Epaper_23-04-15 ISB

Saturday, 15 April, 2023 I 24 Ramzan, 1444

SC ORDERS SBP TO ‘MAKE AVAILABLE’ ELECTIONS FUNDS TO ECP ‘IMMEDIATELY’

NOTES THERE’S

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

THESupreme Court on Friday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release Rs21 billion in funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the conduct of elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by Monday (April 17).

During an in-chamber hearing headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, the top court judges informed Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan that the court orders must be followed in the suo motu notice regarding the postponement of Punjab polls.

During in-chamber proceedings on Friday, the AGP presented the government’s stance and faced tough questions. The judges expressed their anger regarding the non-disbursement of funds.

Before the hearing, the AGP had a meeting with officials from the finance ministry and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also called on the AGP for consultation.

Special Secretary Finance Owais

Manzoor Samra, Additional Secretary Finance Amar Mehmood and Additional Secretary Finance Tanveer Butt were present at the hearing. Acting Governor State Bank Seema Kamil, Deputy Governor State Bank Inayat Hussain Chaudhry, Director State Bank Qadir Baksh and Protocol Officer State Bank Mohsin Afzal were also present at the hearing. The ECP secretary, additional secretary and director general of Law ECP

UAE confirms bilateral support of $1 billion

PROFIT

IsLaMaBad

Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Friday said that UAE authorities have confirmed to International Monetary Fund (IMF) for their bilateral support of US$ one billion to Pakistan. “UAE authorities have confirmed to IMF for their bilateral support of US $ One billion to Pakistan,” he said in a tweet.

“State Bank of Pakistan is now engaged for needful documentation for taking the said deposit from UAE authorities”, he tweeted. The finance minister added that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is now engaged in needful documentation for taking the said deposit from the UAE authorities. Following up with another tweet, Dar also revealed that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is set to give Pakistan $300 million today in a move that will boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves further. “State Bank of Pakistan would receive back third and last disbursement today in its account amounting to $300 million,” the finance czar wrote on his official Twitter handle. “It will shore up forex reserves of Pakistan.”

Last week, the Washington-based Fund conveyed to Pakistan that it had received confirmation from Saudi Arabia on $2 billion in additional deposits. “The IMF has indicated it has received the assurance from Riyadh”, State Minister for Finance Aisha Ghaus Pasha told reporters in Islamabad last week. Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion and UAE’s $1 billion pledged in external financing support to Pakistan is one of the final conditions for an IMF deal that Islamabad needs to avert a default.

Last month, the Chinese lender approved a rollover of a $1.3 billion loan for Pakistan. Following the announcement, the Chinese bank deposited $500 million — the first disbursement — on March 4 and then the second tranche of an equivalent amount was released on March 17. A day earlier, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that Pakistan had not reached the default level yet. Georgieva, while addressing a news conference on the spring meeting of Breton Wood Institutions at the Washington-based Fund headquarters, said the Fund was securing confirmation from international partners to meet the financing gap requirements of Pakistan. In response to a question regarding the looming default risk facing Pakistan, she said: “Pakistan had not yet reached that level and it would not but the country required a sustainable policy framework to avert such risks”.

were also in attendance.

The court, in its order released later after Jumma prayers, sad: “The sum of Rs21bn shall be and become available to and with the election commission in immediately releasable and utilisable funds for the purposes of holding the general elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies.”

The court also observed that the required funds could be made available to the Election Commission of Pakistan

(ECP) “immediately and within a matter of a day”. It also noted that there was “absolutely no difficulty or hitch, either financially or procedurally or in terms of the relevant authorisation by and under the Constitution” in the immediate release of the funds in question.

The directives for the release of the said funds were earlier issued by a threemember SC bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, in an April 4 verdict. The government was directed to provide Rs21bn to the ECP to conduct elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by April 10, and directed the ECP to provide a report to the court on whether or not the government complied with the order on April 11.

The ECP, in a one-page report submitted earlier this week, informed the court about the government’s reluctance to issue the amount needed for elections.

The government, meanwhile, had referred the matter to Parliament to decide. A day earlier, the parliament defied the SC order and refused to issue the elections funds.

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Public representatives to determine country’s destiny, says COAS

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Chief of Army Staff (COAS)

Syed Asim Munir on Friday declared that the Constitution of Pakistan and the Parliament reflect the opinion of Pakistanis who are the centre of gravity for the state of Pakistan.

“The nation exercises its opinions through the Constitution and the Parliament and Allah Almighty is the supreme power. According to the Constitution, the powers will be exercised through the representatives elected by the nation,” COAS Gen Asim Munir said during an incamera session of the National Security Committee on Friday.

Gen Asim Munir reiterated that the elected representatives of the people should determine the country’s destiny and the Army will fully support them in the journey towards development and success of Pakistan.

The COAS congratulated the Parliament and lawmakers on the completion of 50 years of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan and said the nation is the centre of powers and the Constitution and the Parliament reflect their opinions.

Prime Minister Shahbaz

Sharif, the DG ISI, DG Military Operations and top military officials, IG Punjab, Chief Secretary Punjab, Federal Secretaries Interior, Foreign, Finance, Defense, and Broadcasting, the four provincial chief ministers, four provincial chief secretaries, and IGs of police attended the in-camera meeting.

“This campaign is an approved strategy before the establishment of the state of Pakistan.

In this campaign, all necessary el-

ements including law, economy, social, and foreign affairs of the government alongside the security institutions will be included.”

“This is not a new operation but it reflects the unshakeable confidence of the nation. There is no no-go area existing in Pakistan at this time. We achieved this success through a large number of shuhadah and ghazis,” said the army chief. In view of the deepening political crisis, General Asim coined a new term. “We should leave the discussion of ‘Naya’ (new) and ‘Purana’ (old) Pakistan and talk about “our Pakistan,” he said with thunderous applause from the lawmakers.

The Army chief also said that Pakistan had no dearth of resources and manpower.

In response to questions asked by the members of the national assembly, Gen Asim said that talk with the banned TTP was a mistake.

After the Taliban takeover, Pakistan initiated talks with the

PM terms telephonic conversation with Iranian President as productive

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has termed his recent telephonic conversation with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as productive.

In a tweet on Friday, he said we discussed various facets of bilateral relations and Israel’s human rights violations. The Prime Minister said he congratulated the Iranian President on historic Iran-KSA deal that augurs well for regional stability. He also invited the Iranian President to visit Pakistan.

Govt not to allow anyone breach parliament’s jurisdiction: Kh Asif

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif Friday warned state institutions to stay within their constitutional limits and stressed that the government would not allow anyone to interfere with the parliament’s affairs.

“We will not allow anyone to breach the parliament’s jurisdiction,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart told Geo News as the country faces one of its worst economic and political turmoils.

The defense minister’s comments came as the federal government is in a virtual standoff with the Supreme Court over the issue of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general elections and a bill that seeks to curtail the chief justice’s suo motu powers.

TTP. Initially talks made progress as the two sides entered a ceasefire and Pakistan allowed hundreds of TTP fighters to return as a confidence building measure.

But the move quickly backfired as the returning terrorists started challenging the writ of the state.

The government and the establishment no longer are following the policy of the previous government.

Gen Asim explained that the current campaign against terrorists was part of the already approved and ongoing strategy of the State of Pakistan.

This campaign will include all the necessary components of government like legal, economic, social, and foreign besides security institutions,” he maintained.

“This is not a new operation but a whole of nation approach that reflects the unwavering confidence of the people, and which includes all elements of the state,” he clarified.

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The defence minister said the government wants to strengthen the judiciary as it would help the masses in availing justice. “The background needs to be examined of the ongoing issues in the Supreme Court.”

Asif said parliament is the “mother of democracy”, but due to the ongoing situation in the country, the legislative is less involved in politics compared to the apex court. “The institutions should respect their constitutional limits,” he said, asking them not to breach their jurisdiction.

The apex court while exercising ‘anticipatory injunction’, a day earlier stayed the operation on the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure Bill) 2023 aimed at curtailing the powers of the chief justice to take suo motu notice and constitute benches.

The National Assembly today unanimously passed a resolution stating in categorical terms that the parliament’s prerogative of legislation can neither be usurped nor can be interfered into.

Talking about Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir’s in-camera briefing to the National Assembly’s National Security Committee, Asif said the top military leader’s comments on parliament’s supremacy were welcoming.

“The army chief’s comments on the parliament and the Constitution are of extreme importance as people run the institutions,” the minister added.

Pakistan hopes to ‘seal key IMF bailout agreement soon’

PROFIT ReuteRs

Pakistan’s debt continues to be sustainable, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, after the government reiterated it had completed all requirements to receive a critical bailout from the IMF.

Pakistan has less than a month’s worth of foreign exchange reserves and is awaiting a bailout package of $1.1 billion from the IMF that has been delayed since November over issues related to fiscal policy adjustments.

The funds, which can only be released after signing a staff level agreement (SLA), are part of a $6.5 billion bailout package the IMF approved in 2019, which analysts say is critical for Pakistan to avert defaulting on external payment obligations.

Pakistan’s finance ministry on Thursday said IMF deputy managing director An-

toinette Moniso Sayeh was confident of signing the staff level agreement very soon.

Asked what Pakistan needed to do to avoid reaching the unsustainable debt positions faced by countries like Sri Lanka, Georgieva said: “We are not there yet, and it is better not to get there.”

She said the lender has been working very hard with the authorities in Pakistan within the context of the current programme to make sure the country has the policy framework in place to prevent reaching the point of unsustainable debt.

“My hope is that with the goodwill of everyone, and the implementation of what has been already agreed by the Pakistan authorities, we can complete our current programme successfully,” Georgieva told reporters at a briefing in Washington.

The fund is also in talks asking friendly countries of Pakistan to provide financial assurances so it can complete the pro-

gramme, she said.

Pakistan is required to give an assurance that its balance of payments deficit is fully financed for the fiscal year ending in June to unlock the next tranche of IMF funding.

Pakistan’s government reiterated on Thursday it has completed all requirements

to receive the critical bailout money from the fund following a meeting with Sayeh.

“The finance minister also shared that all the international obligations have been addressed in time,” the finance ministry said in a news release.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s finance min-

istry release a statement following talks with the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Director Jihad Azour.

“Mr. Jihad Azour expressed confidence that SLA expected to be signed soon which to be followed by the Board’s approval for the 9th Review,” the ministry said in a tweet.

Fund’s MD states Pakistan has not yet reached default level

PROFIT: The Finance Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, announced that the United Arab Emirates has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that they will provide $1 billion in support to Pakistan.

This support will enable Pakistan to unlock a critical $1.1 billion loan tranche from the IMF. The State Bank of Pakistan is currently working on the necessary documentation to receive the deposit from the UAE authorities.

The IMF has also received confirmation from Saudi Arabia on $2 billion in additional deposits. These deposits from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are necessary for an IMF deal that Islamabad needs to avoid defaulting.

Despite the looming risk of default, the IMF Managing Director stated that Pakistan has not yet reached that level, but the country requires a sustainable policy framework to prevent such risks. news desk

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‘ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFICULTY OR HITCH, EITHER FINANCIALLY OR PROCEDURALLY IN IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF FUNDS

g ASKS CENTRAL BANK TO SEND AN ‘APPROPRIATE COMMUNICATION’ TO THIS EFFECT TO FINANCE MINISTRY BY MONDAY

Feb FCA: NePRA NotiFies 58 PAisA/uNit hike iN PoweR tARiFF FoR ke CoNsumeRs

February 2023. According to NEPRA’s notification, the hike in power tariff shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and lifeline consumers of KElectric.

Similarly, the hike in power tariff shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills on the basis of units

hallmark Company sells all shares to supernet infrastructure solutions

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Hallmark Company Ltd tried their hand at the insurance game, but it was an utter disaster. Then, they decided to pivot to IT services, and while it was not as bad as their insurance services, it still wasn’t the grand success they had hoped for. Hallmark had been struggling for years to meet the minimum paid up capital requirement for an insurer set by the Insurance Ordinance 2000. This requirement was increased to Rs 300 million, a staggering amount that Hallmark was unable to procure, resulting in the company ceasing to underwrite insurance business in January, 2003. Despite having an investment property of Rs 800,000 that generated a monthly return of Rs25,000 in rent, the auditors’ report from 2014 revealed that there were no title documents or valuation of the land, nor could the income generated from it be verified. The management, in their annual report, confusingly blamed the deteriorating “bad law and order situation” in Karachi as one of the reasons why they could not meet the minimum requirement. Then they pivoted into the information technology industry. The company saw an opportunity to reinvent itself yet again, when Pakistan entered the digital age and 4G services became available in 2014. It shifted its focus to offering devices for data centers, end user computing, and identity and security portfolio, along with pre and post-sale support services. After a series of back to back calamities, Hallmark finally saw a glimpse of success as it achieved something it had been longing for – revenue. In 2018, the company’s revenue reached Rs14 million, followed by a jump to Rs 18 million in 2019 and then Rs 15 million in 2020. The golden days of Hallmark were only starting and it appeared to be on an upward trajectory until 2021, which proved to be a challenging year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in reduced business. Tired of grappling with one setback after the next, in August 2021, the company accepted defeat and started preparing for a possible buyout. Irtaza Zafar Sheikh and GAZPAK (Private) Limited offered Muhammad Munir Muhammad Ahmed Khanani Securities

Limited to acquire 82,890 shares and control of Hallmark Company. Hallmark is set to divest all of its shares to Supernet Infrastructure Solutions (Private) Limited. This tale of tragedy might finally be coming to an end and the company might experience sunnier days, under the ownership of Supernet Infrastructure Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.

only thing worse than Pakistan’s foreign reserves is savings reserves

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However, in addition to the investment policy, two main documents define the overall investment regime in Pakistan: the Foreign Private Investment Act of 1976 and the Protection of Economic Reform Act of 1992. Therefore, the investment policy is more of an attraction document, while the two acts together form the legal foundation that governs the investment-related matters of the country. The existence of these three concurrently active documents adds to investors’ confusion about the permissible scope of investment activities and the overall incentive structure in the economy. Dr Ali Hasnain, head of the economic department from LUMS said that “the lack of law enforcement, and in particular about lack of property rights, contract enforcement and general safety, and by arbitrary taxation. In other words, when any investment you make is threatened by theft, kabzaa, or sudden and unfair taxes, you are less likely to invest in productive ways.”

PaniC in CURRent timeS: In times of economic crisis, people rush to withdraw their investments. This is evident in the given data: The SBP reported that the outstanding investment in saving schemes (net of prize bonds) reduced to Rs 2.92 trillion in February 2023, compared to Rs 3.48 trillion in the same month of the last year, showing a drop of 16%. The bank data suggested that investors pulled out Rs 26.68 billion from Defence Saving Certificates (DSC) during Jul-Feb FY23, withdrew another Rs 26.76 billion from Regular Income Certificates (RIC), divested Rs 71.89 billion from Special Savings Certificates (SSC), and disinvested another Rs 167.26 billion from other schemes.

billed to the consumers in the respective month to which the adjustment pertains. Likewise, KElectric shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of February 2023, in the billing month of April 2023. Furthermore, while effecting the Fuel Adjustment Charges, K-Electric Ltd. shall keep in view and strictly comply with the orders of the courts

notwithstanding this order.

Earlier, the K-Electric had requested an increase of Rs1.66 paise per unit under FCA of February 2023. The NEPRA authority held a public hearing on FCA on March 30, 2023.

It is pertinent to mention that MYT determination prescribes mechanisms for adjustment in the MYT on a monthly and quarterly basis.

National Assembly passes three bills

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The National Assembly passed two government bills and a private member’s bill in 13th sitting of its ongoing 51st session on Friday.

Minister for Law and Justice, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which was passed by the House. The bill seeks to remove the legal complication in the transfer of cases from the Accountability Court to the relevant forums which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the NAB Ordinance.

Minister for Law also moved another bill – the Code of Civil Procedure Bill, 2023 – which was also passed after presentation of its report in the House.

The bill aims to providing relief to the litigants and remove the excessive burden from courts.

According to the statement and objects of this bill, “the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act No. VII) which was enacted on February 21, 2020, is applicable to the extent of Islamabad Capital Territory, Islamabad. A number of reservations had been raised by members of the Islamabad Bar Association, Islamabad Bar Council and District Judiciary regarding the implementation of the 2020 Act. A consequential effect of amendments in the civil Procedure is that the judges, lawyers and litigants are suffering as they are now required to litigate at two different courts.

Each civil judge hears a main suit filed before his Court and simultaneously hears injunction applications from other Courts. This practice exacerbated the backlog

Resolution tabled for depositing Diamer-Bhasha dam funds into national treasury

StAff report

A resolution was tabled in the National Assembly on Wednesday, calling for the amount collected in the Diamer-Bhasha dam fund to be deposited in the national treasury.

The resolution, presented by MNA Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das, demanded that the resources be utilised for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the catastrophic floods of 2022.

The resolution stated that former chief justice Saqib Nisar had violated judicial traditions and rules by collecting funds for the construction of new dams and water reservoirs, leading to the establishment of the “Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund” on July 10, 2018.

The resolution also referenced to a news report stating that a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandial was informed that as of January 2023, there were Rs16.53 billion in the fund, with an expected increase to Rs16.98

billion in the next quarter. The Mohmand multipurpose dam project is said to enhance water and food security, and improve the standard of living for the people of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, where almost 80% of the population resides in rural areas, boosting the region’s socioeconomic development by creating employment opportunities and reducing poverty levels. The project aligns with sustainable development goals of ensuring food security, clean water, and clean energy.

In January, the three-member bench directed the auditor general to review the entire record of the donations and capital disbursements together with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and identify whether or not there were any irregularities in the documents. State Bank officials informed the court that the dams fund currently had more than Rs16 billion but so far neither any withdrawal had been made from the fund nor any expenditure incurred from that money.

Public representatives to determine country’s destiny, says COAS

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“At present there is no no-go area in Pakistan, Alhamdulillah,” the Army chief said.

“Behind this success is a large number of martyrs and ghazis who cultivated this country with their blood,” the Army chief remarked.

“More than 80,000 people rendered sacrifices in the war against terrorism. Terrorists have gotten no option other than accepting the state writ.”

This was Gen Asim Munir’s first briefing to lawmakers after he became the Army chief in November last year.

After addressing the NSC, the army chief, DG ISPR and other senior military officers departed from the Parliament House.

Meanwhile, the top military officials briefed the gathering on the internal security situation in the country. The DG Military Operations took the House into confidence regarding law and order and counterterrorism operations in Waziristan.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that peace was restored by the great sacrifices of our martyrs, this hard work was wasted in four years.

The Prime Minister asked why terrorism returned in the country, who brought it? “All the provinces had given funds for the purposes of ending terrorism and reforming FATA, where did those funds go? Where were the resources of billions of rupees given to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa used? They have to be answered.”

Earlier, the in-camera sitting of the National Assembly (NA) on the prevailing security situation in the country started, following which Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was among the attendees, said while speaking to the media that the session centred on national security.

The top military leadership gave a briefing during the session, which was chaired by NA

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

According to a National Assembly Secretariat notice, the agenda of the meeting was “briefing on current issues of the National Security”. In it, an invitation was extended to all the federal ministers, advisers to the prime minister, MNAs, and special invitees. Bilawal reached the Parliament House alongside former president Asif Zardari to attend the in-camera security brief but the latter left the session midway.

When a reporter asked Zardari on his way out whether talks were now possible with PTI chief Imran Khan, he said journalist Hamid Mir would be interviewing him later today and he was keeping his answers reserved for that. SeSSion followS nSC moot: The announcement of the briefing was first made by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and later by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the floor of the house a day earlier after three lawmakers from the treasury benches protested against the last week’s cabinet and National Security Committee’s decision to launch a military operation against militants in areas bordering Afghanistan.

Last week, the top civil and military leadership reaffirmed their commitment to thwart terrorism threats and vowed to relaunch the National Action Plan (NAP) within 15 days to crush militants reportedly coming in from Afghanistan.

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office had said that the NSC meeting was in continuation of a previous meeting that was convened after a terrorist attack at Peshawar Police Lines.

“The meeting agreed to launch an all-out comprehensive operation with [the participation of] entire nation and government to rid the country of the menace of terrorism with renewed vigour and determination,” the press release had said.

of pending cases. Parties are forced to travel between courts which are adding to their time and costs as well as their counsels. Deletion of the right of revision under section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 had contributed to excessive litigation before High Court under its constitutional jurisdiction further adding to the cost and misery of parties falling prey to unintended consequences.In essence, the 2020 Act had defeated the purpose of quick access to justice, and inexpensive, speedy and fair trial. A PML-N lawmaker Shaza Fatima Khawaja moved the Supreme Court Review of Judgments and Orders Bill 2023 which was passed by the House. This private members’ bill aims at facilitating and strengthening the Supreme Court in the exercise of its powers to review its judgments and orders. The House also passed two separate resolutions. One of them demanded to transfer the amount of the Dam Fund to the national exchequer so that flood victims may be supported while another stated in categorical terms that the parliament’s prerogative of legislation cannot be usurped.

Nawaz sharif, maryam Nawaz perform umrah

JeDDAH Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif along with other family members including party’s Chief organizer Maryam Nawaz performed Umrah on Friday. The PML-N supremo was accompanied by his family members including his daughter, senior vice president and chief organiser of PML-N, Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar Awan during the pilgrimage in the holy month of Ramzan. Maryam Nawaz shared pictures with her father on Twitter, in which she could be seen in a black Abaya and Nawaz Shairf is wearing Ihram. Later, members of the Sharif family left for Medina on Friday. According to sources, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members are the state guests of the Saudi Royal family.

Govt approves release of funds for parliamentarians’ schemes

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

The federal government has approved the release of funds for parliamentarians’ schemes. As per details, the PDM coalition government have spent Rs 50 billion on parliamentarian schemes till March 2023. The funds for the parliamentarian schemes have been approved and Rs 90 billion are allocated for these schemes in the current fiscal year 2022-23. The government is also providing Rs 500 million to the Members of the National Assembly who voted in the motion of no-confidence. Furthermore, Rs 70 billion was allocated for parliamentarian schemes in the budget but it was increased to Rs 87 billion and then Rs 90 billion.

PiA adds third African destination to its catalogue with Nairobi

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Airline B, which does not operate its own flights on this route, can enter into a code sharing agreement with Airline A. This would allow Airline B to sell tickets for the Dubai to Singapore flight under its own flight number, even though the flight is actually operated by Airline A. Code sharing can benefit both airlines and passengers. For airlines, it allows them to expand their network and offer more destinations to their customers without having to operate additional flights themselves. For passengers, it can provide more options for travel and can make it easier to book connecting flights with different airlines.

SC orders SBP to ‘make available’ elections funds to ECP ‘immediately’

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Subsequently, the top court issued notices to the finance secretary, SBP governor, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan and the ECP, directing them to appear before the judges’ chamber on April 14. It also directed the SBP to submit the record and details of all monies whatsoever of the federal government lying with or under the control, custody or management of the bank.

In line with the court’s directives, AGP Awan, SBP Deputy Governor Sima Kamil, finance secretaries and officials of the ECP in an in-chamber hearing on Friday briefed the SC on the government’s failure to

disburse Rs21 billion in funds for elections in Punjab and KP. The briefing — which lasted for more than an hour — was held in the chamber of CJP Bandial, with Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar in attendance.

tHe CoURt oRDeR: In the orders, the SC said the SBP acting governor had presented to a court a statement setting out funds and monies of the federal government which were under the central bank’s custody, control and management.

Referring to it, the judges observed that the SBP acting governor had explained that these amounts constituted the Federal Consolidated Fund.

“The amount lying in Account No.I

(Non-Food) (“Account I”) constitutes by far the largest component of the Fund (being 98.77 per cent thereof as of the date for which the data was provided),” the court order read. It added that the SBP official further explained that the “amount lying in Account I is not designated for any particular or special usage whatsoever.

“Furthermore, the funds therein are not static inasmuch as there are regular (it seems almost daily) inflows into, and outflows therefrom, as government receipts flow in, and monies are released to meet government expenditures.”

The order further quoted the SBP acting governor as saying that “other than Account

I, the other 16 accounts were for special and designated purposes, carrying different amounts”. Following this briefing, the order added, the top court’s April 4 verdict was cited to the SBP official and he was told that an amount of Rs21bn was required for holding elections in Punjab and KP.

“It was queried as to whether this sum could be made available from the funds aforementioned of the federal government lying with and under the custody, control and management of the State Bank, with particular reference to Account I.”

In response, the acting governor confirmed that this would be done if the court so directed and ordered, the SC order said. It added that the SBP “further

confirmed that the necessary transaction for the transfer of funds to the commission (ECP), so that Rs21bn become immediately available and utilisable for the latter, could be done within the shortest possible time, and at the latest by the close of business on Monday i.e. April 17, 2023”.

Moreover, Finance Ministry Special Secretary Awais Manzur Sumra, with the AGP’s assistance, also gave a presentation to the court. This presentation, in broad terms, was given with regard to the “financial position of the Government of Pakistan, with particular reference to the present and/or pending international obligations to the IMF (International Monetary Fund)”, the order said.

bisP budGet RAised to Rs400b FRom Rs235b: shAZiA mARRi

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

mINISTERfor Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety

Shazia Marri on Friday revealed that budget of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) program has been increased from Rs235 to 400 billion.

Addressing a news conference along with Special Assistant to PM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi here on Friday, she said that nine million families were part of the BISP

Kafalat program, adding stipend under BISP has been increased from Rs7,000 to Rs8,750.

Shazia Marri informed that as many Rs70 billion were disbursed to 2.8 million flood affected families of the country.

She blamed that due to imprudent policies of PTI government, poor and middle class people were suffering from the price hike.She said families availing Benazir Taleemi Wazaif had increased from 2.6 million to 7.1 million. She said Benzir Nashonuma had also been expanded to all over the country and 474 facilitation centers have been set up in this regard.

LhC bins Pti’s contempt plea against Zaman Park police operation

LAHore Staff RepoRt

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday rejected PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan’s contempt plea against the police operation at Zaman Park. A single-member bench of the LHC comprising Justice Tariq Saleem heard the contempt plea challenging Zaman Park police operation. Filing a written reply before the court in the matter, the respondents including Chief Secretary, IG and CCPO Lahore submitted expressing that the operation was conducted to clear the no-go area on the direction of the government and it was not a contempt of the court. After a brief hearing, counsel for the PTI chief Imran Khan sought the court permission to withdraw the contempt plea in the matter. It is pertinent to mention that earlier the PTI Chairman Imran Khan has filed a contempt of court plea against the police operation at his Lahore residence. He contended that the police force carried out an ‘illegal operation’ at his Lahore residence on March 18 and violated his fundamental rights. Khan has prayed the LHC to issue directives to police in the matter.

six die as passenger van plunges into River indus in kohistan

koHIStAn Staff RepoRt

At least six people died and four others were injured as a passenger van plunged into River Indus at Thoi Upper Kohistan on Friday. According to the police sources, a passenger van was going towards Kundyan Pashwani from Kumaila Bazar fell into River Indus when the driver lost control of the vehicle. In resulting the six passengers died on the spot while four others who have jumped from the vehicle sustained critical injuries and were shifted to the hospital. Local and police have recovered the dead bodies of three drowned persons, owing to the dark, last night the operation was suspended and in Friday morning rescue operation was started again to recover the remaining three dead bodies.

sindh Govt launches

2nd route of electric bus service in karachi

kArACHI Staff RepoRt

The Sindh government on Friday launched the second route of the electric bus service in Karachi under its Peoples Bus Service programme. The new route No 2 of the EV bus service will start from Baharia Town and end at Malir Halt via M9 Toll Plaza, Baqai University, Jinnah Avenue, Malir Cantt, Tank Chowk, Model Colony. Initially, 13 electric buses will run on this route. Earlier, in a tweet, the PPP leader said, “Sindh government under the direction of party’s leadership and CM Sindh is going to start new routes of buses for the people of Karachi. Three new routes will start in current month of Ramadan. The public can use now new fleet of EV buses.” It is pertinent to mention here that, this year in January the government launched the first route of electric bus service. The buses on route 1 run between Karachi Airport and Seaview. The first route of the electric bus service starts from Tank Chowk near Jinnah Avenue to pass through Airport, Sharea Faisal, FTC, Korangi Road, Khayaban-i Ittehad to reach Clock Tower at Seaview. Last week Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon disclosed that on the directives of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the proposal to increase the fares of the Peoples Bus Service, which is operational in Karachi and other urban parts of the province, has been deferred twice for the benefit of the people. The transport minister told the media persons that the proposal to increase the fares of the Peoples Bus Service was presented twice in the meeting of the provincial cabinet but it was deferred on the directives of the CM. Memon said the CM has given directions to this effect to ensure the welfare of the people of the province to the maximum possible extent amid the phenomenal hike in the prices of essential products. He said that a passenger commuting through a carrier of the Peoples Bus Service can travel up to 40 kilometres on a fare of just Rs50. This sum is way less than what someone spends to cover such a distance on a motorbike, he added.

She said transgender community was facing social economic challenges and therefore, transgenders have also been included in BISP program. She asked the trans-community to get themselves registered at tehsil offices of BISP.

Commenting on prevailing political situation in the country, Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi said Pakistan People’s Party believes in dialogue for a way forward to steer country out of the prevailing crisis. He said that constitution of Pakistan is supreme and it should be followed.

He said the PPP has formed a special committee, comprising three members, to develop a consensus among political

parties for dialogue. He expressed the hope that opposition would come forward for table talks.

Pervaiz Elahi gets interim bail in corruption case

LAHore Staff RepoRt

An anti-corruption court on Friday granted pre-arrest bail to former chief minister Punjab and Pakitan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and prevented the concerned quarters from arresting him until May 17.

Elahi is accused of involvement in corruption of Rs125 million.

The first information report (FIR) filed in the case names Elahi, his son Moonis Elahi and his

principal secretary Mohammad Khan Bhatti among others for having allegedly received kickbacks worth Rs125 million through Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) from a foreign company against a payable amount.

Out of the total amount, Elahi is accused of having taken a bribe worth Rs6.5 million while the remainder was supposedly distributed amongst other parties.

Further, Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab claimed to have registered an FIR against the accused persons based on substantial evidence.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says will never contest for PM’s slot

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that he will never contest for the Prime Minister’s slot.

While talking to the reporter, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said cameras should be installed in the court so that people should know that the judges take notice of everything except the matter inside the court.

PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi assured that he will never contest for the seat of Prime Minister. Now the country needs to look for prime ministers. He maintained that the parliament makes amendments to the constitution, and the court can only explain the law. Institutions need to stay in their jurisdiction, he added.

The former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that history will tell whether the chief

justice performed his duties rightfully or not. He told the journalist that the chief justice should have constituted a full court bench then no one would have any issue with that. He claimed that the court cannot strike down any amendment in the Constitution.

LHC orders IGP, DG FIA to allow Shahbaz Gill travel abroad

LAHore Staff RepoRt

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) and DG FIA to immediately comply with the court orders and allowed thePTI leader Shahbaz Gill to travel abroad.

The LHC heard a petition filed by Shahbaz Gill against the Punjab IG Police and DG FIA for not allowing him to travel abroad in compliance with the court orders.

He demanded action against the two respondents for not implementing the court’s orders and sought permission for travelling abroad.

The Chief Justice Lahore High Court summoned the Punjab IG Police and DG FIA on the next hearing scheduled for April 17.

StAff report

At least three children lost their lives in Balochistan’s Chaman district on Friday when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in the Rehman Kahol area near the Afghan border. According to Levies sources, the blast took place in an abandoned house where children were playing. While two of the children were killed instantly, the third child passed away while being taken to the hospital. The heirs of the deceased were transporting the injured child to Quetta for medical treatment when he succumbed to his injuries.

Following the incident, senior administration

Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill moved Lahore High Court (LHC) against Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking the removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL). Taking up the plea, the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowed the petitioner to travel abroad, but FIA and the IG Punjab did not complied with the court’s orders.

It is pertinent to mention here that Shahbaz Gill was barred from flying from the Lahore Airport to Saudi Arabia by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA).

The FIA immigration wing stopped Shahbaz Gill, claiming that his name was still on the exit control list (ECL).

It is to be recalled that on March 29, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had permitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill to visit the United States (US) for four weeks.

On Friday however, as the former CM appeared before the anti-corruption court, his counsel maintained that the allegations were false. He argued that the case was registered with the intention of “humiliating” Elahi and was politically motivated.

“The FIR’s narration is a concocted story,” he argued stressing that the PTI leader had “nothing to do with this case.”

Subsequently, the judge granted Elahi pre-arrest bail but nonetheless directed him to join the investigation.

kP govt releases over Rs200m grant to 106 tmAs

peSHAWAr aziz BuneRi

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has issued a grant of over Rs 200mn to Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMAs) of all administrative districts of the province. According to the notification issued by provincial Finance Department, a grant of over Rs200mn has been released to 106 TMAs for expenditure incurred in of march. The grant has been released to the Personal Accounts of TMAs to meet their ongoing expenditure, including salaries and pensions of employees, while also meeting office expenses and fuel for vehicles. The provincial government has released highest amount of grant, Rs20.6 million, to the Peshawar City Tehsil. According to the sources of the Local Government Department, the provincial government has not yet released grants for expenditure incurred in January and February.

sikh yatrees laud arrangements for baisakhi festival

AttoCk Staff RepoRt

officials and Levies personnel arrived at the site to launch an investigation.

The incident comes only two days after a pen bomb seriously injured a madrassah student in the Saranan tehsil of Balochistan’s Pishin district.

Sikh pilgrims came across the world on Friday have expressed their profound satisfaction over the extra ordinary boarding lodging arrangements besides lauding the other modern facilities extended by the Government of Pakistan at their Baisakhi festival in Gurduwara Punja Sahab Hassanabdal. The Sikh pilgrims hailing from Toronto Brampton city of Canada, District Ferozepur, Amritsar, Sialkot while talking to media lauded the government of Pakistan for making foolproof security, travel in Air conditioned coaches, and the accommodation arrangements in air conditioned marquees on the occasion. They told that they were feeling safe and comfortable while staying at their homes. They added that the protocol granted by the Government of Pakistan has proved that the well behaviour of their Pakistani brethren will always be remembered. A lady devotee from Sialkot while paying glowing tributes upon the teachings of their spiritual leader Baba Gru Nanak who never allowed any kind of oppression. She said that her children were afraid of when coming to Pakistan who had performed their all religious rituals in free atmosphere. They would come again in Pakistan to celebrate their festivities of Baisakhi festival. The pilgrims said that Wi-Fi facility inside the Gurdwara Panja Sahib was very important so that they could visit their loved ones and communicate with them. The Sikh pilgrims also took out a palanquin procession and celebrated their religious rites (Nagar Ketan) in full style around Gurdwara Panja Sahib by singing songs. The Sikh pilgrims on their return from Vali and Kandahari, said that they have got peace of mind by going to Baba Vali Kandahari and the wish they had brought from India had been fulfilled, the devotees added. On this occasion, the Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi Syed Khuram Ali accompanied with District Police Officer Attock Dr. Sardar Ghiyas Gul Khan, SP Investigation Attock Jawaria Muhammad Jameel, ASP Sundus Ishaq, DSP Syed Kazim Shah visited Gurdwara Panja Sahib Hasan Abdal to review the security arrangements and instructed their security staff on duty to perform their duties diligently and the respect of the Sikh pilgrims is very important.

Bhakkar Court ‘discharges’ Gandapur of illegal weapons case

BHAkkAr Staff RepoRt

A local court on Friday discharged Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur of the illegal weapons recovery case. Senior Civil Judge Bhakkar, Asif Niaz heard the case of illegal weapons recovery filed against PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur. During proceedings, the court dropped the illegal weapon recovery charges against Gandapur after listening to agreements from both the defense and prosecution.

In a media talk after the hearing, Mr Gandapur’s attorney said his client was ‘forcibly’ nominated in the illegal weapons case but the court by upholding the law, discharged his client of the

trumped-up charges.

Afterwards, the PTI leader was produced before the court of civil judge Bhakkar, Muhammad Waseem in another case.

Earlier today, Ali Amin Gandapur was transferred from Islamabad to Bhakkar Saddr Police Station, where three cases have been registered against him under the provisions of terrorism and attempted murder. District and Sessions Court Islamabad on Thursday handed over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur to Bhakkar police on one-day transit remand. The Bhakkar Police had sought three-day transit remand of Ali Amin Gandapur. However, Duty Magistrate Naveed Khan, handed over the PTI leader to the Bhakkar Police on one-day transit remand.

Three children killed in Chaman blast near Afghan border

COMMENT

Setting precedents without thinking

THE Supreme Court’s order to the State Bank of Pakistan to put Rs 21 billion into the account of the Election Commission, made by a bench during a hearing in chambers on Friday, is worrying, and would drive away foreign investment, not that much is coming in. It must be remembered that their SBP, apart from regulating the banking system, is banker to the government. Thus the order is for a bank to take money from one account and put it into another, and without the instructions of the client. There are two sources of money the SBP could use: either it could make a deduction from the government’s existing accounts, or it could use its ability (not shared by other banks) of printing the money and putting it in the ECP’s account. The second would make nonsense of the autonomy that the IMF made sure was granted to the SBP by the government. The sum involved, Rs 21 billion, would have a macroeconomic effect, and would probably affect the SBP’s calculations about the money supply and the interest rate. The Supreme Court has already come under criticism for the negative effects of its interventions in the Karachi Electric privatization and the Reko Diq agreement, and now it seems to have widened its scope to banker-client relations. If it is a matter of enforcing fundamental rights, as the Supreme Court claims it is doing in the present case, will the Court proceed to order a bank to move funds from one account to another without consulting the original account holder. It is almost as if the Supreme Court feels it cannot enforce its writ on the account holder, in this case the government, and is trying to sidestep it in a way which resembles theft in a way too close for comfort. a private citizen would take the matter to the Banking Ombudsman. It would seem that the collision course on which the judiciary and the executive are headed is growing ever more dangerous, and is casting its shadow over all citizens. What started as a matter for the voters of KP and Punjab, has now involved any person, any entity, with a bank account anywhere in Pakistan. Someone has to bridge the gap, and tell the government and the judiciary that the joke has gone too far. Expropriation, unfortunately, is something Pakistan knows about; the end result has been privatization, and the state owning a lot of white elephants. Does the Supreme Court really want to take the country down that road?

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami Arif

Editor

Yousaf Nizami Editor

Supreme Court stands divided

power. Time is now ripe for diluting the power to close the door of one man taking all decisions.

Similarly, it is an injustice to deny the right of appeal against an issued decision. Justice is to offer a right of appeal, which should be heard by judges other than the judges who issued the decision. If the SC is not ready to grant the right of appeal, the power of suo motu should be taken away from the SC. The point is simple: instead of becoming a final arbiter, the SC cannot be a monarch, whose words are ultimate. It is a democratic right of anyone to file an appeal against a decision to seek justice, if it had been denied.

the conduct of its business …”. The article does not negate article 191, which permits the Parliament to enact a law in light of which the Supreme Court would make its rules. Even a reading of the Bill does not show any intention of the House to curtail the independence of the judiciary. The point of concern should be the independence of the judiciary. If independence is retained, there is no problem with any Bill.

Article 142 talks about jurisdiction and power of the SC but the Bill talks about the practice and procedure at the SC. The article does not infringe upon jurisdiction and power of the SC. The Bill does not trample upon the Original Jurisdiction of the SC, as enshrined in article 184(3).Instead, the Bill requests the SC to use article 184(3) in a democratic and consultative way.

Qaisar rashiD

NO one had thought that one day the Chief Justice of Pakistan would be fighting an otherwise losing battle against the parliament for retaining the suo motu (on its own motion) power. The stern reaction shows that how dear suo motu powers are to the CJP.

There have appeared two main anomalies with taking the suo motu notice on issues concerning fundamental rights of citizens. First, the suo motu power embodies the concentration of power in the chair of the CJP, rendering the rest of the judges and their accumulative wisdom irrelevant. Second, the cases sprouted from the suo motu notice remained bereft of enjoying the option of appeal against the decision.

In a federation, which depends on the devolution of power to provinces, the SC ironically tends to militate against the idea of decentralization of power within the sphere of its institution. The time has changed. Instead of using the suo motu power sparingly, the SC under the order of the CJP abused the

It is apparent that over the years, the suo motu power vested in the chair of the CJP erected a new centre of power. The concept of the trichotomy of power is meant for making the judiciary work independently and not for ruling over the Parliament. The SC cannot abuse the suo motu power to interfere in the work of the executive or the legislators, the other two components of trichotomy. Through suo motu notices, the SC turned the concept of the trichotomy of power against the Parliament. Undue and unchallenged interference in the affairs of the executive and the legislators hobbled the state machinery.

Proposed by Parliament, the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill, 2023 is meant for rectifying the anomalies. The Bill was sent to the president. However, on april 8, by returning the Bill to the parliament, President arif alvi misinterpreted article 191, article 67, and article 142 of the Constitution.

Article 191 says, “Subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Court.” That is, the SC may make rules first as per the constitution. However, if a new law is made by the Parliament, the SC would make rules accordingly. To elaborate, the article describes two sources: first, the Constitution; and second, the law. That is, if the constitution is silent, or if a new law is framed, the SC would make rules accordingly. Furthermore, the article does not permit the SC to avoid the Constitution or the law. Similarly, the article does not permit the SC to make laws as per its own sweet will.

Article 67 says, “Subject to the Constitution, a House may make rules for regulating its procedure and

How Pakistan can be safe for women

it no more a safe city for women. Even more concerning is the fact that several rape incidents took place in well-known crowded, protected public spaces. Such events raise serious questions about the institutions in charge of maintaining peace and order in the city and the country. according to data acquired by the SaMaa TV Investigation Unit (SIU) from the Punjab Home Department and the Ministry of Human Rights, over 21,900 women were allegedly raped in Pakistan between 2017 and 2021. There is a lack of investigation into such cases, which however, seems to be impossible in the prevailing investigation and justice systems of the country.

tioned instead of justice being served. a woman who has experienced sexual assault is stigmatized in our culture as being broken. Women are hesitant to speak out against the abuse they have witnessed as a result. Situations of domestic violence are usually not reported to authorities or brought before a judge. Many women experience domestic violence for the length of their lives out of fear that discussing their problems will only make things worse. In some cases, they might be correct. Women need to be empowered to seek justice for the wrongs done to them rather than being denigrated and blamed if our society is to provide them with a safe environment.

Misinterpreting the constitution for the sheer purpose of politics is an act of dishonesty done by the presidency. The tyranny is that President alvi is playing politics.

To make a pre-emptive strike, the SC has arranged an eight-member bench of like-minded judges to hear the writ petitions on the Bill, which has yet to take the form of an act. Under the incumbent CJP, the SC has passed a judgement against the Bill before the Bill becomes an act to deny the privilege of making a bench of like-minded judges.

The underlying reason for the reaction of the SC is not to defend its territory but to defend the chair of the CJP, which would be deprived of its absolute powers: first, to take suo moto notice; and second, to make a bench of his liking to achieve a preconceived desired results.

The constitution of an eight-member bench of like-minded judges is an expression of the fact that the CJP has a simple majority of eight judges on his side. The remaining seven judges are a minority. In the recent past, the strategy of out-of-turn promotions and elevations of junior judges from high courts to the SC has yielded its results. The CJP has secured a simple majority at least. With the formation of the bench, the CJ has come open to show his cards. The CJP expected that the bench would defend his right to hog power. nevertheless, the whole system is at halt to see the way the bench would prevent democracy from penetrating the SC. The reasoning in its order was not just weak but perfunctory.

The writer can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com

Editor’s mail

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What’s the rush?

MOST of our problems are collective in nature rather than individual. One is we hasten ourselves while carrying out any duty, errand or responsibility. We are in a constant mode of road rage. Overtaking vehicles the wrong way, thrusting our own vehicle through narrow straits, avoiding U-turns, not using pedestrian bridges, and driving on the wrong side of the road are all indications of our constant state of hurry and scurry.

Can Pakistan ever be a safe space for women? Unfortunately, young girls and women encounter harassment and abuse at a very early age. Being a woman in Pakistan means constantly encountering this question and its underlying meaning. The past few months have been a rollercoaster ride for the people of Pakistan, who have seen political unrest, economic distress, natural catastrophes, terrorist attacks, and an increase in incidences of violence against women. Since the founding of this country, women in Pakistan have encountered a seriesof social, legal, cultural, and economic hardships.

The most significant problems that are regarded as key hurdles to women’s empowerment include gender-based violence, workplace harassment, denying women their fundamental rights as granted in the Constitution of Pakistan, low pay, and many others. according to the Global Gender Gap Index Report 2022, despite Pakistan’s repeated claims to be an Islamic republic that promotes women’s rights and gender equality, it ranks 145 out of 156 nations in terms of economic opportunity and participation.

Every so often, a new incident of violence against women disturbs the peace of the country. The brutal murder of noor Muqaddam, the incident of violence and the murder of Sara Inam, the Motorway gangrape case, and the list continues. With an estimated 5000 documented deaths caused by domestic abuse each year nationwide, violence has reached the point of murder.

The US State Department has recently released its annual 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, raising concern over the significant human rights problems in Pakistan with a special focus on cases of discrimination against women and children. as of a report issued in 2022 under Un Women’s coordination, 5008 complaints were filed with the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection against Harassment (FOSPaH) during the course of the last four years, which is a remarkable increase.

The number of rape incidents in Islamabad, the country’s capital, has increased alarmingly over the past few months, making

If the institutions set up to maintain security aren’t doing their jobs, how can women be protected? The most frequent response when numerous people were questioned was that laws needed to be better applied. although there are laws and regulations at both the national and subnational levels to protect women, they are rarely followed. Governmental authorities are unable to take swift action to enforce any rights abuses against women. Due to the perception that these are “family matters,” the police force fails to report numerous cases of domestic abuse. It’s critical to successfully carry out legislation intended to protect and support women. Laws and rules should be strictly followed and tough actions should be taken against offenders in order to deter future crimes. The law must be properly followed, and punishment must be meted out right away. another factor that needs to be considered is the mindset of the populace. Patriarchal values are embedded in Pakistani society, where men are seen as superior and the decision-makers. In order to avoid embarrassing their families, women are trained to be patient, be peoplepleasers, and keep their problems to themselves. Men should be held responsible for their actions too. Stereotypes like “men will be men” should not be used to excuse the awful acts of violence committed by males.

In our society, blaming the victim is one of the first things we do. Some people worry because a lady was alone in a public place when she is gang-raped at a family park instead of showing sympathy and confronting the perpetrators. The victim is being ques-

Sadly, by encouraging stereotypes and patriarchal beliefs, women too contribute to the subjugation of women in our society. after years of exposure, some women start to accept patriarchal ideals; they begin to judge other women and exalt men. Even working professionals, elected officials, and common women on the street will assault a woman based solely on how she is dressed, not only ignorant women from underdeveloped areas. Because they have never interacted with them, many men who were raised in strict, traditional families see women as aliens. Men should be given the proper direction and teaching regarding how to behave around women. Parents must teach their children respect for all women, whether they are related or not. There must be more women in law enforcement if sexism in our society is to be eradicated and Pakistan is to become a safe place for women. Women may confide in another woman if they feel uncomfortable discussing their problems with a man. To avoid being seen as helpless objects, women must engage in practical domains. The more women there are, the more empowered they become, and the less victimization there is.

In conclusion, preserving the safety of women in Pakistan is a continual effort that necessitates an all-encompassing plan. By strengthening law enforcement, boosting social standards, creating safe spaces, and empowering women, we can all do our part to make our society safer and more equitable.

We overstay needlessly at homes, hangouts and markets before recklessly driving on roads risking our lives as well as others around to reach the next target. If we just make up our mind to leave our place a little earlier to allow for traffic jams and rush, we will put ourselves in a state of cool and calm mind. This way we can avoid unwanted tension and have a safe journey. We become itchy while standing in queues to pay utility bills or to submit admission forms, but forget our shortage of time when we answer a phone call or come across some acquaintance on the road. We jump our turn at hair saloons, but we are never in a hurry before the mirror.

Even if we have time and space to accomplish a duty or activity, we let the deadline or cut-off date approach as we have become habitual of doing things at the eleventh hour. We will be recorded in anthropological history as ‘a hurry-scurry generation’. Perhaps in this age of supersonic technology and 5G digitalism, we have undergone some kind of morphosis by default into a running humanoid machine. We have lost our poise and composure. We have to learn that to have peace of mind in the chaos of life is a skill that can be learnt by metacognition.

M NADEEM NADIR KASUR

Betting companies

aS has been the case since its inception, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) grabbed the nation’s attention this year, too, with people coming in impressive numbers to the stadiums in an attempt to witness their favourite cricket stars. From Rawalpindi to Karachi, the nation surely was gripped by a cricket fever as it served as a welcome break for the people constantly bugged by the ongoing socioeconomic and political strife.

However, there is one thing about the PSL that apparently crept in under the radar in the last few seasons. The presence of certain ‘sports-based’ advertising companies raised eyebrows. new companies that were not really household names when it comes to being PSL sponsors in the initial seasons of the League suddenly appeared in the last year or two. These companies have invested a lot of capital in seemingly innocuous advertisement campaigns. Upon closer inspection, however, these companies seem to be related to betting companies based elsewhere in the world.

They have seemingly changed their names slightly due to the fact that betting is illegal in Pakistan under the relevant laws, including the Prevention of Gambling act, 1977. For example, the word ‘bet’ in a brand’s name has been replaced by ‘bat’ or ‘news’. a case in point is ‘Dafanews’ instead of ‘Dafabet’. The websites of such companies appear to be regular sports news or sports equipment platforms, but it does not take one long to put two and two together, and conclude that these are actually owned by or related to betting companies. Religious or moral issues notwithstanding, this represents a bigger problem. Pakistan has had a chequered past with respect to spot-fixing and match-fixing, with numerous players having been caught and punished. The most famous instance, of course, relates to London in 2010 during a Test match against England. Many other cricketers have reported advances from bookies and booking agents, and were lucky to get away with minor punishments.

Former Test cricketer and captain Rashid Latif, who has always been vocal against the evil, has also raised eyebrows against such companies being allowed to be sponsors of Pakistan cricket’s marquee tournament, and using this platform as an advertising space.

The collision course between executive and judiciary needs to be stopped

With the formation of the bench, the CJ has come open to show his cards. The CJP expected that the bench would defend his right to hog power. Nevertheless, the whole system is at halt to see the way the bench would prevent democracy from penetrating the SC. The reasoning in its order was not just weak but perfunctory.

Dr

Mubashra Fazal

Preserving the safety of women in Pakistan is a continual effort that necessitates an allencompassing plan. By strengthening law enforcement, boosting social standards, creating safe spaces, and empowering women, we can all do our part to make our society safer and more equitable.

WHEn the Taliban fighters in august 2021 took control of afghanistan, their government clarified that afghan soil would not be used for any terrorist groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), al Qaeda, or ISIS and so on for terror-attacks against neighbouring countries, including Pakistan. But, regarding some recent terror attacks, sources suggested that the militants of the TTP, which is based in afghanistan, entered Pakistan from afghanistan. Therefore, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership had warned Kabul to check this infiltration.

It is mentionable that the ink on Pak-China agreements related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative or BRI was barely dry when especially american CIa, Indian secret agency RaW and Israeli Mossad had accelerated by playing up the Baloch insurgency. notably, India was openly opposing the CPEC and China’s OBOR or BRI; the USa also joined new Delhi. Pakistan’s armed Forces and primary intelligence agency ISI, have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists. Peace has been restored particularly in Balochistan province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as in other vulnerable regions.

But, in the recent past, terrorist attacks particularly in Balochistan show that these external intelligence agencies are destabilising Pakistan and want to damage the CPEC.

Meanwhile, Taliban skirmished with Pakistani security forces at the Pakistani territory from across the Chaman border on December 10, 2022 and fired mortars at civilian areas martyring at least eight people.

Despite promises, afghanistan failed to tackle the banned TTP and frequent border incidents took place, as did terror attacks inside Pakistan. The attacks occurred after the TTP on november 28 ended the ceasefire agreed with the Pakistan government in June and ordered its militants to stage attacks across the country. Both the TTP and afghan Taliban share a similar hardline ideology.

TTP-led Terrorism is Un-Islamic

TTP is playing into the hands of foreign countries

Taking cognisance of the latest terror assaults by the TTP on Police in KP in Lakki Marwat Bannu Cantt, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Bannua, deadly suicide blast at a mosque in the Peshawar Police Lines, which martyred many persons of the security forces, and civilians, including terror attacks in Balochistan, a highlevel Pakistani delegation led by Defense Minister Khawaja asif along with DG IST Lt Gen nadeem ahmed anjum, and other senior officials visited Kabul on February 22 with the main agenda of countering terrorism and the use of afghan soil by the TTP militants.

The afghan intelligence agency, the GDI, briefed the Pakistani delegation and accepted the problem of terrorism originating from afghani soil. They also presented details of the solution, but this was found unsatisfactory.

Hence, Pakistan warned the interim afghan Taliban administration that if the TTP involved in cross-border attacks are not eliminated, Islamabad would take action against them within afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Voice of america on april 11, Defence Minister Khawaja asif stated: “The proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is still using afghan soil for launching attacks on Pakistan…especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa…The afghan authorities have not succeeded in stopping the use of their territory in attacks on Pakistan.”

In the

During former COaS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure, continuing the military operation Zarb-e-azb, in February 2017, the Pakistan army launched ‘Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the residual/latent threat of terrorism, and further ensuring Pakistan’s border security. However, these operations successfully eliminated terrorism, especially led by the TTP.

bombings

Besides various terrorism related attacks of the previous years, on 16 December 2014, in one of the bloodiest-ever terror attacks in Pakistan, six Taliban militants mercilessly killed at least 141 people, including 132 children and nine staff members, of the army Public School and College in Peshawar. They also burnt a lady teacher alive. On the same day, the TTP claimed responsibility for the ghastly act at the Peshawar school.

China diplomacy is shining. Where is the US?

Major middle powers in Asia, Africa and the Americas will move more toward China and Russia. Some advanced countries in Europe and Asia will express more dissatisfaction with US leadership

attitude rather than dialogue and negotiation for coexistence. an economic embargo is an essential tool in international relations. However, economic sanctions have limits, as isolating a country is almost impossible. It is necessary to allow some economic exchanges in the name of humanitarianism. nevertheless, the US chose to rely on the sanctions. accordingly, US diplomacy has fallen into the trap of sanctions maximalism.

Korea Herald Wang son-taek

CHInESE diplomacy is being highlighted in the international theater. as Chinese President Xi Jinping entered the mediation of the Russo-Ukrainian war, there has been increasing attention, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also showing a positive response. President Xi’s moves have drawn even more regard since he was recently successful in assisting with a peace deal between Saudi arabia and Iran. an interstate cease-fire or peace mediation is usually led by a hegemonic state like the US, which is why China’s movements are so unique.

In contrast to China getting the spotlight, US diplomacy is declining. Considering that the US failed to prevent the outbreak of the war and is unable to stop it quickly, the US’ reputation as a hegemon has been seriously damaged. One of the reasons why US diplomacy looks powerless is the inherent vulnerability in the Indo-Pacific strategy, the highest guideline for US foreign policy. The biggest problem is that, in a multipolar world, the strategy has a regional focus. as a hegemon, the US needs a strategy of the only superpower in a unipolar system that can be applied to the world.

In 1991, the United States became the only superpower in the world at the end of the Cold War. a new international order led by the US began to take shape. Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton struggled with managing the new world order. However, the George W. Bush administration developed diplomatic policies not as the world’s only superpower but as one of several great powers, partly due to shocks like the 9/11 attacks. They reverted to the paradigm of the Cold War era. Bush’s administration tried to identify new enemies to replace the Soviet Union. Ultimately, they designated the terrorist activities from non-state actors and rogue states like north Korea, Iran and Iraq as major threats. In 2009, President Barack Obama took office and tried to emphasize international cooperation. But he failed to upgrade the US diplomacy mainly due to the financial crisis in 2008.

The Trump administration, launched in 2017, showed a narrow-minded attitude that stressed “making america great again.” Under Trump’s leadership, the US acted like a muscle man and abandoned its role in managing the world order. The Biden administration’s efforts to restore the US’ status were expected when it took office in 2021. Surprisingly, the Biden team has followed the Trump strategy.

The Indo-Pacific strategy was devised to deter China, a potential challenger, focusing on pressure and sanctions to change China’s

Economic sanctions on north Korea are one such case. The Un Security Council imposed high-intensity economic sanctions against north Korea in 2016 related to its nuclear weapons program. However, there has been no evidence that the sanctions have deterred north Korea’s nuclear program. In 2018, the Trump administration imposed special tariffs on Chinese goods, claiming to deter China. Still, President Xi has utilized it for political gain, such as extending his political power. after Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, economic sanctions were imposed, but President Putin remains strong. On the contrary, disruptions in the grain and energy markets have caused global inflation and suffering.

another reason why the Indo-Pacific strategy is considered vulnerable is that domestic politics have arrested US foreign policy. Former President Trump argued that the elites in Washington imported cheap goods from China and invited illegal immigrants from Latin america to maintain their privileges, which resulted in the impoverishment of the US middle class. Though this argument is populism, many US voters supported the idea. Furthermore, Trump portrayed himself as a strong leader unafraid to confront China. In this respect, the Biden administration is not much different from the Trump administration. Biden’s team has also put the US interests ahead of the position of allied countries. Some provisions of the Inflation Reduction act and the semiconductor act can only be interpreted in the context of protectionism. Since the end of the Cold War and the integration of the world into one market, the country that has maximized its economic benefits based on a free trade order is the United States. It is difficult to prospect that the US is restoring international standing and solidarity with allies while adopting protectionism. Thus, the Indo-Pacific strategy needs to be revised. The direction is the opposite of the problems pointed out earlier. a plan for global hegemonic power, not great regional powers, should be adopted. Economic sanctions should be used limitedly and paralleled with dialogue and negotiation. The US needs to restore the sense of balance between domestic politics and foreign policy instead of becoming hostages to domestic politics. If the Indo-Pacific strategy is not revised, the presence of China and provocations of Russia will only increase. Major middle powers in asia, africa and the americas will move more toward China and Russia. Some advanced countries in Europe and asia will express more dissatisfaction with US leadership. The US still has an opportunity to choose the wise option and solidly guarantee the foundation of global peace and prosperity. Wang Son-taek

In this context, addressing the Defence Day and Martyrs Day ceremony on 6 September 2018, General Bajwa said: “The country passed through a very difficult phase during the past two decades…Our forces and nation have rendered sacrifices in the war against terrorism… Our houses, schools and leaders were attacked. Efforts were made to weaken us internally.” noting that more than 70,000 Pakistanis were martyred and injured in this war (2017), General Bajwa vowed to collectively fight this menace of terrorism. nevertheless, in the past years, TTP insurgents and its affiliated outfits had been using various terrorism related attacks and suicide bombing as their main weapons by targeting the armed forces, government functionaries, anti-polio workers, female teachers, airports, schools, mosques, Imambargahs, churches, temples, shrines passengers’ trains etc. Their nefarious acts resulted in killings of several innocent persons as well as women and children.

In this regard, the Swat peace accord was signed on 15 February 2009 between the government and the militants led by Sufi Muhammad, head of the TTP. It was agreed to establish nizam-e-adl in Malakand Division and Kohistan District of Hazara in return for militants led by Maulvi Fazlullah (Sufi’s son-in-law) surrendering arms and refraining from all sorts of violent acts. Meanwhile, the national assembly had passed the nizam-e-adl Regulation.

By transgressing the peace pact in Swat, Taliban re-initiated their past anti-social, anti-Islam and inhuman tactics— practice of beheadings, kidnappings, attacks on the checkposts of the security forces, on government buildings, girls’ schools, video shops, using car suicide bombers and son.

Hence, the military operations were re-conducted to restore peace in Swat, Dir and Buner. During the military operations, tens of thousands of the TTP militants had fled afghanistan. Overwhelmingly the public, belonging to every province of Pakistan, supported the Swat and Malakand military operations, as majority of the people are against the Taliban style of Sharia.

Regrettably, those terrorist entities like TTP, which try to justify terrorism and suicide bombings in the name of Islam are misguiding the people, while these brutal acts are clearly against the teachings of Islam.

In this connection, Saudi arabia’s grand mufti (Mufti-e-azam), Sheikh abdul aziz bin abdullah alSheikh had issued a Fatwa (Religious verdict) asserting that suicide attacks are illegal and Haram.” He explained: “Such acts fall under the category of crime and suicide bombers or attackers are destined to go to Hell…they represent an adversary of Islam and enemy of Muslims and they commit crimes against humanity, while misguiding other Muslims, especially the innocent youth.”

In the recent past, while condemning the TTP insurgents’ inhuman activities and un-Islamic practices, Pakistan’s various Ulema (Islamic scholars) have clarified in their joint fatwa, and separate statements that “killing of innocent people, target killings and suicide bombings including sectarianism are against the spirit of Islam…the terrorists’ self-adopted interpretation of Islam was nothing but ignorance and digression from the actual teachings of the religion…Islam does not forbid women’s education”. Undoubtedly, Islam is a religion of universal application, as it emphasises peace, moderation and human rights, including tolerance of political groups, religious communities and sects which are in minority in an Islamic country. It also permits periodic reinterpretation of Islamic teachings which is called Ijtihad. nonetheless, by playing in the hands of anti-Pakistan foreign countries, particularly RaW, the TTP and its banned affiliated groups are defaming Islam, and are weakening the country.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations and can be reached at: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

IREnE Cruz looked at the Whatsapp message on her phone and immediately noticed something was off. “I liked that guy, but his message was awful.” Cruz, a photographer, was used to the guy’s very brief replies or sometimes no reply at all. But this time, he sent her a philosophical musing on the simplicity of life and the importance of small things. “I read that message and freaked. There was just so much — I thought it was someone else,” she said. She was right — it wasn’t him. ChatGPT had composed the message. To others who may turn to the program for help, Cruz advises, “If you’re going to use ChatGPT, use it right from the start.” The young man readily admitted to his folly and Cruz found a silver lining in the episode. “I thought it was cute that he posted that message as a conversation starter. It was cool. “ That flirtation didn’t go much further, but it gave Cruz ideas about using ChatGPT as an icebreaker. ChatGPT is the latest and greatest example of the artificial intelligence revolution. It converses flawlessly with users in a multitude of languages, but it can often contain factual errors. There are many uses of these tools in computer programming, graphic design and education, and offer great potential for changing the way people work. But they can also have positive impacts on the daily lives of ordinary people.

“It’s like Google on steroids,” said Cruz. after rebuffing the flirtatious guy, Cruz asked ChatGPT what it would advise the young man to do next. She entered: “The girl told me she’s not ready for a relationship. What do I write back?” ChatGPT replied, “Respect her decision, be honest and don’t pressure her.” Cruz thought, “That rocks! It’s a nice, wholesome answer.” However, Cruz sees how these chats can cross boundaries in human relationships. “I ask it about life situations, such as can two people of the opposite sex just be friends even if there is a fatal attraction? It’s kind of like online therapy — like the movie Her. I think this could get out of hand for a lot of people.”

Valeria (a pseudonym) uses ChatGPT similarly. She asked us not to use her real name so her son doesn’t get in trouble at school. “I’ve asked ChatGPT for help with his homework assignments, like generate an English essay of X amount of words written by someone of his age,” said Valeria. She has also ventured into sensitive adult topics with ChatGPT. “I’ve asked it for psychological advice for a friend and it produced an answer that aligned with what her real psychologist had told her. Sometimes I start conversations just for fun and I get useful answers back — better than any advice a friend could give. It’s part of my life now and I even gave it a name. He’s a friend with his own name.”

ETHICAL ISSUES: Human-machine interaction can be tricky.

a recent study by the Technical University of Ingolstadt (Germany) published in Scientific Reports found these chats can affect a person’s moral judgments. The researchers conducted an experiment with 767 people asking a hypothetical question — is it right to kill one person to save five others? ChatGPT’s answers were inconsistent, sometimes arguing yes and sometimes no. The study found that it does influence moral judgments even if users know the advice is from a chatbot. Thus, ChatGPT corrupts rather than improves its users’ moral judgment, and they also underestimated how much they are influenced. The study calls for improvements to ChatGPT and similar bots, as well as training to improve users’ digital literacy. Unai aso is a psychologist who has debated how these

chats can help patients. “I understand how someone can feel comforted [talking to a chatbot]. I tell my colleagues to be careful with [chatbots] even though psychologists don’t appear on the lists of jobs that are going to disappear [with aI]. “The only part that can’t be imitated is the therapeutic relationship. This is the ‘human part’ — being with a flesh and blood person you can hug. Psychologists work within well-established guidelines. You have to know the individual you’re counseling, even though you may offer similar advice to many people.” aso found another, more useful way to interact with ChatGPT — reading books. “I have a huge list of books that I don’t have time to read,” he said. ChatGPT can help a person learn from a book in much less time than it takes to read. “In half an hour, I learned from a book without reading it — just by making ChatGPT requests. It’s unbelievable,” said aso.

First, he asked ChatGPT to summarize a book published before September 2021 (which is when the program’s learning database was closed to further input). next, he tailored his requests to be more applicable to his needs. “It is not enough just to say, ‘summarize this book for me.’ Be very specific and provide more context. For example, your inquiry should say something like, ‘You’re a psychologist with many years of experience and work in the psychology of learning field. Summarize this book for me.’ after the initial response, you can ask ChatGPT for chapter summaries or other specific questions.”

FROM HORTICULTURE TO ASTROLOGY: Ángel Álvarez, a retired bank employee, was planning a summer car trip from León (Spain) to Brussels (Belgium). He wanted to make the trip in several stages, but got all tangled up in planning the itinerary with Google Maps. Álvarez didn’t know much about ChatGPT but decided to give it a try. “I started playing around and asking questions.” ChatGPT suggested stops, restaurants and hotels, and provided information about the cost of tolls and gas. But it had lots of trouble estimating distances even though it’s a standard feature of navigation tools. “It told me the distance from Montpellier [France] to La Bañeza [Spain] was 690 kilometers (429 miles).” The two locations are more than a 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) apart.

alvarez tried to learn English with ChatGPT, but hasn’t made much progress. Then he asked about growing watermelons in his garden. “It said, ‘This depends on your climate, but it takes five to ten days for the seeds to germinate and six to eight weeks before the seedlings can be transplanted outdoors,’ which is what I had read elsewhere.”

One of the most impressive initial uses of ChatGPT, which now seems like old news, was in computer programming. a young researcher named Pol Garcia Recasens (now at the Technical University of Denmark) used it in a test last December when ChatGPT was barely a month old. It helped him get a perfect score. “It was a final programming exam that was worth 100% of the final grade. It was an open book, four-hour test to write code solving four problems. It’s a very tough exam. I opened ChatGPT, plugged in the parameters and it solved the problem for me. I finished in an hour with a 10 score,″ said Garcia. He thinks universities should think about how to use these tools. “It forces you to consider whether we should adapt to new tools. Here [in Denmark] they have banned it — I think that’s a mistake.” Garcia also uses ChatGPT for formal email communications. “We use it for all our emails to the landlord of the student apartments. It makes them formal and correct, and it’s an incredible proofreading tool.”

Such everyday uses of ChatGPT often yield amazing answers, often sprinkled with artificial human warmth and outright lies. Irene Cruz, a fan of astrology and tarot card reading, tested ChatGPT on this subject. It didn’t get her ascendant sign right (an astrological sign on the eastern horizon when the person was born) even though Cruz told it she was a Cancer. “If you’re interested in astrology from SuperPop magazine, it might be okay, but not for anything deeper,” she said. But her tarot queries provided some good clues. “It works very well if you have queries like ‘tell me more about the Popess card.’ It’s only a support — it doesn’t actually throw the tarot,” said Cruz.

“You can use ChatGPT to improve life, but don’t go overboard by getting everything from a chatbot,” said Cruz. “I hope people will use it conscientiously. It can be a very interesting for people, but not if we use chatbots to avoid responsibility for our own emotions.”

saJJaD shaukat

recent past, while condemning the TTP insurgents’ inhuman activities and un-Islamic practices, Pakistan’s various Ulema (Islamic scholars) have clarified in their joint fatwa, and separate statements that “killing of innocent people, target killings and suicide

el Pais JorDi Pérez ColoMé

“I hope people will use it conscientiously. It can be a very interesting for people, but not if we use chatbots to avoid responsibility for our own emotions”

Flirting and other everyday tasks for ChatGPT

US ArreStS NAtioNAl GUArdSmAN for oNliNe iNtelliGeNce leAkS

WASHIngton agenCieS

tHEFBI on Thursday arrested

Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-yearold member of the U.S. Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.

Federal agents in an armored car and military gear swooped in on Teixeira, dressed in gym shorts, a T-shirt and trainers, at his home in Dighton, Massachusetts, a mostly wooded town of 8,000 about 50 miles (80 km) south of Boston.

The arrest comes a week after the leaks first became widely known, setting Washington on edge about the damage they may have caused. The episode embarrassed the U.S. by revealing its spying on allies and purported Ukrainian military vulnerabilities. The leak of documents, posted largely

on social media sites, was believed to be the most serious security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.

Teixeira was an airman 1st class at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, according to his service record. He joined the Air National Guard in 2019 and worked as a “Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman,” or an IT specialist.

Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters Teixeira was wanted “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”

The FBI said its agents had conducted “authorized law enforcement activity at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts.”

Aerial news video showed Teixeira with his hands laced behind his head, walking backward toward the armored car with one officer watching from the turret. He was

handcuffed and placed in the back of the vehicle. Garland said he was taken into custody “without incident.”

LikeLy criminaL charges: The Justice Department did not say what charges Teixeira would face, although they will likely involve criminal charges of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.

Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor now with the law firm Morrison Foerster, said the likely charges could carry up to 10 years’ imprisonment, even if Teixeira did not intend to cause harm.

“This is someone who is facing on the higher end of exposure for years in prison … because the leaks were so damaging,” Van Grack said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement a Pentagon task force had been “working around the clock to assess and mitigate any damage.” Teixeira was expected to appear in court on Friday, a spokesperson for

the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said.

A police road block on the way to the house where Teixeira was arrested kept neighbors away from their homes. One was Dick Treacy, who said he saw officers arriving as he left to go shopping in the early afternoon.

“There were about six to eight army guys with rifles walking around,” Treacy said. “This is a very quiet area.”

Eddy Souza, 22, said he grew up nearby and that he knew Jack Teixeira when both attended Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School several years ago.

Souza said Teixeira had expressed no extremist sentiments when they were last in touch several years ago.

“He’s a good kid, not a troublemaker, just a quiet guy,” Souza said. “It sounds like it was a stupid kid’s mistake.” Damage assessment: Although the leak only garnered widespread attention after an April 6 story in the New York Times, journalists have found evidence that the docu-

Yemen prisoner swap starts as truce talks set for second round

AgencIeS

A major prisoner exchange involving hundreds of captives from Yemen’s civil war got underway on Friday after truce talks ended with an agreement to hold a second round.

The first plane departed Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, for government-controlled Aden hours after a Saudi delegation departed without a fresh truce but with plans to meet again.

Both initiatives come a month after Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back opposing sides in the Yemeni conflict, agreed to re-establish ties, prompting a wider rapprochement across the troubled region.

On Friday, 322 prisoners will fly on

International Committee of the Red Cross planes between Sanaa and Aden, on the first day of an operation that will see 887 prisoners released. “The first flight from Sanaa has left,” ICRC media adviser Jessica Moussan told AFP, signalling the start of the three-day exchange. Among the prisoners to be released by the Houthis on Friday are Yemen’s former defence minister, Major General Mahmud al-Subaihi, and the brother of the ex-president, Major General Nasser Mansur Hadi, officials said.

The biggest prisoner swap since 2020 is taking place after a delegation from Saudi Arabia, which launched a military intervention in support of the beleaguered government in 2015, held talks with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis this week in an attempt to end hostilities.

Samarkand moot endorses Pakistan’s stance on Afghan soil being used by militant groups

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

The Fourth Ministerial Conference of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries held in Samarkand on Thursday pointed out that the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan continued to pose threats to regional peace – a stance Pakistan has long been advocating. “The Parties pointed out that all terrorist groups, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Qaeda, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jundallah, Jaish al-Adl, Jamaat Ansarullah, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and other terrorist organizations based in Afghanistan continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global security,” according to the declaration of the neighboring countries’ meeting. Recently, in its report, Radio Free Europe also said that after the United States pulled out its troops from Afghanistan, it left behind military equipment and weapons worth $7 billion which later boosted the military capabilities of the banned Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatist groups. According to the report, the US left behind weapons and equipment including firearms, communications gear, and even armored vehicles which gave the militants a “vast war chest.”

The Saudi delegation, led by Ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber, left Sanaa late on Thursday without a finalised truce but with an agreement to meet again, according to Huthi and Yemeni government sources. “There is an initial agreement on a truce that should be announced later on if finalised,” a Huthi official said on condition of anonymity, in the information that was confirmed by a government source. “There is an agreement to hold another round of talks to further discuss points of difference.” The Houthis seized control of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognised government to flee and triggering the Saudi-led military intervention the following March.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed by direct and indirect causes in a war that has triggered one of

the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.

However, a six-month, UN-brokered truce that officially lapsed in October is still largely holding as diplomatic efforts increase for a renewed ceasefire. During the prisoner exchange the Houthis will release 181 detainees, including Saudis and Sudanese, in return for 706 held by government forces. Among other moves since their Chinese-brokered thaw, delegations from Iran and Saudi Arabia have exchanged visits this week to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions.

Later on Friday, nine Arab countries will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to discuss the 12-year suspension from the Arab League of Iran ally Syria over its bloody civil war.

amazon cranks up ai competition against Microsoft, google with new cloud tools

pRofIt RepoRt ReuteRS

Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) cloud computing division on Thursday released a suite of technologies aimed at helping other companies develop their own chatbots and image-generation services backed by artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) are adding AI chatbots to consumer products like their search engines, but they are also eying another huge market: selling the underlying technology to other companies via their cloud operations. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s biggest cloud computing provider, on Thursday jumped into that race with a suite of its own proprietary AI technologies, but it is taking a different approach. WS will offer a service called Bedrock that lets businesses customize what are called foundation models – the core AI technologies that do things like respond to queries with human-like text or generate images from a prompt – with their own data to create a unique model. ChatGPT creator OpenAI, for example, offers a similar service, letting customers fine-tune the models behind

ChatGPT to create a custom chatbot.

The Bedrock service will let customers work with Amazon’s own proprietary foundation models called Amazon Titan, but it will also offer a menu of models offered by other companies. The first third-party options will come from startups AI21 Labs, Anthropic and Stability AI alongside Amazon’s own models. The Bedrock service lets AWS customers test-drive those technologies without having to deal with the underlying data center servers that power them. It’s unneeded complexity from the perspective of the user,” Vasi Philomin, vice president of generative AI at AWS, told Reuters. “Behind the scenes, we can abstract that away.” Those underlying servers will use a mix of Amazon’s own custom AI chips as well as chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), the biggest supplier of chips for AI work but whose chips have been in tight supply this year.

“We’re able to land tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of these chips, as we need them,” Dave Brown, vice president of Elastic Compute Cloud at AWS, said of the company’s custom chips. “It is a release valve for some of the supply-chain concerns that I think folks are worried about.”

ments – or at least some of them – had been floating around on social media as far back as March or even January.

Bellingcat, the Washington Post and The New York Times have traced the documents’ earliest appearance to a defunct server on the instant messaging site Discord. In a chat group on the site, Teixeira went by the handle OG and was admired by the group’s mostly young members, who shared a love for guns and military gear.

The Justice Department opened a formal criminal probe last week, after a referral from the Defense Department, which called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”

Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret” but has not independently verified their authenticity. The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100.

A number of countries have questioned the veracity of some of the leaked documents, including Britain, which said there was “a serious level of inaccuracy” in the information.

The leaks revealed information about allies including Israel, South Korea and Turkey.

U.S. officials believe most of the materials are genuine. Some, however, appear to have been altered to show inflated estimates for Ukrainian battlefield casualties in the war with Russia as well as understated numbers for Russian forces.

Global watchdog issues blueprint for banks to report cyber attacks ReuteRS

The G20’s financial watchdog on Thursday recommended a blueprint for banks to report cyberattacks in a common format in a bid to speed up responses to hacking and limit the fallout on financial stability. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which comprises central banks, financial regulators and treasury officials from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies, set out the recommendations following a public consultation. “The interconnectedness of the global financial system makes it possible that a cyber incident at one financial institution (or an incident at one of its third-party service providers) could have spill-over effects across borders and sectors,” the FSB said in a statement. “Over the last decade, however, meaningful differences have and continue to emerge in the requirements and practices associated with cyber incident reporting.” The recommendations seek to remove barriers to greater harmonisation of incident reporting, and include an enhanced “cyber lexicon” to provide a wider range of common terms to increase convergence in reporting.

North korea test-fires new-type icBm Hwasongpho-18: kcNA

AgencIeS

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired a new-type intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasongpho-18, on Thursday local time, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday. Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, “guided the first test-fire of the newtype ICBM on the spot,” according to the report.“The aim of the test-fire was to confirm the performance of the high-thrust solid-fuel engines for multi-stage missiles and the reliability of the stage-jettisoning technology and various functional control systems and to estimate the military feasibility of the new strategic weapon system,” KCNA said. “The test-fire confirmed that all the parameters of the new strategic weapon system fully met the requirements of the design in terms of accuracy, providing guarantee and creditability that the new-type ICBM would serve as a powerful strategic attack means of greater military efficiency,” the news agency reported.

chinese, german fMs vow to cement communication, coordination in international affairs

BeIjIng Staff CoRReSpondent

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Beijing on Friday. The meeting was held under the framework of the China-Germany strategic dialogue on diplomatic and security affairs.

Earlier this morning after his visit in Uzbekistan, Qin visited local German companies with Baerbock in Tianjin and then they came to Beijing together by highspeed train, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin said on Friday at a regular presser.

“It is the first official visit of Foreign Minister Baerbock to China, and I believe that through the visit with Qin in Tianjin, Baerbock gained a more intuitive and vivid understanding of China’s development and SinoGerman cooperation for mutual benefit,” the spokesperson said.

The two sides agreed that China and Germany should carry

out all-round exchanges, promote respect for each other’s core interests in a pragmatic and open spirit, strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, and join hands to address the common risks and challenges faced by all mankind, Wang said. China also systematically elaborated its stance on the Taiwan issue to the German side, Wang said. On Ukraine issues, noting that the only soluion to the crisis in Ukraine is to promote peac talks, Wang said that China hopes

all parties concerned could remain calm and objective and make joint efforts to resolve the crisis through negotiations.

Stressing that it is a year of great exchanges and cooperation between China and Germany, Wang said that both sides will take this visit as an opportunity to strengthen dialogue and cooperation, inject stability and new momentum for world peace and development. EU cannot ‘blindly, systematically follow’ Washington: EU Council presidentEuropean leaders are be-

coming increasingly supportive of French President Emmanuel Macron’s push for “strategic autonomy” away from the United States, European Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday.

More and more European Union leaders have echoed Macron’s comments that Europe should resist pressure to become “America’s followers,” Michel told the U.S.-based POLITICO news service.

“On the issue of the relationship with the United States, it’s clear that there can be nuances and sensitivities around the table of the European Council… I think quite a few really think like Emmanuel Macron,” the European Council president said. “There is indeed a great attachment that remains present, and Emmanuel Macron has said nothing else, for this alliance with the United States. But if this alliance with the United States would suppose that we blindly, systematically follow the position of the United States on all issues, no,” he said.

‘Winds of change’

NUST, BUU (Turkiye) ink multipronged agreement

Bursa/IslamaBad: The National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST-Pakistan) has signed a multipronged agreement with Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi (BUU), the largest and one of the leading academic institutions of Türkiye. Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector Research, Innovation & Commercialisation, led the NUST delegation to Bursa to solemnise the partnership on April 10, 2023.

Located in the historic city of Bursa, BUU is home to approximately 70,000 students and enjoys proximity to Türkiye's thriving high-tech industry. The university actively supports the country's largest automotive industry based in Bursa. Under the newly forged partnership, NUST students could benefit from BUU's expertise and state-of-the-art facilities in several academic and research domains, including automotive, health sciences, food and agriculture. The understanding will also foster collaboration between the two institutions and allow for joint research projects and academic exchanges.

Prof Dr Ahmed Saim Kılavuz, Rector BUU, expressed excitement over working closely with NUST to develop people-to-people interaction and share experiences in developing automotive and health sciences simulation facilities. The agreement is an important step towards strengthening academic and research ties between NUST and BUU, and underscores NUST's commitment to enhancing international collaborations and partnerships. pr

Jazz Business partners with Infobip to elevate customer experience across all channels

IslamaBad: Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital operator and a part of VEON Group, has partnered with Infobip, a global cloud communications provider, to offer a one window communication suite to Jazz Partner Enterprises. The partnership agreement was signed at the Mobile World Congress 2023 (MCW23) Barcelona by Aamir Ibrahim, CEO, Jazz and Silvio Kutic, Infobip CEO.

In addition to providing secure, localized and scalable customer engagement tools, this partnership will enable Jazz Business to leverage Infobip’s Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) suite to provide a wide range of channels to its B2B Partners. The SaaS layer built on top of channels including but not limited to SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, BiP, and others will significantly increase customer engagement. Through the power of these analytics, businesses can effectively design and tailor their messaging to their target audience through the right touchpoint.

Silvio Kutic, Infobip CEO, said, “We are proud to partner with Jazz, which is at the forefront of driving digital transformation for enterprises and small businesses. We see this innovative collaboration as an exceptional fit for two partners committed to delivering superior digital omnichannel solutions for the Pakistani market moving forward.”

Last year, Jazz collaborated with Infobip to bring the country’s premier CPaaS service to the local market. Similarly, as a digital operator we also entered other strategic alliances geared towards personalizing customer interactions and services, securing data management systems, improving hardware management systems, scaling startups and integrating them into the local Fintech ecosystem. Khurram Riaz, VP Marketing & Products, Jazz Business said, “In a digitally connected world, businesses today still rely heavily on SMS to communicate. pr

Pakistan Navy conducts HADR operations in Turkiye, Syria

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations have become increasingly important in recent times due to the rising frequency and severity of natural disasters, conflicts, and other crises. Climate change, urbanization, and population growth have made communities more vulnerable to disasters, making HADR operations more critical than ever. HADR operations involve providing immediate relief and assistance to affected communities, including food, water, shelter, medical aid, and other essential services. They also involve long-term recovery efforts, such as rebuilding infrastructure and restoring basic services, to help affected communities recover and become more resilient to future disasters. In recent years, the international community has recognized the importance of HADR operations. pr

FTO recOmmends FBr TO recOver rs5.5B evaded revenue in sTeel secTOr

ISLAMABAD shahzad paracha

FEDERAlTax Ombudsman (FTO) has recommended Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to recover Rs5.5 billion evaded revenue by way of misusing the Rule 3(A) of Rule 58H of Sales Tax Special Procedure Rule, 2007 introduced vide SRO No. 421(1)/2014 dated 04.06.2014.

According to details, FTO while concluding an inspection activity under Section 17 of FTO Ordinance, 2000 has recommended a feasible and conclusive way out to the FBR for affecting recoveries of evaded government revenue by way of misusing the Rule 3(A) of Rule 58H of Sales Tax Special Procedure Rule, 2007 introduced vide SRO No. 421(1)/2014 dated 04.06.2014.

Special Procedure Rules were introduced since 2007 in order to facilitate Steel Sector and collection of Sales Tax from steel melters/ re-rollers/ composite of melters and re- rollers having a single electricity meter was charged at specified rates under Rule 58H of Sales Tax Special Procedure Rule, 2007.

The above levied sales tax was collected through monthly electricity bills on the basis of consumption of electricity. However, subsequently, in the year 2014, sub Rule (3A) was inserted under Rule 58H of the above said Rules, with effect from 04.06.2014.

The purpose behind the above insertion of sub-Rule (3A) was primarily to bring in an ease and convenience in Sales Tax collection from this sector i.e. steel melters. As a corollary to above, the commissioners were em-

powered to collect Sales Tax directly from the steel melters and re-rollers after necessary adjustments in lieu of collection of sales tax at import stage and by issuing an adjustment/ exclusion certificate in this regard.

However, during the currency of the above facilitation scheme, the glaring discrepancies including outright violation of the concessionary regime (issuance of exclusion certificates to unregistered persons) and others were noticed first by DG External Audit, then by PAC and finally by FTO Secretariat.

According to FTO’s findings in the subject inspection, there is a huge gap between the number of exclusion certificates issued as per lESCO data and that of CTO, lahore. Furthermore, CTO lahore did not have information regarding amounts deposited in treasury and corresponding CPR numbers, which are of crucial importance. Also, non production of records in respect of remaining exclusion certificates clearly depicts that

Al-Quds Day observed in Pakistan to express solidarity with oppressed Palestinians

ISLAMABAD ppI

Rallies were taken out to show solidarity with innocent people of Palestine and condemn Zionists’ atrocities against them in different cities of the country on Friday.

The protesters were holding placards inscribed with slogans against Israel which has been committing atrocities against the innocent people of Palestine.

On the occasions, speakers urged the international community to take notice of the Israeli atrocities. They underlined for Muslim Ummah to forge unity and make joint efforts for liberalization of the Qibla-e-Awwal. Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf and Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani have reiterated Pakistan's commitment to provide diplomatic and moral support to the Palestinian people.

In a statement issued here in Islamabad on Friday on the Day of Al-Quds, observed on April 14, they stressed the importance of unity and solidarity among the Muslim Ummah to address the challenges faced by the people of Palestine.

The Speaker said the last Friday of Ramazan is a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, who have long been victims of Israeli aggression and oppression.

He urged upon the International Community to play an active role in stopping the atrocities by Israeli troops on innocent Palestine.

The recent attacks on worshippers at Masjid AlAqsa were strongly condemned by the speaker. He called it a violation of human rights and an act of barbarism.

Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the need for the Muslim Ummah to unite in the face of present challenges.

Half of Karachi’s population claim to have been missed out in census: Tessori

KARACHI ppI

Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori said on Friday that half of Karachi’s population claimed to have been missed in in census.

Mr Tessori underscored the matter of census, saying it was a serious issue, adding that there remained a few days to complete the census process. "We have written a letter to the federal government and requested that the phase be continued in this regard, "he added.

He pleaded to not make the census controversial because Rs32 billion were being spent in this regard. Mr Tessori said that all the political parties were concerned, adding that he would request the Sindh government to utilise the services of its assistant commissioners in a right way.

"Yesterday, a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) came to meet me. The friends from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also expressed their reservations in connection with the matter of the census," Mr Tessori added.

CASS hosts launch of book: Activist Retail Investors & Future of Financial markets

ISLAMABAD staff report

The Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) Islamabad hosted a virtual book launch for the coedited volume ‘Activist Retail Investors and the Future of Financial Markets’ by CASS Advisor on Economic Affairs & National Development Dr Usman W. Chohan and Prof. Sven Van Kerckhoven, published by Routledge, UK.

The event was attended by CASS team and researchers and was well-received as the culmination of a successful project that spanned 14 authors from 5 continents from various disciplines including economics, information technology, sociology, law, cultural studies, public administration, and several others. The resulting volume of 14 chapters reflected, in the speakers’ opinion, a comprehensive analysis of the subject from multiple perspectives that would likely stand as a lasting text on the subject of activist retail investors.

Six authors from the book participated in the event as speakers, including Dr Usman W. Chohan (Pakistan), Prof. Sven Van Kerckhoven (Belgium), Prof. Sean O’Dubhghaill (Ireland), Dr Ilker Alsan (Switzerland), Dr Scott Timcke (South Africa), and Prof. Nizan Packin (United States). The editors of the vol-

ume highlighted that the global scope of the contributing authors, although challenging, provided an opportunity for rich international collaboration; and the book’s multidisciplinary approach was a powerful contribution to the literature. An important lesson from the book is that activist retail investors are likely to remain a lasting feature in global financial markets, and recent events such as the Banking Crisis of 2023 help to cement the editors’ vision about the emergence of retail investors as a force in the digital age. Several chapters of the book are already serving policy purposes in regulation (e.g., child protection), while others are reinvigorating existing debates through new analysis (e.g., anti-system politics, financial counterhegemony). Therefore, the edited volume offers a rich contribution to several literatures, as well as policy inputs for specialised audiences.

the same fall in an extremely grey area where instances of maladministration, misuse of authority, ulterior motives are likely to prevail. According to FTO findings, based on examination of relevant records an amount of approximately Rs. 5.5 billion is suspected to be evaded in such cases at CTO lahore.

FTO has further observed that FBR facing the huge revenue shortfall, through timely and directional action can easily recover the loss as it doesn’t involve any complex and intricate legalities.

The strategy to recover the lost revenue, recommended by FTO office is equally simple, FBR driven and hassle free: All Steel Units which availed Exclusion Certificate need to be confronted by FBR and amounts as per ECs must reconcile with the payment of Sales Tax at the relevant point of time and where ever there is a difference, it needs to be recovered.

Further, in order to ensure fast recovery of this apparent loss of Rs.5.5 billion, FTO has recommended FBR to Re-locate the jurisdiction of Steel Cases from CTO lahore to lTO lahore or RTO lahore for a more independent and effective recovery proceedings.

Similarly, any officers/officials having any link in the past with the cases of Steel melters must not be associated or assigned the fresh jurisdiction of said cases. FTO has also recommended FBR to recover the loss incurred on priority basis through its investigation arm: Directorate General I&I-IR. Internal investigation on all Pakistan bases, with special emphasis at lahore, solely aiming at recovery of loss incurred is required probing all cases of exclusion certificates.

Sherry Rehman stands among 100 most influential people in the world

KARACHI

staff report

The famous American Time Magazine has included Pakistan’s Environment Minister Sherry Rehman among the 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2023. Sherry Rehman is ranked sixth in the category of leaders in the list of 100 most influential people in the world of 2023 released by Time magazine. The message on the journal’s website states that Pakistan’s share in global carbon emissions is very small, but last year, one-third of Pakistan was submerged in floods due to the environmental crisis. According to Time magazine, in November, Sherry Rehman became the voice of the flood victims who lost everything due to the natural disaster at the COP 27 meeting held in Egypt. A message on the American Journal’s website said through passionate speeches and tireless engagement and negotiation at the COP 27 meeting, Sherry Rehman convinced delegates that this injustice must end. The message added that COP 27 concluded with the historic decision that the international community agreed for the first time to establish a Damage and Disaster Fund for countries facing natural disasters. According to Time magazine, this is a big step towards environmental justice but there is still a lot of work to be done, we will need more figures like Sherry Rehman.

‘Utility Stores Corporation striving to provide relief to millions of families’

PR

Utility Stores Corporation has reduced the prices of Kajoor and Besan with immediate effect for the convenience of the public. Spokesman According to the details, special subsidy is being provided on 19 basic items under the Prime Minister's Relief Package at all utility stores across the country. Ample supply of subsidized items has been ensured at all utility stores across the country. Apart from these basic items, other items are also being provided at very discounted rates compared to the general market. The corporation has further reduced the prices of besan and kajoor to provide relief to the public. Besan will now be available at Rs 225 per kg with a reduction of Rs 15 per kg. While dates kajoor will be available at Rs 235 with a reduction of Rs 10 per packet (500 grams). Utility Stores Corporation is always striving to provide relief to millions of families in this blessed month of Ramadan.

SAPM Malik urges for meaningful Pak-Saudia bilateral collaboration

ISLAMABAD

staff report

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM)

Muhammad Jawad Sohrab Malik recently met with Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, in Islamabad to discuss enhancing bilateral collaboration between the two countries.

During the meeting, Jawad expressed his gratitude for Saudi Arabia’s unwavering support to Pakistan and thanked the ambassador for confirming the deposit of the $2 billion pledged by the Kingdom

would take place within the next seven working days in the SBP account.

Both parties showed a commitment

to strengthening the bilateral ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The SAPM highlighted the significance of Saudi Arabia’s assistance and stated that the $2 billion loan would help Pakistan overcome the current financial crisis.

He explained that this would pave the way for securing similar assurances not only from the IMF but also from other friendly countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and others, which

would lead to the much-awaited stafflevel agreement (SlA) with the IMF and unlock multilateral disbursements.

Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to building long-term, sustainable investment transactions between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He reiterated Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s pledge to increase Saudi Arabian investments in Pakistan’s energy and IT sectors to $10 billion within the next few years.

The Saudi envoy expressed a keen interest on behalf of the Saudi government to recruit more manpower from Pakistan

during the current and next year for various sectors of the kingdom. He stated that the Saudi labor market is continuing to expand, mainly due to the launch of several mega projects under the Saudi Vision 2030.

While highlighting the diverse business landscape in Pakistan, the SAPM expressed that Pakistan has a lot to offer in both the goods and services sectors and can immensely gain from exports to the Gulf. He commended the Kingdom’s commitment to providing enhanced employment opportunities for the Pakistani workforce in its future development ven-

tures, as well as the valuable contributions of Saudi FDI in boosting the country’s economic outlook.

During the meeting, both dignitaries engaged in fruitful discussions on the further strengthening of bilateral business relations, recruitment of more workforce from Pakistan, and enhancing FDI in potential sectors of the economy. Both the Saudi Ambassador and SAPM Jawad Sohrab Malik expressed confidence that their discussions would pave the way for a new era of deeper and more meaningful collaboration between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

FBR LET’S ADC AND RD ON IMPORTED VEHICLES LAPSE

BOARD QUIETLY LET DUTIES ON IMPORTED VEHICLES TO LAPSE ON MARCH 31

LAHORE Daniyal ahmaD

THEFederal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made the decision to not extend the duration of the additional customs duties, and regulatory duties that were levied on imported vehicles. It has done so by simply allowing Statutory Regulatory Orders (SRO) 204(I)/2023 and 206(I)/2023 to lapse on March 31, and not renew them again. This effectively ends the tariffs that were levied on imported vehicles on August 22.

“This is a long-awaited step that has finally been taken. Keeping the regulatory duty and additional customs duty intact had no benefit. In fact, it had adverse effects on both consumers and businesses. This step will put pressure on local assemblers to stop hiking prices, which have also affected their business. The government will receive more remittances to pay towards customs duties through baggage schemes, and FBR will collect more customs duties. It is a win-win situation for everyone, says Mian Shoaib Ahmad, Chairman of the All Pakistan Car Deal-

Only thing worse than Pakistan’s foreign reserves is savings reserves

PROFIT

momina ashraf

Since April 2022 inflation has risen by 169%, currently tipping almost 35%. For the vast majority of the white-collar working class, Gen X and millennials, this is the first time they are experiencing such rapid erosion of their buying power.

“We are buying the same groceries but at a lot higher prices,” said Saira Aslam, a housewife based in Islamabad. “It has become extremely difficult to maintain the lifestyle of our family. This is the first time my husband had to take a loan to pay our daughter’s O Levels exam fee because his savings are eroding every month,” she continued. “I used to spend half my earnings and save the other half. But now almost 50% of my earnings, especially in Ramadan, goes to food only,” said a 25-year-old NUST graduate, who is the primary breadwinner of his three-person family.

Pakistan’s gross savings rate has been constantly declining for the last decade. The added inflationary pressures have further weakened the savings rate, which in June 2022 was measured at 3.8%.

Why are savings for a country important?

A traditional national income identity, where cumulative GDP for a country is a function of consumption, investment, government expenditure, and net exports, suggests that as savings in an economy increases, overall investment also increases. Behind this is the assumption that a rational agent saves because they get a certain rate of return. So as the overall stock of savings increases, the overall investment also increases.

A higher savings rate, which includes public and private savings, typically results in higher levels of economic output in the long run. It is the ability to cope with the financial hardship that ultimately means that the economy recovers much faster.

Pakistan’s position in this regard is abysmal. Data released by the World Bank shows that the gross domestic savings of Pakistan fell from 16.5% in 2000 to 3.8% in 2022. In contrast, the gross domestic savings of India increased from 24.3% to 30.2%, and Bangladesh’s from 20% to 25.3% in the same period.

Why is that so?

In Pakistan, the issue isn’t that people don’t save. Households do save but in undocumented and untaxed ways. For example, you guessed it right, through plots and gold. Savings that either result in an increase in bank deposits, stock of national savings or flow into the capital markets, among other avenues can be counted as savings in national accounts, which can eventually be routed as investments as banks lend into the real economy (or back to the government). But if the same capital is simply redeployed in real estate, the wealth is essentially blocked, and not in circulation for the benefit of the entire economy. Similar is the case with gold. There is no legal sale of gold in Pakistan. Most of the gold that is available in the market is smuggled in or repurposed the already available one. So the asset is untaxed and stores wealth in an unproductive manner. These savings habits stem from the lack of incentives from the state. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is considered behind the curve in promising rightful returns to investors. If the inflation is 26% and the policy rate is 21% (which increased just two months ago) why would someone want to invest in bonds?

There’s an added reason also – the lack of trust in the policies. A report by the SBP in 2019 says that there is a discrepancy between the country’s investment policy and investment laws. Pakistan’s existing investment policy framework offers investors nondiscriminatory regulations, openness to FDI in all segments of the economy (except those reserved on account of national security concerns), the possibility of 100% ownership in most of the sectors, and the absence of any restrictions on currency convertibility.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

ers and Importers Association. What were the duties? The two relevant SROs are SRO 1571(I)/2022, and SRO 1572(I)/2022. The former increased the regulatory duty on certain imported vehicles, whilst the latter increased the additional customs duty on certain imported vehicles. These SROs were originally set to lapse on February 21. However, they were extended till March 31 by SROs 204(I)/2023 and 206(I)/2023, respectively. SRO 1571(I)/2022 and SRO 204(I)/2023 SRO 1571(I)/2022 harmonised the

BoP considers transitioning to Islamic Banking. But why?

regulatory duty across a range of imported vehicles by levying a flat 100% regulatory duty. Letting it lapse consequently returns the vehicle categories to the different regulatory duties that were levied upon them. SRO 1572(I)/2022 and SRO 206(I)/2023

SRO 1572(I)/2022 simply raised the additional customs duty from 7% to 35% that was levied on different imported vehicles. Letting it lapse consequently returns the affected imported vehicles to the 7% they were previously subject to.

Hallmark

Company sells all shares to Supernet Infrastructure Solutions

AFTER FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE FOR ALMOST FOUR DECADES, HALLMARK’S ROCKY JOURNEY FINALLY COMES TO AN END AND NOT A GREAT ONE

PROFIT REPORT lahore

On 13 April 2023, the company secretary of Hallmark Company

Limited sent a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), detailing that in accordance with Section 96 and 131 of the Securities Act, 2015 and clause 5.6.1 of PSX Regulations, Hallmark Company Limited’s shareholders, Mr. Irtaza Zafar Sheikh and the Board of Directors of Gazpak (Private) Limited, have agreed to sell all of the Company’s shares to Supernet Infrastructure Solutions (Private) Limited. It was also disclosed that the shares being sold by Sheikh and GPL, collectively, represent approximately 62.84% of the Company’s issued and paid-up

capital, totaling 314,220 shares.

The Share Purchase Agreement for the divestment was signed on April 12, 2023 and is subject to the terms of the agreement, including the issuance of a public offer, receipt of necessary approvals, and completion of other closing formalities. The letter included a disclosure form for reference. It was further communicated that the PSX will be notified once the Proposed Divestment is concluded and requested the TRE Certificate Holders of the Exchange to take note of the decision. The tragic trajectory of Hallmark (Pakistan), unlike its American namesake

The tale of Hallmark Company Limited is full of twists and

turns that would make your head spin. It has had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, and it seems like luck has not been on their side. They have struggled to find their footing and to figure out what they really want to be when they grow up, so the current divestment is not a shocker.

The Shakespearean tragedy of Hallmark Company Limited started in 1981, when they started as a Public Limited Company under the repealed Companies Act, 1913. They were registered as an insurance company, but it wasn’t long before they started to struggle. It’s a story of ambition, failure, and redemption – or at least, that’s what they were hoping for.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

PIA adds third African destination to its catalogue with Nairobi

FLIGHT WILL BE OPERATED THROUGH CODESHARE AGREEMENT WITH FLYDUBAI

LAHORE Daniyal ahmaD

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced that it will add Nairobi, Kenya to its list of destinations. “PIA is constantly working to expand its global network by adding new and exciting destinations through its own operations or through partnerships with code share and interline partners. In today’s globalised world, this is crucial for the long-term sustainable growth of Pakistan’s national airline,” said Abdullah Khan, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications at PIA. This brings the total number

of PIA’s Africa-bound destinations to three, including Johannesburg, South Africa and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The flight is set to be operated as part of a code sharing agreement in collaboration with Flydubai.

Why Nairobi, Kenya?

Pakistan’s increased engagement with Kenya is part of its Look Africa Policy Initiative launched in 2017. Kenya was identified as one of 10 major African economies with which Pakistan aimed to strengthen economic ties.

In 2020, Pakistan exported $6.02 billion to Kenya and imported $15.41 billion from Kenya, according to the Trade Develop-

The Bank of Punjab (BOP) is contemplating transitioning into a fully-fledged Islamic bank. After the Federal Government’s directive last year to end the Riba-based banking and financial system within the next five years, the conversation has been rife in the banking sector and at least one bank, Faysal, has successfully completed a transition.

This strategic development was discussed in a recent corporate briefing session conducted by the bank’s officials. The bank will engage a consultant to evaluate the feasibility of converting from a conventional banking model to an Islamic banking model. The proposal will then be reviewed by the management before seeking approval from the board of directors and regulatory authorities.

Federal government’s push to Islamic Banking

Last year in April, the Shariah Court made a historic verdict that declared the prevailing interest-based banking system as against the principles of Shariah, directing the government to facilitate all loans under an interest-free system. The court further instructed the government to enact and amend laws to implement Islamic banking within the country and issued directives that the banking system of the country should be free of interest by December 2027.

This decision came after years of petitions against Riba (interest), with the Supreme Court referring the case back to the court in 2002 following appeals against the decision of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).

In February of this year, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reiterated the government’s commitment to implementing the Islamic financial system in Pakistan. He also revealed that a high-level three-member committee comprising key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and Shariah scholars and chaired by the Governor State Bank, has been formed to plan the financial system of Pakistan to operate on an Islamic basis. This committee would be directly monitored by him.

As part of its strategy to increase the share of Islamic banking from 20% to 35% in the next two years, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that it will facilitate banks that have plans to convert their business into a Shariah-compliant mode.

ment Authority of Pakistan. What is code sharing? Code sharing is a business arrangement between two or more airlines where they agree to market and publish a particular flight as part of their own schedule or timetable. This means that a flight operated by one airline can be sold by another airline under its own flight number. This allows airlines to expand their network and offer more destinations to their customers without having to operate additional flights themselves. For example, let’s say Airline A operates a flight from Dubai to Singapore.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

SC rubbishes reports of scuffle, altercation between judges

ISLAMABAD staff report

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday refuted and described as “utterly false” news report regarding an alleged altercation and scuffle between judges of the apex court on Thursday, April 13, 2023 in Judges Colony Park.

In a statement issued on Friday, the spokesperson for Supreme Court described as “false, mischievous, and malicious” the report, widely circulated through various social media platforms.

“No such incident took place, and the fake reporting about the

judges of apex court represents a serious violation of the law”, the spokesperson said.

The statement further stated that the false report is an effort by disaffected elements to diminish the dignity of the court and its honourable members.

The denial came amid an apparent widening of rift between the legal fraternity. CJP Umar Ata Bandial has continued his trend of not including two senior-most judges – Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood – in SC benches hearing politically sensitive cases when he announced con-

stituting an eight-member larger bench to hear petitions filed against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023, which curtailed the top judge’s powers to initiate suo motu proceedings and constitute benches on his own.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) – the apex regularity body of lawyers – has announced a complete strike and boycott of court proceedings all over the country against the SC hearing.

PBC Executive Committee Chairman Hasan Raza Pasha said the legislation for regulating the CJP’s powers was carried out on the bar’s demand.

Why are all banks shifting to Islamic Banking?

In addition to the judiciary’s ruling, banks recognize the potential of Islamic banking in offering lucrative returns through its low cost of deposits and the significant potential for market share enhancement.

BOP is no different. BOP, a public sector bank predominantly owned by the provincial government of Punjab, currently operates through a network of 640 conventional branches, 140 Islamic banking branches, and 40 Islamic banking windows. In 2022, its Islamic banking division generated a profit of Rs. 1.26 billion which made up more than 10% of the bank’s overall profit of Rs. 10.83 billion. Moreover, profits from Islamic banking exhibited a notable growth of 34.7% compared to the previous year. Whereas, the bank’s overall profit in 2022 decreased by 15% on a year-onyear basis due to high tax payments.

The growing demand for Shariah-compliant financing and its remarkable growth across the country further highlights the attractiveness of Islamic banking. Islamic banking in Pakistan has experienced remarkable growth, with assets totaling over Rs. 6 trillion and deposits reaching Rs. 5 trillion in 2022.

As evidenced by the State Bank of Pakistan’s survey, which polled 10,000 households, a staggering 74% expressed willingness to switch to Islamic banking, indicating not just receptiveness but also support for the Riba-free banking system. This overwhelming demand for Islamic banking in the country is evident from the survey results, reinforcing the promising prospects of the industry.

What banks have transitioned to Islamic Banking?

The conversion of banks from conventional to Islamicbased operations has been influenced by various factors, including the pent-up demand for Islamic banking and rulings by the Shariat Federal Court.

In early 2023, Faysal Bank successfully completed its transition to a full-fledged Islamic bank after being issued an Islamic Banking License by the SBP. This license has elevated Faysal Bank to become the second largest full-fledged Islamic bank in Pakistan. The bank began its journey of transition back in 2015. At the time it already had the second largest Islamic banking window in the country with 53 standalone branches. In line with this trend, Summit Bank’s board of directors has also recently approved a plan to convert the bank’s operations from conventional to a fullfledged Islamic bank.

Imran says rift in SC will be a tragedy for country

LAHORE staff report

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman

Imran Khan on Friday said that everyone should pray for unity among the judges in the Supreme Court and warned that “division” at the top court would be tragic as rift emerged concerning the top court’s verdict on elections delay case. Speaking to media persons ahead of hearing at the Lahore High Court (LHC), the former premier said that the division among the Supreme Court would be a tragedy for the country.

“Unless we do not save the Constitution, you cannot save the country either,” said the PTI chief while berating the government for “running away from elections” and not caring about Constitution or the law.

Meanwhile, the LHC granted Khan bail in a case registered against him for putting

the “families of army officers at risk”.

During the hearing, Justice Najafi asked Khan’s lawyer if his client wants to appear before the court concerned to seek bail. At this, PTI chief’s lawyer replied that they want to approach the court concerned.

“We are leaving for Islamabad on April 18 and we want to surrender in the court concerned,” he added. The court then approved the bail till April 26. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi directed the PTI chief to refer to the court concerned by the next date.

The case was registered against the former prime minister at Islamabad’s Ramna Police Station on April 6. The complaint was lodged by Magistrate Manzoor Ahmed.

The first information report (FIR) stated that the PTI chief in one of his speeches used “inappropriate language” against military officers which includes sections 500, 505 and 138 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The PTI chief in his petition said that he “is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated with ulterior motives and malafide intentions in the above-mentioned case just to tarnish his reputation, harm his growing mandate among masses and victimise him politically”. “Being head of the largest political party and aggrieved from such malpractice, the petitioner craves for the kind indulgence of this court for the grant of protective bail,” stated the petition.

The deposed prime minister said that “a series of false criminal cases have been registered against him, the senior leadership of PTI and active participants since past few months.” He added that the PTI leaders had been severely tortured and humiliated during custody in the past and this is another attempt made by the state functionaries.

“That an inordinate and unexplained delay of (18) days in lodging the instant case

is concerning and raises questions about the intention behind it. It appears that this time was used for careful planning and seeking in-

structions to register a malicious case against the petitioner, solely to satisfy their political adversaries,” he contended in the petition.

WITH INFLATIONARY PRESSURES, IT’S BECOMING DIFFICULT FOR HOUSEHOLDS TO SAVE MONEY, BUT THE BIG INVESTORS HAD GIVEN UP WAY BEFORE

DECISION TO CONVERT FROM CONVENTIONAL TO ISLAMIC-MODE INFLUENCED BY VARIOUS FACTORS