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Saturday, 30 April, 2022 I 28 Ramzan, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 302 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

At leAst 5 PAkistAni Pilgrims Arrested for slogAneering At mAsjid-e-nAbwi

ISLAMABAD

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staff report

group of pilgrims from Pakistan, who chanted unwelcoming slogans against the delegation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, in Madina was arrested on Friday, the nation’s embassy in Islamabad confirmed.

The embassy said that the protesters were taken into custody for “violating the regulations” and “disrespecting” the sanctity of Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH).

A Saudi publication further confirmed that at least five Pakistani nationals were arrested.

Demonstrations are illegal in Saudi Arabia but videos emerging on social media platforms showed the crowd around the delegation, shouting “chor, chor (thief)”.

The video is said to have emerged from the Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) in Madina on Thursday. The clip showed hundreds of pilgrims raising the slogan as the delegation made its way to the mosque, escorted by security personnel.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb and Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) chief Shahzain Bugti were seen in the video, among others.

In a separate video, Aurangzeb blamed former prime minister Imran Khan for the protest. “I will not name this person on this holy land because I do not want to use this land for politics. But they have destroyed the (Pakistani) society,” the minister claimed.

She further said that she regretted there was a section of society, which was maintaining such hateful traditions.

Several politicians and religious figures condemned the incident on Twit-

ter and some blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

On the other hand, PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari tweeted: “Imported govt of criminals brought in by US regime change conspiracy met by chants of ‘thieves’ in Madina Sharif.

“I deleted the video tweeted earlier because I heard some abusive words, especially inappropriate in a place of worship. This criminal gang will be shamed by Pakistanis wherever they go.”

Mazari slammed the government by saying: “For the record, the people showing their anger in Madina Sharif and other parts of the world are Pakistanis angry that a US regime change conspiracy targeted a democratically elected Pak PM aided by segments of media & powerful local abettors to thrust criminals back into power!”

The former minister also tweeted that not all members who protested at the mosque belonged to the PTI, and these were Pakistan nationals who had seen the country plundered by these looters (in reference to Sharif’s cabinet).

During the visit, Sharif is set to seek an additional package of $3.2 billion from Saudi Arabia. He will pose this request to avert further depletion of foreign currency reserves.

Saudi Arabia had already given $3 billion in deposits to Pakistan and an oil facility on deferred payment worth $1.2 billion during Imran Khan’s tenure.

Meanwhile, at a press conference, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said his ministry would request the Saudi Arabia government to take “appropriate action” against the Pakistani pilgrims.

“My ministry will make a humble request to the Saudi government to take appropriate action on this matter. We are going to convey the pain the nation felt at these incidents in Masjid-eNabwi (PBUH),” he said.

PM vows to deepen, diversify strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia ISLAMABAD staff report

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that Pakistan wants to transform its historic relations with Saudi Arabia into a deep and diverse strategic partnership.

“Our two countries have had this special bond for seven decades now. It is now our earnest desire to transform this relationship into a deep, diverse and mutually beneficial strategic partnership,” Sharif told Arab News in an interview.

“The very fact that I went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on my first visit abroad, reflects the high importance that Pakistan attaches to its special relationship with Saudi Arabia.”

The prime minister said both countries were now working on exploring new and non-conventional areas of bilateral cooperation, with a particular focus on promoting economic, trade and investment ties.

As most of the world remains concerned by the situation in Europe, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sharif said that Pakistan enjoys good relations with both countries and hoped that peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv would resume soon.

“The conflict reflects the failure of

LHC directs NA speaker to administer oath to Punjab CM-elect Hamza Shehbaz LAHORE staff report

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf to administer the oath to Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:30am.

The court issued the nine-page written verdict after the PML-N leader sought its intervention for a third time over his oath-taking process.

Earlier today, Hamza had filed a petition seeking the administration of oath to him by “a person nominated by the court” owing to the “defiant attitude” of President Arif Alvi and the province’s governor, Omar Sarfraz Cheema.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Jawad Hassan asked about the order passed by the LHC CJ. Subsequently, Hamza’s counsel, Khalid Ishaq, read the order out loud and told the court that the president and the Punjab governor were blatantly violating the Constitution.

Justice Hassan remarked that no one should have the audacity to flout the court’s directives. “This concerns the respect of the high court and Pakistan’s judiciary,” he said.

He also regretted the fact that two orders passed by the high court were not implemented, adding that he would make a decision based on

the Constitution.

Hamza’s lawyer told the court that LHC had issued directives for holding the chief minister’s election.

He added that the governor was refusing to administer the oath to the chief minister-elect in contravention of the court’s directives.

When the hearing continued after a short break, Justice Hassan asked why the petitioner had not made the president and the Punjab governor respondents in the case. At this, Hamza’s lawyer replied by saying there was no need to make them respondents in the case.

Meanwhile, Punjab Additional Advocate General Umair Niazi contended that proceedings could only

move forward once the Punjab advocate general was issued a notice under Article 27-A of the Constitution.

“The Punjab governor has sent the matter to the president. How can he administer the oath when the matter is with the president?” he asked.

He told the court that the Senate chairman could also administer the oath. “But according to my information, he is currently not in the country,” he said. He added that the president or the Punjab governor could administer the oath or appoint a representative to do the same.

The court had reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments.

HAMzA fILES THIRd PETITIoN: This was the third time that Hamza —

diplomacy. There is a need for immediate cessation of hostilities, sustained dialogue, and continuous diplomacy,” he added. “A diplomatic solution in accordance with relevant multilateral agreements, international law, and the provisions of the UN Charter is indispensable.”

While Pakistan has abstained from various UN resolutions condemning the invasion that started in late February, Sharif said it “supports all efforts to provide humanitarian relief to civilians in the affected areas.”

Islamabad had dispatched two C130 aircraft to deliver relief assistance to the people of Ukraine and was considering sending more supplies as a “gesture of solidarity,” he added.

“The conflict was not in the interest of anyone, especially the developing world,” he further said.

Meanwhile, Sharif offered Friday prayers at Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH). The prime minister prayed for the peace and prosperity of the country. The members of the prime minister’s delegation also offered the prayers.

The prime minister twice visited Roza-e-Rasool (PBUH) to pay his respects. He also offered Nawafil.

more inside

who was elected as Punjab’s chief executive on April 16 during a provincial assembly session marred by mayhem — sought LHC’s intervention over his oath-taking process as the Punjab governor continues to refrain from administering oath to him, questioning the validity of his election, and President Alvi is yet to nominate another individual to perform the duty, as directed by the high court earlier.

In a petition filed on Friday, Hamza contended that the governor and president had proved themselves to be “guided by whims and fantasies instead of law and Constitution” by refusing to abide by the court’s orders on his previous two petitions.

The PML-N leader had first approached the court after Cheema refused to administer oath to him.

After hearing the arguments, the court had instructed President Alvi to appoint a representative to administer the oath in the absence of the governor.

However, after further delay by the president, Hamza had moved the court again on April 25. This time, he had asked the LHC to instruct Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to administer oath to him. In his ruling, LHC CJ Ameer Bhatti had directed Governor Cheema to complete Hamza’s oath-taking process by April 28.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

ECP dismisses PTI petition to disqualify Gillani over horse-trading STORY ON PAGE 02

Blast kills more than 50 worshippers at Kabul mosque STORY ON BACK PAGE

Suri seeks police action after Bugti supporters attacked him at Islamabad eatery STORY ON PAGE 03

India says talks with Pakistan only after ‘terror’ stops STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

ECP dismissEs PTi PETiTion To disqualify Gillani ovEr horsE-TradinG ISLAMABAD

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Staff RepoRt

HE Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected a petition moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party to disqualify Yousaf Raza Gillani, former leader of the opposition in the Senate, over charges of horse-trading.

In March last year, days before the

Senate elections, a video recording and WhatsApp chat surfaced, showing offers were being made to the MPs from PTI by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmakers.

In the video, Gillani’s son can be seen explaining through specific details to at least two lawmakers how to cancel their votes.

A separate video recording also revealed the discussion of money that took purportedly place between Sindh Minister Nasir Hussain Shah and at least four PTI

MPs. In the video, there also seemed to be negotiations taking place promising funds ranging from Rs50 million to Rs200 million for development projects for their votes.

Later, in a statement, Haider admitted his role in the vote-trading, saying he had sought support from the PTI lawmakers. However, he claimed he did not offer money against votes. Dismissing the claim, the election commission declared the former prime minister had no link to the matter.

However, it ordered the district election commissioner in Islamabad to start a criminal case under Sections 167 (corrupt practices) and 168 (bribery) of the Elections Act, 2017 against Haider as well as PTI MPs Faheem Khan and retired Captain Jamil Ahmed Khan.

The agency had reserved its verdict on April 5. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the case.

In its ruling, the commission insisted it was not presented with correct facts in the case. 20 hearings were held in the case and 12 times the hearings were adjourned on demand.

Gillani, who was fielded as a joint candidate of the 11-party PDM on a technocrat seat from Islamabad, defeated then-finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in a major setback to the government. He received 169 votes to the latter’s 164.

Govt will request KSA to take stern action against people involved in Madina incident: Sanaullah NewS DeSk Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday announced that the government will request Saudi Arabia’s authorities to take appropriate action against those who instigated the use of indecent language and behaviour within the premises of Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) in Madina.

Referring to the heckling and abuse faced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, federal ministers and parliamentarians on Thursday, the minister stated that the act hurt the sentiments of the Muslim Ummah and was condemnable.

Addressing a joint news conference along with Adviser to PM on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira, Sanaullah said the Saudi government will be requested to provide Pakistan with identification of the culprits involved in the “shameful act” for action against them. The advice of the law ministry will also be sought to proceed against such elements.

“Such elements should be deported as they must not be permitted to stay anymore on the holy land,” said the interior minister.

Rana Sanaullah also accused former prime minister Imran Khan and former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed for pre-planning the act.

“Imran Khan Niazi should refrain from spreading anarchy and hatred in the country only to achieve his political objectives,” Sanaullah said, adding that the former premier was targeting state institutions for the same resolve.

“Imran Khan will have to answer the people for his bad governance during the last four years,” he said.

Qamar Zaman Kaira, in his remarks, also strongly condemned the act by a handful of elements at the

sacred site for Muslims.

The adviser said that Imran Khan must shun the practice of spreading hatred and creating divisions in society for personal interests.

Kaira criticised the former PM, stating that he was doing the “politics of fascism with the belief that only he and his party have the right to live in this country,” adding that no one would be permitted to target the institutions. According to reports, those involved in the incident have been arrested.

Mian Dawood claimed that the Saudi government has decided to impose a fine of 60,000 Saudi Riyals, five years imprisonment and a life ban on those involved in the incident.

Meanwhile, others claimed that up to 150 people have been taken into custody.

Alvi asks HEC to stop harassment, racial profiling of Baloch students ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

President Dr. Arif Alvi on Friday directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Quaid-iAzam University vice chancellor Professor Dr. Muhammad Ali to take measures to avoid incidents of harassment and racial profiling of students from Balochistan at the institute’s campus.

The president passed these directions after hearing the grievances of students in compliance with the Islamabad High Court’s order of April 8 asking the president to ensure that the issues of Baloch students regarding ethnic profiling were probed and a report was submitted before the court.

The hearings were held at the presidency and were attended by Ali, Ministry of Interior Additional Secretary Muhammad Ayub Chaudhary, and Barrister Imaan Mazari.

The president said the country faced a unique situation and the resurgence of terrorist activities was a cause of concern.

He added that counter-terrorism efforts were essential to peace and stability, however, stressed that these needed to be carried out with utmost care and balance so as to not isolate or profile any segment of the

population, particularly the students from Balochistan.

He also directed the vice chancellor that in the case of students from Balochistan, there was a general sense of deprivation or isolation, therefore, it was incumbent on all educational institutions to take more care to address such sentiments.

He said a proactive programme of activities and debates within the student community should be developed to address feelings of deprivation among Baloch students.

He further asked the vice

chancellor to diligently monitor any activity which may be a cause of concern to the Baloch students at QAU and to verify the credentials of visitors in order to check the impersonification and maligning of law enforcement agencies.

Earlier, the president had held hearings on April 20 and 21 with Baloch students where it was informed that a student had disappeared from his home town in Balochistan after receiving a phone call from an unknown person who asked him to meet another unknown person at the Campus.

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

suri sEEks PoliCE aCTion afTEr BuGTi suPPorTErs aTTaCkEd him aT islamaBad EaTEry ISLAMABAD

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Staff RepoRt

OURS after supporters of Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) chief Shahzain Bugti attacked Qasim Suri while he and his guests were having Suhoor at an eatery in Kohsar Market neighbourhood of Islamabad, the former National Assembly deputy speaker approached police, seeking action against the group of “unidentified men”.

A video shared by journalist Murtaza Ali Shah shows a group of men approaching Suri while raising slogans of “PTI murdabaad (down with PTI)”.

Before Suri can get away, the men surround and assail him. Fists fly, as do dishes and miscellaneous tableware.

Suri submitted an application to the Kohsar station house officer, detailing the incident and asking for justice.

An FIR was later registered on Suri’s behalf under Sections 148 (rioting while armed with deadly

imran warns of issuing white paper against sharif family NewS DeSk Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday warned he would bring a white paper against the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz’s Sharif family. Khan — on April 10 — became the first prime minister to be ousted from office through a no-confidence motion, following which, Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the new premier. In his address to a PTI workers’ convention in Multan, the party chairman said he would soon give a call for Islamabad to his supporters as “Mir Jaffars and Mir Sadiqs” were imposed on the country. “We have to prepare each and every child in the country for our struggle towards an independent Pakistan. For this, we need to hold early elections,” the PTI chairman said. Khan alleged Prime Minister Shehbaz was involved in corruption worth billions of rupees and claimed that since the PML-N president siphoned money abroad, he did not raise his voice against the Western powers.

“He will sacrifice national interest to safeguard his money. We will soon bring a white paper against the Sharif family and expose them in front of the people,” Khan said, asking his people to gather two million supporters in Islamabad when he gives the protest call.

weapon), 149 (punishment for all members of an unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

No individuals were nominated in the FIR. Meanwhile, SSP Faisal Kamran gave assurances that action would be taken against the suspects according to the law, adding that they are being traced

with the help of cameras installed as part of the Safe City project and those mounted at the restaurant.

“The suspects will be arrested soon,” he said.

The attack came shortly after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his coterie of ministers were catcalled and jeered at by pilgrims at Masjid-eNabawi in Madina. Epithets like “chor, chor” (thieves), traitors and beggars were hurled at them by the angry protesters.

UNSC seeks cooperation with Pakistan, China to probe Karachi blast ISLAMABAD anadolu agency

Condemning this week’s suicide terror attack in Karachi, the UN Security Council (UNSC) has sought the cooperation of all states with Pakistan and China during the probe into the assault.

Current UNSC President Barbara Woodward, from the UK, said Thursday that the members of the Security Council “underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.”

An explosion ripped through a van near the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language learning centre, on Tuesday. Among the dead were three Chinese teachers and a local

driver.

China also demanded a “thorough investigation” of the terrorist attack in Pakistan’s financial hub, saying “the blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price.”

The UNSC urged all member states, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, “to cooperate actively with the governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard,” said a statement issued on Thursday night.

A CCTV footage of the incident showed a woman dressed in a burka walking up to

the van, followed by an explosion.

The Balochistan Liberation Army, an outlawed terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Woodward said the members of the Security Council “reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.”

The UNSC member states said: “Any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”

NEWS

03

mission honours distinguished diaspora at new york iftar New YORk app

Distinguished members of the Pakistan-American community were honoured at an Iftar dinner hosted by Ayesha Ali, Pakistan’s Consul General in New York, who said they were “role models” for the next generation of leaders. “This consulate general is your home — (it’s) the territory of Pakistan,” she told a large gathering of the community, diplomats from Turkey, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as representatives of different religions. “We will continue to support you,” Ali added. A number of police officers serving the New York Police Department (NYPD), led by Deputy Inspector Adeel Rana, were also present. Ali said the number of senior Pakistan-Americans in public and elected offices continued to increase last year, while 2022 has been a year of “firsts”, among them, Ahsan Chughtai, senior advisor to New York City Mayor; Asim Rehman, commissioner and chief administrator Law Judge of Oath; Shama Haider and Sadaf Jaffer, Assembly members in New Jersey and Zahid Quraishi, the first US federal judge. “You have been in the vanguard of presenting the tolerant, universal and peaceful spirit of Islam,” Ali said while introducing them. “I thank you for your service and for being the tremendous role models that you are.” The consul general said a strong community was the real foundation of a strong PakistanUS partnership. “Thank you for all you do for Pakistan”.

Ali said while celebrating Ramadan, less fortunate people like “our Kashmiri brother and sisters” in occupied Kashmir should not be forgotten. Their rights have been trampled upon by the occupation forces since 1947. “This Ramadan, our thoughts and prayers are in need to be heard and assisted, the world over.” The event wound up with a prayer for the solidarity and integrity of Pakistan and the well-being of its people.

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

04 NEWS

Rain, windstoRm expected acRoss pakistan duRing eid holidays: met office

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NEws DEsK

HE Pakistan Meteorological Department on Friday forecast light rain with wind and dust storms across Pakistan during the upcoming Eid holidays under the influence of a westerly weather system which will enter the country on May 1.

In a statement issued today, the department warned that the westerly wave would persist till May 5. Under the new system, dust storms are expected in Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, and Badin between May 1 (Sunday) and 2 (Monday).

It said rain and wind/thunderstorms are expected in Chaghi, Noshki, Quetta, Chaman, Pishin, Qila Abdullah, Loralai, Mastung, Zhob, Ziarat, Kalat, Sibbi, Naseerabad, Barkhan, Larkana, Jaccobabad, Sukkur, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Bhakkar, Multan, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Okara, Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, and Rahimyar Khan

from May 1 to May 3.

“Dust-thunderstorm and light rain is expected in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Waziristan, Murree, Galliyat, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mianwali, Khushab, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Sing, Jhang, Sheikhupura, Lahore, Hafizabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal and Gujrat from May 2 to May 4,” it stated.

The Met Office added that

from May 1 to May 5, the weather would change in the northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The thunderstorm, it also cautioned, could cause damages to vulnerable structures, while rain in Gilgit-Baltistan could lead to landsliding.

NDMA ISSueS ALert for GB AND KP: Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), later in the

Brent nears $110 as oil rally continues ISLAMABAD: Crude oil prices continued to climb on Friday as investors considered the impact of supply disruptions amid continued Covid-19 lockdowns in China and the growing possibility of European sanctions on Russia’s energy exports. As of 1250 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world's oil, gained $1.93 (+1.79 percent) to reach 109.52 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, jumped to $106.35 a barrel, up by $0.99 (+0.94 percent). TLTP

day, issued a heatwave alert in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the upcoming days.

It said that the temperature in the regions in the next five days is expected to stay from 5°C to 7°C, which is higher than normal.

“The heatwave more likely will enhance melting rate of snow and ice which may trigger Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and flash floods in vulnerable areas of GB and KP,” NDMA said.

It directed the provincial disaster management authorities to stay vigilant and alert and take all precautionary measures “especially in light of Shishper Glacial Lake reformation” which has increased chances of GLOF. The authorities have been further told to forewarn local community and tourists/travelers from visiting at-risk/vulnerable areas and ensure availability of emergency/rescue service personnel and equipment for rapid response.

Power crisis worsens as shortfall reaches 9,000 megawatts LAHORE STaff RePoRT

Electricity supplies to homes, businesses and factories across Pakistan have been cut for several hours a day over the past few days as the country grapples with a 9,000 megawatts power deficit.

The power supply remained at 15,000 megawatts against the nationwide demand of 24,000 megawatts.

“Major urban centres are witnessing loadshedding duration of 10 hours while the rural areas are facing power outages of upto 15 hours,” reports citing sources said. Interestingly, only a year ago, Pakistan was generating more electricity than it needed. Large-scale construction of new power plants — largely coal-fired ones funded by China — had dramati-

cally boosted the nation’s energy capacity. “It’s true. We are producing much more than we need,” Tabish Gauhar, former special assistant to then-prime minister Imran Khan on power, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The sources said the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) system was overloaded and the shortfall has gone beyond 1,500 megawatts.

“The quota of power supply to LESCO remains at 3400 megawatts against a demand of 4900 megawatts,” they said adding that the overloading led to disruption of supply to multiple grid stations, causing power outages in the city.

The situation is likely to worsen as summer intensifies, when air conditioners are switched on full blast.

Rupee gains 24 paisas against dollar KARACHI TLTP

Pakistani rupee gained 24 paisas against the US dollar and appreciated to 185.63 on Friday. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the rupee opened at 185.87 against the US dollar in the interbank market and closed at 185.63 after gaining 0.13 percent. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 185.50/187 per dollar against 185.40/186.90 a dollar a day earlier. Overall, the rupee has gained Rs1.12 against the dollar during the last five days after shedding Rs5.20 last week. The rupee has depreciated by Rs28.20 against the US dollar during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22 and Rs9.18 during the current year 2022. According to experts, the rupee witnessed some respite on the back of limited trading activity.

However, the gloomy macros will continue to put pressure on the local unit. They said though there is stress on the economy, yet some stability is visible.

CMYK

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS corporate corner AIOU announces results Islamabad: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has announced the results of the programs offered in spring 2021 semester including B. Ed (overseas), PGD (Entrepreneurship), MA(TEFL), Diploma (TEFL), PGD (Human resource management), PGD (Criminology), PGD (Supply chain management), PGD (Population Development), M.Sc (Administrative Sciences), M.Sc (Economics), M.Com and BA( Shahadatul Alia). According to Controller Examination, Dr Muhammad Ajmal Choudhury, students can check results on their CMS account at enrollment.aiou.edu.pk. They will log in to CMS with their username and password. Click on the exam and grade tile and then they can check their results in my grade option. pr

PMC committed to facilitate students Islamabad: The Department of Education and Evaluation of the Pakistan Medical Commission has formulated and successfully implemented admissions, curriculum, and easy procedures for medical/dental students. The PMC Department of Education and Evaluation has ensured a transparent admissions process through the digital portal for admission available to all medical universities and the medical and dental colleges are hearing students who are disturbed by the alleged irregularities in admissions so that the problems faced by the students can be solved on priority. In addition to ensuring the implementation of the policy of vacancies in medical/dental colleges, a transfer policy on vacancies has been implemented to facilitate the transfer of students to colleges of their choice. 275 affiliated teaching hospitals were temporarily registered and recognized for house jobs and 45 unaffiliated hospitals were temporarily registered for house jobs. For the first time, seats have been allotted for house officers by the PMC. Under the government policy, the provision of paid house job opportunities has been ensured. All teaching hospitals are being regularly inspected to ensure a minimum quality of clinical infrastructure for training. PMC is working on providing scholarships to 567 deserving students for easy access to medical and dental education. PMC's performance in the medical and dental department is a milestone for all students, doctors, patients, and everyone else in the department. Spokesperson PMC stated that the department is working tirelessly to falcate all stakeholders and inked policies in the larger interest of the public and students. pr

NUST ranked among top 200 universities Islamabad: Guided by its vision aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) has unlatched yet another milestone achievement by standing amongst Top 200 world universities as per Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022. According to details, the university has not only retained its overall number 1 position amongst Pakistani universities, but also stood first in the country in 8 SDGs. These include Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG-6), Affordable & Clean Energy (SDG-7), Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure (SDG-9), Sustainable Cities & Communities (SDG-11), Responsible Consumption & Production (12), Life below Water (SDG14), Life on Land (SDG-15), and Partnership for the Goals (SDG-17). It merits special mention that in SDG-7, NUST has ascended 63 positions to be proudly ranked Number 4 in the world. The Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking is the only global ranking that assesses universities’ impact on society in line with the SDGs. NUST is one of the pioneering universities in Pakistan to have aligned its research & development with the SDGs. In 2019, the university participated for the first time in THE Impact Rankings, and was ranked in 4 SDGs. In the following year, NUST took a giant leap forward by surfacing among all 17 SDGs in THE Impact Rankings 2020, featuring among world top 100, top 200 and top 300 universities in different SDG categories, while moving up the overall ranking ladder from being amongst 300+ world universities in 2019 to 200+ in 2020. One of the thriving impetuses that have led the university to achieve this honour is its staunch adherence to quality standards.

It is also noteworthy that all of the university’s Engineering programmes are accredited under the Washington Accord. pr

LHC dIRECTS NA SPEAkER TO AdMINISTER OATH TO PUNjAb CM-ELECT HAMzA SHEHbAz

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contInueD froM pAge 01

N the third petition submitted today, the CM-elect said: “No heed has been paid to the direction issued by the constitutional court and the governor and president are harping on the same looney tunes of their purported notions which have already been condemned and deprecated as transgression of constitutional mandate.”

The conduct and actions of the

governor and the president were “contemptuous and treasonous” as they held in abeyance the constitutional provisions and mandate by unconstitutional means, the petition stated.

“Such blatant contemptuous conduct requires the initiation of proceedings under Article 6 and Article 204 of the Constitution ahead of all other actions.”

Hamza also highlighted that Punjab had been functioning without an active government for nearly a month now and pleaded the court to “end the

constitutional crisis”.

“Article 199(1)(C) empowers this honourable court to enforce fundamental rights. The judicial branch has long been described as the ‘balancing branch’ and our courts are the balance wheels of our entire constitutional system,” he said.

Subsequently, the CM-elect requested that his petition be taken up on the above mentioned grounds in the interest of justice, equity and in order to restore constitutional functioning of

TLTp

The cryptocurrency market turned bearish on Friday, with market capitalisation shedding 1.9 percent to reach $1.88 trillion.

As of 1335 hours GMT, the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s (BTC) price dipped 0.9 percent to $39,009. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of the biggest crypto has reached $742.1 billion. Bitcoin has shed 3.7 percent of its value during the last seven days.

Ether (ETH), the world’s secondlargest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, slipped 1.3 percent to $2,868. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of ETH has reached $345 billion. ETH has been 4 percent down in the past seven days.

Similarly, XRP price went down by

the province.

“Kindly direct the administration of oath to the chief minister-elect by a person nominated by this honourable court at the Governor House at a specified time and the coercive arm of the state be set in motion for implementation of the orders of this honourable court,” the petition prayed.

It added that the defiant attitude of Cheema and President Alvi should be declared to be “utter and blatant violations of the Constitution”.

Sherry Rehman condemns Masjid-e-Nabwi incident ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Friday condemned the incident of hurling slogans against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his entourage at Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) in Madina.

On Thursday, a group of Pakistani pilgrims had accosted, heckled and chanted slogans at Shehbaz and his entourage at Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) in Madina.

“We strongly and unequivocally condemn the abusive slogans chanted against the cabinet members in Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH). It was clearly preplanned and deliberately orchestrated as a former

minister confessed on media. What is worse is that not only was it pre-planned, it was actually not condemned, but encouraged by the PTI leaders. Such shocking and reprehensible behaviour has never before been witnessed in the darkest hours of Pakistan’s politics,” Sherry said.

“Imran Khan is in the habit of provoking people to using foul language and abuse in public discourse.

It started with his slander which progressed into vicious name-calling and now the tradition of harassing political opponents. It won’t be long before he openly encourages violence against those with differing political opinions. He wants the political culture in this country to spiral down into a state of violent anarchy because he is intolerant of dissent.

His claims of a foreign conspiracy to oust his incom-

When it comes to Constitution, oppressed class, courts will open its doors at midnight: IHC CJ newS DeSk Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Friday said that if the matter is related to the Constitution or the oppressed class, the courts will open at 3am.

His remarks came during the hearing of a petition against the harassment of anchorperson Arshad Sharif.

Sharif’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

At the outset of the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah asked while addressing Sharif and his lawyer Faisal Chaudhry if they had watched Kashif Abbasi’s programme.

He said that remarks were made without the confirmation of facts.

“Kashif Abbasi had

asked why the courts were opened at midnight. A narrative had been built that the courts were opened at night upon someone’s directives,” Justice Minallah remarked, questioning if there were any political reasons behind it.

“Such a narrative was built to weaken people’s confidence in courts,” he said.

The CJ further asked: “Wouldn’t history be different if the courts had opened on July 4, 1977, and October 12, 1999? Do you think your news channel understands the Constitution better than the courts? The courts had been opened to protect basic rights. Do you want the courts should not open when there is an urgent matter?

These narratives would lead people nowhere.”

Justice Minallah further

said that a court opening after working hours was not unprecedented as the courts have to assume some responsibility.

“You should be happy that the violation of the Constitution was not allowed. We sent the message that no action against the Constitution would be allowed,” he said.

The court asked the private channel’s reporter how many programmes did they air on missing persons or Baloch students?

Justice Athar Minallah said that institutions are being destroyed because of political statements but added that it was not the first time.

During the hearing, FIA officials informed the court that they have not taken any action or launched an inquiry against Arshad Sharif.

Bitcoin slips to $39,009 ISLAMABAD

05

3.1 percent to reach $0.623. The market capitalisation of XRP stands at $30 billion with this decrease. XRP has shed 14.9 percent of its value during the last seven days.

On the other hand, Cardano (ADA) price slipped by 2.1 percent to reach $0.819. Its market capitalisation has reached $26.3 billion with this decrease. ADA has shed 10 percent of its

cMYk

value in the past seven days.

However, Dogecoin (DOGE) price gained 0.4 percent to $0.138. With this increase in price, the market capitalisation of DOGE has reached $18.4 billion. DOGE has shed 1.6 percent during the last seven days.

On the other hand, Avalanche (AVAX) price dipped 4.2 percent to $66.10. With this decrease in price, the market capitalisation of AVAX has reached $17.8 billion. AVAX has shed 12 percent of its value during the last seven days.

Meanwhile, the Cuban government has issued new regulations concerning the operation of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in the country. In an official resolution, the Bank of Cuba establishes specific procedures that these individuals or companies must follow to operate legally in the country, after establishing a general framework in August.

petent government were proven to be baseless.”

She further said that Imran Khan is trying to subvert democracy.

“Khan is actively trying to subvert democracy and institute a neo-fascist form of one man dictatorship. He seems to want a state where violence runs rampant and no one can participate in just and fair politics. But the state of ruin he has left the country in cannot afford either disorder or public chaos, which he is intent on encouraging. The real issue is the economy and governance of the country, which he has left behind in an unprecedented shambles. We will not let Pakistan descend into chaos just because a celebrity-fixated fascist has lost his plaything. Pakistan is not his plaything or feifdom and we will not let him defile it further,“ she concluded.

POF launches waste recycling facility

Pakistan Ordnance Factories has established Pakistan’s First Zero Waste Recycling Facility at Wah Cantt.

This Zero Waste facility has been established and operated by a private sector firm M/s Ghulam Hussain & Sons (GHS) which is one of the leading waste management companies in Pakistan. In this regard a ceremony was arranged under the auspices of POF Admin Deptt.

Mr.Murad Rana, Waste Management Expert GHS gave a detailed presentation regarding design and operations of the facility. He explained that this facility consists of 4 waste processing lines which include Waste Sorting Line, RDF Sorting and Crushing line, Compost Line and Green Waste to Pellet line. All the waste collected from the POF estate area will be recycled in this facility. pr

Ramazan relief package to continue till last day The federal government has announced holidays for Eidul-Fitr but the management of Utility Stores Corporation has issued notification to open stores till chand night for the convenience of consumers. Now all utility stores across the country will remain open till moon night and the supply of subsidized items has been ensured. There has been no increase in the prices of any item under the Ramadan Relief Package and no increase in prices since the beginning of the package. A notification has also been issued to pay honorarium equal to one initial basic salary for the employees of Utility Stores Corporation for performing additional duties during the Ramadan relief package. More than 10 million families have so far benefited from Utility Stores Corporation's Ramadan Relief Package. pr

IESCO issues power suspension schedule According to Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO)’s spokesman, System Maintenance/Development Work is in process. Therefore power supply of below mentioned feeders/areas will be temporary suspended as per given schedule: On 30 th April, 2022, from 06:00 AM to 10:00 AM, Chirah, Balkasar feeders, On 01 st May, 2022, from 06:00 AM to 10:00 AM, River Garden feeder and Surroundings will remain off. IESCO management apologizes to its esteemed customers for the power outage. If the work is completed ahead of time, the power supply can be restored even before the scheduled time. pr

Saturday, 30 April, 2022

06 COMMENT

Back to the 18th Amendment

Balochistan conundrum Realisation of problem is first step towards resolution

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ItH democracy retuning to Pakistan after the end of Gen Ziaul Haq’s military rule, Baloch nationalist leaders formed political parties which promised to get more rights and larger autonomy for Balochistan through peaceful struggle. In the 1988 elections Akbar Bugti became CM of the province with a number of former student leaders occupying ministries or constitutional offices. the BNP(M) swept the 1997 elections and was able to form a coalition government in Balochistan with Akhtar Mengal as Chief Minister. With Bugti, Akhtar Mengal and Abdul Malik Baloch vowing to achieve Baloch rights through peaceful means , there was no terrorism in the province, no attack on outsiders or on the forces. things changed radically after Gen Musharraf overthrew an elected government in september 1999 and took recourse to use of force against those agitating peacefully for Balochistan’s rights. Within months, reports of forced disappearances started appearing.

Hell was let loose when Bugti was killed in August 2006 and there were mass disappearances and extra-judicial killings of the Baloch youth. this gave a lease of life to insurgency that has continued to spread. the profiling of Baloch students in other provinces is also leading more young people to join the militants. the Islamabad High Court has taken a timely action to appoint a commission headed by the senate Chairman to investigate the grievances of Baloch students. As Chief Justice Athar Minallah pointed out, it appeared on the basis of what had been observed during the proceedings that the grievances regarding racial discrimination, enforced disappearances and lack of response by state functionaries are not unfounded. the real issue however lies in Balochistan the suicide attack by an educated Baloch woman on Chinese nationals in Karachi has led some of the country’s senior politicians to ask the authorities to take the incident as a final wake-up call. PML(N) senator Mushahid Hussain, PPP senator Raza Rabbani and PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar have separately sought the resolution of the issue of missing persons at the earliest as a major confidence-building measure to end the sense of deprivation among the Baloch people. they were unanimous in saying that the solution to Balochistan’s woes lies in political dialogue and not military operations. one hopes the coalition government would to take up the issue with the establishment.

dr Qaisar rashid

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N April 23, in London, heading a delegation of Pakistan Peoples Party’s politicians, PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met with Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz sharif. Both sides agreed to revive the Charter of democracy (Cod) signed in 2006.

Both decided to take it up from the point where their parties had left it. Both also approved to bring the Cod Part II, in consultation with all the allied democratic parties that wish to continue work for the rule of law, the supremacy of Parliament and respect for the Constitution. on the occasion, both leaders kept their deliberations focused on three main points: first, the disastrous economic management and unprecedented incompetence of the government of the Pakistan tehreek-e Insaf (PtI) had made the people of Pakistan suffer greatly; second, the country’s democratic system had been spoiled beyond recognition; and third, terrible blunders and self-serving trade-offs had mutilated Pakistan’s foreign policy. Hence, there was a need to repair the system. the meeting reminds one of the day of 14 May 2006, when, in London, Pakistan’s two former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz sharif, who were both in exile, signed the Cod comprising 36 points. Both leaders took into account certain challenges such as the mockery of the Constitution, the threat to the federation’s unity, the supremacy of the military, the marginalization of civil society,

Load shedding gets worse The present government can't blame the previous

Where the battle is being fought Zahra Khalid

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odesty and privacy in Hijab are Islamic concepts, but hey are also expressed in multi-ethnic and multi-religious countries. such as, in orthodox Christianity or Catholicism, women wear mitres, a distinctive headdress of bishops.

A nun wears her headdress as a symbol of purity, the sign of her affiliation to the church, her submission to God, modesty, and, to a certain point, her separation from the rest of society. Among Hindus, head coverings are worn by most women who keep the saree ‘pallu’ on their heads. In Judaism, the sheitel is a special wig, and headscarves, apart from yarmulke, are used by females. However, apparently, the biggest challenge for Muslim women is wearing the hijab that covers most of the body in publicas it correspondingly affects their professional and way of life as well. the verse quoted previously referred to gives a very good reason; it says: “this is more appropriate so that they may be known [as Muslim women] and thus not be harassed [or molested].” (33:59). Men, whether they confess it or not, are emperors lustful and desirous.

By superposing a specific faith, several female veil singers, girls in sports wearing the veil, women news reporters, have been trolled on social media and have made headlines in the recent past and have been targeted for choosing to wear a hijab. Recently, a barrage of questions and comments was thrown at this Pakistani rapper eva B on hijab while hailing the music show on which she appeared. she is called an up-and-coming niqab-posh rapper. A Pakistani tV host wears a burqa on live tV to protest anti-hijab comments by Pakistan’s nuclear scientist targeting women in hijab. similarly, a backlash has been challenged in neighbouring India where oscar-winning musician AR Rehman's daughter was targeted and objectified as female rarest burqa singer.

Both defended themselves with the slogans of “It's not your problem” and “It's my choice”. Muskan Khan's roar standing up against anti-hijab protesters as Indian Muslims captured the “brave moment” to link it with a religious movement. A sprinkling Muslim female journalists in the Us media seeks to inspire in

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motion turned the tables. the PtI foundered on one point: no sportsman spirit.

Rehman remained the main player accelerating the fall of the PtI government. Presumably, in any new Part II of the Cod, his inclusion would be significant. Nevertheless, in the shape of the JUI(F), a religious party with political credentials raising the slogans of constitutionalism has made its mark in the recent democratic history of Pakistan. this kind of transformation must be appreciated. the inclusion of the JUI(F) in any new Part II Cod would fortify the liberal progressive claims of the main signatory parties. despite all claims of neutrality and constitutionalism by the military, the civil-military crisis is not over. It cannot be finished as long as the 18th Amendment is around or until the military changes its outlook about the way the federation should run its affairs. the military comes with the claim that it has sacrificed more for the country and hence its share– in both power and finance– should be considerable. the military demands discretion. the argument given is that the soldiers have to be appeased. on the other hand, population pressure is taking its toll on the national exchequer. Civil strife to have access to the sources of the economy has been increasing. the solution does not lie in expanding the government sector to accommodate ever increasing mouths, but in expanding the private sector to utilize the brains, who could earn their own living. Currently, Pakistan’s annual population growth is around 2.8 percent, making it the world’s fifth most populous country with 225 million people in 2021. With the same speed, in 2050, Pakistan would be having a population of over 380 million, making it the world’s third most populous country after China and India. It means that the civil-military strife for more financial resources is bound to increase. seeking loans offers no permanent solution. Currently, Pakistan is at the crossroads where the number of disgruntled elements refuses to dwindle. the Karachi suicide bombing devouring the lives of Chinese teachers a few days ago is a relevant example.

Civil-military conflict on the share of clout and resources would continue. expectedly, after another couple of years, under a new excuse, the 18th Amendment would again be a prime target, if democracy were to survive in Pakistan.

The writer can qaisarrashid@yahoo.com

Hijab: A choice, universal right or empowerment?

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oAd shedding is getting worse, and the country will have to survive another weekend, as temperatures keep on soaring, and increased temperatures make more and more people turn on fans and air conditioners. the primary reason for there being a shortage of electricity is a double whammy of furnace oil shortage, which means thermal genertion plans are forced to remain idle, as well as the failure of glaciers to melt, which means that hydel power is not generated. While the formation and melting of glaciers is outside the ability of government to control, the availability of furnace oil is also a problem. simply put, the PtI Government did not place orders for furnace oil, which has led to the present crisis. the new government did not handle this crisis as soon as it took over, taking its own time to appoint an energy Minister in Khurram dastagir Khan, who has now promised that the furnace oil he ordered should arrive by Monday, just in time for eid. However, the last fasts will pass as the earlier ones, sweltering in the heat without power.

However, even if the current crisis is overcome, there are going to be more ahead. the country is still about two weeks away from the traditional hot weather, which will last until the monsoon in July. snow melt might mean some hydel production, but it seems that the effects of climate change are kicking in. Both people and government must accept the reality that temperatures will begin to rise earlier, and the hot weather will last longer. Monsoons will be briefer and less intense, with naturally deleterious consequences for both power generation and irrigation. the government should remember that while the PtI government’s failure to import furnace oil may well have been a ‘landmine’ for the new government, making a clamour about it won’t even win the government brownie points. the government must buckle down and seriously consider how to tackle the problem of climate change, without indulging in such escapist plans as the Billion-tree tsunami. even if proper attention is paid to the problem now, it may well be too late for this year. Butt his is a problem which is not going to go away. It is going to be back next year, and the year after that, and so on. therefore, solutions must be worked out, and implemented.

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

the rampant brutalization ravaging society, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the financial hardships inflicted upon the people under the military dictatorship. Both concluded that military dictatorships had adversely affected the economy, democratic institutions, defence capabilities and the country’s integrity. the culmination of the Cod was the 18th Constitutional Amendment that was approved on 8 April 2010. the Amendment remained the second most voluminous and comprehensive document after the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. the hallmark of the amendment was provincial autonomy, besides the supremacy of the Parliament. Nevertheless, whereas the Amendment became the source of federal consolidation, it soured the civil-military relations. the military considered that it had been cornered both politically and financially. this was how efforts were undertaken to bring up the third political force, the PtI. on 30 october 2011, at the Minar-e Pakistan, Lahore the Pakistanis saw the sudden appearance of the PtI on the national scene. Hopes were ripe that, after coming to power, the party would reverse the 18th Amendment. Unfortunately, the PtI failed to run the country. With that, the project to undo the Amendment was assumed over.

Compared to the pre-2006 era, the post-2018 time saw a new factor securing prominence on the political horizon, Maulana Fazl-ur Rehman of the Jamiat-e Ulema-e Islam (JUI), called the JUI(F). since 2014 and especially since the electoral campaign for the 2018 elections, Rehman had been facing with utmost grace the PtI-sponsored vitriolic onslaught and rancorous derision publicly. In the face of the ignominy, Rehman refused to drop his patience; he persisted with fighting for the political space of his party. It was the Azaadi March of the JUI(F) on Islamabad in November 2019 that shook the foundations of the PtI’s government. Rehman arranged a sit-in, demanded the resignation of the then ruling prime minister Imran Khan and asked for fresh elections.

Not only did the protest counterbalance the “umpire”, but also it sapped the resolve of the PtI’s government to run the country unhindered. the protest hastened the surfacing of internal bickering and revealed the papered-over cracks in the PtI, which got unnerved and committed more mistakes subsequently. From 2020 to 2022, the PtI’s government struggled to stabilize itself but in vain. the street power of the JUI(F) threw a colossal challenge to the hybrid regime. on 10 April 2022, a no-confidence

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erdogan was strengthening solidarity, empowerment, and promoting peace in a headscarf. Her headscarf looked more like a slick headwrap in appearance, which covered both hair and neck, giving women a neat and formal look. secularism is to shun the western style of dressing, embracing headscarves, family values, wearing makeup, and enjoying contemporary social activities for ‘the true path’ following Islamic teachings.

In most south Asian countries like Pakistan, Hijab as “Representation Matters” while encountering Bangladesh, Nepal, and India the headscarf doesn’t have bigoted and negative tags as the Hijabi reporter crew.

Women in France are excluded from a football a very modern image. It also led conservative activism field and seek to end in humiliation against the hijab not to go in one of the meetings, even those which are in ‘sports’ campaigning using the hashtag "Les Hi- only for women, with polished nails as they face critijabeuses" in the interest of religious neutrality. In Al- cism from other attendees for make-up and looking like geria, hijabi anchors have appeared on state tV for a movie star. the criticism forces a woman to think about the first time. Conversely, a woman from the Middle her outfit, consistently indulging her to feel slightly emeast raised her voice against the atrocities on women barrassed and to make inquiries into Islam and its culture in the form of sharia law forcing women to wear to fully embrace a religious life. despite that, deciding to wear the hijab must be out of hijab with irrational fear and a woman’s free will. Whilst raised the slogan “Let’s windy weather, the scarf can talk”. this year World Hijab flutter. It can reveal your neck day was marked under the your hair. to tidy up the theme that “Hijab is our Despite that, deciding to wear or whole thing and give a modern Crown, not A Crime” activithe hijab must be out of a appearance is to set an examties, and organized around ple to Muslim girls and the world to aspire to be woman’s free will.

Whilst women of the time who have great, disapproval of alleged windy weather, the scarf can been made to feel inferior by continuous harassment of feauthorization of society. males in schools and workflutter. It can reveal your neck the these intersecting issues, a litplaces for wearing hijabs, or your hair. To tidy up the erary and cultural fallen veil, but also aimed at putting an was understood as a device end to such practices no whole thing and give a modern that kept women apart from matter what the challenges appearance is to set an men and proved that the laws are and speak out when they do not have anything to do experience any form of moexample to Muslim girls and with the religion to boot, than lestation or victimization. women of the time who have hijab-wearers respect women For instance, during the who wear little. early enough current year in Nigeria; this is been made to feel inferior by as far back as 1965, I loved as they requested the Lagos the authorization of society state Government to issue a the way [American actress] Audrey Hepburn covered her circular reminding school administrator of an appeal hair with a scarf. Recently, the rising tide of Islamophocourt’s ruling, which permits Muslim students to use hijab in schools in the state.In bia has been heard by the UN which has adopted a landa succession, when the enemies of Islam were impend- mark resolution introduced designating March 15 as ing goodly, what does Rumi preach? Peace! Passivity! International day against Islamophobia as a way forsubmission! At the cutting edge, understanding cov- ward that presents itself as being a step in the right dietous and lustful desire, and linking up with men pre- rection of “patience,” “balance,” and “tolerance.” this dominantly corrupts us mentally, creating more respect will conquer us, not to give up from our headscarves for hijab-wearing women and less for unmasked or the but to obliterate the issue of universality whose potenother way around. It’s not just the objectifying male gaze tial carries the power to silence the weak,cultural, and that humiliates or threatens women; sometimes some religious differences for the sake of an idealized form women need frugality from their own unbridled selves. of harmony between cultures. the feminine form – desirable, alluring, and sensuThe writer is a Writer and Research Fellow for ous in the sociableness apart from the privacy of the marital home – should be made to appear in the public Advocacy & Communication in SDPI of Pakistan, sphere. In a staunchly secular nation, first lady emine and tweets @kzahrahaq

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Saturday, 30 April, 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

Oxidative stress in Anemic Dogs

Change of Guard in Pakistan: Perspectives and Significance against the Government of Imran Khan and in the context, three options were also discussed the PPP and PML( N) and over the years other with the establishment-resignation, no-conficentralist parties, the PML(Q) and the PtI of dence (vote), or election.

In a sudden development a constitutional Imran Khan also became very popular.

In addition, the Army or military establish- crisis emerged in Pakistan when on March 8, the ments have played a decisive role in the politics opposition parties submitted a motion of no-conof the country and the periods from 1950s to fidence against the government of Imran Khan 2000s several successful coups were made and in the secretariat of National Assembly and, in military rulers took over, from Ayub Khan response, on April 3 Fawad Chaudhry, newly ap(1958) to Pervez Musharraf (2008), barring short pointed law minister in the government, spoke democratic intervals, they ruled the nation and against the motion and claimed that a foreign power hds hatched the conspiracy to oust the kept it intact.

In the context, the resignation of Musharraf government. As it was against the Article 5 of is best considered as a demarcation between mil- the constitution of Pakistan, the minister called itary and politics of Pakistan. In past, most po- on the deputy speaker of the House to decide in litical parties of Pakistan had some favour of the government and soon after this, understanding with the Army and they shared Prime Minister himself addressed the nation and equally in all decisions of the government, na- declared that he had advised the President to distional and foreign. the only party who opposed solve the assembly in view of the dismissal of the interference of military in politics was the the motion by the deputy speaker. Acting upon PML(N), headed by Nawaz sharif, the elder the advice, Arif Alvi, the President of Pakistan, brother of the present Prime Minister, shahbaz dissolved the National Assembly under Article 58 of the Constitution. sharif. there onwards, on the same day, the political system of the joint opposition Pakistan began moving parties of the country towards the liberal The Supreme Court falsified the convened a parallel democracy and kept, alof the National though theoretically, logic of foreign conspiracy and session Assembly and passed not a close relation with restored the Assembly with an the no-confidence the Army establishagainst the government ment, but practically it order of no-confidence vote on of Imran Khan, but on is a known fact about the other after dissoluthe Army that still it April 9, although it was some tion of the House the plays a decisive role in time after midnight when the President asked Imran policy making as well to continue furas its implementation, government lost the majority’s Khan ther as caretaker prime especially in matters of minister of the country. confidence, later choosing foreign policy. these extra constituthe last general Shahbaz Sharif as Leader of the tional developments election for Pakistan’s a constituNational Assembly was House to become the 23rd Prime presented tional crisis before the held in 2018 in which Minister of the country on 11 country and in the situPakistan tehreek-ethe apex court Insaf, the political party April. The people of Pakistan and ation took suo motu notice of of cricketer-turned the ongoing circumacross the globe thanked the politician Imran Khan, stances Having heard formed the government judiciary for restoring the norms all sides of the case. with the support of his the supreme Court allies on 20 August as well as values of both the falsified the logic of for2018 and took the oath Constitution and democracy in eign conspiracy and reas the 22nd Prime Minstored the Assembly ister of the country. At this part of the world. with an order of no-conthe time the PML(N) fidence vote on April 9, President, shahbaz although it was some sharif, also left the poltime after midnight itics of Punjab province and became Leader of opposition in the Na- when the government lost the majority’s confidence, later choosing shahbaz sharif as Leader of tional Assembly.

Although, Imran Khan had got most of the the House to become the 23rd Prime Minister of problems during his regime that he faced in the country on 11 April. the people of Pakistan and legacy, and they had been continuing for some across the globe thanked the judiciary for restoring years back, he tried to get rid of them but could the norms as well as values of both the Constitution not succeed due to national and international and democracy in this part of the world. constraints. seeing no improvement under his The writer is presently Professor and Head, leadership, public anger and frustration went high and a general consensus formed against Department of Political Science and Dean of Sohim. this opportunity was fully utilized by the cial Sciences at B.N. Mandal University, Madopposition parties together and unitedly. In the hepura (Bihar), India. His 19 books published situation of mass movement, anger and disap- in addition to 900 articles in national and interpointments the opposition parties of Pakistan national journals and daily newspapers from 25 moved in the National Assembly of the country foreign countries.

Can Shahbaz live up to the hopes nourished of him?

dr rajKumar singh

T

He assumption of shahbaz sharif, the ex-three-time Chief Minister of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, of the post of the country’s Prime Ministeron April 11 is a welcome step for all, if the current situation of Pakistan like problem of foreign debt, ever-rising dearness all around the year, global image of Pakistan issue of corruption, improve sooner than later in days to come.

Keeping in view his long political experience at the provincial level as well as his commitment and dedication in completing the projects, improving law and order along with infrastructural development the people of Pakistan \nourished high hopes of him in this hour of crisis. the democracy and politics of Pakistan, like other countries, is firmly based on its constitution whose nature is federal, where all the constituent units have found a high degree of autonomy and flexibility in their working. the head of the state is its president who enjoyed massive powers before the passing of the 18th Amendment in 2010 as the nation shifted from a semi-presidential to a purely parliamentary form of government, but the powers of the President include the grant of pardon as well as the ability to suspend or moderate any sentence passed by any court or authority.

Now, the country has three branches of the government Legislature, executive, Judiciary, and two Houses of Parliament, the National Assembly and senate. they all worked with co-operation and maintained a fine balance among them. At the peak of judiciary is the supreme Court of Pakistan which knows the ethos of the Constitution and interprets it whenever a constitutional crisis emerges in the country. even in the current political crisis the apex court has intervened and actively performed as per wishes and requirement of the political system established by law of the land.

Basically, from the beginning Pakistan is a multi-party democracy where several parties try to win the maximum seats in the parliamentary and provincial elections held from to time, but after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, the people of the country preferred centralist parties in view of unity and integrity of the nation and as a result they strengthened a two-party system:

ANeMIA is a condition in dogs or pets animals related to a decrease in the level of erythrocytes and a lower in hemoglobin concentration.

Based on the scale and form of RBCs anemias are categorized as Normocytic normochromic, Normocytic hypochromic, Microcytic normochromic, Microcytic hypochromic, Macrocytic normochromic, and Macrocytic hypochromic and on the idea hemorrhagic and hemolytic anemia. the intention of our examine changed into to categorize the distinctive forms of anemias like normocytic normochromic, normocytic hypochromic, microcytic hypochromic, and many others in different breeds of dogs inclusive of German shepherd, Labrador retriever, pointer, Pitbull, and German shepherd. Another examine by tells us that RdW and MCV are useful tools to identify the anemia in different breeds of dogs. this study was conducted in department of Pathology in University of Veterinary and Animal sciences, Lahore and Chugtai Lab Lahore. In this study different breeds of dogs were involved which were anemic in condition due to different infections or nutritional deficiencies. total of 30 samples were included in this study in which 20 were diseased and 10 are normal or control group.

3 ml of blood were collected from the cephalic vein of each dog.

Complete blood count was study through the analyzer. the analyzer which was used for this study is MINdRAy (bc-5000-vet). different parameters were studied through this analyzer which hemoglobin concentration (Hb), red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), hematocrit (HCt), mean carpuscular volume (MCV), mean carpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and mean carpuscular hemoglobin (MCH). through complete blood count we were able to classify the anemia in different breeds of dogs in different conditions. the most common type of anemia which was found in samples was normocytic normochromic. the rare was microcytic normochromic, microcytic hypochromic, macrocytic normochromic and macrocytic hypochromic. the serology values of samples showed that in most of anemic conditions in dogs the serum ALt and serum ALP fall in normal ranges while the serum Ast increase in anemic conditions. there were two oxidative stress biomarkers included in research which are superoxide dismutase (sod) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX). the value of sod in anemic conditions was higher while the value of GPx was declined from the normal range. the Pearson Correlation was applied between three parameters of study. Red blood cells count (RBC) with glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (sod). the correlation of results tells us that there is positive correlation of RBC with GPX and negative correlation with the superoxide dismutase (sod). so, decrease in the RBCs mean decrease in the GPX and increase the sod. Correlation is the significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed). this result was checked on sPss version 2020.

MUHAMMAD SAJID LATIF LAHORE

Reforming tourism IN the last few years, Chitral has become a hotspot for tourists because of its lush green valleys, snow-capped mountains, and moderate weather. the Kalash valley, particularly, is famous for its beauty as well as the hospitality of the Kalasha community. despite an increase in the number of tourists visiting the northern areas, there has been little improvement in the infrastructure of Chitral and other areas. the shabby roads are dangerous to drive on, something that keeps tourists away. there are a few hotels and rest houses in most areas, and many are not equipped with basic services. Residents have taken up the issue of poor broadband services and electricity shortages with the local administration. However, authorities have paid no heed because of which progress in these areas has remained slow. other basic facilities such as clinics/hospitals are also absent.

Unfortunately, across the country, most tourist areas are suffering from a similar fate. the beaches of Balochistan do not have proper huts. there is little awareness of the heritage sites in interior sindh, and most have not been well-preserved. the federal government should work with provincial governments to facilitate the tourism industry and reform infrastructure in different areas. Around the world, many countries have a thriving tourism industry, which contributes to their economic growth. therefore, Pakistan must also invest in its tourist sites to benefit socially and economically.

UMAIR BAHADER CHITRAL

Quality of health care service PAKIstAN is one of the countries which is trying its very best to fulfil the objective of achieving the Millennium development Goals (MdGs). these are basically the goals that are set for the countries that are in the developing process. there has been a focus on the health care sector since the formation of Pakistan. Although the improvements are being made through bringing health reforms and health care policies. the introduced programs by previous governments are already having limited scope and that is the reason why the health care sector in Pakistan is inefficient and facing decline (Premani et al., 2016). Major weaknesses in our health care service providers include lack of resources, poor governance, poor quality of data available regarding the management system for the health, lack of interest by governments in monitoring the health policies and high level of corruption in this sector. the bureaucratic system of Pakistan has not played a productive role as bureaucratic power has divided the health care services for rich and poor instead of dividing it with equity (Premani et al., 2016). treatments for any health-related issues is a right for every individual rather than just providing to the elite and ignoring the middle-class individual one of the surveys conducted by transparency International provided that health care is one of the most corrupt sectors in Pakistan (relief web, 2013). this is one of the reasons why the majority of the population in Pakistan are very unhappy with the services being provided by the medical centres. the government-controlled health care centres are in a deep decline while the privately owned and controlled health centres are so expensive that they can not be afforded by the majority of the general public.

JANNAT UMAR LAHORE

Saturday, 30 April, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

Islam and the makIng of the West DURING EUROPE'S DARK AGES, THE ARAB WORLD KEPT THE CANDLE OF CIVILISATION BURNING

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Spiked HELENE GULDBERG

he history of Christian europe and the Arab world since the birth of Islam in the 7th century has consisted of wars, conquest and alliances. There has also been a great deal of trade between the two, and, most striking of all, mutually enriching cultural and scientific exchange. Indeed, europe’s emergence from the Middle Ages was in no small measure spurred on by the intellectual and scientific breakthroughs of the Arab world, particularly in the 9th and 10th centuries. however, as historian Peter Frankopan notes in The Silk Roads: A New history of the World (2019), the importance of the Arab world to the West has largely been forgotten. ‘In part’, he writes, ‘this is because of what has been called “orientalism” – the strident and overwhelmingly negative view of the east as undeveloped and inferior to the West, and therefore unworthy of serious study’.

THE BIRTH OF ISLAM ‘One hundred years after the death of Prophet Muhammad (PBUh), his followers were masters of an empire greater than that of Rome at its zenith, an empire extending from the Bay of Biscay to the Indus and the confines of China and from the Aral Sea to the lower cataracts of the Nile.’ Thus Philip K hitti, worldrenowned Lebanese historian, opens his 1943 book, The Arabs: A Short history.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUh), born into an Arab tribe in approximately 570 AD, is believed to have been a merchant in Mecca, Western Arabia. he was already in his forties when he began to receive a series of divine revelations from the angel Jibrīl – or Gabriel. These revelations were later written down to form the Koran.

Islam is the third and most recent of the three main monotheistic religions, and according to many historians, including hitti, it is ‘closely allied to’ and an ‘offshoot of’ Judaism and Christianity. The messages conveyed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUh) ‘parallel’ the ‘message of the hebrew prophets of the Old Testament’, hitti writes: ‘God is one. he is all-powerful. he is the creator of the universe.’ The religion of the Koran was closer to the Judaism of the Old Testament than to the Christianity of the New Testament. But as hitti writes, ‘it has such close affinity with both… that in its early stages it must have appeared more like a heretic Christian sect than a distinct religion’.

After the revelations from Gabriel, Prophet Muhammad (PBUh) became a prophet and sought followers among the people in Mecca. But the elites were ‘enraged by [his] criticism of traditional polytheistic practices and beliefs’, Frankopan claims, and ‘they laughed him to scorn’, according to hitti.

In 622 AD Prophet Muhammad (PBUh) left Mecca for Medina. Whether he was driven out of Mecca or chose to leave of his own accord is unclear. however, he was welcomed in Medina as an important statesman – a lawgiver and judge and commander of the army. A religious community of his followers, the Ummah, or congregation of Allah, grew rapidly, not only in Medina but throughout Arabia.

‘Thus by one stroke the most vital bond of Arab relationship, that of tribal kinship, was replaced by a new bond, that of faith’, hitti writes. By the time of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUh) death, former warring polytheistic Arab tribes recognised ‘a single authority… based on religious revelation’, writes British historian Chris Wickham in his 2010 book The Inheritance of Rome: A history of europe from 400 to 1000. Frankopan also emphasises Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUh) active role in ‘fus[ing] the many tribes of southern Arabia into a single bloc’.

This shift in loyalties was key to the ensuing rapid geographical expansion and the Arabs’ military and political conquests. The Arab tribes had previously survived by raiding neighbouring tribes. Now they were forbidden from raiding fellow followers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUh). So they looked further afield. The objective of these raids beyond the deserts of Arabia was to acquire booty rather than gain a permanent territorial foothold somewhere else. As Frankopan writes: ‘Willing to sanction material gain in return for loyalty and obedience, Prophet Muhammad (PBUh) declared that goods seized from non-believers were to be kept by the faithful. This closely aligned economic and religious interests.’ As the Arabs moved northwards into what is now Syria and Iran, they met little resistance from fading empires exhausted by the great 7th-century ByzantinePersian war. The Persian and Byzantine empires had also been weakened by devastating plague epidemics.

So it was that the Arabs moved from opportunistic raids to military and political conquests. ‘In 15 years,

the whole of the Sassanian [neo-Persian] empire and half the [Byzantine] empire had been conquered by the Arabs. Only Alexander [the Great], and the Mongols, have ever matched them for speed of conquest’, Wickham writes.

As Frankopan points out, ‘the Muslim conquests completed europe’s shunt into the shadows that had begun with the invasions of the Goths, huns and others two centuries earlier. What remained of the Roman empire – now little more than Constantinople and its hinterland – shrivelled and teetered on the brink of complete collapse.’ At the time in europe, trade had become primarily local, living standards and literacy rates had plummeted, populations had declined and cities had almost disappeared. Wickham describes this period in europe as one of ‘radical material simplification’.

‘The contrast with the Muslim world could not have been sharper’, Frankopan writes, adding: ‘The Islamic conquests created a new world order, an economic giant, bolstered by self-confidence, broad mindedness and a passionate zeal for progress. Immensely wealthy… it was a place where order prevailed, where merchants could become rich, where intellectuals were respected and where disparate views could be discussed and debated.’

THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE In his 2012 lecture, The Splendour of the Abbasid Period, historian Paul Freedman describes Islam as one of the key heirs of the Roman empire. Unlike the Germanic tribes of europe, which sacked the western Roman empire, the Arabs kept most of the Roman – and indeed Persian – administrative structures intact.

Indeed, the conquerors saw in the Roman and Persian empires wonderful civilisations to be preserved – ‘a garden protected by our spears’, as one Arab conqueror put it. But the conquerors did not want just to protect these civilisations — they also wanted to cultivate and develop them.

The early conquerors were not particularly interested in converting the conquered to Islam. Their strong Arab patriotism meant that they tended to see Arabs alone as worthy of their new religion. But there were also practical reasons for tolerating Christians and Jews and allowing them to worship freely.

As Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis explains in The Muslim Discovery of europe (1982): ‘Islam came into a predominantly Christian world, and for a long time the Muslims were a minority in the countries they ruled. Some measure of tolerance for the religions of the subject majority was therefore an administrative and economic necessity, and most Muslim rulers wisely recognised this fact.’ however, even under the early caliphate, Christians and Jews were forced to pay special taxes. ‘They were not supposed to wear certain colours; they could not marry Muslim women; their evidence was not accepted against that of Muslims in the law courts; their houses or places of worship should not be ostentatious; [and] they were excluded from positions of power’, writes Albert hourani in A history of the Arab Peoples (1991).

Tolerance often gave way to intolerance, too. ‘Although there were periods of acceptance of other faiths, there were also phases of persecution and brutal proselytisation’, writes Frankopan. ‘While the first hundred years after Prophet Muḥammad’s (PBUh) death saw limited efforts to convert local populations, soon more concerted attempts were made to encourage those living under Muslim overlordship to embrace Islam’, he continues. In the 8th century, less than 10 per cent of the population of what are now Iran, Iraq, Syria, egypt, Tunisia and Spain was Muslim. By the end of the 10th century, however, a large part of the population had converted to Islam.

THE UMAYYAD AND ABBASID DYNASTIES Since 661 AD the caliphate had been run by the first Muslim dynasty, the Umayyads, and the capital had been moved out of the Arabian desert to Damascus. however, in 750 AD the Abbasids drove the Umayyads from power. Afterwards, they invited the Umayyads to attend a supposed banquet of reconciliation, where they brutally slaughtered every one of them. however, one member of the Umayyad family, Abd Al-Rahman, had the foresight to say he was busy. he fled to Spain where he succeeded in getting himself proclaimed ruler, or emir, and became the first Islamic ruler to defy the Abbasid caliphate. The new Umayyad dynasty proceeded to rule Spain for almost three centuries, with its capital in Cordoba, which, by the 10th century, was deemed one of the most splendid and cultivated cities in the world.

Under the Abbasid Caliphate – which survived until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century – the orientation was mainly eastwards. The capital was moved from Damascus to a newly constructed city in the desert, Baghdad – which was later sacked, burnt and destroyed by the Mongols, in 1258. The rapid expansion westwards under the Umayyads came to a halt under the Abbasids.

The move eastwards, however, led to the flourishing of poetry, architecture, philosophy, science, mathematics, astronomy and more. Because Baghdad, the capital, was situated on the crossroads of the east and West, it brought the realms of India, Persia and the Mediterranean together. By the 9th century Baghdad had become the largest, wealthiest and most civilised city in the world.

Learning flourished, too. The caliphate funded the translation of Greek and Persian scientific, philosophical and medical texts into Arabic. In 830 AD a centre of learning, the house of Wisdom (Bayt al hikma), was established in Baghdad, where texts were stored and original research was conducted.

The Abbasids were inspired by Persian literature, poetry and astronomy, and by Greco-Roman medicine, mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. The Arabs adopted a numerical system from India – which has proven far superior to the Roman numerical system.

Indeed, Arabic numerals ‘provided the basis for leaps and bounds in algebra, applied mathematics, trigonometry and astronomy’, writes Frankopan.

Ibn Sīnā, latinised as Avicenna, was one of the most famous Muslim philosophers and physicians of this Islamic Golden Age. his impact on Medieval europe’s medical schools was immense and his philosophy was incorporated into european scholastic thought. ‘Just as the Abbasid caliphate brought the lands of the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea into a single trading area, so too the Greek, Iranian and Indian traditions were brought together, and it has been said that for the first time in history, science became international on a large scale’, hourani writes. And ‘all this took place while europe was almost totally ignorant of Greek thought and science’, hitti adds. hitti is largely correct about europe’s backwardness in comparison to the Muslim world during the Middle Ages. however, his dismissal of ‘Charlemagne and his lords’ as merely ‘dabbling in the art of writing their names’ is unfair.

After all, it was under Charlemagne, crowned the first holy Roman emperor in 800 AD, that the Carolingian Renaissance began in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. The Carolingian Renaissance introduced a system of Latin spelling and a more legible form of handwriting, with capital and lower-case letters – which is the form we use today.

THE ARAB IMPACT ON CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE The Arab contribution to european thought did not merely involve preserving Greco-Roman texts. Muslims made many breakthroughs, too. By the 12th century ‘the scientific and intellectual achievements of the Muslim world were being actively sought out and devoured by scholars in the west, such as Adelard of Bath’, Frankopan writes, adding: ‘It was Adelard who scoured the libraries of Antioch and Damascus and brought back copies of algorithmic tables that formed the foundation for the study of mathematics in the Christian world.’

The Italian Renaissance architect, Brunelleschi – most famous for designing and building the magnificent dome of Florence cathedral in the early 15th century – is also known for having introduced linear perspective, or the creation of an illusion of depth on a flat surface. For this, he relied on the mathematics of the 10th-century Arab scientist, mathematician and astronomer, Ibn al-haytham, latinised as Alhazan. Alhazan also wrote a groundbreaking thesis about how vision and the brain are linked and is often known as ‘the father of modern optics’.

The 14th-century Andalusian Arab, Ibn Khaldun, was described by the Florentine philosopher and diplomat, Niccolò Machiavelli, and the German enlightenment philosopher, Georg Friedrich hegel, as one of the greatest philosophers of the Medieval world. As Islamic scholar Adam Silverstein explains in Islamic history (2010), rather than see history as ‘teleological’ or ‘God-driven’, Ibn Khaldun described it as ‘cyclical and subject to rules and patterns.’ And in doing so, he helped put man more at the centre of history.

Ibn Khaldun argued that every dynasty or empire contains the seeds of its decline. They can be undermined by extravagance – of which there was no short-

The Islamic conquests created a new world order, an economic giant, bolstered by selfconfidence, broad mindedness and a passionate zeal for progress. Immensely wealthy… it was a place where order prevailed, where merchants could become rich, where intellectuals were respected and where disparate views could be discussed and debated

age in the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties – or leaders’ loss of authority and structures of command. After all, even the mightiest can fall. Indeed, the great powers of the Greco-Roman world, and their Byzantine and Persian heirs, had been replaced by formerly tribal nomadic Arabs.

But Ibn Khaldun’s universal history had its limitations. he showed no interest in the barbarians of the north – the Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Lombards and more – nor in sub-Saharan Africans or the Far east.

All of this damaged his attempts at formulating a universal history. And despite his many fascinating insights and inspiring descriptions of the immense scientific and intellectual breakthroughs made under the Abbasid Caliphate and Umayyad Spain, he had a bigoted view of many non-Arabs, particularly sub-Saharan Africans.

In The Muslim Discovery of europe, Lewis explores the ways in which europe and the Muslim world perceived, interacted with and shaped each other. he notes the almost total lack of interest displayed by Middle easterners in the language, cultures and religions of europe. ‘It may well seem strange’, writes Lewis, ‘that classical Islamic civilisation which, in the early days, was so much affected by Greek and Asian influences should have so decisively rejected the West’.

This might be explained by the dynamism, and philosophic and scientific breakthroughs of the early Muslim world and the backwardness of Medieval europe, which served to flatter Muslim pride ‘with the spectacle of a culture that was visibly and palpably inferior,’ Lewis writes. ‘Muslim civilisation, proud and confident of its superiority’, he adds, ‘could afford to despise the barbarous infidel in the cold and miserable lands of the north’.

By the time europe had awoken from its slumber and given us the Renaissance, and the scientific and industrial revolutions, ‘Islam was crystalised in its ways of thought and behaviour and had become impervious to external stimuli’, Lewis argues. ‘The peoples of Islam continued until the dawn of the modern age to cherish – as some of us in the West still do today – the conviction of the immeasurable and immutable superiority of their own civilisation to all others.’ A view that by the end of the Middle Ages was ‘dangerously obsolete’, Lewis argues.

THE RISE OF THE OTTOMANS In the early Abbasid period, the need for an effective army ‘was met by the purchase of slaves, and by recruiting soldiers from the Turkish speaking pastoral tribes on or across the frontier in central Asia’, hourani writes. Centuries later, these Turks rose to establish the Ottoman empire that survived for six centuries, from the 1300s onwards. In 1453 the Ottomans took Constantinople, now named Istanbul, and what was left of the Byzantine empire.

‘The Ottoman empire’, hourani continues, ‘was one of the largest political structures that the Western part of the world had known since the Roman empire disintegrated: it ruled eastern europe, western Asia and most of the Maghreb, and held together lands with very different political traditions, many ethnic groups – Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Armenians, Turks and Arabs – and various religious communities – Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians of all the historic Churches and Jews. It maintained its rule over most of them for 400 years or so, and over some of them for as many as 600.’

The peak of the empire’s power was under Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century. In 1529 his army reached the gates of Vienna.

SLAVERY There is a tendency to underestimate the positive contribution of the Arabs and Islam to the Western world. At the same time – with so much focus in the West on ‘white guilt’ – there is a tendency to downplay the brutal, centuries-long Arab practice of enslaving Africans, Slavs, Turkic tribes and european Christians.

During the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent, Barbary Corsairs terrorised european coastal settlements and captured thousands of ‘infidels’ who were sold into slavery. ‘To the europeans, the sea rovers of the North African states were pirates. For themselves they were fighters in the holy war, [carrying out] jihad against the enemies of the faith’, Lewis writes ‘Demand for slaves in these cash-rich locations was intense’, Frankopan writes, with the numbers of slaves being sold likely being ‘far greater even than those of Rome’. As Frankopan explains, we can gain an idea of the likely scale of slavery from the fact that one account talks of a caliph and his wife owning a thousand slave girls each, while another was said to own no fewer than four thousand. Although the numbers are uncertain, historians have estimated that the total number of African slaves taken by Arabs could be in the region of 12million – as many as those taken in the Atlantic slave trade. But rather than primarily being forced to work on plantations or in mines, those enslaved by Arabs were placed in domestic servitude, including concubinage. Just as europeans should feel no guilt for the actions of their ancestors, neither should contemporary Arabs feel responsible for the actions of their ancestors. We should face up to and learn from the horrors of the past.

Helene Guldberg is author of Reclaiming Childhood: Freedom and Play in an Age of Fear, and Just Another Ape?

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

BoI, KPT review progress on KCCDZ islamabad Ghulam abbas

Top officials of the Board of Investment and Karachi Port Trust on Friday reviewed progress of the Karachi Comprehensive Coastal Development Zone (KCCDZ) which has been included as a project for industrial cooperation under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Chairman of Karachi Port Trust, Nadir Mumtaz informed the meeting that the spadework of the project was being expedited for the early development of the coastal development zone (KCCDZ).

KCCDZ will be located in the backwater area on the west embankment of KPT, and the project entails development of three artificial islands through reclamation of land in the surrounding waters. KPT has developed the concept of KCCDZ project as means to solve the issues related to the Karachi port in order to solve many of the infrastructure issues plaguing Karachi city as a whole besides development of fisheries industry of Pakistan and providing opportunities, generating economic activities as well as enabling transfer of technology in the maritime industry. The project is being initiated under the joint working group in the second phase of CPEC and the group is led by the Board of Investment from the Pakistan side and the National Development and Reforms Commission from the Chinese side. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Board of Investment, Fareena Mazhar assured that the Joint Working Group was fully committed to the projects under its domain and all out efforts for early development of KCCDZ will be ensured.

Issues being faced in the development of the zone were discussed in detail and possible solutions were deliberated upon. Officials of the ministry of maritime affairs also participated in the deliberations of the review meeting.

KPT has proposed to carry out the KCCDZ in a phased manner. The zone will be established in the proximity of the port area. The phase wise development includes construction of fisheries industrial park, upgradation of Karachi fishing port, reclamation zone development, sea water desalination plant and construction of resettlement housing for Machar Colony.

China has had successful experience of the reconstruction of shantytowns which is a key tool for poverty alleviation.

A project proposal has been included in the KCCDZ within the scope of KPT for the possible resettlement of Machar Colony by the ministry of maritime affairs.

SNGPL to ensure steady gas supply to industries in KP The Peshawar High Court stopped the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) from gas load-shedding and disconnecting gas supply to textile mills in the province.

The order was issued by a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court comprising Justice Atiq Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmed while hearing a writ of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association submitted through Yasir Khattak and Ibrahim Afridi advocates.

The petition stated that under Article-158 of the constitution, the areas which produce gas should have first right over the commodity and only surplus gas be provided to other provinces. “KP is producing more gas than its consumption thus there should be no load-shedding and the mills should be ensured steady gas supply,” the petition said.

However, the petition said, the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company use to suspend gas supply which negatively affect the industrial production. The petitioners argued that it is not only a violation of the constitution but also violate several judgments of the Peshawar High Court.

The lawyers informed the PHC has earlier issued judgments, directing the federal government to ensure steady gas supply to area which produce gas. The petitioner said that the areas which produces gas, southern districts of the province, are economically weak and there is a risk of further crisis because of gas suspension to industrial units as investors are withdrawing their investment.

Lawyers for the petitioner told the court that they have raised the matter with the SNGPL officials several times but no action was taken to alleviate their grievances and the company has continued the “illegal” gas load-shedding.

The court stopped the authorities from load-shedding and restrained it from taking action against mill owners.

The SNGPL was asked to submit response to the petition before the next hearing of the case. aziz buneri

09

Power SITuaTIoN To ImProve wIThIN few DayS: DaSTGIr islamabad ahmad ahmadani

m

INISTER for Power Khurram Dastgir on Friday said that the power situation will improve gradually within the next few days and ongoing hours-long power outages are due to the non-availability of fuel for the power plants.

Addressing a news conference along with Minister of State Hashim Notezai, Khurram Dastgir said that power load shedding was due to shortage of fuel and also because of the closure of some power plants owing to maintenance and technical faults. He said that the power situation in the country will improve within a few days as a result of improved availability of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) and furnace oil to the power plants. He said total 5,739 Megawatt (MW) of electricity is out of system due to shortage of fuel while approximately 2,156 MW of electricity was not part of system due to technical faults in the power plants. If fuel was available then power shortfall would not happen in the country, said Dastgir.

“Teams have been formed to control the power load shedding situation while the government has cancelled holidays of power sector employees,” said the Power Minister.

He added that all power distribution companies (DISCOs) have been tasked to ensure that the situation does

not deteriorate further and control the emergency situation.

Dastgir also said the electricity problem in the country is not of electricity generation but of availability of fuel. He said availability of gas will start from 1st May (Sunday) while furnace oil run power plants and coalfired plants will begin power generation from the next week which will help overcome the shortage of electricity. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed to end the power shortfall from May 1, 2022.

Thar coal and Port Qasim coal plants will begin working from Sunday while the hydel generation of electricity will

begin in June to significantly improve electric supply, said Dastgir.

Khurram Dastgir further informed that power division will share the power generation, demand and supply data only to communicate accurate data to the public. He said that 10-12 hours long loadshedding will reduce to half during the next few days. He said an additional demand of two to three thousand megawatt electricity has arisen during the last few days which increased the demand and supply gap.

We are also watching the revenue targets of DISCOs and requests will also be made to the law enforcement agencies to check power pilferage, said

Khurram Dastgir.

Regarding revenue requirement to run the power plants and to control the power load shedding, Khurram Dastgir said that total Rs332 billion are required till 15th June while Rs107 billion will be required till 25th May and Rs85 billion will be needed till end of June 2022.

Khurram Dastgir also announced that the government is reconstituting the boards of all DISCOs. He said currently the government has been trying to end the long-hours power load shedding while later on the government will take measures for producing the cheap electricity in the country.

CDWP clears three projects worth Rs15.7804bn

islamabad Ghulam abbas

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has cleared three development projects worth Rs15.7804 billion, while recommending to the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval during its meeting held on Thursday.

The CDWP considered seven projects under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan and accorded two projects while one project was recommended to the ECNEC, said a press release issued here.

The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary, PD&SI, Secretary Ministry of Water Resources,

Secretary Ministry of Communication, Secretary Ministry of Industries, Chairman National Highway Authority, NHA, Members Planning Commission and other key stakeholders.

The forum considered Torkham Jalalabad Road 2nd Carriageway, Afghanistan project at the cost of Rs10,587.818 million, Establishment of 132KV Grid Station at Bin Qasim Industrial Park, Karachi at the cost of Rs3,601.304 million, and Upgradation of Mechanical System for Sewerage and Drainage Services in Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Multan at the cost of Rs1,591.280 million were cleared by the forum.

The forum while clearing Torkham Jalalabad Road 2nd Carriageway, Afghanistan project was recommended at revised cost of Rs10,587.818 million

linking the Central Asian Republics with Pakistan.

This project is funded by the Government of Pakistan aimed to help the government of Afghanistan in its efforts for the Reconstruction / Rehabilitation of roads network by constructing the additional measuring 73.668 km along the existing two-lane two-way road linking Torkham with Jalalabad.

The existing road which was also rehabilitated / improved with the GoP funding is 7.0 meters asphalted road with 2.0 meters treated shoulders on each side.

The additional carriageway will consist of 7.3 meters asphalted surface with 2.0 meters DST shoulders and 1.0 meter earthen shoulder on each side as per International standards.

The forum also cleared Establishment of 132KV Grid Station at Bin Qasim Industrial Park, in Karachi at revised cost of Rs3,601.304 million.

The objective of the project is to provide uninterrupted power supply at affordable rates to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Bin Qasim Industrial Park BQIP in order to meet the power requirements of SEZ enterprises.

The forum also cleared Up-gradation of Mechanical System for Sewerage and Drainage Services in WASA, Multan at the cost of Rs1,591.280 million.

The project was submitted by the government of Punjab. WASA Multan was established in 1992 and it is providing water and sanitation facilities to population of Multan city.

The agency is responsible for operation and maintenance of 1148 km water distribution system and 2055 km sewerage networks.

There are 15 disposal stations and 10 lift stations to collect and dispose of sewerage.

The water will be provided with the help of 84 tube wells to the people of Multan.

Int’l developments, inflation impacting economic activities: finance ministry islamabad shahzad Paracha

Although the economic recovery is underway, the international developments and persistent high domestic inflation might impact domestic economic activities, says Monthly Economic Update and Outlook, April 2022 released here on Friday.

“The domestic and international scenario is changing over the course of time. Thus, inflationary, and external sectors risks are building macroeconomic imbalances,” notes the report released by Finance Ministry.

Among the determining factors of current trends in both international and domes-

tic inflation are supply chain issues and surging international commodity prices.

It says, under normal circumstances, these prices follow a cyclical pattern; implies that normally, price spikes are followed by a cooling-off period. But, it adds, the current cycles of international food and oil prices were different as the volatility in the markets is high compared to historical standards. Second, due to geo-political tensions, the increasing trend in prices may remain intact.

The high inflation and the accompanying monetary policy reaction may temporarily dampen the cyclical position of Pakistan’s economy thereby reducing

growth prospects in the short run.

But in the long-run, Pakistan’s productive capacity will determine the growth as well as employment prospects, it says adding this required a substantial upward shift in the propensity to invest and of the productivity of investment expenditures.

Stimulating the propensity to invest implies that a larger share of the income that the country generates is used to finance Gross Fixed Capital Formation.

Structural policies are to be further designed to attract more productive investments from foreign sources (Foreign Direct Investments) and from both private and public domestic investors.

High international commodity prices not only keep inflation elevated, they are also a burden on Pakistan’s external account and hence on its foreign exchange reserves.

Many other countries are facing the consequences of high and volatile commodity prices, especially oil and gas prices, it observes.

Strengthening of Pakistan’s overall supply side through increasing its productive potential would allow it to produce more for exports and to discourage import.

These prospects would relax the external constraint that has historically weighed on Pakistan’s economy and which has caused regular Balance of Payments crises and an accompanying stop-and-go profile in Pak-

istan’s economic growth path.

While reviewing the performance of April 2022, the report observes that Pakistan’s economy was on growth trajectory confronting risks of inflation and external sectors pressures.

It says, the production of all major Kharif crops increased compared to last year’s production while during July- March FY2022, the agriculture credit disbursement increased by 0.5 percent to Rs958.3 billion compared to Rs953.7 billion in same period last year.

During Jul-Feb FY 2022, LSM witnessed the growth of 7.8 per cent against the growth of 2.2 per cent same period last year.

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

10 FOREIGN NEWS

42 hurt in violence at Jerusalem’s al-aqsa mosque compound: palestinian red crescent

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AgeNcIes

T least 42 people were injured by Israeli police’s actions against Palestinians at Jerusalem’s AlAqsa mosque compound on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, following weeks of violence at the flashpoint site.

The unrest came on the final Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramazan.

None of the injuries were serious, the Red Crescent said, adding that 22 people had been taken to hospital.

Israel’s police claimed forces entered the compound after “rioters” hurled stones and fireworks, including down towards the Western Wall, the sacred Jewish site below Al-Aqsa.

The statement said officers used “riot dispersal means” to contain the unrest. Witnesses and AFP reporters said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Police said three people had been arrested, two for throwing stones and one for “inciting the mob”.

“For the past hour, the site has been

quiet and (Muslim) worshippers are safely entering (the compound)” police said.

But tensions remain high at the site in the heart of Jerusalem’s old, walled city, part of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Over the past two weeks, nearly 300

Palestinians have been injured in violence at the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s thirdholiest site which is the most holy site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount.

Israel’s incursions into the site during Ramazan have raised global concern, but

the Jewish state has insisted it was compelled to act against operatives from the groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were seeking to spark widespread unrest across Jerusalem.

In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has stressed that the government was committed to the status quo at the compound, meaning an adherence to long-standing convention that only Muslims are allowed to pray there.

Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount. Muslim leaders have, however, been angered by a recent uptick in such visits. Some voiced fears that Israel was seeking to divide the compound and create a space where Jews may worship.

Lapid told journalists that no such plan exists.

Violence in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has raised fears of another armed conflict similar to an 11-day war last year between Israel and the group Hamas, triggered by similar unrest at Al-Aqsa.

Recent weeks have seen isolated rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel and Israeli

reprisals, but no casualties reported on either side.

The Al-Aqsa tensions have come against a backdrop of violence since March 22 in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Twelve Israelis, including an Arab-Israeli police officer, and two Ukrainians were killed in four separate attacks inside Israel. Two of the deadly attacks were carried out in the Tel Aviv area by Palestinians.

A total of 26 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, among them perpetrators of attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.

Meanwhile, former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan expressed solidarity with the Palestinians against the violence and oppression by Israeli forces.

In his message on Al Quds Day — marked as a protest against the creation of Israel and occupation of Jerusalem — Imran pointed out that every Ramazan, Muslims witnessed condemnable attacks

by Israeli forces against worshippers in Al-Aqsa mosque.

Police in India arrest seven people for desecrating mosques AgeNcIes Police in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh arrested seven people on Thursday for allegedly throwing pieces of pork, letters abusing Muslims and torn pages of an Islamic text at three mosques and a shrine in an attempt to instigate communal violence.

They said in a statement that the incidents took place in the town of Ayodhya and members of a right-wing outfit called Hindu Yodha Sangathan were involved.

Four First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in the incidents, which took place at the Taatshah Jama Masjid, Ghosiyana mosque, Kashmiri Mohalla mosque and a shrine of Gulab Shah Baba.

“It was an attempt to create communal violence and incite riots in Ayodhya town,” the statement said.

The mastermind of the conspiracy has been identified as Mahesh Mishra.

An police investigation has revealed that Mishra and his close associates were angry over the communal violence that took place in New Delhi’s Jahangirpuri

area on April 16 and they wanted to take revenge.

Senior Superintendent of Police Shailesh Pandey said 11 people were involved in the latest mosque incidents and four of them are absconding.

The police statement also said they had purchased skull caps, two copies of the Quran, pork and writing materials in order to instigate communal violence.

“The honourable court has directed maintaining the status quo on the site,” he said.

Local television channels also showed that a structure attached to a mosque was razed in the area.

On April 16, several people, including police officers, were injured when clashes erupted in Jahangirpuri during a Hindu religious procession. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that Muslims were involved in pelting stones at the procession.

At leAst 20 people were Arrested following the violence:

13-year-old girl raped after being sold, forcefully married to 35-year-old man AgeNcIes A 13-year-old girl in India was sold by her mother to a 35-year-old man, who then allegedly raped her, the Hindustan Times reported. Reportedly, the mother had to pay off a debt of INR 500,000, which is why she sold her daughter. The police reported that the 13-year-old approached the police herself with her uncle to file the complaint. “In her complaint, the girl told us that she was forcefully married to the man on April 20 at a village in Barmer, where she was raped,” the Superintendent of police, Deepak Bhargav, said. “She approached her uncle on April 24 and together they lodged a complaint,” he added. The police said that the minor girl was forcefully married to the accused via brokers to pay off the woman's father's debt. The family was suffering financially as the girl's father had passed away four years ago. The mother, on the other hand, rejected the allegations and said the girl's uncle had abducted her.

“The woman’s allegation does not seem true as the girl herself is supporting her uncle’s statement and accusing rape,” said the SP. “We will be able to give more details after a detailed investigation.” A case has been filed under sections 366A (procuration of a minor), 376(3) (rape of a woman under 16 years of age), and 450 (house trespass) of the Indian Penal Code, informed Anil Kumar, station house officer, Sadar police station.

“Appropriate sections of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act will also be added after further investigation,” he added.

Responding to the calls of BJP leaders in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, authorities began a “selective” demolition drive in the locality. Bulldozers demolished a string of shops on the roadside in the predominately Muslim Jahangirpuri locality.

As the drive was proceeding in the presence of a large squad of police and paramilitary personnel, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a stay on the demolitions.

India has been witnessing a systematic campaign against Muslims in the last few months, with Hindu mobs organising processions in Muslim localities and brandishing swords and threatening to kill community members.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained silent over the issue. A group of 108 former Indian bureaucrats this week wrote to Modi to express concern over the “escalation of violence against minority communities, particularly Muslims across several BJP-ruled states” which poses a threat to the constitutional edifice as the state governments appear to be fully complicit in the state of affairs.

Erdogan visits Saudi Arabia hoping for new era in ties ANKARA/RIYADH ReuteRs

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday in the first high-level visit in years which he hopes will herald a new era of relations after intense efforts to repair strained ties.

Erdogan met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz in an official ceremony in the al-Salam palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, attended the ceremony before having a one-on-one meeting with Erdogan, Ankara’s communication office said on Twitter.

Erdogan’s visit, which his office said was at the invitation of the Saudi king, marks the culmination of a months-long drive to mend ties that included dropping a trial over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

Analysts and officials say Saudi funding could help Turkey alleviate its economic woes, including soaring inflation, ahead of tough elections for Erdogan next year.

Bilateral relations were badly strained after Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. At the time, Erdogan accused the “highest levels” of the Saudi government of giving the orders, but Ankara has since markedly softened its tone.

In a policy reversal, Turkey this month halted and transferred its own trial of the Saudi suspects in the killing to Saudi Arabia in a move condemned by human rights groups.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Jeddah, Erdogan said Thursday’s visit was “the manifestation of our common will” to improve ties and strengthen political, military and cultural relations.

He added it would be mutually beneficial to boost cooperation in areas including health, energy, food

security, defence industry, and finance.

“With common efforts, I believe we will carry our ties even beyond where they were in the past,” he said.

In conciliatory remarks that stand in sharp contrast to the war of words in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder, Erdogan cited the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as a fitting time for the visit, saying it was the month of “replenishing and strengthening brotherly ties.”

Ankara hopes the visit will fully end an unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish imports, imposed in 2020 amid the Khashoggi standoff. The boycott cut Turkish imports to the kingdom by 98%.

A senior Turkish official said there was a “very

positive” atmosphere ahead of the trip, adding: “The groundwork is ready so that we can act in unison on trade, investments and regional issues once again.”

The visit comes as Turkey grapples with the economic fallout from the war between its Black Sea neighbours Ukraine and Russia.

Turkey’s economy has been ailing for years and a lira crisis erupted in late 2021 due to an unorthodox monetary policy backed by Erdogan that sent inflation soaring above 60%.

Turkey wants Saudi Arabia to join an existing currency swap network currently worth $28 billion that already involves China, South Korea, Qatar and the UAE. It also eyes investments and contracts similar to those inked with Abu Dhabi, officials say.

Saturday, 30 April, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

SPORTS 11

Ronaldo on taRget as United dRaw 1-1 with Chelsea

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REutERS

ANCHESTER United’s Cristiano Ronaldo showed his continued class in front of goal by cancelling out Marcos Alonso’s opener for Chelsea in a 1-1 Premier League draw at Old Trafford on Thursday.

It was another night of mediocrity from Ralf Rangnick’s United side as their troubled season, which began with such high expectations, peters out.

The result leaves Chelsea in third place on 66 points while United are in sixth spot with 55, five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal having played two games more.

The only the moment of class, to bring some cheer to supporters who had again vented their frustrations against the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, came from Ronaldo with a superb piece of control and finishing.

Little has worked for United this season, either under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or German Rangnick, who took over from the Nor-

wegian in November, but Portugal’s fivetimes Ballon d’Or winner has certainly delivered in front of goal.

Ronaldo’s 62nd minute strike was his 17th goal in the league this season with only Mohamed Salah of Liverpool having found the target more often and the former Real Madrid man has claimed eight of his team’s last nine goals.

After Chelsea had failed to make the most of a series of chances in the first half, with United goalkeeper David De Gea three times denying Kai Havertz, they finally got ahead on the hour.

Reece James’ cross was flicked on by Havertz and Alonso powered a left-foot volley into the corner of the net.

Within two minutes, though, United were back on level terms when Nemanja Matic scooped the ball over the top and Ronaldo took one touch before slotting past keeper Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea went close to a winner in the 79th when Mason Mount set up James with a clever, heeled lay-off but the full-back’s left foot curler struck the post.

Marcus Harris dropped from Australia Test squad for Sri Lanka

SYDNEY AFP

Australia dropped Ashes opener Marcus Harris on Friday from an otherwise settled squad for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka in June and July.

Scott Boland remains the back-up seamer ahead of Jhye Richardson in the Pat Cummins-led 16-man squad for the world’s top-ranked Test team.

They are part of an overall 34-man

squad named for the all-format tour which also includes three T20s and five one-day internationals.

Cummins will not play in the Twenty20 fixtures while spinner Adam Zampa will miss the entire tour due to the impending birth of his first child.

Batsman Harris had a poor Ashes at the start of the year but was part of the victorious Test squad in Pakistan in March.

He together with Boland and

Richardson will still have a chance to impress the selectors as part of an Australian A side that will play four matches in Sri Lanka at the start of June.

“It’s incredibly exciting to have an Australia A component which offers the further flexibility and opportunity for players to be available for and cross over into all squads,” selection chief George Bailey said.

“That could be from a Test or

white-ball preparation perspective or an opportunity to impress at an international level.

“This is the first time a tour of this scale has been possible since the Ashes in 2019.”

Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell all return to the white-ball squads having missed the recent limited-overs matches in Pakistan.

Test squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner ODI squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner t20 squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner Australia A squad: Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Peter Handscomb, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Henry Hunt, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nic Maddinson, Todd Murphy, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Tanveer Sangha, Mark Steketee.

armstrong sets 50m backstroke record AgENciES Hunter Armstrong set a 50m backstroke world record of 23.71sec to qualify for the 2022 swimming World Championships at the US trials in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday. Armstrong, 21, broke the previous world record of 23.80 set by Russian Kliment Kolesnikov at the European championships in Budapest on May 18, 2021. “I’m at a loss for words, honestly,” Armstrong said after grabbing the only World Championships berth on offer in the non-Olympic event. “It’s something I’ve always wanted and I’m over the moon right now.” Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Caeleb Dressel booked a third individual World Championships berth with a victory in the 100m butterfly. Dressel, who set the world record of 49.45sec in winning Olympic gold in Tokyo last year, clocked a world-leading 50.01 in Thursday’s heats and won the final in 50.20. Michael Andrew was second in 50.88 to punch his ticket to the World Championships in Budapest June 18-July 3. Dressel, who won five gold medals at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games last year, had already qualified for Budapest in the 100m free and 50m fly. Andrew returned to win the 50m breaststroke in an American record of 26.52 edging Nic Fink for the only World Championships spot by three-hundredths of a second. Torri Huske won the women’s 100m fly in 56.28 with Claire Curzan second in 56.35 — the two fastest times in the world this season. Carson Foster won the men’s 400m individual medley in 4:09.33 with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Chase Kalisz second in 4:10.50. Kalisz held off a furious late charge from Bobby Finke, who missed out on a World Championships berth by seven-hundredths of a second. In the women’s 400m medley, 16-year-old Katie Grimes posted a personal best of 4:36.17 to book a Budapest berth along with Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Emma Weyant, who was second in 4:37.72. Katharine Smith set an American record of 27.12sec in winning the women’s 50m backstroke, and Lilly King won the women’s 50m breaststroke in 29.76sec to give herself a chance at a third straight world title in the event.

Man City, Liverpool turn attention back to Premier League shootout LONDON AFP

Manchester City and Liverpool must quickly turn their focus from Champions League glory to the battle for the Premier League title, with no room for error in tricky away trips on Saturday.

City, who hold a one-point advantage at the top of the table with five games remaining, travel to Leeds, who are also in need of the points to guarantee survival.

Liverpool can go top for a few hours at least if they win at Newcastle, but the Magpies have won their last six home games to storm into the top half of the table since beginning to splash the cash of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund in January.

The Premier League’s top two remain on course to end their season with another showdown in the Champions League final after seeing off Spanish opposition in contrasting fashion in midweek.

City should have put Real Madrid out of sight in a thrilling 4-3 win over the 13-time European champions, while Goliath got the better of David as Liverpool beat Vil-

larreal 2-0.

Champions League considerations could play a major role in the team selection of both title contenders.

Jurgen Klopp gave Liverpool fans even more cause for celebration by extending his contract at Anfield for a further two years to 2026 on Thursday.

However, the German is far from happy at the scheduling of a lunchtime kick-off just three days after a Champions League semi-final.

“It’s brutal but it’s fine. It’s the best situation you can have,” said Klopp.

“Just go for the next one and try to play the best football you can.”

City boss Pep Guardiola has a tough balancing act in selecting his side for what is expected to be an energysapping visit to Elland Road before their blockbuster return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

‘Best in the world’: Leeds are unbeaten in five games, but are just five points clear of the relegation zone ahead of a tough run-in, with Arsenal and Chelsea to come after the visit of City.

“I think it is the ultimate test,” said Leeds manager

Jesse Marsch. “I’m very honest when I say that I think they are the best team in the world.” Everton have a game in hand to cut the gap on Leeds down to two points, but the Toffees’ 68-year stay in the top flight is at serious risk.

Frank Lampard could do with a favour from his old club as Chelsea visit Goodison Park on Sunday.

By the time they kick off, Lampard’s men could find themselves five points adrift of safety should Burnley

continue their upturn in form since sacking Sean Dyche.

The Clarets have taken seven points from a possible nine under caretaker boss Mike Jackson and will be confident of another huge win when they travel to Watford.

The Hornets have lost 10 consecutive home games and their return to the Championship would be virtually confirmed by another defeat.

A Burnley victory would also mathematically relegate Norwich, should they lose at Aston Villa.

The battle to join City, Liverpool and Chelsea in next season’s Champions League looks like a shootout between north London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.

Arsenal have a two-point advantage and both sides will be confident of victory this weekend against opposition with the European semi-finals on their mind. The Gunners travel to West Ham, who trail Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 after the first leg of their Europa League semi-final. Tottenham host Leicester, who have it all to play for next week in the last four of their Europa Conference League tie after a 1-1 draw with Roma in Thursday’s first leg.

Saturday, 30 April, 2022

prayer timings

NEWS

BlAst kills more thAn 50 worshiPPers At kABul mosque

kABuL

A

agencies

powerful explosion killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, its leader said, amid a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the

west of the capital in the early afternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, who said the official confirmed death toll was 10.

The attack came as worshippers at the mosque gathered after Friday prayers for a congregation known as Zikr.

Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicide bomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.

“Black smoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere,” he told Reuters, adding that his nephews were among the dead.

“I myself survived, but lost my beloved ones,” he said.

Resident Mohammad Sabir said he had seen people being loaded into ambulances.

“The blast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked,” he said.

Emergency Hospital in downtown Kabul said it was treating 21 patients wounded in the blast and two patients were dead on arrival. A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in critical condition. A health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30 bodies in total.

Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in recent weeks in blasts, some of which have been claimed by Deash. The latest attack came on the last Friday in the month of Ramadan in which most Muslims fast, and before the religious holiday of Eid next week.

The Taliban say they have secured the country since taking power in August and largely eliminated Daesh’s local offshoot, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.

Many of the attacks have targeted the Shia, however Sunni mosques have also been attacked.

Bombs exploded aboard two passenger vans carrying Shias in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday, killing at least nine people. Last Friday, a blast tore through a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers in the city of Kunduz, killing 33.

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

3:52

12:06

3:48

5:23

6:49

8:20

fiqah-e-hanfia lahore sehr: 3:52 am iftar: 6:41 Pm

islamabad sehr: 3:50 am iftar: 6:49 Pm

karachi sehr: 4:37 am iftar: 7:01 Pm

fiqah-e-jafaria lahore sehr: 3:42 am iftar: 6:51 Pm

islamabad sehr: 3:40 am iftar: 6:59 Pm

karachi sehr: 4:27 am iftar: 7:11 Pm

Pakistan condemns northern Afghanistan blasts

India says talks with Pakistan only after ‘terror’ stops New Delhi on Thursday ruled out any formal talks with Pakistan unless India’s neighbor stops supporting “cross-border terrorism”.

The recent appointment of Shehbaz Sharif as new prime minister has raised hopes of an easing of tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought a series of wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

But India said there would be no negotiations unless Islamabad ensures an atmosphere of peace and diplomacy.

“Our stand is clear. We want an environment free of terror,” Arindam Bagchi, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters at a Thursday press conference.

Only then is dialogue possible, it “doesn’t matter what the government on the other side says.”

Bagchi added that a recent ex-

change of letters between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Sharif were part of routine

diplomatic courtesies.

“This is our valid demand and there has been no change on our

stand,” he said.

Modi in early April congratulated Sharif on his appointment as Pakistan’s new leader while reiterating his desire for “peace and stability” in the region “free of terror”.

In his own public message Sharif said Islamabad wanted “better relationship with India” but cautioned that no lasting peace would be possible without a resolution to Kashmir’s status.

Sharif hails from an elite political family seen by some in India as more conciliatory towards New Delhi than Khan.

Unusually for a senior Pakistani politician, Sharif has actually visited India, in 2013 when he was chief minister for Punjab — a state that was split between the two countries during the bloody 1947 partition of the sub-continent. agencies

Top Russia diplomat invites Bilawal to Moscow ISLAMABAD staff report

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has congratulated Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on taking oath as

the nation’s top diplomat.

Lavrov also extended an invitation to his Pakistan counterpart to visit Russia.

The foreign minister conveyed to Bilawal Moscow’s desire to take steps to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Pakistan, India reel under intense heat wave PESHAWAR reUters

Pakistan issued a heat warning after the hottest March in 61 years while in parts of neighbouring India schools were shut and streets deserted as an intense heave wave on Friday showed no signs of abating.

Pakistan's Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, urged the federal and provincial governments to take precautionary measures to manage the intense heat wave, which touched highs of 47 degrees Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country.

"South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan are faced with what has been a recordbreaking heatwave. It started in early April and continues to leave the people gasping in whatever shade they find," Rehman said in a statement.

Temperatures were predicted to rise by

6 to 8 degrees Celsius above average temperatures after the hottest March on record since 1961, she said.

More than a billion people are at risk of heat-related impacts in the region, scientists have warned, linking the early onset of an intense summer to climate change. For the first time in decades, Pakistan had gone from winter to summer without the spring season, Rehman said.

The government has also told provincial disaster management authorities to prepare urgently for the risk of flash-flooding in northern mountainous provinces due to rapid glacial melting, Rehman said.

Glaciers in the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karkoram mountain ranges have melted rapidly, creating thousand of glacial lakes in northern Pakistan, around 30 of which were at risk of sudden hazardous flooding, the climate change ministry said, adding around 7 million people were vulnerable.

A senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department said on Friday heat conditions would persist for at least the next three days, but that temperatures would fall after the arrival of monsoons, expected in some parts by May. The health problems triggered by the heatwave were posing a bigger worry than the expected fourth wave of Covid-19, doctors in India said.

"We are getting many patients who have suffered heatstroke or other heat-related problems," said Mona Desai, former president of Ahmedabad Medical Association in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

She said that 60-70% of the patients were school-aged complaining of vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal colic, weakness and other symptoms.

Roads were deserted in Bhubaneshwar, in India's eastern state of Odisha, where schools have been shut, while neighbouring

ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned twin explosions in northern Afghanistan that targeted the war-ravaged country’s minority Hazara ethnic group.

Two explosions, within minutes of each other, killed at least nine people and wounded 13 in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, on Thursday, a spokesman for a Talibanappointed police chief said.

On Friday, the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Hazaras are mostly Shi’ite Muslims, who IS consider heretics. An IS statement said 30 Shi’ites were killed or wounded in the two attacks.

“The government and people of Pakistan extend their sympathies, support and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan and particularly with the bereaved families,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The statement said the targeting of Hazara and Shi’ite community in Afghanistan through these acts of militancy was also a matter of “serious concern”.

“We believe these heinous acts of terrorism against innocent Afghans are aimed at weakening the resolve of the Afghan nation in pursuit of peace, stability and progress,” it said.

“We urge the international community to extend all possible support and assistance to Afghanistan in combating terrorism and overcoming these challenges.”

Afghanistan’s minority Shi’ite Muslims are reviled by Sunni groups like IS, and have been targeted in a series of bombings in the past week. The IS affiliate, known as IS in Khorasan Province, or IS-K, has attacked mosques, public buses, and schools.

The worst such bombing occurred last week, also in Mazare-Sharif, when a powerful bomb killed 33 worshippers as they knelt in prayer, as well as students of an adjacent religious school.

West Bengal advanced the school summer break by a few days.

In Pakistan, the lead up to the religious holiday of Eid was dampened by the intense heat and regular power cuts as most of the population refrained from eating food and drinking water during daylight hours for the

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

holy month of Ramazan.

The increased demand for power from rising temperatures combined with fuel shortages and infrastructure issues put pressure on Pakistan's electricity system, leading to regular power cuts, known as load shedding.