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02 NEWS pakisTan reJeCTs indian denial of dossier on sTaTe-sponsored Terrorism

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

iSLAMABAD on Monday rejected as “sophistry ” a statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs which denied involvement in terrorist activities inside Pakistan.

The MEA statement came in response to a dossier shared by Pakistan on Saturday which included specific evidence of financing, training, harbouring, and weapons supply in the shape of copies of correspondence, bank transactions, communication intercepts and photos showing perpetrators of attacks inside the Indian consulate in Jalalabad,Afghanistan.

Responding to the press conference, Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson for MEA, declared the dossier was “another futile anti-India propaganda exercise” .

“The so-called claims of proof against India enjoy no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination, ” Srivastava said in a press release.

“Fully exposed, India has typically resorted to sophistry, obfuscation and refabrication. Bland denials and regurgitation of an old litany of charges, however, will not change facts, ” the Foreign Office responded to Srivastava’s presser on Monday. A statement issued by FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said: “The dossier presented by Pakistan extensively documents India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan. “Since 2001, Pakistan has faced more than 19,000 terrorist attacks on its soil and suffered 83,000 causalities. The direct economic losseshavebeenupwardof$126billion.As a result of India’s sponsorship of terrorism, fromacrossourborders,Pakistancontinues to suffer immensely. ”

Meanwhile, India has mischievously masqueraded as a victim of terrorism and soughttomisleadtheinternationalcommunity by hypocritically levelling terrorism-related allegationsagainstPakistan,Chaudhrisaid.

“It has also conducted false flag operations in occupied Kashmir and inside India to malign Pakistan. That facade has now been removed and the world can see the real face of India — one blackened by its decades-long state terrorism in occupied Kashmir and state-sponsored terrorism and destabilisation efforts in Pakistan. ”

“Themostfamiliarandundeniableface of India’s state sponsorship of terrorism againstPakistanisCommanderKulbhushan Jadhav — caught red-handed in March 2016. His complicity in subversion, sabotageandterrorisminPakistanispartof theincontrovertibleevidenceagainstIndia. ”

Theworldisalsofamiliarwith“saffron terror” orchestrated and unleashed by the RSS-BJP zealots against Muslims in India and against Pakistan, the FO spokesperson said. “Masterminds of Makkah Masjid, Ajmer Dargah, and Samjhota Express terrorist cases, like Swami Aseemanand, have been granted full state protection and acquitted in a complete travesty of justice after having confessed to India’s National InvestigationAgency. ”

“Open threats to Pakistan by Indian civilianandmilitaryleaders,India’ssinister designtosubvertChina-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC), and public statements by noted Indian politicians and senior security officials on ‘teaching Pakistan’ a lesson through the use of terrorism constitute further incriminating evidence. ”

ThepresenceofISIL(so-calledIslamic StateofIraqandtheLevant)andAQIS(AlQaeda in Indian Subcontinent) in India, as highlighted in recent UN reports, indicate that India is emerging as a hotbed of UNdesignated international terrorist organisations and posing a great risk to the region, he said.

Two women among eighT killed as bus plunges inTo ravine in nowshera

NOWSHERA:At least eight people were killed including two women and a child after a bus fell into a ravine near Nowshera in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) early Monday morning. According to reports, at least 11 passengers were injured in the accident. Seven of the eight deceased died on the spot while the eighth victim died at the Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex where he was taken for treatment. The police said the bus fell from a hill when its driver tried to clear the road to save another vehicle from falling. Four severely wounded passengers have been moved to a hospital in Peshawar while others are receiving treatment at Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex. STAFF REPORT

abbasi, miftah, others indicted in lng reference

maryam terms pTi’s failure to achieve majority in gb shameful defeat

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Monday said that failure to achieve a clear majority in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) is a "shameful defeat" for the incumbent government. Taking to Twitter, Maryam said, "This defeat is a telling sign of what the future has in store. " She claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won a few seats in GB’s election despite “rigging” , “bullying” , and help of turncoats. Maryam said that the ruling party was unable to secure a majority despite using state machinery and with the help of turncoats, adding that the people of GB have no confidence in the PTI. Her sentiments were echoed by former premier Shahid KhaqanAbbas who said the federal government had "stripped GB of its powers" . Likening the GB polls to the 2018 general elections, the PML-N leader said Sunday's election was rigged. TLTP

kp researchers find first Covid-19 re-infection case

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) health researchers, in a case study, detected re-infection of Covid19 on Monday.As Pakistan is undergoing the second wave of novel coronavirus, a group of Khyber Medical University researchers have found the first instance of Covid-19 re-infection.According to the research released by the health experts, an employee of the health department, who was found positive of novel coronavirus on June 6 this year was diagnosed with coronavirus again. The health worker had developed flu-like illness before testing positive for coronavirus on June 6 and was cleared of the disease on June 19, but four months and 13 days later, he was re-infected.The virus symptoms were severe in the re-infection case, which was detected during a study carried out by a team of researchers. TLTP

Justice rasheed sworn in as acting phC CJ

PESHAWAR: Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan on Monday sworn in as acting chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC). The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Governor House, Peshawar. Justice Qaiser Rasheed was administered oath by Governor Shah Farman. The ceremony was attended by judges of the PHC, lawyers, elected representatives and others. Last week, Justice Qaiser was appointed as acting chief justice of the PHC. He will work on the post till the appointment of regular chief justice by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan. The position had been lying vacant since the sad demise of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice WaqarAhmed Seth who had died of Covid-19 on November 12. TLTP

Bilawal warns of dire consequences if ‘rigging’ in GB election not reversed

GILGIT INP

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday staged a sit-in against alleged rigging in Gilgit-Baltistan election in front of the deputy commissioner's office in Gilgit city.

The PPPcandidate, JamilAhmed was leading by 400 votes last night in the final count but in the morning he was shown as trailing by 2 votes.

Bilawal also joined the protest and addressed the crowd gathered there.

In his fiery speech, he said that the PPP candidates were pressurised to leave the party and join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) but every one of them remained steadfast with the party except one.

He claimed that when the authorities witnessed the support for PPP by the people of GB from Siachen to Gilgit, they got worried.The election commission started supporting the illegal acts of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ministers, he alleged.

The PPP chief said that so much so that the chief election commissioner went to Islamabad and held a press conference in Islamabad against opposition instead of stopping government ministers from illegal acts. Even the Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Gilgit, he added.

Bilawal said that three seats were clearly snatched from the PPP but warned that no one will be allowed to do so. He said that PPP will continue its protest at every place where rigging has occurred. “We will not allow the puppet, the selected and the selectors to steal the elections. The selectors knew that PTI does not exist in GB. Everyone knows that the people of GB are with the PPP, ” he added.

The PPP chief said that the people of GB snatched their rights from Dogra Raj and they will again snatch back their rights. He said that he is under pressure by the people and warned the powers to be, not to push him to the extent that he takes extreme measures. He asked people to continue their protest and if the seats which were snatched through rigging are not given to the people and the PPP then the protest will go to Islamabad and he will lead that protest.

Bilawal said that he is not going anywhere till the rights of the people are given to them. He said that if the rigging is not reversed then he will choose an extreme and difficult path but that will be the path to victory. He added that he had already warned to accept the verdict of the people otherwise there will be dire consequence. ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday indicted Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbassi and Miftah Ismail, and others in liquefied natural gas (LNG) reference. They denied charges and opted to contest them. The court has sought evidence from the prosecution on the 19th of this month. Accountability Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered provision of a copy of the chargesheet to all accused. Ex-PM Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, ex-PSO MD Imranul Haq and others are accused of awarding an LNG import contract allegedly at exorbitant rates in 2015, which caused a big loss to the national exchequer. According to the NAB, Abbasi had awarded an LNG import and distribution contract to the Elengy Terminal in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in 2013. At the previous hearing, Abbasi’s lawyer Barrister Zafarullah had contended that the NAB had written to make Miftah Ismail as an approver in this case while his client had been charged under section 3. The documents in this regard were not provided to the defence side, he said. “Charges could not be framed against them until provision of these documents to them, ” Zafarullah added. The NAB prosecutor told the court that the demanded documents had been shared with the defence counsel. TLTP

Sindh CM Murad tests positive for coronavirus, goes into isolation

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah said on Monday he had tested positive for the coronavirus. In a statement released by the Twitter account of CM House, Murad said that he had a mild fever on Friday and got himself tested after Friday prayers.

“On the advice of my doctors, I have gone into isolation, ” he said, adding that he was currently only experiencing a slight fever. Pakistan is currently in the midst of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, with several prominent personalities, including politicians, testing positive for the disease in recent weeks.

The country on Monday reported 2,128 fresh infections after conducting 29,511 tests with a positivity ratio of 7.21 per cent. Several politicians, including Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif, have contracted the disease since the first case emerged in the country in February.

Last week, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Waqar Seth and senior journalist Arshad Waheed Chaudhary passed away of coronavirus. Prime Minister Imran Khan will preside over a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) today to devise a strategy to deal with the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.

ECC approves Rs80m grant for payment to British law firm

ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

TheEconomicCoordinationCommittee(ECC)onMonday approvedgivingRs80milliontoaBritishlawfirmtopursue cases under investigations in the United Kingdom. The meetingofECCwaschairedbyAdvisertoPrimeMinister onFinanceandRevenueDrAbdulHafeezSheikh.

Sources said that the Ministry of Interior had requested the ECC to give a Rs80m Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for payment of legal fees to a British law firm, Guernica International.

An amount of £175,000 is yet to be paid as the law firm for the period July 2018 to January 2019, wherein the firm worked on the cases and forwarded a request for contract renewal, Pakistan Today learnt.

Furthermore, the government of Pakistan is giving £25,000 per month to pursue cases under investigation in the UK, including the Imran Farooq murder case, money laundering and incitement of violence cases.

The meeting also recommended the formation of a committee consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) to decide a timeline for export of mango and kinnow after consultation with the stakeholders.

In light of a summary presented by the Ministry of Information Technology regarding the manufacturing of SIMs/smart-cards in Pakistan, the chair directed constituting a committee to examine the proposal and present a report for a way forward within two weeks.

The committee would be chaired by the Federal Minister of Industries and Production Hammad Azhar and would include representatives from the Ministry of IT, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Board of Investment (BOI).

pTi approaChes independenTs for forming governmenT in gb

ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

aS Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which won majority seats in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) election, has started consulting the independent candidates, who are the second largest group, in forming the government in GB, it could have up to 22 seats in the assembly by forming a coalition.

PTI, which has won at least nine seats, already has the support of Majlise-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen (MWM), which has won one seat at GBLA-8 Skardu-II. It needs three to four more seats to form the government in GB.

“Since three to four successful independent candidates had earlier joined the party and they were denied tickets, PTI is confident that they would rejoin the party and support forming government in the area, ” said a local PTI leader.

“We have been contacted by both PTI and PPP [Pakistan People's Party] leaders today. We are discussing available options with our voters and supporters in the constituency, ” said Independent candidate at GBLA-10 Raja Nasir while talking to Pakistan Today.

Similarly, PTI has also contacted two independent candidates in Ganache -- Mushtaq Hussain of GBLA-22 Ghanche-I and Abdul Hameed of GBLA-23 Ghanche-II -- inviting them to join the party. Furthermore, the local leaders of PTI in Skardu have even left for Ganche to have a dialogue with the independent candidates. Haji Abdul Hameed, while talking to local media, said that he would be joining PTI as per the suggestion of his voters.

Javed Manwa, another independent candidate from GBLA-5 Nagar-II, has also been contacted by both the PTI and PPP. As he had earlier joined PTI and was an aspirant of party's ticket, he has informed his supporters that he would prefer sitting the treasury benches of the GBAssembly.

According to a PTI leader, at least four independent candidates are ready to join the party and they would make their announcement soon. The remaining three candidates are also in contact with the PTI leaders.

After combining forces with the independent candidates and support of MWM, PTI will be in a position to grab 22 seats in the 24-seat assembly.

PTI would also try to win the seat of GBLA-III, Gilgit-3 where the election has been postponed after the death of its candidate, Syed Jafar Shah. Similarly, the party would also test its luck in GBLA-4 Nagar-1, as the PPP candidate had won two seats in this election but is likely to vacate the seat to retain the GBLA-1 Gilgit-I constituency.

Though PPP is also contacting independent candidates to join their party, the independents, foreseeing lucrative offers from PTI, are unlikely to entertain the PPP.

Decision on early closure of schools, winter break on November 23

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A meeting of the federal and provincial education ministers failed to reach a consensus on early closure of schools across Pakistan and extension of winter vacations to curtail the coronavirus after the second wave of the pandemic appears to be gathering momentum. “No decision made on closure of schools in Punjab today, ” Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas announced after the meeting at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

“Next meeting will be on Monday 23rd November, 2020 for further review of the COVID 19 situation.All options are being discussed. No immediate decision for now, ” he added. Earlier this month, Raas had said that the government may choose to close down educational institutes in Punjab if the coronavirus spread continued to increase, adding, however, no such decision has so far been taken. “I am continuously checking and monitoring the implementation of the coronavirus SOPs [in schools] and school administrations are making maximum efforts to fully implement these, ” he had said.

The country on Monday reported 2,128 infections of the novel coronavirus after conducting 29,511 tests with a positivity ratio of 7.21 per cent.

In a series of tweets, the Ministry of Education said that the meeting had been briefed on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) being adopted in educational institutions to curb the pandemic, especially in light of the increasing cases of Covid-19 nationwide.

“A number of options were considered, including an extended winter vacation schedule, to curb the spread of coronavirus, ” it said, adding that the provincial ministers had briefed the forum on the situation of their respective education sectors.

PM reaffirms transparency in utilisation of Covid Relief Fund

ISLAMABAD TLTP

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistanis are the most giving nation and their generosity is legendary. Addressing the meeting of the Policy Committee overseeing the Prime Minister's Covid Relief Fund on Monday to review fund utilisation details, the prime minister reaffirmed that full transparency will be ensured in using donated funds. The fund received Rs4.8 billion donations from within Pakistan and overseas. A total of Rs1.08 billion were donated by international donors while Rs3.8 billion were contributed domestically.

Earlier this year, the premier had publicly announced two policies with respect to this fund, committing that these funds would be disbursed through Ehsaas Emergency Cash to assist Covid-19 jobaffectees. A matching funds policy was also announced which stipulated that for every rupee donated into the fund, Rs4 would be matched by the government and to fulfil this promise, Rs19.55 billion have been matched by the government. This amount has supported 2 million families, each of which received 12,000 rupees each as Ehsaas Emergency cash through this funding stream.

gilgit-baltistan has rejected pml-n's narrative, says faraz

Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Monday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) victory in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) general elections is a sign that the narrative of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been rejected. He said that this in a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, adding that the people of GB kept the spirit of democracy in mind and that they had voted for a better future. Earlier on Monday, the information minister said in a tweet that this outcome proves the people’s trust in Prime Minister Imran Khan. Faraz further said that the leaders of the PML-N and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had started to claimed there was rigging even before the elections, but pointed out that the opposition used to claim that the current elections would be a referendum, adding that the polls were “free and fair” . Furthermore, he brought attention to the fact that many PTI candidates had been defeated as well. “If there was rigging then we should get 14, 15 seats, ” said Faraz. While the counting is still underway, as of the time of filing, the PTI had won eight constituencies out of 23, with the 24th constituency to have elections later due to the death of one of the candidates. “Congratulations, to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. The polling process was completed peacefully and amicably. The media showed the full participation and transparency of the people, including the elderly and women, in the election process through the eyes of their cameras, ” he had tweeted a day earlier. Furthermore, PTI leader Asad Umar had shared the Gallup Survey – which was retweeted by Minister for Industries & Production Hammad Azhar – which showed that PM Imran was the most popular leader in GB. NEWS DESK

PTI to form govt in GB: PM

ISLAMABAD: PM Imran Khan on Monday expressed happiness over the victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)intheGilgit-Baltistan(GB)pollsandsaidthatvoters have rejected Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)’s narrative. Chairing a meeting of party spokespersons and PTI leaders in Islamabad, the prime minister said that the

NEWS 03 aTC extends bails of ayaz sadiq, three others in violent protest case

LAHORE:An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Monday extended interim bails of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPSardarAyaz Sadiq and three other party leaders in a 2018 case registered against them on charges of resorting to violent protests when deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to the country to serve his sentence inAl-Azizia Steel Mills reference. Former NationalAssembly (NA) speakerAyaz, former provincial minister Khwaja Salman Rafique, former MPAMalik Waheed and Rana Ehsan appeared before the court along with their counsel FarhadAli Shah. During a brief hearing, presiding judge IjazAhmad Buttar extended their bail until November 23 and directed the investigation officer to submit a complete record of the case on the next hearing. The North Cantonment police had registered the first information report under Section 7 ofATAand some provisions of the PPC. On July 13, 2018, Nawaz along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz had landed at the Lahore airport where they were arrested and shifted to jail to serve sentences in NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) references. APP

people of GB have rejected the anti-state narrative of opposition. “Opposition parties only aim is to safeguard theirpersonalinterests, ”saidthepremierinthemeetingof party spokespersons. He further said that PTI would solve theproblemsofthepeoplebyformingagovernmentinthe GB region. Unofficial results showed that PTI took lead in GB election by grabbing victory in 10 constituencies followedbysevenseatswonbyindependentcandidatesout of 23 seats of the region’s LegislativeAssembly. TLTP