MG Pakistan Unveils Ambitious Plans: Introducing New Variants and Expanding M arket

Presence in 2023

LAHORE

P R

MG Pakistan a prominent player in the country s automotive industry aims to introduce two new variants of its popular models, the MG HS Excite and 2 0 AWD, in a bid to further strengthen its market presence and cater to evolving consumer preferences

As part of their expansion strategy MG Pakistan is also turning its focus towards the sedan segment, which currently holds a substantial 45% market share

Asif Ahmed, General Manager Marketing Division expressed optimism about the potential of the sedan market and revealed that their first sedan offering for Pakistani consumers might be the MG GT, a 1600 CC Sedan car Following the remarkable success of the MG C-SUVs, with over 15 thousand units sold in the last two and a half years MG Pakistan sees great potential in the sedan category as well as in other C and D SUVs

Key to MG Motors vision is the localization of high-value parts to enhance competitiveness within the domestic market and explore potential export opportunities While the company currently relies on imported parts due to its greenfield status it aims to seek partnerships with global manufacturers to enable the local production

PLPGMA rejec ts LPG strike announced by unregistered association

The Pakistan LPG Marketers Association (PLPGMA) statement on strike announcement by an unregistered association Our association believes that these sorts of calls of strike with mala fida intention will further increase the hardships of the consumer of LPG in Pakistan In this regard, ViceChairman Muhammad Ali Haider said that a few vested interests are misguiding the genuine members of Associations and Distributors of LPG to make their blitz shops and are exploiting them economically They have sold LPG in black by conducting strikes in the past and are still being attempted A strike call has been given to those who have stored LPG to sell at a high price, and rejected by the LPG industry PR of high-tech components which will further contribute to the growth of Pakistan s auto industry Amidst the prevailing economic situation, MG Motors remains positive about Pakistan's automotive potential

Asif Ahmed noted that Auto industry has always shown ‘V’ type recovery and indicated a promising and prosperous market in the near future

PPP names three -member committee for nomination of caretaker govt in Sindh: Memon

The Minister for Information Transport and Mass Transit of Sindh, Sharjeel Inam Memon, stated that the People's Party has nominated a three-member committee for the caretaker government The opposition leader is currently in hiding and I urge him to fulfill his constitutional duty without fear of any repercussions both inside and outside the assembly

While speaking to journalists at the Sindh Assembly media corner, Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the Sindh government has initiated a housing plan for flood victims in Larkana, this initiative is based on the instructions of Pakistan People s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Under this plan ownership rights of the land will be granted to the women of the respective families aiming to empower women in the region Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed his intention to extend this program to other provinces if the Pakistan People s Party forms the next government Sharjeel Inam Memon stated that the Sindh gov-

Air C hief felicitates Hamza K han for winning the world junior squash championship

Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, congratulated Hamza Khan on wining the World Junior Squash Championship 2023, held in Melbourne, Australia

The young squash player Hamza khan won the title by defeating Mohamed Zakaria of Egypt with a score of 3-1 during the final match played in the coastal city of Melbourne The Air Chief expressed his felicitations to the young champion for bringing the title back to Pakistan after a gap of 37 years He further said that this victory has evoked memories of Jansher Khan’s triumph in the 1986 World Squash Championship and termed it a revival of Pakistan s glory in the game of squash PR ernment is actively providing houses to the flood victims in the province He mentioned that the People's Party is receiving gratitude from the people for their efforts Additionally he highlighted that population growth is a pressing issue for the country and it requires serious and immediate measures to address

Responding to questions from journalists, Sharjeel Inam Memon stated that every political party has the right to nominate its candidate for the Prime Minister s position and Maulana Fazlur Rehman also has the full right to exercise his political actions He mentioned that approximately 80 percent of GDA (Grand Democratic Alliance) members are in contact with the People s Party He emphasized that despite any accusations, the People's Party aims to collaborate with all political forces and holds respect for everyone Sharjeel Inam Memon also said that a neutral setup is necessary for transparent elections In response to a question he stated that all decisions regarding the caretaker government will be made with the intention of ensuring free and fair elections The priority of the People s Party is to conduct fair elections, and they will make efforts to include non-controversial individuals in the caretaker setup

Transportation of mortal remains of decased Pakistanis in boat wreck in Greece

i s l a m a b a d: On the direction of honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan and under supervision of honorable Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis & HRD the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & HRD/OPF in coordination with Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Pakistan Mission Athens is transporting mortal remains of Pakistanis who drowned in Greece in a migrant workers boat wreck As per details, a fishing boat overloaded with migrants sunk off the coast of Greece - killing at least 78 people and leaving hundreds missing Greek authorities rescued 104 people from the vessel after it got into distress and sank 45 miles southwest of Peloponnese in the early hours of Wednesday 14th June 2023 PR

B O O K R E V I E W: ‘ Th e Ce r e m o ny o f I n n o ce n ce’

seems to have intentionally subtitled the four parts of the book as ‘earth’ ’air ’ water and fire (Cf The Waste Land ) with a view to realigning the mythico-spiritual aura of the book

The events in the narrative relate to an exotic alien land (Thailand) that the (nameless) protagonist of the story, vicariously representing the author himself visited after a lapse of around three decades It was an official visit as the authorial persona had been delegated to represent his country at a multilateral moot lasting for three days in the country of his destination

The presence of a biographical nay autobiographical similitude in the novellaesque novel would seem to endorse the writer s contention that no author (of a fictional narrative like a novel) could afford to write it without something of himself in it whether it s fantasy, stream of consciousness or science fiction’

SYED AFSAR SAJID

‘The Ceremony of Innocence’

Syed Afsar Sajid

Title: ‘Second Coming’

Author: M Athar Tahir

Publisher: Lightstone Publishers, Mehran Town, Karachi

Price: Rs 1295/-

Pages: 190 –

K a r a c h i: A fintech company based out of Karachi Swich has won the Pakistan Innovation Hub Award that led to a grant of PKR 20 million under the Ministry of Planning Presenting its innovative idea at the Pakistan Innovation Hub, Swich showcased its solution aimed at creating a digital Pakistan, fostering financial inclusion, and addressing critical macroeconomic challenges within the nation The proposal received an overwhelmingly positive response leading to Swich s selection as the highest grant winne PR

Renowned Pakistani poet of English and a three-time recipient of Patras Bokhari Award for Literature in English, ex-bureaucrat M Athar Tahir has now come out with his maiden work of fiction named Second Coming which has been widely acclaimed by discreet readers of English fiction here and elsewhere

It is intended to explore layers, as it were, of ‘several countries and cultures, belief systems and social structures, ages and genders’ The quasi–symbolic title of the novel seemingly suggests inter alia a gyre-like revolution configuring the pietistic and the terrene The author

The anonymity of the protagonist is further explained by him as a deliberate artistic move to dissimulate his identity because if the name had been given it would have been a certain person Without a name, it could be anybody or everyman Much of it was left to the imagination of the readers if they think it’s autobiographical ’ Simultaneously as for the role of the reader vis-à-vis a work of fiction such as the present one the writer is of the view that for a character to be relevant in fiction, it must speak of some aspect of the reader’s personality’ This empathetic view of the art of narration is the cornerstone of Athar Tahir’s narratorial adeptness

The artist starts from life itself How then is he to express himself so that he may be understood by others who are sharing the common life of all humanity? Only in terms of something known within the compass of that life, in a material medium!

That is why Pater ’s (renowned English art and literary critic and an accomplished stylist: 1839-94) stylist has to winnow and search for the right words that is why Winckelmann s (a pioneering German art historian and archaeologist: 1717-68) sculptor must wrestle with his resistant material because he is trying to get back into the world of sensible reality of life what he originally extracted from the same world The externals of life gave him the impulse

The externals of life can alone give him the language with which to express what he has seen All art, assuredly, is expression; but it is the expression of life, as the artist sees it in a language which other man can understand The implications of this Crocean (Croce Italian philosopher historian and art critic: 1866-1952) critical dictum could be conveniently extended to Athar Tahir s instant fictional work

The concept of second coming in Christianity implies the belief that Jesus Christ will return to Earth at some point in the future The Bible particularly the New Testament is the source of this belief that describes the return of Jesus with concomitant events It will be a transformative happening marking his glorious comeback He will judge the living and the dead The righteous shall be rewarded with eternal life in heaven whereas the wicked shall be punished with eternal damnation in hell

Notwithstanding the uncertainty shrouding the second coming, Christians are called to live in anticipation of it W B Yeats’s (1865-1939) poem ‘The Second Coming (1921) was a superbly controlled powerful poetic commentary not only on WWI and the decline of traditional standards but also on the 20 th century man and the new invention of horror Sukhon Urairat (aka Su) p o i s e , g e s t u r e s , a n d g e s t i c u l a t i o n s speak eloquently for her nature character and attitude The monologic speeches of the ageing protagonist tend to vocalize his frenzied longings Verily it is an attempt on the part of the autobiographer to explore the parity of the sacred and the profane in his life which one would fain call the human condition In some kind of an impressionistic vein the author lays bare his cerebral ramblings so as to involve a thoughtful, discernible reader in the complex mechanism of his fictional art

In his ‘second coming’ to Thailand after his eventful 3-day official tour in the near past we are treated to a long drawn monologue signifying the emotional chaos caused by Su s growing indifference to his solicitousness

Dr Tariq Rahman has aptly elabor a t e d t h i s p o i n t i n h i s o b s e r v a t i o n : ‘Love, and that too of an elderly Paki s t a n i m i d d l e - c l a s s h a p p i l y m a r r i e d man for a younger Thai woman Who would dare to write a novel on this unpromising theme? Yet this is what the author does and with such pathos, such deep feeling, such aching nostalgia and s u c h p r o b i n g i n t o t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s o f the human experience that one cannot help admiring it ’

The analogy between the two prod u c t i o n s v i z S e c o n d C o m i n g a n d T h e S e c o n d C o m i n g c a n a t b e s t b e t e r m e d a s a m e t a p h y s i c a l c o n c e i t o b l i q u e l y r e f e r r i n g t o t h e g l o w e r i n g human condition exemplified in the ins t a n t n o v e l : ‘ T h e v a n v a n i s h e s i n t h e traffic spiriting away five years of fragrance The image of the vanishing van o u t o f t h e S p i r i t u s M u n d i ( C f T h e Second Coming by W B Yeats) could be likened to the drowning of the ceremony of innocence’ which would continue to trouble the protagonist’s sight, God knows until when!