EpaperISB_22-1-15

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 I 11 Jamadi-al-Sani, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 198 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

PM launches Public version of national security Policy

P

rime minister imran Khan on Friday unveiled a public version of Pakistan’s first-ever citizen-centric National Security Policy (NSP), saying that an inclusive development is inevitable for national security.

The policy was approved by the federal cabinet on December 28 after getting nod of the National Security Committee.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the public version of the otherwise secret document, the prime minister said: “inclusive growth means not only to uplift the poor people but also the neglected areas… (in such case) every common man becomes a stakeholder to protect the state… The biggest security is when people stand behind state for its protection.”

National Assembly speaker, federal ministers, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman, all services chiefs, diplomats, and senior civil and military officers attended the launching ceremony.

After signing the historic document, the premier appreciated the National Security Division for formulating a policy based on the consensus of the whole state and defin-

ing the national security in a “right manner”.

The NSP, which is first of its kind in Pakistan’s history, articulates a citizen-centric framework, placing economic security at its core and seeking a secure and economically resilient Pakistan.

The formulation process of the policy included multiple consultations with official stakeholders, including federal ministers, 120 experts, 300 students, and 600 people from all walks of life.

The prime minister said the NSP would also help correct the dimension and facilitate the whole government machinery to move in one direction for achieving national security and stability.

Our armed forces are our pride. Given the threats the country faces in the region and the growing threat of hybrid warfare, the armed forces would continue to receive even greater support and importance, he added.

The prime minister explained the significance of his government’s successful initiative of producing the NSP, calling it a major priority of his government.

He also highlighted the importance of

coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,315,834

LAST UPDATED AT 8:47 AM ON JANUARY 14, 2022

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

7

3,567

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,260,407 28,999 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

494,064

450,686

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

181,996

33,682

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

34,726/10,437

110,243

the policy’s successful implementation and announced that the National Security Committee would regularly review progress, adding that the NSP centers on the government’s vision, which believes that the security of Pakistan rests in the security of its citizens.

Any national security approach must prioritise national cohesion and the prosperity of people, while guaranteeing fundamental rights and social justice without discrimination, he added.

He said in order to achieve the vast potential of the citizens, it is necessary to promote delivery-based good governance, adding that the foremost aim of the foreign policy and military capability would remain peace and stability in the region and beyond.

Our foreign policy would also focus much more on economic diplomacy going forward, he remarked.

The prime minister said the national security is also compromised when the country has to approach imF to support its economy by accepting their conditions. in such a case, the common man has to face the burden, he added.

He also highlighted the government’s initiatives like interest-free loans for business, ration subsidy scheme, and housing construction loans to the low-income group.

He said for the first time, the government introduced a single national curriculum as in the past, the country had three parallel education systems.

Calling the rule of law a big challenge for the country, he said due to lack of the rule of law, the country could not tap its immense tourism potential in areas which are far bigger and more beautiful than Switzerland. in his remarks, National Security Adviser Dr moeed Yusuf briefly explained the NSP’s vision and thanked the prime minister and all officials for their constant support.

Calling it an umbrella document linking all issues of national security, moeed said Pakistan is among a few countries who codified and publicised their security policies. News Desk

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Punjab govt forms medical board to examine Nawaz’s medical reports The Punjab government on Friday formed a special medical board to examine the medical reports of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had travelled to London in 2019 for medical treatment.

Taking to Twitter, Punjab government spokesperson Hasaan Khawar said: “The Punjab government has constituted a nine-member special medical board, comprising senior professors, to examine the medical reports of Nawaz Sharif and give its opinion regarding his fitness for travel back to the country.” “The board will submit its report within five days,” he said, sharing a notification in this regard. earlier, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan had written a letter to the provincial government, asking it to form a medical board to examine the former premier’s medical reports.

The federal cabinet had instructed the AGP to initiate proceedings for “apparent violation of the undertakings” given before the Lahore High

Pakistan will extend all-out support to Afghan people to avert humanitarian crisis: PM Prime minister imran Khan on Friday said that Pakistan is committed to provide all-out support to the Afghan people to avert humanitarian crisis.

While chairing the third meeting of the Apex Committee on Afghanistan, the prime minister said: “We welcome United Nation’s (UN) appeal for aid to Afghanistan.”

The UN has been urging the global community to provide aid to Afghanistan and also called to unfreeze Afghan assets, citing a looming humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of an economic collapse since the Taliban takeover in August last year.

During the meeting, the committee expressed concerns over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and vowed that Pakistan will not abandon Afghans in their time of need. it renewed its appeal to the international community and relief agencies to provide aid at this critical juncture to avert economic collapse and to save precious lives in Afghanistan. imran Khan directed the authorities concerned to explore bilateral cooperation with friendly countries as well to stave off humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan by exporting qualified and trained manpower especially in medical, iT, Finance and accounting.

He also directed to extend cooperation in the fields of railways, minerals, pharmaceuticals and media to help in Afghanistan’s rehabilitation and development. earlier, the committee was updated on the progress made on humanitarian assistance worth

rs5 billion, which comprises of food commodities including 50,000 mT of wheat, emergency medical supplies, winter shelters and other supplies.

The committee was informed that Afghanistan is at the verge of hunger and crisis situation during this harsh winter. The crisis makes it difficult for the people to get enough food and shelter.

The committee resolved to stand together with Afghan people and urged relief agencies to take immediate action.

The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Foreign minister Shah mehmood Qureshi, information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, interior minister Sheikh rasheed Ahmed, Adviser to Pm on Commerce Abdul razzak Dawood, National Security Advisor Dr moeed Yousaf, and other senior civil and military officers.

ThE lOOMINg CRISIS IN AfghANISTAN: Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, the country has plunged into financial chaos, with inflation and unemployment surging.

Billions of dollars of the country's assets have been frozen by the US, while aid supplies have been heavily disrupted.

Global aid agencies have warned that more than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people are expected to face hunger this winter.

Keeping the situation in view, the Taliban had appealed last week for emergency humanitarian aid without “political bias”, saying recent snow and flooding had worsened the plight of the Afghan people. News Desk

Court (LHC) to enable the PmLN supremo to travel abroad. “in pursuance of the decision of the federal cabinet, taken in its meeting held on January 11, 2022, as communicated by the office of the Attorney General of Pakistan and conveyed vide Home Department’s letter dated January 12, 2022, the competent authority is pleased to constitute a Special medical Board (SmB) comprising the following ‘to examine the documents submitted as medical reports’ and render ‘expert medical opinion regarding the physical condition of mian mohammad Nawaz Sharif and his ability to travel back to Pakistan’,” the notification read.

Dr muhammad Arif Nadeem has been appointed as the convener of the board that comprises of Professor Ghias un Nabi Tayyab, Professor Dr Saqib Saeed, Professor Shahid Hameed, Professor Bilal.S. mohydin, Professor Ambareen Hamid, Professor Shafiq ur rehman, Professor moona Aziz, and Professor Khadija irfan Khawaja. News Desk

more inside

Citizens over 18 now eligible for free anti-Covid booster shot: NCOC STORY ON BACK PAGE

Sheikh rasheed says ‘Shehbaz Sharif is more corrupt than Nawaz’ STORY ON PAGE 02

Earthquake jolts Pakistan’s northern areas STORY ON BACK PAGE

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Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

SHeHBAz, HAMzA Get PRoteCtIve BAIL In Money LAunDeRInG CASe

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News Desk

ATIONAL Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz has been granted one-week protective bails in Lahore, in a case pertaining to money laundering worth Rs25 billion which is being probed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

However, the court returned a challan submitted by the FIA in the said case, saying the matter does not fall in the jurisdiction of this case.

Prices of petroleum products likely to increase by up to Rs6 per litre

The decision was made in connection to the request of the FIA wherein it had asked the court to transfer this case to a relevant court.

The FIA made this request after it emerged that the bankers were not part of the money laundering case. The judge after granting pre-arrest bails, asked Shehbaz and his son to approach the relevant court for fresh bail pleas as the case was being transferred at the request of the FIA. Amjad Pervez stated in the bail application that the FIA’s version has nothing to do with reality.

The accused have been booked in the case as the government wanted to “humiliate” them. The allegations levelled on them by the concerned quarters are quite false and incorrect, the lawyer added.

He further requested the court to grant bail to the duo as he criticised the FIA for lack of progress in the investigation. He said initially the FIA had sought time to complete the investigation and then it turned the accused into witnesses.

According to the bail plea, the FIA issued the accused a notice on June 22 to join the investigation

even though the NAB had already carried out an investigation over the same allegations.

The accused wanted to appear before the investigation team but they feared being arrested as in the past when they had been summoned in a different case but arrested over another matter, the plea said, asking the court to approve the bail plea.

Sheikh Rasheed says ‘Shehbaz Sharif is more corrupt than Nawaz’

AhmAD AhmADANi

News Desk

Prices of petroleum products are likely to witness an increase of up to Rs6 per litre for the second half of January. Sources in the petroleum division said that the division has received suggestions from OGRA regarding oil prices for the remaining fifteen days of the ongoing month. The finance division in consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan will announce the final prices of petroleum products tomorrow. According to sources, OGRA has suggested an increase of Rs5.50 per litre in the price of petrol, Rs5 per litre increase in the price of high-speed diesel (HSD), Rs4 per litre in the case of light diesel oil (LDO), and Rs6 litre for kerosene oil for the remaining fifteen days of January. Following the approval from the prime minister, the finance division will announce new oil prices on Saturday, said sources.

Under the new mechanism, the government sets the oil prices every fortnight and passes on the impact of international prices to consumers. The government had earlier increased the price of petrol and HSD by Rs4 per litre for the first 15 days of January. The new price of petrol subsequently was Rs144.82 per litre, whereas the price of high-speed diesel reached Rs141.62 per litre.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has stated on Friday that leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif is “more corrupt than his brother Nawaz Sharif.”

Rasheed while addressing a presser in Islamaba took a jibe at the Opposition for alshing out at the government’s decision to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “It is halal if the Opposition reaches out to the IMF but haram if Imran Khan does this,” Rasheed

LHC directs FIA not to take coercive measures against ex-DG Bashir Memon

said. Rasheed further stated that it was “alright for the former governments to seek foreign assistance but an issue is being created when Prime Minister Imran Khan made a similar move.”

“These people [former rulers] have reached out to the IMF 23 times in the past,” he added.

Rasheed while speaking about the IMF’s conditions, which were necessary to ensure the clearance of Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFE) by the Fund’s Executive Board, scheduled to meet later this month to decide the disbursement of the $1-billion tranche, stated that the conditions were tough but the government had to accept them for the betterment of Pakistan’s economic situation.

The minister further stated that the Opposition is going to organise two separate long marches and the government will give them the passage for it.

However, he warned the Opposition of keeping the honour of Pakistan Day of March 23 in view during the long marches when the guests of the Organisation of Islamic Countries session will be visiting Pakistan or else India would again create an issue out of it.

It is pertinent to note that the National Assembly on Thursday passed the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 and supplementary finance bill — termed by the Opposition as a “mini-budget” — with a majority vote giving effect to new tax measures in an ambitious bid to achieve a tax target of Rs5.8 trillion as per the requirement of the IMF.

News Desk The Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday no to take any coercive measures against ex-DG Bashir Memon.

According to details, Memon had filed a petition in the high court maintaining that he had been implicated in false cases that had nothing to do with him. He further sought direction to the FIA for providing a record of all pending inquiries, FIRs against him. He went on to accuse the FIA of levelling false allegations of helping out an accused against whom the Interpol had issued a red-warrant. Memon’s counsel, Rana Abdul Maruf Khan, urged that his client was being dragged in such cases or other matters by the FIA. He said the FIA later began knocking on the doors of the district court from where the former DG had obtained pre-arrest bails in three cases pertaining to charges of money laundering. The counsel went on to state that his client was shocked when, during an online interrogation, an FIA official revealed that some inquiries of a serious nature, involving the direct criminal role of the petitioner, were ongoing against him at the FIA headquarters in Islamabad. At this, the counsel said that his client wrote to the FIA and sought the details of the inquiries and investigation against him however, nothing was provided to him. It has been further revealed by Memon’s counsel that the petitioner has faced severe backlash in important circles, where he faced arbitrary and disgraceful attitude of the government, and the same was evident from the fact that the petitioner was posted from FIA a few weeks before his retirement, and pursuant to that the petitioner resigned from his office on November 29, 2019. “[The] Petitioner and his family have faced immense hurdles even to sustain themselves through lawful business due to the vendettas and grudges of government circle, so much so that one government advisor was even quoted as saying that they are after petitioner’s assets and also his son Behzad Ahmed Memon who is running ghee mills in FATA area,” the counsel further said. “It may be submitted such scandalous and bizarre statements not only affected the business of the petitioner’s family but also dealt an irreparable blow in the already poverty-stricken and impoverished area of FATA area which was granted exemptions from certain fiscal policies of the federal government,” the counsel added. The petitioner’s counsel further requested that until a final decision is taken, court should restrain FIA from taking any coercive measures, such as harassing and arresting Memon.

Fawad illustrates opposition’s ‘humiliating NA defeat’ with Saraiki couplet News Desk Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Friday shared a couplet from Saraiki poetry and a picture of opposition leaders and members on Twitter to illustrate their “humiliating defeat” in the National Assembly the other day.

“You are yourself wise Shakir… don’t ask for situation, just read our faces,” the couplet roughly means. The couplet was taken from the poetry of a prominent Saraiki-language poet Shakir Shuja Abadi.

In the photo shared by the minister, opposition leaders and members can be seen sitting with gloom after the government succeeded in getting the bills of important nature passed from the lower house yesterday.

“Yet another defeat for opposition,” Fawad said in the tweet, expressing the hope that the opposition leaders would not be in the Parliament after the 2023 general elections, while adding that the next elections would be the last polls for “Zardari group” and “Noon League” It is pertinent to note that a day earlier, the government and its allies bulldozed Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 and SBP Amendment Bill 2021 through the National Assembly to ensure its sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board, paving the way for the disbursement of about $1 billion tranche.

Last month, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin introduced two bills in parliament to give effect to the Rs375 billion mini-budget and grant autonomy to the central bank.

Responding to the opposition’s queries, the finance minister said the finance bill was not aimed at imposing new taxes but documentation of the economy to broaden the tax net.

Tarin further stated that the government has decided not to withdraw tax exemptions on basic essential items such as milk, bread, laptop and solar panels.

It is to note that the government suspended the rules of the National Assembly that require a minimum of two-day debate on any piece of legislation and approved the SBP Amendment Bill in haste, in just 48 minutes.

The government succumbed to pressure exerted by local car assemblers and increased the sales tax rate to 12.5% on the import of electric vehicles — even higher than the initial 5% rate it had proposed while introducing the “mini-budget”.

It also waived off 15% income tax in favour of a couple of wealthy families of the country.

However, the government allowed a debate on the mini-budget and approved minor amendments to the Sales Tax Act, the Income Tax, the Customs Act and the

Federal Excise Duty.

PM Imran Khan, who before coming into power had vowed that he would not go to the IMF, remained present in the lower house of parliament till midnight to make sure that his disgruntled party members and allies vote to pass both the bills to meet the IMF conditions.

The bill, which will now be taken up by the Senate for approval, has allowed the central bank to target price stability as it primary objective but does not set the explicit inflation target.

It is pertinent to note that the new bill has given the autonomy to the SBP, but neither parliament nor the federal government has the authority to remove the governor for missing the inflation target.

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

03

IHC ASkS AGP, PBC FoR nAMeS oF Int'L FIRMS FoR FoRenSIC AuDIt oF ALLeGeD nISAR AuDIo

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News Desk

HE Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday gave directive to the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), and the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan to submit names of certified international forensic agencies to conduct a forensic analysis of an alleged audiotape of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar.

While hearing arguments on the maintainability of a petition seeking the formation of an independent commission to ascertain the authenticity of Nisar’s alleged audiotape and probe certain events before and after former PM Nawaz Sharif’s conviction, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the directive to analyze the audio tape.

The petition has been jointly filed by Syed Haider Imam Rizvi, a member of the Judicial Commission (Sindh) and Salahuddin Ahmed, president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA).

It is pertinent to note that in the leaked

audio clip, an unidentified individual, allegedly Saqib Nisar, can be heard speaking of collusion to punish former PM Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in order to bring their political rival Imran Khan into power. However, Nisar had termed the audio as “fabricated”, soon after it surfaced.

In this regard, Justice Minallah questioned that “no accountability court is under the administrative control of this high court. On what matter related to this high court are you asking for an inquiry?”

He further asked that it wasn’t even known if there was an original audiotape and whether it was authentic.

“It seems that those whose appeals are underway do not want to take these matters to the court. [If] this court orders an inquiry, then it will have an effect on all pending cases,” the judge remarked.

He went on to observe that all the matters were related to a pending appeal, referring to Maryam Nawaz’s appeal against her conviction in the Avenfield reference. Justice Minallah questioned what the effect would be

on that pending appeal if the court decided to order an inquiry. Justice Minallah further stated that the allegation was being levelled that someone else “decided the constitution of the high court’s benches” and questioned whether there was even the slightest evidence available for the claim.

“Cases cannot be decided on political grounds. You are the leader of the bar [so] bring even the slightest evidence,” the judge said to Ahmed, noting that the inquiry would have to be against the judges in the relevant bench. As a response, the SHCBA president stated that in the leaked audiotape, it was not known who Nisar was allegedly talking to and whether the other person was even a judge or not.

To which, Justice Minallah replied that a prima facie case would have to be made out and asked again for any evidence to be brought. “If there is no evidence then this is an attempt to erode public confidence in the court. [If you] bring the evidence then this court has no hesitation in making a commission,” the chief justice stated.

He again asked the petitioners to bring

forth any evidence that somebody else decided the formation of IHC benches, questioning whether any judge’s decision or conduct had given that impression.

The IHC chief justice called on the SHCBA president to suggest the name of any verified forensic agency to investigate the audio clip but the latter declined to do so, explaining that the AGP had called him a “proxy” in a previous court hearing.

He went on to question who would bear the cost of any forensic analysis. Ahmed suggested the law ministry could do so, prompting the chief justice to ask: “Why should money of taxpayers be spent on it?”

Justice Minallah then gave directive to the AGP and PBC to submit names of verified international forensic firms, while directing that a copy of the audiotape must be provided to the petitioners.

The hearing has been adjourned till January 28. Earlier in the day, the IHC reserved its verdict on the admissibility of a request by former Gilgit-Baltistan chief justice Rana Shamim for the formation of an inquiry

commission to investigate interference in judicial matters.

Shamim’s lawyer Ahmad Hassan Rana argued that allegations regarding former CJP Nisar were made in ex judge’s affidavit.

Justice Minallah asked the counsel which bench he suspected of being formed by someone else, adding that those named in the affidavit were not a part of the bench that was hearing the case of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter.

“If any misconduct has happened then those benches must have done it. Do you want an inquiry against those benches and judges?” the IHC chief justice questioned before reserving his verdict on the request. The former IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had also delivered a speech before the Rawalpindi bar, he added — referring to the latter’s speech in 2018 in which he had made remarks about the involvement of certain officers of the executive organ of the state, specifically the Inter-Services Intelligence, in the affairs of the judiciary to allegedly manipulate the formation of benches of the high court.

PML-n terms January 13 as ‘darkest day’ in Pakistan’s history News Desk

LAHORE: A view of a road amid heavy fog in the provincial capital. InP

Colourless skies as ban on Basant continues LAhORe AnAdolu Agency

Traders in Lahore have urged authorities to revive Basant, the annual kite flying festival celebrated with the advent of spring. Before the 2007 ban on kite-flying in the province of Punjab, the walled city of Lahore was known for the festival, due in early February.

People from all walks of life made special arrangements on rooftops and donned yellow – the ultimate symbol of spring. The celebrations included kites flying from dawn to dusk while enjoying loud music and food.

The festival gained more traction over the years, attracting people from all over the world.

But in the pursuit of victory, some kite flyers started using powdered glass or metal on their kite strings, giving themselves a competitive edge.

Once cut, these strings would fall on motorcyclists, residents, or others in the vicinity, slashing their throats.

The deaths caused hue and cry, and the administration banned kite flying altogether. Vendors were also prohibited from selling and manufacturing kites and related paraphernalia. However, sources say, the ban is strictly implemented in Lahore only.

Traders have urged the government to abolish the ban and penalise those who use and manufacture the lethal string.

“We earned a considerable amount of money during a boom in this industry until 2005,” said Muhammad Afzal, a second-generation kite maker who now sells party decorations. “After the ban, we had to look for alternative means of income,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Traders’ representative Agha Abbas Kazmi said that while he has sympathy for the victims, banning the festival entirely, which also contributed to the tourism

economy, was not the right decision.

“We are ready to strict action and punishment if someone violates the rules,” Kazmi said, urging for fresh plans to regularize the business and revive the festival.

Khwaja Nadeem Saeed, the president of the Pakistan Kite Flying Association, said before the ban 600,000 families were engaged in the business, with women accounting for 60% of those involved. Naveed Shehansha, a veteran kite-maker in Mochi Gate of the walled city, once the epicenter of buying and selling kites and related materials, also lamented the government’s decision.

“There were incidents in India as well, but Pakistan took a very drastic action,” he said.

“Now foreigners, who came to Lahore, are visiting India to celebrate the festival.”

Both the government and the people are at a loss, he said, adding that they began exporting kites, but it is not as lucrative as in the past.

The provincial government said it may organise a day-long event outside the city, but reviving the festival is not on the cards – for now.

“Human lives are more important to us,” spokesperson Hassan Khawar told Anadolu

Agency. “But another option is under consideration: Basant festival at Hiran Minar (a landmark near Lahore)… things, however, have not been finalised yet.”

PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday stated that January 13 was the “darkest day in the history of Pakistan,” as the government approved the ‘mini budget’ on this day. A day earlier, the National Assembly passed the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the supplementary finance bills with a majority vote. In this regard, Abbasi while addressing a presser in Islamabad along with other party leaders, stated that “January 13 was the darkest day for the Parliament as the bills were approved without any discussion.” Abbasi further said that the incumbent government is handing over the country’s economic keys to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and nothing is more dangerous than this, adding that, “the burden of more than Rs700 billion have been placed on the nation’s shoulder.” The former PM further said that bills being passed in the Senate without discussion is unprecedented, adding that, “Bills from NA session were approved in a haste and even the government was unable to elaborate the situation.” He further lashed out at federal ministers, saying: “the ministers admitted that they were compelled to pass the bill under pressure from the IMF.” “Why are you defending the supplementary bills when you are forced to pass them?” he asked. “We are not ready to hand over the country’s economy to the IMF for the sake of a $6-billion loan,” he added. Abbasi went on to say that “no rules and constitutional guidelines were followed during the voting for the bills and it all happened in the prime minister’s presence,” he added. The PML-N leader said that such things happen when a “disgraced government comes to power and the prime minister resorts to telling lies.” About PM Imran Khan’s brawl with the Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak’s brawl, Abbasi said that it only happened over a “shortage of gas”, while adding that “why has the government not bought Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) when the country is going through a gas crisis?” PMLN Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal also termed January 13 as the “darkest day of history”, stating that he begged before the NA speaker that the bill regarding the SBP is against Pakistan but it was approved “in violation of all the rules and regulations”. Iqbal further said that the passage of the bill was a way of “destroying the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). While criticising the passage of the bill, Iqbal said: “Six months ago, the finance minister had painted a rosy picture about the country’s historic tax collection targets, but the government ended up economically suppressing the masses. “This is injustice with the people of Pakistan,” he said. Former finance minister and PML-N leader Miftah Ismail also addressed the presser while stating that the IMF is asking to reduce the budget deficit but instead of taking austerity measures, the government decided to impose further taxes. He further criticised the mini-budget by saying that tax on medicines has also been imposed, while tax on bread was withdrawn but shopkeepers have to pay the taxes.

Ismail went on to state that in the supplementary bills, the incumbent government has imposed a tax on chicken feed as this step will ultimately increase chicken prices in the country too. “Tax on machinery and a 140% tax burden has also been imposed on pharmaceuticals,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that the NA on Thursday passed the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 and supplementary finance bill — termed by the Opposition as a “mini-budget” — with a majority vote, giving effect to new tax measures in an ambitious bid to achieve a tax target of Rs5.8 trillion as per the requirement of IMF. The approval of the supplementary finance bill was necessary to ensure Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFE) receive clearance from the IMF’s Executive Board which is scheduled to meet later this month to decide the disbursement of the $1-billion tranche.

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

04

NEWS

Weekly INflAtION dIPs AmId fAll IN PrICes Of fOOd Items Islamabad

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TLTp

HE Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation decreased 0.43 percent while it went 19.82 percent up on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday, the SPI-based weekly inflation for the week ended on January 13, 2022 for the lowest income group witnessed a 0.30 percent decrease, while it went 20.89 percent up on a year-on-year (YoY) basis for the same income group.

On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments

showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 17.72 percent and 20.89 percent. Yearly inflation for the group having monthly income from Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 (Q4) increased by 17.72 percent while the highest income group having monthly income above Rs44,175 recorded an increase of 20.10 percent.

According to the PBS, the combined index was at 167.39 on January 13, 2022 as compared to 168.12 on January 06, 2021 while the index was recorded at 139.70 a year ago on January 14, 2021.

The SPI is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movements of essential commodities at a shorter interval of time so as to review the price situation in the country. The SPI comprises

AIOU’s first phase of admissions started Islamabad pr

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has opened first phase of admissions for Semester Spring, 2022. The University has offered admissions in Matric, FA, I.Com, BS, M.Sc, MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. programs of various academic disciplines. According to Director Admissions, admission forms and prospectuses for all the programs have been provided on the University website. It is pertinent to mention here that dmission forms and prospectuses for Matric and FA programs can also be obtained from the University's main campus, regional campuses / liaison offices and prospectus sale points established across the country.

However, this facility is available only for Matric and FA programs. Admission forms of the other programs including BS, M.Sc, MS/M.Phil and Ph.D can only be submitted online. Under the university's new policy and digitalization of its academic and evaluation processes, overseas Pakistani as well as international students from around the world can now enroll in Matric, FA and Icom programs. Admissions, workshops, teaching and examination of the international students will be conducted online.

Admission fee will be accepted only through Bank Challan, Jazz Case, EasyPay and UPESA mobile app * 786 # USSD String / Retailer Agent / Franchise and branches of Mobilink, Telenor, Ubank. Checks / bank drafts / pay orders will not be accepted.

Gerry’s Dnata has expanded its offering and obtained maintenance organisation approval from the PCAA to provide aircraft line maintenance services to airline customers. The company is now offering a one-stop shop of ground handling, cargo and technical services at the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports. pr

51 essential items and the prices are being collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.

During the week under review, out of 51 items, prices of 16 (31.37%) items increased, prices of 09 (17.65%) items decreased, and prices of 26 (50.98%) items remained stable.

The SPI for the current week recorded a decrease in the prices of food items including chicken (3.40%), eggs (2.99%), potatoes (1.65%), tomatoes (1.26%), wheat flour (0.61%), garlic (0.47%), sugar (0.17%) and curd (0.16%), and non-food item including LPG (1.15%) with joint impact of (0.38%) into the overall SPI for combined group of (-0.43%).

On the other hand, an increase was observed in the prices of onions (14.65%), bananas (1.51%), firewood (1.30%) and match box (1.14%).

According to the PBS data, the year on year trend depicts an overall increase of 19.82 percent in electricity for Q1 (84.86%), cooking oil 5-litre (53.49%), gents sponge chappal (50.25%), LPG (50.18%), vegetable ghee 2.5-kg (49.68%), vegetable ghee 1-kg (49.34%), washing soap & mustard oil (45.85%) each, gents sandal (44.49%), pulse Masoor (39.14%), petrol (36.13%) and diesel (28.07%), while major decrease was observed in the prices of tomatoes (40.82%), pulse Moong (25.37%), chillies powdered (6.71%) and sugar (0.40%).

JazzCash enables digital payments for NADRA services

KarachI pr

JazzCash, Pakistan’s leading fintech, has collaborated with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to facilitate service fee payments through the JazzCash mobile application. The launch of this initiative took place at NADRA headquarters in the presence of Muhammad Tariq Malik, Chairman, NADRA, Aamir Ibrahim, CEO, Jazz and Murtaza Ali, Interim CEO, JazzCash.

Citizens can now digitally pay the fee for ID card processing or other identity documents through their JazzCash app in real-time. This partnership has been formulated to facilitate citizens with convenience and payment security, and is a major step towards a digital and documented economy, in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the State Bank.

Tariq Malik, Chairman, NADRA said, “Digital payment

platform provides easy payment options to a huge number of potential customers. NADRA centers across the country have around 100,000 customers every day. Digitalizing payment systems aims at bringing a huge customer base on digital net by offering them an easy and secure mode of payment while pivoting towards a Digital Pakistan. While we tread aggressively on the path to achieve goals of smart governance and improved service delivery, providing convenience to the common man and society at large has been the singular motive behind NADRA's digital intervention under my leadership.”

“By enabling digital payments for NADRA services, we are offering fellow citizens security and convenience. This strategic alliance is another crucial step in creating a cashless economy, laying the foundation for a digital Pakistan,” said Aamir Ibrahim, CEO, Jazz.

"JazzCash and NADRA have

a longstanding relationship and today's announcement is another step towards digitalising essential public services. As the largest digital mobile wallet, we consider it our national duty to assist the government in shifting to a cashless economy, making such strategic alliances crucial. This partnership will facilitate our fellow citizens by enabling digital payments against NADRA services, making transactions more secure and convenient," said Murtaza Ali, Interim CEO, JazzCash.

This is an extension of the longstanding partnership between the two organizations. Earlier, JazzCash partnered with NADRA for vaccination certificate fees, completing millions of transactions.

To get started, customers can dial *786#, download the JazzCash App or visit their nearest retail JazzCash agent.

Launched in 2014, JazzCash finished 2021 with 15 million+ monthly active users and 105,000 registered agents nationwide.

Pakistan Customs seizes narcotics Intensifying its ongoing crackdown against smuggling, Model Customs Collectorate, Gwadar and Pakistan Navy, in a joint open-sea operation, confiscated huge cache of foreign smuggled liquor. According to the details, Customs Gwadar and Pakistan Navy foiled the effort of liquor smuggling near Lasbela’s coast line at Vandar Daam and seized 4600 bottles of foreign liquor.

The liquor was being smuggled into Pakistan from a foreign country. During the operation, five smugglers have been arrested. As per initial estimates, the foreign liquor bottles are worth millions of rupees. Further investigation is already underway. It is pertinent to mention that Federal Board of Revenue is following a policy of zero tolerance against smuggling and thereby has increased vigilance and surveillance of cargo movement across the border. Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, has commended FBR for its successful antismuggling drive across the country. Likewise, Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division, Dr.Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed has appreciated Member Customs (Ops) FBR, Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, in ensuring zero tolerance against smuggling of all shades and grades.

He further reiterated his unflinching resolve to fight the menace of smuggling across Pakistan in order to maximize tax compliance. pr

NA passes amended bill on protection against workplace harassment of women The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2022, as amended by the Senate has been passed by the National Assembly.

The Bill was drafted by the Ministry of Human Rights to facilitate increased participation of women in the workforce and to remove the lacunas present in the protection against harassment law in Pakistan. The Bill increases the ambit and scope of the law to include certain professions and employment models that the current legislation does not expressly mention and provides protection from harassment to people engaged in all types of work – formal and informal.

The Amendment Bill will also provide clarity with respect to different kinds of harassment that take place at the workplace in order to provide further clarity to the issue. The Bill aims to amend the definitions provided in the Act; particularly those of “complainant”, “employee”, “employer”, “harassment” & “workplace” to remove ambiguities that litigants have faced & to increase the scope of workplace to include all forms & categories of work.

The Bill also aims to set timelines for appeals against orders of the Ombudsman under the Act. pr

Afridi, OPF MD pay surprise visit to Islamabad airport Islamabad pr

The Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD, Muhammad Ayub Afridi, along with Managing Director, Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) paid a surprise visit to the Islamabad International Airport (IIAP), Islamabad today to check facilitation and services being extended by airport management and various agencies working at the airport to the passengers including overseas Pakistanis in the international departure and arrival lounges.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD visited international departure lounge coinciding with the departure of two flights for Abu Dhabi and Muscat i.e., PK-261 and WY-348, respectively. In the international departure lounge before

proceeding to the check-in counters, passenger handling at physical search, baggage check and narcotic control counters were visited to witness the operating procedure and equipment being used for physical search, baggage clearance and narcotics check of passengers by respective focal agencies. At the international departure check-in counters, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD interacted with the passengers leaving for Abu Dhabi and Muscat, respectively. The passengers were very appreciative of the fact that the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD is gaining first-hand knowledge of the issues/problems being faced by the passengers while travelling abroad or coming to Pakistan and is keen to resolve the issues and strengthen the existing facilities for improvement in service delivery

by all concerned agencies/departments present at Islamabad International Airport (IIAP), Islamabad. The Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD assured the passengers that in line with the vision of the honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan, necessary facilities with strengthening of existing infrastructure will be made available to the passengers in coordination with all relevant stakeholders in the shortest possible time, at all the airports in Pakistan.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & HRD issued directions to all agencies/departments working at the airports to provide better services to the outgoing and incoming passengers along with improvement of services and infrastructure aimed at providing facilitation to the passengers including overseas Pakistanis travelling from airports in Pakistan.

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Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

PM lauNCheS PublIC verSION Of NaTIONal SeCurITy POlICy coNtINuEd from pagE 01

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HILE the NSP is centered around economic security, the geo-strategic and geo-political imperatives also feature prominently to strengthen Pakistan’s security and standing in the world, he remarked.

He highlighted that this is a document, which

Islamabad police arrest two land grabbers Police have arrested two land grabbers during an operation and held two accused involved in occupying illegally on lands of citizens and harassing them.

According to police spokesperson, Islamabad police have launched effective crackdown against land grabbers following directions of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younas.

Following these directions, Islamabad Noon police has arrested a notorious land grabber namely Imran alias Mani during search operation in Jhangi Syedan on Thursday and recovered 2200 gram hashish and weapon from his possession. The accused has previous criminal record and was involved in murder, attempted murder, land grabbing and other heinous crimes. He was also involved in drug supplying. A case has been registered against him in noon police station and further investigation is underway.

On the other hand, Koral police has arrested a notorious land grabber namely Raja Aftab involved in land grabbing. He was also wanted to police in a murder case registered in 2021.

IGP Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younas said that land grabbing activities would not be tolerated and indiscriminate action would remain continue against those illegally occupying land of others.

He directed to take prompt action on complaints of citizens and provide relief to them.

Islamabad police chief said that effective action should be ensured to protect lives and property of the citizens. He said that no sluggish attitude would be tolerated in this regard. PR

was finalised after full civil-military consensus, adding that the policy also seeks to bring about good governance, which is vital to protect common man.

He said the National Security Division would provide monthly report to the National Security Committee on the implementation of the policy.

Coas terms nsP ‘great steP’: According to a news outlet, during an informal conversation

with the media persons at the ceremony, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa appreciated the steps taken by the state to ensure the national security of the country and called the policy a “great step”.

He further said that military security is one aspect of the National Security Policy, adding that the document will help ensure the national security of the country. news desk

Govt to start high-rise building projects under NAPHDA Islamabad PR

The Federal government has decided to construct high rise building projects under Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA).

Spokesperson of Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Asim Shaukat informed that the government will construct high rise building projects under Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority. The Federal government has identified land in 22 districts with the help of revenue departments and work has already started in some of the districts, he added. Replying to one query, he said that the Capital Development Authority will give the approval of high rise buildings keeping in view its bylaws. He also said that the government has so far disbursed Rs38 billion in loans under NAPHDA projects to around twelve thousand people. Around 70,000 people were given applications for getting Rs130 billion loans in which banks have approved Rs70 billion loans, he disclosed. Recently, the Economic Coordination Committee has given the approval to extend the markup subsidy period from 10 to 15 years for all categories adding that he said that the government is giving Rs35 billion subsidy under the NAPHDA projects. He also disclosed that the government is giving 1 marla land in Rs10,000 in different districts of Punjab, Explaining this he said that the government is giving Land, Cost and Markup subsidies on housing projects so that's why the rates of land are very low. Replying to one question, he said that the government has identified those land for housing projects in districts where there is no dispute and we have also kept the factor of liveability.

He also said that every person can apply for a

loan under this scheme except those who already have land or house in its name. He also said that the Government has also included the Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) included Akhuwat in the ambit of the Government Markup Subsidy Scheme (GMSS) for all Tiers in order to provide interest-free loans to poor segments of society. Replying to another question with regard to getting an Rs250 fee for applying for a housing project, he said that that was the processing fee that the housing ministry had collected. Explaining this, he said that the government is constructing high rise buildings in every district but if we receive an enormous number of applications then we cannot give houses or flats to everyone. To address this issue, the government has conducted balloting after processing the applications to give flats or houses. He also said that the government is going to start the third phase of registration soon and no money would be charged this time for processing of the application.

Peaceniks urge India, Pakistan to ‘return to dialogue to resolve issues’ NEW dElHI AnAdolu Agency

Even as there looks no immediate headway towards deescalating tensions between South Asian nuclear neighbours, at least 50 politicians, former officials, and peace activists have come together urging Pakistan and India to attend to their differences and work for durable peace in the region.

Indian peace activist Om Prakash Shah is planning to release compilations of 50 articles in the form of a book titled In Pursuit of Peace: Improving Indo-Pak Relations, in the Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday, requesting both countries to at least start talks to find solutions to their political issues.

The authors, who have contributed to the book include former Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, former chief minister of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) Farooq Abdullah, ex-Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, and former information minister Javed Jabbar, among others.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency ahead of the release of the book, Shah said there was a general recognition on both sides to find a way to co-exist in a peaceful productive manner and to make sure that the differences do not spin out of control, especially given the developmental challenges faced by both countries.

"The main aim of this book is to

deepen our mutual understanding of the different points of view in Pakistan and India and to speed up the process of dialogue, which I believe is an important tool for bridging the trust deficit between India and Pakistan," said Shah, who is working on improving Indo-Pakistan relations for the last three decades.

He said that the book has taken the stock of Indo-Pak relations as both countries are approaching the 75th anniversary of their independence in August 2022.

Relations between India and Pakistan plummeted to a new low after Aug. 5, 2019, when India not only revoked the longstanding special status but also bifurcated the state of IIOJK,

prompting Islamabad to downgrade its diplomatic ties.

Desirable to turn to Dialogue: Pakistan has been maintaining the normalisation of ties with New Delhi is linked to a review of the Aug. 5 decision and ultimate resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Stating that India Pakistan relationship, "like any complicated multifaceted relationship, has its ups and downs," Shah said that it is important to maintain a focus on bridging the gaps between the two neighbours that share a long border.

"To bridge this inherited chasm, it is desirable to turn to dialogue, which is an important tool that is available to

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all of us. It is important that we do not leave the challenging task of establishing a climate of trust and confidence between India and Pakistan to our respective governments only," he said.

Shah urged the civil society in both countries to take a lead in progressing the peace talks and to resolve our mutual differences, in addition to the efforts made by the two governments.

Asked about the central idea in the articles written by a divergent group of people across the borders, Shah said, all authors are committed to finding ways to improve India and Pakistan relations.

Cultural affinity: Mohammad Mukhtar Ansari, a former top official in the Indian government, who has also contributed to the book, said both countries should not be oblivious of emotional attachment between the divided families and cultural affinity among the people of both sides.

"The countries, which support cultural exchange programmes across the regions and promote economic and business trade, do not engage themselves in war-like activities or maintain adversarial relations. Both the countries must give a chance to its people to establish contacts at various levels, which will pave the way for establishing a friendly relationship with all the neighbouring countries," he said.

He added that it is important that the protection of sociocultural identities is duly factored "in the dialogue process to respect and promote traditional bondage between the people living beyond the borders."

NEWS

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corporate corner Jhaur: Documentary on 1971 war to be released in february

KaraChI: The fact that we lost the East wing of Pakistan fifty years ago still haunts us today. However, despite the passage of five decades, we still share few clues about what precisely occurred in East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh).

The three nations involved in the tragedy—India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—cling to their own cliched versions of what remains one of the most defining events in the history of South Asia. "JHAUR | WAR OF 1971” recognizes the need to examine these myths and reveal the truth about the events surrounding the war of 1971. The documentary attempts to reestablish memories with facts and objective analysis, as well as expose previously unknown information, to give us all a better historical and accurate narrative. It lays bare some of the overtly false notions that have over the years become gospel through repetition and purposeful agendas.

The documentary also unravels the international political machinations played on the soil of Pakistan, while portraying an impartial analysis of an unfortunate string of events well before the war that eventually led to the separation of East Pakistan. There is no disputing that one of Pakistan’s darkest chapters is kept alive and rekindled every year to perpetuate hostility between the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The documentary is a well-thought-out attempt to embrace certain facts and recognize the reality and might for once give the people of both nations a way to move forward. The documentary, the trailer of which is due on Jan 21, will be released online in February 2022. JHAUR is a multi-part documentary series based on the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

Through exclusive interviews of eyewitnesses, authors, politicians, war veterans and rare archival footage, the documentary series traces in-depth the first account narratives outlining the reasons as well as events leading up to the Indian sponsored rebellion in East Pakistan, with the eventual creation of an independent state of Bangladesh.

This is the first documentary produced by RAVA Documentary Films under the parent banner of RAVA Studios. PR

NTDC completes second phase of Neelum-Jhelum transmission line

Lahore: National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC) has successfully completed and energized the 133 km long 2nd phase of 500 kV Neelum Jhehlum Double Circuit Transmission line and energized it successfully. Now the power generated through 969 MW Neelum Jhehlum Hydropower Project will be dispatched directly to 500 kV Nokhar (New Ghakkar) Grid Station which is closer to the load centres. The spokesman has said that the Transmission line has been completed in two phases.

Phase-I is comprised of 152 km long emanating from Neelum Jhelum Power House to Domeli (near Rawat) which was completed in 2018, hence, completed 285 km of both phases. The 969MW power from Neelum Jhelum HPP was being evacuated from it through 500kV Rawat Grid Station.

The spokesman further updated that in addition to power evacuation from Neelum Jhelum HPP, NTDC has also connected 720MW Karot HPP through looping with this Neelum Jhelum to Nokhar Transmission Line. Presently, the testing of 720MW Karot Hydropower Project is underway and after its successful commissioning, 720MW cheap energy will be added soon in the National Grid. Resultantly, load management issues of Gujranwala, Sialkot and the surrounding districts will be overcome. Moreover, the addition of hydel power will play a key role in improving the system reliability and voltage profile at load centres. PR

Pak Suzuki donates ambulance to NGO Saiban Under CSR, Pak Suzuki has donated Suzuki Bolan as a fully equipped Ambulance, Stock of several kinds of Medicines (related to Injuries, B.P, Fever, Different types of Pain, Sugar, etc.), Medical Items (First Aid Boxes, Infrared Thermometers, Digital B.P Apparatus, Glucometers, Nebulizer Machines, etc.) and COVID-19 Protection items (Masks, Gloves, Surgical Caps, Sanitizer, etc.) to SAIBAN NGO Muzaffarabad, on Thursday 6th January, 2022.

Senior Officials from Pak Suzuki, SAIBAN & Muzaffarabad Dealership attended the donation ceremony; Mr. Adeel Ali Khan, Head Production Engineering Pak Suzuki handed over symbolic key to SAIBAN official. PR

06-07 Comments - 15 January 2022_Layout 1 1/15/2022 12:27 AM Page 1

Saturday, 15 January, 2022

06 COMMENT

Fencing the Durand Line

Holding a new Census Issues that cannot be ignored

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The recent clash has smuggling profits behind it

He Council of Common interests. (CCi) with Prime Minister Khan in the chair has approved the conduct of seventh Population and Housing Census. it was also decided to set up the census monitoring committee to ensure expeditious, transparent and credible census operations. the decision is welcome. But the census has both political and fiscal ramifications. the Constitution requires that the census data be the basis for political representation to the national and provincial assemblies, distribution of funds among the federating units, allocation of quota in federal jobs and for planning and research in the country. there is a dire need therefore to ensure that the exercise is widely seen to be fair. Unless this happens the census can open a Pandora box that could harm the federation. Unless the exercise is widely seen to be just , it can give birth to inter-provincial and intra-provincial disputes. the last census, conducted in 2017 after a cumulative delay of 26 years, left both PPP and MQM complaining that the province’s population had been under-counted. the sindh government subsequently maintained that it is not feasible to hold local body elections owing to its reservations on the census results. the ethnic balance has been disturbed in Balochistan due to the afghan refugees giving a fresh boost to BalochPashtun tensions. in 2017 the Balochistan High Court had ordered authorities to ensure that the afghan refugees are not included in the population headcount. any indiscretion in calculation of genuine citizens can make the situation volatile. the census involves an expenditure of billions of rupees and the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilian workers. What is more, it is required to be held after 10 years. the exercise must not therefore remain confined to basic demographics such as gender, age, marital status, religion and mother tongue but also collect significant social data on disabilities, mortality, fertility and internal migration,. it should also collect district wise data regarding basic facilities available to the population like provision of safe water, power, gas connections, metalled roads and hospital beds. the census document should become a basic and reliable source of information for future economic and social planning .

Dr Qaisar rashiD

R

elations with Pakistan and afghanistan are back to square one. on 22 December 2021, the afghan taliban disrupted the process of erecting a security fence along the Durand line called the Pak-afghan border, which is around 2,600 km long, and was established in 1893. the agitators uprooted a part of the fence along the border in nangarhar, eastern afghanistan. subsequently, afghan Defence Ministry’s spokesman enayatullah Khwarzmi issued a video message saying that Pakistan had no right to fend the border and create a divide and that any such act was inappropriate and against the law. though Pakistan has also liked to roil the political water in afghanistan, it has dodged entering into a conflict with the afghan taliban. Disrupting the process of fencing was a crime, as the afghan taliban not only pulled up the fence but also seized spools of barbed wire, besides issuing a caveat to Pakistani soldiers not to reinstall the hedge. From 2007 onward, Pakistan has already finished 90 percent of the fencing work along the porous border. on January 3, at a press conference held in islamabad, Pakistani Foreign Minister shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan’s government had taken up the matter with the afghan taliban diplomatically. apparently, it is the firm resolve of the afghan taliban not to accept the Durand line as the international border. in an interview to the Paktiawal official Channel, afghanistan’s acting information Minister Zabiullah Mujahid also said that the issue of the Durand line was still unresolved leaving no reason for fencing and that the construction of the fence divided a nation straddling the border. even the government of ashraf Ghani remained averse to Pakistan on the issue of fencing the border. three main reasons compelled Pakistan to opt for fencing the border.

First, Pakistan was alleged to have been supporting certain Pashtun sunni groups in afghanistan to destabilize the sitting government in Kabul, as Pakistan remained apprehensive of the intent of any afghan government towards Pakistan. second, the influx of members of the tehrik taliban Pakistan (ttP), especially in the guise of afghan refugees, was unchecked, as Pakistan had launched military operations in its tribal areas to apprehend the terrorists who later on had fled to afghanistan. third, Pakistan

Diplomatic sensibility UK’s investigation into blogger’s attempted murder cannot be ignored

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He trial of Gohir Khan for the attempted murder of Waqas Goraya, the acitivist and blogger who claimed asylum in 2017, and who has been based in Rotterdam, shows that Pakistan must help the UK find who is the ‘big fish’ who actually put out the contract for the hit. Mr Khan, the accused, is charged with going to Rotterdam for the attempt and make preparations, which included the alleged purchase of a knife, he is being tried by the crown court in Kingston-Upon-thames, which indicates how seriously the UK takes such matters. that is indicated by how the UK was ready to jeopardise diplomatic relations with Russia over the attempted assassination of former KGB agent sergei skripal in 2018, or the 2016 murder of ex-KGB officer aleksandr litvinenko.

Before the UK begins to apply any pressure to Pakistan, it would be best if the government began to cooperate, and provide the necessary information about who was able to offer Mr Khan £100,000, of which £20,000 was to be kept by the middleman. the prosecution case was focused on Mr Khan, but it did show that he made the attempt at the behest of someone who was emailing him in Pakistan. national postcolonialist independence is a fine thing, but it does not mean the freedom to rub out anyone, citizen or not, who has sought asylum. the death of a Pakistani Baloch activist, Kasrima Baloch in Canada by drowning is another example of someone critical of certain institutions and then fleeing abroad, dying violently. the government itself should be interested in uncovering such persons, not just because the violent deaths of its nationals abroad portrays it in a poor light, but because it cannot tolerate anyone in Pakistan carrying out such activities. the example of Russia should be in front of us: even though headed by an ex-KGB man, it does it no good for it to be thought responsible for assassinating those thought to have betrayed the KGB and fled abroad.

Dissidents and critics would be even less acceptable as targets for hired killings.

A border issue that resists solution Mehjabin bhanu

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o one has the right to kill a citizen a neighbour at the border. this is a clear violation of human rights and international law.

Bangladesh needs to intensify its foreign policy and diplomatic efforts to reduce border killings to zero. according to Human Rights Watch, between 2000 and 2019, the BsF shot and killed at least 1,165 Bangladeshis on the Bangladesh-india borders. this sensitive issue needs to be taken into account by the indian Border security Force.it has to understand that there is no war on the border. shooting alone cannot be the answer. if a citizen crosses the border unknowingly, by mistake or illegally, arrangements must be made to hand them over to the BGB or local police as per agreement. Comprehensive and holistic political dialogue between the two parties is needed in this regard. as promised, border killings must be reduced to zero. Besides, surveillance at the border should be increased. We need to make our people aware so that they do not cross the border illegally.

Where is the end of border killings? there was a lot of talk between india and Bangladesh about border killings. Until the agreement. india is constantly killing the ordinary farmers and small traders of Bangladesh from the border areas. Many Bangladeshi nationals are being killed every year by indiscriminate firing by the indian Border security Force (BsF), which we never expect from neighbour india. india's other neighbouring states are nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan and China, but their borders never see the shooting dead of an ordinary citizen of india, Pakistan or China. india, nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, the border countries of india; so if ordinary citizens can live very peacefully on their borders, then why is the friendly state of Bangladesh disgusted with the BsF’s behaviour?. in the last 10 years, more than 1,000 people have been killed by indian security forces, most of them Bangladeshis. the border area turned into a south

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Nevertheless, those who struggle for any concept carrying the word “greater” and those who oppose the concept may try to understand that the reality of globalization– despite all its perils – is meant for integration and assimilation, and not for making autochthonous claims for irredentism and revanchism. Learn to respect peace

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com

Where is the end of border killings along the India-Bangladesh Border?

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

had no record of and control over border crossings, so any event like 9/11 could harm the interests of Pakistan by declaring Pakistan in cohort with the afghan taliban. against the background of 9/11,Pakistan’s decision to recognize the government of the afghan taliban in Kabul cost Pakistan a lot. this time, after the afghan taliban took over the control over Kabul on 15 august 2021, Pakistan has been under immense international pressure not to recognize them as the legitimate rulers of Kabul. the problem Pakistan is enmeshed in is how to distinguish between the afghan taliban and the ttP, other than their ambitions. Both hail from a common Pashtun ancestry. in the tribal areas of Pakistan, there is also a budding peaceful Pashtun movement asking for the rights and protection of the Pashtuns, who face the challenge of being considered bordering on terrorism. the movement calls for the protection of the Pashtuns, especially the youth, from the state’s atrocities ranging from making some missing persons to extrajudicial killings. the Pashtun annoyance is not unexpected. they have borne the brunt of wars since 1989. the fence must have exacerbated their displeasure. though Pakistan’s Foreign Minister shah Mehmood Qureshi wants a negotiated settlement of the fencing issue with Kabul, it is a big challenge to restore the process of fencing in the face of the opposition posed by the afghan taliban. this would be despite the fact that Pakistan has sided with afghanistan to secure finances to run the country. one of the examples could be Pakistan’s holding an extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers representing member countries of the organization of islamic Conference on 19 December in islamabad. the annoyance of the afghan taliban can also be gauged

from the fact that they are reluctant to recognize the services of Pakistan which offered a shelter on its land to around three million afghan refugees. any attempt to remove the fence is also pregnant with a financial aspect. the Pak-afghan border has been porous, suitable for cross-border movement of goods without paying duties. Goods cross the border illegally jeopardizing both informal and formal trade. the possibility for smuggling is a source of earning money for traders and businessmen. smuggling across the Pak-afghan border is now an industry in itself. Patriotism or legalism cannot surmount the financial interests of the smugglers, called traders, who are now well-entrenched not only in afghanistan but also in Pakistan. these are smugglers of all kinds of products and belong to all kinds of ethnicities. With the fencing of the border, their interests have been hurt. these people are said to be involved in instigating the locals and by arranging for their proxies to resort to vandalism and routing out the fence in the name of Pashtun ethnic nationalism. apparently, the disgruntled afghans are trying to remove the fence, but the real culprits are profit seeking businessmen (or smugglers). there is no denying the fact that the issue of Pashtunistan struggles to survive amongst those who refuse to accept the reality of the international border and amongst those who still think in terms of realizing a greater afghanistan. Years ago Pakistan sought a solution in making afghanistan part of its strategic depth policy. that is, if afghanistan cannot be disassociated, it should be associated to the benefit of Pakistan to dilute the Durand line. this policy could not work. nevertheless, those who struggle for any concept carrying the word “greater” and those who oppose the concept may try to understand that the reality of globalization– despite all its perils – is meant for integration and assimilation, and not for making autochthonous claims for irredentism and revanchism. learn to respect peace.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

asian killing field. Despite clear evidence of cold- tation of the political dialogue. there is no justice in blooded killings against unarmed and helpless locals in filing a case in specific cases like Felani's murder. as many cases, no one has yet been charged with murder. a result, there is no reason for the BsF to stop. But india also shares a border with China snd Pak- this time, they should understand that border killings istan. there are border issues. But there, india does are a violation of human rights. according to indian authorities, the BsF killed not fire like this. not only cattle are smuggled across the Bangladesh-india border, but also phensedyl, in self-defence. But the reality does not support that. drugs and illegal weapons come from india. the BsF several years ago, Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited does not see that. and cows don't just come from West a number of such cases in a report called trigger Bengal. they come from different states of india. Happy. survivors and eyewitnesses allege that the BsF fired indiscriminately without trying to appreWhy not stop them there? hend or warn them. the BsF Bangladesh Foreign also claimed that its memMinister aK abdul Momen bers fired when the miscresaid in Dhaka last year, ants tried to avoid arrest.

"Border killings are a shame However, the use of lethal for india. it has been deThe failure of the Indian weapons on suspicion of any cided between the two councrime is not justified. tries that no lethal weapons authorities to take any relations with will be used on the border. meaningful action to stop the indiaalthough have improved, that is no shots will be fired. But it is happening. so, it is a killings at the border for years not reflected on the border, even in the overall context. shame for them." and sadly, is detrimental to Indoit was decided in the bilatwe are losing our lives.

Meanwhile, at a function Bangladesh bilateral ties. This eral talks that the BsF would use non-lethal weapons. so in Dinajpur last year, indian has put the Bangladesh that the killings at the border High Commissioner to can be brought down to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar government in a difficult zero. But then why the use Doraiswamy said that the borposition by increasing the of deadly weapons? Border der killings were definitely sad and unexpected for both pressure on bilateral relations. killings cannot go on like this. the governments of the countries. indian border Now is the time for Dhaka Bangladesh and india should guards have been specifically told not to open fire on the policymakers to take action to now find the right solution, to stop border killings. border if there is no threat of come to the right conclusion the failure of the indian an attack on them. “We do not authorities to take any meanwant border killings in any ingful action to stop the country. Border killings are a killings at the border for heinous act.”

Despite repeated promises from the highest levels years is detrimental to indo-Bangladesh bilateral ties. of india to stop border killings, they have not stopped. this has put the Bangladesh government in a difficult as soon as the two countries talk about bringing the position by increasing the pressure on bilateral relaborder killings down to zero, the border killings tions. now is the time for Dhaka policymakers to take started again. now is the time to implement what has action to come to the right conclusion. been said. the indian authorities should give this speThe writer is freelance columnist cial attention. We want to see the proper implemen-

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06-07 Comments - 15 January 2022_Layout 1 1/15/2022 12:27 AM Page 2

Saturday, 15 January, 2022

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

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

Negligent administration WHen motorways can be closed for the safety of all traffic due to fog and poor visibility, the same can and should have been done for all traffic entering Murree, nathiagali, etc., through toll tax check-posts. the administration should maintain a check on the total number of cars entering these check-posts. the state collects taxes i.e. toll tax, vehicle tax, etc, to facilitate people. therefore, it is the state’s responsibility to ensure safety of all citizens that travel on motorways, roads, etc. the meteorological department had already warned of heavy snowfall in several parts of the country. Given the inadequate equipment and services, the government and relevant administrative authorities should have already issued warnings and informed people of the possibility of heavy snowfall that could cause disruptions, especially considering that Murree and the adjoining Galiyats have limited capacity for parking vehicles. the national Highway authority, Galiyat Development authority, District administration, and other state institutions, including traffic police and security agencies located and posted in Murree and adjoining areas should have coordinated to prevent the callous loss of human lives. irresponsible public office holders in Punjab and islamabad claimed excess traffic entering Murree was a show of prosperity, instead of a cause for alarm. across the world, airports, highways and motorways are closed during harsh climates to avoid calamities. even though the instrument landing system (ils3) was installed at lahore and the new islamabad airport to facilitate the landing of aircraft in poor visibility, all this money goes to waste if the ils3 system is not maintained and calibrated for precision landing by hiring competent professionals. these measures serve no purpose if the administrative departments continue their negligent conduct. the tragedy in Murree should be taken as a learning lesson by the authorities and they must adopt a more responsible attitude for the future.

Tariq ali lahorE

A Strange Case in Central Asia The China-Russia equation

Dr MuhaMMaD akraM Zaheer

C

Hina and Russia are converging in Central asia where their own interests are concerned. Both the countries has the desire for a terrorism-free region and for its stability, particularly in afghanistan. they also desired that the Usa exit from the region and at last the Usa left afghanistan. after the Us departure from afghanistan, China and Russia are ramping up their security assistance to the regional states.

However, this situation does not point to their competition. after the Us departure from afghanistan, the new taliban government is participating in the military exercise which has been organized by Russia, tajikistan and Uzbekistan just 20km away from the afghan border. a few days after China will hold counter terrorism drills with tajikistan for the public security.

China has been providing assistance to tajikistan near the afghan border since 2016. the withdrawal of Us troops from the region shows Washington’s limited interest in the Central asian states. Post 9/11, when the Usa started operations in afghanistan, it used Central asia as a logistics hub and opened bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. By 2014, these bases were closed and a series of supply lines to afghanistan through the northern Distribution network, Russia and Central asia, which began in 2009, were shut down in 2015 after growing tensions between Washington and Moscow. although the Us government has promised to build new facilities on the tajik border with afghanistan, this security assistance has fallen from a high of $450 million to just $11 million in 2020.

Russia is a key security provider in the region. it has maintained military installations in Kazakhstan, tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Half of the import of arms for Central asia is managed from Russia. Russia also has conducted 121 joint exercises with the regional states since their independence. Russia has a number of mechanisms for providing security, both bilateral and multilateral, such as the Commonwealth of in-

dependent states (Cis) and the Collective security treaty organization (Cesto). although the Russian share in the regional arms market has been stable over the past decade, it has nonetheless increased its share in regional exercises from 39 percent to 49 percent.

Russian arms have a relatively low price and make it easy to make deals with poor Central asian states like tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Russia has often donated only weapons and most recently 12 BRDM-2M patrol vehicles were delivered to tajikistan in mid-september 2021. it is probably also helpful that the most senior officers in the evaluation and ordering processes started their careers as soviet officers, and were trained on what is now Russian equipment.

Russian exercises are on average twice as large as those of its nearest rival, China. Unlike China, which has focused on developing ties with the Central asian security services and police forces, Russia has focused on military cooperation with the regional states. two-thirds of the Russian-led joint exercises were carried out by the Russian military or air force. in recent years, Russia has also demonstrated its potential as a military power in the region. in august 2018, Russian forces in tajikistan launched a series of airstrikes against drug traffickers. it was their first armed intervention in afghan politics since the 1989 soviet withdrawal. since the rise of the taliban, Russia has been testing its logistics networks to deliver Mi8 and Mi-24 helicopters to Gasar air Base outside Dushanbe in case of instability in afghanistan. Rapid response capabilities have been enhanced to strengthen the tajik border, and Russia has also moved su-25 strike aircraft from Kyrgyzstan to Gasar. on the other hand, China's economic and strategic role in the region also is growing day by day. in the arms market its share has increased from 1.5 percent to 13 percent over the past decade. China is also making strategic strides in the areas where Russia lags behind in terms of technology, such as with drones. China has sold its CH-3, CH-4, CH-5 and Wing long drones to regional states such as Kazakhstan, turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China has also been more active in strategic exercises and has

conducted 35 joint military exercises, either bilaterally or through the sCo. China started playing a more significant and active role in the Central asian strategic arena in 2014. it wanted to prevent Xinjiang from the spreading instability of afghanistan. these national goals have forced Beijing to focus primarily on integrating its internal security services, paramilitary forces, and counterterrorism forces with neighboring states. the security natures of the exercises also show that China wants to continue to cool Russia, which understands itself as a key security player in the region. Beijing has shown respect for Moscow here in the past. in 2017, the Development Research Centre, an influential think tank under the Chinese cabinet, invited high-profile Russian researchers to a private seminar to determine Moscow's red lines in the region. in 2021, the sibu/interaction exercise was conducted, which was the largest ever held between Chinese and Russian forces. it demonstrates that both the countries have focused more on joint operations, including command and control, than in previous exercises and also suggest deeper cooperation. although China and Russia have many differences and these differences may remain in the near future, there are indications that both the countries are thinking about their strategic position in the world. Both the countries have established their own goals and have also taken several measures without each other.

Russia has made a deal of exporting arms to india while China has also organized military exercises outside the sCo and has set up its own mechanism. additionally, it arranged the China + Central asia Foreign Ministers Meeting, which began on May 12, and worked on counter-terrorism with Pakistan. though communism has collapsed in Russia, its relations with China are beginning to resemble those it had before the Chinese rapprochement with the Usa. However, while Russia is not the supower the UssR was, China is not yet the superpower it seems set fair to becoming.

Although China and Russia have many differences and these differences may remain in the near future, there are indications that both the countries are thinking about their strategic position in the world. Both the countries have established their own goals and have also taken several measures without each other

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

Package of reforms for the police department isn’t it quite unfortunate that the Pakistani police have lost the muchneeded confidence of the 90% common population of the country when it comes to the question of safeguarding their life, property and honour? in other words, our police force has miserably failed to carry out its duties in a thoroughly professional manner.

Under such a scenario, i recommend the following package of reforms to make our police force a really professional and vibrant unit. there is a greater need to stop the recruitment of police officials on a political basis. Right from the post of a constable to that of an inspector, the recruitment in the police department should be made purely on merit by thoroughly judging their suitability for different slots within the department. only then a change will come in the police stations of the country where such competent and God-fearing officials will seriously listen to the cries of the suppressed class of the society in their police stations and will help them in the light of the law. an sHo should be held accountable for whatever crime is committed within his assigned jurisdiction. salaries of the police officials should be raised keeping in view the prevailing inflationary jump in different daily use items such as milk, vegetables, pulses, beef, mutton, flour, ghee, etc.

Citizens-Police liaison Committees should be established at the tehsil levels so that the genuine grievances of the people of such tehsils are redressed accordingly. inspector Generals of Police (iGPs) of all the four provinces should issue directives to their respective senior superintendents of Police (ssP) for holding compulsory “open public meetings” for at least an hour on daily basis in the presence of their sHos/DsPs for listening to the genuine issues of the common citizens of their areas. transfers and postings of police officials (especially of sHos) should be made purely on merit rather than on political considerations. our police force should be imparted modern training along with providing them with modern sophisticated weapons so that it is able to swiftly handle and tackle the nefarious designs of terrorists and anti-state elements. the police force of our country should be provided with the latest vehicles for the performance of their duties. a sufficient non-salary budget should be provided to them so that the officials are able to meet the expenses of fuel and maintenance and repair of their official vehicles. since policing is all about creating confidence in the local people, therefore, local police officials should be posted in police stations for they are fully aware of their areas besides having complete knowledge of the residents of such areas. stringent punishments should be awarded to those police officials who are found involved in heinous crimes of kidnappings for ransom, robbery, rape, murder, etc.

Police officials are also human beings and they too, accordingly, need minimum rest. therefore, there should be a maximum of eight hours of duty for police officials; especially for asis and constables. if we have to bring reforms in our police department, then we have to correct the environment of our police stations first and then the rest will be taken care of automatically. an atmosphere of awe and fear has to be done away with from our police stations by making them complainant-friendly. it has generally been observed that all those police officials who have been appointed by successive governments on a political basis, were criminals before joining their police force. this is a dangerous sign for any institution for these elements, instead of promoting the cause of justice, would definitely extend the hands of their fellow criminals by protecting them. i am sure by taking the above-mentioned reforms in the police department, our police force would be able to perform its duties in a thoroughly professional manner and in this way it would be able to regain the lost confidence of the general public of the country by addressing their genuine problems. aBDUl SaMaD SaMo, Karachi

08 WORLD VIEW 15th January 22_Layout 1 1/14/2022 10:06 PM Page 1

Saturday, 15 Janauary, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

Big power rivalry: who is winning the popularity wars?

IT HAS LONG BEEN SELF-EVIDENT TO ARGUE THREE REINFORCING TRENDS ARE AT WORK – CHINA’S RISE, US DISENGAGEMENT, AND GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC DECLINE Chatham house

e

John Kampfner

veryone, it seems, in these dark troubled times has been seeking solace where they can find it. In China, a stream of movie blockbusters has sought to shore up national pride, such as The Battle at Lake Changjin which depicts valiant men from the People’s volunteer Army fighting in freezing wastes during the Korean War and became the country’s biggest grossing movie within days of its release on national Day. ‘How many Americans do I have to kill to be a hero?’ asks one of its protagonists. The film was so successful – even exceeding the Wolf Warrior franchise, a Chinese version of James Bond with special agents – that a sequel was immediately agreed.

A nationalist narrative is all-pervasive – particularly among the young – fuelled by growing self-confidence and by a reaction to what is seen as American bellicosity.

Chatham House’s China expert yu Jie has seen the shift personally. ‘Whenever I go back to teach classes at Peking University, I’m struck by students saying things like “why do Westerners hate us so much?”’ she says.

In the US, China is the one significant policy area on which Joe Biden has largely followed Donald Trump – albeit with more politeness. The withdrawal from Afghanistan may have been chaotic but it has removed one ‘never-ending war’ and allowed Washington to focus more of its energy on confronting China – so far with rare consensus between Democrats and republicans.

John Mearsheimer traces the malaise back to the ‘liberal triumphalism’ which marked the demise of Communism in the early 1990s. Back then he was almost a lone voice in warning of the dangers of a powerful China – recently he concluded an essay by predicting a ‘dangerous security competition is all but unavoidable’. He may still be a hawk but his views are now less likely to be dismissed outright.

US-China rivalry forms the backdrop for 2022, as Biden marks a difficult first anniversary as US president and as Xi Jinping prepares for his party’s congress later in the year in which he may be preparing to consolidate his power, potentially for life.

Both leaders made a first tentative foray back into diplomacy with their much-analysed video summit last autumn. But their long discussion – more an exchange of speeches – demonstrated the depth of the gulf between them. As the two big powers turn against each other and turn more inwards, how does this affect their ability to corral countries into their orbit, and the choices those countries have to make?

There is another way to see it – a last-minute response to the Belt and road Initiative (BrI) in which China has invested, lent, or spent billions to improve countries’ infrastructure while bringing them into Beijing’s economic and political fold.

First proposed by Xi in 2013, the idea has become his signature foreign policy endeavour with approximately 300 Chinese government institutions and stateowned enterprises so far financing 13,000-plus projects in 140 countries. examples include the China-Pakistan economic Corridor – consisting of bridges, railways, energy installations, and a redeveloped highway – an expansion of the port of Gwadar, a major gas pipeline in nigeria, a high-speed rail link connecting nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya, the purchase of the Greek port of Piraeus – europe’s seventh largest – the building of bridges in Serbia, and the port development of Hambantota in Sri Lanka.

But the overall record is mixed. Despite proclaiming health, digital, and green ‘silk roads’, the overwhelming focus is on traditional projects such as ports, roads, railways, and power plants. China typically provides development finance in the form of loans at either subsidized or market rates, but invariably with little transparency.

Contracts generally stipulate the recipient country must work with Chinese firms, purchase Chinese equipment, or guarantee commodity sales to China as a repayment. Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, called the practices ‘predatory economic activity’.

Whatever the flaws in the Chinese offer, the US was stung into action. B3W, still in its inception phase, is making a different pitch as much by necessity as by design. The biggest difference is an emphasis on ‘good governance’. Stricter standards will result in greater scrutiny, higher up-front costs, and longer timelines, making it less competitive if judged on price alone.

Unlike the BrI’s focus on industry – often carbon-polluting heavy industry – B3W focuses on softer outcomes such as improvements in climate, health security, digital technology, and equality. Today’s contest is between two

THE ERA OF RIVALRY HAS TARNISHED BOTH THE AMERICAN AND CHINESE BRANDS AS MANY COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD GROW INCREASINGLY WARY OF CHOOSING ALLEGIANCES systems and, with a global infrastructure gap estimated at up to $40 trillion, there are rich pickings for both.

CHINA VERSUS THE US IN LATIN AMERICA: The Americans insist this is not a zero-sum game. When visiting Colombia, Panama, and ecuador, Deputy US national Security Adviser Daleep Singh insisted Washington was not asking the region to choose before adding: ‘We’re there to compete because we do think we have a better product’.

The BrI has been central to Beijing’s charm offensive on all continents. In Latin America, it counts Brazil and Chile among nations with which it is the leading trade partner, and it is close to achieving the same with Argentina. Chris Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, puts some of China’s progress down to American complacency. ‘The US has been coasting since the 1990s,’ he says. When the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank were slow to stump up cash, the Chinese stepped in. Sabatini cites several motives for China’s increasing involvement in the region. ‘They need raw materials and Latin America provides them cheaply. They want at least neutral enablers.

They want help in turning multilateral institutions more in their favour.’ Changes in government can be a problem. When Cristina Kirchner was president of Argentina, China built a space centre, railways, and oil fields but in 2015 her successor Mauricio Macri put several projects on hold.

Unlike russia, with its long-standing links to regimes in Cuba and venezuela, the Chinese do not want to be seen to be agitating. ‘no-one cites China as a revolutionary model,’ Sabatini says. ‘They want to be seen as the quiet alternative.’

CHINA VERSUS THE US IN THE MIDDLE EAST: China has also been making significant inroads in the Middle east, exploiting disenchantment among many citizens, and offering opportunities to governments. It has signed five ‘comprehensive strategic partnerships’, with Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab emirates, Algeria, and egypt.

Turkey and Qatar, vakil says, are the only governments to have expressed even mild misgivings about the treatment of the Uighurs, fellow Muslims, in Xinjiang. otherwise there has been scant coverage or silence.

Hopes among younger generations were raised by then US president Barack obama’s ‘new beginnings’ speech at Cairo University in 2009 in which he presented a softer side to US foreign policy while calling for deepseated reforms in the Middle east.

He gave tacit backing to the ‘Arab street’ during the uprisings that followed, only for America to later side with authoritarians such as egypt’s Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. obama drew ‘red lines’ in Syria but then stood by as Bashar al-Assad, backed by the russians, deployed chemical weapons on his own people.

Despite this, few states would look favourably at a withdrawal of the US from the region. China is seen not as a replacement, but as a country which can be used as a hedge, giving governments added leverage. There is little indication that China wants to be deeply embroiled in security issues in the Middle east or to choose sides in any of the deep-rooted conflicts.

China’s influence has even grown in America’s closest regional ally Israel with Chinese state companies investing in the country’s burgeoning tech sector. Perhaps the single most important project is the development of Haifa Port by Shanghai’s International Port Group which won the tender in 2015 and began work in 2018.

Haifa is Israel’s busiest port and the base of its main naval fleet, allegedly including nuclear-armed submarines. Israel’s former prime minister Benjamin netanyahu ignored protestations by his otherwise close ally Donald Trump to abandon the China deal. yet the economic and strategic progress China has made must be offset by an important but unquantifiable American asset – soft power. In the Middle east, where up to two-thirds of populations are under 35 years old, American culture remains a great pull.

CHINA VERSUS THE US IN ASIA: In Asia, perhaps more than any other region due its geographical location, leaders constantly triangulate, reluctant to choose one allegiance over the other. ‘America is still the country that people want to live in,’ suggests Gareth Price, senior research fellow at Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific pro-

gramme ‘but if you chose America only, you’d be left alone against China.’

Much of Chinese financing is close to home, with Asia constituting over half of the total BrI investment.

Countries are attracted to the Chinese market and are unwilling to throw their lot with the US – even if psychologically they would like to – because of its foreign policy inconsistencies. Price says: ‘nobody believes the Americans anymore when they say there are in it for the long-term. no matter what Biden might say now, Trump has shown you can end up with a more insular and less reliable partner.’

A decade ago, conferences would debate a future role for India as counterweight to China, but now that question is posed much less. In 2014, the Modi government announced its ‘act east’, more assertive Asia policy, yet there is so far little evidence India has made much headway in either ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ power.

India also has a poor record on infrastructure. Its Friendship Highway with Myanmar and Thailand – once seen as a symbol of its increasing role in the region – is expected to be partially completed in 2023, two decades after it was announced. In contrast, from vietnam to Pakistan, China is seen as the country that gets things done.

THE FUTURE OF US-CHINA RELATIONS: It has long been self-evident to argue three reinforcing trends are at work – China’s rise, US disengagement, and global democratic decline. The facts may not have changed, as Freedom House annual surveys have attested to for more than a decade, but it may be the twin crises of the past two years are altering the context.

Pandemic control is closely entangled with the political legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Comparisons of death tolls – 750,000 in the US versus less than 5,000 officially in China – play easily into the propaganda narrative of a chaotic West. And the almost complete shutting down of international links is having an effect in China.

Polls show young people are becoming increasingly hawkish and more willing to join the CCP. As yu notes, from the financial crash onwards, ‘they’ve hardly witnessed the best of Western liberal democracy.’

In the US, the same may be taking place, but in reverse. A poll conducted by the Pew research Centre in early 2020 at the start of the lockdown suggested 66 per cent of Americans had an unfavourable view of China.

This has been fuelled by the long-standing Wuhan lab claim as the source of the virus. These ratings were the most negative since the survey began in 2005.

For the moment, external image appears to count for less in China and most of Xi’s focus for 2022 will be on consolidating power, with all efforts focused on preventing a spread of the pandemic and any further destabilization of an economy already facing energy shortages.

But with Xi failing to attend both the G20 and CoP26 summits and having last held a face-to-face meeting with a world leader in March 2020, many analysts point to potential longer-term isolationist tendencies. Biden tried to make capital from Xi’s absence in Glasgow, saying he had ‘walked away’ and undermined his own efforts to ‘assert a new role as a world leader’.

The mantra at the heart of the next phase of Xi’s leadership is ‘Common Prosperity’, his economic programme designed to bring greater cohesion – and control – to domestic economic policy. The internal agenda will be at the forefront, and investment in Belt and road has fallen sharply since 2019 with existing projects still being completed, but Beijing appearing to have little appetite for the moment in re-engaging with the vigour of before.

The latest CCP five-year-plan has only a half-sentence reference to the BrI, considerably shorter than the previous one. Does that denote job done? or a focus on other priorities such as ‘Common Prosperity’? Might it be the case that one of the key benefits has already been secured with a rise in the number of states within the Un system lining up behind China, or at least not voting against it?

Leaders were invited to present ‘action plans’ in one year’s time to show progress on the three main themes – defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights.

With more than a glance to his domestic audience and in a bid to show some American humility, Biden declared

THE US IS NO LONGER SEEN BY MANY IN THE REGION AS A COUNTRY YOU CAN RELY ON in his invitation: ‘no democracy is perfect, and no democracy is ever final.’

The US pledged funding to support independent media in places where they are under threat, alongside a series of projects to protect civil society groups and whistle-blowers. Pointing to what he described as 15 consecutive years of democratic decline, Biden told his audience of world leaders: ‘This is an urgent matter on all our parts, in my view, because the data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.’ even though the summit came and went with little real-world impact, it appeared to rile Beijing. The Chinese government hastily convened its own democracy forum and published a white paper called ‘China: Democracy That Works’, alongside a highly negative report entitled ‘The State of Democracy in the United States’.

The key wider test for the White House, suggests Leslie vinjamuri, Director of the US and Americas programme at Chatham House, is showing a linear route back to the democratic fold while still allowing countries to do it their own way.

Biden did not need to make explicit the two implicit goals of the initiative – to show that ‘Trumpism’ is not inevitable in America, and that for other countries there is still idealism, as well as self-interest, in forming a common front as democracies. But with the carrot comes the stick. Where it can, the US has stepped up the pressure on countries moving closer into China’s orbit – particularly its allies – whether that be curbing trade in sensitive technology or closing Confucius Institutes.

In some respects, european and other US partners have already become more wary, having seen the chilling effect that Chinese funding was having on their own academics and the potential strategic damage from Chinese takeovers of their own companies.

In security terms, the single most significant multilateral development is the revival of the Indo-Pacific Quad, aligning Australia, India, and Japan with the US. And Australia’s nuclear submarine deal with the US and UK as part of the AUKUS tripartite security pact has entrenched that position. But it is only the latest in a series of hawkish announcements – in 2018 Australia was the first country to ban Huawei from its 5G system, a remarkable turnaround for a country which for many years provided China with natural resources and sympathetic diplomacy.

China’s response was to penalize Australia by blocking access to its markets for key Australian exports and restricting access to key imports from the People’s republic – a move which has backfired and only strengthened the hand of those advocating closer security ties with the US. But for a majority of countries, particularly less affluent ones, decisions on allegiance are largely pragmatic and based less on the relative attractiveness of either country or system. Which big power is helping me more? The rest, says Price, ‘are sitting on the fence.

It’s all about issues rather than values.’

The challenge for the US is that, although its annual international development budget currently stands at $35 billion, this sum constitutes only 0.17 per cent of Gross national Income, leaving it 24th of 29 oeCD countries in proportion of budget spending. Figures for Chinese overseas assistance are not strictly comparable but have been rising. B3W remains still little more than an idea.

The eU announced its own fledgling project, called Global Gateway, and the UK has its own scheme, British International Investment, aimed in part at countering Chinese influence. Ultimately, it is about performance rather than promises.

The CovAX multilateral vaccine-sharing project has woefully disappointed and the West has so far failed to stump up the money to help poorer nations cope with the climate emergency. These past two years have shown the big powers competing rather than cooperating in tackling the twin crises of CovID-19 and climate – pressuring rather than persuading allies to fall into line.

For countries which do not fall clearly into either camp, there is less emphasis on hearts and minds and more on transactional arrangements as they are left to make pragmatic choices, to pick winners. ‘This is the Great Game, 2022,’ vinjamuri says. ‘It used to be the case that you could take separate views about America and China. now they are seen as two sides of the same coin.’

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

09

Remittances gRow by 11.3Pc to $15.8bn in H1Fy22 ISLAMABAD app

w

ORKERS remittances grew by 11.3 per cent to $15.8 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (H1FY22) as compared to the corresponding period of last year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported Friday.

According to figures released by SBP, with $2.5 billion of inflows during December 2021, remittances continued their strong impetus of remaining above $2 billion since June 2020.

In terms of growth, remittances increased by 2.5% on month-on-month basis and 3.4 % on yearon-year basis in December 2021. Inflows during December 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia totalling $626.6 million, United Arab Emirates $453.2 million, United Kingdom $340.8 million, and United States of America $248.5 million.

The proactive policy measures by the government and SBP to incentivise the use of formal channels and altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic have positively contributed towards the sustained inflows of remittances since last year, a

Kenya mulling import of Pakistani kinnow, mango ISLAMABAD

statement by the SBP said.

The Jul-Nov FY22 data of workers remittances has been revised upward to reflect inflows into

Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) that are related to local consumption like payment of utility bills, transfer to local PKR account, etc.

Oladoc raises $1.8m in Pre-Series A funding

GHulam abbas

Pakistan may soon be exporting fruits including kinnow and mango to Kenya, tapping a major international market in Africa due to joint efforts by the All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & Merchants Association (PFVA) and the Department of Plant Production (DPP) serving under the Federal Ministry of National Food Security & Research and Ministry of Commerce.

According to details, a delegation of quarantine experts from Kenya visited Pakistan earlier this month to evaluate the possibility to import the two fruits and expressed satisfaction on the standards of quarantine facilities.

The Kenyan delegation consisting KEPHIS Managing Director Professor Theophilus Mutui, Phyto-sanitary Services General Manager Dr. Isaac Macharia, Chief Inspector George Momanyi and PRA Expert Asenath Koech visited kinnow orchards and inspected 33 plants and pack houses in Karachi, Multan, and Bhalwal.

According to officials privy to the information, the opening of new markets in the African region would help Pakistan enter into other connecting markets for exporting horticulture products.

Likewise, horticulture exporters while speaking with Profit said that the Kenyan delegation’s visit was highly successful wherein the foreign country’s experts expressed satisfaction on the high standard of processing plants and strict compliance on implementation of quarantine procedures.

Reportedly, PFVA has absorbed the complete expenses of the visit in a bid to enhance food exports.

PFVA official Waheed Ahmed said that after the quarantine delegations’ successful visit, it is strongly anticipated that export of Pakistani kinnow would commence to Kenya during the current season. “Kenya would become a gateway for Pakistani exports in Eastern Africa and with this while the Kenyan market would also prove to be a good market for the Pakistani mango,” he added.

If the export of kinnow begins during the current season, it is anticipated that Kenya can become a promising international market of 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes for the Pakistani citrus.

It may recalled that during the Pakistan-Africa trade conference held in January 2020, a delegation of PFVA had organised meetings with Kenyan importers and officials of the quarantine department wherein it was mutually agreed to explore opportunities of exporting Pakistani fruits to Kenya and finalising quarantine protocols between the two countries.

LAHORE taimooR Hassan

Healthtech startup Oladoc on Friday claimed to have raised a $1.8 million investment in a pre-Series A round, as the healthtech sector sees a surge in venture funding.

According to a statement, the investment round, which was led by Pakistan’s Sarmayacar Ventures along with participation from Doha Tech Angels and other angel investors, was closed in the last quarter of 2021. Today’s announcement is the official confirmation of the funding.

According to Crunchbase data,

oladoc raised $1.1 million in seed funding in 2018, and $200,000 in preseed funding in 2016, which brings the total raised by the startup to $3 million.

Founded in 2016 by Abid and Arif Zuberi, oladoc is one of the prominent doctor booking platforms, which now also connects patients with doctors for video consultation sessions. The healthtech startup has also introduced lab test booking on the app.

Healthtech space in Pakistan is ripe for disruption. With a population of 221 million, Pakistan currently has one doctor to every 1,300 Pakistanis, ranking 115 globally while a meager 1.2 per cent of the GDP is spent on health-

care by the government.

Most of the people lack access to qualified doctors and the problem grew during the pandemic when access to a doctor was further restricted due to lockdowns. The pandemic also provided an opportunity for healthtech companies to scale and the adoption of healthcare apps picked up during the pandemic.

Healthtech startups raised $15.4 million during the foregone year, besides oladoc funding. The funding is 187% per cent higher than 2020. Healthtech startups raised a cumulative $5.36 million in disclosed funding in 2020, according to data from i2i Ventures.

Prominently, Dawaai announced a

$8.5 million raise last year, Healthwire $3.3 million, Ailaaj $1.6 million, and Marham announced a $1 million raise.

All these startups have ambitions to become healthcare superapps where patients can get all-encompassing primary healthcare service, from finding a doctor to getting a consultation on video, medicine delivery, and lab test booking.

Increased digital adoption of healthcare apps during the pandemic and the multi-million dollar rounds raised means oladoc would have to brave tough competition. On how it plans to compete with other startups, Zuberi said, “As far as growth is concerned, the important thing is execution. A lot of people have similar ideas so whoever executes better is the one which can take a better market share.”

In particular, oladoc says it has a dominant position in the doctor appointment booking vertical and plans to solidify its position further. “Post funding, we have been working to consolidate our position in the appointment booking. We are also keeping an eye out on the new verticals that we can enter into,” said Zuberi. oladoc also plans to bring in seasoned C-level leadership to the team, to help scale the organisation faster. It claims to have a network of over 8,000 bookable doctors at present, has served more than 15 million users in the last three years, and has seen phenomenal growth in the last 12 months.

Rabeel Warraich, the founder and CEO at Sarmayacar, said, ‘We are excited to partner with oladoc on their journey to provide quality healthcare to everyone in Pakistan,” he says. “We look forward to working with the founders to accelerate oladoc’s growth and unlock the full market potential.”

Oil dips as investors eye US crude release, China demand concerns SINGAPORE ReuteRs

Oil futures eased for a second session on Friday on expectations that Washington may soon act to cool prices that remain above $80 per barrel, while movement curbs in China to rein in a COVID-19 outbreak weighed on fuel demand.

Brent crude futures fell 6 cents to $84.41 a barrel at 0427 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $81.91 a barrel.

China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, has suspended some international flights and stepped up efforts to rein in a virus outbreak at Tianjin while the highly transmissible Omicron variant has spread to the northeastern city of Dalian.

Many cities, including Beijing, have also urged people to stay put during the Lunar

New Year holiday, which could cool demand for transport fuel during a peak travel season.

The world’s top oil importer also posted in 2021 its first annual decline in crude oil shipments in two decades as Beijing clamped down on the refining sector and drew down massive inventories, although traders expect imports to recover this year.

“Market is a bit toppish,” said Avtar Sandu, a commodities manager at Phillip Futures in Singapore, adding that reports on the COVID-19 situation in China and the sale of strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) in the United States were a concern.

The US Energy Department said on Thursday it had sold 18 million barrels of strategic crude oil reserves to six companies, including Exxon Mobil and a unit of refiner Valero Energy Corp.

Nevertheless, Brent and WTI prices are set to climb for a fourth week in a row, sup-

ported by supply and geopolitical concerns in Libya and Kazakhstan and a drop in US crude inventories to 2018 lows.

Some investors are also optimistic that Omicron’s impact on the global economy and oil demand will be short-lived.

Several banks have forecast oil prices to hit $100 a barrel later this year as demand is expected to outstrip supply.

“The short-term outlook still has many risks, but optimism is high that it will be short-lived,” OANDA’s analyst Edward Moya said in a note.

However, with oil prices above $80, there is growing political pressure for the White House to lobby OPEC+ to hit their production quotas, he said.

“Biden may resort to another SPR release and while that won’t solve any problems, it could send WTI crude down to the $80 level,” Moya said.

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

10 FOREIGN NEWS

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ReuteRs

oRTH Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on Friday, its third test in two weeks, just hours after criticising a US push for new sanctions over the previous launches as a “provocation” and warning of a strong reaction.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected what it presumed were two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) launched eastward from North Pyongan Province on the west coast of North Korea, near the border with China.

Japan’s coast guard also reported that the North fired what could be a ballistic missile.

The missiles appeared to have landed in the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, broadcaster NHK reported, citing an unnamed Japanese defence ministry official.

“The actions of North Korea, including the repeated ballistic missile launches, are a threat to the safety of our nation and the region, and they are an important issue for all of international society,” Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told a regular news conference.

The US military’s Indo-Pacific Command said while it assessed that the launch

North Korea fires two missiles, warNs of stroNg actioN over Us saNctioNs pUsh does not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, it highlights the “destabilising impact of (North Korea’s) illicit weapons programme.”

The two missiles travelled about 430 km to a maximum altitude of 36 km, South Korea’s JCS said. “our military is tracking and monitoring developments in preparation for potential additional launches while maintaining readiness posture,” the JCS said in a statement. The launch would be the third since New Year’s day, an unusually high pace of missile tests.

The previous two were of “hypersonic missiles,” North Korean state media reported, capable of high speeds and manoeuvring after launch.

In contrast to Friday’s tests, each of the earlier launches involved a single missile which was fired from Jagang Province,

neighbouring North Pyongan.

Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who teaches at Seoul’s Kyungnam University, said North Korea could have fired previously deployed SRBMs such as the KN-23 or KN-24.

“It could fit in their ongoing winter exercises while sending a message to the United States through action following the state media statement,” he said.

North Korea defended the missile tests as its legitimate right to self-defence and said the United States was intentionally escalating the situation by imposing new sanctions, state media reported earlier on Friday, citing the foreign ministry.

North Korea’s recent development of a “new-type weapon” was just part of its efforts to modernise its national defence capability, and did not target any specific country or harm the security of neighbouring coun-

tries, the foreign ministry said in a statement on the KCNA state news agency.

The statement warned of an unspecified “stronger and certain reaction” if the United States adopts a confrontational stance.

‘PrOfOuNDLy DeSTAbILSINg’: The administration of US President Joe Biden on Wednesday imposed its first sanctions over North Korea’s weapons programmes following a series of North Korean missile launches.

It also called on the United Nations Security Council to take action against several North Korean individuals and entities accused of violating security council resolutions that ban North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons development.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had made clear it had no hostile intent toward North Korea and was willing to engage in talks without pre-

conditions, but that the tests were “profoundly destabilising”.

The North Korean foreign ministry said that while Washington may talk of diplomacy and dialogue, its actions show “it is still engrossed in its policy for isolating and stifling” North Korea.

“The US is intentionally escalating the situation even with the activation of independent sanctions, not content with referring the DPRK’s just activity to the UN Security Council,” the statement said.

Kim Dong-yup pointed to remarks last year by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Pyongyang will approach Washington “on the principle of answering force with toughness, and good faith in kind”.

“An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” Kim Dong-yup said. “North Korea might be saying they’ll go their own way without being intimidated.”

Hundreds of thousands of Indians gather for holy dip, defying Covid-19 surge ReuteRs Hundreds of thousands of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India’s Ganges river on Friday for a holy bath despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus cases in the past month. Hindus believe a bath in the holy river on the January 14 Makarsankranti festival washes away sins.

A large number of devotees were taking a dip in the sacred river where it flows through the eastern state of West Bengal, which is reporting the most

number of cases in the country after Maharashtra state in the west.

In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of devotees, few wearing masks, thronged the river’s banks in the holy city of Prayagraj. “I can’t breathe with a mask,” Ram Phal Tripathi, who came with his family from a village in Uttar Pradesh state, said after emerging from the river. “every yeAr I COme fOr A hOLy DIP. hOw COuLD I hAve mISSeD IT ThIS yeAr?” India is again facing a surge in coronavirus cases, fuelled mostly by the

highly transmissible omicron variant, but hospitalisations are low, with most people recovering at home. Doctors had appealed unsuccessfully to the West Bengal state high court to reverse a decision to allow the festival this year, worrying it will become a virus “super spreader” event. Last year, a big religious gathering in northern India contributed to a record rise in coronavirus cases. on Friday, the health ministry reported 264,202 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, taking India’s total tally to 36.58 million. Deaths from Covid-19 rose by 315, with the total now at 485,350, the ministry said.

Britain’s MI5 spy service warns lawmakers over Chinese agent of influence LONDON ReuteRs

Britain’s domestic spy service MI5 has warned lawmakers that the Chinese Communist Party has been employing a woman to exert improper influence over members of parliament.

MI5 sent out an alert and picture of the woman named Christine Lee on Thursday alleging she was “involved in political interference activities” in the United Kingdom on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who circulated MI5’s alert to lawmakers, said MI5 had found that Lee “has facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China”.

Hoyle said Lee had been involved with the now disbanded all-party parliamentary group, Chinese in Britain.

Britain’s interior minister Priti Patel told reporters that Lee’s behaviour was currently below the criminal threshold to prosecute her, but she said that by putting the alert out the government was

able to warn lawmakers about Lee’s attempts to improperly influence them. Patel said it was “deeply concerning” that an individual working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party had targeted lawmakers. Lee is the founder of a law firm, which has offices in London and Birmingham, according to a government official. A woman who answered the phone at the Birmingham office said: “We are not taking any calls now”. A request for comment left at the London office went unanswered.

The law firm lists on its website one of its roles as legal adviser to the Chinese embassy in Britain.

The Chinese embassy in London said in a statement that China does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

“We have no need and never seek to ‘buy influence’ in any foreign parliament,” it said. “We firmly oppose the trick of smearing and intimidation against the Chinese community in the UK.” POLITICAL DONATIONS: Barry Gardiner, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, said he had received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from

Lee and said he has been liaising with intelligence services “for a number of years” about her.

“They have always known, and been made fully aware by me, of her engagement with my office and the donations she made to fund researchers in my office in the past,” Gardiner said.

Gardiner employed Lee’s son as a diary manager but he resigned on Thursday.

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party who has been sanctioned by China for highlighting alleged human right abuses in Xinjiang, called for an urgent update from the government on the issue. He questioned why the woman had not been deported and called for a tightening of the accreditation process for people gaining access to parliament, which he said was too lenient. Lee is listed under the Christine Lee & Co law firm as a British national in financial filings with Companies House, Britain’s corporate registry.

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told parliament

of her alleged activity: “This is the sort of grey-zone interference we now anticipate and expect from China.”

Britain’s relations with China have deteriorated in recent years over issues including Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Last year MI5 urged British citizens to treat the threat of spying from Russia, China and Iran with as much vigilance as terrorism. read more British spies say China and Russia have each sought to steal commercially sensitive data and intellectual property as well as to interfere in domestic politics and sow misinformation.

The Chinese ambassador to Britain was banned from attending an event in the British parliament last year because Beijing imposed sanctions on lawmakers who highlighted alleged human right abuses in Xinjiang.

China placed the sanctions on nine British politicians in March last year for spreading what it said were “lies and disinformation” over the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in the country’s far west.

Saturday, 15 January, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

SPORTS 11

KeeGan PeTeRsen sHines as souTH afRiCa seaL seRies Win aGainsT inDia

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ageNcies

EEGAN Petersen scored a superb 82 as South Africa completed a sevenwicket victory in the third Test and a 2-1 series win over world number one India on a spiteful Newlands pitch having chased down their challenging target of 212 on Friday.

It is just the fourth time in 133 years that a team has scored more than 200 in Cape Town to win, and follows on from South Africa’s epic seven-wicket victory in Johannesburg in the second Test when they needed 240 in the fourth innings.

Petersen, who was the leading scorer in the series with 276 runs, was the anchor for the home side on a difficult wicket for batting, but there were also important unbeaten contributions from Rassie van der Dussen (41) and Temba Bavuma (32) as they put on 57 for the fourth wicket.

The result means India are still in search of a first Test series victory in South Africa having had high hopes when they won the opening match.

The teams will now play three OneDay Internationals starting in Paarl on Wednesday.

South Africa, who were underdogs for the series despite home advantage with their inexperienced side, had started the day on 101 for two and had plenty of alarms on the difficult pitch against the high-quality Indian seamers, who might have had more reward with better luck.

They only had themselves to blame though when Cheteshwar Pujara dropped Petersen at first slip when the batsman had 59, a simple chance off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah. It might have brought a different complexion to the day, but South Africa rode that luck and Petersen looked in control before he chopped a Shardul Thakur delivery onto his stumps 40 minutes before

Waheed maintains lead in Rashid D Habib Golf Tournament 2022 KaRachi

lunch. His innings off just 113 balls followed a fine 72 in the first innings.

India were left hugely frustrated by the technology used for dismissal referrals and might have talked themselves into some trouble with their deliberate on-field comments into the stump microphones.

Their frustration threatened to boil over when they believed they had Van der Dussen caught behind off the bowling of Mohammed Shami, though the bowler himself showed no interest and returned to his mark.

But captain Virat Kohli sent the not out decision for review, and although there was a spike on the ultraedge technology, it was ruled the batsman had hit the ground.

It followed India’s utter fury on Thursday when they believed they had home captain Dean Elgar out leg before wicket, but after being given out, the ball-tracker technology suggested the delivery was bouncing over the stumps.

Head hundred revives Australia after top-order meltdown

Press release

ReuteRs

The second round of Bank Al Habib’s 11th Rashid D Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Tournament 2022 was played today at Karachi golf club. Waheed Baloch of KGC maintained his lead on second day’s leaderboard and carded 134 ten under par. Hamza Amin from Islamabad is following Waheed with 136 eight under par. Defending champion Muhammad Shabbir along with Ansar Mehmood is holding third place with 138 six under par. The golfers enjoyed playing in the pleasant weather at KGC. The tournament is being played over 72 holes over four days 13th to 16th January 2022. Out of 96 golfers who started on day 1, 54 have qualified to play the third day. Senior professional and junior professional match would start from Saturday.

Travis Head returned from Covid-19 to smash a belligerent 101 and Cameron Green made 74 to revive Australia after a top-order collapse on the opening day of the day-night final Ashes Test against England on Friday.

England’s all-seam attack had reduced Australia to 12-3 in a strong start for the tourists, who have already lost the five-Test series following heavy defeats in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Head put on 71 with Marnus Labuschagne (44) and added 121 with Green as Australia reached 241-6 before rain forced early stumps in the pink-ball contest at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval.

Alex Carey will resume on 10 on day two with Mitchell Starc, who was yet to

Man City take drama out of Premier League LONDON aFP

Manchester City is marching towards a fourth Premier League title in five years in ruthless fashion, but their dominance threatens to damage the English top-flight's reputation as football's most thrilling ride. Just over a month ago, a tense three-way title race looked in-store as Chelsea and Liverpool kept pace with Pep Guardiola's side. But City have stormed into a 10-point lead on the back of an 11-game winning run, making secondplaced Chelsea's visit to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday something of an irrelevance. Hit by injuries and a coronavirus outbreak, Chelsea have endured a damaging dip at the worst possible time. Third-placed Liverpool were stumbling even before star forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane departed for the Africa Cup of Nations.

City have won 17 of their 21 league games to build a seemingly unassailable lead and turn the title race into a procession once again. Last season, it was a 19-game unbeaten run between November and March, including just two draws, that swept City to the title, 12 points clear of second-placed Manchester United. The first of City's three titles under Guardiola, in 2017/18, was another stroll as they ended 19 points ahead of United and it would be no surprise to see another double-digit margin of victory this season. City have averaged nearly 95 points in their three title-winning seasons under Guardiola and are on course to reach that tally again. Their deep pool of world-class talent garners widespread admiration and respect. But for neutrals the sight of City cantering to the finish line will raise questions about the Premier League's self-styled status as the most competitive league in Europe. It is not the first time English football has been dominated by one unrelenting force of course. Liverpool won 11 titles between 1973 and 1990, while during Alex Ferguson's reign at Old Trafford, which ended in 2013, United lifted the trophy 13 times.

Former England defender Gary Neville won the Premier League multiple times at United, but even he has never seen anything like City's current crop. "I look at Manchester City, they are a unique team," he said. "We've never seen anything like them in this country -- the way in which they play football and dominate the game.

"City have a strong squad, a great manager, a unique way of playing that demoralises teams. It's a big ask for Chelsea and Liverpool to catch them." Graeme Souness, who starred in Liverpool's midfield during their heyday, rates City as the best ever.

open his account.

“Anything over 300 and I think it’s going to be a great start,” Head told reporters. “The conditions, pink ball… it’s (pitch) probably more bowler-friendly.

“So anything over 300 and batting as long as we possibly can tomorrow is going to be key and when we bowl, making sure we identify the moments with the ball.”

Earlier, England’s seamers blew away Australia’s top order in a frenetic first session, vindicating captain Joe Root’s decision to field under an overcast sky. Australia dropped Marcus Harris to accommodate both fit-again Head and Usman Khawaja, who scored twin hundreds in the last Test in Sydney batting in the middle order.

Ollie Robinson broke through in the

sixth over when Zak Crawley took a catch at second slip to send back David Warner for a 22-ball duck.

Crawley spilled Labuschagne off Robinson before the batsman had scored, diving to his left in what could have been a regular catch for Root at first slip.

Khawaja edged Stuart Broad to depart for six, and Crawley made no mistake when Robinson induced an edge from Steve Smith, who fell for a duck.

Labuschagne went on the attack, flicking Chris Woakes for a six before a bizarre dismissal. The right-hander shuffled outside the off stump and overbalanced.

Broad’s delivery clattered onto his stumps.

Head raced to a 112-ball century but fell immediately afterwards, offering a leading edge to Robinson at mid-on trying to hit Woakes over mid-wicket.

Head’s second century of the series contained 12 boundaries.

Mark Wood bounced out Green for 74, the all-rounder’s second fifty of the series, before rain interrupted play.

England suffered another injury blow after Robinson suffered a back spasm that limited his bowling to only eight overs. “Those things can come and go.

We’re hoping with treatment overnight, he can come back tomorrow, be fit enough to bowl tomorrow,” fast bowling coach Jon Lewis told reporters.

“We bowled fantastically well up front but felt movement went out the ball completely after about 20 overs,” he said in his assessment of their bowling effort.

Sam Billings made his Test debut for England replacing the injured Jos Buttler behind the stumps.

Australia cancels Novak Djokovic’s visa again ageNcies The Australian government cancelled Novak Djokovic’s visa for a second time on Friday, saying the world tennis No 1, unvaccinated for Covid-19, may pose a risk to the community.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used discretionary powers to again cancel Djokovic’s visa, after a court quashed an earlier revocation and released him from immigration detention on Monday.

“Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so,” Hawke said in a statement.

The cancellation means Djokovic would be barred from a new Australian visa for three years, except under certain circumstances.

Earlier, Australia vowed to enforce its Covid-19 vaccine border rules “rigorously”. The Serbian world number one practised on the Australian Open courts in the morning for his attempt to secure a 10th title at the tournament, which starts in three days.

Victory in the competition, in which he is the top seed, would have delivered a record 21st Grand Slam. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has come under fire for not deciding sooner on whether to eject the 34-year-old tennis ace, an avowed vaccine sceptic.

Djokovic’s legal team had scored a win on Monday by quashing the cancellation of his visa by Melbourne airport border control over his Covid-19 vaccination status.

Since then, Hawke has threatened to use his own powers to tear up Djokovic’s visa a second time.

Hawke’s spokesman said mid-week

that “lengthy further submissions” from Djokovic’s legal team had delayed a decision. A report in The Australian said Djokovic’s lawyers would challenge a fresh cancellation of his visa.

Djokovic’s legal team was “expected” to file an injunction against deportation, the newspaper said without citing a source.

‘A fArce’ Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia only lets in foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or have an acceptable medical exemption.

“That policy has not changed and we will continue to apply that policy rigorously,” Birmingham told national broadcaster ABC. The visa battle with Djokovic is politically charged in Australia, which has endured nearly two years of some of the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions.

General elections must be called by May. Opposition Labor Party senator Kristina Keneally said it was now 58 days since Djokovic had been granted a visa to enter Australia. “@AlexHawkeMP needs to decide

now whether Djokovic stays or goes,” she said on social media.

“The Morrison Govt is just incompetent. This is a farce.”

Some tennis players say Djokovic should now be allowed to play, but not all have been supportive.

World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas criticised his behaviour.

“For sure he has been playing by his own rules,” Tsitsipas said in an interview with Indian broadcaster WION. “It takes a lot of daring to do and (is) putting a Grand Slam at risk […] I don’t think many players would do that.” Nearly everyone in the Australian Open had been vaccinated, Tsitsipas said.

But others “chose to follow their own way which kind of makes the majority look like they’re all fools”.

‘MisinforMAtion’ Djokovic flew into Melbourne airport on January 5 claiming a vaccine exemption because of a positive PCR test result on December 16.

Border agents rejected his exemption, saying a recent infection was an insuffi-

cient justification, tore up his visa and placed him in a detention centre.

Djokovic overturned the visa decision because border officials at the airport failed to give him the agreed time to respond.

As the Omicron variant races through Australia’s population, Djokovic’s actions come under greater scrutiny.

The tennis ace described reports about post-infection outings without a mask in Serbia as “misinformation” in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

On the day of his claimed positive test in Serbia, he attended a ceremony to honour him with stamps bearing his image.

The following day he attended a youth tennis event. He appeared at both apparently without a mask. ‘error of judgeMent’ Djokovic said he only received the PCR test result after going to the children’s tennis event on December 17.

But he admitted that he also went ahead with an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe on December 18.

“On reflection, this was an error of judgement and I accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment,” Djokovic said. The journalist who carried out the L’Equipe interview, Franck Ramella, said he had been unaware at the time of the interview that Djokovic was Covid-positive.

The tennis star also admitted to a mistake on his Australian travel declaration, in which a box was ticked indicating that he had not, or would not, travel in the 14 days before flying to Melbourne.

Social media posts and reports show he flew from Serbia to Spain during that period.

Djokovic blamed his support team for this. “My agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box,” he said.

Saturday, 15 January, 2022

PrAyer Timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

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ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:45

12:16

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CitizEnS ovER 18 now EligiblE foR fREE anti-CoviD booStER Shot: nCoC

t

HE National Command and Operation Centre on Friday announced that citizens over 18 years old will be eligible for a free anti-Covid booster shot of their choice from tomorrow onwards.

The NCOC took to Twitter to state that “Age limit for booster dose has been further reduced. Booster (one dose) will be administered after 6 months gap from complete vaccination” It is pertinent to note that a day earlier, Pakistan reported 7 Covid-19 related deaths and 3,567 new positive cases.

According to the NCOC’s statistics, 48,449 tests were conducted and the positivity ratio reached 7.36 per cent.

Covid-19 first emerged in the country in February 2020 and hit its peak in the summer. The cases started

declining in July only to rise again towards the end of the year in the form

of its second wave.

Two more Covid waves were wit-

nessed in the first quarter and then in the second quarter of last year. The waves were driven by deadlier delta and the Indian variant of coronavirus.

Now, the country is in the grip of a fifth wave fuelled by a superspreader variant, Omicron.

Earlier on January 11, Planning Minister Asad Umar, who supervises the government’s anti-Covid strategy stated that the people who had not been vaccinated so far must get the shots as soon as possible, while those fully vaccinated six months ago, should go for a booster doze.

He further reiterated his call on all the provinces to follow the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and the obligatory regime in letter and spirits in order to curtail the spread of the fifth wave of Covid-19. news desk

Terrorist killed, 2 others arrested during IBO in North Waziristan: ISPR

Earthquake jolts Pakistan’s northern areas An earthquake jolted Pakistan’s northern areas on Friday night, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

The PMD said that the magnitude of the earthquake was recorded at 5.6. The epicenter of the quake, according to the department, was the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, while its depth was recorded at 100 kilometres.

Strong tremors were felt in Peshawar, Malakand, Swat, Mardan, Swabi, Shangla, Buner, GilgitBaltistan, Bajaur and other areas of the country at around 9:13pm.

No casualty or damage was reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, a 5.0-magnitude earthquake had hit coastal parts of Balochistan.

According to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC), the epicentre of the moderate earthquake was 50 kilometres south of Gwadar at a depth of 25km in the Makran subduction zone. “It’s the first time in decades that an earthquake of this magnitude has been reported in the Makran subduction zone and was felt from Gwadar to Omara,” NSMC Director Ameer Hyder had told a news outlet.He had said while an earthquake of this magnitude couldn’t produce a tsunami, there was a need for preparedness as the region had the potential to generate a tsunami anytime. news desk

One terrorist was killed while two others were arrested during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) by security forces in Miranshah, North Waziristan, the military’s media affairs wing revealed in a statement on Friday.

“Weapons and ammunition [were] also recovered from [the] terrorists. Area clearance operation in progress to hunt down any other terrorist in the area,” the ISPR said.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that the security forces conducted the IBO on the reported presence of terrorists.

Separately, a Pakistan Army

soldier embraced martyrdom after terrorists attacked a military post in Bannu’s Janikhel.

In a statement, the ISPR said that terrorists fired on a military post on the night of January 13-14.

“Army troops initiated a prompt response and effectively engaged the terrorists’ location,” the statement said. It added that during the intense exchange of fire, 26year-old Sepoy Sarfaraz Ali embraced martyrdom.

It is pertinent to note that last week, two soldiers were martyred and many terrorists killed in two separate IBOs conducted by secu-

rity forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During intense exchanges of fire, two terrorists were killed and three others apprehended, while one surrendered to security forces, the ISPR said, adding that weapons and a huge cache of ammunition, including improvised explosive devices and rockets, were found in the terrorists’ possession.

As per the details, the operations were carried out in Dera Ismail Khan’s Tank area and South Waziristan’s Kot Kili village following reports of terrorists’ presence in these areas, the ISPR stated. news desk

PKR recovers 31 paisas against USD KARACHI TLTP

Pakistani rupee gained 31 paisas (+0.18 percent) against the US dollar on Friday, ending the week on a positive note.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the dollar opened at Rs176.38 in the interbank market and closed at Rs176.07. The rupee witnessed a dull trading range during the session, showing the intraday high bid of 176.30 and low offer of 176.05. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 177.50/178.50 per dollar.

Overall Pakistan rupee has gained 60 paisas against the US dollar during this week, while it has depreciated by 12 paisas during the current year 2022. The local unit has depreciated by Rs18.64 during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22.

The local currency remained on the front foot against the American dollar as the latter entered a sell-off spiral on Wednesday in the global markets following the release of US inflationary figures for December. Inflation rose by 7 percent, the fastest annual rate since 1982, a sign that inflationary pressures are far from receding amid surging consumer demand and overburdened supply chains.

However, on a month-on-month basis, prices rose from the prior month by 0.5 percent in December, easing from a 0.8 percent gain in November.

According to currency experts, the approval of the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 by the parliament and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 by the National Assembly strengthened the local unit as the steps will pave the way for the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

They said that these bills brought the IMF-related uncertainty in the market to an end. They said the greenback is overvalued against the local currency.

However, they warned that rising commodity prices in the international market threaten the rupee's stability, as Pakistan’s import bill may increase and that will put pressure on the rupee.

Meanwhile, workers’ remittances rose to $15.8 billion during the first six months (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2021-22, showing a growth of 11.3 percent as compared to the same period of the last financial year.

During the month of December 2021, workers' remittances continued their strong impetus of remaining above $2 billion since June 2020 as they jumped to $2.52 billion, showing a growth of 2.5 percent on a month-onmonth basis and 3.4 percent on a year-on-year basis. This also supported the PKR to make gains against the USD. Moreover, the rupee’s stabilisation is the result of the apt measures taken by the central bank in recent days to improve the transparency in the foreign exchange market.

Indian defence chief's pilot 'disoriented by weather': inquiry NEW DELHI AFP

A pilot disoriented by a sudden change in weather conditions crashed the helicopter carrying India's defence chief General Bipin Rawat last month, killing all 14 people on board, an official inquiry found on Friday.

The 63-year-old Rawat was travelling with his wife and other senior officers in the Russian-made Mi-17 chopper, which crashed near its destination in southern Tamil Nadu state.

"The court of inquiry has ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as a cause of the accident," India's defence min-

istry said in a statement.

The ministry said that the investigation team analysed the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and questioned witnesses to come up with its preliminary report.

The aircraft entered clouds due to an "unexpected change in weather conditions", it said. "This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in Controlled Flight into Terrain."

Rawat was India's first chief of defence staff, a position that the government established in 2019, and was seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His death was the subject of wall-to-wall coverage in Indian media, and his flag-

wrapped coffin was towed through the streets of New Delhi on a gun carriage draped with flower garlands before he was cremated.

He and his wife were cremated together on the same pyre, with a 17-gun salute fired as their daughters set it alight.

Rawat was an outspoken and polarising but hugely popular officer who came from a military family and had already survived a helicopter accident in 2015, with minor injuries.

The general was headed to the Defence Services Staff College to address students and faculty when the Mi-17 chopper crashed in foggy conditions.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk