Epaper – March 28-2022 KHI

monday, 28 march, 2022 i 24 Shaʽban, 1443 i rs 40.00 i vol Xii no 269 i 48 Pages i Karachi edition

PM Khan says foreign Powers engineering ‘regiMe change’ in PaKistan g

says EvidEncE availablE with govErnmEnt, will rEvEal at an 'appropriatE timE'

g

imran Khan dEtails succEssEs achiEvEd by his govErnmEnt

g

ExpErts bEliEvE Khan has KicKEdoff ElEction drivE sEnsing dEfEat in no trust movE

ISLAMABAD

P

staff report

rimE minister imran Khan sunday claimed that foreign powers were involved in a ‘conspiracy’ to send his coalition government at the centre packing through a no-confidence motion tabled by the country’s joint opposition. the embattled prime minister said this while addressing his pti party’s ‘historic’ public gathering titled “amar bilmaroof” at islamabad’s parade ground amid looming no-trust vote against him in the national assembly.

Experts believe Khan has launched his public mobilisation campaign sensing a defeat in no trust motion. in his long speech, Khan highlighted in detail his government’s successes and the challenges he had faced – thereby implying that he had kicked-off campaign for early elections which are otherwise due in almost one and a half year’s time. in his long speech, Khan narrated successes on economic and foreign policy front besides detailing the reforms introduced by his government in the past three and a half years.

Foreign ConSPiraCy: Khan also dropped pointed hints at some international conspiracy being hatched to overthrow his government. terming a letter as ‘evidence’ of his allegations, pm imran said foreign elements are using local politicians and money to change the country’s foreign policy. “i rarely write my speeches… but i wrote this speech today so that i don’t get emotional and say anything which can affect our foreign policy,” said the premier while claiming that foreign elements were involved in a regime change in pakistan.

pm imran said his government received threat in written form and asserted he had all the evidence to prove his claims which he said he will unveil at a ‘right time’. “our country received threats due to the acts of previous leaders… the governments in pakistan had been changed with the help of locals… when Zulfikar ali bhutto tried to make independent foreign policy… parties of fazlur rehman and ‘absconder’ nawaz sharif launched a movement against him and later bhutto was executed,” said the premier.

he lashed out at ppp leadership, saying that bilawal and asif Zardari have formed alliance with those elements involved in the execution of their party founder. “today foreign elements are trying to affect our foreign policy again… we know the elements who united the killers and the victims… but today the times have changed and there is a saying in English, ‘you only cross the river once’… this is an age of social media where you cannot hide anything.” pm imran said his government will maintain friendly ties with other states but

Topple ‘corrupt govt’ to save Pakistan, Shahbaz tells public

ISLAMABAD staff report

pakistan muslim league-nawaz (pml-n) president shahbaz sharif urged people to topple the “corrupt” government of prime minister imran Khan if they wanted to save pakistan. sharif asked the people to “topple down this corrupt government to save the future of the nation”. addressing the public through a video message, sharif urged the nation to join the joint opposition-led protest, mehngai mukao march, against pakistan

tehreek-e-insaf (pti) government. he said he wanted to convey the important message of “my and your leader” nawaz sharif to the nation. he further criticised the government over “worst corruption, poverty, unemployment and cruel behaviour meted to the public”.

Earlier, the inflation march kick-started from lahore where the party’s vice-president maryam nawaz said the government has “already been ousted” and the opposition was heading to islamabad to say “goodbye” to Khan. “(prime minister) imran

Khan’s government has gone he is shouting every day. the government has gone we are going to say goodbye to it,” maryam said. the pml-n leader said the “people are echoing” the name of party supremo nawaz sharif due to the “incompetent government and inflation”. “the government has gone a goodbye is left only. he’s (imran Khan) is pleading but nothing will happen now,” said the pml-n leader. she added that move to oust Khan was taken by the government and not the opposition. the government is facing a no-trust motion in the national assembly. the session is called on march 28. the national assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172. the ruling coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, with pti having 155 members, and four allies — muttahida Qaumi movement-pakistan (mQm-p), pakistan muslim league-Quaid (pml-Q), balochistan awami party (bap) and grand democratic alliance (gda) — having seven, five, five and three members respectively.

will never become “slave to anyone”.

Khan said due to the public pressure, not only his own party dissident mnas won’t vote against him but independent lawmakers belonging to the ppp and pml-n will also not support the no-confidence motion against him “if their conscience are pricked by the conspiracy”, the premier said. pm imran Khan, while addressing today’s rally, said he will not spare ‘corrupt leaders’ even if he was ousted from his post. “first of all, i express heartfelt gratitude to my nation for coming from all

parts of the country on my appeal,” he said in his opening remarks. he also appreciated his party lawmakers present at the rally for refusing “opposition’s attempts to buy them off”. “i came into politics 25 years ago and formed political party for one thing only and that is following the vision of pakistan for which it was created.” governmenT PerFormanCe: pm imran once again claimed that he had put the country on the path of becoming “madina-like” welfare state. “previously, it was not possible for a common man to get free treatment at private hospitals… for the first time in country’s history attempts are being made to lift the downtrodden segment of the society,” said the premier while referring to his government’s social welfare programmes. continuing his diatribe against the opposition leaders, pm imran said, “‘three stooges’ wanted to topple my government to get nro and doge accountability”. he vowed that come what may he will not spare the “corrupt leaders”, saying that he was even ready to put his government at stake for this purpose. “no government in the past has performed like my administration has done in the last 3.5 years,” the premier claimed once again. “when the entire world was shut down due to coronavirus lockdowns… i did not impose the blanket lockdown… i was criticised that i was destroying the country,” he remarked. “today i stand proud that entire world is acknowledging that we protected the economy as well as people from the pandemic.” he also cited a world bank report, saying that pakistan has lowest unemployment rate in the south asia due to his government’s “prudent policies”.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

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Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

NEWS DESk

EDERAL Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi apologised on Sunday after receiving backlash from political parties as well as members of civil society over his remarks directed at PML-N leadership that ended up indirectly mocking the sufferings of the

ALi ZAidi APoLoGiZeS for ‘hurtiNG’ eMotioNS of MiSSiNG PerSoNS’ fAMiLieS

families of missing persons.

Ahead of PTI’s Islamabad rally, the minister posted on Twitter a picture of PML-N leaders Hamza Shahbaz and Maryam Nawaz — the latter of whom was holding a photo frame of her father Nawaz Sharif. The caption accompanying the picture posted by Zaidi read: “Family of missing persons on the streets again.”

Zaidi’s tweet immediately

‘Whoever Nawaz Sharif meets is in the interest of Pakistan,’ Maryam Nawaz gUJranwala: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Sunday said whoever her father and fellow party leader Nawaz Sharif meets in London “is in the interest of Pakistan”. Maryam’s remarks were in reaction to Prime Minister Imran’s comments made at Parade Ground in Islamabad earlier. The prime minister, without naming Sharif, had said: “The nation wants to know who the man sitting in London is meeting with and whose directions the characters based in Pakistan are following?” Shortly after his marathon speech where he alleged that a ‘foreign-funded conspiracy’ was out to topple his govt and claimed to have evidence in writing, Maryam, addressing a rally of her own in Gujranwala, defended the PML-N supremo. She said that Nawaz “is the son of Pakistan” and his meetings in London “are in the interest of Pakistan and its 220 million people”.

Maryam criticised PM Imran for claiming he had “proof” of the conspiracy against his government, saying he should have revealed the “secrets” he decided to withhold during his speech. “He knows the corruption cases against his government will come to light the moment he opens his tongue,” Maryam said as she claimed that a Lahore-based woman Farah was allegedly involved in taking bribes [on behalf of the government] for transfers and postings. “We know each and everything”. “Imran keeps telling institutions that Nawaz will not spare them. You must keep in mind that these institutions, this country, and the people belong to Nawaz Sharif,” she said while referring to the prime minister. The PML-N leader alleged the the PM Imran-led government spent Rs12 billion in finding proof of corruption against Nawaz, adding that their attempts went in vain. “We will hold you accountable for wasting this public money on your personal vendetta,” she vowed.

Hitting out at the prime minister for name-calling his opponents, Maryam said Imran Khan should be the first person to be called “diesel” in the country, “as the prices of diesel have never been such high as they are during his government’s tenure. She alleged that PM Imran could not even gather an audience of 10,000 at his public meeting in Islamabad against his claims to assemble one million people. Referring to the dissident PTI leaders who have been giving strong indication of their defection, Maryam said Nawaz was “the only bowler in the world who took 24 wickets of Imran on a single ball from London”. She said that Nawaz was the first to tell “absolutely not” to foreign forces when Pakistan conducted [nuclear] explosions during his government.

She told her party supporters that Sharif and his sibling Shehbaz would soon return “to change the fate of the people of Pakistan”.

LG Polls: KP police officials not to go on leave

received criticism as people, including some from his own party, called him out for hurting the sentiments of the families whose loved ones have become victims of forced disappearances.

Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir said that the grief of the families of missing persons was “no joke”.

“It is an insult to mothers, wives, sisters and daughters who for years dared to ask questions from the state by carrying the pictures of their missing loved ones,” he said, adding

that those who make fun of the oppressed will one day become jokes themselves.

Reema Omer, another lawyer, quoted the Islamabad High Court in response to Zaidi’s remarks. “A person going missing is a crime against humanity. The prime minister and members of the cabinet are there to serve the people of the country. The State’s response towards recovering missing persons is pathetic.”

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai’s father Ziauddin said that

only people of “missing conscience will make jokes of the families of the missing persons”.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, who is from Zaidi’s own party, tweeted that the issue of missing persons was “not an issue for humour at all”. She said that missing persons was a serious and heart-wrenching issue in Pakistan.

PM Imran Khan has always opposed enforced disappearances, she said, adding that this was one of the reasons she stands with Imran

Khan. “Our government’s bill to criminalise enforced disappearances is in the last stage of approval – from Senate.”

Following the barrage of criticism, Zaidi tweeted an apology. “[I] apologize if this post hurt anyone suffering on forced disappearances,” he tweeted. “No illegal detention happened under [the] PTI regime. In fact, I personally helped recover 100+ who went missing under previous governments.”

Fazl warns the govt against any threat to opposition parties ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

JUI-F President Maulana Fazlur Rehman has warned the government against posing any threat to the opposition parties, saying that they will give a befitting response. “We are not wearing bangles,” Fazl said on Saturday while announcing that the participants of his party’s long march would stay in the federal capital for two to three days after reaching there.

He said that as the opposition is “staying in its limits” and the government should also not cross its limits. The JUI-F president, who is also the chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), said that it was the alliance’s decision to hold talks with all the allies of the government.

Fazl said the PML-Q was in talks with the PML-N to settle matters between them.

He claimed that all matters with the government’s allied parties had been settled. Fazl said that MQM-P had made no demand for a ministry but wanted a settlement with the PPP on the local government’s bill. He said that the demand has been accepted. Fazl further stated that everything had gone out of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s hands now and he was making last-ditch attempts to save his government, but it was useless now. He said all other matters would be discussed after the decision on no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. He said in the 2018 elections, people’s mandate was stolen through the rigging, that was why the opposition wanted fresh elections now.

Imran Khan Is In OppOsItIOn’s grIp, wOn’t let hIm escape nOw: says Fazl: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday said that Prime Minister Imran

Khan is now in the grip of the Opposition and would not let him escape now.

Addressing a rally after reaching the federal capital, Fazlur Rehman said that he is well aware of Prime minister Imran Khan’s agenda. He also challenged that PDM would hold bigger power show that the PTI did on Sunday.

“Insha Allah, the Opposition will gather at the same venue tomorrow,” he said and added,”We are well aware that your agenda is to tarnish Islam as you want to recognise Israel”. He said that Imran Khan’s “agenda” was to “close all madrassas” but said that instead, “thousands of them opened up across the country.” “Your agenda was to destroy the economy of Pakistan and we know that you are serving the same agenda that began during General Musharraf’s tenure.” He said that the premier was “imposed on Pakistan as the last agent for this Western agenda so Islamic clauses contained in the

Constitution of Pakistan could be eliminated.” “You used foreign money to misguide the youth of Pakistan,” Fazl said, adding that the United States had installed “such agents” all over the Islamic world.

“We are now announcing our win and your defeat,” Fazl sent a message to PM Imran Khan before a charged crowd.

Taking a jibe at the premier’s earlier statement — when he had said that he’d “surprise” the Opposition during his speech before the no-confidence motion session — Fazl said that the only surprise today was the news of Shahzain Bugti parting ways with the PTI. Earlier today, in a major blow to PM Imran Khan’s, ahead of the no-trust motion, his special assistant (SAPM) on reconciliation and harmony in Balochistan and Jamhoori Watan Party leader Shahzain Bugti announced that the has parted ways with the government while announcing his resignation from the federal cabinet.

ISLAMABAD: PTI rally in Islamabad.

KP Excise personnel foil drug smuggling bids

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has cancelled holidays of policemen in the wake of second phase of the local government elections scheduled in the province on March 31. According to Provincial authorities notification the leaves of the policemen across the province have been cancelled and IG KP has been directed to issue orders to the cops to report to concerned stations. Those who are already on leaves are also directed to join duties, it said.

Previously it was reported that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is considering postponing second phase of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) scheduled on March 31. Sources claimed that the ECP has expressed serious concerns over the continued violation of its code of conduct by federal and provincial ministers during electioneering for KP LG polls in 18 districts. Due to continued violations, ECP is mulling over postponing second phase of LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, sources said, adding that final decision regarding LG polls would be made soon.

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Excise Department foiled an attempt to smuggle large quantity of drugs in various operations and recovered 4.4 kg of heroin and 26 kg of hashish, while six drug dealers were also arrested during the operations.

Under the supervision of Waheed Khan Circle Officer Peshawar and Mardan Region, Akif Nawaz SHO Excise Mardan Police Station along with other personnel stopped car number CA 359 near Charsadda Interchange on a tip-off and recovered 3500 grams of high quality heroin during search, accused Usman Nazir son of Nazir Ahmed resident of Rawalpindi Cantt has been arrested on the spot.

In another operation, under the supervision of Masood-ul-Haq Excise and Taxation Officer (Counter Narcotics Operations), Lal Gul Khan in-charge Special Squad-1 NCW, along with other personnel intercepted vehicle number LWD 0991 at Jamrud Road near Jamrud Chowki. 8000 grams of hashish recovered.

Two accused Habib-ur-Rehman son of Mir Zaman Khan resident of Hangu and Noman Siddiqui son of Muhammad Siddique Khan resident of Nowshera were arrested on the spot.

In the 3rd and 4th operation, Muhammad Riaz SHO Excise Police Station Peshawar Region along with other personnel on a tip-off seized vehicle number VK 466 on H Gol Chowk towards Motorway Road after intense resistance and attempt of

escape.

The personnel recovered 10000 grams of hashish. Accused Alam Rasool son of Murad Ali resident of Gujranwala was arrested on the spot.

In another operation, Excise Squad intercepted H-Roll towards Islamabad Toll Plaza vehicle number RPT 981 and recovered 900 grams of heroin from the vehicle during search.

Accused Khurram Shehzad son of Muhammad Bostan resident of Islamabad was arrested on the spot.

Similarly, Mardan Region Excise Police Station has recovered 2400 grams of hashish from a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, Excise Police Station Peshawar Region has recovered 4800 grams of cannabis during another operation while the accused has been arrested. Cases have been registered in

the concerned police stations for further investigation in all the cases.

Regarding operations against drugs, Secretary Excise Syed Haider Iqbal and Director General Excise Mahmood Aslam Wazir and Director Narcotics Salahuddin said that drugs are a fistula.

It is imperative to eradicate this scourge from the society and from the province. The Director General Excise has said that crackdown against drugs has been intensified, drug dealers can no longer survive, the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department officials are always ready to eradicate the menace of drugs from the province.

He commended the officials concerned for the successful operations and directed them to expedite the operations further.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

03

No truSt Move: We cANNot Give cM PuNjAb SLot to PML-Q, federAL Govt coNveyS

t

PRESS RELEASE

HE federal government has conveyed to its key ally in Centre and Punjab, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) that it could not give slot of chief minister Punjab to the party in return of supporting a no-trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan, source said on Sunday.

The PML-Q has been conveyed that they could take the slot if PML-N is promising to give it to them in exchange of voting against PM Imran Khan in the no-trust move.

“We are ready to give any other concessions to them other than giving chief minister’s slot,” they said.

The response came after sources privy to talks between federal ministers and PML-Q leaders claimed that the key

ally in the Centre has asked the government to bring clarity on replacement of chief minister in Punjab.

“We want a clear stance on CM slot,” the Q-League leaders conveyed with government team assuring that they would respond after consultations with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The PML-Q lamented that the promises made on day one of them joining the coalition were not fulfilled and after being promised two ministries in Centre, the second one was given to them after more than three years.

“Whenever the government found itself in hot waters, the Q-League came to rescue but PTI on the other hand treated them like opposition,” they said while quoting PML-Q leaders who said that except in trouble, the PTI leaders have never approached PML-Q for addressing their grievances.

Shehbaz urges nation to join anti-inflation march to ‘save Pakistan’ LAHORE NewS DeSk

Apex Court to resume hearing of presidential reference today ISLAMABAD tLtp

Top court will resume hearing of the presidential reference on Monday (today) seeking interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution which deals with disqualification of parliamentarians over defection.

The presidential reference has urged the Supreme Corut to advise that which interpretation from two interpretations of Article 63-A should be adopted as the first interpretation, khiyanat (dishonesty) by way of defections warrants no pre-emptive action save de-seating the member as per the prescribed procedure with no further restriction or curbs from seeking election afresh.

While the second interpretation “visualises this provision as prophylactic, enshrining the constitutional goal of purifying the democratic process, inter alia, by rooting out the mischief of defection by creating deterrence, inter alia, by neutralising the effects of vitiated

vote followed by lifelong disqualification for the member found involved in such constitutionally prohibited and morally reprehensible conduct.”

It is pertinent to mention that the development took place days after several PTI lawmakers, who had been ‘in hiding’ at the Sindh House

in Islamabad, revealed themselves — proving that the opposition’s claims of having “won over” members of the ruling coalition were indeed true.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and some cabinet ministers had earlier accused the opposition of indulging in horse-trading ahead of the crucial

vote on the no-confidence resolution, disclosing that the capital’s Sindh House had become a centre for buying and purchasing members.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is heading the five-member larger bench and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan will commence arguments in the matter as he has submitted before the bench during last hearing on 25 that he needs a few more hours to furnish his arguments. It is pertinent to mention that during last hearing of the reference Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has observed the court could not “fill in the blanks” and asked the government why it did not enact a law to determine the length of disqualification of a lawmakers for violating Article 63-A. He was of the view that nothing related to disqualification over defection is mentioned in the Election Act 2017.

Chief Justice Bandial asked the AGP while referring to Article 63-P of the Constitution that the federal government had the power to make the law then why was it not done.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday appealed to the populace to participate in the PML-N’s anti-inflation march on Monday to “save the future of Pakistan” by ending the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) government. According to Shehbaz – who also serves as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly – his brother Nawaz Sharif in an “important message” had stated that inflation, poverty and corruption had all peaked under the current PTI government. “Cruelty towards the common man is another truth,” he said. Shehbaz urged the nation to take a stand and come to the anti-inflation march so that the “corrupt and looting” government could be overthrown through “constitutional and political means” and the 220 million people of Pakistan could be “saved”. With voting on a no-confidence motion being delayed, the PML-N on Wednesday changed the date of its Islamabad-bound anti-inflation march, which was scheduled to start on the 24th of this month, to March 26. The marchers will reach Rawalpindi on March 28. According to a circular issued by the PML-N, the marchers would use GT Road to travel to Islamabad. They would make stops in Gujranwala and Jhelum before reaching Pindi on March 28. Meanwhile, the federal capital is braced for two back-to-back rallies from harsh political rivals on Sunday and Monday, increasing the already feverish political temperature in the country in the wake of the no-confidence motion filed against Prime Minister Imran Khan by the joint opposition. Charged workers from either side of the divide in far-off areas had already started their journey towards Islamabad in the shape of caravans, chanting slogans in favour of their respective parties and leaders and carrying placards and flags to show their political loyalties.

PTI cadres advise Imran Khan to go for snap polls ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Sunday advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to go for snap elections after successfully dealing with the No Confidence Motion.

Addressing the PTI Jalsa in the federal capital, PTI Vice Chairman and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the nation has “woken up” and corrupt political leaders were bound to face defeat.

“Whenever this nation wakes up it changes the fate of sub-continent… will plunders face the defeat or not?” he asked the charged crowd.

Qureshi on the occasion revealed that he was aware of the “conspiracy” behind the no-confidence motion. “There are a lot of secrets concealed in my chest and If I disclose them they [opposition] will not able to show their faces but I will not violate my oath.”

However, he added that he has informed the premier about the “conspiracy”.

Qureshi also claimed that opposition parties have offered to take back no-trust motion in return for a “NRO-like deal”.

“Give us NRO and we will take back nomotion confidence… Zardari, Nawaz and Fazl you will not get any NRO. Bring all your wealth Asif Zardari but you cannot buy anyone from this crowd.”

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid in his brief address labelled the opposition leaders as “gang of three”.

“These plunderers did not even spare the money of Arab leaders Colonel Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein,” he said, adding that

people wanted to get rid of such “corrupt politicians”.

Addressing the gathering, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar said that the prime minister was “waging a war” against opposition leaders who were indulging in politics in Pakistan through their “ill-gotten money”.

“This no-confidence motion is a petty thing. I want to tell the prime minister that he is the leader of the entire Muslim world and he will win this battle.”

He said that he has advised the premier to call [fresh] elections to let the opposition know with whom people stand.

He said that the joint opposition cannot defeat PM Imran and asked the premier to announce the date of elections to tell his opponents that “people were standing with” the ruling PTI. He also took a jibe at opposition leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. “[US president] Joe Biden is your [Fazl] leader and he is not a global leader,” he said, adding that Shehbaz was looking for “shining imported shoes”.

Umar said all opposition leaders have joined hands to protect themselves from accountability drive.

PTI leaders Pervaiz Khattak, Ali Zaidi, Shafqat Mahmood, Murad Saeed, Qasim Khan Suri, and Faisal Javed also addressed the gathering.

The PTI leaders vowed that PM Imran will not go anywhere and the opposition’s efforts against the premier will prove futile.

Mahmood said this political gathering has proved that the “nation stood with PM Imran against corruption and horse-trading”.

Mahmood said the real democracy

belonged to the people and asked, “Whether conspiracies and horse-trading a form of democracy?” He said it was the habit of the opposition to use the money to get power and then fill their pockets through corruption.

Suri told participants that Imran Khan “has made all Muslims proud and fought against Islamaphobia”. “He doesn’t bow before anyone, neither does he let us bow,” the PTI lawmaker added.

Zaidi said that under the leadership of Imran Khan and with the support of the PTI workers, the government will defeat the “Zardari mafia”.

‘Battle FOr paKIstan’: In a message ahead of the public meeting, PM Imran shared an audio clip wherein he termed the March 27 gathering a day of the “battle for Pakistan”. Imran said, “We have not taken to streets to save PTI, we are out to fight the battle for Pakistan.”

The premier urged people to leave for the venue at their earliest to avoid traffic gridlock on their way to the Parade Ground.

He added that the PTI came out today to make history.

Over 6,000 rangers FOr secUrIty: Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed held a presser wherein he revealed the timing of the prime minister’s address at the gathering. He said that the premier had made it clear that he wanted to make his address soon.

About security measures, Rashid said he was present at the control centre of the interior ministry. He added, “At least 6,000 Rangers, Frontier Corps, and other security personnel are deployed for security purposes.”

He, however, forewarned the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) that they would be responsible for any collisions on the Srinagar Highway which they were blocking. The minister stated that JUI-F was served a second show-cause notice today over illegal sit-in at the Srinagar Highway despite court orders.

“If the place is not vacated, an FIR will be filed against JUI-F,” he said.

Rashid said that the opposition ran away from Pakistan under the guise of health issues and illness. He also condemned what the opposition had said about the Pakistan Army.

The interior minister stated that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would hold its rally on March 28, and was given permission to do so. He claimed that PMLN chief Shehbaz Sharif had attempted to run

away from the country, but the interior ministry had stopped him.

“If you create any fuss, the administration will take action”, Rashid warned. ptI wOrKers arrIvIng In IslamaBad: The PTI caravans that reached the gathering included buses, wagons, and cars adorned with posters of Prime Minister Imran Khan highlighting the theme of the gathering, ‘Amarbil Maroof’.

Earlier, thousands of vehicles entered Islamabad via Srinagar Highway to attend the “million-strong” rally. The PTI supporters coming via Hazara, Lahore, and Peshawar motorways were making victory signs and chanting pro-Imran slogans as they got off the motorways. They were led by ministers, ruling party lawmakers, and local PTI leaders.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

04 NEWS

OPPOsitiOn caRavans have vanished fROM sight: MinisteR IslAMABAD

M

news Desk

INISTER for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said the caravans of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have vanished as streets are now being filled with supporters of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

While lauding the junoon (enthusiasm) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) cadres, he took to Twitter to share that the opposition caravans en route Islamabad “have disappeared”. “All ways and all caravans are of Imran Khan,” he said.

Prime Minister Khan also released an audio message for the nation ahead of the PTI’s grand power show at Islamabad’s Pa-

rade Ground.

“The jalsa being held today is not the PTI’s fight but the battle for Pakistan’s future,” the prime minister said.

“Today, we are out to create history,” he added, advising the people who want to attend the gathering to set out for Islamabad as soon as possible.

He cautioned they might not be able to reach the venue on time because of traffic gridlocks on the roads leading to the capital.

Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said Khan has directed the MPs to leave for the rally at the earliest.

Umar took to his Twitter account to announce that “more people than we had expected are coming to Islamabad” today, therefore the prime minister has requested the people to leave early to reach in time.

The minister also said it might take more

time to reach the rally location than the people have expected.

Senator Faisal Javed Khan, in a tweet, said the meeting will begin at 3:00 pm and Khan is expected to address at 4:00 pm.

Charged workers of the party are heading to Islamabad in the form of caravans, chanting slogans in favour of their party and leaders are carrying placards and flags to show their loyalties.

“Today is a battle for Pakistan and not for PTI, it’s a battle for the future of our nation,” Khan said in a message issued ahead of the gathering. He urged the citizens willing to attend the rally to leave their homes early as there would be blockages on the roads. He said that he fears that the people might not reach the venue on time.

“We are out to make Pakistan’s history today,” PM Imran Khan concluded.

Ice seized at Karachi airport KARACHI Monitoring report

Qureshi, Khattak convey PM’s message to PML-Q leaders News DesK Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak on Saturday met with Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders and conveyed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s message ahead of voting on the opposition’s no-trust vote against the premier. From the PML-Q, Punjab Assembly Speaker Parvez Elahi, his son and Water Resources Minister Moonis Elahi and Housing and Works Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema were present at the meeting. With five seats in the National Assembly, the PML-Q is a key ally of the PTI in the centre as well as Punjab, and the opposition would require its votes in order for the no-trust move against the premier to succeed. After the meeting, Qureshi said that today’s meeting was part of the PTI ‘s efforts “to approach its allies”. He said that the meeting was “fantastic”. According to a statement issued by the PML-Q, Khattak and Qureshi conveyed PM Imran’s message to the party’s leaders. However, the statement did not elaborate on what the message was. The statement further said Cheema apprised PTI ministers of difficulties being faced by his party over the past three and a half years. For their part, the PTI ministers said PM Imran would be informed about the “situation” that Cheema had explained, according to the statement. The statement also quoted Parvez Elahi as saying that PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would be taken into confidence with regards to today’s meeting and that the next meeting between the two sides would be held in Islamabad. Prior to the meeting, Parvez Elahi had remarked during an informal talk with media persons that the “drop scene of the drama ongoing in the country will not happen right now”. “The characters of the play will change,” he had commented.

13 food items to be available at subsidised rates in Punjab during Ramadan pRess ReleAse Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said on Sunday the government will roll out a Rs8 billion Ramazan package to provide relief to the masses during the fasting month. In a statement, the chief minister said Rs8 billion funds have been allocated for the package under which all essential food items will be available at subsidised rates at Ramazan Bazaars. A 10 kilogramme flour bag will be sold for Rs375, he said and added that 13 food items, including tomatoes, onions and potatoes will be available at subsidised rates at these markets. As many as 317 Ramazan Bazaars will be set up across the province. The markets will remain open from 9am till Iftar. CM Buzdar said the special package was aimed to provide relief to the weak segments of society, vowing that he would himself monitor the Ramazan package.

In separate operations, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) seized 30 kilograms of ice drug “absorbed” in towels, ladies’ clothes and prayer mats at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, a spokesperson said Sunday.

He said the towels were booked by a courier company and were to be dispatched to Australia but when checked on suspicion, 20 kilogrammes of ice was found.

The modus operandi was that the drug was first mixed in water then the towels were soaked in it and later the towels were dried, leaving hardly a hint of what is hidden in them.

The cargo was booked by one Amir

Ramzan.

In a separate raid, seven kilograms of ice was found that was also absorbed in prayer mats. The parcel was booked to be delivered in Australia by one Arshad Ali, a resident of Lahore.

In a third raid, three kilograms of ice was found from a parcel containing ladies’ clothes absorbed with the drug and was booked for Sri Lanka through a courier service company office located in Karachi.

The parcel was booked by Shagufta Bano, a resident of Sheikhupura. The authorities raided the courier service office and foiled the smuggling attempt.

The spokesperson said ANF has seized all the drugs and launched further investigation into the matter.

No-Trust Vote: Imran Khan takes the battle to the ‘court of people’ IslAMABAD/lAHORe staff report

Prime Minister on Sunday took the no trust motion to the court of the people by addressing a huge gathering of the faithful in the federal capital in a last-ditch effort to muster support from “a sea of the people” which thronged the capital roads despite rising inflation and purported misgovernance appears to be grown increasingly distrustful of the unified opposition facing a plethora of corruption charges.

Designed to precede voting on the no-confidence motion tabled against Imran Khan, the much-hyped power show, Amr-bil-Maroof (enjoining good), exhibited that the people of Pakistan still stood by the beleaguered prime minister, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party despite financial odds.

“It’s a battle for the survival of Pakistan […] not of PTI government,” Khan said in an audio message shared by the party on Twitter.

The meeting is a referendum in favour of Khan and his “independent foreign policy”, Ali Nawaz Awan, a ruling MP, said. Last year, Khan, a fierce critic of American military adventures in Afghanistan and the decision by President Pervez Musharraf’s government to join forces with Washington on latter’s War on Terror, refused point-blank when asked if he’d allow the use of Pakistan’s territory to the United States for counter-terror operations inside the wartorn nation.

He has since then cemented the relationship with China; visited Russia, incidentally, on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine; and hit out at Islamabadbased Western diplomats who urged Pakistan to condemn Moscow’s actions in the Eastern European country, asking

them if they thought Islamabad was their “slave”.

The prime minister’s detractors claim Khan and his government has turned to the tried and tested strategy of West-bashing in hopes of winning him support.

Part of the narrative being pushed by Khan is the vote of no confidence is part of a conspiracy by foreign powers to topple his government. Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a press conference he had intelligence the vote of no confidence was happening at the behest of imperialist powers.

“Imran Khan is a savour of Pakistan […] he pursued an independent policy,” Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said in a video message. “Join him in saving Pakistan.”

“It’s not just another jalsa […] history is going to be created today,”

CMYK

tweeted Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar.

Awan said arrangements had almost been finalised for the public gathering.

Interestingly, a PTI spokesperson Saturday night announced the media would not be allowed to use private cameras to record the event as “they (camera) posed a security risk”.

But, today, Chaudhry, the minister, disclosed that “entire Pakistani media” and over 43 journalists representing international press organisations are present in the Parade Ground to cover the event.

Meanwhile, under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), activists and leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have also come to take the stage on the Srinagar Highway while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president

Maryam Nawaz, along with her cousin Hamza Shehbaz is leading her party caravan through G.T. Road to the capital.

Leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz (R) and her cousin Hamza Shahbaz (C) waves towards the supporters upon the start of the anti-government march toward Islamabad from Lahore on March 26, 2022.

On Saturday, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said the Srinagar Highway had been handed over to Pakistan Rangers and Frontier Corps, saying that in all 15,000 personnel would be performing security duty.

He said the government had also the authority to call the Army under Article 245 of the Constitution, if need be, but expressed hope the situation would not reach a point where the ministry was compelled to take extreme steps.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS Six prisoners snatch police weapons, flee in Lodhran Six under-trial prisoners fled from a prison van after injuring four policeman escorts and killing a fellow prisoner in Lodhran, police informed on Sunday.

According to police, the accused were being taken back to jail in a prison van after their production before a court when they snatched official weapons from the police escorts and opened fire.

“A fellow prisoner was killed in firing by them, and, four policemen sustained critical injuries,” police said and added a case that also included the murder and anti-terrorism clauses was registered against them.

Sources privy to the incident say that the prisoners took the advantage of the poor security arrangementsm, made their escape good.

Multan and Lodhran police were still unable to trace the six prisoners. pr

Bangladesh remembers martyrs on 1971 war anniversary DHAKA

05

PM Khan SayS foreign PowerS engineering ‘regiMe change’ in PaKiStan coNtINuED from pAGE 01

P

REMIER Imran said all sectors of the country including exports, agriculture and others witnessed boom during his tenure, adding that after a gap of 50 years nine mega dams are being constructed in the country.

‘Corrupt vs honest leaders’: PM Imran while citing various examples, said, “People should know that the country benefits when honest rulers run it instead of corrupt leaders”.

“International court imposed a fine of Rs2,000 billion few years ago in Reko Diq case… my best team negotiated with them [private mining firm] and now they are investing $9 billion in Pakistan,” the premier said, adding that the people of Balochistan will benefit the most from the investment.

“Our currency will appreciate… Pakistan will have the largest gold reserves in the world.”

Likewise, PM Imran said in rental power project case a Rs200 billion penalty was imposed on Pakistan. “I spoke to [Turkish president] Tayyip Erdogan and they waived off the penalty,” he added.

Moreover, the premier claimed Minister for Communication Murad Saeed saved millions of rupees in the construction of main motorways and highways.

Earlier, PTI workers from KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and other parts of Pakistan reached the venue to support their leader ahead of the no-confidence motion against him.

At the onset of his speech, he thanked his supporters for gathering in the capital at his call. “First of all, I thank my nation. The way you turned up on my call from all corners of Pakistan, I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. I also pay tribute to my team of parliamentarians as ‘you were offered money and attempts were made to bribe you but you made me happy and I am proud of you.’

“I want to speak my heart out and I

want you to listen to me quietly. I invited you for Amr Bil Maroof to emphasise that our Pakistan was built on the ideology of Islamic welfare state. We had to build the country on the basis of Riyasat e Madina.

“Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said [in his speech earlier that] there is an external interference in Pakistan … I will speak about it later. [First], you must understand that we cannot become a nation until we stand by our actual ideology.

“I want to clarify that I also did not know the ideology of Pakistan for quite some time. I left for abroad at the age of 18. As I began to understand the religion, I noticed that the orders of Allah to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were implemented more in the West.

“In Britain, free medical treatment, free education, unemployment benefits, and free legal aid is given to the people.

Our Prophet had created Riysat-e-Madina where the state had taken responsibility of its people.”

The prime minister recalled what he

said were his government’s measures to alleviate the burden on the public.

“We are providing loans to families for housing, technical education and small businesses. As soon as our tax was enhanced, I announced a subsidy and reduced rates of petrol and ‘Fazlur Rehman’,” he said. “I also offered a subsidy in power tariff. I promise I will spend more money on my people as our government collects more capital in taxes.”

The prime minister linked his crusade against corruption with the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

“Our Prophet had also emphasised for the supremacy of law. I don’t give them NRO because my Prophet had explained that nations get destroyed when you punish the poor and exempt the rich.

“Poor countries are backward because the law there fails to catch the rich who are involved in white collar crimes. They transfer stolen and looted money to offshore accounts. Small thieves do not destroy a country like the way big thieves do.”

AnAdolu Agency

Bangladesh remembered the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the second Pakistan-India war in 1971 on the 52nd Independence Day that was celebrated Saturday with due solemnity.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on the nation to work together to continue national development while virtually addressing a huge rally in the capital, Dhaka.

She vowed that the country is now very strong and can protect its sovereignty and avert conspiracy.

“None will be able to play tricks with the fate of the people of Bangladesh,” she said, adding that the country is progressing well and it will continue.

Referring to the socio-economic progress and investment-friendly environment, she called on all to invest in the 100 economic zones.

The south Asian delta nation of 170 million people began a so-called liberation movement on March 26, 1971, against then-West Pakistan, when Bangladesh was East Pakistan.

After a nine-month bloody war, on December 16, 1971, Bangladesh achieved independence and was born as an independent state.

President M. Abdul Hamid and Hasina paid tributes to the martyrs by placing wreaths at the National Memorial at Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Afterwards, they stood in silence as a symbol of deep respect for the martyrs. A contingent of defense forces performed a state salute while bugles played.

Independence Day programs began by heralding gun salutes in the morning while the national flag was hoisted atop government, semi-government, autonomous and private buildings.

Special prayers were offered by different sociocultural and political organizations for the divine peace of the martyrs.

People from all walks of life including members of the diplomatic corps also laid wreaths at the national memorial. Hasina released a commemorative postage stamp for the occasion.

Pakistan and China to bring sorghum cooperation into CPEC BEIJING stAff report

Pakistan and China will bring sorghum cooperation into the multi-billion-dollar China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This was stated by experts at a Symposium on Sorghum Industry Development of China Pakistan, organized by the Belt and Road International Institute of Scientific and Technological Innovation of Sorghum Industry, Sorghum Research Institute, Shanxi Agricultural University, and National Sorghum industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, China.

The major use for sorghum is livestock feeds for various animals. Processed sorghum can be used as floating fish food or steam flakes for ruminants at large feedlots.

“Also, it might be considered as a crop that contributes to food security as they outperform other cereals under harsh environmental conditions and are economical to produce. They are an important source of food and fodder especially in the hot and dry areas of the country”, said Dr. Shahzor Gul, Assistant Professor, Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, Sindh Agriculture University.

In environmental conditions that are too harsh for other cereal to produce grains, sorghum is a viable choice. These regions are characterized by erratic distribution of annual rainfall, high mean temperature and depleted soil fertility.

As a tropical plant, it has remarkable adaptability to various climates and soils except saline and waterlogged soil and can withstand heat and drought stress better than maize.

In Pakistan, its per hectare output is approximately 5.4 tonnes, higher than wheat and rice, which stand at 3.0 and 2.2 tonnes per hectare respectively.

Meanwhile, the demand for mille and sorghum is much less and there is no direct competition as wheat essentially is a winter crop and sorghum is a summer crop.

But, according to Dr. Shahzor Gul, the yields of sorghum and millet in Pakistan are very low due to the limited use of improved cultivator, inadequate plant population, lack of fertilizer application, weed control measures, and water conservation practices.

In 2019, Pakistan imported sorghum worth $12.4 million. “If Pakistan and China join hands in variety research, demonstration cultivation, talent training, and technical guidance, we can provide nutritious food for Pakistani people and quality forage for Pakistani animal husbandry”, proposed Ping Junai from the Sorghum Research Institute of Shanxi Agricultural University.

Bilateral cooperation in sorghum has already been under way. In 2020-21, five varieties of Shanxi sorghum

have been planted in Pakistan for trial, which will continue in the coming year.

In 2021, China imported over 9 million tons of sorghum, registering 95.6% increase. “In China, there is no limit quota on sorghum, providing vast market for Pakistani sorghum products. In this regard, joint ventures can be built for joint sorghum production”, said Yuan Guobao, a leading agricultural expert in China.

“In Pakistan, the area under sorghum and millet on the average is 1.5 million hectares. Punjab and Sindh are the major sorghum-producing provinces, contributing respectively 47% and 26% of the total. They can become the focal areas of bilateral sorghum cooperation”, shared Dr. Shahzad Sabir from Punjab Agriculture Department.

PM protects bureaucrats’ personal info: report Prime Minister Imran Khan has declared personal information of civil bureaucracy “classified”, excluding it from the purview of Right of Access to Information Act 2017 after scores of officers sought their record fearing that some blue-eyed officers were promoted against their due right.

According to the official documents, the premier took the decision months after a meeting of the Central Selection Board (CSB) whose decisions created resentment among officers belonging to various service groups.

The Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs), Training Evaluation Reports (TERs), working papers and minutes of meetings of Departmental Promotion Committee, Departmental Selection Board, CSB, high-powered selection board, directory retirement committees and Directory Retirement Board have been declared “classified”

by Premier Imran.

The Establishment Division had moved the summary for the approval of the prime minister after numbers of individuals contacted it and sought their service record.

“Public disclosure of the documents is

against public interest,” the Establishment Division underlined.

According to the division –which is responsible for maintaining the service record, these documents contain information about civil servants’ personality profiles, conduct, strengths and weaknesses and are used by the boards and committees for promotion and retention in service on completion of 20 years of service.

The Establishment Division’s spokesperson did not comment for this article.

During the meetings of these boards and committees, members share their candid opinion about the performance of civil servants on the condition of non-attribution.

These discussions and minutes are treated as confidential, according to the Establishment Division summary.

Public sharing of PERs and other such documents “will expose civil servants to negative social consequences and infringe their privacy, which as an individual is also protected under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017”, it added.

The prime minister has approved ex-

cluding the record of all these meetings and personal service information from the purview of the Right of Access to Information Act. PM Imran himself has not held the highpowered board meeting for almost one-anda-half-year to consider promotion of officers from Grade 21 to 22, which has created resentment among the top bureaucracy. However last month, he approved appointment of his secretary, Azam Khan, as Pakistan’s Executive Director in the World Bank by violating the rules.

The Establishment Division had been approached by individuals under the Right of Access to Information Act to provide his information. Pakistan Information Commission has also approached the Establishment Division for obtaining such information.

However, the sources said that the CSB in its last meeting promoted a few officers, including those from the Pakistan Customs, who were not eligible for the promotion. The aggrieved officers, who suffered because of promotion of blue-eyed people, have been using various forums to know the reason for either

cmYK

deferring their case or superseding them.

The brother of a key bureaucrat also got promoted to Grade 21 despite the fact that he did not have merit.

According to Civil Servants Promotion Rules 2019, the PERs of the officer and his marks in TERs carry 70% weightage and remaining 30% marks are assigned to the CSB. The officers are assigned in A, B and C categories as per their blood count, which is the total marks obtained from 70 marks assigned to PERs and TERs as per the prescribed formula and on the basis of intelligence report and general reputation.

The officer was awarded 23 marks by placing him in category ‘A’ as to enable him to attain the threshold of 75 marks despite the fact that officer’s total scores in PERs and TERs was 52.4 and he had been subjected to multiple inquiries and disciplinary proceedings in the past. In the National Management Course, the officer had got only 66% marks.

The officer had been awarded a ‘major penalty’ which was later converted into ‘minor penalty’ in an inquiry. The minutes of

the CSB showed that the officer had been twice deferred by the CSB, first in January 2020 and then in January 2021 due to “incomplete service record in terms of the mandatory training and declaration of assets”.

The board in its meeting had also noted the issue of the minor penalty but promoted him on the grounds that “the officer is reputed to have become more responsible after imposition of the minor penalty”.

It was not the only case as another officer from the Pakistan Customs got promoted due to his political connections. His service record showed that the officer was thrice superseded. The supersession of the officer awarded through CSB held in January 2018 was later on converted into deferment in pursuance of court orders. The officer was also awarded a minor penalty during his career.

Another officer from the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service in a similar fashion was promoted to Grade 20, despite the fact that his PER was not even countersigned and he has also been subjected to multiple disciplinary proceedings but was a relative of another federal secretary.

06-07 Comments - 28th March 2022_Layout 1 3/27/2022 10:47 PM Page 1

Monday, 28 March, 2022

06 COMMENT

Financing the fight against climate change

Fragile economic situation Political uncertainty must end regain some stability

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S the country gets closer to the vote on the motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, the economic news gets worse, indicating that whoever is in power when the dust settles, the present government or the present opposition; will have a hard row to hoe. One of the first things to be noticed is that there has been a flight of capital abroad, as investors are disinvesting in Pakistani dollar-denominated paper. Once again, portfolio investment is proving to be an unreliable crutch to rely on, with foreign investors taking their money elsewhere at the first sign of trouble.

This is not the only factor behind the fall of the rupee, as there have been a number of debt servicing payments falling due, with all this pressure being worsened by speculators seeking safe havens, with the result that the value of the rupee has been facing tremendous pressure, which has led to its slide. The State Bank of Pakistan has found itself obliged to use its foreign exchange reserves to prop up the rupee. The prevailing doctrine at the SBP has been that it is unwise to defend the rupee by using borrowed foreign exchange, but the rupee has fallen so much so fast that the SBP found it necessary to intervene with those borrowed reserves. It should not be forgotten that a lower rupee value creates problems of its own, and there is only so much that the SBP can stand without intervening.

That borrowing had been done to build up reserves to a level acceptable to the IMF. The latest review talks have however run into trouble, not just because of the use of reserves, but because of the populist subsidies on fuel prices and power tariffs announced recently by the PM. The IMF is not satisfied with the government’s explanation of where the money is to come from. The IMF is also apparently engaging in a policy of wait and see. Like the entire country, it seems the IMF is also waiting for the result of the no-confidence motion.

Though, whoever wins will still have to agree to the terms the IMF dictates so as to continue with the current programme, it is likelier than not that the IMF would like to know who they are dealing with. For that, it seems the result of the no-confidence motion will be necessary.

Green bonds may encourage ‘greenwashing’unless the developed countries step up

Dr Omer JaveD

I

n addition to the fast-unfolding climate change, the way the OPEC-plus group of countries overall– reportedly keeping oil supplies artificially low to drive up prices, after the first few months during the pandemic– may very well give a greater push towards moving away from fossil fuel usage, and towards renewables and overall green, cleaner sources of energy. The war in Ukraine and the likely significant impact of this on oil supply, will only add to such pressures of making the shift as early as possible to more environment-friendly sources of energy.

Recent years have seen the rise in climatechange-related events, and resulted in greater urgency to tackle global warming. An important step has been to raise climate-change-related finances through floating ‘green bonds’. While developed countries have significant capacity to make needed climate expenditure, issuing climate or green bonds will be an important source of raising finance for combating climate change for cash-strapped developing countries, in addition to yearly climate financing provided by rich, advanced countries.

A recent Financial Times (FT) published article ‘Fears rise over ‘greenwash’ bonds’ highlighted the recent surge in green bonds issuance as follows: ‘The race to prevent catastrophic climate change is driving a massive expansion in the green bond market, where governments and companies can raise capital to finance their efforts to combat global warming. Issuance of

Children of a lesser god?

T

HE murder of a transgender, Mano, in Peshawar, by a former lover, shows both some of the special problems that plague that community, and how badly the state has failed in solving them. The murder took place in the crowded Mohallah Jangi area of Peshawar, next to the Qissa Khwani Bazar, allegedly by Sanaullah, a former lover, because he refused to pay her Rs 800,000, which she had previously lent him. This is not the first time a transgender has been murdered in KP. There are no official figures, but an estimated 70 transgenders have been killed in KP since 2015.

Another recent case in Mardan saw an attack on a transgender for rebuffing the assailant’s amorous advances. The transgender was injured, and another accompanying her was killed. In both cases, it is clear that if the transgender concerned had been able to register a criminal case, in the one case from embezzlement, and in the other for harassment, these murders might have been avoided. As it is, the refusal of Mano’s family to receive the body indicates that it probably will not pursue the case, and the murderer will escape scot-free. Transgenders lack social acceptance even if allowed to stay alive, but these murders show the dire consequences of the collapse of the social net.

It is perhaps unfortunate, but true, that the state has failed to make the required interventions. Transgenders may not enjoy the best of reputations, much of which is a result of the circumstances they are born into, but that does not prevent them from being citizens of the country, with the right to life, liberty and property. The necessary intervention should begin with sensitization training to the police, so that transgenders reduce, or even eliminate, their fears of approaching the police for their problems.

Also, the education system must play its due role in ensuring that the social stigma, which makes families disown the transgenders, is removed. While KP seems to be at the epicenter of this violence against transgenders, all provinces must take measures before they are faced with a law and order problem that could easily be avoided.

There is a major shift in the region because of the US-China rivalry

Dr ShOaib balOch

C

An Pakistan overcome new security challenges which are emanating from changing regional security landscape and internal discords?

Externally, Pakistan faces new security threats from impending perilous outcomes in Afghanistan, shifting global power dynamics with intensifying USChina power competition, growing Indo-US strategic partnership, changing nature and characteristics of the Indian state, advancing technology and cyber threats, navigating new geopolitics of the region, and emerging transboundary terrorism challenges.

If Afghanistan descends into chaos because of the looming humanitarian crisis, it will create security challenges for Pakistan. The fallout of Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis can be refugee influx in the KPK and Balochistan, which have already been volatile provinces of the country. The more Afghan exodus reaches these two provinces, the greater economic pain will be felt. Consequently, conflict escalates over meagre resources—especially water and food—between different segments of society, creating a new theatre of contest in both provinces of the country.

Moreover, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan seems to have emboldened other extremist groups such as the TTP and the IS-K, impelling them to increase their terrorist activities in Pakistan, thereby disrupting hardly achieved internal peace and stability.

With the shifting of winds of power from West to East, Pakistan, owing to its geostrategic location, will find itself in the eye of the geopolitical storm of USChina power competition. Pakistan’s balancing approach toward the USA and China is no longer

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Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

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nances to developing countries. no significant headway could be made in this regard during the COP26 meetings in Glasgow last year, and it is hoped that not only $100 billion per year is provided to developing countries going forward, as remains pledged for a number of years by developed countries though it is still to be adhered to completely, but also that this envelope is enhanced over time, especially in the wake of high global inflation and tighter monetary policies increasing the cost of capital, along with greater technology, is provided to enable developing countries make the clean energy transition.

A november 2021 Project Syndicate (PS) published article ‘Fixing climate finance’ by Jeffrey D. Sachs who is one of the leading economists globally, pointed out in this regard as follows: ‘Against this background of high economic anxiety, developing countries see the rich countries refusing to discuss forthrightly the financing crisis developing countries face when it comes to climate-change mitigation and adaptation or other urgent needs. They see rich countries spending an extra $20 trillion or so on their own economies in response to COVID-19, but then failing to honour their promise– dating from COP15 in 2009– to mobilize a meagre $100 billion per year for climate action in developing countries. … The financial failures at COP26 are both tragic and absurd, going beyond the overarching failure to mobilize the promised $100 billion per year.’

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund.Prior to this, he did MSc. in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom), and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan), among other places. He is author of Springer published book (2016) ‘The economic impact of International Monetary Fund programmes: institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth’.He tweets @omerjaved7

Pakistan’s new security challenges

Peshawar murder highlights multiple problems

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

green bonds reached a record $517.4 billion in 2021, up 74 per cent from $297 billion the previous year, according to Climate Bonds Initiative, a non-profit organisation that promotes investments to combat climate change. It now expects annual issuance of green bonds to exceed the $1 trillion milestone for the first time this year as estimates of the debt funding needed to tackle climate change risks continue to escalate.’

Achieving the target of keeping average global temperature to below 1.5°C, and meeting the associated net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050– to which many countries globally have pledged, while detailed plans on how to achieve this, especially by the main polluters hopefully come to the fore in the COP27 meetings in november later this year in Egypt– would require significant amount of climate related finances. The same FT article highlighted these investment requirements as ‘Many governments around the world have now pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a huge challenge that will require $9.2 trillion to be spent each year to develop new green assets and decarbonise the global economy, according to McKinsey, the consultancy.’

Specifically, the role of bonds in financing the effort to control the climate change effort, and re-orient economies accordingly, is indeed significant. The same FT article pointed out in this regard ‘Climate Bonds Initiative has predicted that annual green bond issuance will have to reach $5 trillion as early as 2025 if the global economy is to remain on track to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century.’ Having said that, there is a need to save the bond financing effort from ‘greenwashing’, about which the same article pointed out ‘But this rapid expansion of the green bond market poses a problem for both regulators and investors who are concerned that it could encourage “greenwashing”, whereby companies make exaggerated or false environmental claims in order to help them raise money from investors.’

Here, it falls on the rich, advanced countries to improve the record on providing climate-related fi-

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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workable; it has to make a strategic choice between Washington and Beijing as both powers’ growing competition is compressing time and space for Islamabad. Obviously, by aligning with either of the two great powers, Pakistan will confront new security challenges because great powers can cloud the strategic environment of the region. The growing Indo-US strategic romance can greatly affect the regional strategic stability.

To contain China, the USA has forged a strategic alliance with India; both countries have increased their military collaboration. Despite nuclear deterrence, strategic balance in the region will tilt in favour of India provided that Washington throws its strategic weight behind new Delhi to obstruct Beijing’s regional outreach.

As a result, Pakistan will be at disadvantaged position as the regional balance of power shifts against it, while India is radically transforming internally. notwithstanding India has claimed to be a secular and democratic country, power usurpation by the BJP-RSS cohort, with ultranationalist sentiments, has changed the nature and characteristics of the Indian state.

The moderate and secular impulse of the country has stopped working; India is now becoming a dangerous radical country with increasing extremist tendencies in both the government and the media. This ideological change in India brought about the Pulwama/Balakot crisis, and has increased the risk of nuclear escalation between the two nuclear armed countries. Ideological shift in India, as has been taking place since the BJP has come to power, would have horrendous repercussions for regional peace. It increases the risk of strategic miscalculation by affecting crises as well as deterrence stability.

However, technological advancement is critical for modern development. But it has security implications, too. Artificial intelligence and cyber security advancement by adversaries put vulnerable countries at risk. India’s primacy in the IT sector creates national security challenges for Pakistan because new Delhi attempts to use its technological superiority to carry out cyberattacks against Islamabad. Critical communication networks will be disrupted that certainly result in the breach of national security data by

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

putting all security installations, banking systems and information sectors at risk. Besides, information warfare and cyberterrorism are also woven into the global technological landscape.

Moreover, shifting sands of regional geopolitics puts stress on the country’s national security. navigating these troubled waters will not be as smooth as it seems since geopolitical transformation is occurring in Pakistan’s neighbourhood and beyond. Militant groups at the helm of affairs in Afghanistan, Indo-US strategic alignment, Indo-Israel bonhomie, Saudi-Iran discontent, Arab normalization with Israel, great power competition at the Indo-Pacific region, Russia’s return to South Asia and China’s quest to be the next global superpower are critical developments which can be a litmus test for Pakistan’s national security.

Although Pakistan has succeeded in eliminating terrorist networks by launching several military operations in conflict-ridden areas of the country, terrorist outfits have flown to Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries from where they operate and carry out sporadic terrorist activities in Pakistan. Religious and nationalist banned militant organizations tend to launch attacks on Pakistani soil by hiding in neighbouring countries. Recent mounting terrorist activities in the country signify that new security threats are emerging from transboundary terrorist operations.

Internally, identity crisis, ethno-nationalism, extremism, deteriorating state-society relations, political polarization, contest over interprovincial water resources and socio-economic insecurity are critical challenges for the country’s national security. These challenges can stymie Pakistan’s economic progress and political stability which are crucial for internal cohesion and national harmony.

Both external and internal security threats deserve attention. Pakistan can overcome external challenges by crafting proactive foreign policy measures in order to protect its national interests. Pakistan’s geo-economic shift is a significant policy initiative that will help the country steering itself out of new geopolitical crises. Besides, appreciating diversity, getting rid of extremism, making equal distribution of resources, promoting democratic culture, and educating the youth can be panacea to these security challenges.

Both external and internal security threats deserve attention. Pakistan can overcome external challenges by crafting proactive foreign policy measures in order to protect its national interests.

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer is a strategic affairs and foreign policy analyst. He tweets at @drsho_aib.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

06-07 Comments - 28th March 2022_Layout 1 3/27/2022 10:47 PM Page 2

Monday, 28 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

Geo-strategic importance

Celebritized leadership When a celebrity becomes a leader

Dr abDuS Sattar abbaSi

T

HERE isn’t an abundance of leaders who enjoy the status of celebrity before holding a position of power. It can be both an advantage and a drawback psychologically and on the performance front for a leader to have had celebrity status.

They are exposed to a double-edged sword because their every move and every word remains under scrutiny. They get exceptional applause if they perform well but the scale of disappointment remains even higher if they don’t meet expectations. They cherish an abundance of advocates who try to justify their failures on the performance front; however, it is usually hard to defend if they use indecent metaphors in their communication and speeches.

Most recently we noticed several surprising analogies for the opposition by the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan in the mainstream political arena such as the ‘three jokers’, if we try to express ‘chuhay’ decently, the ‘three dwarfs’, the three stooges, the boot polisher, the diesel, the thief, a complete narrative that ‘a human being can’t be neutral, it is only a nonhuman (janwar) who can be neutral, a human being definitely takes a side, may be right or wrong, which is eventually decided on the basis of consequences’ and a blatant treat, obviously symbolic, that an opponent will be ‘on my gunpoint’.

The PM even didn’t spare deviant parliamentarians of his own party calling them unscrupulous; PM didn’t stop here, he extended consequences to their children emphasizing that ‘your offspring will face retaliation in their schools and you will even not be able to marry them conveniently’, PM warned that ‘deviant members will be remembered as unfaithful for rest of their lives’. These quite aggressive positions in politics certainly attract the attention of students of the concept of ‘leadership’, like me, to understand the nature of this particular kind of leadership approach to determine underpinnings of this relatively strange exhibition of leadership stature.

Dr. David Simm, Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University UK, suggests in his PhD dissertation, “All intangible assets are reputational in nature including celebrity, are similar to the extent that they influence the perceptions of stakeholders and, consequently, their willingness to entertain exchange.Whilst intangible assets

such as status, reputation and legitimacy attempt to objectively evaluate future potential, in the case of a celebrity, such evaluations may, because of its perceived fame and favour, be positive even in situations where there is insufficient information to make such rational judgements.Together, the ability to attract large‐scale public attention and to stimulate positive emotional responses provides celebrity with access to critical resources and strategic opportunities (e.g....alliances and partnerships) that it might have only limited or no access otherwise. Since celebrity is primarily a creation the mass media who are also the primary source of our perceptions. The media are an integral aspect of modern society. In general, they can, both intentionally and unintentionally, influence the news, and ultimately public opinion, in numerous ways. Essentially, it is impossible for the media to present a flawlessly objective picture of a happening or phenomenon.”

This one paragraph from Dr. Simm’s thesis probably describes the entire landscape of the PM’s political career. He was and still is a celebrity, not only in Pakistan but in several western and non-western societies. His celebrity status helped him in his political career while several stakeholders were readily willing to join hands with him due to perceived potential based on two popular successes, winning the Cricket World Cup and establishment of the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.

The PM’s ability to attract large-scale public attention and to stimulate positive emotional responses remained instrumental in his every endeavour while the media played a key role particularly in shaping his political career. We can give numerous reasons for the relatively less technical abilities of the PM to run a government and the economic turmoil due to global circumstances. However, while witnessing changing stances of some die-hard advocates and recent statements of the PM it seems quite obvious that the media failed to present flawlessly the objective persona of the PM. It is vital for a leader to remain psychodynamically conscious of when confidence turns into arrogance and when drive becomes ruthless ambition.

Leaders with celebrity status usually exhibit grandiosity, perceived superiority and entitlement, self-centeredness, domineering, controlling and arrogance which are generally forbidden commodities in politics at least publically. While traits are certainly useful for a leader which actually paves the way to becom-

ing a celebritized leader, however, leadership is ultimately a phenomenon that resides in the context of quality of interactions between leaders and followers. Leadership is observed through the attitude and behaviour of a leader of how a leader thinks or feels about followers and how a leader acts or conducts to followers. On the ground both the attitude and behaviour of a leader determine in-groups and out-groups of followers irrespective of celebrity or noncelebrity leader, therefore being a celebrity it adds to the responsibilities of a leader to be more responsible and careful.

There are different types of celebrity leaders such as creators, transformers, the rebellious, saviours, icons, hidden gems, silent killers and even scoundrels. Some of these types of celebrity leaders seem self-explanatory but some do instigate the observer to probe further for better understanding.

Researchers do agree that these types have strong links with the life events which ultimately bestowed celebrity status to the leader.

While going through an article by Jeffrey B. Lovelace from University of Virginia and his colleagues, the PM fits into the category of rebellious celebritized leader because the PM challenged usual political norms and took extreme positions to differentiate proponents and opponents. The PM also targeted the opposition quite aggressively.

These characteristics conveniently place him in the archetype of rebel celebrity leader.

To avoid allowing celebrity traits to take over, leaders need to have a better understanding of how they react to certain situations and what their default destructive behaviour is. This can be done by asking for feedback, becoming more self-aware and learning more about positive personality traits that are found in effective leaders.

As books suggest, asking for feedback can be hard for constructive criticism; however, doing so can provide an outside view of how your behaviours are perceived. Be sure to talk to individuals who are not your confidants or who may just tell you what you want to hear.As a leader of the party or head of the government it is indeed difficult to find someone who gives you genuine feedback but again it is your responsibility as a leader, especially when things are not going in appropriate direction, to determine where the flaw is in the leadership process?

To avoid allowing celebrity traits to take over, leaders need to have a better understanding of how they react to certain situations and what their default destructive behaviour is. This can be done by asking for feedback, becoming more self-aware and learning more about positive personality traits that are found in effective leaders

The writer is Associate Professor 6f Management Sciences and Head, Center of Islamic Finance, COMSATS University (CUI) Lahore Campus, and can be reached at drabdussattar@cuilahore.edu.pk

WITH the due presence of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) among eastern powers of the world, no one can deny the geo-strategic and socio-economic significance of the region. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project now has boosted the strategical importance of GB to its highest levels. That is why in the eyes of many defensive analysts it has become a universal fact that in the coming days and years the region would prove as a battlefield for the regional and non-regional powers.

China has devised the new mega road map to supply its goods and commodities to the rest of the world for occupying the world’s economy by its new giant OBOR “One Belt One Road” project. The OBOR Project is a network of several highways that connects China to every continent and country of the world. It is part of the new ideology of the current Chinese president Xi Jinping to expand infrastructure and influence in the world economy.

GB’s borders are highly strategic, with new economic superpower China to the northeast, Afghanistan to the north-west, with Russia almost on its northern borders with Tajikistan nearby. Thus, the geo-strategical attraction of the region is a huge flashpoint for the regional and the entire world powers.

But, sadly, the socio-political conditions of GB in multiple aspects.

On one hand, the region lakes any defined political identity and remains in a constitutional identity crisis for almost seven decades. On the other hand, disunity due to sectarian and lingual basis has impeded the development of the region, whereas, no progress in socio-economic and political segments manifests.

As per the said facts and expected events in future, the situation of inhabitants and ground reality of GB is quite not encouraging. All segments of GB must ponder and comprehend the political face of the region and frequently changing scenarios and affairs of the world.

Gone are the days when we used to be a remote, undiscovered and underdeveloped part of the world. now we have become a crucial and almost integral part of the world and our region weighs much value in the eyes of both regional and non-regional powers.

Keeping in view the above facts, it is high time for the dwellers of GB to be united in one platform to pursue the politico-economic goals.

We must mitigate the differences within the regionals based on lingual and tribal grounds as it prevents the achievement of a common cause and long-term targets. If we do not unite, neither will we be able to reap the benefits of CPEC nor will we avail the favours of our geostrategic key location.

Residents of GB must be aware of upcoming events in their region. We must educate ourselves and also spread awareness among the masses to be united, avoid differences and must develop thinking strategically to tackle in case of any expedition or foreign aggression.

YAWAR ABBAS HOLLA GILGIT-BULTISTAN

Ice cream WHAT’S the worst memory of you eating ice cream? Mine was merrily enjoying it until it melted away and became a milkshake destroying my favourite pair of clothes along with the car seats which further led to a lot of scolding from my parents; courtesy to the weather of my country.

With so much fun and enjoyment, there is a problem in eating ice cream and that is it melts so fast that one has not finished it yet and it ruins all the mood of a person. What if I tell you that now you can enjoy ice cream as much as you like without the hassle of melting and also you can now take it to your home without being destroying your favourite clothes and expensive car polish.

The idea of non-melting ice cream was first thought in Japan by Tomihisa Ota, a professor. There was an earthquake in Japan in 2011 after which the ground was not good for the fruits to be grown and deformed strawberries were grown and no one was buying them due to their shape.

Instead of dumping, they said that something can be made from it as strawberries have polyphenol in them so they make pastry but the problem came when the pastries hardened up every time they add this natural chemical. This is the moment that Ota got an idea of non-melting ice cream and this invention came into being. However, with this great invention, this product has not yet been in the market not only in Japan but not all over the world.

This type of ice cream can only be made by polyphenol chemical which is only present in the berries like strawberries and blackberries blueberries and raspberries. It can only be extracted from the foods mentioned before. There is potential in a country like Pakistan where hundreds of fruits are grown and with so much quantity produced much of it is also wasted. If this invention started to be sold in the markets of Pakistan where the weather is hot most of the year with a temperature of about around 30C it will be a great revolution in the industry of ice cream and can give great competition to already existing manufacturers.

MEEKAL ABDULLAH LAHORE

Combating Islamophobia THIS refers to PM tweet that Un has acknowledged that curbing Islamophobia is a need of the hour. Truely speaking, the incumbent Prime minister has been rewarded for his universal campaign to combat Islamophobia as he has emphasised at the burning phenomenon consecutively, addressing at the Un General Assembly sessions.

After that we have observed the fruit of his labour, when Putin won millions hearts of the Muslims at annual news press conference he said, “Insulting Prophet Muhammad PBUH is a violation of religious freedom and the violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam.” One suggests that, Putin and other followers of major religions should proliferate interfaith harmony. Major watchdogs reconsider that blood of a Muslim is valued equally to blood of anyone else. Make sure universal human rights equality is not a myth. At the end, one is of the view point that the theory of tolerance should be implemented in letter and spirit globally.

SYEDA HADIA BAKHTAWAR NANKANA SAHIB

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Monday, 28 March, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

British intelligence operative’s involvement in Ukraine crisis signals false flag attacks ahead SHADOWY UK INTEL FIGURE HAMISH DE BRETTON-GORDON WAS AT THE FOREFRONT OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS DECEPTIONS IN SYRIA. NOW IN UKRAINE, HE’S UP TO HIS OLD TRICKS AGAIN

Grayzone KIT KLarENBErG

W

ITH Washington and its NATO allies forced to watch from the sidelines as Russia’s military advances across eastern Ukraine and encircles Kiev, US and British officials have resorted to a troubling tactic that could trigger a massive escalation. Following similar claims by his Secretary of State and ambassador the United Nations, US President Joseph Biden has declared that Russia will pay a “severe price” if it uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

The warnings emanating from the Biden administration contain chilling echoes of those issued by the administration of President Barack Obama throughout the US-led dirty war on Syria.

Almost as soon as Obama implemented his ill-fated “red line” policy vowing an American military response if the Syrian army attacked the Western-backed opposition with chemical weapons, Al Qaeda-aligned opposition factions came forth with claims of mass casualty sarin and chlorine bombings of civilians. The result was a series of US-UK missile strikes on Damascus and a prolonged crisis that nearly triggered the kind of disastrous regime change war that had destabilized Iraq and Libya.

In each major chemical weapons event, signs of staging and deception by the armed Syrian opposition were present. As a former US ambassador in the Middle east told journalist Charles Glass, “The ‘red line’ was an open invitation to a false-flag operation.” elements of deception were especially clear in the April 7, 2018 incident in the city of Douma, when an anti-government militia on the brink of defeat claimed civilians had been massacred in a chlorine attack by the Syrian army.

Veteran inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found no evidence that the Syrian army had carried out any such attack, however, suggesting the entire incident had been staged to trigger Western intervention. Their report was subsequently censored by organization management, and the inspectors were subjected to a campaign of smears and intimidation.

Throughout the Syrian conflict, a self-proclaimed “chemical warrior” named Hamish de Bretton-Gordon was intimately involved in numerous chemical weapons deceptions that sustained the war and ratcheted up pressure for Western military intervention.

This February 24, just moments after Russia’s military entered Ukraine, de Bretton-Gordon surfaced again in British media to claim that Russia was preparing a chemical attack on Ukrainian civilians. He has since demanded that Ukrainians be provided with a guide he wrote called, “How To Survive A Chemical Attack.” So who is de Bretton-Gordon, and does his sudden reap-

pearance as an expert voice on the Russia-Ukraine war signal a return to the dangerous US-UK red line policy?

Following months of fevered speculation about an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, when it finally came to pass on the early morning of February 24th, most were caught entirely by surprise. Media outlets and pundits scrambled to get their stories straight, while Western leaders rushed to construct a cohesive ‘response’.

By contrast, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British army veteran identified by UK media as a “former spy,” was in no such muddle. Within just three hours, he had a fiery op-ed prepared for The Guardian, demanding the US and europe “show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression.” Warning that Vladimir Putin was “much more willing to face off with NATO” than before, de BrettonGordon charged that the West “stood back and watched in Syria,” and “it must not do the same in Ukraine.”

“Syria shows what happens when you turn a blind eye and are too heavily influenced by peaceniks,” de Bretton-Gordon fulminated. “Those of us involved in interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 30 years…we look at Syria and know we should have done better. That knowledge should inform our response to Putin’s aggression now.”

In reality, Washington and its allies did not stand back and watch in Syria; it waged a decade-long proxy war employing jihadist paramilitaries and airstrikes on Damascus, then occupied oil-producing portions of the country and subjected its citizens to crippling sanctions, which to this day deprive them of food, electricity and vital medical supplies.

Of all people, de Bretton-Gordon – whose Twitter profile once identified him as a member of 77th Brigade, the British Army’s official psychological warfare division – is uniquely placed to know of these horrors. After all, he played a pivotal role in promoting and extending the dirty war through the management of information surrounding chemical weapons incidents.

MANIPULATION, ABSURDITIES AND OBVIOUS FRAUD: As The Grayzone has revealed, the involvement of de Bretton-Gordon in the Syrian conflict dates back to at least 2013, when by his own admission he was engaged in a covert effort to smuggle soil samples out of the opposition-occupied areas. This work would have inevitably placed him in extremely close quarters with jihadist elements raking in Western funding while benefiting from NATO training and weapons.

Contemporary media reports reveal the UK’s MI6 was engaged in a sample-gathering effort in the country at the very time time de Bretton-Gordon was inside Syria, strongly suggesting his linkage to the foreign intelligence agency. One article makes abundantly clear the purpose of the soil-sample exercise was to push the US into intervening by proving government culpability for alleged chemical weapons attacks.

Other forms of evidence were also collected on-theground by de Bretton-Gordon, and provided to a number

of official investigations into chemical attacks. In at least one instance – an OPCW/UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) probe into a purported chemical strike in Talmenes, April 2014 – videos submitted by CBRN Taskforce, a shady organization he founded in Aleppo, were found to show clear signs of falsification.

De Bretton-Gordon threw his chemical weapons expertise into further doubt when he told British media that any common refrigerator could be transformed into a chemical weapon, falsely claiming that R22 refrigerant cylinders contained material for improvised chlorine bombs. “Somebody could go to a waste site where people chuck away fridges [in the UK] and get a whole bunch of those things and blow them up,” the supposed arms specialist claimed.

De Bretton Gordon has gone as far as claiming to a British tabloid that Russia could deploy missiles and hand grenades containing the highly deadly Soviet-era chemical agent Novichok “in any future war with the West.”

Such absurd commentary and subterfuge has done nothing to dent de Bretton-Gordon’s credibility, however. His mainstream profile has only grown over time, with outlets invariably presenting him as a courageous human rights defender risking his life to train local doctors and rescue workers.

On more than one occasion, however, de BrettonGordon has directly involved Western journalists in MI6’s soil gathering efforts. For instance, during a 2014 podcast interview with Wilton Park, an NGO funded by the UK Foreign Office, de Bretton-Gordon boasted of his responsibility for a story in the Times of London alleging a Syrian chemical attack in the town of Sheikh al-Maqsood.

“In March last year there was a reported sarin attack in Sheikh al-Maqsood and I helped the Times – chap called Anthony Lloyd who very sadly got shot two weeks ago – to cover this story and tried to get samples to the UK for analysis … I won’t go into the details of that,” he recalled.

Then-Prime Minister David Cameron invoked the Sheikh al-Maqsood incident to increase pressure on Damascus, citing “the picture as described to me by the Joint Intelligence Committee” as the basis for his assertion of a chemical attack against the town by the Syrian army.

Throughout the dirty war on Syria, de Bretton-Gordon routinely cropped up in the media attributing gas attacks and war crimes to Syrian and Russian forces, and fear-mongered about their implications for future conflicts with the West.

The latter role is one de Bretton-Gordon has enthusiastically resumed throughout the war in Ukraine, aggressively hyping the threat to Western countries. His messaging has tracked seamlessly with that of the US government, which initiated a program months before Russia’s military operation to prepare Ukraine’s security sector for an impending weapons of mass destruction attack.

Back in May 2021, the State Department announced that Washington had conducted a “virtual training exercise” with “partners” in Kiev, including domestic security

services, law enforcement, and first responders, to “identify, respond to, and investigate assassinations involving weapons of mass destruction,” due to “recent events in europe” highlighting “the real threat of government-sanctioned, targeted weapons of mass destruction attacks.”

Along the way, Ukrainians were tutored in “[identifying] the medical symptoms that indicate WMD material use, the attack cycle involved in WMD assassination attempts, and the specific measures that enable safe and secure detection and response to WMD incidents.”

Quite why this instruction was given at this particular time is unclear, as was the “recent events in europe” to which the press release referred. Perhaps the State Department was alluding to the alleged novichok poisoning of the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in August 2020. On what grounds that failed assassination necessitated a grand, multi-agency training exercise in dealing with “targeted WMD attacks” is anyone’s guess.

Whatever the purpose of the US training program was, Ukrainian security personnel can now claim they have the training to identify the precise “medical symptoms that indicate WMD material.”

This is significant, because ever since the conflict began, Kiev has exhibited an endless enthusiasm for lying, having distorted or even outright concocted events and facts whole-cloth to advance its objectives on countless occasions. The most dangerous claims advanced by Ukrainian propagandists have been reinforced by the supposed authority of de Bretton-Gordon, who has argued that Russian chemical strikes were absolutely inevitable, based his prediction on his opinion that Moscow “has no morals or scruples.”

The self-styled chemical weapons expert has even cautioned that Putin could deploy nuclear weapons or create a pandemic “more deadly than Covid” with an ebola weapon. He has further speculated that Russian forces may unleash a deadly virus seized from one of several Pentagon-funded biolabs in Ukraine, then blame it on the US. In a typical media appearance, on March 10th, de Bretton Gordon told London’s LBC radio show that “nothing is off the table at this stage.” Among the horrors he forecast was the use of white phosphorous “to set towns and cities on fire.”

Justifying his certainty, de Bretton-Gordon forcefully asserted, “the only way to take a large city or town ultimately is to use chemical weapons.” He pointed to Syria to prove his point – but without referencing his own pivotal role in escalating that conflict through the manipulation of evidence and scientifically bereft fearmongering in the media.

Now, de Bretton-Gordon has resurfaced at the center of the aggressive push for escalation with a nuclear armed Russia. If his role in Syria is any guide, a series of cynical deceptions could be on the way.

Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions.

the billion-dollar deal that made google and amazon partners in the israeli occupation of palestine

Middle east Monitor Dr ramzy BarouD

“W

e are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This text was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military.

In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Israeli government which provides cloud services for the Israeli military and government that “allows for further surveillance of and unlawful data collection on Palestinians, and facilitates expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land”.

This is called Project Nimbus. The project was announced in 2018 and went into effect in May 2021, in the first week of the Israeli war on besieged Gaza, which killed over 250 Palestinians and wounded many more.

The Google employees were not only disturbed by the fact that, by entering into this agreement with Israel, their company became directly involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but were equally outraged by the “disturbing pattern of militarization” that saw similar

contracts between Google – Amazon, Microsoft and other tech giants – with the US military, Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICe) and other policing agencies.

In an article published in The Nation newspaper in June, three respected US academics have revealed the financial component of Amazon’s decision to get involved in such an immoral business, arguing that such militarylinked contracts have “become a major source of profit for Amazon.” It is estimated, according to the article, that AWS alone was responsible for 63 per cent of Amazon’s profits in 2020.

The maxim ‘people before profit’ cannot be any more appropriate than in the Palestinian context, and neither Google nor Amazon can claim ignorance. The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been in place for decades, and numerous United Nations resolutions have condemned Israel for its occupation, colonial expansion and violence against Palestinians. If all of that was not enough to wane the enthusiasm of Google and Amazon to engage in projects that specifically aimed at protecting Israel’s ‘national security’ – read: continued occupation of Palestine – a damning report by Israel’s largest human rights group, B’tselem should have served as that wake up call.

B’tselem declared Israel an apartheid state in January 2021. The international rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) followed suit in April, also denouncing the Israeli apartheid state. That was only a few weeks before Project Nimbus was declared. It was as if Google and Amazon were purposely declaring their support of apartheid. The fact that the project was signed during the Israeli war on Gaza speaks volumes about the two tech giants’ complete disregards of international law, human rights and the very freedom of the Palestinian people.

It gets worse. On March 15, hundreds of Google workers signed a petition protesting the firing of one of their colleagues, Ariel Koren, who was active in generating the

October letter in protest of Project Nimbus. Koren was the product marketing manager at Google for education, and has worked for the company for six years. However, she was the kind of employee who was not welcomed by the likes of Google, as the company is now directly involved with various military and security projects.

“For me, as a Jewish employee of Google, I feel a deep sense of intense moral responsibility,” she said in a statement last October. “When you work in a company, you have the right to be accountable and responsible for the way that your labor is actually being used,” she added.

Google quickly retaliated to that seemingly outrageous statement. The following month, her manager “presented her with an ultimatum: move to Brazil or lose her position.” eventually, she was driven out of the company.

Koren was not the first Google – or Amazon – employee to be fired for standing up for a good cause, nor would, sadly, be the last. In this age of militarism, surveillance, unwarranted facial recognition and censorship, speaking one’s mind and daring to fight for human rights and other basic freedoms is no longer an option.

Amazon’s warehouses can be as bad, or even worse than a typical sweatshop. Last March, and after a brief denial, Amazon apologized for forcing its workers to pee in water bottles – and worse – so that their managers may fulfill their required quotas. The apology followed direct evidence provided by the investigative journalism website, The Intercept. However, the company which stands accused of numerous violations of worker rights – including its engagement in ‘union busting’ – is not expected to reverse course any time soon, especially when so much profits are at stake.

But profits generated from market monopoly, mistreatment of workers or other misconducts are different from profits generated from contributing directly to

war crimes and crimes against humanity. Though human rights violations should be shunned everywhere, regardless of their contexts, Israel’s war on the Palestinian people, now with the direct help of such companies, remains one of the gravest injustices that continues to scar the consciousness of humankind. No amount of Google justification or Amazon rationalization can change the fact that they are facilitating Israeli war crimes in Palestine.

To be more precise, according to The Nation, the Google-Amazon cloud service will help Israel expand its illegal Jewish settlements by “supporting data for the Israel Land Authority (ILA), the government agency that manages and allocates state land.” These settlements, which are repeatedly condemned by the international community, are built on Palestinian land and are directly linked to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

According to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Project Nimbus is the “most lucrative tender issued by Israel in recent years.” The Project, which has ignited a “secretive war” involving top Israeli army generals – all vying for a share in the profit – has also whetted the appetite of many other international tech companies, all wanting to be part of Israel’s technology drive, with the ultimate aim of keeping Palestinians entrapped, occupied and oppressed.

This is precisely why the Palestinian boycott movement is absolutely critical as it targets these international companies, which are migrating to Israel in search for profits. Israel, on the contrary, should be boycotted, not enabled, sanctioned and not rewarded. While profit generation is understandably the main goal of companies like Google and Amazon, this goal can be achieved without necessarily requiring the subjugation of a whole people, who are currently the victims of the world’s last remaining apartheid regime.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS corporate corner ssGC empowered disabled persons by providing them entrepreneurship

GoveRnoR Punjab, azeRi envoy disCusses bilateRal tRade, KashmiR disPute LAHORE

a

staff report

MBASSADoR of Azerbaijan in Pakistan, Khazar Farhadov called on Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and discussed other matters including the relations between the two countries, and issues in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

According to details, during a meeting between Azerbaijan’s Envoy Khazar Farhadov and Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar at Governor House in Lahore, the Governor Punjab apprised the Azerbaijan Ambassador regarding Pakistan’s steps for peace and eradication of terrorism. He also spoke about the current situation in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Chaudhry Sarwar said that Pakistan and Azerbaijan have a long-standing religious, cultural, and historical relationship which is a sign of strong SSGC under its CSR program collaborated with a leading not-for-profit organisation, Association of Physically Handicapped Adults (APHA). The gas utility provided 5 tricycles motor bikes loaded with TUC shops to the Person With Disabilities (PWDs) for them to earn their livelihoods with dignity and without becoming dependent on anyone.

In this regards a simple yet impressive ceremony was held at APHA House on March 26, 2022 in which Salman A. Siddiqui, Head of Corporate Communications, SSGC, was the Chief Guest. He handed over keys of these tricycle motor bikes to their owners.

On this occasion, Guest of Honour, Mrs. Mussarat Nasreen, Director Social Welfare, Govt. of Sindh, was also present whereas APHA was represented by its President Mr. Shareeful Muzaffar, General Secretary Mr. Nishat and Vice Chief Patron Syed Khalid Husain, besides a number of their PWD members on wheelchair. pr

ties between the two air forces. Pakistan is committed to promoting bilateral cooperation in various fields with Azerbaijan.

He said that there are vast opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, commerce, and energy between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. The

Kachhi Canal to increase agricultural production in region: Bizenjo

Power suspension schedules for today ISLAMABAD: According to Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO)’s spokesman, System Maintenance/Development Work is in process. Therefore power supply of below mentioned feeders/areas will be temporary suspended as per given schedule: On 28th March From 09:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Main Bazaar, Akwal, Bilalabad, Pera Fatyal, Thoa Maharram Khan, Jatla, Ara Bazar, Jail Park, Rehmatabad-II, Bostan Khan Road, Kariala, Danda Shah Bilawal, Dhok Ghazni , KRL, Fazia, Jinnah Camp, Falcon, STP, Industrial Two, Flour Mill, FHS, I8/4, Hamza Camp, A Block, Khurram Colony, Curry Road, Service Road, Muslim Town, Trait, Kohsar Valley, Khanabad, Munirabad, Lala Rukh, Brahma, Dharek, Jhang, Kashif Gul, Max Industry, Model Town, Haji Shah, Tin Mela, Mianwala, Chhaji Mar, Azeem Shaheed, Mathial, Kasran, Service Road East , Lohi Bhair, Coral, Race Course, Askari XI, Misryal Road, Iqbal Road, Thakra, Galyana From 08:00 am to 04:00 pm Beirut Gala, Darbar Mai Thothi, Khoi Ratta City, Charhoi, Dana Behal, Charhoi Siri, City , Kariala, Dandroot Dabsi, Dudot, Majan, City-2, From 09:00 am to 04:00 pm Sagharpur, Abdullahpur, CWO, Jalalpur Sharif, HC1, G-9 Express, G-9/2, AIOU , G-9 Center, G-8/1, PTCL, Al-Noor, G9/3, T&T, I-8/2 & 3, G-9/4, Pind Sultani, Pari, Nara, Feeders, From 10 AM to 04:00 PM, Sanghwai, Nathwala, Safdar Shaheed Ahmedabad, New Choa, Baba Shaheed, Chappar, Fazal Shaheed Feeders and surroundings will remain off. IESCO management apologizes to its esteemed customers for the power outage. If the work is completed ahead of time, the power supply can be restored even before the scheduled time. pr

development of high-level relations between the two countries is welcoming.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the incumbent government stands with peace and we also urge the world to play its role in the elimination of atrocities in Kashmir and Palestine and for the establishment of peace.

Governor Punjab said that a strong and stable Afghanistan is also necessary for peace for which the world must play its part in economic development and providing basic amenities to the people.

The Envoy Khazar Farhadov said that relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan have always been exemplary, and the two countries stand by each other in difficult times. The role of Pakistan in establishing peace and eradicating terrorism is praiseworthy.

Azerbaijan will continue to play its role alongside Pakistan in connecting Central Asian states through Afghanistan, he added.

Customs seize 11 containers of smuggled goods valuing Rs.450m QUETTA staff report

aiou announces to continue admission till april 18 ISLAMABAD: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has announced to continue the admission for second phase of Spring Semester 2022 till April 18. Programs offered include MA / MSc / Postgraduate Diploma Programs / BA (Associate Degree), B.Com (Associate Degree), BBA, BS Program, Certificate Courses and Teacher Training programs (one-year M.Ed, 1.5, 2.5 and 4-year B.Ed programs).

Prospectuses and admission forms for all the programs are available on the University website www.aiou.edu.pk.

Students can also apply online. The procedure for applying online is available on the prospectus and university's website.

The M.Ed program is offered in five areas including Elementary Teacher Education, Teacher Education, Distance and Non-Formal Education, Science Education and Special Education. Eligibility for admission in one and half year B.Ed program is MA / MSc / BS or BA Honors (four years) Second Division.

Eligibility for admission in one and half year B.Ed (Elementary Education) is BA / B.Sc or Equivalent (Second Division) while candidates with B.Sc (Second Division) can get admission in two and half years B.Ed (Science Education) only. Four year B.Ed has been offered in Science Education ( FSC / A level-based), Science Education (ADE based), Secondary Teacher Education (FA / FSC / A level based), Secondary Teacher Education (ADE based) and School Leadership and Management.

Eligibility for four year B.Ed (ADE based) program is ADE with second division while FSC / A level is for other four year B.Ed programs. pr

09

QUETTA staff report

Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo expressed Kachhi Canal would be the basis for increasing agricultural production in the entire region and will lead Balochistan to agricultural self-sufficiency.

He said this while addressing a public gathering during his visit to Tambo Tehsil of Dera Murad Jamali District.Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday that delegations comprising of tribal elders also called on the Chief Minister and thanked him for the ongoing development in the area. After the aerial inspection of Kachhi Canal, the Chief Minister also reviewed the ongoing work under the expansion and land development project.

It is pertinent to mention that construction work on extension of Kachhi Canal is scheduled to be completed by August 2022 to irrigate another 30,000 acres of virgin land in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district.

Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Muzammil Hussain during his visit to the project area during last year.

Reviewing construction activities on the site, the WAPDA Chairman expressed satisfaction over the pace of work on the project despite the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic that has adversely impacted the world for more than one and a half year.

He directed the project authorities to strictly adhere to the timelines so that the extension work could be completed on time. Lt Gen (retd) Hussain added that WAPDA is committed to contributing towards a green and prosperous Pakistan, Balochistan in particular, by completing its projects to make water available for agriculture.

“Kachhi Canal is one of those projects,” he said. The extension of Kachhi Canal is being carried out through three different contracts with a cumulative cost of Rs19.5 billion.

Under the project, the exist-

ing main canal will be further extended by another 40kms.In addition, a 32km long water distribution system will also be constructed in the command area to irrigate another 30,000 acres of land in Dera Bugti district.

WAPDA has already constructed a 363km main canal and 81km long allied water distribution system to irrigate 72,000 acres of land. The canal possessing a discharge capacity of 6000 cusecs, that takes off from Taunsa Barrage in Muzaffargarh district of Punjab, enters Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district.

Kachhi Canal is a vital project to alleviate poverty and eradicate extremism in remote and backward areas of Balochistan by developing irrigated agriculture and an agro-based economy in the province. Experts have termed the land being cultivated in Sui and adjacent areas of Dera Bugti district through Kacchi Canal as a good omen for Balochistan as it has brought in a phenomenal change in the livelihood of the locals.

Federal Board of Revenue on Sunday claimed that in a major operation against smugglers, Pakistan Customs Quetta has seized 11 containers fully stuffed with smuggled goods.

The FBR claimed that in a well coordinated and successful operation on Saturday and Sunday nights in two districts bordering Punjab, the anti-smuggling squads of Customs Enforcement Quetta seized eleven (11) containers of smuggled goods.

These operations were personally supervised by the Collector Enforcement Quetta, assisted by LEAs. Four of these containers are fully loaded with fabric, 3 with new tyres and 4 with mixed goods including fabric, tyres, cigarettes, bettelnuts etc. CIF Value of the seized goods/containers is assessed to be Rs. 380 million, having market value of approximately Rs.475 million.FIR has been lodged against unknown persons and further investigation is underway.

It is pertinent to mention that Federal Board of Revenue is following a policy of zero tolerance against smuggling and thereby has increased its vigilance and surveillance of cargo movement across the border. Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, has commended FBR for its successful anti-smuggling drive across Pakistan.

Likewise, Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division, Dr.Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed has appreciated Muhammad Sadiq, Chief Collector Customs, Quetta and Fareed Ahmad Khan, Collector Customs Enforcement, Quetta for ensuring zero tolerance against smuggling of all shades and grades.

He also announced cash awards and commendation certificates for the Customs Team on accomplishing this rare feat of professionalism and bravery. He further reiterated his unflinching resolve to fight the menace of smuggling across the country in order to maximize tax compliance.

Saudi Arabia opens to tourists with US, UK and Schengen visas RIYADH agencies

Saudi Arabia has reinstated visas on arrival for passengers with valid American, British and Schengen visas, the state news agency reported.

“Reinstating the visa-on-arrival programme marks the final step in returning Saudi to a pre-pandemic level of openness and makes it one of the most accessible destinations in the world for leisure, business and religious travel. This decision by the government will further support the many thousands of people who depend on tourism for their livelihoods while welcoming the world back to the destination with the warm hospitality for which the Saudi people are renowned,” Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb was quoted as saying by the Saudi Press Agency.

The step is part of an easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions by the Health Ministry that began three weeks ago. Passengers arriving in Saudi Arabia no longer have to quarantine, show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 nor produce a negative PCR test before travel. Earlier this month, the kingdom also lifted the suspension of direct flights to and from 17 countries, namely: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, eSwatini, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Angola, Seychelles, Comoros, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia issues tourist visas on arrival to citizens of the US, Japan, New Zealand, UK, Canada, Andorra, Austria, Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Nether-

lands, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, San Marino, Spain, Brunei, and Kazakhstan, for a period of 12 months.

Citizens of other countries can get a visa on arrival if they have a US, UK or Schengen visa, provided they travel through those places before arriving in the kingdom. They must travel to Saudi Arabia on one of the national airlines — Saudia, Flynas or Flyadeal. All travellers must have health insurance that covers Covid-19 expenses, or purchase a policy at any airport upon their arrival. The kingdom allowed fully vaccinated citizens to travel abroad from May 17 last year, when it reopened its land, sea and air borders more than 12 months after the pandemic began.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

10 FOREIGN NEWS

SaUdI arabIa openS to toUrIStS wIth US, UK and Schengen vISaS RiYADH

S

Agencies

AUDI Arabia has reinstated visas on arrival for passengers with valid American, British and Schengen visas, the state news agency reported.

“Reinstating the visa-on-arrival programme marks the final step in returning Saudi to a pre-pandemic level of openness and makes it one of the most accessible destinations in the world for leisure, business and religious travel. This decision by the government will further support the many thousands of people who depend on tourism

for their livelihoods while welcoming the world back to the destination with the warm hospitality for which the Saudi people are renowned,” Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb was quoted as saying by the Saudi Press Agency.

The step is part of an easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions by the Health Ministry that began three weeks ago. Passengers arriving in Saudi Arabia no longer have to quarantine, show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 nor produce a negative PCR test before travel. Earlier this month, the kingdom also lifted the suspension of direct flights to and from 17 countries, namely: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zim-

babwe, Lesotho, eSwatini, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Angola, Seychelles, Comoros, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia issues tourist visas on arrival to citizens of the US, Japan, New Zealand, UK, Canada, Andorra, Austria, Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, San Marino, Spain, Brunei, and Kazakhstan, for a

period of 12 months.

Citizens of other countries can get a visa on arrival if they have a US, UK or Schengen visa, provided they travel through those places before arriving in the kingdom. They must travel to Saudi Arabia on one of the national airlines — Saudia, Flynas or Flyadeal.

All travellers must have health insurance that covers Covid-19 expenses, or purchase a policy at any airport upon their arrival. The kingdom allowed fully vaccinated citizens to travel abroad from May 17 last year, when it reopened its land, sea and air borders more than 12 months after the pandemic began.

Macron warns against ‘escalation’ after Biden brands Putin ‘butcher’ AFP

Miss Universe harnaaz Sandhu speaks up for hijabi girls in India Agencies Amid the ongoing hijab ban in schools of India which has drawn the ire of Muslims and rights activists from across the globe, Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu has spoken up for the rights of Hijabi girls. According to The Print, Sandhu — during a question and answer session — appealed to the Indian society to stop targeting girls, including Muslim girls who choose to wear the hijab. “Let them live the way they choose to,” the 22year-old beauty queen said. In a clip, which was widely shared on Twitter and Facebook, Sandhu could be seen answering a reporter’s question on the issue of the hijab.

“Honestly, why do you always target girls? Even now you are targeting me. Like, even on the issue of hijab the girls are being targeted. Let them (girls) live the way they choose to, let her reach her destination, let her fly, those are her wings, don’t cut them, if you must (cut someone’s wings) cut your own,” Sandhu said. It should be noted that the Karnataka High Court on March 15 dismissed petitions seeking to allow wearing hijab inside classrooms after anti-hijab protests from right-wing Hindu groups escalated in the state. “The hijab is not an essential religious practice,” the Karnataka High Court ruled as it backed a ban on wearing hijab in classrooms.

“The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accord urgent hearing on the pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict,” the report said.

Saudi government places restrictions on volume of speakers in mosques news Desk The Saudi government recently issued a set of instructions for mosques to follow in the month of Ramadan, including restrictions on the volume of loudspeakers during the call to prayer. Loudspeakers cannot be used except to make the call for prayer and Iqaamat (the second call to prayer given right before the prayer starts) If the speakers are used in any of these two instances, their volume cannot exceed one-third of their total capacity. The instructions also restrict the Arab media from broadcasting live transmissions of the prayer in Ramadan. The Imam (one who leads the prayer) and those who pray behind him cannot be recorded through cameras installed in the mosque either. The government further instructed the individuals and private organisations that provide Iftar (meal at the end of a fast) to refrain from wasting food or spending money unnecessarily.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned Sunday against a verbal “escalation” of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, after US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a “butcher” who “cannot remain in power”. The Kremlin had reacted in fury over Biden’s comments which it said narrows the window for bilateral relations, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now into a second month.

Macron said he would speak to Putin in the next two days to organise the evacuation of civilians from the heavily bombarded port city of Mariupol.

The French leader told broadcaster France 3 that he saw his task as “achieving first a ceasefire and then the total withdrawal of (Russian) troops by diplomatic means.” “If we want to do that, we can’t escalate either in words or actions.”

Ukraine was making a new push to get civilians out of the city on Sunday, with an aid route agreement for people to leave by cars or on evacuation buses, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Several attempts at establishing safe routes for civilians to flee have collapsed as both sides trade blame for violating temporary ceasefires.

Mariupol, in the region of Donetsk, has borne the brunt of Russia’s assaults, and residents who managed to flee have recounted harrowing scenes of death and destruction. About 170,000 people remain trapped in the besieged city and authorities have said they fear some 300 civilians may have died in a Russian strike on March 17 that hit a theatre being used as a bomb shelter.

In an impassioned speech from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Biden blasted Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” the US leader said, before the White House clarified that Washington was not seeking regime change. The Kremlin snapped back, saying “a head of state should stay sober”.

Personal attacks, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, were “narrowing down the window of opportunity” for bilateral relations.

“Biden is weak, sick and unhappy,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, president of the lower house of parliament.

Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, vowing to destroy the country’s military and topple proWestern President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But his army has made little progress on capturing key cities, and it has hit hospitals, residential buildings

US top diplomat in Israel for landmark Arab talks TeL AViV AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel Sunday for a “historic” meeting with Arab countries which have normalised relations with the Jewish state in the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

Blinken, who arrived in Tel Aviv Saturday evening, will meet with his counterparts from Israel, Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Negev desert Sunday and Monday to mark the shift in Arab-Israeli relations that began in late 2020. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid described it as a “historic summit”.

Blinken’s visit, the first stop in a trip that will also take him to the West Bank, Algeria and Morocco — where he will hold talks with the UAE’s de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed — is focused in part on building support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

US officials say two other key issues are on the agenda for the trip: quelling the Jewish state’s worries about a looming nuclear deal with Iran, and discussing the potential global wheat shortage caused by the Ukraine war that could deal a heavy blow to the import-dependent Middle East.

“We know this pain is keenly felt in the Middle East and North Africa, where most countries import at least half of their wheat”, much of it from Ukraine, State Department Acting Assistant Secretary Yael Lempert said ahead of the trip.

The war “will only continue to increase the price of basic staples like bread in the region, taking money from the pockets of the hardest working and most vulnerable families,” she said.

WorrIES ovEr IrAN NUcLEAr DEAL: The trip comes as the United States and Iran are in the final stages of negotiating a revival of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which aimed to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear

weapons capacity. The administration of former US president Donald Trump quit the deal unilaterally in 2018 and reimposed punishing economic sanctions, and Iran has since resumed many of its sensitive nuclear activities.

The conclusion of a renewed accord could come in a matter of “days”, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is coordinating talks with Tehran, said Saturday. “We are very close but there are still some issues pending,” Borrell told reporters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar.

His comments came as the EU diplomat chairing the Vienna talks on the deal, Enrique Mora, was due in Tehran. US officials say reaching a deal hinges on one or two key issues, but that Tehran has to make “difficult choices” if it wants an agreement.

But the possible deal worries Israel and US allies in the Gulf, who see Iran as a menace.

In February, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he was “deeply troubled” by the prospect of a new nuclear deal, which Israel fears would not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Ahead of the talks, Bennett sent a rare message to regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, expressing “sorrow” over a wave of attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels on Friday that hit targets including an oil plant near the Formula One race in Jeddah.

“This attack is further proof that Iran’s regional aggression knows no bounds,” Bennett wrote on Twitter late Saturday.

PALESTINIAN coNcErNS: Blinken will also meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Palestinians remain concerned that they are being forgotten in the US-backed push for Arab governments to boost relations with Israel and focus on Iran as their principal threat.

The Trump administration slashed support for the Palestinians and closed the US consulate in Jerusalem dedicated to Palestinian relations.

and schools in increasingly deadly attacks on civilians.

In Kharkiv, where authorities reported 44 artillery strikes and 140 rocket assaults in a single day, residents were resigned to the incessant bombardments. Anna Kolinichenko, who lives in a three-room flat with her sister and brother-in-law, said they do not even bother to head down to the cellar when the sirens go off.

“If a bomb drops, we’re going to die anyway,” she told AFP. “We are getting a little used to explosions.”

Others have found ways to cope with the shelling.

Tamara Osypchuk, 72, told AFP she wrote poetry to calm herself in her apartment in the devastated Ukrainian town of Irpin when the bombs rained down.

“The explosions were very strong. Like a volcano is exploding, as if the earth explodes,” she said as she rested on a chair at an evacuation centre on the outskirts of Kyiv. “I write poems and when there are explosions I feel great inspiration.”

Bombardments continued over the last 24 hours in Irpin, as well as other cities around Kyiv, said Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine’s determined fighters continue to hold back Russia’s far-bigger military on the frontlines, and some units are beginning to snatch back control.

Two people were killed by shelling in the village of Stanislav, close to the city of Kherson, where Ukrainian forces have mounted a counter-offensive. In an update early Sunday, the Ukrainian General Staff said “the allied forces repulsed seven attacks” and destroyed eight tanks in the Donetsk and Lugansk areas of the Donbas. The Ukrainian defence ministry said its forces had also recaptured Trostianets, a town near the Russian border that was one of the first to fall under Moscow’s control.

U.S. envoy not confident Iran nuclear deal is imminent Agencies U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said on Sunday he was not confident that a nuclear deal between world powers and the Islamic Republic was imminent, dampening expectations after 11 months of talks in Vienna that have stalled. The failure of efforts to restore a 2015 accord, which would curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions that have hammered Iran’s economy, risks raising political tensions in the Middle East and further increasing world oil prices, analysts say. “I can’t be confident it is imminent… A few months ago we thought we were pretty close as well,” Malley told the Doha Forum international conference. “In any negotiations, when there’s issues that remain open for so long, it tells you something about how hard it is to bridge the gap.” His assessment of the negotiations in Vienna came after Kamal Kharrazi, a senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said a deal could come soon. “Yes, it’s imminent. It depends on the political will of the United States,” Kharrazi told the conference.

LAST-MINUTE DEMANDS: Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear pact in 2018, prompting Tehran to start breaking nuclear limits set under the deal. Months of on-and-off talks to revive the deal were delayed earlier this month as Russia wanted guarantees it would be able to carry out its work as a party to the deal. But there are still outstanding issues. Kharrazi said in order for the deal to be revived Washington must remove the foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) designation against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC, created by the Islamic Republic’s late founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is more than just a military force and has enormous political clout. It was placed under sanctions in 2017 and put on the FTO list in April of 2019. “IRGC is a national army and a national army being listed as a terrorist group certainly is not acceptable,” said Kharrazi. Malley said regardless of what happens, many sanctions on the IRGC will remain.

Monday, 28 March, 2022 | KARACHI

SPORTS 11

South AfrIcA brEAk IndIAn hEArtS AS EnglAnd, WIndIES MAkE SEMIS WELLINGTON

h

REutERS

OLDERS England won their last group match in style and West Indies benefited from South Africa’s thrilling victory over India on Sunday to make the Women’s World Cup semi-finals.

Meg Lanning’s Australia, who finished the group campaign with a perfect 7-0 record, had already secured their place in the last four.

South Africa were also assured of a semi-final spot heading into the match against India who needed victory to pip West Indies to the knockout stage of the tournament.

India began well after half-centuries from openers Smriti Mandhana (71) and Shafali Verma (53) and an assured 68 by captain Mithali Raj powered them to 274-7 even though they lacked a late flourish.

Laura Wolvaardt (80) and Lara Goodall (49) led South Africa’s chase but it was Mignon du Preez’s

unbeaten 52 that secured their threewicket victory on the last ball of the game in Christchurch.

Du Preez was caught at long-on in the final over but was recalled after replays confirmed spinner Deepti Sharma had overstepped.

“The girls have given it all knowing the importance of today’s game,” Mithali said after the 2017 runners-up crashed out.

“It was a good game, good for the sport but it ends our campaign.”

The outcome triggered a wild

celebration in the West Indies dressing room but they face a mammoth task against top-ranked Australia in Wednesday’s semifinal in Wellington.

England will meet South Africa in the second semi-final on Thursday in Christchurch.

Heather Knight’s team thumped Bangladesh by 100 runs to make the last four in a remarkable turnaround after beginning their title defence with three successive defeats.

England rode Sophia Dunkley’s

72-ball 67 to post 234-6 and Sophie Ecclestone (3-15) led the attack as they bundled out Bangladesh for 134.

“I’m really pleased, I probably would have liked a few more runs,

Women’s World Cup: England thrash Bangladesh to reach semi-finals AFP England cruised into the Women’s World Cup semi-finals with a crushing 100-run victory over Bangladesh in their final group stage match in Wellington on Sunday. It sealed a dramatic resurgence for the defending champions who had been on the brink of elimination after losing their first three matches in the 50-over competition.

They then won all of their remaining four games to secure a place in the top four.

The comprehensive win saw them overtake the West Indies to join top qualifiers Australia and South Africa in the knockout stage.

The final berth will be decided later Sunday in the match between India and South Africa.

India, who lost the 2017 World Cup final to England, must win or the West Indies will take the final semi-final spot.

England lost wickets at regular intervals in the first half of their innings and were 96 for four before Sophia Dunkley, who scored 67, led a middle-order charge to get the score up to a defendable 234 for six.

Bangladesh found it difficult to score against a tight England attack, averaging just 2.79 runs per over until they were all out for 134 with 12 balls remaining.

Player-of-the-match Dunkley faced just 72 deliveries, scoring eight fours, and featured in a 72-run part-

nership with Amy Jones (31) for the fifth wicket and then put on 43 with Katherine Brunt (24 not out) for the sixth wicket.

Salma Khatun, who took the prized England wickets of Heather Knight for six and Nat Sciver for 40, finished with two for 46.

Bangladesh never threatened to get near the English total despite a safe start by Shamima Sultana and Sharmin Akhter who put on 42 for the opening wicket.

They were tied down by a penetrating England bowling attack led by Sophie Ecclestone who took three wickets in her 10 overs for a miserly 15 runs while Brunt, although wicketless, conceded only seven runs from her five overs.

Pakistan ODIs ‘challenging’ for depleted Australia, says Adam Zampa AFP Leg-spinner Adam Zampa admitted a depleted Australia face a “difficult challenge” in the one-day international (ODI) series against Pakistan starting on Tuesday. Australia won the three-match Test series 1-0 after securing a well earned 115-run victory in the third match in Lahore on Friday.

But they will miss regulars like David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell — all not in the squad for multiple reasons — in the one-day series.

To add to their woes, senior batsman Steve Smith was also ruled out of the limited-overs series with a recurrence of an elbow injury.

But Zampa believes it’s an opportunity to build the squad.

“It’s going to be a difficult challenge,” Zampa said on Sunday. “The plus that comes from that, as it always does when these things happen, is you build depth.”

The new-look squad includes Sean Abbott and Ben McDermott, who have both played two ODIs, Cameron Green,

who has played in one, and debutants Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis and Mitchell Swepson. Zampa said all three-format players needed rest.

KFC announces title sponsorship for Pakistan-Australia ODI series KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

Food retail giant KFC, continuing their strong association with cricket has announced the title sponsorship of the ODI series of historical Australia’s tour to Pakistan, “KFC ODI Series – Pak Vs. Australia”. The series consists of 3 ODI matches which will be played in Gaddafi stadium Lahore, starting on March 29th, 2022. The brand has a rich history of endorsing the game globally. From sponsoring Australia’s Big Bash League since its inception to introducing the Mini-Cricket Programme in South Africa, and bagging the official sponsorship of the Abu Dhabi T10 League, KFC can be credited for enriching the future of the game in multiple countries. Now, with becoming the title sponsors of the Pakistan and Australia ODI series, the brand is playing a pivotal role in reinvigorating the nation’s favorite game. Unveiling of the sponsorship plaque was doing jointly by Zakir Khan, Director International Cricket – Pakistan Cricket Board, and Noor Alam, Chief Marketing Officer – KFC Pakistan. Noor Alam, CMO, KFC Pakistan, said, “Finding ways to excite and delight Pakistanis is a top priority at KFC Pakistan, and what better to excite this country than bringing back international cricket after 22 long years. I hope all our Pakistani cricket fanatics celebrate the return of this great sport to our local stadiums and continue being our inspiration towards making the impossible happen.” Earlier, KFC has had a massive impact in regional and international cricket.

From sponsoring the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to endorsing domestic teams such as Southern Punjab and Karachi Premiere League, KFC is responsible for bringing a crispy revival to Pakistani cricket. The second and third ODI will be played on March 31 and April 2 respectively at the same venue.

“We have seen, particularly in the last couple of years, that being a threeformat player, it’s really hard sometimes.

Players like Cummins, Warner and

Smith, they need that break and that’s definitely understandable.

“When you have so much inexperience in one team it does make it really hard. It definitely will be a challenge and hopefully we get through as these series are very important to us.

“If we come through with a series win with inexperience then it will be a really nice feeling.”

Zampa, 29, said he feels confident of his place after getting backing from limited-over captain Aaron Finch.

“I feel like I don’t have to look over my shoulder too much with selection,” Zampa said. “When you’re younger, you naturally probably look over your shoulder, you doubt yourself a lot more.

“Aaron Finch has helped me massively with my game. He backs me in when I’m out there, and he lets me run my own show with my bowling, and has been really good with his own ideas as well.”

The remaining two matches are on Thursday and Saturday — also in Lahore. Australia will end the tour with a single Twenty20 international, also in Lahore, on April 5.

250-260, but the wicket was very slow,” said Knight.

“It says a lot about this group, the way we’ve turned things round.

Not getting too down, we were on the wrong end of a few close ones.”

Mayers’ golden arm destroys England to leave West Indies on verge of victory ST. GEORGES AfP

Kyle Mayers was the unlikely destroyer of England’s second innings with a first-ever five-wicket haul to put the West Indies on the verge of a series-clinching victory on the third day of the third and final Test on Saturday.

After Joshua da Silva’s maiden Test century extended the home side’s first innings to 297 through the entire morning session for a lead of 93 runs, Mayers produced the astonishing figures of five for nine off 13 overs as England tumbled to 103 for eight by the close of play. It leaves the tourists in a hopeless position of only 10 runs ahead with just two wickets in hand and two days to play. Whether overnight batsmen Chris Woakes and Jack Leach can provide any sort of meaningful resistance on the fourth morning together with last man Saqib Mahmood, as has been the pattern so far in this Test match, remains to be seen. “Today has not been right but a lot of what we’ve done in the first two Tests has really been good and the team has produced some great performances, so let’s not judge it just on today that it’s not working,” said England batting coach Marcus Trescothick. However, the harrowing experience of the day’s play was a stark reminder that the demons of an abysmal Ashes campaign are far from exorcised in the England ranks. Having made his mark in the first innings with the first two wickets of the match on Thursday, Mayers’ deceptive medium-pace was again almost unplayable on a surface offering an increasingly uneven bounce. As on day one, he accounted for England captain Joe Root before adding Dan Lawrence and allrounder Ben Stokes in quick succession to leave the visitors tottering at 39 for four in mid-afternoon. Opening batsman Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow offered the only respite in a partnership of 41 but when Bairstow bottomedged an attempted pull off Alzarri Joseph to wicketkeeper da Silva it was the trigger for the first post-tea collapse of the match as four wickets fell for 21 runs. Ben Foakes was run out by Mayers’ throw from the deep to da Silva coming back for a second run and Mayers scattered the stumps of the patient Lees for a top score of 31 before Craig Overton offered a catch high to Jason Holder’s right at second slip. “I think the key was making the batsmen play as much as possible because of the variable nature of the surface and the straighter deliveries were certainly working for me,” said Mayers. Seales, who played his part in a 52run last-wicket stand with da Silva in the morning session, made the early breakthrough when Crawley drove at a full-length delivery and Holder seemed to surprise himself by holding on the fizzing chance at second slip.

Wasim Akram appears at concluding ceremony of KPL Showcase event at expo 2020 DUBAI StAff REPoRt

The festivities of the Kashmir Premier League showcase at Expo 2020 concluded here on Sunday with astounding events leaving a phenomenal impact on visitors from around the world.

Chief Guest Wasim Akram (Vice President of KPL) accompanied by Guests of Honor H.E. Afzaal Mehmood, UAE Ambassador and Abdul Majid Khan, Finance Minister of AJ&K graced the closing day and highly treasured this 3-days long extravaganza for the people visiting Kashmir Gallery at Pakistan Pavilion.

President of KPL Mr. Arif Malik in his inaugural remarks on the 3rd day of the event said that KPL Season 1 heralded great shifts in technological advancement, improved international exposure, increased trade, culture, and tourism of AJ&K with a positive impact on the Kashmir region.

He said that we launched KPL Showcase Event at the right moment to set the tone for economic & tourism development and create a positive environment for businesses to thrive in

AJ&K. Furthermore, the initiative of the cricket academy at Muzaffarabad will enhance the skills of Kashmiri youth as well as the sports culture of AJ&K. He said that KPL Season 2 with the increased number of Franchises and with its finals in United Kingdome will be a major catalyst for Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

Wasim Akram on this occasion acknowledged this 3-days engaging activity by KPL. He illuminated his role in KPL Season 1 and elaborated on the actionsenvisione and accomplished

by KPL. He declared KPL to be a game-changer league not only for the youth of Kashmir but exclusively for the future of AJ&K with a longlasting impact on the economy, sports culture, social harmony, and tourism.

Afzaal Mehmood extended his felicitations for the management of KPL and the Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir on the great initiative of KPL. He said that it will not only change the lives of residents of Kashmir but will also have a positive impact on the Kashmiri Diaspora around the globe. He wowed to support KPL for its future endeavors in every way possible.

Mr. Mansoor Qadir Dar, Secretary Sports

and tourism of AJ&K, delivered a note of thanks to the participants, management of KPL, and visitors from around the world for joining Kashmir Gallery and making this graceful KPL showcase event successful. He also acknowledged the media representatives for globally presenting a peaceful and friendly message from Kashmir Gallery at Pakistan Pavilion.

Mr. Abdul Majid Khan in his closing remarks enlightened the cause of Kashmir Gallery at Pakistan Pavilion and praised the efforts of the AJ&K government and Management of KPL in delivering a great and splendid image of Kashmir and its premier league. He wowed to stand firm and support the futuristic ventures for a more developed and prosperous Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

Mr. Arshad Khatak, Chairman of KPL, Ch. Shahzad Akhtar, CEO of KPL, Mr. Taimoor Ali Khan, COO of KPL, and Mr. Saqib ur Rehman, CMO of KPL also decked the event with their presence. The efforts of these officials along with the team of KPL in organizing this auspicious occasion were highly cherished by the speakers as well as the attendees of the event.

Monday, 28 March, 2022

prayer timings

NEWS

‘FRUStRatEd’ BUGtI tEaMS Up wIth ZaRdaRI ISLAMABAD

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staff report

ALOCH nationalist leader and Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) chief Shahzain Bugti resigned from the cabinet on Sunday and announced to vote against the prime minister in the noconfidence vote.

Bugti made the announcement while addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari who called on him earlier in the day to “discuss the political situation” in the country, a statement said.

A grandson of former Balochistan chief minister Nawab Akbar Bugti, Bugti was in July last year appointed special assistant to the prime minister on reconciliation and harmony in Balochistan as Imran Khan initiated a process to open dialogue with Baloch influentials.

According to the notification of his appointment, Bugti enjoyed the status of a federal minister.

However, many from the resourcerich province “simply lacked the political clout and purpose required for the humongous task of the reconciliation

process” in Balochistan.

Sanaullah Baloch, a lawmaker of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), told Pakistan Today that Bugti was neither part of the solution nor a part of the problem.

“To be honest, it is a good omen that Prime Minister Imran Khan has adjusted Shahzain but frankly he can’t play a role in the process.”

But today, Bugti claimed the government failed to deliver in Balochistan.

“The government gave us hope that

things will improve but our people have been disappointed,” he said.

“We are standing with the Pakistan Democratic Movement and will do whatever we can [to address the problems of Balochistan],” he said.

Elaborating on his grievances, he said that when the prime minister first came into power he promised to focus on South Balochistan and under-developed areas. “But he failed to do so.”

However, contrary to his claims, Khan in November 2020 announced an

Rs600 billion package for development projects in south Balochistan.

The projects are being implemented in nine districts of the southern province.

The federal government provided Rs540 billion and the rest is being spent by the provincial government.

On March 13, a meeting of the Balochistan Apex Committee reviewed the progress of work on the package.

During the meeting, Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo directed the officials to expedite the work on the projects included in the package.

Bugti also claimed that insurgency grew during the PTI government’s tenure due to its negligence.

Militant attacks are on the rise in Pakistan since the arrival of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan in August last. Experts say Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) is shifting its war to Pakistan as it comes under mounting pressure from the hardline group, which has waged a fierce war against its militants in the war-torn country.

In addition to IS-K, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has also claimed responsibility for a string of high-profile attacks in border provinces, underscoring the growing threat the militancy poses to the nation.

SC may put off Article 63-A reference till April 4 ISLAMABAD staff report

EU ambassador meets foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Ambassador of European Union (EU) in Pakistan Androulla Kaminara on Sunday met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

According to details, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Androulla Kaminara discussed matters related to bilateral interests and cooperation between the two sides during the meeting.

Speaking during the meeting, Qureshi said that Pakistan values its relationship with European Union and is committed to complete joint projects launched by the two sides.

The foreign minister further lauded role of EU envoy in playing role for bilateral stability of the two sides.

In mid-March, Secretary Foreign Affairs has said that Pakistan has informed the European Union that the country will be partner in peace and not in any war.

The secretary was speaking in a hearing of the Senate’s standing committee on foreign affairs chaired by Senator Sherry Rehman.

“We have responded to the press release of the heads of EU diplomatic missions,” the foreign secretary told the session. “We in a subsequent meeting with a group of ambassadors expressed our concern about that because it was not the way diplomacy should be practised”, foreign secretary said.

“We have told them that Pakistan will be a partner in peace but not in any war,” secretary said.

It is to be mentioned here that the heads of EU countries diplomatic missions, had publicly released a joint letter urging Pakistan to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly on the Ukraine, Russia conflict. The move to release the letter publicly was a clear violation of diplomatic norms. staff report

The presidential reference on the interpretation of Article 63-A, which deals with defection and disqualification of lawmakers, may be put off till April 4 as the country’s top judge will hear cases from March 31 to April 1 at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry. This might happen if the parties in the case do not complete their arguments by March 30.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial has formed six benches for the hearing of the cases at the Lahore registry.

The first bench, which he will head himself, will also include Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha Malik.

The second bench will comprise of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar; while the third one will include Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel.

The fourth bench will include Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail; while the firth one will comprise of Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, and Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, The sixth bench will include Justice Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan.

A larger bench of the Supreme Court, led by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Ahsan, Justice Miankhel, Justice Akhtar and Justice Mandokhail, is currently hearing a presidential reference which sought an interpretation of Article 63-A. On Thursday, CJP Bandial had observed that discarding a lawmaker’s vote during no-confidence proceedings was “insulting”. He had added that a member of the National Assembly could not be barred from voting.

Interestingly, a diversion was witnessed in the judges’ observations. Two members of the bench believed that an MNA had the right to vote in a no-confidence motion.

However, two judges were agreeing with Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan’s contentions against horse-trading or floorcrossing.

Senior lawyers believe that Justice Mandokhail’s observations surprised many legal experts, who were considering that the bench’s opinion would be unanimous in the case.

A day earlier, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had adjourned the proceedings of the much-anticipated session till March 28 (Monday) without the tabling of the opposition parties’ noconfidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

This move irked the opposition parties to issue a warning to the speaker that any further delay in tabling of the motion would lead to protest.

The session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and prayers for late MNA Khayal Zaman, former president Rafiq Tarar and Senator Rehman Malik. However, the NA speaker announced that it would be adjourned in light of parliamentary convention.

It is parliamentary convention that the first sitting after the death of an MNA is limited to prayers for the soul of the departed and tributes other lawmakers wish to pay them.

On March 8, the united opposition front had filed a requisition for a no-confidence motion against PM Imran, pinning its hopes for its success on the estranged members of the ruling party and its allies.

Under the Constitution, the speaker was bound to hold the session within 14 days. However, he did not summon the session until March 21 [the 14th day].

Voting on the resolution will be held at least three to seven days after it has been laid before the National Assembly.

For making the no-trust motion successful, the opposition needs to have the support of at least 172 of the total 342 members in the lower house of parliament to show a simple majority — leading to the choosing of a new prime minister.

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Imran is a coward, we will not let him run away: Maryam Nawaz PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz on Sunday took a swipe at Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that “he is a coward” and added that the Opposition will “not let him run away.”

Maryam was speaking during a press conference along with Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz in Gujranwala, minutes ahead of the premier’s address to the nation in Islamabad. staff report

Govt to take action if JUI workers violated NoC: Rasheed ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has warned JUI-F’s leaders and workers, gathering in Islamabad for Monday’s rally, to keep the Srinagar Highway open as per the Supreme Court’s orders and avoid disturbing peace in the federal capital ahead or during PTI’s rally at Parade Ground.

The minister, while addressing a press conference, said that there are 6,000 Rangers and FC personnel and 9,000 to 10,000 other forces’ personnel available to ensure peace and security in Islamabad.

“The judicial orders and law will be followed no matter what outcome it produces,” Rasheed said.

“You have the right to hold the rally but if you try to create a fuss, the Islamabad administration has a freehand to act upon the laws.”

Rasheed rubbished the rumours that the roads in the federal capital are blocked, saying that the “entire Islamabad is open.”

He said that as an interior minister, he is trying to follow judicial orders but violators of the law will not be spared.

Strict action will be taken against those who take the law in to their own hands, he added.

Moreover, Rasheed said that the services of Interior Ministry’s command and control centre are available on the number +92066609218594 for seven days in case the citizens witness any inconvenience and find any road or way blocked.

He urged the participants to reach early as PM Imran Khan will address the rally around 5pm.

The minister said that he will join the caravan leaving for Islamabad for a while because he has to make other arrangements.

Moving on to the vote of no-confidence movement against PM Imran Khan, Rasheed said the voting will be done on April 3 or April 4, “if the resolution is passed in the National Assembly on March 28.”

Interior Minister said that PM Imran Khan will continue to play till the last over and the last ball.

“The greedy for power, who have programme till April 4 should keep in mind that PM Imran Khan has become even more popular due to their ineligibility and incompetence. staff report

PML-N delegation conveys Sharif’s offer to Chaudhrys of Gujrat ISLAMABAD staff report

A PML-N delegation met PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat’s here at his residence on Sunday to seek the PTI ally’s support in the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The PML-N delegation comprised of second-tier leadership of the PML-N and was led by Khwaja Asif. Others included

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah and others.

The deelgation met with Chaudhry Shujaat, Pervaiz Elahi, Tariq Bashir Cheema and others.

A source in the PML-N told Pakistan Today that the PML-N has conveyed Chaudhrys a package deal to the Chaudhrys which included Chief Minister’s slot to Pervaiz Elahi for six months, around 15 tickets to the PML-Q candidates and around two

dozen tickets for Punjab Assembly candidates of the PML-Q. “Thankful for the PML-N delegation that came and gave respect [to us]. They came for support on the no-confidence motion and there will be discussions on that,” said Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema, who is also part of PM Imran’s cabinet, after the meeting in a media talk.

The PML-Q leader said that they have listened to the PML-N and there will be dis-

cussions within the party for a day or two.

Cheema said that PML-Q wishes that the allies of the PTI decided together on the noconfidence motion but said that BAP and MQM-P have their problems.

On the other hand, PML-N leader Khwaja Saad Rafique said that the Chaudhry brothers of the PML-Q and PML-N have worked on a “single platform for decades”.

The PML-N leader said that both parties enjoy a “long and cordial relation-

ship’. Regarding the meeting, he shared that both parties discussed the current political situation.

Rafique said that the Opposition believes that PM Imran Khan has “ruined the economy” and he has to be ousted.

“We came with our case to the PML-Q. We presented our case and gave arguments in favour of it,” said Rafique. He added that the “coldness” between the PML-Q and PML-N have ended.

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