctions may influence how the Kremlin plans its actions in the next few months and years, but they cannot change the underlying dynamics. The existing order is starting to buckle and Washington needs to decide how best to replace it with new arrangements. Does it prefer to reach a grand bargain with Moscow whereby the two powers divide europe among themselves? Or does it prefer to encourage and support the development of a new european pole capable of balancing Russian power? Should Biden spend the rest of his term in fruitless summits with Putin or should he sit at the table with the european Union and Britain to discuss how europe can become a sovereign actor in foreign policy and security? To me the choice seems an obvious one, but what is frustrating about the current crisis is how we keep avoiding the larger questions of political order. By hesitating we allow others to assume the role of reformers and innovators. eurasia, the supercontinent, is being reshaped before our eyes.

Maçães was Portugal's Secretary of State for European Affairs and is currently a consultant at Flint Global.

Russia has upper hand on energy sanc tions

MoScow TiMeS PEtEr rutland

TheAustralian economy seems to have just turned a corner that will have major consequences for businesses, people paying off mortgages and political debate. The news is that inflation, which had been dormant for almost a decade, is rising. The consumer price index, which measures a “basket” of goods and services for an average household, rose by 3.5 per cent in 2021. If inflation keeps rising, pressure will grow on the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise interest rates which have been stuck at the historic low of 0.1 per cent since November 2020. The RBA has a target of keeping inflation in a band between 2 per cent and 3 per cent.

The rise in inflation was driven by some short-term, or one-off, factors such as a rise in petrol prices and the end of government subsidies to homebuyers but many economists believe inflation is probably to last. The underlying rate of inflation which adjusts for these one-off impacts rose to 2.6 in 2021, its highest in eight years.

The RBA has previously said it would not raise rates until 2023 or 2024 to give the economy time to recover from the pandemic but many bank economists say that the unexpectedly rapid rise in inflation will force it to move sooner.

Almost no one expects the RBA to raise rates at its first meeting of the year next Tuesday but RBA governor Philip Lowe will probably provide some signals about how fast he expects to return rates to a more normal level. The RBA will probably wait for the next official inflation data in April before raising rates.

There are good grounds for the RBA to be cautious. Some economists say the rise in inflation has been exaggerated by shortages and bottlenecks caused by the pandemic; once things return to normal, prices will stop rising so fast. Some argue that the RBA should wait for signs that wages are rising strongly before worrying about inflation. The pandemic, of course, is still a huge unknown. The rise in inflation is a global phenomenon and it seems like a solid bet that it is coming to Australia. The market now expects official interest rates will be about 1 percentage point higher by the end of this year.

That will be bad news for mortgage holders. Fixed-rate three-year mortgages have already climbed from just 2 per cent to 3 per cent in the past few months as banks prepare for the expected increase in the cost of funding the loans. higher rates could put an end to the crazy boom in house prices and perhaps raise levels of mortgage stress for many low- and middle-income earners.

Investment markets are already shaking because higher interest rates make it less attractive to borrow to invest in shares or cryptocurrencies. The S&P/ASX 200 has fallen 7 per cent this year. Bitcoin is down 27 per cent. There is a political dimension to this deep change in the economy. Interest rates and “the cost of living” pressures will become major topics at the next federal election. The rise in interest rates to a normal level after 10 years, during which interest rates only went down, is good news because it shows the economy is recovering. But there will be winners and losers along the way. households and investors will have to change their mindsets.

TheU.S. administration is talking up its ability to impose “swift and severe” sanctions on Russia that will deter it from military action against Ukraine. The problem is that economic sanctions are a two-way street — and Russia has positioned itself to have the upper hand in an economic war.

europe is on the brink of an energy crisis, in part engineered by Russia, and it would be a serious casualty in an economic war. In contrast the U.S. would benefit by expanding its gas exports to europe.

europe imports one third of its natural gas from Russia — with Germany getting half its imports from Moscow. Gas accounts for 30% of Germany’s total energy consumption. Russia is anxious to start up the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which brings gas directly to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The Trump administration, keen to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to europe, sanctioned the companies building Nord Stream 2 in 2019, delaying its construction. Biden pledged to waive those sanctions in May 2021, and in July Germany and the U.S. agreed to pay Kyiv $1 billion to compensate for lost transit fees, assuming Russia will cut back on gas deliveries via Ukraine.

The pipeline was completed in September 2021 but is still awaiting regulatory approval from the German authorities. Germany’s ruling coalition is split on the issue: the Social Democrats want the pipeline, the Greens do not.

Despite conceding on Nord Stream 2, the Biden administration is nevertheless interested in expanding LNG sales to europe. Amos hochstein, the State Depart-

ment’s senior advisor for energy security, worked for the Tellurian LNG company from 2017-20.

In addition to the tussle over Nord Stream 2, Russia is also pushing back against the european Union’s policy of switching from long-term contracts to the spot market for natural gas sales. Gazprom prefers ten-year contracts — with prices determined by average global oil prices — to cover the costs of developing new fields. Qatar, the leading exporter of LNG to Asia, also relies on long-term contracts.

The eU’s ideological commitment to deregulation is behind its push towards spot prices. They are also favored by the powerful financial lobby, who can profit from speculation in futures markets, but are shut out by direct contracts between suppliers and customers.

Over the past year, Russia has cut back on gas sales through the spot market, while meeting its long-term contractual obligations to european customers. It also put less gas into storage facilities in europe. This caused a squeeze in gas markets, with wholesale gas prices closing the year up 350%. households across europe are now facing monthly bills that are 30-50% higher, and some industrial gas users are cutting back on production of fertilizer, aluminum, steel and other energy-intensive products. Some small energy traders have gone bankrupt, and others are looking for government bailouts. One measure of German electricity prices has hit 300 euros per megawatt hour — up from an average under €50 over the last decade.

According to a report published by the Brussels-based Bruegel Institute released, Russia currently supplies 18 ter-

awatt hours (TWh) of gas per week to europe — against capacity of 54 TWh. Norway provides another 18 TWh and LNG adds 35 TWh. As of the end of January, europe’s gas storage facilities were 38% full, down from an average of over 50% in previous years.

The continent barely has enough import capacity to make up the shortfall if Russia were to cease all gas deliveries. Most of the LNG regasification capacity is in Spain and the U.K., and there are not enough pipelines to ship that gas to other countries. Germany itself has no LNG terminals. In any case, there is little spare global LNG production and tanker capacity with much already locked into other longterm contracts.

The global LNG market of 5,000 TWh cannot sustain a sudden 1,000 TWh boost in demand from europe. There would also be a crippling price war with Asian customers.

europe would have to cut demand, and bring back some coal and nuclear power plants. Germany just closed three of its six nuclear plants, and intends to shutter the remaining three by the end of this year. These steps would be anathema to the Greens in the coalition — and would undermine the pledges at November’s COP26 summit in Glasgow to move away from coal.

If the weather turns cold, european gas reserves will be exhausted by March, and prices will skyrocket. Assuming the stand-off continues, there would be the challenge of replenishing gas storage for next winter. As the Bruegel report concludes: “reaching the scale required to entirely replace Russian volumes would be at best very expensive, and at worst physically impossible.”

Sydney Morning Herald Editorial

corporate corner

Pakistan likely to organize roadshow of Pakistani Products in china

bEIJING Staff RePoRt

PAkISTANis looking forward to organizing a roadshow of Pakistani products in China this year, said Mr. Ghulam Qadir, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Pakistan in China.In an interview with China Economic Net (CEN), he said “As China relaxes its Covid-19-related restrictions, I think a major turnaround will happen for Pakistani producers. I hope that Pakistani producers, exporters, and manufacturers will come here and explore this wonderful market”, On Jan. 8, China lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travelers, au-

Rector COMSATS University calls for promotion of women entrepreneurship

Memorial of Shaheed Head Constable Munawar Hussain inaugurated

the spot, while the policemen were shifted to hospital, where the head constable Munawar Hussain embraced martyrdom. The Capital Police Officer Operations Sohail Zafar Chattha along with President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari formally inaugurated Munawar Shaheed Chowk on the occasion of his first death anniversary. PR

guring well for its economic and trade relations with other countries in the world, including Pakistan.

The Commercial Counsellor shares that Pakistan business opportunity conferences and trilateral business opportunity conferences are in pipeline for more frequent exchanges between the two brotherly countries. Various cultural festivities like food, cuisine, and fashion shows shall be held.

Looking back to the past year, Mr. Ghulam Qadir acknowledged it has been a difficult year for the global economy. In spite of this, breakthroughs have been achieved. “Pakistan’s cherry has been allowed to be exported to China, which amounts to a US$2 billion market.

Our sesame seed export to China

surged by 50 percent on a year-on-year basis to US$59.09 million in Jan-Sept 2022. Pakistan’s rice exports to China crossed the historical figure of one million tons. We are also finalizing trade protocols for daily products and meat products. It’s around US$20 billion market”, he exemplified. This year, he said, the focus will be put on e-commerce. “In China, most of the selling takes place through e-commerce. So, we are sensitizing our Pakistani exporters and manufacturers to come to China and use the wonderful facilities provided by the Chinese and provincial governments for warehousing, rent-free offices, and all the rest of other facilities”, he told CEN. Joint ventures will continue being

AIOU announces admission, entry test schedule for MS/Mphil, PhD

purely on merit basis.

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has announced the schedule of entry tests for admission to Ph.D., MS, and Mphil programs. Entry tests for these programs will be held in the academic complex, main campus, AIOU Islamabad from February 17 to 22.

Admissions in BS, MS/Mphil and Ph.D programs for Semester Spring 2023 will continue till February 15Admission forms and prospectuses for these programs are available on the University's website. Students can apply through online mode only. Admission in BS programs will be given

It is necessary to pass the entry test to get admission in MS/M.phil and PhD programs. According to the details, the entrance tests of the Mphil and PhD programs of the Faculty of Education will be held on February 17 and the interviews on February 18.

The tests of the Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies will be held on February 20 and the interviews will be held on February 21. Entry test for faculty of sciences will be held on February 21, interviews on February 22, while the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities entrance test will be held on February 22 and interviews on February 23.

Atomcamp, Jazz host Artificial Intelligence Summit 2023 today

PR

Atomcamp, in collaboration with Jazz, is hosting an Artificial Intelligence Summit on Wednesday, 18th January 2023 at National Incubation Centre (H-9/1, Islamabad).Other partners for this event include the Ministry of IT & Telecom, NIC, Special Technology Zones Authority and Tech Destination Pakistan.

Over the course of the event, participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the state of artificial intelligence in Pakistan and the existing opportunities and pitfalls of the AI ecosystem. In the event, the Ministry of IT & Telecom will present a draft of their National AI Policy for Pakistan, Moreover, panel discussions will be also be held where speakers from all walks of life will discuss policymaking and skill building in AI. At the event, atomcamp will also release its report on the AI ecosystem in Pakistan.

Artificial Intelligence is a fast growing and dynamic space across the globe. As recent developments have shown, AI holds the key to the future and is predicted to generate millions of dollars for the global economy. Technologies powered by AI can be used by individuals and organizations to make better decisions, automate

routine tasks and create new content from scratch. As it stands, AI is poised to transform all industries from healthcare and agriculture to finance and logistics. While Pakistan has an emerging IT industry, the role that AI plays in the existing ecosystem demands more attention and dialogue. With its trend growing IT exports and rich human capital, Pakistan could benefit greatly by actively supporting and bolstering its Artificial Intelligence eco-system. However, for this to happen there needs to be comprehensive dialogue on the role that AI is currently playing and the potential role it can play in Pakistan with the support of the private sector and government.

This is the aim of the Artificial Intelligence Summit-to provide a platform for discussion on key issues related to AI in Pakistan such as the policy and regulatory framework, the positioning of AI related products and services in local and global markets and the skills and training required by Pakistani professionals to tackle AI head on. Through this forum, we hope to bring together professionals from all walks of life such as government officials, leading private sector players and academia to shed a light on what exactly is the path forward for AI in Pakistan and how each stakeholder can contribute.

Old bookshop’s rare collection draws in readers

ple who are looking for an affordable way to build their personal library.

Old books are becoming increasingly popular among book readers due to a number of factors including cheap prices, the desire for authenticity, and the perceived value of older editions.

Secondhand bookstores — such as Nazir Rare and Antique Bookshop in Lahore — are specialized in selling rare books which carry a wide range of old books, first editions, limited editions, and other rare or hard-to-find titles.

Talking to the Associated Press of Pakistan on Tuesday, a customer, Saeed Ahmed, said that old book shops can be a great place for book collectors to find rare or hard-to-find titles, as well as for peo-

He said many old bookshops also carry other types of antique items, such as maps, prints, and other collectables which make them a destination for collectors of all kinds.

A student, Sara Aftab, said that many old bookshops buy books from the public and that becomes a good way for people to sell the old books that they no longer want and make some extra money to trade for other books.

She said old bookshops are a great resource for anyone interested in collecting or reading old books. She said old bookshops offer a wide range of titles at affordable prices and provide a unique shopping experience for book lovers and collectors.

A research scholar at Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology in Islamabad while commenting on the old books said that various publishers are offering up to 50 percent discount on the new books while owners of old bookshops purchase the books at a cheaper price to resell them to needy readers at higher profit margins.

When contacted by the press, the owner of an old bookshop in the F-10 sector of Islamabad, Nadeem Iqbal said they purchase used books at the quarter price and resell them at half price.

He said that the publishers offer a discount on the books which are printed in the bulk but such sales lack variety. He said that the collection of old book shops, variety, old editions, and rare collections make such outlets popular among the public.

encouraged to help move Pakistani products up the value chain and find broader market. “We want the sesame to be converted into sesame oil and byproducts, cotton yarn into textile and final products, and broken rice into animal feed and noodles made in Pakistan. The market is huge”, he said.

Mr. Ghulam Qadir introduced that as 2023 marks the Pakistan-China Year of Tourism Exchanges, there will be some very special packages and a complete guidebook to facilitate travel from China to Pakistan. Talking about the Belt and Road initiative which marks its ten-year anniversary this year, Mr. Ghulam Qadir told CEN that Pakistan was one of the pioneer participants and a beneficiary of BRI.

First HABIBMETRO Sirat Islamic Banking Summit held in Karachi

KaRacHI: HABIBMETRO Sirat – The Islamic banking brand of HABIBMETRO Bank, organized the first HABIBMETRO Sirat Islamic banking summit which was attended by various stakeholders including SBP, PSX & SECP officials as well as CEO’s and Shariah Board Members of various banks, Shariah scholars, and businessmen. The Summit was held in honor of the visit of HABIBMETRO Sirat’s Shariah Board Chairman Tan Sri Dr. Daud Bakar, a globally renowned Malaysian Shariah scholar and awardwinning author. Dr. Daud is the Founder & Group Chairman of Amanie Group and is a Shariah Board Member of various foreign banks. He has been awarded with ‘The Royal Award for Islamic Finance 2022’ by the King of Malaysia. During the day-long summit, Tan Sri Dr Daud Bakar held interactive sessions with diverse audience groups and discussed emerging opportunities and challenges in the global Islamic banking industry. Speaking at the event, Tan Sri Dr. Daud Bakar, said, “I am extremely delighted and privileged to be here in Pakistan and to represent HABIBMETRO Bank, which has established itself as one of the most trusted financial institutions here in Pakistan, courtesy its global vision of advancing forward and playing a pivotal role in shaping the Islamic finance sector of the country.” PR

Minister PD&SI directs stakeholders to ensure transparent, reliable census

Housing Census, take decisions on methodology of Census in the snow bound areas, and decide take decisions on issue of on overlapping of National events with Census timelines. Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, Chief Census Commissioner (PBS),presented in detail the progresson 7th Population & Housing Census related activities. He informed that495 Census Support Centers have been established where trained staff is deputed. Provinces have allocated 120,000 Census Field Staff. Pilot Census was successfully conducted in 33 districts. 125,500 Tablets were hardened and delivered to 495 Census Support Centre and training of 121,000 Field Staff is in progress since 7th Jan, 2023 at 992 venues. PR

Islamabad: Caroline Cummings, Chief Executive of US based non-profit, Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network (RAIN) visited the Business Incubation Center facility at COMSATS University Islamabad on Tuesday to further cooperation on women entrepreneurship. During the visit Ms. Cummings held one-on-one interactions with female students and facultyof COMSATS University Islamabad and discussed ways to promote women-ledenterprises under a US-funded project for Pakistani women entrepreneurs. As part of the programMs. Cummingsalso delivered a talk on “Women-Led Entrepreneurship” and informed participants about the opportunities of securing funding from the US State Department under the aegis of the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. PR

Islamabad: A memorial was built on G-9 Chaman Road in the federal capital named after the policeman who was martyred in a terrorist attack, a police public relations officer said. He said that, CPO Operations Sohail Zafar Chatha and President Islamabad chamber of commerce Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari inaugurated Munawar Shaheed Chowk at Sector G-9 chaman road. According to details, on January 17, 2022, head constables Munawar Hussain, Roz Amin, Azhar Iqbal and Mohammad Rashid were on picket duty under the supervision of ASI Arshad Mehmood in Karachi Company police station jurisdiction. They set up a checkpoint at Jillani Chowk when two terrorists on motorbike opened fire at the police party. The officials retaliated and three suffered bullet wounds. The terrorists were killed on

laHORE aPP

Islamabad PR

laHORE: Evacuee Trust Property Board Chairman Habibur Rehman Gillani chairs board meeting. Board Secretary Nasir Akram, CEO Kartarpura Abu Bakar Aftab Sheikh, Aamir Hashmi, Rana Shahid Saleem and Sanaullah Khan are also present. Staff Photo

Daftarkhwan is launching its newest coworking space- Alpha, in the National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP), in partnership with Aviation City Pakistan, a project spearheaded by the Pakistan Air Force. PR

Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim signs MoU with Fatima Jinnah Women University Vice Chancellor Saima Hamid as it extends Digital Pakistan Fellowship Program to students of FJWU. PR

Islamabad: As per decisions of Council of Common Interest (CCI), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics is working extensively to meet the challenging timelines to conduct first ever Digital census of Pakistan. In this regard, fifth meeting of Census Monitoring Committee was held on 17th Jan 2023 at 3:30pm at National Census Coordination Centre (N3C) under the chair of Prof Ahsan Iqbal, Minister PD&SI. Census Monitoring Committee was constituted in pursuance of decision taken in 49th meeting of Council of Common Interest (CCI) held on 13th January, 2022 to oversee/monitor Census activities to ensure expeditious, transparent and credible census conduct. The meeting was attended by Members of Committee from all relevant departments and stakeholders which includes relevant Federal Ministries, Administration of all Provincial and Area governments, DG Military Operations Directorate, NADRA, NTC etc. The main purpose of the meeting was to update all stakeholders about progress / ongoing activities of 7th Population &

PID (I) 4436/22

Unswervingly contribute to China Pakistan friendship for a shared future

NoNg RoNg News Desk

In October 2020, I flew over the towering Karakorum Mountains and arrived in the beautiful city of Islamabad with joy and expectation. Now I feel so reluctant to leave this beloved country to end my tenure as the Chinese ambassador.

Over the past two years, I have been making friends sincerely, promoting cooperation devotedly, seeking development whole-heartedly. I truly felt the ironclad friendship between China and Pakistan is higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea. I visited four provinces of Pakistan, witnessed the ongoing development of CPEC, facilitated the interaction between the leaders, and enjoyed the enhanced cooperation of various fields.

Looking back on the past two years, the evolution of the international situation has become more profound and complex, the COVID-19 pandemic together with the Ukraine crisis, has brought severe negative impact and much uncertainties to the world, and human society is faced with unprecedented challenges. Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, China has continuously made new and great achievements.

In 2022, the CPC successfully convened the 20th National Congress, drawing up a grand blueprint for advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernisation, and the solemn mission of building a community with a shared future for mankind. China will act as a responsible major country to promote cooperation and friendship, and inject new dynamics of development for its neighbours, including Pakistan, and the world as a whole.

Against this backdrop, I am pleased to see the highlevel interactions between China and Pakistan. The leaders of the two sides have maintained close exchanges through various ways. Last year, President Xi Jinping met with the Prime Ministers of Pakistan three times. Prime Minister Shehbaz paid a successful visit to China in November, becoming the first head of government to visit China after the 20th CPC National Congress. The two sides issued a joint statement and signed 21 cooperation documents.

Not long ago, Premier Li Keqiang spoke with Prime Minister Shehbaz, and the new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a telephone call with Foreign Minister Bilawal immediately after taking office. The two sides reiterated to promote practical cooperation in key areas and expedite the development of ChinaPakistan relations. With the strong guidance of the leaders, China and Pakistan are making great strides towards building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

I am pleased to see that China and Pakistan have continued to deepen their political trust. Friendship with China has always been a cross-party consensus in Pakistan. During the 20th CPC Congress, China received 58 congratulatory letters from more than 20 political parties and organisations in Pakistan. The two countries support each other on issues of core interests and major concerns. The Pakistani side firmly adheres to the one-China policy. China supports Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and promotes its social-economic development and prosperity. Actions have proved that no matter how the international situation changes, the friendship between China and Pakistan remains unbreakable.

I am pleased to see that the building of CPEC has achieved many fruitful results. From the initial layout focusing on Gwadar port, transport infrastructure, energy and industry, and gradually adding JWGs on social-economic development, agriculture, science and information technology, and international cooperation and coordination etc. CPEC has become an important platform for all-round cooperation between China and Pakistan.

Just name some progress for recent two years, as Gwadar East Bay Expressway has been opened to traffic, the construction of the new Gwadar airport has been accelerated, the Technical and Vocational Institute has been handed over to Pakistan. Karot Hydropower Project has got its COD, and K3 Nuclear Power Plant together with TEL and Nova Power Plants all started operation. Both sides agreed to actively promote the ML-1 project and the KCR project.

As a landmark project of “Belt and Road Initiative”, CPEC has brought a total of $25.4 billion in direct investment, $17.55 billion in revenue, $2.12 billion in taxes, and created 192,000 jobs for Pakistan， helping Pakistan to add 6000 megawatts of electricity, 510km of highway and 886km of national core transmission network, laying a solid foundation for Pakistan’s economic and social development.

I am pleased to see that bilateral trade has a good momentum of development. The second phase of China–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement has shown its effectiveness. Supporting policies such as currency swaps have been continuously improved.

Facilitation initiatives such as the export of highquality agricultural products to China have been steadily promoted.

Mbappe back but pSG Suffer another defeat

PARIS Agencies

kyLIANMbappe made his return from a post-World Cup holiday but Paris St Germain went down 1-0 away to Stade Rennais in Ligue 1 on Sunday, a result which leaves them just three points clear at the top of the table halfway through the season.

Rennes, who have won a club record ninth consecutive home game in the top flight, prevailed thanks to Hamari Traore’s second-half goal as the visitors suffered their second loss in three league outings. PSG have 47 points from 19 games while second-placed RC Lens are on 44, with Olympique de Marseille third two points further adrift. Despite the win, Rennes slipped down to fifth on 37 points, behind Monaco on goal difference after the principality side destroyed AC Ajaccio 7-1 earlier on Sunday with a Wissam Ben yedder hat-trick.

“I am disappointed with our performance because we conceded too many chances and created nothing,” said PSG coach Christophe Galtier, who complained of a “total absence of a presence in the penalty box” after opting to leave Mbappe on the bench at kick-off. This was the first time that Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar had appeared on the pitch together since PSG’s superstar attacking trio returned from the World Cup.

Messi had been afforded an extended holiday after guiding Argentina to glory in Doha and scored on his return in a 2-0 win against Angers in midweek.

Mbappe, scorer of a hat-trick for France in the World Cup final as they lost on penalties to Argentina, had played in his club’s first two games after the tournament before missing their last two as he took a holiday in New york with teammate Achraf Hakimi.

SMALL STADIUMS, HIGH TEMPERATURES

What Ronaldo can expect in Saudi

RIYADH Agencies

Ronaldo, 37, says he’s embracing the “challenge” of the Saudi Pro League, a step into the unknown for a player who is more used to Real Madrid’s heaving Santiago Bernabeu stadium or the “Theatre of Dreams”, Manchester United’s Old Trafford.

The transition has been eased by the combined 400 million euros he’ll receive in wages from his new team, Al Nassr, and a separate payment to act as an ambassador for an expected Saudi World Cup bid, according to sources close to the club. But it will be a big adjustment for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who will soon be running out at modest venues including the 6,000-seat Al Batin Stadium.

After an exhibition appearance against his great rival Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, Ronaldo will make his Saudi Pro League debut for Al Nassr on Sunday. The 16-team league will take Ronaldo from Dammam on the Gulf coast to Jeddah on the Red Sea, as well as desert-bound provincial cities such as Majma’ah and Hofuf, a hub for Saudi Arabia’s date industry.

While Al Hilal and Al Ittihad, the giants of Saudi football, play in 62,000-capacity home grounds, a handful of Pro League teams have small venues for less than 10,000 fans, and some pitches are surrounded by running tracks.

“Sometimes the stadiums are not in the best condition,” Moqbel al-Zabni, editor-in-chief of the Al Riyadiah newspaper, told AFP, cautioning that empty seats are a common sight. “The attendances that Ronaldo is used to will not exist. We are not used to seeing stadiums full to capacity,” he said.

Ronaldo’s home ground will be Al Nassr’s 25,000capacity Mrsool Park, which lies on a university campus in Riyadh and was packed for his gala unveiling earlier this month. Chartered planes will ferry the superstar and his team-mates to away games, club sources said, sparing him long coach trips through the desert landscape.

wITHthe economic slowdown in the country, the negative growth in Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) continued for the fifth consecutive month as it posted a 5.49 % decline in November 2022. What is the Quantum Index for Large Scale Manufacturing?

Quantum Index of Manufacturing (QIM) measures the changes in production of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) overtime, on a monthly as well as cumulative basis. The weights presently used for the QIM were derived from the Census of Manufacturing Industries (CMI) 2005-2006. How badly did the LSMI Perform over the Fiscal year?

As per the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the overall output of the LSM sector declined by

3.58% during the first five months (JulyNovember) of 2022-23 when compared with the same period of the previous year.

According to the Provisional Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) released on Tuesday, LSMI output decreased by 5.49% for November 2022 when compared with November 2021 but increased by 3.55% when compared with October 2022.

The QIM estimated for July-November 2022-23 is 111.41, and for November 2022 is 112.30.

As per the LSM data with base year 2015-16 the main contributors towards decline are food (-1.02), tobacco (-0.57), textile (-2.47) garments (4.46), petroleum products (-1.02), cement (-1.16), pharmaceuticals (-1.34), and automobiles (-1.27).

The sectors showing growth during July-Nov 2022-23 compared to July-Nov 2021-22 are wearing apparel (51.48%), leather products (8.18%), electrical equipments (1.06%), furniture (99.29%) and

High-powered Russian delegation set to discuss oil, LNG deals

Athree-day session of Pakistan Russia Inter Governmental Commission (IGC) is scheduled to start on Wednesday to discuss and finalise the import of cheap Russian oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Pakistan and in this regard a Russian delegation has arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday.

According to sources, the commission’s 8th session on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation will be held from the 18th to the 20th of January in Islamabad. A high-level Russian delegation headed by Minister for Energy, N G Shulginov, arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday.

During the IGC, Russian delegation will be headed by its Minister for Energy, N G Shulginov while Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq will lead Pakistani team and technical teams of both countries will discuss matters related to trade and investment, agriculture, energy, customs, industry, education, science and technology, information and communication technologies, communication (roads and postal service), railways and finance.

During IGC, both sides will negotiate on import of crude oil and petroleum products at a 30 percent discount and purchase of LNG from Russia, said sources. They added that if Pakistan is able to secure the deals at discounted rates, this would allow the cash-strapped country to save $2 billion per annum. The sources said that both sides will also take up matters pertaining to avenues of enhanced bilateral trade and investment during this IGC. They said that the two sides will explore the opportunities and prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in the oil and gas sector in Pakistan while introduction and use of Russian advanced technologies for the application of methods to increase oil and gas recovery at fields in Pakistan will also be discussed. They said the two sides will take up avenues of bilateral cooperation in the field of hydropower and renewable energy resources. Similarly, intensifying cooperation with state and private structures of Pakistan in the field of geological exploration for hydrocarbons and minerals will be also discussed while already agreed matters pertaining to mutual cooperation are likely to be discussed and may be finalised during this IGC, said sources.

They added that State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik will also participate in the IGC while officials of Pakistan’s petroleum, economic affairs and foreign affairs division will also attend the 8th session of IGC.

Pakistan’s Minister of State (Petroleum Division) Musadik Malik had announced in December 2022 that Russia had agreed to provide crude oil at discounted prices, a development that could potentially bring down the energy import cost for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar had earlier said that Washington would not stop Pakistan from buying the commodity from Russia because neighbouring India has also been doing the same.

It is pertinent to mention that the two sides-Pakistan & Russia- had so far expressed their willingness to remove existing barriers and restrictions in mutual trade in goods, services.

other manufacturing (football) (59.69%).

The decline in LSM comes as Pakistan’s economy has crumbled alongside a simmering political crisis, with the rupee plummeting and inflation at decades-high levels, while devastating floods and a major shortage of energy have piled on further pressure.

During the period from July-November, 2022 the sectors showing growth included clothing 4.46 %, leather products 0.06 %, electrical equipment 0.04 percent, furniture 1.53% while other manufacturing grew by 0.17%.

Meanwhile, the sectors showing a decline during the period under review included food 1.022%, beverages 0.26%, tobacco 0.57%, textile 2.47% wood products 0.05, paper and board 0.07%, coke and petroleum products 1.02%, chemicals 0.06%, pharmaceuticals 1.34%, rubber products 0.02%, no metallic mineral products 0.95%, iron and steel products 0.04%, fabricated metal 0.09%, wood products 0.05%,

machinery and equipment 0.24%, automobiles and other transport equipment 1.27 and 0.36 % respectively.

It may be mentioned here that the decline in growth of LSM started in July 2022 when the LSM growth contracted by 1.9 percent. Similarly it declined by around 1 percent in August and 3 percent in September. In October 2022 it declined by 8 percent.

The deceleration in industrial output during the current fiscal year indicates that economic growth will slip further in the next quarter. As per the experts the third quarter will be more disturbing owing to expected electricity/gas tariff hike and suspension of gas supplies to industrial units in winter.

Economists have been raising concerns about a slowdown caused by record energy and raw material prices. Moreover, export-based manufacturers have already hinted at a decline in their productions due to higher cost of energy and other inputs.

Power regulator allows tariff adjustment hike of up to Rs4.46/unit

profIt report

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has allowed power distribution companies (DISCOs) to collect up to an additional Rs 4.46 per unit from electricity consumers on account of periodic adjustment in tariff for the first quarter of Financial Year (FY) 2022-23.

The power regulator on November 15, 2022, held a public hearing on requests filed by DISCOs for the periodic adjustment. According to NEPRA’s decision, DISCOs will collect Rs 1.49 per unit to Rs 4.46 per unit from different categories of power consumers under the head ‘periodic adjustment in tariff’ which will be charged during the next two months, that is, February and March 2023.

This hike in power tariff will be applicable on all categories of power consumers except lifeline consumers and the consumers of K-Electric (KE).

As per NEPRA’s decision, the ministry of energy (MoE) requested that the adjustment be recovered without changing consumer rates –which the power regulator accepted.

“This is being done in the interest of the consumer as the determined first quarterly adjustment will only replace the existing applicable quarterly adjustment rates and there will be no additional burden on the consumers,” read the NEPRA decision.

The hearing was attended by the MoE, the power division, DISCOs, the Central Power Purchasing Authority (CPPA-G), and other stakeholders, as well as members of the media and the general public.

DISCOs, in their petition, sought adjustment of variation in capacity charges, variable operation and maintenance (O&M), use of system charges and market operator fees. And, in order to work out the instant quarterly adjustments of DISCOs, NEPRA obtained details of actual power purchase cost billed by CPPA-G to DISCOs for the period.

NEPRA has determined a positive adjustment of Rs 41,938 million on account of variation in capacity charges, variable O&M, additional recovery on incremental sales, use of system charges, market operator fee and FCA impact on transmission and distribution losses for the first quarter of FY 2022-23, which is July to September 2022, said NEPRA’s decision.

It is pertinent to mention here that quarterly adjustments would not be passed on to Bl, B2, B3 and B4 industrial consumers to the extent of incremental sales till continuation of the package, in line with the Authority’s decision dated December 1st, 2020.

NEPRA has sent its decision to the federal government prior to its notification in the official gazette as per section 31(7) of the NEPRA Act.

Pakistan’s largest Investment Banking firm to acquire efG Hermes?

JSGCL ANNOUNCES INTENTION TO ACQUIRE EFG HERMES PAKISTAN LIMITED

profIt report

In a notice to the Pakistan Stock exchange, on Tuesday, JS Global Capital Limited (JSGCL) has announced “intention to acquire majority ordinary shares and control” of EFG Hermes Pakistan Limited.

JSGCL is a subsidiary of JS Bank Limited. The company regards itself as the largest investment banking and broking firm of Pakistan. JS Bank has established itself as one of the most credible names in investment banking, especially in the last decade. JS, namely Jahangir Siddiqui and Co. first started in Pakistan as early as 1971.

The acquisition in question is subject to the requisite regulatory approvals from the Pakistan Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The announcement of an intention to acquire was made under section 96 of the Securities Act, 2015.

EFG Hermes, is a leading financial services corporation in the Middle East and Africa. The company inaugurated its office in Pakistan, making it the first foreign investment bank to directly enter the market since 2008 and the first foreign broker to have a local footprint in Pakistan. The firm acquired Pakistani brokerage Invest and Finance Securities Ltd. (IFSL), which has since operated as EFG Hermes Pakistan Limited.

PSX witnesses

bloodbath

as 100-Index sheds more than 1378 points

ISLAMABAD staff report

Political turmoil continues taking toll on all spheres of economy as bench mark 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) nosedived on Tuesday, losing 1,378.54 points and recorded a negative change of 3.47 percent to close at 38,342.21 against 39,720.75 points the previous day.

According PSX officials, a total of 205,906,982 shares were traded during the day as compared to 105,542,468 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs6.710 billion against Rs3.203 billion on the last trading day.

During the day business at the PSX, as many as 340 companies traded their shares, of them only 34 recorded gains while the rest 281 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 25 companies remained unchanged.

The three top-trading companies were K-Electric with 29,912,473 shares at Rs2.07 per share, WorldCAll Telecom with 14,479,623 shares at Rs1.10 per share, and Sui North Gas with 9,689,650 shares at Rs35.33 per share.

Nestle Pakistan witnessed a maximum increase of Rs196.00 per share price, closing at Rs5,595.00, whereas the runner-up was Pak Services with a Rs 104.00 rise in its per share price to Rs 439.92.

Bhanero Textile witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 76.80 per share closing at Rs 948.20, followed by Bata (Pak) with Rs 69.00 decline to close at Rs 851.00.

386 references returned since amends to NAB law: CJP

ISLAMABAD staff report

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday said that the court intended to conclude the NAB amendment case early as it was eventually affecting the execution process of accountability law in the country.

“We need independent investigation officers and prosecutors as their incompetency is affecting the accountability system. Until now, 386 references had been returned after the amendments in the law,” Chief Justice Umar Ata Badial noted while a leading a two member bench of the apex court, hearing PTI Chief Imran Khan’s petition against amendments to NAB Law.

During hearing, the chief justice said that there were reports in media regarding the return of PTI to the Parliament. Whether the government would sit with the PTI to address the major issues if it joined the Parlia-

ment, he asked.

The CJP instructed the government’s counsel to ask its client that whether the court should refer the legislation matter again to the Parliament.

Federal government’s counsel Makhdom Ali Khan said that he couldn’t respond without taking guideline from his client. He said that everything was evident and clear in the parliamentary system, adding the PTI could move the NAB amendment bill after joining the House.

He said that there was no democracy without the politics and there was also a model of national government after World War-II. No law was ever revoked on the basis of assumption about the intention of members Parliament, he said.

The lawyer further said specific PTI’s leaders got relief due to the amendments in the NAB law but no one had challenged this. The NAB case was prepared against a former prime minister, ex-finance minister

and chief executive of an institution, and they were later acquitted after many years in prison. The NAB had been used for political engineering in the past, he added.

Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan remarked that the legislation should be enacted with mutual consensus instead of majority in the Parliament. National interests should be given priority in matter of amendments in law, he added.

Justice Ahsan said there was hope hoped that the government and PTI would enact legislation with consensus. He questioned that whether the NAB amendments were the amnesty scheme or not.

Addressing PTI’s lawyer Khawaja Haris, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said the PTI could move NAB amendment bill in the House. Why it was not joining the House, he asked.

He questioned that whether the court could extend its jurisdiction on the conduct of members of Parlia-

ment. Why the court should decide the case of a person who didn’t want to join the Parliament, he said.

He further observed that Imran Khan neither wanted to be part of Parliament’s debate, nor he was ready to accept its decisions. The whole system was being frozen due to this factor, he added and asked whether the returned references couldn’t be moved to any other forum.

Khwaja Haris took the stance that the PTI had left the House under a political decision. Federal government’s lawyer said that there were also other forums for these cases in the country.

He said that the court had declared in GDCI case that the received money would be spent only on gas projects but the said funds disappeared from the exchequer. He said that the money returned to the NAB as result of plea bargains, was also not deposited to the national exchequer.

The court adjourned further hearing of the case till January 18.

profIt report

Ghulam abbas

profIt report

ahmad ahmadani