Epaper – May 31-2022 KHI

01 FRONT PAGE (31-5-2022)_Layout 1 5/31/2022 12:47 AM Page 1

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 I 29 Shawwal, 1443 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XII No 331 I 48 Pages I Karachi Edition

NA speAker summoNs pTI lAwmAkers To coNfIrm ‘geNuINeNess’ of resIgNATIoNs g

speAker to meet 131 pti lAwmAkers from JuNe 6-10

ISLAMABAD

I

STAFF REPORT

N a major breakthrough, National Assembly speaker raja pervez Ashraf on monday summoned pti mNAs — who had quit en-masse in the aftermath of their government’s ouster last month — to confirm the “voluntary character and genuineness” of their resignation letters. the move reflects a major shift in the policy of the coalition government who initially was reluctant to accept the resignations of the pti lawmakers. the greenlighting of acceptance of the resignations reflects that the government feels it is not only safe from political instability but also it feels that it can go ahead and run the house without the

g

NA secretAriAt despAtches iNvites to pti lAwmAkers

single-largest party of the National Assembly – pti. the NA speaker summoned the pti legislators on June 6, the assembly’s spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the total number of mNAs who had resigned stood at 131. the lawmakers had resigned on April 11, two days after former prime minister imran khan was ousted from the top office after the no-confidence motion moved by the joint opposition in the parliament against him succeeded.

According to the NA spokesperson, the letters have been dispatched to the mNAs, informing them about the precondition of their appearance for acceptance of the resignations. “i am directed to refer to the letter dated 11-4-2022 regarding your resig-

nation from the seat of the National Assembly and to state that in pursuance of paragraph (b) of sub-rule (2) of rule 43 of the rules of procedure and conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, honourable speaker has desired to invite you in his chamber for inquiry regarding voluntary character and genuineness of aforesaid resignation letter before its acceptance,” reads the letter sent to the pti mNAs. the NA spokesperson said the process for confirmation of the resignations will continue till June 10. “As many as 30 members will meet the NA speaker on a daily basis.” each legislator will be granted five minutes for the confirmation of the resignation, the official added. in all, the pti has 155 members in the 272-member house. of them, 20 are dissidents who have been served notices by the party.

After imran khan was removed as prime minister on the night of April 9, his declarations against the dissident pti mNAs were sent to the election commission of pakistan on April 14 by the acting NA speaker. the pti had also filed references against 20 mNAs seeking their disqualification. in its verdict on the petitions on may 11, the ecp decided against de-seating 20 dissident pti lawmakers, dismissing references against them sent by the party. in its unanimous decision, a threemember bench of the ecp headed by chief election commissioner sikandar sultan raja held that Article 63-A of the constitution dealing with lawmakers’ disqualification on the grounds of defection did not apply to the 20 pti mNAs who had jumped ship ahead of the noconfidence move last month.

Pakistan needs investments from its Chinese friends, not handouts: PM Shehbaz Sharif ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

pakistan doesn’t want handouts, but investments from its chinese friends, says prime minister shehbaz sharif. the premier said that the friendship between pakistan and china’s unwavering friendship has weathered storms and strengthened over time. he praised china for progressing in various sectors and lifting numerous above the poverty level during the last three decades. pakistan has china as a model to emulate and replicate its development reforms, pm shehbaz sharif said during a meeting with the representatives of chinese companies investing in pakistan on monday. the premier said that pakistan looks forward to seek support from china in every walk of life and it will benefit from china’s experience in the fields of industries and agriculture. pakistan has resolved that we will

meet all the challenges however difficult they are and take pakistan towards progress, the premier said. “for this, pakistan needs real support from our chinese friends, not in terms of money, aid or handouts, but in terms of investment, trade and expertise.” pm shehbaz sharif said that china is the most reliable friend of pakistan. he thanked the chinese leadership, and his chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for their unstinting support towards pakistan in the shape of the china-pakistan economic corridor. he said that cpec has helped pakistan move forward a huge way. recalling the start of the last decade, when electricity load-shedding was at its peak, pm shehbaz sharif said that the chinese president and then prime minister of pakistan Nawaz sharif made various deals to set up power plants to overcome the issue by 2017. the premier pledged to fully facilitate the chinese investors in pakistan and never to forget china’s cooperation.

02

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

CeNtRal Govt ReduCes GB BudGet, wheat suBsidy

i

GhuLaM aBBaS

N a surprising development, the federal government has reduced the non-development budget and wheat subsidy to Gilgit Baltistan, where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government rules, for next fiscal year.

As per a letter sent to Government of GB, the Finance Division in Islamabad has informed that it has approved the new budget estimates for the region under which the non-development budget of the area has been fixed at Rs45 billion as compared to Rs47 billion of the ongoing budget (20212022) with a reduction of Rs2 billion.

Apart from the non-development budget, the Finance Division has also made a historic cut in wheat subsidy of GB as it has fixed only Rs4 billion against the existing subsidy of Rs8 billion making a 50 per cent reduction in the subsidy.

Though the reduction is made in the non-development budget of GB, the people of the area may strongly react to the major cut in subsidy which was introduced in the 1970s given the region’s high poverty index, lack of industry and significant agricultural land. The subsidy was first given by PPP’s leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Previous government of PTI in the center had allocated an amount of Rs8

Fiscal deficit recorded at 3.8pc in 3 quarters app The country’s fiscal deficit was recorded at 3.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year compared to the 3 percent deficit recorded during the corresponding period of last year. The deficit during July-March (2021-22) stood at Rs2,565.6 billion compared to the deficit of Rs1,652.0 billion during July-March (2020-21), says Monthly Economic Update and Outlook, May 2022 released by finance ministry. The increase in deficit has been observed on account of the higher expenditures due to the rise in subsidies and grants. It is expected that the expenditure side would come under further pressure in the remaining months of the current fiscal year.

Similarly, the primary balance posted a deficit of Rs447.2 billion against the surplus of Rs451.8 billion during the period under review. Meanwhile, on the revenue side, tax collection has been currently showing a remarkable performance by posting a growth of 29 percent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year. The first ten months’ data shows that the revenue collection has surpassed the target by Rs237 billion. This is despite tax relief measures which have impacted revenue collection by approximately Rs73 billion just in the month of April 2022. Total revenues grew by 17.7 percent in JulyMarch (FY-2022) against the growth of 6.5 percent recorded in the same period of last year. Higher growth in revenues has been achieved on the back of the significant rise in tax collection, the outlooks says adding, total tax collection (federal & provincial) increased by 28.1 percent whereas non-tax collection declined by 14.3 percent during the period under review. FBR has taken various policy and administrative measures which paid off in terms of improved tax collection during the current fiscal year.

It is expected that with the current growth momentum, FBR would be able to achieve its target during FY 2022. Total expenditure witnessed a sharp rise of 27.0 percent during Jul-Marc FY2022 against a 4.2 percent rise in the same period of last year. Higher growth in total expenditure during the period has been observed on account of 21.2 percent growth in current spending and 54.6 percent increase in development expenditures. The government is taking all possible measure to counter the downside risks associated with the economy, which currently has been facing challenges to sustain growth it had achieved during the fiscal year 2021-22, says Monthly Economic Update and Outlook, May 2022 released here. “Although the economy of Pakistan has achieved GDP growth of 5.97 percent in FY2022, but the fiscal situation and external sector performance are making it difficult to sustain and impacting the growth outlook in coming year,” noted the report.

billion as wheat subsidy which was 33% more than the amount allocated in the budget of fiscal year 2020-21. It may be recalled here that various demonstrations had been held previously across GB against reduction or abolition of wheat subsidy. Following the pressure from IMF for abolition of subsidies the finance ministry had also tried to reduce the subsidy or available quota but it was restored for political pressure.

Last year the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had also asked the GB government to increase the price of the commodity by 70 per cent to compensate for the additional cost of imported wheat supplied to the region. The demand of wheat

in GB was currently 160,000 MT per annum.

Minister of Finance GB Javed Manwa while talking to this scribe said that the region would strongly object to the move of reducing even the existing budget and subsidy of the area. He said the regional government had asked/proposed the center allocating Rs 68 billion as non-development budget of GB for next financial year.

However the center instead of increasing the budget is making a major cut in the existing budget, he added.

With a population of 1.5 million spread over 10 districts, GB has no job opportunities, industry, infrastructure, fund allocations and other facilities that the rest

of the country enjoys.

Meanwhile Chief Minister GB Khalid Khurshid, while talking to media here on Saturday, has also claimed that the center is going to make major cuts in the development budget too in the next fiscal budget. According to him, the Finance Division is likely to reduce the development budget from Rs18 billion to Rs10 billion only in the budget 2022-23. He termed the move as a conspiracy against development of the region.

He claimed that the government of multiparty in the center was taking such steps to punish the people of the area for voting PTI in the past election.

KP flour mills to protest against illegal ban on wheat supply azIz BuNeRI Flour millers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have warned they will launch a protest movement, if the illegal ban on wheat supply from Punjab was not lifted immediately.

Speaking in a news conference at Qadir flour mill in Amaan Garh district Nowshera on Monday, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter chairman Sabir Ahmad Bagash said that illegitimate and unconstitutional restrictions on supply of wheat from Punjab has been imposed, which was highly condemnable and creating difficulties to provide flour on cheap rates in the open markets.

The PFMA provincial chairman

alleged the wheat-laden trucks on-route to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were seized by Punjab police by checking on various checkpoints. He added Punjab police have also registered illegal cases against millers. “80 per cent wheat is being produced by Punjab province”, says Bangash. He informed that total wheat demand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is around 50 lakh metric ton but KP is unable to provide required wheat to mills as per demand.

Despite ‘self-sufficient’ in electricity production, the PFMA provincial chairman said electricity was unable to run flour mills units smoothly as millers said they are facing huge operational and financial losses owing to frequent power outages in the province.

Sabir Bangash warned the price of a 20 kg flour bag would be increased at Rs2,000 in KP if the issue of wheat was not resolved immediately.

In addition he urged the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure supply of wheat at subsidized rates to flour mills across the province.

The flour millers warned they would initiate a protest movement if the illegal ban of wheat supply from Punjab was

not lifted immediately.

Naeem Butt, Group leader of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association KP chapter said the wheat shortage issue would not be resolved within the next 10 days then they (millers) would decide the future course of action.

Butt informed the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO) provided 5 lakh metric ton wheat and 1 lakh metric ton wheat by Punjab province to KP in the last year. He said if the government would provide us wheat on subsidized rates then flour mills will sell flour on cheap rates.

He informed there were a total of 250 flour mills established, out of which 70 per cent were non-operational in the province.

Nimra tells SHC: No one kidnapped her, she married as per her choice NewS DeSk Nimra Kazmi appeared in the Sindh High Court (SHC) along with her husband on Monday and stated that she married as per her choice and no one had kidnapped her.

“You will have to stay in Karachi for two or three days. Your medical examination will be carried out to ascertain your real age. If you are 18 years old, you will be allowed to go with your husband,” the court told the girl. The court ordered the authorities concerned to send Nimra Kazmi to a shelter home. The court also directed medical examination of Nimra Kazmi.

It is to be noted here that the name of Nimra Kazmi

came to the limelight after the news of her elopement with a friend in Punjab for love-marriage was broadcasted by national media.

Nimra’s family had filed a petition in the SHC for her recovery and the cancellation of her marriage under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. The SHC on Monday conducted hearing of the petition during which the girl refuted the allegations of abduction and stated that she married as per her choice.

The Sindh IG Police and additional IG Police also appeared before the court for hearing of the case.

Earlier, the SHC on Friday had given the last chance to the Sindh IG Police to produce the girl before the court.

Bank of China CEO meets Miftah Ismail Staff RepoRt Country Head and CEO, Bank of China Pakistan Operations Wang Jie called on Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail at the Finance Division.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail welcomed Wang Jie and highlighted deep economic and brotherly relations between Pakistan and China. He further lauded the contribution of the Bank of China in the financial and economic progress of Pakistan. The Finance Minister

assured him of the present government’s full support and cooperation. Wang Jie, Country Head and CEO, Bank of China Pakistan Operations briefed the Minister on the bank’s portfolio and appreciated

the government’s support.

In the meeting they also exchanged views on the current international and regional economic situation.

They also discussed Pakistan’s economy and policy to attract foreign direct investment. CPEC also came under discussion and it was highlighted that the corridor will prove another milestone in cementing the bilateral economic and fraternal relations between Pakistan and China and bring prosperity to both the countries.

Rain set to lash Northern Pakistan, GB and Kashmir

ISLaMaBaD

Woman ‘gang-raped’ on board Karachi-bound train by ticket-checkers kaRaChI StAff RePoRt

A Karachi-based woman was allegedly gang-raped by train crew members on board the Bahauddin Zakariya Express between Karachi and Multan railway stations.

According to FIR, the incident occurred on May 27 when the victim, who hails from Karachi’s Orangi Town, boarded the train from Multan railway station for Karachi.

The woman went to Multan to meet his children.

The FIR stated that the woman passenger purchased an economy class ticket for Karachi and when the Bahauddin Zakariya Express reached near Rohri station, two ticket checkers and an official allegedly lured her into a trap of offering a seat in the AC bogie. The ticket checkers and an official took the woman to an AC compartment of a bogie where she was gang-raped by crew members, the FIR stated.

After reaching the Karachi railway station, the

woman explained the ordeal to the police and lodged a case against the suspects. Inspector General (IGP) Railways Faisal Shahkar took notice of the incident and formed a special team. He ordered authorities to arrest suspects.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Pakistan Railways told Pakistan Today that the Zakaria Express incident was reported by the victim at the request of the railway administration.

“IG Police had taken notice of a media report published in a local paper in Multan. The incident was reported from a train owned by a private company.

Even after landing at Karachi station, the aggrieved did not seek help from the police desk.

A day later, when the incident was reported in a local newspaper, the Karachi Divisional Superintendent sent the DCO along with the Ladies Police to the victim’s house where the railway administration persuaded the woman to register an FIR,” the spokesman. Meanwhile, the spokesman

added, railway police kept conducting raids at various places to search for the named accused and finally arrested all allegedly involved. The arrests were made from Samundari, Jahanian and Shorkot.

“The railway administration has sent a show cause notice to the private sector contractor operating Zakaria Express. In addition, all private sector employees on the trains will be re-checked by the security agencies,” he said. The Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Railways Farrukh Taimur Ghilzai has said that no compromise will be made regarding the safety of passengers. Railways is the safest means of travel in Pakistan and we will not allow its reputation to be tarnished, he added.

Ghilzai said that instructions have been issued to the contractors to prevent such incidents in future.

According to the Spokesperson of Railways, Federal Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique kept taking a momentto-moment report from the CEO on the progress of the incident.

APP

Rain-wind/thunderstorm is expected in across Gilgit Baltistan, Kashmir, upper KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and northeast Punjab, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) ion next 24 hours. According to the synoptic situation, continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country. A shallow westerly wave was present over upper parts of the country.

Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most plain areas of the country, while very hot in South Punjab and Upper Sindh. During the last 24 hours, the weather remained hot and dry in most parts of the country, while very hot in plain areas. However, rainwind/thunderstorm occurred in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Punjab, Islamabad, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. The rainfall recorded during the last 24 hours was Punjab: Murree 07 mm, Mandi Bahauddin 05, Gujrat, Sialkot 02, Attock, Islamabad (Airport) 01, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Cherat 03, Pattan ,Kalam 02,Drosh 01, Gilgit Baltistan: Babusar 03, Bagrote 01, Kashmir: Rawalakot , Garhi Dupatta 01 mm. The highest maximum temperatures recorded were Dadu 48 C, Shaheed Benazirabad and Jacobabad 47 C.

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

03

swati seeKs FiR aGaiNst PM, otheRs oveR ‘PoliCe BRutality’ duRiNG Pti’s loNG MaRCh

P

NewS DeSk

TI Senator Azam Swati filed a police complaint on Monday, seeking the registration of a first information report (FIR) against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Inspector General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir and others over “police brutality and unreasonable use of force” against PTI supporters during the Azadi March last week, according to a news outlet.

The complaint was filed in the capital’s Secretariat police station and also named DIG operations Sohail Zafar Chattha and Rangers operations head.

In the complaint, Swati said that “multiple waves

of police brutality and unreasonable use of police force was applied in different parts of the country, including D-Chowk Islamabad, with one objective to seriously impede the fundamental rights of protesters.” He noted that the right to protest was protected under the Constitution of Pakistan.

The senator said his arm and other body parts were injured during the march because of the “illegal baton charge conducted by Rangers [officials]” deputed at D-Chowk and the “attack of CS gas (2chlorobenzalmalononitrile, a common type of tear gas) by Islamabad police that continued for 12 hours”.

The senator said he was enclosing his medical report, pictures and videos along with his complaint.

“Police violence such as the type used on May 25 is illegitimate use of authority bestowed in the

security forces. Politicians in power such as the names referenced above are notorious for always trying to control and run public officers and civil servants as per their own interests and for the fulfilment of personal or their political party interests,” he added.

Meanwhile, relevant officials from police and the capital administration have been called to a committee room of the Parliament House on Tuesday to discuss with them the use of force by law enforcement agencies against PTI marchers.

They have been called by members of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, chaired by Senator Mohsin Aziz. Members of the committee had taken notice of the use of force against PTI marchers and blockade of roads in Islamabad and Punjab.

PML-N’s Balighur Rehman sworn in as Governor Punjab ISLaMaBaD StAff RePoRt

Tiff over Punjab governor’s appointment finally ended after PML-N’s Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman took oath of office on Monday night.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti administered oath to the new governor. Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz, officials and dignitaries attended the oath-taking ceremony.

Earlier in the day, President Dr Arif Alvi had approved the appointment of Baligh ur-Rehman as Punjab governor, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

The president accorded his approval to the advice of the prime minister in terms of Article 48(1) read with Article 101(1) and Article 101(5) of the Constitution, his office said.

The government had nominated Baligh as the new governor of Punjab earlier this month. He replaced Omar Sarfaraz Cheema who was removed by the Cabinet Division on May 10 on the advice of Shehbaz Sharif sent to the president on April 17 and reinforced on May 1.

oCaC highlights financial challenges threatening oil supply in Pakistan ahMaD ahMaDaNI Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) has warned of a possible breakdown in the oil supply chain owing to the tough financial predicament of the oil industry and asked for immediate remedial measures. OCAC, in a letter titled Financial Challenges Threatening Country’s Oil Supply to the secretaries of petroleum division and Ministry of Finance, has requested to arrange an urgent meeting of the oil industry with the Minister of Finance, saying there are some credible solutions and proposals that could be considered for implementation. “We are writing this letter with regard to a financial crisis engulfing the oil industry,” said the OCAC letter.

According to the OCAC letter, there have been extraordinary efforts and commitment demonstrated by the relevant government offices and the oil industry in sustaining the fuel supply chain of the country effectively through the Price Differential Claims (PDC) period. Unfortunately, the country’s fuel supply is now also being severely threatened by limited credit facilities, high inflation, interest rates and increasing USDPKR parity. This tough financial predicament has left the oil industry extremely vulnerable and fragile thereby it may result in breakdown of the supply chain. Immediate remedial measures are required to be taken across two targeted areas of concern: Reluctance of international banks to confirm Letter of Credits for oil imports.

Timely PDC remiTTanCes: As per OCAC, the above impacts both the refineries and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). The downstream sector seeks immediate intervention from the government to avert the impending supply disruption facing the country, said OCAC letter. OCAC, on behalf of OMC and oil refineries, has now requested the secretaries of Petroleum Division and Ministry of Finance to arrange an urgent meeting of the oil industry with the Minister of Finance as the oil industry has some credible solutions and proposals that could be considered for implementation.

Alvi had rejected the summary using Article 101(3), which says the governor shall hold the office “during the pleasure” of the president (for as long as the president pleases).

Cheema has challenged his removal in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The next hearing is scheduled for May 31.

Baligh, who hails from Bhawalpur, was elected from the NA-185 (Bahawalpur-I) constituency in 2008 and 2013.

He had served as the state minister for education, interior and narcotics control when Nawaz Sharif became prime minister after his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) swept the 2013 general elections.

After Nawaz Sharif ’s removal, his successor Shahid Khaqan Abbasi included Baligh in his cabinet and was made a federal minister with a portfolio of education and professional training.

Sharif administration had twice approached President Arif Alvi for the removal of Cheema.

Both times the president had instructed the governor to continue holding office until a decision has been made on the summary moved to remove him.

Military awards conferred on martyrs, officers at Peshawar Corps Staff RepoRt An investiture ceremony was held at Corps Headquarters Peshawar to confer awards to next of kins of martyred personnel and serving military officers, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Monday. The military’s media wing said the accolades were given to acknowledge the gallantry acts, devotion and sacrifices of officers and martyrs in the line of duty. Commander Peshawar Corps Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid was the chief guest on the occasion, it added. The ISPR added that 43 kins of Shuhada [martyrs] received Tamgha-eBasalat while Sitara-e-Imtiaz (military) was awarded to two officers and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (military) to 15 officers. Earlier this month, a similar ceremony of the Rawalpindi Corps was held at Chaklala Garrison during which officers, soldiers and the next of kin of martyred personnel were conferred various awards.

The awards of Sitara-e-Imtiaz (military), Tamgha-eImtiaz (military) and Tamgha-e-Basalat were conferred on army officers and soldiers. “19 Shaheed [martyred] soldiers were awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat.

Next of kins of Shuhada received their awards posthumously,” the military’s media wing added. The ISPR had stated that about 36 officers were awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) and 89 officers were awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military) for rendering meritorious services to the nation. Commander Rawalpindi Corps Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza was chief guest on the occasion.

FBR fails to ensure automated collection of sales tax on retail price ShahzaD paRaCha The Federal Board of Revenue has failed to ensure automated collection of sales tax on retail prices in case of specified goods.

This has been disclosed in an investigation started by the Federal Tax Ombudsman.

As per the details, It was brought to the notice of the FTO that certain goods were made chargeable to sales tax on the basis of Retail price at the time of import by virtue of amendments made in Section 3(2) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 vide Finance Act, 2019-20.

The FBR, in order to give effect to the budgetary changes, issued Custom General Order No. 12 of 2019 dated 30.02.2019, whereby, the Directorate General of Reforms & Automation (Customs) was required to make necessary changes in WeBOC clearance system of Customs for charging Sales Tax on Retail Price.

FTO has observed that the department has so far failed to develop a functional and practicable solution to the problem at

hand i.e. Development of an I.T. based module to cater for the budgetary changes with a view to capture and realize the exact amount of due taxes at the import stage on items subjected to tax on retail price vide Finance Act, 2019.

In view of the foregoing, alarming situation and fear of worst-case scenario i.e. massive revenue loss, a report was called by FTO from the Directorate General of Post Clearance Audit regarding detections made by them in this regard.

The DG, Post Clearance Audit vide letter dated 25.04.2022 communicated that its directorate examined 580,287 no of Goods Declarations in which 97963 identified subsequently, the directorate served 11,173 notices besides recovering Rs286.632 million account of short payment/Non-payment of sales tax on the basis of the retail price.

The three committees constituted by the FBR failed to perform and complete the assigned task with sincerity of purpose despite a lapse of about three years.

Although the Directorate of Post Clearance Audit has made substantial

detections of revenue loss and recoveries to the tune of Rs286.632 million, the same appears to be the tip of an iceberg, keeping in view the enormity of the task and limited human resources, at the disposal of DG, Post Clearance Audit. The efforts of DG PCA are appreciated by FTO in realizing notable legitimate government revenue.

In view of the significant revenue potential of the issue, FTO has directed FBR to ensure a foolproof, effective, dynamic and functional module is developed in close coordination and

active engagement of DG, Reforms & Automation, (Customs) and Inland Revenue Wing; besides, DG, PCA to constitute a dedicated team under the supervision of an Additional Director at each regional Directorate for in-depth Audit of this sector and submit a monthly progress report of detections made and tax collected; till the final deployment of WeBOC module; Chairman FBR to provide additional staff to DG PCA for the above-mentioned task in consultation with Director General, PCA, Islamabad.

Israel ties, trade with India being mulled in power corridors, claims Rasheed ISLaMaBaD StAff RePoRt

Awami Muslim League (AML) president Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said “friendship” was being cultivated with the state of Israel at the “behest of imperialist powers” and a plan to resume trade with India was also in the pipeline.

The former interior minister said: “What will Shehbaz Sharif, who could not bring back his brother in four years on the guarantee of Rs50 court stamp, give to the nation?”

He claimed that differences between Iran and China were about to widen.

“One has made his son the chief

minister; another has made his son the foreign minister, and a third one has made his son the communications minister. This was the alliance of the three political rats,” he flayed.

Ahmed said that the poor people were dying of load shedding, inflation and unemployment which they [new government] no longer cared about.

He added that people like Rana Sanaullah had been hired to suppress the nation with bullets, batons and tear gas.

“Now, 8 to 12 hours load shedding is not their problem. Their problem is to get their cases removed from NAB, FIA and ANF, and work on the removal of those cases is fast underway,” Sheikh Rashid

alleged.

“The government with a one-vote majority will collapse at any moment,” he claimed.

“Keeping 10 million overseas Pakistanis away from politics and the voting process is a national dishonesty.

The Supreme Court has given its verdict on that in 2018,” he said.

“I am going to the Supreme Court for the right of overseas Pakistanis to vote,” he declared, adding: “Overseas Pakistanis are the only ones who can save the democracy from a catastrophe when assembly members are on sale for Rs200250 million.”

Ahmed said that the first episode of

increase in petrol and electricity prices had just arrived, adding that the second episode would come between June 5 and 25.

“People will take to the streets themselves and break the chains of slavery,” he said, adding that the collapse of the government was inevitable.

He maintained that a government with a one-vote majority could not represent 220 million people. “The time will soon come when the president will ask them for a vote of confidence, which will shatter all the designs of the imperialist powers,” he claimed.

“The majority of one vote is given only to implement the imperialist designs of slavery,” he added.

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

04 NEWS Murad hopes sc won’t allow imran to shoot his guns from its shoulder ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Monday said he was hopeful the Supreme Court would not allow Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan to use the judiciary platform to his advantage.

Talking to reporters outside a court of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Islamabad, the chief minister said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari led the most successful long march. Shah stated that policemen were tortured during the PTI’s long march, adding: “The government takes precautionary measures when there are talks of violence and chaos.” He also said the PTI workers protested in Karachi without permission, adding: “If they had a plan to protest, they should have obtained permission. We would have allotted a place for them.”

The chief minister said that no one would stop peaceful protests. Earlier, Shah arrived in Islamabad to appear before the NAB court.

Political parties agree to postpone sindh local bodies polls KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Top political parties have agreed to ask the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone local bodies’ elections in Sindh. The parties included Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi MovementPakistan (MQM-P), and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA). The consensus among the parties emerged during a meeting of the steering committee on changes in the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021. “The recommendations of the committee will be forwarded to the ECP in the next 48 hours,” reports citing sources said. The decision to postpone the local government elections came after the ECP issued a schedule for the elections. As per the schedule, the nomination papers for the second phase of LB polls will be submitted to the returning officers (ROs) concerned from June 8 to 11. The names of nominated candidates will be published on June 13. The nomination papers will be scrutinised during June 15-17. The date for moving appeals against the decision of ROs will be June 18-22 while the last date for deciding appeals by the appellate authority will be June 25. The date for publication of the revised list of candidates will be June 27 while the last date for withdrawal and publication of the revised candidate list will be June 28. The date for the allotment of symbols to contesting candidates will be June 29 while the elections will be held on July 24 and results will be consolidated by July 28.

sHc issues show-cause notice to sindh iGP in dua Zehra case KARACHI INp

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued a show-cause notice to Inspector General of Police (IG) Sindh Dr Kamran Fazal over the police’s failure to recover Dua Zehra, who claimed to have married a youngster Zaheer Ahmed out of her own free will. Advocate General Sindh while sharing details of the efforts made to recover the girl said before the court that her location has been traced to Mansehra. “It appears that some cops are helping her after information of police raid was leaked to them, resulting in their escape from the location,” he said and asked the court to summon DIG Hazara and issue directives for her recovery. The AG Sindh said that some lawyers and policemen are also supporting the girl. “IG Sindh is in contact with the officials in Hazara, who have assured that they would recover the girl in a day or two,” he said. Justice Iqbal Kalhoro responded to the remarks and said that it is the responsibility of the Sindh police to recover the girl rather than shifting the blame to others. “Next time you could say that the girl’s location has been traced from Afghanistan. What will we do then?” he said and admonished the police for their lack of implementation of court orders for the last 21 days. Justice Agha Faisal during the hearing said that the court is issuing a show-cause notice to the IG Sindh and will issue an order in this regard shortly. “If the girl is recovered by Friday, we will withdraw our showcause notice,” he said.

EU Envoy indicatEs ExtEnsion of GsP PlUs statUs for Pakistan

c

APP

hargé d’Affaires of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Pakistan Thomas Seiler has indicated that “GSP+ beyond 2023 is possible for Pakistan” as the country’s government has ensured the EU that all efforts to show compliance with the high requirements would be made. He was speaking at a conference on “Human Rights Reforms in Sindh – GSP+ and Beyond” organized by the Human Rights Department, Government of Sindh at a local hotel on Monday, according to a news release.

Sindh Minister for Labour and Human Resource Saeed Ghani was the chief guest while Special Assistant to Sindh Chief Minister Surendar Valasai inaugurated the conference, which was attended by human rights activists, government officers of various departments, public representatives, civil society and labour rights activists and minorities’ representatives.

Thomas Seiler said in the next phase of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP- Plus) there would be more international conventions and covenants.

These instruments would pertain to the recognition of the competence of the UN Human Rights Council to consider complaints from individuals, abolish the death penalty and the requirement

to recognize the International Criminal Court – ICC (for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression).

“The final regulation can be expected before the end of the year,” he remarked.

He reminded the main duty of employers toward human rights, labour rights and the combat against climate change.

“They will have to respect and implement human rights in their enterprises, and to play an active role in building a sustainable economy and society.”

Speaking on the occasion, chief guest Saeed Ghani said the government of Sindh is leading all the provinces in making legislation for protection of rights of labour, women, minorities and people with disabilities. “We consider the protection of people’s rights as our duty rather an obligation to an international commitment,” Saeed Ghani said adding that the Sindh government has made all the laws on its own as the ruling Pakistan People Party is committed for this cause, he remarked. “We need support from the international community to provide a favourable environment for the government and businesses to implement the laws,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to Sindh Chief Minister Surendar Valasai said Human Rights Department has developed a Provincial Human Rights Policy with an aim to create compliance with Human Rights obligations in addi-

tion to implementing national and provincial human rights framework.

He said Sindh Human Rights Department is working for accomplishment of mission of our Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is taking keen interests in promotion and protection of human rights.

Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah has recently approved a special grant of Rs. 50 million to Human Rights Department to provide legal to the vulnerable groups in Sindh. According to him Pakistan’s exports to the European Union have increased from 4.53 billion Euros in 2013 to 7.49 billion Euros in 2019, registering an increase of 65%.

He underlined the need for devising a cohesive strategy by all the stakeholders including the government of Pakistan, provincial governments and civil society so that the country could continue benefiting from trade benefits beyond 2023.

Secretary of Human Rights Noreen Bashir gave a presentation about the performance of the department. She said the department has created Provincial Task Force on Human Rights, Provincial Human Right Vigilance Committee, and District Human Rights Committees.

Noted social worker Faisal Edhi underlined the need to remove religious hate material from the school curriculum for interfaith harmony. He recalled that during his school days the teachers were encouraging discrimination against

Hindu students.

Chairperson of the National Commission for Rights of Child (NCRC) Afshan Tehseen recommended increased synergy among the official rights protection commissions, legislation and governments.

Member of National Commission for Human Rights (Sindh) Anis Haroon, Aslam Shaikh, Member of Sindh Human Rights Commission, Superintendent of Police Shehla Qureshi, MPA Kulsoom Chandio, representatives of civil society Sara Zaman and Ambar Shamsi.

Speaking on the occasion, the participants gave a number of recommendations for improvement of the human rights situation in the province. A representative of the minority communities pointed out that nomads and gypsies communities in the interior of Sindh are not counted in the national census.

Issues of discrimination against minorities, problems being faced by transgenders, violence against women and non-implementation of the laws were also pointed out on the occasion. Most of the participants regretted that a number of good laws have been passed, but they are not being implemented. They underlined the need to universalize the social security services to all the workers.

A documentary produced by noted artist Ayoub Khoso on the human rights situation in Sindh was also screened on the occasion.

CPEC drastically cuts travel time in Pakistan: report ISLAMABAD INp

Islamabad-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14) of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has reduced travel time between Islamabad and Quetta from 18 hours to 12 hours, said a report published

by Gwadar Pro on Monday.

The travel time will further go down once other CPEC road projects between Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan are completed, the report said. According to the report, Mehmood, a resident of Lakki

Marwat, who owns a grocery shop in Rawalpindi, said that M-14 has cut the travel time between his hometown and Rawalpindi by almost 75 per cent. “It once took us 8 hours to reach Lakki, a district of KP province adjacent to Dera Ismail Khan, with a lot of hassle and discomfort. However, the M-14 Motorway has reduced the travel time to only two hours. People from our area can even come to Islamabad for lunch or dinner in a high-end restaurant and go back home the same day. It was beyond imagination before,” he said.

Hamza tells LHC floor crossing verdict doesn’t apply to his election ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that a Supreme Court interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution, which is related to the disqualification of lawmakers over defection, did not apply to his election retrospectively and as such it was valid.

Article 63-A provides that MPs who defect could lose their seats if they then vote against their party, but the government aims to find out whether that also applies before they cast their votes.

It reads that an MP can be disqualified on grounds of defection if they “vote or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party to which he belongs, in relation to the election of the prime minister or chief minister; or a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or a money bill (budget) or a Constitution (amendment) bill”.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued a verdict on a presidential reference seeking a ruling on whether defectors from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party could lose their seats, said votes of dissident lawmakers would not be counted in case of defection from their respective political parties.

Following the verdict, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) formally de-notified 25 lawmakers of PTI in the Punjab Assembly who had defected and voted for Pakistan Muslim League-

Nawaz (PML-N) vice president in the election for the office of Punjab chief minister on April 16.

With these 25 lawmakers no longer members of the assembly, Shehbaz, who won for the chief minister with the help of the dissident legislators, has lost his majority in the Punjab Assembly, raising questions about the status of his government. Shehbaz got 197 votes in the chief minister’s election but is now left with the support of 172 members in the house.

A candidate requires the support of at least 186 lawmakers in the 371-member House to be elected as the chief minister.

Subsequently, the PTI petitioned the high court challenging Shehbaz’s election as the provincial chief executive. Responding to the petition, Shehbaz requested the court to dismiss the plea “with costs”.

Shehbaz’s 16-page reply, submitted by his counsel Khalid Ishaq, was presented to the court after the LHC fined him and his administration Rs100,000 each at the previous hearing on May 25 over their failure to submit their replies.

In his response, Shehbaz explained that while his election for the post of chief minister was held on April 16, the SC’s interpretation of Article 63-A was issued on May 17. Hence, the election could not be governed by the SC order, he said, adding that “it is settled law that any interpretation/annunciation of law by the superior courts is not to apply retrospectively, unless expressly stated otherwise”.

Additionally, he pointed out, the SC order was in connection with a no-confi-

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dence motion in the National Assembly and as such, “it cannot be said to have affected the said election”. He added that the election was “conducted strictly in accordance with the Constitution in compliance with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Court” and thus “cannot be said to have been a result of any mala fide”.

Shehbaz recalled that he had filed a petition in the LHC to ensure “that the constitutional requirement of holding the election of the chief minister” be implemented after the resignation of the former CM. He added that the court “was pleased to accept the Answering Respondent’s prayer and directed that the election be conducted on 16-04-2022 by the Deputy Speaker”.

Shehbaz maintained that the petition against his election was not maintainable under Article 199 of the Constitution, which, the Punjab CM said, barred the petitioner from invoking the constitutional jurisdiction of the LHC as they were not an “aggrieved party” in the case.

He also argued that the petition was also not maintainable in light of an ouster provided under Article 69, read with Article 127, of the Constitution.

“A bare perusal of the contents of the petition under reply leads only to one ineluctable conclusion that the proceedings called in question are the ‘proceedings in the House’ and the averments made by the petitioner are, at best, mere irregularities of procedure,” he said. The jurisdiction of the LHC could not be invoked in such cases due to the ouster provided

under the said articles that barred a party from challenging an election in the House, he added.

He further said his election had been challenged on the basis of an “unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful” assumption of “purported jurisdiction/power” by outgoing Punjab governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, “whereby he purportedly attempted to declare the election in the House as illegal and unlawful”.

However, he argued, that the LHC had already held that the governor did not have any such power or authority to give such a declaration. Terming the contents of the petition “baseless”, he said they did not form the “lawful basis for invoking extra-ordinary constitutional jurisdiction of judicial review under Article 199 of the Constitution”.

According to a news outlet, Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi’s counsel urged the Lahore High Court to remove Hamza from the post of the provincial chief executive and announce new elections for the said post.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, appearing on behalf of Elahi, said before the court that he filed the petition of quo warranto because Hamza “has not obtained the votes of the majority of the total membership of the Punjab Assembly on April 16 as required by the Constitution”.

Elaborating further, Barrister Zafar submitted that under Article 130(4), a person could call himself a CM only if he has been elected at least by 186 votes of the MPAs.

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Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

Sharif takeS U-tUrn after academicS call oUt ‘calloUS’ cUt to hec fUnding ISLAMABAD

P

Staff RepoRt

RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday announced his administration won’t reduce the budget of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the forthcoming budget after concerns expressed by over 120 heads of public sector universities who deplored the unprecedented and “callous” cut on government funding.

Last week, the Ministry of Finance communicated Indicative Budget Ceilings

(IBC) of only Rs30 billion for higher education’s recurring grant against the rationalised demand of Rs104.98 billion.

The allocation was 45 percent less even than the current year’s (FY 2021-22) allocation of Rs 66.25 billion.

Following the move, academics warned the public universities would be left with no other option but to increase the student fees drastically, and enhance students’ intake beyond capacities, adding that these repercussions would lead the sector to disaster and severely dent the quality of learning and graduates.

In a tweet, Sharif said he has directed the ministries of planning and development, and finance to follow the instructions while preparing the budget.

The decision has been taken to avoid the closure of several academic programmes and to ensure the smooth continuity of international higher education agreements.

The prime minister also directed to reinvigorate the HEC in the manner it was functioning during the last government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), the APP reported.

He said the cuts in the budget of HEC during the tenure of the last government had put a negative impact on higher education which needed to be reversed. Sharif stressed focusing on the revival of educational projects in universities across the country.

He also emphasized increasing the number of higher education programmes and making them meet international standards. The prime minister urged a significant increase in the resources of HEC and the provision of necessary facilities to the faculty and students.

Staff RepoRt

A petition was filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday against the cutting down of hundreds of trees in Karachi to make way for the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) Red Line project.

The petition nominated Karachi administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab and the provincial government as respondents.

The petition read hundreds of old trees were cut down in the jurisdiction of the Malir Cantonment Board (CBM) to make way for the project. Overall 50,000 trees would be cut down on the route. ”The Sindh government recently started construction work on Karachi’s

Red Line BRT project and in the first phase, the route from Tank Chowk near Malir Halt to Safoora Chowrangi will be completed. The transport authorities recently cut down trees in the jurisdiction of CBM for the BRT project and also plan to cut around 50,000 trees for the 26-km project ending at Numaish Chowrangi,” it added. The applicants urged the high court to stop the government from cutting more trees as the step will further increase the temperature in the city already facing severe heat waves.

Recently, TransKarachi, a public company set up by the Sindh government to carry out the project implementation of the project, has initiated a tree plantation drive across Karachi.

The government recently started construction work on Karachi’s Red Line BRT project, according to TransKarachi — the operator of the project.

In the first phase, the route from Tank Chowk near Malir Halt to Safoora Chowrangi will be completed.

The Red Line will span 26 km from Safoora to Tower. It is expected to have an average daily ridership of 625,000 passengers.

The route of the 26-kilometre project will connect Model Colony to Johar Complex en route Jinnah Avenue and Malir Cantt while the buses will run through University Road, Hassan Square and Numaish roundabout.

24 stations would be constructed on

05

two hurt in Peshawar explosion PeSHAwAR Staff RepoRt

At least two people, including a woman, were injured when an explosive device went off outside the residence of a local councillor in the Kohati Gate neighbourhood of Peshawar on Monday.

Police said the explosives were planted near the entrance to the house which was also damaged.

The explosion also shattered windows of nearby houses. Law enforcement arrived at the scene, cordoned off the area and launched an investigation. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where their condition was said to be out of danger. According to police, 0.45 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bomb. The government has taken notice of the blast and sought a report from the police officials.

covid-19 daily update: 48 new cases

SHC moved against tree felling for Red Line corridor kARACHI

NEWS

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

this line which will run from Malir Halt to Numaish via Model Colony, Safoora Goth, King Cottages, Met Office, NED University, Safari Park, Nipa, Urdu University, Masjid Baitul Mukarram, Civic Centre, Askari Park, Dawood University and Society Office.

A biogas plant will be installed on 31acre land in the Bhens Colony area of Karachi, which will be used for fulfilling the fuel needs of the bus service.

The $504 million project is sponsored

by Sindh, with assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and co-financiers, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the French Agency for Development (AFD), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Pakistan reported 48 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, the ministry of health said on Monday. The overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1,530,333 across the country after adding the fresh cases, according to the data released by the ministry. A total of 30,379 people died of Covid-19 in Pakistan, with no more deaths over the last 24 hours, according to the ministry’s statistics. On Sunday, 12,866 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan while the positivity rate stood at 0.37 percent. There are 75 patients who are in critical condition.

efforts underway to resolve issues of Pakistani students in china: tanveer ISLAMABAD app

Committee set up to ‘deliberate policy’ on forced disappearances ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The government formed a seven-member committee to deliberate a policy over the epidemic of abductions, torture and murder in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the administration to explain how the use of forced disappearances “became a tool of state policy”.

A notification issued by the Ministry of Interior to this effect announced the committee will be headed by Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar and comprise Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan, Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri, Minister for Communications Asad Mahmood, Minister for Defence Production Israr Tareen, Minister for Maritime Affairs Faisal Subzwari, and Minister for Science and Technology Agha Hassan Baloch.

Recommendations of the committee will be presented to the cabinet for further deliberations, it read. “The interior min-

istry shall provide secretarial support to the committee.” The notification added the committee will also be allowed to coopt eminent jurists, representatives of rights organisations and other members “it deems appropriate”. Enforced disappearances have long been documented by local and international rights groups in Pakistan, and in 2011, the government formed a commission of inquiry to document and investigate cases of the disappeared, known as “missing persons”.

Since 2011, the commission has received complaints in at least 8,154 cases, of which 2,274 remain unresolved, according to the commission’s report for September 2021.

The military and security agencies under it have repeatedly denied committing abuses, blaming the killings on an array of militant groups active in the resource-rich province that borders both Afghanistan and Iran. But human rights groups have gathered some evidence from relatives of the disappeared that raises serious questions over the conduct of the se-

curity establishment.

‘LIVING GHOSTS’ The latest development came a day after IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah directed the government to serve notices on former president retired Gen. Pervez Musharraf and all successive chief executives, including Imran Khan and incumbent prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, for following an “undeclared tacit approval of the policy regarding enforced disappearances”.

In his order, passed in a case related to the disappearance of journalist Mudassar Naro, Justice Minallah said: “Gen. Musharraf and all other successor chief executives i.e. the former prime ministers, including the incumbent holder of the office shall submit their respective affidavits explaining why the court may not order proceedings against them for alleged subversion of the Constitution in the context of undeclared tacit approval of the policy regarding enforced disappearances and thus putting national security at risk by allowing the involvement of law enforcement agencies, particularly the armed

forces.” “Pervez Musharraf has candidly conceded in his autobiography, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, that ‘enforced disappearances’ was an undeclared policy of the state,” he recalled.

In November, rights group Amnesty International called for Pakistan to end the use of enforced disappearances as a tool of state policy, as it released a new briefing documenting the effect of such illegal abductions on the families of those who go missing. The briefing, titled “Living Ghosts”, was released by the United Kingdom-based rights group on Monday, and is based on interviews with 10 family members of people “whose fate remains unknown after they were abducted by Pakistan’s security services”. Researchers also spoke to the victims of enforced disappearances who have since been released.

“Enforced disappearance is a cruel practice that has caused indelible pain to hundreds of families in Pakistan over the past two decades,” said Rehab Mahamoor, Amnesty International’s acting South Asia researcher.

Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain has put top priority on resolving the issue of Pakistani students, who were enrolled in Chinese institutes. Under the chairmanship of Rana Tanveer Hussain, a number of meetings have taken place between the Pakistani authorities and the Chinese embassy in order to start the return of Pakistani students to China. A meeting to resolve the issue of Pakistani students studying in China was held on May 13 under the chairmanship of Tanveer. In the meeting, it was decided that the process of returning Pakistani students would be immediately started in coordination with the Chinese government. A list of approximately 161 students was provided

by HEC, who would be returning back to China to continue their education via the first flight. Tanveer directed that a special chartered flight shall be arranged to ensure the return of the Pakistani students to China. Tanveer said that “the issues of Pakistani students are of utmost importance” and reiterated his resolve to ensure that the concerns of the Pakistani students will be addressed on priority basis. He also thanked the Chinese government for the support and called Pakistan and China iron brothers. He said that such cultural exchange would lead to enhanced bilateral relationship and trade.

Political leaders should Sharif to leave for Turkey today come together to resolve real issues: IHC ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

NewS DeSk Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah said on Monday that the political leadership should stop fighting and move towards solving the country’s real issues.

The IHC CJ’s comments came in light of the ongoing cases registered against journalists across the country.

Journalists Arshad Sharif, Moeed Pirzada, Sami Ibrahim, judicial assistant and president of the Islamabad High Court Journalists Association Saqib Bashir appeared before the court.

Justice Minallah questioned “why every government that comes to power forgets the past”. “The Baloch students were being baton-charged by the last government, and the current government isn’t listening to them either,” he said, questioning whether the state thought it had any responsibility towards its people.

There is no one to raise voice for the missing persons, the IHC CJ further maintained. The high court expressed displeasure towards the federal government after the home secretary did not submit his response regarding the matter.

CJ Minallah remarked that these problems will be resolved “if even half the lawmakers currently embroiled in the struggles for power put in efforts”. He added: “The state itself does not play any role to deal with the issues of violation of fundamental rights.”

The court suggested the federal government devise a mechanism that facilitates filing complaints in one place by journalists facing any problem.

It later sought suggestions regarding a mechanism to deal with journalists’ complaints and granted the IHCJA president’s request for more time and adjourned the hearing till June 4.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will embark on a three-day maiden official visit to Turkey on Tuesday (today), said Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb.

In a tweet, the minister said the visit will further boost ties between the two nations.

In addition to promoting relations between the two countries, the minister said the visit would be important for enhancing cooperation in various sectors including investment, trade, health, education, culture, and other areas of mutual interest.

Sharif will be accompanied by a highlevel delegation.

The delegation is also expected to attend a meeting of the Pakistan-Turkey Business Council and engage with Turkish businessmen and traders.

Aurangzeb said Sharif would visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

The prime minister, along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will also issue a commemorative plaque to mark 75 years since the establishment of diplomatic

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relations between the two countries, she said. The minister added that Erdogan would host a dinner in Sharif’s honour.

Erdogan was the first among foreign leaders to congratulate Sharif after he took oath as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan in April. In a telephonic conversation with Sharif, Erdogan told the prime minister he was “extremely happy” about his elevation.

“I am sure that under your leadership, Pakistan-Turkey brotherly ties will bolster,” he said.

Erdoğan said they closely follow developments in Pakistan, to which he said Turkey is bound by a deep-rooted history, friendship and brotherhood.

He also noted that Pakistan did not give up on democracy and the rule of law, despite all the difficulties and obstacles. He added that Turkey is ready to give all kinds of support to Pakistan as it has done so far.

In response, Sharif said he aspired to bring the countries closer during his tenure and thanked Erdogan for his call.

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Tuesday, 31 May, 2022

06 COMMENT

Taqlid

Enforced disappearances IHC takes the bull by the horns

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HE issue of enforced disappearance continues to haunt Pakistan since Musharraf’s assumption of power through a coup in late 1999. The inhuman practice which was unknown before Musharraf was initially aimed at curbing dissent in Balochistan. Soon after Musharraf assumed the office of the President of Pakistan, Baloch nationalists who demanded greater autonomy and more rights for the province began to be picked up without following legal procedures. They were not presented before any court of law and nothing was known of them after they were made to disappear. The issue was finally raised at the SC where the counsel representing the army maintained that the armed forces enjoyed a special status in the constitution which protected all of their actions. Further, army personnel could not be investigated or inquired into by any court, including the Supreme Court. The position was not accepted by the court but with no strict and exemplary action following, the malpractice not only continued but also led to reports of enforced disappearances from the other three provinces also. as time passed, Baloch activists set up protest camps in Karachi and islamabad besides quetta. Before they came to power, both Nawaz Sharif and imran Khan visited the camps in display of solidarity with the missing persons and their families. it appears now that the gesture was meant only to gain sympathies as after coming to power neither Nawaz Sharif nor imran Khan tried to stop the enforced disappearances. While both finally ended up on the wrong side the army, it was not because of the issue of the enforced disappearances. it is encouraging that the iHC has taken up the issue now. as the malaise started with Musharraf and was allowed to continue to spread by the successive administrations, iHC has sent notices to the former military ruler as well as to his civilian successors. instead of pushing things under the rug, the court wants them to explain how disappearances became state policy. as the court put it, the involvement or even a perception of the involvement of the armed forces in acts amounting to violation of human rights and freedom of the citizens weakens and undermines the rule of law. Unlike others before it who allowed themselves to be dodged, one expects iHC to be fully alert.

Some observations

HaSan aFTaB SaEED

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aqlid in religion originally means deferring to expert opinion. deferring to expert opinion is unavoidable in all walks of life. life is way too short to learn everything. a specialist in one field – law, for example – will of necessity consult and rely on experts in all other fields – medicine, construction, education, economy, and what not. Religion being no exception, it is natural for anybody who does not hold a qualified opinion on a religious matter to ask the expert. in religion, as in any other field of life, there usually is more than one set of experts who differ in their opinions (sometimes drastically so) depending upon the issue at hand. The difference in religious opinions could be handled as one would handle differences in opinions on the more worldly matters. There is one complication, however. in parlance, the word ‘Taqlid’ is used to refer to wholesale conformance to a jurisprudence school, no questions asked. So that one must stick without exception to one madhab (jurisprudence school) or the other, on all matters, no matter how peculiar and unreasonable the verdict of that school may be on that issue. Now, it would be obvious to anybody who knows anything about the various schools that there are countless issues on which one school makes infinitely more sense than the other. But taqlid requires that one must not pick and choose from opinions offered by the various schools. This insistence on stick-

ing to once school is supposed to prevent the socalled fatwa-shopping – where one searches for the most convenient solution to a problem, no matter which school offers it. according to a maxim held in high esteem by many Muslims, taqlid (in the narrow sense described above) is mandatory for non-scholars but is forbidden to scholars. The second half of the statement could not make more sense. Surely a scholar, or even a qualified student, cannot be expected to give preference to a particular imam’s (or school’s) opinion when he knows that some other opinion is more in line with the quran and the Sunnat. The only human being whose opinion (if there is no doubt regarding the authenticity of its transmission) cannot be questioned is Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). all other opinions will be subjected to the utmost levels of scrutiny, and the worth of any opinion will be gauged by the degree of its reasonableness and conformity to sources of religion rather than who it comes from. While this part of the maxim is sound, many scholars have traditionally failed to live up to what was required of them, each one choosing to blindly follow one jurisprudence imam or the other; in many cases even when there could have been no doubt that that imam’s opinion (in a certain matter) left much to be desired. There is no denying the numerous invaluable contributions from all jurisprudence imams; but surely, that hardly makes any of them infallible. Many scholars, in their devotion, have been guilty of overlooking this fact.

To return now to the first half of the maxim, there are two problems with it. Firstly, unlike many religious systems, in islam there is no hard and fast distinction between scholars and non-scholars, or clergy and laity. Where to draw the line between scholar and non-scholar is not at all easy to decide. it is not at all a binary question. islam is everybody’s business, and it is not supposed to be followed blindly by anybody.

For sure, understanding of an abubakr or an Umar ibn Khattab or a Muadh ibn Jabal would naturally be at a different plane altogether from that of a Bedouin;

but no two Bedouins are exactly alike intellectually.

Therefore, even a Bedouin, in a manner of speaking, is supposed to exercise his best judgment according to the intellectual resources at his disposal. anything to the contrary would be unnatural and therefore contrary to the spirit of islam. imagine a man totally unequipped with knowledge of the arabic language. He naturally has no option but to understand the quran indirectly – that is, through a translator. But he would still be well-advised, if he has the time and the interest, to compare two different translations and see which one – in his best judgment – makes more sense than the other at a particular place. There is no reason for him to be compelled to restrict himself to follow one translation from cover to cover to the exclusion of all others, any more than a sick man (similarly unqualified to come up with independent expert opinion on his illness) should be stopped from consulting multiple doctors and gaining whatever knowledge he can on the issue so that he can make up his mind about the best course of action for himself. it would be unnatural to expect a man to follow expert advice blindly and indifferently when the matter is life-or-death, or even more consequential.

The second problem with the first half of the aforestated maxim is that it is nobody’s business to assume that a man would necessarily be dishonest with himself and would therefore succumb to the temptation of fatwa-shopping. it is true that many people deceive themselves (and others) all the time, but nobody is entitled to make such negative expectations of others the basis of a policy such as this.

When a man chooses one of the many alternatives available to him in a matter that belongs to a grey area so to speak, let nobody presume him guilty of being dishonest with himself. Some things are best left to the almighty – the sole Judge of intentions.

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

An overbearing apex court

Third tier of the forgotten province

Supreme Court’s decision on 63-A is a controversial one

Much more needed

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HE independents ruled the roost in the recently held Balochistan local bodies elections, signifying yet again, how fractured, and removed from the political mechanics of the rest of Pakistan the province is.

Other than the JUi-F, no mainstream political party from the rest of Pakistan made the cut as far as scoring a significant number of wins was concerned. There was some unfortunate violence, yes, even one death being one death more than acceptable. But given the restive nature of the province, things weren’t as bad as they potentially could have been.

Our troubled southern province still has a number of anti-centre - but not anti-state - political forces. They still retain some legitimacy on account of their not being the mouthpieces of the deep state yet are, fortunately, still rooted in the idea of a united federation. The state needs to make sure that these voices, and indeed, those of the aforementioned independents who did well in the polls, are heeded.

To segue on to the third tier of government in general, the remaining two provinces, Sindh and Punjab, also need to carry out these polls as soon as possible. But this should not stop there. The provinces (yes, the provinces, since local government is a provincial subject) need to draft a plan that would empower the local governments more than they currently are. This could be a work in progress; the 18th amendment, which empowered the second tier of government, didn’t appear magically out of thin air one fine day. There was a political consensus that led to it. But that also required some deft political management, an event that was one of the PPP’s finest moments, something which it is seeing less and less of in recent years.

Of course, inter-district issues just might be harder to iron out than inter-provincial ones. it might be like trying to herd cats, but we believe in the maturity and proactivity of our political class to do the needful. it is when we have a populace even more invested in the democratic process, at the grassroots level, that the chances of misadventures by unelected institutions can be lowered.

Raja Hamza anwaR

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N 26 June 2016 many american citizens gathered as one mass unit outside the american Supreme Court, patiently waiting for the american Supreme Court’s decision on the lawfulness of same-sex marriage. The day ended in public euphoria by liberals on the left and young millennials as the Supreme Court decided to recognize same-sex marriage at parity with heterosexual couples, and shunning state bans on same-sex marriage. despite the charged crowd engulfing the Supreme Court building, chanting slogans in support of same-sex marriage while waving the american flag depicting harmony between the american ethos and same-sex marriage, Chief Justice John Robert’s spirit remained resolute as he delivered a powerful dissent. in his illustrious dissent, he remarked, “But this Court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us.

Under the Constitution, judges have the power to say what the law is, not to declare what the law should be”. He went on to add, “it can be tempting for judges to confuse our own preferences with the requirement of the law”. a presidential reference was also filed in the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan at a time of heightened political and constitutional tension. The then incumbent PTi government was breathing its final moments in power as it brazenly called its dissident members traitors to their own country, while the Pakistan democratic Movement coalition was gearing up for the challenges of the high office it would soon occupy. it was a time in which the public was seen to be heavily charged by the anti-american narrative constructed by the ousted leader

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imran Khan for hatching a conspiracy against his government. His self-projection as a victim of an american-backed conspiracy may to some of his ardent supporters, witlessly seem like a Pakistani rendition of President Mohammed Mossadegh of iran.

The five member-bench of the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan settled this issue decisively in clear terms. a benefit of reading the majority judgment is that it has provided certainty in an area of law, which was beset with assumptions by politicians. The heavy penalty imposed by the Supreme Court may well have made future defections by members of the Parliamentary Party a challenging decision to make. The majority judgment has the benefit of underscoring the significance of the party system.

Yet, the question to ask is whether the Honourable Court may have stretched the power of its interpretation or not. it appears so. article 63a was originally inserted to curb the rampant defections and floor-crossing by members of the Parliamentary Party. article 63a could be invoked only where a member had voted against or abstained from voting against the direction of the Parliamentary Party.

Once a member had failed to comply with the direction of the Parliamentary Party, the Party head was vested with the discretion to pass a declaration of defection. if a party head decided to pass a declaration of defection, the Election Commission of Pakistan would then exercise its power to de-seat the defected member. Two critical limbs precede the penalty of being de-seated. First is the failure to comply with the Parliamentary party’s specific direction by the act of voting or abstaining from voting along the party line and second, the exercise of discretion of the party leader to declare the member to have defected. The Constitution provides a degree of flexibility to the party leader to pardon the dereliction of its member, and in that case, the Election Commission cannot de-seat the member.

However, the Honourable Court’s view that the votes cast contrary to the party direction ought not to be counted, adds another punishment that was never envisaged by the Constitution. article 63a is to be understood as a penalty provision in the Con-

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stitution, whose scope in the Constitutional framework is restrictive and narrow. in fact, the Justice ajmal Mian in the seminal case of Wukala Mahaz Barai Tahafuz-i-Dastoor enunciated a narrow interpretation of article 63a. according to his interpretation, even instances committed by members, outside the vicinity of Parliament or Provincial assemblies, regardless of being severely detrimental or even colossal to the political party cannot be brought under the ambit of defection by a member. By adding another punishment preceding a decision of the Election Commission, the Supreme Court has stretched the contours of article 63a beyond its logical scope.

Following the Honourable Court’s opinion, a member will be penalized for voting against the party direction prior to the declaration of defection by the party head which, ordinarily marks the initiation of legal proceedings against him. Had the penalty of ‘rejecting the votes of the defectors’ been an offence that the Constitution envisioned, it would have provided so in article 63a. The legislature could well have done so when the defection clause was twice amended; first in 2002 through legal Framework Order, 2002, and most recently by the Eighteenth amendment in 2010.

There is a thin line between interpreting the Constitution and re-writing it, making its interpretation a delicate task which requires critical engagement with traditions found in the precedents developed by superior courts as well as the country’s constitutional design. it is not a mechanical exercise of reading two or more provisions of the Constitution jointly to infer an answer; such an answer more often than not risks stretching the design of the provision out of its context and may create a situation where the subjectivity of oneself may overshadow its intended meaning. it was perhaps the fear of importing a subjective interpretation in article 63a that the minority judges unwaveringly dissented and held that the defection clause is a complete code in itself and any further interpretation would amount to re-writing the Constitution.

There is a thin line between interpreting the Constitution and re-writing it, making its interpretation a delicate task which requires critical engagement with traditions found in the precedents developed by superior courts as well as the country’s constitutional design.

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

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Constitution must prevail

Indo-Pacific Framework When the bear will wake up you will find yourself facing him alone

SHazia anwER CHEEma

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iNCE US President Joe Biden took his office, indo-Pacific is in news. after aUKUS, now “indo-Pacific Framework” has been announced, indicating Biden’s obsession with consolidating its position in the indo-Pacific region by bringing more partners on board.

US-led developments in connection with its indo-Pacific Strategy (iPS) are a critical issue for Pakistan also because the US using the diction of “achieving the goal of a Free and Open indo-Pacific” is actually encircling China’s trade routes, having direct security implications for Pakistan. This situation surely creates a further trust deficit between Pakistan and the United States. Economically weak Pakistan cannot go for heavy procurement to place its Navy at par with india but it cannot sit in silence either. What are possible options left with Pakistan are its additional dependence on China and enhancing Pak-Russia cooperation in the field of defence.

We remember in his very first speech US President Biden pledged to contain China; he affirmatively claimed that the US series of wars on terror created a clear deficit in america’s global presence otherwise. US military engagements provided open ground for China to excel and expand.

Then he declared that from now on we (US) are putting any other matter on the back burner, and we will make China’s containment our priority.

So how a sovereign country not interested in any conflict engagement can be contained and what does even it means. To my understanding by containment of China, the USa means barricading and blocking it from its trade routes and exploiting the fault lines within and on the global sphere related to it, which requires massive propaganda campaigns alongside the pocket formations.

The USa is creating pockets in the indo-Pa-

cific with different names, we are familiar with qUad, a Strategic dialogue-based formation including, the USa, Japan, australia, UK, and india. The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSa agreement, a treaty for cooperation in signals intelligence to block the flow of information to and from China. aUKUS, is a trilateral security pact between australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, announced on 15 September 2021 for the indo-Pacific region.

Under the pact, the US and the UK will help australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The aftermath being totally ignored in terms of nuclear proliferation this military formation is counting on heavy military presence in the indo-Pacific with the sole purpose of intimidating or in case engaging China into a full-fledged war. Though considering all this not enough US President in his recent visit to the Pacific region announced another formation with a catchy name, “indo-Pacific Framework” which comprises of USa, Japan, india, South Korea, indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, New Zealand, and Brunei.

For the purpose of semiotic analysis, all these alliances have mottos, such as for aUKaS, it is sharing ideals, and enduring peace, for Five Eyes, it is signal sharing for the greater good apart from the actual reason of their existence in the first place.

This new breed of formation also claims something super special for the indo-pacific region as it states, “We share a commitment to a free, open, fair, inclusive, interconnected, resilient, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region that has the potential to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth……..In order to prepare our economies for the future, we are launching the process to establish the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for prosperity.

When the war will come in Indo-Pacific you people will be in the direct line of fire and your so-called savior with catchy slogans has a very bad habit of running from the scene with yet another catchy Face saving higher goal.

There is a detailed description available on the White House Official page but for me, the most interesting statement is “We invite participation from additional indo-Pacific partners that share our goals, interests, and ambitions for the region”.

With the american ambition of maintaining its hegemonic presence, serving its interest, and the goal of containing China, all who are interested in becoming a party are welcome.

This specific invitation can be related to Taiwan’s de facto embassies in eastern Europe, the countries that were once under USSR’s stronghold got a replacement as the USa under the pretense of savior which was the USSR or Russia is now for that matter can never enjoy.

Through ample rolling of dollars, the temporary benefits can be achieved, countries going through tough economic times provide these facilitations but these arrangements are not permanent it is just like giving a kid a stick to poke the sleeping bear, but if the bear wake up the stick provider deserts the kid by leaving him on his own. i can provide an example of ashraf Ghani holding that same stick willingly being mischievous that his back is (was) covered but in reality, he had to run hard to save himself as the promise keeper of coving his back was long gone, similar happened in Ukraine, which Ukrainians now are admitting that we have predicted this war to be fought for us by our so-called saviors but we were left alone.

History (and very recent history) has a clear message for all these underdeveloped countries who are becoming parties in the game of poking the bear; just remember when the bear will wake up you will find yourself facing him alone, the only shared ideal, goals and mutual interests you can get out of it are those few dollars what you have been promised other than that you are selling your elegance for an ambition, an interest, and an ultimate goal of containing China, is not worthy of your own wellbeing. When the war will come in indo-Pacific you people will be in the direct line of fire and your so-called savior with catchy slogans has a very bad habit of running from the scene with yet another catchy Face saving higher goal.

US-led developments in connection with its IndoPacific Strategy (IPS) are a critical issue for Pakistan also because the US using the diction of “achieving the goal of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific” is actually encircling China’s trade routes, having direct security implications for Pakistan. This situation surely creates a further trust deficit between Pakistan and the United States.

The writer Shazia Cheema is an analyst writing for national and international media outlets. She heads the DND Thought Center. She did her MA in Cognitive Semiotics from Aarhus University Denmark and is currently registered as a Ph.D. Scholar of Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication at Charles University Prague

a 5-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (the “SC”) took notice of the unconstitutional act of the Speaker/deputy Speaker of the National assembly when they created hurdles in voting for the NoConfidence Motion as per the Constitution. Given the unconstitutional behaviour of the deputy Speaker by not allowing the vote to be carried out before 12 midnight on 9 april, the SC was left with no choice but to be seen to intervene. any deviation from the Constitution would amount to invoking the doctrine of necessity. Pakistan has a history where the Constitution and Rule of law have been trampled upon, too often, with disastrous consequences for the country, starting from 1955. it was quaid’s priority that the First Constituent assembly, tasked with drafting and adopting a constitution on which the foundations of a modern democratic welfare state were to be laid was formed on 11 august 1947, almost three days before the formal independence of Pakistan on 14 august 1947. Yet, despite the Father of Nation’s clarity that Pakistan would be a modern democratic welfare state for all citizens, the First Constituent assembly was dissolved on 24 October 1954. The dissolution was challenged by Maulvi Tamizuddin in Sindh High Court which declared it illegal. The matter was petitioned to the SC where Justice Munir gave a ruling that “Necessity Knows No law” in 1955.

This ruling was based on a 2000 years old ancient Roman law that had no legal status in the Constitution. Ever since then, Jinnah’s Pakistan has been a victim of fascism and abuse of power.

MALIK TARIQ ALI LAHORE

Hope EVEN in the presence of diverse educational systems in Pakistan, no school system ceases to exist in Pakistan that can provide proper education to the lower class of the society. There exist many government schools with no productive and innovative environment or on the other side lies the private sector with exorbitant fees which are out of reach for the nation’s majority. Teach a Child School System (TaC) established in 1998, has completed its 24 years of academic excellence by providing applaudable academic services to the underprivileged children for only a 5-rupee dignity fee. in this era of competition and academic versatility, co-curricular activities play a significant role in the upbringing of the creative and innovative characteristics of a student. TaC offers co-curricular activities along with academics in its curriculum. This is one of the critical features of TaC that makes their students prominent; these students do not only participate in competitions but also have an excellent win ratio, and proudly are the runner of NOVa and Prism competitions. These competitions give these underprivileged children social exposure that gives them the hope to pursue their dreams and be determined to work harder to compete with mainstream society. Moreover, TaC conducts summer camps to polish, Students’ skills and boost their enthusiasm. TaC also houses advanced science labs, media support, libraries and art rooms to cultivate student skills. idara Taaleem O Tarbiyaat is what TaC is also known for providing its students with valuable education. Pakistan lacks a competent society because most of the population remains deprived of basic moral education and etiquette. With this situation in mind, TaC emphasises moral education in equal means as their academic services. For instance, they teach them principles, punctuality, how to interact with society and respect for every class and group in society. Their focus domain does stay restricted to a student only, they prepare him to act as a catalyst in his family and bring a change in his surroundings as well.

TaC has only two campuses in lahore as of now which can provide education to only 100 students per anum. The provision of quality education is a prominent issue across Pakistan, but very few organizations like TaC are striving to fulfil this gap. it’s a duty for all special for the youth to devote themselves to helping such institutes in terms of service and finances so grow them to the level where no one is deprived of fundamental educational rights.

SHAAF SALMAN BILAL, MEHMOOD DIR LAHORE

The next step for Imran Khan?

PaKiSTaN is facing a serious crisis because the new government has come after a no-confidence motion. PdM was powerless a few months ago; this government that has power now all used to be in the opposition.

Now the new opposition PTi has become more powerful as you can see at the gathering of a large number of people at Minar-e-Pakistan lahore. PTi chairman is saying only one thing: we are not slaves of america and we are an independent country that’s there should be elections. With the new government, the ministers who are coming into government are bringing a lot of money laundering cases with them. imran Khan expects that in the next elections, he will see a clean sweep.

SAQIB ALI LAHORE

Impact of Indian dramas iNdiaN dramas have a major impact on our language. Our daily life lingo has faced a drastic change in a very subtle way due to the impact of indian dramas. it is evident that we are losing command over our mother tongue because we are highly influenced by indian dramas and the language used in them.

We as a society are so highly influenced by indian festivals and celebrations that we are always eager to watch our favourite indian dramas on any particular occasion. The concept of the dance floor on the mehndi function, which we consider very trendy is basically due to the impact of indian dramas. it is never too late to shred off the facade of indian dramas and adopt one’s own. The impact of indian dramas is definitely very strong but our culture and traditions possess enough strength too.

The trend of wearing heavy colourful jewellery is nothing else but the impact of indian dramas intentionally or unintentionally indian dramas have played a major role in distorting our Pakistani culture.

BISMA NAREJO LAHORE

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08 WORLD VIEW

iSraeli leaderShip divided on iran deal ISRAEL’S TOP SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS CAN’T AGREE ON WHETHER ISRAEL IS BETTER OFF WITH OR WITHOUT AN IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL Al Monitor Ben Caspit

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HE drama is reminiscent of the deep disagreement among Israel’s leadership 10 years ago, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak unsuccessfully sought to convince the security cabinet to approve a strike on Iran’s military nuclear infrastructure. A decade on, history is repeating itself. Israel’s military capabilities for such an attack have since degraded as Iran’s program has progressed and expanded, but the Israel Defense Forces is feverishly building up is capabilities with generous funding.

The controversy is the same, as is the balance of power between opponents and proponents of a deal with Iran. The crux of the controversy is over intense US efforts to reconstitute the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. One camp believes reviving the agreement is Israel’s best option, at least among bad choices, and the other is convinced that the proposed agreement negotiated in Vienna is a disaster.

Brig. Gen. (reserve) Dror Shalom, the former head of the Research and Analysis Division of Israeli Military Intelligence, reportedly told his American interlocutors this week in Washington that the US decision to pull out of the agreement with Iran in 2018 was a careless strategic mistake.

Shalom currently heads the political-military bureau of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, a highly influential and sensitive policy post Defense Minister Benny Gantz appointed him to earlier this year. His purview includes public and clandestine contacts with defense establishments around the world.

Shalom led the intelligence research bureau from 2016 to 2020, a time when Netanyahu and his close aide, Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, were deeply invested in convincing President Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement with Iran.

Shalom warned Israeli decision-makers including Netanyahu of the risks of such a move. Many top security and defense minds agreed.

Their assessments have borne out. The regime of the ayatollahs has not collapsed, the economic sanctions have not forced Iran to abandon its nuclear program and (perhaps despite Netanyahu and his allies’ hopes), Trump did not order a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Shalom and other like-minded officials point out that Iran is now far closer to the nuclear threshold than it was while bound to its commitments under the 2015 agreement, and no world power seems to be able to stop it or afford the price off trying.

Shalom’s analysis corresponds to comments by former military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Tamir Heyman, who said in an interview this week with Israel Hayom that a return to the agreement with Iran is Israel’s least bad option. His successor Maj. Gen.

Aharon Haliva reportedly agrees. As head of military intelligence, he is also tasked with compiling Israel’s national annual assessment report, which also reflects the long prevailing military intelligence view of the Iran issue.

The most prominent professional voice on the other side of the issue is Mossad director David Barnea, who took the agency’s reins a year ago from Yossi Cohen. Barnea reportedly believes the deal with Iran is catastrophic, lifting all the constraints from Iran’s nuclear program within a few years.

Barnea is of the view that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent a return to the deal, arguing that the status quo is the best alternative, allowing Israel to keep working against Iranian advances while international sanctions remain in place.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s views appear to correspond to Barnea’s, just as Netanyahu was in sync at the time with Cohen.

Gantz leans the other way, which is hardly surprising, as the Israel Defense Forces report to him as defense minister. Bennett’s alternate, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, is somewhere in the middle, and IDF chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi’s views are closer to the Mossad chief’s.

The argument has serious policy repercus-

sions. The Mossad has reportedly intensified its activities on Iranian soil, taking some credit for convincing US President Joe Biden to reject Iran’s demand for removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US list of foreign terrorist groups in return for agreeing once again to curb its nuclear ambitions.

In late April, the Israeli press reported on a Mossad operation in Iran involving the detention of Mansour Rasouli, who confessed under interrogation to having been recruited by the IRGC’s Quds Force to assassinate an Israeli diplomat in Ankara, an American general in Germany and a French journalist. The confession, recorded fragments of which were made public, was believed to have been instrumental in Biden’s final decision on the IRGC. Israeli decision-makers have so far managed to downplay this disagreement and presented a mostly united front to the outside. If and when a military option becomes relevant, the debate will obviously be vastly different.

Controversy also surrounds the military buildup intended to restore Israel’s military option on Iran.

Many believe Israel is too late to stop Iran’s nuclear project, but not everyone agrees with this pessimistic outlook. Kochavi, for example, already has at his disposal means to cause significant damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and those resources will only become more effective as time goes by.

“Iran is clearly well within the immunity zone, to quote Defense Minister Barak’s assessment a decade ago,” a senior Israeli security source told AlMonitor on condition of anonymity, referring to Iran’s ability to fend off external attack. “But that is why we have to think outside the box, devise new capabilities, create different paradigms and be able to defend Israel. We are headed in the right direction and I have no doubt we will achieve our goal.”

US diStUrbed by iraqi law criminalizing iSrael tieS The State Department said the new Iraqi law promotes ‘an environment of antisemitism’ Al-Monitor StAff The Biden administration says it is “deeply disturbed” by a new Iraqi law that criminalizes a range of “normalization” interactions with Israel. On Thursday, 275 lawmakers of the 329-seat Iraqi parliament voted in favor of the law, titled “Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity.” The law criminalizes activities including traveling to or from Israel, visiting any of its embassies, participation in conferences linked to Israel and promoting Zionist ideas. Violations of the law are punishable by life in prison or even death. The anti-normalization law expands on a 1969 law criminalizing communication with Israel. In a statement, the State Department said Thursday that the new Iraqi law undermines freedom of expression and promotes “an environment of antisemitism.” “This legislation stands in stark contrast to progress Iraq’s neighbors have made by building bridges and normalizing relations with Israel, creating new opportunities for people throughout the region,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price. “The United States will continue to be a strong and unwavering partner in supporting Israel, including as it expands ties with its neighbors in the pursuit of greater peace and prosperity for all,” Price said. The two countries lack diplomatic relations. Iraq has technically been at war with Israel since the Jewish state’s founding in 1948, and Iraqi citizens are barred from visiting Israel. The new Iraqi law comes as the Biden administration seeks to build on the Abraham Accords.

Under the Trump-brokered normalization deals, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan recognized Israel. US officials are reportedly discussing normalization with Saudi Arabia, which has called for recognition to be offered only in exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc in the Iraqi parliament proposed the legislation, praised its passage as a “great achievement.” His supporters gathered in Baghdad Thursday to celebrate.

Scientific seances in twentieth-century iran Spiritism appealed to Iranian intellectuals who sought to reconcile their commitment to science with their pursuit of moral reform JStor DAily Livia Gershon

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, people in many parts of the world were adapting to rapid scientific advances, trying to figure out how they reconciled with religious and moral systems. Iran was no different. As religion scholar Alireza Doostdar writes, one form this took was the adoption of “scientific” Spiritism—conducting experiments in speaking with the dead, in a manner similar to its Anglo-American counterpart, Spiritualism.

According to Doostdar, whether or not the Iranians who participated in these spirit-seeking experiments considered themselves Muslim, their behavior fit neatly with many ideas and practices of the Persian Islamic tradition, which had long considered knowledge to be a key to moral perfection.

The man largely responsible for bringing Spiritism to Iran was Mirza Khalil Khan Saqafi, a physician, educator, diplomat, and writer. Early in his life, he was also a committed Muslim who authored a set of moral instructions for children that called on them to obey God and the “great men of religion.” Khalil Khan traveled to Paris for further medical training in 1895. There he encountered the French Spiritism movement, whose followers attempted to communicate with the dead and explored other mysterious psychic phenomena. Like the Spiritists, he considered this a scientific undertaking.

Khalil Kahn returned to Tehran in 1899, where he became a personal physician to the nation’s new monarch, Mozaffar al-Din Shah. In the elite military and bureaucratic circles he ran in there, there was a great interest in Spiritism, with many embracing its “scientifically proven” principles.

In the mid-1920s, Khalil Khan founded the Society of Experimental Spirit Science, which met weekly and included some of Iran’s prominent military leaders.

Frequently, these meetings featured a séance, in which Khalil Khan would hypnotize a frail young woman, who would pass on moralizing communications from the spirits of the dead in the “fourth dimension.” On one occasion, those gathered heard from the spirit of the accomplished prime minister Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, who explained that he had been reborn 5,000 times before living a perfect life on Earth and moving on to a comfortable afterlife. On the other hand, the fourteenth-century poet Hafez expressed remorse for his debauched and drunken life.

“According to Kalil Khan and other Spiritists,” reports Doostdar, “the moral principles garnered from conversations with the souls of the dead amounted to positive knowledge as good as any other scientific fact.”

Khalil Khan and colleagues hoped that systematic scientific inquiry would yield a universal moral system based not in the world’s varied traditions, but in objective fact. With his conversion to Spiritism, Khalil Khan had abandoned any references to Islamic tradition. Yet, his views as a Spiritist were very much in line with the religion’s teachings.

“Spiritism enabled these intellectuals, as it did many of their fellow travelers in Europe and elsewhere, to ground their religious cosmologies in what they took to be universal modern science,” Doostdar concludes.

Over time, Spiritist practices spread beyond the network of the scientifically committed to become part of the mainstream. By the late 1960s, “summoning spirits” was such a common activity that Muslim critics considered it an epidemic and set out to refute the idea that séances could allow for communication with the dead.

Empirical Spirits: Islam, Spiritism, and the Virtues of Science in Iran by Alireza Doostdar, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 58, No. 2 (April 2016), pp. 322– 349, Cambridge University Press.

why Supreme court’s acknowledgement of sex work as a profession is welcome inDiAn ExprESS Bijayani Mishra and saBiha Mazid

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N May 19, the Supreme Court of India (SC) made headlines by giving directions for recognising prostitution as a profession and emphasising that sex workers, like any other professionals, are entitled to dignity and constitutional rights. Prostitution (or sex work), a taboo topic of discussion, was recently brought into drawing-room conversations by the Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi (directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and said to be based on the life of Gangubai Harjivandas, a much-celebrated social activist of Kamatipura). The question that the film successfully raised was: Why isn’t sex work seen as any other kind of work?

Interestingly, prostitution is not illegal in India, per se. According to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), however, several activities under prostitution are punishable by law — pimping, renting out property for running brothels, etc.

In 1956, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act emphasised that sex workers can practice their profession but any person who makes an earning from prostitution is to be punished. This involves procuring, abducting or inducing a person for prostitution; a move significant enough to ensure trafficking for the sex trade was under check. Further, the Act states that to lawfully participate in prostitution, sex workers have to maintain a distance of at least 200 metres from any public place, preferably in an isolated area with no public institutions in sight. In

IT COULD HELP CHALLENGE THE INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS THAT PREVENT SEX WORKERS FROM ACCESSING BASIC RIGHTS AND EQUALITY other words, sex work is to be done in secrecy, away from the gaze of the larger, “normal” society.

This isolation works into othering sex workers, putting the legality of their profession in ambiguity. Indeed, a simple legal status for prostitution wasn’t enough to ensure sex workers are not pushed to the margins of society. Presently, it is estimated that there are approximately 3 million sex workers in India, an overwhelming majority in the age group of 15-35.

There are around 15 countries in the world that have various degrees of regulations related to sex work, mostly legalising and ensuring safeguards for sex workers. Countries like New Zealand, Denmark, Germany and Greece have very progressive measures regarding sex work ensuring that the workers’ health and financial situations are taken care of. Despite regulations and degrees of bans, it is imperative to identify that prostitution exists as a promising industry, especially in situations of poverty and social inequalities. In India, it is nowhere close to becoming extinct. The problem, however, is not in the work per se. It is in the way the work is perceived.

The major issues that sex workers in India face stem from the fact that despite not being illegal, the secretive nature of sex work presents an illusion of it being a crime. The police, legal system and legal personnel also

contribute to sex workers being seen more as the perpetrators of crime than being at the receiving end of it. The possibilities of rape, violence and trauma that clients can cause to sex workers have been neglected. Moreover, since the work is seen as “immoral” or “dirty”, any disease caused by poor sexual hygiene and menstrual hygiene — most significantly HIV-AIDS and cervical cancer — does not receive proper medical attention. Additionally, due to a lack of ration cards or them not being recognised as valid, sex workers fail to avail any subsidised resources earmarked for the lower socio-economic sections. It is a vicious cycle of segregation, deprivation and, ultimately, marginalisation. Children born in brothels are not easily accepted into schools.

Many of them do not get valid identification proofs to claim entitled state support. The progressive ladder of mobility which seems to be so easily available for everyone in our democratic society based on merit, is far from reality for the children of sex workers. Many continue working in the same profession as their mothers.

Legalising sex work, however, could change all of this. It could open up the doors to legal protection for sex workers against sexual harassment. According to the SC’s directions, the police have to take the complaints of sex workers seriously. The callousness with which the police

generally approach the complaints of sex workers as “normal occupational outcomes” would no longer be acceptable. Our country already has a law against harassment at the workplace recognising any form of distress — physical, emotional, sexual — preventing a woman from doing her work as a punishable offence. With the latest directions from the SC, any sex worker who is a victim of sexual assault will be given all of the same services as any other survivor of sexual assault, including immediate medical attention. Moreover, being acknowledged as a profession could also help improve the poor condition of healthcare facilities and the resultant vulnerabilities that sex workers endure. In the near future, medical benefits and many other benefits that employed people in our country enjoy could also be a reality.

The directions of the SC constitute only the first step towards removing some of the limitations that sex workers have long faced. In a country like India, which is severely marred by poverty, destitution, hunger and inequalities, survival is the top priority. The morality/immorality of the nature of any work does not and should not count as a factor in constructing hierarchies amongst vocations. India as a democratic nation constitutionally enshrines justice, equality and liberty for every section of the society. Unfortunately, sex workers have been structurally kept outside the dimensions of “equal opportunities”. It is time that such grave disregard for human rights and dignity comes to an end.

The writers teach at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi.

09 Business 31 May 2022_Layout 1 5/30/2022 11:52 PM Page 1

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS CORPORATE CORNER

Work commences on Balochsitan’s top poWer plant NewS DeSk

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) conducted Islamic Banking Awareness Sessions in Mohmand Agency, Swat and Charsada.

Mufti Nadir Khan, Team Leader Shariah Compliance Department, NBP Aitemaad Islamic Banking addressed the sessions along with NBP’s KPK Aitemaad Islamic Banking regional team.

Hashoo Foundation propagates women inclusion in Governance for sustainable outcomes.

Construction of Baluchistan’s biggest hydropower project, the Naulong Dam, has restarted, Gwadar Pro reported on Monday.

The dam will irrigate 47,000 acres of barren land and will provide 4.4MW of electricity.

Issues related to the Naulong Dam have been sorted out and under the direction of the Standing Committee on Water Resources, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) released Rs 1,916 million for the construction of the Naulong Dam to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

The 186-feet high dam has a total storage capacity of 242,452 AFd. Live storage is 200,000 AF. While the annual benefits to agriculture will be Rs

2.017 billion, power Rs 0.413 billion, and fisheries Rs 0.018 billion.

The Naulong Dam will create 23,500 agricultural jobs. It will help protect the catchment areas from the deluge. The dam will irrigate areas near Jhal Magsi, Gandawa, and khuzdar, which will boost economic activities and strengthen farmer fraternity in the province. The government expedited the construction of the Naulong dam. WAPDA already completed its feasibility and detailed design.

Since the water table in Baluchistan is quite low, fetching water for irrigation is a major challenge in itself. So, in order to cope with the water requirements in the province, the provincial and federal governments have sponsored the construction of many dams in Baluchistan, some of which are opera-

kArAchI Press releAse

Agha Steel Industries Limited, a leading Steel manufacturing company has signed an agreement with Saima Group for exclusively providing Green Electric Arc Furnace Technology steel rebars to its first of a kind EcoFriendly Green Housing Structure Project “Saima Premium Residency”. Saima Group is a name associated with quality and trust in the real estate planning and development sector of Pakistan, having successfully delivered many mega projects for both residential and commercial to its customers. Addressing the occasion Mr Zeeshan Zaki, Chairman Saima Group said “We are very excited to launch Saima Premium Residency as Pakistan’s first Eco-Friendly Green Housing Structure project that shall be built exclusively with the finest and most technologically advanced rebars supplied by Agha Steel.

In accordance with our longterm goal of transforming into an environmentally conscious organization, it is our aim to partner with firms that share our values to give sustainable developments for our future residents”. He further added “We couldn’t have found a better partner than Agha Steel for providing Steel for this visionary project as they are the only company in Pakistan that provides 100% refined quality steel by using green steel technologies.” At the signing ceremony Mr Hussain Agha, CEO Agha Steel, also expressed his view and noted “We are delighted to be entering into this agreement with Saima Group for providing steel to Pakistan’s First Eco- Friendly Green Structure Project. This is a great initiative by Saima Group as the leaders of the industry must play a pivotal role to ensure a sustainable and greener future for our generations to come. This agreement is testament to our aligned visions and ambitions for a Greener Pakistan.” Agha Steel Industries led a Green Steel Revolution through sustainability of its energy mix by installing a 2.25 Megawatt solar power project and signing a term Sheet with Engro Energy for Renewable Energy. Agha also stated, “Our State of the art plant utilizes scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technology.

By using recycled scrap for our raw material, we reduce the need for natural resources. Our CO2 Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption intensities are approximately 7 times less than the global steel making average, making the Green Arc Furnace Technology environmentally friendly.”

tional while others are yet to be completed. In addition to the aforementioned operational dams in Baluchistan, provincial authorities in collaboration with the federal government have undertaken the ‘100 Dam Baluchistan’ Initiative.

The government worked out a comprehensive program for managing

ZIEC to construct section of CPEC’s central alignment in Balochistan NewS DeSk

saima Group & agha steel join hands to launch pakistan’s First eco-Friendly Green housing structure project

09

A joint venture of China’s Zhongding Int’l Engineering Co. and Pakistan’s Progressive Technical Associate won contract to construct the 55-kilometre-long Awaran-Jhal Jhao road in South Balochistan after offering the lowest bid.

According to Gwadar Pro, the National Highway Authority had floated the project with an estimated cost of Rs6.06 billion. However, the ZIEC-PTA joint venture offered to build the road for Rs5.15 billion. A contract has been signed with the JV for the purpose, NHA revealed on Friday.

The project is part of the government’s plan to rehabilitate and widen the Hoshab-Bela road, which connected Gwadar and Karachi in the past but was later abandoned after the construction of Makran Coastal Highway in 2004.

The road remained in dilapidated condition for nearly two decades until the government decided to remodel it as part of the central alignment of ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to link the Gwadar port with Karachi port and Sindh.

The link, when completed, is expected to bring back economic activities in the least developed Awaran district of Balochistan. It will not only re-

store Awaran its status of a connectivity pivot between Sindh and Balochistan, but will also help the locals transport their agricultural products to Karachi for better return.

Awaran is a district of Kalat division, which shares boundary with Makran division. Gwadar is a district of Makran division.

This important east-west link intersects the Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab Motorway (M-8) of CPEC at Hoshab and Quetta-Karachi N-25 Highway at Bela. Works on 146 kilometres long HoshabAwaran and 80 kilometres long Jhal Jhao-Bela sections of the Hoshab-Bela link are already underway.

The ZIEC-PTA joint venture is also building Quetta-Khuzdar section of the N-25 Highway as part of the CPEC western alignment.

Apart from the Makran Coastal Highway and the Khuzdar-Basima Road, the Hoshab-Bela road will serve as the third east-west link between the western and eastern alignments of CPEC to connect Gwadar with Sindh.

These central corridors were announced as part of the Rs400 billion South Balochistan package of the federal government to end deprivation and spur economic activities in the most underdeveloped areas of the province under CPEC.

Fisherman becomes millionaire in Gwadar ISLAMABAD INP

A fisherman became an overnight millionaire in Jiwani, Gwadar, after catching a croaker fish, which he sold for over Rs13.4 million at a local market.

According to Gwadar Pro, the fisherman caught the fish on last Thursday, which weighed 48 kg.

“Croaker is called Sowa in the language of local fishermen. They are no less than gold for fishermen,” Sahib Gul who deals in fish at Karachi, told Gwadar Pro via phone. Croaker is also called “Kir” in the Balochi language.

Gul said that one time croakers were sold at a very low price and were mostly sent to Sri Lanka. “However, the price of croakers skyrocketed as local businessmen gained access to markets in China, Japan and the rest of the world,” said Sahib Gul, adding, in China and Japan, croaker soup is the food of the elite class. According to Dr Saifur Rehman, the special thing in croaker fish is the air-bladder in the chest which is used for medicinal purposes.

“Threads made from the bladder of fish are used to sew the internal organs of the human body.

They are absorbable and you don’t need to remove them once used in surgery,” he said.

the incurring floods through small dams. The completion of these projects would help the irrigation system besides tackling the water scarcity situation in the province.

It is one of the water conservation efforts by the government to solve the problem of water shortage in Baluchistan.

pakistan’s it exports to surpass $3bn: minister ISLAMABAD APP

Minister for IT & Telecommunications Syed Amin-Ul-Haque Tuesday said that Pakistan’s IT exports would surpass the $3 billion target this year due to steps taken by the ministry.Addressing a ceremony at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), he said the country’s IT exports have crossed $2.1 billion due to congenial investment atmosphere provided in Pakistan. He said that the investments of Pakistani start-ups grew by almost five times as compare to 2020 and the ministry has been providing both local and international networking platforms to start-ups to pitch their business ideas and products to potential customers and investors. The minister advocated for the role of technology in the government’s mission to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan.

pakistan improves by six places on world tourism index NewS DeSk Pakistan has made a big jump in the International Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) by moving up six places, as per the latest report released by the World Economic Forum. The 2021 edition of the TTDI includes 117 countries. The index ranks the countries based on the set of factors and policies that help the travel and tourism industry in each country grow in a way that is stable and sustainable. The managing director of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, Aftab ur Rehman Rana, said Pakistan has been ranked 83rd, which is up from 89th place in the index’s previous edition of 2019. He stated that a six-point increase in Pakistan’s ranking on the global travel and tourism index is a significant progress.

Exiled Afghan artists protest arrests in Peshawar NewS DeSk Afghan artists held a protest in Peshawar on Monday against the highhandedness of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police and Pakistani authorities’ decision to deport them to Afghanistan, currently ruled by the conservative Taliban regime.

According to the artists, they were being “thrown to the wolves” as police were using “deportation clauses” of the Foreigners Act to send them back to Afghanistan, where their lives were in danger.

The artists, who also recorded their protest against the Afghan government’s decision to ban music, said they had come to Pakistan to seek refuge but the “model” K-P police had increased their suffering by making unnec-

essary arrests.

The protesters said, “Police bring deportation charges against them as soon as the cops know that they are artists.”

The Taliban, who had outright banned music during their rule from 1996 to 2001, swept back into power on August 15, 2021. Following the fall of Kabul, scores of artists left the country as videos of the Taliban smashing and burning instruments started circulating in the media.

In October last year, Taliban fighters shor dead two wedding guests who were listening to music.

A relative of the victims had said Taliban fighters had opened fire while music was being played at a wedding in Sorkhrud, in Nangarhar province in the east of the country, killing two and wounding two more.

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Xi Jinping eXpresses ‘full trust’ for new Hong Kong leader JoHn lee

C

AgENCiEs

HINESE President Xi Jinping has voiced “full trust” for John Lee, the newly appointed sixthterm chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and also reiterated to uphold the principle of “One Country, Two Systems.”

Praising Lee for maintaining the unwavering stance of loving the country and the HKSAR, being willing to assume responsibilities and actively performing his duties, Xi said Lee has made contributions to safeguarding national security and Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability in various roles.

“The central authorities give full affirmation to you and have full trust in you,” Xi told Lee during their meeting in Beijing.

Nepal says missing plane with 22 on board crashed

Under the new electoral system, the HKSAR has successfully held elections of the Election Committee, the seventh-term Legislative Council and the sixth-term chief executive since last year.

It has been proved that the new electoral system played a decisive role in implementing the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong,” ensuring the position of Hong Kong people as their own masters and facilitating a good environment in which all sectors of society work together for Hong Kong’s development, Xi said.

“This is a political and democratic system that is in line with the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle and suited to Hong Kong’s realities and needs for development,” Xi said. “It must be cherished and upheld for a long time to come.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of

Hong Kong’s return to the motherland.

“Despite challenges over the past 25 years, the practice of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in Hong Kong has been a resounding success,” Xi said.

“The central authorities’ resolve to fully and faithfully implement the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ has never wavered, still less will it change,” he said.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of the central government, the HKSAR government and the whole society, Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to order and is now at a crucial stage of advancing to prosperity, Xi noted.

He said he believes that the new HKSAR government will bring new changes, and Hong Kong will make new advances in its development. Lee, who won the chief executive election on May 8, will assume office on July 1, 2022.

Hardliner, China hawk elected Australian opposition leader CANBERRA AFP

AgENCiEs Nepal’s army said on Monday it had located the crash site of a plane that went missing with 22 people on board during cloudy weather on Sunday.

“Search and rescue troops have physically located the plane crash site,” army spokesperson Narayan Silwal said on Twitter, posting a picture of the wreckage with the plane’s tail number clearly visible and parts of the aircraft shown scattered on the edge of a mountain. Rescue workers in Nepal have so far recovered 14 bodies from the crash site, an airport official said.

“The search for others is continuing,” said Tek Raj Sitaula, a spokesman for the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

Four Indians, two Germans and 16 Nepalis were on board the plane, a De

Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter operated by privately owned Tara Air, according to the airline and government officials.

The aircraft was on a 20-minute flight before losing contact with the control tower.

It had taken off from the tourist town of Pokhara, 125 kilometres west of the capital, Kathmandu, and was bound for Jomsom, about 80 km northwest of Pokhara, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site.

Flight-tracking website said the aircraft, with registration number 9N-AET, made its first flight in April 1979.

Deo Chandra Lal Karna, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said five helicopters were ready to help with the rescue process.

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s

14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents. Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically located in mountainous areas that are hard to reach.

In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.

An investigation found that the captain suffered an emotional breakdown during the flight, distracting the freshly qualified co-pilot who was at the controls when it crashed.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992 when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.

Just two months earlier a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

Australia’s conservatives elected hardliner and China hawk Peter Dutton as the country’s new opposition leader Monday, an outcome many will see as a lurch to the right for his party.

Dutton came out swinging after accepting the top spot, saying the country’s newly elected Labor government was not “ready to govern and we are already seeing their inexperience on display”.

He promised his party will go to the next election, due in 2025, with a plan to “clean up Labor’s inevitable mess”.

Elected unopposed, Dutton inherits a Liberal party decimated by Australia’s May 21 election, when many of its long-time voters swung to independent candidates who promised action on climate change. The new opposition leader will have to rebuild his shattered party and try to unite its fiercely divided moderate and conservative wings, with climate a key sticking point.

Dutton described himself Monday as “a very passionate believer” in Australia’s need for an “appropriate response” to emissions reduction.

A former police officer, Dutton made a name for himself in politics with tough talk and a penchant for headline-grabbing commentary.

As defence minister, he often likened China’s expansionist ambitions to Nazi Germany in the 1930s. “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war,” he said at the time.

“The issue of China under President Xi is the biggest issue our country will face in our lifetime,” he said Monday.

He also expressed regret for his decision to boycott a national apology to Aboriginal Australians forcibly separated from their families.

At the time he believed “the apology should be given when the problems were resolved and the problems are not resolved”, Dutton said, citing the

welfare issues many Indigenous Australians face.

Dutton and his allies in the Liberal party have sought to play down his right-wing past since the election, saying Australians will see his softer side.

The new opposition leader said Monday his policies would be “squarely aimed at the forgotten Australians, in the suburbs, across regional Australia”.

Ousted Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who stepped down from the Liberal leadership after the election drubbing, offered his “full support” to Dutton on Monday.

Australia’s newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week praised Dutton, saying he had a better relationship with him than Morrison.

“Peter Dutton has never broken a confidence that I’ve had with him,” Albanese said.

In a first, China’s J-16 fighters join strategic patrol with Russia’s Tu-95MS MiAN ABRAR In rare move, China’s state broadcaster revealed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force deployed its fighter jets as escorts for Chinese and Russian bombers during last week’s regular joint aerial strategic patrol in the Asia-Pacific region by the two major powers, with experts saying more advanced fighter jets like China’s J-20 and Russia’s Su-57 could join the patrol next time.

For the first time, China’s J-16 fighter jets were seen participating in a China-Russia joint patrol, China Central Television (CCTV), showing a photo depicting two J16s flying next to a Chinese H-6K bomber and a Russian Tu-95MS bomber.

The joint patrol the CCTV report referred to was held by the two countries’ air forces above the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific on Tuesday.

It marked the fourth joint patrol of its kind since 2019, with the goal of examining and enhancing the interoperability of the Chinese

and Russian air forces, and boosting strategic mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries’ militaries, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson at China’s Ministry of National Defense.

It was the first time China has revealed detailed information about sending fighter jets for escort during a China-Russia joint patrol, a Chinese military expert told the Global Times on Sunday, requesting anonymity. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it sent Su-30SM fighter jets for escort, so China’s J-16 deployment was a reciprocal arrangement, the expert said.

Since strategic bombers are not designed to engage in air-to-air combat, having fighter jets as escorts is also combat-oriented, analysts said, noting that both China’s J-16 and Russia’s Su-30 are heavy fighter jets that can contribute to the combat readiness of the joint patrol overall.

According to the photo, each J-16 carried two PL-10 close-range combat missiles, the anonymous expert pointed out, noting that the J-16 can also carry long-range air-

to-air missiles.

The J-16 is characterized by its long range, twin engines, twin seats, a large fuel capacity and in-flight refueling capability, so it is very suitable for long-range escort missions, the expert said.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff claimed that the Japan Air Self-Defense Force had monitored the China-Russia joint patrol, but its press release on Tuesday did not mention the presence of the J-16s or the Su-30s.

Analysts said that it is possible that the Chinese and Russian fighter jets only partially escorted the bombers and did not get close to Japan’s identification zone, or it is also possible that Japan simply failed to spot them.

In order to deal with the constantly changing battlefield environment and enhance combat capability, China must have enough fighter jets to ensure aerial strategic patrols can be carried out reliably, effectively and safely, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, said.

With the development of military technologies, more advanced equipment like

China’s J-20 stealth fighter jet and Russia’s Su-57 stealth fighter jet could participate in the next joint patrol, Song said.

This will lead to a significant boost to the fleet’s comprehensive combat capability, Song concluded.

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 | KARACHI

PCB urges PAkisTAn squAd To PlAy Aggressive CriCkeT AgAinsT WesT indies LAHORE

T

news Desk

HERE has been a number of developments ahead of Pakistan’s ODI series against West Indies next month. The matches between both teams were initially scheduled to be held in Lahore but due to the political instability, the venue has been shifted to Multan. The official confirmation was pending but the government has now given permission to hold the matches in Multan subject to written clearance.

According to sources, the 16-member Pakistan squad will conduct its training camp in Lahore instead of the host venue, however.

The training camp will be conducted under the leadership of coach Saqlain Mushtaq along with Abdul Razzaq. All

the players are expected to report on

Australia unveil marathon cricket summer around T20 World Cup defence

June 1, which includes Mohammad

Rizwan, Haris Rauf, and Shaheen Shah Afridi who had gone to England to participate in County Championship 2022.

On June 5, Pakistani cricketers and support staff will reach Multan while the West Indies team is also expected to fly to Pakistan on the same day.

Sources said that Pakistan team management has instructed the players to adopt an aggressive approach against the Windies in the upcoming series.

The board has also instructed coaches to prepare the players accordingly while homework will also include strengthening the batting approach against spin.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the conditioning camp has started at the National High Performance Center. Likes of Haider Ali, Akif Javed, Yasir Shah, and Imad Wasim are all participating and testing out their fitness.

France blames Liverpool, ticket fraud for Champions League crowd trouble

SYDNEY

PARIS

AFP

Cricket Australia unveiled a bumper home fixture list on Monday with eight bilateral men’s series against five different opponents either side of their defence of the T20 World Cup. The marathon five-month schedule starting in August will thrust the Australian men’s team into at least 27 games in front of home supporters rising to 29 if they reach the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on November 13. Australia’s recently-crowned women’s 50-over world champions have a lighter programme, staging twin limited-overs series against Pakistan in late January. International cricket will return to Perth for the first time since 2019, with the city’s new stadium to host the first of two Tests against the West Indies from November 30 with the second a day-night match in Adelaide. Three Tests against South Africa will follow, starting in Brisbane on December 17 with the Proteas playing the Boxing Day and new year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney for the first time in 13 years.

South Africa’s tour is to conclude with three one-day internationals, but the January dates remain unconfirmed after an “eleventh-hour” request from Cricket SA to have them reconsidered. The unseasonably early start in August is to accommodate two previously postponed one-day international series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand. The Zimbabwe series, twice delayed

by Covid-19, sees all three games at Riverway Stadium in Townsville in Queensland from August 28. New Zealand will play their three matches at an unfamiliar North Queensland venue, Cazalys Stadium in Cairns, 18 years after it was last used for international cricket.

Twenty20 series against the West Indies and England will precede the T20 World Cup which will finally start on October 16 after a delay of two years because of the pandemic. A three-match 50-over series against England has been shoehorned into October, before Australia’s five Tests are played in the space of 40 days. No room has been found for the men’s postponed fixtures against Afghanistan after the scheduled inaugural Test between the nations was called off last year due to the Taliban takeover, which cast doubt over that country’s commitment to women’s cricket.

ReuteRs

The French government on Monday blamed massive ticket fraud and Liverpool’s handling of its fans for the crowd trouble which marred the club’s Champions League soccer final against Real Madrid in Paris over the weekend. But as a blame-game over the fiasco continued into Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the scenes outside the national stadium, which saw some fans including children teargassed by French police, as deeply upsetting.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Liverpool had provided its supporters with paper tickets, and not electronic, which allowed for the possibility of what he described as a “massive fraud on an industrial scale”.

More than two-thirds of the tickets presented by some 62,000 Liverpool supporters had been fakes, the minister added. “I want to say once again that the decisions taken prevented deaths or serious injury,” Darmanin told reporters after holding an emergency meeting on Monday. The match was delayed by more than 35 minutes after police tried to hold back people attempting to force their way into the national stadium without tickets. Some ticket holders complained that they were not let in. Television footage showed images of young men who did not appear to be wearing red Liverpool jerseys jumping the gates of the stadium and running away from security to get into the match.

Others outside, including women and youngsters, were tear-gassed by riot police, said a Reuters witness. The crowd trouble has become a political issue ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections and embarassed France which hosts the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and the Olympic Games in 2024. “The images are lamentable, they are disturbing because we can clearly see that we are not prepared for events such as the Olympic Games”, said far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon on Sunday, while his far-right rival Marine Le Pen called the incident a “humiliation” for France.

INVESTIGATION: Liverpool Chief Executive Billy Hogan has said the club wants a “transparent investigation” by governing body UEFA.

SPORTS 11

daren sammy receives coveted ‘sitara-ePakistan’ award NEwS DESk Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy, who led Peshawar Zalmi in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) for four seasons, has received his Sitara-e-Pakistan award. Last year on August 14, the President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi had conferred Sitara-e-Pakistan for Sammy over his services in the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Ex-Zalmi head coach, who wore Pakistan national dress Shalwar Kameez, was handed with the honour in his hometown Saint Lucia.

“Cricket took me all over the world enabling me to see and play in some amazing places. Pakistan is definitely one of these places. A place that always makes me feel at home. It’s such an honor to have received this prestigious award( Sitara-I-Pakistan) from the Government and people of Pakistan. Thank you,” Sammy wrote on Instagram.

France holds meeting to prevent repeat of Champions league chaos PARIS AFP

Britain’s Johnson was hugely disappointed by how Liverpool soccer fans were treated at the Champions League final in Paris, his spokesman said.

“The footage from the Stade de France this weekend was deeply upsetting and concerning. We know many Liverpool fans travelled to Paris in good time … and we’re hugely disappointed by how they were treated,” the spokesman said. “We are urging UEFA to work closely with the French authorities on a full investigation and to publish those findings.”

Darmanin said there were no problems with Real Madrid supporters at Saturday’s match, most of whom he said had received electronic tickets, and that the Spanish side had managed to control their travelling fans better than Liverpool.

He acknowledged that police had been caught offguard by local delinquents who turned up to cause trouble at the match.

But defending the security protocols in place, the minister said France had only had three months to prepare after the venue was moved from Russia.

Earlier, Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera acknowledged that France nevertheless had to examine stepping up security at high-risk soccer matches, after crowd chaos also erupted on Sunday after St Etienne were relegated from France’s Ligue 1.

France’s sports ministry will host a meeting of security and football officials Monday following the chaos that marred the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, as Paris prepares to host the 2024 Olympics. Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said they want to identify what went wrong to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s scenes outside Paris’ Stade de France. The Liverpool club said it has called for an investigation into the treatment of its supporters ahead of the game, when thousands of ticket holders struggled to enter the stadium.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray on fans outside, while others managed to scale fences to access the stadium. The scenes tarnished the image of the French capital, raising questions about its ability to host sporting events as it gears up for the 2024 sporting showpiece, as well as the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Oudea-Castera expressed regret that “some supporters who had tickets were not able to access the match”. Monday’s meeting at the sports ministry, due to start at 0900 GMT, will involve the European football governing body UEFA, French football chiefs and the French police. “The priority now is to identify very precisely what went wrong… in order to learn all the lessons so that such incidents do not happen again at our future major international sporting events,” said Oudea-Castera.

‘ShAmElESS ATTEmpTS’: Her admission of possible shortcomings by the French authorities marked a more conciliatory stance, after officials initially lashed out at the Liverpool fans for the chaos.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday “thousands of British ‘supporters’ either without tickets or with fake ones forced their way through and sometimes behaved violently towards the stewards”.

But political foes of the government and President Emmanuel Macron said the scenes pointed to wider problems in France and shamed the country.

Thousands line up to give Liverpool a heroes’ welcome LIVERPOOL Agencies

Thousands of fans lined the streets of the city as double cup-winners Liverpool returned home for an open-top bus parade on Sunday that took place amid a flood of conflicting emotions.

Winning both the League Cup and FA Cup in the one season, as Liverpool did by twice beating Chelsea on penalties in two Wembley finals, would be reason enough to celebrate for most clubs.

But the two trophies they really wanted, and which would have enabled them to claim an unprecedented quadruple in a single campaign, narrowly eluded Liverpool.

Manchester City pipped them to the Premier League by just a single point last week before Liverpool lost 1-0 to Spanish giants Real Madrid in Europe’s showpiece

Champions League final in Paris on Saturday.

Supporters of rival teams were quick to point out Liverpool had failed to score a goal in regulation time in any of the three finals they had played this season.

But as the bus carrying players and officials displaying the two trophies won by the Reds this term made its way through the city amid loud cheers and a vibrant backdrop of flares and flags, defiant Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: “This is the best club in the world.

“We lost a Champions League final yesterday and this is the reception we received. I really couldn’t care less what other people think.

What a club,” the German added.

The result in Paris was overshadowed by chaotic scenes which delayed the kick-off at the Stade de France by over half an hour, with thousands of ticket holders struggling

to enter the stadium as French police used tear gas on Liverpool fans.

As Reds supporter Richard Dickinson watched the parade go by, he told AFP: “There are several high-profile media people who have actually come out and talked about how badly fans were treated over there (Paris) and suggested it wasn’t the fault of Liverpool fans, which you know I can’t believe for a minute it would be.

“It’s a shame that it actually ruined the sport spectacle for so many, and what I’ve read it’s quite disturbing.”

Turning to Liverpool’s season on the field, he added: “I think the team has had a great year you know, unfortunate not to win all four trophies but we picked up two which is fantastic…Last night was unlucky, but you can’t fault the effort the boys put in!”

Fellow Liverpool fan Ashany

Rehal expressed her pride in the team as she pleaded for Senegal’s Sadio Mane, linked with a move to German giants Bayern Munich, and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah to stay amid reports the two stars could be

on their way out of Anfield.

“Mane shouldn’t leave because he’s a really good player,” she said.

“My favourite player is Mohamed Salah. I said to him ‘you’re really great and you’re the best and please

don’t leave'”.

Earlier, Liverpool insisted their fans had done nothing to warrant the treatment they received outside the Stade de France, while French government figures criticised the behaviour of English fans and European football governing body UEFA blamed a problem with fake tickets.

Although no-one was seriously injured, the frightening scenes outside France’s national stadium prompted comparisons with the 1989 Hillsborough ground disaster at a Liverpool match in Sheffield, which caused 97 deaths in a crush and prompted a major overhaul of stadium safety standards.

Sunday was also the anniversary of another stadium disaster, when 39 people were killed at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels in 1985 as Juventus fans tried to flee Liverpool supporters.

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PM ShEhbAz SEEKS 10-yEAR RoAdMAP foR dEEPEnIng PAK, UK TIES g

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RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday underscored the importance of Pakistan-UK Enhanced Strategic Dialogue (ESD) and suggested to develop 10-years roadmap for taking relations forward in diverse fields.

The Prime Minister expressed these views during a telephone call with his British counterpart, Mr. Boris Johnson.

PM Shehbaz Sharif stressed the ESD should deepen mutual engagement and the bilateral partnership elevated to the next level. The Prime Minister also appreciated the work undertaken by the UK in promoting education, health and other social sectors in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Johnson reiterated his felicitations to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his election and assump-

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News Desk The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), which was set up by former prime minister Imran Khan to bring looted money from foreign countries back to Pakistan, helped recover Rs426.4 billion over the last three years, according to documents prepared by the Cabinet Division this month. Of the total amount, over Rs334bn was recovered in the last fiscal year alone, according to the Cabinet Division’s yearbook for 2020-21, which was prepared in May 2022, well over a month after Shehbaz Sharif took over as the prime minister. The ARU was set up in September 2018 to “provide a forum” for law enforcement agencies, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) and provincial anti-corruption establishments (ACEs) to “trace new cases and track all existing cases targeting eventual repatriation of unlawfully acquired offshore assets”. The institutions and agencies would “eventually recover the amount either through taxation or plea bargain or direct recovery/repatriation to the government exchequer”. According to documents, over the last three years, NAB, “under the supervision and assistance of ARU”, recovered Rs389.5bn. It was a “drastic increase” from the total Rs295.6bn recovered in the 17year period before then (from 2000 to 2017), according to the Cabinet Division yearbook.

Meanwhile, the FIA recovered Rs6.4bn in the last three years, of which 3.6bn was recovered in 2020. The documents added that in light of various inquiry commissions set up by the federal government, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) established liabilities and made recoveries that were “off the charts”. The revenue body had identified taxes of Rs22.8bn on offshore assets, including properties in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, and assets identified in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, recovering Rs5.6bn in FY21. Recoveries of Rs30bn were also directly attributed to the ARU, according to the documents. They added that the Financial Monitoring Unit was also reinvigorated to ensure that it reported suspicious transactions to law enforcement agencies in a timely manner so they could combat money laundering in accordance with their respective laws.

President Alvi appoints two ECP members from Punjab, KP News Desk President Dr Arif Alvi Monday appointed Babar Hassan Bharwana and Justice (R) Ikramullah Khan as members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) respectively. The president made these appointments in terms of Article 218 (2) (b) of the Constitution on the advice of the prime minister.Both the positions fell vacant due to the retirement of Justice (R) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi (member Punjab) and Justice (R) Irshad Qaiser (member KP).

ciated the positive role played by 1.6 million Pakistani diaspora in forging closer links and building bridges between the two countries. He further emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation in the field of legal migration to fully realise the potential.

In the regional context, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif underscored the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan and the need to scale up efforts to avert the humanitarian crisis. He added that the international community’s constructive diplomatic and political engagement with the Interim Afghan government was vital for sustainable peace and stability.

He also underscored the importance of release of Afghanistan’s frozen assets to bring stability to the fledgling Afghan economy. Prime Minister Boris Johnson conveyed his government’s deep appreciation for

Pakistan’s cooperation with UK, particularly with regard to evacuations in the aftermath of developments in Afghanistan post-15 August 2021.

The Prime Minister highlighted the grave violations of human rights in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). While reiterating Pakistan’s commitment towards promotion of peace in the region, he stressed the importance of peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. He also underscored the need for maintaining strategic balance in the South Asian region.

Both Prime Ministers also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine and other matters of mutual interest. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited Prime Minister Boris Johnson to visit Pakistan on mutually convenient dates. The two leaders agreed to remain in close contact.

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Around 100 dead in clashes between Chad gold miners AgeNcIes Around 100 people have died in clashes between gold miners in northern Chad, Defence Minister General Daoud Yaya Brahim said on Monday. Violence broke out on May 23 at Kouri Bougoudi near the Libyan border, sparked by a “mundane dispute between two people which degenerated”, he said, adding that the toll was “around 100 dead and at least 40 wounded.” The clashes occurred in the rugged Tibesti Mountains in the central Sahara, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Chadian capital N’Djamena. The discovery of gold there has sparked a rush of miners from across Chad and neighbouring countries, and tensions often run high. The clashes were between Mauritanians and Libyans, the minister said. He spoke to AFP by phone from the area, where he said he was with a large military contingent sent to help restore order. “This isn’t the first time that there’s been violence among gold miners in the region, and we have decided to suspend all gold mining at Kouri until further notice,” he said, adding that “the great majority (of mines in the area) are illegal.” The incident was first announced on Wednesday, when Communications Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a statement there had been “loss of human life and several wounded,” but gave no further details.

Karot hydropower project to meet Pakistan’s electricity needs, boost sustainable development: China

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Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday reiterated that Pakistan is firmly committed to its principled position on the Palestinian issue and Israel.

In an important policy statement, she said that there had been no change in Pakistan’s policy in support of Palestine.

The minister said that Pakistan’s state policy on Palestine is clear and based on the decrees of the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam.

She said that no policy or action could be adopted against the wishes and aspirations of the people of Pakistan. The Foreign Ministry has made it clear that no delegation from Pakistan had visited Israel, she said, adding Pakistan fully supported the Palestinian right to a referendum in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. The minister said the world saw a two-state solution as a guarantee of lasting peace in the region.

She said that the promise of a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders, Jerusalem as its capital and geographical unity must be fulfilled.

Occupied Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir were the longest running issues on the UN Security Council

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Pm shehbaz for enhanced Trade, inVesTmenT ParTnershiP wiTh UK

tion of office and underlined UK’s desire to further enhance its bilateral relationship with Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended felicitations to UK on platinum jubilee celebrations of Her Majesty The Queen’s coronation. Both leaders emphasized the importance of celebrating the 75th anniversary of establishment of Pakistan-UK diplomatic relations in a befitting manner.

The Prime Minister stated that Pakistan highly valued its relations with the UK, which were based on historical linkages and convergent interests on a broad range of issues. The Prime Minister reiterated Pakistan’s desire to bolster its ties with the UK across diverse fields, with a special emphasis on an enhanced trade and investment partnership.

Highlighting the long-standing Pakistan-UK ties, the Prime Minister appre-

ARU recovered 426bn during PTI’s tenure

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agenda and their solution was the responsibility of the international community.

Till a just solution to these two problems, lasting peace in the world will remain a dream, she maintained.

“We will continue to do our utmost to support the just struggle of the people of Occupied Palestine and the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”, she said.

Every negative step taken for cheap political publicity should be discouraged in the national interest.

The minister said that the anchor of the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), who was part of a delegation of Pakistani-Americans visiting Israel earlier this month, has been terminated.

“The PTV anchor has been terminated and taken off air. He went on the tour in a personal capacity,” she said.

The Karot hydropower project being completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would not only meet electricity needs of around five million local residents and further improve Pakistan’s energy structure but also boost the country’s sustainable development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday. “The Karot hydropower plant is a major energy cooperation project between China and Pakistan,” he said during his regular briefing in response to a question about Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to the project last week. “Once all units are installed and put into operation, the project will not only generate steady and affordable energy supply, meet the electricity needs of approximately 5 million local residents and further improve Pakistan’s energy structure but also boost the country’s sustainable development,” he added.

Azadi March signified Pakistan has changed forever: Imran Khan News Desk Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday said that Pakistan has “changed forever [and] the mental shackles of slavery have been broken finally”.

Imran made these remarks on his official Twitter handle alluding to PTI’s recently held ‘Azadi March’, wherein hundreds of party supporters marched to Islamabad amid the police brutality they faced.

“What I witnessed during my [seven] hours on the container [between] 1am & 8am on [May] 26th morning confirmed what I had been sensing, since this imported govt was imposed on us through a foreign conspiracy,” he said.

The tweet comes a day after the PTI leader asked his supporters to prepare for the next long march towards Islamabad at a convention held in Charsadda. Imran told the participants of the convention that 220 million people were being enslaved.

“Remember, the nation is not afraid of tear gas. This is a real liberation movement … jihad,” he had added.

Following his ouster from power, Imran Khan has alleged that a “foreign

conspiracy” against his government was behind the no-confidence motion tabled in the National Assembly last month and has repeatedly stated that he is willing to go to any lengths for “real freedom” of the country but will not accept the incumbent government led by “slaves of US and thieves”.

The second call for a long march was made by Imran after he decided to end his march early on May 27 and gave the incumbent government an ultimatum; to announce elections within six days or have the “entire nation” return to the capital.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged people to reject the policies of PTI and criticised Imran for damaging the country’s economic and other interests, calling him arrogant.

PM made these remarks after an audio clip of an alleged conversation between former president Asif Ali Zardari and property tycoon Malik Riaz which took place before the no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan, has been leaked on social media in which Riaz can be heard saying that Imran wanted to reconcile with the PPP co-chairman. Imran Khan had repeatedly denied rumours surrounding the topic when he

was in government, saying he did not need NRO (amnesty) from anyone, rather, all other politicians had been asking for one which wasn’t given to them.

In a comment on the audio clip, PM Shehbaz stated that the alleged conversation between Zardari and Malik Riaz exposed Imran Khan’s “hypocrisy and double standards”. “Contrary to his claims, he [Imran] sought NRO to save himself & his govt. The fake story of foreign conspiracy was manufactured after all his efforts failed,” Shehbaz said, adding that Imran’s “lies stand exposed”.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan also said that the role of judiciary and legal fraternity was key in protecting the country by upholding the rule of law.

Talking to lawyers’ convention, he said that if they did not resist foreign intervention and corrupt rulers imposed on them than coming generations would not forgive. He said that it was the responsibility of judiciary and lawyers to stand for the rule of law in the country.

He said that the country was going through a defining moment in which roles of judges and lawyers were of paramount importance in defending the country. He

said that no country could progress without upholding rule of law and equal justice for all people irrespective of their position in the society. He said that PTI had filed petition in the Supreme Court to seek its ruling on holding peaceful demonstration in the country. He said that all economic indicators were positive with record remittance, tax collection, record agriculture yield, exports all time high when PTI government was removed through foreign interference.

He said that PTI government had made it clear to foreign powers that they wanted friendship with all countries but would not accept slavery at any cost.

Imran Khan said that international community also recognized Pakistani government’s efforts to tackle with Coronavirus crisis. Imran Khan said that his first responsibility was to protect his own countrymen. He said he wanted strain relations with anybody but slavery was not acceptable to him and his party.

He said that past coward rulers had allowed drone attacks which was the violation of human rights on Pakistani soil in which hundreds of innocent people including children and women were killed.

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