Epaper – March 12-2022 KHI

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 I 8 Sha’ban, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 253 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

PM slaMs oPPosition leaders, vows to defeat no-trust Motion

News Desk

P

RIMe Minister Imran Khan on Friday lambasted all three party heads – PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-iIslam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman – for joining hands to file a notrust motion against him.

Addressing a public gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Dir, the PM termed the leaders as the “three stooges”, while recalling instances from the past when, according to him, these leaders had gone against Pakistan’s national interest.

“I am competing against these three dacoits and … I will take all three wickets with one inswing yorker,” the premier repeated.

He stated that he had been praying that they go ahead with their plan to file a no-confidence motion against him so that he was given an opportunity to ” take three wickets in one ball”.

He further alleged that the opposition had been demanding an NRO

from him. “They tell me that they will topple my government if I don’t close corruption cases against them. But I tell them that I will not close the cases even if I have to give my life for it. I am not doing politics against you but fighting a jihad.” He went on to state that he had called on people to gather at Islamabad’s D-Chowk a day before the session for voting on the no-confidence motion, which is yet to be scheduled.

The prime minister further accused the opposition of trying to buy the votes of lawmakers from the PTI and its allied parties to make the no-confidence motion a success. On that day, the premier said, there would be a sea of people at D-Chowk. PM Imran went on to state that he had asked people to gather at D-Chowk to convey the message to the opposition that the nation was standing with the good and against the evil.

“Humans either side with the good or the evil. Only animals remain neutral,” he commented.

The premier termed voting on the no-onfidence motion “a match in parliament” and said, “You will see what I

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,517,512

LAST UPDATED AT 8:57 AM ON MARCH 11, 2022

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

7

723

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,469,405 30,298 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

571,268

503,426

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

217,857

35,427

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

43,159/11,608

134,767

do with them after winning this match.” earlier in his speech, the PM referred to Fazl as “diesel” but then went on to say that Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa told him not to refer to Fazl as diesel.

“I was just talking to Gen Bajwa and he told me not to refer to Fazl as diesel.

But I am not the one who is saying that.

The people have named him diesel,” the prime minister said.

The premier said that in a recent media talk, Fazl had said when he comes to power, he would “mend an institution”. This, the premier said, was a reference to Pakistan Army.

“Today, Pakistan exists because of the army,” the prime minister said. “Will these people fix the army?” he questioned.

The premier held the opposition leaders responsible for the Pakistani passport losing respect in the world.

“They have been ruling this country for the past 30 to 35 years. They took loans and indebted this country, and they bowed before the world’s big powers,” he said, adding that neither Zardari nor PML-N supremo had condemned drone strikes carried out by the US in Pakistan during their tenures as the president and prime minister, respectively.

On the other hand, he continued, his government’s vision was to transform Pakistan into a welfare state, along the lines of the state of Madinah.

“Look at my manifesto, in which I outlined three goals. Firstly, I said that we would make Pakistan a self-respecting nation, make it stand on its feet,” he said. “Secondly, that we would make our country a welfare state similar to the state of Madinah and thirdly, we would install a system of justice. We would bring the powerful under law.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

India regrets accidental firing of missile inside Pakistan News Desk The Indian defence ministry gave a statement on Friday that an Indian missile “accidentally” entered Pakistan and fell in Khanewal district’s Mian Channu area on Wednesday. The ministry regretted the incident and termed it as a “technical malfunction”.

According to the statement, “on 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile” The statement added that “it is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan.”

It further added that “the government has taken serious view and ordered a high-level court of enquiry” The ministry said while the incident was “deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident”.

It is pertinent to note that the Indian defence ministry’s statement comes a day after Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar briefed the media about the incident, calling for an explanation from New Delhi.

“On March 9, at 6:43pm, a highspeed flying object was picked up inside the Indian territory by Air Defence Operations Centre of the Pakistan Air

Force (PAF),” he told media persons in Islamabad, adding the object suddenly manoeuvred towards Pakistani territory from its initial course and violated Pakistan’s air space, ultimately falling near Mian Channu at 6:50pm.

“It was a supersonic flying object, most probably a missile, but it was certainly unarmed,” he said at the time.

“It is important to highlight that the flight path of this object endangered many international and domestic passenger flights — both in Indian and Pakistani air space — as well as human life and property on ground,” he added.

“Whatever caused this incident to happen, it is for the Indians to explain.

It, nevertheless, shows their disregard for aviation safety and reflects very poorly on their technological prowess and procedural efficiency,” he further stated. He said Pakistan “strongly protests this flagrant violation and cautions against recurrence of any such incident in the future”. earlier in the day, the Foreign Office (FO) summoned the Indian envoy to register Pakistan’s protest over the unprovoked violation of its airspace, saying such “irresponsible incidents” reflected the neighbouring country’s “disregard for air safety and callousness towards regional peace and stability”.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Rangers, FC to be deployed at Parliament House on day of no-trust vote: Rasheed News Desk Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed revealed on Friday that it had been decided that the security of Parliament House, Parliament Lodges, and old MNA House in Islamabad would be handed over to paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) on the day the National Assembly votes on the no-trust motion against the prime minister.

It is pertinent to note that Rasheed’s remarks come a day after a police raid in the Parliament Lodges to expel members of the Ansarul Islam — the volunteer force of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — who made it to the highsecurity zone to allegedly provide security to opposition lawmakers.

At least four legislators, along with two dozen Ansarul Islam volunteers, were arrested during the operation, all of whom were released today.

Rasheed, while addressing the presser in Islamabad today, warned of dealing anyone disturbing the law and order situation in Islamabad with an iron hand.

“I will trample those who take the law in their hands next time.”

He said the opposition was sensing defeat in the no-trust motion it had brought against Prime

Minister Imran Khan “and that is the reason they are creating anarchy in Islamabad”.

The minister warned that he would not take into consideration the stature of a leader and take allout action against anyone who disrespected the law.

But he added: “If we detain anyone [parliamentarian] for disturbing the law and order, we will also bring him to the parliament to cast vote on the day of the no-confidence motion.”

He predicted that the opposi-

tion’s “bad time is near”, saying they were involved in a “personal battle with Imran Khan, instead of a political one”.

“This is all being done to impede Pakistan’s progress and damage the balanced foreign policy that Pakistan has adopted under the premiership of Imran Khan,” he added.

Rasheed recalled yesterday ’s incident, saying law enforcement personnel had obtained search warrants with the permission of the National Assembly speaker in an attempt to avoid any unto-

ward incident.

“Around 362 families live there [Parliament Lodges]. Of them, 53 are senators and 278 are MNAs. I don’t want to spread terror but we do not have some good reports as recently we caught a group from Bara Kahu planning terror activities in Islamabad,” he said.

He said the police still did not file terror charges against those who intruded Parliament Lodges. “There is video evidence that shows Senator Kamran Murtaza used extremely foul language against the police but the cops continued to calm him down.”

He was of the view that the opposition created a scene “as it lacks the required 172 numbers in the assembly to oust the PM through a the no-confidence vote”.

Rasheed stated that he had also directed police authorities and the Islamabad police chief to bar anyone wearing a militia dress from entering the capital.

“I will not spare anyone who comes to Islamabad wearing a militia dress. And what impression are you trying to give by bringing such people in?” he asked.

In response to a question, Rasheed said he knew Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa since his college days, adding that “he [Bajwa] will stand with democracy.”

02

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

JUI-F decIdes not to block roads aFter party workers released

J

News DesK

AMIAT Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday stated that his party has decided to call of the plans of blocking roads across the country after parliamentarians and workers, who were arrested last night during a raid at Parliament Lodges, were released by Islamabad police.

Maulana Fazl shared an audio message on Twitter which revealed that there was “no need” to block the roads now since all parliamentarians and workers have been released.

It is pertinent to note that a day earlier, a heavy contingent of police raided the Parliament Lodges to expel members of the Ansarul Islam — the volunteer force of the JUI-F — who were invited to provide security to opposition lawmakers.

At least four legislators, along with two dozen Ansarul Islam volunteers, were arrested during the operation.

A couple of legislators also courted arrest in protest over the police action at the parliamentarians’ lodgings, they said, adding that all the arrested persons were shifted to a police installation for further action.

The opposition held a joint meeting following the operation after which Maulana Fazl directed party workers to open the highways they had earlier blocked in protest

against the police operation and set a deadline of 9am for the government to release arrested parliamentarians and party workers.

The PDM chief stated that he was announcing the end of the protest keeping in view the hardships faced by the commuters, including women and children, warning however, that he would again give a call to his workers to block the highways if those arrested were not released.

In his message today, the JUI-F chief again condemned the police’s actions on Thursday, claiming that they “discarded all laws and ethics at Parliament Lodges, baselessly tortured workers and dragged and arrested elected representatives of the public, detained their guests and presented a wrong picture and false narrative to the public”.

He thanked his party workers, members of other opposition parties and the people of the country for “taking immediate action and jamming the entire country in less than an hour” and congratulated them for their “success”.

On the other hand, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill said that Maulana Fazl had been “making calls all night and asking for forgiveness and for his workers to be released so he could have some honour left”.

Gill claimed the maulana also asked his workers to apologise. “In principle, they

ECP issues notice to PM for attending Lower Dir rally News DesK The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued notices to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and others for participating in a rally in Lower Dir in connection with the local bodies elections in the province, according to a news outlet.

The commission also issued notices to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Murad Saeed and Pervez Khattak, and Provincial Minister Anwar Zeb Khan for attending the public gathering.

Through the notice, the ECP summoned the premier on March 14, either in person or through his counsel.

According to the ECP, the prime

minister had violated Section 234 of the revised Elections Act, 2017.

“Sufficient evidence is available to establish that you [PM Imran] have violated the provision of the Revised Code of Conduct, Elections Act 2017, and the Rules made thereunder.”

In an earlier letter, the commission had informed the premier that he as well as other public officer-holders could not visit any the area of any local council or announce a development scheme after the issuance of the election schedule.

It had warned PM Imran that legal proceedings under sections 233 and 234 of the Election Act 2017 could be initiated against him if he violated any provisions of the revised code.

It is pertinent to mention here that the second phase of KP LG polls will be held on March 31.

(the workers) should not have been released but we did not want to let them flee the political arena on this excuse,” he tweeted.

A day earlier, JUI-F lawmaker Maulana Salahuddin Ayyubi reached the Parliament Lodges — where nearly all members of parliament are allotted accommodation — alongside a few dozen motorcycle-riding volunteers. Some of the volunteers entered the lodges with the lawmaker, while others gathered outside the main gate.

Images of their presence outside the lodges aired on news channels caught the attention of authorities, who asked the

capital police chief to remove them from the premises, police officials said.

In response, a large force, consisting of an anti-riot unit, police commandos, the Counter Terrorism Department and AntiTerrorism Force along with prison vans reached the Parliament Lodges — located opposite Parliament House — under the supervision of the DIG and SSP Operations. According to police sources, all volunteers then moved to MNA Ayyubi’s Lodge (A-401) and locked the door.

Senior police officers asked them to surrender, but they refused, police said.

Around 8pm, the police party broke down the door of the MNA’s flat, which led to a physical confrontation between police, legislators and the Ansarul Islam volunteers, officers said, adding that during the confrontation a number of MNAs and volunteers sustained injuries.

Police succeeded in arresting around two dozen volunteers, and at least four legislators (including a senator and three MNAs), who were then dragged and bundled into police vehicles.

After the police party left, an incensed Maulana Fazl arrived at the scene with a large number of party workers and activists in tow, announcing his intention to court arrest and issuing a call to all his supporters across the country to come out onto the streets to protest the state’s highhandedness.

Enraged JUI-F workers then blocked roads and highways in different parts of the country. They blocked the Hazara Motorway, Madran-Peshawar Motorway, Nawab Shah-Sakrand Road, and PakAfghan Highway at Jamrud.

Additionally, all highways linking Balochistan with Sindh and Punjab were blocked by the JUI-F workers at various points.

Meanwhile, traffic was suspended between Quetta and Karachi after the JUIF activists blocked the National Highway at Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar Uthal and Hub.

PM has approved Buzdar’s ouster: Bashir News DesK PML-Q’s federal minister Tariq Bashir Cheema on Friday have claimed that a few of the PTI ministers have informed him that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given the approval for the removal of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Meanwhile, sources within PML-Q said that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, federal ministers Asad Umar and Pervaiz Khattak consulted with PML-Q leaders Moonis Elahi and Cheema.

According to sources, Cheema said that the federal ministers claimed that PM Khan has agreed to remove Buzdar from the post.

“The ministers congratulated us and when we asked the reason for congratulations, they said that the premier has consented to a change in Punjab,” sources quoted Cheema as saying.

However, he said that the federal committee refused to give an early date for deciding Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s fate, sources said.

“We asked when, the ministers replied, ‘after the no-confidence motion in the Centre,'” Cheema told.

He criticised saying that how could PMLQ believe that the government would move towards a decision about Punjab after the failure of no-trust move in the Centre.

“Do they consider us a child,” he said as per sources.

Moreover, PML-Q, one of the key allies of ruling-PTI, is expected to reach a decision regarding the no-confidence motion submitted against PM Imran Khan in the next 48 hours, Cheema said Friday.

The decision, which will come after the longest period of consultations by a party on the political situation, would finally reveal on which side the PTI’s ally is because the uncertainty about whether the government’s

coalition parties would support it continues.

He said that the pressure regarding the decision is increasing on his party.

Cheema revealed that the Opposition has offered PML-Q the seat of Punjab chief minister but what the government offers them is a mere “lollipop.”

“PM Imran Khan should take matters seriously but he has deployed U-16 team in the field,” Cheema said.

Earlier, after a motion of no-confidence was submitted against PM Imran Khan in the National Assembly Secretariat, factions within the ruling PTI were angling for the ouster of Punjab CM Buzdar.

The two disgruntled groups of PTI — Tareen and Aleem Khan groups — united against Buzdar after the latter announced an affiliation with the former, aiming to “save” the party after “loyalists were sidelined” following PM Imran Khan’s rise to power.

A delegation of Jahangir Khan Tareen group led by Punjab provincial minister Nauman Langrial on Wednesday also met PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at his

residence, The News reported.

The delegation, comprising provincial minister Ajmal Cheema, Aun Chaudhry, Lala Tahir Randhawa, Abdul Hayyi Dasti, and Imran Shah, “engaged in detailed consultation” regarding the current political situation in Punjab at the meeting.

Elahi, who is also the speaker of the Punjab Assembly, agreed to continue contacts with the Tareen group for the “betterment” of the province and its people.

Moreover, Elahi inquired after Tareen, who is currently in London for medical treatment, and wished for his good health.

Meanwhile, Langrial raised the matter of submitting a no-trust motion against Buzdar in the provincial assembly secretariat. He stated that Punjab “had been destroyed” and the group would have to come to the fore in the interest of the people as they had decided to remove Buzdar.

He further called upon Elahi to support the Tareen group in this regard, expressing an intention to call on Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain soon.

Rupee gains 12 paisas against USD KARACHI TLTP

Pakistani rupee snapped a four-day losing streak against the US dollar by recovering 12 paisas (+0.07 percent) on Friday.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the dollar opened at Rs178.63 in the interbank market and closed at Rs178.51. The rupee set two all-time lowest levels of 178.63 and 178.61 against the US dollar during this week.

The rupee witnessed a trading range of 15 paisas during the session, showing the intraday high bid of 178.60 and low offer of 178.55. Within the open market, the rupee was

traded unchanged at 178.80/179.50 per dollar.

On the other hand, the US Dollar Index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of its main competitors, extended the bullish performance to the 98.70 region at the end of the week. The index advanced for the second session in a row on Friday and shifted the focus to the immediate target at the 99.00 mark on the back of rising yields. The US Treasury bond yields have extended the monthly rebound this week particularly in response to bouts of optimism in the risk complex and after the US consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in the last forty years in February at 7.9 percent. Overall, the rupee shed Rs1.01 against the American currency during the last five

days, while the local unit devalued by Rs21.08 during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs2.06 during the current year 2022.

The State Bank reported on Thursday that the country received record-high workers’ remittances of $20.1 billion from the expatriates in the first eight months (JulyFebruary) of the current fiscal year 2021-22, and inflows stayed above $2 billion for the 21st consecutive month. Remittances rose 7.6 percent to $20.14 billion during JulyFebruary of the fiscal year 2021-22 compared to $18.71 billion in the same period of 202021. The inflows rose 2 percent on a month-on-month basis to $2.19 billion in February 2022.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

aleem meets nawaZ In london to dIscUss polItIcal sItUatIon

e

News DesK

STRANGED PTI leader Aleem Khan met former PM Nawaz Sharif in London and discussed political situation of the country. The development, confirmed by the sources close to Aleem, came days after he along with a group of like-minded parliamentarians announced joining the disgruntled faction of the ruling party led by Jahangir Khan Tareen.

As per sources, the two leaders of rival political parties held consultations on prevailing political situation in the country

including no-confidence motion during the meeting that lasted for at least couple of hours.

Aleem Khan, who resigned as senior Punjab minister in November last year, informed the PML-N chief about the “bad governance” in Punjab and expressed reservations over Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s abilities to govern the biggest province of the country.

The three-time prime minister appreciated the role of Aleem Khan as political leader during the meeting, the sources said. They said Aleem Khan will not formally join PML-N and would lead a

like-minded group of parliamentarians within PTI. They added that Aleem will not meet Tareen, who is also in London reportedly for medical treatment, and expected to return to Pakistan today.

In the next few days, Aleem will hold a power show along with his disgruntled group of lawmakers to show his strength, as per the sources.

On Monday, Aleem held an important meeting with the Tareen group in Lahore to discuss the no-trust motion announced by the joint opposition against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Speaking to the media, Aleem said that he contacted over 40 parliamentarians of the ruling party during the past four days.

“We all have teamed up in the last bid to strengthen the party. The PTI does not belong to an individual but it belongs to all of us. We will jointly make all decisions over the no-trust motion,” he said.

The former senior minister pointed out that Tareen had played an active role in bringing PTI into power. But he was ignored by the party for unknown reasons, he added. “All those people who worked alongside Prime Minister Imran Khan for “Naya Pakistan” have been sidelined and

Fazl asks PM to ‘keep his fight political’ News DesK Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday lambasted Prime Minister Imran Khan and told him to “keep his fight political,” after the PM launched a verbal assault at the Opposition during a public gathering in Lower Dir. The JUI-F chief was holding a presser alongside PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad. Criticizing the PM, Fazl said: “Your foul language makes you ineligible to hold the post of the prime minister as there is no nobility in you.”

The PDM chief claimed to have the majority to overthrow the PTI-led government and went on to call the premier “crazy.”

“We have experience in dealing with such situations,” he warned.

On the other hand, the PML-N president condemned the action of the Islamabad police when they entered the Parliament Lodges and arrested two JUI-F MNAs along with several Ansarul-Islam workers.

The PDM chief stated that the episode was a “cruel and barbaric act” and the “worst incident in the history of the Parliament”.

He said that Fazl adopted patience and tolerance throughout but the language and tactics used by PM Khan were “intolerable and reprehensible.”

“We will not allow Khan to derail the country from the path of economic development,” he added.

Talking about PM Khan’s sister Aleema Khan’s properties outside of Pakistan, Shahbaz questioned the corrupt practices going within Khan’s house.

In a first, a Pakistani painter Rabia Zakir bagged the title of being the first international artist outside Saudi Arabia to organise a solo art exhibition in Madina on Women’s Day earlier this week.

According to Arab News, Rabia also praised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed

others surrounded the leader when the party came into power. There is no answer to why this happened,” he lamented.

appeals seeking increment in sentence of Zahir Jaffer filed in IHc News DesK

“I warn you to keep your tongue in control, or we know how to control it,” said the PML-N president.

He said that the Opposition will bring about the no-confidence motion against the PM through the Constitution to get rid of his government democratically.

“How is he [PM Imran Khan] addressing the public and going around in public places after the no-confidence motion?” Fazl asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

On the other hand, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari criticised PM Khan for referencing the army during his jalsa.

Calling the PM a “loser” who abuses his opponents, Bilawal said that “Imran Khan’s abusive language is the biggest

proof that he is losing.”

“His reference to the army in public jalsa while the no-confidence move is pending is pathetic, desperate, and will not work,” he wrote.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has asked me not to call JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman “diesel”, PM Khan said earlier today.

The premier said: “Bajwa told me not to call Fazl diesel but it was the public that has given the PDM chief this name.” “I want to convey this message that when a person bows down in front of somebody, they lose their selfrespect; and when a nation bows down in front of somebody, nobody respects the country and its passport,” the premier said.

The PM told the charged crowd that

he has focused on three things since he entered into politics 25 years ago. “[I want] to make our country selfsufficient, a welfare-state and to ensure law and justice prevail in the country,” PM Imran told the charged crowd.

“These three principals have been a part of PTI’s manifesto and these were adopted from Riasat-e-Madina,” he said.

Speaking about the three “stooges” — leaders of JUI-F, PPP, PML-N— who have joined hands against him, PM Imran said the chiefs of these three parties are among those who have been ruling the county for the last 30-35 years.

“If today the world does not recognise Pakistan’s green passport it is because of these three because these three mortgaged Pakistan,” he claimed.

Pakistani woman holds solo art exhibition in Madina News DesK

03

bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform plans for promoting arts and culture in the kingdom.

It merits mention that Rabia is well known in diplomatic circles for her portraits of Arab leaders, including the Saudi crown prince and members of the royal families of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.

Her portraits and landscapes hang in

50 embassies in Pakistan, most prominently of Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

Her solo show in the kingdom, which she described as a “journey of faith,” was a sign of the changing times.

“I am feeling very proud to become the first female artist from outside Saudi Arabia to present my work in the holy

city of Madina,” Zahir said. “I don’t have words to explain my happiness.”

Zahir said her pieces on display include portraits of Saudi leaders and paintings depicting Islamic holy places.

“It has landscape paintings of Haram, Masjid Nabawi, different places in Makkah and Madina that Muslims visit during their pilgrimage of Hajj and Umrah,” she added.

The artist said she had been approached by the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts around six months ago after officials noticed her work on social media.

“They offered to present my work to the Saudi public by organising a solo exhibition,” she added.

Rabia was also conferred with an award by the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts for “strengthening PakSaudi ties” and will be holding a training workshop for young Saudi artists.

Earlier in 2019, the Pakistani artist painted a portrait of the British royal couple, Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton ahead of their five-day official visit to Islamabad.

The artist stated that it took her 15 days to complete the task and she wanted to present the gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge personally.

Appeals were filed in the Islamabad High Court on Friday requesting for increment in the sentence of Zahir Jaffer, who has been convicted of Noor Mukadam’s murder and sentenced to death – and two other accused in the case. It is pertinent to note that the appeals were filed on behalf of Noor’s father, Shaukat Muqadam, by counsel Shah Khawar.One is against Zahir, and the other two are against convicts Jan Mohammad and Iftikhar who were Zahir’s domestic staff. According to the appeal, there was digital evidence against the two and the trial court had given a reduced sentence. It further maintained that the criminals should be given sentences according to the law and that Zahir was sentenced to death and 25 years of hard labour, while Jan Mohammad and Iftikhar were only sentenced to ten years in prison. After four months of trials, a sessions court in Islamabad handed down the death penalty to Zahir Jaffer for the murder of Noor Mukadam while his employees, watchman Muhammad Iftikhar and gardener Mohammad Jan, were sentenced to 10 years in prison for abetting in the act. However, Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani acquitted his parents, Zakir Jaffer and Ismat Adamjee, as well as other suspects in the case including Therapy Works employees, from the charge of abetment.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

04 NEWS

InItIatIves Introduced for InclusIve, sustaInable growth: tarIn LAHORE

f

TLTP

INANCE Minister Shaukat Tarin has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has introduced various initiatives for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

He expressed these views while addressing a seminar titled 'Revival of Pakistan's Economy and Outlook in 2022' here at Aiwan-e-Karkunaan-e-Tehrik-e-Pakistan on Friday.

He said the government is focusing on empowering youth and common man, industrial expansion, increased agricultural yield, institutional reforms, increased revenue collection, broadening of tax base, and narrowing down the import-export gap.

He said that during a recent visit to China, Pakistan asked the Chinese authorities that it wants support in four major areas, which would lead to speedy socioeconomic growth. "With your (Chinese) support, we have established infrastructure, connectivity and SEZs (Special Economic Zones). Now we want you to help us in populating these SEZs," the all-weather friend was informed.

"Help us in agricultural development and research; support us in IT sector development as five Special Technology Zones are being established in Pakistan; and last but not least, it (China) should help maintain trade balance with Pakistan," he added.

Since inception of Pakistan, the country's economy had been witnessing ups and downs, and could not achieve economic stability and continuous upward growth due to

Moeed urges int’l community to probe Indian clarification on projectile crash inside Pakistan NEWS DESK National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf on Friday urged the international community to probe the Indian clarification on its supersonic projectile crash inside Pakistan as the act had directly threatened the civilian lives, who were airborne in commercial airlines.

Addressing an important media briefing in the backdrop of Indian supersonic projectile crash inside Pakistan and Indian ministry of defence’s explanation of the

incident after three days of the event, he said Pakistan has repeatedly told the world that Narendra Modi-led Indian government is moving on a fascist ideology and it does not act on any logic rather jeopardises stability of the region and its people. Moeed said India does not bother to take Pakistan into confidence before launching such hi-tech object. He pointed out that it has taken Delhi more than two days to accept that "this was their missile launched ostensibly due to a technical malfunction during maintenance".

various reasons, the finance minister said and recalled that Pakistan had been achieving fast economic growth in 1960s due to effective planning and financial management, and its growth rate was double than even South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

But in the 1970s, the then government took a wrong turn by nationalising the industry, financial and insurance sectors due to which the country's 5 to 6 per cent growth rate had declined gradually. And in 1979, Pakistan took another bad decision of getting into the Afghan war that was not ours, and consequently, our socioeconomic fabric was jeopardized.

During the 1980s, Pakistan also could not benefit from the global economic boom, as there had been martial law here, while Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong took ad-

vantage of it, he said, asserting that in the second such economic wave, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippine etc. improved their economies. Elaborating further, the finance minister mentioned that Pakistan witnessed an artificial economic growth rate during Musharraf regime, but soon after his government, the country's economy dwindled in one go and the country had no other option but to go to the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Tarin said that the PTI government had not only pointed out the factors affecting the economic growth, but also taking effective measures and focusing long-term planning to ensure economic stability as well as improved growth rate.

He said that in January 2021, petrol price was $42 per barrel, and today it has reached

$118, and with the current global POL (petroleum, oils, lubricant) prices, petrol price in Pakistan should be Rs240 per litre, but the government fixed it at Rs150 bearing a hefty loss of Rs104 billion per month. Similarly, the price of edible oil was USD 400, but today it's $1,734.

Soon after coming to power, he said, the PTI government rebased the country's economy and managed to bring growth rate to 6.3 percent, but the invasion of the coronavirus pandemic obstructed our growth rate. However, Pakistan growth rate slightly lowered

PSX sheds 200 points in low-volume session KARACHI TLTP

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bearish in a low-volume session amid profittaking activity on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 200.29 points (-0.46 percent) to close at 43,653.33 points.

The PSX opened on a positive note and remained volatile throughout the first half of the session. However, the heavy selling in the second half kept the indices in the red territory till the end of the session. The benchmark index gained around 1,000 points in the last two sessions, which prompted some profittaking activity.

News about record-high workers’ remittances of $20.1 billion in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22 was welcomed by investors; however, they avoided taking new positions amid uncertainties on local political front as well as Russia-Ukraine war. A slight recovery of 12 paisas by the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar during the day also gave a boost to investors’ confidence.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 370.11 points, showing an intraday high of 43,966.27 points and a low of 43,596.16

points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 136.66 points (-0.45 percent) to close at 29,972.8 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 169.6 points (-0.78 percent) to close at 21,704.84 points.

A total of 348 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 117 closed up, shares of 213 closed down while shares of 18 companies remained unchanged.

Out of 91 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 32 closed up and 57 closed down and two remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 122.61 million to 149.30 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 21.06 million to 61.85 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 23,621 to 84,337, while the value traded increased by Rs2.23 billion to Rs5.27 billion.

Overall, market capitalisation decreased by Rs36.45 billion.

Among scrips, TPLP topped the volumes with 12.27 million shares, followed by PAELR3 (11.91 million) and TPL (9.4 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TPLP, PAELR3, TPL, UNITY and FlyingR1, which formed over 33 percent of total volumes.

In terms of rupee, PMPK remained the top

gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs49.9 (7.39 percent) per share, closing at Rs724.9.

The runner-up was SYS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs38.09 (5.64 percent) to Rs713.03. SFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs62.99 (7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs777.01, followed by BTL, the share price of which declined by Rs34.99 (7.37 percent) to close at Rs440.01 per share.

The sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (43 points), oil & gas exploration companies (42 points), cement (40 points), power generation & distribution (30 points) and oil & gas marketing companies (20 points). The most points taken off the index were by MEBL which stripped the index of 47 points followed by LUCK (42 points), HUBC (29 points), and PPL and TRG (20 points each).

The sectors taking the index towards north were technology & communication (47 points), automobile assembler (12 points), automobile parts & accessories (2 points) and miscellaneous (one point). The most points added to the index were by SYS which contributed 77 points followed by UBL (10 points), MCB (8 points), and INDU and MTL (7 points each).

‘Excessive regulations, censorship affect digital freedom in India’ NEW DELHI AnAdoLu Agency

Even as the current Indian government has taken a lead to expand digital footprints, experts say that excessive regulations and censorship were staring at the face of the country.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the eve of World Day Against Cyber Censorship, which is being observed on Saturday Geeta Sesu, the co-founder of FreeSpeech Collective – an advocacy group for freedom of speech based in New Delhi – said the internet shutdowns are imposed often for some absurd reasons.

"Just two days ago, a shutdown was imposed in parts of West Bengal state to curb cheating in school examinations," she said, adding that excessive regulations, censorship is affecting digital freedoms in the country.

According to research conducted by the UK-based privacy and security research firm Top10VPN, India had suffered the largest economic impact in the world in 2020 due to internet shutdowns.

Internet blackouts, social media shutdowns, and bandwidth-throttling by the governments cost the global economy $5.5 billion in 2021, according to Top10VPN. According to a report published by an Indian parliament panel, the telecom operators reportedly lose 24.5 million rupees per hour ($321,118) in every circle area where there is a shutdown or throttling.

Records of India-based internet tracker Internet shutdowns.in shows that since 2012, the country has seen over 500 internet shutdowns, and the intensity of the shutdown was higher from 2018 to 2020.

Sesu alleged that the shutdowns are "arbitrary" they do not follow any legal norms and are ostensibly a measure to tackle law and order issues, but actually, they are used to keep citizens in check.

CMYK

"The unprecedented shutdown of all communication in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on the eve of the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, resulted in an information blackout and crippled the media," she said while referring to the longest shutdown, in occupied valley, when India stripped special constitutional status of the region.

Digital literacy neeDeD: According to Sesu, greater awareness and more digital literacy are needed to deal with issues like fake news, which is often the reason the administration gives for ordering the shutdown.

"If we want to claim ourselves as a mature democracy, we have to take our citizens into confidence and trust them, not throw them into an information blackout at the first sign of trouble," she said.

Torsha Sarkar, technology law and policy researcher at the Centre for Internet and Society, told Anadolu Agency that while the frequency of internet shutdowns seems to be on the higher side, there have been a few significant developments on the regulatory front that are "worth considering."

Last year, India's parliamentary standing committee on Information Technology, in its report Suspension of Telecom and Internet Services and Its Impact, had called for defin-

ing the parameters and setting up of a robust mechanism for internet shutdowns.

Sarkar also said the existing law on internet shutdowns has been challenged in the Gauhati High Court.

"Developments from that decision would have a significant bearing on the situation of internet shutdowns in India," she said.

According to Sarkar, given the dependence on the internet today, internet shutdowns impact almost every form of our lives.

"It impacts businesses who depends on the internet for work, it impacts gig workers who are dependent on the internet for work, it impacts students (especially during a pandemic, with online classes being the norm)," she said, adding that it disrupts ways of collecting and sharing important information, especially during critical situations. Gurshabad Grover, an independent internet researcher called for having a comprehensive judicial review, by default, before the shutdown is implemented. He believed that it may lower the frequency of shutdowns in the country. government DefenDs shutDowns: The Indian government, however, maintains that the orders of the shutdown are issued due to public emergency or public safety.

Replying to a question in parliament, India's Ministry of Communications said that state governments, who are responsible for public order do suspend telecom services to maintain emergency or public safety.

“The directions to suspend the telecom services, including internet in an area, can either be issued by the union home secretary or home secretary of the state government concerned as the case may be, due to public emergency or public safety," the ministry said in a written response to questions posed by members of parliament last month.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

PM slaMs oPPosItIon leaders, vows to defeat no-trust MotIon

r

Continued from page 01

EITERATING that he intended to make Pakistan a welfare state similar to the state of Madinah, he outlined various measures, including the issuance of health cards and the recent reduction in petrol prices by Rs10, taken by his government in this regard. “We are now on the path to becoming [a state like Madinah],” he said.

“Pakistan will become an example for the world,” he added.

As he again turned his gun on opposition leaders, the premier referred to an incident of an Indian “high-speed flying object” falling in Khanewal’s Main Channu yesterday. “An Indian missile entered Pakistan yesterday,” he said. “But when Nawaz Sharif was in power, he never spoke against [Indian Prime Minister] who was calling the Pakistan Army terrorists at the time.”

Instead, he continued, Nawaz directed the Foreign Office not to issue statements against India.

The premier attributed these actions to

leaders having outside the country.

“And leader whose assets are abroad will never devise an independent foreign policy that focuses on protecting the nation and its rights,” he said.

“But neither have I ever bowed before anyone nor will I ever let you bow before you anyone,” he assured.

Later, Shehbaz and Fazl responded to the allegations levelled against them by the premier, saying that he should introspect before targeting his opponents.

Speaking to the media alongside She-

hbaz, Fazl also criticised the premier over what he described as the use of disrespectful language. “Your speeches clearly show that you are not capable of serving as a prime minister,” he said.

He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the public meetings being attended by PM Imran following the submission of the no-confidence motion against him and asserted that the opposition had enough votes to oust the premier. When asked whether he had complained to the army chief about PM

Imran calling him names, Fazl replied in the negative.

“I have never engaged in such politics.

Everyone knows about my views. I’ve always been against civil and military bureaucracy meddling in politics,” he said.

When it was his turn to speak, Shehbaz referred to the prime minister asking people to gather at D-Chowk a day before the notrust vote and said “we are prepared to confront [you] politically”.

Fazl said his party was waging “jihad” against PM Imran, who had been “exposed”.

AIOU organises international conference islamabad PR

Allama Iqbal Open (AIOU) organized an international conference on ‘Discourses of Tradition and Modernism in Islamic Though’ here at the main campus on Friday.

Opening session of the conference was chaired by Prof Dr Zia Ul- Qayyum, VC, AIOU while Dr Qibla Ayaz, Chairman, Islamic Ideological Council was chief guest at this occasion.

Various prominent and distinguished scholars of foreign countries participated in the conference including Prof Dr Abu Sufyan Islahi, Aligarh Muslim University,

PR

In line with Prime Minister of Pakistan's vision of Clean & Green Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) or-

India, Prof Dr Israr Ahmad, Social Sciences University, Turkey and Prof Dr Jamal Malik, Erfurt University, Germany. Khurshid Nadeem, renowned national writer and

ganized a tree plantation drive in the vicinity of PTA Headquarters in Islamabad. Chairman PTA, Major General Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) inaugurated the spring tree planting drive by planting a sapling along with Authority

columnist also participated in the conference and chaired the second session of the conference which was organized by the Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Members, Member Finance Mr. Muhammad Naveed and Member (Compliance & Enforcement) Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar. Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman said that tree plantation is an urgent need of the hour.

SAPM Tariq visits OPF pr Syed Tariq Mahmood Ul Hassan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) visited Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) on Friday, the 11th March, 2022. On arrival, he was received by the Managing Director, OPF and other Senior Officers of OPF. Managing Director, OPF briefed him on the overall working of the Foundation and the facilities

24 students complete internship with ITP islamabad PR

As many as 24 students of Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) completed their internship with

India regrets accidental firing of missile inside Pakistan Continued from page 01

Pakistan Telecomunication Authority organises tree lantation drive islamabad

05

Islamabad Traffic Police and were educated about traffic rules and road safety measures.

Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) is acquainting citizens and students about traffic rules through various programs.

Following one of such programs, the 13th batch of CUST students completed their internship with ITP and they were educated about traffic rules, road safety measures and functioning of various departments. Addressing the concluding ceremony, the SSP (Traffic) Mazhar Iqbal said that efforts are underway to promote friendly policing in the city.

He said that young generation is our asset and their cooperation as well as responsible attitude is crucial for safe road environment in the city. SSP (Traffic) distributed certificates among the students and hoped that they would further educate and brief their fellows and family members about road safety tips.

CmYK

which are being provided to overseas Pakistanis abroad and their families in Pakistan.

On this occasion, the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on OP&HRD has advised the officers to make all out efforts to serve the overseas Pakistanis and to resolve their issues on priority basis as per vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He also emphasized the officers to set targets / plans for each department and implement them within the time line.

It also called for a thorough and transparent investigation of the incident, the results of which should be shared with Pakistan. The FO said it was conveyed to the Indian envoy that the “imprudent launch of the flying object not only caused damage to civilian property but also put at risk human lives on ground”. “The Indian [envoy] was told to convey to the Government of India Pakistan’s strong condemnation of this blatant violation of Pakistani airspace in contravention of the established international norms and aviation safety protocols. Such irresponsible incidents are also reflective of India’s disregard for air safety and callousness towards regional peace and stability,” the FO added. It warned India to be mindful of the “unpleasant consequences of such negligence” and asked it to take effective measures to ensure that such violations do not occur in the future. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed concern over the incident, saying that the international community and aviation bodies should take notice.

He said Pakistan would decide its next step after receiving India’s explanation, adding that envoys of P-5 countries (permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) would be called to the FO and briefed about the incident.

“India will have to be answerable for this,” he stressed. Many political leaders also condemned the incident and appreciated the PAF’s prompt response.

06-07 Comments - 12th March 2022_Layout 1 3/11/2022 11:06 PM Page 1

Saturday, 12 March, 2022

06 COMMENT

Fundamentals of RussiaUkraine ongoing War

Allies want their pound of flesh PM between devil and deep sea

T

he govern0ent’s schemes to foil the no-confidence move inside and outside the National Assembly are being found to be unworkable. The opposition had plans in case any of its parliamentarians were arrested to reduce its numerical strength on the voting day. The JUI(F) workers blocked roads and highways within hours after four opposition parliamentarians and numerous JUI(F) bodyguards were taken into custody. The government had to eat humble pie and release them.

Again the government was forced to replace the police which is under its control with Frontier Constabulary and rangers, whose officers are posted by the Army, to guard the security of Parliament house and the parliamentary lodges on the voting day. To ensure that the National Assembly Speaker does not favour the government the opposition decided to replace him through a no-confidence vote before the similar move against the PM. The PM and his team would however still make use of any possible administrative or legal loopholes to ensure that the noconfidence move does not succeed.

As had happened in Karachi a day earlier, the PM spent a whole day in Lahore on Thursday in wheeling and dealing without achieving tangible results.The Aleem Khan group maintained that they would respond only after consultation with their leader who is currently in London. Members of the Jahangir Tareen group simply refused to meet the PM. The PML(Q) demanded replacement of Usman Buzdar as CM by Ch Pervez elahi, and that too before the voting on the no-confidence move. recently the PM had assured Mr Buzdar that he would hold his office till the end of the federal government’s tenure. It remains to be seen if the PM takes the usual about-turn in this case also.

Fearing that the PM might lose if the PTI dissidents were allowed to vote, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Interior Minister Sheikh rashid maintained that the Speaker has the authority to take action the moment any lawmaker crosses the floor. Legal experts maintain that only the eCP is authorised to disqualify a member of the National Assembly after the Speaker sends a reference and after the MNA’s explanation is turned down as unsatisfactory. There is a need on the part of the government to abide by the laws and Constitution. Unless this is done the aggrieved party could go into litigation, thus prolonging the current crisis which would create a sense of uncertainty and harm the economy.

Dr rajkumar Singh

T

he direct declared war between russia and Ukraine has been going on about for the last one fortnight causing an untold loss of resources- human as well as material, and as it was continuing on Ukraine’s soil, it has left dozens of its cities/towns dilapidated with no exceptions for schools and hospitals. The people across the world view their television and read newspapers and reach out to social media in the hope that it will bring some good news for humanity about a durable ceasefire or end of intense war. In return, they found nothing except indefinite running of war news and casualties on both sides.

Both countries are acquainted with each other as before disintegration Ukraine was a part of the undivided USSr and became independent in 1991 along with other republics of the present Soviet Federation and even after separation they maintained a good relation for decades, while their differences on nuclear arsenal and signing of different agreements continue till date to aggravate the situation.

In general, the russian Federation remained dominant among the erstwhile Soviet republics, but it was too hard for Ukraine to accept the reality. This conception led Ukraine to form an almost anti-russian front called the GUAM Organization for Democracy and economic Development 2001 which included Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.

In fact, practically, it was a challenge for russian dominance especially in the sphere of trade. The situation aggravated further by 2004 with the launch of the Orange revolution which resulted in the installation of a pro-european regime in the country and by that time Ukraine began preferring european countries and NATO in place of the russian Federation for future dependency and security purposes against russia.

Meanwhile, a pro- russian government formed in Ukraine in 2010 wherein russia found an opportunity to renew its several treaties/ agreements with Ukraine. It however pushed Ukraine to move towards

The constitutional limits The Supreme Court rules out promulgating ordinances except for emergencies

I

N a judgment by a two-member bench, the Supreme Court has once again limited the promulgation of ordinances solely to emergency situations. The federal government, according to the judgment is only permitted to promulgate an ordinance if the subject fall with the Federal Legislative List, if neither house of Parliament is in session, and when circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action. It is unfortunate that governments usually ignore the last, and promulgate ordinances on matters in which there is no urgency and for which they could wait. The present government has been an egregious abuser of this privilege, and it was pointed out to the Court that the present PTI government had issued no less than 54 ordinances since assuming office. This has been because while the PTI has a National Assembly majority, it does not have one in the Senate, thus it cannot legislate except by ordinance.

The PTI does not seem to regard Parliament as the fount of legislation, and instead of putting in the hard work of not just piloting legislation through the houses, but also making sufficient compromises with the opposition to ensure its ability to pass required legislation, it prefers to issue ordinance after ordinance.

The Supreme Court refrained from declaring the practice illegal, and it seems that the government wants that to happen. Ordinances allow the executive branch to legislate without the involvement of Parliament. This is despite Parliament making the majority party the executive because it can get legislation passed. For a long time, governments would bypass Parliament (or the Provincial Assemblies) by ordinances. When an ordinance was about to lapse, the government would blithely reissue it. The Supreme Court had to ban this practice. The PTI (and other parties) must remember that Parliament is a legislature, not merely an electoral college for the executive. It is paradoxical that one of the criticisms leveled against it is that its members do not legislate enough. Before the courts step in further, this government should remember that the ability to legislate allows it to be the executive. It must not wait for the courts to take action.

nuzair ahmeD jamro

T

here is no denying the fact that Water is an important element of life. Without it, there would be no people, animals or plants on the earth. Unlike developing states like Pakistan, many developed countries on the map of world are still deprived of free fresh water, the natural gift of the Almighty, despites their development in all spheres of life. The list of such countries Includes Norway, Turkey, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA where the prize of petrol is cheaper than water, as it is in most oil-producing Middle eastern countries.

More cities around the globe are recycling sewage water into drinking water. Namibia’s desert capital, Windhoek, has been doing so for many decades. A number of cities in China are among them.

Poor people living in many countries end up paying the most for their water. The six most expensive countries to drink water include Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, ethiopia, Madagascar and Ghana. None are exactly highly developed.

In India, a neighboring country, each year, 140,000 children die from diarrhea due to a lack of access to clean water. Undeniably, up to 80 percent of the illnesses in the developing world are linked to inadequate water and sanitation. According to UN-Water, Geneva, Switzerland, by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with absolute water scarcity.

In a developing country like Pakistan, it is saddening to learn that natural fresh water, which is a groundwater source, is not paid any heed especially in rural and small cities of Sindh due to its adequate availability free of cost. Peoples in interior Sindh, like in Larkana, Naodero, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Khairpur or ranipur, are using groundwater for drinking and home chores. Unfortunately, due to its being free and adequately available, most of it is wasted on a large scale in households during washing clothes and kitchen utensils and even in taking showers,or running toilets, dripping faucets, and other leaks. On the other hand, developed states pay a high price for

Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

The writer is presently Professor and Head, Department of Political Science and Dean of Social Sciences at B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura (Bihar), India. His 19 books published in addition to 900 articles in national and international journals and daily newspapers from 25 foreign countries.

People are negligent towards a free resource

Arif Nizami (Late)

M. A. Niazi

network of NATO which is a clear threat to russian sovereignty, security and territorial integrity in the present circumstances.

It led russia to move a large number of military personnel and armaments from western and central russia

by March-April 2021 and thousands of armed forces were deployed on several posts of the russia-Ukraine border. In response, in September 2021, Ukraine conducted military exercises with NATO forces. In the same month, the russian Federation, apart from arranging a joint military exercise with Belarus, warned Ukraine about its expanding military relations with NATO as it would be crossing the “red line”. In November 2021 russian President Vladimir Putin expressed annoyance over the increasing presence and deployment of NATO’s long-range missile which is capable of targeting Moscow and its missile defence system.

From early 2022 all concerned parties remained involved as russian military deployment continued to be on the rise and it directly threatened the security of Ukraine and its nearby countries. Throughout the period ussia had accused NATO of ignoring the Kremlin’s security considerations and as a last resort, on 22 February 2022) President Putin stated to speed up diplomatic efforts to solve the problem and charged the USA with supplying sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine. Keeping in view the deteriorating situation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a 30-day emergency for the whole of Ukraine on 23 February.

Ultimately, President Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine because he considered modernthe present Ukraine, a major security threat for russian Federation and it is neither safe nor secure until Ukraine is made free from the impacts of european Union and NATO. Following the declaration of war Ukraine’s airports, military headquarters, nuclear plants, hospitals, schools, dams and other establishments of public importance and government offices in the whole country were destroyed one by one and for more than a week, its capital Kyiv, has been struggling hard to defend itself from russian warheads ready to capture the capital, stationed in its surroundings.

Freshwater wastage in Pakistan

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

the european Union swiftly, making russia more security- conscious. Ukraine’s plan of drifting away from russia was implemented after 2014 when an anti-russia regime took over in the country.

In the post-2014 phase, while the russian Federation wanted a good understanding with Ukraine, the latter always tried to remain near the european Union and NATO, which the former considered a security threat for itself and in the period, russia warned Ukraine several times not to move with Western countries and ignore the Kremlin. From all points of view; economic, political, security, strategic, and diplomatic; Ukraine became a zone of concern as Western influence in the country was on the rise and anti-russian steps were in the pipeline. even the country itself was divided into prorussian and anti-russian areas. The russian-speaking regions of east and south Ukraine sympathized with the Kremlin and launched a separatist movement against the government of Ukraine with the full support of russia, while the rest part of the country was in favour of joining the european Union and NATO to protect itself from the authoritarian rule of the russian Federation.

As a result, from 2016 onwards russia began financing the separatists of Ukraine who captured many buildings and other establishments to pave the way for an armed conflict between the forces of the Ukrainian government and russian-supported separatists. earlier the russian Federation had strengthened its position by annexing Crimea in 2014 which was a clear signal for Ukraine, and in following years, it speeded up the move to join the european Union and become an active member of NATO. On the other hand, the separatists found huge support of armed forces and arms and ammunitions from the russian side for a long time till date, although Western powers,the european Union and NATO were also active in Ukraine to stop the influence of Kremlin, perhaps, due to the strategic significance of the country itself.

In the middle of military conflict, tension and chaos on both sides, in December 2019 russian President Vladimir Putin, the French President, the Chancellor of Germany and the President of Ukraine met in Paris to resolve the crisis as more than 110 soldiers had been killed in the one year of conflict (2019) with the separatists. Now fear psychosis prevailed in both sides, and while Ukraine feared russian annexation like Crimea any time, russia apprehended Ukraine’s joining european Union and its entry in the security

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

water, This is a precious gift of nature, more so than gas and oil despite their high economic and technological development.

According to the UN, the average person needs between 20 and 50 litres (5.3-13.2 gallons) of water each day to satisfy their drinking, cooking, cleaning, and sanitation needs. retrospectively, fresh water is becoming worrisome in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan, which may face absolute water scarcity by 2040.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has placed Pakistan at “third” position in the list of countries facing acute water scarcity. It isa very deplorable condition in a country where the per capita availability of fresh water is below the water scarcity threshold (1,000 cubic metres), which was 3,950 cubic metres in 1961 and 1600 in 1991.

The habit of squandering water everywhere in households has contributed to an alarming situation of water scarcity. In this regard, Pakistan has made headway to revive the water storage capacity up to mark as it was in its golden days of the country soon after Independence. The recent commendable steps taken by the government to recycle rain and ablution water are highly praiseworthy. It is high time, The federal and provincial governments must work in tandem to take preventive measures and initiatives to save the country from doomsday after five years when there

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

will be a hue and cry on fresh water availability that could lead to water terrorism across the state. history reveals that a vibrant media is the fourth pillar of a democratic state. Government must use this effective tool to bring awareness among the masses about the smart use of fresh water. radio is another dedicated service to bring change optimistically in society which is the most listened-to device in rural areas of Sindh where freshwater natural resources are wasted in huge quantities regularly. It is no less than a challenging task for the incumbent government to save Pakistan from going from being a ‘waterstressed’ country into a ‘water-scarce’ country.

It is important to become more water-aware before it’s too late. Doing simple things such as fixing leaks, taking shorter showers and turning off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving can save a lot of water. To sum up, it is need of hour that members of civil society must chalk out effective strategies to minimize the water waste in small cities, where fresh groundwater is a God-gifted source for them, by arranging seminars and awareness rallies to prove themselves good citizens and help the state to perform its function in letter and spirit as a part of a democracy.

It is important to become more water-aware before it’s too late. Doing simple things such as fixing leaks, taking shorter showers and turning off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving can save a lot of water. To sum up, it is need of hour that members of civil society must chalk out effective strategies to minimize the water waste in small cities, where fresh groundwater is a God-gifted source for them, by arranging seminars and awareness rallies to prove themselves good citizens

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

The writer is a civil servant presently posted in Shikarpur, Sindh

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

06-07 Comments - 12th March 2022_Layout 1 3/11/2022 11:06 PM Page 2

Saturday, 12 March, 2022

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

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Milk, a basic commodity The world is in the midst of a nutritional transition; having over-nutrition in some regions and under-nutrition in others is screaming for balance.

Under nutrition does not means lack of access to food, it’s a lack of access to the right nutrients. For a healthy life, humans need a range of food; meeting all the nourishment requirements of body.

Irrespective of status, people usually on some basic food commodities i.e., milk, wheat etc. Milk is one the most critical food. Milk despite being the most important part of food is one of the most victimized food globally.

Increasing ratio of milk adulteration has touched alarming ends. Milk adulteration is common in developing world i.e., India, Bangladesh, Pakistan. each such state is taking multiple initiatives to ensure the provision of pure milk but the initiatives taken by Pakistan especially in the province of Punjab needs to be lauded. Punjab Food Authority, a regulatory authority in Punjab is leaving no stone unturned to for the assurance of pure milk. As inaugurated earlier by Chief Minister of Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, Chairman Punjab Food Authority Umer Tanveer Butt and Director General Punjab Food Authority, mobile milk laboratories were introduced in many cities of Punjab as emphasized by Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.

Now, recently Mobile milk Testing laboratories has been placed at the entry points of Multan and rawalpindi. Moreover, Food labs also has been established in Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan. The public should not only just appreciate such efforts but also must play their due part.

USAMA PERVEZ LAHORE

Academic Fraud: A tough nut to crack Cheating in exams depends on teachers and parents

rameez maheSar

F

rAUDS in academic milieus are of multiple types. This piece brings to the fore a few of the biggest frauds. Although cheating in exams within academic milieus has become an almost accepted phenomenon, it seems always a fresh topic to write about.

The reasons for cheating are always the same. Suggestions of how to strangle this absurd problem are made to a fault. The big question to answer here is: how does this problem spread across educational institutions? Let’s illuminate this debate from XI and XII level exams!

To secure an appropriate answer to the question, it is necessary to understand how this dishonest behaviour incites the cheating malfeasance among students. It is because the teachers are of three categories. First, those who are not good at teaching. Second are those who are not regular at their jobs. Third, there are those who look at the textbooks and fill up the boards and get their students to fill their copies with what they have written on the boards.

This is the first stage where students start copying others’ content, and it inflames the cheating addiction among them.

Look around the bookstores, and see how they are crowded with people in the days of exams. What is most shocking is that the parents go to purchase the solved papers’ booklets and guides, and other such books. Students too do the same, and it often happens when their parents are outrightly unserious in the matter of education.

This dangerous wrongdoing increasingly affects younger generations too.

Parents indispensably need to be serious about what is after all a serious concern. They should be warned through media of all types about the detriments which this demonic malpractice could carry out.

A study has found that some examinees tend more to hire external contacts who converse with them the answers on the sly. Siblings and friends go along with examinees to help them in cheating, infiltrating the examination halls. To discontinue this heinous misdemeanor, policemen are deployed. But they themselves turn accomplices in this malpractice, allowing people to infiltrate the exam halls or to deliver person-

ally their copies to examinees. In return, they are paid off. It is very clear to note here that the police encourage not only the cheating system, but also they contravene the exam rules and further the rampant corruption.

A point to ponder upon is that the blogs have also started paricipating in strengthening this absurd system, introducing some new cheating tricks that can help students to cheat in exams.

Such types of detrimental content move around students, and they share those tricks with their friends too. For this, a mechanism should be developed to remove this kind of content from websites or at least this kind of content must no longer be accepted.

For universities, it’s a globally recognized fact that these institutions are the final stage for students wherein they learn how to chart out their future plans. But the institutions are entirely at an unsuccessful war with themselves. Like X and XII level exams, they have fallen prey to the cheating system. Some institutions might, however, be busy in the war against cheating in exams. But the progress seems still unsatisfactory in most of the examination centres.

If the question papers are dexterous, students start raising the slogan of ‘out of course.’

This slogan is likely the result of rote learning toward some specific topics. The slogan ‘out of guess’ less often raised indicates this. Students touch nothing but notes, and this results in rote malpractice, and writing the learnt-by-rote things in the answer copies. This again is itself a kind of cheating.

At the university level, vigilant invigilation can truly play a significant role in breaking the legs of the cheating system. Students taking exams must not be allowed to communicate with one another as they let their friends look at their test papers, and no student should be offered lenience right after they are caught cheating. Besides, bringing mobile phones in the exam halls is always prohibited.

If these mobile phones are collected from students during exams, they are at risk of being stolen. Otherwise the chances of cheating are possibly many. For girls, burqas are helpful in this regard. As far as the time-rule is concerned, some students are given extra time in the exams, but others are left bereft of such a thing. This unjust practice ignores the rule of time.

Then there is the assessment of answer copies, which provides another opportunity of malfeasance. It is done unjustly to enough extent, if not at all. During assessments, a favour is done to some students by awarding them with high marks– no matter what rubbish they filled

in their copies. To the best of my knowledge, some teachers receive texts after texts, and calls at full throttle, across the assessment process.

To stop this, assessed copies must undergo a double-blind peer review process so that the initial assessments can be done sincerely. A study argues that the assessment process puts the challenge to the credibility of degrees and certificates and the validity of qualification.

The appalling thing to note today is that students make phoney assignments copying others’ content. Not only such assignments full of copiedcontent, but also those made without copying anything, do not undergo a strong assessment to make a difference between copied and uncopied assignments so that the justice can be done in both ends. high-achieving students who show stellar performance in their academic endeavours must be appreciated so that they can mount more efforts to do their best.

It is to be regretted severely that the students are taught how to do online paraphrasing of the content. This holds them back from writing original pieces, and this may really undercut their career advancement.

During the pandemic-induced lockdown, plenty of students remained engaged in the academic dishonesty of cheating in online exams.

Aligned with this dishonesty, a study carried out in 2020 confirmed that the students who practice dishonesty within academic milieus may probably do the same in the professional workplace in the near future. This is how cheating dishonesty disperses across the education sector.

The scholars should collect the views of teachers, civil society and the students as well, about cheating. This will truly point out many ways forward. For example, a study has found that students viewed the uselessness of material as the root cause of this dishonest behaviour. At least, this helps understand the need for a revised, updated and fresh syllabus to teach.

An anonymous external examiner must be invited to conduct the viva voce of students at the end of every examination. This will underpin demystifying the quality of education. Most strikingly, the solutions are many, but the frauds of so many types have increased at such a speed that they could never be curbed at all.

Is there any possibility to strangle this plethora of cheating? Unfortunately, not really.

An anonymous external examiner must be invited to conduct the viva voce of students at the end of every examination. This will underpin demystifying the quality of education. Most strikingly, the solutions are many, but the frauds of so many types have increased at such a speed that they could never be curbed at all.

The writer is the member of the editorial board for a Russian research Journal, Bulletin of Science and Practice. He can be contacted at rameezalimahesar@gmail.com

Shortage of Sui gas BALOChISTAN is included in the world’s five major reserves of gold and copper. It also has the world’s major oil and gas reserves. Balochistan is also strategically significant, with 6.5 million Baloch people. It is, unfortunately, the most underdeveloped province of Pakistan, and Dera Bugti is one of the most underdeveloped parts of this province. In Dera Bugti is located Sui, the area which has come to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. Natural gas was discovered through the Sui gas field in 1925 and by 1955, this gas was being supplied to different parts of Pakistan. Being discovered in the Sui field, natural gas in Pakistan came to be called “Sui gas”. The two leading state-owned distribution gas companies in Pakistan go by the names Sui Southern Gas Company and Sui Northern Gas Company.

It is important to note here that the first provinces to get supply from Sui gas were Punjab and Sindh. On the other hand, 60 years have elapsed since that discovery and yet Sui, the town which is a mere four miles from the gas discovery site, itself has no gas supply and people are forced to use wood and coal as fuel. even in the provincial capital of Balochistan, Quetta, Sui gas supply came at us in 1970. Then in 1990, hub was also provided gas supply because it had become an industrial area.

Balochistan is a resource-rich province and the second-largest producer of natural gas in the country. It is unfortunate that in 1995, Balochistan produced almost 56 percent of Pakistan’s total output of natural gas, but by 2017 its contribution dropped to 22.7 percent, and the same year it consumed only 5.81 percent of the country’s total output.

Currently, Balochistan, after Sindh, being the second-largest producer of gas in Pakistan, has much less consumption of natural gas along with KPK, on the other hand, Punjab has the highest consumption of natural gas. even Sui town, which is only four miles from the gas field, where around 800mmscf natural gas is produced daily from 87 completed wells, itself doesn’t have natural gas. The nonavailability of natural gas is creating myriad problems for people.

NASIR ALAM KHUZDAR

Societal expectations IT is a well-heard sentence in our society “log kya kahain gay”. It means being influenced by negative peer pressure, which ends up in limiting your choices and not chasing your dreams just by considering what people will think or say. A majority of people have come across this sentence in their lives whenever they are about to take some decision or make a choice. For example, you are about to start a part-time job or a small business to gain financial freedom during your academic years. however, you quit the decision by thinking about people’s opinions and judgement. You want a nose piercing but you will not go for it just by thinking that people will call it outdated. We are influenced by people’s opinions in many of our life choices which should not be accepted at any cost. Negative peer pressure can affect your mental health. It is your life you must make choices and take chances that give you satisfaction. Do what you want until or unless it does not have any negative effect on society. We as a society need to change our mindset. Just don’t interfere in people’s life choices. Let them live their life peacefully. Your one negative compliment can have drastic effects on people’s mental health. Also, individually, we need to stop being influenced by others’ opinions about ourselves. We must respect each other’s choices. enjoy your life and let others enjoy theirs.

NAWAL SARFRAZ JAUHARABAD

Security check CArrYING valid CNICs and driving licenses if driving a vehicle or a motorbike are imperative. Once a citizen is stopped by traffic police personnel to see his/her valid driving license to know whether he/she is licensed to drive or not means whether he/she has qualified written and physical driving test or not and issued a license, one has to show a valid driving license in hard form to traffic police personnel otherwise challan is registered against him/her. To err is human and sometimes people forget to keep a valid driving license and a CNIC to prove their identity. Traffic police personnel should be given access to see the online data of those who are licensed to drive while security officials should have access to see online data of NADrA to see anyone’s identity and whether he/she possesses a valid CNIC or not, in order to avoid inconveniencing citizens. If anyone forgets to keep a valid driving license but possess the same they should not be registered for challan after verifying the status of the driving license online.

FAISAL ANSAR KARAcHI

08 WORLD VIEW 12th March 22_Layout 1 3/11/2022 10:35 PM Page 1

Saturday, 12 March, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

HoW tHe GAndHI fAmIly IS ActIvely fAcIlItAtInG HIndUtvA AUtHorItArIAnISm THE FIFTH-GENERATION DYNASTS ALLOW THE BJP TO DICTATE THE TERMS OF THE NATIONAL POLITICAL DEBATE – BY LOCATING IT IN THE PAST RATHER THAN IN THE PRESENT saging an electoral resurgence of the party in Uttar Pradesh. In the event, the Congress under Priyanka Gandhi obtained a vote share of just over 2% and won even fewer seats than it had in the last assembly elections.

Telegraph, india RAMAchAndRA GuhA

e

VERY electoral contest is a story of winners and losers. While much of the commentary on the results of the recent assembly elections will inevitably highlight their major winners, this column shall instead focus on the principal loser.

For, beyond the comfortable re-election of Adityanath and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and the impressive victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, this latest series of assembly elections confirms – yet again – the steady and possibly irreversible decline of the Congress Party.

Consider, to begin with, India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, which sends as many as 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. In colonial times, this state was an epicentre of the Congress-led freedom movement. After Independence, it provided India with its first three prime ministers. however, in the late 1960s, the Congress’s hold on the politics of Uttar Pradesh began to visibly weaken, and for at least 30 years now it has been a marginal player in the state. this time, the latest Nehru-Gandhi to enter politics, Priyanka Gandhi, took it upon herself to seek to revive the party’s fortunes in Uttar Pradesh. Although she declined to shift her home base from Delhi to Lucknow and refused to fight an assembly seat herself, Priyanka Gandhi made regular trips to the state. these were met with breathless excitement by those sections of the media (and social media) that still haven’t stopped seeing the NehruGandhis as an Indian version of the house of Windsor.

Every visit, every press conference, every announcement was reported by these dynasty-worshippers as pre-

A SUDDEN REPLACEMENT: In Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi at least got some marks for effort, if none for impact. In Punjab, where the Congress was in power, her brother, Rahul, threw away his party’s chances of re-election through the capricious replacement of the incumbent chief minister less than a year before the polls. Although he was not popular with a section of the MLAs, Amarinder Singh had wide experience in politics, and, more importantly, had taken a strong stand in favour of the farmers’ movement.

A year ago, the Congress and the AAP both had equal chances of winning Punjab. But then Amarinder’s replacement by the relatively unknown Charanjit Singh Channi, and Channi’s undermining by Rahul Gandhi’s indulgence of the destructive Navjot Singh Sidhu, threw the entire state unit in disarray. In the event, the Congress was comprehensively defeated by the AAP in Punjab. turn next to Goa and Uttarakhand. In both states, the BJP was in power but its governments were deeply unpopular, seen as corrupt and unfeeling. In Uttarakhand, the BJP changed two chief ministers in a bid to stem discontent. In both states, the Congress was the principal Opposition party; yet in each case, it was not able to mount a strong enough challenge to regain power. Nor, finally, could the Congress make a significant impact in Manipur, once a state where it was the natural party of governance, and where it won 23 fewer seats than last time. the latest round of elections confirms, yet again, what some of us have known for a long time – that at least under its current leadership, the Congress is incapable of ever again becoming a major player in national politics.

After leading the party to a humiliating loss in the 2019 general election, Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president. his mother, Sonia Gandhi, then became ‘acting’ president of the party; two-and-a-half-years on, the party still hasn’t taken any steps to choose a successor.

the Congress has remained under the de facto control of the Family; with the results that we are now seeing.

Back in 2019, the Congress had a chance to reinvent itself; it threw it away. What might it do now? I believe that for the good of the party, as well as for the good of Indian democracy, the Gandhis must not just exit from the party’s leadership but retire from politics altogether.

For it is not merely that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have shown themselves markedly incapable of making the party a competitive force in state and national elections.

It is also that their very presence in the Congress makes it easy for Narendra Modi and the BJP to deflect attention from the government’s failures in the present by resorting to debates about the past. thus, charges of corruption in defence deals are answered with reference to Rajiv Gandhi and Bofors; charges of suppressing the media and incarcerating activists are met with references to Indira Gandhi and the Emergency; charges of losing Indian land and soldiers to the Chinese army with reference to Jawaharlal Nehru and the war of 1962 and so on.

MODI’S UNDERWHELMING RECORD: In its eight years in power, the Modi government has made many boasts and offered many promises. Yet, when reckoned by objective criteria, its record in office has been underwhelming. It has overseen a decline in growth rates (visible even before the pandemic set in) and a surge in unemployment; it has savagely set hindus against Muslims; it has allowed our status to decline in the neighbourhood and in the world; it has corrupted and corroded our most important institutions; it has ravaged the natural environment. In sum, the actions of the Modi government have damaged India economically, socially, institutionally, internationally, ecologically, and morally.

Despite all these failures, if Narendra Modi and the BJP remain in pole position to win re-election in 2024, a key reason is that it still has as its principal “national” Opposition the Congress under the Nehru-Gandhis. Parties such as the trinamool Congress, the Biju Janata Dal, the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party, the telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the

Blinded by White culture and privilege

middle easT moniTor Yvonne RidleY

t

hE front page of a national newspaper in Scotland speaks volumes about the difference in the way that the media covers the war in Ukraine and the ongoing 70+ years of undeclared war inflicted on the people of Palestine from the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the Israelibesieged Gaza Strip and the refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

Many media analysts and liberal observers will dismiss it all as naked racism at play but it actually stems from something far more corrosive and deeply ingrained in Europe; something far more insidious than “simply” being influenced by the colour of someone’s skin. It’s called White Culture, and it embraces all the power, privilege and access that goes with it for the chosen few.

White Culture is where the Establishment — including royalty — lurks and thrives largely unseen. Figures who own global media outlets, mega-corporations and industrial giants are urged to follow specific Establishment lines. In media terms, this manifests itself by, for example, a Ukrainian civilian standing in front of a Russian tank with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher or petrol bomb being hailed as a hero, whereas an olive-skinned child such as Faris Odeh, who was shot dead by Israeli troops for throwing stones at an Israel Defence Forces tank in 2000, is labelled as a terrorist. there are thousands of Palestinian children like Faris Odeh in cemeteries across the occupied Palestinian territories, but don’t expect tears

to be shed by those in power in the West. Many of those privileged by White Culture are Zionists and have nothing to do with Judaism, but everything to do with promoting the rogue state of Israel. Much to tel Aviv’s fury, Israel has been confirmed as an apartheid state by human rights organisations — Amnesty International, human Rights Watch and B’tselem — for which there is an abundance of compelling evidence and proof, if proof is indeed still needed. Ukraine has exposed the hypocrisy of Zionists in the West, who don’t give a hoot about human rights if they impinge on their interests.

Israel’s racist policies have nothing to do with skin colour and everything to do with White Culture. to understand this fully you just have to look at the racial background of politicians surrounding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to realise that White Culture has nothing to do with skin colour or race. It is a state of mind.

Someone who fell foul of “the club’s” rules is Baroness Sayeeda Warsi who broke political ranks during Israel’s 2014 military offensive against the Palestinian in Gaza and resigned on principle. there’s no room for principles or honour in the world of White Culture, though, so the former co-Chair of the Conservative Party was cast out into the political wilderness. Any chances that she might have had for an early return or rehabilitation were crushed when she exposed the Islamophobia within her own party.

A casual glance at Boris Johnson’s front benches in the British house of Commons reveal people of colour, but they are not there to promote diversity. the likes of Chancellor Rishi Sunak, home Secretary Priti Patel, health Minister Sajid Javid, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Climate Change Minister Alok Sharma and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi are simply the enablers of White Culture. they do it so well that they have been propelled through the ranks of the Conservative Party and are allowed to sit at the top table. Ability is way down the list of qualifications for such status. there’s a similar story unfolding on the opposition benches where Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would have you believe that he too promotes ethnic and religious diversity by pointing out the number of black, brown and oliveskinned MPs who surround him. Again, this is

not about diversity: access is not the same as acceptance; not the same as equal opportunity; not the same as integration on a level playing field.

Socialist voices will have you believe that this is really a case of “us and them” but it’s far more complex than that. Do they really think that the likes of Johnson and Jacob ReesMogg look at Robert Grady, the Scottish thug on the front page of the Daily Record, and identify closely with him simply because he too is White?

Grady, from Edinburgh, is now in Ukraine wielding an assault rifle and taking part in a recruitment video with his new comrades urging other volunteers to enlist to fight the Russians. his Facebook messages include one boast that he intends to kill as many Russians as he can.

Known to his friends as Rab, the hibernian Football Club fan has been on the receiving end of a football banning order for violence after a cup final in 2014. this thug is now one of the good guys according to the new media narrative. had Grady decided to volunteer to help Palestinians fight the Israelis, he would not have made it to the airport check-in desk; he would instead be facing the full weight of draconian anti-terror laws. In his warped world view, Grady might think that he’s a White supremacist fighting against Putin’s Russia, but in reality he’s cannon fodder for the propaganda machine which has sprung up to promote the West and demonise all things Russian. the attack on Vladimir Putin’s Russia is unprecedented, with instant global boycotts, freezing of accounts and trade bans affecting all aspects of Russian life, from sports to industry and even the once untouchable oligarchs. Imagine if the same level of sanctions and support had been given in favour of the Palestinians at any time during their 74-year struggle for freedom and democracy; Palestine would be a thriving independent state by now. the Palestinians will no doubt still despair at the injustice of it all, but at least they now know that the discrimination from which they suffer at the hands of the great and good in the international community has nothing to do with the colour of their skin. It’s down to people blinded by White Culture who are abusing the privileges that this gives them.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Aam Aadmi Party can mount an effective electoral challenge to the BJP in areas where they are the main Opposition to it. this the Congress cannot really do – as the latest results from Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand once again show. the weaknesses of a Congress led by the NehruGandhis are particularly visible during general elections.

For instance, in the 191 seats in the 2019 elections when they were in a head-to-head fight with the BJP, the Congress won just 16. With Rahul Gandhi posited as its prime ministerial alternative to Narendra Modi, the Congress’s strike rate was a mere 8%.

So far as the BJP is concerned, the Gandhis are a gift that keeps on giving. On the one hand, they do not remotely represent an effective electoral challenge to it.

On the other hand, the Gandhis allow and encourage the BJP to dictate the terms of the national political debate – by locating it in the past rather than in the present.

In an India that is becoming less feudalistic by the day, having fifth-generation dynasts at the head of India’s most storied party is a problem. What is a serious disadvantage becomes a crippling one once we juxtapose with unearned privilege a lack of political intelligence. Living as they do in the closed circle of their sycophants, the Gandhis have little understanding of how Indians in the 21st century actually think.

In the harsh but depressingly accurate characterisation by Aatish taseer, Rahul Gandhi is an “unteachable mediocrity”, his utter unsuitability to the politics of the present manifest in his repeated references to his father, grandmother, and great-grandfather.

Whether they know it or not, whether they sense it or not, the Gandhi family has become active facilitators of hindutva authoritarianism. If they depart, even if the Congress disintegrates, someone or something else with more political credibility shall take their place. then those of us who oppose hindutva will be better placed to think of, and struggle for, a future for India beyond the awful present.

Ramachandra Guha’s new book, Rebels Against the Raj, is now in stores.

Stop Ukraine war or you may face another Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan Tehran Times M.A. SAki

I

t is essentially necessary to bring the war in Ukraine to an immediate end. the longer the war continues the more complicated it will become to resolve. the Soviet war on Afghanistan in the 1980s brought extremists mostly from Muslim states to the landlocked country. the invasion made the country a safe place for terrorism to breed. the fact that al-Qaeda network used Afghanistan as a platform to advance its vicious goals is clear to all. the war in the country led to catastrophe after another. the extremist ideology in Afghanistan started to give birth to other groups whose brutality superseded that of al-Qaeda. Daesh, also called ISIS/ISIL, is a concrete example.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is quite a familiar name. Al-Zarqawi, who ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, went to Iraq to quench his thirst for more bloodshed by brutalizing Iraqi civilians and soldiers after the U.S. invaded the country in March 2003. In fact, the war on Iraq spread the area of activity by extremists. the chaos that followed the civil war in Syria also brought extremists to the country from dozens of countries, including Chechens from Russia. they poured into the country from Indonesia and Malaysia in southeast Asia to those in Western European countries. the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are an eye opener about the dangers of extremism. Now those extremists who used Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as their battlegrounds, may seek to find a way to Ukraine, especially as the domain of their action has been greatly reduced in these countries. they are adventurers who have thirst to kill and don’t care who is right or wrong. this is in addition to far-right extremists from Europe and North America who are already seeking to enter or may have entered Ukraine to fight the Russians.

In a report on March 3, Brookings said, “When foreign fighters deploy, violence against civilians goes up.” It added, “Far-right militias are already declaring they plan to exploit the war (in Ukraine).”

Also, in a report on February 25, one day after Russia invaded Ukraine, the New York times reported, “the Russian attack on Ukraine has prompted a flurry of activity among far-right European militia leaders, who have taken to the internet to raise funds, recruit fighters and plan travel to the front lines to confront the country’s invaders.” the times used the SItE Intelligence Group, a private organization that specializes in tracking extremist groups, as its source. Before it is too late and extremists turn their guns against Ukrainians all must work hard to end the Russian war against Ukraine.

Failure to silence the guns in Ukraine then one should not wonder if Ukraine becomes another Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. In that case even the Russians, who now feel they have the upper hand in Ukraine, will suffer greatly.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

KP govt to establish business park for women in Peshawar AzIz BuneRI The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to set up a women’s business park in Peshawar. The government officials were of the view that the park will involve women in business and strengthen their financial position. The provincial government will spend Rs892 million on the establishment of the park and it will provide easy business facilities for women. According to KP Industries and Commerce department sources, the provincial government has launched several schemes to involve women in business. The federal government will also play its role in setting up business park while the provincial government will provide all possible facilities to women industrialists. Women industrialists from different districts including Peshawar had demanded the provincial government for measures to provide facilities under one roof after which the provincial government has proposed this plan which will be implemented in the next financial year.

Bank Alfalah, bSecure collaborate to facilitate digital payments KARACHI PR

Bank Alfalah, one of the largest private banks in Pakistan and one of the pioneers in the digital banking realm has partnered with bSecure, a 1Click Checkout Solution. The two innovative organizations have collaborated to facilitate digital payments for e-commerce businesses. bSecure enables organizations to sell products globally through an integration with Alfa Payment Gateway. This platform will enable a robust digital payments collection mechanism.

The Alfa Payment Gateway is a unique e-commerce payment gateway, allowing businesses aiming to go online through a comprehensive ecommerce payments infrastructure. The platforms provides distinct opportunities for businesses that are moving with times and adopting digital payments for facilitation of customers. The partnership between Bank Alfalah and bSecure is designed to provide solutions that enable online retailers to collect payments in real time and in a simple and secure manner from their customers via multiple payment modes e.g. Credit and Debit cards, Bank Alfalah Wallets and Alfa Bank Accounts.

09

ECC APPRovES RS747.5m foR GAS SuPPly to 85 villAGES APP

t

HE Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet Friday approved supplementary grant of Rs747.539 million for the provision of gas to localities and villages in 5km radius of gas producing fields.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin presided over the meeting of coordination committee, according to press statement issued by the finance ministry.

The statement added, the committee on a proposal of Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) approved the grant in favor of petroleum division for further releasing to Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGCL) to undertake 85 villages and localities in current financial year.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, federal secretaries and other senior officials.

Anti-polio campaign in Bannu, DI Khan to start from Monday AzIz BuneRI A five days outbreak response campaign (OBR) has been planned in six districts of Bannu and D.I.Khan divisions

from March 14, 2022 wherein over 1.7 million eligible children will be vaccinated against polio.

This was disclosed in a readiness meeting held here Friday at Emergency Operations Center (EOC) with

Gold falls to Rs113,500 per 10gm

EOC Coordinator Abdul Basit as the head.

According to the meeting all necessary operational, communications and security measures have been taken to ensure smooth conduct of the campaign.

In a presentation, the EOC Coordinator was informed that more than 1.73 million children under five years will be administered polio drops in the upcoming OBR campaign planned in Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Tank and D.I. Khan districts.

To execute the campaign a total of 5,711 teams have been constituted out of which 5,147 are mobile teams, 278 fixed teams, 249 transit teams and 37 roaming teams, it was informed in the meeting.

Moreover, to ensure quality of the campaign 1,390 area incharge have been deployed while strict security measures have been taken for safety and security of the teams.

Speaking on the occasion, Additional Secretary Health and EOC Coordinator, Abdul Basit stressed on improved coordination with district and field staff for bridging operational and communication challenges saying that zero tolerance will be observed for negligence.

The EOC Coordinator paid rich tributes to the frontline workers and law enforcement personnel for their hard work and commitment saying that the same level of motivation was required at all levels to cleanse the environment from polio virus and protect children from lifelong paralysis.

ISLAMABAD TLTP

Gold price fell sharply after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there has been some progress in Russia’s talks with Ukraine.

“There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me,” Putin said in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, adding that talks continue “practically on a daily basis.” As of 1305 hours GMT, gold in the international market was available at $1,973 per ounce, shedding $24.20. Out of a $24.20 per ounce decrease, -$1.10 was due to the dollar’s strength and -$23.10 was due to predominant sellers, according to Kitco Gold Index.

The price of 10 grams of 24-carat yellow metal in Pakistan, meanwhile, fell to Rs113,500 with a decrease of Rs2,100. Gold in the local market was available at Rs115,600 on Thursday last.

The local prices also decreased due to overnight decrease in gold prices internationally when the local market was closed.

Pak Suzuki CEO announces 95 scholarships for students PR Under CSR, 95 Higher Secondary Scholarships have been announced and distributed by Mr. Masafumi Harano, MD & CEO Pak Suzuki for Government Schools & Colleges students.

Mr. Nabi Bux, Taluka Education Officer Secondary & Higher Secondary (Bin Qasim Town) along with Principals’ of Govt.

Higher Secondary Schools, Colleges & Pak Suzuki Officials also attended the ceremony.

WB approves $435m for three projects in Pakistan ISLAMABAD TLTP

KARACHI: Peek Freans holds an interactive session titled 'Kaaf Se Kahani' at Karachi Literature Festival. PR

The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors has approved $435 million in financing for three projects in Pakistan.

The projects – the Pakistan Housing Finance project, the Punjab Urban Land Systems Enhancement project and the Punjab Affordable Housing Programme – will expand access to housing finance, particularly for low-income households, improve land tenure rights and facilitate affordable housing developments in urban Punjab, said the World Bank in a statement issued on Friday.

“Affordable and accessible housing

is in high-demand in Pakistan, which is home to over 200 million people and is the most urbanised country in South Asia,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.

“These projects will contribute to addressing housing needs, particularly for low-income households, by leveraging the private sector and by facilitating access to mortgage options for those who currently cannot access financing to buy a home. They will also strengthen property rights and increase the supply of climate-resilient, affordable housing developments.“ Additional financing of $85 million has been approved for the Pakistan Housing Finance Project to scale up the

credit risk-sharing facility launched in 2018. Financing has been approved to provide partial credit guarantees to banks to incentivise them to lend to borrowers traditionally excluded from commercial financing. The funding will benefit up to 70,000 first-time home buyers in the country, who qualify for the government’s interest rate subsidy programme Mera Pakistan, Mera Ghar. Meanwhile, $150 million has been approved for the Punjab Urban Land Systems Enhancement Project.

The WB in its statement said that the project will support the provincial government in upgrading its land registry by creating a digital, province-wide inventory of lands and deeds.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Russian foRces RegRoup neaR Kyiv afteR setbacKs LVIV

R

ReuteRs

ussian forces bearing down on Kyiv are regrouping northwest of the ukrainian capital, satellite pictures showed, in what Britain said could be preparation for an assault on the city within days. ukraine accused Russian forces of hitting a psychiatric hospital near its eastern town of izyum on Friday, in what the regional governor called “a brutal attack on civilians”. Emergency services said no one was hurt as the patients were already sheltering in the basement.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report and there was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Russia has been pounding ukraine’s cities while its main attack force north of Kyiv has been stalled on roads since the invasion’s early days, having failed in what Western countries say was an initial plan for a lightning assault on the capital. images released by private u.s. satellite firm Maxar showed armoured units manoeuvring in and through towns close to an airport on Kyiv’s northwest outskirts, site of intense fighting since Russia landed paratroops there in the first hours of the war.

Other elements had repositioned near the small settlement of Lubyanka just to the north, with towed artillery howitzers in firing positions, Maxar said.

“Russia is likely seeking to reset and reposture its forces for renewed offensive activity in the coming days,” Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update.

“This will probably include operations against the capital Kyiv.”

The British update said Russian ground forces were still making only limited progress, hampered by persistent logistical issues and ukrainian resistance. ukraine said Russian forces were regrouping after taking heavy losses. in its overnight statement on the battlefield situation, the ukrainian general staff also said its forces had pushed Russians back to “un-

favourable positions” in the Polyskiy district, an area near the Belarus border to the rear of the main Russian column heading towards Kyiv.

Oleh synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said 330 people had been at the psychiatric hospital when it was hit: “This is a war crime against civilians, genocide against the ukrainian nation,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The reported strike came less than two days after Russia bombed a maternity hospital in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, an attack Washington has called a war crime. ukraine said pregnant women were among those hurt there; Russia said the hospital was no longer functioning and was occupied by ukrainian fighters when it was hit.

For a seventh straight day, Russia announced plans to cease fire to let civilians leave Mariupol, site of ukraine’s worst humanitarian emergency, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped with no food, water, heat or power. all previous attempts to reach the city have failed with both sides accusing each other of failing to observe ceasefires. ukraine said it would try yet again to help people leave: “We hope it will work today,” Deputy Prime Minister iryna Vereshchuk said.

Moscow denies it has been targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to disarm and “de-nazify” ukraine.

PUTIN SEES ‘POSITIVE SHIFTS’: President Vladimir Putin has tried to project an air of calm in regular engagements since ordering the invasion on Feb. 24. in the latest, a meeting with Belarus leader alexander Lukashenko, Putin said there were “certain positive shifts” in talks with ukrainians. He gave no further details.

Earlier, at a meeting of his security council, Putin approved a proposal to recruit 16,000 fighters from the Middle East. “if you see that there are these people who want of their own accord – not for money – to come to help the people living in Donbass, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict

china locks down city of 9 million amid new spike in covid-19 cases BEIJING the AssociAted PRess

China on Friday ordered a lockdown of the 9 million residents of the northeastern city of Changchun amid a new spike in Covid-19 cases in the area attributed to the highly contagious omicron variant. Residents are required to remain at home, with one family member permitted to venture out to buy food and other necessities every two days. all residents must undergo three rounds of mass testing, while non-essential businesses have been closed and transport links suspended.

The latest lockdowns, which also include Yucheng with 500,000 people in the eastern province of shandong, show China is sticking to the draconian approach to the pandemic it has enforced for most of the past two years, despite some earlier indications that authorities would be implementing more targeted measures. China reported another 397 cases of local transmission nationwide on Friday, 98 of them in Jilin province that surrounds Changchun, a center of the country’s auto industry. in the entire province, cases have exceeded 1,100 since the latest outbreak first struck late last week. Just two cases were reported within Changchun itself on Friday, bringing its total to 78 in recent days. authorities have repeatedly pledged to lock down any community where one or more cases are found under China’s “zero tolerance” approach to the pandemic. another 93 cases were confirmed in the nearby city of Jilin that bears the same name as the surrounding province. authorities have already ordered a partial lockdown in the city and severed travel links with other cities. Officials of the Jilin agricultural science and Technology university have been sacked after a cluster of infections was reported on campus and students complained on social media that those who tested positive were being confined in school libraries and other buildings in poor conditions. The school has registered 74 confirmed cases and transferred more than 6,000 people to quarantine, according to state broadcaster CCTV. aerial images showed students in hazmat suits lining up in the cold and dark waiting to be transferred.

zone,” Putin said.

The Kremlin threatened to shut down Facebook owner Meta Platforms FB.O in Russia on Friday, following a Reuters report that the company had issued guidelines temporarily easing a ban on calls for political violence to allow some Facebook or instagram posts that encourage killing invading Russian troops. according to internal emails sent to content moderators, the guidelines would even allow posts that call for the death of Putin or Lukashenko.

“We don’t want to believe the Reuters report – it is just too difficult to believe,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We hope it is not true because if it is true then it will mean that there will have to be the most decisive measures to end the activities of this company.”

European union leaders were holding a

summit at France’s Versailles Palace, expected to be dominated by calls for more action to punish Russia, assist ukraine and cope with an influx of nearly 2.5 million refugees in just two weeks. in the two weeks since the invasion, Western countries have swiftly moved to isolate Russia from world trade and the global financial system to an extent never before visited on such a large economy. in the latest move, sources said u.s.

President Joe Biden will ask the Group of seven industrialised countries and the Eu to strip Russia of normal trade rights, known as “most favoured nation status”. That would allow hitting Russian goods with new tariffs.

While Russia’s advance on Kyiv has been stalled and it has failed so far to capture any cities in northern or eastern ukraine, it has made more substantial progress in the south. Moscow said on Friday its separatist

allies in the southeast had captured the town of Volnovakha north of Mariupol.

On Friday, three air strikes in the central city of Dnipro killed at least one person, state emergency services said, adding that the strikes were near a kindergarten. ihor Polishshuk, the mayor of the city of Lutsk, said four pepole were killed and six wounded in an attack on an airfield there, a rare strike on a target deep in western ukraine and far from the battlefields in the north, east and south.

Within Russia, the authorities have banned any reports that refer to the “special operation” as a war or invasion. Most of the remaining independent media outlets were shut last week. Thousands of people have been arrested for holding mostly small antiwar demonstrations. The main opposition figure, alexei navalny, issued a call from jail for mass protests on sunday.

Facebook allows Ukraine war posts urging violence against invading Russians, Putin AGENcIEs Meta Platforms will allow Facebook and instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President alexander Lukashenko, according to internal emails to its content moderators. “as a result of the Russian invasion of ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

The calls for the leaders’ deaths will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, one email said, in a recent change to the company’s rules on violence and incitement.

Citing the Reuters story, Russia’s embassy in the united states demanded that Washington stop the “extremist activities” of Meta. “users of Facebook & instagram did not give the owners of these platforms the right to determine the criteria of truth and pit nations against each other,” the embassy said on Twitter in a message that was also shared by their india office.

The temporary policy changes on calls for violence to Russian soldiers apply to armenia, azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, slovakia, and ukraine, according to one email. in the email recently sent to moderators, Meta highlighted a change in its hate speech policy pertaining both to

Russian soldiers and to Russians in the context of the invasion.

“We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the Hate speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, EXCEPT prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of ukraine (e.g., content mentions the invasion, self-defence, etc.),” it said in the email.

“We are doing this because we have observed that in this specific context, ‘Russian soldiers’ is being used as a

proxy for the Russian military. The Hate speech policy continues to prohibit attacks on Russians,” the email stated.

Last week, Russia said it was banning Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform. Moscow has cracked down on tech companies, including Twitter, which said it is restricted in the country, during its invasion of ukraine, which it calls a “special operation”.

Many major social media platforms have announced new content restrictions around the conflict, including blocking

Russian state media RT and sputnik in the European union, and have demonstrated carve-outs in some of their policies during the war.

Emails also showed that Meta would allow praise of the right-wing azov battalion, which is normally prohibited, in a change first reported by The intercept.

The Meta spokesperson previously said the company was “for the time being, making a narrow exception for praise of the azov Regiment strictly in the context of defending ukraine, or in their role as part of the ukraine national Guard”.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022 | KARACHI

SPORTS 11

ENgLaNd ErasE dEfiCit for Loss of oNE wiCkEt iN sECoNd iNNiNgs agaiNst wi

E

reUTerS

NGLAND erased their deficit from the first innings for the loss of just one wicket in the first session on day four of the first Test against West Indies on Friday.

Joe Root (20) and Zak Crawley (45) were unbeaten as England advanced to 72 for one at lunch in their second innings, an overall lead of eight runs in North Sound on the island of Antigua.

Test debutant Alex Lees (6) was the player to go, the left-hander trapped lbw

by Kemar Roach for the second time in the match.

Roach set up the dismissal nicely, sending down several balls outside off during his spell before angling one back in and rapping Lees on the front pad.

The inevitable review showed the ball would have cannoned into leg stump, sending the disappointed opener on his

way for a cumulative contribution of 10 runs for the match.

Earlier, West Indies were all out for 375 in their first innings.

The hosts added only two runs to their overnight score before losing their final wicket when Jayden Seales was out lbw for a duck to spinner Jack Leach on the third ball of the day.

Nkrumah Bonner top-scored for West Indies with a marathon nine hour-plus 123, while captain Kraigg Brathwaite (55) was the only other player to reach a half century.

The England bowlers shared the spoils, with Ben Stokes, Craig Overton and Leach each getting two wickets.

Five sessions remain in a Test that to date has provided bowlers with little help on a slow flat pitch.

The match is the first in a three-Test series in the Caribbean, where England have enjoyed only one series victory in the past half century.

NHMP annual sports festival concludes Pr Inspector General National Highways & Motorway Police Inam Ghani said that sports activities play a vital role in human life's growth, formation, and development. A sound mind is found in a sound body, and sports play a pivotal role in aligning the human mind in the right direction. He was addressed as chief guest in the closing ceremony of the 11th NHMP Annual Sports Festival, 2022, held at NH&MP Training College.

Additional IG Khalid Mahmood, Additional IG Inksar Khan Afghan, Commandant Training College DIG Mehboob Aslam, DIG Motorways Dr Mazher ul Haq Kakakhail, DIG Central Muhammad Saleem, DIG Malik Yousaf, SSP Hashmat Kamal, Sector Commanders and other senior police officers and officials were also present on occasion.

In the week-long Sports Festival, 08 teams from different zones participated in Cricket, Football, Tug of War, Basketball, Volley Ball, Shooting, Shot Put, Javelin Throw, Chess, Table Tennis, Badminton and Athletic competitions.

Training College won the title of Best

Zone by winning 14 Gold Medals managed to defend it as champion.

The Training College tug of war team remained unbeaten throughout the festival by winning the finals against Motorway Central 2 in the presence of Chief Guest. Addressing the occasion, IG Motorway Police Inam Ghani said that NHMP is renowned as a courteous, honest and helping force. Human resource development plays an imperative role in the success of any organization, while sports are vital in invigorating this

resource, he added. He further said that sports are part of life, and enjoying win is the spirit of the game. IG NH&MP added that sports activities always create healthy competition in organizations.

He said that sports activities always generate an environment of tolerance, teamwork, and struggle to achieve success. Inspector General Inam Ghani advised officers to bring this spirit in the field to serve the department better. IG NH&MP congratulated the winning teams and appreciated the efforts of

Commandant Training College DIG Mehboob Aslam for organizing the sports festival in a befitting manner. IG NH&MP also congratulated the north zone and Commandant Training College DIG Mahboob Aslam for being a champion zone of the 11th sports festival 2022. IG further appreciated the female participants; he was happy to see their performances.

He said that efforts are underway to ensure the participation of motorway police officers in National teams. He hoped that the officers and officials of NH&MP would maintain the standards of motorway police at every cost. Talking to media persons, he said his team of officers is striving hard to give timely promotions to officers and officials.

Commandant Training College DIG Mehboob Aslam said that sports activities are essential to boost the morale of any force, and he will try to organize different sports events besides this annual festival. IG NH&MP distributed prizes among the winning teams and players at the end of the event and handed over the Champion Trophy to Training College, which was declared as Best Zone.

Barcelona held to goalless draw by Galatasaray, Rangers beat Red Star Belgrade Barcelona AFP

Barcelona stumbled to a goalless draw with Galatasaray in their Europa League last-16 first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday, while Rangers cruised into a 3-0 lead in their tie against Red Star Belgrade.

Xavi Hernandez’s Barca, playing in Europe’s second-tier competition for the first time since 2004, dominated for long periods.

But it was their Turkish visitors who almost grabbed a lead ahead of the return game in Istanbul next week, with Bafetimbi Gomis only denied a winner by a VAR review for offside.

Memphis Depay, making his first start since December, forced Galatasaray goalkeeper Inaki Pena into two good first-half saves.

Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong all went close in the second period for Barcelona, but the hosts could not find a breakthrough.

“The feeling is bad,” Xavi admitted to Movistar+. “It’s not a good result, playing at home and dominating so much.

“This is Europe, even if it’s the Europa League, and teams are there on their own merits.”

Xavi’s side are still unbeaten in 90 minutes since losing to Bayern Munich in their final Champions League group game last year.

But the Catalan giants will likely have to find a victory next Thursday to extend their bid to win this competition for the first time.

Rangers took a big step towards reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since losing the 2008 UEFA Cup final to Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men backed up their stunning win over Borussia Dortmund in the play-off round with another dominant first-leg performance against Red Star at Ibrox.

James Tavernier’s penalty and Alfredo Morelos’ 28th career goal in the tournament put the home side in command. Visiting midfielder Aleksandar Katai, who had earlier seen two goals disallowed, then had a penalty saved by

Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

The Scottish champions took full advantage, with Leon Balogun adding a third six minutes after the break to put the Glasgow giants in total control heading into the second leg.

“It’s an unbelievable achievement,” Rangers captain Tavernier told BT Sport.

“We are only halfway there but the boys were brilliant.

“We really managed it well and we’ve put ourselves in a good position.

We can’t be complacent, though and we’ll go in there like it’s 0-0.”

Atalanta will take a lead to Germany next week after Luis Muriel scored twice in a 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Bergamo.

Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby’s

63rd-minute strike, his eighth goal in seven games, kept the tie on a knifeedge.

Elsewhere, Abel Ruiz scored in the first minute as Braga beat Monaco 2-0 in Portugal, while Munir El Haddadi gave Sevilla a 1-0 home win over West Ham in the early kick-off.

Eight-goal thriller: There were goals galore in the thirdtier Europa Conference League, with PSV Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen playing out a remarkable 4-4 draw.

The Danish visitors led 3-1 and 4-3 at the Philips Stadion, but Eran Zahavi grabbed an equaliser with five minutes remaining for PSV after Cody Gakpo had scored twice and missed a spot-kick.

Leicester saw off French side Rennes 2-0 at the King Power Stadium as Kelechi Iheanacho’s injury-time effort added to Marc Albrighton’s opener on the half-hour mark.

“This was a really tough draw for us against a really good side,” said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.

“I thought the players were fantastic.

The concentration level was very good.”

Jose Mourinho’s Roma claimed a 10 win at Vitesse Arnhem and Marseille conceded a late goal in a 2-1 success against FC Basel at the Stade Velodrome.

Feyenoord romped to a 5-2 thrashing of Partizan Belgrade in Serbia in a bad night for the country’s capital clubs, and Slavia Prague saw off LASK Linz 4-1.

Chelsea beat Norwich 3-1 in Premier League lonDon AFP

Chelsea showed they can cope amid the Roman Abramovich turmoil as they won 3-1 against Norwich City just hours after their Russian owner was sanctioned by the British government, while Leeds plunged deeper into relegation trouble on Thursday. Thomas Tuchel’s side arrived at Carrow Road rocked by the revelation that Abramovich is one of seven more oligarchs hit by fresh UK sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All seven are described as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, with Abramovich’s UK assets frozen and tough restrictions placed on Chelsea, who are currently unable to sign new players, renew contracts or sell match tickets.

Abramovich had already announced he was willing to sell Chelsea, who won 19 major trophies in his 19-year reign. But if Chelsea’s future is clouded in uncertainty, they remain a formidable force on the pitch and goals from Trevoh Chalobah, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz lifted the mood on the 117th anniversary of the club’s formation. Third-placed Chelsea have won nine of their last 10 games in all competitions and sit nine points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a topfour finish. Asked about the potential impact of sanctions on his team, Tuchel said: “Everybody can be very sure that we focus on us, to keep the attitude and the mentality right on the training ground and within the team. “So far we can trust each other and this will not change. As long as we have enough shirts and a bus to drive to the games we will be there and will compete hard.” Chelsea’s main shirt sponsor, mobile phone company Three, had responded to the sanctions by temporarily suspending the deal and asking for its logo to be removed from the team’s shirts. But Chelsea took to the pitch still wearing their blue home kit featuring the Three branding.

ABRAMOVICH TURMOIL: Despite the damage caused by their owner’s alleged links to Putin, Chelsea’s travelling fans were quick to salute Abramovich as they loudly chanted his name before the Blues took a third-minute lead. Mount’s corner reached Chalobah and the defender headed into the bottom corner. Chelsea could not have hand-picked a better opponent than bottom-of-the-table Norwich to prove they can still function. In the 14th minute, Havertz teed up Mount in the Norwich area and the midfielder smashed a superb strike into the top corner.

Norwich’s Teemu Pukki scored a 69th-minute penalty after Chalobah blocked Pierre Lees-Melou’s cross with his arm, but Havertz bagged Chelsea’s third with a sidefooted finish in stoppage time. Leeds United meanwhile remain in severe danger of relegation after a 3-0 defeat against Aston Villa at Elland Road. Jesse Marsch’s debut home game in charge was another let-down after defeat at Leicester last weekend in his first game since replacing Marcelo Bielsa. Leeds have lost six successive league games and lie only two points above the relegation zone, having played two more matches than thirdfrom-bottom Burnley. Villa went ahead in the 22nd minute as Philippe Coutinho scored his fourth goal since joining on loan from Barcelona. Matty Cash struck in the 65th minute and Calum Chambers wrapped up the points eight minutes later. Newcastle moved another step closer to survival with a 2-1 win at Southampton that extended their unbeaten league run to nine games.

Southampton went in front through Stuart Armstrong in the 25th minute. New Zealand striker Chris Wood headed Newcastle’s equaliser in the 32nd minute with his first goal since signing from Burnley in January.

Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes marked his first start since his move from Lyon with a sumptuous backheeled finish in the 52nd minute, lifting Eddie Howe’s side eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Saturday, 12 March, 2022

Prayer Timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:29

12:42

4:59

6:44

6:39

7:55

PM, COAS Attend PAF CereMOny tO induCt J-10C Multi-rOle COMbAt AirCrAFt

t

news Desk

He Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Friday held a ceremony at the Kamra Air Base, to formally induct modern J-10C fighter jet in its fleet.

The ceremony had in attendance Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar, Chief of Naval Staff Amjad Khan Niazi, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as well as senior federal ministers.

It is pertinent to note that the J-10C is larger and can be equipped with a bigger active electronically scanned array (AeSA) radar than the one used by the JF-17 Block 3. The aircraft can carry more advanced, fourth-generation air-to-air missiles including the short-range PL-10 and the beyondvisual-range PL-15. earlier in January, the ministry had confirmed the long-speculated deal with China for the supply of J-10C jets. It had said that the acquisition was being done in view of the

regional security matrix that required Pakistan’s armed forces to continuously upgrade their capacity.

Many think the J-10C deal is Pakistan’s answer to Rafales bought by India from France.

The PM, while addressing the ceremony today, thanked China for providing the jets to Pakistan in a “record time of eight months”.

“I am glad that our armed forces have a futuristic and forward-looking approach because technology is going to be a great tool for future warfare,” he added.

The premier said the country would spend more on its defence as its wealth increased with time.

The prime minister said the entire nation had the confidence that our armed forces were fully capable to defend the country. He recalled that Pakistan’s response in the wake of the Balakot intrusion sent a clear message to the world that the country was capable to defend itself.

He stressed that developing indigenous technology was the need of the hour, saying “Pakistan is working on it”.

PM Imran noted that Pakistanis were skilled in all modern fields, but they were based abroad. He then expressed the hoped that the country’s talent would soon be serving Pakistan. “We can build any institution of international quality and we are very much capable of it.”

The prime minister was presented a guard of honour by a contingent of the PAF. The prime minister witnessed a thrilling fly-past of various formations of aircraft, including the newly inducted J-10C, F-16s, JF17s and Mirage that showcased an array of avionics and weaponry.

After the fly-past, the prime minister witnessed the landing of five J-10C aircraft.

The prime minister and the service chiefs were later asked to inspect the newly inducted fighter jet from the inside. The premier climbed up into the cockpit with the air chief and the COAS standing next to him as an officer gave them a briefing on the jet’s capabilities and functionality. earlier in December, the Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid had told journalists that J-10C jets would participate in the March 23 parade.

US to miss deadline for release of 9/11 probe documents, court filing shows Agencies The US Justice Department acknowledged on Thursday it would miss a deadline set by President Joe Biden’s executive order to review and release documents from the FBI investigation of the attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

In a filing, it told Judge Sarah Netburn in New York the FBI would have released most of the required documents by mid-March, but more releases would occur into mid-April.

This was “due to continuing coordination with a number of foreign governments and ongoing interagency review,” it added.

In September, Biden ordered the Justice Department to review documents from the FBI investigation and gave it six months to make public the declassified documents.

The FBI was also working to create separate “production sets” of the documents by mid-April since the records produced in line with the

order contained redactions required by the Privacy Act, the Justice Department told the judge.

To date, it said, the FBI has released over 700 documents and over 2,700 pages in accordance with the process outlined in the September 3 executive order.

Relatives of the people killed on September 11, 2001, have been pushing for years for more information about what the FBI discovered in its probe and have contended that the documents would show Saudi Arabian authorities supported the plot. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has long said it had no role in the attacks.

9/11 Families United, a group that represents families and survivors of the attacks, sent Biden a letter on Thursday, urging him to raise the September 11 attacks in any meetings with the Gulf country as he pushes oil producers to boost output and ease price pressures sparked by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Media reports said Biden was considering a visit to the kingdom, but the White House has said there are no current plans for Biden to travel there. The group praised Biden’s actions to release more documents, but said no reset of USSaudi ties could succeed “without proper reconciliation for the attacks on September 11, 2001.”

It said thousands of pages of new evidence against Saudi Arabia had been released under Biden’s executive order, but the majority were not made available to the 9/11 Commission. The Commission investigated the attacks and found no evidence that Saudi Arabia directly funded al Qaeda, the group led by Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.

It left open whether individual Saudi officials might have done so.

The families of roughly 2,500 of those killed in the attacks, and more than 20,000 people who suffered injuries, businesses and various insurers, have sued Saudi Arabia seeking billions of dollars.

India’s Hindu nationalist BJP leads in disinformation race AFP Top officials of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party and an army of its supporters bombarded voters with disinformation as key states went to the polls, specialists say.

The five votes held over several weeks starting February 10 set the stage for the next general election in 2024, and the ruling BJP retained control of the four it already held, including the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, albeit with a smaller majority there.

But key BJP campaigners distributed false information to voters and followers — more so than any other party — fact-checking organisations, including AFP, found. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra shared a doctored video claiming the Samajwadi Party, the main opposition in Uttar Pradesh, had coined a new slogan for its voters: “Vote for the Samajwadi Party to make Uttar Pradesh a new Pakistan.”

The core of the BJP’s populist appeal is centred on Hindu identity and rivalry with India’s Muslim neighbour, and firebrand Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath led the party back to victory in the state — a bellwether for the country. “There are false claims like the Samajwadi Party election promise includes renaming the holy Hindu cities,” Pooja Chaudhari, editor of Indian factchecking site Alt News, told AFP. “It is an organised effort by the BJP to portray their rival party as pro-Muslim, pro-Pakistan and anti-Hindu in elections.”

In another example, a doctored letter on Samajwadi

Party letterhead appealing to its voters to support the BJP was shared tens of thousands of times on social media. Samajwadi spokesman Ali Khan denounced the letter as a fake and said the party had filed a complaint with the state election commission.

“The BJP is desperate,” he said.

India is fertile ground for misinformation. Cheap smartphones and data plans bring more people online, but many are first-time internet users unskilled in discerning fact from fiction. With nearly half a billion users in the country, instant messaging service WhatsApp is the platform of choice for political parties to reach voters. All major parties use WhatsApp groups to popularise their ideology, poll promises, and leaders’ comments — and to counter their opponents.

And disinformation, which is deliberately deceptive, is not the preserve of the BJP alone.

Samajwadi followers shared a fake opinion poll attributed to a major Hindi television news channel projecting a big win for the party in multiple fan groups.

Supporters of other groups, including the Congress Party that led India for decades, have also been found peddling disinformation. But experts say the BJP and its supporters have a far greater social media presence and produce more misleading content than other parties.

The BJP’s arm in the state of Maharashtra tweeted last week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brokered a ceasefire between Russian and Ukrainian forces to enable trapped Indian students to escape to safety — a claim denied by India’s own foreign ministry.

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