Epaper_23-05-31 ISB

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NO TALKS WITH ‘ANARCHISTS, ARSONISTS’ IN GARB OF POLITICIANS: PM SHEHBA Z

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T

PR I M E Minister Shehbaz

Sharif on Tuesday said dialogue was a key to evolving democracy however categorically stated that it could not be held with anarchists and arsonists in the garb of politicians

The prime minister, in a tweet, acknowledged that dialogue is deeply embedded in the political process which helps democracy mature and evolve

Many political and constitutional breakthroughs occurred when political leaders sat across the table to craft a consensus,” the premier mentioned

But he said there is a major difference when it comes to the Khan-led party

The anarchists & arsonists who wear the garb of politicians and attack the symbols of the State do not qualify for a dialogue They should rather be held to account for their militant actions ”

The prime minister ’s statement came after the former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Friday appealed for immediate talks with state officials

He also termed it a prevalent practice even in developed democracies

In a similar statement to that of the prime minister Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum

Aurangzeb also rejected the PTI chief s offer for talks

Reacting to his offer, the information minister said: “Dialogue cannot be held with those who set the country on fire, create chaos and anarchy fills the minds of masses with hatred and harbour armed groups She said that Khan was not appealing for negotiations he was in

fact seeking an NRO

The information minister said talks cannot be held with those who poisoned the minds of the youth”, the “leaders of the criminals and terrorists”

Last week former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan said he is ready to speak to anyone who is in

power after his party s top leaders began jumping ship following the May 9 riots Khan had said that he was forming a committee which will talk to “anyone who is in power” on two things

“If it helps the country according to them I will leave politics Second how is it beneficial for the country if elections

are held in October Khan had said about the objective of the committee

The PTI had last week announced the constitution of a seven-member team for negotiating with the incumbent government on the direction of its chairman

The negotiation team comprises PTI

Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi

former defence minister Pervez Khattak

former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, and former ministers Murad Saeed Hammad Azhar and Aun Abbasi Khan’s party has been feeling the heat of the state s might after his party workers burnt and smashed military installations including the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, after his arrest on May 9 a day the army dubbed as “Black Day”

Several party leaders and thousands of workers have been rounded up in connection with the violent protests and the army has insisted that the people involved in attacks on military installations be tried under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act

Govt to prioritize relief to public, economic uplif t in budget: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the federal government will prioritize providing maximum relief to masses and economic uplift in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2023-24

While chairing a meeting held here on Tuesday to discuss the budget proposals for the industrial sector the prime minister said the federal budget would also encompass measures to enhance industrial growth as well as exports

Premier Shehbaz Sharif said that he would personally make sure that the proposals coming for the industrial sector were incorporated into the budget He instructed the authorities concerned to remove all unnecessary impediments in the in-

Imran sends Rs10b defamation notice to Qadir Patel for ‘disparaging allegations’

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan

on Tuesday sent a Rs10 billion defamation notice to Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel over his ‘false, disparaging malicious and defamatory’ allegations in a press conference wherein he raised questions regarding PTI Chairman s medical status

The notice served to Patel was sent under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002 for circulating wrongful, baseless, false, misleading, erroneous, malicious and defamatory” information in his May 26 press conference

The notice served by PTI Chairman s lawyer Abuzar Salman Niazi urged Qadir Patel to tender his unconditional apology to Imran Khan and take back his shameful allegations within 15 days and admitted that you have misstated

crease of small, medium and large-scale industrial production

He informed the meeting that the previous government deliberately obstructed the investment and industrial development in the country The former government violated the agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save its rule making 220 million of Pakistan bear its brunt he added

The prime minister said being a resilient nation Pakistanis were gradually coming out of the economic difficulties He said the government, the whole nation, industrialists and the business community were working hard to improve the country’s economic situation

Imran to stand trial under Ar my Act for May 9 riots: Sanaullah

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said PTI Chairman Imran Khan will be tried in a military court for the events of May 9 wherein military installations were also vandalized

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman on Tuesday accused the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of facilitating corrupt people instead of going after them, saying NAB s performance was zero as PAC has made more recoveries than the anti-graft body during his tenure Irked by the absence of NAB chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmad Butt PAC chairman Noor Alam Khan directed to fix a PAC meeting next week with directions to the NAB chairman to appear before the accountability arm of the parliament

When the NAB officials told the PAC chairman that Butt couldn’t appear before the committee as his scheduled flight had been cancelled Alam said that he would dig out the claim if the NAB chairman was in Islamabad or somewhere else saying I have more powers than NAB Following PAC meeting Alam while answering a question, said that finding out about flight cancellation, among other things, was not difficult He reiterated that everyone is answerable to the PAC Lashing out at the NAB chairman Alam said that Butt takes roughly Rs1 8 million as salary but the recoveries are not up to the mark and dozens of cases referred to NAB by PAC were still pending for months I m not satisfied with NAB s performance, Alam said, reiterating that they take hefty salaries but performance is zero Alam made it clear that he won’t take briefing from the NAB officials including NAB’s deputy chairman saying the Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) the NAB chairman should appear before the PAC to explain things next week

Instead of going after corrupt people Noor said NAB is facilitating them At one point, Alam said that he doesn t fear anyone and won t take briefings from anyone other than the PAO even if people are not happy with him, approach him or ask others to make calls to take briefing

The remarks came after PML-N’s Birjees Tahir asked why he was taking a lenient view when NAB chairman being PAO was absent

At least eight people were killed as many as 290 were injured, and over 1,900 enraged protesters were rounded up in running battles with the personnel of law enforcement agencies across the country on May 9 following arrest former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran in the Al Qadir Trust case The protesters had also stormed the residence of the corps commander in Lahore also called Jinnah House and tore down a gate of General Headquarters in Rawalpindi The riots had elicited a strong reaction from the government and military with vows of taking action against the culprits, leading to an ongoing crackdown against those involved

In an appearance on Dawn News show Live with Adil

Shahzeb Sanaullah accused Imran of personally carrying out the planning of the attacks on military installations before his arrest on the day adding that there was evidence to prove the claim as well

When asked if Imran would be tried in the military court Sanaullah said: Absolutely, why shouldn t he? The programme that he made to target the military installations and then had it executed, in my understanding absolutely is a case of a military court

The interior minister accused the PTI chief of personally orchestrating the May 9 riots They (PTI supporters) chanted a slogan that ‘Imran Khan is our red line’, and the planning and preparation were done on Imran Khan s initiative and instigation He carried it all out He is the architect of all this discord, adding that there was evidence present to back the accusation as well “[The evidence] is documented it is in tweets and his messages he added

When asked how Imran was able to communicate with his party leaders even from jail, the interior minister replied: All this [planning] was decided before he went [to jail] that ‘who will do what and where And when he is arrested what would be the strategy and duties All of this was decided

The interior minister also ruled out talks with the PTI Sanaullah s remarks come a day after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that there was no decision yet on

Imran’s trial under the Army Act adding however that he could not rule out such a possibility I don t rule out the possibility that he was the planner and knew everything [about May 9],” Asif had said

Reacting to the interior minister PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub said his recent erratic actions and statements had given rise to serious questions on his cognitive abilities to carry on as a minister

“From holding midnight dubious press conferences to making statements about trying PTI Chairman Imran Khan in a military court it just proves that he has finally become unhinged and is unfit to perform duties as a minister, he tweeted Imran, aides coordinated efforts to storm military installations: Punjab Police

The Punjab Police had previously claimed citing a geo-fencing report, that Imran and his close aides allegedly coordinated efforts to storm the residence of the Lahore corps commander and other buildings

Police had detected over 400 calls made by the PTI chairman and other senior leaders to allegedly incite party workers to move towards the military officer s residence in Lahore Cantt, and other sensitive public buildings

It was observed that all the rioters were in contact with the PTI top leadership based in Zaman Park Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar, when contacted by Dawn, had confirmed the geo-fencing record and the alleged use of Imran’s residence for planning the attack on the corps commander s residence

“The press conference was watched in Pakistan as well as all over the world through electronic media channels YouTube and various other social media platforms Moreover details regarding the press conference were also published in newspapers nationally as well as internationally, the notice said

The notice said that Imran had sustained a head injury on the day of his “illegal arrest” on May 9 but there was no mention of it in the medical report shared by the minister

It said that the medical report had emphasised a lot on Imran s mental state but no details were provided of an examination being conducted in this regard

The notice said that Patel made the remarks “knowingly, consciously, willingly, deliberately and maliciously” It added that the minister ’s remarks were also in “violation of the standards and ethics which a member of the federal cabinet must possess It said that Patel s defamatory claims had caused damage to Imran s good will, injury to his reputation , and had adversely affected his honour “Likewise, you (Patel) have also caused emotional trauma mental agony and anguish and distress to our client (Imran) ” the notice added

The notice called on Patel to retract his statements in the same mode and manner in which you made them in the first place and tender an unconditional apology and admit you have misstated It also called on the minister to pay Rs 10 billion, which would be donated to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre for defaming Imran and levelling false allegations against him It called on Patel to refrain from making further defamatory comments

The notice said that Imran would be compelled to initiate legal proceedings if the minister failed to take the aforementioned steps within 15 days

A B D U L Q A D I R PAT E L P R E S S

C O N F E R E N C E: During last week’s press conference the health minister had rejected questions surrounding the moral and ethical grounds for releasing someone s health records He had also announced he would share more information about Imran as a detailed report was still awaited Patel said it all began on May 9 after Imran’s urine sample was obtained at a NAB office shortly after the former prime minister was arrested in a corruption case He claimed Imran was completely examined by a medical board comprising five senior officials of the Polyclinic and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Reading from the medical fitness report, the only one shared with the media, the health minister said Imran appeared under stress and displayed symptoms of anxiety during the examination

The report claimed that Imran was also angry about recent events and had little insight into the seriousness of the current situation It also questioned his mental stability

Ironically, however, the report’s findings showed nothing to support these remarks In fact it showed almost all tangible indicators were normal Patel then referred to Imran s initial urine test report, which he claimed suggested extensive drug and alcohol use, but the minister was unsure about the ratio of their consumption Still, he insisted on its findings He said a detailed report would be shared with the media once finalised

On legal action against Imran based on these findings the minister said the government would go to the police once the ratios of such substances were finalised and reported

Russian oil to help gradually reduce fuel prices: Musadik

for the country Pakistan has long faced chronic energy shortages relying on imports for 84% of its petroleum products primarily from Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Importing affordable Russian oil is part of Pakistan s strategy to mitigate its energy crisis, even as global efforts aim to curtail Russian oil exports due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine Earlier this month, Malik confirmed that an initial order for Russian oil had been placed with its arrival in Pakistan expected within a month The government will assess the quantity of future imports based on this initial shipment Malik also expressed openness to exploring additional sources of cheaper energy stating that if such sources were available Pakistan would pursue them

Irked by absence of NAB chief, PAC accuses accountabilit y czar of ‘facilitating’ corrupt

N O - C O N F I D E N C E M O T I O N F I L E D A G A I N S T

G I LG I T- B A LT I S TA N A S S E M B LY S P E A K E R

THE Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly was thrown into turmoil on Tuesday as a motion of no confidence was submitted against the Speaker Syed Amjad

Zaidi The motion, presented by Provincial Minister Javed Manwa and Senior Provincial Minister Raja Zakaria, signifies a significant shift in the political landscape of the region

The motion comes in the wake of a strained relationship between Speaker Syed Amjad Zaidi and Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmed Advocate, despite a previously signed two-and-a-half-year contract between the two Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmed Advocate took the drastic step of filing a no-confidence

motion after all attempts at negotiation and reconciliation failed

The parliamentary committee responsible for mediating such conflicts made an unsuccessful effort to convince Speaker Amjad Zaidi to address the concerns raised against him The committee’s failure led to the announcement by the like-minded group of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) chapter that they would table a no-confidence motion against Speaker Syed Amjad Zaidi According to reports, a few days prior to the motion being filed Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Muhammad Khalid Khurshid who is facing allegations of possessing a fake degree appointed 14 new coordinators This move was seen as an attempt to galvanize the Chief Minister ’s support base and strengthen his

Former PTI Sindh MPs reach out to Jahangir Tareen for new par t y

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh

MPs, who have recently left the party, reached out to its estranged stalwart Jahangir Tareen, a senior politician, for the formation of a new political alliance, sources said on Tuesday Sources privy to the matter told that two ex-PTI leaders from Sindh have contacted Tareen and will likely join his upcoming new political party in the coming days Apart from Sindh important political figures from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), are also likely to join the new party Tareen is expected to hold a news conference with key political leaders in the coming days during which he is likely to announce the formation of a new political party they say

TAREEN MEETS ALEEM

On Monday, senior politician Jahangir Tareen met the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf provincial minister Aleem Khan for the formation of a new political alliance According to sources, Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan discussed matters related to the future of the people who have resigned and the making of a new party Sources revealed that participants of the meeting suggested making a new political party instead of a pressure group as the political party will be able to stand for people s rights Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ’s Adviser Awn Chaudhry was also present in the meeting sources said S ta f f R e p o R t

Parliament limited judicial authorit y with SC reforms bill: SCBA chief

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t Supreme Court Bar Association President Abid Zuberi has said the parliament limited the judicial authority by enacting the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which, in fact is against the constitutional principles In a written response submitted to the Supreme Court, Mr Zuberi argued that under Article 191, the Supreme Court has the exclusive power to amend the Rules adding that articles 2 4 6 limited the powers of the Supreme Court under Article 191 He submitted that the principle of separation of powers prohibits parliament from interfering in judicial affairs Mr Zuberi stressed that Article 191 should not be read separately but with other articles related to the judiciary Zuberi is one of the petitioner s in the case against the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill He submitted his response following notices issued to all parties in the case

Non-bailable arrest warrant for Swati issued; bail of Asad Umar confirmed

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

position The Chief Minister s cabinet already comprised 12 ministers two advisers and five special assistants

The newly appointed coordinators included Ashraf Hussain and Hussain from Bara District in Ghanche, Syed Mehdi Shah from Skardu District Abdul Khaliq from Ghanche Muhamad Adeel Ram from Shigar District Ghulam Haider from Skardu District Sajida Sadaqat from Astore District, Raja Shehbaz Khan from Hunza District, Manzoor Hussain from Gilgit District, Sarwar Shah from Diamer District, Kalbe Ali from Nagar District, Muhammad Yousuf from Skardu District Atique Peerzada from Gilgit District Muzamil Hassan from Skardu District and Sana Ullah Khuram from Astore District These coordinators, appointed by the Chief Minister, will serve at his pleasure and will receive a fixed monthly salary of

Rs150 000 With the addition of these 14 coordinators the total number of public officeholders in the Chief Minister s team now exceeds 45 It is worth noting that there were already 10 coordinators, including two media coordinators representing the Chief Minister in Islamabad The GB government had previously amended the rules of business to allow for the creation of these 10 coordinator positions

The no-confidence motion against Speaker Syed Amjad Zaidi represents a significant development in the political dynamics of Gilgit-Baltistan The region will now witness a period of intense political maneuvering and negotiations as the motion progresses through the assembly The outcome of the motion will determine the future leadership and stability of Gilgit-Baltistan

S hehr yar Afridi, Ali Muhammad K han rearrested af ter release from Adiala Jail

RAWALPINDI S ta f f R e p o R t

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders – Shehryar Afridi and Ali Muhammad Khan were re-arrested shortly after their release from Adiala Jail Rawalpindi on Tuesday PTI leader Shehryar Afridi was taken into custody from his residence in Sector F-8 Islamabad under Section

3 of Maintenance of Public order (3MPO)

However, the former federal minister has been put under house arrest for another 15 days under section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) said deputy commissioner Rawalpindi on Tuesday

Earlier Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday declaring Shehryar Afridi s arrest under 3MPO illegal ordered his release

According to the jail administration, Afridi was released on completion of his “house arrest” period under the MPO

On the other hand PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan was shifted to Peshawar central jail soon after his release from Adiala Jail As per details the PTI leader was arrested by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police after his release from Adiala Jail

The arrest of the former PTI MNA will be challenged in the high court tomorrow Ali Muhammad Khan’s secretary added Ali Muhammad Khan was released from

ATC

LAHORE

S ta f f R e p o R t

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore on Tuesday declared a police search warrant for Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence “ineffective”

ATC Judge Abhar Gul Khan while announcing the reserved verdict on the PTI chief s plea said one-time search warrants are not for forever

The PTI chief had moved the court three days back against the search warrants, naming the state, commissioner of Lahore, DIG operations Lahore, SSP operations Lahore and others as respondents

In the plea the PTI chief claimed that law enforcement personnel secured the warrants with malicious intent

It is most respectfully prayed that the search warrant relating to petitioner s house situated at Zaman Park, Lahore may kindly be set-aside /cancelled/recalled being illegal, unlawful, inappropriate which lacks the requisite

jail following the directives of the high court s Rawalpindi

bench The jail administration said that the PTI leader was released after the conclusion of his detention period under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO)

Several PTI leaders had been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 following the violent protests in the country after the arrest of expremier Imran Khan on May 9 Violent clashes broke out across Pakistan after the former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan were arrested at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday

The protests were held in remote and major cities as the party workers are agitated due to their chairman’s arrest with Balochistan Punjab Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad summoning the armed forces to ensure law and order

Army installations and Corps Commander s house in Lahore came under attack during a protest by PTI workers

During the days-long protests which ended only after Khan’s release enraged PTI workers allegedly attacked private and public properties including military installations the Lahore Corps Commander s House or Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) entrance At least eight people lost their lives during the violent protests

A special court on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Azam Swati in a case registered against him over a controversial tweet The court issued arrest warrants on the request of the Federal Investigation Agency s (FIA) and deferred the indictment of the PTI leader in a case registered against him over a controversial tweet The special judge central Islamabad resumed hearing of the case while Swati failed to show up in the court for his indictment The investigating officer (IO) told the court that the arrest warrants previously issued by the court had been executed However, Swati was not present at his residence at the time Swati’s lawyer also admitted before the court that he was not in contact with his client while simultaneously informing the court that he had no knowledge of the Investigation Officer s visit to Swati s residence The court briefly adjourned proceedings and summoned the FIA officer who had executed the arrest warrant Upon resumption of the hearing later, the FIA official verified the version presented by the prosecution and claimed that nobody opened the door when the team visited Swati’s house Special prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi pleaded the court to issue non-bailable arrest warrants for the PTI leader However Swati s counsel opposed the request arguing that the law for non-bailable arrest warrants is very different The law is not a joke, responded the special prosecutor “Everyone is being made to hold a press conference ” argued Swati’s lawyer claiming that cases are quashed for everyone who holds a press conference The court should issue bailable arrest warrants first to complete their execution, he maintained, stressing that there were high court orders mandating this The court directed the lawyer to submit the relevant orders Meanwhile, the special prosecutor argued that “everyone knows where a person is to be found; even the lawyer ” The PTI leader s lawyer on the other hand argued that the arrest warrants had not been properly executed saying that the WhatsApp number being contacted [by FIA officials] is actually mine On the other hand, the FIA’s lawyer alleged that Azam Swati did not appear before the court intentionally”

Journalist Sami Abraham returns home

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

legal parameters for a valid warrant in the interest of justice and fair play ” he said in the plea Urging the court to take strict action against the respondents Khan asked the court to deal with them severely for their unlawful and illegal misuse of authority under the pretext of the search warrant

The authorities had secured the search warrants claiming that they wanted to arrest the “terrorists” present inside the PTI chief ’s residence However when they arrived there on May 19 Khan refused to allow a search operation at his residence

THE HEARING

At the outset of the hearing, the judge asked the commissioner what was the reason behind the law enforcers’ action at Zaman Park The commissioner said his men went here to remove encroachments

But he noted they had not followed up on the search warrants so far The judge asked the investigating officer whether he still needed the search warrants At this he said that he would respond to the court s question after consulting his colleagues

Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman new C hief Justice of Federal S hariat Cour t

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman has been appointed as Chief Justice Federal Shariat Court for a period of three years The Ministry of Law issued a notification after the President’s approval Who is Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rahman?

Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rahman was born in Dacca in 1956 He obtained his professional degree of LL B from the Punjab University, Law College, Lahore in 1980 He was enrolled as an advocate High Court in 1983 and an advocate Supreme Court in 1997

In 1998 he was elected as the Secretary Lahore High Court Bar Association In 2006 he was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Lahore High Court and was confirmed as a permanent Judge of the Lahore High Court on

27 10 2007

After the promulgation of Provisional Constitutional Order 2007, he was asked to take oath under the PCO but he refused to take oath under the PCO

After passing of the 18th Amendment and establishment of Islamabad High Court he is elevated as the first constitutional Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court on 03 01 2011 and elevated as Judge Supreme Court of Pakistan on 25 02 2013 Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rahman’s father was Justice Hamood ur Rahman Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1968 and author of the Hamood ur Rahman Commission Report which inquired into the circumstances leading to the breakup of Pakistan in 1971 It is pertinent to note that Hamood ur Rahman was advocate general of East Pakistan in 1953 and also served as the Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University (1958-60)

Fascist regime using violence against women as a weapon: Hammad A zhar

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

P a k i s t a n Te h r e e k - e - I n s a f ( P T I ) s e n i o r l e a d e r H a m m a d A z h a r l a s h e d o u t t h e

f a s c i s t g o v e r n m e n t f o r b r e a k i n g a l l r e c o r d s o f b a r b a r i s m a n d t y r a n n y a n d s a i d

t h a t t h i s s h a m e f u l r e g i m e w a s u s i n g w o m e n a s a w e a p o n I n a s t a t e m e n t o n

Tu e s d a y H a m m a d A z h a r u rg e d t h a t i t w a s h i g h t i m e t h e w o m e n s h o u l d d e m o n s t r a t e c o u r a g e a n d r a i s e t h e i r v o i c e a g a i n s t t h i s b r u t a l i t y H e e x p r e s s e d h i s a n g u i s h t h a t v i o l e n c e a g a i n s t w o m e n h a v e b e e n u s e d a s a w e a p o n b y t h i s r e g i m e P T I l e a d e r w e n t o n t o s a y : T h e a r s e n a l h a s b e e n m a n i f o l d ; b l a c k m a i l h a r a s s m e n t s , t h r e a t s , i l l e g a l a r r e s t s a n d p e r h a p s e v e n m o r e ” H o w e v e r, H a m m a d A z h a r u rg e d t h a t w o m e n h a v e a l s o s t o o d u p a g a i n s t t h e s e v i l e t a c t i c s a n d s h o w n t r e m e n d o u s c o u r a g e t o f o r c e t h e f a s c i s t g o v e r n m e n t t o p u t a h a l t o n t h i s b a r b a r i s m a n d f a s c i s

Senior journalist and TV anchorperson Sami Ibrahim returned home in the early hours of Tuesday after going missing from the federal capital last week The anchorperson confirmed his return as he took to his official Twitter account to thank the Almighty Earlier on Monday Abraham’s daughter Zainab Sami tweeted the “great news” her family received and shared that her father had reached home safely Zainab thanked everyone who helped spread the news and made Abraham s return possible Abraham s good friend Supreme Court Advocate Raja Aamir Abbas also announced that the journalist was “back” with a picture of Abraham in a hospital bed Journalist and political analyst Anwar Lodhi shared the same picture and said Abraham looked like he s been through serious torture Meanwhile New York University professor and Atlantic Council fellow Wajahat Khan wondered if Abraham s US citizenship came to his rescue , adding that he may be wrong” “Not quite sure what fate awaits – or has met – Imran R Khan who was picked up three weeks back ” he further said After Abraham’s return many have called for the swift return of journalist and YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan who remains missing

declares Z aman Park search warrant ‘ infruc tuous ’

E X - C J P ’ S S O N C H A L L E N G E S PA R L I A M E N TA R Y P R O B E I N T O A U D I O - L E A KS

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Najam Saqib Nisar, the son of the ex- chief justice Saqib Nisar has challenged the parliamentary probe of audio leaks in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) According to media reports, Najam Saqib in a petition in the high court has argued that the Speaker National Assembly has constituted a house committee on purported audio leaks on May 02 Constitution of the parliamentary committee by the NA Speaker has been illegal and he has no

authority to form the probe ” former CJP s son argued in the petition

The Secretary National Assembly has issued a notice on May 25 and summoned my father in person before the committee,” petition read

“The notice has been sent without a meeting of the parliamentary committee petitioner said

Najam Saqib pleaded to the court to declare the committee as unlawful and suspend its operation The committee s h o u l d b e r e s t r a i n e d f r o m a n y a c t i o n b e f o r e d e c i s i o n o n t h e p e t i t i o n , ” h e p l e a d e d T h e N a t i o n a l A s s e m b l y constituted a parliamentary committee

to investigate the audio leaks of Najam Saqib Nisar, the son of the former chief justice Saqib Nisar

The National Assembly secretariat issued a notification to form a parliamentary committee to investigate

New law can lead to minus Imran, plus Nawaz formula: Sh Rasheed

RAWALPINDI

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the recent audio leaks of the former CJP’s son National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf appointed Mohammad Aslam Bhutani as the chairman of the parliamentary committee

Unable to bear harassment, female teacher commits suicide

AWARAN S ta f f R e p o R t

A female teacher driven to despair by relentless harassment, tragically ended her own life in the Gishkaur area of Awaran, Balochistan

The teacher, identified as Najma Baloch, was reportedly subjected to persistent harassment, leading her to a point of despair where she felt suicide was the only escape Najma Baloch was providing free education to underprivileged children in a camp school

Despite the limited resources available in the region she managed to run a school in a hut, where she

Gov t to prioritize relief to public, economic uplift in upcoming budget: PM

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

He said throughout the previous year, the miscreants inflicted damage to the country through long or short marches and sit-ins He also told the meeting that the incidents of May 9 did not only create violence but also inflicted huge economic loss to the country He said the government would help decrease industries production costs by supplying low-cost energy besides arranging easy bank loans for the small industries

Prime Minister Shehbaz directed his Advisor Ahad Cheema to finalise the proposals from the industrial sectors and ensure their incorporation into the budget

The meeting was joined through a video link by prominent industrialists and investors from all sectors

Besides federal ministers Ishaq Dar Syed Naveed

Qamar Ahsan Iqbal Makhdoom Murtaza Mahmood

Engineer Khurram Dastgir, State Minister Dr Musaddiq Malik, Advisor Ahad Cheema, special assistants to PM Tariq Bajwa and Jahanzeb Khan, MNAs Qaiser Sheikh State Bank governor and FBR chairman and relevant senior officers attended the meeting The ministries of commerce and industrial production put forward the budget proposals received from different sectors Besides, the industrialists and investors presented their proposals for the budget The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to carry out detailed work on the proposals and present a report to him

Lightning strike kills six , injures eight in Tharparkar

THARPARKAR

S ta f f R e p o R t

A lightning strike killed at least six Hindu yatrees and critically injured eight other in Tharparkar district of Sindh province According to the media reports the incident occurred near Mithi the capital of Tharparkar District Sources said that the lightning struck a convoy of at least 100 Hindu yatrees who were on their way to attend the annual festival at Parbraham Ashram, killing six people on the spot and injuring eight other The dead and injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Mithi

According to sources the deceased were identified as Lalu Lelio Bhumji Gopi Sonaro Santosh Sonaro and Vivek Lahato

generously offered her services free of charge

Najma, revered for her efforts to educate poor children, took her own life after reportedly enduring harassment

The local police have registered a case against three individuals including a Levies official in response to the allegations made by the victim s family

The deceased s family has alleged that their daughter had been subjected to harassment by the Levies officials and their two colleagues

Najma’s family added that she feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the situation believed she had no other option but to end her own life

Her mother, grief-stricken, recounted the threats and intimidation their daughter had endured, stating that Najma had bravely declared that she would rather be in her grave than be subservient to her harassers

Following the incident the Assistant Commissioner of Awaran has initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Najma Baloch s suicide

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

Provisional annual GDP growth recorded at 0.29%: Finance Ministr y

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CPI inflation recorded at 36 4 percent on a year-on-year basis in April 2023 as compared to an increase of 35 4 percent in the previous month

The potential reasons for the rising price level are flood damages disruptions in supply chains devaluation brought by the macro-economic imbalances and political uncertainty The inflation for the month of May 2023 may remain in the range of 34-36 %, the report added On a month-on-month basis it increased to 2 4 % in April as compared to an increase of 3 7 % in the previous month On average, CPI inflation is recorded at 28 2 % during Jul-Apr FY2023 as against 11 0 % in the same period last year The provisional net tax collection grew by 16 1 % to

Rs 5637 9 billion during Jul-Apr FY2023 against Rs 4,855 8 billion in a similar period last year In April 2023 it grew by 0 4% to Rs 482 billion as compared to Rs 480 billion in the comparable period of last year

The current performance of fiscal indicators indicates effective consolidation through various revenue rising and expenditure management strategies However there are certain downside risks to the fiscal sector towards the end of the current fiscal year These risks may emerge due to higher than-expected expenditures mainly due to rise in debt servicing costs and higher expenditures for the flood rehabilitation activities Similarly, on the revenue side, FBR tax collection increased by 16 1% during Jul-Apr FY2023, however it remained less than the

target It is important to note that the growth, even though less than projected, was only substantial in direct taxes The slowdown in economic activity and import compression explain a substantial portion of the lower-than-expected tax revenue during the review period Recognizing these issues, the government is taking effective steps to reduce non-productive spending through austerity measures and focus on targeted subsidies On the revenue side the FBR is working hard to boost tax collection through different policy and administrative initiatives in the aftermath of a challenging economic environment at both the domestic and international levels All of these actions would help in managing fiscal imbalances while keeping the fiscal deficit under control and the primary balance at a sustainable level

65% of retail investors in PSX hail from small cities and towns

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incentivising investment in the stock market and facilitating the growth of the capital market

C

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

The recently held China-Central Asia Summit has introduced new concepts o f r e g i o n a l c o n n e c t i v i t y, s o c i oeconomic cooperation, and industrial development which are h o l i s t i c a n d h a r m o n i o u s I t r i g h t l y s h o w c a s e d t h e r e a l s e c r e t o f m o d e r n mutual human survival, e c o n o m i c s t a b i l i t y a n d s u s t a i n a b i l i t y a l o n g w i t h m u t u a l r e s p e c t s o v e r e i g n t y a n d t e r r i t o r i a l i n t e g r i t y

Sheikh Rashid the chief of his own faction of Muslim League on Tuesday said the law that came into effect a day earlier could result in minus Imran Khan and plus Nawaz Sharif formula In a series of tweets, Mr Rasheed said he was submitting a reply to the NAB notice received last night He said he wasn’t present at the time the Al-Qadir Trust agenda was tabled [before the then federal cabinet] because he never had any proper interaction with Shahzad Akbar – the accountability czar in the Imran government The former interior minister said the entire nation condemned the May 9 episode but the ruling alliance comprising 13 parties should not make that a political narrative He said the Supreme Court was of a stance that no legislation could be made to benefit some specific persons and one would have to see what the apex would do on June 1 – the day its resumes the hearing of the matter concerning Punjab Assembly elections Sharif should return so that the daily argument over the issue comes to an end, the Awami Muslim League (AML) chief remarked but added that the former premier had missed the train He was opinion that there would be no need to explain the state of affairs to the masses when the dollar was available for Rs312 and 1 8 million flour bags had gone missing The 70 million youth with mobile phones had the wisdom to make their own decisions and they could not be fooled, the AML chief remarked Later in the day, Mr Rashid posted another tweet in which he shared a copy of his reply to the NAB notice asking him to appear as a witness the in Al-Qadir Trust case

NAB summons Rana

Mashhood in misappropriation of funds probe on June 4

LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t

PML-N leader Rana Mashhood Khan has on Tuesday came on the National Accountability Bureau s radar as the watchdog has launched an inquiry into the misappropriation in funds worth billions of rupees during his tenure as Punjab Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports The anti-graft body has sought all the record from the sports board and the education department directing the relevant government departments to provide record to the NAB by June 6

The anti-corruption watchdog has opened a file detailing funds misappropriation in sports board allegedly made by then minister during previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government The bureau has sought record of all the properties in the name of Mashhood Khan s wife and their three daughters Letters have been issued to deputy commissioners across the province seeking details of funds released in the name of youth festival in Rana Mashhood Khan s tenure Mashhood is accused of embezzling billions of rupees during the sports festival NAB sources said

Gwadar’s long-standing problems relating to electricit y and water resolved: CM

A c c o r d i n g t o o ff i c i a l d a t a , t r a d e v o l u m e b e t w e e n C h i n a a n d C e n t r a l A s i a c o u n t r i e s i n 2 0 2 2 h i t a h i s t o r i c h i g h o f $ 7 0 2 b i l l i o n u p b y o v e r 1 0 0 t i m e s s i n c e d i p l o m a t i c t i e s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d a b o u t t h r e e d e c a d e s a g o

QUETTA S ta f f R e p o R t B a l o c h i s t a n C h i e f M i n i s t e r M i r A b d u l Q u d d u s B i z e n j o s a i d t h a t G w a d a r ’s l o n g - s t a n d i n g p r o b l e m s r e l a t i n g t o e l e c t r i c i t y a n d w a t e r w e r e r e s o l v e d S p e a k i n g t o j o u r n a l i s t s h e m a i n t a i n e d t h a t t h e g o v e r n m e n t h a d t a k e n b o l d a n d h i s t o r i c a l s t e p s f o r t h e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d p r o s p e r i t y o f t h e p r o v i n c e U n n e c e s s a r y c h e c k - p o s t s h a v e b e e n e l i m i n a t e d a n d G w a d a r ’s l o n g - s t a n d i n g p r o b l e m s r e l a t i n g t o e l e c t r i c i t y a n d w a t e r h a v e b e e n r e s o l v e d We w a n t t o f a c i l i t a t e G w a d a r t o t h e b e s t o f o u r r e s o u r c e s ” h e a d d e d H e t e r m e d t h e r e c e n t i n a u g u r a t i o n o f t h e B o r d e r M a r k e t o n t h e P a k i s t a n - I r a n b o r d e r a n d I r a n - G w a d a r P o w e r P r o j e c t i n G w a d a r a p o s i t i v e s i g n f o r b o t h c o u n t r i e s T h e C M m e n t i o n e d t h a t t h e r e w e r e i m m e n s e o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o p r o m o t e b i l a t e r a l r e g i o n a l t r a d e w i t h I r a n , i n c l u d i n g c r u d e o i l g a s f o o d c o m m o d i t i e s a n d e n e rg y s e c t o r s a d d i n g t h a t a n n u a l t r a d e b e t w e e n P a k i s t a n a n d I r a n w a s w o r t h b i l l i o n s o f r u p e e s T h e C M c o n t e n d e d t h a t t h e P a k i s t a n - I r a n b o r d e r m a r k e t p r o j e c t w a s c o m p l e t e d w i t h t h e c o o p e r a t i o n o f P a k i s t a n - I r a n a t t h e b o r d e r t o w n o f t h e R e c k o - D i q b o r d e r T h e P a k i s t a n - I r a n b o r d e r w a s a h i s t o r i c t r a d e c o r r i d o r t h a t w a s o f u n i q u e i m - p o r t a n c e n o t o n l y t o t h e t w o c o u n t r i e s b u t a l s o t o t h e e n t i r e r e g i o n ” C M B i z e n j o s a i d a s a b r i d g e t h e C h i n a - P a k i s t a n E c o n o m i c C o r r i d o r ( C P E C ) w a s a t t r a c t i n g m a s s i v e i n v e s t m e n t s A p a r t f r o m t h e h u g e i n v e s t m e n t s b y C h i n a , o t h e r c o u n t r i e s a r e a l s o i n t e r e s t e d t o i n v e s t i n C P E C p r o j e c t s , ” h e a d d e d a c c o r d i n g t o r e p o r t p u b l i s h e d b y G w a d a r P r o

hina- Central A sia S ummit and Role of BRI & CPEC and Pakistan: Repor t

Dealing with so many

TH E motive is clear: to punish every single one of the perpetrators of the May 9 attacks on military installations No one can argue with that

Punishment must be condign That means a large number of people being taken into custody A large number of those arrested are women, they forming an important part of the support base of the PTI supporters who are being accused of having gone wild on May 9 PTI chief Imran Khan has accused the government of having committed atrocities upon the women in custody which was the reason why Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had accused his party of hatching a plot complete with faked rapes Mr Khan’s accusation may be dismissed as the product of an imagination almost as over-active as Rana Sanaullah’s but that should not conceal the reality that the prison system is a cause for concern

Even if one was to guarantee safety against abuse, there remain the very real dangers caused by overcrowding and plain old-fashioned filth (which is an especial concern now, with summer having set in) Those arrested may include enemies of the state, but all at the moment are merely under trial, with no one having yet been convicted

And even if and when that happens it will not mean that the convicts are no longer human beings While this applies with especial force to the women who have been arrested men too deserve to be treated as human beings

It is bad enough to have lost one’s freedom and to have to suffer from overcrowding dirt and the heat is bad enough if one is guilty, but positively intolerable if one is conscious of injured innocence

Jail conditions are bad enough, but a general improvement can be discussed later There is something woefully wrong with a system that makes treatment as human beings, with normal human needs, a kind of special treatment, but it is upto the jail authorities to provide it for the flood of prisoners that is upon them

There is also the danger of these accused falling between the cracks of the civilian and military prison systems

Though none of the accused will be arrested or booked initially by the military police many will be handed over the military authorities for trial Custody after that handover could become an issue with the military authorities saying they lacked the space to hold them and the jail authorities saying they had handed the prisoners over

Dedicated to the legac y of late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami (Late)

Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami Editor

M A Niazi Joint Editor Umar Aziz Executive Editor

How Arab Americans will vote in 2024

across North Africa to Iraq And while the majority are Christian, more than one-third are now Muslim

washington watch

d r J A m e S J Z o g b y

TW E N T Y years ago, in the lead-up to the 2004 elections the Arab American Institute (AAI) hosted a Democratic presidential forum that was attended by the eight major candidates who were running that year Before he was to speak, one of them a leader in the polls at that time came to me and said, Here s what I’m going to do I’m going to start by addressing jobs health care Social Security and education Then I’ll talk about your community’s issues ” I responded With all due respect sir Arab Americans need good jobs get sick get old and want to see their kids get a quality education Those are our issues

And if by my community s issues you mean the war in Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian peace, those are issues for all Americans, not just Arab Americans ” As the USA gears up for what will be critical national elections in 2024 the AAI commissioned a poll as it s done for the past 30 years to better understand how Arab Americans will vote next year and what will drive their votes As the community possesses significant strength in several key battleground states, how they vote and the issues that matter to them are important to consider What comes through from the poll results is that Arab Americans support policies that are more liberal than conservative And while both parties are losing support among Arab Americans, it appears that a majority of the community will favor Democrats over Republicans when choosing a president and members of Congress

While these are the topline political findings of this new Arab American study what also comes through from the results is that despite the complexity and diversity of the community there are common threads that unite them as a constituency of shared concerns

First, a look at the demographic breakout of the Arab American community that emerges from the study: Although most are from Lebanon or Syria, Arab Americans increasingly come from countries across the Arab World While the majority of the more than three and one-half million are descendants of the first wave of immigrants who came to the USA before and shortly after World War I, the community has been enriched in recent decades by an influx of new immigrants from

Even with this diversity, there are multiple areas where attitudes are shared across all of the main demographic groupings For example despite a majority of respondents reporting that they have experienced discrimination because of their heritage and this is true of all of the sub-groups of Arab Americans four in five continue to profess deep pride in their ethnicity and heritage And while their religious affiliations and countries of origin matter a majority say that they define themselves as “Arab American ” Continuing a trend that has been observed since Arab Americans reacted negatively to the post-9/11 policies of the Bush Administration, the percentage of those in the community who identify as Democrats is nearly double the percentage who identify as Republicans (40 percent-24 percent) The biggest changes in this year ’s poll are the drop in Democrats from the fifty percent range in the Obama years and the steady growth of those who say they are Independents up from 15 percent in 2014 to 28 percent this year Further evidence of this shift in party affiliation can be seen in the almost four in five Arab Americans who express concern with political polarization in the USA today with almost one-half of the community blaming both parties for this problem

While Arab Americans give President Joseph Biden a low 31 percent job approval rating, the 47 percent of Arab Americans who say they have a favorable view of Biden is significantly higher than the 36 percent who have favorable view of former President Donald Trump And, despite their concern with partisan polarization, by a margin of 53 percent to 30 percent Arab Americans say they would prefer that Democrats have control of Congress When it comes to domestic issues, Arab Americans, like most other American eth-

I s l a m a n d i t s i n f l u e n c e o n t h e b a r d

IT has been a productive debate since 1989 whether the writer of the early 17thcentury s four fearful tragedies H a m l e t O t h e l l o K i n g L e a r and M a cbeth was Shakespeare or Sheikh Pir Regarding this debate, the year 1989 is of great importance In 1989, the Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi claimed that Shakespeare was not an Englishman but an Arab whose real name was Sheikh Zabir Similarly in 2016 a Turkish conspiracy theorist Kadir Misiroglu asserted that the writer was neither Shakespeare nor Sheikh Zabir but Sheikh Pir

Besides this debate, Mathew Dimmock, a professor of early modern studies at the University of Sussex surfaced the news by asserting that Without Islam there would be no Shakespeare Though this statement was made by him after a thorough research on the works of Shakespeare, yet it is far from accepted in the West In support of his statement, Dimmock argues that had there been no complex engagement of the Tudor with the Islamic culture the plays written by William Shakespeare would have been very different According to him The Merchant of Venice and Othello foregrounded encounters with Islam

Moreover, some scholars of English Literature also argue that Othello, the main character of the tragedy is the distorted form of Attaullah a Muslim explorer Some other scholars say that Othello is named after the visit of a Moorish ambassador to Elizabeth-l in 1600 whose name was Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud

Though these multiple references here would not be enough to prove that Shakespeare was not an English but an Arab, Sheikh Pir, yet these are enough to conclude that Shakespeare has written his plays with the burden of Islamic culture on his thoughts and ideas He was greatly influenced by the „Turk Plays‰ written before he was writing

Influenced by Mathew Dimmock a Turkish historian and writer Nadia Khan rephrased his controversial statement and says there would have been no Shakespeare were it not for Islam In her article, The Centrality of the Muslim World to Shakespeare’s Work”, she argues “By the time Shakespeare arrived on the scene there were already plays; “Turk Plays” that used the Islamic world as a backdrop and the stories of Muslim empires and people were massively popular There were in fact, more than 60 plays between 1576-1603 that featured Turks, Moors, and Persians ” She also states that though it is not sure whether Shakespeare and the English people knew about Islam or not but they were fully aware of Muslim riches and power

A website by the name of Sheikhy Notes has an article, Islam and Shakespeare on its page The writer of the article, Arfan Shah, has focused on the quotes and utterances mentioned in various plays of Shakespeare which shows a strong influence of Islam on the writings of the English Bard The very first quote he has taken is from the play Macbeth of the writer According to him, in (Act V, Scene I) of Macbeth Shakespeare writes, All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand ” In the same article, Arfan Shah asserts that “Shakespeare’s Plays” were aimed at the average person And from the use of the phrase Perfumes of Arabia he concludes that this phrase is enough to show that Islam was a force well-known at the time of Shakespeare Further he states that to use this phrase without providing any footnotes means that the phrase was very common and known to all the audience of the play

Similarly in the article the writer has taken some more examples from Shakespeare s plays and has tried to show the influence of Islamic culture on his writings From Othello (Act V, Scene II), the sentence Drop tears as fast as the Arabian Trees; their medicinable gum” has been

taken The use of Arabian Trees here shows the presence of Islamic culture in the world of Shakespeare From Antony and Cleopatra the sentence, O Anthony! O thou Arabian bird is taken as an example in support of his argument

From King Henry the Sixth: Part One the question “Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?” is taken The use of Mahomet here illustrates that the people near Shakespeare were familiar with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Moreover, in Merchant of Venice, there is the presence of a Muslim character, The Prince of Morocco’ Shah considers the presence of this Muslim character in the play as evidence of Muslim trading which the culture of Venice must have had In this play the Muslim character speaks about fighting the Persians which is also a matter of interest for Arfan Shah He concludes from this very scene of the play that as we know of the fight between the Ottomans and the Shia Safavid Empire, so Shakespeare was aware of this as must at least some of his audience

From Act IV Scene I The Comedy of Errors the utterance That s cover d o er with Turkish tapestry is made by the writer The tapestry mentioned here could be a possible reference to a tapestry made by the Ottomans and this indicates a luxury item of cloth which was also a mode of communication One reference to Turks is also there in Hamlet If the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me (Act III Scene II)

Though these multiple references here would not be enough to prove that Shakespeare was not an English but an Arab, Sheikh Pir, yet these are enough to conclude that Shakespeare has written his plays with the burden of Islamic culture on his thoughts and ideas He was greatly influenced by the Turk Plays written before he was writing

The writer is a freelance columnist

nic groups demonstrate a mix of liberal and centrist policy concerns Far and away, they say that their single most important issue is gun violence This is followed by a second tier of issues like: the need to address the budget deficit and government spending, creating jobs and growing the economy and concerns with the environment and climate change Also scoring high are improving health care addressing race relations and protecting Social Security and Medicare

With regard to their top foreign policy concerns, three issues are closely bunched together and are shared by almost three-quarters of respondents, across demographic lines: the crisis in Lebanon the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people and securing justice for Palestinians

Arab Americans were asked two questions regarding their attitudes toward limiting free speech

When asked how concerned they are with state laws or executive orders that penalize individuals, groups, or businesses from engaging in activities that boycott Israel ” over four in five said they are concerned And three-quarters are also concerned with efforts by school boards that seek to ban books containing Black history and LGBTQ content

O f e q u a l i m p o r t a n c e i s t h e

f a c t t h a t t h e s e a t t i t u d e s a r e

l a r g e l y c o n s i s t e n t a c r o s s t h e

m a n y d i v e r s e d e m o g r a p h i c

g r o u p s t h a t m a k e u p t h e

A r a b A m e r i c a n c o m m u n i t y : a g e , g e n d e r, r e l i g i o u s

a f f i l i a t i o n , i m m i g r a n t / n a t i v e

b o r n , a n d c o u n t r y o f o r i g i n

What emerges from this examination of Arab American attitudes is a profile of a community that largely due to its own experiences in recent decades is more liberal and tolerant than the overall American population At the same time they are also balanced and opposed to extreme views that divide the country Of equal importance is the fact that these attitudes are largely consistent across the many diverse demographic groups that make up the Arab American community: age gender religious affiliation immigrant/native born, and country of origin These shared views, values, and life experiences are the hallmarks that define the community and place it well within the mainstream of American politics

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

E d i t o r ’ s m a i l

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

Taking care of dog-bite cases

PA K I S TA N ranks fifth among the countries in the world most affected by rabies with between 2 000 and 5 000 deaths reported every year Various hospitals in the country have reported 25-30 cases of dog bites per day Rabies is a viral infection, caused by a virus secreted in the canine saliva It affects a dog s nervous system, including the spinal cord and brain, and is fatal once symptoms present themselves

The first symptoms of rabies may be similar to flu, including weakness or discomfort fever and headache There also may be discomfort prickling or an itching sensation at the site of the bite These symptoms may last for several days Symptoms then progress to cerebral dysfunction anxiety confusion and agitation The first symptoms of rabies can appear from a few days to more than a year after the bite happens Because of the risk of infection, one should see a healthcare provider within 24 hours of any bite that breaks the skin If you are caring for someone who was bitten, be calm and reassure the person Wash the bite area with soap and water If the bite is bleeding put pressure on it using sterile gauze or a clean cloth If the bleeding has stopped put antibiotic ointment on the area Cover the area with a bandage or sterile gauze If one is bitten by a cat or dog that appeared healthy at the time one was bitten, it can be confined by its owner for 10 days and observed No anti-rabies prophylaxis is needed It is always suggested, however, that a visit to some healthcare provider is essential

The standard schedule for vaccination is five doses on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 30 with day 0 being the day of the commencement of vaccination A regimen of five 1ml doses of rabies vaccine should be administered to previously unvaccinated persons intramuscularly at upper arm since the buttocks have lots of fat which may interfere with the absorption of vaccine Adult victims should receive a tetanus vaccine, called the tetanus toxoid vaccine, if the most recent tetanus vaccine was more than five years previously Most government hospitals do not have proper facilities to handle dog bite cases like a dedicated washing space trained doctors and the vaccines to take care of such patients Even private hospitals or clinics are not equipped to handle such an emergency Unfortunately parents also do not realise the importance of dog bite and the municipality does not immunise dogs The dice, thus, is loaded among the masses DR ASGHAR NAQVI KARACHI

Saving sacred places

S U K K U R is the third largest city of Sindh in terms of land and population

The city has a distinct identity There are a number of historical places It would not be wrong to say that Sukkur is a city of saints and shrines The shrine of Hazrat Khairuddin commonly known as Jeay Shah Jeelani is one of the famous shrines This saint migrated from Baghdad to Sindh in the 15th century along with some companions for the preaching of Islam They devoted their whole life to their mission There is a resting place and a mosque in Sukkur where he used to stay for 40-day rituals That mosque today is in a shambles This is a sacred place with historical significance but a vast piece of land has been desecrated in an illegal way by a nexus of corrupt officials and land mafia No one is raising a voice against the illegal activity because the nexus can make life troublesome for the troublemakers There are also two ancient graves at the site, one of Jeay Shah’s son and the other of his wife The names on the tombstones are being changed by some ‘unknown persons’ and pseudo-intellectuals who wish to misguide the general public and take advantage of the gullible Such desecration of sacred places and graves have hurt the feelings of the natives especially when there is no one who may stop and raise voice against the criminal elements The Sukkur Municipal Corporation (SMC) and other relevant authorities should look into the matter and take action to restore and preserve such places PIRZADA HASSAN

Abdul SAlAm dAwAr

AmJed

WE curse Chief Justice Muneer as the pioneer who paved for praetorian rulers We however forget just what Chief Justice Muneer said shortly before pronouncing his verdict on the notorious Dosso case: ‘when politics enters the portals of justice, democracy, its cherished inmate walks out by the backdoor ’ (Roedad Khan Pakistan: A Dream Gone Sour)

Our Constitution is based on the separation of powers Yet our history teems with luminaries who harboured supra-constitutional hallucinations The institutional boundaries in golden words of our constitution are crystal clear but ‘blurred’ in minds of purblind players, ruling bureaucrats, judges and praetorians-to-be

The kingpins in various institutions always at daggers drawn should not forget Jean Bodin s dictum majesta est summa in civas ac subditoes legibusque salute potestas the highest power over citizens and subjects [is] unrestrained by law

Bodin explained power resides with whosoever has ‘power to coerce’ It does not reside with the electorate, parliament judiciary or even constitution In the past our bureaucrats judges politicians and even praetorian rulers fought tooth and nail to prove that power belonged to them

We have the rare distinction to live happily with a praetorian in uniform and grant another lifelong presidency

History glistens with names of heroes who suffered from the “I’m the constitution” paranoia Julius Caesar and Napoleon also harboured extra-constitutional thoughts Napoleon told Moreau de Lyonne “The constitution what is it but a heap of ruins Has it not been successively the sport of every party? Has not every kind of tyranny been committed in its name since the day of its establishment?

During his self-crowning in 1804, Napoleon said, “What is the throne, a bit of wood gilded and covered with velvet? I am the state I alone am here the representative of the people” Take General Zia He had nothing but contempt for the Constitution and democratic norms (Roedad Khan A Dream gone Sour)

While addressing a press conference in Teheran, he said, What is the Constitution? It is a booklet with ten or twelve pages I can tear them up and say that from tomorrow we shall live under a different system Is there anybody to stop me? Today the people will follow wherever I lead them All the politicians including the once-

An epitaph on Pakistan’s demokratia?

mighty Mr Bhutto will follow me with their tail wagging (ibid ) Dicey said No Constitution can be absolutely safe from a Revolution or a coup d état Till the day contempt of the Constitution vanishes, Pakistan will remain a battlefield of soldiers of fortune, in khaki or mufti” (ZA Bhutto) Alas! All the soldiers of fortune were mortal Our ex-PMs and PMs-to-be should take the cue Remember Nehru said Pakistan I would not have that carbuncle on India s back (DH Bhutani

The Future of Pakistan p 14) Patel called Jinnah poison Let s stop uncannily fulfilling the dreams of Pakistan’s enemies The rot starts in minds when executive, parliament or judiciary out-steps limits to its authority In his book Governance Deficit: A Case Study of Pakistan former finance secretary Saeed Ahmed Qureshi points out that our constitutional evolution had an uneasy start with preponderance of personalities over institutions Qureshi goes on to recount eight blows to the constitutional system including dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the dismissal of elected prime ministers the induction of Gen Ayub Khan as defence minister on 24 October 1954 the imposition of martial or quasi-martial law for 33 out of Pakistan’s 68 years of history” The drafter of India’s constitution Dr B R Ambedkar

prophetically remarked However good a Constitution may be if those who are implementing it are not good it will prove to be bad However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good’ The Indian Constitution allows the President to dissolve the elected Parliament (doing so is treason in Pakistan) But he has never done so

Democracy is inherent flawed Democracy in Pakistan is in peril as the politicians have no worldview To correct multifaceted social injustice , all stakeholders, in khaki and mufti, should tr y to evolve the Aristotelian Golden MeanÊ Or else , continue on auto-pilot until divine retribution strikes

In Pakistan it is the vested interests not demos (people) of demo-kratia who rule There is no social democracy To quote Ambedkar, Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life’ The fault lies with democrats not democracy whether presidential or parliamentary In his study of political systems (oligarchy, monarchy, etc ), Aristotle concluded demokratia was probably the best system The problem that bothered him was that the majority of free people (then excluding women and slaves) would use their brute voting power to introduce pro-poor legislation like taking away property from the rich During the Aristotelian age there was only one house a unicameral legislature Aristotle too was a man of means His household had slaves Aristotle suggested that we reduce income inequalities so that have-not representa-

tives of the poor people were not tempted to encroach upon haves property Like Aristotle, the American founding fathers were unnerved by the spectre of rule of the proletariat’ James Madison harboured similar concerns He feared if freemen had democracy then the poor farmers would insist on taking property from the rich via land reforms The fear was addressed by creating a senate (USA) or a House of Lords (Britain) as antidotes against legislative vulgarities of the House of Representative or a House of Commons

Aristotle would rejoice in the grave to see both Pakistan’s National Assembly (commons) and the Senate (lords) populated by the rich A “democrat” now selfexiled defiantly wore Louis Moinet Meteoris wristwatch worth about Rs 460 million Another a proponent of Medinite State owns a 30-kanal house Our august bi-cameral legislature never took any legislative steps to equalise citizens in access to education, healthcare, housing and jobs They never looked into the origin of landed aristocracy chiefs and chieftains in the subcontinent during the Mughal and British periods As a result about 560 scions of the British raj along with nouveaux riches (industrial robber barons) have been perched in our lower and upper houses since 1947

Participation was the sine qua non of the Aristotelian democracy Vote-eligible men used to flock to the parliament when in session But nowadays only a handful of “elected representatives” (a mafia) attend the parliament

A German sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book Political Parties postulated the Iron Law of Oligarchy Michels stated that the raison d être of representative democracy is eliminating elite rule It is an impossible goal

Shabbar Zaidi’s book Rich People, Poor Country portrays a sorry state of Pakistan Author ’s estimates based on the amount of assets revealed under Foreign Assets (Declaration and Repatriation) Act 2018 (tax amnesty scheme) suggest that a substantial number of Pakistanis, around seven to eight percent of the country s then total population of 210 million, were very rich These Pakistanis have individual incomes possibly exceeding even the highest average per capita incomes in the world In sharp contrast our government remains poor being able to collect taxes that constitute only 10 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP)

He argues a government not able to tax the rich will never have the resources required to provide the poor with economic and social protection

Democracy is inherent flawed Democracy in Pakistan is in peril as the politicians have no worldview To correct multifaceted social injustice all stakeholders in khaki and mufti should try to evolve the Aristotelian Golden Mean Or else continue on auto-pilot until divine retribution strikes

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

How to kill online free speech

Generative AI and dodgy blue checkmarks are a per fec t mix for misinformation to thrive on Twitter, and as Meta Platforms prepares to cut more jobs in the coming weeks, staff are concerned their content moderation teams will get curbed too

videos made from AI tools still look glitchy, but they’re likely to become more realistic in the next year or two with millions of dollars of venture-capital investment going into startups building deepfake technology (for legitimate purposes, of course)

For instance, New York startup Runway has just released a tool that allows anyone to transform one video into another type of video using words and images as prompts while San Francisco-based Gan ai has raised money from VC luminaries like Sequoia Capital to sell video personalization software to brands

KOREA HERALD PA r m y o l S o N

Afake photo of an explosion near the Pentagon went viral across Twitter on Monday, and stocks dipped The incident confirmed what many have said for months: Misinformation is on course to be supercharged as new AI tools for concocting photos get easier to use

Fixing this problem with technology will be an endless game of whack-a-mole It s certainly worth trying to track image provenance, as Adobe is doing with its Content Authenticity Initiative But as the saying goes, a lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is still lacing up its boots In a world where more content than ever is being generated artificially we ll all need to become more skeptical about what we see online especially in the run-up to a US presidential election next year

The Pentagon photo became particularly messy because of Twitter ’s poor excuse for a verification system Elon Musk revamped the site’s blue ticks so that they would no longer be monopolized by elites like press and celebrities and so more people could become verified and have a louder voice for a flat fee Unfortunately, his system has become a target for imitators, like the paid account BloombergFeed, which was one of several verified accounts that posted the Pentagon photo before getting suspended Monday morning B l o o m b e rg F e e d a n d a Tw i t t e r a c c o u n t called Walter Bloomberg which also carried the report, are not affiliated with Bloomberg N e w s , a c c o r d i n g t o a s p o k e s p e r s o n f o r Bloomberg News

Although Twitter has made a perfect environment for fake AI photos to flourish the problem ultimately goes beyond the platform The Pentagon photo originated on Facebook and we can expect more photos like it circulating on other social networks too, such as WhatsApp, where fake information about the elections in Brazil last year went viral through the app’s forwarding feature TikTok could also become more susceptible to fake videos soon enough Early examples of

While realistic fake videos might still be a year or two out, image generation is becoming easier than ever Adobe has just updated its Photoshop software with generative AI tools that allow users of the ubiquitous image-editing software to manipulate photos in much more drastic ways And there are several good image-generating tools available as mobile apps, making them easier for people to access on the go While tools like Adobe’s, Midjourney’s, or OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 won’t create images of celebrities politicians violence and war open-source alternatives like Stable Diffusion will

When I asked Stable Diffusion s co-founder last year about how the world should deal with a surge in fake photos, he said we ll all have to adjust “People will be aware of the fact that anyone can create that image on their phone, in one second ” Emad Mostaque said “People will be like Oh it s probably just created Remember the internet jargon pics or it didn t happen? Soon enough pics won t be so useful for proof, and we ll find ourselves questioning legitimate images too Twitter users got a taste of AI’s potential for accelerating misinformation in March when a fake photo of Pope Benedict in a puffer jacket went viral As we predicted back then the potential for fakery has taken a darker turn Generative AI and dodgy blue checkmarks are a perfect mix for misinformation to thrive on Twitter, and as Meta Platforms prepares to cut more jobs in the coming weeks, staff are concerned their content moderation teams will get curbed too according to a Tuesday report in the Washington Post meaning there will be fewer people to handle the problem This time last year, platforms like Twitter and Facebook had improved their abilities to stamp out misinformation Things look different today The tech companies have to do a better job of preventing fake news from spreading but we will also need to approach them with greater doses of skepticism At a time when seeing is no longer believing, we must arm ourselves with more discerning eyes, and a little more doubt

Muslim speakers a user replied Stupid Here to ruin another state Another non American here to ruin within However offensive to Mexicans and Muslims, these comments are perfectly legal under the First Amendment And as a public official, Mayor Adams is prohibited by the First Amendment from suppressing specific viewpoints on a public forum such as his official Facebook account But had Adams been the mayor of Paris the irate users could potentially have landed Adams in legal limbo

According to a new landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), freedom of expression does not immunize public officials from criminal liability if they fail to promptly remove manifestly illegal content (such as “hate speech”) posted on their accounts by followers The recent decision reveals the censorial route that Europe’s judiciary is choosing and it provides a cautionary tale as the U S Supreme Court faces many challenges to its robust protections for online speech In Sanchez v France, the mayor of a French village, local councilor, and parliamentary candidate for the right-wing Rassemblement National Party used his Facebook account to mock a rival political party’s failing website Some users commented on the posting accusing the rival political party of being allies of the Muslims and describing the city of Nimes as being infested by Drug trafficking run by the Muslims and where stones get thrown at cars belonging to white people Even though one of the comments was quickly deleted by the user and the politician warned his Facebook followers to “be careful with the content of [their] comments ” he was convicted for incitement to religious hatred and fined 3 000 euros In its decision the ECHR stressed that due to a politician s particular status and position in society he or she is more likely to influence voters, or even to incite them, directly or indirectly, to adopt positions and conduct that may prove unlawful” and therefore politicians must be “all the more vigilant” in policing content The ECHR’s decision is deeply antithetical to the egalitarian ideals of online free speech and it s likely to skew the public sphere in favor of the powerful and platformed to the disadvantage of the voiceless and marginalized One of social media s most empowering aspects is that it gives ordinary citizens and voters the ability to tell their betters what they think of them without pleasantries If politicians and public officials risk criminal liability for

comments made by third party users they will be strongly incentivized to simply disable comments This is especially true for the most prominent politicians Eric Adams, for example, has 362,000 Facebook followers, and his posts often attract hundreds of comments, which no single person even with staff could reasonably be expected to proactively review for compliance with existing laws while also serving in office

This problem is compounded by the fact that the ECHR has never defined hate speech which may include such vague and inherently subjective categories as insulting and hurtful comments In 2018, the ECHR even found that a Russian journalist had exceeded the limits of free speech and “stir[red] up a deep-seated and irrational hatred” towards the Russian army by comparing its soldiers to “maniacs” and murderers This decision hasn t aged well given the horrors inflicted by Russian troops in Ukraine

Even worse the ECHR s decision might actually legitimize the selective and viewpoint-based repression of dissent and political criticism A politician might, for instance, discriminate systematically against his or her most vociferous online critics by defining their comments as “hate speech” or other forms of illegal content The result is likely to reduce the social media accounts of politicians and public officials to onesided public relations platforms where they can spread their messages with little opportunity for public criticism by the people they re supposed to represent After all, no politician likes to be mocked and criticized in public

U S protections for political speech are vastly more expansive than those of Europe Although the First Amendment does not protect certain narrow categories of speech such as true threats and imminent incitement of lawless action it does not have a general hate speech exception In 1969 the Supreme Court struck down the conviction of an Ohio Ku Klux Klan leader who organized a rally and cross burning, writing that the law under which he was prosecuted “purports to punish mere advocacy ”

Even if hate speech was not constitutionally protected Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes platforms from civil claims and state criminal prosecutions arising from the platforms failure to take down (or keep up) user content

In 1997, the Supreme Court struck down a law that criminalized online indecency, recognizing that the internet is “a unique and wholly new medium of worldwide human communication In the quarter-century since the Court has consistently rejected attempts to allow lawmakers officials and courts to micromanage online speech This month the U S Supreme Court declined to rule whether Section 230 applies to algorithmic promotion of user content, leaving in place more than a quarter century of broad interpretations of the statute’s immunity

But the U S ’s hands-off approach to the internet is increasingly threatened In the next term the Supreme Court will likely hear challenges to Florida and Texas laws that restrict the ability of platforms to moderate content Some states have passed laws that require people to verify their age before using social media, making it far more difficult for people to speak anonymously online And in the past few years, members of Congress have introduced dozens of proposals to scale back or eliminate Section 230

The U S faces serious online harms and real challenges and the tech giants that dominate centralized social media platforms are often part of the problem But new challenges should not cause the nation to deviate from more than a century of robust free speech ideals The ECHR s ruling in Sanchez offers a window into a dystopian future of online free speech in America It is a window that we hope the U S will shut for good

Mchangama is the CEO of the Future of Free Speech

Project and a Senior Fellow at FIRE and author of Free

Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media

is a senior legal

C H I N A D E C L I N E S U S R E Q U E S T F O R

M E ET I N G B ET W E E N D E F E N C E C H I E F S

BEIJING M i A n A b r A r

CHINA on Tuesday confirmed it has declined a request by the US for a meeting between their defense chiefs at an annual security forum in Singapore this weekend “ T h e U S i s c l e a r a b o u t t h e r e a s o n why China-US military dialogue faces difficulties The US should earnestly respect China s sovereignty security and i n t e r e s t c o n c e r n s i m m e d i a t e l y c o r r e c t wrong practice show sincerity and create necessary atmosphere and conditions f o r d i a l o g u e a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n b etween Chinese and US militaries,” said M a o N i n g C h i n a ’s f o r e i g n o ff i c e spokesperson during a routine briefing to the media Austin and Li will be in Singapore to attend the annual Shangri-la Dialogue that opens on Friday, an informal gathering of defense officials and analysts that also plays host to a string of side meetings

Both are expected to hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from around

the region Li is a member of the Central Military Commission, China s top defense body that is commanded by President Xi Jinping “ O v e r n i g h t , t h e P R C i n f o r m e d t h e U S h a t t h e y h a v e d e c l i n e d o u r e a r l y M a y i n v i t a t i o n f o r S e c r e t a r y A u s t i n t o meet with PRC Minister of National Def e n s e L i S h a n g f u i n S i n g a p o r e t h e

Pentagon said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, referring to China by the initials of its official name, the People s Republic of China

The Pentagon said it believed in open communication “to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict

Last week White House spokesman John Kirby said there were discussions by

Secretar y WWF attends Asia Gulf Cooperation Council dialogue on sustainable development goals

MANILA s tA f f r e p o r t

the Defense Department to get talks going between Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, who was named defense minister in March

The prospect of a meeting between the two countries was being closely watched globally given regional security tensions and trade disputes that have derailed plans for re-engagement by the world s two largest economies

Last week, US Commerce Secretary

Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held useful discussions on trade investment and export policies in a meeting in Washington that marked the first US-China cabinet-level exchange in months T h o u g h t h e C h i n e s e o ff i c i a l s h a v e y e t t o e x p l a i n L i s s n u b b u t s o m e s e c ur i t y a n a l y s t s s a i d B e i j i n g ’s a n n o y a n c e a t U S s a n c t i o n s a g a i n s t h i m w a s a p o ss i b l e r e a s o n L i w h o s e c u r i t y s c h o l a r s s a y i s a veteran of the People s Liberation Army m o d e r n i s a t i o n e ff o r t h a s b e e n u n d e r U S s an ctio n s s in ce 2 0 1 8 o v er th e p u rchase of combat aircraft and equipment f r o m R u s s i a ’s m a i n a r m s e x p o r t e r, Rosoboronexport

Biden c alls up Erdogan, raises F-16s, Sweden in conversation

WASHINGTON Ag e n c i e s

In a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the two leaders discussed various issues, including the potential purchase of F-16 fighter jets by Turkey from the United States

President Biden expressed his willingness to work out a deal on the F-16s but also emphasised the importance of Turkey dropping its objection to Sweden’s NATO accession

During the call, President Biden congratulated Erdogan on his victory in the recent presidential election Biden later spoke to reporters stating that he had discussed the F-16s with Erdogan and informed him of the United States interest in resolving the matter with Sweden He mentioned that they would continue the conversation in the following week

The Turkish presidency’s statement on call was brief mentioning that the l e a d e r s a g r e e d t o e n h a n c e c o o p e r a t i o n on all aspects of their bilateral ties, par-

t i c u l a r l y i n t h e f a c e o f r e g i o n a l a n d

global challenges

Turkey has been seeking to purchase $20 billion worth of F-16s from the United States but the sale has faced obstacles in the US Congress Despite the Biden administration expressing support for the deal, it has not progressed swiftly

Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland,

both formerly non-aligned nations, have applied for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine However all NATO member states must approve their bids Turkey has ratified Finland s NATO accession but continues to object to Sweden s due to its alleged harboring of individuals Turkey considers terrorists Hungary has also not yet approved

Sweden’s bid Washington is prioritizing Sweden’s NATO membership before the upcoming leaders summit in Lithuania in mid-July President Biden s communication with President Erdogan involved congratulating him on his re-election and expressing a plan to discuss Erdogan s opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership at a later time Sweden and Finland’s applications to join NATO were prompted by Russia s invasion of Ukraine and Erdogan s objection to Sweden s bid may b e l i n k e d t o v a r i o u s f a c t o r s i n c l u d i n g t e n s i o n s w i t h t h e K u r d i s h d i a s p o r a i n S w e d e n a n d t h e d e s i r e t o s e c u r e F - 1 6

fighter jets after Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program T h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n B i d e n a n d E r d o g a n h a s b e e n s t r a i n e d w i t h B i d e n s p r e d e c e s s o r D o n a l d Tr u m p t a k i n g a m o r e f a v o r a b l e s t a n c e t o w a r d E r d o g a n a n d o t h e r a u t o c r a t i c l e a d e r s N o n e t h e l e s s , B i d e n o ff e r e d h i s b e l a t e d c o n g r a t u l a t i o n s t o E r d o g a n h i g h l i g h ti n g t h e c o m p l e x d y n a m i c s i n U S - Tu r ki s h r e l a t i o n s

Dozens of NATO soldiers, 52 Serbs injured in clashes in nor thern Kosovo

SERBIA Ag e n c i e s

Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that 52 Serbs were injured three of them seriously accusing Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of creating tensions Vucic called on Serbs in Kosovo to

avoid clashes with NATO soldiers Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic of “destabilizing Kosovo K F O R t h e N ATO - l e d peacekeeping mission to Kosovo condemned the violence While countering the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion

of incendiary devices,” it said in a statement 7 Hungarian soldiers were seriously injured and will be taken to Hungary for treatment according to Hungary s Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, adding that 20 soldiers were injured Italian soldiers were also among the injured peacekeeping troops The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo s Serb majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted – a move that led the U S and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday I n Z v ec a n o n e o f t h e t o w n s K o s o v o p o l i c e –s t a ff e d b y e t h n i c A lb a n i a n s

a f t e r S e r b s q u i t t h e f o r c e l a s t y e a r –s p r a y e d p e p p e r g a s t o r e p e l a c r o w d o f S e r b s w h o b r o k e t h r o u g h a s e c u r i t y b a r r i c a d e a n d t r i e d t o f o r c e t h e i r w a y i n t o t h e m u n i c i p a l i t y b u i l d i n g w i tn e s s e s s a i d Vucic, who is the commander-inchief of the Serbian armed forces, raised the army’s combat readiness to the highest level Defense Minister Milos Vucevic told reporters This implies that immediately before 2:00 p m (1200 GMT) the Serbian Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff issued additional instructions for the deployment of the army s units in specific, designated positions,” Vucevic said without elaborating N ATO p e a c e k e e p e r s a l s o b l o c k e d off the town hall in Zubin Potok to protect it from angry local Serbs witnesses said Igor Simic, deputy head of the Serb L i s t , t h e b i g g e s t B e l g r a d e - b a c k e d K o s o v o S e r b p a r t y, a c c u s e d K o s o v o P r i m e M i n i s t e r A l b i n K u r t i o f f u e l i n g tensions in the north

Manila, Philippines - The Secretary Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), Zulfiqar Ahmad arrived in Manila on May 30 2023 to participate in the Asia Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) Dialogue on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals The visit scheduled for May 30-31 aimed to address crucial labor reforms and tackle issues related to migrant labor The Secretary, accompanied by Aakif Iqbal from the Bureau of Immigration, embarked on this important mission to discuss pressing concerns affecting workers and migrants in the region The AGCC Dialogue provided a platform for key stakeholders to exchange ideas share best practices and develop strategies to achieve sustainable development goals with a focus on labor welfare During the event, the Secretary emphasized the significance of robust labor reforms to ensure the well-being and rights of workers, particularly migrant laborers who often face unique challenges The discussion centered on improving working conditions enhancing social protection measures and promoting equal opportunities for all workers in the Asia Gulf region The Secretary also highlighted the importance of cooperation among AGCC member countries to address the systemic issues affecting migrant labor By sharing experiences, knowledge, and expertise, the participating nations aimed to develop effective policies that would enhance the overall welfare of workers in the region

Joint delegation of Lahore, Faisalabad chambers calls on Finance Minister

ISLAMABAD s tA f f r e p o r t

A joint delegation of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) called on the Federal Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar today at FBR Headquarters in Islamabad The delegation comprised Mr Kashif Anwar President LCCI, Dr Khurram Tariq President FCCI and other senior members of the Chambers The Finance Minister was accompanied by Mr Tariq Bajwa Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Finance Mr Tariq Mehmood Pasha Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Mr Ashfaq Tola Chairman Reforms and Resource Mobilization Commission (RRMC) Mr Asim Ahmad Chairman Federal Board of Revenue and other senior officers from the Finance Ministry and Revenue Division During the meeting, the overall economic situation of the country came under discussion The Minister said that the Governmemt is taking all possible measures to turnaround the economy and put the country on the path to progress and prosperity He stated that reforms were being taken in many areas of economy to achieve productive and fruitful results and expressed optimism that economic situation will improve in future

Qin Gang, Elon Musk discuss fur ther developing Sino-US ties

AGENCIES

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss the development of the country s car industry and China-U S relations Qin stressed the importance of a healthy, stable and constructive ChinaU S relationship, saying developing China-U S relations is like driving a car The driver needs to keep the steering wheel in the right direction step on the brake when necessary to avoid danger and press the throttle at times to accelerate He also discussed car industry development in China with Musk saying China is pushing forward Chinese modernization, which is characterized by a huge population, common prosperity for all and harmony between humanity and nature It will create unprecedented growth potential and market demand including for the new-energy automobile industry Qin added

C hina S pace S tation sees ‘ heavenly reunion’ of 6 taikonauts

The China Space Station staged its first heavenly reunion of six taikonauts on Tuesday evening after it entered the application and development phase at the end of 2022 Led by mission commander and veteran taikonaut Jing Haipeng the incoming Shenzhou-16 trio entered the space station at 6:22 pm on Tuesday where they received warm embraces from their Shenzhou-15 brothers

The historic moment marked the beginning of China’s second in-orbit direct handover between two Shenzhou crews following the first one between the Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-14 crew in November 2022

Shenzhou-15 mission commander Fei Junlong and his fellow crew members Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu who are famous for their great skills and passion for Chinese calligraphy decorated the Tianhe core module with red and joyful couplets for the welcome party The six taikonauts exchanged hugs and firm handshakes before they have a group picture taken

to celebrate the reunion in space

Next, the crew of the two missions will carry out an in-orbit handover and will live together in the space station for about five days before the Shenzhou-15 returns to Earth according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Currently, a total of 17 astronauts are in orbit： six taikonauts from China five NASA astronauts from the US three cosmonauts from Russia two from Saudi Arabia and one from the UAE

Marking the first manned space mission after China s space station entered its application and development phase, the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft carrying three taikonauts was successfully launched onboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket at 9:31 am on Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in Northwest China After a flight of around 10 minutes the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft successfully separated from the launch vehicle and entered its preset orbit with the crew members in good condition, according to a statement the CMSA sent to the Global

Times, announcing the success of the launch mission

At 4:29 pm on Tuesday some six and a half hours after launch the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft docked with the Tianhe core module s radial port, announced the CMSA

FIRST CIVILIAN TAIKONAUT

For the team lineup, the Shenzhou-16 includes a payload expert Gui Haichao along with flight engineer Zhu Yangzhu – two first-timers in a crew that will be led by veteran taikonaut Jing Haipeng, whose trip marks his fourth time in space

All three crew members hold a doctorate degree and are members of the Communist Party of China

It is the first time Chin has sent a civilian taikonaut to space Gui the 36-year-old bespectacled payload specialist, has attracted the most public attention, as he has inspired millions of space dreamers in China and abroad He will be responsible for managing and operating scientific research and experimental projects in the space station, focusing mainly on the management and operation of payloads

CORPORATE CORNER

LCCI PRESENTS BUDGET PROPOSALS TO FINANCE MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC REVIVAL

TH E President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Kashif Anwar, presented a comprehensive set of Budget Proposals to the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar during a meeting held on Tuesday The event witnessed the presence of several key officials, including LCCI Senior Vice President Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry, Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt and various Executive Committee Members

SFERP signs two separate agreements with National Rural Support Program

The Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project (SFERP) signed two separate agreements with National Rural Support Program(NRSP) & Sindh Rural Support Organization(SRSO) to engage them associal mobilizati on partners for the provision of livelihood support amounting to US$75million for the affectees offloodhitareas inruralSindh

Thewomenandelderlypeoplewillbepreferredto carry out restoration activities who will be given a chance to participate in local rehabilitation

These two organizations will assist in the disbursement of funds to the communities under this scheme in a transparent manner This program is designed to assist the severely flood affected communities to enable them to earn livelihood by engaging semi skilled and unskilled labour for the rehabilitation of urgent basic services including clean water supply, sanitation, water course improvement, landscape restorations, roadconstructionas wellas itsmaintenance P R

PepsiCo, Amal Academy mark

10th anniversary of Amal Career Prep Fellowship Program

According to the spokesperson of LCCI during the meeting Finance Minister Ishaq Dar expressed the government s unwavering commitment to restore the country’s economy to its former glory Dar lauded the pivotal role played by the LCCI citing his own past presidency of the chamber and commended its efforts in promoting the country s economic well-being He further confirmed that the LCCI s Budget proposals would be incorporated into the official budget document Dar also reassured the business community that the upcoming Federal Budget would prioritize the interests of businesses, focusing on creating a businessfriendly environment He urged all

stakeholders to refrain from engaging in a blame game and instead directed their efforts towards steering the country forward He also provided an update on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, assuring that while the process was taking time, all necessary formalities for the 9th review program had been completed President LCCI Kashif Anwar recognizing the improvement in foreign reserves put forth a series of measures to mitigate the current foreign exchange crisis He suggested promoting trade in local currency wherever possible and adopting a barter trade mechanism Anwar further emphasized the necessity of widening the tax base and enhancing documentation by introducing a declaration scheme This scheme would incentivize individuals to bring undeclared foreign reserves, local assets, and wealth into the economic system, thus injecting liquidity into the economy

Reducing the cost of doing business was another key point addressed by Anwar He advocated for aligning Pakistan s interest rates with those of regional economies and urged the government to lower the refinance rate

In addition he called for the implementation of soft policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) along with special financing schemes featuring low markup rates and no col-

lateral requirements

Anwar also emphasized the need to tackle energy costs and land expenses to promote industrialization and stimulate private sector growth, in line with neighboring economies

To enhance tax compliance and documentation President LCCI proposed the introduction of a declaration scheme to encourage individuals to disclose their undeclared assets and join the tax net

Anwar recommended bringing individuals with industrial or commercial electricity or gas connections into the tax net suggesting a 25% income tax on bills for non-filers He stressed the importance of obtaining a National Tax Number (NTN) for new commercial electricity and gas connections

Anwar further advocated for the reduction of fines, penalties, and surcharges imposed on taxpayers He proposed a rationalization of penalties based on revenue loss and the adjustment of determined advance tax against pending refunds Recognizing the importance of addressing the refund backlog, he recommended the establishment of a committee to expedite the clearance of pending refunds

The LCCI President also highlighted the need for expediting the resolution of tax revenue claims suggesting active engagement with the Alternative Dispute

Tessori announces launch of website for registration in IT courses to be held in Governor House

Governor Sindh Kamran Khan

Tessori has announced launch of website for registration in information technology courses,to be conducted at Governor House

Governor Sindh while addressing press conference at Governor House said that desirous persons can register themselves on www governorsindh com for courses of Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and web 3 A screening test will be held and 50000 youth would be selected for these state of the art courses he added IT experts sir Zia Khan, Danyal Nagori and IT consultant Mr Muzammil Azhar were also present on the occasion Governor Sindh days completion of these courses youth can earn up to Rs 1 5 million per

month The amount would depend on acquired skills and expertise, he added He said that around 5 lac persons would be invited for screening test from which a batch of 50 000 would be selected for the first phase of this programme under Governor's initiative He said that soon banners containing details about the courses

which also be installed throughout the city the persons coming for test or taking classes would be provided meal he said Governor Sindh said that someone promised to open the doors of Governor House in the past which remained unfulfilled during the whole tenure During last Ramadan, the doors were actually

Pakistani students took top positions in Huawei IC T competition 2022-2023 global final held in C hina

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R

PepsiCo and Amal Academy celebrated the 10th anniversary and the graduation 10 000 Fellows from the Amal Career Prep program today The program has been supported by the PepsiCo Foundation since 2018, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo and is focused on supporting Pakistan’s youth to acquire essential soft skills to enhance their professional grooming This prepares them for the competitive job market and to initiate entrepreneurial ventures

AmalAcademy has empowered 10,000 fellows from over 130+ universities who have participated in the program in the last decade Amal Academy has active relationships and outreach at 24+ partner universities where students have benefitted from the intensive trainings designed to empower the next generation of changemakers 88% job-seeking alumni have received employment offers or started businesses, with 62% Fellows who found employment reporting increase in average household income Graduates have also shown 63% improvement in skills including 72% improvement in initiative-taking P R

QistBazaar expands footprint with opening of 10th facilitation centre in Gulistan-e-Johar

The Huawei ICT Competition 2022-2023 Global Final concluded in Shenzhen, drawing to a close the seventh instalment of this competition The first to be held in person since 2019, the event’s culmination was a competition between finalists in 146 teams from 36 countries Before the Final more than 120 000 students from more than 2000 universities in 74 countries and regions around the world took part in the ICT Competition

The students from Pakistan won the second and third prizes in the Network Track and third prizes in the Innovation Track at the Huawei ICT Competition 20222023 Global Final concluded recently at Huawei Headquarters in Shenzhen China The winner of the second prize in the Network Track comprised of Muhammad Faeez Asad Anwer and Faheem Yar Khuhawar from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro and Maryam Fareed from Lahore College for Women University while the team made of Fatima Shafique from Mehran University of Engineering and

IC T DIG

Technology Jamshoro Eman Yaqoob from Lahore College for Women University Umar Raza from FAST-nu Islamabad and Muhammad Zubair from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore bagged the third prize in the same category, among other teams globally

Additionally, both Team Glam from Pakistan comprising Hasan Ali Khattak Moaaz Tameer and Sidra Farooqui and Team Quran Ustads comprising Minhal Zafar Hyder Ali Muhammad Shaheer and Noor-ul-ain from FAST – National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Islamabad won the third prize in the Innovation Track, among other teams globally This year, the proportion of female contestants in the global final exceeded 21%, an increase of 8% compared to three years ago Shunli Wang VP of Huawei Middle East & Central Asia said I would like to congratulate all the winning teams from Middle East Digital talents and skills will be the foundation for the digital economy development- a key part of Middle East countries future plans and visions- and Huawei will continue to be committed to build the ICT ecosystem with a focus on local talents nurturing and bringing ICT education resources to more academies

Zong 4G partners with Roshan Packages to provide customized digital business solutions

Resolution Committee (ADRC)

He proposed granting chambers of commerce representation in the ADRC and ensuring that its decisions are binding and not subject to challenge in tax forums

Regarding tax exemptions, Anwar recommended against extending the sales tax and income tax exemptions granted to industries in the erstwhile FATA/PATA region beyond June 30 2023 He urged simplification of the sales tax system and the reduction of the high sales tax rate on inputs for export-oriented industries

Anwar further suggested removing area specifications for Tier-1 retailers and exempting one-shop retailers from pointof-sale (POS) integration He proposed using electricity consumption units as a parameter instead of the cost of electricity and lowering the import sales tax on capital goods, plant, and equipment to zero percent

The LCCI President recommended a gradual reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15% He also emphasized the importance of minimizing withholding taxes for active taxpayers President LCCI concluded the meeting by stressing the urgency of automating the process of income tax refunds under section 170 Such automation would enable faster processing and help alleviate liquidity issues faced by businesses and individuals alike

ISLAMABAD: Mr Yasumitsu Kinoshita Chief representative Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan office called on Iftikhar Ali Shallwani Federal Secretary Ministry of Housing and Works at his office PR

has partnered with Roshan Packages Limited, one of the country s largest packaging manufacturers, to provide bespoke connectivity for its business This partnership will enable Roshan Packages Limited to employ Zong 4G’s business solutions to optimize the efficacy and reliability of its daily operations across the board As part of this partnership Zong 4G will provide Roshan Packages Limited with customized connectivity solutions tailored to meet their specific business needs By leveraging Zong's sophisticated services, Roshan Packages Ltd aims to achieve increased operational efficiency and reliability in their day-to-day activities The contract signing ceremony held in Lahore was attended by representatives from both Zong 4G and Roshan Packages Ltd The ceremony showcased the shared commitment of both companies to drive innovation and transform business operations through cutting-edge digital technologies PR

Secretary Workers Welfare Fund Zulfiqar Ahmad visits Manila to attend Asia Gulf Cooperation Council dialogue on sustainable development goals PR

34th National G ames: IG Railways Police awards spor tsmen on their success

In the 34th National Games Quetta Pakistan Railways achieved remarkable success by winning gold medals in tug-of-war and other sports Under the leadership of Yasir Abbas of the Railways Police the Railways won the gold medal in the Tug of War competition The joint struggle of railway police and railway players made the team Railway successful A total of 14 teams from across the country participated in these competitions organized at the national level including Pakistan Railways Pakistan Army Navy Police HEC Punjab Balochistan Sindh KP GilgitBaltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir Yasir Abbas, the young team captain of Railways Police, after winning the competition, said that winning the gold medal for Pakistan Railways is no less than an honor and it is a great pleasure to win the gold medal The victory in the national level competition was possible due to the excellent coordination of teamwork and the result of the year-round hard work of the players The team members thanked the IG Railways Police Dr Rao Sardar Ali Khan for his encouragement and award and vowed to show better performance in the upcoming games PR

TPL Insurance to acquire assets, liabilities of New Hampshire Insurance Company's Pakistani Branch

LAhore: TPL Insurance Limited, a leading non-life insurance provider in Pakistan, today announced its Board of Directors' approval of a draft Scheme of Arrangement under Section 279 to Section 282 and Section 285 of the Companies Act 2017 The scheme outlines the acquisition of the assets and liabilities of the Pakistani Branch of New Hampshire Insurance Company ( NHIC ) Upon approval by the High Court of Pakistan, the Scheme of Arrangement will facilitate the seamless transfer of NHIC's assets and liabilities to TPL Insurance The successful completion of the transaction is subject to obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals including the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan s ( SECP ) endorsement PR

I n v e S T o r A C q u I r e S m o r e T h A n 1 0 % o f T r I - S TA r P o w e r LT d

S S h A r e S

R I -Star Power Limited has found itself in the news for a surprising situation a second time this year The latest development in the peculiar case of Tri-Star is the shocking acquisition of a staggering 1 500 000 TSPL shares by Imran Arif Dawood In an unprecedented move that sent shockwaves throughout the market, Dawood announced the acquisition of TSPL shares that translate into a monumental 10% stake in the company This is not the first time that someone has shown inter-

est in acquiring stakes in TSPL, however, Dawood is the first one to successfully do it in recent months

Tri-Star ’s saga of one takeover attempt after another Tri-Star Power Ltd is a power company located in SITE, Karachi that provides electricity on a rental basis to customers within the same industrial group Apart from this, the company has also had a recent history of treacherous ups and downs having evaded a potential takeover only a month ago

The tl;dr discusses how in April this year, it was heard that a Turkish investor named Aykut Çalikuu had expressed in-

CJP shouldn’t hear audio leaks case, says Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad

Asif on Tuesday urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan

(CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to refrain of hearing of audio leaks case for ensuring true justice to the aggrieved Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad

Asif stated this while referring to a five-member bench order of the apex court headed by the chief justice, which stayed the proceedings on various petitions challenging the constitution of the judicial commission formed by the federal government, tasked to inquire about the veracity of audio leaks allegedly involving the SC judge and a relative of the top judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa the most senior judge of the SC after the CJP headed the commission comprising Islamabad High Court Chief Justice

Aamer Farooq and Balochistan High Court Chief

Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan

Addressing on the floor of National Assembly, Khawaja

Asif expressed his opinion on the ‘wedge between the judiciary and the parliament continuing for more than a year creating political unrest in the country

He recalled that former chief justice Iftikhar

Muhammad Chaudhry s son was involved in a legal battle with Real Estate Tycoon Malik Riaz He said the former chief justice distanced himself from the case due to the conflict of interest The minister regretted that such norms and precedents had been abandoned by few judges of the apex court

If the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Ch can recuse himself then why can t the incumbent chief justice follow the same precedent to stop influencing the justice [proceedings]in audio leaks case,” he viewed

The defence minister reiterated the government had only intended by constituting the judicial commission which included the members of the judiciary to ensure transparency in court s proceedings

He regretted that the Apex Court Chief Justice scuttled the senior judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from the Commission We had not appointed members of the Parliament or someone outside the judiciary in the commission to probe audio leaks ” the minister added The CJP had rejected that commission because his mother-in-law s audio call was also under the probe he alleged

Provisional annual GdP growth recorded at 0 29%: finance ministr y

terest in buying more than 51% of the shares of Tri-Star Power However, this deal fell through when someone involved in the transaction alleged that the company s management was obstructing the takeover attempt by highlighting certain malpractices and violations

The potential buyer had been accused of causing a massive 431% increase in the price of the company’s shares between July 2022 and February 2023 even though there were no significant changes in the company s operations However following the announcement of the possible takeover, the company s share price started to decline On March 8, 2023, the

shares closed at Rs 16 04, but after the public announcement of the possible takeover on March 9 2023 the share price plummeted to Rs 13 93 a decrease of 13% in just two days Luckily for TSPL, these actions were in violation of the Securities Act 2015 and the regulations set by the Listed Companies (Substantial Acquisition of Voting Shares and Takeovers) Regulations 2017 and raised several legal questions The Sindh High Court intervened and ordered a halt to the takeover attempt, helping TSPL avert the hostile acquisition Dawood s acquisition of 1,500,000 TSPL shares indicates that Tri-Star remains a sought after company especially because the power sector in Pakistan offers lucrative returns making it a desirable sector to invest in

i l k B a n k ’s l i s t o f wo o e r s g rows a s M C B t h rows h at i n t h e r i n g

g THIS IS FOURTH PARTY TO HAVE SHOWN INTEREST IN ACQUIRING

Early on Monday morning a major development occurred in the banking sector MCB Bank Limited (MCB) has expressed interest in one of the smallest banks of Pakistan, Silkbank Limited MCB informed Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that its Board of Directors (BoD) has given a green signal to the management to conduct due diligence of Silkbank Limited

This due diligence will set the course for MCB s future actions as the bank stated that the potential transaction is subject to favourable outcomes of due diligence, internal and regulatory approvals and definitive documents

Organisations that expressed interest in Silkbank

MCB Bank is the fourth party that has expressed interest in SilkBank in recent times

In April the International Commercial Bank (ICB), a South Sudanese bank, expressed its intention to invest up to 50 million euros (equivalent to Rs 15 4 billion) in Silkbank

Later on, Pakistan Housing Finance Company (PHFC) a subsidiary of Lake City Limited and a leading consortium of an investor group supported and backed by the renowned management of Burj Capital which carries the required experience of setting up and successfully managing Islamic and conventional banks in Pakistan, proposed an investment of up to Rs 12 billion into Silkbank Limited’s equity

On May 2 2023 United Bank Limited (UBL) announced its intention to formally pursue a potential merger with SilkBank

Previously in early 2021 Fauji Foundation which has a stake in Askari Bank expressed interest to acquire a major stake in Silk Bank When it lost interest, Habib Bank and Bank Alfalah became interested in acquiring Silk Bank’s consumer portfolio in mid-2021

In May 2022 Park View Enclave (Private) Limited owned by businessman and politician Aleem Khan expressed interest in acquiring 51% of the stake in Silk Bank which also withdrew its intention in October 2022, citing a change in its business priorities

What is in it for MCB (and other investors that have expressed their interest in the Bank)?

Silkbank formerly the Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank, is primarily focused on the consumer segment with a portfolio of services consisting of consumer loans, and credit cards The smallest bank of Pakistan manages a good credit card and personal loan portfolio and has sound Shariah-compliant products UBL could expand its outreach by merging with Silkbank It could merge its Islamic banking operations with Silkbank to appease the ever-growing demand for Sharia-compliant financial products

What is in it for Silkbank?

Silkbank has been making losses for a few years now The bank reported a profit of Rs 13 2 billion in 2018 Thereafter it reported a net loss of Rs 3 95 billion in 2019 which increased to Rs 6 57 billion at the end of 2020 Its accumulated losses amounted to Rs 20 27 billion at the end of 2020, the latest period for which the bank has published its financial accounts

Its capital stood at Rs 3 16 billion against the prescribed minimum capital requirement of Rs 10 billion at the end of 2020 Similarly its capital adequacy ratio was -4 45% against the prescribed level of 11 5% on Dec 31 2020

The bank is in desperate need of new capital to meet regulatory requirements Earlier this year, Silkbank said in a press release that the bank is on a growth trajectory But annual reports have not been made available to the public

The Ministry of Finance has said that the External payments remained burdened due to lesser foreign exchange inflows throughout the year

The Ministry of Finance in monthly Economic Update and Outlook May 2023 mentioned that Pakistan economy experienced 0 29% provisional GDP growth in the FY 2023 on account of many challenges emanating from an uncertain external and domestic economic environment These challenges triggered CPI inflation to remain on a higher trajectory despite monetary tightening primarily due to PKR depreciation adding that the report mentioned that external payments also remained burdened due to lesser foreign exchange inflows Fiscal consolidation adopted by the government during the outgoing year has supported economic sustainability the report states The monthly report states that rehabilitation of agriculture activities during the Kharif season will also have a positive effect on economic growth Overall, the appropriate policy-mix is expected to bring prosperity economic growth and improved supply chain The report stated that Inflationary pressure in May 2023 is expected to continue as observed in the month of April

65% of retail investors in PSX hail from small cities and towns

g APPROXIMATELY 40% OF NEW INVESTORS HAVE REGISTERED USING SAHULAT ACCOUNT

ISLAMABAD G

A recent analysis reveals that approximately 65 percent of retail investors in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) originate from small cities and towns This demonstrates an increase in the penetration of stockbrokers throughout the country due to relaxed regulations However experts argue that the government must ensure a level playing field for the stock market to thrive Farrukh H Khan CEO and Managing Director of the Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited (PSX), highlighted the positive impact of recent measures that have started to yield results These measures have not only attracted small investors but also increased the participation of small brokers In the past participation in the stock market by small investors was predominantly dominated by individuals from Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, stated Mr Khan He pointed out the steps taken by the PSX and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to facilitate investors These measures include easy online account opening from any location within the country Additionally in collaboration with the State Bank banks now share the Know Your Customer (KYC) information with brokers, eliminating the need for repetitive KYC processes for brokers and investors

Pa k- I t a l y J E C a g r e e s t o j o i n t f r a m e wo r k e n c o m p a s s i n g m u l t i s e c t o r a l a r e a s

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman and Italy’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Maria Tripodi on Tuesday co-chaired the 5th meeting of the Pakistan-Italy Joint Economic Commission (JEC) at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The two sides agreed to set up a joint framework to tackle climate change and cooperation in water management hailing the establishment of an Italian Trade Agency office in Islamabad the next week a news release said

Speaking on the occasion Senator Sherry Rehman said it was a pleasure to co-chair the 5th meeting of the Pakistan-Italy JEC in Rome with the Deputy Minister She added that the establishment of the I t a l i a n Tr a d e A g e n c y o ff i c e i n I s l a m a b a d would boost bilateral trade “We are building a c o m m o n f r a m e w o r k w i t h I t a l y t o t a c k l e climate change and improve water managem e n t T h e t r a d e p a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n P a ki s t a n a n d I t a l y i s s t r o n g e r t h a n e v e r O u r bilateral trade is to reach $2 billion in 2022, and Pakistan’s exports will cross $1 billion,” Sherry Rehman said The next JEC meeting would be hosted in

Islamabad at a mutually convenient time which we look forward to she added

While welcoming the finalisation of the Visa Waiver Agreement for Diplomatic Passports’, both sides reiterated their commitment to speedy negotiations to finalize the framework for Migration and Labour Mobility Businessmen from Pakistan and Italy participated in the meeting

The event concluded with the signing of an important Roadmap for Cooperation covering climate change, trade and investment, heritage, culture, agriculture, higher education, technical cooperation and technology transfer in reference areas

I n s t i t u t i o n s b e i n g s ys t e m a t i c a l l y ‘d e s t r o ye d ’ t o b r e a k P T I : I m ra n

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan came down hard on the cabal of crooks for unleashing a reign of terror and said that nobody could have imagined of stooping to this level in Pakistan’s politics, as PTI’s workers were not only being subjected to worst torture but were being threatened that women from their house would be taken away Addressing the nation on Tuesday PTI Chairman said that the fascist government crossed all limits of barbarism and cruelty, as there was no prior example of exerting this kind of pressure on any political party in the country Imran Khan said that ten thousand people workers and supporters of ours were thrown in jail and many of them including party leaders, were tortured due to continuing to stand with the party The PTI Chairman highlighted that party

leaders were being tortured just because they gave statements that they were standing with the party However he added that those were spared and forgiven who said that they were leaving PTI I have seen videos of Ejaz Chaudhry, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Shehryar Afridi, Umar Cheema and Mahmoodur Rashid when they were taken to the court to appear who were tortured because they are standing with the party he added PTI Chairman continued that Dareshak family s farmhouse was smashed and police broke into PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan and Atif Khan’s houses and picked up the servants adding that the country’s institutions were being destroyed as they have asked to break his party Those institutions that are supposed to stop crime have been tasked with destroying PTI, he said Imran Khan revealed that despite unleashing a reign of terror only a few have left the party because he had allotted the party tickets

himself this time and secondly people had realised that whoever left the party at this juncture their politics would end forever We did not even intend to allot tickets to most of those who have left the PTI, he added Imran Khan stated that all of PTI s leadership was either in jail or in hiding to avoid the unlawful detention adding that homes of those in hiding were being attacked and demolished

PTI Chairman said that now the fascist government was after the ticket holders to put a pressure on them to part ways with the PTI, as a new drama was being concocted of a new party PTI Chairman said that many of those deserting the party were now lobbying for more breakaways

However he made it clear that the party cannot end through such brutal tactics because the people were standing with the PTI Imran Khan stated that in the by-elections of July 17, people rejected the loots and turncoats and now the situation was even worse because the public was angry but panicked ”

S

g CPI BA SED INFLATION REMAINS ON AN UPWARD TRAJECTORY DESPITE MONETARY TIGHTENING

SILKBANK DURING PA ST FEW MONTHS

g INVESTMENT COMES AFTER INTEREST FROM TURKISH INVESTOR GOT COMPANY INVOLVED IN A LEGAL BATTLE