Epaper_25-9-24 KHI

PM REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO ENDURING PARTNERSHIP WITH KSA , SEEKS STRONGER TIES WITH KUWAIT

g PRAISES SAUDI SOLIDARITY DURING MAY 2025 TENSION WITH INDIA, ECONOMIC SUPPORT

g HOLDS TALKS WITH KUWAITI CROWN PRINCE; FOCUS ON TRADE, INVESTMENT

PR I M E Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to further deepen its enduring partnership with Saudi Arabia describing the bond between the two nations as rooted in Islam, history, brotherhood, and mutual trust He also expressed Pakistan’s keen desire to expand cooperation with Austria and Kuwait across diverse sectors during bilateral engagements on sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly session according to

video link from Adiala Jail The court was hearing a case relating to the May 9, 2023 attack on the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) which followed Imran’s arrest and sparked violent protests across the country during which state buildings and military installations were torched Last week, the ATC had dismissed a plea for Imran s in-person appearance, instead allowing his participation via a WhatsApp call During Tuesday’s hearing however Imran’s voice repeatedly broke and his face appeared blurred prompting his lawyers Salman Akram Raja and Faisal Malik to walk out of the proceedings terming the process unfair Despite their boycott, ATC Judge Amjad Ali Shah went ahead with the hearing and recorded statements of eight witnesses, including officials from PEMRA, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Information Department PTI’s legal team rejected the move arguing that witness statements should not be recorded under such conditions Later, the court adjourned the hearing until September 27, with more witnesses summoned Indictment and detention Imran Khan was indicted in the case on December 5 2023 He has been incarcerated in Adiala Jail since August 2023 and was formally arrested in the May 9 protest case in January 2024 PTI lawyers’ objections Speaking to the media after the boycott, Raja said: A mobile phone was placed before Khan sahib in jail, and a video call was made The judge received the call on his phone but Khan sahib could not hear what was being said in court nor could the courtroom hear him He argued that Imran remained unaware of witness testimonies and that his legal team was denied the opportunity to speak to him privately The judge said we could not talk because the link was too weak This right, too, was denied,” Raja claimed The counsel said they had filed an application before the

lauded Saudi Arabia’s developmental strides under the crown prince s leadership calling its global standing a shining example of vision and wisdom

Highlighting the contributions of millions of overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia he said they were playing a vital role in the Kingdom s progress while strengthening bilateral relations Concluding his message, he prayed for Saudi Arabia’s continued prosperity raising slogans of “Long live Pakistan-Saudi brotherhood and Long live the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Pakistan

for

FO noted that Islamabad s endorsement of the declaration reflects its longstanding commitment to the Palestinian cause and to a fair and sustainable peace process Pakistan also recalled that it was among the first countries to recognise Palestine in 1988 and has consistently advocated for Palestine’s admission as a full member state at the United Nations

board review, amid gas rationing measures and concerns over losses from unaccounted-for gas

Pakistan seeks tariﬀ concessions on 700 items from China under CPFTA Phase III

Karachi Por t Trust requests 600 acres of land for truck terminal to ease traffic congestion in Karachi

kpt

from China as part of ongoing negotiations for the third phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA), Business Recorder reported

According to the news report the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce chaired by Jawed Hanif Khan, was briefed by Additional Secretary (In-charge) Salman Mufti

The Commerce Ministry highlighted that Pakistan’s exports to China have increased since CPFTA Phase II but preferential market access has eroded due to China s agreements with other trading partners In FY 2024–25, Pakistan’s exports to China stood at $2 375 billion with $2 16 billion under the FTA framework Officials said negotiations aim to secure market access comparable to ASEAN and Bangladesh, alongside easing compliance through agricultural protocols and exploring a “Green Channel” at the Sust-Khun-

jerab

Committee members expressed concern over the limited diversification of exports and stressed the need to shift from raw material shipments to value-added products Initiatives such as participation in major expos including the China International Import Expo, China International Supply Chain Expo, and Pakistan’s own FoodAg, HEMS, and TEXPO were highlighted as opportunities for joint ventures technology transfer and integration into global value chains

The meeting also addressed licensing issues of district chambers, particularly in Karachi, with members confirming that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) would retain its status while allowing new district chambers to operate without undermining its role

The Committee settled a long-standing issue regarding KCCI, affirming it will continue as the premier chamber ” an official statement said Other matters discussed included the lapse of the North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI) license, delayed resolution of SRO 760 affecting

gold trade and accountability concerns at Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited (PRCL), including a Rs500 million overpayment by a former CEO The committee recommended reviving SRO 760 immediately and establishing a regulatory authority for gemstones and jewellery, citing India and Bangladesh as examples

The committee also reviewed Pakistan’s Free Trade Agreements with Malaysia Sri Lanka and under SAFTA noting structural flaws such as reliance on low-value exports outdated agreements, high energy costs, and non-tariff barriers Members emphasized the urgent need to enhance value-added production in textiles minerals and meat which has an export potential of $5 billion

The meeting concluded with a strong call for institutional reforms strengthened trade official accountability, and leveraging international platforms to showcase Pakistani products Representatives from the KCCI and senior Commerce Ministry officials including Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig Tahira Aurangzeb Gul Asghar Khan, and others, attended the session

Pakistan floods batter fields, fac tories and fisc al plans

OGLAM

crops have been damaged, said Khalid Bath, chairman of the Pakistan Farmers Association He said losses could exceed 2 5 million acres worth up to one trillion rupees ($3 53 billion) This is unlike anything we have seen in recent decades, said Iqrar Ahmad Khan, former vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad He estimates at least a tenth of the country’s crops are destroyed with vegetable losses topping 90% in some districts The timing is perilous: Pakistan is about to sow wheat the crop that provides nearly half of the country s caloric intake National reserves remain comfortable after a strong 2024 harvest, according to Crop Monitor but the sowing window is at risk in fields still slick with silt and mud

Food insecurity is coming not just higher prices Khan warned UNDERPLAYING RISKS Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

BILATERAL ENGAGEMENTS

IN NEW YORK

On the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly session, Prime Minister Shehbaz met Federal Chancellor of Austria Christian Stocker and discussed ways to broaden bilateral cooperation The two leaders identified trade, tourism, climate change, and education as priority areas for collaboration and agreed to exchange delegations to boost tourism

The Austrian chancellor expressed readiness to explore new avenues of cooperation and appreciated Pakistan s interest in strengthening ties Later, Shehbaz also met Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad AlMubarak Al-Sabah Crown Prince of Kuwait and reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to enhance cooperation in

trade, investment, agriculture, livestock, manpower export, and health

He recalled the historic bonds of brotherhood between the two countries and thanked Kuwait for its solidarity after last year s floods The prime minister also conveyed his respects to Kuwait s Amir, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber AlSabah, and looked forward to hosting the crown prince in Pakistan later this year

Both leaders also discussed regional and international developments, with the Kuwaiti crown prince praising Pakistan’s efforts to highlight the plight of Palestinians and its role in promoting peace in the Middle East Joined world leaders at opening of General Debate of 80th UNGA Session Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz joined world leaders at

the opening of the General Debate of the 80th UNGA Session He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi Shehbaz will also attend a special summit of Arab and Islamic countries, co-hosted by the United States and Qatar where he has been specially invited US President Donald Trump is also expected to participate During his stay, the prime minister is scheduled to hold meetings with World Bank President Ajay Banga IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and address the high-level Global Development Initiative meeting on the theme Recommit to our Original Aspirations, United to Build a Brighter Future of Global Development ”

COMMENT

Cost of the war

A repor t emerges on how much Israel has spent on the Gaza genocide

WAR is expensive business, as Israel is finding out Its attack on Gaza City is expected to cost 25 billion shekels or about $7 5 billion This is in addition to the 204 billion shekels already spent or about $60 billion Other countries would be worried but the Netanyahu government seems unconcerned and is ready to continue the assault till the so-called elimination of Hamas He is not determined, but bankrolled The USA’s current programme of military aid, signed in 2016 under President Barack Obama, provided $38 billion over 10 years That means the US taxpayer is bankrolling the genocide, because with that kind of money coming in, the least of Israel’s worries during this war is how to pay for it The US is not providing money but equipment but bombs, and not just against Gazans but against Iran It is this support which enables Israel to continue what can only be described as a murder spree

It is an irony that the USA has a President who wants to trim excessive spending, shutting down vital departments in the name of government efficiency’ but is one of Isrtael’s most ardent supporters If it had not been for this over-generous US support Israel could not have sustained the genocide financially With a GDP of $580 billion adjusted for inflation, the economy is smaller than it was before the war Also, Israelis are voting with their feet: there has been a net loss 0f 83,000 people in 2024; which does not include departures after 7 October 2023, or after January 1 this year This is not so much a shrinking population as a demographic disaster

Dedicated to the legac y of late Hameed Nizami Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

The coming of this report coincides with the UN General Assembly, which is expected to be seized of the Gaza crisis It has been preceded by a rash of recognitions of Palestine by countries which were once counted supporters of Israel However, have those recognitions led to any sanctions of Israel? The UK for example still sells Israel arms and supports the Israeli economy by trading with it Recognition merely placates a section of public opinion but does not stop the genocide which has crossed 63 000 people M A Niazi Editor Pakistan Today Babar Nizami Editor Profit

TOR too many years now Democrats have focused on winning elections by appealing to what they have termed their “base” (young voters Black Latino and Asian voters and educated women) At the same time they have largely abandoned white working class voters to Republicans one reason why Democrats have lost too many recent federal and local elections across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states As we look at data from the 2020 and

Americans are immigrants from a number of African or Caribbean nations With this in mind, I accepted an invitation to address an Asian American conference on the issues in the 2026 election Having given this matter some thought I deliberately did not prepare an “Asian” speech I recalled a story I’ve

this excuses anyone; it only clarifies that rivers are indifferent to flags Look really look at what the water leaves behind Cotton fields that anchor the textile economy under murk Rice seedlings flattened into mud Livestock saved but fodder gone Economists will later write in the passive voice about supply shocks and inflationary pressure For now, farmers in Muzaffargarh and Multan count lost seasons in months and lost dignity in days The devastation threatens food security and a core share of export earnings Think of the schools: some serving as shelters others uninhabitable In July UNICEF warned that children were already bearing the brunt of this monsoon; every week since has sharpened that edge A child loses a classroom, then a semester, then a future That is how climate change translates itself into biography Consider too the informational fog Provincial authorities speak of controlled breaches a sterile term for the desperate arithmetic of sacrificing one landscape to save another Journalism helps break the fog: local reporting has tracked where the cuts are made and whose houses take the torrent But a public can only be asked to endure what it fully understands and understanding requires access Now comes the part where columns often pretend to change minds I will not By now most of us have chosen our enemies: the government, the neighbour upstream, the neighbour downstream, the global North, the elites who paved a wetland, the poor who built on a canal bank because the market left no other choice Instead let me appeal to something less useful in a shouting match and more essential in a nation: our appetite for joined-up solutions that measure up to the water First, Pakistan must operationalise a basinwide, pre-agreed flood protocol with India beyond emergency notes rooted in real-time hydro-data sharing coordinated gate operations and independent verification We know this is possible because we already cooperate on many

things when heat is not rising Rivers are a better place to rebuild trust than slogans are Second take room-for-the-river from PowerPoint to map That means funded buyouts and resettlement for the most exposed villages not after the flood, but before the next one; restoring floodplains where we can and hardening where we must This is not charity; it is cheaper than rebuilding the same house every two years Third unlock parametric insurance and forecastbased financing at scale When gauges cross a threshold, cash should move automatically to provinces, districts, and households; the metric triggers the money, not a pleading letter The instruments exist Pakistan and its partners should use them Fourth fix the last mile of early warnings: Urdu and regional languages sirens and mosque loudspeakers women-led networks that know who is actually home at noon The World Bank and others are already financing flood-resilience programmes; insist that disbursements track not just kilometres of embankments but households reached and evacuations achieved Fifth treat this as what it is: a Loss and Damageclass event in a low-emitter country The humanitarian appeal is badly underfunded; this year pledges have limped while the water sprinted Donors who praise resilience must fund it now, while it still matters Skeptics will say as they always do that Pakistan must first help itself Fine Then let us point to the people in boats the engineers cutting embankments in the night, the volunteers handing out bread, the meteorologists putting their credibility on the line with each advisory and say: we are helping ourselves But we live on a warming planet whose dice are loaded When attribution scientists tell us the rain itself has changed, that is a multilateral problem by definition By the time you read this another advisory will likely be out warning of fresh monsoon pulses moving into Sindh and eastern Punjab The temptation will be to wait the season out and then move on We cannot Not because the world owes Pakistan pity but because a livable future

Dr JameS J zogby

Islamisation or Instrumentalisation?

Th e G u l f ’s S h a r i a h M o d e l a n d Pa k i s t a n’s H u d o o d Le g a c y

standards

became a trap for victims: a woman who failed to prove rape according to the impossible standard of four adult male witnesses risked being charged with zina herself Far from protecting women the law created a climate of fear that silenced them We saw this dynamic most clearly in the rise of accusations under the Zina Ordinance Between 2001 and 2004 charges increased from 3 291 to 3 817 with the overwhelming majority ending in acquittal Rather than deterring crime the law became a tool of oppression frequently used by vengeful husbands and fathers against wives and daughters Historian

Ayesha Jalal has argued that Zia, “a shrewd social tactician,” focused on women’s issues to solidify his regime’s legitimacy rather than to restore moral purity Islamisation was never about implementing Shariah in its true essence; it was about political survival, regional power plays in Afghanistan, and pleasing foreign patrons during the Cold War The result was a body of laws that carried the name of Shariah but none of its justice

Contrast this with the experience of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates the two most visible examples of Shariahbased criminal justice today Saudi Arabia reports a murder rate of about 0 9 per 100,000 people and a robbery rate of 2 9 per 100 000 among the lowest in the world Dubai and the UAE post similarly low murder rates around 0 92 per 100 000 Research found that Saudi Arabia s crime rate was significantly lower than that

of six neighbouring Muslim countries that do not apply Shariah law Judges police officials and laypeople all pointed to the same moral climate: the combination of religious socialization and the certainty of swift, visible punishment created an environment where serious crime was rare

This is not just about severity Islamic criminal law properly understood is as much about procedure and restraint as about penalties Scholars have argued that the human-rights critiques of hudud should focus less on the harshness of the punishments and more on the procedural safeguards that classical Islamic law provides for the accused These include high evidentiary standards opportunities for repentance before proceedings begin and strict judicial oversight

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) Himself encouraged offenders to repent before the case was brought to court, emphasizing reform over retribution In Saudi Arabia and the UAE whether one agrees with every aspect of their systems or not the state has generally coupled deterrence with predictable enforcement and a pervasive moral culture, something Pakistan never attempted In Pakistan and Afghanistan, by contrast the use of Shariah-branded laws was largely instrumental Patriarchy and political interests aligned to use religion as a means of reinforcing each other eroding women s rights in the process The Hudood Ordinances became part of a broader Cold War strategy: justify training the Afghan mujahideen, consolidate military rule, and suppress dissent Women’s safety was collateral damage

The Motorway Rape Case of 2020 where a stranded mother was assaulted in front of her children, showed how little progress had been made decades after Zia Even as courts handed down death sentences in high-profile cases the deeper culture of victim-blaming persisted epitomized by a police chief s remark that the victim should not have been traveling alone at night

This raises an uncomfortable but necessary point for Pakistani policymakers If the example of the UAE and Saudi Arabia is any guide there may be no criminal-law framework with a greater deterrent effect than Shariah law implemented in its true essence But true essence here does not

M e m b e r s o f N e t a nya h u’s g o ve r n m e n t h ave c a l l e d f o r t h e a n n e x at i o n o f t h e We s t B a n k , a m o ve t h at c o u l d r i s k u p e n d i n g t h e n o r m a l i z at i o n d e a l s w i t h A r a b c o u n t r i e s k n o w n a s t h e

A b r a h a m Ac c o rd s

IT was once unthinkable that a wave of some of the U S ’s closest Western allies would recognize a Palestinian state It took less than a year of closeddoor diplomacy by French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi officials to upend the decades-old status quo The push gathered force as Macron grew frustrated with Israel and watched as the Middle East’s traditional diplomatic power-broker the U S was stymied in its efforts to end the war in Gaza Over much of the past year the French joined the Saudis in pressing Western countries to buck their biggest ally in Washington and, in Macron s eyes, save the Israeli-Palestinian peace process By Sunday morning, the U K , Australia Canada and Portugal endorsed Palestinian statehood On Monday Macron gathered with a host of other leaders on the floor of the U N General Assembly to do

the same “Some will say it’s too late Others will say it’s too soon One thing is sure: We can’t wait any longer ” Macron said in an address before the delegates declaring his recognition Joining France in recognizing a Palestinian state Monday were Monaco, Malta and Luxembourg Belgium said it would offer its formal recognition after Hamas leaves Gaza and it releases its hostages The efforts demonstrate the ability of regional powers like France and Saudi Arabia to step into the void left by the U S in the Middle East, breaking with longstanding American policy that dangled the possibility of Palestinian statehood as a way to drive Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the negotiating table And it also showed Macron s penchant for punching far above his weight in a region where France s influence had been waning He created a dynamic and momentum that didn t exist before, said Rym Momtaz, an analyst with the Carnegie Europe think tank Macron’s stance began to take shape in the months after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7 2023 As the Palestinian death toll

rose into the tens-of-thousands, French officials grew frustrated with Washington for not putting enough pressure on Israel to end the Gaza war The French leader visited King Abdullah II of Jordan in February 2024 and declared for the first time that recognizing a Palestinian state was not a taboo for France ” Toward the end of 2024, the Saudis began encouraging the French to press other countries to recognize a Palestinian state saying it would pave the way toward Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel Macron traveled to Saudi Arabia in December to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler

Months later he visited Egypt meeting with wounded Palestinians undergoing treatment at a hospital near the border with Gaza That brought Macron face-to-face with Gaza s escalating humanitarian crisis an experience that shook the French leader, according to people close to him

More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza according to local health authorities who don t say how many were combatants Swaths of

mean symbolic ordinances or gender-biased prosecutions It means a legal order where punishments are rare precisely because evidentiary standards are strict repentance is encouraged, and the state applies the law without political manipulation In other words, Shariah law’s effectiveness abroad stems from the very safeguards that were ignored in Pakistan Of course Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not utopias They have their own humanrights controversies and debates over freedom of expression Yet in terms of everyday security, the ability of a woman to walk alone at night, to leave her handbag open without fear they demonstrate what a society looks like when laws are enforced predictably and when moral norms are internalized Pakistan s experiment with Hudood, by contrast, achieved neither deterrence nor justice It produced almost no convictions of actual criminals while ensnaring thousands of women in spurious charges

The question of whether Pakistan should implement Shariah law again is

As scholars have documented, thousands of cases were filed but not a single conviction met the stringent evidentiary requirements during Zia s tenure

the Gaza enclave have been reduced to ruins In July, Macron traveled to London for a state visit pressing his case with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer With Gaza in ruins and the West Bank being on a daily basis attacked Macron said in a speech before the British parliament, a Palestinian state has never been put at risk as it is Macron and the Saudis meanwhile laid the groundwork for a conference in New York where Arab nations jointly condemned the Hamas attack on Israel; called for the group s disarmament; and opposed any role for the militant group in a new Palestinian state The conference also called for the deployment of a “temporary international stabilization mission ” In late July days before the start of the conference Macron unexpectedly sent a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announcing that France planned to recognize Palestinian statehood at the U N General Assembly That announcement was the first from a member of the Group of Seven nations and it opened the floodgates for other Western powers to follow suit The prospect of a negotiated solution to the conflict in the Middle East seems increasingly distant I cannot resign myself to that, he wrote Legitimizing a Palestinian state before the eyes of the world, Macron and Western allies now contend is the only way to preserve the possibility however remote of a two-state solution as Israel intensifies its war effort in Gaza and continues building settlements in the occupied West Bank

Confronting the Philippine corruption crisis

h at t h e i r l e a d e r s a re t h i e ve s, t h e i r l aw s a re s h i e l d s f o r i m p u n i t y, a n d t h e i r vo t e s a re m e a n i n g l e s s

Th i s e c h o e s u n re s t i n B a n g l a d e s h , I n d o n e s i a , a n d N e p a l, w h e re yo u t h a n g e r a n d u r b a n p o ve r t y c o nve rg e d i n t o e x p l o s i o n s o f s t re e t v i o l e n c e Th e P h i l i p p i n e s, hy p e rc o n n e c t e d t h ro u g h s o c i a l m e d i a , n o w re s e m b l e s a p o wd e r ke g

The diplomatic maneuver illustrates Macron s enduring belief in the power of international cooperation to shape events as opposed to the exercise of raw military power For me the recognition is a process What we want to do is trigger a series of

Millennials and Gen Z amplified by social media But anger alone does not yield accountability Instead it risks being opportunistically hijacked by partisan players The upheaval has already forced the replacement of the Senate president and speaker of the House Calls for the President’s resignation multiply colored not only by present scandals

efits frustration quickly curdles into violence Already acts of vandalism and property destruction have been reported framed as people s justice against the imagined fruits of stolen funds This echoes unrest in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal, where youth anger and urban poverty converged into explosions of