Epaper_23-03-05 ISB

S tat e B a n k r e c e i v e S $ 5 0 0 m lo a n f r o m c h i n e S e B a n k

e s f o r w a r d t o s a v e P a k i s t a n f r o m l i k e l y d e f a u l t

KARACHI

M a n a b R a R

cHINA the second largest g obal economy has released a loan tranche of $500 million to help Pakistan stabilise its fore gn exchange reser ves and avert an imminent default on foreign debt

The friendly countr y has extended the tranche after Islamabad fu filled almost all the tough conditions pre-requ site for rev va of the IMF oan programme and the countr y is expected to ach eve a stafflevel agreement with the g obal lending institut on next week

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said on his Twitter handle that the Chinese Industr al and Commercial Bank of Ch na Ltd (ICBC) has completed all formal ties and approved ro lover of $1 3 bill on facility that Pakistan repa d in recent months

[The] fac lity wil be disbursed in three nstallments First one of $500 m o n h a s b e e n r e c e i v e d b y t h e SBP It wil increase forex reser ves he said To recall almost all the multi-

l a t e r a l a n d b i l a t e r a l c r e d i t o r s nc u d n g f r i e n d l y c o u n t r e s w e r e s t w a i t i n g f o r r e v i v a l o f t h e I M F l o a n p r o g r a m m e t o i m p l e m e n t t h e i r f in a n c i a l c o m m i t m e n t s a m o u n t i n g to over $9 billion to help the floodhit devastated nation However Beij i n g e n d e d t s w a t f o r t h e I M F n o d a n d c a m e f o r w a r d t o s a v e I s l a m -

abad from a ikely default

Dar reiterated at a news conference on Friday that Pakistan would not default and continue to make fore gn debt repayments on t me

Earlier this week Moody s Investors Ser vice downgraded Pakistan’s credit rating to Caa3 from Caa1 on anticipation that the countr y would fa l to acquire the required fore gn funding on time and t might not avert the looming default

Pakistan s fore gn exchange reser ves continued to improve for the th rd consecut ve week on Thursday

They enhanced to a most sixweek high at $3 8 bill on after h tting a nine-year low at $2 9 bil ion threeweeks ago

State Depar tment announces Pakistan-US counter-terrorism dialogue

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD

The State Department announced that Pakistan and the United States wil hold a comprehens ve dialogue on counter-terrorism amid a resurgence in Tehreek-i-Tal ban Pakistan (TTP) attacks after the Afghan Ta iban took power in Afghan stan in 2021 In a statement released on Friday the two countries will work together to deve op policy-oriented strategies to enhance cooperation in critical areas such as border security and countering the financing of terror sm Leading the US inter-agency delegation is Chr stopher Landberg Act ng Coordinator for Counter-terrorism The de egation is set to v sit Pakistan on March 6-7 to partic pate in the Pakistan-US counter-terrorism dialogue The State Department emphas zed that the dialogue w ll focus on the shared terrorist threats facing the two countries It is a crucia step towards developing effective strateg es to address the worsen ng aw and order situation in Pak stan, wh ch has witnessed a surge in terror incidents in recent times The United States has assured Pakistan of its support n deaing with the challenges posed by terrorism The forthcoming dialogue s expected to provide a platform for both countr es to reaffirm their commitment to combat terror sm and enhance cooperation in the fight against this common threat

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

Former prime minister and Pakistan

Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said that he was willing to talk and forgive anyone for Pakistan’s sake

For the sake of the countr y I am willing to forgive the assass nation attempt on my life where Pak stan stands today ever yone has to come together he said while addressing his supporters via video l nk from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore

In his address the former premier once again alleged that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Ba wa had asked him to g ve NRO

Sanaullah claims ATC passed order to ‘damage his political position’

D e a r R e a d e r s , o w i n g t o t h e c u r r e n t i m p o r t c u r b s , a n d t h e s u b s e q u e n t s h o r t a g e o f n e w s p r i n t , s p e c i a l l y o u r B e r l i n e r f o r m a t , P a k i s t a n

To d a y h a s b e e n t e m p o r a r i l y s h i f t e d t o a n e i g h t - p a g e b r o a d s h e e t f o r m a t

T h e q u a l i t y o f o u r c o v e r a g e , h o w e v e r, w i l l r e m a i n w h a t i t a l w a y s h a s b e e n

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

Former federal m nister Miftah Ismai on Saturday said that the restoration of Pakistan s economy was a difficult task and hoped for God to have mercy on the countr y Address ng an event Miftah during an said the economic recover y was a daunt ng and ver y difficu t task and that “ sacr fices ” wou d have to be made to navigate the countr y out of the ongoing economic crisis The former finance minister sa d despite the fact that powers were devolved to provinces under the 18th Amendment funds still do not reach the ower evels He said that the federa government must reduce its expenses and lamented that the provinc a government does not co lect taxes add ng that the current state of the economy s not due to mistakes made in one year, but the collective result of 75 years Miftah said that 87% of Pakistanis do not get as much food as they should and in districts where water is dirty ch ldren are physca ly weak Chi dren living in the vil ages of S ndh Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Balochistan and Punjab have been in crisis for 70 years, he sa d He compared the countr y ’s progress to that of its neighbour “ India wi l have IT exports worth 150 billion dollars this year he sa d elaborating that there are 23 IT campuses in Ind a today He said things must change for Pakistan to prosper After COVID -19 Pakistan got a ot of concess ons but not enough to solve its problems By giving money to the provinces the federation is already in a loss he sa d

Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt appointed new NAB chief

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Shar f on Saturday said that Pakistan valued its mutually beneficial ties with the United States and was determined to further enhance its trade and investment in multi-dimensional fie ds of IT agr culture and industr y The pr me minister was talking to Pakistan s Ambassador to the US Sardar Masood Khan who called on him PM Office Press Wing sa d in a press re ease The prime minister d rected the envoy to identify further avenues of collaboration to promote Pak-US trade and investment

He further directed Pakistan s Mission in Washington and the authorit es n Pakistan to extend full cooperation to the American nvestors

The pr me minister underscored that the government was working on prior ty basis to further ease trade and investment-related ru es and regu ations The ambassador briefed the prime minister about the per formance of Pakistan s miss on in the US A day ear ier, Finance M nister Senator Ishaq Dar and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States (US) Masood Khan d scussed bilateral economic and commercial relations between Pakistan and US

The Ambassador appr sed the Finance M nister that the friendly relations between the two countries are deepening and mutual cooperation is enhancing between the two countries with the passage of time

Highl ghting the long historica relations be-

(amnesty) to Pakistan Democrat c Movement (PDM) leaders

I could not give NRO to those who sto e public money ” he added Imran Khan called for reforms in the judiciar y to bring investment into the countr y We have to go through humiiation only for a few dollars ”

The ex-premier said that he came to know that the party tickets were so d last time but this time he himself w ll hand over tickets to candidates I am starting the election campaign from next week I will give elect on tickets myself for eight to 10 days ” he added Imran said that only a government with a public mandate would get the countr y out of its prevailing crises

ical stability will come after

tween the two countries the minister stressed making efforts to further enhance the business collaborat on between the two countries which has a great potential of growth given the opportunit es for bus ness and investment ava able in Pakistan

It is pertinent to mention here that a fourmember delegation of the Ca forn a State Assembly of the United States (US) called on Prime Min ster Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Thursday

He said the sign ng of the ‘ Sister-State Resolution between California and Punjab in the backdrop of the 75th anniversar y of diplomatic re ations between Pakistan and the United States last year s a welcome development NA OPPOSitiON LeAder cALLS ON PM: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting with Leader of the Opposit on in the Nat onal Assemb y Raja Riaz here on Saturday and discussed the prevailing po itical situation During the meet ng they exchanged views on matters of mutual interest They also held consultations on important constitutional and legal ssues

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t Fo r m e r Pa k i s t a n A r m y c o r p s c o m m a n d e r L t G e n ( r e t d ) N a z r A h m e d B u t t h a s b e e n a pp o i n t e d n e w c h a i r m a n o f N a t i o n a l A c c o u n ta b i l i t y B u r e a u ( N A B ) T h e n o t i f i c a t i o n o f h i s a p p o i n t m e n t w a s s s u e d b y t h e P M O f f i c e a f t e r P M S h e h b a z S h a r i f a n d O p p o s i t i o n l e a d e r n t h e N a t i o n a l A s s e m b l y Ra j a R i a z h e l d c o n s u l t a t i o n a n d a g r e e d o n t h e n a m e o f t h e f o r m e r g e n e r a o n S a t u r d a y T h e d ev e l o p m e n t c a m e d a y s a f t e r t h e s u d d e n r e si g n a t i o n o f A f t a b S u l t a n a s t h e N A B c h a r m a n o n l y a f t e r s e v e n m o n t h s a t t h e a n t - g r a f t w a t c h d o g s h e l m S u l t a n c i t e d i n t e r f e r e n c e a n d p r e s s u r e a s t h e r e a s o n s f o r h i s d e p a rt u r e b u t d i d n o t e l a b o r a t e o n w h o w a s p r e ss u r i n g h i m T h e Pa k s t a n Te h r e e k- e - I n s a f ( P T I ) t o o k t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o s a y t h a t t h e r e m a r k s w e r e e v i d e n c e t h a t h e w a s b e i n g c o e r c e d i n t o f l i n g c o r r u p t i o n r e f e r e n c e s a g a i n s t p a r t y c h i e f I m r a n K h a n Fa w a d C h a u d h r y s a i d t h a t S u l t a n s r e s i g n a t i o n w a s a b i g s t e p t o w a r d s t h e c o l l a p s e o f a f a s c s t s y s t e m s a y n g h e r e s i g n e d o v e r t h e n t e r f e r e n c e i n h i s w o r k H e a l s o a s k e d t h e r e c e n t l y - a pp o i n t e d 2 2 o f f c e r s n P u n j a b t o f o l l o w S u lt a n ’ s f o o t s t e p s a n d s t e p a s i d e s a y n g “ i t s i n t h e i n t e r e s t o f b o t h t h e c o u n t r y a n d t h e b ur e a u c r a c y S u r p r i s i n g a s i t m a y s e e m p o l i t ic a l c o m m e n t a t o r s h a v e s a i d t h a t d e s p t e t h e e x i s t e n c e o f t h e g r a f t - b u s t e r – c r e a t e d i n 1 9 9 9 – c o r r u p t o n h a s o n y n c r e a s e d n t h e c o u n t r y i n t h e p a s t t w o d e c a d e s T h e l a c k o f a c c o u n t a b i l i t y a n d a b s e n c e o f m e a n i n g f u l a c c o u n t a b i l i t y i s a r e a s o n w h y d e m o c r a c y s s t i l l w e a k i n Pa k i s t a n t h e y p o i n t e d o u t a n d a d d e d i t w a s t m e t o g o f o r a n a c r o s s -t h e - b o a r d a c c o u n t a b i t y p r o c e s s

nounce genera e ections after the Supreme Court s [pol s delay case] verd ct, he said

He said rupee depreciat on needed to be stopped for economic revival People and institut ons must al unite to tackle challenges ever yone needed to make sacrifices to clear the debt and get the countr y out of ts problems he added Imran said that Pakistan needed to increase ts revenue reduce the expenditure and f x loss-making institut ons which are a burden on the government “

ready to talk, forgive all for ‘countr y ’s sake’: imran

Mif tah still skeptical of restoration of Pakistan’s economy

Pakistan deter mined to fur ther multi-dimensional ties with US: PM Shehbaz

‘Financial irregul arities’: naB seeks propert y, assets details oF ex-accountaBilit y cz ar, Family

C itizen acc uses former PTI law minister, grandson of hurling life threats over monetar y issue

RAWALPINDI E j a z a r s h a d C h E E m a

rasheed urges elections for nation’s sur vival

RAWALPINDI s ta f f r E p o r t

Awami Muslim League (AML) president Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that holding elections was crucial to Pakistan s survival warning that attempts to evade elections could lead to the doctrine of necessity Ahmed an ally of former prime minister Imran Khan noted that President Arif Alvi had set April 30 as the election date for Punjab and that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was yet to make a decision He criticised politicians for engaging in audio leak conspiracies instead of focusing on Pakistan s agenda, and also condemned the government’s imposition of an Rs3 5 per unit surcharge on electricity In contrast, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that the elections should be held under the new census suggesting October as a suitable time for the polls He noted that the Constitution requires elections to be held based on constituencies and that new constituencies must be formed after the census for a transparent election Iqbal questioned whether Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) wanted to hold elections under circumstances that would create more conflicts and chaos in the country He also claimed that Khan s dissolution of the KP and Punjab parliaments was intended to choke the system rather than for good intentions

kundi: ppp ready for elections

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r E p o r t

Faisal Karim Kundi the special assistant to the prime minister on poverty alleviation and social safety confirmed on Saturday that his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is prepared for elections in Pakistan and will follow the constitution In an interview with a TV station Kundi emphasised that it is the duty of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the election date and no single individual should impose their will on others using force He said: The decision of elections will not be taken on the dictation of one person, and added that a person deprived of power” was threatening state institutions and maligning opponents to serve his personal interests He maintained that the constitution, democracy, and current system cannot be held captive by bullying and propaganda In response to a question Kundi alleged that during the previous four-year regime of Imran Khan institutions were misused to fulfil personal ambitions and sensitive issues were exploited to create controversy He underlined that the PPP adheres to democratic norms and does not believe in the politics of abuse and victimisation

kfW team visits pcsp projects in nowshera

PESHAWAR s ta f f r E p o r t

A senior delegation of the KfW Development Bank led by Marlene Schild Portfolio Manager KfW and Imran Khan, Senior Governance Specialist, visited the implementation areas of Pakistan Community Support Project (PCSP) in Nowshera The purpose of the visit was to gather feedback from the local community and review the progress of the community-led development work facilitated by the PCSP The PCSP and World Bank task teams facilitated the visit While interacting with the communities, Marlene Schild, who is in-charge of the KfW portfolio in Pakistan appreciated the inclusive and participatory role of the communities to ensure that they benefit from the development opportunities being offered by the PCSP The PCSP is one of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) projects in Pakistan which also comprises Germany as a key funding partner The delegation visited different community-led project sites in Nowshera including a 2 103 feet farm to market road in Turkman village which is being completed at a cost of PKR 8 3 million to benefit more than 400 households in the village The community members shared that the road has resolved their longstanding mobility issues including easier access to transportation, education, health, and other basic services

The KfW delegation also went to Sheikhan village in Nowshera to visit a solar-powered irrigation tube well which has been completed at a cost of PKR 7 4 million The community informed that the tube well has been irrigating 15 acres of land which has spurred the agricultural productivity as the crop production was dependent on rainfall previously The water supply and irrigation channel have now enabled the local farmers to grow wheat maize sugarcane and cash crops

A citizen has lodged a complaint with police against former law minister Punjab Basharat Raja and his grandson accusing them of hurling life threats to him over a monetary fraud allegedly committed by the grandson of PTI leader, informed sources on Friday

The complaint was lodged with police Station Morgah by Mr Navid Nafees on which the police investigators had summoned both parties for inquiry, the sources said According to sources Navid Nafees in the application told police that he is property dealer by profession and had contracted a plot deal with Fahad Shafique through Raja Shah Nawaz the grandson of Basharat Raja

former law minister He said that his party had paid full amount to owner of plot from which Raja Shah Nawaz pocketed Rs 1 4 million He said that Raja Shah Nawaz had also admitted all these facts in a jirga and pledged to return the amount he had embezzled Later the applicant said Raja Shah Nawaz had refused to return the amount and started hurling threats at him

BofA, C itigroup trim investing banking headcount in A sia: S ources

PR OfIt r E u t E r s

Bank of America (BAC N) and Citigroup (C N) have cut some investment banking jobs in Asia people familiar with the matter told Reuters joining global peers in paring headcount as China deal making slows Bank of America (BofA), which is shrinking its investment banking business globally, did away with around half a dozen Hong Kong-based jobs on Thursday, two people familiar with matter said David Lam, a managing director in BofA’s Greater China equity capital markets team, and Kevin Yang, a managing director in the bank’s China investment banking team were among those laid off they said Lam confirmed his departure when contacted by Reuters Kevin Yang could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday Citi on Thursday trimmed four jobs from its China investment banking team said one of the two people and a separate person The Wall Street bank is laying off less than 1% of its workforce globally, people familiar with the matter have said BofA and Citi both declined to comment on layoffs involving investment bankers in Asia All

sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be named

The number of the banks’ remaining Chinafocused investment bankers could not immediately be learned After record deal making activity in 2021 M&A volumes and stock floats globally tumbled last year as volatility in capital markets and geopolitical tensions took their toll China-related deals were particularly hard hit as harsh COVID-19 curbs lifted only late in the year hammered the economy

Other major banks that have trimmed Asia headcount include Goldman Sachs (GS N) and Morgan Stanley (MS N) JPMorgan (JPM N) has also cut around 20 investment banking jobs, mostly mid-level bankers focused on China deals, according to two separate sources Bloomberg reported on Feb 21 that the bank was laying off 30 bankers in Asia

“We regularly review our business needs and a small number of employees across Asia Pacific have been affected ” a JPMorgan spokesperson said declining to comment on the number of layoffs and teams affected Nomura Holdings Inc (8604 T) has cut 18 Asian banking jobs most of them China-focused investment banking roles sources have said

PIA unveils Hajj 2023 fares for southern, nor thern

regions

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r E p o r t

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) the national flag carrier

Saturday announced fares for Hajj 2023 for southern and northern regions of the country

According to the spokesperson for PIA, the fare for pilgrims going for private Hajj has been fixed from $870 to $1,180, from the southern region like – Karachi, Quetta, Sukkur and Hyderabad

The fare for hajj pilgrims from the northern region of the country including Lahore Islamabad Peshawar Multan and other cities will be from $910 to

$1 220 The Religious Affairs Ministry is expected to announce fares for pilgrims going under the official Hajj quota

The national airline will continue Hajj flight operations from May 21 to August 2, during which more than 38,000 pilgrims are expected to travel About 44,000 pilgrims will go to Hijaz through Saudi Airlines and two private airlines operating from the

rest of Pakistan PIA will use Boeing 777 and Airbus 320 for its Hajj flight operations to Jeddah and Madina

Last week the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony decided to allocate a 25% special quota in the government s Hajj Scheme for the pilgrims depositing their dues in US dollars adding that they would be exempted from the balloting under the new Hajj policy

The ministry said about 22,400 pilgrims would benefit from the ‘Sponsorship Scheme’ being introduced in the wake of the prevailing foreign exchange

crisis in the country

It has also increased the Hajj quota for private operators from 40-50%, which might be raised further

The ministry is expected to charge Rs1 1 million from each pilgrim under the government scheme but expenses might rise to Rs1 3 million in case of further depreciation of the rupee

The Ministry of Finance indicated that it would not be able to arrange some $2 billion for the Hajj amid the foreign currency shortage According to sources, the Saudi government is also increasing the tax rate on Hajj by 18-20%

Shehbaz to attend UN conference on sustainable development in Doha

conference the leaders will discuss ways to mobilise additional international support and action in favour of the LDCs and agree on a renewed partnership between them and their development partners Pakistan has been playing a leading role at UN platforms to amplify the collective voice of the Global South to promote sustainable development worldwide In 2022, as chair of the Group of 77 and China, Pakistan supported the efforts of the LDC Chair and Qatar in securing the adoption of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries by consensus and its endorsement by the General Assembly

that his grand-father Raja Basharat had served as minister in PTI government and threatening to kidnap the applicant and his family and kill them

The applicant appealed to the police to register a case against Raja Shah Nawaz and his grandfather Basharat Raja and to provide him with security Police accepted the complaint for legal action and summoned both parties for inquiry

police arrest eight suspected militants in lahore and sargodha

LAHORE

s ta f f r E p o r t

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab police claimed to have arrested eight militants from proscribed outfits during separate raids in Lahore and Sargodha according to a statement on Saturday The statement noted that law enforcement officials and the CTD team apprehended five suspects in Lahore and three in Sargodha and also seized explosives detonators and related equipment that the suspects were allegedly planning to use in terrorist activities During this week, the CTD, with the support of law enforcement personnel, conducted 382 combing operations, resulting in the arrest of 59 suspects, while 18,020 individuals were checked The deteriorating law and order situation in Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, has witnessed terrorist groups carrying out attacks across the country with near impunity Since the breakdown of talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in November the militant group has increased its attacks targeting the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistanbordering areas Insurgents in Balochistan have also intensified their violent activities and established ties with the outlawed TTP In February the TTP conducted a highprofile attack on Karachi Police Headquarters, while in January, a powerful suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar Police Lines claimed the lives of 84 people and left many others injured

2020 sindh public ser vice commission exams invalidated over tampering

KARACHI s ta f f r E p o r t

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has invalidated the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) exams that took place in 2020 due to tampering according to a report by its registrar presented to a two-judge bench consisting of Justice Muhammad Iqbal Khuhro and Justice Adnanul Karim The commission marked answer copies without notifying the supervisory committee which consisted of a registrar in Karachi and additional registrars (ARs) for Hyderabad, Larkana, and Sukkur, and granted candidates extra marks, the report revealed The court had previously instructed the committee to oversee the exams, as per the report Sealed answer copies were dispatched to the SPSC headquarters for marking under police supervision, the report said

After two years, all the ARs wrote multiple letters requesting inclusion in the next phase of recruitment, and they were eventually told to appear before the commission with the copies Upon reaching the commission for the next phase court staff discovered that the answer copies had been tampered with the report explained The SPSC had marked the copies without informing the ARs and had also awarded extra marks to candidates according to the report The SPSC chairman informed court officials the findings had been shared with the chief secretary who would take action against those who tampered with the copies The court criticised the commission for abusing its authority and engaging in red tape, and it vowed to issue a verdict in line with the Sindh government s actions against the culprits

The prime minister s participation in the Conference will signify Pakistan s support and solidarity with the Least Developed Countries in their pursuit of social progress and economic prosperity the spokesperson added Pakistan supports reinvigorated global partnerships based on effective means of implementation, including within the framework of South-South Cooperation, to pursue the UN 2030 Development Agenda and the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

dar, amBassador oF turkiye discuss strengthening Bil ateral ties

Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday reiterated that people and government of Pakistan were ready to extend further relief and support to Turkiye in wake of deadly earthquake and highlighted the future potential areas for strengthening relations

on business and investment front

Both Pakistan and Turkiye are bound by unflinching bond of brotherhood and maximum facilities will be provided to Turkish investors to explore the untapped potential here, Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar was talking to

Ambassador of Republic of Turkiye to Pakistan Dr Mehmet Pacaci who Saturday called on him here n Saturday Minister Dar and the Tukiye ambassador discussed future potential areas for strengthening relations especially on business and investment fronts between the two countries

SAPM for Finance Tariq Bajwa, Special Secretary Finance, Nurettin Demir, Turkish Commercial Counsellor Ali Battal Country Manager Turkish Airline Farhan Akram CFO Dawlance and senior officers from Finance Division and FBR attended the meeting

On the occasion the finance minister expressed sympathies over loss of human and property in the deadly earthquake in Turkiye

He said that government and people of Pakistan were saddened at the loss of precious lives and property in the

devastating earthquake and stand with the people of Turkiye in this difficult time He further said that Government of Pakistan is ready to further extend relief support to Turkiye

Speaking on the occasion, the Turkiye Ambassador expressed gratitude for providing immediate relief support and necessary to Turkish brethren in its difficult time The Turkish Ambassador shared that the Republic of Turkiye has strong bilateral ties with Pakistan and apprised the finance minister of certain issues related to Turkish companies operating in Pakistan

The two sides further exchanged views on the longstanding religious cultural political economic and social ties between Pakistan and Turkiye The economic trade and investment cooperation between the two countries was also discussed in the meeting

Hearing in Imran’s 2012 defamation suit against Asif adjourned

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r E p o r t

A court in Islamabad postponed until March 18 the hearing of a defamation case brought against Defence Minister

Khawaja Muhammad Asif by Imran Khan in 2012 following a request by the former prime minister himself

11 years ago Khan sent Asif a defamation notice demanding from him Rs10 billion in damages after h e a c c u s e d t h e P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k - i - I n s a f ( P T I ) c h a i r m a n o f i n v e s t i n g a n d l o s i n g i n r e a l e s t a t e g a m b l i n g $ 4 5 m i l l i o n w h i c h w a s d o n a t e d t o

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (SKMH) in the form of donations abroad Asif had subjected Khan to similar claims in 2017

kp population Welfare dept fails to utilise funds

PESHAWAR

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Population Department has failed to utilise the allocated funds for projects under the Annual Development Program (ADP) According to the documents, KP government had allocated 681 9 million rupees for the population department under the ADP of the current financial year, out of which till August last year, the finance department released Rs313 million but the department could utilised just 59 rupees in three quarters of the current fiscal year Before the dissolution of provincial assembly on 18 January the finance department had released funds for the development projects of the population department however due to the lack of punching by the finance department the department could not use most of the funds due to which work on many projects has been stopped On the other hand the sources said after the arrival of the interim government the finance department has banned the release of funds for development works Sources said most projects of these projects of Department of Population included the construction of 200 family welfare centers, franchise family centers under the public-private partnership and mobile health service in hilly areas According to the sources, during the last days of the PTI government, most funds were transferred to “favored districts” as a results funds couldn’t be released to complete the projects of population welfare department Now because of non-provision funds the cost of these projects has increased

punjab Jashan-i-Baharan celebrations begin today

LAHORE s ta f f r E p o r t

Jashan-i-baharan programmes will be presented at Lahore Arts Council by the Information & Culture Department from March 5 to 12 Secretary Information & Culture Ali Nawaz Malik informed here on Saturday the programmes would be presented at Alhamra in connection with the Spring Festival programmes Prominent artists singers poets painting artists and writers of the country will display the essence of their art The programmes which will start from March 5th will continue till March 12th On March 7th Tahsin Sakina will present Sufi music while on March 8 a women mushaira will be held It will be presided over by Yasmin Hameed being organized by Sofia Bidar In the women mushaira Bushra Ejaz, Farhat Zahid, Hamida Shaheen, Mah Nur Rana, Aman Shahzai, Mehreen Salah will participate in the women mushaira Saima Kamran, Saima Aftab, Fatima Mehro, Manoor Sultana, Nilufar Afzal, Anafal Rafique will participate He said that on International Women’s Day, there would be paintings exhibition of female artist in which Maleeha Agha Rahat Naveed Shahida Manzoor Naila Aamir and Shehla Farooq would display their excellence in painting

as well when he was Minister for Defense in the government of now-deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif Speaking to a group of reporters, he had claimed Khan invested the charity money meant for the hospital and Namal Institute in France and Oman

During the previous hearing, Khan completed his cross-examination and requested an early verdict He also admitted that an amount invested abroad by the hospital had not been returned to the trust’s account at the time of the filing of the suit in 2012 Khan said he was not aware of the decisions made by the SKMT board but had received the information through an audit report He denied any losses resulting from the investment and claimed the funds were invested in the hospital s best interests

Pakistani universities contribute over Rs500m for quake-hit brethren in Turkiye

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r E p o r t Pakistani universities have pledged an amount of Rs500 m i l l i o n f o r t h e r e l i e f a n d h a b i l i t a t i o n o f e a r t h q u a k e - h i t brethren in Turkey T h e p l e d g e w a s m a d e b y a high-level delegation comprising 3 4 m e m b e r s f r o m 1 8 P a k i s t a n i u n i v e r s i t i e s w h o p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h e E u r a s i a n H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n S u m m i t h e l d i n I s t a n b u l u n d e r t h e a u s p i c e s o f P r i v a t e S e c t o r Universities Pakistan (APSUP) T h e u n i v e r s i t i e s p l e d g e d more than Rs500 million for the e a r t h q u a k e - a ff e c t e d a r e a s o f Tu r k i y e w h i c h w o u l d b e s p e n t o n r e l i e f r e h a b i l i t a t i o n a n d s c h o l a r s h i p s f o r s t u d e n t s f r o m the affected areas D u r i n g t h e s u m m i t , t h e P a k i s t a n i P a v i l i o n w a s s e t u p , a n d A P S U P C h a i r m a n P r o f D r A b d u l R e h m a n , a l o n g w i t h S u p e r i o r U n i v e r s i t y R e c t o r P r o f D r S u m a i r a R e h m a n , h a n d e d o v e r a c h e q u e o f 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 Tu r k i s h L i r a t o E l i f Ay d i n Vi c e C h a i r m a n o f t h e B o a r d A n a t o l i a n E d u c a t i o n a n d

C u l t u r a l F o u n d a t i o n Tu r k i y e O n t h e o c c a s i o n P r e s i d e n t E u r a s i a n U n i v e r s i t i e s U n i o n P r o f D r M u s t a f a Ay d i n e x p r e s s e d g r a t i t u d e t o A P S U P a n d t h e P a k i s t a n i n a t i o n f o r t h e i r c o n t i n u e d s u p p o r t t o t h e Tu r k i s h p e o p l e e s p e c i a l l y d u r i n g h a r d t i m e s S e v e r a l u n i v e r s i t i e s i n Pakistan extended support to the e a r t h q u a k e - a ff e c t e d p e o p l e o f Turkey The University of Lahore d o n a t e d o n e m i l l i o n U S d o l l a r s i n t h e f o r m o f 1 5 0 t o n s o f edibles, fireproof and waterproof t e n t s b l a n k e t s a n d m e d i c i n e s T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f F a i s a l a b a d donated 110 hundred dollars for

c o m m u n i t y s e r v i c e s , a n d a 2 0m e m b e r t e a m f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f F a i s a l a b a d p a r t i c i p a t e d i n r e h a b i l i t a t i o n activities in the affected areas T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f S i a l k o t a n d t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e o f S c i e n c e A r t s a n d Te c h n o l o g y G u j r a n w a l a j o i n t l y a n n o u n c e d scholarships worth Rs10 million f o r Tu r k i s h s t u d e n t s a ff e c t e d b y t h e e a r t h q u a k e U n d e r t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f M a n a g e m e n t a n d Te c h n o l o g y Lahore Scholarship Program for Tu r k e y, s c h o l a r s h i p s w o r t h o n e million dollars will be awarded with special preference given to students from the affected areas

Pemra chief assures ICCI of help with launch of Radio, T V channels

ISLAMABAD s ta f f r E p o r t

Pakistan Electronic Media regulatory Authority

(Pemra) Chairman Muhammad Saleem Baig on Saturday assured the ICCI of all-out cooperate for the launch of launch of an ICCI radio and TV channel saying the start of the radio and tv channel would benefit the business community and the economy

Pemra Chairman Muhammad Saleem Baig was talking with members of a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) led by its President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari The delegation visited the Pemra office wherein the ICCI president discussed with the host his plan regarding launch of an ICCI radio and TV channel Wakil Khan Director General Licensing Pemra was also present on the occasion

Addressing the delegation the chairman Pemra

appreciated the plan of ICCI to start its own radio and TV channel and assured that he would issue their license on priority basis after fulfilling the documentary requirements

He said that the ICCI should coordinate with foreign universities for providing quality business education to students to meet the needs of business and industry On the occasion the ICCI briefed the Pemra chairman about the aims and objectives of radio and TV channels He said that these channels would educate the young generation about the importance of exports promotion which the country desperately needs at this time

He said these channels would promote business role models for youth to motivate them to launch business start ups and create jobs for others

He said that Pakistan s business and economic potential will be highlighted to attract local and foreign investment to Pakistan

Dr Mehmet Pacaci thanked the Finance Minister for support and cooperation

Earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting on Hajj Policy-2023 which was attended by Mufti Abdul Shakoor Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa Special Secretary of Finance and senior officers from Finance and Religious Affairs ministries were among the attendees On the occasion the minister vowed to extend maximum support and cooperation to facilitate the hajj pilgrims in fulfilling their religious obligation

The meeting was apprised of the Hajj-2023 policy

It was informed that more than 179,000 Pakistanis were expected to perform Hajj this year

Religious Affairs minister informed the finance minister about certain issues related to foreign exchange and sought his support

“Hajj is a sacred religious obligation to be performed by every Muslim and we have to contribute our part for the blessings of Almighty Allah said Dar T h e m i n i s t e r c o m m i t t e d t o e x t e n d i n g m a x i m u m s u p p o r t a n d c o o p e r a t i o n i n f a c i l i t a t i n g t h e H a j j i s t o m a k e t h e r e l i g i o u s e v e n t s u c c e s s f u l M i n i s t e r f o r R e l i g i o u s A ff a i r s t h a n k e d t h e f i n a n c e m i n i s t e r f o r cooperation and support

state Bank receives $500m loan from chinese bank

CONtINuED fROM PAgE 01

The available reserves barely provided import cover for less than a month, while it required almost $11 billion to finance the current account deficit and repay foreign debt (including the one expected to be rolled over) in the last four months (March-June) of the current fiscal year 2023 according to Moody’s State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Thursday the forthcoming foreign debt repayments amounted to $2 9 billion only in the last four months of FY23 while the rest of the due repayment amounting to $4 3 billion would get rolled over in the ongoing fiscal year Ismail

Iqbal Securities Head of Research Fahad Rauf said Pakistan might attract foreign investment in rupeedenominated sovereign debt securities like T-bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) after the central bank hiked its policy rate by 300 basis points to historical high at 20% and the rupee hit an all-time low on Thursday “The inflows of hot money would help in building up foreign exchange reserves and extend support to the rupee against the greenback in the near future ” Rauf added

miftah still skeptical about restoration of pakistan’s economy

CONtINuED fROM PAgE 01

He asserted that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government went against the agreement it made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) putting the country in jeopardy The IMF agreement was broken by selling petrol and diesel at cheaper rates he said reiterating that he went to jail because of former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan He further said that external debt aside Pakistan is now also stuck in the clutches of local debt The children of government schools are failing in science and mathematics, he lamented, adding that no policy could be developed successfully without education We have no intention to form a party, we are in the government and know that nothing will happen without changing the system,” he added

Qau to reopen in 2 to 4 weeks: admin reiterates conducive environment to students

ISLAMABAD

s ta f f r E p o r t

Describing the recent quarrel between two groups students at the country s top ranked Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad as unfortunate, the administration on Saturday stated that recent events have highlighted the need for a comprehensive policy for campus security and hostels to ensure the safety of students In a press statement issued on Saturday, the administration stated that the QAU was closed on February 27, due to a clash among a “small minority of aggressive and violent” students “In order to prevent any further harm the university was closed and all students were asked to evacuate their hostels within 24 hours As a precautionary measure the female students hostels were cleared on February 28 during the daytime while the boys hostels were not vacated Dozens of students resisted this notification leading to several warnings from the administration to maintain law and order on the campus The involvement of outsiders in these unlawful incidents led to gross indiscipline on campus , stated the administration The administration has decided to devise a plan to address all issues, committees of senior faculty members have been formed to address the multifaceted matters disrupting academic activities from all angles

O ver 5,000 professors to protest against revision of HEC ’s fund polic y

ISLAMABAD G h u l a m a b b a s

As the sudden revision of fund policy by Higher Education Commission (HEC) has put a question mark over the future of professors of public sector universities, over 5000 teachers including Assistant Professors Associate Professors and Professors have decided to stage protests in Islamabad on March 15 2023

Dr Noman Khan Information secretary of All Pakistan Tenure Track Faculty Association (APTTA) a representative body of Tenure Track System (TTS) faculty across Pakistan has informed that here on Saturday that the association has decided to gather outside Higher Education Commission (HEC) on March 15, 2023 to protest against the HEC s new policy which according to the professors would ultimately ruin their future

Through the new funding policy HEC has informed all universities it will not be able to fund any new TTS program while capping the funding for existing TTS faculty which too merged with the recurrent budget of universities The HEC has cited financial /grants constraints as the reason behind damaging its own indigenous program of TTS started in 2003, under which the highly qualified PhD teachers were given attractive packages in public universities while shouldering a considerable portion of salary and perks of these teachers As compared to the basic pay scale (BPS) system the recruited faculty under TTS were considered a successful program of HEC in terms of promoting research development and advanced studies in the universities As per the association non-rhythmic myopic and irrational policies of HEC have

become a challenge for the university teachers who were meant to solve the country s issues through the production of scholars in diverse socioeconomic fields

As a result of the HEC s new notification the local management at universities has started putting their policies into practice while stopping new hiring on TTS The universities management are now telling those who have already been hired to switch from TTS to the pay scales proposed by different universities A state of unrest among the faculty is prevailing because the new pay scales will compromise TTS annual increments performance-based increments and performance-based honorarium APTTA informs that recent TTS funding policy notifications from HEC have confirmed the idea that the commission has stopped caring about higher education and is now just watching as higher education in the

country falls apart because they are no longer going to patronize the TTS a system that was introduced promoted and is now demoted by HEC itself APTTA which is an association of PhD doctors serving in universities all over the country, has asked HEC to review these notifications and make viable and productive policies After the notification was made public, the countrywide university management came up with their own opinions about what it meant and began working on policies to convert the TTS faculty to some questionable pay scales so that HEC’s malignant designs could be carried out This is because most of the policies made by the current chairman of HEC and his team are based on hypothetical arguments that are made up without thinking about how they will affect higher education in the country or what the worst effects will

be for our beloved country President APTTA Dr Yasar Shah said

He has also warned HEC to withdraw this notification or else university teachers will be knocking on HEC s doors to wake up their sleeping consciences and minds

According to him the worst form of an adversary appears when your protector becomes your detractor The same is being done by Chairman HEC and his incompetent team for the devolution of higher education in Pakistan, a country where economic turmoil has already endangered the economic existence of the state H e a n n o u n c e d t h a t i n c e s s a n t d emo n s tr atio n s an d s it- in s w ill b e s tag ed o u t s i d e H E C o n We d n e s d a y M a r c h 1 5 2 0 2 3 a n d w i l l c o n t i n u e u n t i l H E C w i t h d r a w t h e c u r r e n t n o t i f i c a t i o n s a n d e n s u r e t o i s s u e f u t u r e n o t i f i c a t i o n s i n consultation with APTTA

s o l u t i o n s

Fi n a n C e Minister ishaq dar ’s press conference on Friday left observers nonplussed because it did not contain any new announcement the lack of new information made it painfully obvious that Senator dar who had been inducted in the Federal Cabinet so that he would tame the inflation genie lacks any clue about what to do about the economic problem that Pakistan faces it will not cut it to say that the economy was doing well back in 2023, and that the Pti under imran Khan messed it up that underlying can be considered accepted when the reasoning for the PMl(n) being entrusted with the government, and it was reiterated by Senator dar s appointment as Finance Minister Perhaps most damning is that amidst all the turning over of past laurels there was no indication of the government’s future plans two things are causing much uncertainty, over and above the horrendous inflation figures First, there is no clarity on the iMF programme Senator dar ’s assurance that an agreement is about to be reached is only given credence as far as the listener is willing to believe Previous assurances came with as much assurance, and so far have not been fulfilled the other thing is uncertainty about where the rupee and hence future inflation is heading attempts to minimize the level of inflation are both wrongheaded and callous Core inflation is now twice what it was in 2008, when last the country faced a crisis of such magnitude one of the main problems that country is now facing is that it no longer believes Senator dar there may be some dispute over whether he is deliberately trying to misguide, or is simply out of touch with reality, but no one believes him the problem is that panic is beginning to set in this will lead to skewed economic decision-making at the micro-level of individual businesses and households When that happens, such events as a run on the banks, or the setting in of hyper-inflation, start to happen What is also beginning to cause concern is the silence of the Prime Minister Statements by the Finance Minister or the State Bank Governor will no longer suffice to calm the markets the head of the government must step up and take the nation into confidence if he is trying to escape the political fallout he should be aware that his silence will not win him immunity

C a n P a k i s t a n g e t o u t o f t h e

i s ?

G e t t i n g o u t n e e d s e f f o r t by a l l

In today’s most difficult economic conditions, every responsible citizen wants to know why the current economic situation has happened; is there a way out of this situation and if so what role can an ordinary citizen play in it? here are some simple answers to these questions the first question is how the current situation developed to understand the answer consider the following facts:

(a) during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Pakistan s exports were recorded at $16 43 billion, while remittance receipts were $16 61 billion in total, the inflow of dollars was $33 04 billion (b) during these months, outflow of dollars due to imports was recorded at $33 45 billion, thus the current account deficit was only $0 42 billion dollars, which is 94 percent less than the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year (c) in the above-mentioned period there was a seven percent decrease in exports and eight percent decrease in remittances compared to the previous financial year if either of these two had maintained their previous year s volume the current account would have been in surplus in normal circumstances with a deficit of only $0 42 billion such a huge fall in foreign exchange reserves and such a bad deterioration in balance of payments should be very unlikely a large economy like Pakistan should not have to worry about such a small deficit But the debt servicing was the root cause of difficulties in balance of payments during the said period, Pakistan spent more than $10 billion on foreign debt repayment in normal circumstances obtaining a new loan on repayment of the existing loan happens to be quite easy if the loan transaction were continued as usual such difficulties would not have arisen But the no Confidence Move and termination of an elected government negatively affected the perception of the outside world about Pakistan s political system the friendly countries and international financial institu-

Inequalit y in the Modern era

Th e b i g g e s t t h re at t o m o d e r n s o c i e t y

AttiyA MunAwer

In e q u a l i t y is perhaps the biggest threat to people in the modern society of today and almost any human being can perceive the fact that the increase of inequality is a pressing issue it is a dreadful truth to say that one must endure some sort of inequality at least once in their lifetime it may include a bunch of discernible inequality issues likewise economic inequality social inequality healthcare inequality educational inequality income inequality and gender inequality all of which are concerns that surround us every day yet are not being dealt sufficiently as issues where change needs to be brought about economic inequality and its diminution are one of the biggest challenges of any country the widening gap between the rich and poor has largely excluded the poor from the benefit of growth the most prominent expression of inequality in Pakistan, a country where the contribution of the rural population is as high 64 percent is in the dispensation of farmland among rural households the top one percent of farmers possess as much as 20 percent of the farm area while the top 20 percent possess 69 percent and the most unprivileged farmer has only 0 3 hectares on average So this way large tracts of land are hoarded by the feudal class which aids the government or to collect surplus land revenues by itself the inflating gap between the rich and the poor is due to state capture by the elites Feudal lords, urban property owners, military establishments and shareholders of large corporations are the most invincible groups of a society that have obtained wide-ranging tax exemptions and privileged access to bank credits and public resources they also get minimal control by regulatory agencies the continued levying of minimal tax ultimately results in the downfall of the economy now the country is on the verge of not creating enough jobs for a majority of the youth entering the labour force annually these youth are either unemployed or idle and vulnerable to the appeal of religious extremism, violence and any other form of crime

Moreover, a sense of deprivation and estrangement among the people of the least dev e l o p e d o r i m p o v e r i s h e d a r e a s i n c i t e s disparities in a country under the guise of the Republic some people are ardent supporters

of monarchy and intend to use racial divisiveness to lodge in power Racism is the rich s main weapon in the class struggle they are winning, and Pakistan s middle class is shrinking by the day the rising unemployment among educated workers has partly resulted in a decline in value-added e x p o r t s c a u s e d b y b u rg e o n i n g c o m p e t i t i v e pressures in an escalating process of globalization the trapping of inherited wealth that leads to extreme discrimination among individuals in terms of their race gender and ethnicity must be cut down as soon as possible t h e r e i s a n e e d t o e m p h a s i z e t h e r o l e a n d e m e rg e n c e o f t h e m i d d l e c l a s s i n P a k i s t a n which can effectively promote social and political change in a better way inequality of income between nations imposes a major contentious issue as compared to inequality of income within a country Some countries are full of natural resources, have a favourable climate, and possess raw materials but they lack sufficient capital equipment, accessibility, and ease to exploit them extremes of weather incline to impact more heavily on such countries as are unable to cope with such extremes than those economically developed countries that tend to at least help themselves to resolve it developed countries play their effective role by giving aid to indigent countries so that they can stand on the firm pillars of the

I n e q u a l i t y i s a n i n ev i t a bl e fe a t u r e o f o u r s o c i e t y t h a t p e rs i s t s i n t h e m o d e r n e r a , w h e t h e r i t i s g e n d e r i n e q u a l i t y o r i n e q u a l i t i e s i n s o c i a l cl a s s . T h e s e i n e q u a l i t i e s h a d r e m a i n e d t h e p a r t o f o l d t i m e s a n d a r e s t i l l h e r e t o t h e p r e s e n t d ay, ye t d o n ’ t s e e m t o b e ch a n g i n g s o o n , ev e n t h o u g h t h e g ov e r n m e n t i s s t i l l cl a i m i n g t h a t i t h a s a l r e a dy u p ro o t e d s u ch s t e r e o t y p e s a n d s o c i a l cl a s s d i s c r i m i n a t i o n

tions have given Pakistan a very tough time to issue new loans, which is why such a difficult situation has emerged in the contemporary world, the continuity of policy is extremely important for the trust and confidence of international institutions and friendly countries the main reason for the problems of the people is the political instability and doubts about the continuity of the policies and this political instability is also one of the main causes of the current inflation and unemployment now coming to the second question is there an opportunity to get out of the current situation? to understand this, keep the following facts in mind

(a) during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Pakistan imported commodities worth $7 billion for which all the inputs are available in Pakistan this amount translates into Rs 1820 billion these commodities are still being produced in Pakistan and all the resources for their production including manpower technology and all the required equipment are present in Pakistan But their production fell far short of domestic demand which led to imports of these goods Pakistani imports during the current fiscal year includes cotton, wheat, vegetables, fruits, edible oil textile products pulses and so on if these goods were produced locally instead of imports not only foreign exchange would be saved but millions of people would also get employment in the production of these goods From cultivation of agricultural commodities to harvest, there is a difference of just a few months if crops of edible oil are cultivated today, it is possible to obtain yield from the crops within six months therefore, if due attention is paid to the production of these agricultural commodities not only a surplus current account is possible but it is also possible to repay the loans But for this purpose agriculture needs very serious attention if we start production of a crop in an area previously used for another crop the production of the previous crop may reduce leading to imports of that crop resulting in import of the second commodity there is a need to uti-

Avoid promoting the negative aspects. Especially unconfirmed and funny memes, hur ting the repute of your nation must be stopped. By promoting a negative aspect, you are par t of a crime of spreading a negative imag e of your countr y, and if the content of such promotion is also false , then you are guilty of the two crimes, perjur y and false promotion of the countr y

lize such agricultural lands on an emergency basis which are not yielding any production at present there is also a need to upgrade the marginal lands and to increase the yield per acre other major imports of Pakistan include petroleum natural gas and their products it is not possible to eliminate the import of these goods however it is possible to reduce their imports For this purpose we need to focus on alternative sources of energy especially on biogas and other biological sources Biogas is such a source of energy that if the project is started today it is possible to generate energy within just a couple of weeks each small and large biogas project will save dollars and will reduce dependence on imported gas and fuel now we look for the answer to the third question, what role the common man can play in improving the economic situation My proposals in this regard are as follows:

(a) Prefer Pakistani products even at the cost of quality (b) if you own agricultural land never leave any idle in current circumstances leaving agricultural land idle is a national crime,

(c) Start kitchen gardening and save money for your home, it will also reduce the demand for imports, (d) if you have organic waste in your surroundings, install a biogas plant this can meet your gas and electricity needs in an environmentally friendly way (e) invest surplus money in some industry or agriculture instead of real estate and finally i request people to highlight the positive aspects of the institution, region and country you live in, and avoid promoting the negative aspects especially unconfirmed and funny memes, hurting the repute of your nation must be stopped By promoting a negative aspect, you are part of a crime of spreading a negative image of your country and if the content of such promotion is also false then you are guilty of the two crimes perjury and false promotion of the country

The writer is Associate Professor at the Kashmir Institute of Economics University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

E d i t o r ’ s m a i l

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

Undue trappings of bureaucracy

economy in a modern society where Gender inequality is still a norm women are paid less than men for the same job even women don t get equal education opportunities a large number of women reside behind glass ceilings, deprived of maternal facilities and let them die Women s rights are highly undermined by male-dominated society where dominance and responsibility of society are beholden to men, turning the ever-growing society into modern dystopia Women and men usually take an equal start in their career but the problem starts when their childcare responsibilities come in their path and eventually initiates the claims of companies about pay gap among men and women and rise to its peak when absence due to maternity leave of up to six months comes no matter how much a woman thrive in her career; she couldn t get the post of manager or other posts alike even in schools, different subjects are assigned to girls and boys and boys can t be allowed to study home economics Similarly, in sports, girl’s colleges and schools get a small share of the budget, and are often excluded from participation in competitions the salaries of women in professional women’s sports teams are very low compared to men’s average now women of low-income countries where they are not permitted to work outside their homes have started working by operating a paving machine on a road inequality is an inevitable feature of our society that persists in the modern era whether it is gender inequality or inequalities in social class these inequalities had remained the part of old times and are still here to the present day, yet don t seem to be changing soon, even though the government is still claiming that it has already uprooted such stereotypes and social class discrimination Society tends to overcome inequality based on gender race and other social characteristics Furthermore the government is trying hard to make advancement in its legislative frameworks and subsidizes low social class businessmen or poor people they let their people believe that racial discrimination no longer impedes or affects the development of minorities For this our attitude must incline towards solidarity and building a better future for children

The writer can be reached at attiabutt121@gmail com and tweets

t h e indian subcontinent inherited a system of governance from the colonial British empire it was a brilliantly designed system fulfilling the needs desires whims and fancies of the rulers it had some provisions for the wellbeing of the people as well but that was more in the spirit of keeping things below the boiling point it was never meant to fulfil the aspirations of the locals Pretty much the same can be said about our own system of governance that is led and sustained by the bureaucracy as was the case during the colonial period the civil services were at the helm of driving the system and still hold that position the attitude inculcated by the empire to serve its ends has survived and has ironically strengthened in civilian matters, they enjoy complete freedom and no one has any sort of check on them the politicians, who are supposed to keep them in check, have other priorities as they are elected for a limited period and they have the desire to make the most of that limited and often uncertain period in such circumstances the bureaucracy enjoys complete impunity from any sort of oversight or constructive interference in the affairs that are entrusted to them a glaring example of such measures is the executive allowance after the 18th amendment the provincial bureaucracy got a free hand to tinker with the system the cash-strapped province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was the first to approve the executive allowance of 150 per cent of basic pay to Provincial Management Services (PMS) officers after a little while, being in a state of bankruptcy, the KP bureaucracy turned it to the running basic pay the rest of the provinces followed suit, and now all of them are getting executive allowance which is worth more than their basic pay Similarly, gas-guzzling vehicles, armed escorts, free gasoline are the hallmark of our bureaucracy this naturally is a great burden on the provinces which are happy to bear it with a grin as the country clearly has numerous resources that can be tapped to provide the bureaucrats the trappings that are so dear to them the state of Pakistan is already in a state of undeclared bankruptcy the disgusting system of civil services which we inherited from the colonial masters needs to be thrown out But instead it is cherished and even facilitated by the state the disparity in the salaries of the rest of the public servants has caused a great disconnect if reforms are not carried out urgently unrest is sure to follow and all of us should brace ourselves for the next episode to unfold HAIDER ALI PESHAWAR

Glorified inanities

u n d o u B t e d ly, Pakistan has enormous talent, but these days, talent does not get more recognition than several other elements in Pakistan, it takes nothing but some inanity that takes one to glory and fame in the blink of an eye the video of a ‘dancing girl’ recently doing rounds on social media is a case in point the girl is believed to have made a lot of money after the video went viral She rose to such fame that she is being invited to appear in morning television shows in contrast Waleed Malik a medical graduate who received 29 gold medals because of his outstanding academic performance did not get the appreciation he truly deserved he was not invited to any morning show and hardly received any monetary incentive worth his achievement this encourages our youth to avoid hard-work and go for shortcuts in search of fame and fortune without having to do much our social norms have sunk to sordid depths the way we have lost our moral compass is just abysmal this is a sad reflection on society Social media can play a pivotal role in bringing actually deserving people to the limelight who believe in hardwork and make the nation proud with their achievements through their talent and hard-work it can tell the impressionable minds that there is actually no substitute for hard-work

c u r r e n t e c o n o m i c c r i s

R e d e f i n i n g J o u r n a l i s m ; p o s t - h y b r i d

or for that matter from the society

Pa K i S ta n’S experiences in the development of the media has been invariably influenced by the way the country was governed during its 75 years of bumpy existence With frequent interventions in the form of direct military rule to unspoken arrangements the latest has been the hybrid all these experiences had a deep mark on the way we practice journalism and consequently how public opinion is formulated or has been built up during the seven decades also the way it has become the narrative maker of sorts, not for the society; rather for the ringmaster who can reign it in Consequently the position of an external liaison wing of any influential institution has grown out of its intended mandate, with sometimes the self-proclaimed task of guiding the society itself in the backdrop of the above-mentioned developments the state of journalism in Pakistan is well below the standards it practiced during the first 60 years of its existence the print media which by nature of its 24 hours time lag the privacy of the source the room for the reporting as well as the editorial to synthesize the available information/ news story; the basics which in turn help create a well-moulded opinion the news story or editorial is fast losing its relevance as a credible opinion today, the opinion is influenced by; real-time running commentary, which sceptical analysts rightly call chasing the rearlights of a truck (truck ki bati kay peechhay daurhna) to fill up the intellectual aspect of that opinion; usually the news anchor relies on ‘who said’ or ‘what said’ the four ‘Ws’ of the news story are no longer important for the practitioner of new reporting; the well-oiled anchor nor for the recipient audience the result of that style of journalism has been opinionated news reporting; which in an environment like Pakistan where various pressure groups and institutions would like to be only heard; that sort of compromised journalism is what is sought after here it may be pointed out that Pakistan is not the first laboratory for that sort of journalism the West with all its standards of journalism, has been practising that in the domain of its external environment While the standards of journalism are tol-

erated within the society; reflective in the fact that print publications still matter there in the external environment where the military machines as well as the intelligence agencies run supreme the entirely different breed of embedded reporting is groomed

For obvious reasons these models have been adopted in Pakistan; which can be safely termed as hybrid-influenced journalism or fifth-generation journalism the standard model of this type of journalism is the activist-journalist he is not accredited to any particular group or institution in the first place; given the fact that the electronic channel openly or covertly subscribes to the views of a particular political group, institution or a political movement that journalist if he is a ‘senior journalist’ will misuse his stature as a seasoned professional to influence the political opinion for his or her party of choice Given the last five years of Pakistani journalistic experience such a narrative can well be thinly veiled and any person can easily detect the political orientation of the senior sahafi the other commonly available variant of activist journalist or a suicide drone is the one actually trained for fifth-generation warfare however, the experiences after 9 april 2022 show that this variant has been used effectively against the originating infrastructures these variants again include ‘bigger warheads’ means ‘not so senior sahafi’ and also the usual ‘suicide drones’

the medium-category journalist is supposed to paint all the developments because the narrative does not serve the true picture and consequent rational analysis Rather it is designed to serve the party interests the suicide drone activist-journalist is a support wingman of the medium cadre journalist the result of the narrative and counternarrative is a polarized narrative situation in such a situation, rational journalism, or the one aimed at staying away from any particular narrative, runs the risk of not being read or even taken seriously the narratives are well defined and there is no swing vote for any particular narrative today seemingly, the strongest opposition grouping, the Pti has the largest arsenal of well-oiled fifth generation ‘dastangos’ ready to push the party narratives the PdM parties too are catching up with their own arsenal in the process Filtering down to the application of narrative in the social media in the case of Pakistan; twitter the Pakistani handles on either side of the political divide leave no stone unturned to hurl abuses or engage in cryptic or below-the-belt conversation or graphic abuse to make the point Gone are the days when the political and revolutionary narratives rested on a well articulated argument based on ideology and factsheets today, the party journalist is designed only for internal satisfaction of the committed or cult following he or she is not tuned to win over anyone from the other camp

With the political struggle being centred on the war strategy of propaganda where truth is the first casualty followed by objectivity the original proponents of responsible media are few and subdued the more abuse has a greater following anyone who can spin more stories and engage in the most name-calling has a greater chance to have higher ratings in the backdrop of these trends in the society; with serious journalism ceding its space to abuse, we see lesser demand for the printed matter on our market terraces and bookstores the opinion of the common person regretfully is not being framed through reading a wellresearched editorial piece or news story, rather what is the likely wish of the reporter concerned there are many complaints about fake news ghost stories breaking news and so on clouding the objectivity of the news available however it is the marketwise sense of the advertisers which has hit hard at the need to impart quality journalism; which in fact is the best tutor of the public as things stand Pakistan is going into another round of elections which will possibly throw up a new political dispensation are we sure that the electorate has been taught and guided well by the fourth pillar of the state? the answer is regretfully no the political battle lines are very much visible along the cult following of the political parties in the run the resultant governments are expected to follow the beaten tracks of the parties they follow Given the complex problems of governance trade commerce law and order foreign relations and economy cult followings with beaten tracks might not be the scenario the country demands now it seems that the decision of the clever monkey tasked with distributing the spoils of cheese amongst the hungry cats will determine which party will eventually sign the lifesaving deal with the iMF the return of the Pakistani nation state to normalcy will again be decided not by an informative fourth pillar of the society, but a war of narratives the slow death of the traditional opinion-making infrastructures in Pakistan speaks of the future scenarios it is the narrative which sells; not the chronology, timeline and an objective analysis Regretfully, such states can be client ones but not the game changers even for themselves

The writer is a freelance columnist

Ti K t o K is the most successful social media app to emerge in the past decade a huge phenomenon among young people tiktok has established itself as the single most downloaded application in the world becoming a staple in many people s lives in the same way other platforms such as Facebook managed in the past however not everyone is happy one unique characteristic of tiktok is that it s the first non-american social media app to ever gain worldwide ascendancy even more importantly it s Chinese, and as much as the application isn t political, its association with Beijing has landed it in the line of fire a uS house committee has just voted to forward an act which, if signed into law, will give the president power to ban tiktok as he wishes likewise uS President Joe Biden himself has ordered the application removed from all federally owned devices a move which has been copied by some other Western countries the claim is because tiktok is Chineseowned it must be a national security risk the most hawkish uS senators such as Josh hawley and Marco Rubio have never disguised their intentions to have it banned completely in the united States, and who can forget that the trump administration already attempted to do so but was unsuccessful after the move was challenged in court? of course, there isn’t any serious evidence of a “security risk” posed by tiktok – only guilt by association since the app is Chinese the firm has worked hard and devotes enormous amounts of money to lobbying and marketing to prove the opposite apparently that is not enough to stop the tide of paranoia sweeping in its direction the reality? the uS just isn t rational when it comes to dealing with China american political culture is deeply affected by McCarthyist scaremongering, and when there are not enough solid facts available to justify an aggressive political decision, such decisions are made based on emotional statements these emotional statements are most often related to fear or hatred, and trumped up as necessary to manufacture public consent this is a ‘post-truth’ world and China is on the other side of it over the past few years the uS has developed an aversion to anything coming out of China that has attained global success uS foreign policy is now obsessed with trying to contain China at all costs especially in the field of high-end technologies which if Beijing is allowed to succeed, will enormously deplete uS power and influence the uS has subsequently entity listed or blacklisted thousands of Chinese companies Recent measures include targeting Beijing’s entire semiconductor industry this was after Washington set out to cripple huawei as the uS pursues the Chinese companies it seeks to take down it levels the same vague allegations at them claiming that they are a national security threat and that through their associa-

tion with the Chinese government there is a risk that the technology will be used to take your data and spy on them these allegations can get as silly as claiming Chinese-made fridges can spy on people n e v e r i n t h i s d e b a t e i s a n y s o l i d e v i d e n c e e v e r p r o v i d e d t h e u S j u s t s i m p l y s a y s s o a g a i n a n d a g a i n , u n t i l i t b e c o m e s a n e s t a blished trope in popular discourse, is parroted by the mainstream media, and steers the public debate in allied countries to get the foreign policy outcomes that Washington wants this is precisely how the uS was able to convince a l l i e d c o u n t r i e s t o e x c l u d e h u a w e i f r o m i t s 5G networks however it still remains unclear if the Biden administration will actually ban tiktok countrywide First it is because as much as it is a hugely successful Chinese application the reality is that the stakes of tiktok s success are not strategic it does not alter the balance of power between the uS or China in a dynamic which can have military implications, at least not in a way that something such as semiconductors can Secondly, such a ban can have shocking reverberations for freedom of speech and there is a serious argument that it may be unconstitutional Case in point the previous attempts to ban Chinese applications by the trump administration including WeChat and tiktok itself were blocked in the courts this sets a precedent regardless of any bill the uS Congress may pass

Gi V e n recent developments in artificial intelligence (ai), it appears that we are now likely on the cusp of economic and societal upheaval akin to, or perhaps even eclipsing what was brought about by the industrial Revolution over the coming decades all aspects of our lives will be affected from health care and education to transportation and communication making it essential that we enter this new era with an appreciation for how impactful today s decisions will be on tomorrow s world Far from being an impartial equalizer ai could well exacerbate and solidify existing inequalities if we aren t careful as such a greatly underappreciated concern when it comes to ai is the presence and impact of developer bias developer bias refers to the unconscious or even deliberate influence that creators have on the ai systems they design this in turn affects the outputs produced by these systems in that they operate on those very biases their creators carried with them Simply put, when the design of a system is biased, the results thereof will reflect it this bias is particularly prevalent in the realm of religion and politics where moral and ideological values are inescapable parts of the equation take for example how ai chatbot ChatGPt has a liberal bias writing poems admiring President Joe Biden on command while refusing to do so for former President donald trump Should large language models writ large carry this same sort of bias and be employed to write the bulk of our news stories, the media landscape would

be inexorably tilted in one ideological direction While conservatives could always later build and deploy their own internationally conservative large language models the inertia carried by an initial wave of liberal bots might well make would be competitors about as successful as those companies that have sought to displace the likes of Google in the search engine market or amazon in online retail Beyond simple political tilt, developer bias has the potential to systematically undermine fairness and impartiality across society this is especially true in areas like law enforcement and the criminal justice system, where ai is already being used to make decisions that have life-altering consequences with reliably racist results Results such as this will, deservedly continue to erode public confidence in ai technology and lead to a backlash against its use and development the potential for creativity and progress of ai itself is also at stake When ai algorithms are shaped by the biases of a few individuals they are inherently unrepresentative of the diverse perspectives and experiences of society this can result in ai that is narrow-minded and lacking in imagination greatly limiting its potential the wisdom of the crowd will be what maximizes ai s positive impact on the world, not the genius of a restricted handful of developers in Silicon Valley luckily, developer bias can be overcome the first step is for the architects of ai to be aware of their own biases and to take active steps to mitigate them this can be achieved through regular training, education, and self-reflection intentional neutrality ought to be the ideal we strive for when creating ai and this will never be possible if we allow own personal issues to cloud the code however even if ai developers themselves are totally unbiased they will continue to produce biased systems unless they identify and correct the ways in which the underlying data their algorithms work from are a product of bias algorithms should then be intentionally trained on diverse and inclusive data sets when able Moreover forethought must be placed on how ai can correct for biased data in just the same manner that a human can be taught to identify and correct for misleading information

Nicholas Creel is an assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University Gavin Incrocci is an undergraduate student at Georgia College and State University who is studying cryptocurrency and cyber-law under professor Creel

How markets have changed in my 20 years of reporting

Th e R e have been a lot of changes on Wall Street since i first joined Cnn in november 2001 the dow was trading just below 10,000 at the time it’s now a little above 33 000 and some of the companies that were still among that blue chip average are no longer in the dow eastman Kodak (KodK) was a dow stock So were alcoa (aa) GM (GM) and Philip Morris (PM) oil prices were hovering around $18 a barrel more than 21 years ago an unimaginable level given its current price of about $78 and it s been even higher in recent years amazon (aMZn) still was generating the majority of its revenue from the sale of books, Cds and dVds Google (GooGl) was a young, privately held startup in late 2001 and Facebook didn t exist nor did youtube, twitter, Snapchat (SnaP) or tiktok Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were nearly a decade away from being created you get my point the market landscape now is starkly different than it was two decades ago if i’ve learned anything in my nearly three decades as a financial journalist it s that this time is different is perhaps the biggest myth in investing there are variations on that theme but to quote led Zeppelin the song remains the same today s meme stocks may be popular with the Robinhood crowd for example but before individual investors were touting the likes of GameStop (GMe) and aMC (aMC) on Reddit individual investors

chatted about hot tech stocks on message boards such as RagingBull com, Silicon investor and yahoo Finance there always have been fads in tech and momentum investing has moved markets for decades traders will always seek to capitalize on headlines over the years i’ve seen dot coms crash and rise again

PAY ATTENTION TO PRICES: that s why investing strategists say most people should continue to invest for the long haul and try to have a truly diversified portfolio hint: if you own big stakes in tesla (tSla) and Ford (F) and not much else, having exposure to both electric vehicles and gas guzzling cars doesn t count as a diversified portfolio Still, experts also remind investors to not be afraid of taking some risks it’s fine to have a lot of your money in S&P 500 etFs and other funds that will track the broader market But it’s also okay to channel your inner Warren Buffett and look for individual winners “Passive investing should be a core of your portfolio but that doesn’t mean there’s not a place for actively picking stocks ” said andrew Patterson senior economist at Vanguard you may be unable to go through a lifetime completely avoiding stocks that totally implode but if you also own big long-time winners (think Buffett s Berkshire hathaway (BRKB) Walmart (WMt) and Microsoft (MSFt)) that can more than make up for any dogs in your portfolio a few very good decisions can make the difference and make up for any duds, said Bill Stone, chief investment officer with the Glenview trust Company you have to have humility and accept you will make mistakes But you have to let your winners win ”

this means looking for stocks that are on sale investors sometimes make the error of ignoring stocks that have been beaten up a bit for fear that they will never rebound Stocks that get unfairly punished can wind up as great bargains

CASH IS KING: along those lines i wrote a story in January 2003 about apple (aaPl) Many on Wall Street and Silicon Valley were writing it off as a niche maker of Mac computers and ignoring its newer iPod and itunes digital music businesses i argued that apple wasn t getting enough credit for the tons of cash on its balance sheet and for its expansion into new growth areas (the first iPhone was four years away ) apple’s stock was trading at 23 cents a share (adjusted for splits) at the time – yes, you read that right –and its market value was a trifling $5 4 billion apple shares are now worth more than $145 apiece and the company’s market cap is $2 3 trillion “Valuation always matters ” Stone said “don’t overpay ” another key takeaway for investors? don t sweat what you can t control inflation jitters and worries about Federal Reserve rate hikes rocked the markets last year and have led to more volatility this year as well But it s impossible to time the market you will never pick exactly when a recession begins or ends or whether stocks are at a top or bottom We still continue to believe that over long periods of time, stocks provide a reasonable hedge against inflation, Patterson said Bonds are back, too, given where yields are they provide diversification and income ”

W e m u s t a d d r e s s d e v e l o p e r

b i a s i n a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e

06 NEWS 5 March 2023 Isb_Layout 1 3/5/2023 12:08 AM Page 1

C h I N A D e B U N kS ‘ D e B T T R A p ’ N A R R AT I v e

p R O j e C T e D B y w e S T e R N C O U N T R I e S

He added that the debt deferral amount China has contributed is larger than that of any other G20 member As the Belt and Road Initiative is entering the 10th anniversary, China stands ready to work with all partners to review achievements, sum up experience, plan for the future and work for new progress in the Belt and Road cooperation,” Wang said african debt a myth?

s

e s m a n f o r t h e f i r s t s e s s i o n o f t h e 1 4 t h N a t i o n a l P e o p l e s C o n g r e s s ( N P C ) , m a d e t h e r e m a r k s i n r es p o n s e t o a q u e s t i o n o n S a t u r d a y d u r i n g t h e m u c h - a n t i c i p a t e d p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e that marked the beginning of China’s most i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l s e a s o n C i t i n g s t a t i st i c s f r o m a Wo r l d B a n k ( W B ) r e p o r t t h e s p o k e s m a n c l e a r e d t h e a i r a r o u n d t h e h y p e d c l a i m s a n d m a i n t a i n e d t h a t n e a r l y t h r e e - q u a r t e r s o f A f r i c a s e x t e r n a l d e b t w a s a c t u a l l y o w e d t o t h e m u l t i l a t e r a l i n -

s t i t u t i o n s a n d c o m m e r c i a l c r e d i t o r s w h e r e a s B e i j i n g w a s w o r k i n g t o e a s e A f r i c a s d e b t b u r d e n hina never attaches any political strings

or seeks any self-seeking political gains Wang asserted and added that the country has actively participated in the debt service suspension initiative under the G20

China’s latest vehement rejection of the “debt trap” narrative came as Beijing faces criticism for “inveigling” poorer countries into taking out loans to build expensive infrastructure only to eventually seize control of assets from borrowing nations – a western claim that is often made as a retort to growing concerns about aid colonisation of the African nations that is blamed for the economic woes

Despite the Asian giant s recent measures to forgive interest-free loans, the US-led western block has claimed that the BRI is in fact a geopolitical strategy to establish Sinocentric world order

However, it may be noted here that ac-

BBC raids show India’s shrink ing media freedom under Modi, journalists say

NEW DELHI r e u t e r s

At around 11 am on February 14 Valentine’s Day some 20 Indian tax officials and police burst into the BBC‘s offices in New Delhi shouting at staff to step away from their computers and hand over their mobile phones according to two people present At the company s bureau in India s financial capital Mumbai tax officials launched a second raid The government said the BBC had failed to respond to repeated requests to clarify its tax affairs related to the profits and remittances from its Indian operations

The BBC has said it is cooperating fully with tax authorities and hopes to resolve matters quickly adding its journalists would continue to report “without fear or favour It declined to comment for this story

Three weeks before the raids which the government called a survey the BBC released a two-part documentary that included an examination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi s role in sectarian riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002 when he was chief minister there The documentary, which was only broadcast in Britain, accused Modi of fostering a climate of impunity that fuelled the violence

Modi s government has called the documentary biased and reflecting a colonial mindset Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told the ANI news agency last week it was politics by another means and suggested its timing was intended to undermine support for Modi The BBC has said it stands by the reporting

The 72-year-old prime minister enjoys high approval ratings and is expected to run for reelection next year for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) In late January Indian authorities ordered the removal of social media posts sharing the documentary and police detained some Indian students who tried to screen it, saying it would disturb the peace They were released shortly afterwards

The tax inspections at the BBC‘s offices during which officials cloned the mobile phones of some senior staff and searched computers, according to the two people present have highlighted the concerns of some journalists and media rights watchdogs about what they say is a decline in press freedom under Modi

Reuters spoke to eight Indian journalists industry executives and media analysts who said that some media which reported critically on the government have been targeted with inspections by government agencies, the suspension of state advertising, and the arrest of re-

Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed in Februar y

WASHINGTON

A F P

US President Joe Biden, 80, had a cancerous skin lesion successfully removed from his chest in February, his doctor said The lesion, detected during a routine medical examination, was a basal cell carcinoma which “do not tend to ‘spread’ or metastasize ” Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor said in a report made public by the White House adding that no further treatment is required The lesion was removed during Biden s annual medical checkup on February 16 after which the president was declared fit for duty The site of the biopsy has healed nicely and the president will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare, O Connor said in the Friday report He noted that basal cell carcinoma were generally more innocuous than more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma ” “President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency to include those of as Chief Executive Head of State and Commander in Chief ” O’Connor said in February following Biden’s medical examination The checkup was the final one before an expected announcement by Biden the oldest person ever to be US president to declare he is running for reelection in 2024

porters There s never been a golden age of Indian journalism, said Abhinandan Sekhri, chief executive of an independent online media group, Newslaundry, whose offices in New Delhi were surveyed twice by tax officials in 2021 after critical coverage of Modi’s administration “But it has never been like it is now ”

A criminal case filed by the tax department against Sekhri alleging tax evasion and forging a valuation report was thrown out by a judge in Delhi in November Sekhri has sued the government for attacks on his fundamental rights and freedom of expression; the case is being heard in the Delhi High court Modi s government has vigorously denied the BBC tax inspection the first against an international news organisation in decades was a response to the film

“The BBC operates under two private companies in India: like any other foreign company they are open to scrutiny and tax laws apply to them ” said Kanchan Gupta senior adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting The BBC had received more than 10 tax notices before the documentary aired he said Reuters was unable to confirm this independently The tax agency did not respond to requests for comment for this story Since Modi took office in 2014, India

ISLAMABAD

M A n A b r A r

China’s top political advisory body started its annual session on Saturday afternoon in Beijing Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting of the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held at the Great Hall of the People Wang Yang chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee to the session Uphold the CpC leadership: In the work report, Wang Yang, China s top political adviser, emphasized the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in overall work of the CPPCC in the past five years and vowed to uphold the Party’s leadership in its future work

Focusing on the central tasks of the Party and state the CPPCC has offered its “wisdom and strength” to the realization of Two Centenary Goals and contributed to the formulation and implementation of China s 14th

Five-Year Plan said Wang National political advisers submitted hundreds and

has slid from 140th in World Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking by nonprofit Reporters Without Borders, to 150th place last year, its lowest ever Modi’s government rejects the Index’s findings, questioning its methodology, and says India has a vibrant free press The world’s most populous democracy with 1 4 billion people India has thousands of newspapers and hundreds of TV news channels Gupta the advisor to the information ministry denied any government agency had targeted the media in response to coverage or suspended any advertising He said the government had stated repeatedly that harassment of journalists was unacceptable and against the law ChoKinG fUnds: The Editors Guild of India, an industry association, said the BBC raids were part of a trend of “government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organisations ” It cited four similar tax inspections against media in 2021 In one of those the offices of Dainik Bhaskar one of India s largest newspapers by circulation were raided in July 2021 by tax authorities who alleged it evaded taxes on income worth 7 billion Indian rupees ($84 47 million) The paper has contested the charge and the case is ongoing

cording to Debt Justice a UK-based campaigning organisation just 12% of African governments external debt is owed to the Chinese lenders compared to 35% owed to Western private lenders, according to the calculations based on World Bank data Furthermore, interest rates on private loans are almost double than those on Chinese loans, while the most indebted countries are less likely to have their debt dominated by China “Western leaders blame China for debt c r i s e s i n A f r i c a b u t t h i s i s a d i s t r a c t i o n T h e t r u t h i s t h e i r o w n b a n k s a s s e t m a na g e r s a n d o i l t r a d e r s a r e f a r m o r e r e s p o ns i b l e b u t t h e G 7 a r e l e t t i n g t h e m o ff t h e hook Tim Jones head of policy at the org a n i z a t i o n s a i d i n a r e p o r t p u b l i s h e d i n 2 0 2 2 M o r e o v e r C h i n a t o o k p a r t i n t h e G 2 0 s d e b t s u s p e n s i o n s c h e m e d u r i n g t h e p a n d e m i c , b u t p r i v a t e l e n d e r s d i d n o t , J o n e s s t r e s s e d The report went on to state that the average interest rate on private sector loans was 5%, compared to 2 7% on loans from Chinese public and private lenders

UN nuclear chief to meet Raisi during crucial Iran talks

TEHRAN A F P

thousands of proposals with the concerns of the people and the country to make practical suggestions and gather consensus In the past five years, a total of 29,323 proposals were received, and 23,818 of them were examined, said Wang Some of the suggestions have already been reflected in relevant policies and initiatives that are now being planned The proposals are related to China’s economic development, building up cultural confidence and people’s livelihoods the construction of ecological civilization as well as epidemic prevention and control in the country among other topics

Implementing the leadership and guidelines of the CPC Wang said the CPPCC has helped promote consensus among the people and cultivate the political and social foundation of the CPC s governance

It has also given full play to its role as the broadest patriotic united front organization at the same time uniting Chinese people at home and abroad in promoting national rejuvenation, Wang said improve the qUality of CppCC ConsUltations: As an important political and organizational platform in China’s political party system, the CPPCC serves as a key mechanism for multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC

Agony for family of hockey ex-pro feared dead in Italy migrant tragedy

LAHORE

For the family of Shahida Raza the former hockey star feared to be among the dozens of migrants who drowned off southern Italy this week the wait for her body is piling on the agony Raza competed in international championships with the women s team in 2012 and 2013, and was once described as the “linchpin” of the side But a wave of tragedies in recent years left her desperately seeking the money and opportunity to get life-saving treatment for her three-year-old son who was diagnosed with a condition that causes

paralysis Her options in Pakistan exhausted, she left her child at home and made her way legally to Turkey last year, her family told AFP On Sunday she boarded the ill-fated wooden boat carrying some 150 passengers on the central Mediterranean migrant route the deadliest in the w orld Shahida was constantly in touch with the family and I even spoke to her at 6:30 in the morning on Sunday, around an hour or so before the tragic incident, her elder sister Sadia Raza told AFP on Thursday at the family home in Quetta “She told me that she was fine and on a boat ” The overloaded vessel broke up and sank in stormy

seas, with bodies, shoes and debris washing up along a long stretch of shoreline Nearly 70 people are confirmed dead With the help of an acquaintance who lives in Italy Raza’s body was identified using photographs and a treasured pendant that was still around her neck her family said They have yet to receive official word about her death from Pakistani or Italian authorities or when her body will be repatriated The whole family, particularly our old mother, is experiencing agony with every passing day, her sister said, her fingers tracing the dozens of medals, trophies and team photographs that adorn a cabinet in their home

The UN nuclear watchdog chief was in Iran on Saturday for expected talks with President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level The two-day visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comes as the Vienna-based organisation seeks greater cooperation with Iran over its nuclear activities Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on Friday and a diplomatic source told AFP that he would meet Raisi during his trip to relaunch the dialogue on Iran s atomic work and to reset the relationship at the highest level Grossi had made clear that he was only prepared to go to Tehran if he had an invitation to speak with the president the source added Uranium particles enriched up to 83 7 percent just under the 90 percent needed to produce an atomic bomb had been detected at Iran s underground Fordow plant about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital, according to a confidential IAEA report seen by AFP this week Tehran denies wanting to acquire atomic weapons, and said it had not made any attempt to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent purity Iran’s government noted that “unintended fluctuations may have occurred during the enrichment process The discovery came after Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium without declaring it to the IAEA Grossi was greeted Friday at Mehrabad International Airport by Behrouz Kamalvandi spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and later met with its head Mohammad Eslami They were to hold a joint press conference Saturday morning During the visit, the IAEA director general will try to secure “more access to the (Fordow) site, more inspections,” the diplomatic source said France, a signatory to a 2015 deal that promised Iran relief from biting economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities described the new enrichment development on Thursday as unprecedented and extremely serious Grossi s visit comes amid deadlock in negotiations on reviving the landmark accord known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA

‘Greater cooperation’: The restrictions set out in the deal, including the 3 67 percent enrichment threshold, were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon

US Open, USTA back Djokovic’s bid to enter US despite unvaccinated status

LOS ANGELES

A F P

corporate corner

K arandaaz Pakistan signs data sharing agreement with TASDEEQ Credit Bureau Karandaaz

and city level and categorized by type of credit provider Speaking about the partnership and what data access at this scale will mean for Pakistan Mr Waqas ul Hasan CEO Karandaaz said Karandaaz s Data Portal is a state-of-the-art platform through which information on financial inclusion and macro and micro economic indicators can be obtained, layered, analyzed, and shared with relative ease We are constantly adding to the depth and breadth of the data points on this portal and our partnership with TASDEEQ is a testament to these efforts This will be the first time that a private credit bureau in Pakistan will share aggregated information on a wide array of credit indicators on a publicly accessible data portal I am very pleased with this partnership and the countless possibilities it opens up for researchers academics financial institutions and policy makers Karandaaz s interactive Data Portal collates and aggregates financial and economic data for Pakistan from multiple publicly available sources including but not limited to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reports, several financial inclusion surveys, the Economic Survey of Pakistan, Population Census, Labor Force Surveys, etc The portal provides stakeholders, including policymakers, private sector and public sector institutions and researchers and students a wide range of data that can be layered and customized for analysis As a private credit bureau licensed by SBP, TASDEEQ’s core business is collecting credit data from a wide range of financial service providers TASDEEQ s CEO Mr Mumtaz Syed said on the occasion Our aim is to equip the financial industry within Pakistan with data and insights promoting financial inclusion and our partnership with Karandaaz exemplifies that TASDEEQ is creating an ecosystem to address issues in access to finance by potential borrowers and lenders by leveraging Financial Institutions Data, Utility Data and Alternate Data Talking about the need to improve access to information in Pakistan, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Chairperson Karandaaz, said,

"It is important to realize that development of emerging markets is contingent on the availability of information to support informed decision making and building investor confidence in underdeveloped markets There is a strong need for the adoption of open data practices and to strengthen the right to information which is already available in our laws but not always practiced with the same spirit

Govt committed to extend maximum suppor t to hajj pilgrims, says D ar

ISLAMABAD

A P P

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed a firm commitment to extend maximum support and cooperation for facilitating the Hajjis to make the religious event successful The minister chaired a meeting on Hajj Policy-2023 as Mufti Abdul Shakoor Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony SAPM on Finance Tariq

Bajwa Special Secretary of Finance and senior officers from Finance and Religious Affairs ministries were among the attendees The meeting was apprised of the Hajj-2023 policy It was informed that more than 179,000 Pakistanis were expected to perform Hajj this year Minister for Religious Affairs informed the finance minister about certain issues related to foreign exchange and sought his support Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar stated that "Hajj is a sacred religious obligation to be performed by every Muslim and we have to contribute our part for the blessings of Almighty Allah" The minister committed to extending maximum support and cooperation in facilitating the Hajjis to make the religious event successful Minister for Religious Affairs thanked the finance minister for cooperation and support

NOT-BY- PROFIT

US bl ackliStS PakiStani comPanieS over alleged involvement in nUclear activitieS

ISLAMABAD

N E W S D E S K

tH E US Commerce Department s Bureau of Industry and Security has added several Pakistani companies to a list of 14 entities on a trade blacklist for their alleged involvement in missile and nuclear activities

The move is part of a wider list of 37 entities added to the Entity List for allegedly contributing to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base supporting China s military modernisation and engaging in human rights abuses in Myanmar and China

The Entity List is a blacklist of foreign entities including companies organizations, and individuals, that the US government believes pose a threat to national security or foreign policy interests

Being added to the list restricts these entities access to US technology and goods, effectively blocking them from doing business with US companies

The US Commerce Department’s statement added that “fourteen entities based in China and Pakistan are being added to the Entity List for contributing to ballistic missile programs of concern including Pakistan s missile program and for involvement in unsafeguarded nuclear activities

The list however does not identify the entities but links to a site that does not open, apparently because it s not available to the public The move is expected to make it harder for targeted companies to receive shipments of US goods from American and other suppliers

The wider list includes three entities in Russia Belarus and Taiwan 18 entities based in China and six entities based in China and Myanmar Eighteen entities based in China were added to the list for acquiring and attempting to acquire US origin items in support of China s military modernization efforts and for supplying or attempting to supply a sanctioned entity in Iran Six enti-

ties based in China and Myanmar were added for violations of human rights

The statement claimed that Chinese entities had engaged in the collection and analysis of genetic data which posed a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the Chinese government including the targeting detainment and repression of ethnic minorities in China as well as diversion of such information to the Chinese military programmes

Myanmar s entities provided surveillance equipment and services to Myanmar ’s military regime, enabling it to carry out human rights abuses through the trafficking and identification of individuals and the military’s continued repression of Myanmar s people including through surveillance and imprisonment

The list includes units of Chinese genetics company BGI and Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions (Hong Kong) were added over allegations that

the units pose a “significant risk” to contributing to Chinese government surveillance BGI’s forensics subsidiary Forensics Genomics International was also listed Inspur was marked for allegedly acquiring and attempting to acquire US goods to support China s military modernization efforts

The move is expected to further escalate tensions between the US and China, who have been engaged in a technology war for years The US media, while reporting the listings, noted that the move would make it hard for targeted companies to receive shipments of US goods from American and other suppliers

Tensions between the US and China have been especially high since the Biden administration last month shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed a broad swath of the United States according to media reports

To read the full article visit www dawn com

Brain- drain depriving Pakistan of its brightest minds

A rising number of young educated Pakistanis are emigrating from the country, citing political instability and economic uncertainty In 2022, over 765,000 people, mostly highly qualified doctors, engineers, and IT experts, left the country, the highest number since 2019

Despite young graduates often wanting to serve their country political parties do little to bring in stability Pakistan produces a large number of graduates each year but the country is deprived of its brightest minds due to the lack of opportunities leading to an inability to bring about change

The situation is particularly difficult for young women, who seek basic freedoms that are often de-

‘Her Hunnar ’ celebrates women entrepreneurship

ISLAMABAD

A P P

Her Hunnar an exhibition of eye-catching products to celebrate women entrepreneurship kicked off here Saturday at Pak China Friendship Center attracting a large number of families and visitors

Organized by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) during the 2-day event women entrepreneurs from Northern Areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Swat and Rawalpindi Islamabad are exhibiting a range of highquality and unique products

Besides handicraft products representing Pakistan, sideline activities of the event include live cultural performances, seminars, kids arena and food court featuring traditional cuisines from Gilgit Baltistan Chitral Swat etc

According to the organizers Her Hunnar is more than just an exhibition tapping the potential of women entrepreneurs It is offering exciting sideline activities for the people of all ages to enjoy and make memories It is an event for people of twin cities and adjoining areas who must visit Her Hunnar with their friends and families

H e r H u n n a r i s t h e p l a t f o r m t o s t r e n g t h e n a n d

e n c o u r a g e w o m e n e n t r e p r e n e u r s , r e p r e s e n t i n g a l l

parts of Pakistan

It focuses on the significance of women entrepreneurship or women-led businesses in economic growth and development which is unquestionable Her Hunnar provides a platform for women entrepreneurs to exhibit their skills and talent and showcase their businesses in a productive competitive environment TDAP is organizing this exhibition for Women Entrepreneurs representing all walks of life to strengthen and enhance their efforts with aim to bring them to mainstream for the world to know their potential

Power-hungr y Imran anxious to enter power corridors, says S hazia Marri

KHANGARH A P P

Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Shazia Marri termed PTI government responsible for worsening of economic situation of the country saying that even then power-hungry Imran Khan was anxious to enter power corridors again Talking to media persons after inaugurating the Dynamic Registry Center under the BISP at Khangarh Shazia Marri said that the PTI chairman contested from six constituencies of National Assembly in by-elections but not willing to be part of the

Parliament She recalled that IK used to say that he would commit suicide rather going to IMF but his previous government inked numerous agreements with the Fund She said that the inflation crossed all the limits due to poor policies of PTI government adding that Mr Niazi should think for the country The minister said that the incumbent government extended relief even in hard times the country was undergoing, adding that the BISP beneficiaries would get 25 percent extra in quarterly installment She informed that the government had provided Rs 70 billions for flood victims The government was trying to prevent the country from default she expressed

nied them Many are seeking to move to the UAE the Middle East or other countries such as Turkey and Romania for greater opportunities and stability

The lack of jobs and opportunities in Pakistan holds back talented young graduates and the country risks losing its brightest minds

To read the full article visit www thenews com pk

L angu welcomes appointment of Wali K ak ar as Governor Balochistan

QUeTTA

A P P

Provincial Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langu on Saturday has welcomed the appointment of Malik Abdul Wali Kakar as Governor of Balochistan He expressed the hope that he would support the provincial government for the development of Balochistan Mir Ziaullah further said that Malik Abdul Wali Kakar and his family had played a key role in the politics of Balochistan Besides he also played an important role in the promotion of brotherhood in the province he added He expressed that after his appointment Malik Wali Kakar would utilize all his abilities for the people of Balochistan while fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities for the interest of the country and province Mir Ziuallah Langu also expressed his good wishes for him on this occasion and prayed that he would be able to fulfil the right of this position

Levies Force playing key role in maintaining law & order: Zahid

QUeTTA

A P P

Additional Chief Secretary Home Zahid Saleem on Saturday said that Levies Force was playing a key role in maintaining law and order situation in the respective areas of the province He expressed these views while addressing a passing out parade of the fifth batch of SSG Light Commando training given to the Levies Force by the Pakistan Army in Quetta Cantt Zahid Saleem said that all resources would be utilized for the improvement of the Levies Force adding that the recruits receiving training have the responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the people DG Levies Balochistan Naseebullah Kakar and Commandant Khuzdar Levies Training Center Colonel Muhammad Anwar Baloch were present in the passing out ceremony

BOOK RE VIE W: A compendium of mystic poetr y and spiritual adages

biography and spiritual adages or aphorisms

separately titled Cobbler of the Soul and Gohar-i Kanzan on its obverse and reverse The work is related to Baba Sufi

SyeD AfSAR SAjID

A compendium of mystic poetry and spiritual adages

Syed Afsar Sajid

Titles: ‘Cobbler of the Soul’ ; ‘Gohar-i

Kanzan’

Compiler: Dr Shahzad Qaiser

Published by: Sohail Academy Lahore

Renowned scholar philosopher mystic

poet and prose writer and a well-reputed exbureaucrat Dr Shahzad Qaiser who has authored several books on metaphysics, religion, philosophy, and literature besides a number of light essays ( inhsaiyas ) in Urdu and numerous works of Punjabi verse in the genre of ‘kafi’, has now come out with a consolidated volume of mystic poetry, auto-

Muhammad Tufayl Dr Shahzad Qaiser s Murshid and spiritual mentor The latter is also a recipient of a host of national/international literary, academic, and cultural awards, in recognition of his multi-faceted talent The obverse of the book bears the title ‘Cobbler of the Soul’ with a subtitle ‘Silsilai Faqr – Beholding God here and now’ The book is in two volumes Volume 1 is comprised of three parts The First Part is a collection of mystic poetry of Baba Sufi

Muhammad Tufayl ( Kanzan Makhfi – Hidden Treasure) rendered into English prose by the compiler/author Dr Shahzad Qaiser incidentally discovered the reverend Baba Sufi in the year 1987 through his brother-in-law He was an unlettered person who mended shoes of the needy on payment, on a roadside pavement in Lahore Instantly Dr Shahzad felt enamoured of him and became his disciple by vowing spiritual allegiance to him and his Silsila-e Faqr In this context the present book is a devotional homage to his Murshid and friend Baba Sufi Muhammad Tufayl The Second Part viz ‘Dars: Doctrinal Sittings of Baba Sufi

Muhammad Tufayl s Tradition of Faqr (Recollections Reminiscences sand Recapitulations) deals with Baba Sufi s traditional poetry It also includes the compiler s/author s excerpts on Baba Sufi published in English Urdu and Punjabi as Appendices, and contains proceedings of his frequent doctrinal sittings with Baba Sufi, and his acts and sayings in different situations alongwith mystic tales of wisdom and pieces of traditional mystic poetry quoted by him occasionally

The Third Part titled on the reverse of the book as ‘Gohar-i Kanzan’ comprises Urdu and Punjabi sections; the Urdu version is juxtaposed with the Punjabi version Extracts from the compiler s/author s interview and preface to his own book Gal wich payum preet Mohar have been added as Appendices

The Second Volume as espoused by the compiler/author is next on the cards intended to incorporate Doctrinal Sittings: Baba Sufi s Anecdotes, Mystic Tales of Wisdom and Reflecting Back The compiler/author is of the view that the book in hand ‘may attract readers who are interested in the path of mystic knowledge, love and wisdom’ Eminent philosopher and academic Dr Abdul Khaliq has contributed an elucidatory prologue to the book highlighting its characteristic features

with an insightful concluding remark:

Through preservation (in print) of the modes of his Murshid s responsiveness to various day-to-day cognitive and behavioural situations and also through the mystical treasures of the latter s poetic thought, he has made him very generously accessible for guidance to the seekers of Truth even now and for all times to come ’ As for the prosodic aspect of Baba Sufi’s Kalam which seems to be a spontaneous overflow of his mystical outpourings, he has himself disclaimed at the very outset that ‘It is not poetry but doctrinal composition Do read it reflectively God has formed the heart of Sufi bursting with fortune In fact his words woven into a quasi-harmonious verbal phraseology tend to indemnify his couplets against any formative inadequacy The epigrammatic structure of Baba Sufi s Kalam seems to reinvest it with an aura of transcendental truths that might not be easily comprehensible to the average, uninitiated mind Examples: Sufi lives in the Unity of God He remains in the state of realisation God has said so clearly: I have made him happy There was nothing before ‘’Be’’, but only the Essence (God Himself) When He said: ‘’Be’’ all manifestation took place I have not seen anything meaningful if I have

seen my destiny If I have seen His Graciousness then I have seen something so great

The world has constrained me to remain alive It kept me so near that it distanced me (Rendered in English from Urdu)

Someone said to the lost one Do not weep in wilderness Your face is shining You are rare The one, whom you are searching is yourself If you had spent your time in remembrance of the Lord, you might have gone to the courtyard of the Sufi Whatever Faqr sees it does not disclose Whatever is seen is made by God from clay

(Rendered in English from Punjabi)

Baba Sufi s entire discourse was grounded in contemplative tawhid ; Oneness of Being was the quintessence of his discourses spanning a period of over fifty years He endeavoured to evoke the love of God and His Prophet in the circle of his followers and listeners attending his doctrinal sittings Thus he conceives that love leads to gnosis and union and enables its votary to do good and shun evil The saint’s own averment would seem to further authenticate the notion: ‘I have cobbled shoes for forty years at the side of the road I have got the lesson of love for the creation of God and service of them with core of my heart from the spiritually enlightened ones ’

P L F M O v e s s J C F O R P R O b e a G a I N s T T O P

C O u R T s I T T I N G J u s T I C e M a z a H a R N a q v I

ISLAMABAD

t Lt p

WHILE invoking jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Council, the PML-N Lawyers Forum (PLF) Punjab on Saturday sought initiation an investigation against top court Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi for allegedly committing misconduct in view of certain viral audio clips released on social media recently

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is a body of top court and high courts judges, empowered under Article 209 of the Constitution of Pakistan to hear cases of misconduct against judges of high courts or Supreme Court Filing the complaint to head of the SJC Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the lawyers requested to initiate an investigation in the matter alleging Justice Naqvi has deviated from the code of conduct

and passed inconsistent orders in the same matter This attitude and action runs counter to the basic spirit of Code of Conduct according to which a judge is expected to avoid treating similar causes differently ” stated the complaint

Substantiating their claim, the applicant lawyers attached transcripts of the audio leaks with the complaint saying “it is this backdrop that we feel obligated to bring to your kind notice the violations of judicial code of conduct Constitution of the Law by Justice Naqvi who is presently functioning as a judge of the SC

They further alleged Justice Naqvi has misused his authority as a judge of the apex court in the most obvious manners

The controversy surrounding top court judges began with two audio clips ascribed to former chief minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi which had left the Supreme Court facing calls to open an investigation into the matter and dispel the alarming impression

that brings the judiciary “under the question

mark

Soon after, a new audio clip allegedly featuring PTI leader Yasmin Rashid and Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO)

Ghulam Mahmood Dogar emerged on social media where the male voice was heard saying that he had “his man” at the top court

It is pertinent to mention that a day earlier a fresh audio leak purported to be of a telephone conversation between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry and his brother Advocate Faisal Chaudhry surfaced adding fuel to the ongoing controversy involving the country s senior judges

In the alleged conversation between Fawad and Faisal, the names of three judges – Chief Justice Lahore High Court Muhammad Ameer Bhatti Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and Supreme Court judge Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi come up allegedly

Nv i d i a’s p l a n s fo r s a l e s to H u awe i i m p e r i l e d

i f U S t i g h te n s H u awe i c u r b s - d r a f t

PR OfIt R e u t e R S

U S chipmaker Nvidia Corp’s plans to sell technology to China s Huawei would be thwarted if the U S government proceeds with a proposal to further restrict shipments to the blacklisted company a draft report by a government contractor shows The Biden administration has been considering limiting the items it authorizes U S companies to ship to telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co which was added to a U S trade blacklist in 2019 but which continues to receive billions in U S goods under a special plan implemented by the Trump administration

The proposed 2023 amendment of (the Commerce Department s) licensing will likely have a high economic impact on Nvidia according to excerpts of the draft report seen by Reuters, referring to the company s pending license value ”

Nvidia s plans to sell to Huawei have not been previously reported

A Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on the document saying:

The China market presents a significant opportunity for the U S semiconductor industry While we are unable to comment on any pending license requests, we work with customers and partners worldwide to comply with all applicable export controls and meet market demand

A senior State Department Official said the document was a preliminary draft prepared by a contractor and the department would not have approved of the report in its current form It also said the government “has written and contracted multiple reports on this subject, based on different contingencies, which arrive at very different conclusions ” he White House and Commerce Department declined to comment Huawei did not respond to a request for comment

The document shows the Biden administration is seeking to assess the impact on U S companies of proposed Huawei policy changes before imposing new rules that could crimp projected

Karachi LG polls: PTI, PPP win one seat each in vote recount

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

B o t h t h e P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k - e - I n s a f ( P T I ) a n d P a k i s t a n P e o p l e ’s P a r t y ( P P P ) e m e rg e d v i c t or i o u s w i t h o n e U n i o n C o u n c i l ( U C ) s e a t e a c h i n K a r a c h i L o c a l G o v e r n m e n t ( L G ) e l e c t i o n s f o l l o w i n g a v o t e r e c o u n t b y t h e E l e c t i o n C o mm i s s i o n o f P a k i s t a n ( E C P ) T h e E l e c t i o n C o mm i s s i o n o f P a k i s t a n ( E C P ) i s s u e d a n o t i f i c a t i o n , a n n o u n c i n g t h e v i c t o r y o f P T I a n d P P P i n t w o u n i o n c o u n c i l s ( U C s ) o f K a r a c h i – U C - 8 S a f o o r a To w n i n D i s t r i c t E a s t a n d U C - 4 G a d a p To w n i n D i s t r i c t M a l i r f o ll o w i n g a v o t e r e c o u n t O n t h e o t h e r h a n d P T I l e a d e r A r s a l a n Ta j , i n a s t a t e m e n t , a c c u s e d 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 ( E C P ) o f c o n n i v a n c e w i t h t h e r u l i n g P P P i n c h a n g i n g t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e s e a t s T h e p u b l i c m a n d a t e w a s s t o l e n w i t h t h e u s e o f s t a t e m a c h i n e r y ” h e c l a i m e d M e a n w h i l e t h e P P P s e c u r e d s e a t s o f U C c h a i r m a n a n d v i c e c h a i r m a n i n G a d a p To w n – w h i c h w a s e a r l i e r w o n b y J a m a a t - e - I sl a m i ( J I ) T h e J I c a n d i d a t e l o s t t h e s e a t b y 1 6 6 v o t e s i n t h e v o t e r e c o u n t I t i s p e r t i n e n t t o m e n t i o n h e r e t h a t J a m a a t - e - I s l a m i ( J I ) h a s l o s t t w o u n i o n c o u n c i l s e a t s s o f a r i n v o t e r e c o u n t E a r l i e r t h e J a m a a t - e - I s l a m i l o s t t h e u n i o n c o u n c i l s e a t i n U C - 6 S a f o o r a To w n i n D i s t r i c t E a s t T h e P P P e m e rg e d a s t h e s i n g l e l a rg e s t p a r t y a f t e r t h e l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t ( L G ) e l e ct i o n s i n K a r a c h i h e l d o n J a n u a r y 1 5 f o l l o w e d b y t h e J a m a a t - e - I s l a m i T h e E C P i s y e t t o h o l d p o l l i n g o n t h e r e m a i n i n g 11 u n i o n c o u n c i l s i n K a r a c h i t o c o m p l e t e t h e e l e c t o r a l p r o c e s s

S

revenue streams at a time when the tech industry is already reeling It also provides unusual insight into the politically sensitive question of which U S companies are seeking business ties to Huawei one of Washington s most penalized Chinese companies Reuters could not learn the details of the specific policy change whose impact was being assessed in the report

The report suggested Qualcomm would likely suffer a “moderate economic impact” from the change in policy, in contrast to Huawei Indeed, the loss of access to Qualcomm s modem chips would have a bigger impact on Huawei the report forecast since Huawei relies heavily on Qualcomm s modem chips to support its smart phone offering ”

Qualcomm did not respond to a request for comment Reuters reported in 2021 that U S officials had approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business including vehicle components such as

Imran wants ‘NRO’ to save his skin, says Marriyum

video screens and sensors, as trade restrictions crippled other business lines Huawei was placed on the entity list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans and allegations it was stealing intellectual property and violating sanctions The U S requires that suppliers seek a special license that is usually denied when selling U S goods to companies on the list But the Trump administration instituted a more lenient policy for Huawei, blocking its access to 5G chips but allowing other items like 4G chips to be shipped to the firm

The Commerce Department s top export controls official Alan Estevez said this week the Trump-era policy allowing U S technology below the 5G level” to be shipped to Huawei was “under assessment ”

But sources say there are differences within the administration odds over how far to go: some officials advocate blocking all licenses to Huawei suppliers and revoking existing authorizations, while others want to extend restrictions only to 4G chips and other targeted technologies going forward

LAHORE

t Lt p

Expressing commitment to support gender equality in Pakistan, recently elected female Secretary Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), Sabhat Rizvi Saturday sought the Lahore High Court to issue directives for lift a ban from the upcoming Aurat March

Earlier during the course of day, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Lahore Rafia Haider refused to grant permission to organise upcoming Aurat March in the provincial capital under the security reasons, alleged public ‘reservation’ and fear of a clash with the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) who have announced a program against the Aurat March The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the Lahore district administration’s decision

Whereas Amnesty International South Asia also condemned the decision terming rejection of the permission is an “unlawful and unnecessary restriction

The Aurat March is an annual event held in Pakistan on International Women s Day March 8 to raise awareness about issues affecting women and to demand gender

equality, however, the Aurat March has been surrounded by controversy since its inception in 2018

This March has been criticized by some conservative segments of society who view it as being against Pakistani culture and values Some have also taken issue with the slogans and placards carried by the marchers which they view as being vulgar and offensive

The decision to ban the Aurat March in Lahore has sparked controversy and debate with many arguing that it is an attempt to suppress women s voices and prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights Secretary LHCBA termed the

ban on a peaceful march as a violation of the Constitution saying the principal law of the country guarantees the right to freedom of expression and assembly She emphasized the importance of protecting women s rights and creating a safe space for them to speak up about their experiences and demands

The petitioner prayed the court to issue directives to the DC to lift the ban in the matter till final adjudication of the petition in hand

Meanwhile JI Amir Sirajul Haq announced that his party would organize programs throughout the country on March 8 He said that the biggest event in this regard will be held in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum

Aurangzeb on Saturday said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan wanted an NRO like a concession to save his skin in corruption cases

The [alleged]foreign agent and a thief who has stolen a wristwatch from Toshakhana [referring to Imran] does not want to compromise [as the PTI chief claims] but rather is seeking an NRO the minister said in a news statement She said that nobody would sit with Imran Khan for the talks whether he “screams, whines or bemoans” “The PTI chief wanted to evade accountability in corruption cases of Al-Qadir Trust and others, she accused Marriyum asked Imran Khan why he wanted to meet Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir She further quipped that Imran was ready to comprise with those whom he accuses of ousting him from power She further emphatically highlighted the paradox that now Imran was looking for rapprochement with those who he had slandered for imposing imported government and the facilitating an attack on him”

LHC moved for contempt proceedings against Imran

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

A group of lawyers on Saturday filed identical petitions in the Lahore High Court, seeking contempt proceedings against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan on the charges of causing “hooliganism and pandemonium” outside high courts of Islamabad and Lahore The group of lawyers including: Bashir Ahmad Chohan, Mashkoor Hussain, Naeem Qamar and Nadeem Sarwar filed identical petitions with the Lahore High Court (LHC) contending that Imran Khan appeared in the courts on Friday with a cluster of people and committed contempt of court ” They alleged that former prime minister had made a common tradition of getting favourable court decisions forcibly by hurling threats, adding that the petitioners accused Imran Khan of dividing the judiciary even after getting “judgments in his choice ” The petitioners submitted that the PTI chief tried to make court decisions that were against him controversial on social media The PTI chairman and his followers created a ruckus outside the LHC and Islamabad High Court on purpose so that Imran Khan could skip the court hearings, the petitioners added The petitioners prayed the court to initiate contempt proceedings against PTI Chief Imran Khan for storming the Islamabad Judicial Complex along with his supporters, damaging the government buildings and appearing before the court while raising slogans

cise of jurisdiction, and that a grave m i s c a r r i a g e o f j u s t i c e h a s b e e n caused to him

He has requested the court to set aside the impugned order and suspend the proceedings pending before the learned trial court until the final decision of the main criminal revision

was the result o f a n o n - e x e r c i s e a n d w r o n g e x e r-

The case has attracted widespread attention as it involves a federal minister and an Anti-Terrorism Court The court will now consider the petition filed by Rana Sanaullah and make a decision on whether to set aside the arrest warrant or to proceed with the case

claims ATC passed order to ‘damage his politic al position’