Epaper – October 1 LHR 2021

Friday, 1 October, 2021 I 23 Safar, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 92 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

Fitch expects pakistani rupee to weaken Further in 2022 NEWS DESK

F

itch Ratings revised down its forecasts for the Pakistani rupee on thursday for both this year and next due to a variety of factors including an increased flow of US dollars into neighbouring

Afghanistan. Fitch’s forecast for the rupee’s average rate this year is now 164 to the US dollar compared with 158 previously. For 2022, Fitch now expects an average rate of 180 versus a previous forecast of 165.

“Our expectation for the currency to weaken further is based on Pakistan’s worsening terms of trade, tighter

US monetary policy, alongside the flow of US dollars out of Pakistan and into Afghanistan,” it said. the Pakistani rupee has been sliding steadily since May. it was at 170.50 to the dollar on thursday, more than 10 per cent weaker than its peak in May of 150.95. Analysts say the rupee has been hit by consistently high demand for

dollars due to the country’s current account deficit while the Afghan situation is increasing pressure. Pakistan’s Stock Exchange also fell nearly 3% this week on fears that a bill moved in the US Senate seeking to impose sanctions on the taliban that could potentially extend to Pakistan. Over the long term, tightening US monetary policy alongside higher structural inflation relative to the United States would weaken the rupee against the dollar.

Continued on page 05

02

Friday, 1 October, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

PunjAb rePorTS 223 new denGue cASeS, SPArkInG ouTbreAk FeArS LAHORe

A

Staff RePoRt

SURGE in the number of dengue fever cases has been reported in Punjab over the past 24 hours amid fears that the nation might face an outbreak of the disease in the coming days, health authorities said.

A total of 223 new cases of dengue fever — which is spread by mosquitoes that can only survive in warm temperatures — were

reported across Punjab on Wednesday, said the provincial health department, adding that most of the cases were recorded in Lahore.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department secretary, Imran Sikandar Baloch, said of the total, 167 infections were reported from Lahore, 35 from Rawalpindi, four in Kasur, and three cases were reported from Narowal.

The total tally of dengue fever cases this year has surged to 1,659 in the province, said the health department.

Top court orders FIA, AGs to submit report on journalists’ harassment cases

Baloch urged the people to keep themselves safe from the disease and ensure complete drainage of rainwater from their surroundings. Delay in fumigation by the administration resulted in an upsurge in dengue cases this monsoon season, reports citing sources said.

Keeping in view of the alarming spike in dengue fever cases, the provincial health department in collaboration with the district administrations has begun fumigation and an awareness campaign in the province.

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD INP

The law ministry has advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to accord extension to the chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) through a presidential ordinance till the appointment of new chief.

Sources informed Pakistan Today that on Thursday, the prime minister chaired a meeting to discuss the appointment of new NAB chairman.

They said that the law ministry has drafted an ordinance to extend the tenure of NAB chairman until a new chairman is appointed. Under the proposed ordinance, Justice (R) Javed Iqbal will

Shehbaz Sharif told to rest after hurting himself in fall from stairs

more than 300 people.

Subsequently, in 2019, rising temperatures across Asia and the Americas contributed to multiple severe outbreaks of dengue fever globally, making it the worst year on record for the disease.

Other Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, also had outbreaks, with a particularly severe situation in the Philippines, where 1,000 people died of the disease, including hundreds of children, in 2019.

Govt mulls promulgation of presidential ordinance to grant extension to NAB chief MIaN abRaR

The Supreme Court has ordered the provincial advocate generals and Federal Investigation Agency to submit reports on the incidents of alleged torture and harassment of journalists during the past year. The court released the written order of its hearing on September 13 of suo motu notice of the case. The ruling ordered the bosses of FIA and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, and the Islamabad police chief to submit a detailed report in this regard. It also directed all the provincial advocate generals to compile a chronicle of the incidents that occurred in 2021. The Supreme Court asked Sanaullah Abbasi, director general of the agency, to present a report detailing such cases and subsequent FIA investigations. It ordered the attorney generals and other law officers to help the court regarding Section 27 of the Pemra Ordinance, 2002. The court also summoned Abbasi, Pemra chief Muhammad Saleem and Inspector General of Police Qazi Jameel ur-Rehman to appear before the court on October 14.

According to government officials, despite various challenges posed by Covid19, the government has been making all-out efforts and taking adequate measures to stem the further spread of the dengue virus.

Only nine countries faced severe dengue outbreaks in 1970. But the disease is now seen in more than 100 countries. There are thought to be 390 million infections each year. In 2011, a major outbreak of dengue fever — potentially lethal disease spread by mosquito bites — infected 20,000 and killed

continue working as NAB chief till the appointment of a new chairman.

As per Article 6 of NAB Ordinance, 1999, the term of NAB chairman cannot be extended, the sources added.

Earlier, Law Minister Dr Farogh Nasim had said that no draft ordinance has been prepared to extend the tenure of NAB chairman.

Nasim had said that the issue of extending the

tenure of NAB chairman has been discussed with the prime minister many times and a decision would be made during the current week. He had also said that the choice of the name of NAB chairman is at the discretion of prime minister and “I can only advise the prime minister on this whole issue.

“The prime minister will consider more than one name for the post of NAB chairman,” the law minister had said.

Sources in the law ministry said that there is a strong possibility of keeping the opposition leader out of the consultation for appointment of NAB chairman. “Since opposition leader himself is prime accused in many NAB cases, no consultation could be made with him for appointment of NAB chairman as it would be a conflict of interest,” the sources said.

According to the sources, an ordinance is likely to be issued soon by the government to exclude the opposition leader on the issue of appointment of NAB chairman or grant an extension to the NAB chairman till the issue of appointment of new NAB chief is sorted out.

IBA expels student for violating protocol in exposing on campus harassment kARACHI

committee but could not do it that day due to some “enrolment and finance issues” he had to sort out.

“As a citizen of this country, this is my duty in letter and spirit to report this crap of society whenever I will observe no matter who the hell he is.”

In its statement, IBA said the student had posted about the incident “without following the standard operating procedures that are expected to be followed at the IBA”, such as filing a complaint at any of the committees or offices.

“Sharing details about an alleged incident without having complete knowledge of the context and background on any public platform is against IBA’s rules and regulations,” it further said.

It added Gibrail had used the details, including a picture, of the employee “even before the victim filed an official complaint which led to endangering the physical and psychological safety of the employee, his coworkers, and the department”.

IBA maintained the student reported to “defame the Institute, its finance department, and the employee, including senior professors on various national forums.”

However, despite his alleged violation of the

protocol, the student “was given multiple occasions to reconsider his actions and was counselled numerous times to reassess his actions.”

“Having failed to do that, the Disciplinary Committee has decided to expel the student as the IBA has [a] zero-tolerance policy towards the violation of its rules and regulations.”

The institute further claimed that in the past, issues brought to “any of the platforms have been resolved following the rules and regulations of the competent authorities”.

“The IBA has provided the channels and processes that need to be followed when any matter of concern arises, despite that, if an individual chooses to opt for ways and means that disrupt the ethics, values and standards of the IBA, the administration has zerotolerance for any such behaviour.”

ACTIVIST SLAMS INSTITUTE: Gibrail’s counsel and activist Jibran Nasir censured the institute for dismissing the student. “It’s not the student who defamed IBA, it is IBA which is defaming rather exposing itself with this step. A student’s career has been ruined for speaking truth,” he tweeted.

Global hits, local heroes: Covid-19 jabs around the world

the US that relies on proteins to carry harmless fragments of the coronavirus to produce an immune reaction.

German mRNA jab CureVac is also under review, though efficacy tests showed disappointing results at the end of June.

A total of 121 Covid-19 vaccines, including those that have been approved, have undergone clinical tests on humans, according to a WHO review published on September 24.

Some 124 jabs are in pre-clinical trials meaning they have not yet been tested in humans.

ABANDONED EFFORTS: On Tuesday, French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which had lagged behind rivals to produce a jab, said it was stopping work on an mRNA vaccine despite positive test results. Merck laboratories abandoned efforts to produce a jab in January, saying its candidates produced immune responses that were “inferior” to successful Covid-19 vaccines.

A few weeks prior in December 2020 Australia had dropped the development of a vaccine after clinical trials produced a false positive HIV result among subjects involved in early-stage testing.

Staff RePoRt

NewS DeSk Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif fell down from the stairs of his house in Lahore on Thursday and was injured. Reportedly, following his fall from the stairs, the PML-N leader stopped all his political activities. After his medical examination, doctors advised him of a two-week rest, along with physical therapy. They ran different X-rays on him to examine his condition. Shehbaz is feeling backache after the fall. Party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a tweet that Shehbaz was leaving for a press conference on Wednesday when he slipped on a staircase and fell on his back. But “with the grace of Allah, he remained safe from a major injury,” she added.

Shehbaz had in 2019 complained about severe back pain due to which Magnetic Resonance Imaging was conducted. The MRI report had later shown complications in his spinal disks, prompting doctors to advise him to undergo surgery.

AFP Some have become global mainstays and others are staying local: here is an overview of more than 20 approved Covid-19 vaccines currently in use, and a few that fell by the wayside.

MRNA LEADS THE PACK: Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines developed by USGerman alliance Pfizer-BioNTech and American company Moderna have emerged as the most successful vaccines in use today.

A survey from Canada’s McGill University shows the Pfizer jab Comirnaty has been approved in 100 countries, while Moderna’s Spikevax is authorised in 70.

Ground-breaking mRNA technology teaches our cells to make a harmless piece of protein found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19, prompting the immune system to develop antibodies that can fight off the real thing in case of infection.

A Chinese study published online this week comparing vaccine efficacy data found

A top business school in Karachi expelled a student for exposing an incident of workplace harassment and helping the female victim in lodging a complaint with the management.

The Institute of Business Administration chucked out Mohammad Gibrail for reporting the incident on social media instead of engaging the “right channels” within the institute, a statement shared on the institute’s Facebook page said, without naming the student.

Disciplinary proceedings against Gibrail began after he posted on Facebook about an incident he observed in the institute’s finance department on August 25, wherein he heard the manager screaming at a female staffer, saying, “Mein tumhein puri raat bitha kar rakhoon gaa (I will make you sit here all night).”

He later refused IBA’s demand to take down the post. Gibrail said he was so enraged by what he saw that he wanted to report it to the university’s harassment

that Comirnaty and Spikevax work better than other jabs, even against the Delta variant currently dominating across the globe. The study has yet to be peerreviewed.

RUNNERS-UP: A widely distributed vaccine developed jointly by Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Britain’s Oxford University, along with another made by Johnson & Johnson affiliate Janssen-Cilag in the US, are both based on viral vector technology.

The more traditional approach uses a genetically engineered version of the common cold adenovirus as a “vector” to shuttle genetic instructions into human cells.

AstraZeneca’s jab, named Vaxzevria, is approved in the European Union and was widely distributed after its release, but it was restricted in many countries when the vaccine was linked to statistically rare instances of blood clots.

It does not have US approval, and has been largely used to supply the Covax jab scheme that provides shots to poorer

countries.

Janssen’s was the fourth jab to be approved in the EU, but its seemingly convenient one-and-done dosage became a liability with the rise of Delta, which experts say is too resistant to be beaten with just one dose of any vaccine.

LOCAL HEROS: There are a number of vaccines distributed only or mostly within the country where they were developed, though a few have limited international reach.

China’s two WHO-approved vaccines — the Sinopharm jab, and CoronaVac from the lab Sinovac — have been given in about 50 countries. Two other Chinese firms, Cansino and Anhui Zhifei Longcom, are also marketing vaccines within China.

Russia has approved four domestically developed vaccines including Sputnik V, which currently has the green light in about 70 countries but lacks approval from the EU and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

India gave the green light to its Zydus

Cadila vaccine at the end of August, making it the first DNA vaccine ever approved for use in humans.

The jab uses circular strands of DNA to prime the immune system against the virus, according to Nature magazine.

It was the second home-grown vaccine India approved after Covaxin, a shot developed by Bharat Biotech labs. India also produces its own version of the AstraZeneca jab under the name Covishield.

In Cuba, three locally-developed vaccines are available: Abdala, Soberana Plus and Soberana 2.

Other jabs that have local approval but are yet to be widely distributed include Iran’s Barekat vaccine, QazVac in Kazakhstan and Taiwan’s Medigen.

NEXT UP? Sputnik V and CoronaVac are under rolling review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) — a first step towards EU approval — along with other candidates.

One is Novavax, a two-jab vaccine from

Friday, 1 October, 2021

LAHORE

MATIArI-LAhore dISTrIbuTIon LIne To cuT Power LoSSeS: IMrAn ISLAMABAD

T

aPP

HE operationalisation of the Matiari-Lahore transmission line — Pakistan’s first and mega High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) project — would reduce power losses from 17 to four percent, resulting in the availability of cheap electricity, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday.

The 878-kilometre 4,000-megawatt project, launched under the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor, has been completed by Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt.) Ltd. on a build-operate-transfer basis for 25 years.

It will evacuate power from the new generating units located in the south, including Thar coal projects.

The Economic Coordination Committee had approved in July 2017 the security package documents — implementation agreement and transmission services agreement — that were subsequently executed in May 2018. The National Transmission and Despatch Company will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the line. Addressing the inauguration of project, the prime minister said the project would prove as a “leading energy transmission artery from the country’s south to north”.

Khan said the reduction of line losses would save billions and also lessen the burden on the public, keeping them from compensating for it.

He regretted the previous government did not carry out on-ground work on the project signed with China in

PM directs provinces to resolve issues of farmers on priority basis

2013, which made the public immensely suffer the power load-shedding.

The prime minister expressed satisfaction that his government after assuming power in 2018 carried out the construction work of the project at full pace and completed it despite the Covid19 pandemic.

Besides energy, other CPEC projects under Belt and Road Initiative relating to industrialisation and innovation in agriculture would be launched in the next phase, he said.

He hoped that completion of CPEC projects would lead to wealth creation and help the government pay off balloning foreign debts.

Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said the project, which was made operational earlier this month after testing it in three phases including the

NCOC imposes strict restrictions for non-vaccinated travel ISLAMABAD Staff RePoRt

ISLAMABAD aPP

The federal government has decided to resolve issues of farmers on a priority basis by allotting a special category for them on the Pakistan Citizen Portal application. On the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, directions were issued by the Delivery Unit, through a letter, to the provincial governments for resolution of problems being faced by the farmers. Khan directed that government officers should resolve issues of farmers on a priority basis. The farmers could register their issues and complain directly at the portal and they would not have to visit government offices. Chief secretaries of the provinces would prepare a quarterly report of officers who would be designated to resolve issues of farmers. About 123 officers have been given duties for resolving the problems of farmers. 43 officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 57 in Punjab, 12 in Balochistan, four in Sindh, four at the federal level, two in Kashmir and one in Gilgit-Baltistan were given the assignment. The farmers could register their complaints regarding the Kissan card, fertiliser, seeds, water theft, crops, pesticides and 52 other issues. According to the letter, a campaign would also be launched for creating awareness among the farmers.

All dept heads, senior officials to set ringback tone to Pakistan Zindabad: balochistan govt NewS DeSk The Balochistan government has issued an order directing all department heads and senior officials to set the call-back tones to the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (long live Pakistan) track. The call-back — or ringback — tone is the sound heard by the originator of the call before the receiver answers their phone.

The decision was taken during a meeting, presided over by the chief secretary, by Services and General Administration Department Section Officer Bahadur Khan, according to the notification. The secretaries of all departments, additional secretaries, deputy secretaries and heads of other departments concerned are required to strictly abide by the decision. The additional secretaries have also been directed to ensure their subordinates also apply the same ringback tones on their mobile phone numbers. It states: “…The Government of Balochistan, Science and Information Technology Department has conveyed that in pursuance to the decision made in the meeting held under the Chairmanship of worthy Chief Secretary, for the setting of mobile Ring-Back Tone “Pakistan Zindabad” by Administrative Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries and head of attached Departments on their cell/contact numbers.” While the notification does not specify a reason for the move, it explains the procedure for changing the ringback tones for officials using different mobile networks. The move, meanwhile, raised eyebrows among social media users who expressed surprise at the government’s directive. “Why aren’t we sure that Baloch brothers are more patriotic than us?” journalist Mubashir Zaidi questioned. Another journalist, Mohammad Taqi, in a veiled criticism, asked: “What else does a colony look like?”

peak seasons, would help in removing the transmission bottleneck.

He said the CPEC power projects were the important pillars of Pakistan’s economic system and were acting as “smart and efficient sources” of green energy generation.

Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong while terming the operationalisation of the project a milestone said Pakistan’s power grid system had now entered a new era of development and upgradation.

He said cheap electricity was key to socio-economic development of Pakistan and vowed that China would continue to extend its support in this regard.

He mentioned that the line would go along 510 kilometres of motorway and create around 70,000 employment opportunities.

The authorities on Thursday announced strict restrictions on non-vaccinated people, including a ban on boarding domestic and international flights.

Non-vaccinated people will also not be allowed into educational institutions, shopping malls, or restaurants as of Friday, said the National Command and Operation Centre, the federal anti-virus task force, urging people to get vaccinated before the Friday deadline.

On Tuesday, the NCOC relaxed restrictions in the eight most-vaccinated cities, namely Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, and Skardu. Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads the anti-virus strategy, said in a separate statement the only way to overcome the

coronavirus pandemic was to “get a high percentage of citizens vaccinated”. “Therefore, as part of the strategy to reward citizens & cities which vaccinate, there will be higher restrictions on cities with low level of vaccination & on citizens who are not vaccinated,” he added.

Umar also announced that children older than 12 would be eligible for vaccination and that an initiative would be launched to administer jabs in schools.

Pakistan has expedited its inoculation drive in recent weeks, with over 80 million vaccine doses given to date and nearly one million shots in the last 24 hours.

Over 27.4 million people have been fully vaccinated so far, according to Health Ministry data, while the country recorded 1,742 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 1.24 million. With 39 additional fatalities, the death toll also increased to 27,729 and 1.16 million people have recovered.

Karachi to see extreme weather as cyclone threat looms CONtINueD FROM PAge 01 Widespread rain, wind thunderstorms with scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely in Gwadar, Lasbela, Awaran, Kech, Khuzdar, Kalat and Panjgur districts of Balochistan from Thursday to Sunday, the department said. The department predicted that sea conditions would remain rough till Sunday and advised fishermen to refrain from venturing into the water until then.

“Torrential rains may generate urban flooding in Karachi, Badin, Thatta, Hyderabad, Dadu, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Lasbela, Somiani, Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar, Turbat and Jiwani,” the Met department said.

It said that the PMD Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre, Karachi was closely monitoring the system and told authorities concerned to remain on high alert during this period. A weather official said that the depression in the Arabian Sea has been at a distance of 250 kilometres from Karachi and has further intensified, adding that that the weather conditions are conducive to further intensify the depression into a tropical cyclone.

“Current meteorological assessments indicating the trajectory of the cyclone towards Balochistan’s Makran

coast,” the weather official said.

“Widespread rain with moderate to heavy and very heavy falls with strong gusty winds are likely to occur in Karachi from this noon,” the Met Office director said.

The remnants of Cyclone Gulab might intensify and turn into Cyclone Shaheen in the Arabian Sea tomorrow (Friday). Tracing cyclones’ history in Pakistan, the weather official said the last one which directly hit Pakistan’s coast came in 2007 whereas the 2010 cyclone re-curved towards Gwadar after hitting Oman.

A cyclone in 1999 inundated large coastal areas of Thatta and Badin, causing over 700 deaths.

In this regard, Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said on Thursday that an emergency should be declared in view of torrential rains in Sindh’s cities, including Karachi. In view of the advance alert by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, control rooms should be set up to tackle expected cyclones and rains while full information should be provided to the public, he said in a statement. Haleem said that the Sindh government should take immediate steps to deal with the expected flood situation.

He said that the PDMA of the Sindh government was

NEWS

03

TTP MILITAnT kILLed, Fc oFFIcer MArTyred In oPerATIon In derA ISMAIL khAn ISLAMABAD Staff RePoRt

A terrorist commander was killed and a Frontier Corps officer was martyred during a military operation in the district of Tank in Khan, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Thursday. The ISPR, the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement the security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in the district on the reported presence of terrorists, without mentioning the time of the operation. The operation team cordoned off the area and started the operation upon which an intense fire exchange started between the two sides, leading to the killing of the Khawaja Din alias Sher Khan of the proscribed Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. An army officer, Sikandar Sohail Latif, also lost his life during the shooting between the operation party and the terrorists.

ncoc daily update: 1,742 new cases, 39 deaths from covid-19 ISLAMABAD Staff RePoRt

Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed 1,742 new Covid19 cases and 39 more deaths, the National Command and Operation Centre said on Thursday. The NCOC, the department leading the campaign against the pandemic, said total cases have risen to 1,245,127, including 1,169,566 recoveries. The number of active cases has dropped to 47,832 who are under treatment across the country. According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 39 people on Wednesday, increasing the overall death toll to 27,729. Sindh is the worst affected province of the country with 457,458 infections, followed by Punjab which has reported 431,092 infections.

inactive, so high-level government relief committees should be formed at the tehsil level to tackle heavy rains.

“The people had to suffer a lot due to the negligence of the Sindh government in the areas affected by heavy rains last year. Last year, crores of funds were embezzled in the name of relief,” he alleged.

He said that the system was in disarray after torrential rains in different cities of Sindh as the provincial government agencies could not take measures despite the prior rain forecasts.

“The people are in trouble due to heavy rains. Sindh government institutions do not care about the people.

Emergency should be declared in the affected areas immediately and relief work should be provided. We are with the people of Sindh in this difficult time. PTI officebearers and workers would take part in immediate relief activities in the affected areas,” he concluded.

Meanwhlie, after the Met office sounded the alarm over an impending storm likely to hit the Karachi coast, the airlines have rescheduled their flights that were to take off today from Karachi. At least three Pakistan International Airlines domestic flights have been cancelled that were scheduled to take off for three different destinations today. A Sukkur-bound PK 594, a Lahorebound PK 304 and a Quetta-bound PK 310 were cancelled today, among other flights from other airlines.

Helping journalists in fight against infodemic StAFF RePORt COVID-19 is not over and so is the infodemic that came with it. Fighting against it is as important as other steps everyone is taking to flatten the curve. The governments across the globe and World Health Organization (WHO) have said that it is as contagious as the virus itself.

Journalists were fighting against this infodemic on frontlines with the single objective to provide their audience with factual information. The organizations working for media development have been helping them in their work by providing them with essential information on tools and techniques they could use in their fight.

A Karachi-based not-for-profit Global Neighbourhood For Media Innovations (GNMI) has been doing the same in Pakistan for local journalists. It issued a guideline for journalists to work safely in COVID-19 when the cases started to rise in Pakistan. It also hosted a series of webinars with senior journalists, media professionals, and cyber analysts to dissect the infodemic, understanding its functioning, and finding ways to deal with it.

Several senior and mid-career journalists including Nadia Naqi, Syed Muzammil Shah, Iffat Hassan Rizvi,

Izhar Ullah, Amber Rahim Shamsi, Ayesha Khalid, Niha Dagia, Asad Paban, Wajahat Masood, Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Iftikhar Firdous, Nayyer Ali, Urooj Raza Sayyami, Ghareeda Farooqi, Ayesha Khalid, Asma Shirazi as well as co-founder of Bolo Bhi Farieha Aziz, and founder and president of GNMI Najia Ashar took part in the webinars.

These webinars were hosted under a program “fighting disinformation and supporting independent media in Pakistan.” The objective of the program is to further the professional development of the Pakistani press and strengthen the independent media by improving print, broadcast, and online media practitioners’ ability to develop fact-based, investigative reports and provide Pakistani citizens with the information need to make informed judgments about their lives, communities and public institutions.

These webinars covered a range of topics including infodemic in Pakistan and its effect on society, the role of women journalists in the fight against infodemic, ethical journalism, and hashtag campaigns, and challenges to freedom of information in the digital age.

Najia Ashar said that her organization had been

working tirelessly during the pandemic to train journalists to check and tackling different forms of information disorder safely as it was the first time for most of the journalists in Pakistan to work in a health crisis at the global level. “Journalists had been dealing with infodemic in their own ways but they did not know what it was and the proper ways to deal with it. We arranged online training, workshops, and webinars for them to help them understand this concept better,” she said.

She also mentioned that there was a lot of information, both true and false that added into workload of the journalists. Agreeing to it, journalist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid said in a webinar that one role of media was to filter the excessive information and it has become the important one in the digital era.

“The role of a journalist has transformed in the digital age. Media is no longer just limited to accessing and sharing information but also to filter the excessive information,” Shahid said. “Unfortunately in Pakistan, we have a fixed template dictated by powers that be, where information has to adjust to a predetermined reality and not the other way around.”

Taking the conversation forward, Nayyer Ali said that

Friday, 1 October, 2021

04 NEWS

LAHORE

PSX gainS 532 PointS aS BUllS retUrn KARACHI

t

TLTP

HE Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bullish on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE100 Index gaining 532.86 points (+1.2 percent) to close at 44,899.6 points. The market opened on a negative note and remained negative for a couple of hours. However, the mid-day trading helped the index recover some of the losses, while the last ninety minute session saw bulls coming back roaring. The KSE100 Index witnessed trade of 87 million shares in the last half an hour.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 927.6 points, showing an intraday high of 44,899.6 (the closing point of the session) points and a low of 43,972 points.

Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 406.09 points (+1.34 percent) to close at 30,668.89 points, while All Share Islamic Index gained 393.91 points (+1.84 percent) to close at 21,858.88 points.

A total of 381 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 242 closed up, shares of 126 closed down while shares of 13 companies remained unchanged. Out of 97 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 74 closed up, 22 closed down, and one remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 96.33 million

SBP imposes 100pc cash margin on 114 imported items NEWS DESK In order to discourage imports and ease mounting pressure on Pakistani rupee, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed 100 percent cash margin restriction on import of additional 114 items.

The central bank in a notification on Thursday referred to BPRD Circular No. 02 of 2017 and BPRD Circular No. 5 of 2018 on the captioned subject, as amended from time to time. In that regard, it has been decided that banks, with immediate effect, shall obtain 100 percent cash margin on the import of 114 items.

Furthermore, it has been decided to waive the condition of 100 percent cash margin requirement on imports made against HS Code 8414.8090-air pumps and gas compressors (S. No. 17 of Annexure-A of BPRD Circular No. 05 of 2018).

All other instructions contained in the aforementioned Circulars shall, however, remain unchanged, said the central bank.

Crude prices slip on US output, strong dollar

to 372.43 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE100 Index was 212.62 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 48,733 to 120,298, while the value traded decreased by Rs2.64 billion to Rs13.76 billion. The market capitalisation increased by Rs103.33 billion.

Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 32.48 million shares, followed by BYCO (29.77 million) and ANL (20.83 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, BYCO, ANL, WTL and DCR, which formed 32.6 percent of total volumes.

The sectors propping up the index were commercial banks with 139 points, cement with 136 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 107 points, power generation & distribution with 35 points and oil & gas marketing companies with 29 points. The most points added to the index were by MEBL which contributed 77 points followed by KEL with 46 points, PPL with 38 points, OGDC with 34 points and LUCK with 33 points.

Sector wise, the index was let down by fertilizer with 14 points, technology & communication with 7 points, tobacco with 7 points, pharmaceuticals with 5 points and real estate investment trust with 4 points. The most points taken off the index were by FFC which stripped the index of 34 points followed by HBL with 27 points, SYS with 23 points, COLG with 20 points and HUBC with 10 points.

According to analysts, the investor’s sentiments

Gold inches up to Rs95,500 per 10gm NEWS DESK Gold price managed to regain some overnight losses on Thursday and gained around 0.80 percent.

At 1300 hours GMT, gold in the international market was available at $1,739.20 per ounce after gaining $12.10.

Meanwhile, the price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan increased to Rs95,500 after gaining Rs100. The closing prices of the yellow metal in the country remained Rs95,400 on Wednesday last. A relatively lower increase in local gold prices as compared to international price was due to overnight fall in gold price when the local market was closed.

According to experts, gold recovered a part of the overnight losses; however, a solid recovery in the global equity markets could act as a headwind for the safe-haven precious metal. They said there seems to be no respite for gold price, as the risks remain

Crude prices slipped for the third straight day on Thursday amid bearish factors such as rising US crude oil inventories and a strong dollar. At 1240 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.56 (-0.71 percent) to reach $78.08 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $74.01 a barrel, down by $0.82 (-1.10 percent). The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $78.37 a barrel with 0.82 percent increase, Arab Light was available at $77.40 a barrel with a 1.03 percent increase, while the price of Russian Sokol jumped to $77.75 after gaining 1.17 percent. Meanwhile, the secretary general of Opec said that Opec and non-Opec oil producers will need to boost efforts to accelerate the global oil market rebalancing process despite a recovery this year. Opec+, the group of producers led

by Saudi Arabia and Russia, should remain “cautious and attentive” to an ever-evolving market situation, Mohammad Barkindo told an Opec+ joint technical committee meeting. “Constructive engagements in a transparent fashion, based on mutual respect among all participating countries [of the 2016 Declaration of Cooperation], remain key to our success,” he said. The technical committee met ahead of Opec’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the Opec and non-Opec ministerial meetings planned for Monday next week. Opec+ is bringing two million barrels per day of oil back to the market by the end of this year. It is set to decide in October whether to bring an additional 400,000 bpd of supply.

skewed to the downside amid the immense strength seen in the US dollar and the Treasury yields so far this week. The Fed remains well on track to withdraw the stimulus support later this year, with markets pricing a rate hike in 2022. The hawkish Fed narrative and higher inflation seeming temporary keep the bullish undertone intact in the US yields, weighing negatively on the yields of gold, they said.

Further, fading worries over the US government shutdown also adds to the greenback’s strength at gold’s expense. Looking ahead, the dynamics in the yields and quarter-end flows will have a significant bearing on gold price.

Meanwhile, recovery moves need to cross the immediate trend line hurdle near $1,745 before directing gold buyers to a descending resistance line from September 03, near $1,771. Overall, gold remains pressured towards the yearly low but intermediate bounces can’t be ruled out, according to experts.

Bitcoin jumps to $43,642 as cryptos turn bullish NEWS DESK

NEWS DESK

shifted mainly due to diffusion of speculation around the proposed bill in the US Senate which seeks to sanction the Taliban and the countries accused of supporting them. On the announcement front, Fauji Fertilizer Bin

The cryptocurrency market remained bullish on Thursday, with the market cap gaining 1.1 percent to reach $1.99 trillion as of 1250 hours GMT. The price of bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, gained 4.05 percent to reach $43,642.

With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of the biggest cryptocurrency has reached $821.7 billion. Likewise, ether (ETH) price went up by 4.11 percent to reach $3,020. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $354.4 billion.

Similarly, XRP price gained 3.48 percent to reach $0.952. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $95.2 billion after this increase. Similarly, cardano (ADA) price snapped its losing streak and gained 0.30 percent to reach $2.11. Its market capitalisation has reached $68.3 billion after this increase.

Following suit, dogecoin (Doge) price gained

1.15 percent to reach $0.203. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of doge has reached $26.6 billion. According to experts, bitcoin price action is currently controlled by bears who are trapping bulls in their attempt to overcome the downtrend BTC has been in since the beginning of September. A retest of the base of the bearish triangle looks to be happening any time soon, around $40,750. A break lower would make bears push for the next supportive level at $38,073.

Bitcoin price remained very much in the hands of the bears for most of September. In the recent development of price action, bulls have had no chance to break out of the trend. Instead, their attempts are met with ample firepower from bears trapping the bulls and then saddling them up with huge losses on their long positions.

That was the case on September 18 and 23 in BTC price action. The bulls attempted on both dates to make a run for a breakout.

Qasim Limited (FFBL) informed the PSX through a notification about the successful completion of the sale and transfer of its entire shareholding in FWEL-I and FWELII to FFC.

Prize bonds encashment date extended till year-end NEWS DESK The Finance Division has notified extension in date for exchanging / conversion of bearer prize bonds of denomination of Rs40,000, Rs25,000 and Rs15,000 from September 30, 2021 to December 31, 2021.

The date has been extended for unregistered prize bonds.

In order to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the prevention of money laundering and terror financing, the government had decided to document the financial instruments by the withdrawal of bearer prize bonds. So far the government has decided to withdraw prize bonds of four denominations including Rs40,000, Rs25,000, Rs15,000 and Rs7,500. However, the last date for exchanging Rs7,500 denomination bearer prize bonds is December 31, 2021. The government started withdrawal of bearer prize bonds with Rs40,000 denomination on June 24, 2019. Later, on December 10, 2020, the government announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs25,000 denomination prize bonds. In April 2021, the finance ministry announced that national prize bonds of denominations Rs7,500 and Rs15,000 shall not be sold.

The finance ministry has issued the following procedure for encashment/exchanging the bearer prize bonds. The premium prize bonds can be converted to premium prize bonds (registered) of denomination of Rs25,000 and Rs40,000 (subject to the adjustment of differential amount) through 16 field offices of State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Banking Services Corporation, and branches of six commercial banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited and Bank Alfalah Limited. The bonds can be replaced with SSC/DSC through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, authorized commercial banks and National Savings Centres. The bonds will only be encashed by transferring the proceeds to the bond holder’s bank account through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation as well as the authorized commercial bank branches and to the Saving Accounts at National Saving Centres. The last date for redemption was due to expire on September 30, 2021. This is the third time that the government has given extension in the deadline for the conversion of prize bonds. According to SBP’s data, the National Savings Schemes (NSS) witnessed a huge outflow of investments during the fiscal year 2020-21, clocking in at Rs317.25 billion, compared to the inflows of Rs370.9 billion recorded in the preceding fiscal year.

Prize bonds accounted for 92 percent of this outflow, at a whopping Rs290.38 billion.

40pc citizens lack access to affordable, nutritious food: speakers NEWS DESK Pakistan is among the world’s top 10 producers of wheat, cotton and rice; however, around 40 percent of the country’s population is with little access to affordable and nutritious food.

This was highlighted at a consultative stakeholder workshop, organised by the WWF-Pakistan, in collaboration with the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), to mark the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.

In line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger and sustainable consumption and production, the WWF-Pakistan’s Sustainable Agriculture and Food Programme took an initiative to ascertain food loss and waste in Pakistan.

The findings of the last one year of field work, which included data from the hospitality industry, landfill sites, etc; were disseminated at the workshop. The

CMYK

WWF experts raised alarm over the statistics, which revealed that nearly 36 million tonnes of food is wasted every year, whereas 18 percent of the population, which primarily includes women and children, face food shortage.

Asad Ullah Imran, director of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Programme, WWF-Pakistan, said: “In a country like Pakistan, where a significant percentage of the population is either food insecure or malnourished, it is morally and ethically wrong to waste food fit for human consumption. We must ensure food security for our citizens and make responsible use of our natural resources to mitigate poverty, hunger and food waste.”

“Food waste is generated at each step of the process, from production and handling, to consumption and disposal. Most of this ends up in landfills, where it decomposes and increases the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and generates

chemical waste that percolates into the soil and groundwater,” he added.

Dr Kamran Nasir, general manager of Planning and Projects, LWMC, stressed on the urgent need to address waste generation. “LWMC is the biggest company collecting and disposing waste in Pakistan. Despite putting 14,000 sanitary workers and over 1,000 vehicles to the task, these resources fall short. Therefore, we must shift our attention from waste collection to waste generation. This becomes increasingly important in [the] light of our growing population and consumption patterns.” He said 64 per cent of the waste collected in Lahore is biodegradable.

Representatives from the government, academia, hospitality sector, business community and waste management sector shared insights on how their respective sectors could contribute towards controlling the menace, which is not only harming the environment but also impacting various aspects of life.

Friday, 1 October, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

05

PowER TARIFF HIKE By RS1.95/uNIT oN THE CARDS HBL and DIBPL join hands to become lead advisors and arrangers for Eighteen KARACHI PR

HBL and Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited (DIBPL) joined hands as mandated Lead Advisors and Arrangers for Eighteen (Elite Estates Pvt. Limited), a luxury housing development located in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The initiative is one of the largest syndicated finance projects in the real estate sector with a funding of Rs7.5 billion by a banking consortium in Pakistan. HBL and DIBPL are also acting as Agent and Investment Agent respectively. Other members of the consortium include Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, Habib Metro Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Soneri Bank.

The agreements were signed by senior members of the consortium including Uzair Naveed Rabbani, Corporate Head North HBL, Aymen Ismail, CFO – Eighteen and Junaid Ahmed, CEO – DIBPL. Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL was also present at the ceremony.

K-E policies are compliant with NEPRA consumer manual KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

Spokesperson K-Electric clarified that the utility abides by law. Spokesperson KE stated, “K-Electric is a responsible corporate citizen and as a policy follows the regulations laid out in NEPRA’s CSM for disconnection of a premises which defines the parameters that all distribution companies must follow. NEPRA CSM Section 8.2, Clauses 8.2.1 to 8.2.4 state: 8.2.1 The consumer is bound to pay the electricity bill within due date as specified in the bill or with the late payment surcharge if paid after due date. The connection shall not be disconnected if any consumer fails to deposit the current month bill provided that there are no outstanding dues. 8.2.2 No connection must be disconnected on In case of non-payment of the previous month bill, DISCO (DISCO to insert its name) shall issue notice of clear seven days along with the second month bill to the defaulting consumer to either clear the outstanding dues with the second month bill or face disconnection. The notice may also be printed/stamped on the electricity bill. 8.2.3 No connection shall be disconnected on default of one month bill. 8.2.4 In case of non-receipt of payment and upon expiry of the due date given on the second month bill, the supply of the defaulting premises shall be disconnected. In such cases the disconnected supply shall not be reconnected or restored by DISCO (DISCO to insert its name) until full payment along with late payment surcharge or payment in installments (allowed by the DISCO) has been made by the consumer. As a regulated entity, KE ensures that its operations remain within these parameters. The Consumer Service Manual is also available on KE’s website to keep consumers informed of the governing procedures.”

SBP mops up Rs203bn from market KARACHI APP

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday mopped up Rs203 billion from the money market as repo sale for one day through its open market operation. Two bids of Rs203 billion were offered which were accepted. The rate of return accepted is 7.22 per cent per annum, said SBP release.

ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

OWER consumers should get ready to bear power price hike by approximately Rs 1.95 per unit and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is likely to announce a final decision in this regard very soon.

On Thursday, NEPRA conducted a public hearing regarding fuel charges adjustments (FCA) for the month of August 2021 for power distribution companies (DISCOs). However, the authority (NEPRA) has reserved its

judgment in this regard.

Sources in the power sector said that NEPRA is likely to jack up power tariff by Rs 1.95 under the head monthly FCA of August, 2021. And, a decision in this regard will be made public very soon.

Earlier, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), on behalf Ex-WAPDA DISCOs, had sought an increase of Rs 2/unit over the reference fuel charges i-e Rs 4.77/unit for the power consumers of DISCOs. CPPA has informed the NEPRA that price of power produced with high speed diesel (HSD) was Rs 22.62/unit, coal Rs 9.03/unit, Residual Fuel Oil (RFO)

Footwear sector inks $2.1m new export orders with Italian firms ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan's footwear sector on Thursday inked new export orders worth $2.1 million with Italian firms.

This was announced by Pakistan's Ambassador to Italy, Jauhar Saleem, while talking with a delegation of 30 Pakistani businessmen from the leather sector, who are visiting Italy for meetings with Italian businesses at state-of-the-art industrial units and participating in a leather-related trade exhibition.

Jauhar said that Italy is one of Pakistan’s leading export markets for leather and leather products. "One third of all the leather production in EU takes place in Italy while both Italy and Pakistan are focusing on developing and strengthening linkages among the firms in the leather sector," he stated.

Talking to the delegation, the ambassador said that Pakistan is trying to promote bilateral economic relations on a win-win basis. The Italian market is now in recovery mode so both sides would promote delegation exchange, joint ventures, technology transfer and participation in trade fairs.

He stated that the Pak-Italy partnership in leather is helpful in promoting efficiency, innovation and competitiveness in our leather sector.

"Italy has provided technical assistance in establishing Pak-Italy Footwear Technology Training center at Lahore and now both sides are working on expansion and upgradation of this facility," he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that prior to the current delegation's visit, another delegation from

the footwear sector had also visited Italy where they inked $2.1 million new export orders with Italian firms.

While addressing the Pakistani and Italian businessmen who had gathered together in Rome, Ambassador Jauhar Saleem stated that demand for leather products is picking up.

He said that one of the options for early and better recovery in the sector is to enhance international cooperation ,developing synergies, up-scaling marketing efforts and taking advantage of opportunities that are available in the international market. To this end, he extended invitations to the Italian Footwear Manufacturers Association (IFMA) and Italian Tanners Association (ITA) to send their delegations to Pakistan to explore and tap existing and emerging business opportunities.

On the occasion, ITA President Fabrizio Nuti stated that Italy considers Pakistan a very important market and its swift transformation from basic raw material exporter to high quality finished products in leather is very encouraging.

He said that he sees a lot of scope for enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and technology transfer, adding that he would work on sending a delegation to Pakistan so that cooperation in the leather sector is materialised in business deals by firms on both sides.

Later, the Pakistan Embassy in Rome and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), in collaboration with IFMA and ITA arranged a webinar on leather sector trade and investment opportunities for Italian and Pakistani leather sector firms.

Ex-Customs officer Asif Jah appointed as new FTO ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The federal government has appointed Pakistan Customs officer, Asif Mahmood Jah, as the new Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) for a period of four years.

As per details, Jah took oath from the President Arif Alvi on Wednesday.

He was serving as chief collector Customs North Region before retiring from government service last week. The position of FTO fell vacant after the expiration of Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera’s tenure in the second week of September.

Earlier, the FBR had issued a notification that Jah

would retire next year, in May 2022. However, it recently issued a second notification granting him premature retirement.

Media reports state that this is the first time that the government has appointed an FTO from Pakistan Customs.

The FTO resolves complaints of the existing and prospective taxpayers and provides relief to the public by carrying out independent investigations about maladministration by functionaries administering the tax laws.

He also strives to put things right, share lessons learnt and help improve public tax services and systems.

Rs 18.24/unut, gas Rs 8.30/unit, Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) Rs 13.44/unit, nuclear Rs 0.99/unit, import Iran Rs 12.35/unit, mixed sources of fuel Rs 4.67/unit, and Rs 5.98/unit with baggasse source of fuel.

Pursuant to section 31 97) of the NEPRA Act (XL of 1997) and the mechanism for monthly fuel price adjustment prescribed by the Authority in the tariff determinations of Ex-WAPDA DISCOs, the Authority may on monthly basis make adjustments in the approved tariff on account of any variations in the fuel charges and policy guidelines as the federal government may issue and notify the tariff so adjusted in the official gazette.

State Life going digital – health & protection now a click away KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan, the country’s largest life insurance company, has announced to launch its digital portal soon. Getting an ‘Insurance Policy or Health coverage’ has never been easier, Now with State Life’s online portal, you will get ‘Digital Insurance products & Health coverage’ from the comfort of your home. Through this digital channel, State Life intends to expand beyond the traditional way of doing business with ease and hassle free online payment process in this digital age. This digital solution shall cover both Life and Health products. State Life is enhancing its legacy of trust by embarking on digital journey wherein various initiatives are in pipeline that will transform the corporation into a digital and technologically driven organization.

Very soon, State Life will be launching its own digitally enabled ‘Life & Health’ products in line with the guidelines set forth by SECP. This platform will provide our esteemed customers to purchase life insurance and health coverage of their choices through digital means with ease of online payment.

Cabinet approves contract manufacturing for pharma sector NEWS DESK The federal cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal related to contract manufacturing for the pharmaceutical sector. This was announced by Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood on his twitter account, adding that: “It will open new avenues for export and joint venture opportunities for our pharmaceutical industry”. The advisor informed that contract manufacturing enables SMEs to begin selling their products without obtaining a large amount of capital necessary to build and run a factory. “This will also bring new job opportunities,” he said. Earlier while addressing the 1st Pharma Export Summit and Awards (PESA) 2021 ceremony, Dawood had said that the government has set an export target of $38 billion for the current fiscal year in consultations with the relevant stakeholders.

“The government will try to take the exports of goods and services to the $40-billion mark,” he had added.

PTV set to earn Rs1.3bn profit this year: Fawad ISLAMABAD APP

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Thursday that after a long deficit, Pakistan Television was set to earn a profit of Rs1.3 billion this year.

In a tweet, he said the PTV suffered Rs300 million loss due to postponement of New Zealand and England cricket teams’ tours to Pakistan. He expressed the hope that next year the PTV would break all records of profit. He congratulated the management and workers of PTV on this performance.

Govt to ban export of food items to contain local prices NEWS DESK Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Commerce to expedite the process of imposing a ban on the export of perishable commodities to control prices in domestic market amid fears of further spike in food inflation in Pakistan due to hike in the international markets.

Chairing the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) meeting at the Finance Division, Tarin directed the commerce ministry to expedite the process in consultation with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

The meeting was held a day after Economic Advisory wing of the Finance Ministry warned about second round of

inflation. Pakistan perishable exports include all kinds of vegetables including onion, potatoes, tomatoes, fruits and meats including beef and chicken, and fish. The secretary Finance briefed the NPMC about decline in weekly SPI by 0.07 per cent. “The rise in global food commodities and petroleum prices due to Covid-19 pandemic has affected the prices of essential food items worldwide. The continuous uptick in international food prices is affecting the domestic prices as Pakistan is a net importer of staple food items namely wheat, sugar, edible oil and pulses,” he added.

While reviewing prices of essential commodities, the NPMC noted that current hike in international prices of food commodities may continue to remain

CMYK

strong in the months to follow due to global supply bottlenecks.

An official announcement of the Finance Division said the decision has been taken in view of seasonal variations as well as rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan.

The finance ministry report stated that yearly inflation in September is likely to end up in between 7.5pc to 8.4pc.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) gave a detailed presentation about collection of prices across different cities to compile weekly SPI. The NPMC directed to hold consultative sessions with provinces to sort out issues in effective coverage of markets to ensure data collected by PBS reflects the prevailing trend of prices of the items of daily use includ-

ing Saasta Sahulat Baazars for extensive and accurate calculation.

While taking stock of the situation, Tarin expressed satisfaction over the release of wheat by the provincial government of Punjab at the government specified rate, noting that this was easing out the price of wheat flour bags in the province.

Furthermore, the finance minister directed the provincial chief secretaries of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to expedite the process for releasing wheat at the price determined by the government after fulfilling requisite formalities. He reiterated the firm commitment of the government to ensure smooth supply of wheat flour across the country at government specified price.

Friday, 1 October, 2021

06 COMMENT

Letting the heavens fall

When the country needs consensus PTI government promotes dissentions

The only way to avoid consultation is by changing the law

t

HE government did not act wisely by taking the issue of electoral reforms to the joint session of Parliament. to be acceptable to all major players, electoral reforms have to be enacted through consensus. any controversial bill passed through an arbitrary bending of the Constitution would make the whole electoral process questionable. the opposition had accepted the government’s proposal to set up a joint parliamentary panel to evolve a common position. Before the move could gain traction the Pti staged an about-turn taking recourse to the joint session. this creates the perception that the government is willing to listen to neither the ECP nor the opposition and wants to conduct elections in a way that suits it. that attitude can only lead to confrontation which would exacerbate the grave internal and external challenges. internal peace and security achieved after the completion of military operations in Swat, and South and north Waziristan are increasingly under threat while the terrorists are increasing their reach. on thursday an army captain died during an intelligence-based operation (iBo) in tank, signifying that the terrorists have succeeded in expanding their activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beyond the tribal belt. Despite the monster of terrorism raising its ugly head again, the government is wasting energies on confrontation with the opposition. the US Senate bill seeking to assess Pakistan’s alleged role in afghanistan before and after the fall of Kabul with mention of sanctions led to the stocks at the PSX to fall nearly three percent and the rupee to dip to a record low. a US General testifying before the Senate armed Services Committee expressed concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the wake of the taliban’s takeover. the Centcom chief argued that the air boulevard to go in over western Pakistan, as well as certain landlines of communication, remain vital for the USa, indicating what is being expected from Pakistan. the worsening state of internal security and pressures emanating from a superpower can be met only through national consensus and full parliamentary support. this is not the time for short sighted and divisive moves like enforcing Pti’s electoral reforms through the joint session of Parliament.

At Penpoint M A NIAZI

I

nformation minister fawad Chaudhry came up with a statement that reflects the views of Prime minister imran Khan rather than his own. it is counterintuitive to accept that mr Chaudhry would say such a thing off his own bat, because it would mean accepting that mr Chaudhry was calling for the law to be disobeyed.

Considering his professional orientation as a lawyer, and his pedigree as the son of a onetime Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, and the nephew of a former Punjab Governor who was himself a distinguished lawyer, his call for a disobedience of the law would either be based on a wildly inaccurate interpretation of the law, or a profound desire to please imran. the statement was that there was no need for imran to consult the national assembly Leader of the opposition on the appointment of the new Chairman of the national accountability Bureau. the reasoning he gave was that the Leader, mian Shehbaz Sharif, was accused by naB. Whatever the rights and wrongs of involving mian Shehbaz in the process of appointing the Chairman, the law does not say. the Leader of the opposition might find himself dragged over coals by the public for involving himself in the matter, but the Prime minister’s statutory responsibility is not thereby removed. the opposition Leader may say that he will not participate in the process because he is under investigation, when he is approached by the Pm, and that would count as the consultation, but that approach must be made. if the principle of not consulting is somehow accepted, then the question arises what is the duty of a Pm who may himself be the subject of an investigation by naB. as a matter of fact, the helicopter reference against the Prime minister, which accuses him of misusing the KP government’s helicopters during the 2018 campaign, has not been dismissed, though it is not being. if the law is defective, then mr Chaudhry has a duty as a legislator to get it amended. the problem has been that amendment can only be carried out as if it was part of the Constitution; there is no moral pressure, but practical. the government cannot amend the law without the opposition, and if it tries to amend only the part dealing with the Chairman, it

Negotiating with the IMF PTI urgently needs to find Tarin a seat

Multilateralism ultimately pays off

Dr MuhAMMAD AkrAM ZAheer

U

niLatEraLiSm is an approach of international relations in which states act without consideration for other states and their interests. it is usually contrasted with multilateralism, in which states act cooperatively with other states.

However, unilateralism is often used in negative ways, therefore, scholars criticize unilateral actions. one common criticism is that it will lead other states to form an opposing alliance and it will spark counterbalancing by other major powers. the arguments are derived from the balance of power theory which is long stapled with realist thinking.

Since the last few years, new trends are being observed in geopolitics, such as China’s growing confidence in both trade and investment, iran’s aggressive but calculative behavior and the rise of turkey as a new power pole in West asia. the most important of them all is a decline of the USa which is perceived through the number of crises during the last few years. the end of the Cold War had provided the USa the opportunity to pursue a unilateral decisionmaking policy that can be observed in many issues, but was most important at the time of withdrawal from the afghan war, the JCPoa and the Paris Climate agreement. But the stories of withdrawal from the afghan war and JCPoa reflect the consequences of the USa’s unilateral decisions after the disintegration of the USSr, the USa

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

irrespective of who is in power. When in the roman Empire democracy had collapsed, and empty forms were maintained, there remained powerful institutions which were able to ensure that the Empire was run according to the law. to keep those apply the law under control, there have to be institutions which have to be relentless. these are the institutions which need to be suborned by someone wishing to avoid obeying the law, and continue ruling despite it.

Politicians too often fall to this fallacy, and assume that as they have achieved power, they should not lose it, even if they cannot maintain the reason for their mandate. imran obtained power after winning an election, not by a coup or resisting an invader. the catch is that the election was for a fixed term. also, the reason for electing him was a campaign against corruption. However, once in office, he had used the anti-corruption institution to go after his political opponents, and protect himself and his allies. if certain officials cooperate, then the government can perpetuate itself. Ultimately, the ruler needs the support of the armed forces, but if like Sh Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh, the ruler gets the support of the armed forces, then there are very heavy weights in his or her favour. the CEC is crucial to perpetuating Pti rule. if he insists on a fair election, he introduces an element of uncertainty the government contrasts with the utility of the naB Chairman. What if some new naB Chairman was to become as uncooperative as the CEC? However, the absence of consultation would put the President in an awkward position. He has to accept the Pm’s advice, but what if it is presented to him without evidence of consultation? He cannot refuse advice. an absence of consultation would lead to the person appointed liable to face legal challenges throughout his tenure. that in itself might mean that his judgement would be warped. it seems that the government is willing to risk this rather than follow the law. the Pm should realize that he is a creature of the law, and disobeying it will only encourage further departures from it. that means that he must be particularly careful about obeying it. “Let the law be obeyed even if the heavens fall.” this sentence is ascribed to a roman general passing the death sentence on his own son, who was serving under him. a Pm must also obey this law, for beyond the Constitution lies only the law of the jungle.

The writer is a member of staff.

Unilateralism is a source of disputes

f

EDEraL finance minister Shaukat tarin will have to vacate office on october 15 he does not find a seat in Parliament by then. as he heads the Pakistan team when negotiations begin with the imf on october 5, it has become urgent that the seat be found so that everyone (the finance ministry, the negotiating team and the imf) should know that the head of the Pakistan team was there to stay, and not on his way out, that any commitments he made were firm, not made by someone who knew they might be repudiated by a successor. the easiest way out is for the Senate seat from Punjab, presently held by ishaq Dar to be declared vacant, and for mr tarin to contest the by-election to fill it. in the unlikely event of Senator Dar coming from abroad and taking oath before october 10, when the 40day grace period for those who have not taken oath within 60 days of election ends, or in the event of his obtaining a stay from the Election Commission; if he is declared unseated, there is the option of getting a senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to resign, and let mr tarin be elected from there. it is likelier than not that there will be a brief period between the expiration of the time limit given him by the Constitution to find a seat, and his actually finding one. He will probably be appointed Pm’s adviser for this time. an announcement of the government’s plans will come before the imf talks begin, so that if mr tarin has not found a seat, it should be clear that he will, and was the Permanent finance minister, not a placeholder. it goes to mr tarin’s credit that he foresaw this difficulty at the time of his appointment, perhaps because he had experienced a similar situation the last time he was finance minister. However, it goes to the discredit of the government that it has left such an important matter so late. its inability to get a Senator from KP or Punjab to resign not only speaks badly of its party discipline; it renders the Senate useless as a House where the government can park its men of business.

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

may have to deal with opposition demands for a more comprehensive review of the law. one place where there has been a problem is the Chief Election Commissioner, whose appointment was after a consultation which was carried out by letter, so adamant is the Pm on his refusal to meet the Leader of the opposition. this moral repugnance may go down well with the Pti base, but the Constitution does not contemplate it. the appointment of the caretaker Pm also requires consultation, and as both the Pm and Leader of the opposition are likely to contest the coming election, applying the rule means that neither can the Leader of opposition be consulted, nor the Pm make a recommendation. the Constitution has made detailed provision for what will happen if the two disagree, but is silent about what would happen if the consultation did not take place. Whatever solution is to be found, must be within the limits of the limits of the Constitution. the alternatives are to be seen in the example of Bangladesh, which also toyed with the caretaker model. first, the caretaker model was used to suspend elections, and then it was dispensed with entirely, which has resulted in the awami League establishing a stranglehold on power, after abolishing caretaker governments. it has been freely said that the government wants to reappoint the present incumbent, mr Justice (retd) Javed iqbal. that an extension is not permitted by the law does not prevent the government wanting to retain someone who withstood the strictures passed upon it by the Supreme Court, which noted how naB was being used to go after opponents of the government like the Chief Election Co while giving members of the government clean chits. this is exactly how the PmL(n) is accused of behaving when in office. this should not be a topic of debate. a naB Chairman should have no hope when appointed, just like the Chief Election Commissioner, not in the sense that the task is difficult, but there is nothing that the government can give him, in terms of the same or another job, or some such blandishment. it is interesting that the Pm does not like the CEC, who does not facilitate his party in by-elections, or in introducing electronic voting machines, even though he recommended his appointment after consulting Shehbaz by letter. Was that experience too bad for him? the democratic system, indeed any system based on law, is based on institutions carrying out functions

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

has remained a superpower and been a centre of the world order. the US dominance was at its peak during the 1990s and multilateral institutions were overshadowed by its supremacy. in 2001, the USa attacked afghanistan and got international support.

During 2003, it went ahead with the plan of bombing iraq despite the opposition of the United nations. However, the global situation of the present is more complex than the past. after 20 years of war, the USa was eager to break the deadlock and agreed to have a dialogue with the taliban. the negotiation between the two parties resolved the conflict and the USaagreed to withdraw from afghanistan in exchange for a guarantee from the taliban that they should never let afghanistan be used by terrorists. However the peace agreement was not signed due to Donald trump’s unilateral decision, then it was resumed after a few weeks. the whole afghan war exposes that the USa botched the war. Winning war is not just toppling a hostile regime but then stabilizing the country. US history shows it is good at the former but fares poorly at the latter. in afghanistan, the USa had no other choice but to sign a peace agreement with the taliban.

Washington left the taliban in Kabul just like the USSr had left najeebullah in afghanistan in 1989. then after a few months the najeebullah government collapsed and the USSr disintegrated within two years. Let’s see whether history repeats itself or not. tension between iran and the USa is another example of a unilateral US decision, when the USa pulled out from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of action. JCPoa is an agreement between iran and five powers made on 14 July 2015. the agreement was endorsed by United nations Security Council resolution 2231 on 20 July 2015. Despite iran’s compliance with the deal, Washington unilaterally withdrew from the JCPoa on 8 may 2018 and imposed all sanctions which were lifted by the agreement. the USa did not cite any evidence of iranian noncompliance with the accord when it drew and according to

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

the arms Control association, iran remained in full compliance with the deal after the US withdrawal. then within the two years Washington terminated all of the waivers for cooperative nuclear projects. there was an immediate reaction by the international leadership, including the EU, france, Germany, UK, turkey, China, russia, Japan and australia. all disliked the unilateral decision of the US administration and believed and agreed that having such a deal was a better option than no deal at all, and they believed that dialogue was better than confrontation. the unilateral decision of the USa has empowered iran and weakens the diplomatic efforts as well as it puts the middle East at great risk. the decision is an attempt to throw away nonproliferation verification measures and drag the world back to the brink it faced a few years ago.

JCPoa was in the USa’s interest but the withdrawal from the deal is not. in future, US interests will be severely undermined. these events do not mean US domination of the world is over. these events also show that the USa has failed to shape its world order and are affecting its status in the world. it is happening when China is boosting itself as an economic power and russia is making a comeback to its former military powers.

Such decline of the USa and rise of new and old powers is due to the unilateral approach of Washington. Consequently, new disputes and confrontations all over the world are happening among the major powers in order to maintain their sovereignty and influence around the globe.

Unilateral policies and decisions always put the region and world at risk. Unilateralism is an illegitimate and selfish conduct that damages the soft power of the nation especially if it has large responsibilities. it also damages alliances and mutual relationships between nations which leads to unfishable disputes.

Unilateral policies and decisions always put the region and world at risk.

Unilateralism is an illegitimate and selfish conduct that damages the soft power of the nation especially if it has large responsibilities.

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

The writer has a PhD in Political Science and can be reached at akramzaheer86@yahoo.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 1 October, 2021

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

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

Freshwater scarcity DEar Sir, freshwater scarcity is a reality which is threatening the sustainable development of human society. Earth’s hydrological (water) cycle has been interrupted by the climate change that makes water-scarce regions of the world drier, and makes the other already-wet regions wetter. recent reports show that two-thirds of the global population is already experiencing water scarcity for at least one month of the year.

However, i believe that it is never too late to take small steps and make a huge difference. Every drop will count when you try! the good news is that these alarming facts are being considered, and stakeholders and the general public around the world are all agreeing to take action.

Various agencies are putting together policies relevant to sustainable development. Equally important, the international scientific community is working to bring more solutions. finally, and most importantly, increased public awareness and pressure means that there is still hope for a sustainable future.

AzmEEnA SirAj KArAchi

Inflation is being exploited

The Rising Superpower Today is the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China

SAjjAD ShAukAt

C

HinESE national Day is celebrated on october 1 every year to commemorate the founding of the People’s republic of China on 1 october 1949. on this very day, lots of large-scale activities are held nationwide. the seven-day holiday from october 1 to 7 is called ‘Golden Week’. the military parade in tiananmen Square in Beijing is followed by about 100,000 civilian performers. the nation’s newest military technology is on full display, which includes military tanks, helicopters, fighting aircraft and China’s new intercontinental ballistic missiles. the parade is usually held every ten years. addressing the 71st anniversary, Chinese Prime minister Li Keqiang said: “the year 2020, troubled by the coronavirus and the global economic recession, is extremely unusual in the history of China…However; the country has achieved major strategic results by coordinating epidemic controls with economic and social developments”.

During the 70th national anniversary parade in 2019, standing in the tiananmen Square where communist forces won a bloody civil war by defeating the ruling Kuomintang-national Party, supported by the imperialist powers, President Xi Jinping stated: “there is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation”. regarding the national Day, BBC wrote on august 25, 2019: “for a long time experts have been speaking about China’s rapid military modernisation referring to it as a rising power… modern China has developed at an extraordinary pace…stood up, grown rich and become stronger over the past decades…america no longer enjoys military primacy in the indo-Pacific…its capacity to uphold a favourable balance of power is increasingly uncertain”. recently, the UK, the USa and australia formed a new indo-Pacific security alliance, known as aUKUS, and the USa said that the aUKUS security pact aimed to protect and defend shared interests in the indo-Pacific region.

Defence analysts opine that the main purpose of the aUKUS partnership is to counter China’s influence in the region.

Beijing has criticised the pact, arguing it “severely undermines regional stability and peace, intensifies the arms race and undercuts international non-proliferation efforts.” it is mentionable that China’s one Belt, one

road (oBor) or China’s Belt and road initiative (Bri), a hugely trade and infrastructure mega-project, link China to markets across central asia, Europe and africa show China’s economic power. the European Union’s foreign affairs Chief Josep Borrell admitted that in asia, China is “replacing the United States as the center of global power”.

During President Donald trump’s era, a new cold war had started between China and the USa— the rift escalated when both Beijing and Washington closed each other’s consulates, resulting in deportation of diplomats and imposing of sanctions over various lawmakers and personalities. Besides, trump particularly targeted China through trade war. in the South China Sea, to check China’s power, the maritime military exercises led by the USa near Hawaii, with 10 countries, especially australia, Canada, france, Japan, north Korea, new Zealand and the USa itself, were a signal to China that the US is forming an alliance against China.

President trump had also withdrew from the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty— on 19 September 2019, US Defense Secretary mark Esper stated that Washington wanted to quickly deploy new intermediaterange missiles in asia to counter China’s rise in the region. meanwhile, tensions arose between india and China, including Pakistan when on 5 august 2019,the indian extremist government revoked articles 35a and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the disputed territory of indian illegally occupied Kashmir. the indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories— Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh— to be ruled by the Centre.

Besides Pakistan, China also rejected the indian malicious acts as “unlawful and void”, saying that india’s decision to “include” some of China’s territory into its administrative jurisdiction “challenged” Beijing’s sovereignty. in this respect, after a number of rounds of talks, new Delhi and Beijing completed their withdrawal from the Pangong tso Lake area on february 20, this year in accordance with the agreement, signed by their commanders. While other parts of the border remain unsettled, and encouraged by the US President Joe Biden’s anti-China approach, indian forces are still making preparations for an all-out war with China. it is notable that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is part of China’s oBor or Bri is rapidly developing. the CPEC project will prove to be a gateway to prosperity for both Pakistan and China; including the landlocked Central asian states. Under the project, China is investing as much as $62 billion in various sectors in Pakistan. now, the volume project has been expanded.

But, terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s various provinces, particularly in Balochistan, show that secret agencies such as Cia, raW and mossad are destabilising Pakistan. these entities want to damage the CPEC, as Washington and new Delhi have already opposed this project. it is worth mentioning that due to lack of respect for the neighbouring countries by indian Prime minister narendra modi-the leader of the extremist ruling party BJP, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and nepal, are tilting toward China. for instance, despite india’s concerns, Bangladesh has given the contract of building an airport terminal in Sylhet to a Chinese company. Similarly, iran decided to go ahead without new Delhi in a Chabahar Port railway project. notably, President Xi Jinping stands up to the USa’s overt and covert tactics against Beijing, taking more assertive position towards the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and China’s claims over taiwan.

While the taliban’s recent victory, and the humiliating defeat of the USa in afghanistan and its other nato allies have given another setback, especially to the USa in terms of the cost of the prolonged war in afghanistan in the wake of drastic implications of the USled Global War on terror.

China, russia, Pakistan and iran, which are furthering their cooperation, have urged the world to assist the afghans, as a peaceful and stable afghanistan is essential for the stability of the entire region. Besides supporting the collective efforts of these countries, the taliban government has, particularly, favoured Beijing on priority basis. thuis another factor of america’s political jealousy against China. moreover, rejecting the US false allegations against Beijing about covid-19, Lijian Zhao, a spokesperson for the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs stated on 12 march 2020 that the US athletes participated in the military World Games, held between 18-27 october 2019 in Wuhan have brought the Coronavirus epidemic to Wuhan from where it originated. in fact, it was part of Washington’s biological war against Beijing. at present, China has controlled the coronavirus to a greater extent. the economy of the USa and Europe has been paralyzed. now, america has become the epicentre of this novel disease, giving a major blow to its economy. on the whole, the Biden administration’s foreign policy often lacks a clear strategic aspect. in contrast, China knows exactly where it wants to go and it has the strategy and the means to get there.

On the whole, the Biden Administration’s foreign policy often lacks a clear strategic aspect. In contrast, China knows exactly where it wants to go and it has the strategy and the means to get there

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations and can be reached at sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

infLation, another benefit of the incumbent government, has made wretched every individual. Understandably, government had to impose such taxes and was left with no other option. However, this has increased the prices of basic commodities and has been worst borne by the poor. furthermore, i feel that the business community including shopkeepers and retailers are availing undue advantage of this by charging more than the actual price in the name of inflation. therefore, it’s difficult for a common man to meet his needs. the state and concerned authorities should take immediate action against these overcharging shopkeepers and ensure that no one misuses tax policies to their own profit.

AwAiS AhmEd ShiKArpur

Disordered minds in power BotH trump and Johnson have what the irish physicist and psychologist ian Hughes calls “disordered minds”. trump is a chronic liar, a purveyor of racism, and a large-scale tax cheat. US Special Counsel robert mueller’s report on his 22-month investigation of trump’s 2016 presidential campaign described repeated cases of trump’s obstruction of justice. trump stands accused by more than 20 women of sexual predation, a behavior he bragged about on tape, and directed his attorney to make illegal payments of hush money that constituted campaign finance violations.

Johnson’s personal behavior is similarly incontinent. He is widely regarded as a chronic liar and as unkempt in personal life, including two failed marriages and an apparent domestic altercation on the eve of becoming the prime minister. He has been repeatedly fired from jobs for lying and other disreputable behavior. He led the Brexit campaign in 2016 on claims that have been proven false. as British foreign Secretary, he twice leaked secret intelligence – in one case, french intelligence about Libya, and in another case British intelligence about iran. Like trump, he has a high disapproval rating among all age groups, and his approval ratings rise with voter age. nAvEEd AbbAS mAitlo iSlAmAbAd

Health problems in Pakistan UnDoUBtEDLy, with better health alone, one can perform, contribute, and play their part in the socio-economic progress and advancement of the country. on the contrary, in a condition of poor health one cannot contribute well to the country’s development. it is disheartening that quality healthcare in Pakistan is a distant dream. almost all public hospitals lack the very basic facilities. Every health center is facing an acute shortage of beds, experienced doctors, quality medicines, and kind support Pakistan, being a developing country, is facing a number of flaws in the health sector.although the medical field has been targeted as a means of quick earning from the sick blood of poor patients. through all the channels of social life, from government to the private hospitals ,we find health being sold on amount of money. the government is spending billions of rupees yearly on the health sector yet we only get poor infrastructure in hospitals led by poor management. one may occasionally and fortunately find cleanliness, punctuality, and a proper use of equipment in the so-called government hospitals. all these flaws are caused because of private clinics which provide a better environment and healthy medication only to those who can afford it. in first world countries the first step that a doctor takes in treatment is getting to know first hand the patient’s family background as well as their medical history. moreover, they bring patients in a psychologically strong situation that he/she may fight the disease boldly. in Pakistan there is no rule of law for so-called better health. Doctors do not even comprehend the nature of patient and advise overdose to a psychologically weak patient that makes them more sick. moreover, doctors are highly paid to provide selected expensive medicine on which they are paid heavy amount of percentage and various so-called gifts. at a larger scale the doctors keep an inexperienced nursing staff which takes charge in their absence.Similarly, unspecialised doctors who do not possess a valid medical degree, operate illegal clinics that lead to an unhealthy life.

Due to all these flaws including poverty and high fees of private clinics the patient indulges in self-medication which results in a harmful situation later. it also may be because of common selling of medicine without the approval of a doctor.

Concluding the message, the medical authorities and the health sector should ensure fair accountability through proper selection of an experienced staff, well-formed structure of hospitals, breakdown of private clinics, and proper selling of legal medicines. uzAir bin jAlil ShiKArpur

Friday, 1 October, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

‘A win for PAkisTAn’: imrAn khAn gAmBles on TAliBAn Ties

Financial tiMes Stephanie FindLay

“T

ALiBAn Khan” got the last laugh. Pakistan’s Prime Minister imran Khan appears vindicated by the taliban takeover in Afghanistan. the charismatic former cricket star had for years criticised the Us invasion of Afghanistan, using anti-American messaging that found an audience beyond hardline islamists in his own country.

Long before Us President donald trump signed a withdrawal deal with the taliban, Khan had been pushing for peace talks. He had repeatedly decried the Us war on terror, and its involvement in Afghanistan since 2001, saying in countless interviews that it was one of Pakistan’s “biggest blunders” to get involved, a mistake that cost over 70,000 Pakistani lives compared with less than 2,500 American soldiers. in 2013, as chair of his Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf party, Khan threatened to block nato supply routes after Us drone strikes in Pakistan. For his pro-taliban stance, he was ridiculed by critics who said his positions were hollow and half-baked.

But rhetoric in support of the taliban has broad sympathy in Pakistan — a september Gallup poll found that 55 per cent of Pakistanis were “happy” with the islamists taking power in Afghanistan. the taliban takeover and the shambolic Us withdrawal from Afghanistan have made Khan’s positions look prescient, if not correct. His recent calls to engage with and “incentivise” the taliban since it took power resonate in Pakistan, where the Us war on terror has bred resentment and hostility.

For this and his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic — a far lower death rate and less economic disruption compared with arch-rival india — polls say Khan is now on track to become Pakistan’s first prime minister to complete a full term since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s, and be re-elected.

As Khan steers the country through a radical reshaping of the geopolitical order of south Asia with the Us exit from Afghanistan, Pakistan is seeking to re-establish itself as a strategic bridge in the region for the world’s great powers. the question now is whether its strategic gambit to support the taliban will pay off or unleash a devastating new wave of islamist extremism.

With the main opposition in total disarray as a result of a messy dynastic power struggle and his relationship with the powerful military stronger than ever, Khan has never been so popular. the latest poll by Gallup Pakistan shows him with a 48 per cent approval rating, his highest since coming into power in 2018, and seven out of 10 Pakistanis believe he will complete his fiveyear term before elections in 2023. “imran Khan and the military are on the same page, he stays in their good books,” says Bilal Gilani, executive director of Gallup Pakistan. “it’s not just that Khan wishes to be subservient to the military, but they share the same objectives.” Khan gives the military freedom to dictate foreign policy of the nuclear-armed nation, while ensuring his opponents are neutralised through an anti-corruption crackdown, say analysts. it’s not all a one-way street — Khan faces plenty of challenges. He has not delivered on his promise to build an islamic wel-

“ALREADY, IT WAS HARD TO IMAGINE CONFRONTING IMRAN KHAN’S GOVERNMENT. NOW IT’S LIKE AN IMPOSSIBILITY,” SAYS A PROMINENT OPPOSITION LEADER, SPEAKING ON CONDITION OF ANONYMITY. “IN PUBLIC, WE CONDEMN IMRAN KHAN AND OUR LINE IS THAT HE PRESIDES OVER A FAILING GOVERNMENT. BUT IN PRIVATE WE KNOW HE ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE” fare state, inflation is at a punishing rate of over 8 per cent with food prices even higher, and terrorism threatens to rise with the taliban in control of Kabul — the paradoxical consequence of Pakistan’s perceived foreign policy victory.

Yet government insiders say Khan’s gut instinct on issues — such as his decision not to enforce a harsh coronavirus lockdown thus sparing the poor from an even greater economic catastrophe — have proved popular.

“When everyone shut down [during the pandemic], Khan said ‘no, you need to trust me on this’,” says a government adviser.

“We thought he was a goner, that the government would collapse, but he proved us wrong. never underestimate the guy; he makes mistakes but always bounces back.”

Khan has been unequivocally sympathetic to the taliban, saying that the islamists have “broken the shackles of slavery” by toppling Ashraf Ghani’s government and that the Us war was “unwinnable” because Afghans would never accept foreign occupation. After the taliban’s government was announced, the Pakistan leader said the world should give the islamists more “time” before judging their record on human rights and governance, a line echoed by top military officials in the capital, islamabad. there is no question that the Pakistan military — referred to as “the establishment” in the country — views the taliban victory in Afghanistan as a strategic win, even at the risk of emboldening other extremist groups in the region, alienating the west and triggering a flood of refugees that could be a strain on the economy. the Ghani government had a rocky relationship with islamabad, which accused Kabul of siding with india, its nuclear-armed neighbour. now that a friendly regime is in power next door, the generals sitting in the army’s rawalpindi headquarters are feeling more secure.

At a briefing with Pakistan’s top security officials in the days after the taliban took power the tone was jubilant. “indians are feeling edgy,” says a senior security official. “[But] we are not looking to embarrass india anywhere.” no image symbolised Pakistan’s confidence better than that of its intelligence chief Faiz Hameed, dressed in a blazer and pressed chinos and delicately holding a cup of tea, meeting the taliban in Kabul’s plush serena hotel less than a week after they took control of the capital. it was a brazen statement, says an Afghanistan analyst, “the fact that he was so comfortable demonstrated Pakistan’s confidence”. two days later the taliban — which Pakistan has always viewed as a means to expand its regional influence — announced its interim government. since then, Khan’s focus has been to push for legitimisation of the taliban government as islamabad seeks to curry favour with the new regime. “it’s been a win for Pakistan, and i think the purpose of imran Khan is to be that voice for

getting that recognition and legitimisation globally,” says sajjan Gohel, a south Asia expert at the London school of economics.

“Prior to the taliban takeover he was serving as the civilian face of the military-backed regime in Pakistan,” says Gohel. “since the taliban takeover, he is working to get the taliban itself recognition.”

Khan went on the offensive at the Un General Assembly on september 24, when in a pre-recorded speech he attacked the Us for using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its failures in Afghanistan. “if the world community incentivises them [the taliban], and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” Khan told the assembly.

His push for engagement with the taliban came amid increasing evidence that the new government in Kabul is returning to the gruesome tactics employed when it last controlled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. the taliban recently hung the bodies of four dead alleged kidnappers up on cranes in the western city of Herat, with top officials telling AP that they would start carrying out public executions again.

But Pakistan’s message appears to be gaining little traction with the Us. President Joe Biden has refused to call Khan since taking office. “Pakistan is positioning itself as an intermediary between the west and Afghanistan, it’s not immediately clear that anyone is buying that,” says Hassan Javid, associate professor of sociology at Lahore University of Management sciences. “there will be a cost in terms of relations with the Us — what Pakistan is banking on is the ability to pivot towards China.”

BEIJING SECURITY FEARS: Yet Pakistan cannot take China for granted. the countries call each other “iron brothers”, but islamabad’s relationship with Beijing has cooled under Khan’s tenure. the China-Pakistan economic Corridor, the $62bn Pakistan piece of China’s vast Belt and road infrastructure project to create a modern silk road, has lost momentum after a series of attacks on Chinese nationals by the tehrik-e-taliban Pakistan, or Pakistan taliban.

An attack on the Chinese ambassador in April was followed by a July bus bombing that killed nine Chinese nationals, one of the

worst attacks on the country’s interests in Pakistan. the ttP, the largest armed group in the region after the Afghan taliban, is committed to a jihad against the Pakistan government, but denied launching the attack. the deterioration of the security situation has cast doubt on Pakistan’s assurances that across the border in Afghanistan the taliban can keep extremist groups such as the ttP and al-Qaeda from launching attacks on neighbouring countries, China and the west.

When a long delayed meeting on CPeC progress took place this month, security dominated the agenda, with the Pakistan military promising China that they can guarantee the safety of their investments. the cooling relationship with China comes as Pakistan desperately needs economic support. inflation is the highest in south Asia, and the Pakistan rupee has fallen to a record low, partly as a result of the implosion in the Afghan economy, reeling after the withdrawal of most foreign economic support. security officials say they want to rehabilitate ties with the Us. “it’s in our interest to have excellent relations with the west,” says the senior security official. “Most of us have been trained in the Us, we listen to western music not Chinese music. We have made mistakes but we need your understanding.”

Yet there is deep scepticism of Pakistan’s claims that it is turning a new leaf after years of playing a double game, claiming to support the west while covertly supporting the taliban. “Khan’s government is super worried if the security environment goes down and the economy once again dips,” says a western diplomat in islamabad, “but there is a massive trust deficit with the Us, no one from the Obama-era administration trusts them.” islamabad is acutely aware that it needs the support of the Us and western allies to avert an economic meltdown with the help of iMF aid and avoid being blacklisted by money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, the Financial Action task Force. “inflation is going to be Khan’s Achilles heel in the upcoming election. there are rising prices and people can’t make ends meet,” says Azeema Cheema, director at Verso Consulting in islamabad. “there has been no stability”.

At a butcher’s shop in islamabad, the floor is splattered with blood and a skinned goat is hanging from a hook. “i voted for imran Khan in 2018, but i’m never going to vote for him again,” says Mohammed Banaras, the owner aged in his 50s. “inflation is so high people can’t afford meat. two years ago i was able to sell 10 goats a day, now it’s down to two.”

Pakistan’s economy is expected to expand at an annual rate of 4 per cent in 2022, boosted in part by expansionary fiscal policies introduced to revive growth following the shock of the pandemic. But shaukat tarin, the finance minister, has recently warned of an “overheating” economy and a climbing import bill.

Ammar Khan, an independent macroeconomist in islamabad, says Pakistan is struggling to ramp up exports and needs to ensure the swift continuance of a $6bn iMF loan programme. talks with the iMF to release another $1bn are expected to start in October, though the government is reluctant to introduce reforms such as raising electricity tariffs that would put consumers under more pressure.

“Household budgets have been shrinking due to loss in purchasing power and food inflation is squeezing all of us, it’s a double whammy,” says Khan, the macroeconomist. “We will have to go back into the iMF programme, we need those sweet precious dollars before we ramp up exports. if they kick the can down the road, that will be disastrous.”

THE TERROR RISK: such a fragile economy would normally provide fertile ground for the opposition to mobilise against Khan’s government. But the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-n), the main opposition movement, is in chaos. its leader, the former prime minister nawaz sharif, was jailed for corruption by the supreme Court in 2018 on charges he dismissed as politically motivated. in his absence, his brother shahbaz sharif and daughter Maryam nawaz sharif have reportedly clashed over their vision for the party. shahbaz is seen as moderate or open to working with the military, while Maryam has electrified crowds with her calls to take down the establishment and defend civilian supremacy over military might. the biggest risk to the Khan government is if its gamble on the taliban backfires and if ttP and other groups scale up their attacks, returning Pakistan to the dark days when it struggled to contain a full-blown terrorist insurgency.

“Pakistan’s primary goal was to deny india strategic space in Afghanistan. it has done that, but at considerable cost. Pakistan already has seen a surge in refugees in the last month,” says Christopher Clary, assistant professor of political science at the University of Albany in the Us. “it remains to be seen whether the new taliban regime in Kabul has the ability or will to deny the ttP safe haven in Afghanistan, but it seems more likely than not that the ttP terror threat in Pakistan could grow substantially,” adds Clary.

But for as long as the Khan-generals pact holds, the opposition appears aware of its weakness. “Already, it was hard to imagine confronting imran Khan’s government. now it’s like an impossibility,” says a prominent opposition leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. “in public, we condemn imran Khan and our line is that he presides over a failing government. But in private we know he isn’t going anywhere.”

Additional reporting by Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad.

Contradicting Biden, top brass testify they advised him to keep troops in Afghanistan “IN THE END, WE COULDN’T PROVIDE THEM WITH A WILL TO WIN,” AUSTIN TOLD LAWMAKERS Military.coM

P

Steve Beynon and Stephen LoSey

resident Joe Biden’s top military officials on tuesday testified that ahead of the chaotic exit from Afghanistan in which 13 American troops and scores of civilians were killed they recommended keeping troops in the country past August. that directly contradicts earlier comments by the president that he was never advised to keep troops in the country.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, told lawmakers during a senate hearing on the final days of America’s longest war that he recommended Biden keep some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, effectively prolonging the war into a

third decade, something the president considered during his campaign. “i won’t share my personal recommendation to the president, but i will give you my honest opinion. And my honest opinion and view shaped my recommendation,” Milley told the senate panel. “And i recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.”

Milley testified alongside defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., head of U.s. Central Command, who said he also advised Biden not to withdraw troops and continue the U.s. war in Afghanistan. “i was present when that discussion occurred, and i am confident that the president heard all the recommendations and listened to them very thoughtfully,” McKenzie said. the comments from McKenzie and Milley di-

rectly contradict statements Biden made in August, when he told ABC news’ George stephanopoulos he could not “recall” any recommendation to keep troops deployed. “so no one told — your military advisers did not tell you, ‘no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. it’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that.

We can continue to do that’?” stephanopoulos asked last month. Biden rejected the idea, saying, “no, no one said that to me that i can recall.”

White House Press secretary Jen Psaki pushed back in a news conference tuesday afternoon in response to questions as to whether Biden had misled the public in his ABC interview about the advice his military advisors had provided regarding pulling troops out of Afghanistan. Psaki said Biden emphasized that advisers

were “split” on whether to pull out all troops or extend their presence in Afghanistan, though she would not go into details on who supported a troop pullout. Psaki also said Austin and Milley’s testimony made clear that extending a troop presence would have renewed fighting with the taliban and led to more U.s. casualties.

Previously, a key goal of coalition forces was to prop up a democratic Afghanistan government and military force in hopes that one day the U.s. supported government could stand on its own. But corruption ran rampant among Afghan government officials and military leaders. And most of the Afghan military and police forces surrendered their arms and allowed the taliban to conquer the country with relatively little fighting. “in the end, we couldn’t provide them with a will to win,” Austin told lawmakers.

Friday, 1 October, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE

FBR ExTENDS TAx RETuRN FILING DATE TILL OCT 15 NEWS DESK

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday extended the date for filing income tax returns for individuals and companies to October 15, 2021, keeping in view the demand of the business community and the technical issues faced by the tax filers.

The FBR's tax collection software had crashed earlier in the day as taxpayers scrambled to file tax returns on the deadline which was Thursday.

As per reports, people willing to file the tax returns were facing problems as the FBR’s portal crashed on the last day set by the country’s supreme tax collection body.

The tax-collection body had received many applications for the extension of the deadline of filing income tax returns.

Earlier on Wednesday, the FBR had decided against extending the statutory date of filing of income tax returns for Tax Year 2021. The board had decided that the last date of filing of returns September 30 will not be extended for individuals, association of person (AOPs) and companies which are required to file income tax return by the due date.

An FBR official announcement said the last date of filing of income tax returns for individuals, associations of persons and companies having spe-

CORPORATE CORNER

cial tax year is Sept 30, 2021. “The system is working seamlessly and around 150,000 returns were filed on September 28 which was the highest ever number filed in a single day. In the meantime, FBR, like last year has enhanced its system capacity to provide seamless services to the taxpayers,” the statement said. In order to render the entire process of filing for extension and granting of time to taxpayers for filing of tax returns, IRIS is being modified to make it facilitative and less time-consuming.

“I don’t understand how the government expects to broaden its tax base when these technical issues persist,” a frustrated taxpayer

Risk management regime for custodian clearing members (ccms) KARACHI PR

ISLAMABAD: TCS (Private) Limited appoints Nutshell Communications (Private) Limited as its strategic communications partner for brand communications and stakeholder relations. This agreement was signed during the Leaders in Islamabad Conference in the presence of the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. PR

KARACHI: Shan Foods has signed Siemens as its implementation partner for SAP’s S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, under Project Kick-off,to accelerate its digital transformation journey. With the signing of this partnership, Siemens will facilitate the implementation of SAP’s latest real-time ERP business suite, driving end-toend digitised operations and inspiring instant value throughout the Company’s business processes, from quality and material management to financials and human capital management. This is a first-of-its-kind implementation of SAP S/4HANA 2020 (Rise) on HANA Enterprise Cloud which allows for an easy and flexible transformation to an intelligent enterprise.PR

told Profit, wishing not to be named. He further suggested that the government should hire services of taxation experts to overcome such shortcomings and to spare citizens the hassle of waiting for hours at end to file their returns.

However, while it has said that it "would generously grant extensions in all cases of hardship of any nature", the application for this has to be filed through the very system that has suffered the outage, leaving filers in a fix.

Additionally, the FBR has also said that a person who fails to file the return within the due date will have to pay penalties.

NCCPL acts as a Central Counterparty between the transacting parties to guarantee the settlement of transactions executed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited (PSX). In order to perform this role efficiently, NCCPL also performs the risk management functions for trades and transactions that are executed at PSX. NCCPL, has proposed and implemented various measures to strengthen the risk management framework with an objective to manage and mitigate the risk prudently without imposing any undue burden on the securities market participants. As part of this continued endeavour, NCCPL has successfully implemented various risk management related provisions for CCMs with effect from September 29, 2021.

These developments in the risk manage-

ment framework implemented by NCCPL are expected to have significant positive impact not only on the trading capacity of the Securities Brokers (“SBs”) executing trades and transactions on behalf of clients of the CCMs but also with respect to mitigation of overall settlement risk managed by NCCPL. Further, it will include CCMs within the risk management framework.

Previously, CCMs were responsible only for settlement of their foreign/local investors trading by using NCCPL’s Institutional Delivery System, whereas, for risk management, SBs were responsible for deposit of all margins and Mark to Market losses requirements of NCCPL that are withheld until completion of settlement by CCMs. With the recently implemented reforms, CCMs shall be responsible to deposit the applicable margins and MtM losses to NCCPL in the form of acceptable Market Collateral.

IMC releases sustainability report 2021 LAHORE PRESS RELEASE

Indus Motor Company (IMC) has released its Sustainability Report for the FY21, the sixth one since 2016. The Report is prepared in line with internationally recognized, GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, covering the three pillars of sustainability - Economy, Environment and Social – and also complies with the Ten Princi-

ples of the United Nations Global Compact.

The report has been given a total fresh look, visually appealing and covers information about the company’s activities and impacts for the last financial year. The essence of the theme, ‘Looking to a Happier World’, has been aptly captured both on the cover and inside. Expressing his views, the company’s Chief Executive, Ali Asghar Jamali, said, “The risk of climate change remained the top risks for 2021.

NEPRA conducts public hearing to discuss K-Electric’s petition on monthly fuel cost adjustment KARACHI PR

NEPRA conducted a public hearing on Thursday to discuss K-Electric’s petition on Fuel Charges Adjustments for the month of August 2021. In the petition, KE has requested for Fuel Charges Adjustment for the month of August 2021 with an average impact on consumer of 98 paisa per unit. K-Electric explained that the primary reason of fuel cost variations was an increase in prices of RLNG and Furnace Oil as compared to the reference month by 35% and 16%, respectively.

Upon an observation from NEPRA team about K-Electric not following Economic Merit Order, Mr. Aamir Ghaziani, Chief Financial Officer K-Electric clarified that the Economic Merit Order was followed while giving dispatch to its power plants as well as power purchases from external sources to ensure that Karachi’s demand is met. However, insufficient gas pressure from SSGC was impacting the company’s ability to fully utilize its plants. K-Electric has been making full and timely payments for all RLNG and natural gas consumed from SSGC, and has been engaged with SSGC officials to finalize the Gas Supply Agreement on a firm commitment on the quantity and pressure of gas supply to secure Karachi’s energy future as well. In this regard, detailed response on instances highlighted by NEPRA together with relevant supports have been shared with NEPRA team, and KE will discuss these and provide any further information required with NEPRA team. These hearings are part of a regular process, whereby the regulatory authority scrutinizes the adjustment requests based on the facts and figures. State-owned DISCOs are usually heard in one sitting while K-Electric's hearings are conducted separately. The regulator will issue its decision after verification.

Al Karam Textile enters strategic alliance with Recover™ to promote sustainability, circularity KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

Recover™ has signed a multi-year agreement with Al Karam Textile Mills to provide a collaborated end to end solution to meet design, development, production and sustainability demands in the home textile industry. The partnership will allow Al-Karam Textile Mills to seamlessly integrate lowest impact and sustainable Recover™ recycled cotton fiber into their products in order to achieve their sustainability goals of waste reduction and environmental conservation. The use of recycled cotton fiber and cotton fiber blends has become a requirement to meet the surging demand from global home textile industry. Under this agreement, Recover™ will provide high quality sustainable fiber exclusively to Al Karam Textile Mills.

This will make Al Karam the sole manufacturer of Recover™ fiber in Pakistan for the next four years.

Adil Farhat appointed CEO of P&G Pakistan KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

TPL Trakker, Proton pen new partnership for seamless, connected automotive future KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

TPL Trakker, Pakistan’s leading IoT Company providing Telematics, Mapping, and Location Based Services, has recently partnered with Proton, a world-class automotive Malaysian company, to offer automotive software and hardware solutions. TPL Trakker and Proton have joined forces to revolutionize the automotive industry of Pakistan by delivering Pakistan’s first ‘Intelligent vehicle’. In line with this partnership, TPL Trakker has offered Proton online and offline maps for Proton X-70 while other state-of-the-art hardware features such as Infotainment System, Camera, and Speakers will be installed in Proton SAGA in the future. To mark the occasion, a signing ceremony was held between TPL Trakker and Proton at Proton’s head office.

Present at the event from TPL Trakker were, Sarwar Ali Khan, CEO. Representing Proton were, Hilal Khan Afridi, the CEO along with other members from their management.

Premier Motors to assemble Skoda, Volkswagen in Pakistan; appoints AKD Securities as financial advisor

Zong wins 4G Spectrum auction in AJK, GB ISLAMABAD PR

Zong (CMPak) emerged as the highest bidder for the 1800 MHz spectrum in the NGMS auction for Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) which took place on Tuesday, 28th September, 2021. Zong bagged 11.2 MHz in the highly coveted 1800 MHz Band for a cumulative Auction Winning Price of $15.442 Million. The acquisition of the prized 1800 MHz spectrum will enable ZONG to fortify its 4G leadership and to roll out its best-in-class 4G LTE in AJ&K and GB resulting in a muchneeded boost to connectivity and high-speed data coverage in the region. With Zong 4G’s unrivaled data connectivity, the region is expected to receive significant economic uplift.

KARACHI PR

At a signing ceremony held at AKD’s head office in Karachi, Premier Motors Limited– License CKD assembly partner of the German auto giant, Volkswagen Group has appointed AKD Securities Limited as its Financial Advisor for achieving financial close of its CKD Assembly Plant Project in Pakistan. Volkswagen Group plans to enter CKD assembly with PML in a cutting-edge, fully integrated production plant. This plant will mark the entry of locally assembled Skoda and Volkswagen premium cars for the first time in the country. The plant is situated in Hub, Balochistan with a capacity of 30,000 vehicles per annum. Construction has begun in July 2021 and going-on with full swing. PML will initially launch premium Volkswagen and Skoda Crossovers and SUVs in Pakistan which are expected to hit the road by mid-2023. The project is expected to cost $100m.

P&G Pakistan has announced the appointment of Adil Farhat as its new chief executive officer (CEO) effective from today. Adil is an experienced business leader who has worked in senior roles across Middle East, Europe, Africa for over two decades with P&G. Most recently, Adil was Managing Director of P&G West Africa, based out of Lagos. Prior to that, he has led businesses across several categories and channels based out of Geneva, Jeddah & Dubai offices. Speaking at the occasion, Adil said, “P&G Pakistan has grown from strength to strength in the last few decades to serve our customers and consumers. Today, it is one of the leading FMCG companies in Pakistan. Over the years, P&G has remained a reliable foreign investor and is committed to continue contributing its share towards the economic development of Pakistan. I excitedly look forward to joining the Pakistan Leadership Team and contribute towards realizing the tremendous growth potential Pakistan has to offer.” Adil Farhat succeeds Sami Ahmed, the Company’s former CEO, who will remain with P&G and relocate to Dubai to lead the Gillette business for 20+ countries of the Asia, Middle East & Africa region, including Pakistan.

Friday, 1 October, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LAHORE

IsraelI forces kIll PalestInIan gunman, woman ‘assaIlant’ JERUSALEM

I

REutERS

SRAelI forces killed a Palestinian gunman in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and a Palestinian woman who allegedly tried to stab officers in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said. The killings came amid tensions heightened by the deaths on Sunday of five Palestinians, at least four of them claimed as

members by the Hamas group, in gun battles with Israeli forces carrying out arrest raids in the West Bank.

Police said in a statement Israeli soldiers and paramilitary police on an operation near the West Bank city of Jenin shot and killed a Palestinian who fired at them.

A Palestinian medical source confirmed the death of a 22-year-old man. The Islamic Jihad group issued a statement saying he was one of its members and that he was killed in

Former French President Sarkozy sentenced to one year for illegal campaign financing PARIS AGENCIES

A French court Thursday imposed a oneyear sentence on former president Nicolas Sarkozy after finding him guilty of illegal campaign financing for massive overspending on his 2012 re-election campaign. Sarkozy's lawyer said he would appeal. The verdict came six months after he was found guilty of corruption in a separate trial.

The court will allow the ex-president to serve the sentence at home by wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Sarkozy, who spent nearly twice the legal limit on his failed bid for a second term in office, wasn't present at the Paris court for the announcement of the verdict.

Moments after the sentence was announced, Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog said he would appeal.

The 66-year-old right-winger pulled out all the stops in 2012 to try fend off the ultimately victorious Socialist candidate, François Hollande.

A series of lavish US-style election rallies caused his costs to spiral, with the final bill coming to at least 42.8 million euros $49.7 million), nearly double the legal limit of 22.5 million euros.

The case is known as the Bygmalion affair, after the name of the public relations firm that set up a system of fake invoices to mask the real cost of the events.

Prosecutors had sought a one-year prison sentence, half of it suspended, for the former president.

The verdict is not the same as a suspended sentence, as it goes down in his record as a full prison term.

It was the second guilty verdict this year for Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012 and retains influence among conservatives despite falling from grace over his legal woes.

SARKOZY ‘KNEW’, ‘VOLUNTARILY’ IGNORED ACCOUNTANTS’ NOTES: The court stated that Sarkozy “knew” weeks before the 2012 election that the legal limit was at stake and “voluntarily” failed to supervise additional expenses, with prosecutors accusing him of having ignored two notes from his accountants warning about the money issue.

Prosecutors argued Sarkozy is “the only person responsible for his campaign financing” and that he chose to exceed the limit by organising many rallies, including giant ones.

During his hearing in June, Sarkozy told the court the extra money didn't go into his campaign, but instead helped make other people richer. He denied any “fraudulent intent.” He also insisted he didn't handle the logistics of his campaign for a second term as a president nor did he oversee how money was spent, because he had a team to do that.

"Can you imagine me going into a meeting to discuss the cost of flags?" he told the court in June. "I had too much to do." "From the moment I was told things were in order, I had no reason to give it

a shootout with Israeli forces carrying out a raid.

In Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police officers shot dead a Palestinian woman who tried to stab them, police said, identifying her as a resident of the West Bank.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, including its Old City, in the 1967 Middle east war. Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

North Korea’s Kim seeks to reopen hotline with South, but dismisses US offer of talks PYONGYANG AGENCIES

more thought," he added.

This conviction comes six months after he was given a jail term for corruption and influence peddling in a separate trial, when he tried to a judge in order to obtain confidential information on a judicial inquiry. He also denied any wrongdoing in that case.

The former president was sentenced to three years in jail in that trial - two of which were suspended. like with Thursday’s sentence, he will probably avoid jail, with the judge saying she would consider letting him serve the remaining year of his sentence at home, if he wore an electronic ankle bracelet. His appeal is also pending.

He became nevertheless France's first post-war president to be handed a custodial sentence. Before him, the only former leader to be sentenced at trial was Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac, who received a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption over a fake jobs scandal relating to his time as Paris mayor.

Sarkozy, who has accused the judiciary of hounding him since he lost his presidential immunity, appealed that verdict.

POLITICAL ROLE BEHIND THE SCENES: In addition to the former president, 13 other people went on trial, including members of his conservative Républicans party, accountants and heads of the communication group in charge of organising the rallies, Bygmalion. They face charges including forgery, breach of trust, fraud and complicity in illegal campaign financing.

Some have acknowledged wrongdoing and detailed the system of false invoices that aimed to cover up the overspending.

Prosecutors have requested mostly suspended prison sentences, and up to one year in prison for Bygmalion's cofounder.

Sarkozy retired from active politics in 2017, but is still playing a role behind the scenes. French media have reported that he is involved in the process of choosing a conservative candidate ahead of France's presidential election next year.

But the pair of convictions could force Sarkozy to play a more discreet role in 2022’s presidential race.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore stalled communication lines with South Korea in early October to promote peace while shrugging off US offers for dialogue as “cunning ways” to conceal its hostility against the North, state media reported Thursday.

Kim’s statement is an apparent effort to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as he wants South Korea to help him win relief from crippling US-led economic sanctions and other concessions. Pyongyang this month has offered conditional talks with Seoul alongside its first missile firings in six months and stepped-up criticism of the United States.

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency closed meeting on Thursday at the request of the United States, United Kingdom and France on North Korea’s recent tests.

During a speech at his country’s rubberstamp parliament on Wednesday, Kim said the restoration of cross-border hotlines — which have been largely dormant for more than a year — would realize the Korean people’s wishes for a peace between the two Koreas, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim still accused South Korea of being “bent on begging external support and cooperation while clamoring for international cooperation in servitude to the US,” rather than committing to resolving the matters independently between the Koreas.

Kim repeated his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong’s calls for Seoul to abandon “doubledealing attitude” and “hostile viewpoint” over the North’s missile tests and other developments, saying the fate of inter-Korean ties is at a critical juncture. Some experts say North Korea is pressuring South Korea to tone down its criticism of its ballistic missile tests, which are banned by UN Security Council resolu-

tions, in a bid to receive an international recognition as a nuclear power.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry responded that it’ll prepare for the restoration of the hotlines that it said is needed to discuss and resolve many pending issues. It said the “stable operation” of the channels is expected because their restoration was directly instructed by Kim Jong Un. On the United States, Kim Jong Un dismissed repeated US offers to resume talks without preconditions, calling them an attempt to hide America’s “hostile policy” and “military threats” that he said remain unchanged.

The Biden administration “is touting ‘diplomatic engagement’ and ‘dialogue without preconditions’ but it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts and an extension of the hostile policy pursued by the successive US administrations,” Kim said.

‘HOSTILE POLICIES’: The United States condemned North Korea’s latest missile test launch, but in response to Kim’s comments said it “harbours no hostile intent toward the DPRK” — the acronym for the North’s official name.

“We are prepared to meet with the DPRK without preconditions,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement, reiterating the offer.

“We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach.”

North Korea has long called US-led economic sanctions on it and regular military drills between Washington and Seoul as proof of US “hostile policies” on them. Kim Jong Un has said he would bolster his nuclear arsenal and not resume nuclear diplomacy with Washington unless such US hostility is withdrawn.

US officials have repeatedly expressed hopes to sit down for talks with North Korea “anywhere and at any time,” but have main-

tained they will continue sanctions until the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearization. The diplomacy has been stalled for 2 ½ years due to disagreements over easing the US-led sanctions in return for limited denuclearization steps.

Prior to the launch Tuesday of what North Korea said was a new hypersonic missile, it also this month launched a newly developed cruise missile and a ballistic missile from a train. Both of those weapons could carry nuclear bombs to attack targets in South Korea and Japan, both key US allies where a total of 80,000 American troops are stationed.

Kim said in his parliament speech that “a spur has been given to ... developing a powerful new weapon system capable of thoroughly containing the military moves of the hostile forces.” He accused the United States and its “vassal forces” of creating a “’neoCold War” and ordered officials to work out “tactical measures” on US relations.

Kim Jong Un maintains a moratorium on testing a longer-range missile capable of reaching the American homeland, an indication he wants to keep alive chances for future diplomacy with the US. After nearly 10 years in power, Kim Jong Un has said North Korea is facing its worstever crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US-led sanctions and natural disasters. In his latest speech, he claimed progress toward the troubled economy but urged stronger efforts to tighten epidemic prevention measures and fulfill other objectives set during a January ruling Workers’ Party congress.

Meanwhile, Kim’s sister was elected as a member of the State Affairs Commission led by her brother during this week’s Supreme People’s Assembly session, KCNA reported.

The appointment of Kim Yo Jong, who already is a senior Workers’ Party official who handles Pyongyang’s relations with Seoul, is another sign Kim is solidifying his family’s rule in the face of the difficulties.

Friday, 1 October, 2021

SPORTS 11

LAHORE

BarcelONa thumpeD aND chelsea BeateN as rONalDO rescues maN uNIteD LISBON

B

AFP

ARCELONA plunged even further into crisis on Wednesday with a thumping Champions League defeat at Benfica while holders Chelsea were beaten by Juventus but Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a precious last-gasp winner for Manchester United.

Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona side already look at real risk of an early exit from this season’s Champions League after suffering a second 3-0 defeat in as many games in Group E and finishing the match in Lisbon with 10 men.

Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez starred for Benfica, opening the scoring early on and then hitting the post early in the second half. He later completed the rout from the penalty spot following a Sergino Dest handball, while in between Rafa Silva also netted for the Portuguese former European Cup winners.

Eric Garcia was sent off for Barcelona, who have now conceded 11 goals in their last two visits to the Estadio da Luz, the scene of their 8-2 annihilation at the hands of Bayern Munich in the 2020 quarter-finals.

Barca are rock bottom of their group

while Bayern followed their victory at the Camp Nou a fortnight ago with a 5-0 home win over Dynamo Kiev, with Robert Lewandowski’s first-half brace setting the Bavarians on their way.

Lewandowski, who netted the opener from the penalty spot, now has a career tally of 77 Champions League goals, third in the all-time list behind Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane and Eric

No overseas fans allowed at 2022 Beijing Olympics LAUSANNE AFP

Next year's Winter Olympics in Beijing will be held without spectators from overseas with tickets restricted to fans living in China because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday.

The IOC said only fully vaccinated participants would be exempt from a 21-day quarantine.

Athletes who can provide a "justified medical exemption" will have their cases considered.

All attendees will enter a strict bubble upon arrival that covers Games-related areas and stadiums as well as accommodation, catering and the opening and closing ceremonies. The decisions, announced by the IOC but taken by Chinese organisers, are a foretaste of a package of measures to be released in October designed to prevent the Games from turning into a source of contamination. Spectators were banned from almost all venues at the Tokyo 2020 Games after it was delayed a year by the global health crisis. All domestic and international Games participants and workforce in the bubble, known as the "closed-loop management system", will be tested daily. The 2022 Beijing Olympics is scheduled for February 4-20.

Djokovic pulls out of Indian Wells PARIS ReuteRs

World number one Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from next month’s Indian Wells tournament, organisers said. “I am sorry I won’t get to see my fans in Indian Wells and play in the desert, my favourite place to go. I hope to see you next year!,” Djokovic said in a statement.

The 34-year-old Serbian came up short this month in his bid for a calendar Grand Slam, losing in straight sets to Russian Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final. He is tied with Roger Federer for the most Indian Wells titles, with each having won five. Djokovic is the latest marquee name to withdraw from the tournament, with 2018 women’s champion Naomi Osaka, world number one Ash Barty and Serena Williams also sitting out. “We are disappointed that Novak will not be able to join us at the BNP Paribas Open this fall,” tournament director Tommy Haas said. “We hope to see him back in Tennis Paradise next March to contend for a recordsetting sixth title in the desert.”

Maxim Choupo-Moting added further goals after the break for a rampant Bayern.

Barcelona’s defeat leaves Koeman – who took Benfica to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2006 – in an even more fragile position. They have made it to the knockout rounds in each of the last 17 seasons.

“I can’t say anything because I don’t know what the club feels about this,” said Koeman about his future. “We’ll see.”

JUVENTUS IMPRESS: Chelsea will still be expected to qualify for the last 16 despite losing 1-0 to Juventus in Turin with Federico Chiesa scoring the only goal of the game 10 seconds into the second half.

The star of Italy’s Euro 2020-winning side latched onto Federico Bernardeschi’s assist to beat Edouard Mendy and give Massimiliano Allegri’s team a second straight win in Group H. Juve are still adapting to life since the return of Allegri as coach and the departure of Ronaldo but this could be a formative result for them against the holders.

“We gave a cheap goal away and that made things more complicated for ourselves,” said Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel.

Chelsea had started their defence of the trophy with a 1-0 win over Zenit Saint Petersburg, and the Russian champions bounced back to beat Malmo 4-0.

Claudinho, who won Olympic gold with Brazil in Tokyo, opened the scoring before Daler Kuzyaev, Aleksei Sutormin and Wendel all added second-half goals.

UNITED BOUNCE BACK: Ronaldo popped up in the last of five minutes of stoppage time to score and give United a 2-1 win over Villarreal at Old Trafford.

Jesse Lingard cutely set up Ronaldo to score his record-extending 136th goal in the

competition as United bounced back from their last-gasp defeat to Young Boys in Bern last time out.

Alex Telles had earlier hauled the hosts back level on the hour mark with a superb first-time volley from a Bruno Fernandes delivery for his first goal for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Paco Alcacer had given Villarreal the lead in what was a rematch of last season’s Europa League final, won by the Spanish outfit on penalties.

“We had to throw caution to the wind and got lucky in the end,” said Solskjaer.

“When you’ve got Cristiano on the pitch there is always a chance.”

United and Young Boys trail a point behind Group F leaders Atalanta, who defeated the Swiss champions 1-0 in Italy with a Matteo Pessina goal.

Teenage German starlet Karim Adeyemi netted two penalties, one in each half, as Red Bull Salzburg beat French champions Lille 2-1 to go top of Group G on four points.

Burak Yilmaz pulled one back for Lille but they prop up the section, while Sevilla snatched a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg after a late Ivan Rakitic penalty cancelled out Renato Steffen’s opener for the Germans, who had Josuha Guilavogui sent off.

President orders GSV to work independently for promotion of football NEWS DESK President Arif Alvi on Thursday held a meeting with Global Soccer Ventures (GSV) Chairman Yasir Mehmood, Chief Executive Officer Zabe Khan and Chief Operating OfficerSaqib Rafiq Chaudhry to get briefing about the preparations for the Pakistan Football League.

Alvi said, “Plans are very exciting and more importantly realistic. GSV is what Pakistan needs and they will work without any affiliation to any PFF faction and with no interference from the FIFA NC – this is about football in Pakistan. Football needs experts like GSV to create a new sports economy in Pakistan which never existed or understood in Pakistan.”

Zabe Khan said, “My remit is to recalibrate our nation with a football ecosystem. The UK and Pakistan partnership in football is all set to flourish in a sustainable development plan to finally give Pakistan a level playing field to meet international standards.”

Yasir Mehmood said, “Football all over the world belongs to private sector.

Why should Pakistan be any different. It is about time we revive football that has

been lost in translation and misinterpreted by many.”

England's tour of Netherlands rescheduled for June 2022 NEWS DESK England's men face having to pick two separate squads for international cricket next summer after their three World Cup Super League ODIs against Netherlands were rescheduled for June, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The tour had originally been due to take place in May 2020 but was a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The matches, to be played at the VRA ground in Amstelveen, will take place on June 17, 19 and 22 - in the gap between the second and third New Zealand Tests at Trent Bridge and Headingley.

There is already a large degree of separation between England's red- and white-ball squads, with a handful of players - such as Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer - used regularly across all three formats. England have greater depth in limited-overs cricket, and beat Pakistan 3-0 earlier this year after having to select an entirely new squad due to a Covid outbreak.

The ECB came under fire last week after pulling out of planned men's and women's tours to Pakistan, citing player welfare issues. But there have been few other attempts to address an overloaded playing schedule.

The board is understood to have already reached an agreement with the BCCI to stage the postponed Old Trafford Test next summer, following India's early withdrawal from their tour over Covid fears.

England men's fixture list for 2022 leaves little room for manoeuvre, with three Tests against New Zealand in June, followed by ODI and T20I series against India and a full South Africa tour, which concludes in mid-September.

Netherlands are bottom of the World Cup Super

League, having seen much of their programme wrecked by the pandemic. They have only managed to play one series out of six since the qualifying process began, beating Ireland 2-1 in June to collect 20 Super League

points. England are top with 95 points from 15 matches.

The top eight teams will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup. Originally published on ESPNcricinfo

Friday, 1 October, 2021

PRAyeR timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:35

11:53

4:08

5:56

5:49

7:10

FItCh exPeCts dollar to reaCh rs180 In 2022

F

ReuteRs

ITCH Ratings revised down its forecasts for the Pakistani rupee on Thursday for both this year and next due to a variety of factors including an increased flow of US dollars into Afghanistan, projecting an average rate of Rs180 versus a previous forecast of Rs165 in 2022.

The forecast of the New York-based agency — one of the three major global ratings agencies — for the rupee’s average rate this year is now Rs164 to the US dollar compared with Rs158 previously.

A day ago stocks fell nearly 3 per cent while the rupee dropped to a record low at Rs170.27, as investors feared a US Senate bill that is seeking to impose sanctions on the Afghan Taliban could be extended to Pakistan. The rupee, which has been termed the worst-performing currency in Asia, seems to have opened the field for the bullish US dollar to move forward unchecked and erode the remaining value of the local currency.

The currency has been losing purchasing power fast in the domestic market as well, causing inflation that has badly hit the general public.

On August 26, 2020, the dollar hit

Rs168.43. Then it started declining and reached Rs151.83 on May 14, 2021. However, the greenback started rising and has appreciated by 6.6 per cent and 9.9pc since June and May 14, 2021, respectively.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had indicated earlier that the dollar could appreciate during the current financial year due to an expected higher current account deficit.

Now in its projections for 2022, Fitch expects an average rate of 180 versus a previous forecast of 165.

“Our expectation for the currency to weaken further is based on Pakistan’s worsening terms of trade, tighter US monetary policy, alongside the flow of US dollars out of Pakistan and into Afghanistan,” it said.

Analysts say the rupee has been hit by consistently high demand for dollars due to the country’s current account deficit while the Afghan situation is increasing pressure.

Over the long term, tightening US monetary policy alongside higher structural inflation relative to the United States would weaken the rupee against the dollar, Fitch said.

It said, however, that the undervaluation of the rupee on a real effective exchange rate basis would limit excessive weakness in the currency.

RUPee HITS all-TIMe lOw agaInST dOllaR fOR 4TH day; fallS TO 170.66 KARACHI tltP

Pakistani rupee continued setting new lows against the US dollar in the inter-bank for the fourth straight day and depreciated to new all-time low of 170.66 against the greenback on Thursday. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the local unit depreciated by 18 paisas (-0.11 percent) against the greenback, as the US dollar opened at Rs170.48 and closed at Rs170.66. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at Rs171/172 per dollar.

The Pakistani rupee shed Rs1.58 during the last four days against the US dollar, while depreciation during the fiscal year 2021-22 has been Rs13.24. The local unit has shed Rs10.39 against the US dollar in the current year 2021. The local currency has maintained a downtrend after it touched 22-month high of Rs152.27 in May 2021, losing a cumulative Rs18.35 in the past over four months to date.

Earlier, the rupee made a historic low of Rs169.60 on Monday last against the US dollar. Later, this depreciation deteriorated to Rs169.97 on Tuesday last. Again, the all-time low level was set at Rs170.48 on Wednesday last.

According to currency dealers, higher external payments put pressure on the dollar’s demand. They said the hike in the international oil and food prices remained one of the major reasons for the rupee depreciation.

They said that widening of trade deficit and the current account deficit also deteriorated the market sentiments. They said that import payment hit a historic high of around $6.4 billion in August while the previous peak was recorded in June at $6.3 billion. On the flipside, export earnings have remained sluggish at around $2.2 billion a month during the same months.

The dealers said due to the quarter ending, the dollar’s demand from the corporate sector was also high. The foreign corporate entities operating in Pakistan send their profit and dividends to their parent companies abroad by the quarter-end. The currency dealers said high current account and trade deficits would keep the pressure on rupee in the coming days.

The latest measures taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to support the balance of payments position also failed to prevent the fall in the rupee value. The central bank on September 23, 2021 revised the regulations related to consumer financing and prohibited financing for imported vehicles.

CJP questions police’s capabilities during hearing about targeted killing of Hazara people News DesK Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed took the Balochistan inspector general of police to task on Thursday and berated him for the lack of progress in the recovery of missing persons during the hearing of a suo motu case about targeted killings of the Hazara people and a petition seeking recovery of missing persons.

The CJP, during a three-member hearing, questioned IGP Mohammad Tahir Rai about the “business of injustice” that was being operated which had “brought the country to the brink of disaster”.

“A person has been missing for seven years and police have not done anything?” the chief justice questioned after the wife of one of the missing persons, Ali Raza, informed the top court that her husband had been missing since 2013 while the suspect themselves had been released by the police.

The IGP attempted to inform the court that the case had been with Levies for three years, but in turn, he was asked what steps he took after receiving the case.

“Police have no interest in investigating. Do you know what investigation [even] means?” he thundered.

When the Balochistan IGP informed the court that the missing person would be recovered soon, CJP Ahmed expressed his reservations. “Why were you given the uniform? You do not care about anybody,” he remarked.

CoronavIrus In

PaKIstan

COnfIRMed CaSeS:

1,245,127

day'S deaTH TOll:

new CaSeS:

39

1,742 deaTHS:

1,169,566 27,729 SIndH:

PUnJab:

457,458

431,092

KPK:

balOCHISTan:

173,796

32,916

aJK/gb:

ISlaMabad:

34,127 / 10,321

105,417

“They say that if they share the names with the police, they will not be able to come back alive a second time. They do not trust state machinery,” he further said.

One of the recovered people also told the court that the kidnappers had released them after driving them around in a car for three hours, following which they hitch-hiked their way home.

“What kind of enforced disappearance is [of] three hours?” the chief justice questioned. The person replied that they had been missing for three years and the kidnappers had “unnecessarily” driven them around in a car for three hours before releasing them.

On hearing this, CJP Ahmed asked the IGP, “What is happening in your province? You were unable to get people who were missing for three years to identify their kidnappers.”

Adjourning the case for a month, the Supreme Court directed officials to recover and present Ali Raza at the next hearing and to ensure protection of Hazara community in Balochistan.

It ordered officials to arrest and present those who were involved in Raza’s kidnapping, warning that irresponsibility by any security agency in recovering the missing person would not be tolerated.

In addition, the court directed officials to arrest those involved in the kidnapping of four members of the Hazara community who were recovered.

Taliban disperse women protesters with gunfire in Kabul AFP

laST UPdaTed aT 06:14 aM On SePTeMbeR 30, 2021

ReCOveRed:

Advocate general of Balochistan informed the court that the investigation would be completed if Ali Raza’s family cooperated. Upon this, the chief justice observed that the families would only cooperate if they trusted government officials.

“Evidence of a crime disappears within 24 hours. The police keep waiting for [bribes] to start investigating. You (police) do not respect the sanctity of your uniform. The police do not do what they are assigned to do [but] start doing something else.

“A business of injustice is being operated. The country has been brought to the brink of disaster. Whichever suspect is brought to the [court] is acquitted because the investigation is incorrect,” he further remarked.

During today’s hearing, the province’s advocate general informed the court that a first information report had been registered on the SC’s orders and four missing persons had been recovered.

The four people were present in the court, he added.

Chief Justice Ahmed questioned the people about who had kidnapped them. One of them replied that they could not identify the kidnappers as their faces had been hidden.

“The recovered people came back home by themselves, police did not take any action. The recovered people are not revealing the names of the kidnappers out of fear,” the CJP observed.

The Taliban on Thursday violently cracked down on a small women’s rights demonstration, firing shots into the air and pushing back protesters, AFP journalists witnessed.

A group of six women gathered outside a high school in eastern Kabul, demanding the right for girls to return to secondary school after the group excluded them from classes earlier this month.

The women unfurled a banner that read “Don’t break our pens, don’t burn our books, don’t close our schools”, before Taliban guards snatched it from them.

They pushed back the women protesters as they tried to continue with the demonstration, while a foreign journalist was hit with a rifle and blocked from filming.

A Taliban fighter also released a brief burst of gunfire into the air with his automatic weapon, AFP jour-

nalists saw.

The demonstrators — from a group called the “Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women Activists” — took refuge inside the school.

Taliban guard Mawlawi Nasratullah, who led the group and identified himself as the head of special forces in Kabul, said the demonstrators “did not coordinate with security authorities regarding their protest”.

“They have the right to protest in our country like every other country. But they must inform the security institutes before,” he said.

Isolated rallies with women at the forefront were staged in cities around the country after the Taliban seized power, including in the western city of Herat where two people were shot dead.

But protests have dwindled since the government issued an order that unsanctioned demonstrations and warned of “severe legal action” for violators.

Over two-thirds of US Muslims experience Islamophobia: survey ANKARA AnAdolu Agency

Some 67.5% of the Muslims living in the US have experienced Islamophobia at least once in their life, according to a study by the University of California, Berkeley.

Women reported more Islamophobic experience than men as the rates stood at 76.7% for Muslim women com-

pared to 58.6% Muslim men, the Othering & Belonging Institute said in a press release on Wednesday.

According to the survey, two out of three Muslims were exposed to Islamophobic acts, while 33% of respondents said they had hidden their religious identities at some moments to in fear of Islamophobic acts and 88.2% stated that they avoided certain speeches and actions for fear of facing backlash.

Israel foreign minister in Bahrain to sign deals, open embassy MANAMA ReuteRs

Israel Foreign Minister Yair Lapid flew to Bahrain on Thursday on the highest-level Israeli visit to the Gulf state since the countries established formal relations last year. Lapid, who landed at Bahrain’s international airport in an Israir plane with an olive branch painted on its nose, will inaugurate Israel’s embassy in Manama and hold talks with his Bahraini counterpart.

Bahrain and Gulf neighbour the United Arab Emirates normalised relations with Israel last year in a US-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords that built on shared business interests and worries about Iran. Sudan and Morocco followed suit. “We see Bahrain as an important partner, on the bilateral level but also as a bridge to cooperate with other countries in the region,” the spokesperson said. The accords had been denounced by the Palestinians as abandoning a unified position under which Arab states would make peace only if Israel gave up occupied land.

In Gaza, the Hamas group criticised Bahrain for hosting Lapid, who returns to Israel on Thursday evening. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said this represented “an encouragement” of what he described as Israeli “crimes against our Palestinian people and their sacred sites”. The accords have also been criticised by Bahraini opposition figures, speaking largely from abroad, as well as locals who stand against normalisation.

Kenya launches crackdown on illegal Pakistan immigrants NAIROBI AnAdolu Agency

Kenya suspended a visa-free transit agreement with Islamabad on Wednesday after social media sites showed videos of crowds of Pakistan nationals crowding residential areas across the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The Interior Ministry ordered a crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying there has been an influx of Asian foreigners who at first were thought to be Afghan refugees. Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho ordered police working with the immigration services to crack down on illegal foreigners. “The majority of these travellers have originated from Pakistan and have valid transit visas to Saudi Arabia that are issued on arrival,” Kibicho said in a statement. “Going forward, the government will restrict the number of foreigners transiting through the country to levels that do not pose a risk to Kenya’s national interest.” Kenya’s Citizen Digital reported that in a letter to the High Commission of Pakistan, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said: “The Government of Kenya regrets that some of these passengers are taking advantage of Kenya’s status with these countries with regard to the Covid-19 quarantine regulations. This threatens to undermine Kenya’s agreements with these countries which are put in place to ensure [the] continuation of business and travel operations between our countries.”

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk