Epaper – December 21 KHI 2021

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 I 16 Jamadi-al-Awwal, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 173 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

KP LG PoLLs: oPPosiTion baGs 3 ouT of 4 mayoraL seaTs g

PTI seeks vote recount in Peshawar

PESHAWAR

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Staff CorreSpondent

he Opposition parties have bagged three out of four mayoral seats in Khyber Pakhtunkwa’s ongoing local body elections, while the ruling PTI is in danger of losing the fourth one as well, according to unofficial results.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) himayatullah Ma’ayar has been elected as the mayor in Mardan, JUI-F’s Sher Zaman has been elected from Kohat, while another JUI-F candidate Zubair Ali has emerged victorious in Peshawar, according to unofficial results.

In Peshawar, JUI-F’s candidate bagged 62,388 votes and won with a margin of over 10,000 votes, as PTI’s Muhammad Rizwan Bangash, who was the runner-up, amassed 50,659 votes.

The counting of votes in Bannu is still underway. There are five city councils in the province, however, the elections are taking place only on four as the polls in Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after ANP’s candidate for mayor, Umar Khittab Sherani was shot dead.

In the 64 tehsil council unofficial results obtained so far, the JUI-F has emerged victorious in 14 tehsil council seats while the PTI has won in 10. Independent candidates have won eight, ANP six, PML-N three, Jamaat-e-Islami two, and Tehreek-e-Istiqlal in the tehsil council elections. earlier, the candidates of the opposition parties managed to defeat the ruling party nominees in most areas, including the provincial capital of KP. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has faced a setback in the local government elections held in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday.

The elections were held in 17 districts, comprising 64 tehsils, on a party-basis as per the ruling of the courts. Out of 64 tehsils, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman is leading on 18 tehsil chairperson seats, whereas the PTI is trailing behind with 14 seats.

It is pertinent to note that the local bodies elections were held for the first time after the merger of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into the province in 2017.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-

Coronavirus in

PaKisTan

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,291,467

LAST UPDATED AT 9:52 AM ON DECEMBER 20, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

6

360

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,253,001 28,878 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

479,326

444,216

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

181,011

33,558

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

34,642/10,429

108,285

N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaate-Islami, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Islehat managed to grab two seats each.

The Awami National Party (ANP) also managed to win nine seats. Independent candidates have bagged nine tehsil chairperson seats as well, the results suggested.

In Peshawar, the PTI also lost the mayor seat to the JUI-F with a wide margin. JUI-F’s Zubair Ali secured 63,388 votes whereas PTI’s Rizwan Bangash secured 50,659 votes.

PTI seeks vote recount in Peshawar PTI has decided to challenge the results of Peshawar mayor election after losing to JUI-F with a wide margin.

PTI’s Peshawar chapter spokesperson Rahat Akbar Mughal said in a statement on Monday that the party will file an application for a vote recount, claiming that the number of rejected votes of PTI exceeded the victory margin of JUI-F candidate.

Referring to a viral video clip, the PTI spokesperson alleged that the rival candidate poured Rs20 million into the elections to win the mayorship of the provincial capital.

Those who lured villagers and neighbourhood councillors with money should be held accountable, he added. he further claimed that the polling process at women’s polling stations was deliberately slowed down and the polling staff was also offered bribes.

The local bodies elections were held for the first time after the merger of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into the province in 2017. Out of seven tehsils in Peshawar, the PTI could only win one seat, while the JUI-F and ANP grabbed three and two seats, respectively.

In Bannu, the PTI candidate is in the lead on the mayoral seat. It has also secured the tehsil chairperson slots in Buner, Kagara, Daggar, Gambat and Rustam.

In Mardan, the PTI was wiped out; the JUIF secured victory in three tehsils and the ANP came in first in two tehsils.

In Lakki Marwat’s tehsil Nowrang, JI candidate haji Aziz got over 17,000 votes to secure the seat for his party.

In Charsada, JUI-F’s hamza Asif secured over 33,000 votes to win the tehsil chairperson slot in Shabqadar. In Tank, the JUI-F secured a win in both tehsils.

Shaukat Tarin elected as senator on vacant seat from KP PESHAWAR aziz Buneri

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin on Monday was elected as senator on a vacant seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Polling for the by-election on the general seat started at 9 am and continued till 4 pm. A total of 124 votes were polled in the election of which Tarin received 87 votes. he defeated ANP candidate Shaukat Amirzada, PPP candidate Muhammad Saeed and JUI-F candidate Zahir Shah. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had sacrificed Ayub Afridi to elect Tarin as senator. he was later appointed as adviser to PM on overseas Pakistanis.

After his victory, Tarin promised that KP’s arrears in terms of net profit of electricity will be paid soon. he promised to visit the province every month to resolve its economic and financial problems issues. he said that interest free loans will be provided to KP’s youth under the Kamyab Pakistan Programme. “Rs1 trillion have been allocated for the programme,” the PM’s aide said, adding that inflation had increased not only in Pakistan but all over the world whereas the government’s goal is to increase people’s income for which it is taking steps. he further added that Rs1.4 has been allocated under the programme for introducing programmes for backward areas under which 4 million people will be provided loans for business and housing. “This program will be for four years, only for the backward areas.” “Our goal is to increase people’s income which will decrease the impacts of high inflation,” Tarin said. Likewise, he said that the government is bringing a ration programme which will provide food items to 20 million families and 130 million people at a low cost.

US lauds Pakistan for hosting OIC’s extraordinary session NEWS DESk United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West on Monday lauded Pakistan’s efforts in holding the extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad.

As per a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), West met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and both sides discussed matters of mutual interest, the current security situation in Afghanistan, and bilateral cooperation opportunities. he lauded the role played

by Pakistan in the Afghan situation and the efforts put in by Islamabad for effective Pak-Afgan border management, the statement added.

Talking about the instability of Afghanistan, COAS stressed global convergence to prevent a humanitarian crisis. The army chief also expressed his gratitude to West for participation in the session held by the OIC. The dignitary further assured improvement in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan where required, according to ISPR.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

MORE INSIDE

OIC setting up of Afghanistan fund, banking revival resolution great success: Qureshi STORY ON BACK PAGE

earlier on Sunday, the delegates of the OIC exclusive moot resolved to work with the United Nations to try to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Afghan assets in a bid to tackle a growing humanitarian crisis.

The delegates of specially convened meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers also vowed to play a leading role in delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of war-torn Afghanistan.

The meeting of the 17th extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, held on the initiative of Saudi Arabia and hosted by Pakistan was attended by around 70 delegates from the member

states, international aid agencies and special representatives.

The meeting unanimously agreed on establishing a humanitarian Trust Fund, launch a Food Security Programme and engage with the World health Organization for securing vaccines and medical supplies.

The unanimously adopted resolution brings a glimmer of hope for the 22.8 million people – more than half the population of Afghanistan – who face acute food shortage; while 3.2 million children and 700,000 pregnant and lactating women are at a risk of acute malnutrition.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Oil prices sink 5pc on Omicron demand fears STORY ON PAGE 02

PSX gains 439 points amid positive signals STORY ON PAGE 02

PML-N criticises PM Imran for disrespecting political parties STORY ON PAGE 03

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Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

NEWS

Dubai world trade centre to become regulator for virtual assets, crypto DUBAI Agencies

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) will become a comprehensive zone and regulator for virtual assets and crypto including digital assets, products, operators and exchanges, the official WAM news agency reported on Monday. The Dubai World Trade Centre will be designing a comprehensive ecosystem for this progressive sector within Dubai.

The Dubai World Trade Centre will collaborate with the private sector and relevant entities in Dubai to create an attractive environment for the sector, and enforce rigorous standards for investor protection, Anti Money Laundering (AML), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance and cross border deal flow tracing. The announcement that comes within the efforts to further develop Dubai virtual assets and markets, includes creating a framework for innovative financial products, adopting new trends that rely on advanced underlying blockchain technology, such as non-fungible token (NFT) and cryptocurrencies.

“The step continues to accelerate Dubai’s standing as a leading global centre for business, trade and technology, the World Trade Center will deliver and oversee a new world-class regulatory framework of Virtual Asset legislative and enforcement policies, will be critical to facilitating and broadening crossborder operations and ecosystem innovation to enable safe market adoption and growth for this sector in Dubai,” reads the statement issued by Dubai Media Office.

November CAD widens by $1.9 billion KARACHI AribA shAhid

As per data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Current account deficit (CAD) for the first five months of FY22 widened by $7 billion.

The figure in the same period last year showed a surplus of $1.8 billion. The CAD in November alone clocked in at $1.9 billion, higher than $1.76 billion registered in October and the highest since July 2018. Remittance growth has been softening lately, decreasing by 7% in November compared to October 2020. However, they are 1% higher than November 2020. The growth of remittances has slowed its pace and is 10% higher for this fiscal year compared to last FY. The balance on trade in goods worsened by 104% year on year for the fiscal year clocking in a deficit of $17,571 million compared to a deficit of $8,624 million last year for the same period. For November 2021, the balance on trade in goods clocked in at a deficit of $3,707, which is 2% higher than the previous month, and 103% higher than November 2020. The worsening of the balance of trade can be attributed to the drastic rise in imports compared to last year.

Imports increased by 64% for the fiscal year clocking in at $29,901 million. On a month on month basis, the growth has slowed down to 7% for November 2021, however, if compared to November 2020, it is 58% higher. Exports on the other hand have registered a 14% increase month on month coming in at $2,716 million which is 21% higher than November 2020. For the fiscal year, exports have increased at a steady pace of 29%. Balance on trade in services improved by 21% month on month, and worsened by more than 4x for the month of November compared to last year, and deteriorated by 66% percent for the fiscal year. Technology exports have increased 38% for the fiscal year and have risen 13% month on month earning $221 million. Net foreign direct investment is down by 39% month on month, and up 12% for the fiscal year.

AnAlyst reActions: “Overall I believe that with a slowdown in consumption in the economy, adjustment in the currency and the hike in interest rate, the deficit should come into an acceptable range by Feb- March 2022,” Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research at Pak Kuwait Investment Company.

The import numbers are lower than the numbers released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) which may be due certain imports whose payments remain to be made, says Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities . This however means that the SBP data for next month could show a surge in imports..“While major expansion of imports came from petroleum products and vaccines it is important to note that due to the lag between payments and imports, the December 21 CAD will likely be higher than anticipated earlier,” says Rauf.

Oil priCEs siNk 5pC ON OmiCrON DEmAND FEArs LONDON

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Agencies

ORLD oil prices fell by more than five percent on Monday, as energy demand fears grew over the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.

In morning deals, Brent North Sea crude tumbled 5.1 percent to $69.79 per barrel and New York’s West Texas Intermediate oil lost 5.7 percent to $66.84.

The rapid spread of Omicron has slammed the oil

market — and broader global stock markets — on concerns about economic fallout as countries revert back to containment measures.

“For crude oil, it is all about demand concerns right now,” ThinkMarkets analyst Fawad Razaqzada told AFP. “Travel restrictions have been tightened across most of Europe and there is the potential for more measures to be announced in the coming days.

“Traders are thus left with little choice but to sell oil, as well as energy and travel stocks, with very little appetite for risk-taking.”

PSX gains 439 points amid positive signals KARACHI TLTP

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained positive for the second straight session on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 439.27 points (+0.99 percent) to close at 44,339.95 points.

The market opened on a positive note but took a dip soon after crossing the 44,000 level and shed around 90 points during the first half-an-hour.

However, later the bulls controlled the trading throughout the session.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 675.9 points, showing an intraday high of 44,484.7 points and a low of 43,808.8 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 243.51 points (+0.81 percent) to close at 30,272.06 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 211.25 points (+0.97 percent) to close at 21,906.82 points.

A total of 354 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 251 closed up, shares of 83 closed down while shares of 20

companies remained unchanged. Out of 95 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 75 closed up, 19 closed down and one remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 13.75 million to 238.45 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 13.51

million to 118.59 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 12,682 to 111,367, while the value traded increased by Rs1.34 billion to Rs9.40 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs60.97 billion.

Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 25.68 million shares,

SBP sets Rs1.7 trillion agriculture credit target for FY22 KARACHI APP

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir on Monday lauded banks for achieving an unprecedented level of agriculture credit disbursement of Rs1.4 trillion in FY21, and announced the current year’s target of Rs1.7 trillion with 5 million borrowers.

The governor marked the insistent need to address quality of credit, its geographical imbalances and uneven distribution amongst different categories of borrowers.

Chairing an annual meeting of Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) in Multan, he appreciated the fact that despite facing the challenges of the pandemic, collective efforts of 50 financial institutions under ACAC guidance helped achieve 91% of assigned target.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of federal and provincial governments, presidents and CEOs of banks, members of provincial chambers of agriculture, farmers, representatives of regional farming communities and SBP senior officials. He announced two new measures to help boost agriculture financing including a comprehensive scoring model to rank banks according to key agriculture credit indicators and targets to foster a competitive environment and designating a bank volunteering to serve as a lead bank in an underserved province/area.

The banks performing well will be recognised

whereas under-performing banks will be encouraged to focus on metrics where improvement is needed.

Further steps in this regard include establishing help desks in under served areas to facilitate farmers, and launching targeted and collaborative awareness drives for an extensive outreach.

Baqir emphasised that banks leadership could now take this journey to the next level of qualitative improvement in agriculture credit in line with the strategic shift and key policy actions taken by SBP. “SBP’s vision will serve twofold purposes; enhancing farmers financial inclusion while providing more lending opportunities to the banks,” he said.

This was followed by a presentation on the performance of banks in agricultural financing. The meeting deliberated on the new directions in agricultural financing, particularly the climate smart agriculture practices and the role that financial institutions can play.

The central bank governor especially highlighted the immense agricultural potential of Multan and the opportunities in expanding agriculture finance. Moreover, the committee also discussed avenues to enhance efficiency of existing agriculture credit infrastructure across the country.

Selected banks and other stakeholders presented ideas in the area of value chain solutions, electronic warehouse receipt financing, digital loan origination system and horticulture value chain financing. The meeting approved the new ideas and set targets for scaling up pilot projects.

followed by WTL (17.46 million) and BYCO (13.94 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, WTL, BYCO, TELE, and SILK, which formed around 35 percent of total volumes.

The major sectors taking the index toward north were cement with 101 points, technology & communication with 88 points, fertilizer with 58 points, commercial banks with 35 points and oil & gas exploration companies with 30 points. The most points added to the index were by TRG which contributed 90 points followed by LUCK with 52 points, ENGRO with 33 points, CHCC with 15 points and BAHL with 15 points.

The major sectors taking the index toward south were refinery with 7 points, investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies with 3 points, tobacco with 2 points and vanaspati & allied industries with one point. The most points taken off the index were by SYS which stripped the index of 13 points followed by BYCO with 9 points, UBL with 8 points, DAWH with 7 points and MTL with 3 points.

WEF annual meeting deferred over Omicron till summer DAVOS Agencies

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has deferred its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, planned for January 17-21, 2022, due to “continued uncertainty” over the Omicron-strain viral outbreak. WEF made the announcement on its website, saying that the current circumstances surrounding the spread of the new variant of coronavirus make it “extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting.” It is now planned for early summer, the WEF said in a statement on Monday, without disclosing the exact dates. “Participants will instead join a headline series of state of the world sessions bringing together global leaders online to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges,” the WEF said.

However, the deferral of the annual meeting will not prevent progress through continued digital convening of leaders from business, government and civil society, Klaus Schwab, WEF’s founder and executive chairman said.

“Public-private co-operation has moved forward throughout the pandemic and that will continue apace. We look forward to bringing global leaders together in person soon,” he said. The statement goes on the explain that “Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of Omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary.” The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the traditional January gathering in the Swiss Alps for a second consecutive year. The 2021 forum was initially rescheduled to take place in August 2021 in Singapore but was then cancelled. The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva. It is the world’s biggest annual economics event, attracting business leaders and politicians from around the globe.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

PML-N criticises PM iMraN for disresPectiNg PoLiticaL Parties

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NewS deSk

EMBER National Assembly (MNA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb has criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that the premier is compulsively defiling the country’s political parties and national economy at a time when foreign ministers of the world are in Islamabad, according to Express Tribune.

Addressing a press conference, she said the foreign countries mock Imran because even after four years in

government, he points fingers at the oppressors because he has nothing to show for a time in power.

The PML-N secretary information further said the country is facing multiple crises as the poor are starving, while “Imran’s unhealthy obsession with Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and the PML-N is the only thing on his mind”.

She said Imran could not prove a single penny of corruption against the PML-N leaders despite keeping the leader of the opposition in jail for over a year on fictitious charges, imprisoning PML-N leaders in death-row cells, abusing power, and weaponising and misusing NAB, FIA and every national institution.

iSLaMaBad The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday announced to open the sealed affidavit of former GilgitBaltistan chief judge — reportedly sent from London through a mail courier and received here over the weekend — on December 28 when it will resume hearing in a case which many likened to opening Pandora’s box.

Reports citing sources in the high court, the package was received by the court registrar who placed another seal on it to secure its contents.

Rana Muhammad Shamim, long-associated with the party of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in November claimed former chief justice Saqib Nisar did not want former and his daughter Maryam Nawaz to be released on bail ahead of the general elections in July 2018.

The two were convicted in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference related to their ownership of four multi-million-dollar London apartments weeks before the elections on July 25.

When their counsels moved the high court for suspension of the conviction, the case was adjourned until the last week of July.

Nisar had travelled to the mountainous region for vacations in 2018, an affidavit Shamim purportedly

signed in London during a trip to the British capital last month, said. On one occasion, the then top judge appeared “very disturbed” while speaking to the Supreme Court registrar on the phone, asking him to get in touch with a high court judge.

Once able to get in touch with the judge, Mr Nisar ordered him that “Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif must remain in jail until the general elections are over. On assurances from the other side, he [Nisar] became calm and happily demanded another cup of tea.”

The other judge was not named in the affidavit.

Shamim is now facing a contempt of court case in the court of IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

In Monday’s hearing, Islamabad Advocate General Niazullah Niazi, reporter Ansar Abbasi, The News Editor Aamir Ghauri and Shamim and with his counsel

How to improve literacy rate in Pakistan?

Mahad Sheikh Literacy is popularly understood as capacity to study and write in at the least one technique of writing, an expertise contemplated via way of means of mainstream dictionaries. In this view, illiteracy might be taken into consideration to be the lack of ability to examine and write.

Literacy offers humans get right of entry to the information.

Literacy performs a considerable function in decreasing gender, race, nationality, and spiritual inequality that favors one organization over any other in get entry to education, property, employment, fitness care, legal, and civic participation.

Pakistan has not noted education that is the maximum critical detail for the fulfillment and improvement of any nation; this has led to one of the lowest literacy rate in world: Pakistan's literacy rate is ranked 113 in a complete of a hundred and twenty countries.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 has revealed that the literacy rate in the country remains stagnant at 60 per cent and education-related expenditures witnessed a decrease of 29.6pc in the year 2019-20.

Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy costs withinside the global and a number of the primary motives at the back of this low price are monetary constraints confronted with the aid of using the parents, loss of enough quantity of

tutorial establishments withinside the country, massive wide variety of college students in line with teacher, loss of a aggressive way of life in far flung areas, loss of motivation, inconsistent curriculum and plenty of more. If authorities can offer loose pleasant training to all kids it's going to assist in enhancing the literacy charge however that appears not likely because of restricted resources.

Although provincial governments are presenting loose schooling to a point however this is truly now no longer sufficient to equip all of the kids with the treasures of knowledge. They offer loose schooling as much as number one degree and this is additionally restricted to a few regions. But there are a few different measures which might not require large sums of cash however they could assist us to enhance the country’s literacy charge.

One of such degree is to offer schooling as much as secondary degree withinside the nearby language with English and Urdu as obligatory topics. It will inspire all the ones college students to retain their schooling, who depart the colleges simply due to the fact they're now no longer properly versed in English and Urdu and they're compelled to observe all topics in this kind of languages. Moreover, it's going to additionally be a supply of promoting of our death nearby languages. We hardly ever see younger famend scholar, poet or author of neighborhood languages.

All the ones college students who've the capability to look

NewS deSk

Latif Afridi appeared.

The sealed envelope carrying the affidavit was presented before Justice Minallah. The judge said the court will open the package at the next hearing since Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan did not appear owing to his health issues.

Justice Minallah said Shamim raised fingers at the judges of his court, adding his court was not worried about the criticism it is receiving.

This is the matter of prestige of my court, Shamim should present evidence to support the claims he made, Justice Minallah remarked. “[…] Rana Shamim sahib has cast doubt on all judges of the IHC,” the chief justice said, adding the court had already made it clear that it did not fear criticism.

The court then asked Afridi to satisfy it with his arguments, saying the contempt charge would be retracted after the court’s satisfaction.

The court observed that the story Abbasi filed gave the impression that judges were unable to work independently and according to the law.

“This is an open inquiry. This is our accountability,” the judge said. He added that Shamim had apparently made “a very big statement without any evidence” and given an impression that all IHC judges were “compromised”. The hearing was subsequently adjourned until December 28.

at literature choose both English or Urdu literature.

However, if we begin coaching our kids all in their guides in nearby languages they may now no longer best study the ones guides in a higher manner however it'll additionally assist them to increase an hobby in those languages. So in destiny in the event that they need to pursue their better research in literature they'll choose their nearby language as they have already got a corporation basis for that.

Apart from the inclusion of nearby languages, while antique curriculum wishes to be revisited. Children ought to learn simplest the fundamental topics in number one faculties. Then with inside the secondary faculties they need to receive preference of choice of guides on their own, of direction instructors can function manual on this count however topics have to now no longer be imposed at the college students. Like with inside the gift schooling device college students are given the selection to both look at Humanities or technology however nonetheless Mathematics of the identical degree in blanketed with inside the curriculum for each technology and Humanities.

Due to which a big wide variety of Humanities college students by no means by skip their matric/SSC examination. One of the opposite predominant stumbling blocks in enhancing our literacy price is the dearth of certified instructors. Although, it's miles a truth that recruitment of huge quantity of certified instructors right away won't be feasible because of non-availability of enough budget however if the present instructors are nicely educated and inspired, they could play a crucial position in enhancing the literacy price. They can encourage their

IHC summons PM Imran for hearing of disqualification case today iSLaMaBad NewS DeSk

The Islamabad High Court has summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan pertaining to a case related to his disqualification tomorrow on December 21.

A two-member bench comprising IHC’s Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir will hear the case, which was filed with reference to Sita White. Earlier in 2018, a case was registered against PM Imran Khan for not declaring Tyrian White as his daughter in his nomination papers.

The petitioner, Abdul Wahab Baloch,

was a candidate of the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party in the last general election.

The petitioner had later joined the PTI and filed a miscellaneous petition to withdraw the case in February 2019. A hearing related to the miscellaneous request will also be heard tomorrow.

The petitioner had contested that the premier should be disqualified under Article 62(i)(f) of the Constitution for providing incorrect information in his nomination papers, adding that he is no longer Sadiq and Ameen.

In 2018, the IHC had constituted a divisional bench to hear a case related to

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PPP ready to take reins if Pti sent packing: Zardari

IHC receives affidavit of former GB judge, to open it on next hearing Staff RepoRt

NEWS

Imran Khan’s disqualification. The divisional bench comprised two members and was headed by former IHC judge, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui. The other member of the bench was Justice Athar Minallah.

Ex-judge Justice Aziz Shaukat Siddiqui had heard the case and issued a notice to Imran Khan, summoning him on August 1.

Later on, the bench was changed and Justice Mian Gull Hasan Aurangzeb was made a part of this bench.

On August 2, 2018, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Aurangzeb had to hear the case but the bench recused from the hearing, which ultimately dissolved the bench.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has criticised the federal government and said that repeated ‘experiments’ have thrown the country into turmoil. Talking to the media in Nawabshah on Monday, he said that only his party has what it takes to run and manage the country’s affairs. “PPP has successfully dealt with every challenge thrown at it in the past… and we are still ready [to run the country’s affairs],” he said. “First let go of these rulers, then talk to us, then we will show you how to run this country.” “We ended the then sugar and flour crisis within a year of coming to power and started exporting these items,” he maintained. “Whoever comes against the people’s power, whether he is Sardar or Mir or Pir, everyone should remember that the people’s vote is ours and the time to come belongs to the PPP.”

Mobile phone imports surge 18.3pc in 5MfY22 iSLaMaBad tLtp

The imports of mobile phone during the first five months of the current fiscal year (5MFY22) increased 18.3% to $857 million from $724 million during the same period of the last fiscal year, according to the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday. On a mobile phones worth $212 million were imported in November 2021, showing a growth of 28 percent on a year-on-year basis and 41.6% on a month-on-month basis. The overall telecom imports in November increased to $286.96 million, up 40% on a year-on-year basis and 37.5 percent on a month-onmonth basis. Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce revealed that Pakistan has saved around $410 million in foreign exchange as the import of completely built units (CBUs) decreased by 73% to $179 million in July-November period the as compared to $661 million during the same period of FY21. In contrast, import of mobile phone components for local assembly increased by 407 percent to $674 million from $133 million in the previous year.

college students to keep their research in spite of the monetary hardships they and their mother and father are facing. For this reason offerings of skilled and retired instructors may additionally show handy. Hiring expert running shoes is any other option. Apart from training, the faculty instructors want to be inspired via incentives. When they recollect themselves as financially stable, they may do their activity diligently. Teachers serving in tribal and different rural regions have to take delivery of unique incentives like unique pay and allowances in addition to bonuses for the ones instructors who display promising results. Another manner to make sure provision of training to kids without costing big sums of cash is to make the “ghost faculties” functional. As we've got visible in media reviews that there are dozens of ghost faculties found in distinctive elements of the country. The infrastructure is already there, the academics are being paid frequently however the faculties aren't functional. Instead those faculties are utilized by the influential humans as their “Hujras” or dairy farms.

National Book Foundation is doing a superb process through presenting books to the readers on low prices. As authorities already allot a considerable amount of cash to the NBF each year so if NBF begins off evolved supplying faculty books, it'll make existence clean for all the ones youngsters and their dad and mom who can't have the funds for to shop for books for his or her youngsters. Moreover the “Books on Wheels” venture can encompass faculties in faraway regions on this assignment. It will assist the kids of far flung areas to get books on their doorsteps.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

04 NEWS

NAB oPPoses ACquiTTAL of HAMzA iN RAMzAN sugAR MiLLs CAse LAHORE

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StAff RePoRt

HE National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday opposed the petition filed by Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz seeking acquittal in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

The dirty money watchdog filed its response in an accountability court requesting it to throw out the acquittal petition.

The NAB said Shehbaz served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the unit and

hence was directly responsible for the squandering of a whopping Rs360 million in public money on a drain meant to facilitate the business.

The mill had no sewerage system before the construction of the drain, the bureau said, claiming his father National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif in his capacity as the chief minister issued directives for the construction of the drain using the tax money.

The Ramazan Sugar Mills and Sharif Diary are the biggest beneficiaries of the project, the NAB said, adding there is con-

crete evidence to substantiate the charges against Shehbaz.

Last week, Shehbaz through his counsel filed the acquittal plea on the basis of the recent amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.

He said the reference is ill-founded and based on mala fide intentions and political grounds, adding the bureau instituted the reference at the behest of the incumbent government.

During the hearing Monday, the bureau prayed to the court to reject Shehbaz’s petition, arguing there was no

provision in the amended ordinance of NAB that provided any concession to those found guilty of misusing administrative authority.

NAB counsel said it was evident that the amended ordinance had not been promulgated to give a clean chit to those misusing their authority. “NAB was established for the elimination of corruption,” the counsel remarked.

Rs27 million financial relief on Punjab ombudsman’s orders LAHORE StAff RePoRt

New local government law challenged in LHC LAHORE INP

The Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2021, adopted earlier this month was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday. Sialkot District Council Chairperson Hina Arshad challenged the ordinance maintaining it was in contradiction with the Constitution. The applicant said the administrative authority has been given to the administrators in the Punjab Local Government Act, 2019 although it was declared null and void by the high court earlier. Arshad urged the court to strike down sections 3 and 71 of the latest ordinance.

Punjab Governor December 13 completed the final stage of the new ordinance by signing the document. For the first time, the people will be able to elect city mayors directly.

Two killed, eight injured in gas cylinder blast

ISLAMABAD MoNItoRINg RePoRt

Two people were killed and at least eight others injured in a gas cylinder explosion in Balochistan late Sunday, police said. Police in the area told the media the incident happened inside a residential building in the Airport Road neighbourhood of Quetta. Several nearby buildings were also partially damaged due to the cylinder blast, said the police, adding that as per initial investigation, the explosion occurred due to gas leakage. Police and rescue workers reached the scene immediately following the blast and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital in Quetta. Police have kicked off an investigation into the incident.

On the orders of Punjab Ombudsman retired Maj Azam Suleman Khan, financial relief valuing Rs27.85 million has been provided to applicants from several districts in various cases.

The salary arrears of Rs1.3 million of late Shamim Bibi employed by the Local Bodies Department in Okara has been disbursed to her daughter Saira Munawar who approached the ombudsman office for the provision of the same after the death of Bibi.

In another development, Rs0.9 million has been refunded to the legal heirs of one Muhammad Idris on the direction of the ombudsman office. Idris, an employee of Faisalabad Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), died during service.

In a separate development, the office intervened to retrieve 9.18 Kanal land of Government Girls High School Bhon Kalan in Hafizabad district. The land valuing Rs15.6 million have been retrieved on the complaint of Muhammad Rafiq.

Alongside, the education department has paid outstanding monthly salaries to complainant Hanifaan Bibi of Okara in compliance with the directions of the ombudsman office. The applicant was also given financial aid worth Rs1.6 million besides the provision of Rs0.7 million as arrears of salaries.

The office has also arbitrated to ensure payment of outstanding dues worth Rs4.2 million to a Shakargarhbased applicant, Zohra Parveen, after the death of her

Pakistan’s educational sector is struggling to compete with today’s world. According to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLSM) districtlevel survey 2019-2020, we have a literacy rate of 62.3 percent in Pakistan. This means around 60 million people are uneducated in Pakistan. Just imagine what these 60 million people can do for Pakistan. How they can bring a change in society. Among these millions of people, there are many doctors, engineers, politicians, and whatnot. They possess a huge amount of potential but no education to let that potential come out of them. There are several drawbacks in our educational sector such as the implementation of Single National Curriculum (SNC), poor facilities in educational institutions, poor examination system, lack of educational institutes, corruption, and dearth of budget allocation for the education sector.

One of the current educational crisis in Pakistan is the introduction of SNC. Before SNC implementation, we were stuck on the same old books for generations. Our books had information about even floppy disks which is useless in today’s era. The conventional books gave us little to no information about today’s world. Now that in 2021, our honorable Prime Minister Imran Khan has introduced a new form of a curriculum which is known as Single National Curriculum (SNC). Although the objective of introducing this curriculum is to improve educational qualities in government schools and colleges, it has many disadvantages such as lack of flexibility, lack of creativity, and imposed ideologies. The SNC contravened the rights of parents to choose the sort of education they would provide for their children. The SNC focuses more on the uniformity of curriculum but in reality what Pakistan needs is a uniform education system, where the discrimination between the poor and the elite is eliminated.

Another major cause of crisis in education system

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Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia in media sharing tie-up ISLAMABAD APP

education department employee spouse who died during service.

While taking action on the separate application of the widow of Muhammad Nazir, an irrigation department baildar in Mandi Bahauddin, Rs1.1 million was provided to the applicant as financial relief by the department. Another widow applicant received lump sum dues worth Rs.2.2 million of her husband Irfan Ali who was a contract employee of the health department in Muzaffargarh.

In another development, Aisha Shafiq of Jampur tehsil of Rajanpur district was given Rs24,000 as an educational stipend by the Punjab Social Protection Agency. The applicants have thanked the ombudsman office for the speedy redressal of their complaints.

Educational crisis in Pakistan AfnAn HuSSAIn

He also took exception to the petitioner’s objection to the court’s jurisdiction, saying it had no justification.

“From whichever angle the case is looked at, it is crystal clear that Hamza is guilty,” he contended.

The court, on the occasion, also indicted Ahmad Ali, a co-accused in the case. The court then adjourned the hearing of the case until January 10.

of Pakistan is unavailability of facilities in educational institutes. Have you ever given your matriculation or intermediate exams in government schools or colleges? If you have, then you must know the pathetic condition of our government educational institutes.

Since our independence, many governments came and gone by but none focused on improving the facilities in educational institutes.A student can only excel in the learning environment. Even the furniture used in institutions plays a vital role in students’ educational careers. Underprivileged students are deprived of many facilities in government schools such as lack of adequate furniture, clean water and electricity, and lack of co-curricular activities. Government schools have also failed to provide highly qualified teachers for students.While the world is opting for a modernized system of education, Pakistan is still pursuing the battle of development through old ways of teaching.

Poor examination system also adds to the crisis of education in Pakistan. Only the memory of the students is tested by the examination system of Pakistan. In Pakistani students, there is a huge absence of creativity.

Here we are running in a marathon of who gets the highest marks in exams. Resultantly, we adopt cramming to gain marks only but not knowledge. Students are provided with paper pattern sheets a month or two before exams which inject a sense of laziness in students and students find shorter and easier ways to gain success in exams. Moreover, the checking of exams is below par.

Let us take an example of the results of intermediate and matriculation exams of 2021, 707 students got 1100 out of 1100 marks in BISE Lahore Matric Exams. These numbers are astonishing to look at but do not believe that in a year like 2020 & 2021 where all education institutes were closed and there was an online mode of education only, students could get these many marks which were never been taken before by anyone. Furthermore, students all year round had problems in their online class which also lead to some of the protests by students regarding online education. This all highlights the condi-

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that Prime Minister Imran Khan held meetings with the various delegates on the sidelines of the OIC Summit wherein the main subject of discussion remained the Afghanistan situation. Talking to the media in Islamabad, the information minister noted that a joint television channel would be set up to promote media links between Pakistan, Turkey, and Malaysia. He maintained that focal persons had been named for media sharing and that a joint media network would be formed. On the issue of extremism, the information minister observed that issues of fundamentalism needed to be tackled in Pakistan, Malaysia, and other countries of the ummah. “Under the OIC platform, a unit of scholars should be named to provide guidance on religious issues. All such scholars would gather at one place under Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority,” he said, adding that efforts were being made to create a platform under OIC that would resolve issues in religious debates. tion of our examination system.

In Pakistan, one of the main reasons why child labor is high is because of the availability of fewer schools for needy students. Currently, Pakistan has 22.8 million outof-school children mainly aged 5 to 16, due to which Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of outof-school children (OOSC).Many parents cannot afford expensive and quality education for their children. In addition to that, many urban as well as rural areas, are having deficiency of schools and colleges. Also, there is an immense insufficiency of universities in Pakistan. Only the major cities like Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi,etc. have a better and ample amount of universities. Many students have to migrate to these cities to get higher-level studies. Due to the high fee structures of private universities and the unavailability of government universities people are forced to put a stop to their child’s education after he/she completes college.

From top to bottom, Pakistan’s education sector is filled with corruption. From the withdrawal of extra monthly pay or salaries of non-existing teachers to unauthorized prudent funds and illicit appointing of teachers through payola. Many schools in rural areas are not used and teachers appointed there do not appear for work or have subcontracted their jobs against some part of their salaries. The projects launched with help of foreign funds go in vain because of corrupt educational sector officials and fails to give desired results.

Throughout many years, we have seen education as the least interest of politicians. In 2020-2021, there has been a decrease of almost 12 percent of budget allocation for the Ministry of Education i.e. from Rs. 99,312 crores to Rs. 88,090 crores. Although we can progress with decreased budget also but there is no proper regulatory or accountability system to bring the results upfront. According to the International Crisis Group, Pakistan is among 12 countries that spend less than 2 percent of their GDP on the education sector.The Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) government is injecting money into different sectors of education butchecks and balances are required to prevent any corruption.

In conclusion, education is the key to success for civilized nations. It develops the country and introduces leadership qualities in people.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

NEWS

Moot on afghanistan issue was ‘very successful’: oiC chief news desk Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha has said that the moot on Afghanistan, held in Islamabad on Sunday, was “very successful” and praised the people and government of Pakistan for their hospitality. Talking to the media person in the federal capital before his departure on Monday, he said the meeting was a success as the OIC managed to set up a humanitarian fund to support Afghanistan, besides appointing Tarig Ali Bakheet as a special envoy to Afghanistan, who will coordinate with international and Afghan stakeholders to avert the looming disaster in Kabul. Bakheet made his first contact with the Afghan delegation yesterday, he said and expressed hope that the whole world will play a role in providing funds for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that the OIC meeting would yield positive results.

He thanked the OIC chief for coming to Pakistan and attending the meeting. He expressed hope that the nominated special envoy to Afghanistan will implement the decisions made at the meeting and play an active role in provision of assistance to the Afghan people.

Sindh government announces public holiday on december 25 karaCHi News Desk

The Sindh government, on Monday, announced a public holiday in the province on December 25 on account of the birth of Pakistan’s founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and to mark the festivities of Christmas. An official notification in this regard was issued by the Services, General Administration, and Coordination Department of the Sindh government. According to the notification, a public holiday will be observed throughout the province of Sindh, “except essential service and those engaged in COVID-19 emergency vaccination duties.”

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CM Buzdar announCeS launCh of hiSToriC welfare SCheMe

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news desk

UNJAB CM Usman Buzdar has announced on Monday, that the government is going to launch a historic welfare scheme of Naya Pakistan Sehat Card from January whereas Sehat Card has already been given to the people in DG Khan and Sahiwal divisions.

He revealed that in the first phase, Naya Pakistan Sehat Card programme will be started from Lahore division and after that the same will be launched in 6 other divisions of the province.

CM Buzdar termed this initiative a big step towards a new Pakistan, and the completion of another promise made by Prime Minister Imran Khan to the nation. The incumbent government had paid more attention to further improve the health facilities as this sector was badly neglected in previous regimes. The budget of the health sector was Rs169 billion in the previous government, while the present government had made a substantial increase and allocated Rs399 billion in this sector.

He further stated that every family in Punjab would have a Naya Pakistan Sehat Card by March 31. He further maintained

that every family would be able to get access to free treatment facility up to one million rupees per annum against one Naya Pakistan Sehat Card adding that 30 million families and over 100 million people would be benefited from this card.

The CM went on to reveal that for the first time in the history of Punjab such a hefty amount had been allocated for the im-

provement of the health sector besides setting up eight Mother & Child Hospitals in the backward districts including Lahore.

He said that the previous government didn’t think about such a welfare-oriented project like the Naya Pakistan Sehat Card.

The card would ensure the best medical facilities to the common man and his family.

It was not just a card but a comprehensive

programme for realizing the problems of the common man besides resolving them, he concluded. On the other hand, CM Buzdar stated that the Opposition was only doing politics on non-issues as these people had no agenda. There was chaos in the ranks of the Opposition, and the rejected elements, just to gain political mileage, were criticizing for the sake of criticism.

He further stated that the PTI government by taking practical measures for the welfare of the people was fulfilling its promises. Pakistan had got a true and sincere leader in the form of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that the present government had completed those developmental projects which the previous governments could not do in years. “No one will be allowed to create hindrance in the way of development,” the CM warned.

He went on to add that the nation had not yet forgotten the lootings of the past.

Those who were leveling baseless allegations should first look into their pockets soaked with corruption.

He further stated that the politics of those who had ruthlessly looted the country had been ended forever, and the era of befooling the people with hollow slogans had passed.

Analysis: India intensifies regional engagements to regain space Shaukat Tarin elected London ANADolu AgeNcy

After an initial shock and wait and watch policy after the Taliban took over Kabul in August, India is calibrating to regain space in Afghanistan and its neighbourhood by trying to evolve a “regional consensus”.

A month after it hosted a regional summit of national security advisors of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, India arranged a meeting of five Central Asian countries on Afghanistan in New Delhi on Sunday.

The situation in Afghanistan and the mounting economic and humanitarian crisis took centre stage at the meet. Addressing the meeting, Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar said India was pursuing 4Cs — commerce, capacity enhancement,

connectivity, and contact for taking its diplomatic relations with Central Asian states to the next leve l. Significantly, India has invited leaders of five Central Asian nations to attend its Republic Day parade on January 26 as chief guests. According to Kazakh scholar Bibigul Dosova, India’s present leadership is persistently pursuing to consolidate its position in the extended neighbourhood.

“While it is not the region’s leading player, especially when Chinese partnership in the region is on the ascendency, it (India) is taking steps that may enable it to acquire a significant position,” said the scholar.

The escape of President Ashraf Ghani and the takeover of the Taliban had created anxious moments for India, as it had invested heavily in the Kabul government. India has found common interests with Central Asian

states as both are concerned about the threats of terrorism, extremism, and drug trafficking. India seeks an increased alignment in the region to dilute and deter any consequences which are deemed unexpected or undesired.

IndIa’s Interest In afghanIstan: While Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rasit Meredow tried to highlight the significance of the TurkmenistanAfghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, not enough enthusiasm was noticeable among the Indian officials. This suggests that in the shortterm New Delhi is satisfied with the present arrangement that it has with the fuel suppliers.

Uzbek analyst Ildar Yakubov believed the interest taken by India in Afghanistan’s affairs remains far greater than the cooperation it pursues with Central Asian states.

as senator on vacant seat from KP Continued from page 01

Stating that gas reserves are declining by 10% every year, Tarin said the government is trying to find more gas reserves in other parts of the country, including Lakki Marwat. About electric power he said that at present, there is no shortage of electricity in the country. “The government will bear the losses incurred because of electricity stealing as we trying to provide electricity to every part of the country,” he added.

Shaukar Tarin said that PTI was not defeated in the local government due to inflation as inflation is a global phenomenon and not limited to Pakistan. The newly elected Senator, while recalling his term as the minister of finance said, “I had played an important role in concluding the Hydel Profit Agreement. The net profit of electricity arrears will be paid to KP as per the agreement.” He said that he will try to alleviate the economic and financial problems of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

US lauds Pakistan for hosting OIC’s extraordinary session Continued from page 01 The document adopted after day-long deliberations here at the Parliament building also expressed solidarity with the Afghans and reiterated the commitment of the OIC Member States to help bring peace, security, stability, and development to Afghanistan.

The extraordinary meeting was convened as the UN’s estimates warned that 60% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people face “crisis levels of hunger” and that the situation was getting worse every day. The OIC also expressed deep alarm at the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The Council of Foreign Ministers also took into account the fact that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has pointed that 665,000 people have been newly displaced within Afghanistan between January and September 2021 – in addition to the 2.9 million people already internally displaced by conflict in Afghanistan.

Expressing deep concern over the breakdown of Afghanistan’s health system, disease outbreaks and severe malnutrition, in particular in the face of Covid-19 pandemic, the OIC decided to establish a Humanitarian Trust Fund, under the aegis of the Islamic Development Bank; which would serve as a vehicle to channel humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan including in partnership with other international actors.

The Council of Foreign Ministers decided that the OIC General Secretariat, together with the Islamic Development Bank and Humanitarian Trust Fund, shall commence discussions with the UN system organizations to device a road map for mobilizing actions in relevant fora to unlock the financial and banking channels to resume liquidity and flow of financial and humanitarian assistance.

It would also devise a mechanism for the disbursement of urgent and sustained humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

In this regard the Islamic Development Bank was urged to expeditiously operationalize the Humanitarian Trust Fund by the first quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, the meeting called on the OIC Member States, the Islamic Financial Institutions, donors and other international partners to announce pledges to the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan as well as to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

The meeting expressed deep alarm at the worsening economic situation in Afghanistan, which it pointed was further compounded by the continued freeze of overseas Afghan assets as well as other international assistance, exacerbating the urgent cash-flow problems, including payment of remuneration to public officials, and hindering the provision of essential public and social services to the people of Afghanistan.

PM warns of biggest man-made crisis in Afghanistan if world did’t act Addressing the participants, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the world against brewing crisis in war-torn Afghanistan, saying that Washington must “delink” the Taliban government from the 40 million Afghan citizens who are suffering due to crisis situation.

“If the world doesn’t act now, this will be the biggest man-made crisis which is unfolding in front of us,” said the premier while delivering the keynote address at the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers convened to discuss the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan here at the Parliament House.

Envoys from 57 Islamic nations as well as observer delegations are participating in today’s session. The premier, who was the last to speak before the televised portion of the event concluded, began his speech by welcoming the participants to Pakistan.

Khan said that Afghanistan could potentially become the biggest “man-made crisis in the world” if the world did not act now.

“Forty one years ago, an extraordinary session of the OIC was held in Pakistan to discuss the situation in Afghanistan,” he told the gathering, which also included Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi alongside delegates from the United States, China, Russia, the European Union and UN. PM Imran said no other country had suffered as much as Afghanistan, adding that even before the Taliban seized control, half of the population was below the poverty line.

He said that 75 per cent of the country’s budget was also supported by foreign aid.

He noted that any country, in a situation similar to that of Afghanistan, would collapse. Commending the other speakers for highlighting the gravity of the situation in the war-torn country, he said: PM Imran said that the OIC also had a “religious duty” to help the Afghans.

“They (US) have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years but this [concerns] the people of Afghanistan,” he said, adding that it was important to take immediate action. He noted that the Taliban had to fulfill the commitments they had made to the international community, which included forming an inclusive government and ensuring women’s rights. “[However], the idea of human rights is different in every society,” he said, giving the example of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders the war-torn country.

“The city culture is completely different from the culture in rural areas […] we give stipends

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to the parents of the girls so that they send them to school. But in districts bordering Afghanistan, if we are not sensitive to the cultural norms, then they won’t send them to school despite receiving double the amount.

We have to be sensitive about human rights and women rights,” he said.

He reiterated that Afghanistan was headed for chaos unless the world took immediate action. Such a situation will not suit the US because “chaos means the inability to fight terrorism,” he said, adding that Pakistan also faced a threat from ISIL (Daesh).

PM Imran said that Pakistan was currently housing over three million refugees, adding that country was also providing shelter to more than 200,000 refugees who had overstayed their visas. “The situation in Afghanistan means they can’t go back. We are already suffering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not in a position to deal with a influx of refugees.” He questioned how poorer countries, that were still struggling to get their economic back up, would be able to cope with an influx of refugees.

Addressing the participants, the premier said he was impressed by the suggestions put forward by Islamic development banks for providing immediate assistance.

“I look forward to the fact that you will come up with a road map by the end of this evening,” he said, reiterating that “chaos in Afghanistan suited no one”.

Pakistan proposes six-point roadmap Pakistan proposed a six-point strategy — ensuring food security, reviving the national economy and building institutional capacity to counter terrorism — to address the looming economic and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and enhance its ability to tackle the growing threat of militant violence. In his opening address at the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of

Foreign Ministers (CFM) of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi proposed a vehicle within the 57-nation bloc to sustainable humanitarian and financial support to the warravaged nation.

The emergency in Afghanistan, with millions facing hunger as winter sets in, has caused mounting alarm, but the international community has struggled to come up with a coordinated response given Western reluctance to help the Taliban government, which assumed power in August.

Convened by chair Saudi Arabia — and hosted by Pakistan — to discuss the crises in Afghanistan, the session is being attended by 20 foreign ministers, 10 deputy foreign ministers and delegates from about 70 nations.

Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is among the delegates, alongside others from the United States, China, Russia, Germany, the European Union and the United Nations. The meeting is the biggest major conference on Afghanistan since the USbacked government fell. Qureshi called for increasing the investment, bilaterally or through the OIC platform, in the education and skill training of the Afghanistan public.

He proposed the establishment of an expert group of OIC and the United Nations to consider ways and means to ensure the revival of the banking service in that counry.

The foreign minister also called for enhanced engagement with Afghanistan to bring in political and social inclusivity besides ensuring respect for human rights particularly women’s rights.

In November, the UN envoy to Afghanistan delivered a bleak assessment of the situation following the Taliban takeover, saying that an affiliate of the Islamic State group has grown and now appears present in nearly all 34 provinces.

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Tuesday, 21 December, 2021

06 COMMENT

Muslims and the Quran

Beginning of the end?

PTI’s collapse in KP

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HATEVER explanations the PTi leadership might offer for its discomfiture, the party has been badly mauled in the first phase of the local Government elections and that too in KP which it presented as an example of its outstanding performance.

No spin given by the party’s ministers and spokespersons can undo what happened on sunday. Not that the party had not made preparations for the polls. The Pm had himself visited Governor’s House about two weeks back defying ECP’s directives. He announced projects and distributed cheques as he congratulated the KP government for extending free health insurance to 100 per cent population. it appears that all the propaganda by the PTi failed to cover up the ground realities like the back breaking decrease in people’s purchasing power and rampant unemployment.

The PTi’s debacle in KP would have wide ranging impact on national politics. it would provide a lease of life to an exhausted and divided opposition. Contrarily it would demoralize PTi legislators and workers who are already finding it difficult to defend the party’s policies among the masses. There would be rethinking among the ruling party’s allies and the ‘electables’ who were made to join the PTi on the eve of the elections. The defeat would also force those who have long been on the same page with the party to rethink.

The elections were marred by violence leading to five dead and numerous injured. The forced boycott of elections at some of the polling stations in a district formerly part of the erstwhile FATA and demands to revert the tribal districts to their previous status creates a perception of the involvement of the TTP in the affair.

The network has vowed to fight against the inclusion of the tribal district into KP. The suicide attack in Bajaur’s mamund tehsil, leaving two ANP workers dead and five others wounded, also carries the TTP’s footprint. That a mob protesting against the merger of tribal areas with KP attacked Federal minster shibli Faraz’s car makes it all the more important to find out if the TTP is involved and seek the extradition of the network from the safe havens of Afghanistan in case this turns to be true.

Four categories according to their relationship with the book

HASAN AFTAB SAEED

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uslims believe Quran to be the verbatim and uncorrupted speech of God. They also ‘revere’ it; especially in the subcontinent they are horrified if the Quran is found lying on the floor (even in a mosque) or where people may have their feet in its direction. Apart from this however, they differ widely in their attitude towards the book. Barring clerics and professional scholars, as far as muslims of the subcontinent and their diaspora to other parts of the world are concerned, their relationship with the Quran categorizes them broadly into four groups.

The first group comprises those who, apart from ‘believing’ in it and revering it, have little interest or time for the Quran.

The second group consists of those who read it regularly without understanding a word of it. They know no Arabic and cannot be bothered to consult a translation. They do it for blessings that are supposed to come their way by the simple act of reading. included in this group are those who resort to electronic

An ill-conceived notion to address Islamophobia

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BABAr NizAmi

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disagreement seems to be brewing between the finance ministry and the central bank.

Not on whether or not there is inflation one would have to be a certain kind of overseas supporter of the ruling party to dispute that - but on what is causing it.

The lot at Q Block think we’re seeing cost-push inflation. There are just way too many inputs that we are importing, like fuel, most notably, that are just too expensive, which in turn, make everything else too expensive. The central bank, on the other hand, feels there’s too much money sloshing about and some of it needs to be sucked out of circulation to curb it chasing the same quantum of goods and services. unfortunately for the finance ministry, in these two competing views, the central bank’s view involves something under its direct control: the interest rate. And, as we saw on the 14th of this month, they hiked it up by another 100 basis points.

The finance ministry wasn’t amused. The economy is not overheating, they say. it’s just some costpush inflation. Please let’s just wait it out and in the meanwhile, let us not create conditions (like high interest rates) that will hurt businesses, as well as the government’s own fiscal space.

Whichever side of the debate one is, however, it underlines yet again, an issue that we keep coming back to. The lack of statistics with which to prove one’s argument.

Take, for instance, the issue of whether or not the economy is overheating. As recently as september, the advisor on finance announced that the economy might be overheating. However, the sBP back then did not see any serious dangers, and was thus not ready to increase the interest rates drastically, which is the usual medicine given to an overheating economy. However, this difference of opinion wasn’t a

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

The author is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed

The Dismal Science is also an inexact science, yes. But our horrible statistics departments have made it look like astrology

T is not the first time that there has been talk of Pakistan jointly launching a new television channel with malaysia and Turkey as the proposal was originally floated back in 2019 by Prime minister imran Khan during the 74th uNGA session. That it has been repeated again by information minister Fawad Chaudhry following the OiC Foreign ministers summit held in islamabad last weekend shows that there is movement on this ill-conceived notion that islamophobia can be addressed via a TV channel. so far there are no details outlining the sort of content that will be produced and broadcasted on the channel to help it achieve its goal.

However, it seems not much research has been done prior to the conception and announcement of the ‘three-nation channel’ to combat islamophobia as the plan fails to incorporate one basic feature of this largely Western, especially European, problem, that it is a deep-rooted societal ill that does not respond well to propagandabased programming. Alternatively, engaging in dialogue over the issue with the leadership and decision makers of the countries where it is most prevalent is a much more sound approach to address this widespread problem.

For Pakistan, a country that is going through a severe economic crisis and has to be very careful and picky about where it deploys its limited resources, investing in a new partially-owned TV channel may not be the most prudent strategy. Even if it is able to find this money, perhaps the most deserving of this investment would be our state-owned media, Pakistan Television (PTV), an inefficiently run outdated organization that has not produced anything of substance in decades. This money would certainly be a good start towards bringing back its former glory when in its heyday creativity and quality programming were its hallmark. However, to expect this from the PTi government would be asking too much as it has not even made good on its promise of transforming PTV into a truly independent state-owned channel, ‘comparable to the BBC’. Clearly there is a need to go back to the drawing board before wasting money on a project that is highly unlikely to achieve its primary objective.

M. A. Niazi

ing elderly gentleman in a gathering asked her what had turned her into such a zealous advocate of islam. she answered that islam had enlightened her about regarding her rights. To which the curious gentleman asked: ‘Does islam also have anything to say about your duties?’ ‘Yes, those too’, came the reluctant response. Of course, islam lays down people’s rights as well – after all, duties and rights are two sides of the same coin, for one cannot exist without the other. But it is a problem when everybody is interested in his rights (relegating his duties to the ‘Yes, those too’ category). unfortunately, this sort of self-obsessed cherry picking is very common when it comes to reading the Quran.

The fourth group is made up of those who consider the Quran as guidance, first and foremost for themselves (not for their neighbours, their relatives, and their rivals). Allama iqbal was famously advised by his father to read the Quran as if it was being revealed to him.

The idea, of course, was to consider everything he read as a stimulus for introspection and self-improvement.

For it is notoriously easy to fall into the trap many muslims fall into; that of thinking that this verse condemns the Jews and that verse the Christians and the other one the universal nemesis: one’s mother-in-law. The right attitude manifests itself symbolically when one falls on one’s face immediately upon reading a verse regarding prostration, not because some jurist some hundreds of years ago declared it mandatory but because one is not just reading the book but is living it. morality first and foremost concerns oneself. it is about what one must do in any given situation. As far as most people are concerned however, morality is what everybody else must do in every situation.

The distinction between self-righteous egoism and morality is lost on many, including unfortunately, many muslims who apparently are very close to their book, revere it, quote it, recite it, and have even committed a sizeable part of it to memory.

Are our economic managers flying blind?

Three-state television channel

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

alternative to blind reading in the form of audio recording on a mobile phone played back in their homes and shops. in addition to the blessings, an added advantage is the banishing of djinns and evil spirits, for which purpose surah Baqarah, for some obscure reason, happens to be the chapter of choice.

These people are also very enthusiastic about reciting the Quran for the benefit of departed souls in ceremonies following their deaths, where (again) it does not matter what one is reading so long as the Quran is ‘completed’ by the participants from cover to cover a certain number of times.

The third group consists of those who make it a point to know what they are reading by either developing a working knowledge of Quranic Arabic or consulting one or more of the many translations that are available in all languages. All this is done to rationalize their conduct by justifying the life choices they have already made or to win academic debates.

These people grant that the Quran is guidance – for everybody else, not for themselves. When they read about virtuous folks in the Quran their minds conjure up images of themselves and their loved ones. Where the Quran mentions evil men and women, they visualize their in-laws and other unsavoury characters of the world. like many ladies who, while watching a show, instantly start seeing themselves in the heroine of the play and their enemies in the villains, these people nod in agreement when upright men are mentioned and purse their lips in disapproval when the wicked are mentioned in the Quran. All the while they are thinking, alternately, of themselves and their real or imaginary rivals, with the latter ending up languishing in hellfire (another delicious thought). Far from benefitting from the Quran by mending their ways therefore, they get further hardened in their ways. The Quran explicitly talks about this attitude: it says that its verses increase the guidance of some and drive others farther into misguidance.

Here, it would be pertinent to recount an episode involving a lady who had started wearing her religion on her sleeve after a sudden transformation. A well-mean-

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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problem back then since even then the finance advisor didn’t want an increase in interest rates and wanted to cool down the economy through fiscal tools.

The advisor and the governor still disagree, but now they have clearly switched sides. Who was right, when?

By definition, an economy can be pronounced as overheated when, in addition to inflation, it is also at full employment, - which economists describe as 96 out of a 100 people having jobs. Now, whereas the managers of the American economy make their calls using employment figures provided to them on a monthly basis, their Pakistani counterparts have absolutely no usable employment data to rely on (the last labour Force survey was conducted in 2018-19.) The quality of data is heavily contested in many countries but we are not even at that stage yet. Our data is ancient to begin with, hence, completely useless. so what does the sBP do then? The good news is that, before each meeting, the members of the monetary Policy Committee (mPC) of the central bank are all presented with an exhaustive compendium of statistics by the sBP’s own statistics department. And the mPC does make decisions based on that data, including an effort to estimate the output gap, which is considered to be an acceptable alternative to the unemployment number. But the problem here again is that the number crunchers at the central bank mainly use the GDP number calculated a year ago, and also some other data that the Pakistan Bureau of statistics gives them. it is also a fact that the mPC is a sort of a democratic body, containing a rather diverse set of viewpoints. And we don’t use that word lightly. Not only does it have industry representation (which one would assume would always vote for low interest rates), it also has an mmT proponent in Dr Asad Zaman (mmT folk believe in zero interest rates). And yet, in the latest meeting, when the members were presented with the exhaustive compendium of (old) statistics, all members reached the same conclusion: to increase the policy rate by 1pc. And this isn’t an anomaly. in the last four meetings, for which minutes are available, there was complete consensus in two meetings, while in the other two, decisions were taken with an 8-to-1 majority vote. What does all this mean? it means that though the central bank doesn’t seem to be operating on mere whims, it is still relying

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heavily on the old statistics it is presented with.

The current governor of the state Bank claims to understand how quickly things change nowadays, and has thus increased the frequency of monetary policy meetings regarding interest rates decisions. But how does he know what has changed every month?

Economics, like the rest of the social sciences, suffers from what is called Physics Envy. it wants its theories to be considered as immutably mathematical as those of physics. it is accused of mathematicising certain arguments more than they possibly should be.

But even those disbelieving matheists don’t recommend not using numbers to begin with. statistics are the fundamental units with which any argument is made in economics or, indeed, all of the social sciences.

The government is currently moving ahead with some legal amendments to the fundamental nature of what the central bank should be. But perhaps it should be more interested in reforming the statistics Division. The Pakistan Bureau of statistics doesn’t need to be reformed, it needs to be completely overhauled. in an era of Big Data and artificial intelligence, our mandarins over at the stats div are still using antiquated methodologies.

That too, sluggishly.

NADRA is perhaps a Pakistani success story and, barring delays on highspeed internet spectrum, so is mobile teledensity in the country. These two, combined, could serve as extremely useful tools for the PBs to go about its job.

Not just through data mining but also plain, old-fashioned call centres dialing up for data. And perhaps the government could also look into the idea of making it compulsory, with scheduling flexibility, to answer queries and surveys over the phone by the PBs. The culture of flying practically blind has to stop.

There are economic arguments to be made and crucial decisions to be taken. They should be made seriously and with data. What our economic managers are working with is haphazardly collected data using outdated methods. sketchy data which, to further twist the knife, is also lagging behind by several years.

Economics, like the rest of the social sciences, suffers from what is called Physics Envy. It wants its theories to be considered as immutably mathematical as those of physics. It is accused of mathematicising certain arguments more than they possibly should be.

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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Babar Nizami is Executive Editor, Profit at Pakistan Today. He can be reached via email at babar.nizami@pakistantoday.com.pk. He tweets @Bnizami

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COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

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Public transportation in Pakistan

Challenges for the US (Part 1) America faces a fateful crossroad in 2022

Dr AloN BEN mEir Righting the WRong: When my assistant handed me copy expressing my greetings and good wishes for 2022 for approval, i paused, thinking, “is that all i can say, just hope for a better, brighter new year?” How much happier and sunnier can next year be, when we still suffer from the deep scars and bleeding wounds from the social and political malaise that 2021 left behind? We must act now. There is no time to spare because the losses will be of such a magnitude beyond our ability to comprehend.

Politicizing the Pandemic: The pandemic is the most challenging crisis facing our nation in more than a century, and remains one of the fundamental human rights issues of our time. Nearly 800,000 Americans have died from the pandemic, yet only 60 percent of our fellow Americans have been vaccinated. How sad and disheartening that we politicized a deadly virus, as Republicans are three times more likely than Democrats to refuse vaccination. Two of the most populous states, Florida and Texas, not only are refusing to institute vaccine or masking mandates, but are banning local municipalities from instituting their own mandates. is it any wonder then that their death tolls are the highest in the country?

To refuse vaccination is to benefit from the precaution of those who have been vaccinated without making any contribution to our collective immunity. By the spring of 2022 more than one million of our fellow Americans will have died from the virus and many Republican leaders still have the crude audacity to oppose mandatory vaccination. it is time to recognize that each and every one of us has a moral obligation to be vaccinated and contribute to the realization of herd immunity. moreover, the refusal of so many Americans to be vaccinated is allowing one variant after another to arise and inflict ever more pain and hardship. Our immunity to disease is a collective resource, and none are safe until we all are. The pandemic is apolitical and colorblind, and 2022 will be merciless and agonizingly harsh unless we rise and act as one. Vaccination should not be a choice but a requirement as long as the unvaccinated can infect others. We do not have the luxury of time. democRacy undeR assault: Our democracy is under ominous assault. Republicans are tearing it down brick by brick. One state after another passes discriminatory laws and absurd rules, gerrymanders to secure electoral control, and refuses to accept the result of free and

fair elections. We are still reeling from the violent storming of the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and accommodate a morally deranged so-called leader, whose lust for power is surpassed only by his contempt for the laws of the land. They were ready to sacrifice the freedom and liberty for which countless Americans have died, only to bask in his authoritarian design. What does that say about America’s future, when a multitude of Republicans want to seize power at whatever cost, willingly following such a blind, unhinged, bigoted narcissist who is openly tearing our democratic institutions apart?

Our democracy is facing an unprecedented danger. We must strengthen voting rights, prevent the appointment of partisans to subvert the election, fight political corruption at every level, and make political power decreasingly dependent on money. The election of Biden gave us hope in preserving our democracy and attending to the political and social malaise that swept the nation. But maintaining the House and senate for the Democrats in 2022 will be do or die; otherwise, Biden’s agenda will be shattered, and authoritarianism will creep in, leading to the collapse of the American institution. We must rise in unison, hold accountable the traitors behind the insurrection on January 6, and preserve and protect America’s 240year-old democracy that served as a beacon of hope and freedom to the global community. c l i m a t e change denial: Climate change will not happen sometime in the future. it is happening now. We live it—the unprecedented storms, hurricanes, deadly tornadoes, and fires consuming hundreds of millions of trees every year. sea levels are rising, beaches are shrinking, and island states are slowly submerging in front of our eyes. Thousands of species still unknown to man are vanishing in the Amazon.

Coral reefs are dying at a horrifying rate, with over 30 percent at risk of being lost within the next few decades. To be sure, climate change is an existential threat facing our planet.

The reasons for this unfolding tragedy are clear enough. Coral mining, overfishing, blast fishing, pollution, the burning of fossil fuels, and animal farming and transportation are among the major contributing factors. Climate change continues to spark massive migration; millions have been forced to flee their homes, which have become inhospitable due to flooding, fires, and other disasters fueled by the changing environment. And yet, we still have a multitude of climate change deniers who dismiss the indisputable scientific evidence and refuse to acknowledge what is in front of their own eyes. i applaud Biden’s commitment to address the perils of climate change and call on every public and private institution to play their part in combating climate change. Next year will be even worse unless the country comes together. We must act now to avert the catastrophic impact of

climate change before it is too late. unfathomable child abuse: it is hard to comprehend; in America, over 13 million children go to school hungry and one in five live in food insecure households. Black and Hispanic children disproportionately suffer from poverty.

How is it fathomable that the richest country on earth disgracefully falls in child poverty between mexico and lithuania? One in 11 children, nearly 6.5 million nationwide, live in extreme poverty, compounded by the fact that this age is a time of rapid brain development.

Even more damning is the trafficking of children which occurs in every state. most trafficking victims in the us are citizens; those forced into sex work are not just runaways or abandoned youth, they are children from urban and rural areas, and of every class and race. The National Center for missing and Exploited Children received over 17,000 reports of potential child sex trafficking in 2020 alone. Of the over 26,500 children reported runaways in that year, one in six were “likely victims of child sex trafficking.” sadly, as i write these painful words another child was just trafficked for sexual purposes. And 2022 will be just the same; it will not heal these tragic wounds unless we rise up and put an end to this unimaginable travesty in America today.

W o m e n ’ s Rights undeR assault: To this day, after decades of socalled equality, women are still discriminated against in this country. in 2020, women earned 84 percent of what men earned; it would take an extra 42 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2020.

Women of color fare even worse, and face higher unemployment than white women— nearly 9 percent for Black women and 8.5 percent for latina women, versus 5.2 percent for white women.

And who are these men who act as judges and jurors to deny women a central component of their bodily autonomy, to pass laws that prohibit abortion? What right do they have to decide what women can or cannot do with their bodies?

This is just another abhorrent manifestation of infringement on women’s inherent rights. The presumption undergirding abortion bans is that women who become unintentionally pregnant do not comprehend the consequential weight of their actions. Those who oppose abortion rights often assume that restrictions on abortion will not adversely affect women’s healthcare, when in fact it puts women’s health at risk. A true democracy cannot exist without gender equality.

Despite our best wishes for 2022, the plight of women will not change unless we focus on this gender gap, and act decisively and level the field when it comes to women’s rights. … Part 2 of this article will appear in this space next week

Our democracy is facing an unprecedented danger. We must strengthen voting rights, prevent the appointment of partisans to subvert the election, fight political corruption at every level, and make political power decreasingly dependent on money.

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Centre for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. alon@alonben-meir.com

PuBliC transport is known in many words- public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit, is the system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that charge a posted fee for each trip. There is no rigid definition; Encyclopaedia Britannica specifies that public transportation is within urban areas and air travel is often not thought of when discussing public transport dictionaries use wording like buses, trains and etc.

Examples of public transport include city buses, trolleybuses, trams (or light rail) and passenger trains, rapid transit (metro, subway, underground, etc.) and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. most public transport systems run along fixed routes with set embarkation and disembarkation points to a prearranged timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway (e.g. every 15 minutes as opposed to being scheduled for any specific time of the day). However, most public transport trips include other modes of travel, such as passengers walking or catching bus services to access train stations. share taxis offer on-demand services in many parts of the world, which may compete with fixed public transport lines, or complement them, by bringing passengers to interchanges. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service. urban public transit differs distinctly among Asia, North America, and Europe. in Asia, profit-driven, privately owned and publicly traded mass transit and real estate conglomerates predominantly operate public transit systems. in North America, municipal transit authorities most commonly run mass transit operations. in Europe, both state-owned and private companies predominantly operate mass transit systems. Public transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged to each passenger. services can be fully profitable through high usership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated and possibly subsidised from local or national tax revenue. Fully subsidised, free of charge services operate in some towns and cities. most of Karachiites rely on buses and coaches as a mode of transport as many of them do not own personal cars or bikes and the fares of taxis and rickshaws are also unaffordable for them. Commuting by bus is a relatively cheaper mode of transportation and caters to the needs of varied social classes from a labourer to a middle-class white-collar worker.

However, keeping in mind that the current transport route system makes people change several buses to reach their destination, the buses which move around the city are unreliable, poorly maintained, worn-out with zero-safety standards, like emergency exits, etc. They have limited seating capacity. Hence, most of the time, the buses are overloaded, accommodating more passengers than its capacity, who are then forced to cling to the doors or perch on the roofs of the buses to take a ride. moreover, reckless driving by bus drivers often leads to deadly accidents, while the overloading causes an imbalance resulting in overturning incidents.

Furthermore, there is limited seating capacity especially in the ladies compartment of the buses. This allocation of less space for women in public buses causes seating problems for women and they often have to sit right next to the bus driver. The recent past has seen a phenomenal rise in political lying ranging from grand lies that have caused wars and large-scale destruction to small and innocuous-looking lies but causing grave difficulties to the common people. Taking a cue from Christopher marlowe’s line from Dr Faustus: The face that launched a thousand ships, around 18 months ago, the then transport minister of sindh had announced with much ado that 1,000 new air-conditioned buses would be run soon in Karachi, and an agreement had been reached with the Daewoo transport company for the purpose.

Finally, during the past 12 years not a single public bus has been launched in the metropolis, according to press reports. This seems an underestimate as a sindh government official has admitted that in the past 16 years no new bus scheme has been launched in the city. ironically, all the new buses that had come out on the road earlier have gradually disappeared.

No one knows what became of these buses and those of the defunct KTC. in 2017, Chief minister murad Ali shah had okayed a plan to introduce 600 new buses for Karachi and for intercity routes. But so far nothing has come out of these promises. For the past several years, commuters have been left to fend for themselves as a result of a near-total absence of public transport in the biggest city of the country. i request the local government to address this problem by increasing the number of public buses on the roads and ensuring that the criteria set for the safety standards are met.

HAMMAL ZAHID KoLAHoo

Need for hospitals PRiVilEGED people can afford medical assistance from expensive private hospitals and even travel to other cities for medical help. However, for the poor, the Civil hospital of Turbat is the only hope because they cannot afford anything else. The hospital is brimming with patients, but medical professionals are scarce. Hospital premises are over-occupied whilst there is a shortage of equipment.

According to the hospital rules, the Outpatient Department should have at least eight doctors that have a five-hour shift every day during the day and at night. But many doctors seldom visit the hospital for their shifts. Whilst the practitioners might be experts in their fields, patients have often found them negligent and careless. At times, patients that require emergency assistance are not immediately attended to by a doctor. many have said that it is because of the poor attitude of doctors that patients who could have easily been saved have lost their lives. Besides that, there are a very few nurses in the wards who are often not trained to support the patients. There is no administrative staff to maintain a record of the incoming and outgoing patients. An absence of medicines and equipment is yet another predicament. Consequently, the number of patients traveling outside Turbat for medical assistance is rapidly increasing but it is also putting a financial strain on them. i want to request the relevant authorities to pay attention to the Civil Hospital and ensure the provision of adequate facilities. medical practitioners should also assume responsibility and treat patients with respect while tending to their needs.

MAHIKAn RInD TuRbAT

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iRan nucleaR talks: sanctions and militaRy thReats aRe not the Way foRWaRd WHAT IS CERTAIN IS THAT A MILITARY ATTACK ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES WOULD FURTHER DESTABILISE THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST middle eaST eye Gawdat BahGat

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He seventh round of negotiations between Iran and world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal started in late november. While it is hard to speculate on the outcome, it is clear that there is a huge gap between Washington and Tehran.

The Iranians, understandably, have requested strong guarantees that the next administration will not withdraw from any agreement reached in Vienna.

After the Trump administration reneged on the deal in 2018 and pursued a “maximum pressure” strategy, Iran paid a heavy price.

The problem with Iran’s demand, however, is that neither the Biden administration nor any other administration can control the decisions of future presidents. In addition, the US is currently facing tremendous domestic and foreign challenges. The inflation rate in the US rose to 6.8 percent this year, the highest increase since 1982, while the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan dealt a heavy blow to the country’s reputation.

These and other setbacks suggest that the Democratic Party will have a hard time maintaining control of Congress after elections next year, or the White House after the 2024 presidential vote. A second

Trump administration cannot be ruled out.

Reading the political map in Washington, Iranian leaders have good reason to doubt whether any agreement they sign with the Biden administration will survive beyond the next US election.

At the same time, senior US officials have started talking about preparing a Plan B if nuclear negotiations fail, which could entail strengthening economic sanctions against Iran. The US was planning to send a high-level delegation to the UAe this week to discuss Iran sanctions compliance.

Yet, increasing economic pressure on Iran is not likely to force it to capitulate. The nation has been under punishing sanctions for decades, and the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy only hardened Tehran’s nuclear stance and led it to expand its programme. More of the same will not work. In addition, rising tensions between the US and both Russia and China will draw Moscow and Beijing closer to Tehran.

A more troubling part of Plan B is the threat of a military strike. President Joe Biden has reportedly asked his national security adviser to review the Pentagon’s plan for military action if diplomatic efforts collapse. In addition, senior US and Israeli officials have reportedly discussed joint military drills to prepare for possible attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Last month, Israel approved a $1.5bn budget allocation for weapons and equipment in the case of a potential strike on Iran. It is hard to assess whether these announcements are psychological warfare, or real preparation for military action. What is certain is that a military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would fur-

ther destabilise the entire Middle east.

Sanctions and military threats will not bolster diplomatic efforts in Vienna. Rather, the legitimate security concerns of Iran and other regional powers must be acknowledged and new initiatives considered.

For decades, Israel has refused to confirm or deny having a nuclear arsenal. Israel was the only country to oppose a recent call at the Un General Assembly for a Middle east nuclear-free zone.

Israel’s nuclear arsenal is a liability, not an asset.

If Israel were to join the nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, the talks in Vienna would take on a new dynamic and be much more likely to succeed. equally important is for Arab countries and Iran to intensify recent efforts to overcome their differences. Baghdad recently hosted talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the UAe’s top national security adviser this month visited Tehran, marking the most senior-level encounter between Iranian and emirati officials in a decade.

The zero-sum mentality of the last several years has proven too costly for the involved parties and the region as a whole. Many innocent people in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere have paid a high price. easing tensions among Gulf rivals is a step in the right direction.

Gawdat Bahgat is a professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, DC. The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s alone and do not represent the views of the U.S. government or the policies of the Department of Defense.

Raising giRls’ age to maRRy A push directed to improving health of mother, child Tribune, india Editorial

Bringing the girls on a par with the boys, the Union Cabinet’s ‘I do’ to the proposal of increasing the minimum lawful age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years is pregnant with possibilities that can fulfil many other vows not kept by the governments over the years. The foremost door opened by suitably amending the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act is one of increasing the chances of girls going on to finish their higher studies. And education — of both men and women — is the bedrock of progressive social reforms.

It is the most potent tool for ridding society of its scourges as it empowers women with an awareness and ability to stand up against suppressive practices, abuse and patriarchy perpetuated through the ages.

At 18, a girl generally just about clears her Class XII exams and is barely equipped with skillsets that can bring in meaningful employment and financial independence. The three more years thus gained would enable her to acquire better academic or vocational expertise and broaden her mental horizon to encompass the harsh practicalities of life. Consequently, with a career goal in mind, she is more likely to make a better informed decision on the all-important and life-altering matter of marriage. A bride entering the marital home armed with a professional skillset and empowered with knowledge has a direct bearing on child-bearing and long-term family health and, in turn, of society. It fosters a financial and health consciousness that is much needed to achieve the goals of reducing maternal and child mortality rates, as also combating issues of malnutrition and other pesky health indices.

However, crucial to attaining these ambitious objectives is the strengthening of the ecosystem of schools, colleges, security and transportation that engenders education at the last mile. A universal legal framework must be considered to cover the varying practices among different religious groups over marriage. Raising the legal age of marriage for women is a step forward, but it will not suffice to address the multi-pronged and complex realities still breeding on the ground.

india reveres its democracy, but the room for dissent is shrinking DEMOCRACY IS A STRATEGIC ASSET FOR INDIA, BUT NARENDRA MODI’S HYPER-NATIONALISM IS RECONFIGURING THE NATION’S POLITICS

new STaTeSman ravindEr Kaur

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Hen narendra Modi entered the Indian parliament for the first time on 20 May 2014, he bowed down at the steps leading to what he called the “temple of democracy”. Four days previously, his BJP party and its allies had confirmed a thumping electoral victory.

This gesture not only acknowledged the will of the people, but was also a ritualised celebration of India’s established democratic institutions. India as the “mother of democracy” would become a recurrent political motif that made political capital out of India’s democratic credentials even as it bolstered nationalist pride.

The most recent iteration of this theme unfolded at Joe Biden’s flagship Summit for Democracy, to which India was invited as an “indispensable partner”. Prime Minister Modi pitched Indian democracy as more than a mere political practice: it was a “civilisational ethos”, a spirit ingrained in Indians at home and in the diaspora.

This upbeat, fulsome picture is in sharp contrast to what some have called the crisis of “democratic decline” across the world. India, the world’s largest democracy, has featured prominently in several global surveys, for all the wrong reasons. In 2021 the Freedom House survey downgraded India from a free to a “partially free” democracy. The V-Dem Institute report this year classified India as an “electoral autocracy”, and since 2014 India has fallen 26 places in the economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index – from 27 to 53 – to join the “flawed democracies” grouping.

The trend reflects a steady erosion of media freedoms, a crackdown on human rights organisations, and the weakening of democratic institutions. It reveals a shrinking space for dissent, as civil society becomes the “new frontier of war” and techniques of “fourth-generation warfare” (war against non-state actors) are deployed

against those citizens who oppose the government.

The contradictions are all too striking: democracy is a celebrated cultural essence and yet India is falling in world rankings of democratic credentials. The ongoing push towards a majoritarian vision of Hindu nationalism is ever more visibly in conflict with the liberal-democratic values forged in the postcolonial state, with wider implications for the future.

Democracy has long been central to the life of the Indian republic. It became a core part of modern national identity, a cultural difference that marked out India and Indian-ness in the postcolonial world. This was especially evident as India transformed into Brand India, a lucrative investment destination for global capital. It was turned into a sales pitch: the world’s fastest-growing free-market democracy. This dynamic has secured India a place at the high table of global democratic politics, and a role in the post-pandemic realignments now taking place.

This includes the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), the strategic mobilisation of the Indian Ocean as an alliance of democracies and a counterweight to rising Chinese power; a potential trade deal with the european Union; and a free trade agreement with post-Brexit Britain among others. Democracy, India’s trump card, has been especially advantageous in the time of pandemics as the world seeks to decouple from the Chinese economy. In this unsettling landscape, democracy is more than a set of moral-political values. It is a strategic asset in the global marketplace, especially while the geopolitical map is being redrawn.

Democracy’s place in its politics has long marked India’s place in the world. In the 1990s, as it liberalised economically, democratic values became a kind of currency. India’s debut as a rising star in the world of free markets was deemed a global event, with excitement generated by the size of the Indian market and its political credentials.

That democracy was a strategic advantage was well understood by the branding experts who set out to position India as an investment destination. The pitch was simple: it was a democratic alternative to an authoritarian China. At the turn of the millennium, China had already become a dominant actor of the “Asian century”, overshadowing the south-east Asian “tiger economies” as well as the east Asian miracles in Japan and South Korea. When India opened its markets in the early 1990s, China had a new rival that was comparable in more ways than one. They were the two most populous nations in the world; both claimed a civilisational culture and offered vast markets to global investors. But India pos-

sessed what China did not: liberal democracy.

The post-Cold War world of endless freedoms put a premium on India’s political structures. When the rise of China seemed inevitable, even threatening to the liberal world order, India was put forward as a counter-force to its authoritarian neighbour. There was a sense of urgency in boosting India. But this could happen only if it opened its markets.

This frustration often framed commentaries in the 1990s.

Consider the Caged Tiger report published in the economist in May 1991, when India was on the verge of a financial crisis. The paper praised India’s democracy as “a proper cause for pride” but noted its wasted potential due to economic protectionism. The country was rich in natural resources, possessed cheap skilled labour and an educated middle class, but all those advantages had been lost because India’s entrepreneurial spirit had been repressed. “nowhere else, not even in communist China or the Soviet Union, is the gap between what might have been achieved and what has been achieved as great as in India,” the report said.

The tiger was soon uncaged, and India was ready to join the world of free markets. Months after it had narrowly avoided defaulting on its debt, India announced a series of measures to liberalise its economy. This was the start of the fabled “India Story” – the transformation of a democratic India into an economic powerhouse.

Democracy in India has been a source of both national pride and anxiety. Ironically, this impatience with democracy emerged in what is now called the “dream run” of its economy. In the first decade of the millennium, growth rates were rising, and at one point were even about to eclipse the Chinese economic miracle of double-digit growth. At this stage, the India-China comparisons were commonplace. The Indian middle class was gaining prosperity but resented what it perceived as obstructively slow growth. India was being held back, the common refrain went, by a political system that slowed down decision-making.

The fear of the middle-class elite was that India would be left behind by the fickle global capital that is always ready to move to another profitable territory. This set the stage for the hyper-nationalist shift in Indian politics, and the longing for a strong leader who meant business in more ways than one. Frictions will become apparent as the will of the majority, with a government duly elected to represent them within a democratic framework, begins turning into majoritarianism.

The Summit for Democracy has brought these tensions and India’s increasingly transactional form of democracy to the surface. That the strategic deployment

of democracy makes for somewhat uncertain alliances was evident both in the list of invitees (Pakistan was invited but Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were not, for example) and in its outcomes. A case in point is the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. While the US indicated it would enact a diplomatic boycott to protest against human rights violations in China, India joined Russia to support the Games. Mostly symbolic, the US boycott was meant to make visible an alignment against authoritarian rule and the suppression of rights and freedoms in China. Instead, it ended up highlighting the challenges ahead in the project to restore democracies.

The biggest challenge is the unabated tide of hypernationalism – the nation-first politics crystallised by Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump strengthened a trend that has survived in his absence, simply because the nexus between global capital and nationalism that spawned it remains intact. The lure of new markets, the unsated appetite for tapping into profitable opportunities, still shape strategic political alliances. In short, liberal markets continue to stoke illiberal politics.

On 10 December, the final day of the virtual summit, Modi’s remarks were made public. He reiterated India’s commitment to democracy and offered “to share (India’s) expertise in holding free and fair elections”. The same day, a different script was unfolding in Gurgaon, a new settlement with high-rise buildings on the outskirts of Delhi.

For several weeks, a confrontation had been building up in the area. The Muslim community, mostly comprising poor workers, was threatened by Hindu vigilante groups that routinely interrupted Friday prayers in the public spaces previously agreed with the local administration.

There are few mosques in the new city, forcing Muslim workers to pray in public spaces. That Friday, the state chief minister declared that the five daily prayers mandated in Islam “will not be tolerated” in public spaces. A ban was introduced; the majoritarian will had prevailed. The day’s events showed the fractious nature of 21st-century democratic politics: the majoritarian will rearranging the nation, all within the framework of electoral democracy.

In a strange way, the virtual summit – dismissed by some as yet another “Zoom call for nGOs” – has brought attention to these low-key, simmering tensions that are reconfiguring the everyday life of the Indian republic. That democracy is more than a brand value to be used in international alliances was noted in an Indian express editorial last summer: “Delhi should acknowledge that the problem is not merely a diplomatic one. It has to understand that only by doing what is right for India and renewing its commitment to constitutional values at home, can it boost its geopolitical gains.”

It seems that whenever democracy appears on the agenda, even as a mere “talking point”, it invites greater scrutiny and raises the political stakes. And herein lies the hope for the global future of democracy.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

NEWS bank alfalah and dastgyr entered into a strategic partnership to digitize transaction streams via bafl digital channels KARACHI: Bank Alfalah and Dastgyr Technologies have entered into a strategic partnership to facilitate SMEs, merchants and their allied supply chains, helping them digitize their operations and avail banking services. Dastgyr is working to create efficiencies within the SME space through their digital technology solutions covering supply chain management, ordering and logistics. Simultaneously, Bank Alfalah with its focus on payment solutions and digital assets is creating solutions for Dastagyr customers that will allow them to avail banking and payment services as well as financing in a seamless manner. On this occasion, Atif Bajwa, President and CEO of Bank Alfalah said, “At Bank Alfalah, we are continuously striving to facilitate the growth of a digitized ecosystem within the banking and finance sectors. Our focus on creating robust infrastructures, not just for our customers but for other entities as well will Insha’Allah allow us to leave a lasting impact on the economy holistically.”

Muhammad Owais Qureshi, Founder of Dastgyr Technologies commented, “This is a landmark partnership for Dastgyr that enables us to provide deeper customer facilitation and takes us further on our mission of financial inclusion for SME retailers in Pakistan. With the strength of BAFL’s digital payments and lending arm, we will incentivize online transactions and expand our “Buy Now Pay Later” credit facility, improving access to external working capital for kiryana shop owners. We’re pioneering what will eventually become new standard operating procedures for cross-industry collaborations between banking & e-commerce.”

frieslandCampina engro pakistan ltd to partner with the university of education, govt of punjab in launching ‘school milk program’ LAHORE: FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Ltd (FCEPL) in collaboration with the University of Education, Govt of Punjab, will introduce the much anticipated ‘School Milk Program’. To launch this initiative a ceremony will take place at a local hotel today. School milk program initiative is in line with the vision of Prime Minister of Pakistan for the eradication of malnourishment and improvement of educational indicators in school going children. The Minister of Higher Education Punjab, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz shall be the chief guest at the launch event. Accompanying him will be Minister for Livestock, Sardar Hasnain Bahadar Dreshak and Minister for Bait-ul-Maal and Social Welfare Syed Yawar Bukhari. Dr. Muhammad Nasir, G.M. Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, FCEPL said ‘’We are partnering with the government and other stakeholders to launch this much needed initiative of the School Milk Program, which not only will help to improve the nutritional status and health of kids but is also expected to improve the educational performance indicators. Milk is important component of healthy and balanced diet especially for growing children.

It is unfortunate that a large number of our children are unable to consume milk regularly. The malnourished children, who unfortunately make almost half of the population in schools, are expected to benefit the most from the School Milk Program. We are confident that the research will provide the necessary evidence which would allow the program to be upscaled in order to benefit the children across the length and breadth of our beloved country."

millat Tractors organize free service program for forming community PRess ReleAse

I am beIng punIshed for raIsIng Issues of poor sIndhIs, exposIng plunderers; says haleem adIl KARACHI

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staff rePort

EADER of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, Monday, appeared in the anti-terrorism court in the PS-88 bye-election case. Due to nonprovision of copies of the case documents by the prosecution, the hearing was adjourned till January 8, 2022.

Haleem Adil Sheikh, while talking to media outside the court, termed it regrettable that he was being portrayed as a political terrorist and remained behind the bars for a month and a half under charges of a crime never committed.

“My sin is raising issues of poor people and exposing those who plundered resources of people of Sindh,” he said adding that he had to face the fake allegations and appear in the courts because he was soldier of Imran Khan.

Terrorism cases were being framed against PTI workers in Sindh while on the other hand ‘economic terrorists’ were free and provincial police force that has become Zardari and Bajari police was making false cases against PTI workers, Haleem observed adding that Sindh was going through a dark period of political victimization.

An example of bad policing in Sindh was killing of a pickup driver the other day

by Tandojam police while earlier Arsalan Mehsud was killed by police in plain clothes while walking on the road, he stated and also quoted killing of a youth in a police encounter in Korangi.

He accused Sindh police’s prosecution system of supporting criminals and offering impunity to them against the bribe. He argued that prosecution issued clean chit to Sarwar Rahupoto, one of the police officers from whom Rangers recovered 67 kg of hashish while the recovered drugs were also changed.

PPP has engaged Sindh police with drug pushers and dealers, he added.

Haleem Adil said that PPP wanted to

occupy entire Sindh illegally and there were attempting to legislate through Sindh Assembly to regularize illegal buildings. He said that PTI MNA Alamgir Khan had lost his father while fighting the people's war and 17 more people martyred in sad incident of Shershah building collapse.

He held the Sindh government for this incident as Gutters were causing explosions and said that Sindh government did not clean 500 drains and the drain in Shershah where incident took place was one of the drains those were to be cleaned by provincial government.

Federal government has done the as-

KOPIA distributed Laptops among NARC’s researchers BILATERAL COOPERATION WILL BOOST AGRICULTURE IN PAKISTAN; CHAIRMAN PARC IslAMABAD Press relase

The Korea Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA) Pakistan Centre distributed eight laptops to the scientists actively participating in ongoing three Technical Cooperation Projects (TCP’s) for successful implementation. The ceremony was arranged at the Community Hall in the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC). Ambassador of Republic of Korea, H.E. Mr Suh Sangpyo Dr. Cho Gyoung-rae, Director KOPIA also attended the ceremony.

The Chairman PARC, Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, appreciated the Government of People of Republic of Korea for the support and discussed future bilateral cooperation.

The technical cooperation projects include self-sufficiency of virus free potato seed multiplication by ‘Aeroponic Technique’, Chilli production

and post-harvest management technology development in Pakistan, and establishment of production technology of major fodder crops in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea H.E. Mr Suh Sangpyo lauded the efforts made by the Pakistani scientists and reaffirmed their commitment to support

Pakistan in achieving self-sufficiency and food security through successful transfer of modern technology.

Dr. Cho Gyoung-rae, Director KOPIA appreciated the untiring efforts and dedication of Pakistani scientists for the success of projects.

Later, the Ambassador visited the TCP project sites.

Graduation Ceremony of No 55 Combat Commanders’ Course Held At Airpower Centre Of Excellence PRess ReleAse The Graduation Ceremony of No 55 Combat Commanders’ Course was held at Airpower Centre of Excellence (ACE), today. Air Marshal Syed Noman Ali, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force was the Chief Guest on the occasion.

While addressing the course participants, the Chief Guest said, “Meticulous training has always been our core strength and we would continue to guard it". He further said that ACE remained at the pinnacle of PAF’s combat training and played a pivotal role for developing excellent aerial combat skills of future air warriors. He also ex-

pressed his satisfaction on implementation of emerging warfare concepts in the elite institution of PAF. Air Marshal Syed Noman Ali, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force also awarded certificates and trophies to the graduating officers who underwent a strenuous and professionally demanding course. The

Chief of the Air Staff Trophy for overall best performance amongst combat pilots was awarded to Squadron Leader Muhammad Bilal Khan, while Air Officer Commanding Air Defence Trophy for overall best performance amongst combat controllers was awarded to Squadron Leader Rana Muhammad Abid.

signed work to clean the drains and Orangi Nala and Mahmoodabad Nala had been cleared while work was in progress on Gujjar Nala, he maintained.

Murtaza Wahab who poses as innocent has failed in stopping disposal of industrial waste in sewerage drains as advisor to CM on environment whereas KMC was equally responsible for the deaths in the Sher Shah tragedy, Haleem said adding that 17 people of Karachi fell victim to ‘guttering’ of Murad Ali Shah's government.

By introducing a bill in the Sindh Assembly, PPP wanted to regularize the buildings built on the gutters, he reiterated and said that PTI opposed the attempt and prevented itself of being a part of their crime. “Under the guise of Nasla Tower they are cleansing out their wrong doings,” he remarked.

Advocate Abdul Wahab Baloch informed the media persons that police and prosecution has not submitted copies of relevant documents in court even after passage of a year. He said that the court has directed the prosecution to provide copies before the next hearing on January 8.

A JIT was formed for fact finding in cases of Haleem Adil Sheikh by federal government and its report was about to come, he said adding that there was nothing in the case and they had confidence in the courts.

pfizer pakistan partners with shaukat Khanum Cancer hospital to provide free-of-cost diagnostics services through maseeha diagnostics Campaign KARACHI: Pfizer Pakistan announced on Monday that it will be sponsoring four lung health screening clinics, to support the expansion of Indus Hospital & Health Network’s (IHHN) existing Obstructive Lung Diseases (OLD) program. Under its commitment, Pfizer will be funding the functioning of four IHHN lung health screening clinics in Badin and Tharparkar in Sindh and Rahim Yar Khan (Bhong) and Lahore in Punjab. IHHN’s OLD program is intended to work towards a sole purpose of actively screening all patients for OLD, ensuring early and accurate diagnosis. “Our aim is to support IHHN’s efforts to identify early signs of obstructive lung disease, which is a respiratory disease characterized by airway obstruction. The funds provided by us will be utilized towards purchase and maintenance of critical equipment and supporting salaries of technicians,” said Syed Muhammad Wajeehuddin, Country Manager Pfizer Pakistan. Press release

Capital police to introduce new digital system for record management ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Police taking lead towards digitization has decided to introduce a new system for record keeping of police stations and other offices of the department. The new application was being developed as per vision of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younus to ensure maximum facilitation to the complainants, said DIG headquarters Sadiq Ali Dogar. Addressing at a training session, organized here to apprise the police personnel about the features of new system, he said the state-ofthe-art digital system would keep a complete record of First Information Reports, criminals data and complainants details. "The system will not only solve the problems of 'Saileen' but play an important role in making the registration and processing of cases in a transparent manner" he said.

Nearly 70 percent of the grey structure completed for Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Karachi KARACHI Press release

Millat Tractors recently organized a Free Service Program in Muzaffargarh and Mandi Bahauddin in which a large number of farmers of the area participated along with their tractors. Through the Program free of cost inspection of tractors was undertaken and training was given for their maintenance and operation. This proved highly beneficial for the whole farming community.

09

Addressing a press-briefing at the construction site of the third Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Karachi, the acting CEO Dr Aasim Yusuf announced that construction work

for Shaukat Khanum Hospital in DHA City, Karachi, is well underway, with nearly 70% of the grey-structure having been completed, and the hospital is planned to open in late-2023.”

Explaining the need of the project, Dr Aasim Yusuf said, “While a number of facilities in Karachi treat cancer, often to a

very high standard, this huge city lacks a state-of-the-art tertiary care cancer centre. It is to bridge this gap, and so as to be able to provide free and high-quality cancer care to as many people as possible, that we have undertaken the gargantuan task of constructing our third, and Pakistan’s biggest, cancer hospital, in

Karachi. At twice the size of our hospital in Lahore, this hospital will serve not only the city of

Karachi, but also patients from elsewhere in Sind, as well as from Southern Baluchistan.”

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

10 FOREIGN NEWS

China aChiEvED ConsiDERabLE PRogREss in DEvELoPing DEmoCRaCy, says bEijing BeIJING

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stAff RepoRt

N the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China said the country has “achieved considerable progress in developing democracy” to meet the requirements of modernization and the people’s expectations for a democratic set-up.

The PRC’s information ministry said that China still needed to make further improvements.

“On the path towards comprehensive so-

cialist modernization, the CPC will continue to uphold people’s democracy, embrace the people-centred development philosophy, promote whole-process people’s democracy, ensure the sound development of democracy, and pursue well-rounded human development and common prosperity for everyone.”

Acknowledging that the world of today is experiencing change on a scale unseen in a century, Beijing said that all paths to democracy “chosen by the peoples themselves deserve proper respect”.

The ministry said that the world should pursue peaceful development, safeguard fairness and justice, increase democracy and freedom, and improve the people’s

Death toll in Philippines from Typhoon Rai climbs to 208: police ReuteRs The death toll in the Philippines caused by Typhoon Rai has risen to 208, after the storm carved a trail of destruction in central and southern provinces late last week, the national police spokesperson said on Monday. There were 52 people still missing, according to police data, as relief efforts continued following one of the deadliest typhoons to have struck the Southeast Asian country. The police have been mobilised for relief operations and to ensure order in calamity stricken areas, national police spokesperson Roderick Alba said. The number of casualties cited by police was far higher than the 58 deaths recorded by the national disaster agency up to now. The agency said it was still validating reports from affected regions. More than half of the deaths reported by police were fatalities in the central Visayas region, which includes Bohol province, home to some of the country’s most-popular tourist destinations, including dive spots. On Sunday, Bohol Governor Arthur Yap reported 74 deaths in his province, citing partial reports that he said had been verified by both the health department and local government officials. Relief operations have been accelerating but remain hampered by damage caused to communication and power lines, which have yet to be restored in many devastated areas. Rai had displaced nearly 490,000 people in the Philippines before it moved toward the South China Sea over the weekend, also leaving huge destruction in the provinces of Cebu, Leyte, and Surigao del Norte, including the popular Siargao surfing destination, and Dinagat Islands. President Rodrigo Duterte has committed to release around 2 billion pesos ($40 million) in funds to typhoon-hit provinces to help in recovery efforts.

Lira plunges again after Erdogan rules out higher rates AFP Turkey’s troubled lira shed a further five per cent against the dollar on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cited Muslim teachings to justify not raising interest rates to stabilise the currency.

Erdogan has pushed the central bank to sharply lower borrowing costs despite the annual rate of inflation soaring to more than 20pc. Economists believe the policy could see consumer price increases reach 30pc or higher in the coming months. But Erdogan said in remarks aired by state television late on Sunday that his Muslim faith prevented him from supporting rate hikes. “They complain we keep decreasing the interest rate. Don’t expect anything else from me,” he said in the televised comments. “As a Muslim, I will continue doing what our religion tells us. This is the command.” Islamic teaching forbids Muslims from receiving or charging interest on loaned or borrowed money. Erdogan has previously cited his Muslim faith in explaining why he believes interest rates cause inflation instead of tamping it down. High interest rates are a drag on activity and slow down economic growth. But central banks raise their policy rates out of necessity when inflation gets out of hand. The Turkish lira has now lost nearly half its value in the past three months. It was trading down nearly 6pc on Monday morning. A dollar could buy 7.4 liras on January 1. It was worth 17.4 liras on Monday. “You cannot run a modern economy integrated into the global economy on this basis,” economist Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management said in a note to clients. “Even Saudi Arabia really does not attempt full shariah compliant macro[economic] management.“

well-being.

“This is the only way to build synergy among all civilizations in the quest for a better future.”

“The Chinese people are willing to work together with all other peoples around the world to carry forward the common values of humanity – peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom.”

The ministry further said that in the spirit of mutual respect and seeking common ground while setting aside difference, China can add new elements to the world’s political structure and advance “a global community of shared future together”.

Earlier, President Xi Jinping of China

stated that the country would stay “committed to the path of peaceful development” and will always be a builder of world peace.

The Chinese president’s remarks came during his address marking the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People’s Republic of China’s lawful seat in the United

Nations (UN).

“China will remain committed to the path of reform and opening-up and always be a contributor to global development.

China will stay committed to the path of multilateralism and always be a defender of the international order.”

Saudi Arabia plans airport takeovers and privatisations: media ReuteRs Saudi Arabia plans to convert its airport operators into holding companies and transfer them to its powerful sovereign wealth fund with a view to eventual privatisation for some, the head of Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Monday.

Abdulaziz Al Duailej told the Saudiowned Asharq Al Awsat newspaper that Abha International Airport is being put on “the privatisation path” and is going through final technical and economic studies. Airports in Taif and Qassim are also proposed for privatisation, he said, adding that requests to invest in the Kingdom’s aviation sector are being studied.

The Kingdom’s 22 airports will be set up as airport holding companies, which will

oversee construction, operation and management. They will then be transferred to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to “put on the market at a later time”, the newspaper reported. The PIF is at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plans to transform the economy and reduce its dependence on oil.

Investments in the Saudi aviation sector, including in airports, freight, catering, maintenance and ground services, will be offered to local and foreign investors, Duailej told Asharq Al Awsat.

Saudi Arabia aims to serve 330 million air passengers by 2030, more than triple the 100 million in 2019, he said. The oil-rich Kingdom’s aviation strategy includes expansion of existing airports and a focus on two large airports in Riyadh and Jeddah, as well as plans to set up a new national carrier.

Free, inclusive Hong Kong to prosper under ‘one country, two systems’ policy BeIJING Agencies

China’s State Council Information Office on Monday issued a white paper titled “Hong Kong: Democratic Progress under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems,” stating that Free, inclusive Hong Kong would continue to prosper under ‘one country, two systems’ policy.

The white paper presented a comprehensive review of the origin and development of democracy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and the principles and position of the central government.

Under British colonial rule, there was no democracy in Hong Kong, it said. The white paper pointed out that after resuming the exercise of sovereignty, the Chinese government implemented the basic policy of “one country, two systems” and established democracy in the HKSAR. It has since provided constant support to the region

in developing its democratic system.

“The determination, sincerity, and efforts of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government to this end have remained consistent and are obvious to any objective observer,” it read.

Facts have proved time and again, the anti-China agitators in Hong Kong and the external groups behind them must be held to account for impeding Hong Kong’s progress towards democracy, the white paper noted.

To put an end to the political turmoil in Hong Kong in recent years, a series of major decisions have been taken by the CPC and the central government, the white paper said.

It noted that measures taken accordingly, including strengthening the central authorities’ overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law, have restored order to Hong Kong, returning the democratic process to a sound footing.

“The principle of ‘one country, two systems’ provides the fundamental guarantee for the development of democracy in HKSAR,” it said.

“To ensure that ‘one country, two systems’ will make steady progress, and to further the development of democracy in Hong Kong, we must remain committed to the principle that Hong Kong is governed by Hong Kong patriots,” it added.

The white paper hailed the “one country, two systems” policy as a creative innovation of the CPC and the Chinese government that has proved to be a great success in Hong Kong.

“With their political vision, the CPC and the Chinese government are certain of the long-term success of the socialist system on the mainland,” the white paper said.

“They are equally certain of the long-term success of both the capitalist system in Hong Kong and a form of democracy suited to its realities,” it added.

Rooted in the motherland, and buttressed by democracy and the rule of law, a free and inclusive Hong Kong will continue to prosper, to enjoy enduring stability and harmony, and to open itself to the world, the white paper said.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021 | KARACHI

SPORTS 11

LaHoRe QaLandaRS nameS SHaHeen afRidi aS itS new caPtain

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AHORE Qalandars has announced Shaheen Afridi as the new captain of the side as he replaces Sohail Akhtar who led the Qalandars in the previous edition of the marquee domestic competition HBL Pakistan Super League.

Shaheen Afridi’s appointment was confirmed in a press conference on Monday where the CEO of the franchise Atif Rana confirmed the previously rumored news.

The appointment of Shaheen Afridi will end Sohail Akhtar’s reign at the helm after two years as he remains the most successful captain for the franchise, who led them to their only

final in the competition back in PSL 5.

“My priority is always to polish and see a young cricketer improving his career towards betterment. Never saw any cricketer groom so well and quickly with the skills as Shaheen Afridi,” said head coach Aqib Javed, who was also present at the event. It is worth adding that the Pakistan superstar left-arm pacer was previously the deputy to Sohail Akhtar in PSL 6

and this will be Shaheen’s first-ever captaincy stint in professional cricket. The 21-year-old joined the Lahore Qalandars franchise in the third edition of the tournament and since then, he has been a standout performer. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for the franchise and overall the seventh-highest wicket-taker in the tournament’s history. The left-arm pacer has 50 wickets at an average of 21.20 and an

economy rate of 7.65 in 37 matches.

Regarded as one of the best bowlers in the world right now, Shaheen lit the world cricket on fire after a supremely impressive 2021. He proved pivotal in Pakistan’s run to the semifinals in the T20 World Cup before Pakistan crashed out to Australia, he has joined the Pakistan greats in the list of leading Test wicket-takers as well.

Cricket South Africa to investigate Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher over racism allegations AgeNcies

Yasir Shah booked for allegedly aiding in rape of teenage girl NeWs Desk The Islamabad police have named Pakistan cricketer Yasir Shah in a case for allegedly aiding in rape and harassment of a 14-year-old girl, Geo News reported on Monday. According to the news outlet, the girl, in the complaint, said that Yasir’s friend Farhan had allegedly raped her at gunpoint, filmed her ordeal, and harassed her. When I approached Yasir on WhatsApp and told him about the incident, he made fun of me and said that he likes underage girls. He said that he is a very influential person and knows a highranking official […] Yasir and Farhan make videos and rape underage girls,” she alleged in the FIR. The complainant also alleged that the cricketer had warned her of “dire consequences” if she approached the authorities over the incident. She added that when she approached the police, “the cricketer proposed to buy me a flat and bear my expenses for the next 18 years”.

19-year-old Huraira becomes second-youngest Pakistani with first-class triple ton

NeWs Desk Pakistan witnesses new batting talent in 19year-old Mohammad Huraira, who became the second-youngest Pakistani after Javed Miandad to score a first-class triple century on Monday. The Sialkot-born top-order batter, who is also former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik’s nephew, reached this milestone on the third day of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match where Northern is playing against Balochistan. Huraira achieved this feat in his maiden first-class season. He had scored two centuries before this landmark performance. The triple century by Huraira came in only 327 deliveries making it one of the quickest first-class triple centuries. The Pakistani youngster is the ninth teenager in the world to smash a triple ton first-class cricket and the second Pakistani after Javed Miandad to score a triple century at 17. It is pertinent to note that Huraira is also the eighth youngest batter, overall, to achieve this feat.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Monday that it would formally investigate director of cricket Graeme Smith and national team head coach Mark Boucher following allegations of racist conduct in an ombudsman’s report.

The pair were among a number of CSA employees implicated in “tentative findings” made by the Social Justice and Nation Building Ombudsman into alleged discrimination within the sport’s national governing organisation in the past.

A number of players of colour came forward to say they had been treated unfairly, with former spinner Paul Adams saying he had been called a “brown shit” in a South Africa team song during his time in the side, including by former wicket-keeper Boucher.

Boucher has since apologised: The ombudsman report, submitted to CSA earlier this month, also

criticised Smith and former national team captain AB de Villiers for selection decisions made during their time at the helm of the side, which it said were prejudicial towards Black players. smith and de Villiers haVe denied the allegation: “The Board has decided to institute formal inquiries into CSA employees, suppliers or contractors who are implicated by the report,” CSA said on Monday, adding that the process will take place after India’s current test and One-Day International tour of the country.

“The Board has done so mindful of its duty to treat allegations of racism or discrimination with the utmost seriousness,” it added.

“The formal inquiries will be conducted by independent legal professionals. Further details with regards to the inquiries will be announced in due course. Smith and Boucher remain in their positions and will continue to carry out their duties during the India tour.”

New Zealand to tour Pakistan twice next season WeLLiNgTON/LAHORe ReuteRs

New Zealand will tour Pakistan twice next season, including once to compensate for abandoning their tour earlier this year, the cricket boards of both countries said on Monday.

New Zealand had abandoned their tour in September citing a security threat, a decision that came as a massive blow to Pakistan’s hopes of staging regular international cricket and infuriated the Pakistan board (PCB).

England followed the New Zealand decision by also abandoning its short tour to Pakistan just before the T20 World Cup in October.

However, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja and his New Zealand counterpart Martin Snedden met in Dubai last month to build bridges between the boards.

New Zealand will tour Pakistan in December 2022-January 2023 to play two Tests and three OneDay Internationals (ODIs) before returning in April for five ODIs and the same number of T20 Internationals.

“Our respective chairmen […] had very fruitful and constructive discussions while in Dubai, further strengthening the bond between the two organisations,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said in a statement.

“It’s good to be going back.”

The exact dates of the matches would be finalised

later. “I am pleased with the outcomes of our discussions and negotiations, and thank Martin Snedden and his board for their understanding and support,” Raja said in a statement.

“This reflects the strong, cordial and historic relations the two boards have and reconfirms Pakistan’s status as an important member of the cricket fraternity.”

Raja had earlier alleged that Pakistan had been “used and binned” by the “Western Bloc” after England immediately followed New Zealand’s lead by calling off their tour of the country.

England have since assured Pakistan they will visit for a full series in 2022.

Pakistan is now set to host Australia, West Indies, England and New Zealand between March 2022 and April 2023 for eight test matches, 14 ODIs and 13 T20s.

International teams had mostly stayed away from Pakistan since an attack by militants on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians. That forced Pakistan’s national teams to play “home” matches outside the country for more than six years.

Pakistan this month swept West Indies in a threematch T20 series. A three-match ODI series between the same sides was postponed to next June due to a coronavirus outbreak on the West Indies team.

— With additional input from AP

Shadab Khan opens up about Sarfaraz, Rizwan, marriage, PSL Web Desk Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Monday opened up to his fans during a question-and-answer session on Twitter and spoke about a wide range of topics, including cricket, his teammates, and his plans related to marriage.

Khan hosted the session and asked fans to use the hashtag #AskShadab, and as soon as the clock struck 9pm, Twitterati flooded the cricketer’s timeline with their questions. #AskShadab also became the top trend in Pakistan within an hour. Let’s take a look at the questions and responses: Fans had several questions about the Pakistan Super League (PSL), with a user seeking Khan’s opinion on whether Shaheen Shah Afridi could lead the Lahore Qalandars or not. At this, Khan said that Shaheen can “absolutely” lead the Qalandars. Abdul Wahab asked which franchise would Khan choose if given the choice. He responded that he would always pick Islamabad United unless they decide to release him.

Khan also revealed that his favourite captain for the seventh edition of the PSL would be former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed — who is playing for Quetta Gladiators. A fan asked why did Khan, at times, adopts a rude attitude on the field, “especially with juniors, and in the PSL”. At this, Khan said he “never” acted rudely and that juniors were his brothers. Journalist Imran Siddique asked Khan why did he still call Sarfaraz “kaptaan” despite him not being in command anymore. At this, Khan said that Sarfaraz had taught him how to lead, how to look after his team, how to fight for his country, and his teammates. “My teacher will always be my captain,” he said. A fan asked Khan to use one word for Hasan Ali, to which he responded: “My brother”. A similar question was asked about Mohammad Rizwan, and in response, Khan termed the wicket-keeper-batsman a “champion”. Khan also termed Shahid Afridi as his “inspiration”. Batsman Sharjeel Khan asked the all-rounder when was he planning to tie the knot. In response, Shadab said: “Sharjeel bhai Aap he baat kaar lain ab number send karta houn” [I am sending you the number Sharjeel bhai. Speak on my behalf]”. Khan has termed Steve Smith as his favourite batter. Pakistan’s ODI and T20 vice-captain also revealed who his favourite footballer was. It was none other than the famous Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo. Khan said that his favourite T20 World Cup match was when Pakistan defeated India and registered history.

Tuesday, 21 December, 2021

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OIC settIng up Of AfghAnIstAn fund, bAnkIng revIvAl resOlutIOn greAt suCCess: QureshI IsLAMABAD

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Staff RepoRt

OREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said the establishment of a “humanitarian trust fund” to help the people of Afghanistan in terms of humanitarian assistance and adoption of a resolution for the revival of that nation’s banking regime were great successes.

The fund will be set up under the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) to channel aid to Afghanistan in coordination with other groups, a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held

ptI, pMl-Q likely to field joint candidates in punjab lg polls LAHORe Staff CoRReSpondent

Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Monday called on Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and discussed with him in detail a proposal top field joint candidates in the upcoming local government polls in Punjab.

During the meeting held at CM House Lahore, the Chief Minister Punjab and the Speaker Punjab Assembly held detailed consultations regarding joint participation in the local body elections. The chief minister also sought the well-being of former Prime Minister Ch Shujat Hussain and prayed for his speedy recovery. Speaking on the occasion, Sardar Usman Buzdar said that under the new local government system, powers would be transferred to the lower level in real sense. “PML is our ally party and our alliance is stronger than ever, we will continue to work together to provide relief to the people of the province regardless of any criticism, we have the best working relationship with Pakistan Muslim League and will accelerate this journey of public service,” he added. Ch Parvez Elahi said that both the parties are advancing with the alliance with sincerity.“We are and will remain allies of the government, talks and consultations will continue in the future to bring forward joint candidates in the local body elections,” he adde. On the occasion, Speaker Punjab Assembly Ch Parvez Elahi also gave CM Usman Buzdar a frame of Quranic verses and hadith prepared regarding Khatam-e-Nubawwat (P.B.U.H). The meeting was also attended by Principal Secretary to the CM Amir Jaan, Secretary Punjab Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti and concerned officers.

in Islamabad Sunday.

A final statement from the meeting said that allowing Afghanistan access to its financial resources would be pivotal to preventing economic collapse and said realistic pathways to unfreezing billions of dollars in frozen central bank reserves should be explored.

The foreign minister, in a statement, said Allah had bestowed Pakistan great respect and success under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Qureshi said the participation of 20 foreign ministers, 10 deputy foreign ministers and 437 delegates was a huge success for Islamabad, and the great breakthrough made possible with the coordination between Pakistan and

Saudi Arabia.

“It is not a matter of the Taliban but 38 million people of Afghanistan who are faced with hunger and famine.

They urgently need medicine and food,” he remarked.

He further said the schools could also function only when the government would have the resources to pay salaries.

He said the United States must review its policy considering the public needs.

He also thanked all relevant institutions and individuals for putting in their efforts to hold the moot including the Foreign Office staff, National Assembly speaker, Senate, armed forces, and the media.

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nCOC revises Covid-19 protocols for uk travelers amid Omicron threat IsLAMABAD

Muttaqi rebukes Karzai, backs PM Imran’s remarks on Afghanistan AFGHANIsTAN Staff RepoRt

Afghanistan’s interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi Monday refuted former president Hamid Karzai’s stance on Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that the OIC moot had positive outcomes and one must not take anything negatively.

Disapproving Karzai’s statement, Foreign Minister Muttaqi said,”I do not see anything insulting about Imran Khan’s remarks that needs an official response. It was a positive conference and there are positive outcomes so we should not take it negatively,”.

Upon returning to Kabul from Islamabad where he had also addressed the OIC’s session on Afghanistan, Muttaqi told reporters he did not find anything “insulting” about Prime Minister Imran’s remarks.

“What’s of significance is that Imran Khan slammed former Afghan governments and I believe that officials from the past governments were compelled to show some reaction,” the foreign minister said in an apparent rebuke of Karzai.

He added that different views and opinions were shared at the meeting and that every person was responsible for what said. “[And more] importantly, all participants at the conference spoke in favour of Afghanistan.”

It is pertinent to note that Muttaqi’s remarks were posted on the official Facebook page of Afghanistan’s state media too.

Earlier, Hamid Karzai responded to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech delivered at the OIC FMs meeting and accused him of making “an attempt to sow discord among Afghans, and an insult to the

Afghan people”.

It is pertinent to note that Prime Minister Imran while addressing the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council (OIC) of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on Sunday stated that Pakistan faced the threat of the militant Islamic State (IS) group from Afghan soil.

Karzai in a statement on his Twitter, stated that the Pakistan government should “strictly refrain from propagating against Afghanistan and interfering in our internal affairs”.

“Pakistan should avoid speaking on behalf of Afghanistan [on] international forums. It should work towards creating positive and civilised relations between the two countries,” Karzai added.

Responding to the premier’s remarks on an IS threat originating from Afghanistan, the former president said the “allegation” that IS was active in the country and posed a threat to neighbouring Pakistan “is [a] clear propaganda as the reality has been the opposite”.

“The threat of ISIS has been directed from Pakistan against Afghanistan from the very onset,” he concluded.

Staff RepoRt

Fearing the spread of the Omicron in Pakistan, the National Command and Operation Authority (NCOC) Monday announced an updated travel policy for passengers arriving from the United Kingdom which is hit by the latest variant of the coronavirus, making it mandatory for them to undergo a rapid antigen test (RAT) on arrival. The measure comes in addition to already-in-place pre-boarding protocols including the mandatory vaccination regime and negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, said the body’s Deputy Director Abdul Qadeer Awan. The NCOC also requested the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to accommodate where necessary direct flights from the UK to provide a sufficient time gap for airports to ensure 100 percent RAT. The agency has also urged concerned authorities to take appropriate measures and expeditiously disseminate the information. Omicron, first detected last month in southern.

Africa and Hong Kong, has raced around the globe and so far been reported in at least 89 countries. It is known to be very transmissible, but the severity of the illness it causes remains unclear. 12 people in Britain have died with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, its Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said Monday, refusing to rule out a tightening of social restrictions before Christmas. Britain has reported record levels of Covid-19 cases, with officials and ministers warning that the full effects of the latest wave are still yet to be seen.

JUI-F is ‘largest party’ of KP, says Fazl as his party leads LG polls News Desk Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have proved once again that his party is the single largest party of the province.

Addressing a press conference along with former Balochistan chief minister Aslam Raisani in Quetta on Monday, Fazl said “this election has proved that previous [2018 general elections] were rigged and JUI-F was and still is the largest party of the province”. He said some forces do not want religious parties to come into power due to their ideology. “Why we [JUI-F] would

be unacceptable to the Western world when the United States ‘allowed’ Taliban to take over Afghanistan?” he added. He further said the elections results have vindicated his stance that corruption allegations had been used as a tool to victimise opposition parties. “The practice to defame politicians should end now,” he said, adding that his party can run the affairs of the state better than the ruling PTI. His statements came after the opposition parties managed to defeat the ruling party nominees in most areas, including the provincial capital of KP. The elections were held in 17 districts, comprising 64 tehsils, on a party-basis as per the ruling of the courts. Out of

64 tehsils, the JUI-F was leading on 18 tehsil chairperson seats, whereas the PTI was trailing behind with 14 seats.

MaryaM takes a swipe at pti: Meanwhile, commenting on the LG polls’ results, PMLN Vice-President Maryam Nawaz took a jibe at the PTI for its losses and said that the change that the party had promised is approaching its end, that too in a humiliating fashion.

“Change is not coming — it is going,” she said in a tweet, adding that the government has pushed 220 million people of the country into problems such as inflation, lawlessness, and incompetence, as a result of which the masses have been cursing the government.

Cabinet moves to tighten rules for Auditor General IsLAMABAD ahmad ahmadani

The government has been mulling over tightening the noose around the Auditor General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) by constituting a high-level committee to recommend parameters for making financial audits more meaningful and accountable.

As per details, members of the federal cabinet are not happy with AGPR following the detection of irregularities detected in the expenditures incurred on the Covid-19 relief programme, and have convinced Prime Minister Imran Khan to take action in this regard.

Reportedly, the PM decided to constitute the committee under Shaukat Tarin during a high-level meeting held here on Monday.

According to sources, the majority of federal cabinet members have endorsed the point of view that the fault lies in the AGPR’s financial audit, which concentrated more on procedural irregularities rather than financial embezzlement.

Drawing a clear distinction between system audit and financial audit, Special Assistant to the PM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr Sania Nishtar explained how the AGPR was more focused on the former than the latter.

She added that at times insipid observations were made, such as decisions of the Cabinet and the Board being questioned in the recent audit paras pertaining to the Ehsas Programme.

Sources said that the committee will

comprise adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance & revenue (Convener), SAPM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, secretary Finance Division, and secretary, Law and Justice Division. The Finance Division would notify this committee and provide it with secretariat support.

Profit also learnt that a cabinet member, during a meeting with the PM, has pointed out the that secretaries of the divisions defend audit paras irrespective of any wrongdoing. He opined that this hampered the discovery of major financial scams of the previous governments.

He suggested that the minister in-charge should also be involved in the process and hold a meeting with the Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) for firming up the Divi-

sion’s stance in the DAC and PAC. The Cabinet secretary apprised the Cabinet that secretaries also function as PAOs and were responsible for the financial discipline of their divisions. However, since most of the audit paras prepared by the AGPR pertained to procedural irregularities, a majority of these get settled in DACs after rectifying procedural shortcomings.

“The cases where financial impropriety and bungling was established, secretaries do recommend recoveries and, in some instances, even refer the same to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). This can be ascertained from the PAC’s record,” he said, adding that hardly any major financial scam was brought forward by the AGPR’s finan-

cial audit.

“Nonetheless, if there are still any misgivings about the intentions of the bureaucracy, the ministers should be empowered by nominating them as PAOs,” he suggested.

It is pertintent to mention here that the AGP scrutinised Rs354.3 billion expenses incurred on Covid-19 and unearthed Rs40 billion irregularities. The findings showed misprocurement, payments to ineligible beneficiaries, cash withdrawal through fake biometrics and procurements of substandard goods by Utility Stores Corporation (USC) for consumption.

Moreover, the government has also been trying to empower its ministers to play the role of PAOs for PAC briefings instead of federal secretaries.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 66-C, 1st Floor, 21st Commercial Street, Phase-II (Extension), DHA Karachi and printed at Ibn-e-Hassan Printing Press, Hockey Stadium, Karachi, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 021-35381208-9. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk