Wednesday, 23 June, 2021 I 12 Dhul-Qadah, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 353 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
Pakistan walking the talk on afghanistan but won’t host us bases: imran
ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt
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RIME Minister Imran Khan has reaffirmed his government’s willingness to partner with the United States to achieve durable peace in Afghanistan, but said in no uncertain terms that Pakistan will not render its soil for counter-terrorism operations inside its wartorn neighbour. In an opinion for The Washington Post published Tuesday, the prime minister said: “We simply cannot afford this. We have already paid too heavy a price [by way of participation in the war against terrorism].” The opinion comes ahead of a planned meeting between President Joe Biden and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani and High Council for National Reconciliation chief Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani’s chief peacemaker, on Friday to discuss US troop withdrawal amid a surge in fighting between security forces and the Taliban across the country. “If Pakistan were to agree to host US bases, from which to bomb Afghanistan, and an
Afghan civil war ensued, Pakistan would be targeted for revenge by terrorists again,” Imran feared. As US troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran said: “We will avoid risking further conflict.” “If the United States, with the most powerful military machine in history, couldn’t win the war from inside Afghanistan after 20 years, how would America do it from bases in our country,” he wondered. Imran, during an interview with US news platform Axios aired Monday, had called on the United States to find a political settlement to its war in Afghanistan before withdrawing from the country as violence surges across the country In his opinion, he said that Pakistan and the US have the same interest in Afghanistan — a political settlement, stability, economic development and the denial of any haven for terrorists, he said, pointing out that Islamabad had made every effort to facilitate the Afghan peace process. “We oppose any military takeover of Afghanistan, which will lead only to decades of civil war, as the Taliban cannot win over the
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
949,838
LAST UPDATED AT 7:59 AM ON JUNE 22, 2021
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
27
663
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
894,352 22,034 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
332,677
345,141
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
137,147 AJK/GB: 19,979/5,827
26,673 ISLAMABAD:
82,394
whole of the country, and yet must be included in any government for it to succeed.” In the past, the prime minister recalled, Pakistan made a mistake by choosing sides between warring Afghan parties, but now Islamabad has no favourites and will work with any government that enjoys the confidence of the Afghan people. “History proves that Afghanistan can never be controlled from the outside.” Pakistan had suffered so much from the wars in Afghanistan — more than 70,000 people killed, he said, observing that the losses to the economy have exceeded $150 billion. “After joining the US effort,” the prime minister said, “Pakistan was targeted as a collaborator, leading to terrorism against our country from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other groups.” “US drone attacks, which I warned against, didn’t win the war, but they did create hatred for Americans, swelling the ranks of terrorist groups against both our countries,” he said. “While I argued for years that there was no military solution in Afghanistan, the United States pressured Pakistan for the very first time to send our troops into the semiautonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, in the false expectation that it would end the insurgency. “It didn’t, but it did internally displace half the population of the tribal areas, 1 million people in North Waziristan alone, with billions of dollars of damage done and whole villages destroyed,” Imran added. The interests of Pakistan and the US in Afghanistan were the same — a negotiated peace, not civil war, he said. “We need stability and an end to terrorism aimed at both our countries. We support an agreement that preserves the development gains made in Afghanistan in the past two decades. And we want economic development, and increased trade and connectivity in Central Asia, to lift our economy. We will all go down the drain if there is further civil war.
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PTI women MNAs hit back at ‘liberal brigade’ for ‘twisting’ Imran’s comment ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt
A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan faced a torrent of criticism for his comments on the rise in instances of sexual violence, women MPs from the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf called out the “liberal brigade” for what she insisted was twisting of the statement. In an interview with Jonathan Swan on Axios, the prime minister said: “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men unless they’re robots. I mean, it’s common sense.” “We don’t have discos here, we don’t have nightclubs, so it is a completely different society […] way of life here, so if you raise temptation in society […] all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society.” In a press conference, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, who was flanked by Maleeka Bukhari and Kanwal Shauzab said there have been repeated efforts by the “liberal brigade” to distort the comments of Prime Minister Imran and
Deal struck with Pfizer for 13m vaccine doses: minister ISLAMABAD ReuteRs
The government has made an agreement to procure 13 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer, Minister of State for Health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Tuesday. An exact timeline was not yet available, Dr Faisal told Reuters, but said the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer. The government faced initial vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supply but it started a mass vaccination campaign late last month that is now open to all adults. It has relied heavily on China for vaccine supplies. The government in May received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, but authorities have only administered those to people who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines. The government launched a nationwide vaccination drive, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March. The drive
mock his efforts to project a positive and progressing image of the country abroad. She rejected criticism by rights groups and journalists who accused the prime minister of victim-blaming. “Prime Minister Imran is the genuine symbol of women empowerment as for the first time, five female parliamentarians have been inducted into the federal cabinet and 12 have been made parliamentary secretaries who represent their ministries in the Parliament,” she said. Zartaj underlined that women like herself were proud to be Pakistani woman practising Islam as her faith, with one of the finest and unique cultural and traditional norms. “My religion, and culture, gives me respect […] and we are believers in women rights enshrined in Islam. “Islam gives me freedom and liberty […] and I am proud to have it [as my religion].” The minister noted that Pakistani culture had numerous precedents of respecting women including men giving spaces to women in long queues and crowded places out of respect.
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more inside
Fawad invites opposition to discuss electoral, judicial reforms STORY ON PAGE 03
Progress on CPEC projects in Punjab satisfactory, says Bajwa STORY ON BACK PAGE began with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80, and worked its way down. Battling a third peak of the virus, the Health Department began the campaign with Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino jabs. Private hospitals in major cities are using the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine that has been imported by a local pharmaceutical company. Nearly 13 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered so far, with about 3.5 million people fully vaccinated, according to the Na-
tional Command Operation Centre, which is overseeing the pandemic response. Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines — Sinopharm, CanSino Bio and Sinovac — in its inoculation drive and, earlier this month, began allowing those under 40 to receive AstraZeneca, of which it has a limited supply meant for people travelling to countries that require it. Earlier this month, the government approved spending $1.1 billion on procuring vaccines, part of its goal to inoculate at least 70 million people.
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Usman Kakar’s postmortem report rules out torture STORY ON PAGE 02
Imran directs FIA boss to suspend officials accused of ignoring harassment claim STORY ON PAGE 03