Epaper – May 15-2022 ISB

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 I 13 Shawwal, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 315 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Imran wants to create anarchy to avoId accountabIlIty: marrIyum ISLAMABAD

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ederal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum aurangzeb Saturday said former prime minister Imran Khan Naizi wanted to create chaos and anarchy in the country by imposing his decisions by bullying and hurling threats to avoid accountability. addressing a press conference here, she said PTI Chairman Imran Khan had adopted the fake narrative of for-

eign conspiracy, but he could not divert the masses’ attention from the loot and plunder of his four-year rule which had ruined the national economy, tarnished Pakistan’s image in the world and damaged relations with friendly countries.

He was responsible for the current economic catastrophe, high prices of petroleum products, dollar’s flight from the country and inflation, she added.

The “gang of the inefficient and incompetent, thieves, liars, corrupt, cartels and mafias” remained clung to power for four years at the Centre. They even

violated the Constitution from april 3 to 11 to remain in power and same “dirty practice” continued in Punjab.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership wanted to remain in government by hook and by crook through violating the Constitution and attacking the Parliament, she added.

Ironically, who had looted the national wealth for four years was asking questions from those who had been in power for four weeks only, the minister said.

Marriyum said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s helicopter

was illegally being used for the PTI’s rallies held across country, including the one in Sialkot today.

The people were fully abreast of the tales of Imran’s corruption like helicopter case, BrT Peshawar case, Malam Jabba and other scams, she added.

“In what capacity Imran Niazi is using the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s helicopter?” she asked.

Taking a dig at the PTI leadership, she said it was the same helicopter case for which they had closed the accountability Commission in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to hide the facts.

Imran Khan himself confessed yesterday that he had used the National accountability Commission (NaB) against his political opponents, she added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

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Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

SIAlkot IncIDent: HAmmAD AZHAR ISSueS ‘FInAl wARnInG’ to Pml-n Govt LAHORE

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ORMER Energy Minister and PTI leader Hammad Azhar Saturday issued ‘final warning’ to the PML-N government, saying that the PMLN government has committed cowardly attack on PTI workers in Sialkot which would not be forgiven. In a statement, Hammad Azhar said that the PTI is issuing a final warning to the government to refrain from such activities or they will be responsible

President Dr. Arif Alvi Inaugurates Zindigi Future Fest 2022

for the consequences.

He claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz held political gatherings on the same ground in Sialkot but they are giving it a religious colour when the PTI wanted to do the same.

He said that it’s a ground reality that state institutions interfere in political matters, denying which would be lying to the masses.

“Our Allied parties always waited for a ‘signal’ to decide upon anything,” he said and added that it looks like the government is not ready to exit gracefully.

“The people of Sialkot would give them a fitting reply in tonight’s gathering,” he added.

The PTI leader pointed out that the PML-N leadership is in splits as half of them wanted early elections while the other don’t.

“The PML-N is afraid that PTI will have a sweeping victory if they call for early elections, while some are worried that their incompetence will be unmasked if they complete the remaining term of the assemblies,” Hammad said.

He warned the government that a tsunami of people

will march towards Islamabad at Imran Khan’s call. “Our demand for fresh elections is not beyond the law,” said Hammad Azhar.

Earlier, Punjab police had arrested several PTI workers including MNA Usman Dar ahead of their public gathering in Sialkot.

Won’t forgive enemies of Pakistan-China friendship: Bilawal

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Zindigi Future Fest, Pakistan's largest tech conference and expo, powered by JS Bank was inaugurated by Dr. Arif Alvi – President of Pakistan, Imran Haleem Shaikh, COO – JS Bank and Amer Hashmi, Chairman – Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) alongside other representatives from the public, private and tech communities. Zindigi Future Fest is being held in Islamabad from May 13th-15th. It is the first of its kind event being held in Pakistan and is expected to host more than 30,000 participants, showcase 250+ worldclass speakers, innovation workshops and over 100 stall installations by exhibitors. Speaking at the inauguration, Dr. Arif Alvi stated that Pakistan’s potential lies in its youthful population and our young people hold the keys to future national progress and prosperity. Declaiming the tech industry as a jump starter for the country, he said that the youth-centric entrepreneurship and digital skill programs initiated by the Federal Government laid the foundation for ongoing sustainable growth and syncing with the passion and zeal of the IT industry.

Appreciating JS Bank and Zindigi for supporting Future Fest and technological growth in Pakistan, the President also commended JS Bank for its specially designed programs that provide women and differently abled people opportunities to secure their financial well-being. The President also gave awards to the participants and organizers of the event. Imran Shaikh thanked the President for honoring the participants with his presence and commended Startup Grind for hosting an international level event for the domestic audience.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that enemies will not be allowed to harm the historical friendship between Pakistan and China.

Addressing a memorial service held for victims of the Karachi University attack in Islamabad on Saturday, he said the enemies of the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic partnership will not be forgiven.

Expressing his anguish and shock over the incident in which three Chinese teachers were killed, Zardari said we will not rest till the perpetrators of the heinous act will be given exemplary punishment.

He said this was an attack on Pakistan-China friendship and will not be tolerated.

Zardari said these Chinese teachers were pursuing the noble mission to educate our students in the Chinese language and build bridges between our two peoples. He said the sacrifices of both Chinese and Pakistanis in nurturing our bonds of brotherhood will not go in vain.

He said we will continue to cherish and honour the sacrifices that have enabled us to forge a community of shared future in a new era.

Zardari reaffirmed Pakistan’s determination to ensure the safety and security of its Chinese friends.

The Foreign Minister said the all-weather strategic

Former Dawn editor made minister

Indictment of Shehbaz, Hamza in money laundering case deferred — again LAHORE Staff RepoRt

iSLAmABAd MoNitoRiNg RepoRt

The prime minister has appointed Fahd Husain, a career journalist and former editor of Dawn‘s Islamabad edition, as its special assistant “with immediate effect”, a notification announced late Friday. The notification to this effect, issued by Cabinet Division, said Husain, who is the nephew of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, will enjoy the status of a federal minister. While the notification did not mention Husain’s portfolio, many speculated he’d manage government’s relations with the media. He resigned from Dawn — which he had joined in October 2019 as resident editor based in the capital — in February but continued his weekly column for the publication and his primetime political chat show on Dawn News TV. Before joining Dawn, Husain worked as executive director of news at Express News TV and executive editor of its English-language newspaper, Express Tribune.

cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China is time tested and timeless. He said we will face every challenge together and emerge even stronger. He said our Iron brotherhood will continue to grow.

In his remarks, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood said Pakistan and China’s relationship has grown from strength to strength despite changes in the global and regional landscape. He said Pakistan and China always stood by each other and overcame challenges with solidarity and mutual support.

He said we will defeat terrorism whilst working together in the same spirit of mutual trust and close collaboration. Chinese Charge D’Affaires Pang Chunxue, in her remarks, stated the Chinese killed in the Karachi University attack were the cultural ambassadors between Pakistan and China, and their remarkable achievements will be written in the history of this friendship. She said we will work with Pakistan to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident to bring the perpetrators to justice. She said China and Pakistan’s all-weather friendship is deeply rooted in the hearts of our two peoples. She said the iron clad friendship between Pakistan and China is unbreakable. Pang Chunxue said her country will continue to support socio-economic development of Pakistan. She said any attempt to undermine the two countries’ mutual trust and cooperation and the construction of CPEC is doomed to fail.

An accountability court in Lahore on Monday deferred until May 21 the indictment of Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs16 billion money laundering case after the prime minister extended his stay in the United Kingdom ostensibly to avoid the court.

Sharif and his family are facing charges of money laundering of billions of rupees using accounts operated in the name of their businesses and employees, according to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

During the proceedings on Saturday, Amjad Pervaiz, counsel for Sharif, approached the Special Court (Central-I), requesting judge Ijaz Hassan Awan an exemption from personal appearance in the case on medical grounds.

The application read Sharif was scheduled to return from his visit to London on May 13 but was delayed since an appointment with his medical consultant could not be set up before 12:30 pm Saturday.

Sharif was a cancer survivor and a patient of chronic backache and his medical checkup had been long overdue since the previous government did not allow him to fly abroad, it claimed. Therefore, “the non-appearance of the petitioner is neither malafide nor intentional, rather, the same is on the account of the above said reason,” the application added.

The court then granted Sharif an exemption from

appearance and adjourned the hearing till May 21.

On Thursday, a letter written to judge Awan on behalf of the agency emerged, suggesting the FIA director general, Muhammad Tahir Rai, has decided against prosecuting the father-son duo in the case. “The concerned quarters are not interested to prosecute the accused persons,” it read, requesting the judge that these instructions be made part of the case record.

However, a spokesman of the agency later clarified the case had not been withdrawn.

The reference mainly accused Sharif of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and benamidars, who had no sources to acquire such assets. It said the family members and benamidars of the Shehbaz family received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in the personal bank accounts of Hamza and his brother Suleman Shehbaz.

The reference further said that the family of Shehbaz failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets.

It said the suspects committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices as envisaged under the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and money laundering as delineated in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. It asked the trial court to try the suspects and punish them under the law.

Govt to take measures in keeping Pak rupee stable StAff REpORt Federal Minster for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail has said that government is committed to take all possible measures to keep Pak rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar stable without interfering into market mechanism. He stated this while presiding over a meeting with heads of all the major exchange companies of Pakistan at Finance Division today. Deputy Governor SBP and senior officers from Finance Division attended the meeting. The meeting was called to review and ensure exchange rate stability in the country. At the outset, Finance Minister expressed firm resolve of the government to ensure stability in the forex market. He stated that government is committed to take all possible measures to keep Pak rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar stable without interfering into market mechanism. Various proposals were presented by the heads of exchange companies in this regard. It was proposed that the exchange companies should be facilitated to increase the flow of home remittances to Pakistan. A number of measures were also suggested to curb the outflow of foreign exchange from Pakistan through informal channels. In addition, some other concrete proposals/measures were submitted by the exchange companies to improve the foreign exchange position in Pakistan. The exchange companies assured that if these measures are implemented, there will be appreciation and stability in the value of Pak rupee.

Govt working on plan worth Rs300bn to solve issue of oil prices AHmAd AHmAdAni The federal government has formulated a new plan worth Rs300 billion to solve the issue of prices of petroleum products (POL) and declared that provinces should share as the centre is unable to bear the whole burden for maintaining POL prices at the current level.

According to sources, the new plan worth Rs300 billion to maintain the POL prices at the same level till June 2022 was discussed in London during a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leadership. They said that a plan to offer targeted subsidy to motorcyclists is also devised. The government is expected to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to maintain the prices of POL products at the current level. Massive hike in the prices of POL products has caused additional burden on the national exchequer and the new government is worried in this regard, said sources. They added that now it has become very difficult for the incumbent government to clear the PDC (Price Differential Claims) of the oil industry by getting more loans from the market. “The government has planned to cut the funds of provinces through National Finance Commission (NFC) award and Public Sector

PTI changes venue after Police ransacks Jalsa in Sialkot LAHORE Staff RepoRt

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has changed the venue of its Saturday rally in Sialkot after the local members of the local administration attacked the jalsa venue and ransacked the preparations and also arrested the party’s local leaders including Usman dar, Umar dar and others.

The Police contended that the Christian community had refused to give permission to the PTI for using the land for the jalsa owned by the Church. However, after initial scuffle with the security forces, the PTI leadership decided to change the venue but

refused to cancel the jalsa.

The rally will now be held at the VIP cricket ground, some five kilometres away, the president of the party’s Punjab chapter, Shafqat Mahmood, announced in a press conference. The move came hours after police stormed the venue and rounded up several party workers, including former minister Usman Dar. A large contingent of police reached the venue, baton-charged and fired teargas shells at the workers and supporters who were making arrangements for the rally which is due to be held tonight but for which the local administration claims the permission has not been granted.

The workers resisted the police operation as they stood in front of the machinery sent to remove the chairs, the stage and other materials arranged for the event. Giving the reason for not granting the permission, the administration said that members of the minority Christian community were opposed to the gathering on the land — CTI Ground — they insisted belonged to the Church.

Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Hasan Iqbal, who was present at the site, told reporters that the community had objected to holding a rally at the ground.

“As you know we are right now standing on a ground that belongs to the Christian

community. They had filed a writ [petition] in the high court, asking that no political rally be held on the grounds,” Iqbal said, adding the high court then directed the Sialkot deputy commissioner to listen to both parties and decide accordingly.

“Leaders of the political party and representatives of the Christian community came yesterday and the former acknowledged that the ground belonged to the Christian community,” the DPO said, without mentioning the PTI. He added that the “political party’s leaders” sought permission to hold the rally but the Christian community had refused.

He said the deputy commissioner had

also provided alternatives for holding the rally. Talking to the media, Dar said the party had been granted permission for the event over a week ago.

RALLY WILL GO AHEAD AS PLANNED: IMRAN Responding to the violent events, Khan tweeted that what “imported [government] did in Sialkot against our [leadership and] workers is outrageous, but not unexpected.

“This bunch of criminals out on bail & their convict mafia boss in London have always used fascist tactics against opponents when in power.” He announced he “will be going to Sialkot today, let there be no doubt.” Responding to police action, Shehbaz Gill, Khan’s chief of staff, said that what the nation witnessed was an act of intimidation by the goons of the ‘imported government’.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

RASHeeD SAyS tHoSe wHo conSIDeR StAte InStItutIonS weAk ARe nAIve

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ORMER interior minister Sheikh Rasheed on Saturday said that those who consider state institutions as weak are ‘ignorant and naive’, according to a news outlet.

In a statement, he said that opposition parties hatched a conspiracy against former prime minister Imran Khan but they fell into their own trap.

He further said that the coalition government led by PML-N is abolishing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to protect themselves

Speakers in Birmingham express concern over Indian atrocities in IIoJk

from accountability.

He claimed that Sanaullah Abbasi was removed as Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief because he refused to withdraw money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz.

He warned that the next 15 days are very crucial in the country’s politics, saying that the government would make wrong decisions after London tour where PM Shehbaz and senior cabinet members sought PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif’s guidance on how to deal with current challenges facing the country.

Govt taking ‘good decisions’ for welfare of people: Hamza nEwS dESk

BiRminGHAm ageNcieS

Speakers at a conference organized by the All Parties Kashmir Coordinating Committee in Birmingham, UK, expressed deep concern over the ongoing Indian atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and expressed full solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris. Patron of All Parties Kashmir Coordinating Committee, Mufti Fazal Ahmad Qadri chaired the conference, while Hurriyat activist Abdul Hameed Lone was the chief guest on the occasion. The speakers on the occasion drew attention of the international community to the ongoing Indian state terrorism in the occupied territory. They said that serious human rights violations were taking place in IIOJK and basic rights of the Kashmiri people had been taken away. They added that India was issuing domiciles to non-state actors and massacring Kashmiris, especially the youth to destroy the Muslim majority identity of the territory. The speakers said that India had illegally demarcated the occupied territory so that the Chief Minister of RSS could be imposed on Kashmir and further atrocities could be inflicted on the Kashmiri people.

They said that false cases were being registered against human rights activists and journalists and they were being arrested to suppress the voice of Kashmiris. They said that thousands of Kashmiris, including the leaders of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, were in custody and had been transferred to remote jails in India. The speakers appealed to the United Nations and international human rights organizations to intervene in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and save the Kashmiris from Indian atrocities. The conference was also addressed by Abdul Hameed Lonr, Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK President, Fahim Kayani, President of All Parties Kashmir Coordinating Committee Chaudhry Muhammad Shahnawaz, Secretary General Farooq Ahmad Qadri and other leaders.

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has expressed confidence in the decisions being taken by the PML-N leadership in London.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif went to London along with a 10-member delegation for talks with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who is in the British capital since November 2019 for medical treatment. For three days, the PML-N leaders held backto-back meetings to discuss ways to deal with the issues facing the country.

Addressing the media, Hamza said “good decisions” are being taken for the welfare of the people. He also warned the ousted prime minister Imran Khan over his volatile conduct and said the PML-N would teach him a lesson on “how the Constitution is obeyed”.

Responding to a question regarding PTI’s Sialkot public gathering, Hamza made it clear that the party would not be allowed to organise a public gathering on church land which is used for religious purposes.

“I am warning the former PM that he will not be able to find any place to hide when the law proceeds against him. There is evidence against him”, CM Hamza maintained. “You [Imran] continued making a mockery of the institutions. You did not give respect to court decisions and you constituted politically motivated cases against us. But, the PML-N that will not take revenge from you as the Constitution will take its own path and you will be taught how the Constitution is obeyed”.

The provincial chief executive further said that the PML-N had dealt with the menace of loadshedding in the country but the PTI government was unable to contain the issue.

‘Usman Buzdar was asked to return official vehicles while still in office’

LAHORE NewS DeSk

Former Punjab chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was requested by the government before he relinquished his seat to return the two official

vehicles under his use.

Special Branch Punjab had written to Chief Minister Punjab Office to return their vehicles due to a shortage of vehicles in their office on April 16, 2022.

Given that the vehicles were

directly under Buzdar’s use, the letter suggested that the Additional Inspector General Special Branch had requested the sitting CM of Punjab to return the vehicles under his use while he was still in office.

Buzdar resigned from office on March 28 and the governor of Punjab accepted his resignation on April 1, but under Article 133 of the Constitution of Pakistan, Buzdar was allowed to hold office till his successor came into power.

Hamza Shahbaz, however, was sworn in on April 30 and until then Buzdar was the provincial chief minister. However, on April 16, Hamza was declared the chief minister Punjab, after elections that still remain controversial and his oath was administered two weeks later.

Govt working on plan worth Rs300bn to solve issue of oil prices AHmAd AHmAdAni The federal government has formulated a new plan worth Rs300 billion to solve the issue of prices of petroleum products (POL) and declared that provinces should share as the centre is unable to bear the whole burden for maintaining POL prices at the current level.

According to sources, the new plan worth Rs300 billion to maintain the POL prices at the same level till June 2022 was discussed in London during a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leadership.

They said that a plan to offer targeted subsidy to motorcyclists is also devised.

The government is expected to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to maintain the prices of POL products at the current level. Massive hike in the prices of POL products has caused additional burden on the national exchequer and the new government is

worried in this regard, said sources.

They added that now it has become very difficult for the incumbent government to clear the PDC (Price Differential Claims) of the oil industry by getting more loans from the market.

“The government has planned to cut the funds of provinces through National Finance Commission (NFC) award and Public Sector Development Funds as well,” said sources.

The sources also said that Price

Differential Claims (PDC) of the oil industry (Oil Marketing Companies & refineries) has increased from Rs102 billion to Rs130 billion owing to maintaining the prices at the same level for the month of May, 2022. They said that the PDC on diesel has increased to Rs41 per litre on petrol and on high speed diesel (HSD) it has surged to Rs85 per litre.

It is relevant to note that the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) has asked the Petroleum Division to remove the subsidy on prices of petroleum products and if it has become not possible for the government then the government should clear PDC of the oil industry on a weekly basis instead of monthly basis. The OCAC said that the exorbitant increase in PDC has severely impacted the oil marketing and refining sector’s cash flows and its ability to meet critical financial/working capital obligations.

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nA-240 by-elections: PtI candidate’s nomination papers rejected kARACHi Staff RepoRt

Nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate for the by-election of NA-240 Korangi have been rejected by the District Returning officer. The Returning Officer (RO) Abdul Razzaq rejected the nomination papers of PTI candidate Syeda Bano. The papers were rejected after the RO deemed the suggester’s signatures fake. According to details, both the proposer of the candidate also failed to appear to the RO in person. The nomination papers of two other independent candidates were also rejected due to multiple reasons. The seat had been vacated after MQMP leader Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan had passed away due to a cardiac arrest. Nomination papers of a total of 39 candidates have been accepted for the upcoming byelections on the national assembly seat NA 240.

However, eight MQM-P candidates submitted papers for the elections, and the nomination was accepted.As many as 42 candidates had submitted nomination papers for the NA-240 Korangi by-election in Karachi scheduled on June 16, the Election Commission of Pakistan. The ECP will receive appeals against the acceptance and rejection of the nomination papers by May 17, whereas, a tribunal will give verdicts on the appeals by May 21.

On May 23, the ECP will issue a revised list of the candidates, whereas, the withdrawal of the nomination papers will be accepted by May 24. The final list of the candidates will be issued on the same date.

lawyers announce participation in PtI’s Islamabad march nEwS dESk A large group of lawyers from Faisalabad met PTI Chairman Imran Khan and formally announced their joining of the party on Saturday, according to a news outlet. PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Central Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry, Central Secretary Information Farrukh Habib and Member Provincial Assembly Latif Nazar were also present during the meeting. Punjab Bar Council (PBC) member from Faisalabad, Imtiaz Lona, District Bar Association President Bilal Saeed Basra and Azhar Hanif Khan were also part of the delegation. The members of the delegation strongly condemned the overthrow of a democratically-elected government through “external conspiracies” and pledged full support to the PTI chief on the quest for “real freedom”. They also announced participation in the long march to Islamabad. Talking to the delegation, Imran said that ouster of an elected government through a conspiracy is destructive for democracy. He said that the nation is united and ready to protect its freedom and sovereignty. People from all walks of life should come forward and play their role in freeing the nation from slavery, he added.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

04 NEWS Zardari’s acquittal in NAB cases: IHC to take up pleas on Monday ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) fixed the hearing of petitions challenging the acquittal of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references against him.

The court fixed the hearing of petitions challenging the exoneration of the former president in 25-year-old references made by the NAB. A two-judge bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah would hear the petitions on Monday. The court directed the anti-graft watchdog to come to the court with full preparation while asking it to not waste the court’s time. The NAB challenged Zardari’s acquittal in its references including the Ursus tractors deal, ARY Gold case, Cotecna and the Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) cases. In December 2014, an accountability court acquitted Zardari in ARY Gold and Ursus Tractor corruption references. In November 2015, an Islamabad accountability court had also exonerated Zardari in other NAB references viz SGS-Cotecna references on the want of evidence. Seven years ago, the NAB filed appeals challenging Zardari’s acquittal in its references.

PTI Sindh lawmaker booked on terror charges

ProTeST STAged for ProvISIoN of CleAN drINkINg wATer IN derA BugTI

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protest was staged in Dera Bugti district’s Pirkoh tehsil on Saturday over a lack of clean drinking water and rise in the number of cholera cases.

According to a health official, cholera cases have reached 2,577. Dera Bugti District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Azam Bugti told a news outlet that 210 new cholera cases were reported Saturday, along with two more deaths, taking the total death toll so far to six, including two children. He said 15 patients were in critical condition.

The first cholera case had emerged on April 17, DHO Bugti had said on Wednesday, at which point the number of infections was 1,500.

Locals protested against the un-

availability of potable water and the alleged lack of notice taken of the situation by the chief secretary or other government officials. They demanded that Pirkoh be declared calamity-hit and medicine, food and clean water be provided.

Senator Sarfraz Bugti called on authorities to declare an emergency in Pirkoh, take stock of the situation and lend aid to the afflicted, along with completing water supply schemes.

Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo recently approved additional funds of Rs300 million for emergency completion of ongoing water supply projects in Dera Bugti district. In a meeting with provincial adviser Nawabzada Ghuram Bugti, he had discussed the solution to the water crisis in different areas of the Dera Bugti district.

Latest farming technologies attract young entrepreneurs in Pakistan LAHORE anadolu agency

KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Sindh police on Saturday registered a case against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MP and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh under sections of terrorism laws. The case was registered at Gulshan-e-Maymar police station under sections involving terrorism, attempted murder and threat to kill.

The case was registered on the complaint of a civil servant, Abdul Waleed. Reports citing sources said that preparations were underway to register more cases against Sheikh. They further said Sheikh in the past had been able to get a joint investigation team (JIT) constituted to probe terrorism cases against him.

The federation for the first time had set up a JIT on a provincial affair.

LIST OF PTI LEADERS TO BE ARRESTED PREPARED: Meanwhile, the government has prepared a list of 700 PTI leaders and activists who will be arrested by police from across the country ahead of the long march towards Islamabad announced by former prime minister Imran Khan. The list included some prominent party leaders and they will be arrested following decisions taken during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) huddle in London.

“The list included names of 350 people from Punjab, 200 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 150 from Sindh,” reports said.

With alarm bells ringing all over the world over global warming, new farming technologies are helping the young generation reduce waste and keep the Earth healthy. A survey by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in 2018 found that some 39 percent of the country’s labour force was engaged in agriculture, with the sector contributing 18.5 percent to the national GDP. But in recent years, young people have been moving away from agriculture to avoid the long hours of hard work involved.

One young farm entrepreneur, however, said the use of cutting-edge technology in agriculture could help reverse this trend.

Naseer Fayyaz, a 30-year-old farmer who settled in the small city of Chishtian, has started using updated seeders, water-saving irrigation techniques, and other unique methods of farming to attract the younger generation. “I completed my bachelor of arts (degree) and after graduation, I realised that many of my classmates left for the cities to pursue corporate jobs, rather than helping their families boost their farming business with the latest technologies,” he told Anadolu Agency on the occasion of World Farmers Day on May 14.

While helping his father in the fields, Fayyaz started growing crops on his rooftop while saving his earnings to start a hydroponic farm, in which the crops can be grown in a room provided with suitable light and an ecosystem.

Underlining that farming is a profitable business, with rooftop farming being less costly and organic, Fayyaz said that the hydroponic variety needs “more investment.”

GROwInG yOuR Own FOOD: Imtiaz Hussain, the deputy director-general of the National Agricultural Research Centre in Islamabad, said vegetables grown on a person’s roof or garden are the best that they can consume.

“Even on the farms, they use a specific quantity of pesticides and other chemicals. There’s no alternate in

the sense of safety and nutrition to organic farm products that people grow by themselves,” Hussain told Anadolu Agency.

Other than the healthy lifestyle it provides, organic farming also cuts down on food bills.

“If everyone started growing their own fruits and vegetables, this would reduce the pressure on production by farmers and would lower food costs for people, as well. Every person on earth should learn how to grow their own vegetables,” said Fayyaz.

PROBLEmS DIScOuRAGE yOunG FARmERS: In countries like Pakistan, where agriculture policies are not farmer-friendly, it is understandable that

Blistering heatwave sweeps South Asia as mercury in Pakistan soars to 50C ISLAMABAD afp

South Asia was in the grip of an extreme heatwave on Saturday, with parts of the country reaching a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius as officials warned of acute water shortages and a health threat.

Swathes of Pakistan and India have been smothered by high temperatures since April in extreme weather that the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned is consistent with climate change.

On Friday, the city of Jacobabad hit 50C (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said, with temperatures forecast to remain high until Sunday. “It’s like fire burning all around,” said labourer Shafi Mohammad, who is from a village on the outskirts of Jacobabad where residents struggle to find reliable access to drinking water.

Nationwide, the PMD alerted temperatures were between 6C and 9C above normal, with the capital Islamabad — as well as provincial hubs Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar — recording temperatures around

CMYK

40C on Friday. “This year we have jumped from winter right into summer,” said PMD chief forecaster Zaheer Ahmad Babar. Pakistan has endured heightened heat waves since 2015, he said, especially in upper Sindh and Punjab.

“The intensity is increasing, and the duration is increasing, and the frequency is increasing,” he told AFP. Jacobabad nurse Bashir Ahmed says that, for the past six years, heatstroke cases in the city have been diagnosed earlier in the year — starting in May, rather than June or July. “This is just increasing,” he said.

Far worse may be on the horizon for South Asia as climate change continues apace, top climate scientists have said.

‘TAkE cOvER’: Punjab irrigation spokesman Adnan Hassan said the Indus river — Pakistan’s key waterway — had shrunk by 65 per cent “due to a lack of rains and snow” this year. Sheep have reportedly died from heatstroke and dehydration in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab. “There is a real danger of a shortfall in food and crop supply this year in the country should the water shortage persist,” Hassan said.

many have been switching to the corporate sector.

Sikander Bhadera, a seasonal farmer whose family has been in the farming business for generations said: “We still aren’t able to cope with the latest technologies that the world is adopting.

“Besides the rest of the problems (we face), the main issue is that here in Pakistan, the markets or government decides the final rate of our products, which is very unfortunate,” he added.

Appreciating the efforts of young farmers like Naseer, Bhadera called on the government to help others like him access the technology they need and provide subsidies to import the latest seeds to increase yields.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

AhSAn CALLS FOR COLLABORAtIVE EFFORtS In COUntRy’S dEVELOPMEnt PROCESS

corporate corner KE’S Leadership Visits Field Staff, Monitors Operational Effectiveness; Refutes Claims of Excessive LoadShed in Karachi

iSLAmABAd

Karachi: In line with the efforts to provide maximum relief to consumers during the ongoing harsh weather, KE’s Chief Distribution Officer – Amer Zia, who is also presiding over the utility’s heatwave emergency cell, visited different parts of the city to review the on-field operations to resolve the consumers’ queries instantly.

While commenting on the current power supply to the city, he said, “While there is an evident surge in power demand as the mercury rises, K-Electric is undertaking all possible measures to provide maximum relief to its consumers.

Currently, the power supply to most K-Electric’s service areas is stable, and all our on-ground teams are working tirelessly to resolve any consumer complaints as quickly as possible.” While denying any claims of over 12 hours of load shed in any parts of KE’s service areas, he further stated that “Residential feeders having less than 20% recovery losses are undergoing zero load-shed which includes the industrial zones of the city. Furthermore, the area-wise schedule for all potentially affected consumers has been uploaded on KE’s website well in advance and kept up to date. Moreover, KE issued preemptive messages to customers so that they remain apprised of their potential load shed timings.” Amer Zia also interacted with the citizens during his visit, distributed goods to mitigate heat-wave effects and advised citizens to remain hydrated with the appropriate water consumption while avoiding unnecessary and direct exposure to sunlight, particularly during extreme hot hours from 11 am to 4 pm. Furthermore, he reiterated that KE’s call center 118, SMS Service 8119, KE Live App, social media platforms, and WhatsApp Self Service Portal remain active 24/7 to support customers with their queries. pR

Imran’s narrative aimed at diverting attention from his dismal performance: Sherpao PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Chairman Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s narrative was misleading in order to hide his poor performance from the people. Addressing a reception hosted at Watan Kor in honor of Kohistan’s Harban-Bhasha tehsil’s newly elected Chairman Asadullah Qureshi, Aftab Sherpao said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader was trying to divert the attention of the people from the dismal economic performance of his government.

The QWP leader slammed the former prime minister for allegedly inciting the youth to violence and creating anarchy.

M

Staff RepoRt

INISTER for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal Saturday said that the country’s economic direction could be set on the right path by all parties collectively.

The country’s economic situation is not good at present and not a single leader, single political party and a single institution can overcome the prevailing situation alone, the minister said while addressing a round table conference on Digital Pakistan here.

He said that Pakistan needed a col-

laborating efforts and everyone should participate in the country’s development process. He said that in today’s world, digital revolution had penetrated into every department creating revolution in across the world.

He said in the previous PML-N government, the university students were provided laptops free of charge to adapt them according to the new emerging technology.

When we started providing laptops to the students, we laid foundation of the IT revolution in the country as the laptop scheme was aimed at empowering youth digitally, he expressed.

He said more than one million laptops were provided to the youth that

helped creating a new class in IT entrepreneurship.

He said that due to the scheme, free lancing in Pakistan developed rapidly and today the beneficiary individuals were earning hundreds of thousands of rupees monthly.

Similarly through Higher Education Commission (HEC), Ahsan Iqbal said the government made special funding for the the youth and every university was asked to develop incubation center so that the startup culture should be developed among the youth to enable them start their own businesses.

The minister said that he had tasked the HEC to arrange a round table conference to develop a special

OCAC asks reimbursement of PDC to avoid disruption in fuel supply AHmAd AHmAdAni The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) has asked the Petroleum Division to reimburse billions of rupees worth Price Differential Claims (PDC) of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), and refineries ostensibly in order to ensure the energy security of the country. Raising serious concerns regarding PDC on fuel prices, OCAC, in a letter to the Secretary Petroleum Division dated May 9, 2022, has asked for the reimbursement of billions of rupees worth Price Differential Claims (PDC) of OMCs and refineries.

According to the OCAC, the current PDC on diesel stands at Rs73 per litre and on petrol it is Rs30 per litre which represents a 109 per cent and 26 per cent increase respectively, versus the PDC rates in the 2nd fortnight of March 2022.

“This exorbitant increase has severely impacted the oil marketing and refining sector’s cash flows and its ability to meet critical financial/working capital obligations,” said OCAC. Despite various assurances, the government has not removed the subsidy on prices of petroleum products and at the current rates, the fortnightly impact for the industry is expected to exceed Rs57 billion during the current fortnight. Additionally, based on the current international prices, the PDC is expected to further increase in the coming fortnight, said OCAC letter.

According to sources, approximately Rs76 billion are required to cover PDC for the second fortnight (16th-31st) of May 2022 while total pending PDC of the oil industry is around Rs143 billion as the ECC has so far not approved any amount for balance of April and May PDC. They said that if the

government delays in clearing the pending amount of PDC then the entire oil industry and fuel supply chain of the country will collapse and the energy security of the country will be at risk. They said the value of dollar against Pak currency is increasing with each passing day while the limit of letter of credit (LC) is exhausting so the entire supply chain of the country is at serious risk, said sources.

It is relevant to note that the oil marketing and refining sector has continued to support the government since the imposition of the PDC despite multiple challenges. However, the current subsidy levels and recovery mechanism have become unsustainable and need immediate rectification.

On behalf of the oil industry (OMCs, refinery), OCAC in its letter also said,” We would like to stress that the government immediately relieve the oil marketing companies and refineries of the fuel price subsidy burden to enable our supply chain to function smoothly.” And, in case the removal of subsidy is not possible, OCAC has also warned the government to take certain actions on immediate basis to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies, saying otherwise supply disruptions on a nationwide level would be inevitable.

As per OCAC letter, the PDC recovery cycle needs to be shortened from the fortnight to weekly basis as this step will help in easing out the substantial cash flow and working capital constraints of the country.

Similarly, in order to manage the burden of oil industry following introduction of PDC regime, financial charges on PDC (1% of the PDC rate) need to be included in the price as PDC regime has burdened the oil industry with additional charges as the current financial cost to the industry is approximately 1%.

Imran wants to create anarchy to avoid accountability: Marriyum continuEd fRom PAgE 01 She said she wanted to tell the people, particularly the youth, that doors of Accountability Commission remained locked in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during nine years rule of PTI, which was, in fact, aimed suppressing the facts about the misuse helicopter by Imran Khan.

Besides abusing the national institutions, the PTI leadership misused the government resources, the minister said.

Marriyum recalled that the incompetent previous regime put its political opponents to death row cells in prisons by leveling false allegations against them and media was silenced, journalists attacked and their daughters abducted outside their homes.

The minister said during his four years in the PM Office, Imran Khan had got off air many talk shows to suppress the voice of truth. He even misused his powers and run the Parliament through ordinances.

About the row over the PTI’s Sialkot public meeting, the minister said the CTI Boys High School management, in a letter to the Deputy Commissioner Sialkot on May 9, protested PTI’s scheduled meeting at the CTI Ground.

She said the Christian community had been playing a big role to play in the development of Sialkot and Pakistan, and they wanted the PTI to hold the meeting somewhere else as the CTI Ground was a place of worship for them.

The PTI leaders, she said, were asked to hold their meeting at a sports gymnasium or a school premises but they insisted on using the church space through bullying.

On May 9, the minister said, the PTI was informed that the Christian community was not allowing a public meeting at their church ground as till today no political activity had taken place there. The government was bound protect the rights of the Christian community, she added.

The Christian community, she said, had started protest demonstrations, demanding that the venue of the meeting should be changed but instead Imran Khan had made announcement that he was coming to Sialkot without paying heed to their demand.

No one was stopping him (Imran) from coming to Sialkot as the PTI had held public meetings before with-

05

out any hindrance before, she added. “We are neither fascists, nor afraid of his speeches.”

The people in fact had come to know about their objective through the PTI rallies, which totally went into the incumbent government’s favour, she added.

The minister said the PTI wanted to create chaos and anarchy in the country, but as Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah would his responsibility to protect the lives of people.

She said a person who was sitting in the PM’s chair a few days ago was threatening the national institutions.

Imran Khan, who had destroyed economy for four years and deprived six million people of their jobs, would have to be held accountable.

In 2018, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was still in government. she said, electricity per unit tariff was Rs 11 with over 14,000 megawatt power generation being done.

On the contrary, when Imran Khan was removed from power, electricity tariff was Rs 24 per unit, while he could not add even a single megawatt of electricity to the system. Even his regime did not get repaired the power plants and ultimately heavy load-shedding the people’s lives miserable.

Similarly, she said, the Imran government increased the gas tariff from Rs 600 to Rs 2,400 which badly affected the consumers. The price of DAP fertilizer bag had gone up from Rs 2,400 to Rs 10,000, while its non-availability to the farmers hampered agriculture produce.

Lies about increase of the agri production were told unabated, while undue profits were earned by the cartels and mafias close to the former PM, she added.

The PTI chief, she said, could not divert the people’s attention from his government’s bad performance, and loot and plunder by “waving a paper and claiming a foreign conspiracy” behind his ouster from power.

The former PM, the minister, also exploited the religion by using the name of State of Madina and incarcerated the opposition leadership.

She said the PTI rulers snatched the jobs of people and burdened them with ever rising inflation, “They should be ashamed for their inefficiency and incompetence.”

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Marriyum said the last PML-N government had made Pakistan an emerging business hub with growth of 6%, but when he (Imran) came into power “through crutches” he plunged the country into the worst economic catastrophe.

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor, she added, was being executed for the development and progress of the country and its people, but through controversial his statements about CPEC and stopping its projects, Imran had soured Islamabad’s relations with Beijing.

Imran Khan had stolen the gifts, given by friendly countries, from the Tosha Khana, and purchased many gifts at low price, she said.

Marriyum said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after coming to power, started work on the projects, which remained closed for four years.

“We are a capable team, as we had reduced inflation in the country from 2013 to 2018 and strengthened the value of the dollar,” she added.

Replying to media persons’ questions, the minister said that PML-N leadership’s visit to London was a private trip and its expenses were borne by themselves.

The PML-N was the country’s largest political party, and its leadership held consultations on the issues, such as inflation, petroleum prices and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

She said the incumbent government was endeavouring that the masses should not be burdened or minimum burden should be passed on to them of the four years of PTI misrule. The decisions would be made in consultation with the coalition partners, she added.

She said Imran’s narrative of lies would not work anymore and the masses would accept only that narrative which would control inflation, provide them employment opportunities and restore the image of Pakistan in the comity of nations.

The minister said it transpired during the London consultations that it was high time to control the tendency of violation of the Constitution for petty political gains.

She said PM Shehbaz after his return from abroad, would take all the allies on board and make important announcements in his address to the nation in coming days.

curriculum for universities that should be aligned with the industrial sector’s requirements.

The minister said that in 2017, he started four national centers of excellence in big data cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cyber security, automation robotic and applied mathematics.

He said that the government was focusing on private sector which would be given opportunities to flourish their businesses.

In the upcoming Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), he said that the government would develop a special fund under which e-government projects would be financed.

Mastermind of Peshawar Koocha Risaldar attack killed in IBO PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and intelligence agencies shot dead two terrorists including the mastermind of Peshawar Jamia Mosque Risaldar Kocha during an IntelligenceBased Operation (IBO).

On March 3, at least 66 worshippers lost their lives and more than 120 others got injured when a suicide attacker blew up himself inside a mosque in the Risaldar Koocha, Peshawar.

CTD and intelligence agencies jointly carried out a joint action in Peshawar’s Waleedabad over a tip-off about presence of terrorists. Seeing the law enforcement agencies’ personnel, the terrorists opened fire and in retaliation, two of the outlaws were shot dead, while their three to four accomplices managed to flee the scene.

A suicide jacket, two pistols and four hand grenades were recovered from the possession of the terrorists.

Among the two killed terrorists, one was identified as Hassan Shah, who was the mastermind of the Peshawar Jamia Mosque Risaldar Koocha blast.

The CTD further said that Shah was also involved in the target killings of Hakeem Sattam Singh and Father Patrick William.

At least 63 people were martyred in the bomb explosion in a Peshawar mosque located in Qissa Khwani Bazaar, earlier this year.

The spokesperson of the Lady Reading Hospital – Peshawar confirmed that the death toll in the mosque blast rose to 56. 194 injured persons have been brought to LRH Peshawar and some wounded persons are critical.

The blast occurred inside Jamia Mosque located at Kocha – e – Rasladar Chowk in Qisa Khwani Bazar during Friday prayers.

Karachi students win top honor at US science fair LAHORE: Two students of the Pak-Turk Maarif International Schools and Colleges have won a top award at an international science event in the US. Talia Kulsoom and Umm-e-Kulsoom, 12th-grade students at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Girls’ Campus in Karachi, took the first position in the Physical Science category at the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in Atlanta city, the school announced in a statement.

Their project, completed under the supervision of their teacher Hira Bashir, focused on the extraction of “vegan leather” from Cedrus deodara, a cedar tree species native to the Himalayas, according to the statement.

“Our intelligent students believe in the green world and in the conservation of resources, which encouraged them to come up with this unique idea,” the school said.

The ISEF is an annual event organized by the Society for Science and Engineering, a non-profit group headquartered in the US. The organisation describes the event as “the world’s largest international science competition,” bringing together approximately 1,800 high school students from more than 63 countries each year. The Maarif Foundation has 28 schools and colleges across Pakistan that provide quality education to thousands of students in several cities, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. anadolu agency

Sunday, 15 May, 2022

06 COMMENT

Electoral consequences?

PTI’s multi-million march No compromise on law and order

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London dash was just bad optics

FTER losing power, PTI chief Imran Khan has become highly dangerous, as he had himself predicted. While speaking at the PTI’s Mardan rally he warned the government to announce polls failing which a sea of people will wash away everything. Coming from a former PM this is a highly irresponsible statement.

Mr Khan told journalists that Instead of handing over the reins of power to the ruling alliance, it would have been better if an atomic bomb had been dropped on Pakistan.

Setting aside for a while his usual moralistic posture he made remarks that revealed the Machiavelli in him. He was unhappy that the the Army had not pressured the judiciary and NAB to sentence eight to ten opposition leaders. He said the army should not have discouraged the formation of a PMl(N) forward bloc in the Punjab Assembly which wanted to join his party.

Such is the level of Mr Khan’s desperation that he has decided to simultaneously take on the establishment and the ruling alliance. He says he had forewarned the establishment that the country’s economy would go into a tailspin if the conspiracy against his government succeeded.

Party leader Shireen Mazari was encouraged to go a step further, claiming that everyone knows 'neutrals' were not actually neutral during the so-called regime change conspiracy. They were in fact a part of the conspiracy to derail Pakistan on the economic and democratic front.

Fighting on two fronts is likely to lead to misadventure.

Instead of getting his perceived grievances resolved through constitutional institutions set up for the purpose like Parliament, the judiciary and the Election Commission of Pakistan, Mr Khan is taking the issues to public rallies where he incites the mobs against those he considers the enemies of the country while other PTI leaders warn of civil war .

At Sialkot the government firmly disallowed the PTI from violating the law by holding a rally at a ground belonging to a minority community. The PTI agreed to hold the rally, meant to be over in a few hours, at an alternate venue. The multi-million march proposed towards the end of the month is likely to turn into a sit-in that will continue till the government announces a timeframe for elections acceptable to Mr Khan. The presence of charged mobs in the capital for days would create problems. To avert this, the PTI will have to reach a prior agreement with the government before the big march is allowed.

Yousaf NiZaMi

W

HIlE there was never an expectation from the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it would solve the most pressing issues facing the country in a matter of weeks, at minimum, a direction or strategy was expected to become apparent by now. unfortunately, that has not happened so far and there are worrying indicators of politics taking precedence over the undeniable need to address the dangerously precarious condition of the economy.

There is no denying that the PTI has left behind an economic quagmire for the PMl(N) to deal with.

The massive fuel subsidy, necessitated by PM Imran Khan and his party’s popularity taking a nosedive, was like taking a sledgehammer to the IMF package.

Apart from that damage, there is the cost to the exchequer, standing at Rs 194 billion cumulatively since it was announced at the end of February. According to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, May will be the most expensive month if the subsidy continues as is, close to Rs118 billion.

Additionally, the Finance Minister complains that not only did the previous government lose taxpayer money in such a spectacular fashion, it did not fund the subsidy either as claimed by his predecessor, Senator Shaukat Tarin. This begs the question, why has the government not completely rolled back the subsidy by now? One straightforward answer is that the political cost for the party with such a move was far greater than the economic one.

There is a lot of pressure from the ousted PTI government to hold elections immediately. Imran Khan is currently leading a campaign that is fueled

Heat wave No one single step

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lIMATE change activism, much like some other cause célèbres, seems to have an image problem.

Its representation in the media being left to seemingly out-of-touch NGO-types, leads some to think of the issue as something only the idle rich have the luxury to think about. let us earn a living, say the doubters, to be able to afford to bother ourselves with such stuff. yet it is specifically the poor that are most vulnerable to the effects of, not just pollution in general, but also climate change. Consider the current ongoing heat wave, with the temperatures in the high 40s already. What possible advice does one dispense the working classes from our airconditioned homes and offices? Construction workers can if their contractor is decent - stay hydrated, but can they abide by the general ham-fisted instruction to ‘stay indoors’? What do the farmers do?

There is no single solution to the problem and no single time-frame in which to solve it either. There is the longerterm solution of trying to wean the economy in general, and transport, in particular, away from fossil fuels. Include more public transportation projects and proactively encourage the switch to electric vehicles. On the power generation front, develop more renewable energy projects, especially wind and solar. In the medium term, go on a massive tree plantation drive within the urban metros. Karachi, the concrete jungle that it is, cannot possibly provide shade to its most vulnerable citizens during the day, leading to an alarming number of heat strokes every year. If we could employ the Miyawaki method, amongst others, to go for rapid development of vegetation, its effects in terms of cooling our cities down and reducing the carbon emissions, would be worth whatever the financial cost of the same would be.

And, lastly, as a palliative measure in the meantime, the government really needs to make sure there is little or no electricity load shedding during these cruel set of months.

For that, there needs to be timely procurement of furnace oil, amongst other steps.

We’re in this for the long haul. The current prime minister keeps talking about a ‘charter of economy’ to reach a minimum common consensus like the ‘charter of democracy.’ It’s time our political parties̶ and those of other countries- start signing charters of their own on the environment.

The constitutional provisions are clear

MuhaMMad Zahid Rifat

D

uly extended service tenure of incumbent Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa is due to expire in November 2022. A lot of discussion, speculation and debate is already going on in the political circles about the posting of the New Army Chief. The incumbent, Ge Qamar Javed Bajwa, has already announced that he is neither interested nor going to seek any further extension in service at all.

Vested interests here and there are also creating unwelcome controversies in quite an nappropriate manner despite repeated assertions by the ISPR that the Army should not be dragged in political discussion in any manner and that the Army has nothing to do with politics and is focused on performing its most important duties and functions to safeguard and secure security and solidarity of the country, to counter and eliminate terrorism in all manifestations, and face all security challenges squarely, boldly and determinedly.

In view of prevailing trouble-shooting circumstances, it is pertinent to mention here the constitu-

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Joint Editor

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Executive Editor

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The longer this set-up governs; it will continue to rack up not only the political liabilities it itself will create going forward, but also a significant chunk of the PTI’s. However one looks at it, the PML(N) stands to lose the most out of this political-economic predicament

Constitutional provisions about the armed forces

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

by a reinvigorated support base that would rather see another coup take place than tolerate Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman in cahoots and in power. Khan believes that this tailwind should see him through to another crack at governing the country. His march to Islamabad at the end of the month is a culmination of all the public engagement he is doing with jalsas every other day in key constituencies.

He perhaps feels that once his regained popularity is noticed by the powers-that-be, those ‘electables’ and allies that recently abandoned him would bet on the winning horse, sensing the wind had changed direction yet again. This is of course a longshot considering how Khan has practically burned all his bridges, berating the armed forces with increasingly less subtlety in public spaces while openly blaming them for his premature departure from the PM House and this current disorder the country finds itself in.

One wonders what sort of reconciliation strategy he is playing at when practically every one of his ill-conceived childish outbursts reveals more about how little ‘the Americans’ had to do with his ouster, how close he was to the military establishment and how big a role they played in bringing him to power, keeping him in power despite the odds and eventually calling off ‘project Imran’ altogether.

It has become necessary now that a concrete decision is taken or at least some direction is provided by the government over what it plans to do about the fuel price hike and whether or not it is considering heading into early elections. The former has bearing on the latter. Going in to elections too soon after dropping a ‘petrol bomb’ would be disastrous. The dash to london is specifically to seek counsel from PMl(N) supremo Nawaz Sharif.

That these consultations could have easily taken place over video conference but weren’t, displays that a point had to be proven about who is really running things. Pictures to this effect were also released. The optics of the dash to london are as terrible as they are intentional, much to the detriment of the effective and efficient running of the country. In a country where people are struggling to run a single kitchen owing to backbreaking inflation, those in charge of solving this

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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problem plan to do this by running two parallel kitchen cabinets, in different time zones, within the same party.

Talks with the IMF are scheduled to resume on Wednesday, which means that a decision on the fuel subsidy will have to be made before then, otherwise it would practically be a nonstarter for the fund that has not shown any restraint in expressing its displeasure over how the PTI violated some of their key agreements..

While a date for PM Shehbaz Sharif’s return from london has not been confirmed yet, he is scheduled to stop in the uAE to condole the death of the country’s president on his way back. He is expected to reveal whatever will be decided in london then.

He would presumably need to consult with all member parties of the coalition, take them into confidence and then announce any major decisions. The diversity in this coalition government makes for a very difficult, and therefore time consuming, decision-making process.

A worrying web of issues from the standpoint of the external account also continues to get worse. No matter what spin the SBP gives to the foreign exchange reserves figure, it is not reflective of the actual situation. The total figure may be $16.3 billion, but only $10.3 billion of this is available and semi-liquid to service debt or buy oil.

Confidence of ‘all-season friends’ also seems to be shaky as China has already decided not to roll over the $2.1 billion support it had provided to prop up reserves (these dollars are inaccessible to SBP, just there to make the numbers look good). This was a major outflow that happened in March. There is reportedly a demand that Pakistan pass its ongoing 7th IMF review to be eligible for these funds again.

Regularising relations with the IMF by addressing some of their key grievances opens up a lot of doors for raising additional financing from international lenders. This might address many of the government’s financial woes, allowing the country to function normally and avoid a potential Sri lankalike situation. However, the longer this set-up governs; it will continue to rack up not only the political liabilities it itself will create going forward, but also a significant chunk of the PTI’s. However one looks at it, the PMl(N) stands to lose the most out of this political-economic predicament.

tional provisions about the command of the armed forces, their functions and suchlike for sake of information of all concerned who may be wondering about what the !973 Constitution says about the armed forces of the country.

Articles 243,244 and 245 of the 1973 Constitution pertain to the Armed Forces and these are being reproduced below verbatim; Article 243 pertains to the Command of Armed Forces and it inter alia reads: 1.

The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces.

2.

Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces shall vest in the President.

3.

The President shall subject to law, have powera.

To raise and maintain the Military,Naval and Air Forces of Pakistan and the Reserves of such Forces: and b.

To grant Commissions in such Forces.

4.

The President shall, on advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a.

The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee; b.

The Chief of the Army Staff; c.

The Chief of Naval Staff;and d.

The Chief of the Air Staff, and shall also determine their salaries and allowances. Article 244 relates to the Oath of Armed Forces and it reads “ Every member of the Armed

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Writer is editor, Pakistan Today

Forces shall make oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule.

“In the name of Allah,the most Beneficent, the most Merciful I-------- , do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan and uphold the Constitution of the Islamic Reoublic of Pakistan which embodies the will of the people, that I will not engage myself in any political activities whatsoever and that I will honestly and faithfully Pakistan in the Pakistan Army (or Navy or Air Force) as required by and under the law.

May Allah Almighty help and guide me (A’meen)”.

Article 245 pertains to the Functions of Armed Forces and inter alia reads: 1.

The Armed Forces shall, under the directions of the Federal Government, defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war, and , subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so.

2.The validity of any direction issued by the Federal Government under clause (!) shall not be called in question in any court.

3.A High Court shall not exercise any jurisdiction under Article 199 in relation to any area in which the Armed Forces of Pakistan are for the time being, acting in aid of civil power in pursuance of Article 245; Provided that this clause shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of the High Court in respect of any proceeding pending immediately before the day on which the Armed Forces start acting in aid of civil power.

4.

Any proceeding in relation to an area referred to in clause (3) instituted on or after the day the Armed Forces start acting in aid of civil power and pending in any High Court shall remain suspended for the period during which the Armed Forces are so acting.”

In view of prevailing circumstances, it is pertinent to mention the constitutional provisions about the command of the armed forces, their functions and suchlike for sake of information of all who may be wondering about what the !973 Constitution says about the armed forces of the country

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer can ahidriffat@gmail.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

be

reached

at

Sunday, 15 May, 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

PTI’s Claims

Fast track to complete democracy; an anticipated Pakistani experience!

Who is going to be the proverbial man on the horseback to reform the system; ousted or incumbent?

Naqi akbaR

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ITH the recently ousted Prime Minister of the country, former pace bowler Imran Khan, on a whirlwind tour of major small and big urban centers, the stage seems to be set for a big push for reform and revolution. What is surprising is that the coalition, instead of being happy with what many on the street might call a “power grab”, is also talking about reform; such as electoral and NAB reform; correcting the economy; making it affordable for the common man to buy affordable “tomatoes” and so on.

It is no coincidence that the former opposition, which was the major beneficiary of the April 10 vote of no-confidence, is playing the reform tune too. The reason being that there is silent consensus between the ousted and the incumbent on reform. Both feel that the system during the last 75 years has come full circle and what it needs is a rehash, a redefinition of the rules of business.

Finding the connecting links to push the debate further: the governments booted out due to the exercise of Article 58(2b) or due to court order, as the ones for yousaf Reza Gillani and Nawaz Sharif, did not attract huge crowds. To the contrary, Imran Khan has been able to attract crowds and an almost mystical following. Any matter-of-fact political science student or a political analyst simply cannot ignore the following for the former pace bowler, which is almost like that of the leader of a revolution. unlike the previous cases of unceremonious exits like those of the late Benazir Bhutto, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Muhammad Khan Junejo; who did not raised any outcry or targeted the powers to be; Khan has been vociferous on both counts; not mincing words in his public addresses to get the point across to his vote bank and the public at large.

Here it goes without saying that even a fly on the wall in Pakistan knows well who pulls the strings to set into motion any development; be it geostrategic or constitutional. Even a criminal case’s fate depends on wishes and not on merits or demerits.

Keeping in focus these ground realities, given the somewhat hard stance Khan has taken with respect to the status quo; is the system as a whole ready for the reset? Or is the situation fraught with more crisis; strife included and consequent intervention by the very powers who are responsible for the crisis in the first place?

Here it is equally important to note that leaders of the opposition before April 10, which is now the ruling coalition, has voiced concern over the state of affairs in their own way, be it Nawaz Sharif calling his party consultations or Asif Zardari firing a salvo for electoral reform.

All concerned; Khan, Sharif and Zardari find it is appropriate to mix their agenda with the agenda of reform.

For Pakistani politicians finding a way out of a quagmire created by the invisible and visible; a look at the “best international practices” can be the buzzword for reform. A look into the recent history in west Asia and especially nation states whose dynamics closely resemble the ones in Pakistan; pointedly Turkey, reveals that the system reset has not been a story of few weeks or months; as one might believe it to be. It has been a long haul of battle of wits; playing with the mechanisms available within the system and above all the deliverables; specifically in the form of economic growth; which neutralized the hidden forces and widened the breathing space of the democratic forces.

Without going into the stale jugglery of figures and graphs depicting Turkey’s journey from recession and stagflation to economic recovery and growth of the economy; it was the deliverables, which restored civilian supremacy.

Turks, having seen recession during the Turgut Ozal and Tansu Ciller decade of the 1990s were comfortable with Erdogan's smooth growth rates in the new millennium.

A careful study of the timeline of events between 2002 uptil the coup of July 2016 will reveal that trend. The Erdogan governments were able to take to task the major players and actors of the previous coup attempts with flawless prosecution.

All these events in a country like Turkey whose post-Caliphate face was influenced by the Kemalist Generals embedded in deep secularist commitments were unbelievable, rather unheard of. Despite the fact that the courts carried on their hearing of the coup cases; there was never any intervention heard trying to influence the proceedings or the events.

The way the July 2016 coup attempt was tackled by the ruling party and the public was the final nail in the coffin of debate between the option of civilian or military rule. unlike other nation states like Bangladesh and Pakistan where military interventions have been greeted

with fervor; it was not the case with Turkey in the wee hours of 16 July 2016.

The contrast between Turkey and Pakistan in the historical context points out to the fact that while the intent for change might be there, the prerequisites for the same might need to be cultivated in due process. Past experiences in the context of Pakistan have revealed that at the height of pressure, the concessions accrued have been of short-term nature.

Coming back to the current phase of political debate and process, the options available for the proponents of change are clear. Whether they want short term gains like the calling of fresh elections; or they want a greater change of the rules of game.

The situation is too fluid to say the least.

Past experiences in Pakistan with parties standing for change has revealed that they are willing to play by the rules; ironically set by the same powers.

The reason being short-term gains in the form of access to funds as well as authority to spend the same. In the pursuit of that, they forgo the greater “things to do list”. That one point casts doubt about the “Pakistani mindset” genuine willingness to seek real change.

Whether the muchpromised siege of Islamabad is the promise of change or the agreements between the coalition’s partners are going to offer new surprises, it remains a question mark. Whatever might be the setting stage; Pakistani polity without any doubt is ripe for a system reset.

With the economy in shambles; a country bruised by the IMF dictates as well as an increasing number of people going below the poverty line; time is running out for the state itself. It is not a luxury for the dissident leader to choose a radical path or vice versa; finding an effective cure to the quagmire is and must be the master content of his gospel for change.

As earlier argued; economy and a content stomach is the route to political stability; actions of either the government sitting or the imagination of Khan would decide; where we are headed towards; until then best of luck.

Whether the much-promised siege of Islamabad is the promise of change or the agreements between the coalition’s partners are going to offer new surprises, it remains a question mark. Whatever might be the setting stage; Pakistani polity without any doubt is ripe for a system reset

The writer is a freelance columnist

FORMER PM Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) levelled a fresh series of accusations against Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PMlN). PTI alleged that PMl-N is employing foreign technology companies to create “deep fake” videos of Imran Khan in a bid to tarnish his public image.

Taking to Twitter, Farmer Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister and member of the PTI party, Shireen Mazari claimed that PMl-N is resorting to its “nefarious tactics” to produce “disgusting videos” of Khan through the help of foreign “tech companies.” What is deepfake? Deepfakes (a portmanteau of “deep learning” and “fake”) are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else’s likeness. While the act of faking content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive. The main machine learning methods used to create deepfakes are based on deep learning and involve training generative neural network architectures, such as autoencoders or generative adversarial networks (GANs).

All the technologies have bad uses. As the 21st century’s answer to photoshopping, deepfakes use a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning to make images of fake events, hence the name deepfake.

Many are pornographic. The AI firm Deeptrace found 15,000 deepfake videos online in September 2019, a near doubling over nine months. As new techniques allow unskilled people to make deepfakes with a handful of photos, fake videos are likely to spread beyond the celebrity world to fuel obscene content. As Danielle Citron, a professor of law at Boston university puts it: “Deepfake technology is being weaponised against women.” Deepfake technology can create convincing but entirely fictional photos from scratch. A non-existent Bloomberg journalist, “Maisy Kinsley”, who had a profile on linkedIn and Twitter, was probably a deepfake. Another linkedIn fake, “Katie Jones”, claimed to work at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but is thought to be a deepfake created for a foreign spying operation. Audio can be deepfaked too, to create “voice skins” or “voice clones” of public figures. last March, the chief of a uK subsidiary of a German energy firm paid nearly £200,000 into a Hungarian bank account after being phoned by a fraudster who mimicked the German CEO’s voice. The company’s insurers believe the voice was a deepfake, but the evidence is unclear. Similar scams have reportedly used recorded WhatsApp voice messages.

SYED TAHIR RASHDI SINDH

Power corrupts OuR politicians have all the wisdom while in opposition and they point to every transgression of the sitting government with full force. However, they never put this wisdom to work in time to prepare for the future. While they know all the issues, they are never seemed to have a plan when they get their hands on power. It is a known fact that power corrupts, but in our case, it corrupts our leaders completely.

The moment they are in power, it appears that all their wisdom vanishes. It is because they get so swayed by the lust for power that they are unable to see the truth. Opportunists and sycophants quickly surround them and isolate them from reality. Even leaders like Bhutto fell prey to his. He led the newly formed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). One of the founding members of the party was Mr. JA Rahim, who played a pivotal role in writing up the manifesto of this new party. Mr. Bhutto the chairperson of PPP assumed power (selected) after the fall of Dhakka. later he was elected PM. After assuming power, Bhutto arranged a dinner for his cabinet members, which included Mr. JA Rahim as production minister. The cabinet members and other invitees gathered at the house of Mr. Bhutto.

They kept waiting for him to join them on the lawn while he was busy meeting other politicians inside his house. Mr. Rahim was irritated by this delay and raised his concerns with Farooq Ali and other guests. He mentioned that Bhutto was insulting the guests by not showing up on time. Mr. Rahim and a few infuriated ministers left the venue, and the incident was reported to Mr. Bhutto by his loyalists. Bhutto, instead of realizing his mistake, ordered the FSF to be sent to Mr. Rahim’s house to have him arrested. This incident is an example of where power got to the head of Mr. Bhutto. His loyalists gave him the news in a manner that reflected poorly on Mr. Rahim. Bhutto instead of introspecting to finding facts was perplexed by power and took an unnecessary and rash decision.

RAJA SHAFAATULLAH ISLAMABAD

A public leader IMRAN KHAN is a public leader. Imran Khan has prepared his nation in such a way that they have the courage to raise their heads even after Imran Khan. Imran Khan introduced the youth to their Islamic heroes by showing Ertugrul Ghazi drama. Prior to Imran Khan, people lived for themselves.

They were concerned with themselves and their families only. No one was aware of what Pakistan was going through. Everyone was materialistic.

Since Imran Khan arrived, our youth has found a true hero. Pakistan has developed into a nation. No corrupt or unscrupulous person can govern this country anymore. In the upcoming elections, Pakistan as a whole is going to make history by standing together. In the history of Pakistan, the name Imran Khan will be associated with faithful leaders of Pakistan such as Khan liaquat Ali Khan and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

ASAD HANIF OKARA

Scarcity of colleges in Sindh EDuCATION is the most salient need which depicts the real image of society. One without education is like a bird without wings, a body without soul and a flower without beauty. Women are the most prominent part of our society. Institutions play an essential role in the flowering of education. For a long time, the residents of Kohi Goth (uC 14) Malir, have been highlighting sensitive issues but I want to grab the attention of relevant authorities regarding the aforementioned hypersensitive problem. The scarcity of girls’ colleges in Kohi Goth has become a grave threat to all girls. After completion of their secondary education, they confront numerous impediments. Some of them do not have permission to get out and most of them are unable to bear the expenditures of education. 20% of girls are enough able to go out in order to achieve education and 80% of girls are deprived of educational rights. The government of Sindh and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is requested to establish a girl college in Kohi Goth district Malir, Karachi.

MUHEEM ABDUL NABI KARACHI

Sunday, 15 May, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

The ‘new’ PM will noT be a Panacea To Sri lanka’S ProbleMS WITHOUT A FUNDAMENTAL RESTRUCTURING OF THE STATE, SRI LANKA WILL SIMPLY REPEAT THE PAST MISTAKES THAT GOT IT THERE

AL jAzeerA

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MAriO ArUlThAs

HiS week saw the most serious unrest in Sri Lanka since the aftermath of the easter Bombing in 2019. A month-long protest in Colombo, calling on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, was attacked by pro-government mobs.

Protesters retaliated swiftly, chasing down those who took part in the attacks, with videos and photos of stripped and beaten Rajapaksa supporters circulating on social media. eight people died in the ensuing violence across the Sinhala-majority south of the island, with more than 100 properties torched, mostly those linked to the president’s party.

The president’s brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned in the aftermath, fleeing to a navy camp, a notorious torture site, in the Tamil-majority northeast.

He has now been replaced by another old face – the United National Party’s (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has occupied the premiership on no fewer than five previous occasions but has never seen out a full term. Wickremesinghe himself has been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption and scuttling opportunities for addressing the decades-old ethnic conflict during his prior stints.

The Rajapaksas’s stunning fall from grace was precipitated by an economic crisis, caused by decades of fiscal mismanagement and exacerbated by their populist policies.

Not even two years ago, Sri Lanka’s

most prominent family swept parliamentary elections in a landslide victory, winning a two-thirds majority. The Rajapaksas ruled the roost. President Gotabaya, who also won with a significant majority in 2019, strengthened his powers and consolidated the family’s position in state structures and the economy of the country, amid celebrations by the Sinhala population. His brother, and former president, Mahinda won the premiership, and several other members of the family took control of key ministries. The UNP was reduced to one seat. The Rajapaksa victory was almost absolute, with the vast majority of the Sinhala vote going to their party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, which ran on a populist and racist platform, promising prosperity, splendour and the preservation of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy on the island.

After their election victories in 2019 and 2020, the Rajapaksas wasted no time in strengthening their grip on the state and imposing measures that disadvantaged Tamils and Muslims. From increasing militarisation of Tamil areas, harassment of Tamil journalists and NGOs, to issues such as the forcible cremation of Muslim COViD victims, the Rajapaksa government seemed to be intent on showing non-Sinhala communities that they were second-class citizens.

The protests in the Sinhala-majority South, however, did not erupt because of the longstanding human rights concerns and accountability demands, but the economic hardships that the government’s economic policies brought upon them.

The Rajapaksas promised “vistas of splendour” and instead brought poverty and destitution. This resulted in an unprecedented backlash against the government. The continuing protection and promotion of the Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony that has underpinned Sri Lanka’s economic policies since independence, means that successive governments have made fiscal policy decisions that are motivated by the desire to maintain

the Sinhala-Buddhist ethnocracy, rather than what is in the best interest of the country’s economy and prosperity of all its citizens.

After the assault on protesters and the ensuing backlash, the state deployed tactics that are tried and tested among the Tamil population in the northeast, including emergency regulations granting the military and police extraordinary powers. Military vehicles can be seen patrolling Colombo, amid empty streets due to an on-and-off islandwide curfew, with soldiers at checkpoints stopping vehicles.

Tensions remain, with the military and police warning they will shoot violent protesters on sight. Criticism of the government’s response came swiftly – the US State Department expressed concern about the deployment of the military and condemned the violence against protesters.

Amnesty international demanded the immediate rescinding of emergency regulations. Protesters dug in, defying the curfew and rebuilding the encampments that were destroyed by the pro-government goons.

Sinhala civil society and opposition parties condemned the government’s actions and reaffirmed their solidarity with the protesters.

The Rajapaksas managed to push even those on the fence to the side of the protesters. They hold the unique record of being the most universally despised government in Sri Lanka’s history: despised by Tamils because of the genocidal attacks during the war and continuing oppression; despised by Muslims for enacting discriminatory policies and engineering ethnic riots against them; and now, despised by the Sinhalese for bringing economic disaster upon them.

The appointment of Wickremesinghe as prime minister is widely seen as a move to allow President Gotabaya to continue in his position in the hope that the protests will eventually dissolve. But this is unlikely to appease the activists, who are standing firm on

when will israel recognize Palestinian nationalism?

ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS HAVE NOWHERE TO GO IN THIS TROUBLED LAND. DENYING THE NATIONALISM OF EITHER SIDE HAS PROVED ITS FUTILITY L A Times

l

DAOUD KUTTAB

ike many Palestinians, i was elated when Palestinian President Yasser Arafat shook hands with israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in a White House ceremony on Sept. 13, 1993. Visuals of Palestinians waving Palestinian flags and olive branches in Ramallah were mesmerizing to many of us. israeli TV news anchors flashed the red, green, white and black Palestinian flag along with the israeli blue and white flag.

Just days before the signing of the Declaration of Principles, israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization exchanged letters of recognition for each other.

Two years later, an israeli extremist killed Rabin and ever since we have had years of Benjamin Netanyahu and mostly right-wing israeli leaders (with a brief period of centrist government under ehud Barak). i remembered those long-ago scenes after seeing video of israeli police officers using batons to beat Palestinians as they tried to carry the casket of Shireen Abu Akleh, a hugely prominent Al Jazeera journalist, to a nearby church. Abu Akleh, who was a Christian, was shot in the head and killed by a sniper’s bullet on Wednesday as she was covering an early morning israeli raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

What happened to the mutual recognition? Palestinians insist that they still are looking to end the israeli occupation and to establish a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital next to a safe state of israel. A lot of blood has been spilled since 1993, but if the sea of flag-waving Palestinians that was featured on television Friday says anything, it is that Palestinian nationalism is still alive. israelis’ right-wing ideologues want nothing to do with Palestinian nationalism. Netanyahu gave lip service to the two-state solution while working hard to build illegal Jewish colonies in the occupied territories. The current israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is more honest about being an opponent of Palestinian nationalism. He has said that he will not meet with Palestinian political leaders and has no peace plans to discuss with Palestinians.

The only solution to our conflict is to share the power (a two-state solution) or share the land (one binational state).

The status quo we have now is one of an apartheid rule in

which Palestinians who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea are dealt with differently than israelis. This is what Palestinian, israeli and international human rights organizations have said. The apartheid condition was also recently acknowledged by the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. if anyone doubted that israel is opposed to Palestinian nationalism, one needs only to see what has happened with Abu Akleh’s killing and the violence against the crowds at her funeral. The israeli response is always to negate Palestinian nationalism. Recognizing Palestinian national rights has to include the right to self-determination. Occupation is the opposite of the right to live freely by your own choosing.in Jerusalem, where Abu Akleh lived for most of her life, the israelis say that the city’s Arabs are permanent residents and that israeli civil law applies to them. But since 2001 israel has closed many Palestinian institutions and blocked events as mundane as a Palestinian puppet festival just because it had a connection with the Ramallah-based Palestinian government. in shutting down 28 Palestinian civil society institutions this spring, the israeli government has had to resort to using the 1945 British Mandatory emergency regulations. They closed nonprofit organizations and think tanks like the Arab Studies Center, the Palestinian Tourism Council and the Orient House. it is not only that Palestinians are being punished for raising their national flag (which is not illegal according to israeli law), but Palestinians are denied their political rights in their own city. even absentee voting in east Jerusalem has been made difficult, frustrating attempts to hold Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections. israelis and Palestinians have nowhere to go in this troubled land. Denying the nationalism of either side has proved its futility. The time has come for israel’s strongest patron, the United States, to insist on applying the principles announced 29 years ago on the White House lawn — allowing Palestinians to live in a free and democratic state of their own. Without a political horizon for Palestinians, what we witnessed this week we will see forever. We need a vision for peace with active efforts to carry out that vision.

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and a former professor of journalism at Princeton University.

their demand for the president’s resignation.

For Tamils, Wickremesinghe is a familiar foe, and indeed the main Tamil nationalist parties have slammed his return. The former current prime minister has rejected accountability for war crimes and even claimed that he “saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair” and protected state officials from being dragged in front of the international Criminal Court.

He supports the foremost place that Buddhism occupies in the Sri Lankan constitution and is on the record rejecting federalism as a solution to the ethnic conflict – all key grievances of the Tamil people. When it comes to addressing the root causes of the ethnic conflict and the ongoing demands of Tamils for a political settlement, Wickremesinghe and the Rajapaksas are not that different.

The limited inclusion of Tamil political rights, demilitarisation of the Tamil-majority northeast and accountability for war crimes in the protest demands has played a part in the relatively lukewarm participation of Tamils.

As the population in the south of the country sees a new face of the Sri Lankan state, many Tamils are somewhat bemused by the Sinhalese community’s shock that the all-Sinhala military is pointing its guns at its own. Tamil member of Parliament Gajen Ponnambalam, in a prescient speech in Sri Lanka’s parliament in 2020, predicted that the state would turn on the Sinhala population, too. However, the state’s use of force against these largely Sinhala protesters is restrained compared to what Tamils have faced in the northeast. The military is ubiquitous in the northeast, enmeshed in the day-to-day life of the Tamil people. The troops, more than 300,000 of them, are spread across seven regional commands, of which five have bases in the Tamil-majority northeast – less than a third of the island. Loathed by Tamils due to decades of violence meted out

against them, the military has become a permanent and sinister presence in the northeast since the end of the war.

On May 18, Tamils will observe Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. Traditionally this day is marked with gatherings across the northeast. Last year, ten Tamils were arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act for holding remembrance events, with many more reporting intimidation and harassment by security forces. A memorial to the Tamils who had died was destroyed. This year, police are already exploiting the emergency regulations passed to respond to the anti-Gota protests, to intimidate Tamils in Mullaithivu, which has not seen any unrest related to the anti-Gota protests. The police threaten Tamil civilians saying they have orders to shoot those gathered illegally. As preparations for commemorations of the Tamil war dead are underway across the northeast, stakes are high and it will be an early test of Wickremesinghe’s premiership.

The reaction to the anti-Gota protests on May 18, usually marked by “victory” celebrations in the Sinhala south, will also be a crucial indicator of how receptive the protesters are to the concerns raised by Tamils, particularly if as expected the military continues to harass and intimidate those commemorating the day. With an old prime minister occupying the post for the sixth time, what was obvious to Tamils should be obvious to the rest of the population – without a fundamental restructuring of the state that addresses the root causes of the ethnic conflict, and justice and accountability for the mass atrocities that occurred during the war, Sri Lanka is doomed to repeat its past, and stability and prosperity for all its citizens will remain elusive.

Mario Arulthas is a PhD Candidate at SOAS, University of London and an advisor to People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL).

Fiddling while india's workers burn ProjecT syndicATe

k

JAyATi GhOsh

iM Stanley Robinson’s prescient sciencefiction novel The Ministry for the Future begins with a stark description of a major heat wave in a northern indian city that kills millions of people. The novel is set some decades in the future. But, with people across northern and central india and Pakistan suffering an unprecedented heat wave since late March, it seems terrifyingly current. in April, usually a time of late spring weather with average maximum temperatures of at most 35°C, daytime temperatures in New Delhi exceeded 46°C. Temperatures in many places in the region have hovered around 45°C for two months, reaching 49°C in Jacobabad, Pakistan, on April 30, and 47.2°C in Banda in central india. This was the hottest April weather in at least 120 years.

Although the heat has abated slightly since the start of May, the region’s hot season has barely begun. Meteorologists are already predicting that, partly owing to less rainfall than usual in this period, temperatures will rise above 50°C across much of South Asia as summer sets in. The effects can be lethal, because the combination of extreme heat and high humidity can prevent sweat from evaporating, reducing the body’s ability to cool down.

This is why the so-called “wet-bulb” temperature, which accounts for both heat and humidity, is significant. When this temperature is around 32°C, outdoor activity becomes difficult and enervating. if it exceeds 35°C, then spending even a few hours outside in the shade with no physical activity can lead to death. Several indian cities have recently experienced wet-bulb temperatures of close to 30°C. These could increase in coming heat waves and kill people, in exactly the way Robinson describes in his novel.

But this evidence that climate change is outpacing even some of the most pessimistic scientific predictions does not seem to be generating any official urgency to change economic strategies, in india or elsewhere. Like too many other governments around the world, indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has shown no appetite for undertaking the policy changes and public spending required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and cut pollution, which are essential to avert a climate disaster. in fact, the government is not even doing the absolute minimum necessary to help india’s predominantly poor population cope with the climate changes already affecting them. Modi has asked state governments to take measures to prevent deaths due to heat waves and fire incidents, but how exactly are they to do this? The National Action Plan on Heat-Related

illnesses does not focus on protecting people from heat exposure, but rather outlines relatively minor strategies for dealing with the consequences, and is really intended to be used by government health departments and private healthcare facilities.

That will do nothing for the nine out of ten employed people in india who are engaged in informal activities with no legal or social protection. These workers have virtually no fallback option if they do not go out to earn their living, no matter how terrible the weather. An international Labour Organisation (iLO) report on heat stress and work identified agriculture and construction — the two largest employers in india — as the sectors that will be worst-affected in terms of deteriorating conditions and working-time losses as the planet warms. Other at-risk occupations like refuse collection also are dominated by very poor and low-paid informal workers.

These are the activities most likely to lead to serious health problems, and even death, if performed in extreme heat and humidity. But the hundreds of millions of indians who work such jobs typically have no choice but to keep doing them.

One aspect of heat stress at work that even the iLO ignored concerns the unpaid work of hundreds of millions of women and girls in india who fetch water for daily household use. Scorching heat dries up existing surface water sources and reduces ground water supplies, forcing women and girls to walk longer distances and spend even more hours collecting and carrying water. it also makes these tasks more arduous and potentially life-threatening.

The iLO emphasises that governments have to be the main drivers of adaptation to higher temperatures with respect to heat stress at work, including by providing universal social protection and ensuring occupational safety even for informal work. But the indian government’s public pronouncements and stated policies contain nothing of the kind, even as more intense and frequent heat waves are poised to become bigger killers in the subcontinent than the ongoing COViD-19 pandemic. The government is essentially leaving people to fend for themselves in a foreseeable tragedy. And it envisages continued investment in fossil fuels for decades to come. “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology, and physics. That’s all she is,” the environmentalist Robert Watson has said. “Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats 1.000.” Governments must recognise that fundamental truth. But if record heat waves cannot persuade them, it is not easy to see what will.

Jayati Ghosh, professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is a member of the UN secretary general’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

09

SinDH gOvt annOunCeS launCH Date Of PeOPle’S BuS ServiCe

corporate corner

KaraCHI

ISLAMABAD: Hashoo Group collaborates for Marketing Agreement with Star Marketing (Pvt.) Ltd. for Shopping Arcade at Pearl-Continental Hotel Peshawar. The agreement was signed by Mr. Shakir Bhura, Chief Financial Officer, Hospitality and Real Estate Division, Hashoo Group and Mr. Wasiq Ali Khan, CEO, Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd. at Marriott Hotel Islamabad. The event was attended by Mr. Murtaza Hashwani, Deputy Chairman and CEO, Hashoo Group along with the senior management of Hashoo Group and Star Marketing. pr

Power suspension schedules for today 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 15th May, From 09:00 AM to 02:00 PM, Rawalpindi-III, CNC, VIP, Jhanda, State Bank, Humayun Road Feeders, From 09:00 AM to 01:00 PM, Bella Road Feeder, From 08:00 AM to 01:00 PM, Park View, Pindi Board, Jail Park-1, Car Chowk, Mehboob Shaheed, FF Hospital, Ex-Lawyer Cly, Walayat Complex, AOWHS, Morgah 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

11th meeting of Medical & Dental Council Meeting held at PMC Head-Office The 11th meeting of the Medical & Dental Council held today at the Pakistan Medical Commission Headquarters.

The meeting was chaired by the President PMC, Dr. Arshad Taqi. During the meeting, the Council approved that the registration for MDCAT will be opened from 25th May 2022 and the exam will be held from 7th September to 30th September in 20 cities across Pakistan. The Council has also approved the policy for adding provincial MDCAT Committees to be constituted in each province and territory by the relevant federal and provincial governments, consisting of three members nominated by the provincial government, of which two shall be from public sector medical universities and one from a private medical university.

The MDCAT Committees shall review the curriculum and recommend to the National Medical and Dental Academic Board any changes in the curriculum or propose questions bank to be included in the MDCAT exam. The purpose is to involve all stakeholders to ensure transparency and ownership. Member IT gave a detailed briefing to the Council about MDCAT & NLE exams, which are completely designed and executed through PMC owned system developed for the purpose.

Based on two recent conferences held with dental colleges of Pakistan, the colleges have submitted their recommendations related to lowering MDCAT pass percentage for admission in dental program to the National Academic Board for consideration. The Board has directed the National Medical Authority to collect data of average MDCAT score from the provinces as well as from Jinnah Sindh Medical University. The Board considered lowering the MDCAT pass marks for BDS program to 60% subject to the analysis asked from the provinces. The Medical and Dental Council has directed to collect data from JSMU and submit it to the Board on urgent basis. Moreover, the Council has suggested to the Board to consider fixing the MDCAT pass percentage for BDS program at 55%. The Council has withdrawn the interim policy on sharing of facilities between dental and medical colleges with publication of the “2022 Dental College Accreditation Standards” as formulated by the Board and approved by the Council. The interim Policy having become redundant stands withdrawn with immediate effect.

Many Colleges approached the Authority proposing to schedule fixed dates for admissions in medical and dental colleges. The Council has considered the proposal sent by Dr. Razi, President PAMI (Sindh Chapter) suggesting admission dates. Council has approved necessary amendments to the Medical and Dental Undergraduate Education (Admissions, Curriculum and Conduct) Regulations 2021 to allow for final date of admission. pr

S

staff report

INDH Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon on Saturday directed Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and other concerned authorities to clear all hurdles along the routes of People’s Bus Service by this month.

The minister issued these directives while chairing a meeting related to transport projects in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

The PPP minister said the government will launch Sindh People’s Intra-district Bus Service in Karachi in the last week of the current month under all circumstances.

“In the first phase of the project, buses will start operating on two routes of Karachi,” he said, adding that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and CM Murad Ali Shah will inaugurate the project.

He said the National Radio Transmission Company has conducted a detailed survey of the proposed seven routes and identified the hindrances and suggested improvement and repair of the routes.

Sharjeel directed KMC and DMC’s to immediately start work on the routes in coordination with Sindh Mass Transit Authority, National Radio Trans-

mission Company.

The meeting was attended by LG Minister Nasir

Burial of Lilac - Bilquis Edhi

By Iffat farooq “April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land,” the location of these lines by Eliot is as momentous and significant as the contemporary state of degeneration of our society. Pakistan went into deep mourning in the month of April when Bilquis Edhi, a recipient of Mother Teresa Memorial Award for social justice breathed her last in Karachi.

State funeral cortege did not accompany her and flags were not half-staffed. Her eulogy was attended by browbeaten of the society and her last journey was accompanied by prayers of thousands unwanted children. A woman has shown through loud actions and very few words. Seldom, millions of beneficiaries of his services has listened her voice but she will be ever remembered through her suave actions for women and orphans. She dedicated her life to humanity irrespective of cast creed and community. She left a hope that small actions of kindness will lead towards regeneration in the waste land of our society.

She practically knotted with mythology of the mother of her companion Edhi, “Every day before school my mother gave me 2 paisas and said, spent one on yourself and give the other away, it was her way of creating awareness in me of the need for social welfare”.

She was the real manifestation of the stimulating leitmotif sprinted behind the stretched tale, the altruistic tale of compassion which touched the life of millions of the people across globe. The tale is so phenomenal, inspiring and startling. She is an inspiration and the sup-

porting hand of someone as magnanimous as Edhi Sahab. It takes infinite wisdom, passion and patience. I had a chance to meet the couple in 2012 and heard these tales and witnessed the layers of education, skill development and home facilities provided to the children.

An autobiography gifted by Edhi under his signature’s “A Mirror to the Blind” is peeping from my bookshelf and asking a question about the future of unwanted children in our lands.

We need to recognize the efforts and inspire others to be a part of this crusade, the crusade against the infant killing.

Iconic philanthropic practitioners came up with a novel idea of cribs placing in front of each center best known as “Jhoola project”. Some of the cradle carried signs that read ‘Do not kill the innocent babies’.

The babies left in cribs are eventually taken into foundation’s custody and care. This service reportedly saved over 42 thousand unwanted babies in Pakistan. This project received push back from religious clerics when it was instituted. Some religious segments portrayed that it is encouraging people to bear children out of wedlock. The project is running on non-commercial, non-political and noncommunal basis serving without any discrimination and is enjoying exclusive credentials.

This is a hallmark project in Pakistan which was an attempt to fight infanticide especially female infanticide.

Couple was opposed by many.

They were told that they were non-believers. A number of fatwas were imposed that they wouldn't go to Paradise. But Edhi’s response was astound-

ing that he doesn't want to go extremists' heaven." Many had criticized Edhi Sahab for his liberal and unorthodox views but his unparalleled credence couldn’t be shaken. However the project approved and appreciated over the period of time and people became comfortable with the dynamics of the project.

On annual basis, Edhi foundation is giving over 250 children for adoption and more than 23 thousand babies have been provided to the childless couples and families. Abandoned new born babies are being handed over to childless couples after rigorous screening process that the couples or family is precisely suitable for the baby adoption.

Bilquis Edhi joined the foundation as a teenager, a nurse by profession, she worked in the foundation maternity clinic. Flu outbreaks in the ’50s, war dead in the ’60s, gangland killings in the ’90s — they were around every day.

The efforts of the foundation are also unique that they had not accepted aid from any government and institutions.

The foundation is not only a testament to the man’s administrative, philanthropic genius and verification of true intentions but is also a demonstration to the strength of his heart and his wife. They couple rose by lifting others and left legacy of true virtues and ultimate values of humanity truth, peace and love. Benevolence and kindness of this couple ran like a snow for the orphans and unwanted children-it beautified everything it covered.

(The writer is a public policy practitioner and women rights enthusiast)

Hussain Shah, Minister for Labour Saeed Ghani and Administrator Karachi, Barrister Murtaza Wahab.

Ministry to hold balloting for govt Hajj scheme on Sunday The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony will hold balloting on Sunday to select over 32,000 successful intending pilgrims out of the total 63,666 applicants who wish to perform Hajj through the government’s scheme.

In a talk with APP on Saturday, the ministry’s spokesperson Muhammad Umar Butt told that the ministry had not extended the last date for the submission of Hajj applications due to time constraints.

He said the process of receiving Hajj applications started on May 1 and continued till May 13 through various designated branches of the 14 scheduled banks.

He said Pakistan received a Hajj quota of 81,132 pilgrims this year which was being distributed with the ratio of 40:60 percentages to the government and private schemes respectively.

Butt, while estimating the Hajj expenses, said this year the total cost of the pilgrimage was expected to be Rs700,000 to Rs1 million, however, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has not provided the details of mandatory expenses yet.

The ministry would announce the overall Hajj cost only after receiving details of mandatory expenses from the quarters concerned, he added.

He said the ministry had launched a ‘Hajj Helpline’ with landline numbers – 051-9205696 and 051-9216980-82 – to facilitate and guide the pilgrims, who could also get guidance from the official WhatsApp number 0306-3332555 via the short messaging service (SMS).

It may be mentioned that personal smart phones are mandatory for the pilgrims, who will have to download two approved mobile applications as per the instructions of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Ummah.

The Saudi authorities have launched the two mobile apps to facilitate the overseas pilgrims for performing Umrah and Hajj.

The Hajj is open to those who have received the approved COVID-19 vaccinations by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the pilgrims are required to submit a negative COVID-19 PCR test result performed within 72 hours of the time of departure to the Saudi Arabia.

The people above the age of 65 years cannot perform Hajj this year. app

Nurses play a vital role in improving health service delivery – Dr Faisal Sultan International Nurses Day is observed on May 12 to acknowledge the importance of nurses in healthcare systems. The theme for 2022 is "Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health."

On this occasion, Ms. Rehana Elahi, Director for Nursing at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres (SKMCH&RC) said, “The vision for the future of nursing in general, and at a tertiary care cancer centre such as SKMCH&RC in particular, demands a highly knowledgeable and specialised nurs-

ing work force presence round the clock. To meet this demand, SKMCH&RC invests in education and training of nurses. We offer a number of formal nursing education programmes including specialised diploma programmes in Oncology, Critical Care and Perioperative Nursing, and a bachelor’s degree in Oncology Nursing.”

In a message for the public, Dr. Muhammed Aasim Yusuf, the Chief Medical Officer of SKMCH&RC, appreciated the role of nurses and encouraged young people to consider nursing as a profession. He said,

“Our nurses have played an integral role in ensuring continuity of quality cancer care while maintaining dignity of patients. There is a general shortage of nurses in our country and as the Shaukat Khanum Healthcare System looks to expand its services, there is an increasing demand of nurses trained in oncology. I hope that increasing numbers of young women and men in our country will step forward and join the nursing profession.”

Dr Faisal Sultan, the Chief Executive Officer of SKMCH&RC said, “Nurses play a vital role in improving quality of health care

systems. They raise the standards of care at the point of service delivery and bring compassionate care to patients.” He went on to say, “In Pakistan, improvement in salaries of nurses and in their standard of living is a positive trend. We should invest in continuing nursing education programmes and take steps to promote their health and wellbeing. It is heartening to see a consensus amongst government, private and not-for-profit sectors on the important role of training and recognition of nurses in providing quality healthcare.”

Acknowledging the role of nurses during

the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Faisal said that not only in Pakistan but also around the world, nurses played an exceptional role and displayed great courage and unyielding commitment towards their profession during these unprecedented times. At Shaukat Khanum Hospitals in Lahore and Peshawar, we recognise the important role of nursing in helping us achieve international accreditation such as the Joint Commission International. He concluded, “We need the support of our nursing colleagues in improving and maintaining high standards in health service delivery.”

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

10 FOREIGN NEWS

TAlibAN’s fiRsT ANNuAl AfghAN budgeT fOResees $501 milliON deficiT KABUL

A

Agencies

fghanistan faces a budget deficit of 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million) this financial year, the country’s Taliban authorities said on Saturday without clarifying how the gap between expected revenues and planned spending will be met.

Announcing the first annual national budget since the Taliban took over the war-torn country in August last year, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said the government foresaw spending of 231.4 billion Afghanis and domestic revenue of 186.7 billion.

“The revenues are collections from departments related to customs, ministries and mines,” spokesperson for the Finance Ministry Ahmad Wali Haqmal said. Since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, successive Westernbacked governments relied mostly on foreign aid. In August 2021, foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan,

leading to the collapse of the government and a Taliban takeover.

The world is yet to officially recognise the Taliban government. The country is dealing with rising security issues and an economic meltdown, while aid agencies figure out how to help 50 million Afghans without giving the Taliban direct access to funds.

Hanafi said the budget for the current financial year, that runs to next February, had been approved by the council of ministries and confirmed by the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada, and would use local funds only. Development works would take up 27.9 billion Afghanis, he said, but did not provide a breakdown of spending on areas such as defence.

“We have paid attention to education, technical education, and higher education and our all focus is on how to pave the way education for everyone,” Hanafi said. Taliban authorities are yet to allow the restarting of older girls’ education across the country after committing to a start date earlier this year.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed elected UAE president after brother’s death DUBAi AFP

Russia to respond if NATO moves nuclear forces closer to its borders Agencies Moscow will take adequate precautionary measures if NATO deploys nuclear forces and infrastructure closer to Russia’s border, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. “It will be necessary to respond … by taking adequate precautionary measures that would ensure the viability of deterrence,” Interfax agency quoted Grushko as saying.

Moscow has no hostile intentions towards Finland and Sweden and does not see “real” reasons for those two countries to be joining the NATO alliance, Grushko added. He also reiterated the Kremlin’s earlier statement that Moscow’s response to NATO’s possible expansion will depend on how close the alliance moves military assets towards Russia and what infrastructure it deploys. Finland’s plan to apply for NATO membership, announced on Thursday, and the expectation that Sweden will follow, would bring about the expansion of the Western military alliance that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent.

The UAE’s long-time de facto ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as president on Saturday, official media said, a day after the death of former leader Sheikh Khalifa.

The 61-year-old was unanimously elected by the Federal Supreme Council, WAM news agency said, becoming the ruler of the oil-rich country founded by his father in 1971.

Sheikh Mohamed, often known as ‘MBZ’, met members of the Federal Supreme Council, made up of rulers of the UAE’s seven emirates, as the country enters a period of mourning for his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa. Sheikh Mohamed’s ascension, which was widely expected, formalises his position as leader of the desert state of 10 million after years of calling the shots while Sheikh Khalifa was sidelined by poor health.

Under his low-key direction, the United Arab Emirates has put a man in space, sent a probe to Mars and opened its first nuclear reactor, while using its oil-funded clout to develop a more assertive foreign policy.

Closely allied with Saudi Arabia, it has emerged as a leader of a reshaped Middle East since the retreat of traditional Arab powers and the reduced involvement of the United States, forging ties with Israel and joining a war against Iran-backed militants in Yemen.

Official media had already named Sheikh Mohamed as the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s richest emirate, on Friday, inheriting one of the main titles held

by Sheikh Khalifa who died at 73.

Sheikh Mohamed, wearing a light grey kandura or robe, was a pall-bearer at the funeral prayers for his elder brother who was laid to rest in Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Cemetery just hours after his death was announced, in accordance with Muslim tradition.

‘Running the show’: Flags are at half-mast around the UAE and businesses and government offices are closed for three days as the country enters a 40-day period of mourning for Sheikh Khalifa, who had ruled

since 2004.

Sheikh Khalifa’s death drew condolences from senior figures including US President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Iran, demonstrating the UAE’s diverse allegiances.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is to travel to Abu Dhabi on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Emirati leader, his office announced.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia has put sports and entertainment on hold and several countries have announced periods of mourning.

Sheikh Mohamed, who was named crown prince of Abu Dhabi in November 2004, is the third son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan — the revered founder of the UAE. He has been serving as deputy commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, which controls the substantial finances of the emirate which sits on 90 percent of the country’s oil production. The UAE, a former British protectorate, has gone from a desert outpost to a booming state in its short history, fuelled by its oil wealth and Dubai’s rise as a trading and financial centre.

Sheikh Mohamed took a prominent role after Sheikh Khalifa retreated from public view in 2014, when he had surgery after a stroke. The cause of his death was not announced.

27 killed in fire in indian capital new deLhi: At least 27 people died and dozens more were injured in a massive fire in a building in the Indian capital New Delhi on Friday, emergency services said.

The large fire broke out at a four-storey commercial building in west Delhi in the late afternoon, but its cause was not immediately clear. “Twenty-seven charred bodies were recovered from the building and almost two dozen injured are undergoing treatment,” Satpal Bharadwaj, who was in charge of operations for the Delhi Fire Service at the scene, told AFP. Bharadwaj said there were about 70 people in the building when the blaze erupted. “There was no fire exit and most of the people died due to asphyxiation,” he said, adding that more would be known after autopsies could be conducted. The official said “almost two dozen” were injured and undergoing treatment, but earlier, deputy chief fire officer Sunil Choudhary told AFP that the number of injured stood at “more than 25 people”.

Choudhary added that some had jumped from the burning building. Broadcaster NDTV, meanwhile, reported that more than 40 people had sustained burns and were hospitalised. While Bharadwaj said the cause was still not known, he did say the building was used for “offices and storage for paper packing material.” NDTV quoted police official Sameer Sharma as saying the building housed the office of a security camera and router manufacturing company. Several officials said they believed the death toll could rise. More than 30 fire trucks were at the scene, along with ambulances. Amit Mahajan, whose cousin and nephew were missing after the fire, told AFP they had been at the building to “train workers”. AFP

Thousands expected to rally across us for abortion rights new YoRK: Thousands of activists are gearing up to take to US streets Saturday in a national day of action calling for safe and legal access to abortion. The planned nationwide demonstrations are a response to a leaked draft opinion showing the United States Supreme Court’s conservative majority is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide. “Our bodies are our own — if they are not, we cannot be truly free or equal,” says a petition from Bans Off Our Bodies, which was organised by groups including Planned Parenthood and the Women’s March. “Across the country, some politicians are trying to make decisions about our bodies for us,” it says. “We won’t let the abortion bans sweeping the country put our lives and futures at risk, and we won’t be silenced while our fundamental right to control our bodies is taken away.” Protesters are expected in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago, as well as at hundreds of smaller events across the country.

The leak of the draft opinion has ignited fury over the potential rollback of abortion rights ahead of November’s key midterm elections, when control of both congressional chambers are at stake. Democrats have pushed to codify abortion rights into federal law, a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of the crucial polls. The House-passed Women’s Health Protection Act would assure health care providers have the right to provide abortions and that patients have the right to receive them. But Republicans in the US Senate refused to allow a vote on the measure earlier this week. ‘we aLL Lose’: The legislative result does not square with American opinion at large: a new Politico/Morning Consult poll has 53 percent of voters saying Roe should not be overturned, up three percentage points since last week, while 58 percent said it was important to vote for a candidate who supports abortion access. Republican-controlled states already have taken steps to restrict abortion rights in recent months, and overturning Roe v. Wade would grant them far greater latitude to restrict or ban the procedure. “We ALL lose if Roe is overturned,” tweeted Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March. “Even those in small conservative towns like mine in Texas who are grateful for the abortion their wife had during a pregnancy that put her health at risk, or afraid of the one their granddaughter may be unable to access if she were raped,” she wrote. AFP

‘Lose land or lose lives’: Indian farmers left with hard choices neW DeLHi AnAdolu Agency

As India witnessed an uptick in suicides by farmers in the last few years, farm leaders and agriculture experts demanded the government bring in new farm policies and take urgent steps to address the crisis.

Over 17,000 farmers have committed suicide over the past three years due to heavy debts and crop losses, according to figures presented in the Indian parliament earlier this year. According to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, 5,579 farmers committed suicide in the country in 2020, compared to 5,957 the year before.

While 70% of people in the country depend upon agriculture directly or indirectly, the spate of suicides by farmers has been testing the nerves of successive governments.

On the eve of World Farmers Day, which is observed on different days in different countries, India’s top agriculture expert

Devinder Sharma told Anadolu Agency that farmers are facing “income disparity.”

“If you look at the agriculture sector, it is the only area where produce enters the market without a price tag, and then the market decides the price,” he said.

Sharma noted that whatever is happening in India with regard to farm suicides is “universal in design.”

“The reason why Indian farmers resort to suicides is that the design puts agriculture into the hand of a few companies,” he said.

“The farming population everywhere in the world is confronted with income disparity.

Unless we are able to address that, I don’t think we can fix up the food markets.” ‘seRious agRaRian distRess’: Sharma said there is a need to make farming economically viable by providing farmers a guaranteed price for their produce.

“In India, Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be there. It may not be the right kind of price, but it provides assurance.

The real freedom of farmers will come when we provide farmers with guaranteed prices,” he said.

Stating that the number of suicides in the country is a reflection of the “serious agrarian distress in the country,” Sharma said that in absence of proper income, suicides are bound to happen.

“At times, farmers take multiple loans.

To bring farmers out of that situation, we have to give them a living income,” he said.

Economist Satish Verma of the Centre for Rural Research and Industrial Development, an autonomous research institute in northern India, said that since the income of farmers is “low”, they have to depend on both institutional and non-institutional sources for loans.

“As far as institutional sources, there have been announcements about the loan waiver, but the non-institutional sources which are mostly private don’t provide any kind of waiver. As loans from non-institu-

tional sources come with high interest rates, farmers are not able to repay their loans,” he said. He said when farmers are not able to pay their loans, they are left with two options only – lose their land or lose their lives.

“I believe that suicides are happening because of non-institutional loans. The government should control these loans. The noninstitutional sources of loans have their own mechanism and they take possession of lands of farmers if they are not able to pay the loans,” he said.

Law to heLp faRmeRs: Sukhdev Singh Kokri, a farmer leader, told Anadolu Agency that over the years, farm suicides have increased, adding the government should bring a law on minimum support price to financially support farmers.

The minimum support price protects farmers from price shocks in case of a bad crop year. “Because of the green revolution in the country, the input cost has gone up, with farmers not getting a good price for

their produce. A farmer is forced to take loans, mostly from the private commission agents. It becomes a cycle and the farmer gets trapped in it,” he said.

He stated that when there would be a good income for farmers, the dependency on loans would become less.

“So the government has a big role to play in introducing minimum support price for farmers and controlling these private money lenders who are giving loans on high interests,” said Kokri.

The Indian government has been maintaining that they have adopted several developmental programs, schemes, reforms, and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers.

“All these policies and programs are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources by way of creating Corpus Funds, and supplementary income transfers under PMKISAN. The latest major intervention includes the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat – Agriculture package’ which includes comprehensive market reforms.” the government told parliament in November last year.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

SPORTS 11

PCB looks to introduCe seParate ContraCt PoliCy for red, white-Ball CriCket

P

NewS DeSK

AKISTAN Cricket Board (PCB) is considering introducing a separate contract policy for red and whiteball cricketers. While talking to reporters on Friday, PCB Director Media Sami-ul-Hasan Burney said that several meetings had been held in the last few

days regarding the central contracts, which will be announced next month.

There has been a discussion about introducing this new policy where cricketers will be compensated according to the format they play.

For example, if skipper Babar Azam and a few other cricketers play red and white-ball cricket, they will be paid according to both. PCB is also looking to lessen the gap as the compensation

of national cricketers is less than the rest of the world and this gap will be reduced gradually.

On the other hand, it was earlier reported that skipper Babar Azam and head coach Saqlain Mushtaq demanded an increase of 20 per cent in salaries.

Meanwhile, PCB is also mulling to increase the number of players in the emerging category. In previous contracts, three crick-

eters were part of this category while it could move to seven or ten. The cricket board is also looking to set up a special fund for cricketers so that the top players, who are considered iconic, can focus less on their league earnings and prolong their careers.

If a player is offered a contract from somewhere and the management of the Pakistan team thinks that he should rest or train

Pakistan to host richest-ever Asian Tour golf event in December KARACHI MoniToring rePorT

In what will be one of the richest sports events in the country's history, the CNS-Pakistan Golf Championship will take place at the Karachi Golf Club (KGC) in December as an Asian Tour contest, carrying a whopping prize purse of US$500,000.

A senior KGC official confirmed to The News on Friday that the tour has included the CNS-Pakistan Open in its calendar and the event will take place from December 1-4.

The CNS-Pakistan Open will mark the country's return to the Asian Tour for the first time since 2018 when the US$300,000 UMA-CNS Open was staged at the KGC. Pakistan will once again figure on the Asian Tour map for the first time in four years with the biggest-ever prize basket in the country's

history. At the current exchange rate, the prize money will be close to Rs100 million, making it the most lucrative sports event in Pakistan's history.

"It's great news that the CNS-Pakistan will be played at KGC in December with a prize purse of 500,000 dollars," said KGC's Chief Operating Officer Commodore Ghazanfar Abbas.

Considering an increased prize purse, it is expected that Asia's top-notch professionals will feature in the CNSPakistan Open.

According to Commodore Ghazanfar, it was on the instructions of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi that efforts were made to put Pakistan back on the Asian Tour map.

Admiral Niazi, who is an avid golfer, announced at the prize distribution ceremony of last year's CNS Open that the 2022 edition of the tournament will be part of the Asian Tour. According to the

AFP

Tiger Woods continues his comeback from severe leg injuries at next week’s PGA Championship after making a sensational return at last month’s Masters with plenty of curiosity over the state of his game.

The 15-time major champion practiced last month at Southern Hills and excited fans hope he can improve on his 47th-place finish at Augusta National, where Woods called finishing 72 holes among his greatest career achievements.

“Some of the players who are close to me have seen it and have seen some of the things I’ve had to endure,” Woods said last month. “It has been a tough road and one that I’m very thankful to have had the opportunity to be able to grind through.

“I think it was a positive and I’ve got some work to do and looking forward to it.”

Woods, a former world number one now ranked 804th, won the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills and returns to the Tulsa, Oklahoma, layout 15

after epic run and Masters win, no.1 scheffler seeks PGa title TULSA AFP

plan, the CNS-Pakistan Open will be part of a week-long golfing festival to be held from November 28 to December 4 that will also include a Pro-Am tournament preceding the main championship.

In 2018, Thailand's Tirawat

Kaewsiribandit won the Asian Tour title at KGC. Professionals from 18 nations featured in the four-day UMA-CNS Open championship and the field included at least five former Asian Tour winners.

Tiger continues comeback from severe leg injuries at PGA TULSA

instead of participating in the league, then the PCB should try to compensate the loss to some extent. In this way, the assets of Pakistan cricket will be protected and it will not feel deprived. On the other hand, the issue of contracts and the number of domestic cricketers and coaches is also under consideration. After consultation, all contracts will be finalised before the new year.

months after a severe car crash that so badly damaged his right leg that he feared it might have to be amputated. “To go from that to here, we’re excited about the prospects of the future, about training, about getting into that gym and doing some other stuff to get my leg stronger,” Woods said after his final round at the Masters last month.

“We’ll get back after it.” Woods, 46, fired a 63 in the second round in 2007 at Southern Hills on his way to the title and came back a few weeks ago to see what changes a course renovation had brought since walking a course for four days has become a major stamina test.

“It caused quite a buzz even before he landed,” Southern Hills golf director Cary Cozby told The Golf Channel. “He left here looking like Elvis heading off the stage.”

Southern Hills underwent a major renovation in 2019 with bunkers reshaped and many trees removed.

“He remembered all of the golf course, every club he hit it seemed,” Cozby said. “He seemed to enjoy the changes.”

Augusta National offered one of the tougher walks of any season but Southern Hills has only a couple of major climbs, what should be an easier test as Woods looks to the British Open at St. Andrews in July.

“I have those days where I just don’t want to do anything. It just hurts. It’s those days that are tough,” Woods admitted at Augusta.

“I just have to work through it. In order to get better, you just have to go out there and put in the time.”

Woods had battled through nagging back and knee injuries to win the 2019 Masters for his first major victory in 11 years, only to be faced with his latest setback after a California automobile accident in February 2021. Players and spectators applauded Woods, a 2022 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, in his comeback effort at the Masters.

“We all have to thank Tiger for where the game is,” four-time major winner Rory McIlroy said.

“Tiger has left more of a mark on this game, I think, than anyone else basically in history. We should all be very fortunate that we played at a time that he was around because we’ve all benefited from him.”

Top-ranked Masters champion Scottie Scheffler enters next week’s PGA Championship on a run major rivals are calling “dangerous” and “borderline Tigeresque” even as the 25-year-old American downplays his feats. The year’s second major tournament tees off Thursday at Southern Hills with Scheffler trying to become the first man to get halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam since fellow Texan Jordan Spieth in 2015. “It’s nice to be on a good run,” said Scheffler. “I really just try to stay in the moment.

Goals, expectations, nothing like that changes for me.

I just like being out here playing golf.” Scheffler began an astonishing two-month run by winning his first US PGA title in February at the Phoenix Open, then captured his second in March at Bay Hill in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After a disappointing share of 55th at The Players Championship, Scheffler won the WGC Match Play Championship and followed that with his first major title, taking the green jacket and the top ranking with his victory at Augusta National. “He’s setting the bar pretty high right now and obviously he’s the guy to chase for all of us,” said US PGA Tour veteran Will Zalatoris. “What he’s doing is borderline Tigeresque. It’s pretty cool to see.” Tiger Woods, the 15-time major winner who returned last month at the Masters from severe leg injuries in a February 2021 car crash, will play at Southern Hills, where he won the 2007 PGA Championship. He tested his stamina for walking the course in a practice round last month. But Phil Mickelson, who last year won the PGA at age 50 to become the oldest major winner in golf history, will not defend his crown, the PGA of America announced Friday.

The US left-hander has not played since his controversial comments in support of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series were revealed in February. He apologized for the remarks and said he needed a break from golf.

He has missed two majors in a year for the first time since 1993. Mickelson was sure to face questions about his future on the US PGA Tour, which refused to grant members releases to compete in the LIV Golf opener next month in London. Scheffler played a practice round earlier this month at Southern Hills.

“It’s a really good test,” Scheffler said. “It looked pretty similar to what it did before.

China gives up 2023 Asian Cup hosting rights: Asian Football Confederation HONG KONG reuTers

Former champion Amir Khan announces retirement from boxing LONDON The AssociATed Press

Former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan announced his retirement from boxing after a career that also included a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. “It’s time to hang up my gloves,” the 35-yearold Khan said Friday on Twitter. “I feel blessed to have had such an amazing career that has spanned over 27 years.” One of the best British boxers of his era, Khan retires with a record of 34-6. He won the silver medal in Greece at age 17. “I want to say a heartfelt thanks to the incredible teams I have worked with and to my family, friends and fans for the love and support they have shown me,” he added. Khan was the unified light-welterweight champion from 2009-12 and later fought — and lost to — big names like Canelo Alvarez, Danny Garcia and Terence Crawford in the United States. Khan’s last fight was a onesided loss to longtime rival Kell Brook in February. Brook announced his retirement from boxing just last week.

China will no longer host the 2023 Asian Cup finals due to the Covid-19 situation in the country, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Saturday, adding that it will decide on a new host in due course.

The event, which is played every four years and features 24 national teams from across the continent, was due to be held in 10 cities from June 16 to July 16 next year.

“The Asian Football Confederation has been officially informed by the CFA (Chinese Football Association) that it would not be able to host the AFC Asian Cup 2023,” the confederation said in a statement.

“The AFC acknowledges the exceptional circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the relinquishment by China PR of its hosting rights.”

The news was one of the top trending topics on the Chinese social media site Weibo on Saturday, generating nearly 60 million reads within a few hours.

Many readers said the move may

mean the country’s zero Covid policy could remain in place well into next year, while others questioned what will happen to the 10 stadiums constructed or renovated for the competition.

Others joked that the move was good for the much-maligned men’s national team, who currently sit 77th in the FIFA world rankings.

“Now the national team has plenty of time to improve. Keep working hard,”

wrote a user called MrClock in a toprated comment.

The Asian Cup is the latest international sporting event to be affected by China’s attempts to tackle the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Asian Games organisers the Olympic Council of Asia postponed the next edition of the multi-sport event, due to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September, until 2023.

China, which had been due to host

the Asian Cup for the first time since 2004, continues to implement a zeroCovid policy and cities across the country have faced tight restrictions after a recent outbreak of the Omicron variant.

Shanghai has been under lockdown for more than a month while other cities, including the capital Beijing, are facing a wave of additional curbs, frequent testing and targeted lockdowns.

Most international sporting events in China have been postponed or cancelled since the start of the pandemic, with the notable exception of the Winter Olympics, which went ahead in Beijing under strict health controls in February.

The Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix has been not been held since 2019, while WTA events have been suspended due to a standoff over concerns relating to the safety of Chinese player Peng Shuai.

China is scheduled to host four ATP events this year, including the Shanghai Masters and the China Open in October.

The Chinese Super League is yet to announce when the new football season will begin, while the CFA has also given up the right to host July’s East Asian Championships, which will now take place in Japan.

Sunday, 15 May, 2022

pRayeR timiNgs

NEWS

‘PloT To kIll me hATched,’ ImRAn khAn TellS chARged cRowd In SIAlkoT SIALKOT

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staff RepoRt

TI Chairman Imran Khan Saturday claimed he had information of an assassination plot to kill him and he had recorded a video about his possible assassins and the characters behind the “conspiracy” against his government.

“The video has been kept at a safe location and if something happens to me, it will be released,” said Imran Khan while addressing a huge public gathering here.

“They (without specifying) have deiced to kill Imran Khan. And this is why I have recorded this video as I don’t consider what I do as politics, but this is jihad to me,” the PTI chairman said.

The ousted prime minister, in his address to the Sialkot jalsa, said a “conspiracy” was being hatched to take his life — and despite knowing about it earlier, he has now enough evidence to confirm it.

Khan said he has named everyone — the people who were involved in the “conspiracy” abroad and at home. “I have said in the video that the names of every person who conspired against my government are etched on my heart.”

The PTI chairman said the reason behind his video was that in Pakistan, powerful people are not held accountable, thus, through this video, he will ex-

pose everyone who went “against the country’s interest.”

Khan said that during his tenure, he wanted to hold the corrupt politicians accountable, but the “powerful people” who could do that have now accepted corruption as a norm.

The ousted prime minister urged people to come out against the government and support the PTI as if they do not do this, “you will have no future”.

Khan who has held a series of rallies across different cities of Pakistan, including Karachi, Mianwali, Lahore, Peshawar, and Jhelum, as he readies his party against the government ahead of the Islamabad march.

Khan said the judiciary took a good initiative by taking a suo motu on the night of the no-confidence vote and opened the gates of the courts.

The PTI chairman told the judiciary that Rs24 billion corruption cases were filed against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz, and his brother, Salman Shahbaz.

“So tell me a country where the [authorities] make cases against you and when you come into power, you remove all those officials who were investigating the cases against the corrupt politicians,” Khan said.

He paid tribute to former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director Dr

Rizwan, who was bold enough to continue investigating corruption cases against the “Sharif mafia”.

But when the PML-N came into power, “Dr Rizwan was pressurised; Hamza Sharif threatened him and Dr Rizwan came under severe pressure, had a heart attack and passed away”.

Khan claimed that another FIA official, Nadeem Akhtar, also suffered a heart attack yesterday. “I want to ask a question: the officers who investigate the cases of mafias are under severe pressure, how is this possible? Where are my courts? It is your job to ensure they are safe.”

The PTI chairman told the judiciary that the institutions were being “destroyed” in front of their eyes, and if the condition of the institutions deteriorates, then the country cannot survive.

The Sialkot jalsa is being after heightened political activity took place in the wee hours of Saturday as the Christian community protested against PTI’s initial rally venue.

At the Christian community’s complaint, the police vacated the venue and as some PTI workers and leaders intervened, they were arrested in the process.

The PTI then changed the venue of its public gathering from CTI ground — a property of the Christian community — to VIP Ground in Sialkot as it had not taken prior permission from them for the rally.

Following this, PTI leaders and workers, including Usman Dar, were released.

Reacting to the Sialkot police and local administration’s action against PTI workers, the party chairman said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s party was an equal “coward”.

Khan, slamming the government, said that when PTI was in power, it did not stop the then-Opposition from holding long marches, rallies, or sit-ins.

“Every three months, they [PML-N would come to Islambad] to oust our government. Biggest disease Asif Ali Zardari and the person who sells diesel permits, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, were also with you then,” Khan said.

Khan said that his party has always remained peaceful, but warned Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the government that if they resort to violence, then they would “not get any place to hide”.

Moving on, the ex-prime minister Khan said after the first independence struggle, that led to the creation of Pakistan, the nation was struggling for “real independence” for the second time.

Turning his guns on Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Khan told the PPP chairman to remember that foreign agencies were aware of where “his bank accounts are”.

“You will not be able to look them in the eyes and speak,” Khan told Bilawal.

COAS lauds operational preparedness, morale of troops RAWALPINDI News Desk

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Saturday visited the headquarters of Bahawalpur Corps, the military said in a statement.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army chief was given detailed briefing on operational, training and administrative aspects of the formation.

The army chief, the statement added, also visited maintenance facilities and Professional Development Resource Centre. While interacting with officers and troops, Gen Qamar appreciated their operational preparedness and morale.

Earlier, on arrival, the COAS was received by Lieutenant General Khalid Zia, Commander Bahawalpur Corps.

On Thursday, the army chief, while attending the war game session at Kharian, commended the overall operational readiness of the formations against an evolving threat regime.

According to the military’s media wing, the COAS also witnessed field demonstration encompassing perfection of drills and procedures and validation of new concepts and proficiency enhancement on newly acquired technologies.

According to the ISPR, Gen Qamar appreciated the overall training spirit and proficiency of participating troops.

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State to protect rights of minorities: Rana Sanaullah ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Rana Sana Ullah Khan on Saturday said that the State would protect rights of minorities at any cost and no one would be allowed to utilize their religious sites for political purposes. In his reaction to the PTI public gathering at Girja Ghar Gound Sialkot, the minister said it was the responsibility of the law enforcing agencies to provide state protection to the Christian community’s decision not to allow the Church Site to be used for a public gathering by a political party. The State could not allow any party to impose monarchy in the country by force, he said in a statement issued here. Warning the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the minister said the law would take its courses in case of creating law and order issue in any part of the country.

Earlier, he said Imran Niazi breached sanctity of Masjid-e- Nabvi and now he had provoked the religious sentiments of the Christian community by trying to hold rally at the Church Ground. Imran Niazi had become a threat to the state of Pakistan and he was spreading religious chaos and anarchy in the country, he added. staff RepoRt

Arrests, threats can’t stop PTI’s movement: says Fawad SIALKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central leader Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that the movement against the imported government could not be stopped by arrests and threats. Fawad Chaudhry was addressing a press conference in Sialkot alongside other PTI leaders including Imran Ismail, Shunila Ruth and others. Fawad Chaudhry said that the nation is fully prepared to join the movement against the imported government in Pakistan under the leadership of Imran Khan. “There is only one solution to end the political crisis if the government announces general elections and let Pakistanis elect their rulers.” After PTI was denied permission to hold the public gathering in Sialkot’s CTI Ground, Fawad Chaudhry said that the ground was used for events. He slammed the PML-N rulers by saying that they should end the occupation of churches’ land if they are truly willing to help the Christian community. The PTI leader said that they were granted permission to hold a public gathering at CTI Ground but later the political party was stopped on a telephone call. He said that Maryam Nawaz appreciated DPO Sialkot for using force against the PTI workers. Criticising the PML-N rulers, he said that there are two prime ministers, two foreign ministers and two finance ministers which led to political and governance crisis in the country. Fawad said that a good decision regarding the deteriorated economy could not be taken in such circumstances. He added that the political rivals of the PTI are also suggesting fresh elections in the country. Regarding the London huddle, the former minister said that the PML-N supremo is now summoning its cabinet to the UK capital just like Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain did with his Rabita Committee. Former Sindh governor Imran Ismail said that PTI will protest in all cities across the country if the government tries to stop the party’s events again. He said that Imran Khan is controlling the outrage of the nationals, otherwise, the situation would be very different in the cities. staff RepoRt

Summary moved to review Abbasi’s appointment The Cabinet Division Saturday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that a summary has been sent to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to review the appointment of PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi as his special assistant. In line with the court’s notice, Cabinet Division’s Deputy Secretary Khurram Ghaznavi submitted an interim report in the IHC stating that a summary has been sent to the prime minister through the Ministry of Law and Justice requesting him to revisit his decision regarding the appointment of Hanif Abbasi. However, the Cabinet Division also clarified that the report submitted in IHC is an interim report and the final report and sectionwise replies will be submitted after the orders from PM Shehbaz. On April 27, former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed challenged the notification regarding the appointment of PML-N’s Abbasi as SAPM. According to the petition, Abbasi has been convicted in ephedrine quota case against which an appeal regarding his sentence is pending in the Lahore High Court. The petitioner said that a convicted person cannot be appointed as the SAPM. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued a notice to the Cabinet Division directing the premier to review the appointment.

The matter will be discussed further in the next hearing scheduled on May 17. News Desk Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk