Epaper_23-02-17 LHR

Profit

NEPRA notifies Rs2 32/unit cut in power tariff

FIA To AcT AgAInsT El AhI ovEr ‘AudIo

lEAks on sc judgE’: sAnAull Ah

g says he censored audio cliPs a s he did not want to reveal identity of suPerior court judge

ISLAMABAD n e w s d e s k

Interior Minister rana sanaullah has said that he has directed the federal investigation agency (fia) to proceed against former Punjab chief minister chaudhr y Per vaiz elahi over latest audio leaks purportedly involving an apex court udge “ this aud o leak is ver y embarrassing in which a new minion of imran khan s involved he said at a press conference in is amabad on thursday whi e referring to latest audio leaks purportedly featuring conversat on between elahi and an unidentified person during the presser the interior min ster played the censored leaked audio clip in wh ch the PMl-q eader can be purported y heard discussing about the cases being heard n the supreme court which also included the one involving former ccPo lahore ghulam Mehmood dogar referring to the audio leaks, sanau lah said he censored the leaked audio clips as he d d not want to revea the ident ty of the superior court judge before forensic ana ysis “ how courageously he [Per vaiz elahi] was managing the countr y s top court i will request the chief justice of Pakistan to take not ce of this,” he remarked sanaullah said he has directed the fia to conduct forensic analysis of the aud o clips and then arrest elahi for interrogation after registering a case against him “ i have directed the fia to examine this and take legal opinion on this matter speaking about lhc s verdict to reject Pti chief imran khan’s ba l plea, sanaullah said in h s v ew the former premier should be arrested after he failed to appear before the court the lahore high court (lhc) on thursday dismissed a ba l plea f led by former prime minister and Pti chief imran khan in a case pertaining to protests outside the election commission of Pakistan (ecP)

g says will request chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of this

Imran demands swift inquiry against Gen Bajwa for violating oath of office repeatedly’

the court had earl er adjourned the hearing mult ple times as imran’s legal team sought more t me for consultations as the court resumed proceedings for the th rd time, counsel azhar siddique requested the court to w thdraw the protective bai arguing that the islamabad high court had awarded rel ef to the Pti chair-

man in the case he also contended that another protective ba l plea has been filed in the high court in a separate case and “ we are waiting for it to be fixed before a judge just ce tariq saleem sheikh then quest oned why a contempt notice should not be issued to the counsel and the petit oner as the signatures d ffer on the petit on aff davit and paper of attorney advocate azhar replied he will look into it ” “ it is tantamount to committing fraud w th the court which cannot be tolerated,” replied the judge the counsel further argued that imran s doctor faisal sultan s in the courtroom to assist the court, to wh ch justice tar q said the doctor is not a party to the case “ seems like they [Pti] are tr ying to nf uence the courts his refusal to appear before the court despite several summons is tantamount to mak ng mocker y of superior court sanau lah said whi e referr gng to the lhc proceedings the inter or min ster said investigation team probing a case against imran should proceed as per the law

Govt wants to entangle opponents in fake cases: Elahi

l ahoRE: reacting to interior Minister rana sanaullah s statement on a leged audio leak former Punjab chief min ster Per vaiz elahi said that the government wanted to a l its opponents in fake cases, say ng “ there is noth ng wrong in the audio conversat on ” he asserted that his conversation with the awyer about Muhammad khan Bhatti s case was being twisted Punjab assemb y secretar y Muhammad khan Bhatti has been miss ng for 10 days and his wife has appealed to the supreme court (sc) for his recover y he said and slammed rana sanaullah saying that the government s tr y ng to declare people gui ty for approaching the court via awyers the former cM alleged that the ruling PMl-n was running an organ sed campaign to malign the jud ciar y “ we have always respected the judiciar y and the courts are currently the centre of hope for the nation ” the PMl-q leader sa d that the government was us ng al tactics of political vengeance and tr ying to jail ts opponents in fake cases Meanwhile naB has summoned (PMl-q eader Moonis e ahi on februar y 20 s ta f f r e p o rt

ANKARA s ta f f r e p o r t

Prime Min ster shehbaz sharif was received by Pres dent recep tayyip erdogan here at the Presidential complex on thursday during their tete-a-tete as well as during the de egation evel talks the prime minister extended heartfelt condolences to Pres dent erdogan and the turkish nation on the tragic loss of thousands of precious lives and massive damage to the infrastructure as a result of the devastating earthquakes that hit turkiye on februar y 6 recall ng the fraternal relat ons between Pakistan and turkiye, Prime Minister shehbaz sharif said the people of Pakistan fe t the same pain and anguish as their turk sh brothers and sisters according to a press release ssued by the PM office Media wing he added that the people of Pakistan would not rest until the last person in the earthquake-affected areas had been ful y rehabilitated Pres dent erdogan thanked the prime m nister for Pak stan s strong and steadfast support to turk ye n the aftermath of the devastating

earthquake he reaffirmed that the resolute turkish nation would emerge from the natural calam ty with greater strength and determination than ever the pr me minister s v siting turkiye as a special gesture to express Pakistan s so idar ty and support to turkiye in the wake of the massive earthquake he wi l also v sit the earthquakeaffected areas and interact w th Pakistani rescue and recover y teams on the ground the prime minister was accompanied by federal Minister for information and Broadcasting Ms Marr yum aurangzeb special assistant to the PM tariq fatemi, and national d saster Management authority (ndMa) chairman lt gen inam haider Malik the prime min ster in a tweet after the meeting said in a meet ng with his brother President erdogan, he expressed profound condolences to him on beha f of the people and the government of Pakistan i assured him of our steadfast support to turkiye i am confident that under President s leadership turkiye will emerge from th s catastrophe stronger,” he added

g external deBt liaBilities droP to $126.34B due to teMPorary staleMate over iMf PrograMMe

he s e n a t e s t a n d i n g c

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o v e d t h e fi n a n c e ( s u p p l e m e n t a r y ) B 2 0 2 3 , worth rs170 billion with a simp l e m a j o r i t y o n t h u r s d a y the committee, under the chair of senator saleem Mandviwala deliberated and discussed the recommendations on the money b ll which aimed to amend laws relat ng to taxes and duties the supplementar y bill brings about an increase n general sales tax from 17 to 18% besides increas ng the federal excise duty (fed) on sugar y items, tobacco, airl ne t ckets marr age halls and cement whi e briefing about the tax measures suggested in the bi chairman fBr asim ahmed informed the committee that the government has in-

creased sa es tax on luxur y imported items inc ud ng the ones that were banned ast year committee member senator Mohs n aziz suggested that the government should mpose a ban on luxur y imported tems rather than ncreasing taxes as this tax w ll only encourage smuggling of these tems rep ying to a quer y by senator Mohsin aziz, state Min ster for finance and revenue dr aisha ghaus Pasha commented that the ministr y intended to put a ban on the import of luxur y items but could not do so because of wto restrict ons as far as smuggling is concerned the fBr is in co laboration with frontier corps and other agencies to curb the smuggling of sa d items along the western border he also informed the committee that the government has also ncreased sales tax from 17 to 18 % on

the import of mobile phones where the va ue of the phone exceeds $ 200 but stays under $350 the same taxation ncrease was also enacted upon the other categor y of phones, the value of which is between $350-$500 he added that sales tax on mobile phones worth more than $500 has been enhanced from 17 to 25 percent under the finance supplementary bill 2023 n line with the luxur y nature of expens ve variants cha rman fBr said that mobile phones costing more than $500 are c assified as luxur y tems and are subect to a flat 25% sa es tax Besides this makeup, cosmetics, imported vehicles, mported water san tar y fittings home appliances crocker y footwear mported furniture, chocolate, per fume, cornflakes and bathroom accessories are also included n the luxur y categor y senator Mohsin aziz, a member of Pak stan tehreek-e-insaf expressed his

concern about the mposit on of rs 170 billion additional taxation measures questioning whether it was just taxes or in fact a rs 520 bi lion mini-budget he argued that the government should explain why it took so long for the bailout deal and make pub ic how many taxes were imposed due to pressure from the iMf senator Mohsin aziz also quest oned the law, under which the fBr issued sros with regards to the ncrease in genera sales tax, and fed on cigarettes in response, the state Min ster for finance dr aysha ghous Pasha told the comm ttee that the countr y has set a trend of g ving subs dies but no one wants to pay taxes the government has no other option but to impose taxes to dea with the preva ing difficu t econom c conditions, she added while referring to the talks with the

iMf she said that t was advised to Pakstan authorities to either run the countr y or run the power sector because the osses of the sector have been reached at an unbearab e level it is pertinent to mention here that the circular debt of the energy sector has been crossed to rs 4200 b lion which is almost equal to the defence budget of the last two and half years and public sectors development programs of almost six years dr Pasha said that the government will complete y abolish the tax on da ly essential items as the iMf has ob ections on certain taxes chairman fBr also repl ed to senator Mohsin aziz that fBr has issued sros to levy taxes after cab net approval as n the third schedule the federal cabnet is empowered to ncrease the sa es tax

P M m e e t s Pr e s i d e n t

E r d o g a n ; c o n d o l e s o v e r l o s s e s i n d e a d l y q u a ke

R S 1 7 0 B F I n A n C E S u P P L E M E n tA R y B I L L A P P R o v E d

tH E Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has approved the Finance (Supplementary) Bill

2023 worth Rs170 billion with a simple majority on Thursday

The committee, under the chair of Senator Saleem Mandviwala deliberated and discussed the recommendations on the money bill, which aimed to amend laws relating to taxes and duties

The supplementary bill brings about an increase in general sales tax from 17 to 18%, besides increasing the Federal Excise Duty (FED) on sugary items, tobacco, airline tickets, marriage halls and cement

While briefing about the tax measures suggested in the bill, Chairman FBR Asim Ahmed informed the committee that the government has increased sales tax on luxury imported items, including the ones that were banned last year

Committee member Senator Mohsin Aziz suggested that the government should impose a ban on luxury imported items rather than increasing taxes as this tax will only encourage smuggling of these items

Replying to a query by Senator Mohsin

Aziz, State Minister for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha commented that the ministry intended to put a ban on the import of luxury items but could not do so because of WTO restrictions As far as smuggling is concerned, the FBR is in collaboration with Frontier Corps and other agencies to curb the smuggling of said items along the western border

He also informed the committee that the government has also increased sales tax from 17 to 18 %, on the import of mobile phones where the value of the phone exceeds $ 200 but stays under $350 The same taxation increase was also enacted upon the other category of phones, the value of which is between $350-$500

He added that sales tax on mobile phones worth more than $500 has been enhanced from 17 to 25 percent under the finance supplementary bill 2023, in line with the luxury nature of expensive variants Chairman FBR said that mobile phones costing more than $500 are classified as luxury items and are subject to a flat 25% sales tax Besides this, makeup, cosmetics, imported vehicles, imported water, sanitary fittings, home appliances, crockery, footwear, imported furniture, chocolate, perfume, cornflakes and bathroom accessories are also

Governor challenges LHC decision to hold elections in 90 days

Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman has challenged the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s decision to hold elections in the province in 90 days The governor through his counsel filed an intra-court appeal (ICA) against the LHC single bench’s ruling A two-judge LHC bench will take up governor ’s appeal after he requested an early hearing Last week, while hearing a petition filed by the PTI, the LHC had directed the ECP to hold elections for the Punjab Assembly within 90 days In its order, the LHC had directed the ECP to immediately announce the date of the elections after consultations with the Governor of Punjab, who is the constitutional head of the province, to ensure that the elections are held not later than 90 days as per the mandate of the Constitution In the line with the LHC order, a three-member ECP delegation was called on the governor on Tuesday last but the meeting remained inconclusive During the huddle, the governor was of the opinion that he had not dissolved the assembly, so he was not authorised to announce the date of the polls The governor said that he did not want to take any extra-legal and constitutional steps The court s decision requires an explanation for which they were taking the legal route

Punjab-KP elections: SC seeks CEC’s repor t , PHC reply from governor

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR S ta f f R e p o R t

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday sought a detailed report from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) regarding hurdles in the way of the Punjab Assembly elections while t h e P e s h a w a r H i g h C o u r t ( P H C ) g a v e t w o m o r e d a y s ’ t i m e t o K P - G o v e r n o r H a j j i G h u l a m A l i t o r e s p o n d i n w r i t i n g t o p e t i t i o n s e e k i n g o r d e r s f o r t h e l a t t e r t o f i x t h e d a t e f o r p r o v i n c i a l a s s e m b l y ’s e l e c t i o n s A t w o - m e m b e r S C b e n c h c o m p r i s i n g J u s t i c e I j a z u l A h s a n a n d J u s t i c e M a z a h a r A l i A k b a r N a q v i h e a r d a p e t i t i o n a g a i n s t t h e t r a n s f e r o f G h u l a m M a h m o o d D o g a r a s t h e L a h o r e c a p i t a l c i t y p o l i c e o ff i c e r ( C C P O ) D u r i n g t h e h e a r i n g , C E C S i k a n d a r S u l t a n R a j a t o l d t h e c o u r t t h a t h e w a s b e i n g “ p r e v e n t e d ” f r o m e x e r c i s i n g h i s p o w e r s a n d c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r e q u i r e m e n t s , a s h e l a m e n t e d h e w a s r e f u s e d s e c u r i t y, r e t u r n i n g o ff i c e r s a n d f u n d i n g f o r t h e e l e c t i o n s f r o m t h e a r m y, t h e j u d i c i a r y a n d t h e e x e c u t i v e r e s p e c t i v e l y T h e h e a r i n g b e g a n w i t h J u s t i c e A h s a n a s k i n g a b o u t w h y D o g a r w a s t r a n s f e r r e d d e s p i t e a p e x c o u r t o r d e r s t o t h e c o n t r a r y D o g a r a s t h e L a h o r e C C P O w a s a t t h e c e n t r e o f a t u s s l e b e t w e e n t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e t h e n P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t u n d e r C h a u d h r y P a r v e z E l a h i D o g a r b o o k e d P M L - N l e a d e r s i n c a s e s a n d h e a d e d t h e Wa z i r a b a d J I T w h i c h w a s p r o b i n g t h e a t t e m p t e d a s s a s s i n a t i o n o f I m r a n K h a n T h e C e n t r e t r i e d t o r e c a l l h i m w h i c h w a s b l o c k e d b y t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t I t u l t i m a t e l y s u s p e n d e d D o g a r, b u t h e w a s r e i n s t a t e d b y t h e t o p c o u r t T h e r e w e r e S u p r e m e C o u r t o r d e r s s o w h y w a s t h e C C P O s t i l l t r a n s f e r r e d , ” J u s t i c e A h s a n a s k e d f r o m t h e P u n j a b a d v o c a t e g e n e r a l

included in the luxury category

Senator Mohsin Aziz a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, expressed his concern about the imposition of Rs 170 billion additional taxation measures questioning whether it was just taxes or in fact a Rs 520 billion mini-budget

He argued that the government should explain why it took so long for the bailout deal and make public how many taxes were imposed due to pressure from the IMF

Senator Mohsin Aziz also questioned the law, under which the FBR issued SROs with regards to the increase in general sales tax, and FED on cigarettes

In response, the State Minister for Finance

Dr Aysha Ghous Pasha told the committee that the country has set a trend of giving subsidies but no one wants to pay taxes

The government has no other option but to impose taxes to deal with the prevailing difficult economic conditions, she added hile referring to the talks with the IMF, she said that it was advised to Pakistani authorities to either run the country or run the power sector because the losses of the sector have been reached at an unbearable level

It is pertinent to mention here that the circular debt of the energy sector has crossed

Rs4200 billion which is almost equal to the defence budget of the last two and a half years, and public sectors development programmes of almost six years

Dr Pasha said that the government will completely abolish the tax on daily essential items as the IMF has objections on certain taxes Chairman FBR also replied to Senator Mohsin Aziz that FBR has issued SROs to levy taxes after the Cabinet’s approval as in the third Schedule whereas the Federal Cabinet is empowered to increase the sales tax

This power was not previously vested in the Federal Cabinet he added Chairman Committee Senator Saleem Mandviwalla apprised the Finance division that the Aviation ministry has written a letter to the committee and expressed reservations on the 20% tax on business class and first class tickets The Aviation Ministry commented that the proposed tax is not workable because the fare of tickets are not static and vary from time to time

Mandviwalla suggested that instead of imposing a 20% tax, a definite amount should be fixed for each destination

Furthermore, representatives of Murree Brewery and Shezan apprised the committee that the government has increased FED on sugary fruit juices and squashes from 0 to

Digitization may add $60 billion to economy within next 7 to 8 years: OICCI repor t

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Digitization offers innovative employment prospects to the 23 percent of Pakistan’s population that falls in the 20 to 34 years age group and can add $60 billion to the Pakistan Economy within the next 7 to 8 years Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has prepared a Digital Report 2022 titled, Recommendations for Digital Transformation in Pakistan”

The OICCI Managing Committee presented the OICCI Digital Report 2022, titled, Recommendations for Digital Transformation in Pakistan” to the President of Pakistan, with an objective to set the country on its digital journey The report covers suggestions on e-commerce fintech IT exports and web 3 0 technologies etc

The President showed his concern on the decline in business confidence influenced by the highly challenging political and economic situation during the past six months He also appreciated OICCI for taking the lead to present recommendations to digitize the economy

This report offers key recommendations to the policymakers on the various facets of the digital transformation of economy including suggestions for digital infrastructure and connectivity, government, private sector and mass digital usage emerging web 3 0 technologies and digital regulations to accelerate innovation in Pakistan According to a research report, a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration results in increasing the GDP by 1 4 percent

The report notes that in recent years, there has

been tremendous development in Digital Financial Services However, Pakistan is still a cash-based economy with less than 5% merchants accepting digital payments

Besides promoting digital mode of payments, the government also needs to encourage international e-commerce companies to set up regional offices in Pakistan Indonesia worked on similar lines and now the e-commerce market size is worth $30 billion which is expected to reach $54 billion by 2025 and supports 26 million jobs directly and indirectly

According to Ghias Khan President OICCI digitization can also help inclusion of the underserved population of society such as the farflung areas of the country Around 23 million children in Pakistan are out of school and we have less than 1 physician for 1000 people To help Pakistan overcome these issues it is important to digitize the education and health sectors in a phased manner, preparing National electronic health records and arranging capacity-building workshops for the professionals

As per Abdul Aleem, CE and Secretary General OICCI the digitization can bring a lot of efficiency to government services, boost productivity and help improve ease of doing business (EODB) Philippines can be a good example where public service delivery was digitized under the E-Government Master Plan (EGMP) which helped the country, ranked 95th position in EODB 2020 rating registering an improvement of 29 notches The government should take the advantage of modern technologies such as Machine Learning Data Analytics and Artificial

10% and this sudden increase is not justifiable Chairman FBR commented that sugary drinks are injurious to health and owing to WHO recommendations in this regard the government has increased FED on carbonated water from 13 to 20%, however, the tax on no-tax fruit juices have also been increased by 10%

The committee recommended that FED on fruit juices should be decreased from 10 to 5% Similarly to curtail the usage of tobacco as per the global practices, the government has increased tax per thousand cigarettes from 6500 rupees to 16 500 rupees

Additionally, the FED on per kilogram of cement has been increased from Rs 1 50 to Rs 2 chairman FBR

While discussing the proposed tax on functions and gatherings, Chairman FBR apprised that the individuals have to pay 10% tax in advance in order to avail the services of Banquet halls Saleem Mandviwalla said the majority of banquet halls are not even registered with the FBR, it was further recommended that before imposing tax the government should make efforts for the registration of marriage halls

The committee approved the Finance supplementary bill 2023 with majority as a PTI senator opposed the bill

Accepting gov t , FBR appeals, SC orders LSM to pay 4pc super-tax

The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted appeals of the federal government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and ordered the large-scale manufacturers (LSM) to pay 4 percent super-tax A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Athar Minallah heard the case regarding collection of super tax from large-scale manufacturing industry It should be noted that various industries had challenged the super-tax levied in the last year s budget, after which the Sindh High Court had invalidated collection of 10 percent super-tax from last year The federal government and FBR had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court for recovery of super tax Last year Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a 10 percent tax on major industries including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, LNG terminals, textiles, banking automobiles chemicals beverages and cigarettes Through the Finance Act 2022, the government introduced a new section C-4 in the Income Tax Ordinance to impose a super tax on high income earners

SCCI rejects proposed additional tax measures through ‘mini-budget’

PESHAWAR

ta f f R e p o R t

S

According to the State Bank of Pakistan s weekly data Pakistan’s foreign reserves have gone up by $276 million, to $3 19 billion as per the week ending on the 10th of February As of the 10th, Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $8 7 billion Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5 51 billion

The SBP’s liquid reserves reached a critically low level of $2 92 billion on the 3rd February Even before that the reserves have been on a constant decline for the last 6 months with slight recoveries here and there The last week yielded better news in terms of Pakistan’s reserves position however, experts suggest that Pakistan is nowhere near out of trouble

The import cover of the country is still less than

a month as the government is making haste in getting the IMF agreement signed The IMF mission left for Washington on the 10th of February, after completing their 9th review No news of the Staff Level Agreement being signed has surfaced yet However, Finance minister, Ishaq Dar notified the receiving of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies by the IMF The memorandum contains a detail of the prior actions that Pakistan has to take before the SLA is signed It was in line with these actions that the government imposed taxes worth Rs 170 Billion on Tuesday and hiked the prices of fuels

The IMF deal is now deemed crucial for Pakistan’s falling reserves It is expected that the country will receive more bilateral aid, once it receives the stamp of approval from the IMF through the fund’s Staff Level Agreement

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) president Muhammad Ishaq out-rightly rejected the proposed ‘mini-budget’ through a Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, terming the additional taxation measures worth Rs170 billions, will unleash a new inflation wave in the country Ishaq, during an informal talks/interviews with media persons here on Thursday after analyzing some salient features of the proposed mini-budget said a storm of inflation will come after imposing billions of rupees new taxes, through which not only the business community but every citizen of the country would be adversely affected He added the cost of industrial production would be escalated as a result of imposing heavy taxes’ The SCCI chief criticized the rulers for bringing the national economy on the brink of complete destruction He viewed it has been made quite difficult but impossible to run industries and businesses after a whopping increase in prices of electricity, gas and petroleum commodities Businessmen are in great trouble owing to anti-business policies of the incumbent government Mr Ishaq said He added unavailability of raw materials to industries in wake of non-opening letter of credits (LCs) by commercial banks has further aggravating the situation

Pakistan slips to 7th place in cotton-producing countries

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

In the list of countries producing the most cotton globally, Pakistan has dropped from fourth to seventh place according to the Cotton Ginners Forum,

as a result of the unprecedented and catastrophic floods which submerged the cotton crops Chairman Cotton Ginners Forum Ehsan-ul-Haq said on Thursday that the main reason for this is the record cultivation of sugarcane in cotton zones

He also added that adverse weather conditions have caused an unusual decline in cotton production However domestically the price of cotton has remained stable The cost of cotton has decreased by 1500 rupees per maund across the country and now it

list

costs Rs20 500 in the country instead of 22,000 rupees Likewise, cotton prices were also reduced and remained in the international market Furthermore, Pakistan is predicted to generate 50 million bales this year, the lowest output volume in history

S tate Bank ’s forex reser ves move up by $276 million to $3.19b

MARyAM ‘AttEMPtS to ConCILIAtE AnGRy’ SHAHId KHAqAn ABBASI

PA K I S TA N Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)

senior leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday met with the party’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz in Lahore

It could not be ascertained yet whether the meeting took place on Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s wish or Maryam Nawaz invited him to address his reservations in the backdrop of rumors about the former quitting the party

Matters pertaining to the organizational structure of the party and overall political situation came under discussion during the meeting held at the party s central secretariat in Model Town The meeting came after rumours started making rounds on social media that Abbasi was quitting the PML-N and setting up a new party since he resigned from the party’s key post soon after Maryam’s election as the senior vice-president and chief organiser In an interview to a private news channel last week, Abbasi made it clear that his leader is Nawaz Sharif and if Maryam Nawaz elevated to the PML-N’s top office, he will consider remaining in the party s fold or not

C hina solar power c apacity could post record growth in 2023

PR OfIt REPORt R e u t e R S China is expected to add 95 to 120 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in 2023 or as much as 30% a solar manufacturing association said on Thursday, in what would be a record annual rise in capacity T h e w o r l d s b i g g e s t s o l a r p r o d u c t s m a k e r a n d s o l a r p o w e r g e n e r a t o r b r o u g h t 8 7 4 1 G W o f n e w s o l a r p o w e r i n t o o p e r a t i o n i n 2 0 2 2 , o ff i c i a l d a t a s h o w e d d r i v i n g t h e t o t a l i n s t a l l e d c a p a c i t y t o 3 9 2 6 1 G W “ T h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f s o l a r p o w e r s t a t i o n s i n China continues to face several problems despite a s l i g h t d e c r e a s e i n i n v e s t m e n t c o s t s , ” s a i d Wa n g

Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) at a confere n c e T h e o b s t a c l e s i n c l u d e a m a n d a t o r y r e q u i r e m e n t f r o m s o m e l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t s t o i n s t a l l e n e rg y s t o r a g e a l o n g s i d e s o l a r f a r m s a n d r e s t r i c t i o n s o n l a n d a n d w a t e r u s a g e a m i d B e i j i n g ’s g r o w i n g e ff o r t t o p r o t e c t f a r m l a n d W h i l e t h e c o u n t r y s s o l a r c a p a c i t y i s g r o w i n g r a p i d l y, i t s s o l a r p r o d u c t s e x p o r t e r s a r e f a c i n g m o r e

t r a d e d i s p u t e s a n d t o u g h e r c o m p e t i t i o n o ff s h o r e i n destinations such as the United States, the European U n i o n a n d I n d i a T h e t r a d e b a r r i e r s a r e b r i n g i n g i n c r e a s i n g d i ff i c u l t i e s f o r C h i n e s e s o l a r f i r m s s e e k i n g t o e x p a n d i n o v e r s e a s m a r k e t s , a n d t h e r a p i d d e v e l o p m e n t o f l o c a l m a n u f a c t u r e r s i n t h o s e c o u n t r i e s w i l l h i t C h i n a ’s s o l a r m a n u f a c t u r i n g i n d u s t r y, ” Wa n g s a i d T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s i n D e c e m b e r b a n n e d i m p o r t s i n c l u d i n g s o l a r p r o d u c t s , f r o m C h i n a ’s X i n j i a n g region over concerns about forced labour S o m e 3 G W o f s o l a r m o d u l e s e x p o r t e d f r o m C h i n a have been seized by U S customs due to suspicion they could have come from slave labour camps China exported about 36 3 GW of solar wafers and 23 8 GW of solar cells in 2022, up 61% and 131% year-on-year, respectively, CPIA data showed However exports of solar modules last year grew at a slower pace of 56% as more module plants have been built overseas Chinese solar firms should pay greater attention to the competition, as the U S , EU and other countries are putting in place policies and making actual moves to support their local industry, said Wang

IHC grants bail to S heikh Rasheed in criminal conspirac y c ase

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted bail petition of former federal minister Sheikh Rasheed in a case of levelling allegations against former president Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday

A high court bench comprised of Justice Mohsin

Akhtar Kayani ordered release of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed over Rs 50 thousand bail deposit

He was arrested from his Rawalpindi residence in the early hours of Thursday Feb 02 and was on judicial remand in jail over a case of levelling allegations against former president Asif Ali Zardari of hatching a ‘murder plot’ for Imran Khan

Rasheed had moved IHC to seek bail after a district and sessions court rejected his bail petition

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday sought a detailed report from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) regarding hurdles in the way of the Punjab Assembly elections while the Peshawar High Court (PHC) gave two more days’ time to KP-Governor Hajji

Ghulam Ali to respond in writing to petition seeking orders for the latter to fix the date for provincial assembly’s elections

A two-member SC bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard a petition against the transfer of Ghulam Mahmood Dogar as the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) During

In his petition, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad argued that he was arrested over his remarks against PPP coChairman Asif Ali Zardari, but the former president has not filed any complaint against him

He termed the case registered against him as political victimization

AML chief Sheikh Rasheed was booked under three sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief)

In the FIR, complainant PPP divisional president stated that the AML chief tried to badmouth a former president and cause a “permanent danger” to the PPP cochairman and his family

With his provocatory allegations, Rasheed wants to cause a fight between the PTI and the PPP to disrupt the country’s peace, the FIR added

the hearing, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja told the court that he was being “prevented” from exercising his powers and constitutional requirements, as he lamented he was refused security, returning officers and funding for the elections from the army the judiciary and the executive respectively The hearing began with Justice Ahsan asking about why Dogar was transferred despite apex court orders to the contrary

Dogar as the Lahore CCPO was at the centre of a tussle between the federal government and the then Punjab government under Chaudhry Parvez Elahi Dogar booked PML-N leaders in cases and headed the Wazirabad JIT which was probing the attempted assassination of Imran Khan The Centre tried to recall him which was blocked by the Punjab government

“I was named the senior vice president of the PMLN when Shehbaz Sharif was arrested in year 2019,” Shahid Khaqan said When Maryam was given the leadership position and elevated to the Chief Organizer ’s position, I had tendered my resignation at that time from the party office to the PML-N president, he said I could not work further on the party’s office, I told ”

“I have long-time relations and friendship with Nawaz Sharif, he is my leader, and this relation could not be bonded with Maryam,” Shahid Khaqan said Responding a question to join another party with a straightforward No he said if he had to quit the PML-N he

will return to his home as “I have no other home except it” ‘D i s a g r e e m e n t o v e r i m r a n’s a r r e s t’:

Meanwhile, the issue of the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan has created a new dispute between Senior Vice President of PML-N Maryam Nawaz and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Sources said that after the interim bail of Imran Khan was rejected Shahid Khaqan Abbasi strongly opposed the arrest of Imran Khan, while Maryam Nawaz is in favor of the immediate arrest of the former prime minister Sources said that according to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the arrest of Imran Khan will be called political revenge, however, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has conveyed his advice that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

On the other hand, Maryam Nawaz has expressed her opinion and said that Imran Khan should be arrested immediately, once the PTI chief is arrested, his popularity will be decreased

According to the sources, the government has fallen into trouble due to the conflicting thinking of Maryam Nawaz and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while the government has left the matter to the situation

Imran appoints Aftab Siddiqui as PTI Karachi president

Furthermore, The PTI chief also nominated Khurram Sher Zaman as a member of the Central Executive Committee

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has appointed former MNA Aftab Siddiqui as the new Karachi chapter president

The former prime minister Imran Khan announced the decision while chairing the PTI Karachi chapter leadership meeting ahead of by-polls on nine Karachi NA seats scheduled for March 16

Imran Khan removed Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar and appointed him as a member of the economic team of the party

The development came after PTI suffered defeat in Karachi local government elections held in January this year

It is pertinent to mention here that by-elections will be held in nine constituencies of Karachi on March 16

The nine constituencies where by-polls are scheduled include: NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III; NA-242 Karachi East-I; NA-243 Karachi East-II; NA-244 Karachi East-III; NA-247 Karachi South-II; NA-250 Karachi West-III; NA252 Karachi West-V; NA-254 Karachi Central-II; and NA-256 Karachi Central-IV

Pa k i s ta n r u b b i s h e s c l a i m s o f a r m s s u P P l i e s t

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan on Thursday denied it was supplying any defence items to Ukraine in order to shore up its military capabilities in view of the Russian invasion

“The reporting about the supply of defence items by Pakistan to Ukraine is not accurate Pakistan maintains a policy of non-interference in military conflicts,”

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the chief Foreign Office spokesperson told reporters in Islamabad at the weekly briefing

Responding to a question about the reports of Pakistan supplying arms to Ukraine the spokesperson made it clear that Pakistan only exports defence stores to other states based on strong end use and non-retransfer assurances” “And this is the case of Pakistan s position in the Ukraine-Russia conflict ” she further clarified Pakistan has maintained a delicate balance since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago Despite pressure from the US and its western allies Islamabad has not publicly denounced Russia, though it

does raise concerns over the humanitarian situation in Ukraine

Ms Baloch said that human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir continue unabated Pakistan continues to raise concerns about the situation and calls for just and peaceful settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions She said these raids are reprisals of BBC s documentary on Gujrat massacre of 2002 and India’s illegal and unilateral steps in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on August 5th, 2019

The Spokesperson said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is travelling to Germany today to attend the Munich Security Conference He will then travel to Lithuania where he will sign MoU on the establishment of bilateral political consultations

In the last leg of his tour the Foreign Minister will visit Hungary from 21st to 22nd of this month and will deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues He will also sign two MoUs on bilateral cooperation between diplomatic

academies and another on sports and education between the two countries

The Spokesperson said second round of Pakistan-US mid-level Defence Dialogue is underway in Washington to discuss a range of issues including defence and security cooperatio in the broader regional and global context The Pakistani delegation in the dia l o g u e i s l e d b y C h i e f o f G e n e r a l S t a ff L i e u t e n a n t G e n e r a l M u h a m m a d S a e e d while the US side is led by US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo Pac i f i c S e c u r i t y A ff a i r s D r E l y R a t n e u M u m t a z Z a h r a B a l o c h a n n o u n c e d t h a t Counselor of the US Department of State D e r e k C h o l l e t i s t r a v e l l i n g t o P a k i s t a n from today on a three-day visit with an interagency delegation Regarding PM visit to Turkiye, she stated that visit will focus on bilateral engagement process which has been institutionalized in trade and investment, climate change, clean energy health security education and other shared priorities In Ankara, the Prime Minister will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to personally convey heartfelt

condolences on behalf of the entire Pakistani nation over the loss of precious lives and the widespread damage caused by the earthquake

He will also reaffirm Pakistan s solidarity to stand by our Turkish brothers and sisters during these difficult times and to continue all possible support to the ongoing relief efforts The Prime Minister will also visit earthquake affected areas in Southern Türkiye, and interact with Pakistani search and rescue teams deployed in the area as well as the survivors of the earthquake Regarding relief assistance, she said following the deadly earthquake Pakistan has mobilized relief assistance for both Türkiye and Syria Our humanitarian assistance until yesterday includes 12 flights to Türkiye; 21 NLC trucks dispatched by road to Türkiye; 2 flights to Syria and 12 trucks dispatched by road to Syria An 85-member Urban Search and Rescue team is currently operating in Türkiye while a 10-member Search and Rescue Team and a 10-member medical team are operating in Syria to support the relief efforts Additional assistance is being sent through train and sea

Cour t sentences anti-army c ampaigner to three years in prison

FAISALABAD S ta f f R e p o R t itional District and Sesourt in Faisalabad sena man to three years in along with a fine for ng a “highly obnoxious timidating campaign Pakistan Army and marLasbela helicopter crash witter account n d a r Z a m a n , 3 0 , a r e sf F a i s a l a b a d , w a s a r-

Indian lyricist Javed Akhtar to grace Faiz Festival in L ahore

LAHORE: Javed Akhtar – the renowned Indian poet and lyricist – is set to attend the Faiz Festival in Lahore, Pakistan, as India s head delegate The seventh installment of the festival will offer over 60 free literary music and art events to the public from February 17 to 19 Unlike previous years, all events will be free of charge for the public, following criticism over the high cost of tickets The festival will include discussions, lectures, theatre, dance performances, qawwali, and will host foreign delegates from the UK, Canada, USA, and India Among the foreign delegates Javed Akhtar will launch his new book and participate in the mushaira, a poetic symposium The Alhamra Arts Council on Mall Road and the surrounding areas including Canal Road are being prepared for the three-day literary festival All activities in the festival will be free of charge, except for a concert by Shafqat Amanat Ali which will cost Rs 3 000 per ticket S ta f f R e p o R t

r e s t e d l a s t y e a r b y t h e F e d e r a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n A g e n c y ( F I A ) a f t e r a c o m p l a i n t a g a i n s t h i m

w a s l o d g e d u n d e r s e c t i o n s 2 0

( M a l i c i o u s c o d e ) a n d 2 4 ( c )

( L e g a l r e c o g n i t i o n o f o ff e n c e s c o m m i t t e d i n r e l a t i o n t o i n f o rm a t i o n s y s t e m ) o f t h e P r e v e n -

t i o n o f E l e c t r o n i c C r i m e s A c t ,

2 0 1 6 I t a l s o i n v o k e d s e c t i o n s 5 0 0 ( P u n i s h m e n t f o r d e f a m at i o n ) a n d 5 0 5 ( s t a t e m e n t s c o nd u c i n g t o p u b l i c m i s c h i e f ) o f

t h e P a k i s t a n P e n a l C o d e

THE vERDIcT: Additional District and Sessions Judge Munsif Khan said the accused wanted to spread panic in the society through social media campaign According to the first information report (FIR), as mentioned in the verdict, Zaman posted a tweet against the Pakistan Army “relating to the helicopter incident last year with the intent to “spread panic” in society

In August 2022, six army officers and soldiers embraced martyrdom after their chopper

crashed in Balochistan s Lasbela district In the wake of the crash, a social media campaign emerged, which was condemned by the army as “insensitive” The FIA had then begun tracing the culprits behind the campaign After Zaman’s arrest, the PTI supporter was presented before the court and a trial began On February 8, the trial concluded and a subsequent order was announced by Additional Sessions Judge Munsif Khan

IHC direc ts PTI’s Shandana Gulzar to join investigation in sedition c ase

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t T h e I s l a m a b a d H i g h C o u r t ( I H C ) o n T h u r s d a y o r d e r e d P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k - e - I n s a f ’s ( P T I ) l e a d e r S h a n d a n a G u l z a r t o j o i n t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n a s e d i t i o n c a s e r e g i s t e r e d a g a i n s t h e r b y t h e c a p i t a l p o l i c e J u s t i c e M o h s i n A k h t e r K a y a n i h e a r d t h e p e t i t i o n f i l e d b y S h a n d a n a G u l z a r, s e e k i n g t o q u a s h t h e f i r s t i n f o r m a t i o n r e p o r t ( F I R ) T h e p e t i t i o n e r a pp e a r e d b e f o r e t h e c o u r t a l o n g w i t h h e r c o u n s e l D u r i n g t h e c o u r s e o f t h e h e a r i n g , J u s t i c e K a y a n i a s k e d t h e p e t i t i o n e r t o f i r s t j o i n t h e i n v e st i g a t i o n p r o c e s s a n d t h e n t h e c o u r t w o u l d v i e w h e r c a s e T h e c a s e w a s t h e n a d j o u r n e d t i l l M a r c h 8

‘SEDITION cASE’ On Feb 2, the Islamabad Women’s Police Station registered the case against the former National Assembly member for inciting hatred against institutions during her appearance on a private TV channel programme Sections 153A, 124A and 505, which deal with sedition, incitement and spreading hatred, have been included in the case Shandana Gulzar was elected to the National Assembly on a reserved seat for women from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the 2018 general elections She has served as a deputy minister and parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Commerce

Responding a question she stated that Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi is in Pakistan for a two-day visit He has held meetings with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan During these meetings cooperation between IAEA and Pakistan in the areas of health, agriculture, industry, nuclear medicine and power generation were discussed

Pakistan expressed full support for various projects and programmes of the Agency and conveyed our desire to expand cooperation and support for the Agency’s work DG IAEA Rafael Mariano Grossihas visited Pakistan Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institution (NORI) and Chashma Nuclear Power Plant where he inaugurated its spent fuel dry storage facility, highlighting the importance of managing spent fuel safely and securely He also visited Pakistan Centre of Excellence in Nuclear Security Pakistan and IAEA will enhance cooperation in terms of research on new high-yield and drought resistant varieties of crops Pakistan will support neighboring countries as a regional Center in the Rays of Hope programme of IAEA, she added Regarding Israel’s action she viewed that Pakistan has strongly condemned Israel’s recent decision to legalize nine settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory We believe this action is a clear and flagrant violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions and an encroachment upon the rights of the people of Palestine

al kassah-iV: Pak-saudi joint militar y exercise concludes

RAWALPINDI: T he closing ceremony of the joint military exercise of Pakistan – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), “Al Kassah-IV”, was held at Military College of Engineering Risalpur, said ISPR on Thursday According to a press statement of the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing, the troops from Royal Saudi Land Forces and Pakistan Army participated in the exercise The twoweek-long exercise was aimed at sharing mutual experiences in the field of Route Search, Area Search Vehicle/ Personal search and Area clearance operations S ta f f R e p o R t

o u k r a i n e

corporate corner

Chief of Naval Staff Amjad Niazi and his deputy visited DEA Group booth and congratulate DEA team for success of PIMEC and bringing more than 30 delegates from top notch business groups Many international exibitors encouraged by DEA took part in PIMEC and also big achievement to encourage Kotug International, world largest training institute, to setup marine training center with MTI Pakistan and provide international standard training here locally pr

NUST launches Climate Ac tion Plan to mitigate impac t of climate change

i s L a m a b a d: National University of Sciences & Technology

(NUST) organised first-ever Partnership for Climate Action (PCA-2023) conference in Pakistan from February 14 to 16, 2023 Themed around the topic Science for Sustainability, the conference was held in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), German Red Cross, Pakistan Red Crescent, International Federation of Red Cross International Rescue Committee and Welt Hunger Hilfe The prime objective was to bring together and connect youth, academia and other stakeholders to build meaningful partnerships towards addressing climate change challenges The conference also provided an opportunity for NUST to showcase its climate resilient technologies for potential deployment and commercialisation and closely engage with stakeholders from the Government and Development Sector to accelerate progress towards a sustainable future p r

UMT holds 1st International Conference on Emerging Trends in Func tional Foods and Nutraceutic als

L a h o r e: University of Management and Technology (UMT)

School of Food and Agricultural Sciences organized the 1st two-day International Conference on Emerging Trends in Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals here at UMT Rector UMT Dr Asif Raza, Director General UMT Professor Abid Sherwani, Mr Kashif Anwar President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan Professor Dr M Iqbal Chaudhry and Dean School of Food and Agricultural Sciences Dr Nauman Khalid specially participated in the conference A large number of Scholars, Researchers, faculty and students were also present on this occasion More than 30 research papers on food science topics were also presented at the conference Dean SFAS Dr Nauman Khalid welcomed all the guest speakers and thanked them for their participation He said that in the current situation we have to solve the challenges related to organic food Hence the purpose of this conference is to bring experts and researchers together for the best solution p r

The Future S ummit 6th Edition ends with hope for a better tomorrow!

K a r a c h i: The 6th Edition of The Future Summit concluded on Thursday with eminent foreign and local delegates speaking on diverse topics aimed at recommending a futuristic direction to the corporate sector, policymakers, and stakeholders of the country Hosted by Nutshell Group, the Summit continued to explore the realm of disruption at a local hotel in Karachi The first panel discussion focused on innovating the future It was moderated by Usman Yousaf, Director, Nutshell Communications; Chairman, ProPakistani; Co-founder, K-Cap Ventures and CEO, Interactive UAE The panelists included Michael Hartmann, Chief Business Officer, Fintech Galaxy; Anna Tutova, CEO, Coinstelegram, public speaker, Fortune Media Journalist; Dereck Hoogenkamp, CEO, Yalla Limited and Partner, Aeroverse; Dr Rehan Al Taji, Founder & CEO, PXDX FZ LLC, UAE and Partner & Head of Projects; Muhammad Zeeshan Abid, Partner Advisory, Parker Russell AJS & Board Member, InvoiceMate, UAE They highlighted the importance of digital future, and implications of various digital technologies that have disrupted the industries for a better tomorrow, such as Artificial Intelligence, metaverse, blockchain p r

islamabad s ta f f r e p o r t

dI G I T I z AT I O N offers innovative employment prospects to the 23 percent of Pakistan’s population that falls in 20 – 34 years age group and can add $60 billion to Pakistan

Economy within next 7 to 8 years

Overseas Investors Chamber of Com-

merce and Industry (OICCI) has prepared a Digital Report 2022 titled “Recommendations for Digital Transformation in Pakistan” OICCI Managing Committee presented the OICCI Digital Report 2022, titled, “Recommendations for Digital Transformation in Pakistan to the President of Pakistan, with an objective to set the country on its digital journey The report covers suggestions on e-

commerce, fintech, IT exports and web 3 0 technologies etc

The President showed his concern on the decline in business confidence influenced by the highly challenging political and economic situation during the past six months He also appreciated OICCI took the lead to present recommendations to digitize the economy This report offers key recommendations to the policymakers on the var-

StanChart ’s takeover defences are getting stronger

Continued from baCk page

Investors, admittedly, are still sceptical Despite a boost from takeover speculation StanChart shares trade at roughly two-thirds of its expected tangible book value at the end of 2023, implying that future returns will be closer to the bad old days That seems unfair Interest rates are rising and China, a key market, has loosened pandemic restrictions Winters targeted returns assume annual revenue growth of between 8% and 10%, less than the 16% increase in the bank’s top line in 2022, after stripping out currency fluctuations

Besides, StanChart’s concentrated ownership could help Singaporean state investor Temasek owns 16 4% according to Refinitiv data while the top five shareholders together hold 36% of the company If they agree with Winters’ vision of future returns, they re more likely to demand a higher-than-usual premium from FAB or another bargain-hunter A typical offer pitched 30% above the price before the latest takeover speculation would value StanChart at just three-quarters of for-

ward tangible book value StanChart’s stronger takeover defences may be a problem for its suitors

CONTEXT NEWS

Standard Chartered on Feb 16 said it generated $16 3 billion of revenue in 2022, up 10% from 2021 Excluding the effects of foreign-exchange fluctuations the increase was 16%

The bank s costs increased by 4% to $10 7 billion which was a 9% rise in constant-currency terms StanChart earned an 8% return on tangible equity (ROTE), excluding restructuring expenses and a writedown of goodwill on the bank’s balance sheet Chief Executive Bill Winters said he expected to hit a ROTE of almost 10% in 2023 and more than 11% next year StanChart shares were up 3 5% to 755 pence as of 0838 GMT on Feb 16 First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender on Feb 10 said it was not evaluating an offer for Standard Chartered, the second time it quashed reports of a deal News of the potential offer first came on Jan 5 when FAB said it had considered a bid for London-listed Standard Chartered but was no longer doing so

Pakistan’s total debt liabilities surge to Rs63.868tr

Continued from page 01

This power was not previously vested in the Federal Cabinet he added Chairman Committee Senator Saleem Mandviwalla apprised the Finance division that the Aviation ministry has written a letter to Committee and expressed reservations on 20 % tax on Business Class and First class tickets Aviation ministry commented that the proposed tax is not workable because the fare of tickets are not static and vary from time to time Senator Saleem Mandviwalla suggested that instead of imposing 20 % tax a definite amount should be fixed for each destination

Furthermore, Representatives of Murree Brewery and Shezan enterprises apprised the committee that the Government has increased FED on sugary fruit juices and squashes from 0 to 10% and this sudden increase is not justifiable Chairman FBR commented that sugary drinks are injurious to health and owing to WHO recom-

mendations in this regard, the government has increased FED on carbonated water from 13 to 20% however the tax on no-tax fruit juices have also been increased by 10% The Committee recommended that FED on fruit juices should be decreased from 10 to 5% Similarly to curtail the usage of tobacco as per the global practices, the government has increased tax per thousand cigarettes from 6500 rupees to 16 500 rupees Additionally the FED on per kilogram of cement has been increased from Rs 1 50 to Rs 2, chairman FBR While discussing the proposed tax on functions and gatherings Chairman FBR apprised that the individuals have to pay 10% tax in advance in order to avail the services of Banquet halls

Saleem Mandviwalla said the majority of banquet halls are not even registered with the FBR, it was further recommended that before imposing tax the government should make efforts for the registration of marriage halls The committee approved the Finance supplementary bill 2023 with majority as a PTI senator opposed the bill

Pre -loved fashion star tup Swag announces $1.2m seed raise

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In pursuit of sustainability some of the big global fashion brands have taken initiatives to move towards allowing their customers to resell on their own platform But second hand fashion eCommerce is not

ious facets of the digital transformation of econom y i n c l u d i n g s u g g e st i o n s f o r d i g i t a l i n f r a s t r u c t u r e a n d c o n n e c t i v i t y, g o v e r n m e n t , p r i v a t e sector and mass digital usage emerging web 3 0 technologies and digital r e g u l a t i o n s t o a c c e l e r a t e i n n o v a t i o n in Pakistan According to a research R e p o r t , a 1 0 p e r c e n t i n c r e a s e i n b r o a d b a n d p e n e t r a t i o n r e s u l t s i n i ncreasing the GDP by 1 4 percent

European LNG demand to drive competition for new supply and dominate trade in long term

K a r a c h i: Europe s increased need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) looks set to intensify competition with Asia for limited new supply available over the next two years and may dominate LNG trade over the longer term according to Shell’s LNG Outlook 2023 European countries, including the UK, imported 121 million tonnes of LNG in 2022, an increase of 60% compared to 2021 which enabled them to withstand a slump in Russian pipeline gas imports following its invasion of Ukraine A 15 million tonne fall in Chinese imports combined with reduced imports by South Asian buyers helped European countries to secure enough gas and avoid shortages Europe s rapidly rising appetite for LNG pushed prices to record highs and generated volatility in energy markets around the world With reduced Russian pipeline gas, LNG is becoming an increasingly important pillar of European energy security supported by the rapid development of new regasification terminals in north-west Europe In contrast, China is evolving from being a rapidly growing import market to playing a more flexible role with an increased ability to balance the global LNG market “The war in Ukraine has had far-reaching impacts on energy security around the world and caused structural shifts in the market that are likely to impact the global LNG industry over the long term,” Steve Hill, Shell’s Executive Vice President for Energy Marketing, said p r

items through a SaaS-based platform developed by Swag Kicks

similar to traditional eCommerce, according to the team at Swag Kicks

The second hand fashion works on a one-of-one model which the big brands are not used to of This is an opportunity that Swag Kicks sees for itself; that is enabling big brands to sell one-of-one

NEPRA notifies Rs2.32/unit cut in power tariff

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The hearing was chaired by NEPRA chairman

Tauseef H Qureshi and NEPRA members Engineer

Rafique Ahmed Shaikh and Engineer Maqsood

Anwar were in attendance

The CPPA in its application on behalf of DISCOs requested a Rs 2 20 per unit reduction in the power tariff under the head FCA for December 2022

The CPPA also submitted that the total electricity generated with various fuels in the month of December 2022 was recorded at 8,416 81 gigawatts hours (GWh), at a basket price of Rs 7 0441 per unit The total cost of energy was Rs 59 289 million

Power generation from hydel was 1,720 43 GWh, or 20 44% of production, while coal-fired plants produced 1 520 93 GWh or 18 07% at a price of Rs 11 4954 per unit Power generation from residual fuel oil (RFO) was 38 91 GWh, or 0 46% of total generation at Rs 25 7971 per unit

Gas-based plants produced 1,273 80 GWh, or 15 13%, at Rs10 4992 per unit, compared to power from regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) totalling 1,153 73 GWh, or 13 71%, at Rs 20 2071

per unit

Production from mixed sources was 2 18 GWh at a price of Rs 3 2781 per unit; from bagasse 101 09 GWh, at Rs 5 9731 per unit; from wind 211 57 GWh; from solar 69 46 GWh, at Rs 2 7773 per unit

Generation from nuclear sources was 2 284 86

GWh, or 27 15% of the total generation, at Rs 1 0726 per unit Electricity imported from Iran accounted for 39 85 GWh at Rs 21 5555 per unit

Data submitted by the CPPA to NEPRA also showed that net electricity delivered to DISCOs in December 2022 was 8,096 88 GWh at Rs 7 1198 per unit, the total price of which was Rs 57,648 million

The CPPA, in its tariff adjustment request, advocated that the reference fuel charges for December 2022, for DISCOs were fixed at Rs 9 3193 per unit while the actual fuel charges were recorded at Rs 10 9833 per unit It is pertinent to mention that the FCA is reviewed every month as per the tariff regime applicable across the country and is usually applicable to the consumer s bills for one month only

FCAs are linked with changes in global fuel prices and passed onto consumer bills under prescribed rules and regulations of NEPRA and the gov-

We have invested in our technology and built systems that allow us to sell one-of-one inventory at scale A certain portion of the money will go towards consolidating that as well And thirdly we will continue scaling across markets These are our prime focus points as we move along ”

ernment of Pakistan

Meanwhile, NEPRA has constituted a committee to probe the countrywide electricity breakdown on 23-01-2023 The NEPRA inquiry committee is comprised of Imran Kazi, Senior Advisor (M&E), NEPRA as Convener, while Nadir Khoso, Market Expert Ghulam Abbas Memon Market Expert Syed Safeer Hussain, Market Expert and Syed Aqib Ali Shah, Deputy Director (M&E), NEPRA Secretary as members of the inquiry committee The committee shall conduct the said inquiry and shall present a detailed report to the authority in 15 working days, said NEPRA According to NEPRA due to system disturbance in the transmission network of NTDC, a total power system collapse occurred on January 23, 2023 around 07:34 a m which plunged the whole country into darkness and the system was completely restored after a longer duration

The authority took serious notice of the above incident and acquired a preliminary report from NTDC and KE Subsequently, a briefing/presentation by NTDC, KE, WAPDA and all DISCOs was held on January 31, 2023, wherein, all these companies submitted their point of view before the Authority During the briefing, it was observed that stances taken by the entities are contradictory to each other and no one was ready to take responsibility of the incident, said NEPRA, in a statement issued on Thursday

P r e s i d e n t l a u d s O i C C i d i g i ta l r e P O r t

t O s et C O u n t r y O f f O n d i g i ta l j O u r n e y

Mian Shaukat Masud, CEO Fazal Software Technology Park, received 100 CEO Book from Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister of Planning pr

Quetta crash conviction

WH E N there was a campaign launched about the army helicopter crash near Lasbela last year, in which the Corps Commander was killed along with several officers and men, the iSpr issued a statement that the attempt to exploit the event had caused a wave of resentment among the entire army The conviction by the Faisalabad district and sessions court of a pTi worker and sentencing him to three years in jail for defaming the pakistan army should have brought some closure to the army, but did not For one thing, the insaf Lawyers Forum will launch an appeal, and the case will not be closed For another, it shows the military in a strange light, that of a victim, which is unsettling for citizens who look to it to provide the country a resolute and impregnable defence

a more pressing issue is that while this is the first conviction of a pTi worker, there are a number of pTi leaders in the firing line, facing similar charges of criticizing the army These include imran Khan’s former chief of staff Shahbaz Gill and former federal minister azam Swati also facing defamation charges, though of ppp co-Chairman asif Zardari, not the army, are former ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Sh rasheed ahmad it should be noted that they are also charged under the pECa ordinance as well as Section 499 of the ppC

More egregious amendments to pECa were made by the now-ousted pTi government, but were successfully challenged by the CpNE and other journalists’ organizations The problem seems to be that the tools once used by the colonial government to keep the natives in check in the form of anti-defamation and anti-sedition laws, are still on the books, and are hallowed by the passage of time While further encroachments on civil rights have been fought off by civil society, the old laws remain available to governments willing to use them While no one would dispute that reputations should not be left to be besmirched, or that national security must be sacrificed the means to control this should not be available for use by any government which wants to impose its tyranny one of the concomitants of such a change in the laws is for the government, and all its institutions to develop a thicker skin, because criticism may sometimes become uncomfortable for the target it is difficult to make the target understand that that criticism is for the greater good

Stopping the unstoppable

The ECP needs money and securit y

Fo r once, the pTi has got the government on the backfoot on the matter of elections to the two dissolved provincial assemblies indeed, it seems that these two elections are all that imran Khan is going to get and there will be no early dissolution of the National assembly With the elections due in November anyway, it now seems that there will be no incentive even for the pTi to have early elections

The path to elections on time is full of obstacles, but if the provincial elections can be put off then so can federal By having two provincial elections held beforehand, the holding of national elections on time is buttressed it should be noted that the reasons being given are not the reason why the government would like to void elections: it fears that it will be thrashed soundly

However that is not why it says it would like to avoid elections There are two main reasons given: the upsurge of terrorism, and the state of the economy on the face of it, terrorism is going to be a major problem it should be noted that the upsurge of terrorism is taking place in Kp, which has one of the assemblies to be elected However, the Tehrik Taliban pakistan has carried out its activities in Lahore too, apart from other punjab cities That means that while the focus of the TTp will be on Kp elections, punjab assembly elections cannot be ignored

Elections are vulnerable for two reasons First, electioneering naturally tends to mass gatherings a lot of electioneering is safe enough, such as door-todoor canvassing or media advertising, but rallies, even corner meetings bring together large numbers of people and pack them into a relatively small space That is ideal for terrorists

Second if a candidate dies the poll is countermanded That constituency does not vote on polling d a y, b u t o n s o m e d a y l a t e r, t o b e d e c i d e d b y t h e E l e c t i o n C o m m i s s i o n o f p a k i s t a n U s u a l l y a n y such countermanded seats are clubbed with those t o w h i c h b y - e l e c t i o n s a r e b e i n g h e l d , b e c a u s e o f s e a t s t o w h i c h m u l t i p l e w i n n e r s v a c a t e d T h a t means that terrorists will do their best to sabotage polls by killing candidates N o e l e c t i o n s o f a r h a s b e e n d i s r u p t e d b y t h i s particular method Still, Kp saw the assassination of Bashir ahmad Bilour in december 2012 Bilour was the province’s Senior Minister and a leading f i g u r e i n t h e a N p i n t h e s u b s e q u e n t 2 0 1 3 c a mp a i g n , t h e a N p c o m p l a i n e d t h a t i t s c a n d i d a t e s could not campaign freely However the polls were not postponed T h e d e f e n c e M i n i s t r y h a s r e f u s e d t o p l a c e a t t h e d i s p o s a l o f t h e E C p m i l i t a r y o r p a r a m i l i t a r y forces needed for security in the March 16 by-elections one of the reasons it gave was that the troops were needed because of the present wave of terrorism The ECp was also rebuffed by the Lahore High

Court, to which it wrote asking that it provide judicial officers under its supervision for assignment as r e t u r n i n g o ff i c e r s i n t e r e s t i n g l y t h e r e a s o n g i v e n was not that the LHC wished to observe the constitutionally mandated separation of the judiciary and the executive but that there was a high case pend e n c y w h i c h t h e l e n d i n g o f j u d i c i a l o ff i c e r s f o r election duties would affect

The Finance Ministry did not mince words while refusing the ECp the money it needed to conduct the elections, citing an economic crunch it not only refused the rs 20 billion needed for the 93 by-elections consequent upon the acceptance of the pTi resignations, but the rs 14 billion extra needed to hold the punjab and Kp polls separately

The ECp is thus being asked to hold free and fair elections without money or security Yet at the same time, it is being told by the LHC that it must hold the provincial elections on time

The LHC has not explained in its order how the ECp can conduct polls without returning officers a date for elections must be set by the Governor, and the ECp must determine an Election programme for each constituency, which determines the dates on which particular activities are to be held, starting with when candidates can obtain nomination papers, and ending with the display of the final list of candidates and their symbols after the 28 days allowed for campaigning voting is supposed to take place (provided one person has not been elected unopposed) However, for each constituency, there is supposed to be a returning officer whose appointment as such must be notified 60 days before the poll if the punjab assembly polls are not to go beyond 14 april, when the constitutionally 90 days will be over returning officers must be appointed by 13 February That date is 17 February for the Kp assembly There are other dates working against holding the poll on time First there is the unknown ramazan factor ramazan starts around March 23, and Eidul Fitr takes place around april22 (subject to the sighting of the moon) However, that means not only does the polling take place in the middle of ramazan, but the latter half of the campaign does too The only thing worse is for the polling to take place on Eid itself However, it should not be forgotten that the last general election was held on 25 July 2018 in obedience to the schedule prescribed by the Constitution, and flying in the face of the conventional wisdom, which says that elections must not held in either the dry hot weather that starts in april, or the monsoon, which

starts in July as a matter of fact, if elections are held on time, they would come just as the heat begins to pick up another factor which has not been considered is that the elections would come just before Eid, which is itself before one of the biggest events in both punjab and Kp the annual wheat harvest

The second significant date is March 1, when the census will begin From a strictly statistical point of view the census was not required the last one being conducted in 2017 However, that census left the MQM unhappy, and one off its conditions for switching to the pdM was the conduct of a fresh census it had wanted a forensic audit of the previous one, but that did not happen one advantage of this census is that it will bring pakistan back to its schedule one disadvantage is that, assuming timely provincial polls, is that the census results will be coming out around the time that polling takes place it must be noted that this is the first electronic census, which means that results will become available earlier The interprovincial allocation of seats depends on the census, which means that, provided elections are held on time, there will barely be enough time for the elections to be held after the necessary delimitations are conducted by the ECp

T h e r e i s n o ex c u s e fo r p o s t p o n i n g a n e l e c t i o n E l e c t i o n s a r e t h e e s s e n c e o f d e m o c r a cy. E v e n w h e n M a r t i a l L aw w a s i m p o s e d , t h e d i c t a t o rs h a d t o h o l d e l e c t i o n s T h o s e e l e c t i o n s m ay b e c r i t i c i z e d , bu t e l e c t i o n s mu s t b e h e l d . G ov e r n m e n t s m i g h t w a n t t o avo i d t h e m , bu t t h ey c a n n o t b e avo i d e d fo r ev e r

More relevant is the fact that intraprovincial seat allocations are determined by the census, meaning that elections will be held according to the old delimitations, when fresh delimitations are needed Even if a district has the same number of seats as before, internal population shifts may cause constituency boundaries to be changed

The census also has to be notified, though the previous census was not notified at the time of the last election and a constitutional amendment had to be passed so that the election was conducted on the basis of the provisional result

There is a rather dangerous precedent to guide the ECp, set under this government, where it simply ignored the order of the islamabad High Court to conduct the islamabad local body election it had put off the poll because it wanted to delimit the district afresh in the light of fresh legislation

There is no excuse for postponing an election Elections are the essence of democracy Even when Martial Law was imposed, the dictators had to hold elections Those elections may be criticized but elections must be held Governments might want to avoid them, but they cannot be avoided forever

The writer is a member of staff

Ra p i d development in asia and the pacific has propelled the region to become a key engine of growth for the global economy, yet this prosperity has not reached everyone and with the region not on track to achieve the Sustainable development Goals by 2030, much work lies ahead of us

as societies chart future paths, there are promising opportunities for driving sustainable and inclusive growth Countries in asia and the pacific will discuss these issues, and more, as they convene this week at a regional UN forum on trade, investment, enterprise and business innovation

digital trade and the digitalization of trade processes in recent years is opening up new possibilities, facilitating access to new markets, lowering the costs of crossborder transactions, and easing participation in global and regional value chains, on top of reducing carbon emissions from trade and business

More than ever, digital trade offers a springboard to foreign markets for less advantaged groups within countries By linking businesses to a wider pool of consumers, e-commerce platforms enable more inclusive participation in the market, particularly for micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs), women-owned businesses and those in remote locations Furthermore advances in trade facilitation help reduce setup and administrative costs, which can disproportionately impact smaller businesses

Similarly as one of the largest sources of financial flows into developing countries, Foreign direct investment (Fdi) presents untapped prospects for scaling up projects that contribute to gender equality empower small businesses and bridge digital divides asia and the pacific has

been the leading destination and source of Fdi globally since 2020 However, quantity has not necessarily meant quality investor practices must shift towards investing for social and environmental impact, beyond investing solely for economic gains at the same time, government agencies responsible for investment promotion require support to incorporate and encourage this change in investment behaviour More resources and greater prioritization should be dedicated to attracting and working with foreign partners who focus on people and the planet alongside profit

Within countries, the emergence of innovative business models such as social enterprises and inclusive businesses is enabling inclusive and sustainable growth These models tackle social and environmental challenges through their business operations and provide livelihoods, products, and services to those at the base of the economic pyramid across the region, governments are also starting to implement supportive policies such as tax incentives and wage subsidies for social entrepreneurs and inclusive businesses, as well as provision

of public advisory services and training courses in all these efforts, partnership between the public and private sectors is crucial, particularly for infrastructure development in transport energy and health which are critical for participation in economic and social

The benefits of these myriad oppor tunities will, however, not manifest automatically. Turning potential into reality calls for decisive policy action to foster an enabling environment and to take the necessary steps forward, underpinned by greater commitment, collaboration, and regional cooperation Together, we can build a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable future for our region

spheres Such public-private partnerships and networks can bring stakeholders together and facilitate muchneeded support importantly, they can serve as platforms for learning and sharing experiences and best practices in promoting sustainable development and building resilience to shocks such as pandemics and economic crises particularly for smaller businesses which often lack capacity and resources, networks are a valuable avenue for obtaining new knowledge and knowhow, seeking technical assistance and building connections with public and private sector actors

The benefits of these myriad opportunities will, however not manifest automatically Turning potential into reality calls for decisive policy action to foster an enabling environment and to take the necessary steps forward underpinned by greater commitment collaboration and regional cooperation Together, we can build a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable future for our region

The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCap)

PTI worker ’s convic tion raises concerns about leaders facing similar c ases

Systems of women exploitation

cause independence would hurt their hegemony

Before colonialism, the case was different people were more open Women were even in charge after colonization in our area things changed in the subcontinent, the subjugation of women for owning property and other rights was considered essential by our “masters ”

TH E family s hierarchical structure nurtures women in situations where the syndrome of dependency is systematically entrenched to perpetuate hegemony and dominance Human history is defined more by the struggle to maintain authority than by the democratization of social roles in his book The Better Angels of Our Times, Steven pinker argues that women with fewer resources less than half as many as men achieve more desirable outcomes than men Women were critical to the success of both the war economy and the agricultural revolution in the sociological context during the machine age, women were also more active participants in the process of gathering information in reality it is always men who gain leverage over women’s struggles With a few exceptions, let us look at the story of pakistan’s 51 percent female population a girl was born into the family Now all the dignity of the family rests on this single woman

The whole family behaves differently because she is a woman with different sexual organs than men The first stage of the system did not recognize women as equal beings and sexual organs determine the prestige of humans in society The mysterious prestige with the sexual organs prevail as standard norm for accepting humans in the patriarchal settings

Her family brought her up in such a way that either overprotection or underprotection happened if she is in the middle or upper middle class, overprotection will destroy a woman’s creative abilities, which she can use to create balance in her future life Constantly being aware that she is a woman and that she is dependent on blood relatives or any male in society to fulfill her needs is what causes her to become psychologically dependent She mysteriously accepts that she is another being rather than a complete human She is now psychologically relying on someone for approval in society She has moved on to a new stage of life and is maturing

From elementary school to university the system is set up in such a way that she is unable to learn survival on her own This is due to a culture of dignity or a closed society in which her independence threatens the egos of alpha males dependence is the most heinous form of exploitation designed for her so that the male family structure can rule over her for the rest of her life They don t let her become independent be-

Now for the important part: Because she is a woman, all men, whether in the family or not, have the right to stare at her even manipulate her, and make a sexual attempt to win her over The majority of women don’t talk about this Vultures live in families it is even possible for close relatives to benefit from the dependency syndrome of a woman during the age bracket of 12–16 years, the majority of girls, either in rural or urban settings face some kind of sexual abuse or sexual assault

She lived a pathetically normal life all her life despite sexual abuse

Home robs them of their right to a life of equality and privileges

Stage 2 begins if she manages to protect her sexual organ from the primitives and the backward School, college, and university education takes place at this stage From school teachers to fellow students, they desperately try to somehow make this woman come and allure them sexually

she begins to follow people in need of assistance at this point, if she is in academy, a desperate boy will try everything he can to obtain her phone number The next level of desperation is that will begin to call for her after a few times, he starts persuading her emotionally and tactically do you understand why all the effort is necessary? Because sex is the only criteria that is being associated with women The System 3 woman is again not allowed to be an individual and is just a sexual existence

The following stage is stage 4, in which she obtains employment Now all the office boys and so-called bosses will try to win her over for sexual reasons at workplace system 4 she is not treated as an equal and competent force but as a mere sexual entertainer

This is how a woman’s life was centered throughout her life in Pakistan The misery lasts for a long time for the lower middle class. In the middle or upper-middle class, women benefit from empowerment, but only by a small margin. A woman is a complete human being. They are not just entertainers or alluring machines. Human qualities, not sexual beauty, must be the criteria for acceptance.

System 2 also denied a woman the status of an equal being Sexual organ differences don’t mean she is a yielding machine for the desperate desires of the primitive in stage 3, she now looks forward to services, or being somewhat prepared for jobs after graduation For example, if a girl (who was born 23 years ago) decides to prepare for public service exams, she start attending an academy at the very least

Stage 5 is the final one in my vocabulary at this stage, women’s beauty fades; beauty which was the criteria for the primitives Now she is an entertainer in the form of a mother or a wife She can now entertain men with affection and attention Her own desires have been submerged in the course of this process This is how a woman’s life was centered throughout her life in pakistan The misery lasts for a long time for the lower middle class in the middle or upper-middle class, women benefit from empowerment, but only by a small margin a woman is a complete human being They are not just entertainers or alluring machines Human qualities, not sexual beauty, must be the criteria for acceptance

The writer is a transportation engineer with postgraduations in English literature and political science

S e n d y o u r l e t t e r s t o : L e t t e r s t o E d i t o r, pakistan Today, 4 - S h a a re y F a t i m a J i n n a h L a h o re P a k i s t a n E - m a i l : l e t t e r s @ p a k i s t a n t o d a y c o m p k L e t t e r s s h o u l d b e a d d re s s e d t o pakistan Today e x c l u s i v e l y

A woman with many ‘firsts’

T H i S year marks the 118th birth anniversary of Begum ra’ana Liaquat ali Khan who was born on Feb 13 1905 and died on June 13 1990 after having lived a life of distinction, dignity and integrity For the women of pakistan, she was and will always be a role model of courage and vision She was 46 when her husband Liaquat ali Khan the country s first prime minister, was martyred She had two minor children to take care of all by her own self as her parents and blood relations had cut off all ties once she embraced islam by choice She had no property or support for survival in that hour of need Her husband had not filed any claim against his rural or urban properties that the couple had left behind in the wake of partition a visionary without doubt she was the driving force behind the allpakistan Women’s association (apWa), and had set up projects, like the pakistan Women’s National Guard and the pakistan Women’s Naval reserve She actively worked for women empowerment in a practical manner When she fell on hard times after the death of her illustrious husband, she struggled for a while before joining the foreign service She first served as pakistan’s representative to the 7th session of the United Nations General assembly in 1952 where she was the first Muslim woman delegate in 1954, she was appointed pakistan’s ambassador to the Netherlands, becoming the first woman ambassador of the country She represented pakistan in the Netherlands until 1961 and was also the doyen of the diplomatic Corps there She subsequently served as pakistan’s ambassador to italy and Tunisia during her foreign assignments, she successfully promoted cordial bilateral relations Though her husband had banned dutch flights from using pakistan’s airspace as a token of his policy of promoting decolonisation of indonesia, Begum ra ana was able cultivate warm relations with the Netherlands, and the Queen there counted her among personal friends after a successful diplomatic career lasting over a dozen years, Begum ra ana returned to the country and subsequently became the governor of Sindh in 1973 again, she was the first pakistani woman to hold a gubernatorial position in the country in many diverse ways, she was way ahead of her times

MAHFOOZUN NABI KHAN KARACHI

Appeasement is a debatable policy

T H E decision whosoever took it on behalf of the state of pakistan to initiate the process of talks with Tehreek-i-Taliban pakistan (TTp) and to have resettlement plan for its militants has turned out to be a strategic blunder resulting in a fresh and intense wave of violence and terror

The temerity with which TTp has been unleashing violent attacks, especially against military and civil law-enforcers, is enough to realise that the strategy or whatever it was in the name of strategy was one of the mistakes that have rattled pakistan The peshawar police Lines mosque attack is a case in point The country, which already has been facing stressful economic conditions as well as unceasing and unsettling political malaise, now has to carry the burden of TTp’s fresh wave of terrorism that seems to be metastasising to all regions

While certain sane voices have always been raising concerns about TTp appeasement, there are those in the current political opposition who are adamant on defending the follies it committed when it was in power

Those who were euphoric after afghan Taliban s Kabul victory had many misconceptions about TTp and, based on that misplaced euphoria, they went for an agreement with the terrorist outfit that now has landed the country in dire straits today Since the state regardless of the government has repeated a mistake of the past, all we need to do now is a complete restructuring and revitalising of the security apparatus comprising both military and civil law-enforcement agencies to deal with the rising menace of TTp This has to be done quickly and with an iron hand to prevent further bloodshed and misery in the country The new chief of the army staff has committed to reining in terrorism but it remains to be seen how successfully we would be able to beat the monster

ZAHID ALI ZOHRI GILGIT-BALTISTAN

Sustainable progress

C U r r E N T LY, the real estate industry in pakistan is following a set of procedures that are decreasing the impact on the environment However, energy consumption is the number one factor when it comes to the matter of sustainable development

The hotel industry s energy consumption far exceeds the per capita consumption of entire pakistan it requires the use of cleaner technologies to have fewer carbon dioxide (Co2) emissions due to that reason, this goal would require policy interventions and international cooperation

The owners of hotels will have to be taken on board as a necessary measure They can play an important role in sustainable development increased profit from utility savings, more investment options in innovative technologies eco-tourism and increased energy supply might even be reasons for business owners to opt for sustainable and greener technologies

The sustainable development goals (SdGs) outlined by the United Nations have also been incorporated into the hotel industry in the developed world along the lines of public safety regulations, performance indicators have also been placed pakistan is a country that is hard hit by environmental disasters and due to that reason alone sustainable development needs to be a national priority However, our planet’s ecosystem requires sustainable development where the population is rising exponentially resource needs surely represent a challenge and the preservation of the ecosystem is a necessity in this effort, the hotel industry and the hospitality sector at large can play a huge role

WAQAS ASMAT ISLAMABAD

Overdue scholarships

THE Bolan Medical College in Balochistan has a scholarship worth rs72 000 but the amount was disbursed only for a year before the whole scheme apparently went in some kind of hibernation The batch of 2021 is in its third year now, but is still waiting for the scholarship amount to be released The college management should disburse the scholarship amount timely so that the students may pay their examination fees and other educational expenses ADAM HUSSAIN

MuhAMMAd WAjAhAt SultAN

help Adani s coal-related businesses and save him at least $1

BBC on I-T radar

Prove wrongdoing to dispel notion of vindic tive ac tion Tribune

Th e Income Tax Department’s survey at the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi and Mumbai has not only triggered a war of words between the ruling BJP and the Opposition but also subjected the Indian Government’s actions and motives to international scrutiny The survey dubbed by some political parties as an assault on the freedom of the Press, comes weeks after UK s national broadcaster telecast a controversial documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’, on the 2002 Gujarat riots The Centre had been quick to dismiss it as a ‘propaganda piece’ designed to push a ‘discredited narrative and had even tried to restrict access to it The government had remarked that the BBC’s ‘bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible ’

According to the I-T authorities, the survey is aimed at delving deep into issues regarding international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC’s subsidiary companies There are allegations that the broadcaster has been heavily diverting its profits and has dealt evasively with past notices served by the department

With questions being raised about the timing of the survey, I-T officials must thoroughly probe all aspects of the matter; if concrete evidence of any wrongdoing is found, it should be made public at the earliest so as to dispel the notion that this entire operation is vindictive

The misuse of Central agencies to punish dissenters or detractors is not uncommon in present-day India At stake here are the country s democratic credentials which will take a huge hit if the I-T department is unable to establish a convincing case against the BBC It s no secret that the British broadcaster has often taken a jaundiced view of postcolonial happenings in the subcontinent; the charges of financial irregularities if proved, will have a bearing on its credibility and transparency The developments are significant for Indian media houses too The I-T survey, in case it is retaliatory, will be construed as a warning to them: remain pliant or face the consequences The prospect of being targeted by one agency or the other for taking an anti-establishment line has grave implications for journalistic freedom in the country

INDIA’S MEDIA COMPANIES LEARNED LONG AGO THAT THE Y SHOULD STEER AWAY FROM CRITICAL COVER AGE OF ADANI’S BUSINESSES. WHY THE Y DRE W THIS CONCLUSION SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY

billion

It noted that one local lawmaker was imprisoned for six months after opposing an Adani power station, and how a high-ranking official was fired after criticizing tycoons including Adani

In November 2020, the Financial Times issued a detailed exposé of the company, alleging that Adani had leveraged his long and close relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build a gigantic business empire The article described how the Adani Group had won all six airports up for grabs in a privatization tender in 2018 prompting one state official to call the auction an “act of brazen cronyism ”

But you would search in vain for similarly hard-edge reporting on Adani practices in the Indian mainstream media Reporters and media executives have long understood that taking on Adani s well-connected business empire can lead to trouble In 2017, investigative journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta published two detailed articles alleging the company had benefited from its close contacts with officials to evade taxes Adani Group responded with defamation suits and gag orders, ultimately forcing Thakurta into silence

Gautam Adani’s immense wealth means he can sometimes take more direct routes to neutralize critics

Last year, he made headlines with his hostile takeover of NDTV one of the last independent news networks in the

country which had pushed back against the rising culture of censorship One of its top news anchors, Ravish Kumar, resigned a few days after the takeover, accusing the Adani Group of trying to buy out critical journalists

Several top executives also quit Small wonder that most mainstream media have seemed content to restrict their coverage to fawning portraits of the conglomerate s owner Just a few weeks before the hindenburg claims, the famously media-shy Adani gave interviews to two of the biggest news networks in India who then treated their viewers to breathless coverage of the tycoon’s home life while studiously ignoring any of the controversies around his businesses Sadly, it s precisely this kind of reporting that is on the rise in India at the expense of genuinely critical voices

The hindenburg report, which has roiled Indian stock markets, has opened new space for scrutiny of Adani in particular by the political opposition, which has seized upon hindenburg s claims Adani has responded by draping himself in the flag, depicting his critics as malevolent naysayers desperate to destabilize India and its alleged economic success under Modi s leadership Adani Group’s chief financial officer compared the hindenburg report to a notorious British-orchestrated massacre during the colonial period

It comes as little surprise that the nationalistic apol-

ogists for Adani are seizing upon a controversy about another overseas report about India earlier this year, the BBC released a documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” that focuses on a notorious religious pogrom that took place in Modi s home state of Gujarat in 2002, when he headed the regional government there The government has tried to stop screenings of the film and restrict its distribution on social media Predictably, pro-government media outlets have cast it as part of a plot to damage India’s international reputation, particularly at the start of a year that will see India host the Group of 20 summit Amid the nationalist backlash, a popular news anchor for India Today, a leading news broadcaster, accused The Post, the New York Times and the BBC of aiming to discredit the country That episode went viral on social media even as the opposition was raising a storm in Parliament over the Adani scandal the income tax service executed searches at local BBC offices In case anyone doubted that the tax issue might have a political background a spokesman for Modi’s party denounced the BBC as “corrupt,” citing it for a “tainted and black history of working with malice against India

In a healthy democracy the hindenburg report would have led to hard questions Indians should be having a discussion about cronyism, the incompetence of regulators and the pliability of the financial institutions that have bailed out Gautam Adani at what could well prove to be a huge cost to their own shareholders But Modi’s many years of squeezing the media are now helping him to redefine the terms of the debate

Rana Ayyub is an Indian journalist and author of “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up ”

around noon on Tuesday when the WhatsApp group of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi started buzzing with queries about an “income tax raid” at the BBC’s offices in India, some journalists on it were not surprised

“It was in some ways our jaded jokes coming true,” said the correspondent of a european newspaper After the documentary was released, I told my friend we’ll see what agency it will be because there will be repercussions Indeed, while the income tax surveys on the British public broadcaster perhaps represent an unprecedented escalation, foreign correspondents say hostility , more often than not is the Indian authorities’ default mode of engagement with them

Yet, how things unfolded after the raid

a full-throttle public attack on the BBC by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and almost no word of condemnation from back home

has left many of them stunned “A lot of governments go after the media, they pinch and poke, but in a way that there’s deniability ” said a journalist working with a western daily, who requested anonymity, like all other journalists interviewed for this article “But yesterday there was not even a pretense ”

A SURVEY AFTER A DOCUMEN-

TARY: On Tuesday, as Income Tax department sleuths landed at the offices of the BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai and temporarily seized all the employees’ phones, social media was astir with speculation While officials put out the word to reporters that what was underway was a “survey” as part of a tax evasion investigation, not many bought it Less than a month earlier in January the BBC had released a two-part documentary that probed the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the communal violence that convulsed Gujarat in 2002 Modi, at the time, was the state’s chief minister While the documentary was not officially released in India, parts of it made their way to YouTube and other video streaming platforms A foreign ministry official told journalists that it was “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative Days later the Indian

government swiftly invoked special emergency powers to ask social media platforms to block it completely

A CONFIRMATION OF MALAFIDE INTENT? The Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia was the first to officially confirm the income tax department’s action on Tuesday he began by saying the BBC had nothing to worry about if there were no irregularities on its part but changed tack in a matter of minutes, launching into a scathing attack on the news organisation s alleged hidden agenda The BBC was “corrupt” and “rubbish”, he declared, citing allegedly slanted news stories it had done in the past

If there was any doubt, Bhatia made it quite clear, on national television, that there was in all likelihood a connection between the documentary and the tax survey

AN ESCALATION: Many foreign journalists interviewed for this story said they fear Tuesday’s events could pave the way for more brazen action against them by the Modi government, after many episodes of “microaggressions” in the last couple of years There was a line not being crossed,” said an American correspondent, “although there were other things such as a punishing visa process to make things as difficult as possible ”

A MUTE WEST: The lack of pushback by western democracies to India’s crackdown on the BBC, several foreign correspondents said, showed that their home nations would do little to protect their journalistic freedom

The United Kingdom government, for instance has said absolutely nothing on record, let alone a condemnation Unnamed officials told the news agency PTI that the country was “closely monitoring” the situation The United States state department has offered little more, other than a generic comment on the “importance of a free press around the world” Many foreign correspondents said it was increasingly becoming clear to them that they had little backing from their governments back home

The United Kingdom, particularly, was “terrifyingly obsessed with not rubbing India the wrong way,” said one British journalist “The UK is an ailing power – not even sure one can even call it a power – and after Brexit it needs India more than vice-versa ”

INDIA’S ERA: India s unique geopolitical position”, as another journalist put it, was coming to the help of the Modi government For one the western powers longrunning quest to keep “undemocratic” and

authoritarian China in check had always held India in good stead The Ukraine crisis has now made India’s friendship even more valuable to the bloc – it sees India as the counterbalance to “war-mongering” Russia and its ally, “expansionist” China India s size and rising economic heft many argue, ensure that the West cannot quite dictate terms to it as it would to other allies

For example despite the United States repeated objections, India continued to import oil from Russia maintaining that it had to place its own interests first As the political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently said, “India feels it has the United States figured out: Yes you will be upset but you re in no position to do anything about it ” This was, incidentally, on display on Tuesday itself even as the BBC s offices were being surveyed, Air India concluded a massive deal to purchase nearly 500 jets from Boeing and Airbus – said to be the largest ever order of its kind in aviation history even as they desisted from commenting on the BCC affair, the top-most political offices of the United States (Boeing’s headquarters), France (Airbus) and the United Kingdom (the Boeing jets will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines manufactured in Derbyshire) released effusive statements on the deal, underlining India s economic prowess

A NEAR-PERFECT IMPUNITY: “The Modi government right now has a perfect cloak of impunity knowing that western governments will overlook almost all transgressions when it comes to the rule of law or freedom of speech ” said an American journalist Unlike in the past, foreign correspondents say diplomats from their home countries are rarely willing to stick their necks out in support They don t want to do anything that can jeopardise relationships with

India said a British journalist India’s antagonism to foreign journalists critical of the BJP-run government, particularly in visa-related matters is of a pattern

In 2022, the authorities deported Vice News journalist Angad Singh hours after his flight landed in New Delhi Later in court the Union government said Singh had been “blacklisted” as a documentary made by him showed India in a negative manner

Some journalists working for non-Indian international media outlets have also been forced to cover India from Nepal or Sri Lanka because the government wouldn’t grant them a visa, their colleagues told Scroll

A TEST CASE: The Indian government’s belligerent attitude to foreign journalists had made many international newsrooms get into a huddle “Now it’s clear that the Indian government will come after the foreign media and governments back home won t back you,” said a person associated with a european news outlet “So we are having these internal discussions on how to cover the country going forward because you can’t obviously stop covering one of the most important stories in the modern world Journalists in BBC say the whole affair has had a chilling effect on the newsroom

One always thought that with the BBC, you had one extra layer of safety net ” said a Delhi-based journalist from the organisation But that is clearly not the case

The BBC episode will be a test case for the rules of engagement for the foreign press in India, said an American journalist If governments of the United Kingdom and United States did not issue more “categorical” statements in the next couple of days, Indian authorities would be further “emboldened”

“They are testing the waters to see if internationally, democratic governments will stand up or not ” the journalist said

Why India’s crackdown on BBC has left foreign correspondents anxious

W h y I n d I a ’ s m e d I a a r e C o m p l I C I T

I n T h e a d a n I G r o u p s C a n d a l

corporate corner

iSLaMaBaD: Maulana Abdul Wasay Federal Minister for Housing and works held a meeting with representatives of government residencies allottees of Islamabad Mr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Former Federal Minister and Iftikhar Ali Shallwani, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Housing and works also attended the meeting pr

NOT-BY- PROFIT

F B R s e e ks t o a c q u i R e 1 5 5 h i g h - e n d v e h i c l e s

islamabad

N e w s d e s k

iN a recent development, it has been reported that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to purchase 155 luxury vehicles at a cost of over Rs 1 6 billion, despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif s austerity policy What's more concerning is that the FBR plans to use a foreign loan, meant for upgrading its obsolete information technology system, to buy these vehicles in the name of taxpayers facilitation

iSLaMaBaD: General Fan Jianjun, Director General Bureau of Military Equipment Technical Cooperation (BOMETEC), People’s Republic of China, calls on Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force at Air Headquarters, Islamabad pr

According to official documents, the estimated cost of the vehicles is equal to 8 6% of the funds that the FBR had secured for the upgrade of its hardware and software It is worth noting that the FBR has not been able to upgrade its data network even after suffering one of the worst-ever data hacking incidents in its history a couple of years ago

The FBR has submitted documents for the Investment Project Financing (IPF) component, worth Rs 19 6 billion, under the World Bank's $400 million Pakistan Raises Revenue project A closer look into these documents revealed that the FBR is planning to acquire 155 vehicles of 1 500 cc to 3,000 cc – an engine capacity that the FBR itself has described as luxury and subject to

Chairman P@SHA Muhammad Zohaib Khan presents souvenir to Secretary General of global, multilateral institution Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) Ms Deema Al Yahya in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, on sidelines of LEAP 2023 pr

S uppor ting K ashmir c ause need of hour: Q amar Zaman K

iSLaMaBaD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and GilgitBaltistan, QamarZamanKaira has said that the time has come to support the people of Kashmir with unity and show solidarity with them at all levels He was addressing during a seminar on “Commemorating Solidarity with Kashmiris organized by Iqbal International Institute for Research & Dialogue IRD of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) at Allama Iqbal Auditorium, Faisal Masjid Campus on Thursday

Advisor to the Prime Minister said that Pakistani Nation should highlight the Kashmir Cause at international forums by spreading the strapping message of supporting their right to self-determination Addressing participants of the seminar QamrZamanKaira said that Kashmir is a jugular vein and an integral part of Pakistan, adding the whole nation is endorsing the Kashmir cause since generations to generations pr

BankIslami signs MoU with Karachi Kings to become their Platinum Sponsor

K a r a c h i: Pakistan’s leading Islamic financial institution, BankIslami, has signed an MoU to join forces with Karachi Kings, as they become platinum sponsors to the franchise, marking their presence in the most anticipated cricketing event of the year, Pakistan Super League season 8

The MoU was signed by Bilal Fiaz, Group Head of Consumer Banking, and Mr Wasim Akram, President, Karachi Kings Syed Amir Ali, President and CEO BankIslami, Captain of the team, Mr Imad Wasim, senior management from BankIslami, along with dignitaries from the sporting, corporate, and media spheres in Pakistan were also present on the occasion pr

44th anniversar y of Iran revolution

marked at K hana Farhang K arachi

Karachi: On the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution a thoughtful conference was held at the Cultural Center of the Islamic Republic of Iran-

Karachi This Conference was addressed by the director of Cultural Center of the Islamic Republic of Iran-Karachi, director general of culture and secretary of the religious affairs and zakat and Usher Govt of Sindh Mr Mumawer Ali Mehaser, dean faculty of the Islamic studies at University of Karachi, Zahid Ali Zahidi and Nazir Leghari chief executive of Bol-Tv Network and publication Addressing the ceremony, the director of Khana Farhang Iran, Dr Saeed Talabi Nia, said that this gathering is being held to discuss and analyze the role of Imam Khomeini and the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in expanding the Culture of independence and freedom of nations pr

islamabad

N e w s d e s k

Writing for News International author Murtaza Syed explains that Pakistan has been to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) an astounding 23 times in the last 75 years This puts the country at the top of the list of the IMF s most loyal customers Even Argentina, which comes in at number two, has only sought the IMF's assistance 21 times By comparison India, Pakistan's neighbor and longtime rival, has only sought the IMF's help seven times and not since the landmark Manmohan-Rao reforms of 1991

Syed argues that running to the "global emergency ward" 23 times in 75 years is no way to run a country

In this article he attempts to explain why Pakistan has never been able to wean itself off the IMF, and why the country keeps returning to the Fund for help

Typically, a country turns to the IMF when it has exhausted its foreign exchange reserves These reserves are used to pay for imports and to repay money borrowed from abroad, including other countries, multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, and foreign residents

A country can build foreign exchange reserves in one of two ways First, it can do so by running a

heavy taxation

It is worth noting that the FBR has not provided any details about the make of these vehicles in the documents

Furthermore of the Rs19 6 billion that the FBR has requested, a significant chunk of Rs1 63 billion, or 8 6%, will be used to buy these vehicles However, in a recent meeting, the planning ministry opposed the purchase Another meeting to acquire the ministry's approval ahead of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting will take place today (Thursday)

The FBR has estimated that each vehicle will cost approximately $47,000 or Rs10 3 million, at the old exchange rate of Rs220 to a dollar

However, after the rupee's devaluation and the recent increase in prices by car assemblers, the total cost of the purchase may exceed even Rs1 63 billion

While Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced a Rs 170 billion mini-budget, the FBR seems to be keen on purchasing cars and using taxpayer money for its personal benefits, which goes against the government s austerity policy In fact, Dar has already prevented the FBR from misusing the Point of Sale (PoS) funds for personal benefits after a story appeared in The Express Tribune

In light of the current economic conditions in the country, the prime minister has announced plans

current account surplus which is a situation where exports plus remittances exceed imports Second, even if it runs a current account deficit (the reverse of a surplus) it can still build reserves by attracting foreign currency inflows in the form of debt or equity that exceed this deficit

However in Pakistan's case the country has hardly ever run a current account surplus, which sets it apart from the Asian tiger economies In fact, its current account deficits have often been very large such as during 2017-19 and 2022, running at more than 3% of GDP Whenever this has happened, Pakistan has typically had to go to the IMF for help

Pakistan's current account deficits occur because its exports have always been very weak As a share of the country s economy they are only around 10% In successful countries, they are much higher, typically 20-30% of GDP

A country's current account position basically reflects how much it saves and invests If a country invests a lot, it typically needs funds from abroad and therefore runs a current account deficit This kind of current account deficit is healthy as the investment will generate future growth and exports that can be used to pay back the foreigners from whom the capital was borrowed In addition, if the capital borrowed from

Financial strength only possible when show primac y on personal interests: Naveed Q amar

ported a record Gross Unwritten Premium (GWP) of 25 65 Billion

Syed Naveed Qamar lauded NICL s commitment to promoting economic growth and empowerment of the country's insurance sector

He noted that the NICL agricultural policy provides farmers with a comprehensive coverage against losses due to floods, drought, hailstorms and other natural disasters

islamabad p r

Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Commerce on Thursday remarked that state financial strength is possible only when we prioritize state interest over our personal interest

He said this while addressing a National Insurance Company (NICL) performance ceremony here on Thursday Federal Minister said that NICL pulled through trying times and became one of the top performing entities of the Government as re-

He said that such policies would not only provide coverage to farmers against losses due to natural calamities, but also help them to manage their finances more effectively The Minister praised NICL's efforts to provide financial security to the citizens of Pakistan through its products and services and however said lot of work to be done

He said that the achievement was testament to the hard work and dedication of the NICL team

This strong performance was driven by profitable business growth and a solid investment performance, he added

Inquir y into countr y-wide power breakdown on Jan 23

incident and acquired a preliminary report from NTDC and KE

Subsequently, a briefing/presentation by NTDC, KE, WAPDA and all DISCOs was held on January 31, 2023, wherein, all these companies submitted their point of view before the Authority During the briefing, it was observed that stances taken by the entities are contradictory to each other and no one was ready to take responsibility of the incident

to implement an austerity policy

However the FBR's plans to buy these luxury vehicles are not in line with the government's policy Last week, a national austerity committee recommended that the prime minister ban the purchase of all types of vehicles until June 2024

The FBR follows the Universal Self-Assessment scheme, where the taxpayer has the freedom to declare their income The FBR charges higher income tax rates from non-filers, but despite having their data, the FBR does not often go after them –with or without a car

In its technical appraiser, the planning ministry has raised objections to the FBR s move to buy these vehicles, asking the FBR about the "need" and the cost The ministry has recommended that instead of buying these vehicles, "it would be more appropriate that tax facilitation facilities be outsourced "

The planning ministry has also objected to the allocation of $3 million for training workshops and staff capacity building An amount of Rs320 4 million has been proposed for the operational cost of project management (i e Rs30 million for the hiring of vehicles, Rs18 million for fuel, and Rs30 million for project contract staff)

To read the full article visit www tribune com pk

abroad is in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) rather than debt, it is even better as it means that if the economy does not do so well, the country does not have to pay back as much Unfortunately Pakistan's current account deficits fail on both counts

First, they do not occur because the country invests too much In fact Pakistan s investment as a share of GDP is only 15% In successful countries, it is two to three times as high Pakistan's current account deficits occur because it does not save enough and consumes too much At a staggering 95% of GDP, Pakistan's share of consumption is even higher than that of the US which is notorious for being consumption-obsessed This excess consumption increases Pakistan s imports and does not allow the country to build exports Its national tendency toward over-consumption stems from both public and private profligacy The public sector runs significant fiscal deficits, typically around 5-8% of GDP, which are very large by international standards Meanwhile, the private sector, consisting of individuals and companies, also does not save enough due to cultural habits and poor banking services

To read the full article visit www thenews com pk

MD Pakistan Baitul Maal Amir Fida

compaints during a

held to resolve problems of poor people in PBM headquarters pr

Engro Corporation FY 2022 Results

K a r a c h i: Pakistan’s premier conglomerate Engro Corporation Limited (PSX: ENGRO) announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022 Overview of Financial Performance during 2022, Engro Corporation’s standalone revenue increased from PKR 21 billion in 2021 to PKR 24 billion in 2022 exhibiting healthy growth of 14% Higher revenue was primarily due to higher dividends received from Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited (EPCL) Engro Fertilizers Limited (EFERT) and Engro Energy Limited (EEL) which, in turn, were driven by strong underlying business performance Resultantly, the Company achieved an 11% higher PAT of PKR 21 billion in 2022 against PKR 19 billion in 2021, translating into an EPS of PKR 36 79 per share (2021: PKR 32 14 per share) On a consolidated basis, Engro Corporation’s revenue grew by 14% to PKR 356 billion in 2022 from PKR 312 billion in 2021 The Company posted a PAT of PKR 46 billion in 2022, which is 13% lower than PKR 53 billion in 2021 on account of Super Tax charge of 4% on retrospective and current year earnings and one-off adjustment of Engro Powergen Thar Limited (EPTL) tariff true up adjustment pr

aira

Paracha listens

‘Khuli Kachehri’,

THreaTs To PakisTan coUld well be THreaTs To Us, says wasHingTon

WASHINgToN

Ag e n c e s

TH E United States has reiterated that the security relationship with Pakistan is ‘important’ and that many of the threats that Islamabad faces could well in turn be threats to us”

However, Washington shied away from confirming reports of a possible resumption of security cooperation with Islamabad which was suspended during the Trump era State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, when asked about the visit of a defense delegation from Pakistan and the rumored resumption of security cooperation, stated that Islamabad is “valued across many realms

Refraining from providing any details on the matter, Price said that “Pakistan is a valued partner of the United States Of course, we have a security relationship that is important to us knowing that many of the threats Pakistan faces could well in turn be threats to us And so we value the work we do together but I m just not in a position to offer anything beyond that ”

39 dead in Panama migrant bus crash

PANAMA CITY

Ag e n c i e s

During the briefing in response to another question, the spokesperson also reiterated the US’s resolve to support “the peaceful upholding of democratic constitutional, and legal principles” and that it values the “longstanding cooperation with Pakistan” that it enjoys

Speaking specifically about former prime minister Imran Khan’s decision to back-track on his claims that the US was behind his ouster Price said we do not let propaganda, misinformation, disinformation get in the way of any bilateral relationship [ ] When it comes to various

Xi’s visit: china, iran call for iran sanctions to

be lifted

political players inside of Pakistan, we don t have a position on one political candidate or party versus another ”

Previously, a US foreign policy and national security expert had explained that while the Biden administration has been trying to work with Pakistan on various issues, including on Afghanistan, it was not concerned with the change in the civilian set-up in Pakistan as any change in the civilian political system really has a very marginal effect on the issues that the US cares the most about”

While a recent United States Institute for Peace (USIP) has deemed the TTP not to be a major threat to the United States, the US has consistently expressed interest in the upsurge in terror attacks

Against the backdrop of the recent Peshawar Police Lines terrorist attack that killed hundreds the US had said that Pakistan will continue to be its “stalwart partner” in the fight against terrorism

Similarly, in January, the US supported Pakistan’s right to defend itself from terrorism saying that the Pakistani people had “suffered tremendously” from such attacks

Debt in foc us as G20 finance chiefs meet in

India

A t l e a s t 3 9 p e o p l e m o s t o f t h e m u n d o c u m e n t e d U Sb o u n d m i g r a n t s w h o h a d j u s t s u r v i v e d a p e r i l o u s j u n g l e c r o s s i n g , d i e d i n a b u s c r a s h i n P a n a m a e a r l y

We d n e s d a y, o ff i c i a l s s a i d P a n a m a ’s N a t i o n a l M i g r a t i o n S e r v i c e s a i d t h e i n j u r e d , i n c l u d i n g c h i l d r e n , w e r e b e i n g t r e a t e d a t v a r i o u s h o s p i t a l s a n d c l i n i c s , w i t h o u t s a y i n g h o w m a n y t h e r e w e r e T h e l a t e s t d e a t h t o l l i t a d d e d w a s b a s e d o n “ p r e l i m i n a r y i n f o r m a t i o n ” T h e b u s h a d “ 6 6 p a s s e n g e r s o n b o a r d ” w h e n i t p l u n g e d d o w n a r a v i n e a n d h i t a m i n i b u s s o m e 4 0 0 k i l o m e t e r s ( 2 5 0 m i l e s ) w e s t o f t h e c a p i t a l P a n a m a C i t y, t h e p r e s s s t a t e m e n t s a i d T h e b u s w a s t r a n s p o r t i n g m i g r a n t s w h o h a d c r o s s e d t h e D a r i e n G a p a n i n h o s p i t a b l e j u n g l e a r e a b o r d e r i n g C o l o m b i a a n d w e r e m o v i n g w e s t w a r d t o w a r d C o s t a R i c a f r o m w h e r e t h e y a i m e d t o c o n t i n u e t h e i r j o u r n e y t h r o u g h C e n t r a l A m e r i c a a n d M e x i c o , a n d u l t i m a t e l y t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s T h e b u s w a s o n i t s w a y t o a h o s t e l i n G u a l a c a n e a r t h e C o s t a R i c a b o r d e r, w h e r e t h e p a s s e n g e r s w e r e t o h a v e r e s t e d b e f o r e c o n t i n u i n g t h e i r j o u r n e y L o c a l m e d i a s a i d t h e c r a s h h a p p e n e d a s t h e d r i v e r w a s t u r n i n g t h e b u s a r o u n d a f t e r m i s s i n g t h e h o s t e l I t a l l e g e d l y l e f t t h e r o a d o n a b e n d a n d p l u n g e d d o w n a r a v i n e , h i t t i n g a r o c k a n d a m i n i b u s o n a r o a d b e l o w We s a w i t c o m i n g a n d d i v e d u n d e r t h e s e a t s t h e d r i v e r a n d m y s e l f , a n d b e c a u s e o f t h a t n o t h i n g h a p p e n e d t o u s , ” E d g a r G u e r r a , o n e o f t h e t w o p e o p l e i n s i d e t h e m i n i b u s , t o l d l o c a l m e d i a T h e n a t i o n a l i t i e s o f t h e o c c u p a n t s h a s n o t b e e n r e v e a l e d b u t C u b a ’s f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r B r u n o R o d r i g u e z s a i d o n Tw i t t e r t h a t C u b a n s w e r e a m o n g t h e d e a d

PR ofIT REPoRT

R e u t e R s

G20 finance and central bank chiefs meet in India next week at the first-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to discuss rising debt troubles among developing countries, the regulation of cryptocurrencies and the global slowdown

The Feb 22-25 meeting in the Nandi Hills summer retreat near Bengaluru is the first major event of India’s G20 presidency and will be followed by a March 1-2 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi

As global borrowing costs rise India – whose neighbours Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all sought International Monetary Fund support in recent months – wants to put debt relief at the forefront of discussions at the finance talks

It is drafting a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor nations badly hit by the economic impact from the pandemic and the Ukraine war, by asking big lenders including China to take a large haircut on loans, Reuters reported on Wednesday New Delhi also supports a push by the IMF the World Bank and the United States for the so-

called Common Framework (CF)

– a G20 initiative launched in 2020 to help poor countries delay debt repayments – to be expanded to include middle-income countries, though China has resisted We support exploring a possible extension of the CF to middle-income countries facing debt vulnerabilities said a European Union paper, signaling its backing for such moves ahead of the meeting

The World Bank said in December the world s poorest countries owed $62 billion in annual debt service to bilateral creditors, a year-on-year increase of 35% triggering a higher risk of defaults

Two-thirds of the debt burden is owed to China, the world’s largest sovereign creditor

For India, the other priority is to agree on global rules for cryptocurrencies India’s central bank governor said last year cryptocurrencies were a “huge threat” to economic and financial stability” and some officials even called for a ban

The country is now keen on international views on it

“Crypto assets are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage,” India’s Min-

istry of Finance told parliament this week

“Therefore, any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only with significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards ” The meeting comes amid attempts to ensure that sanctions on Russia do not deprive nations like Sri Lanka, Zambia and Pakistan –whose economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic – access to vital oil and fertilizer supplies

After a video call between Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week, New Delhi said it had asked the global lender to work on policy guidance to ensure energy and food security

Food shortages and higher food and fertiliser prices triggered by the war are exacerbating global food insecurity, which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, the EU paper said, urging the G20 to step up efforts to address the problem

Neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting

bEIJINg

Ag e n c i e s

China’s President Xi Jinping and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi called on Thursday for the lifting of sanctions on Iran as an integral part of a stalled international agreement on its nuclear programme Xi also accepted an invitation from Raisi to visit Iran and would do so at his convenience, the two leaders said in a joint statement on the last day of a three-day state visit to China by Raisi The leaders called for the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which Iran agreed with several countries including the United States, to curb its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions relief But in 2018, the then U S president, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the deal and ordered the reimposition of U S sanctions on Iran President Joe Biden said in 2021 that the United States would return to the deal if Iran moved back into compliance but talks have stalled “All relevant sanctions should be fully lifted in a verifiable manner to promote the full and effective implementation,” Xi and Raisi said China and Iran emphasised that lifting sanctions and ensuring Iran economic benefits were important components of the agreement, they said O n Tu e s d a y, X i t o l d R a i s i t h a t C h i n a w o u l d p a r t i c i p a t e c o n s t r u c t i v e l y ” i n t a l k s t o r e s u m e n e g o t i a t i o n s o n i m p l e m e n t i n g t h e a g r e e m e n t , w h i l e e x p r e s s i n g h i s s u p p o r t f o r I r a n i n s a f e g u a r d i n g i t s r i g h t s a n d i n t e r e s t s R e a d f u l l s t o r y China firmly opposes interference by external forces in Iran’s internal affairs and undermining Iran’s security and stability,” the leaders said in the statement The two leaders also drew up several initiatives, including promoting e-commerce and agriculture

Hindut va men vandalize mosque in Uttar Pradesh

UTTAR PRADESH

Ag e n c e s

Members of Hindu right-wing outfits Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad vandalized an under-construction mosque in the Banda district of Uttar Pradesh

According to Kashmir Media Service, while police personnel watched as mute spectators the mob of Hindu extremists organized a protest in front of the mosque accusing the construction workers of breaking the law

They also terrorized other road users and rampaged through the construction materials and a concrete mixer unit

The violent mob parked their bikes in the middle of the road and started yelling slogans against the construction of the mosque, which also caused hindrance in traffic movement

On information, police rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation But instead of controlling the unruly mob, the policemen remained silent spectators to the acts of the right-wing group The mob resorted to vandalism for about 30 min near the mosque in full public view

China declares major, decisive vic tor y over COVID epidemic

ISlAMAbAD

M i A n A b R A R

China has achieved a major and decisive victory in its COVID-19 prevention and control since November 2022, and created a miracle of a populous country in the history of human civilization to successfully walk out of the pandemic, and the country’s COVID policy adjustment and optimization helped achieve a stable transition and keep the overall death rate at the lowest level worldwide, Chinese top leadership said on Thursday

A meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, on Thursday pointed out that over the past three years, China’s epidemic prevention procedure has been extraordinary

The country optimized and adjusted epidemic prevention and control measures in accordance to the circumstance effectively coordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development

China’s COVID response helped us successfully avoid the widespread prevalence of more virulent and highly lethal viral strains, effectively protect the safety and health of the public and gain previous time for winning the COVID battle, the meeting said

The country s optimized COVID management since November 2022 has realized smooth transition of the anti-epidemic work, with more than 200 million people receiving treatment, 800,000 severe cases been effectively treated, and the COVID death rate has remained at the lowest level in the world

The practice proved the CPC’s major judgment and policy decision on the COVID fight is completely correct and those measures were powerful which the Chinese public fully recognized and its achievement is huge, according to the meeting

Some Chinese experts believe that the declaration also marked that the country has walked out of the pandemic and the epidemic is turning into an endemic As the most populous country now witnesses its society back to normalcy with economic activities recovering quickly the prospect for the

world to see the pandemic over “is in sight ”

“After experiencing the infection waves in December and January, the Chinese society is now back to normal and people have walked out of the pandemic status, which is also in line with the public expectation,” an expert close to the Chinese Center for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention, who preferred not to be named, told the Global Times on Thursday

It also means that we have started a process where the disease became a common respiratory infection disease that won’t trigger extra public attention and people will take it with sense of normalcy the expert

said “It marks that we have entered the process of endemic,” he said

Chinese health officials and experts said recently that the nationwide COVID-19 situation has generally become stable Although a new wave of mass infections is unlikely to occur in the coming months schools and rural areas will be the next priority for epidemic control

In the past three years, in response to the constantly changing situation of the epidemic, China has issued 10 editions of COVID-19 control protocols, and avoided the large-scale spreading of the original strain and Delta strain with strong pathogenicity, reducing deaths and severe illness from COVID-19

Compared with three years ago, the pathogenicity of the Omicron strain has significantly weakened We have more knowledge of the virus and more types of antiviral drugs as well as experience in treating COVID-19 with traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine,” Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the China CDC, said at a recent press conference

Munro, A z AM propel united to beAt KingS by four WiCKetS

KArAcHi s tA f f R e p o R t

iSLAMABAD United batters Colin Munro and Azam Khan bolstered the touring side to seal a comprehensive four-wicket victory over Karachi Kings in the fourth match of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight Put into bat first, the Kings accumulated a mammoth 173/7 in their allotted 20 overs at the back of a magnificent half-century by Haider

The home side got off to a shaky start as they lost their opener James Vince (4)

cheaply for a mere five runs in the first over Following the early setback, Haider put on a gritty second-wicket partnership with Sharjeel Khan and anchored the innings

The duo added 77 runs for the stand before Tom Curran removed Sharjeel to hand United a much-needed breakthrough The lefthanded batter scored 34 off 26 deliveries with the help of four boundaries and a six Haider, on the other hand, continued to dominate the United bowlers and soon brought up his fifty in 38 deliveries amid his vital partnership with Matthew Wade (18) for the third wicket

The right-handed young batter then could not manage to stretch his outstanding knock

Karachi Kings replace injured Hamza with fast bowler Akif Javed

Karachi Kings called up fast bowler Akif Javed to replace Mir Hamza, who was ruled out of the tournament due to a fractured finger, for the remainder of Pakistan Super League season 8 Hamza fractured the index figure of his bowling hand during his side’s opening match against Peshawar Zalmi at the National Bank Cricket Arena The left-arm fast attempted to stop Babar Azam’s straight drive in his follow through on the fourth ball of the second over and the ball ricocheted off his hand onto the nonstriker ’s stumps that sent Saim Ayub back to the pavilion as he was out of his crease He could bowl another eight ball in the match and finished with the match figures of one for 13 in two overs He had dismissed Mohammad Haris two balls prior to the incident In a contest that swung like pendulum, Peshawar Zalmi came out victorious by mere two runs Akif Javed has previously been part of Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United squads The left-arm fast bowler has 33 T20 wickets in 31 matches and bowls at an economy of 8 48 It is pertinent to mention that the Kings will lock horns with Islamabad United in their second PSL 8 fixture on Thursday

and fell victim to Faheem Ashraf in the 15th over He top-scored for the Kings with 59 off 45 balls, laced with seven boundaries and two sixes Haider s dismissal triggered a frustrating collapse which resulted in the Kings slipping to 125/5 in the 16th over

T h e b r i e f c o l l a p s e , h o w e v e r, d i d n o t b o t h e r t h e K i n g s ’ m a r c h t o w a r d s a c o m p e ti t i v e t o t a l a s t h e s i d e m a n a g e d t o r a i s e a d e c e n t t o t a l o n t h e b o a r d ; c o u r t e s y o f s i gnificant cameos from Irfan Khan Niazi (19) a n d J a m e s F u l l e r ( 1 2 ) a t t h e d e a t h

For the United, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Wasim Jr and Curran bagged two wickets each while Faheem could pick one

Attack-minded England take control of first Test in New Zealand

AGEnciEs

Mount Maunganui New Zealand: Highoctane batting and a precocious day-one declaration put England in control of the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Thursday

The Black Caps limped to 37-3 at stumps in the day-night Test at the Bay Oval, having been thrust on to the back foot by England’s swashbuckling 325-9 declared

The tourists raced to their total in just 58 2 overs boosted by blistering halfcenturies to Ben Duckett and Harry Brook as England opened the twoTest series with the sort of attacking approach dubbed Bazball that has carried them to nine wins from their past 10 Tests under coach Brendon McCullum

England captain Ben Stokes instructed his lower-order batsmen to throw the bat before calling them in leaving 18 overs to bowl at the Black Caps under lights with a new pink ball

The ploy worked as Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls departed before reaching double figures

Evergreen seamer James Anderson took 2-11, including the key wicket of Williamson following an lbw review

Opener Devon Conway will resume on 18 and nightwatchman Neil Wagner on four, with a deficit of 288 runs staring at them on Friday

It was a grim response to the England innings that featured 48 fours and one towering six from Brook off the

bowling of New Zealand captain Tim Southee, who was lashed for 2-71 from 13 overs New Zealand’s depleted attack fought back midway through the second session when Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Stokes fell in quick succession, allowing debut pace bowlers Blair Tickner (1-72) and Scott Kuggeleijn (2-80) to claim their maiden Test wickets

However, momentum was snatched back by the in-form Brook who accelerated to 89 off 81 balls, supported by 38 from Ben Foakes

The 23-year-old Yorkshireman

Brook was poised to become only the second England batsman after Ken Barrington in the 1960s to hit centuries in four consecutive Tests but he fell short when playing on to veteran seamer Wagner (4-82) Brook said he was aware of the record but his greater motivation was to put England into a strong position

“I played the way I’m always going to play and try to put pressure on the bowlers ” he said

“I dug in for a little bit but then I decided it was time to go He said the declaration was deliber-

ately timed to give world-class new-ball pair Anderson and Stuart Broad a chance to attack the top order

It s the best time to bowl, under these lights you can extract the most swing and seam,” he said

We ve got two of the best bowlers to ever play the game, so to get three of their top order out was really good ”

Like Brook, Duckett was a revelation during the 3-0 series win in Pakistan in December and he maintained his hot streak with a rapid-fire 84 off 68 balls T h e h a r d - h i t t i n g o p e n e r h a d a chance of scoring England’s fastest Test century surpassing Gilbert Jessop s 76-ball knock against Australia in 1902 before he fell to Tickner late in the first session

Southee leading his country at home for the first time, asked England to bat with the hope of exploiting the pink ball’s swing on a green-tinged pitch that had been covered for days because of Cyclone Gabrielle

Most of England’s wickets fell to aggressive shotmaking, including Root, on 14 whose attempt at a reverse lap off Wagner was steered straight into the slip cordon Wagner said the free-wheeling England approach was anticipated but wasn’t necessarily easy to combat

“It’s quite exciting for Test cricket

Hey it s a positive brand that s all you can sort of say,” Wagner said

“As a bowler, you want to try to combat that by taking wickets and I thought we did ”

Australia, Spain win as women’s World Cup preparations heat up

Gosford AustrAliA

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Muneeba Ali’s century powered Pakistan to a 70-run victory over Ireland for their first win of the ICC Women s T20 World Cup 2023

The wicketkeeper-batter became the first Pakistani woman to hit a hundred in a T20 international to propel her side to 165 for five, said the information made available here on Thursday by the International Cricket Council

In reply, Ireland stuttered as Nashra Sundhu picked up four wickets for 18 from her four overs as Orla Prendergast and Eimear Richardson’s contributions were not enough to stop their second defeat Opener Muneeba led the charge for Pakistan, scoring 33 of the 44 runs she and Javeria Khan put on for the first wicket before Javeria was run out by Mary Waldron

Captain Bismah Maroof added only four runs to the 68 not out she made against India as Arlene Kelly s fingertips just clung on to a low catch to reduce Pakistan to 55 for two

The wicket brought out Nida Dar, who unusually played the patient role next to Muneeba, who brought up her half-century from 40 balls by surviving

the first of two drops by Louise Little Muneeba began to put on show for the crowd as she brought up Pakistan’s one hundred by pulling Laura Delany on one knee for the second of back-to-back boundaries

Nida was not to be out done, dancing down the wicket to smash Cara Murray for six but she could only watch as Muneeba raced past her best score of 75 to become Pakistan s highest scorer in T20Is

With eight balls of the innings re-

maining, Muneeba brought up her maiden T20I hundred, the sixth scored in ICC Women’s T20 World Cups In an eventful over, the hundred partnership followed a ball later, before Muneeba departed for 102 from 67 off Leah Paul’s final delivery, and was welcomed back to the dug out with a standing ovation and a hug from a beaming Bismah Nida and Ayesha Naseem also fell in the final over but it did not remove the skipper ’s smile as Pakistan set Ireland 166 to win

Ireland s lost steady wickets due lapses of concentrations, starting with Amy Hunter, who departed in the second over as Nashra took a fine catch over her shoulder Nida bowled four dot balls in a row and then had Gaby Lewis caught behind by Muneeba, who was never far from the action at Newlands Prendergast gave Ireland a platform with a fluent 31, including back-to-back boundaries, but her luck ran out when she was caught by Sadia Iqbal for Nashra’s second wicket Tuba Hassan then took her first World Cup wicket by dismissing Delany for eight Richardson was searching for a partner, but could only watch on as Little was stumped by Muneeba for three However, unperturbed, the right hander started to find the boundary consistently, taking 16 runs off Aliya Riaz s first over However she was next to depart when attempting a scoop, before Javeria caught Waldron to give Nashra her best figures of four for 18 and reduce Ireland to 89 for seven

Unlike Ireland, Pakistan were sharp in the field as Kelly departed for just one thanks to a low catch from Aiman Anwer Murray and Paul were the final two victims as Pakistan wrapped up the victory with 21 balls remaining

Manchester City striker Hayley Raso scored twice as Australia beat the Czech Republic 4-0 Thursday to bank a fifth consecutive win as they ramp up preparations for the women’s World Cup on home soil this year All the goals came in the second half at Gosford, north of Sydney, with Chelsea star Sam Kerr bagging a 62nd for her country and veteran Clare Polkinghorne grabbing the fourth to celebrate becoming Australia’s most-capped player in her 152nd match Spain earlier kick-started the four-team Cup of Nations by beating Jamaica 3-0 in the same stadium to remain undefeated in five games since a revolt by a host of leading players left them short of star power Real Madrid’s Maite Oroz and Esther Gonzalez scored in the first half with Valencia midfielder Fiamma Benitez adding a third after the break All teams at the Cup of Nations bar the Czechs have qualified for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July-August with the current tournament crucial preparation for the showpiece event Both Australia and the Czechs created chances in the first half, but they went to the break scoreless The dam broke three minutes into the second half with Kerr feeding Raso whose shot took a deflection, before she pounced again with a header from a corner to make it 2-0 Kerr was a constant threat and finally got on the scoresheet after a goalmouth scramble before Polkinghorne prodded home from close range I love putting on this jersey and representing my country,” said Polkinghorne “It’s just nice to be back home playing with this team and finishing our preparations for the World Cup

2 0 wo rl d c u p 2 0 2 3 : M u n e e b a’s m a i d e n ce nt

P r e - lo v e d fA S h I o n S tA r t u P S wA g A n n o u n C e S $ 1 . 2 m S e e d r A I S e

PA K I S TA N s Swag Kicks an eCommerce startup for preloved fashion goods, has announced closing a $1 2 million seed round as the startup plans expansion in the local market

The round was led by Pakistan’s i2i Ventures and saw participation from prominent international VC firms like Techstars Toronto, CrossFund HongKong, Rose Lake Ventures and i5 Capital Pakistan s STAK group and notable angels also invested in this round

Founded in 2019 by Nofal Khan, Mateen Ansari and Hamza Abid, Swag Kicks was soon hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and had to roll back operations It was eventually relaunched in the middle of 2021 when the pandemic subsided considerably with an investment from High Output Ventures (HOV) followed by SOSV also putting in money in Swag Kick’s pre-seed round

The startup sources preloved (second hand) branded sneakers and streetwear from across the globe and sells it here to a millennial and Gen Z population that hunts for branded items at affordable prices Because they are

unable to find say a branded Nike shoe at an affordable price at the outlet of the brand, the offline second hand goods markets or the online Instagram thrift stores become their go-to options Swag Kicks is the third option that has a bigger set of options to choose from, is online and is run by a team passionate about what it does “We wash and disinfect the goods and put then it on our eCommerce platform on an average price of Rs5,000-6000,” Nofal Khan CEO and co-founder of Swag Kicks tells Profit

“In Pakistan, if an average middle class person goes to a Nike store but the shoe is not affordable for many Bata and Servis take a beating on the design of the footwear and durability So what he prefers and ends up doing is buying second hand Nike shoes at lets say Rs3,000-4,000 which is still more durable than any other option in Pakistan at this range

This is one problem that the startup identified which is exacerbated because of the prevalence of poverty and high inflation rates During 2021, imports of secondhand clothes rose by 90 percent to 732,623 metric tons, and were worth $309 56 million, which is a 83 43 percent rise in value as compared to the pre-

vious year, according to a report This rise is not all inflation driven however

The bulk of Pakistan’s population, about 60%, is under the age of 30 most of whom are digital natives per se and stay on the phone on Instagram and Tik Tok, consuming global trends This exposure has made them aware about brands and items such as Jordan’s by Nike but they don t have access to those brands in Pakistan, which hence creates their demand

But even if they do have this access the waning purchasing power comes into play The original products get very expensive to buy for most of the population “Swag Kicks is thus bridging the gap by bringing in such shoes and selling them at affordable prices We believe that fashion is a basic form of self expression An individual expresses him or herself by fashion only and these millennials are searching for global brands in pursuit of that Nofal says

The startup says it currently lists about 25,000 products under a one-ofone inventory model, meaning that a pair of shoes on the Swag Kicks platform is the only item available on the website with no other variation in color or shoe size available This is usually how the second hand fashion works

The startup does sourcing under two models: direct imports from various parts of the world and purchases from Pakistani importers involved in trade of second hand fashion goods According to the CEO, about 30-40% of the products on the website are imported by the startup itself from various aggregators around the world, whereas the remaining is bought from local suppliers

Mateen Ansari says that the business is sustainable, with very healthy gross margins This is one of the reasons why Swag Kicks has been able to raise funding even during these tough times This is not to say that we don t have cash burn We have cash burn, going towards marketing mostly, but it is less than what other eCommerce platforms would have,” Mateen explains

The startup says that their strategic advantage is the ability to procure products at good rates because of strategic connections with importers of second hand fashion products “What we want to do is be able to procure shoes and grade them From the funding utilization perspective, our focus is going to go towards building an inbound center for procuring shoes all around the world and then be able to grade them ”

Khalid Siraj textile Mills announces temporar y closure of operations

KArAcHi

N i s m a R a z

The management of Khalid Siraj Textile Mills Limited (KSTML) announced to shut down operations till March 31, 2023, according to the letter issued by Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

Air India has options and purchase rights to buy 370 more aircraft from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade, an company executive said in a recent LinkedIn post, days after the carrier unveiled a record order for 470 jets The order comprises of 470 firm aircraft 370 options and purchase rights to be procured from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade,” said Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial and transformation officer at Air India, wrote in a post late Wednesday

The firm order comprises 220 Boeing (BA N) planes and 250 Airbus (AIR PA) aircraft, while the options can be converted to firm orders at a later date

Aggarwal also said Air India had signed long-term engine maintenance contracts with CFM International (CFM), Rolls-Royce (RR L) and GE Aerospace (GE N)

The Tata Group-owned airline aims to capitalize on India’s growing base of fliers and large diaspora across the world Aggarwal said the aspiration with this order is to connect India “non-stop” to every major city in the world and shows the “tremendous economic potential” unleashed by the privatization of Air India

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PTI Chairman and former prime minister

Imran Khan has asked President Arif Alvi to institute an immediate inquiry against exchief of the army staff General (retd) Qamar

Javed Bajwa for violating “his oath of office repeatedly as the army chief Imran Khan wrote a letter to the president which was posted on her twitter handle by PTI leader Shireen Mazari on Thursday The letter was delivered by PTI leader Shibli Faraz to the President’s House in Islamabad, while the resolution passed on Jan 29 by the PTI core committee was also attached to the letter

Imran asked President Alvi to take notice of the alleged role of powerful circles in politics and to take measures against human rights violations in PTI leaders arrests

In the letter dated February 14, Imran

Founded in 1988 in Lahore, KSTML is a publicly held company engaged in manufacturing and sale of yarn After almost a month of looming threat to the industry, the mill becomes one of the first to take the fall as it announces a temporary shutdown of operations The ill-fated textile mill gets swirled up in the raging storm brought about by a combination of debilitating forex, climate change-caused disasters and an overall economic turmoil

“The floods caused the cotton harvests to be devastated

Additionally, the situation has worsened due to political unrest, import restrictions and an unchecked dollar increase These

Khan mentioned four occasions when General Bajwa allegedly violated the Constitution, while also referring to former army chief ’s alleged remarks published in a newspaper column by Javed Chaudhry as purported evidence for his claim

The PTI chief wrote that Gen Bajwa had “admitted to journalist Javed Chaudhry that ‘we’ considered Imran Khan as dangerous to the country if he continued to stay in power He further said it would be “critical to ascertain” from Gen Bajwa that who did he refer to as we

Imran Khan remarked “Who gave Gen Bajwa the power to decide that an elected prime minister was supposedly a ‘danger to the country if he continued to stay in power ? He maintained Only the people through elections can decide who they want to elect as the prime minister Taking such a right on himself is in clear violation of his

factors have increased inflation, undermined the rupee driven up cotton prices, driven up the cost of electricity per unit, and, most importantly harmed business confidence,” reads the letter from company secretary, Haji Tariq Samad, addressed to PSX and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)

The unfavorable conditions for textile industry

In the absence of locally sourced cotton, many textile mills had been left with no choice but to source it through imports But importing cotton came with its fair share of roadblocks and obstructions

The aftermath of last year ’s devastating floods have bled into the new year, with pressing raw material shortages for the textile industry along with the long impending macroeconomic crisis

Earlier this year, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) sought the government to help them out in their pursuit to import cotton in a series of letters

to prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, finance minister Ishaq Dar and the US Ambassador Donald Blome, to prevent textile companies from shutting down

Like many other industries, the textile sector is also dealing with the issue of non-clearance of Letter of Credit (LC) for the past few months, only receiving temporary and unsustainable solutions from the government With cargo stuck at ports and banks refraining from issuing LCs, the accumulation of raw materials has been made close to impossible for many textile mills

The letter attributed the aforementioned factors to have caused other issues The effects of cotton shortage and depleting forex have trickled down to other things, creating a whirlwind of issues that have disabled the company’s operations and forced them to temporarily close down

Lastly, the letter also notified that the company has decided to end the lease agreement with ASM Industries (Private) Limited

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Thursday approved a cut in the power price by Rs 2 32 per unit on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for the month of December 2022 and issued a notification in this regard

According to NEPRA’s notification, this cut in electricity price shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers, domestic consumers using upto 300 units, agriculture consumers and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS), consumers of all the power distribution companies (DISCOs) except the consumers of K-Electric (KE)

“It is hereby clarified that the negative adjustment on account of monthly FCA is also applicable to the domestic consumers who have Time of Use (ToU) metres irrespective of their consumption level, reads the NEPRA notification

It also said that DISCOs shall reflect the FCA in respect of December 2022, in the billing month of February 2023 Also while effecting the FCA the concerned DISCOs shall keep in view and strictly comply with the orders of the courts notwithstanding this order, the notification added

The actual fuel charges component for December 2022 was registered at Rs 7 0027 per kilowatt hour (kWh) while the corresponding reference fuel charges component was fixed at Rs 9 3193/kWh

The fuel price variation was recorded at Rs 2 3166/kWh for the month of December 2022

Earlier, NEPRA on January 31, 2023, conducted a hearing on the application of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) to consider a variation in FCA of December 2022 After an initial scrutiny of the data, NEPRA hinted at the approval of a Rs 2 32/unit cut in the power tariff for the consumers of DISCOs

At any point in the past half-decade or so, Standard Chartered shareholders would probably have welcomed an all-cash takeover as a blessed salvation The bank struggled with high costs and low returns, leading to a bombed-out valuation But that’s changing, which could make life trickier for possible bidders like First Abu Dhabi Bank

The bank run by Bill Winters on Thursday reported an 8% return on tangible equity (ROTE) for 2022, after stripping out restructuring costs and other one-offs That’s the best result the former JPMorgan (JPM N) executive has reported since taking charge in 2015 This year, he reckons the bank will churn out a near10% return, rising to more than 11% in 2024

StanChart s improving prospects complicate matters for FAB The $43 billion Gulf lender said in January it had evaluated an offer for the $26 billion group but was no longer doing so It reiterated that position last Friday in response to reports that it was still working on a bid Persuading StanChart shareholders to sell would have been easier a few years ago when the bank was valued at less than half of its tangible book value and seemed years away from earning a return close to its cost of equity of perhaps 10% But if Winters can convince investors his new targets are remotely plausible he ll have a stronger case for StanChart’s independence

C o n t i n u e d o n pa g e 05

oath as given in Third Schedule Article 244 of the Constitution

The former prime minister also recalled Gen Bajwa’s alleged admission that he managed to get NAB (National Accountability Bureau) case against Shaukat Tarin dismissed Imran claimed this revealed that the NAB was under Bajwa’s control, which was “again a clear violation of the constitutional oath because the army itself is a department under the Ministry of Defence and civilian official autonomous institutions do not come under military control

Imran Khan wrote that the KP governor said that institutions will decide the date of the elections The PTI chief said in the letter that the resolution was passed by the PTI to bring the abduction and fake cases to your attention Furthermore, the letter stated that the resolution urges you to take notice of the basic constitutional rights violation

Air India has options to buy 370 more jets after mammoth order

S t a n C h a r t ’ s t a k e o v e r d e f e n c e s a r e g e t t i n g s t r o n g e r